We love to share industry insights from our valued partners. In this partner highlight blog we teamed up with Josh Carter, Marketing Manager at Hatch

Hatch enables you to text, email, and call your Modernize leads the second the come in. Then you can continue your sales conversations from one collaborative workspace.

There are many ways to grow your home improvement business, including acquiring more leads and increasing your close rate. Solutions like Modernize can help you get more leads, but you need an effective strategy to close them.

Modernize and Hatch teamed up to analyze what works – and what doesn’t – across their home improvement customer base. You can increase your close rate by effectively using these messaging strategies.

Table of Contents

1. Text Leads Instantly

You are 7x more likely to set an appointment if you respond to a new lead in the first hour than if you wait until the second hour, and Modernize has found their home improvement customers are most successful when they respond to a new lead in less than 15 minutes.

Time is money.

So when a new lead comes in from Modernize or your website form, you need to respond as soon as possible. That’s why Hatch and Modernize built an integration to make this happen instantly for their shared customers. See it in action below:

Homeowners are less likely to pick up their phone when a new number calls them (thanks, robocallers) or even open your email amidst all of the spam. Texting is critical.

Hatch has found that home improvement companies average a near 80% response rate when they text new leads within 60 seconds.

Here’s an example of a window dealer doing just that:

Notice how the window dealer:

  1. Instantly texted the Modernize lead
  2. Got a response within 60 seconds
  3. Discussed the project over the phone
  4. Used email send the initial estimate and confirm the in-person appointment

2. Require a Minimum Response Time

We can all take a page out of Amazon’s playbook. 

CEO Jeff Bezos was assured during an executive meeting that customer service response times were less than a minute. He put that to the test by calling the customer support line in front of 30 executives.

Four and a half awkward minutes later, someone finally answered.

Bezos is downright customer-obsessed. You should be too. Your customers are Amazon’s customers; they expect first-class treatment. That’s why you should set minimum response times across your sales and service teams.

How to Get Started

Before you go crazy and require Amazon-type response times, get a pulse  for how fast your response times are today in your organization. Then look to improve ~15% week-over-week. Consider compensating your team when they meet the goal.

Here’s an example of a 4-week response time improvement plan:

Text Response Time (minutes) Email Response Time (minutes) Call Response Time (minutes)
TODAY 20:00 30:00 2:00
Week 1 17:00 26:30 1:30
Week 2 14:30 22:30 1:15
Week 3 12:30 19:00 1:05
Week 4 11:30 16:00 0:55

 

Be sure to track your close rates and revenue as you make improvements. That way, the results will speak for themselves. 

Here’s what those results look like in Hatch:

3. Rehash Cold Leads 

Rehash is the sales practice of re-engaging with cold leads.


If you quote someone and don’t hear back, the lead goes into rehash territory. Your approach now needs to change from selling to starting a conversation.

Here’s a 3-step playbook to get you started with rehash.

Day 1 – Text

Hi [Contact First Name], this is [User First Name] with ABC Windows. I never heard back on your decision. I would love to get some feedback and help you with your project.

Why it works

  • Personalized
  • Open-ended to encourage a response
  • Humanizes the sales rep

Day 4 – Text

Have you made a decision about what you want to do with your windows?

Why it works

  • A simple yes/no question
  • Leaves room for elaboration

Day 5 – Email

Subject Line: Estimate for [Contact First Name]
Hi [Contact First Name], we discussed your estimate a few weeks ago but I never heard back on your decision. I reached out a couple times over text. Is [Contact Phone Number] still a good number for you?


Why it works

  • Subject line is direct
  • Personalized
  • Confirms the phone number (maybe it changed or it somehow got blocked)
  • Makes the lead feel bad for not responding

How to Execute

Create a report in your CRM for leads that were quoted but didn’t buy. Then go after them with the rehash playbook provided above.

Takeaways

Text Leads Instantly

Texting is the best way to get in front of your leads. You are 7x more likely to set an appointment if you respond in the first hour than if you wait until the second hour.

Require an Internal Minimum Response Time

Be customer-obsessed – don’t keep them waiting. Track your response times today over text, email, and phone and strive for a modest 15% week-over-week improvement.

Rehash Cold Leads 

Change from selling to starting a conversation when leads go cold. Go into your CRM and find leads that haven’t responded to you. Build a multi-touch cadence (email, text, and call) using messaging that works.

 

About Our Partner Hatch

Hatch enables you to engage and convert more of your Modernize leads by combining two-way text, email, and voice with automation in one collaborative workspace. Use Hatch to create personalized campaigns that spark one-on-one conversations, and message your Modernize leads as soon as they request a quote. Fully integrated with your CRM, Hatch is the leading conversation platform for home improvement.

To learn more and request a free demo of Hatch, visit their website.