Welcome to our first issue of HomeTech Business Building Ideas, a newsletter designed specifically for remodeling professionals who want to see their business grow. If you haven’t already subscribed, I want to remind you to do so in order to receive future issues which will be packed with practical tips and ideas to help your business thrive. Click here to subscribe now.

For those of you who don’t know me already, I am Walt Stoeppelwerth, co-founder of HomeTech Information Systems, Inc. I have been writing books, giving seminars and watching the remodeling industry as it has evolved over the last 40 years. My goal, and our goal as a business, has always been to help you to make your remodeling business profitable.

One of the most important trends that has been developing over the last several years is a move toward technology. Those who don’t begin making technology work for their business, risk being at a significant competitive disadvantage over the next 5 years. That is why we have chosen to focus on this important issue in our first newsletter. Technology is critical to the long term success of your business -- and, this article should help you get started in understanding how it can help.

Don’t forget to sign up for future issues if you haven’t already. It’ll only take 2 minutes, and it’s FREE!

- Walt Stoeppelwerth, HomeTech Information Systems, Inc.

 

Technology Can Keep Your Business
on the Road to Success

Remodelers and handymen frequently ask us how important technology is to their business. In fact, it is just about impossible to grow your business in today’s market without some help from technology.

Charging and Justifying an Appropriate Markup is Critical
For many years, HomeTech has been telling its customers that the key to making money in remodeling is pricing to cover not only your direct costs but also your overhead -- with enough left over for profit, of course. This means you need to markup at least 50% over your direct job costs.

The question then becomes, how do you sell this price level to your client? It is clear that you must offer something more than the “low price” contractor is offering. That something extra is quality. This means quality not only in your workmanship but quality in every aspect of the relationship with your clients. This is where technology comes in. The great thing about technology is that it not only helps you increase your firm’s quality and consistency, but it also helps reduce your costs. Higher quality and lower costs -– that’s why successful companies invest in technology every year.

Technology Saves Time on Everyday Office Functions
One of the main uses of technology in business is to streamline jobs and tasks that would otherwise be time-consuming, cumbersome and labor intensive. Think about how even the most basic uses of technology have already improved your business. More than likely, you are already using a word processing system to format and generate contracts and other documents that you use frequently. Without a computer these documents would have to be recreated every time you needed one -- a huge cost in time and money.

You may also be using an accounting system to track costs, generate invoices, make payments, and book income. By automating your accounting processes you improve the accuracy of your finances. It also ensures that you have up-to-date information about the financial health of your business, simplifies cost tracking for jobs, and simplifies everyday bookkeeping tasks. This is clearly a winning situation for your business. But, how does technology provide the quality service your clients desire?

Technology Can Streamline Your Sales Process
Let’s look at the steps of the sales cycle and see how technology can be used to make each phase more efficient, making you look great and saving you money.

1. Prospect Management
There are many different ways to manage prospects, and each of them may be appropriate at some point during the growth of your business. For a new business, an index card file or tickler file may be good enough. But, as your business grows, you will have an increasing number of prospects to track. Being responsive to your prospects and following up consistently is the first indication your clients have that you are a quality contractor. A contact management tool such as ACT will enable you to provide the necessary responsiveness even as your business grows.

2. Sales Management
Once you get in the door with a prospect, you need to continue the communication process in order to close the sale. Your contact management system will help with reminders to continue your sales process with follow up phone calls and written estimates. Another powerful tool for sales management is email. More and more clients will expect you to communicate by email. This can possibly cut days or even weeks from the sales cycle since response time is dramatically reduced. Email provides you with an opportunity to have more one-on-one contact with your prospects and clients with very little time and effort. And, the more direct contact you have, the stronger the relationship you will develop with your clients.

3. Estimating
One of the biggest challenges for a growing contractor is developing estimates on a timely basis. The success of your business depends on your estimates being accurate and getting back to the client within a reasonable amount of time. The more punctual you are, the greater the level of trust you will establish with a client. A computerized estimating tool such as HomeTech ADVANTAGE will enable you to meet this challenge successfully. Your estimates will be accurate because the costs in HomeTech ADVANTAGE are specific to your region of the country. And, you will save time because the process is automated for you.

Technology Makes Project Management More Effective
As your business grows, chances are that you will be taking on larger projects as well. And, larger projects mean more complex project management. You will often be juggling several subcontractors as well as your own staff. The timing of work flow and deliveries will become critical to the timely completion of any job. This is when it becomes important to look at using a project management tool. When delays mean lost time and dollars, it will become more and more important to know your critical path to completion. Software is ideal for this type of planning. And, of course, timely completion of any job leads to higher profits for you and greater satisfaction on the part of your clients.

Roadblocks to Technology Usage
A recent survey of NARI members revealed that their two main reasons for not using technology more in their business were:

• A lack of time to learn how to use it
  and
• Budget constraints

It is a mistake to let either of these reasons stand in the way of implementing technological improvements in your business. You need to consider the long term. Once you learn how to use a new product, it will save you much more time than it will cost you to learn it. And, as far as the money goes, not investing in technology at the right time may actually cost you more than investing in it. If your business cannot function efficiently and consistently, lack of automation could be costing you money.

In future issues, we will help you to understand how to start looking at technology for your business and how to determine where to invest first.

Let us know how you liked this article and what else you’d like to learn about at feedback@hometechonline.com. These newsletters are for you, so we plan to listen and write about what you want to hear, but only if you tell us.

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