A Speed to Lead Faster than Lightning: How Roofr Can Help

All right. We're live. Uh, welcome back everybody to the Roofer masterclass. I am your host Pete with my co host Nick and uh, glad to have everybody back with us. If you guys are joining us for the first time, welcome. If you're back from one of our prior masterclasses, then welcome back. And uh, you know,  probably the most appropriate timing we've ever had for one of these masterclasses.

I mean, we couldn't have asked for it to work out, uh, probably not ideal for a lot of people, but the timing has been good for us on this one. So, um, speed to lead, right? Talking about speed to lead and how technology and specifically Roofr can help you with that. And, uh, obviously we've got a lot going on right now with.

These storms in the South and the damage that they're doing and the work that they're creating. So, uh, you know, one barreling down on them right now. So, um, yeah, so the timing is, is pretty impeccable for us. Big time. Yeah. It's, uh,  when we're looking at something as catastrophic as Well, Helene that came up through, through the gulf and now we have Milton coming across.

It's  looks devastating, especially Helene at least went through kind of like a lower populated area, but Milton looks like it's going to go right through the center. Like you're hitting. Yeah. Tampa, St. Pete's, Fort Myers, and then across Orlando Kissimmee into Merritt Island and all that stuff. So  it's going to be a lot, but uh, what we can do as roofers is really make sure that we're there for the homeowners because they're going to need to be in need and we want to make sure that we're here to help them and kind of help them through a tough time.

And also the roofers that are down there that are going through a tough time. I know our friend Cory and John and stuff like that. It's been tough. And, uh, anything we can do to help, I think. Education is a set of us being down there on the ground with everybody, uh, is a good way to do it. And what better way to educate on, uh, what better thing to educate on than Speed of Belief right now?

Yeah. You know, it's funny. I was talking to someone earlier today and it's probably the first set of storms that I remember affecting such a large area, right? Like normally a storm hits, you have like one major city, like you said, one populated area that gets nailed. Um, you know, or maybe it just, uh, a region, a small region, but.

You know, this is essentially the entire Southeastern United States that has essentially been affected by these last two storms. So it's like, uh, you know, obviously there's a lot going on down there and a lot of people in need of help. And, you know, what can we do as contractors to get down there and help?

Speed things along and facilitate getting these people back together as quick as possible. So yes, we delete obviously a big one and not to mention, you know, like we often talk about, you know, being your neighborhood roofer and you're the local guy maybe, and, and, you know, the storm hit your area and now you've got  this influx of people from outside, uh, the state or outside your area coming in, looking to work.

You know, you see it all day long on, on Facebook, people are saying. You know, I need reps and I need crews. And, you know, you know, they're all making the track down there to, to see what they can do to help, but also to, you know, definitely, uh, work some of this area. So, you know, what are you doing as the local guy to stand out and, uh, you know, and, and give yourself a little bit of an advantage.

So, you know, speed to lead is, is a huge one. Uh, it's definitely been on the forefront of a lot of stuff that we talk about in the last couple of years. Um, you know, especially on this masterclass, you and I talk about it. Quite often and how the tools apply to that. So, um, you know, it's, it's become a crucial piece to being successful.

The more and more people that. Uh, what's up, Nick? That's funny. I just thought of you today. I had a guy on a call and I was like, this guy looks just like Nick. So what's up? Yeah. Hang tight over there in Tampa.  But, uh, you know, I, you know, we often talk about this and it's like, I think as more and more companies and more and more people coming into the industry, adopt tech, you know, the speed to lead becomes more and more crucial, right?

Because now. Everybody's kind of using similar tools, you know, so how are you making sure you're the first person in the door? I know you grabbed some stats, Nick,  because  we've talked, you know, some of the presentations that we've done and some of the, uh, the masterclasses that we've done, talk about this.

And, you know, we've got some stats of, of why it's so important, you know, to really focus on this speed to lead. Yeah, it's a big thing that you're kind of looking at. Like, let's take storms out of the equation. But like you said, if you're the neighborhood roofer, you want to be out there. You want to be known.

I was talking to a guy in Knoxville today who, uh, was starting up his own company. He's been roofing for the last 12 years. He's got all this stuff. He's a salesperson, sold over 20 million in the past couple of years as well. And so he's a seasoned sales professional, but ultimately when we sat down, I said, okay, so let's look at things.

What are you doing to separate yourself from the competition for people that have been in business in Knoxville for the last 15 20 years? Because you know that those are the names, that those are the neighborhood roofers that everybody knows. They're on the ads, they're on the billboards, they're, they're signs you see around, all that stuff, they're in the community.

So you coming in, they're new, what are some of the things that you're going to do different?  And he mentioned he's like, oh, marketing this and doing that, blah, blah, blah. I was like, okay, but how are you going to stand out? And one of the big things I brought up is just like, yeah, it's about presenting well, it's about talking well, but the most important thing is doing something that I know that not a lot of them are going to be doing.

Is making sure that you're attacking those leads fast. And I'll start off with the stats that we have here. And it's important to kind of take a look like these aren't just stats that I'm getting from like random places or I'm making up.  I don't, I promise I don't make up too many stats, but we're looking at like stuff from like HubSpot, from a Harvard business review, from, uh, um, uh, uh, co scheduling and all that stuff.

They're like really legit publications. And the biggest one that always stands out to me, we always talk about something like you're seven times more likely to close the job if you're the first person in the door, but why do those not, why did, why are you seven times more likely? Well, one of the big things that I look at is after five minutes passing from the lead coming in, the odds of connecting with that, uh, lead drops 80%.

That's crazy. It's that's a huge number. That's crazy.  And you got to think too, like, especially in roofing,  again, take storms out of it because it's that that's everything to the end degree. But  if you're looking at roofing, most people are not planning ahead. We've talked about, it's not a sexy purchase.

People are normally reacting to something, reacting to a late leak. Blown off shingles or whatever the case is. So if they're calling you, they're calling everybody else around there too. You need to match your urgency with their urgency to really turn that up a little bit. And That right there, if you know that if it's five minutes past, you reduce the chance of connecting with them over 80%.

That's something that you want to make sure that you're on.  Yeah, that's a pretty impressive stat. And it, you know, I,  I use the example of like I had plumbing work done in my house, not that long ago. And it was, I called the first company. And it went straight to voicemail and I immediately called the second company, right?

I had, I had a couple of numbers. I immediately called the second company. I, I didn't even leave a voicemail. Uh, I literally just went right to the second company. Their phone of course rang and never even picked up. So, uh, so I ended up at the third guy and he responded, like you said, he responded. I called him and he actually responded via text, uh, cause he was on another job and, but he did it probably within three minutes of me calling him.

And that was it. I didn't ever even ask him how much the job cost. I just used him because he was the most responsive person and he got back to me right away. Uh, you know, and, and said he could come right out and take a look at the job and figure out what needed to be done. And, you know, just very, uh, professional handled himself very well.

And, uh, but just his response time was enough to sell me on that job, you know, and because I was already frustrated. Now I had tried to get in touch with some larger companies and had no luck. I called this guy and he just picked, you know, he got right back to me. And I was like, This dude wins, you know, he wins just on the simple fact that he responded.

Well, that's like coming into this is going to be just rapid fire stats. I'm super pumped for this.  It's going to also make me sound super smart, even though I just did, but, uh, on that point from Harvard Business Review, uh, 50 percent of leads, uh, will work with the organization that contacts them first.

Like that's such a big point what you're making there. It makes a huge difference in, in, in that speed to lead there being contacting them first and Ben Morrow from Roof Tiger always says, like, have someone answer your phones, like have someone on your damn phones. Like 24  hours a day. Yeah. You make, you make a big difference there because when people are in  a sense of urgency and trying to move and get things done,  If somebody is going to help them right away and they can see that you're there, it's going to completely change that flow.

They're going to have that confidence. In fact, when we had the marketplace, uh, at Roofr, people would put in their information. I would call them within a minute typically.  It would literally be 120 seconds would be the longest that I would wait usually, if it was within my work hours. And often I would get,  I'm like, Hey, it's Nick from Roofr.

I saw that you put a lead in there for a request for a Roof quote. How can I help you out? And I'm like, man, I'm still on your website. I was like, that's the kind of service that you're going to get from us. And that's why we're going to differentiate ourselves from the competition. So what, what can I do to help?

I see that you clicked on this, this, and this, but  the point is, I mentioned That's how I differentiate myself. That's how we're going to be there for you. And you get that into people's minds being like, if shit hits the fan down the road, and I get a storm comes in, or there's a problem with the, the, the manufacturer, or the, the labor warranty, or whatever the case may be, I'm confident now that I can call Pete at Pete's roofing.

And I know that they'll pick up the phone. I know that they'll call me back and I know that they'll have my back there. Those things are going to be huge for a customer, especially in a time of need. Yeah. I mean, we often talk about the relationship and the trust building is being like such a huge part of the sales process nowadays, right?

Because the sales process isn't what it used to be. It's much, much different now. Uh, you know, the customer's doing so much more research on their own. And it's, uh, there's a lot more marketing and, um, you know, trust building ahead of time before they've even reached out to you. And something as simple as picking up the phone, right.

Because it just looks more professional. It makes you look responsive. It makes you look more polished and like you're on top of your stuff. Right. And so it all just contributes back to building that trust factor, building that relationship. The customer starts to feel comfortable with you, right? Like you said, they know now that if something goes wrong on this project, or I need you at another date, I can call this guy and he's going to answer the phone.

Right. Cause he answered it right away. Right. And that's a huge, a huge factor in making a decision.  It's, it makes a big, big difference for people. And if you think about it, if you look at the stats with the two, 90 percent of leads go inactive after 30 days.  So you want to make sure that you're on top of that.

So if you're the first person in the door, you're making sure that you're getting through that. If you respond to them in the first minutes, conversions go up by 391%. I don't even know numbers go up that high. So those things make such a big difference to the homeowner because you are separating yourself.

You are putting them on a pedestal and people want to know that if they're spending good money and let's face it, a roof's not going to cost you less than 10 grand nowadays. So if you're going to spend that hard earned money, And the average American, I think, has like roughly around 500 in savings.  If they're going to go out there and finance and really stretch and get that stuff done, you've got to make sure that you're going to give them the same respect for their time as they are going to be giving you your money.

So you have to work for that money, but you don't have to work hard. You just have to do things right and be do right things, things right by the contract by the customer. If you're in that hurricane that's coming right now and you're working that afterwards, being there for your community, setting up automation, setting up AI agents like Nick Bakken said in the chat there,  having ability for these people who are in need to reach out and get a hold of someone in some way, shape or form, and even you know that their life's going to be crazy, setting up automations for emails and texts, going back to those people after a certain amount of days, time, etc.

Make sure that you, whatever system you're using, hopefully it's Roofr.  But those systems will allow you to be a little bit more streamlined and ensure that these customers are getting the touch points that they need to make them feel that they're safe with your company.  Yeah. I mean, it even goes to the fact of like, in, in regards to speed to lead, right.

If I'm working, let's say I I'm a Tampa roofer right now. Right. And I know that area is about to get hit, even hitting up your past customers with a text or an email that says, Hey, we're here for you after the storm. Right? Like. Now's your chance to get in the door before the storms even got there. Right?

So now you're ahead of the game. You've essentially planted that seed that you're there for them. Uh, even before these other guys have reached out, you know, so take the opportunity right now to, to reach out to people that were past customers or your own prospective customers and be like, Hey, Hey, we got you like, we're your neighborhood roofer.

We got you after this, uh, regardless of what happens, you know, we're here to help any way we can, and it's a great way to just get your foot in the door and be that person that, you know, that speed to lead, you're essentially hitting them up before they're even a lead, right? So, uh, you know, be being proactive, I think can go a long way.

It's, you know, obviously if I'm the one kind of initiating the conversation now, You know, I've piqued their interest. They're like, Oh, okay. Like I remember that guy or, Oh, who's this guy? Right? Like you, did we call him even, you know, like, how's he hitting me up? Right. So it's like, you know, whatever the case may be, because people forget, right.

Especially if they're calling a lot of contractors, they may forget who they talk to. And it's a great opportunity to remind them here, you know,  potentially ahead of time, uh, you know, that you got their back and you're there to help. So, um, yeah, that's it. You know, I think one of the stats we talked about, Nick, is what you're 40 percent more likely to land the job.

If you're the first person in the door,  everyone's being at that point. Exactly. And that's exactly the point, right? Like if you, would you much rather be the guy who everyone else is getting compared to or come in towards the end and be compared to everyone that's come before you? And, you know, I know my answer.

So. You know, it's, I would definitely want to be the guy who everyone else is getting judged against. Right. And so, especially if you're using a product like Roofr, right? Like we have an incredible proposal tool. The presentation style of it is very polished and clean. And, uh, you know, you walk in the door with that and everybody that comes in behind you is going to be.

You know, uh, just clamoring to try to get close to what you've got. So, uh, you know, it's a great opportunity for you to kind of set the standard that everybody's being measured by. So if these folks are going out and getting multiple quotes, you know, yours is there the whole time getting, uh, being the one that, that the apples to apples comparisons being done to.

So, uh, I'd much rather be that guy than be the guy that comes in towards the end. So, you know, all of these things are just leading back to how do we get to. The customer fast, like what things can we do? What are some techniques, uh, Nick, that you think, can you think, can think of to help us get to that, um, you know, to these people fast and, and be that first person in the door or respond within five minutes.

Yeah, there's a bunch of things going back to like that separating yourself from the competition being the one that everyone's being compared to. Imagine if you held that speed to lead and that automation communication and touch points built in with before that as well, because like you have that already set, you're already setting the standard there, then you provide a really presentation style proposal.

Filled with education stuff. It's gonna be like a mountain for those people to climb that are coming in after you. So yeah, I know there's like a big  mindset of like coming in last so that you can kind of compare apples to apples, but If you're setting the standard, you are the apple and everybody's got to compare to you.

So you got to make that work. But, um, Yeah. And I think, and I think too, not to cut you off, Nick, but I think too, the, the days of being the, the race to the bottom, I think those days are over, right? Like it's, it's not, you're not winning on price anymore. Uh, you know, homeowners are more educated. They're doing their homework.

They understand the process a little bit more. They understand what they're getting. Uh, You know, so it's like the, the, you don't have to be the race to the bottom. So you don't have to be the last guy in the door that says, Hey, I'm going to undercut everybody else. Like, you know, I always go back to this conversation I had with this company called Bachman roofing in Pennsylvania.

And they said like, we're the most expensive roofer in our area. And I said, well, how do you guys start? continue to be so specific, are so successful. And they said, because we own it, right? Like we own it. We go in first person in the door. We tell them, this is our price. We're probably going to be the most expensive quote you get.

And this is why, right? Our service is better. Our products are better. Our people are better. You know, you're going to want to work with us again later on, like all these things, our quality is top notch, like all of these things. Things that make them stand out, but they own it, right? They go in from the very beginning.

They're not bashful. They'll tell you straight up that they're going to be the most expensive quote you get. And, uh, and then they tell you why. Right. And so you, they said like, you'll be amazed at how many jobs you win by just being upfront and saying like, Hey, you're going to pay a little bit more for us, but there's a reason for it.

It's a big, big thing. Cause yeah, you don't want, like, I see that all the time online. It's just like, everything's a race to the bottom now. And like, granted, that's kind of, it's, it's, it's almost rich coming from a, uh, a couple.  People sitting on their soapbox talking with one of the most economical tools in the industry.

But, but  hold on, but, but no, you don't want to do that. You want to value your product. You want to value your time, especially in the roofing industry. You want to make sure like my work, my hard work. Does not come easy. I started working when I was 12, my hands are just scarred up and disgusting. And it's like, some of my fingers don't work completely properly.

They don't move all the way, but that's what I got from working in it. And my dad's the same thing. My uncles are the same way. And I relate though each one of those scars to a dollar more onto that, that project, because I've learned from my mistakes. I know what's going right. And I tie everything together.

Now, a big thing is.  A lot of us roofers are so good at building roofs, so good at kind of making sure that we have like custom metal, but like anything that you need in there, making sure that it's going to be perfect so you don't have to worry about what happens after or when storms come in.  But what they lack is that first part, is that running a business properly and being able to manage it.

Because unfortunately there's way too often that people put on way too many hats, And try to do all themselves and they don't delegate or they don't have the money or the resources to have people to delegate to. So the first step to answer your question on what you can do to kind of separate yourself is setting up a system for it, whether it's us at Roofr with your Roofr automations.

And so you could have communication that's always going around that and making sure that the touch points are getting there for the customer that need it. Or use a good, another communication tool like Hatch is a good tool out there and stuff like that. It's a different subscription, obviously, but you can tie that in with whatever existing program you guys are using.

So that stuff will make a big difference. But that's a first step is setting up your process and making sure that you have the things in place that's going to make your life easier to make you be able to do the things that you love more. Maybe you love being like my dad calls anything to do with quoting or CRM or anything homework and He'd much rather be on the roof with the guys  Doing repairs doing like custom metal doing whatever the case is because that's what he loves.

So Thankfully roofer can help them do that and focus on that because things will be able to be done quicker Now the other thing to look into is what your neighborhood is like Is your neighborhood  becoming younger? Are you seeing an influx of the dirty millennials like me? Like what's happening?

Because the average home first home buyer is 37 years old. That's a year older than me. I am getting old Pete.  Um, but that means that you're going to want to see what they're looking for as well. Because if that's who's coming in, that's who's going to have the money. That's who's going to spend money on a new roof.

What are their buying habits like? What do they like and dislike? I can tell you from one of those annoying millennials, we don't love meeting face to face with people all the time. I love talking, I'm a chatty Cathy, but I don't want to meet a stranger unless I have to. So if I could go online, I just bought a truck as you know, Pete, I was able to go online to a bunch of different websites.

Go to the, the, the different brands that I was looking at Ford, Toyota, uh, Chevy, all that stuff. Search for the model car I want, put the engine block that I want in there, everything else, and get prices up front. I still had to talk to a sales rep to close that, but I was able to compare and contrast on my own time.

Not dealing with constant phone calls, which I was inundated with afterwards. But, I wanted to do that. Now, think about that in roofing. What do these home buyers in your area,  or homeowners in your area want to do. Odds are, they're going to want to do that, but they want to make sure that they felt special.

At the same token, I bought a F45 membership for the gym, which, by the way, if anyone is doing that, great, good, better yourself. It's been three days and I can't walk properly still. It was my first time. My leg was destroyed. I thought I moved it and I was like, yeah, I'm ready for this. And I went in there and I almost puked.

So  a good workout, but it killed me. But I, why I went, I was looking at different places and why I went with this person is because I could shop online. Number one, I was able to compare and contrast.  The sales rep called me twice  and then followed up with the text. No other sales rep called me. It took it until the next day.

So I went back. I circled back. I didn't answer the phone because I'm a millennial and didn't want to talk. Uh, and then I called back the next day after reading her texts and said, Hey, this is what I'm looking for. This is what I want. This is what I want to spend. She found a package that fit that. And by the time the other people called me back the next day, I was already finalizing a deal with this person.

Know your buyer. That's the most important thing. And thankfully our instant estimator tool will allow you to kind of go after those new home buyers that are 37 years old and qual pre qualify them and price condition them. And then our automations will be able to keep in contact with them until they're ready to talk to you.

Yeah. I think the stat is 44%. Of millennials, uh, that they surveyed. I can't remember exactly where the stat came from, what the source of it was, but I think it was 44 percent of millennials, uh, interviewed said that they would prefer a contactless sales process, meaning they do not want to, if they can help it, they do not want to talk to a salesperson at all.

So it's almost half the people saying, I don't want to talk to anybody. I want to do my own research. I want to make my own decisions. And so, um, you know, there's a lot of factors that go into that. Like, you know, like you said, you know, what can you do to help educate them, be proactive in your communication, set them up to make their own decisions.

One of the things that I really liked, uh, you know, is, um, I think Amanda V not who from Maven Roofing said, You know, we specifically do good, better, and best or a multi option proposals because we like to empower the customer. We like to give them as much information as we can and empower them to essentially make the decision rather than dictate, you know, what they're going to actually get.

Right. So, um, you know, so you're pushing it back on them, allowing them to do their own research, allowing them to make their own decision as they're comfortable doing like no high pressure. You know, the days of those one call close high pressure sales, I think are behind us. Uh, no one wants to be sold like that anymore.

It's a huge turnoff, I think, uh, you know, that I'm not going to leave your kitchen table until you say yes kind of thing, or call the police and have it kicked out. But, you know, so it's like, you know,  it's just a totally different sales process. Like, and the thing about it is, is that now, like you, like you talked about with your car, right?

You're like 90, by the time you finally do talk to somebody, you're essentially sold yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Right? Like you're calling that person just to wrap things up. Right? So it's like, you know, are you prepared as your business set up,  you know, with these tools to be able to one jump on these people right away, but be able to then continue to communicate and facilitate that process, whether it just be educational information, whether that'd be just touching base to make sure that.

Yeah. They know you're still there, whatever the case may be. Are you being proactive in staying in touch and communicating with them so that as they move through that contactless journey, you're still at the forefront. So when it is time to call you, they know they can reach out. They know they can get in touch with you.

Uh, you know, so many of these companies now you go to their website. What do they have? A chat bot, right? Because it's, I can do my research and then I can instantly talk to somebody. Yeah. Right, because, you know, I'm a little bit older than you, Nick, and I would already, I would prefer to do that. Like, I can probably tell you in the last  year how many times I've answered my phone because It's probably less than half a dozen, right?

Like I don't, I don't know, don't answer my phone. And if you call me, I'm probably not going to pick it up.  You owe me phone call back. I've been waiting on, but,  uh, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll deal with this later, but it's a whole nother spot. There's a whole nother masterclass. But this is an important point that you're making, like, I was able to make my decision and sell myself on the two cars that I was most interested to, but I, most importantly, was able to disqualify multiple because they didn't have the information online, they didn't have the reach out that I had.

They didn't have the pricing as well. But like that, that's the thing. Like I was looking for value for a long term. It's, it's a expensive, uh, price for a car nowadays, just like it's expensive for a roof. So what kind of value am I getting back? So I think that leads to that second point is that automation, the communication and, and, and price conditioning off the bat and being able to shop online.

So the instant estimator and our automations, but the next step is. And this is a combination of what you can do in Roofr and what you have to do on your own.  What is your track record? Like, where can people find you? So you need to make sure that number one, when you send up that proposal, do it quick, do it, uh, uh, well, and have it very educational and very transparent.

I did it basically in the same way there, but you have it there. So you have that stuff there, but then you want them to have, they're going to look for the answers. So. Fill your proposal with those answers. Pages on the product, pages on you, about us, sell on you and your value before you sell on the product's value.

But the other thing is, what is your web, uh, like, your online presence look like? Does your website have an about us section? Does it have document blogs and stuff like that? Does it have reviews? That's huge. You want to see what other people are doing. You're shopping. And then does it link out to an Instagram, Facebook, Yelp, or whatever else you want to put in there, Angie, you name it.

Does it link out to some of that stuff too?  I look at Roofer's websites daily, multiple, multiple a day.  There's good ones and there's bad ones. Even the ones that are like, meh, are still good. Like my parents one, they don't want like the high fly, flying, like really fancy one, but they have it good because they have this stuff in there.

But the thing that drives me nuts, that will make me leave. And not choose a, a contractor or something else  is if I'm looking at their website and I see that little F button, the little camera and all that stuff or Facebook, Instagram, and all that stuff. And I click on it and it goes nowhere.  Make sure that you have those backlinks and everything lined in there to make sure that the customers are able to see who you are and where you are.

If you have reviews, I want to be able to check them. If we want to be able to do that on our own, that's important. So those things there are going to contribute to that speed to lead. Because you're going to have that backing, you're going to have that, that notoriety, and you're going to have that trust built in with that.

So building that stuff out is going to make a big difference.  Yeah. Huge one for me when I look, cause it's the same thing, you know, like I'm looking at Roofers websites constantly and the big peppy for me is  I think in today's day and age, we lose track, like we're talking about, right? Like supply the customer with all this information up front to help them make an educated decision.

But what we focus a lot of times on is the materials, right? We're, we're focusing on what we do. This is what we install. These are the materials we install. This is why you should choose these materials, right? And what drives me crazy is when I go to a Roofers website and I click on the about us tab and it talks about the services they offer.

And it talks about, you know, what type of material they're installing or something like that, because I want to know who those roofers are, right? I don't want necessarily at that point in time care specifically about, I mean, have a services section. I click it. I can see the services that you offer. I don't need to see that again.

And you're about a section. I want to know who you are. Are you a family owned business? You know, is this a husband and wife team? Are your kids involved? Are you doing this with your best friend? Right? Like we talked, we, we, uh, Matt, we talked to that guy, Matt, right? They had a fantastic, like probably the best about us section I've ever seen told the whole story of how they got into business and you know, what they were looking to do.

And just, you know, so, uh, you know, I, that's how I gauge, uh, You know, getting to know a roofer, because  let's be honest. I mean, that's what we're selling even more. So a lot of times, you know,  a customer is probably not going to know the difference in materials, right? So they're looking for someone that they can trust and someone that they can develop a relationship with.

This is someone that they're going to have in and on their house. This is someone that they're potentially looking to use for multiple jobs. You know, possibly, you know, so they want someone that they believe in someone that they feel is going to treat them right and someone that they can trust to do the right thing.

And so what are you doing on the front end and from the very beginning, from the first touch point to start to develop that trust? Yes. Speed delete is good. You want to be the first person to respond, but what are you responding with? What information are you giving them? Are these people really learning who you are and who your company is?

And like you said sell yourself first then sell your services and your materials after that, right? Because it's so important that they feel comfortable with They're going to buy anything from you at that point. Right. And I think that's, that's something that drastically gets overlooked because, you know, a lot of people aren't comfortable putting themselves out there or whatever the case may be, but, uh, you know, don't just lean heavy into the services that you offer and the areas that you cover.

Yeah. I can find that information out from you, but I want to know who you really are. I want to know who am I really working with here. So there's some really cool parts with this that we've learned from our roofing friends out there as well. And, uh, one of the big things is the breakdown between email and text.

This is a generational thing. Things are moving. So, um, this is a really important part there. So while emails have an average open rate of 20%,  SMS marketing has an incredible 98 percent average open rate. That's insane of a big difference. And then like in addition, it usually takes people around 90 minutes to open up an email, but with text people often open it in 90 seconds.

So in short now, SMS marketing reaches customers far more quickly and reliably. So building out that stuff is going to be important and tying it with that kind of like eliminating what I call stranger danger is going to be huge as well. So let's say hypothetically, somebody comes into your website, clicks on your instant estimator from Roofer, roofer.

com, book it some time with us for the boat, but they click on that and they were able to shop, find out all the things that you can offer them based on their square footage and your pricing within 26 seconds or less. That's great. Now it's going to send them an automated email directly from us, which is great because it's going to go right away.

It's going to be personalized. It's going to have that there and you're going to get that lead so that you can call them back. Now, let's say they do it at 9 30 at night.  Sometimes you're busy at 9 30 at night. Could be something going on. Like you got kids game or you're having dinner or you're watching whatever it, you might not be able to get it back.

If you set up some automations that can then you get that automatic email, but we know it takes about 90 minutes for people to open up their email. What if you like you said like within five minutes send out this text and that text goes out and says hey It's John from John's roofing over here Uh, or John from Steadfast Roofing.

I see you, John, sorry. Uh, and, and it's just like, hey, we're here to help out and this is what we can do. And then I learned this from John Brosh, a good friend of ours, uh, down in, in, in Florida, as well as in Pennsylvania. They put a video  in that automated text and automated email of that sales rep, who they're going to be speaking with.

And it's a quick 30 second video. It's up their face. And it's got a gif playing, right? So it's like interactive. You want to click on it and it will be like, Hey, I'm Jon from Jon's Roofing over here. I'm really excited to help you out with all your needs. If you have any questions, click that link below and then you can book that in.

Creating that process and moving things across the board is going to change that game so much. And knowing that  you can kind of get ahead of them, get in contact with them and helping them out. That's huge. So that's something that I love to kind of see is really kind of utilizing text messaging as well as email, because it's that important.

You look at 20 to 98%.  It's not. Yeah, it's crazy.  It's absolutely ridiculous stat. And it's totally true. I mean, I think that over time, you know, email has kind of fallen by the wayside one, because it's, You know, quite honestly, I think because you get, I know, like my email gets spammed pretty much like all day.

Right. So it's like, you know, if you were to send me an email, I probably gonna, I'm probably gonna lose it in the mix anyway. Right. So, um, you know, we're talking about communicating here about something very specific, you know, a high dollar purchase. I probably don't want my email to get lost in the mix or end up in their junk.

So, you know, texting is added a huge facet to this whole. Uh, sales process and speed to lead piece, because now I can get to these people and I know they're seeing it, right. It's not a, Ooh, let's shoot them an email and hope they, they look at it. Right. Um, you know, you can still hit them up with the emails.

They're great. Uh, supplemental things to the text or vice versa. Uh, you know,  staggering those two things, create two different automations.  One for email, one for text. You can delay that factor in there as well. That part, you can all do that in Roofer, but you can set that up so that like it hits them with an email in the morning and hits them with a text at night.

So yeah, both sides there, depending on where they are. I mean, to this, to this, uh, point, I recently spoke at RCAT and one of the contractors that was in the room with us said that one of the biggest influencers in his, Close rate right now is the fact that they started texting the link to their proposals so that customers are now opening  the proposal like 98 percent of the time, as opposed to before where they were not getting these, uh, you know, they're getting like a 40 percent open rate on their proposals that they were sending out.

So it's completely changed. Uh, you know, the way that the customer is viewing their proposal and the way that they're able to close jobs because. They're getting their proposals in front of all these people effectively and in a timely manner, right? Like they're getting them to them quickly because they're using a system like Roofr to produce these proposals.

So they're able to do them really fast. And the customer's opening them right away. Like you said, what, 90 seconds or something like that, right? As opposed to like, Oh, I've got to send another follow up because it's been three days and they still haven't opened my email. Right. Yeah. You know, that stuff's getting opened the day you send it, if not within minutes of sending it.

So, um, yeah, I, on more than one occasion, I've been speaking at events and had customers had contractors say, we started, we've switched over to texting the link to our proposal. And it's been a game changer for our close rates because of how much they're getting opened by the customer. And think about that too from like the follow up perspective.

If you continuously have these reachouts going out with the link to the proposal in the email and in the text, and you're segmenting  those so that you're stacking those so they're coming at like different times and stuff like that, and you're consistently reaching out to that customer every four days, five days, six days, whatever you want to do.

Again, you can do this all at roofr. com, but you can build that out and then that allows you and your team to focus on the future. They can continuously move forward, drum up new business, take off some of the hats they were doing for they have to follow up, and then when somebody raises their hand behind you, you can circle back because they're going to reply to that text or they might view that proposal that will give you a notification.

There's ways that you can really open that up. And so these kinds of things is not just speed to lead at the front end, but speed to lead on reaching back out to them is going to be very imperative for you guys to kind of win the win, win the business from that customer.  Yeah. You know, and I think that, like you said, I think a lot of times too supplementing one with the other or switching back and forth between the two is a great, uh, a great tool.

You know, Amanda Vina, it's another one who said, um, at Maven, when I talked to her, she said, we email every proposal to the customer, but we immediately follow it with a text. That essentially says, we just emailed you a proposal. And so that way it forces them to go look at, you know, it guides them to go look at their email and they're not relying on the email solely.

Um, you know, so, you know, there's just so many things that you can do here with that, um, to just facilitate the process and to speed it up, you know, and so, uh, I don't know, do you want to jump in Nick really quick and, and show.  Some of the stuff we have, like speed delete kind of aspect of the front end of Roofr.

Yeah, and it's important again to look at what is your neighborhood looking like? What are they doing in there? So let's just, we'll go quickly to my dad's website. Like I said, it's not super fancy, but it has all the information you need. What they're doing, why choose us, all that stuff broken in there.

And they have like an estimate in 30 seconds button right here. Now, if they were to click on that or turn it into any of their other stuff, let it be Facebook, door hangers, all that stuff, you can bring it directly into your app, which is great. So, the customers can come in there, pick residential or commercial.

We work on both flat and pitch roof, so it works out there, and then once they type in their address, it's going to zoom directly in there. Now what's great about this is it's going to give them that dopamine kick, and it's really going to start to separate yourself from the competition. Now they're going to stick around a little bit more because this is cool, this is different, and how are you differentiating yourself from the people around you?

So once it highlights this, then it's going to ask them the same qualification questions you were going to ask them on the phone anyways. The beauty about this is you can kind of, you know, uh, shorten this by turning off some questions or turning it on. So that makes it easy there. And as you're going through this all, it can go in here.

So it's moderate pitch. Cash vault. And then you can pick on which ones they want. And then when do you like to start this project and you're interested in financing. All this can go in and they can say that it please help, it's leaking right now.  And then we're going to tease them a little bit. Now ultimately, we're not going to give anything away for free unless we get something back in return.

And we're not also going to blatantly ask them for their information, because that's a really good way of scaring people off. So, we're going to ask them why they came here. They came here for their estimates, so let's send them out their estimates. This is going to help with the conversion of everything.

We're going to tease them in a little bit in background as well, as you can see it blurred out. But once that opens, it's going to show them everything that you offer. Here's a big tip for you guys there. Roof repair and maintenance, because we can customize our options. This is going to be huge because it's going to allow you to, what I call the gateway drug into roofing is everyone thinks that the roof can be repaired and it's great to create maintenance plans, recurring revenue and that, or repairs, tarping, whatever the case may be, but this is going to tie that in there.

So you can put in ranges or solid pricing, financing or no financing with soft poll links directly in there. A little about you, the sales rep, the company or whatever you want to do to customize this. Meeting links booked in here.  Uh, photos in this, good, better, best, anything that you offer that can be measured by square footage can be put in here directly.

Something nice here about this as well is we can put in our company cam projects, our social links that actually work to make sure that it goes directly to your email, your Facebook, your Instagram, your LinkedIn, all that stuff there as well. And then that lead goes directly into your system. Again, we can create as many links as we need in here to build this up.

And that lead goes directly into what you have there so that you're able to reach out to it automatically.  What is going to come out, it's going to say, Hey, you have a new lead, and it's going to be sitting in jobs here for you.  Let me just show you what that email looks like. Pull it over to this screen here.

Okay, I've got to shrink this guy.  There we are. Uh, internet is loading. Well, it says it's going to come in, but uh, this will show it here and it will break it all down there. Now, when that lead comes in, you can see it's in a new lead stage here as well.  And we can see that we have tasks already built up.

So we know what to do. And once we go into that, we can see that the sources here, the new lead, and then the value. Now reaching out to that customer within seconds. You want to make sure that you're up there. So you can get that, uh, high turnaround on that rate.  Um, you can make sure that everything's set up by matching their urgency with urgency.

I have everything that that customer clicked on now. So it's going to be allowed to understand all this stuff here. So instead of calling that customer and being like everybody else and asking them. How steep is your roof, Mrs. Jones? What's going on with it? I could match the urgency with urgency and say, Mrs.

Jones, I notice that it's leaking in your house right now. You're interested in financing and it's pretty urgent. You want to go back with asphalt, is that correct? And I see that you were interested in the repair, the landmark, and the standing seam. Well, we'll be able to help out with all this stuff and get that all moving for you.

Let me get somebody out there right away. So I can reach out to my team.  Say, Cam, uh, leaking in Back Valley.  That's going to be messaging them a DM right off the bat. And then I'm going to say, Mrs. Jones, when's a good time?  I'm gonna set a time tomorrow. Sounds good. You wanna do it at uh, four o'clock? That sounds good.

I'm gonna tag in the sales rep here as well.  Find a time. It's gonna open up, I'm gonna mark this as a sales appointment and say, Mrs. Jones, I'm gonna con send you an email right away, just kind of confirming that at the time we have Wednesday, October 9th at four to 5:00 PM It'll be a little video about Cam to tell you a little bit about you, but we'll get that all moving for you.

I click go. It's moved automatically to appointment scheduled. I sent out an automated email specifying the time, date, and everything that we just agreed upon. That's automated. Along with that little 30 second video about us in a GIF form there. And everything is ready to rock. Next step, I'm going to go in there and order a measurement for my team, because that's what my task is.

As I say, our measurements now on Elite, back to you in two hours or less. Two hours or less for a premium report every single time. So when you're thinking time is of the essence and speed to Elite is important, that's going to help you out. And then you can take that measurement and turn it directly into a proposal, or actually let's quickly draw one out as we're going along.

But you can also draw that out for yourself as well. All staying within that job card to make it very easy to build out. So, our measurement reports again are anywhere from, uh, zero, if you're doing the DIY, anywhere from zero dollars to three dollars and fifty cents. And we're ready to rock. But Pete, you're up.

What would that do if that plumber was able to, uh, do this for you when you were looking at that stuff? Uh, yeah, I mean, just the, you know, just the fact of being able to come out and like, for instance, my plumber didn't even quote the job. He literally came out and looked at it and said, I can come back tomorrow and start never even gave me a price.

Right. So, so, uh, you know, it just adds a level of professionalism to be able to do this kind of stuff on the spot and be able to leave something with the customer. Um, You know, the fact that you can take that information that they're potentially sending you through the instant estimator and produce a quote, uh, you know, a legitimate quote for them in a matter of minutes, uh, you know, if you're doing a DIY in a matter of hours, if you're ordering the measurement from us, like Nick said, now we have two hour return times, you know, so.

You could essentially be getting a lead through the instant estimator and have them back a full blown quote, uh, you know, almost the same day, uh, you know, if you wanted to, um, you know, and depending on what, you know, obviously have to do some inspections and check things out. But, you know, as far as like specifically thinking of like the storm situation that we're in now, you know, if you've got an area that you want to blanket, You know, uh, this is a great way to kind of like collect those leads, get some people, the quote that they need, you know, there are, everyone's going to be dealing with insurance, right?

So starting that process off and being able to say like, Hey, you know, I'm the guy who can give you at least a ballpark number that you, you'll have an idea of what you're looking at with this project. Uh, you know what, you got to file your claim for, you got to know, you know, getting things, getting the paperwork started,  run through the instant estimator, we can get you the quote quick, you know, we can get out there fast, like all these things, just being proactive, like think about being proactive as much as possible, supplying that customer with as much information as you can without them having to come ask for it.

Right. And that's the biggest change I think with a system like ours. In comparison to way, traditionally you deal with contractors, which was like, you know, Hey, I'm calling, when are you guys coming out? You know, where's my quote, you know, all of these different things, you know, and now I can be much, much more proactive and it just looks better.

Right. It just, it's going to set me apart right away. You know, I'm the guy that's on top of things. You know, and literally, I mean, they don't know that it's all automated, but it doesn't make a difference, right? It's if I'm being proactive and I'm communicating and I'm supplying them with all this information quickly.

And it's professional and polished. Like this proposal is like, you know, how am I not going to win that job? It's essentially my job to lose at that point. You know, like, uh, our friend Corey says, you know, it's like a slam dunk. Like if they're coming in, they're showing interest, they've filled out my instant estimator.

I've been communicating with them. I quickly produced this proposal. If they're not signing that it's probably something. That we screwed up, right? Like it was my job to lose at that point. They, they more or less sold themselves like you with your car. Right. Uh, in order for that to be a turnoff for you and you to go to a different car, they would have had to completely screw that process up, you know, like your decision was essentially made  exactly.

And that's a big thing there too. If you provide that information, that transparency and that speed, I went from lead to measurement to proposal and what five minutes, and we were talking throughout it. And you have a proposal set with that where all those, uh, items get pre populated in there. We have upgrades for each one.

We have a best, better, good that we're breaking down there. We can add in those discounts. We have profitability guardrails to make sure that I can be even faster now with the speed to lead because it's going to set a default and a floor margin that I know that I have to stay within from a sales rep.

And I can get that all signed in person because it's a live doc that moves with you. It's not a PDF that takes time to load and then you click on one button and then it goes. When you're signing throughout that, it's going to ensure that you're prepared for everything. So as you're going through this, you can see, like, you can make sure that you're protected and they're protected with everything as they go along.

So, um, You can see the pricing change in real time so that you can understand that mental math is not going to be terrifying for it. But as you're going through this, it's ready to rock and goes into the next stage and you can make sure that everything is signed off on. Now ultimately, we know that not every job is going to be signed on the spot, but we can send that proposal out to the person.

And again, make it personalized. We have dynamic fields to make sure that everything is lined in there. Send that out with a link to that proposal and a text as well. We can set that out in a little bit as well. And it's going to go directly to that customer. So I'm sitting in the same job. I can see what's going on with everything, how it's flowing throughout this process.

And if it's viewed, I get notified. If it's viewed, I can see it as well. If it's sent, as you can see now, if I go back into my jobs, it moves stages. I'm organized. I'm ready. I'm here for it. And then you can build out the material orders, invoices, get payments on here. We have great payment rates, 2. 8 percent on credit card, ACH, but everything's built in there.

Transcribed Even these automations to make sure that it happens set up for just straight communication. It's like a respect thing. Hey, material drops coming. I want to let them know before it happens. So if it's coming up, the event is coming up or it's created, or if it's, uh, going throughout that process for production, I want to move stages.

I want to communicate with that customer and I want to make sure that they're all set up there. And even if you're looking at making sure that we have everything broken up with follow up texts and everything else, you can really dive into this. As you can see here, our follow up one actually has that built in.

Where I can preview this text that I have built out. It's going to go out to the customer and have a link to that proposal right there.  This is huge for allowing you to be quick, fast acting, and ensuring that you're there for the customer. Because ultimately in their time of need, when stuff hits the fan, whether it's a storm or a leak or a hurricane, whatever the case is, you want to be set up for that so that you can see what's going on.

Even in our home, you'll be able to have a tax fee to leave. We'll see in the calendar on what's coming up for this week. But also like unsigned and viewed proposals. It's a huge thing to follow. I have two, two jobs in there that we can go through or unopened sent proposals. These are quick follow up items.

We can make sure that we're there for those customers and make sure everything's attacked appropriately and see everything throughout this flow.  Yeah, I think the biggest theme here, you know, as we get close to wrapping up, I think the biggest theme here is the tools are there, right? The tools are there to be able to speed your process up considerably.

And if you're not taking advantage of them, you're doing yourself an injustice because you could easily have a leg up on your competition by just employing some simple things like. These automations, like being able to get to them with something like the instant estimator, right? All of these things that can facilitate the process for the customer and can drastically shrink the resources that you need to execute the process, right?

So now it makes it so much quicker because you don't have to have someone manually doing all this stuff. You know, we're communicating with them. We're being proactive and all of that. The tool is taking care of all of it. You know, Nick essentially sent a number of emails to this customer without ever physically going in and typing out an email,  you know, just by moving the job through specific, uh, you know, checkpoints in their stages or, uh, you know, events, he was able to create these emails that are sending out, you know, shooting the link, uh, shooting the proposal link via text.

All of these things that we can easily set up now, you know, before we were very manual on the way we did things and Now the tools there, the tools are there to take advantage of all those stats that Nick was talking about in the beginning to set yourself up for success by being the first person in the door.

And, uh, you know, you just got to take advantage of them.  Yeah. And that's a big thing too. If you're just getting started in Roofer, number one, go back to our masterclasses. We had a good one for getting started in Roofer last week or two weeks ago. Uh, the last one there, but if you're just getting started and you need to get things moving, like Srirasha said in the chat there.

We have in our automations and even our email and texts and stuff here, kind of like, uh, recommended by Roofers essentially. So I can go in there to the text ones and go to the proposals and see it here and make sure that everything's signed up and links to the proposal. It will set up for you with the dynamic fields already built in there.

And my proposal follow up as well, we'll have a link to that proposal. It's already set up there for you guys. So it's easy to get going on emails and texts, set them up in your system. And then you just go into the Automations, click on the Recommended by Roofr, Browse  Automations. And we have stuff here set up for you as well.

Now they're super easy to do. We have a Masterclass on Automations as well, so take a look at that. But they're basically if and then statements. And so they're going to allow you to be a lot more streamlined, a lot quicker with that stuff as well. And be able to open that stuff up. Not to mention, Not to mention, we do have free implementation with every subscription.

So, we'll get you set up in a jiffy and get everything moving. And we want to make sure that we're here for you. And that's the big thing that we'll do with it. We're not going to charge you an insane amount for onboarding you after you've already paid for the tool. That's a part of our promise to you.

To make sure your setups will ask for some information. You give it to us, we're going to build that out and we're going to teach you. And then the customer success agents, those are your roofer advisors. They're going to advise you on things like what Pete and I are talking about.  We want to make sure that we're there for you.

Make sure you're going quick at that and everything else. And when you're looking at like getting set up and ready for something where you need to really attack speed to lead, the roofer elite plan, economically it's there, but you have unlimited automations.  You have unlimited team members. You can build your team up with members and get them door knocking using the instant estimator and then in your print collateral that leads back to that as well.

You have the two hour turnaround time. You have the proposal, the calendar, the CRM, the multiple pipelines, all that stuff there. So you can have that all set up with pre built templates to speed right through that process. So it makes it A big, big difference when speed to lead and again, separating yourself from the competition.

Yeah. Not to mention that all of these things that Nick and I are talking about, not only assist you on getting to the customer fast, but they're streamlining your process, right? They're making your process way more effective. They're making it dialed into where  potentially don't need as many people to run it.

Right. So, you know, not that we're trying to eliminate your employees, but you know what I mean? Now, now you can allot them other places, you know, um, like we were talking to Ben. From a roof dagger the other day, and he's had to employ a bunch of folks to be on site, uh, production managers, you know, so maybe instead of having someone who's sitting there all day typing out an email, now I can take that person and utilize them elsewhere in the business where they're going to be more, a little bit more effective, right?

So we'll get rid of the manual stuff so that we can potentially use them in a more effective manner someplace else. So just a lot of benefits to that whole. Speed to lead mentality and that proactive approach, um, in your process, right? Work it into your system everywhere that you can, uh, utilize tools like Roofr.

Roofr obviously has set up a ton of stuff. It was a big focus for us with the CRM is what can we do, you know, to facilitate the whole speed to lead process. And so, uh, take full advantage of it.  And it's super important, like whether you're using this or not, make sure you have systems in place to help you out.

Obviously, as you can see, everything in one tool for one price, it's going to. Be a little bit easier to manage, but if you don't look into tools like Zapier to pull your stuff from a tool into something else that could build up some communication, uh, you could use it to pull two leads from your website into Roofr itself to trigger those automations if you need it to, right?

If you have different lead sources outside of the instant estimator, so you can build out into all that stuff there. Look into what your demographics are and what your customer base is looking like and what they're looking for so that you can apply that. And again, remember those big stats that Pete and I went through.

Like your 55 percent of companies take longer than 5 days to respond to a new lead, and 12 percent don't conduct any part of research. So like if you're after five minutes, you know that the odds of that qualifying that lead drops 80%. So whether you're braving the storm down there and you're going to be helping out the poor people  that are dealing with all that stuff, um, or you're in  Portland, Oregon, and you're dealing in a retail market based on that stuff, be conscious that your customers are looking for stuff quickly and the faster you get to them and the more professional everything looks.

Is going to increase your closing rate and your average deal size. I  love it.  All right, guys. Well, thank you for joining us. We're wrapping up here, running a little short on time. So, uh, really hope that this was beneficial. Lots of information. Love the stats up front there that Nick was able to share with us.

And, uh, you know, great, great stuff. If you guys are not employing Roofr or another software to really capture that whole speed, the lead mentality, take advantage of it, put some of it into play. Um, hopefully we, we, Some, some of the stuff we talked about will hit home and you'll be able to implement it right away in your business and, uh, and help you out there.

We look forward to talking to everybody next time on the Roofer Masterclass. Thank you guys for joining us and see you next time.  Thanks everyone