IBS 2024 Recap: 15 Secrets to Sales and Marketing Success

Home builders, are you seeking to elevate your brand and drive sales in today’s dynamic market? Then the session led by Milesbrand President Dave Miles at IBS was a can’t-miss event! If you didn’t attend in person, we’ve covered the basics here for you.

Dave hosted a powerhouse panel discussion at the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas on February 27, 2024. This highly sought-after session was so popular that the National Association of Home Builders asked the team to do an encore presentation! Both sessions featured a lineup of industry veterans:

• Carol Morgan, President of Denim Marketing
• Mollie Carmichael, Principal of Zonda
• Tracy Yeadon, Executive Partner of True Homes

This exclusive event, packed to capacity with both sessions sold out, provided attendees with a deep dive into the secrets behind effective sales and marketing strategies.

Here’s a quick recap of what was covered:

• Research and Product Development: Gain a competitive edge through insightful strategies.
• Building a World-Class Sales Team: Discover the keys to fostering a high-performing sales force.
• Creating and Implementing a Full-Funnel Marketing Strategy: Master the art of attracting, engaging and converting customers at every touchpoint.

IBS attendees, stay tuned for the full recording of this popular, jam-packed session, available beginning March 15.

Intrigued to learn these industry leaders’ top secrets? Let’s delve into the key takeaways from the panelists themselves:

Mollie Carmichael, Zonda

Mollie covered research and product development strategies, helping attendees understand that knowing their customer and what they want and are willing to pay for can add substantial profit to bottom lines. She pointed out that too often, builders reuse product instead of refining and dialing in the right product that will maximize margins. This is an important skill for home builders to hone, especially when markets shift. She pointed out during her presentation that only 20% of home shoppers are actually dissatisfied with their home – so what will actually make them move?

Attendee Question: How do you make the time to really get the right information upfront?

Mollie: The goal is to be proactive upfront; that’s what the Zonda team does. To be successful, it is important to be out front with where market trends are going by analyzing both past buying activity and understanding what customers want next.  The most important step is not just looking at what your buyers bought last, but understanding what your consumers or today’s new home shoppers want next. The easiest opportunities to solve for – and that drive a premium – is to provide a solution that people want and is not in the market already.

Attendee Question: Oftentimes, builders look to the top competing communities for inspiration. How do I find an opportunity that isn’t in the market?

Mollie: The key is first measure the transaction activity that did happen over the last 12 months as well as the future supply that is coming.  Understand that buying activity who bought it and at what price points.  Understand who bought them, and then measure that against what new home supply is coming in the future.  Then, look at your consumer data on what they want.  Solve there.

Tracy Yeadon, True Homes

Tracy, who won the Sales Manager/Leader Gold Award at the 2024 Nationals, shared her top secrets for building a world-class sales team. Tracy’s tips focused on the benefits of having an online sales team, how your sales team can generate their own traffic, how to recruit the right team members, best practices for training and coaching your team, and why and how you should measure, report and reward your team to encourage performance.

Attendee Question: How do you set a goal for your onsite sales team for self-generated traffic?

Tracy: When setting goals for onsite sales agents to generate their own traffic, it's crucial for agents to pick up the phone and call co-op Realtors in the local area, reach out to community connections and find ways to network. Don’t just sit onsite and wait for marketing to do all the work; agents need to generate leads too.

Take a community-specific approach. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, analyze the overall sales goal for each community. Start by determining the number of leads or visits required to convert into a sale, considering the unique characteristics of each location.

Sales leaders should work backward from the overall sales target to establish a specific percentage goal for self-generated traffic. This tailored approach ensures that each onsite agent has a realistic and attainable target based on the community they are serving.

Quality of outreach is paramount. Rather than a generic approach like dropping flyers, emphasize individualized outreach to key stakeholders, such as top realtors, and building strong relationships within the community. This targeted strategy not only enhances the chances of generating traffic but also contributes to the overall quality of leads and potential conversions.

In summary, the goal-setting process involves analyzing the overall sales target per community, breaking it down into self-generated traffic goals, and tailoring these goals for each onsite sales agent. Quality outreach strategies, focused on building relationships, are emphasized over generic methods to ensure success in achieving these objectives.

Carol Morgan, Denim Marketing

The final panelist, Carol covered the marketing strategy builders can use to attract buyers, from first click to the final sale. Carol’s section included a discussion about the importance of home builder websites, leveraging SEO, the critical component of content, why email marketing still works and how to use marketing to drive leads. She points out that your online marketing presence is about creating an engaging, user- and search-friendly environment that reflects your brand while meeting the needs of your audience. With the advent of AI, blogging and website content is going to change. Carol stressed that quality, original content is going to be more important than ever as these changes occur. She touched on a full funnel marketing approach utilizing tactics that attract buyers at the top of the funnel and then utilizing remarketing and email marketing to convert buyers lower in the funnel.

Attendee Question: With Google’s most recent Helpful Content Update, how has your content strategy changed?

Carol: Blogs play a significant role in SEO, which is why it’s so important to write with Google’s Helpful Content Update in mind. This update emphasizes user-focused content that is helpful instead of content created for search engines, which is how we’ve all written in the past.

Your blog content should offer genuine value, addressing user queries and providing solutions. Aim for in-depth content that positions your brand as an industry authority.

Don’t just rewrite existing information. Uniqueness will be rewarded, so be sure to conduct thorough research on your topic, inject your expertise, and deliver fresh perspectives.

Breathe life into older content by revamping and refreshing it. Update existing posts to reflect current trends, market insights or new information as it’s available.

A regular stream of high-quality content is vital, and consistency is key. Develop a content calendar to maintain website freshness and audience engagement. Plus, posting new content keeps the search engines coming back to crawl your site.

By prioritizing valuable and engaging content, your blog aligns with Google's update and empowers your marketing goals. Remember, valuable content is the cornerstone of SEO success.

Connect with Milesbrand to Create a Successful Marketing Strategy

The Milesbrand team was honored to be part of the 2024 International Builders’ Show. We’re dedicated to fostering industry-wide growth through innovative strategies that empower our clients, from home builders and real estate developers to master-planned communities.

Our passion lies in crafting exceptional marketing strategies. We take immense pride in being recognized as an industry leader, consistently pushing boundaries and shaping the future of home builder marketing. Contact Milesbrand today and discover how our team of industry veterans can help you achieve remarkable results.