Speaker 1 00:00:05 Welcome to the clear impact podcast brought to you by P G T I university. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor and I am your host. And so there is a lead match class there, of course, and actually has several videos and some knowledge checks and then an assessment mm-hmm <affirmative> Josh. You got to play in my world for a minute.
Speaker 2 00:00:31 Yes, it was terrifying. <laugh> and I'm glad, I'm glad that most of it is done
Speaker 1 00:00:35 <laugh> we thought it would be fun to chat about additional updates on today's clear impact podcast. So we invited Josh so chat with us, Josh and his team oversee lead match our lead generation management program. This software, and this conversation is super helpful for those ready to make the most of their opportunities. Welcome to the clear impact podcast. We are doing just a little mini series around some really important updates that we have come up and in studio today, we have one of my favorite people. Josh Soto is back with us. Hi Josh.
Speaker 2 00:01:09 Hi Sherry. Thank you for having me. Oh, it was a pleasure to, to be on a podcast.
Speaker 1 00:01:13 Oh, it's, it's an awesome conversation. Um, you and I kind of went through a very similar path, uh, just a few months ago with updates and improve and here's my new system and here's your new system and what look, what you can do and look what I can do. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and so that was kind of a fun little journey for us to share, but we wanna share what that looks like and what that means for our dealers today. So Josh, you are in the digital operations side of our marketing team mm-hmm <affirmative> and your baby is lead match.
Speaker 2 00:01:43 Yes.
Speaker 1 00:01:43 Okay. So, um, for those that might be new to this and maybe have not heard of this, what is lead match?
Speaker 2 00:01:50 So lead match from the, the highest level at the very, at the very highest level is a lead generation system and CRM system. So it's two sided. If a homeowner, just anybody that's interested in buying any P G T I branded product, um, they would go to our website, click our, where to buy a link, you know, answer some questions. Um, if they designate that they're a homeowner, then we can, we send that lead to, uh, you know, to a residential dealer. If they indicate that they're commercial somebody in the trades industry, then we, um, reroute that lead accordingly. So on the lead generation side, that's what it is. Um, but match itself is, is where those leads live. So those leads are generated from our website and sent to our dealers respective lead match accounts. So lead match is a, is a CRM that houses, all of the leads that are developed are gathered rather through our different websites. So if you're a dealer you can log into lead match, um, access all of your leads, you can assign those leads to, you know, your different sales reps. Um, you can do, do whatever you need in, um, within that system to manage the lead.
Speaker 1 00:02:51 Okay. That's awesome because we have quite a reputation and a lot of people are brand aware. Thank goodness of mm-hmm <affirmative>, uh, thanks to our great marketing efforts, but, you know, folks that know P G T they're gonna come to our, the PGT or the CGI or the window or whatever site, and they're gonna be like, what kinds of products can I get? How do I get in touch with someone? And so it's a really amazing service that we then hand those off to dealers so that they can then service those customers and have sales.
Speaker 2 00:03:18 Yeah. Yeah. That's been a pretty big one. We've had some dealers with huge, huge success within lead match. And it's not to say that the other dealers, they weren't having success before, but now we can actually say, okay, well that lead came from, you know, this effort, this, you know, advertising effort. And we can track it from, you know, from the time that that person first clicked to the time that we actually really get, you know, them in, through the system. And then the, the dealer reports it closed. So it's been really, really neat for us to be able to see that consumer journey mm-hmm <affirmative>, um, and be able to, you know, to attribute, you know, our different efforts so that we are reaching our consumers in the right places. Uh, we're connecting them with, with the appropriate dealer, you know, and all the, all the great things that go in, uh, around that. Um, it's a Oso for simplification, but that's pretty much at the end of the day of the, the way that, you know, that it works. And a lot of the value you've been able to get out of it.
Speaker 1 00:04:06 That's awesome. So what is like some of the feedback that you've gotten that led to the improvements that you're gonna share about
Speaker 2 00:04:14 Some of the, some, the best feedback that we've gotten has come from the dealers that have really, really been embracing the system. And so, by which, I mean, we have a system that we call our self ranking algorithm. Okay. And so, you know, when you throw the term algorithm out in there, people get, usually start scratching their head and it gets a little crazy, but all that it is, is it's the way that lead match prioritizes leads to dealers that are using them within our system. So all that really means is, you know, if you are a dealer and we send you a lead within lead match, and you don't update the lead, you don't market sold, you don't do anything to it. Well then you're, you're not going to be getting leads. You're gonna be getting less leads as a result of it. Mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Speaker 2 00:04:55 Um, so really what it comes down to is you wanna make sure that our consumers needs are being taken care of, right? So that's the way that that takes shape. So with the way that self rank and algorithm works is that we can rank our dealers in accordance with their inputs and how they're handling the business that we're sending them. Right. One of the major ways for a dealer to, you know, so if you're a dealer you're in lead match, you wanna make sure that you, that you're playing, you know, by our rules and making sure that are within good standing mm-hmm <affirmative> of the self rank and algorithm. There's really not, there's not a whole lot to it. So the number one, the one thing that you really want to do is, you know, you want your response time to be very, very low.
Speaker 2 00:05:33 Okay. Um, so by which, I mean, if you receive a lead at 1:00 PM today, you want to update that lead to contacting and reach out to that consumer as quickly as possible within that, within that time window. And that's for a, a few different reasons. Um, reason number one is because that lead can go to up to two other dealers. Okay. So if you're dealer a and you reach out to that homeowner, your chances are, you're gonna be the one that actually closes that lead, right. And there's some, some wild statistics, you know, supporting that. And I don't wanna, you know, put my foot in my mouth, but, you know, from what I've seen on my end, cuz I, I can see the whole consumer journey. I can see this person submitted a lead. It went to three dealers. Um, but they only got in contact with one of them and nine times outta 10, it's the one that reaches out the first.
Speaker 2 00:06:13 Mm. So we have that as a big ranking parameter as a ranking factor, you know, to, to make sure that our consumers are being contacted in good time. Right. And also to incentivize good, you know, good behavior. You wanna make sure people are, you know, um, are handling the leads handling properly, right? So if you get a lead, you contact it, market, contact it as soon as you can. And then boom, that's one big check box. Okay. And then, then the next major thing for you to do is close the lead, right? And so that's, we don't live in some fictional bubble where we, where we think every, every lead that we send you is going to convert into a sale. Mm-hmm we, we know that's not the case, despite all of our efforts, you know, we, we, we go through some pretty big leaps to qualify these leads before they make it to your inbox.
Speaker 2 00:06:56 But by which, I mean, if you at a lead that is for a, you reach out to the consumer and they said, Hey, no, I was just looking for some warranty information. I'm looking for parts of service. And if you can't handle that lead for whatever reason, it's too far for you, it's out of scope. Then you can select that status within the lead. And then boom, that lead is closed out. Mm-hmm <affirmative> to remove from your dashboard mm-hmm <affirmative>. And we know that that person was contacted and if their needs weren't met, because say for example, you know that they need to speak with a warranty specialist. Well, now we know that now we connect that person with a warranty specialist mm-hmm <affirmative> so there's no expectation for you to close for you to win all the leads we send you mm-hmm <affirmative>. But there is an expectation for you to let us know if you can use it or not. Right. Because then now there's somebody out there that hasn't been taken care of. Right? So if, as long as you check those two major boxes, mm-hmm <affirmative>, then you're going to be within good standing and you're going to be receiving leads, uh, more leads as they, as they come in.
Speaker 1 00:07:45 Well, that makes total sense because if you are in a dealership and you're slammed and you just cannot even take one more order today, you don't have any other sales people available for whatever reason, then you shouldn't be the getting that lead. You shouldn't, you know, like that makes sense. You give it to the people who are going to take care of it. So that makes a lot of sense. Mm-hmm
Speaker 2 00:08:06 <affirmative> oh, we like to think so. <laugh>, it's not always the case, but what's been awesome is to be able to see, you know, some small dealers that might not have been on our radar before, but you know, they've been able to really embrace the system and that's where a lot of our good feedback it comes from because we see people that, you know, that pick up the system and plug it into, you know, what they're doing. You know, a lot of times they'll get on a one-on-one call with me, I'll go through all the training steps and, you know, to make sure and tell 'em exactly what I'm telling you now, this is the things that you should be doing. And then from there we take, you know, some time to dig into their actual operations. Like what could we do to make lead match serve you better?
Speaker 2 00:08:39 Mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know, maybe there's something that you're doing at a habit that isn't translating well to what we need you to do here. Or maybe there's something in lead match that we should have available that we need to develop within lead match to support you that much better. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So, you know, I open up that forum to be able to see, Hey, how, you know, how can we help you better? And a lot of times I'll hear, you know, if lead match did this, then you know, it would be fantastic. It'd be the only thing I use. So then I do my best to be able to take that and put it into, you know, into fruition, getting it in with our development team, to see how we could work it in, um, and make sure that it's something that, that can, you know, positively impact our entire dealer network.
Speaker 2 00:09:11 Mm-hmm <affirmative> across all of our various brands. So that's been, and you know, really, really awesome to be able to see, you know, these small, these small dealers really make a name for themselves because that reporting that we do it, it runs all the way up our chain. Mm you know, so now we have, you know, small shops in Miami that are in our sales report saying, Hey, these guys are, these guys are absolutely crushing it. And so it's been really, really cool to be able, you know, to, to support, to support this all businesses of Florida in that way. So, wow.
Speaker 1 00:09:37 That's awesome. So you've been busy with some updates and tell our listeners about some of those amazing new bells and whistles that you have going on.
Speaker 2 00:09:46 So one of the major things that we wanted to do was we wanna be where our consumers are, right. We wanna be able to, to put a dealer in touch with any consumer and matter how they wanna do business. So what that's brought us to is the ability to connect our consumers with our dealers, um, either directly through a live chat mm-hmm <affirmative>. So if you're, you know, you're logged in a lead match, you can talk and say, Hey, I'm online. Um, if, if I'm a consumer on, you know, T's website, you know, and I'm looking if for dealers in my area, I can see the option to send you a message. And from their, we can start chatting. If you wanna take your relationship to the next level is a bad joke that I use all the time, but you can turn that live chat into a, um, a live zoom call.
Speaker 2 00:10:24 So say, for example, you want to, you know, you guys are chatting and be like, you know, what, can you just see what I have here? You know, um, you know, I wanna see if it'll fit in here, this, whatever, I'm not gonna pretend to, to know the, the narrative, but in that scenario, we we're giving our consumers and our dealers, the, the platform to be able, you know, to, to have a live chat, a video chat. And what's great. And this is part of the, the feedback that we've gotten from our dealers is that, you know, it's great to have all these different tools, but that one, that's just another thing for me to log into. It's another thing for me to manage, well, this, anything that we do within lead match, you don't have to log anywhere else. It's all, all there within lead match. So what as I'm describing that to you, you don't need to log into your zoom account. You don't need to create a zoom account. You just click the button and it takes you right into it. You don't have to worry about it.
Speaker 1 00:11:06 Oh, that's nice.
Speaker 2 00:11:07 Another, uh, update that we've had for our dealers. That again, you don't need a login anywhere else to get access is you now have access to our digital assets. So say if you're a PG GTD dealer or a CGI dealer from within lead match, you you'll see a resources tab. You can click in there. Um, we'll supply you with, you know, with logos images, videos, even like supported copy, you know, and if you say, well, I need a PGT picture for my website. You can go in there. It'll say we, we have it structured in a way where it makes sense. You don't need to be, you know, a marketing specialist or a graphic designer to know what the heck you're looking at. You know, you you'll see, all right, this is for, you know, my website, click it. Um, and then now all the images that you see there are labeled to help bridge those gaps. And they've also already been formatted for you. All you need to do is download it right then and there. And you can, you're, you're good to go.
Speaker 1 00:11:51 Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 00:11:52 And again, you don't need to log in anywhere else. That's all, you know, accessible within, within lead match. So that's been something that we've been trying to, you know, bridge the gap, give our dealers the tools, but not give them more things to manage to, to work them. Right. So that's been a, a pretty big initiative.
Speaker 1 00:12:07 That's awesome. And so with these updates, you also update the videos in our system, speaking of new systems, the, uh, the new P D T I university platform. And so there is a lead match class there, of course, and actually has several videos and some knowledge checks and then an assessment mm-hmm <affirmative> Josh, you got to play in my world for a minute.
Speaker 2 00:12:32 Yes, it was Tara fine. <laugh> and I'm glad, I'm glad that most of it is done <laugh>, but at the end of the, in a few weeks or a few months, it's, it's a revolving door I'm constantly gonna be, you know, and that's what I learned that how quickly the material that I had up there, you know, had been outdated mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know, and it wasn't that I was, you know, giving bad information. It was still, it was still relevant. It was just, you know, we had ways to, to improve things. You know, it was, we had done a massive update to our, you know, dashboards for our dealers. You know, even as we speak right now, we're doing cosmetic updates and we're rolling out a, you know, a big design redesign and anticipation of some, you know, some big milestones that we have for the platform. So
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Speaker 2 00:13:28 You know, I was very shocked to see how quickly I was like, oh my goodness. Okay, well, I'm gonna have to redo most of these. And so I did that. I think, think that it's going to be a lot more, um, beneficial for our dealers, you know, because it walks 'em through exactly. We know what you need to do to stay in good standing with our self ranking algorithm. Now, what the heck that even means mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know, how you can, you know, do some, some easy troubleshooting tools on your own end, you know, the different ways you can manage a lead, you know, you don't have to manage a lead your self, you know, you can assign that lead, you know, the different protocols for that. And, you know, really, and the knowledge checks have been absolutely fantastic to be able to make sure that we're checking those boxes because it's, I'm, I'm a very long-winded person.
Speaker 2 00:14:09 And I realize that <laugh> so I understand that if I'm telling you 10 different things, and I really want you to remember one thing, chances are it's gonna get low, lost, you know, lost in the, in the sauce there. So, you know, having the know the knowledge checks, um, checks that box for us to make sure, Hey, you know, if you, if you only take one thing away from this, please remember this, because this is, this is what's going to keep you receiving leads. This is what's going to make sure that our consumers are being taken care of. And this is what's gonna make sure that we can still provide you with, you know, even more quality leads, you know, based off of, you know, feedback and stuff that you're giving into the system. So it's been, it's been pretty awesome to be able to have that as a, you know, as an extension of myself, to be able to help onboard new dealers, especially as we're, you know, branching out into, you know, our Western business unit mm-hmm <affirmative> and things like that. Right.
Speaker 1 00:14:53 And so we've actually made lead match a required course within some of our certification paths. So for anyone on the product side of the business, whether that's, um, sales or estimating or management, the professional track, which is the second level track is going to have a lead match course, and they're gonna have to take it. And so it's live now, it's up, it's ready. And people are working on that professional path right now. The final assessment isn't ready quite yet. So that'll be releasing soon, but these are obviously all self-paced and people can go as fast as quickly as they want to, but they can't go faster than me. <laugh> so <laugh>, so they're gonna have to wait just a little bit, but, um, that will be coming soon. So I'm excited that, that we have so many tools that help people be successful. I, I love that about this company.
Speaker 2 00:15:46 Yeah, no, and that's, we, we try to run with that. I'm, I'm, I'm so grateful for that as well, because cuz then we could say something like, Hey, let's turn lead match into an app. And people were like, yeah, it's a great idea. I'm like, okay, well that's us now <laugh> so we're turning lead match into an app and so nice. That should be something that's um, we, we have that in our, you know, our sprints for, for this year. So hopefully next time that, you know, I I'm here our, on a podcast, I'll be able seeing the good praises of our lead match app and it'll be on your iOS or Android, uh, phone. And really we wanna make the lives of our dealers, you know, easier as, as easier as possible we've done, you know, things like, you know, setting up follow reminders, um, setting up different, you know, things, a calendar, um, we're setting up, we're giving consumers ability to set appointments with our dealers, you know, and those appointments can be in the form of a in-home visit a show, a scheduled showroom visit or even virtual consultations.
Speaker 2 00:16:41 Oh nice. And so that's, and that all kind of feeds into the, our whole live chat that same, you know, that chat bot function mm-hmm <affirmative> and you know, if you're a dealer and you say, you know what, I don't really have the patients to have to be on a video consultation with somebody, but I would, and I don't have a showroom, but I would love for someone to tell me, Hey, come to my house at this time. And you know, these are things I'm interested. I'm like, okay, well, great. Well, we can do that for you. So you can have just the, the in-home appointment visiting, but not have the virtual consultation or the showroom visit or even, you know, the option to have a live chat. So, you know, whatever you want, whatever kind of business you want to take on, we can help support you in that space. And again, you don't have to log into anywhere else, but lead match, nice to be able to, to, you know, to solve, you know, solve all those problems.
Speaker 1 00:17:26 So is lead match required from a dealer? Do they have to be in lead match
Speaker 2 00:17:32 If they want to have visibility on our websites then yes. Okay. Then it would be, it would be a requirement. And the reason being is because if you're on our website, then that means that we're sending you business, right. When we send you business, that is coming into the form of a lead within lead
Speaker 1 00:17:48 Match. Right. And we have a responsibility to the people who are visiting our sites to handle them well. Yes. So if a dealer is not currently involved in lead match, if they don't have an account currently set up, but they're interested in doing that. Maybe they just hired a couple of new sales people. They've got the capacity to handle some more leads. They wanna expand their, how does a dealer go about getting signed up for lead match?
Speaker 2 00:18:11 Great question, Sherry. The best way, best way for that to have is for them to reach out to their local rep. Okay. It's not a, a major lift on their part. They just reach out to a local rep saying, Hey, how do I get involved? They will either reach out to me or just send them a link. There's a registration link. You know, chances are that you already have an account within lead match. You just don't have a login for it. Okay. It's kind of the way that it works. Okay. So there's a chance that we already have most of your information there. We'll clean it up, get you access to it. Um, supply you with, you know, uh, with training in the form of either a one-on-one with me, um, or through the LMS, you know, we, whatever you need to be able to use the tool to its full potential, you know, we're game, whatever, whatever form that looks like. I have had one on one calls with the same dealer multiple times. So they just, until they get it, whatever that looks like, we wanna make sure that we're supporting you in that space. Right.
Speaker 1 00:18:58 And they get to decide the parameters that they're willing to work in. So it's not like, oh, you have to be willing to do a job. That's a hundred miles away. Or you have to be willing to, you know, do something that's outside of your scope. You get as a dealer, they get to kind of set those parameters themselves, right?
Speaker 2 00:19:14 Yes and no. Okay. So if you're a dealer and you receive a lead, that's out of your scope, then once you see that, you know, it's, you know, for example, we have dealers that don't work in condominium at all. So if they see a lead that comes in, it's in a condominium, then they can just select out scope and they don't need to do anything else. They don't need to contact them. They don't, that that lead is now closed out. So if you remember what we're talking about before, right? Checks the box for a self ring, an algorithm they're looking good, that lead is removed from their dashboard and that's it. Okay. It's not a major strain, uh, from them that all that can happen within seconds. And even though we're developing the app right now, it's still works fine from your phone, if you want to use it from your phone.
Speaker 2 00:19:51 So, okay. That's something that we have. And the same thing goes for, you know, if the job is too far, the job is too small. You know, we have some dealers that have a minimum opening of five, five openings. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, you know, they won't send, you know, a whole crew out to install a one window or one door mm-hmm <affirmative> now we understand that. But if you can't work it, then let us know. Right. So, you know, there may be somebody out there that we can pass that, that lead along to. Okay. So we, we always want to give our dealers the first crack at it. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and if they can't, for whatever reason, no problem. Just let us know and we'll take care of that person and you don't have to look at that lead anymore.
Speaker 1 00:20:20 Okay. Well, that's amazing. I'm so glad that you had some time to come and chat with me. Is there anything else that we would like to share with our customer base around lead match today?
Speaker 2 00:20:29 I mean, how long, how long, how long do you have? No. Um, well
Speaker 1 00:20:34 We're yeah. We're we're about outta time.
Speaker 2 00:20:37 Okay. Well, um,
Speaker 1 00:20:40 Anything critical,
Speaker 2 00:20:41 Anything critical? So some of the big things that we have is our, the self rank and algorithm. Mm-hmm <affirmative> to make sure that we're, we're supplying leads, the people that are using them and taking care of our consumers. Mm-hmm <affirmative> we are now also locking our leads, which sounds a little crazy. But you know, if a lead goes up to three different dealers dealer, a marks that lead to sold, they're under contract now dealer B and C know, not that they don't need to call that consumer anymore. It's pretty much what it comes down to. Okay. We're helping our dealers save time by saying that they don't need to reach out to these consumers because they've already been taken care of mm-hmm <affirmative> you don't need to waste your time on that. And we're helping our consumers out by, you know, not having them, you know, get called by different dealers after they're already under contract.
Speaker 2 00:21:20 Now they're for all intents and purposes, their experience is done. Right. Well, you know, until they move on to the next phase. Sure. So that's a pretty critical go on. Um, we have, you know, our microsites. So if you're a dealer of ours, mm-hmm, <affirmative> you have an old website or a non-functioning website, then, you know, we can set you up with a branded website. So what that looks like is, you know, it'll have your logo on it. It'll have your about us section. Um, it'll have P G T products on there. If you sell P GT, if you sell CGI, it'll be CGI product. Um, we can set up that chat bot that's where that chat bot lives. It gives you the ability to, to get unique quotes, to get appointments, setups, to have live chats, virtual consultations, all those very, very fun things. Um, so that's another very big one that we have out there. And of course we have the app coming out and, and yeah, that's <laugh>, I can, I can keep on going, but I think that, that that's in, that's a big enough check that for me to cash later.
Speaker 1 00:22:11 That's awesome. Yeah. I know. You have to be careful <laugh> yeah.
Speaker 2 00:22:14 Like,
Speaker 1 00:22:14 Oh, goodness. And like next week. No, just kidding. Next month. No, just kidding. Q3. Wait. No, maybe 20, 23. Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:22:20 Let's do that one.
Speaker 1 00:22:21 Yeah. Yeah. I understand that. Yeah. Well, and you're a perfectionist as, um, I, and we try to make sure that everything is been tested and that we've had lots of user experiences in the system to just make sure everything's functioning properly before we release it out to our audience. So, um, we know that we're working on things ahead of time, but it might not be available to them just yet.
Speaker 2 00:22:45 Yes. Yeah. And that's, that's, that's a really big part of it. And a lot of it gets really least because it's not, it's not a one size fits. All right. You know, you know, a lot of the things that I just throughout there could really intimidate a lot of, you know, a lot of our dealers, but some people may be like, yes, yes, give me that. You know, so we're making updates and content. We try to support everybody in the way that we do it and understanding that not everyone's gonna be all over it. Being able to find the, the dealers that would be a good fit for, you know, virtual consultations, you know, that's, that's a big part of the process.
Speaker 1 00:23:13 Right. Well, and you know, the hottest lead is the freshest lead. Yes. You know, when people are looking for information and they reach out to somebody, they don't wanna wait three days. Mm-hmm <affirmative> they wanna, they don't even probably wanna wait three hours. No, they don't. I mean, we're all so spoiled. We expect things instantaneous. And so, um, you know, the fact that you had, you know, people that were out for lunch and they didn't come back for an extra hour means that you lost a sale then. Oh, well, you know, you lost a sale <laugh> yeah. But you know, those that are hungry and that are growing their business and that are really, uh, operating well will take advantage of these things.
Speaker 2 00:23:48 Yes. And that's what we, that's what we hope for.
Speaker 1 00:23:49 Yeah. That's awesome. All right, Josh. Well, this has been a fantastic conversation. I always enjoy time talking with you and understanding what we're doing on the digital side. And, um, I'm looking forward to seeing what else happens in later on. <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:24:04 Me too. We'll both. We'll we'll both be surprised, right?
Speaker 1 00:24:07 Exactly. Have an amazing day. Thank you. You too. All right. Take care. P GT I university is the customer education team for an entire family of brands. We began with the original, easy breeze porch and closure line then became P G T America's leading brand of impact resistant windows and doors. We then added C G, C, G I C window, Western windows, new south windows, echo windows and doors, and our latest acquisition and Lynn windows and doors. We create products built to withstand major storms, keeping people safe, secure, and prepared. Our exceptional brands give you the protection you need without compromising design or functionality. P G T I university is here to educate you our listener so that you can be more informed about window and door products.
