The value of training your team to identify roof issues

CCS Influencer Will Lorenz says having an educated sales force that can highlight what's happening on a roof helps customers adequately make decisions about what's in the best interest of their roof.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with CCS Influencer Will Lorenz. You can read the interview below, listen to the podcast or watch the recording.

Megan Ellsworth: Hello everyone, my name is Megan Ellsworth here at coatingscoffeeshop.com and I am here with one of our distinguished influencers, Will Lorenz. And we're gonna be answering the March influencer question, which is all about training sales for restoration. Will, how are you? 

Will Lorenz: I am good, thank you. Yep. We at General Coatings are rolling along. We enjoyed all the big shows that seemed to happen in the first quarter here with IIBEC and IRE and all those things. And, you know, just glad to be getting back to normal and chasing work and helping people get roofs done. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so this month's question is, how can contractors effectively train their sales teams to identify restoration opportunities for the building envelope, including roofing and communicate those opportunities to the building owner? 

Will Lorenz: That's a great question. Actually it probably breaks down into several parts there, but let me see if I can give it a stab at the first level. So in most cases with restoration you're looking at an existing roof that you're going to try and extend the life on. So, the two things kind of come into mind is, what is the condition of the roof and getting someone up there, whether it's, some drone footage pickup, getting up there in person and and seeing what the conditions are. Generally, what you want to train your team about is abnormal wear or wear at the end of its service life or just unusual things that have happened to damage the roof that cause the building owner to have to make an investment to renew the roof or extend it. And so what I always like is just getting up there and eyeballing it. I mean, that's the first thing that goes on. And generally with a restoration, you're looking at either a membrane roof, a modified roof or you're looking at a metal roof in, in most cases.

Okay, on modified roofs, it's pretty straightforward. You're looking for ponding things or things around edges and penetrations that might look like not well sealed, something that you need to address. Obviously in any roof system if there's splitting or cracking, those would be the pieces of information you'd like to photograph, highlight back to your building owner that you're seeing these circumstances that you know should be addressed. And if they're not addressed under a maintenance program that you have in place with them, then that's an opportunity to make a sale and show them that you can renew this roof and put additional coating system on it. On membrane systems, I think it's pretty straightforward. Again, ponding is one of the things that you look for. 

And then seams where we typically see issues with those things are wear due to expansion, contraction at the seams or around penetrations. And if you are able to utilize a device that can give you infrared information or moisture scan information, that's usually what drives those folks to make an investment. They're concerned about that water ingressing into their building. And if you can identify those areas by having an educated sales force that can highlight what's going on in their roof in a roof map, we see these four areas that look good, these four areas I think you need to do some work on, then you know, the customer's going to adequately make a decision upon what's in the best interest of their roof asset. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, wow. Some great advice. 

Will Lorenz: Yeah. And then metal roofs are pretty straightforward, you know, if you start to see a lot of screws coming undone or if it's a lap seam roof and you're starting to see things that are sliding or moving or you got things where standing seam is broken open or just the general question on any roofing system that you ask your customer is, does your roof leak? Do you need anything, any help here? You know, that beginning question usually is the first thing to know.  

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. 

Will Lorenz: And then, I would also say that you bring up the broader building envelope and that ends up many times talking about walls and exterior walls as well as interior walls. And those things really come down to generally moisture. If they're seeing things with an end cap that's not well sealed or they're seeing things with their cladding having issues, then that's what you're looking at, sort of visual observations and then combining it with infrared scan, giving an excellent tool to show moisture, movement into something that isn't desired by the building owner. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. I hope people are taking notes because those are all great things to be looking for in order to sell restoration to your customers for, like you said, the whole building envelope, walls, roof panels, gutters, all that jazz.  

Will Lorenz: I always say you want to be working with your customer at the point of where it's occurring or they're nearing the service life. You don't want to get it to the point where things are at failure. So having that dialogue with people as they're setting things up is most appreciated by building owners. They want a respected roofer to stand behind their work, do good work, but also help them manage their asset, both budget wise and installation wise. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. Will, thank you so much. Are there any other tidbits that you wanna share with the people out there about selling restoration to building owners? 

Will Lorenz: I would say this, when when weather comes and there is rain on roofs, it's a good idea to see what's going on on the roof, see if it's draining, right. See if they have leaks, see if there's any problems. That's the communication you have first with them or their staff at these buildings. And then go from there and pivot off of that first. 

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Great. Will, that was some really great advice. Thank you so much for chatting with me and I'll see you next month for the next influencer question. 

Will Lorenz: Great. Thank you, Megan. We appreciate the opportunity. 

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing. Everyone go check out the General Coatings directory and Will's influencer directory on coatingscoffeeshop.com and we'll see you on the next influencer response.