ThinkBiz Podcast
ThinkBiz Podcast is your go-to show for real conversations about building and growing your business. Hosted by Garrett Hammonds of Hammonds Media and Nolan Rogers, we dive into the challenges, wins, and strategies that matter most to small and startup companies. Tune in for expert advice, inspiring stories, and actionable tips to take your business to the next level.
ThinkBiz Podcast
How A Roofer Turns Repairs Into Relationships
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Season two opens with a simple promise: build the kind of business community we’ve always wanted to find. Nolan welcomes new co-host Brett Woods of Little Brothers Roofing for a grounded, candid conversation about trust, sales ethics, and the calm, methodical work that keeps homes safe before the storm hits. If you’ve ever felt the pressure of a door-knocker pushing a same-day contract, or the loneliness of making big decisions without a map, this conversation is the antidote.
Brett explains how honest margins really work: repairs keep the lights on, replacements fuel growth. That clarity matters when advice sounds like a sales pitch. We dig into the red flags to watch for at your door, why “sleep on it” is a service not a stall, and how a structured follow-up can respect someone’s life while still getting the work done. Brett’s Peace of Mind Protection Plan offers routine inspections that catch small problems early, build real rapport, and replace panic with a plan.
We also widen the lens to what community looks like when business is healthy. Brett shares a vision of paid volunteer days, care-first networking, and wellness check-ins that stretch beyond transactions. Then we get practical about help: the kind of operations-minded partner who shares core values, balances strengths, and frees a founder to get back in the field. Throughout, we return to a simple standard—people first. That means acknowledging anxiety when water hits drywall, offering staged solutions when budgets are tight, and telling the truth even when it costs a sale.
If you’re a homeowner eyeing winter or an entrepreneur searching for a team that plays the long game, you’ll find clear steps and steady principles here. Listen, share with a friend who hates high-pressure sales, and tell us: what red flag will you never ignore again? Subscribe for season two and leave a review to help more people find a community that works.
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Podcast is produced by Hammonds Media. For assistance with you digital marketing needs, visit https://www.hammondsmedia.com
Welcome to season two of the Think Biz Podcast. All of you lovely listeners who have been patiently waiting. Here we are. I am Nolan Clay Rogers, and this is our new co-host Brett Woods.
SPEAKER_01:Welcome. AKA The Realist. The realist. The rooting realist. There you go. There you go.
SPEAKER_00:But Brett, we have been chomping at the bit to get things done again. I know. So we've only been planning it for like two months. We've only been playing it for two months. We had some technical difficulties. Our lovely friend Garrett, who we now bemoan his absence at our normal 9 30 group, is in Norman all the time for his own convenience. And so we figured out some other things to do. Trader. Garrett, we love you. Also, Hammond's Media is a wonderful sponsor of Big Bad Networking Group and Podcast. So we love them all to death.
SPEAKER_01:That is true. That is true.
SPEAKER_00:I do love them. We play in good fun.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But the thing that we wanted to really focus on for season two is again one of my favorite precepts for doing good business is to again solve your own problem and sell the solution. And I would argue that season two's main goal is to solve the problem of entrepreneurial community, right? I want to make a podcast that sounds like something that I want to listen to every day. Because most of the complaints I hear from new business owners or people just trying to break into entrepreneurship is, well, it's lonely. We don't find a lot of people like us that can understand our problems, particularly between the two of us being business owner parents as well. That's an even rarer, narrower ability to find community to come together with. And we get, you know, we just had a review today of a visitor that said we are a really down-to-earth networking group, and that's part of our goal. We want to be good people doing good business with other good people doing good business. That's right. I would like the podcast to start showcasing that. So today was your presentation day. Would you go ahead and give us a quick little pitch for your business, Brett, so that way then we can get onto the meat of the podcast, but people can know where you're coming from.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So my uh 30-second elevator pitch is I own Little Brothers Roofing. And we do all types of roofing and exterior restoration. But what we what I talked about today is how crazy this winter's gonna be. So it it's gonna be an absolutely nuts winter, possibly. Probably, but possibly. And if it is, are your homes protected? You know, and how can you get it protected? So yeah, so that's what I did today and what I talked about today. And uh, if you missed it, I'm sorry, but it was a wonderful presentation. It was uh self-appointed, but you know. But yeah, let's let's get into it. Enough about me. I'm I'm boring.
SPEAKER_00:But well, unfortunately, this is this is your episode. You are the inaugural season two episode. Yeah, that's fair. That's two dang bang. Well, that's too yeah, no, but what was fun about this presentation as well is I love the piece in it where you were talking about how you warn all of your clients, please do these things before the big storm based upon our best predictions, and they still don't do it. Nope. Right. And so that then brings a question to my mind of what would it actually take for the clients that we try to save money in order to actually listen to the advice we give them.
SPEAKER_01:So I think that's the that's kind of what sales is all about, right? That's getting through the hey, this is just a salesman trying to sell something to me, and this person's out for their own benefit for against because there's a lot of salesmen that are like that. I my the first car I bought was at 19, the guy got me a 23% interest rate and was like, this is great, and I didn't have anyone to tell me that it wasn't. So I was like, sweet, you know, but uh there are salesmen that are like that that are just all about hey, let me get the sale no matter what. And so so one of the issues that you have with a sales being a salesman is convincing the uh prospect, you know, or the client that hey, this is really what you need, right? And and I'm selling this to you because I've seen it over and over and over. And yeah, you may have gotten away with it for years and years, and it just hasn't collapsed yet, or it just hasn't, you know, the the apex hasn't hit, you know, and then all of a sudden all but then all it's like not changing your oil. Hey, I can get away with not changing the oil for a couple years, then the engine blows up, right? So like there's a point where, or but a lot of times the the it's it's a lot less dramatic than that, and it's more hey, there there's damage that is making this not going to last longer. You know, and so that that's the biggest problem of being a salesman is trying to get the prospect or the client to trust you enough to go, hey, no no no, I'm not trying to take advantage of you. I this is literally what I see on a daily basis, and you gotta do it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and that's not just to to get that sale either. It's also to have that continued trust because roofing in particular has its own problems, as we've talked about before. That means that even though somebody might do good business with Brett and Brett gets things done, they might not do business with Brett again for various other reasons. So I think one of the things that's really important for us to understand as business owners is also being upfront and honest with our clientele that we run a business to put a roof over our own heads. So we have to make money. So how is it that Little Brothers Roofing does make money? What is the thing that makes sure that your kids are fed, your you and your wife are okay?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so one, the I mean, I give you the politically correct answer. I'd be like, well, we take care of people. That's how we make money, right? But but but really, yeah, yeah, but like really like we make money by selling roof repairs is our bread and butter, right? That's what keeps the lights on. And we don't, we don't we don't grow the business by doing repairs. We keep the lights on with the repairs, right? So we do make money off of our repairs, and and what really keeps us in business is long-term clients that trust us to go, hey, I'm coming in here to go. Hey, I would, you know, like I I've had I had clients the other day that called me and said, Hey, I had two other roofing companies that knocked on the door, they took a look, said it was totaled, right? By hail, I want you to come out and take a look and tell me what you think, right? Because you're my roofer, you're who I trust, you've been out here fixing it for years, you know, you you're who I would trust. And I go out there and I go, guys, don't file a claim, right? It's not good enough. It don't do it. Like you're going the person that gets screwed over is you, not the salesman that told you to file a claim, but it's you. And so the building those relationships, having those repeat clients of constantly getting uh people to go, hey, I want you to come back and take care of this, I want you to come back and take care of this. And then when we sell when when your roof does eventually get hailed out, because this is Oklahoma and it's gonna happen. Not it's not if it happens, it's when, right? You know, and so when it does eventually happen, and then we replay replace it, and that's where we make a lot more money, as those are our big ticket items. And so it to put this into perspective of fast food, right? Fast food, the fast food companies make no money off the sandwiches, like like the margins are basically they pay for themselves and the labor, right? But the fries and the drinks and the desserts, they make like those things are marked up like crazy, right? Like a bag of potatoes costs nothing compared to, you know, that they still sell for three bucks, you know. And so that that's what we do. Our repairs are our sandwiches, right? We're gonna take care of them for as long as we need to take care of them. And the way we really make money is by replacing the roof. Right.
SPEAKER_00:And so for those long-term clients as well, or anybody listening that is concerned with people that are knocking on their door, what are the things people need to be aware of as you know, normal sales tactics that, again, would not allow someone to be a good long-term client for Brett, that they should be aware of? Hey, somebody comes knocking on your door, says something's wrong with your roof. What should be they be aware of? That is just a common thing that breaks down true rapport and personal relationships from business owner to client that should just be an instant red flag.
SPEAKER_01:That's that's a really, really good question. For me, the thing that always gives me a red flag is somebody that tries to get you to sign a contract while you're there. I'm really big about, hey, I'm not gonna well I mean, you have all these training classes that go, hey, to get over rejection, right? To get over this, this someone going, hey, you know what, let me talk to my wife about it. And you go, no, no, no, let me get around that, right? I don't want to get around that. I want you to go home and talk to your wife about it. That might be your way of getting me away from you, right? No, no, I don't do door-to-door, so I don't run into that very often. But people who do, they try to get around that rejection. They try to get around that and go, no, no, no, let me get you to sign the contract today. This contingency, this allows us to talk to your insurance, right? That's they're they're full of it. You can talk to your insurance no matter what. The the why they're doing it is they're saying, hey, I want to get you under contract so that way it feels more real, right? Hey, I've already got a contract with this guy, I'm not gonna go somewhere else. So they're doing everything they can to get you to sign a contract that day. That's a red flag, right? If they if you come up with something of, hey, I'm worried about this, and they don't give you a genuine solution. That's just, hey, well, what can I do to get you to sign this contract today? That's a red flag. Yeah, that's generally somebody that doesn't have your best interest in heart. They have, hey, I need to sell this. Now, not to say everyone that does that is like that, right? Right. But genuine generally, that's why we set ourselves apart and we go, hey, we're not gonna push. I'm gonna crush them with my follow-up. I'm gonna follow up until they tell me to stop following up, right? But but I'm gonna constantly check back with them, and and it's more about the relationship. I care less about this individual sale than I do about this relationship because as I build this relationship, my clientele grows. And as my clientele grows, my business grows because eventually they're gonna need something, and I continue that relationship with them, continue that relationship, stay in front of them, stay in front of them, right? And so that's the red flag that that I have for people. If if someone comes and knocks on the door and says, hey, sign this contract now, you know, sign it today. I've told c c customers not to sign the contract today. I go, unless you're serious about just knocking this out and you really do trust us, like you can sign it today, we'll get you on the schedule. But don't sign it today. Wait until you've had some time to sleep on it and think about it. Make sure this is something that you want to do. And that way uh long term we're gonna be there for you, you know. Cause I want I want the relationship. I don't, I I'm more care about the client and less care about the work.
SPEAKER_00:Now, points of order. So say somebody, God forbid, has that experience where they have to sleep on it, they're trying to figure out, they come to Brett to actually tell them whether or not they need a problem solved. What does that long-term relationship look like though? So, what's that follow-up process? Because a lot of people get concerned with, oh, my inbox is gonna be get spanned with things, I'm gonna get a random phone call one way or the other. What does a relationship with Little Brothers roofing actually look like?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so we have what we call the peace of mind protection plan. It's a mouthful of P-O-M-P-P. P O M P P. But we have the Peace of Mind Protection Plan, and and basically that just shows that we're gonna come out there and consistently inspect your roof and make sure that it is doing well. Uh I can't tell you how many times I go out to people's homes and I go, hey, you're gonna have a problem with this. I don't want you to buy it now. You can if you want to fix it now, but within a year, you're gonna have a problem with X, Y, or Z. And I give that phone call back six months, eight months later of going, hey man, it leaked, right? Or hey man, there was a problem, or hey man, you know, and and so I go, sweet, you know, like let's take care of it now, you know. And and it it's that really builds the rapport, and so that's how why we stay in front of them. Um, but our peace of mind protection plan, we are constantly back out at the home. Hey, we're here to protect your home, we're not here to sell you something, you know, and and we don't charge for it. It's it's just an inspection that we know uh hey, I'm gonna we're gonna go out there and there's gonna be nothing wrong with the roof because we installed it, you know, like we know, and but uh sometimes you go, hey, we went out there and we installed these gutters and the gutters are draining the wrong way, right? And we missed it on the first time. So let's put, you know, or the gutters are getting overflowed, so we need to put another downspout in over here, right? Like those little things that we can find and catch and go, hey, let's get that taken care of. And so that's what a relationship with us looks like is we're just gonna be out there every some we I like to push for six months if it's if it's a rough roof. Most of the time it's an annual thing. Like you can have us come out there once a year, you schedule it with us, and I put it on the calendar, and somebody is gonna be there in a year, right? And we'll schedule it out and then remind you that it's coming up.
SPEAKER_00:So and so that's relationship with clients. Now, the other thing that I love about our networking group is that even people that have had to come and go from our networking group, Brett's still able to do business with. What does the relationship look like business to business with Little Brothers Roofing?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I again focus more on community and relationships than I do about getting someone's business right here and right now, right? And so there have been a lot of people that have come through the through the networking group that I still have contact with. I still text on a regular basis of you know, once a month or a w a couple uh once every couple of weeks because we really hit it off, and we may not be best friends, we may not be playing board games with the kids and going to soccer games together and stuff, but but they were a good person. They did business like I do business, of they care about their clients, they care about what they do. And because of that, we I just continue that relationship with them and keep keep talking to them. It doesn't mean that we are best friends, but it does mean that I I I care for them and I love them deeply as a person, and and I'm a man of faith, so as a as a Christian man, I I care deeply for them to make sure that they're doing okay. And and sometimes it's just a wellness call. I make wellness calls every once in a while, about about once a week, of of like just a number of people that I know have had to go through something. They had a doctor's appointment or something. I call them and go, hey, I know you had that doctor's appointment last week. How did that go? You know? And so just just doing wellness calls and making sure that uh they're taken care of.
SPEAKER_00:And that's definitely I love hearing that from you, Brett, because it is a difficulty I have on my business in a main whole is my follow-up process because most of my services are very heavy. When people come talk to Nolan, there are big, large problems that have been festering worse than rooms, right? That's right. Harder because a lot of the problems that I solve are inside people. Right. And so it makes me uncomfortable wanting to reach out to these people that have either had to open up and cry in front of me, or they've been talking about people that they've lost, or major transitions going on in life that are just beyond what some people can imagine. And so that follow-up for me is always very difficult because people are used to, you know, a spiritual leader or a preacher that's just there every Sunday and he just passively gives them a sermon. I can't do that. Right. Because it is always so personalized that I'm not even sure how to maintain relationships that are built on that level of deep trust. Because I don't want people to feel like that I'm bothering them.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and and for you as well, I mean, when you talk to somebody and they've opened up some of the deepest parts of their soul of like, hey, this is something that I really needed help with. People don't want to be reminded of that constantly either. Right. And and so that is really tough. That I I I can imagine that's that's really hard for you to to follow up with them and go, hey, what can I do to be there for you? Knowing that the last conversation we had was, you know, you crying because of something that you're going through that that is unfathomable to other people. And and that would be really, really tough.
SPEAKER_00:Um and part of what I've at least partially solved on my own side is just understanding that I have lots of different clientele. Christians, pagans, atheists, whole gambit, right? And what a lot of them struggle with, and particularly what people even that I network with struggle with, is understanding that, oh wait, Nolan's actually a cool dude. But that's the same problem that everybody else has the problem with in their communities, who they're around, is we don't have a baseline for who can we trust, who is in our world that is on our team. And so I've figured out something at least to remind myself of is as long as a person, you know, wants to tell the truth and not waste my time or anybody else's time. Easy checkbox. We are on the same team. Another thing is whatever it is that you say you believe, are you consistent? Are you loyal to that? And do you live those values that you state? Because I don't care about stated beliefs, I care about behavior. Right. And so anybody that I see who states one belief but they behave the exact same as somebody else who says they believe something different, it means that they technically believe the same, regardless of what they say. And what I found is so many of us regardless of our lived experience, our ascribed characteristics, of the accident of our seeming existence, even if we remove all spirituality from it, we are on the same team. And so being on the same team, I would really like to understand if Little Brothers Roofing as a business was running perfectly, what would that allow you to do in your day-to-day life that allows you to have more people on your team and have a community that is consistent and around you? And not only that, it lasts for your kids and your kids' kids.
SPEAKER_01:What a question. Yeah. So so if you don't mind, I'm gonna ask you to repeat the question so I can listen to it one more time.
SPEAKER_00:So it is that understanding of I know for a fact that more of us are on the same team than we give ourselves credit. And so the question then becomes is if Little Brothers Roofing as a business is running perfectly, what would that allow Brett to do to change his world, to change his community, and make things last for your kids and their kids and their kids and so on and so forth? So we can all keep doing business with people that are on the same team.
SPEAKER_01:That's good. Yeah, so when I about three years ago, I was bigger than I am now, uh, the company was at least. I I was smaller than I am now. I've grown quite a bit wider since I had another child, but but uh what we did then, and it was running really well, but I paid my guys for one day a week, and we all went out together and volunteered at a local nonprofit. And that was big for me. Now, since then I've downsized and and that's not really in the budget anymore. But if it was running perfectly and we were bigger and we were larger, I would encourage everybody, every company that can afford to do that, which not all companies can. I mean, it's it is definitely tough and it's very, very hard. It's the first thing, unfortunately, that has to get cut whenever you start making cutbacks, right? Because there's a lot of value there for personal and developable the development of your people, but uh and for the community, but fiscal value, like when you have to go, hey, I either have to uh keep doing this and let someone go, or stop doing this and allow you know, keep my team and keep their families fed, you know, you've got to make those those are tough decisions that you have to make as an entrepreneur, and you've got to make those decisions, right? And so unfortunately, it does get cut as the first thing if if you're having a slow season. But that would be what would be best for me. I would do that if the company was running perfectly, we were having a great year, everything was running smoothly, and we were able to put all the money in the bank to do that for 10 years down the line. That would be where I would see it as we would all be volunteering one once uh one day a week, and that's paid, you know, to just take care of the community and and and certain different aspects of it.
SPEAKER_00:But no, that's excellent. And it is that thing of why I'm wanting to shift the format of this season of the podcast, is also to get business owners understanding that we have more agency around what our community looks like. We are in charge of more than we give ourselves credit.
SPEAKER_01:Right. We are the community.
SPEAKER_00:We are the community. And that also then behooves the question is part of community and part of the hardest thing every entrepreneur, every business owner, and myself still has the issue with is asking for help. So this becomes part of the exercises. So we know what Brett would do if everything is running perfectly. But what we practice in our networking group as well is we ask for how we can be helped. And most of us are still really bad at that, asking for directly how we can help. Usually we're just saying who can we serve that week, one way or the other. But what is it that Brett no holds a bar if you could snap your fingers this very second and have your business run however you wanted, what is the help you would ask for?
SPEAKER_01:I would ask for help with managing the back end. And I got into construction when I was younger because I really enjoyed that. I've always been a hard worker. Managing multiple avenues all at one time and getting everything organized and and clarified. And so I I have people that do help me with that, but but that would be the biggest thing that I could use. Like like if I had to snap my fingers today and go, hey, everything else is perfect, I'd want to take this off my plate, right? That's what it would be. It would be managing the managing the day to day. I would like to be more in the field, right? I would like to have a day that I get to go out and do a a roof repair with the guys, you know. I'd like to day that I could go out and be on the roof all day, you know, and and uh just that's therapeutic for me. So so I would get help managing everything else, you know, and and and take an extra day to just do that.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So then practically then, if that's the help that we would need, what does that person look like? Is do they have a certain personality type that would just mesh really well with your company? Do they have a certain skill set? What is it about a person that would be able to handle that back end and allow Brett to run his business even better?
SPEAKER_01:Oh goodness. So great question. That would be the what I would look into on that would be I would be looking for somebody that has the same values that I do, but different skills. Okay. Right. I'm very good. I get I get head over heels in certain projects where I'm very passionate about it. I mean, I love it and I get real excited about it. And and I go, oh, I can't wait to get this done. I can't wait to do this. And there are other things that I go, man, I've really just got to get this done. Right. Oh, I gotta do this, you know, and and it's it's so I would be looking for someone that has the same values that I do, but completely different skill set, you know, very good analytically, very good at sitting at a desk all day and going, hey, this is where I love to be, you know, and and I want to run the numbers and I want to do this and I want to make sure this is good, and and I want to make sure, you know, I want and and I would much rather be uh, you know, out there in the field or out there doing things, you know, going on sales calls, going going and meeting new people. That that's what I would rather be doing. And so the person that I would look for is somebody that has the exact same values that I do, maybe a couple set you know, separate ones that are you know minor. Um my core values they need to have the same core values that I do, though. And um they would need to they would need to have skills and things that I'm weak in.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. And just for our listeners, what are those core values that would make somebody a perfect fit?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, people first. Okay. Period. I'm all about taking care of people instead of I would rather take care of somebody than than make the sale, right? So, like we talked about salesmen, right? Some salesmen are out there for the money. Sales is the most highly paid position in any company, basically, almost ever, because it's what every company needs to thrive. And and I would rather have a sales guy that's not producing as much, who is better at taking care of people. I'm my my core values in our company revolves around people. We're gonna take care of people first and take care of their assets second. I mean, so really big about making sure that people are taken care of. One of the biggest things that we've that I've learned in business and that the company's grown on is things like house problems, right? Same thing with like doctor's appointments, things that are wrong with stuff that the client knows nothing about are very anxiety driven, right? Because somebody goes, Holy cow, I've got water coming in my house. What do I do? Right. And so our first step is to to acknowledge them and go, Hey, you do have water coming in your house. And and it's maybe not as big of a deal as you think. It's a big deal, right? But take a breath, right? Like we can get this solved, you know, and and okay, you can't afford this ten thousand dollar repair right now, right? So let's look at something you can afford. Let's let's temporary repair it. We'll give you six months, you know. This this will give you six months, it'll be visible, it won't be, you know, it'll be ugly, but this is what we can do to take care of you for now. Mitigate the damage, and then bring you back into br bring, you know, and then and then we'll reassess this in six months and and do that. And so that that's our core values. Take care of the people first, perfect. And and then move forward from that.
SPEAKER_00:Well, then, Brett, for anybody that has been listening to this first episode of season two, please tell them where they can do business with Brett Woods and Little Brothers Roofing for us.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So our number one way to get in contact is call our office number 405-365-0456, or message our office number, and that will go straight to me, and then I'll get people in contact with who they need to get in contact with. Or you can email us at oh goodness, what's our email? I think they yeah, I'm like, hold on, let me like what it is. I think the the generalized one is little brothersroofing at gmail.com. But my personal email, if you want to get a hold of me personally, Brett W B R E T W at LittleBrothersroofing.com. And just contact me, I'll get you in on the well, you know, we'll get you taken care of in that way. So excellent.
SPEAKER_00:Well, we appreciate you being here, part of our wonderful thinkbiz networking group, part of the podcast as a new host for this season. Hey you! And we're gonna sign off now with the shenanigans that will be normal for this season two of in-person Motros. So, Brett, here we are.
SPEAKER_01:Business oh business solutions. Happy Tuesday, y'all. We nailed down.
