Page 15 - Compass Issue 3

Bill BurkharDt keeping a
close eye on his numBers.
The next day, Bill felt some buyer’s re-
morse. This would mean a lot of change,
and it was not a small amount of money.
“Later on that afternoon, I got a Federal
Express Overnight package from [SGI
Vice President] Ray Last,” Bill said. “I
open it, and it’s my notebook that I acci-
dentally left at Profit Day. It impressed
me that he took the time and expense to
overnight that to me. I felt like, yeah, this
is a first-class organization. I’m all in.”
i did EvErytHing i could
In reality, Bill knew he had to be "all in."
He needed some type of change—even if
it meant a drastic redirection in business
focus. “I decided I was going to put some
faith in RSI, my people, and myself,” Bill
shared his thoughts at the time. “I thought
I could learn how to change from them.” “That’s how we got our first leads, that and word of
The learning process began when Bill flew to Sarasota mouth,” Bill explained.
to attend his first Executive Perspective meeting. For
four days, he was inundated with information. “I defi- commErcial cHangES comE nExt
nitely felt like my cranium was full,” Bill said. “I left with Bill took a leap of faith in joining RSI and beginning a
one clear goal: start a residential division from scratch new service division. After seeing some positive early
that next month, which was September.” returns from his investment, he was willing to incorpo-
“For the next six to nine months, all I did was focus rate some of the methodologies he had learned to his
on service,” he added. “We weren’t going to get heavy bread-and-butter.
into reroofs yet. I wanted to do a bit of service work to “Well, you have to trust what you’re doing. By the
generate some revenue and use that time to get every- spring of 2014, I believed in the system. I knew it was
thing else rolling. By the spring, we were ready to sell working. So I started taking some of the principles I
replacements.” had learned and worked them into the commercial side.”
Among the first of many action items on Bill’s initial Bill evaluated his commercial competition and devel-
to-do list was implementing StraightForward Pricing . oped a new sales approach. “I noticed all of the big-boy
®
“That was an automatic,” Bill said. “I did everything I commercial contractors chased Ford, General Motors,
could step-by-step. We made do with the little money Target, Sears, and the property managers,” Bill shared.
I had. Instead of uniforms, I bought shirts and got “I realized that there’s an entire market that wasn’t being
them monogrammed. Instead of wrapped trucks, I got served: small-business owners. They didn’t know who to
stickers to put on them,” Bill explained. “You have to call for a roof because nobody was targeting them. So I
remember, at the same time we were investing in this did just that.”
new division, I was trying to Bill tweaked his PPC cam-
fill a quarter-million-dollar paign, adding terms that
hole.” Bill BurkharDt would help ensure people
Today, Bill’s employ- accompanieD By his looking for commercial roofs
ees wear professional uni- office assistant, would find Four Seasons
®
forms and drive beautifully shelBy the KangaRoof . Bill also am-
wrapped trucks. On those WonDer Dog. plified his activity in various
wraps is the KangaRoof small-business networking
®
brand. “We loved the idea groups. As he gained more
of KangaRoof when we exposure in the small-busi-
®
heard it at Profit Day,” Bill ness market, he could see
stressed. “I’ve considered the word-of-mouth leads roll
only buying gas five gallons into the office.
at a time because every time “The other big change I
I stop, someone walks over made on the commercial side
to me and says they love the was increasing my prices. I
wraps. It’s crazy!” pushed them probably 20
Bill began marketing Four percent. I jumped them up
Seasons KangaRoof seri- on the residential side, too.
®
ously for the first time. He I lost probably 20 general
joined HomeAdvisor, invest- contractors because of it. I
ed money in pay-per-click, talked with two or three of
and sent emails and mailings them on the phone. I said,
to commercial clients an- ‘Hey, we’ve been doing work
nouncing the new division. for you for years. I’ve run my

THE COMPASS | Issue 3 | 2017 15