7/21/2020

By Karen L. Edwards, RT3 director

Data is one of the most powerful tools you can use to outpace the competition, win more jobs and run your roofing business more efficiently and profitably. Merriam-Webster defines data as “factual information (such as measurements or statistics) used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation.” 

Many roofing contractors make their business decisions based on their gut feeling or intuition, but that only gets you so far. It’s your data that will tell you what’s really going on in your business. It’s your data that will answer key questions that can help you be even more successful.

Here are three key areas where your business can benefit from examining your data.

Sales 

Start with your customer relationship management (CRM) software. Whatever platform you are using will have reporting capabilities. Identify some key performance indicators (KPIs) such as response time to a lead or closing percentages. How long is it taking your sales team to respond to a lead? In instances where the response time is faster, are you closing more sales? If so, there is the first adjustment you can make.

Next, look at your sales team’s closing percentages and the types of jobs they are winning. Are different members of your sales team better at closing certain types of jobs? This information is going to tell you how to assign the right leads to the right salesperson that can really boost your number of won jobs. If the data in your CRM isn’t what you need, it may be time to evaluate other platforms that can better meet your needs.

In this article, RT3 member Estimating Edge shares the 10 questions roofing companies need to ask when looking for new software.There is also the old adage of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ when it comes to databases. If the information that you are putting into your system isn’t accurate or correct, the information you get when you run a report isn’t going to be accurate either. If that’s the case, it may be time to consider hiring a sales or data specialist who can focus on cleaning up the data and developing standards for inputting information. 

Marketing

Data analytics is your key to successful marketing, and the information is readily available. Ensure that you have Google analytics set up on your website. This will tell you how people are finding your website, what pages they are visiting and how much time they are spending on your website. Use this data to continuously optimize your website to give potential customers the information they want. Your customers’ experience with your company begins when they visit your website.

Social media channels play a strong role in marketing your company, nurturing existing and former customers and gaining exposure to potential customers. Use the data from your social media channels to see what content is performing and engaging your followers.

The more people who are interacting with you on social media, the better. By analyzing the data, you can determine which types of posts are the most popular and adjust your content accordingly. You can also see the times that most of your followers are online using the platform which will help you determine the best days and times to post your content. 

Recruiting and hiring

It’s hard to find the right talent in today’s market. Examining your recruitment data will help you build a recruiting pipeline that will ensure you find the right employees for your team.

Analyze your past data. When you had an open position, how many applicants did you receive and how many interviews did you conduct before you found the right hire? Which recruiting locations produced the highest quality applicants? That’s where you’ll want to focus your advertising and promotion efforts. 

By having the data for each position in your company, you’ll know the numbers behind your recruiting process and put the right recruiting efforts in place to find the right person for the job. 

Don’t try to do everything at once!

Get started by making a list of the areas that you think your business would most benefit from data analysis and then prioritize your list. Focus on the top three to five items on the list and once those are completed move onto the next. Before you know it, you should see your business beginning to operate more efficiently and profitably.