If you can't say how many financed roofs you did last year, you can't say whether the program is worth its dealer fees or the time your office spends on it. Tracking gives you that answer with a handful of numbers, collected the same way every month.
What it is
We set up a simple monthly report covering five stages:
| Stage | What we count | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Estimates written | All replacement estimates | Your office or software |
| Financing raised | Estimates where the option was discussed | Estimator notes |
| Information requested | Homeowners who asked for the lender's details | Office log |
| Applications | Homeowners who applied with the lender | Totals from your lender, if it reports them |
| Signed jobs | Replacements signed, split by financed and not | Your records |
Each stage is a count, not a list of people. We don't need names, and we never handle credit data.
Who it's for
It's for any roofing company with a lender partner, but it matters most if you're paying dealer fees or merchant discounts on financed jobs. Those costs are worth paying if financing adds signed roofs, and worth questioning if it doesn't.
What's included
- a one-page definition of each stage, so your team records things the same way
- a tracking sheet or set-up in your existing software
- a monthly report with the five counts, last season's comparison and two or three plain observations
- a quarterly call to decide what to change: wording, timing, scripts or ad spend
- a season-end summary for your planning
How to read the numbers
The most useful ratios are:
- Raise rate: the share of estimates where financing came up. If it's low, look at your estimator scripts before anything else.
- Request rate: of those, how many wanted the lender's information. If it's low, the description may be confusing or the timing wrong.
- Signed rate, financed versus not: whether homeowners who used the program signed more, or chose bigger options.
Here's a worked example. In a season with 180 estimates, financing comes up in 90, 30 homeowners ask for details, and 12 sign financed jobs. If your overall signing rate didn't change from last year, financing may simply be replacing cash payments. If it rose, the program is likely adding work. Either way, you now know which conversation to have.
Timeline
- Week 1: agree definitions and set up the sheet.
- Weeks 2–4: your office starts recording; we check the first entries for consistency.
- End of month 1: first report, with a note on any data gaps.
How results are measured
For this service, success means you get an accurate report every month without your office spending more than a few minutes a week on it. Whether financing is working is the question the report answers, and we'll give you the honest answer either way.
The season-end review
At the end of each season we sit down with you for an hour and go through the full year. The agenda is short:
- How many replacements did you sign, and how many used financing?
- Did homeowners who financed choose larger or upgraded options more often?
- Which part of the funnel lost the most people: raising the option, requesting details, applying or signing?
- What did financing cost you in dealer fees or discounts, and what did it add?
- What one change is worth testing next season?
That last question keeps the review practical. One well-chosen change, measured properly, beats five half-finished experiments.
Mistakes to avoid
- Counting only financed jobs. Without the total, you can't tell whether financing added work or just changed how people paid.
- Comparing winter to spring. Seasonal swings swamp everything else.
- Collecting more than you need. Personal and financial details create privacy duties; counts don't. The federal privacy commissioner's overview explains which privacy law applies where.
Tracking pairs well with every other service on the services page, and our quote math guide uses the same stages.
Frequently asked questions
Will you see my customers' credit information?
No. We work with counts, such as how many homeowners applied or used the program, which your lender may report to you in its dealer statements. We never ask for or store anyone's financial details.
What software do I need?
A spreadsheet works. If you use a job management or customer system, we'll pull counts from it instead of asking your office to type them twice.
How soon will I see a trend?
Give it one full season. Roofing is so seasonal that month-to-month comparisons mislead; the useful comparison is this spring against last spring.
What if the numbers say financing isn't working?
Then we'll say so and look at why. It might be the wording, the timing, the lender's approval criteria in your area, or simply that your customers prefer to pay cash.