Flipping Repairs or ACV Claims Into Retail Roof Replacements

You've been asking, I've been listening. You're dealing with ACV policies, actual cash value. So an insurance claim where might be a $20,000 replacement but the insurance is paying 10 or 12 or small repairs, whether that's on the retail front or the insurance front. And it's up to us to then flip these into retail. And if you're working insurance claims, whether it's hail, wind or hurricane, sometimes you struggle because these ACV plans or repairs that are paid marginally and you just can't go anywhere with it and you need to flip it to retail often turns into a race to the bottom and many folks are really good at selling insurance job, but they're not super great on the retail front. Well, that's going to change because in today's video I'm going to be covering how to approach the ACV or repair jobs and turn them into retail projects so you can actually win the business. First, I just wanted to say thank you for the comments because it's because of the comments on the videos that I'm doing this one today. So any questions that come up, whether you agree or disagree or things I didn't cover or I need to go in more depth into, do drop a comment on the video. I do take a look and that's what inspires everything that I do. And before we get started, I just want to say welcome back. My name is Adam Bensman, the roof strategist and if you're new here, everything I do on the channel and the podcast is designed to help you and your team smash your income goal in roofing sales. And the same applies for my all in one sales training and sales system that works for both storm and retail. And it's currently being used by thousands of people across the US from itty bitty companies to some of the top 100 companies in America. There's links in the video description for more details. Now let's get into this ACV and repairs and flipping them to retail first. What we need to do is this. I want to cover some groundwork. We need to approach the sale as insurance first. Approach as insurance first. Why is that? Why? Because here's where we're going to showcase our expertise and our value. Now this is one of the reasons, and I've done plenty of videos on the contingency and why I believe that everyone should use them. I know some people don't. You don't have to agree with me. That's cool. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. But as we approach the homeowner under an insurance claim, what we can do is position our expertise and the value we provide as an insurance restoration or hail damage or storm damage expert. Now by doing this we can say, hey Mr. Mrs. Homeowner, listen, by working with us, we're not just a roofer. What we're able to do for you is meet with the insurance carrier and identify all the items that are damaged or need to be repaired in order to get your roof put back together into pre loss or pre storm condition. And we understand not only the roofing technical side, but how this whole process works using Xactimate, which is the software that most insurance carriers use. So even though you may have an actual cash value policy, my mission is to help reduce those expenses for you as much as humanly possible by getting absolutely everything identified on the roof. Now as we go through this and you meet with that adjuster, you might get those first round of repairs. But this is where we showcase our value is to be able to supplement and bring those repairs up as high as possible that are also 100% reasonable and due to you. Because if the homeowner were to pursue just the repair they need, the proper compensation in line items on the estimate that you will be able to help them get in order to bring down the rcv. So let's just say there's a retail bid that you're going to provide. They're coming out of pocket. Your actual cash value might start here, but the higher you make it means the smaller that they're, the smaller amount that they're going to have to come out of pocket for. So this is why we want to approach as the insurance first, showcasing our expertise and our value. Now I know what you might be thinking, hey, well how do we secure this job? How do we make sure that the homeowner doesn't flip to someone else? And technically there's really no reason that we can do that. We can't hold their toes to anything. You can't sign a contingency on a retail project, but we can do is start the relationship off right with the proper expectations. Now when we use those proper expectations, we use this as an opportunity to overcome the biggest objections that that homeowner is going to have, which is price, therefore showcasing the value provided to reduce that out of pocket expense your expertise. As you develop this relationship with the homeowner, you are likely going to be the contractor of choice who's going to get that retail roof. Now next step, approaching it as insurance first, what we need to do then is then flip to retail. Now how do we do this? We want to take a very similar approach on the insurance side. There's one key difference, obviously, who is footing the bill? What do I mean by flipping to retail? We need to overcome the biggest objection, which is what? Who is going to do it cheaper? And this is why I always in my car park closing formula, the same in home sale system that I teach in my program is to overcome the biggest objection straight out of gate, which is price. What most homeowners don't realize is that a roof estimate is not apples to apples. In fact, it's apples to french fries or apples to oranges. So what homeowners do is they compare this price versus the next price, which is you. And the homeowner will take a look at the estimate, look at the dollar and say dollar for dollar, which one's cheaper? That's the best value. But price does not mean value. Because if the average homeowner shingles off shingles on new roof is installed, but it doesn't. Doesn't work like that. You know that. And I want to ask you a question right now. Do you believe in your heart of hearts that you are the absolute best contractor to do the job, to win the business, to take care of the customer and do the right thing, stand behind your work and give them an amazing experience? I'm hoping that you're sitting there saying, hell yeah, absolutely. And if that's the case, then it is your responsibility, your ethical duty to communicate this clearly to the homeowner so he or she can make a smart decision and not just choose the lower dollar amount as the right value. So it's through this process that I explained how estimates are prepared line by line item means that this estimate is the contractor is accountable to doing each and everything versus the next one, which is a lump sum of like remove and replace roof with a few line items for just a few bucks. And they're like, oh, well, I want to go with that one. But what the homeowner does not realize is that it is up to the contractor with a cheaper estimate to use whatever materials they wish, cut corners on the install and reuse certain materials if it is reusable, things like flashing or edge metal, you know, the corners that are cut. So what we need to do is educate the homeowner on what to look for in an estimate and break down the fact that many contractors, and this is the word I always use, they dupe homeowners into thinking, hey, we're a Better value because we're cheaper. Because shingles off, shingles on when in fact what the homeowner needs to do is understand what's actually being done. And to help them do this, we don't want to tell. What we want to do is ask. We want to ask questions like, hey, did the other contractor tell you what grade of shingle they're using? Hey, did the other contractor talk about what type of ice and water shield or w metal they're using in the valley? Or how many rows of ice and water shield are they using? What type of ridge cap, what type of pipe jack flashing, are they reusing or replacing the roof to wall flashing or step flashing? What about the edge metal? Do they give you a choice of edge metal color? When you start asking these questions, the homeowner can't ask answer because they don't know this is how we bring the pain to help them realize they have a problem. Because people buy things when they have a problem and they need to seek a solution. So our mission through first educating what the difference is between these estimates, line item versus lump sum, then asking those questions open the wound to realize, oh my gosh, I might be about to make a horrible choice. And I'll ask the homeowner, hey, are you comfortable writing a $20,000 check for a kitchen remodel if you didn't know what kind of cabinets or countertops you'd be getting? They say no, well, the roof's the same, you just don't see it. And are you comfortable writing a $20,000 check to a company that you have zero accountability for because there's nothing listed? Which by the way, is true. No, but using us with our detailed estimate, which is why you need to provide a detailed estimate line by line. Think of like an xactimate scope, but gone retail is to provide full transparency and accountability so you know exactly what you're getting so you don't end up trusting a roofer to put on a new roof and and end up reusing 20 or 30 year old flashing on a roof that's going to last another 30 years. So by doing this, let's recap how we're going to flip from insurance to retail. Number one, what we need to do is focus first solely on approaching this from the insurance perspective to bring the value, showcase our expertise, but most importantly is to build that relationship with the homeowner. And yes, could time be wasted? Of course it's sales. You're not going to win everyone. But when you build that relationship the right way, and you showcase that value, you are able to then collect the highest ACV possible, then educate the homeowner what to look for on estimates, then ask the questions that are very challenging to answer. And then by doing this, you're able to present your retail estimate and close the deal. Now, that's all for this video. I'm sure there's a lot more questions because we've just scratched the tip of the surface on how to approach ACV policies or repair projects and turn them into full replacement. So I ask you, what questions do you have and should I cover in a future video? Drop a comment and I'll take a peek. It'll inspire a future video. Now, if you like this video and you want more, what I want you to do is click right here and download a free copy of my pitch Like a Pro roofing sales training video library. I have a playlist in there, all on retail and there's more coming soon. Yes, I work with a lot of retail companies as well, so take a peek. And my entire sales system, by the way, is designed for both storm and retail. And if you want to continue your journey with me, YouTube thinks you're really going to love this video. Stay tuned and I will see you in the next video.