See Me, Feel Me Advertising promises, systems deliver. Every company, Schepps points out, has a look, taste, and feel to the consumer, and all those things — its actions as well as its advertising — make up the brand. Uniformity, consistency, repetition; each help make a brand strategy work. “We believe in reinforcing the equity and comfort that a brand brings to the market,” Schepps says, by not just continuously reinvesting dollars in it but also by looking for ways to extend the brand. “It’s the idea that you’re a permanent part of the community. You have to drive that home, whether it’s with the uniforms the staff are wearing or whatever free gifts you’re giving away — it has to be branded.”
Branding, of course, happens whether you want it to or not, because branding extends beyond advertising, logos, trademarks, stationery, and uniforms into the realm of performance. Every customer interaction contributes to the brand. And that’s the tricky part: How to devise systems that make every point of contact with the customer — from a first phone call, through appointment setting, through demo, and on into installation — a positive experience?
“To run a successful company,” Schepps says, “you have to be service-minded.” Service-minded, at HomeWorks, means total customer satisfaction. And it’s not just HomeWorks that will test and measure that satisfaction. RBA surveys — independently of its affiliated dealers — every customer who buys its windows, and has even parted ways with dealers that score low customer ratings. “At the end of the day,” says RBA president Craig Evanich, “if you have people saying good things about your business, that’s the strongest competitive advantage you can have.”
In RBA customer satisfaction surveys, HomeWorks consistently posts high marks. But in addition to these, the company does its own satisfaction surveys, and division managers know they’re expected to assuage the occasional unhappy customer. “Our goal,” Schepps says, “is to get a happy letter from someone who was terribly unhappy on the phone.”
As an additional step, two years ago the company joined a service offered by American Ratings Corp., San Rafael, Calif.. The service researches the business credentials of member companies (licenses, insurance, etc.) and also surveys their customers at random, listing as “Diamond-Certified” those companies that meet its standards. It’s all about ensuring that that one tiny source of irritation between the company and the customer never becomes an issue.
“How many times,” Jenkins says, “do you go in, as a consumer, with an idea of what kind of company you’re going to be dealing with, and you end up thinking: ‘What a disappointment!’?” HomeWorks’ goal, he says, is to exceed customer expectations by turning “every touch into a positive.” The company’s systems are designed to eliminate potential disconnects that could interfere with closing the sale or asking for a referral. “If there’s a disconnect anywhere along the line, you, the customer, lose confidence in the company,” Jenkins says.
Long-Term Relationships HomeWorks gets leads, good leads, because people know the company’s name and may even have some idea of what it stands for. A strong warranty and the availability of financing help the sell. But it takes well-trained salespeople following a system, to translate all that to revenue. “If you’re going to stay ahead of the pack, you have to get better at hiring and training consultants,” Schepps says.
When HomeWorks hires a new salesperson, it aims for retention, for someone who will be successful and who will want to stay. So it isn’t just the sales manager who interviews candidates, but the top executives as well. And no one gets hired without prior sales experience. Many home improvement companies seek candidates with in-home selling experience. HomeWorks prefers the salesperson who has sold business-to-business, because that type of selling is based on long-term relationships and it will take long-term relationships and “touching base” to generate referrals.
“We’re looking for a candidate with a solid understanding of the sales process and a commitment to providing a high level of customer service,” Schepps says. “Closers know how to get the ink on the paper, but not how to be part of the process and the client experience. This is a high-ticket item, not a sweater.” Newly hired consultants spend six weeks training: three weeks in the classroom and in the field, and three weeks after that running leads under supervision.
$100 Million in Five Years HomeWorks’ long-term plan, as of now, is to double in size during the next five years. Can the company pull it off? With an 18% annual growth in sales for the last five years, it certainly seems within the realm of possibility. Of course the bigger questions is: Can HomeWorks get that big without losing its soul? “If you create enough business,” Jenkins says, “you have to be ready to take that business on.” HomeWorks will do that, he says, by creating the positions and by having the people in place, rather than by simply reacting to growth.
To enable HomeWorks to advance toward its goal, the company last year brought its advertising in-house, making it part of the marketing department. This move, Jenkins says, will give the company total control over its creative and will enable HomeWorks to adapt more readily to market conditions and opportunities. Schepps says that a major goal now is to revamp the company Web site to take advantage of applications that weren’t available five years ago. The site, he believes, will be a big brand builder. “We hope to build an incredible site in the near future,” he says. “Customers don’t make decisions with minimal information. They see your ad, they want more information, they go to your Web site.” The site will be important enough that HomeWorks will hire someone specifically to manage it.
“You can’t take your finger off the marketing pulse,” Schepps says. But he figures that if HomeWorks can continue to maintain a service-minded culture, it will thrive and will meet its goal. “The Nordstrom family figured that out,” he says. “Their hallmark wasn’t the shoes, it was the way they handled the clients.”
What It Takes
In seeking our Contractor of the Year, REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR asked well-known industry consultants Dave Yoho, Phil Rea, Richard Kaller, and Rick Grosso — as well as individual contractors and others with extensive industry contacts and experience — to nominate companies based on the following criteria:
Growth: An overall growth in sales of at least 15% annually for the last five years.
Profitability: Net profitability of 5% or more.
Repeat/referral: At least 25% of the company’s business is derived from customer recommendations, i.e., referrals or from previous customer business.
Longevity: The company has been operating for at least five years and looks as if it will be in business for a lot longer.
Innovative marketing: The company has demonstrated imaginative ways to capture the attention of homeowners, and/or is at the forefront in developing new methods of lead generation.
Ethics and customer satisfaction: The company is committed to principled behavior in both its sales and installation practices and maintains a spotless reputation for ethical conduct in its market. In addition, the company strives to ensure total customer satisfaction with its sales and installation process as well as in the finished job.
The four finalist companies were fast-growing operations with innovative marketing and a strong commitment to ethics. They shared a commitment to measurable customer satisfaction. Next January, REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR will begin seeking nominations for the 2007 Contractor of the Year.
