Roofer MBA — 128 plays for the business side of a roofing company. Free to read, no account, nothing for sale. What this is →
Six Touches, Then Stop
Module 9 · Sales & Leads · Play 7 of 14
The problem in one breath
Half the estimates you have ever sent are sitting in a folder with nothing behind them — never answered, never chased past one voicemail, never formally dead. You do not know which of them are still alive, and neither do they.
Why it happens
Following up feels like begging, so it gets done in a mood instead of on a schedule: two calls to the customer you liked, nothing at all to the one who was short with you. And because there is no end to the process, there is no comfortable middle either — a man who has not decided whether to chase somebody forever will usually chase them zero times.
The play
- Start the clock when the estimate leaves, and put an end date on the price. One shop holds its number for fourteen days and says so on the page — material moves, and a quote that is good forever is a quote nobody has to answer. The date is what turns your follow-up from nagging into a reason to call.
- Run six touches and no more. Two calls, two texts, two emails, roughly two days apart. Six is enough to reach a person who wants to be reached and short enough that you never become the shop that will not go away.
- Let them choose the channel and the pace. If they answer texts and never a call, quit calling. If they said "give me two weeks, we're on vacation," the cadence waits — you are following a person, not running a sequence at them.
- The one who inspected is the one who follows up. They were on that roof, they know the name and the back bedroom, and they can answer a real question on the first ring instead of promising to check with somebody. Handing follow-up to whoever is free makes the sixth touch sound like a call center.
- Give them the easy out on the way through. Say plainly that if they have gone another direction, no problem at all — just say so. It is the sentence that gets answered, because you have made "no" cheap. And a clean no beats a maybe you carry for a month.
- Then stop, and put them on the list instead. When the six are done, that customer is done — no seventh call, no drip forever. Twice a year, in the slow weeks of spring and fall, go back through that year's unsold estimates and work the list once. Some come back. One shop puts it around one in ten and freely admits nobody has ever counted it, so treat that as a feel, not a number to plan against.
- Re-price before you re-sell. If it is recent, re-quote it at today's material cost. If it has been six months or more, somebody goes back and looks — the roof has changed, and on repairs and maintenance especially it may not be the same job at all. A stale price honored out of politeness is a job you lose money on.
Do this this week
Pull every estimate you sent in the last sixty days that never got an answer, and run the six on them starting today. That folder is the cheapest lead source in your shop — you already paid for those leads and already climbed those roofs.
The tool
The follow-up card — the cadence, and the two sentences that end it.
FOLLOW-UP — SIX TOUCHES, THEN STOP
Estimate sent [date]. Price holds until [date].
Who follows up: THE PERSON WHO INSPECTED IT.
1. Call day 1 [ ]
2. Text day 3 [ ]
3. Email day 5 [ ]
4. Call day 7 [ ]
5. Text day 9 [ ]
6. Email day 11 [ ]
They only answer one channel? Use that one. They asked
for time? Wait. Six is the ceiling, not the quota.
THE EASY OUT — say it by touch 4 or 5:
"If you've gone another direction, no problem at all,
just let me know so I quit bothering you. If you're
still interested, say the word and we'll get you
scheduled."
AFTER SIX: stop. Move them to the unsold list.
THE UNSOLD LIST — work it twice a year, spring and fall
Under ~6 months old ....... re-quote at today's prices
Over ~6 months old ........ re-inspect before you quote
If your crew is 1099
Nothing here changes, but the calendar does. A shop running sub crews can go from booked to empty in two weeks, so the unsold list is the first thing to reach for when the schedule thins — before the discounting starts (Module 14, Play 6, "Have Work Waiting for the Weeks the Phone Goes Quiet"). Work the list on a set week, not only in a panic.
M9-07 · Six Touches, Then Stop — Roofer MBA, https://roofermba.com/plays/sales-leads/six-touches-then-stop
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Same fire
You sent the price and never heard back
- M9-07six touches, then stop — you’re here
Fixed this?
Silence after a price is usually money. The homeowner who cannot say that out loud just stops answering.
The fire right behind it is usually She wants the roof but says she can't pay for it.