Josey Parks carries no illusions that the bread-and-butter of his successful roofing enterprises relies on effective sales, quality workmanship and setting a high bar for customer care. But he’s never been afraid of drawing inspiration from Silicon Valley to drive business growth. 

Since he started knocking on doors and roofing homes right out of high school, he’s explored how new technology can enhance those core business principles and push the roofing industry forward. 

Parks, now CEO of Total Home Roofing J Wales Enterprises — a portfolio of companies that span roofing, construction, and other industries — quickly emerged as one of the younger voices clamoring for industry-wide change when it came to testing technology. By age 25, he led the largest metal roofing company in Texas and set his sights on broader business goals. 

Today, Parks continues to explore how new technology can drive business success, including getting involved with artificial intelligence. 

He’ll present what he’s learned and what may be up next; he will offer takeaways for roofing entrepreneurs to better maximize their technology during two educational sessions at the 2024 International Roofing Expo in Las Vegas. 

The first session, titled “Optimize Your Roofing Business with AI,” will help roofing contractors understand the key concepts behind how AI can help their companies. Roofers can better find a path toward profitability by using AI to attract and identify customers, followed by systems that automate and optimize services.

Parks said he’s tried to stay ahead of this tech curve because he believes entrepreneurs should never stop innovating. The mindset required a different approach than what Parks learned about business growing up. 

He recognized and adopted the new perspective as far back as 2018, telling the Best of Success audience that year that market dominance was no longer the ceiling for roofing companies implementing new technology.

“You’re innovating so that way you can compete,” he said from the stage in Dallas. “You used to innovate to dominate. Now it’s innovating to compete because everybody’s innovating. Everybody understands the importance of innovation.”

In a second session, Parks will break down new tools leading businesses use to improve sales performance. From the Exteriors Education Stage on the show floor, attending roofers can seize an opportunity to revolutionize their perspectives on AI and harness the ultimate intelligence tools to gain and maintain their competitive edge. “I’ve said for many years that technology advances strategy, and once you get AI in your business, it’s an unfair, competitive advantage,” Parks added.

For Parks, maximizing technology is more than just good business. He said he’s fulfilling a passion he has for improving the level of professionalism in roofing across all markets and is uniquely positioned to help roofers find success. 

“I’ve always felt the need to build this bridge for the roofing industry, and I just have a fearless side of me, like I just don’t care. So I’m going to keep going,” he said.

WHAT YOU WILL GET 

(Wednesday Session):

• Ideas on how to leverage AI to attract better leads
• An introduction to the concept of AI-based lead generation
• A glimpse at how AI can predict the marketability of households or target sales territory
• An understanding of where contractors should start integrating AI into their businesses

WHAT YOU WILL GET 

(Thursday Session):

• A look at what leading businesses are doing to turbocharge performance with the power of data and AI
• Understanding why integrating AI and technology is critical for future sales and marketing strategies
• Knowledge of how to transform ‘data’ into ‘dollars’ 
• A unique perspective on harnessing technology for a competitive edge