Episode 31_FINAL_LOUD

Lynne: About a quarter of our audience is staying home instead of looking at houses, but 75% of people are still coming out and home shopping. Once they know they can have instant self-service access. One of our clients decided that he was going to use and are now to overcome the coven 19 in his area and to bring people out.

So he, last week. Ask for some additional locks and then started placing as much advertising as he could. And from that, this weekend, he had had a smattering of showings throughout the other weekends, but this weekend he had 30 unique users and he just emailed us to say he has one. How it’s already under contract

okay.

Matt: Hi and welcome to building perspective with Matt Riley and Mollie Elkman. 

Mollie: We’re here to bring value to you and your team by exploring all things sales and marketing related, 

Matt: all from different perspectives. Today, our focus discussion of the week this week is 

Lynne: instant 

Matt: self-serve access. With Lynne Davis of internal.

Mollie: But first, let’s get into our top topic of the week. And of course we can’t talk about anything else other than what is going on in the world this week, because that is everyone’s top topic. 

Matt: That’s right. And just so for timestamping purposes, this is. Monday, March 23rd that we’re recording this. So if you’re listening to this and June, uh, disregard, fast forward to the interview part.

Uh, but, uh, Monday, March 23rd, we’re going to talk about, well, what. We are all talking about all the time. Um, and Mala, you said you were having a conversation with a friend of yours outside of the country. 

Mollie: I did. So I, um, I was, you know, I’m, now that I’m at home, I have found myself doing different things that I maybe haven’t always had time to do when I’m at the office.

Necessarily, and because I have the kids at home, I wanted to introduce my son and my daughter to a friend I made many years ago when I was in Ghana with a program called global volunteers. And I used to talk about her in some of my programs because you know, here we were in this village and she didn’t even have running water, but she would walk just to use Facebook.

And. That is really how we’ve kept in touch all these years. I mean, she’s literally in a, in a village in Ghana. And so we did ’em on Facebook. We did the video chat on Facebook, and you know, really what she said to me was the whole world is watching the United States. And she said, you know, if, if the United States isn’t.

Isn’t doing well, what’s going to happen here in Africa? And, you know, it really, it is, it is interesting to get a perspective 

Lynne: from, 

Mollie: you know, a place like that where they, you know, their fear is, you know, even bigger just because they look at us as the leaders and, um, they’re watching our economy and what’s going on as well.

And I think, um. All of us are looking at it. But one of the things that really stood out to me is not that fear, but the fact that like, here I am connecting with someone on the other side of the world and we are all going through this experience together. It is not an American experience. It is a worldwide experience.

Lynne: And 

Mollie: there is something about that that really just connects, you know, human beings. Um, and I dunno, it was pretty, it was pretty, uh. Moving, just to kind of see that. So, you know, as far as what is going on here and in housing, you know, I think the numbers we’re seeing are less disruptive than we were thinking they were going to be.

Um, things are changing, but, you know, Matt, why don’t you kind of give us a, you know, fill us in on, on what we’re seeing here and in the different markets in the States. 

Matt: Yeah, I mean, then on the phone and on video calls, I should say with our builder partners for the past week, um, and, and really monitoring the data, right.

In monitoring website traffic. And for me, why I pay, and if you’ve heard me say, you may have heard me say this before, but bear with me, but. I think what’s so important to monitor website traffic is that is the leading indicator of consumer interest. So the interest level slash intent is either up, down or flat.

Um, and so really like to keep an eye and monitor that. And so what we’ve seen leading up to, we saw two big spikes early in the month, and they were the biggest spikes of traffic of the year. And then since then, which was March the ninth, we’ve seen. Reductions in that overall traffic. And so we’ve seen about a 30% reduction from the top peak.

Um, but that has for the past three days now, that has actually leveled off. That has been flat. We’ve not seen any additional reduction, um, in overall traffic, um, in the past three days over the, and that’s over a weekend. So that’s, that’s a really good thing. Um, and I expect that to stay pretty similar to there for just a little bit.

And we really want that. That’s that settle in phase. Right? So we talked about it on the town hall meeting that we had last week, and Meredith, Meredith, Oliver said, um, like we, we go from like shock and all to settle and that’s really where we’re going to be working. I think we’re in that settle phase, a settling phase of people coming into, okay.

This is the new short term reality and this is what you have to deal with. And I think that the people that were still in the process or thinking of purchasing a home, they are still going to be looking. I don’t think we’re going to convince anybody that was not even relevantly interested in purchasing home.

All of a sudden they’re not going to flip the switch and be like, Oh yeah, now I’m in the game. But I do know that. There. We’ll see pent up demand by the end of it, because people are going to be wanting the heck out of their place. Right. They’re going to, the pain points that they’ve had, whether it’s in an apartment, whether it’s in their current home, are going to be amplified because they’re in their house so 

Mollie: much creaky floors are going to be ringing in their head.

Matt: Yeah. Or you know, the jammed in my apartment. Complex with 600 other people and it’s just got, got that weird, like, I don’t know, like I don’t have a spot to go in my backyard or, you know, whatever. Just to kind of get out of the house and still be, you know, 

Lynne: I haven’t, 

Mollie: I have never been so MBS of people with backyards.

Matt: Like, 

Mollie: I’m serious. Like, this is this. I love my, I love my house, but this could be a game changer for me. I’m like, I need a backyard. 

Matt: Yeah, I know. It’s, it’s crazy. So anyway, that’s what we’re seeing from a data standpoint, and I think those are, I think those are good things. Um, with that being said, we’re going to have to get back to the point of.

Advertising. Uh, cause it’s been like all, we gotta lay low. We don’t want to be offensive. And we still don’t want to be offensive. We don’t want to be tone deaf, but we are going to have to reengage. We can’t just shut down and say, well, we’re afraid that, you know, we’re afraid to talk to people about buying something.

Uh, we are gonna have to reengage. And make sure that people know how they can do business with us, how they can get content. I mean, heck, right now there’s a headline article. Instagram launches stay at home sticker and story to encourage social deaths distancing. And yes, while that is true, and we should be doing that in the areas where that’s been recommended, um.

We, as we’ve companies and builders, we have to continue to move forward. We can’t just shutter shut our doors. 

We 

Mollie: should make our own sticker. Stay at home in a home. You actually love. 

Matt: Love. It fits even better. Um, but yeah, so like how do you, how do we get that out there? We’ve got to get that. That’s where, this is where we’ve been to, I’ve.

I bet I’ve talked about this maybe at least once a month on a podcast, talks about creating content. This is where all of this comes into play. Um, and having that, having all that virtual content to utilize is key and we have to be able to show consumers how they can shop . On the fly here, you know, if you are at all on talk or, or you’ve seen people sharing their tick tock stories of the, you know, the fund.

Mollie, did you see this 

Mollie: ad like 

Matt: flip the switch, right? Or flip, flip the switch. And so 

Mollie: laughing so hard. 

Matt: Where were the two people change clothes? So like, you know, Chad, it was him and his. Giant red suit and his daughter was in a league of, she’s a 15 year old, Chad’s like 10 feet tall and his 15 year old daughter and they’re like, he is tall.

He’s like seven foot, almost six, six 

Mollie: 10 daughters are tall. 

Matt: Yeah, they’re tall too, but they switched clothes, like, you know, flip the switch. The lights go out and they come back and they switch clothes. What about as a builder? If you flip the switch from, you’ve got a video of someone walking in a house, you flip the switch, and then all of a sudden they’re now looking at that house through their computer screen.

Right? Like just as a fun, like little mini viral way to, if you’ve got the ability and it’s like a ten second little deal. I don’t know, just some fun stuff. 

Mollie: I like it. Yeah. We have to share Chad’s video because everyone needs to see it. 

Matt: That’s right. That’s right. So anyway, those are just some things. Um, just just be thinking about that con, getting that content out there.

Another idea was, um, if you’re, if you have an OSC specifically. . You still have salespeople that are on site. Um, even in their model homes, you may be able to use, your OSC is essentially like a, a switch operator. So the lead comes in, they’re engaging the lead. You pick a platform, whether it’s zoom, whether it’s Facebook messenger, video, all the D, you know, fill in the blank, Skype, whatever.

Um. If the OSC knows that salesperson’s on site, you could, the OSC could literally connect the two people via video on the fly and say, Oh, instead of saying, Hey, let’s schedule a time, uh, for you to do this virtual tour. Or traditionally, instead of scheduling a time to go and set this appointment and go see it, why not say, Hey, do you have 15 minutes?

We can do a virtual tour right now. Like, please hold and literally connect in the sales person onsite via zoom or whatever, and do a video conference right on the fly. And that prospect can get a video tour of that home right then and there instead of the, the delay and the reschedule things. Just different ideas to be thinking about and trying.

Lynne: Yeah. 

Mollie: And that’s what it’s all about right now is thinking differently, looking at the same thing and thinking about it with a fresh perspective, and that’s why we’re here to talk about different perspectives and to bring different voices to the industry. 

Matt: Yup, absolutely. All right, we’re going to stop going on and we’re really excited and we’re going to, what we’re going to do is we’re going to take a quick break and when we come back, we’re going to dive into our focus discussion for the week.

So hang tight, we’ll be right back.

and welcome back. And we are so excited to be here with Lynne Davis of intern now for our focus discussion of the week. Instant self-serve access. Thank you so much for coming on the show with us this week. 

Lynne: Lynne, 

welcome Lynne. Oh, thank you. Mollie and Matt, we’re real excited to be chatting with you this rainy morning here in Atlanta.

Matt: Yes. And we’re glad you’re here and it is becoming rainy in Raleigh this morning. Mollie, how about you and Phil? All right. Well, there we go. 

Mollie: Good. Cause it’s making everyone stay inside. 

Matt: That’s right. Well, I’ll tell, I’ll tell you what, Lynne, this conversation we’re about to have couldn’t be more timely than where we are.

We’re sitting here today is Monday, March the 23rd and parts of the country are obviously most of the countries in the. Uh, figure out what’s next mode with the, you know, the, I’m not going to even give it the name. It’s, we’re gonna treat it like Harry Potter. Like Lord Voldemort. We’re not going to, it’s, you can’t speak its name just cause it gives it a legitimacy.

But, uh, LAN, why don’t we start by, uh, me stop being a goof ball and then you tell us a little bit about you and your company and what you guys do, and then we’ll kind of dive into our conversation for the day. 

Lynne: So I can talk about me and enter now for hours, but I’ll try to keep it into a nutshell. So I am, uh, and always have been an entrepreneur.

Whether it was I was working in the corporate world as an intrepreneur or finally deciding to launch my own business. Um, I even took courses in on a master’s level in 1981. In entrepreneurship, science from Syracuse university. That’s how long ago I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but it wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I saw the opening that I had always wanted.

That is sadly enough. The builder that I was helping to sell to infill properties. He was going to have trouble, maybe even lose his house if I didn’t sell his two homes in Brookhaven and they were spaced five, five blocks apart. I couldn’t sit on site and my flyers were disappearing like crazy in 2007 but I didn’t know who.

Was interested in, they were stuck just looking in the windows cause they weren’t calling me for appointments. And I said, I’ve got to get in people into these homes in a self service manner, yet keep the home secure. So that things don’t walk off. And I created a service and it has been gangbusters since.

So that’s a little bit about me. I’m a crazy lady launching fees. Um, and now is the time, I think, when it is most the most apropos service out there. So 

Mollie: tell us a little bit about that service, just for those who are unaware. 

Lynne: Well, simply, if you were a home shopper and you entered into a neighborhood that had.

Enter now homes you would see are bright orange, orange signs in front of a house and it invited you to tour. Now, why wait? And so as a tour person, I would download the apps or call the call center. They would first verify my identity that I am who I say I am, not just take a license or whatever. It’s very.

Detailed with honesty points. We call them and what’s people pass our honesty questions. Then we give them a one time use code to let themselves into the lock, and that code can’t be used on another lock. Can’t be used unless the person isn’t in front of the home. You know, nobody can sit on a couch 10 miles away and get a coat and pass it on to someone else.

We’ve tried to think of every which way to make the system as secure as possible. So if you can imagine punching in a four digit code, another button, turning the knob and walking in and doing your own self tour and really trying the house on. You’re, you know, without having to be accompanied by an agent, a buyer’s agent, or one of our very friendly onsite agents.

It’s just often people aren’t ready to. Engage with a salesperson until they’re ready. Yeah. 

Mollie: And especially now, I know, this is why Matt was saying this is so timely. So giving buyers the ability, uh, to tour and to be in control of that and, and on their own terms is really important right now. So, um, having that unintended access is, is really, I would imagine your sales are going up.

Lynne: Yes, they are. And I shared with you some numbers of how many of our builder clients are seeing self-service showings. And it is. It is not really being super effected by this covert 19 yet. 

Matt: Let’s or cause I want to dive into the what those numbers look like. But first let’s, let’s lead into that a little bit with how it actually works.

Like your particular, your lock, you know what that process looks like of someone getting. Unintended access because for some builders, unintended access may just freak them out. Right? A from that don’t have the control of the sales person or B, how’s the security of my home? Like who’s to say that if it’s a, it’s a furnished home or it’s got appliances in it, or.

You know, because in new construction we are definitely prone to theft. Um, people getting into homes during construction and obviously even after the locks and doors are put on them. So why don’t you talk a little bit about how that works and what it looks like for someone to gain on attendant access?

Lynne: Well, it’s, I’ve got to tell you, it’s a good news story. Um, we’ve been learning like that. Well, we’ve been letting people into beautiful locked spec homes and models for 11 years, and we’ve had one incident of loss, and I’ll tell you honestly called peach tree residential and ask, ask them about it. We lost a kitchen and a bathroom faucet.

That’s it. And ever did it, strangely enough, kept off the water, did everything perfect. So it didn’t hurt the house at all. And so they laughed and they said, well, we only called you because we wanted to tell you we ruined your record. Um, that was about, that was about five years ago. Um, cause we offered to pay for it and they were like, no, it’s not.

You know. A Viking range. Don’t worry. Uh, but we have very strong procedures and technology that, you know, really minimize the worry about a person taking things. For instance, Matt, we’re going to collect. And verify that you live at a certain location, what your cell number is. And so if you do anything untoward, you know, to her fab house, we can then go back to the police with exactly to the second one.

We let you in that house. We’ve never had to do that. Um, because we offered it to peach tree residential here in Atlanta. They again laughed at us and said, don’t worry about it. We just wanted to tell you the 

Mollie: news. They were happy to come to like the faucet so much. 

Lynne: They kind of figured it was an inside job.

Matt: Sounds like one, honestly, with them capping it off. Yeah, 

Lynne: it was perfectly done. They said, um. And so we continue to be very vigilant and our processes. We don’t want to tell everything, but basically we geocode the person and make sure they’re standing in front of the house and not handing off a code to someone else.

We operate during daylight hours, which again, makes it safer and it also reduces the liability of the builder that people aren’t going to trip over things on a porch or. Um, inside a dark home. Um, we. Do that identity verification. And we also make sure the person is over 18, so that we don’t have teenagers just, you know, helping themselves.

Um, so that we have lots and lots and lots of procedures. And I think the best one is we say to every user, this home is now in your hands. So if you will lock all the doors that you may help them in, the front door only needs to be closed. In order to re secure the home. Are you okay with that? 

Mollie: How long does that process take for someone to, if they’re standing in front of the spec home and they want to get in, how long does it take for you to verify who they are and that they are, they can go on in 

Lynne: if we can find them pretty easily.

Now again, our databases are extensive, but there are people who are hiding, you know, and are just very, you can’t find them. And in that case, we still send the builder of the lead, but we say we didn’t provide access due to lack of verification, but it usually takes about two and a half to three minutes on the phone and about a minute and a half minute and a half or two minutes.

On our apps to get in, you know, and wrap, you know, you load in all your, you know, name, address, et cetera, and the app asks you three multiple choice questions like, what was your zip code when you lived in Chicago? And you choose which one. They ask three of those questions and we know that the person is who they say they are.

After that. 

Matt: Okay. I think those are the things that can put a builder’s mind at ease first off about, okay. My property is secure. I think you’re taking, obviously you’re taking steps from, even from a liability standpoint of making sure that there’s no, you know, you’re not doing things at nighttime and people can trip and fall and you know, those kinds of things and having that liability on your property so that, that’s really good.

And you know, the secure the security measures are, it’s quick enough, right to where the buyer doesn’t have to feel like it’s taking forever to get in, but you’re also taking the right measures to ensure that you’ve validated the legitimacy of this person. Are they there on site? Things like that. So those are, those for me is a previous builder.

That would be, that would put my mind at ease there. Um, but. What happens, what like the process. So the buyer comes in or you know, they request access, you give it, everything is verified, you give it. How quickly is the process of that lead now being passed along to the builder? 

Lynne: So we, it’s almost instantaneous, Matt, the, the person, you know, our phone rep or on the app when it’s finished, um, and save.

Happens into our dashboard. Um, and an instant text and email go out to the lead coordinators, and often they’re Osco and so they see that Jane DOE is currently in this home. This is Jane’s cell number, and this is the home that she just visited. And then there’s a link. Which they can click on and it opens up more information about the client or what they think of the house.

Um, so it’s almost instantaneous. So someone could actually, you know, receive the lead and make a call or text while the prospect is still in the home. And we encourage people to do that. Although some OSS feel that they should wait maybe 15 minutes so the person doesn’t think they’re being withdrawn.

The LSCs have a disagreement there as to whether it should be instantaneous response or not. I wouldn’t put her 

Mollie: watching you. 

Lynne: Yes, they brother is here, but they, um, we encouraged them to go ahead and text the customer to start the conversation and then call 15 minutes later. Um, and again, if the.

Prospects sees that phone number coming up again, you know, often they’ll answer it because they do have a question, um, and needs help. So that’s the process, um, that we encourage the lead follow up people to take. And it’s a very powerful thing to, to add these people. To the OFC group, you know, the OCS are handling hundreds, if not sometimes thousands of leads over a 12 month period that they’re nurturing and all.

And so it’s a, a, you know, a certain percentage that actually make it all the way through to a contract. And what we’ve found in, in the two instances where we’ve tracked people right to. You know, from visiting an inner now home to, did they make it, did they buy a home with that client? Would that builder, and we have a 25 to a 45 lead range to one sale.

Matt: Okay, so you’re saying 20 between 25 to 45 showings, entry points into that house leads to one sale. 

Lynne: Yeah. Or, or actually prospects, not showings. Now that prospect may come back three and four times, but then we call those visits. Um, but the prospect, it’s 25 prospects or, you know, unique users. Think of it that way.

Two 45 result in a sale, which is, um, you know, you can look at your stats for. Online and see that these people are actually more interested in a builder’s properties, then the majority of the folks who are online. Um, and 

Matt: it’s interesting, um. Do you see once the a builder is implemented, the system, right?

The law, and by the way, these are, we don’t need to spend any time on this, but just to confirming your, you’re not putting just the old MLS type lockbox. You’re actually, it’s a, it’s a deadbolt relock replacement, is that correct? 

Lynne: Yeah, it is a lock replacement, but not a deadbolt because we can’t be sure that a deadbolt is, they’re engaged in, but we can make sure that the, that our locks, which are put in the thumb latch.

You know, the handle part, um, does engage into the house and it relaxed immediately, like 10 seconds after it’s open. So, and it is a patented lock. Um, it changes code every minute and each lock is different in its start points. So we were really excited every time someone uses us and, and we know that it’s going to be great for the builder because it’s a new lead.

You know, and it, it was how popular his or her homes are, how, how 

Mollie: quickly, how quickly can a builder get one of those installed into a spec? 

Lynne: So. If they send in our signup paperwork today, we would ship either today or tomorrow to them. Then it’s whatever time it takes for ups, and in the meantime they’re deciding where to place those locks and they let us know ahead of time for these beginning locks we provide.

Um, some, you know, training for their Alysse’s or onsite agents or both. And sometimes even training for their installers who aren’t sure how to handle our locks when they received the locks, they install them on the front door and they’re active when they finish the install. Yeah. So they getting up and running.

You know, a day after they are delivered by ups. 

Mollie: Yeah. I think your interest is definitely going to continue to go up just because when we don’t know what’s happening in different States and different markets. So, um. Having that flexibility just to have that option. Um, is, is something that’s very important.

I’m curious to know, what do you see, how do you think sales professionals respond to this? Do they feel like they’re being cut out of the conversation here, or do, do you think, uh, overall it’s just a different approach. 

Lynne: Well at first, I mean, with any technology, we all go, Ooh, what? Um, so at first they’re like, yes, am I, is there something that’s going to come between me and my, and the client?

And once they have it installed in, use it for, for a short time, they realize how great it is because they have more leads to work. And the quality, the leads is better in some ways than the, um, site or online leads. And they find that, um, it’s like having an assistant because enter now works from sunup to sundown while their hours are only 11 to six.

We’re still there providing access and extending their good customer service. So it’s an, it’s an assistant with that they don’t have to share any commission with, 

Matt: so, all right, that’s. That’s I, I totally can buy into a higher quality lead as well, simply because they’re just lower in the funnel of, you know, an online lead is a, is a good lead, but sometimes those leads can be higher in the funnel.

Right? They’re just there. They’re not physically out there yet. Some of them are, some of them aren’t, but you know, but yours are. Standing in front of, you know, the ones that are coming in and using your lockboxes are physically standing in front of the house. Uh, they definitely want to see a house so that, that, that totally makes sense.

Um, I 

Lynne: hadn’t  

Matt: right before we got on, you shared some info to Mollie and I, and I hadn’t even looked at it yet, but I think it might be a good opportunity cause you’re reporting some results from this past weekend and a couple of different markets. And why don’t you kind of walk us through that. 

Lynne: Sure. We took some of, um, we took and looked at only weekend access for the last four weeks.

I wanted to see how much of an impact the covert 19 was having, especially this weekend. And if we, um. You know, or people were not coming out to look at houses. Now we’re coast to coast and in I probably 40 different States at this point. And what we saw were that the, there was a high, the weekend of March 7th and eighth.

And since then, there has been a reduction the following weekend in a little more reduction this past weekend. Another words are showings. You know, people coming by and using instant access in a self service manner is off by about 23%. I’m from a high, and you know how Gogo things where at the beginning of the month, I mean, we were all looking at numbers that were stupendous.

Um, we did see, um, that about a quarter of our audience is staying home and scuttled, looking at houses. But 75% of people are still coming out and home shopping. Once they know they can have instant self-service access. One of our clients, um, green tech in, uh, Chattanooga, Tennessee decided that he was going to use and are now to overcome the covert 19 S in his area and to bring people out.

So he, last week. Asks for some additional locks and then started placing as much advertising as he could. And he ha, he sent out an email, um, that had a night, uh, 29% open rate in eight hours. And. A 4% click through to the video of how to use enter now and how to download the app. And so that agents could pre download the app.

They can’t get into a house until they actually go to the house. You know, they can’t get a code. Um, and from that this weekend, he had had a smattering of showings throughout the other weekends, but this weekend he had 30 unique users and he just emailed us to say he has one house already under contract.

So for him. The additional, you know, encouragement to his audience has more than worked and brought people out in, in his, I mean, he had 30 people come through his, his houses in the two days. 

Matt: Yeah. That’s interesting. On your, the numbers though, that you saw, because that does fall similarly in line with, you know, the, what we’re seeing from a national aggregate level.

So we saw a big peak. Uh, this year is like the biggest is the biggest spike of the, of the year so far, which was on March the ninth. Uh, we saw it on the third and the ninth, and then since the ninth, we’ve seen about a 30 per overall ending yesterday, about a 30% decline and online traffic. However, that’s kind of flatlined out.

Flattened out a little bit, but that’s still above 2019 traffic levels of March. So it’s, that’s, it’s interesting that you’re, um, that lines up pretty well with the same numbers that we’re seeing from a website activity standpoint. Um, but the difference is those folks that you have are in the physical house.

There is the difference right there physically there. Um, which is a big, is a big thing. 

Lynne: And you know, in the next two weeks or so, we’re going to be launching a service that when someone goes to the first house, they’re going to receive a text inviting them to go to that builders second and third house that has entered now.

So we’re going to actually create a tour so that the customer has a variety of. Of, um, touring options for this, the home prospect. So it’s called  for more. I love, 

Matt: I like it. 

Lynne: Um, and so any builder who has multiple locks, there are information about where those other locks are, will be, uh, you know, texted to users.

To visitors. 

Mollie: Yeah. It’s a really interesting time in our industry because you know, we all have been talking about tech disrupting every single industry that is out there. And really, you know, housing has always tried to stay up to speed, but I, it’s almost like this virus is pushing us to. Adapt and, and use tech in a different way.

And I, I really think it’s going to change how we market and sell new homes moving forward. And I think this idea is a big part of 

Lynne: it. Well, thank you, Mollie. We’ve been talking about it for years, but now is the time. It’s especially. A safe way to do business. 

Mollie: I think it goes from something cool to something smart and something needed and something that actually is safer and puts the buyer, um, at ease.

And the salespeople, you know, there are a lot of people who are selling right now who are also scared. 

Lynne: So, yeah, I think, uh, 

Mollie: it’s a good, it’s good timing. 

Lynne: Well, thank you. And one other thing is we were recognized by the national . Well, a association of home builders in 17 for being the innovation of the year in terms of safety.

And they considered us as the innovation of the year. So we were thrilled. That’s really igniting with any tool. Um. That helps them onsite agents. It always went to the guides in the field, you know, a new saw. Right? Of course. 

Mollie: That’s 

Lynne: exciting. And so we’ve always been as a service that allows more security for our workers.

Mollie: So Lynne, you know, I love talking to true entrepreneurs and you saw a problem and you fixed it. By coming up with this idea and bringing it to life. We have a lot of listeners who are leaders. They’re creative, they’re innovative. I’m curious if you have any, um, advice for them as far as, you know, innovation and keeping, you know, how to bring those ideas that they have to life.

Lynne: I have tons of ideas and I’m happy to share them, coach people and give them the insights that I had to learn the hard way because 1112 years ago, really the path to becoming an entrepreneur was a very. Ah, you know, I have a good idea. I’m going to launch it and that’s the totally wrong way to do it.

Basically, I launched a service when the market was disappearing. Now was that smart? You know, 2008 and nine I’m launching something to the builder world and we recovered fine because we went and sold. A REOC for SunTrust bank, you know, and 

Matt: got to 

Lynne: launch it and that kind of thing. But the process today is very different, and it’s, there’s actually a book that’s written on it, and it’s a strange name.

It’s called four steps to the epiphany. And the epiphany basically is the idea that’s going to sell. And it was written about six years ago. It’s the text that the colleges used today to teach entrepreneurship, and it is the process that the accelerators and others. Um, that help businesses get their ideas going and raise capital or bootstrap their way into a business that it is the process that, that they use.

So it’s the best thing is to find the market first. Then create the product.

I did it the opposite way. And so every city these days has, um, you know, I was just reading about how strong Nashville, Tennessee is in Cincinnati and, and lots of cities have these entrepreneurial, encouraging entities, which I can help them hook up to. And it’s for. Being a woman in this business, let me tell you that there’s, there’s actually venture funds just for women such as golden seeds.

There is a SBA loans through what’s called ACE. Um, access to capital for entrepreneurs. It’s loans at a very low rate that you can get, um. If you’re a minority or a woman. Oh. So there’s a lot of things to lift us up to get started and be innovative and change our industry for the better. 

Mollie: So based on what is going on right now, you have a captivated audience of sales and marketing people in housing.

What would you, what would you want to say to them based on what is going on in the world right now?

Lynne: T Mollie, what would you say about us? Come on. Give me some direction there. Well, 

Mollie: my advice would be also make sure you have some type of marketing materials in those spec homes. Don’t just let people come in completely on their own without some type of messaging. 

Matt: Well, and adding to that, you’ve got to let people know that you actually have it.

Yeah. I mean, getting the message out that, Hey, this is what we have the ability to do. You can’t just put the locks on there and think that it’s all going to like take care of itself. You actually have to drive that messaging to the public 

Lynne: very much. So nurturing these leads is, is a real key. And also offering them additional technology.

These are people that aren’t afraid of technology, right? They’ve used it to enter the phone. I’m sorry, enter the home. But how about adding on a tablet that they can then use to, um, it’d be changed the color of the kitchen cabinets while they stand in the home that they dream about a different fireplace surround that can help them see the different options.

You know, these option programs through rendering house and all that, give them. Virtual reality on top of the reality of walking through are very powerful. They can create their own house while they’re there. 

Mollie: Absolutely. We love John Lee, so that’s a, that’s a great way to, uh. You know, connect, connect with you, connect with John Lee.

Um, the future is here. We want to make sure that we’re adapting and putting the buyer in control in a way that is safe and healthy for everyone involved, and also keeps us going and selling homes and keep the economy going at a, at a scary time. So 

Lynne: I think this was really 

Mollie: helpful and we’re going to put some links to your.

Website, and I’m sure we’ll have some questions from our listeners 

Lynne: and. 

Mollie: I will get them in touch with you. 

Matt: Yeah. Lynne, if they, if someone wants to reach out to you and your organization other than your website, which that can still be one of them, what’s the best way for them to do that? 

Lynne: You know, I’m on the website.

There’s all kinds of buttons for them to get to forums and. And our phone number. But you know what? It’s a really easy phone number to remember. Uh, so people don’t have to try to look up the name and turn. Now that starts with the letter N, uh, can be challenging finding us sometimes. Instead, our phone number’s an easy one.

It’s six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 18, 11. And you reach our office here and we’re happy to help with, you know, setting up a couple locks for a test or sending 50 so that you can really roll it out to all your close outs and communities and offer self-service. 

Mollie: I want to see if I remembered it. Six, seven, eight, nine 10 1811.

Lynne: Exactly.

You’ll never forget it now, Mollie. 

Matt: That’s right. That’s right. Awesome. Well, Lynne, thank you so much for coming on our show and being so timely with information and technology that’s been around for a little while now, but now is a, we are laggards in the home building industry. Uh, nothing like challenging times to force our hand.

To bring the consumer what they actually want. 

Lynne: Yup. Well, thanks Matt and Mollie, you, you all are such thought leaders in the industry that. You know, this is such a great recommendation. Appreciate that. 

Matt: Thank you so much, Lynne, and, uh, appreciate for coming on. Have a great day. .