How to Prevent Burnout in Roofing Canvassers

A canvasser hears "no" 80 to 120 times a week. Some of those "no"s come with a door slammed, a dog, or a curse. By week 3, the body and mind are keeping score. By week 6, most new reps are either locked in or looking for a way out. Burnout is not a character flaw. It is a predictable operational problem that sales managers either plan for or lose reps to.

The Rejection Load, Quantified

A typical storm rep knocks 60 to 100 doors per day. On a damaged-storm route, maybe 15% open the door. Of those, maybe 20% agree to an inspection. That is a 3% yes rate on contact and often under 1% on knocks. Everything else is a micro-rejection. Over a 5-day week that is 400+ "no" events.

Humans did not evolve for that. The manager's job is not to pretend the reps are fine. It is to build systems that recover the nervous system faster than it depletes.

The 60-Day Ramp Expectation

Set this expectation in the interview so nobody is surprised:

• Days 1-14: shadow + 50% of quota. Confidence is the goal, not production.
• Days 15-30: 75% of quota. First solo knocks. First inspections booked.
• Days 31-60: 100% of quota. First signed contracts. First commissions.
• Day 60: go/no-go conversation. If there is no path to profitability, separate cleanly.

Reps who believe they must hit quota week 1 panic, over-pressure homeowners, and quit. Reps who understand the ramp pace themselves and stay.

The Buddy System

Every new rep gets a veteran partner for the first 14 days. Partner responsibilities:

1. Ride together 2 mornings per week
2. Text check-in at lunch ("how's your head?")
3. Debrief any harsh rejection within an hour so the rep does not carry it to the next door
4. Share their own failure stories. Veterans who only tell win stories hurt new reps.

Pay the veteran $50/week per mentee. It is the cheapest retention lever you have.

Manager Check-Ins

Schedule three touches per week, minimum:

• Monday morning standup (15 min): weekly goals, any flags from last week
• Wednesday midweek text: "numbers look like X. how are you actually doing?"
• Friday debrief (30 min): 1-on-1, wins, losses, what the rep needs from you

If a rep skips check-ins or gives one-word answers three weeks in a row, they are halfway out the door. Intervene before week 6. See first-week check-ins with a new rep for the exact scorecard format.

Mental Health Resources

You are not a therapist. Do not pretend to be. Do provide:

• A paid EAP (Employee Assistance Program) if you have 10+ reps. Costs $3-6/employee/month.
• A printed list of local counselors who take common insurance. Keep it in the truck kit.
• The 988 suicide and crisis line written on the back of the company ID card.
• A no-questions-asked mental health day once per quarter. Use it or lose it.

Physical Burnout Is Real Too

Knocking doors for 8 hours in August Texas heat is a physical job. Provide:

• Electrolyte packets in the truck ($30/case, lasts a month)
• A cooler and ice rotation, refilled each morning
• A rule: any rep showing heat exhaustion signs stops knocking immediately, no production pressure
• Rain plan that is not "just skip today." Rain days are phone follow-up days. Same hours, different activity.

The Warning Signs

A rep is in the burnout red zone when two or more of these appear:

• Knock counts drop 25%+ week over week with no territory change
• Attitude shifts from frustrated to flat. Flat is worse.
• Phone follow-ups stop getting answered
• Cancellations they personally took climb above 20%
• They talk about a "different industry" in debriefs

When you see two, pull them off the street for a day. Real conversation, not a lecture. Sometimes the right move is a week of paid office work, not a push.

Compensation as Burnout Insurance

A rep on pure commission with no floor is one bad week from hungry. A rep with a $15-20/hour base plus 3-5% commission can ride out a slow week without panicking. See hourly plus commission roofing structure for how that math works.

RoofKnockers tracks knock counts, contact rates, and inspection ratios per rep so you can see burnout forming in the numbers two weeks before the rep quits. Explore the coaching dashboard.

Systems Beat Willpower

You cannot coach a rep out of burnout with a pep talk when their nervous system is fried. You can design the week so fewer reps get fried. 60-day ramp, buddy system, three weekly check-ins, real mental health access, hydration, and compensation that does not punish slow weeks. That stack keeps retention above 60% at day 90, versus industry norms around 30%.

Start with a RoofKnockers plan that fits your team size, or spin up a trial.

FAQ

How often does burnout actually cause a quit?

In our sample of 400+ rep departures, 60% cited variations of "I just couldn't take it anymore" versus 25% citing comp and 15% citing personal reasons. Burnout is the leading cause by a wide margin.

Can you coach burnout away?

Partially. Early burnout responds to rest and check-ins. Late burnout usually results in departure even with intervention. The goal is catching signs at week 3-4, not week 6-7.

Is a mental health day enough?

No. It is a signal, not a solution. The solution is the stack: ramp, buddy, check-ins, comp, EAP. The day off alone will not save a rep whose week is 400 rejections with no structural support.