One Word to Beat Deductible Eaters in D2D Roofing Sales

This ONE WORD will help you defeat the objection, They’ll eat my deductible.

That can happen when you have another contractor telling the homeowner that they’re going to eat the deductible.

And, even if you’re really seasoned, with many years of sales and roofing experience — and you tell them it’s illegal and fraudulent — you STILL lose deals because the homeowner thinks:

Well, the other guy can do it.

If they’re willing to do it, I don’t care.

Now, this is happening everywhere. In fact, it happened to my neighbors.

So, I’m going to teach you ONE SIMPLE WORD that can defeat this objection FOR GOOD.

If you want more angles of attack for this (or other) roofing sales objections — because we all have different tools in our tool belt and there’s not just one magic way to overcome this objection every single time — I highly recommend that you get your FREE copy of my Pitch Like a Pro roofing sales training video library.

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Also, before we get started, I just want to say a quick welcome or welcome back. My name is Adam Bensman, The Roof Strategist. Everything I do here — and on my YouTube channel and in my all-in-one sales training, sales strategy, and sales system, the Roofing Sales Success Formula & Complete Sales Strategy — is designed to help you and your team smash your income goals and give every customer an amazing experience.

Often, that objection — They’ll eat my deductible — stands in our way.

So, let’s learn how to defeat this deductible objection with ONE MAGIC WORD.

Roofing Sales Mistake: Trying to Explain It Away

First, we want to avoid the mistake of explaining it away all the time. Sometimes, of course, it does make sense to explain it away. In fact, in my sales system, I teach that we’re actually overcoming the deductible and price objection BEFORE we pitch — it’s part of our opener.

So, when we get permission to pitch from the homeowner, we’re using this opportunity to educate and explain it away.

Now, I do know there are times that:

• This may come up at the door before you present.
• The deductible isn’t talked about in your presentations (and if you’re not talking about the deductible, I would encourage you to do so because it does come up).

Instead of explaining it away, we want to ask a question.

The big difference, here, is that we are educating someone when we explain it away. We’re trying to earn their business.

Now, the homeowner’s thinking, Oh, you sell roofs? Of course, you’re going to try to get as much money as you can!

So, we want to instead:

1. Let the homeowner talk themselves into a corner.
2. Get the homeowner to realize, Oh wait, this isn’t the right way I should go about this. It’s not the legal and proper way.
3. Get the homeowner talking, which is why we want to ask a question.

So, what’s the one word that can unlock this for us?

HOW.

It’s that simple. I’m going to show you how right now. Then, I’m going to show you how to make this even more powerful.

Your Roofing Sales Pitch & the Power of “How”

Now, if a homeowner says, “Hey Adam, the other contractor said he’ll eat my deductible,” I can respond with:

How?

Did they explain to you HOW they were going to eat your deductible?

Guess what they’ll say?

NO — their answer will be, “no” or “they just said they could.”

That’s when you can respond with:

I’m really sorry, Mr. Homeowner, they didn’t explain to you how they were going to eat your deductible.

With these two elements — being a little perplexed and concerned — that homeowner now senses your concern.

So, instead of you being like, “WHOA, that’s illegal! You can’t do that!” you just simply say:

Huh, did they explain how?

Here’s what tends to happen next:

Well, no, not really, they say.

Well, can I explain it to you and show you how they’re going to eat your deductible? I ask.

Yeah, absolutely, says the homeowner.

That’s when I:

1. Get out my pen and a pad of paper
2. Sketch this out for them, so they can really see it.

How to Use ‘How’ to Overcome this D2D Objection: Roofing Sales Roleplay

Now, let’s shift into some roleplay, with the longer version of this, so you can pick and choose the parts that make sense to you and use them in the home.

Sometimes, you can do a short, fast version of this; other times, you’re going to have to slow down. Either way, you can customize this.

Here’s exactly how I do it in the house. As soon as the homeowner tells me, “They didn’t explain how. They just said they’d eat the deductible,” I say something like this:

Mr. Homeowner, I’m going to show you HOW they eat your deductible.

First, may I ask what your deductible is?

“It’s $1,000,” they’ll say. Then, I say:

Okay, great, Mr. Homeowner.

This deductible is a contractual obligation between you and the insurance company.

I have NOTHING to do with it (Note how I’m distancing myself from the deductible here).

So, Mr. Homeowner, I want you to think of this deductible like a copay for surgery.

Let’s say you needed knee surgery, and they expect it to cost $30,000.

Then, once the surgeons get in there, they realize they can’t do the procedure they thought they could. It’s a little more complicated.

Instead, the procedure you need will cost $60,000.

Now, what changes with your copay?

“Nothing. It’s still $1,000,” they say.

EXACTLY.

On the other hand, let’s say the surgery only ends up costing $25,000, instead of $30,000.

Do they write you a check for that $5,000 they saved?

“No,” says the homeowner. So, I continue with:

Your contribution remains what?

The $1,000 copay, right?

Roofing Sales Roleplay: How to Transition from Copays to Deductibles

Now, we can easily move from the surgery and copay analogy to roofing sales and deductibles.

Here’s what we say next, after a homeowner acknowledges that their copay won’t change, no matter what a hypothetical surgery costs them:

Well, it’s the same for your roof. It’s YOUR DEDUCTIBLE, whether someone does your roof for more or less.

Now, the insurance company is NOT going to pay the full price for the roof upfront.

They give you what we call our “used car prices.”

So, assuming your roof is about halfway through its lifespan, the insurance company is going to pay you the actual cash value — meaning what the roof is worth today.

They’re going to pay you like $9,000.

Now, that leaves $10,000 on the table, assuming the roof costs $20,000.

After all, if the insurance company is giving you this first payment and you owe my deductible, which is the deposit in most places (generally but check your state laws), we end up invoicing the insurance company after the work is finished, saying “Hey, Insurance Company, we did everything for $20,000.”

Then, they go ahead and release the final check for $10,000.

Now, here’s what happens with that roofer who said they’d eat the deductible.

What they’re REALLY doing — and what they do NOT explain to you — is they’re going behind your back to the insurance company and telling them that they did the roof for $20,000 while telling you that the roof cost less, like $17,000 or $18,000 (or whatever).

So, Mr. Homeowner, what that contractor has done is put you in a position to be a willing participant in INSURANCE FRAUD.

Now, I like you, and I want to earn your business.

BUT I don’t want it enough to become your cellmate.

And I can’t imagine you’d want to be wrapped up in insurance fraud. Would you want that?

“NO,” they say. Then, I respond with:

So, HOW do you feel about a roofer who’s willing to do that behind your back?

Do you notice how I use the word “how” again here?

Actually, I used 2 key how questions:

1. Did they explain HOW they were going to do that?
2. HOW do you feel about a company that’s willing to do that behind your back?

So, there you have it. This works because you sketch it out and explain how this whole process works.

2 Bonus D2D Roofing Sales Tips: Use Scopes to Back Up Your Points

Now, here are two more powerful pieces of information that can help you:

1. Grab a scope from Nationwide: Now, language and scopes do evolve with time, and they may not be exactly the same from year to year. Still, that scope has language calling out the fact that providing false or misleading information to an insurance carrier for the purpose of defrauding them IS punishable by a financial penalty, imprisonment, loss of insurance, and more. SCARY language.
2. Grab a scope with “lowest estimate” language: Many scopes, like the ones from the company with a red logo, have some language on their cover page that says something like, “We will pay off the lowest estimate.” Point that out to the homeowner, saying “Mr. Homeowner, here’s what this means. If this became an $18,000 roof, the insurance company is not going to say, ‘Oh, well, you got it done cheaper, so you, the policyholder, get to save the money.’ No. Instead, they really mean, ‘Hey, if we find someone to do it cheaper, your contribution doesn’t change because that’s your deductible.’”

So, those two scopes can be very helpful to:

• Keep on-hand
• Show to homeowners
• Use as you communicate these points
• Really drive your points home, making them even more effective in overcoming this deductible eater objection whenever you hear it in the future.

Recap: One Word to Overcome the Deductible Eaters Objection in D2D Roofing Sales

Now, when you hear a homeowner object with something like, “Well, the other roofer will eat the deductible,” you know what to say.

The one simple word that can be game-changing here is HOW.

And there are two key “how” questions to ask.

1. Sounding a little perplexed and concerned, first ask “Did the other contractor explain HOW they were going to do that for you?” When the answer is “no, we don’t know,” we educate them and explain the fraud. We showcase examples and written language from the insurance carriers. Once we do that, we can ask the second how question.
2. “HOW do you feel about a company that’s willing to do that to you — involve you in insurance fraud — behind your back?”

There are pretty good chances that:

1. They’re not going to feel very good about it.
2. They’re going to kick down your door to do business with you.

Get More Roofing Sales Strategies, Scripts, Tips & Videos

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

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

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