AccuLynx vs JobTread: Which is a better fit?

Joe: Hi, I'm Joe. I'm the director of sales in the roofing, remodeling, and construction industry. We've recently onboarded AccuLynx and we would give a five out of five stars. We started with a Salesforce product, which was specific to the home improvement industry, which was ImproveIt 360. We found it to be really good on the front end, great as far as lead manager, reporting, follow-ups, sales, things of that nature, but when it came to the back end as far as the accounting, it really fell short. For example, if we had a financing fee that we had to apply to a job, we couldn't write that against the cost of the job, we'd have to change the revenue amount, which is not correct. Some of the communication was really just meant for one way with QuickBooks, so it just left us in a bind where we had different numbers in the accounting software work versus what was in our CRM. So long-term, that was not a viable solution and the customer service there, it started off great, kind of just went off there towards the end, so that kind of was the impetus to start looking for new software. At that point, we moved ... Actually, we looked at doing custom software. For a business our size, it just didn't make sense for that level of investment so we tried to find some kind of canned out of the box solutions. We went with product called Method. That was okay on the back end, but really it left a lot to be desired on the front end as far as the sales, marketing, rehash cycles, things like that for the salesmen and reporting. Then we moved on to JobNimbus. That really just felt like it was an antiquated software all the way around. Really, you felt like you stepped back in the 1990s, early 2000s when you use that. Some of the job boards in moving jobs around production were okay, but generally was not a full solution that we were looking for. AccuLynx for us. When we were first exposed to it, they were partnered with Owens Corning, and we met them at a fair and got some exposure. It just looked like it had all of the capabilities that we were looking for. We've seen and kind of fell for the trap of it, it looked that way, and so we really did an extensive multi-month search and brought in every single person in the company to take a look at it, vet the software to make sure that we had every eyes on it to make sure it could do each function within our company. AccuLynx is really cutting edge. It's really simple, as complex as it is, it's really simple. You can pick it up pretty much day one. It's integrated with our supplier, ABC. It has another supplier integration coming later this year, was one thing, and it has video and camera functionalities we were able to get rid of another third party vendor, a company came and kind of cut the cord on some of the subscriptions. It has two-way communication with Google. It can pull appointments in and out of the Google calendar. Great as far as the back end communication with QuickBooks. Service has been phenomenal. We have had unlimited onboarding support. So we've pretty much been on the call with them better part of every single week since early fall with getting us onboarded and then helping us with the import of the data. So the customer service has been world-class. The reporting has been phenomenal. It's really simple to manipulate reports. There's a bunch of, I would say maybe 30 to 35 out of the box reports that you can start with and then just decide to add by a click of a button, columns and drill down on data any way that you want. It's also integrated with EagleView, and so we can actually order the EagleView directly through the technology and it populates an XML file, which pretty much puts in the data as far as the total roof measurements and perimeter and wall flashings. And then based off of that, we've been able to build templates within the system, so I would say 80% to 85% of the estimate is done before the estimator even gets there, which can keep the focus on the conversation, the selling process. It's easier to inform new salesman. It takes into account like waste margins and things like that that may be missed. And so it just reduces the mistake factor through the technology. So between the video, the good communication with Google, the ease of use, all have been huge pluses. I know in the short term, here in the first quarter, they're actually going to integrate with Service Finance Company, which is who we use. They are already integrated with GreenSky. So we're looking for that next evolution, making it easier for customers to approve and pay their payments. Customers also can pay directly through the platform as well, so there's not one piece of the system that has not been well thought out, and it's allowed us to cut ... I'd have to really think about it, but subscriptions with maybe half a dozen different vendors to this one stop solution. So it's simplified things and saved us money at the same time. Well, anyone that's ever onboarded a CRM knows what an undertaking that is. It's something for us, we came into this late summer last year and we knew that for our business, the slower time is the winter and if we were going to make this move, we needed to start that process in the fall. And for us, our fiscal accounting year is January 1, so we wanted to have a clean break and clean roll over with QuickBooks and the finances. So we started that process then with vetting it, made the decision. At that point, we started building out how we wanted it to look, and so they allow you to run basically a dummy company in the background, which we called Sandbox, so we could create reports that we wanted to create. We had guidance with them, as I mentioned earlier, weekly calls for each department. We started getting buy-in from all the employees, all the employees, one, recognized there was a problem and it needed fixed and here's the solution that we have. So we could get them exposed to it because change is scary, especially when you change everything, which is what encompasses a CRM. And then we started building out the templates and the payroll functions and commissions and how we do things. So we had a lot of help. With most onboarding of CRMs, you're limited to X number of training and yeah, they have some extra support, but it's you've got to call a support number or do chat. This was a really high level experienced person that never felt like didn't have the answer that we needed, and so he spent the time with us, and then we by department onboarded this system, built the templates, and we were able to roll it out beginning of January. They also helped us with the data import, so we had to take data from now multiple systems, put it into a master Excel spreadsheet, give it a label of how it was going to come into the new system, and they helped us with the IT part of that, eliminating duplicates and then importing it in in the correct status in AccuLynx. So certainly a big project, but certainly well worth it. Advice if someone's considering AccuLynx, do your homework. For us, we contacted another contractor that we knew in the area that had used it that was a similar size. We'd also asked AccuLynx to provide us with another contractor that was in the same business to get some ideas from them just to make sure it was the right solution for us. Two is the timing, I think is key. For us, we felt the best time was to do that as we went into the off season so we can pay as much attention to it as we could and not hamper sales and business, and then also to kind of turn the switch on the financials and make that as seamless as we could at the beginning of the year. The other advice I would have would be to expose the employees to it as early and as often as possible because the change is definitely scary. Some people are just extremely resistant to change, and so having them get more familiar, more experienced with it, help them through the modules, the live training, our training, and that combination. So when the first day hits, of course, having said all that, it really exposed folks where they were at with the system and it was still a lot of learning curve once we actually flipped the switch, but it was certainly a multi-month effort to try to limit that transition. So start early and often, get buy-in, think about the timing of when you do it, and make sure you do your homework, make sure it's a solution. But for us, having had the experiences that we talked about before, this was by far the best choice.