Top 5 Door to Door Sales Mistakes Even Pros Make w/ Dashaun Bryant

Here are the top five door to door sales mistakes that even the pros make. You know that feeling when you look back on yourself, like a picture from five years ago that shows up on social media and you're like, oh, man, I used to have that as a haircut or that's how I used to dress. Well, that's what you're about to experience in this video is like this aha moment of things being mirrored back on you being like, oh, man, what I thought I was doing really well in my pitch, I realized isn't actually working that well for me. So. So what you're about to see is an interview I had with Daeshaun Bryant, the roof hustler himself, who's a great friend of mine and a fellow mentor inside the Roofing and Solar Reform alliance, and he teaches door to door sales in a very different way than I do. And these five mistakes led to an incredibly rich conversation that we both hope helps you create this mirror moment where you reflect on yourself in your own pitch of what you thought might have been serving you but isn't. So you can make really quick changes and become an absolute all star on the doors, get on more roofs and make more sales. Welcome or welcome back. Adam Bensmon here and I can't wait to get started. Roofing sales is personal development in disguise and the reward for growth is life changing. I hope my content helps you create a richer life and bank account. Daeshun, this is like so overdue, man. Thanks for being here and I'm really excited to jump into today's interview with you. The top five door to door mistakes that you've seen folks make since you have been training people literally all over the country. Daeshaun, good to have you here, man.

Thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure. And this just, it's just a pleasure on film because I get to talk to you all the time. So it's like, for the people, this is a pleasure, but I get the luxury of talking to you whenever I want to. And those be some of my favorite phone calls, man. But I'm glad we get to get together and collab for the people to give them these two brains and these thought processes and allow them to grow from it.

Yeah. So for those that don't know you, Daeshun, I'm going to do a quick intro and then I'm going to turn it back to you to fill in the blanks. Daeshun, you are one of the biggest, biggest names in Door to Door. Roofing sales. You travel around the country and get on the doors with teams. You been in the trenches yourself. You're still knocking doors to this day. You run an awesome Instagram and YouTube channel, by the way. Go check it out. Roof Hustlers. And you were a speaker for a really big manufacturer. And now you're a partner with me working inside the trenches, inside the roofing and Solar form alliance. But most importantly, you're my mindset coach. You're the guy I call when I need a fricking tune up, man. And every time I call you, you put a smile on my face. And you run the sessions in RSRA that are the most raved about. Like, I feel like I bring some heat. And then like, people get off your sessions and they're like, in the app, like, that session with Daeshun was fire. And they're all jazzed up. So I love working alongside you, man. And thank you for everything that you've done for me as a. As a friend and a person and for our community. So what did I miss? Did I miss anything on an intro on who. Who is Daeshun?

Nah, man, you hit it right on the head. That's exactly who I am. And also, I'm a father. Two nine year old and a seven year old. They're the reason why I do everything that I do. And just one more thing, that it mean a lot to me because I earned it. And it took longer than I wanted it to, but it happened. Well, it happened on time in my mind. And I finally got the keynote this year to speak at Roofcon. So I get to do a keynote this year at Roofcon, which is. It's a big deal to me. Cause that was the first conference I got asked to speak at. And every year at Roofcon, except I've been put on marketing panels. The only time I got put on a sales panel was when I was with you. Yeah, but I've never. I've never got just the opportunity to talk sales and train sales. And then they finally gave me a keynote this year and I'm just like, man, God is good. You know, you just be patient and it'll happen when it's supposed to. So I'm pumped about that.

Yeah, well deserved, man. I remember I saw you post about that and I. I was like, overdue.

I'm gonna do, man.

See you on the stage. And it's not the first conference you've spoken at. You've been in a lot of conferences, but.

Yeah, yeah, but this is the first. Yeah, yeah, that first keynote with. I know it's gonna be a big, big crowd there, man. So I got people like, oh, you doing the keynote. We there. So it's already people that's showing up just for that. So I'm, I'm pumped. I'm excited to, to shut it down, man.

I love it. Awesome. And then the last thing before we get into these five mistakes that you see door to door sales teams make, which, by the way, for two, if you're tuning in. I, I don't even know these yet. I talked to Daeshawn. I prepped, so this is the topic, but I wanted to be able to have a rich conversation that was purely authentic because I've got my mistakes, clearly, and you've got yours, and we're going to be able to match them up. But what's so neat, Daeshawn, is like, you and I first met, it was it. I think it was at Roofcon years.

It was Roofcon. Yeah. Two years ago.

And both of us were like, there's that competitor. And you're like, who's this? Who? We both had our words, right? And we're like, who's this guy? Like, who's this guy? And then we ended up having clients who hired both of us. And they're like, you guys approach the same topic from opposite angles, but complimentary. And that's what led me to being like, you know what the beauty of RSRA and what we do in the reform alliance is we help great roofing companies make a bigger impact together. And I'm very anti like minded. I don't like that phrase. Because like minded creates an echo chamber. And we are far deeper than like minded because you and I, we. We're not that like minded.

No, we're not.

But we are like, valued without value. So we can bring alternate perspectives. And you and I have even been on coaching sessions and we're like, you know, especially like, you and I don't agree on no soliciting, no solicitor.

Yeah, like, that's.

But it's great. We're like, this is one perspective. That's the other perspective. Take what you want and do what works for you. But we are, we're value aligned in our approach to business and who we like to work with and how we serve our people and making the industry.

Better and coming with integrity. And yeah, not just saying integrity, but also like, really operating out of a good heart. And I think that's one thing that we have a lot in common. But I've never heard nobody Say that anti like minded. I actually love that. I love that.

I've been telling our team, I said, when you talk to people, don't say we're like minded. We're like minded. I mean, that's what everyone says. Join a community of like minded people. Like, everyone wants to say, did you say, hey, I want to make the industry cleaner? Bs. Everyone says that, you know, and what makes the difference is how you do it. Your actions speak much louder than words and oftentimes that stuff's lip service. At least I found it to be lip service. But anyway, let's not get down that rabbit hole. Let's jump into these five top five door to door mistakes. Dude, you've been out in the trenches training teams. You've been on the doors. Let's hit number one. What would you say is the number one or at least on your list? It may not be the biggest one, but the first thing that you'd say from getting your eyes and hands on doors with teams from newbies to seasoned guys, what's the biggest mistake that you see them making?

So one mistake that I consistently see across the board, and I think a lot of people aren't aware of it, but they lack the ability to control conversations.

I love. I wouldn't have had that one on the list, but I love it. So tell me more, what do you mean by lack the ability to control conversations?

So one thing I've been learning, right, I've been studying this over the last year and a half and I couldn't put it into words. And then I was training one day and it just ahaed me out of nowhere. People knock doors, but they have real life conversations when they're knocking doors, just how you normally would talk to somebody in your regular life. For example, if I'm like, adam, I'm about to go to the store, do you want anything? You say, nah, I'm good. And I typically would say, you sure? And you'll say, no, I'm sure. I don't want nothing. I say, okay, all right. And then I leave. Versus a sales conversation is more like, hey, Adam, I'm about to go to the store. You want anything? You say, no. I say, perfect, you want a Mountain Dew or you want a Red Bull? I take a Red Bull. All right, perfect. I'll be back in a little bit. And I just sold you on something from the store, even though you told me you didn't want nothing. So I've learned that in most people, regular lives, they don't really control conversations. They just participate in conversations. And they take that same skill set when they're knocking doors. So they'll knock on somebody. Door homeowner say, not interested. And they say, you sure? Boom. Just lost control of the conversation.

They're setting themselves up for failure.

They setting themselves up for failure. So that inability to control conversations is something that I see consistently. And guys like, man, well, how do get better at this? And I'm like, and I'm gonna show you how often people don't listen. I say, what controls a conversation? People say, me? I said, that's who. That's who controls the conversation. What controls it? And then they'd be like, questions. I'm like, exactly right. I'm like, so you have to get really good at firing off questions. Like, your questions can't be delayed. Because if you got really good, powerful questions, you can control the conversation at any given moment. And we had a lady recently come to the door. She like, there's no soliciting in here. You need a permit. I said, I wasn't aware I needed a permit. You're the first person that even mentioned that. Nobody else even brought that up. She said, well, it's probably because I'm grumpy. I said, well, why are you so grumpy? What's going on? She said, I freaking got Covid. I said, oh, my gosh, you got Covid. How long you been battling this? What's going on? Like, five days now? I'm like, you gotta be getting better, right? Well, yes, Things are lightening up. I'm so glad to hear you getting better. I just want to let you know what we've been telling everybody else in the neighborhood. We've been out here doing free inspections, blah, blah, blah. Well, my roof's only four years old. You know what? It didn't look that old. I just wanted to stop by and make sure you was okay. You know what? Thank you so much for stopping by. And I'm like, I hope you get better with your Covid, girl. And she was like, yeah, I'm going to drink my fluids, and I'm going to get better. And I walk away from the door, and the guys I'm training, they like, how the hell you just did that? Like, like, how did you just do that? And I'm like, because you fixated on her telling us there's no canvassing, so you want to defend yourself. That's the least of my concerns. I know if I ask her enough questions, I'll change her mindset because I'm not Talking about what she want to talk about. I'm only talking about what I want to talk about.

Yeah.

So I think that inability to control conversations.

Yeah, I love it, man. You know, it's funny, I'm curious if you agree with this or not. When I, When I train folks, I say that there's two people in conversation. One person's in control and one person thinks they're in control. And the person that's in control is the one asking the questions. The one that thinks they're in control is the one answering them. Because they're speaking their mind. Right. They're making statements. And you're right, it is an art to learn how to take control of dialogues. Because you and I have talked about this, like, being at the door. You're going to communicate in a very different way than you would with a buddy or a friend. And if someone tells you otherwise and they say, just go start a conversation and be their friend, like, to some degree, the essence of that concept might be right, but the implementation and execution is not. So I love it. The other thing, too, that I just want to bring up, because there's some folks up here that might be thinking, like, what I have thought when I interact with you, because I've been on the phone with you when you're out training teams, I'll call you up, be like, what's up, man? And I've watched you literally pull up a chair while you're pitching to a homeowner and sit on it. And I'm like, man, I just, I couldn't do it. It's just not me. And you have a. You're like a pastor at heart. You've got this, like, swagger. Like, people just want to rally behind you because your energy. So can you just speak a little bit to the guy or gal that doesn't have that natural. You have this combination of, like, nurturing energy with positivity, with this, like, just bold. I am who I am, and I ain't afraid, ashamed, or I ain't trying to be anybody else. And it's really admirable. I think that's one reason that you're so. You have this magnetic energy that. That isn't. Is contagious in a good way. Good contagious. So what would you say to the person that's like, doesn't have that level of swagger that you have to say, here's how to control a conversation.

First and foremost, the number one rule. And everybody got all these rules when it comes to door to door sales. This, this, this, this, this. The number one rule in door to door sales is have fun. That's the number one rule that trumps everything. That trumps closing. That trumps communicating. Well, that trumps everything. And I have so much fun when I knock doors. And people want to be around fun people and, and fun people are edgy, they're risky. They breach boundaries to a certain extent, right? Like, yeah, they. They do this stuff that makes somebody else say, oh, it's okay for me to do stuff.

Sure.

So I think when guys, when guys and girls go door to door, they're so fixated on being a professional and looking and talking and acting a certain type of way. And I'm just more fixated on being a human and just having fun. So if I pull up at your house and you got rocking chairs they meant to be rocked in, I'm just gonna be the guy rocking in it. You know what I'm saying? Like, I love it, man. That's the purpose of a rocking chair.

Deshaun, when I, When I said, like, you're my mindset coach, I kid you not. I was literally just journaling on myself, excuse me, on myself, by myself, in a. On a weekend, in a morning, about how to bring more fun into what I do, because I felt that same thing. Like, when you just have fun and, and. And bring your. Yourself and stop trying to fit in this box of like, hello, I have arrived to inspect your roof. We are in the. It's like, dude, just. Just jive with folks.

Have fun.

I love that, man.

And if you're not having fun is going to make you be rigid.

Yeah, it's true. And then you sound like a robot. So let's go to number two, mistake number two.

Question number. I meant statement number two. Mistake that I see guys make consistently. And this, this one might be something different. They don't question the statement.

What do you mean by that?

So typically, when you're going door to door, right, Homeowners give statements like, they'll say something, and they say, nah, we not good. Or, no, it wasn't that bad. Or it wasn't. Like, they just give statements and guys just breeze right past them. And I'm like, no, no, no. That was an opening to a gap and you missed it. Right? So we was knocking doors in the neighborhood, and the lady said, oh, it wasn't that bad over here by us. And most people would be like, okay, yeah, but the rest of the neighborhood got it pretty bad. That's how most people would address that. Oh, the Rest of the neighborhood got it pretty bad. So it's like, it wasn't that bad over here by us. And I would say, so when you say it wasn't that bad over here by y', all, what you mean by that? And she went into a two minute spill, bro. The winds was howling. The neighbors down the road, the tree fell by their house. But my house, it wasn't that bad. Like, it almost hit my house. So I came outside, it was this and this and this and this and this. And I'm like, ooh, it opened up the door to another segue to keep this conversation flowing.

Yeah.

But most people don't question the statements. Homeowners say, I'm, we don't we fine? And I say, when you say you fine, you mean like, like you've had your roof inspected and there's nothing wrong with it fine, or you just mean like you're just fine. Like you just kind of done with this conversation fine. Well, I mean that, that, that. And they just keep going. Or a homeowner say, I think we good. And I say, no, I hear what you're saying, but thank you for people who don't know. So when you say like, you think you good or you know you good, and, and it just, it keeps continuing going. And I've just noticed a lot of sales guys when I, that I work with, they don't question the statements.

Yeah, this goes back almost into this idea of control. And this is where, where a, a strong salesperson has the ability to be assertive. But so many people, and I'm curious because I think what we're bordering on now is a, is largely a confidence issue, because how do you teach the new person that lacks that confidence? So they're at the door, the homeowner says something, a statement, as you put it, and they take it at face value. How do you develop the skill set in the teams you train to get them to lean into this? Is this a mindset thing or is this tactical training on giving them what to say?

I think it's more tactical training than giving them what to say. Because the mindset, because I can't give you the mindset. But if I could teach you the tactics, your mindset will eventually follow it. Right? Because I can't say, be like, be bold and do this because they'll resist it because it's too uncomfortable. But when I say shift the tone and question the statement. We don't need nothing. No, I completely understand when you say you don't mean nothing. What you mean by that? And when you shift the tone and you can just question, but you got to be a good listen. You got to be a good listener to question the statements. But since guys don't. They're not good listeners. They breeze past statements because they so fixated on what they want to say. They so fixated on what they want to say. Certain things are coming. They'll breeze past them. And I'm like, no, that was an opening, and you missed it because you, in your head, fixated on your next phrase versus just being present. So questioning the statements. And I know that can almost, like you said, be borderline as far as, like, controlling the conversation. And they could be, like, neck and neck, but in my mind, they're two different things, because controlling that conversation is asking questions of what you know about this. Have you heard this? Have you heard that? Da, da, da. But when I question that statement, it's almost me telling you you're a liar without me telling you you're a liar. Mm. I'm in the middle of cooking. Oh, that's awesome, man. What you cooking? We do hit us with that. Oh, I'm. I'm cooking. Oh, man. What you cooking? Nothing yet. He said nothing yet. What are you not cooking?

Yeah, dude, I gotta. All right, now that you brought that up, I just filmed a video on this. It's actually inspired by a conversation in rsra. In the app, someone made a post, and the topic was late to the party. And he's like, how do I overcome the objection? I chose another contractor, and I am. I am anti poaching.

Okay, me too.

You don't. If they have a contractor, they don't have a contractor. But he clarified it. He goes, I understand that. Because someone. I think it was Scott that, like, challenged him. He's like, dude, don't poach. He's like, no, no. I'm trying to determine if it's a smoke screen, because you've had that happen, haven't you? Homeowners always smokescreen. So the way that. I'm curious if you. If you jive with this approach, because when you said, oh, what are you cooking? I say, hey, you know, thanks for being courteous and talking with me. I'm sure it's really overwhelming dealing with so many roofer that have been out here. You know, would you mind help. Help me understand how you chose the roofer you chose when there were so many options. Because then, you know, if it's a smoke screen or not, if they give you a valid reason, you're like, Great. I'm glad you're in good hands. Thank you so much. I wish you the best. And then if they didn't blow the smoke screen and you said, how did you choose the roofer? Now you're in, and you're having a conversation. Is that in line with kind of what you're saying is, like, taking those statements at face value.

Exactly. That's a great example of question in the statement.

Yeah.

Because it's just a statement. Like, I'm not asking the questions to control the conversation. I know you lying to me, so I'm gonna question your statement. Without me telling you a liar, I'm gonna be like, oh, you got a contractor. That's awesome, man. Most people are not taken care of. So, like, so how'd you go about choosing them? Like, you just said, what made you choose them? Or. So. Yeah, no, I'm agree. I'm at 1000% with you. No poaching. But I always will question, because I done had a lady say, oh, good, we got a contractor. I said, that's awesome. Like, you got a plumber. And they said, what? I said, well, you said a contractor. You ain't say a roofer. And it throws their thought process off. One lady said that to me, my son's a contractor. Awesome. He's a plumber. She said, no, he's an electrician. I tell you, no lie. He's an electrician. Oh, yeah.

Electricians do a lot of roofs these days, apparently.

Exactly. So I think homeowners just. They just make stuff up, bro. So I question statements, and I noticed a lot of guys don't do that. So it's a mistake that I see consistently. Because if you can question the mistake, you can keep the conversation going. You can find that gap. You can close that deal.

Yeah. I want to highlight just two points for everybody tuning in. You said, keep the conversation going. That's the art. And I encourage all new salespeople and seasoned salespeople, specifically new, though. Keep the conversation going as long as you can, because if nothing else, you're. You're practicing that muscle to learn how to do it. By the way, I have seen this go overboard. I had a guy once, like, man, I kept the conversation going for, like, 35 minutes, even though we didn't need a roof. I'm like, great job. But now you know. You know the boundary and don't waste the time to, like, like, no, the.

Homeowner kept the conversation going. That's what really kept that going.

Maybe my feedback was, like, not good. Like, Keep the conversation going about the thing.

So you didn't know how to exit that conversation. So it lasted for 35 minutes.

And the big thing you mentioned is finding the gap and then you can go in to close it. So, man, golden, golden advice, as I expected. And I love that you're thinking of this because I think so much more. You and I talked about this. The way my brain works and the way your brain works is so different. I would not have put either of these on my list of top five mistakes. Let's hit number three.

Number three mistake. I see. They over explain the simple process to sound super knowledgeable or studious or prestige, you know, and they over explain. And I, I think guys feel great about it because they're like, well, I know roofing and I know storm damage. And I explained it so nice. And I'm like, yeah, but they don't know what the heck you talking about. Yeah, like, like you just spoke right over the head and they're looking at you like, okay. And I tell guys all the time, the worst type of advice is unsolicited advice. Right? And then knowledge, expertise, like being an expert is only as valuable as you tee it up. So you gotta teach, you gotta tee your knowledge up. You just can't go meet somebody and spew it on them because you know it. You gotta say, even, like for my guys who just believe in telling homeowners everything because it sounds good, you gotta say, hey, is this your first roof inspection? Uh, yeah. Okay, but is this your first time talking to a roofer about this? No, no, no. I had plenty of people come by. Got you. Has anybody explained to you what we're actually looking for and what the process look like up on the roof? No. Nobody hasn't. Okay, I would love to educate you on that. Boom. Then you tell them right now. They're listening. Now they're actually paying attention. But guys are going to full pitch mode about what we do. We get up on the roof, we mark a 10 by 10 square. We look for 8 to 10 hits on the roof. When the insurance company come out, that's what the adjuster looking for. He. And I'm like, bro, they don't care about none of this.

Yeah, what's a hit?

What's a hit?

Like, what's a. What's a hit is what a homeowner's thinking.

Yeah, on your soft metal. They like soft metal. What is.

So you're like, no, I have. I thought my shingles were, were. What's that stuff called again?

So I think a lot of guys. So one thing I've learned, and I'm pretty sure you can relate to this, and I think you will agree with this, sometimes the more you educate a sales rep, the worse they get. And it's the craziest thing ever because it's like you got more knowledge now, you're more equipped, now go be great. And they like, oh, I know all this stuff, so let me go tell everybody all this stuff that I just learned because I know how important it is. And I think actually that's what kills more sales reps, opportunity to get on roofs because they over talk to sound more knowledgeable and the homeowners don't care.

Yeah. Have you heard the saying in sales, when you confuse, you lose? Yeah.

I've never heard it, but I always say complexity is the enemy of execution. Right. But you're right. When you confuse, you lose.

What I, I wish I learned this earlier in life and in, in, in sales is so many people think that if they can, like you said, they sound intelligent in their mind. They're like, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna talk at this really advanced level to show my level of expertise that they need me. But no, you confuse them and then they're, they're not. I, my, my advice to people is to communicate as if you're explaining everything to a fifth grader.

Yep.

And it's not to say that people are stupid. It's to make it easy to understand and follow. Which is why there's a great tool that I recommend everybody look at. It's called Hemingway App. I think it's hemingwayapp.com and hemingway app is a tool that you can write in and it will tell you the grade level of your writing. And if you want to find out how you're speaking, you can record a trans. You can record your audio, pull it into a transcript using a whole variety of AI tools and dump your transcript in there and it'll tell you the grade level of your pitch. And the same thing goes in writing emails to customers. You gotta communicate at a simple level. When the book win bigly by Scott Adams, who broke down Trump's first win as president, he documented the psychology of his campaign and they looked at the communication level, grade level of his communications, and it was between third and fifth grade and companies like Agora Financial, multibillion dollar financial organizations that sell financial advice, they ran a split test on their sales letters. They wrote a sales letter at an eighth grade level in a sales letter at A fifth grade level, same exact concept, same headline. The fifth grade reading level sales ad perform twice as well, meaning it drove two times the sales as an eighth grade level. And I think the real art when you, when you start watching like really boss salespeople perform is they actually do the opposite of what rookies do. Rookies try to over complicate it to sound intelligent and really smart salespeople know how to break it down into just really simple terms. And by the way, side note, investment advice. If someone's trying to sell you an investment and you don't understand it, don't invest in it. Okay. You need to say explain it to me like I'm a dog. Right. Or a five year old. And you should be able to explain it to other people like they're a dog or five year old. And if it's not simple, people don't get it.

So anyway, that's, that's really true. Just to add one more thing to that, because you made some very, very, very phenomenal points. It's a book called the CEO Next Door. And they say CEOs that got a vigorous high level vocabulary that's just got an eight times chance of not being hired. Yeah, the CEOs. And the reason why is like you said, nobody speaks that language, so you're speaking above everybody. So that's, that's a mistake that I see pretty consistently. Guys like to sound way more intelligent than they are. They like to over explain things, they like to use words and concepts that homeowners don't grasp and they do it prematurely versus setting up your knowledge. Ask the question. Yeah, get the. No, I don't know that. Then you break it down.

Yeah. So basically getting permission to educate first, figuring out exactly mention the gap and then instead of saying calling it a hit, I always say, hey, your shingle is going to bruise like a peach. People can understand that. Analogies work. Keep it simple. Simplicity, that's what I'm looking for. And then imagine if you add a couch sitting in the next to the window. What's going to happen to the couch in time?

They're going to say, well it's going to be it. Yeah, going to fade.

Why is it going to fade? The sun. Well, what's going to happen is that spot that brews like a peach. The shingles are going to the granules that are protecting the matter. The shingle are going to shed and then that's exposed to the sun. What do you think is going to happen? It's going to fade. That your shingle actually starts rotting from the inside out. Which is why the lifespan of your roof has been compromised. Which means even that little tiny black dot that you're going to see in a picture really means that the lifespan of your roof is shot. Which means you're going to be buying a roof with your hard earned money much sooner than you need to or should have.

Like, it's actually a really good analogy.

Well, thank you. I worked. I put some time into figuring that one out.

That's really good.

You know, it's not like I'm not. I'm not sitting there explaining like, well, I'm HAG engineering certified. And when the shingle strikes, it's going to bruise the matting. And if the matting is bruised, it's like, what the hell is matting on a shingle? And what's a bruise? And what's Hague?

I don't care, like, anyway, 1,000%, but that's how people. I see that mistake consistently.

Yeah, I love it, man. Let's hit number four.

They sell inauthentically.

Oh, give me an example of this one, would you?

I say that one pretty consistent. And we kind of talked about it earlier. That's why I didn't want to go too much in depth about it and I wanted to kind of save it for. For now. Which is like you said, man, you know, I got this, this con, this confidence, this bold, soft nature and relatable energy. And people like, man, how you. I can't do what you do. And I'm like, you can. And they're like, well, how. How do I do it? I say, learn to be the piece. Learn to be the person that you are when you. With your friends and family, when you sell it. Because that person is way funnier. They're way edgier. They say way more inappropriate stuff. They breach a little bit more boundaries. They're more fun. That they care less about what you think about them when they're around their friends and family because they, These are people, you know that know you. You can't hide anyways. They know who you are. Your family know Adam. She don't know how. Like, everybody know Adam. So she can go see you in public and be like, who was that?

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying? Like, she can call that out. Who. Who is that? Right? But since our family and friends aren't with us when we're knocking doors, nobody's there to call that out. So you, you, you operating out of a version of you that you don't even know. You don't know how to be this person. It feels uncomfortable, but in your mind, this work. So I gotta show up as this version of me, because the other version of me is, no, nobody don't. Wouldn't like that guy. No, that's exactly who everybody want to meet. That's exactly who everybody want to meet. Your authentic self. So the thing I had to learn to do, which was like, year one or two. So my nickname is Dayday, right? Just for everybody who don't know, my nickname is Dayday. My son nickname is Ray Ray, and my real name is desean. And until I got into roofing sales, I've never went by Deshaun my entire life. Never. So it was a. It was an adjustment for me because outside of school and work, I never went by my real name. And when I would. When I was knocking, I was like, man, I'm trying to be somebody I'm not. So what I had to learn to do was. Was be Dayday all the time. But just be the more polished, sharp version of that guy. But say the edgy stuff, crack the jokes, laugh more, Kiki more. Say stuff to homeowners that people look at me, but I can't believe you said that. And I'm like, yeah, they can't either, but that's why they like it.

Yeah. I'm speechless because I've never heard someone. I've been struggling. It's been. I've had this video idea on my list, like, how to be authentic, and I have not been able to articulate it. And you just nailed it. And it was beautiful. Be the person that you are in your normal life and bring it to work. And I think if that. If that scares you, because I know that there's been. You know, I've grown a lot. And for me, being sober has put a different filter on who I am, but in a good way, you know? And I think that some people. I would say if you're scared to be that person, you need to look at that first. Right? Like, if you're. If you're like, I can't be that person that I am with my friends and family when I'm out on the doors, I think you should examine yourself to fix that and then get to that point. Because I know I've. I've grown a lot. I. I feel comfortable doing that now. And even in my journey, as on being on YouTube and stuff, like, I feel like I went from being myself to being this version I thought I needed to be to now I just feel like, forced in a good way, in a healthy way, to just bring the atom that if we hang out at the RSRA members only annual event, you're going to see the same person that was on your coaching sessions. And it took me some time and I never linked it up. This is why I said I love having you as, like, you're like my mindset coach, man.

I love it, man. Thank you. First of all, I know exactly what you're talking about. That side of you that is shining now because I can see it in your videos. I remember the early Adam. I felt like you wanted to be very accurate, didn't want to mess nothing up. Like, great presenting the stuff. Now I watch the way you come onto a video and it's just like, bam, blah, blah, blah. Like, just super more relaxed. You seem like, like I feel like you're talking to me and I know I always get that version of you. Like, you don't never put on no, no Persona nothing for me, which I don't mean it in that way. But when we have conversations, it's just like we talking now. It's just, we just talking. Like, it's just. It's almost like nobody's recording us or nothing. We're just having a conversation and we just breaking bread. And I teach guys that I say the reason why I have so much fun and so much success when I'm selling or even my brand is because I'll go train a company and I show up and they'd be like, man, you the same dude on YouTube. I'm like, who you thought was gonna show up? Like, who you. Who you thought was gonna show up?

It's amazing. I've had people say the same, give me similar feedback, you know, oh, it's consistent. And I was like, well, first, I'm glad to hear that. But second of all, I think the reason that people say that is they've been, they've been either duped before they, they realize that people put on an.

Act, you know, been bamboozled, They've been hoodwinked. Yeah.

And interesting things like, you know, I know that if I work with a high level entrepreneur, one on one, you're going to get a different side of me than what you've seen on YouTube because those people need to be challenged, want to be challenged. And I might, you know, I can. I, I, again, it's, it's about reading the room, so to speak. But I actually just have my, my YouTube channel audited by a very, very successful YouTuber who's part of this mastermind that I'm part of. He's got many, many, many. Excuse me, Many, many millions of subscribers, and he's worked with some of the biggest names, roofing conferences, and. And. And others. And when I got on with him first, I was like, whoa. Like, he just beat me up. And he's like, yeah, you're seeing a different side of me, because guys like you need to be called out and need to be, you know, you. You want to be challenged. And I was like, I do want to be challenged. I didn't get on here for you to tell me I'm doing great. So, anyway, I'm excited to see what.

That'S going to do.

Yeah, me too. I mean, it resulted in. In some pretty significant changes, which I'm really, really excited about. And actually, part of the reason, when you said you're seeing shifts in videos since then, I'm just like, you know, before I. I went through a phase where I was trying to fit into the box of what I thought YouTube wanted, and I basically said, screw it all. Like, I don't care about the numbers. What I care about is. And that's not. That's not fully fair. Of course I care about the numbers, but it's not my measure of success. That's a more accurate way to do it. Where before it was, like, it started to become a measure, and now, like, I don't. That's not how I measure success. How I measure success is, did I give my best in that video? Did I give it everything it needed? And I take Joseph Sugarman, who. I have a couple of his books on my shelf, but this one, I pull up a lot. The Adweek Copywriting Handbook is probably one of the most inspiring books I read from a sales standpoint. And he said the. The right length is of information delivery, whether it's a sales letter or pitch, is like a short skirt to cover the essentials, but short enough to keep it interesting. I love that. So, Joseph Sugarman, thank you for the quote. But anyway, thanks, man. You. You. You really fired me up. You. You are one of the people in my life. You and my wife. Actually, obviously in reverse order, my wife and you are the two people.

I'm coming for you, Sheena. No.

Yeah. And. And I'll. I'll throw my. My mom in the mix. The three people in my life that have. Have supported me and encouraged me to be more me. And I think that's a skill set that is just inherent about your coaching style and your energy. I don't know if you're aware of that or not, but you really like you. You help people, want to be more them. And there's no better gift in the world than doing that.

That means the world. Because I hear it a lot from guys, man. How you. I'm. I'm just like my ultimate goal, bro.

Just.

I don't want you to become me. I don't want you to become Adam. I don't want you to be no John Cenac. I want you to be none of these people. I just want you to absolutely be you all the time. Be you all the time. Don't come to work as one guy, go home as another guy. The person that you leave your house as, bring that person to work. You just know certain things that you can and can't do. Like, I tell people all the time, I'm me 99.9% of the time, and that 0.1% is the words that I use when I'm around my friends and family. That's the only thing I can't bring to the public.

Yeah. And there's gotta be different sides, you know, There are different sides. There totally is. Like, who you are with your. With your very significant other, loved one, partner, husband, wife, girlfriend, whoever it is, you're gonna. You're gonna be a different person of you in that relationship, which is a different person. And the idea is to carry the themes and be as consistent as possible. And at the same time, you know, the way that I would teach, because I used to be a youth lacrosse instructor or a coach, rather, I shouldn't.

Say, like one of you, like the Dos Equis man. If y' all spend enough time with this guy, the stuff that he randomly done throughout his life, you'll be like, what, what you did that.

I coached my way through college. I loved it, too. I was working. I was a lacrosse coach. Working with third grade to eighth grade was the. The coaching. So I ran the league for the third to fifth graders. But communicating with third to fifth grader is different than an eighth grader, which is different than if I'm running a training session for salespeople, which is different than if I'm running a sales training or. Excuse me, not sales training, one of our leadership roundtables or owner roundtables with. With high level owners or sophisticated entrepreneurs as we're talking about, like, tax strategy and things like that. But, man, let's hit. Let's hit number five on the list.

Number five. The last and final mistake that I see sales guys consistently make on the doors. And just in general, like even in settings that I'm in is they're lazy with their language.

What do you mean?

They're lazy with their language, which means they use a lot of unnecessary words. They use, basically they lose, they use stuff like you feel me, you know what I'm saying? Or they'll throw words into their sentences. That isn't required. But they use more words because they, so I've read this book called Brevity Smart Brevity, right. And I've always, I've always thought something was wrong with me because I like using less words. You know, I mean people, because I, I don't want to over explain none of you. I just want to tell you what it is. And I, I, I've recently heard this saying and I love it. It goes, length is fear, brevity is confidence. Length is fear, brevity is confidence. And I watch sales guys get late. They, I've, I've noticed sales guys speak in circles. They don't speak in it. They don't speak from a start to a finish. They, they'll say one thing and the homeowner don't like it and they'll bring it back and say it in another way, but they just keep saying the same exact thing. So I always tell people, you need to be directional, destinational, concise, precise in your conversation. So I'm getting you into a direction, I'm trying to get you to a destination. And I'm precise in the words that I'm using. I'm concise in how I use them. And most people don't speak like that. So I teach guys, stop being lazy with your language. For example, people will say, we work with your insurance company to help you get a new roof. No, we don't. We specialize in dealing with insurance companies. Two different things. But people just, they'll just say whatever they want to say because they lazy with their language. Or they'll go to the door, hey, I don't mean to bother you. And it's like we do mean to bother you. Why would you say such a thing? You knocked on their door on purpose. You know what I'm saying? It was on purpose. So how about you say, hey, I'll be brief. Hey, just to let you know what's going on in the area. I'll be brief. Right? And that's just being, and that's you being precise with the words that you use. Like you use intentional words to get specific answers. And since sales guys aren't really precise Concise, directional, destinational. When they talk to homeowners, they'll get caught in these conversation loops and they'll just keep repeating the same things over and over and over. And it's because nobody sits down like you just showed a book on copyright and. Right. Because you wanted to get precise in your emails and the way that you message people. Cause you don't want to be lazy with it. Yeah, guys don't study. Guys don't study the English, the English language or the importance of words or eliminating words out of their conversations in their daily dialect to help them be more accurate when they talking to homeowners. And I think as they simplify, they'll stop trying to over explain with their intelligence and realizing less is more.

Yeah, distilling is a hard act and if you want to learn. I just grabbed this as you were saying, studying the human language. This book is called the Elements of Style and it's a quick little handbook. Have I read the entire thing? No, but it's not really a book to read, it's a manual. Like I'll give you. Let me just pull one up. Oh, look at that. Use specific, definite, concrete language. Example. What not to say a period of unfavorable weather set in. Instead it rained every day for a week.

But in their mind saying a period of un. Whatever weather set in, they oh, that sounds way better.

Right? Not to do. He showed satisfaction as he took possession of his well earned reward. Here's the what to do. He grinned as he pocketed the coin. Right. And it so one thing that I learned is that writing is one of the best ways to get better at speaking because you begin to catch your brain's behavior because it mirrors back to you. And if people were to rewatch this or watch any one of your videos, you're incredible at not using filler words. And salespeople often. I'm really guilty of using filler words. It's an art to learn how to distill language in pause. So you don't fill the space with oz and ums and you don't say oz and ums and it's fine when you get off.

It took work.

Takes a lot of work.

Took work. And I want to, I want to encourage this skill, quote unquote, is learn to listen to yourself. And I know it's difficult, it's difficult to listen to yourself while you talk because you're usually looking for the words while you talk. So it's hard to listen while you're talking because you're looking for the words you want to say. That's why I teach sales guys. Learn your script, embody your script. Be present and learn how to listen to yourself. While you're talking to homeowners, you can catch all of the unnecessary things that you say. You'll be like, dang, why I just said that? I don't know why I said that. And once you get really good at self auditing, listening to yourself, you can kill words consistently.

Yeah, again, I never articulated it that way. It. You just articulated how to become self aware, which I think is arguably the most valuable skill set for a salesperson is to develop self awareness.

I think it's the number one skill set for a human, period.

All right, so we're on the same page there.

Yeah, I think as a human number one. Yeah.

And I never thought to articulate it as a way of saying, listen to yourself speak. The way I've always explained it, which I think your. Your way is. Is better is imagine that you're in a, like a movie skit, for example, or in a reality show and someone's filming you. And imagine watching yourself through the viewfinder of the camera because then you get this third party perspective. That's what I've always tried to encourage people to do, to develop this self awareness once cheat code is just film yourself doing your pitch. I watch all of my videos and it sucks, man. I hate it. I mean, it's getting better now, but I catch things and I'm like, I sounded stupid. I sounded stupid. That wasn't the right word choice. I'm the worst critic. Wrong word choice. That was an R and crap. I looked up there, hands went, yeah. Anyway, so I love the.

I do the same. I catch myself using words that I wasn't supposed to use. Like I would literally say the wrong word and that. I'm like, God dang it, I didn't catch that. And the video already out now. I'm like, man, we just. We riding with it, dog. We riding with it.

I just filmed like four videos this weekend and I was like, I felt so good about them. And then I went and watched them and I was like breaking down sales form and I was like, that'll equate to this much sales. And I meant to say a year, but I said a month. And I'm like, damn it, now I gotta go make a thing of the video. Like, I know I said a month, but what I meant is a year. And there was like a bunch of those just like dumb slips. But no, I love it, man. That is fantastic advice. Learn to listen to yourself speak. Beautiful Daeshaun. I could go on and on and on with you for hours. And I mean it. Like every time we get off the phone, it's always like, I feel like we just got warmed up. We've been riffing now for darn near an hour.

Yeah, I went 20. Dang. Even talking about what we talked about, what we got on camera.

Yeah, that doesn't count all the other stuff which was just riffing and having fun. You know, I do want to ask you one question in closing, and I've never actually asked you this. How would you describe RSRA to someone who'd never heard of it before?

Oh, that's a really good question. How would I describe the RSRA program without anybody who's never seen it? So like, you just pictured like this, right? Imagine having a business that you run, right? Having a business that you run and imagine having at your, at your fingertips, right, or at your disposal, every part of your business on demand, leadership on demand, sales on demand, backend work on demand, admin stuff on like every part of your business on demand and not happen to go to 20 different people to go learn certain things. But you go to one community and it's an expert in every single field of your business that you need without you having to go outsource. It's not saying you shouldn't like go learn from other people, but all of us are different people. Like you said, we're anti like minded. So to have access to a business that you're growing and, and every part of it is on demand and you got members inside of that that can even help you out on top of the experts on that's helping and, and you never gotta leave. It's. It's like, it's like having a, a Walmart with a Target in it, with a Publix in it with like everything, like it's a. You know what I'm saying? Like it's all of those quality places that you go to in your life for the certain reasons that you go there. You go to Target because you know the crazy people in Walmart ain't gonna go there. But you go to Walmart because you know the price is good. You go to Publix for the quality and the service. Like you go to all of these people and you got all of that in one environment, which is the RSRA program. So you're like, I need Donock and boom, I'm here. I need business management. All this stuff. Adam, I Need to learn how to work these insurance companies, John. I need to learn how to just be intelligent with my company. Cody. I need to learn about marketing gymna and then all of the members are just as valuable as us. They just ain't built a brand yet that follows them because some of those guys are like, I'm looking at them like, damn, like, like you pretty brilliant as well. So that's how I would describe it, man. Everything you need under one big building. It's like, you know, I mean, it's like, it's like the, the buckies of the roofing industry. You know what I mean?

I've never been prouder. Dude. Thank you. I'm not even going to add or say anything else. I know that wasn't part of our, our session. It was, it was fun to hear the first. Your first response to that since we've been had such an incredible opportunity to serve great companies together so we can help great roofing companies make an even bigger impact together.

And can I just say one more thing just to let people know how authentic and how much I love this dude. I'll meet somebody and they say, hey man, I'm trying to choose between you and Adam Academy. And I said, I just want to be real with you. Tell me what you need. I need this. I need this. I need this. I need this. I'm like, you need to go to the RSA already. I'm like, if you want me, I'm in there. But they can teach you this. They can teach you this. How to deal with insurance companies. This, this, this. I'm like, over here in my academy, you know, we teach mindset, sales leadership. We do certain things, but there's certain things that we don't cover in my academy. We're growing, but we're not there yet. And I' like, you need the RSA or RSRA program. Like I ain't no hater. That's what you need right now. Yeah. So I just like that that's how authentically I love this thing, that I will tell somebody to go there first before they go to my academy because I know it can serve them more right now. Where my academy at versus where we at with the RSA RA program. So that's just how much I love this thing.

Yeah, dude, I appreciate it. And I just want you to know, I don't even know if I told you this. I sent a lot of people your way that reach out for in person training because I don't offer in person anymore. All my, all my Energy is going into our community and it takes a lot of time. And I had some people say, hey, you know, what would it look like for you to come out and train my team for one or two days? I'm like, call desean Bryant. That's what it looks like. Call day.

Sean, what would it look like? It would never look like it.

Yeah, what it looks like is. And it is true, you know, when you talk about, like, what people need, so many people will turn to the Facebook groups and like, oh, what do you recommend for this? And a lot of people post the stuff that they did because there's like purchase validation. You know, it's like, it's like, what cell phone should I get? And people just name the one they have, you know, And I'm into, you know, vehicles. I like trucks and off roading. And you go in those forums, it's like everyone just names what they have. But, like, the first question is, what do you need? And we are not the solution for everybody. And that's for sure. It's application only. But we are not the solution for everybody. And I'm not the answer to all your problems, and you're not the answer to all their problems. And what's important, I don't know if you saw this post that put up in rsra is the secret to getting good advice. This is actually probably a great thing to end on because I'm curious on your feedback. So many people, I don't know if you have this happened to you, but very often it's with newer people, whether it's newer business owners or newer salespeople. We'll ask a question like, I'm new. What type of tips or advice would you have for me? And I'm like a boatload. I wrote a book on it. Literally. I have a training center on it. I have done hundreds, if not thousands of recorded sessions and speaking events like, what the heck do you want help with? And I realized that the people that get the best advice ask the best questions. So instead of going to someone, wherever it is, you go to and say, what's the best CRM? Get clear about what you need from that CRM. Instead of saying, what advice do you have for me as a salesperson? Say, hey, I'm brand new at sales and struggling at the door. What should I say to get more inspections? That's a very specific question. What should I say to get more inspections? Like, okay, can you start the conversation? Are you not getting on roofs? Or are you getting on roofs and not closing deals? So when you learn to give people the context of what you're looking, looking to accomplish and ask a simple pointed question like I'll give you an example of a great question that came up in our leadership roundtable this morning. A gentleman said, excuse me, it was our ownership roundtable. He said, if you were to restart your roofing company from scratch with $0, how would you do it?

That's a really good question.

Boom. You should have heard the answers versus hey, I'm trying to grow a roofing company and I've tried this and tried this and I what do you recommend on marketing and what's an average? It's like, dude, one question gets you you. Complex questions get simple answers. Simple questions get complex answers. By the way, I think that was Joe Pile in the book find out anything about anyone anytime. Fantastic book. If I butchered the author's name, we'll fix it. Da. What's the one piece of advice that you'd give every new new salesperson in this industry doing door to door sales for the first time?

One piece of sales advice I would give to any new door to door sales rep here to this industry for all my new guys. That's two pieces, right? 1.1, 1.52. Right? First thing first, create a schedule. Create a schedule and stick to it. And then the next piece I would give them is develop your skill set. Be okay with not producing results immediately, but continue to polish up your skill set as soon as possible. Learn, read, study, grow, grow as fast as you can. As soon as you learn it, go implement it and stay on a schedule so you can stay consistent because your consistency, so consistency will condense, condense your learning curve, right? But skill set without the consistency won't produce your results. So if you consistently in the field and improving your skills, you'll condense your learning curve. But if you got the skills and you inconsistent, you won't. You still won't hit the results. So be consistent and learn as soon as possible. Show up every day, create a schedule, stick to it.

I love it man. See that? Simple question, complex answer, point in case. Dude, thanks for joining me in today's video. This was awesome. If you guys want to learn more, work with Daeshun and I. There's links in the description below. Daeshun, thank you again. I'm really excited to be seeing you at our upcoming annual members only event. And you rock man.

Members only, baby. Appreciate you.