Local Builder expands in to Roofing Services

We know lots of local businesses here, and we have been keeping tabs on them during the recession. Most are doing very well indeed. Even those who are not doing so well, have put in place brilliant strategies for coping and in our opinion will come out of the recession well equipped to do even better in the upturn.

One company we know, and use, has been busy throughout the recession, and in fact the waiting list, or work pipeline has extended. This extension means they have been recruiting during the recession. Why? How have they done it?

A simple look at the work they are doing and the extra staff they are employing shows that is simply a matter of doing a good job. The new staff are specialist roofers, doing roof repairs and re-roofing jobs. The requirement for a specialist team comes from the loft conversions, and general extension work they have been doing, especially in older houses. Quite simply, doing a good job means more word of mouth contacts and a growing order book.

We asked the MD, what ‘a good job’ meant, and interestingly he started with the very first enquiry rather than the actual job. It is taken for granted in his company that the job is done well, cleanly and on time, but they take as much care with prospects too. They explained that many builders in the locality take on work, build an order book, and then become hard to deal with for new prospects. Even if the order book is 6 or 8 months long, they still do proper quotes, turn up on time for appointments and give a professional quoting service. What they then do is give a realistic estimate of when the work can be completed, even if it is 9 months hence. This is often a shock to customers, but it is a kind of endorsement of the quality that the order book is full.

At this point they do lose some work, but they believe that the point is made with customers and often the job or the next one comes around again later. And the constant monitoring of the pipeline means that they are confident in employing a new roofing team right now, despite the downturn in the building trade.

We have not been able to apply a similar strategy in our business yet, but we were impressed by their sales strategy in turning a negative in to a positive.