By Marcy Marro, Managing Editor
educate homeowners on the benefi ts of having a metal roof in South Florida. “We’re creating a lot of great content—blogs, videos, photo galler- ies, etc.—for our website, social media and other marketing efforts. We also have many testimonial videos from clients who had metal roofs installed on their homes. The education we provide and the testimonial videos really help to give homeowners confi dence and peace of mind when choosing a metal roof for their home.” The key, Yoho says, is understanding the con-
sumer—understanding what the consumer wants and then trying to identify what they need. One way to do that is to get the homeowner to open up about their value system. Yoho recommends asking questions such as how long they’ve lived in the house, what they like about the neighborhood they are in, what other work they’ve had done to the house in the past.
It’s also important to build rapport with per-
spective buyers. “Rapport is a necessary ingredient in the transmission of information,” Yoho explains. “If people give you credibility; if they believe you are interested in them, then there’s a better chance they’ll listen to you for a longer period of time.” One of the challenges, Hildreth notes, is that
consumers are now coming to them already know- ing a lot of information, but that they tend to have a lot of misinformation too. “These are intelligent in- dividuals that we are dealing with, but it’s not their expertise,” Hildreth adds. “But if you talk to them in a sensible way, it comes all back to information and being honest.”
Cost Discussions Armed with what they believe is all the informa- tion they need, many homeowners’ main concern will be the cost of a new metal roof system. The
MRA and Yoho recommend addressing this issue from the very beginning of the sales process. “A contractor needs to explain that because metal roofi ng is a premium home product, you can expect a new roof to cost roughly two to three times what an asphalt shingle roof costs,” Hip- pard explains. “You can expect a metal roof to last at least two to three times longer than a regular roof. In general terms, count on a metal roof last- ing 40 to 60 years and beyond.” On the fl ip side, the average life span of an
asphalt roof is 12 to 20 years, and can be shorter depending on the pitch of the roof and the climate. “Made of oil impregnated paper or fi berglass, as- phalt begins to deteriorate as soon as you expose it to normal weather,” Hippard explains. “A metal roof, however, will never decompose.” Istueta explains that they tell homeowners that the benefi ts of having a metal roof outweigh
A good rapport between the homeowner and the contractor is vital to building a business relationship.
www.metalconstructionnews.com
January 2013
METAL CONSTRUCTION NEWS 23
Photo courtesy of C.O. Beck & Sons Co.
Photo courtesy of C.O. Beck & Sons Co.
Photo courtesy of C.O. Beck & Sons Co.
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