David Cerami, president of Let’s Face It, a cabinet refacing company in Fort Washington, Pa., needed a tool to manage company processes from start to finish. So he enlisted a computer-savvy friend to help him customize Microsoft Access, a database program.

“In this business, your biggest liability is your inability to accurately communicate information to vendors, employees, and installers,” Cerami says. So he and his friend added custom prompts in Access, which lead Let’s Face It staff through the sales and workflow processes. Cerami says this has all but eliminated mistakes and miscommunications.

Easy Access

Using Access helps Let’s Face It manage:

  • The initial call: When office staff answer the phone, an Access screen steps them through collecting the caller’s contact information, and prompts responses that match answers to a series of qualifying questions. For example, if the answer to “Are you familiar with cabinet refacing?” is no, then the employee is prompted to offer a brief explanation. The responder can also set an appointment based on a salesperson’s location and schedule.
  • Lead tracking/marketing: The initial screen also prompts office staff to ask the caller for a referral source during the first call. From this, Cerami can generate a report showing sales volume from each type of marketing and figure the closing percentage for each campaign to help focus his marketing budget. He can further break down the report based on cost per lead, cost per sale, and assigned salesperson.
  • Sales: For clients who want to see an example of their selection in person, salespeople can use the program to create a referral list of projects in the lead’s ZIP code, sorted by type of finish. This ensures that salespeople are armed with the information they need to close the sale, Cerami says.
  • Production: Once a project is sold, production staff use the program to follow a sequence of events that starts with taking measurements, and moves through ordering products and tracking installation. 

—Nina Patel, senior editor, REMODELING. More REMODELING articles about tech tools to help your business:

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