HomeCraft Gutter Protection sets sales records with the power of Convoso's dialer solution
HomeCraft Gutter Protection’s call center fuels demo appointments and product sales in a dozen states and counting. Their recent switch to Convoso’s dialing platform is helping their team set records and deliver unbelievable growth.
Results after switching to Convoso
Up to 2X increase in conversion rate
Up to 2X in revenue
20X call volume increase
Drastic improvements in lead efficiency and speed to lead
Faster agent readiness and simplified training with dynamic scripting
Improved TCPA compliance support and caller ID reputation management
Manual dialing process leaves leads languishing
HomeCraft already had a best-in-class product. What they needed was to get more potential customers on the phone and then to demo that product during set appointments.
And with the number of leads HomeCraft had at their disposal, the dialer system built into their CRM software simply wasn’t cutting it. A cumbersome manual dialing process meant that their call center team couldn’t keep up with what Executive Vice President Aaron Culbertson describes as a “rat race” to set appointments. They needed to place a huge volume of calls and convert a huge volume of leads to feed their sales reps in the field—but that just wasn’t happening.
“The dialer that was built into that system wasn’t adequate. We just weren’t able to capitalize on leads. We would have leads that would sit there that hadn’t been touched in days—and that was only three or four days after the lead came in. They would get abandoned because we didn’t have the time or the ability to go back and redial them.”
Agent turnover stands in the way of growth goals
To make matters worse, dialer performance issues went hand-in-hand with personnel issues at HomeCraft. Culbertson says their call center was a constant revolving door, with high turnover creating headaches and morale issues—not to mention slowing down growth.
In order to continue expanding their in-demand business and open up a new office location, HomeCraft typically needed to hire about six to nine new call center agents. But the high turnover they were experiencing made it hard enough just to hold on to those agents they had. In addition, call center managers’ days were largely preoccupied with finding, hiring, and training new agents, rather than on strategic decisions that could fuel more growth. With all of that extra overhead, Culbertson and the rest of the HomeCraft leadership team knew something needed to change.
A “Dramatic” shift: Newfound dialer power leads to record-setting set rates
After a chance meeting with members of Convoso, HomeCraft soon made the switch. And it didn’t take long at all for the results to come in.
Culbertson says the first week working with the Convoso system brought a “dramatic” shift in results. Once the Convoso team helped them set up their campaigns, they were almost immediately doubling the number of conversions they made. Two things were particularly crucial in powering this instant turnaround: dialer power and caller ID reputation management.
With clean caller IDs—something HomeCraft struggled to maintain before—the Convoso predictive dialer was able to quickly penetrate those large lists that included many dormant leads, bringing leads back to life from what Culbertson laughingly calls the “lead cemetery.”
“We had leads that were sitting there for a year or two years. When we were able to dump them into Convoso and start calling, we joked and said, ‘There’s no way these people are going to answer the phone.” Well, they did! We were able to set some of those leads. We would never have been able to touch those if we didn’t have the Convoso system.”
“We’re now placing 20 to 30,000 calls a day, no problem, with the Convoso system. Our ability to call those leads more frequently and connect more frequently is absolutely phenomenal. It’s changed our business.”
Speed to lead puts HomeCraft out in front
Convoso’s industry-leading dialer power isn’t just helping HomeCraft get to more of their leads—it’s helping them get to leads faster, something that’s crucial in an industry filled with several close competitors.
Before switching to Convoso, Culbertson says his team would test their competitors’ response times. They would fill out a form online and their phones would be ringing within just 10 seconds. However, with their manual dialing system, the fastest they were able to get a lead on the phone was two or three minutes.
Thanks to Convoso’s simplified lead management tools and powerful dialer, HomeCraft knows that their warmest leads can receive highest priority and be called or texted automatically, within just seconds of hitting the hopper. Culbertson credits this new speed to lead with helping them catch up to their competition and drive almost double the revenue they were before using Convoso.
“People don’t show up [to appointments] when you’re either the fourth or fifth person to set an appointment with them. [In a highly competitive space], the thing that makes us memorable is making that contact and getting out there first. Convoso has definitely helped us as far as that speed to lead. We’ve been able to respond to a lead immediately.”
Agents following proven sales scripts and compliance language
The Convoso call center software system is also helping support HomeCraft’s agents once they’re on the phone. Utilizing the platform’s dynamic scripting tool helps steer them toward a conversion with better outbound call flow scripts. Culbertson says they love this feature in particular: “You will have agents that want to go off script or think that their way is better. The best part about it is we have the ability to set the script the way we want, and if they follow that, then they’ll be great.”
New agents onboard faster
The benefit of dynamic scripting for Culbertson and his team goes beyond setting agents up with top-performing sales language. Compliance support was a big draw of the Convoso system for HomeCraft, and with the dynamic scripting software, they’ve able to incorporate TCPA-compliant language into their scripts.
What came as a surprise, however, was how much dynamic scripting has helped them onboard agents and get them into the action. With the script always there, guiding them through conversations in real time, agents can overcome initial nerves more quickly—and save managers’ precious time.
“Convoso’s dynamic scripting allows our trainers to train and develop agents because the foundation is already in place for them when they sit down. Dynamic scripting is so important for a new agent. You’re able to get your agents out there—behind the desk, with the headset, making calls—faster. It’s great.”
Focusing on people to drive company growth
With the turnaround on productivity for their home services call center operations, Aaron says they don’t have to hire as many call agents in order to be successful, and to open up more offices.
“Now, we have the ability to take our call center agents and spend more individualized time with them, and develop them, as opposed to a constant revolving door, which is exhausting and can be a morale challenge to the call center managers. We’re super excited about the fact that now we can grow and not have that kind of overhead.”
Switch to Convoso empowers HomeCraft to do much more with less
Partnering with Convoso has ushered in a new era at HomeCraft. And the secret to their success is that their team is able to do what they do much more efficiently. They’re penetrating through their lists more quickly and setting more appointments while needing fewer leads to do so. And they’re growing their business while relying on a smaller, core group of call center agents.
All this efficiency has affected the way HomeCraft does business, from top to bottom. Managers are able to spend not just more time, but more individualized time, developing the agents they have and fueling more success down the road.
Underlying all this improvement, Culbertson says, is their new relationship with Convoso and a support team that really stands out. Asked to single out his favorite aspect of their switch to Convoso, Culbertson says it’s not actually the dialer or the performance gains—it’s the partnership they’ve found with their dedicated support team. Past dialers, Mojo and Bitrix, were “never there for us,” says Culbertson. “[With Convoso,] the support is phenomenal. They’re so attentive and cared so much. That, to us, was just reaffirming that we made the right call.”
“Convoso has put all of our people in a power position to win—to win the customer, to win the lead, to win the deal. Just all around winning. That was what was so key to us and the reason we made the switch: We needed that partner that was going to help us win.”