Today, we cover the fifth and final step of our “Starting a Commercial Roofing Business” blog series, establishing profitability.

For long-term sustainability, it is obvious that you must keep bringing revenues in to keep your doors open. In this post, we discuss what is involved at this stage of business development, factors to keep in mind, and the advantages offered by our contractor group platform.

Tips for Success

Now that we have examined the importance of building your brand, selecting the products you will be using for servicing, getting the right training, and marketing properly, which steps should you take next? We cover some thoughts below.

1)      Target business owners and commercial building owners with focused marketing campaigns like direct mail drives, email marketing, and in-person meets. Be persistent!

The colder months represent a prime opportunity for you to get your name out there and start establishing early relationships with building owners who may become customers. All seasoned roofers know that leads can take time to nurture from strong prospects into actual clients. Aside from the time you spend completing projects, the colder months can be great for you getting in front of business owners, discussing their needs and showing them your expertise, and building foundations for strong, profitable business relationships down the line.

As you enter the months just toward the end of spring and beginning of summer—April and May are good times – you can send out direct mail pieces to building owners to inform them of your service availability. Polished, engaging, high-quality direct mail pieces are an absolute necessity, as they will likely be the first point of contact a prospective customer has with your company.

Free Guide: How to Switch to Commercial

In addition to driving greater market awareness of your roofing business, it is not a bad idea to refresh yourself on knowledge content regarding your products, their benefits and advantages, such as how our Conklin products generate great savings in avoided roof replacement costs and energy efficiency. It is worth it to take time to increase your knowledge, enhancing your ability to talk to customer prospects with greater authority.

3)      Gather testimonials and incentivize your past or existing customers to refer you to their connections.

Good, credible referrals are the backbone of any well-to-do roofing business, as word-of-mouth advertising is the greatest way to get market exposure in this industry. Gather as many quality referrals as you can from past and existing satisfied customers, and incentivize your customers in some way to share your business contact information with their connections, which will open up more doors for you to bring in even more projects.

4)      Make sure your website and online presence in general is professional and up-to-date.

Because as many as 9 out of 10 people look online for local businesses, it is critical for roofing contractors to have websites online in order to maintain strong profit margins for the long haul. Your website is your digital “showroom”, your 24/7 exhibition of your workmanship quality. Making sure it is professional, engaging, to-the-point, and well-representative of you is a recipe for success.

The Choice Roof Contractor Group Advantage

Membership in our nationwide contractor network helps you fulfill the following suggestions above with the following:

• Easy presentation and sales closing of our Conklin roofing systems and benefits and your value with our compelling sales materials
• Strengthening your knowledge of roofing with our up-to-date, high-quality content published on our website, social media platforms, and other communications channels
• Closing sales effectively with proposals that outline our roofing systems’ advantages and benefits, such as huge energy savings year-round, one last time
• Access to high-quality marketing team support, consulting, and campaign design and implementation via our partnership with Top Roof Marketing
• Sales coaching and lifetime mentorship for the lifetime duration of your business, strengthening your opportunities for fast-tracked success
• Association with our nationwide reputation for excellence, quality standards, and sensitivity toward customers’ needs.

Contact us today to learn how you can take advantage of the benefits offered by our platform, and so much more!

Today, we discuss the third part of our “Starting a Commercial Roofing Business” series: roof systems training.

One of the most critical parts of starting a roofing business is learning how to install different kinds of roof systems correctly. While it is certainly one of the most important steps, it is a requirement that many roofing contractors find challenging or difficult when they are just starting out.

To help new commercial roofers break out into their local markets as soon as possible, Choice Roof Contractor Group offers a quick, comprehensive way to learn the ins-and-outs of correct roofing installation. This option is also one of the most cost-effective options for hands-on training in roof products installation and reference materials for future use when one is bidding and servicing needs.

Commercial Roof Training Program

All of our members attend this training so that they quickly learn how to install roofing correctly. Training attendees also get the chance to rub shoulders with highly successful contractors, giving them opportunities for networking with sources of wisdom and inspiration for their new businesses, as well as the chance to meet other contractors who are also new to roofing.

Upon program completion, you are given a Conklin certificate, $150 product credit, and valuable sales tools. Full details of Conklin’s systems training sessions, including pricing and what is involved, can be found at our contractors training page.

Additional Lifetime Support

In addition to enabling you to fast-track your roofing knowledge, our group offers you access to highly successful contractors who will coach you on effective sales techniques and additional practical roofing knowledge. Choice Roof Contractors have access to these highly successful industry professionals for the lifetime of their businesses, ensuring they can have any question or concern quickly answered.

Whether in person, over the phone, texting, or through email, a group member can reach out to our mentors at any time should he have any question about a roofing product itself, proper installation practices, the product’s advantages, or any other content. Because our commitment to our members’ success is so deep, our mentors have committed to making themselves available whenever one of our members needs their input.

As for sales coaching, since our mentors are seasoned salesmen, they will pass on their knowledge and tricks of the trade for helping newer members close their sales each time. With our top experts’ knowledge and Conklin’s product benefits and value, new contractors will find it easy to obtain new jobs quickly and decisively.

Why Conklin?

Free Guide: How to Switch to Commercial

Systems such as metal roofing systems in warmer climates and spray foam roofing systems in colder climates have been shown to add up to 40+ years of life to an existing roof. In fact, there are Conklin roof coating systems that were installed back in the 1970s are performing strongly today, an indicator of their efficacy and long-lastingness.

Other Benefits We Offer

In addition to comprehensive roofing systems training and lifetime mentorship, our group offers contractors multiple other benefits. These include:

• A nationwide reputation—being associated with a nationwide organization that is known for standard, countrywide quality standards will enhance your own professional reputation and make it easier for you to land jobs, especially bigger ones.
• Lead generation—our in-house marketing team is constantly publishing content on topics that are of great interest to business owners and commercial real estate owners and managers. When these prospects type in key words related to commercial roofing in a search engine such as Google, our group stands out due to our targeting of these keywords. Then the prospects visit our website, see the value we have to offer, and locate the contractors who are closest to them via our interactive map.
• Discounted product pricing—our association with Conklin and exclusive use of that product brand enables us to offer our members access to high-quality roofing materials at discounted pricing. In turn, that gives our members even more room for greater profit margins.
• Premier marketing and sales support and advisement—we have access to top-of-the-line marketing support through our partnership with Top Roof Marketing (in addition to sharing strategies with fellow members). Among other benefits, our contractor members receive professional-looking and compelling personalized websites, business cards, sales materials, presentations, branding materials, tradeshow displays, and other things. The marketing firm’s team also offers expert marketing advice as well.

Contact us to learn how we can help you set up a strong foundation for your roofing business, today.

Today, as part of our “Starting a Commercial Roofing Business” blog series, we cover the second essential step of a business start-up: selecting the roofing products that offer the most customer value.

Why is Roofing Product Quality Important?

There are quite a few reasons why the roofing materials you select and use for your services are important.

1) The roofing products you use show your level of commitment to your customer’s needs.

This is the most important reason behind why you should use quality materials. Roofing services are a big investment, and a customer does not want to be shelling out money for defects such as leaks every time a major storm hits. The products you use, therefore, will be an indicator by which prospects determine the value – or lack thereof – which you have to offer them.

2) Your product choice demonstrates your business’ level of professionalism.

Because the ultimate goal of roofing service is to take care of current issues and prevent future ones as much as possible, the use of shoddy or less-than-good-quality products can tarnish a contractor’s reputation over time. If a roof requires repairing or maintenance often, that is a sign that the materials either were not installed properly, or the materials themselves do not offer the best protection. Plus, as a contractor completes more jobs over time, he develops a professional reputation according to the collective reviews and feedback of all whom he has served. If he has a track record of a few instances of poor workmanship, opportunities for new jobs, especially bigger and more profitable ones, will be shut off to him.

3) Choosing a product brand that offers materials for multiple roof types will give you greater market variety.

Many contractors choose to specialize in servicing only a few roof types, such as single-ply roofs in cold-climate regions, especially if those are the most prevalent in their areas. But for business owners who want to maximize their market reach, selection of a brand with materials for multiple roof types will enable them to cover more customer needs. That does not mean that they have to constantly warehouse material types for roofs they do not normally service. However, choosing a product line that offers versatility and is known for quality is a winning formula, as a business owner can quickly pick up other materials when he or she needs them for a particular job.

4) When you use an established (and likely well-known) brand, you are associated with that brand’s excellence and performance quality, increasing your buyer attractiveness.

Material brands that have been around for a long time are more likely to be well-known. If you choose a brand that has existed for decades, it only increases your credibility as customers associate your business with that brand’s excellence.

Many roof products are often updated or improved upon over time as well. If you align yourself with a product brand that has largely remained unchanged – that is likely because the product was engineered well the first time it was developed – you will increase your value proposition even more, from a prospect’s standpoint.

Our Network’s Commitment to Quality Standards

While material brands in this industry have undergone change or come and gone, Conklin roofing systems have almost entirely remained unchanged, a big testament to their quality and performance ability. In fact, many Conklin systems that were installed on top of buildings back in the 1970s are still going strong. With these products’ long-lasting durability, established reputation, and proven performance record, it is no secret why Choice Roof Contractor Group endorses it so heavily.

Here is a comprehensive list of reasons of why Conklin products are the best.

Other Exclusive Benefits and Advantages

Choice Roof Contractor Group leverages a unique, full-service platform to ensure that contractors are fully empowered for strong market gains. The benefits our platform offers include:

• Full Conklin systems training so new contractors can jump into commercial roofing quickly and effectively
• Leads of building owners more than ready to engage a contractor’s services
• Sales coaching from expert mentors on how to close sales and scale a business to new heights
• Expert marketing and sales support and advisement
• Shared installation expertise and labor resources
• Compelling sales materials and documentation for professional imaging and marketing
• Access to highly successful roof professionals who know what it takes to succeed—and will help you do it, too

Our contractor group is completely committed to your needs and success. With all of these benefits and more, you can rapidly build a commercial roofing business.