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If you’ve been a storm-restoration contractor for more than a day, you’ve likely come up against unscrupulous contractors who compete on the promise of waiving or eating deductibles.  This can be a difficult challenge to overcome because while many homeowners recognize they’re breaking the law, they see it as a “white lie” type of crime and think there’s zero chance of them ever getting caught. 

To help professional contractors better compete with this illegal practice, I’m providing the following recommendations:    

1. Trust The Process: Your ability to overcome the deductible objection has less to do with how you respond to the objection and much more to do with how much the prospect wants to do business with you.  If the prospect really wants to work with you, the salesperson can identify the reasons and ask the prospect to measure the perceived value of those reasons against the cost of the deductible.  This is why the sales process is so important.  When used effectively, the salesperson is better able to build an emotional connection and become the “contractor of choice” for the project.  The more they want to do business with you, the greater your chances of overcoming the deductible objection.     
       
2. Choose Your Words Carefully: When a prospect tells you the other guy is going to waive the deductible, they’re telling you – in not so many words – that they’re looking for you to help them break the law.  This is why I strongly suggest you not lecture the prosect on how they’re “breaking the law” and focus more on how they’re “committing fraud”.  These homeowners very likely believe they’re committing a “white lie” type of crime, like illegal parking for example.  When you use the word “fraud” or “felony”, it’s implying a much more serious offence with more severe penalties.    
   
   
3. Ask Them “How”: I’d strongly suggest you ask the prospect “Did the other contractor explain how he’s going to waive your deductible?”  When the homeowner is unable to answer this question, it gives you the opportunity to plant a strong seed of doubt by explaining how the process works.  Use your roof “assessment” (not an estimate) to explain how the insurance company sets the price and will only agree to pay for the minimum acceptable standard.  Tell them how you’re going to input the materials from your roof assessment into the pricing software the insurance company requires you to use, and the software will tell you what the insurance company will pay.  The other contractor’s ability to waive the deductible can only happen if they overcharge the insurance company – which won’t work because the insurance company will never agree to pay more than what’s required – or the contractor doesn’t do the repairs they were paid to do.  After explaining how it works, you might want to ask, “Mr. Prospect, if the contractor you’re going to trust to do the work is encouraging you to commit fraud, what else might they be willing to do to make a profit on this project?  The difference between happy homeowners and those who become a statistic with the Better Business Bureau always comes down to who they trusted to do the work.  Do you honestly think you can trust someone who’s encouraging you commit a felony?”    
   
   
4. Offer An Alternative Option: We all love the power of choice and can find it extremely demotivating to have zero options or control.  This is why it’s my strong recommendation to use financing to help make it easier for the prospect to choose you.  Rather than simply saying “No” to their request, you might offer a couple of different payment options to empower them with a choice that helps them legally repair their home.  Tools like ProFund give contractors an easy-to-use, cost-effective way to offer homeowners a wide variety of affordable payment options.    Now rather than saying “No” or forcing the homeowner to use a high-rate credit card to pay their $5,000 deductible, you can make it easier for them to use you by offering an unsecured, low-fixed rate monthly payment of $57.50 with no prepayment penalty, for example.  (based on 144 months @11.99%)
   
   
5. Just Say “No”: It’s been my experience that contractors who don’t waive deductibles are just as busy and just as profitable as those who do waive deductibles.  So, we need to hold firm on our position to not participate in this illegal activity and use this to further demonstrate you being a more trustworthy contractor.  If you think about it, how can we say we’re the “most trusted” or “most dependable” when we’re also saying we’ll help the prospect break the law?  

No matter how you slice it, the practice of waiving deductibles is against the law and puts the client and the contractor at risk.  This is why contractors need rely on the sales process to build trust and be prepared use that trust to compel the prospect to choose a different path.  

As with any price objection, your ability to win the deductible game will always come down to the perceived value of the differences weighed against the addition cost required to hire you as their contractor.        

If you’d like to learn more about how ProFund is changing the game with the powerful sales tools, please go to Profund.net.