July 29, 2025 • 60 mins
Most roofing companies keep their top sales rep… even when they destroy the team’s spirit.
Not Elijah.
In this video, you’ll hear how Elijah and his partners took a small mom-and-pop roofing company doing $700K… and turned it into a multi-eight-figure powerhouse in just 2 years.
He did it by putting culture over profits.
You’ll see why firing the “best” rep was the smartest move they ever made. And how it built a place where reps want to stay, grow, and even retire.
Watch to learn:
✅ Why having 6 owners was the secret sauce
✅ How to build a team that WANTS to follow you
✅ Why paying salaries, 401Ks, and giving trucks keeps reps loyal
✅ How caring more about people than profits makes you MORE money
Roofing sales doesn’t have to be cutthroat. You can build something great—without burning everyone out.
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00:00 – How Firing a Top Roofing Sales Rep Made Millions
02:15 – Roofing Business Growth: From $700K to Multi-Eight-Figures
04:40 – 6 Roofing Owners Share Their Secrets to Scaling Fast
07:30 – How to Build a Roofing Company Sales Team That Stays
10:45 – Roofing Company Culture vs. Profits: What Wins?
14:05 – Why We Fired Our Best Roofing Sales Rep for Bad Culture
17:25 – How to Build a Roofing Sales Rep Retirement Plan
21:00 – Roofing Sales Rep Benefits: Salary, 401K, Company Trucks
24:15 – How to Train Roofing Sales Reps Step by Step
27:50 – Why Roofing Sales Reps Come First in a Great Company
31:10 – Roofing Marketing Tips: All Business Is Show Business
35:30 – How Free Roofing Education Brings in More Leads
38:45 – Roofing Company Collaboration vs. Competition
42:00 – Why Private Equity Can Hurt Your Roofing Business
46:15 – Roofing Sales Training: Onboarding New Sales Reps
50:30 – How to Measure Success for Roofing Sales Reps
54:20 – Best Advice for Roofing Company Owners and Sales Managers
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
How do you go from being a sales rep with a dream
to building an eight-figureroofing company with six
co-owners?
Today's episode is amasterclass in culture-driven
growth.
We're talking with Elijah Mummabout what it takes to build a
true destination company forsales reps, where people don't
(00:20):
just work, they stay, thrive andretire.
Elijah is one of the foundersof Romans Roofing and the host
of the Roof Trolls podcast.
His team turned a $700,000 momand pop shop into a
multi-eight-figure machine injust two years, all while
putting culture andaccountability above profit.
(00:41):
What sets Elijah apart is histransparency from firing his top
producer for being a culturekiller to offering salaries,
401ks and vehicles in anindustry that rarely does.
Elijah walks the talk and the10 sales reps who followed him
to Romans.
That says it all.
You want to create a businesswhere reps can grow, stay loyal
(01:04):
and build a future.
This episode is your blueprint.
Let's get into it with ElijahMumm from Romans Roofing.
Welcome to the Roofing SuccessPodcast.
I'm Jim Alleyne and I'm here tobring you insights from top
leaders in the roofing industryto help you grow and scale your
roofing business.
Elijah Mumm, how are you today,man?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Good man, Great Great Excited to be on the podcast
the.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Roof Trolls in the house.
Yes sir, yes sir.
Love the Roof Trolls.
Romans Roofing, awesome man.
Good to have you, good to haveyou.
Why about introduce yourself tothe audience?
Tell them a little bit aboutRomans, introduce the Roof
Trolls podcast a little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Okay, so my name is Elijah Mumm.
I am one of the owners one ofsix owners of Romans Roofing.
Yes, you heard that right, wehave six partners.
I'm also a host of a podcastcalled the Roof Trolls.
It is a platform that I createdto collaborate with other
amazing people, not only in ourindustry but in our local towns
(02:10):
that we work in.
I'm just trying to bring morespotlight to some people out
there who might be doing amazingthings.
It was one of the things that,when I was coming up as a sales
rep, I was like, man, it'd becool to be on a podcast, it'd be
cool to be on a stage and stuff, and then later you find out
you've got to earn those things.
But I think Roof Trolls is likea good step just to get out
there and start meeting people,learning and picking other
(02:32):
people's brains and seeing whatthey're doing to be successful
similar to this podcast as well,and just collaborating on a
whole.
I think that's one of thethings that the industry is
really lacking in right now.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yeah, how did you guys come together?
Six partners, that's a lot ofpeople to bring together.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah.
So I worked for one of mypartners at the first job in
this industry I've ever had,first sales gig ever.
That company was absorbed by amuch larger company in an
attempt to push for a publicmarket I'm a corporate company
and I didn't stay on that train.
I actually was like, hey man,I'm just.
You know, I'm two years intosales.
(03:12):
I've been a dog on the streetsknocking doors.
I think that I could findgrowth somewhere else.
That's what I wanted.
I wanted to be a sales manager.
I really wanted to get intosales and like learn you know
front to back that aspect of it.
I really wanted to get intosales and learn front to back
that aspect of it.
So I went my separate ways,worked for a couple of companies
and then actually ended up backat that much larger company
that absorbed that company Iworked at.
(03:33):
So while I was there Ideveloped a couple of
relationships with some peoplethere and Roman's Roofing was
started by a local attorney inthis area, jeffrey Semko, who
also remains still a partner inthis, and he was the original
founder of Roman's Roofing wasstarted by a local attorney in
this area, jeffrey Semko, whoalso remains still a partner in
this and he was the originalfounder of Roman's Roofing.
It was like a small mom and popside gig for him.
Obviously, he's an attorney, sohe has a busy schedule anyway
(03:55):
and he started this concept.
He was like I'm going to dosomething for my son.
His son is named Roman, sowe're going to put together
Romans.
So while that was going on, mybuddy who I grew up with, angelo
, was working at a supplier,kind of linked up with Jeff, and
they went into businesstogether.
Well, when the falling outhappened, when this, when this
company was pushing toward thepublic market, we were all at, I
(04:18):
had a choice to make.
I was going to go start off onmy own thing, finally become an
owner.
I didn't know what to do.
So I sat down with a few people.
I kind of like saw what was outthere, what everybody had on
the table, and I determined thatI'm going to open up my own
business.
It's time for me to get outthere and kind of do my thing.
Randomly, we went to a Cubs gameand while we were sitting there
(04:39):
, angelo was like hey, man, Iknow you want to open your own
thing, but I think that we mightbe interested in maybe selling
this?
I don't, I don't know.
You know, maybe maybe you guyswant to come and at least sit
down see what that looks like.
And I was like man, I was alittle hesitant about it because
, again, I've been doing this atthis point now for six years
(05:00):
and I still hadn't done anythingon my own.
I still didn't know if I wascapable of doing it on my own.
I wanted to challenge myself.
I'm like, all right, well, Ilearned early on in life that
you know, you got to hear peopleout.
Every opportunity could presentsomething else for you.
So at least give them theopportunity to sit down.
So we went and sat down at thelaw office and it was crazy.
It was like, I mean, perfect,perfect.
So they had a mom and pop feelto them.
They had a little bit ofbranding, known as a good,
(05:21):
reliable company.
They had no sales guys, butthey had licenses, they had, uh,
established business, they hada presence in the area.
So I was like, hey, man, Ithink this is a good foot, our
good fit.
So I brought 10 guys in herewith me, um, and then I brought
three other guys in here.
So, uh, we waited on another guyto kind of you know how it goes
(05:43):
, man, when everybody leaves thecompany, they get a little cold
feet.
So we waited on him to comeover here and then, once he came
over, we're like all right,well, what do we do now?
We got six owners and somepeople would look at that as
like a negative thing.
I looked at it as like anamazing thing, because that's
six different points of view,that's six different opinions,
six different philosophies, andnow when we have issues, you got
to run through six differentpeople before we decide.
(06:04):
You know what to do with that,and I think that's great, like
it's great.
It also sends a message to reps, letting them know that I could
make more money doing thisalone, but I take less money to
have a better, stronger system,support system, better cast,
better, better.
You know processes in general,because that's what that's what
you need to scale up to.
(06:25):
The next level is is solidprocess, um.
So it kind of was just like aperfect fit.
We came over here in um twoyears ago.
So it was two years ago was ourfirst year.
So this is year three.
So two years ago we come inhere and the most this company
ever did was 700,000.
We come in here at the end ofMay and my guys finished the
(06:48):
year at seven and a half millionand we did that in, honestly,
like six months.
We just really plowed throughit.
Guys are great at the door.
It was almost all door knockinglike just solid door knocking.
You had a little bit of leadsfor like retail, but my guys
weren't fit for that yet.
So we ran by the seat of ourpants, flew by the seat of our
pants you know our food by theseat of our pants took off, hit
seven and a half million.
(07:09):
And then we were like all right, we'll slow.
Whoa, what did we do?
Like what did we do, you know?
So we started dialing in whatwe were doing and then we were
like dude, I think that we coulddo more and I think that we're
in, we're in a position now toreally, really help our guys.
So it's like how do we growthis out and keep them happy?
Because, at the end of the day,roman's Roofing only wants to be
(07:29):
a destination spot for salesreps.
That's my end goal.
I want to see a sales repretire with me in an industry
where the average lifespan of asales rep is what two to three
years.
I want to see them retire here.
So I have guys who've been withme for five years.
So we took that philosophy.
We came back last year and hitit at 14 and a half million and
(07:55):
now we are actually on pace togo over 20.
And it's, you know, we've donesome changes here now that, I
think, really speak volumes intowho we are as individuals,
being that we offer a salary.
We're one of the few companiesin this area that offers a
salary.
We also offer commission a 401kwith a three and a half percent
match, because I want people toretire here.
We offer leads, in-house leadsas well as door knocking.
(08:18):
We provide vehicles.
It's just a whole shebang andwe're just big on marketing and
everything and kind of justhaving fun man growing this
thing out.
I know it's a long-winded story.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Let's talk about that a little bit, though.
You mentioned a few things, butlet's dive deep into becoming a
destination company for salesreps.
Sales reps, like.
It sounds like that.
(08:50):
That started that.
That became an like an idea inyour mind after you came over to
Romans, but how has thatprogressed?
What is that?
I know the goal is hey, I wanta place where someone could
retire from what.
What steps do you take inbetween to make sure that that
happens?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
The first step is accountability.
I think that that's missedacross the board.
A lot of people throw that wordout there loosely.
I've lost, even at Romans,probably 30 sales reps that were
gone, and most of that is myfault.
You have to own responsibilityfor that, because you make
mistakes along the way.
You know, if you're not makingmistakes, I don't think you're
(09:28):
aiming for a big enough goal,and that's just the reality of
it.
So we got to learn from it.
You know, I read a book calledThink and Grow Rich and it says
when defeat comes, we acceptthat as a signal that our plans
are not sound.
So it's basically back to thedrawing board before you can set
sail again, and that's kind oflike what we did.
(09:48):
So we were like all right, thisis what we're doing, that's
really working.
But what are we doing?
That's not working and this iscrazy.
But I tell people all about itand I love the guy to death.
I wish nothing but the best forhim.
So at the end of last year, um,we we determined well, towards
the end of last year, wedetermined that it was going to
be a different mindset, um, thatwe are going to have to go in
(10:10):
this and decide what we wanted.
Did we want to go on vacationsall the time as owners?
Did we want to use this as abank account?
Did we want to you know,financially set ourselves up, or
do we genuinely care about thepeople that work for us?
And if we do genuinely careabout the people that work for
us, and if we do genuinely careabout the people that work for
us, then we need to give them anenvironment that they can
thrive in.
So how do you do that?
Well, you take culture and youput it above profits.
(10:33):
And it's hard, that's a hardpill for a lot of people to
swallow.
It really is man.
Greed is so bad in everyindustry, but especially this
one.
So you know, having lived fromthe perspective of a sales rep
my entire career, I'm obviouslysales like-minded.
So when I came up with thisphilosophy, I was like well, I
(10:53):
got to be serious about it.
So our top sales rep last yearand he was one of my good
friends we fired him.
You know he finished the yearat the most sales.
He was by far the best salesrep I had.
But he was a cancer to theculture.
He brought down a lot of peoplein the environment.
He didn't.
He didn't.
You know, he wasn't what wewanted him to be outside of his
(11:15):
performance.
Like selling jobs is one thing,but when people have to come and
work with you, if you're, ifyou're untrainable, if you're
uncoachable, to come and workwith you if you're, if you're
untrainable, if you'reuncoachable, then I have nothing
for you.
I mean, you know, whatever youare right now, that's all you're
ever going to be, and in thisindustry it's forever evolving.
So, like, good luck, you know,good luck paying your bills with
(11:36):
the skill set that you obtainedlast year.
You know, good luck.
We all have to do better.
We all have to.
So it starts with the ownership,and then, I said, the process.
The other part is, you know, dowe pay massive commissions or
do we invest in the future?
So then that's a conversationwe had with our sales reps as
well.
You know, hey guys, I can payyou 10 percent, 12 percent, 15
(11:58):
percent, 10, 50, 50, whateveryou want.
I can pay you that, no doubtabout it.
But if you want, I can pay youthat, no doubt about it.
But if you want to be here,this is something you're
committed to, like Romans, youwant it to grow.
You want to eventually putyourself in a position to have a
max, you know, a large incomeand to be in a position where
you could have people underneathyou, possibly in another office
or something.
(12:18):
Then we got to do this, smartguys, we got to approach this as
, like Romans, we're the face ofit and and we're, we're out
here for a greater purpose,right, you know, you gotta, you
gotta have a mission statement,and that's kind of like where
we're at right now.
It's like all right, guys,let's go out and be the best we
can be, but also provide thebest experience, not only for
you guys, but for our clienteleas well, because that's what,
(12:41):
that's what the world's turningright now.
Man, everything is convenience,and experience Price has been
out the window for a long time.
We all know that.
We see, you know, powerremodeling is a billion dollar
company and they, they spit outfor a month.
You know, like that's, that'swhere we're at in society.
So like, how do we separateourselves from the rest of the
people?
And that's through experienceand genuinely caring, you know
(13:07):
and genuinely caring.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
You have to care, you do.
That has to be a hardconversation with the team and
saying you're going to put thecompany above your paycheck in a
way.
How did that go?
What was the?
(13:29):
What was the feedback?
So did you lose some people?
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Oh yeah, we had a couple of people that didn't buy
into it.
After that move was made, Ithink we ended up losing four
more Full disclosure Again we'reon pace to do more than we did
last year, and that's what thetop sales rep and all those
other guys going.
So you know, the proof is inthe pudding.
That's why you got to go backand you really got to double
down and be committed to whatyou're doing, stick to the
(13:53):
process and believe in yourself,and you know you're going to
fail.
Dude, I just don't.
You know you're going to fail.
What do you say in the greatestsalesman in the world?
The victory of success is halfwon when you develop the habits
of creating goals and thencrushing those goals.
So you have to start small, andthat's what we did in the
beginning, with the guys like,hey, man, we want to accomplish
(14:15):
this, this and this.
Let's go out and do it.
And then we took steps, hugefor ourselves as well.
We took less profits to dogreater things.
So, for instance, this buildingthat I'm sitting in right now we
sat down as owners and we said,hey, man, we need to buy a
building.
Why do we need to buy abuilding.
Why is that necessary?
It's necessary for a lot ofthings, but if we're going to
tell the community that we careabout them, that we're here to
(14:36):
protect them, then we need tonot be paying rent.
This needs to be ours.
We need to be established inthis building.
So right now I'm actually rightacross the street from the
mayor's office in the town thatwe operate in.
We bought the building here.
It sends a message to leteverybody know we're here.
We don't plan to go anywhere.
We're planning to stick by youguys, whether we do right or
wrong.
We're going to be here tocorrect those mistakes and move
(14:56):
forward together.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, yeah for sure.
And those are it's.
I guess that's that's leadingfrom the front, right.
So the team sees that.
The community sees that you're,you're, you're you're putting
that foot forward and not justhelping reps earn that.
(15:31):
You want them to growpersonally through this journey
of working with Romans also.
How have you implemented that?
Before we carry on with theepisode, let's give a shout out
to one of our sponsors.
I talk to contractors every daythat feel stuck, not because
they're not working hard, butbecause they're missing the
(15:52):
structure to grow without chaosor their culture's falling apart
, because their team's unclear,unaligned or just burned out.
And when change hits, they'rereacting instead of leading
because time and prioritiesaren't under their control.
Day 41 Thrive helps to fix thatwith proven strategies for
(16:14):
growth, culture and leadershipthat actually work, ready to
thrive beyond the storm.
Visit the link in thedescription or visit the Roofing
Success Podcast website on thesponsors page to start your
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(16:35):
journey of working with Romansalso.
How have you implemented that?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Man.
It's been baby steps, like Ialluded to.
We really try to get out thereand collaboration has helped us
to a point.
So we are members of the RoofHustlers Academy with Deshaun.
We have been for two years.
We've flown him out each of thelast two years to come and work
with our guys on the psychologyof door knocking, identifying
(17:02):
the clientele, learning how toread them, learning how to, in a
sense, manipulate conversationsto sway in our favors.
You know, like teaching the guyswhat it takes to be a salesman,
but also diving in and lettingthem understand that these are
superpowers.
We're all superpowers.
Truthfully, that's what we are.
We're superheroes.
Not only do we help homeownersovercome you overcome some, some
(17:26):
huge objectives that they'redealing with and go through a
rigorous process, but aside fromthat, we have superpowers.
We know how to swayconversations.
We know how to do these thingsand manipulate tactics and stuff
like that to work in our favor.
So we have to teach the guysnow, since you've developed
those superpowers comes, youknow, like Spider-Man's comes
(17:46):
great responsibility.
You can't use that for bad.
You got to continue to grow andbe a good person, cause if
you're not a good human being,then who cares how much money
you make, who cares what you dofor a living Like?
You have to be a good personfirst.
So we're family oriented here.
We all hang out together, we dofamily events together, we do
barbecues together, we travel asteams together.
(18:07):
You know, we go to door to doorcon every year in Utah together
, as a team.
I expose them to people doinggreater things so they can see
how large and still humbly smallthis industry really is, and
just like trying to work withthem on, like I said, just
outside of sales too.
Work with them on, like I said,just outside of sales too.
It's.
Do you have any?
You know, financial concerns?
(18:31):
Uh, we've helped guys.
Uh, in private.
Uh, you know, pay for somethings in their lives that they
couldn't get a grasp on, to helpthem give a leg up.
Um, when you, when you tellpeople that their family, you
have to treat them as such.
You know, um, people don't haveto beg for days off here.
When, when something tragichappens, we try to help out.
When something like thathappens, we try to stand by our
people.
We give them, you know, we givethem a list of books if they
want to read it or not, if theydo choose to read it.
We discuss it together, we'lldive into personality tests and
(18:55):
we have trainings that we'veprovided.
So, like I said, deshaun wasout here last year.
This year we had John Scenicout for two days and then
Deshaun out here for three.
I tried to get Dan Walrack, butit just didn't fit in the
scheduling time.
Love Dan, shout out Dan.
(19:16):
But yeah, it's about doublingdown on our efforts to make them
better as individuals in sales,and then we have to give them
the steps to take.
But that's the thing when itcomes with development, they
have to want that too.
So, when we sit down and wetalk to guys, you set goals with
me.
I'm holding you to those goals.
You want to set 2 million?
Great, this is the road to 2million.
Though, you know, don't set someridiculous goal and expect not
to be held accountable, becauseyou, essentially, are creating
(19:37):
that bar for yourself.
I'm going to measure you atthat gauge, because that's what
you told me you wanted.
So, because that's what youtold me you wanted.
So you know, like holding themaccountable as well.
And then, when it comes topersonal development, they have
to take some steps on their own.
They're going to have to go outthere.
Don't be scared to go get acoach.
Don't be scared to go get amentor.
Don't be scared to look up guysthat are giving out free stuff.
You know Becca Switzer freecontent all day long.
(19:58):
Deshawn free content all daylong no-transcript.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
I mean all of you probably have to be working on
your personal development tostay ahead of everyone, right To
to to, to walk the path and toshow the team.
How are you guys doing thatalso?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
So, so the owners.
Last year we started like this,like reading this book thing.
We do like a book a month.
I took it upon myself.
I read 25 books last year.
It's like a goal for mine, sofor me that's a huge feat.
For some out there I know it'snot.
I'm up to almost two books amonth now that I read and
continuously try to read.
Reading has been really, reallyhelpful for me, as well as
(21:14):
content we drive home, so I domarketing for our company as
well, minus the video editing.
So I'd be a nightmare if I wastrying to edit videos.
It would drive me insane.
I'd throw my computer in thewall.
Um, but filming the content andcoming up with creative ideas
and stuff, that's what I Iwanted to do originally.
I enjoy that.
Um, I think that more contentis always going to be a good
(21:35):
thing, no matter what, uh anyonesays.
I think that no one's doingenough.
You could always be doing moreof that.
So we try to message our guysand let them know that too, like
videos and stuff to putyourself in front of the camera.
Patrick Carr spoke actually atone of Deshaun's trainings and
he explained to the guys youknow the rule you want to keep
your hands here locked in,engaged all that stuff and he
(21:56):
showed us the videos that he didand it was very impactful.
And some of our leadership,they're starting to open their
you know, open their minds, atleast to a little bit more
marketing.
We're starting to open theiryou know, open their minds at
least a little bit moremarketing.
We're starting to dive intothat.
Like I said, our attorney youknow, jeff, who's our partner.
He is, he's like a silentpartner, he's not really
involved in a day-to-dayoperations.
So he's still learning theroofing industry and it's kind
(22:17):
of cool because we get to teach.
So, essentially, we learn moretoo.
We retain more knowledge by byhaving to teach as well.
Um, but our other guys, you know, I I hope that they're taking
the steps, uh, to developthemselves.
I like to think they are.
A lot of us are in mastermindgroups A lot of us, you know,
we're in the leadership programas well for roof hustlers.
Uh, we were in one more door,uh, with Ty Adams and, uh, tony
(22:39):
Flatham as well.
Um, so we're getting advicefrom those guys.
Got great relationship withBuild, strong, good people and,
yeah, I'll continue to pick thebrains of everybody.
I'll ask you a millionquestions.
I'll constantly message you orDM you, that's just.
You know, we have to continueto want to learn more every day,
and I hope that my partners andI feel that they are they're
(23:00):
taking that same initiativeevery day as well.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, I think that's the that's a major factor If
you're going to have that aspart of your culture is everyone
has to live it.
And you know like, like I knowsome, some companies have a you
know a really big culture aroundfitness.
Everybody has to be.
You know what I mean.
Like everyone has to do it.
(23:25):
Everyone.
Like whatever you're buildingthe culture around, fitness
everybody has to be.
You know what I mean.
Like everyone has to do it.
Everyone, like, whatever you'rebuilding the culture around,
everyone has to do it.
And I know you're very, very,very intuitive or in tune with
your culture, and you knowwhat's your thoughts on that.
Like what?
Let's dive deep into what haswhat has developed the culture?
(23:47):
What do you feel like has hasreally developed the culture?
Cause, just to have 10 people,10 reps, follow you to a new
company, that's like a, that's a, that's a moment that that
means that there was some sortof leadership or respect there,
which is culture in itself.
What have you doneintentionally now to build the
(24:11):
culture at Romans?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
So we explained to the guys.
So when I first started as ateam lead, when I developed
because before I was a salesmanager I had to be a team lead
and I realized quickly that youknow a lot of people lose sight
of this too, and I think it'shuge when you get put in a
position and you've yourselfhave done underneath that
position.
So if you've been a sales repand you get promoted to sales
(24:34):
manager, you you have one of twochoices at that point continue
the disgusting cycle that youlived through as a sales rep, or
you provide what you wished youhad as a sales rep.
So when I took that mindset onand I started caring about my
team more, my numbers startedsoaring and I realized quickly
(24:55):
that it's not because I drop ahammer on somebody.
It's because I genuinely amtrying to make them successful.
I'm trying to help them.
I'm laying out what we need todo but, more importantly, I'm
doing it and I'm giving them theeasiest route to do it.
You cannot give orders if youyourself have never done it.
(25:16):
It drives me insane.
That's part of why I wanted tospeak.
If I'm being completely honestwith you, that's part of what
engaged me into getting outthere is because I have seen
people that haven't knocked adoor since the Bush
administration giving advicedaily on YouTube and stuff about
knocking doors.
Come on, dude, you know howmuch the game has changed since
the last time you were out thereknocking on a door, please go
(25:36):
sit down somewhere.
You were out there knocking ona door, please go sit down
somewhere.
So that's my mindset with myguys.
I'm like, dude, I'll never askyou to do something if I myself
cannot or have not done it.
So like that it starts thatAnother rule that I have is I
don't, I don't bite their headoff in front of people.
I think that's so disrespectful.
It's more of like a privatething, like we say hey man, you
know you messed up here, I needyou to get it together.
(25:57):
And then it goes a step further.
When leadership comes to me,people above me and they would
come down and they'd say, hey,man, when you talk to this guy,
hey, chill out, I'll handle myguy.
You know it's rainbows andsunshine from you guys, you give
me the marching orders.
And I think that's where a lotof leadership fails at is that
when we get this daunting taskor something we disagree with.
(26:17):
We have tendency to show ouremotions when we, when we give
the orders down.
So, like when someone comes toyou and they're like hey, do
this sales team needs a crack?
Didn't crack the whip.
I don't know what you're doing.
You know you're you're notsigning as much as you were
before.
You need to take that and say,hey, guys, they said that we
were signing really good beforeand uh, and they said they just
like to see the same increase.
(26:37):
So, like, what are we doing?
What are you guys seeing outthere?
Like, why, why do you thinkthis?
Why do you think we can't hitthat number?
Like what, what, what'sstopping us from doing that?
Is there anything I can do foryou?
But no, most people want tocome back in there and say, dude
(27:05):
, they're yelling at me and I'mtelling you guys, this is the
same stuff.
I'm telling you know what man,I really should have done better
with that person.
I know he had potential, but atthe same time I didn't know
better.
You know I, my mind waspoisoned and I didn't know that.
I didn't know I could, I coulddo better.
You know, I didn't believe inmyself and over the last like
eight years, I've really beenfully confident.
(27:27):
Now I'm like no dude, it's,it's because I was in the wrong
mindset and now I'm in the rightmindset and I'm like all right.
Well, now, what do we do withthis?
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So what is the right mindset for leading a sales team
?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Put the sales team first.
It's going to be very hard fora lot of people to do that.
I would even go as far as Iknow I'm going to get shit for
this.
I'd put them above my clients,that's.
You know.
That sales team is why you havea business.
There are no supplementers,estimators, no contractors.
There's nothing without thatinitial sale.
And to put this in perspectivetoo, because I'm getting sick of
(28:04):
hearing this as well Sales isnot easy.
Everybody here thinks that salesfor some reason it's been crazy
in this industry Like sales iseasy.
Sales is not.
You know what's easy Taking afile that's already bought and
supplementing it that's easy.
It's easy to schedule a buildit's easy.
Taking a file that's alreadybought and supplementing it
that's easy.
It's easy to schedule a build.
It's easy.
To find a subcontractor to do awork that's easy.
Stop lying to yourselves.
(28:25):
What's difficult is walkinginto a homeowner, to a
homeowner's door at 630 at night, interrupting their meal and
then having them sign a piece ofpaper that states that you're
going to get the roof replaced,when they didn't even know you
were coming to their door allwithin an hour.
That's hard.
Stop lying to yourselves.
And a lot of people want todownplay what sales is.
(28:45):
Another thing is sales shouldbe getting paid more than you
guys.
That's another way.
That's a clown's way ofthinking.
You think that sales doesn'tdeserve to get paid more than
you guys do, like what they do?
The hardest aspect of the jobthat's their.
You know.
We reward them with highcommissions because we want them
to do what we want them to do.
Pay the guy, he won't leave.
(29:06):
You know it's like a newsflashguy.
Treat them good and pay themGuess what.
They don't go anywhere.
They don't go anywhere.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yeah, so now we've, we've you.
You, we talked a little bitabout, you know, and this is
kind of a sales thing and Ithink it's more of a sales and
marketing thing.
But we talked a little bitabout, like, how all business is
show business in a way, whatthe philosophy behind that.
Talk about that a little bit.
Oh man, I love, I love that allbusinesses show business in a
way.
What the philosophy behind that?
Talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Oh man, I love.
I love that all businesses showbusiness and you know,
deshaun's really helped mesharpen that too, cause that's a
guy that's super fun to watch,storytelling and being creative
and not being scared of thecontent.
I don't know if you've had achance to look at Roman's
Roofing's content or not, or ifanybody out there does get a
chance to look at it.
Man, I put out some crazyvideos and I do that.
(30:02):
There's a purpose behind it.
So a lot of it is.
You want to grab people'sattention because people think
that we're shopping for leads.
I don't care about leads.
Leads don't mean the leads aregoing to come.
You got to go through a processon social media.
You got to give away before youcan ask for anything.
So, romans, we actually teachhomeowners how not to use us
Like we.
We we put together videos andrun ads with money behind them,
(30:25):
teaching them how to not have totake a claim out with us, how
to not have to go through aroofer such as Romans.
I want to teach you that.
I want to teach you how to howto handle a storm claim on your
own.
Why do I want to do that?
Well, because one we you how tohandle a storm claim on your
own.
Why do I want to do that?
Well, because one we all knowthe 1% rule.
None of them are really goingto do it.
And then the ones that dochoose to do it, they're going
to see how hard, how hard thisreally is.
(30:46):
And then who do you thinkthey're going to go to for help?
It's going to be the guy whotaught them, guys.
It's going to be the one whokeeps getting out there and
leading by example.
Another thing is, like I said,the collaboration of this whole
thing.
Man, there's things going onright now, content-wise, that
we're missing out on.
We just are.
When is a roofing company goingto get together with like six
(31:06):
or seven other roofing companies?
Not in a platform that youcompete against on a daily basis
I emphasis compete, because Idon't believe in that either but
you have seven local companies.
Why haven't all seven of youguys gotten together on an ad
and said, hey, northwest Indiana, we work together?
We want to let you know that wetoo are frustrated by the storm
(31:29):
storm chasers that continue tocome in this area.
We too are upset by the waysome people have been handling
the claims.
So what we've done is we'veunited together and we let you
know that there are companiesyou can trust, and the companies
you can trust are right here inthis video.
So if you are going to take aclaim out or you are going to go
forward the process, please usesomebody creditable, somebody
from this area.
Why, why won't you do that?
You're scared that someone'sgoing to get your job.
Then they're better than upyour game.
(31:51):
But like, let's lock this areadown.
Man, this is our, this is ourshit.
We could, can all own this.
So let's focus on that, dude,instead of competing against
each other.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yeah, the competition aspect is crazy.
You mentioned Tony Flattum.
When I first met Tony in BuildStrong, I think we were having a
conversation at a conferenceand I hadn't heard of build
strong.
I live in the twin cities areaI hadn't heard of built strong
and and uh, and I know that wehad talked and he told me the
(32:25):
revenue that they were doing andI didn't even hear of build
strong Like it was.
It's.
It's very eyeopening to knowthe abundance of work that's out
there, right, and if you havethat abundant mentality, that
abundance mentality, you can dothings like that, you can
(32:47):
collaborate, you can share ideas, you can be open and honest
with each other about what'sgoing on in the market.
Now, there's always competition, healthy competition, right?
Your own sales team should, inmy opinion, have healthy
competition between them.
Right, there's you guys.
It's, it's a big big thing.
(33:09):
And is that?
Have you, have you been able tohighlight any anything in this?
Because it's kind of a a, it'san education first mentality, um
, and and I think that that's abig part of it, what you
mentioned.
You said, we teach these peoplethings that once they start
(33:30):
doing it, it's hard.
They realize oh man, I do needa professional right.
That's.
That's what a lot of that'sdone, a lot in different
businesses Like, hey, here'ssome free this, here's a free
guide for this or a freechecklist for that.
And then you get into it andyou're like, oh boy, whoa, I'm
(33:52):
stuck on this, let me get aprofessional to do it.
What is your marketing mix froma marketing perspective?
I mean, you guys are adoor-to-door company, but what
else are you doing to showcaseand build the brand for Romans?
I know you're enjoying theepisode, but let's give a shout
out to another one of oursponsors.
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(34:13):
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What is your marketing mix froma marketing perspective?
(35:00):
I mean, you guys are adoor-to-door company, but what
else are you doing to showcaseand build the brand for Romans.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
We do multifamily too .
We do commercial, we do retail.
We have three retail guys.
I have two commercial guys andthen right now, since I have
like 15 or 17 sales reps, I havea couple 1099 car salesmen that
are kind of like one foot inthe door.
One foot, you know, still don'tknow if they want to come here
full time.
And I'm okay with it becauseI'll tell you what do car
(35:29):
salesmen?
Uh, they got that financing onthe lock.
They know exactly what they'redoing.
As far as that, I mean, they'refluent in that.
Um, so I, I mean they're fluentin that.
So I'm always, I'm always abouta dog.
You know, if you're going tocome out here and you're going
to hustle and grind for the fewhours that you put in weekly,
I'm about that.
So you know that that motivatesme.
As far as marketing goes, Likewe, like I said, the roof trolls
(35:49):
plays a huge factor.
Roof trolls has allowed us tocollaborate with some people
that are doing amazing things,and then it's also put our foot
in the door with some someamazing guests that I never
thought possible.
You know, we had, uh, RyanSteumann was on.
You know I went to Apex and satdown with him and his and his
podcast uh well, for roof trolls, but in his podcast room and
(36:09):
that guy, after you have thatconversation, you're like Holy
hell, I'm not doing anything inmy life right now.
You know I need to step up Tony.
You know I had him on the RoofTrolls.
He broke down how he does whathe does in real estate.
Dan Walrack and Tiffany Walrackwere both on the show.
I love Tiffany too.
She's very amazing person, Verygood, kind, heart and soul.
I actually saw her on Eric'spodcast and she was talking
(36:33):
about time management and I waslike, after I saw that podcast I
reached out to Dan Walrack.
I'm like, is Tiffany going tobe around?
Like, if she is, get her onthere too.
So we had both of them come outthere.
Tim Brown allowed us to use hisroom and unfortunately I didn't
get to interview Tim.
I wanted to, but he allowed usto use his podcast room and we
had some amazing guests, man,and it was just like a really
(36:56):
good experience and being ableto sit down and talk to those
guys.
I've talked to Ty on private.
I've talked to Tony in private,Dan, you know Deshaun, Mike
Goldstein's a great dude in theindustry.
Reggie Brock.
So, like Jay Bradley, I'vetalked to all these guys and I
think that's like.
The main thing is that I'mwilling to listen and I'm
willing to see, and that doesn'tmean I'm willing to see, that
it doesn't mean I'm going totake away everything I'm
(37:17):
listening to.
It doesn't mean that I'm goingto steal ideas, although I
believe that we should bestealing ideas from all of us,
should be stealing ideas fromeach other and making them our
own.
But it's about.
It's about getting attention isnumber one for marketing.
I need to get attention andthen, once you have the
attention, you must chase thatwith content to educate
homeowners.
(37:37):
You got to, you got to have ahappy medium.
So we make really funny videosand then it gets people like, oh
man, look at these funny videos.
I need to, I need to like thispage, you need to follow this
page.
They're going to post funnystuff, and we are, but we're
also going to post educationalabout 10 times in between those
really funny videos.
So you're, so you're, forced tolisten to us.
You know, and, like I said, wegot to be everywhere, man, we're
(37:58):
.
We're at golfing out, golfingevents.
We give a free veterans roof onFourth of July.
We do a free veterans roof onVeterans Day.
This year we're doing a firstresponders roof.
My goal is to get to 12 free ayear, doing one every single
month for the rest of the timethat we're in business.
That's what I want to do.
We donate to the needy familiesinto the year.
We have collaborations allthroughout the year.
(38:21):
We'll attend any event that wecan get our hands on, even if
it's something silly.
You know I've had my guys atreptile conventions.
Why are you at a reptileconvention?
I don't know.
Why did I get 15 leads?
You know what I'm saying.
Like you got to think outsidethe box.
It doesn't have to be roofingrelated, Hence the name Roof
Trolls, because I want toembrace other other people doing
things, because also you canbenefit from other successful
(38:44):
people.
They don't have to be inroofing for you to understand
that.
Hey man, maybe they're doingsomething really cool that I
don't even know about.
You know I'm learning a lotabout taxes right now because I
got a great tax person.
But like holy hell, it's sodeep in taxes.
I hope some owners listening, I.
But like holy hell, it's sodeep in taxes.
I hope some owners listening.
I hope you guys understand howdeep this is.
Like there's a lot for us tolearn out there.
Guys, Like, believe me, thereis.
(39:04):
And that's kind of like themindset with marketing too.
Like we ask for people to joinus in our stance in educating
homeowners.
We ask for people to come andbe a part of a collaboration.
I want to shed spotlight foryou guys.
I think that it makes us lookbetter, uh, long-term.
And my goal is that, althoughwe may see smaller amounts of
(39:25):
money right now, I have reasonto believe that once we are
established as a destinationspot and as more reps travel
here, then guess what guys?
More reps, more you know, moreads, more followers, more bread
guys.
It's going to happen.
We're going to grow at theright pace that we need to.
And then, full disclosure myhopes is that I can avoid this
(39:47):
PE suck up that they're doingright now in our industry, and I
hope that.
I hope that I can grow this out, you know, and make it special
on my own before we, before wedecide to go down those ventures
.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Yeah, what are you seeing that you, I guess, don't
like about the PE route that alot of people are trying to take
these days.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
So I'm going to be fully honest with you.
I don't know enough todefinitively say this I don't
like this.
I do like I could be open aboutthat.
Um, what I can say is, Ibelieve that if you're going to
go that route, you're only goingfor one reason, you know, and
and if that one reason is is toget out of it, well then my
(40:32):
question would remain the same,as I've asked everybody.
So you sold your company, butbut now?
Now, what happens to thecompany and what happens to the
people that worked underneathyou, that believed in you, that
you told them that you, you knowyou're going to take care of
their families You're going to?
This comes back to are you, youknow, are?
Are you really in this for themor you in this for yourself?
Are you giving them apercentage?
(40:52):
Are they, are they you know?
Are they shareholders in this?
And when the sale goes through,do they get some startup cash?
Do you have anything set asidefor them?
Did you determine if I sell forX amount or whatever multiplier
they tell you you're going toget and it should come to
fruition, do I disperse that tothe people that I left behind?
You know, there's a lot ofquestions that arise with that,
(41:13):
and then I think the most, youknow, the most important thing
is to me I wouldn't evenconsider doing something like
that until I've exhausted all myresources.
I'd have to see how far I cangrow this before I would ever
think about letting somebodyelse come in and grow that,
because what happens is a lot ofthe companies that do get
absorbed by PE.
There are some nice endings toit, but unfortunately the trend
(41:36):
shows that once the ownershipand the heart of the companies
leave, well, what do you have?
That's what people keep gettingconfused by.
This.
This don't mean shit.
Romans is a cool logo, but itdoesn't mean anything.
This means something.
It's what you stand behind.
It's what keeps us going.
(41:57):
Once, once I'm gone, once ourpartners are gone, once our top,
our top reps, our manager, oncethey're gone, you bought a name
and that name is is.
You know, it's as valuable askmart red lobster.
It's as valuable as joannefabric.
That's.
That's about how valuable thatname is.
Uh, so, like you know, payattention to those things, as
(42:18):
that's my main thing.
Um, but I'm like I said, I'mtrying to build a culture here.
I'm not even that's, not even afocal point.
But I do see what they're doingand kudos to people who are
into that, like if that's, ifthat's your move, that's your
end game.
You've been open and honestwith the people working for you.
Who am I to tell you you'remaking a wrong decision?
You know I'm saying like gomake your paper.
I'll never, never, knocksomeone else's hustle, just not
for me.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
Yeah, for sure.
We talked a little bit aboutearlier.
Like you know, if you're goingto be building a sales team and
a destination for sales reps andyou have to you had mentioned
it to me I think it was on ourcall the other day that you feel
that there's a big gap in theroofing industry around training
(43:00):
.
How have you guys thought aboutthat and how have you put into
place a training process thatreally benefits the salespeople
on an ongoing basis?
Speaker 2 (43:13):
It's the hardest thing to do, man, that is the
hardest thing to do so.
So last year we thought we gaveus some pretty decent training.
We didn't, uh, we didn'tdeliver anywhere near what we
needed to.
This year we're like, all right, we're doubling down on the
training, and we did.
We, we worked really hard totrain with the guys.
Uh, we felt fairly confidentabout it.
(43:34):
Brought deshaun in here, broughtjohn scenic in here.
Deshaun does the one-on-oneswith us afterward, after he
breaks down, the team assessesit and everything.
And, yeah, one of the biggestconsensus across the board was
we needed to do more training.
So we're like, holy hell, dude,like what?
I mean, what are we doing?
And then, instead of gettingfrustrated about it, I realized
(43:54):
that it's not.
It may not necessarily be moretraining.
Realize that it's not.
It may not necessarily be moretraining.
It may be reiterating thebasics on a consistent, on a
consistent basis, to where itjust becomes second nature.
Not, not, don't call ittraining.
Just just continue to go overthe basics of what you want the
people to do and it'll be better.
We have a a door knockingschedule now that we've
(44:16):
implemented here from threeo'clock to 8 pm and what we do
from 12 until three now is wetrain.
We pick two topics and we divein on those.
Man, we're going to go all inon on everything and, most
importantly, we ask the salesteam what is it that you guys
are struggling with?
What can we help you with?
You know how do.
How do we work together andmaking this.
(44:38):
You know a thing also we labelthe goals.
Everybody knows what the goalsare.
They got their vision boards upin our conference room and then
we have our main goal as acompany, because it's important
that they understand that we allhave a goal and that every road
is going to be different, butthe end of the road needs to
remain the same.
(44:58):
As long as we all have the sameend goal, we can do this right.
Training is no different.
As long as you tell me what youneed, I'll make sure that I
deliver on that end.
But it was really eye-opening tothink that even now, we still
don't have the training, andthat should go to speak volumes
for owners that are listening tothis as well.
Like I said, I got guys thathave been in this for five and
(45:20):
six years and they're sayingthey need more training like
this.
The industry changes everysingle year, every single year.
So you need to adapt to thatand you need to change up too.
You need to.
You know, we need to doubledown on basics.
There's some people out herethat are that are selling
millions of dollars in roofsthat don't know what drip edge
is.
That's a real thing.
(45:40):
It's a real thing.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
It's crazy.
It's kind of crazy but it is areal thing and the basics are.
I think you have your that's agood point around the basics.
If you think about it from asports analogy, you just never
stop practicing, you never stoptraining, you never stop
practicing and a lot of it isjust the fundamentals.
(46:06):
You're still working on thefundamentals.
You just get better at thefundamentals.
You're doing advancedfundamentals as you gain
experience in a lot of cases.
When you're you know, as yougain experience in a lot of
cases, what other things are youdoing?
You know to like, let's say,you have a brand new sales rep,
fresh new sales rep.
Like, what's the journey forthem?
(46:30):
I know you're enjoying theepisode, but let's give a shout
out to another one of oursponsors.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
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changing and unpredictable times.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Click the link in the description to apply to join.
To like, let's say, you have abrand new sales rep, fresh, new
sales rep, like.
What's the journey for them?
Speaker 2 (47:08):
So one more aspect of the training too is we got
repair guys so we'll send theteam out there and like say
we're doing, we're doing a roofon Thursday, On Wednesday we
might have the whole team up onthat roof teaching them how to
pull an ITEL, teaching them howto tarp it.
We're replacing the rooftomorrow, anyway, let's shred
this thing up.
You know, we teach them what itlooks like to do this and do it
right.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
But as far as I'm sorry, can you repeat that what
you're saying?
As far as I was thinking likethe journey of a sales rep from
being a fresh new sales rep.
They're just getting startedLike, what does that journey
look like to you?
How do you, how do you bestprepare them for a career as a
roofing sales rep?
Speaker 2 (47:50):
So after the interview process, which is
rigorous in itself, we try to dotwo interviews.
So after the interview process,they get in here.
We always hire with multiplepeople, say four or five.
We do a room and what they dois they come in the office every
single day for that week.
The first day they would begoing through the initial setup,
(48:10):
the tax paperwork, all thatstuff.
They're going to sit down andwe're going to kind of run them
through what our missionstatement is, what we stand for
here, what the goals are hereand how we plan to accomplish
that goal, and then where theyfit in in that process.
The second half of that day isthe exact same thing, except for
(48:31):
now it's their turn.
What is your goal?
Where do you think you fit intothis process?
What do you want to do?
Where do you want to be at intwo or three years?
Another thing that we're failingon as owners too, is some of
these guys aren't going to beroofers for the rest of their
life.
Guys, you have to accept that.
Most of them are lifers whenthey get in this industry.
We know that, but some of themdude when they get in this
industry, we know that, but someof them, dude, they aspire to
be rappers and they're onlydoing this because for two years
(48:52):
they want to build a studio.
You got to support that.
You got to help them.
I got a guy who worked with mefor a year and a half two years
almost and he owns a hot dogstand.
I have that guy at every singleveteran build.
We do every single one of them.
I have him at my fantasyfootball leagues birthday a
whole shebang.
Love the guy, but he wasn'tdestined for this.
He had a different missionstatement.
You got to respect that.
(49:13):
So we hear about what they'redoing.
Then day two would be coming inand kind of going down a little
bit more of like a recap.
And then the systems.
Here's our CRM.
Here is our door knocking app.
Here is the iPad that wepresent to you guys.
Let's get the serial numbers in.
Let's get the uniform in.
Why is the uniform important?
(49:33):
What is the significance ofthis?
Do you have any questionspertaining to yesterday?
Let's dive into some deeperstuff.
We go into all the processes,company cam, everything.
Then day three would bebreaking down what their
responsibilities and dutieswould be as a sales rep.
How does this start frombeginning to end process.
What's the paperwork look like?
What's the explanation of thepaperwork?
(49:55):
What does each line in thiscontract mean?
How would you present this?
You know, a little bit of roleplaying off of what they've
learned, a little bit of showingthem kind of the funner side of
what we do.
We like to have a good time here.
I think that's important.
I think that's a missedrecruiting opportunity as well.
A lot of people want to talkabout the money you can make and
that's great.
But I'm a living example and alot of people in this industry.
(50:17):
We're not driven by money.
Guys.
If I was bored here and youpaid me a million dollars a year
, I'd walk on you.
I would dude.
I don't want to be bored, Iwant to have fun, I want to
laugh Like I just want to have agood time.
So that comes with culture.
Hire the right people that canfit in with your guys.
But we'll introduce the teamslowly.
I think day three is like whenwe introduced them so they could
see how big the sales team is.
(50:39):
Let them get a feel out forthem.
Day four they would meet theirteam leads.
We would go down their numbersof the team leads, what the
responsibility is of that teamlead and the chain of command.
They'll introduce other people.
They'll be introduced to thesales managers, to the sales
director.
They'll be introduced to theowners.
Come in there, shake hands withthem, talk with them, chit-chat
(51:01):
.
We buy them lunch every day.
We build camaraderie.
Friday would be the first daythat they get a taste of door
knocking, although they don'tknock the door themselves, they
kind of shadow climb on a roofwhen they can see how the apps
work, see how Hover's done, seehow you know company cam is done
, see all that stuff.
So they go through that processand then, once they're done
(51:23):
with that, we kind of give themthe weekend off to refresh
themselves.
Hey, man, you had a good weekhere, stay strong, remember your
goals, come to us on Monday andlet's move forward.
Now they got mantras, though.
Now we got like mantras andstuff too, that we're making the
guys have a mantra.
Yeah, you have to have sometype of mission statement.
If you don't have one, thenyou're coming out here with no
purpose.
If you're coming out here withno purpose, you will get no
(51:48):
results.
So you have to have a purposewith that.
So so we send them to that and,uh, the following week is the
first time that they'll actuallyget out, uh, and be able to
knock doors.
Um, and we don't expect muchfrom them in that first week,
it's more so, like I want to seeif this is even for them.
You know, like it's one thingto talk about door knocking,
it's another thing to go knock adoor at 85 degrees, uh, and
climb on a black roof.
You know, at that type, youknow, so it's it's a whole new
(52:11):
ball game once that comes.
And then the team leads to letus know hey, man, this guy, he
needs to work here, or I feelyou could help him here.
And then their, their goal isto develop the sales guys
underneath them.
So their goals, and financiallythey are tied to those sales
reps.
So they need to make sure thatthat sales rep produces at the
(52:31):
Roman level.
And then they also need to makedecisive decisions as well as
with management.
One philosophy we have here from, I read in a book called
Essentialism, great book but itsays if it is not a clear yes,
it's a clear no.
So like, if it's not 100%, thisguy can be molded, then it's
(52:51):
100%.
We can't work with him, cutties with him.
Remember that you have to begood at firing as well.
I want to build a positiveculture, but you got to be able
to make a move, and some movesare very, very tough decisions.
It's never easy to do thosethings, but this is about
protecting the other 50 familiesthat you have underneath you.
So you see what I'm saying Likewhen it comes to them you have
(53:18):
to make the right move.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Yeah, what's a?
What does success look like inthat rep in your mind?
In?
Speaker 2 (53:22):
the first year?
First year?
Um, it's a good question.
Uh, I'd want to see.
I'd want to see a lot of things, man, there's a lot of
tangibles in that, Uh yeahtangibles and intangibles.
Speaker 1 (53:35):
It doesn't just have to be a number.
You know what I mean.
What else are you looking for?
Speaker 2 (53:42):
Are you doing anything Outside of what I'm
showing you Is a big thing forme.
I could show you everythinguntil I'm blue in the face.
But then what am I showing you?
I'm only showing you everythingI know.
Deshawn told me in Orlando whenI saw him speak at RoofCon.
He told me afterward he saidyeah, he was reading the book
and he didn't enjoy it at all.
He's like book sucks.
And I'm like what the hell areyou reading it for?
And you know what he said to meit makes so much damn sense.
(54:04):
It read that.
And I don't.
I'm not going to read it too.
I said, okay, that's, that's agood philosophy.
Why would you want to work sideby side with a guy who has more
knowledge than you Makes sense.
So you know that's myNeanderthal thinking and never
put that together in my damnself.
But I tell our reps that youknow like, are you doing
(54:24):
something outside of this?
So I think success for guywho's who's, he'll hit me up.
So our top sales rep right nowis a girl named ashley.
She hasn't even been in theindustry for a year.
Uh, she, she's our top salesrep.
Came from selling mattressesand uh, she, constantly.
What podcast do you listen to?
Well, who should I be watchingon youtube every every roof
shingle group I join in or thatI've been in.
(54:46):
I see her posting it.
What shingle is this?
What's the name of this?
What, what?
What would I do in casescenario?
What do you do here?
I pop on Zooms and she'salready sitting in there free
Zooms that you know, that are onInstagram and stuff like that.
She popped into them.
So like I like that.
I like seeing somebody go outand educate themselves when I
don't have to sit there and holdyour hand through it.
That would be a sign of success.
Another sign of success would behow well are the people around
(55:09):
you doing when they work withyou?
Is everybody eating or is itjust you feasting?
Because then you got to askyourself is somebody helping
this person or is this persondoing it themselves?
That's a big key point.
Are you writing legible on yourcontract?
I know that sounds stupid, butI can't believe how many
30-year-olds can't spell, howmany 30-year-olds can't fill out
(55:29):
the contract the correct way.
It's insane.
Dude, that's paperwork.
That's legal, binding paperwork.
What's wrong with you?
Uh, so like that's something,um, you know.
And then what's what?
What are your buy rates?
Uh, buy rates is huge.
Are you signing quality stuff?
Uh, are you signing you knowstuff you shouldn't be signing.
(55:52):
And uh, it's really hard togauge on like an income wise,
because we all know that yearone you can explode in year one.
I mean I sold a million and ahalf year one day and never even
climbed a roof full disclosure,never even climbed one roof.
Company used to get so mad atme.
I ended up being top sales rep.
1.5 million.
I did everything wrong, butthat just goes to show you
volume will go a long way inthis industry.
So guess, what I'd want to seeis the growth you know, like are
you doing it the correct way?
(56:13):
And then, even if you fail tohit like a million dollar mark
but I think it's like prettymuch for most companies, that's
the mark people want to setpeople at um, so like, if you
finished at 700 000, but was ita clean 700 000?
Well then, that's served.
To me that holds more weightthan one and a half dirty when I
got to go back and fixeverything or the back end's got
to do all this extra supportfor you customers calling in
(56:36):
here constantly because youdon't communicate with them.
I like to see that they'retaking the right steps and
getting better.
Speaker 1 (56:43):
Yeah, for sure.
What advice do you have for theindustry For people listening?
What advice do you have for theindustry Like, for people
listening, like?
What advice can you give them?
Speaker 2 (56:59):
Listen to your sales guys, man.
Listen to your sales guys andlisten to your clientele.
You know there's a big mix up,I think, in the industry when it
comes to marketing and branding.
Marketing is literally what wetell people we are, but your
brand is what they say about youwhen the door is closed.
(57:19):
That's what you need to focuson Bring a clear mission
statement and then put your guysin a position to succeed and
again go back and think about atime when you were struggling.
What could that person havedone better for you to get you
in a position and what couldhave been a huge boost for you
(57:40):
to help you understand somethingmore?
And then apply that to this Forthose of us that have kids.
I'm a father, my daughter thevery first thing that ever
popped in my brain when I evenheard I was having a kid.
Wow, I don't want her to growup like I did, so why are we
forcing our reps to learn likewe did?
I have so many friends that ownbusinesses, too, in this and
(58:03):
they're like, yeah, we learned.
We learned by watching YouTube.
We went out there and we weredogs.
We got after it.
That's why that the betterwe're, the stronger in the pack.
That's stupid.
That's stupid.
Why did we learn that way?
We learned that way becausesome bum was running the company
that didn't train us.
We learned that way becauseother people were focused on
things instead of developing ourmindset.
It shouldn't have took us eightyears to get to this level.
(58:25):
It should have took us threeyears to get here, but we had to
learn everything on our own.
Why not cut that in half?
I want my competition to be onthe same level.
I am why?
Because I aspire to be greater.
So how do I get better?
Well, I gotta bring you up herewith me so that I'm forced to
learn more, so I can keep risingmyself.
I love chasing people that I'mnever gonna catch.
(58:45):
I know that, but I still gottachase them.
Shoot, shoot for the shoot forthe stars land on the moon,
right Like our land, the moon,whatever.
However, that saying goes likelet's, let's aim for huge goals,
but you know, come up with arealistic road to it and
genuinely care about your people.
That's, that's all I'm askingpeople to just genuinely care.
You're never, you're nevergoing to make less money
(59:07):
bringing somebody else up withyou.
It's never going to happen.
So if you know that, then whynot help somebody else?
Well, good as being the man ifyou don't have anybody else up
there with you.
Speaker 1 (59:23):
It doesn't make any sense.
Awesome, elijah, thanks foryour time today.
This has been another episodeof the Roofing Success Podcast.
Thank you for tuning into theRoofing Success Podcast.
Thank you for tuning into theRoofing Success Podcast.
For more valuable content,visit roofingsuccesspodcastcom
While there, check out oursponsors for exclusive offers,
shop for merchandise and sign upfor our newsletter for industry
(59:43):
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The website link is in thedescription.
(01:00:04):
Thanks for listening you.
How do you go from being a sales rep with a dream
to building an eight-figureroofing company with six
co-owners?
Today's episode is amasterclass in culture-driven
growth.
We're talking with Elijah Mummabout what it takes to build a
true destination company forsales reps, where people don't
(00:20):
just work, they stay, thrive andretire.
Elijah is one of the foundersof Romans Roofing and the host
of the Roof Trolls podcast.
His team turned a $700,000 momand pop shop into a
multi-eight-figure machine injust two years, all while
putting culture andaccountability above profit.
(00:41):
What sets Elijah apart is histransparency from firing his top
producer for being a culturekiller to offering salaries,
401ks and vehicles in anindustry that rarely does.
Elijah walks the talk and the10 sales reps who followed him
to Romans.
That says it all.
You want to create a businesswhere reps can grow, stay loyal
(01:04):
and build a future.
This episode is your blueprint.
Let's get into it with ElijahMumm from Romans Roofing.
Welcome to the Roofing SuccessPodcast.
I'm Jim Alleyne and I'm here tobring you insights from top
leaders in the roofing industryto help you grow and scale your
roofing business.
Elijah Mumm, how are you today,man?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Good man, Great Great Excited to be on the podcast
the.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Roof Trolls in the house.
Yes sir, yes sir.
Love the Roof Trolls.
Romans Roofing, awesome man.
Good to have you, good to haveyou.
Why about introduce yourself tothe audience?
Tell them a little bit aboutRomans, introduce the Roof
Trolls podcast a little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Okay, so my name is Elijah Mumm.
I am one of the owners one ofsix owners of Romans Roofing.
Yes, you heard that right, wehave six partners.
I'm also a host of a podcastcalled the Roof Trolls.
It is a platform that I createdto collaborate with other
amazing people, not only in ourindustry but in our local towns
(02:10):
that we work in.
I'm just trying to bring morespotlight to some people out
there who might be doing amazingthings.
It was one of the things that,when I was coming up as a sales
rep, I was like, man, it'd becool to be on a podcast, it'd be
cool to be on a stage and stuff, and then later you find out
you've got to earn those things.
But I think Roof Trolls is likea good step just to get out
there and start meeting people,learning and picking other
(02:32):
people's brains and seeing whatthey're doing to be successful
similar to this podcast as well,and just collaborating on a
whole.
I think that's one of thethings that the industry is
really lacking in right now.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yeah, how did you guys come together?
Six partners, that's a lot ofpeople to bring together.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah.
So I worked for one of mypartners at the first job in
this industry I've ever had,first sales gig ever.
That company was absorbed by amuch larger company in an
attempt to push for a publicmarket I'm a corporate company
and I didn't stay on that train.
I actually was like, hey man,I'm just.
You know, I'm two years intosales.
(03:12):
I've been a dog on the streetsknocking doors.
I think that I could findgrowth somewhere else.
That's what I wanted.
I wanted to be a sales manager.
I really wanted to get intosales and like learn you know
front to back that aspect of it.
I really wanted to get intosales and learn front to back
that aspect of it.
So I went my separate ways,worked for a couple of companies
and then actually ended up backat that much larger company
that absorbed that company Iworked at.
(03:33):
So while I was there Ideveloped a couple of
relationships with some peoplethere and Roman's Roofing was
started by a local attorney inthis area, jeffrey Semko, who
also remains still a partner inthis, and he was the original
founder of Roman's Roofing wasstarted by a local attorney in
this area, jeffrey Semko, whoalso remains still a partner in
this and he was the originalfounder of Roman's Roofing.
It was like a small mom and popside gig for him.
Obviously, he's an attorney, sohe has a busy schedule anyway
(03:55):
and he started this concept.
He was like I'm going to dosomething for my son.
His son is named Roman, sowe're going to put together
Romans.
So while that was going on, mybuddy who I grew up with, angelo
, was working at a supplier,kind of linked up with Jeff, and
they went into businesstogether.
Well, when the falling outhappened, when this, when this
company was pushing toward thepublic market, we were all at, I
(04:18):
had a choice to make.
I was going to go start off onmy own thing, finally become an
owner.
I didn't know what to do.
So I sat down with a few people.
I kind of like saw what was outthere, what everybody had on
the table, and I determined thatI'm going to open up my own
business.
It's time for me to get outthere and kind of do my thing.
Randomly, we went to a Cubs gameand while we were sitting there
(04:39):
, angelo was like hey, man, Iknow you want to open your own
thing, but I think that we mightbe interested in maybe selling
this?
I don't, I don't know.
You know, maybe maybe you guyswant to come and at least sit
down see what that looks like.
And I was like man, I was alittle hesitant about it because
, again, I've been doing this atthis point now for six years
(05:00):
and I still hadn't done anythingon my own.
I still didn't know if I wascapable of doing it on my own.
I wanted to challenge myself.
I'm like, all right, well, Ilearned early on in life that
you know, you got to hear peopleout.
Every opportunity could presentsomething else for you.
So at least give them theopportunity to sit down.
So we went and sat down at thelaw office and it was crazy.
It was like, I mean, perfect,perfect.
So they had a mom and pop feelto them.
They had a little bit ofbranding, known as a good,
(05:21):
reliable company.
They had no sales guys, butthey had licenses, they had, uh,
established business, they hada presence in the area.
So I was like, hey, man, Ithink this is a good foot, our
good fit.
So I brought 10 guys in herewith me, um, and then I brought
three other guys in here.
So, uh, we waited on another guyto kind of you know how it goes
(05:43):
, man, when everybody leaves thecompany, they get a little cold
feet.
So we waited on him to comeover here and then, once he came
over, we're like all right,well, what do we do now?
We got six owners and somepeople would look at that as
like a negative thing.
I looked at it as like anamazing thing, because that's
six different points of view,that's six different opinions,
six different philosophies, andnow when we have issues, you got
to run through six differentpeople before we decide.
(06:04):
You know what to do with that,and I think that's great, like
it's great.
It also sends a message to reps, letting them know that I could
make more money doing thisalone, but I take less money to
have a better, stronger system,support system, better cast,
better, better.
You know processes in general,because that's what that's what
you need to scale up to.
(06:25):
The next level is is solidprocess, um.
So it kind of was just like aperfect fit.
We came over here in um twoyears ago.
So it was two years ago was ourfirst year.
So this is year three.
So two years ago we come inhere and the most this company
ever did was 700,000.
We come in here at the end ofMay and my guys finished the
(06:48):
year at seven and a half millionand we did that in, honestly,
like six months.
We just really plowed throughit.
Guys are great at the door.
It was almost all door knockinglike just solid door knocking.
You had a little bit of leadsfor like retail, but my guys
weren't fit for that yet.
So we ran by the seat of ourpants, flew by the seat of our
pants you know our food by theseat of our pants took off, hit
seven and a half million.
(07:09):
And then we were like all right, we'll slow.
Whoa, what did we do?
Like what did we do, you know?
So we started dialing in whatwe were doing and then we were
like dude, I think that we coulddo more and I think that we're
in, we're in a position now toreally, really help our guys.
So it's like how do we growthis out and keep them happy?
Because, at the end of the day,roman's Roofing only wants to be
(07:29):
a destination spot for salesreps.
That's my end goal.
I want to see a sales repretire with me in an industry
where the average lifespan of asales rep is what two to three
years.
I want to see them retire here.
So I have guys who've been withme for five years.
So we took that philosophy.
We came back last year and hitit at 14 and a half million and
(07:55):
now we are actually on pace togo over 20.
And it's, you know, we've donesome changes here now that, I
think, really speak volumes intowho we are as individuals,
being that we offer a salary.
We're one of the few companiesin this area that offers a
salary.
We also offer commission a 401kwith a three and a half percent
match, because I want people toretire here.
We offer leads, in-house leadsas well as door knocking.
(08:18):
We provide vehicles.
It's just a whole shebang andwe're just big on marketing and
everything and kind of justhaving fun man growing this
thing out.
I know it's a long-winded story.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Let's talk about that a little bit, though.
You mentioned a few things, butlet's dive deep into becoming a
destination company for salesreps.
Sales reps, like.
It sounds like that.
(08:50):
That started that.
That became an like an idea inyour mind after you came over to
Romans, but how has thatprogressed?
What is that?
I know the goal is hey, I wanta place where someone could
retire from what.
What steps do you take inbetween to make sure that that
happens?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
The first step is accountability.
I think that that's missedacross the board.
A lot of people throw that wordout there loosely.
I've lost, even at Romans,probably 30 sales reps that were
gone, and most of that is myfault.
You have to own responsibilityfor that, because you make
mistakes along the way.
You know, if you're not makingmistakes, I don't think you're
(09:28):
aiming for a big enough goal,and that's just the reality of
it.
So we got to learn from it.
You know, I read a book calledThink and Grow Rich and it says
when defeat comes, we acceptthat as a signal that our plans
are not sound.
So it's basically back to thedrawing board before you can set
sail again, and that's kind oflike what we did.
(09:48):
So we were like all right, thisis what we're doing, that's
really working.
But what are we doing?
That's not working and this iscrazy.
But I tell people all about itand I love the guy to death.
I wish nothing but the best forhim.
So at the end of last year, um,we we determined well, towards
the end of last year, wedetermined that it was going to
be a different mindset, um, thatwe are going to have to go in
(10:10):
this and decide what we wanted.
Did we want to go on vacationsall the time as owners?
Did we want to use this as abank account?
Did we want to you know,financially set ourselves up, or
do we genuinely care about thepeople that work for us?
And if we do genuinely careabout the people that work for
us, and if we do genuinely careabout the people that work for
us, then we need to give them anenvironment that they can
thrive in.
So how do you do that?
Well, you take culture and youput it above profits.
(10:33):
And it's hard, that's a hardpill for a lot of people to
swallow.
It really is man.
Greed is so bad in everyindustry, but especially this
one.
So you know, having lived fromthe perspective of a sales rep
my entire career, I'm obviouslysales like-minded.
So when I came up with thisphilosophy, I was like well, I
(10:53):
got to be serious about it.
So our top sales rep last yearand he was one of my good
friends we fired him.
You know he finished the yearat the most sales.
He was by far the best salesrep I had.
But he was a cancer to theculture.
He brought down a lot of peoplein the environment.
He didn't.
He didn't.
You know, he wasn't what wewanted him to be outside of his
(11:15):
performance.
Like selling jobs is one thing,but when people have to come and
work with you, if you're, ifyou're untrainable, if you're
uncoachable, to come and workwith you if you're, if you're
untrainable, if you'reuncoachable, then I have nothing
for you.
I mean, you know, whatever youare right now, that's all you're
ever going to be, and in thisindustry it's forever evolving.
So, like, good luck, you know,good luck paying your bills with
(11:36):
the skill set that you obtainedlast year.
You know, good luck.
We all have to do better.
We all have to.
So it starts with the ownership,and then, I said, the process.
The other part is, you know, dowe pay massive commissions or
do we invest in the future?
So then that's a conversationwe had with our sales reps as
well.
You know, hey guys, I can payyou 10 percent, 12 percent, 15
(11:58):
percent, 10, 50, 50, whateveryou want.
I can pay you that, no doubtabout it.
But if you want, I can pay youthat, no doubt about it.
But if you want to be here,this is something you're
committed to, like Romans, youwant it to grow.
You want to eventually putyourself in a position to have a
max, you know, a large incomeand to be in a position where
you could have people underneathyou, possibly in another office
or something.
(12:18):
Then we got to do this, smartguys, we got to approach this as
, like Romans, we're the face ofit and and we're, we're out
here for a greater purpose,right, you know, you gotta, you
gotta have a mission statement,and that's kind of like where
we're at right now.
It's like all right, guys,let's go out and be the best we
can be, but also provide thebest experience, not only for
you guys, but for our clienteleas well, because that's what,
(12:41):
that's what the world's turningright now.
Man, everything is convenience,and experience Price has been
out the window for a long time.
We all know that.
We see, you know, powerremodeling is a billion dollar
company and they, they spit outfor a month.
You know, like that's, that'swhere we're at in society.
So like, how do we separateourselves from the rest of the
people?
And that's through experienceand genuinely caring, you know
(13:07):
and genuinely caring.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
You have to care, you do.
That has to be a hardconversation with the team and
saying you're going to put thecompany above your paycheck in a
way.
How did that go?
What was the?
(13:29):
What was the feedback?
So did you lose some people?
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Oh yeah, we had a couple of people that didn't buy
into it.
After that move was made, Ithink we ended up losing four
more Full disclosure Again we'reon pace to do more than we did
last year, and that's what thetop sales rep and all those
other guys going.
So you know, the proof is inthe pudding.
That's why you got to go backand you really got to double
down and be committed to whatyou're doing, stick to the
(13:53):
process and believe in yourself,and you know you're going to
fail.
Dude, I just don't.
You know you're going to fail.
What do you say in the greatestsalesman in the world?
The victory of success is halfwon when you develop the habits
of creating goals and thencrushing those goals.
So you have to start small, andthat's what we did in the
beginning, with the guys like,hey, man, we want to accomplish
(14:15):
this, this and this.
Let's go out and do it.
And then we took steps, hugefor ourselves as well.
We took less profits to dogreater things.
So, for instance, this buildingthat I'm sitting in right now we
sat down as owners and we said,hey, man, we need to buy a
building.
Why do we need to buy abuilding.
Why is that necessary?
It's necessary for a lot ofthings, but if we're going to
tell the community that we careabout them, that we're here to
(14:36):
protect them, then we need tonot be paying rent.
This needs to be ours.
We need to be established inthis building.
So right now I'm actually rightacross the street from the
mayor's office in the town thatwe operate in.
We bought the building here.
It sends a message to leteverybody know we're here.
We don't plan to go anywhere.
We're planning to stick by youguys, whether we do right or
wrong.
We're going to be here tocorrect those mistakes and move
(14:56):
forward together.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, yeah for sure.
And those are it's.
I guess that's that's leadingfrom the front, right.
So the team sees that.
The community sees that you're,you're, you're you're putting
that foot forward and not justhelping reps earn that.
(15:31):
You want them to growpersonally through this journey
of working with Romans also.
How have you implemented that?
Before we carry on with theepisode, let's give a shout out
to one of our sponsors.
I talk to contractors every daythat feel stuck, not because
they're not working hard, butbecause they're missing the
(15:52):
structure to grow without chaosor their culture's falling apart
, because their team's unclear,unaligned or just burned out.
And when change hits, they'rereacting instead of leading
because time and prioritiesaren't under their control.
Day 41 Thrive helps to fix thatwith proven strategies for
(16:14):
growth, culture and leadershipthat actually work, ready to
thrive beyond the storm.
Visit the link in thedescription or visit the Roofing
Success Podcast website on thesponsors page to start your
journey today that you want themto grow personally through this
(16:35):
journey of working with Romansalso.
How have you implemented that?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Man.
It's been baby steps, like Ialluded to.
We really try to get out thereand collaboration has helped us
to a point.
So we are members of the RoofHustlers Academy with Deshaun.
We have been for two years.
We've flown him out each of thelast two years to come and work
with our guys on the psychologyof door knocking, identifying
(17:02):
the clientele, learning how toread them, learning how to, in a
sense, manipulate conversationsto sway in our favors.
You know, like teaching the guyswhat it takes to be a salesman,
but also diving in and lettingthem understand that these are
superpowers.
We're all superpowers.
Truthfully, that's what we are.
We're superheroes.
Not only do we help homeownersovercome you overcome some, some
(17:26):
huge objectives that they'redealing with and go through a
rigorous process, but aside fromthat, we have superpowers.
We know how to swayconversations.
We know how to do these thingsand manipulate tactics and stuff
like that to work in our favor.
So we have to teach the guysnow, since you've developed
those superpowers comes, youknow, like Spider-Man's comes
(17:46):
great responsibility.
You can't use that for bad.
You got to continue to grow andbe a good person, cause if
you're not a good human being,then who cares how much money
you make, who cares what you dofor a living Like?
You have to be a good personfirst.
So we're family oriented here.
We all hang out together, we dofamily events together, we do
barbecues together, we travel asteams together.
(18:07):
You know, we go to door to doorcon every year in Utah together
, as a team.
I expose them to people doinggreater things so they can see
how large and still humbly smallthis industry really is, and
just like trying to work withthem on, like I said, just
outside of sales too.
Work with them on, like I said,just outside of sales too.
It's.
Do you have any?
You know, financial concerns?
(18:31):
Uh, we've helped guys.
Uh, in private.
Uh, you know, pay for somethings in their lives that they
couldn't get a grasp on, to helpthem give a leg up.
Um, when you, when you tellpeople that their family, you
have to treat them as such.
You know, um, people don't haveto beg for days off here.
When, when something tragichappens, we try to help out.
When something like thathappens, we try to stand by our
people.
We give them, you know, we givethem a list of books if they
want to read it or not, if theydo choose to read it.
We discuss it together, we'lldive into personality tests and
(18:55):
we have trainings that we'veprovided.
So, like I said, deshaun wasout here last year.
This year we had John Scenicout for two days and then
Deshaun out here for three.
I tried to get Dan Walrack, butit just didn't fit in the
scheduling time.
Love Dan, shout out Dan.
(19:16):
But yeah, it's about doublingdown on our efforts to make them
better as individuals in sales,and then we have to give them
the steps to take.
But that's the thing when itcomes with development, they
have to want that too.
So, when we sit down and wetalk to guys, you set goals with
me.
I'm holding you to those goals.
You want to set 2 million?
Great, this is the road to 2million.
Though, you know, don't set someridiculous goal and expect not
to be held accountable, becauseyou, essentially, are creating
(19:37):
that bar for yourself.
I'm going to measure you atthat gauge, because that's what
you told me you wanted.
So, because that's what youtold me you wanted.
So you know, like holding themaccountable as well.
And then, when it comes topersonal development, they have
to take some steps on their own.
They're going to have to go outthere.
Don't be scared to go get acoach.
Don't be scared to go get amentor.
Don't be scared to look up guysthat are giving out free stuff.
You know Becca Switzer freecontent all day long.
(19:58):
Deshawn free content all daylong no-transcript.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
I mean all of you probably have to be working on
your personal development tostay ahead of everyone, right To
to to, to walk the path and toshow the team.
How are you guys doing thatalso?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
So, so the owners.
Last year we started like this,like reading this book thing.
We do like a book a month.
I took it upon myself.
I read 25 books last year.
It's like a goal for mine, sofor me that's a huge feat.
For some out there I know it'snot.
I'm up to almost two books amonth now that I read and
continuously try to read.
Reading has been really, reallyhelpful for me, as well as
(21:14):
content we drive home, so I domarketing for our company as
well, minus the video editing.
So I'd be a nightmare if I wastrying to edit videos.
It would drive me insane.
I'd throw my computer in thewall.
Um, but filming the content andcoming up with creative ideas
and stuff, that's what I Iwanted to do originally.
I enjoy that.
Um, I think that more contentis always going to be a good
(21:35):
thing, no matter what, uh anyonesays.
I think that no one's doingenough.
You could always be doing moreof that.
So we try to message our guysand let them know that too, like
videos and stuff to putyourself in front of the camera.
Patrick Carr spoke actually atone of Deshaun's trainings and
he explained to the guys youknow the rule you want to keep
your hands here locked in,engaged all that stuff and he
(21:56):
showed us the videos that he didand it was very impactful.
And some of our leadership,they're starting to open their
you know, open their minds, atleast to a little bit more
marketing.
We're starting to open theiryou know, open their minds at
least a little bit moremarketing.
We're starting to dive intothat.
Like I said, our attorney youknow, jeff, who's our partner.
He is, he's like a silentpartner, he's not really
involved in a day-to-dayoperations.
So he's still learning theroofing industry and it's kind
(22:17):
of cool because we get to teach.
So, essentially, we learn moretoo.
We retain more knowledge by byhaving to teach as well.
Um, but our other guys, you know, I I hope that they're taking
the steps, uh, to developthemselves.
I like to think they are.
A lot of us are in mastermindgroups A lot of us, you know,
we're in the leadership programas well for roof hustlers.
Uh, we were in one more door,uh, with Ty Adams and, uh, tony
(22:39):
Flatham as well.
Um, so we're getting advicefrom those guys.
Got great relationship withBuild, strong, good people and,
yeah, I'll continue to pick thebrains of everybody.
I'll ask you a millionquestions.
I'll constantly message you orDM you, that's just.
You know, we have to continueto want to learn more every day,
and I hope that my partners andI feel that they are they're
(23:00):
taking that same initiativeevery day as well.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, I think that's the that's a major factor If
you're going to have that aspart of your culture is everyone
has to live it.
And you know like, like I knowsome, some companies have a you
know a really big culture aroundfitness.
Everybody has to be.
You know what I mean.
Like everyone has to do it.
(23:25):
Everyone.
Like whatever you're buildingthe culture around, fitness
everybody has to be.
You know what I mean.
Like everyone has to do it.
Everyone, like, whatever you'rebuilding the culture around,
everyone has to do it.
And I know you're very, very,very intuitive or in tune with
your culture, and you knowwhat's your thoughts on that.
Like what?
Let's dive deep into what haswhat has developed the culture?
(23:47):
What do you feel like has hasreally developed the culture?
Cause, just to have 10 people,10 reps, follow you to a new
company, that's like a, that's a, that's a moment that that
means that there was some sortof leadership or respect there,
which is culture in itself.
What have you doneintentionally now to build the
(24:11):
culture at Romans?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
So we explained to the guys.
So when I first started as ateam lead, when I developed
because before I was a salesmanager I had to be a team lead
and I realized quickly that youknow a lot of people lose sight
of this too, and I think it'shuge when you get put in a
position and you've yourselfhave done underneath that
position.
So if you've been a sales repand you get promoted to sales
(24:34):
manager, you you have one of twochoices at that point continue
the disgusting cycle that youlived through as a sales rep, or
you provide what you wished youhad as a sales rep.
So when I took that mindset onand I started caring about my
team more, my numbers startedsoaring and I realized quickly
(24:55):
that it's not because I drop ahammer on somebody.
It's because I genuinely amtrying to make them successful.
I'm trying to help them.
I'm laying out what we need todo but, more importantly, I'm
doing it and I'm giving them theeasiest route to do it.
You cannot give orders if youyourself have never done it.
(25:16):
It drives me insane.
That's part of why I wanted tospeak.
If I'm being completely honestwith you, that's part of what
engaged me into getting outthere is because I have seen
people that haven't knocked adoor since the Bush
administration giving advicedaily on YouTube and stuff about
knocking doors.
Come on, dude, you know howmuch the game has changed since
the last time you were out thereknocking on a door, please go
(25:36):
sit down somewhere.
You were out there knocking ona door, please go sit down
somewhere.
So that's my mindset with myguys.
I'm like, dude, I'll never askyou to do something if I myself
cannot or have not done it.
So like that it starts thatAnother rule that I have is I
don't, I don't bite their headoff in front of people.
I think that's so disrespectful.
It's more of like a privatething, like we say hey man, you
know you messed up here, I needyou to get it together.
(25:57):
And then it goes a step further.
When leadership comes to me,people above me and they would
come down and they'd say, hey,man, when you talk to this guy,
hey, chill out, I'll handle myguy.
You know it's rainbows andsunshine from you guys, you give
me the marching orders.
And I think that's where a lotof leadership fails at is that
when we get this daunting taskor something we disagree with.
(26:17):
We have tendency to show ouremotions when we, when we give
the orders down.
So, like when someone comes toyou and they're like hey, do
this sales team needs a crack?
Didn't crack the whip.
I don't know what you're doing.
You know you're you're notsigning as much as you were
before.
You need to take that and say,hey, guys, they said that we
were signing really good beforeand uh, and they said they just
like to see the same increase.
(26:37):
So, like, what are we doing?
What are you guys seeing outthere?
Like, why, why do you thinkthis?
Why do you think we can't hitthat number?
Like what, what, what'sstopping us from doing that?
Is there anything I can do foryou?
But no, most people want tocome back in there and say, dude
(27:05):
, they're yelling at me and I'mtelling you guys, this is the
same stuff.
I'm telling you know what man,I really should have done better
with that person.
I know he had potential, but atthe same time I didn't know
better.
You know I, my mind waspoisoned and I didn't know that.
I didn't know I could, I coulddo better.
You know, I didn't believe inmyself and over the last like
eight years, I've really beenfully confident.
(27:27):
Now I'm like no dude, it's,it's because I was in the wrong
mindset and now I'm in the rightmindset and I'm like all right.
Well, now, what do we do withthis?
Speaker 1 (27:37):
So what is the right mindset for leading a sales team
?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Put the sales team first.
It's going to be very hard fora lot of people to do that.
I would even go as far as Iknow I'm going to get shit for
this.
I'd put them above my clients,that's.
You know.
That sales team is why you havea business.
There are no supplementers,estimators, no contractors.
There's nothing without thatinitial sale.
And to put this in perspectivetoo, because I'm getting sick of
(28:04):
hearing this as well Sales isnot easy.
Everybody here thinks that salesfor some reason it's been crazy
in this industry Like sales iseasy.
Sales is not.
You know what's easy Taking afile that's already bought and
supplementing it that's easy.
It's easy to schedule a buildit's easy.
Taking a file that's alreadybought and supplementing it
that's easy.
It's easy to schedule a build.
It's easy.
To find a subcontractor to do awork that's easy.
Stop lying to yourselves.
(28:25):
What's difficult is walkinginto a homeowner, to a
homeowner's door at 630 at night, interrupting their meal and
then having them sign a piece ofpaper that states that you're
going to get the roof replaced,when they didn't even know you
were coming to their door allwithin an hour.
That's hard.
Stop lying to yourselves.
And a lot of people want todownplay what sales is.
(28:45):
Another thing is sales shouldbe getting paid more than you
guys.
That's another way.
That's a clown's way ofthinking.
You think that sales doesn'tdeserve to get paid more than
you guys do, like what they do?
The hardest aspect of the jobthat's their.
You know.
We reward them with highcommissions because we want them
to do what we want them to do.
Pay the guy, he won't leave.
(29:06):
You know it's like a newsflashguy.
Treat them good and pay themGuess what.
They don't go anywhere.
They don't go anywhere.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yeah, so now we've, we've you.
You, we talked a little bitabout, you know, and this is
kind of a sales thing and Ithink it's more of a sales and
marketing thing.
But we talked a little bitabout, like, how all business is
show business in a way, whatthe philosophy behind that.
Talk about that a little bit.
Oh man, I love, I love that allbusinesses show business in a
way.
What the philosophy behind that?
Talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Oh man, I love.
I love that all businesses showbusiness and you know,
deshaun's really helped mesharpen that too, cause that's a
guy that's super fun to watch,storytelling and being creative
and not being scared of thecontent.
I don't know if you've had achance to look at Roman's
Roofing's content or not, or ifanybody out there does get a
chance to look at it.
Man, I put out some crazyvideos and I do that.
(30:02):
There's a purpose behind it.
So a lot of it is.
You want to grab people'sattention because people think
that we're shopping for leads.
I don't care about leads.
Leads don't mean the leads aregoing to come.
You got to go through a processon social media.
You got to give away before youcan ask for anything.
So, romans, we actually teachhomeowners how not to use us
Like we.
We we put together videos andrun ads with money behind them,
(30:25):
teaching them how to not have totake a claim out with us, how
to not have to go through aroofer such as Romans.
I want to teach you that.
I want to teach you how to howto handle a storm claim on your
own.
Why do I want to do that?
Well, because one we you how tohandle a storm claim on your
own.
Why do I want to do that?
Well, because one we all knowthe 1% rule.
None of them are really goingto do it.
And then the ones that dochoose to do it, they're going
to see how hard, how hard thisreally is.
(30:46):
And then who do you thinkthey're going to go to for help?
It's going to be the guy whotaught them, guys.
It's going to be the one whokeeps getting out there and
leading by example.
Another thing is, like I said,the collaboration of this whole
thing.
Man, there's things going onright now, content-wise, that
we're missing out on.
We just are.
When is a roofing company goingto get together with like six
(31:06):
or seven other roofing companies?
Not in a platform that youcompete against on a daily basis
I emphasis compete, because Idon't believe in that either but
you have seven local companies.
Why haven't all seven of youguys gotten together on an ad
and said, hey, northwest Indiana, we work together?
We want to let you know that wetoo are frustrated by the storm
(31:29):
storm chasers that continue tocome in this area.
We too are upset by the waysome people have been handling
the claims.
So what we've done is we'veunited together and we let you
know that there are companiesyou can trust, and the companies
you can trust are right here inthis video.
So if you are going to take aclaim out or you are going to go
forward the process, please usesomebody creditable, somebody
from this area.
Why, why won't you do that?
You're scared that someone'sgoing to get your job.
Then they're better than upyour game.
(31:51):
But like, let's lock this areadown.
Man, this is our, this is ourshit.
We could, can all own this.
So let's focus on that, dude,instead of competing against
each other.
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Yeah, the competition aspect is crazy.
You mentioned Tony Flattum.
When I first met Tony in BuildStrong, I think we were having a
conversation at a conferenceand I hadn't heard of build
strong.
I live in the twin cities areaI hadn't heard of built strong
and and uh, and I know that wehad talked and he told me the
(32:25):
revenue that they were doing andI didn't even hear of build
strong Like it was.
It's.
It's very eyeopening to knowthe abundance of work that's out
there, right, and if you havethat abundant mentality, that
abundance mentality, you can dothings like that, you can
(32:47):
collaborate, you can share ideas, you can be open and honest
with each other about what'sgoing on in the market.
Now, there's always competition, healthy competition, right?
Your own sales team should, inmy opinion, have healthy
competition between them.
Right, there's you guys.
It's, it's a big big thing.
(33:09):
And is that?
Have you, have you been able tohighlight any anything in this?
Because it's kind of a a, it'san education first mentality, um
, and and I think that that's abig part of it, what you
mentioned.
You said, we teach these peoplethings that once they start
(33:30):
doing it, it's hard.
They realize oh man, I do needa professional right.
That's.
That's what a lot of that'sdone, a lot in different
businesses Like, hey, here'ssome free this, here's a free
guide for this or a freechecklist for that.
And then you get into it andyou're like, oh boy, whoa, I'm
(33:52):
stuck on this, let me get aprofessional to do it.
What is your marketing mix froma marketing perspective?
I mean, you guys are adoor-to-door company, but what
else are you doing to showcaseand build the brand for Romans?
I know you're enjoying theepisode, but let's give a shout
out to another one of oursponsors.
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(34:13):
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What is your marketing mix froma marketing perspective?
(35:00):
I mean, you guys are adoor-to-door company, but what
else are you doing to showcaseand build the brand for Romans.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
We do multifamily too .
We do commercial, we do retail.
We have three retail guys.
I have two commercial guys andthen right now, since I have
like 15 or 17 sales reps, I havea couple 1099 car salesmen that
are kind of like one foot inthe door.
One foot, you know, still don'tknow if they want to come here
full time.
And I'm okay with it becauseI'll tell you what do car
(35:29):
salesmen?
Uh, they got that financing onthe lock.
They know exactly what they'redoing.
As far as that, I mean, they'refluent in that.
Um, so I, I mean they're fluentin that.
So I'm always, I'm always abouta dog.
You know, if you're going tocome out here and you're going
to hustle and grind for the fewhours that you put in weekly,
I'm about that.
So you know that that motivatesme.
As far as marketing goes, Likewe, like I said, the roof trolls
(35:49):
plays a huge factor.
Roof trolls has allowed us tocollaborate with some people
that are doing amazing things,and then it's also put our foot
in the door with some someamazing guests that I never
thought possible.
You know, we had, uh, RyanSteumann was on.
You know I went to Apex and satdown with him and his and his
podcast uh well, for roof trolls, but in his podcast room and
(36:09):
that guy, after you have thatconversation, you're like Holy
hell, I'm not doing anything inmy life right now.
You know I need to step up Tony.
You know I had him on the RoofTrolls.
He broke down how he does whathe does in real estate.
Dan Walrack and Tiffany Walrackwere both on the show.
I love Tiffany too.
She's very amazing person, Verygood, kind, heart and soul.
I actually saw her on Eric'spodcast and she was talking
(36:33):
about time management and I waslike, after I saw that podcast I
reached out to Dan Walrack.
I'm like, is Tiffany going tobe around?
Like, if she is, get her onthere too.
So we had both of them come outthere.
Tim Brown allowed us to use hisroom and unfortunately I didn't
get to interview Tim.
I wanted to, but he allowed usto use his podcast room and we
had some amazing guests, man,and it was just like a really
(36:56):
good experience and being ableto sit down and talk to those
guys.
I've talked to Ty on private.
I've talked to Tony in private,Dan, you know Deshaun, Mike
Goldstein's a great dude in theindustry.
Reggie Brock.
So, like Jay Bradley, I'vetalked to all these guys and I
think that's like.
The main thing is that I'mwilling to listen and I'm
willing to see, and that doesn'tmean I'm willing to see, that
it doesn't mean I'm going totake away everything I'm
(37:17):
listening to.
It doesn't mean that I'm goingto steal ideas, although I
believe that we should bestealing ideas from all of us,
should be stealing ideas fromeach other and making them our
own.
But it's about.
It's about getting attention isnumber one for marketing.
I need to get attention andthen, once you have the
attention, you must chase thatwith content to educate
homeowners.
(37:37):
You got to, you got to have ahappy medium.
So we make really funny videosand then it gets people like, oh
man, look at these funny videos.
I need to, I need to like thispage, you need to follow this
page.
They're going to post funnystuff, and we are, but we're
also going to post educationalabout 10 times in between those
really funny videos.
So you're, so you're, forced tolisten to us.
You know, and, like I said, wegot to be everywhere, man, we're
(37:58):
.
We're at golfing out, golfingevents.
We give a free veterans roof onFourth of July.
We do a free veterans roof onVeterans Day.
This year we're doing a firstresponders roof.
My goal is to get to 12 free ayear, doing one every single
month for the rest of the timethat we're in business.
That's what I want to do.
We donate to the needy familiesinto the year.
We have collaborations allthroughout the year.
(38:21):
We'll attend any event that wecan get our hands on, even if
it's something silly.
You know I've had my guys atreptile conventions.
Why are you at a reptileconvention?
I don't know.
Why did I get 15 leads?
You know what I'm saying.
Like you got to think outsidethe box.
It doesn't have to be roofingrelated, Hence the name Roof
Trolls, because I want toembrace other other people doing
things, because also you canbenefit from other successful
(38:44):
people.
They don't have to be inroofing for you to understand
that.
Hey man, maybe they're doingsomething really cool that I
don't even know about.
You know I'm learning a lotabout taxes right now because I
got a great tax person.
But like holy hell, it's sodeep in taxes.
I hope some owners listening, I.
But like holy hell, it's sodeep in taxes.
I hope some owners listening.
I hope you guys understand howdeep this is.
Like there's a lot for us tolearn out there.
Guys, Like, believe me, thereis.
(39:04):
And that's kind of like themindset with marketing too.
Like we ask for people to joinus in our stance in educating
homeowners.
We ask for people to come andbe a part of a collaboration.
I want to shed spotlight foryou guys.
I think that it makes us lookbetter, uh, long-term.
And my goal is that, althoughwe may see smaller amounts of
(39:25):
money right now, I have reasonto believe that once we are
established as a destinationspot and as more reps travel
here, then guess what guys?
More reps, more you know, moreads, more followers, more bread
guys.
It's going to happen.
We're going to grow at theright pace that we need to.
And then, full disclosure myhopes is that I can avoid this
(39:47):
PE suck up that they're doingright now in our industry, and I
hope that.
I hope that I can grow this out, you know, and make it special
on my own before we, before wedecide to go down those ventures
.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Yeah, what are you seeing that you, I guess, don't
like about the PE route that alot of people are trying to take
these days.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
So I'm going to be fully honest with you.
I don't know enough todefinitively say this I don't
like this.
I do like I could be open aboutthat.
Um, what I can say is, Ibelieve that if you're going to
go that route, you're only goingfor one reason, you know, and
and if that one reason is is toget out of it, well then my
(40:32):
question would remain the same,as I've asked everybody.
So you sold your company, butbut now?
Now, what happens to thecompany and what happens to the
people that worked underneathyou, that believed in you, that
you told them that you, you knowyou're going to take care of
their families You're going to?
This comes back to are you, youknow, are?
Are you really in this for themor you in this for yourself?
Are you giving them apercentage?
(40:52):
Are they, are they you know?
Are they shareholders in this?
And when the sale goes through,do they get some startup cash?
Do you have anything set asidefor them?
Did you determine if I sell forX amount or whatever multiplier
they tell you you're going toget and it should come to
fruition, do I disperse that tothe people that I left behind?
You know, there's a lot ofquestions that arise with that,
(41:13):
and then I think the most, youknow, the most important thing
is to me I wouldn't evenconsider doing something like
that until I've exhausted all myresources.
I'd have to see how far I cangrow this before I would ever
think about letting somebodyelse come in and grow that,
because what happens is a lot ofthe companies that do get
absorbed by PE.
There are some nice endings toit, but unfortunately the trend
(41:36):
shows that once the ownershipand the heart of the companies
leave, well, what do you have?
That's what people keep gettingconfused by.
This.
This don't mean shit.
Romans is a cool logo, but itdoesn't mean anything.
This means something.
It's what you stand behind.
It's what keeps us going.
(41:57):
Once, once I'm gone, once ourpartners are gone, once our top,
our top reps, our manager, oncethey're gone, you bought a name
and that name is is.
You know, it's as valuable askmart red lobster.
It's as valuable as joannefabric.
That's.
That's about how valuable thatname is.
Uh, so, like you know, payattention to those things, as
(42:18):
that's my main thing.
Um, but I'm like I said, I'mtrying to build a culture here.
I'm not even that's, not even afocal point.
But I do see what they're doingand kudos to people who are
into that, like if that's, ifthat's your move, that's your
end game.
You've been open and honestwith the people working for you.
Who am I to tell you you'remaking a wrong decision?
You know I'm saying like gomake your paper.
I'll never, never, knocksomeone else's hustle, just not
for me.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
Yeah, for sure.
We talked a little bit aboutearlier.
Like you know, if you're goingto be building a sales team and
a destination for sales reps andyou have to you had mentioned
it to me I think it was on ourcall the other day that you feel
that there's a big gap in theroofing industry around training
(43:00):
.
How have you guys thought aboutthat and how have you put into
place a training process thatreally benefits the salespeople
on an ongoing basis?
Speaker 2 (43:13):
It's the hardest thing to do, man, that is the
hardest thing to do so.
So last year we thought we gaveus some pretty decent training.
We didn't, uh, we didn'tdeliver anywhere near what we
needed to.
This year we're like, all right, we're doubling down on the
training, and we did.
We, we worked really hard totrain with the guys.
Uh, we felt fairly confidentabout it.
(43:34):
Brought deshaun in here, broughtjohn scenic in here.
Deshaun does the one-on-oneswith us afterward, after he
breaks down, the team assessesit and everything.
And, yeah, one of the biggestconsensus across the board was
we needed to do more training.
So we're like, holy hell, dude,like what?
I mean, what are we doing?
And then, instead of gettingfrustrated about it, I realized
(43:54):
that it's not.
It may not necessarily be moretraining.
Realize that it's not.
It may not necessarily be moretraining.
It may be reiterating thebasics on a consistent, on a
consistent basis, to where itjust becomes second nature.
Not, not, don't call ittraining.
Just just continue to go overthe basics of what you want the
people to do and it'll be better.
We have a a door knockingschedule now that we've
(44:16):
implemented here from threeo'clock to 8 pm and what we do
from 12 until three now is wetrain.
We pick two topics and we divein on those.
Man, we're going to go all inon on everything and, most
importantly, we ask the salesteam what is it that you guys
are struggling with?
What can we help you with?
You know how do.
How do we work together andmaking this.
(44:38):
You know a thing also we labelthe goals.
Everybody knows what the goalsare.
They got their vision boards upin our conference room and then
we have our main goal as acompany, because it's important
that they understand that we allhave a goal and that every road
is going to be different, butthe end of the road needs to
remain the same.
(44:58):
As long as we all have the sameend goal, we can do this right.
Training is no different.
As long as you tell me what youneed, I'll make sure that I
deliver on that end.
But it was really eye-opening tothink that even now, we still
don't have the training, andthat should go to speak volumes
for owners that are listening tothis as well.
Like I said, I got guys thathave been in this for five and
(45:20):
six years and they're sayingthey need more training like
this.
The industry changes everysingle year, every single year.
So you need to adapt to thatand you need to change up too.
You need to.
You know, we need to doubledown on basics.
There's some people out herethat are that are selling
millions of dollars in roofsthat don't know what drip edge
is.
That's a real thing.
(45:40):
It's a real thing.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
It's crazy.
It's kind of crazy but it is areal thing and the basics are.
I think you have your that's agood point around the basics.
If you think about it from asports analogy, you just never
stop practicing, you never stoptraining, you never stop
practicing and a lot of it isjust the fundamentals.
(46:06):
You're still working on thefundamentals.
You just get better at thefundamentals.
You're doing advancedfundamentals as you gain
experience in a lot of cases.
When you're you know, as yougain experience in a lot of
cases, what other things are youdoing?
You know to like, let's say,you have a brand new sales rep,
fresh new sales rep.
Like, what's the journey forthem?
(46:30):
I know you're enjoying theepisode, but let's give a shout
out to another one of oursponsors.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
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changing and unpredictable times.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Click the link in the description to apply to join.
To like, let's say, you have abrand new sales rep, fresh, new
sales rep, like.
What's the journey for them?
Speaker 2 (47:08):
So one more aspect of the training too is we got
repair guys so we'll send theteam out there and like say
we're doing, we're doing a roofon Thursday, On Wednesday we
might have the whole team up onthat roof teaching them how to
pull an ITEL, teaching them howto tarp it.
We're replacing the rooftomorrow, anyway, let's shred
this thing up.
You know, we teach them what itlooks like to do this and do it
right.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
But as far as I'm sorry, can you repeat that what
you're saying?
As far as I was thinking likethe journey of a sales rep from
being a fresh new sales rep.
They're just getting startedLike, what does that journey
look like to you?
How do you, how do you bestprepare them for a career as a
roofing sales rep?
Speaker 2 (47:50):
So after the interview process, which is
rigorous in itself, we try to dotwo interviews.
So after the interview process,they get in here.
We always hire with multiplepeople, say four or five.
We do a room and what they dois they come in the office every
single day for that week.
The first day they would begoing through the initial setup,
(48:10):
the tax paperwork, all thatstuff.
They're going to sit down andwe're going to kind of run them
through what our missionstatement is, what we stand for
here, what the goals are hereand how we plan to accomplish
that goal, and then where theyfit in in that process.
The second half of that day isthe exact same thing, except for
(48:31):
now it's their turn.
What is your goal?
Where do you think you fit intothis process?
What do you want to do?
Where do you want to be at intwo or three years?
Another thing that we're failingon as owners too, is some of
these guys aren't going to beroofers for the rest of their
life.
Guys, you have to accept that.
Most of them are lifers whenthey get in this industry.
We know that, but some of themdude when they get in this
industry, we know that, but someof them, dude, they aspire to
be rappers and they're onlydoing this because for two years
(48:52):
they want to build a studio.
You got to support that.
You got to help them.
I got a guy who worked with mefor a year and a half two years
almost and he owns a hot dogstand.
I have that guy at every singleveteran build.
We do every single one of them.
I have him at my fantasyfootball leagues birthday a
whole shebang.
Love the guy, but he wasn'tdestined for this.
He had a different missionstatement.
You got to respect that.
(49:13):
So we hear about what they'redoing.
Then day two would be coming inand kind of going down a little
bit more of like a recap.
And then the systems.
Here's our CRM.
Here is our door knocking app.
Here is the iPad that wepresent to you guys.
Let's get the serial numbers in.
Let's get the uniform in.
Why is the uniform important?
(49:33):
What is the significance ofthis?
Do you have any questionspertaining to yesterday?
Let's dive into some deeperstuff.
We go into all the processes,company cam, everything.
Then day three would bebreaking down what their
responsibilities and dutieswould be as a sales rep.
How does this start frombeginning to end process.
What's the paperwork look like?
What's the explanation of thepaperwork?
(49:55):
What does each line in thiscontract mean?
How would you present this?
You know, a little bit of roleplaying off of what they've
learned, a little bit of showingthem kind of the funner side of
what we do.
We like to have a good time here.
I think that's important.
I think that's a missedrecruiting opportunity as well.
A lot of people want to talkabout the money you can make and
that's great.
But I'm a living example and alot of people in this industry.
(50:17):
We're not driven by money.
Guys.
If I was bored here and youpaid me a million dollars a year
, I'd walk on you.
I would dude.
I don't want to be bored, Iwant to have fun, I want to
laugh Like I just want to have agood time.
So that comes with culture.
Hire the right people that canfit in with your guys.
But we'll introduce the teamslowly.
I think day three is like whenwe introduced them so they could
see how big the sales team is.
(50:39):
Let them get a feel out forthem.
Day four they would meet theirteam leads.
We would go down their numbersof the team leads, what the
responsibility is of that teamlead and the chain of command.
They'll introduce other people.
They'll be introduced to thesales managers, to the sales
director.
They'll be introduced to theowners.
Come in there, shake hands withthem, talk with them, chit-chat
(51:01):
.
We buy them lunch every day.
We build camaraderie.
Friday would be the first daythat they get a taste of door
knocking, although they don'tknock the door themselves, they
kind of shadow climb on a roofwhen they can see how the apps
work, see how Hover's done, seehow you know company cam is done
, see all that stuff.
So they go through that processand then, once they're done
(51:23):
with that, we kind of give themthe weekend off to refresh
themselves.
Hey, man, you had a good weekhere, stay strong, remember your
goals, come to us on Monday andlet's move forward.
Now they got mantras, though.
Now we got like mantras andstuff too, that we're making the
guys have a mantra.
Yeah, you have to have sometype of mission statement.
If you don't have one, thenyou're coming out here with no
purpose.
If you're coming out here withno purpose, you will get no
(51:48):
results.
So you have to have a purposewith that.
So so we send them to that and,uh, the following week is the
first time that they'll actuallyget out, uh, and be able to
knock doors.
Um, and we don't expect muchfrom them in that first week,
it's more so, like I want to seeif this is even for them.
You know, like it's one thingto talk about door knocking,
it's another thing to go knock adoor at 85 degrees, uh, and
climb on a black roof.
You know, at that type, youknow, so it's it's a whole new
(52:11):
ball game once that comes.
And then the team leads to letus know hey, man, this guy, he
needs to work here, or I feelyou could help him here.
And then their, their goal isto develop the sales guys
underneath them.
So their goals, and financiallythey are tied to those sales
reps.
So they need to make sure thatthat sales rep produces at the
(52:31):
Roman level.
And then they also need to makedecisive decisions as well as
with management.
One philosophy we have here from, I read in a book called
Essentialism, great book but itsays if it is not a clear yes,
it's a clear no.
So like, if it's not 100%, thisguy can be molded, then it's
(52:51):
100%.
We can't work with him, cutties with him.
Remember that you have to begood at firing as well.
I want to build a positiveculture, but you got to be able
to make a move, and some movesare very, very tough decisions.
It's never easy to do thosethings, but this is about
protecting the other 50 familiesthat you have underneath you.
So you see what I'm saying Likewhen it comes to them you have
(53:18):
to make the right move.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Yeah, what's a?
What does success look like inthat rep in your mind?
In?
Speaker 2 (53:22):
the first year?
First year?
Um, it's a good question.
Uh, I'd want to see.
I'd want to see a lot of things, man, there's a lot of
tangibles in that, Uh yeahtangibles and intangibles.
Speaker 1 (53:35):
It doesn't just have to be a number.
You know what I mean.
What else are you looking for?
Speaker 2 (53:42):
Are you doing anything Outside of what I'm
showing you Is a big thing forme.
I could show you everythinguntil I'm blue in the face.
But then what am I showing you?
I'm only showing you everythingI know.
Deshawn told me in Orlando whenI saw him speak at RoofCon.
He told me afterward he saidyeah, he was reading the book
and he didn't enjoy it at all.
He's like book sucks.
And I'm like what the hell areyou reading it for?
And you know what he said to meit makes so much damn sense.
(54:04):
It read that.
And I don't.
I'm not going to read it too.
I said, okay, that's, that's agood philosophy.
Why would you want to work sideby side with a guy who has more
knowledge than you Makes sense.
So you know that's myNeanderthal thinking and never
put that together in my damnself.
But I tell our reps that youknow like, are you doing
(54:24):
something outside of this?
So I think success for guywho's who's, he'll hit me up.
So our top sales rep right nowis a girl named ashley.
She hasn't even been in theindustry for a year.
Uh, she, she's our top salesrep.
Came from selling mattressesand uh, she, constantly.
What podcast do you listen to?
Well, who should I be watchingon youtube every every roof
shingle group I join in or thatI've been in.
(54:46):
I see her posting it.
What shingle is this?
What's the name of this?
What, what?
What would I do in casescenario?
What do you do here?
I pop on Zooms and she'salready sitting in there free
Zooms that you know, that are onInstagram and stuff like that.
She popped into them.
So like I like that.
I like seeing somebody go outand educate themselves when I
don't have to sit there and holdyour hand through it.
That would be a sign of success.
Another sign of success would behow well are the people around
(55:09):
you doing when they work withyou?
Is everybody eating or is itjust you feasting?
Because then you got to askyourself is somebody helping
this person or is this persondoing it themselves?
That's a big key point.
Are you writing legible on yourcontract?
I know that sounds stupid, butI can't believe how many
30-year-olds can't spell, howmany 30-year-olds can't fill out
(55:29):
the contract the correct way.
It's insane.
Dude, that's paperwork.
That's legal, binding paperwork.
What's wrong with you?
Uh, so like that's something,um, you know.
And then what's what?
What are your buy rates?
Uh, buy rates is huge.
Are you signing quality stuff?
Uh, are you signing you knowstuff you shouldn't be signing.
(55:52):
And uh, it's really hard togauge on like an income wise,
because we all know that yearone you can explode in year one.
I mean I sold a million and ahalf year one day and never even
climbed a roof full disclosure,never even climbed one roof.
Company used to get so mad atme.
I ended up being top sales rep.
1.5 million.
I did everything wrong, butthat just goes to show you
volume will go a long way inthis industry.
So guess, what I'd want to seeis the growth you know, like are
you doing it the correct way?
(56:13):
And then, even if you fail tohit like a million dollar mark
but I think it's like prettymuch for most companies, that's
the mark people want to setpeople at um, so like, if you
finished at 700 000, but was ita clean 700 000?
Well then, that's served.
To me that holds more weightthan one and a half dirty when I
got to go back and fixeverything or the back end's got
to do all this extra supportfor you customers calling in
(56:36):
here constantly because youdon't communicate with them.
I like to see that they'retaking the right steps and
getting better.
Speaker 1 (56:43):
Yeah, for sure.
What advice do you have for theindustry For people listening?
What advice do you have for theindustry Like, for people
listening, like?
What advice can you give them?
Speaker 2 (56:59):
Listen to your sales guys, man.
Listen to your sales guys andlisten to your clientele.
You know there's a big mix up,I think, in the industry when it
comes to marketing and branding.
Marketing is literally what wetell people we are, but your
brand is what they say about youwhen the door is closed.
(57:19):
That's what you need to focuson Bring a clear mission
statement and then put your guysin a position to succeed and
again go back and think about atime when you were struggling.
What could that person havedone better for you to get you
in a position and what couldhave been a huge boost for you
(57:40):
to help you understand somethingmore?
And then apply that to this Forthose of us that have kids.
I'm a father, my daughter thevery first thing that ever
popped in my brain when I evenheard I was having a kid.
Wow, I don't want her to growup like I did, so why are we
forcing our reps to learn likewe did?
I have so many friends that ownbusinesses, too, in this and
(58:03):
they're like, yeah, we learned.
We learned by watching YouTube.
We went out there and we weredogs.
We got after it.
That's why that the betterwe're, the stronger in the pack.
That's stupid.
That's stupid.
Why did we learn that way?
We learned that way becausesome bum was running the company
that didn't train us.
We learned that way becauseother people were focused on
things instead of developing ourmindset.
It shouldn't have took us eightyears to get to this level.
(58:25):
It should have took us threeyears to get here, but we had to
learn everything on our own.
Why not cut that in half?
I want my competition to be onthe same level.
I am why?
Because I aspire to be greater.
So how do I get better?
Well, I gotta bring you up herewith me so that I'm forced to
learn more, so I can keep risingmyself.
I love chasing people that I'mnever gonna catch.
(58:45):
I know that, but I still gottachase them.
Shoot, shoot for the shoot forthe stars land on the moon,
right Like our land, the moon,whatever.
However, that saying goes likelet's, let's aim for huge goals,
but you know, come up with arealistic road to it and
genuinely care about your people.
That's, that's all I'm askingpeople to just genuinely care.
You're never, you're nevergoing to make less money
(59:07):
bringing somebody else up withyou.
It's never going to happen.
So if you know that, then whynot help somebody else?
Well, good as being the man ifyou don't have anybody else up
there with you.
Speaker 1 (59:23):
It doesn't make any sense.
Awesome, elijah, thanks foryour time today.
This has been another episodeof the Roofing Success Podcast.
Thank you for tuning into theRoofing Success Podcast.
Thank you for tuning into theRoofing Success Podcast.
For more valuable content,visit roofingsuccesspodcastcom
While there, check out oursponsors for exclusive offers,
shop for merchandise and sign upfor our newsletter for industry
(59:43):
updates and tips.
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