Dennis O'Neil - Speaker & Author on Internet Sales, Marketing, and Social Media for Home Builders » Presentations

The Sales & Marketing Pulse 2012 Report and Video

dennisoneil — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:40:34 +0000

In early January, Jeff Shore and I began an ambitious project to survey nearly 300 new home sales and marketing leaders about what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s really happening in the marketplace. This in-depth survey asked leaders specific questions about topics including negotiating frequency, salesperson turnover, social media use, and online leads.

Because of the comprehensive survey and participation, we were able to do much more than just share the results. The responses told several clear stories about what leaders are experiencing, exposing key opportunities for 2012. We presented these results during the International Builders Show in Orlando to a sold out crowd and rave reviews.

Visit the Sales & Marketing Pulse website to download the 48 page report and watch the full video of the event.

I’ve written about the importance of mobile websites for builders a number of times, and the Pulse 2012 report provided some interesting insight into the topic. We included the popular Builder Web Apps infographic detailing the average home builder website statisitcs in the report and you’ll see the infographic demonstrates a clear trend upwards on the percentage of users accessing home builder websites from a mobile device; up 121% in 2011.

To get more insight about what this infographic means, click here to visit the Sales & Marketing Pulse 2012 website to get your copy of the report and watch nearly an hour of video content about the results.

Home Builder Website Performance Statistics

Coming up for Air

dennisoneil — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:49:53 +0000

I’ve spent the last 4 months solid working without a break or a breath. We’ve been launching some great new websites for builders, creating new features that no one’s ever seen, and we’re in the middle of a few additional projects that are really going to empower builders of all sizes to take control of their sales and marketing. I am beyond excited about what 2012 will be, and can’t wait to share more about these new projects.

As a result of the hard and fast pace, I’m looking forward to coming up for air – raising my head and taking a fresh look around. We’ve been so busy getting things done, its time to check in on how everything else is going. I’m going to enjoy the next few months, filled with product announcements and fresh perspective.

Kicking off the year at the International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Builder Web Apps is sponsoring a presentation from the one and only new home sales trainer Jeff Shore. Jeff will be presenting and discussing the results of the Sales & Marketing Pulse 2012, a nationwide survey of sales and marketing managers on what’s hot, what’s not, and what’s really happening inside the sales offices. We’ve had hundreds of responses to the survey, collecting the details on everything from co-op percentages to social media. The preliminary review shows some trends that will surprise you.

If you’ll be in Orlando for the Builders Show, I invite you to be our guest on Wednesday afternoon, February 8th. The event is free. Full details and registration info can be found here. Seriously… When else are you going to see Jeff Shore for free?

Effective Communication with Social Media

dennisoneil — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:30:29 +0000

On March 9th, I had the pleasure of speaking to over 200 new home sales and real estate professionals at SMC SalesCamp. My assigned topic was “Effective Communication with Social Media.”

The videos below contain my full presentation.

In this presentation, I was able to introduce the concept of Lead Curation – Creating an environment conducive to growing connections into prospects. I’m looking forward to digging deeper into this in the coming days/months.

I’ve also included my presentation, and the handouts made available to the attendees below. Please feel free to share this with anyone you think may benefit.

Part One Video:

Click here if you can’t see the videos, presentation, or handout

Part Two Video:

Effective Communication with Social Media on Prezi

SMC SalesCamp Spring 2010 Handout

Yes. A Camp for Us.

dennisoneil — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:30:42 +0000

BarCamp, RE BarCamp, PodCamp, WordCamp… any of these ring a bell? What about Ignite events, or TED talks? The last few years have brought on sweeping changes in how people gather to support a topic, idea, or purpose. Instead of days of grueling lectures and courses defined by the ‘hours’ for which they qualify, “Camps” are something completely different. Something much, much better.

While the rules vary a little for each event, a few consistent things remain:

Interaction and conversation is key. This is not an event where attendees go to spoken to, but rather to be spoken with.
Presentations are brief, but impactful. Sometimes as long as 45 minutes, but many as short as 10. Good news for the A.D.D. crowd.
Presentations are designed for inspiration. While a 6 hour course may also be inspiring, these short presentations dive right into the heart of a topic and are designed to ignite new ideas in attendees.
The attendees come voluntarily because of their passion for the foundation of the event. They are there to connect with like minded people.
They’re generally awesome.

I am fourtunate enough to be a part of the Sales & Marketing Council (SMC) of the Home Builders Association of Maryland. The council has organized a spectacular event in the spirit of the new conference trend, and has aptly chosen the name of SMC SalesCamp. I am also privileged to be speaking at this first SMC SalesCamp, and while yes, I may be a bit biased, I must say that the event is truly one worth attending. The speakers lined up by the board include the current President of the Maryland Association of Realtors, the head of home builder relationships for Trulia.com, two power-brokers, and many more. If you’re anywhere near the Baltimore area, you really need to be there. Its March 9th at the Sheraton BWI, 8:30a – Noon.

Did I mention its free?

Yep, thanks to awesome sponsors like MetLife Home Loans, Cindy Plackmeyer Marketing, and Forty West Builders (with more coming), the event costs absolutely zero to attend. However, space is limited (no joking here), so registration is required. Head over to SMC SalesCamp for more details.

Hopefully I get to see you there.

2010 is Going to Make You Cry

dennisoneil — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:40:14 +0000

If new media marketing was an onion, 2009 peeled away just the surface layer of potential. However, in 2010, we’re heading deep into that onion – get ready to cry… in a good way. Last year’s new media tools are maturing, and their business purpose is quickly coming into focus for more and more users. To that end, I’m excited about the deeper integration of these tools that I expect to see in 2010.

The opportunities that I recommend paying attention to in 2010 have not changed much from what I recommended in 2009. They have, however, become much more targeted. I think 2010 will be less of the “year of new“, and more of the “year of better.”

In February of 2009, I presented “Internet Marketing: Five Things You Must Know in 2009″ to the Home Builders Association of Maryland. In that presentation, the key items I outlined for builders to focus on were:

Website analytics
Search – SEO & Paid Search
Video
Mobile Internet
Social Media

Below you can see the slides I presented then:

Five Things to Know in 2009

View more documents from Dennis O’Neil.

Can’t see the slides? Click here

As I’ve prepared and reviewed marketing plans for 2010, many of the topics are generally the same, but in most of the categories, the specifics have gotten a lot more specific – AND the synergies [sorry for the buzzword] between them have all gotten stronger. Here are some examples of the convergences I’m talking about.

Search Engine Optimization – What shows up on page one of a Google search, now more than ever, is impacted by real-time social media conversations. Additionally, the opportunity to have video results appear on that page have increased. Clearly, any 2010 SEO strategy is fully integrated with the social media and video strategy.
Video - Moving beyond last year’s basics of high-quality and YouTube, in 2010, video will need to be a driver of traffic via search engines. It will need to be produced faster, and it will need to be available in more places – company website, YouTube, blog, Facebook, mobile friendly options, among others.
Mobile - The continued proliferation of mobile phones offering a rich internet experience has made mobile a more realistic and justifiable investment. The cost of developing iPhone “apps” are steadily decreasing, as is the cost of developing a mobile website. In 2010, the focus will go beyond just being mobile. The prizes will be found by making the mobile experience fast, relevant, and rich – This means including prices, photos, easy contact options (integrated with the phone), social media integration, and mobile friendly video.
Social Media – This year will bring out big evolutions in social media – Companies will focus on better integrating social activity into their own website, and everything else they do online, and many tools will simply mature to a level making it easier to recognize their business value.

So what will you be working on in 2010? Anything you think I missed?