Close More Inbound Leads! 5 Easy Steps to Outsell The Competition

Inbound leads, someone called your office, maybe you called them with telemarketing. And believe it or not, these leads aren't as easy to close as many people think. Oh, well, you got this inbound lead. Well, guess what? What happened when that customer or soon to be customer called you? What else did they do? Yep, you're thinking right. They shopped around, they're calling other people also. Now you have some things against you and some things for you. Let's hit for you first. As Marcus Sheridan says in his book, they ask, you answer. 80 of the buying decision has been made. By the time they pick up the phone and call you or fill out a web form, they've already done their homework. I'm going to repeat, 80% of that buying decision has been made, which means all you need to do is validate with the other 20% that they made the right choice because ultimately that homeowner has a pre written $20,000 check and they're just waiting to figure out whose name to put on there. It's up to you to win that business. Now, the downside is they've shopped around and you also might have a lead source that's not as warm. Let me explain. On an inbound lead, they've done the homework. But sometimes on like a telemarketing lead or a Facebook lead, these can be impulsive decisions based on a solicitation or even a canvassing lead. And during those appointments, which sometimes the other significant other in the household booked it, you experience the person at the door that answers like this. Their chest is puffed out. The body language basically says, I don't want you here, but my wife or my husband set this up and you're facing an uphill battle. And this happened to me, by the way. I ran a sales plan with a gentleman not too long. It was over the summer. And as the homeowner answered the door like this, he says, hey, well, my wife set this up. Go do your thing. It was a telemarketing lead. So although some people may think, hey, inbound lead is easy to close, it's. It doesn't always go that way. So in this video, I'm going to be teaching you five steps, five concrete steps to close these inbound leads at a higher rate. Individual reps who are watching, which I know is you, you are going to be able to use all of these five, no matter what, no matter your technology, your company support, anything, owners, managers, you guys and gals should pay close attention because you may want to optimize some of your systems and processes and how these leads are handled to help you close even more. Because everything I'll be covering right now is actually leading up to and just at the very beginning of the appointment and it will increase your close rate a lot. So let's get started right now, right after a brief intro. Welcome or welcome back. My name is Adam Bensman, the roof strategist. And everything that I do here in this studio is designed to help you and your team smash your income goals and give every customer an amazing experience. And that experience starts the minute that lead comes in. Inbound, outbound, it doesn't matter. That lead is the first touch, the first interaction that's going to set the benchmark for everything else. And I want to help you nail it so you can close those deals, smash your income goal and have every customer write a raving review about you. Because that's what makes this whole job fun and I love it. So let's get moving. And last thing, if you haven't done it yet, I highly recommend you get a free copy of my pitch like a pro roofing sales training video Libra. It's all the videos I've ever done, organized by category for really fast, easy reference when you're on the move or on the fly. And it's being used by thousands of people right now as a reference tool to fine tune training for new guys and seasoned gals and company owners, you name it. So it's available@theroofstrategist.com and I think you should get a copy right now and I'll email it to you. All right, now let's get to today's video on closing more with these five simple steps. Alright, let's roll right into number one. So many people don't do this, right, they don't convert the call into an appointment. Now however that interaction occurs, whether it's online, it's important that we use we convert the inbound call to an appointment right away. If it's a Facebook lead, we call them right away to set it. But I want to explain a few things because sometimes we don't know your schedule. If your office, if your office is taking these leads, they may not know every rep schedule. So I want to share a system with you that I created and rolled out for the company I was with and it worked really well and it made a significant difference on our inbound call to set appointment rate as well as our conversion rate in the sale, meaning we closed more and it was quite frankly game changing. So I Just want you to think like if you called a barber and said, hey, I'd like a haircut and they said oh, let me find a barber and we'll call you back in 24 hours of schedule. What are you going to do? You're going to call the next barber. So you want to convert that appointment as quickly as possible, whether it's web forms, whether it's a phone call. So I want to just share my phone call method. I call it the cable guy method. Hey Peggy. You know Peggy, right? Thanks for calling. My name is Adam. The Ruth Stratus will be happy to help you out. Hey, when is the soonest available that we'd be able to serve you? Okay. Speed to lead or just share the time that you're available? Peggy, we do our appointments in three hour windows. Nine to noon, noon to three and three to six. Don't wor. After we pick a slot, you're going to receive a phone call and a text message from the representative will be serving you with an exact time so you don't have to wait around. So the earliest available you mentioned was Tuesday. Would you like nine to noon, noon to three or three to six? Three to six. Perfect. All right, Peggy, thank you. We've got you down three to six this Tuesday the 8th. And you'll be receiving a phone call and a confirmation from a gentleman or project manager or woman on her team, doesn't matter, whatever their title is, right. To confirm the exact time so you don't have to wait. Thank you so much. We look forward to serving you, click done. Alright, so now we converted the appointment, the rep gets assigned or it's you, Mr. Or Mrs. Rep and you can call. Hey Peggy, I'll be there at 4 o'. Clock. That way if Peggy doesn't answer the phone, you get the voicemail, you send a text, it's converted, you locked the deal in and you know if there is a scheduling snafu and no one can run it, it doesn't matter. The appointment was converted. You call back. Hey Peggy, little scheduling snafu. I had you down for Tuesday between three and six and we just had a little bit of a hiccup. How's Wednesday look for you? So piece of ca importantly is to convert that appointment. Otherwise I promise you, you're flushing money down the drain. I didn't catch my pen. One of these days I'm going to get really good at catching this. But not today. All right, so that's first step is converting the appointment. Which brings me to point number Two people don't remember what they did. I want to share just a couple stories with you, and this is going to actually parlay into parlay. I don't even speak French. It's going to relate to step number four, which is coming up. I got a couple quotes for a concrete and a wood stove. I do this stuff after hours. I literally, like, just template out the email because I know contractors are horrible with communication. And I know If I email 10, I'll get a phone call from 1 if I'm lucky. So I go, I do my homework, I pull up the Google reviews, and I search like, stove or concrete's near me. And I look at what's going on. Like, all right, these are good companies. I vetted them, and then they just, like, blast out the same message and I just, like, praise. One of them is decent and calls me. And one time, the stove guy showed up. I. I didn't even know who he was. He didn't have a logoed shirt on. The company truck wasn't logoed because it was probably his personal vehicle. And I was like, I don't remember who you like. Who are you? So my point is, everyone does this. There are impulsive actions. There's impulsive Facebook ad lead or the telemarketing lead, or they research you, but they farmed it out to 20 other people. So what you want to do is instantly. Right. When that appointment is converted and set. That's what I mean by converted. The set appointment. We want to send the appointment confirmation email. Okay, the appointment confirmation. If you're using my battle pack, this, in my opinion, is an underutilized piece of the battle pack. In the section that says customer emails, customer project update emails. I apologize. There's a lead confirmation email. That's what's titled in there. This will remind the homeowner of the date and time, what they did. Then I'm glad someone, if you caught this first, I wrote a pointer confirmation. This is what happens when you talk and write appointment confirmation. There we go. So that email will set those expectations for the homeowner. And again, when we look at Jack Schaefer, that FBI agent who I often talk about, he talks about the friendship formula, proximity, frequency, duration, intensity. Right? And we're going to link this up. People buy from people. They. I know you're saying it in your head. Know, like, and trust people that they're friends with. So these encounters and touch points with our customer leverage the proximity, the frequency, the duration, the intensity. Right? And now when you show up, you're further along than the next contractor who didn't do any of this. They know you more because they had more interactions. And it's quite similar to the time that you know you've been on the flight and you end up in small talk with the person next to you. And even after a two hour flight you feel like buddies sometimes and you'd go out to dinner together, they almost feel like a friend. Proximity, you're closed in to the plane. Frequency, you just spent intense two hours with them. Duration and intensity, meaning how deep and emotional that conversation was. So I just want to kind of give you that example that what we're doing is creating that bond out of the gate and developing that trust in the friendship and the relationship. So that appointment confirmation email goes out again. It reminds them of the appointment, set the expectations of how that appointment will go. And if you are using my marketing battle pack, do jump into the customer project, update emails and you can use the lead confirmation email. All right, now number three is a bit of a bonus one and it frankly is one of my most favorite because remember what I just said about proximity, frequency, duration, intensity. Proximity is how close we are, frequency is how many touches there are, duration is for how long it is, and intensity is the depth of the relationship. Okay, so I want to work all of these and frequency is the touches. Now let's talk about duration, that time. So this leads us number three, which is pre selling. What do I mean by pre selling? This is warming the prospect up, getting them to feel even more comfortable validating their decision to call you. Because remember, 80% of that buying decision was made if it was an inbound call. I know that doesn't always apply to Facebook or telemarketing leads, but if they called you, 80% of that buying decision is made. So the pre selling are emails and texts that are going to give them information such as testimonials, what other people think. Okay, it's going to give them information such as your credentials is what I'm going to write. So this is like your status with the shingle manufacturer, the bbb. Okay. By the way, testimonials also would be reviews your ratings online. And then the other thing is the appointment expectations and it's okay to have some redundancy. The reason I say that is not everyone's going to read everything. So it's okay to have some redundancy. So those pre sell, these can be emails, these can be texts. I actually touched on this. I did a deep dive on this topic through a conversation with Jim Alleen from Roofer Marketers on his. His awesome podcast called the Roofing Sales. Excuse me, the Roofing Success podcast. I always say sales. Sales is like how my brain's wired. Anyway, so on the Roofing Success podcast, Jim and I really went into a lot of detail, like, how many. How much is too many? The types. So if you're interested in really getting into that, dive into it. Jim, by the way, is just phenomenal in the. In the marketing world. And that's why I brought him in as a mentor to the pitch pro movement, to act as like the chief marketing officer for hire, to answer questions and help people figure out, like, hey, how do I generate more leads online? How do I show up on Google? Where should I allocate my budget? What's the smartest marketing move for my company, whether I'm new, small, huge, growing, opening a new office. So he's a really strong strategic advisor, and that's why I brought him in. So anyway, if you want that episode, go check it out on the Roofing Success podcast. All right, now let's head into number four here. Number four is super important. This is our intro at the door. Okay? Intro at door. Now, remember what I said. Everything has been about reminding people what they did and then validating their decision. Encouraging. Hey, smart move reaching out to us. This is why all these other people chose us. And here's, you know, why we're the top manufacturer, top installer in our area and why we've been in business for 10 years and why we've done 600 roofs and whatever the case is. All right? So when the homeowner answers the door, we want to remind them what they did and why we're here. Very simple. Remind them and why we're here. Hey, Peggy, my name's Adam, the roof strategist, and I'm here for our 4 o'. Clock. And I just want to thank you for jumping onto our website for your roofing needs. And I'm happy to help. And then, boom, now you slide into the rest. Hey, Peggy, Adam here, the roof strategist. I want to thank you for doing your homework on us on Facebook. And I'm really excited to chat with you today about your roof. Okay. Hey, Peggy, Adam here, the roof strategist. You spoke with a member of our team on the call this for telemarketing lead. And I'm really excited to chat. Your roof people need that reminder. Remember what. What worked against the guy when that he showed up for my stove? I didn't even know who he was or what company he was with. Remember, people are farming things out so we want to nail that. In short, the door. Now we're going to slide into number five. This is. I'm going to do an entire. You're going to see me clear the screen here in a minute. We're going to dive deep on this. When we get this step right, it's going to make or break the appointment. We've done all the warm up, we've done everything we can to bring our relationship and develop that relationship as much as possible. So we stayed above and apart from the competition. At this point, we're now in the house and this one piece is going to help us figure out how to sell because let me just lay out the bad news for you and the good news, the bad news is you cannot use one canned presentation period. There's variety of scenarios whether you're first in the door or last in the door or whether you're selling storm or retail. Why the homeowner, whether it's storm or retail, is choosing to replace the roof. I'm going to sketch that out for you in a second. This part is assess. Step number five is to assess where the customer is in the process. Assess. All right, now let's clear the screen. As promised, I'm going to show you this. Assess. Is this a of my car park closing formula? My car park formula is by the way included in my all in one sales training, sales strategy and sales system that covers everything from the knock to the close in a lightning fast nine and a half hours for both individual reps packages available for you as well as training for teams. And it's being used by brand new companies, reps who've done multi million to some of the top hundred roofing companies in America. And this closing formula, I just want to hit the high level. C stands for connect A is assess R is report P present A ask R referrals and K kickstart. At the end of this video I'll link to a demo video I've done kind of highlighting that and doing a tutorial on how this formula works. It's available for free on YouTube to give you a taste to see if it might be a good fit for you or for your company. But what I want to talk about now is this A and this is what we're going to be jumping into is assess. So the C is the connection that we build. There's more than just reminding the homeowner, it's about building rapport. Because one of the biggest Mistakes people make selling too soon, especially on inbound leads. So more on that in that training. This a we're assessing. So there's a few pieces of information that we need to gather. Number one is where we are. We need to ask the homeowner, hey, where are you at in the process of replacing your roof? It's through this question, this open ended question that we're going to find out, are we first, are we last or are we somewhere in between? And then are they a storm lead, a retail lead and where do they fall? So are we first or last? Okay, where are you at in the process? All right, and then I can continually ask and I'm just going to write first or third just because people say I want three estimates. So. Hey Peggy, where are you in the process of replacing your roof? Oh, you know, we had this happen. This happened. Excellent. So have you spoken with any other contractors yet? Where are you at in the process of getting estimates or talking with other contractors? And I'm going to be able to find out whether I'm first or third. Now remember, I can teach you how to position yourself best. Being first or last, it doesn't matter. I just want to give one example. So there's my little podium, right? I'm a hostess at a restaurant. Oh, hey, welcome in to so and so restaurant. Yeah, I'll be with you in a second. That poor interaction that you have in the restaurant is the anchoring point. The anchoring point of how you're going to gauge the rest of the interactions. It literally sets the bar. So you're going to say, oh man, why did we go here? And then the server is going to come over and if he's low or she is low on energy, hey, what do you know, I'll be your server today. You're saying, alright, yeah, they are horrible. Why am I here? Or even if they're half decent, you're like, oh, at least they're nice because we're measuring against that first impression. Likewise. The hostess is great. Hey, thanks for coming in. Party of four today we're super glad to have you. Hope you kept warm coming in. Let's get you seated. Right? And then the server comes over. Hey, my name's George and I'll be taking care of you today. How are you guys doing? That level of energy on the first impression again sets the bar. So whether you're first, your opportunity is to shine above and set yourself apart from the competition. We do this, by the way, in this p which is presenting and I just want to give you one kind of insight, because whether you follow my formula or you use my all in one sales training, sales strategy and sales system, it doesn't matter. The point is very simple. When we present the first thing I teach to knock down the price objection whether it's Storm or whether it's retail. And we do that by saying, hey, before we get started, I just want you to know you can choose anyone that you like and that you trust for this process. And then we validate that, we explain why, but we use this as a way to empower the homeowner and set the expectations of the big red flags. We explain the deductible, the fraud, all that stuff on retail. We explain the estimate comparisons and what people do and how other roofers dupe homeowners. And when we do this, if we're first, this sets us up that everyone else that follows that does the little red flags. I warned them about distrust. They trusted me first. I was the benchmark standard is number one. If I'm last. Now they're looking back and they're like, you know what they did that. They did not explain how that worked. They didn't explain the falsification of the deductible invoice to, excuse me, a falsification of the invoice, the insurance company to eat my deductible, or why their retail rate was so low. So this is the first part, is assessing where they are in the process as we go further. And I don't have a ton of time to get into this because frankly, I can do an entire training on it, and that's what this car park formula is about. But I do want to give you kind of an insight into why we need to customize our presentation. I'd say 80% of it can be the same presentation. But the most important part is again, leading up to this P for present and then custom tailoring the content inside. And when we can learn to categorize how we pitch what our customer needs, we're gonna nail it. So let's just cover a couple things. This first example is gonna be for Storm. Storm, we're gonna have. Oops, I gotta erase that. One sec. For Storm, we're gonna have four different categories. And the same for retail. Okay, we've got no claim here, partial payment from the insurance denial, or paid in full. Within each of these, there's different mindsets. No claim what damage? Right? Or, hey, tell me how bad it is, I need help. Partial payment denial are very similar. They're either like, hey, Our insurance company came out, they agree with them or they're irate. They feel like they got taken or paid in full. They just want an estimate. Now I want to ask you this, are you going to deliver the same pitch? No. Yet for some reason, so many focus, so many people focus on this no claim. We help you through the process. We do this. And they're like, well, I don't need that. I already am sitting on a check. I want to ask you a question because I asked this every time I'm in a room with people and I'm training them on this closing process, the car park formula. Have you ever had a sales appointment and at the end they're like, hey, well you know, we already got a check from the insurance or you go through it on retail and they say, hey, well you know, we're just trying to budget and plan ahead because we know our roof needs get replaced in five or six, seven years. But you didn't get that information up front. So now you spent all this time word vomiting things that they didn't need to hear. Alright, so we're going to customize it. Now on the retail front, we've got a couple different scenarios. So a problem is one, I've got an active leak. Okay. It's a different level of urgency. Number two, we have cosmetic. This is elective. This is kind of like the elective surgery, right? We're going to be doing a remodel. We want a facelift. We want to go stone coated steel because we're doing new siding, we're putting new windows in. We wanted to do it all fix and flip. Okay. Cosmetic is one. Then we have. I'm going to call the life event or planning ahead. These are usually the least urgent. Okay. Planning ahead is hey, we know our roof has five to seven years. We're just looking to get estimates so we can start budgeting. Or the life event is we're putting the house on the market or you know, hey, the grandparents are wanting the house ready because it's going to go into the trust and get passed on to the kids. So I kind of categorize these as one life event or planning ahead. And then the last one is age. These are just the very simple ones. I know my roof needs to get replaced. It's reached that age. It's about that time. Which by the way, I have a letter on this in the retail front in the battle pack specifically and it's even titled is it about that Time. It's a fun, playful way to capture that Homeowner's attention. So again, each one of these, you're going to sell two differently. I want to ask you this. Who has a higher likelihood of buying right now? Someone who has an active problem. Somebody's planning ahead. Duh. Adam, I'm not an idiot. I know you're not, but I want you to feel the difference and say, hey, this is why I need to customize my presentation and why I'm an inbound lead or not. By the way, we need to assess whether we're first or third so we can position ourselves as the first impression that they're going to gauge everybody else or as the shining star to reflect back, be like, wow, they did do that. And by running the right presentation. So again, this is all just one iota of a piece of the car park formula. And one thing I do want to hit on here, I get people that reach out and say, hey, Adam, like, why should I get your program? You have all this free videos. Is it different? And the answer is yes, it is different. Of course, in these videos there's overlap on philosophy and my style. But inside my programs that are available, whether it's the battle pack or the roofing sales success formula, what you're getting, especially in the roofing sales success formula, is an all in one sales training sales strategy in a sales system that covers everything from knock to close. And I do that either for reps or for teams. And I cover it all in a lightning fast nine and a half hours. And it becomes literally the backbone of run your team through it or run yourself through it. And now you're getting trained up in a way that you say, I know what to do every day. I have a sales system to follow. I know how to make my first sale, process the customer dominate the neighborhood, how I run that sales appointment, how I overcome objections. And then for owners, it includes my program how to build you'd dream team. So the answer is yes, it is different. But I do give a ton away on YouTube and if this helps you even close one more sale, that's a huge win for me at the end of the day. Again, it's about helping you smash your income goal and giving every customer an amazing experience. But I did want to answer that simple question. If you're interested in these programs or you need more information, there's links in the description, including a phone number to contact my team at 303-222-7133. But I just want to quick summarize today's video and the five steps to Close even more inbound leads. And number one is going to be to convert the call right away. Number two is going to be remind the homeowner with that confirmation email again if you're using the battle pack, the appointment reminder. Excuse me, the lead confirmation email is the way it's titled. Number three, we're going to pre sell. That's planting some information to help you sales reps, you can text us, you can email it, whatever it is. Owners, you may want to automate this within your system, whether it's your CRM or another automation tool you have at your disposal. Number five, you're going to nail the intro at the door by reminding the homeowner what they did. Hey Peggy, thanks for doing your homework for us and visiting our website. We're so excited. Help you through the roof. And then number five is to assess the situation so you know how to to sell them and set yourself apart. That is all for this video. If there's anything I missed, do drop a comment. I don't preach the only way to do things. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But I would love to foster a rich discussion. And that discussion continues inside the pitch Pro movement. If you're interested in continuing to refine and level up in the infinite game of sales and personal development and business, I join you in there on our 11 live sessions every month. Our private discussion boards joined by Dave, Sean Bryant, Matt Mulholland, John Sinek and Jim Allein. And it's a wonderful place to continue this discussion as we all learn from each other what's working, what's not and engage on an even deeper level. So you're welcome to join me there. But let's wrap this up in one simple way. I want you to take what you learned today and use it in the field. That's what it's all about. That's what's going to separate the good from the great is execution. So take this, put it to work and most importantly, test it for yourself. Yourself. You might adapt some things and that doesn't matter. You had a starting point and that is where you are going to see the most results. So thanks for joining me today. And if you haven't done it yet, you can download a free copy of my pitch like a pro roofing sales training video library right here. And if you want a sample of my car park formula to get a taste for that style, hop into this video and I will see you on the next one.