Introducing our partnership with GreenSky

Tom Houghton:

You are listening to “The Building Code,” your guide for a better way to run your business. I’m Tom Houghton.

Paul Wurth:

I’m Paul Wurth, on the phone.

Tom Houghton:

On the phone with Paul and Tom.

Paul Wurth:

Live.

Tom Houghton:

Live?

Tom Houghton:

I don’t think we’re live, but …

Paul Wurth:

That’s true. Well, I’m mean we’re live right now.

Tom Houghton:

Right. This is happening live.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah.

Tom Houghton:

There you go.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah.

Tom Houghton:

And joining us on this episode of the podcast, we’ve got Reid Benjamin, director of sales from GreenSky.

Reid Benjamin:

Awesome. Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Hey, Reid.

Reid Benjamin:

Thank you guys for having me. I am super excited to be on and talk about all things GreenSky, as we launch our partnership. Appreciate it.

Tom Houghton:

Love it. So Reid, we’ve obviously got you on because we’re launching a new partnership with GreenSky. And we want to know, and let our listeners know, everything about it. So, why don’t we just start off with kind of about GreenSky? Give us a background on the company.

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah, sure. So GreenSky, we’re a financial technology company. Founded in 2006, in Atlanta, Georgia. And really where we cut our teeth and really made our mark, is when we first partnered with the Home Depot to equip their installed contractor division with financing. And we thought to ourselves, “Why not roll out the power of a big box retail financing program? Why not give that to individual contractors and businesses nationwide?”

Reid Benjamin:

So you fast forward 14 or so years, we’re now the largest home improvement financing company in the nation. And so we work with businesses and merchants that offer home improvements like window replacement, and roofing, and siding.

Reid Benjamin:

So, really the trajectory of GreenSky is not unlike Buildertrend. In the sense that you guys I think were founded a similar timeframe and you’ve kind of grown in size and scale as well.

Tom Houghton:

That makes us a great fit.

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah. Absolutely.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. I had a question. I don’t know if you were in early enough for this, but what is behind the name GreenSky? Is that just like, “Look up and there’s money,”?

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah. So I wish I had a really good origin story, which kind of showcased our energy efficient and green thinking, but … Yeah, it really comes from the fact that we wanted something top of mind, simple to remember, and kind of had good brand recognition. So, hence GreenSky.

Reid Benjamin:

And I don’t think there’s just much more to it beyond that. Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Well, sometimes the simplest things are the most effective. So, I’ll remember for sure.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. It’s hard to forget the name GreenSky. It’s good.

Tom Houghton:

So, let’s talk about our new partnership that we’re kicking off here together.

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah. So, our new partnership was really born out of kind of both a want and need on the part of the contractors. Similar to your other partnerships that you’ve already got with Buildertrend, with your QuickBooks integration, Silverstone group and some of your others, we kind of see this as a natural extension.

Reid Benjamin:

And that if you’re already providing estimates and proposals within Buildertrend, now businesses kind of have the ability to not only offer estimates and proposals [inaudible 00:03:02] quotes. Now you’ve got a solution, a way for a customer to ultimately pay through financing.

Reid Benjamin:

So this is kind of a natural extension of your platform, And I think it’s really complimentary of what a lot of your existing clients are already doing.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, for sure. Some of the best clients are offering financing where it makes sense, typically the remodeling renovation side. What’s GreenSky’s high level value prop to a contractor? Why would one want, or even entertain, offering financing during the point of sale?

Reid Benjamin:

So, the name of the game is just the speed and simplicity. You’ve got the ability for a customer to get approved in 60 seconds. You can scan a customer’s driver’s license and they enter in a couple pieces of information. They can get approved for credit limits up to $65,000.

Reid Benjamin:

Really the friction or kind of the hesitancy on the part of a customer to move forward with a project … We know if you’re able to get that process and get a customer approved right then and there, the odds of the customer and the client ultimately moving forward with a project are infinitely more.

Reid Benjamin:

And so there’s no kind of protracted sales cycle, or paperwork, or back and forth. It’s speed and ease. And we know that kind of lends itself well to contractors getting onboarded and being able to offer this in a simple way.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. I mean, a lot of contractors are in a competitive situation. Right? With sales, especially at that price point.

Paul Wurth:

And so you’re basically saying that if we’re offering this ease of use, “Hey, if you’re looking at Joe contractor, Bill contractor, Sam contractor, I’m offering you a way to pay for this thing right here. Right now.” You’re saying that’s going to lead to more sales, a higher closing percentage?

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah. There’s no question.

Reid Benjamin:

So, what we see in the industry is the average home improvement contractor wins about a third, maybe a little bit more, of the estimates and courts that they provide. So, we’re not talking word of mouth or referrals. Typically, that close issue ratio is a little bit higher. Right? But these are a little bit more cold at this point, but we see a tangible increase when you’ve implemented financing.

Reid Benjamin:

The other thing that we see is, obviously, change orders are big with Buildertrend. So we’ve got a function available with GreenSky that’s called, “Approved for more”. And so it’s not unusual for a customer to apply for say $12,000 within GreenSky and get approved for 15. And now as that business owner, you’ve got the ability to make a recommendation, where appropriate, for perhaps different finishes. Right? There’s so many different products and services that your clients can offer to that end user for that customer. And so we see that being of great importance as well.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, that’s awesome. I think a lot of our listeners can relate to that.

Paul Wurth:

One other thing, as it relates to GreenSky and sales. And I’m just curious, have you found that it actually increases the amount of money the homeowner actually spends on the project?

Paul Wurth:

I guess you just spoke a little bit to that in the changeovers, but even having the ability to spend more than they originally budgeted when they get approved through GreenSky, do you find that upping the ticket price then?

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah. So if you think of financing kind of on a continuum, you’ve got cash, that’s your liquid disposable income. You can kind of slap it on the kitchen table and say, “This is what I’m able to offer.” Then you’ve got credit cards, which naturally gives you kind of net 30, to be able to pay. The next kind of a line item is the fact that you can extend financing even more so.

Reid Benjamin:

And so that’s really what we see, is the ability to enhance that customer’s wallet and be able to pay for job sizes that start to creep up 10, 15, $20,000 and upwards, above and beyond.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. So, pretty simple. The two big values for contractors who use Buildertrend is if you offer this during the sales process, you’re going to quote more deals.

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah. Absolutely.

Tom Houghton:

That’s awesome. So, I guess I’m sold on this. I want to know … I feel like one of the hesitancies of this is actually like how you even get started.

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah. So, it’s pretty easy to get started. You’re able to sign up. And Buildertrend has a resource where you’re able to sign up and provide your information. And typically within 72 hours, our underwriting team will get back and let me know that you’re approved for the program. Then one of our client growth managers reaches out. So we’ve got something like 25, 30 different plans and promotions available. And they range in size and scope everywhere from 12 months deferred interest, all the way to reduced rate options, longer term promotions.

Reid Benjamin:

So we really just sit down with that business owner and we say, “These are the plans and the promotions in your specific sector or category that are having the most impact with the customer.” So it’s kind of a holistic, top-down approach. We’re able to see, “What are you doing now? What can integrate the best and kind of show the best ROI with your business? With respect to the plans and promotions you can select.”

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah.

Paul Wurth:

Well, and also you have benchmarks for the region and similar style contractors that maybe say, “Hey, this works for this guy. It’s going to work for you as well.

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah. We can look at some of the data we have internally. We know that a one size fits all approach, while simple … Really when you dive into the different ticket sizes that you’re offering, sometimes it’s a lot more important to offer a 18-month promotion versus a smaller ticket. You might be capable of only offering six months.

Reid Benjamin:

So, we kind of have those conversations with contractors and businesses, and that way we can collect the menu before they go to market.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. That’s smart.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah. And I’m curious, Reid, to kind of finalize, do you offer any resources on just guidance to construction companies who have never offered financing before when and how to offer it during the sales process?

Tom Houghton:

Yeah.

Reid Benjamin:

We do. So what we do, specifically, is we like to gather quotes and ask them, “Do we want to see what your proposals look like right now?” And that way we can walk through how to build proposals or estimates with financing. We want to show how easy it is to be able to bridge the gap, in terms of not speaking the language and being able to offer it.

Reid Benjamin:

A lot of times there’s kind of some discomfort, or there’s a reluctance, because businesses say, “I’m not a financing major.” Right? “This is something that’s foreign to me. And I’m going to let that part of the sales process to someone else.”

Reid Benjamin:

And we see when they kind of control the customer conversation, the benefits of that are super high. Right? So we make it simple, internally, where we show the plans and the promotions that are working. And we also build samples and quotes that way there’s a lot more comfort, before offering it to the end user.

Reid Benjamin:

The other thing that I want to add really briefly is the fact that we’ve got a demo application. So, we can allow your businesses on Buildertrend to actually kind of test out the water, so to speak, through a demo application and make sure that they’re comfortable before offering financing.

Tom Houghton:

That’s really smart.

Tom Houghton:

So, one other question about how getting started would be. I know as a small business owner, you’re getting hit up with lots of different offers and lots of different opportunities. So what differentiates GreenSky from everybody else? Why should everybody be choosing GreenSky and this partnership with Buildertrend?

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah. So we’ve got a lot of feature functionality that, frankly, other financing providers don’t have, because they might not be specializing in home improvement.

Reid Benjamin:

One example that I’ll mention briefly is the fact that you don’t have to be the owner of the property to be the borrower. So simple example, if you’ve got a mom and dad that live in Omaha, and you’ve got a relative or a son or daughter that wants the work performed in Lincoln, they’ve got the ability to sign and move forward with the project.

Reid Benjamin:

Whereas, other financing companies you kind of have to be the owner of record in order to apply and get it approved. And so this can give you a lot of functionality with smaller commercial jobs or sole proprietorship. There’s so many different projects that now you can install it because it doesn’t necessarily have to be with the homeowner of record.

Reid Benjamin:

The other features that we have, one of which is pre-qualification. So we’ve got the ability to get a customer pre-qualified through a soft pull. So it really gives confidence in the customer if they didn’t want a hard inquiry on their credit report, or they weren’t sure about moving forward with a specific promotion. It allows that customer to feel at ease and see whether or not they would be pre-qualified before actually moving forward.

Reid Benjamin:

So, that’s another point that kind of differentiates us from some of the other companies that are out there.

Paul Wurth:

That’s great. It makes sense. And you’re working with us, there’s a differentiator right there.

Reid Benjamin:

That’s right. That’s right.

Reid Benjamin:

And so speaking of which … Yeah. So speaking of the fact that we’re working with Buildertrend, what’s really exciting in kind of the roadmap ahead is our integration efforts. Really in the future, it’s great to use the mobile app now and get onboarded.

Reid Benjamin:

What we see as the vision in the future is where you can house the full GreenSky API or the GreenSky application within Buildertrend. And now you’ve got the ability to get a customer approved and joint right online with … Start to finish for the project. So, you can build out a quote. You can build out scheduling. You can get a customer approved right within Buildertrend. So, that’s very exciting.

Paul Wurth:

Yeah, that’s a great point. We have a lot of these partnerships that we call our Pro Services. And we’ll throw a link in the show notes where the clients can go find that stuff. But they really are staying.

Paul Wurth:

So, this is phase one. We’re really excited to be with GreenSky and offer this to our clients. But then as we continue the relationship with GreenSky, we sort of build on things, and get them more and more involved, and more stimulative within the application. So, definitely more of that to come.

Tom Houghton:

Yeah. This is definitely just the beginning here. And I do think it’s important to point out with this pandemic that we’re all kind of living in, I think this is a great time to consider jumping into this partnership if you’re a listener. Because there is that hesitancy out there with homeowners potentially right now where they’re thinking, “I don’t know if I want to just shell all this money in one lump sum.” If you can offer financing through GreenSky in this partnership with Buildertrend, I think there is some opportunity there. What do you think Reid?

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah. There’s no question. I get a lot of questions about the impact of COVID from some of my clients, kind of what we’re seeing in the marketplace, because we work with so many different businesses. The one thing that we’re seeing is just kind of this overarching uncertainty. Right? People don’t know … Unprecedented is a word that’s thrown out quite a bit. Right?

Reid Benjamin:

And so you’ve got this uncertainty from the part of the homeowner, and they’re not sure if they want to move forward with projects anymore. Right? And so, one of the ways to kind of bridge that gap is to be able to offer a promotion or offer some type of financing in which they know there’ll be comfortable with whatever that money payment is. Right? They’ll be comfortable with whatever that promotion is. And they know when this settles and we can kind of finally turn the page on this, They’ll be okay on the other side.

Tom Houghton:

Absolutely. That’s really smart. Well, awesome.

Tom Houghton:

I think this sounds like a fantastic partnership. I’m super excited to get our clients and our listeners, share the information with them and obviously get them on board with this. So we’ll make sure we put that information in our show notes. You can find the show notes at Buildertrend.com/podcast.

Tom Houghton:

Reid, is there anything else you’d like to cover about the partnership?

Reid Benjamin:

Yeah. I think the one other thing that I want to say at this point … And this is ending on a really optimistic tone. We saw … Merrill Lynch and Bank of America published a study, this was at the end of March. And so they looked across all different categories. They looked at auto parts and consumer electronics, basically every retail category. And they’re all, as you can imagine, down across the board anywhere from 5% to like 30%. Right?

Reid Benjamin:

Home improvement was up 5.5%. And so I thought that was really interesting. This is a sector that’s obviously very resilient. And so people are spending a lot of time in the home. And I think we’re going to see a lot of pent up demand from customers and clients that want to get work done, because you’re not leaving your home right now. So, I think this is a really good opportunity for a lot of businesses to actually grow in this time.

Tom Houghton:

Absolutely. I love that positivity. And obviously that’s great data to back up kind of like the feeling that I think most people feel right now, which is like, “Hey, let’s do something. Let’s get some work done in our house.” And of course there’s some great options out there for people who use Buildertrend and now have this opportunity to offer financing through GreenSky.

Reid Benjamin:

Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much for having me. We’re looking forward to working together and showing success to all your clients here on Buildertrend.

Tom Houghton:

Awesome. Thank you so much, Reid, for coming on the podcast and just sharing your knowledge about the program. And of course, we’re really excited to work with you.

Reid Benjamin:

Thank you guys.

Paul Wurth:

Thanks Reid.

Reid Benjamin:

Thanks Paul. Thanks Tom.

Tom Houghton:

Love what you heard? Don’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 we’ll see you next time on “The Building Code.”

Tom Houghton:

Appreciate you.