Quality-minded builders, remodelers, developers and contractors rely on our customer satisfaction surveying to help them provide exceptional service

On December 3, GuildQuality hosted a webinar to review some of our marketing resources. Here is the recorded video. (33 minutes)

This webinar is for builders, remodelers, and developers who’d like to learn how to take advantage of our marketing resources and for those who need a refresher on the subject. We have a number of tools that help our members enhance their online presence and better articulate their quality of service for prospective customers.

In addition to reviewing our complimentary marketing services (like Customer Reports, Member Profiles, Listings, and our integration with a number of social media services), we also discuss prospect surveying.

Please join us this Thursday, September 24 at 2pm EST, for a presentation by Jon Fogg of The Berke Group.

Webinar Topic: “Beyond Survival… on to Recovery”

Click to register.

We have run out of adjectives to describe the last couple of years in our industry.  Most of us have necessarily adopted a “survival” mode, and because of this are still in business.  However, there are signs that we are poised for recovery.  What will the recovery look like? What should we be doing right now to compete?  How will we maximize revenue and margin as the economy and the housing sector begin to recover? Jon Fogg from the Berke Group will discuss these topics in our upcoming Webinar on September 24 at 2pm EST.

About Jon Fogg:

Jon is a seasoned business strategist and executive with more than 30 years of new home sales experience and  sales management experience.  Prior to joining the Berke Group in 2006, Jon led the sales organization of one of the country’s largest home builders. He has weathered 9 housing cycles and has some interesting insights on steps companies should be taking right now to position themselves to best take advantage of the next stage of the housing cycle. The Berke Group is a management consulting firm that helps CEOs and sales leadership teams maximize their revenues and get the most from their sales organizations.

Click here to register for the webinar.

We recently had the pleasure of spending about 45 minutes with three remodeling leaders as they talked about how their businesses deliver a superior customer experience and how their focus on quality manifests itself in their company culture, systems, and processes.

We recorded the conversation and it is now available on NARI’s website.  Click here to listen.

Special thanks to Bruce Case (Case Design/Remodeling of Bethesda, MD), Todd Jackson (Jackson Design and Remodeling of San Diego, CA), and Greg Harth (Harth Builders of Spring House, PA), for being generous with their time and insights.

As different as their businesses are, all three of these great leaders share a passion for quality, and work diligently to elevate the stature of our profession to a level commensurate with its importance in our lives.

This morning, Dennis DuRoff posted my talk from yesterday on how and why GuildQuality uses social media. In it, I describe the various ways the GuildQuality blog, Twitter and LinkedIn help us to service our members and grow our business. I also talk about social media’s direct relevance to customer satisfaction in building and remodeling. how builders and remodelers are using Facebook, and how consumer rating sites like Kudzu and Google Local fit in to the picture as well. I close with a brief description of what GuildQuality does to help boost our members’ presence on the web and participation in the online dialog. The talk lasts an hour.

UPDATE: Following are the answers to questions asked by attendees, that we didn’t have time to answer during the webinar:

“How much time do you spend on all this social media stuff?” I am our company’s primary marketer, and it is safe to say that I’m also the face of the company. Including the time I spend writing our blog (which provides 95% of the content for our newsletters), I probably spend fourty five minutes a day on social media for GuildQuality. Most of that is our blog, a good bit is with Twitter, and the remainder is with LinkedIn.

“How do you link Flickr to Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter?” Facebook and Plaxo have some built in widgets that enable you to auto-feed your Flickr photos to your personal account. I don’t believe Facebook can do that yet for Company Pages or Groups. LinkedIn does not offer a way to connect to your Flickr account. You can set up your Twitter account to automatically post a tweet of Flickr uploads (or blog posts, or anything that can have an RSS feed) with Twitterfeed. Detailed instructions are here. Twitterfeed isn’t the only game in town, but it is what we use, and it’s worked fine for us. It is also worth noting that Flickr’s terms of use explicitly prohibit commercial uses, so if you intend to try and sell stuff with Flickr, make sure you read this.

Regarding Facebook Groups versus Pages (for your business presence on Facebook), one of the audience members added the following comment, essentially restating more emphatically my counsel to use Pages: “The skinny from those at Facebook is that much more energy (from the company) is going into Pages and Groups are fading to the background.”

“What are your recommendations for Security Settings for Professional and Personal Facebook and Linkedin Sites? How much should you reveal on public areas Etc?” On my profile pages, I avoid publishing anything that I don’t want anyone to see, and so I go ahead and make everything public. If you are interested in publishing things that you don’t want others to see, I encourage you to really think about whether or not you ought to publish it. GuildQuality does have a private discussion group on LinkedIn that is limited to our members, employees, and others that are “close” to us. Keeping it private keeps it from being dominated by people trying to sell their stuff (sales pitches seem to dominate the public groups on LinkedIn). Flickr and YouTube offer privacy settings that enable you to share some personal things (pictures and videos) only with authorized users. I stick to my “don’t post it if you don’t want someone to see it” strategy with those sites as well, though I ocassionally “privatize” pictures/videos in which my children or wife are looking just too darn cute for public consumption.

“What are costs of these sites?” Most of the social media sites I described, including Yelp, are free. Kudzu (another consumer rating site) offers some premium services for a monthly fee. Flickr charges $20 per year for a premium account (which you will definitely need if you want to use it regularly). You can have a GuildQuality account for as little as $30 per month, and the more folks you survey, the more you pay. You can also pay a little more to increase the number of Listings and Examples of Work you post in your public Guildmember profile page.

“What are good apps to use on the iPhone for all of these links?” I probably do 90% of my Twittering when I’m standing in line, in the dentist’s waiting room, etc. The iPhone’s web browsing capabilities make it easy to get your geek on wherever you are. Yelp has a nice iPhone enabled website. I use the Twitterrific application for Twitter, and I understand a lot of people really like Tweetie. Facebook and LinkedIn both have their own decent iPhone applications.

“How does one setup a company page on linked in or facebook?” First, you’ve got to have a personal account with Facebook or LinkedIn. Assuming you do, and assuming you are logged in, click here for Facebook and here for LinkedIn.

Join us on June 23rd – 10am Pac/1pm Eastern for a webinar hosted by GuildQuality Alliance member Dennis DuRoff of the Builders & Remodelers Newsletter.

Click here to register.

Producing engaging newsletter content on a regular basis isn’t a core competency for most small- and mid-sized building and remodeling companies. A number of Guildmembers have resolved that problem by working with Dennis’ company to manage their newsletter production and administration. Dennis is also a regular speaker and business coach, and was introduced to me by one of our very first Guildmembers. He is hosting a June 23rd webinar for Guildmembers on unique, low cost, and turnkey marketing programs for builders and remodelers.

From the Webinar Invitation:

How builders & remodelers respond to the recession will go a long way toward determining future success & company survival. Builders report that marketing strategies that worked in the past are no longer producing results.

They cite several reasons:

#1 – As markets slow, buyers feel like they are in charge of the sales process making the time from contact to contract longer than ever. How can you stay on your prospects radar when they are finally ready to pull the trigger?

#2 – Traffic is down; leads are more difficult to come by. It is becoming as important to cultivate leads as it is to generate them.

#3 – Builders know they’ve got to market their business but cash is tight and staff is cut to the bone. How can you consistently – stay in touch – without breaking the budget or compromising your staff?

Over 100 of the finest Builders and Remodelers in the country have found a straightforward, affordable, turnkey solution to help them through these difficult times.

This webinar, presented by Dennis DuRoff – founder of The Builder and Remodelers Newsletter, professional business coach, industry speaker, and author – is an opportunity to see how Builders and Remodelers are using our stay-in-touch program to help get them through.

I honestly feel that without this unobtrusive and educational communication tool, we would fade to distant memory and not be on the forefront of our contacts minds. Your newsletter is a key part of our marketing that gives us the biggest bang for the buck. ~ GuildQuality member Doug Tumlin, Pilot Builders

Dennis will cover:

>> Why the Builder and Remodeler Newsletters are fully turnkey while being highly personalized to you and your company.

>> How the Builder Newsletter can increase web traffic.

>> What makes the builder newsletter different than other newsletters you’ve seen.

>> How this newsletter can help build your brand.

>> How the builder newsletter is different than any other newsletter service on the market.

On this Thursday, June 18 at 1pm Eastern, I’ll be giving a repeat performance of my webinar from April on Social Media. Dennis DuRoff, of The Builders & Remodelers Newsletter, has invited me to present a version of this talk to the remodelers and homebuilders that subscribe to his Monday Morning Business Gem newsletter.

Click here to register or to see all the details about the webinar.

Since my first presentation in April, a bunch of people have requested repeat or make-up presentations. Each time, I’ve tweaked the talk (hopefully for the better!), so if you’ve seen a version before, I encourage you to tune in for this one.

Click here to register for our 45 minute webinar on Thursday, April 30 at 1:30pm EST.

People are talking about your company on the web. They’re sharing feedback that helps them make informed decisions about who to hire and who to buy from. You can choose to ignore the discussion, be a part of it, or better yet, ENCOURAGE it.

In this webinar, I’ll provide an overview of the prominent social networks and share my thoughts on the emerging role of social media in the homebuilding, remodeling, and contracting industry.

I’ll also give a demonstration of the new GQ features that can help you easily engage in, inform, and promote the online chatter about your business.

* Prepended update:  On January 31st, GuildQuality presented the first in a series of Webinars “Making Customer Satisfaction a Priority in your Business”. It was a remodeler focused discussion on how two nationally-recognized companies (Strite design + remodel and Normandy Builders) internalize and promulgate customer satisfaction through every facet of the business– from the first time a customer interacts with a company representative to the last punchlist item. They stressed the importance of properly setting customer expectations (remodeling can be unpleasant!), holding team members accountable to their customers’ experiences, and follow up with customers for referral business. Strite and Normandy also discussed adjustments each had to make in their marketing strategies (in response to market downturns). They elaborated on changes in both traditional marketing strategies and implicit marketing– via team member interactions. Again, our speakers provided wonderful insight into how customer satisfaction impacts the way they conduct business both in the office and in the field.

For those able to attend, we thank you and hope that you enjoyed it. For those unable to attend, “Making Customer Satisfaction a Priority in your Business” is now available for viewing in its entirety here. Thanks again, to Jim Strite, Jack Steindl, and Karen Cericola for taking time out of their busy schedules to participate. – Regards – Your GuildQuality Team.

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On January 31st, GuildQuality will be hosting a live online webinar for remodelers. It will be a discussion featuring the principals of Normandy Builders and Strite Design + Remodel moderated by our founder, Geoff Graham.

Chicago-based Normandy Builders earned Professional Remodeler’s 2007 “Remodeler of the Year” award for their accomplishments in customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership. Normandy Builders has been using GuildQuality for its customer satisfaction surveying since 2006.

Boise-based Strite design + remodel has been designated by Qualified Remodeler magazine as one of the nation’s Top 500 remodelers every year since its inception. They’ve been featured on the cover of Remodeling Magazine, and are the recipient of numerous awards for their exceptional business practices, working environment, and contributions to the remodeling profession. Strite design + remodel has been using GuildQuality for its customer satisfaction surveying since 2004.

This is an exciting opportunity to hear from two of the industry’s most respected companies and the role that customer satisfaction plays in the growth of their businesses. Join us!

Date: January 31st, 2008
Time: 2pm EST
Duration: (under an hour)