Residential Metal Roofing Executive Report

How To Sell The Beauty Of Metal Roofing

Issue #67 | January 5, 2017 | Todd Miller

We are currently in a series of Residential Metal Roofing Executive Report issues that are taking a fresh look at special techniques and ways of selling the various benefits of metal roofing. In this issue, we will look at the benefit of Beauty and how to build the value of Beauty in a way that leads to a sale.

Before we do that, though, I want to remind you of the upcoming 2017 Metal Roofing Summit, sponsored by the Residential Metal Roofing Executive Report. This free event will be held March 13 – 15 in Piqua, Ohio and it is shaping up to be the best-ever event for networking with industry leaders and breaking new ground in your company’s ability to successfully market and sell residential metal roofing.

One of the things I am most excited about with this event is the Creative Marketing Workshop to be held on Tuesday, March 14. Our workshop leader is Susan Graim and this is the third time I will have worked with her. She is incredible at helping folks see things in new ways and in particular to see things in light of a rapidly changing world. Whenever I spend time with her, I go home energized and with my brain full of new and exciting ideas and ways to change the way that Americans and Canadians roof their homes. The Creative Marketing Workshop will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on that day. Because the day’s sessions are cumulative, it is CRITICAL that attendees be here right at 8 a.m. – you will not be able to “catch up” if you show up late. In all my years of promoting metal roofing, the Creative Marketing Workshop is the single event I have always wanted to pull off and I am so very excited about making it happen!

Please consider joining us for the Summit. Further details and free online registration are available at www.metalroofingsummit.com.

Now, back to the subject at hand – selling the Beauty of metal roofing. Let me share a few tips on how to do this.

First of all, if you do not at some point, and preferably the earlier the better (perhaps even during your appointment setting script) get the consumer to agree that they LOVE the look of the metal roof you’re selling and that they agree it would look PERFECT on their home, there’s no point in continuing. The aesthetics of a person’s home are very personal and emotional for them. Very rarely will someone do something to their home’s exterior that they do not believe will maintain or enhance the home’s beauty and curb appeal.

To do the above, obviously, you have to offer product(s) that you feel are absolutely beautiful. If you do not find your products to be beautiful and something you’d want for your own home, then you will be fighting a losing battle in terms of getting someone else to think that way. There are several ways to help a homeowner appreciate the Beauty of your product. First of all, it is a great idea to have all of your past metal roof installations cataloged according to home style and color scheme. So, if you’re going to visit a homeowner who has a two-story colonial, you can bring them photos of other two-story colonials, and send them to see other two-story colonials. This will help them dramatically in visualizing your product on their home, versus showing them homes that look nothing like their own home.

Next, there are many free online Visualizer tools which you can use for the purpose of creating images of the prospect’s home with your roofing product installed on it. To help ensure a quality image, start with a photo of the home that is taken square-on to the house and at least slightly from above if possible. This will help to accentuate the roof. If you can, show up at the appointment with a created image already made that you can show the homeowners.

Another helpful thing is to get the customer to commit to a color fairly early on. You don’t want to jump the gun too fast and start choosing product and color before you have really reviewed their needs but, the sooner you can get them to commit to a color, the sooner they start to see your roof in the hopes and dreams of their future.

It’s also important to help a homeowner understand how much their roof contributes to the overall attractiveness of their home. Many homeowners, while they would never do other things to their homes that make them look like their neighbors’ homes, never even think about how the roof can individualize and characterize their home as well. Fact is, of course, for many homes, 50 – 60% or even more of the home’s visible shell is the roof. Helping them see the roof as a design element of their home rather than just a “necessity” will draw them into looking at the Beauty of your product.

You also want them to realize how most roofing products have two lives – an aesthetic life and a functional life. For most roofing materials, they look nice for a few years but, for most of their useful life, they are streaked, stained, and tired looking. A metal roof, though, can immediately add home beauty and then maintain that beauty over the test of time.

Finally, help them understand that Beauty does add home value. All other things being equal, a prospective buyer of their home will be more interested in their home, and hence pay a higher price for that home, if it is more Beautiful than other homes.

I hope that this gives you some new ways of approaching selling the Beauty of metal roofing. This is, in my experience, the Number One benefit that a prospect must buy into – if they are not convinced of the Beauty of the product you’re offering, then they will not have a compelling desire to have it on their home.

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