What is an optimal percent of revenue to spend on marketing for remodeling contractors? with Vazgen Dallakyan

In this inspiring episode, join Vazgen Dallakyan, the Co-Founder of Cobex Construction Group, an exterior contracting business that has seen miles of success.

Vazgen and his family moved from Armenia to the U.S. when he was young, shaping his vision of success through hard work and integrity. With an academic background in Math, Science, and Kinesiology, Vazgen's path led him from being a personal trainer to a pivotal role in founding Cobex.

At Cobex, he champions operations and business development with a focus on providing jobs and growth opportunities, all while honoring his family's American dream.

Dive deep into how Vazgen's unique experiences have informed his approach to digital marketing in the remodeling industry and learn about his initiative to educate new contractors through RoofLaunch.co. 

Whether you're a contractor looking to elevate your digital marketing game or simply seeking a dose of inspiration, this episode is a must-listen!

Ready to see real results from fellow General Contractors?

→ Step 1: Join our FREE Digital Dominance Club for Remodeling Contractors

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Let's rock your remodeling journey! 🛠️💰

Chapters

• 1:55 Who is Vazgen Dallakyan?
• 5:17 Why is Vazgen unique as a remodeling contractor?
• 21:58 What is Roof Launch?
• 24:35 What is an optimal percent of revenue to spend on marketing for remodeling contractors?
• 28:51 How does Vazgen manage his time?
• 38:40 What AI tools does Vazgen use?

Transcript

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Hey, if we did $100,000 in sales, I have $5,000 that I can spend in marketing next month. If we did $200,000 in sales my marketing budget just went to $10,000. So I kept within that parameter. And then I would try different, you, know, different sources as long as I stay within my 5%. I can, you know, try this for three months. If it's working, keep it going and then, you know, move things around and just it's okay. It's not always going to hit a home run right away, you know, like you can try eight different sources. All it takes is that one to do very well. That can more than pay for all the ones that didn't do well. So you have to just keep trying. You know, you have to keep trying until you find the ones that work for you. And don't be afraid to spend money when it comes to marketing. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: You're listening to the Remodeler Digital Playbook, a show created to inspire remodeling contractors to achieve success in their remodeling business. I am your host, Ratna Ramakrishnan. I'm also the founder of Remodeler Digital, the digital marketing agency for remodeling contractors. In each episode, I'll be chatting with remodeling contractors and top experts discussing their proven methods for revenue generation, the insights they've gained, and the keys to remodeling success. And I'll be sharing my knowledge of how I created a seven figure business using digital marketing. Alright, we are in for a treat today with General Contractor, Vazgen Dallakyan. I’m sorry if I'm not pronouncing your name right. That’s okay. With the Cobex Construction Group. So, Vazgen, go ahead and introduce yourself. Say your name right and tell us when you got into the construction business and why you love what you do. 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Absolutely. Yeah. My name is Vazgen Dallakyan. I'm here in Sacramento, California. I’m the founder and CEO of Cobex Construction Group. We are a residential exterior contracting company and we focus primarily on roofing. And we've been in this business for six years. When we started six years ago, it was just me and a couple partners and you know, we started with a very small budget and then we built the company to 50 employees and just under 20 million in revenue in six years. And along the way, we really started to specialize on our at what we were good at. You know, we started as general contractors. As you can see in the picture behind me, these are some houses that we built and worked on interior exterior. This is one of our first, you know, promotional display things we did at home shows. So it still has our old services on there. But, you know, we through the years, cut down our services to the exteriors and then after COVID, we really decided to focus just on roofing and siding and windows. And then our business really started to grow when we narrowed our focus and decided to lean into what we were good at. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Excellent. And what is it that drew you to the construction business? Did you grow up in the construction business, or what did you do six years ago before you started Cobex Construction?

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Well, I was in a completely different industry six years ago. I was in health and fitness. I actually was studying to be a physical therapist. I got my kinesiology degree at Sacramento State University. And then along the way, I was a personal trainer for throughout college and everything. And then I liked doing that. I liked my business as a personal trainer. I liked my clients, and I enjoyed it a lot, except, you know, I didn't see how it was going to be a lifelong career for me. And I was always a little entrepreneurial and I guess ambitious and, you know, growing something bigger and being a part of something bigger. And so I wanted to originally maybe go into a real estate because I had some background working on some investment homes. You know, my myself with my father, you know, doing some remodeling and seeing the value go up in those those projects and enjoying it really, you know, just dealing with, you know, the trades. And then growing up with my dad, I worked with him side-by-side and in the trade of exterior painting. And I was his helper. How cool! Throughout middle school and, you know, early high school. And I enjoyed the services and then I and then when this opportunity came of starting the service-based company, I liked it because I saw that it had a lot of potential. And, you know, I decided to take a chance. So, you know, I decided to just kind of put all my eggs in that one basket and and try to build a a home services company. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Wonderful. Thank you for sharing that. You know, when we look around us today, there's so many roofing contractors, so many roofing companies. What do you think makes you unique as a remodeling contractor? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Yeah, no, the what makes us unique is, you know, our real attention to the the individual, you know, to the customer. We understood that, you know, there is a big lack of communication, lack of professionalism in the construction trades, and it gets a bad rep. You know, even in California here we have something called the Contractor State License Board. It's the CSLB, governing body of, you know, contractors. And, you know, unfortunately, construction gets the most complaints from any other service and industry, even more than used car salesmen. So it had a bad rep and we knew that was because of, you know, poor communication, lack of professionals and lack of, you know, real integrity. And so we knew that if we came and we focused on the people, we focused on service, we focused on the communication, and, you know, we focus on the people that we would be able to stand apart. And so that was a big focus of ours in the beginning was the customer service experience. And of course, we, you know, our tagline is do it once, do it right. So for us, the work, the integrity of the work, the quality matters. You know, we're not here to make a quick dollar. We're we're looking at the long run, looking to build long lasting relationships with clients and build a brand that people can trust. And that trust factor is big for us, you know, so much so that we labeled our website trustcobex.com. And so we we intend to keep that trust you know and so we identify that as the unique separator between us and the other roofing companies. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Awesome. Very cool. So as you well know, I have a digital marketing agency that exclusively serves remodeling contractors and I interview general contractors in my podcast. So I wanted to understand what you do for marketing. What is a good marketing mix for you for lead generation, for your business? Do you rely on social media? Do you run ads? Do you do door-to-door marketing? Do you have a have you found that optimal formula of what works for you for high-quality qualified lead generation? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Yeah, you know, honestly, good marketing is diverse marketing. So, it's just like if you're a contractor and you know you have a diverse source of business, it's not all coming from one account or one client. I also don't it's wise to have all of your marketing come from one source or one partner. You want to have a diverse source of marketing. And when you talk about marketing, there is there's two camps. There's the lead generation camp, which is to give you the lead to be in front of the person. And then there's the branding camp and then the branding camp. The job there is to, you know, tell a story of who you are and to build what I call mental real estate, you know, get into the mind of people to know who who's Cobex? You know, what do they, who are they? And and how do you do that? You can do that a number of ways. You can do it through wrapping your vehicles, by having jobs signs, by being on radio, by doing what we're doing right now, you know, and just getting your name out there. But it's not like people are going to start calling you tomorrow because they saw a billboard or they see a truck or your job sign or a radio or TV commercial. In fact, those are usually, you know, pricey ways to get in front of people. But what it does is it gets your brand out there. So that's usually not the most people starting in the home services. That's not their first initial goal. Their first initial goal is to get in front of people. So it depends on where you're starting. So if you're starting new, you know, you don't have a big budget, you have to start with what you can afford. And a lot of times that's just good old door knocking, you know, get out there and knock some doors, talk to people. It doesn't cost anything, but your time. And that's what we did in the beginning. You know, I went out there door-to-door. Then, you know, we we drummed up enough business to have some money to invest into, like lead aggregators, you know, that you buy leads from like at the time Angie's List was popular, Home Advisor was still reputable and good. And so then those turned into some more business and then from there basically diversified into social media marketing, which is big right now. Facebook is, you know, Google, you know, Google has local services, you know, and then you have all the other sources, you know, mailers, fliers. It's just a diverse source, you know, of marketing and just, you know, keeping both camps, kind of speaking with each other. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Excellent. So it looks like you go through the whole spread of of marketing when you think about digital marketing, the Facebook Ads and Google Ads and, you know, website lead generation, which of those do you think really gets you some high-quality leads? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
So high-quality leads depends on how good your ad is. For example, if your ad is very easy for people to fill out, you know, and it just something very attractive, you could get a lot of volume. Right, and a lot of inquiries, you know, because you have, let's say, a great offer, you know, and that offer gets someone's attention. And but then you have to go through a series of qualifying, you know, to make sure that you're gonna get some good quality leads that you can sit in front of and do a presentation with. Or you can take the approach of just trying to create another, you know, ad that is going to get people's attention, but it's going to be a few more steps involved. They have to read, then they have to fill out each field separately and a year from a, you know, conversion rate optimization standpoint, you're saying, well, why would I make it more difficult for somebody to fill out their information? We've got to make it easy for them. True. And I get that. I totally understand that. But if you're really focused on quality, you want the person to actually take their time and to put that information there because they really want it. So if you're busy, sometimes you may make it a little bit more, you know, a few more steps involved, kind of like fielding resumes. You give somebody a just a simple question, you know, to answer before they submit their resume. And those that don't, you can filter out because you have so many resumes, but not everyone's in that position. A lot of people are in a position of I just want all the numbers I can get and I'm just going to start calling. And so there's two ways to go about it. But look, the way Facebook is, from my understanding, doesn't matter how much money you're going to spend on the ad, if it's not a good ad and people are not looking at it, then they're not going to recommend it. You know, it's just going to it's just going to get lost. You can't throw money at it to get it in front of people. And on the other side, if you have a really good ad, even if you don't have a big budget, but people stop and watch, then Facebook is going to recommend it because at the end of the day, what is Facebook? It's a social media platform that wants what? Eyes and attention. So if your ad is garnering eyes and attention, then Facebook is going to recommend your ad and you're going to get a lot more exposure, you know, versus just trying to throw money at it, which doesn't always work. And it's not always the answer. That's very true. You made an excellent point about how the digital marketing platforms actually can help you because they're dynamic and they show the higher quality ads to your ideal clients. So you get those qualified leads. So absolutely, you know, if we put technology to work for us, it is going to get us the results that we want. And the expected return on ad spend. Considering you've been in business for six years, is there any marketing methodology that you've just decided not to do anymore? Where you're like, this is just not worth our time, we're not going to have this in our toolbox of marketing tactics. It's I think you mentioned that you moved on from Angie's and Home Advisor because now you have an established brand where you're able to exclusively lead generate for yourself. But are there any other things that you, tactics that you used in your beginning stages that you've decided is no longer worth it? Yeah. I mean, one thing that I don't do is I don't work with generalists. This is my preference. I work with specialists, people who specialize in my industry of generating roofing ads. You know, they know who my customer is, they know what my objections are, they know what the ad copy should be. I'm sure there's generalists out there that, you know, they can market for a dentist or auto shop and then market for, you know, a plumber and then somebody else. But that general approach typically for me hasn't worked really well. So when I find somebody who specializes in my industry, understands my consumer, understands how to write the ad, does very well, and then, you know, so that that is typically what I lean towards. Now, we used to do home shows and I think it's great to get branding out there and to get in front of people, but it does require a lot of setup, a lot of costs, a lot of labor. So does the canvasing team. But you know, both work very well if they have the right management team. So if there's the right management team to manage the home shows or the canvasing team, they both work well. We just had a lot of success doing digital marketing and so we didn't really have a need for that. And it gets difficult managing a lot of people. And if you can get that marketing, you know, through digital, it's just less people to manage less employees and sometimes less is more. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Awesome. What social media portals are you on? Theres Tik Tok and Facebook and Instagram and you know, there's not enough time in the day to create content and be on every portal. So, as a business, have you made a decision to, you know, post regularly on Facebook or Instagram? Do you do like before and afters? Like do you have a set social media strategy? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
So yeah, we post regularly on Instagram and Facebook and then we started posting a lot more on YouTube. You know, we even have videos like Day in the Life of and I'm just sharing, you know, what it's like, you know, to run kind of our type of company, our customers. You know what it's like to deal with the customers and on the roof. And so just we're going to do a lot more how-to videos and informational videos, trying to make it fun and educational at the same time. So I think we're we're wanting to lean more into the video format. And so, YouTube will probably be what we'll start focusing in on more. But, you know, we have always been consistent on Facebook and Instagram. I haven't tried TikTok yet, but Facebook and Instagram has been the main one. And then where we're leaning into YouTube more and more now. So that's we're building that channel up. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
That's fantastic because, you know, YouTube is, after all, the second largest search engine because it's tied to Google. So I think your methodology is smart and that your tying your online presence to YouTube, because if you have your presence on Google and then you go build your brand on YouTube, you are going to rank when somebody is trying to find you online. So that's an excellent strategy. 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Yeah, that's an excellent point. Yeah, it is a search engine and people look up how to do things. And, you know, and I think, you know, being being recommended on YouTube can really help the business and the brand. So I would agree Yep. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Awesome. So when you look at your existing client base, do you have like a routine follow-up? Do you do any email marketing? Do you have a newsletter strategy where you write to them and tell them how you're doing? Or how do you stay in touch with your raving fans, like people that have opened up their wallets to you and done business with you? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Yeah, so, you know, repeat business and referral continues to be, you know, one of our main sources of business. And so a lot of that is, you know, just reaching back out to customers and seeing if they need additional services, whether it's email marketing or having a special dedicated customer service manager that, you know, we'll go through routinely and follow up with people. And every once in a while we have like an incentive, we have referral programs, you know, for promoters, we call them, they’re our “Cobex promoters.” An existing customer or a friend or family member that has experience with us and promotes Cobex, and we want to incentivize them for that as well. So we have incentives that we do for that. Just a gesture of our appreciation, you know, and I think people do it anyways, but just kind of sharing some gratitude with them, you know, helps. So, you know, that's definitely an a cost effective way to keep business coming. You know, it's not as expensive as spending so much money on marketing. Just do a good job and just check-in with your customers and, you know, see if there's anybody else that they can refer you to or if there's any other services that they need. And that continues to grow as our business grows. Because now, you know, we have thousands of people in our database of customers versus when we first started, we had, you know, maybe a couple hundred. So now you have a bigger pool of people that you can kind of reach out to. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Very cool. So, do you use any text marketing today? We don't have text marketing per se. 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
We have text notifications and things like that for communication and for the customer experience. But we're not we haven't really done text marketing, no. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
You know, reviews are such a big part of any online presence today, you know, because more so, I think because of Amazon, when you try to go buy a pair of shoes, you're looking at the five star rating. So I think everybody's brain is just wired to look at those ratings and then make a decision before they want to do business. So do you have a strategy for review collection? So you have your hard work and fantastic service can be seen online by your customer testimonials? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Yeah, that's a great question. Reviews are a must, you know, it's like the you know, before you would do it, customers would ask, how many years have you been in business? And they still do. But now a lot of people, they're their way of validating if you're a legitimate company is by looking at your reviews and going through your reviews as well. So having a strong presence and having good reviews goes a long way. You know, people do their research now more than ever. There are a lot more well read, there are a lot more educated, and the demographic is changing. You know, we're having a lot more millennials coming into the market, buying homes. Their decision-making patterns is very different than the generation before them, the Gen X or the or the Baby Boomer Generation. So it's understanding how people make the decisions. And a lot of I think millennials, you know, they they value their time a lot. You know, when they do their research, they investigate, they see what other people say about it. And, you know, they kind of already know who they want to work with before they even show up. And so when you can do a good job of, you know, getting reviews and getting your information out there in front of them to study. And so that way, when you get there, it's just a matter of just, you know, aligning with the dates, the price and just going forward versus having to go and really sell your service or your company, you know, So you can do a lot of that upfront with the millennials because they do their research, you know, and that seems to work better. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
That's an excellent point you made. So do you use any specific tools for review collection or do you at the end of a project, you just ask your customers for a review or your customers just organically go and write a review for you because they were so happy and delighted by your services? Like do you have a well thought out strategy? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
We have a survey that we do at the end of every project. Actually, we have three surveys, three main ones, one after the appointment to get the feedback of how the appointment went. The second one is in progress of how the job is going and the last one is a completion survey. And in the completion survey, you know, this is internal for us, just so we know how we did. At the end of the completion survey, if they if they're happy with the service, then they're asked if they would like to leave us a review if for some reason they weren't happy, then internally we get that feedback and we can reach out to them and see what was the issue. Why weren't they fully satisfied and gives us an opportunity to to fix something if we made a mistake. So I think that's just the quality control. But yeah, after the survey, after the project is done, then they get they get that request if they're happy with the service and if they fill the survey out. And otherwise, it's been pretty organic. There hasn't been too much, you know, solicitation of reviews outside of that. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Cool. So put yourself in the shoes of a brand new remodeling business owner. That's just starting a business like you six years ago. What is some pieces of advice you have? Because we do have listeners that are younger contractors that are switching careers and starting a brand new company. So what comes to mind when you started your business? What are some things that you did really well or looking back, you wish you'd done differently? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
I'm glad you asked because, you know, I recently I started, you know, helping a lot of, you know, young and up and coming people that want to get into the trades. And I really enjoyed it because when I was starting, somebody helped me. I had a mentor and I had a had a guide and that had some direction. So that was very helpful for me. So I decided early on that if I was to get successful, then I would do the same. And so of course I don't have unlimited amount of time, but I try to at least give somebody, you know, 30 minutes, an hour. But I realized that there's more demand in this. And so I decided to actually start a program called Roof Launch. And so it's going to be geared for people who want to start their roofing business, and it's going to be geared to helping people get to their first 2 million. And I think for most people, that's the first major, you know, goal post to make to get to their first 2 million. And then I figured, you know, we'll see how that goes. And then if there's a demand to get to that 8 million and then to the 20 million, those will be there too. But my main focus right now is just the getting people launching, you know, and that's to get to their first 2 million. So I'm going to probably launch that, you know, this service in the next month or so. But in the meantime, my advice would be, you know, find a mentor, find a guy, find somebody that's done it before, ask a lot of questions, go to conferences and events. You know, learn from industry-specific people, you know, and have that sense of just, you know, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. But at the same time, you know, thinking outside the box, today's is going to go a long way because technology is changing so fast, so that innovative, unique approach is also helpful, that naive, you know, lack of you know, that much knowledge in the industry is actually not a bad thing. Sometimes it can be a benefit because you come with a unique perspective. So I would say just don't focus too much on trying to save every dollar when it comes to marketing. Be a little bit generous when it comes to spending money on marketing. Give yourself a budget. So, you know, for example, this is just an example. I say for every, you know, $100,000 that you do in sales, $5,000 should go to marketing, meaning should be geared towards marketing. That's kind of been my threshold. When I first started, you know, I knew, “Hey, if we did $100,000 in sales, I have $5,000 that I can spend in marketing next month.” If we did $200,000 in sales, my marketing budget just went to $10,000. So I kept within that parameter. And then I would try different, you know, different sources. As long as I stay within my 5%, I can, you know, try this for three months. If it's working, keep it going, then, you know, move things around and just it's okay. It's not always going to hit a home run right away, you know, like you can try eight different sources. All it takes is that one to do very well. That can more than pay for all the ones that didn't do well. So you have to just keep trying. You know, you have to keep trying until you find the ones that work for you. And don't be afraid to spend money when it comes to marketing, obviously, watch that budget. But a lot of people are, you know, that the concept of spending $5,000 a month on marketing when they just start a company is scary, but it’s doable. You’re absolutely right you have to spend money to make money, provided you have a really high-quality service, the money that you spend will get you a good return on investment. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
So I like your 5% methodology. 

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Rathna Ramakrishnan: I enjoyed learning about the fact that you have a fitness background. Would you share a little bit more about yourself on the personal side? What do you do for fun? Do you have like a favorite food or ice cream? Or is there a city that you travel to that you absolutely enjoy?

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Yeah. So these days, my life is pretty much consumed by my family, you know, and I think it's probably the most rewarding thing that I have. You know, my, I have three kids. I have two boys, six and four. And my girl is two years old. So I look forward to seeing them when I get home every day. And we travel a lot as a family. My wife and I like to travel every time we have an opportunity to go to the bay. We live in Sacramento. So when we go to the ocean or when we can go up the hill to Lake Tahoe or if we can just, you know, maybe even leave the country for a week or so, if we have the opportunity to do that. You know, we like meaningful experiences. You know, we like to experience different cultures, different traditions. I love history. So, you know, every time I go to a different place, I want to know the history about it. I like studying, you know, successful people. So I like biographies and and studying people who have done great things. You know, like I'm reading Elon Musk's book right now. And, you know, it's very inspiring. You know, to get into the mind of some of these great thinkers of our time. You know, I tend to get a little philosophical. So I dive into philosophy a lot as well. Recreationally, I mean I've always been pretty active, even as a trainer. And, you know, we would, every time there'd be an opportunity to play sports, whether it'd be basketball, you know, tennis, even, you know, I picked that up and and not so much golf. I haven't really leaned into that. I think it takes a long time. And I just feel like I have the time to do much of that. But, yeah, I mean, there's so much to do. And, you know, I think if I have to choose, I would just say, you know, traveling would be my go-to thing. If I can make some time to go and you know, experience new things. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Fantastic. So with little kids and, you know, being the CEO of a big brand, do you have any time-management strategies that you absolutely live by? Do you have like calendar blocking or checklists? Or like how do you efficiently manage your time? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Yeah, so time management was probably one of the best things I, learned early on. And in fact, I just had a conversation about this with two new hires, young guys coming into the business, and I knew it when I was younger. I wasn't that great with managing my time, so I gave them the planner, and the planner has two pages. The first page, it's a schedule from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and you try to fill in every line to make sure, number one, you're planning your day ahead, You're being intentional of what you want to do. I recommend doing the night before, but if not, then you can do the morning of just being intentional with what you plan to do that day. And then on the right side, you know, you have your goals. You know, what are your goals, your daily goals, your weekly goals, your monthly goals, and then your big long-term goal? And then what are some targets that you want to hit for that day? The main targets like this is not the urgent things. These are the important things that you want to do because the urgent stuff always comes up and sometimes we forget about the important things because we're just so focused on doing the urgent things that we forget the big picture, you know, what's important. And then it's good to acknowledge your successes as well. So what went well? And so just kind of keeping like a routine like this in the beginning, especially starting will really carry you a long way. And the second thing I would say is to read a book called “The One Thing.” You know, it's a great book about focus, you know, as a young person, as a new entrepreneur, you're just so distracted. You want to do everything. Everything is exciting to every single person reaching out for marketing. You know, it's you can your mind can go and it's always that shiny red dress that pulls your attention. It's like that Alex Hormozi model where he talks about if anybody follows Alex Hormozi, he talks about the red dress. And I think for, you know, I think really, you know, learning how to focus and managing your time, you know, are so invaluable, you know, to early success. Along with finding the right mentor and advisors. So I hope that answers that question. For me, you know, at this point I'm you know I live and die by my calendar. If it's not on my calendar, it doesn't exist, you know, because I can't I can't possibly remember all that. So I'm at the point where I'm probably overdue for personal assistant, to be honest. So there's a lot of things that like dry cleaning and, you know, car related stuff, oil changes, different things that I've just neglected to do because I haven't had time. So I think at this point, you know, having a personal assistant would be probably wise. Then perhaps that is the one thing that you need to be focusing on to simplify your life. I think so. I think it's I've gotten a lot of confirmation that that is the case this month. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Very good. That's amazing clarity. Right? You can be a better entrepreneur and a better boss if you have all of that noise taken out of your life. Awesome. So considering we are in Q4, when do you start planning for 2024? Do you have a planning strategy of go look at your revenue numbers? Did you meet your goals? Meet your goals? How do you set targets for 2024? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Yeah, you know, we so I start usually a quarter ahead, you know, so it takes especially for marketing, it takes there's a ramp up period and especially if you're hiring salespeople. So last year right around this time, I decided to lean very much into marketing and I spent a lot of time, effort, and money into building up the marketing in October, November, December, along with hiring salespeople. And so we hired salespeople. I integrated my assistant sales manager to a full-time sales manager, leading the sales team. So that gave me more time to focus on marketing and working on the business. And he really started to pick up the managing of the guys and training them and focusing on them, which they really needed that individual attention. And he did a great job of doing that. And so we've built up the sales team, we've built up the marketing, and guess what happened? A major storm hit, right? So now. Roofs are being blown off and it's this perfect storm. Our marketing was ramped up. The sales guys are, you know, being trained and now the storm comes. So our goal was to get to 14 million because we did 10 million in 2022. And we're like, “Hey, if we can get to 14 million, that's a 30% growth, 40% growth, you know, in one year.” That would be fantastic. And and I was like, “Hey,” David was saying “14,” he's my sales manager. And I was saying, “David, I'd be happy with 12.” David's like, “No, we're going to do four, we're going to do 14.” And I said, “Okay, let's do it.” And so and we ended up being on track to do 20 million this year. So, far exceeded expectations, you know, so and I think the planning ahead and anticipating, you know, anticipating that growth and just being in that mindset and having some luck on our sides with the storms and stuff too, is like the perfect, you know, synergy of things coming together with the right leadership, the right team. But of course, you know, this is you know, this this is going to be a new chapter. And we're learning how to evolve with this growing business. And our employee count went from 22 to now 50 employees in less than a year. So, you know, now that I know I have a... 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Wow. Congratulations! 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Yeah. And now that I have the team, you know, a great sales manager and now the next role is production. And to build up that the leadership level at that level because I think once we laid that foundation then we can, you know, strive for the next, the next big goal after that. So but yeah, to answer your question, Yes. You know, I think planning ahead at least 90 days ahead is a very important. And what I say is like you have to have the right data. You know, you can't manage what you can't measure. So having the right, you know, CRM to track your data, having the right reporting on a healthy understanding of financials, all that is important to be able to do your projections and plan ahead and you know, so that's a must. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Very cool. So since you mentioned CRM, do you use AccuLynx or Buildertrend or do you have a preferred tool that you like to use to manage your business? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Yeah. So we have, we were on jobNimbus, you know, which is you know, great for roofing, it's very similar to AccuLynx. I've heard great things about AccuLynx as well. I think both of those would be a really good start for anybody who's specific in, you know, like roofing. But if somebody does general construction, I think Buildertrends is a good one because it is better for bigger projects, you know, and, and it's just I think people should just do their research. There's not one perfect one, there's not a one size fits all. You know, we got to the point where we realized that we're going to have to go a lot more custom. So we're building out a custom CRM out on HubSpot, which is just a great tool to be able to, you know, build out custom applications and processes and stuff. So, but in the beginning, it's not really necessary to do all that. You know, I think it's just starting off with something that already kind of has preset, you know, tools there for you. Like AccuLynx, I think for roofing is probably really good as well as jobNimbus. But you know I think those are a must you have to have a good CRM, a good follow up tool. So, we wouldn't be able to do as much as we did without a good CRM. What year do you think you invested in a good CRM? Was it year two in business or did you just go full throttle when you started? No, right away, so we started with actually a free version of HubSpot, but it was limited. And then we moved to a marketing and sales CRM that was called MarketSharp, which does great for marketing and sales. And then we wanted something that was going to be a little bit better for production. So we moved over to JobNimbus, which was a better production tool, and then we realized that there's some there's a lot of changing technologies with AI and, you know, a lot of applications that want to connect together to use seamlessly. And so we found that, you know, building another CRM custom on HubSpot would be the move. And so that that was year now year six, that's this year we decided to make that move. So we're switching over and it's not fun switching CRMs. I mean, if I can just find one that I really like from the beginning and not have to ever change it, I would love to just do that. But you know, you have to see what the business needs are. You know, it's the same with accounting software. Like I think for most people, QuickBooks is great. You know, there's multimillion dollar companies that run on QuickBooks, but when you do construction, eventually QuickBooks has a lot of limitations. And then you have to look at accounting software that's a little bit more expensive, a little bit more complex. But, you know, the business will tell you that you're ready for it. It's not always necessary to get ahead of it, but sometimes, you know, sometimes the business will tell you that, “Hey, it's time, you know, it's time to switch.” 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Yep. It's wonderful that we're in a time and age where we can put technology to use to manage our numbers and our digital marketing and all of that. So have you tried using AI, ChatGPT, or any of the fun AI tools that are, you know, making the headlines now? 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Yeah, we're big, we're big fans of ChatGPT. We use it all the time. You know, I use it to like if I want a letter, if I want an email template. We had a recent storm and I want to let customers know, you know, that “Hey, we haven't forgotten about them.” You know, but jobs are going to be delayed a little bit because of the rain, you know, and then just wording it the right way. We use it for, you know, looking up ideas for videos like, “Hey, what are some video ideas, vlog ideas?” You know, I mean, your creativity. And then now we use it for our phone services too. When somebody calls, AI transcribes it. It judges the call. How well did the receptionist answer the call? Were they talking too much? Not enough. Was the tonality? And it gives good feedback. It transcribes it and saves it in the custom file. Good coaching tool. We use it in meeting notes. You know, when we when we do Zoom meetings, there's a note taking AI that takes the notes, transcribes it, and then summarizes it, and sends it to the people. And this is just the beginning. I mean, it's there's so many applications for it. And so that's why I think thinking ahead, you know, and like, where's the future? And how can we implement technology? What services is going to be key? Because realistically, like you're going to need a service person, physical labor. But then the technology side know married with that is a really strong connection, you know, and it's not going to go anywhere anytime soon because unless Tesla robots start knocking out roofs and doing the installs for us, you know within the next five years, then I think there's going to be a big need for integrating technology with service. So I'm a big fan of technology and thinking ahead. And so, you know, that's why, you know, we kind of jumped jumped a little early on. A lot of these things, I would say. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
That's very cool. The different uses that you're using it for, already customer responses, looking at your calls and so forth. Wonderful. If have any other additional nuggets of wisdom that you would like to share with young contractors, I'm all yours, please share. 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Well, you're asking me to speak to my favorite people, you know, no, young contractors, you know, staying humble, you know, and like a learner, you know, like you're always you're, you're curious to learn. But also, you know, being stern doesn't mean you have to be nice and extend and say yes to everybody. Sometimes you have a yes is a yes and no is a no. And sometimes you have to say no to get ahead, you know, and then, you know, seeking growth, you know, like self-improvement all the time. You have to invest in yourself. Like the first thing to spend is money on improving yourself. So your investments should be you, whether it's listening to podcasts, you know, talking to people, getting advice, going to conferences, reading books, working on your health, mental, physical health, educating yourself, you know, your main investments start there. Right? That's my biggest advice. And, you know, from there, I think, you know, the road will show you where to go. You know, if you're a person that likes to pray, you know, ask for wisdom and guidance, you know, because it's a lot of information we have these days. And there needs to be some discernment, you know, because otherwise you don't know what to do with all this information. So, you know, but I think that discernment comes with time and, you know, and just, you know, trusting the process as well. And I mean, I think that's just it, you know, there's no magic bullet. You know, it's like as long as you know what the next step is and then you have some idea of the long-term goal, everything in the middle, it's all going to change. You know, it's the path. You're not going to know exactly how it's going to zig and zag where it's going to go. There's no point of trying to think about all the details in between. Just have a long-term vision and know what your next step is. The rest will that will sort itself out. You know, that would be my advice. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
Fantastic advice. Thank you. Very cool. Well, it was an absolute pleasure, Vazgen, speaking with you. The next time I'm up in the Sacramento area, I’ll stop by to say hello in person. And if you're ever in the Bay Area, I would love to take you out for lunch. 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
That’d be awesome. So be sure to text me the next time you're driving down. I'd love to meet you. 

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
And so again, you so much for your time. 

Vazgen Dallakyan:
Thank you.

Rathna Ramakrishnan: 
If you would like to generate more leads through your digital marketing efforts, Please visit RemodelerDigital.com and check the workshop section for video training and guides on everything from running effective pay per click ads and how to have your website be best friends with the Google algorithm.  Also sign up for a 15 minute discovery call. With me to run an online snapshot report of your remodeling business. This has been another successful episode of the remodeler digital playbook. Thanks for listening.