A CRM for construction companies

The construction sector is today more competitive than ever, both in acquiring clients and in managing human resources. However, employees are missing, and prices are not always in line. How can a CRM for construction companies help you in such a complex market?

By helping entrepreneurs become more efficient.

Clients AND employees want to work with a solid and well-organized company. It makes sense. The effective use of a CRM will help a construction company optimize its work methods, be more proactive, and most importantly, have 90% of the important information in one place.

If you have no idea what a CRM is and what it does, I invite you to read the article Why use CRMs in business.

A CRM to better calculate your profit

We implemented the Pipedrive CRM for a small construction company specialized in urethane and cellulose insulation. Before our intervention, quotes were done on paper, as were invoices. Often, the quotes were lost along with the spreadsheets.

Thanks to the Pipedrive CRM, the company now makes quotes right from the CRM in just a few minutes using an iPad. Information becomes accessible anywhere since it is in the cloud.

Since we have entered the prices into the CRM, both the "sellers" and the "costs," we can know in advance, before the work, the supposed profit margin of the contracts. At the end of each day, the foremen enter the work hours of the teams into the software, and the final calculation is done automatically.

Every day, our client can now see the time spent on each site and the gross profit! Not only does all this take less time than before, but the decisions made by the entrepreneur can be much more precise.

Additionally, foremen have the ability to add extras directly from their iPad in just a few clicks and to add photos to the client file. They can then request approval from the boss before carrying out the extra work.

A CRM can not only help you calculate your profit but also provide access to all essential information in real time.

A CRM can help you manage your construction employees

In our time, there are digital tools for all imaginable needs… including “virtual” punches. These punches can be applications that your employees install on their phones. It is possible to integrate these punches into your CRM to know the onsite time in real time and to the minute. Thanks to these digital tools, a well-implemented CRM can help you manage your employees.

For another client, in the roofing field this time, we automated several tasks. For example, the evening before the work, employees receive a text message with the address of the job site. We also programmed a document to be signed for CNESST every week by all employees. This document, once signed, is archived in a folder, also in the cloud.

When an employee is late, gets injured, etc., you can also note it in your CRM. All the important information about your team can be found there!

A CRM for construction companies can help you better manage your employees.

How to use your CRM to increase your sales?

One of the keys to success in sales is to ensure that follow-ups are done correctly with clients. However, when you are on a construction site for long hours, sometimes energy can run low. That’s when your client follow-ups can easily slip. How to use your CRM in this case to increase your sales? By creating automations.

In a CRM for construction companies like Pipedrive, you can automate your follow-up tasks. For example, if you've made a quote, you can send an automated follow-up email 5 days later. You can even send text messages.

We also partner with call centers that help our clients better manage their customer relationships. Your "virtual seller" has specific access to your CRM and ensures that client follow-ups are done correctly.

If you have an assistant and/or salespeople, you could assign them the follow-up tasks that you don’t have the time to handle.

Like on Facebook, these people will receive a notification with the task details. The other day, I wrote a post on Facebook that really illuminated some entrepreneurs, here it is:

How to become the next "AirBNB" in your field in just one year?

If you look at the companies that have experienced the fastest growth in recent years, you will notice that they all have one thing in common:

They collect and use their clients' and users' data to the maximum.

AirBnb, Facebook, LinkedIn, Discount Travel, Uber, TripAdvisor, AirMiles, Visa…

Today, AirBNB is worth 12 times more than the largest hotel chain in the world! Yet in 2011, AirBNB was practically worthless.

Here’s how to do it if you want to become a major player in your industry: you too must collect as much Data (Information) about your customers and make it profitable.

There is NO better way to make more money than by rendering profitable advertising and 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗔.

Let's take the roofing field as an example.

When you meet your client, you ask them for relevant information to create your quote, but a little more (it only takes 5 minutes):

• Their job?

• Did they have in mind to carry out any other renovations on their house in the future?

• Do they have a LinkedIn account?

Then, you can take photos of the exterior of their house. And note what you see out of 5.

Gutters, landscaping, paved driveway, windows, exterior cladding, chimney, air conditioning?

Now, what does it give you to have this information?

Imagine you have had 1000 clients over the last 5 years and you have documented everything well in your CRM.

You decide to offer an exterior cladding service.

• You filter in your CRM all your clients who had exterior cladding to redo and those who mentioned that they might want to redo it.

• You send an email to those clients to try to book a meeting. You offer $300 to everyone who refers you.

• You send an email to the other clients solely with the aim of getting referrals.

• You analyze those who opened the email but did not respond to your offer; you can call them or not, follow up by email or not.

Normally, 3% of people who open an email are buyers for nearly 100% of services offered. So from 1000 emails, you could get 30 quotes.

In the construction field, 33% is a good "closing" ratio. So you could directly get 10 contracts just with this method.

An exterior cladding job generally costs between $10,000 and $30,000.

Imagine, between $100,000 and $300,000 in value just with one "data" strategy.

To do that, you need a CRM, inbox me if you want to dominate your market!

If you are wondering how a CRM for construction companies can help you, I think you have your answer 🙂 These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Would you like to contact me to see the possibilities that technology can bring to your business? Send me an email!