SUCCESS STORY: Owner Despised Rip-off Artists, Wanted a Better Way
by Chris King
January 21, 2010
Chuck Morris (left) and Tom Morris helped initiate the changes that made the company more profitable.
C&C General Contractors staff
Tom can now joke about his ’91 Lumina because the company now has a fleet of new vehicles with dynamic graphics to keep the company’s name visible. “Rolling billboards work,” he said. “Our customers tell us they’ve seen our vehicles all over town.”
His brother, Chuck Morris, the company’s vice president of operations, would spend a full day out in the field with his crew, then return to the office at 5 or 6 p.m. to plot out the next day’s work. Neither of them had taken a vacation in years.
Now, with systems and processes in place, and all employees on the same page, Tom and Chuck can take vacations without worrying about the company, their days are less stressful, and the company is much more profitable.
“We’re not roofers,” said Tom. “We’re businessmen and women. Now I concentrate mainly on marketing. I have three sales team members, and I’m looking to hire more in the near future to handle our increased volume.”
For some people, success comes in the profound pleasure of building something and watching it grow. However, there were some difficult times between the Chevy Lumina and the rolling billboards and the worry-free vacations.
LOOKING BACK AT THE TRIP
The business had been founded more than 20 years earlier by their mother, Kathy Morris, who also owned an insurance company and was tired of seeing her friends and clients getting ripped off by contractors doing shoddy work. She soon found out it wasn’t easy to run a successful contracting company. Cash flow was a constant problem. “Business was off and on — mostly off,” Kathy recalled. “We were always running into debt. We also had a lot of problems with workmanship and had to redo a lot of work.”
The company hovered on the edge of bankruptcy for years. Things started to change in late 2007 when Tom and Chuck attended a Roofers’ Success International Profit Day in Chicago. It all started with a postcard.
“We got a postcard in the mail from RSI, and I set it aside,” remembered Chuck. “Later I talked Tom into going to the Profit Day. We were unsure, but at the end of the day, we knew we had to change something, and this seemed like a good place to start. We called Kathy to say we were writing a $2,500 check.”
Kathy was shocked; the company could barely afford to cover the check. “I thought they were kidding,” she said.
One of the things from RSI that initially impressed them the most was the 10-Digit Marketing Program. Talking to other contractors, including founding member Ralph Wehnes of SW Roofing of Earlville, Ill., helped them make their decision.
“Ralph shared his story about getting out of debt, and it sounded just like what we were going through,” said Tom. “He showed us his price sheet and even gave us a copy of it. At first, we didn’t think it was possible to get those prices in our market.”
But the Morris brothers were determined to try. “I looked at my brother and said, ‘Let’s do it. We’ve made worse mistakes than this,’” Tom recalled.
At the next RSI Expo in St. Louis, the Morris brothers learned more about what it would take to differentiate themselves and make their business profitable. “We learned to become a service company and sell ourselves on value,” said Tom.
“Before RSI, we knew where we wanted to go, but we just kept getting smacked back. RSI gave us the road map. We always wanted to offer the cheapest price and the best value. We found out real quickly you can’t do both.”
THE FIRST STEPS
After the RSI Expo, Tom and Chuck made a list of everything they had to implement at their company, which also operates under the name Kanga Roof, a name licensed as a member benefit of RSI. The list was divided into two columns: things that were free and things that had costs attached. “We implemented everything that was free right away and prioritized the costs,” said Chuck.
They increased prices, implemented the StraightForward Pricing Guide, offered the 10-year guarantee, and started using the recommended phone scripts. They couldn’t afford uniforms yet, but they made sure all employees had a more professional appearance.
The transition was difficult for some long-time employees, and there was major employee turnover in the first few months.
Tom and Chuck found it was easier to train their replacements than convert those familiar with other systems, and the RSI Selling System quickly improved closing rates and boosted business, allowing the owners to invest even more in the company and employee training. The momentum soon brought better salespeople and installers to the company. “It wasn’t until we really improved the image of the company that we pulled in the people who were really serious about coming to work here,” said Chuck.
Today, the Morris family asserts the key to the company’s success is a laser focus on the customer. “Our guys are client-oriented,” Kathy said. “If we see a customer pull in and she needs help, one of our guys will jump down and help her bring the groceries inside. They go over and above.”
Chuck noted that professionalism is top-of-mind at all times, from the customer presentation to the crew’s appearance to the final inspection. “We educate the customer,” he said. “We’re installing a complete roofing system, not just putting shingles on a roof.”
Employee training is the key to excellent customer service. All technicians attend the Success Academy’s Professional Roofer class. C&C’s operations and sales staffs have weekly training sessions in which they go over issues that came up the previous week, conduct role-playing exercises, and discuss building codes. Every aspect of customer interaction is covered.
Customers need to be sure their roof systems are up to code and properly ventilated, said Tom.
Kathy’s background running an insurance company and C&C’s experience with insurance work led Tom to design a class to help other RSI members deal successfully with insurance companies. “It focuses on making more profits with insurance claims,” he said. “The goal is a win-win-win — an outcome that benefits the homeowner, the insurance company, and the contractor.”
POSITIVE RESULTS
Customer Service Representative Kristy Farmer handles a call while Tom Morris looks on.
Tom characterizes the new facility as the company’s crowning achievement so far — and the beginning of bigger plans. “This location will be the headquarters for the satellite branches we plan to open in the future,” Tom said.
Kathy characterizes that check to RSI as the best investment the company has ever made. “RSI not only gives you the models to use, like InstaFix, but they help you with marketing and every phase of the business,” she said.
“I think if we wouldn’t have joined RSI, we wouldn’t even be here today. If you listen to what they tell you and go out and do it, you can’t fail.”
Chris King
