Managing Partner, Andrew Schmidt was featured in the ‘Young Guns’ Edition of Roofing Contractor Magazine. The excerpt below was taken from the original article, March 4, 2016, which can be found here.
Art Aisner is the author and editor at Roofing Contractor Magazine. Andrew Schmidt’s start in the roofing industry was hardly what one would call typical.
Shortly after high school, he enrolled at Belhaven University, a Christian liberal arts college in Jackson, Miss., where he studied classic theater. He spent roughly a decade pursuing an acting career and then turned his outgoing personality and strong presentation skills toward sales. After about a year as a sales manager for TMG Marketing, he ventured with business partners Tomas Wolfram and Jim Horning to revamp and rebrand Core Roofing + Solar Inc. in 2009.
The Denver-based business is growing rapidly in an increasingly competitive roofing market largely by investing in a relational marketing concept focused on creating partnerships that drive revenue through relationships. Schmidt said he quickly began to enjoy building a team and creating opportunities for people to invest in their own personal development and improve the quality of their lives.
His passion for people and business development drove the company to focus on the fundamental building blocks of purpose and cultural vibrancy. The staff now lives by the purpose statement of “Doing it Right Matters,” and infuses this mindset into every aspect of the business.
“When we encounter a problem, we want our people to think about it and solve it by coming up with a solution,” he said. “The more we invested in our people, the more they referred their friends and family to be part of the company.”
From 2014-15, the staff doubled and generated 100 percent revenue growth in back-to-back years, Schmidt said.
The Denver community noticed too, awarding Core Roofing + Solar the 2014 Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics, sponsored by the Better Business Bureau.
“Look at the power of the purpose statement, because that’s what it was that made the difference,” he told attendees at Best of Success 2015.
