Roofing Leadership: How to Lead Better [Expert Roundup]

“Leaders make leaders. As a leader, we need to make sure those we lead are experiencing growth.”

“Hack: Identify and challenge our limiting beliefs in both ourselves, and encourage those we lead to do the same. This causes a healthy disruption to the only thing standing in the way of our goals and leads us to solve formerly unsolvable problems that were accepted as a reality we had to work around in our old mindset.”

Dustan Biegler

“Know the identity of your business and focus your leadership on that culture. ”

“Very few successful roofing companies are roofing companies, they just happen to do roofing. They are recruiting companies, sales organizations, training gurus, marketing machines, families, opportunity providers and so on and so forth. Once they figure out who they are and then go “All In” on that, the culture syncs up with people who are in alignment making your business magnetic to talent and clients. It’s one of the ingredients of your “Secret Sauce” that brings your culture to life. ”

Jim Johnson

“You are going to live past 100 Years Old.”

“Yes. You.

Holocaust survivors lived well into their 90’s and they didn’t have organic grass fed ethically sourced BPA free chicken breasts. Knowing that you can find the time and energy to develop yourself into the kind of leader you need to be in order to build a real business.

There is a high prices of success and most of the business licenses and tax id’s are registered to roofers who have no business being in business or leading other peoples careers and financial futures. They should finish up the season, do their taxes, close up and get a job. When I say most, I am talking 80%+.

You are more likely to get struck by lightening or be eaten by a shark, than to sell a business for a million dollars.

If you are going to live to a hundred, you best have an exit plan for your business and that means you have to develop other leaders. So don’t buy the boat, you don’t need the iPhone 13 when it comes out.

It doesn’t matter who wins the UFC fights, so don’t bother spending $50 on a pay-per-view and 3 hours watching fights and drinking when you can watch the highlights on instagram the next day. If you want to lead, lead, don’t follow what your followers do. You don’t get the privileges of employees and how they waste their after work time. That’s the price they pay to not achieve the success that leaders do.

You’re going to live to 100 years old. You will spend more time with you than your wife, or your kids, so develop yourself constantly. If you want a tip go read any of the 200 books on leadership then get at it…. or go get a job. You’ll be happier.”

Adam Sand

“Faciliate Personal Goals”

“Have each sales rep set their OWN personal income goals for the year. You can now hold them accountable to smashing their OWN goals. Lead by lifting others. Their win is YOUR win! ”

Adam Bensman

“Take Extreme Ownership”

“Always lead from the front. You set the example. That means taking extreme ownership of all the faults- no matter whose they are. Captain the ship, manage the crew, and set/ plot a course. Make sure everyone knows their job and hold them accountable.”

David Taggart

“Establish Solid Banking Relationships”

“Having a tight grasp on your financials is the best advice for somebody leading a company no matter what the year is. This seems to be the least spoken about topic in roofing circles because it doesn’t sound exciting. Looking back though, the year that we established solid banking relationships with strong operating and capital lines tied to specific covenants, is the year that it felt like we became an established business. Debt to Equity rations, quick ratios and other banking covenants allowed us to not panic in difficult times and to scale quickly in the good times. This allowed our leadership not to be reactionary, but stable, thoughtful and strategic for the long-term growth of our business.”

Ryan Shantz

“Create an environment where your team knows that you care about them”

“The great John Maxwell said everyone asks three questions before deciding whether or not to believe in a leader:

• Do you care for me?
• Can you help me?
• Can I trust you?

As the leader of your roofing company, you need to create an environment where your team knows that you care about them. Be sure to create opportunities for them to become successful and protect them at all costs. Majority of the people in America do not like their jobs. Make it one of your top priorities that your team loves theirs.”

Nick Peret

“Hold your team accountable to action commitments as opposed to results commitments.”

“If you can keep your individuals moving and doing the activities it takes to create revenue week in and week out, the results will come. Break your salesmen’s individual sales goals all the way down to the number of doors they need to knock each week to hit their goal and keep them on pace with those activities each week. It simplifies the whole process and eliminates a lot of the stress that comes with focusing on the result as opposed to the action.”

Becca Switzer

“Be a Good Person. The way we live our lives outside of work reflects directly on the business.”

“As a leader it is our responsibility to lead, teach and inspire our teams to be the best they can be. The only way to do this effectively is to live and be a good person that genuinely cares and appreciates their people. The way we live our lives outside of work reflects directly on the business. We work for our people, not the other way around.”

Randy Brothers

“Make the AVATAR based on your company’s culture and stick with it..”

“Sales Leaders need to be chosen with extreme care. First, don’t think you will hire or promote someone and expect them to make 20 clones of themselves. Make the AVATAR based on your company’s culture and stick with it. Hiring this professional will take some time and its worth the time you take to make the right decision! Once you decide on your Sales Leader, your leadership on-boarding and training is extremely important to their quick success and buy-in of the team already in place. Another quick tip for your Sales Leaders, they need to manage the ACTIVITY and not the results!

Chuck Thokey

“Take ownership of everything. As the saying goes, ‘It may not be your fault, but it’s your responsibility.”

Joseph Hughes

“Seek a mentor, Seek accountability and never stop learning.”

“Maintaining a slight discomfort in your capabilities gives the edge to want to be better. Training is not just for your team, processes are not just for your team. You have to spend time on yourself as much as your business. Delegate and elevate when possible to allow yourself the time to develop and grow into the leader your team deserves. They trust in you and follow you, take that responsibility to heart and work hard on yourself to be the best you can be for them.”

Josh Swisher

“Carve out time to do something one on one with each of your people.”

“Whether it’s just lunch, a beer after work or a round of golf. Much like you spend one on one time with each of your children, spending one on one time with an employee will fortify a relationship or kick start a new one, ask them about their hopes, dreams and goals and let them know you care and are invested in them.”

Charlie Anderson

“Self reflection. Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses.”

“This is a huge struggle for visionary leaders, (like myself). I have these crazy ideas and dreams, and an idealistic mindset of what my dream will look like, but executing is a whole other beast.

That means that I need to hire or partner with strategic integrators that can help make my dreams a reality, or figure out that my dream really isn’t executable.

There’s nothing more frustrating to folks working in a business, than a leader that is hyping up their teams, only to have them be let down time and time again because of the leaders lack of follow through or not recognizing their own weaknesses.”

John Dye

“Treat others the way THEY want to be treated!”

“The team working for you is what makes the dream and vision you have for your company possible! Your job as a leader is to serve them not the other way around. The best way to serve your team is to treat them the way they want to be treated. Hopefully you have a team full of talent that will fill in the gaps and weakness’s you have as a leader, but this also means they are different then you. Learn what motivates and drives them and serve them in that way!”

Derik Kline

“Let your team see you working as hard as they do”

“As the owner of a business, you have to lead by example. Think of the meme of the ‘Leader’ vs the ‘Boss’ that’s been floating around online for years. Get on the roof, go sell a job, show up on site, let your team see you working as hard as they do. Good leaders get their hands dirty. Lead by example in your company and everything else will fall into place.”

David Carroll

“Owners need to take more responsibility. A lot of owners, blame salesmen for everything. Be there for them.”

“At the end of the day, leadership like John C. Maxwell said it all, it all falls and rises up. So I think a lot of roofing owners and leaders – they don’t take enough responsibility for their guys, either lack of success or the companies, you know, little mis-steps, downfalls and things like that.

Step up a little bit more and take responsibility for the things that’s not going right. Their sales guys will see that.

And just spend a little bit more time with your guys.

What do I mean by that? Maybe schedule a one-on-one with all your sales guys once a month to just figure out how they do it as a person. And I believe this industry is so focused on numbers. A million and doing all these things and they don’t even know how that persons personal life going. They don’t know if him and his girl are going through something like relationship issues.

They don’t know how what’s going on with his kids. And I believe once you know, that somebody really cares and love for you now, you willing to go to like the world and back form. And I don’t, I believe a lot of owners don’t display enough love for that guys, man. And I don’t understand this, a man macho industry, roofing, rah, rah, rah, whatever.

But end of the day, we, human beings mad at everybody want to be cared for everybody, want to be loved. Let them know like I’m here for you, they may just need a little bit of insight on life, man.”

Dashaun Bryant

“Don’t talk about it on social media. Be about it.”

“Don’t talk about it on social media. Be about it. One-on-one I see so many guys – that want to be good guys, you know, like every time we give away free roof, we put all the cameras on us. f your employees see that you’re doing good on social – because there is a flashlights because it’s all football, that’s not it.

Your employees need to know that you’re going to do the right thing. Like let’s say with insurance companies that, you know, when you’re alone, you’re not a crook, when nobody’s looking –you’re still gonna do good stuff.

Like on Facebook, everybody looks legit. Everybody looks like a leader. And then you get to know people. You’re like, shit. I did not know this guy is this bad, or like what’s going on behind the scenes. So be more real in real life.

You know, like I want my employees to know that I have a big heart and if my homeowner cannot afford a service, I still can go ahead and say, Hey, just do it for free. We’re not going to charge. And I’m not going to turn the camera and make a piece of content about it. Like, you know, Like we actually have a policy.

Like my people need to know that you’re doing good stuff, but I’m not going to advertise it.

Don’t advertise charities. Um, your employees should not be common to you asking like, Hey, what do you do this for insurance claim? Or what should we do with it? They should know that there’s only one now. We’re returning money to insurance company because we didn’t do the work. And if your employees don’t know that about you, if they think it can goes both ways, if you can close eyes and stuff, I mean, how real are you?

Integrity is something. We don’t put in a hashtag, it shows it shouldn’t be the way you live. And then if people know that you’re a good guy in the industry, if you’re always going to do what’s right, they’re going to follow you.

If they feel like you’re one person on social media and different in life, you’re going to lose people more than you think you will.”

Dmitry Lipinskiy

“Really dig deep and understand your why”

“Understand your why, and what you’re really all about – and be understand to cast that vision transparently and consistently throughout the company. The companies that truly have a bigger vision in mind, that has the employees in mind with how they can fulfill their own personal vision – it creates an environment of family, that makes people want to belong much longer than a year or two. My recommendation would be to take the time to really do the self-reflection, and take inventory of you as a leader are even in business, so you effectively cascade that vision in way that helps you and your teammates sleep really really well at night.”

Ryan Groth

“Don’t just spend your time on the bottom 30%”

“Become a coach. I coach my MVPs.

‘None of the best guys in your company get any attention – believe it or not they want it.’

So I would say don’t just spend your time on the bottom 30%.

• Get rid of the bottom 30% focus on it.
• It’s easier to take a two million to 5 million salesperson and then take an 800,000 to a million. 

I always treat people like you want to be treated. And I think a lot of times leaders don’t take the time, you’ll see for me an hour a day, just congratulating people.

 If you push their level. You set goals with them and you apply their goals to their personal life. So, you know, they want to go on a hiking trip with their wife or a 10 year anniversary.

They’re trying to put their personal goals together.

Here’s what I say. I say, you go all out and you apply everything you learn to your work as well.”

Tommy Mello