The Door is About to Close... Try This Pitch!

What do you do if homeowners start closing the door in your face the very same minute they crack it open?

What do you say when that homeowner peeks at you from behind the door, basically saying, “Hurry the heck up!”?

Now, I’ve slightly touched on this topic in a video called the 10-Second Pitch. In it, I explain how to lean into when someone’s willing to give you the time of day.

However, when the door’s closing in your face, it’s a different scenario because the homeowner is generally NOT willing to give you the time of day.

And if you’re like most roofing salespeople:

You feel the signs and see the body language.
You see the door starting to close.
You throw in the towel, thinking, I’ve been rejected. It feels almost like getting the cold shoulder from that cute guy or girl at the bar that you’ve just tried to talk to.

Many folks sense the rejection at this moment and think, I can take a hint. I’m getting rejected. I’m OUT of here.

On the other hand, there are those lucky folks who can just walk up and LEAN into that discomfort. They’ll find a workaround to start that conversation. And, sometimes, it WORKS.

Now, here’s the best part.

D2D Roofing Sales: How to View “Rejection” at the Door

Most people just take this rejection. In fact, the minute that door slams or is about to close, many folks:

Throw in the towel and quit.
Just stand there, staring at that closed door for a minute.
Try to maintain a sense of composure because that homeowner is most likely looking through their peephole or blinds to see what the salesperson is going to do next.
Start the whole process again at the next door.

That’s a lost opportunity.

Now, what if I told you that:

There was a simpler way for you to lean into that discomfort?
If you use this simple strategy, you may be able to turn even just one rejection out of 20 into a conversation? How many MORE sales do you think you (or your team) would get each year with that?

It ALL adds up, and you CAN start doing better and better. In fact, what if that ratio became 1 in every 10 — or 1 in every 5 — rejections turns into a conversation? Well:

The conversation turns into an inspection.
The inspection gets you in the house.
When you’re in the house, you can EARN a customer and WIN the deal.

That’s what sets apart the GREAT salespeople, the HIGHEST EARNERS that I’ve ever met, from the folks who are just mediocre or good.

The difference is the willingness to:

Be uncomfortable
Take a shot when most people think that there’s no shot to be taken

That’s exactly what I want to teach you.

Before we get into it, I want to first say welcome or welcome back. My name is Adam Bensman, The Roof Strategist. Everything we do here — and on my YouTube channel, my podcast (on Apple and Spotify), and in my all-in-one 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.

By the way, if you want more to supplement the strategies I discuss here, check out our brand-new FREE training center, which includes my Pitch Like a Pro roofing sales training video library, as well as my brand-new roof with solar sales system.

Simply text “DEMO” to (303) 222-7133 for more info or a private demo.

Now, let’s get to it.

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D2D Roofing Sales: What Do You Do When That Door Is About to Close?

Now, this isn’t the same as the 10-Second Pitch, which is when folks give you a countdown or a timer and basically tell you to give them what you got.

This scenario is different because the homeowner is just trying to shoo you away with their body language, closing that door. So, the concepts are similar, but there’s a difference.

When that door closes in our faces, we need to open up with this one sentence (and I’m going to tell you what that sentence is in just a second).

The reason we jump into this is it tells that homeowner:

I respect your time, and I’m going to get down to business.

Often, that will buy you a little bit more time to get into it — otherwise, you’re NOT getting any words out because they’re closing the door. However, if you use this quick one-liner (and there’s an optional adjustment to it too):

You can buy yourself some valuable time.
They’ll hear you out.

SLAP Formula: A Quick Review

Now, before I teach you the one-liner to say when the door’s closing, let’s quickly review the SLAP Formula. SLAP stands for:

Say, “Hi,” and break the ice.
Let them know why you’re showing up, making it familiar to their neighborhood. You can simply do this by saying that you’ve just left someone’s house, you drove by, you saw something, you have an install next week (or that day), you did the roof last week, or whatever.
Ask an open-ended question.
Present to their answer, based on where they are in the process.

With this whole combination, EVERYTHING stays the same except one thing — the “S.” Now, in a time crunch, we ditch that because:

We’re not going to build rapport.
We’re not going to talk about who we are.
We’re not going to do an icebreaker.
We ARE jumping right into the “L” with this transition work.

What to Say As the Door Closes in D2D Roofing Sales: The Essential One-Liner

Now, here’s that transition line that you can say as soon as that door starts closing. You simply say:

Hey, I’ll cut right to the chase.

Now, go into your “L” with the SLAP Formula, saying:

The reason I’m stopping by is that I just left Peggy’s house, and I just got her roof approved for hail damage.

And while I was in the neighborhood, I noticed your roof is about the same age.

So, I’m just asking, where are you at in the process?

There it is. If you’re on the retail side, you can simply say this:

Hey, I’ll cut right to the chase.

The reason I’m stopping by is that we’re doing Peggy’s roof next week.

She chose us to replace her roof because it’s about 25 years old. I see your roof is about the exact same age, and it might even look like you have the same shingle.

When was the last time you had routine maintenance conducted on your roof?

There’s your open-end question. You could also ask:

When was the last time your roof was inspected?

When was your routine maintenance conducted?

So, any time we deal with someone who’s about to close the door, we simply say, “I’ll cut right to the chase.”

And you can make this even nicer, if you feel like that’ll work, saying, “I respect your time. I’ll cut right to the chase.”

Of course, you may not have enough time to say, “I respect your time,” in some cases, but I want to give you that little bonus add-on just in case you do because it can make a homeowner:

Feel heard and respected
Soften and give you a moment because they’re now thinking, Hey, he respects my time, so he’s going to be quick. All right, I’ll give him a second.

Recap: How to Pitch in D2D Roofing Sales When the Door Starts to Close

Summing all of this up, the next time a door is about to close in your face, quickly say either:

I’ll cut right to the chase.
Hey, I respect your time.

Then, you’re going to pick up from that “L” in the SLAP Formula, letting them know why you’re there. To do that, say any of the following:

Hey, the reason I stopped by is that I was driving by and I realized that we’re re-doing Peggy’s roof next week.
The reason I’m stopping by is that Peggy JUST chose us to do her roof.
The reason I’m stopping by is that we just got Peggy’s roof approved.

Whatever the case may be, you now have a very simple framework to:

Turn the closing door into another opportunity.
Convince that homeowner to give you a chance and just listen.

After all, at the end of the day, that’s our mission in door-to-door sales. It’s simply to:

Start the conversation first.
Get up on the roof.
Get inside the house.
Present and CLOSE THOSE DEALS.

Again, we can’t do that until we start that conversation.

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