Perfect “Elevator Pitch”

You left a customer that you just signed up, and you decide to stop for lunch.

While you’re in the restaurant, waiting for a table, you make small talk with someone.

He turns to you and says, “So, what do you do for a living?”

Do you freeze? Do you know what to say?

Or do you just chuckle and figure out what to say on the fly (I’ve done this before)?

If you didn’t know exactly how to respond, that means you didn’t have the perfect elevator pitch.

And when you miss that opportunity, literally sitting next to a job in a neighborhood that’s familiar to people, these everyday interactions can very easily become sales. They can become customers.

In fact, some of the funniest things in door-to-door roofing sales — or in direct sales in general — are the facts that:

• We’re going out to people’s homes.
• They don’t know us.
• We show up, and we’re the ones initiating contact.

So, with these real-world opportunities, these mundane conversations people start with us:

• That whole trust dynamic changes.
• We engage in a delightful way.
• They like us, and we end up getting the business.

And this is topic inspired by comments I’ve seen on my YouTube videos and some Instagram posts, as well as emails, where people have said:

Hey, I really need help with my elevator pitch. People ask me what I do for a living, and I just don’t know how to respond.

So, my mission is to break down a really simple three-part formula for you, so:

1. You can perfect your elevator pitch. 
2. The next time someone asks you, “What do you do?” in the real world, you can convert this mundane opportunity into a really awesome sales opportunity.

By the way, thanks for joining me and welcome or welcome back. My name is Adam Bensman, The Roof Strategist. Everything I do here — and on my YouTube channel 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.

Now, let’s get to your elevator pitch and the perfect framework.

The Perfect Framework for Your Elevator Pitch

This formula for the perfect elevator pitch is super, super simple — it covers the:

1. Who
2. What
3. Why

So, I’m going to:

• Break down what this means
• Share some examples with you, so you can stitch together the perfect elevator pitch to suit your market.

Now, let’s dig into the who, what, and why of your perfect elevator pitch.

How to Create Your Perfect Elevator Pitch: The Who

Another way to think of the “who” is to consider your ideal customer. Who’s the perfect customer for you?

Now, I know you might be thinking, Well, if they have a house, they’re the perfect customer. But that’s really not specific enough because you could say that your ideal customers are:

• Property owners
• Homeowners
• Commercial building owners
• The owners of apartments or multi-family properties

The point is that your ideal customer can be a subset of different categories of people.

Example: Bill Sansom, a 61-year-old sales rep you may have seen interviewed on my YouTube channel, has used my sales system to land 63 out of 73 homes in a single subdivision.

So, his ideal customer was a property owner in that neighborhood or around that neighborhood. That’s because he’s already been there and everybody in that neighborhood knows him.

Consequently, if he starts to name drop and say something like, “Hey, I help customers in the XYZ subdivision,” then they’re say, “Oh, hey, I live there or around there!” it’s going to speak to those customers in a really deep way.

That’s why we really want to call out that ideal customer.

When we describe our ideal customer and the customer hears it, they feel like you just described them. That’s SUPER personal, powerful stuff.

How to Create Your Perfect Elevator Pitch: The What

Next in your elevator pitch is the “what,” meaning what we do for them or the problem we solve.

Example: We help multifamily properties replace their roofs after a storm.

Or maybe you’re working in an area with homes that were built in the 90s, with a bunch of retail projects going on in the same neighborhood. In that case, here’s an example of what you could say.

Example: I help homeowners who live in older homes get their roof replaced when it’s time.

Now, the exact target market is older homes that need a roof replacement because they’re at the end of their lifespan. That’s what’s driving business your way.

Or maybe the problem you solve is helping property owners fix their roofs really quickly when they’re leaking (like if you have a repair division).

So, my point is that you can pick out little details, depending on whether you’re:

• Serving customers in the XYZ subdivision
• Working with four churches in the same general vicinity
• Working retail in a subdivision

Whatever the case is, you can tailor your elevator pitch to fit that ideal customer.

So, quick recap, we have our:

Ideal customer ( the “who”)   —>   Multi-family properties (or other properties)

Problem we solve (the “what”)  —>  Replace the roof after a storm (or replace an older roof, etc.)

How to Create Your Perfect Elevator Pitch: The Why

Now, it’s time to explain the “why” of it all — Why do we do what we do?

In the sales world, I like to think of this as, “without.” This example highlights what I mean by that.

Example: I want to go buy a new car WITHOUT the hassle of dealing with a used car salesperson, going through the negotiating process, and then fighting off a million attempts to upsell me when I’m sitting with the finance guy.

That “without” is the PAIN people deal with now. In roofing sales, that pain usually involves:

• The insurance process, the insurance company, or dealing with shady contractors on the storm side
• The hard sale, in-home sales presentations, pushy sales tactics, or unreliable contractors on the retail side

So, when we know the pains of the roofing industry, we can then say something like:

I help people just like YOU solve this EXACT problem that you might be facing WITHOUT the traditional headaches that everybody complains about.

That flows really nicely.

The Perfect Elevator Pitch in Roofing Sales: How to Put It All Together

Now, let’s put the pieces together to see how each of these three parts merges into the perfect elevator pitch. Here are a couple of examples:

1. Hey, I help property owners in the XYZ neighborhood get their roof replaced after a big storm without dealing with the insurance company, shady contractors, or having to come out of pocket with extra money.
2. I help private property owners get leaky roofs fixed really fast without overpriced bids or having to wait for someone to call you back.

You can see how easy it is — you’re simply explaining the who, the what, and the why. And when you practice this just a few times:

• You’re going to be an absolute pro.
• You’re going to have that elevator pitch nailed perfectly in a format that you can adjust on the fly to match the type of customers that you’re working with at that very instant.

So, there you have it — a short, punchy way to help you ACE your elevator pitch.

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.