Adapting to Tech Change & The Value of Client Success

As our clients navigate their partnership with Built, our Client Success team is there every step of the way to answer questions, propose new solutions, and work alongside your team to ensure success. Manager of Client Success John Williams works directly with a number of Built’s strategic, enterprise accounts—and has been involved with Client Success at Built for 2.5 years. He is dedicated to making sure that every client that interacts with our team and our platform has a great experience from day one. 

Why is it important for a technology solution to have a dedicated customer success team?

It’s important for a number of reasons, but the main importance of a dedicated customer success team is having a trusted partner to guide you through the technology, any updates or changes, in addition to the ins and outs of your business so that we can partner with you through our interactions. We want to help you make the best decisions for your business and get the most value out of our product. 

What is the role of client success at Built?

There are many roles that we play. We aim to be a trusted partner for our clients—that’s the first hat that we wear. We try to know their business as well as anybody, whether that’s being proactive with their portfolio and data or working closely with them to update workflows and making sure they’re maximizing value. Another key role that Client Success has is being the voice of the customer internally to ensure that they’re not just being listened to but acted upon when it comes to product updates. It’s our responsibility to effectively communicate that and make sure our teams are aligned. We also have a number of internal resources that our clients can really benefit from—these subject matter experts can help make sure that our clients gain value from our software and our knowledge, too. 

Do you have a story of how you’ve seen that in action? 

One customer that comes to mind did a great job in implementation, bought into the process, but as they got their data into Built there was a huge need for reporting—not just what we had available but consistent custom reports. We worked closely with their team to deliver over 20 custom reports. Now, not only are they getting the software and process to manage their portfolio correctly, but the data they need to make better decisions for their business. 

Built Plus was developed as a direct result of listening to our customers. They have shared their pain points when it comes to being proactive with monitoring. So, these services have been designed to cut down inspection turn times, enable proactive portfolio and lien monitoring, and move the builder or contractor review out of a manual, non-digital process and into the system where they’re already managing the rest of the work. 

How does client success help their customers achieve their business goals?

It’s essential that our clients utilize data. It’s our job to make sure they know where to find the data and how to use it—in addition to helping inform them of what we can do for them with it. There are ways that we can work with our clients to ensure they get the data and reporting they need. In turn, they can leverage it to make better business decisions. 

Additionally, if we can help make sure our customers are really educated on the system as a whole, they can also really trust that they’re taking full advantage of their investment in Built.  

Why is it important that lenders and their builders or borrowers engage with the platform?

Builder/borrower adoption is crucial to maximizing the value any client receives from Built—and for a number of reasons: 

• Increases visibility
• Decreases turn times 
• Reduces manual entry
• Enables increased transparency between all parties

All of these value points help alleviate the administrative burden—which will all free up time for the lending team to focus on higher value tasks. An example of this would be instead of having to key in a draw request, that loan admin can spend that time reviewing invoices or checking documentation—tasks that truly will mitigate risk. 

What are some ways that users can proactively prepare for updates and enhancements made to a product?

Our product will only ever be as good as the feedback we receive. If you have feedback, we want to and need to hear it. That’s one of the biggest ways to play a part in the product—get involved with your client success manager! They are there to listen and help connect your pain points to ways that our product and engineering teams can build our solution. You can be proactive by staying engaged in that process so that our team can deliver the value you expect to see from our product. 

What are some of the most common roadblocks you see customers experiencing?

Overall, there can be hesitation to fully trust technology, especially for processes that have been done in a certain way for a long time. We have to proactively and continuously show the value of our software and what we do. It’s also important to maintain good data hygiene—if data isn’t good going into Built, reporting can be messy and require clean up. 

Every member of the Built team wants to be a partner with our clients’ businesses. We know that everyone is busy, but the time spent engaging with any part of our team will pay huge dividends later down the road. That engagement is crucial. 

What’s the best piece of advice you share with those who are experiencing those challenges?

Don’t be afraid to tell us where you’re struggling—talk to us! We’re here to listen and understand. We may not have the solution immediately but our job is to find that common ground and help solve problems. Leverage the industry experience from our team. There are people in this building that have experienced those same challenges and want to share how they overcame them. 

What do you enjoy most about your role?

The best part of my job is the look on our clients’ faces or their reactions when we truly solve a problem they’ve faced for years and sometimes decades. It’s fulfilling to know that what I’m doing can make a difference in the way someone does their job, ultimately smarter and more efficient. I want to enable all of our clients to have a more fruitful job so that they have time back to spend outside of work, doing the things that they love.

The relationship between our clients and our team is key to success—not just in using Built’s product, but in the future of our suite of solutions. As we grow and scale, the Client Success team ensures that the voice of our clients is at the forefront of the solutions we create.