I don't watch much TV. But on a recent work trip, I started Netflix's Drive to Survive, the Formula One series. Over and over, the teams kept coming back to a single idea: find the limiting factor. Why isn't the car performing at its potential? The answers ranged from the engine to the gearbox to aerodynamics - but most often it was the tires. Even when everything else is dialed, the tires are where the rubber literally meets the road. Grip and friction keep the car on the track and the driver alive. That's the ultimate limiting factor.
Naturally, my brain drifted back to new-home marketing and sales. Many senior leaders I talk with still believe their own limiting factor is attention. "We need more eyeballs, and we need to give buyers more facts about our interest rate incentive." Say it louder, say it bigger, and sales will follow. I can say with confidence that for over 90% of builders - especially those investing heavily in digital ads - attention isn't the limiting factor in today's market.
Attention by the Numbers
Here's why. Homebuilder Data - the largest real-time window into homebuilder website activity in the U.S. - shows organic traffic up more than 20% year over year. Organic is your highest-intent channel. Overall web activity is up more than 5% and for many builders, over 10%. And yet, lead volume is down 10–20% year over year or worse. Look at your last 30 days of unique visitors. Then try to find a stadium that size.
One private builder I reviewed had over 400,000 unique visitors. There isn't a single MSA they serve with that many qualified buyers for their product, and there isn't a stadium big enough to visualize it. You'd need to fill Ohio Stadium about four times. Despite that, the internal conversation often returns to the same refrain: we need more leads, more traffic, more attention. That's a misread of the real constraint.
So if it's not attention, what is it? Limiting factors can live almost anywhere. Messaging that misses the value proposition. A CRM that fights the process - or a process that fights the buyer. Not enough trained people, or the wrong people, in marketing, sales, architecture, ops, or warranty. Development partners that slow you down. Legacy plans that no longer win. A local real estate community that isn't engaged. Phones that don't get answered and inquiries that don't get returned. Pricing that's out of step. Included features that are off. Too few options - or too many. The list can feel endless, but in practice, there are 10–20 big rocks you should constantly evaluate.
Before the next part, let's clear out a few loud, popular excuses I keep seeing in social posts, emails, and even consulting calls. The biggest: "We're losing attention to AI." Charts circulate showing SEO focused websites losing traffic to AI Overviews or ChatGPT/Gemini answers. Most of those are fact lookups, not the same behavior as in-depth shopping for a home. In the data set we watch - the largest in the country - builders aren't losing search traffic the way other industries might be. Could that change? Sure. If it does, we'll say so. But right now, attention lost to AI isn't the thing holding builders back.
Why Attention is the Scapegoat
Why do some keep pushing the "we're losing attention" story? Sometimes it's a ready-made alibi for poor results. Sometimes it packages a sweeping "transformation" pitch - pay us and, after you change everything, maybe it improves. Closely related is the constant drumbeat to change for change's sake. How you build, sell, market, and communicate - everything's supposedly on the table, all the time. I'm pro-testing and pro-change when it attacks a fundamental constraint. But a change that doesn't move the limiting factor is waste.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: the constraint will cap your performance no matter how much attention you generate. If your appointment-to-sale ratio lives below 10%, you won't hit your goals - no matter how many visitors you buy. If your product is meaningfully weaker than alternatives, you won't hit your goals. If your warranty experience disappoints, your past buyers will shape the perceptions of your future buyers, and you won't hit your goals.
Messaging is a significant lever here. At our recent Online Sales & Marketing Summit, Casey Needham said, "Rate incentives are closing tools, not marketing messages." The room practically shook with agreement. Marketers feel this. But sales often ask for more facts to push into ads - hoping that if we pre-answer every objection, buyers will fall in line. Paradoxically, in this environment, the strategic use of information - what, when, and how you share it - can generate the biggest lift in leads and conversations.
Which brings us to a simple, practical way to regain momentum when urgency is low and uncertainty is high. The limiting factor in many organizations isn't awareness - it's a reluctance to engage, defend, and guide.
Engage
Step 1: Make a claim worth investigating. Simplify your message into a clear, interesting promise about how you're better positioned to solve a buyer's problem. Think Elf in New York seeing "World's Best Cup of Coffee." It's a claim. It invites a test. Builders are playing it too safe. Make a claim that earns a click, a call, or a visit.
Defend
Step 2: Align sales and marketing to defend the claim. Your team needs to be ready to respond fast and confidently, with truthful proof points that support the promise. This is where process, training, and CRM setup either help or hurt.
Guide
Step 3: Pivot to next steps. Once the claim is defended, guide the buyer to the following action: appointment, design consult, lot walk, or financing review. Forward motion beats more facts every time.
When the market itself is smaller, you must win market share. You won't do that by shouting louder with more facts about your incentives. You'll do it by removing real constraints, creating human engagement, and restoring momentum.
So take a breath and ask: what's truly holding us back right now? If your first answer is "attention," let me save you the time and remind you it probably isn't - hunt for the next candidate for improvement instead. Fix the tires (limiting factor), and then push your foot down on the throttle (attention) again.
