Today, we are sitting down with TrebleHook’s Director of Business Development, John Goff. John answers questions about why he joined TrebleHook and CRM solutions’ impact on the AEC and manufacturing industries.
Tell Us Your Name and What You Do for TrebleHook?
My name is John Goff, and I am the Director of Business Development for TrebleHook. My job is to connect with AEC firms that could benefit from our solution. Today, many firms are outgrowing or dissatisfied with their current systems and processes and seeking ways to modernize their project pursuit process.
I am typically speaking with firms that have experienced significant growth or are looking to expand in the future, growing organically or via acquisitions, adding new office locations, or expanding into new geographical markets or specialties. I learn about their current environment, educate them on best practices and determine if TrebleHook can help them.
What Did You Do Before Coming on Board?
My early career was in the wholesale lumber business, which is how I developed a passion for the building process, seeing projects go from concept to reality. In more recent years, I have gravitated toward technology, IT security, database, and most recently, with Cosential. There I led business development teams for commercial and enterprise AEC firms and gained my expertise in CRM. I have a comprehensive knowledge of other systems that AEC firms commonly run, ERP, Project Management, Estimating, HR, and Digital Asset Management.
Why Did You Join TrebleHook?
I joined TrebleHook most of all because I believe in the company, leadership, and product. The most important thing for me is to be with a company where I believe in the people and the mission.
TrebleHook is the perfect fit for what I was looking for: a small company to care for individual customers’ needs and big enough to meet mid-to-large companies’ technical and people resource demands. TPM, our sister company, has built a stellar reputation over nearly 50 years, with a customer satisfaction level almost unheard of in our industry.
I see a tremendously high growth opportunity for TrebleHook. Our target addressable market is enormous, and most firms I speak with already know that they have significant holes in their project pursuit process.
Most will openly tell me their challenges and acknowledge their pain so I do not have to sell them on the idea. They just have not found a better mousetrap or been burned by a bad CRM experience in the past. I cannot do anything about the past, but I can show them a better mousetrap.
Why Are You a Fan of CRM Software?
I have worked for companies that had no CRM in place or had a CRM that was not a good fit for the business, so I know first-hand how painful both situations can be.
I have also worked for companies with CRMs that aligned well with the business needs, so I know from personal experience how using the right CRM makes me a more positive and productive employee. With the right CRM, I know for a fact that I make more money for myself and my company.
What Excites You the Most About TrebleHook?
What excites me most about TrebleHook is filling a huge need and bringing to AEC firms what they have been craving for years – an intuitive CRM built for their industry that they will never outgrow. Built on the #1 CRM platform (Salesforce), TrebleHook has all the bells and whistles, a ton of pre-built integrations, but most of all, users are blown away by the ease of use and how it speaks in their language.
The AEC market has lagged behind other industries in modern technology adoption. Still, over the last several years, I have seen a pretty dramatic increase in the appetite for new tools that create operational efficiencies and help drive new revenue. Competition is more challenging than ever, and margins are getting squeezed. Customers are looking for tools that will give them a competitive advantage, and that is what our solution does for them.
AEC firms have been slow to adopt CRM systems because nearly every CRM solution is designed for businesses that sell products. There are plenty of good product-centric CRMs available, but they are not built for project sales, so customization costs are high, and user adoption is typically low.
Of the few industry-specific CRM choices available, there are limitations in their ability to integrate with other common applications, scale as customers grow, and are typically difficult to learn and navigate. TrebleHook checks all the boxes that AEC firms are looking for, which is exciting to me.
What Teams Benefit from TrebleHook?
Executives, marketers, business developers, pre-construction, sales engineers, seller-doers, project managers, and more can benefit from TrebleHook. Think about TrebleHook as helping everyone involved in the sales process, is client-facing or is in a decision-making role.
If you wear a sales hat, you can manage your sales leads and pipeline more efficiently, track potential customers and projects more quickly so you can take action faster and win more. Having a client and contact management system and documenting key customer interactions is critical for maintaining existing relationships and fostering new ones.
Marketers save a ton of time not having to chase down information. Most marketers I speak with spend a crazy amount of time simply gathering data, and much of the time, it is outdated or inaccurate when they find it. With past project records and details right at their fingertips, marketers free up time to create better proposals and get them out the door faster, meet deadlines, and increase hit rates.
Executives can have reports they need on their personalized dashboards. They want data presented to be comprehensive, accurate and current, and easy to view and analyze. Decision-makers are better informed and can make data-driven decisions rather than instinctual decisions, drive predictable revenue, and mitigate risk.
Having more people on the system increases the benefits exponentially. More data gets captured, there is a streamline in communications, and users can create workflows to drive operational efficiencies. Organizations that make a top-down commitment to establish TrebleHook as the single source of truth for their project pursuits will reap the most benefits.
In Your Opinion, What Makes TrebleHook Unique?
What makes TrebleHook unique is that we have leveraged Salesforce’s power and simplicity and customized it for the AEC industry. Customizing a CRM system on your own or through a third party is time-consuming, costly, and extremely difficult to get everything the way you want it. If it were easy and cost-effective, everyone would be doing it, right?
We have taken away the uncertainty and the expense of the “do-it-yourself” route. Industry experts built TrebleHook with deep knowledge of industry best practices, so you have a system that speaks your language and is tailored to your specific needs right out of the gate. The speed at which we can get customers trained and live on the system is another huge differentiator. We can have you up and running in 30 days, which is incredible when you think about it.
Are you ready to Pursue and Land the Right Projects? Let’s schedule a meeting.