From Skepticism to Success - Les Williams opens up about Conklin Roofing Systems

Les Williams of TLC Pro Roofing in Tennessee freely admits that he had doubts about Conklin. “I was familiar with roofing because I had essentially roofed my way through school, doing shingle jobs. However, I never had much confidence in roof coatings, and Conklin coatings sounded too good to be true.”

Looking for a Change
The former civil engineer was in a transition period. He and his wife, Teresa, were looking for a new career opportunity when he discovered a Conklin ad placed by National Director Jerry Cruise. “Jerry and his wife Dorothy invited us to lunch and gave us a solid, credible presentation about Conklin – both the products and the opportunity.”

At that time, Teresa saw similarities between the Cruises and themselves. “Just as Les and I have always worked together, Jerry and Dorothy had worked together for years,” she says. “Also, they discovered Conklin at a time in their lives when they were struggling to find the right path for themselves and their family – and that’s exactly where we were when we met them. We were looking for a career change that would provide not only the opportunity to work together, but also the freedom to spend more time with our family – especially our grandbabies,” says Teresa.

But Les still wasn’t entirely convinced. “We asked him for the names of three Conklin contractors we could call for their perspectives,” says Les. “He referred us to Eddie Pack, Chad Hedrick, and Jeff Irwin. I called all three of them, and their stories were powerful as well.” Even so, the voice that ultimately convinced Les that Conklin was the right choice came from closer to home.

Reading the Signs
As Les spoke to Eddie, Chad, and Jeff, Teresa sat close by, having some daily devotional time. “When I hung up the phone,” Les remembers, “she told me that she’d felt confirmation from God that Conklin was the right thing for us.”

“I knew that Conklin was that opportunity, because I saw life coming back into Les as he spoke to the Conklin guys about roofing,” recalls Teresa. “Within 15 minutes, his demeanor changed; he was holding his head up, and speaking with confidence. I’ve always known that Les has a lot to offer the world, but at that moment I could see that he knew it, too. I looked at him and saw the man I married.”

“That,” Les smiles, “was what changed my initial skepticism to faith.”

That faith carried Les and Teresa through some challenging times with their new Conklin business. “We got off to a great start,” says Les. “We landed two good roofing jobs in a row, and earned the Bronze Destinations trip shortly after we started.” Soon, however, the jobs became smaller and money got tighter for the Williams family – and once again, Jerry’s strong mentoring changed their outlook (and their lives). “Jerry challenged us to step up our marketing strategies,” says Les. “We’d done some cold-calling, a couple of e-blasts, and some small trade shows, but we weren’t getting quality leads. After talking to Jerry, however, we took a leap of faith and sent out 10,000 direct-mail pieces.”

Taking that leap helped Les and Teresa land in a better place; not only did the mailing result in four substantial jobs, but their previous efforts began to bear fruit as well. “We received a call from a contractor who’d received one of our previous e-blasts,” says Les, “and that led to an 80,000 square-foot roof!”

Finding Their Way... Family-Style
Now, in their second year with Conklin, Les and Teresa have happily joined forces with their son Caleb in their Conklin roofing business. “One thing that really impressed us about Conklin,” says Teresa, “was going to our first National Convention in 2011, and seeing all the families in the business. I’m a firm believer in family, and I was really moved by seeing multiple generations of a family onstage together, receiving bonus checks.”

From the beginning, it was Les and Teresa’s dream to make their Conklin business a family business, too – “but we wanted it to be Caleb’s choice,” Teresa insists. When Caleb made the decision to join Les and Teresa in their roofing business, they traveled as a family to Conklin Business Seminar and Roof Systems Training. From that point on, says Teresa, “Caleb has been on fire! I am seeing the same confidence in him that I saw in Les when we were introduced to Conklin.”

Inspired by Caleb’s enthusiasm, Les and Teresa are working on increasing their sponsoring. They now have their sights set on becoming District Managers and members of the President’s Club. One goal they’ve already reached: they have met the volume requirement for the upcoming Master Contractor program! “The advice I’d give to anyone in this business,” they say, “is not to quit. When we had rough times, our Manager encouraged us to keep working the plan – and that has made all the difference.”

Please watch below to learn more about adding energy efficient, faster-to-install, higher profit Conklin cool roofing systems to your roofing company's service offerings:



Join the Conklin Roofing Systems team!
The Conklin Company provides innovative roofing systems for a wide variety of roofing applications, including metal roof renovation, single-ply recoat, fabric reinforced, polyurethane foam and EPDM coating systems. Conklin’s roofing systems are VOC compliant, lightweight, easy to maintain, and EPA Energy Star Rated.

Conklin is the nation’s #1 acrylic coating company by volume, offering low overhead and high profitability, 30 years of proven labor-saving applications, regional and national training programs, and low start-up costs.

Conklin Roofing Systems have been applied to over 2 billion square feet of roofing throughout the United States since 1977. We were the first manufacturer of acrylic roof coatings, which protect investments from the weather and provide energy efficiency. Our top products have met or exceeded the strictest standards for fire rating and code approvals.

For more information, please contact Randy Patton at (309) 303-3128, via email at rpatton55@comcast.net or visit WhiteRoofingSystems.com to learn more.