Kris Kieffer - On the Go With myABCsupply - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Kris Kieffer from ABC Supply. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

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Karen Edwards: I'm your host, Karen Edwards, and today's episode is going to be talking all about technology in the roofing industry. And I am here with Kris from ABC Supply, and we're going to be talking about this very important topic that is just emerging more so than ever. The roofing industry has always been in the background of adopting technology, and we're watching ABC Supply come out with some tools and things that are helping contractors adopt that technology a little better and a little quicker. So Kris, welcome to the podcast. How about you introduce yourself, tell our listeners a little bit about you and what your role is there at ABC Supply.

Kris Kieffer: Yeah, thanks Karen. Thanks for having me on today, and I'm excited to talk about this topic. As you said, my name is Kris Kieffer. I am the director of business platforms and customer technology at ABC, and my team and I are responsible for building and designing the customer-facing solutions that we put out into the market. So how do our customers interact with ABC using technology, both our own or third parties.

Karen Edwards: Okay. And you've been at ABC Supply for a long time now.

Kris Kieffer: Yeah, that's right. I've been with ABC for a little over 20 years now. I spent most of that time in the field, so I was actually a branch manager in two locations on the West Coast before I moved to Beloit to tackle this amazing opportunity.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, yeah. And I love that background because one, you are in the field talking to contractors every day, you know what their pain points are and then you made that move to take on a new role and help solve some of those pain points. And the longevity says a lot about a company and the culture, I think, when you have employees that have been there for 20 years. So congratulations.

Kris Kieffer: Yeah, thank you for that. I definitely saw firsthand the challenges that our customers were facing due to a lack of technology or lack of access to information and how it really hindered them doing their daily work. So really excited again to be working on a project with such importance that really can make a difference for our contractors.

Karen Edwards: Yeah. So let's talk about technology. I mean, you've been with the company for 20 years and I think 20 years ago, 2004, we didn't have iPhones yet. We were using BlackBerrys. So you've seen technology evolve, and I'd like to hear what you've seen specifically as it relates to roofing over the last 20 years. How has it evolved?

Kris Kieffer: Yeah. Well, you stole a great point of mine. You're right. 20 years ago, the iPhone didn't exist. That actually came out in 2007, followed by the iPad in 2010. And I mentioned those not just because I am a huge Apple fan, but because those are the tools that our contractors and us as individuals in our daily life use and how we most frequently interact with technology. 20 years is a lifetime when it comes to technology. And I mean you said it, our contractors we're using pen and paper, home-based computer systems where you would go out and you may use that technology to set your day and then you go out and you do your work, then you come back and you interact with that technology, but it wasn't part of your process, it was an afterthought. It's something that you did maybe to do your books or to do your accounting, send out your invoicing, but it really wasn't a crucial part of how you perform your day-to-day function like it is today.

Karen Edwards: How did we figure this out? We were using our PDAs and planning our calendar, and I need to be here and I need to be there, but how do we start figuring out, if I could just have this tool in the field, was it really the smartphone that started to turn that tide for us?

Kris Kieffer: I think it definitely made a difference. Along with the smartphone, we did start to see some specialized contracting software come out, specifically in the roofing side, about the same time. I think it actually followed the iPhone by just a couple of years, and they immediately started with mobile technology. And it wasn't necessarily just the fact that it was the iPhone, but it was the access to internet on a device that was so easy. And so when that became something that we carried around in our pocket, then it makes sense that we take that technology and we use it to make things easier. The early tools were, Hey, tell me about the customers that I have in this area where I'm working. Let me record. You walk out of a customer's home and you take a quick note, so that you didn't have to jot down on a pen and paper, of what your follow-up tasks were. They were very simple. But I think the technology just became something that we expected, that we got used to using and then honestly, I think we're still figuring out the best way to do it.

Karen Edwards: That's so true. It's so true because technology is evolving so fast. Just in the last 10 years even, we've come so far. And initially, I know there is sometimes some resistance. I've run my business this way for this many years. I've not had an issue. I'm doing fine just the way I am. I'm not going to try some newfangled thing that might just mess up my processes. But why is it important for contractors to leverage these new technologies that are out there in their businesses?

Kris Kieffer: That's a great question, and when we think about the value that technology brings and specifically the myABCsupply platform. We try to focus on maximizing the available resources and the most limited resource that we as individuals have in our day-to-day is time. We can't create more of it. We can hire people and allow them to do tasks for us, which in a way you could maybe say create some time, but really it is about maximizing those resources. So, if you've only got a limited amount of time, then you have to really think, how are you going to make the most of it? What are the things that you're going to focus on? And technology does an amazing thing for us by allowing us to automate or to at least reduce the time it takes to do some of those things. So when we look at building technologies, we look at the types of features, we're looking at things that can be automated, things that reduce the amount of time to complete.

Think about measuring a roof. So I'll focus on roofing for a moment. Think about measuring a roof. You used to have to drive across town, schedule an appointment, set up a ladder, put your safety gear on, climb up, measure out a roof. Even the best estimators out there, they're going to take an hour, an hour and a half, to do a really detailed estimate. Now with technology, we can type in an address right from our mobile device while at lunch, I won't say driving down the road, but while you're sitting at lunch, scarfing down that burger between sales calls and you can type in an address and within 30 minutes you can have a detailed list of materials and if you wanted to, you could drive to that homeowner's and close that deal knowing exactly when you walk in, what you're walking into. The other thing that we really think about when you think about why it's important for contractors and technology, is the new generation of workers that we're seeing come into the field, they really expect it.

I didn't grow up with a computer in my house. In fact, I wrote my senior paper on a computer that was borrowed from a friend and that was an effort. We drove over, we unplugged it. It wasn't all in one luckily, but we had to unplug it and pick it up and stick it in the car and put the seatbelt on it so it didn't get damaged and drive it back to my house and set it up on the kitchen table. And that's very different than the generation of workers that are entering the workforce now and honestly have been for the past five to eight years. They grew up with technology. They had iPads sitting in their car seats. So they expect to use this technology not just in their personal life, but in their work endeavors as well.

Karen Edwards: That's for sure. We say technology, you're not just going to use a technology to say, I'm using technology. You're using it to solve a problem. And it sounds like with myABCsupply, we're solving the problem of not enough time in the day. If I can get that information I need, get that one trip to the customer's residence, close that sale, I just got a whole lot more time. I'm not climbing on that roof. But for those that might not be aware, can you just give me that high level overview of what myABCsupply is?

Kris Kieffer: Yeah, absolutely. So myABCsupply is an inside look into what's going on with your business, with our company. So once you log into myABCsupply, you'll see all of your order history. We've got order history going back to 2017, so quite a bit of data in there. You can easily search those orders, you can see what's going on with them. You can see what material was delivered, when it was delivered, proof of delivery photos. So what happened on that job site? What time did ABC Supply get there? When did we start loading your roof? When was that completed? You can pull those invoices associated with any of your jobs, and then you can also go and look at what's coming up right now, what's happening today with my business. So our homepage focuses on the most recent activity on your account.

So, if you're heavy under deliveries, then as soon as you log in with no clicks of a button, you can see everything that's going out to be delivered to you that day. And then of course, you can go out and look into the future if you want to see what your future looks like. Outside of that, we offer a lot of great tools that allow customers to order those measurement reports that we talked about earlier, as well as enroll in our manufacturer rewards programs. So, the roofing industry has done a great job of promoting loyalty among brands, and we want to help our contractors make retrieving those dollars an easier task. So with a couple of clicks, you can fill out a form on myABCsupply and we will submit to the manufacturer on your behalf, for all those rewards for you.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, that's fantastic. Maybe this is too simple, but if I order an Uber, I can see where they are on a map and I know when they're going to get here and I can pay them in the app. I was recently in New York City and there's an app for taxis now, and you can set all up there. So it's that ease, it's that convenience. I love the part about the rewards because who doesn't love their points and access to those perks that come along with that. And so having that information at your fingertips, that's pretty powerful.

Kris Kieffer: Yeah. We're really excited about that one and we've got some additional functionality in the area on the roadmap.

Karen Edwards: How do you determine what that roadmap is going to look like and what kind of things that you need to work on? Like, oh, we should add this feature or our contractors are asking if they could do this. Is this something that you're regularly having these conversations?

Kris Kieffer: Absolutely. We're constantly talking about it. In fact, I've got a team of product owners whose job it is to really dive down into the root feelings and associations that our contractors are having with our technology. So they're looking at data points within the application, but they're also looking outside of that application. They're looking at industry trends, technology disruptors, outside of our industry even. What are the consumer trends that we're seeing? We're seeing when it comes to technology, and are those applicable to what we offer our contractors? We have focus groups on a regular basis with our associates, and we look at associates who are both very active, rather their customers are very active, within our technology, as well as those who appear, at least from our perspective, to be technology adverse. They're not doing a lot with our technology, so we want to understand why that is. In many cases, there's a very valid reason. They've got another tool, is one we hear quite often and that is okay. We're not looking to be everything to everyone, rather we just want to make technology available. But we take all that information, put it into a roadmap and talk about it on it. We actually meet on a weekly basis and we produce quarterly roadmaps. So we're always looking to figure out what are we working on next and make sure that we're not missing any of those big key technology innovations.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So you did mention in that response that maybe somebody has another platform. Well, lots of people are working with... they may have an accounting software or that they use for their invoices. They may have a time technology that they use for to pay their workers. What do the integrations look like for myABCsupply, and do things play nicely together?

Kris Kieffer: Yeah. So we've got some base integrations that are available to everyone within the application today, and those are going to be some of the ones that we already mentioned. Access to other technologies that work hand in hand with myABCsupply, like ordering measurement reports, integrations to manufacturer rewards, things of that nature. We also offer direct exports into several accounting formats. So if you're just looking to do exports into accounting, very simple. That's something that we've had from the beginning. But really where I think, and we don't talk about this enough, is we have what's called the ABC API and this is part of our ABC Connect program. And what this does is this allows our customers or anyone for that nature to take all of the technology that makes myABCsupply possible. So think about all of the, not just the data behind the scenes, but the way the data interacts with each other and it allows you to take that and use it in any other application.

So we are actively encouraging customers who have their own ERPs, their own contracting platforms, as well as third-party companies who specialize in the construction management software field, to integrate directly to ABC Supply for no charge and be able to access all the data and all those services and bring them into their own technologies. And this is really key to how we think about technology at ABC. I think we might've mentioned it earlier, but it's really about meeting the contractor where they want to be. So we're very proud that we do not dictate the way our contractors do business, but rather we will make it easy for them to do business the way they want to, by providing the tools and the services to make that possible.

Karen Edwards: Okay. I was going to ask about ABC Connect because I had a note here. It sounds to me like this is great. You want to work within your own CRM or your own ERP system. Well, ABC Connect will let that data go in there and allow them to work in the system that they want to work in.

Kris Kieffer: Yeah, yeah. That's exactly right. And while it is a fairly technical process at the moment, you've got to have an engineer or a developer on staff. We are looking at ways to make it a little bit easier to build some of those, what I would call canned integration, something that we can define that contractors can sign up for and make it a little bit easier for them to interact with some of those things, so they don't have to have a developer on staff. So look for more of that, I would say later this year.

Karen Edwards: Okay. Well, that's exciting. I'm curious though, with myABCsupply and this is just, it's an app on the phone, you set up your account. How many other people can access that and can you set permission levels? Maybe you don't want someone to see pricing, but they need to track material deliveries. What does that look like?

Kris Kieffer: Yeah, great question. From the very beginning, when we were in the planning phases of the technology, our customer said, I do certain things and other people only do certain things. I need the ability to have very distinct permissions within the application. So from the beginning, we took that into account. And once the owner of a business registers themselves on myABCsupply, they now become the administrator of that account. So what that means is they can invite as many or as few people to that account as they want, and they can set whatever permissions they deem necessary. So they may have somebody who only focuses on production work and only needs to know what deliveries are upcoming, but doesn't need to look at invoices or doesn't need to focus on manufacturer rewards or measurements or any of those other features. They can limit their functionality just to that area of our application.

Another one that we see quite often is, I'd like to give my accountant access, but I really don't, they don't need all the history. I just want them to be able to get the invoices. Then they can give them invoice only permission, which allows them to go out and retrieve invoices, but not really have any other functionality within the application. And then the third one that we see used quite often is, I want to set a spending limit for my users. So, I've got a production crew, they're out on the job site. They often need to order another bundle of ridge or a box of nails or a can of spray paint. So I want to limit their ability to order based on a preset dollar amount. And then if they need additional, I want to define who can actually prove that. So those are all distinct permissions within the application that we see are very beneficial to the contractors.

Karen Edwards: That's fantastic because I think one of the fears may be of not having control. If everyone has access to this, I don't control what information people see. But that's not even an issue because you guys built that in from the start. That's great. So what's the process look like? How do I get started? Maybe I'm already buying from ABC Supply but I'm not using the app. What do I need to do?

Kris Kieffer: Getting started is really easy. Contractors simply need to head to myABCsupply.com and have a recent invoice. So self-registration takes about 30 seconds, and if they run into any problems, we've got a great chat widget on there that gets them right to our support team, who can help them resolve any issues they have. If they'd rather, they can also contact their local ABC Supply branch or their salesperson and they can help them out with the registration as well.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So it's as easy as self registering, have a current invoice or recent invoice and then download the app and login?

Kris Kieffer: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So they'll register on myABCsupply.com, and then once that's done, they can download the app and sign in with the same username and credentials.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So question, because I know lots of businesses have different pricing based on volume, based on a number of things. Because they've registered and they've got their account number on file, all of that is there, shows up in the app?

Kris Kieffer: Yeah, absolutely. It was very important for us to make sure that the customer experience is as close to what our contractors experience when they walk into a local ABC Supply. So everything in the app is based on your personalized account and your home branch. So what branch do you primarily do business at? The pricing that you receive in our application is the same pricing that you'll receive if you walk into your local ABC Supply and place that sale with John or Susan at the counter, just like you always do. In fact, I'll go beyond pricing for a moment and tell you that even if you place the order online, the same inside sales associates who process that order, who would help, who would stand across the counter from you and take your order in person, will be handling that order when it's processed electronically. So it's actually sent to them electronically. They give it a once over. They make sure that we've got all the nuances. We know exactly what drip edge or what brand of spray paint or what type of nails you like. Even if you made a mistake, they're going to catch it, they're going to modify it, they're going to stick it into the system for you. You'll instantly see those changes on myABCsupply, and we'll ensure that you get the right product at the right time.

Karen Edwards: That's excellent. So you're still working with your favorite sales reps, just doing it virtually through the app. Awesome.

Kris Kieffer: Yeah, yeah. That's exactly right. Technology is not going to replace people, but like we talked about earlier, we can automate some of those tasks and make things a little bit easier along the way.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, yeah. Well, that's great. This was a very interesting and enlightening and educational conversation. I want to thank you for being here and sharing your wisdom and everything that myABCsupply brings to contractors to help them be more successful.

Kris Kieffer: Thanks, Karen. It was my pleasure. Really enjoyed doing it.

Karen Edwards: Alrighty and thank you all for listening. And remember, visit myABCsupply.com or visit ABC Supply's directory on rooferscoffeeshop.com. You can find the contact information and more there. And stay tuned because we hope to see you on a future episode of Roofing Road Trips. Be sure to subscribe, follow us on social media and don't miss a future episode. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.

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