This year for the Pacific Coast Builder’s Show (PCBC), the City of San Diego promised great weather, an educational tradeshow, and opportunities to meet new and existing friends. It did not disappoint!

On Thursday, June 6, over 100 new home industry executives and technology leaders gathered on the deck of the San Diego Convention Center for the PCBC 2013 Builder Tech Networking Reception. We mixed, mingled and discussed the very latest in new home sales and marketing innovation. Here’s our photo album from the event. Cheers!

(Photo credit: http://bostinno.streetwise.co)

Working in the new home sales industry, you’ve undoubtedly heard the story before. The sales department says that marketing doesn’t generate enough qualified leads. Marketing rebuts that sales isn’t doing enough with the leads they have. As an executive, how do you reconcile the two departments and create the kind of collaborative environment that promotes teamwork and fosters growth and success? A home builder CRM system could help in more ways than you think.

One Database For All:  When the sales and marketing teams use disparate databases or maintain lead information using outdated spreadsheet-based tools, the likelihood for error or misinterpretation increases tremendously when data is shared across multiple departments. With a cloud-based CRM system, all departments and team members access and update the same information in real time, eliminating inconsistent, inaccurate data.

Automatic Lead Capture: A CRM system with the ability to capture every lead from every source saves time, money and eliminates margin for error. A prospect profile is instantly created and sales teams are immediately notified as soon as a lead registers on the website, a listing service, a banner ad – anywhere. Salespeople love this feature because it’s a constant source of new leads AND they don’t have to physically enter each one into the database. Marketing loves it because it ensures no hard-earned lead goes unnoticed or gets lost.

Sales Processes: Studies have shown that having clear, pre-defined sales processes in place leads to increased appointment conversions and sales. Sales processes allow salespeople to quickly weed out the hottest prospects and focus intently on their needs, while categorizing other leads according to status and implementing the appropriate process for them. The marketing manager can easily see where the hottest leads are coming from, using the data to further refine marketing strategies.

Built-in Email Marketing: Having an email marketing function built right in to the CRM system creates a huge advantage for homebuilders. The marketing department (or individual sales agents) is able to create different email campaigns for each segment of the database. Hot prospects and brokers may receive weekly or bi-weekly updates, while less qualified leads may only receive a quarterly e-newsletter. Marketing is able to keep your communities top-of-mind with unique messaging to the entire database, while sales primarily focuses on more immediate revenue-generating tasks.

With the use of technology, automation and processes, CRM helps sales and marketing people do their jobs more quickly, easily and profitably – and collaboratively.

If you’d like to have a discussion about how CRM could help your entire team be more productive and profitable, contact a Lasso team member today.

CRM and Lead Management Software becoming main stream for builders and developers across North America 

Vancouver, Canada (June 7, 2013) – Lasso Data Systems, the recognized leader of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions for the real estate home building industry, is pleased to announce during the first four months through April 2013, over thirty more home builders, real estate developers and new home sales agencies selected Lasso’s CRM home builder software for their residential development projects and communities.

“The exploding influence of online marketing and the pervasive use of the internet by prospective home buyers are major factors contributing to transform how new residential developments are bought and sold,” stated Dave Clements, Lasso CEO.  “These highly informed buyers interact and have different information expectations of builder marketing and sales teams, reinforcing the importance of using software technology like Lasso CRM to ensure that all leads are captured and responded to quickly and professionally.  Having the tools to easily follow up, communicate and nurture relationships with prospective homeowners has never been more important in their home buying process,” added Clements.

William Ryan Homes selected Lasso for their CRM and lead management needs. (Photo credit: WilliamRyanHomes.com)

During the four months through April, Lasso’s impressive list of new home builder clients included Home Creations, Classic Communities, Main Street Homes, Davidson Homes, Cobblestone Homes, Regent Homes, Roberts Resorts, William Ryan Homes, Edge Homes. The company also added several leading urban real estate developers and sales agencies to their customer portfolio including projects with Solterra, Rose & Womble, At Properties, Wilson Meany and M2I Developments.

“We are extremely proud to be associated with such a distinguished group of builders and new home agencies and are appreciative of the strong market endorsement of our real estate CRM solutions across North America and internationally,” stated Dave Clements, Lasso CEO.

About Lasso Data Systems:

Lasso Data Systems is the leading developer of innovative “on-demand” CRM home builder software for builders and developers.  Lasso, deployed on thousands of projects globally, equips real estate developers, home builders and sales agencies to convert prospects to purchasers and to sell their developments faster and easier. The company’s software manages potential homebuyers online from interest list to occupancy including marketing, sales, inventory and contract management.  Lasso works equally well for diverse developments from urban high-rise to suburban townhomes, single family, master planned and senior communities, and golf, mountain and ocean destination resorts.  Lasso is designed for ease of use, rapid deployment and pay by usage to maximize each client’s ROI and reduce their technology and financial risk. Lasso is a privately held company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Canada. www.LassoCRM.com

View a PDF of the release here.

For more information, contact Angela McKay at 1.866.526.9955 Ext: 8557 or angela@lassocrm.com.

In this two-part series, we’ll look at some of the major social media channels and how you can use them to effectively market new homes.

As marketing and social media expert Carol Morgan said in her latest Lasso CRM guest post, “…with the rise in technology also comes the need to change your company’s marketing practices to be inclusive of the new technology that your potential buyers are using. Right now, that means adapting a solid social media strategy…”

With 90 percent of home buyers starting their research online, consumers are scouring the Internet for information on your company or community. If they can’t find what they’re looking for, they will likely move on. These days, having a website alone isn’t enough. Consumers want to see how people interact with your brand. They want to follow your updates without investing too much time until they’re close to making a purchase decision. With social media, you can drive much of the content consumers seek.

In this week’s post, we’ll look at three of the most prominent social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter and Google+ – and the most effective types of content to post for each.

Facebook: This continues to be the most popular social networking site on the planet; it currently has 1.11 billion users. (Your buyers are definitely on here!) Facebook is not a channel for hard selling or in-your-face marketing. It is a vehicle to show your brand’s personality, what you stand for, and why people like and buy from you. Engaging photos along with timely, relevant content are the best ways to leverage the viral nature of Facebook by promoting Likes, Comments and Shares. In addition to scheduled posts, be spontaneous, creative and fun.  It’s also important to be social on social media! Like other businesse pages in your area to foster a sense of community. Don’t forget to interact and engage with others, as this will draw even more people to your page. Facebook is also a great way to capture new leads in a non-disruptive manner. As users are browsing your content, you can provide a registration form right on your profile page.

Twitter: This micro-blogging network is gaining users at a rapid pace. You have only 140 characters to express each thought, so posts must be clever, relevant and entertaining (easier said than done!). Twitter is a great platform to develop a voice of expertise or authority about a certain subject. As a marketer of new homes, post about events, businesses and developments in your community, neighborhood or city. Share articles about the home buying process and what makes your community unique. Think about the kind of information you’d want to read if you were a buyer, and post it. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to engage in conversation on Twitter. Many large companies are even using Twitter as a customer service platform. If someone asks a question or directs a comment toward you, respond! It will show there are people behind your brand, and that you are part of a responsive, responsible company.

Google+: With its latest timeline redesign and improvements in ease-of-use, Google + is quickly gaining users. But the power of Google + is not in the number of daily users; rather, it is a direct path to the Google search engine. Posting unique, optimized content on Google + will increase your organic search engine rankings, which means more potential home buyers will find you on the Internet.  Google is also a big fan of photos, and it’s algorithms will throw more weight to relevant posts that include pictures.

It would take three separate white papers to discuss how to effectively leverage each of these social media channels, but hopefully this article gives you a broad overview of the differences between them and why they’re important to use daily.

Stay tuned for our next article on social media. We’ll discuss Linked In, Pinterest and YouTube. If there are other social networks you have questions about, please comment below!

Recently at Lasso, we launched an initiative to thoroughly scrub our database. We went through almost every registrant and updated notes, ratings and contact info, and merged duplicates. There were some prospects, however, who weren’t ready, willing or able to implement a home builder CRM system. Undoubtedly, you have your fair share of unqualified leads as well. So, what do you do with them? Are they still valuable? The answer is yes!

Leads can be unqualified for a number of reasons, and just because they don’t qualify for a home today, doesn’t mean they won’t qualify in six months to a year. This is particularly true of internet leads who are marked unqualified because they are unresponsive. Also, if a lead is truly interested in your community, but it isn’t right for them, he or she could become a terrific advocate on your behalf – if they are given the right information.

Here are some suggestions to reaching out to and engaging unqualified leads without investing too much time and effort:

1. Never delete a lead from your database. It’s better to share valuable, periodic information than none at all.  Life circumstances can quickly change.
2. Create a unique email marketing campaign for unqualified leads. Once you’ve identified and grouped your leads, send them a self-serve registrant update so they can update their contact info and preferences.
3. Send a newsletter and call unqualified leads at regular intervals (perhaps quarterly) with updates on the housing market, financing, interest rates, and special incentives, as well as community successes and updates.
4. If there is a significant change in pricing or availability, let them know. This could impact their purchasing power.

By providing unqualified leads with information and updates, your community will be top of mind when they are ready, able and willing to buy. And if they never purchase a home with you, they’ll at least have the information to share with their friends and family who may be in the market.

For more information on database marketing using home builder CRM software, contact a Lasso team member at sales@lassocrm.com.

Lasso is excited to welcome Jay Schulman of The New Home Sales Connection to the Lasso Webinar Series! Jay has over 25 years of experience in the new home sales industry, and his mystery shop/sales training business is one of the largest in the mid-Atlantic.

In this 45-minute webinar, Jay will lead sales managers, directors and coaches through the mystery shopping process and explain how to leverage the information learned to improve sales agent performance and increase sales. Specifically, you’ll  learn to:

• Leverage the quantitative data gained in mystery shops to develop action plans that help each sales agent excel.
• Use qualitative feedback to solidify sales teams and drive each agent’s personal best.

Jay Schulman

The webinar will take place Tuesday, June 18, 2013 at 10 a.m. PDT. Register now to reserve your space!

For more information on new home mystery shopping or The New Home Sales Connection, visit NewHomeSalesConnection.com.

Today’s guest blogger is public relations, social media and marketing expert Carol Morgan.

Today’s marketplace looks drastically different than it did 20, 15 or even five years ago thanks to advances in technology. However, with the rise in technology also comes the need to change your company’s marketing practices to be inclusive of the new technology that your potential buyers are using. Right now, that means adapting a solid social media strategy because more likely than not, that is exactly where your buyers are looking for and researching you.

However, while social media is important because that is where your buyers are, that may not be enough to convince you to start posting to Facebook or tweeting, which is why I’ve compiled my top five reasons you should be using social media.

1. Search Engine Optimization- Social Media is just yet another way to increase your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Use your keywords in blog posts, then share these posts throughout the many channels of social media, optimizing them for keywords as you go along. Each social media profile you create is also another chance to use your keywords in the description/about section.
2. Increase Traffic- Want more traffic to your website and your physical location? Social media can help you there too. By sharing information and links back to your website, you are encouraging social media visitors to explore your website, which will hopefully convert to a sale. Many companies are also using their social media profiles as a way to run exclusive specials that can only be redeemed in store.
3. Branding- Are you losing potential buyers because they don’t know you exist? Beefing up your social media presence will put your name in front of buyers on a constant basis, as well as give you the chance to establish your brand as an authority in your field. By establishing a solid presence, when they do need your services, your name is more likely to come to mind.
4. Reputation Management- You can proactively manage your reputation through social media. Ask you happy customers for positive reviews on an ongoing basis. If your company’s reputation is less than stellar, social media can also be a good way to restore your good name. By responding to negative reviews or customer service complaints, interacting with customers and just establishing a presence, you can do a lot to rebuild your reputation.
5. Engage & Interact – Engaging and interacting with potential customers through conversations on social media sites helps to establish relationships and trust.  Social media is the perfect place for you to start meaningful conversations with buyers, and to help them when they have a problem. After all, people buy from people they like and people they know.

So, exactly which sites should your newly created social media plan include? I suggest starting off with the basics: a company blog, Facebook and Twitter. As you become more comfortable with those, you can then expand to other sites including YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Houzz, Vine, etc. Before adding a new site, make sure to evaluate whether or not using it is relevant to your business model, and if you have the resources to use it effectively.

If you’re looking to build an effective social media program that will establish your expertise, contact Marketing RELEVANCE.

Carol Morgan is the managing partner of mRELEVANCE, LLC and the visionary behind the nationally-ranked, award-winning www.AtlantaRealEstateForum.com. She has established herself as the go-to-expert for public relations, social media and marketing across a variety of industries. Be sure to look out for the latest edition of her book, Social Media 3.0, coming out in June.

The Builder Tech team is back! And we’re so excited that PCBC 2013 is right around the corner. This year, Builder Tech is sponsoring two fantastic, must-attend events.

On Thursday, June 6, PCBC presents the first ever Digital Technologies Forum. Hosted by Mike Lyon of DoYouConvert.com, and Steve Ormonde of Focus 360, this day of educational sessions will help you leverage the potential of online and social tools to target, reach, build relationships with and convert prospects to purchasers.

After all that learning, you’ll be ready for refreshments! Immediately following the forum there will be a cocktail reception hosted by your Builder Tech friends. Even if you are unable to attend the forum, stop by afterwards for a drink, light appetizers and great company with some of the industry’s most leading-edge thinkers. Spaces are limited, so be sure to RSVP early. See you in sunny San Diego!

Register here for the Digital Technologies Forum.

RSVP here for the Builder Tech cocktail reception.

The Builder Tech sponsors:

Zillow | Builder Designs | Focus 360 | NewHomesDirectory.com | New Home Feed | Lasso CRM

We would like to say a big “Thank You” to Matt Riley of Raleigh-based Royal Oaks Building Group. Matt was kind enough to film this thoughtful testimonial video about his experience implementing and using Lasso CRM software.

Through a collaborative discovery process, we were able to help Matt and his team implement a customer relationship management program that works in accordance with their specific needs. From sales processes to email marketing programs, together we crafted solutions that allow the Royal Oaks team to manage their sales and marketing activities quickly and easily, allowing them to focus on making and closing deals.

Please watch the video below, and let us know how we can help your organization do the same!

For more video testimonials about how Lasso CRM helps home builders, developers and sales and marketing companies, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

With the rapidly evolving real estate market and constant changes in new home financing, sales professionals need to be equipped with the very latest information. To help prepare you to educate and influence your buyers, HomeStreet Bank’s Anthony Grasst returns to the Lasso Webinar series for “The Latest in New Home Financing: What Sales People Need to Know,” a unique and powerful look into how financing impacts the decision to purchase a new home.

In this 60-minute webinar, you’ll learn how to:

• Explain financing in an emotional language your buyers understand and increase sales.
• Turn your buyers’ fear of financing into a reason to buy!
• Create financing incentives that, dollar for dollar, are three times as powerful as price adjustments.
• Drive urgency by learning how to explain today’s extraordinary rates!

Please join us Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 9 a.m. PDT/12 p.m. EDT. Space is limited; register for this webinar today!

About Anthony…

Anthony Grasst

Anthony Grasst is a regional builder manager for HomeStreet Bank. He works with hundreds of builders and Realtors®. He is a regular speaker at home builder association events, teaching Realtors®, builders, and condominium developers sales and marketing strategies for today’s market.

Anthony is an accomplished real estate finance professional with more than 18 years of experience in real estate sales, construction lending and development, and sales training. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Washington, an MBA in Business Management, and is a Certified Real Estate Instructor. Contact Anthony at Anthony.Grasst@homestreet.com.