How has your team adjusted to the new normal of today’s market?
For the past two plus years, we’ve been riding a bit of an artificial, unpredictable roller coaster. As we are seeing fewer (yet high quality!) leads these days, it is imperative to take a deep dive into the ‘life’ of a prospect, from a website visitor all the way through to a sales appointment.
While we can’t control the market immediately, here are five things that are within YOUR CONTROL that you can take action on today – without spending a dime!
#1 | Start Here: Take Inventory
- Google yourself. Take a step back and search like a buyer. What shows up in search results first? Have someone else within the organization, someone who’s not as familiar with the website, look at it with a fresh set of eyes. Review your Google listings and social media… what are they saying about you right now?
- Do you know what your OSCs full follow-up process is? Now is a great time to secret shop and see what happens! (Set up a FREE gmail account/google voice to see what kind of text/voicemails your team leaves.) Or if you want to see the results even quicker, go into your CRM and pull an online lead from the beginning of May and see what kind of follow-up they received over the last 60 days!
- Listen to your sales calls. If you have a call tracking system like CallRail, take a few minutes each week to listen to some calls and hear first-hand what your prospect’s first impressions are. Don’t just stop at online and phone calls, secret shop salespeople in person. Send in a family member or friend to take note of their experience, and then the follow-up process.
#2 | Website Button-Up
- Audit your website. From the community status and description to the lot map and starting prices, does every community page have ACCURATE information? Is your first impression on point?
- What photos are you using to represent your community? Are your drone shots and amenity images high quality? Do they effectively ‘show off’ your community? If you have a lifestyle/stock image, does it accurately represent your buyer profile?
- If you have inventory, is it accurately listed? Can prospects quickly find what is available? Do the listings have estimated delivery dates or a sense of general timeframe? Do they show up-to-date progress photos? Even if the homes are under construction, prospects want to see this!
- Do you have ALL of your CTA’s, phone numbers, chat, etc. back on your website? Some builders removed or minimized direct call-to-actions to slow the flow of leads over the last two years. It’s time to turn that faucet back on full force. Make it easy to connect.
- Incentives should be front and center and easy to find!
- TEST your forms! All of them. Make sure they are going to the right place.
#3 | Follow-Up Processes
- OSCs and Sales need to focus on outbound messaging again to make up for slower inbound. Now is not the time to be passive.
- Email-only follow-up will NOT do in today’s market! With fewer leads out there, you have to outperform your competitors when it comes to follow-up. You need to not only be the QUICKEST to follow up but to stay in front of your leads in a variety of different ways!
- Does your online lead follow-up process (particularly emails) reflect the messaging you want to be using in TODAY’S market?
- TIP: Personalize when possible! If you know they were looking at a specific floor plan or community, or they asked a specific question in their comments, make sure to use that info when following up!
- Send re-engagement emails to walk-in leads that are sitting with onsite sales.
- Update/change your ratings within your CRM system. Keep them accurate.
- Update your follow-up process/template! You should be evaluating your follow-up process on a quarterly basis.
#4 | Online Listings
- Do a health check of your current listings. Paying to promote your listings is not inexpensive. Make sure you have your best foot forward at all times here to get the most out of them!
- Are your photos professional quality? 20-30 high-quality images are ideal. Update your images from time to time to keep your listings fresh!
- Does your community have amenities? Are you showing them off to potential buyers? Show them why your community is superior!
- Are your virtual tours and video content linked in all listings? If you don’t have these features yet, it is time to finally make the investment!
- Complete every available field within your listing feed. You can’t afford not to!
#5 | Your ATTITUDE
- You can’t control interest rates or market conditions, but you can control how you present information to today’s buyers. HOW you educate them on the reality of homeownership is up to you!
- Buyers are scared, uninformed, and uneasy about what to expect. A lot of emotions come with buying a new home, especially today. Don’t forget that when speaking to them!
- If you have newer OSCs or sales team members that have not seen a ‘normal’ market (not to mention a ‘down’ market), now may be the time for some sales training! Having a positive outlook on continual growth will set those team members apart from the rest!
Builders, grab the wheel! It’s time to take control of these ‘uncertain times’. These are just a few of the things you can be doing now to create a high impact with little to no cost.
Ready to learn more and implement some new creative and paid media strategies in addition to these? Connect with your Group Two Builder Marketing Manager.
And stay tuned for future blogs with even more ideas!
