Honesty and transparency make trusted experts

RCS Influencer Aaron Weinstein says it's important to recommend the best long-term approach for your customer.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Aaron Weinstein of Terial. You can Read the interview below, Listen to the podcast or Watch the recording.

Jenny Yu: Hey everyone, this is Jenny Yu with RoofersCoffeeShop® today, and I'm here for a June Influencer response with Aaron Weinstein of Terial. How's it going today, Aaron?

Aaron Weinstein: Going great, Jenny. How are you?

Jenny Yu: I'm great as well. This month we are discussing sustainability and market demand. So we are wondering if you could share some thoughts on positioning yourself as a trusted expert outside of industry circles.

Aaron Weinstein: Absolutely. Happy to. I think the first observation that I would have is that roofing and construction and the trades are such a tight community. I think one of the best ways to position yourself as a contractor or a stakeholder within the industry is to always ensure that you're recommending the best long-term approach for your customer. So that means that if you're walking the roof and there's an irregularity in the HVAC, you can at least recommend a preferred contractor who specializes in HVAC to your client.

I think, as it relates to sustainability, similar philosophy here. There are a lot of our contractors out there who don't install solar, for example, or might not install green roofs, but within your network and within your community, I imagine that you probably know someone who does install that special type of system.

And for me, one thing that's helped us since we started is just being really transparent and honest about what you can do and what you can't do. And I think when it comes to positioning yourself as an advisor, people want to deal with honest contractors, and they want to deal with people who are going to give them the truth, whether that's the answer that's going to be most profitable for that person or not.

One of the things that I always just stand by as an owner of my business is: always share enough information where you would feel comfortable if someone if you were in that person's shoes, that you'd be well informed to make that decision. So oftentimes, if someone's looking for a specific solution, whether it's an accounting tool or something in a space that we don't necessarily have expertise in, I will recommend some of the tools or platforms that we've seen other contractors find success in.

Jenny Yu: Excellent. Awesome. Thank you so much, Aaron. And as always, you can learn more about Aaron and Terial at their RoofersCoffeeShop directories, and make sure you check out our other Influencer responses. Thank you.

Aaron Weinstein: Thank you.