Milesbrand’s Kelly Fink Talks Reducing Leaks in Your Sales Funnel at the Sales & Marketing Power Hour

In the latest episode of the Sales & Marketing Power Hour, hosted by Carol Morgan from Denim Marketing and Kimberly Mackey from New Homes Solutions Consulting, industry experts tackled a crucial challenge for home builders: plugging the leaks in your sales funnel.

Milesbrand’s very own General Manager, Kelly Fink, was among the esteemed guests sharing valuable insights alongside Spencer Powell from Builder Funnel and Keith McKinney from New Home Star.

Here’s a breakdown of the key takeaways and how Kelly Fink’s expertise in branding and messaging helped illuminate the path to a leak-proof funnel.

Identifying the Sales Funnel’s Weak Points

The conversation began by dissecting the common areas where leads slip away in the sales funnel. Attendees were encouraged to test the contact forms on their builder websites to see what a potential home buyer would experience after submitting a request for information. With experience managing OSC programs from 2005 to 2020, Kelly is incredibly versed in the online lead process, and mentions that the same conversations around responding to online leads in a timely manner is continuing to happen today, just as it has for the previous 20 years.

While this subject isn’t new, it also doesn’t appear to be getting any better. In the most recent Online Homebuyer Mystery Shop Report, it was discovered that 60% of home builders never followed up on an online lead by phone call, and 34% never followed up by email.

Spencer Powell emphasized the importance of seamless collaboration between marketing and sales teams. When these two departments aren’t aligned, potential buyers can easily fall through the cracks.

Kelly pointed out another critical leak: the OSC to onsite agent handoff. A well-defined strategy is essential to prevent lead loss during this transition. Kelly emphasized the importance of complete information exchange to ensure a seamless experience for the buyer. For example, if an OSC quickly responds to a lead, discusses their needs and schedules an onsite appointment, but fails to share those crucial details with the onsite agent, the lead may be lost. The same is true if the OSC provides these important details to an onsite agent, yet the agent doesn’t review prior to the appointment. The buyer shouldn’t have to reiterate their needs or preferences – they expect a seamless continuation of their journey from online to in-person.

Strategic Marketing: A Conversation with Kelly Fink

Kelly Fink dove deep into the significance of clear and consistent communication across all your platforms. She offered actionable advice on crafting messages that resonate with today’s home buyers, ensuring your funnel attracts the right audience from the start. Here are some of the highlights from Kelly’s portion of the webinar:

• The urgency of online sales and lead response: Kelly highlighted the persistent issue of home builders not responding to online leads in a timely manner, or worse, not responding at all.
• Building strong relationships: Fostering a strong connection between your onsite and online sales teams is paramount to eliminate lead loss during the transition.
• Nurturing leads, not giving up: OSCs and agents must recognize that some buyers require more time and a tailored approach. Persistence is key to converting these leads. Don’t give up too soon because their buying cycle is taking longer than the norm.
• Landing page strategy: Kelly explained the impact of well-designed landing pages with clear CTAs on conversion rates. She explained that while your main website may convert 2-3% of visitors into leads, a well-designed landing page with a strong CTA can achieve conversion rates of up to 30%! It’s essential that the landing page aligns with the ad, QR code or social post that brought the visitor there.
• Nurture email blasts: Nurture your leads to ensure you stay top-of-mind as they go through the buying cycle. One of the ways that Milesbrand helps its master-planned community clients do this is by sending regular nurture emails. These emails can showcase amenity updates, upcoming events, new home designs, construction progress and more. If you forget about them as a lead, they will forget about you as an option.
• CRM as a goldmine: Kelly emphasized the power of customer relationship management (CRM) systems. By analyzing the data it provides, you can learn a lot about what leads are truly interested. For example, when you review your nurture email blast reports, you can identify engaged leads who are clicking through and follow up with personalized communication (email, call, text).
• Content is king: A consistent content strategy is crucial for SEO strategies, personalized follow-up, email blasts and social media engagement.

Action Steps to Seal Your Sales Funnel

There’s no magic formula, but the panelists agreed on a multi-pronged approach to address funnel leaks. Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Alignment: Ensure seamless collaboration between marketing and sales for a cohesive customer journey.
• Messaging: Craft targeted messaging that resonates with your ideal buyer persona.
• Sales Training: Invest in ongoing sales training to equip your team with the necessary skills and tools.
• Technology: Embrace technology to streamline processes, personalize communication and improve speed.

If you’re looking to optimize your sales funnel and boost conversions, this episode of the Sales & Marketing Power Hour is a must-watch. You’ll find a treasure trove of practical advice, including Kelly Fink’s valuable insights from the Milesbrand perspective.

Catch the Replay and Learn More

Don’t miss out on more of these industry-leading insights! View the full replay of the webinar here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=STecCTFBry4.

We hope this blog recap empowers you to take action and start plugging the leaks in your sales funnel.