Hurricanes regularly cause significant damage to roofs, resulting in busy schedules for many roofing businesses. Managing urgent repairs and various projects can be very difficult if you aren’t prepared. From contractors showing up late or at the wrong locations to not having materials on hand or misplacing receipts, a lot can go wrong if you don’t have the proper systems in place. Here are seven tips for how to manage your roofing business during hurricane season and exceed your customers’ expectations.
1. Improve Team Communication
Roofing contractors often have many tasks to handle at once and work on multiple projects simultaneously. You can have even more jobs at once during storm season. Enhancing communication between team members can lead to increased production and higher efficiency. Whether they’re at a job site or the office, your staff members should be able to stay updated on the progress and status of each project.
Correspondence management systems can make inter-office communication easy and efficient. You can keep track of all messages, notes and follow-up reminders, making it easy to find information and reply promptly. A calendar system can help ensure everyone shows up on time and to the right place.
2. Connect With Customers
Customers are an integral part of your business — without them, you have no business! The more you connect with a community, the more likely they are to remember you when a storm hits. Try to become familiar with local companies by participating in community events or fundraisers. Also, reach out to them with advertising and improved search engine optimization (SEO).
Long before hurricane season, property owners plan their emergency response and decide who they’ll call if they need repairs. Ensure your potential customers are already aware of your brand and that your business’s name shows up when they search for roofing repair and contractors near them.
Your business can benefit from effective lead tracking, scheduling and client-facing communication. These elements are essential in maintaining a relationship with your customers and meeting their needs. You’ll need to interact professionally with every lead to turn those leads into satisfied customers. Make sure you have a system in place for contractors and team members to respond to leads and customers in a timely and helpful manner.
3. Organize Information
With your contractors potentially working on multiple projects at multiple locations, they need a fast and easy way to find the necessary information. Every job will have its own requirements, schedule and receipts that you must store somewhere. An online document management system can help make sure your team spends time doing repairs and working jobs, not trying to find a missing document!
Ensure all your team members can easily upload and quickly access every relevant document to each job. Document management systems can make quick retrieval a breeze by storing documents with an associated work order or location. Having all your information organized in a central location online will free up time for your team members since they’ll no longer have to search through old emails or call the office to get the information they need.
4. Be Honest
After connecting with your customers, you need to build trust with them by always being honest. Project challenges may arise, but it’s always best to be honest about them. Tell the client what’s going on and make sure they understand how you are responding to the situation. Your customers are more likely to be satisfied with your services if you are transparent and communicative about any problems or unplanned changes.
5. Stay Safe
The safety of your team members and customers is critical. Prioritize safety by training team members on how to stay safe on the job. Tasks like securing ladders and using safety ropes should never be optional.
Your roofing business can also increase safety by using modern technology. Drones and visual mapping software can help you get a good look at the damage without anyone needing to go up on the roof. Infrared cameras can also identify vulnerabilities and other potential safety hazards. Using these tools can help the team make informed decisions and stay away from dangerous positions, especially during rough weather.
6. Become the Expert
One of the best tips for hurricane season management for roofing companies is to position yourself as the expert. Be the company your community turns to during hurricane season. Ensure your advertising highlights your company’s ability to address hurricane damage. Does your website include testimonials from past clients who needed repairs after storm damage? Gather information, testimonials and statistics regarding how your company is the best one to turn to both during and after hurricane season.
7. Keep Materials Stocked
An expert in roofing solutions needs to have high-quality, durable materials on hand. Storms and hurricanes always cause damage, so many materials will likely be difficult to obtain or much more expensive after one occurs. If you don’t already have a supply of materials, you may not be able to take on jobs. Having enough high-quality materials available can even give you a competitive advantage.
If you’re in an area with a particularly bad hurricane season, stock up on extra durable materials that will be more weather resistant. Many property owners may be more likely to go with a higher quality replacement to avoid having to fix storm damage as frequently.
Try a Free Demo of Dataforma
Dataforma is a complete system designed specifically for service management professionals like roofers. It is the all-in-one solution you need to increase efficiency and allow yourself to focus less on administrative tasks and more on running your business.
Dataforma is user-friendly and robust software offering many features.
- Customer relationship management: Record every sales lead, run reports and monitor progress with our CRM feature.
- Client portal: Allow customers to contact you and submit work requests with our client portal.
- Bid and invoice tracking: Use templates to create customized bids and monitor their status.
- Online document storage: Store all documents in an online database accessible from any location.
- Shared scheduling: You can quickly generate work orders and assign service teams in one place.
- Calendars: Contractors can easily view appointments and meetings as well as receive reminders.
- Labor tracking: Team members can use the mobile time card to track and report their time easily.
If you need help managing your business, look to Dataforma. Check out our video library to learn more, or request your free no-obligation demo today. We are confident in our ability to benefit your roofing company.
