323 Proving Marketing Value to Builder Leadership - Chelsea Fanders Jun 10 2026

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

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

Greg Bray: And we are excited to have joining us today Chelsea Fanders. Chelsea is the VP of Sales and Marketing at Summit Homes. Welcome, Chelsea, we appreciate you being with us today.

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to sit down and chat with you guys.

Greg Bray: Well, Chelsea, let's just start off by getting to know a little bit about you. Give us that quick kind [00:01:00] of background and overview about yourself.

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah. I live in Kansas City. I've been in the real estate industry since 2007, and during that time I've kind of worked in a lot of different aspects of the business. I started on the brokerage side and worked in customer care, and then customer service, and then went into marketing, social. I've done relocation, franchise side, and now I'm on the fun side with new home sales. And I've been on the new construction side about seven years. So, love the business, that's for sure.

Kevin Weitzel: So, you said you started in 2007. So, you basically got started when the industry was cracking on, and then it literally took a giant nosedive into an abyss. And you stuck with it.

Chelsea Fanders: Yes. I did. Well, the funny thing is I was in my early 20s at that point, and I started having no idea that we were in a recession. I remember joining this amazing brokerage in Davenport, Iowa, Ruhl&Ruhl. I don't [00:02:00] know if I can say their name, but huge fans of theirs. But I remember them, you know, talking about budget cuts and being smart about getting through that recession, and I was just so green. I didn't have any idea. I just was there to do my job and push through, and I'm so thankful they kept me, and saw it through, because that's really what made me fall in love with this business.

Kevin Weitzel: All right. So, before we get into a little bit more about what you fell in love with-

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah.

Kevin Weitzel: Let's find out one interesting factoid about you that has nothing to do with work, the home building industry, or family. What do you got?

Chelsea Fanders: Well, this might qualify. This is sometimes my fun fact. I grew up in Nebraska, so I feel like I need to say that first. But my first job in middle school was detasseling corn, in the summer. It was the worst job of my life. I don't necessarily like to be outside in the heat and humidity. And I'm not sure why my mom allowed me to take on that summer job in [00:03:00] Nebraska in the summer walking corn fields every day, but she did, and then she did not let me quit. And I'm glad she didn't, but it was the worst summer of my life.

Kevin Weitzel: I rarely can say that some sort of labor job was something that we have in common. But when I lived in Michigan, I also did a summer camp. I call it the summer camp of detasseling corn. It is not fun at all. So, I feel bad for all the farm kids where their parents just say, "Guess what, kids? Get out in the rows and get to detasseling." I can totally understand that. I guess I have one more question then. So, you said you've gone, and you've mentioned some very beautiful yet almost pancake flat places. Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. Have you ever seen a real mountain in life?

Chelsea Fanders: I think once on TV. No, I have. There's a lot of hills in Missouri, you know, so there's a lot of that, but definitely I travel to the mountains. But I definitely am a Midwest girl, I'd say. I like the energy, I [00:04:00] like the perks of the Midwest. I'm not going to lie about that.

Kevin Weitzel: Love it.

Greg Bray: Chelsea, tell us a little bit more about Summit Homes, where you guys build, the type of buyers that you're working with, so we kind of have some context there for our conversation.

Chelsea Fanders: For sure. Summit Homes, we're in Kansas City. We build around the whole metro, both in Kansas and Missouri. We are part of Clayton Properties Group, which is a Berkshire Hathaway company. Production builder. This year we will do about 400 closings. We really focus on attainability, efficiency of our builds, and our customer experience. Over the past few years, we've really dialed in that we don't have, like, a design studio experience. A buyer can walk into any of our model homes and choose their lot, choose their home plan, and make all their design selections and purchase that home at that one time if they want to. So, really focusing on those efficiencies and building a great home at a great price, in a decent timeline for that buyer.

Greg Bray: [00:05:00] So, as you have been evolving your experience in home building, what are some of the ways you've seen digital technologies over the last few years really come into play and enhance that effort that you're trying to make to connect with buyers and guide them through the purchase process?

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah. It's tough. Our buyers, especially as we push to be a build-to-order company, probably only about 10% of our business will actually be spec homes. And so, I think that's brought in a lot of questions that how can we make sure that our buyers are able to properly see what we offer and what we build, and explain the ins and outs of everything that we do from a technology side of things. But we're definitely pushing. You know, those things don't happen overnight, and I think sometimes we all know that the real estate industry is a little bit behind the times on some of those things.

Kevin Weitzel: No.

Chelsea Fanders: So, I personally want to keep pushing, you know? I think we're being compared to Amazon and [00:06:00] Target and even Walmart, you know, and their ability to act fast and have much better customer service. That's what our consumers are experiencing, so they're going to expect that from any business that they do, regardless of the product.

Kevin Weitzel: Greg, I have to pause here to announce a first on this podcast. In the six plus years we've been doing this now, nobody has ever compared customer service levels to that which is of Walmart. Nobody. I'm not slamming Walmart, but I'm telling you, there's a reason why there's whole video and photo series of the people of Walmart. That we're even struggling to keep up with that in the home building industry, holy cow, I think we've got some work cut out for us.

Chelsea Fanders: It's true. And I definitely was one of those people. But you know, over the last few years now, I will say I haven't actually physically walked into a Walmart in probably three years, but we do get our groceries delivered every weekend. [00:07:00] Their fashion has really stepped up. You know, there's a lot of influencers that have really leaned into that. And so I think, you know, in the last few years, I think they're a good example of somebody that's focused on that digital experience to bring consumers back to them, that they did lose to Target and Amazon over the last several years.

Kevin Weitzel: Or if you're older, I've boycotted them personally since 1983 because they got caught relabeling products Made in USA that were actually coming right off the boat from China.

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah.

Kevin Weitzel: So, when you say you haven't stepped foot, I have not stepped foot since 1983 in a Walmart. Boom.

Greg Bray: Well Chelsea, so when you sit there and go, gosh, our buyers are experiencing these types of things with other kinds of companies. And you guys are sitting around the table saying, "How do we make our experience better?" What are some of the ways that you approach that? Here's an opportunity, or which one should we do first? Tell us a little more about how you go through that process of deciding when and where [00:08:00] to apply some of the digital opportunities.

Chelsea Fanders: It's hard. It's a long timeline. I think especially as a smaller builder in a smaller market. We try to do the best we can with what we have, knowing that being part of Clayton Properties Group, you know, we're part of that bigger vision, and I know there's a lot of things happening on that front to help that.

But one thing we've done, we spent some time to create, our product team created some really strong visualizers so that buyers can really see what their kitchen and their baths will look like when they choose a home, when they choose their design series. And those visuals have really helped instead of, you know, trying to find a home for them to go walk in person. It's really leaning into how can we put strong visuals in front of them that explain those things.

And even when they're shopping, you know, our website, we are constantly tweaking our website to have a better experience. You know, how can we break down the costs of things? How can we showcase the options and help them do their [00:09:00] research before they walk in the model? Because they are. You know, every consumer is doing that. So, how can we equip them with the right information before they come in too?

Kevin Weitzel: Can I ask you a question? I just want to take one slight step back. At what point in the history of Summit Homes were you guys acquired or become part of the Clayton Properties Group?

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah, it was 2012.

Kevin Weitzel: Okay. So, let me ask you this because I'm a firm believer that digital assets that builders implement or choose to implement or don't implement for reasons X, Y, or Z are extremely regional. So, depending on your market and what your competitors are doing will be the driving force versus the instigation of, "Hey, we need to put this into place." It's more along the lines of, "Oh, my goodness, so and so now has this. Now we have to do this."

Do you think that without the Clayton Properties Group being attached to you guys, do you think that you still would've been in the holding pattern waiting for the competitors in your area to step up? Because Kansas City's notoriously a very behind the times market. But it's [00:10:00] also a market where you still get true hand-holding and concierge-type treatment when you walk into a sales center, as opposed to other areas of the country where they've kind of almost leaned heavily, in my opinion, even though I sell this stuff, they lean too heavily on the digital side. So, my question is, is that would you have still been in that holding pattern, or do you think that you guys would've said, "You know, we really need to step this up. Let's carve out some marketing dollars to put into this?"

Chelsea Fanders: I wasn't with Summit at that time, but knowing our founders, I think we would've kept pushing. I think it just would've been, maybe a capital issue. It might've taken longer because we would have to find those resources other places where as now being part of something much larger, there's a little more access there. There's other experts that we can pull into.

Kansas City is an interesting market. We now have some nationals with Lennar and D.R. Horton, but they're still getting kind of up and running, and also a huge fan of them being in our market. I think that it's great for Kansas City and the growth of Kansas City. I'm not scared of them at all. We have a [00:11:00] lot of friends- Ooh ... over at those companies, too, to be honest. Kansas City, you have Lennar, D.R., and us. We're kind of the biggest production builders, and then we have a lot of really custom home builders.

So, it's a different dynamic. I find that Summit is usually the one doing things first, and then we have the competition kind of follow suit. And I've had fellow friends at the other builders say, "Can Summit stop doing this? Because you're making us do it, too." I'm like, "No, we're going to keep doing it." It's all fun. We definitely all play nice in the sandbox.

Greg Bray: What is your process to choose what you want to do next to kind of prioritize the opportunities? Because even if we say, gosh, you've got these massive budgets. Everybody's going, "Well, I wish I had massive budgets, too." You don't. Everybody's budget's limited. You can't do everything you want to. You have to pick one thing to do next. What's your process look like to choosing what you want to do next?

Chelsea Fanders: As an organization, we follow the EOS system. That has given us a really [00:12:00] strong foundation of how we run our company. You know, we've got a very solid one, three, and five-year plan, and I think having that is kind of that North Star. When those crazy ideas come up of, like, "We should sell homes online," you know, that's where we can say, "Okay, how does this align with our one, three, and five? Let's discuss it. Let's figure out where that falls in line, and if we're ready to commit those resources to it." And I think that helps quite a bit on where we put that focus. And knowing that you can make little baby steps towards that bigger project as you go. But it's tough. There's a lot on the technology side. You know, we just kind of refreshed our CRM this week, and refreshed the software that we use to sell homes this week. So, we're constantly making those improvements, and I think with each of those, it gets us to that bigger goal down the road.

Greg Bray: [00:13:00] Hey, everybody. This is Greg Bray from Blue Tangerine, and I am so excited to let you know that the registration is now open for the 2026 Builder Marketing Summit. We're gonna be in Dallas, Texas this year on September 23rd and 24th, and we are working on an amazing lineup of marketing, OSC, and leadership content for you.

Please check it out at buildermarketingsummit.com and get your registration in today. Remember, there's limited seats available, so don't miss out. Again, buildermarketingsummit.com. Can't wait to see you there.

So, as you are implementing changes and moving things forward, what are some of the ways you guys look to measure success? Did it work? Did it not? How do we adapt and evolve? What are some of those tools and information that help you with your decision-making?

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah. Specifically on sales and marketing, I really watch leads and converting those leads into appointments and sales. I think that's the good indicator that you're bringing in the right people, that it's generating the right results. But we look at everything. Traffic. You know, we've been doing some more brand [00:14:00] awareness campaigns in Kansas City. Those bring different metrics that you follow. But you kind of have to look at it all to know if it's really bringing in the right buyers.

And I think the other piece that you watch is just overall traffic to your models. If you changed a product, if you changed an offering, you changed a promotion, is that getting the right people in front of your salespeople, too? And what's the feedback look like then? Or are we having too many objections because that's the wrong person that we weren't trying to sell to?

Greg Bray: And so Monday morning, you walk in, and you can only look at one number. What's the one you look at?

Chelsea Fanders: Mine is probably Kansas City market share. I quickly poll every Monday on really our top five competitors, and I see what they did last week compared to us, and also what happened in our market last week to judge are we seeing an increase, decrease. Are we in line with what's happening in Kansas City? And I think that helps me drive some decisions too, of are we [00:15:00] getting the right traffic and leads in sales?

Greg Bray: Now, I think there's somebody listening going, "Wait a minute, how do you know what the competitors are doing?" Where does that data come from? Any secrets you can share there?

Chelsea Fanders: I use MLS, our local multi-listing service. Technically, I'm licensed in Kansas, and a broker in Kansas, so I really leverage the MLS data to keep an eye on the local market, and make sure I know what's happening, both on the resale front and the new home front.

Greg Bray: I think that's an interesting insight that I'm not sure everybody's doing that, Kevin. I think that might be special.

Kevin Weitzel: No. That is.

Greg Bray: So Chelsea, let's talk a little bit more about kind of how you've structured your team, because you've got all these different initiatives, you're trying to keep things going.What have you decided to kind of keep in-house? How do you leverage partners? What's the balance that you've found?

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah. Internally, and I feel really strong about this, social has to stay internal. It has to stay local. You just have so much [00:16:00] power to communicate what's happening with your brand and the feelings of that. So, we do all of our social in-house locally. Our CRM is managed in-house with email campaigns. All of those things are done here locally.

Clayton actually operates as kind of like our agency that manages our paid search. It's pretty cool because we can kind of drive what we get and where we place it and what the ads look like, but they facilitate for us, so that's a huge help on the Google and paid search side of things. And then we leverage local partnerships too. We've partnered with a couple news channels that facilitate some other campaigns on our behalf. So, that we're not having to manage that creative and create all of those digital assets, but we've got a local partner that's executing for us.

Kevin Weitzel: I wish I could have had a conversation with you before I did A House That She Built book giveaway. Say that 10 times fast. We went to the Wichita market. We contacted the local news, and we gave away books to a [00:17:00] magnet school, and there was about 500 books that we gave away there. They were like, snooze, ho, hum.

Chelsea Fanders: Oh no.

Kevin Weitzel: I'm like, "Dude, we flew out here to give away these books, and we were hoping to have it on the news and, you know, promote the home builders and stuff," and nada. I wish I would've had your contacts beforehand.

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah. Next time come to Kansas City. I'm pretty involved in our local HBA too. And our professional women in building, couple of months ago I think, we did an event with the local Girl Scouts group, where we read them The House That She Built, and they built houses out of Popsicle sticks. So, yeah. Come to Kansas City. We'll take good care of you.

Greg Bray: That's awesome. Well, Chelsea, everybody's talking about AI. Everybody's trying to figure it out, trying to leverage it. What are some of the things you've found work well or things you're still experimenting with from an AI usage, especially around some of that day-to-day content effort and management of all the different things you're trying to get out the door?

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah. I'm a strong [00:18:00] believer that AI's only as good as the input that you provide. You know, you can't rely on it to answer all your questions, but we definitely use it internally to save time, you know, and summarize things. But we've kinda leveraged the tools that are within some of our systems. Like Meta Studio has a great kinda AI tie-in that sums things up for you. Our CRM has AI built into it now too, and that really helps from, like, a lead conversion side of getting those leads past the finish line. What else? Um, we are rolling out a new sales coaching tool that is really powered by AI, and I'm excited for that to kinda give our sales team another resource that can help them be more efficient with their sales process too.

Greg Bray: So, you've got a lot of different things going on that you've kind of touched on and described. What tips would you give to a marketer who's struggling to get budget approval or buy-in from executive leadership about wanting to try something new or do something different? [00:19:00]

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah, I think going into marketing and going to school for marketing, I didn't realize, which sounds silly, that there was so much selling that had to happen in that role. And marketing people, by default, are very creative and have a lot of big ideas. And I think that you have to be able to drill down and explain what your idea could mean for the business. And I think a big part of that is aligning with your leadership, having those shared goals, knowing that one, three, five-year vision of your company, and then tailoring that presentation to how does this check those boxes for that company leader. And you have to show, I mean, you really have to story tell and explain how it will look, how it will function, and how you will pivot if it doesn't work. I think it's just aligning that conversation with their goals.

Kevin Weitzel: You implement what, why, how?

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah, for sure.

Kevin Weitzel: What do I want to implement, why do we want to implement it, and here's how it's going to benefit us.

Chelsea Fanders: [00:20:00] 100%, yep.

Kevin Weitzel: Love it.

Greg Bray: It's great, Chelsea, to hear that you guys have those visionary plans in place and that you're able to then connect things to it, and if you can't, then it's the wrong thing.

Chelsea Fanders: Yes.

Greg Bray: If we can't find at least some tenuous connection to the vision of why we're trying to do something. Do you have a lot of ideas that come up that you can't find a way to connect or is that part of the creative process?

Chelsea Fanders: I think that I have a lot of big ideas. I would love to just change how people buy new construction homes, and I know there's a better way and a different way to do it. And I think the real estate industry has a lot of things that could change to make it better, but I don't want to get canceled for going too far into that. But as a leader, I just like to share my thoughts and my thinking and where I see the world going. And I hope that that kind of inspires the rest of my team to also dream big. That idea might not come to fruition for 5, 10 years, but part of it might. [00:21:00] I always share those ideas, and maybe there's part of it that we can implement and work towards there. But I love to dream big. You have to. There has to be something more than just doing the day in and day out thing, or you're never going to grow.

Greg Bray: Are there places that you look outside the building industry to give you some inspiration for some of those big ideas?

Chelsea Fanders: It's for sure outside of real estate, and for sure outside of other home builders. It's looking at those brands that they garner a lot of following on social, or those brands that have that customer experience locked in, you know you're always going to have a great experience, and figuring out what are parts of those different businesses that we can apply to home building. I think that's where you have to look. You can't always just try to keep up with the competition, or you'll fall behind.

Kevin Weitzel: I don't know how you didn't say that you look to the images of-

Chelsea Fanders: Walmart.

Kevin Weitzel: The people of Walmart as your inspiration for things to do. Come on, Chelsea.

Chelsea Fanders: Missed opportunity.

Kevin Weitzel: Missed opportunity right there. [00:22:00]

Greg Bray: Kevin, you're going to kill our opportunities to sell Walmart sponsorships.

Kevin Weitzel: They're not going to buy a sponsor at the summit, that's for sure.

Chelsea Fanders: They won't.

Greg Bray: Chelsea, when you look back now that you've been doing this for a little bit, what's something about marketing that you wish you had known, you know, 10 years ago, that, "Man, if I'd only known that then, it would've made such a difference"?

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah. I think it is that you could share an idea and not everybody's going to like it. I think marketing by itself, too, we get challenged a lot. A lot of people don't understand the complexities of branding and marketing and lead generation, and all of those things. So, just knowing that you really have to be able to articulate what you're doing, how you're doing it, why you're doing it, was something I didn't think, you know, I'd have to do. I thought they just trust the expert, give me my budget, and let me go on my merry way. But there's definitely so much more to be part of that marketing function within any company.

Greg Bray: Well, if Chelsea's boss is listening today, just give her the budget.

Chelsea Fanders: [00:23:00] Yeah, give me the money.

Greg Bray: Well, Chelsea, we appreciate the time you've spent with us and the things you've shared. Do you have any last thoughts or words of advice you'd like to leave with our audience today?

Chelsea Fanders: I talked to some local smaller builders that don't yet have, like, a marketing department, and I would just challenge them that if they're afraid to spend that money or add that head count, don't. If you wait to hire marketing, you're already behind the times, and it's a worthwhile spend. I'm probably a little biased in that, but you have to have somebody on your team that's really focused on the marketing and the branding and the promotion side of your business, and it's going to pay you dividends. Hire them, give them clear direction, and then let them do their job. You know, don't micromanage them, don't tell them what to do. Let them be creative and your business is going to thrive.

Greg Bray: Great advice. Well, if somebody wants to get in touch and connect with you, what's the best way for them to reach out?

Chelsea Fanders: Yeah, LinkedIn. LinkedIn is an easy place, or you can always drop me an email too. Happy to [00:24:00] connect and brainstorm together.

Greg Bray: Well, Chelsea, thanks again for your time and your insights, and thank you everybody for listening today to the Builder Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine.

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