SHUT UP and Listen! How to Get Your Customer Selling Themselves: Using Silence to CLOSE More Roofs

You need to shut up and listen. And when you do it, you're going to make more money. I hope I caught you on your heels because when you're pitching too hard and too fast, it's what you're doing to your customers, it doesn't feel that great, does it? But when you learn how to filter yourself and you can shut up and listen, that power of silence is going to help you make more sales. It's a profound strategy that most especially new salespeople overlook because they're pitching too hard and too fast. So in this video, I'm going to teach you why you need to shut up and listen in order to sell more. And how that power of silence is going to help you not only make more sales, but get more referrals, get the names and neighbors and become the neighborhood roofer. Hey, my name is Adam the roof strategist, and I help salespeople and sales teams just like you reach peak performance. Have fun doing it. But most importantly, to help you smash your income goal. Because after all, that's what we got into roofing sales for to begin with, right? To do that and change our lives for the better. So, hey, most new salespeople pitch too hard, too fast, too soon. Alright, now I want you to think of this scenario. Let's talk anything but roofing for a second. Imagine you show up at a dealership, you did really well this year and you're shopping for a brand new F250, or if you're a Dodge guy at 2500, or if you're a Chevy guy at Silverado, whatever it is, you're searching for that new truck. You show up at the dealership and all of a sudden before you can even say anything, the salesperson grabs you and says, let me show you the latest vehicles that just came in and they bring you over to a Chevy vault or a Toyota Prius or whatever it is, and you're like, what in the world? That I don't need that. I'm looking for a diesel truck, dude. Not an economy car with a little freaking electric wee wee engine in it. But that's how it feels to a homeowner when you pitch too hard, too fast. When you show up and you say, hey, my name is Adam, they're a strategist and we're a local company. We are over here and I'm BBB accredited. We have better products, better service, better warranty. And I'm here and I'd love to do an inspection for you to help out if you can have hail damage because I can help you get free in your roof. Right? Sounds familiar. It's just like the projectile vomit of a pitch. And the same thing of you getting sold a Prius when you're searching for a diesel truck is what's going on for the homeowner because you're trying to sell them something they don't even need. And everybody knows this. Everybody loves to buy, but no one loves to be sold. Right? Here's your choices. Pick, tell me what you need. I'll guide you in the right direction. When you shut up and you listen and you use open ended questions that I teach in the SLAP pitching formula, which by the way, watch the car. Two videos to watch on that. Okay, check them out. Slap, say hi and break the ice. L let them know why you're there and make it very familiar to their neighborhood, to their street. A ask an open ended question and shut up. There's three things in your pitch that you're doing. That's it. When you ask that question, they're going to tell you what's going on. And then you get to P which is presenting a solution to what they just told you. So take your pitch, dial it back, dial it down. That's why I do have scripts available in the marketing battle pack and in your complete sales strategy links to both below. However, I encourage people to use this only as a reference point and most importantly, to use the SLAP canvassing formula, which I have a printout to put in your truck inside there as well to keep you focused on how to run these conversations and how to run these dialogues with your customers. Because there's a lot at stake if you can increase. Imagine increasing your performance at the door to just start a conversation. So many people are focused on the close. The close, the close. Well, if you close too soon, you're going to get to know way faster than you need to. You need to learn when to shut up, when to let the customer talk, when to let them tell you what they need. And you do that by following a process. The SLAP formula is what's worked for me and many fans of this channel and all of my customers. Print this stuff out, hang it in your truck and use it. So when you ask that open ended question and they say, you know what, and I say, here's one, by the way, how's the insurance process been for you? What did the adjuster say when he came out? Okay, open ended, they're required to think. What if they say, hey, the adjuster was out, he partially paid the Roof. Or he denied it, or I have the check in hand. Do they need the inspection right away? No. So I'm going to let the homeowner tell me what I need to do to present a solution to them. So I want you to think about this. So many people going door to door get into forced salesperson mode, right? They show up, they're aggressive at the door. You see all these, like, games and roleplay online of videos of like, oh, well, Trump, I'll overcome that objection. And it's all this really pushy, like, I'm not interested. Why not? You should be like, that's all garbage, guys. Will it work? A time or two. I'm sure it will. Out of pressure. But if you want your customers to love you, if you want your customers to refer you business, you need to be respectful of them. And when you shift this dialogue and you shut up and you ask a question and they present an answer, you are literally giving the homeowner the key to the lock to say, you tell me what you need. I'm here to give you the answers you're looking for. You become a sounding board, a mirror, so to speak, that when they speak, all you do is address what's important to them. They may not care if you're BBB accredited. They may not care if you're GAF Master Elite. They may not care about any of that because all that matters is what's important to them might be getting the garden covered appropriately. Like, a fan emailed me, how do I protect this garden? Because the homeowner loves, gosh, it was beautiful. But that's important. Covering the pool, keeping the dog comfortable. Maybe they have PTSD from serving our country, which has happened to me. And I helped relocate a resident of an apartment complex so he could be comfortable while we were running nail guns on the roof. These things are all unique to every person because their home is their castle. So when you follow the slap formula, when you shut up, you ask questions. You are literally having your homeowner through their questions tell you how they need to be sold. You go from actively selling to just presenting a conversation that guides them to you. The right decision. Okay, I hear this a lot. I get from new salespeople. Adam, the one thing I hate about roofing sales is I feel pushy, I feel sleazy, I feel salesy. And it's lack of knowledge and it's lack of training. But when you approach this one with two fundamentals, I'm going to add three, actually. The first one is slap. Using slap at the door. Okay, Great way for cold calling and calling as well. You can also reference the cold call scripts for commercial and residential in the battle pack. They're all based on that same foundation of slap opening the conversation. That's the first fundamental when you do that. Imagine your hard pitch at the door. You're getting no this quick. If you just slow it down, you ask a question, you shut up. If you can have two, three, or four more conversations at the door, that's going to give you all this opportunity to get an inspection which will lead to a sale. It's minor improvements everywhere that's going to make a big difference. Okay. Second, you go from being a selling to listening. The strongest salespeople are listeners. Because in sales, it boils down to one thing only, a solution to a known problem. When you do not know that problem that the homeowner is having, you will not sell them, period. Because you're going to be selling them a Prius when they're looking for an F250. Let them tell you what their problem is in their mind. What's important to you when searching for a contractor? Hey, Mr. Homeowner, I realize I'm not the only one here. There's probably been 100 roofers at your door. I'm going to make this real easy. How is the insurance process been for you and what are you looking for in a contractor? Because if it's not me, I'll let you know. I hope it is. But I'm going to help educate you on your next best steps. When you approach a conversation that way, you cut through the noise and they say, wow, this guy's actually here to listen. Instead of selling me something, the worst thing you can do is have an overzealous pride and ego of you as a salesperson. I don't look at myself as a salesperson. Why? Because no one likes salespeople. Salespeople are pushy. They're there with one objective. There's a bullseye on their head, and you are there to sell the bullseye, and people feel it, they're like, oh, God, get off my doorstep. Yeah, you'll pick up a few people, for sure. It will work. A few. But if you want more and you want people to like you and send you referrals, you're going to do it in a different way. So when you ask a question and they say, hey, I actually need this. My adjuster denied the roof. And you say, I'm really glad I stopped by. You see John's house over there? And by the way, everyone says Adam. Well, what if John's house is in the neighborhood? So I just worked with a homeowner about a mile away. Okay. His name is Michael. I stopped by Michael's house. The adjuster only paid for a couple shingles. And when I was done working with him, I was able to get the full roof approved. I can't make that claim to you, Mr. Homeowner, without seeing it. So what I'd love to do for you is take a look and put together some photos and videos, show you what I find, you be the judge, and then we'll talk next steps. If there's a way that I can help you, and if not, you know that your roof's in good shape. Then you slide into my favorite line. Do you have any objection if I hop up on your roof for a quick inspection? It'll take five to 10 minutes and I'll show you what I find. Boom. Okay, again, you can watch that video. Do you have any objection? Click that link in the card. One of the strongest one liners at the door. I get emails on that and the slap formula every single week. People saying, adam, I shifted to this pitch. It's working incredibly well. I had one guy say that when he shifted to saying, do you have any objection if I hop up on your roof for a complimentary inspection? He got three back to back inspections just by shifting it. This stuff works. You'll also notice that I shut up. Do you have any objection? It's not a yes or no. Well, let me take that back. It is a yes or no, but it's called a negative agreement because most people want to say no. Do you have any objection? No, I don't have any objection. It softens it for the customer and then their inherent response is no. They say no. It actually means yes. Okay. So when you pause, you let them think, I'm purposefully asking questions that require some thought. Can I hop up there? Easy. Their mind's going, yes or no, right? Hey, would you like a free inspection? Yes or no? Hey, have you had your roof looked at yet? Yes or no question. You're giving yourself the path to rejection. You ask an open ended question, you require some thought, you're going to stick around longer, they're going to think it's going to lead to a more friendly conversation. Got it. Alright. One more thing that it can be used for, and this goes into body language. And I've done other videos on body language. In fact, there's an entire playlist for it on the channel, and I highly recommend you check that out. Using silence when you are asking for referrals is very powerful. Not everybody knows the name of their neighbors. Okay, Joan over here, Karen over here. Kristen up there. John and Kathy up there. I know my neighbors by name. Not everybody does. But if you ask a homeowner a question first before asking a referral, hey, how's the process been with me so far? You're not asking if it's been good or not good. And they say, oh, it's been great. We're really happy with you. Thank you so much. Say, excellent. I'm so glad to see that you've been satisfied because I've really enjoyed working with you and I would love the opportunity to help one of your friends, family members, neighbors, co workers or colleagues the same way I helped you. And you grab your pen, which I don't have today because of my microphone, and you say, who do you know? Open ended question. Who do you know? Anyone who, who do you know that I might be able to help the same way I helped you? And I've got my pen and I look down at my paper and I shut up. And that silence might be awkward for you, but let it loom and wait and wait. He who speaks first loses. It's the mindset you got to be in. It's not a game. It is kind of a game, but it's not about winning or losing. It's about getting comfortable in that silence. Because that just means that your homeowner is thinking. And if they're not saying anything, it's because they're thinking and they will come up with names. And if they don't, then you just make a joke of it and say, I'll ask you again. So let silence win. Create space for conversation. The key takeaway, silence creates space for conversation. Shutting up and not speaking too much gives the opportunity for the homeowner or the commercial property owner to do the talking, to tell you what you need to tell them so you can say, hey, I've got my whole pitch. I'm BBB accredited, I'm GAF Master Elite. We've been in business for 13 years. We've done over 3,000 roofs, whatever the number is. We've got all these things, this warranty, it might not matter to them. All they might care about is this one thing. So you can say, I've got this pitch. Plug this, this, this, this will be the answer to what they need. And the other thing is when people are silent, they are thinking. When people are thinking they are comfortable. When people are quick back and forth they're not thinking. It's knee jerk responses. Alright. And the final piece on this note with silence is that when you become comfortable with silence you will get thicker skin. You won't be nervous and shaky at the door. Oh my God that was so awkward. Learn to embrace the awkward. Give it a hug. See how long it can last. I used to make a game of it when I'd get rejected at the door to just ask other open ended questions and I wanted to see how long I could sit there because it was so uncomfortable for me. I hated it. But I did it as an exercise and I want you to do the same with silence. So shut up. Be quiet. Let your customer tell you what they need to be told. Use that slap formula that I teach and that's inside the battle pack and you will make more sales. That's all for this video. Just because this time is over doesn't mean it should be over for you. Hop into the playlist that pops up down here for more videos to help you make more sales and smash your income goals. And if you want to take just one more step, click the link and download your free copy of my pitch Like a pro roofing sales training video library. It's completely free. It's all the videos I've ever done organized by category. Even better than the playlist. It's a great thing to put in the in the hands of new brand new sales teams, new sales people, even seasoned pros for refreshers at any point. I'll see you on the next one.