Abby Binder started her now wildly successful exterior remodeling company on a dare.
“I worked for my mom and my stepdad’s company for four years and decided I wanted to sell more higher-end quality, and he wanted to do more volume. He dared me to start my own company, so I did,” says Binder, CEO of Abby Windows.
Ever since that fateful day in 2010, her gamble has paid off—and it seems to be the driving force behind Binder’s rapid growth. Binder has built a business that exploded more than 80% from 2015 to 2016, from under $900,000 to $1.6 million. Revenues for 2017 are projected for $2.15 million. Over the past four years, she’s acquired two competitors, and has expanded from her original Milwaukee, Wis., base to a second location in Boston. She’s also grown from doing just windows to roofing and siding. In the next five years, she’s looking to add a third location.
Finding the Right Fit
Being daring is nothing new to Binder, who says she has gotten used to needing some bravado as a remodeler.
“Being a woman, you kind of have to know people are already going to challenge your knowledge and ability, so I had to be even better than everyone else,” she says. “I spent hours researching and learning about the competition and the products. Because when someone asked me a question, I had to be able to answer it right on the spot, a lot of times just to gain the husband’s trust.”
Binder didn’t let those trials hold her back. Instead, she was so confident in her remodeling know-how, she took it to a radio station with a male-dominated audience, a move she credits with her growing success. And just like her business, Binder has expanded that initial show with another program that targets a different demographic.
“It creates this trust and gives them an education about who we are, so by the time salespeople come to the door, they feel like they know me because I’m in their car or home already,” she says of both radio programs.
Binder recently took on another key employee: her sister-in-law, Caitlin McCabe, as the company systems director. McCabe is using her corporate marketing background to facilitate a combination of technology and people.
On the people side, Binder created a customer concierge position who communicates with clients through every stage of the project, including relaying customer challenges and feedback to the team and dropping off thank-you gifts upon completion.
“We want our customers to hear from us before they ever feel like they need to pick up the phone and ask where something or someone is,” Binder says. “Because eight to 10 weeks is a long time to wait once you’ve given a big payment for a big job. I just always wanted to be a little different than anyone else in the industry, and I felt this was one thing companies don’t do.”
This one little difference has turned about to be a big deal for Binder’s team and her customers. “We weren’t sure whether this job would produce any actual return on investment, but we were shocked at how we were able to turn challenging jobs around just by having a concierge to step in and help,” Binder says.
The customer concierge also encourages online reviews. “We know reviews online and in person from our happy customers affect our sales numbers, so it makes sense to make collecting these reviews a big part of [the concierge’s] job and not just something we hope satisfied customers will do on their own,” Binder says.
And you don’t just have to take her word for it. “I was extremely happy with the product, service, and professionalism,” wrote Dave Gibbons on GuildQuality. “I have been telling everyone I know about how great this whole process went.”
Making It Personal
Abby Windows wants to make sure customers feel just as great about the company’s use of technology. To that end, McCabe developed automated marketing, drip email campaigns, and other tech additions that are easy to use and still personal. It’s what Binder calls “automation with a personal touch.”
Binder applied that same philosophy to sales, both to increase productivity and create more of a team atmosphere. For example, realizing through job interviews that many salespeople feel out of touch with each other, Binder and company created Tuesday team calls that connect salespeople and encourage them to problem solve together.
To support ongoing internal communication, her team uses WhatsApp, a group text app that organizes conversation by topic and team, such as salespeople, jobs with questions, and customer service updates. Google Drive, another tech solution, uses cloud-based folders with all job documents, including before-and-after photos salespeople can pull up on their mobile device as needed rather than having to send messages back and forth to the office. And if clients want to know what’s happening with their project, another app tracks every stage of the job.
“We have been deliberately moving toward a working environment in which technology takes the work off our plates that is best done by technology and leaves more time in our day for the person-to-person relationships we know sell jobs and keep customers happy,” Binder says.
Binder plans to rely more heavily on technology, but still keep it personal. And even though she likes to take dares, she won’t grow the company more until she’s sure it’s ready. “The new radio market gave us a huge number of new leads, but it would have flopped had we not had new salespeople, new products, and a completely revamped way to address the customer service experience,” she says. “You don’t want to grow too big too fast.”
