What Do You REALLY Need to Know to Sell Roofs? Product vs. Process Knowledge | How to Get Confident

So really, what do you need to know in order to sell roofs? And this applies to the person who's kicking the tires about her job and roofing sales. Maybe you're a seasoned person that doesn't have quite all the product knowledge or you're just getting going, or you're an owner or manager who's growing a team. And this, this is what comes up. People say, hey, well, what do I need to know? What do I need to know about roofing systems? Do I need to know how to install a roof? I've never been on a roof. Well, in this video, I'm going to answer the big question of what do you need to know in order to sell roofs? Spoiler alert. Not a whole bunch. But I'm going to break it down into what you need to know, in what order, and how you can become incredibly confident despite your lack of industry knowledge, plus where to turn to get that basic information. So let's begin. And hey, welcome back. If you are new here, my name is Adam Benzeman, the roof Strategist. Everything I do here is designed to help you use this roofing industry to smash your income goals. Because that's what it did for me and that's my passion, is helping folks just like you and your team do the same. I went from earning $1,600 a month living on $4 a day in groceries and fast forward eight months and I had generated my first six figures and my life changed forever. And to help you or your team on that journey, I do have a free offer for you. If you haven't done it already, head on over to the roofstrategist.com right now. There's a link in the description and you can enter your name and email and get free access to my Pitch Like a Pro Roofing Sales video library. It's 240 and counting videos, all the videos and podcast episodes I've ever done, organized by category for easy reference to bring you from zero to hero in a heartbeat. On this page you can see what real users are saying, people who are following this advice. And it just continues. And by the way, we had to this isn't even all of it. This is just a taste of what's in there. So anyway, head on over right now to roofstrategist.com. enter your name and email Get a free copy My Pitch Like a Pro Roofing Sales Training Video Library. Now let's hop back into today's video. What do you need to know to sell roofs? This is a big question. I've been getting this a lot. A lot of folks have been reaching out and they say, adam, I've never installed a roof before. Can I sell roofs if I've never installed a roof? Where do I go to learn about the roofing system? So let's just break down what you need to know. There's difference in information that we must know, and if we can get this thing to work. Here we go. So we have product knowledge and then we have process knowledge. So it's important for us to understand the differences between product knowledge and process knowledge. So what does that mean, product knowledge? This is roofs. Okay. Shingles install practices. This is the, you know, technical knowledge. Install and then the technical information. Things like, what do I look for on a roof? How do I spot a leak? How do I know if there's areas of concern on this roof? So this is our product knowledge. The process knowledge is going to change whether you're doing storm or retail, but that's how it works. So a roof install process, for example, if you're working storm damage, hail, wind or hurricane, that's going to be the insurance process. Okay? So these are the things that we must know, the processes of how it works. The customer experience, process. Okay, so when we break down these different categories, which one do you think is more important, product knowledge or process knowledge? As you're getting started now, I'm guessing that you probably were thinking product knowledge. Well, I'm going to challenge you on this. Here's why I'm going to challenge you on this. When you can talk about how the whole thing works, you don't need to know all the inside details. Why? Because as a salesperson, there should be experts at your company. There should be an owner, manager who can answer all of these technical questions. What questions are a homeowner going to have more about? Well, how does this work for me? I just want to break away from roofing sales for a minute. Let's just talk car sales. When you buy a truck, does the salesperson know much about the engine or the mechanics? No. They know what you like, the features, the process of the vehicles, your experience in the vehicle. Right. They know the basics and they can help guide you to that. Right. Decision. And I know you're going to say, yeah, but the best salesperson knows this, and I do agree. But it doesn't mean you have to start there. The best doesn't mean where you start. Right. We have to accumulate this knowledge. And I always recommend understanding the process knowledge before. We need to understand the product knowledge. Now, a Couple things. Remember, you can call in, phone in, someone at the company, owner, manager, call the crew. These are the experts that can help you spot the leak and understand the technical implications. Process knowledge insurance process, start to finish. I did a video on this. On the hail claims process, start to finish. You can click the link one of these days I'll know where it goes up here. And that video kind of guides you through start to finish. And the same goes for wind or hurricane, it doesn't matter. The video is just titled for hail. But at any rate, it's the same process, start to finish. How that customer experience goes from when the job is ordered to it being the material, excuse me, the job being signed up, the material order being produced to the job being scheduled, to the install date, to the final walkthrough, to invoicing, all that when you understand the process, which I believe is the more important one. So this here is the most important and again, why? It's so you can communicate clearly how it will work and relate to the customer emotionally. This can be developed on the job. Now, when it comes to product knowledge, again, this. Come on now, here we go. This can be learned on the job. Learn as you earn. Okay, now where are some good resources for this? You're on YouTube or a podcast. Jump into YouTube. Search for the top shingle manufacturers. Whichever one you use, almost all of them have YouTube channels on their install practices and you can see how a roof is installed. Shingle roof install. And as boring as it sounds, if you contact your supplier, you can get a shingle install guide. Read the guide, you're going to know it all. There's pictures that accompany it. You're going to know all you need to know about that process. And it's something that you will learn as you earn. Next, go and sit on a job as it's being installed, hop up on the roof with the crew, watch the process unfold. And if you're a leader at your company and owner or manager, make sure to get your guys and gals up on a roof during that install as soon as you can so they can can build confidence. Now, speaking of building confidence, I talked about helping you build confidence faster. Now here's a saying, and I wish I wrote down who I learned this from, but competence breeds confidence. Now what does this mean? Competence breeds confidence. What I mean by this is as we get better at things, we become more confident with them, right? When you know an area, you're driving in your hometown, you don't need a map, you don't Need a gps. You just know where to go because you're competent, finding your way around. And the same goes versus if you just like took a trip to Hawaii and you're on a new island and you don't know how to get from here to there, you're going to use GPS because you don't have competence driving in the area because you haven't done it. So the more and more you do things with higher repetition, you learn them. And this is why role play is so important. So if competence breeds confidence, it's really important that we do role play. Role play, which I did another video on, role play, the fastest way to develop your sales skills and click the link in one of these places up here to watch that video will help you get those repetitions in over and over again. So first thing you want to do is get that first sale under your belt so you feel confident that you are competent salesperson. Then you get the next one in. And this competence breeds confidence. Now I want to share two stories with you, very embarrassing stories in fact, to help you feel more confident. So we talked again about product knowledge versus process knowledge. So I want to share with you how I sold the really embarrassing story selling my first commercial roof. It's actually the first sale I ever made in the business. Shared the story in the past. Alright, so I'm cold. Calling on a sign for rent sign for a commercial property. The roof was in bad shape. Call the owner up. Hailstorm came through, said, hey, you know, is this the owner manager? Hey. He says, yeah. I said, hey, I'm calling about that vacancy over on Willie Street. And he goes, yeah. I said, hey, listen, I just drove by, notice the roof, looks like it's in pretty rough shape. I might be able to help get your roof replaced from that recent hailstorm if we can find enough damage. And he goes, that'd be great. I have active leaks, I've got problems, we need it done anyway. When can you come by? So I sign up this roof. So here I am. My manager at the time was too busy to put together my job order for me. So I show up to the job, my crew's there. They're Spanish speakers, I'm not. So all of a sudden I show up and I'm super excited. I'm proud. I'm sitting there looking at this. It's a small commercial property, 90 square. But a big deal for me at the time and I'm really proud. Crew comes up, they say, adam, we don't have any plasticops. We can't start until we have plasticops. So I'm sitting there and I'm like, plasti, cops. I've never heard of plasticops. I'm like, what do I do? He goes, go to ABC and get some plasticops. So I say, okay. So I hop in my truck and I drive over to ABC and I go to the counter and I say, hey, I need some plasticops. They look at me funny. Plasti, what are you talking about? Finally it clicks to them. So they wave some other people over so I can, you know, they can embarrass me a little bit. And I'm like, hey, you know, just tell these guys what you need. I don't understand. I need some plasticops. They all break out laughing. You mean plastic caps? I was like, yeah. So they asked for the job number, give it to them. By the way, I didn't even know what job number was at the time. So I called my manager for that one order, the Plasticaps which turned out to be plastic caps. And they said, well, how many? I didn't know. So I just bought 40, 40 boxes of plastic caps for a 90 square roof. So I pull in, the supplier loads them up, the guys in the warehouse, the cardboard boxes where it rains and the nails fall out. It's a total nightmare. Pull up, crew's laughing at me. So here it is, my first job I ever sold, commercial project. I knew the process of how the hail claim process worked, how to guide this homeowner, excuse me, commercial property owner, into navigating, filing the claim, how it worked, getting the adjuster out because I had studied and understood the process but I knew nothing. So I had like kind of knowledge on this and virtually no product knowledge. But it did not stop me from making my first sale. And fast forward to another sale in my very first year. And it was an aluminum siding project with an insulated backer board and the insurance paid for Tyvek and fan fold. And I was going back and forth and we got in an argument with the homeowner and they're like, well, why aren't you doing this? And I didn't know what fanfold even was and he knew more than me. And we were arguing and I didn't even know what was going on and it was embarrassing. And then you know what I did? I humbled myself and admitted my fault and apologized. Alright, so my point is this. Will you have some struggles and could it interfere with your confidence until you get the product knowledge? Yes. But if I had to focus on a priority I would focus on understanding the process. You can communicate clearly the product knowledge. You can learn very quickly with YouTube searches, shingle manufacturer manuals, and learning on the job. Get up on roofs as fast as you can. But in a nutshell, what do you need to know to get started? You don't need to know anything, but you have to have a willing desire, a willingness and a strong desire to want to learn, to be excited about learning, to soak up all this information as you grow. And I still do it to this day. I am a sponge. You will not find me one day without wanting to chew through something, whether it's a podcast or a book or an audiobook or an article to learn more. So if you focus on this, what do you need to know? The answer is nothing. You don't need to know anything to get started. What you do need to have is an eagerness and a willingness to learn. And if you have these two things that if you don't know anything and a willingness to learn, focus first on process knowledge first. Process knowledge is number one. And after this, you will earn as you learn. Now, if you are new in roofing sales, just because this time here together is about to wrap up, I don't want us to be done because there's a lot more I have in store for you. Click right here. If you're new in roofing sales, I have an entire playlist for you to hop into. And if you haven't done it yet, click right here to get a free copy of my pitch like a pro roofing sales training video library and I'll see you on the next one.