Most Salespeople Fail
You should recruit fast and fire fast.
Fundamentally, I have a sincerely held belief that it’s wrong to push another human being into a career where 9 out of 10 folks will fail inside the first 90 days.
I think it’s wrong to promise endless days of sunshine to a person desperate for the slightest ray of hope, don’t you?
There isn’t one person in the full-time business of roofing sales a full year after they’ve started who can’t list by name the people they’ve personally seen fall away. Some got away just in time to save their car from repossession, getting evicted, or losing a relationship…some did not.
This job isn’t for everyone.
Heck, at times it’s barely worth it for anyone.
When roofing sales is good, it can be very good. When it’s bad, it can be disastrous.
Why Do Roofing Salespeople Start Roofing Companies?
This is the primary reason why the overwhelming majority of successful salespeople eventually go on to start their own roofing company.
When business is slow, and the margins are thin, it is easier for a good salesperson to invest their time running the other aspects of the business than to continue giving up 50%, 60%, even 70% of the profit. This is especially true when the salesperson finds and develops all of their own business.
They think to themselves, “Door knocking is the hardest part of this business. Why am I giving up all the profits when I have the hardest job in the company?” After all, nothing happens until somebody sells something.
Almost everybody who owns a roofing business today started somewhere in sales or production.
Very few company owners were handed the reigns through inheritance or purchased the company as an investment. Successful roofing companies are successful because they have good people in high positions with hands-on experience in both sales, production, and organization — usually, that happens because a great salesperson or installer decides to take the leap and do their own thing.
Download this FREE special report now to make more money selling roofs.
Download the FREE Special ReportThe Great Challenge of Roofing
The great challenge in learning the business of roofing is that opportunities to grow often disappear faster than learning how to take advantage of them happens.
I’ve often said that many people have the ability to make some money in roofing sales for a few weeks after a fresh storm. Eventually, they run out of relatives and friends. After the easier sales are sold all that remains are the sales that take real skill, technique, and experience.
The 90 Day Drop
Most rookies don’t learn enough in the first 90 days to survive the next 90.
They may have leveled up in their favorite video game but they haven’t leveled up with their competition. They get choked out and fail.
As an entrepreneur, my job is to identify long-term revenue opportunities that I can scale into stable, growing income.
I only invest in people and processes that have a high potential to create a mutually-beneficial future.
Not every prospect you talk to is worthy of your goals. The salespeople that make it past 90 days learn to quickly recognize the difference in good prospects and bad prospects.
Not every salesperson who answers your classified ad is worthy of your long-term objectives. The companies that make it longer than the 2-year small business failure rate learn to recognize these differences in good and bad help. Failing to do so can be fatal in bad press, stolen checks, or untapped opportunities.
Your job right now, today, is to recognize that your opportunities are expiring at an ever-increasing rate.
Unless your sales ability is increasing at a faster rate than your opportunities are decreasing, you will also be among the have-beens.
That’s just a friendly reminder from somebody who cares about you.
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.
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