The Challenge
Before implementing Followup CRM, Colorful Concepts Painting was managing a growing volume of commercial bids across several different systems.
Bid invitations were first added to a Google Calendar, where the team decided which opportunities to pursue. Once a project moved forward, estimating information was entered into Procore. Follow-up, however, relied heavily on manual processes and separate Google Sheets.
With the company bidding 12 to 15 commercial projects in a typical week at the time, that process was becoming difficult to maintain.
The team faced several challenges:
- Follow-up on every commercial estimate was too time-consuming to handle manually.
- Only the largest customers and highest-priority projects were consistently receiving follow-up.
- Opportunities and customer information were spread across Google Calendar, Google Sheets, Procore, and ActiveCampaign.
- Estimators had to decide manually which projects were worth following up on.
- There was no centralized system for keeping the entire team informed about sales activity.
- Existing tools required significant customization to support the way a subcontractor actually manages bids.
Hiring another employee simply to manage follow-up didn’t make sense. The team needed a way to make its existing process more efficient while ensuring more opportunities received the attention they deserved.
The Solution
Colorful Concepts Painting chose Followup CRM because it was built specifically around the sales and bidding workflows contractors use every day.
Instead of trying to heavily customize a general-purpose marketing platform, the team could organize commercial opportunities, contractors, follow-up, and sales activity in one place.
With Followup CRM, the team can:
- Centralize commercial opportunities instead of tracking them across multiple spreadsheets.
- Keep project details, contacts, contractors, and bid information connected to the same opportunity.
- Track multiple general contractors associated with a project without creating duplicate bids.
- Automate follow-up on commercial estimates.
- Use sequences to consistently follow up on every commercial project.
- Keep team members informed about sales activity.
- Track wins, losses, dollar amounts, and closing ratios by general contractor.
- Use dashboards and reporting to better understand sales performance.
The contractor-specific approach immediately stood out.
Rather than forcing the team to build a construction sales process inside software designed for another purpose, Followup CRM gave them a system that already reflected how they worked.
The Results
Since adopting Followup CRM, Colorful Concepts Painting has created a much more consistent approach to managing and following up on commercial estimates.
The team has seen:
- Three to four times more feedback on commercial projects after implementing automated sequences.
- More consistent follow-up across every commercial bid rather than only the largest opportunities.
- Increased sales.
- Better visibility and communication across the team.
- Less manual work required to keep opportunities moving.
- A more organized, centralized sales process.
Today, the company is bidding roughly 20 commercial projects per week, making automation even more important as its opportunity volume grows.
Most importantly, Followup CRM has allowed the team to apply a consistent follow-up process to every commercial project that goes out.
Automating Follow-Up on Every Commercial Bid
Before Followup CRM, consistent follow-up simply wasn’t feasible at Colorful Concepts Painting’s bidding volume.
Someone had to personally call or email customers after each estimate. With dozens of opportunities moving through the pipeline, the team was forced to prioritize the projects it believed had the best chance of closing.
That meant other bids could receive little or no follow-up.
Followup CRM changed that by giving Colorful Concepts Painting the ability to use automated sequences across its commercial pipeline.
Instead of deciding which bids have enough value to justify the time required for manual outreach, the team can now apply a follow-up process to every commercial project it submits.
That consistency has translated directly into more engagement from potential customers, with the company receiving three to four times the feedback it previously received from manual emails.
Bringing the Sales Process Into One Place
Followup CRM also helped eliminate the disconnected systems that previously made it difficult to get a complete view of an opportunity.
Before implementation, different pieces of the sales process lived in Google Calendar, Google Sheets, Procore, ActiveCampaign, and individual team members’ own tracking systems.
There was no single place where the team could see the full commercial sales process.
Followup CRM created that centralized location while still giving Colorful Concepts Painting the flexibility to manage the details that matter to a subcontractor—including the multiple general contractors that may be bidding the same project.
“We could follow up the way we wanted to and keep everything all organized in one place.”
By keeping opportunities, contractors, activity, and follow-up together, the team can spend less time moving information between systems and more time building relationships and pursuing work.
Better Visibility, Engagement, and Sales Rhythm
The impact goes beyond saving time.
Automating follow-up and keeping the entire team informed has helped create greater visibility and momentum around sales.
“Being able to automate and keep our team in the loop has really created just lots of positive energy around sales.”
With more bids receiving consistent attention, Colorful Concepts Painting has also seen an increase in sales and significantly more customer feedback.
And when asked about the most valuable part of Followup CRM, the answer was easy:
“The automations by far. I will automate anything I can.”
For a 10-person contractor managing roughly 20 commercial bids every week, those automations mean the team no longer has to choose between following up consistently and having enough time to do the rest of their jobs.
They can do both.
Watch the full testimonial video here.
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