Heidi and Vickie Show- Saving Yourself- PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of The Heidi and Vickie Show. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast here. 

Heidi: Good morning. This is Heidi and it is Saturday morning, and we are here for the Heidi and Vickie Show.

Vickie: I'm Vickie.

Heidi: And Vickie is here. How was your week?

Vickie: My week was better. My week was very productive and not hectic. I felt calm this week. Everything's falling into place. I'm getting a little COVID overload. So I think now it's naturally time to switch gears into the more positive part of what we can do going forward. So the dust is settling a little bit on getting all the information out. But I was thinking that I did most of the talking last week, and I felt like all I did was hear myself talk. So this week I want to focus more on you and all the great things that you had accomplished this week. And I'll list them by saying you did a great podcast with Charles Antis. We had a coffee conversations, which was the highlight of our week with the NRCA. And I want to talk to you about that. There's an article I wanted to talk about that our influencer, Wendy Marvin, wrote, and then you were a panelist in a webinar for METALCON. So you had a big week this week. So let's start by talking about our coffee conversations.

Heidi: That was a big deal. I think that was a really big deal for both you and I. Just the thought that we had Reid Ribble, CEO of NRCA and McKay Daniels COO of NRCA to have them on the show and have such a high turnout, we just had tons of people on register and attend and you notice it's six o'clock in the morning. So people had their coffee and Reid even said that, he goes, "I have my coffee, Heidi. I'm ready to answer some questions." And so I was a little nervous. And I don't get nervous a whole lot as you will know, but that one made me a little nervous and it turned out great, absolutely awesome. And some really good discussion, great questions from... We had Mike Hicks come out with a question, Will Lorenz, Wendy Marvin and Charles Antis both ask questions, and Bradley from the Northeast. So we covered the whole country. It was really good.

Vickie: Yeah, yeah, Ohio, California. Yeah, it was really, really good. I learned a few new things. One thing we were talking about earlier was ROOFPAC and supporting the industry. So you mentioned that NR roofing day was canceled. And what can we do?

Heidi: Right, right. And it's really interesting to just talking about how the industry is really stepping up. But on SRS, who's on Coffee Shop, they had a webinar this week with the folks from ROOFPAC. And so as we were having Reid and McKay on coffee conversations, SRS they had Duane Musser and Teri Dorn and Nathan Pick who are just absolutely amazing advocates for the roofing industry in D.C. and they run ROOFPAC, which is-

Vickie: Tell our listeners what ROOFPAC is.

Heidi: Yeah, ROOFPAC is a PAC that helps with funding, helping to support politicians who support the roofing industry basically, like senator Wyden benefits from ROOFPAC because Senator Wyden who is our Oregon Senator is very supportive from the financial committee and so it's really nonpartisan support. ROOFPAC really looks at all of the politicians, what they're working on, regulations, legislation, and then they support them financially through our donations into the PAC.

Vickie: Give me an example of recent bill that might've passed or something that we had our hand in.

Heidi: Yeah, something that's really near and dear to both you and I and that you talk about all the time is for the last two roofing days in D.C. when we all flew to D.C. to talk to our legislators, one of our number one topics was support for vocational schools, so career tech on CTE, career technical education. And that has been a big push on ROOFPAC to get more funding for vocational school so they can learn the trades. And really, that push of not everyone needs to go to college, but they should follow what they love to do and get them more education for roofing and construction overall. And we passed that. It passed. And ROOFPAC, had a huge influence on that. And now, the thing that's really cool is you're actually seeing money coming back into roofing to help with career education, with training, different contractors have gotten really involved with their vocational schools and the community colleges. So being involved with ROOFPAC, they see the legislation passed and now they're seeing actual funding coming back into vocational schools and roofing contractors are actually getting money to help with their own training for that along the same lines. So that's what ROOFPAC does.

Vickie: They're having people in Washington. I know that safety is important, but to keep us from being overregulated, we need a voice. So I've been thinking for the last 10 days, does any other industry have as good of... I just feel safer. I feel a little more protected that people care about us, our associations, our level of involvement. And this is really showcasing... does other industries have... I'm sure the restaurant, but construction industries, I just think that... I don't know, I feel proud. I don't know how to put it into words. Put it into words for me.

Heidi: Yeah, no, you're 100% right. You don't hear about this from... And maybe it's out there. I just haven't seen it. You don't hear about it from the siting group or from the plumbers or engineers. And they probably do have something there. I know like AGC, Associated General Contractors, and the National Home Builders. But the thing that's cool as a sub-trade, roofing works with AGC and works with National Home Builders who are all more contractors. So we are one of the most active trades for subcontractors in D.C. And I've worked in other trades, believe it or not, besides roofing, worked in HVHC and siting and dabbled a little bit in Windows, about the Window industry a little bit. And I've never seen anything like roofing, like what we have.

Vickie: Well, you and me love it. It's in our blood. We've said it a million times, but this is our industry. So I just feel real good about what I've seen over the last couple of weeks. It makes me feel proud and I really would like to encourage anybody listening to support whatever, local, national ROOFPAC. If we don't want to join, a lot of us are joiners. I don't want to go to a meeting. But dang it, we should put our money behind the people that are working on the things that we don't even know we need. They're protecting us when these things come out.

Heidi: Exactly, exactly. And I have to tell you NRCA, and you could really hear it. Reid and McKay were so knowledgeable answering the questions about essential workers, about unemployment benefits across everything. And training, we talked about training in there and really this is a good time to be utilizing the resources that NRCA and all the association regionals have. So I just feel like we're really fortunate too with our leadership. And I don't think the industry as a whole understands how much they do, but they do a lot. A lot of times they do it very quietly.

Vickie: And then to hear people speaking for us, Reid Ribble, a lot of people might not know who he is. He was a roofing contractor and he was a Congressman. So he gets both sides, which is the insight that a few have.

Heidi: Yeah, yeah. Well, and Vickie, I'm just so lucky to work with the NRCA and for RoofersCoffeeShop to be represented there. And we're very active and the leadership I see coming from Reid Ribble is pretty incredible. It's really changed a lot of opinions in the industry. And so both him and McKay do a great job and all of the staff who are there. And the thing that's cool is a lot of our contractors also are really involved. Charles and Rudy are both on the board of NRCA. Wendy is a board on the board of Western States. Michelle Boykin, who you'll see as one of our influencers, she's on the executive team of National Women In Roofing. And so I love it as these people really help lead us during this time. And I'm really proud that there are influencers. McKay Daniels is one of our influencers. And so to have them on the site-

Vickie: Well, the purpose of the influencer was to have businesses of all different sizes. So McKay's on because we need a representative from the association. My original thought was to ask one question. Instead of doing an interview with one person, to ask one question that's important and have everybody answer it and they answer it in different ways that affects their business. And we get to see many opinions, not just one person's opinion on a question, and that was what the influencers was. And that's why these people are representative of roofing businesses all over the country. And then McKay is of course we want somebody from association to, and we try and have an insurance person, and we've got Trent for legal. We ask everybody the same question. And it might not apply, but that's where we really get some good leadership. Somebody can get something out of these. So that's why it's important if people would read the influencer articles.

Heidi: I'm sure they are reading but-

Vickie: And that's why we try and pick them, all different realms of young, old, sure, tall, that kind of stuff.

Heidi: From everywhere. And speaking of which, Ms. Wendy who's going to be on coffee conversations next week. And she just is so smart and has so much information and looks at things really, I think, in a super common sense, but progressive way that has really positioned her company to navigate this COVID. And she's going to talk about that next week on coffee conversations. I'm super excited about that. And she also has this amazing influencers article this week that never went [crosstalk 00:12:17]. Yeah, it was the number one article on... It had a lead position in our T3 smart briefs, which we're always excited when they realize what amazing content we have on the Coffee Shop. And so I was really excited to see that.

Vickie: So the title of this article you're talking about is No One is Going to Save You, You Have to Save Yourself.

Heidi: I love that.

Vickie: Yeah, I loved it. And so we get a lot of content goes through it. And I must admit, I don't get the chance. I have to skim a lot of stuff that caught my eye, boy. So she put some good information there.

Heidi: She did, she did. I love her honesty. And I think I truly believe you and so this started having the same kind of philosophy of, "No one's going to save us. We've got got to be in front of our customers. We need to be there, we need to be helping the industry, we need to be taking... Just really getting the information out there for everyone." And that's what she talks about in here on. I love how she's saying do your best to keep your company in compliance, but keep work... She doesn't say this, but from that thing, it's definitely, but keep working. Don't stop.

Vickie: Well, she wrote very interesting stuff. But some of it we've heard before. You mentioned keep your company in compliance, establish an advisory team, know your financials, modify your contracts, take care of yourself, that's interesting one because we don't think about that. But the thing that caught me, and this is my most important than what I wanted to mention, she wrote, "Don't stop selling." Think subconsciously, I don't know how people are treating their business, but I know in my mind we've hunkered down. So now, we're all hunkering down and we're just laying and wait and trying to do the best we can. But in my mind, I quit selling. I'm waiting till everything gets over with. And everybody's talking what they're doing and working, but in the two weeks of seminars and writing and information, nobody has actually said, "Don't stop selling," to me.  And I went, "That is key because whoever sells now, is going to be on top later." If a homeowner wants to cancel a job, you could reach back and say, "Can I just do a tune up to get you through until you feel comfortable again?" Or reach out to somebody and go, "The contracts are laying here. I know that seems like a weird time, but let's get you on a schedule, or I can bid your job safely." There is opportunity. There's lots of webinars about how to sell, but nobody told me not to quit selling. And that's a huge thing in my mind.

Heidi: I think that's huge because you know what? To relay it back to our business, Vickie, we haven't stopped selling, but we did take the position. And you and I talked about this very early that we need to stay in incredible communications with our customers. And we have just the best team of account managers. And we talked about that and we were like, "Okay, we need to be there for every single customer helping them, finding out what they need, making sure we have their messaging out." I have a list I'm looking at right now of people I'm talking to who not only are they not stopped selling, but they're not going to stop advertising. They believe they are staying out in front of the market because really by doing that you are staying... I keep calling it the stock market. Even though the stock market drops, you don't want to pull your money out because when it goes back up, now you've really lost. I feel as the same way with advertising and selling. You don't want to stop and pull everything out because when everything does start going, nobody's going to know your name. And all the people who didn't stop are going to be front row like Wendy.

Vickie: Yeah, she's smart. I encourage anybody read that article and doesn't have to be just about the demo coronavirus. The stuff that she wrote is good for our business anytime.

Heidi: Anytime. It was published on Coffee Shop April 7th, 2020. So everybody should go and read it. It's really good, really good.

Vickie: And kind of a kick in their butt.

Heidi: Yeah, yeah, and Wendy is really good at doing that.

Vickie: That's true.

Heidi: Hey, the week after Wendy, the following week is going to be Charles Antis, is going to be on coffee conversations. And if you don't know Charles, he has Antis Roofing & Waterproofing in L.A. down by Vickie. And he is another amazing person who really has built his business around giving back. And so this week when I interviewed him on the podcast, he was in the middle of doing a blood drive in his office because they're all working remotely and even the crews are going straight to jobs. They do huge amounts of HOA work. And so their whole office was empty, so they moved all the desks out, totally sterilized the whole thing. The Red Cross came in and did two days of blood drive and record numbers. In fact, they had so many people sign up for it. They had to send them to other locations.

Vickie: That's really exciting. I saw bits and pieces of it. I know my husband should have gone. He has a very rare blood type. We used to get calls all the time. But Charles, yeah, it's an amazing thing. We got commercials on TV like crazy because people need blood. So his philosophy is just amazing to listen to. I can't wait to hear the podcast. Is it on the site yet?

Heidi: It is. It's on the site. Charles actually put it out on social media last night, so I've been seeing it flipping around. And I think it goes back to what you and I were talking about earlier. We have such amazing leaders in the roofing industry and they're all different. They go about things in their way, which they speak their own truth. And I love that, and I love hearing the creativeness of that. And really, I think that's a big part of what we're talking about is being creative. During this time of this pandemic is you've got to figure out where your core values and core strengths are and not stop. Just keep pushing out there.

Vickie: Yeah, we need to keep selling. I think that's number one. I know safety should be number one, but no, keep selling is number one to me right now. Oh my God.

Heidi: Yeah. And it's old-fashioned. People maybe can't be out socially as much, but they can pick up the phone. And you can check on your customers and ask how they're doing and what they need and do they have leaks.

Vickie: Yeah. So you moderate panels very well, which is like hurting cats. If someone goes, "Heidi, can you give a good speech?" You could do that. Not very many people in the whole world can do something like that without looking at notes or whatever. And you get up and you'd speak intelligently. You're cute... Oh, I'm sorry, that sounds so familiar. You can speak intelligently and interestingly, and you do just a perfect job. I've never had in my mind going, "Oh my God, Heidi, be quiet." Your enthusiasm and your niceness, every once in a while I want to go, "Come on, Heidi, you're not that nice." But I think it is real after all these years.

Heidi: After all these years.

Vickie: I'm just ready to go, " You must really like those people." So you get out to participate in stuff also. So have the METALCON thing go.

Heidi: First of all, thank you, Vickie. That's why I like you talking a lot more on the Saturdays because during the week they seem to be talking a lot. I get tired of hearing my voice, but thank you for asking and thank you for those compliments. The METALCON was really interesting because of course this is a whole different industry, where Zoom and all these spaces and all these people that I'm just starting to get to know and network and build relationships in that realm. But basically, it's a lot the same. Now Rob Haddock with S-5! was on there. He's just a great leader, great company, and he also spoke about what he was seeing. I spoke about what I was hearing from contractors in the roofing industry. And a lot of the metal world with NCA and METALCON is a lot of metal buildings too. So they're obviously metal, everything, not just the roof, tends to be a lot of new construction. So they're having a little bit harder time. New construction is definitely slowing. That's why we're very lucky to be in roofing, in that everyone needs a roof and they need the leaks fixed. And it's raining down in L.A. right now. So you can't not have it not leak, whereas new construction can a lot of times wait for a little bit. It can be postponed. So I heard a lot about that. And we also heard... There's that same conversation about safety and social distancing. But there was also a lot of discussion about, "Okay, where are we going to be three months from now? Where are we going to be third and fourth quarter?" And so I'm encouraged in the fact that they're really looking at that. And they did an online poll while we were on the town hall and asked how many people had had... First they asked, "How many projects have you had canceled or delayed?" And it was like 80%. It was a big number.

Vickie: Really?

Heidi: Really. And then I think it was our... Was it our general contractor who spoke? And he said, "Hey, can we change that question and say how many people have just had projects canceled period?" And they redid it and the number was really low, like 30%.

Vickie: Okay, cool. Good, yeah. How you ask a question, boy, that's something.

Heidi: It is, it is. And so really what it came out is they aren't seeing projects canceled, they're seeing projects delayed. And we talked again about job site perception during that town hall of... There's a lot of safety measures that have been put into place. And Mike Sullivan, my good friend who's a general contractor over in Portland, Oregon, told us about this, that there is problems with if people are working on a job site, they're doing everything right, all the social distance and everything, people are still possibly upset that they're there and that they see a lot of people in one place. So big construction sites are having to not only keep them safe, but then they have to worry about public opinion, and they have to worry about keeping the jobs moving and getting... The other thing we talked about during the town hall was also distribution and supply chain, and are they going to be able to get fasteners or they get metal. And that seemed pretty okay. Everybody's still pretty optimistic on that front.

Vickie: What did they talk about that... You were on a SRS, you listened to an SRS, right?

Heidi: Yes, yes.

Vickie: And they're thinking about supply chain?

Heidi: They didn't. That was on Duane. They really [crosstalk 00:25:00] ROOFPAC there, yeah. So what I have heard, I did see a couple of things this week. One from Beacon with Greg Bloom talking with Reid Ribble and a couple of other things and. And this is just really subjective of what I've been hearing. So I don't really have any solid facts on this. But what they're saying is if it's US-based, if it's produced in the US, no problem. If it's produced internationally, especially out of China, there seems to be some supply chain issues of getting like... Right now, there's a little bit of concern about fasteners and nails. But that's just what I'm hearing grumbling-wise when Greg was saying they didn't have any problems right now on the beacon front. So, good. And there's so many things to listen to and to attend. I attended an amazing webinar yesterday with National Women In Roofing. They had the Cotney Construction Law ladies. So it was Liz, Jacqueline, and Ashley, too super smart attorney or three super smart attorneys who were just answering questions for National Women In Roofing on essential workers, on unemployment, all the same questions. But from that HR perspective, there's a lot of women who are in HR positions, office managers who are trying to figure out to stay in compliance on what's going on. So they had a full session, just special to talk about that kind of stuff too. So if people aren't listening, aren't catching some of these, are really missing out. There's such great information out there.

Vickie: Yeah, there is. There is things that are unclear regarding loans and stuff, but it's starting to be a little more clear how people can keep working. And aside from losing things, because I think you're laying in bed thinking about how is the industry going to be effective, what is this going to look like? And a majority of it, we're untouched because we've adapted. My only concern for our industry is what's going to happen six months from now if work dries up and how we could bend the curve. What can we do to make sure we keep working? So that's my thing. I'm sick of all the COVID stuff. I'm only want to care about how we can continue to build our businesses and keep working. That's my new thing. Rather than worrying about what to do now, I want to make sure that in six months we're all okay because I really do want to buy a piano or a boat or something.

Heidi: Or something. And you're paying to go on a trip.

Vickie: I'm just kidding.

Heidi: But you know what? And this is a great topic to end our podcast on because I was just telling earlier before we started recording, I had shared with you that there was this great campaign on our local TV channel and the news is highlighting on businesses that are open. So we're open for business because so many people are thinking everything's shut down. So even the essentials that may not be getting foot traffic. People may not know that they can go in and get what they need for their homes and their families and stuff. And I related that to roofing in that roofing is open for business. And just like what Charles and Wendy and everybody said, we need to be creative, we need to look at where the need is. If you think about it, there is huge need in anything medical. In the medical world, we have to keep them safe and dry. There's Amazon, all of the grocery stores. There is business out there. And I think as an industry, we're just going to have to really be creative and look for the opportunities, and like you said, be looking six months ahead. What can we do now that's going to position our company in six months? The classified ads come to mind. People should be looking to be on our classifies. They should be looking for... There's labor to be had out there now. And labor shortage was so big before, but now there's people looking for work. It's a good time to advertise it.

Vickie: You can sell equipment, buy equipment. In the old days, people actually would... When they wanted a piece of equipment and couldn't find it, they would say, "Does anybody have blank?" We don't want to drive across the country to buy a kettle or a special Carole park. And so that's why we have it set up regionally. I don't think we should cut that out. I can't pronounce my words. So, yes, the classified is a good place because you can buy and sell and find feedback.

Heidi: Yeah, the forums are good place. [crosstalk 00:30:29] They should be in there logging to each other in the forum. And your survey, or I should say our survey, I shouldn't say our survey on what can we do to help?

Vickie: Well, that's important now. If you're listening to the podcast now, those people that are listening at later, they my catch this podcast later, we'll always have a survey up on our page. So they're fun, and we give you a little gifts if you will take five minutes.

Heidi: Yeah, and so I think there's a lot people can be doing right now to be positioning their company for six months from now. And I think there's a lot of people including the NRCA, all of our advertising partners who are on the site who are doing things every day, Trent with Cotney Construction, SRS, Beacon, all of these companies on Tamco... I was on with Tamco this week. They're doing some amazing new stuff with remote selling. So I just think there's a lot that people can be doing right now.

Vickie: So the most important thing that somebody could do for their business right now, this is the most self-serving thing, but it's true, is to go on the Coffee Shop and look at all the stuff and learn what you can. Everybody's got something they learn from, something there that you could apply to your business. Just whether it's a manufacturer, or whether it's an influencer, or whether it's a podcast or a training thing, I had Western Cola submit a bunch of little baby videos. Oh, I think I talked about that last week, just a little training. Just to build your better business, we have the resources. Please forgive me for sounding self-serving, I'm passionate about it. That's why it's there.

Heidi: Yeah. But it's okay. This is our podcast. We can talk about our side a little bit. The one I love right now is the General Coatings is giving away the optical comparitor which is like a little thing that you go onto a rooftop, a low slope onto a coding job, and you use it to tell the mills of dry film coatings on the roof. I probably totally said that wrong, but-

Vickie: In addition to that, they also have so many videos. I don't know. I heard something yesterday that we're posting... We've got a link to their video channel, but they have very detailed training videos. And since they do a lot of spray foam, it's totally different, which is a very interesting industry to learn about. Yeah, but so what do they got? 40, 50 videos. So once again, to prepare yourself for what's up in six months, you need to make yourself smarter now.

Heidi: Right, and it's here. It's the here, it's on the NRCA, it's across the board. So, yeah, I love it. I think that's the silver lining in all of this is how many people have stepped up and how people are realizing what a great industry we have.

Vickie: Yeah, yeah, we do well.

Heidi: Vickie, this is another Saturday, another Heidi and Vickie Show, and I'm pretty happy. This has been fun.

Vickie: Yeah, it is fun. I do feel like I'm just hearing myself speak, that I just talked to hear myself talk. I think I'm so damn smart, [inaudible 00:34:02]. I have to think about that and I have to think about, "Oh, I am that smart." But anyway, yeah, it's a beautiful day. Let's go on about our day now and get ready for next week. And I'm just dying to know what's going to happen next week.

Heidi: Yeah, well, it's definitely slowed down. You were right at the beginning. And so we can breathe just a little bit more, but you never know. Got another week. It could all change again.

Vickie: All right, I'll talk to you 12,000 times between now and next week.

Heidi: We will. We will and to everybody listening, thank you so much. This has been the Heidi and Vickie Show with the RoofersCoffeeShop. We appreciate you. We appreciate you listening, and we'll be back here again next week. Have a great day.

Vickie: Bye.

Heidi: Bye.