Retail Roofing Sales Basics & My Favorite Closing Technique

Hey, welcome to today's video. Adam here, the roof strategist and today I'm talking retail roofing sales. In today's video I am going to cover the entire sales process when it comes to selling retail roofs, which is very different than when it comes to selling storm restoration roofs. Whether it's hail, wind, tree falling on the house, a hurricane or a tornado, very different sales processes. And what I found is that a well rounded salesperson is going to make the most of every opportunity and every lead that comes into the office. Because whether you're just selling retail roofs, chances are it's an matter of time till you encounter a storm damage claim or an insurance claim of some sort. And if you're selling storm claims only, it's only a matter of time until people need a cash bid. Now I started off in storm sales and I ended up selling retail as well. Because of the growing demand, once your company is there, people will reach out. So today I'm going to cover the process. Thank you to Josh who emailed and Josh says this to me, he goes, adam, I'm encountering a lot of retail sales and, and as you know, many people, if not most people, are driven by the price of the product and not necessarily the value. Sound familiar? Alright, he says, I'm a relationship builder and someone that aims to educate over pushing volume. So it's been a little more challenging to sell the retail side of this business. So do you have any tips for selling retail, Josh? I sure do. And before I jump right into the process, including some tips, I want to invite you to submit your ideas. Every video you see on this channel, you ask, I answer. So if you want to submit your video suggestions, you have two options. One, drop a comment below or go to theroofstrategist.com and enter your email. What will happen? You'll be automatically enrolled for free in the Insiders. That's my email list where I send video notifications, ideas for lunchtime lives and a whole other slew of valuable emails with videos to help you make more sales. But most importantly, you're going to get this. This is my pitch. Like a pro roofing sales training video library. It's 120 videos, almost all my videos. We're going to be UPD weekly and you can watch any video in order or by category. So you say, hey, I want help on pitching. Click the pitching section or objections or on body language and psychology and you get taken over to that section which you'll see here and just watch any video you want. So Go ahead to the roofstrategist.com I'll send you a personal welcome video and reply to that with any questions that you have that you'd like me to cover here on the channel. Without further ado, let's jump right in. I've got some notes prepared for this. I'm going to be covering the basics of the sales process and giving you some tips to start applying this in the field. Because my goal is that every video of mine that you watch, you walk away with tactics that you can put to use in the field starting now and start making some money. So I'm going to cover an outline of this, you know it's coming, and then we're going to dive into the basics. So first there's what happens before you even show up. Okay. It's going to be different whether you're canvassing to generate your own leads using direct mail or cold calling or knocking doors. Maybe some of the material from my marketing battle pack or. Or if you are getting that lead that comes in through the office, someone's saying, hey, I want a bid or an estimate on our roof. So there's two different ways to approach that that I'll touch on. So there's the pre section before you show up. Then there's the immediate emotional connection that you create. This is the first part of the process that so many people overlook, right? They say we have seven seconds to form a strong first impression. I think it's shorter than that. Your first impression is a nanosecond. Then the relationship develops and you've got a good I would challenge, say 15 minutes or people going to say I really like this gu or gal or I really don't and it's really important. I'll give you some tips on how to start that relationship off the right way. Then we have our credibility and social proof. Why should they trust your company? Why do they know that you're not chucking a truck? It's no secret that this industry is tainted with bad apples, bad experiences, and just contractors in general. Every homeowner has had a horror story, right? There's I got a bid. Then there was the surprise bill. The surprise cost projects take longer. Contractor left midway through the job. There's everyone's got a horror story. So we need to showcase the fact that we are legit, we're licensed. If it's required in your state that you're insured, that maybe you're an accredited installer for a certain shingle manufacturer, that you've been in business for x Number of years you've installed X, number of roofs. And most importantly is the social proof. That's what other people are saying about you. That's what the neighbor said about you. They're the last customer. That's the reviews of Google, Facebook, Yelp, Home Advisor. Right. Any emails you've received from customers, video testimonials. There's two sides. There's the professional side and then there's the what is the rest of the world actually saying about your company? And it's very critical that we lead with that. Then we slide into our presentation. Our presentation is so important, and I'd say even more important in retail than from the insurance side, because a presentation is going to help you deliver the right information in the right order that allows you to answer your prospect's questions. Because you cannot close a deal if they still have questions. The quote, unquote, I have to think about it objection means you didn't answer one of their questions or they didn't even know what question to ask. So there's just this nagging feeling. So they will not buy from you. So during that presentation, you're going to bring help them draw out their questions. You want to invite them so you can transition to the close. And it's during this presentation that we want to focus on the value and what makes you different, which I'll be sharing more about in just a little bit. Then I said objections, and I'm going to hit it again. We want to draw questions. We want every question brought out before we reveal the price in the next steps. So after objections, we have the price reveal. Now, there's many schools of thought on this. I am a big believer of multiple tiers of pricing. There's a psychology behind this. There's a reason behind this. It's been tested in marketing since the 50s, if not earlier. So it's critically important that when you reveal the price, you have multiple prices and multiple options. 3. I wouldn't go more. You could do two, but three seems to be the magic number. And I'll explain why, if not in this video, in a future video, after you reveal the price, it's time to ask for the business. And I'm going to give you a really powerful tool to do this here in just a minute. Then the last piece is giving the prospect a reason to buy now. If they do not have a reason to buy now. People are perpetual procrastinators. Say it again. People are perpetual procrastinators. They're going to wait and they're going to wait and they're going to wait till the last possible minute and we need to stop that analysis paralysis. What is the incentive for them to buy today? Is it a cash discount? Is it an upgrade? Is it a financing option? Is it priority service? A faster install date? A special gift? An extended warranty? There's all different ways to do it that some can include cash discounts or incentives and others can just be more on a value or service based side. So I'm going to do a quick summary of this and then we'll talk about them in a little bit more detail. First is everything that happens before the appointment. Okay. Next is building the emotional connection and the likeability factor. Then we have our credibility and social proof. Okay. Why should people believe you? Why are you professional? Have you been in business long enough? Who are you certified by all these questions? Then we go into our presentation where we showcase our value and our differentiator. We overcome objections. Then we reveal the price. Three of them ask for the business and give the prospect a reason to buy right now. Got it. Alright, I'm going to touch on these very shortly and we're going to go into greater detail in future videos. And hey, drop a comment, let me know what aspect of this sales process you want help with most. Is it overcoming objections? Is it presenting the price? Is it asking for the business? You let me know in the comments below or email me. Alright, so the pre appointment I got this quote from a book called they ask, you answer and the author says that 70% of the buying decision is made before a customer even reaches out to you. 70%. So if you're getting an inbound lead to the office, someone calling up for a bid, that means they are 70% of the way ready to buy. The only 30% is sorting through the usually three to four contractors that they're going to call for an estimate. So if you think about it, you only have 30% of the battle to fight. Then if you are setting the appointment, whether you're canvassing, cold calling, door knocking, using material in my marketing battle pack to self generate your own leads or if that lead comes into the office, either way it is up to you to prime the prospect for the appointment. Get them as ready to buy as you can, ask questions, let them know what to expect. And I include this by the way in the marketing battle pack along with a series of customer emails that ask for referrals and all that. But that's a story for a different day. Okay, so make sure to get them excited about the Appointment, use reminders, text reminders, email specifically and share that information to help them feel comfortable and confident in you before you even show up. Okay. Think of it like the handshake that happened before you met for the second cup of coffee. Alright. Then there's the emotional connection. Now if you haven't read the book, Pitch Anything by Oren Claf is one of my favorite and he says that everybody makes buying decisions based on emotion first and then they validate it analytically. So we don't want people to do is just compare price for price, right? Remove and replace roof, $7,000 and then this guy's 8,000, this guy's 7,800. We don't want them to just start looking this, we want to be able to connect with them personally so they buy into not only our product because it's far more than the price, but the brand behind it, the company behind it, the warranty, how we do things right, the actual shingles, the installation practice, all of that. So it's really important that we connect emotionally with them. And here's my best tip to do that out of the gate, you ask them. I'm so glad I'm here. May I ask you two quick questions? First, what are you looking for in a contractor? Okay, great question. Super open ended. They have to start thinking and if you've been watching my channel, you know I'm a big fan of open ended questions. What are you looking for in a contractor? Okay. And they'll tell you, well, we're looking for someone honest. We're looking for somebody who does good work and who can stand behind it and then you can speak to that, however your company fits that criteria. And the second thing, what decisions are factoring in? Excuse me, what's factoring into your decision on which roof you're going to choose, which contractor you're going to choose. Let them tell you one or both of those questions. What do you look for in a contractor and what considerations are factoring into your decision are going to help you? Because you'll be surprised. Everyone thinks it's always priced, but it's not. People want to experience value. They want companies that they can stand behind. I know for me I'll always go with the more expensive option knowing that you get what you pay for. I know not everybody thinks that way, but when you get them speaking first, you can speak to that. Just like I teach. By the way, if you don't watch my video on canvassing the SLAP formula and you can learn more about that. But in that you ask an open ended question and then present to their answer. Those two questions will help you cater your pitch to only the information that you need to deliver. Because far too many salespeople over pitch, they're going to share too much information in all the wrong areas. But when you know exactly what what they need to hear, you can speak directly to them and trim out all the fluff. It's super, super powerful. Alright then, in your credibility and social proof. We already went over that. Share your credentials. Are you a certified installer from a certain shingle manufacturer? Are you licensed, insured? How many roofs have you installed? How long have you been in business? And then what are other people saying about you? Show them the testimonials, show them the reviews. This is super, super important. Same thing if you went online and searched for a restaurant. Let's say you search Mexican food or Thai food or whatever you're in the mood for on Google, you're gonna see three star reviews. I'm not even gonna bother trying. But when you see five star reviews, half the time we don't even read them. We just say hey, 540 people rated this 4.8 star on average. I'm like an average person, I'll probably like it. Let's go there. How many times have you done that? Click Google Maps, take me there. Good to go. That's how we think as humans. So that social proof is super important. Then there's the presentation, the value and your differentiator. This is a topic for another day, but I will encourage you to always have a structured presentation, either in a flip three ring binder on a digital format or at least an outline to follow. Which by the way, I have my 12 step sales process in the marketing battle pack if you want to check that out. It's important to have that process. You deliver the right information in the right order to get to the right questions to draw all the questions out so then you can ask for the business. Okay then. Overcoming objections. Alright, when you overcome objections, this is when people have a question and you answer it and it's really important. Stop periodically. Does this all make sense? Any questions for me so far? Interrupt yourself. You don't want people to have to feel like they're sitting on these questions. Because I'll tell you this, if they're sitting on a question up here, they're not listening to you. So if you don't pause for a question and I had a question at minute two of your 30 minute pitch, they didn't hear 28 minutes of it. So you got to get those questions out of the way. Interrupt. Got it. See what I did just there? Yeah, like that. All right, then you want to reveal the prices. I'm going to do another video on this as well. Usually we offer three prices. Some people will encourage you to do one. I'm not saying it's wrong. There's a reason I like to do three. Okay. It's pricing psychology. Because people are going to what they call anchor, meaning they're going to make their decision based on the highest one. Everything looks smaller next to a big number. Restaurants use this one. Look at a menu, you're going to see a high priced item. It's how they can sell burgers for $20. You're not going to see a burger joint selling $20 burgers, but you go to a nice steak restaurant and there's a $70 steak on there. Burger is 20 bucks. It's a bargain. Right. There's more on that. I'll share later. So reveal three prices. Usually it's good, better, best. And the best option is going to be the creme de la creme. The upgraded shingle, the designer shingle, the designer colors, the fancy warranty, all the bells and whistles. This one, the middle one, the good one. Right. And then you've got your basic, that's your basic roof. But they're going to be comparing the price on all three. Alright, so we'll share more on that. Then we want to ask for the business. Here is my favorite closing technique. It's the if then close. I've done another video on this as well. Remember when I talked about the emotional connection and I said, you asked them, what are you looking for in a contractor and what's the most important parts for you when it comes to making a decision on which contractor to choose? When they tell you that this is how you use the if, then close. Hey, Mr. Homeowner, if we can replace your roof for you on this option. So you point to the better best and then repeat back what's important to them while making sure. Because by the way, everyone has these very different reasons for choosing a contractor. Like I have a dog that we adopted that's abused or not now, currently was abused. She's very skittish. I wouldn't want contractors here banging my roof all day. I'd literally have to move my dog out. I've had customers have this too. I worked with a gentleman who had PTSD from serving in our military and we relocated him into a separate home for the day while we did the roof because of the noise was very disruptive. We want to take care of people. So let's just use this example with the dog and say, hey, if we can replace the roof, going through all these items on this option with the color of your choice and put your dog and you guys up for the day and, you know, whatever, get you out of the house, treat you for lunch, dinner, would you be willing to move forward with us on your project? Okay, so it doesn't even need to be that. I know that there was some monetary exchange in that, but I wanted to give you that example. What if it was as simple as, hey, if we can do your roof with the exact color you want for this right here, while making sure that your pool is covered, your garden's covered, your garage is covered, and that we sweep up your driveway perfectly so there's no nails, would you be willing to move forward with us? Okay, it's the if then close and all you're doing is repeating back what they have told you is important. When we understand what our customer wants, we can present it to them and it's important to follow through. Of course, of course, of course. Don't give empty promises. But when you build that emotional connection and use the if then close and you tie that back into your clothes, it's very easy to walk away with the business. And then the last thing is giving them a reason to buy. Now, it is no secret that we all procrastinate people wait till their tires are running on the threads below the wear bar to replace them. Why should they buy now and not put it off? What is that reason? Maybe it's a cash bonus. Excuse me? A cash discount. If they buy today, maybe it's an extended warranty. Maybe it's you'll treat them to dinner. Whatever it is, there needs to be a reason for them to make the decision now and not think about it. Because the minute they leave your home, that emotional connection is going to start to deteriorate and then they're back to looking at apples to oranges to pear comparison of estimates which we both know aren't going to be the same. So what is that reason? Is it financing? When you have a reason for someone to make a decision, there's a higher likelihood of winning the business. And when you tie it together from the beginning on that emotional connection and asking what they need to the end of using the if then and presenting an option for you to help them in the exact way they need help giving them a reason to buy today, you will win the business. That's all for today's video. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel. If you like, you'll get notifications of When I do Lives, which right now is Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's Lunchtime Live at 12:30 Central. You can also check out the podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts. There's a little delay on what shows up here on the YouTube channel to the podcast, but you can stream any episode anytime on demand, in your truck, cruising around at your leisure. And last thing, if you didn't do it already, check out my Marketing Battle pack. There's a link in the description for all my turnkey marketing material, direct mail letters, call scripts, insurance agent referral programs, ways to get jobs from Realtors, email notifications, my referral program, the whole the whole kit caboodle. It's all in there and if you're not quite ready, that's a okay, I still have a whole ton of value waiting for you. Go to theroostrategist.com Enter your email and I will send you the pitch like a pros 120+ video training library for Storm and Retail. Thanks for joining me today and I will see you on the next one.