The economy we all face today is full of shortages. Materials, labor, etc. It seems the only thing increasing is costs!
How is a roofing company supposed to make a living with these issues and uncertainties? Maybe by increasing another option – productivity.
Productivity is defined by how much is accomplished during a given time. The more tasks completed, the more productive you or your company are. The more productive, the more profitable.
Ways to Increase Productivity
Regardless of how hard you work, there are only 24 hours in a day. Assuming you have any type of life or at least choose to sleep well, you are probably going to work no more than 12 of those hours. Making the most of that time is the key to increasing your productivity.
Software. Take advantage of software options to help reduce the amount of time you spend on various tasks. For example, if you aren’t using estimating software, you could be wasting hundreds of hours annually on mental mathematics.
Another type of software you shouldn’t be without is a good CRM (customer relationship management). You can use this to not only track your customer base, but to trigger you for sending follow up sales email or even have them pre-written and ready to go. Though nothing beats the personal touch of a visit or phone call, by reducing that time to a fraction using automation, you can significantly increase your productivity.
Technology. Take advantage of modern technology to reduce the number of man-hours necessary to complete a task. If it takes 7 men 10 hours to lay and weld an area of roof, but a machine uses 1 man in 5 hours, that is a machine worth investing in.
Other examples include the use of drones and thermal imaging for roof inspections. Not only safer for you and your employees, these technologies also look cool to your customer and at worse identifies those areas that requires a deeper hands-on inspection.
Free Guide: How to Switch to Commercial
Another example of better planning is having handout materials available to your team. If your team is on a roof and can see other buildings clearly in need of repair or replacement, having handout materials available for them to stop in and offer can be the key to getting that next project scheduled without you having to do a big marketing campaign that costs a lot of money. Offering a monetary bonus to your installers in the event of a new project can’t hurt either!
Interns. In some areas of the country, local schools offer interns or job-placement programs for their seniors looking to move into a job after graduation. This is a great opportunity to get more hands on your projects without investing in additional employees. It is also a truly irreplaceable way to assess skills if you may need additional help in the future.
Marketing. Many of you still do cold-call marketing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it and, in the right hands, it is an effective way to drum up new business. However, coupling that with a direct mail campaign, and using your CRM to generate email follow up automatically will dramatically increase the probability of a sale, without significantly increasing the time you spend.
For more ideas, reach out to the experts at Top Roof Marketing. They have worked with 300+ commercial roofing contractors and offer package options that will make your efforts more productive. Call today at 800-795-2187.
