Hullco

Results without Risk: How Hullco Successfully Shifted to a Hybrid Sales Model of Virtual and In-Person

OVERVIEW:

From replacement windows, roofing, siding, decking, entry doors, sunrooms, and bath solutions, Tennessee home remodeler Hullco guarantees to provide the best value. The company uses only superior-quality materials and elite craftsmanship for renovation projects. Prior to the COVID, Hullco relied exclusively on in-person sales, either in the home or in their showroom.

Lean into marketing and virtual selling

To get the ball rolling, Hullco invested in one-minute TV spots to advertise their services and offered a special “no payments or interest till 2022” financing option.

Hullco still had to find a way to engage customers virtually. Matt remembered hearing about Ingage Presentations--a sales enablement platform that allows for the easy creation of engaging and memorable sales presentations--at an industry event and from some trusted colleagues who had used Ingage to increase their sales volumes.

According to Matt, Hullco had been considering a new sales presentation tool for some time. The sales team was leveraging multiple formats for sales materials and presentations--including flipbooks, Keynote and Prezi--so there was very little consistency in format or language. What’s more, the company was growing quickly and needed more structure. They had also begun to realize that customers simply don’t want to dedicate the time to sit through a 10-step sales presentation, nor do they have the attention span to do so.

Matt and Hullco’s marketing manager Terry Baker dove into Ingage Presentations. They immediately liked the format and functionality of Ingage, which makes it possible for users without any technical training or design experience to build incredibly engaging sales presentations. Whether users start from scratch or import existing files to create a new presentation, the ability to leverage built-in templates and interactive elements--such as images, videos and time-lapses--makes the creation process fast, easy, and visually appealing.

“With Ingage, we’re providing an interactive story and tell it with consistency across our sales team. We are able to standardize the company story and a process for selling each product,” Matt added. “We can build in hot buttons and qualifying questions too. For example, our salespeople struggle with asking homeowners what their budgets are, so we built that into the presentation, making it a natural talking point.”

Ingage has been rolled out to Hullco’s entire salesforce, with the sales team quickly and easily adopting it as their new sales tool.

CHALLENGE:

Adapt to COVID or Lay People Off

When the COVID pandemic took hold in the U.S., Hullco had two choices: close down--and lay off employees--or think outside the box. Hullco did the latter.

While the company had to close its showrooms in Chattanooga and Knoxville in order to comply with CDC guidelines, owner Matt Hullander knew he could find a way to continue selling during a time where he predicted people who were quarantined at home would be eager to make household improvements… but he needed to quickly shift and rethink Hullco’s sales and marketing process.

RESULTS:

“We are having the best month we’ve ever had”

Since adopting Ingage, Hullco has been shattering its previous lead and sales records, largely because of the ability to sell more widely and more quickly. Previous to virtual sales, Hullco was limited to the geographic leads they could efficiently sell, and in many cases, couldn’t afford to make a second or third visit to close. With Ingage, Hullco can take on more leads, and have the two or three conversations sometimes needed to close.

“We wouldn’t have shifted to virtual selling prior to COVID, but we’ve taken a glass half full approach and we’re having the best month we’ve ever had,” Matt said.

As the economy opens up, Hullco will continue to leverage Ingage for in-person sales, both in the home and in showrooms, and plans to keep virtual selling as a core part of the business.

“It’s hard to get customers in the home during the day or in the evenings because people are generally busier than ever. While our preference is face-to-face sales meetings, the success we’ve experienced with virtual selling has shown us that we can and should fill the gap with virtual sales.”

In addition to a sharp increase in leads and sales, the sales team is delivering a more consistent sales experience with Ingage.

Once a presentation is created, edits can be made on-the-go, with updates pushed out to all previous and future recipients automatically, ensuring everyone has the most up-to-date content.

“With Ingage, we can make changes to a presentation and the sales team will have those updates in real-time. That was a struggle before -- slowed the process because distributing the new, updated presentations would sometimes take up to two weeks,” Terry noted.

What’s more, the “locking” feature means that some content—like company messaging—can not be altered, which helps ensure version control and brand consistency.

“Some of our competitors don’t want their salespeople going off-script. We don’t feel that way. Each salesperson has his or her own style and we appreciate that because you can’t teach style, but you can teach the sales steps to ensure consistency and with Ingage that’s exactly what we’re able to do,” said Matt.

For more information about how you can adopt Ingage and sell faster and smarter, visit www.ingage.io