Outdated Processes Are Killing Your Roofing Business – Fix It With Tech! with Aaron Trujillo

We'll answer questions like how can you identify the right tools for your business , what processes should you prioritize for optimization , and how can you get your team to embrace new systems ? This episode will provide actionable insights to help you streamline production , increase profitability and free up time for your business growth .

Joining us today is Aaron Trujillo , a systems and processes expert who has helped multiple roofing companies implement the right tech solutions for sustainable success . You don't want to miss this . Welcome to the Roofing Success Podcast .

I'm Jim Alleyne and I'm here to bring you insights from top leaders in the roofing industry to help you grow and scale your roofing business . Hey , welcome to another episode of the Roofing Success Podcast . Today we have my friend , aaron Trujillo , one of Denver's finest . How's it going ?

Tell the listeners a little bit about yourself , you know , and how you , kind of , how you , you , how you ended up in the roofing industry .

I worked in telecom for about 12 years from Nextel and most contractors know Nextel as well as going into Sprint .

I worked as a process specialist engineer the call centers worldwide and then I assisted in their big conversion , transition over to a brand new system to within and kind of traveled with the company around the country training the big call centers as well as that outside salespeople and their technical support within all the phone centers .

Back when all technical support , you had to go in the store to get your phone serviced and everything . So I trained them on the new systems and everything and helped kind of streamline that . From there I , through all the hustle and bustle of telecom , I left and just really needed a job and started knocking doors .

I was a canvasser for roofing so I started there and it was right . After it was like 2012 . So there was a storm , fresh storm , and went out there and started knocking doors and started getting cold in Denver , as it always , always does and still need a job .

So I um went into , I was helping the canvassing people um with their , with their payroll every week and I I found some issues uh around that . So I , uh I started cleaning up and started saving the , the roofing company , nearly around 30 grand a quarter because payroll was so bad . So they brought me in to do that um and start doing accounting work .

And when I went in , it was a very large company um within uh the country and , uh , I thought that's how all roofing companies were . They were 50 , $60 million roofing companies . I was very much wrong , but it was total chaos , very few , a very low internal staff , lots and lots of sales guys , which is not bad , but it was just a chaotic .

We're doing the best we can and with my background , I kind of started looking like well , you need a good system .

And so we went out and for that company we selected Job Nimbus , and Job Nimbus was only two years old at the time , maybe , and so I got to dig into that and I rebuilt it um to basically be part of a , a build it for a $60 million roofing company rather than a brand new roofing company , cause they were well past that .

They had had some infrastructure , they had a good cost to profit , uh or uh cost to revenue kind of uh balance .

I just systemized everything so that the sales reps can sell , the staff can take that and make sure every job is produced appropriately so that they can collect money faster , as well as the supplementing process , because they were insurance 100 insurance .

So from there I kind of I left there after um a few years , worked there four years and I worked for another company , um a funding company for roofers for mortgage checks . That's where I learned that no roofing company , most roofing companies are not , most roofing companies are not 60 , 70 million dollars .

So that's where I kind of I worked for there for a while trying to build out a crm for that company and decided to kind of realize , like man , there's a lot of opportunity to be of service here .

Um , I love the roofing industry , I love the contract because when the right vision is there , meaning like we're doing this for the people that need a roof , the people that need this , because most people don't know the first thing I don't even know the color of their roof so they need people like us and roofing contractors to go out and really be of service

there and help them through , especially during storms , especially in Texas and all those things . These are huge things and scary and they come in and they can be of service and on top of that is a very lucrative business if done right and it can grow . And these are , these are .

This is a industry that'll never not be around unless we all burrow in the ground .

Um , it'll always be there , cause everybody needs a roof and when you can align that and then to help I build out these systems and help with these kinds to match their vision , their process into their system and let their system be the tool versus the albeit thing that fixes all the problems . How can I integrate it ?

Just like another employee of the company , it's just what . Um . Employee of the company , it's just what . What helps um capture that vision and and continue on into a legacy ? Or whether you want to sell it , create a legacy , hand it down to your um clients like , go nationwide , whatever , it doesn't matter , it's just what is that .

How can we build these systems out to make that happen ?

How am I going to start this company , build this company , and where am I going here ? So I don't , um , it seems to take longer , and where that mentality is like okay , I want to keep this , but I'm looking at these erps and these different systems on what they can do best .

I think the the biggest thing is how can I , how can I use this to fix my company and the and and it's not something that because they're doing something right and aligning them like , wait , wait , there's processes here that you have that you're able to do . What's working here , what's not , what can be better ?

So , when we're looking at systems , what's going to enhance that so I can take out all these menial tasks that I'm writing down every day , trying to remember , which takes a lot of time , or a sales guy out there trying to put an estimate together and having to go back to an office and figure it out and then give it back to the customer .

How can we systemize that ? So these things , and in this day and age , all of this can be done right there with the customer . If the system's built right , you can build an estimate , you can get it to them faster . It could look really good because you know all this other stuff that your system is helping you identify .

Taking all those menial little things that compound into hours a day , what can I do with those hours a day ? If I'm a sales guy , I can be out there .

Like the software is what you're looking for . It's how are you you're coming from with the mindset of what are our processes , where can we find efficiencies in our processes and what technology can we use to improve those efficiencies ?

Here's how things flow through our business , from the sales perspective into production . We're looking at that and then we're going okay , now we know our system , now we know our flow , now let's find the best technology stack for what we're doing Exactly , and it can be a stack .

Or will a system take that away from us ? And a lot of them it will . And so , like you know , it's farming out to your system and letting it do the work that you're doing manually , which then that creates the efficiencies , because the things you're doing manually , they're fallible and you're going to forget .

. Choosing a system that's why I talk about that vision is are you getting into a system that you ? Your vision is to build this up and sell it . There are systems that can help with that . Is it something that I want ? This is going to be mine forever . There's a different system that will help you do that as well .

That may be more customized to where you're going and um , and there's a lot of different systems out there that can do that . So the vision is important . It's definitely a vision , is not concrete . It's something that here's where I'm at , here's where our next this is my next vision . Here's my five 10 year plan .

But we don't necessarily need to supercharge to there . We supercharge to the next piece of five-year or whatever , and that will help . And then , looking at systems at , okay , that five-year plan is great , how can we get to the 10-year and 15 ? Will this fit our entire ? And once you have that thing , start to get easier . The next stage would be the process .

But once you have your vision easier , the next stage would be the process . But once you have your vision , that process becomes a little bit less overwhelming , to kind of put together . So we're kind of going to it .

So then you know you're just dealing with this one process of doing roofing . If you want to do all these other trades , even eventually , or even franchise or anything like that , that's going to impact that process every which way . Who I mean even who you're going to hire service , what's that look like ?

And that that vision is very important because if it's not , that's not aligned , your processes are going to be kind of well . If this happens , and if this happens , we're way down too much in the weeds and thinking about what , if , what if , what if . That clear vision saying less what ifs , more like this is what we're doing .

Let's go the next step to get this vision and what based off of what we've agreed to do and the services that we're providing . Period , let's start with this . If that happens and later on , you already have this one process done . Now you're updating it and upgrading it . You're not starting from scratch again to rebuild . Oh man , this now is different .

Yes , if you don't know , well , maybe we'll do this and maybe we'll do that , maybe we'll do this and maybe we'll do that . There's no marching orders , right . And then how does your team react to that ? How do you build process around that it ?

You know , like , like you'd mentioned , hey , if you're , if your vision is to do roofing , only , right , like we can , we can focus on this , we can build process around it , and we could go , we're moving forward , right .

But if your vision is to do roofing , siding , gutter , solar , you're going to have to think about the different handoffs between different jobs . And , hey , okay , how are we going to do this ? There's more project management involved in multiple trades . How are we going to do that ? So you're , you're getting to that , that thought process .

So , thinking with the end in mind , clearly defining that company vision super important to building your systems and processes , and I think a lot of people overlook that , right , because they they think , oh well , we need a process for this , but if , but , if it , if it , without looking at the big picture , okay , where does this process fit in ? Right ?

So I think that that that's great advice . So now , now they , they have their vision and their their the now , how do , how would you suggest they look at building out those systems and processes ? Where do they start ?

They miss that because you get a really good production guy and they know what they're doing and it's working .

However , when you , when you introduce a system in it , they're the ones that are the most impacted because they're the ones going to be , you know , championing that , the , the system , the sales guys are entering it , the , the , the accounting is doing financials and ending the process .

Production , everything in production has to be the streamline process because they're the ones managing the flow of everything . And so when you like especially in the insurance game , that process and you add other trades to it , I've noticed is that that's where money stops and that's where things start to kind of slow down is when your roof is done .

I still have to do siding , I still have to do gutters , how do I manage that ? And some clients , some companies , will have your sales guys control that slowing down things as well as if production is doing it . That's other things they have to manage .

So making sure , no matter what production needs to be the champion there , that is clear and and solid within the system process . Your sales are filtering and and um coming into a system that can already handle whatever is coming in , because it's just going through that line and going through that piece of it and then , with that , you get to collect faster .

You have more controls over when you're going to collect because you have those steps in place from that process . And that's why I mean with that process and what your vision is . That's where one you know easier , like okay , this is what we're going to do . We're going to what does the process look like for roofing ?

How are we going to manage that from beginning to end and who are we focusing on ? That is going to be the , the bottleneck of getting it to completion , and that's always going to be production . Some of it is by design , others is . Is there other things that are stopping the flow of this ? And we need to correct it ? And I a lot of the .

The feedback I get is from production , like well , well , how do I do this ? And they , and they're the first ones to um get out of the program . The first ones are like this doesn't work , I need to keep moving .

They go back to the magnet board , they go back to their spreadsheets because that's where they're comfortable , even though they're spending more time doing that , slowing the production flow and getting them into it to adopt it is a lot longer .

Because of that , because they have to keep moving , because that they understand that's the revenue generator , that's where we're going to keep the lights on and everything like that . So that's a big , big piece of that to get your processes together .

Front end , I want to make sure my sales guys are giving me everything I need so that production can be good , everything I need . So they're that champions of the data , if you will .

Production is taking that data and making sure it's carried out appropriately and when that is , you have better customer satisfaction and people pay faster and you have a really good idea of your costs to your revenue . Because they're also the ones doing that .

They're the ones that are championing the cost versus the revenue and making sure that we're collecting enough we're going to make money on it .

I think it's good advice for an enterprise size roofing company , right Like that $60 million company that you worked with . I've seen a couple hundred million dollar a year roofing companies that where there was still seemingly chaos , right Like it was , it was just like hey , we're , and it was kind of to what you said .

It's like when , when people have their way of doing things , they'll revert back to it A lot of times if you try to implement new technology into the process . So I want to go back a second . Before we implement a technology to solve a problem in the business . I want to talk a little bit about maybe some advice on who's building the systems .

Like who as a small startup , maybe it's more on the owner's shoulders , I don't know . What do you think ?

Like , does that production manager build the SOPs , build the process for production , and then you like I think you know it's the working on your business and in your business , right , that's working in your business , right , but , like , the SOPs are on your business , but going out and finding a technology that matches your process or enhances your processes , that's

even more working on the business , right ? So who do you like when you go in and work with roofing companies ? Who are you developing the processes ? Or are you saying , hey , let's get your team together . You know , hey , your production manager should build all of the production processes ? Or is it saying , hey , let's get your team together .

You know , hey , your production manager should build all of the production processes ? Or is it like where do you , how , how do you see that and what do you ? What have you seen most effective in that regard ?

funny to me . So what I do is is typically just like okay , let's map this out and production is a big piece .

Absolutely , typically it is very it's the same across the board for most companies is production is the same Because it's the materials , scheduling , labor , you know , that kind of stuff and then managing anything , that quality control , that kind of stuff , and so they're a big piece of it . That's their standard , that's the foundation of it .

However , I talk with other , like the financials and even the sales teams , and then , as well as the owner . Typically it starts with the owner . The owner is the visionary , typically , and so they see they're the ones that want to . Here's where I want to go , here's the things that I need so I could run my company . And how are we going to get that ?

I'm not getting this , I'm not getting this , I have no idea where I'm at with this . And so then you go the next level who is doing this ? Who is actually responsible for creating this work ? I'm a big fan of departmental type of organizations where you really take it as okay . Who does this , who manages this ?

Who is the gatekeeper to the next piece , like who is looking at all of this before it gets to the handoff of production ? Who's who's managing that ? Those are the people that were setting up those like .

All right , well , if this is what production needs production and sales they both need sales needs to know what production does and all the financials need to know what both they're doing . Right , so with those gatekeepers . So when you develop that process , I work with definitely SOPs , but each person has a different SOP .

If I'm talking to the owner , that's , I'm getting that visionary set . The production is . I'm going to tell you what I need , and here's the problems . And I spend way too much time cleaning up the jobs that I'm getting from sales just to get the information that I need so that I can do my work , which slows everything down .

And then accounting is like well , we can't start a job because we don't have any money . Where's the money at ? And and ? So what process is there ? And maintaining that if this , if we don't have it , I can't do it Doesn't exist in my world , but it happens so often that I need to get this job done , so I'm willing to take this extra time .

Um , and then the . The next thing is um I get the fortune of when I I also start talking to the , to the people that are like the front desk , who's answering the phones , who's who's um doing those things , because then , to be honest , that's where you get the real story .

You get the real story with , with your , with with the front end front office a lot of times , because they do a lot more than um than most , because they are . They are getting the calls right and then they are having to do adding things into the system . Well , they're the ones that are starting the process .

When I say productions are in the system , by the time they get it it's already in the system . We have the front end that has to put it in the system . Is it simple to get all the information there ? Is the system that you're choosing easy ? Is it something that can integrate with something else that helps feed into there ?

So you're not manually doing that work . If you're not manually doing that work and it's automated , that information is much more reliable . Right , it's coming in as it is and you're forcing that information to come in .

So when I go in and talk to these people it's like OK , where can we automate a lot of this stuff Because it's the same information over and over again . It falls apart when I only got the name and I've got an address Somehow . I didn't get a phone number . So then it gets to everybody else down the line , like , how do I get a hold of this person ?

So it's like those little things that we're relying on here , choosing a system that is allowing you to not have to think about that , being able to know that now I'm just verifying versus creating , and so that's you really get into every single piece of the department , because are of the company , because they all hand off to somebody else , and that's where that ,

that streamlining comes in . What are the 80% of the time Are we starting from the beginning and going through it and it moves really , really well .

Like most of these jobs , you don't have 100% of problem jobs unless you've created them from the very beginning , whereas most of them in my experience when I was working at the other company , whereas most of them in my experience when I was working at the other company , at one point I was doing commissions and I realized , wow , I bet only one person , one

other person in this company , actually understands every piece of this job and that's the sales guy or the project manager . They are the only one . If it goes through , nice and great , everything you don't even know , you can rely on your salesperson or project manager .

They're the face and they're , they're good , and everything else is like wow , these are just kind of flowing through . I didn't even know that we had a hundred jobs this this month because he just flowed through and that's the goal .

So then I can focus on those 10% that might be problems , or how can I be proactive about the ones that might be coming up that might be a problem , and I get ahead of it . So managing that time and how much of that is , and that's all part of that process to bringing those things to light easier and faster . Yeah .

The problems are always where our focus goes , right , yes , and so if you can shrink the problems because you're going to have problems , oh yeah , this is construction .

Like there will be something that happens , like there will be an anomaly here and there , but then you're able to identify that quickly and you're able , and potentially ahead of time , yeah , what if you were able to communicate with your customer about the problem that's going to take place and set the expectation properly around .

That was a time delay or a you know something that was going on in the process , or or or a change to their , to the , to the job , that that you have to make , you have to redeck or you have to like .

There's like , if you can see those things coming and communicate it to the customer before it happens , before they are thinking about it , how powerful is that ? Right , so that's where I see what you're going .

Where you're going with this is like you , you're using technology to to make things work efficiently as possible , but then it's throwing up the red flags right , like it , like days in , days , in a certain status may throw up a red flag Right and and Certain status may throw up a red flag Right , and you're able to see man , you know , materials haven't been

ordered on this job yet , right , we ? Usually our process is to order materials within X amount of time , but we're at Y amount of time , right , like red flag comes up . What's going on ? Now you can adjust and get ahead of things , right , is that ? Am I ?

I'm not saying you take the sales guy away , and that is very , very special .

However , if it's the only thing , you're going to have some that just aren't and you don't want your customer telling you where you're at in the job and the support you're giving , right , so and it happens too often , and so you , you resolve that by just setting up some automations that will fulfill that communication , at least feel that they're being , they're ,

they're being heard or they're being reached out to , and then coupling that with others that like hey , hey , mr Sales Guy , have you checked up on this ? And really the whole process is like you even brought up that we didn't order materials on that . That's not a system problem , right , we're taking the system piece out of it . That's the person problem .

So we go in and we need to check with our production manager who's ordering those materials , who is doing that and where did we fall ? What happened there . Let's follow the breadcrumbs back to where that started . And now we're dealing with , okay , coaching issues .

Those are things that you have to do within your company and so many times they don't know and it's very easy to say , well , the system didn't . It's like I know it's very easy to do that and it's very easy to say , well , the system didn't . It's like , I know it's very easy to do that .

But if we kind of manage the system so that it is in it's like well , this is actually where the piece it stopped and we need to do this . How can we make this easier for you ? Is this something that you're getting caught up within , the training of it , with the understanding of it ?

So you're asking those different questions and being able to manage your company differently and not relying like , thinking , like , okay , the system should be fixing everything . It doesn't .

It just brings to light what needs to be looked at , allows the system to run efficiently , your entire company to run efficiently , and find those little breaks that , like I said , those breaks . You're not going through the whole system and trying .

I've had companies where they're like , okay , stop everything , we're going through every single file and folder to see everything . Is that it's like that's a massive waste of time , it's like you can't do that .

Okay , so now we're going to fix it along the way , so we'll put some things in place , but that's what you can do with this system and then to build it .

With that mind , again back to one and two vision process , that system becomes a lot easier to build out , choose and build out because you have a clear understanding of , yes , your processes are breaking here or taking too long here . What kind of what can a system do to help us with that ?

And then , what kind of system is going to enhance our processes and we can manipulate to make sure that it is our process in a digital way , right in front of us every single day ?

Yeah , if you see that , just to use the same example again , if you see multiple times that the materials have not been ordered , right , that's a people problem .

But without the technology behind it and being able to track all of that and see it from an owner level , from being able to see things from , like the owner metrics , right , that visibility of hey has had this , you know , did this , did which salesperson is bottlenecking things right , by not handing off all of the information that production needs to take the job

and and build this roof right , like yeah , you will be able to identify not just where the bottlenecks are but potentially who bottlenecks are right and and you're able to do it in a way , yeah , it takes the feelings out , if that's , if that makes sense to you yeah yeah , because a lot of times these are our people , you know what I mean , and we have like

man , but so-and-so is such a good person .

You're going to see like , wow , every time this subcontractor is assigned to this , I'm getting warranty work for nearly everything . So now you're like , okay , this is a great guy and he's been with me for 15 years , but , man , he's messing up and he's messing up a lot . It's costing me more money because I have to provide that .

And so you can start developing like that way , before Right , and and looking at that before it becomes a big problem later on down the line , um , where there's been a lot of mistakes and you're getting ahead of that , even if it's every warranty like , okay , what happened here ?

Hey , make sure you talk to your guys , those type of things that you can really kind of have that program set up because it's not , it's not managed . Warranties are kind of something that is , the clients that I've worked with that have something like that .

Their management , the business works better because they're managing every piece of it and making sure that , hey , this is a cost to my business , but I now know that that knowledge is powerful because , like you said , it becomes a people and that's a lot faster thing that you can , you can handle . And it's the . The proof is in the pudding there .

It's not because , man , you're such a great person , you've been with me , we have a relationship here . It's more like hey , how can we work through this ? Cause , it's not about I'm going to get rid of you , I'm giving you opportunity to hear . I'm a coach , and it's like like , this is what we're missing where . What's happening here ? How can we help you to ?

How can we help you , um , champion this a little bit better ? How can we make this happen ?

And then you work with your tech person or somebody's like okay , is the system issue is going to make it easier and , and it could be an understanding of a word I've I've had it where a word that is in the system is not making sense and so things are missed , like inspections to appointments , those types of things .

People kind of just it's like oh , what is that ? If they have to kind of try to define that . Well , the system can be changed , right , and , and in most systems you can change that and it's a simple solution that you had wouldn't have known until you've had those red flags go up .

And so that's the importance of looking for those systems and allowing your values and your vision and your process to that , because that later on and we'll talk later about it but that calculates into the actual adoption of the system and getting in there and trusting it and allowing yourself to actually do it and taking that piece about out of it and know that

when you're dealing with behavior change , I don't want it , you don't want it to be the system that is confusing . If you can make a change and manipulate , so that is better . We can just deal with the behavior of change , which is already hard , and take away that the system is also vernacularly off and not making sense .

So we want to make sure that our tech allows us to adjust the language in it to fit our language versus , you know , some language that our team has to think about . Well , yeah , we don't say this , we say that you know . So it says it different here , and so that all of those are things that you can look at when you're , when you're choosing this tech .

So , now that you've chosen the tech , you've got to build it out to your processes . What advice would you give to someone in building out those processes or building in the tech to the processes and vision ?

those things . So what am I looking at ? I , my mindset is always build it to my business and the systems . That most systems you can . Some are a little bit more rigid and that's part of the decision . Right , just because you might not have a solid process , you might , from the very beginning , just been trying your best .

So then maybe that's part of the issue is that I need a system to help align me to where I'm going , and so that's the system you choose because it's built to do that . It's built to like all right , let's line you up . This is what a typical roofing company is going to be doing .

We want to help you out in a system that's going to give you that training . Others like more established , they have something , so they need to find something that is going to be manipulated . To take that foundational I said sales , production collection what does that look like for your process .

Then , once you do that and put all the stages and the words that you want to use in , that everything makes sense . Then you look at the other things , like the communications and all this extra stuff .

Um , because a lot of times what happens is , I'm finding , is that , um , the company forgets that they're already doing these things and they don't realize they're doing these things .

So they go into it with the mindset of I want to make sure all the bells and whistles are working , I want to make sure all my communication is there , I want to make sure that all my porn , and it's like okay , we'll get there . Is your will ? This match with your current process ?

And once we get that implemented , which is typically trying to get there as fast as possible , foundations start working it , because that's where all the things that you've done , based off of muscle memory .

If you're doing this for a while , you don't even realize that you do this every day , until you put in a system that is bringing those things to life , like , oh , where do I do this ? Or ? And so then they go back to writing it down . It's like all right , that's not , we want to stay in the system .

Let's now update it to your foundation , the bet even more and add that more detailed stuff . Then it's a lot easier to look at like all right , we're flowing through , this is good . But man , we have a real problem with communications . We really want to up that Great . We have the process flow , we're good there .

Let's put the communication , because now we have the triggers along the way . Where are the milestones that we can send these out ? And that's a huge . Just starting there and taking out it's very , very attractive . Every system . That's how it's sold . It's sold based off of the bells and whistles . This is what you can do .

You can sync with QuickBooks and that's probably one of the number one no-nos in all the systems , and I can tell you this now .

That's a big selling point , but it's literally , in my experience , the last , very last thing that you do in any system is you integrate with your financial , and I can't stress that enough because if you don't , it will mess up your books and it will cause your accounting team to lose their mind .

And and because it accounting is a very detailed penny process so I call it a penny process and you mess up with anything . They can't trust it . And if they can't trust it . It's , it's massive . So , last thing , finance is the last thing when it comes to integration , because once the process flow is good within the system , it it's just .

It's another tool that enhances the process , not become the rule of the of it so you like production first , financial last .

There's just been too many times where it goes and it's it can be very , it's horrifying and , um , trying to back it out Doesn't matter , you have to just clean up and you had this .

So when you're absolutely , when I , when I actually assist it's , I'm very hands on in it , and so it's like , and I work with the account , I'm like , ok , this is how this works and here's the work that you need . When we're starting this and we need to make sure .

Fortunately , most of them have this kind of , by the way , we're going to be doing this , and then you have that reporting that you're going to . I was like , okay , you can't just willingly , let's turn it on , let's see what happens . And it can be very . I get those phone , those , those panic calls . Oh my god , I did something .

It's like all right , let's , we can fix it , but it's going to be some work for you guys .

But I think sometimes the best tech that that you can , that you can implement , is the one that your team is going to use . Yes , right , and so , if you like , I know companies that have spent you know $100,000 on a full CRM build out and they get to the , to the team , and the team is like , yeah , that's cool , yeah , I don't like it .

You know , um , and so you know what you know . So I guess it's implementing , right , implementing the technology and and , and you know what are some of your , some advice that you could give on that .

of that . So there's , if you are going in and trying to fix something , the chances of you changing your system later on is higher because you don't have a clear understanding why you're having it . So that directly impacts . Impacts integrating a system .

I have clients that have switched between four or five systems within a year and it's scary and I was like , okay , that's why you need to do this thing first . So when you do choose a system , you know you are using this period . Yeah , you're going to have have because I don't like it .

Like great , it's easier if you have your owners and the people that are running the company are all in . This is what we're doing , whether you . This is where our company is going , because we have this vision . We want to . If you want to come with us through this vision , this is what we have to learn and we have . We have to go that .

That , that that way , preparing up up to that point with the process . It should it , it should feel right , it should feel like okay , how you're just dealing with some of the technicalities is how do I put this in ? What's this information mean you can train that , people will understand that . But the process is way off , it's harder .

It's harder to get people to adopt that . There's always going to be change , but it's easier to adopt when it feels familiar and it becomes easier for them . I mean we really have to say , okay , what are you doing now ? How long are you spending on it ? Can you do the same thing here ?

And mine is like , hey , behaviorally , how much more work or jobs or sales can you do because you're taking this piece off ?

Let them kind of come to that conclusion Like , wait , I've seen a lot of where the most the hardest is is the , the more um , senior sales reps , typically , because they're already successful , they're good to go , um and so , where you're winning more as your new guys coming in because they don't have any other understanding , especially young kids that know technology

, that are coming in because it's part of their everyday life already . So you build that and they all kind of kind of start to mold together your old guy , your guys that are more senior . They're going to the people that are more senior . They're going to kind of push back a little bit more .

You're going to have to kind of coach them and the owner usually has to be the ones like okay , this is where we're going . I know you bring me $3 million a year , but you could bring five , and I believe that you can . If you do the system and then you let the others kind of just float away .

And that's a hard thing , really hard thing to do , cause most of the time it's coming to me it's like hey , how can we make this work for this person or these two people as like well , it's not a smart thing to do , because that's that you're dealing .

You want to deal with the 20 other guys that are coming in , that are going to take out , that are going to increase it and not push back . So then my experience was some of these guys will find they'll start it's more of a competition thing Like these young guys come in and start selling more .

It's usually the indicator like whoa , whoa , whoa , whoa , time out , nuh-uh , that's not happened . Why am I not on the leaderboard anymore ? Like this . So they will either take that choice of hey , how do we do this again ? Or there's , like you know , I'm going to start my own company , which is fine . Either way it's fine .

It's just you're clearing it out to make sure that you the number one thing , owners , production says this is how we do it , this is how we're going to manage it . Make sure everybody else does it . We don't want to make it hard and we are all in on this . We are not going to make these changes , and it is because then it's catastrophic .

It used you lose sales guys . All the time You'll lose people . People get tired or it becomes much harder to implement something when you're in your third , because now it's just like oh , you know what . I'm just going to wait until they change their mind again and I'll try to learn that one .

I cause they stopped trusting the company because I like , well , where are we going , what are we doing ? And I'm , and then I would . I would also suggest that you make them a part of it in the very beginning stages , just because there's adoption there .

They have a say because they're the ones doing the work talked about earlier , talking to the front end , the front desk person , because they're the ones . Or the production people , because they're the ones that know the process , because they carry it every day , rather than looking at how can I get my big numbers to run my company , you need .

Who's the data providers ? The data providers give you the information and if they're like , oh man , I really like this and they can it and and integrate into it and then adopt it , it starts to fall all into place and now the owner is starting to see what they want to see over time . It's not immediate , but it's over time .

It's like , oh , this is really working , I'm seeing what my intentions are now being met as well , but that that foundation needs to be set for sure .

So when you have your tech aligned with your vision and your processes and you're going in this direction , with your vision and your processes , and you're going in this direction , we've already like you're taking more time up front to figure out what's right for your company . You're including everyone in the process . But I still think that there is a like .

People still need to be trained on an ongoing basis in using these things , because it's like man man , but it's simpler Just use it . Yeah , right , but but they don't know which button to click and where , where this is , or you know , and when they , when they hit those friction points , that's where they start to resist the change .

Right so if they know oh , you just click that button and it's all there , right , like it . Wow , I can't believe that . But they didn't know which button to click . So I think that's another part of it is just communicating and ongoing training . You get their buy-in , it's aligned to the vision and then it's ongoing , like hey , what do you need with this ?

Where are you having trouble with it ? Okay , let's get you trained on it . Let's have some training up front or continuous training on it , especially when people are used to doing something else . The button is kind of like Android , iphone , right . It's like well , you just handed me an android and I , I'm an iphone user , you know what I mean exactly .

I don't know where the setting is for that like how do I get but ?

you want updates , you want to be trained ? I'm here and I would sit there some days , some weeks . Nobody showed up but then people would and I would take that time . The people that are like , okay , I want this .

I have other clients that once a week we open a lineup come to it , especially when most of these sales guys are not W-2s , they are subcontracts . You can't force them , we just have to give them the room . Here's the room to get to whenever you and this is when we do it that constant updating or just making sure , hey , do you have any questions ?

I said it's usually not getting that until it's launched you get that initial training and we want to spend more time on that technical side of it when you're training the system . We don't .

That's why we build the process into it , because I want them to learn about what they do as a salesman , as a production person , as they need to know that that the system can't . The system is there to take that process and help you move through it and learn at the same time . A lot of my systems I build .

I think of that like OK , I don't want to spend too much time telling you what the process is . I want the system to tell you what the process is . I want you to go out and learn how to sell . I want you to be up field as fast as possible .

No sales guy likes to be in an office for more than an hour and a half , tops two hours to learn about something . So you go in , here are the bareness , here's the button . Here's the button . If you can do some overlays and put that more of a technical or even a training program for them to , which I can , we do that .

A training program of OK , here's the questions , here's a test , those type of things . That here's a practice and practice and practice . Some systems have sandboxes that you can say , hey , go play , go home and play with this , so you get really familiarized . Most people need that textile , that tactile . Let me just go into it .

That's always whenever I teach it it's like all right , just let me go into it . Great , here you go , get into it and learn it . Don't always ask questions , especially the person who's built it out or is is is owning that . Ask lots of questions it it's for .

For me , as my in my business , when I'm working with it , it is the most helpful thing for me to really understand where you're at , for me to make those changes in the system , because there's going to be it's period , things upgrade .

You're going to the next level with your company and and a 10 million , 20 million point and you need to make a change because your business is different . This process doesn't work anymore .

So when those consistent changes are being consistent , to make sure that's a good , it works right and your people are going to adopt it because it's the same system and they're going to , they're going to accept updates a lot better than brand new . And so here's how you do it .

This is not going to change , going to accept updates a lot better than brand new . And so here's how you do it . This is not going to change .

If it does , we're just upgrade , updating your understanding of this next thing versus you already know the foundations now . You're just like , oh , new thing , and they appreciate the new stuff . They're like , oh , my god , there's all these things . Like I said back before , when I'm building this out , we've built with foundations .

They get that foundation and they also learn . They also are working through the difficulties of . I thought this was supposed to be easier . I still have to do this . I still have to . It's great .

So now when I go and apply the next levels , which are already part of the plan , it becomes like finally , oh my gosh , and so I'm in in it and now I don't have to do this . So it's an upgrade . It's like , yeah , yeah , now I'm good , I can . And then they get they again , own it .

They start owning that system and they're like really , oh man , can we do this ? It's like , oh , yeah , that's the next phase of this . So you kind of just help you stay . I used to try to stay ahead of it on where they're going , cause I've worked with , I know where that is .

But not overwhelming with this is because that's where you , even if it's all bells and whistles , you're still not going to get there . It's like , oh , that's really cool . Oh , that's cool that it does that .

But I'm good with my system for now because I know , even if it's harder , even if it's takes more time and all they do is complain about it , which that's what I get in beginning oh , nothing works . Then you launch it . You know , this works a little bit better than I thought right .

Then they come back here and it's like and then they compare like well , this did this , can this do this ? Oh , if it doesn't do it . So there's a lot of different areas and we want to negate all that . We want to make sure that we're going forward .

We know the technology will handle these other things , but let's start with these things , then we'll add these things , and people are going , oh wow , yeah , now I'm more bought in it , now I'm more bought in and I'm more bought in and by the end it's it's functioning .

All right , let's take it out . It doesn't impact your daily thing , it just is . That didn't work .

In your experience or with the companies you've worked with , what is the best outcome that happens from this , or what are some of the best outcomes that you've seen happen from just from doing this properly ?

So some of the things , especially I talked about the production , had stories like man , I just can't keep production busy and that in a company and I stress it out I was like that is I just can't keep production busy and that in a company and I stress it out it's like that is the best place for you to be , mainly because that means it's efficient , your

system is efficient . And now you are now saying , okay , sales guys , let's open the floodgates , let's go . And why aren't we getting sales ? Let's open the floodgates , let's go . And why aren't we getting sales ? What adjustments can we do ?

Because now I trust that my production is flowing and so now let's open the floods , let's open the floodgate , let's see how much can we look at our SEO ? Can we look at our marketing more , can we spend more money on these ? Because I know now my production can handle it . There's not going to be , and you know , a backlog isn't bad .

It isn't bad as long as things are still flowing through . Right , you just slow . You have to slow down production . Sometimes you have to like , all right , when can do I need to have hire more people here , more sales crews , but if it's flowing really well , that means everything's working .

So now let's put money into these other avenues of sales marketing , advertising , getting more sales guys . How do we get these leads flowing more into it ? Because we're not , we don't have . We get to now and so that's .

That's a big piece of it , where the success starts to kind of come in , where the thing that a lot of times they come into and say the problem is is what isn't ?

They find this production needs to be handled and then they get to the solution that they've wanted in the first place Yay , we can start selling now and we can put the money there , so that now we're growing , now we're adding to that 30% revenue increase in the year because of the process just flowing through and my experience of the companies that have done

that , which the ones that really grasp that idea , they do , they always do . In my experience , all of my clients have , when they really grasp , like okay , we're going to do this , they do increase and they do and and it's . It's one of those things that they don't . They're like how much do we do ?

And it's like oh , really like , because things flow through , so like we did that many jobs and and then they start we have looking at . You know , yeah , we got a lot of money and we talked about earlier the costs . You see those things more . And then that's where they start making money , because they start like , wow , why are we spending so much ?

Why is my margin not changing ? Well , you know that now because you have the reporting that you need and you've probably been there for this entire time . Now . You know so now you can make adjustments so that your revenue and you work with the costs . Know so now you can make adjustments so that your revenue and you work with the cost .

And now you have a owner transitioning out of working in the business and working on the business , because now they're having conversations with suppliers , manufacturers , with and and being able to manage those costs and where their vision . I'm not .

I'm now walking solely towards my vision and how I'm getting there , because the vehicles to help me get there are running nicely and redundantly and efficiently .

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