How to Deal With Savage Competition

Rebecca Switzer (c) Copyright 2013 - Roof Sales Mastery, LLC - All Rights Reserved

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How to Deal With Savage Competition

������������������Ǧ����������������������������������������������������������������������Ǥ�����ϐ�����time we experienced the mob of job-hungry contractors swarming a city, we couldn’t believe how disrespectful and cutthroat the environment became. Seemingly normal human beings turn into sav-age barbarians, stooping to childish lows to undercut other contractors competing for business in the area. How do you deal with competition that does unsavory things like stealing your signs out of your customers’ yards, or cruelly makes up untrue gossip about you or your company to try to turn cus-tomers away from you?

There was one particular occasion where I was outside with a homeowner performing an inspection of their roof across the street from another roofer who was putting a 3-tab shingle on a garage. Out of nowhere, the other roofer began yelling things about our company scamming homeowners and shouting things about not getting taken advantage of and other obscenities. While my gut instinct was to shout back something meaner and more clever to shut them up and put them in their place for say-ing untrue things about someone they didn’t even know, I kept my mouth shut and remained profes-sional in front of my homeowner. This reinforced that there was a crazy asshole screaming across the street like a lunatic, and I was maintaining my composure and ignoring his belligerent behavior like a professional. After the fact, the homeowner ended up laughing about the fact that this guy had taken almost two weeks to put a roof on this tiny garage, and I also got a chance to introduce this home-����������������ϐ�����������������������������������������������ǡ�������������������������������������ignorant roofer.

Use the golden rule.

Unfortunately, no matter where you work, there will always be immature people who feel as if they cannot get any business themselves unless they talk badly about everyone else working in the area. As they say, haters gonna hate! Remember that anyone trying to bring you down is already below you. Focus on the only thing that is in your control, which is your attitude and behavior. Continue to treat others how you would like to be treated. While you can’t control what other people do and say, you can control what you do and say. Never steal another company’s signs. Don’t engage in badmouthing. Resist the temptation to sink to their level and engage in name-calling, sign-stealing, material theft, and slander. Keep in mind that talking negatively about another contractor to a homeowner only demonstrates to them what kind of person YOU are, not what kind of person the other contractor is.

Kill ‘em with kindness.

The best way to deal with these kinds of individuals is to kill ‘em with kindness. Do you know how

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hard it is to keep yelling and screaming at someone who is smiling and being calm? Try it sometime.

The immature person will feel pretty dumb pretty quick. While you may very well feel like shouting

back, retaliating, or playing dirty in reprisal, bite your tongue. Remain calm and cordial. Go up and

introduce yourself, reach out to shake their hand and say, “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve ever met. You

must be confusing me with someone else. I’m (name) with (company). How’s it going?” Make small

talk and let them know you understand how competitive of a market it is and that we are all out here

trying to earn our jobs and make a living. You do not intend to step on their toes and you appreciate

them not stepping on yours. Wish them luck with their year and let them know if they need any help

throughout the summer to give you a call. Being kind, generous, and mature will go a long way. Of

����������������������������������������������������������������������ϐ���������������������������������even after your peace offering, but that’s their problem, not yours.

Any time you see other contractors working in your area, introduce yourself! Shake their hand, ask

them how their year is going, give them a useful tip about something. Building allies in your market

is smart and can protect you and your entire company from verbal attack. One roofer meets you and

then tells his coworkers that they met you and you were cool, and automatically your company is not

considered a threat.

Let your customers defend you.

A solid reference list is the best defense. If a homeowner says another contractor followed up behind

you and said they heard you did poor quality work or were out ripping people off, apologize to them

for getting bothered by that individual, and explain that the market is so competitive that unfortu-

nately inferior contractors feel that the only way they will get any business is by bad-mouthing their

competition. Pull out your reference list with at least six references with whom you have personally

worked with and sit down with that homeowner and get in touch with a couple people so they can

personally ask how their experience working with you was. Hearing directly from other customers

that you were honest, reliable, and did a good job for them will crush any gossip another dirtbag tries

to make up about you to try to steal a job.

Other ways to reinforce your integrity is to introduce your homeowner to neighbors who you have

done work for, direct them to a page like YellowPages or Yelp where you have accrued many positive

reviews from past customers, or use your BBB rating as further support that you and your company

are ethical and good. By presenting supporting information, showing you have nothing to hide by be-

ing transparent, and remaining calm and composed, you are demonstrating by example that you are

much more mature and professional individual, and the obvious choice is to continue doing business

with you, not the desperate idiot trying to steal business through unethical and childish tactics.

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Know when to let it go.

Keep in mind that if a homeowner is persuaded to go with another contractor because they convinced them you were doing poor work, ripping people off, or taking advantage of people, then you probably didn’t want to work with that person anyway. Anyone who is willing to work with another contractor who is blatantly stooping to low, unsavory behavior to try to scrape up jobs is probably not your ideal customer anyway. Consider it a blessing in disguise and move on to the next.

Do your best and forget the rest.

The most important thing to remember is that you can only focus on the things that are 100% in your control. That means your actions, words, and attitude are the only things you need to worry about. While annoying, the ignorant competition that is so desperate for jobs that they act childishly and unprofessionally are not your problem. Continue to be a respectable, professional individual every single day, and your reputation will speak for itself.

(c) Copyright 2013 - Roof Sales Mastery, LLC - All Rights Reserved