This week on The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast, Melissa Morman of Built4f joins Greg and Kevin to discuss how home builders can successfully integrate new technology into their businesses.
The home building industry often lags behind other industries when it comes to technology adoption, but home buyers and other factors have a huge impact on when digital integrations must occur. Melissa says,
“…there’s a whole new slew of technologies coming at us and forces coming at us…sometimes we tend to think we’ll decide where we’re going to get to that. We’ll decide when we’re going to implement that technology, kind of being blind to the fact that our timing and our pace are going to be determined by the customer and by competing forces and available technologies. So, I worry a little bit about our pace and how fast we’re going.”
Incorporation of new technology requires some trial and error, so home builders should be ready and willing to embrace a little bit of failure as part of a company’s attitude. Melissa explains,
“First, not everybody can control the culture that they work in, but I think it is important to have a culture where we all understand that if we’re going to move forward, we will fail. We don’t know which experiment will fail. We don’t know which thing we try will fail. Hopefully, there’s a culture of understanding that failure is a part of that process.”
The risk of failure when deciding how and when to try new technology can sometimes be paralyzing for home builders, but it must not prevent action. Melissa says,
“In this crazy world of shifting technologies, some things will pan out, some things won’t. If you wait, though, if you wait until it’s so tried and true and every other builder has implemented it, you’ll be out of business. You don’t always have to be on the bleeding edge, but there is a point where no action actually is a decision.”
Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about how home builders can make the right decisions about adopting new technology.
About the Guest:
Melissa Morman is an accomplished executive whose career has spanned multiple industries. From executive roles in Fortune 500 companies to foundational roles in start-ups, Melissa has distinguished herself through her capacity to lead in highly dynamic environments. Melissa has held a broad set of executive responsibilities–from general management to launching new divisions, to directing global business development/sales, leading marketing/sales/account management, as well as launching new products. The one constant in her success has been her unwavering advocacy of the customer experience, both B2B and B2C.
Melissa was a founding executive team member of the home building industry’s technology consortium, BHI/BDX. BHI/BDX was the market leader in digital customer acquisition and experience, serving over 1,300 builders building over 60% of the homes in the U.S. For 22 years, Melissa served as the CXO (Chief Experience Officer), with responsibility for revenue as well as client experience. In her role as CXO, Melissa holistically managed the entire customer experience lifecycle—starting with marketing messaging, continuing through the sales process, and culminating with ongoing relationship management. Melissa also held responsibility for executive collaboration within the consortium and led the launch of several BHI/BDX products, including the vision/funding/launch of Envision, the industry’s online options product/program. Melissa is a sought-after speaker, and consultant, and is an active member on several boards.