On the re-measure call, the salesperson re-confirms everything on the contract and associated forms with the homeowner. If a discrepancy arises between what the homeowner wants and the job as written, the job goes back to the salesman for re-pricing, Rennekamp says, which can result in added work. The ultimate purpose is to confirm each detail of the job “so that when we get out there we have the right materials, the right products, and the right amount of time allocated to it,” he says.
JOB-FLOW CHECKLIST Information collected at the beginning of a job and data that will be collected at later stages should travel with the job through the entire production process, contractors say. Many use a “job-flow checklist” to assure that it does.
The Jancewicz & Son job-flow checklist, for example, is a single sheet that lists 50 items in chronological order, grouped by the individual responsible for those items: estimator, sales administrator, production manager, accounting administrator, and office manager. Each item has two check boxes: “Done” and “Not Applicable,” as well as space for the date and the person’s initials. The checklist provides a running record of who did what, when.
Fick Bros. Roofing Co., in Baltimore, uses a three-page job-flow checklist along with a 32-question contract review checklist, says vice president Jeffrey Fick. The job-flow checklist captures every step from sale through job completion and includes specific details, such as: “If paint is included in the job, has the customer initialed the brand, sheen, and specific color?”
“When a salesman sells a job, he prints out the job-flow checklist, attaches it to the contract paperwork, and passes it to the sales administrator,” Fick says. “He uses the contract review checklist to make sure that we and the customer are on the same page. Our contracts are not executed until they go through that process.”
These detailed documents evolved over time and continue to evolve, he adds. “If we have the same problem two or three times, it goes on the checklist. Either it’s something we’re forgetting to talk about [with clients] or it’s some new thing that is concerning people.”
A critical aspect of this stage is what Scott Lemons, vice president of member services for Certified Contractors Network (CCN), calls “firewall” reviews. CCN trains contractors to use three reviews: an administrative review to assure that the salesperson has compiled all the information he’s responsible for; a sales review of job pricing; and a production review with all the detail needed to build the project.
It’s important to conduct these reviews within a few days of the sale to identify and address any problems while they’re still minor, Lemons says. In the CCN system, one day is allocated for each fire-wall review. “Inside of four days you’ll know whether or not you have any major problems with the project,” he says. “If you have to go back to the customer, you can still go back and clean it up. If you show the customer how a mistake was made and how it will be corrected, 90% of the time it works out.”
Generally, after these reviews, production takes responsibility for the job and customer communication. At this point, some contractors want the salesperson to get out of the job completely; others expect the salesperson to maintain contact with the customer.
“Once you process the paperwork, production is responsible for making the customer happy,” Lemons says, “and they send a letter to the customer saying who to contact with questions. We want the salesperson focused on making another sale, not on a job he sold a month ago.” This also serves to empower the “guy in the field” to deal with issues that arise without pulling the salesperson or owner back into the process, Lemons says.