Over the past decade, we’ve had the wonderful opportunity to work with some of the best companies in the home building and construction industry. Here is a list of partners we are proud to work with!
Whenever possible, we love getting our team together to share some expert tips and advice about technology, sales, marketing, and preconstruction. View all our previous and upcoming webinars here.
These webinar recordings highlight the incredible new features our calendar integration brings to TopBuilder. We’ve decided to split these feature highlights between New Home Sales and Construction. You’ll find the recordings for both webinars below.
Construction Webinar | Recording
Discover our new Construction Scheduling Software.
TopBuilder is proud to announce our new Email & Calendar Integration!
In a nutshell, the new Email and Calendar integration connects your email and calendar to TopBuilder. Which means you can sync your Outlook, Google, and iCloud accounts to TopBuilder.
This new integration opens the door for all new scheduling capabilities for you and your team. Additionally, it helps improve your email delivery rates. I’ll explain more on that below.
–
What is the Email Connection?
The email connection means mass emails can be sent from your work or personal email. In other words, emails no longer have to be sent from TopBuilder “on behalf of” your company. Since they are being sent directly from you, it’ll say it’s coming from you. Based on recent tests, this has dramatically improved email open rates.
Now, this Email Connection can be used for:
Email Campaigns
Newsletter Campaigns
Individual Emails
Follow-Up & Automated Emails
Sending Quotes, Pricing, and Proposals
Internal Emails (Reminders & Alerts)
–
What is the Calendar Connection?
The calendar connection means calendar notifications can be sent directly to your calendar. In other words, due dates, appointments, and reminders can be added to your calendar from TopBuilder. This opens the door to all new scheduling capabilities that we’ll be refining throughout the next few months.
Currently, the Calendar Connection can be used for:
Task Due Dates
Bid Due Dates
Client Appointments
Newsletter & Email Reminders
Estimator Assignments
Project Manager Assignments
Crew Assignments
Note: We are launching the Email & Calendar Integration in phases. Right now, we do not have the ability to show calendar availability within TopBuilder. We are planning on having that capability in Phase Two. Phase Two is scheduled to be completed within the next 30 days.
–
How to get started:
Step One:
First, you need to register your Outlook, Google, or iCloud account with TopBuilder. This step will require you to input your email and password credentials to create the connection.
Step 1.1 – Go to the Setup menu; click Setup Email and Calendar Integration
Step 1.2 – From the list of registered accounts, click Register a New Account
Step 1.3 – Enter your Email Address
Step 1.4 – Enter your Outlook, Gmail, or other Account Password (TopBuilder auto-detects the account type from the email address you enter.)
Step Two:
Once connected, select your account preferences.
Additionally, you will select which calendar you wish to connect.
(You may have multiple Outlook calendars; make sure you select the correct one.)
Step Three:
Set your profile preferences and configure the items you wish to include on your calendar and which ones to ignore.
Step Four:
Next, register any additional shared accounts.
For example, you may want to send promotional emails from info@ or quotes from billing@. (Repeat Steps 1 and 2)
–
Final Step:
You are now connected!
Task reminders will now automatically appear on your calendar. Additionally, emails sent from authorized email accounts will be sent from you personal/work email.
You will know the connection is working because you will see the email in your Sent folder.
TopBuilder is proud to announce a successful migration to Amazon Web Services (AWS)!
The migration to AWS has resulted in new performance upgrades for TopBuilder and all of our software. You will notice considerable upgrades in the speed of our software and how quickly it can process your requests.
Additionally, the AWS hosting platform has all of the performance capabilities to grow with TopBuilder, which means you can expect optimal performance from TopBuilder and all of our software.
–
When did the upgrade occur?
The upgrade to AWS began Wednesday, July 22nd.
Since July 22nd, the TopBuilder Support Team has been working each day to continuously performance tune the system. The result of these numerous rounds of adjustments are minor performance upgrades to the system. These performance upgrades result in quicker response times and loading times for TopBuilder and all of our software.
–
Why did we make this change?
The TopBuilder Support Team planned on making the switch to AWS at the end of 2020.
However, we discovered our previous datacenter could not handle the increase of additional users. It became obvious our previous hosting provider was unable to grow with TopBuilder.
Once we came to this realization, our Support Team began the switch to AWS immediately.
–
What are next steps?
The TopBuilder Support Team will be continuously making performance adjustments over the next few weeks. Once these performance adjustments have been finalized, we’ll monitor and make adjustments to the system as required.
–
Have questions for our support staff?
If you have any questions or notice any bugs in our software, please email our support staff at support@topbuildersolutions.com. If you experience a serious issue with the software, please call our support staff at 855.806.6648.
It’s our desire to provide the best possible CRM experience to each and every user. The performance of our system is always a priority.
Thank you for celebrating another incredible milestone with TopBuilder!
TopBuilder is proud to announce our new Bid Calendar!
We’ve updated the Bid Calendar to help you properly assign each bid and act before it’s too late. In other words, the new calendar will help you easily track bid statuses, see who is working on each bid, and see when each bid is due.
With TopBuilder’s Bid Calendar and Bid Tracking, you can visualize all of your bids with an Outlook-style calendar. This calendar will help you easily track and assign bids all within one screen.
–
Bid Calendar Top Capabilities
Our new Bid Calendar is designed to streamline bid management and make sure no deadlines are missed. We’ve incorporated numerous capabilities to make this a reality.
Track bid due dates with an Outlook-style calendar.
Filter, sort, and search bids by job name, estimator, sales team, job type, and more.
Color coding indicates if a bid is unassigned.
Assign estimators directly to the job from the bid calendar.
Change bid due dates by dragging the job to another date/time.
Drill down into job/bid details with a simple menu command or a link to the lead.
View the bid calendar by month, week, work-week, timeline, and day.
–
How to Access the Bid Calendar
You can access the Bid Calendar by logging into your TopBuilder Dashboard. (Login Here)
Once you’ve logged into your TopBuilder Dashboard, look for the menu item Bids, Quotes, Proposals in the dark blue navigation menu, located at the top of the page.
Once you’ve scrolled over the Bids, Quotes, Proposals tab, you’ll see a drop-down appear. Look in this drop-down menu for the section title Bid Calendar.
Once you find the text Bid Calendar, use your mouse to click on that menu option. Once clicked, you’ll be taken directly to the new calendar.
–
Need additional training & support?
If you’re looking for additional support, please click on the Help Center tab located in the dark blue navigation menu at the top of the TopBuilder CRM.
Once clicked, you’ll be directed to the Help Center. Once you are in the Help Center, please click on the menu option How to Get Support in the dark blue menu at the top of the page.
From this page, you’ll find a variety of options to help you get the support you need.
How Quote Assemblies Help Home Builders - Quoting Software
Quote assemblies are the ultimate time-saver for new home builders.
To be more specific, quote assemblies help new home builders speed up the price agreement and contract portion of selling a new home. Quote assemblies do this by helping new home sales agents select a predefined bundle of options, quantities, and prices.
In other words, instead of having to price each item individually in a new home, you can select a predefined group of items. These groups or bundles can be entire home models, specific home upgrades, lot configuration options, and more.
For example, imagine a new home sales agent is attempting to build a price agreement with a new home buyer. The new home buyer has looked at a number of models and floor plans and loves Model A. Now, for the sales agent to build the price agreement, all they would have to do is click on the Model A quote assembly and it will pull all of the default items, quantities, and prices for that specific home.
Now, if the new home buyer wanted to upgrade the kitchen, the sales agent just needs to find and click on the kitchen upgrade bundle available for that home. It would automatically add that upgrade to the price agreement and adjust the price accordingly. Making the process to build and customize a price agreement an absolute breeze.
Below, we’ll explore how these quote assemblies work, how they benefit you, and how you can access it if you’re interested.
How Quote Assemblies Work
As mentioned above, quote assemblies are pre-defined groups of items. Once they’ve been built, they can quickly be added to future price agreements and contracts.
Quote assemblies quickly show future homeowners base prices, options, and upgrades.
It can show them these base prices, options, and upgrades for multiple things, such as models, plans, specific home upgrades, lot configurations, etc.
These tools are a great way to work with the future homeowner and explain what options are available and the impact they can have on pricing.
Additionally, these quote assemblies can include concessions. Making it easier to subtract specific items to help stay within a homeowner’s budget.
–
When they’ve been added to a quote, the quote assemblies will automatically add all of the items included in that group.
Additionally, this will come with preset quantities, display order in the price agreement, and standard pricing for those items.
–
More than one quote assembly can be added to a quote.
So, if you are building a home, you can select the base model assembly and add extra upgrade assemblies, like a kitchen upgrade or a bathroom upgrade with the click of a button.
–
Lastly, quote assemblies are organized and searchable by Job Type, Keyword (Description or Manufacturer Name), Division, Territory, and by Creator.
This helps you quickly find the quote assembly you need when you need it.
–
What are the top benefits?
Yes, time-saving is the top benefit of using quote assemblies.
Simply select the assembly, specify quantities, and adjust the pricing if needed.
–
It helps ensure all your items are included in a price agreement and contract.
When searching for each item individually, it can be easy to forget something. It’s a common mistake. However, with quoting assemblies, all of your default items will automatically be added. No more forgetting.
Additionally, it can make it easier to show each option and upgrade available.
–
Build consistency and reduce training time.
As mentioned above, mistakes can happen while developing price agreements. Bring in a few new employees and you’ve added even higher chances something will be quoted wrong.
With quote assemblies, new employees only have to click the right assembly. Once the assemblies been added, they only modify the quantities. This helps them build accurate price agreements without having to know what items come standard in each home or upgrade.
–
How you can gain access to quote assemblies.
TopBuilder’s Quoting Software is an added package to the TopBuilder CRM. You can add this package to your account by upgrading to our Enterprise level package or it can be added as an A La Carte item to your account.
If you’re interested in learning more, please speak with our Head of Sales & Partnerships, D’Lesa Medlin at (855) 806-6648 or by using her (Email). She will demonstrate how the quoting software can help your business specifically.
–
How Quote Assemblies Help Construction Companies - Quoting Software
Quoting assemblies help you build quotes quickly.
It speeds up the quoting process by letting you select a predefined group of quote items instead of having to select each quote item individually.
Without these quote assemblies, you would have to quote each item, quantity, and price individually. Even on smaller projects, this can lead to hours of work to quote one project.
Below, we’ll explore how these quote assemblies work, how they benefit you, and how you can access it if you are interested.
How Quote Assemblies Work
As mentioned above, quote assemblies are pre-defined groups of quote items. Once they’ve been built, they can be added quickly to future quotes.
When they’ve been added to a quote, the quote assemblies will automatically add all of the items included in that group.
Additionally, this will come with preset quantities, display order in the quote, and default pricing.
–
Additionally, more than one quote assembly can be added to a quote.
So, if you are building a home, you can select the base model assembly and add extra upgrade assemblies, like a kitchen upgrade or a bathroom upgrade.
–
Lastly, quote assemblies are organized and searchable by Job Type, Keyword (Description or Manufacturer Name), Division, Territory, and by Creator.
This helps you quickly find the quote assembly you need when you need it.
–
What are the top benefits?
Yes, time-saving is the top benefit of using quote assemblies.
Simply select the assembly, specify quantities, and adjust the pricing if needed.
–
It helps ensure all your items are included in a quote.
When searching for each item individually, it can be easy to forget something. It’s a common mistake. However, with quoting assemblies, all of your default items will automatically be added. No more forgetting.
–
Build consistency and reduce training time.
As mentioned above, mistakes can happen while developing quotes. Bring in a few new employees and you’ve added even higher chances something will be quoted wrong.
With quote assemblies, new employees only have to click the right assembly. Once the assemblies been added, they only modify the quantities. This helps them build accurate quotes without having to know what parts are used on every job.
–
How you can gain access to quote assemblies.
TopBuilder’s Quoting Software is an added package to the TopBuilder CRM. You can add this package to your account by upgrading to our Enterprise level package or it can be added as an A La Carte item to your account.
If you’re interested in learning more, please speak with our Head of Sales & Partnerships, D’Lesa Medlin at (855) 806-6648 or by using her (Email). She will demonstrate how the quoting software can help your business specifically.
–
If you’re in sales, you know how quickly a sales funnel can become cluttered.
There are multiple leads, in multiple stages of the sales funnel, and they’re all moving at their own pace. It only makes sense that sales funnel management can become difficult, especially if you have multiple sales representatives.
However, with the right reporting and analytics capabilities, effective sales funnel management can begin with one report, a Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report to be exact.
The team at TopBuilder is proud to announce our new Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report. A report to help you understand and manage the health of your sales program.
Who should use a Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report?
The Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report was built to help any team member understand the effectiveness of the business development program’s processes, procedures, and personnel.
In other words, if you’re part of the sales team, business development team, management team, and executive team – you’ll love this report.
–
What is the Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report?
In a nutshell, this report shows you where all of your leads are in the pipeline. By viewing this information, you’ll be able to see if there are trouble spots or issues with your sales and marketing programs.
In other words, you’ll be able to see the lead name, their current status, when they were created, and how long they’ve been in that status. This means, you’ll be able to immediately see if a lead is stuck or stalled in the sales funnel.
Once a stuck or stalled lead is found, you’ll have all of the information available to immediately address what’s slowing down your sales funnel. Giving you the necessary tools to maximize your sales programs.
–
How the Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report Works
As a lead moves through the pipeline, you’ll update the status in TopBuilder. Once a status has been updated:
TopBuilder will record the Date & Time of the status change.
TopBuilder will then record the Previous Status and the New Status.
TopBuilder will record which User made those changes.
This information will tell you and your team how long a lead is sitting in different stages of the sales funnel, helping you develop an accurate Aging Report.
–
Pro Tip:
It’s important your sales managers work with your sales teams to carefully plan each step in the sales funnel. Additionally, we recommend you set up policies to ensure the sales team moves each lead through the funnel in order and without skipping steps. This will help you build more accurate Life Cycle & Aging Reports.
–
How the Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report helps you
The information recorded for each lead and status change is used to generate a grid. In this grid, we’ll show the dates of each status change and how long a lead sits in that stage before moving to the next stage.
This information is useful for:
Gaining a clear picture of your pipeline.
You’ll be able to see how close each lead is to becoming a new customer.
–
Tracking new lead follow-up.
You’ll be able to see if new leads are sitting at the top of the funnel for too long. In other words, you’ll be able to see if new leads are getting proper follow-up attention.
–
Tracking follow-up effectiveness.
You’ll be able to easily spot which leads are stuck in sales funnel and which stages of the sales funnel are slow. Additionally, this will tell you if the members of your sales team have forgotten a prospect.
–
Monitoring marketing lead source effectiveness.
This will tell you which leads convert and which leads don’t. By reviewing this information, you’ll know exactly which marketing lead sources are sending you the best leads.
–
Identifying trouble areas in your sales programs.
In this report, you can filter your information by Sales Agent, Division, Lead, Job Type, and Lead Source. This can quickly show you what is preventing leads from progressing through your sales funnel.
Additionally, it gives you the information you need to build constructive corrective action with your sales personnel or divisions.
–
How You Can Access This Report:
The Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report can be found in two different locations. Regardless of the path you take, it’s the same report.
Location #1
Begin by visiting the TopBuilder CRM Dashboard. Once you are on the dashboard, look for the menu item Reports & Analytics in the dark blue navigation menu.
Once you’ve scrolled over the Reports & Analytics tab, you’ll see a drop-down menu appear. Look in this drop-down menu for the section title Advanced Analysis.
Underneath the section titled Advanced Analysis, you’ll find text that reads Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report. Once you find that text, use your mouse to click on that menu option. Once clicked, you’ll be taken directly to the Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report.
–
Location #2
Begin by visiting the TopBuilder CRM Dashboard. Once you are on the dashboard, look for the menu item CRM in the dark blue navigation menu.
Once you scroll over the menu item CRM, you’ll see a drop-down menu appear. Look in this drop-down menu to find the text that reads Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report. Once you find that text, use your mouse to click on that menu option. Once clicked, you’ll be taken directly to the Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report.
–
How You Can Edit This Report:
Once you’ve reached your Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report, you can edit the variables in that chart by clicking on the hamburger button in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. It’s located to the left of the TopBuilder logo.
Once clicked, the Settings panel will open. From here, you can select and edit all of the variables displayed in the report. Once you are done changing the filter options, click the Refresh button located at the top of the Settings panel or you can press Enter/Return on your keyboard.
By following this step, you’ll be able to edit and change your Lead Lifecycle & Aging Report to your liking.
Need additional training & support for this report?
If you’re looking for additional support, please click on the Help Center tab located in the dark blue navigation menu at the top of the TopBuilder CRM.
Once clicked, you’ll be directed to the Help Center. Once you are in the Help Center, please click on the menu option How to Get Support in the dark blue menu at the top of the page.
From this page, you’ll find a variety of options to help you get the support you need.
Electronic Signatures are now becoming a necessity in business.
Especially now that remote work is increasing, more documents are being sent digitally. This makes sense, sending documents digitally is convenient for both the sender and the receiver.
However, sending documents that require electronic signatures often comes at an expense, especially if you are working with a team. Additionally, this creates another software tool that your team has to learn and use.
Our team at TopBuilder wanted to simplify this process for you. Not only did we want to make it easier to store your documentation in one platform, but we also wanted to make it easier for you to win new projects. Developing an electronic signature option that was built into your CRM became our next objective.
How do Electronic Signatures work?
With electronic signature capabilities, the recipient of a quote can sign the document, initial each page, and/or add additional information, such as payment information.
Additionally, these capabilities are designed to work on any device, whether it be a desktop, tablet, or mobile phone. In other words, the recipient can use their computer mouse, their finger on a touch screen, or can even insert a scanned signature to the document.
–
How does Quote Tracking Work?
With our electronic signature capabilities, we wanted to give you insights into how the documents were being received. With this goal in mind, we developed Quote Tracking.
With quote tracking you’ll know:
When a quote has been sent.
When the quote email has been opened.
When the quote itself has been opened & reviewed.
When the quote has been accepted or declined.
These quote tracking capabilities can send you emails and text messages when each action is completed. That way you can stay informed on updates as they happen.
Additionally, we’ve created an option for recipients to specify a reason for declining a quote and the ability to add comments to your quote. That way you can record and track the reasons for a recipient accepting a quote or declining it. All of this information will appear in the tracking information generated for each quote.
–
Top Benefits of Having Electronic Signature & Tracking Capabilities
Save Time
Most documents are received, reviewed, and accepted/declined within one hour.
–
Increase Communication
All team members can see quote history and activity.
–
Collect More Insights
The quote decline reasoning is included in the won/loss report.
–
Increase Professionalism
The entire process is convenient and works flawlessly for your recipients.
–
Save Money
You don’t need to invest in an expensive third-party program.
–
How do you start using Electronic Signature & Tracking Capabilities?
Electronic signatures and quote tracking are automatically included in every quote you send. However, you can specify whether you wish to receive emails and/or text alerts when the quote is opened/reviewed or accepted/declined.
The tracking information for these quotes can be found on the Manage Quotes page, Lead Detail page, and the Quote Detail page.
–
Need access to our quoting software?
TopBuilder’s Quoting Software is an added package to the TopBuilder CRM. You can add this package to your account by upgrading to our Enterprise level package or it can be added as an A La Carte item to your account.
If you’re interested in learning more, please speak with our Head of Sales & Partnerships, D’Lesa Medlin at (855) 806-6648 or by using her (Email). She will demonstrate how the quoting software can help your business specifically.
Construction CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems are evolving and adapting. Now, more than ever, we are seeing the construction industry needing technology and software to increase efficiency, communication, and collaboration. Which is no surprise, especially with more office teams working from remote locations or from their homes.
Many Construction CRM software systems are designed to help you collect, organize, manage, and automate interactions with current and potential customers. However, we are seeing Construction Management Software evolve to offer preconstruction capabilities and project management capabilities too.
Due to this evolution, we’ve put together an all-in-one guide to help you understand who benefits from a Construction CRM, which features steps you can take to ensure you’re finding the best CRM for your construction company and construction projects.
Who benefits from a Construction CRM?
Due to their advanced features, Construction CRM systems can be used to help general contractors, specialty contractors, sub-contractors, and multi-discipline organizations.
Now, more than ever, TopBuilder’s Business Management Software is focused on increasing communication and collaboration for your entire company. For many construction companies, this opens a new dialogue between your project management department, your sales department, your marketing department, and your accounting department.
Even if you’re a small team, a Construction CRM can store valuable information that each department can access and use, even if it’s just you wearing multiple hats.
How a Construction CRM can help you.
At the heart of every CRM lives the ability to collect and store information.
What makes a CRM unique is what it’s capable of doing with that information. Unfortunately, not all Construction CRM systems are created equal. You’ll need to pay attention to your needs and make sure they align with whichever CRM system you’re evaluating.
At a minimum, your Construction CRM system should offer this core functionality.
The Best Construction CRM Software is Ideal for:
Lead Management
Sales Management
Contact Management
Contract Management
Construction Project Management
Sales Pipeline Management
Construction Businesses
Construction Professionals
Marketing Automation
Construction CRM Pre-construction Functionality:
Quoting Software
Without the proper tools, job quoting can be a headache. Not only is it time-consuming to build an accurate quote, but it can also be even harder to make it look professional.
A Construction CRM streamlines the quoting process and produces professionally designed quotes in minutes versus hours. It does this by letting you select predefined assemblies, prices, and quantities. Additionally, these quotes can include job photos, addendums, and custom branding, like your company logo.
If that wasn’t enough, construction quoting software includes the ability to send quotes directly to your customers without switching to a different program. The quoting software will then send you alerts when each quote is sent, opened, reviewed, and accepted.
Lastly, quoting software can include electronic signature capabilities. This software addition opens up the possibility to receive signatures for all of your documents, not just quotes.
Bid Management
By using bid tracking tools, your sales teams, project managers, and estimators can collaborate on bid opportunities coming into the company.
When a bid opportunity comes into your company, your sales teams, estimators, and project managers will receive an automatic alert. They’ll continue to receive automated notifications when bids are due and when critical tasks are completed, like an on-site inspection.
Bid management is even more effective for specialty contractors and subcontractors. Specialty contractors and subcontractors often submit multiple bids for the same job but don’t have a way to track all of the bids together under a single job. A good Construction CRM will help you capture, track, and report against jobs with multiple bids to different GCs.
This is a crucial tool for understanding which jobs and bids are in the pipeline, why they are being won, and why bids are being lost.
Bid Scoring
If you are a contractor, you will receive a lot of bid requests. Choosing which bids are likely to be awarded and which ones are likely to be profitable can be a challenge.
With a Construction CRM, you can expect to receive bid scoring. Bid scoring will help you prioritize and score each bid opportunity. It does this by looking at multiple variables, such as customer & job history, available labor, estimator & project manager performance, and customer payment & credit history.
Job Board
The job board is used to help construction companies coordinate their crews, equipment, vehicles, project managers, foreman, etc. to specific job sites. In other words, these tools are used to coordinate multiple moving parts and keep your projects from falling behind.
Additionally, the job board makes it easier to see where your job resources will be each day, week, and month. This helps you understand future labor requirements and schedules.
Lastly, since it’s connected to your CRM, you can quickly find job dates, addresses, and contact information for each job. By utilizing the job board software, you can increase your chances for projects to stay on schedule.
Construction CRM Sales Functionality:
CRM – Information Collection
Unlike mainstream CRM systems, Construction CRM systems need to track different information and use different terminology.
For example, a Construction CRM should track critical job information, such as job specifications, bid due dates & times, bid submitted dates & times, job site location, project documents, job start & end dates, customer details, labor requirements, and assigned project manager & estimator.
Email Integration
CRM software systems should automate sales activity and reduce the need for any manual data entry. One major way to reduce manual data entry is to have your CRM integrate with your email platform/application.
In other words, if you’re emailing a potential customer from Outlook, that conversation should automatically be uploaded under that contact’s history in the CRM. That way, each of your team members can see the email correspondence and know what has been said and by whom. There is nothing worse than having multiple team members responding to one person with different or conflicting messages.
Additionally, without this email integration, your team would be required to copy and paste each email into the CRM. We all know, that just isn’t possible during a busy workday.
Automated Workflows
Another crucial function of any CRM is its ability to automate tasks. These are commonly referred to as workflows.
For example, with a proper workflow, you can automate what happens when a new lead comes in through your website.
1. A potential buyer fills out a contact form for additional information on your website or third-party site. This interaction will immediately upload the lead’s contact information in your Construction CRM.
2. The CRM will note the lead source, and it’ll automatically assign a status.
3. The workflow will add this new lead to your business email list.
4. The potential buyer will receive an automated email notifying them that the form was completed correctly, and they’ll be contacted soon.
5. A notification is sent informing the team a contact form has been completed. This automated alert can be sent to one team member or multiple team members.
6. This new potential buyer is assigned to a sales representative or business development representative.
7. The sales representative or business development representative will then be sent task reminders to follow-up with the lead as soon as possible.
It certainly doesn’t have to stop with the last step. These workflows can grow as the need arises in your company. Ideally, you would build these workflows for numerous sales and marketing activities needed by your team.
Content Management/h4>
With content management software, you can store, categorize, and manage reusable content and templates.
This functionality has the potential to save you and your team hours each week by helping you and your team easily grab email templates, documents, FAQ responses, images, and more with the click of a button.
If you have multiple sales representatives, it can help reduce their time spent writing emails to commonly asked questions. Additionally, it ensures your team members are following the company’s communication standards.
Document Management & Storage
With document management and storage, you can keep all of your documentation in one place. In other words, you can assign your documentation to a job, lead, customer, contact, task, etc.
This helps you and your team coordinate which documentation has been completed and what hasn’t. Also, this isn’t limited to just documentation. Document management should store client documents, contracts, pricing agreements, change orders, job photos, etc.
Reports & Analytics
With the right sales and marketing reports, you can quickly measure the effectiveness of your sales and marketing activity. This can tell you how many leads have been added, how many appointments have been scheduled, and how many potential buyers have progressed through the sales process.
Powerful reports like these can tell you the health of your company at a glance and give you the information you need to make better business decisions. For example, a contractor can track RFQs, Bids Submitted, and Win/Loss trends by job type, lead source, and even division/territory.
Construction CRM Marketing Functionality:
Email Marketing
A Construction CRM would not be complete without an email marketing tool. This is important because you need to promote your company’s services at the right time to the right audience. Without an email marketing tool, this task can be cumbersome and time consuming for you and your team.
Construction companies and contractors commonly use email marketing tools to announce new promotions, services, events, and content to generate more traffic. This tool alone can significantly impact your company’s ability to push leads through the sales funnel or re-engage previous customers.
Lead Capture Tools
Lead capture tools are used to automatically add new leads to your Construction CRM. In other words, if someone completes a contact form on your website, your lead capture tools will automatically upload that new contact into your CRM. This feature commonly kicks off a new lead workflow to notify your team and send automated email responses to the new potential customer.
Customer Relations
TopBuilder’s CRM for construction firms offers the best CRM software solution for its customers. The project management tools and key features help construction firms streamline their business processes and manage customer data more effectively. As a result, construction firms can improve their customer relationships and deliver better project results.
How to find the best Construction CRM.
With any software purchase, we recommend you start by writing down your software needs, wants, budget, and timeframe for starting with your new Construction CRM system. These few details will likely be the first things your potential software provider will need to know. Lastly, it will help them customize the software demonstrations for you and your business.
Now, when you’re in your software demonstration, we recommend have a list of questions ready. Below are a few questions to help you get started. They aren’t the only questions you should ask, but it’ll get you going in the right direction.
What is the on-boarding process?
Each software provider will have its own unique on-boarding process. This process can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. The length of this onboarding process can change based on a variety of factors.
However, be cautious if the software provider expects you to do most of the work during this process. This can be a sign that the software provider is more hands-off with new customers, which can also be an indicator of a slow onboarding process. This is important to note because the longer it takes to learn the software, the longer it will take for you to see a positive return on your investment.
How is individual & company data protected?
A Construction CRM system will collect your company information and your customer’s information. With your software provider storing this much sensitive information, it’s important for you to know how your data is protected.
Additionally, it’s important for you to know how your data is backed-up in the event of a system failure. Be sure to ask:
How do you protect my data?
If there is a system failure, what would happen to my information?
Do you share information with any other business entities?
Do you sell information with any other business entities?
If you feel uncertain about any answers to these questions, you can ask for their privacy policy and their terms of service. This documentation should outline exactly what they can do with your information and data.
What are your training & support policies?
You and your team will need multiple training and support sessions to learn the new Construction CRM. It’s important the training and support system offered by your software provider is structured and documented.
This will help you and your team learn the system quickly, lower confusion, and increase technology adoption by your team. So, when you are evaluating a software provider’s training and support structure, be sure to ask:
How does my team receive the training they need to learn the software system?
Is this in-person, video conference, online courses, documentation?
When will the training be available to me and my team?
Is this daily, weekly, monthly training?
Which training comes at an expense to me?
You should receive some form of free training.
Additionally, be sure to ask them how they handle support tickets. Your new software provider should have a system built to handle critical issues, important issues, and moderate issues.
Again, these are just a few questions you should be asking when evaluating any construction software system. If you want to see our full list of recommended questions, you can access our free download here.
Final Comments
A Construction CRM system is a powerful software system. A software system that has grown to help your management teams, marketing teams, and sales teams.
If you’re actively looking for a Construction CRM, use this article to help you document which features are critical to you and your construction business.
Again, the goal of any Construction CRM is to help your business win the right projects and avoid the wrong ones. Actively look for features that help you collect, nurture, and convert opportunities into high margin projects.
If you’re looking for a software system to utilizes all of the features listed above, we invite you to explore our Construction CRM system. You can review TopBuilder’s software by going here.
A Home Builder CRM is a software system that organizes, manages, and automates home builder interactions with current and potential customers.
Like many other software tools, Home Builder CRM systems have changed drastically over time. Originally, many of these CRM software systems focused primarily on streamlining the sales process.
However, as the industry continues to evolve, so have the capabilities of CRM systems everywhere. Home Builder CRM systems were no exception and now focus heavily on managing online leads andoffering efficient marketing capabilities to help you sell more homes quickly.
–
Who benefits from a Home Builder CRM?
Shockingly, Home Builder CRM systems can help more than just home builders.
Due to their advanced features, Home Builder CRM systems can be used to help anyone involved in the sale of a home, includingnew home sales agents, REALTORS, Online Sales Counselors, developers, home builders, and more.Regardless of the title, Home Builder CRM systems are built to help new home sales.
For everyone in the industry, you know the difficulty of selling new homes quickly. It makes sense, each potential buyer is looking for a specific type of home, with specific amenities, within a certain community, and near the best school districts.
Without a Home Builder CRM, managing, tracking, and nurturing the large volume of online buyers and onsite visitors can be nearly impossible. So, if you’re looking for a software program to organize mountains of information, manage potential buyers, and help you sell more homes quickly, then a Home Builder CRM is designed for you.
–
How a Home Builder CRM can help you.
At the heart of every CRM lives the ability to collect and storeinformation.
What makes a CRM unique is what it’s capable of doing with that information. Unfortunately, not all Home Builder CRM systems are created equal. You’ll need to pay attention to your needs and make sure they align with whichever CRM system you’re evaluating.
At a minimum, your Home Builder CRM system should offer this core functionality.
Home Builder CRM Sales Functionality:
CRM
A Home Builder CRM should help you capture, organize, and access critical data from anywhere. If used properly by your team, collaboration can increase substantially because each member of your team is sharing critical information with one another.
In other words, information about potential home buyers, customers, partners, contractors, sub-contractors, price agreements, contracts, change orders, tasks, etc. are stored in one secure location.
–
Online Sales Counselor Tools
According to recent studies, over 90% of all real estate transactions start with an online search. When a customer contacts you, you must respond as quickly as possible, provide the information they’re looking for, and begin developing a relationship. If a customer doesn’t hear from you right away, and if you can’t address their needs, they’ll end up doing business with someone else.
A good Home Builder CRM provides all the tools an Online Sales program needs to capture, respond, nurture, and secure an appointment with a qualified onsite agent.
–
Email Integration
CRM software systems should automate sales activity and reduce the need for any manual data entry. One major way to reduce manual data entry is to have your CRM integrate with your email platform/application.
In other words, if you email a potential home buyer from Outlook, that conversation should automatically be uploaded under that contact’s history in the CRM. That way, each of your team members can see the email correspondence and know what has been said and by whom. There is nothing worse than having multiple team members responding to one person with different or conflicting messages.
Additionally, without this email integration, your team would be required to copy and paste each email into the CRM. We all know, that just isn’t possible during a busyworkday.
–
Automated Workflows
Another crucial function of any CRM is its ability to automate tasks. These are commonly referred to as workflows.
For example, with a proper workflow, you can automate what happens when a new lead comes in through your website.
–
1. A potential buyer fills out a contact form for additional information on your website or third-party site. This interaction will immediately upload the potential buyer’s contact informationin your Home Builder CRM.
2. The CRM willnote the lead source, and it’ll automatically assign a status.
3. The workflow will add this new lead to your business newsletter/email list.
4. The potential buyer will receive an automated email notifying them that the form was completed correctly, and they’ll be contacted soon.
5.A notification is sent informing the team a contact form has been completed. This automated alert can be sent to one team member or multiple team members.
6.This new potential buyer is assigned to a sales agent or new home counselor.
7.The sales agent or new home counselor will be sent task reminders to follow–up with the potential buyer.
–
It certainly doesn’t have to stop with the last step. These workflows can grow as the need arises in your company. Ideally, you would build these workflows for numerous sales and marketing activities needed by your team.
–
Content Management
With content management software, you can store, categorize, and manage reusable content and templates.
This functionality has the potential to save you and your team hours each week by helping you and your team easily grab email templates, documents, FAQ responses, images, and more with the click of a button.
If you have multiple sales agents, it can help reduce their time spent writing emails to commonly asked questions. Additionally, it ensures your team members are following the company’s communication standards.
Additionally, you can add these templates to your workflows. This feature helps if your team needs to complete documentation once a client has completed a critical step in the sales process. Simply build the workflow to send the document or checklist to the team member when they need to complete it.
–
Document Management & Storage
With document management and storage, you can keep all of your documentation in one place. In other words, you can assign your documentation to a job, lead, customer, contact, task, etc.
This helps you and your team coordinate which documentation has been completed and what hasn’t. Also, this isn’t limited to just documentation. Document management should store client documents, contracts, pricing agreements, change orders, home photos, home specs, community layouts, etc.
–
Reports & Analytics
As we all know, traffic is everything for selling new homes. Healthy traffic into your models and community leads to a steady flow of sales.
With the right sales and marketing reports, you can quickly measure the effectiveness of your sales and marketing activity. This can tell you how many online leads have been received, how many onsite visitors you had, and how many potential buyers have progressed through the sales process.
Powerful reports like these can tell you the health of your company at a glance and give you the information you need to make better business decisions.
Home Builder CRM Marketing Functionality:
Email Marketing
A Home Builder CRM would not be complete without an email marketing tool. This is important because you need to promote your inventory at the right time to the right audience. Without an email marketing tool, this task can be cumbersome and time consuming for you and your team.
Home builders commonly use email marketing tools to announce new homes, realtor events, open houses, grand openings, and community events to generate more traffic. This tool alone can significantly impact your company’s ability to push leads through the sales funnel. Without a consistent email marketing schedule, it’s easy for a potential buyer to forget about your community.
–
Newsletter Package
Newsletter functionality is similar to email marketing. However, there are a few slight differences we wanted to emphasize.
A newsletter feature is commonly a monthly mass email sent to your potential buyers. This monthly email is used to update prospects on new inventory, completed specs, new lots, new pricing, and helpful content.
This newsletter functionality is a great way to keep your company and community top of mind to all of your prospects.
–
Lead Capture Tools
Lead capture tools are used to automatically add new leads to your Home Builder CRM. In other words, if someone completes a contact form on your website or a third-party source, your lead capture tools will automatically upload that new contact into your CRM.
This feature commonly kicks off a new lead workflow to notify your team and send automated email responses to the new potential home buyer.
Additionally, these tools commonly integrate with popular third-party resources. For home builders, these tools can help you collect, organize, and manage leads from online platforms such as Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, BDX (New Home Source), and many more.
–
Website Tracking
Website tracking features are used to help you and your team know which potential buyers are returning to your website.
Once a potential home buyer has filled out a contact form, you can follow their activity on your website. This functionality can tell you which pages they’ve visited, how much time they’ve spent on those pages, and which content interests them the most.
This functionality also has the ability to notify you when key prospects are visiting your website. Giving your sales agents an insight into who’s the most interested and who they should be contacting.
Home Builder Pre-construction Functionality:
Pricing & Contracts
Pricing & contracts functionality helps your company build professional price agreements, contracts, and change orders.
This feature has the ability to drastically increase your productivity and efficiency because you can duplicate documentation for similar homes in your community.
Have a potential buyer that wants to replicate a model home but add their own upgrades? No problem, simply select that specific model, add the adjustments, add the quantity, add in the additional work hours, and you’re done.
Once the price agreement has been complete, you can send it to the client for an electronic signature. Once sent to the client, your Home Builder CRM will notify you when the potential buyer opens the document and when it’s been signed.
How to find the best Home Builder CRM.
We recommend you start by documenting your company’s needs, what you’re trying to accomplish, the software budget, and the timeframe for implementation. These are commonly the first details a software provider will need to know.
Now, we recommend you have a few questions of your own when speaking to a sales representative. These aren’t the only questions you should ask, but they’ll get you going in the right direction.
–
What is the set-up or on-boarding process?
Each company has its own unique on-boarding process. The onboarding processes can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Be cautious if the software provider expects you to do most of the work, this could be an indicator of a slow onboarding process.
–
How is my individual and company data protected?
Every Home Builder CRM will collect information and data about you and your contacts. It’s important for you to know how your data is protected in the event of a system failure.
Additionally, it’s important to blatantly ask if they share or sell your information. If you feel uncertain about their answer, you can always ask for their privacy policy and terms of services. This documentation should outline exactly what they can do with your information and data.
–
What are your training and support policies?
You and your team will need to learn the new Home Builder CRM and its features. This can take months, especially if you’re a growing company adding new employees.
It’s important to note how they offer training, when training is available, and which training comes to you at an expense.
Additionally, be sure to ask them how they handle support tickets. The software provider should have a documented system in place for critical issues, important issues, and moderate issues.
Again, these are just a few questions you should be asking when evaluating any construction software system. If you want to see our full list of recommended questions, you can access our free download here.
–
Final Comments
A Home Builder CRM is an incredible software system. It offers multiple features to help your sales teams, marketing teams, and project management teams.
If you’re actively looking for a Home Builder CRM, use this article to help you document which features are critical to your business.
Again, the goal of any Home Builder CRM is to increase new home sales. Actively look for features that help you collect, nurture, and convert prospects into new home buyers.
If you’re looking for a software system to utilizes all of the features listed above, we invite you to explore our Home Builder CRM system. You can review TopBuilder’s software by going here.
