HomeSphere Perks: Partner Networking to Share Leads, Sales Tips and More
February 7, 2023
When you join HomeSphere as a manufacturer, you gain more than access to our award-winning platform HomeSphere-IQ®. You also gain a dedicated team of partner engagement managers, and we’re the only rebate program that has “feet on the street” — aka 10 regional market specialists who cover the entire U.S. and know their construction markets better than anyone else.
While HomeSphere’s market specialists work closely with the home builders on our program, they also work to connect you with builders and other industry reps through events and individual outreach.
One such event is our long-running Partner Networking meet-ups (sometimes referred to as LeadShare events). In this post, we’ll take you through what these events are all about, what you can gain from them and how you can join in.
#HomeSpherePartnerNetworking: How does it work?
Our partner networking events are exclusively for manufacturer sales reps to meet with other area manufacturer sales reps to share tips, leads and best practices in a fun, casual environment.
We don’t actually call these events #HomeSpherePartnerNetworking, but we do like to shamelessly plug our social accounts, where we use this hashtag to highlight the latest meetings our market specialists have organized. Click through for an idea of what they look like.
To keep the meet-ups productive (and cozy), the guest list is invite-only. It's also purposely small, with only about five to nine manufacturer reps in attendance in addition to HomeSphere’s local market specialist (with possible special appearances by other HomeSphere team members).
Participating partners need only show up at the chosen (stylish, local) restaurant prepared to discuss their market, home builders and industry topics with other sales reps who share the same goals and industry experiences.
Who’s invited to partner networking events?
Let’s start with who isn’t invited: competing manufacturers. Our partner networking events are for participants to make more connections in the industry and gain usable knowledge about working with home builders.
HomeSphere’s regional market specialists are careful in who they invite to make sure you can have open conversations about your sales strategies and goals. That doesn’t mean we exclude any of our partners— it just means you won’t get invited to the same meet-up.
Otherwise, any interested manufacturer sales reps are fair game for an invite, so long as you’re willing to be part of the conversation.
What’s the agenda?
While each partner networking event likely looks a little different, there are several common goals:
- Discuss helpful industry contacts.
- Share successes you’ve had with home builders, and help your peers connect with them too.
- Identify your own goals and hear out the goals of other sales reps.
- Work with your HomeSphere rep on leads you’ve been given.
- Set follow-up actions.
It’s the last part that’s key—what you do with the information you gain. The HomeSphere market specialists who hosts your meet-up will work with you on concrete ways to put into action the intel you’ve learned to advance your sales goals.
What do partners have to say?
“I had a great time in Vancouver! Lynette [Nelson] provided a very comfortable environment for myself and her other manufacturer partners to have an open forum to discuss builders we’re working with, and she sent us all meeting notes afterwards. I thought it was very productive and I’m looking forward to the next opportunity to attend one of these events!” - Ehi Okoiron, manager of Builder Services at Nice NA
“I attended a Chicago event hosted by Melissa Wolf and Jim Plazak. We had a great turnout and I’ve definitely made some nice connections as a result. Melissa and I have traded some information back and forth and are working on our target lists together to crank it up this year. As far as I am concerned, this event was very nicely done and perfectly served the purpose of the meeting. I will be working closely with Melissa moving forward to generate new opportunities.” - Mark Vrabely, president of MVP sales and marketing and independent sales rep for Kingspan
“I enjoyed getting to know and network with the surrounding area manufacturer reps and exchange contact information. Jeramy Hooper was great following up with me after the event and providing an updated list of HomeSphere builders in Virginia and co-branded materials.” - Robbie Fallick Jr., builder sales area manager, Georgia-Pacific Building Products
From our HomeSphere reps who organize partner networking events:
“I held another successful partner networking meeting! Nine reps from Lennox, Electrolux, Kingspan, Rubbermaid, Behr Paint Company, Trex, and Ply Gem attended the meeting. It was a great exchange of information! Everyone got along great, and the meeting was a big hit. I got many positive responses and look forward to working closely with them all going forward!” - Jessica Pappas, regional market specialist for the Mountain region
“We had nine reps at our Charlotte event. We were able to give an extensive presentation on HomeSphere and answer a lot of questions. There was a lot of lead sharing and contact sharing between the reps, with some future networking plans between a few of them.” - Jeramy Hooper, regional market specialist for the Mid-Atlantic region
"It was great to see our partners engaging, learning from each other and prospecting new business opportunities." - David Miller, regional market specialist for Florida and the Gulf Coast
Interested in joining in?
Contact your partner engagement manager or regional market specialist to let them know you’re interested in attending a future partner networking event. Not a HomeSphere manufacturer? Complete this form to learn more about HomeSphere.
