Matthew McDaniel and Travis Harvego - Selling Your Next Roof Online - PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Travis Harvego and Matthew McDaniel from Roofle. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Speaker 1: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips with Heidi. Explore the roofing industry through the eyes of a long-term professional within the trade. Listen for insights, interviews, and exciting news in the roofing industry today.

Heidi Ellsworth: Hello and welcome to another Roofing Road Trips from RoofersCoffeeShop. This is Heidi Ellsworth and I am road tripping up into the Midwest to visit with one of the most up and coming, coolest crew of people that you can imagine with some of the greatest technology. I am here with Matthew McDaniel, the chief marketing officer and product owner of Roofle and Travis Harvego, president of Roofle. Gentlemen, welcome to the show.

Travis Harvego: Thanks, Heidi. Thanks for having us.

Matthew McDaniel: Thanks so much, Heidi.

Heidi Ellsworth: I am so excited to have both of you on. I am a huge fan. In fact, I would say I'm a fangirl of Roofle. I think it is the coolest technology that has come out in a while, and I of course just love Joe Hoffman. So there you go. We've worked with him for a long time. I'm really excited to be with both of you to share this great technology and your business out there into the roofing world. So let's start with some introductions. So Travis, can you introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about yourself and your role, obviously as president in Roofle?

Travis Harvego: Yeah, of course. And I'm sure Joe's going to be watching this. I guess I better say we love Joe as well.

Heidi Ellsworth: Okay, okay.

Travis Harvego: On all those basis, I have been-

Matthew McDaniel: [inaudible 00:01:30]. Bit of a fanboy of Joe Hoffman.

Heidi Ellsworth: Oh, okay. There you go. So we're all on the same page.

Travis Harvego: So yeah, Travis, president, CEO of Roofle. So my history goes back a long ways. So I've been in the industry now for about a little over 12 years. And I originally started as a canvasser in the roofing industry.

Heidi Ellsworth: I love it.

Travis Harvego: Came out of college, had a degree, and I went into knocking doors and setting appointments. And for me, it's kind of different because I mostly have worked my whole career with one company. So a lot of our people in this industry will actually jump around quite a bit and say, "Hey, the grass is greener over here. I'm going to jump over here. They're paying more commissions." Things like that. But within the organization that Joe had started, Hoffman Weber Construction, he had a great pathway for everyone to have great success within the organization. You could clearly see that as an employee you could work your way up.

So I started as a canvasser, went into sales management, and then I went over to the production side, project management, production management, and then worked my way up into general manager and overall leader on the leadership team within the organization. So have held every kind of aspect within the roofing or restoration world. And then had an opportunity to come over to the side of Roofle and work on something very, very exciting over here with Roofle and be able to create what we've created today. So that's my background and what I've been through and what I know as far as in the industry.

Heidi Ellsworth: That is a true roofing success story. I love it. I love it. Matthew, can you introduce yourself?

Matthew McDaniel: Yeah, so Matthew, I have a similar background with Travis. I've worked under Joe way back probably eight, ten years now. I actually helped them engineer the marketing program that made that company very successful. And my focus has really been on that side of the business, just been hyper focused on marketing, branding, content, even process. I've figured out that the customer experience is important to the marketing side of things. So I think process is what really drives that experience to have an organized process. That's really been my background and I leveraged all that knowledge and wisdom to help create and co-found this awesome technology that really puts it into a next level of homeowner experience.

Heidi Ellsworth: I love the way you explain the homeowner experience. The buying experience is so important. In fact, we're talking about how that experience is going to take selling roofs basically online. So Travis, let's start with the history of Roofle and what it is. What is Roofle?

Travis Harvego: Yeah, let's go back in time a little bit. Let's talk about where the concept came from and where it started and take you through as far as where we started and where we are now. So it's kind of a track we have to be able to follow. So it was back in 2019, pre-COVID. We're like, "Okay, we're a very innovative company." And years prior to that we were actually up for innovator of the year with our construction company. So we've always been very, very innovative. And so the people on our leadership team sat down and said, "What's the next greatest thing to come to the roofing space?" Because technology is now starting to come out, there was new technologies that were coming into the industry. I'm like, "Hey, we want to be a part of this." And so we thought of different ways of how to do it.

One thing that came up was the in-person sale. What does that look like? Can that be something that can be brought to essentially the e-commerce type of space where the consumers can be more in control? Because at that time the Carvanas of the world were coming out and things like that where people were actually buying cars online. We truly believed that. So then we drew it out and whiteboarded it for a few months. We said, "Hey, this thing is realistic, it can actually be done." So I think we started actually developing it January of 2020. And then I think it was June 1st or July 1st, 2020 is when we actually launched our website. So we launched our website roofle.com, and really what that was all about was essentially to take the experience of e-commerce and bring it to the roofing industry. So we built all the different things that were required for the homeowner to actually buy their roof online.

So we launched right in the middle of COVID. Consumers were coming to our website. They were able to shop and browse from hundreds of products on our website. They're able to get their instant quote. They were able to essentially finalize their buying experience online. So when the consumer was coming to our website, they were making all these transactions a hundred percent online. If they wanted to talk to a sales rep, they had the option to do so, but they were in total control of them being able to buy this product. So we did that for about two years, did about $4 million in sales over two years. And then it came to a point to where the contractors kept coming to us and they're like, "Hey, we want this technology. This is the newest and greatest thing as far as what's happened in the world."

So it was April 29th was the day, I'll never forget it. When essentially I was at a conference in these contractors are coming to me and they're like, "Hey, we want this technology." And so the next day I said, "Hey guys, we're flipping what we're doing. We're going to stop selling to homeowners and we're actually going to offer this technology to contractors." The next day we started developing the technology that we have today, Roof Quote PRO, to where now the contractors can have the technology on their website. So we went from having an idea, testing the idea, making sure that the homeowners actually wanted it. We saw clearly there was a demand there for this product to do it, to now saying, "We're going to give this product to contractors so now contractors can take it and sell directly consumers on their website."

Heidi Ellsworth: I have talked to some of the contractors who have been using it and that it's just game-changing, it's so exciting for them. And the thing that I find really interesting is you are really getting a cross of contractors that are more traditional residential roofing contractors, more retail, and while also getting some restoration contractors. You are really getting a cross section, which is not the easiest thing to do. And I know that because of EagleView and so that is phenomenal. And Travis, we're going to come back to that. I want to talk a little bit as we are looking at this, on what you're seeing the influence of Roofle changing the buying process. So Matthew, maybe you talked a lot about the customer experience and how important that is. And I've talked to over the years tons of contractors, "There's no way a homeowner's going to buy a roof online." But you guys have really changed that buying experience. Plus as society has, like Travis just said, people are getting used to buying things online. So what are you seeing with that?

Matthew McDaniel: Yeah, that's right. We wanted to build this for contractors of all shapes and sizes. And I think this is a very fitting tool for, like you said, just contractors of different backgrounds with different service offerings, the whole nine yards. And back in the day, you would never have thought that you wouldn't be measuring by hand, or that you wouldn't keep paper files and so on. So technology is always been a catalyst for change in this industry. And we just took that next evolutionary step of the online sale. So it was pretty clear that this was going to be the next thing. And it really has changed the buying process. For one, you have much more qualified buyers.

I think one of the biggest compliments that we get is, "Hey, I'm getting rid of all the tire figures. I don't have to send out a sales rep and burn two hours and burn a measurement and all this expended energy and cost." And then once they see the price then, "Oh, there's no way I could afford this." So right away you're getting more qualified buyers, you're also building a lot of trust by offering pricing upfront, being transparent. The homeowner I think is finding that they're more trustworthy of that contractor. And there's not this whole song and dance of, "I'm going to hide this price and put some certain tactics to make you feel a certain way."

So I think that's actually helping create a lot more professionalism for the contractor to build that trust. And once the homeowner's seen that price, and we're seeing actually a really high conversion to actual appointments after they submit their information, the contractor follows up and is actually able to come out and actually do an inspection and meet with the homeowner and give them more of an educational experience. So the pressure is now off of the price. They're already comfortable with what they saw. Even if that price goes up a little from upgrades or there's a few very small details that weren't captured, they're already comfortable now with that sales rep. And there's a lot more focus on the educational side of it.

So sales reps love that. They say it's some of the easiest sales that they've made when they come in the door. And I think there's been a shift also towards building brand value digitally. I think when you're offering a digital experience, you want to make sure that your website is much more polished and that you're able to showcase that you are a contractor that stands out. Whether that's your unique value proposition and whether it's through just great photos and just some professional website. Whatever you have to do to make it seem that you have a really strong brand value and that way you can justify various pricing upfront.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, I never thought I would buy another car because I never wanted to go onto another car lot again and talk to a salesperson. Sorry, I'm a salesperson, but I just didn't want to do it. And then during 2020 we were able to go online and buy a car. And it was the best experience I've ever had and I love my car. And so I think people are getting used to that. And so Travis, with that thought in mind, what are you seeing from the contractors who are using Roofle on their sites? How they're incorporating it and the experience that they're having with their homeowners?

Travis Harvego: So ultimately we look at this and we say, "This is the ultimate top-of-funnel tool." We look at our tool, essentially the ultimate bolt-on tool because with our contractors, you don't have to change anything. You don't have to switch CRMs, you don't got to change up your measurement platforms or whatever it is. In contractors, we know we that they hate that, right? Enough.

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah.

Travis Harvego: With me being a contractor for years, I understood what that was. So essentially we created the ultimate bolt-on tool. So don't change your process. So it's the ultimate top-of-funnel tool that what they're using. So they're embedding this onto their website. Number one, they're not losing that traffic, it's not bouncing off their website somewhere else. They're able to capture the traffic that comes to their site. They leave that traffic right there on their site while they're able to browse right there on their website. So now consumer comes in, they're able to get their instant quote, they're able to see what their prices are going to be. From there, the consumer can then book an appointment directly with that contractor or that contractor is then reaching out to that customer to set up that appointment.

Now ideally what we have with our contractors, and our contractors are using this in many different ways, but ideally we want them to call them within 30 seconds. That contact comes in, they're able to contact that homeowner within 30 seconds. Ideally they're still browsing on the website when that comes in. So they're still looking at these products. Now they're having a conversation on the phone with a customer who's interested while they're still looking at their website. From there, they either set the in-person appointment to come out, finalize the order with that homeowner, or some of our customers are now taking this and actually doing a virtual sale.

So they're actually taking it, qualifying the customer, and then actually doing the sale over the phone right then and there. So there's a lot of different ways and every contractor's different. And that's how I think what we do best is that whenever we do meet with a contractor, we go over what their existing process is and how that they handle their leads, their appointments, their contacts and say, "Okay, here's how this product can actually fit really, really well within your process. What do you think?" So not only are we just selling a product, we're also helping them and seeing the vision as far as where this can fit in within their organization. That's where we've been able to see the best growth with our product and help people love it so much is that it can work in many different ways. It just depends on however that contractor has things set up existing inside of their platform, within their organization.

Heidi Ellsworth: Now, and I should know this, and maybe I do, but I'm not sure, but a homeowner or a consumer could actually come on there and without even talking to anybody buy a roof. Can they go all the way through the system?

Travis Harvego: So currently not with our product Roof Quote PRO. So they could with roofle.com, that was something that we did when we sold direct to consumers. But now with our platform that we have that we're offering to the contractors Roof Quote PRO, we've only gone so far down the pathway. So here's the thing, if we give contractors the ability to say, "Here's all the information, here's all the technology, go sell online." It's way too much information. So the first part we have to get to is get them to show their price online. So we have to take this in steps. So this is just the first step of the process and every single month or couple months, we release a new feature that's coming out.

So the next step of the process is going to be financing. So on March 7th, we're releasing financing to our consumer. So now the consumer can come get pre-approved for financing right inside of our tool. So it's the next step of the process. So again, hopefully over the next year or so we'll have that full release as far as a pathway for them to be able to actually have the consumer buy on their website. But again, it takes steps and we want to make sure that the contractor's taking these steps appropriately so we don't completely derail the process of e-commerce. Because if we do that, people are going to say, "It's too much work, we hate it, we're not going to adopt it." But if we take it in baby steps like we are, then they can easily adopt all these steps along the way.

Heidi Ellsworth: That makes so much sense and it's so smart because I know it's hard to change the culture and this is a huge change in how you do business. But I'm telling you, I'm ready. I'm ready to buy my roof online. I think that would be great. Don't tell my husband though, because he worked on the last one. So Matthew, along the lines of what we're just talking about and kind of bringing this out in the small steps, I love it. What are some of the success stories that you're hearing from contractors out there on how this is changing their culture, their process, their buying experience? All of the above.

Matthew McDaniel: Yeah, no, we've seen a ton of success. We actually have some great analytics that we can see on the backend to see actual conversion rates and to see all the events and interactions with our technology. One thing we're definitely seeing is much higher conversion rates. So six to ten times what they're used to getting on their website, they're getting in leads. So that's a very powerful number. Often you see a 2% conversion rate on a website from someone browsing to actually becoming a lead is pretty average. We're seeing six to ten times that rate. We're also capturing that information. Let's say they put in their address and they actually back out and don't want to put in full contact information. We're still actually capturing those addresses, which is very useful for marketing and sales purposes. And so if you look at that conversion rate, that's even higher, which is pretty astounding.

Another thing is effective marketing. We're hearing from not only our contractors but some of our marketing agency partners, that this is a powerful tool to use in marketing and multi-facets, pretty much omnichannel marketing. Whether it's door hangers or mailers or your social advertising, the call to action is so much stronger when people know that they're getting something immediate and something that they're actually looking for. So that's a huge success story. I mentioned earlier, but these sales are much easier to come by with these sales reps. These sales reps are absolutely loving these leads. These are some of the highest quality leads. They're going into the home, and I don't want to use the term lay down, but they're definitely seeing that these people are much more receptive to the sale upfront. It's pretty much a ready-to-go sale.

I'm also seeing a lot of ways that they're using the tool in unique ways. We have one sales rep that's actually establishing a lot of real estate partnerships. So he's saying, "Hey, here's an easy way to give your clients a roof estimate." Let's say before they close on this house, they need to get the roof replaced or at least need to identify the cost. So they're using the tool as a way to build new real estate partnerships and pretty much exponentially expand their opportunities through those partnerships. Also, storm contractors down in Florida, it was very hard to actually get estimates for homeowners in a timely manner. And speed to quote was a big deal. And essentially the faster you can get to more doors, the more opportunity came from big storms like that. So being able to knock out quotes that quickly for an entire neighborhood has really expounded opportunities for door-to-door companies as well.

Seeing a lot of success all around and hearing some very unique ways that we haven't even thought of. That's why we love our community, is they're constantly giving us feedback, constantly giving us ideas, and we're so receptive to that because we want to build something that is truly useful in the real world and that they're going to love.

Heidi Ellsworth: You said something too that I think is really powerful is "data". Right? They're capturing data. So this goes back, oh wow. But in the old days, in the retail market of Oregon, one of the greatest things is when you could find a neighborhood that was all wood shingle and the whole neighborhood had to be re-roofed, right? And so that kind of data that you're able to bring in on that, "Hey, we have people, a couple or numerous people from this neighborhood who are in here quoting and looking." That means that neighborhood needs roofing and it helps the contractor. So it's just so many angles. I love it.

Travis, I want to go back because you were there and when EagleView first started and the world was like, "No one can measure my roof from the air." And then here today, now that's the only way we do it. It really feels a lot like that Roofle is making that same major change in the industry of how people are going to sell to consumers, sell roofing. So why should contractors be getting on board with this now and how do you see that differentiating their companies going forward?

Travis Harvego: The piece that we learned was number one, the 24 hours sale potential. Being able to have your website working for you 24 hours a day. So instead of having limited hours, you're able to have business being generated for you 24 hours a day. The biggest thing that we learned as far as selling direct to consumers was that 70% of our contacts, 70% of our business coming in came in between 9:00 and midnight. So in the late evenings when roofers are not available to go into homes and have appointments. It's when the consumer's actually available to be able to shop because everyone's busy. Most husband and wife work these days. They have kids in practice or whatever it may be, and they're just busy. And the time that they're able to sit down to actually think about these things is late in the evening.

So now you're giving the consumer the availability to do so 24 hours a day, whenever it makes it convenient for them. Or even the amount of times that we are able to capture business at 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 a.m., because that person works a different shift, that just makes it very, very convenient. So I think that's really one of the biggest factors is that you're allowing the convenience to the consumer as far as to do it on their own time. Now the next thing is that, look at the generation that's coming up, millennials and Gens Y or Z, wherever we're on now.

Heidi Ellsworth: Z!

Travis Harvego: That's coming up, is that they don't like humans. They're not used to interacting with humans. If you have young kids, they're all about the technology. They're on their phones, texting, chatting, whatever it is that they're doing, is that the human interaction's going to become less and less. And I'm not saying that's going to go away. I'm just going to say that generation is used to having things available at their fingertips whenever they want it, and they want to be able to do things on their own. And so they may not want that human interaction. So they want to be able to just do it on their own.

So there's a couple different things that we learned in this process as far as like, "What are the main reasons why you need to think about integrating this within your business?" Those are some of the factors people don't even think about is that you're able to have 24 hour potential. The generation that's coming up may not want as many in-person appointments and they'd rather have that virtual. And also COVID did something to a lot of people to where they just got used to doing virtual sales or not doing in-home things because they just became used to it. It just became the normal.

So I think that differentiating yourself within your business is number one, being able to offer that to where your competitor does not offer that. So if your competitor is not offering that, that's a big differentiator. So that maybe that consumer is going to come buy from you because you allow the convenience on your website to be able to do so, to where your competitor does not allow that convenience. And that's where we're able to see a lot of things being captured. But same thing with what our product is now, Roof Quote PRO, a lot of our customers are gathering interested customers because they have this on their website compared to other people. And a success story we actually just got was somebody reached out to us said, "Hey, just want to report back to you and let you know that I'm actually closing at a 50% close rate on all your contacts that come in."

Heidi Ellsworth: Wow!

Travis Harvego: So we're like, "Wow, that's pretty substantial." So they're tracking, as far as our contacts that come in compared to other ones, that they're getting is that ours are closing on average for them about a 50% close rate. And they fact too, is that the consumer's a lot more interested. The consumer knows what to expect by the time they actually get to the house. So I could go through hundreds of different reasons why that they should do it. Essentially, it's just going to become the normal, just like EagleView. It became the normal. And I'm not saying that everybody's going to do it, but what I'm saying is that for that percentage of the population that wants it that way, that's the way you can do it. Because I still talk to roofers today that still hand measure. They still swear by hand measurements and won't use it, but the majority of the population has now switched over to EagleView type technologies.

Heidi Ellsworth: I also really truly believe when you look at Gen X, so I have a millennial and I have a Gen Z kid. And they have trained me. So as a Gen Xer, I'm like, "I don't want to do the same thing, I want to buy." We're also, I believe, the Amazon age where we're used to be able to just go onto Amazon and buy it and have it delivered. So that's why I think this is game-changing on so many levels. And I love the fact that you launched the original Roofle during COVID and now are taking it out to the contractors 18, two years later. There's been a total shift in our mentality and how we think about things.

Travis Harvego: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is that we've "been there, done that" type of thing. People come to us and say, "Well, how do you know this is going to work?" And then we tell our story about what we learned and what we gathered during that whole road of basically offering this to the consumer and that they were hungry for. Again, our company was brand new. We had no reviews, we had no online presence, and we were getting hundreds of customers sometimes a day coming to our website wanting the convenience of this. So I was like, "Imagine putting this into the hands of a construction company that's been around for 50 years and has hundreds of reviews online."

People are going to shop on their website all day long because they already have the trust they're built up within the industry. It's just the way of the future is the way that we see it. And it's we tell our customers now, "Get on board now before it's too late. Be ahead of your competition before anyone else does." So if you're able to figure out this process now and your competitor waits years, you're going to be way ahead of your competition because you already have the process built into your organization.

Heidi Ellsworth: And people are already going to be coming to you and they know it. And especially, I love what you say about having the long-term brand already. Because I think about if a company out of Portland, Oregon, Interstate Roofing, everybody knows Interstate Roofing, right? And so now all of a sudden you trust them, you know them, you can go on your site and start buying. It's incredible. It's great. So that leads to it and Travis, I'm going to have you wrap us up here. How do contractors get involved? How do they incorporate Roofle into their business?

Travis Harvego: So again, what we have to offer for the contractor is what we call Roof Quote PRO. That's essentially the product, Roofle being the company organization. The product that we're selling is Roof Quote PRO that they have access to be able to install on their website. So yeah, they can definitely go to our website, roofquotepro.com or roofle.com\roofquotepro. When they go there, they're going to get all the information they need as far as how the tool works. They can also book a demo. So we really push everybody to try to book a demo with one of our CXMs where then we're going to go through, "Okay, what does your business look like? How can this technology work for you?" And then say, "Okay, at the end of the day, here's the way that we can actually improve your business by being able to put this technology on your website."

So once that they agree, say, "Yes, I want to do it.", we then book a one hour onboarding call with our customers. So during that onboarding process, we help them set up the tool so that by the time we're done with that call, everything is set up. They're ready to rock and roll, be able to put it on their website. So it's not a huge onboard process for them.

Heidi Ellsworth: That's nice.

Travis Harvego: We help them through the process. Because we know that onboarding, implementation, things like that within the organization takes time and resources. So we try to make it as easy as we possibly can for them to say, "Okay, buy the product. We're going to meet with you, we're going to help you get everything set up. So by the time that we're done, you can just put it on your things and ready to go out there and let it do its job."

Heidi Ellsworth: And we've been talking a lot about residential and homeowners, but there's really no reason this couldn't be used commercially too. Right? Are you seeing this for commercial roofing contractors?

Travis Harvego: It works great for commercial roofing. So we have a lot of commercial roofers that use it. Within our platform we have ability to have custom products in there so they can create any product they want to. So we're working with companies right now that are doing coatings. They're doing tile detach and reset. They're doing tarpings, they're doing ice dam removal, flat roofing. It doesn't matter. If you're in the roofing space, no matter what product that you're selling or offering, it works within the technology and it works within our platform. So yes, commercial roofers, roofers that just do repairs. It doesn't matter what you do. We have the ability to design or make the products that they sell within the platform.

Heidi Ellsworth: That's awesome. That is so great. Well, gentlemen, thank you. I know I've said it a million times, but I love new technologies and I love them when they're game-changers like this. So thank you for all you're doing for the roofing industry because really, truly, it's these kind of innovations that are bringing the professionalism of the industry up across the society overall. And I just see this is going to take us all to that next level. So Travis, Matthew, thank you so much for being here today.

Travis Harvego: Thank you so much.

Matthew McDaniel: Yeah, it's been a pleasure. Much more to come. Thank you so much, Heidi.

Heidi Ellsworth: Okay, well, we'll have you back because we're going to became new. We want to track all these podcasts. So thank you everybody for listening. Please check out the Roofle directory on RoofersCoffeeShop. Go get a demo. This is something that could change your business. It is really worth it. It's something you need to do. Also, I know I'm seeing Roofle at a lot of trade shows too, so just try to reach out. You can find all that on the directory, get ahold of them, get a demo, and make this happen in your business. And I want to thank you all for listening. Thank you for being a part of these podcasts. If you'd like to see more Roofing Road Trips, go to rooferscoffeeshop.com under read, listen, watch navigation under Roofing Road Trips, and you can see every episode. Or on your own favorite podcast channel. Please subscribe and set those notifications so you don't miss a single episode. And we'll be seeing you next time on Roofing Road Trips.

Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe to our channel and leave a review. Thanks for listening. This has been Roofing Road Trips with Heidi from the rooferscoffeeshop.com.