The Customer
SIGNATURE HOME BUYERS
Deana Schuttig, Marketing Director for SIGNATURE HOME BUYERS, joined the company about 4-5 months ago and started using Route4Me in early December 2013. A local investment company that buys, sells, and renovates properties in the upstate New York area, Signature Home Buyers is revolutionizing how buyers look for properties, sellers sell properties and investors profit by involvement in the process. By renovating houses that need substantial updating (using a team of trusted, local contractors), and showcasing these restored homes on their website, Signature Home Buyers does more than buy and sell properties. They unite people to revitalize aging neighborhoods, one hidden gem of a house at a time. In bringing investors together with rehab projects, the company has created opportunities for outside investment in the process. Additionally, Signature Home Buyers conducts training for new real estate agents, new investors, and those who are first-time home buyers, ready to navigate the process to reach the American Dream.
Challenges
Tripling marketing efforts: When she started as Marketing Director with Signature Home Buyers, Deana saw that there was only one person who posted marketing signs and always visited the same familiar locations every weekend. When Deana expanded the coverage to 2-3 new persons posting 80 – 100 signs every weekend over a 40-mile radius, she used a map to train them. “I had to hand-hold them the entire time”, she said, “and if they were not familiar with the area, they zig-zagged all over the place.”
Paying drivers mileage needed controls: As the company uses independent contractors to post signs, and drivers use their own cars, the company pays an hourly rate plus mileage. As in any business, costs need to be controlled.
Solution
Routes emailed: Now, with Route4Me, drivers receive an email on their own phones with their routes, which are created by Deana. Time and distance are optimized.
Mileage easily calculated: Deana uses Route4Me to calculate mileage exactly for reimbursement. If a driver decides to drive around instead of going from a designated location directly to another designated location, that driver is only paid mileage for miles calculated by Route4Me, from starting to end. Clear and supported by the mapped route.
Benefits
Using more features is on the table: When Deana first started working with Route4Me, she read all the support pages and attended Thursday webinars. There were some software problems, but she worked through them. Now, Deana is looking at a feature to track drivers by requiring “check-in” at points where signs should be posted so she knows drivers reached the location. She also wants to eventually make route optimization and assignment completely automated, using Route4Me, by setting it up to email out a specific route to a specific driver on a specific day and is seeking assistance from Route4Me IT support to create it.
New uses in training: Signature Home Buyers conducts training sessions for new real estate agents, investors, and those looking to buy a home for the first time. Deana plans to incorporate Route4Me into the training program to urge new agents to learn the software and start their careers with route optimization tools.
