Roofing Success International ???

jamesfl

Floyd,

I worked for a fifty five year old local company with a stellar reputation. This company was doing 1.5 mil residential a year. New owners with NO experience in roofing bought the company, got nervous as they paid too much(1.5 mil) for the busines and times are slow right now.

We never had a day with nothing to do, It may have been a job sold on friday and we started the following monday, however we were steadily working. I feel RSI "sold" these new owners, and I dont' believe in the RSI approach to sales. A two hour scripted pitch?

I doubted the system up front and as reassurance new owners were given the names of suppossedly working salesman to reassure me, I talked to Mike and aaron. They were instructors and founding memebers I believe. I was personnally misled by rsi into going to st. louis for training.

A few of the marketing element are good, however the sales pitch is garbage. I'm just the salesman, and I'm not going to work everyday to pitch that system.

RooferJim

I dont go for high pressure sales tactics but I do believe most roofers dont charge enough and a rising tide raises all boats. It was Sears that started good better best. 100% custumer satisfaction requires a combination of good specifications installed by trained happy employees that are paid a living wage, not illiegal immigrants or subcontractors but real employees.

RooferJim
www.jbennetteroofing.com

FLOYD

Rsi is about complete operational excellence. It takes the owner off the roof and gives him the tools to be successful in running a "professional organization". It offers an exit strategy for the owner. There is a huge difference between being a good tradesman and being a good businessman. If it is an owners goal to run 1 small crew and being the working foreman, rsi is not for that person. If an owner is in a healthy market and wants to grow his business rsi is for that owner. Growing a business involves several moving parts - production manager, sales marketing dept, increased office staff, increased field teams, tools, trucks, increased marketing budget to keep the crews busy, the list goes on for a mile. Rsi helps a green owner with the growth of his business with out getting a degree from the school of hard knocks. An owner can save 5-10 years of trial and error to see what works. The weak link is the sales strategy. I know of no member who uses it. It sounds like your former boss is new to the sales industry. He will learn in due time. Move on.

theroofinggod

you`re only misleading/being deceptive when you don`t deliver what you promise

RooferJim

your preaching to the choir. A babe in the woods may benifit from this type of program. I got a set of the Richard Kaeller tapes years ago to listen to in my truck, got some good tips but have my own stange and unique sales style that works very very well. Its called living by the golden rule, keeping your word, having a passion for roofing that is real and having a friendly crew that shares the company vision of 100% custumer satisfaction. My guys work all year and we always have a backlog and are never the lowest price.

FLOYD

Are you telling me you reached the peak? You found the magic bullet in the roofing industry. I myself was very successful running a roofing firm before rsi formed 2 years ago. I was working at least 50 hours a week. Now I am much better in all phases of the business. In fact I have trained 3 people in the last 2 years to take over my duties. I work about 2 hours a day and have a personal income in the top 5% of all incomes in the country. Rsi is a good write off for me. It is the less I have to pay Uncle Sam. There are at least 13 members who have gross sales greater than 10 million in a fiscal year. Many owners want to network with other successful contractors in different markets. Ask yourself these questions. What would happen to your company if you were gone tomorrow? Would it still continue to thrive with out you or would it fold up and go away? How many hours a week are you working and spending time away from your family? How many hats are you wearing within the company? Whats your stress level? If you answer negatively to any of these questions you still have not learned enough.

MJW

If a company can go on without you, with no problems....what are you getting paid for? I WORK for money, don't you?

theroofinggod

more $$,less work sounds good too!

FLOYD

MJW, an anology we all can understand would be that of a ceo for example. CEO in a major company may show up at the office perhaps 20 hours a week and his compensation package with stock options will run into the millions. The company will run just fine without him, in fact he has to answer to the board of directors. There in a system in place so that people under him run the show.

I am being compensated for the system I put in place which frees up most of my time. You'll be surprised what will happen when you surround yourself with talented people. To answer your question Yes I do work for money - I am working SMARTER NOT HARDER. I am looking for another hobby to occupy my time because my wife does not like me hanging around the house all day.

Ed the Roofer

I would rather "work to manage" rather than "manage to work".

Ed

jamesfl

As a former salesman for an rsi company, I love hearing a long standing RSI member say that the sales portion is worthless. Thats been my thoughts all along.

mahlere

james,

don't overlook the big picture though...

san diego dave

I don't know anything about them per se, but I do want to weigh in on getting management help.
I have belonged to two Coaching Companies. The first was a local regional guy who was very good and my sales and profits jumped 200% in two years after learning about real business management.
I think I am like most roofers who started with ability but no training in business.
As my first business coach was 2 hours away, I have subsequently joined
a large national company that does the same thing.
I have also used them for training my key employees.
I can say that investing in your employees really pays off. They perform better, and they are more loyal because you invested in them.
I really feel that this ongoing training helped us get through the recession.
Dave

crowsonroofing

Your mentality is the problem with the industry, the thing they can do better is make money, run a legit company, pay their employees a decent wage, afford office help, vehicles insurance, and the list goes on. The roofing industry is going down the tubes here in northern California and it is your mentality that is the root of the problem. What is wrong with running a roofing business like any other business? to make money and be succesful, the sooner these idiots figure out the homeowner is not going to put on their own roof the better off we contractors will be, and if everyone bumped up their price by just $100 per square life would be a lot easier. If you want to be an employee in your own company go for it!

MJW

If it's a legitimate business, I agree with you crowsonroofing.