GuildQuality

Since 1995, The Hands of Sean Perry Co. has provided quality remodels, renovations and building additions to homes in historic areas throughout North Asheville. The company has been a member of GuildQuality since 2009 and earned back-to-back acclaim in 2010 and 2011 as Guildmaster Award recipients.

“When prospective clients see we are affiliated with GuildQuality, it elevates our company’s level of integrity, and adds a cushion of credibility to our name,” said Sean Perry, Owner of The Hands of Sean Perry Co. “We recently received a $285,000 project from a customer who mentioned a contributing reason for hiring our company was because we are Guildmembers.”

Because of that ROI, Sean Perry sees the value in marketing his GuildQuality membership. The Hands of Sean Perry Co. proudly displays their Guildmember logo on the homepage of their website, includes their Customer Feedback Summary in all new client packet printouts, and streams customer comments and reviews onto their Facebook and Twitter pages.

Sean also views his GuildQuality membership as a “leg-up” within business roundtable groups. The Hands of Sean Perry Co. has been a long-time member of a Remodeler’s Advantage Roundtable, a partner of GuildQuality. His group includes 22 of the nation’s most influential company owners.

“Our group meets twice a year for a brief series of in-depth strategic conferences,” said Sean. “Throughout the series GuildQuality is a frequent topic of conversation. It’s a terrific opportunity for those of us with a GuildQuality membership to discuss our Customer Feedback Summary scores and share best practices.”

Sean views his relationship with GuildQuality as a “very positive experience.” He embraces each survey response, review and comment as a tool for growth.

“The feedback we receive grants our team an opportunity to know what our clients are thinking, ask questions and solve problems efficiently.”

For more information on The Hands of Sean Perry Co., visit their GuildQuality Member Profile.

Roy Anderson, President of Soft-Lite L.L.C., knows the power of a strong reputation. His vinyl replacement window and door manufacturing company, headquartered in Ohio, has a total of 400 dealers nationwide. The company is a five-time winner of the Window and Door Crystal Achievement Award and is also a recipient of the Friedman Corporation Customer Appreciation Award, the Window & Door Top 100 Manufacturers, and the Door and Window “Companies to Watch”. Roy has been recommending GuildQuality to his window dealers’ non-stop for the past two years.

“GuildQuality is simply a fantastic marketing tool that offers a way for Soft-Lite dealers to improve their service and grow sales,” Roy said. “If you’re doing something well, why not tell the world?”

Soft-Lite boasts a recommendation rate of 91% and a Construction Quality Score of 93%. Their dealers in 2011 using GuildQuality include Guida Door and Window, Keystone Windows of Pennsylvania, Kingsford Siding Windows & Patio Rooms, Larmco Windows and Siding, Unique Home Solutions, WeatherTite Windows and Window Nation.

Roy and the Soft-Lite executive team value GuildQuality’s real-time, web-based customer feedback, citing GuildQuality’s Scorecard as an impressive tool for dealers to measure their strengths and weaknesses.

“The immediate feedback helps me identify and quickly resolve any concerns. If something is wrong I can quickly alert my dealers and their installers. Homeowners will not often say  that they’re unhappy with the worker standing right there, and that’s why GuildQuality’s customer satisfaction surveying is so important,” Roy said. “We are able to see honest viewpoints through GuildQuality’s third party service and immediately make improvements. Our customers are quite surprised that we proactively review all of our GuildQuality surveys, and, when they hear from us regarding a critical comment, it reassures them that we care about their experience with us.”

Soft-Lite rewards their teams for consistently going above and beyond and providing outstanding customer service.

“We love to recognize and reward good employee performance,” Roy said. “Our dealers are goal-oriented and very driven to maintain high customer feedback percentages and positive reviews.”

For more on Soft-Lite visit their GuildQuality Member Profile.

At Harth Builders, company culture is focused on what they declare as the “three C’s of remodeling,” (at least phonetically): communication, quality and cleanliness. The company has found that if they do these three things really well, they win clients for life. With over 90% of Harth’s clients likely to recommend the company, and over 70% of their work stemming from repeat clients, I’d say they have the “three C’s of remodeling” down to a science.

“GuildQuality’s Scorecard tool has proven to be especially valuable to our company,” said Greg Harth CR, CAPS, President of Harth Builders. “I’m able to customize reports and track each project manager and lead carpenter’s performance. We’ve even structured an incentive plan based on the percentage of each customer’s survey responses.”

GuildQuality’s customer survey feedback acts as a source of motivation for Harth employees, encouraging them to strive for achieving quality work with every project.

“All of our employees aim to be on time, on budget and produce a happy home owner. GuildQuality’s Scorecard provides our clients with a very conscientious staff working on their projects,” Greg said.

Harth Builders has exceeded the national average in customer satisfaction, and was even named Guildmaster for five consecutive years.

The company’s affiliation with GuildQuality is present throughout their website and they post all of their client comments directly to their company Facebook page.

“We take pride in our GuildQuality reviews and customer feedback summary, they give us a wonderful advantage when marketing to new prospects. Our sales team recently introduced iPads into their client meetings; they use them to show prospective customers our company’s GuildQuality Member Profile.”

In addition to their relationship with GuildQuality, the Harth Builders team is a Wellborn Authorized Contractor, a proud member of Remodeler’s Advantage and a Certified Remodeler and Certified Kitchen and Bath Remodeler member of NARI.

For more information on Harth Builders, visit their GuildQuality Member Profile.

“What you think your clients are thinking is not the case,” Todd Jackson, CEO of award winning San Diego design build remodeling firm Jackson Design and Remodeling, explained to me. “GuildQuality allows our clients to give us a thorough, honest evaluation of work. The feedback gathered helps us to ensure we are consistently meeting the expectations of our clients by hearing the truth.”

Jackson Design and Remodeling has served the San Diego area since 1989 with multiple award-winning design build remodeling projects for over 2,000 satisfied clients. GuildQuality members since 2006, the company consistently achieves a 96% likely to recommend rate. It is these high satisfaction rates that have earned Jackson Design Remodeling a Guildmaster with Highest Distinction award in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Jackson Design and Remodeling is a three-time recipient of the BBB’s prestigious Torch Award, and Todd Jackson has also been a finalist for the Fred Case Remodeling Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

“We leverage our affiliation with GuildQuality by emphasizing the importance of customer service to us in our sales calls, website, social media and other marketing collateral. We value our commitment to delivering exceptional customer service and GuildQuality empowers us to convey that,” Todd said. “Jackson Design and Remodeling recently was honored with our third Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics. The award highlights companies that have demonstrated a commitment to ethical business practices, both in operations and in terms of being ethical, reliable and responsive to employees, vendors and customers. A considerable qualifier for the award is whether or not your company has a  high client satisfaction rate determined by GuildQuality, which just shows you how highly regarded quality truly is.”

Jackson Design and Remodeling makes their association with GuildQuality known through the numerous references and links directing prospective clients to their GQ Member Profile Page. Through the company’s use of GuildQuality they have witnessed the treasure of word of mouth marketing and have even decided to pay it forward with their very own Remodeler Locator page.

On the company’s Remodeler Locator page, a map displays companies who are members of GuildQuality and/or Remodelers Advantage. The page encourages clients to utilize the locator as one of the tools in the interview and selection process for a remodeler.

For more on Jackson Design and Remodeling visit their GuildQuality Member Profile Page.

Since 2011 Guildmember, M/R Plumbing Mart has relied on GuildQuality’s customer satisfaction surveying to help their team deliver an exceptional customer experience.

Recognized as a Wellborn Authorized Contractor and a member of the Kohler Leading Edge Program, M/R Plumbing Mart is trusted in the Chicago area because of their continued professional service and quality of work. I recently spoke with Kevin Smith, M/R Plumbing Mart owner, about what GuildQuality has meant to his company and how our service plays a part in acquiring his client’s trust.

“Our customers love the third party objectivity GuildQuality offers,” Kevin said. “The reviews especially provide an additional comfort level to our consumer.”

Kevin takes full advantage of the Recent Reviews & Published Comments application displayed on his company’s Member Profile to distinguish his company’s excellence.

“We love to share what our clients say about us and our work, utilizing GuildQuality’s social media integration makes it easy for us to stream all of our comments to both Twitter and Facebook,” Kevin said.

“GuildQuality’s partnership with Kudzu even earned our company business. A client from New York saw a GuildQuality comment streamed to our company Kudzu page and booked us,” Kevin said. “She was looking to install a new kitchen counter with a new sink and faucet, along with two new sillcocks for outside and  have some minor electrical repairs completed for her mother’s home. Her concern was that she was  flying in for one week and wanted to make sure that all the work was finished within that time period as she was to fly home. Based on our reviews, she felt confident we were the best contractor for her mother’s home projects.”

Kevin learned about GuildQuality as a member of the Kohler Leading Edge Program. GuildQuality is the preferred provider of customer satisfaction surveying for members of Kohler’s Leading Edge Program. As part of their Leading Edge benefits, contractors receive 40 complimentary customer satisfaction surveys.

“Our experience with GuildQuality has been a great one so far,” Kevin said. “Their service has been a big part of one of M/R Plumbing Mart’s better years.”

Terry Stamman, Co-Owner of Twin Cities Siding Professionals, recently shared with me his reasoning behind his company’s use of GuildQuality.

Terry and the rest of the Twin Cities Siding Professionals team analyze all customer feedback stemming from GuildQuality’s surveys.

“Reviewing our customer’s feedback affords our team the opportunity to see what we’re doing right and what we may be doing wrong,” Terry said. “GuildQuality gives us the chance to ferret out any unhappiness a customer may have, turn it around and make it right.”

GuildQuality has become a significant component of Twin Cities Siding Professionals company marketing strategy, they actively promote GuildQuality scores and membership in sales presentations.

“I compare GuildQuality to J.D. Power and Associates,” Terry said. “In every sales presentation I spend at least five minutes talking with our prospects about our affiliation with GuildQuality and the James Hardie Preferred Remodeler program, consistently referencing our Customer Feedback Summary and our Recent Reviews & Published Comments. Our customers appreciate that GuildQuality provides unbiased information about our company.”

Social media is another channel Twin Cities Siding Professionals utilizes in marketing their dedication to quality.

“We integrated GuildQuality with our company Facebook and Twitter, so we publish any comment we receive straight to our social media channels,” Terry said.

During our conversation Terry cited many conclusions as to why Twin Cities Siding Professionals has been a Guildmember since 2009, the main one that caught my eye, “GuildQuality validates and verifies to our customers who we are as a company.”

For more on GuildQuality’s services contact sales@guildquality.com.

Between developing I’On, a 244 acre community in Mount Pleasant, SC, and a handful of other great neighborhoods, my brother Vince has racked up a good bit of experience in communicating vision. It’s one thing to come up with a plan, and it’s quite another to rally people around it.

As my father, brother, and I approach the end of our official role as I’On’s real estate developer, we’ve been ruminating over what to do with the remaining five undeveloped acres in the neighborhood. In the video below, Vince does an excellent job reaffirming our vision for the neighborhood and presenting a plan for the final phase of I’On: a proposed Garden District.

The audience for this video is the people that live in I’On and surrounding Mt. Pleasant, but I think any developer (or business leader) can take some inspiration from the way he presents the creative process of real estate development as something that’s relevant, compelling, and thought-provoking to the people that should care about it.

Professional Remodeler’s cover story this month focuses on three great remodelers and how they use GuildQuality’s customer satisfaction surveying to deliver consistently exceptional customer experiences.

Some excerpts from the article:

From David Roberts, Roberts Construction Group (Evanston, IL):

While the vast majority of feedback is positive, any criticism is simply a chance for improvement, Roberts says. “Instead of me as a business owner telling some carpenter or manager [what went wrong]… it has a lot more clarity and weight coming from the person who’s house they were just working at. That employee will hear it loud and clear. That’s a great way to modify the behavior of an employee.”

From Linda Minde, Tri-Lite Builders (Chandler, AZ):

Most clients are surprised when they get to see a report of survey results, especially from a third party like GuildQuality, Minde says. “They don’t see it a lot. It gives validity, because they know that I’m not going to be changing things or embellishing things.”

Jonas Carnemark, Carnemark (Bethesda, MD):

Third-party ratings and comments are becoming increasingly important, especially to younger clients. They’re used to reading reviews before making any decision, whether it’s a restaurant rating on Yelp or reviews of a book on Amazon, Carnemark says. The ratings from GuildQuality simply provide another tool for the company’s marketing efforts, and a way to let clients know Carnemark has a good track record. “It adds that touch of security that other people have vouched for this company,” he says.

Update: In addition to sharing space in this article, I was just reminded that these exceptional companies share another common trait: all are members of Remodelers Advantage University.

Heather sent me this interesting comparison of Facebook versus Twitter, courtesy of Atlantic Monthly (I wish they’d add LinkedIn, as well). A few things that stood out to me:

1) A slightly higher percentage of Twitter users are older than 25.

2) A higher percentage of Twitter users earn over $50,000.

3) Twitter users update their “status” far more frequently, but log in to their account far less frequently.

4) Far more people use Facebook.

5) Twitter users are more selective about the brands they follow, but also more likely to buy from them.

My personal observation is that Facebook connects me to people and Twitter connects me to information and ideas. Twitter users (at least the good folks that I follow) don’t really do “status updates.” Instead, they share interesting and relevant observations or articles that make my life better.

Check out GuildQuality on Twitter or “Like” this post on Facebook via the little doohicky at the top of this blog post.

We were reminded this morning of the value of surveying during the course of projects, not just at completion.  Bob Fleming of Classic Remodeling completed a survey about GuildQuality’s performance and commented:

“The interim surveys are the greatest tool because clients will let you know what you need to do before it’s too late. It’s often as easy as finding that a dust barrier wasn’t properly installed, or they would prefer email updates every Monday morning. Once they see that you respond to their concerns, the stress just disappears and they become loyal clients for life.”

The key phrase here is “before it’s too late.”  Checking in during the project enables you to correct mistakes, adjust communications, and adapt to the client’s style.  You may think you know, but your clients will always share the truth with a third party.

If you’d like more information about our Mid-Way Through completion survey, please contact us at support@guildquality.com.

For the last half-dozen years, we’ve used an email marketing software for all of our mass emailing. While the GuildQuality application handles our email surveying and system notifications, an Australian company called CampaignMonitor helps us with all the other stuff.

If we’re sending a notification to all of our members about how to use a new feature, CampaignMonitor powers it. If we’re notifying all of our Dallas prospects that we’ll be in town in a few weeks, CampaignMonitor powers that message. And this morning, CampaignMonitor sent out our latest member newsletter.

Here is the dashboard report for the newsletter’s first hour out in the wild.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Pretty much any email marketing software will do a few of basic things for you:

1) Enable you to send good looking emails to lots of people;

2) Manage your recipient list, allow people to subscribe, allow people to unsubscribe, and keep you from sending emails to folks who’ve unsubscribed; and

3) Track who opens the email, who clicks on links, and on which links people click.

A good email marketing software will do all this with style. CampaignMonitor’s reporting is exceptional. We’re contemplating a big overhaul of GuildQuality’s own customer satisfaction performance reporting for our builders, remodelers, and developers, and CampaignMonitor is one of the web applications we look to for inspiration.

Here are a couple more screen shots to give you an idea of the thought and polish that goes into their reporting, and the value one can get from a great looking report: (more…)

Leah Thayer answers that question in her most recent blog post about selling your byproducts. You have stuff left over after every job that you do. And I don’t mean just materials — you have (at the very least) information, experience, and relationships. What are you doing with that great stuff? Some of it, you might give away to build goodwill, provide better service at no additional cost, or attract new customers. Some of it you might sell.

Years ago, we realized we had all kinds of cool stuff left over after we surveyed customers: Their feedback! So we began repurposing customer comments for our members. This benefits them from a marketing perspective and it benefits us because our members love it.

Aside from the initial effort associated with building the infrastructure to make it happen, there’s relatively little cost to us in helping our members broadcast that feedback. We have the information and we’re using it to increase the value of our service. We were just leaving it around the shop floor. Now we’ve repackaged it and are giving it away as part of our regular service.

I’m a partner in a real estate development business called The I’On Company. We’ve been pretty successful in the development of a 244 acre neighborhood in Mount Pleasant, SC. As we sell our last lots, we’re asking ourselves, “What should we do with all this experience?” We’re not interested in starting another new community right now. But there are plenty of folks who are interested in learning how we did what we did. What if we host a workshop? What if we open our doors and books to people, share with them our vision for the community, development plan, strategy, marketing materials, best home plans, talented consultants, successes, failures, missed opportunities, and experience gleaned from 15 years of development? In addition to experience, we also have a mailing list of hundreds of industry professionals from all over the world — real estate folks we’ve met over the years who’ve shown an interest in how we built the neighborhood.

Our real estate development experience and connections are byproducts that, right now, are just laying around the shop floor. What could you be selling that’s laying around your shop floor. Think about it. Here’s some inspiration from some of the folks who got my wheels turning.

We recently heard some feedback from FBN Construction on the value of surveying multiple times during the client relationship.   Here are some excerpts:

Improving the Client’s Experience

“By surveying multiple times (at contract, mid-way through and shorty after completion), we have become more aware of our behavior and have the opportunity to improve in order to enhance the client’s experience.  There is great value in being able to see consistent areas that need to be improved and to focus on changes that make our clients ‘raving fans’.”

Better Communication

“As a result of several mid-way through surveys, it has been brought to our attention that several of our clients did not have a full understanding of our budget process.  With this information, we have developed and implemented new processes to help client’s understand the budgeting process better.”

“The surveys have shown our clients that we are dedicated, committed and interested in improving their experience with our company.”

GuildQuality Surveys

GuildQuality provides surveying at all points of the client relationship: sales prospects, at contract, mid-way through completion, shortly after completion, and long after completion.  Contact support@guildquality if you’d like to learn more.

We’d like to hear other member’s feedback.  Please comment below.

Check out the interview with Steve Kendrick of Structures Building Company (and other custom builders) in “As You Like It”, an article by Jenny Sullivan in the February issue of Builder Magazine. From the interview:

“We can’t build spec homes anymore because the banks just aren’t financing them,� says Kendrick, whose boutique outfit builds approximately 10 homes per year. “And while a lot of builders in the area have gone out of business, their superintendents have gone on to start their own companies, so the number of custom builders on the market hasn’t actually gone down. We just have new competitors now whose overhead is limited to a truck and home office, no workers’ comp or experience running a business, under-pricing homes. Instead of complaining about it, we’re looking for a new niche that, with luck, will allow us to stop doing bid work.�

With this goal in mind, Kendrick is on the cusp of launching HouseSimple, a build-on-your-lot program offering a library of luxury plans with preselected, pre-priced base packages, as well as upgrade options for lighting, fixtures, hardware, appliances, and exterior paint selections.

“A lot of people get scared off by the custom building process because the design meetings and selections are so time-consuming,� Kendrick observes. “The idea behind HouseSimple is to give buyers a blueprint as a starting point. From there, they can keep it simple with the finishes and schemes we’ve preselected, or they can fully customize. Or they can customize just one part of it, such as the lighting package. The overall idea is to simplify the process and make it less overwhelming for those who want something that looks and feels custom, but don’t have the time to pick every little detail.�

The entire interview includes strategies from a handful of other custom home builders, all of whom are successfully tackling the challenge of how to make the custom homebuilding process easier for the prospective client. Learn more about Charleston-area Structures Building Company’s HouseSimple program at their website.