Scouting Tips For Roofing Sales: Watch Over my Shoulder as I Drive to Find the Right Neighborhood

Hey, Adam here, the roof strategist. And today I am covering a highly requested video which is scouting how to scout how to find the right neighborhood, how to maximize your efforts, maximize your time, and maximize your sales when it comes to opening up a neighborhood either during after a hailstorm or even retail. Today I'm going to be focusing mostly on the hail side of things. So a couple things. First, I want to apologize in advance if the lighting on the camera goes in and out. We're driving around, doing the best I can. Second thing, I am not able to actually show any hail data on hail maps during this video for the sake of just respecting privacy. Right. Like, companies are selling these hail maps and I don't find it right for me to show their hail data on a map to a global audience on YouTube. So you'll have to trust me on this one. And then the second thing is, if you are a hail map company or you know of someone who wants to is comfortable with me kind of using their stuff on this channel, I invite the opportunity to chat and kind of spread the love, so to speak. So this, this question comes in a lot, right? How do I find the right area? How do I maximize my efforts? How do I scout a hailstorm, especially from new sales guys or owners that are growing a team? What I'm going to show you with you today is to have two tools. First, first is to have your hail map software. Whether it's interactive, hail maps, hail watch, hail recon, hail strike, it doesn't matter. You just want to make sure you can have it mobile so you know where you are in relationship to all of the actual hail. What I have had. Oh, yeah. And the second thing is you want to make sure to have a app with you to track your GPS so you know where you have been in relationship to the storm. It's happened to me. You get blinders on, right? Like this hailstorm might impact a massive area and you're looking on the map. Oh, I already checked out that area and I didn't see anything. Well, guess what? It might not actually be the whole picture because you can be in this neighborhood and then two neighborhoods over, it's a whole different story. And if that happens, you don't want to waste your effort, especially if you're driving a far distance, to go scout on a storm. So it is really critical for you to have a clear picture of where you've been in relationship to the hail. So you can use any app, GPS tracker. I use an old one that sunk with my laptop and that would allow me to put together a proper scouting report. For my team. That scouting report would show the blue dot of where I've driven so they know exactly where I've been. In case they've been in other areas they can provide some insight into, hey, I've been here and here. And they're like, oh well, I haven't been in this area yet and you should go check that out. Likewise, that will help me figure out the best way to deploy my team in the right areas. And I just realized I made a wrong turn. So we're going to get turned around here to get back into this neighborhood. I've been just kind of taking a peek at a few different neighborhoods and I've got a couple of homes I want to point out. So first things first, again, have all your ducks in a row before you go out. Have a plan of attack. One thing to make the most of your time is to double check the aerial view in that area. Aerial view on Google Maps, Bing Maps, whatever it is, so you can get a quick snapshot looking at the homes like right now, as you've seen the background, I'm not in a super great area like this, the area I was in before, beautiful homes. But this main drag, a lot of rent, rental properties, income properties, kind of not the most care, it looks like of the upkeep. So I probably want to avoid this and look for more owner occupied areas, which I know I got a question saying, hey, how do I sell in a rental heavy market? That's a topic for another day. So once I have those two things to know where I'm going and I have my ducks in a row to scout where to focus my efforts, I can get out in the fields without burning time and burning gas. So once I'm out here starting my search, I am using my eyes to look for evidence that hail fell the area. I'll look for hostas or broadleaf plants on a fresh storm that that's been, you know, that'll show that it's basically shredded. The other thing is any utility boxes, public utility boxes will show what's called spatter marks or splatter marks. And that's when that hail impacts a metal and gives the same look of when you power wash something. You know how sometimes if you power wash siding or sidewalk or something, you see this clean spot. Now hail's no different. They call it a clean spot for a reason where that hail will impact it and will literally essentially act like a power washer, pressure washer and brush the oxidation off of that soft metal. Same thing with H vac units. So as I drive by, I don't know if you'll be able to see this kind of right there. But I'll be able to see the fins of that H vac unit really, really, really dented. So I want to again make sure that there's evidence of hail in the area first before I get out and start knocking doors. So again I'm looking and right now you can see this is an older home and it over my shoulder right here you can see three tab old. Looks like eight inch aluminum siding. Gutter straps that are that are installed over the gutter. I'm going to guess based on the condition of this roof and the step flashing, they've probably had some issues. But in this area another three tab. And then I get into some bigger homes up here. So I want to look for again evidence of hail. It will also show up on mailboxes and it will also show up on things like oh yeah, go take a look at this one. Sorry I'm pulled off here. I'm driving into a dead end so people don't have to drive around me anymore. Not this house. This house here has a for sale sign in it. I'm going to try to pull over so you can see over my shoulder. You'll notice that that gutter protection. See the gutter protection on this house? Yeah, you can barely see it here. That gutter protection is going to be a great indicator of hail. So as I'm scouting I'm looking again for that spatter marks. I have three tab roof of gutter protection. If I see with that there's little dents all over it and that's going to tell me hail's been here. You can also see the high, the exposed flashing on that chimney. So from the ground I'm able to scout whether or not hail has been here. By the way, knowing that that real estate sign is here too. And there's another home for sale up here. This is a great time to start using the information from the battle pack to or your own to hit realtors. So I'd reach out to that realtor using that time my truck I'm going to cold call. Hey, you know I'm sitting in front of the and I'd read I just see the number 50. I don't remember what street I'm on but 54 or whatever street and I see your home's for sale. It looks like an older roof. I'm seeing some evidence of Hail. And I'd hate to see that kind of hold up your transaction or show up in the home inspection process and derail the sale and then go into your pitch of how you can help. Same thing with sending the direct mail letter to that address. So I'm going to write down that address and send that letter in the pack that's specific to that home saying, hey, I know your home's for sale. I saw this. So now you're hitting the homeowner and the realtor. So just a side note, so again, that's one angle of attack here and the other angle of attack, so to speak, this home, larger home, newer shingles, beautiful, beautiful property. You'll notice that also has that gutter protection up here. You can see that I'm kind of pointing at. So when I'm looking at those, what I can do is bring binoculars. I don't have them in this truck. I'm driving around In a new 2020 all wheel drive Transit van. I don't have all my stuff moved over from my other vehicle quite yet, but I'll grab my binoculars. You have to be very careful. So you're not. People don't think you're a peeping Tom. Respect privacy, right? But I can sit here from my truck, I can look at the downspout extensions, I can look at all of the leaf protection and I can even look up to the roof to see if the box vents and so forth show signs of damage, if any flashing shows signs of damage. So that's an indicator of one, that hail has in fact, excuse me, the hail has in fact hit this area. And two, that I'm in the right spot. And if I'm not seeing anything, I'll note it on my scouting report. So as an individual sales rep, what I would do before I get out and start knocking doors, if I see someone out, I'm going to go hit it. But on my general scouting efforts, I want to know because you saw like I drove through some not super great areas and if that was my first one and done, which you hear me say a lot like don't go one and done. You want to make sure to go through everything and give it the time it deserves. So I would check this area out, really grab kind of like a couple sample points within that hill map by pulling it up and mapping around, say, okay, I was here, then I was here and then I was here. So you know where you've been. Then I'm going to have a real clear picture of where's my Best opportunity. This home has very or this little neighborhood has very few three tab roofs. But the dimensional shingles do look a little bit older, a little aged. So I'm going to make notes of that same thing. If I'm in an area and not every market I know down south, you don't have as much aluminum siding. I'm in Wisconsin today, so there's a lot of aluminum siding in Wisconsin, a lot of 8 inch aluminum that's prone to damage. And it's older, so it'll show a lot of older damage as well. So I want to take thorough notes on this area. So for owners, have someone put together that scouting report. Certain salespeople do better in certain environments. Some folks do really great in like the more white collar, upscale, multi million dollar homes. Other people do really great in like a blue collar community. So you want to deploy your sales team in the right area. And as a salesperson, if you're doing your own scouting, that helps you get a really clear picture on where you want to focus your efforts. Instead, like if all these were say 20 square roofs and then you go like three blocks that way and you're in all 40, 50, 60 square roofs, these monster homes, like where are you going to spend your time? You know, one sale, twice the job, twice the income. Go hit that. Right. So I'm going to just do a quick recap of today's video. One, drive around, take thorough reports, use your hail map software, which by the way, as I mentioned, I'm not having up to share with anyone because I don't feel right overlaying data that is private for subscribers only. It just doesn't feel right to me. I don't want to do that. And two, have a GPS tracker to track your route. By the way, if anyone knows anyone that wants to be a part of the channel or have me showcase their hill maps, I'm happy to do it. I just don't want to share anyone's without permission for obvious reasons. Second thing is, make the most of your efforts. We saw for sale sign back there. We saw a for sale sign here. I want to write down those addresses. I'm in a cold call. See another for sale sign. I want to. Oh, that one. Sales pending. So that's great. There's some urgency. And that one, yeah, that one's got an older roof as well. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some issues that come up on an inspection. But in, in that I'm making the most of my efforts. For sale signs, commercial property for rent signs. I want to document everything and start layering in my multiple touches. Okay. The other thing that I want to do is make sure to track my GPS route so I know where I've driven in relationship to the storm. And then take thorough notes before you get out and start working it. The last thing you want to do is start working in a neighborhood where you know next door is going to be better. Third, have binoculars or some way to zoom in. Be very careful, be mindful, respect people's privacy. But you can look up on roofs, you can look at all the soft metal to find evidence of damage. Same thing on a fresh storm. The foliage clean marks everything down again, public utility boxes, those electrical boxes outside, or you'll see it on mailboxes, things like that. So do your scouting and then get out and start layering in those multiple touches. You want to be able to knock the door document whether it's using Spotio or Sales Rabbit or some software or the sales tracker from my marketing battle, excuse me, my canvassing tracker and the marketing battle pack. You'll find certain areas, people are home at different times of the day. So I want to find the retirees so I can go work those during the day. Then the people who might have shift work with blue collar communities, they might be getting home, say three o' clock after shift work. I can go work that early. And then my next neighborhood might be, say blue collar or white collar community where I can get in there and start working those neighborhoods. Four or five o' clock as people are getting off of work, picking kids up from school and all that. So as you start to get strategic, you'll know what neighborhoods to hit, how to use your multiple touches, knock the door, know which areas to work with times of the day, leave that door hanger leave behind. Again, you can use the stuff from a battle pack or use your own. I just recommend against, which is not popular opinion, but I recommend against using that. I call it overly produced marketing material. The flyers that are like glossy paper, they're a door hanger. Hail call for a free inspection. People get a million of those. That's why I use a letter, because it's personal. It feels like way more of a human connection. And when you use a plain piece of paper that's folded up, people are curious immediately they drive up, they just see stuff. Oh, it's marketing material. Do I want to look at it or not? That first decision is into the trash or not into the trash. That's why I always use printed paper in a Hand signed letter, people have a tendency to open it, they're curious. So that's again the first touch. Second touch is sending that direct mail letter. Not in the battle pack. I think there's like 11 now. I forget there's a lot that are in there. So you can send a letter if it's discontinued. Shingle, wind damage, a three tab shingle, an old storm, a fresh storm, no soliciting sign. Tired of roofers at your door. Whatever it is that you want to send, you can send that letter in the mail. And then when you show up again, you have a reason to be there, right? Because again the slap formula for pitching, which I highly recommend you watch that video, it's a simple four step process to ace your pitch when you make it relevant and give them a reason for you there. Now it's like, hey, I stopped by the other day, I left a letter, I'll send you a letter in the mail, you can ask that open ended question. I just wanted to stop by and ask what questions you had about the letter that I left and that I sent. Not did you read it open ended, what questions do you have about the letter? Because that way when they see that and they hear that, they're going to start thinking, what letter is he talking about? If you say, do you have any questions, what's easy for them to say, no, I don't, then they're going to deny you. But if you show up and say, hey, I stopped by the other day, I left a letter, I also sent you a letter in the mail. By the way, that house down there, that's for sale, I talked with Jill, she got it up for sale. I hopped up, I found some hail damage and I just want to stop by and one, ask what questions you had for me after reading my letter and two, to ask you how the insurance process has been for you. So now you're priming them with this open ended question that they're going to be required to think about before responding and then you present to their answer which forces them to think instead of that quick rejection. And then obviously you can get up, do your pitch and then use my line, which by the way, I've been getting more emails than I ever have on that one liner. Do you have any objection if I hop up on your roof for a quick video in photo inspection and show you what I find? So again you're getting that negative agreement meaning do you have any objection if their knee jerk's going to say no? But when you phrase it that way, they're going to say oh no, I don't have any objection. But that no means a yes. And then you're up on the roof. And again, I'm not kidding. Every single week I'm getting emails. Man, that one liner has changed the game. One guy said that he used to be like a 1 in 60 doors. Now he says he's getting getting inspections like 1 in 8. I forget what the exact number was, but helps out a lot. So anyway, I hope this video covers kind of how to scout how to pick the right neighborhood. And again, if you're working smaller storms, go find areas with three tab shingles older roofs that are going to show that damage. If you're working a fresh storm with big hail, the world's your oyster. So I hope this answers your question. You can check out all the material in my marketing battle pack in the link below. And if you want more free roofing sales training videos for you or your sales team, you can get my pitch like a pro roofing sales training video library entirely free. There's a link in the description just@the roofstrategist.com I'll email that to you and I'll follow up person with a question to find out how I can help you make more sales smash your income goals. If you like this video, give it a thumbs up. Subscribe for new videos and let me know what I might have missed on this scouting video. It'll help me put together another video in the future to help with more tactical advice that you can use in the field to open up that right neighborhood and make more sales. Thanks for joining me and I'll see you in the next one.