How to Stay Relevant in Rapidly Changing Times

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter.

When the world changes, so do consumers. Keep your company flourishing by adopting these two business characteristics.

Only 15 years ago, people were sending emails on blackberries and wondering if they should allow their kids on a new internet site called YouTube. Five years later, in 2010, the iPad was introduced marking a quintessential shift in technology use, as people adopted emerging technologies for personal use faster than they did for business. Now, in 2020, the coronavirus has forced all businesses to adapt to virtual platforms and remote working styles, completely redirecting the evolutionary track of technology towards faster internet speeds and better personal tech for a future of virtual work.

Most roofing contractors were operating on an in-person basis prior to COVID-19 and had to adapt quickly to new methods. Here is how one manufacturer has adapted to withstand the test of time, staying relevant and understanding their customers’ needs.

1 – Be adaptable

Marianne Sumter, owner of Wil-Mar Products, has seen and withstood the drastic changes in technology since the company’s inception in 1990.

“When I was working on my other job at GE, we had just basically gotten computers given to us to use as a tool, and now look. Now we're Zooming and we're doing whatever we do. It's just crazy. So, you have to be open to whatever is out there and just work with it, because if you don't, they're going to pass you by,” said Marianne in a Roofing Road Trips podcast with RoofersCoffeeShop® (RCS) partner, Heidi J. Ellsworth.

Marianne emphasizes the importance of working with the change, rather than against it. Being adaptable simply means being open to different and unexpected solutions to workplace challenges. When you're thinking without limitations, challenges faced by the coronavirus or any other future obstacles become an opportunity to prove your own skills and develop new ones.

2 – Know your customers

Bill Merrin was the roofing contractor who started Wil-Mar Products with Marianne in 1990. During his time as a contractor, he realized contractors needed to be able to seal the vent pipe to a roof flashing to eliminate excess mastic and taping. He invented the Pipe Collar to provide weathertight vent pipe counter flashing that lasts the life of the roofing system. Bill, with co-designer Michael Steele, also developed the Solar Mounting System and the Roofers’ Saw before his untimely death in 1995.

Bill’s story emphasizes the importance of knowing your customers because he was his own customer and saw firsthand what roofing contractors needed to be more productive. The Pipe Collar, along with his other inventions, have stood the test of time because they were crafted to genuinely enhance the roofing industry and assist roofing contractors for years to come.

The undisputable fact is that consumer tendencies have changed and will continue to do so. For contractors looking to stay in business throughout it all, adaptability and customer knowledge become two foundational skills that serve to build and maintain a company.

Learn more about Wil-Mar Products in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory.