Why a roofing referral program still works in 2025—and how to set one up that actually delivers.
There’s a certain kind of roofer who loves to brag.
You know the type.
They’ll tell you their whole business came from referrals. No ads. No marketing. Just word of mouth. They’ll go on and on about how they “walked uphill both ways to school,” and how “back in their day,” you couldn’t just run a couple fancy Facebook ads and start printing money.
No sir.
You had to earn it. You had to show up, do top-notch work, treat folks right, and wait for the phone to ring.
And to be fair—some of them aren’t wrong.
There are still roofers who crush it with referrals. Not just get by—crush it. So no, a strong referral program isn’t a thing of the past. Far from it.
But… the game has changed.
If you want referrals to feed your business in the year of our Lord 2025, there are a few things you absolutely, positively need to know.
So buckle up.
Here’s your unnecessarily detailed guide to running a roofing referral campaign in the digital age.
What Is a Referral Program?
A referral program is a system—a repeatable process—for getting new referrals for your roofing business.
Now, you can call it a program, or a process, or a system… doesn’t really matter what name you slap on it. What matters is this: referrals are the best leads on the planet.
They convert at way higher rates.
Now, it’s hard to find data specific to roofing—but in general, referrals convert about 30% higher than non-referral leads. Even better? Referrals close 69% faster than leads from other sources.
That’s wild.
How would you like to sell more jobs, faster? Of course you would. Who wouldn’t?
So it makes sense why some roofers brag about running referral-based businesses. Because it’s absolutely possible to build one. Especially if you’ve got the right system behind it.
So here’s the real issue. How do you get these magical, unstoppable leads?
This is where a lot of roofers fumble the ball. Not because they don’t want referrals. Not because they don’t do good work. But because they make one of three big mistakes—or worse, all three:
- They ask the wrong way.
- They ask at the wrong time.
- And worst of all… they forget to ask at all.
That’s it. That’s the referral-killing trifecta.
The whole point of a good roofing referral program is to fix that. To keep you from blowing the ask. To help you ask the right way, at the right time, and to make sure it actually happens—every single time—without you having to think about it.
So let’s break it down.
Here’s how to build a roofing referral program that actually works.
Roofing Referral Program Best Practices
First things first—set a goal. Then figure out how to measure your progress toward it.
It’s not enough to say, “Yeah, it’d be cool if we got a few more referrals,” and hope they just show up on the side.
Nope. You need to get clear. How many referrals do you want each month? How many do you want to close?
Track them like a real lead source. Don’t lump them in with everything else. They deserve their own pipeline. That way, you can figure out how much it costs to get a referral, how much profit you’re making from each one, and what parts of the process need work.
It’s like the old saying:
What’s measurable is manageable.
So decide: What percentage of your deals should come from referrals—not Google, not door-knocking, not ads. Referrals. Then start working backward.
And that starts with the ask.
How You Ask For Referrals
You need a system. A go-to line. A little script or framework that you can say, test, refine, and keep dialing in until it works like magic.
Now, this will depend on your market, your brand, your style. But the principles stay the same.
These next few come straight from Adam Bensman, aka The Roof Strategist.
1. Ask Who You Can Help
Don’t say, “Got any referrals?”
Instead, say something like:
“Is there someone else you know—family, friend, neighbor—who might need help with their roof, like you did?”
That word—help—matters.
Most people don’t ask for referrals because deep down, they don’t believe they helped. They don’t believe in their product, their pitch, or their process. So they feel weird about asking.
That’s a you problem, not a customer problem.
So you’ve got to believe—really believe—that your work is worth recommending. That you can help someone else, just like you helped them.
If you don’t believe that, fix it. The words won’t land if the confidence isn’t there.
2. Offer the Right Incentives
Most roofers mess this up.
They say, “Send us a referral and we’ll give you $150 after we close the deal.” Or, “You’ll get $500 off your next roof job.”
That’s not how human beings work.
People don’t respond to delayed or vague rewards. They respond to something immediate and tangible.
A $50 Texas Roadhouse gift card handed to them right on the spot? That’s more powerful than a $500 discount they may or may not ever use.
It’s weird, but it works. People want to feel that reward in their hands now—not hear about it someday.
When to Ask for a Referral
Now let’s talk timing.
This one also comes straight from Adam Bensman, The Roof Strategist.
Anyway, most roofers think they have to wait until the job is finished to ask for a referral. They believe they need to deliver “value first.” So they wait. They wait until after the last shingle is nailed down. Then, and only then, they ask.
But here’s the thing: You’ve already provided value.
If a homeowner trusts you enough to pick you to fix their roof? You’ve delivered. You helped them understand the problem. You explained the fix. They believed in you enough to sign on the dotted line.
That moment—the moment they sign the quote—is when people feel the most confident and excited about their decision. That’s when they believe in you. That’s when you should ask.
If you’re presenting in person, ask for a referral the second they sign. If they’re signing digitally—through email or an e-signature platform—you can still ask. Add it to your thank-you message. Slip in a line like: “By the way, if you know someone else who might need help with their roof, I’d love to help them too.”
That’s it.
You can also set the expectation. Say something like: “Hey, just so you know, we’ll be asking about referrals later on too. No pressure, but we always love helping friends and family.”
This works especially well during invoicing and final walkthroughs. But it applies to the whole process.
So to recap:
- Ask during the presentation.
- Ask at the point of sale.
- Ask when materials are delivered.
- Ask during the post-job inspection.
- And if they still can’t think of anyone…
Keep asking.
Automate the Follow-Up
Here’s where tools like ProLine come in.
We’ve seen ProLine users get the best results by setting up a drip campaign—automated messages that ask for referrals every week, or once a month, for up to two years after the job.
Seriously. That long. And it works.
But here’s the key: those messages can’t come from some generic company number.
They need to come from the rep who sold the job.
That’s who the homeowner knows. That’s who they trust. If a referral request shows up from “1-800-GENERIC-ROOFING” or “info@yourroofco.com,” it’ll get ignored.
If it comes from Jim, the rep who shook their hand and helped them through the whole process? That’s a different story.
So when you automate referral requests, make sure they come from the rep’s name, number, and email—not the company inbox. That one tweak makes a huge difference in how often people respond.
The Social Media Referral
In 2025, social media referrals matter more than ever. Just like you ask homeowners for names of people you can help, you should also ask them to spread the word online. You want them to make a post about you. You want them to like and comment on your post about their roof. Ideally, you want both.
Now, you probably can’t ask for this type of referral at the point of sale. But you can tee it up. You can say something like, “Hey, once your job’s complete, we’re going to ask for two things: a quick social media post from you, and permission for us to make one, too. If you’re happy with the work, we’ll toss in a $50 Texas Roadhouse gift card as a thank-you.”
That’s a one-to-many referral. Instead of getting a short list of names, you’re reaching dozens—maybe hundreds—of their friends and family all at once. People in their church group, local neighborhood page, or even coworkers. And those people? They’re in your area. They see your name connected to someone they already trust.
If you do the job right and treat them well, some customers won’t stop with one post. They’ll become repeat offenders. They’ll mention you in local Facebook groups when people ask for a roofer. You’ll become the name that keeps popping up again and again.
That kind of name recognition is gold. If you want to sweeten the deal, you can even say, “Send me a screenshot of any post or comment where you recommended us, and I’ll send you a $50 gift card.” Small rewards like that go a long way—especially when people are excited to help.
Do Roofing Company Referral Programs Still Work in 2025?
Absolutely—100%.
Referral programs work extremely well in 2025. You just have to run them with intention.
That means setting clear goals. Know how many referrals you want each month and how many you want to close. Then create a system around that—ask for referrals in a way you can test, measure, and improve. Offer the right incentives. Not just once, but again and again, until you find what works best in your market.
Ask at the right moments. At the point of sale. When materials are delivered. During the post-job inspection. And then? Keep asking—weeks, months, even years down the line.
Use the power of social media referrals to go beyond one-to-one asks. Get homeowners posting about their experience. Use tools and incentives to make it easy and worth their time.
And to tie it all together—automate the process.
With a CRM like ProLine, you can put your entire referral campaign on autopilot. From automated thank-you messages to scheduled referral requests, ProLine helps make sure you never forget to ask.
Want to see it in action? Book a demo here
You can also check out our YouTube video to see how it works, or create a free account and explore for yourself.
Inside that free account, you’ll find one of ProLine’s secret weapons: the Project Portal. Each roofing job gets its own private portal—its own URL you can send to the homeowner.
And in that portal? There’s a tab labeled “Refer Us.”
Homeowners can open that tab and submit a referral directly. They’ll enter a name, email, phone number, and a quick note about how you can help that person. It even asks them to confirm consent—so you’re not cold-calling anyone who didn’t agree to it.
Once submitted, the referral gets added to your ProLine account as a brand-new project. You can decide where it goes in your pipeline, whether it needs its own automation setup, and what kind of instant messages get sent out.
And just like that—you’ve turned one happy homeowner into your next closed deal.
