Life & Work with Arielle Stratton of Raleigh area

Today we’d like to introduce you to Arielle Stratton

Hi Arielle, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I have always been very sales-minded but didn’t know I would end up selling new construction homes in North Carolina!
Growing up I spent my summers trying to make money- lemonade stands, my sister and I had a pet sitting business, I took on extra chores like mowing the lawn, anything I could do to be entrepreneurial! When I was about 8 years old, I really wanted a dirt bike- I gave my parents a whole presentation (including a hand-drawn chart I created) showing how my allowance wasn’t enough to be able to save up for one and I needed a raise! (I did not get a raise, by the way)
I grew up in Minnesota but was looking forward to a new place and better weather for college. I was also looking for a school that offered entrepreneurial business as a major and found High Point University in High Point NC. After visiting for their academic scholars weekend, I fell in love with the school. My sophomore year I took my first sales class and our new professor, Professor Quinn, had just come from another school that had a competitive sales team. He pitched the idea to the class and I immediately wanted to be a part of it. Over my junior and senior years, I helped run the sales club and traveled across the US to compete against other collegiate sales teams. During the sales competitions, you were scored on doing a mock sales meeting by how well you interacted with the “client”, asked questions, and presented your solution. During the competitions, tons of big corporations would be onsite doing interviews, hosting a career fair, and offering job offers on the spot to competitors and their teams.
At the same time, I also was a founding brother and leader of the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, creating connections with other business students and starting another legacy group on campus.
After graduating from college, I started working for Lenovo, headquartered in Raleigh. It was a great fit because I got to rotate through a few different departments (marketing, inside sales) before landing the final position as an inside sales person. I enjoyed my time there, but quickly learned technology and inside sales were not my thing. During my time at Lenovo I learned a lot about computers, technology, and inside sales skills. I won a few contests (one of which landed me a new Xbox1) and my outside sales rep and I landed one of the biggest government computer contracts our team had ever written!
When I found my time in technology dwindling, I of course wanted to stay in sales, but just wanted to go into another field. I did informational interviews with a lot of different people in several different industries before I found new construction home sales. It was a position I had never considered before, but it allowed me to stay in Raleigh, work with my clients face to face, be creative in my solutions and marketing, and have autonomy over my business.
After looking into it some more, I realized the best thing to do was get my real estate license. I could have spent several hours per week for a few months doing the 90 hour course, or I could knock it out by doing a full time class for 3 weeks- I chose the later and submitted my resignation letter to Lenovo right away. In the meantime, I had been applying and interviewing with different builders in the area so ideally I could start as soon as I received my license.
Lucky for me on my first day of real estate school I received a phone call that I had been offered a position with kb Home and I would start as soon as I finished my classes! It was great timing!
When I started with kb Home I was put assigned a couple of different communities that were closing out or not doing well. Although it was difficult, and I was worried if I could do it, I ended up doing well and learning a lot! Eventually the rold became easier and easier as I learned everything I could about the new home sales process, making connections with local real estate agents, hosting events, and more. I thought everything was going smoothly until COVID hit.
At first, we were just working from home and had to quickly pivot to show homes virtually rather than in person. Then in April everything really slowed down and my community was almost sold out. It was a Friday morning when I got the call that I had been laid off. I was shocked, but was in a position that I welcomed a break and knew I could spend some time looking for another builder. With my experience, I was confident I could find a new job.
That summer I spent interviewing for new positions, but the company that stood out the most (and I eventually was offered a job with) was True Homes, a large, privately owned builder located in North and South Carolina. The story of how the company started during the housing recession of 2008 but persevered to be largest private builder in the Carolinas really spoke to me, along with their terrific company culture. After several interviews, I started in July of 2020.
During my (now) 4 years here, I have taken all of the skills I have learned throughout college and my career and honed them to be a successful onsite sales agent. This lead me to be the top selling individual sales agent in the entire company in 2022!
I have seen the real estate market go from “normal” (pre-COVID), to non-existent (early 2020), to absolutely crazy (2021), to extremely challenging (interest rates going up really fast in 2022), and more. If there is one constant in real estate, is that it is always changing!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think I always knew where I wanted to go, I just needed to figure out a way to get there.
Getting laid off was a bi wake up call that doing what is expected of you is the minimum and that your job is never safe. I don’t think that if I had worked harder I would have saved my job, but I think I had a notion that as long as your doing okay, you’ll be fine. Never take your foot off the gas or get complacent!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I forgot to add- during my time at kb home we participated in an annual awards gala for all of the new construction sales and marketing teams in the Raleigh-Durham area. After my first full year with KB, I was announced as the winner of the Rookie Sales Person of the Year award winner! I beat out several other new home sales agents based on my sales numbers, what I was doing to create/maintain real estate broker relationships, and my volunteer time with the Triangle Sales and Marketing council. This is one of my most proud achievements.
In 2023, my sales partner and I achieved high enough sales and metrics to be able to go on the annual company sales trip! That year it was to the Bahamas!

As far as my job goes- everyday is very different but I meet people and their real estate agents wanting to build or buy a home in the new construction community I represent. Unlike general brokerage agents, I can only sell the homes by builder company builds. Not only do I use my sales skills everyday to sell the homes, a lot of my time and energy is spent building and maintaining relationships with the general brokerage agents so that they continue to bring me clients.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I absolutely think I worked hard, but I had a lot of good luck too. From having all of the opportunities in college to pursue sales, to dipping my toe in the corporate world with my first job at Lenovo, to even getting laid off. It all happened for a reason and ended up being good/a blessing in disguise in the end

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.truehomes.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arielleattruehomes/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ariellestratton
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdF8CpVT_vwHR0Qq1Act2dg