Roof sales training is essential for any roofing business looking to maximize sales and growth potential. However, effective training is much more than going over pricing and products. How do you connect with homeowners to build trust? What are common concerns that arise during the sales process? In addition, how do you deal with customers that are simply collecting bids from one competitor to the next?
Effective training helps sales reps understand the products, the sales process, and how to close deals. Therefore, this comprehensive guide will walk you through the entire sales training process, from handling objections to using software that empowers your sales reps.
The Purpose of Roof Sales Training
Roofing sales reps are technically the face of your business. In fact, they meet with homeowners, assess roofing needs, and offer solutions. Their primary goal is to close sales and generate revenue for the business. Moreover, they build relationships with customers and ensure they are satisfied with the service.
Because of this, roofing sales reps need a deep understanding of roofing products and services. They should be able to explain the benefits of different roofing materials and the installation process. Additionally, they need strong communication and negotiation skills to close deals effectively.
With the right roof sales training, you can turn anyone into a winning sales rep for your roofing business. Yet, the best companies will streamline this process for consistent onboarding from one new hire to the next. Overall, this helps to create a winning culture within your sales team as you take on more employees and more jobs.
What is the Roofing Sales Process?
The roofing sales process involves several steps. While this process can vary slightly from one business to the next, these are the most common steps to selling roofing services to the modern homeowner.
- Lead Generation: Identify potential customers through various channels.
- Initial Contact: Reach out to leads and schedule an appointment.
- Roof Inspection: Visit the property, inspect the roof, and assess its condition.
- Estimate and Proposal: Generate an estimate and present a detailed proposal, including the scope of work and pricing.
- Negotiation: Discuss the proposal with the customer and address any concerns.
- Closing the Sale: Finalize the deal and sign the contract.
- Follow-Up: Ensure customer satisfaction and handle any issues that arise.
Understanding this process can go a long way in structuring your roof sales training. New sales employees must understand how to create a seamless sales journey from one step of the process to the next.
It’s also important to recognize that homeowners are more informed than ever before. With just a quick search, they can get information about current roofing prices, the best materials available, and customer reviews for your business and your competitors.
Therefore, sales reps must meet homeowners at their level without wasting anyone’s time. You not only have to sell your services, but also create genuine trust to close the deal.
Best Practices for Onboarding New Roofing Sales Hires
Leap’s recent sales leader report notes that 40% of companies train new sales reps in two weeks or less. Another 40% say training can take up to two months. Surprisingly, there’s a small percentage of companies that say training can take even longer! So, how can you make your onboarding more efficient?
For example, here are the best roof sales training tips to get your new hires ready to win more jobs for your business:
- Operations Overview: Develop training that covers your product knowledge, sales techniques, customer service, and general company policies.
- Shadowing and Mentorship: Pair new hires with your most experienced sales reps and roofing crews to shadow customer meetings and gain firsthand insights into successful selling strategies.
- Hands-On Experience: Provide multiple opportunities for new hires to engage in real-world sales scenarios under the right supervision. Assign them to low-pressure projects to practice pitching, handling objections, and closing techniques.
- Feedback and Coaching: Through the entire process, offer constructive feedback and coaching to help new sales reps identify areas to refine their sales approach. Also, set up structured performance evaluations to track progress and reinforce accountability.
- Continuous Learning: Create a winning culture of continuous learning by offering ongoing training opportunities and competitions. In addition, encourage sales reps to pursue professional certifications, attend conferences, and stay on top of emerging roofing trends.
Train new hires on your specific sales process. Role-playing exercises, while often underutilized, are effective for this. Have them practice initial contact, roofing estimates, and proposal presentations. This is a great opportunity to provide feedback and tips to help them improve before they begin taking appointments.
Using Software to Streamline Training
In today’s digital age, roofing companies without software are falling behind the competition. And believe it or not, roofing software can have a big impact on optimizing roof sales training and managing sales reps effectively. For instance, here are the best ways that sales software can transform the way you onboard new employees:
- Sales Enablement: Instant access to sales collateral, document templates, digital contracts, and payment systems. These tools eliminate common paperwork errors that often affect new sales reps.
- Customer Tracking: Track every potential customer, appointment, and sales document. You can also automate follow-ups notifications.
- Scheduling: Scheduling within software is perfect for coordinating day-to-day meetings. Optimize productivity and eliminate potential scheduling conflicts.
- Performance Analytics: Use data tracking to gain real-time insights into sales metrics, conversion rates, and revenue projections. This helps sales managers identify trends that are working and others that are not.
With the right software, you can plug in new employees and get them up to speed in no time. It’s also a great training tool to use for case studies and previous sales history. Now, you no longer have inconsistent onboarding that takes months and doesn’t give new sales reps the confidence they need.
Train for Success with Leap SalesPro
Leap SalesPro is one of the most accurate sales tools in the roofing industry. From precise estimates and appealing proposals to pricing control and digital contracts, Leap SalesPro transforms the way you work with homeowners and close deals.
You can provide flexible pricing tiers with good, better, best pricing to give homeowners more financial flexibility. Additionally, you can offer financing and get loan approvals in minutes through our industry leading lending partners.
Leap SalesPro streamlines your sales process on the go from your office to an appointment or at home. You can quickly use the software whether you have internet access or not! There’s no Wi-Fi needed, and you’ll never have to ask a homeowner for internet access again! So, are you ready to sell like never before?
Investing in roof sales training will have an impact well beyond sales and affect the way your entire business operates. Better training leads to more sales, and more sales leads to busier workflows and more jobs. That’s why you need Leap SalesPro to bring it all together. To learn more, fill out the form below and schedule your own demo with one of our software experts!
Frequently Asked Questions
Based on recent surveys, training can be streamlined and take just two or three weeks to get a new sales rep up to speed. However, without the right onboarding processes and structure in place, training can last more than 60 days.
Once you bring on a new sales rep into your roofing business, you can add an additional user to your Leap SalesPro account for just $99 per month, per additional user.
With Leap SalesPro, you can transform your roof sales training in many ways. This includes easily adding new users, tracking sales success, scheduling, and eliminating irrelevant tasks so new hires can focus on learning, gaining hands-on experience, and selling more jobs for your business.
