The Hidden Cost of Chasing Quick Profits (and How to Avoid It)

I write a lot about building trust with your customers. That means providing reliable products and services that they’ll keep using and recommend to others.

Roof Maxx, the company I founded with my brother Todd, has become highly regarded among North American homeowners as a solution for restoring the flexibility and extending the lifespan of asphalt shingle rooftops. But building that kind of acclaim didn’t happen overnight. It took years of development, lab testing and collecting testimonials.

So what happens when a new company needs to turn a profit quickly? What high-impact changes can you make to bring in more revenue when the value of what you offer absolutely can’t be compromised?

Below, I’ll show you why not every decision that would quickly put more money in your account is advisable in the long run, and what I believe are the most impactful changes you can make to see more short-term income without creating problems for yourself down the road.

Not every tactic that pays the bills now is a safe long-term strategy

In almost every industry, you’ll find opportunities to make money faster than you anticipated. But this usually doesn’t mean you’re discovering some kind of hack nobody else knows about. It usually just means you’re willing to cross a line others have the good sense not to cross.

Sometimes, though, a lot of people have to cross that line before they start to realize the consequences. The best example of this in roofing is probably a trend that existed among most contractors over the past three or four decades. During this time, most contractors focused on selling roof replacements over tune-ups, repairs and other services — even when those other services might have been more cost-effective for homeowners.

But homeowners don’t appreciate feeling pushed towards more expensive services, especially when they get a sense that a contractor might be more concerned about their own margins than about saving them money.

When homeowners don’t trust their contractors, those contractors face higher Customer Acquisition Costs (CACs). A lack of trust can also drive down Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) by making homeowners more reluctant to rehire their roofers for future work. It can also drive up referral costs since those same homeowners will be less likely to recommend their roofing companies to friends or neighbors.

Any trend that involves profiting at the expense of customer experience is extraordinarily dangerous. It might appear to be an easy moneymaker at first. It might even seem necessary for remaining competitive if enough other businesses are following suit. But it usually ends up making the industry more difficult for everyone.

It’s not about making more sales at all costs — it’s about selling more to the people who need you

Todd and I specifically founded Roof Maxx to serve homeowners who felt that they weren’t being presented with viable alternatives to replacing their rooftops. Our flagship product is a safe, all-natural solution that can be sprayed on asphalt shingles to restore their flexibility and extend their usable lifespan by five years per application. This can potentially provide 15 years of extra life for some roofs, which can be treated up to three times depending on factors such as their age and condition.

Notice how specific I’m being above? There’s a good reason for that. We understood from the outset that we’d be falling into the same trap as so many others in the roofing world if we tried to turn every single North American homeowner into a customer. So instead, we explicitly train our dealers to assess each potential home they visit and only recommend Roof Maxx if the roof is a strong candidate for treatment.

You might assume this kind of approach would make us less profitable, but you’d be wrong. The key is that we teach our dealers how to identify promising roofs at a glance and focus their efforts on serving those homeowners. That means they waste less time and fewer resources trying to convince homeowners who are less likely to benefit from treatment. It also means higher rates of customer satisfaction, since the homeowners we focus on are the ones who see the most obvious value from what we do.

Over time, this has changed the industry. Recent data suggests that nearly as many homeowners now opt for restoration or repair services as they do for replacements.

In our case, profitability isn’t just about acquiring more customers. It’s about reducing the effort required to acquire the customers who are likely to become our biggest brand advocates.

Smart marketing improves ROI now — but trust and goodwill pay long-term dividends

Homeowners who have an incredible experience with Roof Maxx often treat their shingles as many times as they can. They also write positive reviews, provide testimonials and tell their friends how we helped them save money.

Focusing on identifying and acquiring these customers improves our short-term profits because we know the value we’re offering them is clear. That means our marketing spend goes further and nets better returns. But that’s nothing compared to the long-term rewards we earn by ensuring their experience is positive.

In most service areas, Roof Maxx restoration also involves a tune-up where the dealer addresses minor damage before spraying the shingles with our product. This resolves or helps prevent other issues that could undermine the value of restoring shingle flexibility, like small leaks due to nail pops.

We do this to keep our restoration process comprehensive and reliable. It’s worth going the extra mile if it means increasing the number of homeowners who are speaking positively about our brand.

You can’t afford to cut corners to make a quick buck, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t smart ways to enhance your ROI. Find smarter ways to serve a specific audience instead of trying to make everyone a potential customer, and you’ll see returns faster than you think.