Solar Sales FAILS (for Roofing Companies Adding Solar)

The cat is OUT of the bag — the new roof with solar sales system has been released!

Yes, I’m talking about solar here, and I want to get into the three solar sales FAILS.

These are the three BIGGEST problems I’ve seen firsthand from:

• Roofing salespeople who are learning to sell solar
• Company owners who have tried to go down that road

Usually, either one of two things happens:

1. They want to get started with solar sales, but they’re overwhelmed, and they don’t really know where to turn.
2. They HAVE already gone down that road, stumbling and struggling and not getting as much traction as they were hoping to get.

Now, I realize that, as I go through these three solar sales fails, some folks will think, Well, that didn’t apply to me! We did that, and we were successful.

I know this happens, and it’s NOT common. So, I really want to get into the three biggest pitfalls that I see, the three reasons people aren’t succeeding when adding solar to their roofing business.

And to those of you who are just selling solar, this does NOT apply to you. This applies to the roofing company that’s just adopted solar or that’s learning to include it as part of their service offerings.

Before we dive in, I first want to say a quick welcome or welcome back. I’m Adam Bensman, The Roof Strategist. Everything I do here is designed to help you and your team smash your income goals and give every customer an amazing experience.

Solar Sales Fails: My First Experience with Solar

It took me MANY years to get into solar, and the reason for that (which I shared in my What’s New in 2023 video) is that my very own mother got taken advantage of on a solar deal.

Here’s the short version.

The company that sold my mom the system made all these GRAND promises that didn’t come true. She had two hailstorms in one year, and the second time they put that system on, it didn’t work anymore. So:

• There were 70 holes in her brand-new roof.
• The panels had to be removed, leaving 70 holes in her roof.
• She had been paying for her solar system, which produced zero electricity, on top of paying her electric bill.
• She’s been roped into this massively long-term commitment, paying for both even though the solar system isn’t working, all while dealing with legal battles AND having to replace her roof out of pocket.

She was completely taken advantage of with that sale.

And I sat through some solar sales presentations, and I really didn’t like the way that they made me feel. In fact:

• I didn’t think that they were super truthful.
• I felt that they were a little kitschy.

That’s why I REALLY resisted solar until recently when I realized that the main problem is the “AND” — in other words, it needs to be roof AND solar.

Now, from my experience and observation, here’s the reality of the situation:

The MOST successful roofing companies with solar are using a “with” model, meaning roof WITH solar.

That inspired my Roof with Solar Sales System, which I developed with my partner, Cody, over the past year or so. In fact, we have done some pilot tests with roofing companies across America, working with members of the Pitch Pro Movement.

Now, it’s available, and you can click HERE or text the word “DEMO” to (303) 222-7133 to learn more.

So, it does NOT matter whether or not:

• You decide to sell solar.
• You’re successfully selling solar now.

What I’m sharing here has been designed to HELP you bypass a LOT of the mistakes and learning curves in roof with solar sales.

Now, let’s get to it (in no particular order).

Solar in Roofing Sales FAIL #1: Confusion

This confusion is in the mind of the homeowner, and the reality is that:

• The solar sale is a bit more complex than the roof sale.
• If I talk about roof with solar and doing all of this work too soon with homeowners, they’re just going to get fearful and see dollar signs without understanding the mechanisms of why it’s so affordable, why the investment makes sense, and where the ROI is calculated.

In fact, homeowners usually think roof and solar are wildly expensive and:

• They don’t understand the tax credit.
• They don’t understand the solar financing vessels and how the roof with solar combo can often, especially on the retail side, make it cheaper than just the roof alone.

And when we compare the roof on certain financing vessels (plus their utility bill) to a roof with solar combo, more often than not, when financed, the retail roof versus roof with solar becomes the same price or even CHEAPER by up to a few hundred dollars a month.

Again, this is factoring in the roof with the electric bill versus the roof with solar financed. By doing that, the homeowner now sees that:

• This is a higher value that saves them money.
• It’s the best time to do solar.

That means you get to turn what is, on average, a $20,000 roof into a $60,000 ticket value (the average solar system is roughly $40,000 for this conversation).

Now, this is all about how we time that ask to sell the system — and many people get that wrong. In fact, one of the roofing companies I trained on solar brought this up, pointing out how reps simply don’t know when to bring up solar.

In fact, some reps lead with it, and that leads to confusion, overwhelming the homeowners and instantly triggering these cornered cat-like objections, with homeowners saying stuff like:

• That’s way too much money.
• Why would I do solar? I don’t understand.
• You guys are a roofing company or a solar company?

And there’s a saying in sales — when you confuse, you lose.

Many companies ARE adopting solar, trying to get in as much as possible to make those sales. It’s a new thing we can sell with really big commissions, and it leads to confusion.

And, ultimately, confusion means a lack of saying, lack of hearing, and a lack of getting that business.

Solar in Roofing Sales FAIL #2: Not Knowing What to Sell

The second reason that people fail when it comes to roof with solar is that they don’t know what to sell.

Now, this started to happen to me because I would get messages, saying, “Adam, I’m going knocking today. Should I sell solar or should I go leading with the roof?” That question is tied into problem number one of confusion.

If a salesperson doesn’t know what to sell, that is a MASSIVE problem.

So, Cody and I have developed, optimized — and tested, developed, and then optimized — this whole thing, and we had SO much fun figuring out the EXACT moment homeowners would be the most receptive to hearing solar. And it does take some restraint to keep it out of the picture.

Still, in our system:

1. We lead with the roof.
2. We actually look at solar as an add-on, so we’re not going out trying to sell solar.

Now, owners and managers, pay close attention to this next part.

This ends up meaning that you have:

• A whole separate sales process for solar
• An entirely separate training for solar
• Separate operations and marketing for solar, a whole separate legion, so you can actually compete in that world (and I’m going to talk about that more in just a minute).

In our Roof with Solar Sales System, we have created a system that offers the roof and positions solar as an add-on to bring these two together. So:

The entire roofing team now just sticks to what they’re doing and says, “Hey, we sell roofs. When we get the ‘yes’ to the roof, we time the ask, and we know when to bring up solar.”

We learn how to shift to canvassing and DOMINATING the neighborhood using that multi-touch marketing approach with these combo deals. After all, we now have credibility, and we do so in a way that lets us overcome their huge objections up front (and those objections are usually that “it sounds too good to be true” and “it’s too expensive”).

So, this problem of not knowing what to sell or lead with gets solved with cohesive training to get the team selling the roofs.

And that’s just an adjunct training to bolt on and show teams how to add solar to roofing sales. By doing it this way:

1. It eliminates the sales reps’ confusion.
2. It eliminates the homeowners’ confusion.
3. Most importantly, it simplifies ALL the operations, giving every single team member a tool for turning a $20,000 roof into a $60,000 ticket (that’s the power of tripling a sale!).

Imagine if you or your entire sales team could get a “Yes” from one out of every four homeowners. You’d have SUBSTANTIAL growth without having to add new salespeople or open up a whole new marketing channel.

Solar in Roofing Sales FAIL #3: Taking on Too Much

Now, the third point of failure that arises with roof and solar sales goes back to what I was sharing about companies running solar as a separate division.

Now, I know some organizations are very successful with this, but from my experience:

• Many roofing companies get excited about solar and end up with “blinders” on. They see that it’s really cool without seeing the whole picture.
• Many owners don’t realize is how much they’re biting off by adding solar. In fact, it’s NOT just adding solar; it’s literally teeing up an entirely separate company — a separate business, with separate insurance, separate marketing channels, separate sales systems and processes, and separate operations.

So, what ends up happening is that the competitive edge gets diluted because now:

• You’re competing in both landscapes.
• You’re a roofing company with a solar division that’s competing against other solar companies, which is one of the most expensive spaces to play in.

In fact, some companies developing inbound leads in the solar space are spending $3,000 or more to acquire a customer. That’s a lot of money when compared to roofing companies, with many spending about $250 to $300 to acquire a customer (and some going as high as $750 or even $1,500, which is on the super high end).

Instead, we stick to what we’re really good at and:

• We optimize our channels to bring in more roofs, which we can get at a third of the price.
• We add that solar system onto the roof without having to build that second division AND without having to rebrand everything and start generating a new pipeline of leads.
• We pour gasoline on the fire that’s already burning.

With that, we can not only solve the three biggest pitfalls that I’ve seen in solar, but we can also:

1. Provide the solar system at an optimal time to go solar, which is when the homeowner is getting a brand-new roof
2. Leverage the solar financing vessels for the roofing component to make everything more affordable
3. Open new value propositions with hail claims and the insurance side of things, giving us unique positioning on why a homeowner would want to do that

I go through ALL of this in great detail in our brand-new Roof with Solar Sales System. Just click that link to learn more or text “DEMO” to (303) 222-7133 for more information or a private demonstration.

Recap: Top 3 Reasons Roofing Reps FAIL with Solar Sales

Quickly summarizing why roofing sales reps and companies fail with solar sales, there are really three main reasons why this happens:

1. Confusion
2. Not knowing what they’re selling
3. Taking on too much

So, there you have it, and please let me know if I missed one, dropping your comments on YouTube, and let’s keep the conversation going, continue to level up, and keep supporting each other.

Want More Roofing Sales? Or Training For Your Team?

We’ve helped thousands of sales reps overcome the same sales challenges you’re probably facing. Like not getting enough leads, getting stuck on objections, or not closing sales in the house.

Learn how we can help you:

• Get trained up in a lightning-fast 9.5 hours
• Self-generate more leads
• Become a confident closer

Pick a time for your 1-on-1 demo.

Or use the links below to get instant access, 100% Risk-Free! Backed by our 30-Day ‘NO BS’ Money Back Guarantee.

For your sales team?

Individual sales rep?

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