Leading the charge: How to become a Buildertrend Champion

Bre Ferris:

Welcome to “The Better Way,” a podcast by Buildertrend. Here you’ll learn to simplify and establish processes that will make meaningful changes to your company and help you to achieve your goals. There’s a better way to run your construction business – the Buildertrend way. On this season of “The Better Way,” we’re doing things a little bit differently. We know you don’t want to just hear from us – you want to hear from other pros. That’s why in addition to our experts, we’re also inviting industry leaders to help teach best practices for successfully implementing software and getting your team on board.

On this episode, you’ll learn what a Buildertrend Champion is and why this is the difference maker between those who succeed and those who don’t. And I am here with my colleague Dan Lipari. Thank you for joining us for “The Better Way” podcast.

Dan Lipari:

Thanks for having me.

Bre Ferris:

Absolutely. Little fun fact, before we get started: Dan Lipari just celebrated his 10-year work anniversary. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t think I’ve even owned a pair of shoes for that long. So congratulations for that. And if there’s anyone that you listen to during this series, it should be this guy. But let’s go ahead and get started if you don’t mind.

Dan Lipari:

That sounds great. Thank you, Bre.

Bre Ferris:

Absolutely.

Dan Lipari:

It’s been a fun ride here at Buildertrend, and I feel like it’s just beginning.

Bre Ferris:

Oh, gosh. I mean, have you heard wiser words spoken before? I have not. All right. So let’s just get into the nitty-gritty. So first things first, can you explain to us just a little bit about what a Buildertrend Champion is?

Dan Lipari:

Yeah, a Buildertrend Champion. I think the first thing before we get into the definition is a BT Champion should not be confused with, say, a Buildertrend power user or a Buildertrend super user. Now, an individual can be both, don’t get me wrong, but a Buildertrend Champion is an advocate, somebody within their organization who understands the short-term and long-term benefits of Buildertrend and is going to work with their team to help them achieve those goals throughout the life cycle of their time at Buildertrend. So it’s extremely important. Obviously, we have resources within the customer success department that can be leveraged to help a company grow into Buildertrend, but it’s really important to have an individual or group of individuals who understand the benefits and are willing to work with their team to really pioneer Buildertrend throughout the life cycle.

Bre Ferris:

Absolutely. And I think this kind of is a great segue into our next question here. Why is just having that Buildertrend Champion so important for successful implementation? If you could go a little bit into that.

Dan Lipari:

Yeah, so it’s been my experience that anytime a builder or contractor starts in Buildertrend, change management can be hard. There can be curveballs along the way from maybe what a company was doing prior to Buildertrend to what it will look like in program. So it’s just really important to have those groups of individuals who, like I said, will kind of pioneer this thing and work with our team to set a success plan in place to ultimately help that company achieve its desired outcomes and what it ultimately wants to get out of Buildertrend.

Bre Ferris:

Absolutely. So we talk about a Buildertrend Champion. What makes a good champion of the program? Is it based on the role? Is it the time at the company, skills, et cetera? What kind of makes that person that go-to person?

Dan Lipari:

Well, I don’t know if you could designate a specific role in terms of what a BT Champion would look like. I think if you consider what you need out of a Buildertrend Champion, somebody who can rally the troops, if you will, and make sure everybody’s on the same page. I think you need somebody who can carry that kind of weight within their organization, whether it be the owner of the company, whether it be an individual who maybe has their hands in multiple things within the organization, like office managers. Whatever the case may be. But the more Buildertrend Champions, the better. And ideally, once you get into Buildertrend and you start seeing the benefits firsthand, then hopefully that should lead to cultivating more Buildertrend Champions within the organization.

Bre Ferris:

Absolutely. And so I’m on our CSS team, so on our support team. So I hear a lot of people calling in, chatting in, and we usually can tell who that Buildertrend Champion is. They’re the people that aren’t afraid to ask questions and get into the nitty-gritty and really just want to understand everything that there is, the intricacies, so they can better relay it to their team. And I’m sure you’ve seen that as well.

Dan Lipari:

Yeah, 100%. I think the other thing about it is if you engage in Buildertrend without Champions or a Buildertrend Champion, the risk you run is individuals working within silos to where you don’t always see the big picture or the full benefits of something like Buildertrend because there isn’t that awareness within the organization. Everybody may be doing their own things, some may be seeing the benefits, others may not be clear about what their responsibilities are within something like Buildertrend.

And so having that Buildertrend Champion in place is somebody who, like I said, can see the vision and can help leverage our resources to get their team fully on board. And we have great resources from our customer support team – who I know you’re super close to, Bre – to our Buildertrend coaches who will carry out trainings and get through a success plan, to account managers, account executives who can insert themselves for account reviews or quarterly business reviews.

And so having this Buildertrend Champion understand the resources available to their organization can also lead to future success down the line with some of the additional services that we offer from Buildertrend University right here in Omaha, Nebraska, to onsite consulting, which is a service to where we can come to you and put a standard operating procedure in place. So we have all these things, but it’s also beneficial for somebody within an organization like a Buildertrend Champion, who knows of all the services that we have to offer, but also the right time to introduce those things to their company and to their business.

Bre Ferris:

Absolutely. And we’re always here to help. And I think a big thing, too, is if you don’t know, just ask. We’re here to help. We want to make sure that you grow as a business, you grow as an employee within that business. We are here to help you, so never be afraid to reach out. And no matter how small the question is, we’re always happy to help. Yeah, absolutely.

So how does a Buildertrend Champion work with our CS team to ensure successful implementation? I think it could be a little bit scary to think of one person or a few people just taking on what some would consider a little extra work, but short term for long-term gains, I would say. So how do they work with our CS team to ensure that they get this successfully implemented in their business?

Dan Lipari:

Yeah, 100%. And it kind of gets back into all the different options that we have available to a client of ours. There are different routes you can go. And so there’s definitely an understanding of those things because I think also the other thing that should be said is that not every organization learns the same way.

Bre Ferris:

Great point.

Dan Lipari:

We have self-learning tools available with our Buildertrend Learning Academy, our help center content. But very early on in the process there will be a conversation with a coach or an account manager to understand present state of where that company or organization is coming from, what they’re ultimately looking to get out of Buildertrend in the form of desired outcomes. And then the process of putting a success plan in place to get that organization to that end goal begins. And that starts with conversations between a group of Buildertrend Champions, an individual Buildertrend Champion, and their coach or account manager, to really get that baseline understanding of present state and ultimately where that company wants to get to. And then from there we can refine the success plan and set milestones in place to help that company ultimately achieve its desired outcomes.

Bre Ferris:

The end goal. And we’ve said success plans a few times. Could you go into a little bit about what that looks like, what that means for a company?

Dan Lipari:

Yeah, we want it to be customized. We want that success plan to be customized specific to the builder. So there’s a number of desired outcomes that a builder who enters the Buildertrend door comes to us with, whether they’re looking for better financial management or more efficient job sites or improvements to scheduling or whatever the case may be. It can go in a number of different ways, and you can have multiple desired outcomes. So there could be multiple success plans. We want to align our success plans with a desired outcome, and at the end of the day, there’s likely a prioritization of what a company or builder is looking for when they first step foot in Buildertrend. And so that’s all a part of generating a success plan where there’s visibility between not only Buildertrend representation but also the client so that we can also celebrate successes when a certain achievement is made through the onboarding and implementation of Buildertrend. We want to celebrate those things.

And at that point we want to start unlocking other things, whether it may be attacking another desired outcome or whether it’s inserting some of our additional services, like I mentioned earlier in the conversation. But communication is key. Just like anything else, there needs to be clear communication set between Buildertrend representation and that Buildertrend Champion or group of champions. And once that communication is clear between those parties, that’s where a Buildertrend Champion can really be leveraged because they can then share that vision with the rest of their organization to make sure everybody’s on the same page.

Bre Ferris:

Spread that good word like gospel. Absolutely. So a Buildertrend Champion – they’re getting all this information, they’re that go-to person between the coach or the account executive or a support team, what have you. So they’re taking it all in. What is the best way or how can they involve the rest of their team to make sure they’re helping get them on board, giving them the resources that they need?

Dan Lipari:

Yes. Yeah, that’s a great question. And there’s options available there. I think you’re hearing me reference a plan, a success plan. And I think it starts there because once you have that success plan in place, then we can start delegating responsibilities between Buildertrend representation to that organization, who needs to be involved in what trainings, whether or not it’s beneficial to have group trainings in place to make sure everybody’s on the same page. Because like I said, you definitely don’t want a situation where individuals maybe within an organization are kind of working, as I mentioned earlier, in these silos. So communication is key. Making sure desired outcomes are clear is another important part of this piece. And then once that’s in place, then the delegation of responsibilities can really kick in.

Bre Ferris:

Absolutely. And I think you hit a great point there, too, is sometimes I think some people don’t realize that we can do group trainings with multiple people. And I think that is so important and, honestly, something that’s underutilized from what I’ve seen. Things can get lost in translation. So if we have an office manager who is trying to get something figured out for the project managers, it’d be easier if we just had them sit in on a training and we could kind of relay it all to them for how they need to learn and what they actually need to use. So I think that was a great point that you brought up there.

Dan Lipari:

Yeah, because the other key to that, too, is the Buildertrend platform, it all talks from one feature to the next and that sort of thing. So if I were to throw out an example, you want to make sure your project manager who is managing the production schedule of a project is aligned with the individuals on the accounting side. When something gets completed in production, then we need to make sure there’s that alignment so that it’s accounted for from a job costing or from a financial management standpoint. And so that’s where something like a group training could be beneficial to make sure everybody understands their role within the program, but to also make sure there’s alignment and that cohesion so that it’s being used to the best of its potential.

Bre Ferris:

Absolutely. Awesome. Well, Dan, I think we covered a lot of great information here. If you, with all of your wisdom and your wealth of knowledge over these 10 years that you’ve learned, if you could leave the listeners with just one piece of advice regarding Buildertrend Champions, what would it be?

Dan Lipari:

Yeah, I would say that it’s an important piece to have. I’m not going to sit here and say that a successful implementation of Buildertrend cannot be done without a champion or a group of champions. But you definitely increase your chances of a better overall experience with a Buildertrend Champion or group of champions in place. And the reason why I say that is because you want cohesion amongst the organization, as I mentioned earlier. You don’t want individuals working within their own silos because that’s where I think you run the risk of not understanding the full benefit. And I think that’s where you run the risk of having a little bit of doubt in terms of what Buildertrend can provide your organization, if everybody’s not seeing the benefit to it.

So it’s something that shouldn’t be overlooked and something where there should be awareness coming through the door of the best way to implement Buildertrend. And having something like a Buildertrend Champion in place is that first step to make sure that the implementation experience is a positive one and that it can also be expedited as well.

Bre Ferris:

That’s a great point.

Dan Lipari:

So I’d say those are the keys. Hopefully, that answers your question.

Bre Ferris:

It sure does. Awesome. I mean, you can just hear the passion in your voice. So, I mean, everyone, if you don’t want to do it for yourselves, do it for Dan.

Dan Lipari:

Yes.

Bre Ferris:

Because he just poured his heart and soul out into this episode. So Dan, I know we kind of went into the success plans and what that means and everything. We’ve also talked a little bit about desired outcomes. So if you don’t mind just getting into the nitty-gritty of that a little bit and just explaining what some of those are and what that would look like.

Dan Lipari:

So desired outcomes is a term we use within our organization to make sure the priorities of what’s most important for that company are clear going in. And before I list some of them off, I think it’s important to mention that an organization or a company with Buildertrend can have multiple desired outcomes. That’s an important piece. But we want to make sure that our success plan that we put forth for a company aligns with those desired outcomes. So some examples of what those desired outcomes may be. A company may come through the door and join Buildertrend and want to improve lead management in terms of tracking their prospects, pre-contract. Streamline project planning is another good example in terms of improving some of the project management aspects of the platform. Improved financial management in terms of tracking your budget versus what your actual costs ended up being. So there’s plenty of examples of desired outcomes that align with certain feature sets within our program.

Bre Ferris:

Absolutely. And I know we mentioned earlier, but it is important to pay attention to, like it doesn’t have to just be one of those. It can be a few of those. It will help you get there. That’s what those success plans are for. That’s what all of your resources are for. So feel free to lean on us so we can help make sure that we get you there.

Dan Lipari:

Yes, absolutely.

Bre Ferris:

Buildertrend Champions, do you have a nice little Cinderella story of a Buildertrend Champion and how one was, or a few of them were, utilized well with one of the companies who used Buildertrend?

Dan Lipari:

Yeah, absolutely. I guess I’ll dial back the clock a little bit and speak to some of my experience when I was coaching clients in that face-to-face role.

Bre Ferris:

I don’t even know if I was born then.

Dan Lipari:

It was a while ago. But it’s interesting how this story from 2014, 2015 still relates to-

Bre Ferris:

Present day.

Dan Lipari:

… what we do present day. So I had a new home builder based out of Indianapolis who came through the door that I had the luxury of working with to where right from the first conversation that we had, right after they joined Buildertrend, this individual jumped right in. And it was the owner of the company. That was their role within the organization. But right from the first conversation, they understood the importance of putting a plan in place and what members of their team would need to be involved every step of the way. Now, a lot of the things that they had prepared were things that I was going to ask anyway, in that initial discovery call to get a better understanding of members of their team. But it was an individual who understood the big picture, understood very clearly the benefits of Buildertrend and why they signed up, and they were motivated to get their entire team on board every step of the way.

And so it was easy work from there for me because at that point it was executing the plan that we put in place. But also the other thing that I really liked that I think led to the ultimate success of this client, who’s still with Buildertrend today, is the infusion of group meetings like we were speaking to earlier, to where we could review progress made and make sure questions were addressed across all different areas of the company. I think there was a lot of value that we were able to provide this specific company and getting everybody in the room periodically, not for every training, by any means, but kind of that monthly sync with the team to review progress, address any questions. And I think the other beneficial thing about that was the questions that one individual on the team asked was beneficial for other members of the team to also hear as well.

But then I think it also kind of cultivated an environment of buy-in, Buildertrend buy-in, because the owner was in on these meetings as well. And so they were hearing the questions, they were encouraging the group to ask questions and ultimately continue down this path to get them to a healthy state where everybody understood their responsibilities and there’s no confusion, if you will. So hopefully that speaks to the importance of how a Buildertrend Champion can really galvanize a group and cultivate these conversations amongst the team to make sure everybody’s on the same page at the end of the day.

Bre Ferris:

Absolutely. Just gets the people going.

 Dan Lipari:

That’s right.

Bre Ferris:

Heck, yeah. Amazing. Well, thank you, Dan. I think that maybe brought a tear to my eye. We love a good BT success story, so thank you for sharing that with us. I really appreciate you coming in here today and spreading the good word about the Buildertrend Champions and yeah, hope everyone has a great day.

 Dan Lipari:

Thanks for having me, Bre. I appreciate it.

Bre Ferris:

Woohoo. Thanks for listening to “The Better Way,” where we dove into being a Buildertrend Champion this episode. All listeners, please be sure to rate, review and subscribe to “The Better Way” wherever you get your podcast. Visit Buildertrend.com/podcast to sign up for the email notifications when the next season drops and explore our original podcast, “The Building Code.” Don’t miss our next episode highlighting Principles of Change Management with the Breakthrough Academy.