After You Get Their Roof Approved? "Where's Your Estimate?"

You do all of the work to meet the customer, help them find out their roof is damaged, get them to sign the contingency agreement, meet with their adjuster, get their roof approved, only to have them turn on you. Right like that. And then they say, well, what's your estimate? And you look around, you're like, what the heck? And you start thinking they're an evil person, they're a horrible person, they're taking advantage of you, and you get really angry. And believe me, I've been there. In fact, I worked on this project where I landed a deal in a neighborhood that I was just opening up. And I had no competition. I'd done three or four roofs in the neighborhood. I get this one roof, it was the biggest roof in the neighborhood. It's a giant U shaped house. And I was so pumped, I got the contingency agreement signed, find out when the adjuster was going to be there, and I showed up. But then I see, checking the time, checking the time. 20 minutes late, 30 minutes late, 40 an hour. It's 95 degrees out in Wisconsin summer with like 100% humidity, and I am roasting two hours in, the adjuster rolls up, and this gentleman was so large, he couldn't even get on the roof. He hands me his chalk, he hands me his camera and tells me to go up, mark up the roof, and come on down. So I do. And you know that feeling, right? The total overjoyed glee because, you know, this one's in the bag. He just gave me the chalk, he gave me the camera. We're on it. So I'm up there, I do the work, I bring it down, we go through the photos. He goes, yep, I'm buying the roof. He didn't even go up to talk to the homeowner. I did. And as I'm telling the homeowner, I am overjoyed because I love making my customers happy. So here I am, all jazzed up, coming down off the roof, ring that doorbell with pride, give him the news that I got his roof approved. And then he turns on me like that. And from the joy, the connection, shooting the breeze, I get the arms crossed. Great, I'll wait for your estimate. And he closes the door in my face. And I never got that deal. This stuff sucks. And the reason I'm doing this video right now is because Jarrett reached out to our Facebook page and was struggling with the same thing. Jarrett, thank you, man. You inspired this. And I know we exchanged the messages and we got you set before this video. So what ended up happening there is. I got to learn one of the most valuable lessons of my life because communication became the problem. I realized that I was at fault. I realized that I did not set clear expectations. I realized that in my head I had said everything right, but I didn't. I just thought everything right. And the way I communicated it didn't land with my customer, which is why he never became one. So in this video, I'm going to help you diagnose or pinpoint the exact reason that this has happened or will happen. And then I'm going to show you a very simple way to keep this from happening ever again. First, want to say thank you for joining me today. Welcome or welcome back. My name is Adam Bensman, the roof strategist and everything I do here on my channel is designed to help you and your team smash your income goal and give every customer an amazing experience. And if you haven't done this yet, I do have a freebie for you. It's my pitch. Look a pro roofing sales training video library. All the videos I've ever done organized by category and it's a perfect starter track for new sales reps, teams, owners or managers looking for more training. When you want to binge on certain topics, this is where you want to turn. Go to the roofstrategist.com right now or click the link in the video description and I will send you a copy 100% free. Alright, now let's get to today's video. After you get them approved, where's your estimate? Let's break down why this happens. First, the communication gap. The communication gap goes as follows. And by the way, this took me a really long time to kind of crack the code to. But there's you, right? So here's you. By the way, I'm sure you're way prettier than I'm drawing you, but we'll roll with this. Then there's what you're thinking, okay. And then there's, you have to process these thoughts into words and then there's what you say and then here's your customer and they going to be hearing and processing something different. Think, say, hear a lot of different steps. How often have you said something and someone like corrects you and you're like, no, that's what I meant. Right point. Exactly. That is exactly what happens. You think you said it perfectly but you mix it up. Like on my videos Sheena and I were filming the other day and she goes, you've always mixed up the saying. You always say there's a pot for every lid. But no one starts with a lid. They start with a pot. There's a lid for every pot. But in my mind, it's the same thing, right? So there was a disconnect between what I was thinking and what I was saying, and I ended up sounding silly. So if you've seen that on my other videos, I apologize. Sheena caught it. All right, so this disconnect breaks down expectations. Okay? So expectations are unclear. And when expectations are unclear, we have problems. So what this likely means is this simple, and I hate to say it, but it's probably, with rare exception, your fault. Now, I know that's bold, right? I don't. How can I say it's your fault? It's only because I've served thousands of sales reps, and I've gone through this process countless times that I see each and every time where I was on the phone trying to recover a deal, it was all due to expectations. I don't care if the paperwork's right. It is almost always due to expectations. So there's two corrective action plans here, and then I have a fallback option for the 5 to 10% that aren't an expectations problem. It's a slimy person problem. All right, let's face it. It's neighbor or a friend that has someone chattering in their ear, put a bug in their ear, so to speak, saying, hey, you could get this done cheaper and pocket some money, or I got a roofer to eat my deductible. And when that stuff happens, yeah, that can throw a monkey wrench. So I do want to acknowledge the fact that that can happen. And if that is happening to you, I highly recommend you watch the video. We're going to put the card right up here. It's getting past the give me an estimate objection, and I'll break down how to overcome that if it does come up. But for the sake of this video, since it's about 90% expectations, let's start there. All right, number one, this is what the most powerful fix is. Are you ready? Role play. All right. Why do I say role play? Because owners, managers out there, I know you're tuning in as well. And you and I both know you don't know what's happening in the home. And there are so many times where you're going to be communicating, talking to a rep, where they say, oh, that's exactly what I'm saying. Tell me what you're saying. Oh, that's exactly what I'm saying. But then you do role play and you pinpoint exactly what's not being said. It's only through live action role play that we can truly figure out what's going on. So if this does keep happening to you, what I want you to do is get with a buddy on your team, the owner or a manager, and do some role play going through the contingency agreement and how you set expectations for how the process will unfold. Because I know there are people that don't use the contingency agreement. By the way, I am a big fan and if you're on the fence on using them, I highly recommend you watch my video. We'll put a card up here on contingency agreement, yes or no. And I weigh out kind of those pros and cons. So whether you use a contingency or not, either way, it is about those expectations. So role play is the far and away best way to get better at this. But now this, again, is to highlight where that problem is. One little pro tip. If you don't have someone to role play, film yourself, grab your smartphone, pull it out, film yourself going through it. There's something magical about watching yourself from a third party. It's a perspective that's really weird. It's new, but you see yourself in truly a totally different light. And you might even be able to pinpoint be like, holy smokes. When I was in it and talking about it, like, everything seemed to make sense, but when I watched it back didn't, that's where I messed up. So again, film yourself. All right, now let's break down the key action item for you to do in the home. So here's the fix. Okay? The fix before signing a contingency is to summarize your next steps and your expectations. Okay? So always, always, always, repetition is okay. People don't always hear everything. So for me, and what I teach in my closing formula is how to go through that contingency agreement to to set clear expectations of what the contingency agreement means and how it applies to the homeowner and what's going to happen next. And if you want help, I have an entire playlist on using the contingency agreement as a closing tool, and I highly recommend you pop into there. If you're using my roofing sales success formula and access to my closing strategy, I guide you through it in even more detail inside. And that's what teams are using. So if you have it, hop back in. If you're interested in, there's a link in the video description below. And you can contact our team with any questions. All right, so we have to summarize those next steps. So once we get the contingency agreement signed, before we leave the home, we want to spell out exactly what's going to happen. And it'll go something like this. Mr. Homeowner, I am so excited to serve you. So here's what's going to happen next. First, we're going to have you contact your insurance carrier to file the claim. Next, as soon as you find out the adjuster's name and phone number, you're going to call me with with their name and number and the date that he or she will be arriving at your house. Then I'm going to meet them here at your property to make sure that I can assess everything and work with them to get this approved by identifying all the damage on your behalf. Once we do that, we move on to the fun part. As we just went through in our contingency agreement, the insurance adjuster is going to put together their loss summary or their scope of loss, some people call it an estimate. And then we'll go through that together and do everything that's listed on there as the contractor, a choice to do the work. And all you have to do is the fun part, pick colors. So there you have it. By setting the expectations, summarizing what's happened. Excuse me. Summarizing what you've agreed to and pacing what will happen next. That homeowner, it leaves no room for misinterpretation. Say it again after you get the deal signed, even if you said it before, because we want everybody to, to be on the same page. And if you want to pour a little bit of gasoline on this fire, one tactic is you can use tie down questions at the end to make sure they get it. You understand that I'll be working with your insurance company on your behalf to identify damage with the adjuster. Yes. You understand that if we get this approved, we will become the contractor of choice to do the work? Yes. Excellent. And you understand that the most challenging thing you're going to need to do is pick colors, right? If you want to have some fun with it. So when we use those tie downs or which is again pouring gas on the fire, if you really have a problem with this coming up, that's the best way to fix it. All right, so now you know. Practice role play. Practice going through your contingency agreement. Set clear expectations, and immediately after the autograph, go through it again and be sure if you have this problem, a lot to use those tie downs to get verbal agreements to all of those expectations. So there is absolutely no question that about what happens next. So that's all for now and thank you for joining me in today's video. Just because our time here is about to wrap up doesn't mean our time needs to. So if you haven't done it, download a free copy of my pitch. Look at Pro Roofing Sales Training Video library. I have a playlist in there, by the way. On closing, I have one on the contingency agreement and an objections category. And all that will pair really nicely with this video. But if you have trouble still, let's say on getting past the give me an estimate from those 15 few percent of slime balls, then hop right into this video and we'll show you how to do that. Hey, thanks again. And I will see you on the next one.