What do Roofers and Electricians have in common? Find out in this interview with Sean Olson from Olson Roofing

Transcript

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Hey, guys. James Rest here from Marketing Secrets for Electricians, and today I've got an interview for you with Sean Olsen, whose family has been in roofing for over 30 years. So let's find out what roofers and electricians have in common so you can take that knowledge and use it and implement it in your electrical business. That's the question. Join me and follow along as we search for the answers.

My name is James Rest and welcome to Marketing Secrets for Electricians. Thanks for having me, James. Appreciate it. No worries. So we'll kick it off.

Just give us a little background about yourself, about the business and what you're doing now. Yeah. So like you mentioned, my family's had a local roofing business here for over 30 years. We started back in 1987 when my dad and his brother actually started Olsen Brothers Roofing. And so it was the two of them.

And very shortly after my dad took it over and sort of ran it on his own for the majority of the company's life. And as I grew up, I was always around roofing. So it was a very normal thing for me to see compressors and guns and hoses and all of the stuff that goes into that. And the evolution of the business was a cool thing to see running straight out of the back of my dad's truck where he had to load the stuff in the back every night and unload it so it didn't get stolen and trying to get his stuff back from the pond. So he's gone from like a solo operator to having a few guys, I don't know.

I was in the roofing game for only a couple of years myself. My history is actually as a personal trainer. So I worked in gyms. And when it came time for my dad to retire, he said, you know, is this something that you would like to run with your brother? And I said, well, I've never really been around the roofing game.

So I tried it out. And in order to do that, I had to actually get on the roof. I didn't get to start at the top, like most people think when you inherit a business, you have to learn how it works. And so I did that sort of boots on the ground or boots on the roof, I guess, and got up there and operated as an actual roofer for a couple of years, helping to run the crew, driving trucks and trailers and doing the whole nine. So got a got a real good feel for how it all worked.

Yeah. So, uh, as a personal trainer, I had to literally sell myself, um, not as a prostitute, but the services and my value, I had to, you know, convince people that I could help them. And so I sort of was in that, that world a little bit, um, got into the, the, uh, online world of marketing through supplements and, uh, being able to help people in other ways and created other small side businesses. Which led me to having to create websites and the funnels that you talk about are, you know, those series of website pages that walk the person through the sales process. Um, and was able to, you know, get involved with that and, uh, was introduced to a company called click funnels that I work for now, uh, through a buddy of mine that I actually did marketing for, uh, with the supplement company that I worked with in previously.

And so, yeah, I've been working with that, uh, company now for about, uh, going on five years and has been a great transition away from, uh, roofing, which is an extremely difficult business. It's very taxing on the body to actually be the person doing. Yes. It's, it's incredibly physical, um, very dangerous. Actually found out, uh, about a year and a half after I started doing roofing that roofing was at that point, the fifth most dangerous job in the world.

And so, no, it's a, it's a very, very high up there. Danger point. And so every day, uh, try not to fall off the roof was a very interesting experience. And now I stay on the ground inside and, um, it's a little bit safer for me. Cool.

And you've built, I think you said not on this podcast, but you've said that you've, you've built, you've built roofing funnels for a roofing guy or a franchise or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, like I said, my brother still runs the roofing company. And so.

When he took it over, I said, Hey, I can help you with some of the marketing stuff. And I built him Olson brothers, roofing.com, uh, which is essentially a funnel. Um, it's a series of website pages that takes the person through the process to request a free inspection on their house. Um, and then we can follow up with them, uh, with whatever it is that they need to have happen. And so, um, I built the original funnel for my brother, um, just with the intention of functional usage for his own business and, uh, turned around and sold copies of the structure of those pages and somebody that owns a roofing agency.

So what they do is they actually run Facebook ads and generate leads for roofing contractors. So they reached out to me and, uh, got a copy of my funnel so that they could use it for marketing for some of the contractors they do services for, uh, which turned out to be multiple versions of the funnel for both residential and commercial usage. Um, and those, those actually turned out to generate over $10 million in sales, um, using those funnels through their ad agencies. Cool. So that's a good win for them.

Yeah. Power funnels. So, uh, your data is company. Did they use, or what was it kind of marketing? I don't know how did it evolve or what did they do back in the day?

I guess. Yeah. And, and that's a great question. There's, there's so many different ways to get exposure for your business, the internet and websites and those are, are one method. And there's a lot of technical stuff that goes into it.

It's not that easy for most people to just walk in there. So you actually need somebody who's able to set that up and, and kind of walk you through it, make sure everything is connected correctly. The messaging works. There's a lot that goes into it, but the primary method for recruitment and exposure and advertising for my dad was literally just word of mouth. Uh, the, we live here in Boise, Idaho, which is a very growing city.

There's about a half a million people here. Um, so there was enough people around that when he did good work, uh, it would just, you know, kind of get spread in that fashion. And he really dropped the ball on a lot of the areas that are necessary to grow a business in today's economy. Uh, word of mouth is really difficult to create a business. From scratch, like he was able to 30 years ago, there was less competition and the internet didn't exist.

And so his marketing methods started from a place of necessity. Um, a lot of the ways that he was able to spread that word of mouth was through connected agencies. So for example, in the roofing industry, he did a lot of work for realtors. They would get either rental houses or houses that they were trying to put on the market that needed work done prior to being able to market them. And so they would contact him and say, Hey, I just got this new property.

Can you come do this thing? Either a repair or a complete overhaul and a new roof on it. Um, there were other, uh, agencies that he worked with in the insurance realm. Um, so he was able to have referrals where somebody would have something wrong with their roof and they would contact their insurance company and they would say, Hey, you know, what kind of deal can you give me on covering part of my roof? And so he worked with insurance agents that also would refer him work.

Um, as well as, as he got bigger, there was, you know, the signs on the sides of the trucks and that sort of thing. So it was a little bit more exposure, but it really wasn't until my brother and I got into the game with a little bit more of a new age mindset and yeah, the, the idea of how the internet worked to be able to get a little bit more exposure from some more organic traffic. So now when people, people go on to a Google and they search for roofing funnels, for example, um, my, my content comes up there and they can find, uh, people who are marketing those things. And so, um, it's sort of evolved over time with not only what the available resources were, uh, but what sort of the knowledge base was of the people doing the marketing. So, um, now they, they have a very strong business.

They also work directly with a lot of new construction. So that's another, um, additional method. My dad did primarily, uh, residential and existing structures. Uh, my brother's taken it to a new level where he works with a lot of, uh, general contractors that build new houses and that sort of thing. And so there's a few different lines of services, basically that he's offering more than one.

Yes. Yeah. So it's definitely been an evolution of the business over the 30 years. So, and then, so coming back to today, is marketing modern marketing. What would you suggest or throw out to people starting at a local electrical or in my case or our case electrical, but roofing it's same, same, same procedure yet.

Like their contractors, they want local business, local leads, what suggestions or ideas, uh, would you suggest people look into or use? Sure. Um, there, there's a lot of different marketing methods that you can use in order to attract new clients. And the thing is, all work. That's the, that's the awesome part.

So don't feel afraid. First of all, if technology or a new marketing method that maybe you're not familiar with, but if you're looking to get more business, uh, the number one tip that I can give you is separate yourself in value. What are you doing differently that the other contractors in your same world are doing? So for example, if somebody needs, in the electrical world, like a new socket put in their house, why are they going to pick you versus the other people who have the same ability, the same products, everything that is the same. So you have to create a difference in your business that is very clear.

And normally this comes in the form of offers. And this is kind of a unique concept, especially in the contractor world where, well, I'm going to give you a roof and you're going to give me a your money. Like that's not an offer. That's literally just selling a product for a price. But the offer would come in the form of we're going to, we're going to come out and inspect the roof for free, regardless of whether or not you choose us as your contractor.

And this is the first bait that we use on the internet on the funnel that we have in for my brother's business is they get a free inspection. We're going to spend our time and give you pure value without any expected return based on that interaction. And if you like the way that we conduct business, we're able to, you know, maintain a professionalism for you, show you areas where your roof needs attention and bring these things to light. We create a relationship and that's very important that you create a relationship that's not based on a financial transaction. The exchange of money only happens after that relationship is developed.

Now it can happen very quickly. You're somebody that is nice to talk to and you seem informative and you've got decent pricing and you're willing to support your work. Those are all pieces that people are looking for to say, yes, I want to do business with you. So it's not always that end transaction that really matters. It's the upfront piece that builds up to the point where you say, yes, would you like to give me money for services?

So having an offer extends actually beyond the transaction. So it starts with, here's what I'm going to do just to show you the value that I have upfront, but what do you do after the sale also matters? So one of the things that my brother does is he has guarantees and warranties. And so when we do this work for an extended period of time, based on the services that you've got, we have different levels of packages that you can choose where we will follow up with you and we will continue to maintain that roof even after the job is done. And this is where I see it continuing the relationships, not I've got your money.

Next one. Right. And that's a, that's a big piece because it doesn't take a lot of actual work. Uh, the, the way most of his packages are a bi-annual check-in. So twice a year, we're going to come out.

We're going to ensure that the gutters are blown out. All of the valleys are free from any debris that may, you know, catch water and turn into ice and then dam up and get back up under the roof or checking for leaked spots around any of the, you know, exposures where you've got your, your pipes or your vents or any of those sorts of situations, ensuring that your chimney is not falling apart because the bricks are really old and causing leak points on those sorts of things. Yeah. So that's a real deal. Um, but being able to follow up with them continuously and that creates an additional income stream because it's a subscription plan that they can have year after year that doesn't cause a lot of work for you, but it creates peace of mind for them knowing they have that continued maintenance on their roof without really any work on their end.

Okay. So, so we'll just run through it kind of. So the first bit was like, okay, we give them a free inspection. So in your case roofing, we'll give them a free, uh, electrical inspection on their house. They can come in and they're like, okay, you find the roof is faulty or find something faulty and you're like, okay, well I can fix this for you.

So you do the actual install or the work that's required. And after that, the next step in the funnel is the follow-up process where you're like, I can put you on an annual plan or buy annual plan, whatever it is. So we come back and we monitor it. We look after you and continue building the relationship, nurturing the relationship we should say. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And, and, and that's a big piece of it is, is continuing to have that relationship for life. And this was one of the things that my dad was fantastic about is he was so good working with people directly that his referral business was huge. He did a job. People were more than happy to recommend his services to their neighbor, to their, their family members, to somebody else.

Exactly. Everyone lives in a house, hopefully if you're not homeless, but being able to have, have that good interaction didn't just go through the interaction with that person. It was a lifelong connection. And the magic that happened is a lot of times, especially now that we do the free inspection, we'll go meet with people and they're not ready to do a job then. They don't have the money.

The timing isn't right. Whatever the situation may be for them, people aren't always ready to pull the trigger the first time you talk to them. And so being able to develop the relationship, sometimes it took two, three, four, five years down the road after that initial contact that they said, okay, yes, now I'm ready to, to pull the trigger on the job. And what happened is you became their roofer before you did the roofing. And that's a key point before the need kind of thing.

Absolutely. And, and, and you become their go-to person even before they need to go to you. And so the more exposure you can get and become someone's electrician, the electrician is a lot easier actually than roofing. Very few people ever replace the roof on their house, but you've probably had to replace the batteries in your smoke alarm. Every year they go out or an electrical socket needs replaced or you want a new ceiling fan installed or.

Yeah. There's a, there's like a study in Australia where like the average person has like four or five things in their house that they could fix if they wanted to. Yeah, exactly. So that's sort of the other piece of it is the sale does not always come on the first exposure. And this is a marketing thing that I learned a long time ago is most people need at least five to seven exposures to you and your value before they make a buying decision.

So they're going to see your website. They're going to get an email from you after they've opted in, they're going to get to talk to you on the phone. You're going to come out to their house and talk to them. You're going to follow up with them. You're going to talk to them multiple times before they actually say, yes, I want to give you money versus the other guy that can do the same job.

So most of the time people are buying you. Not your actual service, which is why it's important to build that relationship and not necessarily focus. Like there's a, for example, there's these trade sides where, or even if you're typing Google, yeah, you go electrician roof or whatever your suburb, those people at the top, yeah, they're kind of looking for electrician, but you're paying per lead and they'll contact three or four people. You want to get there before they need that. Exactly.

Yes. So before they're ready to pull the trigger, you want to already be in their pocket. As the person that they're going to call when they need that service. So just because you don't make a sale from an exposure does not mean that you aren't building your business. Yeah.

I think a lot of people, if they don't make the sale, they're like, oh shit, I've, I've, I've missed out. You know, that was a waste of my time. Yeah. No, it wasn't. You're, you're investing in them in your business by just being doing all these things that add up in the long run.

And again, it's, yeah, it's a long run that matters more so than this quick and nasty. I've got a dollar off you. Yeah. If, if, if all you're trying to do is exchange time for dollars, you might as well go have someone else employ you. If you're willing to build a business, it takes relationship building over time to establish that.

And that's what my dad became very good at as he had relationships with, like I said, insurance adjusters and real estate agents and even other general contractors, because they go out and they, they get called out for a plumbing emergency. Then exploded in the attic or whatever and damaged the roof that then needs to have a different contractor come in. So that's another thing that he became very good at is developing relationships with other contractor types so that they became his referral for the work that they were doing as well. So it's not, not just the end customer. It's that person alongside you essentially who has a relationship.

So roofing and electrical and roofing plumbing, all these type of trades, they all have that like network where we could, specialize for each other. And say when, when I was electrician in Australia, it was like, say we had four or five different other trades that plumbers, for example, that sent me work just because, Hey, you're the electrician guy user and build that relationship. Exactly. Yep. Yep.

It's a, it's a big connection web. And once, once we change the way that we look at how we interact with it, we see how many different points connect to our business that bring all of these actual dollar transactions in. But it has to come from the relationship building with all of the various customers and referral agencies and internet searches and all of those sorts of things where you start to leverage a lot of traffic sources. And that's what we call it in the marketing world is where are the eyeballs to your service coming from? Yeah, cool.

So that's pretty much, you know, I can, we can wrap that up there unless you've got something else to share. Marketing tips before we knock off for the day, I guess. Don't try to do it all yourself. You're, you're in the, you're in the industry that you're in because that's your profession. You're not a marketing professional, but you need exposure for your business.

So my tip is don't try to figure that part out yourself. There are people who are already fantastic at doing that. Like I said, there was a marketing firm that was a marketing agency specifically for roofers that I connected with. And they ended up doing $10 million in sales for their clients. The clients didn't call and close the sales.

That was the job of somebody who specialized in that thing. So you don't have to figure out how to build your own website. You don't have to figure out how to do ads online. You don't have to figure out how to call customers and close them on deals. So you're going to have to figure out how to do that.

And then you're going to have to figure out how to do that. And then you're going to have to figure out how to do that. And then you're going to have to figure out how to do that. And then you're going to have to figure out how to do that. And then you're going to have to figure out how to do that.

And then you're going to have to figure out how to do that. And then you're going to have to figure out how to do that. And then you're going to have to figure out how to do that. And then you're probably not going to be as good as they are. So don't try to do it all yourself.

Get someone who already kind of knows what they're doing in that world. And they can actually help you grow a lot faster. And that's also part of running a business versus like when you start off as a tradie, as electrician, as a contractor, whatever you're like used to the hands on tools. And then you get a business and you're like, have to juggle all these things. So part of managing it is not to have to do everything, but find the who, who can do this thing for me and help me do that.

Cause you know, you need accountants, you need all sorts of things as well to make a business work functioning or correctly. Well, thanks for coming on Sean. It was great having you on. And for people who want to find out more about Sean, you can visit walksofwisdom.com where he's basically doing morning walks and sharing your knowledge on wisdom. Yeah.

All kinds of, all kinds of cool stuff about how to improve your life and look at things a little bit differently than you may be. And it's a simple way to just adjust and enjoy the world that you live in. So appreciate you having me James. This was great. Cool.

Yeah. It was great fun. And I'll talk to you soon. Thanks James. Thanks for tuning in and listening guys.

Now, if you want to join in on this conversation and see what we're doing as we develop sales funnels for electricians, head over to Facebook and go to marketing secrets for electricians. And you should be able to find us out. Thanks.