Aloft Group is a residential and commercial painting company serving homeowners and business clients across Halton and the Greater Hamilton Area. Like most trades and home services businesses in the $750K to $5M range, they had a small, capable team carrying a lot of operational weight without the systems to support sustainable growth.

Before Funnel Forward, Aloft's growth was outpacing their operations:

• No documented sales process, so follow-through varied depending on who picked up the lead
• Manual, inconsistent lead follow-up that cost response time and cost opportunities
• No early qualification step, so the team spent time on estimates that were never a fit
• Customer communication that shifted from one team member to the next
• Tools that weren't connected to each other or to how customers actually moved through the buying process

None of this was a reflection of the team's effort. It's what happens when a business scales past the systems built to handle it, which is exactly where Funnel Forward comes in.

Funnel Forward guided Aloft through all four phases of The Forward Path.

Discovery

We started with a full operational assessment of the sales and customer journey: interviewing the team, documenting how leads actually moved from first contact to job completion, mapping where handoffs broke down, and delivering a clear, sequenced recommendation for what to build first.

Design

With the gaps identified, we blueprinted the systems Aloft needed to scale: every pipeline stage for the CRM build, the workflow automations required for lead capture and follow-up, the dashboards and reporting Jeff and Joel needed to see their business clearly, and an org chart reflecting current accountabilities alongside a structure built for where Aloft wants to be in 12 months.

Deploy

This is where the blueprint became a working system. We built out the GoHighLevel CRM, connected Aloft's website forms directly into it, and linked GoHighLevel, Estimate Rocket, and CompanyCam through Zapier so information moved automatically instead of manually. Post-build training and support meant the team could run the system with confidence, not just inherit it.

Drive

Systems only hold up if people can actually use them. We documented Aloft's sales role from the ground up, building a complete library of written and video SOPs in Whale, so consistency doesn't depend on memory, tenure, or who happens to be on shift.

We also looked at where Jeff and Joel were spending time on things that didn't need their hands on them, and automated as much of that as we could. That freed up hours each week they could put back into running and growing the business, instead of getting buried in it.

"She got into the details of our customer journey and built that logic directly into our tools. Beyond the systems work, she helped us get clear on where our time genuinely creates value and handed us a real plan to automate the rest." — Jeff B., Co-Owner, Aloft Group

"For the first time, we have a real playbook; not just knowledge that lives in people's heads. The SOPs Brandi built make it easier to bring people up to speed and stay consistent from one project to the next." — Joel D., Co-Owner, Aloft Group

When the Foundation Build was complete, Aloft chose to keep investing in what they'd built. Funnel Forward is now embedded as Aloft's Fractional COO, working alongside Jeff and Joel to build operational rhythm into the business:

• Structuring and running weekly team meetings built around a scorecard, currently tracking five sales KPIs, with more functions being added over time
• Building out an accountability cadence with carved-out time each week to name challenges and actually implement solutions, not just talk about them
• Continuing to expand the SOP library in Whale, including a full company handbook and policies
• Building detailed strategic plans tied directly to revenue goals, with the preparation happening the quarter before, not scrambled together the week execution was supposed to start

This is what ongoing operational capacity looks like: not a report handed off once, but a partner still in the business, still building.

"Having someone hold us accountable to our scorecard every week has changed the way our team shows up. We're not just talking about the numbers anymore, we're doing something about them." — Jeff B., Co-Owner, Aloft Group

"We used to react to whatever the week threw at us. Now we're planning ahead, and it shows in how prepared we are for the next quarter, not just the next job." — Joel D., Co-Owner, Aloft Group

• 30+ automated workflows built, streamlining lead follow-up, scheduling, and communication
• Speed-to-lead reduced from multi-day delays to under 60 seconds
• 20+ SOPs documented, written and video, so processes run without relying on memory
• 5 tools integrated into one connected system: website, CRM, Zapier, Estimate Rocket, and CompanyCam

Aloft's story isn't about a one-time fix. It's about a business that outgrew its informal systems, built the operational foundation to match its ambitions, and kept investing in that foundation as it grows. That's what sustainable growth looks like: systems that scale with the business, and an owner who isn't carrying it all alone.