As the heart of innovation in the new home industry, UTour is excited to participate in the 2024 NAHB International Builders’ Show. This premier event gathers the most influential minds and decision-makers in the new home industry. UTour is returning to the show floor to connect, share and inspire in this unparalleled environment for networking and learning opportunities. Here’s what you need to know to make the most of UTour’s offering at this year’s event.
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UTour’s Showcase at the 2024 NAHB International Builders’ Show
Topics: self-guided tours proptech smart homes best practices new homes sales
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Revolutionizing Home Tours: Harnessing the Power of UTour's AI Assistants
In the dynamic landscape of today's real estate market, blending cutting-edge technology with unparalleled customer service is not just a passing trend, but a groundbreaking revolution. UTour is leading this transformation, providing an innovative, tech-centric approach to self-guided home tours. UTour empowers home shoppers, placing the reins of their journey firmly in their own hands. This flexibility and ease of process redefine the self-touring experience. However, the real game-changer lies in UTour's pioneering AI Assistants.
Topics: self-guided tours ai assistants best practices new homes sales
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Revolutionizing the Model Home Tour Experience with UTour
With the rapid advancements in technology, the traditional ways of touring new homes are undergoing a significant transformation. UTour, the leading self-tour platform for the new home industry, has been at the forefront of this change, offering innovative self-guided home tours to enhance the model home experience.
Topics: self-guided tours faqs best practices new homes sales
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UTour Joins Zonda to Revolutionize the Home Shopping Experience
We are thrilled to announce that UTour has officially joined the Zonda family, marking a transformative milestone in the future of the new home shopping experience.
Topics: self-guided tours news
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UTour Hits Major Milestones
Since our launch in mid-2020, we have been steadfastly committed to redefining the new home shopping experience with our innovative self-touring solutions. Today, we are excited to share a significant milestone that marks our growth and influence in the new home industry.
Topics: self-guided tours new homes sales news
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Self-Guided Tours: Empowering Homebuilder Sales Teams, Not Replacing Them
The real estate industry has seen a significant shift in recent years, with technology playing an increasingly important role in the home buying process, accelerated by COVID-19's impact on consumer behavior. UTour’s self-guided home tour platform is one of these technological innovations to disrupt the traditional process to make home shopping easier, smarter, and more efficient. It helps builders sell more homes and allows home shoppers to find their dream homes on their terms.
Topics: self-guided tours faqs best practices new homes sales
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Maximizing Self-Tours: Best Practices for Homebuilders
The new home industry is continually evolving and embracing technology as homebuilders across the nation embrace offering self-guided tours of their models and inventory homes to generate more verified, quality leads, improve the home shopping experience and overcome staffing issues.
Topics: self-guided tours faqs best practices new homes sales
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How OSCs Can Use Self-Tours To Generate More Appointments
According to Zillow New Construction’s Consumer Housing Trends Report 2023, 69% of new construction buyers in 2022 said they prefer to unlock properties with their mobile phones and tour them in person on their own time. And, 68% said they prefer to schedule in-person tours online.
If the majority of new home shoppers desire to self-tour during their first visit to a community, how can an Online Sales Counselor (OSC) assist in ensuring that self-touring leads schedule an onsite sales appointment?
Topics: self-guided tours osc new homes sales lead generation
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How to Integrate UTour Into Your Sales Process
As a builder, you know that when you provide a great homebuying experience, shoppers purchase more homes. You also know that self-guided tours have revolutionized the homebuying experience for builders and shoppers alike.
But with so many responsibilities and such little time, builders often don’t have the bandwidth to launch a new self-guided tour initiative. We are here to help.
UTour makes it easy for builders like you to offer a truly unrivaled on-demand self-guided tour solution to your shoppers to make their homebuying experience less stressful and more enjoyable. Additionally, UTour provides your sales team with incomparable on-demand insights into the interactions shoppers had with your home, arming you with the information to help you sell more homes.
In order to integrate with UTour, homebuilders only need to follow these five simple steps.
1. Add UTour Technology to Your Homes
Select the desired homes available for self-guided tours. Install a Z-Wave lock plus a UTour Hub or compatible control panel (i.e., Qolsys, Honeywell, 2GIG, etc.) in each home. UTour’s responsive and dedicated support staff can guide your team on the installation process, or we can even handle the installation for you for a small additional fee.
2. Promote UTour Homes Through Your Marketing Materials
Through the UTour Builder Portal, you can generate a community-specific or home-specific QR code and URLs to integrate into your marketing and advertising efforts to engage home shoppers via email, search, signage, social media, etc.
3. Prepare Your Team for Upcoming Tours
Select your team members who will receive automated notifications and reports about your self-guided tours and Visitors. These notifications include Tour Scheduled, Tour Reminder, Tour in Progress, Missed Tour, Tour Complete and more.
4. Review Post-Tour Information
Following each self-tour, your team will receive a detailed report in your CRM system and in the UTour Builder Portal that includes but is not limited to:
- Complete, verified contact information
- Tour Duration
- Locations they self-toured
- Interaction with the Self-Tour Assistant, if installed
5. Execute Post-Tour Nurture Campaign
After a self-tour is completed, the home shopper receives automated emails and text notifications with your sales team’s contact information. These notifications encourage them to connect with your team to move forward in the home buying process or if they have any questions about the home they just toured.
Topics: self-guided tours best practices new homes sales
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Make a Resolution to be Adaptable in 2023
The conclusion of 2022 was not kind to homebuilders, and if most predictions hold true, the next 12 months look to be challenging as well. While it is natural to turn to past successes when developing your 2023 marketing plan, the current market conditions will dictate a different approach.
While that may seem to be a negative, all is not lost. New ideas and change may be the very things your marketing plan has been in need of for some time. In fact, it is number one on our list of tips to optimize your marketing plan in the new year. Embrace change to make the new year a success.
Tips to Optimize Your 2023 Marketing Plan
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Embrace Change: Change is hard, but the likelihood of limited resources may force marketers like you to be more creative in your planning for the year. So be open to new ideas, different technologies and unique tactics. Embracing change offers the possibility of adopting a new and successful marketing strategy that you otherwise may not have explored. This year offers a great opportunity to be the first builder in your area to adopt a successful new marketing tactic before others do the same.
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Know and Understand Your Numbers: While it is important to monitor numbers like lead volumes and advertising metrics, it is just as critical to do a deeper dive to understand lead-to-tour rates, lead-to-appointment rates, appointment-to-sale rates and your local market activity. Knowing that information will only help you spend your marketing dollars and resources more efficiently.
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Create Content: Great content is the best way to bolster your paid advertising efforts to convert leads and meaningful sales appointments (and help your sales team overcome buyer objections). If your paid advertising budgets are cut this year, investing the time into creating compelling content should be a winning strategy.
For your marketing plan to be successful in 2023, you will have to sharpen your problem-solving skills and resourcefulness in all areas. As new home marketers, we must embrace this challenge as an opportunity, and in the famous words of Jim Rohn, “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.”
