Why Homeowners Resist Roofers (and How to Flip Them to YES)

Homeowners are resisting you. But in this video, I'm going to teach you how to get them to love what you're selling. So if you've ever had the experience where you showed up at someone's house, you knocked on the door, they answered like this, full resistance, not trusting you, not knowing what you were after, or if you've run an inbound lead, like, for me, it happened after a telemarketing lead. I showed up and the homeowner was very wary of me, like a lot. And they were very resistant. Then this video is for you. Because what I'm going to teach you is how to change not only what you say, but how you say it to connect more deeply with your customers, get them to go from wall of resistance to the cuddly cat effect and not only win more sales, but these techniques you can apply in all the relationships in your life. And that's the beauty to me of sales is like, this is a way to study people and learning how to interact and connect on a deeper level. And of course, like a byproduct is making more money. But when we do so in a way that is authentic and sincere, we wanting the best for others and truly delivering our service, like, what's not to win? So thanks for joining me. My name's Adam Bensman. I'm glad to have you here. And let's 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. I'm going to start this video with a quote from Claude Hopkins. If you're unfamiliar with Claude Hopkins, he was one of the greatest marketers of all times. And you've interacted with his work, whether you know it or not. If you've ever shopped for All Weather tires, Claude Hopkins worked for Goodyear Tires, and this was back in the early 1900s, if my memory is right. And he literally coined the phrase all weather tires. So Claude Hopkins had this quote. He says, every effort to sell creates corresponding resistance. Every effort to sell creates corresponding resistance. Meaning the more that I try to sell something, the more the homeowner's resistance is up. And as a new salesperson learning new techniques, even things you might learn here on this video or on my channel, if they're applied in an insincere way or from a place of desire, your desire, not theirs, this is what creates the wall of resistance. Now Claude Hopkins goes on further to say, we are all on our guard when somebody apparently is trying to get our money. Now, that's a really powerful quote. We're all on our guard when someone is trying to get our money. So I want to ask you this. Why is it you think that homeowners are on guard, feeling like they're being sold? Now, there's a couple of factors. First is the reality that there's more roofing companies than ever before. Competition is really stiff. There are companies that spin off salespeople that start their own thing. So the market is really saturated. Now, in addition to that, the market is more educated than before due to, well, resources like this. So there's more resources available. And contractors, because it's so competitive, are investing in training and resources and all these other things. And many of them have access to the same stuff. So the bar is raising. With more people working smarter means more competition. Now, at the same time, the fact that there's more people means that homeowners have had more bad experiences. I don't like being associated with mainstream roofing. I share the story in my book, actually the Roofing Sales Survival Guide. How in my very first interview in roofing sales, which, which I did not work for this company, by the way, but they taught me how to conduct insurance fraud on my first interview. And I knew at that moment that, like roofing was plagued by greed and corruption. It's one of the reasons I founded rsra, the community of roofers who don't like roofers. But besides the point, this is the reality of what your customers are experiencing. More people, higher competition. Now, the other reason is very simple. It's the fact that people feel sold when the salesperson has something to gain at the other person's expense. I repeat, when someone is feeling sold, it's when someone has something to gain at the other person's expense. So removing us from roofing sales, if I was using high pressure tactics to get you into a car sale, I have something to gain. I get to sell you a car, I get to make money, but you just need to write the check. Whereas when the homeowner feels like he or she is winning and they got a better deal, that's what people love. Everyone wants to win or feel like they're winning. So I want you to just take this concept in your mind and say, okay, how do I change my sales experience to go from people feeling like I have something to gain at their expense to them having something to gain, and it may or may not need to be at my expense, but they need to have something to gain. Okay, so now that we Got the groundwork laid. The image that you can keep in your mind is of a cornered cat. Now, whether you have a cat or you vacationed somewhere where there's cats, you've probably had the experience where, where that cat backs into a corner and it arches its back and its hair goes up and it hisses. And it hisses as a way of saying, I don't trust you. Don't come any closer. Whatever you're about to do is going to threaten me. And it's like this spidey sense, like, you know, you go out there to pick up the cat or something and the cat just backs up and it hisses. And it's a way of self protection. It's kind of hardwired in. And emotionally, humans are the same way. So right now, what's going on for you and your sales when homeowners resist you is you're coming across as if you have something to gain at their expense. And the homeowner is energetically picking this up like a cornered cat and hissing at you to keep you away. That's what's happening. But when we understand the shift we need to make, we can change what we say and how we say it. So let's get into another quote from Claude Hopkins here. He says the only way to sell is in some way to offer super service. I love the way he says that. Super service. And then he goes on to say to offer a wanted service. So how do we offer a wanted service? First, when you think, well, what do homeowners want? What do they want? They want to deal with a human being. They want to deal with someone in a no pressure environment. They want to be in a situation where they feel like they're winning. They want to have their questions answered in a no high pressure, no BS situation. And they want to feel empowered. They also want a good value and a great company who's going to stand behind the project. So knowing this, all we need to do is adjust how we say what, excuse me, what we say and how we say to go from it being self serving, meaning about me, to serving them. Okay. From being selfish to selfless. So I'm going to give you a couple, like, well, not a couple, let's get. Just do one for the sake of time of a bad example and a good example. So a bad example in the insurance world, we'll touch retail in a little bit here would be to say, hey, this contingency agreement states that we'll be the contractor to do the work. So I want to ask You. Is that helpful to the homeowner? No, that's helpful to me. That's a greedy sale. That's all about me. This contract protects me. I get to do the work. But if I say the same thing, I can say, hey, this contingency agreement protects you from financial surprises and allows us to go to bat for you. Now, it's all about them. Do you see the difference? About me. All about them. I'm winning at your expense. You're winning. Okay. Now here's another thing that we can do. We can provide more value than other people by doing things that other people aren't doing. Imagine showing up at the homeowner's house, say, hey, Mr. Homeowner, and telling them their own story. I'll give you an example. You're probably sick and tired of a bunch of roofers showing up. They all want the money out of your pocket, and they probably don't talk about how they can help you, but what they're interested in is how they gain from you writing them a check, right? So that's telling them their story. Then I can go into my pitch and say, here's what I'm here to do. This is what I'm going to do for you. And guess what? I'm going to answer all your questions, whether you choose to work with me or someone else, and we disarm them. So now instead of me saying I have everything to gain at your expense, we're letting them know this is what you've experienced. I'm not saying I'm better and different. I'm showing it to them. Then what I do is explain all the value that I'm about to provide, which, again, I'm not saying I'm different. I'm just going to do things that the other guy didn't do or failed to do. And then I'm going to disarm them and say, I'm going to answer all your questions and show you the next steps, whether you choose to work with me, someone else, or not do anything at all. And at that point, the homeowner is like, oh, wow, this person is not preying upon me. It is golden. So it's not just what you say, but how you say it. So your key takeaway with this is to show up at the house and make everything about the homeowner. Go above and beyond, get them answers to their questions as soon as you can deliver more information and more value than anyone else. There's a few other pro tips. For example, number one, if five roofers showed up, and only one checked the attic, which one do you think is more thorough and going to do a better job? The person who checked the attic. If five roofers showed up and only one of them talked about ventilation and. And gave them a ventilation calculator and showed them what ventilation means and showed them a picture of ice dams and said, does your roof look like this in the winter? Because if so, it means that you're paying money to heat the bottom side of your roof, which means likely your insulation's not working right, your ventilation's not working right, and there's a very high probability that water's coming in, but you just haven't seen it yet. And what you've done is provided more information and education to. To empower the homeowner and separated yourself from everybody else. When we provide thorough education, we earn trust. All right? Now, the other thing that is so important is to eliminate commission breath. This is very hard for new salespeople, especially salespeople who desperately need the sale. And that is detaching yourself from the outcome, being there to go through the process. And as Nate said it, Nate is a member of rsra. He actually spoke at our annual event. He was up on a panel. He had sold nearly a million dollars in a single month. And I said, nate, you know, what do you attribute to your success? And he said, I just do such a great job providing education to my homeowners that if they choose someone else, I know they made the wrong choice. So imagine that if you just showed up and you made it all about them and gave them all the information they needed, that if they chose someone else, it's just. It's on them, not you. They made a bad choice. That's the level of passion and the level of education that you need to bring to your sale. Okay? Now, what this means is detach. Detaching ourself from the outcome. Think of it like being the doctor that had to break the bad news. I'll give you an example only because this one hits close to home now with some family stuff going on. But if you said, like, hey, you have cancer and this is what's going on, and here are your options. You can do surgery or not. Now, everyone, depending on how old they are in life, may or may not decide to take treatment. Some people might say, I've lived a really long, great life. I'm not going to do anything about it. And that's okay. It's not up to the doctor to convince the patient what to do. It is up to the doctor to diagnose the problem and give them all of the information and empower the patient to make the decision that's in line with their values and what's right for them. And that, my friend, is exactly how you need to approach the sale. And when you do, you will go from making cornered cat experiences to cuddly cat experiences and having homeowners love what you're selling, appreciate you, sign more deals from you, and send you more referrals. Thanks for joining me in this video. Speaking of referrals, if you want more, jump into this video. I'll teach you how to get them. We'll see you soon.