This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Roofing Contractor logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Roofing Contractor logo
  • Home
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Digital Issue
    • Archives
  • Topics
    • Cool Roofing
    • Low Slope
    • Metal
    • News
    • Products
    • Product of the Month
    • Project Profiles
    • Safety
    • Steep Slope
    • Sustainability
    • Trade Shows
    • Technology
  • Exclusives
    • Best of Success
    • Contractor Profile
    • IRE Show Daily
    • Made in the USA
    • Roofing Contractor of the Year
      • Enter Roofing Contractor of the Year
    • Top 100
      • Enter the Top 100
    • Young Guns
    • Web Exclusives
    • Editor's Choice
    • State of the Industry
    • Century Club
  • Columns
    • Editor's Note
    • Measuring Up
    • Legally Speaking
    • Safety Advice
    • Technical Details
    • Guest Column
    • High-Tech Roofing
    • Sustainable Roofing
    • Marketing Makeover
    • Leadership Selling
  • Blog
    • Damato of the Day
  • Multimedia
    • Roofing Quiz
    • Videos
    • IRE 2019 Videos
    • Webinars
    • Photo Galleries
    • Interactive Spotlights
  • More
    • Classified Ads
    • Roofing Contractor eNews
    • RC Store
    • Directory: Roofing Resource
    • Market Research
    • Custom Content & Marketing Services
    • Sponsor Insights
  • Events
    • International Roofing Expo
    • Industry Events
    • Webinars
    • Best of Success Conference
  • Contact
    • Advertise
  • Directory
    • Associations
    • Distributors
    • Manufacturer/Supplier
    • Get Listed
    • Business Services
  • Subscribe
    • Print & Digital Edition Subscriptions
    • Sign Up for the eNewsletter
    • Online Registration
    • Subscription Customer Service
Home » Seminar Session: David Welch

Seminar Session: David Welch

December 10, 2007
Chris King
Reprints
No Comments
David Welch, president of Ben Hill Roofing and Siding Co. in Atlanta, detailed some of his company’s most effective marketing strategies, but only after taking the audience on a tour of some recent marketing failures. His goal: to help Best of Success attendees learn from his mistakes as well as his successes. “I don’t know about you, but I hate to waste money on marketing,” said Welch. “I don’t mind spending it, but I sure mind wasting it.”

David Welch detailed his efforts to form a group of non-competing professionals from other industries to generate leads for one another.


David Welch, president of Ben Hill Roofing and Siding Co. in Atlanta, detailed some of his company’s most effective marketing strategies, but only after taking the audience on a tour of some recent marketing failures. His goal: to help Best of Success attendees learn from his mistakes as well as his successes. “I don’t know about you, but I hate to waste money on marketing,” said Welch. “I don’t mind spending it, but I sure mind wasting it.”

He detailed his marketing plan in 2006, which was designed to grow the residential side of his business. The plan included direct mail marketing, TV commercials, sponsoring a radio home fix-it show, and a Yellow Pages ad. All of these strategies produced dismal results, according to Welch. Over six months in 2006, the company invested more than $15,000 in a direct mail program that resulted in 20 leads and only two jobs sold. When the company launched its TV commercials, hopes were high. “My biggest worry at the time was that I would have to hire more people,” said Welch. Again, the results were disappointing. Over a 12-month period, the $41,500 invested produced only 27 leads and resulted in only four jobs sold.

All of this left Welch thinking, “Wow! There has got to be a better way.” He detailed the lessons learned with his high-priced advertising in 2006. “If you really track the leads, it doesn’t pay,” summed up Welch. “Ask any ad rep to give you a guaranteed response to your marketing campaign, and see what they say. They’ll tell you there are too many variables to guarantee what the response will be, and then they’ll hand you the bill. If there’s one lesson I learned, it’s that if it costs a lot, it probably won’t work”

Where do the best leads come from? Referrals and existing customers, said Welch. “They already know you, they already trust you, and they are price conditioned,” he said. The key? “Do a better job when you get a job,” he explained. “Communicate with the customer and make them say ‘Wow!’ Be blunt and ask the customer for referrals.”

Other cost-effective strategies outlined by Welch included yard signs, door hangers, cold calling, and company vehicles fully wrapped in vinyl graphics that serve as “moving billboards.” But one of the most effective strategies was the lead group he put together.

“A lead group is a group of non-competing, like-minded business professionals networking together for the purpose of sharing information and marketing efforts for the benefit of each participating member,” Welch said. Good candidates to work with include heating and air conditioning contractors, landscapers, painters, electricians, plumbers, and a host of others, he said. “These are people who touch the people we touch,” said Welch. “You touch 3,000 people a year and don’t even realize it. If you work with a lead group with 15 members, that’s 45,000 people a year.”

The group developed a tri-fold brochure listing all of the members and recommending their services to customers. Each referral results in a lead fee, which Welch suggests should be paid to the person in the field. “The key is to get the right people,” he said. “Make sure you don’t get a bad apple. If you eliminate the wrong people, your brochure just became obsolete. You’ve got to work with quality professionals and people who know he pain of marketing and understand the group’s benefits.”
Did you enjoy this article? Click here to subscribe to Roofing Contractor Magazine.

Recent Articles by Chris King

Dynamic Duo: Friendship Fuels the Roofing Business Partnership at Ramon Franklin

No Roof Left Behind Surges Ahead

Best of Success 2014: Celebrating 10 Years of Success in Marco Island

Made in the USA: Carlisle's Culture of Innovation Drives New Capital Investments

Best of Success Seminar: Excel in Sales by Practicing the Fundamentals

Chris King is editor of Roofing Contractor. He can be reached at 248-244-6497.

Related Articles

Seminar Session: Ken Kelly

Seminar Session: Bob Daly Jr.

Seminar Session: Kirk Herold

Seminar Session: R. Craig Silvertooth

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Subscribe For Free!
  • Print & Digital Edition Subscriptions
  • Sign Up for the eNewsletter
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service

More Videos

Popular Stories

operation-freelancer-viii

16 Unlicensed Florida Contractors Arrested in ‘Operation Freelancer VIII’

ABC logo

ABC Supply Launches myABCsupply to Help Roofing Contractors Manage Business on the Go

ice-river-roofers-save-woman

Roofers Rescue Woman from Drowning in Icy River

Tesla-solar-glass-roof-v3

Tesla Hiring Roofers for Solarglass Roof Installations

gavel-law

New York Signs Laws to Protect Homeowners Against ‘Storm Chasers’

roofing quiz
Roofing Resource

Roofing Contractor Magazine

Roofing Contractor Cover 2019 November

2019 November

The November issue features our Residential and Commercial Contractors of the Year for 2019! Check out our interviews with these outstanding contractors, including video from Best of Success.
View More Create Account
  • Resources
    • Construction Group
    • Partners
    • List Rental
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy Policy
    • Survey And Sample
  • Videos
  • Want More
    • Connect
  • Advertise

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing