Accelerator Roundtables for Your Business - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Sue Hawkes of YESS! and an Owens Corning Accelerator and Jon Gardner from Owens Corning.You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts to on-the-road adventures, we'll uncover the stories, innovations and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So fasten your seatbelts and join us as we embark on this exciting roofing road trip.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Hello, and welcome to another Roofing Road Trips from RoofersCoffeeShop. This is Heidi Ellsworth and we are here today with a road trip that is very special, two of my favorite people and we're going to be talking about one of my favorite things. We're going to be talking about EOS, Entrepreneurial Operating System, RoofersCoffeeShop. We do it, we believe in it. It is so powerful for roofing contractors and all contractors, all businesses out there. So we have the experts from YESS!, Ms. Sue Hawkes is here with us today. Hello, Sue.

Sue Hawkes: Hello.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And Jon Gardner with Owens Corning, the man who brings it all to the contractors to make it possible. Good morning, Jon.

Jon Gardner: Good morning, Heidi. Good to see you as always.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: As always, I'm so excited about this topic. It is so cool. Let's start with some introductions so everyone will get to know you as well as I do. So Sue, why don't we start with you just an introduction. Who you are, your company, what you do would be great.

Sue Hawkes: Hello, hello everyone. Favorite people. I'm on with two of my favorite people, so I think it's working well. My company is YESS!, and we have a five-star success system. We do five things, EOS a results guaranteed communication workshop, the Great Boss Workshop, which is Interactive Leadership Leading You, which is an immersive coaching program and the bar, the Business Accelerator Roundtable, it's peer learning at its best. Lots of stuff.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It's so important for business, Sue. I love it.

Sue Hawkes: We love it.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I know. Jon, a little introduction, please.

Jon Gardner: For sure. Heidi, always good to see you, Sue, a pleasure. Seems like just yesterday we saw each other, but nonetheless, fantastic to see you both. For me, Jon Gardner here with Owens Corning and I head up our learning and development platform here for the roofing business as well as our strategic partnerships. And what does that all that mean? That's all boils down and up into our Contractor Program, and it's all about helping our contractors scale and solve those problems that don't enable us to scale as much as we want to. So I'm really looking forward to unpacking this here today with Sue and you Heidi, as we're talking about some real heavy duty stuff here with regard to helping our contractors scale and solve problems. It's really about the health of the business, and that's what we love about the YESS! Team and especially Sue Hawkes. So great to be here.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And we have been working together now for many years on the Owens Corning Business Accelerators. Sue is an accelerator. You have some amazing accelerators out there, Jon. You get the cream of the crop working with Owens Corning. So why don't you share with everybody what that Business Accelerator program is.

Jon Gardner: And thanks for bringing that up, Heidi. The Business Accelerator program is really all about bringing the best of the best, the consultants and the experts at their skill set and at their focus of the business to our contractors. And Sue Hawkes and the YESS! Team are very much a business accelerator, and we'll talk about that here today with regard to what we're focusing on. As I mentioned before, it's really about the health of the business really at the essence of the business. And that's where Sue and the YESS! team really, really get it done. Business Accelerator also Sue is the other parts of the business, and that includes Rodney Webb. We talk about somebody who is really at the highest level and Rodney brings it to our contractors and helps support our contractors growth in the area of sales and sales management and leadership in the sales area.

And of course, Anna Anderson with Art Unlimited is our Business Accelerator as well in our program. And that's all about marketing strategy. So you can see here that we're focusing on some of these really core elements of the business, areas of the business that are super important to get great so that the rest of the business can go where it needs to go to meet our goals and to get where we want it to go, wherever that might be for every one of our contractors. So we love the Business Accelerator program and the ingredients that are behind it. So, good stuff.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It's changing how roofing contractors do business, and it's really the professionalism of the industry has just risen so much with these type of programs.

Jon Gardner: Yes, 100%. When we boil it all down, when we look at it, at the end of the day, our contractors are small businesses. We say small business, but some of them are quite large. And it really doesn't matter what the size of the business is at the end of the day. Small business is very unique and it has its own challenges. And our commitment to our contractors is to not only help them with the fundamental elements of who we are, which Owens Corning we're a manufacturer of shingle products, and we're going to get our contractors in a fantastic place in those fundamentals, but our obligation goes way beyond that. And so we are really excited about all the other resources that we bring to bear to help our contractors to help those small businesses. And today we're talking with Sue and the YESS! Team that there probably isn't anything else as critical when you talk about the health of a business, because the foundation of the business, it's like a house.

If you build a house that's got a really crappy foundation, then that house is just not going to be there long term, right? You can't count on it. And the same with the business. The foundation of the business has to be stable, strong and prepared for growth. And today in our conversation with Sue and the YESS! Team, that's kind of where we really focus with the YESS! Team and we've seen success stories across the United States. You mentioned it Heidi, that EOS is a part of your business, it's part of Anna Anderson's business. It's part of many 100s if not 1,000s of contractors across the United States. And where Sue and the YESS! Team bring it with EOS is really at the heart of it. It is getting the most out of EOS. And Sue's going to speak to how you are relative to EOS. You're part of the foundation of EOS and bringing it to 100s of businesses across the United States.

Sue Hawkes: I'm just [inaudible 00:06:54], Jon.

Jon Gardner: What's that? The world, I'm sorry. So you tell me the internet doesn't stop right in the borders of the United States? It keeps going. Wow.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It does. Isn't that nice. For all those people who are listening to this from around the world there you go.

Jon Gardner: Thank you, Sue for that.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah, to that point, I am a huge fan of EOS, and I would love it if you would share with everyone out there just exactly what is EOS? But then maybe take it that one step further to your five-star program and how that really fits into it.

Sue Hawkes: Yeah, thank you. And thanks for the great tee up. I have to tell a quick story that I think the roofers will appreciate. I was meeting with another company in the building industry world called Hearth and Homes and I had done some speaking for them as well, which is how we met, Jon. And they were saying, "Well, it says a lot that you're working with Owens Corning because they're the gold standard of how to work with contractors, distributors, et cetera." They talk about their business very similarly. So it's very interesting. Two of their presidents said that. So I just want everyone to hear you're in the pretty sacred ground here.

These guys are pretty awesome. So thank you for all you do. And Heidi, you keep the airwaves going, girl. I mean, this is such a value add that you can be in your car and hearing about it because you can't always be in front of a screen. I mean, it's so helpful. So, what we do very simply is we help leaders create cultures where accountable people thrive and EOS in particular is a business operating system to help you get what you want from your business. It's that simple. So, it's ideal for scaling companies, for growing the leadership team you want and for setting that foundation that Jon just talked about through six key components to help you really succeed and thrive.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I think when you really look at that, I love what you just said, success through accountable people, because that's exactly what we have found. And Jon, as you have kind watched what Sue has done, I've been able to watch just what she's brought to the contractors through the Owens Corning Accelerator program. What have you seen that EOS and all of these other great leadership components, what are you hearing from the contractors?

Jon Gardner: Yeah, well, we're hearing all sorts of great things, Heidi. And at the end of the day, we talked about this in the beginning and I mentioned it to her at a high level, which is helping our contractors scale and solve problems. And it's a pretty high level statement, but when you unpack what EOS and Sue and the rest of the team are bringing is, and I spoke about this is really at the foundation of the business contractors and owners alike are looking for and in need of resources that helps them to not only put together their roadmap for success, but what's really special about EOS and the other supporting elements of our partnership with the YESS! Team is it's not only just about getting the roadmap and pointing due north, that's where we want to go, but it's about getting the entire organization rallied around what the objectives of the business are.

And EOS is a great example of just how contractors are implementing resources like this to make it happen. Because at the end of the day, Sue, with all the work that you've done with our contractors, the biggest feedback that we're getting is the excitement, the accountability, the future of the organization from all aspects, from the person that's answering the phone, to the owner who's leading the charge, to the sales folks. The importance and the results of what we've seen so far with just EOS, is that the organization now has something that they can all rally around in the EOS in itself, which is the supporting process, is allowing the entire organization to really, you represent your best self in the approach to be successful. And Sue, you mentioned it before, part of the real breadth of what the YESS! Team bring is two real critical things, culture, which at the end of the day, it's almost a term that's not overused yet, but it's really becoming so powerful.

People are talking about culture today like they've never before, and I think this is a natural progression of businesses in our society and two is leadership. And so we look at both culture and leadership as those two critical areas that we're getting all sorts of fantastic feedback from our contractors and our partners that's saying, "This is what's enabling our entire organization to have that positive force moving forward." Everybody's on the same direction and everybody's accounted for, meaning that regardless of what your position is in the company, you have full clarity of what your objectives are and you have full clarity of what the entire organization is wanting to get done. So that's a long-winded way of describing what we're hearing from our contractors. But in essence, that's what we're hearing and that's exactly what we want to hear. Because before anything else happens, Heidi, the culture and the leadership have to be in position to be able to ignite anything else in the organization. So that's how important this piece of the business is, and this is why we're focusing on it with our contractors because without this success can be limited.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I have to say you both are just making me think of how this has been just like a firestorm within the industry of contractors adopting the EOS philosophies and culture. I have been now to a couple different association meetings where contractors have said, "We're going to do things a little bit different now. Here's our VTO, here's our goals, let's work through this." So they're actually beyond what's in their company, they're bringing it to their associations to use same philosophies. So Sue, I am really interested with all of the work you've done with roofing contractors, especially with Owens Corning roofing contractors, what are you seeing with the adoption of EOS and also the challenges that some of these roofing companies are having on making, I know it's not easy, that jump.

Sue Hawkes: So, I think it's always a commitment. Where it breaks down is the discipline. It's the same philosophy, and I use it all the time of hiring a personal trainer. The difference between me going to the gym and doing 10 extra sit-ups and having someone who's there watching is night and day. And so fully embracing EOS is a commitment, but you don't do it alone. And often with the contractors, where I see it is we're struggling to triage all the fires, all of the firefighting. And in fact, the thing you need is the discipline so that it doesn't feel like you against the world. You don't feel as alone. As Jon said, "Culture is a result." You can't just go cause culture. Yes you can as a leader, but it's a result of humans working together well. And so what we do is we talk about building a leadership pipeline.

So you produce leaders who produce leaders, not just somebody who's a leader who has helpers. And that's where I think the challenge is for many of the contractors is they don't truly have a leadership team. They have people who help them run the business and do great work and work really hard, but they aren't truly empowered to make decisions to learn to support that leader and challenge them back so that that leader can detach from the business, truly. And until they get that, just because you can be competent at something doesn't mean you should. So building that leadership pipeline secures your company's future with an intentional culture because when leaders produce leaders, now you have a succession plan. Now you're not in crisis mode firefighting. If you look at what people problems cost businesses, do you guys want to hear some stats?

Jon Gardner: We do.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yes.

Sue Hawkes: Brief ones. Ineffective leadership and communication, that nebulous stuff that everybody goes, "Yeah, yeah, I could get better," can reduce your productivity up to 30%. It can be a blockade to your success accounting for a 70% fluctuation in employee engagement, 50% higher turnover, burnout and mistrust. And it all results in a lack of accountability. So when I hear the people saying, "Well, I don't know how I would do this. I can't even get them to just follow our process." I go, that's exactly why you need it. It's that catch 22. And I think that's where people get frustrated. And so, as you know Heidi, you can self-implement, you can get tools in place. I rarely see people self-implement and actually use the system in how the tools interplay, but that doesn't mean you won't improve significantly and get so much better by running better meetings and the basic blocking and tackling of learning how to make the people the work because the people are the work.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Jon Gardner: Yep.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It's a good place to start sometimes too. Just at least have that focus and have those conversations, but then get the experts. And to be able to get it through Owens Corning, that's huge.

Jon Gardner: Yeah, it's interesting when you look at the heavy lift that businesses have to go through to be successful, it's not easy. And you think about a small business, this is somebody that decided that, "Look, I'm going to put my future in my own hands and I'm going to create a business." Or maybe it was passed on to them a second generation. Either way [inaudible 00:17:35].

Sue Hawkes: Or they happen to be good at something, Jon, and it turned into a business, which very often is more like, I...

Jon Gardner: That's kind of what I'm getting at, which is it didn't come with an owner's manual.

Sue Hawkes: Right.

Jon Gardner: There is no owner's manual to running a business. And so it's a massive challenge. And so this is part of what we're talking about here, which is how can we help support our contractors? And this is a critical place, and we are a true partner to our contractors and we're looking at these resources as being instrumental in helping them grow. And we really hope it does help, and we love it and we're committed to it. And we talked in the beginning, Sue, you mentioned the five stars and we spent some time here, Heidi talking about EOS. And I just want to kind of broaden our conversation here a little bit with regard to all of the elements that in this case, the YESS! Team is part of the Contractor Program brings for our contractors. And EOS certainly is its foundation. I've used that word a couple of times here, but-

Sue Hawkes: Business Operating System.

Jon Gardner: ... it's a core element. It's a business operating system. It should be or something like that should be part of the organization. But we talked about a few other pieces here today too. One of them was accountability. And so we look at the leadership and culture, our partnership with the YESS! Team includes these various aspects that we're talking about. One, EOS. Two, is an opportunity to dig into leadership and management. And this is an area that when you add up leadership and management, Sue, you can speak to this is at the end of the day, what does that equal? It equals accountability. And Sue, you mentioned that.

And so we have another resource for our contractors with our partnership with YESS! that talks about and helps them understand this whole area of leadership in management to get their whole employees wrapped around the whole piece of accountability from both the management side as well as the employee side. And then third is, Sue you mentioned 30% with regard to the appreciation of getting what you want to get out of your business. And this is all a result of both the management and the accountability side, but it's also communication. And so the other element that we bring to bear for our contractors with our partnership with the YESS! Team is a focus on communication. So, we have EOS, we have leadership and accountability, we have our communications element and you can see where all these are wrapped around this foundational part of the business.

Sue Hawkes: Yeah.

Jon Gardner: And then finally, contractors do best when they have the opportunity to work with other contractors in a familiar setting, in a friendly setting, in a business setting where peers can work with one another, right? So it's the opportunity to exploit what you've learned and learned from others. And that is the Business Accelerator Roundtable. This is another piece of our opportunity with the YESS! Team. And that is a program that focuses on bringing all of these various elements we're talking about here today in this case, in a peer networking format led by Sue and the YESS! Team where you have professionals that have been doing peer networking and leading that environment for over 20 years, where contractors in our network can start to bring these learnings together with one another in a safe environment with someone like Sue or someone on her team to help contractors really start to break down even more with regard to what's working, what's not working in putting these processes in place through peer networking environment.

So we have quite a few resources with the YESS! Team that focuses again on leadership, culture and really developing the foundation of success. And what I just walked through here today is just one part of the Owens Corning Contractor Program that focuses specifically on culture and leadership. And we are just so excited and happy that we have the best, which is Sue Hawkes and the YESS! Team really guiding our contractors in this area. So 100%, Sue. You really bring it. Some good stuff.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: The thing is, contractors love to hear from contractors.

Jon Gardner: They do.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: They love to talk. I mean networking, peer roundtables, it validates, it challenges, it does all of those things that really you can't get anywhere else except for between peers. So Sue, and this is really what I wanted to get down to these roundtables that you're doing, talk more about that and kind of what your vision is for the Business Accelerator Roundtables, how's that all going to work?

Sue Hawkes: Well, so small cohorts, 12 to 15 people max. We're really targeted at a dozen. And what Jon talked about with the peer learning, if it doesn't come with an owner's manual, you sure aren't going to school to learn about it, right? You want to hear from the people who have been there done that, that validation you talked about. Oh my gosh, there is nothing walking into a room and being able to say, "This really awful thing just happened." And be honest about it, not have your game on going, "No, it's great. We lost our third employee this month." That's how you have to be out in the world, but this should be a psychologically safe space to walk in and say, "Our processes are terrible." In fact, I just got out of a meeting with one of the contractors I met at the Platinum Conference 20 minutes ago, and he said, "If I knew how to do this, I would've done it. But I don't know who to ask other than when I'm at the conference."

Well, this is a monthly installment of all the goodness you get at the Platinum Conference on the breaks through the workshops and things, but in a more constant, palatable, small way that you can go implement. You get best practices, you get validation, you feel less alone as an owner. If you were to pull all of the owners and the leaders, 99% would be like, "It's so lonely." As cliche as it sounds, it's so lonely at the top. Who can you talk to about it? Your spouse is going, "I know, I know already. I can't fix that. Stop it." And your team, you don't want to infect them or poison them where you're like, "I want to strangle this person, or I don't want to keep dealing with the same problem." But you can walk in a room where someone can look you in the eyes and go, "Oh my God, this is only your first lawsuit? Let me tell you what I did."

And literally that's normal talk. And you feel less alone. You feel less uncomfortable. You recognize that the hard problems are the ones you talk about in there. In fact, the richest things we end up talking about are people situations. Why? Because that's the stuff no one can talk to you about in the moment. You can't say here's all the stuff that went off the rails to anybody else. It's either illegal, your HR person doesn't know how to solve it or they say, "I can file the paperwork." And if you don't have an HR person, you're even further down that road where you're like, "Well, who do you ask?" And so again, coming in, it's not all bad news. Sometimes it's the people you get to celebrate and say, "Hey, I won an award at the Platinum Conference and I get to kind of do a happy dance for me, for my team," because they aren't good at bragging either.

And that's a safe space for everything in between, including the running of the business. But for you as a leader, it's that professional development with coaching in between and a monthly installment. So it's just in time as opposed to, "I'll wait until the next event, or I'll listen to the next podcast on RoofersCoffeeShop and I'll get a little dose," but it's not interactive. I need the interactive part when I say a thing and somebody says, "That's BS, or you've said that two months in a row, when are you going to change it?"

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Accountability.

Sue Hawkes: Yeah.

Jon Gardner: Yes.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Sue, what's it look like? I know you always have a format, right?

Sue Hawkes: Yeah, yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: There's always what you're following. So give us a little picture of that outline, what they can expect as they start going to these monthly roundtables.

Sue Hawkes: So monthly there's a check-in form. It's online, they don't have to go anywhere and everybody gets on and it's again, just in time. So it's whatever might be happening in your business that day. Three times a year, we get together in person and we do a deep dive where we'll have a Wednesday night deep check-in. So it's you personally and professionally. Then we get into the nuts and bolts of what issue are you bringing to the table, be it financial, operational, sales and marketing to the team so that we can dig into that. And we keep a running list for all people. And then the full day Thursday, usually that day is content, it's roundtables, it's solving the big stuff and slowing down to work on ourselves and our business and tackling some of that, but then also getting this subject matter expertise from some of the people from Owens Corning.

Could be about a product, could be some of those other experts dropping in from the committees. Could be leveraging the amazing Owens Corning University and taking a content piece, but doing it together because there happens to be a theme for that group. Something that again, gives buildable tools that we will actually use while we're there, not just listen to and go, "I got to get to that." Then we go blow off some steam in the evening. And you can bring a plus one if you'd like. So you can involve those significant others who often put up with a lot of chaos this time of year because not very available.

And then a half day Friday where we really put a neat tidy bow on things and we say, what are you committing to get done by our next meeting? What will you use? Finishing up any of the roundtable kind of topics that we didn't get to from Wednesday night in the nooks and crannies or more directly on Thursday. And then of course, applying content because accountability, this becomes your board of advisors, both to what you say you're going to do, but what you are and are not doing. Loosening that gap.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It's so important.

Sue Hawkes: It is. It is.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Wow.

Sue Hawkes: Everyone should be in a roundtable. I've been doing roundtables for 20 plus years. I would say it's one of the single key ingredients to great leadership.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: But now it's relatively new to Owens Corning within the last six months to a year.

Sue Hawkes: Yep.

Jon Gardner: Yes.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: And so, what are you hearing from the contractors who have been participating in these roundtables? And Jon, let's start with you because I'm really interested. What have you been hearing kind of from the other side of these contractors who are in the roundtables?

Jon Gardner: Well, I mean, if you think about all the things that we've been talking about here today from their perspective, it is light bulb kind of go off conversations that we've been having with contractors. And listen, we meet contractors all across the United States who take part in our resources and they may be involved in other cohorts, but the general theme that we hear back from contractors with Business Accelerator Roundtable and other cohorts is, the capabilities to be able to look at somebody else and pressure test your own business in a safe environment. And man, that is so powerful. And I've had an opportunity to sit in a few to see it in action. And it's the small things in the business that sometimes come up that end up being the majority of the conversation at some of these cohorts because it triggers a key issue that may affect all the businesses or it may be an issue that was never brought up but needed to be brought up.

Sue Hawkes: Yes.

Jon Gardner: And so, it sounds really simple, but at the end of the day, when you put this along with the other ingredient, which is the YESS! Team and over 20 years of experience of running these, you get the most amazing group of people with a whole new set of energy to be able to put these learnings into place. I'd say the other thing, Heidi that we're hearing is it allows contractors to take some calculated risk, because one of the areas that we constantly hear from contractors and Sue, you said it. "It's very lonely at the top." Because you're constantly making decisions that you're saying, "Geez, I hope that's the right decision."

And this opportunity allows the contractors to explore this in a very safe setting, and really get better at their own approach with regard to how they're going to managing their own business and just being able to just step out of their own minds and look at their business from a different prism. And at the end of the day, it's like putting gasoline on the business in a good way.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I was going to say in the tank. In the tank.

Jon Gardner: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. In a good way. You both get it. You get what I'm saying here.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I understand because that's how I feel too. I feel 100%. It's just accelerated. Putting gas on it is almost in a good way because it is not blowing it up the way you'd like on the bad days.

Sue Hawkes: In the tank. Everything goes. Not blowing up.

Jon Gardner: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: I know. I know. So Sue, what are you hearing from the contractors? Because you're now in what, six months of a roundtable?

Sue Hawkes: Well, so we're still in inception here, and I want to be very transparent that we are very good at this and we know what we're doing, but we're still building. And so we want to encourage you, if this is interesting, we want to hear from you. A number of you have indicated interest, so we're still building. The things that I can tell you is, from here the line I would use is, "Don't wait for a crisis to find out you're ready or not ready." Either one.

And the firefighting. And I'd rather put everyone listening in a mindset which is, imagine 10 to 12 people that would be on speed dial when you hit a wall or when you're about to or when you think you might or when you just don't know. And that isn't the formal meeting, it's the intangible. I've got a crew of people that I can count on when it's hardest, which is the most important, but also that I can get all of this networking from when I need it. It's like having speed dial access to better than Google or ChatGPT for the answers because they've been there, done that. It isn't fact checking. It literally is, "You've been there, what happened? Here's what I see happening. Am I in trouble? Is this okay? What can I do? Who do you know?" And again, they're not competing because they're not in the same area, but the sharing of resources, the what I did and wish I would've done or didn't do and wish I wouldn't have done or did do, that right there, you can't put a price tag on.

And over and over in 20 years, I will tell you the single best quote that gets repeated is, "That one meeting made my whole year." And that doesn't mean the other meetings weren't valuable. It means that one was so instrumental, it changed the game for me, for my team, for my business in a good way 100% of the time. And everyone says it in their own words, but that's really what peer learning is about because it's not book studies. It's not, "Wow, I'm reading how this story played out and then I took a test on it." It's right now happening and I can look someone in the eyes and get what I need.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Yeah.

Jon Gardner: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: The roofing industry, they do this naturally.

Sue Hawkes: Yep.

Jon Gardner: They do.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Contractors through associations, through the Owens Corning Platinum, through the thing. They will naturally navigate to each other to help and to have that conversation, but to have it in this formal way that helps them really get those kind of results, I think is the big difference.

Jon Gardner: And to speak to that Heidi, and you're right, this industry is very unique with regard to just the organic approach to contractors learning from one another. You see it all the time. And the one piece that the Business Accelerator Roundtable and other resources like this that bring a little bit more to it than if it was just a casual connection, right? Even if it was consistent, is the area of accountability. We set accountable goals and objectives for everybody in the organization. The owners and the leaders of the businesses have theirs too.

But to have this accountability with a set of your peers is a different element. And it allows the owners and the leaders of the business to kind of step back and have this other cohort of folks that enable them to pressure test all of the elements that are going on in their own business and they can come back with a clearer framework to start to implement in the business. And so we love that part of it because listen, at the end of the day, whether you're the person that's answering the phones, a super important job or the owner, the accountability element and getting it done is the most important part. And so this allows the owners to have that very, very focused group of cohorts that understand him or her and provide them that level of organic consultation that you won't see anywhere else. And that's just-

Heidi J. Ellsworth: It's so cool.

Jon Gardner: Yeah.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Okay, so...

Jon Gardner: For sure.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: All the contractors out there right now are going, "Yes, I want to do this." So let's just go through the different stages. First of all, if you're not an Owens Corning certified contractor, you need to become one, right? Jon?

Jon Gardner: Yes. And that's super easy. We have various levels within our program, but hey, listen, great place to start is the Contractor Rewards Program and that is available and you can become a Contractor Rewards member of our program very simply by going to OwensCorning.com. Go to the contractor section and start your journey there. That'll get you in the driver's seat with regard to many of the resources that we're talking about here today. With regard to the other resources we talked about, EOS, I recommend speaking directly with your area sales manager and learning more about that. This very simple, easy process. Once you get into it, actually, it's just a QR code. And that will send you right to the YESS! Team and get you in position to have a consultation with Sue and learn more about it and decide whether that's something for you. So that's number one.

Number two is, with regard to some of the other resources we talked about, the leadership and management equals accountability as well as the communication. Those are two courses that are available to our contractors to attend in a live setting across the United States. And if you're interested to learn more about where some of our Owens Corning University live trainings are taking place, you can just go again to OwensCorning.com and look up where the local events are happening in a market near you. But that's exactly where the leadership management equals accountability course that'll take place in a live setting somewhere in the United States as well as our communications course. And we also have a variety of these elements available online as well. So, the bottom line is your area sales manager is your entry point or go right to OwensCorning.com contractor section and you'd be on your way to learn more about all of these pieces. And hey, if all else fails, just call me and I'll help you out.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Well, and they can get all that information on the Owens Corning directory on RoofersCoffeeShop also. And you can also find Sue Hawkes in her own directory on RoofersCoffeeShop too. So lots of ways to get in here. I'm just telling you, I think this is so cool. I want to say thank you to both of you for just an amazing conversation today.

Jon Gardner: Yes, thank you, Heidi.

Sue Hawkes: Oh, thank you, Heidi. What a pleasure.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Thank you. Congratulations, Sue on these new roundtables. And as always, Jon, congratulations. You just knocked it out of the ballpark.

Jon Gardner: Well, we're trying here, Heidi. And listen, speaking of that, I just wanted to share one more time with you that you've been doing some amazing stuff for the roofing industry since the early to mid-90s. And that's a good thing. That's a good thing, Heidi. And RoofersCoffeeShop is such a fantastic resource for contractors, whether you're starting or whether you're looking to expand your business. Bottom line here, what I'm trying to say Heidi is thank you so much. Thanks for bringing it to the industry. And of course, thanks for the opportunity for Sue and I to talk more about the resources we have here at Owens Corning, and you're such a great part of the industry and just wanted to spend a little time there to thank you for all that.

Heidi J. Ellsworth: Thank you. Thank you so much. I have to tell you, anything that gives back to this industry to make it even greater, to continue the growth of all these awesome contractors, I love it. I love it, love it, love it. And you do that. Both of you do that every single day. So thank you, Jon. Thank you Sue, and thank you all for listening. What great information. You can find all this information like I mentioned on the Owens Corning or the YESS! Directory on RoofersCoffeeShop, and you can also find all kinds of information by listening to all of our podcasts, which are underneath the RLW navigation, under Roofing Road trips or on your favorite podcast channel. Be sure to subscribe and set your notifications so you don't miss a single episode. We'll be seeing you next time on Roofing Road Trips.

Outro: If you've enjoyed the ride, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and join us on every roofing adventure. Make sure to visit RoofersCoffeeShop.com to learn more. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll catch you on the next Roofing Road trip.