Roofing Sales: How to Win More Roofing Jobs Without Quoting and Praying

The customer's stood on the drive in her slippers, arms folded, looking up. There's a bucket in the back bedroom and a brown ring on the ceiling that's got bigger since Sunday. The roofer goes up the ladder, has a good poke about, comes down twenty minutes later, wipes his hands on his trousers and says, "I'll email you a price tonight."

Then he drives off. And she rings the next one on the list.

If you want to know how to win more roofing jobs, start there. Most roofers think the sale happens on the ladder. It doesn't. It happens at the kitchen table, with the customer, before the price. Find out why it matters to them and why now, show them what you found, agree what happens next, and stop emailing numbers into the void.

You're quoting and praying

I've sold home improvements for more than 40 years, and I still sell every job at my own conservatory roof business. So I know what a roof looks like from a kitchen table as well as from a scaffold.

When I talk to roofing firms, I hear the same story. Loads of enquiries, loads of prices going out, and a lot of them never heard of again. I call that quoting and praying. You price it, you send it, you pray. Some of it comes back. Most of it doesn't, and you don't know why, because you were never in the conversation that decided it.

Look at where a lot of roofing leads come from. The same enquiry's been sold to five or six firms. They're all on the same trade sites, all vetted, all with good stars. To the customer you're dead level with each other. So what's left to compare? Price. That's all you've given them.

Don't end up a line on their spreadsheet. "He quoted this, she quoted that." That's where roofing work goes to die.

Get off the ladder and into the house

You need to see the roof. Of course you do. But the roof isn't what the customer's buying.

Like a doctor, you examine before you prescribe. The difference is, a lot of what you need to examine isn't on the roof. It's in her head. So when you come down, ask if you can sit down for ten minutes, and use TED: tell me, explain, describe.

"Tell me what happened when it first came through." "Explain what you've had done to it before." "Describe what it's like lying in bed when the rain's hammering down and you're listening for the drip."

Now you're hearing about the ceiling they've just had decorated. The daughter's room. The house they're hoping to sell next year. The bloke who patched it two winters ago and never came back. That's the gold. Most roofers don't pick any of it up, because they never ask.

Then ask "Why now?" Is it the leak? A survey that flagged it? A neighbour's had theirs done? One question tells you if she's ready or just collecting prices for the spring.

And let her diagnose it. The cosmetic surgeon who tells you what's wrong with your face gets thrown out. Don't stand on the drive saying the whole roof's shot. Show her.

Show them what you found

Take photos while you're up there. The cracked tiles, the gap at the flashing, the felt that's gone to dust. Then sit down and go through them on your phone, together, at the table.

People believe what they see far more than what they're told. She can't see her own roof. You can. So bring it down to her.

"What do you think happens to that over another winter?" Let her answer. If nothing changes, nothing changes, and she knows that better than you do. She's the one emptying the bucket.

Are you buying work?

Roofing owners don't like hearing this, but a full diary isn't a profitable business.

I've sat with owners running about like busy fools. Repairs, small patches, agency jobs where the agent's had five prices and screwed it down to the bone. They're flat out, the vans are on the road, and when you strip it all out they've made next to nothing. They're buying work, and they're proud of how much there is.

I'll be honest with you. Go and look at your last five jobs of that kind. What came in, what it cost you, what stuck. If it's not worth having, it's taking the hours you need to sit properly with the customers who'll pay for a job done right.

Own your price

You don't have to be the cheapest roofer in town to win the work. Plenty of people have been let down by a cheap builder at some point, and they remember it. Pay cheap, pay twice.

So set it up early. "Let's put price to one side for a minute. Other than price, what's the most important thing for you in picking a roofer?" Shut up and listen. Then open your reviews on your phone and read them together. "If I do a good job, will you tell people? And if I let you down, tell the world. Is that fair?"

Before the figure, frame the decision. That's the first of the 7 Steps to Sales Mastery, and it's where most roofing sales are lost. "I'm not going to ask you for a decision today, unless you want to give me one. But if it makes sense, at a price you're happy with, you're all right to give me a yes or a no?"

And never leave without the next step. Not "I'll send it over." It's "I'll ring you tomorrow at nine." Better still, give her the figure there and then while it all still makes sense.

One rep I coach used to carry a rolling list of 20-plus customers who hadn't decided either way. After we changed how he qualified and asked questions, so customers gave a clear yes or no, it dropped to 5.

That's one person's result, not a promise. But it shows what happens when you stop leaving people in limbo and ask for a proper answer.

Most people don't buy a roof very often. They don't know what good looks like. Your job is to help them see it, and then make it easy to say yes.

If you'd like to find out where your roofing sales are leaking, take the free 2-minute Sales Leak Assessment and book a free 30-minute discovery call.