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October is here, which means we are officially entering the last quarter of the year. And I think this is a really important time to ask ourselves a question: What are we going to do with the next 90 days? There is a lot of uncertainty in our industry right now. Interest rates, affordability, consumer confidence, traffic and the economy are all creating questions about what the rest of this year will look like and what we can expect when we head into the spring selling season. We can’t control…
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Why an AI Tool Isn’t the Same as an AI Strategy AI is everywhere in new home sales right now. Chatbots, automated follow-up, texting, dialers, lead nurturing, appointment setting. There are some incredible tools available, and I am certainly not anti-AI. Used correctly, AI can help us respond faster, manage more opportunities and take some of the repetitive work off our plates. But buying an AI tool is not the same thing as having an AI strategy. You don’t just buy it, unbox it, plug it into your website or…
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One of the first things I ask for when I start working with a new builder has nothing to do with conversion rates, lead response times, or appointment-setting percentages. Well okay I ask for all of that stuff. But I also ask for this… I ask to see every follow-up sequence living inside their CRM. The automated emails. The texts. The videos. The call tasks. Everything. Why? Because before I can coach an Online Sales Counselor, I want to understand what the buyer is experiencing. Every email, every text message,…
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In our last blog post about One Team, One Experience I talked heavily about alignment. If the move from online to onsite is done well, it should feel natural from the buyer’s perspective. Exciting, even. The OSC should be building anticipation, not creating confusion. It should sound more like: “I’d love for you to meet my good friend; they’re going to have a much better handle on those specific house questions and help you take the next step.” That is a handoff. Not: “Here’s the appointment. Good luck.…
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Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of joining an NAHB Shop Talk with a title so good I figured it deserved a blog post of its own: One Team, One Experience: Turning Spring Traffic into Sales. When a topic is this relevant, this timely, and this painfully familiar to anyone in home building, you don’t just leave it neatly tucked inside a one-hour conversation. You bring it back out, dust it off, and say, “Alright, let’s talk about what this really means.” The discussion was moderated by Kelly Fink,…
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Every year I walk into the International Builders’ Show with the same challenge. There is simply too much good content. IBS is one of the few places where you can find yourself staring at your schedule thinking, “I want to be in three different rooms at the same time.” Between sales, marketing, technology, leadership, and customer experience sessions, there is always more to learn than any one person can realistically absorb in three days. That’s honestly part of why I keep coming back. This year is no exception. I’m especially…
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It’s finally here! My new book, Attract, Engage, Convert is now available on Amazon and I couldn’t be more excited! This book is for builders, OSCs, marketing teams, sales leaders, and anyone trying to make sense of what really works and how to set up a successful OSC program. It’s built from nearly two decades in the trenches, helping builders and OSCs create meaningful, intentional online sales programs. And it was a labor of love. Even better, builders are already buying copies for their OSC teams. That’s exactly what I hoped…
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If you’re considering launching an Online Sales Counselor (OSC) program, or reviving one that’s stalled, you may be tempted by the promise of outsourcing. The idea of offloading the responsibility of nurturing your digital leads to a third-party service may sound like a time-saving solution. But here’s the hard truth: There is no easy button when it comes to creating a successful OSC program. Whether you bring your OSC in-house or contract the role out, the same requirements apply: learning your tools, your process, your product, your people, and most…
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When margins are tight, it’s tempting to look for places to cut costs. Too often, the OSC program ends up on the chopping block. On paper, removing a salary line or trimming bonuses may look like savings. In reality, it’s one of the most expensive mistakes a builder can make. An OSC isn’t just another role. They are the engine that converts costly digital traffic into real appointments and closed sales. Without them, your marketing dollars evaporate, your conversion rates sink, and the homes you thought you’d sell this year…
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When it comes to building homes, every builder knows the phrase cost of doing business. But what’s less often discussed is the cost of not doing business the right way. Especially when it comes to your Online Sales Counselor (OSC) program. Profit Margins in Homebuilding According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the average net profit margin for builders was 7.0% in 2020 and rose to 8.7% in 2023, the highest in more than three decades. Public builders (like D.R. Horton, Pulte, Toll Brothers) often report consolidated net…
Five Things Leadership Should Know About Online Sales
Sometimes the people at the top don’t understand what Online Sales is, what Online Sales Counselors do, and why this role and the program are so important. 1. This is not a “Catch All” position – The online sales program isn’t a place to dump all the odds and ends in the company. An online sales counselor is not a closing coordinator, they are not the social media manager, they are not the graphic designer,…
Don’t Sacrifice Website Usability for Design
Websites are the online sales models for the new home building industry. You’ve probably heard that before. Just like models are constantly changing as we build new and better homes, close out communities, and start new models – your website too needs to grow and change, but one thing needs to remain the same. It needs to address the needs of your buyers and make the important things easy to find. Sometimes when we do…
Turnkey Solutions Sound Great… But Are They?
I often hear builders say they want a turnkey solution for online sales. Really, they want turnkey solutions for everything. The truth is, almost anything worth while takes time to learn and master. As most builders like to remind me, they are different from their competitors. While we don’t need to re-invent the wheel every time we start up a new online sales program, there will be nuances that are different and require a more…
Blue Gypsy Inc Doesn’t do “CRM Implementation,” We Teach “CRM Strategy”
Well, you know that old story, “If you give a man a fish he eats for a day, if you teach a man to fish, he can feed his whole village.” That’s how we feel about CRM implementation. There’s no doubt about it, CRM is complex. And there are SOOOOO many of them out there. They all have different features and ways to get to the same thing. When I think of the builders I…
IBS 2023 – One of the Best Educational Opportunities All Year Long
If you’ve never been to the International Builder’s Show, or when you do go, you spend most of your time walking the floor, there is an educational component that just shouldn’t be missed. This year I’ll be presenting two different topics on Online Sales in 2 different educational platforms. The 2023 builder show kicks off in Las Vegas, NV January 31st – February 2nd. However, there are also pre-show educational opportunities and some of those…
Digging Deep into Empathy and Asking the Right Questions
Developing relationships. When I first started as an OSC, I saw this as my focus. Develop authentic relationships with the people who call me or email me and ask me about a house. This was my strategy, and it helped me become a high producing OSC. “What?” you might ask, “Does that have to do with setting an appointment for sales?” Well, the people who called me and who were interested in more information in…
Thanks & Giving: Reflections Over the Past Year
November always seems to be the month of reflections. For a couple of reasons. There’s the obvious reason that it’s the month of Thanksgiving, and often we find ourselves thinking about what we are thankful for, the good things in our lives, but if you are at all like me you also reflect forward, to the coming year. It’s the perfect time in November to think about the closing of this year and what the…
Foundational Reflections for Successful OSC Programs
There are certain things that successful OSC programs need, and as we prepare for the coming year it’s time to make sure that we are doing the best we can with this important program. The Right Person or People in the Right Seats – I’d love to say that every online sales counselor is gold… but that’s just not true. Many of them can be with the right training and coaching. But sadly, there are…
Better Together: Reflections From the Tropical Sales Training Retreat
Every day this week in Florida, I’ve woken up at 2am. And then I start reflecting on the day, the week, and really this entire year. It’s amazing how much planning goes into an event like the Tropical Sales Retreat. And I also reflect on how grateful I am on so many levels. Grateful to Roland Nairnsey for taking me up on my offer to do an OSC track at the conference. Grateful for my…
Guest Post: Ready, Set, Market!
Guest Post by Carol Morgan Founder & President Denim Marketing Want to reach the finish line and score? Then it is time to shape up your marketing strategy. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many home builders sacked their marketing budget, and it is time to kick it back into high gear before calling for a Hail Mary! With interest rates rising and the Federal Reserve pumping the brakes on the economy, the housing market is cooling…