sales

Shedding Light on The Darkness with Chris Bache – [Best of The Tim Faller Show]

May 8, 2023 00:36:20

By all accounts, business is booming. Projects are being booked way in advance, and everything is roses and sunshine. Or is it?

In this episode, guest Chris Bache joins Tim and Steve to discuss the “dark period” – the period of time after the sale is completed, the project is booked, and is on the schedule. A critical time when the battle for client satisfaction can be won or lost.

Chris Bache is the CEO and co-founder at Hatch, a messaging app specifically built for the remodeling industry that centralizes and automates homeowner communication.

Hatch began as a trial when Chris and his partner, Bill Violante, were asked by a local Pella franchise to help solve two huge blind spots in their business – follow-up and customer experience.

That’s when the idea for Hatch was, well, hatched. Word spread like wildfire through other Pella franchises and then eventually into other areas of the industry.

Tim, Steve, and Chris talk more about:

How to keep customers happily engaged until the project occurs
The customer experience
How to successfully communicate with customers
And more…

Ep.163: Sales for Non-Sales People (Part 1) with Jeff Borovitz

August 30, 2021 00:39:13

Some see salespeople as shifty, crafty people that try to trick you into buying. So, how do we take steps towards reducing that stigma?

In part one of this two-part series with guest Jeff Borovitz, listeners will learn about the general ideas as to why it is so important to embrace the field of sales, and some potential outcomes in the event that we don’t.

Jeff is a franchise owner of Sandler Training and the Remodelers Advantage Sandler Sales Trainer. He has advised, trained and coached small and medium-sized companies as well as large enterprise companies on developing stronger sales teams, closing more sales and leading organizational change.

Tim, Steve and Jeff talk more about:

The DISC Factor
Sales and its role in remodeling
Putting this advice into practice
And more…

Speaking of Sales... We're Hiring!

This might be exactly the opportunity you have been hoping to find! Remodelers Advantage, the leading provider of peer groups, education, and consulting to the home remodeling industry, is looking for just the right candidate to join our extraordinary team as Sales Executive. Could that be you?

[ Click Here for More Information About the Available Position ]

Ep.69: Hitting Monthly Goals with Aaron Enfinger

September 2, 2019 00:37:42

Making sure you can hit your monthly revenue goals is key to a healthy bottom line. First, there has to be a plan and intention to hit those marks.

In this episode, Aaron Enfinger tells Tim and Steve about setting revenue and production goals, how to hit them, and why it helps prevent cash-flow problems.

Aaron is the general manager at The Cleary Company in Columbus, OH. In early 2017, he assumed the role of General Manager to address managerial needs The Cleary Company was experiencing, due to their pace of growth.

He starts his goal-setting process with a spreadsheet, and drills down from the yearly goal to the weekly numbers the company needs to produce to hit its revenue numbers. Then he works with his production manager and office manager to carry the plan through. Aaron gives you great ideas about how you can do this in your own company, including:

Designing your production department to handle your goals
Why weekly number will fluctuate
What sets off alarm bells in the pipeline
Scheduling to smooth out seasonal differences
How job schedules relate to the master schedule
Setting up incremental milestone draws in a job
How often to evaluate your financials
Setting expectations with clients at the beginning of the project
Focusing your production team on their goals
Why a cloud-based project management system saves time in invoicing
And more …

Aaron also talks about how he found and used a powerful tool on LinkedIn to identify and recruit the company’s new production manager — from The Bahamas.

Click the link for the downloadable copy of Aaron’s Excel file.

Ep.63: Getting Selections Done Before the Job Starts with Tanya Donahue

July 22, 2019 00:36:45

Developing a system that makes your kitchen and bath jobs more profitable has to include getting those all-important selections done early in the process — before the job even starts.

Tim does a session on this, and it’s based on what he learned from Rhode Island Kitchen & Bath, in Warwick, RI.

In this episode, Tanya Donahue discusses that process with Tim and Steve, and why it results in exceptional client experiences, and make everyone in the company happy and more productive.

Tanya is the president of Rhode Island Kitchen and Bath, and provides her team and her clients with proven strategic capabilities, backed by her strong record of success. She’s spent more than 25 years in the home building and remodeling industry, and her main focus is to create, communicate, and implement the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction. Tanya is a member of the Rhode Island Builders Association, served as co-chair of the Remodeler’s Committee and is a former member of the board of directors. She was selected as a 2017 Industry panelist for Harvard University’s Joint Center on Housing Studies, and was a judge of the 2018 National Qualified Remodeler Design Awards. She was also the recipient of the 2017 ProRemodeler Extreme Sales Award.

At the company, when a job packet goes to production from sales, it has every selection made, right down to the color and manufacturer of the caulk to be used. So much money is lost when something is missing on the job. If your company isn’t doing it this way, Tanya says, it may seem overwhelming, but she tells you how to get your organization on board with making selections before the job starts, including:

Making the client the boss, sort of
Getting buy-in from sales and design
How it increases productivity in design and sales
Including photos in the job packet for easy identification on site
Starting with the must-haves
Controlling the client through education in the process
Figuring out how clients make decisions
Why cabinets can drive their start date
Starting with a reservation form, and using it as a reality check on the schedule
The power of the visual production board
How to do it without a showroom
And more …

Integrating sales and production in a continuous communication loop from start to finish is key to the whole process.

Ep.53: Make Your Project Manager a Marketing Machine with Doug Panozzo

April 29, 2019 00:32:48

Of all the things you have in your marketing toolbox — your website, email and direct mail, or social media — there’s one you may have overlooked.

Positioning your Production team to be aware of sales and marketing can be an overlooked marketing strategy, and also help align the office and field teams.

In this episode, Tim and Steve talk to Doug Panozzo, who is a human marketing machine. We discuss how to make that switch in mindset for your Production team, and how it can boost your sales and profits.

Doug Panozzo is a Project Manager for Hogan Design & Construction in Geneva, IL. He’s been with Hogan since October 2017. He came from outside of the industry, from a tech company, and moved into a Project Manager role with Hogan almost a year and a half ago. Since then, he has grown familiar with the industry, became efficient with Hogan’s systems, hasn’t gone over budget on a single one of his projects, and has brought in over $100,000 in sales in the last year.

Sharing the big picture with your team is the start. Doug says working on marketing or sales is job security for him — the more work he can help bring in, the longer he has a job. He talks about how he does it, and how you can get your team involved, including:

Selling the company throughout the project
Sparking new leads
Following up with customers to touch base
Finding the incentive — referrals and bonuses
Asking for social media posts with tags and reviews
Wearing and being the brand everywhere
How to start those conversations
Picking the right customers to keep in touch with
Making the questions subtle and helpful
Keeping good notes and setting reminders
Building relationships and working the neighborhood
Finding the way for different personalities to market and sell
How to set the expectations in hiring
Giving Production the tools, training, and materials to do it
Getting the timing right
And much more …

Including why your Project Manager or Lead Carpenter should talk to the neighbors’ cleaning people, and how many leads can come from it.

Let’s Keep It Up

This episode was another spurred by a suggestion from our listeners. If you’ve got an idea for a guest or topic, send Tim an email at tim@remodelersadvantage.com.