Ghosted? Why & How to Recover Roofing Sales and Leads

You've been ghosted. I've been getting this one a lot. Signed deals, open leads, customer goes awol, you thought it was a done deal. Or worse yet, you sign the contingency and then it's crickets. Where did they go? You have been ghosted. And all of the work feels like it was wasted. The driving out to the neighborhood, the knocking the doors, the presenting, the signing the deal, the getting very excited about your commission. Listen, you are not alone. I have been in your shoes. I have had this happen when I had the customer that says, hey, listen, we're 99% sure we're moving forward. I really appreciate that you explained everything. We're super excited to work with you. Just before we sign, I just want to talk with my husband one more time. And then you get those objections like that. And you're like, oh, yeah. And then you're home and you're telling your wife, oh, you know, I got this one last deal, or telling your husband or boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever it is, and you're like, I'm sure these folks are going to come over. So I've got these deals in the pipeline, and then this one's probably going to come through and then they disappear. Or worse yet, you sign the deal and it's like all of a sudden, they decide not to file the claim. Or they file the claim and get the money and then they're gone. It's like, are they pocketing the cash? Do they go with someone else? This is the worst feeling ever. And I have been in that situation numerous times. And the good news is, you can stop this from happening again. Now. It is sales. When I say stop it from happening again, could it happen? One in 100, you bet. But the reason for this happening is what I'm going to be covering in this video. So I want you to watch this all the way through to the Because I'm going to be teaching you one step. One, why this is happening, how do we figure out the cause? Number two, how do we recover the deal? Because you might be facing this right now. I've been getting this email a lot. And then number three, what to do moving forward. And then at the end, I'm going to talk about how you and what your choices are when there's a contract or money at stake. Right? Contingency signed and approved. Can you go after them? What happens on cancellations and things like that. So right before we jump in, I just want to welcome you. If you're new here, my name is Adam Bensman. The roof Strategist. And everything I do here on this channel and on my podcast and my products and services and one on one work are designed to help you smash your income goals and roofing sales. Whether you're brand new, a seasoned pro, or a giant team, or an owner running a team, it all starts with the success of you, the sales rep at the door, having great conversations, winning business, having fun, doing it, and creating life changing opportunities. So to help you do that, please right now, click subscribe and the bell so you don't miss a thing whether you're on the podcast or the YouTube channel, click subscribe right now. And one more thing, if you haven't already done it, go over here to theroofstrategist.com right now to download a free copy of my pitch. Like a pro roofing sales training video library, it's all the videos I've ever done. I get emails all the time, Adam. How do I handle this situation? Well, guess what, nine out of ten times I'm linking them to a video here. So this is all my videos organized by category, which makes it very easy to reference for you to learn and for owners and managers to help get their team ramped up. So head on over there and download your free copy right now. It'll come right to your inbox. And you got direct access to me. Pop me an email as a reply. Alright, ready to jump back in? So, ghosted. What happened? This is step number one. There's three reasons that we're usually going to experience being ghosted. Number one is we rushed the pitch. Number two is buyer's remorse. And number three is being snaked by a competitor. Please don't participate in this. Sell with honesty and integrity. You're not there to go buying business. Oh, deductible. If that guy didn't, it's garbage. Guys don't do that. So rush. You know how that feels. Don't pass that on. Lead by example. Take the high road. So rushing the pitch, this is when you show up, things are busy, maybe it's a fresher storm, maybe it's competitive. Maybe you just have an appointment you need to get to. So you go through things pretty quickly. Then that's when that homeowner, they have unanswered questions. And I have a news flash for you. Those unanswered questions, they're going to answer on their own and they're going to create their story. Just like you the last time you're watching a movie. Have you ever done this where you're predicting what's going to happen next. Oh, character's doing this. Oh, my guess is there this is going to. And then all of a sudden, you've created how that story will unfold. And you wait to see are you either going to validate how it went or is it going to be wrong? We all do this. We must fill in the blanks for our brains to work. We can't have gaps. So when there are gaps, we fill them in. But when you leave that up to your customer, they're filling it in with false information that's hurting you. So if you're going through things too quickly or leaving things unanswered, don't do it. I've been doing private trainings on the car park closing strategy a lot lately, and the number one thing that I keep going over and the feedback I'm getting from reps in the field using it is no matter what, you need to go through everything. It's okay to go through certain pieces in more depth than others, but you must touch all the points. Got it. That's number one, rushing the pitch. Number two is buyer's remorse. Guess what that has to do with rushing the pitch and those questions. That's the homeowner that signed the contingency and then decides to not file the claim and goes to you. Or they sign the contingency, the adjuster comes out, or they forget to call you about it, and they never give you the check because they want to pocket the money. This is a change of heart, and it's because they don't have all the information or. Or the facts about the consequences of canceling, about the consequences of not doing the roof and so on and so forth. Or simply unanswered questions from rushing the pitch. And then the third one is deals that are snaked by competitors. Now, I have done an entire video on this, having other contractors snake your deals, and I'm going to link to that up here. So click the card above if you're interested in learning how to as a deep dive, how to protect your contingencies while they're vulnerable in that limbo stage. So you get that check to collect it from other contractors. As we say, walking your signs or knocking your signs so your job. Next time you get ghosted, categorize what happened. Did I go too fast and leave unanswered questions. Okay, this is for open leads, usually buyer's remorse. This is from signed deals. Did they have a change of heart? Or three, did a competitor snake it? Okay, this is what we need to figure out so we can then solve it later. But before we get into solving it, let's try to recover this deal right now. This is step two. Recover the deal. High level. Then we're going to jump into some details, make contact, duh. Show up. You know, generally when this customer will be home, don't be afraid to show up back at their house. Chances are you are serving them in their neighborhood anyway. So stop by next, you can use text, which I'll be showing you a few different samples and swipes to use in just a moment. And then number three is to call. And don't be afraid to call back to back. I did another video on cold calling and why the double call technique works so well. It plays on our curiosity. You call one time, they see it. You know how the drill, you push the button to silence your ringer, set it down, or you swipe to ignore, and then they call back again. You're like, what the heck? And there's like part frustration, part curiosity, and we answer. So don't be afraid to call twice. But I want to deep dive now into texting. Texting is very powerful because people like to avoid conflict. And often if they're ghosting you, they just don't want to tell you no or they don't want to tell you what's going on. So it's easy for us to open up a conversation in text by using goofy stuff like this. Using gifts, I love this stuff. You can send one and then follow it up with some text. I have used this one, by the way, effectively in numerous emails I've sent where it's this dog. It pops up and my subject line said nosing in N O S I N. Like nosing in to say hi, right? And say, hey, haven't heard from you a while. There's nosing in to check in on your roof. What's going on? People will all of a sudden they find humor. It lets their guard down a bit, it builds trust and it's playful. And plus, it's harder to ice somebody doing this. Right? Or you can use something like this, like, are you ghosting me? Question mark. This is fun because sometimes people aren't actually ghosting you. They just got busy or preoccupied or this one, you know, Right? Like, where are you? Where you been? So have fun with it. Pretend that they're your friend and chances are you've developed some semblance of friendship. But just be goofy. All right, then let's talk. What do you send in the text? You want to keep it short, Sweet and easy to reply. So a couple of different options here and I just want to show you the key things. Any issues with us moving forward on your project? This is again, you'll see some things that I teach, right, the open ended question. Any issues, then we have the negative agreement. Any issues? Any objections, Any reason why we're not moving forward? You know, that's the negative agreement. Any, you know, any issues? No is what we're hoping for. Right? So. And you're also calling this out head on, like there's clearly something going on. Any issues moving forward? Any problems with moving forward? Any concerns about us moving forward? Alright, so open ended question. One liner, boom, easy respond. Still interested in working together on your roof? Just reply yes or no. Again, the main goal isn't to get the whole story. It's not to say you've ghosted me. We have a contingency. How about the cancellation? I'm going to get to that. We're just trying to get in conversation because if we've been ghosted, we just need to hook them back in. Just like when we're at the door. Start the open ended conversation. Here's another one. Yes or no on moving forward. I respect your time. Just reply yes or no and I'll take it from there. I've used this one a number of times and the answer that I'll get from homeowners cracks me up because they'll often say, yeah, of course we're ready, I'm moving forward. I'm really sorry. I got busy because my mother in law visited and then I get like a 17 page email with a response and I'm like, great, I was way more than I asked for. But you're not asking for a ton of time. I respect your time. Just yes or no. Cool. So now you know how to use some text messages and some gifts to reactivate that. Now let's talk about what to do moving forward. All right, Stay in touch with your customers weekly. This is so important. This was the most valuable lesson that I ever learned about customer service in the roofing business. You must stay on top of it. There's a vulnerable period where your project is in limbo from that contingency signing until you pick up that deposit check. Anything can happen in there. From denials to other contractors to buyer's remorse, to changing minds to whatever might happen. All right, decide not to the roof. We must stay on it for everything. It is not crazy. You can email, text, call, stop by. You don't need to do all of them, but Let them know. And here's something even as simple as you reaching out to say hey Peggy in a text. Just touching base this week to let you know I'm still waiting to hear back from State Farm. Whatever it is, hey, just let you know we're still on top of it. This is what happened, this is what's going on. So just giving them a status update will help you keep a pulse on that customer and will greatly reduce the chances of you being ghosted. I found that the less I was in touch with my customers, the more I got ghosted. Okay, that's a big one. I'm going to repeat it. The less I was in touch with my customers, the more frequent I got ghosted. Stay in touch with them. Number two is explain the next steps and set clear expectations. All right? Meaning like I said before, if you don't tell them what happens next, they're going to make up a story of what happens next because that's how people are. When was the last time you ordered Amazon prime and checked shipping? Come on, man, it's one to two day shipping. I do it too. I know, right? It's like, it's kind of nutty. But we want to know what happens next and your customers are the same way. So explain everything and do it as if you're explaining things to a 5 year old. Not to be condescending your customers. You shouldn't treat like a five year old. Don't be condescending. But you want to explain it in that level of dummy proof detail that anyone can understand, start to finish of what's happening. Alright. And the third is to warn them on what competitors may try to do. I've done a deep dive video on this, on how to protect your contingency agreements from getting snaked by competitors or yard sign walkers or sign knockers. You know the type. And there's a link to that video up here, so go ahead and watch that one. So when you explain next steps and you stay in touch with your customer with weekly status updates, no matter what, and alert them of what might happen from competitors, the chances of you being ghosted go down dramatically. Now you might be wondering, well, what if I already have a signed deal? I got the signed deal. I'm excited. You know, I already put in this work, I already got it approved and I got an email from a gentleman yesterday and I didn't put the screenshot up because I wanted to protect his privacy for this particular circumstance, but it was the icing on the cake. I got this like Three or four times this last week alone. People saying, adam, I got a signed deal or signed contingency homeowners ghosting me. This one in particular was signed deal, got the job approved. Homeowner's AWOL won't sign over the check. Now, couple quick notes on this. Number one, the reality is whatever contract or contingency agreement you're using is only worth as much money as the attorney you are willing to spend money on to enforce that said document. So if your deal was, let's say, 10% cancellation and it's a $15,000 roof, it's 1,500 bucks. Is it worth your time? Two, pursue an attorney, tie up all of your mental energy, pay him or her to write a nasty Graham letter and enforce this thing. That decision is up to you. To me, very rarely am I going to pursue these things unless it's like a commercial project or there's a lot at stake or I've done a tremendous amount of work. The reason for that is more often than not, any opposing attorney is going to poke some sort of holes in your contingency agreement somehow. And it doesn't matter whether you agree with them. I have spent time in arbitration, in the courtroom, and these attorneys will pull stuff out of thin air that mean nothing. To stonewall the process, to make things difficult and to drive their point home. It's not a pleasant way to do things. And then it ties up all your time. So you need to just go through this on your own and say, is principle worth it to me or would I rather spend that time drumming up business with someone that I like to do business with who's a good customer, who's going to take care of me, right? I consider it the cost of doing business. Now, I did pursue this on a commercial project that I got a giant approval on. Full, full siding roof. I mean, it was a massive deal and we did end up getting paid on it. So my point with this is a disclaimer is your options are a legal route and you got to make sure that your paperwork is up to snuff and you're willing to spend the money, the time and the energy to enforce it. My best advice is for you to gauge what your time is worth and if it will cost you more time or dig you a hole because getting paid ain't guaranteed, then it might be wise for you to just move on. Alright, so let's wrap this up with a quick summary. Find out what happened. That's your first step. Because we all want to better ourselves through our experience, right? Something didn't work. How do we make sure it doesn't happen next time? Number two, recover the deal. Use to stop by call or text. Try the call twice method. Send playful texts, use gifts and don't be afraid to use those easy, short, punchy engagements. Just reply yes or no. Any issues or concerns with us moving forward on your roof? Are we still planning on moving forward? Yes or no? I respect your time. Just reply yes or no. So don't be afraid to do that. By the way, you can use those same tactics in email and I forgot to say that before. And then third is make adjustments moving forward, meaning you now know to set expectations, clear expectations of what's to come. Touch base with your customer weekly. The more you stay in touch, the lower the likelihood of being ghosted. And number three, alert your customer of what could happen if your competitors show up and what they might face. All right, and I did a video on that that I linked to before. Here are a few recommended resources. I used to send these only in the Far snapshot. I'm debating bringing them in here because guess what? As of last week, I am now sending this out. Everything you've seen behind me is going to you. So if you have a copy of the Pitch like a Pro Roofing Sales Training video Library, if you've joined the Far snapshot, there's links in the description. If you've purchased any products or programs from me, you're getting these emails with this information to help. Alright? So if you want it, grab a free copy of the Pitch like a Pro Roofing Sales Training video library or join the Far Snapshot links in the description below, both on the podcast and in the video. So there's more ways to close on the follow up. Following up is really powerful. The money is made in the follow up. Yes, we all want one call closes, but we don't get those. But it's much easier to harvest some of the fruits of our labor than trying to go plant new seeds. There's a playlist for this that I'm going to link to here at the end of the video. And you can also find a link to this in this Far snapshot. Next, if you want my Miss Sale follow up emails and texts that I've used, they're included in the battle pack. You can hop on over there and take a peek. And one of my favorite books that I've referenced time and time again is Pitch Anything by Oren Clef. And I referenced this in the last video and I left it on for this video because I really want everybody to read this book. All right. Oren Clef talks about how buying decisions are made. And you've heard me talk about that a lot on this channel. How we appeal to our emotions and then logic and fear and how that can help us present and communicate at a very, very high, highly effective level with our customers and soon to be customers. So thank you for joining me. Buh, buh, buh, buh, buh. But don't leave yet. If you want to learn more about my follow up process, I have an entire playlist. Click here. Hop on it. If you want to start getting all of this sent to your inbox and a free copy of my pitch Like a pro roofing sales training video library, click here and I'll see you on the next one.