Building Better - My Top Takeaways From the NAHB International Builder Show

To say that the last couple of years has been a turbulent time in the construction industry would be the understatement of the century. Builders especially have been met with a number of challenges and changes that have surely changed the way they approach their business forever. That’s why I feel it’s important to gather with peers to learn how they are coping and, ultimately, flourishing despite the hurdles we all face. At this year’s NAHB International Builders Show (IBS), I was able to build my business arsenal and came back reinvigorated, ready to take on the road ahead. Here are a few of my favorite takeaways.?

Finding Marketing Success No Matter the Environment

Sometimes you need to know where you want to be in order to properly create the mile markers for that journey. The Marketproof Marketing session discussed working backward from a sales goal to determine the number of appointments, leads, and online traffic units a builder or franchisor needs in order to meet its goals. It was a very straightforward playbook that discussed industry best practices for each (if a builder doesn’t have a sense of its historical rates) and then Kevin presented several different scenarios where one of the variables was out of whack. In each of those scenarios, he asked the group to identify potential underlying factors and strategize responses.?

Epcon Franchising strives to support our partners - including helping them with sales and marketing training; this session gave me a great refresher on something critical upon which we can train our builders. We plan to workshop this type of topic within our team in the form of a webinar to assist our builders in meeting their goals for online traffic, leads and appointments as they work to meet their monthly and annual sales goals.?

The Future of Building

I won’t mince words here - the industry is at an inflection point of increased demand and rising building costs. Ultimately this leaves many builders having to carefully balance quality and profits. Our builders have been asking for product that achieves higher density at attainable price points for a while now, and we’re working on delivering some concepts for them to try. That’s why the Density that Delivers seminar helped to highlight ways in which builders can meet evolving market demand within existing community zoning regulations. This session started with a discussion of how most of the zoning codes across the country are outdated based on buyer preferences from the nineties, and that is leaving the industry unable to provide what the mass market is now demanding.

?

While in the past, buyers were all about more and excess, today’s homebuyer is less interested in the excess of previous generations. During the session, the speakers shared a number of very interesting floor plans and community concepts that are along the lines of our Carriage Series (attainable product series that is currently in development). For me, this session has validated the fact that there is, in fact, a place for houses with smaller footprints and one-car garages within our product portfolio.?

The Elephant in the Room - Battling Burnout

While at IBS, I got a chance to check out a seminar by Chad Sanschagrin that addressed one of the biggest problems in our industry today - burnout. In his session, Chad helped set the tone by telling the crowd that they would only be successful if they cared more about the mission and customer than the commission. Personally, this tidbit helped me remember my “why” - for many leaders, the reasons behind our drive go well beyond chasing a steady paycheck. It’s important to not lose sight of your why if you value long-term success.??

From here, Chad shifted to more of a discussion around a general mindset encouraging everyone to focus on betterment over achievement because focusing on achievement is fleeting. If you’re only focused on achieving, then you’re going to feel empty when that high fades. I took that very personally since my personality type tends to leave me very focused on achievement and I can easily feel drained and down if I don’t have a big “win” in my day or week. The session really brought to light our need to collectively focus on betterment. As leaders, we must trust that the process of improvement will not always be characterized by a big win every day. Instead, we should focus on the customer/mission to keep on track. This was impactful for me because I often focus on “big wins.” This was a chance to restructure my own approach to work.

Putting it All Together

This years’ IBS felt like a much-needed return to business, and it was refreshing to connect with so many thought leaders in person once again. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to hear from people in the industry and learning new ways of doing things. It was great to be affirmed for paths we’re already on, such as the need for “attainable” housing, and come up with new ideas of how to train people and set them up for success. But above all, I’m looking forward to what the year holds and how these sessions will impact Epcon Franchising and all of our builders across the country.