Spinning Your Web

In the old days, internet-based leads that came into Bowen Family Homes' Web site would go to Internet director Kelly Kenton Fink, who would parcel them out to the on-site sales agents. Busy with flesh-and-blood prospects standing in front of them, the sales agents often set these leads to the side until they had a free moment to respond. Or not.

“We funneled leads to the sales centers,” Fink says, “and the salespeople sent them back to me.”

Blair Kuhnen, president of Lux Solutions, a Fort Worth, Texas–based Internet marketing firm that specializes in residential construction, isn't surprised.

“On-site sales agents suck at managing Internet leads,” he says.

Something had to change. Just under 80 percent of today's home buyers start their research online, reports the National Association of Realtors. They may spend almost three months cruising around Web sites, according to a Harris Interactive survey of new-construction homeowners. They're figuring out which builders fit their needs and which ones are off their radar before they ever hit the “Contact Us” button to ask a question or sign up for a newsletter. Once they do make contact, they expect a response the same day. If they don't get it, a builder isn't likely to get a second chance.

“People go to the Internet to eliminate you,” Fink says.

The standard of service needs to be on the same level as a live sales center, says Internet marketing expert Leighton Collis, founder and president of Boston-based Liquid Advertising, which works with builders and developers on their Web marketing, Internet-lead management, and customer service. In a sales center, a prospective customer asks a question and expects the sales agent to answer within 10 to 15 seconds because a person is standing in front of her. An Internet-based customer expects a response to an e-mail within 24 hours at the latest. Leads that are funneled to a sales center often result in a much slower response, if any at all. That ignores the pace the Internet customer expects for response and puts the lead at risk.

To address the issue, Bowen Family Homes started an Internet sales division in 2004 with one person responsible for responding to all Web-based requests for information on its Atlanta communities, as well as all Atlanta-related calls that came into its toll-free number, 1-800-MY BOWEN. The goal of the division was to set up appointments for the prospects with an on-site sales agent.

During the first year, the Internet sales counselor, Mary Donald, accounted for 7 percent of the Atlanta division's sales, Fink says. By the end of 2005, that number was up to 23 percent. In 2006, a second full-time Internet counselor, Derese Williams, was added. In March 2006, the Atlanta division credited the pair with driving 65 percent of the month's sales, with most of that related to a priority reservation list for its Ashmore community, a new, high-end product line for Bowen Family Homes with starting prices in the low $400,000s. Fifty-one of 85 available homes sold in nine days.

At year's end, the two online counselors had played a direct role in 32 percent of Bowen's Atlanta division's 1,003 sales. The builder recently hired a person to handle Internet leads for its Florida division as well, and if the results are what Fink expects, she plans to ask for the same position for its Texas operations.

It's not an anomaly. The conversion rate on appointments set by an online sales counselor ranges from one in four to one in three, Kuhnen says. “It's very comparable to those set by Realtors,” he adds. “That [percentage] comes from working with five or six builders with effective online programs.”

Mattamy Homes in Charlotte, N.C., has seen similar results from its Internet sales counselor, Leslie Loveless, whom they call an online concierge. Every page on the Web site features a prominent “Ask Leslie” button that includes a toll-free phone number and the words “Free Stuff.” The free stuff is $500 in incentives for anyone who purchases a home as a result of an appointment booked through Loveless. Visitors can either e-mail or call her. She returns calls within two to three minutes and has been known to respond to e-mails at 3 a.m., says Scott Elliott, vice president of sales. Her computer forwards after-hours e-mails to her cell phone.

“She's fantastic,” Elliott says. “Thirty to 35 percent of our sales come through her. She's almost acting as a customer advocate.”

The online counselors at Bowen Family Homes have had the same experience with their customers, who have william riser asked their online sales counselors to do everything from picking them up at the airport to checking out the site orientation for feng shui.

Estridge Homes in Carmel, Ind., worked with Collis at Liquid Advertising to upgrade its Web experience for prospective buyers, says executive vice president Charlie Scott. As part of that effort, Estridge added an online counselor, Angie Huser. Like Mattamy Homes, every Estridge.com pull-down menu prominently features an “Ask Angie” button. (If you visit the site, no, that's not her in the picture, Scott says. She wasn't comfortable with the idea that people who sent her e-mail might recognize her on the street.) She responds to e-mails and phone calls within two hours.

Like Loveless and the Bowen team, Huser's job is to answer questions about the company, help relocation buyers figure out what communities would be closest to their jobs or schools, get them connected to a mortgage representative, and share details about specific neighborhoods or floor plans. They all make regular trips into the field to familiarize themselves with the communities they're being asked about.

Huser also handles requests for informational DVDs and the company's book, Construction Knowledge 101: Everything You Need to Know About Choosing a Builder and Building Your New Home. The book is a powerful tool in meeting Web customers' desire to do extensive research on their purchases.

“We treat our Web site like a model or a virtual community,” Scott says. “[Huser's] responsible for those people. She was one of our salespeople, and she can sell product, but right now, to keep from alienating our sales team, she's a support person.”

Still in its early stages, the Estridge online counselor program is following what Scott says is the expected performance track. Within three months, it started producing sales. The company's expectation was that it would generate one sale a month for the first couple of months, two a month for a “few months after that,” and then three a month on a regular basis.

“We have full expectations that it will [produce] 10 percent to 15 percent of [our sales] in its first full year,” Scott says.

Compensation for Internet sales counselors generally is a base salary, Kuhnen says, plus a bonus for every sales appointment they set that is kept, and a second bonus for every signed purchase agreement from one of those appointments.

The good news about online sales programs is that technology can level the playing field, allowing a small builder to be just as effective as a larger competitor with a dedicated staff. All you need is a contact manager program, such as Microsoft Outlook, with a feature that forwards e-mails to your cell phone or PDA.

“If you're a small guy, you don't need an online sales counselor,” Kuhnen says. “You just need to respond very, very quickly.”

Sort out the Web leads in one easy step.

Almost 80 percent of new-home buyers start their research on the Internet, but almost everyone who walks into a sales center says they learned about the builder just by driving around and seeing their signs. As a result, the sales person launches into a detailed—and unnecessary—presentation about the builder, the community, and the floor plans.

“A lot of sales [agents] in the sales centers treat Internet visitors the same as everyone else, like they've never heard of them,” says Bowen's Internet director Kelly Kenton Fink. “A Web site lead is a be-back. They're not a first-time customer. They're further along in the process.”

How can you tell who is who? One simple question—and it isn't, “How did you find us?”

Instead, a sales agent can let a prospect know that most people who stop by to visit have already spent time on the company's Web site and ask if they've had a chance to do that. If so, then it's really like their second visit. Were there certain models that caught their attention?

“It really cuts through the sales presentation and improves the closing ratio,” says Blain Kuhnen, president of Lux Solutions. “If I've already looked online and looked at the models, I may say I'm good with the product, the location, and the price, and we should be at the point of discussing the lot.”

Help buyers find your Web site—and then keep them there.

Before a prospective customer can make any kind of connection with an online sales counselor, they have to find your site and have a reason to hang out there. Every element of marketing—from print ads and billboards to radio spots and company cars—should drive customers to your Web site.

Doing a local search is a central part of the process for most new-home shoppers, so search engine optimization has to be part of the marketing budget, says Blair Kuhnen, president of Lux Solutions. Search engine optimization is an Internet marketing strategy to push your site to the top of the results when a prospective buyer searches for new homes in the cities where you have active communities. The goal is to have your site show up in the first page of results.

Of course, the ultimate goal is to have a Web address that is so memorable, people skip the search engines (and the competition) completely. When Mattamy Homes opened its North Carolina division, the sales and marketing team created a new tag line, “Mattamy Homes—We're listening.” So it used www.mattamylistening.com as its Web address. The name spoke to the builder's brand message of listening to what its customers wanted and needed in a home and the home-buying experience—and it was unique and memorable. As a result, the number of clicks to the site tripled, says executive vice president Scott Elliott.

Once on the site, the premium is on ease of use, Kuhnen says. Make it usable, quick, and interactive. Visitors shouldn't have to dig through several layers of pages for floor plans, sales center hours, driving directions, or available inventory. Give them tools they can use, such as mortgage calculators, commuter calculators, interactive floor plans, or maps of nearby amenities, such as shopping, schools, parks, and restaurants.

Make it very clear what you want people to do next. Instead of a generic “Contact Us” button, give guests specific options, such as, “Request a Free Brochure,” “Schedule a VIP tour,” or “Ask About Special Financing Programs for First-Time Home Buyers.”

And if you want people to give you accurate personal information, reward them by giving them something in return, such as a report card on local schools. Just make sure the visitors know what you're going to do with the information.

“We've [had] some success in asking gentle and respectful questions and being really candid, saying, ‘Look, we're not going to misuse this information,'” says Leighton Collis, president of Liquid Advertising. “All builders have to be good Internet citizens today.”