Buildertrend spotlight: Customer Success with Scott Siegert

Show Notes

On this first Buildertrend Team Spotlight on The Building Code our very own VP of Customer Success, Scott Siegert, joins us to discuss exactly what a Customer Success Manager is responsible for and how important this team is for successful adoption of Buildertrend.

What is the Customer Success Team?

Simply put, our clients rely on the Buildertrend Customer Success (CS) team. After our Sales team signs up a new client, our CS team’s job is to onboard the client as soon as possible to ensure successful Buildertrend adoption and usage. This team provides ongoing support for our clients – available whenever the client has a question or needs a friendly reminder on how to use one of our features.

Our CS team is made up of over 120 employees and varying degrees of backgrounds and experiences. Many may think we hire people who have worked in the construction industry, but what we really look for are great communicators. While someone can learn about the Buildertrend software and the construction industry, it’s nearly impossible to learn how to be personable and engaging. Luckily, we find great communicators who are both personable and engaging, and they come to Buildertrend with backgrounds as chefs, teachers, firefighters, sales representatives … you name it! We hire people who want to be here and want to help our clients have a successful experience with Buildertrend.

The Life of a Customer Success Manager

After we hire a new Customer Success Manager (CSM), his or her first eight weeks are spent in our CSM Training Program. This is when the new CSM learns the ins and outs of the Buildertrend software, how to teach it to other people, and all about operational policies and industry knowledge. After this training period is over, the CSM ready to do his or her job and help our clients, no matter where they are located in the world or what type of work they do.

All About Scott

Since Scott’s team is (to be blunt) fairly massive, he relies a lot on delegation. He recognized a few years ago that he was directly managing too many people, which meant there wasn’t enough individual coaching time available. From this realization came an org change; one senior manager was promoted to dedicate his or her time to every group of 15 CSMs, and the whole team benefitted.

When it comes to Scott himself, here are a few fun facts:

  • His hobbies are “super boring” … golfing, hanging out with friends and family, snowboarding and skiing.
  • He loves to eat cheeseburgers and fries, steak and tacos. The best place to get a cheeseburger? Gibsons (in Chicago) or right here in Omaha at his own house!
  • Scott is a real fashionable guy. While he stays modest, many people here at Buildertrend wonder where he buys his clothes. He claims that he finds them online, specifically through Instagram ads … we guess we’ll believe him.

Give this episode a listen to learn more about Scott and our entire Customer Success team.

Beyond Build Construction Podcast Episode
Buildertrend Onsite Consulting
Buildertrend Customer Success Team
Feature Spotlight: Daily Logs – Podcast Episode
Scott Siegert on LinkedIn

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Transcript

Tom Houghton:

Youโ€™re listening to โ€œThe Building Code.โ€ Iโ€™m Tom Houghton.

Paul Wurth:

Iโ€™m Paul Wurth.

Tom Houghton:

Weโ€™re going to bring our guests on in just a second. But first, we want to talk about a new exciting education opportunity we have for our listeners.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. Iโ€™m very excited to announce a new version of Buildertrend University. So Buildertrend University, of course, is an event we have here at our headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, every month. Itโ€™s where 50 to 75 of our users come to Omaha, two-day conference, deep dive into the functionality of Buildertrend and really accelerate their usage. Itโ€™s been very, very popular. So, in October of 2019, October 3rd, we are taking it on the road.

Tom Houghton:

All right.

Paul Wurth:

So yeah, itโ€™s exciting. Weโ€™ll be safe.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. Safety first.

Paul Wurth:

Safety first getting down there. So weโ€™re doing our first BTU on the Road in Dallas, Texas. So for all you listeners within shouting or driving or flying distance to Dallas, we are going to do a one day event at Dallas, Texas. Itโ€™s about a third of the price.

Tom Houghton:

Hey, there you go.

Paul Wurth:

Thatโ€™s good. And so, weโ€™re bringing our whole crew down there. We are going to mirror what we do here. Weโ€™re combining it into one day. Thereโ€™s some really great events and some different speakers weโ€™re going to have there, but itโ€™s going to be all about same thing, accelerate your Buildertrend usage. Weโ€™re going to focus on the features to make sure youโ€™re using it to the best ability. Weโ€™re also going to focus on your account, make sure youโ€™re set up the right way for success.

Tom Houghton:

Thatโ€™s awesome. So one day, October 3rd, this year, Dallas, Texas.

Paul Wurth:

Yep. Registration is going to be opening very soon here.

Tom Houghton:

Theyโ€™ll just check on the Buildertrend University website, which is just buildertrendu.com.

Paul Wurth:

Itโ€™s buildertrendu.com/dallas, if you want to check that out. Thatโ€™s going to be live here today when youโ€™re listening to this episode and you can register there. So, more information on the website. You should be getting some information in an electronic mail as well.

Tom Houghton:

Awesome. Well, great. Check that out, and weโ€™ll dive in here with our guest. Today, we have a new segment.

Paul Wurth:

Spotlight. Segment spotlight.

Tom Houghton:

Segment spotlight weโ€™re calling the department spotlight.

Paul Wurth:

Right. Within Buildertrend HQ.

Tom Houghton:

Departments within Buildertrend.

Paul Wurth:

Right. Weโ€™re at Buildertrend HQ. Weโ€™ve got a very special guest, the one and only Scott Siegert, who is the VP of our customer success department.

Scott Siegert:

Thatโ€™s correct.

Paul Wurth:

Welcome, Scott.

Scott Siegert:

Thank you, guys. Appreciate you having me.

Tom Houghton:

Hey, Scott. How is it going?

Scott Siegert:

Itโ€™s going well.

Tom Houghton:

Great.

Paul Wurth:

Some might-

Scott Siegert:

Beautiful studio, by the way.

Tom Houghton:

Oh, thanks.

Paul Wurth:

Thank you. Producer Brooke, shout out. Itโ€™s been great. So, some might say what the heck is the department spotlight. Tom, what do you think? What were we thinking when we created this series?

Tom Houghton:

The idea behind it is just to focus on each of our main core departments, but we can also expand that to our ancillary departments as well.

Paul Wurth:

Right. The way we think about it here at Buildertrendโ€ฆ Again, for those who are new, weโ€™re based in Omaha, Nebraska. Weโ€™ve got close to 475 full-time employees in one building here. Itโ€™s broken up of three main departments, but there are supporting departments that are equally and even in some cases more important because they help us all out. But weโ€™re going to focus first on the three main departments. As the VP of sales and the VP of business development, my partner, Josh Kaiser, we were in the sales division, so weโ€™ll bring Josh on. We have Scott Siegert here. And then weโ€™ve got our entire engineering department that will talk about our engineering division. Makes sense?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. That sounds a great way to understand our business, but weโ€™re also going to apply this to your own business, so that way-

Paul Wurth:

Right. Exactly.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. So good takeaways.

Paul Wurth:

Because our listeners, as Brooke has told us, are clients, as well as our employees and friends of Buildertrend. So we thought people would like to know some of the inner workings.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, definitely.

Paul Wurth:

So we have Scott Siegert here.

Scott Siegert:

Thatโ€™s right.

Paul Wurth:

Scott, how would-

Scott Siegert:

Iโ€™m excited to be here guys.

Paul Wurth:

How would you define your department? What is customer success for people who have no idea?

Scott Siegert:

Our responsibility is a few basic things. The most important thing and the first thing that we are in charge of is when Paul and Joshโ€™s department signs up a new account, which weโ€™re fortunate they perform at a super high level and we get a lot of new customers in the door each day, our job is to take that hand off and onboard them so that those new customers can begin using our software as soon as possible so they can get value out of it. So that occupies a lot of what we do. In addition to that, we handle ongoing support. So if customers areโ€ฆ Whether theyโ€™ve been on the program for an hour or 13 years, if they have any questions at all, they contact us and we help them with their questions so they can maximize their usage of the program. So, in a nutshell, thatโ€™s what we do. We make sure they have a really exceptional experience, not only with our software, but also with our people.

Tom Houghton:

Awesome. Letโ€™s give a little bit more of a perspective, too, to the outside world. We talked about 475 employees. How many of those fall under your purview there in the customer success department?

Scott Siegert:

Currently, 121.

Tom Houghton:

Itโ€™s a big department.

Paul Wurth:

Itโ€™s a big department, a very important department. Scott alluded to our sales team. We rely heavily on their performance. We talk about it a lot because they do it at a very high level as well downstairs to give people comfort during the sales process. The biggest objection we get upstairs is, โ€œGreat. Buildertrend sounds amazing. Iโ€™m going to get a benefit from it, but I have no idea when and how Iโ€™m going to implement it.โ€ And so, we rely on what we refer to upstairs as the Buildertrend coaches and say, โ€œTheyโ€™re going to do a wonderful job onboarding you,โ€ and they do a very good job.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah. Thatโ€™s the majority of our department. So 121 people, but the majority is made up of our customer success managers or externally, we refer to them as coaches a lot. So thatโ€™s the backbone of our operation.

Tom Houghton:

And these people, they set the bar for the people at Buildertrend.

Scott Siegert:

Oh, even better. Even better.

Tom Houghton:

When I think about Buildertrend coaches, I think about people who are outgoing, people who are welcoming. They make you feel good to hang out with them, and I think that transfers to the clients through that communication they have, whether thatโ€™s just in an email or even over the phone. When you talk to these people, theyโ€™re genuinely welcoming people.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah, they definitely are. When we recruit and add people to our team weโ€™re focused on a number of things, but we want to make sure that theyโ€™re really dynamic when it comes to communicating both verbally and written because they have to handle obviously email, live chat, but most of their time spent on the phone. So if youโ€™re going to be on the phone a lot, talking to clients, we have to make sure that youโ€™re going to be fun to talk to and fun to interact with. We find people that want to be here and are really seeking the type of job that weโ€™re offering. Because like you said, Tom, I think that shows through.

Tom Houghton:

Definitely. And these people are also on the front. Some of the stats that your department puts up, theyโ€™re just staggering. Can we talk about a little bitโ€ฆ Give me a few stats that these folks are doing every day.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah. Well, when I was walking in here, actually I walked past our leaderboard. So we do keep track of our department KPIs, our individual top performers, obviously with stats that the business would care about, but we also track metrics for effort stats. When I was walking in here, our board for the day just got updated. One of our second shift reps who covers Australia, New Zealand, he spent seven hours and 52 minutes on the phone yesterday.

Tom Houghton:

Incredible.

Scott Siegert:

So shout out to Mike Ebeling.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, thatโ€™s amazing. Thatโ€™s actually a good transition, too, to talk about. Weโ€™re not just supporting mainland U.S. here. We have companies that use our software in over how many now? I think itโ€™s over 80 now.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah. The vast majority is United States, Canada, but about 10% and growing is Australia, New Zealand. So, we have a second shift for that, which we had a customer on from, I believe, Sydney, Australia.

Tom Houghton:

Thatโ€™s correct. Yeah. Beyond build.

Paul Wurth:

Beyond build, great people.

Tom Houghton:

Great people.

Paul Wurth:

So a question we often get, and you probably do too, when we meet our clients face-to-face at trade shows or Buildertrend Universities we have every month is, are all your builders and coaches from the construction world?

Scott Siegert:

Theyโ€™re not.

Paul Wurth:

Thatโ€™s not a requirement, right?

Scott Siegert:

Itโ€™s not a requirement. It definitely is helpful in terms of anytime you start a new job, if you have familiarity with the industry, of course, thatโ€™s helpful, but we have a handful of people that spent time in that world, but most of them came from some type of professional background where they had to communicate at a high level and solve problems on a regular basis. Weโ€™ve had people join our team that were chefs, firefighters, cops, teachers, coaches, traditional marketing or sales backgrounds. We do have people from the construction world and in really everything in between. But the recurring theme is when weโ€™re interviewing people in recruiting for our department, we want people that can problems, have good critical thinking skills and communicate really well.

Paul Wurth:

And you bridged that construction gap with a pretty rigorous onboarding and training session for your team.

Scott Siegert:

Right. Yeah. Itโ€™s about eight weeks. Actually, itโ€™s exactly eight weeks. Itโ€™s managed by Nick Pitsch, who has been working here for approaching six years. He was a CSM for a long time. He was our first ever CSM. When I say CSM, I mean customer success manager. Heโ€™s the first one that managed that second shift, but heโ€™s got an eight week curriculum, and the very first piece of that curriculum is to teach our new CSMs about the industry and just teach them who our customers are, what types of contractors we work with, how the lingo that they use, how they run their jobs, the types of solutions theyโ€™re looking for when they sign up. Of course, we cover everything about the software.

Scott Siegert:

So we teach them the software at a very granular level. We teach them how to onboard clients, things that might be less interesting for our podcast audience, but our operational policies, stuff like that. So, itโ€™s pretty comprehensive. By the time theyโ€™re finished up with that eight-week program, theyโ€™re essentially ready to do the job. Of course, the longer you do something, the more proficient you get with it, but Nick does a tremendous job with it.

Paul Wurth:

In a way, inside our construction vertical, they almost become business consultants-

Scott Siegert:

They really do.

Paul Wurth:

โ€ฆ as much as anything else, because a lot of the reason why construction companies will come to Buildertrend is not just for the features, but for the organization, the features weโ€™re going to give them and helping advance their business. Thatโ€™s the world of a Buildertrend coach. The great thing is they have so many examples from all over the United States, Canada. They meet different types of builders, different companies that are in different stages of their company career. So they have a wealth of knowledge.

Scott Siegert:

Thatโ€™s right. Yeah. The beauty is just about everybody of that 121 person department that I mentioned, nearly all of them, except for a few specialties, at some point was a customer success manager at Buildertrend, including the entire management team on our floor. So if somebody is maybe new to our team, while they may not have been here for a really long time yet, they are literally surrounded by people that have experience with the job, and to Paulโ€™s point, have had some type of unique experience with a contractor in terms of them having a specific business requirement that they can tap into those resources. So thereโ€™s a lot of opportunity for people to just look around and find someone that has experienced the type of solution that the contractor is looking for. We also really, I think, do a good job when somebody signs up of setting up a consultation call to figure out why they signed up, what type of operational deficiencies does that company have. And then weโ€™re going to figure out and tailor our training approach to help them solve those deficiencies with Buildertrend as soon as possible.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, thatโ€™s an important point. Itโ€™s not a one size fit, because we talked about a lot of this on the podcast. We serve four main segments, but thereโ€™s a ton of other types of segments in construction outside of that. So weโ€™re not going to train a new home builder the same way we would train especially contractor or remodeling company, or even a light commercial company, right?

Scott Siegert:

Right. Exactly. Thatโ€™s important.

Paul Wurth:

The other cool thing, I mentioned consultants, thatโ€™s actually why we spun up a new pro service six months ago under our additional training, which is onsite consulting. And so, right now, we have four full-time onsite consultants that will come to our clientโ€™s businesses. We say BTU as you come to us and onsite consultants, we come to you. So this is two days totally customized training in your own environment. And those people are plucked from the CS floor, right?

Scott Siegert:

They are. Yeah, all four of them were very successful CSMs. Like Paul said, weโ€™re six months in now. Itโ€™s going tremendously well. Theyโ€™re getting booked up. Oftentimes, weโ€™re booked up almost two months in advance. So they constantly travel. Theyโ€™re typically back in the office one day per week to handle follow-ups and prep for whatever trips they have coming up the next week, of course get updated on whatever features have been published. So as our customers know, we have new features all the time. So theyโ€™ll swing back in and make sure that theyโ€™re caught up on all that stuff so they can coach it moving forward. But yeah, theyโ€™re very great at it.

Scott Siegert:

Like you mentioned, weโ€™ve got three options for education, the included unlimited training and support that we offer, which we think is great. You can come visit us and weโ€™d love to have you do it at BTU, if you want to get away from your business to work on your business for a couple of days. And then if you want us to come to you and deep dive into your operation for a couple of days, weโ€™ve got highly experienced CSMs or former CSMs that we can send out and theyโ€™re ready to go.

Paul Wurth:

Check out the show notes for more information on onsite consultant, if youโ€™re interested.

Scott Siegert:

I was wondering when you guys would mention show notes for the first time. That seems to be a popular topic. Great.

Paul Wurth:

Oh, so youโ€™re a listener.

Scott Siegert:

Iโ€™m an avid listener.

Paul Wurth:

Thatโ€™s great.

Scott Siegert:

I was talking to Brooke, our producer, right before we started. I think thereโ€™s one episode I havenโ€™t heard yet, but I look forward to listening to it tonight.

Paul Wurth:

Itโ€™s probably the one I wasnโ€™t on, right?

Scott Siegert:

Yeah.

Tom Houghton:

But youโ€™ve been on all of them.

Scott Siegert:

Well, I assume that you werenโ€™t on it because it wasnโ€™t in the preview notes, so I didnโ€™t listen to it. Thatโ€™s why.

Tom Houghton:

Oh, there you go.

Paul Wurth:

Well, weโ€™ll talk at the end about Scott, but talk about maybe how you got to Buildertrend, some early days. People really love the early days of Buildertrend.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah. Well, I started at the same time as Mike Dukich, whoโ€™s still with us and it depends on which one of us you ask. But now, when Mike and I started, we wereโ€ฆ Paul Wurth, yourself, obviously, and then Alex Suarez, one of our sales reps, were the two employees besides the three co-founders. So Mike and I were the first five.

Tom Houghton:

Letโ€™s talk about customer success. What makes us different than the next company? What sets our customer success department apart?

Scott Siegert:

When we hire people, actually, even when we recruit people, I want to make sure and our management team that interviews and recruits wants to make sure that that candidates that are considering joining our team understand that weโ€™re not just a support department. Thatโ€™s only one piece of what we do. I do think that a lot of our contemporaries probably just speak to it in terms of support. So when weโ€™re talking to people that want to build a career here, we explained to them that itโ€™s really three basic jobs or responsibilities. One is supporting people, which is reactive. Itโ€™s just if they have a question, you answer it and thatโ€™s obviously important. But the other two pieces weโ€™ve touched on already, but you need to really be able to sell or communicate value. So we think that thereโ€™s a sales component to the job.

Scott Siegert:

In addition to that, Paul referenced consulting already. You have to be a consultant, and I think thatโ€™s the most important part. If you want to be good at helping our contractors and our customers onboard the software and get it ingrained into their operation, you really have to think like you are a non-equity partner in their business, and thatโ€™s what we want out of our reps. Our best CSMs, theyโ€™re all great, but the ones that perform at the highest level, theyโ€™re the ones that are really able to put that consultant cap on each day when they walk in and really roll their sleeves up and solve problems for our customers and coach best practices for their business. I know on an earlier podcast that best practices is subjective. It depends on who youโ€™re talking to, but we have things for each feature on our software that we know maximize your potential to be successful with it, and we try to coach that.

Tom Houghton:

Awesome.

Paul Wurth:

Letโ€™s say you are a client of Buildertrend or a construction company listening to this podcast, are there any things that youโ€™ve learnedโ€ฆ Obviously, software and construction, theyโ€™re two different vertical markets, but what have you learned as being at the VP of customer success that maybe a small business in construction could take to their business in terms of how they do customer service?

Scott Siegert:

Well, I think that the first thing you have to understand is figure out what specific solution your customer is looking for. I guess to relate it, this might be over simplifying it, but when somebody signs up, we donโ€™t just assume that we know exactly how they want to use our platform and we donโ€™t assume that we know exactly which features they want to use. We try to pre-qualify that and figure out exactly what solution theyโ€™re looking for and what experience theyโ€™re looking for. I suppose that would relate to the construction world. If youโ€™re going into a prospectโ€™s house to talk about a kitchen remodel, listening to them is really, really important.

Scott Siegert:

So I suppose to summarize it with one word, itโ€™d be listen to the prospect or the customer and figure out what they want instead of telling them. Now, there are times when if you know that youโ€™ve got a solution for them and you need to communicate that, that youโ€™ll want to be a little more proactive with telling them about it. But early on, you just have to listen and figure out what cues they give you to help you reverse engineer what theyโ€™re looking for.

Paul Wurth:

Iโ€™m sure your team also gets a lot of phone calls when somebody is probably in a frustrated state mentally. They may be taking that frustration out on somebody in your team. Are there any things you guys talk about on how to handle tough phone calls like that?

Scott Siegert:

Yeah. This is going to sound like Iโ€™m just framing this because of obviously a lot of our customers are probably listening to this, but I really do mean this, we really donโ€™t have very many people call us that are all that upset.

Paul Wurth:

Good.

Scott Siegert:

Our customers treat us really, really well. When we recruit new members of our team, I think a lot of people are a little, I donโ€™t know if tenet is the right word, but theyโ€™re a little nervous that theyโ€™re just going to be on angry phone calls all day long. Of course, some people are upset and thatโ€™s the nature of any type of job where youโ€™re communicating with people. But for the most part, we just let people know, never let your emotions get the best of you and donโ€™t involve emotion into your responses. Maybe most importantly, put yourself in the shoes of the individual. Theyโ€™re obviously upset for a reason. Theyโ€™re not mad at you, but something is triggering an emotional response from your customer, if in fact, thatโ€™s how theyโ€™re approaching you. Thatโ€™s when you might just put yourself in their shoes and try to figure out.

Scott Siegert:

Donโ€™t worry about the fact that theyโ€™re upset. Worry about trying to solve it for them and figure out what caused it because theyโ€™re contacting us for help and itโ€™s our job to help them. So I think just really, really taking emotion out of your approach to your response and trying to put yourself in their shoes to figure out what caused it. That also is something that would probably relate across industries.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, thatโ€™s what I was thinking.

Tom Houghton:

That was some good advice. Anytime youโ€™re in, maybe for lack of a better word, an argument with somebody itโ€™s always better to try to see it from their perspective because obviously, it could help bring down those barriers.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah, of course.

Paul Wurth:

Iโ€™m taking that one home to the wife.

Tom Houghton:

Exactly. Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

For me.

Tom Houghton:

Weโ€™re learning a little psychology in here.

Paul Wurth:

For me, sheโ€™s perfect.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

So Iโ€™m sure youโ€ฆ Weโ€™re not going down there.

Tom Houghton:

No, weโ€™ll leave it.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah, thatโ€™s wise. Letโ€™s just leave that one alone.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, exactly.

Scott Siegert:

I will tell you, by the way, that our first CSM who I donโ€™t think youโ€™ve had on yet, was John Marion and the second CSM was Andy McCarville, who youโ€™ve had on.

Tom Houghton:

We have.

Scott Siegert:

Andy came on here to talk about Daily Logs. So if you guys havenโ€™t listened to that episode, I believe that was a daily log spotlight feature.

Tom Houghton:

Thatโ€™s a little plug.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Thatโ€™s a great plug.

Tom Houghton:

Thatโ€™s a plug from our guests.

Scott Siegert:

Thatโ€™s an inverse. Itโ€™s like this has already happened, so go back and listen to it. Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Let me ask you this, if somebody is listening and they are local and they want to work here, what makesโ€ฆ I guess youโ€™ve talked a little bit about this, but youโ€™ve got a bunch of success drivers on the wall. So, what makes a great CSM or what are some of the success drivers that you have there that we havenโ€™t talked about yet?

Scott Siegert:

Well, the three that are on the wall are customer-first approach, attitude, and effort. We do talk about those items a lot when weโ€™re recruiting. Those three items, theyโ€™re not groundbreaking. Itโ€™s not like we came up with the fact that treating customers well and working hard and bringing a good attitude is aโ€ฆ Thatโ€™s not a groundbreaking idea that we had, but it does resonate with people. I think they can grasp onto it. We talk a lot about being exceptional at anything that you can control. Again, not something that we made up, but it really, really does work. Most of the time we find that if somebody joins our team and they perform the things that they have control over at an exceptional level, typically their performance metrics follow suit and typically they build a really great career. As a baseline, those are requirements of working here.

Scott Siegert:

Having critical thinking skills and communicating well, those are things that we try to hash out during the recruiting process. But in general, if you can bring the right attitude, the right effort each day, you treat customers and colleagues really well, weโ€™ll teach you the software and typically everything else will take care of itself. So we have a lot of people from our department that build really great careers, and itโ€™s something that weโ€™re really proud of as a management team.

Tom Houghton:

Thatโ€™s good. Youโ€™re looking for teachable people. I think thatโ€™s anotherโ€ฆ You danced around that a little bit, but I feel like thatโ€™s a good point to keep in mind during the hiring process is find somebody whoโ€™s open to accepting how you do things because obviously thatโ€™s the other amazing fact. Youโ€™ve got 121 people and theyโ€™re all sharing the same message out. That takes obviously that training of them going through that eight-week program, but also them being willing to come in line with what weโ€™re talking about.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah, I think the fact, and I referenced this earlier, but I think the fact that the entire management team on our floor was a CSM at some point. So when youโ€™re getting coaching from somebody thatโ€™s done it before, I think that thereโ€™s probably a natural tendency to be more receptive to it. So thatโ€™s been helpful.

Tom Houghton:

Thatโ€™s good. I want to talk a little bit about managing all these people. I think that could be really beneficial. I mean, you oversee a lot of people, right? So maybe you could give some insight into your tips that have helped you along the way.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah. Well, Iโ€™ve learned from mistakes too, and we really made a big change on our floor at the beginning of 2018. We were looking around and our team wasnโ€™t as big as it is now, but we were looking around and realizing that we had one person, by myself, managing too many people with too many direct reports. As a result of that, not everybody was getting as much coaching and collaboration as they deserve. So we really transitioned the entire management structure of our department at the beginning of 2018 and spent the majority of the year getting that settled in. I mean, I guess Iโ€™m probably biased, but I think itโ€™s gone really well. So if you fast forward to today, we have what we call senior managers. Theyโ€™re all former CSMs. They perform the job at a really high level. At some point in their career, theyโ€™ve demonstrated an ability to get other people to perform their job as well as possible. As important as anything, weโ€™ve kept their number of direct reports at 15.

Scott Siegert:

We do take a very collaborative and almost like servant management style or approach for our room. So the managers arenโ€™t there to just walk in and tell everybody what to do. Of course, they coach techniques and things that we think will help maximize someoneโ€™s ability to be successful, but theyโ€™re also there to collaborate and listen to ideas. They sit alongside their direct reports. Theyโ€™re not buried in the offices. So theyโ€™re on the floor just like everybody else. They still talk to our customers. So our customers that are listening to this, you probably talk to our managers on a somewhat regular basis and itโ€™s not just for escalations. They pick the phone up. Theyโ€™ll hop on calls. So theyโ€™re very much involved in what their CSMs are doing and theyโ€™re there to help them, not the opposite.

Tom Houghton:

I think thatโ€™s a great takeaway of like, you almost had to step out of it a little bit and create some more systems in place in order to help handle all the people.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, theyโ€™ve got a great team. One thing I talked to a lot of clients about is that they donโ€™t know that we are all in Omaha, Nebraska, and these are all real people who have gone through an eight-week training program. I think some people assume that itโ€™s like a call center, maybe even a third-party call center. So hopefully weโ€™ve communicated that thatโ€™s not what we have here today. We encourage people to call us. I think in a lot of ways, our clients, and this is what they say to us like, โ€œYeah, I just donโ€™t bother calling. Iโ€™ll try to figure it out myself,โ€ or โ€œI donโ€™t want to bother people.โ€ Some have said that. First of all, we want them to call, right?

Scott Siegert:

Right.

Paul Wurth:

Second of all, whatโ€™s the easiest way for them to get ahold of their coach or find out who their coach is?

Scott Siegert:

Yeah. So yes, we do want you to call. We prefer it. We love talking to our clients. We have great customers. Theyโ€™re fun to talk to. The customers that are listening, youโ€™re talented. Youโ€™re passionate about what you do. We love helping you run your business better. So we want you to call us. I canโ€™t stress that enough. We have a book of accounts, or I should say each CSM has a dedicated book of accounts. So they have a very manageable number of customers that theyโ€™re responsible for helping. If you want to get in touch with your coach, and we want you to get in touch with us on the mobile app, if you just go to the Contact Us section, thatโ€™ll give you an opportunity to email or direct call your coach. Weโ€™ve got live chat that shows up in the help section portion of our software. You can access the Contact Us page from the question mark section of the full site as well.

Scott Siegert:

So on the mobile app, find Contact Us. It should be on the shortcut on the top-left corner. Itโ€™s towards the bottom of that menu. So make sure you scroll down and find it. A lot of our clients that we see, whether itโ€™s at the international builders show or at BTU, they donโ€™t know thatโ€™s there. But your coach is at his or her desk waiting for you to call, and theyโ€™ll be happy to talk to you, so please donโ€™t hesitate to dial.

Paul Wurth:

I thought a great note was that theyโ€™re built-in teams. And so, at that exact moment, the coaches in there, if that happens to be the case, then they are surrounded by a team of like-minded individuals that are able to help.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah. So our teams are broken up on the floor. Most teams are five people. Each senior manager manages three teams. They all sit together. So if you call and if Paulโ€™s my coach and I call in and Paulโ€™s on the phone, itโ€™s going to ring out to Tom, myself and Brooke, because weโ€™re on Paulโ€™s team. If the three of us are busy and nobody else on the teamโ€™s available, then it rings out to the entire floor. So thereโ€™s a bit of a tree set up, where obviously if you dial direct, youโ€™re going to get your coach, unless he or she is not available. Somebody from their team will pick up. And if theyโ€™re not available, then it goes out to the whole floor. Anybody that answers the phone though is very, very qualified to help you out. So thatโ€™s important to keep in mind. If you prefer to work with your coach, thatโ€™s great, but we donโ€™t want to delay you getting an answer just because that individual wasnโ€™t available. So whoever picks up the phone, they can and will help you and just let them know what you need assistance with.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, thatโ€™s a great point. If you call into Buildertrend, most likely youโ€™re not going to have a hold time to talk to somebody.

Scott Siegert:

There shouldnโ€™t be a hold time. We have not reached the point yet where thatโ€™s something that weโ€™ve needed to do. Of course, you might have to sit through a few rings. But on average, right now weโ€™re answering our calls in under 20 seconds. So if you call in during business hours, weโ€™ll be available for you.

Paul Wurth:

It was great to learn about customer success.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Huge part of our success at Buildertrend that weโ€™re very thankful, of course, not only clients, but the customer success department. So, way to go, Scott.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah. Thank you. Our motto for our customers listening is we were successful if our customers are. So weโ€™re here to grow with you and help you out. So, contact us anytime.

Tom Houghton:

Thatโ€™s a great motto.

Scott Siegert:

Thanks. Thanks, Tom.

Paul Wurth:

It is. Did you come up with that?

Scott Siegert:

I did.

Paul Wurth:

Are we doing fun facts with Scott Siegert?

Tom Houghton:

We are definitely doing fun facts with Scott Siegert.

Paul Wurth:

Oh, this is good. Cool.

Tom Houghton:

Okay.

Scott Siegert:

Fire away.

Paul Wurth:

Are you prepared?

Tom Houghton:

Scott, are you ready?

Paul Wurth:

Because Iโ€™m not.

Tom Houghton:

Oh, okay. Well, I am.

Paul Wurth:

You want to give me one?

Tom Houghton:

Oh, sure.

Scott Siegert:

Wait, so are you asking me questions about facts about me, or do you have some curated that youโ€™re going to ask me about?

Tom Houghton:

No, weโ€™re trying to get fun facts out of you-

Scott Siegert:

Youโ€™re going to uncover them.

Tom Houghton:

โ€ฆ by asking questions.

Scott Siegert:

Youโ€™re going to ask leading questions.

Tom Houghton:

Exactly.

Paul Wurth:

Weโ€™ve been involved in this segment.

Tom Houghton:

Itโ€™s been working.

Paul Wurth:

Itโ€™s a work in progress.

Tom Houghton:

Itโ€™s a work in progress.

Paul Wurth:

So today, is it three questions-

Tom Houghton:

Three questions.

Paul Wurth:

โ€ฆ in hopes to get fun facts?

Tom Houghton:

And hope to get fun facts out.

Paul Wurth:

What if theyโ€™re just facts? Thatโ€™s fine.

Tom Houghton:

Sure.

Scott Siegert:

I suppose whether or not theyโ€™re fun is subjective.

Paul Wurth:

Heโ€™s not a comedian for Godโ€™s sakes.

Tom Houghton:

Thatโ€™s true.

Paul Wurth:

Although, heโ€™s been funny here, but letโ€™s not make him be funny.

Tom Houghton:

I actually think Scott is probably one of the most underrated funny people at Buildertrend.

Scott Siegert:

Thanks, Tom. I appreciate that.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah, I think-

Scott Siegert:

Whoโ€™s above me on the list?

Paul Wurth:

Well, itโ€™s a subset of funny people. He said underrated.

Scott Siegert:

Oh, I see.

Tom Houghton:

Youโ€™re underrated. Yeah. Itโ€™s not just people would go like, โ€œWhoโ€™s funny at Buildertrend?โ€ โ€œOh, these people.โ€

Paul Wurth:

Obviously, we know those.

Tom Houghton:

We know those people, but what Iโ€™m saying is you should be at the top of that list. You just frequently donโ€™t get the credit for it.

Paul Wurth:

Okay. Well, hopefully this podcast helps out with that.

Tom Houghton:

Itโ€™s true.

Paul Wurth:

Build your brand.

Tom Houghton:

Instant success.

Scott Siegert:

Thatโ€™s good.

Paul Wurth:

Build your brand with the podcast.

Scott Siegert:

Thatโ€™s good.

Tom Houghton:

Thatโ€™s good. Thatโ€™s really good. Good plug there.

Paul Wurth:

I know. I know.

Tom Houghton:

All right. Fun facts.

Paul Wurth:

Okay. Without further ado.

Tom Houghton:

So Scott-

Paul Wurth:

Yes, Tom.

Tom Houghton:

โ€ฆ you look like a guy that has a lot of hobbies. Can you tell us one of your favorite hobbies?

Scott Siegert:

My hobbies are super boring. Well, okay, maybe not boring, but predictable.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah.

Scott Siegert:

So I like to-

Paul Wurth:

Well, I have the same hobbies. We talked about this.

Scott Siegert:

My hobbies are basically the same as Paulโ€™s. I like to golf. I like to hang out with my friends. I like to hang out with my wife. I like to snowboard and ski. I donโ€™t know if Paul does that.

Paul Wurth:

No, I donโ€™t have that one.

Scott Siegert:

Maybe a little bit of that. Thatโ€™s about it. I donโ€™t build ship in a bottles or anything like that. I donโ€™t write poetry. I donโ€™t know.

Tom Houghton:

Youโ€™ve got to pick one, snowboarding or skiing though.

Scott Siegert:

As I age, I prefer snowboarding. Itโ€™s easier on my legs.

Tom Houghton:

Okay.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

That was fun.

Tom Houghton:

That makes you seem really old, but youโ€™re not old at all.

Paul Wurth:

Well, subjective.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah.

Tom Houghton:

Okay.

Paul Wurth:

Depends on how old you are.

Tom Houghton:

Sure. Scott, if you were to eat a last meal, what would be that meal?

Paul Wurth:

Thatโ€™s a good question.

Scott Siegert:

It is a good question.

Paul Wurth:

Put that one.

Scott Siegert:

I like Cheeseburgers and fries. I might have that tonight. I havenโ€™t decided yet. Iโ€™ll have to talk to my wife and see if-

Tom Houghton:

A lot of options still.

Scott Siegert:

โ€ฆ thatโ€™s acceptable.

Tom Houghton:

Thereโ€™s still some hours later.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah. I like cheeseburgers and fries. I like steak. I like tacos. I just had them for lunch at our company cafeteria thatโ€™s brand new. They were delicious.

Paul Wurth:

Very popular, the BT Cafe.

Tom Houghton:

But a cheeseburger and fries.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah, I think so.

Tom Houghton:

Where would be the best place in your opinion to get a cheeseburger and fries?

Scott Siegert:

Oh, thatโ€™s a great question.

Paul Wurth:

Tom is a huge cheeseburger guy.

Scott Siegert:

I think that-

Paul Wurth:

You are.

Scott Siegert:

โ€ฆ if weโ€™re talking-

Paul Wurth:

Youโ€™re going at In-N-Out Burger all the time.

Tom Houghton:

Sure.

Scott Siegert:

Well, you canโ€™t go all the time because they donโ€™t have that in Omaha.

Tom Houghton:

Thatโ€™s true. I make a lot of trips.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah. Youโ€™re going to California, in LA?

Tom Houghton:

Exactly. Yeah.

Scott Siegert:

Theyโ€™ve got a great one at Gibsons in Chicago. Have youโ€™ve been to Gibsons Steakhouse?

Tom Houghton:

I have not.

Scott Siegert:

Gibsons has a good cheeseburger.

Tom Houghton:

Iโ€™m writing that down.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah, write it down.

Tom Houghton:

I just did.

Scott Siegert:

You literally are writing it down.

Tom Houghton:

I just did.

Scott Siegert:

In Omaha, I like to make it myself at home.

Tom Houghton:

Okay. Do it yourself.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah, thatโ€™s right.

Paul Wurth:

Thatโ€™s not the fries though.

Scott Siegert:

Not the fries.

Paul Wurth:

No, just the burger.

Scott Siegert:

Thatโ€™d be cool if I did that though. I should figure out how.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah.

Tom Houghton:

Sure.

Paul Wurth:

Good.

Tom Houghton:

An air fryer.

Scott Siegert:

Iโ€™d probably go a different route.

Tom Houghton:

Okay.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Letโ€™s not do that.

Tom Houghton:

Who needs the health stuff?

Scott Siegert:

Thatโ€™s right.

Tom Houghton:

Right? Get the full grease. Thatโ€™s exactly right.

Paul Wurth:

If youโ€™re going for cheeseburger and fries, just do it.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah.

Tom Houghton:

You might as well commit to it.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah.

Tom Houghton:

Good. Last question for you. I donโ€™t know if weโ€™re going to include this question. This is actually more just for me. I want to know where you shop for your clothing because-

Scott Siegert:

Youโ€™ve asked me this before.

Tom Houghton:

I know, but I wanted to get it on air. So I think Scott is probably one of the best dressed people in the office.

Scott Siegert:

This is high praise from Tom. Iโ€™ve got humor and fashion.

Paul Wurth:

We really have to butter up the guest.

Scott Siegert:

And I didnโ€™t include those two things in my unique things that I like to do, like my hobbies, so maybe I should.

Tom Houghton:

Thereโ€™s more to you than just meets the eye.

Scott Siegert:

Maybe I should start talking about standup and fashion when people ask me what my hobbies are.

Tom Houghton:

You should.

Scott Siegert:

Iโ€™ll update my company here, my employee profile.

Tom Houghton:

Good. Good.

Scott Siegert:

I buy all my stuff online. Honestly, most of the stuff I buy pops up in my Instagram feed and then I just find it online and I order it. And then if you find something that fits, then you just keep reordering it. Josh Kaiser, who Iโ€™m sure you guys will have on here at some point takes a very similar approach. Frankly, I think our friend Paul here does too.

Paul Wurth:

Iโ€™ve been inspired by you.

Scott Siegert:

Yeah, thatโ€™s good to hear.

Paul Wurth:

I had much more of a just random selection of clothes. Yeah.

Scott Siegert:

You didnโ€™t think through it a little bit?

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, theyโ€™re great.

Tom Houghton:

Lots and lots of praise being shouted out to everybody.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, it felt good.

Tom Houghton:

Warms and fuzzies all over. All right. Well, letโ€™s wrap this up here. Scott, thank you so much for joining us on the show today. We had a great time talking about customer success. Thanks for sharing your experience, your insight into your department, and thanks for all that you do here at Buildertrend just to make the experience that our customers have just exceptional.

Scott Siegert:

Well, thank you for having me on. And for all of our customers listening, thank you for trusting us with your business. We love working with you and appreciate you guys using our software. Call us anytime.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. If you want to see Scott Siegertโ€™s wardrobe, weโ€™re going to take a full picture of him and so-

Tom Houghton:

Weโ€™ll put it in the show notes.

Paul Wurth:

โ€ฆ check the show notes.

Scott Siegert:

More show notes.

Tom Houghton:

All right. Thanks, Scott, for coming on.

Scott Siegert:

Thanks guys.

Paul Wurth:

Appreciate it.

Tom Houghton:

Love what you heard? Donโ€™t forget to rate and subscribe to our podcast so you can hear from more guests that will benefit your business. Also, please check out our show notes page for more information on what we discussed on this episode. You can find it at buildertrend.com/podcast. Thanks for listening, and weโ€™ll see you next time on โ€œThe Building Code.โ€

Paul Wurth:

Appreciate it.

Scott Siegert | Buildertrend


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