What Can Visiting a Car Dealership Teach You About Closing Quotes After Roof Inspections?

Assessing a roof is easy. Assuming you have the basic technical skills, which are not difficult to learn, analyzing a roof and determining what deficiencies are present, what needs to be done, what can wait, all of that, really isn’t that hard to do.

So, why do so many roofing contractors have trouble selling the repairs their reports recommend? (And when they don’t sell the repairs they often think the problem is with their report format). Let’s see if we can bring some clarity to this.

Years ago, in my role as roofing consultant, I had a client give me a copy of an assessment report performed by a roofing contractor with a quote for about $36,000 of recommended repairs to correct deficiencies they found on a shopping center. I had also inspected the roofs and I agreed that everything they presented was a legitimate deficiency. So, what did I recommend to my client? I recommended we do none of it!

Let me give you a bit more information about the roof. In the three years that my client had owned the 84,000-square-foot shopping center, they have never had single roof leak and the well-installed gravel surfaced built up roofs were about eight years old. Do you really think a building owner is going to spend $36,000 on an 84,000-sqare-foot shopping center that had never leaked?

When you drop your car off at the body shop to have them fix a scratch on the right rear quarter panel on your car, you don’t expect them to fix the scratch, repaint the whole car, install new rims and tires, tint the windshield and upgrade the radio.

Tip 1: Most roofing contractors doing assessments produce reports and quotes “recommending” way too much work.  Just because something on a roof isn’t perfect doesn’t mean you have to fix it, at least right away. For instance, just because that EPDM wall flashing is starting to bridge, you and I both know it isn’t going to rip open for at least another three or four years and perhaps longer. (And there are exceptions, sure, but if you are on the roof regularly, monitoring it, there is no chance you won’t see it coming.) When you quote the repair of those flashings, it is the same as getting a quote to “install new tires and rims, tint your windshield and upgrade the radio” when you took your car in for that scratch on that right rear quarter panel.

There is another factor that comes in to play. When you dropped your car off at the body shop and when you see a quote to do all that unrequested work, you know you don’t need it. That isn’t the case with the typical building owner and his roofs.

The typical building owner, property manager, facility manager, building engineer, asset manager knows less about roofs than your receptionist. Think about that for a minute. While there are exceptions to this rule, they are few and far between. Do you know what that means? It means that they are not going to understand the report you produce. You can tell them what a flashing is and they will nod their head up and down. That doesn’t mean they understand. If you, instead, asked them to explain to you what a flashing is and you listen to their answer you will quickly discover that they have no real idea what a flashing is. But here is what they do know: They don’t need to spend $36,000 on a shopping center that doesn’t leak. Since they can’t understand your report, they just do none of it.

Tip 2: If you give them a laundry list of things to choose from, they will often choose “none of the above. ”So, make sure you explain why each of these things is necessary and the possible consequences of not doing them.

Tip 3: “Sell” your assessments as a way to manage an aging roof. While we can all agree that roofs should be inspected regularly, let’s also agree that the roofs that most need to be inspected regularly are aging (or problematic) roofs. Especially when you are trying to start work with a potential new client, point out that it is often possible to cost effectively extend the life of an aging roof, and the best way to figure out exactly if that might be possible and how to do it is with a formal assessment. Importantly, this also gives you a context for understanding what they are after and makes it much easier to avoid the issues mentioned in both Tips 1 and 2.

Let’s say you decide to buy a new car. You walk into the dealership and lady behind the desk says, “Just a minute, I’ll get somebody for you.” Shortly, a mechanic in greasy coveralls comes walking out the service area, wiping the grease off his hands with a rag. He walks you over to a car on the show floor and says, “You should buy this one. It is a real good car.” That isn’t how it works? Really? (And, do you think that mechanic should be surprised when you don’t buy that car? Then why are you surprised when your estimators only sell one in five estimates they put out for repairs?)

Does the professional salesman you actually buy your new car from know as much about how that car works as the mechanic? Probably not. Then why do you suppose auto dealers use salespeople to sell cars rather than mechanics or others with excellent technical expertise? Because salespeople know how to sell. In our industry, we routinely see commercial roofing service salespeople closing over 60 percent of their sales. Once you made the adjustments recommended in the first three tips, if you are not closing 60 percent or more of your service estimates coming off assessment reports, you need to follow the advice in Tip 4.

Tip 4: Hire a true sales professional to sell. When your payroll clerk and bookkeeper are both off work due to maternity leave and an auto accident, would you grab two guys from a tear-off crew and have them do the bookkeeping and payroll? If a couple of guys don’t show up on a Monday at the start of a large tear-off, do you send your payroll clerk and bookkeeper out to help with the tear-off? Then don’t expect the guy who you have assessing your customers’ roofs to also sell them the work you are quoting. Hire true sales professionals and watch your revenue grow.

By following these tips, the quality of your assessments will go up and so will your closing ratios.

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