“The perception of the brand is that we care about your family and that you trust us,” Elias says. Once a week he calls customers at random to discuss their experience. In one of those conversations someone told him that Hansons called maybe too much. Elias was delighted.
Marketers in the home improvement business often see lead generation and branding as either/or. With x number of leads to feed the salesforce this week, who would expend precious marketing dollars on making people feel good about a name?
“Mom and Pop [shops] come and go,” Elias explains. “Brands stick around for a long time.” And since it’s not like homeowners buy windows, siding, or a new roof every day, the only way they can know Hansons is if the company defines itself via branding. The key is follow-through. All that TV and social media may get somebody to pick up the phone, but if they don’t call, or if not enough people call, then there’s the canvasser’s knock at the door.
Hansons subscribes to the philosophy Yoho calls “Make Marketing,” which doesn’t wait until the customer is ready to buy but seeks out prospects while the thought of new windows or siding is still germinating. “You find them before they make their decision,” Yoho explains. “You keep sending them stuff. And you stay in touch. You use a medium the consumer understands, and you provide them with the information that interests them.”
Increasingly the Hansons brand builds on the theme of service. It assures customers that they’ll be in the hands of friendly, qualified professionals who will take the stress out of an experience that is often perceived as hellish. “Happy customers will make your company grow and succeed,” Elias says.
There’s no great secret when it comes to making customers happy: constant contact. A Hansons customer will be contacted a dozen times by the time the job is installed and paid for. Someone emails to confirm the appointment, to inquire about the experience after the appointment, to thank customers for the purchase, or (if no buying decision is made) to ask them to consider Hansons in the future. A personalized thank-you packet arrives containing a refrigerator magnet with phone extensions to all relevant departments. The company calls three times the day the job is installed, then follows up with a post-installation satisfaction call, mailings, and a survey.
In a market filled with unemployed industrial workers eager to do home improvement jobs, and various companies selling vinyl windows for less, customer service is one part of the contracting equation where a well-run, well-organized company can distinguish itself. If customers aren’t satisfied, the company comes back. If they’re still unsatisfied, Hansons returns their money. Elias’ cell phone number is included on company business cards. “Ten thousand people have my cell phone number,” he says.
IMPROVE WHAT YOU REMOVE In business, no one needs to be an original genius. All you need to do is recognize the ideas of others that are useful, then execute and improve on them.
Elias — an unapologetic borrower of best practices — spends hours every day scanning the Internet for ideas. Some come from home improvement companies, but not all. From Thompson Creek Windows, in Maryland, for instance, came the idea of immediately calling back canceled or not-at-home appointments. From L.L.Bean came the job guarantee. Empire Carpet prompted the jingle concept. If it works, it works. “I found myself singing Empire Carpet’s jingle while I was driving down the road,” Elias says. “I thought: I have to get my customers doing that.”
NOW EXECUTE New ideas are useful only to the extent that you can make them part of what your company actually does. And it’s not just in marketing that Hansons has done that. The focus group encounter prompted reconsideration not just of how the customer sees Hansons but of how systems can be used at every level to ensure a positive perception and to eliminate the disputes that can turn a job sour.
