Anti-Contingency Agreements? STOP Using Them Wrong! (Roofing Sales)

I love this topic. My thoughts on contingency agreements.

And I say that because some contracts I've seen, obviously, if they're door knocking and the insurance is approved, if it doesn't get approved.

Yeah.

It's kind of like you're out of that contingency. But if it does get approved and you still. The customer still wants to back out, it's like, well, you have to pay a thousand dollars or whatever.

Yeah.

And so personally, I kind of see the genius in it, but I also see the wrong in it as well.

So.

So what are your thoughts on contingencies and that sort of thing?

What are your thoughts on contingencies? I mean, I don't.

I feel like for me as a salesman, I don't want to force anybody to sign something like that.

You can't, by the way, so don't worry. Yeah.

If it was my mom, I would say don't sign it because that's a salesman.

Yeah.

Like, if someone just came to me and, like, you know, it was more of a trust and trust basis, I would feel more comfortable with that. And then, like, when they actually signed the actual contract, that would be my agreement.

Yeah. Who knows my position on this contingency? All the time. Yeah. Let me tell you a story. I tried this because a lot of salespeople say this. In fact, we'll get to this today, because this is going to come up in a little bit. I had a salesman in Dallas, Texas, tell me the same thing. I don't do contingencies. It's how I differentiate myself. I do handshake deals. It works so well. How many deals have you lost? Only a few. Think back harder. Yeah, I lose them, but then I just move on. Great. You can do a contingency agreement, too. So I had one customer of mine that refused to sign a contingency, and he's like, I'll give you a handshake. We'll do business. If you get my roof approved, I'll use you. And I learned this from another gentleman of mine. I don't know. I'm not a Boy Scout, but he's like, do the Scout's honor thing. He's like, scout's honor. Apparently, if you say scout's honor, it seals it in blood. Right. So I was like, scout's honor. He's like, yeah. So then we shook hands, looked each other in the eye like men, and we had a deal. And I sat in his driveway for two hours in the sweltering hot heat, waiting for his adjuster to show up. On his free time, two hours late. And the gentleman was so large, he couldn't get on a ladder. So thankfully, he handed me the chalk and a camera and said, go, chalk it up. So I hop up on the roof, chalked it all up. I come down, he's like, great, I'll approve it. Let me write it up. So I walk and knock on that customer's door. I'm all excited. I waited two hours sweating my butt off. And he says, great, now give me your estimate. And he slammed the door in my face. It was the last time I worked for free. Yeah, Scouts honored him, too. He wasn't a boy Scout, apparently. So here's the deal. Are contingencies enforceable? No. But the deal is that do we provide a valuable service to homeowners, yes or no? Yes. If we sell a retail deal, we show up, we say, this is what it costs. Pay me a deposit. Pay me when I'm done. That's it. When we deal with insurance deals, the process of customer service gets expanded 10 times. You show up, you do your inspection, you prep your file, you take your photos, you meet with the adjuster, they write their scopes accurately 100% of the time, right? Oh, yeah. So there's that part. So then we got to go through all of that with them. That if you were to bill for your time, energy, and expertise, the roof would cost a lot more. Homeowners that are going through the insurance process are getting a screaming bargain. And the reason we do that is to provide more value. I don't work for free when I'm going to work with a customer on the contingency. We're on the same page of how this is going to work. I am willing to do all of this to put in my time, energy, and expertise that we do not bill you for in order to support you through this process. I will do that if you're willing to work with me if I become the contractor of choice. If not, no big deal. But I'm just not willing to do this work because it does cost us time, money, and energy. So if you guys are willing to work together, let's rock and roll and kick butt for that's no big deal. I'm sure someone else will.

Have you ever had any, like, I guess depending on the neighborhood or whatnot? Have you ever had any pushback on that?

Like when you present the contingency wrong? There's a lot of pushback.

How do you present that?

We'll talk about that shortly. You know what? I'll Give you that right now. I use framing because what most people do is present the contingency agreement. Wrong. Great. In order for it to work together, I need you to sign this and contingency it states if we do this, it's all me focused and I. News flash, my friends. The number one rule in marketing, no one gives a about you. Okay? Write that down. No one gives a about you. So when you show a contingency and you say, me, me, me, me, me, I. You need to protect me. I. I'm going to be the contractor to do your work. The homeowner is going to think that you're selling them. I flipped that entire script on its head. Mr. Homeowner, before I share how I can help, I want to explain three things. See, I use threes quite a bit. Number one, this agreement here is 100% contingent upon the insurance company approval. What that means, what I'm speaking to, is alleviating their fear of being locked in, which is the number one resistant to signing an agreement. Mr. Homeowner, I know many homeowners are afraid and they use the same language of being locked in. You're not okay. If the insurance company does not approve this damage and we don't approve end up with a roof replacement, you are not required to purchase a roof from us or owe me even a penny. We rip this up, it's dust and a wind. Number two, Mr. Homeowner, this is what I call my price lock guarantee. What this states is that your contribution will be your deductible. No more, no less. Now what this protects you from, Mr. Homeowner, is the number two complaints in contracting in general is it took too long, cost twice as much. It's a common technique used by roofers to show up, say I can do it for cheaper, and then they end up having surprise bills later to make up for trying to win your business on the front end. So your deductible is X amount. That's your contribution, no more, no less. That means I can't come back to you. If they say it's 20 and say it's 25, there will be supplements, which I'll explain in a little bit, but that doesn't come out of your pocket. That's through the scope of loss. Bullet point. Number three, Mr. Homeowner, us being here, meeting with the adjuster and documenting everything to the home or to the insurance company requires a tremendous amount of time, energy and expertise. And we have back office staff to support us. We do not bill you for that time. Now that changes the value conversation, that there is time, energy and expertise involved. We do not bill you for that time. The only way we get compensated is by becoming the roofer of choice to do the work. In other words, Mr. Homeowner, we go through this process for you. We don't bill you a thing. You're not locked in. If we do get this roof approved, we become the roofer to actually do the installation. Is that fair? Yes. Excellent. So here's the agreement. And I never show it to them until I say that. Because if I show it to them first, they start reading it and they get into panic mode. But when I give them the three bullet points. You can read it if you want. Most people don't because I gave them the summary. It's the same thing for anyone that's bought a house. Anyone ever read the paperwork at closing? I don't think I read one line. Sign, sign, sign, sign. Anyone read the paperwork on your cell phone contract? Hell, no. You ever read the paperwork when you buy a car? No. You ever read the paperwork when you go get a surgery? No. This states you can't sue us if we lose your leg. Okay? So when you use framing and describe it and position the value. Now I'm not locked in. It's all risk reversal techniques. I'm not locked in anymore. Number two, I flip the contingency agreement on its head. Not I have to pay my deductible, but, oh, thank God, that's all I have to pay is my deductible. And now I've spent it on consumer protection. Okay, and then number three, it sets the stage that what I'm doing for you is actually valuable. And there's time, money, and energy going in. And we have a deal that I'm going to be the one that actually does the work. And if they have questions, I field it. If not, I'll slide it over and let them go through it. Very few people will read it. Of course, you will have those folks that do. And then I get the autograph and the date, so that's how I do the contingency.