Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
“Because your company is only as STRONG as you are.”
Forward-thinking roofers tune in to get help building STRONG companies, sales teams, leaders, systems, marketing, relationships, culture, and financials.
Whether you own a own a roofing company, manage one, or sell roofs - subscribe to the channel for content that will help you:
1) Close even more roofing sales.
2) Adapt to new roofing industry trends and changes.
3) Take control of your roofing marketing and lead generation.
4) Improve D2D roofing sales.
5) Build the roofing company of tomorrow.
Hosted by Adam Bensman
- Started in D2D roofing sales in 2011
- Former Roofing Company COO (multi-state)
- Creator of the Roof Strategist Sales System (used nationwide for retail + storm)
- Founder of The Roofing STRONG Alliance by TAMKO™ (formerly known as the Roofing & Solar Reform Alliance)
- Author of the #1 Best-Selling Book: The Roofing Sales Survival Guide: Beat the Odds, Overcome Yourself, and Win Big
Content produced on or before 5/13/26 was previously produced by The Roof Strategist, TAMKO makes no representations or warranties regarding the content.
These are the top five sleazy solar
sales tactics that are preying upon
homeowners and costing them thousands,
if not tens of thousands of dollars.
I believe they must be stopped.
I'm passionate about this topic because
my very own mother was conned by a solar
company, has been battling it for many
years, and has now cost her nearly 20.
Thousand dollars.
This story, my mom's story, is one
of the reasons that for so many
years I was very resistant to solar.
I sat in, observed solar presentations.
I had them done on my home.
I thought they were sleazy.
I thought they were gimmicky.
I thought they were false and misleading,
and I didn't want anything to do with it.
Now, I recognize that not every company
does this, and I'm by no means painting
a blanket across the entire solar
industry, nor am I painting a, a, a.
Pour light around solar salespeople,
I'm shining light because
it needs to be shined upon.
For the sales gimmicks that I think are
unethical, I think quite frankly, should
be illegal and to protect a homeowner.
So if you're a homeowner, by the way, and
you stumbled upon this video, welcome.
I hope it helps you make an informed
decision on who to work with.
If you're a salesperson selling solar,
I know some sales training teaches
you to do these things and you may
not even realize what you're doing.
And I know that there are salespeople in
the solar space that check their morals.
In ethics, in exchange for money,
and they just say, well, if I
can just get the deal, who cares?
And I, I wanna put an end to all of that.
So without further ado, let's
jump right in and get to it.
Uh, first, welcome, welcome back.
Adam Besman here, the roof strategist.
And everything I do on my channel
is designed to help you and your
team smash your income goal and give
every customer an amazing experience.
And you might be wondering, Hey
dude, you're the roof strategist.
Why are you talking solar?
I'll share more at the end of this
video, but the fast version is this.
I finally found a way that I
believe in to sell solar, and it
is alongside a roof with a roof
with solar, not solar on its own.
There's a lot of reasons
that I won't get behind that.
I'll share more at the end, but for
starters, let's get into tactic number
one, the sleazy solar sales tactic
that I see the most commonly, and that
is, False production expectations.
We see solar salespeople running
around, knocking doors saying,
eliminate your electric bill for life.
And that basically paints a
picture in someone's mind with
this big goose egg, a big zero.
I don't have an electric bill forever.
It's not a realistic expectation when
you have connection fees and when how net
metering works, there will be some bills.
And the other thing that happens
is maybe the salesperson didn't
size the system appropriately, or
the company didn't size the system.
So the homeowner who sold on this
incredible ROI in eliminating their
electric bill is expecting a certain
offset, and they end up getting a lot
less because the systems weren't sized.
That's why it is so important to
set realistic expectations with the
homeowner on their actual electric
bill and their actual production.
All right.
Sleazy solar sales tactic
number two, falsely advertising
their new monthly expense.
Now, for those that aren't aware,
if you see or prepare a solar
proposal for homeowner, they'll
be, and you're using financing,
they'll be a monthly amount listed.
That monthly amount is making an
assumption, but it's not like,
Broadcast it out there until
the salesperson communicates it.
This assumption on your monthly
investment assumes that you're gonna
take the tax credit for the system.
I'm gonna use some simple math
here and correct me if I'm wrong,
cuz math is not my strong suit.
I was in the say math
class four years in a row.
People correct math in my videos
all the time and call me an idiot.
So I invite you to join 'em if I'm wrong.
So let's say it's a $40,000 system,
the 30,000, excuse me, 30% tax credit.
It's 12 grand.
So this monthly payment is assuming
that this homeowner's gonna take this 12
grand and actually pay down that loan.
With the 12,000 to get
to this payment amount.
But what happens is if that's not
communicated, that loan will re amortize.
Meaning they'll recalculate it
and then that all of a sudden that
amount goes from whatever that
small amount they were looking at.
It shoots up because of the 12
grand that they were counting
on getting put into the loan.
Never was so, The reason that the, the
lenders do this is it, it's more enticing.
Like, Hey, your loan amount will
be this much and we'll, we'll keep
it at this much, assuming that
you're gonna in, you know, make
this contribution by a certain date.
But then if you don't, the amount goes up.
So without communicating to homeowners
that they're required to contribute
that tax savings towards the loan,
they end up with a surprise bill
that's far more expensive and in
financial trouble, cuz they already
spent this money on a new hot tub.
Alright, sleazy solar
sales tactic number three.
Taking advantage of retirees
or low income households.
Back to the false monthly ex
uh, payment expectation concept.
If a lower income house or someone
who's on tax-free retirement income,
I know people are like taxes.
Everyone pays taxes.
Not everybody pay taxes.
There are ways to not pay taxes as
a retiree, and there's ways that
people don't pay taxes otherwise,
but that's besides this video.
So let's say that they have a $40,000
system they put on their roof.
$12,000 tax credit.
If their tax liability, which means how
much they're going to owe in taxes that
year is not, uh, meet or exceed the.
Uh, 30% tax credit amount,
which is in this case, 12 grand.
Then they don't apply for it.
They can only apply for how much
of their tax liability there is.
So if you sold a massive system to someone
who doesn't pay taxes anymore, and let's
say their, their tax liability is like
five grand a year, but the system was
monstrous and is like, uh, $18,000 tax
credit, they can only deduct two grand.
Which again, changes that monthly expense.
So this part of the message gets, is often
failed to be communicated to homeowners
that to apply, excuse me, to qualify
for the tax credit, your tax liability
needs to meet or exceed the tax credit.
Okay?
It's that simple.
But again, many people
don't communicate that.
They'll sell the system to a retiree,
the retiree hands the paperwork to
his or her accountant or does their
taxes, and they're like, well, yeah,
you don't qualify for that tax credit.
And then now that monthly payment
that they were banking on in a
fixed income shoots up even higher.
Totally.
Not cool.
Not at all.
Again, it's why it's so
important to communicate this.
This brings me to sleazy sales tactic
number four, and that is putting solar
on a roof that is 10 years old or older.
Now, I go to argue that it should be
much younger than that, but that's
kind of the general rule of thumb.
Oh, we can put solar on a roof as
long as it's 10 years old or newer.
Okay.
Yeah.
If you don't wanna do 10 years
or older, 10 years or newer,
here's what is again overlooked.
If someone sells a solar system
to someone with a 10 year old
roof, yeah, we'll put solar on it.
Here's the amazing ROI and all
this money you're gonna save.
What they don't communicate
is that an average?
Cost to detach and reset that
system is roughly $8,000.
So people who are making a commitment to
swap at one bill for another, generally
don't have eight grand laying around
extra for their roof replacement.
That part's not communicated.
This again is one of the reasons that
in our system, It is a roof with solar
combo because it does truly, and in my
opinion, inarguably and if you disagree,
drop account below pro produce the
highest possible ROI for the homeowner,
because again, if they have to replace the
roof, let's say it's even in five years.
Five years in, you're barely
seeing an ROI in the solar system.
Now you go to get a quote for
your roof and you're like, wait a
minute, it's an extra eight grand.
And then all those savings
get flushed out the window.
Not ideal.
If it were me, I, I, I just personally
don't believe in selling solar to
a homeowner unless they're putting
on a roof at the same time, there
are obviously exceptions to a rule.
Let's say you did the roof a
year or two ago, going back
to those customers, of course.
But what I don't wanna do is,
is, is provide this without
providing the right information
to a homeowner to make a decision.
You could say five years is great.
Seven years is where we
start to get into that.
Gray area.
10 years to me is way too old way,
way too old to put solar on a roof
in the best interest of a homeowner.
So again, if you do decide to do that, you
need to communicate it to your homeowner.
And in our system we put roof
with solar on together, and
that way there's no issue.
All right.
This brings me to the big can
of worms, which is number five,
sleazy sales, taxing number five.
And I'm gonna guess that
there's gonna be some comments
in the comment section below.
By the way, I invite them for all of
these, whether you agree or disagree.
Uh, but this one I think is gonna probably
stir the pot the most, and that is selling
homeowners on the emotional benefit
of going green to help the planet Now.
If you start looking into what
it takes to produce solar panels,
you'll find that there's a tremendous
impact on mining on our environment,
which requires fossil fuels.
There's incredible foreign dependency,
incredible fuel consumption, fossil
fuel consumption to ship those panels.
From our foreign, these foreign
countries that we rely upon to the
US and then once they're installed,
they have a finite shelf life.
I know it's not a shelf life,
it's not food, but they have
a finite production life.
And then we need to either dispose
of or recycle those panels, which
either, again, cost more energy.
So selling it on this green
concept, people do because
they say, Hey, you know what?
Uh, you save the planet,
let's do it together.
And they're, they're playing into the
emotion cuz we know that people make
buying decisions based on emotion
and I see why it's being done.
I just quite frankly, don't necessarily
agree with it because of looking
into the, the actual requirements.
Of producing these panels.
It is very hard for me to see that that
is actually green and good for our planet.
If you wanna learn more on
this, I recommend watching the
documentary Planet of the Humans.
Uh, I know that Michael Moore is
a very controversial filmmaker.
I don't love everything
he's done, quite frankly.
We'll leave it there.
You can probably read between the lines.
And at the same time, I found
that to be quite illuminating to.
The actual cost to our
environment of solar panels.
Now all that being said, do I
think that providing solar to
a homeowner is a good idea?
Yes.
Do I think that providing solar to
a homeowner is a great way for them
to break the monopolistic handcuffs
that the utility company has on them?
Yes.
Do I think solar is a great way
to provide more energy freedom?
Yes.
Do I think solar's a great way
and needed for our world to grow
beyond our grid capabilities?
Yes, all of that I totally agree
with, and there is a very, very
valid argument for solar energy.
But what I'm not quite sold on is
selling people on the idea that
they're making this incredible
move to save the world together.
So there's the top five
sleazy solar sales tactics.
Again, quick summary number one,
false production expectations.
Number two, false monthly payment
expectations to understand that the.
Tax credit's gotta be applied to loan
Number three, taking advantage of
retirees or low income household that
cannot take advantage of the tax credit.
Number four.
Is installing solar on older roofs and
not communicating the cost, the true
cost to that homeowner of getting that
roof replaced with the detach reset.
And then number five, playing into
the emotions of homeowners, telling
them that they're helping the planet
when it really might not be that case.
Now, I told you that at the end of
the video I'd share with you a little
bit more about why I made this video.
I resisted, as I shared before for
many, many years, getting into solar,
despite people using my sales system
that were getting into solar, that
were begging me to get into solar,
adapting what I'm teaching in into
solar, despite the fact that I have
tons of solar salespeople that watch
my channel because the tactics apply.
I needed to be in solar in a
landscape that I believed in, and
that did right by the customers.
And it wasn't until I met up with
Cody, my partner, to co-develop the
system and test it behind the scenes.
Cody's company is using it currently.
We've rolled it out with a
handful of other companies.
Of course, we have other folks using
it now beyond its beta testing.
And it's been widely available
through our platform, is to
sell roof with solar together.
And what this does is it creates an
amazing experience for a customer to
get the highest return on investment
on the roof With solar, it provides
an incredible way for that customer
to deal with one central point of
contact as opposed to to multiple.
It provides a way for the roofing
salesperson to nearly double their
income without having to run more sales
appointments because we're in front of
one customer and able to add solar, and
it provides an opportunity for a roofing
company who might be tempted by solar to
avoid the pitfalls that many people do,
which is I'll start a solar division,
which isn't a division, it's a second
company, and this second company requires.
Separate operations, separate
marketing, separate sales, and then
they have another company that's
competing in the solar landscape.
Whereas when you go roof with solar,
you're able to train your team to then
offer solar to every qualifying homeowner
right at the kitchen table, for them to
add solar to their roof with incredible
benefit on the retail front by opening up.
Alternative financing vessels, which are
much cheaper than roof financing, and
even though the ticket price is higher,
by leveraging the solar financing vessels
and factoring in their monthly electric
bill, believe it or not, the monthly
investment total of their roof loan.
Payment plus their electric bill is often
higher than a roof with solar combo.
So there's a tremendous
economic value there.
And then on the on the storm damage
side, there's a tremendous economic value
because the homeowner has the opportunity
to pocket all the insurance proceeds
and get the work done fully financed.
So long as it is, all the work
on the scope of loss is done and
invoiced ethically, fairly and
and a hundred percent compliant.
That homeowner can now do
whatever they want with the money.
They can buy a pool.
They can take a vacation, they
can invest for kids college.
They can get a kitchen remodel.
They can blow it at a
casino for all you care.
The point is that's a tremendous value
add for them to take those proceeds.
So especially if they
need deductible help.
And instead of saying we can
help you say, Hey, what if I
just put money in your pocket?
If you're short on cash, we
have this other vessel there.
And again, depending on where they're
at with their electric bill, you
know, you might be adding a few
hundred dollars a month by, but you're
offsetting the electric adding in a roof.
And many homeowners find it to
be a tremendous opportunity.
So for those reasons, We get to
help roofing companies nearly double
without having to get new customers,
without having to compete in the
solar landscape where an average
acquisition cost is 2000 to $3,500
by just playing in the roofing world.
So if you wanna learn more, there's
a link in the description or you
can text demo to 3 0 3 2 2 2 71 33.
That's all for now.
If you wanna hang with me, hop into
this video and I'll see you soon.