How to Speak Confidently in Sales (even if you don't feel confident yet)

How can you speak even more confidently in sales? This is a really hot topic, and whether you're a seasoned veteran with decades of experience or you haven't even sold your first roof yet, you're going to take away a few key action items to help you speak even more confidently on the very next sale that you run. Thanks for joining me today and I am so glad to have you here. Welcome. Or welcome back. My name is Adam Bensman, the roof strategist, and everything I do here on this YouTube channel and on my podcast and. And in the roofing sales success formula, which is being used by thousands for Wellstorm and retail, is designed to help you and your team smash your income goal and give every customer an amazing experience. Now, for one moment, I just want to focus on the last thing I just said and give every customer an amazing experience. Now, if you've been tuning in for a while, you'll probably notice that that's a newer addition to my mission. And the reason for that is because in sales, we can make a lot of money, and we can make a lot of money. We bring in people who can become greedy and then their moral or ethical compass gets skewed and they do certain things to make money at the expense of others. And that's how roofing companies get a bad rap. All the articles, the scams, the con artists, the things that you and I both see and know happen out in the world. So when I break down this video, I just want to be crystal clear about my intention. This is not to help you learn how to be some con artist, some smooth talking whiz, some. Some sly salesperson. It's to give you the true skills to speak even more confidently in the home. And if you haven't yet done it, I would highly recommend that you either listen or watch the video that I just put up right before this one, which was learning how to speak smoothly or be a smooth talker in sales. Again, same context applies. So let's get started, shall we? First, speaking confidently in sales. Where does it begin? It begins with our ears. We have two ears, one mouth, for a reason. And no matter how confident you are, and I've watched people, by the way, I've seen some videos, I see some folks online that are, in my opinion, full of it, but they're really good at speaking confidently. But most folks, or discerning folks, see right through it. So if you start spitting all the right things out, but you're not actually listening to the customer, your message isn't going to land. Because you're telling them things they don't need. And I've audited some sales. I've listened to salespeople, watched salespeople do certain things that tell a homeowner, I'm not listening to you. Just hear me out. No, no, no. Like as a true example, when someone has an objection or a question, when the salesperson jumps right in to start answering it. Why? Because they're confident, they know the answer, they're excited to help. But what ends up happening is it tells the homeowner, I'm not listening. You listen to me. I know what I'm talking about. That's not good. That doesn't create a good experience. So the first thing that we want to do, become a confident speaker is to listen, become an active listener, understand not only the words that are being said from our customer, but what the meaning is. And another example of that, as I teach, is all objections only mean one of three things. They don't trust you, they don't think they need you, or it's a money issue. So if someone says, I have to talk to my wife about it, doesn't mean they have to talk to their wife and they're excited about it. It means they don't trust you. So we just really want to listen more deeply. So there it is. The foundation of speaking confidently is listening. So you can start speaking to the right things and send your prospect and soon to be customer the right message. All right, next key piece. And then don't worry, we're going to break down three key elements that you're going to start using. The next piece is having the knowledge. The knowledge and the understanding the education. However you want to spin this one, I recently did a video on what you actually need to know to sell roofs. The difference between process knowledge and product knowledge. And again, if you didn't see that video, we'll put a link in a card up here on YouTube somewhere and you can go pop in to take a look at that one if you are new to learn the difference and in time you will get this experience. And I know if you're new, if you're concerned about, you know, hey, I haven't sold the roof. I don't know much about roofing systems. Where should I turn to see installs those kinds of things? What you need to figure out, and by the way, Brian Tracy taught me this in his book goals is your bottleneck. So Brian Tracy, thank you for this one. So the bottleneck upside down. I'm a horrible artist. It's this Choke point. It's the weakest link. And for many people, this bottleneck here is product knowledge. So what you need to do is just say, hey, you, you know what, what do I need to learn in order to feel confident? Find out what this weakness is and then just go pursue it. Dedicate 20, 30 minutes a day brushing up on product knowledge, reading the shingle manufacturer's install guidelines or the install manual, jumping on YouTube saying how a roof is installed. Any of the major manufacturers have portals. And by the way, as a new partner with Owens Corning, if you're an Owens Corning contractor, Owens Corning University has a lot of this information in there. So find, find out what that weakness is, you can overcome that knowledge gap, close it, and then you'll be even more confident to start speaking with customers like you know what you're talking about, because you will and you do. All right, now let's break down the three key elements. To speak confidently, to come across like you know what you're doing. And the first one I want to touch on is certainty. Okay? Now certainty is stating facts or statements confidently. Give you an example. If you get this product, it can help you be happier. Okay, that's a loosey goose statement. If you get this product, it will make you happier. That's an absolute statement, by the way. I realize there's no product that's going to make you happy, but I want you to feel the difference here. This could do it for you, or it will. It is a matter of fact statement. When we speak with certainty, it showcases confidence that we know what we're talking about. So I want to tell you a story of how this lack of certainty made me not trust a doctor. A veterinarian specifically. Now, my old dog, rest in peace, Nelly, was a 90 pound husky and she was nearing the end of her life. I was distraught. My friends out there, you know what that's like when you lose a pet, a dog or a cat, it's a member of the family. And that transition time, it's raw, it's emotional, it's sad, it hurts. So I go to the vet with Nellie. This is an old vet, by the way, not the one you hear me talk about. Raving stories. They're amazing. The old vet I go to and this woman's been practicing for decades and decades. In fact, she started her practice, I believe, in the 70s. And I'm in there and I said, what do I do with Nellie? And she says, well, you could do this. And then if you do that, this will happen. And then, well, this is another option and this will happen. And she does this loosey goose, airy terms and she gives me about six different scenarios. Do I have confidence in her? No. So I try to reel her hand and just tell her what I need. I say, doc, listen, I'm sad, I'm emotional, you know how I feel about the end of life, care for Nellie, you know the quality of life, you know the values I've shared with you about where I draw that line between euthanasia and just letting her live out her life because I want her to be there even if she's suffering. So knowing that, what would you recommend to me? And then instead of these six concepts, she boiled it down to about four. Well, I left that appointment even more sad, more confused and more frustrated than when I showed up because she had no certainty. She didn't tell me what was going to happen. Think of certainty like giving someone instructions, which we'll tie in here in a minute. Clear direction. Okay? An absolute statement. No can in this. It will, we will do this for you. Alright? So speaking with certainty or absolutism or matter of fact is critically important to showcase your confidence in speaking. And I'll give you an example. If you called me up and you said, hey Adam, you know which program's best for me and, and I would say, well, you've got this option and this option and no, what I'm going to say is I'm going to ask you a question first. Are you an owner or a rep? Okay. If you're a sales rep, start with a roofing sales success for that's your best path for everything. If you're on a budget, the battle pack is a great option. As an owner, the only path for you is the best path and that's the roofing sales success form or the full training. Do you see that? That's a level of certainty. Not well, we can do this, we can do that. It's like this is where you start. Do I offer other things? Yes, but I recommend everybody start there. I have certainty, I'm matter of fact. Make sense? All right, that's element number one is speaking with certainty. Element number two is speaking with authority. Now what do I mean by authority? Think of the tonality between a traffic cop, for example, he's going to direct traffic, he's going to speak with authority. When you see a doctor, and you've heard me say this before, I'm transitioning by the way, from the veterinarian to the doctor, you want to sell like A doctor. Diagnose what's going on, prescribe the solution, tell a story. When we communicate with authority, it shows that we know what we're talking about. And by the way, to me, the best type of knowledge to have in order to speak with authority is process knowledge, how this whole thing works. This is the most important part to homeowners, not as much the product side. This is my opinion. If you disagree, do drop a comment. I'm happy to engage in a healthy discussion because your experience might be different than mine. And I've been very quickly humbled running this channel to learn how much I have yet to learn. I've been in the business for 2000, since 2011, and if I said everything I said was the fact the best way and the only way, I'd be lying to you. There's so many ways to do this. So if you disagree with any of this, do drop a comment below or ask any questions, and we can all learn from it together. So again, speaking with authority, showcasing that you know what you're talking about, positioning yourself as the expert or the doctor. So if I blend authority and certainty to. This is an example. Hey, Mr. Homeowner, as we go through the roof replacement process, this is what will happen. Certainty. Okay, there's an example of certainty. This is what will happen. First, we're going to go through everything today so you feel comfortable making the next steps or the decision on the next steps that are right for you, then what will happen is we're going to pick colors. Okay. I'm describing with certainty the next steps very clearly. Then what's going to happen is we're going to show up and prep the house. We're going to make sure that your lawn is safe, your garage doors, your windows, and everything from that debris removal. I'm speaking with authority that I know what's going to happen. Then we're going to go ahead and start installing the roof. This is what's going to happen. This is our cleanup process. This is our final walkthrough. And I use authority to say, it ain't my first rodeo. Even if it is. By the way, you speak with authority. So we're going to blend certainty and authority. To position yourself as the leading expert. All right, finally. Is we need to be direct. What do I mean by direct? Hey, if you want to move forward, you just let me know. If you want to move forward. All we need is an autograph right here. Okay? That's being direct. Communicating in a way by blending authority and certainty, to speak directly to someone and giving them directions. You put the lanes on. You dictate how this process goes and, and you can communicate clearly in a way where people understand. I don't want to keep it Loosey Goose. Loosey Goose doesn't have any place in sales. Don't do any speaking with Loosey Goose terms. What do I mean by loosey goose? A lack of certainty. Showing people that you have no idea what you're talking about and not being direct. And if you've been in sales for more than an hour, you know that you need to be direct to ask for the business. You need to be direct to tell someone next steps. You need to be direct to tell someone what to do. You need to be direct to. To say, when is a good time for me to come back to revisit everything with you and your husband? When you're together, I'm clearly communicating what will happen. Blending certainty and authority. And yeah, as you're observing this, you're like, wow, there's a lot of overlap between using certainty and authority and being direct. And there absolutely is. And these are the key themes where when you blend in your certainty, authority, and your directness, you will speak with even more confidence. So what I want you to do next is to learn where your weaknesses grab a piece of paper right now and say, hey, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much certainty do I have in my voice and communication? On a scale of 1 to 10, how much authority? And then on a scale of 1 to 10, how direct am I? Once you score yourself, I want you to then say, you know what? I realize with my authority, I'm a 2 out of 10. That's how I'd rank myself. And then you can say, hey, well, why is that? Well, it's because I don't really know enough and I don't have enough experience yet. Go solve that problem. Go do ride alongs, talk to people on your team, go sit on jobs, find that weakness and quickly say, what's the cure? Find that cure, chase it. And before you know it, you're going to be a smooth talking, confident salesperson who's closing more deals and giving customers an absolutely amazing experience. Now, I want to close with this one last piece. One of the best ways to speak with confidence is to know what you're going to say. Okay, so you know what you're going to say. I'll give you an example. Many salespeople who go through my training program and learn my canvassing strategy, the full in depth, which by the way, I Get asked a lot, what's the difference between your YouTube videos and what you provide in your program? A lot. In my program, it's a full sales system from knock to close, including the training, every single thing. You go through it, nine and a half hours, you're out, you're rocking and rolling. Alright. Teams are using it to grow their teams, train their existing teams, train future hires, find new recruits, the whole kit and caboodle. One of the most common forms of feedback I get is Adam. I am now more confident because I know what to say. I show up at the door knowing how I'm going to start the conversation when I hear an objection and I'm uncomfortable instantly. Now I feel confident because I know how to start overcoming that objection. When I show up at the sales appointment, I know how it's going to go. So having that foresight, that vision and that clarity when you know what you're going to say is going to help you feel even more confident. Now, is this a plug for my training system? 100% it is. Does it mean that you need to buy it? Absolutely not. You might be just fine watching these videos, or better yet, articulating or creating your own formula, your own approach. So whether you use mine, whether you make your own, whether you use someone else's, I want you to remember that when you know how you're going to start the conversation, how you're going to overcome objections, how you're going to run that sales appointment, that confidence level will arise and it will be much easier to speak with certainty, authority and being direct. So there you have it, a simple framework to help you speak even more confidently. If for any reason you are interested in the roofing sales success formula for yourself or for your team, you can click the link in this description below or give our team a call. You can call or text 303-222-7133. Now let's continue our journey together. If you haven't yet done it, let's get a free copy of my pitch like a pro roofing sales training video library in your hands right now. Click right here and I'll send you a free copy. By the way, did you notice how I told you to do that? By being direct. And if you just want to join me here on YouTube, click and jump into this video. YouTube thinks you're really going to love it. We'll see you soon.