In this week’s episode, Canadian roofing contractor Adam Sand shows us the step by step process he uses to hit it out of the park with Facebook ads. Adam first learned the power of Facebook at his first business that almost landed him in the slammer.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Adam’s business growth of 125% this year over last year—most of it from Facebook ads!
• How Adam got into the roofing business to help a good friend with his failing business
• The biggest problems specific to running a roofing business in Canada:
  • 4-5 months of winter
  • Planning for optimal profitability based on daylight hours
  • Severe lack of clear safety standards
  • Lack of respect for the roofing trade
  
  
• Customer reviews for Adam’s company: “how clean the job sites are”
• How to get customers to write reviews:
  • Treat them as friends and family
  • Have good people and processes
  • Have work crews that work well together, have fun, and get along
  • Put on “a good roof”
  • Ask pleased customers to write reviews
  • Send emails over the winter to ask about customer experience
  • Respond to every review, whether positive or negative
  
  
• Adam’s clear website with a message and a call to action
• The average time spent on a roofing website? 30 seconds!
• How to increase your value to potential customers
• The power of Facebook ads and why they work so well:
  • They target specific people
  • You can engage with your audience
  • They are less expensive than other advertising formats
  • Facebook is always improving the user experience
  
  
• Adam’s process in using Facebook ads
• The steps to Adam’s Facebook ad blueprint: a game plan, correct pixels, targeted audience, a high-converting ad from Google reviews, your campaign for success, ad level, and trimming the ad for optimization
• “Revenue is for vanity, profit is for sanity, and cash flow is for reality.”

Resources:

www.sargeantsroofing.com

Email Adam: [email protected]

Do you ever feel stressed or out of control when running your growing contracting business? If so, this is the show for you. Today, I interview Diane Gilson about how much that chaos is costing your company. Too many contractors don’t like numbers and usually turn over the bookkeeping and accounting to someone that may be less than qualified--or worse--downright dishonest. Find out how making some minor changes can reap a huge improvement in profits.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Diane’s business: Info Plus Accounting—23 years strong!
• Diane’s background as a CPA and in management accounting
• How her first clients were in the construction business and needed help with their numbers, job costing, and business systems
• Diane’s programs, articles, profit calculators, spreadsheets, and MORE!
• How to have more financial control
• The Cost of Chaos
• How to calculate what owners should pay themselves
• Opportunities to reduce cost:
• • What 45 minutes wasted each day actually costs you!
  • How to save money on materials
  • Save by not incurring tax penalties
  • Watch out for credit card debt
  
  
• Increasing your income:
• • Do a better job of pricing
  • Manage change orders better
  • Go for a higher gross profit
  
  
• Implement changes to improve your bottom line
• 56 extra benefits to being in control of your numbers!
• Diane can help you be more effective, more profitable, and have a less stressful business!

Resources:

Visit Diane’s website: www.buildyournumbers.com

Email Diane: [email protected] 

If you want to grow your roofing business with more leads and sales, you must understand something. You’re not a roofer - you’re a marketer who sells roofing services. To be a good marketer you have to know your numbers. In today’s podcast I talk with Scott Dennison of Top Ranked Roofer about the numbers that you need to know including cost per lead, revenue per sale, and customer lifetime value.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Marketing= Buying new customers at a profit (an investment)
• One critical thing—“You’re not a roofer; you’re a marketer who sells roofing services.”
• The “three guys”—Joe, John, and Jack (Be prosperous like Jack!)
• The three critical numbers: the cost per lead, how much revenue is your average sale producing, and your customer lifetime value
• What a delighted customer will do for you
• Why “lead generation” is a misunderstood term
• A case study with Google AdWords and a very low conversion rate
• The most common marketing mistake that roofers make!
• Why Scott’s company offers landing pages and lower cost per click rates
• Problems roofers encounter when looking for a marketing partner:
• • No certification process 
  • The danger of not knowing what you don’t know
  
  
• Key Questions to ask about marketing:
• • What key words do you think we should rank for?
  • How does my site compare to my competitors’?
  • What will you do to increase my backlinks?
  • Who owns my website and domain name?
  • Will my website content be original to me and will I own it?
  
  

Resources:

Becoming Top-Ranked by Scott Dennison

www.toprankedroofer.com/roofing-seo  (Get Scott’s free Website-Ranking Essentials Toolkit!)

There are 2 ways to make more profit on your roofing jobs. First, sell your jobs for more money. The second is to reduce your costs to do the job. Simple isn't it? But if you're like most contractors you already have a full book of business. And you're not getting any more money for that work. Today's podcast is all about production and reviews some new ways to reduce your costs and make more money that you may not have thought of.

Today’s show is a solo episode. There is no easy way to build your business, but there is a way that is EASIER, and that’s to learn from the mistakes of others. We are discussing some mistakes I’ve made and some hard-knock experience I’ve gone through that’s left me banged up. There are some shortcuts I’m telling you that I wish I had known when I started out.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• There are two ways to make more money: sell your work for more money or do the work for less cost (See Episode 22)
• One component of doing the work smarter is to take care of your employees
• Many contractors go out of business when they are booming, simply because they run out of cash
• “Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.”
• Examples of learning the hard way:
• • Writing down the wrong address
  • Leaving a ladder on the job site
  • Misunderstandings due to lack of clear communication with customers
  
  
• How to turn it around:
• • Use checklists and put systems in place
  • Set goals for how you want to do the work
  • • Get in and out with the most profit
    • Have a happy, happy customer that pays his bills and gives 5-star reviews
    • Have customers who refer you to other like-minded customers
    • Spend the least amount of time supervising
    
    
  
  
• The most important part of the job is the Pre-job work:
• • Assemble the job package
  • Meet with the customer
  • Hand the job off to the foreman or job supervisor
  • Communicate clearly to the customer
  • Go over payment terms and job specifics
  
  
• Specific things to accomplish during the job:(See Episode 16)
• Specific things to accomplish during the post-job (See Episode 19)
• How to conduct the job post-mortem
• Don’t forget to ask for a review and referrals
• • Make the review process easy for the customer
  • Send a small thank-you gift to the customer
  • Try to secure one new job in the neighborhood 
  
  

On today’s podcast, I talk with marketing expert David Chism about the most common mistakes contractors make when it comes to their marketing. The Roofer Show is about learning from the mistakes of other contractors so you can avoid the same pitfalls and take the short cuts to growing your contracting business. 

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• David’s background: from a long line of painting contractors, then on to estimating and marketing
• How Brazilian Jujitsu has helped his focus and discipline in business
• Top 7 Mistakes that Contractors Make:
• • Not having a marketing plan or budget
  • Not tracking leads
  • Purchasing a CRM and not using it
  • Not staying in touch with customers and relying only on new leads
  • A lack of consistency in marketing
  • No brand awareness
  • The “try this/try that” marketing approach
  
  
• The “bonus” mistake in throwing money away on paid search and SEO
• Use a professional for ad words
• Mistakes contractors make in using social media:
• • Don’t “dabble” in it
  • If you start, then maintain it
  • Don’t use social media to “sell” your services
  • Use professional, good-looking photos of your company and services
  • Promote community events that you participate in
  • Keep it real and personal
  
  
• “People love to buy, but they hate being sold to.”

Resources:

www.adavidcreation.com

www.salesforce.com

Let’s face it. Contractors suck at sales! But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can learn from today’s interview with Tom Reber of The Contractor Sales Academy. Tom outlines the steps he teaches in The Academy to sell more of your services.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How Tom focuses on building a winning team
• “It all starts with the sale.”
• Tom’s Marine Corps background and its impact on him today
• Three essentials for building a winning team: accountability, recognition, and fun
• Tom’s construction background: learning from mistakes
• Why Tom rebranded his MotorHard business
• “All progress starts with truth.”
• Clarity and consistency: Why they are necessary in business
• “What I was missing was my target.”
• Owning your crap
• Tom’s group coaching and annual live events at CSA
• The importance of mindset
• How to get rid of your “head trash”
• Success stories: selling more and becoming a better person
• How practice and role play bring success
• Tom’s ebook: getting to the heart of what’s important
• How to NOT be defensive: it comes down to practice, training, and coaching
• Why it’s good to be “uncomfortable”
• 27 questions to ask the homeowner
• Why people buy---either pain or pleasure
• One of Tom’s favorite questions to ask: When the job is done, how will you know you hired the right person?
• From unconsciousness incompetence to unconsciousness competence
• Takeaways for contractors:
  • Remind yourself of the value you bring
  • Make no assumptions
  • Get clarity about what you want and don’t want
  
  

Resources:

www.contractorsalesacademy.com Check out Tom’s resources and find his Youtube channel!

www.tomreber.com

Spray and Pray. Is that your marketing strategy? If your marketing is not laser focused on that ONE ideal customer that big wide net is going to drag in all those crappy leads that just want to beat you down on your price. Don’t you have enough of those? Today I’m in the hot seat when I get interviewed by Tony Booth on The Contractor Coachcast Podcast. We talk about my new eBook: 7 Simple Steps To Get More Quality Leads For Your Roofing Business and we focus in on How To Identify Your Ideal Customer.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Dave’s background in the family roofing business: how a business consultant turned it around
• The most challenging aspects of roofing and construction: selling, producing, and keeping score
• The most rewarding aspect of construction: having flexibility in the day-to-day operation
• The targeted approach to identify the ideal customer
• Target marketing: the Who, What, Where, and Why
• “The riches are in the niches.”
• The 20/80 rule: 20% of your clients make 80% of the profits
• “Mr. Big”—the ideal customer
• The checklist screening process for clients
• Why contractors have a hard time saying NO
• Sufficient lead flow=you can pick and choose clients=YOUR target market
• Fine tuning leads to get to the ideal customer
• Getting started: Who is your favorite kind of client? Who is most profitable and enjoyable to work with? Who causes you the most problems?
• Show the client why you provide the value
• How to find and contact your ideal customer: Where do they hang out?
• Why Dave started The Roofer Show podcast
• How Dave helps contractors through mentoring and coaching
• How Dave likes to unwind, relax, and recharge
• Dave’s parting advice: “You can’t do this alone. You have to have good people and good systems if you want to grow your business. Treat your employees well because you can’t do it without them.”

Resources:

Tony Booth episode #17

www.theroofershow.com (Find Dave’s ebook, 7 Simple Steps to Get More Leads and the free download, The One Page Business Plan)

Email Dave: [email protected]

Check out Tony’s website: www.contractingcoach.com

Email Tony: [email protected]

Learn how to avoid the Top 10 Most Expensive Tax Mistakes contractors make in today’s interview with CPA and Certified Tax Coach Craig Cody. One of the best reasons to start a contracting business is the tax advantages available to simply working as an employee. To take full advantage of the tax deductions available you have to start off with a proactive tax plan to be sure you keep more of your hard-earned money.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Craig’s story: from NY cop to CPA and Certified Tax Coach
• The biggest of Craig’s Top 10 Tax Mistakes? Failing to plan
• Craig gives tips and advice on the following areas to help contractors keep more of what they make:
  • Setting up your business entity—See an attorney!
  • Home office deductions—You might be surprised!
  • Family employment—How to make it work for you
  • Retirement plans
  • Using vehicles for business use
  • Travel and entertainment deductions
  • Health care strategies
  • Owning your own building
  
  
• The biggest takeaway from Craig: Communicate with your tax professionals!

Resources:

www.craigcodyandcompany.com

 Visit www.craigcodyandcompany.com/roofer for Craig’s free book, The 10 Most Expensive Tax Mistakes that Cost Business Owners Thousands

Call or email Craig: 576-869-4051 and [email protected]

The Secrets of a Tax-Free Life by Craig Cody

The #1 listener requested topic for the podcast is always how to get more leads and sales. That is what we talk about today in my interview with Tim Musch. We aren’t talking about just any leads, but quality leads and how to convert them into profitable sales. Tim’s company MarketSharp is a leader in CRM software designed for contractors. Tim has a system that can grow your business by over 60% while only getting 10% better at what you do. You’ve got to check this out!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Why 70-75% of contractors say getting a consistent lead flow is their biggest challenge
• How small improvements can grow your business
• CRM: What is it and why does it matter to you as a roofing contractor?
• Why you need to know and track your numbers
• Six Keys to More Leads, More Sales, and More Thrilled Customers:
  • Generating inquiries: do “micro-marketing” in the same neighborhood, get professional web strategy help, and how to use shows/events
  • The call: setting up appointments, training, and scripting
  • Lead warming: how to warm up your prospect and help closing rates
  • Sales presentation: gear it to today’s consumer, use technology tools, and price-condition your clients
  • Proactive follow-up: for buyers AND future buyers—how to keep in touch with email, calls, and direct mail
  • Proactive repeat and referral activities: survey past customers, find out what they want, collect online reviews, and use newsletters
  
  

Resources:

Free downloads including the USP worksheet:    https://www.marketsharp.com/resources/

Cost vs Value article mentioned:  http://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2017/

Visit Tim’s website, email: www.marketsharp.com, [email protected]

Learn why your profile on Google My Business is critical to your business getting found on the internet in today’s interview with Aaron Hockel of Alta Vista Strategic Partners. Google has just rolled out two new features that you’ll want to know about and implement, and Aaron is going to tell us how to get the most out of them. We start out with the basics and then get into the advanced tips and tricks to get your business to the top of the list. Aaron was also my guest on Episode 6, so feel free to go back and take a listen to that conversation.

Using What Are Google Posts  and How To Set Up Google My Business Messaging 

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Google My Business—what is it and why should I care about it as a roofing contractor?
• Tips to improve your location in Google Maps:
  • Register your Google My Business account
  • Get a lot of Google reviews
  • Add pictures and offers regularly to your listing
  
  
• Why photos are necessary to your Google listing:
  • You will get THREE TIMES as many click-throughs!
  • Photos will increase traffic and visibility
  
  
• What are Google Posts—how it works and how a roofer can use it
• Google Messenging benefits:
  • Immediate text capability to the company
  • Quick and easy setup and use
  • It’s totally FREE!
  • It will bring you, new customers
  
  

Resources:

Visit the website: www.altavistasp.com

Email Aaron: [email protected]

For more information about these Google features, read Aaron’s full articles:

What Are Google Posts

How to Set up Google My Business Messaging