Sales Analysis
The thing I despised most about being a telemarketer was starting each sale from scratch on every new phone call.
The computer would dial a new number immediately after my last call hung up. Over and over again, all day long, the phone beeped in my ear.
Like Pavlov’s dogs, I learned to associate beeping with rejection, rudeness, followed by a hard kick in the teeth. That was my analysis of sales… starting over every call is too hard.
That’s no way to make a living, but the constant rejection was not the worst part. Like I said earlier, the worst part was having to start from scratch on every new phone call.
Outside of the little bump in confidence I would get from making a sale, there was no value, no relationship equity, gained from beep to beep.
The next guy who answered was ready to kick me in the teeth as soon as he figured out I was a telemarketer because my last sale didn’t mean a thing to him.
Relationship Based Roofing Sales
Herein lies the magic of roofing sales…
You can build relationship equity in roofing sales. Not everybody does because most don’t know how, but the leverage you get from one sale can have a positive impact on your next sale… and your next one, and your next one, etc.
When you sell and build a roof, you leave fingerprints that are noticed, inspected and graded by people who could become your next client.
Think of these fingerprints as hand-written invitations; warm allurements that should attract prospects into a relationship with you and your roofing company.
Download this FREE special report now to make more money selling roofs.
Download the FREE Special ReportRelationship Selling Thinking
Normally, the fewer fingerprints at the scene of the crime the better for the defendant because the prosecutor will use those fingerprints to help establish guilt, get a conviction and maybe even determine the depth of punishment.
Your challenge is to think the exact opposite!
If fingerprints are hand-written invitations designed to attract prospects to you, you want to leave your fingerprints everywhere.
You want them to know you’re guilty… yes, that’s you putting on the new roof down the street.. not your competitor. Your relationships are the highway where your fingerprints travel to the neighbors, friends, and other family.
Stealth Mode in Roofing Sales
The greatest shame for a roofing salesman is putting on a new roof and the neighbors not knowing who did it because you didn’t leave any fingerprints.
I can think of very few instances when you shouldn’t at least have your roofing sign in the front yard while the new roof is going up.
Even in the few instances when you might be tempted to skip the sign, what you give up is far more valuable than what you gain from roofing in stealth mode.
You want the neighbors, friends and family to convict you of getting things done, working hard for your clients, and taking care of business. Guilty as charged!
Put your proof out there. Touch everything… inviting people who discover your fingerprints to connect with you. Resist the urge to go into stealth mode. Build your relationship equity.
We Are Connected
Humans were created to be connected.
If you’re reading these words right now, we’re connected. I wrote them. You read them. We’re connected.
Chances are we’d have a lot in common and could find more than a few things to talk about when we meet in person.
Actually, while I’m thinking about it, go ahead and Like us on Facebook.
My original intention for this website was to give back to the roofing business that has been so good to me through the years. What I didn’t realize was how many new relationships would develop from all over the country.
You guys email, call and message me just to stay in touch… and that’s cool! You tell me when you’re struggling. You tell me when you land the big sale. We solve problems together.
I’m not even sure how we initially connected, but the relationship equity is extremely valuable to me. You trust me because I have taken this relationship seriously.
Some of you have been reading the Roofing Salesman website for several years and I haven’t broken your trust yet. Thank you!
Relationship Equity Selling
Connections are based on trust.
Fingerprints are invitations to connect.
So, your job is to leave Trusted Fingerprints.
Instead of starting each sale from scratch, give your prospects a clue that they can and should trust you. Give them an obvious foundation to build on that clearly signals your long-term intentions.
Here’s a short story to illustrate my point of signaling your long-term intentions…
While walking through the lobby of the Las Vegas casino where his company is holding their annual meeting, a below-average looking, severely overweight, balding, mid-level executive is aggressively approached by an attractive, provocatively dressed woman at least twenty years younger. She whispers in his ear…
I’ll let you imagine what she whispers.
Do you think she’s whispering about a trusted, long-term relationship?
That “wham-bam-thank-you-m’aam” kind of thinking has reached epidemic proportions in some corners of the residential roofing business. For too many, roofing sales has become more transactional than relational. Transactional salespeople are like crack rabbits scavenging for their next high.
Prospects, like the rest of us, are good at picking out the prostitutes.
They know what they dress like, how they talk, the promises they make, how much they charge, where they’re likely to work.
Here’s the bottom line…
“You may not be a roofing sales slut, but when you focus on creating income instead of creating relationships, you feel like a prostitute to your prospect.”
Build Sales Trust
We usually stay connected to relationships where there’s trust. If the connection lasts long enough, that trust becomes stronger.
Similarly, we distance ourselves from people we don’t trust… or those who break our trust. The more you break trust, the deeper the disconnect.
Relationship equity based on trust leads to an increase in business.
When a homeowner and a roofing salesman have developed a trusting relationship, it is almost impossible to steal that business away.
Imagine how hard it is to sell a new roof to a guy who has used the same roofing company for the last ten years. He knows his salesman by name. They send each other Christmas cards. When they sold their last home, the roofing salesman came out and inspected their roof for free.
The more you think about, the more you realize that you’re wasting your time knocking on that guy’s door. There’s relationship equity there based on trust and you’re probably not going to break it.
Build Relationship Equity
Makes you wonder why more roofing salespeople don’t build relationship equity.
Why do they spend all of their time thinking about how to make their next dollar instead of figuring out how to make their next connection?
I know what you’re thinking… most roofing salespeople don’t stay in the business (or in town) long enough to take care of the same customer for more than two years… much less ten years… and yet they’re still offering “lifetime warranties.”
That’s too bad because it is costing them a lot of money in the long-term and giving guys like me another chance to leave trusted fingerprints, make a connection, and build relationship equity.
Peace,
Mike
P.S. I would love for you to subscribe to the 101 Sales Tips newsletter now because I would like to know more about you and your company.
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