Larger business or smaller

Sounds like i need to call Serrano! lol Actually Serrano and I talked a while back about increasing business but that is not where my mind is now. I'm wanting to lower all the costs down so i dont have to kill myself trying to cover everything. Twill your exactly right. I've had lots of success and setbacks. Made a lot of money in 2001 and 2005 but those were really the only two years ( in 13 yrs time ) that i really made a lot of money by doing a lot of production. 2001 was a straight line wind storm clocked downtown at 99 mph. and blew shingles off roofs all over the metro area. 2005 was due to two hurricanes ( turned tropical storms by the time they got to my area 250 miles inland ) but a lot of damage none the less. I also had three years where i lost money and went into debt. And then 8 normal years where I made a decent living of it, more than i could make working a job for someone else. So i guess you could say im 10-3. lol The last two years are two of the three bad ones and hit me back to back. 2007 drought and 2008 and now economy. We had some small storms here this spring and were wide open for two months. But now its back to reality. Nothing but a few repairs. I am simply paying out too much money to not have much work going on. Im going to just place an incoulmn 2 inch by 2 inch ad and thats it for the real y.p. I may go with a less than half page ad in yellow book. And theres another small book thats affordable. Then do proximity direct mailings. And of course there is our customer base and referrals. I gotta get off this merry go round with the Real yellow pages. They jack you up every year. I started 13 years ago paying $75 per month and now its $2,700. Quite a swing. It pays for itself when things are busy but thats about it. When we have storms i should have work anyways because this business is "weather dependant" ! Thanks for the advice everyone! I am even thinking about moving out of my house into something half the cost. And maybe letting the office go at some point. I've learned there is only so far I can/should go in this mad game called residential roofing.>>>

Willie.... you are bouncing around quite a lot. Trying things that just don't work out for the long run. Lots of success, weighed down by lots of setbacks.

Call Serrano>>>

---Dropped my Yellow page ad some 10 years ago. It was a nuisance as I got calls up to 30 miles away wanting a bid. Those were tough sells and I hate selling. Some bids took 2-3 hours and I got very few. ---I suggest local small papers in areas you prefer to work in. They are cheap and you can track the results and drop what doesn't pay. ---Get some real estate agents to send you some work order jobs. I have about 4 agents that send me work. I get them a bid within 24 hours and give them top service. They want someone who will fulfill the work with minimum hassles so I meet all deadlines and make things happen. You might visit some offices and leave some business cards. ---There are online referral services. I tried one that was a bust called, "Handyman Online." I am thinking of trying a different one that has been sending me trial leads. They sell the leads and leave you to sell the jobs. I can deal with that. ---Update webpage. ---Join a local businessman referral club. I used to belong to one years ago. I got too busy to continue but I did get quite a few roof jobs from that group. We met for breakfast 2x/month, shared business news and shared leads. The group was made up of a variety of trades. There was only one person in each trade (so as not to compete with each other.)I should still belong as now it would really pay off. Isn't one group called Le Tip' or something like that? ---Make sure your supplier is sending you leads. This should be automatic but it pays to mention it and provide business cards. My supplier sends me leads as I am sure he does to many. I want to get my share of leads he receives. ---Make responding to leads top priority. Sell sell sell. ---I prefer to install roofs. I hate paperwork and selling. But I am forced to sell to survive. A friend of mine is a top salesman. He went with me to a sales call and observed. Afterwards he gave me a lesson on my mistakes and omissions...then a lesson on what NOT to...I realize that good salesmen operate with certain attributes, techniques, and principles. They can be learned. There are loads of "How to sell" books at the public library. There is just no excuse for being a mediocre salesman. Besides I hate it when someone gets the job I have bid on because they had a better sales call and beat me with gimmicks. There are so many hokey things roofers emphasize to make themselves sound like they are offering higher quality then the competition. ---This might be a good topic...where to find leads...

Good luck, Lanny>>>

If the object is to make money, get smaller and do the work with one crew and yourself. Raise the price until you make as much as you want, If the object is to employ a lot of people and have a lot of headaches, advertize and spend it all. It will be gone soon enough.>>>

Willie,call me.845-656-4912>>>