Roofing Success

900 Reviews in 3 Years?! The Secret Every Roofer Misses with Jon Starry

• Jim Ahlin • Episode 276

Share episode

Would a customer really wait 3 months to work with YOU?

At Steadfast Roofing, they do. And Jon Starry shares how his team earned over 900 reviews in just 3 years by doing things most roofers skip.

Jon didn’t start in roofing, he was laid off from IT. But what he lacked in experience, he made up for with obsession: with automation, communication, and doing right by the customer.

⚠️ Spoiler alert: Reviews are the new currency of TRUST in the AI era.

In this episode, you'll see:
- Why repair jobs were the KEY to his first 100 reviews
- How his team asks for reviews and referrals on EVERY job
- The automations he uses to keep customers happy (even when they wait 3+ months!)
- The “secret sauce” behind building a trustworthy brand
- Why you DON’T need to start with a big team (just a crew and a dream)

Roofers: If you want to grow fast without selling your soul, this one’s for you.

Links: 
https://steadfastroofingfl.com/
https://www.facebook.com/steadfastroofingfl/
https://www.youtube.com/@UC_ZIu_Y-FDhFUutL0Minkiw 
https://www.instagram.com/steadfastroofingfl/

🤖 Have a question? Ask this customized ChatGPT for the answer! Specifically designed for this episode, it’s here to help! https://roofingpod.com/chatgpt-276

Listen to the episode on Spotify & Apple Podcasts (276) 👇
🎧 https://roofingpod.com/spotify
🍏 https://roofingpod.com/apple-podcasts

PODCAST SPONSORS: 
- JobNimbus Marketing: https://roofingpod.com/jobnimbus-marketing-get-started
- Day 41 Thrive: https://roofingpod.com/day-41-thrive
- PowerUp Agents AI: https://roofingpod.com/power-up-agents-ai
- AI Roofing Revolution: https://roofingpod.com/airoofingrevolution
- The Roofing & Solar Reform Alliance: https://roofingpod.com/RSRA


IG: https://www.instagram.com/roofingsuccess/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/roofingsuccess
Join Our Facebook Group: https://roofingpod.com/facebook

📱 Text Jim @ (612) 512-1812 – Say Hi!
💬 Leave Us a Review: https://roofingpod.com/review

SPEAKER_02:

So number one, the first probably fifty to a hundred of those were literally from repairs that I had been doing before I even like really went full in on this thing, right? So that helped me build up a base. But number two, I mean, review capture from work that you do is so important. And so many people let off the gas with that one. Um, but we have automations that are built into our CRM that like just hammers the heck out of people.

SPEAKER_01:

What if losing your IT job became the spark to build one of Florida's fastest growing roofing companies with over 900 reviews in just three years? In this episode, we talked with John Starry about building a reputation first roofing company, why reviews are the new currency of trust in the AI era, and how obsessive customer communication feels real growth. John is the founder of Steadfast Roofing, a company that grew out of necessity and exploded with purpose. Known for his deep systems thinking and authentic brand, John has built a business where customers wait months willingly just to work with his team. From launching with just a few repair jobs in a dream to running an eight-figure roofing company, John's obsession with detail, customer trust, and follow-up automations has made Steadfast unforgettable. If you want to learn how reviews, automation, and care can scale your roofing company fast without sacrificing integrity, this is the episode for you. Let's jump in with John Starry from Steadfast Roofing. Welcome to the Roofing Success Podcast. I'm Jim Aline and I'm here to bring you insights from top leaders in the roofing industry to help you grow and scale your roofing business. It's how it goes, man. How's sunny Florida?

SPEAKER_02:

It has not been very sunny here lately, man. We have had a lot of rain, but um I actually got a break from it all last week. Um my wife and I went out to a home services conference out in Vegas. Um one that Tommy Mello had kind of put on.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Home service freedom. I'm I'm trying to kind of step out of just attending roofing conferences and things to try to bring something back that uh that maybe's you know a little more profound or something that nobody else is really doing and uh just didn't bring back as much as I was hope was as I was hoping to, you know. Um, but I mean, end of the day, we're all serving the same purpose, we're all trying to serve the people that we're in front of. And uh, you know, I I definitely took back home a few things that I am working on implementing, but um, and then I also heard of some softwares that uh I really want to kind of like dig into a little bit more, but um just trying to break out of my comfort zone a little bit, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's great, it's great to go other places for the ideas. A lot of times you'll hear the same thing in the in the roofing industry. I've heard that from a lot of people. Some of the some of the some people that I've had on the podcast that have come from other industries and brought those types of the the things that they did in other industries into roofing, you know, it it's a it's a continuous evolution, right, of professionalism in the trades. And that's that that's a a great thing. And I know Tommy's event was one of those types of events where he puts on a good show for one, and and and he is one of those guys. I've had him on the podcast a couple times now, and like he's one of those guys. He he he's a very forward-thinking uh individual, we'll put it that way. So yeah, so for the audience here we don't who don't don't know who you are and don't know have not heard of steadfast roofing, John, how do you get into roofing, man?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh man, I got into roofing because I felt like I had to. But um, back in uh back in the early 2000s, I was actually in IT and you know things were a little rough there in the early 2000s. I actually ended up getting laid off. Um and you know, I ended up going back to school and like wasn't making the money I was used to making and things. So I actually started doing some work for a home improvement contractor up in Pennsylvania. We did a number of different things from like painting to siding to roofing to decks, you name it. Um and and I was doing that any chance that I got, and I actually started to fall in love with a little bit, and then as I moved down here to Florida, I kind of made it my full-time role, but not on the hard side of things. Like I'm not the best at the labor side of things, man. Like I I like to joke with people and tell them I'm a little bit too pretty for all that, but uh you you know I'm not, but uh regardless, um that is the side of things that I actually enjoy. I enjoy getting to get in front of people, and I really just you know tried to hone my craft a bit to try to make us different from everybody else that people are meeting up with and things, you know. And um with that, I mean, I I think we've created a pretty darn unique organization over here that um you know, people really truly feel like we give a damn. And they're not just a number with us, you know. Um but again, I mean, I I started this whole thing out of necessity and things. Like I had worked for a number of different contractors down here in the Tampa Bay area. Um some of them are really, really great, and most of them just really don't do the right thing whenever they're faced with that kind of problem. And uh I I didn't want to get lumped in with that, you know? So for sure. Here we are.

SPEAKER_01:

It's hard to be different from others. Some the same thing, right? It's a very commoditized industry. What were some of those early things that you did that you saw, and you're like, these are the things we're gonna start with to differentiate ourselves?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so I mean, number one, I didn't just jump in to start my own company because I wanted to. Um it had been two years in the making, you know, like I had figured out what kind of products I wanted to use, right? I had I had figured out like what I wanted our sales presentation to look like. It it took me a long time to even land on the name and things because like I I didn't want it to be called starry roofing, you know. Um and the reason like why I landed on the name that I did is because like it's mentioned so often in the Bible, right? The word steadfast. Um, and then whenever you associate that with a roof, I mean you want your roof to be an unfailing source of your home or uh an unfailing component of your home. Because once that thing goes, everything else just kind of starts to crumble too, you know? But uh I did uh did work my last name into it a little bit. There's a little star in the R right there. So but uh that's that's that's where we are, man. But um regardless, um I I did take a lot of time to kind of plan. And uh whenever I got off the ground and running and things, like I I have been working with another roofing contractor. Um, I was very transparent uh from the very get-go, like what my intentions were. And uh I had been doing my own repairs and things just locally and whatnot, building up a bit of a a review pipeline and like some something to kind of cling on to. And then before you know it, uh hurricane hit and we started taking off. And uh I had my own license at that point. So I was like, all right, well, if there's any time to do this, the time is now, you know. So off we went.

SPEAKER_01:

A good storm will uh will kick off a company quickly, right? It definitely will. Um it'll also crumble a company quickly if you don't have if you have your stuff together.

SPEAKER_02:

We definitely ran into some growing pains for sure. Uh we we were not prepared for the most recent round of hurricanes that we got down here in the Tampa Bay area, but um yeah, we definitely managed as best we could. Our reputation came out unscathed, which, you know, I mean, end of the day, that all just boils down to setting realistic expectations with people. And you know, when people trust you, I mean, some of them are okay with waiting three months to get their roof replaced uh just because of the backlog we had at one point. And you know, cranking out nine to twelve roofs a day, it was insane. Um and I I'm I'm glad that the industry as a whole has kind of slowed down because it's gotten to a point for us now where things are a lot more manageable than having to deal with nine to twelve roof replacements a day. Like there's a lot to kind of keep track of and um a lot of running to do, especially if it's all spread out, you know? Yeah, for sure. It it gets crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

What uh so why Tampa? Were you just had you had moved there already? Because you you started off in in Pennsylvania. Why Tampa?

SPEAKER_02:

So the funny thing about Tampa, I had never been here before I decided to move here, but ultimately I knew that I wanted to end up somewhere that I wasn't dealing with the gray skies that I was dealing with in Pennsylvania, right? Um and I mean not to get like all weird about anything, but um, you know, seasonal depression like hits a lot of people. And um it it impacted me for a bit too. And I wanted to get away from that stuff, man. Like I like being outdoors. And whenever whenever the weather outside doesn't allow that to happen, it it kind of takes the wind out of my sails a bit. So I I knew that I wanted to be somewhere where the weather was good, you know. I I love going outside and seeing palm trees, like for whatever reason, I just had this huge attraction to palm trees and stuff. And I I knew that I wanted to like be out this way. Um, so just took a chance, um landed a job with a managed print service company to get me down here. And uh the the owner of that company and I just um we kind of had different visions and whatnot. And I knew that that wasn't really the role that I so again got right back into roofing and uh just kept running with it from there. But uh no no real plan or any kind of indicator like why I wanted to move to the Tampa area. Um football team's pretty awesome though. But I'm I'm still an Eagles guy.

SPEAKER_01:

Did they wait? We just passed uh week one. Did they pull that one off? They pulled the they pulled off that Baltimore win, didn't they? Was it Baltimore? Who'd they pull off?

SPEAKER_02:

No, no, they uh they didn't play Baltimore, but uh they they did pull off a win.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, that was the Bills in Baltimore. That was the Bills in Baltimore that got exciting at the end. Yeah, one point game at the end. That's right. I uh my Vikings got a win that in week one here. So that's what that was that was exciting. Even if it was against the Bears, it was it was a good uh good indication of uh of getting our hopes up for the year and then letting us down later, which is usually what they do. So unless they play the Eagles and you know toss a nice one into the end zone and we have to ruin your season. We have a fun little culture here. Before we carry on with the episode, let's give a shout out to one of our sponsors. Roofers, let's get real. You're great at building roofs, but are you great at building a steady stream of leads? That's where job numbers marketing comes in. They know the roofing industry inside and out, and they'll help you dominate Google, Facebook, reputation management, and everything in between. If you want more quality leads, more book jobs, and more growth, visit the link in the description or the sponsors page on the Roofing Success Podcast website. Unless they play the Eagles and you know, toss a nice one into the end zone and we have to ruin ruin your season.

SPEAKER_02:

We have a fun little culture here um with the sales team and things. Um, we have a fantasy football um draft going on and things, and uh like we are talking so much smack with one another, and like for some reason, there's two people on my fantasy team that that uh that are are Cowboys fans, and it's just like, man, what is wrong with you guys? I'm probably losing half your audience right now.

SPEAKER_01:

But uh that's all right. Well, uh, so got down to Tampa, got into the roofing industry, had home services before, worked in the roofing industry in Tampa, wanted to be different from others. One of the things that you've differentiated yourself with are reviews. Three years, 900 reviews. I mean, if if your competitors look at that, they'll probably think you're buying reviews. How do you you know what I mean? Like, how do you how do you get 900 reviews in three years? You know what I mean? Like that's a that's a huge jump, man.

SPEAKER_02:

That's so number one, the first probably 50 to 100 of those were literally from repairs that I had been doing before I even really went full in on this thing, right? So that helped me build up a base. But yeah, number two, I mean, review capture from work that you do is so important, and so many people let off the gas with that one. Um, but we have automations that are built into our CRM that like just hammers the heck out of people. And I'm gonna give a little shout out to my my boys over at ProLine because um, you know, I I've been with them for several years now. Um they they truly take the feedback that I provide. I and you know, I mean, processes have changed and things, and um, they have gotten a lot bigger than what they were whenever I had first started with them, right? Yeah, um so the way to suggest implementations and ideas and things has changed a bit over the years, but um they have really taken something to the next level from anything else that I had used previously, and I I had been with a number of different CRMs. I'm not gonna bash any of them because end of the day, you know, as the old saying is, you know, you know, the the CRM that you should use is the one that works for you, right? But uh ProLine has just been fantastic. I can customize like all the messaging that goes out. And like one of the takeaways that I took from like the Tommy Mello conference that I just attended and things was like I got a reminder um from another automation company by the name of Chirp that um it was something that I had written down on my to-do that I just hadn't gotten around to yet, but it it had to do with an owner reach out. So a few days after the actual appointment with the original estimator, um, getting a message to go out from me as the owner directly to that customer and things, right? And it it sounds like such a small little thing, but if it makes even an ounce of difference where we get an additional, you know, roof replacement a month, like us, it it took me 10 minutes to implement that, you know? But um so again, with the review generation and things, we're trying to capture anything and everything, even repairs and things, you know. We're not going out there trying to make a million bucks on a repair job just to get somebody through to the next storm. But we are trying to leave as good of an impression as we possibly can with them. That way, whenever it is time for them to replace their roof, we're gonna be the first and only company that they actually call, right? Yeah, capturing those reviews on site. Um and then if they're not getting captured on site, hammering them with automations by text and email to ensure that we're capturing those reviews. But then on top of that, um, we even have photos um from another software that we use to actually map to those reviews. So, number one, it it screams legitimacy with Google because it is an actual true customer review. And on top of that, I mean if we truly captured reviews from 100% of the people that we that we actually served, we'd be way beyond 900 right now, man. Um that is still such a small tidbit of what we could actually be getting. So we're still trying to hone that in to the point where we're capturing more of those reviews. So haters.

SPEAKER_01:

I want to go back to this because this is something that is going to be so impactful for contractors going forward. It has been, if you don't know, your reviews matter. If you're listening, your reviews matter. It's one of the most important things that you could do on a day-to-day basis is get is get reviews for your company. Right. Moving into the age of AI, moving into AI search, trust is going to be a much larger factor. And the only way that AI can, one of the ways that AI can read trust is to read your reviews across the internet. We've done experiments now in the RSRA with with some of our marketing uh sessions where we've done, you know, kind of run some some searches and it and and then ask the AI, well, why did you choose this company versus this company? Oh, well, they had great reviews, is almost always. It's time and business and great reviews. So those are the two things that we're seeing it say back to us multiple times. But it's not just saying Google, it's also saying for which which I don't like because we've all focused so hard on Google for the because that's where we should have should be focused, right? But uh I I I've had it kick back. Well, I saw the reviews on Yelp, I saw the reviews on on other places, and so so now uh you know getting your reviews spread out is going to have some impact also, just something early that we're seeing, but I want to go into reviews. It sounded like repairs lead to reviews for you. Is that is that so like so having a doing repairs, which a lot of contractors don't, right? They have they they just do a subcontractor replacement model. How you know being involved in that from the beginning, having that repair, doing that repair, getting the review. You said your first 50 or 100 or so like reviews came from just repair work, right? Like just getting out there doing repair work. I think that's awesome. Like that that's a fantastic idea for people, especially if you're in the very early stages, and you and if you we I talked about this on another podcast recently. Uh some we we determined that the golden number is a hundred now. Like if you don't have a hundred reviews, it's like you don't exist, right? Before, if it you know, it it's changed a lot over the years, but then there's guys like you that are running up to you know, you're pushing a thousand soon, you know what I mean? So when you know, for for everyone else in the inner man, we gotta be getting these reviews as much as possible. So in the repair process, you know, or let me let's walk walk me through that on-site ask. Because I I think that's missed so many times. The on-site ask, who's responsible to ask for the review? What are they saying? Do they have you know a QR code or a you know, like what how are you setting up your team to get that review on site? Before we carry on with the episode, let's give a shout out to one of our sponsors. I talk to contractors every day that feels stuck. Not because they're not working hard, but because they're missing the structure to grow without chaos. Or their culture's falling apart because their team's unclear, unaligned, or just burned out. And when change hits, they're reacting instead of leading because time and priorities aren't under their control. Day 41 Thrive helps to fix that with proven strategies for growth, culture, and leadership that actually work. Ready to thrive beyond the storm? Visit the link in the description or visit the Roofing Success Podcast website on the sponsors page to start your journey today. Because I I think that's missed so many times. The on-site ask, who's responsible to ask for the review? What are they saying? Do they have you know a QR code or a you know, like what how are you setting up your team to get that review on site?

SPEAKER_02:

No, so uh that part's pretty simple. Um number one, if we have the ability to knock it out right then and there, you know, who wouldn't want that? Number two, if you're coming in at a at a very competitive price and things, right? Like if if one of my guys already has the material in the back of their truck, um, and they can hop up there and just take care of it for somebody, why wouldn't we just knock that out? You know? Um so in in those circumstances and things, like you're hitting them with you know, we're not gouging the price um of the repair. Number two, we're incentivizing them by allowing us to actually get it done and getting rid of the issue right then and there without them having to kick the can down the road, right? Um, the longer they have to think about it, you know, there's not much to think about when it comes to like a$500 repair, you know? Um, whenever it means that that$500 repair is going to alleviate the need for them to actually pay more to get their interior repaired after the fact, right? So um getting it done on site if possible, or even later that day, we do have an in-house repair guy, and in the event that like it's it is outside of the scope of what these guys would be able to do. But um just giving them an immediate um fix, number one, and number two, like, hey, listen, um I'm not charging you a whole heck of a lot for this. Um, our reputation online is is really, really important to us. It's how we get found. Um since we're taking care of this for you, would you be so kind as to leave us a review on a platform of your choice, right? Um, but I am super happy that you had actually brought up like AI search and things because like one of the things that I did learn um with this new age of AI and things is like a lot of those results are coming from places like Yelp and BBB. Those are two of the big ones that are actually driving you know your results on AI searches and things. Um, I did learn about another one that I'm gonna kind of keep to myself until I get to test it out, but uh don't want to give out too much of the secret sauce. But uh regardless, um uh like giving them a reason to actually feel compelled to leave a review by us resolving an issue. Um why why wouldn't they do that? Especially when they don't have to go shop around after after the fact or they don't have to worry about it after the fact that you know they called us, we were out, and we're able to fix that in a super tight timeline.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So now what that makes me think of, right, is now, you know, if I'm another contractor, I'm thinking, well, man, now I gotta I gotta make sure my sales guys know how to, my inspectors, they have to know how to do this stuff, right? And a lot of a lot of people haven't built their their business model that way. It's salespeople sell, they don't know how to do the work, right? They understand the components and what's wrong and how to diagnose, um, but they don't maybe they don't know. So, what is your process then for getting your team up to speed to be able to execute that small, even if it's just a small repair, right? And make sure that it's done well. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Not not everybody on my sales team has the ability to do that. Got it. Um there are a handful of people though that you know have worked on the labor side of this industry. I even have a guy from Texas that had actually owned his own roofing company that um does his own repairs oftentimes, right? Yeah, um, and end of the day, I mean, I I really just set the precedence with my team that, like, hey, um I'm not trying to make a boatload of money on on repairs. Like that, that's not what these things are about. But if you end up knocking it out, just make sure that you're getting a review, you know. Um end of the day though, um for anybody on my sales team that does run into repair situation and things, they have like I have a field operations manager that schedules all the in-house repairs with our in-house repair guy, right? They have options to get that quickly resolved and taken care of for any customer they're in front of, even if they don't have the ability to take care of that and handle that on their own.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, that's awesome. And then so now we have the on-site. I would assume if it's a replacement too, you're you're working the same, you know, you're you're making sure that someone on site is asking for the review. Project manager, super job site supervisor, what do you what's that process for?

SPEAKER_02:

What do you do there? I mean, they're introduced to everybody that is a part of their project. Um, from the moment that they get their estimate to the moment that materials are getting ordered. Um, they're getting introduced to you know, my office staff that's actually handling material ordering, polling permits, things like that. They know who they're working with. They and the the bigger part of that is they also know who to reach out to in the event that something happens, right? Or like maybe they need to reschedule their installation date, um, things like that. But they're gonna get introduced to the office staff, their estimator, they're also gonna get introduced to the the site supervisor that's gonna be a part of their build that day. Um, so they have multi- a multitude of contacts that if they have questions about anything, it should always be their sales, like their estimator, first and foremost. But in the event that it has something to do with scheduling, they know who to reach out to. If it has something to do with something going on, day of the job, they know who to reach out to, right? Um, but then on top of that, after the job is completed, um, they're gonna do the original estimator is gonna go do a final walkthrough, make sure that everything is the way that the customer wants it to be. They're 100% satisfied with anything. If there's any punch out items that need to be done, they're knocked out. And then once they're 100% happy, then we're hitting them with holding our hand out for the check and asking for that review and also asking hey, do you know anybody else that we may be able to assist that may be in the same sort of situation that you were in, right? Um So ultimately not only are we getting a review, but hopefully we're getting a referral out of the whole deal too.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, for sure. So you refer uh your sales reps are inspectors in your like is that how you refer to them or I guess in your or I refer to them as project specialists.

SPEAKER_02:

Project specialists, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

I try to project sales out. Yeah. So your project specialists, um they they're they're they're they're managing that communication with with the customer. Um how have you like incentivized them or or have held them accountable to asking for those the the the referrals and the reviews? Because I feel like a lot of contractors struggle with that. Like, man, my my team just doesn't ask, and I can't get them to ask. This is it's such a struggle for me. What have you done from a management perspective to incentivize or or or you know put it carrot or stick, right? Like what have you what carrots and sticks have worked in your business?

SPEAKER_02:

So all right. Number one, when the when the job is going on, right? We schedule them to actually be present at their build for at least an hour to you know get some additional FaceTime with the homeowner. Hopefully they're actually there during the build, and they snap a selfie with that homeowner as well. We use that for our social platforms, and then after we get that review, guess what? We can blast that out to all those different channels and things, right? Um, if they're actually out there and following the process, the reviews just don't come. Um, it it's kind of built into their DNA at this point, you know. So setting that proper expectation and letting them know, you know, hey, this is what I want to see happen uh when this is going on. They do it enough times it becomes a habit, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, nice. How do you ensure the customer experience stays consistent as you scaled, right? Especially when you you know have a big storm come through and everything, you know, you're oh man, you know what I mean? Like what we did. What things have what things have worked and what things, you know, what lessons did you learn, right? Before we carry on with the episode, let's give a shout out to one of our sponsors. If you and your team aren't trained on AI yet, you're already falling behind. Competitors using AI are generating more leads, closing jobs faster, and running leaner. The AI Roofing Revolution gives your team the training to implement AI so you stay ahead, not scramble to catch up. Don't wait until you're losing. Get trained now at the link in the description or the sponsors page of the Roofing Success Podcast website. What things have worked and what things, you know, what lessons did you learn, right? Yeah, so um.

SPEAKER_02:

So we we really leave it up to our crews, and as we encounter issues and things, our crews know how to who uh who to reach out to and things, right? So as far as quality of the installs and things like that go, um, that was never really that was never really a factor throughout you know our season of busyness and whatnot. Um but as we did get busier and um more and more things kind of started falling into place. And I I think one of the biggest reasons why we found success whenever it was so busy is because we weren't coming off as that pushy contractor that was like asking, you know, like forcing them to sign then and there. And I think a lot of people appreciated that about us. Um, and and I'm not saying that there's things that we couldn't have improved during that time, but I'd much rather have somebody work with us because they choose to versus feeling like they were forced to, right? Um but we were we were completely understaffed at the beginning of this whole thing. Um, we didn't have enough people available to take calls. Um we were at our peak, we were getting 400 calls in a day. Um, and a lot of those were repair issues. And a lot of those, so I mean, literally, we dedicated full days just knocking out our multitude of repairs and things from people that got impacted from the hurricane and whatnot. Um, but in regard to replacements and whatnot, um as I said, at our peak, I mean, we were doing nine to twelve roofs a day, every day, Monday through Friday, and wrapping up anything, any kind of loose ends that we didn't finish up on Saturdays and Sundays and things. So, I mean, it was it was crazy. But one of the biggest gaps that I had discovered throughout all that is, you know, when people were waiting an extended period of time. Like I try to keep our production calendar within like a month. I want people getting their roofs replaced within a month of signing. Um but during that time, we had such a multitude and a backlog of work in our pipeline that there were people waiting for three months until they got their roof replaced. And the biggest gap that I had noticed is like, hey, they're not really being communicated with a whole heck of a lot. So again, throwing it back to ProLine, I had built some automations and things to keep them informed um every week of the status of their project. And it might not have been anything profound or anything like crazy to update them on, but you know, just having that touch point and letting them know that, hey, um, here's where you're at. We have pulled your permit so far. Um, we have your materials reserved or whatever we need to say, right? Um just having that touch point every week just lets them know they're like, hey, you're on our radar, we're gonna knock this thing out and it's gonna be amazing. Um but we didn't have that initially. And I I I wanted to I wanted to avoid as much fallout from all this as I could. Like, I don't want to lose customers that we've already won. And we actually came out of that, I think end of the day, we only ended up losing about three jobs out of the whole deal. And um, I mean, I I will take that over you know what it could have otherwise been had we not had those communications going out and keeping people informed and things. So yeah, big thing like I I would just say in regard to that, my biggest learning lesson is just keep in contact with people always regularly and often.

SPEAKER_01:

And and automated uh automated messages work also. Yeah. Now the automated message could be a just an automated message that is very candid standard, maybe personalized to that person with a few different you know variables or something, but it all it also could be a task to your team to make a phone call. It could be, you know, a text message going out, whatever it is. I I always say, John, you probably I don't know if you've heard this from me, but if your customers are wondering, you're losing. Absolutely. Like the second that they're wondering, man, like the second that they are wondering, any time that you can take that what it so from a customer's perspective, you know, you could go through that, you know, while you were sitting there, you were doing this it, you know, kind of without probably the the specific intention. Your your intention was to communicate with customers, but as you went along, when you created that message that went out saying this is what's happening, like that's what you were doing is you're re you're relieving them of wonder. And and if you can do that and do that through automation, it it it's outrageously impactful. Outrageously. 100%. It's crazy, man. Um, and and so many don't do it. Uh the tools are out there, right? The tools are out there. Uh there's plenty of automated tools out there that can that can uh that can that can help you with this. Takes some time to build it. Yeah, right? Like it takes some time and some thought to build it, but once you once you get it structured and built out the way you want, how how often are you reviewing your your customer journey, uh, the automations in your customer journey? Are you reviewing that on a weekly basis, on a quarterly basis, on a yearly basis? I know you're enjoying the episode, but let's give a shout out to another one of our sponsors. As a roofing marketing agency owner and coach, I've seen it all. Great marketing wasted because no one swallows up based enough. That's why I built Power Up Agents, not just a receptionist. RAI handles the entire customer journey. From answering the first call to booking the job to post-job surveys and reviews. 24-7, inbound, outbound, even multilingual. If you want leads, followed up instantly and customers nurtured automatically, visit the link in the description or visit the sponsors page on the Roofing Success Podcast website. Your full AI team is ready. Oh man, on a weekly basis, on a quarterly basis, on a yearly basis.

SPEAKER_02:

Dude, I'm probably looking at that way more than I should. I'm if if somebody looked in from the outside of this whole thing, they'd probably think I was nuts. But um I I literally just added some additional automation steps just yesterday, and I just tweaked them again this morning. So um I'm constantly looking at ways that we can improve that and things. Uh but but again, I mean the tools that you have to use it, they need to be easy to use, right? Yes. And but I I started using to-do lists and things on my phone because sometimes I'm like out driving and like I think of something, and like if I don't make if if I don't take action on that immediately, like it goes straight out that window, and I will never remember it again until like months and months down the road. I'm like, damn. So I started using to-do lists and things, and like it started to get pretty long and things, but um, I started moving them towards a priority list and things, right? Like, all right, this is gonna make a really, really big impact. I want to do this, I want to knock this out. This one can kind of like go on the back burner for a little bit, but um and then there's some that after I get back to it and I think about it again, eh, I don't really think that's gonna be a great idea. Maybe I should just uh you know shelf that one for a little bit, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but uh great to-do list, voice notes, like anything that to get those ideas out of your head and and and and and in a in a place where you can maybe review them later because they will get lost for sure.

SPEAKER_02:

Um things get like traditionally they get a little bit slow down here in Florida um after school lets out, and then after school goes back in, you'll typically start to see an uptick in business and things, right? So our slow season this year, like I completely revamped our sales proposals. Um, I gave everything a uniform look. Um, and and really, I mean, I'm looking at what they were and what they are now, and I'm just like, wow, I cannot believe that I made that. And like I don't pay anybody to do that stuff either. Like, we have so many tools at our disposal now as contract in any industry, as like any entrepreneur has the ability to kind of access the same tools that I have access to, right? Yep, and like I've designed everything in Canada, like I'm not a graphic design artist or anything like that, but my gosh, man, you look at like what I put together and it is just like holy cow, how did I do that, you know? But um and like that's something that I've really found enjoyment in as I've kind of like been in this a few years on my own, right? Um I I shifted from like liking to meet people to actually just like really being like on top of like trying to have good organic marketing, trying to come up with like creative content for videos, um trying to just deliver the most polished experiences possible to people and like like getting the same uniform look from it, like one of the latest automations that we did was just sending out intro videos in front of the vehicle that my estimators drive, um, and just giving them a quick video introduction, giving them a face of the name, showing them what vehicle they're gonna be pulling up to their house in, right? And it sounds so stupid and minuscule, but it has really made a huge difference. And we have gotten so much positive feedback from our homeowners that you know they get multiple quotes from other contractors all the time. And the reason why they continue to choose us over and over is because the experience that they got from the very beginning of the appointment getting set and the communication that that was involved and all that up until they decided to sign with us has just been like night and day compared to anybody else that I'm competing with around here. And it's it's made it easy for us, you know. So I'm gonna continue to hone that and make that even better as time goes on. And like that is like what currently excites me in this position, you know? Um, just so tacking on that polish.

SPEAKER_01:

So for people listen, listening though, they're like, John, you were an IT guy. Like you know how to use the computer and stuff, right? Like you're that that's more familiar to you. What what about what about the contractor that came from the install side or the business owner that came from, hey man, I'm a I'm a salesman. Like I don't, I don't, I I could enter my I could enter a contact into the CRM and then let it go from there. We know how salespeople are, right? Like they're not, you know, so what what advice would you give to that person in in, hey man, where do I start? How do I start structuring this? How do I start building this out?

SPEAKER_00:

I know you're enjoying the episode, but let's give a shout out to another one of our sponsors. Stop going at it alone because growing a roofing company today is not what it was like even three years ago. Not with the economy, not with private equity, not with AI taking over the world. And let's not forget insurance rewriting the rules. Join the community of roofers who don't really like roofers. We share our winning secrets to help each other dominate in today's fast-changing and unpredictable times. Click the link in the description to apply to join.

SPEAKER_01:

What what advice would you give to that person in, hey man, where do I start? How do I start structuring this? How do I start building this out?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Nobody taught me how to do that stuff, you know? And end of the day, whenever it comes to how you are portrayed to people, um, nobody is gonna give a damn more than what you're gonna give a damn as an owner, right? So the level of detail that you would put into that versus paying somebody to design something like that for you that doesn't really have any true insights into your company, they are not gonna be able to do it to the level that you would be able to do it. Um, if you just invest the time to actually put into really creating the experience that you want to create, you can do anything. I mean, the fact that these guys have started their own companies and things, and like yeah, they're they're building a business and things, like that is way harder than anything that I could ever do online or in Canva or any of that stuff. And I I don't know everything, I'm a pretty dumb dude, you know? But um I'm I'm just structured and driven to the point that like I I want to do better than others, and um I I'm gonna keep doing better and I'm gonna keep making things better, and I'm not gonna give up that relentless pursuit of that until like I decide that I've had enough of all this, you know?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. And that's the that's the reality of it. We we kind of we you you get good at what what you what you want, and and and so these tools, I'm gonna summarize a little bit, like the tools that you're using to automate this the the the customer experience, your goal is to have an exceptional customer experience and your the fulfillment in having a great customer experience is what drives you to learn the tools, right? Like I'll learn the tool to man, I'm gonna take care of this customer. Like I want to take care of my customers, right? And and if from an owner's perspective, it man, if you have that drive and that that like that's your goal is to take care of the customers, either you're gonna learn it or someone on your team's gonna learn it, right? Like let's let's go, but but don't don't not do it. It's crazy not to do it. So um how is how's the adding a video to the sales process been for you guys? You know, I know a lot of contractors struggle with that. You know, they're we don't want to be on the owner doesn't want to be on video, the sales reps don't want to be on video, no one wants to be on video. How has adding video to the to the you know to the your customer experience, what has the impact of that been? And how have you got engagement from your team around that? My team hates it.

SPEAKER_02:

I hate it too. Um but end of the day, like it is one of those necessary evils that you know it it needs to happen. Um and I have really kind of driven my team to make their own organic content and things, you know, just getting a testimonial video with a homeowner, like that is so impactful. Um, especially whenever like somebody's watching that video and they actually know who that person is, right? Um, but as of right now, like I'm I'm shifting our strategy a little bit um with video content to actually focus on city pages. I'm actually um uh I'm working with Dima over at Roofing SEO School to uh kind of produce some city specific content that should drive some traffic to our direct city pages that impact that, right? And and the whole thought process behind that is that um, you know, Google is the number one most used search tool in the world, right? But um YouTube is the second most. And uh if you can tie Google and YouTube, I mean they're all under the same parent company regardless, but it just makes sense that they kind of feed into each other, right? So um I have we have not launched our city page um content yet. It's it's still in development, but um I I I can't really answer a whole lot on that one, but we do have you know a number of views on some of the some of the impactful stuff that we've done is just like the local stuff. So I made a I made a video in regard to um like the area that I live in here and the South Shore area of the Tampa Bay, right? And um, so that basically includes like Ruskin, Apollo Beach, Riverview, things like that. Um and we we had fun with it, man. Like we we we brought a friend of mine's kid in. Um he was driving me around in a golf cart, uh, he ran me over with the golf cart. It was fun. Um and and people laugh. And um if you're not doing educational content or you're not doing content that people search for, if you can make them laugh, it it does make them like you. And like that kind of content is so impactful locally in the fact that um, you know, like it if people are posting that video in like neighborhood groups and things like that, right? They'd be like, oh my gosh, this guy lives right here. Why would I not call him, right? Um, so it it takes a little while to kind of gain some traction with it, but you continue to do it, um, it it does definitely make a difference. And uh I think now that we're actually creating some content that actually has like keywords that people are gonna search for uh and actually tying video content directly to those search terms, I think things are really gonna take off.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, there's a strategy there for sure. Um what is you know what when we talked before, you talked about building uh creating a family atmosphere at work. How how do you do that in practice?

SPEAKER_02:

So this is probably a little um out of the name out of the norm, I guess, but um like we all we all have fun with one another, you know. I mean, we we we hang out with one another. Like I uh I invest in them, like I try to invite them to event events and things like that. Like just uh just last month in August, I took uh five of my sales guys up to well, four of my sales guys and one of my site supervisors up to Atlanta, Georgia for top rep event with Chuck Toki. Nice. Um and and you know, end of the day, like we all learned something new, right? Um, but then on top of that, like the time that we all got to spend together, like after the training event, like it just brought us all closer together. Like we we talk crap to each other, uh especially in our fantasy football league. Um but I mean we we pick on each other like we're family, you know? And um it's fun and and and truly like like I can take the hits just as just as easily as I can give them out, right? And uh that's that's one thing that I think really makes our culture unique in that you know we all end of the day, like we all love each other, we all work with one another, like we have to deal with one another, and like end of the day, like we're all in each other's corner, and um we all know that, and uh that's that's what really kind of sets us apart like internally as well as you know out in front of people.

SPEAKER_01:

How do you how do you how do you keep growing that culture as you're adding team members?

SPEAKER_02:

So I've been pretty fortunate as far as like adding team members because it seems like they just kind of land on my lap the moment uh I actually need somebody. So as these opportunities kind of pop up and things like as long as they're a good fit for our team, our culture, and like they don't come in here with like these predetermined like sort of ideas about like how things should be done. Um end of the day, you know, if they're coachable, we can work with them. And uh we have a lot of really, really good people. Like not everybody takes everything like not everybody picks things up right away, right? But you don't give up on that person unless they end up being like a completely like wrong fit for people. Unfortunately, I haven't uh I haven't had that situation come up too often. Um I have had a few people that haven't really fit you know what we're looking for here. Um but I've not had to let go of anybody due to them being in the wrong I I never brought somebody in that was put in the wrong seat. I um I I've I've brought people in that maybe were just opposed to kind of doing things the way that we're supposed to do things here. Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

It's a it it's hard, especially when you're growing. It's uh so you've had a lot of maybe you've had some uh so uh do you recruit externally? Do you is the team recruiting in like kind of their friends and family? Is it like how is that yeah?

SPEAKER_02:

So um honestly, I mean, one of the one of the biggest proponents of like how we bring people in for to fill certain roles is you know, a lot of the people that work with me have been in the industry for an a length of time, and um they may potentially know somebody that may be looking for another opportunity. Um, I mean, sure. Two of the people that I have working for me as project specialists or estimators, they came from another roofing company. Um my site operations manager, he uh he came from another roofing company and things. Um he knew a handful of people that uh we have brought in. And uh, you know, sticking with people, like I've I've never been one to shy away from feedback. Like if it has something to do with the process or anything like that that we could potentially improve, like I'm all ears because I want to hear it. Not every idea is gonna be a good idea, not even all the ones that I come up with are gonna be great ideas. Like I scrap so many of the things that I think about, right? Yeah, but I would be a fool to not at least listen to you know what the problem is and what their solution is for that problem. Um, and then same goes with hiring people, you know, to bring in, right? Like, hey, I know somebody that would be great for you know welcoming customers, or you know, maybe somebody that would be great for polling permits, or you name it. Um the the gentleman that I have here working um as our permit coordinator, he's actually the cousin to one of our crews, um, like the the lead foreman for our crews. Um, and they said, you know, hey, we love working for you. I he's driving to clear water every day. He'd like to kind of be a little bit more local. Um if you have a need, and we didn't initially have a need for it, but we had the conversation, and then ultimately we did find the need for it because we kept getting busier and busier, and we ended up bringing them on board. So recruiting's been pretty easy, and I hope it stays that way. Um I I think my situation's a little bit different than uh what some people kind of go through, though.

SPEAKER_01:

It it can be, but it but at the same time, it you know, if you're building that as part of the culture, it becomes part of the culture. So how do you think the roofing industry is changing? And where do you want steadfast positioned?

SPEAKER_02:

So um obviously it's gotten a lot slower here. Um I I think last time I heard it was like down 38% from where it was last year. I don't know if there's any truth to that or not, but I mean, I I know that we've kind of like tapered off a bit to the point where the jobs that we're producing every day are it's a lot more stable and a lot easier to plan for, right? Um so I think that's a good and welcome change. Um, but I do think that this is really gonna test a lot of companies. Um the slowdowns have impacted a lot of companies in this area. I mean, I I know a big one uh up in Tampa that um, you know, ICE has actually picked up um I think like 120 of their crew members, which is insane. Crazy. Um but uh I I mean I I I do continue to think that like labor is going to be. Be an issue. Um I think there's a lot of uncertainty right now. So I I think that kind of leads to some of the slowness. But down here in my area specifically, I mean, we just got hit three back-to-back hurricanes over the past three years and things, right? Um, there's a lot of new roofs in this area. There's still a lot of people that have tarps on their roofs and things though, too. Um, is it gonna completely go dead? No. But uh the people that pay cash and things, like I I think it's gonna be harder for them to kind of just jump to a decision. So, like, we're we're kind of shifting our strategy a bit to kind of like you know push them to not have to kind of wait for additional estimates and things, like trying to figure out like get to the real objection. And um that's Chuck Toki, you went to top rep. 100%, man. Like that guy is that guy is the goat, like him and Robbie Webb are like the two guys that uh people should 100% listen to here in uh in our industry.

SPEAKER_01:

Chuck. Um Chuck's the man. But yeah, you were just you were speaking Chuck's love language there. Get rid of that.

SPEAKER_02:

I I think but I mean, and another thing though, too, like I mean, we we made a change where like we're not walking out of that appointment without having a follow-up set with that, right? Um, and that that sounds something so simple, but it's also so effective, right? Um but um I I I think things are gonna kind of like continue to kind of stay where they're at, they're gonna stay pretty flat here, um, unless some sort of significant storm event comes. And like I don't think we're gonna see one of those this year, though. But it's really gonna be a test to a lot of companies that do rely on storms and things, and they're really gonna either need to shift to more of a retail model or at least a hybrid retail model. Um and you know, insurance is getting harder and harder. Like, whenever I first got into roofing down here in Florida, I mean that was that was the way to go. Like everybody wanted to get the roof replaced through insurance. Uh, I have come to actually hate the insurance side of the industry, and like I try to be nearly 100% retail. Um, now, yeah, we still run into customers that you know have filed claims on their own and things, but I personally don't want to have any part of that stuff, you know. Um but um I future changes that I kind of see and like how we kind of stay on top of things is you know, we are gonna need to be more mindful of how we show up on top of AI searches and things. Um the Google's not going to always be the end-all be-all for everything, and we need to capture things from every area that we can. And uh we need to get kind of creative in regard to how we get there and what we do to stay top of mind with people. And I'm I'm still trying to figure that one out, but uh I'm doing some things right now to uh help us with you know video search results and things. I'm doing things right now to help us show up in retirement communities. Um, I'm doing some things right now to help us show up on AI searches and things. Um I'm really I have a I have a team of VAs that helps me with um you know all the toilet content, like Facebook and things like that. So um regardless, uh I just want to be out and present in front of as many people as I can. That way they know, you know, that we're out there and hopefully, you know, they've seen us enough that we're their first call that they miss. And uh I'm just gonna continue doing what I need to do to uh maintain that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep, gotta keep evolving, keep trying the next thing. If you are if you're mentoring a new roofing company owner uh today, what piece of advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_02:

Man, uh just work harder than anybody from the very get-go, you know? Um you don't need a big team behind you. All you need is a solid labor crew and drive to kind of make sure that you don't lose, right? Um and doing things on your own is like the scariest, but it's also the most rewarding thing you could you will ever do. And the only reason you will ever fail is because you let the let your foot off the gas. And uh, you know, if you put enough effort in and you hustle, you will win. Yeah. That's it. You don't need to spend a lot of money on marketing from the very get-go. You just need to be very, very thorough and specific about how you're gonna differentiate yourself from everybody else out there. Competition's not going away. It's like, I mean, maybe it will with uh with the slowdown the industry has experienced, but like we're always gonna be competing against somebody. How are you gonna stand out against them?

SPEAKER_01:

Awesome, man. Thanks for your time today. This has been another episode of the Roofing Success Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to the Roofing Success Podcast. For more valuable content, visit Roofing SuccessPodcast.com. While there, check out our sponsors for exclusive offers, to stop promotion likes, and sign up for our newsletter for industry updating techniques. Also, join the roofing success Facebook to connect with other professionals and stay updated on the latest video. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, like, share, and leave a comment. Your support helps us continue to bring you topic industry insight. The website link is in the description. Thanks for listening.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Jim Ahlin

Host