There is an enormous amount of conversation right now about Artificial Intelligence and what it means for the future of sales. Will AI replace salespeople? Will buyers really want to communicate with AI? And perhaps most importantly for our industry, can AI actually help us sell more new homes without sacrificing the personal connection that makes great salespeople so valuable?
I recently had a fascinating conversation on my podcast with Dan Hnatkovskyy, whose company has developed an AI “Super Employee” specifically for home builders. What impressed me most wasn't simply the technology; it was the sales problem they set out to solve.
Most builders spend a considerable amount of money generating leads, yet after investing all that money, an enormous percentage of those prospects eventually sit untouched inside the CRM. Salespeople naturally concentrate on the hottest prospects—the buyers who appear ready to purchase within the next 30 days. That makes sense, but the home-buying journey can take many months, and when we stop following up too soon, we potentially abandon buyers who simply weren't ready yet. Dan's company experienced this firsthand after generating more than 300,000 new-construction homebuyer leads through its marketplace. Even with a team dedicated to following up, consistently contacting such an enormous database became virtually impossible.
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I've spent four decades in new home sales, and I know exactly what traditional follow-up feels like. You sit down on Tuesday morning determined to make your calls. You make 40 or 45 outbound calls, perhaps two or three people actually answer, and the rest become voicemails, missed calls and unanswered attempts. AI doesn't get tired, become discouraged after 25 unanswered calls or decide that the prospect from eight months ago probably isn't worth another attempt. It can work through hundreds or thousands of prospects while your salespeople concentrate their energy where it matters most: connecting, consulting, demonstrating value and ultimately closing the sale.
Your OSC deserves to go home at night. At 7:00 or 8:00 p.m., they should be able to turn off their phone, spend time with their family and have a life. Your prospects, however, don't stop searching for homes at 8:00 p.m. A lead can arrive from your website at night, and by the time someone follows up the next morning, that prospect may already have contacted another builder. AI changes that equation by creating the ability to respond quickly, communicate with the buyer and begin moving that prospect toward the appropriate next step, even when your sales team isn't available. During normal business hours, it can also support the team when everyone is busy, ensuring opportunities don't simply fall through the cracks.
One of the most exciting applications we discussed was aged-lead follow-up. Some builders have thousands—or even tens of thousands—of old prospects sitting inside their CRM. Dan shared that his company has worked with databases ranging from approximately 500 leads to several million. Those prospects aren't necessarily dead leads. Some may have stopped looking because interest rates changed, some misunderstood an incentive, some didn't think they could qualify, and others simply weren't ready to move at the time. Before spending another dollar generating more leads, perhaps every builder should first ask a different question: How much opportunity is already sitting inside our database?
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During the podcast, we listened to an actual AI conversation with a prospect named Gloria. She had previously explored building a home but believed the builder no longer offered a program that allowed her land to be used toward the purchase. Because of that assumption, her home-buying journey had effectively stopped. The AI reconnected with her, discussed the program and helped schedule an appointment. I loved this example because it demonstrated something bigger than technology: a buyer's objection isn't always an objection; sometimes it is simply missing or misunderstood information. Gloria hadn't necessarily decided she didn't want a home—she believed there was a reason she couldn't move forward. One conversation changed that, and every builder should wonder how many “Glorias” are currently sitting inside their CRM.
Dan shared some fascinating performance numbers from their work with aged databases. According to the results discussed on the podcast, traditional human outreach to older leads may produce appointment conversion rates around 0.9% to 1.1%, while their AI outreach has produced results in approximately the 3.5% to 5.1% range, depending on factors including lead quality, age of the database, previous outreach and the builder's current offering. Naturally, results will vary from builder to builder, but even a relatively small improvement becomes meaningful when multiplied across thousands of prospects. And there is another important consideration: the builder has already paid to acquire these leads. We're not talking about spending more money to generate additional traffic; we're suggesting that you extract more value from an investment you've already made.
One concern I had—and I know many builders will share it—is whether AI creates an impersonal or robotic customer experience. That depends enormously on how it is implemented. Dan explained that their system can use information already contained in the CRM, including where the prospect originally came from, which community they were interested in, previous conversations, salesperson notes and other available information. It can also incorporate current builder information such as new communities, plans, incentives and programs. This matters because few things frustrate buyers more than repeatedly explaining themselves to different people. Technology should help create a more seamless customer journey, not make the buyer feel like an anonymous lead in a database.
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One of my favorite moments in the podcast answered this question better than any statistic could. We played a conversation in which a gentleman discovered he had been speaking with a digital assistant, and his reaction wasn't anger or frustration. Instead, he complimented it. He said it had listened to him, responded clearly, been courteous and done an excellent job. He was so impressed that he actually asked how he could provide a positive evaluation of the call. That interaction reinforces an important point: buyers ultimately want to feel heard, understood and helped. If technology can contribute to that experience while being transparent about what it is, perhaps the question shouldn't be, “Will buyers talk to AI?” The better question may be, “Does this technology make the buyer's experience better?”
This may be the biggest takeaway of all. The future OSC or new home salesperson shouldn't become less important because of AI; they should become more valuable. Instead of spending hours leaving voicemail after voicemail, imagine your OSC becoming the quarterback of the customer journey. AI identifies and reconnects with opportunities, gathers information, documents conversations and responds when humans aren't available. Then the salesperson steps in where human beings are at their absolute best: building trust, showing empathy, understanding emotion, creating connection, solving problems, demonstrating homes, negotiating and asking for the sale. That's not replacing the salesperson; that's giving the salesperson leverage.
Dan made another point that I particularly liked: good software should be almost invisible. Too often, builders invest in technology only to discover that they have created more work for their people. There are new systems to learn, more information to enter and additional processes to remember. Technology is supposed to make us more productive, and if it consumes time that could otherwise be spent with customers, we should question whether it is really accomplishing its purpose. The goal isn't to have more technology; the goal is to create better results and better customer experience.
AI isn't coming someday—it is already here. The question isn't whether technology will continue to change the way we sell homes; it will. The real question is how we choose to use it. I believe the winning builders will combine the scale, consistency and speed of AI with the empathy, judgment and relationship-building abilities of exceptional people. Because ultimately, we aren't simply selling houses—we are helping people achieve one of the most important goals of their lives: owning a home, building wealth, creating security and giving their family a place to call their own.
No matter how sophisticated technology becomes, we should never lose sight of what our industry really does. Home builders are dream builders. If AI allows us to serve more people, follow up more consistently and prevent potential buyers from falling through the cracks, then it deserves our attention. AI doesn't have to make new home sales less human. Used correctly, it can take care of many of the repetitive tasks that consume our time and give our salespeople more opportunities to do what great salespeople have always done best—connect with people and help them achieve their dreams. And perhaps that leaves us with one important question every builder should ask before spending the next dollar generating another lead: How much revenue is sitting silently inside your CRM?
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Contact Dan with any questions at Dan@Jome.com and mention this podcast to ensure the special pilot introductory new home sales plus rate or go to audit.jome.com for your free audit. Roland is author of Mastery of Selling for New Homes and Mastery of Negotiation, (both available on Amazon), is an international new sales consultant and coach, and the founder of New Home Sales Plus. He can be reached at Roland@newhomesalesplus.com or 561-236-2400 and would love to help you with your new home sales coaching needs.