Welcome to Close it now, the podcast that's revolutionizing the H Vac and home improvement trades industries. Get ready to dive deep into the world of heating, ventilation and air conditioning. We're turning up the heat on industry standards and cooling down misconceptions. And we're not just talking about fixing vents and adjusting thermostats. It's about the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H Vac and home improvement. We're the driving force, inspiring top performers who crave excellence not only in their professional endeavors, but also in fitness, nutrition, relationships, and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all. This is Close it now, where excellence meets excitement. Let's get to work now. Your host, Sam Wakefield.

All right, welcome back to Close It Now. This episode is going to be epic. It may get you really excited. It might really piss you off. However, this is really cool information. And this is podcast number two. This is the follow up to the first episode that we did about the microscope in the evaporator coil. So if you've been following along in the Facebook group, you know that there has been a lot of conversation back and forth about this. A lot of people are excited to hear this episode for various reasons. So we're going to really dive in a lot deeper today, cover a lot more of what it is, how to use it. Also, I'm going to, I'm going to be a little bit of a devil's advocate in this one because, you know, I am. I have very strong opinions about cells and about our industry as well. So we'll, we'll see what happens here. But. So that's what we've got going on today. So I'm super excited to reintroduce. This guy is a motorcycle enthusiast. He is the number one. And, and, and guitar enthusiast as well. Yes, motorcycle and guitar enthusiast. In fact, if you, if you ever want, if you reach out to him, there is always a chance he might have something for sale that he's refurbed and worked on out of his garage. So reach out to him for that. Or if you just want to talk motorcycles or guitars, I'm sure he'd be happy to. To chop it up with you. But he is the number one IAQ salesperson out of 21 branches in Indiana and Ohio. Welcome back to the show, Mr. Jason James. Good to have you, sir.

Thanks for having me, Sam. I got so much information to go over, I don't even know where to start.

Well, tell you what, let's just get right to business. And talk about this damn microscope that is like hitting the streets, but also it's pissing people off at the same time. Give us a super for everybody that didn't listen to the first episode. Give us like a one minute synopsis of what it is and how you came across it. And then we'll, we'll talk a little bit about some of the numbers that you've seen. But we're going to go through a lot deeper. We're going to role play some things and go over some deeper things, but give everybody a little bit of a background on that microscope.

I found it on Amazon. It's a Chinese product. I saw that it was rechargeable. I pretty much charged it in my truck, keep it in my tool bag and takes pictures. You can record video, you can save those files, you can send those files. You can light up. It's a flashlight as well. So it's, it's lighting up where you're looking. And then you can zoom on down into wherever spot you're trying to zoom in on. And, you know, having a digital image means so much because you can send it to insurance companies, you can share it with your team, you can possibly find a new element. I don't know, you know, options. It's a great tool. I only charged it up twice in the 45, 60 days that I've been using it.

Oh, nice.

So it like holds a charge forever. It's basically just a little camera with, you know, the microscope deal.

Yeah. It just connects right to your phone, right?

Yeah. And it zooms in and out so you can get a little closer, a little back out a little bit. You can snap a picture on the microscope itself or you can snap it on the screen that, whatever screen you're using. I use my cell phone, cell phone, tablet, whatever. Right. You can put it on a tablet, whatever, anything with a touch screen, you can take a picture with it. So.

So how are you using it? That's. This is really where we want to land today is like, what, okay, what are you looking for? And just kind of a general idea of what are, you know, how are you using it in your IAQ sales.

So using the tool and getting the customer to engage with you about the tool is two different things. I said in the first podcast, you don't get out of the truck and hold it up in the air and say, hey, let's go check out this microscope. That's not how you do it. You do your standard routine. You check out the stuff. You meet and greet after the meet and greet. You go to the furnace, you discover what's there. Sometimes the customers with you, sometimes not. But you're writing all this stuff down. As a service tech, not a sales guy, but a service tech, your, your job is to find problems. And that's how I'm using the microscope. I'm not a snake in the grass looking for a way to try to trick the customer into buying what I have. I am just a good hearted service tech searching for problems. And the ironic part is every household has dust. Every household has a different level of what they think is a problem or not a problem. It's up to them to decide, not the technician. And this is where I get into the opinions about this microscope. It's not up to you to form your opinion on whether you think it's the, the right or wrong thing. It's your job to help the customer use this tool in such a way that they can see and develop their own opinion about what they think they want to do about it. I showed it to a 75 year old man who had breathing issues in and out of the doctor, blah, blah, blah, blah. Perfect candidate that would have ultimately medically needed all of these products. You know what he said to me? Can you just do the tune up? I said, yes sir, no problem. I'm, I just wanted to show it to you. I put the microscope away, I dropped the ball. I said no problem. I did the tune up and that is it. So some people, they don't want to hear it. And if you're a good guy and you're a good tech and you listen to your customers, you don't have to worry about that analytical 1% customer that's going to rip you apart because you're trying to sell them something in a scam, sneaky way. That, that is not my approach. That is, I'm all about integrity. I'm not trying to lie to people, but one of the comments about the microscope on the Facebook page was that they think I'm being a scummy sales guy and I'm trying to trick the customer into believing something just so I can sell them something. Right? If you have that mentality, you're probably not fit for sales. You or you need to change your perception on what sales means to you because people are buying this stuff regardless of who they're buying it from. They're spending the money and they're buying it. It has nothing to do with your opinion, it's everything to do with theirs. So I'm showing them solutions to problems or results, to something that could be a problem. And the microscope just kind of connects those dots, whether or not to prove it or disprove it. You could take any idea to court and defend it or prosecute it. It's. It's. There's so many different angles to it. But when you have a heart of service and you're using the microscope the right way, the sales just comes with it. I don't, I don't really. If somebody says no, yeah, I want.

To add a little bit to this. You know, I personally, you know, I've never used one of these in the field, so I don't. However, of course, I've used lots of tools over the years in the field to, you know, to show what's there. Kind of a foundational thing is, just like we were talking about before this episode, is people have to. A lot of times we have to prove it, right? They. We can't just tell them it's not just lip service. They have to actually see what we're talking about or feel or. I mean, the power of having somebody, when it's safe to do, reach into a furnace and fill the crack in their heat exchanger themself, is way different than even just showing a picture of you standing right there. So those types of things is really crucial to prove it. I feel like this is a tool just like any other tool. It goes in the tool bag. Just like you were saying, we don't use every single tool that you have in your tool bag on every single job. However, when you need a specific tool, if you don't have it, that's the only one that'll work, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

100% how I feel about this. And so the other side of it, for everybody that are listening, it all has to do with how anything can be misleading or, you know, scummy or scammy. It all depends on how you. What expectations you set with the homeowner and where you've set the frame of the conversation going into it. And so kind of, for example, you know, if we, you know, if. If Jason's out there saying, this will eliminate this and it's going to go away and you're never going to see it again. Well, clearly, we know that's a fallacy. He knows that. We all know it. But, you know, the way that. And we're going to go through, like, your process and actually role play some of this. But the way he's positioning it, everybody listening is here's what's currently going on here's proof of it. And then they're asking, oh my gosh, how do we fix that? He's like, well, we have these products. Here's what the manufacturer says that it will do for you. What, I can't guarantee that this will never happen again or it's going away. But what I can guarantee, what I can promise is you will see improvement. If we're promising improvement, then we're safe. Right. We're not guaranteed. We're not a biologist.

Well, we have 100 satisfaction guarantee. If somebody calls up and they say, you know what? That, that's a croc piece of crap, we'll give you your money back, we'll come take our product out, we'll give you your money back. Set, simple. Every. Most people who are truthful and honest about does help. That's all I can say. Everybody that genuinely is honest about it, they do notice an improvement, so love it.

Yeah.

We've never had to refund any money. That's all I'm saying.

Yeah. No, and 100. 100. Believe that. And you clearly, I mean, you've volume to have the data to track that, you know, so you're the number one IAQ salesperson out of 21 branches. And yeah, I'm sure you've been there for a bit too.

Yeah, I sold this today was our last day. And I now have 36 IAQs for the month. Wasn't as good as March, wasn't as good as April, but I've been a little more busy with equipment sales and stuff like that. But I'm still using it in our hot season. It's. It's part of my rapport now. So if I'm doing a tune up, I'm going to talk about everything else, including the dust and the dirt, and say, oh, did you know, Check this microscope out. This is what this dirt is doing. And some people, that's a trigger for them, they want to buy something. Some people, it's not. I just move on to something else, you know.

Yeah. Don't waste time on things they don't care about.

No. Yeah, I don't waste no time. And I think that's the problem with sales guys. They get stuck on an idea and they don't know how to shift gears. You've got to shift gears in a split second and make it look like you weren't shifting gears and being normal and natural. And it's very hard to do.

It is. That's definitely a practice to learn skill, that's for sure. It is to be able to spontaneously change like that. I think that's why I've always hired, like, for myself, I've always hired like jazz musicians and people that play instruments that can improv on the spot or theater people.

You know, you missed the key. But let's keep the song going.

Yes, it's gonna keep going, right? Yeah, same thing. So let's do this. Let's role play this a little bit. I'm your homeowner. And take.

Just.

So let's really, really dive in and, you know, kind of talk through exactly what that sounds like. I'll be just kind of your neutral homeowner. Didn't really know there was a problem. And yeah, we'll just kind of go through.

Yeah, so. Hi, Mr. Wakefield. I'm Jason with Summers. How you doing today, man?

I'm doing great. How are you?

Awesome. Great. Is this your dog?

Yeah, it is.

Yeah. What's his name is.

This one is actually. It's. It's not my dog. I'm actually keeping it for my in laws. His name is Bud.

Oh, okay. Hey, man, I'm down here on the floor playing with the dog.

Right.

So I get done doing that. Customers love it when you baby talk their dog. I love it if you come over and baby talk my dog. Right. So I do that. And then now I'm like, hey, Mr. Wakefield, you understand we're here to do an AC tune up. We're here to take care of that. Check for any problems. If I find anything, would you like to know what I'm finding?

Sure, yeah.

Okay, great. So we're going to start at the furnace. We're here to do AC tune up today, but we're going to start at the furnace. So if you wouldn't mind, would you show me where that's at so I could, you know, get started here? Sure, yeah.

And why are you going to the furnace? I mean, isn't that what heats?

Yeah. So in an AC tune up, we have to check the indoor coil, we have to check the filter, I have to check the blower. I need to see what your cold air return looks like. And basically just do a visual inspection of how that install is installed. Because sometimes companies install stuff incorrectly. So if I find something that can help you, I'm going to let you know about it.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Makes total sense. Yep. Yeah, yeah, it sounds good, man. Yeah. It's right over here.

All right, well, we're down the stairs now, so let's. I see you have an older furnace here. How long have you guys Lived here?

You know, we've been here about nine years now.

Okay. Okay. Have you had any crazy sounds or smells or anything weird I need to know about?

Not really. Nothing I can really pinpoint for you.

Okay. So the furnace got you through the winter okay?

Yeah, it seemed to. I mean, we were.

Okay. Have you had. Have you had the AC on yet this year?

Yeah, it started to warm up here a couple weeks ago, so we really got it going.

Okay. Did it give you even distribution of temperature or was there any problems with that at all?

I think it was probably pretty good, maybe. I think my daughter's room is a little warmer.

Okay, great. Well, so I was just seeing if there was any other issues that might affect some things that I can find in here. But let's get these doors off here. I'm going to take the top one off here. This is the burner section. I'm gonna take this bottom one off. This is the blower wheel. And I take a picture. I stick my camera in there, click. Hey, Mr. Wakefield, see how your blower wheels got some dust and dirt on it? Oh, yeah. Yeah. So those blades are curved. And those blades get curved, filled up with dust and dirt, it takes away a little bit of the airflow. It doesn't throw quite as much air. So we always check that. And now that I have looked in here, everything seems to be in order. And I can see that you changed your filter recently. But now I'm going to go up here to this top coil, and I'm going to look inside here. So give me a second. Let me pop this door off. All right, so this coil right here is a cold, wet, dark environment. This is what's connected to the outdoor unit. And I just want to tell you that 70% of dust is human skin. And that's organic. Oh, yeah. And if you put organics into a cold, wet, dark environment, Mother Nature starts doing its thing. Does that make sense to you?

Yeah, it does. Yeah. So when you say Mother Nature starts doing its thing, what are you talking about?

So in this environment, we're adding organics into a cold, wet, dark environment, Mother Nature will start a growth pattern. Some people get mold, some people get biological growth. I'm not a scientist. I'm not here to prove or disprove what's in there. I'm just saying the formula for what causes growth and bacteria and mold. These are the symptoms or the culprit, if you will, of why it starts. So what I'm doing is just kind of looking for that. And now that I have the door off. I kind of see some stuff in here, but it's really hard to see with the naked eye. So I have this here microscope. It connects to my phone. So, as you can see, I put it on my arm. Can you see the fine print of my skin?

Oh, wow. Yeah. That's amazing.

So let me see your hand. Put your hand out here, and I'll put it on your hand. And you see the fine print on your arm.

Oh, my gosh. That's wild.

That's. That's what I'm talking about. So I'm gonna put this on this coil here. Check this out. And then I just put it here. I put it here. Can you see that right there?

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah.

What is that?

Well, that I don't know. I just know that, like I said, it's organic and something's growing in there. Is anybody in here having any headaches or nausea or any kind of sickness that I should know about?

Well, you know, every so often my wife gets, like, you know, like, these weird stomach things.

Okay.

And, you know, allergies. For sure. My daughter has some allergies.

Okay. Well, let me just say this. I'm not a doctor, and I'm not. I can't make medical calls and treat you in any way.

Sure.

I'm just gonna say that people who have those problems, sometimes these things here in your indoor coil could be the culprit of it.

Wow.

So I'm not promising you anything about medical things with your wife, but I will just say I have some solutions to those problems that could contribute to helping make a better environment in your house. Would you like to know about what I can do for you?

Yeah, definitely be open to hearing about this.

So most of my customers that have this problem, they get a UV light. It's called the rainy halo. UV light. I can really go into a lot about it, but just to keep it short and sweet, it kills bacteria. That's what you got in here? Some kind of bacteria? I don't know if it's mold or growth or what it is. It's bacteria, so. Have you ever heard the term sunlight is? The best disinfectant I have. Okay, great. Well, that's essentially what I'm doing, is I'm putting artificial sunlight in this box. It's going to kill everything. And then to double down on that, down here in the blower compartment where the blower wheel is, we have a product called the I Wave air purifier. It actually has a magnetic mount. It just Sticks right to the blower wheel. And what it does, it does two things. One, it kills 99 of viruses, but more importantly, it helps with dust. So, you know when the sun's shining through the window and you see those particulates floating?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That happens regularly.

That's the stuff that's so tiny your filter can't catch it. So the I wave polarizes that does it makes it attract to each other. And when it does that, it gets bigger and it gets heavier. So at that point, they're going to fall to all the surfaces in the house and they're going to be bigger and the builder is actually going to catch it. So. Yeah, so the idea behind it is the I wave is going to help with the dust, it's going to kill viruses, and then this UV light is going to shine that light in that box, keep all that bacteria from growing. So if we double down on that and then get the ductwork clean and get the ductwork sanitized with that whole package, I'm basically going to rejuvenate your system and we're going to add some more years to it and make you get some more time out of this system. And what I really like about it, if you ever did get a new system, we can take these products out and put them in the new system. So.

Oh, nice.

Just throwing your money away.

Oh, I love it. Okay. Yeah, that. That was going to be part of my question. You know, it's like, yeah, we said the furnace was old. Well, you said the furnace was an older furnace. So I was going to ask about. Should we wait for the new one to, you know, do anything like this?

No, no, because the idea is if we can get this under control now, when you do get your new system, it'll be fresh enough to where you don't have to do all that duct cleaning and sanitizing all over again. Oh, that doesn't mean five, six, seven years from now we don't need to clean the duct work again. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying we're going to make it a healthier environment.

Got it. Kind of a fresh start.

Yeah. So you think that. That something like this would be good for you and your. Your wife and your daughter and all that, or.

Man, you know, it. It sounds definitely like. I can see what you're showing me there. I mean, obviously that's. That's concerning that it's growing and. Yeah, I mean, it seemed. Definitely makes sense what you're talking about. You know, obviously it'll just.

Well, let's, let's talk about price. Let's talk about price. So the UV light is normally about 1700 bucks, but you're a service member with us, so we're going to give you a discount on that. That takes it down to about $1603. The, the air purifier is normally about $1475. Since you're a member with this, we're going to drop that down to $1350. The duct cleaning is about 774 and the sanitizing is only 99 bucks. Okay, so we add all this up together, you're going to be somewhere around 34, $3,500. That's a big check to write. So what we typically. What most of my customers do to soften the blow when they discover this is they sign up for our 12 month, 0% interest, and we can spread that payment out over a year and give you time to pay it later. But we can get to immediate relief now. And, you know, we have longer financing plans if needed as well.

Wow.

Okay.

Yeah, that definitely softens the blow a lot. Man, I. Geez, I like the sound of this, man. Let's go ahead and get it in.

Well, would you like to go ahead and get your wife down here and we can show her too, or is she available?

Yeah, you know what, Actually, this was the perfect timing because she was actually sick today and she was in bed. So I'm gonna just, I'm gonna make the call on this one. Let's just go ahead and do it.

Well, that's great. I'll go ahead and get it in. And that's it. That's a wrap. Let's do it.

Love it. Hi. High five.

Yeah.

Excellent. So there's. Gosh, that was such a good role play. Thank you for that and for everybody listening. Did you hear the one, the permission steps along the way. It's not the exact formula of appointment that I typically train in the podcast, but that's okay because clearly it works, right? Jason? I like to say, following a system, word for word is you got to nail it. It's like playing music. We'll have a music reference since we're both guitar players. It's like when you learn a cover song and when you hear a band play a song that's someone else's song, you do not have permission to change it until you've mastered it exactly as written. And it's the same thing with learning scripts, with learning sales processes, until your numbers outshine where that process Came from keep doing what you're doing.

Right, right. Well, you know, the hard part is, is to make it sound spontaneous because obviously we're role playing. But in the field, it's almost like being a comedian or a performer in a band or whatever, writing that song. People are expecting you to do your job. So if I was flipping burgers at the restaurant, they want me to flip that burger with the best, they want the best burger they can get. Well, that's no different than somebody like us going into their house. They want the best that they can get. The dollar amount is not necessarily as important as getting the best. We all had a five dollar cheeseburger and we've all had a twenty dollar cheeseburger. But we all can say, I would never pay $20 for that burger again. And we've all said, you know, I would definitely buy that $5 burger again because it was good. So everybody has a different way. But just focusing in on being the helper, that's what people want. They want you to help them. And when you get a sales guy that's zoning in on his commission, he's not focused on helping. And that, that, that is basically losing the sale. Because as soon as you change that tone and be like, well, I can give you a sale on this Mr. Wakefield. No, I don't, wasn't looking for the sale. Why are you not.

What? Yeah, not at all what I was after.

Yeah. But when I found a problem in your house and you see it and then I show it to you with the microscope, you're like, oh, well, I didn't, I didn't see that. I didn't know that was there. Oh, can, how are you going to help me with that? Yeah, glad you asked. I've got this.

How often do you get the question? Well, nobody else found that.

Just about 70, 80% of the time, I bet. I mean, I'm a senior tech. Right. You know, so they send me out for the complicated troubleshooting. You know, I'm not just a sales guy. I'm a very good technician. I, I, I'm very good with troubleshooting, wiring, communicating systems, you know, complex zoning systems. There's a lot behind, there's a lot of magic behind what I do. Oh yeah.

Well, you've been in the industry long enough to owned a company, all these different things. So.

Yeah. So, you know, when you and I talk, we're based on, you know, how we generate the company more money. How can we get the, our, our listeners more money on commission. And the reason that they're watching and listening is because they want to know, how can I get better so I can make more money. Well, that's the thing. Stop trying. Just be yourself and be. Be that good Samaritan that's looking for problems. Because people can see that in you is if you're directing to sales and numbers and you talking all that stuff, that's static. That's white noise. The customer, they don't want to hear it. They want to hear what they're asking you about. And so that's why we got to listen and talk to them and listen. Because I asked you, is anybody in the house having any health issues? Oh, you have asthma. Oh, your wife has that, has dry, itchy eyes. All the kids have asthma. Oh, okay. So what can I do to help you with that? Well, guess what? I do have things that can help. I'm not promising you the moon and the stars. I'm just saying this is what people do to help with that problem. And I'm not overselling it. Right? Even. Let's do it. I said, well, you sure you don't want to bring your wife down here and check it out? Well, two things were happening. One, your ego. No, I make the calls around here. I said, do it right. The other two is the other side of it is, do you think I'm being considerate? Because I'm like, you sure you don't want to talk to your wife before you spend three, $4,000? You know, I probably would, but, you know, that's just me. I wear the pants in my house, but she wears a belt. Right.

She's what holds the pants up.

Right? Right.

Oh, I love this, man. So. So this is. This is so good. And so for everybody listening clearly, that was a masterful presentation. We could literally spend an entire episode just pulling apart that role play because there were so many things that happened in it. Where I want to go with this, though, is. And I'm so glad we covered it. Everybody listening. I hope you get the vibe of how to use this tool effectively. And at the end of the day, guys and ladies, gentlemen and ladies, if you just, for whatever reason, have moral qualms with it, don't use it. It's just another tool, right?

Yeah. Now, the numbers don't buy a gun.

So the fun part with this is there's one more piece of data.

It.

Jason has made such big strides with this that the company bought these microscopes for every single person in their 21 branches. So we're talking about a lot of Them because of the response that their homeowners are giving because of the number. Not just strictly number driven, but because of the results they're getting. Right. So it's a tool. Use it or not, it's up to you.

Yeah, it's just a tool. And I'd like to say that for me, I'm not paid by selling this microscope and I'm not really selling it. I'm just sharing my experience of using the tool. And based on me sharing raised the eyebrow of my manager. My manager seen the numbers going up, so he saw the need for the team to do it. Our team, about four or five guys started doing it or as a team and as our branch, our branch numbers went up. Not just mine. I mean, yeah, I'm killing it, but I kill it in anything I set my mind to. Of course, I'm a great sales guy. I can sell snow to an Eskimo if I wanted to. Yeah, you're a PR closer, right? I'm a closer. But it when as a whole, I'm also trying to get my team to get up to where I am and they're doing so well and they're, they're grinning because they're getting like 125 bucks a pop for every time they sell it. So if you're making 20 bucks an hour as a technician or 15 an hour and you just sold something that gave you a hundred dollar spiff for the day or one hundred twenty bucks of whatever it is, you divide that up by the eight hours you just work, you probably just gave yourself a four to five dollar an hour pay raise.

Right.

Just for offering a solution to a problem. So to me it's a win win. I'm not selling you anything. I'm finding something you need help with. If you want to get into it, I'll tell you all about it. If you're not into it, I move on, move on to here for.

So let's, let's talk about the team a little bit because we, I know that you've got a lot of experience being, you know, sales, sales manager and trainer for your, for your companies that you've worked for in the past and currently. Yeah, so let, let's dive into a little bit of that. When you have something new like this, either a tool or maybe it's just a different. So you guys are going to work on, you know, specific communication topic or whatever. Talk to us a little bit about how you train that into the team to get them up to speed as fast as possible.

Well, that's a personal growth thing. So you can lead a horse to water but you're not going to get him to drink. And that's the challenge of all companies. One, every company wants that five star attack that, you know, just like a baseball player, they want a guy who can hit, they want a guy who can swing and run and steal bases and all that. Sometimes you only have two out of five of those skills and I just want to hone one more. It's called the 1% factor. If you can be 1% better today than you were yesterday, you practice being better in that manner. Well, in one year you're what, 365% better than you were today. I would say, you know, focus on how you're, what lens you're looking through, how are you helping people, are you trying to sell people? Because you've got that carrot, Daniel, and in front of you about the, the spiff or the commission. Well, if you're focused on that, you're not focused on helping people and you're not going to make the sale or you're a super smart person and you're overthinking it and you're not doing it. So when I talk to the team, I say it just like that. Guys, this is not rocket science. It's, it's. Any industry has people that help you get solutions to problems and our job is to find problems. So the sooner you can get on board with that and stop worrying about the sale and focus on the help, the sales just comes with it.

Right?

And it's, I've heard so many stories of that basic concept. You know, as soon as somebody thinks you're trying to sell them something, they're out. They're just out. It's, it's just the way that human nature is. Even if they want it, if they think you're trying to sell it to them, they're out. And that's so hard with the teams because you're talking to 10, 20, 30 people at a time and each one of those individuals have different skill sets. So I'm talking about this level of skill set but the guy that has no skills, he doesn't have the slightest clue. So it's almost like we need a tears for the meetings. Like you're a tier one, you don't know squat. You go over here at the kitties table until you learn this, this and this. And when you can do that, then you can sit in this meeting and listen to this, this and this. So maintenance guys, technicians, sales groups, Managers, meetings, they all divide up. That's your tier, you know, so trainable, tolerable or terminated, which one you want to be. If you don't want to sit at the kitty's table, start being trainable, right? If you don't want to learn nothing, you're still sitting over there away from the real action. So I don't know how some guys, you strike their ego to get interested, you strike their competitive nerve to get competitive. Some guys are just a fix it guy. They don't want to get competitive, they just want to, they're just there for a check. You know, eventually the people that don't want to be there will eventually weed themselves out. So you gotta kind of put yourself in check. How much, how much do I time do I want to spend on you is. And not saying I don't want to spend time with you, but if you're not going to absorb this idea of me helping you and you think I'm just yelling at you, telling you to do this and that and that, well, you need to change your mindset. So a lot of times my most effectiveness is when I do one on one with my team. You know, like there's this one guy, Chad, he just became a sales guy. He used to be a sales tech, then he got bumped out and then they gave him a book back and now he's back at it. But he's a 1, 2, 3 sales a month guy and I'm always dropping little nuggets with him. For example, a couple days ago I, he was telling me about a sale he almost did and I said, there's your problem right there. He goes, what? I said, you told him they needed a new system. He goes, what's wrong with that? They needed it. It was 20 years old. I said, I don't care. You have to wait for them to come up with that conclusion on their own. Otherwise you're just telling them stuff and they don't know if it's true or not. So you just got to give them a chance to absorb what's wrong with the system, what's the cost of the system? This is the solution to fix this system and this is the x dollar amount that it's going to take. So do you want to put five grand in a 20 year old system or would you rather put 10 or 15 grand in a new system that's going to last 15 to 20 years?

Right.

It's because you're, I guarantee you if you keep putting money in this old system, we're going to do it again. So I'm just here to help you see the pros and cons of your decision. But what I said that my tech was just wait is the hardest thing for sales guys to do. Stop talking, just present it, tell them what the facts are and then shut up. Yeah. As soon as you put an opinion in there. Now you're like the rest of the companies. Everybody's got opinions.

Yep.

Don't do it. Don't. Don't. We know you need a new system. We know in the long run that's the better investment. It just costs more. But as soon as you tell them the deal's done, you're not going to sell them anything. They're going to get other quotes. The next company you're making the sale for the other guy.

Exactly one thing too, for everybody listening, especially if you're a service tech and having that conversation that, that turnover to a sales conversation if you're the selling tech or if it goes to a different department, something you mentioned there, Jason, which, which is really, really good. Another way that I like to position the comparison, dollar comparison is so, you know, Mr. Homeowner, you can, you know, you can see how in order to get this thing going properly, you know, you can spend four, you know, four or $5,000 today on a 20 year old system. Or, you know, I, we've got some really great programs that I just heard about. A couple of them are what. So it's either, you know, four or five thousand a day or it's zero today. Your payment's not going to start for another 30 or 45 days. And I heard about a lady the other day, she did that didn't cost her anything right away. And in 40 days, her first payment came and it was only like 130 bucks. And so it helps them compare. You know, we're helping the comparison. It's not always, you know, 4 or 5,000 versus 15 or 20. It's, you know, 4 or 5 thousand versus a couple 2 or 300 bucks a month, a month from now. So it's even like really, even helpful to do that. And then inserting the story of somebody who we actually did one with. Stories are powerful to help lock it in too.

So throw some more devil's advocate challenges at me. Give me something that I'm challenging. I'm challenging you, Sam. I love it. Let's go.

All right, it's time. So, yeah, let's go back to the microscope for a second because I know some of the. So here's what I like to do for the rest of this episode. Let's go back to the microscope, and we're going to bounce back and forth on that. And then there was an exercise you told me about one time that you've done with your, with your team. I'd love to take us through that also. It's the, the question. The answer in the question exercise.

You read my mind. I was gonna bring that up.

All right, so. But back to the microscope. So everybody listening? The, the devil's advocate part is there's, you know, there's some pretty serious, you know, heavy comments in the Facebook group about this thing. One of them is, you know, what are you trying to be like this microbiologist, etc. Etc. I mean, it sounds like we kind of handled that the way you pitched it in the roleplay, but outside of roleplay. Talk. Talk about that a second. You know.

Honestly, you know, I've caught more of the naysayers on the Facebook page than I have out in the field. And it's all about, you know, I, I struggle with the negative energy that I get about the microscope because the people that are making comments on the Facebook page, I want them to feel free to say those things because I need to hear. Just like a manager wants to know if his cook is serving bad food, I want to make sure I'm not giving you bad advice or something that gives you a negative vibe about it.

Sure.

I, I, I really am not trying to do that. So I'm trying to work on what can I do better to make what can I. How can I be more trainable to teach this information and not make it sound like it's some kind of scam or a snake in the grass, just trick people into buying stuff? Because I've had no bad reviews about it. I've had nothing but happy customers with it. And a lot of it is because I don't, I don't tell them they need it. I ask them if they can see the problem that I'm finding, and if they say, yes, I can see that's a problem. And I say, well, I have a solution for that. Not 100% guaranteed. It helps most of my customers get this, and this is how it helps them. So if you can't hear it in my tone that I'm genuinely trying to be sympathetic to the naysayers that don't necessarily want to get on board with this, all I can say is if you're that subjective or negative about this concept in this tool that tells me you're Going to be equally objective to other ideas and concepts and that you're looking for the hole in the story or you're looking for the snake in the grass. And that's not what this is about.

It.

You. It. You gotta have this mindset that. I want to help you, Sam. I want your daughter to be safe. I want your wife to be comfortable. I don't want you to go home and have to put up with anything. So.

Sure.

The one human common courtesy, you know, that. That camaraderie between two people. I want to. I want to help you. That's what I'm doing. I'm not trying to sell this stuff. But the funny part is, is that the fact that I'm trying to help you, it shines through. And the customer says, oh, well, he's not trying to sell me anything. He found a problem and he asked me if I wanted to do anything about it, and then I agreed to it.

Yeah.

So the customer. I made the customer think they were in control the whole time. Why? Because they are. I don't care what you say, whatever you pick is what we're doing. Yeah. I'm on board with you. I want you to be comfortable with your decision. I want you to know that I'm just offering something to help you. You know, I have 100 guarantee. If you don't think it's going to do what I say it's going to do, call me back. I'll give you your money back, and I'll take it home with me.

Love it.

Love it, love it.

So let's take it a step further because there's a couple comments about. Well, okay, Jason, I get it. Sure. It shows what's there. And, you know, we can sell stuff based on that. That's awesome. But what happens, you know, six months, a year, two years from now, when you go back and they say, hey, do you still have that microscope? Let's put it on there.

Yeah, it's still going to be there, right?

So, yeah. So what if there's a little more growth?

So it's. Again, that's that 1% factor.

Sure.

I have. Even before the microscope, I have sold a lot of IAQ without the tool.

Sure.

And never have I had anybody come to me and say, that's not working. But with the microscope, you're going to see the dead stuff that was there last year. If there's more stuff, well, the reality of it is it doesn't clean your house for you. It. You're going to contribute more dust. That's the facts. So the guys that are saying, well, what if it's there next year? Well, it's probably going to be dead if it is there. But the odds are if they don't clean their house and run the vacuum at least a couple times a week and dust their house and all that.

Yeah, lots of pets or whatever, more.

People could move in the house. You know, they might got another dog or they. Maybe they got, you know, a lemon friend of a family or whatever. The body count increases in the house, the dust increases. If nothing's changed from last year to this year and they have more, I would be a little suspicious. I would. I would want to know why. I mean, as a homeowner, I would say, well, let's look into that. What is. Are you pulling in something from inside the walls or are you pulling something from your attic? Is maybe a raccoon got up here and cut a hole through the ductwork. It's. There's a million and one possibilities. I guess I just want to bring it back to point and say there's not ever been a problem with my customers. Not one time. You can get on Google. Look. Summers heating and air out of Dayton, Ohio. Not one person in Dayton, Ohio has said one negative thing about our iaq.

Sure. So for years now, not just since you started using this microscope. For years now?

Yeah, for years. So it's a real challenge for me to talk to somebody I don't know that's on Facebook and. And keyboard warriors right in that 1% guy. And I want him to. I want him there because I want to be better at what I can do, and I want to make sure everybody knows I'm doing the right thing. I'm not trying to sell anything. And I just want people to know I got a heart of service and I do care about people. So my customers see that. They don't. They don't question it when I bring up IAQ, you know, if I come out and say, Mister. Mr. Wakefield, come here, I want to show you something at your furnace. You see all that dust and dirt in there? Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what. I got an I wave air purifier, and I've got a really halo UV lights. Going to help with that. You want to talk more about that?

No, I think I'm good.

No, I'm good. Yeah, I don't really want to talk about it. As a matter of fact, I.

It just sounds like it's going to cost me more money. Yeah.

Yeah. And I'm kind of Pissed off now because you called me all the way over here for that.

Yeah.

Right. So that was a sales attempt. But if I say, hey, Sam, Mr. Wakefield, would. Would you like to see a problem that I found over here?

Oh, you found a problem?

Yeah, yeah. Well, great. Come here, I want to show you this. And then I go into my discovery with the customer. Hey, I discovered this. This is stuff going on here. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Would you like to know anything more about it?

Sure.

Yeah. Okay, great. Well, we do have some solutions for this. I'm not a doctor, but this is what a lot of our customers do to try to handle this and, you know, deal with it. So at that point, I go into more and more about the mic, the microscope and what it does and blah.

Blah, blah, what it is you're looking at, etc.

Yeah, I love it.

So it's such a powerful thing. And really, everybody, it's just a tool. So if you go back a year later on any IAQ project that you sold IAQ on, just like Jason's saying, you may. I mean, I've talked to the vendors. You know, you might find more stuff. It might be clean as a whistle. You just never know. Well, but it all has to do with this. We have to remember, if we're only doing heating and air systems and baby duct work, we are not affecting the entire envelope of the house. So this kind of actually slides into a home performance conversation. But unless your company seals every crack, every leak, every nook and cranny, you do a blower, you know, a brand new duct system with a duct blaster test and get it like to the smallest amount of leakage. And you've done all these things and you guarantee that every single person in the home takes the shower three times a day and always washes their clothes and they bathe the dog at least once or twice a week. Unless you can guarantee every single bit of that, we don't have a single product that is going to always work right because we just created the perfect laboratory situation. But that's not how we live. So don't get lost in the weeds on some of the. Again, it's all about how it's positioned and the right expectations set for the homeowner. Don't get lost in the weeds on the technical specs there. If you do that, clearly we need you're in the right place in the sales group because homeowners care about the benefits. If you get too lost in the technical weeds, you'll never sell anything. Right?

Yeah, I Would like to add to that by saying a customer's only have about a 15 to 30 second attention span. That's about how they want you to perform at 110%. But they don't want to give you 110% of their listening ability. So our only way to do that is to strike their curiosity. And the best way to do that is just to nonchalantly mention the problems that are there. What, whatever they are. And just simply ask them, would you like to know any more about that? Is the opening question. You're going to either say yes or no. They say no, then move on to the next call. You know, that guy doesn't want to know. He's busy, doesn't care. And I've had that happen. When I asked the question, they're like, look, I'm. I'm getting ready to be in a meeting. I'm leaving in 15 minutes. I can you just do the tune up and leave? Yeah, no problem. I'll see you next year. You know, I'll see you next year. That's all there is to it. But if they're, if they got the time and they're talkative people, they're going to welcome most of the infant. If you're helpful and you're looking for problems, they're going to welcome any of that. So just having that hard of service that gets you there. As soon as you start trying to, you know, direct those people to what you want to tell them, that's when they shut down. The person that just nods their head and says yes and no answers, you're scaring them. You're, you're. They're going to leave you a bad review, you know, so ask questions. That's. If you could say everything. I wanted to play a game with you where. Yes, let's do it. I can't answer any of your questions unless I answer with the question. It's the hardest thing I've ever done because just for that. And you've seen that show Whose Line is It Anyway? Yes, they do that in that game. And it is so funny because I can say something funny and then I'll throw you off and you'll just. Yeah, so you go first.

Let's do it. So let me set up this game super quick. So this is such an incredible skill to be able to develop and to teach your brain how to think in these terms. Yeah. Shifting gears. So every single thing that you've heard along the way in this episode, so much of it ties back into. And when Jason is talking about, you know, the homeowners asking the questions and leading them where we want them to go. So many times it has to do with leading questions. So how to ask questions in a way where they land their answers, get to land on where you need to be to. To take them down the path for the message that you're wanting to get across so they arrive at the idea on their own. So leading questions. Right. So that's the. One of the reasons that this is such a valuable exercise is to train your brain to be able to do that. So the rules of the game. Give us the rules of the game.

Nothing out of your mouth should be anything but a question. That's it. You. You say something besides a question, you're done. I get. I get a point.

I love it. So when. When you're doing the. And this is an exercise that Jason has done with his teams across the years, and I love it.

Oh, it's so much fun, too.

So when you start, when do you seed it with the topic or you just start in general?

Well, ideally, you know, we're in the H Vac business, so we try to keep it on point, but when you start getting stumped, it's fun to go off topic. So, yeah, there's no rules to the topic. I would just say professionally, we're going to try to keep it about H Vac, but our competitive side might kick in. And I'll be like, well, why? Why you got a white guitar? Why? Why? Why can't you paint your room a different color? I might try to change it and slip you up a little bit, but that's just a competitive person in me trying to win. So, well, let's go.

Let's have some fun. Why don't you start with the first question?

Why do questions have to start?

Did you notice that I started it with the first question when I asked you about the first question.

Did you know customers, when you knock on their door, don't know who you are?

Did you know one of the fastest ways to fix that is send them an on the way video?

Would you be opposed to learning how to ask different questions to customers?

This is a hard game.

Five seconds.

Why in the world are your shirts orange?

Why do you think customers don't want to talk to you? Ooh.

Why? Why didn't you shave today?

Why would a customer not know what a filter is?

I want to answer these because I know the answer.

I know you do. So that was not a question, Sam.

Right. Oh, two points today. So look at that. All right. Best of three. Here we go. Okay. So why in the world are your glasses on your. On your cap?

Why do you think customers would see my glasses on my hat?

I'm just like.

It's so distracted.

My brain hits a thousand things, and I'm like, just in the home. I do.

This is always stay focused on H vac or solar panels or something. You know, no matter what they say, focus on what your next question is going to be. Yeah. Because that's what we're doing with customers.

It is.

We're trying to. We're trying to talk to them, but we want to ask questions and stay on point. So it's great. Great practice. Great team. It's a team builder, too.

Oh, I bet in, like, a group setting, kind of a popcorn style of. This is really.

Yeah. Why would they put a furnace in an attic?

Why would they put it in the basement?

Why can't we put 90% furnaces in the attic?

Why can't we run ductwork right through the middle of a chimney?

Why do we call it ductwork?

Why do we call it attic?

Why doesn't ductwork look like a duct?

Why doesn't it quack like a duck when the air is going through it?

Why doesn't a filter look like a feather?

That is a great question. And so Jason wins this round. Oh, I love this. So to apply this in the house, everybody, you know, this is something that, over the years, you know, I've intuitively learned how to do just through an insane. And all of the top performers like Jason, and, you know, this is something that if you go back and listen to a couple of the episodes that I did, the first two episodes with Gene Slade, this is the entire topic of our episode was leading questions, how to ask leading questions to land on where you want to go. So all the top performers in our industry, or any industry that has to do with sales, are experts. They all know it's at this. Yeah. You treat it as you kind of like you're an attorney. You never ask a question you don't already know the answer to.

You might be entertained or am I free to go?

Exactly. Exactly. And so to. And you've heard me. If you've listened to any very many podcasts, you've heard me say over and over that if you can say it in the form of a question, always ask it as a question instead of telling it as a statement. And this helps you with that exercise to figure out how to do that on your own. Oh, good.

Yeah, I did Love it.

And yeah, and that's what's so awesome about our industry. I've learned it so much from Jason over the years, over the last couple years of talking to him offline, you know, just in our messaging. And then even today, I'm learning about what we're talking about today, and he's learned for me, it's like rising tide raises all ships. Let's help our industry get better. We gotta do better, everybody.

You're gonna get on Google and look, why does a filter look like a feather?

Right? Why not? Why do we put things in the attic? Right?

Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

Why isn't the entire roof deck insulated instead of the attic Insulated?

The way, you know, just as an afterthought, something I wanted to share real quick is that. And you, there's so many seminars that, including yours, that talks about this concept, but just to keep it simple, it's really easy. I walk in and say, hey, Mr. Smith or Mrs. Smith, how you doing today? Hey, you got a great looking yard. Your flower bed looks amazing. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Boy, that yard must keep you busy, huh? Oh, yeah. You don't even know. And so these are the kind of questions that just sound like it's. It's nonchalant, you know, regular talk. It's nothing. There's nothing to do with the industry. It's just what their house is doing. And their responses that they give me will take me to another step or a different question. So there's no script. There's no script. Everybody talks scripts. This is what you say. This is how you do it. This is what you do in this situation that changes so fast that you can't write a script for every call and there's no around it. You have to write your own script. So all you can do is get that focus point on questions and practice by asking about the flower bed. Ask about that Mustang in the garage. Ask about that guitar on the wall. Ask about their badges from the military. Are they in the Marines? Air Force? Ask them about it. What division are you in? What'd you do? How's that work? Everybody has a big sign on their forehead says, I want to talk about me, myself and I. And I want to tell you all about me, myself and I. And I don't want to hear any other opinions come out of your mouth other than what mine are. And that's where you get into more questions. So if you really practice that questions and implement it into your personality, you'll find that you'll start hearing stories that are genuinely funny. You find yourself discovering people in a new way. Instead of being a service guy or a sales guy, you may not sell anything that day and you may walk away from that job saying, boy, that was fun. That was a really good story. Or that guy was just, you know, really cool. And you're out of the sales mode. You're not in there, but the same stuff you just did there, even though you didn't sell, if you're consistent and do it at the next job, you might sell something. But if you're not selling anything, you've got to try something different because what you're doing is insane because you're just doing the same thing over and over and getting the same results.

So, yeah, we expect.

And I would say start with questions. It's that simple.

I love it, I love it, I love it. And I was going to ask you for the last words of wisdom or nuggets as we land this plane, but you just gave them. So thank you for that.

Yeah, and it's true.

Just ask more questions. Nobody asks questions. Nobody, nobody.

Have a heart of service. Ask questions, Give genuine solutions to problems. Just, just be there to help and, and care. And customers will see that if you, if you're there for an hour and you do it that way, by the end of the call, they're going to see that you care. So, you know, call I did today. 86 year old grandma, she, she had a lot of issues. She wanted her son there. So I stopped offering anything. I stopped asking questions. I just went right into, well, let's go ahead and schedule a return visit when your son's here and we can reiterate and revisit all of this stuff and we'll, we'll talk about it together and we'll come up with a solution. She's like, okay, great, that sounds wonderful. I really want my son to be involved. Done. I was there a 10 minute call. I was in and out in 10 minutes. I'm going back to sell her a brand new system. She already told me she wants to do it. She just wants your son involved with it. It's a slam dunk. I've already got the sale and I've got IAQ all in the bag. Just waiting on that return call.

I love it. I can't wait till this episode drops because by then probably you'll have some metrics to support what you just said there and we'll attach it to it. So.

Well, just a shout out to all the people that are Listening. Thank you for being part of this. Sam has helped me so much just being around. If you're the smartest guy in the room, you're in the wrong room. So get on board. Be open to different things, asking questions and just have that heart of service. Really, it's just practicing being a helpful person and good orientation towards, towards service. And the sales just comes with it. If you're trying to sell stuff, people will see it and they'll just shut you down and ask you to leave. So you got it.

Marry the process, divorce the results.

Yeah, there you go.

Love it, love it, love it. Yeah, we consistently do the things we need to do. I mean, the numbers will happen so well. Awesome. Well, everybody, thank you for listening today. This has been the Close it now podcast with episode two with Jason James. He is the Ohio gunslinger up there for iaq. Killing it, crushing it, leading the charge with the microscope. So pretty exciting.

Yeah. And my mother's side was King, so my dad's side was James. So you feel free to call me King James if you like.

Jason King. King James.

That's right. I've already got the nicknamed Ihu King from some of the girls in the office. So it's, it's inside joke.

There you go. Yeah, Jason, the iaq, King James there. We'll just extend it out there. Thanks for being a guest today. A couple quick announcements, everybody. One, go check out the American dreamevent.com that is June 20th and 21st. I am one of the keynote speakers there this year. I am speaking on the 20th. So go to americandreamevent.com and use the code close it now for a 10% discount on your ticket. That's going to be awesome. There's some good killer speakers this year. Lance Bachman is speaking. I am speaking, of course, a ton of other people. Steven Martinez is the guy that puts that on. So last year the level of speakers were like Tommy Mellow, Ishmael Valdez, just, you know, killer rock stars. So that is happening next month, June 20th and 21st. AmericanNamevent.com if you've ever gotten value from this podcast, I would love, love, love a five star review. You can review where you listen or if you would like some direction. Apple Podcasts is the preferred place right now for reviews. I would appreciate that. And go check out, just go to CloseItNow.net you can learn more about the coaching programs. You can learn how to hire me as a speaker for your next event and make sure to join the Facebook group because a lot of the conversation today was about what happened in the Facebook group after the last episode and some of the posts that Jason has put in the Facebook group. So go join the Facebook group. It's a killer community of people who love to just support each other and grow. So. But that is it for today, everybody. Thank you for listening. And until next time, Summer's here. The heat is on. Go save the world one heat stroke at a time.

You've been listening to the Close it now podcast. Our passion is to dive head first into the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H Vac and home improvement and at the same time time covering fitness, nutrition, relationships and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did, make sure to, like, rate and review. We'll be back soon, but in the meantime, find the website@closeitnow.net find us on Instagram at thereal Close it now. And on Facebook at Close It Now. See you next time.