What is the best way to get roofing leads?
I love this question because it shows you’re thinking outside the box.
Or maybe it means you’re a big, fat chicken because you’re afraid of knocking doors. Either way, it’s a solid question and I’m going to give you 3 answers today.
First of all, the shortest distance between two points is always going to be a straight line to where your customers live. You can go straight to their home, knock on their door with a great roofing sales pitch, get the inspection and make the sale. Door knocking is still, and I believe always will be, a great way to pick up roofing leads.
Second, when the phone ain’t ringing, it’s your job to make it ring. If you sit back and wait for everyone to call you, you’re going to miss a lot of opportunity, especially when you’re up against more aggressive roofing salespeople who aren’t afraid to walk and knock doors.
Finally, last thing before I get into the ways to get roofing leads without knocking, when you’re early in your roofing sales career you have to expect to work harder than people who have been selling roofs for a long time. That just makes sense, doesn’t it?
Referrals Are King
Every time you make a sale, think about how many sales you made to make that sale.
You had to sell them on opening the door. You sold them on getting on the roof. You sold them on sitting down for a presentation. You sold them on taking an estimate or calling their insurance company. You sold them on your warranty. You sold them on your schedule. You sold them on a color. You sold them on payment terms. You made a lot of sales to make that one sale!
And yet, you left a whole bunch of sales on the table. You walked away after you collected your money without getting all of the sales you could have made.
“What are you talking about Mike?!?!”
Well, did you sell them on giving you a few solid referrals, or did you chicken out and go with the standard line, “Hey, if we did a great job, would you tell your friends and family about us?”
If you don’t collect solid referrals from every sale you make, you’re missing the absolute best way to get roofing leads without door knocking.
By the way, here’s a few of the other sales you’re probably not making on every sale: google review, bbb review, picture they post on their social media account tagging you or your company, written testimonial, introduction on their neighborhood app, email to their hoa on your behalf, hand-signed recommendation, etc., etc., etc.
Point is, you’re missing a lot of sales on every sale you make, aren’t you?
If you want to dive into the tactics and strategies of how to get these referrals, step-by-step, I would love to have your company join the Roofing Salesman University.
Internet Marketing
When the neighborhoods are crawling with roofing salespeople, there’s not much need for anyone to go online and search for a good roofing company.
People could just stick their head out their front door and yell, “Anyone know a good roofer?,” and a dozen salespeople would run right over to them. Their street is lined with yard signs and they come home to dozens of flyers on their door every night.
Online advertising, digital door knocking, works best when your market isn’t already flooded with roofers.
That’s one of many reasons why experienced storm chasers never go where everyone else is going. Why compete when you can dominate? Go where they aren’t and you eliminate your competition before you get started. Internet marketing works great when your competition is non-existent or not very sophisticated.
Good luck trying to break even on internet marketing in major markets like Dallas, Atlanta, or Denver, especially after a major storm. In competitive markets, they often lose money on internet marketing because they’re okay with buying a deal in order to establish a new pivot point for getting referrals out of a new location.
However, if you’re in an area that’s not super competitive, or your competition is clueless, internet marketing can help you drive new leads without having to knock doors. I strongly suggest working with an experienced advertising agency rather than trying to do it on your own. The tech companies are very good at extracting a stupid tax on people who use their advertising systems without knowing what they’re doing.
Telemarketing Leads
If you can stand the stink, you might want to try hiring a telemarketing agency to generate roofing leads for you.
On paper, in theory, telemarketing sounds like a genius idea, but we live in different times where people are crazy about strangers calling them, especially in the big cities. You might get away with it in more rural areas, but you’re going to get a lot of complaints from cold calling people on the phone. They would rather you knock on their front door than call their cell phone.
Listen, I used to work with one of the best telemarketers in the entire industry and we still had people threatening to file a formal complaint all the time. You don’t even want to know what a complaint will cost you if your prospect files it with the right federal government agency.
Like I said, if you can stand the stink, try telemarketing leads.
How Do Roofing Salesmen Get Leads?
Honestly, they get roofing leads any and every way possible.
Let me ask you a question, “If I asked the 100 closest people you know what you do for a living, what would they say?”
Most of the time, the reason why you’re not getting more leads is because more people don’t know you and know what you do for a living. You have to get into the business of making yourself famous with your friends and family. You need strangers to know you before you know them.
Maybe you should do a Google search for “How to get famous?” 😉
Peace,
Mike
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.
Download this FREE special report now to make more money selling roofs.
Download the FREE Special Report