At The Tender Age of 25, Brett Tesson Began A One-Of-A-Kind Roofing Company Dedicated To Customer Service
While working in the home improvement and remodeling industries, Brett Tesson quickly realized how bad customers were being treated. Dishonesty and being ignored were just two ways companies were treating their customers. He decided to do something to change it.
His solution: Tesson Roofing and Exteriors, a company he founded 8 years ago.
“I wasn’t happy with the way customers were being treated,” he said. “Customer service is everything. If you are not upfront and honest with your customers and treating them correctly, there are too many alternatives in this industry.”
At the young age of 25, Tesson began the company with the foundation of customer-service first. “In her career, my mother had a strong background in customer service,” he said. “She instilled in me how important it is to take care of your customers and focus on the basics.”
Even though he was one of the youngest owners in his industry, he never let that bother him or derail his focus on growing the business. “I always used my age as a motivation,” he said. “I wanted to make sure I took the proper steps to build the company the right way, by focusing on the basics and putting a strong foundation in place.”
For Tesson Roofing and Exteriors, the basics mean having a live person available to answer the phone, over communicating and being open and honest with customers. “We want to make sure customers have the correct and accurate information they need to make the very best decisions,” he said.
Tesson began the company humbly, with just himself as an employee. A month later he added another employee. Today, the firm has 15 employees, plus contractor crews. The company provides full service roofing, siding, gutters and gutter guards. Tesson began the company by offering only residential services. Three years later he started providing commercial services as well.
When he got to a point where business was ready to launch into rapid growth mode, he looked for help. His accountant suggested he contact SCORE. “I had a lot of ideas for the future, but I didn’t really have a resource I could turn to for help me turning those ideas into reality,” he said. SCORE provides free small business mentoring to entrepreneurs and small business owners. SCORE is a non-profit, volunteer organization, whose mission is to promote the success of small business in the St. Louis area. One of the methods SCORE uses to help their clients is a process called the Business SCAN. The Business SCAN is a team-based, in-depth analysis of existing business to identify opportunities and make recommendations for improving bottom line performance. The Business SCAN process is designed to provide the business owner a picture of the business as viewed through the eyes of experienced counselors as they examine your management, operations, marketing, sales, finances and make recommendations on how the organization can grow and improve.
Tesson said the SCAN was instrumental in building his business for future growth. “The Business SCAN provided invaluable information,” he said. “With SCORE, you get to work with experienced, veteran business professionals whose only agenda is to help your business grow and share their experiences with you For Tesson, SCORE helped him identify some of the gaps he had in his business, and the organization helped him better understand his numbers and financials. With a better knowledge of his numbers, he said he can now better manage not only the day-to-day operations of the business, but he can also make more informed long-term decisions.
Tesson is focused on growing the business and continuing to focus on customer service. He plans to add more employees in the near future. Said Tesson: “We want to embrace our work staff and continue to expand and build our culture. Our goal is to make sure that each and every customer is satisfied with not only the job, but our service and commitment to our customers.”
Submitted 6 years 275 days ago