With a panel led by Jim Johnson, contractors at Best of Success were presented with an interesting session regarding technology. The presentation detailed technology as it relates to the sales, marketing and production aspects of the business, as well as what technology should be doing for you as a contractor. The panel included several roofing industry veterans, including Melanie Knox, director of corporate operations at Alden Roofing; Wade Baughn, vice president of American Home Specialists; Heath Hicks, owner of AVCO Roofing; and Wade Tutt, general manager of Neighborhood Restoration and Adjusting.
Johnson, the head coach at RoofCoachPro, began the session by posing a question to contractors: How are we going to use technology to win this game?
The first portion of the session detailed technology in sales and its most common uses. Namely, tracking salesman on their daily accomplishments.
The second area detailed utilizing technology in marketing. Knox briefly overviewed her own experiences using Facebook and other social media platforms to get involved locally with community groups and other helpful resources. She mentioned that by getting to know those in your community, roofers can seek out the business owners and decision makers, therefore putting your company’s name front of mind when that person needs work done.
Technology in production closed out the discussion, which touched on how cloud platforms can help improve efficiencies in several areas. Baughn discussed how his company uses the cloud to coordinate all employee schedules on a single calendar. That way, every employee is on the same page and knows what’s happening on a daily basis.
“If technology doesn’t save you time, make you money, educate you or improve communication, get rid of it. It’s not helping your business,” Johnson said.
Veteran Best of Success speaker Bill Combes presented a detailed session on using social media to enhance your roofing business. Combes started his business, No Time for Social, in January 2014, which focuses on implementing social media strategies for small businesses. His success in managing social media for several companies — including Acculynx and HailWatch — have garnered him a wide range of experience in social media.
Combes started with an overview of the largest social platform, Facebook, and how it’s changed dramatically over the past year. He detailed new additions to the site, including Facebook Advertising. Combes also shared with contractors how to create custom audiences when using this form of advertising to ensure you are reaching your target audience.
Combes elaborated on Facebook Lead Ads, which allow users to create contact forms in their ads that are automatically filled with the potential customer’s contact information (e.g. email address), thus allowing for quick follow up on potential leads. Lead ads allow contractors to ask questions and collect contact information directly beneficial to your unique roofing business.
To conclude, Combes stressed the importance of contractors being heavily involved in social media as a means to grow their businesses. He noted that 43 percent of business owners, on average, spend more than six hours per week on social media, and those business owners are your potential customers.
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