In 2016, on our way to dinner with my pastor and his wife, a song played over the radio. “Don’t you just love this band, Derek?” We were in California, and I was feeling pretty free to speak my mind. Not to mention, who lies to their pastor? I couldn’t do it. “Ahhh, not really a fan of this band at all,” was my response. What followed was what we would call an extended moment of silence.
On the one hand, I was feeling good about my choice, to be honest in that situation, and on the other hand, I was terrified they were going to ask me who I liked. Luckily my pastor and his wife didn’t, and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. We were on our way to this fancy Mexican restaurant on the coast, and to this day, these lips have never tasted better chips and salsa. Sorry though, I can’t for the life of me recall the name of the restaurant. I think I was too busy eyeing the parking lot. It was just smashed with nothing but Lambo’s and Range Rovers. This wasn’t your average Chi Chis. This was big time. I remember an open parking spot next to a Pontiac G6 and thought to myself, we should probably park our rental right there. My pastor and I were on the same page…about where to park, that is, not our music choices.
That Pontiac G6, though. Let’s talk about it for a second. If you weren’t living under a rock for the past 40 years, you likely know who Oprah is, right? Whew, had me worried for a second. Suppose you know who Oprah is or don’t know who Oprah is. In that case, you definitely remember that time she surprised her studio audience by giving them a car. Those cars were Pontiac G6’s, and there were 276 people in the stands that day. At $28,500 a pop, that’s a grand total of $7,866,000 bucks. Whoa…Oh yeah, I’m pretty sure she did the same thing in 2010 as well with a Volkswagen. That’s incredible. All the talk about a G6 to tell you this. But also just to give you some insight into how my mind works. She started yelling, OK, maybe shouting depending on your opinion, “you get a car, you get a car, you get a car, everyone gets a car.” If you were in the audience that day, you hit the jackpot. Even if you didn’t want to keep the thing, you could sell it and turn a 93% profit (remember taxes).
Often as salespeople, especially roofing salespeople or home remodeling salespeople (actually all salespeople), we get inquiries asking about a “free quote.” If you’re in sales, you know exactly what I’m talking about, and if you’re not in sales, you asked for one. Either we don’t realize, we forget, or we just don’t care about the effort that goes into producing that quote. For example, do you know the average roofing contractor likely pays a third party for electronic measurements of your roof? It could cost as much as $100 to get that quote for you. Heck, I spent a considerable portion of my software development career, and a full quote could take as much as 80 hours to produce. That’s a big chunk of change. And for what? So the customer can just take that quote and use it against another contractor? It’s OK, everyone, we all do it.
Some people would say that we live in the customer’s era or age, and I would agree. Any piece of information that we want is right at our fingertips. The personal touch of a salesperson isn’t always needed. If it is, the value-add that we offer is trust. Trust, broken-down into credibility and reliability. Do you have proof that you can solve my problem? Are you going to do what you said you were going to do? That second one is actually a rule in the Laliberte household. The point is, why beat around the bush with a song and dance? Why not just let people know upfront (if you can) the price of what they want? Sure, you might risk being commoditized, but at least you won’t be wasting anyone’s precious time.
That’s where Roofle comes in. We’ve already done the dirty work. Are you interested in a specific product? You can get a quote. Are you not sure what your roof should cost to replace? You can get a quote. In fact, you can get as many quotes as you would like. It takes less than 10 seconds through our Quick Quote feature.
And this is where we find ourselves. We’re a roofing company that is just that simple. Just enter your address (we don’t even need your name), and that’s it. You will get a quote. In fact, you can call me Oprah if you want. “You get a quote, you get a quote, you get a quote, everyone gets a quote!!!!”
This is just a sample of what we deliver with Roofle, but this is the whole enchilada with The Rooflution. In fact, “Like a G6” was a popular song back in 2010. Too bad it wasn’t 2004. There could have been some kind of collabo. On a more serious note, though, if my pastor asked me, “do you like the G6 song?” It wouldn’t have taken me longer than a second to tell him…
“Nope, can’t stand it, actually I hate it.” “Oh, look, there’s an open spot. Park there.”
I just looked up a list of famous syndicated columnists, and I didn’t recognize anyone on the list. Ok, I did, but they’re not exactly renowned, and now I’m contemplating whether I want to go through with this. The Rooflution is a column; it’s not a blog. Because everyone writes a blog and Roofle is different. Roofle was designed for the customer, and the customer is busy living. The Rooflution is a column about life. About the inconveniences and conveniences, about the happiness and the hardships, but most of all, it’s relatable. It was designed to be different but, most importantly, better. Why? Because the process for getting a roofing quote can stand to be a little different. Being different is what Roofle is all about. I hope you enjoy the column, and if you don’t feel like a three-minute read, you can listen to it. It’s that easy. This is Roofing made simple, not Roofing made effort.