Qualified Remodeler Magazine

JUL 2015

Qualified Remodeler helps independent remodeling firms to survive, become more professional and more profitable by providing must-have business information, namely best business practices, new product information and timely design ideas.

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— but also to measure their level of satisfaction and to feed that information back into your or- ganization so improvement can be made. In this month's issue of Qualifed Remodeler, we are pleased to work with the customer satis- faction experts at GuildQuality, namely Geof Graham, Jerrod Butler, Kathryn Ewing and Alex Overall. Teir team helped us prepare a frst for the industry: A heat map of the hot button issues on which remodeling satisfac- tion hinges. Tey created this heat map based on tens of thousands of online surveys with consumers who had recently remod- eled their homes. SIGNIFICANTLY, NOT EVERY remodel- ing job has the same hot buttons. It stands to reason that during bigger jobs, like room ad- ditions, communication, problem resolution, punchlist completion, schedule and trust are most important. Meanwhile, a less intrusive project, like a new deck, has an easier bar to clear. Only 'problem resolution' was anywhere near a red-hot issue. It carries a pinkish hue along with 'communication' and 'professional and organized.' For those not surveying their clients — this information may open your eyes to the kind of useful information you can gained by doing so. We also worked with GuildQuality to iden- tify 60 frms who not only measure customer satisfaction, but who also have very high "rec- ommend" rates. Tose 60 ofer their take on how best to satisfy remodeling customers. We think customer satisfaction is a remodeler's key performance indicator (KPI) — right after proft percentage and revenue, of course. | hether you measure it or not, customer satisfaction is a high priority for you as a remodeler. Reputation is everything in a business where marketing sometimes takes a back seat to craftsmanship and other key de- liverables. A satisfed customer creates referrals and positive mojo in your service area. Many successful remod - elers inherently know how to satisfy their clients: Be on time, communicate clearly and often, do what you say you will do and de- liver a quality job. If you do these things, clients will generally be happy. But here's a question for those of you who operate on instinct and do not survey your customers: Without asking, how do you know they are happy? HERE'S ANOTHER QUESTION: By not surveying your customers, are you missing po- tential feedback that could help you improve your level of client happiness and generate more revenue per customer? Tat's right. Research has shown that the diference between "fully satisfed" customers and "somewhat satisfed" customers is 2.6 times the revenue on average. Depending on your cost to acquire a new cus- tomer (if you know the cost), that is a huge boost to your return on investment. In today's hyper-connected world, the impor- tance of measuring customer satisfaction is grow- ing with each passing day. Online ratings and reviews are both the currency of the realm and the lingua franca. Negative reviews are very tough to combat. Tat is why it is not only important to satisfy your clients — as you have always done A Remodeler's Key Performance Indicator W Without asking, how do you know your customers are happy? EDITORIAL DIRECTOR'S NOTE 8 July 2015 QR QualifiedRemodeler.com | ForResidentialPros.com Patrick L. O'Toole Published by SOLA Group, Inc. 724 12th Street, 1W, Wilmette, IL 60091 847.920.9513 Publisher and Patrick L. O'Toole Editorial Director Patrick@SOLAbrands.com Managing Editor Laurie Banyay Laurie@SOLAbrands.com Assistant Editor Kacey Larsen Kacey@SOLAbrands.com Proofreader Nancy Mueller=Truax Audience Development Mike Serino MSerino@magservgroup.com Creative Director & Tracy Hegg Production Manager Tracy@SOLAbrands.com Graphic Designer Cathy Petersen Editorial Advisory Board Stephen Gidley, GMB, CAPS, CGP, CGB, CGR, CPRC, CR Jeffrey Holloway, CKD, CBD, CGR Michael Nagel, CGR, CAPS Scott R. Sevon, CGR, CAPS, GMB, CGP, GMR Donna Shirey, CGR, CAPS, CGP Kenneth P. Skowronski, CR Group Sales Director Paul DeGrandis Midwest Manager Paul@SOLAbrands.com West Sales Manager Reed Fry Reed@fry-comm.com National Automotive Tom Lutzke Sales TLutzke@ACBusinessMedia.com Literature Galleries/ Nancy Campoli Classifieds Nancy@SOLAbrands.com Digital Programs Tim Steingraber Manager Tim@SOLAbrands.com Operations Marie Snow Manager Marie@SOLAbrands.com A preferred publication of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry and the NAHB Remodelers

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