Category: <span>Automation</span>

Category: Automation

Improve your sales speed: 5 ways to sell more jobs with fewer site visits

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By Kate Foster, AccuLynx.

Software for aerial measurements, templates, automation. E-signatures and CRM produces more profits.

During the busy storm season, everyone in the field is looking for ways to improve their sales speed. Faster sales means you have time for more jobs, and having more jobs leads to more profits, and more profits benefit your company as a whole. However, increasing your sales speed can result in sloppy paperwork, lack of attention to critical details, and a lower quality experience for the homeowner – all of which can hurt your business reputation.

In an ideal environment, your sales staff would be able to make fewer site visits for a job, reduce the amount of time and resources spent on each project, and effectively speed up your sales.

But how do you sell more jobs while at the same time reducing the amount of site visits you take?

Use Aerial Measurements to Save Time During Estimation

One way you can improve your sales speed while making fewer job site visits is to use aerial measurements rather than manual ones.

By pre-ordering aerial measurement reports for areas with storm damage, your sales teams will already have access to accurate measurements that they can apply directly to their estimates, saving time up on the roof, and creating paperwork. CRM systems like AccuLynx work with trusted providers like EagleView and SkyMeasure to directly input data into your job file, so your teams come to their appointments prepared.

Accurate measurements helps sales teams avoid lost information or incorrectly entered data so your staff won’t have to make any trips back to the site to remeasure.

Use Templates to Save Time Filling Out the Details

Every roofing business has their own standard set of paperwork, and oftentimes that means your sales teams are working off of a template. Templates are a great way to make sure nothing is forgotten – but what if they skip a section in haste, or accidentally overwrite a previous document?

Using digital templates like the AccuLynx SmartDocs feature allows roofers to create custom, digital templates from the documents they use most on any project. Admins can set mandatory fields, like phone number or Insurance Company, so your field reps can’t submit the file without first filling out the important details.

Using templates means no information gets forgotten and no follow-up phone calls or excess trips to the field are needed.

Avoid Data Re-Entry with Automation

Using digital templates also means once you’ve entered the information once – you’re done! These templates also have the ability to be auto-populate. When you convert your estimate to a contract, you’re not wasting time filling out the same information over and over – they will automatically fill in the assigned data from your CRM for any job you use that template on. The ability to complete your projects faster means you can focus on the next sale.

eSign Your Legal Documents

Homeowners want to know they’re getting a good deal, so you can expect they’ll be getting several quotes for a job. You can take the stress off your sales teams schedules by implementing a legal eSignature component to your paperwork so once a decision is made, they don’t have to drive across town to get a simple scribble.

Sending your Estimate Packet to a customer via email is faster – customers know where to sign and initial, and once they’re done, it’s returned to your job file so your office team can start scheduling the material drop-off and crews.

And, if your sales staff is so great that the homeowner wants to sign on the spot? eSignatures signed on tablets or mobile devices are equally as effective and legally binding.

Have a Process in Place to Streamline Your Sales Pipeline

Having a sales process in place can also help you speed up your sales. A step by step system ensures your sales team knows exactly what to do after each milestone during a job, minimizing time spent figuring out what to do next and allowing them to work more efficiently.

A pre-set process also makes sure everyone is on the same page, facilitating communication and eliminating potential confusion. This allows your sales to proceed faster because everyone is clear on what needs to be done and you do not need to spend time clearing up miscommunications. CRMs can provide your company with a sales process through pipeline features, which guides a job through the various steps of a project from the time it is a lead to the time the job is closed and paid for.

There are many ways to cut out inefficiencies in your sales process without letting your quality and professionalism suffer. Finding the right balance for your company can help shave hours of redundancy off your sales team days, allowing them to visit more homes, make more sales and deliver more profit to your roofing business.

Note: This article was first published on AccuLynx’s blog and can be viewed here.

Wrapping down Projects Chicago Conference

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By Jim Lichtenwalte, BuiltWorlds

Much to the fanfare of coffee-lovers everywhere, Starbucks will open a massive, 45,000 square-foot roastery in downtown Chicago next year. Formerly Crate & Barrel, it will be the largest Starbucks location in the world, and feature a staggering assortment of coffee, teas, and food.

And right around the corner from where that store is currently under construction, BuiltWorlds hosted its Chicago Projects Conference last month. In Loyola University’s Corboy Law Center, looking out at some of downtown Chicago’s most impressive structures, attendees learned how new construction technologies are changing job sites around the world, and revolutionizing the industry into something smarter, safer, and more interconnected.

Three of Chicago’s most exciting projects–the massive new Starbucks on Michigan Avenue, the renovation of the old Chicago Post Office, and the construction the 774,000 square-foot office space at 110 North Carpenter in the West Loop–were used as case studies illustrating just how far technology is pushing the built industry. The seven panels spanning the day-long conference covered, in great detail, the technology solutions currently in play in the AEC industry that are changing the way we build.

The conference opened with a keynote address by Sean Conlon, the president and co-founder of Conlon & Co. and the host of CNBC’s “The Deed Chicago.” A successful real estate developer and entrepreneur, Conlon walked the audience through his beginnings in Ireland, his journey to Chicago, and the successes and failures he’s had along the way. Conlon encouraged attendees to be bold and push forward.

“Pioneers often get shot in the back with arrows, not pilgrims,” he said.

Many innovative and technologically-driven practices are being used on large scale projects right here in Chicago. When designing the 110 North Carpenter office building (which now houses McDonald’s new corporate headquarters), Gensler utilized analytics and imaging software to create nearly 70 iterations of how to use the building site optimally and create a public space, before deciding on the design that was eventually chosen. The building is also now home to cutting-edge smart building technology in its lobby. Using a combination of key cards, turnstiles, and a 12-car elevator group, KONE created a more intelligent way to funnel people from the building’s entrance and to their offices.

“We wanted to see what we could do to help people get to their destination,” said Dan Brooks, KONE’s director of corporate sales.

In just about every office in America, a building’s occupants swipe their key cards to be admitted to the elevator bank, and then wait for their elevator along with a mishmash of other people destined for a variety of floors. The system KONE installed has the occupants of 110 North Carpenter equipped with smart key cards with data about their floor number. When swiping at the building’s turnstiles, users are assigned to an elevator with a group of people going to nearby floors. Brooks compared this change like moving from a bus to a taxi.

Similarly, ManufactOn and Skender are also two companies utilizing technology to change the industry. In their presentation, Tim Swanson, Skender’s chief design officer, Kevin Bredeson, Skender’s chief technology officer, and Raghi Iyengar, ManufactOn’s founder and chief executive officer, announced a formal, continuing partnership. ManufactOn is a platform that helps companies plan, track, and manage prefabricated projects. Moving forward, Skender will be using ManufactOn software to create modular construction projects. The three men see modular projects as a smarter way to build cities that is safer and uses less resources.

“About half the world’s resources we pull out of the ground we for buildings, and half the energy we use goes into buildings,” Swanson said. “Maybe there is a different way to do it. Maybe there is an alternative future, one does that doesn’t necessarily have to look like ‘Ready Player One.’”

Other panels examined the way technology is making construction sites safer places to work. Aiden Dalley, the product marketing manager of Viewpoint, David de Yarza, the CEO of Builderbox, Inc., and Daniel J. Klancnik, the director of project solutions Leopardo, detailed how interconnected technologies are making job sites safer and safer with each passing day. Using 360 cameras, job sites can be scanned and examined by superintendents for any safety issues.

“You now have the ability to make everybody on the jobsite with a cellphone a safety inspector,” De Yarza noted.

John Cahalan, the director of strategy at XOi, and Mark Schlander, vice president at GuardHat, Inc., discuss how their companies’ wearable products track workers’ locations, enable easier communications, and alert workers of dangerous conditions.

“Everyday 14 workers don’t come home from work,” Schlander said. “We make the invisible visible.”

The conference was capped off by the announcement of BuiltWorlds’ Project Technology Challenge winner, which was chosen by an experienced group of judges. Bobby Goodman, the co-founder of Truss announced Colas’ solar panel roadway as the winner of the competition. The project will line the existing surface area of roads with thin solar panels to produce more sustainable energy.

Moving forward, there is a lot to be excited about in the construction industry. If leaders keep pushing forward and striving for innovation as Conlon encouraged in the keynote, the built industry will certainly continue to become a safer, smarter place and yield amazing results.

Note: This first appeared on BuiltWorld’s website and can be viewed here.

3 Ways to Improve Communication on Your Jobsite with Drones

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By Devon Tackles.

Keeping tabs on a construction project is no small task. Every job has many moving parts. From tracking progress to managing subcontractors, communicating across teams can be challenging — no matter the size of your organization. The good news is, by spending less than an hour each week mapping your jobsite with drones, you’ll gain an entire toolkit to help you and your team work more efficiently, make more informed decisions, and communicate with ease.

Drone maps and models not only provide an aerial view of your project, but each map includes a rich set of data that can be used to further measure and analyze just about anything on a site. Here are three ways you can improve communication on your jobsite with the use of drones and aerial maps.

  1. Project Monitoring and Site Inspection

DroneDeploy, an industry leader in drone mapping software, discovered that 60% of their customers make maps weekly. This regular, overhead view is invaluable when it comes to tracking progress and inspecting for safety issues on construction projects. “Drone maps give my team a bird’s eye view of the site, which looks a lot different than being on the ground,” explained Matthew Forster, Project Engineer for Choate Construction. “It gives them a full picture.”

Although nothing replaces boots on the ground, weekly drone maps can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend walking an entire site for the purposes of inspection and monitoring. For more advanced oversight, you can import and overlay site plans right in the DroneDeploy interface, or export your maps into industry software like BIM, GIS, and CAD. You can easily export your data in the format you need or use open APIs to sync your data with everyday tools.

Contract Project Manager Nick Johnson of Tilt Rock of Texas does this to help him manage large, custom home projects. Homeowners make frequent changes to house footprints, models, and orientation, so Johnson overlays drone maps with utility, wastewater, and communications plans to help him can catch conflicts with services before they actually happen and redirect them at minimal cost.

“Aerial imagery identifies conflicts I wouldn’t normally see from the ground level. Now, I find out about conflicts in a matter of days, instead of months.”- Nick Johnson, Project Manager, Tilt Rock of Texas

  1. Take Volume and Area Measurements, Estimate Stockpiles, and Monitor Earthwork

Every location on a drone map is geotagged, so you can take basic measurements almost instantly, from any device. For situations that require centimeter-level accuracy, ground control points (GCPs) can be added to a map. These marked targets help mapping software accurately position your map in relation to the real world and afford the accuracy needed to make precise volumetric and linear measurements.

“I can tell how many square feet of roof we’ve put down, how much square footage of concrete is left to pour,” Ryan Moret, Field Solutions Manager at McCarthy Building Companies, said. “If we’re trying to figure out truck access, we can measure the width of a road or gate or how much room we need to clear out for material to make the site clean and organized.”

  1. Share Insights, Align Teams, and Inform Stakeholders

Drones make collaboration and information sharing, both internally and externally, easier than ever before. Cloud-based platforms make it easy to share annotated maps between team members, or keep external stakeholders up-to-speed on the progress of a project.

In contractor meetings, having a clear display of any current site issues is a powerful communication tool. Likewise, having an up-to-date drone map helps distribute information efficiently, even among large teams. Streamline the decision-making process by referencing a drone map any time changes need to be made to a project.

McCarthy Building Companies uses drones in many high-tech ways, but at the end of the day, “paper is still the common denominator for jobsites,” says Moret. On every McCarthy site, the wall of the job trailer is covered with weekly drone maps posted in sequence, giving anyone who walks into the room a clear picture of the project’s progress over time, as well as a snapshot of any current issues on the site.

“The trades love it, being able to walk up to the wall and see nine weeks of construction photos,” Moret said. “They pull these up in every sub meeting, every owner meeting. We have data from that week to show contractors, ‘hey, the site’s a mess; you guys need to go clean it up.’ You can see rebar spread out all over the place, so there’s no arguing. They see it for what it’s worth.”

BuiltWorlds partnered with DroneDeploy to bring you this article. You can read the full version of this piece here.

7 Steps to Opportunity Automation in Roofing

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By Ken Kelly, Kelly Roofing.

CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is a software system designed to track potential customer interactions and help manage the sales process.  There are a number of players in the CRM space, but the two most robust offerings are Dynamics CRM and Salesforce.  The key to their success is the ability to automate and customize.  This article focuses on the opportunity.

Many companies call opportunities “leads.”   Opportunities are so much more.  Opportunities are a true request to provide a quote or potential quoting “opportunity.”  In the end, opportunities are either won or lost.  And, you can have multiple opportunities for each customer.  Now that we know what an opportunity is, let’s jump into the creating an automated opportunity process.

1 – Create the Opportunity. 

In most cases, a potential customer will simply call into your office, fill out a web form request or send an email request to have their roof looked at.  If a lead asks for an estimate they are now an opportunity.  Convert the lead to an opportunity and add in additional details about their specific need.  Details needed will include details about the leak or problem, contact details, who the decision maker is, budget, communication channel preference, type of roof, age of roof, time frame, presentation venue, advisors and material preferences.

2 – Set Estimate Appointment.

To truly automate the process there are online calendar systems that allow potential customers to request their own appointment time slot, much like making a restaurant reservation via OpenTable or similar app.  If your CRM program has an integrated resource calendar this is absolutely possible and quite easy to set up.  Set your CRM software to change the appointment duration based on the type of appointment.  Repairs may only take one hour while reroofs may take three.  Commercial projects could take the full day.  The system can use the job type to determine this.  The system can also automatically assign an estimator, sales coordinator and sales manager.

3 – Confirmation Automation.

Based on the potential customer’s preference, an automated confirmation should be generated from your CRM system shortly after the estimate appointment is created.  This communication is most often an email but could be a text or phone call.  I suggest including the detailed information you’ve collected from the potential client and ask them to review it for errors or omissions.   Many times, potential customers have told us what their objections are in a reply email to the confirmation.  Suggested items to list include names, phone numbers, email addresses, time of appointment, type of roof, budget, time frame to decision, decision makers, type of roof interested in, etc.  Also include information about your company to help give some background on what makes you unique.  As a final touch of professionalism, resend the confirmation 24 hours before the appointment and make it easy for the potential client to reschedule if needed.

4 – Estimate Automation.

Time is our most valuable resource.  Constantly spending it reinventing the same estimate wheel is a waste.  Have your CRM system do the heavy lifting for you.  For instance, if you use an aerial measurement service, have your CRM system request a report automatically via addressing.  The service can reply in kind using an importable file type that can then auto-generate estimates, prepopulate proposals and do most of the work without ever involving the sales team.

5 – After-Estimate Action.

Once the estimate is completed the system should be updated with the sales details.  Examples are percentage of probably win rate, likely decision time frame, adjusted budget amount, samples requested, next follow-up date, type of follow-up requested and anything you can think of that will help adjust the after-estimate actions.  Now that CRM has the information it needs, let the automation begin.  CRM can automatically order samples from distribution or manufacturers and have them sent directly to the client.  How about sending an after-estimate survey to see where the potential customer stands?  Send automated communications via snail mail, email, fax, text or phone call reminder to see if the customer has made a decision yet.

6 – Close Opportunity Lost.

Ever wonder what happened to that estimate you gave a while back?  Wouldn’t you like to know who won that big job?  Wouldn’t it be nice to look at a list of opportunities and only call on the ones that are still active?  This is where the Close Opportunity dialog comes in.  Close opportunities lost if they were truly lost, if the customer decided not to have the work done or if it wasn’t really an opportunity in the first place.  Have CRM send the opportunities an email with reply buttons in it.  If the job is lost, just have them simply click on “We’ve decided to not have the work done or have it done by someone else.”  This is a soft way for lost clients to let you know they went elsewhere.  Let the system do it automatically to avoid putting any more time into a lost cause.

7 – Close Opportunity Won.

The customer has just awarded you the job.  Now this is where automation really takes over.  Your CRM software can be programmed to pass over all the important opportunity, contact, account, roof and job-related details and automatically start preparing the project for production.  It’s time to automatically thank the customer and let them know what to expect.  Have CRM contact the customer with a special thank you message.  Include details on the specific job process, timeline of the project, what to expect, what they can do to prepare, what additional details are needed to keep things on schedule and so on.    And don’t forget to bask in the winner’s circle.  You deserve it.

Ken Kelly is president of Kelly Roofing in Naples, Fla. For more information, he can be reached via email at ken@kellyroofing.com.

 

Note: This article first published in Roofing Contractor magazine and the full version can be viewed here.