Training Home Builder to Win More Customers by Targeting the “Best” Customer
"We were struggling with our overall sales process. Our sales cycle was too long, and the operational and administrative requirements of running a boutique business were inhibiting our efforts for growth. Oliver taught us how to identify and target our highest value customers, dramatically reducing our sales cycle and increasing our revenues. Oliver helped us reinvent our operational processes which has made running the business easier and given us the time to focus on business development."
— ISABELLA BURT, DRT CUSTOM HOMES
The Problem
The client is an award-winning, best-in-class Custom Home Builder. Exceptionally detailed 5-star reviews on Houzz and Google speak in-depth to the exquisite service, quality and integrity of the business.
Like many clients, doing what they do best, is what they do best. So although they excelled at the art of Custom Home Building, the Sales, Operations and Marketing aspects of the business were not functioning efficiently. The main bottleneck was the company’s sales cycle. For a Custom Home Builder, they can spend upwards of 20-50 hours on a potential customer before a sale is made. And, if that potential customer doesn’t convert, it is a tremendously wasted exercise.
With services in high-demand, the client needed help with the burdensome operational requirements so that greater attention could be placed on the sales opportunities in front of them. Assistance was needed to better screen and accelerate potential customers through the sales cycle.
The areas needing improvement were outside the client’s core competencies, and they turned to Salient Map to address these challenges.
My Approach
The client required training in sales, operations and marketing.
Sales leads were pouring in. The client was “going deep” on each lead - meetings, drawings, budgets, quotes. I worked with the client to help them understand the following:
-
That not all potential customers are equal
-
Which traditional customers were of the highest value
-
What type of work was most profitable
-
Criteria (unique to their business) to best define their ideal customer, as well as identifying which potential customers would not lead to a sale (and hence, avoid)
-
Creating the “avatar” for their ideal customer and how to engage them
Operationally, we trained on efficiency, relevancy, tools and techniques designed to streamline the organization. Specifically, how to establish operations within the context of sales, and how to harvest business intelligence to grow the business. Included in this training were the revision and establishment of sales pipelines, P&L statements, cash flows and projections, as well as other measures to give the business fingertip control on all relevant operational measures quickly and effectively.
Marketing training was centered around building referral programs. Referrals are an area where many businesses struggle, and it can be a gold mine. Training emphasized the incredible value of recommendations and referrals and how to convert these best customers into business development engines.
Critical to my approach was teaching the client proficiency in these functions, giving them the skills and confidence to continue developing these core areas of the business beyond my engagement.
The Result
As a result of this project, the client achieved the following tangible benefits:
-
Increased both the sales pipeline and the quality of the leads
-
Reduced sales-cycle and closed more deals with higher-value customers
-
Saved over 100 hours previously spent on low quality leads
-
Gained clarity on operational and marketing activities, eliminating wasteful activities and leading to better, more impactful marketing and operational spends
-
Increased volume of quality recommendations and referrals, driving more sales opportunities into the pipeline
Other measures of success included:
-
Countless hours gained to focus efforts on business development
-
Taking the pain out of the operations and administration - relieving stress and anxiety
-
Higher quality customers that close quicker and are a pleasure to work with
-
Salary increases for team members due to business growth and operational efficiency
-
Accelerating the growth of the business
-
Fingertip control and knowledge of their cash, key numbers and metrics, resulting in better decisions for the business
Salient Map helped the client develop skills and confidence in areas outside their scope of expertise. With the business now growing quicker and running more efficiently, the client is able to spend more time on what they love most - building beautiful custom homes.