Adam Bensman (the "Roof Strategist") explains a concise method for overcoming the homeowner objection "my insurance told me to get three estimates." He teaches that a homeowner's deductible functions like a medical copay—fixed regardless of the insurer's or contractor's final estimate—and cites insurer scope-language that allows payment based on a contractors equal-or-lower estimate. He advises contractors to reframe the deductible for homeowners, encourage homeowners to verify the carrier/agent claim directly (and report misleading advice to the state department of insurance), and notes a caveat for actual-cash-value or percentage-of-home-value deductibles to be addressed separately.
Chapters
What do you do if the insurance agent or insurance company says you should get three estimates? Now, we hear this a lot, and in fact, I did a video in the past and I want to update it and make it even better because I learn even more after coaching tens of thousands of people. And in fact, after in the last six months, speaking at 50 events all across the country, not only in refining the practices that I teach, but having an opportunity to test these different philosophies in markets all across America. And I want to share with you the latest learnings that I've had to overcome this objection. I need to get three estimates because my insurance company told me or my insurance agent told me. And when we use this technique, it is bold, it is powerful, and it works incredibly well. And it can help you serve customers in the best way possible, which is following the scope of work and doing what's on there. And if it's not on there, making sure it's itemized and listed on there so you can serve your customer and put on the roof that they deserve. So what going to tackle this in a couple parts, which we're going to get to in just one second. First, I just want to say a quick welcome or welcome back. Adam Bensman here, the roof strategist. And everything that I do here on my YouTube channel and in my program, my products, my services, is designed to help you and your team smash your income goal and give every customer an amazing experience. And unfortunately, so many customers don't have amazing experiences because they think they know how it works. They think they're going to shop around, find someone to do it cheaper, and at the end of the day, they're doing themselves a different service. But if you and I just say that to a homeowner, it comes across as if we're trying to take them for more money because all of our logos say the same thing. It says, I sell roofs. Where the I sell roofs guy or gal who's showing up and trying to justify a higher price. So I want to kind of dispel all of that and just teach you a really simple framework to overcome this objection like that. Now, let's get started. First, what we need to do is talk about the deductible. And we're going to associate the deductible to a medical copay. And the reason we're going to do this is because many people think that they may not need to pay their deductible or a contractor said they'd eat it. But the reality is you and I Both know that insurance companies, they're requiring. This is a scope, by the way, that I'll share. They're requiring homeowners in Texas, and I don't know if this particular one that I'll be sharing is. But many of these insurance companies are requiring a contractor to provide indisputable proof that the homeowner has in fact paid their deductible before they'll release depreciation. What they're looking for is a check. And not only a check, because people could rip it up, but a check that was actually deposited. And I do hope that at some point this legislation sweeps the nation. But until it does, you can use this. So first things first. Let's assume in this example that a Homeowner has a $2,000 deductible. Now, Mr. Homeowner, can I ask, may I ask what's your deductible? It's 2000. Alright. Now, your deductible is very similar to a medical copay. Let's say, for example, that you go in for a knee surgery and it's going to be $20,000. What would be your contribution? $2,000. Right. Okay. Well, let's say that the knee surgeon gets in there and they're like, wait, this is way worse than we anticipated. Not only is it the acl, it's the ACL and the mcl. We got to do this and that, and now it's going to be $27,000. Well, in that case, what is your contribution, Mr. Homeowner? $2,000. Okay. And let's say that they go in and the surgery doesn't require as much as they thought. They're in, they're out. It wasn't both the ACL and MCL. It was just the ACL. And in fact, it was only $19,000. They saved 1,000 bucks. Do they cut you a check for 1,000? No. Do you pay only 1,000 instead of two? No. How much do you owe? The same $2,000. So the point is, your deductible for this roof claim is virtually identical to a medical copay. Meaning no matter the size of the claim, higher or lower, your contribution doesn't change. And in fact, one of the major carriers, and I'm just going to kind of blur this out, one of the major carriers on the front side of their scope reads this language, and I'm going to read it to you here, it says if you select a contractor whose estimate is the same as or lower than our estimate based on the same scope of damages, we will pay based upon their estimate. Now, I can simplify this language to say if your roof is $20,000 and you have a $2,000 deductible, your contribution is 2,000. But as the insurance company themselves say on their scope, if you find someone whose estimate is the same or lower, then we will pay based on their estimate. Meaning if you got someone who could even say, I'll do it for 15,000, your contribution, Mr. Homeowner, is the exact same 2,000. So I want to ask you this. Whose best interest is it for to get three estimates? Now, you'll notice I asked that as a question because I by no means want to throw an insurance company or an agent under the bus. I just want to ask whose best interest is it for for you to get multiple estimates? Because if someone does it cheaper and you still pay 2000, who is that save money for? No, that's it. You can figure that out. You can put two and two together on your own. Now, the next thing is that if a homeowner doesn't believe you, this is where you can be really bold. Mr. Homeowner, what I'd like you to do is to contact your insurance company and or your agent and say, hey, listen, you know, I know you had shared that I should get three estimates or people have told me to, if I can find someone to do it cheaper, does that mean I don't have to pay my deductible? Now, you and I both know that the insurance carrier, by law, that's their contribution to the claim. And if an agent or a carrier says, no, you don't have to, now you get to be even bolder, and that's by reporting them to the state department of insurance because the carrier and or the agent is now participating in insurance fraud and sharing unethical, illegal information. So next time you get this objection of I need to get three estimates because my insurance agent or insurance company told me to. What we first want to do is just help re explain so the homeowner understands that their deductible is just like a medical copay. Whether the claim is 20,000 or $200,000, their contribution is the same deductible. And if they find someone to do it cheaper, that doesn't mean that they get money back. And if someone says that they do, well, that's providing false and misleading information. And I do believe that warrants being reported to the state department of insurance, which you can find. Now, I do realize that there is one little nuance here, and that's actual cash value policies and or a percentage of home value deductibles. Of course, if someone gets an estimate that's cheaper and their home is a percentage of home value, that opens up a different can of worms that I'm going to address in another video. But for the 80 to 90% of homes that many of us deal with, this particular technique is going to be wildly effective. So what do you think? Will this work for you? Have you tried it? I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below. And I really hope that this helps you serve your customers even better so they can make an informed decision and choose you the right contractor who's going to do a great job and stand behind it at all costs and not have to go shop the market to try to save some money when in fact it's not really going to happen. Well, that's all I've got for you in this video. Thanks for joining me here. And just because our time here is about to wrap up, it doesn't mean you're in. My time has to. So if you haven't yet done it, I'd invite you to join me inside my free training center. You can click right here to get inside, or you can jump right into this video here on YouTube and just keep watching. We'll see you very soon. Take care.
