DON'T Start Your Pitch by Offering a FREE Roof Inspection! PROOF Why and What to do Instead

I'm gonna rock the boat a little bit here. Do not, for any reason, start your pitch by offering a free inspection. I repeat, do not start your pitch by offering a free inspection. For some reason, this is what everyone teaches. It's like the go to can pitch. I can't stand it. I don't think it works. I have numbers to back it up, and it sets you up for no out of the gate. There's a better way. Before we get to it, I want you to imagine a scenario. For an example, we're gonna take a break from roofing. I want to give you an analogy so you can see exactly what your homeowners are feeling when we show up. Okay, Scenario. What if I knocked on your door offering a free tire inspection of your vehicle? Hey, my name's Adam. I run the best tire shop in town. We've been in business for 10 years, and we carry only the best tire lines. Listen, I am in your neighborhood today, speaking with some of your neighbors about their car tires. I'm here to offer you a free tire inspection on your vehicle. Do you mind if I go grab my camera? I'll hop in your garage real quick, and I'm going to take some photos, and I'll show you everything that I find. And then if your tires do indeed need replacing, I'd be happy to give you a quote. Okay, so if the homeowner hears this and they don't have problems with their tires, they have no flats, they have no leaking air, they have no traction issues, and they don't see the wear bar, what are they going to say? They're going to say, no, I don't have problems with my tires. I do not want a tire inspection. I'm not letting you in my garage to touch my things. This is my castle. Okay, if you're cringing a little bit, this is what homeowners feel like when we show up offering a free inspection. Especially as we lay around, the roofer that shows up, the roofer that shows up, behind him, behind him, behind him, behind them. And everyone's saying the same thing. Free inspection. We'll do your roofs. If I find damage, new roof under the insurance company, you know, all you got to do is sign here. We do the whole thing. They've heard the same thing over and over. It's easy to break the mold. And I'm going to show you in detail why this isn't going to work. So if a homeowner thinks that their roof is fine. Excuse me. Bring it back to roofing. Why Would they want a free roof inspection? If I showed up at your house, by the way, and a stranger says, hey, you have problems on your roof. Hey, I noticed your roof is damaged. I'm here. Do a free inspection. I'd be like, what do you mean you noticed my roof is damaged? You know that I live here. Do you know that I don't have any leaks? Do you know that I have no shingles laying in my yard? I am not aware of any problem. Who the heck are you to tell me that? And again, if they don't have leaks or problems, they do not want or need it. This is what sets up homeowners to distrust us. Believe me, I've received plenty of hate comments on the channel from homeowners who say roofing salespeople are sleazeballs, they're scam artists, or all this. Do you know why? Because so many people show up at their house, make this claim that the roof's damaged without even seeing it. So people think, who the heck are you? They think we're making some false claim to sell them something they don't need. This is what paints us in a bad light, makes us look pushy, and literally breaks trust. It kills trust straight out of the gate. So I want you to stick around to the end. I'm going to be showing you why 57% yes. A very specific percentage of doors you knock will automatically say no to a free roof inspection. I'll prove it to you. I'm going to teach you why you should never start your pitch with a free inspection. Largely what you just learned now, plus some additional layers of information and how to get homeowners to actually want the inspection before you offer one. All right, listen, before we jump in, introductions are in order. I want to thank you for being here. My name is Adam Bensman, the roof strategist. If we haven't met yet. And everything I do on the podcast and on my YouTube channel and in my programs, my training dashboard, my one on one coaching, they're designed for one simple reason. To help you and your team smash your income goals. In order to do that, we need to know how to pitch. We have to know how to overcome objections. And that's what leads me to this. What you see on the screen. I want to give you a free copy of my pitch. Like a pro roofing sales training video library. It's every episode I've ever done, organized by category, available for free at theroofstrategist.com go there right now to theroothstrategist.com enter your name and email and it will send you a free copy. It is great for brand new reps. For seasoned pros looking to sharpen the axe and owners, it's being used as a tool to train up new people. Entirely free. All right. Available for free@the roofstrategist.com now back to today's episode. This image may look familiar to you and if you're tuning in on the podcast, behind me is the four stages of the claims process. What I mean by this is that every time we encounter a customer, they are in one of these four stages. If they are experiencing an insurance claim on the roof, it applies to every loss. Tornado, hurricane, wind, hail, tree, doesn't matter, anything insurance related. Number one, no claim, meaning they haven't filed a claim yet. Number two, they had partial payment from the insurance, piddly repairs, as I say. And number three, their claim was denied. Insurance came out, no damage or they have a check in hand. The insurance came out approved, the roof homeowner sitting on a check and they're waiting to pick a roofer. So within each of these behind me you will see two emojis in each box with the exception of check in hand, no claim. Homeowners doing this, their aunt's thinking to themselves, what? What damage are you talking about? Right? You've seen these. You know the type. Or they're saying, SOS help. How bad was it? We had a massive storm. What's my roof look like? This is a rarity. This is a very short window of opportunity until they've been bombarded with roofers. Then partial coverage. Option one. Hey, it's okay. Our insurance company came out, they're paying for just a few repairs and I don't even know if we're going to do it. But we're good. Thank you. Right, because they agree with the insurance company or this one. Our insurance company came out, they're only paying for three shingles and two box vents. This is ridiculous. I've been paying my premiums for 15 years. I've never had a claim for my neighbors getting a new roof. I deserve a new roof. You know the type. They're angry. Same with the denial. Hey, we're okay. Our insurance company came out, they said we don't have damage or they're furious. My insurance company came out and they're not paying for anything and I'm paying my premiums and I deserve a new roof because five of my neighbors are getting a new roof. Okay. Or check in hand. Hey, you know our Insurance already came out. We already paid. We're just looking for a roofer. You can give me an estimate if you want. Right. So these are, if you look at the top, the seven total mindsets that we must learn to pitch to. Okay, now I want to play a game with you. We're going to go through each one of these. I'm going to ask you a yes or no question. Ready to play along? Yes or no. Do they want or need an inspection? No claim. What damage are you talking about? Do they want an inspection? If they think the roof is fine, you guessed it right. No, they don't. Do they want one? If they say, tell me how bad it is, yes, of course. Partial coverage. If they agree with the insurance, they already had them out. They're paying for small damage. Do they want or need inspection? No, we're good. Insurance was already out. If they're angry. Yes. Denied claim. They agree with the insurance. Do they want or need inspection? No. Denied claim. They're mad. Yes. Check in hand. They're sitting on a check from the insurance company. Do they want an inspection? No, they do not. They want an estimate. It's what they think. I know we're going to overcome that. Done other videos on that 1. So recap. 1, 2, 3, 4 out of 7 mindsets is 57%. 57% of the available opportunities of where that customer could be will lead you to an automatic no by offering a free inspection because they do not want nor need it in their mind. We must create the need first. All right, they don't want an inspection, they don't need an inspection. By the way, this word need, this is what separates roofing sales from other sales. People say, hey, if you're in storm damage or roofing sales and it's claimed, it's not sales. Although I do see what people say when you show up and they've been paid, it's a different animal. I actually think that those folks are incredibly under educated on what it takes to establish the need. And I'll prove it to you right now. I'm in car sales and this industry, by the way. I'm not actually. This is for a role play attracts people from the automotive industry. I'm in car sales, I'm at my dealer. When my potential customer waltz is his or her way into the doors of that dealership, they are here because they already need and want a new vehicle. All I do is answer questions. This is the big difference between showing up at someone's house and them saying, what damage are you Talking about my roof is fine. We have to go through all of these steps to create the need to show up and say you didn't even know of me. You didn't know the condition of your roof and I have to take you from thinking your roof is fine to wanting my services. This is selling. This is the difficult part of what we do, but also the most rewarding part. So our job must be to get them to say yes because the only thing they want to say yes to is things they want or things they need. So what should you do instead? Start a conversation at the door. Ask an open ended question to figure out where they are in the process. Present to their answer and get them to want an inspection before offering the inspection. Let's slide back through this. There we go. Let's give you some examples. Start a conversation. Okay, I teach the SLAP formula which you know what we're going to do that first slap, Say hi, break the ice. Let them know why you're there and make it familiar. Ask an open ended question and then present to their answer, listen, this training isn't for the SLAP formula, but it does tie in. So I'm going to touch on this briefly and we're going to slide back over here so you can see how this all fits together. Say hi and break the ice. Hey, my name's Ad. I'm the roof strategist. Is that a labradoodle? Beautiful pup, by the way. Okay, whatever it is, I'm going to compliment let them know why I'm there. Making it familiar. Hey, the reason I'm stopping by today is I just left Peggy's house over there around the corner on Lexington and I just got off her roof. We're actually helping her get her roof approved from the insurance for hail damage. I know that storm that came by in June was actually pretty small, but it was enough to do some pretty significant damage that she wasn't aware of until we showed her the photos. I just wanted to stop by and ask because your roof was about the same age as Peggy's, how has the process been for you? Or where are you at in the process? Or what did your insurance company say when they came out? So you'll notice that open ended question forces them to answer in something that's going to give me an insight like what are you talking about? That's no claim and they're concerned or partial coverage. Hey, you know it's okay. Our insurance company came out. We just have a few small repairs. Or the denial our insurance company came out and we're angry they're not paying for a roof. Or you know what, we already had a check and we're just trying to pick a roofer. So that is the leading question. Think of it like the strongest diagnostic tool in the world. I repeat, you've heard me say it before. We want to sell like a doctor. So when we ask this open ended question, it is the fastest path to a diagnosis. Ooh. Bingo. I know exactly one of these seven is exactly where you at. And I can pitch to that. So any of those ones where they don't want an inspection, like no claim, partial coverage, denial, where they agree with it or they have a check in hand, these are different pitches. So no claim. For example, I must get that homeowner who hasn't filed a claim and thinks the roof is fine to establishing the need for an inspection before offering it. Example. All right, Mr. Homeowner, you have no idea what I'm talking about. That's a. Okay. Peggy didn't either. And in fact, Peggy had no idea the condition of her roof before we took photos and videos and then showed them to her. So what I can do for you is hop up there, take some photos and videos. 100% free, no cost. If there is anything, I will explain what that is. I'll let you be the judge and then guide you through those next steps. Whether you work with me or someone else. Do you have any objection if I hop up on your roof for a free inspection? Boom. That's how we link it in. Start the conversation. Get the homeowner by asking an open ended question to lead me to exactly where I need to pitch and present to it. Then establish the need for the inspection. You'll notice I didn't say, oh, well, I can do an inspection now. I explained that Peggy didn't know what a roof looked like. I explained that she didn't know what it was till I showed her the photos and videos. So I showed the transparency and trust. I created that need for the desire for an inspection by making it familiar to their neighborhood. So it must be relevant to them. Then I offered, by the way, I can offer this free inspection. Do you have any objection if I hop up on your roof? Okay. By the way, that line. Do you have any objection? Solid line. I'm going to link to that video right in one of those spots. YouTube's a mystery to me. All right, let's begin. I'm going to get back to it. We just covered the slap formula on what you should do instead. And you now Know that you don't want to be leading your pitch with a free inspection straight out of the gate. Very rare circumstances. Do we want to do that when we are at the door? Alright, summary, don't start your pitch with a free inspection. Start a conversation. Ask that open ended question to help you find out where they are in the process. This is your diagnostic tool. Then present to their answer and then get them to want an inspection by creating the need and then you can ask for it with the one liner. Do you have any objection if when we follow this approach we're going to set ourselves up for success? Because now you know that 20 excuse me, 57% of scenarios that you'll encounter at the door are automatic no's by offering a free inspection. It's kind of a silly, dated way of doing it when you actually break it down. So if you want the full training, everything I just showed you is a snippet of the canvassing strategy which is just one element of the roofing sales success formula. All right, this is available for individual sales reps and owners with a team including individual logins. All the details are available on this page. Everything is backed by a 100% 30 day money back guarantee. And if you have questions email me adamaroofstrategist.com but I will say this, I'm committed to providing an insane ROI that you will make 100% of your money back on the very next sale you make and then from there pure profit. And if you have that insider, that gem to get you 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 more sales, 50 or 100 sales in a season, you're looking at a 50 to 100x return. It's truly a no brainer. So all those are available here. And by the way, if you're not already getting these, this is the far snapshot. This will be in your inbox. If you're not getting them, there's a link in the description. To join Recommended Resources I've been getting questions a lot. Adam, do you have book recommendations for business leadership, finance, personal development, sales, communication? And the answer is I got a ton of them. So I created this Google Doc. The only way to access this by the way is through the far snapshot. 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