Head-to-Head, powered by New Homes Solutions, is the ultimate guide for homebuilders and their sales and marketing teams. Here you'll have access to the hottest topics and best industry practices for building your businesses and sales teams. We go head-to-head with industry thought leaders for in-depth conversations about what is keeping you up at night. You can consider this your sales meeting in a box! H2H is recorded live, and you are invited to join us live by registering in advance on NewHomesSolutions.com/Head-to-Head. Or, you can listen to us on the go wherever you get your podcasts.
Are your buyers telling you their real story… or just the safe, rehearsed version they think you want to hear?
In this Head-to-Head episode, Kimberly Mackey and Ryan Taft go back and forth on what it really takes to uncover popcorn-worthy buyer stories—the kind that reveal motivation, urgency, and emotional drivers that actually move sales forward.
Ryan introduces his 3 R’s—Retell, Relive, Refill — as a framework to help buyers reconnect with their own experiences and decision-making moments. Kimberly challenges how—and when—those stories show up in real model home conversations, especially in today’s slower traffic environment.
Together, they tackle the questions sales teams and leaders are wrestling with right now:
Why do buyers hold back their real motivations early in the process?
How do you move beyond surface-level discovery without interrogating or overselling?
What’s the difference between listening to a buyer… and actually hearing them?
How can sales leaders coach storytelling and discovery in a way that’s practical, repeatable, and measurable?
They also dig into the realities of the sales environment itself, from getting out of the office and into the home, to creating space for conversations that feel collaborative instead of scripted.
This isn’t about telling better stories to buyers.It’s about learning how to draw the story out of them—and knowing what to do once you hear it.
If you’re a sales professional, sales leader, or marketer who wants deeper discovery, stronger connection, and conversations that actually convert, this Head-to-Head delivers both the framework and the field-tested perspective to make it work.
29 Jan 2026
Persistence- The Key to Effective Follow-Up
Persistence isn’t about more follow-up—it’s about better follow-up. Kimberly Mackey and S. Robert August discuss how to stay memorable, professional, and consistent without crossing the line, plus a practical sales-meeting exercise leaders can use immediately.
21 Jan 2026
Where Did All My Web Traffic Go?
Where did all your web traffic go?
If leads feel softer…If traffic is down but nothing is “broken”…If sales teams are working harder and converting less…
You’re not imagining it.
In this episode of Head-to-Head, Kimberly Mackey sits down with Greg Bray, President of Blue Tangerine and co-host of the Builder Marketing Podcast, to unpack how AI-powered search is reshaping buyer behavior, visibility, and lead flow—long before sales ever gets involved.
This isn’t a marketing tactics episode.It’s a sales and business performance conversation.
You’ll learn why traffic drops don’t always mean demand is gone, how AI search changes lead quality, and why alignment between sales, marketing, and leadership is now critical to protecting results.
If you’re responsible for sales outcomes, marketing investment, or forecasting, this episode will help you connect the dots.
Listen in. Because when visibility disappears, sales always feels it first.
20 Jan 2026
The NEW Lessons Learned from This Year's Mystery Shopping Benchmark Study
In this Head-to-Head episode, Kimberly Mackey welcomes back Leah Turner of Melinda Brodie & Company to review the latest Mystery Shopping Benchmark Study and what it reveals about today’s buyer experience.
For the first time, the study showed a decline in every category—raising big questions about consistency, coaching, and execution.
Highlights include: builder story (30%), asking for the sale (45%), and model demonstration (84%)—plus practical guidance for sales leaders on getting out of the office and back into the field where performance is built.
19 Dec 2025
Slowing Traffic? Now What? How to Keep Selling Now!
Head-to-Head: Slowing Traffic? Now What? How to Keep Selling Now
with Roland Nairnsey | New Home Sales Plus
Traffic slowing down? Models getting quieter? Waiting it out is not a strategy.
In this timely episode of Head-to-Head, Kimberly Mackey is joined by Roland Nairnsey of New Home Sales Plus to tackle one of the biggest challenges sales professionals and builders face right now: how to keep selling when traffic slows.
This isn’t theory—it’s a practical, high-energy conversation packed with a Top 10 list of actions you can take right now to create momentum, generate activity, and drive results in a tough market. From smarter Realtor outreach and community partnerships to creative social strategies that stop the scroll, this episode delivers ideas you can actually use—today.
You’ll hear how to:
Build stronger Realtor relationships without sounding transactional
Create grassroots community connections that lead to real traffic
Use social media and video in ways that feel human, not salesy
Align Sales and Marketing to multiply impact
Turn slow periods into an advantage instead of a setback
This episode is a rally cry for sales pros, marketers, and builder leaders who refuse to sit back and wait for conditions to improve. Because activity creates activity—and predictable sales don’t happen by accident.
🎧 Listen now, subscribe to Head-to-Head with New Homes Solutions, and get back in control of your sales—no matter what the market is doing.
5 Dec 2025
Are You Curious Enough To Succeed In 2025?
Join Kimberly Mackey and guest David Hagan (Sales Uncomplicated) as they explore how conversational curiosity can transform your sales results. Discover how to build trust through active listening, navigate social anxiety, strengthen emotional intelligence, and shift from transactional selling to relationship-driven conversations. Learn how curiosity uncovers true buyer motivations and leads to better solutions—and bigger wins. A must-listen for anyone ready to level up their sales approach for 2025 and beyond.
26 Nov 2025
Stand Out, Sell More!
Stand Out, Sell More! A Conversation with Kelly Primeau
When it comes to marketing in this crazy housing market, you can’t afford to blend in—and thankfully, my friend Kelly Primeau is all about helping builders break through the noise. In our latest Head-to-Head conversation, we got right to the point: if you want to sell more, you’ve got to stand out—and that takes more than just a catchy slogan or pretty pictures.
Kelly, the founder of CEA Marketing and Second Sol Studios (and author of Future-Proof Residential Marketing), brought the goods. Not only does she run two powerhouse companies, but she’s also been helping builders generate qualified traffic for nearly three decades. And if that’s not enough, she just published a book packed with modern strategies built to withstand even the toughest market shifts.
21 Nov 2025
Why Education is the New Sales & Marketing Engine for Builders. [Part-2]
Special Edition (Part 2): How to Turn Education Into Your Sales & Marketing Engine
Want more buyers who arrive already educated, aligned, and further down the funnel? In Part 2 of this special Head-to-Head series, Kimberly Mackey and Sabine Steinbrecher, CEO & Co-Founder of Hiveologie, share the practical blueprint for building an education-driven Sales and Marketing engine that attracts higher-quality traffic and converts more of it.
If Part 1 explained why education works, this episode shows you how to put it into action. Kimberly and Sabine walk through the strategies builders can use right now to create smarter inbound demand, more effective outbound engagement, and follow-up that actually builds trust—not fatigue.
You’ll learn how to use education to guide buyers through every stage of their journey: from short, high-impact videos and training modules… to onboarding tools that reduce post-closing friction… to CRM-driven content that keeps homeowners connected and generates more referrals.
This is where Sales and Marketing—with a capital M—finally work together to create consistent, sustainable growth. No shouting louder. No racing to the bottom. Just smarter, more strategic communication that buyers actually want.
If you're ready to attract better-qualified leads, build authority in your market, and create a long-term engine for conversions and referrals, this episode gives you the roadmap.
Listen now and start teaching smarter—because in today’s market, the builders who educate best are the ones who sell most.
21 Nov 2025
Why Education is the New Sales & Marketing Engine for Builders. [Part-1]
Special Edition (Part 1): Why Education Is the New Sales & Marketing Engine for Builders
This topic is so big, we had to break it into 2 episodes. Be sure to listen to both, And, please subscribe to us on your favorite platform. Want buyers who show up already informed, already confident, and already much further down the sales funnel? In this special Head-to-Head episode, Kimberly Mackey is joined by Sabine Steinbrecher of Hiveologie, one of the leading education strategists in the EdTech space, to reveal why education—not discounts, not louder ads—is the new Sales and Marketing engine for today’s home builders.
In a market overflowing with noise, buyers don’t want more hype. They want clarity. They want someone who can guide them, teach them, and help them feel confident making one of the biggest decisions of their lives. Kimberly and Sabine break down exactly how educational marketing builds trust, elevates your authority, and creates more intentional, ready-to-buy prospects long before the first conversation.
You’ll hear how smart, strategic education attracts aligned buyers, strengthens Realtor relationships, and shortens the sales cycle. Plus, we explore examples—like Bensonwood Homes—where education isn’t an add-on; it is the sales engine.
If you want a consistent pipeline of warm, qualified buyers who already understand your value and are eager to move forward, this episode gives you the “what” and the “why.”
Be sure to listen to Part 2, where we walk step-by-step through how to implement this powerful strategy inside your own Sales and Marketing program.
Listen now and start turning your expertise into your most compelling competitive advantage.
14 Nov 2025
Head-to-Head: Selling Affordability-Helping Buyers Understand Today's Real Value
In this episode:
Are your buyers pushing back harder than ever on pricing and affordability? Are your sales slowing down because buyers—and sometimes even your team—are too afraid to take the first step? If so, you’re not alone. In today’s market, affordability isn’t just a financial hurdle—it’s an emotional one. Buyers are nervous, hesitant, and overwhelmed by headlines.
Meanwhile, too many sales professionals are hunkering down instead of sharpening their skills and leaning into the real conversations that move buyers forward. That’s why this episode of Head-to-Head is all about selling affordability—and helping buyers see the real value that’s still available when they understand their options. My guest, mortgage expert Bill Rodriguez, joins me to unpack what every new home sales and real estate professional needs to know right now: how to guide buyers through the fear, build trust, and open the door to opportunity.
We’ll talk about how to use every available tool—from forward commitments and creative financing options to the power of collaboration between onsite and general real estate agents—to find the right loan program for each buyer. More importantly, we’ll show you how to start the affordability conversation confidently, so buyers feel empowered to apply, rather than scared to try. Because the truth is, buyers aren’t just buying homes—they’re buying hope, stability, and a sense of possibility. And that means our job as sales professionals is to know enough about financing to guide them toward that goal, not step back when the questions get tough.
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