Hello,

I have been in the flooring and tile business in the past both as an installer and in sales. I was just hired as a roofing salesman and it is a different animal.

I am hoping for advice on how to prospect and market my business, and how to close the sale.

I am making a lot of cold calls and doing a lot of door knocking right now but I want to really get off to a fast start by making my time and effort count.

Thanks and I hope you are all having great success.

Tom
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Wise Men Still Seek Him

integrity wrote:

Hello, I have been in the flooring and tile business in the past both as an installer and in sales. I was just hired as a roofing salesman and it is a different animal. I am hoping for advice on how to prospect and market my business, and how to close the sale. I am making a lot of cold calls and doing a lot of door knocking right now but I want to really get off to a fast start by making my time and effort count. Thanks and I hope you are all having great success. Tom

Here's my take, three years in and still learning.

You need three basic things to succeed in roofing sales, and probably more than 1/2 the time you will still feel like a failure.

1: Competitive pricing, you can be one hell of a salesman, but if you're $1,000 higher it may not matter.
2: Good reputation, you've got to be working for a company that has a stellar reputation. Everybody has problems, particularly where all your work is performed on a slope, dealing with those problems quickly and fairly can turn a company's lemons into lemonade. You take care of a customer complaint and make that guy happy, it's almost better for your reputation than the other 90% of your work that goes off without a hitch.
3. Representation, you've got to represent your company in the manner it deserves. You've got to be proud of where you work and be able to express confidence in your finished product. You've got to be responsive and honest with your potential clients. Honesty kills slick and polished almost every time.

FWIW

As Dale Carnegie says:
The three rules of being a great salesmen are-
Know your product
Know your product
Know your product
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I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way. Mark Twain.

I appreciate your input, and I believe that you are both absolutely right.

What I am really searching for is creative and effective ideas on how to prospect for new customers. How to make sure I am concentrating my efforts on the areas that will bring the most results.

In addition, if anyone can suggest what in their experience triggers a person to make a buying decision, a line of questioning or a suggestion on the part of the salesman, I would be interested in that as well.
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Wise Men Still Seek Him

Monroe Porter disagrees with that statement. If the guys is knocking doors then wtf does knowing the product going to do for him. He needs to get into the door first. Then once he learns that then its time to learn how to sell. I just disagree with dale completely. He does not sell home improvment products last i checked. Selling a office product and asking for 10k now is well a totally different game. Companies lease that crap or take business loans to cover since its a tax write off for intrest and they can write off the product. Thats just my 2 cents.
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Taking one day at a time.
A Roofing Sales Professional

Better put is you need to learn how to crawl before you can walk.
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Taking one day at a time.
A Roofing Sales Professional

It seems you want to skip the hard part of gaining knowledge of the roofing industry and go straight for the thrill of the kill signature.
If you want to be a good salesman I would suggest some hands on roofing experience.
Instead of a hard sell with slick questions remember why you have two ears and one mouth. You should listen twice as much as you talk. The homeowner will tell you all you need to know to make the sale.
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I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way. Mark Twain.

I am 52 years old and spent many years laying carpet, hardwood floors, & tile. I have been a painting contractor and done some framing and electrical work. About the only thing I haven't done is work as a roofer.

I have years of sales experience both in the construction industries and insurance industries and have read countless books and attended numerous sales trainings.

I spent the last decade as the director of several humanitarian aid programs in Israel, and when I returned found that age discrimination in the workplace is alive and well.

I can't do the physical work anymore because of a severe spinal injury I took on the job.

I am grateful that I have landed this job and am simply asking if anyone with experience in the roofing industry can offer some helpful advice.

When I owned my own flooring company I worked with home builders and general contractors, not home owners.

Sorry if you think I am trying to take the easy way out and look for "Slick" closes. What I am asking is if someone knows from experience what may be effective questions and closes for someone who is in the market for a roof, as opposed to a different purchase since everything is a little different.

Thanks for your input. I will try and take it in a positive light.
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Wise Men Still Seek Him

I was going to say it but i knew you were going to so like i said, integrty goto contruction page under just an observation. 2page you to stormer. But what the heck do i know.
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Taking one day at a time.
A Roofing Sales Professional

integrity wrote:

I am 52 years old and spent many years laying carpet, hardwood floors, & tile. I have been a painting contractor and done some framing and electrical work. About the only thing I haven't done is work as a roofer. I have years of sales experience both in the construction industries and insurance industries and have read countless books and attended numerous sales trainings. I spent the last decade as the director of several humanitarian aid programs in Israel, and when I returned found that age discrimination in the workplace is alive and well. I can't do the physical work anymore because of a severe spinal injury I took on the job. I am grateful that I have landed this job and am simply asking if anyone with experience in the roofing industry can offer some helpful advice. When I owned my own flooring company I worked with home builders and general contractors, not home owners. Sorry if you think I am trying to take the easy way out and look for "Slick" closes. What I am asking is if someone knows from experience what may be effective questions and closes for someone who is in the market for a roof, as opposed to a different purchase since everything is a little different. Thanks for your input. I will try and take it in a positive light.

I think it depends on what you're doing. I deal directly with homeowners for reroofs almost exclusively. They call, I get a card with the name, address, phone number and brief description. I have never done any door to door, no cold calling. Take my observations in that context.

I haven't found, nor do I think exists, a magic formula, a set of words spoken in the right order that will convince a homeowner that they should sign up with me. If it does exist, I'm certainly willing to give it a try, I just don't think it works like that for my particular arena. The homeowners I deal with are going to generally get at least three bids, which takes a few days to a couple weeks for them to do. You are not going to sign them up on the spot, and mostly will just piss them off by trying.

I have no formal sales training, I try and pick up stuff here and there, where ever I can. Material reps have been pretty helpful. Outside salesguys from suppliers have dropped a few nuggets. I feel lucky in one respect because I've been with the same company for 20 years, started off not knowing which end of the tear off spade to hold and kinda worked my way up, if you consider sales 'up', so I have an intimate knowledge of how to do the work I'm bidding on. That's a double edged sword, but I think the company is better off, although I know they debate this issue, and some companies will not hire or move roofers into sales.

The average homeowner is going to go through a process, some are ready to roof tomorrow, some are planning various amounts of time ahead. One of the keys for me is learning to recognize who's ready to jump and who is gonna nose around for an unknown length of time. Time management is key. Long hours are the norm, and you want to direct your energy and prioritize accordingly. That isn't as easy as it sounds, at least for me. People will sound ready to go, and then when you are following up.....it's like "well, we're putting this on hold for a year or two". I send letters out once a year to my unsold leads to let them know that I am still interested and to keep the company name in their heads, and when you start getting the calls from older leads it's like a Christmas present.

We work year round, but there are times of the year when people are processing faster than others as well. Late summer is harvest time. Be prepared to work your ass off from July to the end of October, which may vary depending upon your climate. During crunch time you need to get numbers to serious folks as soon as possible. Same day whenever possible. All companies have different systems, I manually draw each house to scale and then run it through a fairly lengthy bidding program including squares, ridges, gutters, valleys, every piece of flashing, etc. That can take anywhere from 5 minutes on a gable to gable 18 square rambler to several hours for a 40+ square multi-pitch steep shake with the garage shooting off at a 22-1/2 degree angle from the house. That's where identifying your serious leads comes in handy, you don't want to spend 5 hours on a guy that's looking for a budget bid for the next year or two, when you've also got two peaople who are looking to get it done before Thanksgiving.

/purge

Some of the best advice I've ever gotten was from right on this forum:
http://www.roofing.com/forum/about7109.html&highlight=sales I've read it and re read it, printed it out and keep it handy.

IKO, good post. Good link.
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Dennis M. Crookshanks Const. Slate Copper Tile - Restoration and Repair
Up to date roof ventilation information

I dont know anything im just a dumb polish guy. You guys have fun arguing about this. ill just sit back on this one.
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Taking one day at a time.
A Roofing Sales Professional

gtp1003 wrote:

I dont know anything im just a dumb polish guy. You guys have fun arguing about this. ill just sit back on this one.

Is this similar to how you were done posting here? Give it a break pal, you're a legend in your own mind.

Hi Integrity,

I think I understand what you are asking and what the others are trying to say.

I have had contractors knock on my door (just as recent as last week) and I have to say as a "consumer" I was put off. As a "contractor" I understand why they are doing it. In this economy it's difficult to get customers.

The best advice I can offer is "know the company". If it has a great reputation you should be able to make a sale. Are you in charge of giving quotes or just in charge of generating interest?

Another thing I would suggest is getting into a Home Improvement Show where the customer "shops" for you.

Hope I helped, if not, Good Luck!

Sal
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www.mikeroweWORKS.com. Keeping the trades alive!!!

Ok dad. I will say it like this, there are two people in this World, the galss is half full or half empty. NO darn near every post that i have posted has been negitive. With that You want to make more money and mu stuff has been proven. But i will not give away what i learned like i did for 2 years to people that well dont know what to do with it. If you have aproblem with me let go out of the forum and email me at drag70buickgs@att.net and eithe we can work it out in a nice contect or we can be nasty. Balls in your court.

In closing, if you know everything and this is meant towrds anyone find a new trade because you learn something every day. For information mr negitive im disabled at the moment so think about that for a minute now being able to work for 70% of the season. Tell me how much money i make then know it all!
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Taking one day at a time.
A Roofing Sales Professional