Leap LIVE from IRE in New Orleans!

Kate from Leap catches RCS COO Karen Edwards up on what all the new since last IRE.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an interview with Kate Ratcliffe, marketing manager at Leap. You can read the interview below or watch the recorded livestream. 

Karen Edwards: Hello everybody, and welcome to the RoofersCoffeeShop Sound Stage at the 2022 International Roofing Expo in New Orleans. Boy, that's a mouthful. I am Karen Edwards. I'm your host for today, and I am being joined by my friend Kate from Leap. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Hi everybody! 

Karen Edwards: Welcome. So it is day two of the show, but for us it's more like day five, because Kate and I have been together since Saturday. We were on the same flight- 

Kate Ratcliffe: Yes, we were. 

Karen Edwards: ...up to the show, and then we went to National Women Roofing day on Sunday. What do you think of that? 

Kate Ratcliffe: I love it. This was my second National Women in Roofing and Leap after I started we really started taking it seriously. And as a company we brought another member on, Sarah. She is our newest member to National Women in Roofing, and it was awesome to share that experience with her. And we're going to start our own council in Baltimore. So if you guys are in the Baltimore area, stay tuned, I'm working on it. 

Karen Edwards: It's coming. 

Kate Ratcliffe: It's coming. And it was just so amazing. The keynote was phenomenal. Actually, I had bad day and I was like, "You know what? I don't have to prescribe to the rules that someone made for me." And that was the whole keynote was you can make your rules about your life, you don't have to follow these things that don't matter. 

Karen Edwards: Society or whoever says you should. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Yeah, it was fantastic. 

Karen Edwards: Wow. I love it. Yeah, so day one of the show was yesterday. It's been a really good busy show. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Yeah. Yeah. It's actually funny. My booth is right there and I can see it and it is packed right now. So if you guys have stopped by and haven't gotten to talk to us, I do apologize, but come back, because we've got a bunch of staff. It's been busy. 

Karen Edwards: And fun swag too. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Oh yeah, lots of fun swag. We always have good swag. 

Karen Edwards: I know, you do. T-shirts, microfiber cloths. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Yeah. All that stuff. Drawstring bags, all of it. 

Karen Edwards: As someone sitting out here looking at your booth, I'm wondering what is Leap? 

Kate Ratcliffe: So Leap is a point-of-sale software. It is going to digitize your entire sales process, streamline it, help you scale. You can go from a three million dollar to $30 million company using our product. We integrate with the CRMs, most of them. And you bring your customer data in and then you can run your entire sales meeting right from the iPad. And you can get a contract, or estimate, or proposal created within about 30 seconds. You could have them sign right there. You could have them pay through the app. Also, we have financial lenders they can apply for financing. The possibilities are endless and we are constantly growing. 

Karen Edwards: And you said something to me the other day about contractors say, "Why didn't I do this sooner?" 

Kate Ratcliffe: Yeah. Yeah. So at our booth this year actually, we have now just scrolling quotes from our clients. Because it's one thing for me to say this, but it's something to come from a roofing company and someone in your community saying, I can't believe I haven't done this before and I'm never going to go back and it's changed my life. And that's really honestly where it started was it was a roofing salesman who just wanted to make his life easier and now we're sharing that with all of you. 

Karen Edwards: You hear that story so many times in this industry about somebody that they were frustrated. They were tired of doing it this same old way. And they created a solution that has now helped hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Yeah. He had the option to not share it with the world. And he was like, "You know what? No." And he is here today. He stands on the floor. Every time we come to a show, he loves sharing his creation. 

Karen Edwards: That's fantastic. So you guys have a lot of new stuff. Tell me about that. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Yeah. So we're growing rapidly. And since last IRE since we spoke, we did a very deep integration with CompanyCam. I know everybody uses CompanyCam. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah. They're very popular. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Yeah. And so really that just streamlined the whole process. You don't have to have those two platforms they live with each other now. We did a deep integration with Ingage recently. So your presentation, right in the app. We've got three or four new financial lenders coming on literally this month. February not January. So we have a lot of exciting moving parts and we have a podcast that's doing really well. We also are doing webinars that are education. They're not sales. So we want you guys to learn. So definitely join us for webinars. We've had Rooferscoffeeshop on it before! 

Karen Edwards: I talked about marketing and yeah, just truly a company that is not just trying to force the sale down your throat. They're like, "Let us help you be successful." 

Kate Ratcliffe: That's right. 

Karen Edwards: And in addition to how our solution does that, we want to bring you other speakers in education. And I think that's really cool. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Yeah. Thank you. Our slogan is empowering contractors. That's all we want to do. And it's interesting I wasn't in this community before. And I say community very purposefully. The people here are amazing and they've welcomed me with open arms. We've become friends and now what? I've known you for what? Six months? Something like that. 

Karen Edwards: It was yeah, the last National IRE. Yeah. We did lunches by region. So we had lunch together. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Yeah. That was just you and me and some salad. 

Karen Edwards: Our friends at Owens Corning were there too. Yeah. Yeah, it's great. This is an industry, definitely, as you all know if you're in it that you form lifelong friendships. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And even with other vendors, even our competitors, we are a really good industry to just have allies and friends. And I was just talking about making a dinner reservation and I'm struggling, because so many people all want to go to dinner I can't find a place that will host them. 

Karen Edwards: Big enough. That's funny. So if you are coming to the show and you want to stop by and see Leap, their booth is right there. So it's probably 300 something- 

Kate Ratcliffe: 337. 

Karen Edwards: 337. 

Kate Ratcliffe: You can't miss it. It's the one with the frog. 

Karen Edwards: It's the one with the frog. You've got it on your shirt. Yeah. Look for the frog, stop by and see Leap. If you can't be at the show, we know there were some people that couldn't make it and this is why we're doing these interviews. Visit the RoofersCoffeeShop directory that Leap has on our website, because it has all their information. It has links, videos, all that kind of stuff to help you get in touch with them and schedule a demo and try the product out. So Kate, thank you for coming by. 

Kate Ratcliffe: Of course. 

Karen Edwards: I'm excited. We still have lots going on tonight and tomorrow for the show. So we want to see you, if you can stop by say hi. We'll be broadcasting live throughout the day so subscribe to our YouTube channel, ring the bell, get notifications and we'll see you soon. Bye. 

Learn more about Leap in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit www.leaptodigital.com.