The Contractor’s Secret Weapon: The AI Ad Strategy Behind Leak Busters’ Breakout Growth
In the highly competitive home service industry, contractors often struggle with wasted marketing dollars and low conversion rates. But what if the secret to doubling revenue wasn’t about simply generating more traffic, but mastering systems and embracing AI?
Richie Kleti, owner of Leakbusters Roofing, is one of the most brutally honest and forward-thinking contractors today. With over 32 years in the roofing industry, Kleti reinvented his entire business by diving deep into AI and marketing. After having negative experiences with various marketing agencies—including losing money on campaigns and spending up to $65,000 on one ad with a low return on investment—Kleti was pushed to build his own AI marketing system.
His results are significant: in recent months, Leakbusters has generated nearly $150,000 in sales of AI-driven ads.
The Power of AI Avatars in Disruption Marketing
Kleti’s breakthrough lies in his use of AI avatars and digital influencers for Meta (Facebook and Instagram) campaigns. His partner, Epha, is the mastermind behind the AI, utilizing a sophisticated platform called Double (DUBUIA/Attention Grabbers). This technology allows them to:
- Rapidly Produce Ads: Instead of spending thousands and hours on traditional video production (which often took Kleti four hours and cost $2,500), AI can create a killer ad with a full script in minutes.
- Utilize Digital Influencers: They primarily use digital influencers because they tend to perform better than ads featuring the company owner. By split-testing various influencers, they focus their energy on the avatars that generate the most clicks and responses.
- Drive Immediate Action: The ads leverage “disruption marketing”—catching people while they are scrolling on social media (like sitting on the toilet) and leading them to a site where they can get an instant estimate on their roof.
Richie emphasizes that being open about using AI is crucial; he brags about it and focuses on results over aesthetics. He notes that sometimes videos that look “weird” (like those created using older AI versions) still produce 10 to 15 times the amount of engagement.
Conversion is King: The Aggressive Follow-Up Strategy
One of the most critical lessons shared is that most roofing and home service companies suffer from a conversion problem, not a traffic problem. Kleti believes companies are just “intelligent systems away from doubling the revenue”.
Leakbusters treats every lead “like gold”. Their follow-up process is aggressive and intense:
- Multi-Channel Contact: They call, text, and email leads consistently.
- Physical Door Knocks: If a lead doesn’t respond after trying different angles, they will even show up to the customer’s house to make sure the customer received the estimate they requested online. This aggressive approach led to a one-star review, which Kleti noted only proved his system was working.
- The Rehash Pipeline: Leads are passed from one sales rep to another in a three-day rotation if no progress or contact is made. This strategy holds the sales team accountable and ensures that no opportunity is lost.
Richie explains that sales reps who call a $100–$200 lead only once are dropping money on the ground; they must pursue the lead until it is absolutely dead. For digital social media ads, follow-up may be necessary 7 to 14 times during the initial intensive two-week period, and then continue with monthly drips until the lead opts out.
Understanding Your Numbers: The Foundation of Growth
Richie learned the hard way that understanding KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) is paramount. He once hired an office manager without knowing how to read his financial reports, which resulted in the lady being able to rob him of almost a million dollars.
He advises contractors:
- Track Everything: You must track your lead sources and know your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). Not tracking where leads originate is a “very common mistake” among contractors, leading them to spend money wildly.
- CRM Integration is Essential: Leakbusters utilizes Go High Level (or a white label version like Contract Link) integrated with Job Nimbus. This allows them to see the full 100% picture of the lead lifecycle, from the Facebook campaign all the way to project completion. Richie stresses that marketing agencies need feedback on lead quality, and integrating the CRM is the easiest way to provide that data.
- Learn Before Delegating: The crucial takeaway is to learn how a system works first, and then delegate it. This ensures that owners understand their KPIs and can verify if their marketing experts are performing correctly.
Utilizing AI for Efficiency and Sales Training
AI extends far beyond just ad creation in Kleti’s business, making the company more efficient and lowering overhead.
- AI Estimator: Kleti’s team created a custom GPT that generates code-compliant Florida estimates from a simple voice prompt. The tool is linked to historical job data and manufacturer specifications, allowing new team members to quickly produce accurate, itemized repair estimates, eliminating the bottleneck of having senior staff price every job.
- AI Sales Coach: For sales training, they use an AI sales coach during their “sales cage match” exercises. Sales reps are miked up, and the AI provides detailed feedback on what they did well, what could have been better, their tone, and suggests how to better handle objections.
- Local Celebrity Content: To maintain top-of-mind awareness, Kleti pushes his team to create three to five pieces of digital content every single day across all platforms. This is crucial for becoming a “local celebrity” and helps the company gain relevance with AI agents and Google’s indexing, particularly since YouTube is owned by Google.
For contractors wanting to grow without wasting time or money, the message is clear: embrace AI or risk being embraced by it. You must know two things for sure: marketing (generating traffic) and sales (converting deals).
The transition to adopting AI and mastering your data is like moving from navigating a ship by the stars to using GPS: both methods can get you there, but only one provides the immediate, efficient, and precise data needed to correct course and reach your destination quickly.
