Making Connections: Non-linear thinking between Philosophy and Roofing Sales

I’m always looking for connections between things that do not usually belong together. My wife says it is a function of my ADHD, which is my constant ability to be distracted by everything that has been honed and weaponized. I totally agree with that, as non-linear thinking in the age of artificial intelligence, which is strictly linear in process, is a pretty powerful tool in one’s mental toolkit, as long as it remains honed and ordered and does not descend into the chaos of distraction-laden rabbit holes, which, if I am being honest, it certainly does from time to time happen to me.

However, seeing connections that most people miss can crack open novel approaches to old problems. Mostly such connections are a new vantage point from which to see the problem, which may yield new or improved insights, solutions, or it may just give more information that was lacking. Other times, the solution becomes visible to the point it is almost inescapable, and novel insights are only the beginning.

I want to tell a fun and true story about these types of connections.

I worked in roofing sales for two years while building my speaking ministry with Paradisus Dei. The roofing company- Petrus Roofing and Solar- is run in accordance with Catholic principles of social justice toward the customer, the salesmen, the insurance companies, and with leadership. It was fun developing marketing plans and learning sales, which were two things I have never done before. I became a skilled inspector of attics, a nerd for moisture issues, a student of salesmanship, and a fanatic for “the perfect roofing system”, which I long to build for my own personal home. Sales had the most specific touchpoint with my life at that point, since public speaking and trying to win hearts and minds was always what I try to do, with varying levels of success.

A year later I find myself helping launch a Catholic classical school at my parish church, Campion Academy. I am teaching a Philosophy class for seventh and eighth graders, of which there was no preexisting curriculum so I had to invent it in accordance with our school’s values and culture. I went down many rabbit holes of study: philosophy, theology, the Trivium, classical Greek and Roman teaching and schooling, Medieval monasteries and the rise of universities, Saint John Henry Newman’s The Idea of a University, and more. I also spent weeks diving through different commentaries on philosophy so that my presentation of the subject matter would be relevant and captivating for middle school students, which is no easy task!

Within a few weeks of reviewing the Socratic Method, I end up doing a personal study of rhetoric in the classical educational tradition. After all, I am a speaker and evangelist for my full-time job and a podcaster on the side as well. Socrates and Plato had low opinions of rhetoric, seeing it as trickery and deception for the sake of personal ends or goals. Aristotle, however, did not.

Aristotle taught that rhetoric was persuasive speech for the sake of the truth, which obviously diverged from his teacher. It was when I reviewed Rhetoric that I made a connection to roofing sales. A major problem in sales was reframed by Aristotle’s principles in a manner that was incredibly helpful.

Aristotle refined the use of rhetoric and brought his philosophy to bear upon this practical art of speech. His three concepts of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos are the ethical salesman’s journey to work on behalf of a potential buyer, not to personally enrich himself at the expense of the other. Logos is the reasoned argument or process behind the sale, which is the reality of an old, damaged, or failed roof and the need for a replacement or repair. Pathos is the emotional content in buying an expensive product that is extremely important, as it protects a person’s home and family. The emotions are not just the ones I want to drum up in the buyer as a consequence of my incredible rhetorical skills, but also my attentiveness to their suffering, as a person who is in need of an expensive-but-necessary product. Ethos is the ethical or moral character of the salesman to guide the entire process to the right and practical conclusion.

For a craftsman, the end result is a well-made product. But sales is different. We are selling someone else’s product or service, and so we rarely have input on how well or poorly that product is made or that service is done, which is rather weird. It introduces a gap that needs to be justified and made intelligible to all parties involved (logos). And the gap between the product and the sale needs to be governed by ethical standards that prevent fraud, abuse, theft, deceit, or shoddy workmanship (ethos).

Moreover, the emotional impact (pathos) of paying $20,000+ for a new roof is incredible. Most homeowners never think about or notice their roof. Once you become an inspector and salesman, however, all we notice are the roofs in a neighborhood. I joke with my wife that I only have eyes for her and asphalt shingles. She is unimpressed with my humor.

Anyway, the financial impact is enormous. Most homeowners cannot pay that kind of money and they are not ready to hear such a high price. Pathos is real. Objections and obstacles need to be handled ahead of time, but in a manner that respects the buyer and eases them into the reality of the situation. This is where abuse and deception creep in.

In the Houston market, the pressure is to go the insurance claim route and try to get it covered by storm damage. There are a ton of bureaucratic red tape and hurdles to jump through to get it approved and bought by the insurance company. Sometimes homeowners want to scam the insurance company. Sometimes the roofer pushes the scam to get it bought and get that payday. Most of the time, sadly, the insurance company delays, denies, and defends in court their rejection of even clearly legitimate claims. All of this is because of the pathos of suddenly having to buy a $20,000 roof one was not prepared for in the slightest. Homeowners are incentivized to cheat and lie. Insurance companies are incentivized to deny real claims. Roofers are incentivized to claim damage where there is none or to make it themselves.

It is a prisoner’s dilemma where everyone can win as long as they play together and refuse to cheat. Once cheating or lying happens, it is all a house of cards that tumbles down, resulting in high prices for deductibles, roofing materials, and costs of doing business. It’s a shame.

However, all of this goes away if everyone was just honest and ethical. If the roofer only made legit claims, if homeowners saved their money and refused to lie or exaggerate, if insurance companies fulfilled their obligations immediately, we would not be in the mess we are in now.

That said, ethical actions have to start somewhere. Someone has to make the decision to be ethical and not dumpster dive with the liars and cheats. That decision to be just and honest has to become a habit of one’s character, a disposition that is stable and unwavering in the face of easy money. The roofer who refused to lie, defraud, or exaggerate will still get denied by the insurance companies from time to time or be viewed with suspicion by the homeowner. That does not matter. Conforming one’s character to the demands of justice means one must be willing to suffer injustice at the hands of others, including reputation assassination by unscrupulous fools.

There were many times when homeowners pressured us to find damage so they could file a false claim. We have fired customers for just suggesting such things. There were many times when insurance companies refused to pay the full price for what we did for their own customer, the homeowner. We still did the work and fought the insurance company, but we did it with Logos, reasoned arguments and tons of photographic and video evidence.

Over time, certain insurance agents would contact us for their customers. We built up a new reputation from the good adjusters and companies out there that we could be trusted with doing what we said and not lying or exaggerating about damage. Over time, claims passed the approval phase quickly for our company as opposed to others. Our roof material suppliers invited us to events, not because we were their top customers, but because we were their favorite customers. Our subcontractors would tell us that they would take our jobs over any other roofing company because we paid in full and on time, and did not try to snake our way out of valid invoices already agreed upon.

Aristotle’s Rhetoric was a connection I had never made with sales before, but now it has become obvious to me. I’m using persuasion to close a sale, but I have to know that this particular sale is the right one for this buyer and that my installers are capable to completing the job right the first time.

I wrote a 9-page approach the rhetorical salesman and my co-author has floated it to a wide group of sales organizations and they all gave positive feedback and found it incredibly useful.

The world is full of interconnecting realities that, if we have the eyes and ears to perceive it, are there to be found by those curious and distracted enough to go hunting.