Every year, ECI/Lasso CRM invites the top minds in the home building industry to contribute to a joint blog post featuring the Top New Home Sales Tips, the Top New Home Marketing Tips, and recently added The Top New Home Operations Tips for the year. You can visit https://newhomessolutions.com/SMPH-2024-Annual-Lasso-Roundup for links to the full blog posts on the ECI/Lasso CRM blog.
From those posts, Carol Morgan and Kimberly Mackey invited a group of panelists who contributed to join us for the Sales and Marketing Power Hour in December each year. This is our 4th year in a row of hosting these events and when you watch this one, you will understand why we have made it our annual tradition. Here are some key themes we discussed:
The recent Sales and Marketing Power Hour, hosted by Carol Morgan from Denim Marketing and Kimberly Mackey from New Homes Solutions Consulting, gathered some of the brightest minds in the industry. The panel featured Dennis O’Neil from O’Neil Interactive, Haley Naebig from Novi Home, Sara Williams from Anewgo, Heidi Schroeder from ECI/Lasso CRM, and Leah Fellows from Blue Gypsy, Inc. The discussion revolved around the integration of emotional intelligence, the human touch, and AI in sales and marketing.
Emotional Intelligence and the Human Touch
One of the key themes underscored by the panelists was the growing importance of emotional intelligence in marketing and customer experience. The speakers emphasized that in an era increasingly dominated by AI, knowing ‘what AI doesn’t know’ becomes a critical skill. This involves focusing on personal authenticity and leveraging AI while maintaining a unique voice. The panelists collectively agreed that authenticity is a marketer’s superpower, allowing them to connect with customers on a more personal and emotional level.
Leveraging AI and Staying Ahead of the Curve
The event highlighted the crucial role of generative AI in staying ahead in the competitive landscape. Panelists discussed the importance of not just leveraging AI but doing so in a way that adds value beyond what AI can achieve alone. This involves a strategic blend of AI’s efficiency and human creativity to create marketing strategies and customer experiences that resonate on a deeper level.
Refining Skills and Adapting to Changes
The panelists shared insights into refining skillsets and adapting to changes, particularly in search engine algorithms expected in 2024. This continuous learning and adaptation shows the industry’s commitment to staying at the forefront of innovation. On the marketing side, although AI can be useful, making sure that you are writing for humans, not just algorithms, was a recurrent theme, the panel emphasized the need to create content that genuinely engages and informs.
Sales Strategies and CRM Utilization
In the realm of sales, the discussion centered on intentional teamwork and the flexibility to integrate technology. The panelists highlighted how a growth mindset, characterized by a full understanding of the sales team’s performance and immediate data entry into CRM systems, can lead to more effective sales strategies. The panel further explored what to do with the information you have once your team is fully utilizing your CRM and how you can readily identify trends to ebb and flow as needed rather than having a knee-jerk reaction to the market.
Building Trust and Driving Traffic
Building trust through consistent and transparent communication with customers was identified as a key strategy for reducing cancellations and boosting referrals. This involves over-communicating and providing repetitive affirmations to customers about the status of their homes. Sales reps were encouraged to take risks, aim for high sales targets, and actively network with realtors and community members to establish themselves as new home experts. Successful sales professionals need to drive traffic themselves rather than only relying on the builder to do it for them.
Online Sales Specialist Strategies
For online sales specialists, the focus was on setting strong appointments and maintaining a quick response time of 5 minutes or less. A consistent follow-up process and converting a minimum of one in five appointments into sales were identified as critical metrics for success.
Conclusion
Although each presenter spoke on their individual topic, the themes for what success in 2024 looks like are readily apparent. In the age of AI, individuals must create value for themselves. We all must differentiate ourselves and rise above. In sales, marketing, and operations focus on bringing the human touch, building relationships, and providing value with carries you and your company through 2024 and beyond.
Here are the AI resources that Sara Williams discussed during SMPH.
Follow on Linked in:
Allie K Miller (she is a Top Voice on Linked In on the topic of AI)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alliekmiller/
Bernard Marr
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernardmarr/
John Lee
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-lee-a672019/
Follow tags on Linked In for
#Artificial intelligence
Listeners can join my Facebook group Elevate New Homes where I try and share everything I am learning or reading about AI and tech that is applicable in our industry:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/980438546163018/
If attendees want to check out my GPT for new home sales and marketing (they need to subscribe to ChatGPTplus), they can do so here: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-d6ERZCGNr-sarai
REGISTER NOW for all upcoming 2024 Sales and Marketing Power Hour Events. CLICK HERE.
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