Explaining Supplements to Homeowners: How Roof Insurance Claim Supplements Work

How do you explain supplements to homeowners?

After all, when you’re dealing with an insurance claim and you do all this work, the insurance may not pay appropriately.

Then, there’s a supplement. And at the end of the day, either:

• The homeowner doesn’t really know what that supplement is.
• They want to keep the supplement check.
• They don’t understand why you have it or need it.
• They might even think you’re trying to go after their insurance company for more money.

I’ve seen and heard it all.

So, I’m going to teach you:

1. My simple method for explaining supplements
2. How to explain supplements in a way that allows you to lock in more deals and to flip the script

With so many homeowners concerned about their deductible costs, some can think that the supplement is like “free” money. So, instead, I’m going to teach you this method that can get the homeowner to see you as the leading expert and recognize that you are here to keep them safe (more on this shortly).

First, welcome or welcome back. My name is Adam Bensman, The Roof Strategist. And 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 at smash your income goals and give every customer an amazing experience.

And part of that amazing experience is understanding what’s coming next and how this insurance process is going to work. Because if we don’t do this the right way, we risk not collecting money and getting bad views, neither of which we want.

On the other hand, when we do this effectively and explain supplements straight out of the gate — and I’m talking about when we’re picking colors, so they know what to expect — we’re going to have raving fans who give us good reviews and who are happy to send us referrals.

Free Offer First: FREE Roofing Sales Training Video Library

Before we get into supplements, I want to first share a FREE offer with you. If you don’ have it already, get your copy of my Pitch Like a Pro roofing sales training video library. There are thousands of people who’ve downloaded this and sent me amazing feedback, which you can see when you click on that link.

Here’s how it works. You just enter your name and email, and I’ll send you to a website address with a link. That link has the most up-to-date version of my Pitch Like a Pro library because we update it pretty much every other week.

And once you submit your name and email, you’ll have immediate access to binge any category to your heart’s content. It’s a really great, FREE tool you can use at any point. If you enjoy my roofing sales training videos, you’re going to LOVE this.

Now, let’s talk supplements in roofing sales.

Roofing Sales Training: When & Why Explain Supplements?

At the latest, we want to explain supplements when we’re picking colors.

We can also go over supplements when we’re:

1. Picking up the deposit check
2. Signing the contingency agreement

Again, though, at the ABSOLUTE latest, you want to address supplements when picking colors.

And why are we doing this?

We explain supplements to the homeowner, so they actually pay us — and so they’re happy.

Now, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty.

How to Explain Supplements to Homeowners

First, what we need to do when educating the homeowner is break the emotional attachment of money.

And we need to remember that, with homeowners:

• Money is very personal.
• They don’t understand how this whole thing works, how supplements work, or how Xactimate works.
• They see you negotiating with the insurance company, and they can feel like you’re hustling to try to get a few more thousand dollars for yourself. They do NOT understand it.

So, we need to do two things. We need to:

1. Completely break down this emotional attachment: What’s more emotional for you, money or an assessment? Money, right?
2. Focus on the assessment: An assessment is a wholly objective analysis of what’s damaged.

Roofing Sales Script Part 1: How to Start Explaining Supplements to Homeowners

Here’s what we can say to a homeowner when we’re explaining supplements to them:

Peggy, my job here is to not be concerned about the price of your roof.

And I’ll be honest with you. Frankly, I don’t care about the price.

Now, the reason I can say that is that we use a third-party estimating platform. It’s the same one that the insurance companies use. In fact, that’s WHY we use it, and it’s called Xactimate.

And when we use Xactimate, all that they’re concerned about is the material type and the quantity. So, we add the quantity, saying that X amount of your roof shingles are damaged. That measurement will be in squares or per hundred square feet.

Then, we type in a code, like RFG 300, for example, which means nothing to the average person.

And as we assess the damage, it’s not just about the building products that are there, but it’s also about what needs to happen to get that roof installed. It’s very similar to getting your vehicle repaired.

Let’s say, you needed to get some work done on your transmission. Well, there might be other things they need to disconnect or remove before the transmission work can be done — like the engine may need to be taken out or something.

So, to get from point A to point Z with your roof, all those steps along the way must be documented. And my job is to not only properly assess the building products but to also factor in what items are code. That means what building code requires and what the manufacturer requires.

It also includes documenting anything that we may discover along the way that wasn’t documented by the insurance adjuster at the very beginning.

And the reality is that, for most customers, there are items that ARE left off. It may or may not be intentional. And it just so happens that the adjuster is only here one time.

So, our job is to document all this in Xactimate.

And here’s why I say the price means nothing.

The building material type and the quantity are all that matters because, every month, Xactimate controls its fixed pricing model.

It’s a third-party pricing model where that number gets spit out based on material costs and labor costs, which fluctuate monthly — especially right now. Actually, in today’s times, we’re seeing material increases of 7% to 12% per quarter. So, they’re in charge of making sure that everything is handled appropriately.

That’s the first part of breaking the assessment versus price and explaining exactly how it works to homeowners.

Roofing Sales Script Part 2: Storytime

Now, after we’ve explained all that to the homeowner, we’re going to move into telling a story. Here’s what we say next:

Peggy, let me tell you a quick story about this last roof that I installed.

We got into the roof and the insurance company wasn’t originally planning on replacing the ventilation. They said, ‘Hey, you can reuse it. And we’re not paying to remove and replace those vents either. They can be reused.’

Well, the reality is you can’t reuse them. They’re soft metal. They get damaged when you pull things off.

The other thing is they did NOT compensate appropriately for the amount of ice and water shield, which is code to install on the roof. Plus, the ice and water shield has some criteria to keep your home protected — how many inches inside the heated wall and where it should be applied.

And we’d simply documented that on behalf of the homeowner. And that’s what protects you from financial surprises.

Because no one likes financial surprises.

And the truth is that one of the BIGGEST complaints about contractors, besides poor communication and taking too long, is that it costs more than I expected. We do NOT want that to happen. We don’t want surprise bills falling on your shoulders.

So, what we do is prepare a supplement. That means proper documentation, with all the photographic evidence in the exact software that the insurance company needs.

We submit that to them on your behalf and tell them, “Guess what? You missed X, Y, and Z. Here’s all the supporting literature.” And that literature could include code items, photographs, or manufacturer installation paperwork, and that entire packet of evidence gets submitted.

Then, the insurance company says, “Okay.”

By the way, that might require some back and forth from us, but then they may end up compensating that, and it doesn’t change anything for you.

All that ensures that we can give you the best possible roof and everything you deserve without any financial surprises.

Recap: When, Why & How to Explain Supplements in Roofing Sales

Here’s a quick summary of what we did to explain supplements to homeowners:

1. We broke the emotional attachment to money.
2. We focused on assessment, not price, to keep it totally objective, explaining how Xactimate third-party software fits in.
3. We told a story about how this has happened in the past, explaining that it’s incredibly common.
4. We talked about protecting that homeowner from financial surprises.

When you explain the supplement this way, homeowners KNOW it’s coming. And everybody wants to know what to expect.

Now, play along with me here for a second. Are you an Amazon prime member? “Yes,” is what most folks say. And if you’re not, think of the last thing that you ordered online.

Did you check shipping costs? Yeah? Well, that’s my point, especially for my Amazon prime people. You KNOW your order coming in one to two days, and yet, you still check shipping. I just did it the other day.

And the only reason I share that story is to highlight the fact that we want to KNOW what to expect and what’s going to happen next. When am I going to get it? Humans NEED to know what happens next.

Your homeowners are the same. So:

1. When we lay the groundwork right out of the gate, they KNOW that the supplement is coming.
2. If we don’t do that, the supplement is a surprise. They don’t know about it, and they’ll probably create all these stories to try to make sense of it. Humans are funny creatures. If we don’t have a narrative in place to make sense of something, we go ahead and make it up. And if you don’t start that narrative first, your homeowner thinks you’re a slime ball or a greedy sleazeball who’s negotiating with the insurance to try to take the money they deserve.

So, now you know when, why, and how to explain supplements to homeowners in a way that gets them to see you as the expert, that keeps them happy, and that gets you paid!

Get More Roofing Sales Strategies, Tips & Videos

If you want more on supplements, code items, or making sure your insurance claims are covered appropriately, check out 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 presenting to closing. If you have questions, just call or text (303) 222-7133 for more info.

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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.