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Building a Culture That Cares with Greg Pirtle · Christian Business Growth Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to the Christian Business Growth Podcast.
• 0:03
  I'm on here with Greg Pertle and he and I have known each other for a long time.
• 0:07
  Um so Greg, how did God get you into business?
• 0:11
  All right, Lyle.
• 0:12
  Um, well, so for me, I I look back and it's been a series of relationships.
• 0:16
  So, of course, like you mentioned, you and I have known each other a long time, back to our ministry days and and after a a nearly two decade career in mostly youth and family
• 0:26
  ministry, uh, every business opportunity that I've had since then has come through relationships that I've built or that God has created in my life.
• 0:35
  And so I won't give you the whole history of it.
• 0:38
  But I will tell you where I am now with Qualus Roofing.
• 0:41
  I am actually working with one of my first youth ministry volunteers from 26 years ago.
• 0:50
  And we were friends briefly in college.
• 0:52
  But uh, we've known each other 26 years.
• 0:54
  We did ministry together, and it's through that relationship that God brought me into the role that I'm in now and the business that I'm helping lead now.
• 1:03
  Uh
• 1:04
  One of the things that's been great about it is uh that time between ministry and being at Qualis, God connected me with different people and gave me opportunities to grow, gave me
• 1:16
  opportunities to learn, opportunities to fail.
• 1:19
  And I needed all of that.
• 1:21
  But about three or four years ago, I was ready for something different.
• 1:27
  I was working for a company that was based out of another state, and they were wanting people to move up there.
• 1:33
  I did not want to leave Texas, of course, and in my home.
• 1:36
  So I put feelers out to my network.
• 1:39
  I was doing interviews and connecting with people and had some different opportunities.
• 1:44
  And uh my friend who founded Qualist came and and said reached out to me and said, let's go to lunch.
• 1:51
  And it was the first time in a long time that I heard someone say, Here's why we want you.
• 1:59
  And it was because of the gifts that God had given me.
• 2:02
  It was because of the passions that God had created in me.
• 2:06
  It was because of the skills that I had learned along the way.
• 2:09
  And so all of that was known because of the relationship that I had with Kelly, our founder.
• 2:15
  But more than that, there are so my very best friend from birth uh that grew up together in Houston in the same church.
• 2:22
  Uh, we went to church together here.
• 2:24
  We were roommates in college.
• 2:25
  Uh, he is one of our VPs uh that's been a part of the
• 2:30
  early success of this company.
• 2:32
  And so I have former students that are on the team.
• 2:35
  And so uh it's been a place where God has really blessed us through the relationships that we have.
• 2:43
  And so yeah, so it's it's it's exciting and it's fun to see and to know that every day when I go to work, I am working with people that I know and love and trust.
• 2:55
  And they know and love and trust me.
• 2:57
  And so
• 2:58
  Just to kind of fast forward to to where we are, how how God got me into business and what I am doing with this.
• 3:05
  So um this this roofing company started by some people who had known the roofing industry but saw
• 3:15
  Roofing is ripe for dishonesty.
• 3:19
  And they saw an opportunity to be a company that was different, to treat employees better, to treat homeowners better, to really work and lead and serve in an honest way.
• 3:31
  And uh they built that, but uh with the home base being in Arlington, but they looked at Dallas and Collin County, had some business in in these areas and they said, We need a
• 3:42
  leader there.
• 3:44
  And because of my relationship, relationships plural, I should say that, they reached out to me and it seemed different than anything else that was on the table at the time, but it
• 3:55
  was completely the right move.
• 3:57
  And like I said, it was the first time that anybody, or the first time in a long time, people had said, I know you, you have these gifts and skills.
• 4:06
  That's what we need.
• 4:07
  And I've been able to work out of my passions and gifts and skills and
• 4:11
  And we've grown this team and we've grown this company.
• 4:13
  And now I'm on the leadership team.
• 4:15
  I am in the ownership group of the company.
• 4:19
  And so I'm I'm just grateful for those relationships.
• 4:21
  And who would have thought that a young youth minister with a young youth volunteer would lead to where we are now?
• 4:29
  So yeah, that's that's how God got me into business.
• 4:32
  There's more to the story, but but I think that's a good pathway.
• 4:36
  Yeah, that's that's great.
• 4:37
  So talk about we're just gonna kinda cover this a little bit, the the gift factor.
• 4:40
  How do you how do you align your gifts with what you're doing currently?
• 4:44
  Hmm, man, that's a great question.
• 4:46
  So I you you know me, and you know my gifts really are in people, like working with people, uh developing people, leading people, uh dealing with conflict, which you know, in
• 4:59
  any business and any job, there's going to be conflict, whether it's among the team or or with clients, people that you serve.
• 5:06
  But um, all of those gifts come into play.
• 5:10
  And so particularly, so one of my roles is to recruit.
• 5:13
  To train, to hire, and to develop our team.
• 5:16
  So uh I started, like I said, three or four years ago.
• 5:20
  I started this market, had the support of these friends in the main office.
• 5:24
  We've grown to um, I have 11 guys on our team in this area throughout Dallas and Collin County, even into Denton and some over in Tarrant County.
• 5:34
  And a lot of my gifts have been used not just to develop them professionally, but
• 5:42
  I sit with them at a coffee shop and hear about their lives and hear the struggles that they're dealing with or hear the joys that they're experiencing.
• 5:50
  I get to pray with the guys on my team.
• 5:53
  Uh, they trust me enough.
• 5:54
  Even yesterday, I got a a uh phone call from one of the guys on my team, just really kind of struggling with some things personally.
• 6:01
  And so God has used that gift.
• 6:04
  Like apparently I didn't leave ministry.
• 6:06
  Roofing is just a new marketplace for ministry.
• 6:09
  And so that's how I align my gifts.
• 6:12
  I am out in the field with my team.
• 6:16
  I'm meeting with homeowners with them to help make sure that they know that that that homeowner knows that you're not just getting one person, you're getting an entire team
• 6:24
  that's serving you.
• 6:25
  And so um my my love for people, you know, that comes from love for God and God's love for us.
• 6:32
  I try to display that in every situation I'm in with my team, with our business, but even beyond that.
• 6:39
  And I think you know me well enough that.
• 6:41
  Not always perfect at it for sure, but it's it's my mission and it's it's what I'm called to be and do.
• 6:47
  And that's how I'm trying to align those gifts and those passions with what I'm doing right now.
• 6:52
  And it's been a great fit.
• 6:54
  That's great.
• 6:54
  Yeah, we talk a lot about business being ministry, but I don't think anybody's ever kind of brought out the shepherding aspect.
• 7:00
  As a business owner, you're shepherding those people who are under your care.
• 7:04
  Yeah, it's I I mean, I have a res I wake up every day with feeling the responsibility to pray for them, to connect with them, to hear not just what's going on in business, but
• 7:17
  also in in life.
• 7:19
  And so I I want those guys on my team, and and we have some women that work for us too.
• 7:26
  I I don't have any on my team right now, but I want men and women that are on our team to know that.
• 7:32
  I do love and care for them and their success is important to me because that's their family they're trying to take care of and provide for.
• 7:41
  They're trying to honor God with their work and their life.
• 7:44
  And and I will say that sometimes I I I know a lot of roofers that are hard workers, but I know some that aren't.
• 7:50
  And and it's it's that way in any industry.
• 7:53
  I can tell you to a person, every single person on our team wakes up and gives.
• 8:01
  their best effort every single day doing what they have to do to make sure that people are taken care of and the job gets done right.
• 8:08
  So it does make it a little bit easier when we have a culture of everyone's working hard for one another.
• 8:15
  Everyone truly does care about each other.
• 8:17
  And and we've had to weed a couple of people out that didn't fit that.
• 8:22
  But I would rather I would rather keep a culture of people that love and respect one another and
• 8:28
  And for the most part, our our godly people, our are Christian people trying to honor God and their work too.
• 8:34
  So yeah, I I wake up every day and I think about them.
• 8:38
  And and I think anybody that's in a management or leadership position, we can't just think about ourselves.
• 8:44
  Uh, we have to think about the people on our team and what we can do to set them up for success.
• 8:50
  That's great.
• 8:50
  And we're you've kind of talked a little bit about what God's currently doing in your business, but is there anything specific that God's kind of doing with you right now in
• 8:57
  your business?
• 8:58
  Yeah.
• 8:59
  Um man, there are a lot of things, Lyle.
• 9:02
  There I feel like there's always some like every time I think, you know what, I've I've just learned all of this, something pops up and I'm like, I gotta learn this now.
• 9:10
  And so, um, not so much on the technical side, but but in what I I'm very self-reflective.
• 9:16
  I journal.
• 9:17
  In fact, I keep my journal with me everywhere I go.
• 9:20
  I was journaling before we jumped on this call.
• 9:23
  Um, I am constantly writing down like
• 9:26
  what is God pointing me to?
• 9:27
  What is God pointing out about myself?
• 9:29
  And so in our business right now, I I see what what I see with our team is that they're having to drive a little bit farther to to take care of people who are dealing with storm
• 9:41
  damage.
• 9:41
  They're having to put in a little more time and effort.
• 9:44
  And it would be real easy to slack off and say, you know, it's not, it's not right around me.
• 9:51
  So I'm going to let somebody else handle that.
• 9:53
  But but we're not doing that.
• 9:55
  We're going to the people that have the need.
• 9:57
  And sometimes that takes more time.
• 9:59
  Sometimes that takes more energy.
• 10:01
  But the the effort is there.
• 10:04
  And what I am the way God is continuing to grow me through that is a reminder that, you know, I mean, that's kind that's that's the biblical story.
• 10:14
  That's the gospel story.
• 10:15
  And that God didn't wait for us to come to Him.
• 10:18
  God came to us in Jesus.
• 10:20
  And so uh while we are not Jesus.
• 10:24
  in the roofing industry, we are called to go to the people that have need and not just wait for people to come to us.
• 10:32
  And you know what, a lot of people will say no, thank you.
• 10:35
  That's okay.
• 10:35
  Um, but when we do find somebody that has that need and that wants to work with us, we know the experience they're gonna get because we're gonna take care of them.
• 10:45
  We're gonna do everything the way it should be done.
• 10:48
  And we're gonna be, if something goes wrong, we're gonna be with them.
• 10:51
  until the very end and and we're gonna take care of it out of our own pocket if we have to.
• 10:56
  So I think right now God is just reminding me to be faithful in in the little things and in doing your job well, regardless of whether every single person chooses to give us
• 11:10
  business or not.
• 11:11
  At the end of the day, it's not about ultimately it's not about growing our business.
• 11:16
  That's a byproduct of of being honest and taking care of people.
• 11:21
  And loving and serving well.
• 11:24
  Absolutely.
• 11:24
  And being a in a Christian business, that servant attitude or that following Jesus and that servant like leadership is very important to what we do.
• 11:33
  So we're gonna shift gears a little bit and move into our business growth tips.
• 11:36
  And I'm excited to hear about yours because I haven't heard what you're talking about.
• 11:39
  So it'd be kind of fun to hear about this.
• 11:41
  So share what you want to tell us about growing our business.
• 11:44
  What are you doing that's working in your business that you kind of find unique?
• 11:47
  Yeah, so um if anybody's aware of the the roofing and and uh construction industry, we're not known for having the best customer service.
• 12:00
  that's that we in general uh as far as a as as an industry.
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  So one of the things that we put a high priority on on customer service.
• 12:10
  And so our initiative right now that we're doing internally.
• 12:14
  is we kind of we kind of took this from the Savannah Bananas, if anybody's familiar with them, because they, you know, they're they're making baseball different.
• 12:22
  it's not major leagues, but they're making it a really entertaining product.
• 12:27
  And what they do is is they have these moments, and we're trying to copy that in our business, uh, of you wouldn't believe moments.
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  So what's that moment that someone who's expecting their roof to be replaced wouldn't expect
• 12:44
  that person, that crew to do X.
• 12:47
  And it could be little things.
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  one, you know, one thing, if you look around the industry with roofing, most of the time when a roof is being done and and as you're driving through your neighborhoods, when you
• 12:58
  see a roof being done, you probably will not see somebody from the actual roofing company on site.
• 13:05
  I would say about nine times out of 10, the person that sold the roof, the person that knocked on the door, the person that came out and did the inspection,
• 13:12
  They may show up for a minute, but um but then they're off and they're just leaving the crew there to do the work.
• 13:18
  We have great crews, but it's important to me that we are on site throughout that day.
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  And uh so so one of the things that allows us to do is it allows us to look for little things that need to be done.
• 13:31
  It allows us to to be a little a little cleaner, hopefully.
• 13:34
  Uh to consider neighbors and talk to neighbors and make sure their yards are clean.
• 13:39
  But
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  Like here's an example the other day because one of our guys was on site and uh this was a a family that's selling their home.
• 13:47
  They needed a roof replacement in order to be able to sell the home.
• 13:52
  So we're replacing the roof.
• 13:54
  Well, they're also selling a bunch of their furniture.
• 13:57
  Well, in the middle of this roof replacement, so uh an older lady pulls up to pick up some furniture that she bought from them on Facebook Marketplace or one of those.
• 14:07
  Well, our guy on site.
• 14:09
  saw her pull up and saw what was going on and he said, let me get a couple of the crew members out here and let us get all your car loaded for you.
• 14:18
  And so he grabbed a couple of crew members and he himself, uh, three or four of them, just went, they grabbed all the furniture, loaded her car.
• 14:26
  I think she even offered to pay him a little money and he laughed and, you know, said, no, we just want to take care of you.
• 14:31
  So uh just little things like that.
• 14:33
  Uh we had a we had a crew, a couple of crew members that helped a homeowner unload their groceries one time.
• 14:39
  Um, because they got home during this and said, Let me let me do that for you.
• 14:43
  Sometimes it's just little things of of noticing people and doing something that is maybe not in your job description, but it's just caring for the person in the moment in simple
• 14:56
  ways.
• 14:57
  Um, even another thing that I think of is we had a uh a roof we were doing this summer.
• 15:04
  They had
• 15:04
  Four little kids.
• 15:06
  And if you can imagine having a roof replacement with four little kids in the house, it could create chaos.
• 15:11
  So our uh one of our uh project managers who was running that job, he was the one that sold that job.
• 15:20
  He went and got a movie gift card and a pizza gift card out of his own pocket and just said, Hey, this afternoon when we're in the loudest part of the day, why don't y'all go to
• 15:30
  the movies and
• 15:31
  And enjoy some pizza.
• 15:32
  I'll be on site.
• 15:33
  I'll send you photos of everything that's going on.
• 15:36
  And they appreciated that so much.
• 15:38
  So, you know, you wouldn't believe moments are they don't have to be big, but just doing something that uh surprises people.
• 15:49
  Like I want to surprise people at the level of service they get, but not just the level of service, it's the fact that they feel seen and cared for.
• 15:58
  Exactly.
• 15:58
  And I love that you said that 'cause we in business you could talk about the wow moments and everybody talks about those, but you're talking about heart touches.
• 16:04
  You're talking about those heart moments where you're going beyond and looking looking for something beyond just one little thing you can do.
• 16:11
  Like that's just that's a powerful thing.
• 16:14
  you have any other examples?
• 16:15
  Those are kind of fun.
• 16:16
  Um there was one there was a a lady this was uh a year or so ago where she she wasn't able to get her yard mowed and we were about to do her roof the next day and one of our guys
• 16:30
  took his lawnmower out and mowed her yard before the roof replacement so that it would be easier to make sure we're cleaning up for nails and everything.
• 16:38
  But but he also wanted her house to look good.
• 16:40
  We're getting a brand new roof.
• 16:42
  Let's make your your yard look good too.
• 16:44
  Um
• 16:45
  Another one like here and here's one that I did.
• 16:47
  Uh very simple again.
• 16:49
  So when it was uh when it got really cold this past winter, I had several homeowners that I had served last you know, last summer and into the fall.
• 17:00
  And we were about to have that cold snap and everybody was gonna be frozen in for three or four days.
• 17:03
  Uh luckily I don't think it was three or four days now that I think about it.
• 17:07
  I'm probably PTSD from twenty twenty one, maybe.
• 17:10
  Um but uh I just I went to I went to Target.
• 17:14
  And I grabbed some gift bags and I just threw in some hot chocolate and hot tea, a couple of families that we had served.
• 17:21
  I threw in a little five dollar card game.
• 17:23
  And I just went around to some houses nearby of of people that I had done roofs for and inspections for.
• 17:29
  And I dropped just dropped off a little gift bag with, you know, I mean, they were they weren't much, but I just wanted them to know, I'm thinking about you as this as this
• 17:39
  cold's coming.
• 17:40
  Thank you for choosing me to to do your roof.
• 17:43
  I
• 17:44
  I'm still here.
• 17:45
  I still care about you even after the business has been completed.
• 17:49
  And so that was really fun, actually.
• 17:52
  I loved that.
• 17:52
  And um I had one homeowner that texted me.
• 17:55
  I I also got some little uh like sweetbreads from a uh local bakery here and and dropped those in.
• 18:04
  And I got a text from one of the homeowners saying, um, I was craving hot chocolate and some sweetbreads.
• 18:11
  And I'm like, man, how like that's gotta be God right there, right?
• 18:14
  So anyway, that just that that makes me happy to do those things.
• 18:18
  And and are there more stories?
• 18:19
  Yes.
• 18:20
  Like across our our team, every every week we celebrate those as a as a team.
• 18:27
  And it's fun to hear those stories.
• 18:28
  And it keeps it keeps that culture of wanting to serve people, not just to get business, but because we actually care.
• 18:37
  And and it's it just makes it a fun place to work.
• 18:41
  Absolutely.
• 18:41
  And the fact you're celebrating it means you're gonna get more of it.
• 18:44
  Cause that's how you that's how people that becomes part of your culture.
• 18:47
  I we talked at our networking group recently.
• 18:49
  You know, it's when you're doing business, it's not transactional, it's relational.
• 18:53
  You're not just doing a roof and moving on.
• 18:55
  You're going back to these people saying, Hey, I still care about you guys.
• 18:58
  You gave me money, but it's okay.
• 18:59
  I'm still I still care about you.
• 19:00
  That's that's a powerful thing that in our world today that we're missing, that connection, that deeper connection.
• 19:06
  That's why you've had these relationships you've had for over 20 years.
• 19:09
  I think you and I have known each other for over twenty years now.
• 19:11
  I didn't be old, buddy.
• 19:13
  See all the gray hair?
• 19:15
  Is it really?
• 19:17
  Right?
• 19:18
  Yeah, yeah.
• 19:19
  All right.
• 19:20
  So as we end up here, I want you to leave us with one little tidbit of wisdom and tell us how we get in touch with you.
• 19:25
  One little tidbit of wisdom.
• 19:28
  man, I would say, so this was this was a reminder from a good friend of mine this weekend that I spoke to, and and he's kind of having a tough time in business.
• 19:39
  And he he went through two or three things that he was frustrated with, and he ended with this.
• 19:44
  He said, But I remind myself every day to be thankful.
• 19:51
  And
• 19:52
  Man, I needed to hear that because it can be really easy to focus on the negative and and to get so into growth mode and work mode that we stop uh we we just don't we just don't
• 20:05
  take time to be grateful for what we do have.
• 20:09
  And I've found that again, my journal my journal here is filled with moments of I'm writing in frustration and then I'm like, you know what though, God, I'm that's a reminder
• 20:20
  to be grateful.
• 20:21
  And it just resets my mind.
• 20:23
  And I think it it reminds me of who the giver of all of this is.
• 20:30
  And so be grateful in the good times, be grateful in the difficult times.
• 20:36
  I'm pretty sure that's biblical.
• 20:39
  But um, and and then how to how to contact me, you know what?
• 20:44
  I you can go through Qualas Roofing through our web website, Qualis GC.com, but I would say
• 20:50
  I don't know, like most people just reach out to me via text.
• 20:53
  you can find me on social media.
• 20:55
  I'm on Facebook, uh Greg Pertle.
• 20:58
  That's my name.
• 20:58
  That's the only one I have in go by.
• 21:00
  Um you can find me.
• 21:01
  I I'm on the Christian business uh network page also, which is a great uh a great group of of people and and business leaders in our community.
• 21:13
  Um so I don't know, my cell number is 817-658-6431.
• 21:19
  Feel free to text, call if you have a roofing question, if you have a ministry question, if you just want somebody to pray for you, like man, I I you don't even have to tell me
• 21:28
  your name.
• 21:28
  Just say, Hey, I saw you through Lyle's podcast.
• 21:30
  Would you pray this for me?
• 21:32
  I will absolutely do that for you.
• 21:33
  So um, you know, reach out Greg at qualisgc.com.
• 21:38
  Um, I'm available, I'm here, I am trying to just live.
• 21:44
  live a life that's open to God's calling and and to ministry opportunities as they come up.
• 21:49
  And sometimes that opportunity is a business opportunity and sometimes it's just uh serving people and loving people where they are.
• 21:56
  So
• 21:57
  Well, thank you for that and thanks for being with us today.
• 22:00
  Yeah, thanks for having me, Lyle.