Live from IRE 2025 with Service First Solutions! - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Tracey Donels of Service First Solutions. You can read the interview below or watch the recording.

Megan Ellsworth: Hello everyone. My name's Megan Ellsworth here at the Coffee Shops Downstage, sponsored by our friends over at SRS Distribution. And I'm here with my friend Tracey Donels. Hello. 

Tracey Donels: Thank you so much. 

Megan Ellsworth: So glad to have you here. Thank you very much. I'm excited to be here. Oh my gosh, I'm so 

Tracey Donels: Happy. I'm ready to be inside. Not outside. Cold out. It's cold out. A little too cold inside. I'll say 

Megan Ellsworth: Inside. It's cold out. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so Tracy, service First Solutions. Hot, hot company. 

Tracey Donels: <laugh>. Growing fast, growing fast, fast, helping lot people 

Megan Ellsworth: Growing fast. Amazing. Can you introduce yourself and tell everyone a little bit, bit about you and service first? 

Tracey Donels: So my name's Tracey Donels. Uh, I own and operate Service First Solutions. I call 'em with a small staff. And what we do is we help you grow, build, and scale your commercial repair and maintenance departments. Um, as a 16 year contractor, that's what I focus in, was repair and maintenance. And the need is really out there in the industry. There's a lot of people who want to grow their repair and maintenance departments, but don't really know how to do it because it's such a different animal than the re-roof and the production side of our business. Um, and that's what we do. We go around the country and, and we help people. What we say is we help you grow roof service. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Megan Ellsworth: It's so true that it really is a different animal. And I didn't realize that until, um, I was speaking with Jay, one of your coaches at MRCA last year, and she was kind of teaching me about all the different aspects of the service and maintenance programs. And it's so true. Like you said, it's a d completely different type of service being provided 

Tracey Donels: Yeah. Than a 

Megan Ellsworth: Reroof. 

Tracey Donels: Yeah. Most building owners, they think they need a roofer for when it the roof is leaking and when they need to need a new roof. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Tracey Donels: But we need to educate them on everything else we can help them with every other way that we can help them save money or in turn, make money. 

Tracey Donels: Through preventive maintenance, building inspections, severe weather inspections, uh, HVAC, penetration installations. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, you shouldn't have anyone working on that roof who is not your recommended roofer and your repair and maintenance contractor. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. So how has the show been? 

Tracey Donels: The show has been fantastic. That's awesome. I think the weather outside has maybe helped people pushing people inside. Yep. But, um, this is our fourth year as a presenter and I will say amazing. Easily the best first day yet so 

Megan Ellsworth: Far. Wow. 

Tracey Donels: It's been really good for us. 

Megan Ellsworth: Wow. So your first one was 2021? 

Tracey Donels: Yes. 

Megan Ellsworth: Got it. 

Tracey Donels: As a, as a 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Tracey Donels: As a exhibitor. Yes. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Wow. Okay. So that really says something. 

Tracey Donels: Yeah. It's, it's been, like I said, it's, it's been fantastic. Yeah. It's, I think a lot of it is, you know, four years in the business mm-hmm <affirmative>. Things like Roofer's Coffee shop Ooh. And getting our name out there. 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm 

Tracey Donels: <affirmative>. Uh, this yellow jacket 

Megan Ellsworth: Shirt 

Tracey Donels: Doesn't hurt <laugh>. Um, but, you know, it's, it's just building on the momentum. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. And 

Tracey Donels: You know, it's kinda like the same thing we build do in the service department. 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Mm-hmm 

Tracey Donels: <affirmative>. We start with one truck or two trucks 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm 

Tracey Donels: <affirmative>. But then we get a little bit better and we go on to three and four mm-hmm <affirmative>. And, you know, there, there is no stopping. If you want to keep growing, repair and maintenance, there's really nothing stopping. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. So I hear you have some peer groups that you do about with service and maintenance. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah. 

Tracey Donels: So we have, uh, service focused peer groups that we run and, uh, let's say, I don't even wanna say mentor, but we manage mm-hmm <affirmative>. And what we do is we get eight to 10 roofing contractors from across the country who, uh, want to grow their roofs, uh, maintenance department or are focused on it. And we take two individuals from each one of those companies, non-competing companies from across the country. 

Megan Ellsworth: Okay. Love. 

Tracey Donels: And we get 'em together once a month virtually to share best business practice, solve each other's problems. Um, wow. Sometimes it's just vent <laugh>, sometimes it's really, it's just, Hey, I believe it. This is my trusted few and I need someone to talk to. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Tracey Donels: 'cause they share my problems. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. They share my frustrations mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, and we take 'em in. We also get together three times a year for two days. 

Megan Ellsworth: Okay. 

Tracey Donels: So I have a group of eight contractors here. Uh, well, most of them are still here. We were here Monday and Tuesday. 

Megan Ellsworth: Okay. 

Tracey Donels: We did a all day long strategic planning session yesterday Wow. Where we, uh, discussed each other's goals for the year, both revenue and non-revenue. We discussed what the hurdles were gonna be for those, hitting those goals. 

Megan Ellsworth: Wow. 

Tracey Donels: And it's amazing, once you get enough people in the room, you get four or five or six people that all have the same problem. And then you get the momentum going, and then you get the discussion going, and then we start solving each other's problems. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Tracey Donels: Um, and then the day before that Monday, we all got together and we toured, uh, Belden Roofing Company. 

Megan Ellsworth: So cool. 

Tracey Donels: And the great and wonderful Mr. Brad Belden opened his doors and his knowledge and his brain, and him and his president, Danny Mendez just walked us through the, the company answered every question we could have possibly had. Um, let us take pictures, uh, gave us cards, gave us a Osby swag, Yeti cooler. Right. Whoa. Little, I mean, there was great, I mean, he took care of us. Wow. He took care of us. And he's really, it's one of the things that really I love about the peer groups is getting to meet or helping other people meet other leaders in this industry 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Facilitating that. 

Tracey Donels: Correct. Correct. 'cause there's so many ways to be successful 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Tracey Donels: And we see people walk in these show floors and we see the Charles Ansstas, the Brad Belvins, the Steve Littles, the Curtis Suttons 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, 

Tracey Donels: The Mike Trotters. They all have great stories to tell 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Tracey Donels: And beyond just a tour. But the being able to interview and sit down with these minds is, is just, it's not eye-opening, but it's, it's also in very invigorating. People are are taking notes and pictures and Yeah. They're going back, uh, revitalized to their shop. 

Megan Ellsworth: That and is such a great feeling after a week like this to go home, bring all these ideas back to the office, all these inspirations and pictures and memories back to the office and really inspire the crew for the rest of the year. 

Tracey Donels: Yes. Yes. 

Megan Ellsworth: Is this is what a great way to start off the year. 

Tracey Donels: Yeah. And what do we always say? We say, if we leave a conference like this, we can take, we want to take one thing back 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Tracey Donels: But if you're getting together with eight or nine contractors and you're discussing six or seven point pain points each time, you're gonna be, start taking a lot more things back into, gonna grow a lot faster. 

Megan Ellsworth: Especially if it's multiple times a year. 'cause you said once a month with the peer groups, and then you do, uh, four, 

Tracey Donels: Uh, three times a year. Three times a year. Every four months we get together for two days. 

Megan Ellsworth: That's so cool. 

Tracey Donels: And then this year, uh, sometime we're looking for dates right now. Okay. In this busy industry. Yeah. We're gonna do a peer group of peer groups. So we're gonna get all of our peer groups together in Dallas and everybody's gonna get to meet each other 

Megan Ellsworth: And That's awesome. 

Tracey Donels: So like in person, I, I have several cities where we have multiple people in peer groups. Mm-hmm. You know, Nashville's very big for us. Chicago. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, the Bay Area. I don't know what it's about. San Francisco, the 

Megan Ellsworth: Area. 

Tracey Donels: Wow. Big in service. Wow. Lots of customers, but get 'em all together and then, uh, just, you know, see what we can come up with together. Yeah. When we, when we open up and share ideas and say, Hey, I, I don't know everything mm-hmm <affirmative>. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. What, what do you have that you can, you can share with me? Mm-hmm. 

Megan Ellsworth: That's been a huge theme of a lot of my interviews today with different people, is that this is a week to be vulnerable and say yes. Things like that. I don't know everything I need help. And also lean on people in the your market. It's, and it's okay if they're your competitor mm-hmm <affirmative>. We can all help each other and everyone will rise. 

Tracey Donels: Yep. Yep. 

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. 

Tracey Donels: It's amazing the, uh, comradery have in the roofing industry. True. I remember when I was first coming up in the industry, uh, at Cape Post in Dallas, and one of the very first roof tours I ever took was with Ronnie McLaughlin from Empire Roofing. 

Megan Ellsworth: No 

Tracey Donels: Way. <laugh>. And I got to walk a roof with Ronnie and see how he interacted with his crew. And I will say that he actually inspired me to start learning Spanish so I could, I could communicate with my foreman at the time and my technicians and I saw Ronnie go up and talk to every single person. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Tracey Donels: And I mean, there's another one, another great person in the industry to, I mean, just, just sit down there and talk and, and we'll just listen for hours. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Tracey Donels: Listen for hours. 

Megan Ellsworth: I love it. Okay. So is there anything specific your talking about a lot at the booth, people are coming up and asking about? 

Tracey Donels: So really it's just that general repair and maintenance. How do I do it? Yeah. Because it is, it is such, it is such a foreign concept. Most people do the repair and maintenance that comes to them 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Tracey Donels: And they see how well it goes and how much money they make off. And they're like, well, I wanna do more, but how do I get these people to call me with problems? Right. And that's where we come in. We teach you not only how to get the revenue, but get the operations and the systems in place. Service sales comes very easy if you have good service operations. Got it. If you can fix a person's problem, do it quickly with great customer service, they're not gonna care about the price and they're always gonna come back to you. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Tracey Donels: No one fires a service provider that does good work and they like 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Tracey Donels: And that's the key. 

Megan Ellsworth: That is so true. Like, if you have a barber, you know, <laugh>, 

Tracey Donels: This is the analogy I always use. Right. No way. So my wife, my beautiful wife, Karen, she goes and gets your hair done every year. Every every month. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Tracey Donels: And she goes to see, uh, Jeanette and Jeanette does her hair mm-hmm <affirmative>. And she says, well, you know, sometimes it's, it's not great. It's, you know, a little dark or a little light a little long. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Yeah. 

Tracey Donels: And I'm the best in the world. I've got all my wife's solutions, <laugh>. So I say, Hey, you know, there's a, there's a hairdresser on every corner. Yeah. Go try somebody else. Yeah. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. We can't do that. <laugh>, I have my person. Yeah. I go there. 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Tracey Donels: Right. And that's exactly what a great repair and maintenance department could do. So true. They can, that relationship can carry you through the mistakes. 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Tracey Donels: The mistakes are gonna happen. 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Tracey Donels: One of my mentors in the business, Kelly Lee, who was uh, one of my direct, uh, supervisors at Cap os, he taught me it's construction, bleeps gonna happen, <laugh>, you're not gonna get to choose when it happened. It's just gonna happen. 

Megan Ellsworth: Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Tracey Donels: So it's how you respond. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Tracey Donels: And that's the essence of repairing maintenance. 

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. 

Tracey Donels: Helping the people in need. 

Megan Ellsworth: Well said. Well, you guys just got a free Ted talk over here and <laugh>, that was great. Thank you, Tracy. Thank you so much. Okay. Remind me your booth number. 

Tracey Donels: Booth number 25 125 100. And I'm speaking tomorrow at 9 45. 

Megan Ellsworth: Oh. Oh my God. Come and see me. Okay. And do you know what, where 

Tracey Donels: I, it is, my badge is over there. I wanna say it's two 14 at 9 45 in the morning. 

Megan Ellsworth: 9 45. See you there. And also, everyone can go to roofers coffee shop.com to the Service First solutions directory to learn more, find their socials, their website, all that jazz. And thank you so much, Tracy. Thank you much. Great to see you. Absolutely. Good to see you. Stay tuned, everyone, we just have a few more interviews to round out the day. Um, stay tuned and we'll see you next time. Thanks. Good job.