Referrals That Keep You Roofing - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Rebecca Mayo, director of partnerships for gFour Marketing. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts, to on the road adventures, we'll uncover the stories, innovations and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So fasten your seat belts and join us as we embark on this exciting Roofing Road Trip. 

Hello everyone. My name is Megan Ellsworth here at RoofersCoffeeShop.com and you are listening to a Roofing Road Trip episode. I'm so excited because I have my friend Rebecca Mayo here from gFour Marketing. Hi, how are you? 

Rebecca Mayo: Hi, Megan. It's so good to see you again. Thank you so much for having us back on the pod. We are thrilled. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yay. It is so good to see you too. I had so much fun last time and I'm looking forward to chatting again today. So let's just start out by having you introduce yourself. 

Rebecca Mayo: Yes, absolutely. Well, good to see you again, everybody. Hi, I am Becca. I'm our director of partnerships here at gFour Marketing and it's great to connect again. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. So last time we talked about the power of referrals and today we're going to talk a little bit more on that subject of how referrals keep you roofing and keep jobs coming in and things moving in a forward motion. So how would you say referrals are the backbone of a roofing contractor's sustained success? 

Rebecca Mayo: Absolutely. Well, first and foremost, I am so happy that we're connecting right now in this moment, in this time. Obviously... I have a joke actually with our partners that I work with and I call this Super Bowl season. So summertime is prime time for everybody, right? Everybody's out. Everybody's ideally swamped with business, on a roof all day, every day for months at a time. So it's really a great time to talk about the power of having a process in place when it comes to generating referral business and keeping that flywheel moving forward. 

From a referral standpoint, in general, if we're zooming out with a bigger lens, having a program in place is great, especially for roofers because it's going to just keep those leads coming in. I always encourage people to think a little bit bigger than maybe they're used to from operating a business. I think sometimes owners and operators get so sucked into the weeds with the day-to-day that it's often the first thing that slips their mind is like, okay, we're spending so much money on net new leads, how do we want to look at this from a lens of, excuse me, lowering our margin of spend and really maximizing our profits by tapping into that referral network? 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's so true. And like you said, those heads of the companies, presidents, CEOs, they need to be working on the business, not in the business with all these referrals. So making sure that your leads are working for you is so important through referral programs and what have you. 

Rebecca Mayo: Absolutely. Yeah and it's funny here at gFour, we have a catchphrase that has been widely adopted, which is great, but we call it supercharge your customer. Basically take your customer and create a raving fan out of them so that they will turn around in their communities, in their markets and refer your company or their company to every single person that they know. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Rebecca Mayo: So it's great. It's a great way to evangelize your company and your brand. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's so true. And also, I love what you said about them putting your company's name out in the community too. I feel like that community and being a part of the local community where you are is so important and having those supercharged fans or talking about you when you're not there in the community is so huge because then people are like, oh, I've heard about this guy or woman or person four times now and now my gutters are broken or whatever, what have you. Now I'm going to call them. 

Rebecca Mayo: Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. 

Megan Ellsworth: So why is it essential to embed consistent referral strategy within your overall marketing program? 

Rebecca Mayo: Great question and I love that you use the word consistency. So yeah, that is one of the things, especially that we really like to educate our partners and our pros and contractors on is the power of consistency. It doesn't have to be this huge monumental effort every single time. It's just about being consistent. Making sure that your customer experience is fantastic consistently. It's about making sure that you're training your sales team to make the ask for the referral consistently. One of the statistics I was talking to somebody about recently is that 91% of happy customers are likely to send you referral business. 

Megan Ellsworth: Wow. 

Rebecca Mayo: Yeah, 91%. Isn't that amazing? 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Rebecca Mayo: It's really important that we're consistently making the ask. And I joked with one of our other partners the other day. It was like, what's that athlete that said, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, I think it was Wayne Gretzky or something. But yeah, you miss 100% of the referrals you don't ask for, so we want to make sure we're asking for sure. 

Megan Ellsworth: That's so true. And asking consistently, like you said, consistency. I mean, I have a new doctor and I love her and she asked me to do a referral and I was like, oh, yes, I'll do that. She sent me the link, oh, I'll do that, I'll do that. And then I never did it and then I had another appointment. She was like, why don't we just hop on a call and I record you saying something? Oh, that's so much easier. Kind of have to meet people where they're at and life gets busy and being able to keep those consistent asks is really important. 

Rebecca Mayo: Yes. And it's also, it can be overwhelming. I just want to acknowledge that. As an owner and operator, I've seen both sides of the fence. I've personally never owned or operated a roofing company, but I've worked for people that have home improvement companies and design firms. So it's like there's so much to think about as far as communication. So if you can just take it piece by piece and really just building that consistent communication effort into the business, that's a great place to start. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. So what would you say are some of the most common mistakes contractors make when they're trying to generate referrals, especially during this busy season of the summer? 

Rebecca Mayo: Yeah, great question. I would say absolutely not making the ask. I think that's the number one mistake, people don't even try to ask for the referral. If they know that, for example, they have a happy customer who is thrilled with the results of the job and that the project went smooth, great communication from start to finish, all the boxes checked out. Not making that ask is, I think one of the biggest mistakes that somebody can make because in my eyes and we encourage our partners to do this, but you're leaving money on the table by not asking for a referral. 

Because what referral programs do is create a windfall of business essentially. It's kind of like a trickle effect. You start to see a referral come in and then you'll see three more and over time, you're going to be building a flywheel that's going to essentially be a huge component of your bottom line. So make the ask, piece of advice number one. 

Another mistake I see is I think oftentimes thinking about putting a program in place can be overwhelming for owners. So I've seen this happen quite a bit where people think that they have to either have everything or not do anything at all. So they think there's this huge spectrum. It's like, oh, I have to purchase customize cutting boards and gift baskets and all this stuff, which is amazing, but it is a lot of time and effort if they don't have the team structure or the bandwidth to do it. So I always tell people something is better than nothing. And we have another catchphrase here at gFour where it's like, done is better than perfect. As long as you're doing something that's going to move and drive that referral piece forward, you're in a good position. 

Megan Ellsworth: Sometimes even just and I'm just spitballing here, but sometimes even just sending that follow-up text and saying, hey, we so enjoyed working on your house. Let us know if any of your neighbors are interested. Really thanking them for their business. And you've said that before is thank-yous goes such a long way and I think that's just so important. 

Rebecca Mayo: And it all dials back to that customer experience standpoint too, because there's this thing and everybody that's listening to this and Megan, I'm sure you're aware too, but the law of reciprocity. People want to do nice things for people that make them feel good and treat them well and people that they trust. So it's a great thing to think about when you're looking at either partnering with somebody to help you build a referral program or you're sitting down with your team on your Monday morning meeting and saying like, okay, we've had some great customers lately. What are we going to do to make sure that we're building a fence around this customer so that they stay with us forever and they call us back when they need work on their gutters or they need a patio enclosure or something, excuse me, in addition to a re-roof or a repair? 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. So how can a referral program be customized for a residential roofing contractor versus commercial roofing? 

Rebecca Mayo: Yeah, great question. We have customers that do both. I will just say it's very common, I think in the roofing industry in particular, to see both sides of the fence when it comes to what type of jobs they're completing. From the residential side, I think the customization is more focused on the business's brand. So what we can do is, as a partner, of course, is help our customers brand their program from end to end. And what we mean by that is everything that's going to be sent out to the homeowner's customers to thank them for the business, encourage them to call them back after the job is done for a repeat job, it's going to be branded to that business. So it'll have oftentimes the owner's face on the thank you card, it'll have a personalized note from the owner that thanks them for calling them to work together. 

We also provide, in some cases... I won't get too deep in the weeds because it is incredibly customizable. We have different levels. So some people will want the deluxe, like the full Monty with cookies and a thank you card and gift cards and anything, you name it, newsletters. It just depends on the need of our customer. But I want to reiterate something that we just talked about and that is the importance of that customer experience. We want to leave a good taste in the mouth that the business's customer, because we want them to remember that feeling. And we want them to take that feeling and go back out into the world and share that this business is the absolute best, you need to work with them, hands down. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. It goes back to what you said earlier. You don't remember exactly what people do or did for you, but you always remember how they made you feel. 

Rebecca Mayo: Absolutely. Yeah. And if you're thinking about it with a business lens, this is another statistic that I always like to reiterate and that is that 80% of referrals will happen within a three-month timeframe. 

Megan Ellsworth: Oh, okay. 

Rebecca Mayo: Yeah. Once the job is done, it's really a great way for thinking about a revenue piece of the referral program. If you're like, okay, we just wrapped up the busiest time of year for our business, summertime essentially, what are we going to do to make sure that we're carrying ourselves through the slower months when potentially businesses slow or there's weather elements included like snow. I mean, it's hard to re-roof in the blizzard. So we want to make sure how are we going to set ourselves up for success to maximize what we call peak season? 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah. And those referrals after peak season, coming in those three months after, that's huge for sure. 

Rebecca Mayo: Absolutely. Yeah. 

Megan Ellsworth: So what role does customer service play in generating these repeat referrals? 

Rebecca Mayo: Great question. Yeah. Whenever I'm talking to a partner network, I always like to encourage them to think about customer experience in a holistic way. That can mean anything from the way that your sales team is interacting with the homeowner in the home. It can mean how your service team is answering the phone when somebody calls in for an estimate or a general inquiry. And it can mean even this is getting really in the weeds, but it can even mean how is your team driving around in the company truck with the logo on it? How are we treating people in the world? How are we making sure that everything that we're doing in regards to our business is leaving a great impression on people? And it can be something as small as somebody cuts you off in traffic in the company truck. I mean, it's just like you have to think about these things because people will notice and you never know. 

Unfortunately, for better or worse, I should say, we live in a world where people will share their thoughts and feelings about your company in a very public way. Oftentimes Google reviews, for example, can make or break your business reputation. Which is also something we can help with, but it is a very important piece of the marketing puzzle to keep an eye on your reputation management component. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's so true. And especially about the truck because I mean, definitely if you see a truck cut you off or kind of hit a really hard yellow light or whatever and there's a phone number on that truck, you might be getting some calls from people not needing new roofs, but complaining about that person's driving. 

Rebecca Mayo: Yeah. 

Megan Ellsworth: You never know. 

Rebecca Mayo: Yep. So customer experience can be the big things, the small things and quite literally everything in between. So it's important to consider when you're putting your plan in place to ideally create that referral program for your business. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. So once that referral program is in place, how can contractors measure its impact and keep the momentum going? How do they see those results? Is that just with referrals coming in or what else? 

Rebecca Mayo: Yes, this is something else that is incredibly important. And when you're sitting down with your team to put together a referral program, it's a great conversation to have about how are we going to track and measure the success of our referrals? So putting some type of tracking component attached to the program is great and that can be as easy as, hey, how did you hear about us? But also rewarding your referrals. So for example, if you own a roofing company and you're implementing a referral program, which is the best case scenario and you start to see that windfall of referral business come through, what a lot of our customers do that's highly effective is rewarding those people for referring. 

So it's incentivizing people to, A, pass on the referral because they're going to get a kickback or they're going to get some type of reward for making that intro. Which is a really smart business move, I think, because you're kind of setting yourself up really well for the stickiness of making sure that that is a continuation of your program. But also gamifying it a little bit, which I think is fun for people to implement. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, everyone loves a game and who doesn't love a gift card as well? Incentivizing every aspect of the referral program is a great note for sure. 

Rebecca Mayo: Definitely. And in case anybody is interested in some suggestions, I've seen a lot of people offer, to your point, gift cards like Amazon cards, DoorDash, Uber Eats, we've seen cash, just cash incentives that are really big. Here's a $400, $500 referral kickback if you refer a friend or a family member to us. 

Megan Ellsworth: Wow. 

Rebecca Mayo: It's like a science actually. It's a great thing to think about. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, it is. It's like when you're on an overbooked flight and they say, I'll give you cash money now to get on a different flight. So many people, once they say that, they're like, oh, well then in that case, yeah, we'll do it. 

Rebecca Mayo: Absolutely. And I think it's also human nature to be incentivized by a gift or some type of credit back. So it just makes them want to actually follow through with that process. 

Megan Ellsworth: How can a contractor get help building and sustaining a referral program? 

Rebecca Mayo: Yes. Great question. So first and foremost, you are not on your own for this. I think a lot of people, back to the previous point I was talking to, a lot of people think that they have to do this themselves and then they kind of freak out because it's like, I don't have the time, I don't have the team, I don't have the bandwidth to put this in place. So the good news there is you don't have to do it yourself and with the right partner, the right program partner in place, you can really offload this completely. And ideally the partner you work with is going to take it off of your plate and kind of operate behind the scenes. So almost like a back end office partner that is tailoring every single thing to their company, to the brand, it's going to look and feel like the company and brand. So really best case scenario is you have a trusted partner in place to help do this for you. So almost like a done for you program. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. 

Rebecca Mayo: It is a done for you program. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, completely customizable. 

Rebecca Mayo: Yes, exactly. 

Megan Ellsworth: And there's so many ways, you were on a Coffee Conversations with us a few months ago and talking about that and we had a few of your customers at gFour on and just hearing the different ways people were able to customize their programs and how they use it. I mean, one of them was literally just the thank you cards and that was doing it for them. Another company was the thank you cards and cookies. And so it's all just like you all work with your customers based on what their customers like and want and need and what they're seeing success in. I think that's just so great that you've mentioned it earlier, the holistic view, seeing the whole customer and the whole process is so important when you're working with a company like gFour, that you all see the whole enchilada. 

Rebecca Mayo: Definitely. And that's part of the fun of being partnered with a roofing company, for example, because our whole goal is to help them scale the business and grow and increase the revenue and really just build their brand and their community. And it's really fun too, Megan, because we work with all size companies. For example, we have members or customers who are at the 5 million threshold, but then we'll have a customer who's exceeding 100 million and it's just [inaudible 00:20:44]- 

Megan Ellsworth: Awesome. 

Rebecca Mayo: ... to see that widespread success and know that we can customize a program to any size business. And it's really cool, I have to say, it's really cool to be able to do that and almost serve as an extension of somebody's business through the work that we're doing. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah and I think you said it on the first podcast we did of you all are just an extension of their marketing department. 

Rebecca Mayo: Exactly. Yeah. That's exactly how I explain it to our partner networks. I say, consider us a member of your team, quite literally. We are working for you, so lean on us. Trust us to do this for you and trust us to help you grow this program for you because it's incredibly important, especially in today's environment that we're all operating in. I was talking to somebody earlier this week about how different things are now versus five years ago, for example. True. So it's a little bit more intense when it comes to making sure that we're getting good leads and that the leads that we are acquiring are converting. So it's great from a referral standpoint because that referral lead is going to convert over a 50%. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Yeah. It is interesting to think about the difference between now and 2020 when, I mean business was booming for a lot of roofing contractors. People were in their homes all day every day and they noticed, oh, my gutter is leaking there. I never noticed that. Or, oh, I have a leak in my garage. I need a new roof or whatever, what have you. And now people are back out in the world again and there's more competition, there's some uncertainty in the market and the economy. So it's definitely a rougher sea than it was in a way. And so having a great partner like gFour and, like you said, another member of your marketing team to help with a program like this is so huge to also lessen the load and the burden on their marketing team, their internal. Absolutely. 

Rebecca Mayo: Yeah, definitely. And we want that. We want to give everybody that time back in the day, owners, operators, marketing directors, people that are, to your point, working in the business. We want them to have all of that time back so that they can focus on other things like growing the business and expanding to new markets or depending on what some of their goals and objectives are, maybe they're looking at equity and they want to eventually sell the business. So we want to make sure that we are positioning our customers for success in the way that they see fit, which is oftentimes giving them that time back. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, Becca, this has been absolutely amazing. What a great conversation. How can people get a hold of you or gFour and look at potentially signing 

Rebecca Mayo: Up? Yes, absolutely. Please feel free to reach out to us. Our website is gfourmarketing.com. 

Megan Ellsworth: Perfect. 

Rebecca Mayo: Let me just make sure that's correct. 

Megan Ellsworth: I know the feeling. Okay. 

Rebecca Mayo: Hold on. I should know this. Yeah. Okay. 

Megan Ellsworth: You go ahead. 

Rebecca Mayo: Okay. So yes, I'm so glad that you asked. Anyone can find us online. Obviously, our website is gfourmarketing.com, it's G-four spelled out, marketing.com. And anybody can also contact me directly at any time. So I will absolutely provide my information in the show notes and please reach out if you're interested in setting up a program for your business, if you just want to bounce ideas off of our team and see where your gaps are in the business as far as what you could be doing better with your efforts to increase your referral pipeline. These are all things that we exist to help you with. So please reach out. We are here for you. We've been doing this for almost 20 years and we just absolutely love what we do. So please reach out. We'd love to chat. 

Megan Ellsworth: Perfect. And everyone can also go to your directory on RoofersCoffeeShop.com to learn more as well and go check out other podcasts y'all have been a part of, you've done quite a few now. And this has just been fabulous. So thank you so much, Becca. 

Rebecca Mayo: Yes, thank you so much, Megan. Really, really appreciate our partnership and we're just so happy to be a part of this community. 

Outro: Yay, we're so glad to have you. Everyone out there again, go to their website, reach out to Becca, go to their directory on RoofersCoffeeShop.com and you can also go to RoofersCoffeeShop.com to listen to all of our podcasts or you can listen to them wherever you get your podcasts on Spotify, Apple, what have you. And we'll see you next time on the next Roofing Road Trip. 

If you've enjoyed the ride, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and join us on every roofing adventure. Make sure to visit RoofersCoffeeShop.com to learn more. Thanks for tuning in and we'll catch you on the next Roofing Road trip.