Adam Bensman (the "roof strategist") argues that in roofing sales the specific vehicle you drive is far less important than how you make homeowners feel and how you present yourself. He advises avoiding controversial stickers on vehicles, cultivating genuine confidence and approachability, and not overspending on a flashy truck (avoid large monthly payments when starting). He supports this with personal anecdotes and numeric examples (e.g., early sales while driving an old Tacoma, a salesperson who closed a $500,000 contract from a rusted truck, $1.4M in sales in a season, and involvement on multi-million-dollar jobs). The video ends with CTAs to download a short ebook and a paid marketing pack.
Questions this video answers
August 6, 2019
$500,000
$1.4 million
$2.2 million
$600 per month
Chapters
What? The truck. Hey, guys, Adam here, the roof strategist. And this topic has been floating around for the longest time and came up recently on one of those Facebook groups where roofing sales conversations happen and people are saying, what are you driving? What are you showing up for the job in? And my answer, it doesn't matter. There's two things that matter. One is how you make people feel and two is how you appear. So let's get the first one out of the way. Don't show up with a I love Obama or I love Trump or anything controversial. I don't care what your political beliefs are. Keep that crap off your vehicle when you're showing up at homeowners homes. Don't put your NRA sticker or your piss on Chevy or piss on Ford sticker on the back of your truck because that does not broadcast professionalism. Keep it neutral, guys. Use that. Put that on your dirt bike, your toy car, whatever else. If you're driving a rusted out Dodge, which, by the way, one of salesmen that we had was driving like a late 80s Chevy truck that was rusted out. I mean, you could barely see any paint on it. And he brought in a, what was it, a $500,000 contract from showing up at someone's house and the first thing they saw was him getting out of this rust bucket. It doesn't matter because he was approachable, he was friendly, and he made people feel good and they trusted him. Okay? Now when I started selling, I. I was in an older Toyota Tacoma. I had no money because I had just started. I had an old man truck cap on it. My extension ladder that I got off of Craigslist was sticking out the back, exceeding the four foot rule because it was a short bed that I had a red nylon. What was it, a red string or red flag. I got for free at Home Depot to hang out the back. Now, did it keep me from making sales? No. I had no experience. I had eight months into a season laid on a storm. I did 1.4 million in sales. Now, later on, I felt more comfortable, confident, started making some money. I got an older used Tundra that I could pay cash for because I wanted to feel comfortable. And yes, it made a difference when I was confident showing up. But I realized that the confidence in this outside vehicle, Zig Ziglar, buy the Cadillac before you start sell bullshit. Excuse my French here, but that's crap. Guys, what matters is who you are inside. If you can cultivate confidence in who you are and your abilities. And it doesn't matter. You don't have to be confident that you're some sales stud who's a closer. You need to be confident in the fact that you can sit here, face confrontation, you can talk to people, you can understand their needs. You can genuinely say, hey, I am here at your home, your palace and your sanctuary. You have pets, you have children. All you want is your home to be safe. You don't want your roof to leak and you don't want to have to second guess a contractor. And if you can just be a good person inside your truck does not matter. Later on I was in a new F150 and at that point I was COO of a multi state company. We were traveling around, we were working a storm in Montana. Then all of a sudden Wisconsin got hit with another storm. I was flying back and forth. I had to buy a second truck. I didn't want to buy a second truck for a season and spend a bunch of money. So I bought like a 1990 something Ford F150 that was black with a long bed on it, little bit of rust here and there from a friend's uncle who is a mechanic. It didn't change a thing. I was showing up on a $2.2 million job site as the COO of that company in a work truck. No one cared. We didn't lose the job. In fact, we had a great reputation and generated a whole bunch of referrals because of who we are. So let me I'm going to leave you with two pieces of advice, some that are outside the scope of this channel. First and foremost, no one's going to remember what truck you drove up in. And in fact, and this is going to piss people off. And if it does, drop your comments below. But when you show up in your $70,000 lifted diesel truck, it doesn't make people feel warm and fuzzy at all. Right? What makes people feel warm and fuzzy is who you are. It's not your truck. I don't know why this industry is obsessed with jacked up trucks with lift kits, big tires and a big exhaust. I know they capture attention and people see it. That's not my style. Maybe it's yours if it works for you. Drop a comment below. Tell me about how it's helping you make sales. My guess is it's not actually helping you make sales. No one's going to remember the truck, what you said, or what you were wearing. This is the one thing that they'll remember how you made them feel. When you're standing at their door, talking with them, when you've been invited into their home to sit down at their kitchen table. How you made them feel during the roof process and after, did they like you? Did they trust you? All people want is to be taken care of. And if you're a good human being and you put their needs first, that's all that they're going to remember. Your truck doesn't. And I'm sure I ruffled some feathers here on that one. And that's by design to help you start to see the bigger picture. Now, the second thing, this is the advice outside this channel. Don't waste all your your money on a vehicle. Don't go buy a diesel truck when you're not dragging a trailer around. And don't take on a $600 a month vehicle payment. Now why? Because this industry, you can earn a lot of money. And this industry, when you earn a lot of money, can set you free. And what happened to me when I was managing 25 sales guys is they would be making 100,000, $200,000 a year. They'd come to the table and they'd say, can I get a draw to start the season? I said, dude, you made $170,000 last year and you're coming to the table needing a draw. Meanwhile, the new hire, which was me at one point with $1,000 to my name, he's not coming to the table with a draw. So plan wisely, my friend. Prioritize what's really important. And my guess is it's not the flashy stuff on the outside. So the answer to what? The truck? It doesn't matter. All people care about is how you make them feel. So that's all I got for this channel. I got to jump inside before this storm rolls in here. If you like what you're hearing, click like subscribe. Drop any comments below. I'm happy for controversy if you guys disagree. Agree. Put the comments below, let me know. You're also welcome to download my three tricks to get to the Kitchen Table. Okay. It's a quick ebook. It'll get sent to you instantly. It'll walk you through a couple of little hacks that I've developed over the years to help you go from doing your inspection, taking pictures, to getting invited into the house. Especially tip number three, it's a really subtle thing to that can help you get more conversations done at the table. Now, if you like what you see on this channel, I do offer my turnkey proven sales and marketing material. It's called my roofing sales accelerator marketing pack. There's a link to show you everything that's included in the video description. In a nutshell, it is an instant download that you can get with all my marketing material from sales letters, from literature to leave on the door, to scripts to my referral network, to goal planning, to scheduling your day. And it will help you start making money. I'm getting emails now. Julio, who I mentioned in the other video, got four leads off of a door hanger, my door hanger that he hung on his first job. Guys that have gotten 11 referrals from one job. That's about $15,000 of projected income, depending on the commission structure. So you're welcome to check them out. I do offer everything with a 100% money back guarantee, so you're welcome to check them out. Thanks again for tuning in, guys. We'll see you next week.
