When I first started my roofing company, I sat down and I hand wrote my business plan on a sheet of paper – two pages front and back. It was basically just a list of everything I could think of that I would need to launch my roofing business. Over my years in roofing, I have learned that a business blueprint is vital. There are six main components to consider when developing a plan for your new roofing business.
- Planning and Budgeting: This is the process of setting up a method for tracking and analyzing critical numbers within your model in order to create a budget for your roofing business. You will also want to use these critical numbers to determine what the key performance indicators (KPI) will be within your roofing business and to plan your business growth.
- Organizational structure: In this section you will want to determine what roles, duties, and responsibilities you will need to get your roofing company started and which ones you’ll need to help it grow. Try and envision what your roofing company will look like 1, 3, and 5 years from now. Illustrate what that looks like on a bubble chart to create tangible organizational structure to help visualize what that roofing company will look like at each phase of growth.
- Recruiting and Hiring: This section should be focused on creating a standardized process of recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and on-boarding your staff as you grow your roofing company.
- Training and Coaching: In this section, you’ll want to create a method of training and coaching your staff on an ongoing basis by way of structured meetings and direct reporting.
- Marketing and Sales: Establish a marketing strategy and budget in this section. Build a plan to execute your strategy with a specific timeline. Create a standardized sales process that starts when the phone rings and ends when the roofing customer is satisfied and paid in full.
- Goal-Setting and Priority Management: In the section, you will want to establish a method of setting, tracking, and measuring goals for yourself and for your entire roofing staff. You will also want to create a schedule that blocks out specific times for you to work on priorities with a focus on improving and growing your roofing business.
Once you’ve developed a plan that includes all six of these categories, you’re ready to start your roofing entrepreneurship journey.