BDX recently asked 3 experts in the industry what builders should consider as they follow-up with home buyer leads. Thanks to Mike Lyon, Meredith Oliver and Mike Moore for your words of wisdom. If you’re not following these leaders and learning from their experience helping builders sell new homes, you’re missing out. Here is their advice:

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It’s Time To Start Marketing and Selling Like It’s 2013

From Mike Lyon — www.doyouconvert.com

In 2005, builders didn’t have to think about how to manage their online leads. Shoot, we had people camping out waiting for homes and paying crazy prices! In 2010, many builders were struggling to pay their bills, let alone pay attention to anything happening online. Now, we finally see light at the end of the tunnel. All of the builders I work with are saying something to the effect of “We just had one of our best months ever”.

Pay close attention, you have a small window of opportunity. I would say 9-12 months. If you haven’t figured out how to create 25% of your sales from online sources a year from now, it is really going to hurt. The fact is, your website is the new model home. How have you staffed it? Are the lights on but nobody’s home?

Countless surveys show us that about half of sales agents don’t even respond to their online leads. These sales agents and their builders don’t understand that a lead with an effective nurturing process will set an appointment 25% of the time. And here is where it get’s really interesting – they will write a contract 30% of the time. So go steal some prospects from your competition! Start marketing (and selling) like it’s 2013!

Learn more about Mike at www.doyouconvert.com or follow him on Twitter @mikelyon

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The Need For Speed

From Meredith Oliver —  www.CreatingWOW.com

Speed! If you don’t respond fast enough to homebuyer leads, your prospective buyers will be furious. How fast is fast enough? You can’t be too fast. You can only be too slow.

Your goal should be to catch the person while they are still browsing the web for homes before they move on to another task and become preoccupied. You want to pull the person into your sales funnel quickly and efficiently so your ongoing follow-up plan has a chance to convert them from an online shopper to an in-person buyer.

Connect with Meredith at www.CreatingWOW.com  or follow her on Twitter @CreatingWOW

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Contact, Speed and Urgency Are Keys For Success

Mike Moore at http://mooreleadership.blogspot.com

Although there are several keys to converting sales leads into customers the most important are CONTACT and SPEED. A recent study revealed that between 40% to 50% of inbound leads are never contacted. A sales lead is a request for information and the faster you respond the higher your conversion rate from lead to customer. A Harvard business study results showed that companies who followed up within the first hour were 7 times more likely to convert a lead to a customer. Even if the lead was contacted at 1 hour the conversion rate dropped significantly. Time matters most.

So, URGENCY becomes the key to following up and converting leads to customers. I’ve found too many new home salespeople, sales managers and homebuilder’s view leads as secondary to foot traffic in their models. In this new age of business as consumers shift their shopping habits, this is a grave mistake that costs homebuilder’s sales and damages their reputation because of the lack of urgency in their response.

Connect with Mike at http://www.mooreleadership.blogspot.com/ and www.makingcustomers.wordpress.com

 

 

We know that today’s consumers are social. In fact, 62% of adults worldwide now use social media. And social networking is the most popular online activity, with 22% of time online spent on channels like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

To help take advantage of this behavior, our new home listing sites NewHomeSource.com and MoveNewHomes.com incorporate a variety of social features that allow visitors to share homes and communities throughout their networks of friends and family.

For starters, at the top of any site page, you will see a social sharing bar that allows users to share the  home or community through their social network of choice. So, when shoppers find a home they love or a community they are considering, they can simply click a button and share it within their network.

And our latest social addition is a “Pin It” button seen on any image shown in home or community galleries. Visitors can  “pin” their favorite images to Pinterest – now the 3rd largest social network after Facebook and Twitter.

These social sharing features amplify your reach throughout the social world. Each time a visitor to NewHomeSource.com  or MoveNewHomes.com shares a home on Facebook or pins an image to a board on Pinterest, it links back directly to your home or community listing on our site. These social sharing features give your homes additional online exposure and generate additional interest in your properties.

If you have any questions about social sharing on BDX sites or would like more information about listing your homes, please email info@thebdx.com.

Each month, BDX hosts free educational webinars to keep our builders up-to-speed on the latest Digital Marketing trends. If you ever have any suggested topics, we would love to hear them at info@thebdx.com.

Here are our upcoming events for July — we hope you can join us!

 

 

FREE WEBINAR: The Power of Email! Best Practices For Effective Email Marketing   

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM CDT

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/555119592

Email marketing is alive and well. In fact, in a recent study, 64% of people said that email was their preferred method for learning about sales promotions. But all emails aren’t created equal! Join our email expert Jon Odishoo for this free online event to learn more about:

  • Design and messaging tips for emails that make an impact
  • Subject lines that work, you only get one chance to get their attention in that inbox
  • What to track and how to use the data you collect about your campaigns
  • How to avoid the spam filters and make sure your emails are compliant

 

FREE WEBINAR: Demystifying Virtual Tours :: Understand your options, best practices and more!   

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM CDT

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/457556185

Virtual tours are a great way to help homebuyers visualize themselves in your homes. But with so many options how do you decide what flavor of virtual tour is right for your business? Our media experts will walk you through the different types of virtual tours and highlight the pros and cons for each.

  • What virtual tour options are available? We’ll define your options.
  • What are qualities of successful virtual tours? Getting the most out of your investment
  • What questions should you ask yourself before creating a tour? Budget? Goals? And more…
  • See examples of builders that have created dynamic tours at every level.

By BDX Guest Blogger, Carol Morgan, mRELEVANCE

Are you Pinning? If not, you should be.

Pinterest is currently the third most popular social media site after Twitter and Facebook. The majority of Pinterest users are women. Since women influence the majority of home buying decisions, your building company should be there. If you are an architect, remodeler or even a kitchen and bath supplier, Pinterest is a great tool for your social marketing.

Pinterest is an online site that lets users create and share “Pinboards,” similar to bulletin boards or scrapbooks. Users Pin photographs, renderings and even videos that they like from across the web to their Boards.

Each Pin links backs to the original source page. When other Pinterest users re-Pin your Pin, the link back to your site persists. This viral sharing of photos and video is why Pinterest has the ability — if your Pins are popular and re-Pinned — to drive significant amounts of free traffic back to your website. At its core, Pinterest appeals to our instinctual visual nature. It also allows users to connect, explore and learn as they collect and share their favorite images.

Builders have an amazing online marketing and branding opportunity to “Pin” photos and video of their new homes, communities, amenities, custom design options and more. In addition, you may want to create Boards for images other than your own. For builders, related Boards might include interior design ideas, home products, recipes, crafts or local info and attractions.

While these unrelated pins may seem like a waste of time, your page will begin drawing a wider range of potential customers – someone who was initially attracted by a photo with a great decorating idea, who stays and falls in love with your homes.

By offering photos from other sources, your page will be seen as more credible. Keep in mind that your other Pins should match your brand and offering.  For example, if you build entry level homes, it might be confusing if your Boards include high-end homes and appointments. Also, make sure to review Pinterest’s terms and conditions (especially as they relate to copyrights) before starting to Pin another company’s images.

Pinterest is a compelling visual form of social media that is revolutionizing the way we view social media platforms and the way companies are using the Internet to market themselves. If your business is looking to create awareness and online traffic, it’s a powerful new tool to use.

Carol Flammer is managing partner of Marketing RELEVANCE, LLC, a Marketing, Communication, Interactive agency with offices in Atlanta and Chicago. She is the author of “Social Media for Home Builders 2.0” published by BuilderBooks.