North by Northwest leverages Convex, PropertyIntel, and Aspire to turn commercial leads into big business

In the bustling heart of Austin, Texas, where the competition for landscaping contracts is as fierce as the summer heat, North by Northwest Landscaping found itself at a crossroads. 

The age-old challenge of finding new customers loomed large, threatening to stunt their growth. But then they stumbled upon a game-changing combination: Convex, PropertyIntel, and Aspire. 

Little did they know that this trifecta would transform their business, yielding a boatload of new clients that would make their competitors green with envy.

“It's phenomenal how much you can get just from different programs that all talk to each other,” said Vice President of Operations Tiffany Peters.

In this loop, the business can find potential commercial customers (including a contact) via Convex, map out the property in detail with PropertyIntel, and use Aspire to draw up a proposal that addresses the potential customer’s specific needs.

That turns warm leads into a business proposal in front of the right decision maker on the first touch.

“Those tools have really helped us see from afar and also see from up close,” Peters said. “Convex completes the loop with Aspire and PropertyIntel.”

The interface starts with Aspire, the all-in-one cloud-based software for landscaping and commercial cleaning businesses. North by Northwest added Aspire in 2020 and saw immediate benefits.

“I really think Aspire (combined with Convex and PropertyIntel) can help us implement all of our dreams no matter how crazy and audacious they are,” Peters said.

North by Northwest was founded by Tiffany’s father, Jay Martin, in 2003 and is now run by three family members: Tiffany, Vice President Jordan Martin, and Vice President of Construction Adam Martin. Over time, commercial landscaping construction has grown to almost 70% of its work.

“We wanted to be with the big dogs of landscaping in our area,” Peters said. “The national names.”

That meant finding ways to grow while maintaining the family-oriented approach that built the business. Aspire helped by showing North by Northwest where it could better drive profit, not just revenue.

Building a selling engine

Convex and PropertyIntel put that drive into a higher gear.

“The simplest way I explain it to people is it’s warm selling,” Peters said.

That’s because Convex is an engine for commercial service sales teams, arming sales teams with property, contact, and sales intelligence data to streamline their process, make more connections, and close more contracts. 

Convex can even serve up details on who in your geographic region is searching for your services; think searches for "landscaping services."

Together, Convex, PropertyIntel, and Aspire make time-consuming cold calling a relic of the past.

“Convex will be able to help us find more customers who fit our clientele, and we can fill their needs as well,” Peters said. “You already know the property. That is going to help streamline and grow (North by Northwest) in the ways that we want, rather than just leaving it up to guesswork.”

North by Northwest optimizes the potential by using the aerial mapping and measurement capabilities of PropertyIntel to easily create customized takeoffs for maintenance work, design, and builds.

“We're not having to walk the whole property to get measurements,” Peters said. “That has really eliminated a lot of time when it comes to sales. Now we're able to turn in our bids a lot quicker and have a big turnaround on that rather than waiting to go to the site, take measurements, go back to the office, and put it together.”

A proposal, on the first touch

PropertyIntel provides aerial imagery and PDF uploads about job sites, and North by Northwest uses them to create visual proposals for potential customers. Measurements are accurate and detailed, and the integration with Aspire is seamless.

“On Aspire, it's pretty simple and really makes the whole process a lot quicker,” Peters said. “Having all of those programs talk to each other and then go back to Aspire has really just made everything a lot simpler and also more accurate.”

What does it all mean in the aggregate? Increased revenue and increased profit.

North by Northwest didn’t hit the $1 million revenue mark until 2016, but last year, revenues reached $15 million and profits hit $1.2 million. Peters attributes the growth in part to the efficiencies provided by Aspire.

“We used to be considered a ‘mom and pop’ company,” she said. “But now we're competing with those national companies who have branches in Austin, and that alone is just bonkers to me.”

North by Northwest’s win rate also has increased with the use of Convex and PropertyIntel, from 2% a year ago to 15% this year. The business has $1.8 million of commercial billing set up for the next three quarters.

“All the tools working together have really helped show the customer that we're ready, and we already know what they need and want before they have to ask for it,” Peters said. “This proactive stance, as opposed to a reactive one, has been transformative for our client relationships.”