Gerry Charm School - Small Things

The small things make a big difference. 

How do you answer the phone when a customer calls?  How quickly do you get back to a customer?  Do you call because you need to?  Or do you sometimes call just because?  So much of customers service is the approach...and that is what Gerry and I sat on the front steps of Dawn & Jeff's house the other day discussing.  What are the small things you can do so that our customers know how much they mean to us? 

1. Call back right away!  The days of "I'll return your message within 24 hours" are over.  It's ok if you don't have the answer, it's ok if you don't have a lot of time.  But it's not ok to put customers off.  Give them a quick call to let them know you care.  One day, I need to write up the story of how I learned this lesson the hard way...Mr Bothika, thank you.  Kurt Burger, thanks for not firing me. 
2. Enter ALL customers as contacts in your phone.  Seriously.  If I don't have someone loaded in my phone as a contact, I won't call them.  Take 30 seconds and do it now.  Make it easy on yourself to be a good communicator.  And when your customer calls, answer the phone by saying hello to them, "Alicia, great to hear from you!  How can I help you?"
3. Call for no reason.  This is one of my favorites.  Once all your customers are on speed dial, it's easy to give them a quick call when walking through their home under construction.  How fun is it to share the excitement of their granite tops that were just installed that day?  Share the joy with them as it happens with a quick call. 
4. Mix it up.  Call, text, email, facebook...get to know each customer and how they like to communicate...and then do it.  We are all different.  Respect that. 

Gerry - You are a fantastic student!  Alaina, Kathie, and I have loved working with you on this project.  Next, we'd love to hear from you.  Does any of this help?

I'm going to Back to School!

"Esta Suzanna in casa?"

"Si, esta con un amiga"

"Donde esta en la sala?"

"No, en la cocina"

This is what I remember for my 1st Spanish class back in...well...we don't need to go there!

I've decided my Back to School this fall is to relearn all the Spanish that I've forgotten over the past 30+ years since that first day in middle school. Ok stop adding now :).

Then I got an iPhone (remember I'm the technologically-challenged one of the group). I may need to go Back to School in order to really learn how to use this very cool phone and since my son is now at college (my favorite go-to IT guy), I can't ask him for help. So I have signed up to take an iPhone beginner class at our local Realtor Association this week and then a intermediate class in September. So watch out all you iPhone masters-I am going to blow you away with all that I learn...can't wait to share!

First Mastering the iPhone- Spanish is next!

Until then, Adios Amigos!

Back to (Grad) School

So a few weeks ago Jim Garman calls me and tells me we're gonna shift things around a little. And by a little he means a lot. But it's all good. It's an all good shift. I'll tell you all about it but in the meantime I need to give you some quick historical context...

Garman Homes History lesson slash Behind the Scenes Building Industry Knowledge: most builders of our size (40ish homes per year) do not have their own sales team (sales team that is comprised of actual employees of the builder).

Then how, pray tell, do they go about the business of actually selling their homes you might ask?

Typically they hire a 'builder marketing company' which staffs their neighborhoods with realtors who are independent contractors. Have you ever seen a sign for a builder that says, So-and-So-Builder and then in little letters underneath it says 'marketed by xyz marketing company'? If you haven't noticed it yet I can guarantee you'll notice it now.

Anyway, I had to give you that context so I could tell you about the shift. The shift was that we're going to do something we've never done before...we're going to conform to the norm. YIKES, right? Well, not really, it just makes good sense. Good sense is also something we're not really known for-but not in a bad way-more in a way that makes good sense to us but maybe not to our competitors. I digress...what Jim called to tell me was that it was time for Garman Homes to be marketed by Go Builder. Basically, we're extracting our sales team (me included) and shifting everyone over to being independent contractors of Go Builder. And for me that meant going from being the sales manager of just Garman Homes to being the sales manager for Go Builder, Garman Homes and other to-be-named builders. All together now, YIKES!

I was equal parts excited and terrified as I digested this shift. Jim and I talked and talked and decided this shift, for me, was like going to grad school to be a Sales & Marketing Manager. After all, I was getting the opportunity to work with arguably the very best Sales & Marketing VPs in the local market and they were going to teach me how to be just like them. So excited. So terrified. But still all good.

I've been to grad school before (Go HEELS!) and I'm happy to be back in grad school again. I'm good with the shift. Stay tuned for changes to all of our signs and other cool stuff I come up with while I'm in grad school.

Gerry Charm School - Put Down the Phone!

Believe it or not, my husband thinks that the cell phone is the single worst invention known to man. I am not sure that I agree with him but I do feel that sometimes it can really be just a big pain the you know what.

So my mission, and yes I have chosen to accept it, is to give Gerry his charm school lesson on the art of knowing when to answer his cell. Gerry is always busy and his phone is constantly ringing. He is the guru of the iphone of which I am the challenged one! He stands there all cool with that thing on his ear, I believe it's called a Bluetooth or something like that-not a fan at all! You can be in mid sentence when he puts his finger up as if to say Shhh.... I got a call.

Of course I am usually totally cool with it..he is the man and things don't get done if he can't get his job done and if I was the one calling him I would certainly want him to answer. BUT there need to be limits. So what do I think?

Never answer a call when you are with a customer unless of course it pertains to them. I would love your undivided attention-what I am saying is critical to our success!

But of course if the call is from Jim Garman call-feel free to answer that one

Back to School - Garman Homes Style

Hi, I'm Jim...and I spend way too much money.  

Picture me sitting at a tiny desk as Mike Loiacono paces back and forth in front of a chalkboard, pausing his lectures occasionally to whack my knuckles with a ruler.  Picture me starting a journal in which I diligently journal ideas that could save our company money.  Picture a final exam page filled with questions about our overhead cost codes and budgets.  Ouch.  I have a lot to learn!  

Back to School is a movement at Garman Homes.  Back to School is our way of saying, "Hey, we aren't so good at some things, let's get better!"  Back to School is about owning our weaknesses...publicly.  

The entire Garman  Homes team is going Back to School.  Read about it here.  Follow our progress from  our first admission "Hi, my name is..." through our senior projects...like mine..."Controlling Overhead as a Percentage of Projected Revenue."  

Laugh with us.  Laugh at us.  But always know our intentions are solid gold.  We are tossing our egos aside and opening up to you.   Please give us the benefit of the doubt.