Meeting The Customer (Jan-Feb 2009)
Written by Bill E. Laney, President, Murr & Laney, Inc.
You get to your office Monday morning to notice all the phone message lines lit up. Over the weekend a major thunder storm moved through the area. As you begin answering the messages, you ask the important questions: name, address, phone number, the name and address of the person paying the bill if different from the caller. Is the roof currently under any type of manufacturer's warranty?
What kind of roof do you have? Most people can tell you this, many others have no idea. Is this a flat roof or steep roof? About how tall is the building? One, two, three stories or more? Is there a roof hatch or scuttle for access? Answers to these questions can be critical. If the height is over two stories and no roof hatch, you may need a 60-foot ladder or aerial lift rather than a 40-foot ladder and two crew members.
How old is the roof? Has it been repaired before? Does it leak during all rains or during rains from a particular direction? Has the leak or leaks worsened with time? Did other repairs slow the leaks or stop them temporarily? At this point you may find that many of the roofers in the area have been there and you are getting an ear full of what scoundrels they were. The question to the customer now is, to what extent you want to go in repairing the roof problem. You have formed a mental picture of the roof now if the owner says, "I just want to get by."
You haven't seen the roof yet, but you begin to see your good name added to a list of other roofers that could not fix their worn-out roof. The problem with taking on a project of this nature is that the best roofing contractors can miss a difficult leak on the first try. If the owner fails to communicate with you, and the roof continues to leak, then you go on their list of people who didn't know how to fix their leak and they call someone else. If the owner knows us up front, and that we will return if we fail the first time, then I think we can prevent getting added to the scoundrel list.
You set a meeting to analyze the general roof condition. You may find one of two conditions: the roof is well maintained, or a disaster. You write two quotes: to repair, or replace. The question of how much warranty do I get. You convey your company's warranty policy in this type situation.
It is a good idea in our analysis of the roof to check other potential leaks and alert the building owner. For example: when you drove up you noticed black streaks trailing down the wall or deteriorated fascia board, sagging gutters, etc. At this point, I feel we gain the trust of the owner and present an image of professionalism, not that we entered into a dialog of unscrupulous, unlicensed roofers, but that we refrained from that and we now understand their roof type and condition. That we explain its purpose from the gutter to ventilation; a few photos will help.
It may be the lady of the house, a secretary or a lady office manager whose job includes the boss' roof problems that we are meeting with. These women do not like to be patronized or called "babe." Recently, I responded to a roof problem. Everywhere that we go (when it is related to roof business) we wear hard hats marked with our name and company. The first question the wife of our potential customer asked was: "do you mind answering questions?" She then related her experience with another company. When she asked them a question, she was told "honey, don't worry your pretty little head about these details, we are going to treat you right." I explained our policy and assured her that we respect any question and answer it with the dignity that it deserves. We listen to customers' comments to get the background or wait for them to ask: "what do you think?" or "can you help us?" Your explanation then may prompt other questions. There is a fine line between our explanation being too elementary or too technically overwhelming.
We almost never give a price or "guess-timate" on the spot. If theirs is a sad story, the price may be too low, or if pressed it will be too high and the customer walks away. You are a professional and you've been in business a long time. Why can't you give a price now? It's because we are professionals that we don't. Any roof condition, unless there is a limb sticking through the roof, that can't wait until you get to the office, could be a problem anyway. We want to build the customer's confidence and trust. Answer all their questions to the point that helps them feel that they made a good decision in calling us. All these are part of the estimating process.
Next time we will discuss the crew's arrival to our customer's job site. Last month, Chairman, Dan Buckle, outlined a "Letters to the Editor" column. I encourage you to respond to any of my articles.