Greg Wood is the owner of America’s Choice Roofing, a roofing company that is located in Great Falls, Montana.
Recently, Wood revealed that America’s Choice Roofing employs a salesman who used to be an adjuster at State Farm.
Some roofing companies have been known to hire ex-adjusters as salesmen, but Wood says that the transition from adjuster to salesman is not always easy.
“The gentleman we hired was someone we had worked with over the years when he was at State Farm,” says Wood.
“Now that I’m able to see how he approaches things from the other side, it’s interesting because now he better understands what roofing contractors go through when they’re dealing with insurance adjusters.”
One might assume that having a former insurance adjuster on staff would give America’s Choice Roofing an advantage when it comes to roof inspections, but Wood is quick to point out that having an ex-adjuster doesn’t make the insurance claims process inherently easier.
“At first, I thought it would have been easier because he knew the insurance claims process and how to go about it, but there are still a lot of things that don’t come easy for him. It’s a totally different world when you’re going from being an insurance adjuster to a roofing contractor,” Wood explains.
“You would think that as a former adjuster you would be more patient and understanding, but you can still get tremendously frustrated.”
Wood then goes on to say that despite having an ex-adjuster on staff, his roofing company still only pursues legitimate insurance claims.
While this may seem like common sense to most roofing business owners, unfortunately, there are some roofing companies who continuously try to manipulate insurance companies into paying for claims that should never have been made.
“My salesman is like a teacher. He loves to explain the insurance process. He’s black and white, in that if there is a claim, he knows the insurance company has a responsibility to pay,” Wood says.
“He also makes sure that he has a legitimate claim to process. A lot of people don’t always have a legitimate claim to process, then they get hurt when the adjuster says no because they didn’t have a bona fide claim to begin with.”
As for why Wood’s salesman left State Farm to come work for America’s Choice Roofing, Wood says the company culture at America’s Choice Roofing was more appealing to the salesman.
“He told me State Farm was becoming very corporate, and while he likes to have structure, here at America’s Choice Roofing we are a family-owned business. We do things a bit differently than the bigger guys,” Wood says.
As mentioned at the outset of this article, some roofing companies have elected to hire ex-insurance adjusters as salesmen.

Wood sees no issue with this practice, but again acknowledges that bringing in an ex-adjuster is not the secret formula for achieving success in the roofing industry.
“Adjusters tend to be very analytical and process driven, and on the roofing side of things, it’s more about psychology than it is about process,” says Wood.
“Knowing the sales process and dealing with homeowners and other personality types is a big shift for an adjuster who is coming over to the roofing side. I found that for those guys, trying to understand a homeowner’s psychology of why they are going to buy a new roof can come as a surprise.”
Still, it doesn’t matter if a roofing company employs a salesperson who used to work for State Farm, or someone who used to be a bartender; either way, that salesperson needs leads in order to sell roofing jobs.
For Wood, he has been one of the few roofing contractors in America who has found success by partnering with HomeAdvisor, a homeowner-contractor connection platform that has drawn enormous amounts of criticism over the years for their questionable sales tactics.
“I can’t tell you,” Wood says with a laugh when asked why he is able to land jobs using HomeAdvisor.
“My situation might be different because as I’ve watched more Roofing Insights content and seen how they have documented their issues with HomeAdvisor, I can’t necessarily relate. My roofing company has been working with HomeAdvisor for seven years and the results have been decent.”
While Wood is unwilling to divulge much information regarding his partnership with HomeAdvisor, he does say that too often he sees other roofing contractors who are too impatient when it comes to working with HomeAdvisor.
“I think the frustration that so many other roofing contractors experience comes in the beginning because they get a bogus lead and then they’re trying to get credited for that mistake,” Wood explains.
“A lot of times people will then go to HomeAdvisor and not give them a good argument for why they should be refunded. At the same time, HomeAdvisor doesn’t give a clear idea of what needs to happen in order for a contractor to get a refund.”

That last part is one reason why so many roofing contractors have become infuriated with HomeAdvisor, something Wood admits is completely justifiable.
“Sometimes contractors just get bad leads, and there is nowhere to make a formal complaint. HomeAdvisor does this intentionally so that getting a credit becomes almost impossible,” he says.
Ultimately, there are plenty of reasons why roofing contractors should avoid HomeAdvisor.
At the same time, there are just as many reasons for Wood and America’s Choice Roofing to continue investing in HomeAdvisor.
“Seventy percent of what we get are pretty strong leads, however our administrator that follows up on the leads often is on the phone while they’re still on the computer,” Wood says, in reference to how quickly his team tracks and monitors the leads that come in through HomeAdvisor.
“In roofing, and especially when working with HomeAdvisor, getting back to homeowners promptly is crucial because leads can go from hot to cold pretty fast.”
Want to learn more about Greg Wood and America’s Choice Roofing?
Visit their website today or give them a call at 406-761-7663!