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Our Referral Program: Build the Guild

May 07 2008 by Geoff Graham in Miscellaneous

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Among my favorite things about our business is that the more we grow, the better our service becomes for each and every one of our members. Every member we add and every customer we survey increases the richness of the information available to our members. More information equals better trend reporting and benchmarking for everyone. With that in mind, a couple years ago we introduced a referral program: Build the Guild.

We have enjoyed a great surge in membership referrals as of late — mostly from NAHB 20 Club members and Remodelers Advantage Roundtables, but also from plenty of members referring one of their local peers or competitors. Thanks to all those that have encouraged others to reach out to us. Referrals are by far our number one source of new members.

Despite the volume of referrals, most of our referring members are surprised to receive a credit. That makes me think our members don’t know about Build the Guild. So, in an effort to raise awareness, here are the details:

1) Let us know about it. Before a prospective member joins, either the prospective member needs to let us know they’ve been referred by a specific member or the referring member needs to let us know they are referring someone.

2) Both the referring member and the new member receive a credit. Once we receive our first payment from the new member, both the referring member and the new member will receive a credit equal to the new members’ monthly membership fee.

3) Awards credits last one year. Credits expire one year from their date of issue.

4) Some caveats. Occasionally multiple members will refer the same new member. When this happens, we split the referring member credit among multiple companies. Also, from time to time we learn about a better way to do things, so please know that these terms may change at any time.

We’re honored to have your support. Thanks very much!

Dispatch from the Green Remodeling Conference

May 05 2008 by Geoff Graham in Event announcements, Member news, Miscellaneous

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The subject of this year’s Remodeling Leadership Conference is “Green: The Color of Money.” Today has been a series of back to back seminars on what it means to be green, why it’s important, and how to sell it.

Here are a few sound bites:

Corinne Asturias of Iconoculture, presented a compelling argument for Green Remodeling as a mainstream and enduring consumer preference. Among the supporting evidence she cited: The fifteen month waiting list for the $125,000 Tesla Roadster, an all electric car with a 200+ mile range.

She quoted an increasingly accepted definition of Sustainable Development: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” and noted how compelling that concept was to virtually every prospective home buyer or remodeling customer. 84% of Americans, she went on to say, believe that it is important for us to lessen our impact on the environment. Those 84% span the spectrum from uber-greenies who desire to be carbon neutral to grandparents who want to save money on utilities to new parents that are interested in a healthy home for their babies.

Mark Richards of Practica Consulting cautioned remodelers to avoid “greenwashing” their company images. Consumers are smart enough to discern when a company is committed and when a company is providing lipservice. He talked about the importance of training, and the need to get your entire team on board. Mark quoted a committed green builder in Oklahoma, Vern McKown of Ideal Homes, as saying, “If you are not prepared to fire half of your salespeople, don’t get into green building.” He also talked about the necessity of positioning green in way that resonates with buyers: i.e. use phrases like “high performance” rather than “efficient.”

Carl Seville, a green building consultant and one of the folks who helped to launch EarthCraft Remodeling, gave a presentation about the critical components of being green. First and foremost: high performance. Materials and power sources are secondary. Before we start building solar panels and wind turbines, we need to start practicing advanced framing techniques and better insulation practices. Carl also provided my favorite anecdote of the event so far.

Terry Brennan gave a talk about some construction dos and don’ts. He had a great way of introducing every point: On flashing, he suggested, “Don’t tuck your rainjacket into your rainpants.” On resource efficiency, he observed, “We can either reduce the amount of materials and resources we use, or we can reduce the amount of people on the planet.” On healthy home environments, he advised, “Start with the health and safety stuff, cause its bad to kill your customers.”

The conference concluded with an inspiring talk from Val Jones of Green For All. At the heart of his talk was his commitment to raising up the entire United States economy through green building practices, and doing so by helping poor uneducated youth develop the skills we need to “retrofit the United States.” To paraphrase his recurring theme, “We now have the opportunity to put green remodeling at the center of the economy — where the auto industry was after WWII — in our rebuilding of the United States. Let’s make it an inclusive economy that raises everyone up.”

And on top of the great speakers, there’s been plenty of roundtable chatter amongst the attendees. The hundreds of remodelers here are among the best of the best. These folks are passionate about creating great places to live (hence our desire to sponsor this event), and we’ve been very pleased to find such a strong reception — both from the dozens of our members that are here, and the many more prospective members who have been enthusiastic about learning more about GuildQuality’s customer satisfaction surveying.

Remodelers Advantage workshops and seminars for Guildmembers

Apr 29 2008 by Geoff Graham in Event announcements, Miscellaneous

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Remodelers Advantage is an internationally-acclaimed business improvement and peer group organization exclusively for remodelers. They teach practical, proven, and profit-generating strategies to remodeling professionals that are interested in developing exceptional businesses — while still having enough time at the end of the day to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

I am a believer in this organization. The companies I know that rely on Remodelers Advantage Roundtables tend to be the leaders in the industry. They dominate Remodeling Magazine’s Big 50 Awards, and are regularly anointed Remodeler of the Year by national publications and their local associations. And those accolades are well-deserved — not only are these remodelers among the most profitable in the business, but they are also leaders in service excellence.

The president of Remodelers Advantage, Victoria Downing, offered to extend invitations to our membership to participate in their forthcoming seminars and workshops. These workshops are great for remodelers and custom homebuilders.

Administrative PowerMeeting — June 2008 — San Diego
Production PowerMeeting — June 2008 — Philadelphia
Building and Managing a Winning Sales Team — November 2008 — Baltimore

To register or to find out more about these events, visit the Remodelers Advantage website, or call them at 301-490-5620.

P.S. Remodelers Advantage also has an excellent newsletter filled with weekly bite-sized “PowerTips” for improving your business and leading a better life. Visit their newsletter archive, or sign up to receive it.

Remodeling Leadership Conference, green building, and doing well by doing good

Apr 25 2008 by Geoff Graham in Event announcements, Member news, Miscellaneous

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Next week, GuildQuality will be in Washington, DC as a sponsor of the Remodeling Leadership Conference. Each year, 50 exceptional remodelers will be inducted into Remodeling Magazine’s Big 50. In the words of Remodeling Magazine, these leaders possess “top-notch business acumen, outstanding customer service, a financially strong foundation, and exciting systems.” I was thrilled to learn that 8 of this year’s award winners rely on GuildQuality for customer satisfaction surveying.

The theme of this year’s event is The Color of Money: Green and the future of remodeling. I love that through Green Building, one can do well by doing good. It pleases me that a remodeler who practices sustainable building techniques is creating a better built home and helping to preserve a healthy unbuilt environment. And it especially pleases me that the green remodeler earns a premium for his or her thoughtful business practices, and can even enjoy savings wrought from efficiency and forethought.

I have long felt that what motivates one to go green is the same kind of thing that motivates one to deliver the best possible customer experience: it is a belief that, in the long-term, doing the right thing will bring the greatest success. Remodelers that practice service excellence are not only serving their customers’ interests, but they are earning greater recognition and higher margins. They are doing well by doing good.

Clever Marketing for Remodelers

Mar 05 2008 by Geoff Graham in Miscellaneous

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My three year old son happened to notice a new advertisement in one of our neighborhood parks.

DogGoneHandy is the handyman division of an in-town Atlanta-area remodeler.

I thought this was clever enough to justify snapping a picture with my camera phone, but at the time, I didn’t intend to post about it. After leaving the park, though, I noticed two DogGoneHandy trucks and several workers taking care of business at a house right around the corner.

This is great marketing, but only so long as the dispenser is clean and full!

SJ Janis takes GuildQuality to the MBA Home Builders Expo

Jan 18 2008 by Geoff Hartnett in Member news, Miscellaneous

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A couple of months ago, A.J. Simon, a residential designer for SJ Janis, sent me an email requesting some high resolution versions of our logo for use on marketing material. I provided him with these files, but only in exchange for the promise of pictures. I wanted to see some results!

Last week, at the Metropolitan Builder Association’s 19th Annual Home Builders Expo, SJ Janis showed off their impressive custom built show exhibit complete with GuildQuality dressings (see arrows above). The show, the largest of it’s kind in Wisconsin, took place at the Midwest Airlines Center in Downtown Milwaukee and attracted some 15,000 attendees. A couple of days after the show, A.J. held up his end of the deal by sending me a dozen pictures of their custom booth, which he noted was “quite an undertaking”. Their effort didn’t go unnoticed; their booth looks amazing.

We are proud to have members such as SJ Janis, a 2007 Guildmaster with Highest Distinction, showing Milwaukee what it means to make customer satisfaction a priority in their business. Keep up the great work!

GuildQuality in members’ ads (again)

Dec 20 2007 by Geoff Graham in Member news, Miscellaneous

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I have been seeing a bunch of GQ logos in our members’ advertisements (and on their websites, too!). That’s fantastic.

Occasionally, I have the presence of mind to capture the moment with my camera phone. Here’s one from an advertisement for Structures Building Company in Charleston Home Magazine.

If you’re using GuildQuality in your advertisements, marketing materials, business cards or wherever, please let us know about it!

GuildQuality in Africa

Dec 18 2007 by Geoff Graham in Miscellaneous

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No, we haven’t started surveying African homeowners (yet). However, one of our own is blazing his trail in Africa. If you look closely, you’ll see a GuildQuality cap atop the head of Mike Smith on a recent excursion from his base in Nairobi to Cape Point, South Africa.

Mike was the first engineer employed by GuildQuality. Prior to his hire, we outsourced everything. About two years ago, he got an employment offer he couldn’t refuse and he’s now leading a development team in Kenya.

This is Mike on one of his many African adventures. For more action photos of him writing code and wrestling cheetahs (for real), click on his picture.

GuildQuality Member Services Team Gobbles up the Competition

Nov 29 2007 by Erin Rosintoski in Miscellaneous

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In the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning, the GuildQuality Member Services team- Laura Flowerree, Jon Atteberry, and Erin Rosintoski- were poised ready to put months (or in some cases weeks) of training and preparation to use for the annual Atlanta Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon.

There had been nary a raindrop in sight for months in Atlanta, and the weatherman had been predicting rain for the holiday morning- but what were the chances of that being true? Unfortunately for us and the other 7,500 or so runners, the weatherman was right. The race began at 7:00 and the heavens opened about 7:02. Cellphones and iPods beware, the rain was showing no signs of slowing. With 13 long miles still to go and the rain pouring down, we thought about the Engineering and Sales teams who were chickens to our challenge of a departmental duel…who were the smart ones now!? But on we ran…

Despite all that nature handed us, we all made it to the finish, wrung out our clothes, and helped ourselves to seconds and thirds at Thanksgiving dinner.

Keeping our priorities straight

Oct 30 2007 by Geoff Graham in Miscellaneous, About GuildQuality

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I have received some great feedback from our members in response to my recent Letter from the Founder. In it, I solicited your constructive commentary about our surveying and reporting systems, and we’ve received some great insights and ideas as a result. Thanks! I thought you might find it interesting to know how we prioritize enhancements to our customer satisfaction surveying and reporting system.

Here’s a screen shot of our current “Enhancements” brainstorm (we use a web-based collaboration tool called “Basecamp” to keep track of all of the various projects we’re working on).

(more…)

Garcia Award Winner: Geoff Hartnett

Oct 16 2007 by Geoff Graham in Event announcements, Miscellaneous, About GuildQuality

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The GuildQuality team has spoken, and our newly crowned Garcia Award Winner is Geoff Hartnett, our Director of Web Marketing.

Every member of the GQ team nominates up to three people for the award, and the team member with the most nominations wears the Garcia Mantle until a new winner is chosen. Previous award winners include Laura Summerlin (Survey Manager), Michael Hardy (Data Support Administrator), and Erin Rosintoski (Membership Director).

Hartnett’s takes care of most of our design work, the public website, and virtually all of our marketing. Some of the recent contributions that earned him the team’s accolades: his significant work in enhancing our web presence, his expert production of our communications, and his big help in making the Remodeling Show a great event for us. Hartnett is a big part of the reason why so many people are familiar with our customer satisfaction surveying for quality-minded building professionals.

Congratulations to Geoff Hartnett. Thanks for all your tremendous contributions to GuildQuality.

The neat things I see when I visit our members…

Sep 27 2007 by Geoff Graham in Member news, Miscellaneous, About GuildQuality

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Geoff Hartnett and I dropped by Pilot Builders (Eatonton, GA) earlier this week. We were in the area visiting with some prospects and poked our heads in unannounced.

The first thing Brenda pointed us to was their framed Guildmaster award on the wall. In 2007, we started giving out awards certificates for our Guildmasters in addition to the website recognition. This is the first one I’ve seen hung on a member’s wall. Nice!

We calculate our Guildmaster Awards using all customer feedback for the year (or potentially longer, for smaller volume members). Members that have had all of their customers surveyed are eligible, and two stats factor into the award: Response Rate and Recommendation Rate.

What makes for a great neighborhood?

Sep 03 2007 by Geoff Graham in Miscellaneous

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We live in a great neighborhood. No, I don’t live in Bellagio, Italy (pictured above). Nevetheless, my neighborhood has a lot in common with (and a lot to learn from) Bellagio. Some reasons why I love my home:

1) We can easily walk to a more than a dozen restaurants, a movie theater, several parks and playgrounds, a bunch of churches, a library, two ice cream parlors, a middle school, restaurants, stores, and a number of our friends’ houses;

2) We have just about every kind of great shop you could want: furniture, clothes, gifts, convenience store/gas station, pharmacy, Ace Hardware, Trader Joe’s Grocery, etc (though we are sorely lacking an excellent outdoor store);

3) Several teenage babysitters live on our street;

4) The local firefighters are gracious and frequent hosts to my three year old son;

5) Many kids walk to school;

6) My commute is 1.4 miles;

7) There is a diverse housing stock that includes both giant and tiny houses, affordable and fancy apartments, and condos and townhouses of all kinds.

I think these things are great. But, while I think just about everyone in my neighborhood would agree with me, people in general seem to try to limit the very density and walkability that make our neighborhood so wonderful.

Our recent community newsletter was filled with some earnest articles about what our neighborhood is doing in an attempt to make my life better. The big recurring themes revolve around the restriction of land use diversity. Whether people are pursuing less apartments, less re-development, less commercial, less density, or just plain less people, the argument is a variation of the same theme: “More consistency and less diversity will make our neighborhood a better place.”

I don’t buy that argument. For an inspiring summary of what happens when a community invests its energy in cultivating enduring beauty and quality, and has no time left to worry about restricting density and diversity, check out my brother’s recent post on Bellagio, Italy.

Serving up software solutions to the building industry for 28 years

Aug 24 2007 by Geoff Graham in Featured products, Miscellaneous

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Over the last year or two, several people have suggested that I reach out to Maggie Geoffroy of CDCI (Construction Data Control, Inc.) — another Atlanta-based technology company that serves homebuilders. Last week, Maggie met Glenn McNairy and I for lunch, and we had a great conversation about the building industry, the technology serving it, and the web in general.

From their website: “CDCI’s integrated packages provide estimating, scheduling, accounting, and cost control in a manner developed expressly for construction firms.”

CDCI has definitely been around. Maggie’s father started the business in 1979, and they now have well over a thousand homebuilders using their software. Many of those folks have been with them for decades.

I am interested to know if any of our members use any of CDCI’s products. If so, please let me know — I am hoping you can share your experiences.

Members in Oregon

Aug 18 2007 by Geoff Graham in Member news, Miscellaneous

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A couple of months ago, a developer member in Oregon invited us to visit their community under development in Bend. We finally took them up on the offer, and spent the early part of this week in Bend and Portland.

NorthWest Crossing Brooks Resources is pretty far along with NorthWest Crossing in Bend — it’s an impressive and well-executed traditional neighborhood development. After touring the community, we participated in a meeting with about forty of their homebuilders, salespeople, and marketing folks. Heather Fricke and I gave a brief talk on customer satisfaction’s impact on sales and marketing within a community, and then introduced their sales and building team to the customer satisfaction surveying program that we’re rolling out at NorthWest Crossing. We had a great time, and are appreciative of all the hospitality we experienced in Bend. Special thanks to David and Romy for your gracious introduction to a beautiful part of the country.

From Bend, we rolled on to Portland for a few sales calls and a (mini) member meeting. Two of our Portland members joined us for supper at a new restaurant downtown. I don’t have all that much opportunity to spend quality face-time with our members outside Atlanta, Charlotte or Charleston, so I really enjoyed breaking bread with Jenny Cowdin of Equity Quest Homes and Mick McGuire and Joe Bauschelt of Intex Custom Homes.

I especially enjoyed hearing first-hand how our members are using GuildQuality’s customer satisfaction surveying and performance reporting. They were also a great sounding board for our upcoming service enhancement plans. Thanks Jenny, Mick, and Joe for coming out.

As exhausting as these trips are, it is great for me to receive the strong affirmation of the strength of our offering. All told, we may have spoken with over 20 building companies during our brief time in Oregon. I took away this message: regardless of whether they build 5 homes a year, develop hundreds of lots, or remodel 1,000 homes, service excellence is critical to their success and something they are all passionate about. The leaders in our industry are laser focused on delivering an exceptional customer experience — in part because they know that satisfied homeowners bring them greater success, but also because they take their job seriously.

Builders, developers and remodelers are shaping the world in which we live and dramatically impacting the lives of their customers. The fine folks we met in Portland take that responsibility seriously.

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