Should You Invest in a Roofing Mentor?
“If you ask any successful business person, they will always have had a great mentor at some point along the way” -Richard Branson
Top business leaders don't stay stuck for long, they hire coaches and mentors to show them the path and compress time frames.
Small businesses tend to stay small because they are typically limited to the knowledge of an owner and a few key employees.
This group solves problems to the best of their ability and the result is the current level of success of the business.
Whether that means annual revenues of $300K or $30 Million, an organization will operate at a level equal to the tools at its disposal.
The growth of a small business can stall when an owner runs up against a problem that neither he nor anyone in the organization can solve.
After repeated attempts, the team just can't seem to figure it out. Everything they try loses money.
Rather than admit they don't have the knowledge or skills required, they blame the failure on a downturn in the market or some other factor that is beyond their control.
Then to keep from throwing good money after bad, they give up on their growth strategy and just focus on keeping what they've got.
Imagine if a Fortune 500 CEO told their board of directors and stockholders that they have tried everything they can think of to grow and the best course of action is to just be thankful for what they've got.
At least they wouldn't have to worry about being stuck anymore.
"Would you ever consider learning to fly a plane by just climbing in and figuring it out as you go? Would you take your family with you? Of course not! You would want a seasoned instructor with years of experience in the same airplane you intend to fly. He's there to keep you (and your passengers) from getting killed while you're learn. With so much riding on your success and 2/3 of small businesses failing within 10 years, would you want to treat your roofing company any differently?"
So… when is the right time to invest in a mentor?
If you've hit a ceiling and just can't break through, or even if you feel like you can eventually get there on your own but you don't want to waste time and energy, a mentor who's already bridged the gap is the best way to get unstuck or get ahead.
Here's a formula you can use:
Chances you can figure it out on your own (and in a reasonable time frame) = X
Chances you can reach your goal with the help of someone who's already been there = Y
If X is greater than Y and the lost time is less than the cost of a mentor, then do it yourself.
But if Y is greater than X, then take the shortcut.
So when's the right time? Whenever it's the percentage play.
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If you’re ready to take a deep dive into the psychology of why you need referrals and learn how to get them at will from someone who's been doing it for a decade…
Check out my Master-Class for Roofing Owners and Marketers HERE!
Should You Strive To Be A Roofer? Or a Marketer?
“The business you're in is the marketing business. Everything you exchange for money is just a deliverable.” – Dan Kennedy
You don't get to be a great roofer without becoming a great marketer.
You can be the best roofer in the country, but if no one asks you to build their roof, you're going to get skinny... quick!
Marketing is really the price of admission for you to get to do whatever it is that you have chosen as your profession. For us, it's roofing.
Unfortunately, no matter where you look, there's no shortage of roofers. That means we have a commoditization problem that is getting worse, not better.
Given that there are more choices available than there are people needing to make that choice, we have to establish some method of differentiation in order to survive, let alone thrive.
And contrary to popular belief, that does NOT happen by excellence alone. In some cases, it doesn't happen by excellence at all... it happens through marketing.
How many mediocre products can you think of that experienced massive success just because they were great marketers? The fast food industry is full of them.
And just as sales experts make significantly more money than employees in non-sales roles, companies that learn how to differentiate through marketing generate more revenue than those who rely on quality and word of mouth alone.
When it comes to deliverables, good enough is usually good enough. If you can build a roof that only a small percentage of industry experts can critique, how much more money are you going to generate by getting even better? None. The people who matter (paying customers) won't even be able to recognize the difference.
We are conditioned to be concerned about getting better and better at the "thing" that we do. We should actually be working on getting better at marketing ourselves so that we get more opportunities to do that thing and help more people.
There are generally three ways to sell something...
- Push
- Pursuit
- Attraction
Push typically involves physically putting items in your path. This can be the end cap in retail or the impulse items at the grocery store checkout.
Pursuit can be anything from a clerk following you around in a department store to someone canvassing a neighborhood going door to door.
Even when someone has a legitimate need, they are reluctant to put themselves in a situation that they know will be uncomfortable or awkward.
Attraction is the process of creating the perception that the customer is discovering you instead of having products or services pushed on them or them being pursued.
It allows them to feel like they are in control because it was their actions that led them to you. What they don't realize is that we have positioned ourselves at the end of their decision making path as the best (or only) option to consider.
If the word manipulation comes to mind, consider this... a magician wouldn't ask you to pick a card from the deck if he wasn't reasonably sure he could control the variables and answer correctly.
With attraction, we create an environment that leaves very little to chance. All in the interest of serving a customer that we know we can help.
If your a roofer and you're tired of relying on pursuit strategies, we're here to help. Our system that generates an endless stream of roof replacement from insurance agents may be the attraction strategy you've been looking for. Connect with us to learn more about the Magnetic Referral Machine.
“Isn't it time to stop chasing the wrong roofing customers and start attracting the right ones?”
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If you’re ready to take a deep dive into the psychology of why you need referrals and learn how to get them at will…
Check out my Master-Class for Roofing Owners and Marketers HERE!