Jordana Gordic of 3XR
Chris
00:03:01 – 00:03:16
So we’ve got a wonderful guest here with us today, guys. All TC backer supporters here, please welcome Jordana Gordic! She is coming to us from… Where are you coming from, Jordana?
Jordana
00:03:16 – 00:03:18
Arizona.
Chris
00:03:18 – 00:03:20
Arizona, Arizona.
Jordana
00:03:21 – 00:03:21
Where it’s 117 Degrees. Yeah.
Chris
00:03:24 – 00:03:44
117!? Well, that’s not a humid 117 though. It’s not that sticky, nasty heat that we get up here.
So, you’re representing a company that you just started up called 3XR. Do you want to tell us about yourself and how you got into the roofing industry?
Jordana
00:03:44 – 00:04:13
Yeah, absolutely. I actually started off as a professional dance teacher. I did contemporary ballet and all that, and during that time got introduced through a friend to roofing, and started working there and I fell in love with the industry. I just love how I could always be myself in it and I was able to really help homeowners. I actually worked with you, Ty, which was awesome. From there I went my separate way and I developed a kind of knack for roofing from speaking to tons of roofing contractors in the industry. It was a blessing because I got to hear everybody’s story from their side and the ups and downs that they go through. So throughout the years, I came up with a solution as to what this problem they’re facing is with sales – meaning how to grow your sales and all of that.
Jordana
00:04:43 – 00:04:55
I then started my company called 3XR which stands for recruit, retain, and redefine. I got my first clients and am now working with them, and I’m super stoked about it.
Ty
00:04:55 – 00:04:56
That’s awesome.
Chris
00:04:56 – 00:04:57
Congratulations on that.
Ty
00:04:57 – 00:05:14
And it seems like you’ve had great mentorship over the years. I know over the past two or three years that I’ve known you especially. I met you with the storm venture group and I think that was like four or five years ago in Louisiana.
Ty
00:05:15 – 00:05:50
I know you’ve really helped us, especially when you were with SPG. That was interesting and we actually got a lot out of it. We don’t use it anymore but we did end up getting a lot out of it. I know Lauren did, so I know what you do and what you have done has been very successful for us and I’m super excited for you and for your new venture. Plus, you worked for Matt for a brief moment, so you probably had a little more in depth training because I know Matt is a very smart dude.
Mathew Mulholland of National Claims Institute
Jordana
00:05:51 – 00:05:52
Yeah, he is super, SUPER smart.
Ty
00:05:52 – 00:05:58
I know, right? So I’m super excited to see what you have to offer, and what the future holds for you.
Jordana
00:05:58 – 00:06:23
Absolutely. The biggest thing that I see with this industry is people saying that they want to scale, but they just talk about it. They want it, but they won’t do the work to move towards it. And then with recruiting. It seems like even when people hire recruiters or they try to recruit, the issue isn’t necessarily that they can’t find people, it’s that they can’t retain.
Ty
00:06:23 – 00:06:25
Yes.
Ty
00:06:26 – 00:06:59
Yeah, that is a tough thing for people, and to have a company like yours to teach people how to refine, retain and recruit would be extremely useful. We have a new salesperson right now, sales manager I should say, who’s recruiting his own team, and I know how important that is for us. To be able to train them the way that they need to be trained to not just sit around and wait for leads, but to be able to self generate them. What do you think about self generation when it comes to sales?
Jordana
00:06:59 – 00:07:18
I’m a very strong believer in door knocking. So even though everybody hates it, I think it’s the best way to do it. You just have to get over that fear. I don’t think lead generation is a bad thing, necessarily – I just don’t rely on it. The way that I’ve always trained people is if you get a lead,
then that’s an opportunity. You’re going to the homeowner’s house and speaking with them. If you close the deal or not, at the end of the day, they’re gonna be fine with you using their name, and that’s an opportunity to dominate that whole neighborhood.
Ty
00:07:38 – 00:08:18
Exactly, exactly. That is a huge opportunity. We call it scouting. We do canvassing of notes to neighbors – We do direct mail – we put yard signs out. We kind of warm the neighborhood up for the sales people so they’re not necessarily cold knocking – They’re warm knocking. We try to warm it up for them and create what we call lead Scout babies and not lead babies. That way they want to canvass the neighborhoods that we’ve warmed up for them.
Jordana
00:08:35 – 00:08:37
That’s awesome.
Ty
00:08:37 – 00:08:44
Yeah, for sure. So you can have that one. I won’t charge you.
Chris
00:08:44 – 00:09:11
So Jordana, I don’t know too much about what you just started, but I know that you come from a successful background. What made you want to go out and venture on your own and take that risk of not having guaranteed income and not having all the things that we take for granted being W2 employees? What made you take that plunge?
Jordana
00:09:12 – 00:09:25
It’s a mindset. So basically, again, I got to speak with hundreds and hundreds of roofing owners, all over the nation and EVERYBODY has the same problems.
Jordana
00:09:26 – 00:09:51
I’m a problem solver and I love to listen to what people have going on. So when I really figured out what the problem was, I wanted to start my own company to help with it. Companies can’t seem to retain and especially when they do hire people, they don’t have a process. Nobody does. Well, not nobody, but a lot of people don’t have a process or a system in place at all. I asked myself, how do I make something that’s very easy, simple, and to the point and put it out there so people can utilize it and scale. So at that point when I kind of figured that out, I had a feeling in my gut like I was meant for more, and I needed to venture into it. I had a lot of ups and downs, but now that I’m launching this and it’s all set in stone, I’m so excited.
Chris
00:10:33 – 00:10:34
Yeah, that’s good.
Ty
00:11:11 – 00:11:39
Yeah. And me knowing what I know of you, you definitely have that entrepreneurial spirit where you want to grab the bull by the horns, make your mark on the earth and have a legacy. Also, like you were talking about, a lot of people who get into business don’t know what they’re doing. Well, not that they don’t know what they’re doing, but they don’t understand the other facets of running a company. Like for me, I started out as a mechanic.
I grew up doing shingles and siding and stuff like that. So I knew all I needed to know about the production side of things, but I didn’t know anything about the back office stuff. So to have somebody like you to come in and help refine and define in that situation might be useful. Could you explain what that means exactly, though?
TC Backer Construction: The Roofer Near Me
Jordana
00:12:00 – 00:12:41
Okay, so this is my structure. I’m going to give you an example. So you hire some new guys on board. Well those guys, those sales reps or whoever it is, they die out eventually. They get tired or are just lazy or too comfortable. Whatever it is. You can’t just fire everyone. You first have to recruit. You want to bring in new fresh blood. So that’s what I do. After I recruit them, I have this boot camp where it trains them into beasts within five days. After that, you need to retain them. Retaining is the biggest thing. A lot of the times with companies, they’ll bring people on board, and “here’s your percentage. Okay, now go out with my top sales rep.” That’s not it because half the sales reps that go out aren’t doing it the right way. Having that structure where you’re teaching them how to do things the right way from the get go, and a simple process is what I do. So retaining them is that structure and after that is redefining. This is where you restructure everything. As it is, let’s look at your whole team.
Jordana
00:13:45 – 00:14:18
Let’s get rid of the waste and let’s keep the strong players. Who’s worth it in your company? Once you redefine that structure and have that good core group, then you are good.
Chris
00:14:19 – 00:14:36
Makes sense. Do you think that bringing in new blood has anything to do with trying to find people who don’t have bad habits? Because that is one of the things that is difficult sometimes is with the sales guys, each person has their own process, and sometimes it can be a breath of fresh air to have someone that is a clean slate.
Jordana
00:15:26 – 00:15:50
Yeah, absolutely . I believe that you should always respect the owner and always respect your manager no matter what.
Ty
00:15:52 – 00:16:19
Yeah. We’ve found that as long as you have a solid process, you can train as opposed to not having a process. If you don’t have a process it’s a lot more work.
Ok so, what suggestions do you have on retaining the people that you already have and also those new ones that might be coming on board?
Jordana
00:18:55 – 00:19:22
Statistically 85% of people say culture is the reason they stay. Culture is HUGE. Yet, a lot of roofing companies don’t hold weekly or two times a week meetings. I believe that weekly meetings are a must. Everybody’s got to show up. Everybody’s got to come in and we all come together.
Jordana
00:19:22 – 00:20:05
This first of all creates culture and second of all it creates this energy that builds people up. In order to figure this out, I did a small test on seven companies and this strategy worked 100 percent of the time. You must hold weekly meetings where you set a quota. The next thing is to provide a reward for the person who hits the quota. I would have my clients do a little spin wheel for cash. Whatever day you have the meeting, you invite everyone in, and tell everyone there who hit their quota and who didn’t. The people who did would get the reward and a round of applause, and the people who didn’t would get nothing.That pride and that defeat is actually more motivating than the money itself.
Ty
00:21:33 – 00:21:56
It’s healthy competition. You’re creating an atmosphere of healthy competition, but that’s also a fine line that you have to walk there too because you don’t necessarily want a culture where people are going off the deep end with each other and resentments get built and things like that.
Jordana
00:23:09 – 00:23:21
Yeah, but for me, I wouldn’t want someone selling for my company if they’re sensitive like that anyway.
Jordana
00:30:29 – 00:30:44
I have a question for chris.
Chris
00:30:44 – 00:30:46
Sup.
Jordana
00:30:46 – 00:30:52
What is your biggest struggle that you find in managing people since you are a manager?
Chris
00:30:52 – 00:30:55
Trying to be people’s friend.
Chris
00:30:57 – 00:31:27
Trying to play that balance between setting clear expectations and holding people accountable while still being the nice guy that my guys want to like and respect. One thing that I’ve learned is that my guys, if they’re good and they’re here for the right reasons and they respect me as a person and I respect them, the less I will have to be that guy.
Chris
00:31:28 – 00:32:13
And that took me a long time to learn because this company was the very first time that I ever managed other people. It took me a while and I still have my moments where I’m like “man, I gotta give this guy some shit and I really don’t want to but I have to.” The process manages the rule and the manager should only manage the exceptions to the rule, so if you have a good process in place, the process should manage the people. If they’re following the process, what is there to manage? I should be handling the abnormal issues that come up.
Chris
00:32:13 – 00:32:39
I shouldn’t be managing something like “Hey, did you use your time efficiently?” “Did you clock in and out properly the way that you’re supposed to?” “Did you take your materials to the job site the way you’re supposed to?” These are the processes that the guys, if I train them properly on them, should all fall in place.
Ty
00:39:10 – 00:39:13
Let’s talk about recruiting. What’s your secret silver bullet for recruiting people?
Jordana
00:39:21 – 00:39:52
I just posted an ad out like yesterday and I got like 26 people, and another one I got 50 people within one day. My secret sauce is that it’s all about how you work things. I want to find people like car salesmen or people that work in restaurants. At the end of the day, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to be in this industry and make money. You need to talk about things that they would want. Things like having opportunities to grow or weekly bonuses. Another thing that I’ve done is gone to community colleges nearby when they have job fairs going on.
Chris
00:41:55 – 00:42:26
There’s a local business owner around here that my girl works for. His name is David Gado. He owns a future solutions fence and deck and he posted last week on his facebook about how he potentially looks for people. He said, as a business owner, you should always be on the lookout for talent, and I totally agree with that.
Chris
00:42:27 – 00:42:56
It could be anyone. It could be the person that’s serving you dinner at the restaurant. You know, are they bubbly? Do they make eye contact when they talk to you? Do they have a good attitude? How do they handle the problem person behind you that’s giving them shit? The person that’s overworked at the drugstore. Like it can be anywhere. You can find top talent anywhere and it’s just what are you gonna do to entice them, to make them want to make that change? Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes it’s hard. If you have a person that’s a rock star, it’s gonna be hard to get them out of what they’re doing because they’re probably compensated well and they’re probably treated well in most cases. Sometimes people are just so happy and loyal that they’re not willing to go out and seek something better because they know that at some point in time it’ll get better. Always be on the lookout for that top tier talent.
Ty
00:43:41 – 00:44:23
Yeah. For real, for real. And that’s a good point too, you know, always looking for top talent. That’s something that I always say when someone reaches out to me through messenger or something. I say that we’re always looking for top talent, because we’re constantly, even if we’re not actively looking for somebody, we don’t even know what that person looks like, what shoes they might be able to fill, because I don’t know how many times we’ve created other areas for people to work when we didn’t even realize that we needed that area to be more efficient to be able to scale. As long as you’re willing to learn and have the right attitude and tenacity, that tenacity to want to learn, you’re gonna fit in the culture because we’re gonna train you on everything anyhow.
Chris
00:55:54 – 00:56:02
Enjoy the rest of your week friends! This concludes behind the toolbelt 141!
The post Roofing Podcast 141 Jordana Gordic of 3XR – Behind the Toolbelt appeared first on TC Backer Construction.