How to Pick the Right CRM for Your Roofing Business

     Choosing the right CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system is one of the top initiatives for Roofing Contractors this year, but where do you start? With the right Roofing CRM, you can manage a more efficient schedule, sales opportunities and deliverables, enhance customer relationships, and ultimately grow your business. But with so many options on the market, how do you choose the best roofing software for your needs? 

     This article will help you navigate the process of selecting the right CRM, tailored specifically for roofing companies, including commercial and residential contractors. There’s a big range in needs from contractors and it all depends on the type of business you operate. Are you commercial or residential, one man show or do you have departments, do you do insurance work or negotiated or bid work. It is important to know what software is built for what segment of the Roofing Industry.

Why Choose a Roofing-Specific CRM?

     Generic CRM solutions are widely available, but they often lack the roofing specific features as well as a foundation that a roofing business needs to thrive. The standard structure of a CRM is organizations to track companies you do business with and contacts to track who you’re quoting work to. The challenge most contractors have with this is it doesnt work well when you visit the same property more than one time. Roofing Contractors ideally want to track properties in their CRM and within a property have all of the points of contact, all of the quotes, warranties, service history, projects, action items, etc.  A CRM is thought to serve as the main hub or in simple terms, your book of business and then it should extend into the various workflows to support your business.

Key questions to consider when looking at a CRM

When evaluating different roofing CRMs, consider the following essential questions:

1. Data – The data you collect is it yours, and can you access it when you need it?
   

   

2. Hierarchy – Does the data structure support my business model? Depending on if you’re commercial or residential, that can immediately disqualify the majority of the solutions out there.
3. Workflows – Are there supporting workflows available that support my business – or do I have to conform to the software? From obtaining a new lead to 
4. Coverage – How much of the business do we expect the Roofing CRM to cover? This can range from simple contact management all the way up to a full suite of tools.
5. Accessibility – Can you take the software out into the field and be able to utilize it in real-time. Is it roofer friendly?

Roofing is unique!

     While there are commonalities across the industry, Roofing is a fairly niche trade which makes it difficult to use general CRM or trade software. Roofing contractors want to be able to get on and off roofs, gather their findings, generate a client facing deliverable, and sell the job. Roofing specific CRM’s help this process and while some better than others. Let’s separate the needs of Commercial Roofing Contractors from Residential and expand.