The timing couldn’t have been worse. Five days before 9/11, the Raisanen siblings decided to form TraVek. “That was kind of a rough start,” recalls Von Raisanen, company president. “We needed a unique way to get our foot in the door.”
That unique way was water features and small landscaping projects. It was enough to sustain the company through the recession so that it could evolve into the dynamic kitchen and bath remodeling company of today.
A big part of the company’s growth is leadership’s ability to create clear and repeatable processes while always tracking business. For example, realizing that open leads were being neglected, the team used its customer relationship management system to create a report with next steps for salespeople. That step improved the close ratio on those leads by as much as 25%.
“We realized we needed some sort of structured follow up, and it’s helped immensely,” Von says. “Every lead is important.”
But leads can’t be serviced without enough staff, a reality many companies struggle with in today’s labor shortage. So TraVek took a bold step: The company hired its own human resources manager, while still keeping it in the family.
Von says the quality of the resumes has improved greatly as well as the people walking through the door. The HR manager also created an entry-level position of remodeling assistant that helped bring in inexperienced people while showing a path for growth. “That’s been key for us,” Von says.
All of that effort allows the company to give customers what Von calls the “TraVek experience.” Tailored with personality assessments that match designers with clients, that experience includes a carefully orchestrated touch-point program throughout the remodel that culminates in an HGTV-style video and photo shoot.
“It’s amazing to watch their faces light up and see how excited they are to talk about the project, the designer, and the company as a whole,” Von says. “… Our goal is to always improve to make sure we’re being the best for everybody."
