The app that’s shaking up the home improvement industry
The world of home improvement has always been a face-to-face business. However Hatch, an app that brings contractors and customers together, is turning that tradition on its head and turning it virtual.
Josh Carter, Partner Marketing and Marketing Operations at Hatch, calls Richmond, Virginia home — which is also home to Hatch HQ, too. Today, Hatch connects contractors and homeowners, helping them stay in touch during every stage of a home improvement project through messaging, video meetings, and phone calls.
This wasn’t always the case though. Hatch began life as a consulting firm for a large local window company, helping them close more business with homeowners. They decided to combine three separate communication tools and create messaging templates and strategies to help contractors automate many of the more time-consuming elements of managing multiple home improvement projects. “Poor communication was, and continues to be, one of the primary reasons homeowners have a bad experience with contractors.” explains Josh. “Businesses leave thousands on the table every month by not following up with leads or getting to them fast enough. So by automating their homeowner communication over text, email, and voicemail, thousands of contractors in the US and Canada can use Hatch to find unrealized revenue and ensure no lead gets left behind.”
But with the pandemic, many contractors and homeowners couldn’t continue ‘business as usual’. “Businesses were forced to adapt quickly to the pandemic. Many began offering virtual appointments and established strict guidelines for in-home visits.” says Josh. This shift and need for technology within the home improvement industry led to Hatch looking at how they could help their customers — the contractors — better. “Recent technological advancements came into the forefront as more and more contractors began measuring, estimating, and selling all digitally.”
Video was the game-changer. “Virtual appointments are incredibly cost-effective. Sales reps can now run 2x the number of appointments because they aren’t travelling from job to job, and providing homeowners with a virtual option up-front unlocks a segment of homeowners that might be weary of an in-person appointment.”
Josh contines “Our development team began using Whereby in their daily meetings and pair programming. Over time, other teams began adopting it! We love the custom branding, ability to join directly from a mobile browser, and the reliability.”
“We love it so much that we built an integration. Contractors can now kick-start a virtual appointment as they’re communicating with homeowners in Hatch.”
Hatch has been able to help and offer 3000 virtual meetings through their app on Whereby. “61% of contractors we surveyed reported higher revenue in 2020 vs 2019. The businesses that adapted quickly to the pandemic’s “first wave” thrived, but those who waited it out struggled in Q3 and Q4.”
Josh Carter and Ingrid Ødegaard, our co-founder and CPTO, hosted a webinar about how to close deals over video. Watch the full webinar here.
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