Why Customer Care Counts in Roofing - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Jake Magalsky from Ace Roofing. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast!

Megan Ellsworth: Hi everyone. My name's Megan Ellsworth here at askaroofer.com, and we are back again for an Ask A Roofer Minisode. So excited. Today we have Jake from Ace Roofing. Hi Jake, how are you?

Jake Magalsky: Hello, Megan. Hello everybody.

Megan Ellsworth: So excited to have you on the podcast today. You are a wealth of knowledge, so I'm excited to ask you some questions. Let's just dive right in and have you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about Ace Roofing?

Jake Magalsky: Yeah, right on. Ace Roofing. Well, first of all, I'm Jake Magalsky from Montana. I started Ace Roofing over 20 years ago in a little town called Willsal. It has 250 people and it's in the middle of nowhere. But today, we are headquartered out of Bozeman, Montana, and the company has grown and we've been acquired by Omnia Exterior Solutions and we are continuing to do the great work that we were doing before and we continue to grow.

Megan Ellsworth: Fabulous. Amazing. So for today's Minisode, we're going to be tackling the subject of customer service. So, the first question I have for you is, what traits define superior customer service in the roofing industry and how would you say these traits impact the overall success of a business?

Jake Magalsky: Yeah, I think there's a combination of two things. One is what would a customer define as customer service? And number two is what would a professional contractor with a wealth of knowledge define as customer service? And the two overlap, but they are not mutually exclusive because sometimes a customer doesn't know what's best for them. They have to rely on a professional. So it's a scary relationship to enter into. They want to feel like they're getting good value, being treated well in an industry that has a little bit of a fearful connotation that comes with it. And so what the customer sometimes thinks they want might not be the best thing for them to spend the money on. So they're really looking for a contractor who can help educate them on value and whatever it is that's important to them in their project. So it's a combination of those two things.

Megan Ellsworth: Wow. I love the way you answered that. And I think that right there just shows a customer forward-thinking mindset, considering what they would see as good customer service is I think, like you said, the first step. That's so true. Wow. So lastly, the second question, how can homeowners identify some warning signs of subpar customer service at the roofing company they're trying to hire? And what are some lasting advantages of choosing a company known for its excellent customer service?

Jake Magalsky: Well, I think one thing to keep in mind, say really, in my opinion, you don't have a legitimate business if you're not providing that good customer service. Some people in businesses of all types, they're concerned with lead generation and where are we going to get our next customer from? And I would advise to pump the brakes on all that for a moment and first ask fundamental questions about your own business. If you're a contractor or you're a cupcake baker, or whatever it is that you're doing, maybe even changing tires in a tire shop, are you providing a high level of customer service? Because if you are, people will tend to beat a path to your door. If you're making the best burger in town, and you really are, people will line up around the block starting at 11 o'clock and won't go away until one 30 because they know you have the best burger in town, whether or not you're spending $1,000 a day on Facebook ads.

So first of all, just make sure that you are doing customer service before you start worrying about where your next customer is going to come from. And then the next brick in that wall is that you have to treat your employees really, really good, better than the competition treats their employees. You have to do that for a number of reasons. Number one, it's the right thing to do. You really need to provide them with the best benefits. Part of the profit in a business is for that, to give back to the people who are getting the work done and make sure that their needs are being met and they're being secure in their life and their livelihood and their well-being is being handled. Because if you aren't, you cannot ask them to provide good customer service for your customers and expect them to do it. Good customer service only comes from happy employees.

So, when you think about that and you start connecting those dots, you'll realize that the best marketing dollars you can spend is to make sure your employees are being taken care of, because in turn, they're going to treat the customers good and then the customers will do the advertising for you. Everyone who knows anything about marketing will tell you the best marketing with the highest conversion ratio is word of mouth. And word of mouth only comes from one place, customers.

Megan Ellsworth: The mouths.

Jake Magalsky: The mouths of the customers. So that's the way I see it. I think it's that important.

Megan Ellsworth: I think that's so true. Yeah, absolutely.

Jake Magalsky: I might add to that, Megan and say that if I was a business consultant, which I'm not, but if I was, I would look at customer service in a company that I would advising to and I would look at their customer service. I would visit with their customers because their customers and what the customers say will be the barometer of a lot of other issues in the company. If the customers tell me in an interview that the crew was unprofessional or the crew was not safe or the crew was not clean or disrespectful or any of the things that good customer service is, if a customer tells me anything negative about their experience, then I would go back into the engine room of that company and find where the root of that was and then you would find the [inaudible 00:07:08]. So I really believe that... I'll say it a second time, but I think that customer service is the barometer of a business and it tells you the health of the organization. It's the one factor where you can get the most information.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. Well said. I think that's so true. And homeowners out there listening, building owners and fellow contractors, I think they should be taking notes. That was some great advice. And anything else for home or building owners to look for when hiring, in their customer service experience when they're looking to hire a contractor?

Jake Magalsky: Yeah, absolutely. If I put myself empathetically into the shoes of a customer hiring a roofing company in this example, what are the things that could damage me as a customer, as a consumer? What are the things that could lead to a bad experience? So one of them is having an injury on your project where the injured worker has the right to sue you. Okay? You never want to find yourself as a homeowner in a situation like that. You open yourself up to vulnerability when you hire a contractor that doesn't have the proper licensing and insurance, specifically insurance and now all of a sudden, you're on the hook if one of their workers gets hurt on your project. So number one and foremost is just fundamentally ask for insurance from any contractor that you're hiring and make sure it's legitimate and adequate insurance to cover the project. That takes that off the plate, gives you peace of mind.

You would also want to ask for references. It's basic, fundamental stuff. It hasn't changed in the last 100 years. If they are reluctant to give you references or if they give you references that don't sound good when you call them, then red flags come up. So those are two really big ones. Make sure that you have a legitimate contractor with licensing, registration, insurance, credentials. It helps, all of it helps if they're a member of their local roofing association or a National Roofing Association and they're in good standing and they've been a member for a long time.

Background checks, just going to Better Business Bureau. I almost bought something on the internet the other day and I thought, "I'm going to Google it," and I Googled it and the Better Business Bureau said, "This is a scam. Don't do business with this company." So I did not go to the checkout counter. Just take a moment to Google the company, check it out, check references. And if I was hiring a contractor, I would want to interview three people and ask them about the customer service that they had received, if they would hire that company again and any concerns they had about them?

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. Well, Jake, thank you so much for your time and wisdom that you shared with us today, and I look forward to seeing you again on the Ask a Roofer podcast.

Jake Magalsky: Thank you so much, Megan. This was quick and painless. It truly was a fun little Minisode here. I'm glad you're doing this.

Megan Ellsworth: Yay. Amazing. For everyone out there listening, we have Minisodes now, short, quick, painless, little bite-sized podcasts you can listen to in-between meetings or going to lunch, to get all your information on roofing as a home or building owner. Thank you for listening, and we'll be seeing you next time on the Ask a Roofer podcast Minisodes.