Breakdown: Storm vs. Retail Roofing Sales

Insurance or storm damage. Roof sales versus retail sales. In this video, I'll be giving you a detailed breakdown of the psychology of that sale. This is a giant can of worms. Now here's the deal. I get some hate comments on YouTube, people saying, hey, you know, you're a storm chaser. Selling storm damage roofs is easy. It doesn't take any talent. They're laid out deals, someone else is paying for it. And you know what? I could not disagree any stronger. There's very few times, by the way, where a storm comes through. If it's a hurricane and the roof is laying next to the house, they know they need a new roof. A very different game than the majority of true to life storm sales or insurance restoration sales. Whether that's hail damage, whether that's wind damage or hurricane damage. And on the other side of the coin, we've got the retail folks who just maybe are not well versed in the storm side and they're overwhelmed by it. They don't know where to start. But at the end of the day, my true belief is that every company should be equipped to handle both. Now why is that? Because it doesn't always storm. And even in a retail market, all it takes is that one windstorm, that one hailstorm that comes every few years. You need to be well equipped to take advantage of it. So in this video, I'm going to break down the true differences of storm versus retail using Eugene Schwartz. Five levels of awareness and for those of you who are unfamiliar with Eugene Schwartz, he is one of the greatest copywriters and marketers of all times and wrote a world renowned book called Breakthrough Advertising where I'm pulling some of these concepts from his five levels of awareness and showing you what this means to us here in roofing sales. Before we get into it, I just want to say welcome back. I'm really glad to have you here. Everything I do here on this channel is designed to help you smash your income goal and give every customer an amazing experience. And if you're new here, my name is Adam Bensman and I help thousands of sales reps do just that by using my all in one sales training, sales strategy and sales system. And there's a link in the description below. But a great place to start off for free is in my pitch like a pro roofing sales training video library. Over 300 videos. Now, I know it says 240 but we have over 300 in there and there's playlists organized by categories. Feel like, hey, I want more on retail or pitching canvassing objections, closing, you name it. There's a playlist in there for you and it's 100% free. And again, you can get it@theroofstrategist.com or using the link in the description. So let's get into the meat and potatoes of today. Storm versus retail, the true breakdown. And again, full credit here goes to Eugene Schwartz with his five levels of awareness. I want to break down what these are. First, we have unaware. Next. Oops. Come on, come on. There we go. We have unaware. Then next to it we have problem. I'm going to shorthand this so I have room that's problem aware. We have solution aware. Then we've got product aware and then we have most aware. So this is 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Now I'm going to use blue for storm and red for retail. Here's the real difference. Okay? For most of us working storm damage claims, it could be wind or hail in most markets. Outside of the softball size hail, the majority of people that we show up at their home are completely unaware that their roof was even damaged. They don't know that they could get insurance coverage because they don't have leaks. So majority of people fall into this category. All right, then what we have is if we go a little bit deeper into the eye of a storm, the severe hail, the big wind, where people visibly see damage either from the ground, their car got destroyed in hail, maybe they have shingles laying on the ground, maybe they got home and they saw a shingle flapping up in the wind. These folks are also problem aware. They see their roof has a problem, but they may not understand what that solution is. Meaning choosing an insurance restoration contractor to support them through the process, understanding how the insurance claims process works, needing someone to represent them and supplement everything to make sure there's no additional out of pocket expenses. They don't really care about product and they're not really well versed. Most people aren't by the way, in roofing. So. And they're definitely not most aware, meaning they know of you, your company, the problem, everything. So let me just break that down this most aware means they're aware of the problem, they're aware of the solution, they're aware of your product and they are just like ready to go. Like if I need a roof, I'm going to call this person tomorrow. Alright? So by the way, if you're injured in a car wreck, call whoever is the local attorney in your area just proved himself on his marketing. You are most aware of that. If I'M ever in a wreck and I'm injured, I'm going to call attorney blank. Everyone has the attorney that advertises on TV to become most aware. But for majority of storm damage claims, the customers we encounter are completely unaware or they're only aware of the problem. Now let's talk retail. I changed my mind. I'm going to green for retail. Most homeowners that are electing to replace the roof are doing it for four reasons. Okay. Number one is an active leak or an active problem. Which means they are very problem aware, they're very solution aware and they, meaning a roofing company is going to fix this and all they need to know from here is who's trustworthy and who's going to take care of me. So we have solution aware and problem aware. So I'm going to write retail retail. So you're going to see some overlaps. All right, next we have age. The roof is at the end of my lifespan. I need someone to come out and give me an estimate because I know I need to do it soon and I know that my roof is the most expensive maintenance item of my home. So they jump online and they Google roofing company and so and so area and they see your great reviews or they see an ad, they find you somehow and they call. They will now land into most aware. They know they have a problem. They know that roofing companies exist. They search for you, they know your product, which is your brand. In this again, applying Eugene Schwartz's model into the roofing world. They know your brand. They have done 85% of the buying decision before you even show up. They are most aware then on the retail side, I'm going to talk specialty products. We've got folks who want metal roofs. They want stone coated steel. Maybe they want solar in a solar roof combo. These folks are very specific about the product they want. They go on the website, they find someone who specializes in this type of product. I specifically want this product for my roof. I specifically want this roof. This is where we end up again in the retail side. So you'll notice there is truly a divide between storm and retail. And that divide is right here, meaning majority of the storm damage claims fall into a category where we are facing an uphill battle where they are unaware or barely know of the problem, but they don't know much else on retail. People know the solution, they know your product, they're very aware. They've hand selected you the skill sets to sell. Each of these is very different. Now I want to tie this in with my philosophy that there's three dominoes we need to knock down in order to make the sale. In order trust, develop trust, create the need not only for you, but for a new roof and the money issue. You'll notice the word need. People must have a semblance of need. I want to ask you, when you first encounter a homeowner, do they have a high need or a low need? On the retail side, it's very high. It is an established need. Very similar to if you were in auto sales. Someone shows up at a car dealership, they know 90% of what they want. They don't go, am I here for a diesel dually or a Toyota Corolla? No, they say I'm here for a sedan. I want a car, I want a minivan, I want a truck. They have a high need. They are very solution aware of car dealerships, they're very product where usually they have a brand or two of vehicles pre selected and they're most aware of the best dealership to go to. So it is a very high need. Meanwhile, on the storm side, the need if they're unaware, is there even a need? No, we have to show up and create the need. We have to create the need to get on the roof, create the need for them to call in the claim. Same thing with the problem. Many of them are unaware of the problem or if they are, they don't know anything else beyond that other than I have a problem, what's next besides getting it fixed? This divide shows the difference in both skill sets and, and the sales approach and the types of people that do very well. Oftentimes I know there's some car guys watching right now, car guys and gals, and you're like, dude, I kill it in this sales game. And you might be doing the storm side, but many guys who come from the auto industry are so used to this side with this established need that their learning curve is figuring out how to create that need. So here it is for you, Eugene Schwartz. Five levels of awareness and how there is truly a divide between selling storm damage roofs and retail roofs. The key takeaway here is to focus on this concept of need in the three dominoes. Trust, need, money. Our need is the big difference that straddles these two. And when you understand this, you spend more time on a storm damage self generated lead creating the need where on the retail side you spend more time on the trust in the money issue. All right, in my opinion, that's why these storm damage deals are often harder because you show up completely unannounced and people don't even know they have a problem versus retail when 85% of that decision made is made prior to the lead even entering your office and or they're relatively aware of the general concept that roofs need to get replaced in time. Now I hope this video clears up a lot of the misconceptions that selling storm damage roofs is easy. Now I do recognize that the insurance company covers most of it and we just have a deductible, but there's other implications of this need versus retail. Now I'd love to hear your comments. This is a can of worms. Some people are going to agree. You're going to disagree. Now you can put up whatever you want. I can't control that. It's the Internet. But what I will challenge you is to have a constructive comment or feedback to share your point of view with our community. So drop a comment below. And the reason is there's a lot of keyboard commandos out there, but it doesn't help anyone grow. And if you're part of the roof strategist community, I know that you're investing your very valuable time and energy to learn to better yourself and to grow. And that's what I love about this YouTube channel and you being part of it. So drop a comment and share your thoughts. Agree? Disagree. Do you see another point of view? I'm excited to hear from you and I'll be engaging in those comments below. Thanks for joining me in today's video. And remember, if you haven't yet done it, hop in right here to get a free copy of my pitch. Like a pro Roofing Sales Training video library, Binge to your heart's content and if you haven't yet done it, subscribe to the channel. I'd love to see you here throughout the year as I release new content. Thanks again and I will see you in the next video.