Roofing Sales Masterclass: How Confidence & Emotion Close More Deals (No Scripts Needed)

In a recent conversation, a customer emphasized his desire to create more predictable wins within his sales process, particularly during customer presentations. He's been exploring the use of structured scripts to steer conversations toward consistent outcomes and is curious about how to best implement this approach. He posed the question, do you have any resources, scripts or frameworks for structuring sales presentations that consistently lead to predictable, successful outcomes? I break this down here. I've done a whole ton on this. I would have to find, I would have to find the old videos. I could probably find them because I used to do some like, sumo quote demonstration type stuff like, like, like teaching people. It's back in the days when we sold a lot more sumo quotes and I, we would go, I would go through a training to show them, like, this is how I would sell your company if I had your sumo quote. You know what I mean? Like, how I would go through it. Now what I will say is it's not. And the coaching or guidance that you're receiving is not incorrect. Scripts are important, but when you get to, like, the next level of it, it's not so much what you say, but how you say it or how people hear it and receive it. And generally volume negates luck in this because it's not the salesman with the perfect words. Like, where, like, there's like, no, like, magical combination of words that just makes wallets magically pop out of pockets. It's the feeling that a customer has that they're confident in themselves. Like, I am capable of, like, I have been delivered all the information required. I don't have any outstanding questions, and therefore I feel confident in my own competence to make this decision. So that's the feeling that they need to have. So how do we create that feeling? If sales is a transfer of emotion across a bridge of trust, then there's two elements that we have to make sure that we capture. One is the definition. And I love this. I came up with this with Charlie, actually, the definition of need. Our sales team and like, or you, by extension you, like, has to be able to go into a. Some portion of the demonstration with a customer to demonstrate the need. Right? And that is not scriptable because it's different every time. The only way to script it truly is to have principles based on finding and identifying issues with the roof as it currently exists and communicating that in a way that the customer goes, oh, I never would have thought of that. Oh, that's, that's a problem. I recognize why it's a problem and I understand that the urgency of solving that problem. I would agree to do that. So let's take roofing out of it, right? I learned this when I sold vacuum cleaners door to door. Now, we would do it in the typical vacuum salesman, completely disgusting way. I am. I am atoning for my sins as a vacuum salesman and telling you this story, okay? Because I sold a $2,800 vacuum to a blind woman on AISH, and AISH means Alberta Income for the Severely Handicapped because she was blind, okay? So I learned from the worst. And by the worst, I mean the best, but also the worst. So what we would do is you would. Oh, this is bad. You would take a thing of baking soda and dump it on the customer's carpet, okay. And you would say, hey, I'm just going to use the vacuum head for my vacuum to grind in this. To grind in this baking soda into your carpet, okay. And so we would disconnect the tube from the back of the receiver. And I promise this will have a lesson at the end, but I'm also. I have to atone for my sins here. Okay. Then we take the. We would take. So the thing would have no suction, but we would take the. The, you know, the, like, the end piece on the vacuum that, like, does the spinny brush thing. Right. I don't. There's probably a name for it, but I probably. I just forgot. But you would take that thing and you grind in the baking soda into the carpet, okay. And then you would take their vacuum cleaner and be like, hey, I'll do a complimentary bag change. Because nobody liked changing bags their vacuum cleaners. Like, I'll take the. I'll do the complimentary bag change. Power head. That's right. So then we would change out the bag to give them a brand new bag. The idea was, this is the best your vacuum will ever perform. And then our vacuum, we'd fill it with this like, five pound or like, however it was like a cereal thing. A cereal dispenser was full of sand, which is like the worst thing for a vacuum cleaner because it plugs the holes and it makes it so you lose. Suction is typically the. The. You know, what a woman would understand or anybody who vacuums would understand. Right. And. And so we'd fill RVR vac cleaner with sand. And then we'd put this, like, little filter on top of the sand that would trap it between where the hose dumped in the stuff and the rest of the bag so we could capture only the stuff. Like, we would isolate anything that we sucked up after so then we go over the part of their carpet where we ground in this baking soda like, 20 times. Like, we'd make a whole big show of it, right? Go the other way. Like, up and down, back and forth, up and down, back and forth. Like, it would be, like, obscenely long, right? And then we would hook up our vacuum to suction, and we go over, like. And then we'd open the thing, and in the filter would be, like, this huge amount of baking soda. And then we'd ask a question. I showed the same desk demonstration down to Sarah and Bob down the street, and they agreed that if they could eliminate this problem of this stuff that's being left in their car by the current vacuum cleaner, they. They would agree, and I'd be nodding my head just like this. You wouldn't want to gross stuff like this just being left in the floor, would you? No. If you could get rid of this, you would, right? Yeah. Like, that was getting commitment. It was a soft close. Now, here's the dirty trick. When you grind it into the carpet, what is that power head doing? It's a sweeper. It's sweeping up all that big pile of baking soda into the power head. So there's a pound of baking soda stuck up inside the power head. So the minute if you held it in the air and connect the suction, it would suck the pound of baking soda back. It was never in the carpet to begin with, and there's probably still some baking soda in the carpet. So that's me atoning for my sins. But it taught me a fundamental lesson that people need to see something that tells them. And this vacuum cleaner was good. You would do stuff like vacuuming up their pillows and stuff like that. You'd pull all this nasty shit, and you'd keep asking them, you know, I showed this to my other customer, Bob, last week. You wouldn't believe how much he had. We had way more than you. But he even agreed that was disgusting, and he wouldn't want that in his pillow. You wouldn't want that either if you could avoid it. Right? So that's the feeling that the customer has to have. You can't. You can, like, script the principles of it, but there's no, like, magic word track other than maybe saying, like, I've showed this to other people like you. I've showed this to your neighbors and, you know, the whole, like, not door knocking strip. Yeah. I was just talking to Bob and Mary down the street, and they had some storm damage, and they said that you'd probably Be a good person to talk to because you wouldn't want to leave that, you know, leave that to chance. Right. You know, it's like other than that piece of the script, which is like the, the, the associative sale, you have to create that definition. That's why company can pictures and annotations on every photo or 70% of your photos is such a thing. So definition of need clear problem demonstration. You would want to leave this. You're not going to leave this chance. You see the urgency of this? Okay, that's part one, part two. With your SUMUC or your sumuco presentation, there's a very consistent order of like a psychological journey that we have to take the customer through. The first thing is we have to establish that not all contractors are the same. Right? We have to decommoditize our service. And that's not measured by you thinking that you did. That's measured by the customer's reaction. The market tells you that the market decides like what determines the price of an ice cream cone. The market, the invisible hand of capitalism. So just because you think you did, if your results aren't changing, you didn't, did you know what I mean? Like, it has to be that. And this isn't just for you, David. This is for anybody in the room. But we have to. It's decommoditized. That's why the introduction from the owner page, the reason it's there is because it is. The one thing truly unique about what you do is who you are as a company. And you want to tell the story. Like when Drake, who sells Christmas lights, starts his loom video talking about. Cause he does everything remotely because Christmas lights, lower margin, margins, higher volume, different sale. The first thing he does is talk about mountainside lights, right? So the first thing you do is say, okay, so we've got a definition of a need. We've clarified why I'm here and we've labeled you with your problem and hopefully overviewed some past pain. Right? So backing up a bit. There's different frameworks, band, budget, authority, need, timeline or spiced, which is situation, pain, impact, desired, critical event, decision criteria. Right? Or closer. Clarify what? Clarify the reason they're there. Label them with their problem. Overview the pain of the problem. Sell the vacation, not the plane ride. Explain away the objection, reaffirm a good decision. Like these are frameworks. And the reason that skilled salespeople work in frameworks and, and then, and then practice scripts is because at the end of the day you're dealing with another human being that's going to throw you off your perfect script. They're going to ask a question in the middle of your sentence, they're going to interrupt you. So there isn't like this, like, choreographed song that you play, right? And you serenade the wallet out of their pocket. But it's more about, did you hit the right stops on the train track at the right time? Because if you overview the pain of a problem without labeling it, you, you, you, they're not clear on what the problem is. If you don't clarify why you and they are there in this moment talking about this problem, you can't link it to the critical event of the timing needed to solve the problem, right? Like, if you're sick, if a person is sick and they want to feel better, it's easier to sell the medication if you know that they're sick on Tuesday and they need to feel better for their second date with the girl of their dreams on Friday. And they don't want to be sniffly nosed and gross because they're hoping to get to third base. You know what I mean? Like, if you understand the critical event of the date on Friday, the prescription is a drug that makes you feel better on Friday. It's twice the price of Benadryl, right? So you have to, like, it's the right train stations are all hit, and they're hit roughly in the same order. So if you clarify why you are there, right, and label them with their problem and overview the pain of that problem, or the pain of not solving the problem, or the anxiety of the problem existing unsolved. You know, I just showed this down the street to Mary and Mary and Bob. They had the same problem with their vacuum. So you're not weird and different, you're just another normal human being. But they both agreed that if they could get rid of this problem, they would. And they would. If when they seen that that was disgusting, would you agree? Yeah, of course. If you get rid of it, you would, right? So you have to, like, get them to overview that and then you have to sell the vacation, not the plane ride. Because you don't. You sell Maui, you don't sell the TSA, you know, the 51 pound bag overcharge, the fat guy farting next to you on the plane, the cheap nuts, you know, like, you don't sell that, you sell Maui, right? So in selling the vacation, you have to kind of take some time to decommoditize the business and say, this is who we are, why we exist, and why Our company has stood the test of time. You have a very good story, right, with your business being around since like what, the 70s? 76. 76. Okay. The family owned, the local, the, the, the, the, the homes that you've roofed a second time. Like all those stories, those are what make you different than, you know, Bumble roofing. The franchise that came out three years ago that has way cooler branding than you and way cooler like logos than you and way like they have like all the, you know, sting free warranty and all the puns and stuff that go along with it and the $170,000 website that you don't have. Like, they, you have to have something overcomes that. That's in your, in your introduction from the owner page. The very next page is to, to take the story of decommoditization and creating some measurable differences by saying these are things that we have that typical roofers don't. And there's an anxiety around this page in roofers. They go, well, like I know the competition that has these things, these three things that I say I have too. It's like, yeah, that's fine, but that's not typical. That's just saying that you also have competition that is good. You don't know who they're comparing you to. So you have to cast a difference. You have to create a contrast of light and dark, right? Good and bad, you know, like, like nice and evil. So that's your compare, contractor paid. Which makes the customer come to this realization that not all contractors are considered equal. And this is not a commodity. I have to pay attention, right? And so then you go into your hero pages, which is where you further differentiate their choices. You, you make the price malleable. That's why car manufacturers that are highly profitable and car dealerships that are highly profitable typically have more options packages because they make the price malleable. It's like, why aren't rubber floor mats just included? Why are running boards not included? Why is a tonneau cover not included? Why is a spray and bed liner not included? Why is a tow hitch not included? Why is there 373 rear end and a 410 rear end? Because it makes it so the customer knows that a truck is not a truck, is not a truck, but you should get the right truck for you. So then this takes you from a, from selling postage stamps, which is just 5 cents a stamp. How many stamps do you want? Where are you sending it to? This is how many stamps you need to a consultative sale which is like, what is the right solution for your homeownership plan, for your current financial position, for the way you want your house to look at. Right. And so hero pages and upgrades are intended to do that. Right. You. So you're either presenting value in excess of price. Like the company cam page. We talk about it being a method of communication. It's a visual work order. It's a way to make sure you get what you paid for. You know, casting doubt, creating doubt in the situation of like, not all contractors are going to be good. You know, talk about the Better Business Bureau and how they have 111 industries, but 9% of all complaints are from roofers. And why is that? Safety insurance. These kinds of things. Things you should check for. And then you talk about the potential upgrades so that they understand that this is a custom tailored suit, not something you pull off the rack from tip top. So then you get into the pricing page and you create then the confidence in their competence by showing them the things that they will get with the roof. So two things happen there. Look at all my stuff I get for my money as opposed to a paragraph. And then I know what all that stuff does and that it's all important. And now they've crossed the line of I have all the information to make a decision. But when you try and get through that quickly because you just want to find out if they're a buyer or not, what happens is more often than not, they are a buyer. Nobody shops for a roof for fun. They're only a buyer on their timeframe. And their time frame is measured in their confidence and their confidence. So going back to your original question about scripting the. I said at the beginning, it's not about what you say. It's about how you make them feel. The conf. If it's a transfer of emotion across a bridge of trust, what is the emotion you're transferring? You are transferring competence and confidence. So what does the salesperson have to have competence and confidence? Of course. Right. And so how do you demonstrate that it's through everything I just told you? And how do you add the competence and confidence to it? Practice. That's it. It's the relentless pursuit of practice to the point where you're just like, typically, nowadays, most of my customers are buying a vehicle on a monthly payment because, I mean, who has $80,000 lying in a mattress, right? Ha ha ha. Or pause for laugh on that Nissan Murano with the heated seats in sunroof, you're looking around $800 a month. Is that about what you had in mind? Pen down, shut up, wait for an answer. Then when they say a number lower, react in a shocking way so that it looks like they're asking for the unreasonable 600amonth. Oh, I like on the morale, the agent seats and sunroof, I think, I mean, okay, 600 like that routine, but it's the same thing. It's like every picture, every explanation of an exposed nail head, every explanation of loose shingles, every explanation of the differences in valleys options, the talking about the visual work order. And the only way to measure this, to truly measure it, is to make your salespeople present the sumo quote without the sumo quote and see if they do as good. That's why Dave can attest to this in car sales. They would make you do demonstrations of cars on two chairs in a lunchroom. Because if you can demonstrate the features and benefits of a Dodge Grand Caravan on two seats in a lunchroom, you can do it when the car is in front of you. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. But most salespeople are reading it off the paper as they flip the pages. Because if I make your salespeople demonstrate to me, I will read, I will watch them say things in the order of the things being on the paper and they're reading quickly, so then they mess up the words and does that look competent and does that look confident? So then how are you transferring those emotions across the bridge of trust? And Charlie, I'll let you on the mic as well because you just raised your hand. Um, but yeah, it's really hard to sell what you don't believe in. Right. So like having that, that confidence and, and belief of what you, what you're selling is a huge, huge key to any sales period. Yeah. And Riley said something interesting. I want to give everybody a chance to, to chat about that because I have a. I can stay for a couple minutes, but I want to like, make sure that this set it in because I want to help you guys. So does that help David? Yeah, that's, that's good. Thanks. I know it's not the answer. Maybe somebody wanted, you know, like when David asked that question, maybe other people in the room the same way and they're. But it's like, it's like the one thing that you are you, you and I mean, you amorphously. All the roofers in the room, there's no words about roofing and the benefits of the products and services you sell that you, as a person who owns a roofing business does not know the words are there. You have the words. It's. It's the level of confidence and competence that. That is measured by the customer, not by you. You. You've probably all heard me say that. I'm not saying he hit his wife analogy where I changed the inflection on each. And the point is, is like in it, if you're not intentional with the words that you're saying and the inflection points of what you're saying. And so to Riley's point, he said in the, in the chat, do you understand why I'm suggesting getting on someone's schedule within the next month or so? You can choose to emphasize different words because I would even say, Riley, I would drop the or so because that's every salesperson's. Like that there. That is like one of the biggest problems in sales is, er. So do you want to go with the roof? Or when do you think you. You want to think you get one again on the schedule this week or that little, er, is like the confidence crusher. Like, do you understand why I'm suggesting getting on this someone's schedule within the next month, or do you understand why I'm suggesting getting on someone's schedule within the next month or so? Or so opening it up like, we want to create certainty.