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.
If you're new in roofing sales or
considering a career in roofing
sales, I'm guessing you're
wondering when should you go all in?
Should you be doing this on the side
of your full-time job or do you try to
split the difference by doing this most
of the time and getting a part-time gig?
And maybe you're wondering
how long is it gonna take to
start getting money rolling in?
Well, I'm gonna be answering
all that and more in this video
of sales talk over coffee.
First I wanna say quick
welcome or welcome back, Adam.
Ben's been here, the roof strategist
and everything that we do here in my
program, in my sales training, in my
free training center in our community and
mastermind called the Pitch Pro Movement.
And when I'm out speaking in training
companies, it is all designed to help you
and your team smash your income goal and
give every customer an amazing experience.
And I just wanna say welcome because
the fact that you're here tells me
that you're excited about betting
on yourself, trying something new,
and investing in in a new career
path that could absolutely transform
your life and help you earn life.
Changing money.
And in fact there are a lot of roofing
salespeople that in their very first
year hit the six-figure mark, hit the
multi six-figure mark and sometimes earn
even $300,000 in their very first year.
But getting there is the hard part and
getting started is the hardest part.
So I want to talk through a few of these
different scenarios because everyone is
gonna have a different view and different
comfort level on what kind of to.
For risk.
They have, when I got into
the business, it was in 2000.
I was a massage therapist at a
franchise, and I was earning under
$20,000 a year, uh, living on a strict
$4 and 20 cents a day in groceries.
I, I never went out to eat.
Now, I was lucky enough that over the
years I was squiring away a little bit
of money at a time, and I had $2,000
roughly saved up, which was about six
to eight weeks of runway cash flow
wise for me to make this thing work.
And many people had given me the
advice to say, Adam, don't leave
the quote, unquote, stability.
Of the massage therapy gig to go
all in on this commission only job.
It's door to door.
Who does door-to-door sales?
It's commission only.
You have no sales experience.
It's roofing.
You know nothing about roofs.
And I get it.
Those people truly loved me
and they wanted what was best.
But I knew in my heart of hearts as
I began calculating how our company
worked, that I would likely earn more
in one roofing sale just one than an
entire month doing the massage therapy
at that franchise I was working at.
So I made this decision and
it was a very scary decision.
Do I juggle it?
Do I.
But I wanna share with you how I made
this decision and what decision I made.
I started to look at my hours at the
massage therapy franchise, and I was
working nights because that's when
people want a massage and weekends,
which is when people want a massage.
Now, unfortunately, that is the absolute
prime time to be outselling roofs.
So for me to try to juggle it meant that
I was out trying to knock doors at like
10 o'clock in the morning on the weekdays.
And the more that I started to
try to juggle this, I realized.
I can't give this my all, and if I try
to put one foot on either side, I'm just
gonna delay or one foot's gonna slip.
I'm gonna fall on that fence right between
my legs and it ain't gonna feel good.
So I made the decision.
To go all in.
I gave my notice.
I quit the massage therapy
gig and I gave roofing sales.
All I had, now, I'm the type of
person, I visualize what's gonna
happen, and I did not doubt myself.
Now, was I scared and did
I get nervous at times?
Absolutely.
But when I made that leap, In my
mind, I was already successful.
I had already hit that income goal and I
knew I could, I bet everything on myself.
And I built the metaphorical
parachute on the way down
after jumping out of the plane.
But at that time, I was in my twenties.
I was living alone.
I was not married, no children,
and little responsibility.
So I could make that leap.
And I would encourage you as soon
as you're able, cause I'll touch
on this in a second, as soon as
you're able to go all in, but I
have spoken with folks who are a.
They're the sole income or the
household and they have four children.
I would be probably jeopardizing
the livelihood of an entire
family if I was like, you got this
man, because I don't know you.
I don't know your situation.
I didn't know if you have other
financial obligations and everyone's risk
tolerance is different, but objectively
speaking, the sooner that you can go all.
The better because the time and energy to
get things going in roofing, sales will
generally take, and people are different,
but there's about a six to eight
week delay from sale to getting paid.
Now, every company's different.
Some companies these days are
offering a low base pay or salary or
advances on commission or draws that
can come in early or startup pay.
There's, there's a whole variety.
Of pay plans out there, and if you
wanna learn more, you can watch my
videos on pay plans and roofing sales.
We'll link to that card up here and what
I think is fair, just the common pay
plans, so you can kind of shake that out
for yourself to see what that looks like.
But generally speaking, count
on six to eight weeks if you're
successful out of the gate.
And you may wanna buffer for two to three
months of light cash flow as you get.
There was a gentleman who emailed me, by
the way, he had earned, I believe, I'm
going through my memory, I believe it
was a little over 200,000 in his first
year, but getting started was slow.
He had, I think a few hundred dollars
of commission in the first month, I
think like 2000 in the next month.
Maybe he was three or 4,000
thereafter, and then it shut
up to 20 and it kept pace.
Big numbers every single month, but that
little trickle was like, I started to
get a little taste, started to do okay.
Oh, now I'm figuring out,
I'm doing a little better.
And for many people they
end up quitting too soon.
And.
This gentleman, if he would've quit
in those first three months, cuz he
wasn't seeing the big money coming
in, would've missed out on earning
multi six figures in his first year.
So I just want you to be prepared
with realistic expectations that
the absolute hardest part of this
industry is your first six months.
Getting into it, getting started, getting
in the swing of things, feeling confident,
learning a new craft, learning new sales,
being in new environments and challenging.
So first question, do you go
all in as soon as you can?
Yes.
Second question.
How long is it gonna take?
Six to eight weeks, maybe
as long as six months.
Depends on the market.
Depends on when you start.
If you're starting, let's say, selling in,
uh, Iowa, and you get hired in February.
It's cold.
You might not be that
active until the spring.
So again, there is some
considerations and the seasonality
that you'll want to keep in mind.
I would highly recommend that you speak
with the company that you're selling
for or considering selling for, to ask
them what they would expect the ramp up
time to be based on their comp plants.
Now, the last thing that I wanna
address in this video is the
idea of this part-time job thing.
Do you do it or do you not?
I've worked with quite a few
roofing salespeople who've had jobs,
specifically bartending because
that's how they came into it.
They're good with people.
They can handle conflict.
They're used to people being rude and
they channel those skills in a way
in sales to earn really good money.
But that cash flow, there's
that delay as we get started.
So these folks decide to keep their
bartending job as they get traction.
More often than not, what I've found
is they reach a point where they're
like, well, why would I do that?
I'm making more on sales now.
I can make that pivot.
And then they go all in.
So very few people will
keep that in the long run.
But there's one big, big, big problem
with the bartending side jobs.
They have a tendency to demand weekend
hours or evening hours, and again, it
depends on where you're at, but my best
advice is that if you get a part-time job,
you find someplace that will allow you
to work in the mornings during the week.
This will free up your time to be
free in the evenings and the weekends,
which is the single most valuable.
I guess it's not single
if it's seven days a week.
, my point is the nights and the weekends
are the most valuable time for you to
be out knocking doors, making sales, or
running appointments for your company
because that's when people are home.
And if you can do that, you'll have the
best availability to start making sales.
So you can.
go all in even quicker and
ditch the part-time job.
Now, the key takeaway is you
need to assess your own threshold
of one, your risk tolerance.
Two, who's depending on you.
And three, do you have a contingency plan?
I always hope for the best and plan for
the worst, and I was fortunate enough.
In my twenties to know that if I
burned through my money and I went
two months without making any sales, I
could jump back into a massage therapy
franchise and pick up another one
to continually earn not great money.
While I tried to make this work, I also
knew that my brother lived just around
the corner, and I'd probably be able
to crash on his couch if I needed to.
And I know that I've got two loving
parents that wouldn't, you know, if push
came to shove, I'd have a couch to crash.
Hot meals and some love and
support to, as I balled my eyes
out feeling like a failure.
But at the end of the day, I just
want to commend you because the fact
is you're looking at a new career
or starting a new career, you're
taking a risk and that's admirable.
and whether or not it even works
out, you deserve a pat on the back.
And I mean that from
the bottom of my heart.
Because you're betting on yourself.
You're trying something new, you're
challenging yourself, you're putting
yourself into an uncomfortable position.
And if you play your cards right,
which I'm guessing you are, cuz
you're here doing your homework and
learning about this industry, you
too have the capabilities, the full
capabilities to apply yourself,
gamify this personal development,
change your life and earn six figure.
Or more in your very first year.
So I'm really honored to have you
here and to help support your journey.
So congratulations again and remember.
Go all in.
As soon as you can juggle that
risk, get a few months saved up.
So you're in a comfortable
position to make that transition.
And I hope that you are absolutely
wildly successful in roofing sales.
Thanks for joining me on this
video and just cuz our time
here is about to wrap up.
Doesn't mean you are in my time.
Has to.
I, I'd like to invite you to join
me inside the free training center.
You can click here to get in there
and, Click on the pitch, like a pro
roofing sales training video library.
There's three playlists right at the
top that are perfect for the beginner or
soon to be beginner roofing salesperson.
And if you wanna hang with me here
on YouTube, hop into this video
and I will see you on the next one.