Roofing companies all know how to put a new roof on a home, but if everyone knows the basics of the industry, why do so many companies fail each year? Few companies fail because they don’t know the technical aspects of the industry, but many a roofer has gone under because they couldn’t get the calls they needed.



Greg Buffington shows conference attendees some actual examples of marketing pieces that missed the mark.

  1. They do not understand the purpose of marketing. Why do most roofing businesses fail to reach their full potential? It’s not because they don’t know how to properly install a new roof on a customer’s home. It’s because they don’t know how to market, or rather, they don’t know what the true purpose of marketing is. You’ll hear these highly defective marketers make statements like, “As long as we’re getting our name out there, it’s good marketing.”

    Getting your name out there isn’t the purpose of marketing. The purpose of marketing is to sell more stuff to more people more often for more money. If your marketing isn’t doing that, it’s defective.
  2. They advertise heavily but let the customers get away. What good is marketing that draws in hundreds of calls if your team isn’t trained to turn those calls into set appointments? Often, companies get plenty of calls from their marketing, but because they aren’t handled properly, those calls never create any opportunities. Customers get put on hold forever, receive poor service, or may even be directed to another company! Make sure your team is trained to turn at least 90 percent of your incoming calls into booked calls.
  3. They do not deliver a consistent image with the marketing claims. If you have professional-looking marketing and your team is professional on the phone, that image has to be carried through with the rest of your team. Your marketing can’t portray a high-class image with employees that show up at the client’s home looking like Charles Manson, cussing like sailors and smelling like goats! There’s no value in that, and your clients will be angry that your service wasn’t consistent with what you promised.
  4. They don’t own a distinctive place in the customer’s mind. In the United States, there are 37,057 roofers, and all of them are going after the same clients you are. Plus, your marketing is competing with every other ad that flies across the airwaves or gets printed today. How are you going to stick out without a distinctive position? Think of FedEx, Starbucks and Kinkos. They all have very distinct places in the mind of your consumer. Take a stroll through the roofing section of the Yellow Pages, and you’ll see that all of the ads look rather similar. It seems that everyone is the roofing company your city trusts and that everyone does quality work. If your ad’s big selling points are the same thing, you’re just blending in, and there’s no reason for a homeowner to call you over anyone else.
  5. They try to be everything to everyone. When you try to speak to everyone, you wind up speaking to no one. Think about cold medicine. There are countless brands that will help you with the symptoms of the common cold, but if you want the “nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, sleep better to feel better medicine,” you only have one choice. NyQuil didn’t try to appeal to everyone, just those who want to sleep better. Be like NyQuil and pick the market that you want to go after.
  6. They listen to Yellow Pages lie No. 11. Yellow Page lie No. 11 is when your rep tells you the biggest thing in your ad should be your name and logo. Wrong! The only people looking in the Yellow Pages are people with a roofing problem. They want to know you can solve that problem. Your logo doesn’t matter as long as your ad let’s them know you’ll solve their problem. Does your ad do that?
  7. They break the rules for establishing a company name. Defective marketers don’t follow the rules for creating a memorable company name. A memorable company name should be commonly known, seldom used, have positive associations, and be able to be protected.

There you have it. Those are the pitfalls of the highly defective marketers. Avoid those traits, and you’ll have a great chance at achieving marketing success.

Roofing companies all know how to put a new roof on a home, but if everyone knows the basics of the industry, why do so many companies fail each year? Few companies fail because they don’t know the technical aspects of the industry, but many a roofer has gone under because they couldn’t get the calls they needed.

That comes down to marketing, and if you’re going to be successful at it, it’s good to know what those defective marketers are doing to sabotage their own success. Here’s a look at the seven habits of highly defective marketers.