sales

By Eleanor Bowman, Director of Marketing, BDX

BDX recently completed a study of over 1,000 potential home buyers and one of the most surprising data points was the timeframe for home purchase. Almost two-thirds of those surveyed were unsure about when they would purchase or expect to take at least 9 months to make a decision.

Now compare this to the conversations we are having with many of our builders who work leads for 30 days and then consider them to be cold. Think about the impact this can have on your marketing campaigns? It means that if you’re throwing out leads because they haven’t converted in 30 days, you’re probably missing out on sales.

Putting these leads into a nurturing campaign can pay off months down the road when the buyer is ready to make a buying decision.

What is lead nurturing and how can home builders run successful campaigns?

Lead nurturing simply means creating a series of communications to stay in touch with those prospective buyers. These may not be the leads that your sales team is working aggressively, but it is important to keep your brand and your selling points top of mind. According to a recent report from Forrester Research, companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads, at 33% lower cost per lead.

Some ways builders can nurture leads through the sales cycle:

  • Create a weekly or monthly email newsletter.
  • Use marketing automation software that will automatically trigger communications at specific points in the process.
  • Use advertising retargeting programs to reach out to people who have visited your website.
  • Create social media campaigns to encourage people to engage with your brand.

Taking a few simple steps to keep these leads in your sales pipeline will pay off in the long run. Research has shown that 75% of companies basically drop leads who aren’t ready to purchase immediately. Make sure that your business is part of the 25% that will stay in touch and be top of mind when the consumer is ready to buy.

 

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

 

 

 The growth of YouTube is a great example of the power of video.   YouTube is the second largest search engine and receives 1 billion views per day – or 41 million views per hour.

Over the next two weeks, we will be showcasing different ideas to help you use video to sell more homes.  Yesterday we focused on TV Commercials and TV Shows and today we’re looking at using video for sales material. 

 

 

IDEA #7: Incorporate Video Into Your Sales Materials

Inserting video directly into your sales collateral can cut through the clutter and help your message stand out. Consider video for these sales pieces

  • Mailable DVDs for people who visited your sales center
  • Looped video on a kiosk in your models
  • Use video in your email campaigns to prospects
  • Insert a QR code on your printed materials that links to a video on your website

Here is an example of one company using video in a sales presentation:

 

Give your sales pieces an added punch with video.  Learn how BDX can help you create, high quality videos. Click here to check out our interactive brochure or email us today!