34. Creating An Exceptional Handover Experience With Russ, Sky and Andy

This is Professional Builder Secrets, the number one podcast to help you grow your building company safely and securely. Brought to you by the association of Professional Builders. Join us every week as we talk to industry experts and your fellow professional builders on everything you need to know to generate more leads, more sales and higher margins while improving the building experience for your clients. Hello and welcome to the Professional Builder Secrets podcast, a podcast by the association of Professional Builders for building company owners, general managers, VPs and emerging leaders. Here we discuss all things running a professional building company from sales, processes, financials, operations and marketing. We have another exciting episode from the Professional Builder Secrets podcast. My guest today, co founders sky and Russ Stevens, as well as head coach Andy Scarter for the association of Professional Builders.

Thank you.

Thanks for having all of you together in one place today again.

Hey, Bosco.

Hey, Bosco. How you doing?

Yeah, doing well, doing well. So today we're going to talk a little bit about handovers. And why is the handover process from builder to clients so important?

The handover of a new home or even a renovation that leads to a lasting impression, whether that's good or bad, and the build process, well, it's not easy and it can get very stressful. And the relationship between a builder and a consumer, that can become quite fraught at times. However, a great handover experience will result in a positive, lasting impression. And that is why we come up with the process for our members to follow, which we call creating an exceptional handover experience. And since then, we've seen countless examples where our members get this part right. They then enjoy an abundance, abundance of referrals, and sometimes it can even come after a terrible relationship through the build process. They've actually been able to turn things around at handover just by having what we call an exceptional handover experience.

I'm just curious, how did you land on this concept of an exceptional handover experience?

Well, I mean, most builders, they've got a handover checklist, right? This is something everyone can relate to. There are certain things that just have to be done when you hand over a new home. Then some builders do go the extra mile and they just do that typical hamper for their clients at Handover. But none of this and none of that is an actual experience. So we took a look at the luxury car industry because we wanted to see what they do, you know, when you go get to pick up your brand new luxury car, which, by the way, is a fraction of the price of building a new home. So this is a product that's much cheaper than, than the million dollar home you're handing over or $500,000 home. But if you go and actually look at car dealers and even the luxury car dealers, look at what they do when they give you the keys to your new car. So we looked at that and their whole focus is on the experience. You've not necessarily designed your car, but you've kitted out that new car to your spec and your preferences, and you're literally going there on the day to pick up the keys to your brand new car. They could quite easily just toss the keys over to you and say, well done, drive away. And you know, because the whole excitement is in the new car, but it's actually not the excitement in getting your new car that day is how good they make you feel when you rock up to that showroom, when you get to go there and there's this beautiful silk cloth draped all over your car. And you know what's under there, you know what color you chose the color you chose the car. You know exactly what's under that silk sheet. But, oof, the excitement when you get to rock up and there's a silk sheet draped over this car, there's a big old bow on it and they get this, congratulations, Sky Stevens, your name is on there. You get to pick up that car. That's exciting. They leave you waiting for a little bit. They offer you tea, coffee, water, glass of champagne even. And it's an entire experience that they roll out. And it's very well thought out from start to finish. And so that's what we dialed in on, and that's what we really came to model. How well the luxury car industry hand over their cars. We can do better for homes.

So that's an interesting concept. I mean, you're really playing with someone's mindset as well in many ways. But did you notice that there was a gap? Is that why you wanted to create an even bigger process when you came to this discovery?

Oh, definitely. I think like anything in this industry, there are horror stories and there are definitely stories of builders. What was it? Just leaving the keys in the letterbox, not even doing a handover experience. Just like, you know, that's a formality. Here are your keys. Go into the home. I'll send you all the paperwork that you need. So there was an absolutely a massive gap for the majority of custom home builders to be doing this. I think, you know, professional builders had a checklist. They, you know, did a hamper or something special, but we just tried to, you know, remake the entire thing. And make it notice as an experience, start to finish, all the way from even before that handover day. What needs to happen? What happens on the day, what happens the day after the day?

How did you experience this handover experience, this exceptional handover experience impacting the trust of the customer and that overall experience moving forward? How does it play a role, as you mentioned, that the old processes of days old wasn't as elevated as what it is today. How does that play a role in building that trust?

I've actually used these words before on a previous podcast. It's really your existing clients and the incredible experience they've had lends credibility to your process and everything that you've said. So I've spoken about the fact that most of us have a built in bullshit meter. That kind of when we're being sold something and we can feel it, it's up there in the red. This is without doubt doing this properly and turning those people who are already excited, but literally turning them into raving fans is the way we explain it. They are going to be all over social media, not yours, theirs. They're going to be telling all of their friends. And we may get into some of the mechanics of this. Sky put together some really interesting takes on the kind of experience you can give the client for later on. But I was struck when I saw that for the first time, one of the things that Scar talks about is allowing people or giving people the opportunity to, let's say, host a dinner for their friends in their new home, bring in an outside chef who'll come in and cater the meal and present it well. There's four of your future clients sitting right there at that table. They get to actually participate in part of the experience. It's really the credibility from a technical perspective, obviously photographs, video, case studies, which we won't go into a lot of detail on today, but using the process to give you marketing collaterals and assets that you can use in the future. Absolutely.

Trust building I think as well. Actually you said something in that that is so important. You said they're already excited. And that is probably the biggest part about this whole thing. Your clients, when you're getting to the part of getting to the point of handing over the keys to a brand new home or a completely renovated home or whatever it is, they are so excited for that day at a beautiful baseline. And so what we do can either enhance that day or take away a little bit of the shine. So we never want to take away the shine. But everything that we're talking about now is to make it probably one of the best days they've ever had or experienced that year. You know what I mean?

Well, let's get into what does an experience, exceptional handover experience, look like today, especially with what you've put into the industry as well. I'm just curious what that vision looks like.

Well, certainly, like sky mentioned, what it doesn't look like is throwing the keys in a letterbox, which I know no one listening to this podcast will have ever done. But the fact is, it does happen, and it happens more times than it should in our industry. And the problem is, that's what. These are the stories that consumers are sharing with other people. That's a terrible experience that they've had. They're sharing those experiences. And a lot of builders get then tarnished with the same brush. Obviously, that's not something that any member of the APB are doing, and it's simply because we are following the process that sky outlined with the luxury car dealers. And. And, yeah, you can turn up at a luxury car dealer and you're going to get that orientation and the handover, and sometimes you're thinking, oh, just get on with it. Just give me the keys. I just want to get out of here. But you kind of never regret it because, you know, it's good understanding what all the little buttons do and getting a better understanding of your car rather than driving down the road and pulling over trying to figure out where the windscreen wipers are. So it is a case of allocating that time. But to answer your question, an exceptional handover experience, you've got to hit them with the wow factor straight away. That very first impression's got to be a wow, and then you've got to maintain that pace all the way through. So we like to start off with a red carpet and even a ribbon to cut as they enter the home. Now, that might sound a bit cheesy, but your clients are just so excited about their new home at this point. That's a real wow factor. You'd have the key members of your team there to actually welcome them into their new home as well. There's the ambience that's important. It's the smell as they walk in, it's the sound so the music that you play. There'll be champagne there on ice, ready to be popped and poured. And of course, that's a great photo opportunity then as well, because you really want to capture that moment, because that moment becomes the final photograph in the album that you also have there, which shows the history, the progress of their build. So it's the final shot that will go in there. You'll have the manuals, folders all collated all tidily in a nice binder so they know where to find everything. You'll have a nice key ring in a presentation box, you know, not just a key on the tabletop, but in a nice presentation box. And then most importantly, you'll spend time orientating your clients on all aspects of their home. And you need to allow 60 to 90 minutes for this. Take your time, don't rush it. Not all the team need to be standing around at this point. You know, you can have a few guys there, so especially people they would have dealt with, contracts, admin, supervisor, et cetera. But then you do the orientation and you take them through and that, that is what determines an exceptional handover experience.

And like, might I add, it's not any detail too big or small. You know, there are some big, like top line exciting things to go through, but like another really good example of the simple things that just, it matters to the consumer. That's going to be the temp check of everything you do at your handover. It may not be a big deal to us living in this house every single day, building it and you know, gutting it or renovating it or whatever, but on that handover, it's, it's even like the bathrooms, right? Make sure when you do a handover experience, if you're there doing a guided tour for 60, 90 minutes and you have a little moment before or after you're there for a couple hours, especially if people go there with their kids, someone's going to need the loo. So make sure you have some toilet paper ready so that people can go to the toilet in their new home. Make sure, you know, there's a little bit of soap. Make sure that you actually have a seal on all of the toilets. You know, like when you go to a really nice hotel and they put a full seal on there because you know it's just been properly cleaned, you're going to be the first person to sit on that throne since it's been cleaned. Make people feel like that in their new homes. Make all those toilets completely sealed. These toilets most likely have been used since they've been on site, but they are going to be properly cleaned, ready for that handover. Make sure they're all sealed.

It's a personal item, isn't it?

Well, that's it. It is, it matters.

Okay, so I've got a checklist on My own in my head that I'm going to throw in. And I just want you guys to say yes, no, or, you know, not sure. Air refresher or having a diffuser at the handover. Yes or no?

I'm waiting. I want to see which way this. I've got a feeling that I'm going to be the referee on this one. Go, Russ.

I'm sorry, are you talking about going through with a Glenn 20 and spraying?

No, no, no, no.

We're talking.

We're talking about the bougie kind, you know, the ones that you see at Sage or something not too strong, but something that's perhaps, you know, friendly and inviting. Would you say yes or no?

I go with the diffuser.

Yeah, yeah, diffuser.

Okay.

Smell. Interesting one, too. Because you don't want to take over someone's new home, so you need to be very, very careful about how you take over the smell of someone's new home.

So the first one is yes, but handle with care. The second one, be careful.

Unless the toilet doesn't have a seal on it and you might need to spray or unless.

I mean, I think the reality here is, in amongst the jokes, if they've said to you, we love the scent of eucalyptus, if you actually know that to be a fact, go right ahead. There's nothing worse than buying a scented candle that is a particular scent and then that happens to be the one thing that particularly the wife absolutely hates. You just wiped out everything else.

You just did a really good example of that, especially with scented candles. Time of year is also super important because what you can do is you can time the scent to when your home's actually getting handed over. So it could be spring, a little bit more fresh. We've had members who are handing over homes just before Christmas or very close to Christmas, and they actually had not massive, but a novelty little Christmas tree there to help stage that moment. And you can actually get scented candles that you know are very like Christmassy smelling. So rather than hijack the smell of the whole home, it was for that moment and experience.

Okay, one more. So you know a little bit about the client. Freshly baked pie.

Love it. Okay, that's personal.

And the trick is make sure that it's baked there. So when they walk into the house, they've got the smell of fresh pie. That's the. Then you're combining both of them.

I can see the slogan right now, turning the professional industry into bakers as well. All right, so let's listen, let's go into some of the critical stages of steps in creating this amazing and exceptional handover. Do you guys have a framework that you give builders as well?

Totally. First and foremost, it's all down to preparation, because you don't just get to a handover day and think, oh, I need to make an experience. I'll just make sure I take them on a tour. It's so much more than that. So preparation really is key. The handover day is not a surprise. You're communicating that to your clients constantly so that you can actually organize the day, date and time for that handover experience. And you're also setting their expectations of how long it's actually going to take so that they weren't thinking, they're just showing up. It's 15 minutes, grabbing the keys, doing a handshake, and then they'll come back later in the day to look at the house because they need to go pick the kids up from school or something. So preparation is so important on your team's side for your building company, but also your client side. So you are preparing them for what to expect. But in terms of, like, another critical stage or step, like you asked Bosco, it's setting a budget is really important for this because actually creating and delivering an exceptional handover experience, it's not free and it's certainly not the time to be cheap, because once again, this is going to be probably, in most cases, the largest purchase your prospect or your clients. Sorry. Have ever made. Ever, ever. Even a car is cheaper than the home they're building. And the car handovers are pretty exceptional. It's all relative as well. We're talking luxury cars. They're a little bit more expensive than your average car. But the people buying those luxury cars, they're buying and building luxury homes. And so this is where your budget has to be all relative. So we say as a guide, right? It's about 1% of the contract price. So, for example, this was a $500,000 home build. You have a $5,000 budget to work with for your whole handover experience. And by the way, if that sounds like a lot, reevaluate and reconsider your margins. It sounds like there's a margins problem somewhere because this is what running a professional building company is about. This is what's actually required. So $500,000 home, $5,000 handover budget, million dollar home, $10,000 budget. You can see where we go there. So setting the budget, knowing what that's going to be, and then allocating it. And the third one, I would say is we talk about this a lot. We have a training, actually, for all of our members, just like Russ mentioned, on creating and delivering an exceptional handover experience. And one thing we cover off right at the start is surprise and delight. When we talked about preparing your clients for what to expect, you're not going to tell them everything you're going to do. The car dealers don't do that. They don't say, there's going to be a silk sheet on the car. We're going to pull it off in slow mo. So you get to record a video. We're then going to offer you some cold water, but I'm going to sit in the car and go through how to connect Apple CarPlay. They don't do that. It's a surprise and delight. So when you're doing your planning and preparation and when you're setting your budget and you're working out what you're going to do and incorporate in that whole handover experience, it's a surprise and delight. You don't want to plaster everything on the social media. So like Russ mentioned just before, like we talk about, we roll out a red carpet. So when your clients come to visit their new home, they get to walk on a red carpet and cut a ribbon to get into their front door for the first time, technically, that they get to walk in it as a finished home. You don't put that all over social media. That is an experience just for your clients. So they feel special, they feel nice, warm and fuzzy. And that is what Andy was talking about, that they get to talk about to everyone else because it's different. So it's kind of like this is a really silly example. Maybe, but say one of your friends was just saying, they give you a call and say, I'm going to come over with a pizza and I'm just going to come over to your house and I'll bring a pizza. Suddenly in your mind, you're thinking like, well, I'm on a diet. I hope they know I'm actually doing no dairy. I don't want any cheese on that pizza, or whatever. Suddenly we just different expectations that we're putting in our mind. Because the pizza that our friend is bringing over, it's no longer a surprise, but it's more of an obligation. Whereas it would be an entirely different story if our friend just rocked up at our house, brought a pizza, brought some beers or drinks or whatever, unexpectedly, they had a couple pizzas. You would be overjoyed. How thoughtful is that? You know what? That's so Lovely. You'd welcome them in and you'd say something like, you know what? I did not want to cook tonight. I don't even care what's on the pizza. I'm so happy you're here, and you're just enjoying the moment and the experience. And I know that's a really. Maybe a terrible example. It's so small by comparison, but it's that essence of surprise and delight.

Well, it really goes back into that concept of people may forget what you tell them, but they'll never forget how you make them feel. I had the good fortune of attending one of your APB events in the city, and you really go out of your way to create that experience for all the builders as well. They get that concierge VIP experience and they get to network with people. And there's all these different surprises, everything from the training manuals to the booklets to what they're going to have as an appetizer and everything else. So it seems like the same concept really can be applied in different aspects of business as well.

We pride ourselves. It comes up over and over that we practice what we preach. There's very little that sky puts in an action plan that we haven't done or aren't doing at the time, at least from a principal perspective. Absolutely.

Well, we've talked a little bit about the framework and what does that look like, and we've talked a little bit about the key in the mailbox. But let's go into what shouldn't you do when it comes to this exceptional handover for builders as well? What are some of the things to avoid?

The quick and easy answer to this one is going to be the reverse of everything that Scar just said. If you look at the components that we're talking about there, planning is critically important. Don't wing this. Don't think you can rock up on the day and put something exceptional together. You can't. It's just not going to happen. Don't be cheap. That's one of the biggest things that you want to look at. You are wanting an experience. You're wanting something that's got that wow factor, the surprise, the delight. That's not going to happen by accident. You can make it look like it happens spontaneously, but the truth is all of those kind of things for them to really work. Don't try and wing it. Make sure that you put the planning in and I think the reality of staying away from anything that is going to be potentially a problem for the client. You've been in contact with this client now for six to nine months, maybe a year, you've got an ongoing relationship with them, you probably have a pretty good idea of what makes them tick. Although you want a framework and you want to be able to have a system to do this, you want to try and personalize this experience as much as you can. So it's staying away from that corner, cutting cheap mentality. Go all out on this. You've got the budget to do it, do it properly.

And I guess it really all starts with construction slots, doesn't it? As well. The handover experience starts way, way earlier. Because by getting your construction slots and these are your start dates planned, it helps you to plan the handovers as well. Because you don't want to be. Yeah, if you're only doing, say six homes a year, you don't want to be handing over three homes in the same week. Yeah, the same couple of weeks. That puts way too much stress on your infrastructure. So by staggering your start dates, staggering your handovers, that will enable you and your team to deliver the best possible experience.

And having a budget set, by the way, for each of your handovers, it's almost like you've got permission to spend that, because when you budget for it in your entire building company, you know that it's there, you've got permission to spend it. So you're going to go out of your way to make the most with what you have for that budget to actually over deliver. Whereas, and it's counterintuitive, but every time we've talked about this to any builder and they talk about, well, you know, I don't have a budget, that's when the scarcity comes in. Because not having a budget, in a sense, you feel like you can't spend anything.

Yeah, that's a really, really good point. Because by the time you get to an end as a builder, you're looking, aren't you, at the actuals, you're looking at the contingencies that's been. And the first thing that's going to go, you know, if you don't have a budget, you know, you're less likely to spend anything. But even if you have a budget, there may be a temptation to think, well, we blew out here and there, I'm not spending all that, I'm going to recoup some of that. That is a, a terrible mentality to have because this is marketing, it's marketing and advertising and you never compromise on that because as we always say, marketing is linked to the margin. So if you compromise on this budget for your handover, you will hurt your business going forward.

This is effectively an investment in your future business. And I think the other thing, the way you phrased the question is interesting. You said, what should you avoid? What should you not do? This is not the time to do your punch list. Don't try and put your defects list on the front end of this. That was done two weeks before. Everything that was on that list has been taken care of. Because think about it logically. As we said, these people, this is the biggest amount of money they've ever spent in their lives. If there was something two weeks ago that was a bit of an issue, I promise you on the walk around they're going to be looking at that particular thing. And the best thing you can do is to point out that thing that you said you're concerned about. Done, done, done, done. And what that'll do is they will forget whatever the history was on that. What they'll be telling their friends is these guys are amazing. We literally walked into a completely defect free home. That's huge.

I'd say another one as well. And in terms of the don'ts list, don't make it boring because there are a few things I think a lot of, I remember like creating this entire training handover checklist for builders and because it was originally called handover checklist, so many comments and different ideas like, you know, other building company owners wanting to share what's on their handover checklist. Gosh, it was some of the most boring stuff ever we've seen. So that's why it was like, no, no, no, we're going to talk about a handover experience experience. So the handover checklist, check your internal checklist. Some things that have to get done that is there in the background but your handover experience, everything client facing, don't make it boring. Keep it fun, keep it sexy. Even things like on the day when you're having to hand over all those manuals, all that paperwork, you have to, you know, put it in a beautiful glossy documents folder, nice and branded and it's, it matches the box that you're giving them the new keys in and it's, it's still fun and light and exciting.

Speaking of which, when does the QA or the testing of the houzz come into play? Does that like. And who is responsible? Is that the same person who's doing the handover typically or you know, who's testing all the appliances and the electricity and everything, making sure everything is working before that handover happens.

Well that would depend on the setup of the building company but you know, typically that would be the supervisor's responsibility. Failing, that would be the come to the project manager when it comes to handover. It's a nice touch if it's the owner of the building company that's actually delivering that. That is a real nice touch. Yeah. A good investment of your time as the owner of the company. You're probably not going to be doing that type of work, the testing unless you're a smaller company where you've been managing the build as well.

The bigger the building company as well. Like especially if they worked with salesperson on your team and then they got handed over to someone else who was their primary point of contract during construction. At handover, make sure that new primary person in construction, usually the project manager on something is there but also the original salesperson. So they get to, you know, really relish in that moment with the clients.

Because they're going to get the referrals, aren't they?

It's the sales opportunity. Yeah, but make the client feel so special that I couldn't wait to see this. I remember a year ago having the conversation about what you were looking for. Make the clients feel special. It's their day.

So we talked a little bit about marketing and sales here. How the building company really leverage a great handover experience authentically. The key word here being authentic because you know, you see a lot of transactions sometimes where the conversations can end up being transactional. How do you make it so that you know, everyone has a win but it's done in a very authentic manner.

Yeah, well there's a few different ways to maximize this opportunity once you've got the process in place. One of them is simply writing about the handover process. What happens at handover. And like sky says, you're not going to give away the sizzle at that point, but you're going to manage clients expectations so they know what to expect. Because as a professional builder with a exceptional handover experience, you want to raise those expectations expectations so that yeah, you pull away from your, your competition. So yeah, that becomes a blog article. It's yeah, it's a marketing piece posting about the actual handover on social media, you know, obviously with the owner's permission. But when you've got that, got your pros, you've got your client in that moment of happiness, you know, you've got that, that picture, you know, sipping the champagne, the, the joy, the whole family, family there. As long as they're, they're comfortable. Yeah, that's a great social media opportunity. Another home handed over to happy clients. Great credibility there. Verbalizing the process, using stories in the sales process as well. That brings an emotional hook into the sales process because the more you do this, the more if they are considering other builders or anyone else, they're going to ask, what do you guys do? And then they'll be staring at the blank looks. But of course, the most important way to leverage a great handover experience is asking for referrals. Because that really is the reward for everything that you do in here. And you do have to ask for referrals. They're not just going to get volunteered to you. But yeah, providing an exceptional experience is going to help you with referrals. And a good tip really to assist with that so that, you know you're not just getting referrals on the day, but you're getting them for months, possibly even years to come, is when you finish the home. Just brand the home with a plaque over the integral garage door. It's non intrusive. And we all like brands. Yeah, we buy designer clothes. We, you know, even the cars we buy are brands. It's the same with homes. Have pride in your brand. Have a plaque with the build number proudly built by and the build number, it will sit over the garage door. Now what happens is every time that proud new homeowner shows someone through their home, they're going to point to that plaque and say it was built by. They're going to take pride in that. So that can lead to referrals as well.

Now, you know, you're alluding to the fact that this can be a really great impact to sales. The question I'm going to have here is, is when is the right time to ask for the referral? You know, and also on top of that, it sounds like there's a bunch of sales opportunities that are organic. Some are subtle, some are actually direct through referrals. Take me through the process of how this particular handover experience can really impact sales.

There's. I spoke to someone probably two weeks ago that was organizing a big event. And when I got through and spoke to the guy on the phone and I said, I'm in, he asked me if I knew anyone else that would also be interested in this event. And he asked me three times on the same phone call. I then spoke to him three days later and he asked me again. I then spoke to him two days after that and he asked me again. Every time I speak to this guy, he asked me if there's anyone else. So in terms of when is the best time? It's every time you communicate would be my answer. But of course, on the day at the end when you've delivered on this handover, you've delivered on everything you said you would. You've checked to make sure they're happy. There's nothing else on their mind. That's a great time to then ask them, is there anyone else, your friends or family that are considering building a new home?

It sounds like this can really impact sales in both the front end, but also the back end as well. Sounds like you're considering both sides of this as well, because there's a possibility that even three months from then or six months from then, the referrals could be pouring in organically as well.

Yeah, happy clients should keep on referring. It should never stop.

Can you give us an example of a home building company that you've worked with that's doing exceptional handovers that are literally taking your blueprint and applying it with a lot of love and actually getting really significant results?

That's very difficult to answer because we've got a time limit. I'm saying that seriously that the guys that have done the training and in a lot of cases stepped out on the tightrope with a little bit of trepidation, thinking once the first one has gone through and they see the results of it, they see the reaction to it, they will never, ever not do it again. And in fact, what we see with most of our guys is they. They literally improve on the fundamentals that we give them. They start to bring in little nuances and things that we didn't think of that just put this up. There are a couple of. I mean, as you asking that question, I was kind of thinking around the world, and that's really the piece that strikes me is because we've run this out as a protocol, as a system for people to use. The consistent stuff coming back from all over the world is how well this actually works. So I'm going to take the fifth on this. I'm not going to mention anybody by name individually, but certainly if I think about our private mentoring program, anybody that has been in the program kind of longer than six months and has done this training. Absolutely. Once it's put into place, it never, ever goes away again.

I think even for anyone looking for actual examples in our members groups that all our members of APB have a private group on Facebook, and, you know, we celebrate wins in that group and there's. There's One post that is consistent in the group and it's when someone does their first handover and you know, it made the client's day, but my goodness, does it make the builders day as well? Because they're so pumped and they're just as excited for the clients. There's an example, one of our builders based in the U.S. i remember they, it was a joke. So we've got a whole process for the handover process experience or delivering that experience, you know, and it includes gifts and, you know, different paperwork and different things you need to pop in place. And I think there was a joke between the clients and this particular builder about they, they wanted to be in by Christmas, but I think like they inquired so late, it was very clear that they would never be in by Christmas. So that whole handover experience they made at Christmas in the house, there was a Christmas tree. It was, it made the whole client's year because of that joke that was perpetuated through the build and the whole sales process. So you make it unique for the clients in front of you. Make their day, make. That's a story that just came to me as you were talking.

Andy, we talk often about the fact that building somebody's custom home or remodeling their home is often, I mean, it is a relationship and it's not a quick, it's not over in two weeks. It's 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 18 months sometimes, depending on the scale of what you're doing with a lot of our builders by this stage, people are friendly. They've had that much interaction. It's been a significant time in the client's life and they've enjoyed it. The reality is when they are the only people at the next barbecue they go to that loves building, I mean, the mileage you will get out of that discussion is just incredible. And it's, you know, when we talk about referrals, we talk about how do we keep ourselves in people's top of mind awareness, give them an experience that blows them out the water. Every time somebody says building, they're going to remember the fact that when they walked, they got out of their car in the middle of summer. You'd got a snow blower to come in and blow confetti onto the path so they could think it was Christmas. They'll never stop talking about you.

Great example. Because it's how we should be thinking in marketing, isn't it? It's like, how can I create a story for my clients to retell? Yeah, that's all we got to be doing is giving them stories because they will repeat them over and over.

And people, like you said will be very complimentary when they have that experience as well. So just as much as people would be telling people if they had a bad experience, so it's really important to protect that reputation as well, right?

I mean, we've spoken about asking for referrals, but this is obviously the prime time and I think we've actually said this word out loud, so I want to make sure we put it in here. This is the best time to get a testimonial. This is the time that if you're looking for that Facebook or Google review, you're looking for that comment on your website. Obviously we like to turn this into an actual case study that's captured in film and video and all that kind of thing. But make sure because of the positivity that there's going to be around this experience that you capturing sound bites and comments and those kinds of things.

Final question for the day is where do we get the resources to access this particular checklist and framework to hand over this amazing, amazing, exceptional experience?

Well, we've got an entire training on creating and delivering an exceptional handover experience available for all of our members. So probably the easiest thing to do is we can pop direct link in the show notes to even a full demonstration of what our members get access to. And it's courses just like this so you can get a preview of a lot of them. It's just like a video that gives you a little bit of a walkthrough. So I think that'd be the easiest thing we can do a direct link there and you can check it out. You can get a little sneak preview of the handover checklist that we walk our builders through.

Look behind the curtain now.

This has been really insightful. Want to thank everyone for your time as well. And thank you for taking me through a visual storytelling of what an experience could look like. Exceptionally.

Thanks for having us.

Thanks Bosco.

Cheers. Thank you for listening. Remember to subscribe to Professional Builder Secrets on your favorite podcast platform and leave a review. To learn more about how the systems at the association of Professional Builders can help you grow your building company, visit associationofprofessionalbuilders.com See you next time.