Drones to Sell More Roofs, Faster? The 6 Best Ways + Advice to Get Started | w/ Jeffrey Marcus

Jeffrey Marcus, welcome to the channel and the podcast. I'm so excited for our topic today, Drones and the Sales Process. Jeffrey, thank you for joining me.

Thank you, Adam. Thanks for having me.

So, quick introductions in order before we jump in. We're here to talk about drones in the sales process. It's no secret that drones have become a very common thing in the industry. Technology is great, can be a shiny object, it can be very advantageous. And there are pitfalls that we're going to address today. But. But before we do that, Jeffrey, you know a thing or two about this business. Do you mind? Just so I don't butcher it, giving me a quick background on your experience, who you've worked with in the industry, and why the folks listening today should say, hey, this guy knows his stuff.

Okay, I appreciate it. Thank you. So, yeah, I started in the industry back in 2002. I started as an early employee of Pictometry. Pictometry, that's the oblique aerial imagery. That's measurable. Worked in the insurance world in 2005, having sold that data to a variety of different carriers, including Allstate, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, again associated with Katrina back in Louisiana. Addition to that, helped launch Eagle View by selling them the data. And many different diagram report companies that existed at the time started working with Xactware so that they had what was called an aerial sketch product as well. So measurements were coming of like a big thing for me. And then eventually was the catalyst for Eagle View and Pictometry to merge, which is why you hear about Eagle View's name instead of Pictometry's name. Now later on, I was also had spent some time at Hubbard as well. So I'm very familiar with the different types of roof measurement processes. And that's pretty much summarizes my last 20 years of work experience.

Gotcha. And now co founder of Certifly. If you're watching and not listening to the podcast, Jeffrey's background makes it pretty hard to miss. So, yeah, thank you for being here. Now, Jeffrey reached out to me, you reached out to me to talk about drones. And we had a preliminary conversation. And what sparked this? We said, hey, we're going to just kind of put this on the back burner. So I was visiting with two companies down in Denver. Was it this week or last? And they had their drone sitting on the table and I asked how it was going and there were some positives and some negatives. And I'm starting to see as technology evolves and this has been a really Big push for people in sales. And I get questions all the time. How is this going to change the sales process? Does it change what a salesperson can do? So before we get into it, do you mind, Geoffrey, just kind of sharing with me some high level reasons why a salesperson or an owner would say I should have my sales team using a drone.

Okay, so we'll talk about the process start side of it first. You know, the owner's got to get involved. Obviously we talk about door knocking and how you can actually use your drones. I've heard people will actually scope out a particular neighborhood using their drone. So they're actually not walking across. They're using their drone to say if there's hail here. Well, maybe there's a hail across the street, maybe there's hail down the road. But I can do that and identify where I'm going to be knocking next.

Can I pause on that one? I want to dig into this scouting. Is there any legality issues for them flying a neighborhood? Just to kind of get a feel for if there's hail in the area? I don't know enough about the fha. Faa. Not fha.

Yep.

After lunchtime. Share with me details. Can, can they do that? Can they run the thing up and get a good scope of the area?

Absolutely. So what you need is what's called a Part 107 license. Just so that you're aware, it's about $150. It takes basically watching a couple of videos that are a couple hours each. You go to a local area where they will say, is this you? And you say, yes. Okay, go over that computer, take that test on a computer. Couple year, couple years later, you will renew. Doesn't cost any more. You just have to take the test again. But it's pretty simple. And that FAA license is for all states. So there shouldn't be any state license for California or for Florida or for Texas. They all roll up into the faa. FAA controls the airspace. So anything that is above the house is really the FAA's jurisdiction. It's not your local policeman's jurisdiction. It's not the homeowner's jurisdiction. Okay. They might control the land that the drone takes off from or where the drone lands from. But when it's in the air, they don't. Okay. And then addition to that part 107 license. Okay, part 107, if they go to FAA and part 107, they'll see it. There are videos that are available that you can watch for free. There are people that will Train you on those types of videos or just go out and meet with you in person to learn how to actually fly a drone itself.

So this is powerful because a lot of people reach out to me. How do I find my sales territory? How do I scout? And you might laugh at this, but it's really powerful technique to keep binoculars in your vehicle because this gives you a closer look at box vents and soft metal of a roof to say, hey, hail was here. The spotting, wind damage. But we obviously run the risk of privacy. You don't want someone in their home seeing you out there, like, you know, thinking you're Peeping Tom. And it is a. An easy tool, but being able to. And I always say you don't know what's damaged. They get up on roofs. But if you can, if you are licensed and legally allowed to do this, you are outing that area is going to help you pinpoint which homes.

That's correct. You don't have to ask for permission. There were things in the past where you had to knock on the door to the left and knock on the door to the right. These were called exemption 333, the 333 exemption. So you had to do those things. What's happened is that the FAA has actually opened it up a little bit. The restrictions have come off a little bit more. You can now start flying at night. You can start flying over people's heads. So things that you couldn't do before. And there's something called visual line of sight where in the past you could. You had to be always there. Now there are either exemptions or the laws are changing to the point where you can actually direct the drone and you don't have to see the drone while you're there.

Wow.

Yeah. So that. So you could be the neighborhood over and if you lose sight of it, it's like, okay, well, you know, based on whatever rules or regulations are out there, you should be able to still be in compliance with whatever regulations again, are out there.

Yeah, that's a very powerful way. Do you think it would be. And I haven't done this yet. I'm going to do some experimenting with some of my people being able to fly over. If you had any images to use that at the approach at the door to say, hey, we were doing some drum inspections in the neighborhood and I did see some. Some things on your roof. Would you like to see them? Is that something that kind of. I guess. What are your thoughts on doing something like.

Well, I've seen people do it a couple different Ways what they've said is they'll say, I've taken a picture. I printed out. This is your neighbor's roof. So it's not like I'm gonna go up on your roof. This is. Here's a picture of your neighbor's roof that I just took this morning. It does have damage. You can see the level of detail associated with it. We think that you might have been affected by the same storm itself. Would you be okay with me actually going up on the roof using a drone that looks like this? And I've actually had people tell me that they've used broken drones. Like, what good is what's use of a broken drone? Like, shoot it, right? There's no use to it. Well, you can actually use show and tell when you're doing the door knocking and saying, somebody will be here with a drone that looks similar to this and they'll come up and fly over. Would you be okay with that?

Beautiful. And what an easy way to adapt and be able to do that. Curiosity is a heck of a powerful motivator. And if I saw a picture of my neighbor's roof that was smoked with damage and I saw circles on it, I was like, well, what would make mine different? Yeah, beautiful. This is, this is. I didn't even expect this when we got started. So use number one is scouting. Sounds like a great, great way to quickly identify those areas, especially those fringe areas. Save yourself from getting up on roofs. Now back to you. What are some other advantages or reasons that people would be using or should consider using a drone in the sales process?

Okay, so. So in the sales process itself, let's just jump into the concepts of damage documentation.

Right.

So once you start going up, like, why are you using your drone? Well, you're going to use it to identify all the damages that you can see. What is the obvious damage that you can see? Cracks, holes, accumulations of debris, missing granules, hail damage on soft metals, as you had said, evaporation rings, We've seen that before. Dead valleys, wind damage. They're all telltale signs of weeks to come. All right, so by you being able to document that and show the homeowner, sometimes they've got glasses where you're flying and they can actually see it at the same time. First person view that, it's like, oh, yeah, it's obvious. Right? So, yes, this is another reason we want to be able to quote you is because there's obviously damage that's there. I, I know that we talked about concepts of measurements, and so if you're trying to do an estimate while you're on the spot. That's possible with a drone. Oftentimes if you had ordered a report, you might have had to order it in advance. The homeowner wasn't there, it was expensive. So you don't like really order it until you actually met with the homeowner. And now you're going to get it back a little bit later on, but not at the same meeting. But with a drone, you'll be able essentially to create either a square count in seconds or basically get a roof measurement report in about 15 minutes just by flying up and over the house, having it come back down and land, adding in the pitch if you needed it immediately. If you're doing like retail sales or if it's insurance driven, you need a full schematic, getting that back in about 15 minutes. So that's going to help in terms of your estimations.

Yeah.

And on that note, there's two things that we talked about before recording. One is Florida. Florida's new law, Senate Bill 76, effective as of this recording tomorrow. By the time this airs, it'll already be in effect. Now, on the insurance side of things, it is required for all contractors to provide a good faith estimate. There's some debate whether that needs to be in writing or verbal. I would err on the side of caution and put it in writing myself. Big piece of that is having a measurement. You know, for us to put together an itemized estimate, we have to have a measurement. And one big hole in the process is multiple visits to the home. And being able to fly a drone and have the instant measurement is a strong competitive advantage for putting together those itemized estimates. And on the retail side of things, it's the number one reason that people don't close at the percent they should. Let's talk about that. The one call close. Do you want to share? Forget my opinion for a minute. Jeffrey, you had mentioned working with you run a Facebook group with 2,500 folks in there. What's the name of that group in case anyone's interested so they can find it?

Sure. It's called the Drones for Contractors Facebook group. Cool.

Are folks welcome to join that? Is that okay that we just said that to the entire world?

Absolutely. Drones for. Happy to do it. I'm the admin. My partner's an administrator and just have to have an interest. Right. That's it. Don't have to have a drone.

I remember that group. I just started poking around, seeing some things. Matthew Danskin, who's on this channel. Posted a video of him running around a track. Just like, look at this cool thing on the drone. Shout out Matt. So anyway, these measurements on the spot from a sales standpoint and then I promise I'm going to shut up here but I think this is really important for people to hear. You'll see close rates. They if, if you are not doing a one call close and it's not about pressuring the homeowner, it's about having everything in advance to respect their time. So you're not saying, hey, I need an hour, your time to come out, hey, I got to go back to my office. Hey, I need to call you back, set another appointment and make sure you and your wife are both home. It's not respectful and there's huge drop off. Every time I see people do this. Their, their close rate, I've never once seen it above 30%.

Never.

Not with the two visits. The one visit, even if you don't sign it, they saw everything. And it's easier on a follow up. So retail or storm, no matter what it is having all of your information in row because the biggest complaints, the delay, whatever solution is being used, if it's not instant, that means having to come back, which means windshield time, which means your time, which means fuel. So I love that on the measurements on the spot. Do you have any other stories or examples of people in the field using drones for their measurements on the spot and any sort of perks to doing so?

Well, the aspect of it is that there are different types of methodologies that just don't work. Like you know, mobile devices that you might take those eight pictures around, they're taking that information, it's going to be sent off to somewhere and then coming back to you. But it's never on the spot. The same thing with your, a typical brand name EV type of program where you're ordering it but you're going to get it back a few hours or day later. God forbid there should be a storm and you've got 20,000 Allstate claims that are happening. You know you're going to be like 20,001 before it comes back. So you're always going to have essentially like a lower priority to the higher aspects of it unless you do the rush charges. So the biggest thing to us is realizing that there are just two different types of drone options. There is what's called 2D drone software and 3D drone software. And so the 3D what they do is they'll go up and they'll Fly the neighborhood. They'll shoot inwards. They're going to take about 70 to 80 pictures, and then essentially they'll upload that to a processing center, typically overnight. You'll get it back the next day. You won't get it back in real time. In order to impact the sale itself, it takes a tremendous amount of time to actually fly. It takes 10 to 15 minutes to actually fly. Even a larger roof or smaller roof. And the reason behind that is they're kind of like mowing the sky back and forth and back and forth and crisscrossing or capturing everything. And it's really good for quote, unquote, damage detection. Right. But at the same time, it really slows the process. You've got to do a flight plan with it, you have to fly it, and then you have to audit all that information. And then it goes back to the people that actually say, oh, yeah, there might be hail damage here. So the reason I bring that up is not to poo poo their solution, but it doesn't that solution, if you're going, oh, I got a drone, and I am working with a company that does do roof measurements using a drone that is in essence always going to be slower and inefficient compared to being able to one call close at that moment. And the thing that I said today is 15 minutes. That's including labor. So there is somebody in the back end that's drawing it. Just like all these companies, you know, they do it partially or sometimes computer automated, but eventually the drone app will draw it. And so it won't be 15 minutes, it'll be 15 milliseconds. You can get your squares done now, right? Yeah, you can get your squares done in seconds, but eventually you press the button and it's a. And boom. All of a sudden you've got the full big schematic. We expect that to happen early next year, but we can do a lot of it within 15 minutes. And no one's ever said 15 minutes is really like a crazy amount of time. So that's where we are at this point in terms of our process.

I like that a lot. And by the way, the reason the pens here is any of the hot things that you're saying. And I don't want to interrupt and writing. Let's bring them up later.

I got a pen.

The. The kind of intangibles, if we can. If we can digress a little bit. I thank you for sending. I have the document that you sent me today called how contractors use drones. Today From a, from sales reps and marketing standpoint, along with some stuff on production and ownership, even down for owners. We're not going to get into this today, but OSHA compliance and reducing workers comp insurance and things like that, which is really powerful stuff that we'll save. Is it okay if I send this out to folks? So I do send these emails out with what I call a far snapshot, fast action results snapshot, the summary of the episodes. They're only available to folks who are signed up. For those, there's a link in the description, so I will include this because there's some good stuff in here. A couple of things that you mentioned on here is trust and credibility.

Yes, that's true.

Lean into that a little bit for me. What do you mean by building trust and credibility with a homeowner?

Okay, well, I've seen it both ways where somebody will say, you know what? You won the job. Why is that? Because you're the one that got up on the roof and these are your guys named Jim and Bob and Gary and Ken and Jeff. And they're the older guys. It's like I won the job because I've done it. Because I've given them a quote, unquote wow factor. They think that I'm going up and inspecting it and spending some time on the roof. But then there's this younger generation that's like, yeah, but you spent like 15, 20 minutes up on the roof. I could run my drone. And then the people that have got the iPhones, the people that are in their 30s and 40s, that are buying their first and probably only roof at this point. Those guys respect the fact that you're not old school, that you are going to be able to use something that's right in the palm of your hand or that you went down and you saw it at the Apple Store. You know, the actual drone itself that you can purchase, they're really more into it in terms of the people that say that the ones that fly the drones, they make more sales than the guys that say, oh, I got the sale because I went up on the roof. So competitive advantage. Also, you know, just right now, drones are so new that not everybody has them. I would guess that maybe one out of every 10 people that I speak with have that. And I'm guessing, I'm truly guessing. But you know, there's enough in it where I could say, how many employees do you have? Oh, we got 10 sales reps. How many of have a drone? One. Who's your best guy? Oh, the guy that's got the drone, you know, so that's kind of like, that's where I'm kind of coming up with my numbers from. But there's definitely room to grow either in your organization or if your organization has drones compared to the other organizations that absolutely don't. So people think it's crazy. It's like you got to invest a lot of money itself, but that's really not true. I mean, you can do financing to keep the costs lower. You can get a refurbished drone or even a used drone to get what you need. But the idea here is that you're going to be able to show the homeowner that you are still with it in a technology driven industry, which a lot of people just don't see. It's almost like the first time you saw a thermometer and it's like, hey, I'm just gonna scan your head. It's like, whoa, where'd that come from? Right? Not rectal. Yeah. Thank you.

I was gonna say it. You brought it up first.

Sorry.

That's great.

But you know what I mean, it's just like that.

It's true and it's one of the things. And I walk a fine line on this drone thing in my opinions on them because so many people are looking for the magic bullet and they're like, what do you think of drones? I'm like, you should learn to sell.

If you can't sell anything, I don't.

Care if you're the best drone operator in the world. You, you know, it is a tool. It is not the ultimate. You know, it doesn't take away from the communication aspect, from the sales process. That being said, as all companies adapt to new technology and even down to digital signing, which was like a newer thing in the mainstream roofing world pushed by Covid because of the lack of in person interaction, we've all had to flex. But now we have all this great. We have different softwares with portals for the homeowner. In showcasing that professionalism and technological leg.

Up, I think is.

A really big push. Do you hear of guys and this was a big thing that came up when I was talking with a few folks both last week down in Denver and then also different clients I've spoken with that when they're flying the drone, it captures more attention than if they were up on the roof. Have you heard anecdotally being like, oh, I get inspections. Because people are like looking out and asking what you're doing. Is this a thing that happens?

Absolutely no I mean, the people that have them, they're going to say, this is the antidote that I've heard. I've heard it different ways, but the best way is it's like the ice cream truck. All of a sudden, it's just like that. They hear a buzz. It's like, what's going on? You know? And the joggers start jogging. The family that's out for a stroll stop strolling. The dog owners are stopped walking. It's like, what is that? And they get crazy. It's like, ice cream, ice cream. And all of a sudden, it's like they're an expert on, oh, my brother's got a drone kind of thing. And they will actually engage with you. There was actually in one of our groups recently, there's a T shirt that says something to the effect of. It has, like, the top 10 questions people ask. Like, when somebody's actually flying a drone, it's like, yes, it's a drone. Yes, I'm licensed. Yes, it can fly far. Yes, it has batteries.

Yes.

I'm not looking at you. Like, the actual answers are on the back of the shirt. And I'm telling you, I put that out, and I thought it was a joke T shirt. You could actually buy that. To wear. Yeah, to actually wear. But, yeah, think about it. Like, the ice cream truck coming down the roadway. People will say that. And it's the same thing, too. I had somebody else tell me. And this is real life incident, too. We've got people that got, like, hot rods or old cars, and they'll just get it out of their car, and. And it'll just cruise around the neighborhood, and you hear them roar, something like that, and it just catches your eye, and it's like, I know that neighbor kind of thing. Same thing with the drone. They see it, they're open to it. The best thing about that trust and credibility that I failed to mention on was just kind of like an FYI, a lot of these neighbors will come over, they'll see you with a drone. And it's like, well, can you do my house? And it's like, yeah, you're thinking, I got to get an eagle view. I'll see you tomorrow. Or I got to call this guy. And it's like, yeah, I'll be there in 10 minutes. It won't take me very long. I'm up here, and I can stop by on my way back and essentially check out yours as well. So that's kind of important to realize that that's an option to be Able to get measurements and get that to somebody who's interested at that moment and be able to be accommodating, which a lot of roofing contractors can't be because, like they're under a time constraint. Oh, I got to get to the next job. I got to get the next job. This one's like knocking on your door, like knocking on your car so you can, can you come see me?

I love that. Like the ice cream truck.

Oh, absolutely. You know, it's multiple times.

Yeah, that's a, that's a good one. I'm going to include that in our notes. The, the funny thing, I mean, every, every roofing salesperson I'm sure has had this where they get off a roof and all of a sudden five neighbors are tugging at your shirt. Do mine, do mine. And that was the old way of doing things. And I don't say it's dated because I still think there's a time and a place in need. And not everyone can afford a drone. Not everyone wants to do it. But, but at any rate, that technology piques curiosity. I mean, there's a reason that some companies train. When you park your truck, you carry the cones, you set it out, you look official, you look like a utility worker. And people are like, oh, I wonder what they're doing here. And it almost encourages people to look around unconsciously. And the drone stuff, I mean, I hear it if I'm out and I hear the what, like, what do you do? Anyone that hears that noise, we're all.

Just, where is it?

What are they doing? And then after you locate the drone, what do we do next? We look at who's operating it.

Right?

We're trying to find the operator, like, oh, I wonder what they're doing. So that, that's excellent. One other piece I want to touch on here on my notes before we kind of wrap up. And I want you to be able to share with folks some details about Certify is this element of safety. And I'm seeing, I've been getting a lot of emails lately and I don't know what it is. There's like this growing trend of people, I want to get into roofing sales, but I don't want to get on a roof. I can't get on a roof. There's physical limitations and then there's the obvious ones. When you're working on those beautiful old homes that are two story 1012. I mean, I was in roofing.

I really don't like heights.

I'll be honest with you. I Don't. I don't mind getting on roofs. Two story and higher, steep roofs. I hate it. I hate it.

Not fun.

And there's also the people that say, I don't want you on my roof because there is a trust issue, which for anyone who hasn't watched it, I believe that all objections fall into the three categories. Number one is trust. They don't trust you yet. This is a great way to be like, hey, I don't have to touch the property. So are you finding to any of the folks that you've talked with fall into those camps of I can't get on a roof. Now there's an option because some people wouldn't hire you if you can't get on a roof. Don't want to get on a roof. Safety concerns and or access issues. This becomes the easy fallback and can equip you for being on the spot. Same with ladder poles. Guys will reach out. Oh, I just started selling them in a Honda Civic with a telescoping ladder. I got a two story deal. Now I got to set an appointment for someone to come out with their ladder. But correct me if I'm wrong, they have a drone. They're up there like that regardless of.

Their ladder or not, right?

Yes. From a safety perspective, I mean that's where it comes down to. It's like minimizing your risk. Right. The longer you're on the roof, the likely is more the potential for you to fall. You don't hear of anybody like with a drone falling and it's like, oh yeah, I stubbed my toe. Well, it wasn't fatal. So the thing for us is, yeah, people come to that because of safety. You know that in roofing, it's not the most glamorous industry. Right. So you've got people that are graying out, you've got people that should be coming into it to take those types of jobs and positions. It's difficult to fill them. You'll see people that are like, hey, you know, I'm, I'm looking for labor. So they're looking for sales reps too, you know, and it's like if you got one, do you know anybody? You know, where am I going to get these guys? Well, if you could tell them that you're using the latest in technology, that you're going to keep them safe, they're more likely to actually join your organization. So that's kind of important. You know, I had a situation not too long ago where somebody posted it on Facebook. You know, what was the Worst thing that happened to you on the roof after you fell. And so, yeah, and I. And I took that and I kind of like took the highlights because everybody's got like these five second snippets. Like, you know, I was brain dead for three weeks. But I put that in. I put that in a PDF that I'm more than happy to give out to your viewers. It's called call 91 1-how-Real Stories from fallen roofers. And so that's like a big issue. When they read that, it's like I had somebody tell me it's like, you know, getting a drone. I convinced my wife to get a drone because it was cheaper than the medical deductible. That's good. Yeah, I didn't make that up. I mean, that guy came through, you know. Yeah. Still in touch guy.

That is a good one. You know, I don't want to get too deep in this, but it's relevant right now. Workers comp, workman's comp. Okay, talk to me about how this can change. Owners pay close attention, especially if it's W2. How can this change the workman's comp for them?

That. That's right. The thing about workman's comp, as you know, it can be very expensive. In Florida, for example, it's like $8,000 a worker for W2. So one of the things about that is if you realize that you can reclassify these guys if they are getting their roof measurements, they don't have to go out on the roof to get those measurements. If they can do their inspection through the drone, they don't really need to be up on the roof. If there's anything that's in there, you know, maybe it's like rotted plywood or things like that. Well, you can get a foreman that actually you're paying them and they've got their own insurance.

Okay.

So but for your W2 guys, essentially, if you reclass them as just a normal sales rep, could be any type of sales repeat the ice cream truck sales rep. You know what I mean? Or photographer is a sales rep. Ultimately, if they're not going above the ladder, above the gutter line, if they're not getting on the roof, then you've got the warrant to say, yes, we're going to greatly reduce your workman's comp. And so there's two different levels. Reclassifying as if they're on the ladder is a little bit higher than if they're just on the ground. But it's a lot Lower than if they are just saying, oh, you're a rep for a roofing company, so you must be a roofer. So you must be working, you know, eight hours a day pounding nails. And it's like, no, that's not the case. So greatly reducing your workman's comp. It can happen in Florida. It can go from like $8,000 to like $800. I mean, it's that much of a significant change just by reducing it should pay for your roof measurements, should pay for your drones, even the higher end drones. You should pay for all of that just by reclassifying.

Yeah, just wild. Just wild. And again, you mentioned Florida and I want to bring this back up to Florida. Florida is going to be a market where I think we're going to start seeing more drones more frequently because of these new laws. I've done some other videos on that. We'll put some links to those as well. If anyone's in Florida and is interested in. Jeffrey, where do you see the drone technology growing to or going to in the next two years?

Okay, next two years, I would think that it's going to be more ubiquitous, that more people are going to have drones. You're going to see more and more people that are working on commercial roofs using thermal drones because of cost of thermal cameras have gone down. They used to be like, you know, in the tens of thousands. There's a new one. It's like 6500 hours. You're going to see people that bought economy drones go upscale because there's going to be newer, better features that are going to allow for the drone to be flown by a company like my company, where you can get these roof measurements. But there are other aspects of the actual flight. Just like in the App Store, you got the camera that came with your phone. Right. But now you've got the camera apps that make your phone and your camera better. Those apps will now be more pronounced as well. Yeah. Long term, one of the things that we see, even though you think having a drone is really great today, and it's very possible we're talking five years from now, is this concept that maybe the drones will be perched, maybe the drones themselves are going to be launched from, let's say like a firehouse or a cell tower, and they're going to zoom out, do their mission, come back. Instead of having your own personal drone, maybe you'll do timeshare, kind of like timeshare on a boat, timeshare on an airplane, but you'll have a better drone to actually fly with rather than the drone that you have today. So there's those aspects of it and I think the rules and regulations within the next one to two years. I believe what will happen is within the next one to two years they've already passed this regulation. You mentioned this earlier. It's like, hey, I can fly my drone. I wonder who's flying that drone. Well, the drones of the future are going to have some type of apparatus on it where they'll be able to identify, here's where that guy who's flying the drone actually sits. That information was set with the government. You won't have access to it. You'll know that the drone's there, but they'll have access to like who's the pilot that's actually piloting that drone.

So is that similar to like a.

Wing number on an airplane?

It's more like. No, actually it's more like a GPS for you, for you as the person there. They do that. Now you have to pay $10 and you actually have to put some type of code or ID identification code on your drone now. So you have to register it. That's one thing I failed to mention. Any drone that's used for commercial needs to be registered. Anybody that flies a drone should be licensed. Just like a car, you should be licensed as well. We fully support that.

Which brings me. You just jumped right ahead and I love it because you didn't even know what I was going to ask.

I didn't.

That's what I was taking notes. I'd love. There's folks watching who probably have a drone and there's probably plenty, as you mentioned, that don't. So for those that don't, I would love to find out the best first steps, their needed action steps and then what you would recommend budget wise for them to get moving. And if you wish to share maybe like certain drone models to look at, that would be great. So yeah, budget first steps, what to do and.

Okay, yeah, let's start with first step. First steps is probably trying to find out what drone you have, right? Like what drones are going to be available to you. Meaning you should probably go to a website. You could probably compare manufacturers. I can suggest to you that roofing contractors today, probably 95% of them have got a manufacturer called DJI. And since that's kind of like the 800 pound gorilla, everybody's kind of like making apps for them or doing work with them to support them. You might hear of other companies called Autel or Skydio, but they are such A small, minuscule part of it that you're probably kind of taking a chance. You're a real pioneer if you're going to go with those guys. And there's a reason why DJI kind of rose to the top rather than working with these other drones that are out there. Manufacturers there are. So investigate is probably a first step from a budget perspective. They can range from about $499 to about, say, $1,600. There are what are considered to be three levels of drones. There are economy drones, there are professional drones, and there are industrial drones. The industrial drones are kind of like way overkill. You only need it if you're kind of like a public adjuster. You're doing cinematography, things like that. Those are usually in the thousands of dollars. Your economy drones are rather low cost. The reason that they're low cost is because they don't have all the same bells and whistles and features. They might not be as steady in the wind. They might not have as many sensors that are going to keep you safe. So that's kind of. They might have as long a battery life. There are things that you can do with what's called a professional drone that people will want as roofing contractors. So most of the contractors today, they'll have. If they're going to go off and buy it on themselves or buy it for a representative, they'll get either one or two models. They'll either get a DJI Mavic 2 Pro or a DJI Mavic 2 Zoom, and they're pretty much in the same price range. I think it's about. Without any extras, right? Without any extra blades or extra batteries or packages or things like that. I think the Mavic 2 Zoom is like 15 or Mavic 2 Pro is like 1599. Mavic 2 Zoom is like 1299. Around that, maybe it's 1350. You can get them refurbished. You can get that price down if you're okay to settle with ordering it through a website that says this is refurbished. What that specifically means is somebody returned it. The people at the other end looked it over, made any adjustments as necessary fluid, and put it back in the pack and said, put a sticker on it. That can knock your price down about $300. So refurbished drones could conceivably reduce your budget. The difference between the Mavic 2 Pro and a Mavic 2 Zoom in my mind comes down to one question. Do you work in an area where there's tree coverage or not? Are you in an area where you roof? Are you Kind of constantly, like, bobbing and weaving because there's trees on top of that roof. If that's the situation, then I'd recommend the Zoom. So you can be over here and look inward, underneath where that tree is, rather than, you know, where the pro. You got to bring your drill underneath it itself. Most people, if they're working on it, 20, 30 years of roofs, and it's new, they will get the Maviti Pro. They'll say, I have no issues. Works really great in the Midwest, Southern California, but you get to, like, Florida, Louisiana, maybe South Carolina. A lot of guys have got the Zoom because the trees are kind of covering it up a little bit. It's more tropical in nature. So I would look. I would look at. I'd look at those drones themselves. And then you can buy a drone without a license. You can test it. You could do whatever you want from a hobby perspective. But the second that you start working on somebody else's house, that's when you should be licensed. So you should look it up on the FAA website. Type in at part 107. What do I need? You probably join a group like Drones for Contractors, Facebook group. And therefore, you can ask these types of questions inside, because all of them have gone through the same process that you're going through, right? And then watch a couple videos, take the test at the end. You'll get a license in a couple weeks, but you got a temporary license, right? Online, say, yeah, I'm licensed, and it's good. It's good for everybody. You know, you don't want people to fly above 400ft. You don't want to potentially hurt an airplane, scare people. You'll fly over crowds. I mean, there's that. So I would. I would investigate first what the manufacturers are, figure out what drone you want. Purchase the drone knowing that you will be able to get the license, and you should be able to get the license. You do need to study for it. You do need to watch it. You just can't go in cold. And I know people that's like, I've been flying drones for years, but I failed, you know, so, you know, so you have to. You have to know that. You just. You just. There are questions on there. You got to study for you. And there are definitely videos out there that are free that you can watch and get the answers to the questions that you need.

Excellent, Jeffrey. Thank you. I'm going to summarize these key points, and then I'd like to turn it back to you to help folks who Might be interested to connect with you at Certify and or join the group. So we covered what I've written down as six major, excuse me, six primary reasons to use drones in the sales process. Number one is for scouting. And I'll be honest with you, it's something I never even thought of until the instant we were on this interview when you brought it up. So thank you for that. To help identify those areas, especially if you're working fringe areas, especially if you're working damage, it's not so bad, you don't want to waste time. It prevents you from having to knock doors and get up on roofs to gauge it if just, you know, can pop it up, fly it. So number one, scouting. Number two, damage documentation on the spot. This can help with a one call. Close again, respecting the homeowner's time. It's not about being pushy. Number three is measurements on the spot. Same reason Florida guys and gals, this is important for you. Number four is professionalism to position yourself as a technologically advanced company. Number five is for safety. If you can't access the roof or physical limitations, I love that. This could open up roofing sales to folks who otherwise couldn't because of physical limitations or disabilities. Number six, like the ice cream truck, getting attention from neighbors, I love it. And then again, those steps to get started we just covered. So Jeffrey, thank you for all of this. Share with us a 30 second commercial of what Certify is, who it might be for and how they can reach out. Should they be interested in either getting started or learning more.

Sure.

Great. Thank you. So to summarize, Certify is essentially identified by this concept of roof measurements in real time. So the idea here is that you're going to be able to get something almost instantly, whether you're a retail contractor or like I said, 15 minutes, you're going to get a fully baked roof measurement report. If you're doing exactware, you're going to get that in about an hour. Like an ESX file that you can upload, give it to your production guys so they don't make any errors in translation. So we're going to be doing that. We're going to be doing sighting, we're going to be doing object identification so that you don't have to count the pipe jacks and the turbo vents and all the things that might be missing from your estimate will be doing that eventually. So there's think about it as a platform or maybe even like a Swiss army knife. You've got roof measurements Siding measurements, you're going to have damage documentation, you're going to have ESX files. We can even do an estimate as well where maybe like you're used to sending out your images and your measurements to a supplementer and they take care of it. We will actually be able to do that as well. Yeah. So. And deliver that in half a day, within four hours. So all set? All ready to go. It's limited in terms of like, our rollout at this point, but we've been in existence for 13 years and we actually have a patent that would allow for all of this to occur, specifically creating a job estimate using a drone. So we're very proud of that patent that we received, we only a few years ago.

Excellent. Well, thank you for sharing all that. And I know that everyone's got many choices of different vendors to use. You've shared a lot with me. I love what I've seen so far. I encourage folks to reach out and as always, just for complete transparency, any guest that is on the podcast or the YouTube channel, I do not accept kickbacks. I am not an affiliate of anybody. I bring good people on who I feel like can benefit and share their message with the world. And to help us smash our income goals and roofing sales, that's the big idea. Jeffrey, thank you so much for being here. Is there anything that you'd like to leave our audience with in terms of contact information? The Facebook group, you, the website, you name it. Lay it on.

Thank you very much. Okay, so start off to get your educational experience going. I'd immediately join the Drones for Contractors Facebook group. It is a free group. I'm an admin. My partner's an admin. You'll get in right away. We like you to go to certify.com you can do one or two things. You can ask for the Certify Roof app and be able to download that app. We would send you a link after you've registered and then you can ask for additional information. That information could be the real stories for fallen roofers. It could be the how drone, how contractors are using drones today. Some of the PDFs so we can get your literature out that. I also encourage you to go to roofshots.com as well. Roof Shots. Dot has got a waste calculation on it. It's got an IRC adoption codes. It's got a workman's comp savings calculator right on the website itself. So if you're trying to justify the costs or want to save some money or realize how these measurements are put together. We're very transparent in terms of how we do it. It's right there. So you can always reach out to me, but best thing to do is go through the website certify.com, c E R T I.

Easy enough. Jeffrey, thank you again for enriching us with the topic of drones for sales teams and salespeople. I learned a lot. I hope others did. And thank you again for joining me.

Thank you. Thank you very much for having me, Adam.

We'll call it a wrap, guys.

We'll see you soon.

Thank you.