What do you wear in roofing sales?
Well, so we're gonna talk about, in this video, answer the age old question.
What should you wear?
What shouldn't you wear?
How do you present yourself appropriately?
How do you present yourself in a way that actually feels like you?
And how do you do so in a way that communicates the right message to
homeowners that you're professional and they can take you seriously
without feeling inauthentic?
Well, I get this question a lot, so in this video I just wanna rip the
bandaid off and dive right into what not to wear first, and then let's go
through from top to bottom, from hats to what you wear up top to your pants
or maybe shorts and your footwear.
Now, if you agree or disagree, I'd like to hear from you in the comments because.
Even on stage, I was at a roofing conference.
I was on a panel, somebody talked about what to wear.
There was discrepancies among the folks on the panel.
I invite a v different viewpoints and just remember, you have to match your market.
I ran training in la.
I've run trainings in Portland and Seattle metro areas, which are very different
than Columbus, Ohio, which is very different than Springfield in Minneapolis.
So wherever you are, you just gotta kind of dress to what your environment is like.
I'll give you an example in Colorado.
I could absolutely get away wearing this when I'm selling, as long
as I was put together and shirt tucked in and looking sharp.
But I might look like a weirdo wearing flannel in another market.
All right, so you just need to ma match your market.
Now we're gonna get into that in a minute, but first I wanna
talk about, uh, what not to wear.
And I realize I didn't welcome you yet.
So let's start there.
Welcome or welcome back, uh, Adam Benjamin here, the roof strategist and I.
Jazzed up to be shooting videos today and to be joining you.
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Alright, let's first talk about what not to wear because part of giving homeowners
an amazing experience is connecting.
And remember, it's partly how you wish to be carrying yourself to
how they're gonna be receiving you.
And as we, right before I get into like what not to wear, Which there's
three main things and then we're gonna talk about what to wear.
I'm someone who is, I would like self categorize my style
as like upscale work wear.
You're never gonna see me overly dressed up.
I like button up, I like jeans and slacks and I like casual shoes and
it kinda wear works for everything.
I've had some people come up to me at trainings when I'm wearing a roof.
Branded, uh, sweatshirt saying, you're not dressing up more for this.
I'm like, what do I need to be in a three piece suit?
Like it's just me.
And then other people say, Hey, I really appreciate that you're
dressed in just a sweatshirt.
It shows that you're confident.
It makes you really approachable.
So the reason I'm sharing that is you can't please everyone.
I'll show up to one event, which this actually just happened this
last week, and I had someone say, that's what you're wearing.
And it was a roof strategist, uh, crew neck sweatshirt that was co-branded
with, with Owen's Corning's logo.
And they were like, that's it.
And then the next time I'm there, he is like, man, I love that
you're just here and confident in a sweatshirt and you're so approachable.
So again, you can't please everybody.
You're too dressed up.
You're too casual.
There's just no way around it.
So at the end of the day, you get to decide what feeling you want to send to
your homeowners based on how you dress.
But we have to get rid of the no-nos.
Cuz in my opinion, like people will say, well, that's just.
I, I respect that.
I, I, I truly do respect people to say, well, that's just me.
And at the same time I wish to challenge folks who say that, to say, I understand
that it's just you, but how do you strike that balance of being just
you, but also being received openly?
By the folks that that you wish to serve.
Because again, being just me, if I smelled like cigarettes and booze and
garlic and I didn't dress, I didn't wash myself, and I smelled like B, and
I had a sweaty stained hat on, and a stained sweatshirt and ripped jeans
in my shoes with the laces untied.
If that's you.
Use you in your personal life, but I would try to dial like
upscale you for your work life.
And I just want to air this out cause I see it a lot.
Well that's just me.
So that being said, let's get in right now to what not to wear.
First things first, what not to wear branded apparel from.
Any brand name of your choice that's spread across the chest, don't wear that.
If there's a logo on your clothes, it needs to be your company logo.
Of course, a small little Nike or Under Armour things a different
story, but I don't wanna see like Hollister, Abercrombie, and Fitch.
Whatever brand that you wish to broadcast to the world, that's casual
apparel does not have a place in the workplace, and I know the workplace is
our customer's homes in this respect.
So get rid of the branded apparel.
All right, number two, ripped tattered clothes.
I know that like it's, there's like the style with the jeans, with the holes in
it and the ripping and all the things.
I, I personally find that that is, Like a personal expression, style
piece, and I would recommend that you not wear ripped clothes to work.
Okay.
Bringing me to number three, any clothes that are stained, including
sweat stains, including hats, which I'll talk about in a moment.
Get rid of 'em.
And I have my sweatshirt, my, my branded sweatshirt with a hoodie.
when I was selling in Wisconsin, for example, where the winters
get cold, it gets cold before the winter, so I'm often bundled up
and I had my work jackets, I had my sweatshirt and one of my sweatshirts,
which I loved, I wore one day.
It was disgusting out and I was like helping the crew and I was carrying
some bundles and doing some cleanup and everything Got gross and stained through
the stuff that was all over the place.
Cuz this happens, right?
Because we are in construction.
That sweatshirt I didn't even realize I'd go to put it on.
I'm like, wow.
I, I literally look like I work in a mechanic shop, which is no fault to
people who work in a mechanic shop.
That's not how we wanna present ourselves.
So if your clothes are stained, old, sweat stained, tattered,
whatever, get rid of 'em.
Okay?
So there's purposefully tattered, and then there's.
Beaten up and if they're beaten up, ditch 'em.
All right, so that's what not to wear.
Outside that.
Let's go top to bottom.
Top hats yes or no.
My view today, if you asked me, I'd say no.
But you're gonna say, Adam, you're a hypocrite.
And the answer is not a hypocrite.
I just changed my views.
Go back, watch all the videos.
I'm wearing a hat and everything.
When I was selling a war hat all the time, but I became a bit more
aware when my hat had a giant sweats.
Sheena was like, you gotta stop filming videos with the roof
strategist hat with a sweats name.
It's gross.
So I tried washing it, still was stained.
Put it on a few days later.
Pure coincidence, I'm on a sales call.
Cameras aren't working.
We're shooting the breeze.
Leaderships tell me how.
Funny it is that their top salesperson is running around with this gross, dingy
hat that they cannot wait to get off his head cuz it's so stained and disgusting.
Meanwhile, I'm literally wearing mine and I'm like, they can't
see cause the camera's not there.
And at that moment I was like, wow, people notice.
And I just, it didn't really click to me, you know, call me stupid by the way.
You can be like, ah, you're in sales.
You known this.
That's too blind to it.
I'm like, do people really care?
And the truth is they do.
They notice.
Even though I was blind to it.
So hats clean hat with a company logo acceptable in your market.
Now let's move on to our top half in Colorado.
This is like Colorado casual.
It's a flannel.
By the way, when I was in Wisconsin, I did wear nice flannels tucked in.
Some people are gonna say, that's ridiculous.
Why would you do that?
It worked in my market in Colorado.
I could get away with this.
I probably couldn't in a different market.
So is that my first choice?
And the answer is no.
My first choice is company branded apparel.
You've seen me in my roof, ER shirts in all my videos, and this is the
exact style of shirt that I was wearing when I was in roofing sales.
When the.
Was here.
I could keep my pen in my shirt, which is where I like it.
And these are a great, great apparel piece when it comes to roofing sales.
Tuck your shirt in.
That's all I ask.
Just tuck it in.
You know, I'm wearing an over shirt right now, which doesn't need to be tucked in.
And it was designed that way.
And it, it's a different style, but these untucked just look
sloppy and like you didn't try.
All right.
Now when it came to, uh, higher end communities, higher ticket sales,
multi-family sales, commercial.
Churches, things like that.
Multiple decision makers are more often than not dressed up in a
button up with a collar shirt.
Alright, so there you have it on your top half.
When it comes to sweatshirts, I will always go with a little bit
more formal, although I know many companies do use sweatshirts.
We are on the trades after all, but sweatshirts so long
as they're clean and look good.
All right, let's move down to your bottom half.
Jeans, khakis, chinos, shorts, jeans, khakis, chino shorts.
Sounds like you're about to like bust out a new song.
Um, which one do you do?
My opinion?
Anything but shorts.
The shorts, there's one exception to the.
If it is truly a Scorcher, if it's 110 degrees and you're out pounding
indoors in Texas in the middle of summer, I think you get a pass down.
More often than not, I will do everything I can to avoid shorts.
I don't think it sends a super professional image.
Call me an old fashioned old man, if you wish, but showing up with like your socks,
showing hairy legs, and it just doesn't, it doesn't have that professionalism.
That I would wanna broadcast.
That's just me.
I do know that plenty of people do wear shorts.
Plenty of folks are gonna say, it's so hot.
You would change your mind if, and let me just share this with you.
I used to work when I was in college with the US Forest Service.
In Colorado when it was summer, which gets really hot, and I was required
for safety to be in long sleeves and long pants, and I was huffing through
the mountains carrying backpacks, trekking 10 to 20 miles a day,
sweating and sweating and sweating.
So I do know how hot it can get.
I do know how annoying it is to be covered up, and at the same time
I just, my preference is always to jeans or khakis and chinos.
Goes into that one jeans, just make sure that they look clean, presentable,
no rips, no tears, no bedazzling.
I know that people like bedazzled stuff these days.
Uh, I would just leave that stuff for the casual time and not in work.
Jeans, excuse me, khakis or Chinos.
That's up to you.
Some folks will.
You need to be in khakis or chinos.
I disagree.
We're in the trades.
Look like it.
All right.
If you show up wearing a three piece suit to sell a roof, I'm
gonna be wondering how you're gonna climb the ladder with those wing.
That's just my opinion.
Agree or disagree in the comments below.
So there's your bottom half.
Avoid shorts unless you have that Brutal, brutal, brutal heat.
But I know that there's folks that just like wearing shorts.
Uh, and, and that's okay.
All right.
Footwear, let's get down to the bottom half here.
Footwear, what do you wear?
Truth, truth be told, pretty much any shoe with a decent soul, whether
it's a trail runner, whether it's a sneaker, whether it's a tennis shoe
or a a running shoe, are all gonna have enough bite on a shingle once
you get to seven to eight, 12, or.
Always my, my recommendation is to have a roof specific shoe such as
Cougar paws, and the reason is safety and confidence and look and look in
the park, but forget that, that's secondary to your safety and confidence.
If you're into the boot look and you want, uh, I'm a big leather boot fan and.
Mock toe boots, specifically with a wedge soul are gonna have good bite
and they'll have a, usually a, a steel, uh, shank to help climbing ladders.
So you have a good firm press and they don't collapse while
you're climbing that ladder.
I know you've probably had that happen.
If you're climb ladders and flimsy shoes, your feet kind of fold over it.
So it's nice having like a mock toe, like a a, if you wanna get nicer.
Boots like Red Wings, uh, classic Mato or Thoroughgood, Mato.
You know, Dan makes the bull run, I think, or the, with
the, with the Christie we soul.
So any of those wedge soul boots look really sharp.
You can dress 'em up to be the elevated work wear and they do well on roofs.
And again, if you have any other contributions, drop a comment below.
So there you have it from top to bottom.
We've got our company branded apparel or a button up.
We have it tucked in with a belt on jeans, khakis, or chinos is just fine.
Avoid shorts.
And on your footwear you can go sneakers or a work boot and again, a mock to boot.
And then keep your cougar paws for the steep stuff hat.
Try to ditch it if you need it, cuz the sun.
Just keep it branded, keep it clean.
And whatever you do, do not wear your shirt you brought back from Cancun.
Any other company, branded apparel, anything stained, stinky, or fatigued?
Get rid of it.
And the last thing I want to close.
How you show up in what you look like is your choice of how you wish
to, to broadcast yourself, whether you want to be more upscaled and
dressed up approachable and casual.
Whatever you do, so long as you're clean and put together,
I don't think you can go wrong.
And remember, not everyone's gonna agree with what you do, but you get to choose.
So for my attire, I am upscaled work wear.
That is my comfort zone that feels like it matches who I am and broadcast
the right message of approachability, being grounded and down to earth and
not trying this whole status play of look at my fancy three piece suit and my
nice wingtip shoes and whatever it is.
Again, that's just my personal opinion, so I'd love to hear from you.
What do you think?
The the items that you should wear.
And most importantly, what should you absolutely not wear?
Drop a comment and share it with us.
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