How to Make Killer Money Selling Roofs WITHOUT “Hustling”

Hey, Adam, here at The Roof Strategist. Today, we are going to talk about how to make killer money selling roofs without hustling.

Now, before we jump in, this is going to be a high-intensity, high-value blog that will change how you look at your sales career for the rest of your life. I guarantee it.

Have You Been Told You Need to Hustle in Roofing Sales?

First, let’s start with a question. How many times have you heard this?

To make good money, you need to hustle. You need to work hard. You need to put in the hours, and you need to grind it out.

Sound familiar?

The chances are you’ve heard it. Maybe one of the big industry players taught you that this is how you need to approach sales.

I’m about to tell you that’s absolute BS.

In fact, I’m going to go so far as to say that, if you hustle, you’re going to hustle your way into earning less money and being worth a lot less as a person.

Through this blog, I’m going to show you how to apply certain principles and approach your sales career in a very specific way. It’s going to change your work, your personal life, your time with family, your hobbies — everything. I guarantee it because I made all these mistakes, and you’re going to learn from them right now.

So, let’s talk about hustling.

What Is Hustling?

Hustling is doing what everyone teaches you in sales. Grind it out, work harder, pound more doors, say “yes” to every opportunity, right? Close the deal. ABC — always be closing.

All this is dated sales garbage that was designed and developed in the 70s and 80s in war-room-style training systems so that companies could profit off of salespeople.

It is your job as a salesperson to think about who you are.

First, you are selling for one specific reason. It’s not because you like the company (sorry, owners). You need to think of this when you think about presenting the opportunity to any salesperson that works for you. Because the only thing that that salesperson — or you, Mr. Salesperson — cares about is your own income.

It’s not about selling roofs and making people happy. Yes, that is the outcome. Don’t get me wrong. I’m absolutely dedicated to developing great relationships with my customers, making them happy, and doing the right thing in building really fun relationships.

Ultimately, though, at the end of the day, it’s all about the right business opportunity to earn a good living. So, the hustle of working hard all the time doesn’t work.

I’m going to show you an exact example.

What You Can Learn from My Mistakes Hustling in Roofing Sales

Before I got into roofing sales, I had been earning $20,000 a year. And that’s on average, I was a massage therapist, and I was pretty damn broke. Then, I found out about this roofing sales thing. Go knock on some doors and sell some roofs. I worked a hailstorm made $140,000 over the next 12 months.

Now, if I actually calculate the first tax revenue, it was like $90,000, and the rest of those commissions came in after the calendar year. So, I went from $20,000 to $140,000. That’s a lot of money. To me, it’s not as much as it used to be because I started to work smarter.

Now, when I went from making $20,000 to $140,000, I didn’t even know what to do with myself. My life changed overnight. So, I put pen to paper, and I realized it wasn’t as good as I thought.

Here’s what I realized.

Revenue Shouldn’t Be the Only Goal in Roofing Sales

What’s the number one thing in sales? Producing revenue. When you produce more revenue, you make more money.

What is the best way to produce more revenue? It is to:

1. Spend your time wisely, so you can maximize the profit per job or the volume of sales per week.
2. Do this over and over and over and stay hyper-focused on selling.

Here’s how this breaks down. For this example, we’re going to use $140,000. That income sounds like a lot of money. And it is, but I want to change your thinking.

How Much Are You Really Earning?

At that time, I was working sunup to sundown seven days a week. That’s the hustle. I’d be at it from 6:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. It might even be more than 70 hours because I was working 15-hour days Monday through Friday. That’s 75 hours working every week plus the weekend when I would work about 6 hours each day. So, I was working about 87 hours per week. That’s hustling.

This is not an enjoyable life. I was 30 pounds heavier. I drank a whole lot of beer because that was my stress relief. I didn’t have relationships. I didn’t get the time I wanted with my wife. I was hustling 87 hours a week.

Now, that dialed back a little bit in the offseason. But, at 52 weeks a year, I’d be working about 70 hours a week, on average. And that’s conservative.

That’s 3,640 hours per year. That’s a lot of hours.

When I do the math — divide my income of $140,000 by my 3,640 hours — I’m at $38 an hour. That is not great money.

Is It Worth It?

Now, most sales guys will drop money on anything and everything. Buy a new car, buy a new boat, enjoy a lavish lifestyle because they’re making good money.

Guess what?

What if I challenge you and said, “Maybe you’re not. Maybe you’re working for decent money, but just working really hard for it.”

Why am I throwing this in your face?

I’m throwing it in your face to help you open your eyes to what it means to be a profitable salesperson, to be a smart salesperson, and to actually increase your net worth by taking control of your time.

At $38/hr working full time, you’d be making about $70,000/yr. That is good money. It is. But it is not great money.

Do You Really Want Two Full-Time Jobs?

Working your butt off for $38/hr, you’re essentially working two full-time jobs. Now, I want you to see this example come to life. At $38/hr, it’s actually a salary of about $65,000/yr.

So, you’re essentially getting paid the same rate as someone earning $65,000 a year. There are a lot of other jobs you can do that are easier than roofing sales to get $65,000/yr. Essentially, at 87 hours a week, you can have two of those jobs.

Go have two full-time jobs? No one wants to do that.

If you’re in this position — whether you’re brand new in sales or you’ve already been selling roofs and you’re trying to get smarter and make more money — here’s what I want you to do:

1. Take the total hours that you’ve worked in an average week.
2. Multiply that by 52.
3. Divide that total income by your total working hours to come up with your hourly rate.

When you do that, think about how much more you can squeeze out of each hour of every day. And it’s not about working faster. It’s not about anything other than working smarter and controlling your time.

How to Work Smarter, Not Harder: 4 Tips to Improve Your Roofing Sales Game

Now, when I did $140,000 in a year, I didn’t know diddly. I was focused on the hustle. So, I’m going to show you what I learned and share the BIG time sucks that took me away from producing sales and putting more money in my pocket.

Time Sucks in Roofing Sales: Too Many Trips to a Customer

The first major time suck can be too many trips to a customer. In fact, every job you sell is going to be about five trips. You show up to:

1. Sign the contingency agreement
2. Meet the adjuster
3. Review the scope
4. Be there on production day
5. Collect the final payment

Of course, that’s assuming all goes well in this streamline. That’s five trips. Now, if that customer is an hour away, you are spending 10 hours of your time. That’s 10 hours there and back to your customer for a $2,000 commission, for example, that is a $20/hr sale. That’s not super great money. It’s $20/hr or $40,000/yr.

Do you want to do that? No.

I made that mistake by finding jobs that were an hour away. When I tack on traffic time from going from this town to that town, all of the sudden, I was burning my time and my income.

If I just worked smarter — instead of going to 10 different job sites all over creation in traffic, which came with the bonus of back pain from sitting in my truck all day — and still worked hard, I may be able to shave two hours off per trip.

With just two hours saved, my income is going to amplify. If I shave off three hours, it goes up even more; I’m going to shave off the equivalent of, let’s say, 50 hours a week. So, by working smarter, I’m dropping 37 hours, and that’s damn near a full-time job.

How Time Management Can Increase Your Income in Roofing Sales

Now, before I share my tips for saving time on jobs, I want to show you what happens with the numbers when you do this.

We were at $30/hr before working 87 hrs/week. Now, if we’re saving 37 hours and reducing our work time to 50 hrs/wk, our total hours for the year are going to be 2,600 (50 hours x 52 weeks = 2,600 hours/year). Divide the $140,000 annual income by 2600 hours, and the new hourly rate is $53/hr.

Who’s the more valuable salesperson? Who’s the smarter salesperson? Who is the better salesperson?

The one doing $53/hr, not $38/hr.

The point is to take control of your schedule like it is the breath that keeps you alive. If you sell a job that is an hour-and-a-half away, you cannot think of it as $2,000. It’s not $2,000. It’s a $20/hr job.

To work smarter without hustling, you have to use your head, and you have to think about one thing and one thing only. I’m going to repeat that.

You have to think about one thing and one thing only — time, the clock, your calendar, your schedule.

Every minute of your day should be accounted for and applied to the highest-value part of your business possible. The clock is all that matters. Noon, three, six, and nine — it’s how you use every minute of that day.

Now, here are some tips to help you start thinking this way.

Tip 1: Figure Out Your Hourly Rate

If you’re new in roofing sales, use your previous income to calculate your hourly rate. Let’s say you made $40,000/yr before and you worked 40 hours a week (40 hours X 52 weeks = ~2,000 hours a year total). You’re going to find out that your hourly rates are about $20/hr.

If you’re seasoned in roofing sales, do the same thing. Take your average hours a week multiply that by 52. Then, divide your total income by your total hours to find your hourly rate.

The takeaway: Focus on the hourly rate, not your annual income. Finding smart ways to increase your hourly rate is how you push your income up without having to hustle, put in more hours, and give up your life.

Tip 2: Plan Your Jobs Around Proximity

Sell jobs close together. If you have to drive from this job site to that job site, it is a nightmare. Instead, schedule your day based on drive time.

Drive time is a massive, massive suck. It chews up vehicle miles. I was putting 30,000 to 50,000 miles a year on my truck because I was all over freaking creation.

The takeaway: Cut down on drive time. Plan your day around the shortest routes. That will change everything, and it’ll help you start using your time more wisely.

Tip 3: Block Out the Best Times for Selling vs. Paperwork

What is the best time for you to be selling?

It’s 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. This is selling time.

Nothing should be done in your business other than getting out and meeting with homeowners during this time. Yes, if you’re in a retiree area, that selling time might be in the morning. My point is this. During this block of time, put your blinders on. That’s all you.

When do you want to do the paperwork? In the morning hours. Let’s say between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. This is paperwork time. If you’re going to do your paperwork in the morning, you’re going to do those activities that are required for you to produce those jobs the best that you can to stay organized and get your scopes in, your supplements in, your estimates in, or any paperwork that your company is going to need.

When you focus on your highest-value activities — meeting with homeowners, getting contingency agreements signed, and meeting with adjusters — during the most profitable times of the day, your income rate will skyrocket.

The takeaway: Look at your schedule and find the weak spots. If you have an appointment here and then another appointment across town, do everything in your power to keep them tight to sell jobs in close proximity.

Tip 4: Reduce Driving Time to & from the Supply House

Driving from the supply house to this customer back to the supply house to that customer burns time, and every little bit counts.

If you can hyper-focus and say, “Hey, I got to go to ABC supply,” do it in a way that will help you run that trip for someone else. If you have to drop off a sample board, don’t just drop the sample board off at someone’s house and leave. Go knock on some doors. You’re showing up for production. Hit all the doors in the neighborhood.

Remember, there is a countdown on your day, every day, that is dictating how much money goes in your pocket.

Think of this: That example I used earlier of $140,000 in income involved me working 87 hours a week. Imagine if I work that same 87 hours a week, but I was smarter with the time. That income would skyrocket. It would probably go up to about $180,000 or maybe even $200,000 if I knew then what I know now.

The takeaway: Account for every minute of every day. That way, you can make time for family, fishing, hunting, and hanging out with your friends. This is what makes this job fun. It provides opportunity. If you’re hustling, you will not have an opportunity that’s fulfilling for you to live.

So, here’s what to do next. Share this blog with any salesperson you know whether or not they’re in the roofing sales industry. I want them to see what’s inside because this is the golden ticket to transform the life of any salesperson.

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