New to Roofing Sales? How to Make Your FIRST Roofing Sale

Hey, Adam, here at The Roof Strategist. Today, we’re talking about how to make your first sale.

I help salespeople and sales teams reach peak performance, have fun doing it, and most importantly, smash their income goals.

So, if you’re new to roofing sales and want to make your first sale in the industry, I’m going to teach you 3 tips that can help you make that first roofing sale.

Roofing Sales Tip #1: Don’t Let a Lack of Knowledge Hold You Back

I have a short story to share — I’m going to use myself as an example.

Example: I came into the roofing sales industry with a background in natural medicine and massage therapy. I was making $19,000 a year living below the poverty line. I had to ask my mother for gas to fill my truck to go visit my family for the holidays. It was not a good spot to be in.

Then, it came into the roofing sales industry, and I had to develop into a new person — a new person who reached a new level of success.

For any of us to do that, we literally have to become a new person. We have to do things we’ve never done before. We have to develop new skills that we haven’t developed before.

So, you cannot let this thought — I don’t know enough — hold you back because no one’s going to hand it to you.

This stuff does NOT come easy. No one in this industry just falls into it and makes $1 million like that. It’s not easy work. You have to hustle and put in the work and develop these new skills.

How to Develop Your Roofing Sales Skills

Find the resources you need to develop the skills that will make you more sales. If you think you’re being held back by a lack of industry knowledge because you don’t know much about roofing, hop on YouTube. Take a look at stuff like:

• How does a roofing system work?
• What are the basics of a shingle roof?

This stuff is everywhere. And if the sales aspect is standing in your way, check out my roofing sales videos and my other roofing sales blogs. In those, I share game-changing strategies on:

• Pitching
• Cold calling
• How to pitch to overcome rejection
• The essentials of direct mail
• And a whole lot more

So, you cannot let that lack of industry knowledge hold you back.

Also, keep this in mind. I have witnessed time and time again a brand-new salesperson outselling someone who’s been in the industry for 20 or 30 years and knows everything there is to know about installing a roof.

Why?

Because they are hungry. Think of it this way…

Example: Say there’s a roofer in a Toyota Prius. One homeowner may think, What in the heck is that roofer doing in a Prius?!? And he kicks the roofer off his porch.

Then, a neighbor or someone down the street will see the same guy in a Prius and think, Hey, I love that this roofer is environmentally conscious. That’s my roofer.

My point? There’s a pot for every lid. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you look like, whether you’re just out of prison, or whether you have a college degree, you will be judged based on how you treat people.

It is that simple.

So, if you don’t know what you don’t know, that’s okay. You can learn it. It’ll come with time.

Roofing Sales Tip #2: Learn to Be OK Hearing ‘No’

It’s not personal. People aren’t judging you for who you are. They’re not judging your character. Rejection is part of sales — period.

It doesn’t matter how amazing you are. You could show up at someone’s house with a lot of cash. And there are still people who aren’t going to be happy about who you are or how you’re treating people.

It’s just how it goes, so don’t take it personally. Use it as an opportunity to develop your thick skin. Again, take me for example…

Example: Before I got into this business, I had very thin skin. I was sensitive. I didn’t deal with rejection well. It was a skill I learned.

I remember vividly driving up to a house, and for some reason, the size of the home intimidated me. Of course, the house had nothing to do with the character of the person in there. But this house, this monstrous freaking home, I remember the fear of coming up as I pulled up.

And I had to muster up courage. I told myself, Adam, you got this. Let’s go knock on the door. Let’s go see what happens.

I was going through this whole rigmarole just to go out and knock on the door. And the funny thing is that, sometimes, we do that, and no one’s even home.

So, get out of your head. Don’t let that stuff bog you down. Don’t let it get to you.

You need to get out and go do it.

Roofing Sales Tip #3: Be Relentless & Hyper Focus on Sales

Getting good at roofing sales is like developing a muscle. It gets easier with time. Eventually, you won’t need to sit there and muster up the courage to get out of your truck, knock on a door, and talk to people.

You need to just do it.

Example: I am just getting into trail running, and I remember I used to hate running. The idea of starting the run is daunting. But, after 5 to 10 minutes, I’m warmed up, and I’m like, I got this. Now, every time I’m out there, it’s getting easier. My legs are getting stronger. My cardio is getting stronger.

So, every time we exercise the sales muscle, it will get easier.

If you get out there and think, Oh, it was hard, It’s tough, I don’t like this, well, guess what? You don’t now, but you can learn to.

When you are relentless — when you go out there and you do these things — they get easier in time.

Again, I encourage you to use my referral strategy and other multi-touch approaches, like direct mail. All this stuff is available in my Marketing Battle Pack.

Also, check out my videos on How to Overcome Objections, Canvassing, and more. If you do, all of that will start to get much easier, and you’ll start making sales without having to knock on doors.

That’s really the golden place to be.

Recap: 3 Essential Tips to Help You Make Your First Roofing Sale

Remember, your first sale is the hardest one. Once you make it, the rest get easier — I promise.

So, here’s what you can do to overcome the roadblocks and make that first sale:

1. Don’t let your lack of industry knowledge hold you back from getting out there.
2. Don’t take “no” personally. You have to get comfortable hearing the word “no.” It’s going to happen no matter what.
3. Be relentless and fearless about spending every waking minute of your day out in front of people to make the first sale.

Thanks for coming along on this ride along with me!

Want More Roofing Sales Strategies, Tips & Videos?

Subscribe for the latest roofing sales training videos. They will help you develop the skills you need to start making sales — whether it’s canvassing, pitching, getting more inspections, or learning how to overcome rejection. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to helping you smash your income goals.

And don’t forget to check out my:

• Pitch Like a Pro roofing sales training video library: It gives you free, instant access to all the videos I’ve ever done, and they’re organized by category.
• Marketing Battle Pack: Get tons of great downloadable, easy-to-use materials plus a playlist of videos to support everything that’s in there.

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