What I Learned From My Search For A Roofing Company

It sounds CRAZY…but how many companies lose business everyday by not following up, and doing the simple things right?

Chris said he was different.

He understood I was frustrated.  He knew I was looking for a roofing company I could trust and would do a good job at a fair price.  He’d get back in touch with me after I sent some photos of some soffit areas that were becoming a problem.  Boom!  The photos were sent…Chris responded with feedback via a text.  Things were looking good, we talked on the phone an hour later.  I liked the fact that the person who answered his office phone sounded organized and polite.  Anyway….he said he’d get in touch with me the next day to send someone out to take a closer look at the house.

It’s been a week.  Chris has disappeared, never to be heard from again.  I hope he didn’t get the shingles.  (OK, bad joke).

Before Chris there was Dan.  Dan came highly recommended from Blake the tile guy.  ”Dan’s your man,” Blake said.  He’s busy but he’s good.  I thought to myself, ‘Awesome…I want someone who is busy’.  I talked to Dan on a Saturday morning while he was watching his daughter’s lacrosse game.    All of this sounded great, here’s a good family guy…his daughter plays lacrosse, (somehow I was really taken with the whole lacrosse notion) he’d call me back after her game.  I’m thinking done deal.

Nope.  Dan wasn’t the man.  I don’t know what happened after the lacrosse game. Somehow Dan fell into the same abyss that would soon swallow Chris.  Tragically, lacrosse just doesn’t hold the same appeal to me anymore.

Enter Juan.  (By the way, all of these individuals are more than just run of the mill handymen, they’re licensed roofers, insured…have LLC’s, nice websites, etc…I’m pretty discerning!)  Juan and I talked Monday and setup a time to meet Tuesday morning at 9.  9 came and went and no Juan.  He called later and apologized, he ran into a morning snag….we rescheduled for 2.  Juan showed at 3.

I liked Juan, but I didn’t necessarily have to hear that he had gotten a traffic ticket that day. However…he had made it and I liked his thorough nature.  He told me I’d receive a quote Thursday morning…

24 hours later…nothing.

So what’s the moral of the story?  What are my takeaway points? 

One would venture a guess and say that the roofing industry might be different than other industries and maybe we’re dealing with people/businesses that aren’t as reliable. I don’t think that’s true.  Case in point…I received a website inquiry last week from a successful business owner in Orlando seeking training videos.  She was impressed right away by the mere fact I replied back to her within the same day!  She had contacted other companies and was disappointed by the lack of response.  This is a project that’s worth several thousand dollars.

Their loss, my gain.

My takeaway is a pretty basic one.  Respect.  People want to be respected and taken seriously.  It doesn’t matter if you’re offering services or requesting them.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a carpenter, janitor, entrepreneur, or the marketing director of a Fortune 500.  You treat people the way you want to be treated.   Every.  Single.  Day.

Anybody know a good roofing company?

Does your organization need video to communicate your message?  Let us know what your needs are.  We always reply within 1 business day.