Rise Badge Program Connects Developers with Quality Customers
New Brunswick startup Rise, a company that connects homeowners, home improvement pros and retailers, is launching a new badge program for professional developers.
The program, launching the end of this week, will help builders, contractors and architects raise their profile and connect with the customers they want.
“We figured out there’s really two types of professionals out there. There are professionals who are leading the charge in building for the future and they’re involved with sustainability in some way and there are those who aren’t,” says Rise CEO Matt Daigle. “We’re targeting the first group and we’re going after industry leaders. People who want to set themselves apart from other builders and other contractors or architectural designers, whichever type of home improvement professional you are.”
The program will be run through Rise’s website. The professional signs up for an account and takes a quick questionnaire. The professional will then be assessed for an initial badge that can be upgraded from there.
“We issue you a badge as a professional and the way to upgrade that badge or to get more recognition for the work that you’re doing is to simply submit your projects,” he says. “You basically upload photos of the projects you’ve completed and then we have a tagging system that allows you add sustainable- or energy-efficient products to those projects and by doing that bring you a higher level.”
What makes their program different from others, Daigle says, is they will be looking at the work the professional is doing, the certifications they have and their network.
“We also track things such as your accreditations as well as your network as a professional,” says Daigle. “Who are some of the other builders that you work with and who are some past customers who may have some good reviews for you?”
Rise is targeting this program towards professionals looking to take the lead in sustainable development.
“It’s going after those folks who are becoming the industry leaders in this field and encouraging others to do the same,” says Daigle. “There’s a massive shift happening in the home building sector. This is the shift. It’s moving towards much more resilient, forward-thinking homes that last a long time and that are healthy.”
Daigle says the program will not only give professionals an extra piece of swag for their website, it will also help them find “quality customers.”
“For a lot of professionals, especially the leaders, they actually get inundated with requests. Oftentimes they end up with whoever’s next in line. For them, they actually use Rise to sift down the amount of requests that they get and focus on quality customers,” says he says. “At the same time we’re doing this, we’re also helping to educate the homeowners on what those sustainable options are.”
Rise offers consumers a way to explore different products and solutions to make their next home renovation sustainable and energy efficient while, at the same time, saving money. Daigle says this, in turn, creates more informed customers for businesses.
“In general, [professionals are] noticing people who go to our site and look up specific technologies or products to use become much more educated on what they want to do for their home instead of just showing up at the builder’s house and saying ‘hey, I want to build a home and I want it to be energy efficient,’” says Daigle.