How It All Began
I accidentally stumbled into the roofing business back in 1995 in an attempt to get out of my job as a telemarketer pushing animated Bible videos. I was doing whatever I could to pay the bills while working as a youth pastor in the ministry.
Desperate to escape that windowless boiler room, I yanked the phone from my ear and took the leap into roofing sales without thinking twice.
A good friend at church owned a roofing company. He was hiring sales people to work a major hail storm. The worst hail storm in U.S. history had just broken out during an outdoor event called MayFest in downtown Fort Worth Texas. Thousands of people were out enjoying the evening when the skies opened up with baseball to softball sized hail falling everywhere.
With no good place to hide, some people dove under cars or found slim shelter huddled under a tree. By the time it was over, paramedics were everywhere carting people away with serious head and body injuries. It was terrible. I’ll never forget the images on the news that night.
The Sales Recruiting Pitch
“If there was ever a time to get into the roofing business,” my friend assured me, “this is the time to do it.”
That’s the pitch almost every roofing company uses to recruit new sales people. Maybe it was the line they used on you, too. Actually, there’s a lot of truth to that claim. The best time to get into this business is right after a hail storm.
Unfortunately, most new roofing sales recruits are only given a few days (or a few hours) of training, handed a stack of contracts and maybe a few business cards from the office printer, and then told to “go start knocking doors.”
If you’re lucky, they’ll stick you with somebody more experienced, but they experienced salespeople will often ditch you as soon as you start slowing them down. After all, they’ve got to make a living, too, and this is normally a commission-only job.
Become a Better Salesperson
That’s why I started this website.
I want to help you become a better roofing sales person.
The roofing business has been good to me through the years. Sure, there’s good years and bad years in roofing, but I figured it’s time for me to give back.
Some of my closest roofing friends have asked, “Mike, aren’t you afraid your competition will read your website and steal all your best ideas?”
Yes. I know they read my articles. I want them to.
If there’s something here that can help them make more money, that’s okay with me.
Roofers Are Good People
Regardless of how the media tries to portray this business, 90% of the roofing contractors I know are good people. They’ve never stolen money from a little old lady, stiffed their sales people, or walked away from a warranty. Actually, most of them would give you the shirt off their back. We’ve all got to stick together, especially the good guys.
If you’re thinking about taking the leap into roof sales like I did over 20 years ago, or even if you’ve been doing this job for awhile, you should contact me.
I’m here to help you make more money and I look forward to your questions.
Master Business Strategist
If you own a roofing company and you’re trying to grow, apply for a Strategy Session to speak with Mike now.
You’ll either get valuable insight to grow your company or there might be an opportunity for us to work together.
Peace,
Mike