Hurricane Ike recently ripped through Houston. While we were blessed to escape with little damage we did need to replace our roof. I won’t go into how poorly our insurance company-Allstate-treated it’s policy holders. This post is about how our roofer grew his business by doing the right things.
What are the right things?
- Offer a fair price for your service: Their price was fair and their service was the best. They exceed your expectations and leave you feeling like you got a deal. That is a powerful combination.
- They did not take advantage of the situation: They could have used the hurricane as an excuse to charge a premium. Their customers were at their mercy but they didn’t take advantage of us.
- Be fair and honest: I knew I could trust the owner. I watched how this company treated my neighbors and saw that they were forthright.
- Be trustworthy: The owner and this company consistently showed integrity. It was apparent in the people he hired and the work they did.
The end result is that they are doing most of the houses in my neighborhood. And this isn’t due to a lack of competition. Most of us (myself included) had planned to use other roofers. Juan started with one roof that he got as a referral. Basically one neighbor had a roofer friend at church but he had his crew committed. He recommended Juan. From that one job he will end up with over 50 customers in my neighborhood alone. All of this was done with no advertising.
Contrast this with the competition
The competition came in quickly and landed a lot of roofs…then disappeared. Like most of the roofers they follow the storms. This meant that their crews were still in Florida and Louisiana working and wouldn’t be in Houston until next year. Once they got their sign in your yard it was almost impossible to get them to return your call.
As a result I see their signs disappearing and Juan’s signs going up all over the place. By the time they can react Juan will have replace most of the damaged roofs.
Where does that leave Juan when the storm damage is repaired?
Juan already is lining up renovation work. I know of three people on my block alone who are having him update their kitchens. I will have him do some trim repairs around my house as is another friend. Once his crews are done with storm damage they will have over a year of backlog.
And all of this by word of mouth.