Secret
I have a secret that I want to tell you…
Maybe you haven’t made a dime yet in roofing sales, or maybe you’re making money, but you need to make more… either way, this article was written just for you.
If you’ll read the entire article, top to bottom, you’ll learn the secret closing technique I use to make money in roofing sales. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Constant Rejection
The great thing about working as a telemarketer, my first real sales job, is that you get to fail faster. Failing faster is the key to success.
The big telemarketing companies in the early 90’s could afford automated dialer technology. As soon as you hung up, the computer already had another person ready to demean shout curse hang up on talk to you.
The rejection never stopped. It was like NO! bullets were flying at you all day long. If you’ve ever worked telemarketing, you know that the turnover rate is sky-high. People just walk out the front door in the middle of the day.
In telemarketing, when you have that much rejection, coming at you as fast as a computer can dial a phone, all day long, week after week, it will either emotionally kill you, throwing you into deep depression, or force you to get really good at sales.
Most people don’t last 6 months… like an idiot, I stayed in telemarketing for more than 2 years. The first year was torture, but by my second year, I was selling more than anyone else which helped me maintain my sanity.
Magic NO! Bullets
One of the biggest problems keeping you from making money in roofing sales is that you don’t get in front of enough people because you’re afraid to hear NO!
NO! is like a Magic Bullet. It doesn’t kill you, but it can make you stronger. Having prospects tell you NO! a few times a month won’t do as much for your closing techniques as hearing NO! one hundred times a week.
You’ll either go get another job, like 9 out of 10 new roofing sales people do, or you’ll be the 1 in 10 that enjoys the freedom that comes from getting really good at roofing sales. Which direction do you want to go?
If you want to be the 1 in 10 that enjoys the freedom of roofing sales, keep reading because we’re about to get to the good stuff…
Taught By The Best
When I got really frustrated with my lack of sales success and I finally determined to get better at sales, I went to the book store. There wasn’t an internet like we have today back in the early 90’s.
My sales teachers were the best in the world. Though I never met them in person, we’ve spent a lot of time together. They shared their deepest sales secrets in written word for me to read over and over again.
Zig Ziglar was my favorite teacher. There were many others, outstanding teachers, but that man could drop the sales knowledge. His stories were funny and practical. I read everything he said at least 4-5 times and yellow highlighted all of my favorite parts… that was a lot of yellow!
I had notebooks full of Zig’s examples. I would translate his sales techniques from whatever he was selling to whatever I was selling… and try them out on my unsuspecting prospects the next day.
I would keep whatever worked and then go memorize more techniques. Because I talked to so many people in a day, it was easy to figure out which techniques worked best for different kinds of people with different personalities.
Sales Angles
People are different. It is these differences that create unique angles of sales opportunity in all of us. For some prospects, the sales angle is so tiny that it is like Luke Skywalker trying to destroy the Death Star.
Other prospects are easier to target, but you have to approach them correctly. Otherwise, your advances are naturally deflected because you went for the wrong angle.
One of the biggest problems keeping you from making money in roofing sales is that you don’t get in front of enough people because you’re afraid to hear NO!
You’re afraid to hear NO! because you don’t have anything new to try… or you’re afraid to try anything new.
You know that you’ll just keep getting rejected because everything you know to try doesn’t work. You need to learn new sales and closing techniques.
You need to learn more sales angles.
One Hit Wonders
In the world of music, a one hit wonder is anybody who has a hit song and then you never hear from them again.
In roofing sales, a one hit wonder is anybody who only knows how to close one type of prospect, from one angle, under one certain set of conditions.
Some of you are really good at selling a new roof to your relatives. The problem is that eventually you run out of relatives who need a new roof.
Some are good at selling to single mothers, or old people, or poor people, or a certain ethnic group, etc., etc., etc.
You have mastered one, maybe two or three, different sales angles, but your neighborhoods are full of different types of people with different types of backgrounds, life experiences and expectations.
You’re never going to make a living selling roofs exclusively to retired military from your same branch who happen to have identical tattoos as you on the same arm. Very cool, but prospects like that are extremely hard to find.
My Secret Closing Technique
The best thing I ever learned from the sales masters I studied was my closing technique. This is the closing technique that has paid me the most money for the longest number of years. It is my go-to strategy… the one technique I use to this day… and I’m about to share this valuable secret with you.
I invested a lot of time trying to figure out the right combination of words to use that would make my prospects wilt powerless under my supreme intellect… the magic phrase that paid cash money in my pocket every time I unleashed the beast.
The problem was that I never found it. It doesn’t exist. Oh, I thought I had it figured out several times, but then my magic words would stop working just about the time I was sure I had cracked the code.
And then one day I stumbled across this powerful secret phrase while studying the sales masters…
The best close is a great presentation.
“The best close is a great presentation”… what does that mean?
A Great Presentation
If you’ll remember our brief discussion about sales angles a few moments ago, a great presentation is a direct hit on your prospects unique sales angle.
A great presentation targets the one area where they are most likely to buy from you… and ignores all other angles because you know those angles are easily deflected and could kill your sale.
A great presentation cuts straight through the smoke and mirrors. When used correctly, a great presentation is as close to a guaranteed sale as you’ll ever get.
We all have these openings where we are most vulnerable to persuasion. If you’ve lived more than a minute on God’s green earth, you’ve had a set of experiences that create anchors, openings and soft spots.
Am I going to just come out and tell you my sales angle?
No! I’m not that stupid. Neither are your prospects.
Leaking Information
If you’re like I am, we’re going to do everything we can to hide it, keep it a secret and protect ourselves. We know from experience that sales angles are soft spots where people hurt us, abuse us and take advantage of us.
Here’s the problem when it comes to people hiding their sales angle… if you’re living and breathing, you are leaking valuable information right now about your sales angle regardless of how much you want to hide it.
The clothes you wear, the words you speak, the car you drive, the bumper sticker on your car, your tires, wheels or wheel covers, the books you read, your friends, your enemies, your job, your neighborhood, the way you cross your arms or look out of the side of your eyes, the furniture in your home and on your patio, the cleanliness of your home, your landscaping, your magazines, your political party, your sex, age, education, heaven forbid: the color of your skin, the color of your style, where you spend your money, where you save money, the food you eat, the beer you drink (or don’t), the church you attend (or don’t), the country, state, and city where you grew up, the way you sit or stand, the junk in your medicine cabinet (okay, that’s creepy)… everything, every single little thing you are leaks information about your sales angle.
Even if you’re one of the few people on the planet highly-trained to not leak information, that fact alone still creates a sales angle! The real problem with selling to this ultra-rare and unique individual is that they are also highly-skilled in giving off false-positives. They give up false information. However, they often are too willing to create this impression, which again creates a sales angle if you recognize their facade.
Tyrants and dictators want to remove these distinctions from the planet because every point of difference makes the masses harder to control. It is much easier to manipulate a large group of people with forced similarities than it is to coerce a unique individual.
As a sales professional, you do not have the unrighteous advantage of the tyrant. You cannot dictate that the masses do what you want or they will suffer the dire consequences.
Your job is to recognize and celebrate these unique, individual angles, speak directly to them and skillfully persuade people to your side one-by-one.
Practical Advice You Can Use Today
Unfortunately, I can’t teach you in one article, or even one hundred articles, how to incorporate the information your prospect leaks into a great sales presentation, but I can tell you where to start.
You start by paying attention to their leaks.
Here’s another bit of practical advice, the words they speak are your prospect’s least actionable clues. Words are too easy to make up. However, once you put a bumper sticker on your car, it ain’t going away any time soon.
At the same time, if you’re doing all of the talking, you’re not going to have enough time to focus on figuring out their sales angle. The more they talk, the more they like you, the more they let down their guard and the more actionable their words become.
You can’t learn much talking about the weather, but if they want to tell you how their son just got accepted to the best college in the county, you can do something with that. That piece of information alone probably isn’t enough to find the perfect sales angle, but you can add to it by paying close attention.
Closing Thought
The longer your prospect talks, the more time you have to study their leaks and formulate your best presentation.
A valuable rule of selling is that “time equals commitment.” Billy Joel has said that one of the reason’s Christie Brinkley left him was because he spent too much time away on the road.
You have to put in the time if you want to give your best presentation.
Peace,
Mike
P.S. I want to thank my veteran Roofing Salesman friends on Facebook for their valuable closing advice: Wyll Dickenson, Brian Hergert, Scott Westra and Bob Fourney… Thank you!
Wyll Dickenson
“Yeah, it’s called excellent service. The deals close themselves.”
Brian Hergert
“It is always easier to close at the kitchen table, back porch with a drink in your hand then to try doing it standing at the door…”
“…ALWAYS pay attention to their animals, kids, parents, and sometimes even neighbors.”
“Teach your wife to sell. Take her along during the appointment, and shut up…”
Scott Westra
“Promise what you SELL.”
Bob Fourney
“…take the time to find out what is important to them in the claim and really explain the process and get them excited about their new roof.”
Mike Coday
Mike started selling roofs in '95 while working as a youth pastor at a small church in North Texas. A decade later he transitioned to speaking at industry conferences and training outside sales teams. Today, he works exclusively as the premier consultant to roofing company owners who are driven for growth.
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