Online Sales Coach Melissa Fort joins the podcast to trace her 20-year career journey through the new home industry, from launching one of the earliest online sales programs at Lennar in 2005 through the 2008 financial crisis, multiple cross-country relocations, and eventually into marketing leadership roles. The conversation blends nostalgic industry history with hard-won lessons about resilience, adaptability, and the value of gaining broad exposure across many builders rather than staying siloed within one company.Crisis Reveals Character The 2008-2011 downturn taught hard lessons about how quickly fortunes reverse; those who lived through it built resilience that served them in later market shifts.Breadth Over DepthWorking across 100+ builders at Do You Convert (vs. staying at one company) has built pattern-recognition and problem-solving skills that function like an industry "MBA."Advice For NewcomersPush through the tough, absorption-heavy first three years; patience, geographic openness, and long-term relationships pay off, with opportunities compounding around year five or six.Announcements:Online Sales and Marketing Summit – Austin, Texas – October 1-2, 2026 – Over 70% sold out! Don't wait to get your ticket.Do You Convert is hiring! View all open positions.

Jackie, Julie, and Beth discuss the power of staying curious with your data and why obsessing over your competition might be steering you in the wrong direction.They also dig into when marketing follow-up crosses the line from serendipitous to straight-up creepy, what a two-year-old spec home can teach us about listening to buyer feedback, and the growing tension between AI adoption and consumer trust.Story Time:Julie: Sometimes the answer is a can of paintBeth: When follow-up feels like being stalkedJackie: Curiosity is a marketer's secret weaponAnnouncements:Market Proof Marketing Academy – Virtual Event – Sign up for the interest list for next year.Online Sales and Marketing Summit – Austin, Texas – October 1-2, 2026 – Over 70% sold out! Don't wait to get your ticket.Do You Convert is hiring! View all open positions.In the News:Assuming Why the Competition is Winning is Killing Your Results AI search adoption rises as consumer trust declines: StudyOpenAI moves to automate ad creative

Kevin is joined by Julie to debate which AI tool will own the consumer mindshare race, why following an incentive through the buyer's journey matters more than the promotion itself, and the question every marketer should be asking their leaders this week.They also dig into a fresh wave of zero-click search data, what the ProBuilder Top 200 reveals about where builders are betting their innovation dollars, and why "we need more awareness" might be the wrong instinct when buyers are already worried about missing your listings.Story TimeJulie: Follow the incentive the whole wayKevin: What’s keeping your leadership up at night?AnnouncementsMarket Proof Marketing Academy - Virtual - July 7-9, 2026 - Only 2 spots remaining!DYC Online Sales and Marketing Summit - Austin, Texas - October 1-2, 2026 - Tickets are 70% sold out, don’t wait to get yours.In the NewsGoogle Zero-Click Searches Hit 68% in Early 2026, Says Study Betting the House: Insights from the 2026 Top 200 

Erin Willis, Chief Insights Officer at Sekisui House, joins the podcast to share her journey through the home building industry and challenges the sector to move beyond generic decision-making toward consumer-focusd, data-driven strategies that treat home buyers as whole humans instead of transactions.Targeting everyone means reaching no oneBuilders default to generic out of fear of missing buyers, but intentional design for a specific target actually expands the market by pulling people out of resale, rentals, and indecision. Only 36% of Americans feel at home in their home - that's the opportunity being left behind.Erin also dives into how buyers aren’t making spreadsheet decisions, the status of the post-close relationship and how Sekisui House is operating a “happiest home” mission with their customers.Follow Erin on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/erinboggswillis/Learn more about The Nature Conservancyhttps://www.nature.org/en-us/

Julie is joined by Caroline and special guest Melissa for a crossover conversation about why marketing and online sales teams can’t afford to operate in silos. They dig into the assumptions marketers make about what buyers care about and how AI is quietly turning OSC call transcripts into one of the most underrated marketing research tools available.They also break down why UTM codes are not optional, what Realtor.com’s new AI-powered home search means for builders, and whether Google’s new Prospect Mode is worth a test or a hard pass.Story Time:Caroline: Square footage? Never heard of herMelissa: Let AI tell you what your buyers actually wantJulie: Fix the leak before you turn on the faucetAnnouncements:Online Sales and Marketing Summit - Austin, Texas - October 1-2, 2026 - Tickets are over 60% sold out, get yours today!In the News:If You’re Not Using UTM Codes, Your GA4 Data Is InaccurateRealtor.com Launches Real Assist AI, a Completely Reimagined Way to Find a HomeNew Google Ads Prospecting Mode Targets Brand-Unaware Users

Kevin is joined by Julie and Beth to talk about what marketers can learn from Disney, why a successful event deserves a lot more than most teams give it, and why "leads are up" might be the most dangerous sentence in your dashboard.They also dig into the CoStar acquisition of Zonda and what it could mean for new home listings, why Google is quietly retiring standalone display campaigns, and a friendly debate over whether Meta’s upcoming subscription tiers are worth a single dollar of anyone’s monthly budget.Story Time:Beth - A magical marketing lessonJulie - Take the win, no matter how you got itKevin - The doorman fallacyAnnouncements:Online Sales and Marketing Summit - Austin, Texas - October 1-2, 2026 - Over 50% of tickets are gone, secure your spot today.Google Adds AI Mode To Search Box: 3 Things You Need To Know - Virtual Event - June 16, 2026 - Registration required, limited spots available.In the News:CoStar nears $800 million deal to buy Zonda in housing data push, sources sayGoogle Is Retiring Standalone Display Campaigns In Favor Of Demand GenMeta launches Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp subscriptions, with more to come, including AI plans

Kevin is joined by Julie and Jackie to talk about overpacked calendars, a return to glasses (and what that has to do with reading your data), and why the prettiest content in your ad account isn’t always the one converting customers.They also debate whether home builders are in the demand creation business or the desire creation business, unpack the Compass and MRED Zillow standoff playing out in Chicago, and break down what everything from Google Marketing Live 2026 actually means for builders.Story Time:Julie - Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwaterJackie - Zoom out to see things differentlyKevin - Demand vs. DesireAnnouncements:Online Sales and Marketing Summit - Oct 1-2 - Austin, TX - Over 50% of tickets are sold, get your ticket or sit on the waitlist.In the News:Chicago agents caught in middle as MRED-Zillow dispute hits listingsGoogle Marketing Live 2026: Everything you need to knowHear Kevin on the Intermodal Logisitics podcast mentioned in this episode.

Julie is joined by Jackie and Caroline to share real-world stories about the pitfalls of new market launches and how everyone looks at the marketers first when things start to go south for sales.They also dig into the latest news around Google Ads and a broad SEO shift that prioritizes brand recognition and trust over traditional keyword rankings.Story Time:Julie - You have to create what the customer can’t see yetCaroline - Don’t blame the marketerJackie - Pre-launch prep is keyAnnouncements:Online Sales and Marketing Summit - Oct 1-2 - Austin, TX - Over 50% of tickets are sold, get your ticket or sit on the waitlist.In the News:Google Ads adds Gemini-powered dashboards for real-time insightsSEO’s new goal in 2026: Recognition, not rankingsGoogle Ads Rolls Out Journey-Aware Bidding And New Pacing Controls For Advertisers

Rachel Peters joins the podcast to share her career journey from a college intern at Hershey Entertainment and Resorts to her current role at Realtor.com New Construction. The conversation covers lessons from working in large marketing organizations, the value of diverse internship experiences, her time at Keystone Custom Homes, and her perspective on what home builders consistently get wrong with their digital marketing.Early Career LessonsRachel talks about her 5 college internships across companies of varying sizes before landing at Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, where she was part of a 40-person marketing team, got media trained as a fresh grad, and handled real crisis communications. Being surrounded by so many different marketing specialists taught her the value of mastering a single craft deeply, and showed her how broad marketing is as a discipline. A Strong Builder-Side Perspective Rachel spent significant time on the builder side with Keystone Custom Homes before moving to her current role, which she considers invaluable for having effective conversations with builders now. She dives deeper into the top two things that builders often overlook:Understanding where traffic comes from. Many builders don't know their traffic sources with any real specificity.UTM codes and tracking. There is still a large portion of the industry that doesn’t have a working understanding of UTM parameters or how to connect digital touchpoints to outcomes.She also raises a practical issue many builders still struggle with: image order in listing feeds. Monument or exterior photos often end up as the first image everywhere, including on third-party sites, which may not always be the best approach. Foundational Skills > AI ToolsKevin references a LinkedIn post about a Claude product priced at $100,000/month to replace a marketing team, and uses it to underscore an important irony: some builders are chasing AI tools while still unclear on what UTM codes are. The two then talk about how you can't get full value from advanced tools without having the foundational basics in place. You must understand the customer's digital journey and what data is and isn't visible before layering on anything sophisticated.Follow Rachel on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelhbpeters/

Kevin is joined by Beth, Caroline, and a special guest to discuss the importance of leveraging internal teams for great content ideas and the benefits of using AI tools for content automation, while ensuring that human expertise is still used.They also get into defending your foundation, tools, and strategies in a noisy market with less-than-hopeful headlines.Story Time:Beth - Trust your foundationCaroline - Do one thing at a timeKevin - Fact-check the headlinesAnnouncements:Market Proof Marketing Academy - 3 Virtual Days - July 7-9 - Limited spots available, register today to elevate your marketing expertise.DYC Online Sales and Marketing Summit - Austin, Texas - October 1-2 - Over 150 tickets are already gone! Secure your spot today.In the News:Your OSC Team is Sitting on a Content GoldmineHow I Do Content Engineering with Claude CodeGoogle Tests ‘Ask YouTube’ Conversational Search Experiment