"I can't afford my deductible" | OBJECTION in D2D Roofing Sales

It feels like your hands are tied and your heart hurts because you've got customers that need you, but they simply can't afford to pay their deductible. And this throws a roadblock. Roadblock number one is the customer who you just signed up and the adjuster already came out approved. The roof homeowner gets the scope and they're reading it and their eyes just bulge and they're like this $6,500 deductible and all of a sudden the project is stonewalled. You don't know if you're going to get the roof. I know sometimes it might be a thousand, two thousand, it doesn't matter. The point is your customer can't pay it. Or roadblock number two is the homeowner that might even need a new roof. Let's say it's a three tab roof, it's older, it's leaking, there's clear damage on there whether it's hail, wind or hurricane, and the homeowner needs it. But what they tell you is I don't want to file a claim because I can't afford to pay my deductible. Now, whatever roadblock you're facing, this video is going to give you three different ways to help homeowners who truly can't afford to pay their deductible that are legal and ethical. Disclaimer Every state law is different. There's one state in particular, my friends in Florida. One of these methods no longer will be a viable option for you. But I do want to explain these options. And whatever you do, if you are an individual sales rep, it is critically important that you clear these methods with the company that you are selling for so they know what's going on and you have their permission to participate. That being said, let's get straight into today's video after a quick welcome or welcome back. My name is Adam Bensman, the roof strategist and everything I do here on this YouTube channel and my podcast is designed to help you smash your income goals and to give every customer an amazing experience. And oftentimes we face customers who deserve or need an amazing experience who simply can't afford it. But in this video, I'll be teaching you three ways to help. So let's get right to it. By the way, stick around at the end. I've got a little announcement and a deal for you which I'll share here short shortly. But first, these three options. First option is using using the actual cash value payments of various aspects of the claim that the homeowner may not necessarily need to replace. So I'm going to write down here acv, which again stands for actual cash value. Now I've done an entire video on this and there's a link to that at the top of this video. So you can click to watch that right now. But I want give you the high level overview. This is a really great way to explain to the homeowner how you can help with their deductible while also giving you a very competitive advantage to win the business. Because you and I both know there's plenty of roofers out there that'll just give this stuff away. One, it's not ethical. Two, it's crappy sales, frankly. So what we want to do is earn the business and showcase the value. And what we can do is explain to the homeowner how this ACV payment stuff works. So again, actual cash value. Think of it like used car prices. You get a used F150 instead of paying the $60,000 markup, or excuse me, I said markup, $60,000 retail price and you get one that's five, 10 years old, you're going to save 15, $20,000 because that's the used car value. So as this pertains to the home claim, you might have things like fences or decks that are going to get pressure washed and stained. You might have soft metal damage, things like gutters and or downspouts. You might have garage doors that have dings. You may find anything to fence post caps, cosmetic damage, windows that are aluminum clad, wood windows that have little dings in them, or even aluminum or steel siding, fascia board, anything that isn't going to compromise the integrity of a roofing system. Those payments can be used towards the deductible. As an example, let's say we've got window wraps, we've got down spouts, gutters, fascia board and a garage door and all of that. And I'm just throwing a number out there. Let's say all of that is 12,000 bucks. But the homeowner is not going to receive all 12,000. They're going to receive a portion up front. And let's say that that portion up front, if it's an older home, is $4,500. Well, that's a good chunk of change and that may offset all the deductible all in one lump sum. This is your competitive advantage to explain to the homeowner why you need to be involved in this process from the be beginning so you can go through the property with a Fine tooth comb before the adjuster gets there to know everything. And by the way, a spotlight, I'm talking like a hunting spotlight. Big bright light can be a really powerful tool on soft metals. Gutters, downspouts, garage doors, fascia boards. When you shine that light down it, you're going to see all the little deviations are going to cast a shadow. And this is a time to take your chalk, turn it width wise and run it up and down over and you'll see where the gaps are. If it's a hail claim, this obviously won't do much for wind. For hail claim will show where those little dings are and all that little stuff, although cosmetic, will be paid for. So you can help the homeowner offset their deductible with these actual cash value payments of things they don't need to necessarily do. And it makes you look like a hero and will help you win the business because you have that attention to detail that they're expecting and that's why you're there. Now it is important for the homeowner to note that any of these actual cash value items they use towards the roof are technically no longer insured. Which means if another hail or windstorm or hurricanes comes through, they're not going to collect on it twice because they didn't do the work. Usually not a big deal if a gutter's not paid for again, but it's important that the homeowner fully understand what it is they're doing. So now there it is, your actual cash value again. Explain the value you bring in your attention to detail to help them get all of the items paid for appropriately to help reduce their out of pocket expense for their deductible. All right, that's plan number one. Plan number two is to offer financing. This can be done in a variety of different ways. Method 1. If you are a company selling retail roofs or you have a division selling retail, chances are you offer some semblance of financing, you can extend those financing deals to your homeowners. In addition to that, there's a company which I'm not affiliated with, I've not been paid to promote them. Fund my deductible and ryan Davis from FundMyDeductible was actually interview or I interviewed him on the YouTube channel when Texas passed the law outlawing eating deductibles. So traditional financing or fund my deductible is another tool in the toolbox to help when homeowners can't afford to pay their deductible the third way and by the way, disclaimer. My Florida friends, this will not work for you any longer to do The Senate Bill 76, the recent laws that went into effect, and that is a referral fee. Now, I will be honest, this is not necessarily my favorite method. And you must check with your local laws and do this the legal and ethical way, with a proper paper trail in most states. Let's say I'm your homeowner and I say, hey, Adam is so good working with you, you got to do John's roof. He's my neighbor, and I'm going to get you set up with John. So I refer John. Now, you can pay me a referral fee for getting John to do the roof with you. Let's say that referral fee. And by the way, I've done lots of videos. In fact, I have an entire playlist on my channel called Referral Madness, where I teach my referral incentive program. I incentivize, meaning I pay for the appointment, not like you get the roof. Then we do it and get paid. You can do whatever you want in this circumstance and whatever your company approves. But the way I do it is for the appointment, not for, like getting the roof done. Right. I'm looking for the hot leads. It's up to me to close them, and I know I'm going to close a referral either way. That referral can be paid to the homeowner, let's say anywhere from 25 bucks to 250 bucks, whatever the amount is, and that amount 25, 250, whatever the number is, to make sure you're on the up and up. You need to know that anything that you invoice to the insurance company. So if the roof's 18,000 with a $4,000 deductible, if you invoice the insurance company for 18, you have to show that you've collected that money from the homeowner. If you were to ever get investigated, just like doing your taxes, you don't write off things on your taxes that are a lie. Some people do it, but the minute you get audited, you get in a lot of trouble. We don't want to do that. So if you are participating in any of these, it is important that you have the appropriate paper trail to show that you've been operating above board and what I mean by that. And please do check with the company. So if you are a sales rep, do confirm with your company that you're operating legally in the state according to state and local laws and with your company policy. So if I were to pay a $250 referral fee, this homeowner sent me four referrals. I would likely want to pay that homeowner the thousand. So they pay it back to me so I can show evidence of collecting the proper funds that I invoiced the insurance company for. You follow again, it's all about doing business above board. So there you have it. My three favorite ways to help homeowners who truly can't afford to pay their deductible. And I did promise you one more, and that was my least favorite method. And I just want to air it out there. That's paying an advertising fee. This has been going on for forever and ever and ever where roofing companies go to a homeowner and say, hey, well, we have an advertising fee and we'll pay you $1,000 to stick a yard sign in your yard. And it's never actually accounted for. It's like this sleazy under the table. You know, hey, we're gonna give you a thousand bucks, but we're not actually gonna pay you, and we're gonna live. I just don't like it. It has gray area written all over it. Certain states, it is illegal. So if that's a method that you've used, I wanted to air it out because I imagine that it would come in the comments. And speaking of comments, if I missed something, please drop a comment. What do you do to help with deductibles? Is there something I missed? And please comment only if it's legal and ethical. And if someone were to look into it, we're all operating above board. I don't want to be sharing ideas here that aren't above board, but do tell me, what is it that you do to help homeowners who can't afford to pay their deductible? Well, just because this video is about to wrap up now that you have these three ways, doesn't mean your in my time has to. So for that reason, I want to get you into this. It's called my pitch like a pro roofing sales training video library. And inside, I have an entire playlist on almost all of the objections you're going to get. I cover a ton of videos on deductibles, and you can get instant access entirely free. It's organized by category so you can binge to your heart's content. And it's great for training new people. It's great for seasoned veterans. So if you're interested and you haven't yet done it. You can click right here. And if you want to keep joining me on this journey, I think you'll really like this video. Click right here and I will see you on the next one.