Beat the competition with AI

RCS Influencer Trent Cotney says you must embrace AI because if you don't, your competition is.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with RCS Influencer Trent Cotney. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Alex Tolle: Hello, I'm Alex Tolle with rooferscoffeeshop.com and I am here for the February influencer response with Trent Cotney. Hi, Trent. 

Trent Cotney: Hey, how you doing? 

Alex Tolle: Good. Always great to chat with you. 

Trent Cotney: Yep, absolutely. 

Alex Tolle: So our February topic is talking about AI. So how can contractors ethically integrate AI into the operations to improve efficiency without compromising trust, transparency or the human element? 

Trent Cotney: So, AI is, is, has become a bigger and bigger issue. I'm actually speaking on that topic at NRCA'ss virtual LEGALCon here in a few weeks. And, you know, I think if you're a roofing contractor and you have not started using AI, then you're missing the boat. So, you know, the way I look at it, it's basically like having an executive assistant that responds immediately that you don't have to pay benefits to, which is nice. But you know, you see AI being used in a variety of different things. Everything from customer service to marketing to overlay on estimating to predictive analysis. And I think you must embrace it because if you don't, your competition is and it's going to decrease your overall efficiency compared to them. And I think it's going to be the kind of thing where it's giving, whoever's using it, a competitive advantage. 

Trent Cotney: You're just, you're adding more time on your day. I'm saving probably an hour to an hour and a half a day just having a resource there to be able to lean on. It can't replace the day-to-day, you know, for me of doing legal and it can't replace the day-to-day of doing the hard work on estimating and things like that, that need to be done. But what it can do is it can really streamline and create those efficiencies that you may not have now. So I think it's a matter of implementing as far as how to do that. You definitely need some, you know, policies in your employee manual to ensure that people are using it appropriately, that they're not plagiarizing, that they're not uploading confidential information, that they're not, you know, inadvertently infringing on any intellectual property rights or anything of that nature. But definitely something you need to embrace both personally and for your business. If you don't, you'll miss the mark here pretty soon. 

Alex Tolle: Yeah, totally agree. I think it's so important to have, you know, kind of some rules in place of how to use it, you know, the best way. And then like you said about missing the boat, like just like when the internet came out 25 years ago, however long ago, if you're not online, then you're missing opportunities there. So it's, it's the same kind of thing. You gotta stay with your competition. 

Trent Cotney: Yeah. And there's a lot of free options if, you know, if you're watching this, you have no idea what AI is, you can go to ChatGPT free or Copilot for free, or there's a lot of different free versions that aren't as good as the paid versions, but it can give you an idea of what it can do. And basically the only thing that's limiting it is your input. Right? So the more you start to play with it, the more that you'll understand how essential it will become for your business. 

Alex Tolle: I love it. Well, thank you so much Trent. Appreciate you as always. 

Trent Cotney: Same here. Thank you.