International Builder Show 2019 Recap

Catch Spencer's catch-up interview with Will Duderstadt at the International Builder Show 2019 in Las Vegas. And the first time I've ever been called "low key famous"!

Spencer and Will discuss:
• Debating if you should cut marketing spending when times get tough (hint: Will did not argue how he believes)
• Debating if you could should use a marketing agency for your home builder business
• Tracking marketing efforts - including website analytics, social media conversions, leads, what you're spending, return on ad spend, and more
• Metrics that don't matter including vanity metrics on social media
• Education tracks and all the brilliant speakers
• Walking every square inch of the floor to see the latest and greatest in design, tech, and more

For more of Spencer and Will talking about marketing, catch Builder Funnel Radio Episode 8: https://www.builderfunnel.com/builder-funnel-radio

Transcript:

Spencer Powell: Hey, Spencer here with Builder Funnel, and we are here at the Builder Show here in Vegas, and I'm here with Will Duderstadt. Well, first of all, welcome.

Will Duderstadt: Thank you. It's awesome to be here, man.

Spencer Powell: Glad to have you here. And I want to jump right in. You had a big debate earlier this week that you were a part of. Maybe just tell us a little bit about that.

Will Duderstadt: We did. This is actually kind of a fun thing we did for the second year. It's Clash of the Titans, and we get into character and we debate some topics that builders and contractors probably have within their organizations. So one of our topics was if you should cut your marketing budget when times are tough. And we took the extreme views. I actually argued that you cut all spending. You don't spend a penny. And the opposite side was just double down and spend even more. And I think what's really cool about that is we articulate in character these extreme points of views that some people back in your organization might have. So the whole idea is have a laugh But then also maybe pick up an argument or two that you can go back to your organization and fight that battle with, right? We always have to disclaim after the debate that we're in character. These aren't our real points of view. My friend Dennis, who owns his own agency, actually argued against the use of agencies, which once you know him, you realize how funny that is. But if you just walk into the room, it's kind of like, what's this guy doing? Yeah. So it's a good time. We hope to do it again next year.

Spencer Powell: Yeah, that's awesome. And so now I'm curious what is your real opinion. You said you had to argue that side. What do you think?

Will Duderstadt: My real opinion is that when times are really good, you should use that as an opportunity to get very, very critical of everything that you're spending and work to really kind of quantify if it's working for you so that when you go into a downturn, you don't necessarily have to trim your budget, but you can be that much more confident that it's very effective for you.

Spencer Powell: Yeah, I think that's awesome. And that kind of leads into the next thing, which is, you know, tracking all this stuff. And we talked about your in a session in the morning where you talk about metrics that matter. And I think there's, well, in marketing, there's a lot of metrics, right? There's so many things we can measure, especially digitally now. So what are maybe a few metrics that people should be paying attention to, but then what are the ones that actually matter?

Will Duderstadt: Right, so we spent our time talking about things that you need to know, right, that are facts, like you gotta know how much you're paying. You gotta know how many leads you're getting. But don't get worked up about those individual numbers, right? They just help you do some math. The ones that actually matter are things like your cost per lead or your conversion rate. And in this particular session, we talked about a return on ad spend. How do you calculate the money that you're actually making based on what you're spending? And that's pretty darn powerful. It's kind of like algebra for some people. So you got to bust out the calculator, but it's your true measurement of success. We also talked about metrics that totally don't Sure. It feels great like on social to get a bunch of likes and to get comments, but those are really just vanity metrics and they like fire off the dopamine in your brain and you're like pumped, five more people like that. It feels great, but you cannot take likes to the bank. You cannot convert them into actual business to not cash them.

Spencer Powell: You can't cash them?

Will Duderstadt: Oh man, I tried, you know, I tried to deposit and there's just not a slip for it.

Spencer Powell: These fifty hearts, can I get anything for them?

Will Duderstadt: So try and set that aside, right? Use it as maybe a tool to understand if your content's valuable, but work towards something else beyond just that like.

Spencer Powell: I think that's really important. I mean, like you said, you can't cash out likes, you can't cash out comments. Those are good indicators, but the real things that matter are customers in the door.

Will Duderstadt: That's right.

Spencer Powell: It's been fun having you here. I feel like you're low-key famous here at the Builders Show, or maybe just famous because you're always on stage, you're always talking to people. But I guess for anybody watching this, what are maybe like one or two... key takeaways from the show.

Will Duderstadt: Oh man, that's hard because there's like so much.

Spencer Powell: We got to boil it down because you can't go back and forth.

Will Duderstadt: So, you know, the two distinct styles I think of the show, the first is the education tracks that exist. It is just so awesome how many brilliant people come out and are willing to share some nuggets of information. So that's like #1 on my list, right? See as many different sessions as possible. And then the second is what I'm doing today, which is walking every square inch of the show floor. I don't buy products for my company, but I absolutely love seeing the latest in appliances or plumbing fixtures or wood flooring. So we're in the central hall now. I still got the north hall to do and it's probably going to take the rest of today to go see.

Spencer Powell: Those are good takeaways. And yeah, I mean, I think if you do those, you'll also bump into enough people and get a lot of value there. But yeah, Will, thanks so much for joining me and enjoy walking the rest of the floor.

Will Duderstadt: You bet. Thanks. Good to be here.