The end of 2017 is rapidly approaching and that means it is time for home builders, Realtors, developers and more to take a look at how they did in 2017 and set goals for 2018. To help the home building and real estate industry excel in 2018, Lasso CRM released a list of top sales and marketing tips from the experts.

Sales Tips

The sales experts panel includes Jen Barkan and Mike Lyon of Do You Convert, Myers Barnes with Builder Designs, Forrest Performance Group CEO Jason Forrest, Success Strategies president Jane Meagher, Kerry & Co. President Kerry Mulcrone, sales keynote speaker and author Jeff Shore with Shore Consulting, Sales Solve Everything CEO Ralph Williams, Lasso CRM’s Sara Williams and Zillow Group’s vice president of sales, Lucy Wohltman.

Their sales tips include streamlining the process between receiving leads from online sales and contacting prospects, rethinking the customer journey from the historical linear pathway to a sale, managing and prioritizing prospecting, staying organized, staying focused on a company, establishing good everyday habits, advertising what sets your company apart and the experience customers will get, and providing buyers with the best information.

Marketing Tips

The variety of marketing experts includes Will Duderstadt of M/I Homes, Group Two Advertising owner and president Mollie Elkman, Builder Designs’ Chip Johnson, Do You Convert’s Kevin Oakley, John Lee of Rendering House, Denim Marketing founder and president Carol Morgan, Meredith Oliver of Meredith Communications, Focus 360 founder Steve Ormonde and O’Neil Interactive president Dennis O’Neil.

Their advice for marketing includes keeping social media posts fun instead of the same old advertising slogans, improving a website’s curb appeal, getting personal and targeting ads with buyers, investing more money in online conversion programs such as Facebook and landing pages, occasionally observing competition, clearly defining a company’s digital strategy, getting to know audiences and posting quality content.

Insight into Housing Market

Finally, Lasso CRM provides readers with insight into the state of the housing economy from Charles C. Shinn, Jr., PhD, founder of Builder Partnerships. Shinn predicts a 10 to 15 percent growth rate for home sales. “However, there is a lot of pressure on profits with the increasing mortgage interest rates and the deteriorating of housing affordability, limiting the ability to increase sales prices to cover the increasing constructions cost due to the labor shortage, lumber and material cost increases, and the shortage and cost of finished lots,” Shinn says. To protect and increase profits, Shinn encourages builders to establish a profit rate target.

View the full list of sales and marketing tips and insights here.