Welcome to Online People Talking with Jen Barkan! In this episode, Jen and Jessie Suggs are joined by Julia Holloman, a Dream Home Specialist at Red Door Homes! Julia explains what "On Your Lot" online sales specialists do and how its different (and similar!) to production online sales specialists. They go through the metrics between the two and speak to why that might be.

Word On The Street: On Your Lot (10:15)

• Build on customers land.
• Take care of everything from start to finish.
• You can build anywhere that Red Door Homes builds.

Topic Of Today: Metrics for OYL vs Production (24:26)

• OYL has to paint a picture, there's no model home, so it's helping the customer create a vision of the future.
• Your job is to get them excited at the possibility of a home.
• OYL is a longer buying cycle.

Skills Check! (40:27)

• You got to listen to your calls!
• How are you answering the phone?
• Determine what your areas of qualification are.
• "Did I ask for the appointment?"

Welcome to Online People Talking with Jen Barkan! In this episode, Jen and Jessie Suggs are joined by one of our very own marketing coaches here at DYC, Beth Russell! They have noticed an uptick in OSC's creating overly templated emails that look as though they came from marketing, so the three dig into the difference between marketing emails and follow up emails. Beth gives her expert insight on the purpose of both kinds of emails and shares her concerns if the line is blurred between the two. The three discuss the difference between live chat and a chatbot.

Word On The Street: OSC's emails looking like they came from marketing (08:03)

• Email marketing is not the same as email follow up.
• Follow ups should not have a template.
• You risk people unsubscribing when you make your follow up a newsletter.

Topic Of Today: The fundamentals - difference between email marketing and follow up from online sales (17:30)

• Marketing emails are there for awareness and engagement.
• Email follow up needs to be short and sweet.
• Follow ups are human centered communication.

Skills Check! (36:40)

• Go do an audit of your email follow up. Is it too templated?
• Talk to your marketing and see what is going out.

Welcome to Online People Talking with Jen Barkan! In this episode, Jen is joined by Jessie Suggs to talk all about how to get an appointment. Jen and Jessie have noticed a disconnect in Online Sales Specialists knowing the best method of making an appointment and in some cases, not even asking at all! So pull out your notepads and pencils for this free educational episode on how to get those appointments the correct way.

Word On The Street: How To Ask For an Appointment (05:32)

• People are struggling with asking for the appointment.
• Review the call path.
• Prepare mentally.
• Be better than the bot! Add your personality!
• 5 areas of qualifications.

Topic Of Today: The 6 Ways To Ask For an Appointment (16:44)

• Assumptive close
• Soft Close
• Trial Close
• Hard Close
• Tie Down Close
• Alternative Close

Skills Check! (30:35)

• Write these tips down.
• Try one of these methods!

Welcome to Online People Talking with Jen Barkan! In this episode, Jen and Jessie Suggs are joined by Elena Mora and Chelsie Glidden of Ideal Homes! This dynamic duo from ideal Homes created an out of the box approach to bettering their post appointment conversion and adoption of the handoff and follow up. They created a red team/green team system to help motivate their OSC's to make sure their conversion rates flourish! 

Word On The Street: Poor Practices (07:33)

• Jessie has seen some newer OSC's pushing some negative practices.
• Tracking follow-ups.
• Don't get caught up in the CRM policing.

Topic Of Today: Thinking Outside the Box (14:01)

• After noticing a loss of conversions with qualified appointments, they decided to take the issue to management.
• They created a red/green system. 
• To be on the green team you have to show a conversion of appointment to sale that is 30%.
• The green team gets priority appointment. 

Skills Check! (38:55)

• Observe and report!
• Get the concrete data. 
• Tracking appointment to sale conversions at the community level and sales person level. 

Welcome to Online People Talking with Jen Barkan! In this episode, Jen and Jessie Suggs are joined by Kelly Rushin, an award-winning Online Sales Specialist at Berks Homes! They talk all about team dynamics and stepping into the leadership/mentorship role when welcoming new teammates, urging OSC's to shift their negative mindset around it. It's an opportunity to grow as a person and grow the company! Jen and Jessie share what they think is best practice for lead ownership and Kelly shares what she loves most about being an OSC as well as who inspires her most!

Word On The Street: Team Dynamics (07:47)

• Seeing the growth opportunity in bringing in new team members!
• Someone to have your back.
• It's not about competition, it's about making sure all leads are nurtured. 
• Mentor and teach someone else!

Topic Of Today: Lead Ownership (21:44)

• Eliminate as many grey areas as possible.
• Don't let ownership cause a ripple in the customers journey.
• Make sure there's incentive to help out.
• Communication and respect are key.

Skills Check! (35:32)

•  Outbound calls: Get out there are call your leads!
• Make 20 outbound calls a day.
• Call from a call track platform, use a call log, and have your teammate cover inbound calls while you make outbound. 

Welcome to Online People Talking with Jen Barkan! In this episode, Jen is joined by Jessie Suggs and our very own, Amanda Martin! The Q1 2024 Benchmarks have just dropped and the team dives into the numbers and gives their thoughts on the results! There's been a shift in the lead volume so the three give tips on how to manage the lack of leads and advise OSC's to be careful not to use the "S" word. They suggest that "When leads go low, it's your time to grow!" and ask yourself if you've done everything you can with your current leads. 

Word On The Street: Everyone's been quiet! (04:03)

• The bad 4 letter "S" word: Slow
• "When leads go low, it's your time to grow!"
• Calm down, hit the phones.
• Are you doing everything you can with the current leads you have?
• Pro-active communication with sales and marketing.

Topic Of Today: The Q1 Benchmarks! (12:38)

• Everything is normal and steady.
• The numbers are looking great!
• Early Spring selling season this year.
• Things are stay pretty consistent.

Skills Check! (30:38)

• Challenge: Look at your follow-up process and figure out how to add your personalization. 
• Tell your leads where to go, where to look!
• Nurturing a VIP list.
• Add a video into the very first email outreach.
• Put your picture in your email signature.

Welcome to Online People Talking with Jen Barkan! In this episode, Jen and Jessie are joined by the incredible, Ronda Conger! Ronda hops on the podcast to share her knowledge and expertise and give her thoughts on why OSC's are an essential part of the company. They dive into the topic of A.I. and Ronda explains that A.I. is not about replacing the OSC but giving the OSC the opportunity to have better conversations with more information! The three tackle ways to resolve unhealthy competition between your OSC's and Ronda shares who and what inspires her! Ronda's mindset of positivity and curiosity continues to impact and transform the industry day by day.

Word On The Street: Everyone's been quiet! (00:35)

• OSC's haven't been chatty.
• Time for a motivation and attitude check!
• Hopefully it's a sign that everyone is in the zone.
• We need to find the passion in our role again!

Topic Of Today: Special Guest Ronda Conger! (03:03)

• Ronda's message of positivity has stayed the same over the years as she's pioneered the industry!
• Online Sales Specialists are one of the most important aspects of your company. 
• A.I. is a great resource but it will never replace you if you're human centered!
• The OSC can never be replaced, but A.I. can enhance the capabilities of the OSC by acting as an assistant.
• Your company needs to be set up as a team sport, not a house divided. 
• Ronda is inspired by the"doers" in the world!

Skills Check! (34:03)

• Mental skills check!
• What are you grateful for? Looking forward to?
• Ponder who inspires you!
• If you don't know what inspires you, go find it. 

Welcome to Online People Talking with Jen Barkan! In this episode, Jen is joined by Trista Nixon of Brohn Homes! Trista hops on to talk about her journey as an Online Sales Specialist, the misconceptions about that role and how she has overcome those obstacles by ensuring that the "proof is in the pudding." Jen and Trista give their insight on how to count older leads and offer some great advice to those facing a team that doesn't understand the work going into the OSC role!

Word On The Street: How to count older leads that come back around and who owns the lead?  (03:01)

• Pick up where you left off.
• One lead, one appointment, one sale!
• Put the returning leads in a different color to help keep track..

Topic Of Today: Trista Nixon! (08:47)

• Trista is an Online Sales Specialist in Austin, Texas with Brohn Homes!
• She is a former on-site sales agent which gives Trista unique perspective.
• The misconceptions made about OSC's.
• Brohn's staff gets together once a month to train everyone on what each department does.

Skills Check! (31:49)

• When you're counting your leads, make sure you're going 1-1-1.
• Keep track of your b-backs.
• Don't lump it altogether, make sure you keep those leads separate. 
• Double check and be sure to notate the b-back in your CRM.

Welcome to Online People Talking with Jen Barkan! In this episode, Jen is joined by Jessie Suggs and the two share an inspiring story of an OSC who turned a small connection into a meaningful gesture. They dive straight into the topic of AI and Chatbots, addressing recent fears of it replacing Online Sales positions. Personalization is something AI can never replace and it's a vital part of the Online Sales world, however, it is time to step up and be the valuable employee who harnesses AI to their advantage! To wrap up, Jen and Jessie give their strategies for re-engaging leads from closed communities and tell OSC's to go try out an AI tool and see what works for you!

Word On The Street: Ai & Chatbots: What this means for Online Sales (08:48)

• A lot of OSC's are asking about AI and Chatbots.
• It was a huge conversation at the International Builders' Show 
• Are you a valuable employee or an adequate employee?
• Utilize AI to help you but know that it can never replace the human connection.
• Personalizing will "beat the bot"

Topic Of Today: AI Tools Online Sales Can Use (16:16)

• Make sure that if you use ChatGPT or anything similar to personalize the result it gives you to keep the the human touch.
• CallRail is widely used and Jen and Jessie LOVE Grammarly 
• Self-Scheduling isn't aligned with what Online Sales are trying to achieve.

Skills Check! (31:06)

• Go try one of the AI tools! Look into how it can benefit your day to day.
• If the word AI scares you: speak to how you can do what AI can do but BETTER.

Welcome to Online People Talking with Jen Barkan In this episode, Jen is joined by Jessie Suggs and very special guests Nationals Gold Award Winners Terrell Turner and Amberly Mioduszewski! Jen and Jessie talk all things International Builders' Show from close calls to their key takeaways and what topics took center stage for most conversations and sessions. Amberly shares what winning the Rookie of the Year award meant to her after a tough year and shares what she learned from IBS! Terrell won OSC of the year and encourages every to keep applying even when you get discouraged! He shares that his goal for 2024 took inspiration from Jessie's word of the year "less" and is implementing it in conversations with leads to talk less and listen more. To shake things up Jen and Jessie let the top OSC's in the nation give their skills check for the week: adaptability and coachability! 

Word On The Street: The International Builders' Show & The Nationals (03:57)

• ChatGPT and AI was a HUGE topic!
• Marketing and leadership conversations.
• Talking about AI as a human assistant not a replacement. Thinking about how online sales can use it!

Topic Of Today: Gold Award Winners Amberly & Terrell! (08:10)

• Amberly shares recent wins and why it meant so much to her.
• Terrell reminds us why it is so important to never give up!

Skills Check! (36:29)

• Adaptability: You've got to bend with the wind, not break.
• Coachability: There's always something to learn and you have to be ready to take insight.