3 Keys to Ace Your Pitch in Roofing Sales

I’m going to teach you the three keys to ACE your pitch in roofing sales.

I’ll share the journey I went through because, truthfully, I only focused on the first one of these three keys.

The other two evolved over time when I started to focus on studying and mastering the craft so to speak.

This is going to be applicative whether you’re brand new to the business or you’ve got 20 years of roofing sales experience under your belt.

I’m hoping each of you will grab one or two golden nuggets to start using right away on your very next sale, so you can connect on a deeper level and truly ACE your pitch.

Do I Really Need 3 Keys to Improve My Roofing Sales Pitch?

Before we get started, I want to be clear about one thing.

I don’t really believe there’s such a thing as mastery in sales.

I say that because when we practice something, we don’t ever reach this level of proficiency where we think, Ok, I’m good enough. And this goes for any professional athletes, too, whether they’re in the NFL, the Olympics, or whatever.

You see these world records broken over and over again. And these athletes practice using the latest and greatest technology, learnings, and discoveries. They practice over and over and over and over again.

And one of the biggest mistakes that salespeople make is saying to themselves:

Hey, I’m good enough. So, I don’t need to practice. I can just show up in the real world.

When we’re selling and we just show up in the real world, this is the most high-stakes situation we can be in because when we lose or mess up:

• We’re playing with our income.
• We’re messing with our customers’ experience.

So, we want to use role play and our day-to-day life encounters, like when we’re shopping at the grocery store or dealing with customer service people. It’s a really fun way to engage people and practice these skills in a low-stakes, but still real-world, environment. It simply works.

Welcome or welcome back, by the way. My name is Adam Bensman, The Roof Strategist. Everything I do here — and on my YouTube channel, Instagram, and my podcast (on Apple and Spotify) — is designed to help you and your team smash your income goals and give every customer an amazing experience.

And my mission is to help you have tiny breakthroughs that result in really MASSIVE growth by giving you the resources I wish I had when I got into roofing sales, earning $1,600 a month before going all in, being broke, and making it happen. So, I’m really glad to have you here.

Now, let’s dive into the three keys you can use to ACE in your roofing sales pitch. I’m going to break these elements down in the order that’s going to help you fast-track this experience.

Key #1 to Acing Your Roofing Sales Pitch: The Verbal Part

Everyone focuses on the verbal when they’re pitching. We all want that talk track that works, the PERFECT script, so:

• We know exactly what to say at the door.
• We can stay quick on our feet and effectively navigate whatever the customer throws at us.

I have a few formulas for this verbal part:

1. The SLAP Formula for pitching at the door: Say, “hi,” and Let them know why you’re there. Then, Ask an open-ended question and Present to their answer.
2. The ARO Formula for objection handling: Acknowledge the concern, Reassure the homeowner, and then Overcome the objection.
3. The Car Park Formula for closing: This makes closing natural and easy, so you don’t have to memorize roofing sales scripts.

All of these are in my all-in-one roofing sales training, sales strategy, and sales system called the Roofing Sales Success Formula.

Acing Your Roofing Sales Pitch: Why the Verbal Part First?

What you say, the verbal aspect of your pitch, is where everyone wants to start. What’s funny about this, however, is that:

• Only 10 to 30% of human communication is verbal, meaning the words we literally speak
• 70 to 90% of communication falls into one of two other categories — tonality or body language (and I’m going to break those down here shortly).

Again, the first place to start is with the verbal part, and I believe it’s critical to learn and go through this in the right order. First, you have to learn what to say, regardless of whether you’re using your stuff, my stuff, a combo, or whatever.

And for the language part, I don’t teach word-for-word roofing sales scripts. Instead, I teach formulas because they’re more fluid. In fact, formulas for roofing sales scripts and pitches can be adapted on the fly to:

• Engage and match the customer
• Meet the specific needs of the situation
• Blend with your unique style, flair, and personality
• Fit local culture

These formulas can also help you knock down the right dominoes in the right order so that you get the sale.

Look, SO many people fall into this business because they’re “good with people.” They’re natural conversationalists, and they make friends easily. BUT those same people:

• Often talk themselves out of sales
• Aren’t always able to talk their way into a sale

By the way:

• I’m guilty of both: When I got into roofing sales, I interacted with people really well, but I could NOT close deals. That’s why it’s so crucial to have the right verbal track, script, or formula.
• I’m not really a word-for-word script guy: I believe in formulas because there are so many different scenarios we need to be ready to pitch to. On the storm side, there are seven. In retail roofing sales, there are four. So, having a word-for-word script just doesn’t apply in the real world. That’s why I teach these formulas.

So, we first have to start with the verbal and ACE what we’re going to say at three key points, specifically when we are:

1. Presenting at the door: This is where you use the SLAP Formula.
2. Handling objections: When objections arise, use the ARO Formula.
3. Presenting at closing: To help you close, use the Car Park Formula.

When we have those fundamentals down, we then move on to tonality.

Key #2 to Acing Your Roofing Sales Pitch: Tonality

Tonality comes before body language when you’re working on acing your roofing sales pitch. Why? Because the tone in which we speak will greatly impact:

• The message and how it’s received
• How the story feels

After all, our number one mission in roofing sales is to:

• Make our customers feel heard and understood
• Guide them to take the action that we know in our heart is best for them.

Now, I want to pause and ask you a couple of questions:

• Do you believe in your heart of hearts that YOU are the BEST choice for that customer to work with?
• Are you someone who cares about them, who’s going to do the right thing, and who’s going to stand behind their work?

YES, is what I’m hoping you’re saying right now. And if you did answer, “yes,” it now becomes your ethical duty and responsibility to communicate clearly in order to win the business.

And tonality changes feelings like you wouldn’t believe.

Example: Think about how tonality shifts in the different TV shows. The other day, my wife, Sheena, and I were watching The First 48 (we love the true crime stuff). The narrator of that show talks very slowly, with a super heavy cadence. That gives the show a very somber tonality, which is fitting because they’re talking about murder.

Meanwhile, if you jump over to cartoons, every character talks in a weird voice that’s typically happy, playful, and funny. Now, if you read the script word for word, there’s not much emotion behind it. But all that changes when it’s supercharged with the tonality.

When we learn to play with our tonality:

• We can use intonations.
• We can change our cadence.
• We can change the way our voice sounds.

All of that will change the meaning and how our message is heard and understood by our customer (or, hopefully, our soon-to-be customer).

So, by playing with tonality and using pauses, you’re going to draw people in.

And you’re going to be effective at transitioning from excitement and making people feel heard and understood to showing you’re an authority who can explain exactly what to do and how it’s going to go.

Again, everything can change just by changing our tone.

Key #3 to Acing Your Roofing Sales Pitch: Body Language

We lose this body language element if we’re not selling in person.

Example: If you’re reading this blog or tuning into the Podcast to listen, instead of watching the video version, you can’t see what my hands are doing. You get my words with the blog and my tonality with the podcast, but you miss my body language with both.

That’s why you need to focus on the first two parts — what you say (the verbal part) and how you say it (tonality) — to build the fundamentals. After all, if you’re ever selling or following up with customers over the phone, tonality is going to be FAR more valuable than body language.

And to be honest with you, I didn’t go through this in the right order at the get-go. I started on the verbal part, went on to body language, and finished with tonality.

Why?

Because I didn’t really understand how significant tonality is (remember, tonality and body language cover about 70 to 90% of our communication, depending on the study you reference).

So, body language will impact how your customer feels about connecting with you. And a lot of this has to do with your gestures.

Now, I’m going to put myself in the hot seat and go back to some of my older videos. I’ve come a long way since then, and my style has evolved through repetition. In my older videos, I usually had a very straight face. As gained a little more confidence, I had more energy on camera and looked a little spastic.

Ultimately, though, what comes across as confident is communicating clearly. And you communicate with body language by:

• Having your hands in the right position
• Blading your stance to be non-threatening
• Using facial cues, like eyebrow flashes and chin raises, meaning you’re lifting your head up
• Using these sweeping palm gestures to show you know what’s going on (instead of coming across like a spastic squirrel)

As you communicate with people, you’ll notice how people who are calm and confident:

• Use these big, sweeping gestures
• Keep their hands clearly visible
• Don’t fidget with their hands

On the other hand, watch the squirrelly people. They just don’t seem trustworthy, and that’s often apparent in their body language.

So, when we become more aware of how people perceive us, we then have more control over the messages we send.

Recap: 3 Keys to Ace Your Roofing Sales Pitch

At the end of the day, the three keys we need to nail any pitch in roofing sales are:

1. Our verbal messages
2. Our tonality
3. Our body language

Those elements all come together to signal our customers and let them know that:

• This person, the roofing sales rep, is trustworthy and confident.
• The rep is listening to them and guiding them with authority and expertise.

So, I recommend that you practice these three keys in this order and play with tonality and body language in your daily life, like when you’re:

• Talking to a server
• Dealing with a customer service issue
• Checking out with your groceries

Simply acknowledge people by name and just see how quickly you can get them to soften and have a conversation with you. That’s how I practice day to day, and I especially love doing it when I’m waiting in line at the grocery store and the clerk is in a really grumpy mood. I just go in there and think:

I want to see if I can make them smile (To me, that’s the number one sales skill).

How do I just completely transform this person’s experience by the radiant energy that I can give them and make them feel heard and understood?

Even just saying their name and acknowledging the situation can be powerful. Like this:

John, man, that last person!

I’m sorry they gave you such a hard time, man.

I hope you have a better experience working with me.

Then, give a little smile and an eyebrow flash. All these little times that you practice, they mean nothing in the moment, BUT they can help you begin to master your tonality and your body language (remember, I use the term “mastery” loosely).

If you want to dive deeper into any of the topics we’ve covered here, I invite you to binge on my playlists on body language and tonality, objection handling, pitching, and closing. Or check out my programs and resources (below).

Get More Roofing Sales Strategies, Scripts, Tips & Videos

If you want more on any topic in roofing sales, you’ll find it in my all-in-one sales training, sales strategy, and sales system, the Roofing Sales Success Formula & Complete Sales Strategy.

This exclusive program covers everything from knock to close, with packages for individual roofing sales reps and entire teams. Many roofing sales companies LOVE this program because it’s a consistent process to train everybody on a relatable sales system that WORKS and that’s a lightning-fast way to get results.

If you have questions, just call or text (303) 222-7133 for more info or a private demo.

You can also subscribe for the latest roofing sales training videos and/or get a copy of my Pitch Like a Pro roofing sales training video library. It includes every roofing sales video I’ve ever done, organized by category, along with a bunch of tips, tricks, and more. It’s great for new people and seasoned veterans, and it’s updated all the time to help you and your team smash your income goals and give every customer an amazing experience.

And don’t forget to check out my Marketing Battle Pack for instant access to 70+ pieces of my proven, turnkey roofing sales and marketing materials. It’s an entire suite, specially designed for sales teams, managers, and owners, providing:

It’s affordably priced and comes with a 100% money-back guarantee. There’s also a playlist of instructional videos in there, explaining every single thing. So, you can watch the videos, and you’ll know exactly what to do.

Thanks for joining me, and I look forward to sharing more with you in the next blog.