Build Your Business February 2009:
2009 Is the Year to Start the Service Department

Welcome to 2009 and and good riddance to 2008! Will 2009 be better? Yes, for some - for those who are prepared. But if you have built your business on installing roofing, be it re-roofing and/or brand new roofs, you may be in for a long, tough 2009 and possibly 2010. Sorry to give you the bad news. On the other hand, if you are one of the few roofing contractors who have planned for this economic down turn you are going to make a fortune.

What is the difference between those who will make a fortune and those who will struggle? The ability to create work for themselves, and high profit work at that.  Those who are not able to create work will not work, after all, how do you sell a new roof if no one is buying?  You can't, so how do you create work? By convincing people that they have a need, and then being able to service that need.  It is not easy to convince even a conscientious home or building owner that they need a new roof if they did not initiate the call.  On the other hand it is not hard to convince a conscientious home or building owner that they should take care of the one they got. That requires a simple plan for building a customer minded service department, because servicing existing anything - roof systems, skylights, gutters, flashings, copings, anything at all, is where the money is right now, and where the money always has been, especially in years with bad economies. 2008 was terrible and 2009 may be worse. But you can make money in 2009!

How do I know?  Because from 1986 until I sold my contracting business in 1998, we built and ran a service department that had average gross sales of $2,000,000 per year in repair and restoration work, and made an average gross profit of 65%.  That's $1.3 million dollars of profit every year to operate my business, train and keep my employees, fund our retirement program, save money for a rainy day, and plant ideas in the heads of our customers by advertising the services we offered to keep more work and money coming in. Are you seeing the cycle? Because we had a plan, we were successful in building our service department. Because we had a successful service department, we always had enough money to advertise our simple maintenance message and keep our best employees. Good employees combined with a simple consistent message built our reputation and kept us working and making money regardless of the economy.  You can do it too - it is not hard but it does require dedication.

For 2009, the Roofer's Exchange and EternaBond are going to combine our resources to bring you a monthly section in this paper that is designed to help you build a successful service department.  The first step is assessing the resources you currently have, and determining what you don't know.  Resources are your employees, skills, tools, money, etc.  Our website, www.eternabond.com will have a "Building My Service Department" section. You will find a form to guide you through this first step.  More items will follow so keep a eye on it.  If you do not have web access call us toll free at 888-336-2663 and we will fax you a copy.  If you are able, stop by our booth (1461/1463) at the IRE and let's talk about building a service department in 2009.  In 2009, let's make some money!