Today’s post is Part 3 in the six-week series, “Home Builder Marketing Guide to Takeovers.” In week one we talked about Dirty Research. In week two we discussed Triage: how to identify, isolate, and repair parts of the sales funnel that are under performing. The series focuses on new home communities where the sales or marketing teams have been replaced, but the steps can be applied to any new home community to create stronger and more consistent sales while preserving price points.
The two things that every takeover project needs before marketing begins are systems and home builder marketing goals. It’s easy enough to say, “Sales are slow, and we need to make a change.” It’s much harder to define the week-by-week goals that lead a new home community out of a slump, and how to manage and measure those results to ensure success.
For takeovers, success is often determined by the the strength of the selling system and the clarity of the goal. Here are steps that you can take to create a bullet-proof sales process:
Envisioning Success: What to Measure
We use the 1000/10/100 Rule as a starting point for developing actionable metrics that lead to real success: within 90 days we want to achieve consistent home builder website traffic of 1,000 per month with 10% conversion of web visitor to opt-in lead for 100 new leads per month.
Whatever metrics you use, create a spreadsheet that breaks down the weekly benchmarks required to get to your goal. Takeovers are not about big promotions that come out strong for a day then sparkle and fade. True takeover success is about creating a solid foundation that produces sales month after month without price slashing or escalating concessions.
Taking Control: How to Measure
In a takeover project, it’s imperative and non-negotiable that you have complete, unrestricted, hands-on control over your website and your analytics. Takeover projects require accurate data (not hearsay) and the ability to take quick, decisive action on that data. There is no time for updates that take days to complete or require line item approvals in your marketing budget. We strongly advocate that all home builder websites are built on WordPress which can be updated anywhere, anytime with no HTML. If you are working with an outsourced team, make sure that you have an agreement in place before your marketing begins about how website changes are made, how quickly, and how much. We favor flat rate pricing if you are working with an outside team.
Engagement: How to Capture
The key to creating success with the 1000/10/100 is the “10.” That is 10% conversion of website visitors to leads. This number is almost never achieved when builders rely on a single conversion point (“Contact us for more information”). It requires multiple calls-to-action on your website to engage buyers at all stages of the sales cycle. From general reports about the local housing market (top of funnel) to fast-track relocation guides (middle of funnel) to a weekly Groupon-style enewsletter about limited time special pricing for a Home of the Week (bottom of the funnel), determine what information you need to create to provide enough value to buyers to encourage them to give you an email address.
Beyond the reports and content that you will provide, determine how will you capture the leads. What form will you use? How will you track which downloads are creating the highest conversion? When a new lead is registered, where will it be sent: to your CRM, your email inbox, your email service provider? Who will be cc’d?
Leverage: How to Follow Up
Please, please, please do not spend a single dollar on marketing on any takeover project until you are confident in the follow up process for your new leads. This includes both sales and marketing. Some details to put in place before you spend are:
When someone registers, what kind of autoresponder will they receive? What will the call-to-action be? How will it move them through the sales cycle? How will it be measured?
What kind of email drip campaign will existing leads receive? Will it be segmented by plan type, prospect rating, buyer profile? What will the call-to-action be? How will it move buyers through the sales cycle? How often will it occur? How will success be measured?
Is the sales team following up on every web lead? Are you sure? What are they saying? What is the call-to-action? How is it measured? How does the marketing follow up compliment sales follow up?
How are leads being managed? What CRM are you using? Do sales and marketing both have access? Are marketing and sales activities both recorded? Are sales and marketing adequately trained on the CRM?
What kind of reporting is management going to receive? How frequently? How will management address if weekly benchmarks are not being met? Is there adequate coaching for sales? Does marketing have enough support?
In takeover campaigns, there is no room for wild cards. As we discussed last week, if any single section of the funnel is underperforming it can undermine any takeover campaign results. Know before you begin how each of these systems will be managed to build a solid sales foundation.
Next week we’ll develop an online marketing plan.
Need Help with a Takeover?
Take our 1000/10/100 challenge! Find how we help builders achieve 1,000 website traffic, 10%+ conversion, and 100 new leads per month in 90 days or less! Contact us today for more information and start 2012 strong:
