How to Handle Any Roofing Sales Objection (Updated Masterclass)

Become an objection handling artist. That's what this brand new 5-part objection handling masterclass is going to do for you. It is updated, it's expanded, and it's in-depth, and it's unlike anything I've done here on YouTube. If you followed along at any point between now and 2015, you'll see that I've covered, gosh, probably every objection or darn close to it that could ever come up in a roofing sales appointment. But I found that the difference between a decent salesperson who can retort objections, like they say this and you say that. And a true artist is fluidity in conversation. You'll notice, you know, one of the biggest things that hold salespeople back is they don't want to come across as being pushy or salesy or robotic, or they're taught these skills that make them just feel inauthentic. So by following along and learning the 5 skills that I'll be teaching you in order, you're going to walk away from this video feeling like an objection handling artist that can handle this just in real time, knowing what people are thinking and Finding a way to serve them in a deep and meaningful way, because that's what sales is really all about. So I'm so excited to get into this. Do watch it all the way through in order, because it's going to help you integrate these skills and earn more business. Before we jump in, I just want to say welcome or welcome back. My name is Adam Bensman, and I am so excited to announce, if you didn't see the news, that I'm joining the TAMKO family. The YouTube channel here is now The Strong Roofer with Adam Bensman, because your company is only as strong as you are. And we are relaunching my community as the Roofing Strong Alliance, and membership is available now to the Tamko EDGE contractors at no additional cost. There's a link in the description to learn more. So now let's jump right into this video and start with number 1. This is lesson number 1 of this 5-part masterclass, and that is the distinction between questions and objections. There's a big difference here because a question might be something like, How will your crew protect my hot tub? That is a question or a curiosity. They just want to learn more. Where an objection is different than a question is it is a stated reason why someone will not move forward with you. These objections are also known as stalls, or by some sales trainers, they will call them smokescreens when they can, which I don't really love that terminology because it's not always a smokescreen, meaning like an inauthentic way to, you to throw something up that's not the truth. People do that sometimes, but the objection is a, is a statement that's like, I have talked to my wife first or my husband. So I'm making the statement and this is, this is my excuse to not move forward with you. Or I want to wait until I get 3 more estimates or 3 estimates or something like, I want to wait and see what my insurance company says first. Right? These are the, the If I don't get past this, I will not close the deal. Meanwhile, a question, how will you protect my hot tub? However you're going to protect it, you're going to answer. It's a curiosity. It's like, it's going to get protected. That's not going to kill a deal. All right. So that's the distinction number 1. So as you're listening to sales conversations, ask yourself, is this a question or a curiosity, or is this an actual objection that is keeping this homeowner from moving forward with me? Number 2, the best way to overcome an objection, in my opinion, is to address it before it even comes up. And I was recently running a training in Philadelphia for a group of retail contractors with the goal of helping everybody in the room increase their close rate. Now, I want to share the technique that I shared with everybody, and I want you to do this too. Think right now, what are the top 5 questions that come up in nearly every single appointment that you run, whether you're working in the storm damage environment, hail, wind, or hurricane, or if you're working in retail. It might be questions like price, how long does it take, what's the warranty, uh, when can you get started, etc. Those are the kind of, they just come up all the time. So ask yourself now that you've written out these top 5 questions, what I want you to do is number them. Which one comes up in what order? And you'll go 1 through 5. You'll take a look. You're like, usually they ask this first, then they ask that, and then they ask this one, and then this one. And then that way, as you're going through your presentation, with a homeowner, you can say, hey, you might be thinking this, and then read them the question that, you know, everybody gets. And what will happen is the prospect will go, oh man, yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. And you position yourself as an expert, but it also, it puts the homeowner at ease because they feel like they're learning everything they need to learn to make an informed decision. So your job with this lesson number 2 is to write down the top 5 questions that come up in every appointment. And number them in order 1 through 5 and make sure to bring them up voluntarily to get ahead of it. Let's hit number 3, and that is the A-R-O objection handling formula. You may have seen this in the channel, but I wanna explain a little philosophy behind it. And don't worry, I'll get to the acronym here in just a second. But the folks like you who are tuned into this channel and resonate with my sales style, which is based on authentic human connection and authenticity and just being yourself, generally don't like these word-for-word talk tracks cuz it can make people feel a little robotic. Now there is a time and a place to follow script, especially with inside sales and phone calls coming in, et cetera. But for in-home appointments, again, this is the, this, the objection handling artist, having some fluidity through the conversation. So whenever you have a formula, you can easily remember, all right, I'm going to hit this, then this, then this, this, then this, then this. And it allows you to handle anything that comes up in real time, just really naturally. And again, fluidly. A stands for acknowledge. Now you can acknowledge an objection by simply repeating back what you hear or making someone at least feel heard. So if they said something like, I want to wait and see after I talked to, or I want to, excuse me, I want to talk to my wife first or my husband first, by acknowledging it, say, hey, it's a big decision. If it were me, I'd want to talk to my wife first too. That's acknowledging. R is to reassure. Now reassure is to validate that, that what they're going through is normal and you've seen it. So if I said, hey, you know, I want to wait and see and talk to my wife. I'd say, hey, I know it's a big decision. Uh, and then again, R is reassured. I'd say, if it were me, I'd want to talk with my wife first. In fact, most of the couples that I serve, like, they're on the same page. No one's going rogue on making a decision. Then I can O, overcome it. Now, what I, you haven't seen me talk about at length on this YouTube channel is when you overcome an objection, there's two paths to doing it, two common paths. So A, acknowledge, reassure, overcome is this decision tree. And I can either ask a question or I can overcome it with a statement and education. Generally speaking, my first plan of attack is actually to ask a question to the objection. So as an example, with the, I want to talk to my wife about it, I might open up with, hey, you know your wife really well. Tell me, what will she really love about what we have gone through together? And then this person will share, say, great. Now, you know, I know what they, what they'd really like. You know them well. What do you think is going to be their biggest concern? And then they're going to share what that biggest concern is. So now I know that the other decision maker who's not there will love this and hate this, which gives me the information I need to overcome the objection and present alternative paths forward. Number 4, isolate the objection. It is very difficult to learn to overcome objections if we don't isolate the core cause. And what happens is sometimes people talk in circles or they think they're addressing the root issue, but they're really not. Because sometimes when someone says, quote, I have to think about it. So that's the, again, difference between a question and objection. I have to think about it means I won't make a decision because I have thinking to do, or I have more research to do. And again, this would actually be classified by some as the smokescreen example. They may not actually have anything to think about. They just don't want to move forward with you. And it could be a variety of reasons. They don't trust you. They don't like you. They already made a decision. They don't want to tell you that the other person's $4,000 cheaper. Their brother's a roofer, whatever the reason is. So when that comes up, I need to isolate it. As an example to the previous example of, you know, I want to talk to my wife first. If I'm able to say your wife would love this, your wife won't like this, and they share that with me, then I can isolate, say, so if I'm hearing everything right, you're excited about moving forward and getting this roof put on and having us do it for you, that as long as we can address X, Y, and Z concern that your wife has, We're good to rock and roll. And they're going to go, yes. So now that's isolating the objection. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities to me for me to overcome that objection on the spot. My point is that once you isolate the objection, now you open up again, option 1, 2, 3, 4, all these different tools to use, which brings me to the final skill, number 5, and that is Rinse and repeat. I cannot tell you how important this is, and new sales reps butcher this all the time. What they'll do is they'll get an objection like, I have to think about it. Like, okay, great. And they shift into what I call nice guy mode. The nice guy mode is the business card coming out saying, oh, thank you. You know, I'm so good to be here. Where, listen, I really want to pride myself on, on the service we provide and no pressure. Here's my cell phone number right there. Call me anytime, day or night. I'm here for you. Right? And then they leave the house and we'll go home. Honey, they love me. I'll close this deal. I'm sure I will. No, they won't. All right. They shifted into ice skate mode. So instead, when we put this together, we can distinguish, was that a question or an objection? It was an objection. You're going to use the ARO objection handling formula. Assuming you didn't proactively overcome it in the appointment. You're going to isolate the objection. And then you can, when I say rinse and repeat, try to overcome the objection multiple times. I have the rule of 3. If they say, I want to talk to my wife about it, I'm going to lean into the ARO formula. And I'm going to do that 3 times. Now, why 3? Just because it's good practice. So salespeople, especially new ones that feel like they're being pushy, which you are not, you're keeping the conversation going so you can be of service. They'll walk out of the house and leave the deal on the table where they're like at the 99-yard line. It's like, all you need to do is isolate the objection, bring up options, and explore a few. That's the level of persistence that makes a really strong and fluid salesperson. I hope this masterclass leaves you feeling like an objection handling artist. And if you want to watch me handle these real-world objections in real time, jump into this playlist and enjoy. I'll see you in the next one.