211. Content That Converts With Rick Storlie

Welcome to another episode of Professional Builder Secrets. In this episode, I interview Rick Stolley from Builder Lead Converter. We dig into how builders can use project photos to create engaging videos that will help them convert leads into customers. Even if you've never created a video before or don't know where to start, new technology is enabling builders to create beautiful, stunning videos from project photos. And Rick shares exactly how that all works in this episode. So enjoy. This episode of Professional Builder Secrets is brought to you by Apparatus Contractor Services. Apparatus provides full scope, end to end QuickBooks, Precision Construction accounting and CFO services for residential builders. If you feel like you can't completely trust your weekly and monthly financial reports or you feel like you're flying blind and Apparatus will rebuild and operate your QuickBooks accounting system and give you precision construction accounting capability you can trust. Learn more@apparatusteam.com or on the APB Rewards Partner Directory.

What these people are buying is what's called a hoped for lifestyle. What a builder needs, of course, is an emotional attachment. Without an emotional attachment, the lead comes to the builder and they say, well, how, how much project can I get for how little money? So absent of having a model home or even like a retail showroom a physical location, what happens is the first encounter with a builder is online. And that's where videos can really create that emotional connection. You can attract new opportunities, you can capture leads, and then you can convert captured leads into clients. Your website is a virtual model home. If a lead sees it, they believe you can do it. If they don't see it, they question it. Shows show them that you understand their situation and then give them a clear call to action. So that's ultimately that's really power of a video is to really showcase the results, which of course is you delivering that hope for lifestyle.

Welcome to Professional Builder Secrets, the podcast for building company owners wanting to grow safely and securely. I'm your host, Will Blunt and today I'm joined by Rick Stolley from Builder Lead Converter. Rick, welcome to the show.

Thank you. Will appreciate it. Looking forward to having a discussion.

Yeah, great to have you on. You've been on Professional Builder Secrets previously and then I've met you at IBS and you know you've been a part of the Open B community for a long time now. So it's great to have you on, especially with some of the cool work you've got planned coming up, which we can dive into on this episode. But do you want to start by giving those that haven't heard of you A bit of a background of who you are and what your company does.

Yeah, absolutely. My background is in construction and I, I tell people, I said, well, I started as a framer in 1988 and then I have to catch myself will. I said, well technically I was a job site laborer. So literally I started picking up garbage on a construction site. I worked my way up into a salesperson for home building, then went into sales management and finally ended up as general manager for a custom home builder. And about 20 years ago I started offering builders fractional sales and marketing management and was still doing some sales training as well. And I really became obsessed with studying the relationship between marketing and sales. You know, I wanted to answer that question. I was like, well, why do some leads go to contract and others go to a competitor, you know. So in 2020 we launched builder Lead Converter. And the focus there was on helping builders acquire clients by building them a system that uses multiple pipelines to deliver, you know, enough leads so they can pick and choose their clients and jobs or they can backlog their, their production. And then in 2025 we launched builder Lead Videos. And that's so builders can showcase the quality of their work through professional commercial grade videos, you know, and really walk somebody through from a project photo to having like this commercial quality, you know, professional video.

Yeah, nice, tight, you got a tight elevator pitch there, what your background is. I want to talk to you more about build a lead videos and obviously let's, let's talk about the video video concept in general. But if we take a step back, your experience in construction and now moving into sales and marketing services, what problem is it that that core problem that builders are facing which you're trying to help them with?

Well, let me answer the question with a question. What do you feel? And don't worry, I'm not going to grade you if you don't get this right. But what do you feel new home and remodeling buyers are actually buying when they sign a contract with a builder?

They're buying, I believe they're buying the feeling or the dream experience at the end.

Yeah, you know what you're, it's pretty good answer. Well, you know, because a lot of guys would say, well they're buying, you know, 400 square foot kitchen with this type of cabinetry and countertops, that sort of thing. And, and what I learned early on is that I realized that what these people are buying is what's called a hoped for lifestyle. So if you get into psychographics, there's different types of psychographic groups as far as your target markets or avatars. And the certain types of psychographics tend to buy custom homes and they remodel homes, do high end design, build remodeling, but it's always a hope for lifestyle. So in other words, there's something wrong with their current living situation and they want to fix it. So the very best tool any builder has to demonstrate a new lifestyle is simply to walk the prospective client through a completed project or showroom. And that's really where I got started. So I started in a model home and you know, we did parade of homes and we walk people through the model and they would fall in love with the kitchen or the bathroom or you know, they like the overall architectural motif of the plan, which of course would lead to a contract. What a builder needs of course is an emotional attachment. And that's the challenge is that without an emotional attachment, the lead comes to the builder and they say, well, how much project can I get for how little money, right? Everyone wants the has champagne taste for a beer, for a beer budget. And what we want to move them to is, wow, will, I love what you do. What's the next step to me in getting this incredible home and renovation so I can start enjoying it? So in other words, how soon you want to start living and enjoying your home. So absent of having a model home or even like a retail showroom, a physical location, what happens is the first encounter with a builder is online. So there I'm doing some sort of a search, maybe I see an ad, a direct website visit, maybe it's social media. And that's where videos can really create that emotional connection because the video now allows the builder to demonstrate a hope for lifestyle and that leads an opportunity to becoming a lead and then ultimately a client.

Yeah, I love that. I think the other part, which you're not talking so much about is the relationship with the builder as well. That video can, can help bridge.

Yeah, that's, it's a good point.

Trust. It's the trust that it can build compared to, you know, just not knowing who they are.

It's a good point because what we say, videos can be used in really three different capacities. You can attract new opportunities, you can capture leads and then you can convert captured leads into clients. And so you have to understand where the lead is and the type of video you're going to show is based on that. So as an example, a you might create to just attract an opportunity to introduce yourself or create awareness is going to be Much different than the video you're going to use to convert a captured lead into say, a phone appointment. Does that make sense?

Yeah. Yeah. So I think what you're, what you're saying under the surface there is the beautiful looking finished home is the thing that draws people in. And then you're using more personalized videos of the actual business owner and that kind of stuff to convert them. Is that what you're saying?

Yeah, that's, that's right. Because everyone starts out with, you know, they really have two questions. And again it's how much project can I get for how little money everyone wants the most for at least. So what happens is, is that when a, when a lead is actually looking for a builder online and they don't have any relationship established yet, they're trying to answer really two, if not three questions. So one is what can I build or what, how can I remodel my home? It's, it's design related. I can't visualize my new home or my remodeled space. The second question, of course is once they find something I like is how much? And then the third question typically revolves around location. You know, will you come to my neighborhood? Or I'm looking for land in such and such an area. Do you build or offer, you know, land offerings in, in that area? And so again, understanding that when a lead is online is just meeting their expectations of what they're looking for. Again, people shop by process of elimination. So the goal of your website is just to avoid being eliminated. So as one of our clients told me, he just, he got a, a lead and the lead told him, I looked at 30 different websites. You look like you had yours just had the most, you know, together. And so I ended up, you know, becoming a relationship with you. It's like, okay, they're not going to call 30 builders. They're not going to, you know, they might look at 30 different builders websites, but they're only going to talk to maybe 1, 2 or 3. So you just want to start with, just avoid being eliminated. And so you just give them what they're after and then give them an offer they can't refuse. And every, some of these are ready to talk right away. Others may not talk for years.

I love that. That's actually a great way of framing it. I've not thought of before. You really just, it's true in any marketing you're trying not to be eliminated because as you said, everyone's doing a bit of research and shopping online and the smallest discrepancy between something they see and their perception can just make them go nuts, move on to the next one.

Just give me a reason, Will. Next. Right. And because they're trying to create a short list, you know, so you just don't want to give them any reason to eliminate you and give them every reason to want to include you. Which really comes to that first encounter, which is typically online.

Yeah. My second question was about the role you see video playing in how builders connect with new clients today and, and attract new clients. And I think you've touched on that a little bit. But is there anything else you wanted to elaborate on?

Again, if you look at it this way, if you have a, say a million dollar, two million dollar show home or model home and you walk somebody into it, you're putting your very best foot forward. You're giving that potential client every reason in the world to create an emotional attachment for you. And there's always an emotional attachment, Will. I mean I sat in years working model homes. And the beautiful thing about that, my experience with model homes, is that like a website today you can sort of watch how your leads interact with the website. Well, in a model home you get to set back in real time and you get to watch how the lead interacts with the model home. And so you maybe have heard of the term. Well, your website is a virtual model home, a virtual showroom. If you're, if you're a remodeler, that's, that's really exactly what it is. And so you watch how that lead interacts. I got to be able to do that. And, and you could set traps, you know, so sales traps, if you will. So one trap might be, here's information on local land offerings, here's more floor plans or design ideas. You would stage a model home and you know, again to display this hope for lifestyle. And somebody would come in and they would fall in love with how the girls room was decorated or they loved the, the man cave, you know, in the, in the basement or the large garage. All of that was designed to create that emotional attachment and create a reason to start a conversation. So that's what we're doing here, starting the conversation. So what video allows you to do is to put your very best foot forward to, to create a reason to start a conversation. So the video, again, what we're doing is instead of just saying having them visual, look at your website or your social media. So I'm using one of the senses now what I'm doing is I have auditory because I have a narration. I'VE got music in the background, which can really almost go to tone of voice. I've got body language because I'm putting people utilizing your spaces in the, in the video. And then I've got movement, and that movement keeps me engaged. And unfortunately, you know, we're in a Twitter generation, or maybe we'll call it TikTok generation right now, where people don't have a very long attention span. So that one static project photo you can bring to life, you can evoke all the senses, and you can again build that emotional attachment of where that lead wants to take the next step with you. And that might be just visiting your website to learn more about you. Or it might be actually being captured, you know, opting in as a. As a lead. Or it might be again converting to that phone appointment to actually talk about my project.

The examples you gave there. It makes me think that the builders, before they even get to the point of creating video, they need to have a. A very good understanding of their ideal customer. Like you mentioned the man cave, for example, that's only going to have an emotional connection with a certain type of buyer, right?

Yeah, exactly. I mean, you for like you apb, right. One of the things you do when you first start with the new client is build your avatar. You know, who is your target market. So obviously, understanding that target market with video is very important too, because now we can actually create the exact demographic and really psychographic profile and we can put them in that video. Because when a lead is looking at that video, what they're trying to answer the question is, is like, can you solve my problem? You know, I don't like this home. I want to remodel it. But I have a big trust issue. I don't want to get burned by a builder. I don't want to pay too much. I don't want to miss out on some design opportunities, you know. So in other words, they have a fear of really missing going through the project and then not getting it done. Right. And if you're building a custom home, obviously it's like, I have no idea what I can build. I have this idea of what I want, which is usually that hope for lifestyle. But I need somebody to help translate that idea and to create a design to. To be able to stay, you know, I should say build it within my budget and then have the process go seamlessly. So getting to the end of the project and going like, oh, my gosh, I've made a huge mistake. I picked. I picked the wrong builder.

Yeah, the smallest Detail can actually scare people off as well, which you may not recognize. I've seen it happen so many times with just, you know, one word on a website. And if someone says that's not me, then that can make them go, this is not the right builder for me. And I'm sure the same thing happens with the video in video.

Yeah. As an example, when we work with custom builders, I always ask them and say, hey, what is your most visited page on your website? You know, outside of your homepage? And nobody realizes it. But for a custom builder building, no spec homes, no model homes, design build, the most visited page outside of their homepage is an available homes page. Now an available homes page needs to have specific content on it. And really what we want to show is we want to show three examples of an entry level home, more of a mid range home, and a high end home. Now the reason that leads go there first is because they're trying to understand in context how much home I can get for the money. Right? That's their first question. How much can I get for how little money? And so if, let's just say the builder builds home between 1 and 4 million dollars. So if my budget is $800,000, that's top end. And I see, well, my entry level home is a million. With this builder, you're politely telling them, I wish we could help you, but we can't hit that price point. You may want to go someplace else. But if their budget, let's say is 1.2 million and all they see is 2 million dollar homes and up on that website, they're immediately gonna think, you're too expensive for me, I'm gonna go look for some a cheaper builder quote, unquote, cheaper builder. And conversely, if you just see a million dollar homes and their budget is two or more, they're gonna think like, hey, you don't know how to build up a home of my caliber, going to go look for a different builder. So that available home section is really where people typically start. And again, they're trying to understand the context. What do I get for a million? What do I get for two? What do I get for three? And then you can obviously start introducing your architectural motifs and it leads to the next step, which is let's look at floor plans. And again, most custom builders have no floor plans on their website. Third, most reviewed page for every custom builder is because again, your leads don't have, they don't have context, they don't know what they're going they can build. So they need to see examples or ideas from you because you need to be a relevant source of information in their local market. And the more relevant information you can give them, the higher degree they hold you. And that's part of the trust building and value building. And of course, videos just, they just work with you while the lead's going through this process.

Yeah, I'm sure we could talk about all the components of a website for a lot longer, but let's get back to videos. I'm a builder and I think it sounds overwhelming. It sounds like creating video content. I'm going to have to put out like a whole bunch of time in my calendar. It's going to cost me thousands and thousands of dollars. I don't even know what to put in the video. So talk to me about that. Is it easier to do than what the perception is?

Yeah. So historically, what are the challenges to producing video? In other words, why don't more builders do it?

Yeah.

Okay, so cost number one time, maybe accessing client projects. So again, I need to get back into somebody's home and I need to shoot the video. Is it staged correctly? You know, did they clean before you do it? Is the lighting right. Editing challenges, maybe finding a good local videographer that, and especially one that knows the industry and you know, the list can go on and on. So there are so many challenges right now to, to doing it, which is why most builders just don't do it. And of course, there's always the camera shy builder too. It's like, I really don't want to get behind the camera. You know, I'm, I'm not that guy. So it's like, that's fine. So what most builders do have though, Will, is that they do have a good local photographer and they're already taking professional pictures of their best projects. So the type of video we're doing right now is called. We have a new AI tool. It's called motion animation. And you've seen this out there. There's some really bad AI videos I'm sure you've seen on social media. I mean, like really bad. But if you have the right editors and you know what you're doing and you have a good story to tell, you can start with just a photo. Like I say, just take a project photo of one, a kitchen that you did as an example, and you can make it feel like you're walking through the room. And then you can add furniture and accessories and you can add actually your target market demographic, enjoying the space. So again, this one picture of an empty kitchen now can showcase all of your work and starts to create that emotional attachment to where the lead says, that's really awesome. Can you do that for me too? And then you can give them a clear call to action in the video about what's the next step for them to take.

Without getting ahead of ourselves, I'm keen to see this because you've got a couple of examples. You're going to share your screen and show me a couple. Because I don't believe it until I say it.

Of course. Right. Believe it to see it. So let me, let me share my screen. And we're just going to start and just show you an example of starting with a photo and then what you can do with it. Okay. So you see several examples here and I'll, and I'll, you know, show you this about different things you can do. So we're going to start out with just a picture that came one of our clients brought to us and show you how we created the video out of it. So there's, there's one example right, right there.

And that example was that three project photos and then you just added motion. Added the avatar in there.

Yeah, so we're adding motion and then we're adding people into it as well. And I'm going to show you one other example here. This picture you'll see now in this particular video, you're going to see the actual photo that we started with. It's in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. And then so the photo we started with is right down here. And so this is just using the motion animation. These people, that's all AI created. And the movement, actually it looks like somebody's, you know, videoing these people as they're walking through the kitchen. That's all done with the AI, Sam. So there's that lifestyle.

Yeah. Well, for those listening on audio, I apologize because that would have been a little bit of on hold music that you were just listening to.

Yeah, you're. Am I in an elevator or what? But yeah, I'm going to show you, show you one more example here, Will. And, and this is so, you know, some builders, they're going to build, let's say they want to put together a 2B built package and they want to market this home, like try to pre sell this home. So they might create like a 1D colored rendering, exterior rendering. So this next video will show you what you can do with that with motion animation. So as you can see, I apologize to all those photographers out there on Drone videos because yeah you really don't need to fly drone around anymore.

For those on audio, basically what you've done there is there's just a flat photo of a house and you've turned it into what looks like a drone going around the house to show the rest of the house. Question for you. Is that drawing on multiple photos like for example is it drawing on a photo of the side of the house or is it, is the AI actually generating what that looks like? So it's not real?

Yeah, it's a great, it's a great question. Yeah the AI generates all that. It's a one dimensional image. So we start with one picture, we have one aspect of the, the home and then AI does the rest, you know. So again and you'll we. I can show you a couple other examples here too but you can actually put people then like playing in the yard as an example. You know, as you do this and, and, and make it as it looks like a commercial quality video that you would see, you know on any professionally produced television program.

Yeah. I must say the, the people you used in the, the first couple of videos you showed highly realistic to the average person watching that on social media. They're not going to, it's not going to jump out to them thinking this is AI especially because they're not talking or any of that kind of stuff. Right. Like it's, we have some.

Well I'll show you an example of where they are talking. Yeah so you, you can, you can see that for an ad that we created for like social, paid, paid social or you can use for, for Google as well. It's a video is designed properly. It's going to tell a story. You know, it starts with the problem the lead is trying to solve and then it introduces solution which of course is the desired lifestyle and then you give them a compelling reason to start a relationship with the builder. That's the call to action. So the one thing that builder does will is for it's really levels the playing field because let's just say you're a startup company, you're in less than five years of business and you're just fighting tooth and nail you know to grind through that marketplace and you know and, and, and sort of try to make a name for yourself. But yet there big behemoths been around forever and they've got all these different projects that might have a retail location. They've done, they've got all this past customer base out there and it's like you know, it's like looking at Mount Everest and saying, how am I ever going to climb this? Now remember, the lead is typically going to encounter that builder for the first time online. So videos instantly create differentiation for builders when you're in a very crowded marketplace. So again you can be again have videos on your website, again use them in your social media, you can use them with your follow up, your conversion, conversion campaigns, paid ads, etc, and now all of a sudden you're like, you're telling a story everywhere you go and you're showing that hey, you are the go to builder in this area. So you can really create this perception of this high quality, high value builder even when you're, you don't have maybe the background and, and even a lot of the market share that a lot of your main competitors might have.

What's your take on the gray area around AI video versus trust? And I know a lot of builders are very proud of their craftsmanship. Right. So how do you balance those things?

Well, all the photos that we use in the videos are actually of the builders completed projects, you know and I guess this, this whole thing started from I was at the International Builder show and had just presented a, a topic and I was talking to a builder afterwards and he goes, Rick, you know, our quality is 10 times superior than most of our competitors in our marketplace but they market so much better than I do. I never even get a chance. And so the challenge you have is like yeah, you're this great builder and you do incredible quality. You may be doing incredible projects. We used to say picture tells a thousand words or maybe that's you've heard that term, you know, a video tells a million. And so a video again allows you to take that high quality project that typically only your client sees, it brings it to life and it can live online and truly showcase the quality and architectural mastery that you can provide to your, to your clientele. So it really levels the playing field for a lot of small volume, you know, younger or newer builders.

Yeah, and I think that's a very common challenge that a lot of builders face if they're not, if they don't have a background in business or marketing. Being able to help other people understand how good their work actually is is a real challenge.

Absolutely. Yeah. And that's the question we get all the time is I, I, I built my business up to this point on you know, referral and word of mouth, you know, so that's typically one to three million dollars. And then the builder realizes like I cannot get to the next level Invest in marketing. And typically the question is, I don't even know where to start, you know, and unfortunately, we just signed on a client who in the first nine months of this year spent $75,000 with another agency on paid ads, and they don't have one single job to show for it. 75 grand they spent, which, you know, that breaks my heart, but again, that's not understanding the business, not understanding your clientele, and not delivering that. That story that really, you know, makes that client say, hey, I. I want to know more. I think this particular builder understands that my situation. They've obviously produced projects for other clients like me. Why wouldn't I take the next step? And of course, then we can use video to reduce the risk and create a compelling reason to take that next step, which might be just thrown out of form and it might be a conversation and it might be, you know, getting together in their office or. Or for a site visit at their home.

Yeah. The sad thing is that's not the first time I've heard a similar story to that. Rick. In terms of just money, it's horrible. It's. It's the industry, like the. Well, there's millions of marketing agencies out there, right. And they're very good at getting leads from, you know, Facebook, meta, Google Ads, all that kind of stuff. But if they're not. If they don't know how to work in the construction industry, they don't understand how to get proper qualified leads that are ready to build. Because it's very nuanced. The type of. It's not just about getting leads into your CRM. It's about everything else that goes around your setup in terms of building trust, nurturing those leads. Because it's a long sales cycle. Right. It's very unique. So you need to work with someone that understands the industry.

Absolutely. It's all about conversions. You know, this particular example, they. The guy had 180 leads. He had to follow up with 180 leads. And of course, he doesn't have a salesperson. He's a sales guy and he's running jobs. There's just two guys, you know, running the company. And I felt horrible for them because he goes, I. I called and chased and called and emailed and texted and, you know, and every time I would finally get a hold of someone, it was just a crap lead and, you know, the money's out the door. He said he would have hired another person on his staff if he would have had that money still. And, you know, now he's he has to do the work himself or contract it out at best.

Yeah, I think we're getting, we're laying into a different problem there around sales process qualification and a whole bunch of other things. But anyway, let's, let's get back to video again. Sorry, you're gonna say something.

I was gonna say something, I said, but you know, the video kind of leads to that because again if you're telling the right story, if you're meeting the lead where they're at, you can capture leads and the video again will just. It I, I should say that, I should say this will, is that if a lead drives by your, one of your projects and sees a sign and calls you up and says what's your price per square foot for a two story home versus if that lead gets referred to you by one of your very best clients, it's a completely different conversation. You'd agree with that, right?

Yeah, of course.

Yeah, absolutely. Because they're asking about hey, you did a job, you did some work for so and so he said you were awesome. We're thinking about this project, you know, can you help us out where you know, can we get together and talk? And so you move right into it. And the reason is because it's a trust, right? So you have a trusted relationship with your client, that client refers somebody to you, that trust you established with them is transferred over to that new lead. And so right away they look at you in a different light versus when they come in cold, they don't know you from any other builder. So they're going to use some sort of a qualifier like price per square foot, you know, because how else do they differentiate a builders they don't know the right questions to ask. I would say this, is that what a video allows you to do is that again it allows you to meet them where they're at and by giving them something before asking anything in return, you can start establishing some trust as you are. The go to local that's part of the story of video is that it allows you again to identify the problem, to introduce your solution, give them a clear call to action. And that clear call to action might not be to call you up, it might be say, hey, we've got something on our website. We want to give you a lead magnet if you will, or visit our website and check out our photo galleries for inspiration or our floor plans, that sort of thing. Again you give first and that's what the video really allows you to do is just create this really nice compelling message to say I always want to help you out, out, get you the information you're looking for. I'm not trying to sell you anything. And by simply establishing the relationship where you are an advisor first, you will, the leads will completely change how they look at you. And you, you can convert a lot of those into appointments. And so you as a builder now, if you have more appointments than you can handle, you get to pick and choose your clients and jobs. And that's probably one of the most powerful things a video will do for you.

Talk to me about what makes a good video for a building company.

Okay, so first of all we mentioned was the storyboard. You have to understand the story. And again this goes back to a little bit like talk about lead generation. So that example I used, I mean that marketing agency they hired, who, who knows, maybe they were doing, you know, specialized in dentists and they figure, oh we, we do dentists, we can do builders too, right? I can get you lots, lots of leads. But I think understanding the story, so the story is I'm willing to go out and spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to either remodel my current space or design and build a new home. So it's typically the largest one off purchase that anybody will ever make in their, in their life is a custom home or a very high end remodel. So understanding where they're at, understanding, okay, what information does this lead need to acquire before they will go to the next step. And again we talked about it already a little bit but trust, trust is so, so important. Right? That's why your online reviews, getting those referral, repeat business, doing what you say you're going to do. Just how you, a video will introduce a concept as to one of your leads, show them that you understand their situation and then give them a clear call to action. So that call to action is a case. That's how they get introduced to you and following through with that. So that's workflow automations and doing what you say, you're going to say, yeah, so what, what that does is if they feel like they are treated like the most important person in the world before they become a client, you're psychologically, you're setting the stage thinking like, well this person, you know, follows up with me, gives me the information I'm looking for, they do it instantaneously. You know, I am willing to take the next step with this person which is typically a conversation. So as far as what makes a good video, it's meeting the lead where they're at and again, I mentioned there's three types of videos. So you have attracting or creating awareness for your company, actually capturing the lead and then converting a captured lead into an appointment. So it's understanding that process, which might take two weeks or two years, and systematically giving the information that they need before they ask for it, but offering it as an advisor and then waiting for them to say, yeah, I'm ready, let's go, let's take the next step.

Two weeks would be nice for a custom house.

Oh, it'd be, it'd be great. Yeah. And once in a while you get lucky with those. Right. Where somebody comes in and you know, within 30 days you're in a design deposit. But yeah, two years is probably a little bit more par for the course. Well, but, but you just don't know, you know, that's why you got to have different videos based on different parts of the, of the buying process.

Yeah, I guess those high trust situations like you mentioned, the referral ones are probably more likely to have a shorter sales cycle than one that's just found you on social media or something like that.

Yeah, sometimes. If they're ready. Yep, absolutely. But ironically, you know, even people get referred to you, they still go to your website first. Typically they're on your website before they even call you. So I always have to chuckle at that. Even the referrals start online.

People are pessimistic at their core, I think.

Yeah, yeah, you're probably right. I agree. But as far as. Yeah, so there's really three categories as far as videos and telling that story through the eyes of the client. And one of the things we, when we work with builders or partner with builders, I always have to remind them is like, yeah, I know you're proud of your business. I know you're proud of what you've done. I know you're proud of your awards and your process and your team. That's great. There's a time and place of when we will get to that, but in order for us to get to that, we first have to give the lead what they want. So again, they want design inspiration, they want to be blown away by your ideas, they want to see some pricing budgets just to understand that they're, you know, they're not shooting for the moon and they don't want to fall flat on their face, you know, for what they want to build. They want to understand, you know, some different location intricacies and understand that you are a market expert, a local market expert. So that's really what videos are great at is conveying trust and your expertise, showing again that you can do these projects. Because it's all about believability. You know, if a lead sees it, they believe you can do it. If they don't see it, they question it. And that's where you get into trouble, is if they're questioning, are you really the right guy? Do you really know how to build a $2 million custom home? Because if they start doing that, you probably have lost it.

That's a great point. Marketing in any industry, especially this one, isn't about the building company or it's about the person that is going to make that purchase. Right. Like you need to make it about them and understand what they need at that particular time.

Yep, absolutely. And there'll be a time then when they buy into you and they'll say, oh, Will, you guys are awesome. What's the next step? So now they bought your process. So now you need to talk about your team and your process and your contracts and, you know, deliverables, timelines, all that good stuff. But you don't start with that. You know, start with what's important to them first and then move to what's important to you.

Perfect. Okay. We've touched on the importance of video and all that kind of stuff, which has been super value valuable, Rick. And thanks for sharing some of those project videos that you created from photos. That sounds like a great way for builders that maybe feel like video in the past has been overwhelming that they can start to add it into their marketing mix. So what's the best way to, to start making that happen?

You know, from a video standpoint, I think is understanding again, what do you want the video to do? So what's ultimately the goal of the video is just to get more awareness to your company. Do you want to capture leads using videos or do you want to convert people you already have in the pipeline into appointments? You know, in other words, get them moving forward. So you start with a goal and then like any, any other good marketing campaign, it's like, who's your target market again? What is a call to action? Creating videos and then testing them. You know, as far as what's getting the, the most play, are they actually following through with videos? Will, it's all about, you know, if you have a 30 second video, are they watching 30 seconds? First eight seconds are the most important because if they don't like what they see in the first eight seconds, they're not going to watch the other 22. So it's looking at the analytics of the video and then ultimately is it delivering what you want to deliver, which is going to be opportunities or leads or conversions?

Yeah. Great. I think my biggest takeaway from all of this as well is there's no point in just creating a video. You know what I mean? Despite how powerful it can be. One great video, if you don't have the understanding of the strategy as a whole, from marketing through sales, through everything that you're doing, it's kind of pointless to, to create any type of content, really. It needs to tie into an overarching system.

Yeah, that's exactly right. And again, that's, that's really what I've been obsessed with since day one is looking at what can I do before I ever have a conversation with a lead to make my job easier to convert that lead into a contract? And, and, and so that's really where video comes in. Because, you know, there's, if you look at value as an equation, it's price performance divided by quality perception. In other words, the price that you offer to complete the project for has to be equal to or less than, than your client values what they're getting in return. So I always like to use the, the analogy of your sitting across the table. You have a plan, set of specifications, and you push it into the center of that table and that buyer has a big pile of cash that matches the number that you have on your contract, and they got to push it towards you. And when they do that, they have to feel like they're getting the better end of the deal. And so that's why the sales cycle takes so long too. Because if that trust isn't established, they're not going to push that cash over to you. They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, we better get a second quote or another opinion, you know, and that's all based on. They're just. The trust isn't there. They're not quite seeing the value of what you're doing. So that's where, you know, videos, really, if, if you've had a relationship with them, let's say it's for two years and they've been following you on your website and your nurturing campaign and your social media and they've been seeing these videos and they see, see the client reviews, they see the project photos, they see everything that you've done for two years, you're going to have a pretty hard time having them walk away from you again because the value has been built up for so much and so long. So that's Ultimately, that's really power of a video is to use it everywhere and to really showcase ultimately the results, which, of course, is you delivering that hope for lifestyle. Right? It's again, I'm gonna go drop 1.5 million on this home. Not because I'm really, you know, entranced by the Corian countertops or the marble or the type of windows you're using. It's all about that I can. Can actually live out this lifestyle that I've been dreaming about for, for so long. And you. You pretty much nailed it on the head. Will it. So kudos to you. Good. Good job for that.

No. Is that how it used to work back in the day? Do you think you just. Two people meter in a room with a big pile of cash and just push it over to each other?

Well, I, I was, you know, when I started in construction or I started in construction, I started in sales. I was my own worst enemy because I knew how to build homes. And so I would feature dump, you know, and so if I got an engineer that, you know, wanted to listen, yeah, maybe I could make a sale. But I learned really quickly. It's like eyes would glaze over and, you know, they would be looking to move on. And so, yeah, you learn to, again, focus on, again, what's really important to them. And that's really what I've learned over the years is like just, you got. You got to hook them with design. You got to set a realistic budget up front that confirms that they're not going to waste their time. If they take the next step, you know, and then reduce the risk, give them to go to the next step. And that's usually some sort of a. You know, I know APB is big on guarantees as well, but some sort of a guarantee that, hey, you know what? We're gonna. We're gonna work within this parameters. And so long as the scope of work doesn't change, the budget isn't going to change. And if you do your job right, 90% of those design contracts are. Are moving into a building contract. And, you know, you're a builder for life. And, you know, you've got these people there. You know, look, for other builders now you're. You're there. You're their home builder. It's like they have an attorney and a doctor, an accountant.

Well, Rick, you make it sound a lot simpler than it is. I believe so. For builders that want to get in touch with you and, and potentially work with, build a league converter to help them execute on the video, their Video strategy and this whole marketing ecosystem which might be foreign to a lot of builders out there. You're an APB Rewards partner. So for members, you can jump on there and, and connect with Rick through builder Lead converters listing on our on our rewards directory. But other than that, what's the best starting point, Rick?

Yeah, our website, builderleadconverter.com and if you're interested more in these videos, like seeing for yourself, we do have an option where you can. We'll create a free video for you. So you give us a few project photos, tell us your demographic, pick some music out and we'll actually roll out a video for you so you can see exactly your homes come to life. You know, for your project photos come to life, it's a very cool part. You can go to builderleadconverter.com or builderleadvideos.com either one will get you there.

Cool. That sounds like a great lead magnet. It is.

Yes, it is. You get to see it for yourself.

Yeah, we'll share the links in the show notes to both of those platforms so you can go and check it out and get yourself a free video. Well, Rick, so thank you so much for coming on. I've loved the chat and I think there's a lot of value for builders in there and this is where video is going. So I appreciate you sharing some of that.

Absolutely. Thanks so much. Will appreciate it.

No worries. Also, a big thank you to our listeners wherever you are in the world. If you like the show today, please subscribe to Professional Builder Secrets on your platform of choice. And if you're feeling generous, leave us a review. But until next time, have a great day.