Mastering the Remodeling Game: Ray Baxter on Mobile Showrooms, Ad Targeting, and Franchising Strategies

In this episode of the Remodeler Digital Playbook Podcast, Ray Baxter, a seasoned general contractor and business owner of Remodel Express joins us to share his experience in the industry.

This episode is packed with practical advice on what it's like to win the remodeling game with a mobile showroom, ad targeting, and franchising, tailored for remodeling contractors. Tune in for marketing tips to elevate your sales game.

📌 KEY MOMENTS:

- 2:59: How a mobile showroom can make you stand out in remodeling.
- 4:43: How to set up your franchise dream team.
- 10:58: Advice for controlled review collection.
- 12:22: Social media strategies and apps for remodeling contractors.
- 19:28: Insights into Ray Baxter's process to closing sales.

🌟 What You'll Learn:
- ACTIONABLE TIPS for remodeling contractors to boost their sales.
- INSIGHTS into Ray Baxters unique marketing approach using a mobile showroom.

🔨 Essential listening for remodeling contractors seeking to advance their digital marketing strategies.

🎧 Tune in now to transform your approach to digital marketing!

Ready to see real results from fellow General Contractors?

→ Step 1: Join our FREE Digital Dominance Club for Remodeling Contractors

→ Step 2: Follow us on Instagram

→ Step 3: Schedule a 1:1 call with Rathna now!

Let's rock your remodeling journey! 🛠️💰

Chapters

• 2:49 How a mobile showroom can make you stand out in remodeling.
• 4:43 How to set up your franchise dream team.
• 10:58 Advice for controlled review collection.
• 12:22 Social media strategies and apps for remodeling contractors.
• 19:28 Insights into Ray Baxter's process to closing sales.

Transcript

Rathna Ramakrishnan
All right, we are in for a treat today. We are chatting with general contractor Ray Baxter with Remodel Express. Ray, I'll let you introduce yourself. Please tell me your name, the name of your business, how many years you've been in business. And if you're comfortable, please share your revenue numbers.

Ray Baxter
Hi, I'm Ray Baxter with Remodel Express. I have three locations Las Vegas, Salt Lake, and Phoenix. Been in business as a general contractor for around 15 years, and we do between $1 and $3 million a year.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Excellent. And how did you get started with this business?

Ray Baxter
I was a home inspector back in 2005, and at one thing led to another. I ended up doing a lot of solar systems. Once Bush did, the American Recovery Act, put solar on the top of the list with rebates and everything. Once the rebates went away, they all went into leasing. So I went into doing energy audits, and we also evolved into windows, kitchens, baths, flooring.

Ray Baxter
And that's still what we do today.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Excellent. I noticed that you have a truck, which is a showroom on wheels. Can you speak a little bit about that?

Ray Baxter
Yep. One of the neat things about our our unique selling proposition is our mobile showroom. We have all the latest styles, colors and trends inside of the van. So when we roll up on a customer's home to take a look at their project. Typically we go inside and measure and discuss the project. Then we bring them out to our mobile showroom and we basically pick out some design colors and options, textures and everything, and then we take it back into the house to see how everything looks in there. And it saves a customer a lot of running around all the different showrooms and get, you know, hit on by other contractors or the showrooms, try to steal the customer or whatever. So we like to kind of keep control over all of that.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
So in all your locations, you have a truck that can go to the customer's home?

Ray Baxter
Correct. Yeah, we sell franchises. So we're we've got about 15 locations on our business plan to expand into.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Wonderful. So this must be such a huge timesaver for busy families to quickly pick the cabinets and countertops and backsplashes and and just make a quick decision. So. And you keep updating the, you know, the content that's inside your truck to keep it current and.

Ray Baxter
Yes, we do. We always carry, you know, the latest trends and the colors that people are seeking these days.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Amazing. Very cool. Can you share a little bit about how your team is set up?

Ray Baxter
Well, most of the locations are franchise owners, so we look for people that have experience in the industry. And typically, we use subs that have been with us for quite a while and we found out those are better than employees in one aspect and many aspects where they they work for what they know they can make. They bid us a project, so they're not dragging along hour by hour or whatever. So they get in and get the job done to maximize their profits. And with working with them for so many years, we have an expectations. They know what I need and what I like. And they make it happen like it's their own customer as well.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Wonderful. And with your franchisees, you help them with identifying high quality subcontractors?

Ray Baxter
Correct. We give them access to our contractor contact list. We have specific suppliers that we use and materials and products that that we try to, you know, carry that very few other companies have so that we kind of develop our unique selling proposition as well. Again.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Wonderful. So other than the showroom on wheels, your, you know, high quality subcontractors. Is there anything else that’s a stand out when a homeowner is deciding to work with you? Is it your process or do you have anything else that's a unique selling proposition?

Ray Baxter
Yeah, One of the things that is beneficial to the customer is everything that we carry on the van is in-stock. So if we have, we carry about 45 different cabinet styles, colors and, you know, door styles. So if they want a custom cabinet, which we've had a few customers that want to do that, those cabinet shops are 3 to 4 months behind. And typically with a custom cabinet, the only thing you're getting is perhaps a different wood and a stain or paint color. You're really not getting any other benefit. Most custom cabinets are plywood or particleboard sides. And then you have to upgrade that drawers to a five-piece dovetail, undermount glide, soft, closed hinges. All of those are upgrades in a custom cabinet where everything that we carry on our vehicle, our plywood sides, dovetail drawers full undermount glides, full overlay door, soft close hinges.

Ray Baxter
So everything you get in a custom cabinet that you pay extra for.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Right.

Ray Baxter
And it's at a base price.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Excellent. And it's in stock guaranteed, which makes it easy for the homeowner to just pick it and hit the road running.

Ray Baxter
Yeah. And typically we start our jobs within 3 to 4 weeks and typical kitchen takes anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks, depending on the extent of what we're doing there.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Right. So let's talk marketing. What do you do for marketing? What do you have in your marketing toolbox? Are there, you know, tried and tested things that you do that works for lead generation?

Ray Baxter
We've done a lot of print in the past that seems to be dying off. We've done a lot of digital marketing. We have in the earlier days had our own telemarketing department. We did a lot of telemarketing. We had ten different ten people that were calling dialing for dollars as you speak, that work really well. The print worked really well a few years ago. And like I say, it seems to be dying off now. So we do a lot of Facebook ads. Instagram, Google and things like that. We're trying to push it all digital so we kind of have more control and we can choose our target audience better.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Awesome. And is one working better than the other? Is Google generating better leads or Facebook generating better leads?

Ray Baxter
It's kind of hard to tell at this moment. This is a new strategy that I just started implementing here in the last month or so. So we'll see how it goes.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Cool.

Ray Baxter
We also do a lot of home shows.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Yes. Yes. Those are great. About how many home shows do you manage to do a year?

Ray Baxter
Probably five in each location.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Nice. And considering you're just, you know, rolling out the digital lead generation, Facebook and Google ads, have you come up with a budget of how much you plan to spend on this digital lead generation?

Ray Baxter
No. You know, the the better it works, the more you dump into it. Right?

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Right.

Ray Baxter
One of the neat things that we're doing also is most people that have been in their house 20, 30 years, they have no idea what it costs to remodel.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Right.

Ray Baxter
So we're in the process of developing a price tool on our website where you go in and you answer questions and it'll basically give you a range of pricing and generate a report to email to the customer. So it'll be a lead generation source as well. And then they'll have an idea of what a remodel costs and then it asks, you know, for us to come out and set an appointment with them to come out and verify and talk to more about it, bring the showroom.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Excellent. So do you have a baseline of a project size that you prefer to work with?

Ray Baxter
No, I mean, we we've done anything from a $15,000 bathroom to a quarter of a million dollar, you know, whole house remodel.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Excellent. Cool. Do you have a process in place to collect reviews from your clients, from your happy customers?

Ray Baxter
We do. Yeah. We use Reviews.io.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Okay.

Ray Baxter
We've had, you know, reviews on Google and Facebook and places like that. We've also had trolls go on there and place plays fake or bad reviews. So that's why I eliminated the public being able to just do it at will. We they have to come through an invite-only through Reviews.io.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
I see. So you're not collecting any reviews on Google or Yelp or Facebook or any of the public platforms?

Ray Baxter
Well, I mean, Reviews.io does send them out after that to those platforms, but you can't just click on it and post a review without an invite.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
I see. And so what is your process? When a project is completed, your team members ask the homeowner for a review?

Ray Baxter
Yeah. Yeah, we. We send them a link right to their phone while we're there. A lot of times what we're trying to also do is create video reviews so we can use those as well. Excellent. And in the past, with a previous company that I owned, I rebranded. We had quite a few video reviews. We used an app called SoTellUs. And it worked really well.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
So the homeowner, the happy homeowner will leave a video testimonial with you then they can put on your website and social media and so forth.

Ray Baxter
Correct.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
What do you do in terms of social media presence? Do you post regularly? Do you do lives, reels? Have you engaged in any of that yet? Or what is your social media strategy?

Ray Baxter
Well, we're like you mentioned, we're just starting that we are taking a bunch of our job pictures that we have. We use a CompanyCam as our picture upload where everybody uploads to specific projects. So we're developing for social media some of the reels, some of the before and after pictures, video ads, or whatever out of that.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Yeah. The CompanyCam is is a really good tool. Yeah. In terms of your existing client database, do you tap into them for referrals or do you just get word of mouth referrals? Do you have a strategy?

Ray Baxter
Well, we do get referrals. Most of the time, customers, you know, especially when I do a whole house remodel, they refer us out as far as trying to find more work out of the customer. You know, once we've completed their projects, you know, they're pretty much done with whatever they want to do to their house. So it's time to come back around again if they ever get a new house or want to update something different. Right.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Unless somebody does the kitchen and then they think about, you know, doing the bathroom or like an addition or a basement, then likely they could be a repeat customer.

Ray Baxter
Exactly.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Cool. So it just happens organically. You don't do any emails or newsletters to your existing database?

Ray Baxter
We do. We use MailChimp and we do that somewhat. It's more just top of mind awareness, you know, or hopefully they'll pass it along to their friends and family or whatever. Right?

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Right. So and when somebody's happy, they typically tend to do that.

Ray Baxter
Yeah.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Have you engaged in any text marketing?

Ray Baxter
We have we've this summer I was pioneering with the couple of guys where ChatGPT would text them and then also follow up and answer all their questions. I was out of the country for a couple of months, so we kind of lost traction on that. But they were trying to develop it to where it would ask for an appointment and then turn around and set it.  So we didn't get that far when I was gone. So I haven't picked that back up yet.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Excellent. So what else have you tried using artificial intelligence like ChatGPT, appointment setting, and are you using it for any communication, or?

Ray Baxter
We are tailoring that into our Facebook and Instagram ads right now.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Nice.

Ray Baxter
Yeah. So we're you know, we're trying to stay on the front edge of all that with the AI coming out the way it is.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
It's great if you can put it to good use. You know, we can all benefit from it. So do you have an in-house marketing team that takes care of your marketing and your Facebook and Instagram ads or?

Ray Baxter
No, not in-house. I farm it out.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
You outsource it. And so for per franchisee, they use a different marketing company? Or do you from a corporate perspective, you manage it for everybody?

Ray Baxter
I manage it for everybody.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Excellent. Cool. So tell me something fun about yourself. You know, that's non-work-related. Do you have you know, I'm a mom to two boys. You know, I've been a digital marketer for a decade. So is there anything else that comes?

Ray Baxter
I've got four, three daughters, one son, so four kids. They're all adults, of course. And I have ten grandkids and one great granddaughter.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Wow. Congratulations. Are any of your children part of your business?

Ray Baxter
My daughter is my accountant. My oldest daughter. So she's she's hands-on. When I was out of the country for a couple of months, she kept everything rolling.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Excellent.

Ray Baxter
Yeah.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
There’s great peace of mind and having family members involved in finances.

Ray Baxter
Right.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Wonderful. So, has she been part of your team for a while?

Ray Baxter
I got divorced in 2019, and I lived in Arizona. All my kids and grandkids live in Salt Lake. Okay, So I went up there, and that's when I rebranded this company and tried to get them involved. But, you know, everybody has their own thing going on and everything. And then after about a year, the accountant that I had doing my stuff wasn't keeping it up. So I got my daughter involved and then she stepped up and kept it going real good.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Excellent. Very cool. If there is a young contractor that's trying to start a business like yours, what advice would you have for him or her when it comes to time management? And you know what? What are some of the tools or practices that you use or books that you've read that have helped you or, you know, please share any tips because you're such a seasoned business owner.

Ray Baxter
Well, the system of selling has definitely changed a lot over the years. You know, I've been trained by a lot of the old school guys from Zig Ziglar to Tom Hopkins to, you know, Napoleon Hill, all of that kind of stuff. One of the new books that I am reading and I've been studying a lot, is this one right here.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
New models. Wow. Very nice. Who's the author?

Ray Baxter
Jeremy Miner.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Cool. Thanks for sharing that.

Ray Baxter
Yeah, and he's got a company called Seventh Level. And basically it's all about no pressure selling. It's basically being low key, asking questions and getting the customer that through these questions and tonality and pauses, they lower their guard, they answer their own questions and it ends up being to where you are the one they want to go with.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Right. So what what does your sales process look like today? What is the when a lead comes into your universe, what is the first point of contact? Do they have a phone call, a video call?

Ray Baxter
We have a we make a phone call and we discuss their project. And if it's something that we think we can help them out with, then we set an appointment to go out there and visit with them, and then we go with the mobile showroom, of course, and we go in and discuss their project more in detail and, you know, find out what their pain points are and what their vision is. And then we try to incorporate all of that into the product selection in the mobile showroom and take it back inside of their house. And, you know, I've been doing this so long, so subconsciously I've already priced it out in my head and I just kind of work with them to find out what their budget is and if it's a good fit and see if we can close them right then and there.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Excellent. So do you use any specific tools, because you're growing a franchise. Do you have tools for estimation? And then the subcontractor management, do you, are you using Buildertrend or any of the typical tools out there?

Ray Baxter
Yeah, we use a couple of different ones. We use House Pro, we use Joist. Yes. Which is the largest contractor pricing app in in the world. We like House Pro depending on the projects and we can do a digital floorplan. We use pro kitchen to drop the kitchens and bathrooms. We can send it to their phone in 3D, they can rotate it around open doors and drawers. You know, we try to render it to where it's their color scheme that they picked out and they can see exactly how it's going to turn out.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Very cool. So if there is a new contractor that's starting a business like yours, would you recommend that they invest in these kinds of digital tools as soon as possible, or do you think it simplifies operations and the customer experience?

Ray Baxter
Yeah, you definitely want to use a lot of the apps that I've mentioned here to to, you know, cover your butt in so many ways. The pictures really cover a lot on CompanyCam. You know, Joist keeps track of your reporting in-house. They all integrate with your credit card so you can integrate everything with QuickBooks and, you know, keep a real good eye on your money and be as productive as possible with without trying to use a spreadsheet or something like that to figure it all out.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
So how do you plan do you plan for a quarter? Do you plan for the year when you set your revenue goals? Do you have a planning process that works well for you?

Ray Baxter
Usually by the quarter.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Okay. So you and how are you fairing for 2023? Are you meeting, beating your revenue goals?

Ray Baxter
We're a little bit behind because, you know, the interest rates and everything compared to what we were last year this time. I would say we're probably down around 30%.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
I see.

Ray Baxter
But, you know, it seems to be picking up a little bit. It's kind of you know, the consumer seems to be indecisive out there for some reason. So, you know, it's kind of hard to explain who knows what's going on.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
The sales cycle sometimes just takes longer than what you anticipate. But you do provide financing help?

Ray Baxter
We do.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
And that's through an external partner that you work with.

Ray Baxter
Yeah, we do. We provide financing. Most of the customers that seem to hire us have the money, and they just write us checks or pay with credit card. So it really hasn't been an issue.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Are there any other additional nuggets of wisdom that you would like to share with remodeling, contractors, homeowners?

Ray Baxter
Well, I try to continuously invest in innovation like the AI and ChatGPT. That is going to help a lot more with customer engagement. The cutting edge solutions for these apps to build strong customer relationships with us is the key to the remodeling industry. And, you know, if you've got anybody that is looking for a startup in the in this industry, we would definitely like to talk to them about a franchise.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Fantastic. So do you have goals for your franchise? Are you trying to grow it in all of the United States or take it international?

Ray Baxter
We have about 15 locations in the Southwest that we've targeted. I'm developing our website to where it is a national brand. So there's a lot of options to where you can basically purchase the products on our website. And we have national companies that can come and install them if you need that or you can do it yourself.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
And you personally vet the franchisees that you bring onboard?

Ray Baxter
Yes. And train.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Yes. Because they're like family now once they come onboard.

Ray Baxter
Correct.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
And you have an open and serve box that you're able to give them. Right. To say, do this first. And so are you are you building out websites for every franchisee or are you just adding locations to your brand new website? Just adding locations. So are you spending a lot of effort on SEO, on your website?

Ray Baxter
We are.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
And what are some of the things that you're doing? Do you know?

Ray Baxter
As far as SEO?

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Yeah.

Ray Baxter
Well, you know, it's all about keywords, right? So, you know, we are always changing the keywords and trying to keep it in front of everybody as much as possible.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
It’s a lot of content management on the website then? So 15 locations are situated on your website. And then in terms of review collection, are you just collecting it all in one part or are you trying to segregate it by. Because if there is one location, let's say their unfortunate and they get a bad review, you don't want to do like impact another location that has like a stellar record.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
So have you come up with a strategy for that?

Ray Baxter
Well, with Reviews.io anybody that posts like a three or under, then it's moderated before it's published. So we can determine whether we want to publish that or not. We would deal with the customer directly and try to get their issues solved so that they can raise their, you know, their quality of the review.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Right. And it's usually a little thing that they're upset about which you get simple things. Usually.

Ray Baxter
Yeah.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
Awesome. Excellent. So this was fantastic to chat with you. Thank you again for making the time.

Ray Baxter
You're welcome.

Rathna Ramakrishnan
And I wish you the best in scaling your franchise and hitting your revenue numbers.

Ray Baxter
I appreciate it.