Sell Roofs Like a Doctor: The Secret to Closing More Deals
Adam Sand argues roofing is commoditized, so the real edge is sales technique. He shows how a "doctor" approach—clear explanations, detailed photos, answering questions—beats pressure tactics. In a role-play, the salesperson who described the roof problems better closed the higher price.
Questions this video answers
April 1, 2025
$10,000
$12,000
Chapters
How do you close more deals when you're in an environment where you're selling the same shingles installed the same way by the same people, using the same tools in the same amount of time for more or less the same price? If I go to a roofing company and say, hey, what's better about your experience? They don't have mood lighting. They don't decide to do it at night. They don't put cheerleaders and, you know, topless ripped dudes up on the roof to, like, kind of emulate. Like, why does some restaurants get to charge $50 for a steak? A lot of it has to do with mood lighting, music, and personal pretty people serving the food. So there's no nothing that changes there. The shingles that you're installing, anybody can buy them. It's not the product the way you install it. Like, there's always this argument, like, we install quality. But let's be honest here, okay? You don't control the manufacturing of the product that you buy, and you don't control the install of the product that you put on. And they're using the same tools as of right now. Nobody owns a robot that does the roof. Everybody's using a Metabo nail gun or a Boss Stitch nail gun, or it's like most of them are using the same tools. It takes the same amount of time. Nobody's doing it 1/10 the time. Nobody's doing it taking 10 times as long and justifying it. Nobody can charge 10 times the price for an asphalt shingle roof and get away with it for very long, and nobody can get it done for 110 the price. Like, there is no Louis Vuitton in Walmart of GAF shingles. Like, yeah, you can buy a metal roof, but then same thing, anybody can buy the metal. Same people are installing it using the same tools, and more or less the same amount of time for more or less the same price. So how do you possibly expect to close more deals when you're selling? Same, same, same, same, same. The only thing you have is a better sales experience. That's it. And if that's the only thing you have that is truly differentiating you is your better sales experience. There's the company story too, but you can't control the company story because you didn't create it if you're in sales. So the only thing you have working in your favor is a better sales experience. Therefore, everything should be about how do you optimize the customer experience every amount of your effort. And one of those things that still works today and will probably work for the foreseeable future is learning how to sell like a doctor. Because the only other sales experience that matters is speed. People buying it online. And if they can buy it online, it's proof that we don't need salespeople. And that's not good for salespeople. So I'm here advocating for salespeople, but I'm also holding your feet to the fire, because the strongest steel is cast in the hottest fire. And it means that you have to prove that sales is necessary. If sales is required to sell a roof, then you should be the best salesperson in the market market selling roofs. And the measure of that is the experience, which is that sales is seduction, not rape. It's a dance, not a wrestling match. You have to do provide value in excessive price. And you have to help people buy a roof, not make people buy from you. If you can truly embody that, you will be wildly successful. And so this is where I like to bring up a volunteer. I appreciate you. It's only take about five minutes of your time. So, Trevor, you work at True Grit. And so the story that we're going to kind of have to live in for a minute is that you, as a salesperson, don't get healthcare coverage, but you've made some money and you decide to go to Hawaii and go on a surfing trip. Okay? And so you go on a surfing trip and you fell down and you hurt your knee. And so you have to go into the doctor, and the doctor is going to do an X ray, all right? And so then you walk in, and this is what the doctor shows you says, okay, Trevor, as you can see here on the left, you hurt your knee. And so what happened was you tore your acl and your ACL is now causing your knee to be out of alignment, which is causing that pain you're feeling in the middle of your knee. And so what we need to do is small surgery going to repair the acl. Now, it's going to take some time to heal, so you're going to do six weeks of physio where they're going to get your knee back in shape. And about six weeks, you should be right as rain. I understand you don't have any health care, so I have to let you know that the price is $10,000. Now, I also have to tell you that you do have a right to get a second opinion. I just want to know, would you like to book in for the surgery, or do you think you need to think about it get a second opinion.
Probably get a second opinion, right?
Most people do decide that, well, hey, we'll follow up with you in a couple of days. And so you go to your next doctor and he says, okay, Trevor, as you can see here, you tore your AC and that's why your knee hurts, is because what happened is that when that tore, you have this pinching and that's the pain that you're feeling and the pressure that you have because this is grinding on the knee. And so what we need to do is we need to make two small incision points and we're going to pull the ACL back down and reattach it. That's not going to heal perfectly. And so it'll be a simple one day surgery, but then you're going to have to do six weeks of physio because we have to gradually strengthen that up again. Our support team here in the office is going to call the local physio place next near where you live. They're going to book you in for for physio twice a week. And that's where you're going to just gradually restrengthen this knee. In about six weeks, if you follow your program, you should be able to be right back, surfing, doing whatever you want. Now, I understand you don't have healthcare, so I have to let you know the price for this surgery is $12,000. And I know that I'm your second opinion. So do you think you'd like to book in for the surgery or do you think you want to go back to your other doctor, probably booking for the surgery? Why?
Because you're a lot more descriptive and knowledgeable than the other doctor right now.
Good chance that both doctors are knowledgeable. They're doctors. So it really has to do with how I explained it, right? Yeah.
Correct.
Now, here's the funny thing. I'm a liar, and this is a perfectly good knee. When I wanted to create this environment of selling like a doctor, when I want to explain this, what I did was I googled a perfectly good knee X ray. And this is actually an image of a tennis player who paid tennis for 20 years and they're amazed that his knees were still perfect. So that when I do this test, Trevor, one of two things happen. Sometimes the sales guy wants to put me in his shoes a little bit and he goes, oh, I do that. And then my customer says they want to go with the cheaper guy. There's a little temptation to do that, maybe a little bit. When I said your injury was here as you can see here on the left. Was it your left or the doctor's left?
It should be my left.
Right. But it's actually the doctor's left. When you said, let's say you did do that, and you said, I'm going to play like my customers. And I'm going to say, I'm going to go with the cheaper guy. When the cheaper doctor said that you're going to go for six weeks of physio, was it where you lived or where did you have to stay, paying 400 a day for a hotel in Hawaii?
I didn't ask.
Yeah, you didn't ask. You didn't know. Was it six weeks of physio twice a week or once a week?
I didn't ask.
You didn't ask, you didn't know. And so this only stands as a way to prove that the sales experience matters. Because if you had the $12,000. Yeah. You probably would go with this doctor because you actually know what's going to happen. And he answered all the questions. So that same thing comes into how we sell roofs. So annotated photos are what tell a story about the roof. You know what this is. Your production manager knows what this is. But homeowners don't know what this is. And the goal that you should have when you go into a sales experience is when you're taking your pictures of company cam, I want you to think about this one thing. When you're taking pictures, you want to make a customer say out loud, huh, I never would have thought of that. Because when they do, what you just did was you made. So they took their hat off and they abdicated their power to you. You are now helping them buy a roof. You are not making them buy a roof. You are now seducing them. Not the other thing. You are dancing with them. You're not wrestling with them. The goal of your company cam photo taking activity is to get them to say, huh, I never would have thought of that. And if we know that the only thing that separates you from everybody else is the sales experience, then you should want as many opportunities to do that and to be as effective as possible. And annotations are the most effective way to make sure that even if a knee is perfect, you could tell somebody that it's broken if you put some circles and lines on it.
