We get asked this all the time: "What are your top-performing online sales teams doing differently?" Builders want to know the secret. Leaders want to audit their programs. Online Sales Specialists want to level up.
So we put it all in one place. Consider this the Online Sales Manifesto - the non-negotiables that the best programs in the country live and die by. These are battle-tested, data-backed fundamentals that we have seen work over and over again. Follow this manifesto, and you will have success.
All New Interest Flows Through Online Sales
Every new lead - web leads, signage calls, Zillow, BDX, developer leads, realtor inquiries should funnel through online sales. No exceptions. Your Online Sales Specialist is in the CRM every day. They are trained to nurture, capture, and follow up. When leads go to salespeople on the website and other leads go to online sales, you create confusion and data leak. One single source of truth is the goal.
Right-Size Your Program
The sweet spot is around 150 to 200 new leads per month per online sales specialist. When you begin to creep over that, conversions suffer. More leads managed poorly is not always better. If you are setting over 80 to 100 appointments a month, corners may be cut in the process and prospecting goes to the wayside. Know your numbers, evaluate your process, and staff up to meet demand.
Position Online Sales as Part of the Sales Team
This is a sales role. Your Online Sales Specialist is the frontline of your sales team and should be positioned that way from the top down. That means performance-based goals, appointment metrics, and conversion expectations. Build this role around a sales mentality and it shows instant value. We want appointment getters that are invested in the sale.
Speed to Lead
Fast is not fast enough. We live in a world of immediate gratification with people getting telehealth prescriptions delivered to their door in hours. The window where a lead is still engaged on your website keeps shrinking. Speed cures a multitude of other sins. There could be a system or staffing issue that is preventing this so make sure your program and your technology support a quick response.
Personalize Your First Outreach
Auto responses are great for speed, but they should never replace personalization. Your first email, text, and phone call should be personalized to the community of interest and address whatever the customer asked and shared. When a customer asks a question and you respond with a generic template that ignores it, you break trust immediately. In our homebuilder follow-up survey, only 43% of builders personalized that first outreach - down from 71% the year before. This is a massive opportunity.
Keep Your Messaging Simple and Relevant
The goal of your first response is to get engagement and to get the customer to respond so you can start a real conversation. Don't info dump in your messaging! A good follow up email should be 5 sentences or less and customer vs builder focused. And remember, one size does not fit all. Someone who came through your website needs a different message than someone who found a listing on Zillow or New Home Source. Put your customer hat on.
Develop and Follow a Process
You need processes for new leads, responsive leads, prospecting, coming soon interest lists, your call path, and your handoff to the sales team. The most important thing is to have an action plan so that “No Lead is Left Behind”. Also, beware of task fatigue. Once you have followed up with a responsive lead 4 to 5 times manually, switch to monthly intentional prospecting in mass.
Be Curious on the Phone
In order to be appointment getters not setters, make sure to Discover Don't Dump! Customers have already spent time researching your website in most cases, so when you are on the phone, take the time to get the story. Ask, listen, ask, and have a real conversation instead of pushing someone through a checklist. The appropriately qualified appointment (timeframe, area, wants/needs/motivation, budget, authority) comes from genuine curiosity.
Know Your Numbers and the Why Behind Them
Reporting is your responsibility. Know your lead count, lead sources, lead-to-appointment rate, show rate, appointment-to-sale conversion, and your overall contribution to company sales. The best Online Sales Specialists do the backwards math - how many leads to hit appointment targets, how many appointments to reach sales goals - then share that with the sales team. Watch your dashboards constantly and own the narrative of your program.
The Phone Is Your Best Friend
Texting is a fantastic layer, but it cannot replace the connection of a personal phone conversation. Getting customers on the phone is your best opportunity to provide value and appropriately qualify. Answer every time it rings, maintain a consistent answer rate of 80% or higher, and use the three amigos approach - phone, text, email - to meet customers where they want to be met. Leverage AI tools to help summarize and prioritize your calls.
Make Prospecting a Priority
With an industry average of 20-25% of appointments coming from aged leads, you cannot afford to skip prospecting. There is gold in that database. If you don't have bandwidth, look at how you manage your day. And if lead volume is genuinely that high, it might be time to add to the team. The best programs reach out monthly to their aged leads via email, layering in phone, text, and video to follow up with a goal of 40 calls a day. *Nurturing a coming soon interest list counts as prospecting, too.
Get Out From Behind the Screen
If you work from home, get dressed and head to the office. Go to sales meetings. Visit communities. If distance is a factor, schedule a Zoom or a FT meeting, and leverage video email to stay connected. Your sales team needs to know who you are and how you can help them. Humanizing yourself is not just for customers; it is for your internal team, too.
Stay Current on Your Tech Stack
Your tools are constantly evolving with new features and AI integrations. Be proactive and investigate what is new, try things out, and bring solutions to leadership. Be the Online Sales Specialist who is on top of it, not the one caught off guard.
Meet With Leadership Consistently
If you are not having regular one-on-ones with leadership and marketing, it’s your job to make it happen. Practice proactive communication by bringing your ideas, solutions, and data to help tell the story of your online sales program. Leaders sometimes have blinders because they are zoomed out on the big picture. You are the expert in your role.
Know Your Value and Share It
This ties it all together. Know the impact you are making and talk about it confidently. Don't shrink away and say, "I take calls and set appointments." Remember, YOU are the first point of contact for every new interest that comes in for your builder. YOU work across every community and every sales team. YOU have information before it hits MLS. YOU have data on what leads are converting, and YOU set the tone for the customer’s journey.
This is
your manifesto. Use this list as a guide to help you drive results. These are not ideas we pulled out of thin air, they are the non-negotiables we have seen work across hundreds of builders and online sales programs. If something on this list hits a nerve, that’s good! Take this and sit down with leadership to review and come with a solution. Now, get after it!
Listen to the Online People Talking episode about the manifesto
here.
