This video is emotionally charged because I cannot stand this sales practice.
It is one of the most fatal flaws that I see.
Widespread in the roofing industry, the fatal flaw of white lies and
over embellishing things for the sole purpose of telling customers
what you think they want to hear to make it easier for you to sign deals.
Now this over embellishment white lie.
Tactic comes across in a variety of ways, which I'm gonna be spelling out
in today's video, and so many people who otherwise you'd think we're, we're good.
Folks are using these deceptive practices that I find truly immoral,
unethical, and poisoning the reputation of our entire industry.
When you search on Google the words roofer news, you're gonna see articles
of deaths, scams, contractors running off with checks, contractors getting arrest.
Nothing positive in there.
Beware of roofers.
That's the, the, the mass media messaging saying that all of us are in the
same camp of sc scumbag con artists.
And to add insult to injury, homeowners are wisely up to this.
You see this on comments on some of my videos, specifically one video
called, um, rejection at the Door, and I'll put a link to that one.
But if you, it's up here in the corner.
When you look through the comments section, you'll see a lot of angry
homeowners making comments in that video about some of these tactics, like
misrepresenting people over, embellishing, making up fake names, all of that stuff.
So in this video I wanna identify what this fatal flaw is of over
embellishment and, uh, innocent white lie and why no one should do it.
And if you see anyone on your team doing it, we gotta squash it right away.
If you keep doing these things, they will come back to bite.
I promise you.
Now, if they do come back to bite you, here's what's gonna happen.
One, you're gonna get a canceled contract.
Two, you're gonna have an angry homeowner who's gonna blast negativity
about you everywhere they possibly can on the internet, including reviews.
You cannot delete.
Three, they're gonna post in the local Facebook community groups,
warning other people about you.
And number four, if it comes up when you're in the middle of a
process, it will lose you deals.
But those are all consequences.
That, in my opinion, shouldn't even be factored in.
Because at the end of the day, the reason you should not be doing
this is because it is immoral.
And unethical.
Fair enough.
Now let's get to it.
Uh, before we do a quick welcome or welcome back, my name's Adam Benjamin,
the roof strategist, and this video is a little different than the ones
I normally do because I feel called to call out what I view as toxic
behavior that's poisoning our industry.
So if you're someone who prides yourself on delivering a five star customer
experience, serving with honor, And integrity, providing an education
based experience for homeowners and helping guide them to choose you.
Then I hope you really like what's available here on my channel and in
our podcast, and most importantly inside our training center.
And if you wanna get a taste of that, you can get in the the free training
center and to get access to my pitch, like a pro roofing sales training, video
library, roof plans, crash course, 10 closing techniques for every situation,
my recommended reading list, and even a wait list to get a free copy of my
brand new book that'll be coming out very soon called The Roofing Sales Survival.
There's a link in the description, or you can text the word
free to 3 0 3 2 2 2 71 33.
That's the word free 3 0 3 2 2 2 71 33.
All right.
By the way, if you have any program questions, you can
text that number as well.
Now let's get to it.
This fatal flaw of intentional misdirection of information for
the purpose of this white lie to make customers feel good.
Now, all these stories I'm gonna be sharing with you are
people that I have talked.
personally, these are stories that have come through email, phone
calls, or conversations after events.
And what blows my mind is how people fess up to doing this almost with
some sense of pride behind them.
So let's wrap the bandaid off.
Get to it.
Identify these fatal flaws so you can sniff 'em out and
squash all of this stuff.
Fatal, flawed number.
Making up neighbors names.
I see this happening at a widespread level.
I've even seen people teaching to do this.
This one gentleman I interacted with and it made my skin crawl in my blood boil.
He was telling me how he was hopping fences to get into G gated communities.
Breaking and entering into private, no trespassing areas.
And he would show up at the house, knock on that door and say, Hey, the reason
I'm stopping by, and he'd make up this fictitious name, the so-and-so sent me
over and he proudly boasted it works.
No one's ever caught it and it's allowed me to get in.
And I know when he reached out, he later.
He was wing up to this and I realized there's probably a better way.
I'm like, yeah, there is not lying.
How's that being honest and truthful?
How's that?
Going up at a neighbor's house and implying that someone sent
you when they don't exist.
Imagine that happening to you.
Imagine that you signed a contract for a $25,000 roof with someone that you
really liked, and then right after signing it, you find out that this neighbor
that sent them over doesn't even exist.
Can you imagine the feeling of being conned, immediate distrust of that person?
Like it's, and again, it's just not right.
So how do we go about doing this?
The right.
All you need to do is use real names of customers that you serve.
And if you're brand new in a neighborhood and you haven't served anybody yet, you
just knock on that door and say, Hey, the reason I'm stopping by, I'm talking to
to folks on and you name their street.
That is truthful.
You are there talking to folks on Lexington Lane.
On their street.
Once you start having those conversations, use the real names of real people
who you're actually helping skip the nonsense of making up garbage.
All right, so that's fatal Flaw number one is making up names to
give you an in in the neighborhood.
All right, number two, over embellishment about company details.
Guy comes up to me once, this was after a speaking event, newer company, by the
way, been in business for two years.
I asked how things were going and, and part of the conversation
that came up in our training.
Obstacles that new companies face.
There's a lot of distrust from homeowners when you don't have
that longevity as a new company.
It's one of the reasons that I did a video on overcoming the objection of year
two new, by the way, that's available in the objections playlist, and I have that
inside our free training center as well.
So hop on and take a look.
Now, in that video I talk about how to overcome those concerns, but at
the end of the day, we just need to.
Truthful.
Like, I, I can't even believe that I have to do a video talking
about, you have to be honest.
It, it blows my mind.
But here's what happens.
This guy says, I've been in business for two years, and then instantly
he says, with a smirk on his face.
But I tell customers six cuz it makes him feel better.
And I, I had to hold my tongue and I, I was like, but you've only
been in business for two years.
Why?
Well, customers don't want to trust me and do business with me
cuz they think it's too young.
So I tell 'em.
I know I'm gonna do a good job.
Again, this is the embellishment of what feels like an innocent white lie.
Well, I know I'm a good company.
They don't know that.
So if I just tell them that I'm in business for six years, then they don't
think that I'm gonna disappear in a couple years cuz they know I won't.
And I just wanted to feel comfortable.
No, you're lying.
Don't bring it up.
And if you do need help, go watch the video on how to overcome that obstacle.
Listen, this embellishment white lie stuff is just a bandaid for people
that don't know how to sell and have a sole purpose of manipulating other
people to work with them by trying to say, well, what would they want
to hear and how do I give them that?
So that was embellishment number two.
Now, the third embellishment, the third white lie that I see
happening is over embellishment on any other company details.
We've done so many so and so many houses.
We've been in business this long.
These over embellishments.
The internet is a powerful place.
It's not difficult to find information.
And again, the fact that I even have to spell out the consequences of doing it and
how you could get caught is ridiculous.
What I wish I could have done, I just put up a video saying, Hey
friends, just be honest and real.
And that would make it really simple.
So what I challenge you to do, if you've done any of this stuff, and I know
that there are people out there that had poor guidance, poor instruction,
were even trained to do this, started doing it out of desperation, which
is one of the most common reasons that people use sleazy tactics is
desperation in needing the business.
So instead of doing that, I encourage you to spend some time here on this channel.
Go through the playlist inside the free training center, where you can learn how
to ace your pitch at the door, when you can learn how to overcome objections,
when you can learn how to make yourself.
Come across as familiar to the neighborhood because you genuinely
are, and to learn ways to present and interact with customers on a
true human level to be of service.
Because at the end of the day, the reason that I added that tagline and give every
customer an amazing experience instead of smash your income goal is because
in the very beginning I had that, that was my mission statement, to help you
and your team smash your income goal.
But then I realized that people are willing to do about just about
anything to win the business, like coming across as sleazy and scammy.
And an innocent white lie.
And what ends up happening is the homeowner is the victim there.
So you smashed your income goal, but it was at the homeowner's expense, and
that's why I've added and give every customer an amazing experience because
those two need to work hand in hand for you to win the business, for you to feel
good about yourself, for you to truly be of service, and for you to serve from
a place of honor and true integrity.
Agree or disagree?
Drop a comment in the comment section below and share with me the worst
stuff you've seen happening out there when it comes to over embellishment.
Cause I know homeowners talk to you about competitors, and oftentimes
it's the competitor who's in the house after your little BS spiel that
are gonna blow the whistle on you.
So I wanna hear from you, drop a comment, let me know the nastiest stuff you've
seen on the over embellishment, innocent white lie tactics being used, and
uh, hopefully this helps you and the.
Sell with even more honor and integrity and truthfulness and not
trying to rely on manipulative lies to coerced people to work with you.
Pretty simple concept.
Remember, a rising tide lifts all.
Together, we truly can unite to bring a sound reputation to the roofing
industry and serve people in a way that they go through that experience.
And this is how we do it, my friends.
We do it one customer at a time.
You win that customer.
You serve them the best you possibly can.
You educate them on their options, you earn their business,
and you do an amazing job.
And that's how we rebuild this reputation.
It's not from one little thing or one person.
It's all of us doing right.
And it should be quite simple.
That's all I have for this.
Thanks for joining me, and, uh, if you have any comments or questions, drop
them in the comment section below.
We do keep an eye on all of that.
And if you wanna continue your journey with me, hop inside our free training
center right here, or jump right into this video and we'll see you on the next one.