Latest / Contractor Business Builder Podcast / How Builders Are Booking 12 Months of Work Using AI & Video - With Rick Storlie

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How Builders Are Booking 12 Months of Work Using AI & Video - With Rick Storlie · Contractor Business Builder Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to another exciting episode of the Contractor
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  Business Builder podcast. We have the honor of hosting
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  Rick Sterley, founder of Builder Lead Converter.
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  More than 70% of consumers now prefer to learn through video
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  content and your competitors may already be showing up first.
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  This episode Rick's gonna reveal how short form video and AI can
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  revolutionize how contractors generate and convert stronger
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  leads in today's changing markets.
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  So welcome here, Rick. How you doing today?
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  Hey, I'm doing great. Thanks Derek.
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  I appreciate being on. Looking forward to the
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  conversation. Definitely.
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  So the online marketing landscape always, you know,
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  shifting, changing, always something new.
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  AI is the big, the big thing nowadays.
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  What are you seeing as far as the shifts or changes that are
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  that are coming up around the corner?
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  You know my background, you know my, my background actually is I
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  started in on the job site as a, as a construction laborer and
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  then moved up to framing. And then I ended up getting into
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  sales start with. And so I really my background
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  took it from a sales perspective.
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  And so one of the things I always tried to figure out,
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  Derek, is, is like, why do, why do some leads by and some don't?
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  And I was, I was tracking my conversions when I was selling
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  and I was always at 50%, meaning that if I had like, what I would
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  call ready, willing and able buyer sitting in front of me, I
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  would always, if I had two of them, I would get one.
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  If I had 10, I would get 5. And I was like, why is it?
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  Why can't I get more than that? You know, and, and what it came
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  down to, you know, it's looking at is like the journey that the,
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  the lead as they go to find information on type of project
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  they want to build. So let's just say we're talking
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  to design, build, remodeling, custom home building.
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  How they get ultimately to a builder really determines if
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  they're going to convert or not. So when I started, and I'm not
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  going to date myself, but it was in it was in the 80s as they
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  started as a framer. I started selling in early 90s.
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  There was no Internet, OK? So really it was like we had a
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  show home model home, whatever you want to call it.
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  People would go out and look around, they would interview
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  builders, they would maybe look for referrals.
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  And there was no Google reviews. There was, you know, no social
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  media, there was no Internet, you know, so it was very
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  archaic. So it was a long sales cycle.
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  But one thing that allowed me to do, Derek, is really to study
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  human nature and behavior. And what is the process that
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  League goes through to vet builders and vet information?
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  And so Fast forward to 2025, almost 2026 as we're talking
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  today. Yes, AI has become part of that
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  vetting process. Yes, traditional search, yes,
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  Google reviews. Video is what we are looking at
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  as like the next revolution for home builders and remodelers.
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  And the good news about video and AI, all this stuff is that
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  it's really leveling the playing field.
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  Because if you're a guy doing let's say 1 to $5,000,000 worth
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  of volume in your local market and you've got these bigger,
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  larger builders out there doing double, triple, quadruple what
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  you're doing. They oftentimes were able to
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  really captivate or capture a marketplace just by buying it,
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  right? I can buy all the ad space.
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  They can spend 10's and hundreds of thousands of dollars more
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  than you can, and you would even get the opportunity because
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  you're losing it, these bigger guys.
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  So what's happening now, Derek, is because of AI and AI search,
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  generative engine optimization, what is called because of what's
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  happening with video and the way consumers are using it, it's
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  really leveling the playing field.
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  So you no longer can buy a market like you used to.
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  And it's it's coming. It's not quite here yet.
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  It's coming. And so that's really the
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  revolution that we see for home builders going forward if
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  they're willing to take the leap into this next form of of
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  marketing. Yeah, video just continues to
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  come stronger and stronger and is really preferred method for a
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  lot of people nowadays looking to do some, you know, research
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  or find out things. I know even, you know, it's not
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  just like YouTube or or social media, just doing a Google
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  search, you know, the AI is going to pop up.
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  The AI is going to have videos embedded in it sometimes or
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  there's going to be a number of videos to go watch about
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  something. And it's definitely popping up a
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  lot more I find just from the searches that I've been doing.
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  So can you walk us through what you mentioned, this kind of
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  leveling playing field with, you know, smaller builders being
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  able to utilize videos? What is small form?
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  Short form you look like for builders and and how can they
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  utilize? It so definition is short form
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  video is typically gonna be any video that's less than one
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  minute. And where it really became
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  popular was TikTok. So as you was applied listening
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  to us, like what does TikTok have to do?
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  My clients don't use TikTok. Like that's what kids use,
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  right? Well, what happened is, is that
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  TikTok became very, very popular platform for kids and then Meta
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  or Facebook and Instagram notice that and they were losing market
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  share on social media to these kids because they were not
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  optimizing video. So lo and behold, along comes
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  Reels. So now if you go on Facebook,
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  you have Reels, Instagram, you have Reels.
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  And then if you look at YouTube, now you have shorts and now you
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  look at the feed or when you're on your app, you will see that
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  these platforms are now highlighting, they're really
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  pushing these short form videos. So typically the video is going
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  to be somewhere between 10 to 60 seconds.
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  They can get longer now. It's sort of like when Twitter
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  started, remember it was like 140 characters or less and then
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  they kept increasing the number of characters now on X that you
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  can promote with there. So that's what's happening with
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  short form video. But short form video, the most
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  important part of the video is the 1st 8 seconds because it's
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  like an e-mail. When you send an e-mail, if the
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  subject line is not compelling, you don't open the e-mail,
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  right? So it doesn't matter how good
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  the body of the e-mail is if they don't open it.
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  And then when in e-mail, you had to have a preview pane which
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  would show you like say, here's the first sentence of the
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  e-mail. So you had to when you putting
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  together an e-mail, you had to make sure you had a really
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  compelling message that would show up in that view.
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  Pain. Well, short form video.
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  Now, the, the, the compelling message is the thumbnail.
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  Does that thumbnail does that video title?
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  Is it compelling? Where I want to click and watch
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  the video is the first date seconds hold my attention And
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  then ultimately, can I keep that person engaged for anywhere
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  between 30 to 60 seconds watching that video?
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  And then there's a formula that we follow.
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  We can get into it, you know, if if you want to in that
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  particular video, but video does something that there's no other
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  online tool that the video does in that as we communicate, like
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  right now, we're communicating, we're on we're on video, right?
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  So you can hear my spoken word, you can hear my tone of voice,
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  and then you can also see my body language.
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  So that's a three forms of how we communicate.
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  So videos are only online medium that allows you to do all three.
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  So that's why it's so compelling.
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  And then when you add in say music, when you add in some
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  visual elements that are stimulating there as well, when
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  you add in a nice narration voice, again, using that tone of
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  voice and body language of videos can become very, very
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  compelling. And what's happening now, Eric,
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  is that because of going back to TikTok with the teenagers we're
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  using and now how that is elevated up into Meta and
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  YouTube Shorts, consumers today, about 72% to be exact, they
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  prefer to use short form video to find information on products
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  and services. OK.
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  So that is the statistic that home builders and remodelers
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  need to keep in mind because when that local homeowner in
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  your marketplace or want to be homeowner that wants to build a
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  home, when they're looking for information, they prefer to go
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  to video. So they prefer to find
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  information. And the way that it works, and
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  this is something that builders oftentimes don't understand,
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  Derek, is that builders think that the leads look for a
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  builder first. That's not how they work.
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  They look for information first. The first thing that they always
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  want to know is what can I build?
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  Because they can't visualize. They can't visualize floor
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  plans. That's why we build show homes
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  and model homes. They can't visualize what their
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  kitchen could transform into. That's why we have showrooms and
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  vignettes and things. So that's the first point that
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  they're looking for is information on what they can
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  build. And once they find that, the
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  second question is how much? And then the third question
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  usually is location. In other words, do you as a
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  builder serve this particular location of where either where
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  my home is located or where I want to build a home?
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  And then the last point is, is they'll start vetting builders.
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  So that's the process that goes through.
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  So most of your video content is really not going to be on you as
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  a builder. It's going to be answering and
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  providing information on the locations you serve on project
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  price points or the opportunity to get budgeting information.
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  And then mostly it's going to be designed.
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  Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. And video gives that opportunity
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  to really have someone become familiar with you and your
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  business in a short period of time.
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  Like, you know, just readings in an article online or going to
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  your website, maybe there's some pictures of you or your team and
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  there's some familiarity there. But once you get on video and
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  they see you talking and they, you know, know how you present
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  yourself. And some of you, if you give
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  them useful information, by the time they reach out to you,
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  they're extremely warm already. And it's not not a cold
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  conversation. Essentially, they, they already
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  understand kind of you, your business and, and see value and
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  in what you can bring to the table.
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  Now, as a builder, if I'm thinking this, this sounds like
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  a lot Rick, like I've got to figure out, you know, how to
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  capture attention, create these short videos, do the editing, do
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  the sound, add music. What do I talk about?
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  What, what would be your advice for someone who's never never
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  really done video? Maybe a little bit, you know,
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  shy to get on camera because it's just, it's a bit awkward to
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  them. How would you tell someone like
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  to get started and and kind of keep that simple to to learn the
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  ropes of this? Up until about 6 months ago, you
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  wanted to really get into video. You probably had to have a
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  camera crew on site. You were gonna have a day or two
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  in the month where you're going to block out time.
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  You're gonna go shoot, you know, a lot of footage.
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  Then that particular crew is gonna take it back and they're
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  going to do a massive amount of editing and they're going to
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  produce a bunch of videos for you.
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  And you're probably going to be spending somewhere between, you
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  know, on the very entry level end, like maybe three, $4000 a
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  month. On the high end, maybe $10,000 a
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  month. You know, to produce this
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  because it's really a full production.
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  No, that was up until about 6 months ago today, if I'm a
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  builder and I want to get started in video, I need one
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  thing and that is a photo of one of your projects.
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  That's it. Everything else can be done
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  using AI. And here's the really ironic
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  thing about it, Derek, is that, and you mentioned it before
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  this, the reason video is so compelling is because you bring
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  a human element into your message, right?
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  Because your lead is still going to buy from you based on an
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  emotional attachment to you and or your services you provide,
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  then they will logically justify it.
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  So with that video allows you to do is create an emotional
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  attachment online, which is very, very difficult to do
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  through a written social media post or blog post or just
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  content on your website. Even a photo, you know, I was,
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  you've heard the, the term, well, a photo tells 1000 words,
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  a video tells a million. So it creates A compelling
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  message, creates that human interaction.
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  And ironically, the thing about it is like I'm using AI,
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  artificial intelligence to create a human connection
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  between you as the builder and your perspective client.
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  Now what happens then is that that video starts to do 2
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  things. Number one, it starts to
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  establish trust between you and your client because they if they
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  don't trust you, they will not contact you and #2 it starts to
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  build value. So again, if you look at going
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  back to that initial question, why do some leads buy and some
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  don't? The reason a lead does not buy
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  is that they have not established value for your
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  product or service as a builder. So I like to use this analogy,
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  Derek, when you sit down with your client and you have your
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  pricing, your specifications, and maybe even your design done.
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  You're sitting on one end of the table and you've got all these
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  paperwork in front of you. And on the other end of the
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  table, other than table, there's your client or prospective
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  client and they've got a stack of cash.
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  And that cash is the exact amount that you have on the
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  bottom of your price sheet. And So what you are doing is
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  you're going to push forward your plans and specs and design
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  to them and they're going to push their cash towards you.
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  So when the, when the lead looks at those two things as being
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  equal, that means value has been established.
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  You're going to make a sale if they feel like your plans and
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  specs are worth more than the cash that they're exchanging,
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  you're going to make the sale if they feel like their cash is
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  worth more than your plans and specs.
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  Guess what? Value has not been established,
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  You're not making the sale. So value as an equation is
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  simply price performance divided by quality perception.
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  It's the perception that the video allows to create the value
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  and ultimately the trust. So you've got to establish value
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  and trust online. And then when you have a
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  conversation, whether that's on the phone or face to face with
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  that lead, that's where you as a builder confirm it.
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  So you're exactly right. You can do so much stuff online
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  through video before you ever have a conversation with your
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  lead and it it takes a cold lead who is not aware of you at all.
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  It creates that human connection.
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  They start to see value and trust.
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  And it's very much a warm call when you first meet them, very
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  much like a referral almost there where they go very quickly
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  then into whether it's design or, you know, estimating or even
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  buying like a. Speckled, definitely, yeah.
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  There's a whole like nurture kind of window there for a lot
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  of clients, like you mentioned, where they're looking for
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  information and all these things where normally they wouldn't
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  even reach out to a builder. But with video, you're already
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  establishing that relationship and creating that, that
• 12:58
  nurturing of the client to, you know, elevate your brand or
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  your, you know, and I would assume that the quality of the
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  clients that have seen videos would improve.
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  How, how can maybe videos be geared towards specific clients
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  or what would be some, I guess additional of tactics is the
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  right word, But you know, there's obviously called actions
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  and certain things, but how how can those videos then translate
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  it to someone, you know, connecting with the the building
• 13:24
  company? It is an excellent question.
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  So there's a journey that the the client takes.
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  So think of you're gonna have videos that are going to
• 13:31
  accomplish different things based on where the client is.
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  So we find in our in our statistics of when leads are
• 13:38
  captured, roughly 20 to 40% are ready to talk right away.
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  So you have 10 leads, you will pretty much book 2 to 4
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  appointments right away for our builder partners, they're going
• 13:48
  to get a phone call, they're going to finish the
• 13:50
  qualification process. They will decide, yes, I want to
• 13:52
  move forward with you or no, you're not the right fit next.
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  OK, So what if you look at that backwards?
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  Now, what it means is 60 to 80% of the leads you capture are not
• 14:00
  ready to talk. So what happens is, is that you
• 14:03
  have an offer. OK, so your offer typically for
• 14:05
  builders is call me on the phone or fill out this form if you
• 14:08
  want information. That's not a very good offer,
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  right? So that's why most leads who are
• 14:13
  not ready to talk, they never engage the builder.
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  So what a video does is, yeah, it allows them to engage you
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  without having to have a conversation.
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  Remember, the vast majority of people that are on your website
• 14:22
  today don't wanna talk to you yet.
• 14:24
  They're still in that information gathering stage.
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  So as a builder, what you want to do is establish yourself as
• 14:30
  the local go to expert for design, for budget information
• 14:33
  for all things building, right? Just educate me.
• 14:36
  What does it how do I build a custom home?
• 14:39
  You know, obviously you could write people written books on
• 14:41
  that, like what is design, build, remodeling?
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  How does this work? And and so you want to be the go
• 14:45
  to resource. So your first videos are really
• 14:47
  focused on attracting high quality leads.
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  So those are going to be much more information heavy.
• 14:53
  A lot of FAQ's, a lot of maybe tips and things to avoid.
• 14:57
  So we brought break those videos down as really the four specific
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  areas. So 1 is going to be designed, 2
• 15:02
  is what drives price. 3 is like if you're into home building is
• 15:05
  choosing the location, like how do I find land?
• 15:07
  How do I evaluate it, that sort of thing.
• 15:09
  And then 4 is going to be ultimately picking a builder.
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  OK, what are some things I should be considering as I
• 15:14
  choose a builder? So yes, you're going to educate
• 15:16
  leads on how to evaluate builders, even though you're a
• 15:19
  builder because if you do that and they look at you as the
• 15:22
  local expert, now they're going to start looking at you instead
• 15:24
  of being like, well, what's your price per square foot?
• 15:26
  They're gonna look at you and they're going to say you look
• 15:29
  like the local expert, you look like somebody that you know, and
• 15:31
  you, you provided me a lot of information.
• 15:33
  So I'm not looking at you as more of an advisor versus what's
• 15:36
  your price per square foot. So there's a switch that flips
• 15:39
  where they go from how much project or home can I get for
• 15:43
  how little money to what's the next step, Derek?
• 15:45
  What's the next step? Because they still have that
• 15:47
  question. Well, what can I get from and
• 15:49
  how much is going to cost? But once they trust you as an
• 15:50
  advisor, they're going to move into more of an advisor advisee
• 15:55
  relationship and they're going to look to you for guidance.
• 15:58
  So that's the key. So that's the attract phase is
• 16:01
  just providing information, providing it in the format they
• 16:04
  want it and giving them, making it accessible 24/7 on multiple
• 16:08
  platforms. So Google Business profiles,
• 16:10
  social media channels, your website, your blog, every
• 16:12
  channel out there possible just make it available for the
• 16:15
  consumer wants. So that's number one.
• 16:17
  Then the next phase is the capture phase.
• 16:19
  OK, so I attract these people, now I have to start a
• 16:22
  relationship with them. I have to capture them as a
• 16:24
  lead. That's a different offer.
• 16:25
  So now what you're doing is you're going to give them a
• 16:27
  specific opportunity to engage you.
• 16:30
  So that might be asking a question on AI chat widget on a
• 16:34
  website. It might be going through
• 16:36
  creating a scope of work and wanting scheduling a call to get
• 16:38
  a budget. It might be just downloading an
• 16:40
  idea book for design ideas or maybe looking at floor plans.
• 16:44
  So there's we call those lead magnets.
• 16:46
  So there's different videos there.
• 16:47
  And then the third phase is conversion.
• 16:49
  So I have tracked capture and now I have to convert that
• 16:52
  captured lead into a call. So that's a different type of
• 16:55
  video there as well. The process is an old sales
• 16:59
  process. It's just called the controlled
• 17:00
  piece of information. So I'm giving just enough
• 17:02
  information to engage the lead and want them to learn more, but
• 17:06
  not too much. They don't want to take the next
• 17:08
  step. So it's an old sales technique.
• 17:09
  I'm sure you've heard of it, Derek.
• 17:10
  And so when we get to the conversion part of it, again,
• 17:13
  the you now as the builder are the carrot because you have the
• 17:18
  answers that they're looking for.
• 17:19
  You've given them some answers, but in order to get really
• 17:21
  specifics for their project, they need to talk to you.
• 17:24
  And that's what we do, is just give them a compelling reason to
• 17:26
  get on the phone and then you take it from.
• 17:27
  There. Wonderful.
• 17:28
  Thanks for walking through that and also the kind of internal
• 17:30
  dialogue of a client, as you mentioned, you, you kind of want
• 17:33
  to flip that switch from how much, you know, can I get or
• 17:36
  what can I build to what's the next step?
• 17:38
  How do I, you know, get tailored specific advice from someone?
• 17:42
  And, and then using video as sort of that funnel mechanism
• 17:45
  to, to draw on the right clients.
• 17:47
  Now your team there, you guys also handle qualifying leads and
• 17:53
  booking appointments and, and some other services around that.
• 17:55
  Can you, can you maybe walk us walk through after you know,
• 17:59
  how, how does, what's the process there?
• 18:01
  What kind of services do you provide on that and which
• 18:03
  builders be thinking about once the client has engaged the
• 18:06
  builder with filling out a form or calling, you know, the phone
• 18:10
  line? Yeah, excellent question.
• 18:11
  I think the first thing to do is it's just you need to have a
• 18:13
  paradigm shift as a builder. A lot of builders say one need
• 18:15
  to generate more leads, you know, so if I if I push back in
• 18:18
  that builder and said, well, I can get you 100 leads off of
• 18:20
  Facebook tomorrow, but they're all gonna be crap.
• 18:22
  Do you really just want to generate leads or do you want to
• 18:25
  acquire clients, you know, high quality, highly profitable
• 18:29
  clients? There's a big difference.
• 18:31
  So what we really focused on is client acquisition.
• 18:34
  So yes, we want to generate leads, but we want to generate
• 18:36
  high quality leads that have a high point of conversion.
• 18:39
  So there's three ways to do that.
• 18:41
  One is you have your traditional presence, digital presence and
• 18:44
  then you have offline tools. So think of a job site sign
• 18:47
  truck wrap that's just an offline tool to bring more
• 18:51
  people to your online digital presence.
• 18:54
  And your your online digital presence is really like a if
• 18:57
  you're a custom builder, it's your online show home or, or
• 19:00
  model home. If you're a remodeler, it's your
• 19:01
  online showroom. And so that's where your your
• 19:04
  website needs to be engaging, it needs to be interactive and it
• 19:07
  needs to really be lead centric. So again, Derek, what I see more
• 19:12
  often now when I'm talking with builders and look at their
• 19:14
  website, their websites are builder centric.
• 19:16
  They're design. There's like a brochure for the
• 19:17
  builder. That's not what your leads are
• 19:19
  interested in. Remember, they're not looking
• 19:20
  for a builder first or looking for information.
• 19:22
  So you have to switch and provide that information.
• 19:25
  So your digital presence is one of your main pipelines that
• 19:29
  people are going to find you. But then there's also business
• 19:31
  to business and client referrals.
• 19:33
  So you need to have a pipeline there.
• 19:35
  And then finally, you need to have a database management.
• 19:37
  So as I mentioned before, 20 to 40% of the leads will convert
• 19:41
  right away. You're gonna get on a phone call
• 19:42
  with them and you're going to qualify them.
• 19:44
  They're farther along in the process.
• 19:46
  They're ready to talk. 60 to 80% are not.
• 19:49
  So if the website is set up correctly for lead capture,
• 19:52
  remember we have attracted capture and convert.
• 19:54
  So if we're capturing a higher percentage of leads, guess what?
• 19:56
  We need then to build a follow up and nurturing process of to
• 20:00
  establish value and trust overtime.
• 20:02
  And that could be two weeks, two months, two years and we've had
• 20:05
  clients. The five years have nurtured
• 20:07
  people and then ultimately sold them a $2,000,000 custom home.
• 20:10
  So you just have to meet the client where they're at.
• 20:13
  So again, give them a reason to start a relationship with you
• 20:15
  and if they're not ready to talk, that's fine.
• 20:17
  Well, we find Derek is that the, the lead is not necessarily
• 20:20
  comparing a builder against their competitor.
• 20:22
  You're being compared to their favorite place to do business.
• 20:25
  And so if and if you look at it from the online marketplace, I
• 20:28
  always use Amazon as an example. Why is Amazon so popular?
• 20:32
  OK, well, it's an app. It's an easy to use website.
• 20:35
  If they say it's going to be there in 2 days, you want to
• 20:37
  look at reviews, you can do that.
• 20:38
  There's clear communication via e-mail, push notifications,
• 20:42
  however you want to use it. There's a high trust level there
• 20:45
  with people and they use Amazon over and over and over again.
• 20:48
  So you need to create like an Amazon like experience, which
• 20:50
  means that if the lead does get captured by you, I always ask
• 20:54
  this question. Builders said, well, how soon
• 20:55
  should you follow up? You know, I usually hear like
• 20:57
  well, within 24 hours it's like, well, OK, well what if it's
• 21:00
  Friday at 6:00 PM, You know, you've got a production meeting
• 21:02
  Monday morning, you know, so now you're looking at 72 hours.
• 21:04
  So what do you think they're doing in that 72 hours?
• 21:07
  They're reaching out to your competitors.
• 21:08
  So we focus on is like, OK, they should be followed up within one
• 21:11
  minute. So that's the system that we
• 21:12
  built. And, and we don't follow up for
• 21:15
  our clients. We set, build a system where we
• 21:18
  follow up on behalf of them. So everyone has a digital AI
• 21:21
  assistant. So they name their assistant
• 21:23
  Jessica or Sam or whoever. And that assistant will follow
• 21:27
  up after hours. That assistant will get into
• 21:29
  conversations, answer basic questions, but the primary job
• 21:32
  of the assistant is to book an appointment.
• 21:34
  And then once we have an appointment booked, we're going
• 21:36
  to start doing some initial qualifying through your
• 21:38
  assistant. So all follow up is done on
• 21:39
  behalf of the builder so that the lead feels like, oh, I'm
• 21:42
  really important. The builders reaching back out
• 21:45
  to me, even though this is either Obi to do it.
• 21:47
  And if you make them feel like they are the most important
• 21:50
  person in the world while they're still alive, What you're
• 21:52
  doing psychological is that you're planting a seed for how
• 21:55
  well they will be treated as a client.
• 21:56
  If you follow up poorly as a lead, you are also studying the
• 21:59
  seed that you're probably not gonna really good experience
• 22:02
  with you. And remember they're they're
• 22:03
  trying to shop by process of elimination.
• 22:05
  You know, they might look at 30 builders websites, but they only
• 22:07
  want to talk to 1-2 or three. So if you're not doing all this
• 22:10
  right, you just giving them ammunition to say, now crossing
• 22:13
  you off the list, I'm going to the next one.
• 22:14
  And that's the thing that drives me crazy is when you never get
• 22:17
  an opportunity to have a conversation because you might
• 22:20
  be a perfect fit, But because of issues, I call them opportunity
• 22:23
  leaks, you have in your system, you're losing those
• 22:25
  opportunities and and now you're scrambling because you can't
• 22:28
  fill your production pipelines and you're cutting margins or
• 22:31
  you're, you know, having to let go some of your guys.
• 22:33
  I mean, that's the roller coaster part of this business is
• 22:35
  you don't have even flow. Yeah, definitely.
• 22:38
  Those first impressions, so critically important following
• 22:41
  up in a very short window of time, what is their impression
• 22:44
  of the company? Do you look professional?
• 22:46
  Do you, do you walk them through step by step or do they need to
• 22:50
  like they're not going to continue to reach out to you
• 22:52
  typically if, if you, like you said, you have those opportunity
• 22:55
  leaks along the way. And then I think one thing where
• 22:58
  a lot of builders can drop the ball is that whole nurture
• 23:01
  sequence because especially new homes, custom homes, multi
• 23:04
  $1,000,000 homes, like those, those ideal type of clients,
• 23:07
  there's often a very long sales cycle window there.
• 23:11
  And you want to be early in the conversation for them as soon as
• 23:15
  possible and have that that nurture.
• 23:16
  So the trust is super high. And then when they do reach out,
• 23:20
  you, like you mentioned, you need those systems in place,
• 23:23
  those people in place to be able to make sure that lead gets the
• 23:26
  red carpet treatment. They feel appreciated.
• 23:29
  They feel like this is a professional company.
• 23:30
  They're organized and they know what they're doing essentially
• 23:33
  at the end of the day. Can you walk us through maybe
• 23:36
  the journey of a client of yours who got started, maybe wasn't
• 23:40
  using video or using video ineffectively, how you help them
• 23:44
  get that sort of magnetic, you know, attraction for clients and
• 23:47
  then what the the outcomes were as far as improving their, their
• 23:50
  lead flow and, and book projects?
• 23:52
  Yeah, it's, it's so video, it's important for everyone
• 23:55
  understand this video is Yeah, it's it's it's A wonderful tool.
• 23:58
  Of course, it has its limitations.
• 23:59
  So if video, we call it, how do you get from views to, say,
• 24:02
  appointments? One video will not do that.
• 24:05
  But what one video will do is it will capture attention.
• 24:07
  It will build an emotional attachment.
• 24:09
  You give them a clear call to action of what's the next step
• 24:11
  and most importantly, offer them something of value.
• 24:13
  So in other words, you can't just say, here's a great look at
• 24:16
  these wonderful kitchen that I just designed and built.
• 24:18
  Isn't it cool? Um, call me.
• 24:20
  OK, you a couple people might call you, but most people are
• 24:23
  like me, like net next, you know, so really what you have to
• 24:25
  focus on is gonna when you start wanna start a relationship with
• 24:28
  somebody, you have to say I'm gonna give you something first
• 24:31
  again, I'm gonna give you something first that you see of
• 24:32
  value. So that call to action at the
• 24:34
  end of the video should be something like visit our website
• 24:37
  and download our idea book where you'll be inspired by the latest
• 24:41
  design trends and for custom homes and modeling.
• 24:44
  OK, OK, so So what did I just tell my lead?
• 24:47
  I'm a resource. I wanna give this to you.
• 24:49
  And the only thing I ask in return from you is to get your
• 24:52
  contact information and permission to follow up from
• 24:54
  you. And again, that's a negotiation.
• 24:56
  So in that lead looks at it and says, well, I have a really high
• 24:59
  value proposition for this idea book or this planning guide or
• 25:02
  this enhanced design library or even just having a conversation
• 25:05
  with a chat bot to ask some basic questions to kind of put
• 25:09
  me in the right direction. As long as they value that more
• 25:12
  so than your contact information and permission to follow up with
• 25:14
  you, they are going to engage you.
• 25:16
  Now, some will book an appointment right away and
• 25:18
  you'll be talking to him and you know, two days.
• 25:20
  Others, like you said, it can be two years.
• 25:22
  But the idea here is just meet them where they're at.
• 25:25
  Meet them where they're at. Give first, then ask for
• 25:28
  something in return. Give them just enough to want to
• 25:32
  maintain a relationship with you.
• 25:33
  And most importantly, what we say our guarantee is with all of
• 25:36
  our clients, Derek, is that every lead buyer dies.
• 25:38
  I mean, we're going to follow up with them until they buy from
• 25:40
  you, they buy from somebody else or they decide not to do the
• 25:43
  project. But you can never stop.
• 25:45
  So that long term nurturing sequence, that is a huge
• 25:48
  component that builders are missing.
• 25:50
  And the other thing that we add to that is a 90 day every 90
• 25:53
  days, we are doing a re engagement or where we're taking
• 25:56
  those cold and aging leads. We're giving them a special
• 25:59
  offer to get them to raise their hand or even get face to face
• 26:03
  with with the builder. Because like you said, I'm, I'm
• 26:06
  planning for a $3,000,000 custom home.
• 26:08
  I'm maybe just going to spend a year and a half just gathering
• 26:11
  ideas and trying to figure out what I like.
• 26:13
  And I don't want, I don't want to be sold anything right?
• 26:15
  That's a would lead say, but I'm also I'm looking for resources.
• 26:19
  So if, if you can be a resource when I'm ready to talk and I
• 26:22
  look at you as the local expert, you're at least get a shot and
• 26:26
  that's all you can ask for, right?
• 26:27
  Just give me an opportunity to have a conversation.
• 26:29
  Let me see if it's a good fit and if it is great here, we'll
• 26:32
  move forward. And that's where people can go
• 26:34
  very quickly. But if you look back at the
• 26:36
  history of that, they've been following you for a year and a
• 26:38
  half, You've been feeding them incrementally over a year and a
• 26:41
  half. And that takes content
• 26:42
  consistency, multiple platforms, so SMS text messaging, social
• 26:47
  media, blog posts, emails, you know, content that they find is
• 26:52
  relevant and valuable because you can't just say over and over
• 26:55
  again, Are you ready to build? Are ready to build.
• 26:56
  They'll be like unsubscribe, delete, Nope, I'm gone.
• 26:58
  But if it's like, hey, here's what to consider in design.
• 27:02
  Here's the things that can drive price.
• 27:04
  Here's things that you need to factor in when you're choosing
• 27:06
  the location. These are some things you should
• 27:08
  be questions you should be asking for picking a builder.
• 27:10
  You provide all that. You're very relevant and I'm
• 27:12
  willing to take that information in the course.
• 27:14
  The higher the quality information, the more engagement
• 27:17
  and the top of mind awareness sticks.
• 27:19
  And that's what you really want is like, I need maybe need to
• 27:22
  stay top of mind with this person for two years before
• 27:24
  they're ready to have a conversation.
• 27:26
  So I really buys or dies. Yeah.
• 27:28
  So long term return. So it is a system.
• 27:29
  So videos are part of a system. You're just handing off from
• 27:33
  that attract face of the capture phase of the conversion phase.
• 27:36
  The conversion phase can happen in two days or two years.
• 27:39
  You just you just don't know. So that's the one that takes the
• 27:41
  most amount of hand. Holding yeah, makes a lot of
• 27:44
  sense And, and as you mentioned it, it's a pipeline, it's A and
• 27:49
  you want to make sure that everything is optimized.
• 27:51
  There's a system in place and you're, you're also have the
• 27:54
  tracking to know where maybe things aren't optimal or, or
• 27:58
  where they can be improved. So we're going to put a link to
• 28:01
  the website for builder lead converter in the show notes here
• 28:04
  in the description, whether you're listening or watching
• 28:06
  this. So go check that out.
• 28:08
  Rick, what's the best way for people to reach out to you and
• 28:10
  your team to learn more about your services and how you can
• 28:12
  help them generate better quality leads and and capture,
• 28:15
  you know, new clients? Builderleadconverter.com.
• 28:18
  Perfect. And I'm, I mean, they can, they
• 28:19
  can book a call there or get in touch with your team.
• 28:22
  Yeah, the place to start is to book a strategy call and you'll
• 28:25
  meet with me. I'll take 20-30 minutes just to
• 28:27
  learn as much as I can about your business, where you've
• 28:29
  been, where you're at right now and where you wanna go.
• 28:31
  And our best clients are most successful clients are ones that
• 28:35
  are working with coaches too, Derek.
• 28:37
  So you know that that's because you're in the right mindset to
• 28:40
  actually grow and try new things.
• 28:42
  And that's what it comes down to is you have to sort of break out
• 28:45
  of some of the traditional paradigms and, you know, try new
• 28:48
  things and put yourself out there.
• 28:50
  And like anything else, it's a year.
• 28:52
  You know, when you when you jump into this, this is not like an
• 28:54
  overnight thing, it's a year, but it's amazing the results
• 28:57
  you'll see even earlier than that.
• 28:58
  You know, we've had some guys that have launched and two weeks
• 29:01
  later, like they got a client, you know, and like a high end
• 29:04
  custom home client through through the system.
• 29:06
  So the more established you are as a builder, like if you've
• 29:09
  been around for five plus years, you'll see results faster.
• 29:12
  If it's less than five years, I would say it's about a year, but
• 29:14
  boy, do you see a lot of results in year 2, year three.
• 29:16
  And then you get that consistency in your pipeline
• 29:19
  because it all comes down to is like you so much production you
• 29:21
  can produce each year. Now, how much design clientele
• 29:25
  do you need in order to fill those production slots?
• 29:27
  If you overbook your design, you can handle a cancellation, it
• 29:33
  won't affect that. And then you can create a
• 29:35
  backlog. And you know as well as I do,
• 29:37
  Derek, is that people want what everybody else has.
• 29:40
  So they say, oh, you're really busy.
• 29:41
  You have a six 812 month backlog.
• 29:43
  They're like, I must be talking to the right guy, you know?
• 29:45
  And so then they'll want to jump on.
• 29:47
  So that's the key is this creating that backlog that means
• 29:50
  that you can focus on profitability, you can focus on
• 29:53
  internal systems, you can focus on scaling your business and
• 29:55
  doing it the right. Way, definitely, yeah, very much
• 29:58
  on the same page there. You know, have high demand for
• 30:00
  your service for your company and then be able to not
• 30:03
  necessarily cap it, but utilize that demand in a way that you're
• 30:07
  not just trying to blow up your company and and meet all that
• 30:10
  production. But actually having projects
• 30:13
  scheduled out and and be able to position yourself with clients
• 30:17
  that you know, there's a process here, we are in demand and you
• 30:20
  can yeah, even though your production cash flows, all that
• 30:23
  kind of stuff. Exactly.
• 30:24
  Definitely. I call, I don't you call it, I
• 30:26
  call it slot selling is where your production drives your,
• 30:29
  your marketing. So in other words, if you say,
• 30:31
  OK, our average sales price is let's say your custom home
• 30:34
  builder average sales price is $1,000,000 a year, $1.5 million.
• 30:37
  We can produce 6 homes or eight homes for 10 homes a year.
• 30:40
  OK, so that becomes your production slots.
• 30:42
  Now you work that backwards and you go into design and say well,
• 30:46
  OK, I've got 8 of my 10 slots filled.
• 30:48
  So now you create scarcity or urgency through scarcity.
• 30:51
  I've only got two more slots, got four people in design who's
• 30:53
  gonna step up. And that's what keeps things
• 30:55
  going. So you don't have those periods
• 30:57
  of time where you have open slots and then you're trying to
• 30:59
  think, how am I gonna keep my guys busy?
• 31:01
  I'm gonna lose this, this crew that I love to somebody else and
• 31:05
  how do I get them back? I mean, it's a real headache,
• 31:06
  obviously. And that's where builders make
• 31:08
  bad decisions when it comes to, you know, bringing on new work.
• 31:11
  That's what we're trying to avoid is, is create that backlog
• 31:13
  so that you always have that slot filled and then you can
• 31:16
  just focus on refining and making your front end client
• 31:19
  acquisition system more efficient to feed your
• 31:22
  production. Yeah, definitely.
• 31:24
  And so it's much more compelling conversation.
• 31:26
  But like you mentioned, you know, if someone's looking to
• 31:27
  build two $3,000,000 home, but that's a year or two years out,
• 31:31
  if they know you're booking into the following year already,
• 31:34
  they're much more, you know, ready to kind of maybe start
• 31:37
  that process even preliminarily with you put down some sort of
• 31:40
  retainer deposit to start engaging some sort of design
• 31:43
  service when they know like, oh, I can't just wait a year and
• 31:46
  then call this builder to do my project.
• 31:48
  I need to start working with them earlier on.
• 31:50
  So lots of benefits there definitely by by having those
• 31:53
  systems and building the business structure that's going
• 31:56
  to facilitate, like you said, it's, it's not overnight, but
• 31:58
  you put these these pieces in place and these different
• 32:01
  systems in place and now you're building a business that's going
• 32:03
  to stand, you know, the test time and have consistency in all
• 32:06
  those good things. So what's maybe your last word
• 32:09
  of advice or words of wisdom that you would like to any
• 32:12
  anything else that you'd like to mention or or tell our listeners
• 32:15
  today? Well, I, I guess a couple of
• 32:17
  things and I have this conversation a lot is so yes,
• 32:20
  should you be using video? Absolutely.
• 32:23
  While your competitor is going to start using video, yes, they
• 32:25
  will. So if you get into video in 2026
• 32:28
  and you can definitely take some capped captive or take some
• 32:32
  market share from your local competitors.
• 32:35
  Videos, like anything else, is that over time you get more
• 32:38
  impressions, more views. There's some memory points there
• 32:41
  that you don't get with written content or even images.
• 32:44
  So yes, you should take the leap in the video.
• 32:46
  It's not expensive, OK, so that's really important.
• 32:48
  The other thing that I talk a lot about is that a lot this is
• 32:51
  the time of year where people are putting together marketing
• 32:53
  plans and usually say, well, I need more leads.
• 32:55
  OK, so that's a question, Rick, anymore leads, right?
• 32:58
  Can you run some ads? Can you do this?
• 33:00
  It's like that's that's the last place you should start.
• 33:03
  OK, so when you're putting together your marketing plan
• 33:05
  right now, what you wanna focus first and foremost on is your
• 33:08
  happy clients, getting more referral business from them for
• 33:11
  leads that have already engaged you that never converted going
• 33:15
  back, re engaging them, reactivating them because
• 33:18
  they're already aware of you. You don't spend any money on
• 33:20
  that system matter of, you know, reaching out to them.
• 33:23
  Then focus on again, your virtual showroom or show home
• 33:28
  model home. Look at again that that website
• 33:30
  that you have and everything that goes into it is really the
• 33:33
  reflection of your value proposition that you put forth.
• 33:37
  So your first marketing dollars should go there.
• 33:40
  Again, that's the bill. That's where you want to build
• 33:42
  and focus on that first. Then move into attracting more
• 33:45
  opportunities digitally as well as offline marketing to get more
• 33:48
  people to your to your website and online marketing.
• 33:50
  The last place, Derek, that we usually recommend our clients go
• 33:53
  to, it's going to be paid ads and paid social because why?
• 33:56
  It's the highest cost of attracting opportunities with
• 34:01
  the lowest return on investment. So you wanna that's the cherry
• 34:05
  on the Sunday, but you wanna go after the low hanging fruit, the
• 34:08
  things that don't cost a lot of money have a very high return on
• 34:11
  investment of, you know, and, and also bring you high quality
• 34:15
  leads. You know, your high quality
• 34:16
  leads, they may come through an ad, but there's a lot more that
• 34:19
  come through a direct search or an organic search or even an AI
• 34:23
  search, you know now. So that's really where you focus
• 34:26
  on 1st. So don't start with let's do the
• 34:28
  basics first and calling up, you know, 10, you know, Realtors in
• 34:32
  your market or interior designers or architects, you
• 34:34
  know, whatever it is and establishing a relationship with
• 34:36
  you, we'll get you way more return on investment than you'll
• 34:40
  ever get from a paid ad or a paid, paid social.
• 34:43
  Wonderful, great advice. Thanks for laying that all out
• 34:46
  there. Thanks for coming on here Rick
• 34:47
  and sharing your advice, encouragement to to get started
• 34:50
  with the video. If you haven't yet or or
• 34:52
  optimize your video content, it's going to become more and
• 34:54
  more. Relevant.
• 34:55
  No. And one thing I should throw out
• 34:56
  there, Derek, is that we will, if you want, we can go to our
• 34:58
  website, go to our video section, we'll create a free
• 35:01
  video for you. And you can choose between three
• 35:03
  different types of videos. You can see how this AI works
• 35:06
  free of charge, so you can try it yourself.
• 35:08
  So feel free to do that and you can put that in your notes as
• 35:10
  well. Wonderful.
• 35:12
  Yeah. Go check out the links in the
• 35:14
  description here, click through, go get yourself a free video and
• 35:17
  check out everything that you got going on at Builder Lead
• 35:19
  Converter. Thanks again for coming on,
• 35:21
  Rick. It's been a pleasure.
• 35:22
  Appreciate it my my pleasure as well.