Welcome to Close it now, an H Vac sales training podcast with Sam Wakefield.
Speaker AHere we'll build your reputation in residential H Vac sales to be the expert influencer in your market.
Speaker AYou'll get insight into the top minds in the industry as they share their skills and hacks to help you on your journey.
Speaker AThis podcast isn't just about selling more.
Speaker AIt's about understanding your customers needs and building efficiencies behind the scenes so you can sell more but work less while being top of mind when people think H Vac.
Speaker ANow let's get started with your host of the Close it now podcast.
Speaker AThis is Sam Wakefield.
Speaker BHello, welcome again to the Close It Now H Vac sales training podcast.
Speaker BMy name is Sam Wakefield.
Speaker BI am your host.
Speaker BThis is your source for all things H Vac sales related.
Speaker BThis is where we get together.
Speaker BWe have this ongoing conversation to dominate your market, to literally crush it in the industry and in your area.
Speaker BBecause we all know that bad salespeople have skinny kids.
Speaker BThank you Zig Ziglar.
Speaker BIt was one of his famous quotes.
Speaker BBad salespeople have skinny kids.
Speaker BI don't want skinny kids.
Speaker BAnd I know you want skinny kids.
Speaker BThat also means I don't want a small mba.
Speaker BRaise your hand if you would like to have an mba.
Speaker BDo you know what an MBA is?
Speaker BAnd no, it's not a master of business.
Speaker BI'm talking about a massive bank account.
Speaker BMassive bank account is what we are after.
Speaker BSo thank you for listening to this and yeah, I'm just loving the community that is building in our Close It Now Facebook group.
Speaker BSo you can find me@closeitnow.net go there.
Speaker BThat will get you connected to everything you need to know about the Close it now sales training.
Speaker BAnd yeah, this is just such a great community that's building.
Speaker BWe are starting to hit some serious momentum with members joining, conversations, happening and just it's just a cool place.
Speaker BIt's a good place where you can drop in your any objections you're coming across that you're maybe having an issue handling them.
Speaker BBecause I guarantee you somebody in the group with all of the varied experiences and just you know, the seasoned people in there, the new people in there, somebody has handled, has a fantastic way to handle that objection very easily.
Speaker BSo if you're having problems, jump in the group and drop the question in there.
Speaker BWhat is it?
Speaker BYou can also email me.
Speaker BWell@samwakefield.com that's s a m w a k dash e f I e l d dot com shoot me a message.
Speaker BI would Love to hear from you.
Speaker BWhat topics would you like covered?
Speaker BLet me know what part of the world you're listening from.
Speaker BLet me know your biggest takeaways from this podcast.
Speaker BSo also I want to give a huge, huge, huge shout out to too.
Speaker BWe've got listeners.
Speaker BThis thing has gone global.
Speaker BWe've got listeners all over the world now, of course, the United States, absolutely.
Speaker BWe've got listeners in Canada, we've got listeners in Morocco, listeners in India, listeners in the United Kingdom and listeners in Colombia so far.
Speaker BSo share this podcast with anyone you know in the H Vac industry that has anything to do with sales because this is focused on residential in home.
Speaker BClose it now.
Speaker BStop creating follow up for yourself.
Speaker BSo the topic of today, today's broadcast is about something that's really important.
Speaker BIt's just basically talk less and sell more.
Speaker BHave you ever heard that?
Speaker BIn fact, there's a book called Shut up and Sell.
Speaker BI've literally read hundreds of books on sells, on psychology, on influence, on NLP techniques, and I've really put them all together into how to interact with people, studying different types of personalities and that kind of thing.
Speaker BBut there is a book that's called Shut up and Sell.
Speaker BIt's a really good book, but it's about basically so many problems and just nod your head, raise your hand if you know that if you're in the sales in the cells, that's like the Facebook or if you're in sales, a lot of times you have been vaccinated with the Victrola needle.
Speaker BAs my dad would say, you just talk, you like to talk.
Speaker BYou're great at communicating with people.
Speaker BAnd for a lot of us, that can actually be a detriment to, to our results, a detriment to our success in our career.
Speaker BSo the lesson, and every time that I find myself slipping into those habits.
Speaker BSo this episode today is specific really for those personalities that are big personalities that love to talk.
Speaker BWe're going to have a lot of different topics, actually.
Speaker BYou don't have to be a big, boisterous, naturally outgoing personality to crush it in sales.
Speaker BBut that's today's issue for today's topic, that it's for that personality type.
Speaker BSo there is a really great visual that I learned years ago.
Speaker BIf you're like me, there's a good chance you probably have had some theater in your past, some sort of acting type of thing.
Speaker BSo there's a.
Speaker BIf you've ever been on stage, ever done music or anything, you know what it feels like when you get on stage.
Speaker BAnd the stage is dark and you're hit with a spotlight.
Speaker BYou can start to feel the heat from the spotlight on your skin.
Speaker BAnd if you're not used to it, if you haven't made yourself used to it, if you haven't grown accustomed to it, it starts to get really uncomfortable.
Speaker BAnd the longer it goes, the more uncomfortable it gets.
Speaker BDo you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker BHave you ever experienced that feeling of being in the spotlight on a dark stage and.
Speaker BOr just.
Speaker BIt didn't even have to be necessarily like that.
Speaker BIt could be in any kind of room.
Speaker BIf you've never.
Speaker BThat moment you step up into public speaking, you step in front of people and the room goes quiet, and you're standing there and all of a sudden your skin gets hot.
Speaker BYou feel the heat start to rise into your face.
Speaker BWhat that is is of course, that uncomfortableness of the spotlight.
Speaker BWe call that the spotlight effect.
Speaker BSo when you are talking to the homeowners, could be a homeowner, could be a couple homeowners, whatever decision makers, it could be partners, you know, whatever your situation.
Speaker BImagine this is especially important in the first half of the home visit, especially important in the introduction.
Speaker BAnd really when you get into your inquiry, questions about what their concerns are, what they're experiencing in their home.
Speaker BAs you get into those, imagine it's just you and them sitting in a chair on a completely dark stage and there's one spotlight and it's only shining on the person who is talking.
Speaker BSo if you just close your eyes and if you're driving, be safe, but close your eyes and visualize this.
Speaker BYou're on that stage, you're in that chair, and spotlight is only shining on the person that's talking.
Speaker BIt is your job.
Speaker BIt's like a game.
Speaker BDo everything in your power to keep the spotlight on them as long as possible, as often as possible, because that's going to do a couple things for you.
Speaker BOne, you're going to be leading by questions.
Speaker BSo you're controlling the conversation.
Speaker BBut what it's going to do as they start to answer the questions, you can then ask clarifying questions.
Speaker BHow so?
Speaker BHow does that make you feel?
Speaker BTell me more about that.
Speaker BThose types of questions to get them to open up, to tell you more about their concerns and you and your focus is, I like to call it listening between the lines.
Speaker BListen between the lines to what they're saying.
Speaker BSo you can really get the vibe of what they're trying to tell you or the vibe of what they're holding back from telling you.
Speaker BBecause we all know that customers don't always give you all the facts, they don't always give you all the details.
Speaker BThey might intentionally or unintentionally be holding things back that you can uncover, kind of like peeling an onion and in the visit.
Speaker BSo with that, what that does is allows you to really focus on the responses.
Speaker BYou get to see their facial expressions, you really get to focus on their body language.
Speaker BAnd every chance they get, play that game with yourself, focus that spotlight on them so they.
Speaker BThen you can go through that process and do this for as much as you can through your entire process.
Speaker BThe start to finish.
Speaker BThe less words you can say, the better.
Speaker BI literally for years have taken a.
Speaker BMy sales appointment used to be two hours in a home, just about every time.
Speaker BAnd it's gotten shorter and shorter and shorter over time because I realized one, I was talking way too much.
Speaker BPeople got.
Speaker BI realized a long time ago that I can talk about this stuff way longer than most people ever want to listen.
Speaker BAnd for most of you, there's a good chance it's probably the same thing.
Speaker BSo I'm constantly fighting that battle of reeling myself in, especially if someone is even a little bit technical minded because I like to nerd out on this stuff.
Speaker BMan.
Speaker BI love the technology, I love the systems, I love the.
Speaker BJust everything that's going on in the heating and air industry.
Speaker BI mean, if I'm talking to someone who's into politics, there's a good chance that, oh, you know, lobbying about the air conditioning industry might come up.
Speaker BIt's just ridiculous how much knowledge that I have about the industry and the equipment and all the brands, all the different stuff, the history of air conditioning, but no one wants to hear it all.
Speaker BAnd whatever your passion is, whatever you're into, it's great to talk about it here and there, but no one wants to hear it all.
Speaker BThat's really the point of this, is use less words.
Speaker BThere's a really good friend of mine, and I know you.
Speaker BIf you're listening, buddy, I know you know I'm going to be talking about you for a half second, but I'm not going to mention your name.
Speaker BBut I'm always talking to him.
Speaker BAnd it's like, less details.
Speaker BThose are just details.
Speaker BLeave them out because he'll ask questions, kind of like, okay, well, if this situation and this scenario and this scenario and this scenario arises, how do you say this or how do you present this?
Speaker BAnd it's like, you know what?
Speaker BEvery bit of that is details.
Speaker BAnd no one really cares or wants to know.
Speaker BBecause at the end of the day, I mean, there's what, a half a million half inch drill bits sold in the United States alone every year.
Speaker BAnd that's not because people want drill bit.
Speaker BNobody goes to the store and says, oh, I really want a drill bit for my collection.
Speaker BNo, they want a half inch hole.
Speaker BThey don't care how they arrive there.
Speaker BThey just know they're gonna go get something that's gonna do the job.
Speaker BAnd at the end of the day, with what we do, people really don't care necessarily about the product.
Speaker BThey really don't.
Speaker BUnless, you know, you come across that one in a hundred or one in 200, you know, mechanical engineer that just is really nerding out on the equipment like you do.
Speaker BIf you're like me and you might not even nerd out on it either, then they really don't care how they arrive there.
Speaker BWhat they care about is being cool when they want to be cool, being warm when they want to be warm and cheap to do it.
Speaker BAnd if you can accomplish that and communicate it into that many words that this is going to be the most comfortable, this is going to be the cheapest to operate this one.
Speaker BYou know how you were telling me about you have those allergy problems?
Speaker BWell, this is the solution for that.
Speaker BAnd you're going to wake up the next day not experiencing that.
Speaker BThey raise their hand and say, sign me up.
Speaker BI don't care what it costs.
Speaker BBecause at that point, it's not about the dollars, it's about the value.
Speaker BAnd when you can express that in the terms of benefits.
Speaker BAnd we're actually, I'm going to do a whole podcast on how to talk in terms of benefits.
Speaker BAnd not the details, not the features, but when you can start to express that things in those, that kind of terminology, that's when the door, the whole.
Speaker BYou're going to be able to turn the corner in your sales career.
Speaker BIt's going to just.
Speaker BAnd it's a constant, constant thing to just be focused on and be thinking about, not using, you know, industry jargon that nobody has a clue.
Speaker BAnd so take a step back, put yourself in their shoes.
Speaker BYou've never heard of any of this before.
Speaker BWould any of it make sense the way that you present it?
Speaker BJust ask yourself that question.
Speaker BDebrief yourself before and after every single visit and keep a journal, keep notes.
Speaker BWhat did you learn?
Speaker BWhat can you change each time?
Speaker BThat's why I love that I'm out there every single day crushing it alongside you guys.
Speaker BBecause every bit of this is a case study for me while we're working on growing together.
Speaker BBecause when techniques and verbiage comes around, you've got to get it in your mouth, you got to practice it, you've got to use different things in order to get different results.
Speaker BYou have to use different words and use different techniques.
Speaker BAnd so that's what we're focused on here.
Speaker BSo was this valuable today?
Speaker BIf this was valuable, share it with somebody.
Speaker BThis is my passion is to help help you work less and sell more.
Speaker BWould you like to double your ticket size and double your close rate?
Speaker BI mean what's the industry average is 30% close rate in the heating and air industry.
Speaker BThat's horrible.
Speaker BThat's awful.
Speaker BIf you're doing that, there's no shame in where you're at.
Speaker BBut I can tell you there's a better way and there's a better.
Speaker BSo it's easy to double your income if you just sell more of the jobs you go to.
Speaker BYou don't even have to get more leads, just sell more of them for a higher ticket price, get some add ons, system enhancements.
Speaker BWe're going to go through all of this stuff I'm so excited about.
Speaker BI've got this massive list of topics for podcasts coming up.
Speaker BBut she'll share.
Speaker BIf you got some value from this, share it with someone.
Speaker BAlso go to closeitnow.net that's going to get you connected to us.
Speaker BThere's a huge, huge, huge upgrade and website being built right now.
Speaker BSo right now we are.
Speaker BWhat is this?
Speaker BJune 13th of 2019.
Speaker BSo if you're listening to this in the future, and I know many of you will be, go to CloseItNow.net, you're going to find our website.
Speaker BIt's in process and I'm super stoked to get it rolling.
Speaker BAnd yeah, just get this, this plane is leaving the station, man.
Speaker BSo climb on board.
Speaker BWe're creating a community that hasn't existed before now.
Speaker BA community for all of the H vac sales professionals around the world to come together to support each other, to share their successes, share your losses so we can support each other, help you get through that too.
Speaker BBecause it's more than just learning how to sell stuff.
Speaker BIt's a community of support.
Speaker BAnd so I'm so glad you've joined and attracting those people who want to not only better their sales career, but better themselves, better their life, better their family life, have the time to not only go out and sell a million, you know, earn a million dollars in sales in a year, but also have time for your family.
Speaker BYou can do both.
Speaker BYou don't have to be that person who disappears for two or three months in the peak of your busy season, where your partner is just like, okay, I'll see you here in several months.
Speaker BFor years, my wife said, okay, it's May, I guess I'll see you again in October.
Speaker BI'm the air conditioning widow for the summer again.
Speaker BAnd it doesn't have to be like that.
Speaker BYou can craft a way to have both to have the life you want by design and accomplish some massive, massive goals at the same time.
Speaker BSo that's the point.
Speaker BThat was one of the main points of this entire this entire focus, this movement of the Close it now movement.
Speaker BSo thanks for listening again.
Speaker BMy name is Sam Wakefield.
Speaker BI will talk to you guys again soon.
Speaker AThanks for listening to Close it now with Sam Wakefield.
Speaker ASubscribe to the podcast now so you're first to hear new episodes jam packed with actionable tools and tips to make you the top H vac professional in your market.
Speaker AIf you have friends and colleagues who would like this show, share it with them and send them to our Facebook community for more in depth discussion about the challenges we all face and how to overcome them on the Close it now podcast.