How Custom Home Builders Can Win Against Big Box Competitors

Custom home builders can generate more leads by combining strong local SEO, educational social media content, and a clear, communicative sales process that encourages referrals.

Yes, Facebook ads can be highly effective for contractors when they target specific local demographics and offer clear value, such as educational guides or virtual tours of completed projects.

Building a home is a long and complex process. Consistent communication reduces buyer anxiety, builds trust, and often leads to positive reviews and referrals.

Educational content performs exceptionally well. Instead of just showing finished homes, explain the building process, answer common buyer questions, and highlight the quality of your materials.

Compete on quality, personalization, and communication. Large builders often lack the personalized touch. By acting as a dedicated guide for your clients, you can offer an experience that big box builders cannot match.

Improving your sales and marketing process takes time, but the results are worth the effort. By focusing on communication, understanding your market, and educating your buyers, you can build a stronger, more profitable construction business. If you need help refining your strategy, consider reaching out to a professional marketing team that understands the builder industry.

Kelsey Spray (00:31)

We we are headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but I am in Southwest Florida. Fun fact is that I'm from I'm actually from Pittsburgh out suburbs of Pittsburgh and my parents built a Miranda house. So I grew up in one. No affiliation at all.

Jesse Sampley (00:48)

wow.

Kelsey Spray (00:50)

When I interviewed, nobody knew that. It just happened to be a very full circle moment that I, I mean, that's like the address that I'll remember for my entire life. It's the first house you ever lived in. So yeah, I feel like I'm a product of Miranda Home.

Jesse Sampley (01:06)

amazing. go into what drew you to the construction industry or the home side. How did you get started?

Kelsey Spray (01:18)

Yeah, so I mean, since I was like super young, I always wanted to be a real estate agent and that probably started in like middle school and all the way through college. So I went to college fully knowing that I am paying for this degree, but I could go and get my real estate license for a lot cheaper. But I wanted to have that college experience and I went from marketing. So I know a lot about marketing, which I think plays a huge role in all real estate.

⁓ But you know, after college, you're just trying to figure out things. got my real estate license. I went to college in Ohio, came to Florida, got my real estate license here, and then I actually started doing wholesaling. That was the first time of real estate that I did. So that's tough, but I can tell you that it taught me a lot.

Jesse Sampley (01:58)

wow.

Kelsey Spray (02:03)

I did a lot of transactions. saw a lot of, like behind the scenes of real estate going on. So with a lot of like the distress tones, the opposite of what I'm doing right now. Yeah, like fix and flip. Yeah. And that was in like the Tampa areas. And that was right after the hurricane too. So I was going through homes where there was hurricane damage, FEMA, you name it, we had it. then that job wasn't really a fit for me anymore, but I really wanted to be in real estate still.

Jesse Sampley (02:12)

Yeah.

Kelsey Spray (02:28)

And then I was just kind of like going back to my roots and like, okay, like, let's think about what I love the most. And I remember like growing up that I would go with my dad, me and my brother, and we would walk around these like ginormous houses, which probably you probably aren't, you aren't allowed to do this, but like we did it. you'd be these big communities with these houses that are being built. And we would just walk around and like, ⁓ that could be my room one day when you hit the lottery and there's all new construction houses. And I'm like, okay, maybe I should get into something like that.

Also growing up, I only lived in new construction houses. I did some research looking up some people and I was like, think that for me, this is going to be the best route to go down where there's a lot of growth in it too. So realtors, you could be like a realtor and you just come a better realtor for like in new construction, you become like managers and directors and you teach people and you lead people and like, we're all a team here.

⁓ So I think that's what really drew me to it too. Is that like, okay, like we start somewhere and then like you have like so many goals and like the company that I work for, like we can go, there's so many ways to go up and it's motivating. And that's what I love the most too.

Jesse Sampley (03:36)

Yeah,

touched on it. You said being able to teach people and on a construction side, like there's so much on an education side that you can let people know be able to inform a good purchase help be that guide that, yes, it can be a real estate agent can be very you're really just trying to get as much volume as possible. But when you're able to really

qualify someone and then show them like, hey, this is really why this is such a perfect fit for you for all the reasons you've already told me, what kind of family you're trying to have, what kind of lifestyle you're trying to have, how long you're going to be in this home. I'm sure it's pretty rewarding too, to just show them, hey, what a good fit this is. And on an integrity side, showing the quality of the build and all that you guys do also.

Kelsey Spray (04:23)

100 % and just like, giving people the peace of mind knowing too that like we are going to hold your hand every single step of the way. I'm in this model home. I feel like I live in the community that I work in, but I don't live in here. But I feel like I'm here all the time. I'm like, if you ever need anything like pop in, I'm going to be here. We're going to be with you for every single step of this. I mean, this is like the real estate in general, but

truly seeing people's lives change and sometimes it makes you feel like life isn't so hard. had somebody recently came in and just a terrible situation. We just sat here and just talked for a while. felt so bad for this lady, but now she is like, I see the light at the of the tunnel and this is a great start for me. not doctors or anything like that. We're not saving lives, but to be a part of like...

this experience with people and they can like, we're like, come with us. Let's, let's walk through the house. Like let's get with the project manager. What are your concerns? Like tell us. And we have a great relationship with our builder too, where, communication is key here. So we want to know like, is there something wrong going in the house? If so, tell us so that we can, calm down the client a little bit or just be a better resource.

Jesse Sampley (05:32)

So tell me about process a little bit. What kind of homes, are these semi-custom homes, what are they able to pick out? But kind of take me through, like home buyer, what am I looking at? What am I supposed to be looking at? And then how much flexibility do I have in the different finishes or the different lots that I'm able to choose?

Kelsey Spray (05:50)

Yep, so what I tell people is that we're not a custom builder, but we're customizable. So there are some things that we can change structurally that kind of just depends on what floor plan you end up picking. And then when it comes to like the finishes of the home, you come into our design studio and you pick it all out. The flooring, the cabinets, the stone, the backsplash, the paint on the outside of the house, you name it, we can do it.

that's people love too. They love coming in here and being able to pick out their own finishes because a lot of people look at new construction houses and they're like, I don't want those cookie cutter homes. I don't want to like live in like a neighborhood where it looks like everything's the same. People come in all the time and they're like, there's another builder in here and they're like, which one's yours and which one is theirs. And I'm like, actually the other builder doesn't have any up yet. So they're all ours. But you would never know that because you get to change so much.

And they're like, oh yeah. So that also like very much uses people too. And it gives them the process of where they can come in and design their own home and make it their style. And then obviously we have the inventory homes and things like that, where if somebody is in a pinch, which we do see, people they're like, Hey, I got a new job and I need something in two months. We have homes that are either, almost done.

or they're 100 % time. So we have so many different avenues for people. Also, we build in a lot of different areas, especially in Southwest Florida. We build on scattered lots too. So you know what, if you don't have something in this specific community, let's find another community for you. Let's figure out something where we can get you in somewhere fast.

Jesse Sampley (07:23)

Is it always building inside of a community?

Kelsey Spray (07:26)

No, so actually the division that I'm in, we're mostly on scattered lots. So we only have two communities that we have. Yeah, we only have two communities and that's the one that I'm in, which is in Punta Gorda. And then we're also building on Pine Island, which is like past Cape Coral a little bit. And we're building town homes in there. So those are our two main communities. Yeah. Other than that, it's scattered lots. We have a lot.

Jesse Sampley (07:46)

Okay. nice.

Kelsey Spray (07:53)

easy to over to us and they'll build on your lot too. Yeah, but like across, the United States, like I grew up in a community with Miranda home. So it's just like kind of different on the area that you're in.

Jesse Sampley (08:04)

as a new person comes in and they're trying to explore and they're trying to, choose either the location or the house. what's that handoff look like to, from the office, from the design center to actually getting it built, what's the communication cadence for, who, kind of takes care of the, client after construction starts.

Kelsey Spray (08:22)

What will happen is that they'll obviously come in, we'll do our discovery, we'll learn exactly what they want, exactly what they're looking for. And that's our biggest thing too, is some people, they think that maybe we're like overstepping the line when we ask so many questions. we just want the more questions, the more answers we know, the better that we can fit you in anywhere. we start with that and then we pick the floor plan, we pick the area, the home site, and then that's when we have the contract.

After the contract is either we can start almost immediately picking out colors, which I will do that with them. We'll sit here in my office. We have a design studio where we have everything laid out. So it's like whatever level you want it. Okay. Here are your options. And we put everything together. we could do that, a week or two after just got to be kind of within the timeframe so that we can start ordering them our materials. And then after that, we'll do a pre-construction meeting too. So we'll all sit together, the project manager, me.

the buyer. want to make sure that we are building the right house and that the garages could be on the right side or the left side kind of depending on what the buyer ends up choosing. So we want to make sure there's many meetings where we're making sure everything is right before we start building and then we have multiple walkthroughs too that will happen in the construction process. Obviously I'm always on site, project managers are constantly here, we have a great relationship with our trades

they'll be in communication with me the entire time and then the project manager too. So there's not too many hands in the pod, but it's enough where, again, we're constantly here and we're able to show you what's going on.

Jesse Sampley (09:47)

Well...

That's

so nice to have you all along the way, instead of it being just a sales position to say, okay, I'll get you, but once we've won the project, then I'm off to the next person and you'll never see me again. really nice to go back and reference as, remember when we talked about that pink color or we want to make a few adjustments after doing a walkthrough or something like that.

Kelsey Spray (09:58)

Mm-hmm.

Jesse Sampley (10:15)

Are there some key a structural side on a construction side guys do will never see? But is there something you guys really focus on, a couple key areas you guys stand the area?

Kelsey Spray (10:31)

Yeah, so a lot of the things that we are like known for like our energy efficient products. So when it comes to  like the windows and like our HVAC system, they're all inside the home. So you're not going to find anything in the garage, especially living in Florida, right? You want to have everything as much as energy efficient as possible because that's fun is powerful. And obviously also the hurricane. So we do offer options for our homes. Our homes are going to be concrete built. So

Jesse Sampley (10:52)

Yeah.

Kelsey Spray (10:59)

All hurricane proof, we do have the option to where either we have shutters or we can upgrade you to windows Also too, like Miranda Homes is very well known for just the overall quality of the builder that we are. ⁓ Some people might say like we're like in the line of like a production builder, but I would say that, I encourage people that come through, out and check our competitors out, go and touch, start knocking on their walls, start playing with their doors and then come back and let's talk.

But I'm confident, yeah, like I'm confident enough where I will say go do it. Go ahead. And then I, I kind of know what they're going to come back to.

Jesse Sampley (11:29)

Yeah. Well, it's.

Yeah, as you're kind of acting as a guide, like what are some of those things that they need to pay attention towards? Like, OK, big box production builder and Miranda Holmes, like what are some of those things that they should be looking at it's not going to be visual. But like you said, you're going to have to knock on some doors. You're to have really.

show people what they need to pay attention towards? Because if this is a first time home buyer too, they're not experienced as far as what they should be looking at. are a few of those things that just help show the quality?

Kelsey Spray (11:52)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, well, I just think one, just like, the sales agents knowing what they're talking about when it comes to like construction and things like that. Being able to tell people things that they might not even have questions about, like bringing up like ventilation and just things like that. Like we ventilate our microwaves to go from like outside. So just bringing up things like that. And then also just like reinsuring people that,

of our biggest competitors are like, know, GR Horton, Lenar, MI Home, like all of them. Usually what they're going to have is they're going to have here it is, it's a starter home, whatever it is, and here's package A, B, C, or D. At Miranda Homes, we're allowing you to be a part of this home buying process where you can add your own style to the home. You're going to be a part of the home here. Like again, every home isn't going to be like a cookie cutter home. that's where you can kind of change it too. So that's where I would tell people to like,

Make sure that there is strong communication. Obviously we're salespeople, right? we want to sale. That's how we get paid. That's how we make the most money. But it's also a good thing when you like know that somebody has, ask you the right questions and they know that you're putting you into the right house and they're not just doing it for a sale.

Jesse Sampley (13:09)

Yeah. Yeah. And it's also nice, working, being backed by someone that cares so much about quality too, because the reputation will eventually catch up with you. And a really big box builder, doesn't matter as much just because not their business model. per pure volume. how long has Miranda Holmes been around?

Kelsey Spray (13:15)

Mm-hmm.

Over 50 years. So we've been around for a long time. Family ran debt free company. So a lot of, yeah, a lot of people, they're concerned with new construction is that like, are you going to start building my house and then run out of money midway through? And then we're just going to have nothing here. Cause the area that I'm we've had people like come in and ask that. And I'm like, no, I repugnal. And then I've kind of bring in my story from like, listen, like I grew up in one, like this many years ago.

Jesse Sampley (13:29)

Yeah.

Wow.

Kelsey Spray (13:54)

So yeah, I think that's a good way people that.

Jesse Sampley (13:58)

for a builder that, maybe they're building a custom or a spec home and faced with so many questions as far do I pay a lot of attention towards, as far as the layout, the openness, different finishes. What do you the perspective of a home buyer,

are some of the real key things that they should spend a lot of attention towards and making sure that spending a proper amount of their budget and their time focusing on these specific parts of the home.

Kelsey Spray (14:25)

say, like, especially where we are, obviously, Florida, I think the outside area is very important to buyers, the lanai, people love the lanai or like an outside porch. So if you can add that in any way, or position the house where at some point, the prospective buyer could make their backyard, whatever a waste if they wanted to make. Obviously, if you're on like, water or the canal and things like that, you kind of have that. But I would say you're definitely from Florida.

position these spec homes where there can be a pool put in at any point. Because, might not have the money upfront to put in a pool, but that's also something you can always add. I would say another thing that we see a lot is the master bathroom, and then the kitchen. Those are some key things that you know, especially when people are entertainers, that's what they like the most, that big open concept with like a kitchen. That's

definitely something that we see people like and then having a nice master bathroom. Obviously where I am, these are mostly, like second, third time home buyers here. So they know what they want and they want to put the money in as where the areas that they like in the house. And that's one of the areas too. And I would say the flooring, that's something that a lot of people are 100 % always looking at is the flooring. Again, living in Florida, having carpets and sand.

do not match very well. So I would say to try to keep away from any, I think majority of people do keep away from carpeting as much as possible. But I think, know, but some people do like carpeting, like me coming from up North, I love carpeting, it's kind of just reminds me of home, but don't have kids or anything, but like if I were to, that might make me think twice.

Jesse Sampley (16:07)

four kids and I do not like carpet. And we also have two dogs and carpet is just you can never clean it hard collects and then you can never really get it 100 percent clean. So I love tile. We're actually getting a home built right now in Ocala and we did all tile. Yeah, a similar type

Kelsey Spray (16:10)

Yeah.

Yeah.

nice.

Jesse Sampley (16:29)

a a family operation and a production type homes, but you're able to customize just enough. So it was really perfect for in a township with dog parks and water parks and things like that. So with our flu of kids, was perfect. We have enough amenities to keep everybody busy throughout the day and the week.

Kelsey Spray (16:31)

Got

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that's great.

there you go, especially when you can be outside all the time in Florida.

Jesse Sampley (16:53)

Yeah. Yeah.

But it was real we have our, liaison that, on a communication side has always kept us up to date on, this is what is happening on the for us, it was the excitement of, this constant communication to just know like, Hey, what's just going on so that it's not just months and months going by and we have no idea. and

It was real nice for, almost the rip into the, how I'm going to speak about this builder in the future is all of that's being done right now is communication cadence and the, even some of the small issues that we've had to work through as far the flooring that we, that we chose, they didn't have it in stock. We had to choose another one. They've just been real gracious and easy to communicate with.

Kelsey Spray (17:20)

Mm-hmm.

Jesse Sampley (17:34)

I think that tells a lot about a builder, no matter what size, but just being able to, we know that there's going to be some issues. We're going to work through those. All of that was, brought communicated through an expectation set early on. And the person that we worked someone that's very similar in your position is like, Hey, I've got you all the way to the end of the I'm not just here to make the sale and then move on, but like,

Kelsey Spray (17:37)

yeah.

Jesse Sampley (17:57)

Truly, here's my personal cell phone number. Like, let me know if there's anything at all. think that tells so much about of a company too.

Kelsey Spray (18:06)

No, 100%.

100%. And I think like you're talking about the expectations, like that's something too, that I like to talk to people about. It's like, okay, listen, we're in a community and you're, going to be in a construction community, right? So we, our goal is to be out of here in like, let's say two years. So there's going to be some trucks and stuff that are going to be in this community. We will be out of here at some point, but I think also like setting those like people like to, you don't, you're not like, yeah, we are.

It's perfect and there's nothing wrong here. Like that's just not realistic for anything at all.

Jesse Sampley (18:35)

you

goes back to the people, when you have someone that can be open and honest about those things, then there are very few that person cast the vision to of, let's go beyond the dump trucks and stuff are now. let's move past that. Let's think, the next 13, 14 months

all of these amenities are built out and, all of these homes are completed. It's just real nice to have someone that, can help cast that vision and, because that's a lot of decision making.

Kelsey Spray (19:07)

It is. It's

an investment. It's one of the biggest purchases that somebody can make in their a lot.

Jesse Sampley (19:14)

Yeah. Besides maybe a yacht or something like that in the... Yes, was... Yeah, four kids. I don't... I do recommend it, but I'm sure it will get easier as time goes on.

Kelsey Spray (19:16)

Yeah, a yaw or like a big company like a kid.

Jesse Sampley (19:30)

some other things, nuggets builders out there, some general tips for things to look at or things to be mindful of when thinking through the perspective of a home buyer. Because it's real easy you're building we're focused on the build and doing a good job building our company, but your company is built

your clientele that comes through because that ends up becoming your ambassadors for your own brand. And, there's nothing as strong as a natural and personal referral. So keeping a good relationship with the all throughout the project, it's gotta be forefront for these builders and keeping that a priority because you can have a great build at the end of the project. But again, you have to have this communication with.

Kelsey Spray (19:53)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Jesse Sampley (20:17)

the client all the way through because they will be your champions. you want to give them things to talk about too, as to say, hey, this was our experience in whole, but, they also did this that, I wasn't doing this in the foundation that I have no, idea, I know things about my foundation that, I can repeat this.

almost like these little sound bites of like, I'm able to repeat these things other people, speaks to their integrity and speaks to their attention to detail.

Kelsey Spray (20:38)

Mm-hmm.

Definitely. And I think something that is, think all builders should do or should know is know your competition. Know who else is out there. So obviously it's very rare that somebody walks in and this is their first stop and they're like, boom, boom, boom. And that's done. People are going to be doing a lot of research. Again, this is a house. This is a big investment. This is where someone spends the majority of their time.

So it's very well to know what else is going on around here. What are the competitors doing? Cause they're going to bring that up. They're going to be like, okay, XYZ down the street, they're doing this. Why are they doing this when you're not doing that? And it's good to just kind of like always know like what's going on or even when it comes to like pricing, Hey, why did they have that? I'm like, yeah, I saw that too. Like I'm on, I'm on everybody's mailing list. Do they know who I am? I don't know. I am super competitive. So I, it's kind of bad.

I'm like really competitive. So I know what's going on. I know there's a lot of builders on the street that I'm on I'm like, I know you I know everything I'm on all of your mailing lists. I got the I got the deal. So when somebody brings it up, I'm like, yeah, I saw that if I know you know, and then people yeah, and people are like what how do know that?

Jesse Sampley (21:53)

Yeah, funnel hacking.

use an alias email for all of that?

Kelsey Spray (21:59)

different emails that don't have the company that I work for. I have family around here too. like, can you stop in here and see what they're doing?

Jesse Sampley (22:01)

There you go.

There you go.

I love it you

Kelsey Spray (22:07)

I mean, you

gotta do, you gotta be different somehow.

Jesse Sampley (22:10)

very true. do think that competitive nature comes

Kelsey Spray (22:13)

I, well, I've been in sports my whole life. so I definitely think that I was a cheerleader in college. So I think that, growing up with like coaches and just like having like a team of people around me all the time. I think that very much. And I'm from Pittsburgh, right? The Pittsburgh Steelers. Come on now. That's one of the favorite football teams around. But growing up, always like.

Jesse Sampley (22:30)

Yeah. ⁓

Yeah.

Kelsey Spray (22:37)

And again, like being part of like college football and things like that, think that that just grew like so much competitiveness in me growing up with brothers that grew competitiveness in me. I just, I don't like losing with anything. And I, I'm kind of a poor sport, but I can admit it. I can admit that I'm a poor sport. Yeah. So like when you get to like cornhole or things like that, like I will.

Jesse Sampley (22:55)

At least you admit it.

Kelsey Spray (23:01)

go from like real happy to real mad, but just like it's really quick. Yeah. Yeah. But it works. It works like, in sales and stuff too. I think there's a lot of like, college athletes end up becoming salespeople because of that. You kind of have to be competitive to be in like this type of industry. need to be very super motivated and you have to like be a

Jesse Sampley (23:04)

Okay, you're like, I'm hyper focused. have one goal here. It is to win. I love it.

Kelsey Spray (23:25)

I don't want to say obsessive with it, but like I was obsessed with cheerleading and now I'm so obsessed with my job. I love my with it.

Jesse Sampley (23:32)

I've actually heard this from other people even specifically other builders is like, you have to be obsessed at anything that you do.

Kelsey Spray (23:40)

Mm-hmm.

Jesse Sampley (23:40)

to

find success in it because especially as you go through the roller coaster success or whatever goal that you're trying to accomplish, like there are going to be like really high highs and really low So as you're trying to level out, like you really have to obsess how am I going to accomplish this? What am I going to do when things aren't going the way that I really want them But

Kelsey Spray (23:53)

yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Jesse Sampley (24:03)

It has to consume you. feel like my, gauge is if I'm not dreaming about it at night, then I'm not putting enough energy and focus on it. Yeah. If I can problem solve in my dreams, I know I'm doing it right because I'm consuming as you know, so much that it's like my brain's trying to make sense of it at night.

Kelsey Spray (24:09)

The dreams, the dreams are the worst.

Yeah, I have the dreams. I have the dreams. Usually they're good, I'm just like, no. But yeah, agree. That's when you know you're in it. You're like, I'm dreaming about it.

Jesse Sampley (24:25)

Okay.

Yeah. Well, how do

you kind of, engaged, what are some people that you look to for inspiration or just kind of keep you going, keep that motivation up to, just, keep a healthy flow of momentum going. Cause you have to have the momentum and to keep that momentum, something's got to feed you because, know, eventually you'll just, you run out of gas. So what are, is it podcasts? Is it books? Is it networking? What are some things that

Kelsey Spray (24:52)

Okay.

Jesse Sampley (24:57)

you feed energy from.

Kelsey Spray (24:58)

think it's social media. mean, like social media is taking over and there's TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and Snapchat and just everything. And people are constantly, media, they show a lot of the good and lot of people don't show a lot of the bad. So constantly seeing the goods, you're like, okay, I want to be that good. I want to be that good. I want to be like that person.

Jesse Sampley (25:00)

Really?

Kelsey Spray (25:21)

So I definitely think that you can very much like get in like a rabbit hole of it and it can be bad, but also like if you are competitive like that and you're seeing like, I'm seeing the person up the street, like selling this many homes. like, wait, how are we this close? And you're selling that many homes and I'm not buying this many homes. I usually can see it on social media or I can see like, what are the, I could see you getting their awards and things like that. So I would want to say that. And then definitely podcasts. I love podcasts.

I love going on long walks and that's all I listen to, or usually podcasts.

Jesse Sampley (25:49)

I do too.

Yeah, me, like I have to drive once I start driving things start making sense. And usually I have like a reminders that's open. I'm like, oh, okay. Now, now that I'm kind of out of the office and I'm able to just have some silence, then it's like, oh, okay. Remind me to do this. Oh, here's an idea. it's the miles just unravel my brain.

Kelsey Spray (25:59)

yeah. Yeah.

Yeah,

it's the ideas too that just start popping up. But another thing I have here is this book that if anybody is in new home sales or needs help, Jeff Shore, this book right here is amazing. It is all for like new home sales agents. It's even for builders. Like, if you don't have the agency and idea of this book is great.

Jesse Sampley (26:18)

Yeah.

Yeah.

me the synopsis.

do they get out of it once they read the book?

Kelsey Spray (26:40)

I think you're going to get a better understanding of how people feel like when they're walking. a reason that people like, came into my model home today. They weren't down the street and just happened to appear in this model home. There's always a reason and you need to figure out that reason. There's something going on in their life that they're there and you need to figure that out so that you can help them so we can overlook that. So I think very much like thinking of like in the home buying process of what

the buyers are thinking about is what this book talks about a lot.

Jesse Sampley (27:10)

And probably to just you have to offer, like you're in the service people I think sales has got a negative connotation to it sometimes, but like everything is sales, but it's also service. It's like I'm I'm trying to help you. And if it's a good fit, then it's it's a great but I have to first make you aware of are all of the leads come in? Are these,

Kelsey Spray (27:20)

Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Jesse Sampley (27:32)

All of people coming off the street or do you have other lead strategies to get people to come into the model process look like?

Kelsey Spray (27:40)

Yeah, so this model home, there are a lot of people that come from directional signs and stuff. They see the name out front. We have flags everywhere and they're coming on in. Obviously, they're seeing construction. We also have an online sales team you can go onto our website. That's their phone number. Call them, hey, I want to book an appointment and that's how you get in here. But we do have so many people that come through our doors constantly just by seeing the sign.

we have people where, a home can be a very long process. So we have a system where, we can go back years and years and years and kind of see like, all right, this person came here two years ago. they said that there are two years out. Let's maybe contact them. So that's something else that we do too.

Jesse Sampley (28:17)

Yeah.

takes me back because before we started building our home, we were trying to figure out where do we want to relocate in Florida? And it was basically the entire state. So we went from Daytona side, we went down towards Fort Lauderdale and Port Charlotte. Orlando. So we walked into a lot of model home centers

Kelsey Spray (28:25)

Yeah.

I'm ready.

on here.

Jesse Sampley (28:37)

experience that and it's actually, it's really fun. just seeing how, how different people operate and what their sales process is, ⁓ for me at least, maybe for other people, it's not so exciting, but I was like, this is fun. I want to be sold to.

Kelsey Spray (28:45)

It's so fun.

Yeah, no, I mean, I've done it.

I've gone, I've gone to areas where it's like not really a part of my territory at all. like a couple hours away. And I'm like, well, when I was new, like really new and I'm like, all right, I want to know how to be the best. So let me just start shopping around and seeing how are these people like approaching me? And then I just kind of took notes from there and just kind of seeing what they're doing and how I felt. I'm like, all right, well, they made me feel good or bad. So let me tweak this a little bit, but yeah.

Jesse Sampley (29:16)

Yeah.

You think that comes back marketing background is just viewing things like that always an engineered way everything. nothing's by you're hamburger from McDonald's, they have a script that they're saying, like everything has a process to it because that's how success works is like you have a formula.

Kelsey Spray (29:28)

yeah.

Jesse Sampley (29:39)

you improve the formula and when it starts working, you use that formula over and over and over. You think that comes a bit the marketing background is just reverse engineering that.

Kelsey Spray (29:48)

marketing plays the biggest role in all of real estate, honestly. think that if you're not marketing yourself right, you could have the best place to help. You could have the best house on the street at the best price, but if people don't know about it, it's gonna sit there forever. need to get yourself out there. another thing with marketing is that you've gotta be different. Like that's the thing, lot of realtors,

have an Instagram or TikTok, whatever it is, and every single TikTok or Instagram reel, they're, hey, welcome to 123 ABC Road or whatever it is. And here's this house. You lost me. You lost me in three seconds that you're going to start showing me this house. You got, you have to be different. you got to start in a different way. You can't be like every other person because people are at some school rate value.

Jesse Sampley (30:32)

What are you seeing working well now for you on social media? Which platform? Really?

Kelsey Spray (30:37)

TikTok.

Yeah, TikTok is doing, would say it's doing the best for me right now. I've had a couple people reach out to me and I my TikTok because I want to be like an educational resource for people that don't know anything about this. They don't know about new construction. They don't even know how to buy a house because they don't teach us this in school, in college.

You don't really learn about like mortgages and interest rates and all of the, and all those things. You don't know anything about that. So my goal is to very much so like teach people this could look like. And I tell people, I told all my friends are looking at looking for houses right now. like, if you could do one thing, give one builder a shot. Just give them a shot and see what they say, because I promise you, you are going to be shocked at what you can get for your money.

Jesse Sampley (31:02)

Yeah.

Kelsey Spray (31:27)

this early on or with a builder because be shocked. People don't know about it. It's talked about much. My opinion is not.

Jesse Sampley (31:34)

It is not. fact, neighborhood that we looked at first, we went there with our real estate agent to look at another house that was already for sale. we actually got to the house, we got met agent that was selling homes in that same neighborhood. she got ahold of us first, but then she showed us,

with the incentives that we have now, just because we're in a bit of a soft market, we are trying to sell these homes and you can build new home and with the incentives and being able to customize all of this stuff in your home, you're at a better price point than if you buy this home that's already for sale. And for us on our timeline, it pushed it six months, which is what we really needed.

Kelsey Spray (31:58)

Mm-hmm.

Jesse Sampley (32:16)

You just think that, a new home is gonna be more or it's too complicated. I don't even know. I don't think that you're really, you don't put it apples to apples. It's just like, okay, if I'm going to quickly do something, obviously a used home is going to be cheaper or easier. And it was not the case at all.

Kelsey Spray (32:25)

Mm-hmm.

No, it's not. There's articles that have been going out too, like in Florida, that new homes are going for less than resale homes right now, which is insane because everything's new. going back to what you said about like every house has a story behind it. So like what you see online might not be true. Like we could have a house that's been sitting in my community for over a year could have this crazy story behind it where we're to get rid of it. But you would never know that if you didn't come in and give it a shot.

Jesse Sampley (32:42)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Kelsey Spray (33:00)

So that's

why I always say don't believe everything you see online either too when it comes to websites and things like that because every single house, every single community, every single builder has a story and just listen to it. You'll never know what can come out of it.

Jesse Sampley (33:04)

You

I think you bring up a good point with that, which education and, also just showing up for people and social media is a great place to do that. And, on what we do on a marketing side is really push the awareness, which is like, Hey, you can't even begin

the sales cycle unless people know about you and you can't really have much authority unless you're showing some of your building some trust with these people too. a lot of it, I feel like with AI, there is just a lot less ways to kind of like hack the system and like just be real, show up.

Kelsey Spray (33:32)

I will.

Mm-hmm.

Jesse Sampley (33:48)

Provide education all of these online platforms have the same goal which is we want to keep you on our platform We want to engage with users so it's a pretty easy recipe to say say something of value be consistent and engage it's

Kelsey Spray (34:03)

That's it too.

Being consistent and engaging too because once you start falling off for a couple of weeks, then you're like, okay, wait, what happened here? like, you want to show people that you're constantly going and going and going and that you're consistent because that's going to show how you're going through the seal process too. Are you going to be consistent for full time?

Jesse Sampley (34:12)

Yeah.

Yeah.

And what we do is a lot of the content that we see that is already like organically working, then use those as paid ads because we know like, there's something that the algorithm really likes about this. So we'll use that. And then our, our call to action, we'll take it to, a qualifier form or wherever it needs to, depending on the goal. But you've got to be seen first. And then you got to like foster that relationship with people within your area that you're trying to reach.

Kelsey Spray (34:30)

Yeah.

Exactly.

Jesse Sampley (34:50)

and do that consistently.

Kelsey Spray (34:51)

Yeah, and you never know until you try. Like for me, I did not want to do social media. I don't really post on social media, like my personal account, I don't do much on it. And I was like, I was so stressed out about doing TikTok and easier said than done, right? Like, like don't care what people say, but that's hard, right? Like that is a hard thing to come across. I mean, now that I'm doing it, I'm like, honestly, if someone wants to like make fun of me for me working hard for my job, then.

Jesse Sampley (35:06)

Ha ha.

Kelsey Spray (35:20)

Kudos to you to do that. But yeah, I would say just do it. Like it's honestly kind of fun. And I've met some people fun from doing it that I would have been like, you never know what opportunity is just dangling right in front of you. And you just do one thing.

Jesse Sampley (35:34)

One piece of advice that I got here recently, and I thought this was so good, which was if focus on the tiniest detail of something, then you have more than enough content to talk about. So whatever subject it is, and for him, he was talking about renovations. And he was just zoom in all the way to not just a window,

Kelsey Spray (35:48)

Mm-hmm.

Jesse Sampley (35:58)

but I'm talking about a screw that we're using for the window. Then he's like, I've got so much content that I can talk about. for him, he was saying, at first, it's like, what do I talk about? become a little overwhelming. But it's talk about the real details of, hey, we're using this stainless steel screw versus this other type of screw. And we're doing this because of this reason. Now you've got

Kelsey Spray (36:14)

Mm-hmm.

Jesse Sampley (36:23)

20 topics to talk about just on that window and zoom out. we're talking about the, so I thought that mindset was really important to say, like, don't get too big with it. Just talk about the tiny things and then you'll never run out of things to talk about.

Kelsey Spray (36:31)

huh.

Exactly.

And then when you start, making these videos that are like five, 10 minutes long, again, people's attention spans aren't there anymore. You can't be doing that. They got to be kind of like short and clean to the point. then next, next, you've got to keep rolling. That's the thing is you got to, you got to kind of like match the algorithm that you're in and the market that you're in and the people that you're around. So you got to feel like kind of like, what do they like? And then market towards that.

Jesse Sampley (36:44)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Another strategy we use is when you Google something, if you go down in the page, it says, people also search for, and then it shows you that list of what other people are searching for under that is using those questions. And then we'll have the client just make a long video that answered those things and be like, Hey, we're getting some questions about, and then basically just answer all of those questions and then throw it into one of these AI editor apps like clip Opus.

Kelsey Spray (37:09)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Jesse Sampley (37:27)

It's taking

it and then just let it spit out. Hey, here's your 10 different videos. You 15 minutes recording this video on your phone. now you've got two weeks worth of content that you're able to post every single day. And it took you what? Less than 30 minutes and getting people used to a good rhythm of, okay, this isn't so huge to where I think that I need to overproduce this. been real helpful.

Kelsey Spray (37:38)

Mm-hmm.

Exactly.

I'm here.

No, for sure. like to me, like I use chat GPT, like it's my assistant. I use it for so many things. it, I tell them like, all right, I posted this TikTok today and I love it. It was like, it's like, good job. Now we're going to do this. And I'm like, great. And then it, mean, but like it walks you through the whole process. All you have to have is the idea. And then it's like, okay, go here, here, here. And then you just start, there's more ideas that just keep coming and coming. but yeah, I think that there's so many like videos.

Jesse Sampley (37:57)

yeah.

You

Kelsey Spray (38:17)

This is never ending. Like you're never going to run out of ideas. And then once people start having questions, you just make videos based off of the question.

Jesse Sampley (38:25)

Yeah. And you have to look at the value of it and the value is huge, which is, to be able show up and do this consistently, it kind of starts this virtual referrals, which I've heard from a lot of people already, which is like, Hey, they're getting people referred to them on Instagram by people that they don't know, but they've just consumed the content. And it's like, man, I kind of homes you guys are building. know what kind of projects you normally work on.

Kelsey Spray (38:43)

Mm-hmm.

Jesse Sampley (38:49)

I know somebody, I'm going to send them your way. And the person's like, I don't even know who this person is. But, I guess they were just consuming what I was putting out there and, they liked what they saw. And they said, you our return on investment is just, time and, cause we're putting the time in, but now we're actually getting real jobs out of this.

Kelsey Spray (39:08)

That's the thing too, is that at least doing this thing on social media, we're all still getting paid in the background because we're doing our job. This is just an extra resource for us to have. Social media is the new norm now. People are on their phone looking at social media and wondering that they're watching TV. So this is, mm-hmm, yeah.

Jesse Sampley (39:18)

Yeah.

Yeah. A second.

I think they call it second screen, so like even while watching the Super Bowl last night you've got your one screen on the wall and then you've got your other screen to where you're almost viewing a secondary storyline, of like, I'm watching this live, but I'm also seeing this, live engagement as far as like what everyone else in the world is talking about.

Kelsey Spray (39:33)

⁓ yeah.

Yeah.

Jesse Sampley (39:49)

on the halftime show or talking about who's here and not there. It's really interesting.

Kelsey Spray (39:54)

That's

what I was watching like the Super Bowl last night. I was watching a half-time show that actor went on TikTok and I was seeing people that were actually sitting there and they're like, we can't see anything. And I'm like, it makes sense because the visuals on the TV were great. And they're like, well, we can see these people in these trees. They were like, did you know that these trees are people? And I was like, didn't know that.

Jesse Sampley (40:15)

Yeah.

It's really awesome. Well, Kelsey, this has been great. Anything else you want to add?

Kelsey Spray (40:21)

I would just say for all builders out there, just keep marketing and staying consistent and things will come. And again, have like good, service and communication with people. And then if you have the right product and you're doing the right thing, then things are going to work out at some

Jesse Sampley (40:35)

Awesome. Well, this has been wonderful. Thank you so much for your time and looking forward to following along and seeing where you go.

Kelsey Spray (40:37)

Yeah.

Of course, thank you so much for having me. I loved it.