Touch Points
RC: How do you stay in touch with customers after signing?
MC: There’s usually a six- to eight-week lead time between measuring the job and installing it. We send out a re-measure person who not only re-measures the job but also finds out if there are any issues.
We also have reports called Uninstalled Reports. That’s a tool for me to keep track of what’s installed or not installed. We give [that report] to the salespeople on Mondays just so they can see where in the process their customers are at, should they feel the need to give them a call to let them know we haven’t forgotten them.
There’s not much to talk about between ordering the windows and receiving them, so we’ve implemented a touch-point system. It’s a series of timed postcards. The first one says thanks for choosing Champion and your project is in production. The next one is a list of the top 10 reasons for choosing Champion. The last one is a referral postcard. We pay $150 for referrals.
RC: How long have these systems been in place?
MC: I started this process two years ago. At the time we were in the beginning stages of the recession. I did a couple things. First, I did what every good marketing person should do: I renegotiated everything. And instead of pulling back on advertising I spent more. Not that much more. I renegotiated and got close to double the amount of advertising for the same dollar.
And my other strategy was to really focus on the customer, knowing that business was going to be harder. So if the advertising didn’t work, I would have the best customer service of any home improvement company in this town. So between the advertising and the customer service, last year was the best year in the 11-year history of Champion of Colorado Springs.
Giving Back
RC: Where does the advertising part touch the customer service part?
MC: The customer service was part of a grass-roots effort to create a word-of-mouth image of Champion that would permeate the town. The other aspect of it was a campaign this year where we arranged to donate 100 pounds of food to Care and Share for every sale we got in June, July, and August. By the time we were done we had donated 65,000 pounds of food, which is more than all the churches in town combined. We also donated $18,000 in cash.
This makes me feel a lot better because I was worried about what business is going to be like after the tax credits expire. And we had our best months in June, July, and August. I attribute it to the fact that there are a lot of people out there still struggling, and so people thought: If I have to buy windows anyway, why don’t I do it with a company that gives back to people?
So our phone was ringing off the hook.
RC: What were your sales and how do they compare with earlier years?
MC: We did $4 million in 2005 and more than $6 million in 2009. This year we’re looking to be 40% over that. We are killing it.
