Building Better Lives at Home: Neal's Design Remodel
Alan Hendy’s father and uncles took over a family home building business after the three returned from the Korean War. Hendy shares, “After my dad graduated from high school, he and his two brothers left to go fight in the Korean War. While they were there, their dad – my grandfather – died unexpectedly at age 47. The three boys, aged 21, 22, and 24 came back from the war and as very young men took over the home building business that my grandfather had started.”
“While they were great homebuilders, they were never taught how to be great businesspeople, so the business eventually started struggling. By this time, my dad was 40 years old with 6 kids and broke. Out of necessity, in the den of our home on Cincinnati’s West Side, my parents Neal & Joyce Hendy, started Neal Design Remodel over 50 years ago with a simple idea: to build better lives at home for their clients. They thought an important part of delivering on that promise was to include design along with the construction and remodeling. This was unheard of at the time, and it made Neal’s stand out.”
What started as a necessity quickly grew into a successful business. Today, Neal’s has 3 generations of Hendys, over 52 employees, and dozens of talented design specialists on the team. With a drive to keep "wowing" their customers for years to come and reach their growth goals, they sought guidance from CMO-OnLoan.
Challenge: Growth
Hendy adds, “We had always done our own marketing and it had done okay. But to get to the next level, we knew we needed some help, and that is where Amy Connor and CMO-OnLoan come in.”
Connor shares, “I started working with Neal’s after their marketing director had just left, and Alan, the CEO, and one in-house graphic designer named Janis were trying to do everything. They had extensive growth goals and didn’t want to hire another marketing director until they had a solid foundation in place.”
Solution
Hendy says, “I loved how Amy met us where we were at and then helped us build from there. We didn’t have a good strategic foundation or a clear idea of what was working and what wasn’t. She helped us create KPIs and reports; she helped us with the timing of tactics; she helped us learn how to better use digital tools. And most importantly, she helped build the confidence and capabilities of our team.”
Approach
Connor adds, “Our approach was to do a little and learn a lot. Step by step we made slow and steady progress. We put tracking in place that tells us that the new approach to marketing is having an impact on the business, but the biggest impact is that they are truly more confident in marketing. They now have the desire and belief that they can do bigger things. Once that foundation was solid, we helped Neal’s find their new marketing director.”
Says Hendy, “Amy helped by defining the roles on the team, understanding our current processes and strengths, writing job descriptions, interviewing candidates, and managing the process. We had an amazing recruiting process – over 100 unbelievable candidates.”
Results: Positioned for the Future
“We are in year 3 of a 10-year plan, and we know we can’t deliver that plan without a strong marketing plan, background, and leader. Amy has really helped unlock the key to our plan. Going from good to great is hard. The confidence we got from working with Amy is contagious. It lets our whole team know we are on the right track. I don’t think we have limits on what we can do.”