Residential Metal Roofing Executive Report

Making Sure Your Contracting Business Has A Solid Foundation

Issue #154 | August 6, 2020 | Todd Miller

I hope this finds you well. We continue to hear from contractors across the country that they are as busy as can be. In fact, many are telling us that May – July was one of the busiest three-month periods in the history of their company. That’s fantastic! While we suspect there will be some slow down in activity before long as pent-up interest from the virus shutdown starts to get worked through, I think this is all very indicative that 2020 was set to be a tremendous year for remodeling, and also that our industry is incredibly resilient. We are very blessed. I hope that the Executive Report continually brings you great information for continued success in a great industry.

While we often write these newsletters with well-seasoned home improvement professionals in mind, I recently heard from a young gentleman just getting his start in our industry. It was very encouraging to me that he came to me for ideas on how to generate leads and get his business off on the right foot.

As I worked through some ideas for this gentleman, it occurred to me that the things I was sharing were great reminders or perhaps affirmations for even the most seasoned amongst us. So, I wanted to share them here with the Executive Report readers.

Todd’s Top 12 Contracting Business Foundation Blocks

1. Start your business with the services of a great attorney, accountant, and insurance specialist, all experienced with similar businesses.
2. Before spending money on marketing / advertising, make sure that you have a well-done, attractive, easy-to-navigate website. Expect to pay $5000+ for a good site that will perform well organically. Do not discount the need for quality content on your site – give visitors the awareness that you know things your competitors don’t know. See #11 below but it would be good if your website developer can also do ongoing SEO for you.
3. Establish your pricing matrix. Make sure that you’re not only profitable above your costs but also that you have profit available for Marketing and for making things right if any jobs should go awry – see #12 below.
4. Do stellar work for your customers and get your customers involved in recruiting new customers for you.  Let them know you depend upon them for referrals. Provide some sort of modest “reward” when they refer folks to you.
5. Develop (and stick to!) a thorough in-home presentation including an attic inspection. Be more than just a “bid giver” – really stand out from other roofing contractors in terms of the homeowner experience you provide from start to finish.
6. Establish a monthly e-newsletter to stay in front of past customers and prospects. Find creative ways to make your e-newsletters something they will forward to their friends!
7. Have job signs up at all of your jobs for at least 60 days. Cover the area around your jobs with door hangers / flyers – do all you can to get referrals from each and every job you install.
8. Make sure you have a good Facebook page for your company. Increasingly, Facebook is a “search engine” for consumers plus Facebook pages tend to have good organic Google results.
9. To try to maximize your insurance work, build positive relationships with the adjusters you work with. Again, do stellar work and, over time, they will begin to refer their clients to you on occasion.
10. Make sure you are registered with “Google My Business” as well as any other local opportunities.
11. Once the above is all happening, hire someone good to do local SEO for you including perhaps some Facebook advertising.  StickyLeads and RevLocal are two of my favorites.
12. Be quick to respond to any customer concerns that develop. Nothing can ruin a business’s reputation faster than an unhappy and vocal customer. Admit when you stub your toe and go above and beyond to quickly make things right.

For all of the above ideas, we at Isaiah Industries have developed tools and additional ideas and resources to help you. Our intention is to always be much more than just a manufacturer of quality specialty residential metal roofing. We want to be your trusted partner for success. Please contact me anytime at tmiller@isaiahindustries.com.

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