Buildertrend spotlight: Customer Success with Scott Siegert
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.
Links and more
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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Tom Houghton:
Youโre listening to โThe Building Code.โ Iโm Tom Houghton.
Paul Wurth:
Iโm Paul Wurth.
Tom Houghton:
Weโre 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. Iโm 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. Itโs 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. Itโs 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, itโs exciting. Weโll be safe.
Tom Houghton:
Yeah. Safety first.
Paul Wurth:
Safety first getting down there. So weโre 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. Itโs about a third of the price.
Tom Houghton:
Hey, there you go.
Paul Wurth:
Thatโs good. And so, weโre bringing our whole crew down there. We are going to mirror what we do here. Weโre combining it into one day. Thereโs some really great events and some different speakers weโre going to have there, but itโs going to be all about same thing, accelerate your Buildertrend usage. Weโre going to focus on the features to make sure youโre using it to the best ability. Weโre also going to focus on your account, make sure youโre set up the right way for success.
Tom Houghton:
Thatโs awesome. So one day, October 3rd, this year, Dallas, Texas.
Paul Wurth:
Yep. Registration is going to be opening very soon here.
Tom Houghton:
Theyโll just check on the Buildertrend University website, which is just buildertrendu.com.
Paul Wurth:
Itโs buildertrendu.com/dallas, if you want to check that out. Thatโs going to be live here today when youโre 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 weโll dive in here with our guest. Today, we have a new segment.
Paul Wurth:
Spotlight. Segment spotlight.
Tom Houghton:
Segment spotlight weโre calling the department spotlight.
Paul Wurth:
Right. Within Buildertrend HQ.
Tom Houghton:
Departments within Buildertrend.
Paul Wurth:
Right. Weโre at Buildertrend HQ. Weโve got a very special guest, the one and only Scott Siegert, who is the VP of our customer success department.
Scott Siegert:
Thatโs correct.
Paul Wurth:
Welcome, Scott.
Scott Siegert:
Thank you, guys. Appreciate you having me.
Tom Houghton:
Hey, Scott. How is it going?
Scott Siegert:
Itโs 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. Itโs 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 Buildertrendโฆ Again, for those who are new, weโre based in Omaha, Nebraska. Weโve got close to 475 full-time employees in one building here. Itโs 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 weโre 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 weโll bring Josh on. We have Scott Siegert here. And then weโve 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 weโre 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:
Thatโs right.
Paul Wurth:
Scott, how would-
Scott Siegert:
Iโm 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 Joshโs department signs up a new account, which weโre 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 areโฆ Whether theyโve 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, thatโs 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. Letโs 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:
Itโs a big department.
Paul Wurth:
Itโs 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, โGreat. Buildertrend sounds amazing. Iโm going to get a benefit from it, but I have no idea when and how Iโm going to implement it.โ And so, we rely on what we refer to upstairs as the Buildertrend coaches and say, โTheyโre going to do a wonderful job onboarding you,โ and they do a very good job.
Scott Siegert:
Yeah. Thatโs 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 thatโs 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 thatโs just in an email or even over the phone. When you talk to these people, theyโre genuinely welcoming people.
Scott Siegert:
Yeah, they definitely are. When we recruit and add people to our team weโre focused on a number of things, but we want to make sure that theyโre 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 youโre going to be on the phone a lot, talking to clients, we have to make sure that youโre 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 weโre 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, theyโre just staggering. Can we talk about a little bitโฆ 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, thatโs amazing. Thatโs actually a good transition, too, to talk about. Weโre not just supporting mainland U.S. here. We have companies that use our software in over how many now? I think itโs 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:
Thatโs 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:
Theyโre not.
Paul Wurth:
Thatโs not a requirement, right?
Scott Siegert:
Itโs 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, thatโs 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. Weโve 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 weโre 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. Itโs about eight weeks. Actually, itโs exactly eight weeks. Itโs 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. Heโs the first one that managed that second shift, but heโs 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 theyโre 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, itโs pretty comprehensive. By the time theyโre finished up with that eight-week program, theyโre 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:
โฆ 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 weโre going to give them and helping advance their business. Thatโs 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:
Thatโs 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 Paulโs 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 thereโs 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 weโre going to figure out and tailor our training approach to help them solve those deficiencies with Buildertrend as soon as possible.
Paul Wurth:
Yeah, thatโs an important point. Itโs not a one size fit, because we talked about a lot of this on the podcast. We serve four main segments, but thereโs a ton of other types of segments in construction outside of that. So weโre 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. Thatโs important.
Paul Wurth:
The other cool thing, I mentioned consultants, thatโs 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 clientโs 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, weโre six months in now. Itโs going tremendously well. Theyโre getting booked up. Oftentimes, weโre booked up almost two months in advance. So they constantly travel. Theyโre 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 theyโll swing back in and make sure that theyโre caught up on all that stuff so they can coach it moving forward. But yeah, theyโre very great at it.
Scott Siegert:
Like you mentioned, weโve 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 weโd 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, weโve got highly experienced CSMs or former CSMs that we can send out and theyโre ready to go.
Paul Wurth:
Check out the show notes for more information on onsite consultant, if youโre 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 youโre a listener.
Scott Siegert:
Iโm an avid listener.
Paul Wurth:
Thatโs great.
Scott Siegert:
I was talking to Brooke, our producer, right before we started. I think thereโs one episode I havenโt heard yet, but I look forward to listening to it tonight.
Paul Wurth:
Itโs probably the one I wasnโt on, right?
Scott Siegert:
Yeah.
Tom Houghton:
But youโve been on all of them.
Scott Siegert:
Well, I assume that you werenโt on it because it wasnโt in the preview notes, so I didnโt listen to it. Thatโs why.
Tom Houghton:
Oh, there you go.
Paul Wurth:
Well, weโll 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, whoโs still with us and it depends on which one of us you ask. But now, when Mike and I started, we wereโฆ 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:
Letโs 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 weโre not just a support department. Thatโs 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 weโre talking to people that want to build a career here, we explained to them that itโs really three basic jobs or responsibilities. One is supporting people, which is reactive. Itโs just if they have a question, you answer it and thatโs obviously important. But the other two pieces weโve touched on already, but you need to really be able to sell or communicate value. So we think that thereโs 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 thatโs 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 thatโs what we want out of our reps. Our best CSMs, theyโre all great, but the ones that perform at the highest level, theyโre 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 youโre 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:
Letโs say you are a client of Buildertrend or a construction company listening to this podcast, are there any things that youโve learnedโฆ Obviously, software and construction, theyโre 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 donโt just assume that we know exactly how they want to use our platform and we donโt assume that we know exactly which features they want to use. We try to pre-qualify that and figure out exactly what solution theyโre looking for and what experience theyโre looking for. I suppose that would relate to the construction world. If youโre going into a prospectโs 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, itโd 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 youโve got a solution for them and you need to communicate that, that youโll 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 theyโre looking for.
Paul Wurth:
Iโm 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 Iโm just framing this because of obviously a lot of our customers are probably listening to this, but I really do mean this, we really donโt 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 donโt know if tenet is the right word, but theyโre a little nervous that theyโre just going to be on angry phone calls all day long. Of course, some people are upset and thatโs the nature of any type of job where youโre communicating with people. But for the most part, we just let people know, never let your emotions get the best of you and donโt involve emotion into your responses. Maybe most importantly, put yourself in the shoes of the individual. Theyโre obviously upset for a reason. Theyโre not mad at you, but something is triggering an emotional response from your customer, if in fact, thatโs how theyโre approaching you. Thatโs when you might just put yourself in their shoes and try to figure out.
Scott Siegert:
Donโt worry about the fact that theyโre upset. Worry about trying to solve it for them and figure out what caused it because theyโre contacting us for help and itโs 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, thatโs what I was thinking.
Tom Houghton:
That was some good advice. Anytime youโre in, maybe for lack of a better word, an argument with somebody itโs 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:
Iโm taking that one home to the wife.
Tom Houghton:
Exactly. Yeah.
Paul Wurth:
For me.
Tom Houghton:
Weโre learning a little psychology in here.
Paul Wurth:
For me, sheโs perfect.
Tom Houghton:
Yeah.
Paul Wurth:
So Iโm sure youโฆ Weโre not going down there.
Tom Houghton:
No, weโll leave it.
Scott Siegert:
Yeah, thatโs wise. Letโs just leave that one alone.
Tom Houghton:
Yeah, exactly.
Scott Siegert:
I will tell you, by the way, that our first CSM who I donโt think youโve had on yet, was John Marion and the second CSM was Andy McCarville, who youโve had on.
Tom Houghton:
We have.
Scott Siegert:
Andy came on here to talk about Daily Logs. So if you guys havenโt listened to that episode, I believe that was a daily log spotlight feature.
Tom Houghton:
Thatโs a little plug.
Scott Siegert:
Yeah.
Paul Wurth:
Thatโs a great plug.
Tom Houghton:
Thatโs a plug from our guests.
Scott Siegert:
Thatโs an inverse. Itโs 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 makesโฆ I guess youโve talked a little bit about this, but youโve 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 havenโt 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 weโre recruiting. Those three items, theyโre not groundbreaking. Itโs not like we came up with the fact that treating customers well and working hard and bringing a good attitude is aโฆ Thatโs 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, weโll 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 itโs something that weโre really proud of as a management team.
Tom Houghton:
Thatโs good. Youโre looking for teachable people. I think thatโs anotherโฆ You danced around that a little bit, but I feel like thatโs a good point to keep in mind during the hiring process is find somebody whoโs open to accepting how you do things because obviously thatโs the other amazing fact. Youโve got 121 people and theyโre 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 weโre 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 youโre getting coaching from somebody thatโs done it before, I think that thereโs probably a natural tendency to be more receptive to it. So thatโs been helpful.
Tom Houghton:
Thatโs 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, Iโve 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 wasnโt 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 Iโm probably biased, but I think itโs gone really well. So if you fast forward to today, we have what we call senior managers. Theyโre all former CSMs. They perform the job at a really high level. At some point in their career, theyโve demonstrated an ability to get other people to perform their job as well as possible. As important as anything, weโve 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 arenโt there to just walk in and tell everybody what to do. Of course, they coach techniques and things that we think will help maximize someoneโs ability to be successful, but theyโre also there to collaborate and listen to ideas. They sit alongside their direct reports. Theyโre not buried in the offices. So theyโre 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 itโs not just for escalations. They pick the phone up. Theyโll hop on calls. So theyโre very much involved in what their CSMs are doing and theyโre there to help them, not the opposite.
Tom Houghton:
I think thatโs 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, theyโve got a great team. One thing I talked to a lot of clients about is that they donโt 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 itโs like a call center, maybe even a third-party call center. So hopefully weโve communicated that thatโs 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, โYeah, I just donโt bother calling. Iโll try to figure it out myself,โ or โI donโt 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, whatโs 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. Theyโre fun to talk to. The customers that are listening, youโre talented. Youโre passionate about what you do. We love helping you run your business better. So we want you to call us. I canโt 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 theyโre 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, thatโll give you an opportunity to email or direct call your coach. Weโve 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. Itโs towards the bottom of that menu. So make sure you scroll down and find it. A lot of our clients that we see, whether itโs at the international builders show or at BTU, they donโt know thatโs there. But your coach is at his or her desk waiting for you to call, and theyโll be happy to talk to you, so please donโt hesitate to dial.
Paul Wurth:
I thought a great note was that theyโre 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 Paulโs my coach and I call in and Paulโs on the phone, itโs going to ring out to Tom, myself and Brooke, because weโre on Paulโs team. If the three of us are busy and nobody else on the teamโs available, then it rings out to the entire floor. So thereโs a bit of a tree set up, where obviously if you dial direct, youโre going to get your coach, unless he or she is not available. Somebody from their team will pick up. And if theyโre 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 thatโs important to keep in mind. If you prefer to work with your coach, thatโs great, but we donโt want to delay you getting an answer just because that individual wasnโt 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, thatโs a great point. If you call into Buildertrend, most likely youโre not going to have a hold time to talk to somebody.
Scott Siegert:
There shouldnโt be a hold time. We have not reached the point yet where thatโs something that weโve needed to do. Of course, you might have to sit through a few rings. But on average, right now weโre answering our calls in under 20 seconds. So if you call in during business hours, weโll 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 weโre 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 weโre here to grow with you and help you out. So, contact us anytime.
Tom Houghton:
Thatโs 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 Iโm 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 youโre going to ask me about?
Tom Houghton:
No, weโre trying to get fun facts out of you-
Scott Siegert:
Youโre going to uncover them.
Tom Houghton:
โฆ by asking questions.
Scott Siegert:
Youโre going to ask leading questions.
Tom Houghton:
Exactly.
Paul Wurth:
Weโve been involved in this segment.
Tom Houghton:
Itโs been working.
Paul Wurth:
Itโs a work in progress.
Tom Houghton:
Itโs a work in progress.
Paul Wurth:
So today, is it three questions-
Tom Houghton:
Three questions.
Paul Wurth:
โฆ in hopes to get fun facts?
Tom Houghton:
And hope to get fun facts out.
Paul Wurth:
What if theyโre just facts? Thatโs fine.
Tom Houghton:
Sure.
Scott Siegert:
I suppose whether or not theyโre fun is subjective.
Paul Wurth:
Heโs not a comedian for Godโs sakes.
Tom Houghton:
Thatโs true.
Paul Wurth:
Although, heโs been funny here, but letโs 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:
Whoโs above me on the list?
Paul Wurth:
Well, itโs a subset of funny people. He said underrated.
Scott Siegert:
Oh, I see.
Tom Houghton:
Youโre underrated. Yeah. Itโs not just people would go like, โWhoโs funny at Buildertrend?โ โOh, these people.โ
Paul Wurth:
Obviously, we know those.
Tom Houghton:
We know those people, but what Iโm saying is you should be at the top of that list. You just frequently donโt get the credit for it.
Paul Wurth:
Okay. Well, hopefully this podcast helps out with that.
Tom Houghton:
Itโs true.
Paul Wurth:
Build your brand.
Tom Houghton:
Instant success.
Scott Siegert:
Thatโs good.
Paul Wurth:
Build your brand with the podcast.
Scott Siegert:
Thatโs good.
Tom Houghton:
Thatโs good. Thatโs 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:
โฆ 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 Paulโs. 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 donโt know if Paul does that.
Paul Wurth:
No, I donโt have that one.
Scott Siegert:
Maybe a little bit of that. Thatโs about it. I donโt build ship in a bottles or anything like that. I donโt write poetry. I donโt know.
Tom Houghton:
Youโve got to pick one, snowboarding or skiing though.
Scott Siegert:
As I age, I prefer snowboarding. Itโs easier on my legs.
Tom Houghton:
Okay.
Scott Siegert:
Yeah.
Paul Wurth:
That was fun.
Tom Houghton:
That makes you seem really old, but youโre 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:
Thatโs 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 havenโt decided yet. Iโll have to talk to my wife and see if-
Tom Houghton:
A lot of options still.
Scott Siegert:
โฆ thatโs acceptable.
Tom Houghton:
Thereโs 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 thatโs 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, thatโs a great question.
Paul Wurth:
Tom is a huge cheeseburger guy.
Scott Siegert:
I think that-
Paul Wurth:
You are.
Scott Siegert:
โฆ if weโre talking-
Paul Wurth:
Youโre going at In-N-Out Burger all the time.
Tom Houghton:
Sure.
Scott Siegert:
Well, you canโt go all the time because they donโt have that in Omaha.
Tom Houghton:
Thatโs true. I make a lot of trips.
Scott Siegert:
Yeah. Youโre going to California, in LA?
Tom Houghton:
Exactly. Yeah.
Scott Siegert:
Theyโve got a great one at Gibsons in Chicago. Have youโve been to Gibsons Steakhouse?
Tom Houghton:
I have not.
Scott Siegert:
Gibsons has a good cheeseburger.
Tom Houghton:
Iโm 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, thatโs right.
Paul Wurth:
Thatโs not the fries though.
Scott Siegert:
Not the fries.
Paul Wurth:
No, just the burger.
Scott Siegert:
Thatโd 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:
Iโd probably go a different route.
Tom Houghton:
Okay.
Scott Siegert:
Yeah.
Paul Wurth:
Letโs not do that.
Tom Houghton:
Who needs the health stuff?
Scott Siegert:
Thatโs right.
Tom Houghton:
Right? Get the full grease. Thatโs exactly right.
Paul Wurth:
If youโre 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 donโt know if weโre 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:
Youโve 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. Iโve got humor and fashion.
Paul Wurth:
We really have to butter up the guest.
Scott Siegert:
And I didnโt include those two things in my unique things that I like to do, like my hobbies, so maybe I should.
Tom Houghton:
Thereโs 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:
Iโll 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 Iโm 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:
Iโve been inspired by you.
Scott Siegert:
Yeah, thatโs good to hear.
Paul Wurth:
I had much more of a just random selection of clothes. Yeah.
Scott Siegert:
You didnโt think through it a little bit?
Paul Wurth:
Yeah, theyโre 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, letโs 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 Siegertโs wardrobe, weโre going to take a full picture of him and so-
Tom Houghton:
Weโll put it in the show notes.
Paul Wurth:
โฆ 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? Donโt 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 weโll see you next time on โThe Building Code.โ
Paul Wurth:
Appreciate it.
Scott Siegert | Buildertrend
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