259 2025 International Builders' Show Recap - Greg Bray and Kevin Weitzel Mar 12 2025

Greg Bray: [00:00:00] Hello, everybody, and welcome to today's special episode of The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine. 

Kevin Weitzel: And I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse. 

Greg Bray: And we are excited today to just be sharing with you our enthusiasm and excitement about the International Builders' Show. Kevin and I were both there just recently. We've just kind of gotten back. We're still trying to absorb it all, and we just wanted to spend a few minutes sharing some of the things we experienced, the people we got to see, the things we learned. It was just a lot of excitement and energy. I mean, Kevin, what was just your big [00:01:00] overall feeling at IBS this year?

Kevin Weitzel: I think there's a lot of optimism, a lot of excitement for this coming year. I think there is a lot of very open-eyed enthusiasm for the potential of what can happen in 2025, both from vendors to builders across the board. 

Greg Bray: I agree. And it was demonstrated by record attendance. From what I'm seeing between IBS and KBIS, I think it's around 124, 125,000 people that they had all those shows. Everything felt crowded to me, just getting around in the hallways, you know, a lot of the sessions were very full. They had more vendors in the booths in the exhibit hall than ever before. It was just a really big show. 

Kevin Weitzel: Even the extracurricular events, like looking at early arrivals, people that get there, you know, Sunday, Monday, there's all those pre-education sessions that go on, you know, master classes. You know, if you were there on Monday, there was a fantastic little mixer that I found out I don't drink often enough because toward the end of that evening, Kevin was having a little bit of a [00:02:00] hard time walking. 

Greg Bray: Yeah, some of the things you said to me that evening, Kevin, I'm not sure if you really meant them or not, but.

Kevin Weitzel: I love you, Greg. I love you, man. But no, that was one at Gatsby's. It's the Builder Connections party, the mixer that started with NterNow and their team, Blue Tangerine, Sales Uncomplicated, Denim Marketing. 

Greg Bray: Yeah, Homebuilder Ops was also one of the sponsors there that helped put that on as well. So, and NoviHome. 

Kevin Weitzel: NoviHome and then OutHouse, of course, we were a sponsor as well. Yeah, no, it was a fantastic event, great way to kick off the initial onslaught before you start walking five billion miles over the next three days.

Greg Bray: It was nice to hang out with some clients and friends and meet a few new people and just be able to kind of talk casually before you felt pressured. Once Tuesday morning hit, it was like, go, go, wasn't it? 

Kevin Weitzel: Absolutely. So, Tuesday, obviously at the end of the evening, we had The Nationals, but did you have any speaking engagements on Tuesday, or any ones that you attended that stuck with you?

Greg Bray: There were so many good education sessions this time, Kevin. I think this year I felt the most like I [00:03:00] could not get to everything I wanted to. Some of them were just scheduled on top of each other and I had to pick between session A or B and couldn't go to both. So, my apologies to the people that didn't get picked. I'm sorry. I wanted to see all of them, but they had that much good content.
Started it out because I knew I needed the energy. Corey Charles was first thing Tuesday morning, and he had a really provocative title, right? Because he was talking about selling naked. What he got into is this idea that often we put on like a persona or a mask and we try to be what we think people want us to be. And he was trying to say to really connect with people, you just have to be your authentic self. You have to take off the mask and allow yourself to be your true self.

Kevin Weitzel: Wait a minute. So, the guy that runs a superhero themed company, and superheroes technically wear masks, at least most of them do, or they wear an alter ego, he's saying to not do that. To be a superhero, but be the alter ego in the presence of the people. 

Greg Bray: Yeah. And not only that, he is the best dressed speaker every year. 

Kevin Weitzel: It's hard to [00:04:00] beat him. I won't even try. I don't try. 

Greg Bray: We love the wardrobe, man. We love the wardrobe. Keep bringing it. Keep bringing it. How about you, Kevin? Who'd you get to see on Tuesday? 

Kevin Weitzel: You know, Tuesday was a little bit different for me because I had more client meetings than I expected to have. So, I did drop into a few of them. To be honest with you, just based on the blur of the days. I don't remember which one was on which days. I don't remember what days I spoke, and I spoke two different days. 

Greg Bray: Well, Kevin, I know one that happened on Tuesday that I was really impressed with was David Hagan. David was talking about the nine rules of customer experience. I was really impressed, not just because of David's preparation, but because he was really emphasizing universal principles that any business could apply, not just even builders. But at its heart, he said your most valuable differentiator is your customer experience.

I mean, pricing is important, product's important, you know, having the right dirt in the right location is important. All that's important. But at the end of the day, the thing you have the most power and the most control over is [00:05:00] the way you treat, interact, and support your customers through that whole journey. It was just a packed house and really resonated with me personally, for sure.
 
Kevin Weitzel: Do you ever think that sometimes it's just the little things? Like, think about it this way, NoviHome is known throughout the industry for having a fun, fantastic company, right? But they do this really groovy thing. It is the coolest premium I think I've ever seen at any trade show. They literally give away custom Nikes. And guess who made the list this year, Greg?

Greg Bray: Did you qualify? 

Kevin Weitzel: I made the list this year, man. I got myself a cool little pair of kicks. The fact that they take the time to recognize not only their customers that are signing up with them and utilizing their platform, but also their trade vendors, people that have referred business to their way, or people that they trust their relationship, back and forth that ebb and flow of their shared clients. That's pretty impressive. That speaks volumes for their character. Really? 

Greg Bray: Yeah, and they had quite a big pile of boxes when I saw the pile and the pictures at their booth. Yes, it's a really fantastic giveaway. So I'm [00:06:00] so pleased to hear that you made the list, Kevin. Congratulations. 

Kevin Weitzel: I'm very proud that I made that list. 

Greg Bray: Well, Kevin, I know there was another presentation on customer experience as well. You know, in addition to our friend David Hagen, and this one had Melissa Cervin from Lombardo Homes, Courtney Castleberry from Kindred Homes, Kyle Erdman, as well. They were really tying into some of the very specific things that help that customer experience on a very practical digital level.

Melissa talked about interactive tools, like interactive floor plans and those kinds of opportunities to really engage your buyer. She gave some great examples of that and how they've used some of those things to even learn about which options are more popular so that they can offer those or emphasize those more in some of their other marketing tools using some of that data from that.

Courtney was talking about self tours and how they have grown their sales leads after they've implemented the self tours from NterNow and been able [00:07:00] to sell that opportunity on the website even more as well. And then, Kyle Erdman talked about this idea that homeowners are lifelong customers and we need to start thinking of them more about customers after they've moved in and treating them with some of the benefits and the ways to come back and forth with that relationship after the home is sold, closed, moved in, warranties over, everything and just acknowledge the opportunities there. So again, some great insights on how to improve that customer journey overall. 

Kevin Weitzel: Yeah, No, they're doing good things over there. 

Greg Bray: So, Kevin, I know Tuesday night was a big event and I know that you play a critical role in making that event successful. Tell us about the awards. 

Kevin Weitzel: It's cattle herding or cat herding, if you will. This is our second year. Now you joined us this year being the ushers at The Nationals, the premier award ceremony that recognizes marketing and sales efforts [00:08:00] for their greatness and what they do. And yeah, we greet everybody as they come off that ginormous escalator, point them in the direction of the photo walls and where the cocktails are. But then the real difficult part happens. 

While they're in there mingling and drinking, we're assigned at a certain time to start shoving people into the room, so they'll go sit down and eat so it doesn't go into the wee hours of the evening, it just stops preferably at that stop time of 10 p.m., which I think they did hit that number this year. The nationals is such a fun and fantastic event, just really sharing everybody's successes throughout the year. 

Greg Bray: Yeah. And there were some great campaigns, some great winners. And if you haven't checked those out, you know, the nationals website has got all the gold and silver winners listed, so take a look at that and make sure that you learn from what these other folks are doing and some of these award winning campaigns, because you can get ideas from what these other folks are doing for sure.

Kevin Weitzel: Yeah, absolutely. 

Greg Bray: So, Kevin, I did something Wednesday morning that I had not done before. It was kind of a different experience. I went to the Homes for [00:09:00] Hope prayer breakfast first thing in the morning, and I had not participated in that the past. Matthew Baehr, the director over at Homes for Hope organizes this and pulls it all together.

And it was a really great moment to just spend some time with some people of faith that just wanted to get to know each other a little better and then also share some prayer for the home building industry as a whole. And we went through some different categories of folks in the industry and some of the things that we all wish for them and prayed for them. It was kind of different and it was a nice little quiet break from the hustle and bustle of everything else, and a great way to start the day, Wednesday. 

Kevin Weitzel: Now, just to make sure and be clear, they didn't mention my name, Kevin, and the word heathen all in the same sentence during any of those prayers, did they?

Greg Bray: No, no, it was, it was very uplifting. 

Kevin Weitzel: Oh, okay. 

Greg Bray: But I think, Kevin, you had a presentation Wednesday morning as well, did you not? 

Kevin Weitzel: I did. So, I started off first thing in the morning. We did one on selling to diverse buyers group. And I did that with Ingrid Prince, with Magda [00:10:00] Esola, and with Christian Calusa. And what we talked about was just that there are different dynamics, not necessarily about one culture versus another, but that it isn't just the same selling practice. You know, the direction of the home, the fact that so many people live in a family unit, more so in an immigrant scenario, more so than just somebody that's a domestic or an American family, and the numbers are much, much larger. So, a lot of generational living. So yeah, that was a fantastic, we had a packed room. It was a great event and we had a ton of builders come up and thank us for that event as well. 

Greg Bray: No, that's great. Unfortunately, I had to miss that one due to another conflict. So I apologize. 

Kevin Weitzel: You know what? So, I'll tell you this. This year, I did notice something I've noticed in years past that I can literally stack an entire day where I have to determine do I go to this education session or do I have a meeting with a client, and that's my battle. This year, it truly was then I don't know if it was planning or what, but on the sales and marketing side of things, they would have four and five different sessions all stacked on top of each other. So, you [00:11:00] literally had to choose which one, during this one hour of time, is the most important one to go to. Did you recognize that this year that there was a little bit more stacking than in other years?

Greg Bray: Yeah, absolutely. And they even tried to help with that with some sessions being repeated. I had the privilege of doing my session twice, once Tuesday and once Wednesday to be able to give more people the opportunity to do it. And that happened with several other sessions as well. It was certainly a challenge to get to everything this year. 

Kevin Weitzel: I'll tell you one that I did go to, and that was about, is your website ready? I don't want to mention who did it. But he was a pretty, pretty awesome dude, and I happen to be chatting with him right now. I don't remember what day it was, but it was your session, and it actually was gangbusters awesome, and also another packed room. 

Greg Bray: Well, thanks, Kevin. I appreciate that. Yeah, we did talk in that session about five keys to website success, both to sell homes now and into the future, especially as we look at the opportunities for full online home selling processes. Really enjoyed sharing that, seemed to get some good feedback. We provided [00:12:00] a free website audit checklist download. So, if anybody's interested in that, you can get that on the Blue Tangerine website as well, where you can just measure how's your website doing right now and be able to take a look at that. So, invite people to give that download a look.

Kevin Weitzel: Nice. 

Greg Bray: So, another one I went to Kevin on Wednesday was from Jason Rhodes at Rhodes Marketing, talking about the digital marketing ladder, and really how you have to kind of start at the beginning and then stack one step at a time as you grow your digital marketing. But the biggest takeaway I had from Jason was this idea of just keep things simple on the website. Sometimes we try to do too much. Keep it simple, straightforward, show people just the basics of what they need to do and how they need to do it. Of course, you were in Sales Central a lot, Kevin. For those who aren't familiar, what is Sales Central? 

Kevin Weitzel: So, Sales Central was born out of making a meeting place that was off the floor, off the beaten path, quieter, centric to where all the [00:13:00] education sessions are. It is a place where you can go and have a coffee. Speaking of which, we partnered with Blue Gypsy to be the coffee sponsor this year, and we did that last year as well. Fantastic. So, we supplied everybody with coffee to keep their jitters going throughout the day and some tea and water, along with some snacks here and there.

But Sales Central has some education sessions as well. They're usually little mini sessions or little group sessions. Sales Central is a fantastic place. So, it has grown into a place where not only can you meet with your colleagues and clients, but also a place where you can actually learn as well while you're there.

Greg Bray: I saw one of those sessions Tuesday, in Sales Central. Again, they are a little bit shorter, and they tend to kind of line up in between some of the other sessions. You feel like you're running back and forth, right, from one to the next. But Paula Huggett from Bokka Group was talking and she was talking about some of the challenges around attribution in the marketing space and some of the tools you can use to get a better feel of where are your leads coming from and who and what marketing program gets credit for those [00:14:00] leads so that you can really use that budget wisely. And I really appreciated her, especially getting into those Google tracking tags. You know, again, lots of people, real practical advice, things that you can go back home with and just get started right away. So, I enjoyed that presentation from Paula. 

Kevin Weitzel: I was in that session as well. It was a good one.

Greg Bray: I have to admit, Kevin, that my favorite session Wednesday was in an unfortunate time slot. It was in the 4 to 5 p.m. slot. I was in a panel presentation with my friends, Dennis O'Neill, Carol Morgan, and Barbara Wray. We were talking about the do's and don'ts for marketing. And so, because it was late in the day, the crowd was a little bit smaller. We still had a pretty good turnout, I was pleased to see, but it's certainly a bit smaller than some of the others because folks are wearing out for the day. 

But Dennis had this great idea when he saw the size of the room. We came and we sat down on the front of the stage instead of up on the chairs and just kind of invited everybody close, into the middle of the room and just had [00:15:00] more of a conversation. We had our material that we prepared and things, and just some tips and ideas, and we talked about SEO programs and websites and AI and social media, and really just went through a wide variety. And I really learned a lot from them. Was glad to be able to share some ideas as well. But that was kind of different for us to just get closer, a little more personal. I saw somebody post later that it was the most comfortable session. We won, we won one person's award for the most comfortable session, whatever that's worth. 

Kevin Weitzel: The session that gives you a hug.

So, speaking of stack sessions, they have the Sales Rally and that's something that, uh, you know, all the sales and marketing people pile into. The room wasn't as full this year, not because it wasn't a fantastic event. It was great. Kimberly Mackey with Corey, with Keith McKinney. You had Anya Chrisanthon, John Palumbo. It was a very, very good event. They were even giving away some door prizes, which was awesome. 

However, at the same time, you had Chad Sanschagrin in another room. You had Jeff Shore in another room, you had Mollie [00:16:00] Elkman in another room. Why put all these A-list draws at the same time slot? That's nuts. Absolutely nuts. But that is what happened, so it did erode some of the population in the room. But it was still a fantastic Sales Rally this year. 

Greg Bray: Yeah, and I think, Kevin, what's happening is NAHB has broadened the group that they're tapping into for the education. We have more educators available now. In past years, it's been a smaller group of folks that they've invited to speak. And I think that's great that there's more voices, more opinions, more ideas being shared from a broader group. So, I congratulate the folks that are in charge of putting these programs together by giving a nice diverse group of folks and opportunity to share and help educate. So Kevin, Wednesday night, big events going on. What was the exciting stuff Wednesday? 

Kevin Weitzel: Alright, so there's a couple things. You can zip right on through Roland Nairnsey's party that he throws, and not even 200 yards from there is the ECI party. Now the ECI party is [00:17:00] by far the place to be. If you're a mover, you're a shaker, you're anything in the industry, you're connected whatsoever to anything that swings a hammer, the ECI party is absolutely still the place to be. Am I right or am I right? 

Greg Bray: I certainly know a lot of people in that room. I got to tell you, it was loud in there. I walked in and I was like, I need ear protection or I'm gonna have some damage. It was a little hard to have conversations because it was so loud, but that's because there were so many people in there talking. 

Kevin Weitzel: Absolutely. Well, you know what follows that? The biggest bangingist party of all of IBS, and that is the VIP party when it's in Vegas, it happens over at Brooklyn Bowl, and that's put on by New Homes Directory. Blue tangerine and OutHouse were both sponsors of that this year. Fantastic, fantastic event. 

Greg Bray: Yeah, it's a lot of fun. It's great to be able to support that and to see the logos on the screens, right? That's kind of fun too, and do a little bowling. It's not normal bowling, folks. It's like bowling in the dark and [00:18:00] lights flashing and stuff. It's a little hard to get your best score. 

Kevin Weitzel: Yes. 

Greg Bray: And believe it or not, that's only the first two days. There's still a third day to go. 

Kevin Weitzel: There is still a third day. 

Greg Bray: First thing Thursday morning, there was another presentation in Sales Central, bright and early. They were starting at 8 a.m., right? And I was like, okay, how many people are going to be here at 8 a.m.? There was a good crew there at 8 a.m. Thursday morning. Angela McKay, Hailey Naebig, and Katie Detweiler from Berks Homes were all there sharing their thoughts again about the customer journey. Maybe it's just the presentations I chose to go to, Kevin, I'm just kind of focused on that customer journey. But it seemed like there was a lot of conversation around that, and how we do a better job with our customers.

Angela talked about asking for referrals and for reviews. Hailey gave this idea that you should actually focus on having a customer experience budget that your team can tap into when they have ideas and ways to reach out. And Katie is actually someone who is in charge of specifically of customer experience there [00:19:00] at Berks Homes. And she just talked about everybody in the company is responsible for the customer journey. That's a great reminder. It's not just one person's job, it's not just marketing's job or sales' job. Everybody touches the customer journey in some way or another. 

Kevin Weitzel: I want to do a little self-bragging there, Greg. There was also another session at 8:30 that morning. 

Greg Bray: I was there.

Kevin Weitzel: That I was in. I gotta be honest with you. I don't get nervous in speaking events and I don't get nervous in front of crowds. It's just not my thing. It doesn't bother me a bit. Kind of comes with the territory of having ridiculous sideburns and knowing that you look a little bit like a clown. I don't mind being out there. However, I was actually stressed out about this one. We didn't prepare for it as well as I'd hoped. However, it came off gang busters.

So, we did a session and this was with Barrett Davis over at Home Scribe and NterNow, also with Derek Schier over at Foundation, and we also had a case study. Man, I'll tell you what. The bravery of Nathaniel Lemon of opening up his kimono and letting other small builders know of both the [00:20:00] prideful things, the things they've done well, but the things that they've done that were mistakes and or major missteps that have radically affected their even ability to stay in business, that they're having to right that ship and correct.

But I've never been thanked so much by the attendees that literally 30 minutes after our session, we were getting shooed out of the room because we had a line of people that were thanking us for doing a session that was geared towards small builders. And it was basically not just showing the mistakes that Smart Dwellings have made, but the fact that it was a small builder focus session about how to circumnavigate all the different tech that's out there, how to circumnavigate and to vet all the AI that's out there. The fact that we literally were get to shoot out, that's testament that those guys really were engaging with the crowd. It was good. It was a good session. 

Greg Bray: Kevin, I got a lot of that session. I agree with you. I think that was one of the top ones for sure. You know, some of the takeaways Derek was talking about, before you worry about technology or AI or [00:21:00] anything else, you've got to understand your process. And I've said this before, right? Computers just make things go faster. So, if you have a bad process, you just make things go bad faster. I loved that reminder from Derek. 

Barrett, for being someone who's focused on the touring with NterNow, he is an AI, knowledge base extraordinaire. He just mentioned and reminded us that the AI future is still coming. We're just at the beginning of all of it. So, we're all, like, trying to figure it out, and what do we do, and everything else, it's just relax, it's still coming. There's a lot more to come. 

You mentioned Nathaniel Lemon at Smart Dwellings and his openness. It was powerful to hear the lessons learned because what do they say, right? Smart people learn from their own mistakes. Wise people learn from mistakes of others. And he was just sharing so everybody could learn. He just mentioned the reminder of know who you're trying to be and before you start climbing the ladder, make sure it's leaning against the right wall.

I love that reminder. You know, it doesn't do any good if you're leaning against the wrong wall when you climb that ladder. But Kevin, you dropped a knowledge bomb [00:22:00] too. Moderator or not, you dropped a knowledge bomb, right? And you were talking about interactive floor plans. You said something to the effect of that they absolutely are proven to increase leads and option sales, but only if the buyer can find them, and too many builders are hiding them on their website. 

Kevin Weitzel: Where's waldo? I tell builders all the time. I'm like if you're gonna spend the money for your content, I don't care if it's our interactive floor plans or somebody else's site maps or somebody else's virtual tours, it doesn't matter whose it is, but if you play Where's Waldo with that on your website brother, you're just throwing good money at bad. That's really what you're doing. 

Greg Bray: Well, Kevin, it was a busy show. There was a lot going on. We didn't even touch the exhibit hall floor in any of this conversation, but I think we've worn people out just like we felt worn out being at the show.

Kevin Weitzel: I've got one highlight from that floor though.
 
Greg Bray: Go for it. 

Kevin Weitzel: Did you get a chance to stop by Realtor.com's booth? It was like an art deco speakeasy. Freakishly, fantastic. Loved it. 

Greg Bray: A lot of energy on the floor, a lot of good folks out there providing services and trying to help builders be successful. I had a [00:23:00] great time this year. Learned a lot, got to meet a lot of people. Say hi to a lot of friends, see a lot of clients, talk to a few prospects and future clients. The best part of course, though, Kevin, is hanging out with you. 

Kevin Weitzel: Oh, Greg, I love hanging out with you too. Got to see you a decent chunk because we got to go to a couple different events together, and that was a nice thing. Yeah, no, Greg, you bring a lot to not only the sessions, but just to the overall flavor of what goes on in IBS. Your willingness to share your knowledge with people, not just for a dollar. You actually willingly give information to people, and you're giving action items. You know, and that's what I gain most out of a lot of the sessions that people give their time of is that they're not just giving you, you know, blow hard, rah, rah sessions, it's literally action items to take home, to utilize, to better your company, better your operation, better your processes, even your people.
 
Greg Bray: Well, and Kevin, do you have one big takeaway, one lesson you learned that you want to share with our audience today before we wrap up? 

Kevin Weitzel: Yes. Comfy shoes. If you [00:24:00] go to IBS and you're still rocking dress shoes or high heels, you know what? You're not impressing anybody because nobody cares. All they know is that your feet are hurting. Take care of your dogs. Put on some comfy shoes. Nobody holds it against you and actually enjoy your time there. Instead of worrying about how much pain your feet are going to be enduring by the end of the evening.

Greg Bray: Well, Kevin, I learned a lot again this year, and I know there's something about just coming together with folks. And so some of our listeners are feeling bad right now because they didn't go and they missed out and they couldn't make the trip, and we feel for them. But you know what? There's an opportunity coming up in September for another big get together.
 
Kevin Weitzel: Maybe it's on the East Coast. Who knows? Where's it going to be?

Greg Bray: So, we are talking about the 2025 Home Builder Digital Marketing Summit. It's going to be September 24th and 25th in Atlanta, Georgia. If you are looking for another opportunity to hang out with Kevin, first of all, the most important headliner, and to come learn and network with a bunch of other [00:25:00] marketing folks in the home building industry who are all there to share, learn, and collaborate together, you want to put this on your calendar. Make sure that you get your training budgets all lined up and ready to go. 
Our program is still in the final stages of getting finalized, but you know what? Early bird registration is already open. If you trust that we will bring the goods, then go ahead and save your seat and get registered at buildermarketingsummit.com, going to be September 24th, 25th in Atlanta. We would love to have you join us there and get some of this other knowledge, insight, and networking opportunity like we just had at IBS.

Kevin Weitzel: Absolutely. I second that. 

Greg Bray: Well, everybody, that's our IBS recap for this year. Always a big show. It's going to be in Orlando next year. So, check that out and get those dates blocked out so you can take advantage of it. And thank you everybody for listening to this week's Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine. 

Kevin Weitzel: And I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse. Thank you. [00:26:00]