What to expect when you are expecting... a roof replacement!

By Emma Peterson.

Rick Davis shares his strategy for building a contractor-client relationship that leaves all parties pleased.

In this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Karen Edwards sat down with Rick Davis of ABC Supply. Rick, who has been with ABC for three years now and has over four decades of experience in the larger industry (primarily as a sales educator), came to share his four-stage strategy for successful client work — promise, sale, project installation and post installation. What is so powerful about the way Rick sets up this process is that he helps contractors see the roofing process from the homeowner’s perspective.  

All of this starts with that first stage, “the promise.” Rick explained, “The first thing I remind contractors is that they do roofing every day of their lives. But the typical consumer might buy two roofs in their lifetime, probably one. This is all new to them.” A typical homeowner won’t know what a reroof looks like in action. He continued, “They don't know that their home's going to be a construction zone, they don’t know that, if they've got a pet, the pet's going to have to be kept safe. That the walls might jiggle a little and you might want to take some of your precious paintings off the wall and pictures and things like that.”  

So, the first stage to Rick’s strategy is all about establishing a relationship with your client and helping set their expectations for how the project will proceed. You want to build trust with your clients so they know that you will take care of them through the installation and deliver on your promise of a new roof. In action, this can be as simple as having clear conversations with the client. Rich shared, “You want to show them how you’re going to make this painless and easy and as easy as possible for them. Tell them things, like ‘We're going to clean up at the end of the day, but your shrubs or your grass is going to get trampled a little bit.’”

Read the transcript or Listen to the episode to learn more about this four-stage process and how Rick recommends proceeding through the next steps.