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Reaching Home Builders & Construction Companies

by longrobnc
6 replies
Hello All:

I run a local business selling a home improvement product to homeowners. I built this segment of my company through online and offline lead generation. My sales force is great at turning these leads in to sales. However, my lead generation is no longer growing. I have been thinking about duplicating my current process and expanding in to other geographic areas. However, the city I'm in has a crazy amount of new construction, which I get almost none of. This has been a segment of the market that I have not been able to penetrate. I have purchased list and hired sales people to cold call to set appointments or acquire plans so that we can give them bids.

This has not worked as I can not manage these sales people effectively, and do my job. The folks that I have hired over the past few years needed constant prodding and supervision. It's just been one failure after the next, and I don't want to deal with it moving forward. I would rather find a way to generate leads and turn these over to my team that generally close deals at a high rate.

Any ideas are appreciated.
#builders #companies #construction #home #reaching
  • Profile picture of the author savidge4
    The biggest question you need an answer to right now... "Who is currently getting the business?" And from there you can start probing some more questions.. Why? what dynamic is there aside from price? ( I will bet you could beat them all day long on price, but that is probably not the block ) etc etc.

    From the answers to all of these questions, you then need to hire THAT guy that can replicate what it is you are missing ( again, probably not price )


    Originally Posted by longrobnc View Post

    Hello All:

    I run a local business selling a home improvement product to homeowners. I built this segment of my company through online and offline lead generation. My sales force is great at turning these leads in to sales. However, my lead generation is no longer growing. I have been thinking about duplicating my current process and expanding in to other geographic areas. However, the city I'm in has a crazy amount of new construction, which I get almost none of. This has been a segment of the market that I have not been able to penetrate. I have purchased list and hired sales people to cold call to set appointments or acquire plans so that we can give them bids.

    This has not worked as I can not manage these sales people effectively, and do my job. The folks that I have hired over the past few years needed constant prodding and supervision. It's just been one failure after the next, and I don't want to deal with it moving forward. I would rather find a way to generate leads and turn these over to my team that generally close deals at a high rate.

    Any ideas are appreciated.
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    Success is an ACT not an idea
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    • Profile picture of the author longrobnc
      Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

      The biggest question you need an answer to right now... "Who is currently getting the business?" And from there you can start probing some more questions.. Why? what dynamic is there aside from price? ( I will bet you could beat them all day long on price, but that is probably not the block ) etc etc.

      From the answers to all of these questions, you then need to hire THAT guy that can replicate what it is you are missing ( again, probably not price )
      Thank you for the response. There are two companies in my area that dominate this niche. Both are owned by the same parent company. They are international companies. The large area builders have national deals and most utilize them. They are super price aggressive. There is a barrier to entry because these guys have dominated this market for a long time. These companies utilize outside sales, but like I said, I'm really no good at managing these people. I would like to find a way that utilizes less man power. There has to be a smarter way than paying a salary, supplying a car, supplying a phone, supplying a gas card................................ and then trusting that sales will happen. I have used up so much time and energy trying to hold people's feet to the fire that I have melted my own hands.
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      • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
        Originally Posted by longrobnc View Post

        but like I said, I'm really no good at managing these people. I would like to find a way that utilizes less man power. There has to be a smarter way than paying a salary, supplying a car, supplying a phone, supplying a gas card................................ and then trusting that sales will happen. I have used up so much time and energy trying to hold people's feet to the fire that I have melted my own hands.
        Why do you not have an experienced sales manger looking after and doing the yards with these guys, you just deal with one person the sales manager, he deals with the rest and gets the results needed plus the head aches along the way, that's his / her role.

        I am sure one of the existing sales guys working in the game would look at stepping up to a manger with perks if you put out some feelers, most sales guys want to advance, so grab somebody already in the game with good skills and be prepared to chop n change as you move forward by having the next two or 3 in line ready to go should one green bottle fall from the shelf.
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        | > Choosing to go off the grid for a while to focus on family, work and life in general. Have a great 2020 < |
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        • Profile picture of the author longrobnc
          Originally Posted by tryinhere View Post

          Why do you not have an experienced sales manger looking after and doing the yards with these guys, you just deal with one person the sales manager, he deals with the rest and gets the results needed plus the head aches along the way, that's his / her role.

          I am sure one of the existing sales guys working in the game would look at stepping up to a manger with perks if you put out some feelers, most sales guys want to advance, so grab somebody already in the game with good skills and be prepared to chop n change as you move forward by having the next two or 3 in line ready to go should one green bottle fall from the shelf.
          That's the true issue. I've thought of hiring a sales manager, but who exactly is he/she going to manage? I would have to bear the expense of 3+ other outside sales staff for him to have staff to manage. That's going to cost me a good $20k+ a month in total expense, even if they don't make a sale. In that niche, they are going to have to pull $150k+ a month just to pay for themselves because the margins are thin. I've run the numbers, and it could turn in to a money pit.

          I have sales staff, but they run leads that we book for them. Keeping them busy and tracking their average sale/ closing % keeps them profitable. In this cold selling environment, I have no idea how to keep people accountable and on track.It's probably just not for me. I may just scrap the whole thing and look for new lead gen ideas.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris-
    I offer a service which can get you leads, accurately targeted to your product, geo-targeted (by state or Zip in the US), etc. at good prices.

    I don't seem to be able to PM you, so please email me (info@profit-growth.com) if you might be interested in more details.

    thanks

    Chris
    info@profit-growth.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
    Originally Posted by longrobnc View Post

    However, the city I'm in has a crazy amount of new construction, which I get almost none of. This has been a segment of the market that I have not been able to penetrate.

    Any ideas are appreciated.
    We always had issues breaking into the display home market.

    Not that we were in construction but we supplied wall art and other associated decor.

    For a long time we tried different approaches and looked hard at what the competitor was doing that got them the lion's share of any work in that area.

    After about five years I found out that the competitor's wife was a senior architect working for the largest construction firm in the country.

    What was happening was the specifications for jobs were being incorporated into contracts and those specifications were designed to "ONLY" be able to be matched by the competitor.

    Similar things were going on inside some government contracts where they needed to obtain a minimum of three quotes for each area of supply and it wasn't until I was working in a role where I had to organise the supply of equipment for a number of educational courses I was contracted to supply.

    When I approached the head of procurement who had to sign off on the acquisitions and discussed how we really needed certain pieces of equipment rather than others yet both pieces of equipment produced the same results that was when they explained how to write the tender documents so the "preferred supplier" ultimately was chosen.

    Some twenty years later the display home market and some other apartment constructions, retirement villages etc and other areas are still locked up by this one relationship.

    We've found it easier to go and target interstate as it is easier to get work from there given the local situation.

    We still end up doing local work but it is usually when we have quoted on work for a companies who have head offices interstate but are working on local contracts.

    One other thing I saw a few years back used by one of the larger professional painters was a tactic of establishing a separate brand that they aimed at the DIY market.

    Their business ideally wanted painting contracts in the $25K plus range but always wasted time with some enquiries that would sometimes yield the larger job but those larger jobs were hidden inside enquiries to solve some seemingly small job.

    They discovered by getting their brand and idea of the home improvement public being able to hire various equipment, watch training material and go through colour consultations with what were effectively really designers with sales skills they were able to get those larger contracts out of the home improvement market.

    They were still making money on the people who didn't use their services and this also helped them lock out some of their competitors who were undercutting them on the smaller jobs where someone may have been tossing up between going DIY or choosing a professional.

    best regards,

    Ozi
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