Meet The Team: Jeff Muir

This month, we feature Jeff Muir, manager of implementation services at ECI Software Solutions. We sat down with Jeff to learn more about his role within the team.

ECI: Describe your role in 50 words or less.

Jeff Muir (JM): In my current role at EC, I have the privilege to guide our consultants who work with homebuilders across the nation to help them increase their sales and production, improve profitability, and stay competitive in the constantly evolving homebuilding industry by adopting software and technology into their business processes.

ECI: What and where did you study?

JM: For the most part, I’ve learned the old-school way. Just do. I did a couple of years in college, but I found going out and doing, rather than reading from a textbook, much more beneficial. I’m still very much an avid learner, and routinely study whatever I’m interested in whenever I can.

ECI: Tell us a bit about your background and the path that led you to your current role.

JM: I come from five generations of construction workers. It’s in my blood. I started working summers when I was 15 as a laborer on a framing crew. I loved it. I quickly rose through the ranks to become a project manager by the time I was 18, and I was working full-time. After a few years, I started a custom home business. It was great for the first couple of years, then 2008 happened. I learned many valuable lessons and acquired some new skills during that challenging time, which helped me regain profitability. I applied the lessons I learned and accepted a job at a large-volume homebuilder that had implemented MarkSystems into its business. I was so impressed by how efficiently a business can become by fully adopting software into its operations. It amazed me how streamlined our communication had become, which allowed us to grow over 200% in two years. It was an incredible experience. Since then, I’ve become a raving fan of software in the homebuilding industry. In 2016, I had the opportunity to join the Marksystems team, where I helped other builders implement software and consulted on best practices. Fast forward to now, where I manage three teams of consultants who are helping improve the businesses of our customers every day, all across the country. Being witness to hundreds of businesses evolve and exceed their business goals is some of the most rewarding work I’ve ever been involved in.

ECI: What does your day-to-day work life look like?

JM: I spend most of my day supporting my three teams of consultants in any way I can so that they can continue to focus on helping our customers. Lots of meetings, emails, and team chats to digest every day! Then I spend the rest of my time looking for opportunities for my teams to collaborate, improve our processes, and energize the customers they work with. Changing or adopting new software can be very stressful. Still, our consultants at ECI are among the best in the business, having gone through implementations themselves and helping hundreds of customers each year navigate the process as painlessly as possible.

ECI: What advice would you give to someone just starting in your industry? Any words of wisdom?

JM: Boots on the ground. Get in the trenches. You can learn a lot from reading and listening to experts, but you’ll learn vastly more at an accelerated pace by doing. Get a trade job. Start at the bottom. Learn everything you can from everyone you encounter. You’ll perfect your trade skills, and along the way, you’ll learn how to overcome challenging situations with co-workers, customers, and competitors. Textbooks can’t teach you that.

ECI: What excites you most about working within this industry?

JM: We get to help people move into their dream homes! What’s better than that? The better we can be as homebuilders in providing a valuable product at the best possible price to our customers, the more our industry will grow in the long run.

ECI: What do you find most challenging about working within this industry?

JM: This industry is very cyclical—many peaks and valleys. The most challenging aspect is learning the discipline when times are good, so that one can survive when times are not so good. However, if you do, those peaks and valleys become a more sustainable upward trend of growth.