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 episode three of the Sales 101 Beginner Series.

It's beginner sales foundations and it's good for everybody.

Getting back to the fundamentals is crucial.

This is the perfect time of year to do it right at the end of the year.

It's a great time to reset before we move into this next year.

And if whenever you're listening, it's always a great exercise to get back to the fundamentals and remember why you're there.

So today we are talking about this is episode three, because really, most sales conversations don't stall because of price.

I hear this all the time.

In fact, I got my very first hate mail from somebody I sent out in my weekly if you want to be actually on my weekly newsletter, email me sam closeitnow.net and I will put you on the weekly newsletter.

I give a weekly little coaching moment, announce podcasts, let you know about events that are coming out.

There's a speaking event that I am going to be speaking at all of these things.

So announce that anytime there's openings in the coaching calendar and different promotions and things.

It's not just a sales newsletter.

Yes, I'm going to let you know periodically.

I will, like my friend Scott Bell says, periodically I'll try to sell you something.

But more than anything, it's being aware of what's available and how to work with me and how to work with closeit now.

But most of the newsletter, the weekly email is content.

It's different tips, different links to things.

There's a lot of stuff that goes into that that not everyone else gets.

So if you want to be in the newsletter, email me sam closeitnow.net and I'll put you on that list.

Awesome.

So as we get into this, one of the interesting things so Speaking of that hate mail, so I sent out my weekly newsletter this week and I got a hate mail from somebody that said, wr, you know, stop.

Stop lying to people.

It's price, price, price.

Everything is price.

People only care about price right now with the bad economy.

Well, I'm here to tell you that's not true.

I've been in this long enough, been doing this 20 years.

I've sold, you know, high level equipment at incredible prices for years in up economies and down economies.

So what happens in a bad economy?

I'll do a whole episode on this.

It doesn't mean that people aren't willing and ready to invest.

You just have to go a little bit extra into showing more value.

People are happy to invest if the value is there.

And so that's a big part of what the conversation in this Close it now podcast is about.

How do we provide and show value in a way that communicates correctly, in a way that they understand the way they feel heard, the way they feel understood, which is what today's episode is about.

And people will happily pay the invest in their home with the prices that you're asking.

So no, it's not about price.

In fact, this guy ended the email.

I'm not going to push anybody under the bus ended the email with a clown emoji and a poop emoji.

And it made me crack up.

It was my very first hate mail.

I'm going to create some content around it and that's how I know I'm starting to do things right.

When you have a little group of haters, it's kind of fun.

They almost frame this, almost like the first dollar that the company make, you know, and so it's, it's really fun conversation.

But the thing is, most sales conversations don't stall because of price.

They stall because the homeowner doesn't feel understood.

Not heard, not nodded at, understood.

And so you can explain everything perfectly.

You can diagnose the problems correctly, you can even recommend the right solution and still lose the sell if the homeowner doesn't feel like you truly get what the situation has been like for them.

So today what we're going to do is break down step three in sales.

101.

Show you understand.

So before we get to that, I want to take a second and thank you everybody for listening.

This episode is releasing just after Christmas, so I hope you had a fantastic holidays.

Kwanzaa or Hanukkah.

Merry, you know, Merry Christmas.

Happy holidays to every single one of you.

I'm Grateful for you here.

Grateful that you are here listening in your drive time university.

And yeah, I'd love to hear what big happened for you this holiday.

What are you grateful for this year and during this holiday season?

I know it's not always easy for everybody.

There's lots of reasons why it can be hard also.

So if you need somebody to talk to about that, I am here for you.

Remember, I've got your back and I don't want to see anyone have a struggle through the holidays if you don't have to.

So reach out if you, if you need somebody, just a listening ear.

I'm here for that as well.

So let's get into this a little bit because there's some really cool stuff going on.

I love this series because, you know, getting back to basics is so crucial.

You know, in episode one, I referenced Vince Lombardi and how his very, very, very famous line now when he started training season the year after they lost the championship, actually looking back, I think this was probably even before they called it the Super Bowl.

And so with the Green Bay packers, he started the next year's training with gentlemen, this is a football.

And of course they were like, hey guys, we're professionals.

But then what he did is went on to retrain how to block, how to tackle, how to relearn the basic plays, all these types of things.

They went on to win five of the seven of the next year's championships, one of the most winningest runs in professional football.

And so getting back to the basics is everything.

And so that is, that's what we're doing today.

So so far in this series, episode one, we covered starting with clarity and a shared plan.

Episode 2, Stay curious before jumping to conclusions and go back and listen to those episodes in order.

When you put them all together, it all makes total sense.

And this is going to turn into a course where I'm going to, this is the highlight reel, just the barely the tip of the iceberg on each of these.

So I am putting together an entire course around this.

So message me if you want to get on the list for that when it comes out because it's going to be an excellent place to start your beginners at and for all of us to get a good refresher into the basics.

The core concepts that you have to have before you have to mess with learning scripts or anything else.

You have to understand the basic flow of a sales conversation and some of the basic principles.

And these mindset pieces change everything.

You know, most trainers start with how to diagnose and they start from the technical side.

But when you have to learn how to communicate that, you know, it's very difficult to come from a technician's focus and get into the concepts if you don't start with these foundational pieces.

So that's why I'm putting this series together.

So now, episode three, we are @ the most, one of the most overlooked steps for beginners.

This is the bridge between discovery and solutions.

And so it's the moment where the homeowner decides, usually without saying it out loud, this person understands me or this person is just trying to sell me something.

There's a very big difference in that.

And so if you skip this step, everything after it is going to feel rushed.

Even if you're not rushing, it all feels rushed if they don't feel understood.

So first of all, let's talk about why feeling understood drastically.

Decisions.

It's been, you know, when, when, especially when we're coming up in sales, a lot of the times we think trust comes from your knowledge or your experience, your confidence, being able to explain things.

Well, actually, where trust really comes from, it comes from alignment.

So people move forward when they feel like you understand their experience, you understand why this matters to them, and you're not guessing.

So that not guessing piece, of course, that is where confidence, experience, knowledge, all of that comes in.

But if the homeowner doesn't feel understood, their brain is gonna, their guard is gonna go up and those walls are gonna go up and guarded brains delay decisions.

That creates the think about it moments and we'll have to get back to you type of moments, because they don't feel understood in their situation.

Because remember, it doesn't matter the time of year.

But there's other.

The decision is always dramatically more complex than we think it is.

We step into our appointment and we're like, okay, well, you've got a problem, we can fix it.

And why aren't they buying from us?

Because there's so many more pieces to the decision they're thinking about.

This is so low.

It's the highest priority for us because it's what we do.

But somewhere in their priority list, it's just something they have to deal with.

And so there's so many other decisions they're thinking about, oh, I've got to pay for my kids college, or we've got a car note, or we've got all of these things.

And also, who knows what's going on in their life?

There could be medical issues, there could be travel plans, they could be Making a decision between this and something else, some other improvement for their home, or something else entirely different.

And so there's always so many complex layers to the decision.

We have to remember that in these conversations, one of the best ways to cut through that is to help them and show them that you truly understand not just the problem and solution, but what they're experiencing and what it's causing.

And so when you, you know, showing you understand, you know this is understanding is not agreement, right?

If they're.

This is a really important clarification too.

Showing you understand.

Here's what it does not mean.

It does not mean you agree with every concern.

It does not mean you minimize the technical realities of what's going on.

It doesn't mean you avoid the uncomfortable truth of what's going on with their situation.

It means you can accurately reflect their perspective before offering yours.

I'm going to say that again.

Understanding means you can accurately reflect back their perspective before offering your perspective.

So understanding comes first, solutions come later.

Because remember, the goal here is the understanding.

The human first, the problem second, and the solution third.

That's your mantra.

Remember, that is the mantra.

So, you know, a super common mistake that beginners make is we try to show understanding just strictly by repeating words back.

You know, we've heard all the different trainings.

You got to be a mirror, repeat back the last, last few words, etc.

So an example, we'll stick an H vac for this, but apply it to whatever industry you're in.

An example of doing this incorrectly is.

So you're saying the system is old and the bills are high.

Well, yes, that's what they just said.

That's not understanding, that's just being a parrot back of what they just said.

It sounds mechanical.

It feels like you just got a checkbox.

Real understanding and this is crucial for you to understand.

Real understanding captures the meaning, not just the details.

So the, so I'm going to give you a structure of how to, how to show you understand.

And this will help you both understand better as well as help them see that you truly understand.

So let's keep this extremely simple because this is sales 101.

You just have to get the concepts in this series.

So the three part structure here is acknowledge what they're experiencing, connect it to why it matters, and then confirm that you got it right.

So acknowledge what they're experiencing, connect it to why it matters, and they confirm you got it right.

So I'm going to give you an example line.

I just, you know, this is Shooting from the hip.

But the example is, you know, just to give you an idea of the concept of what this could sound like.

So it sounds like this just isn't just about the system.

It's that you're frustrated dealing with the same issues every season, and it's starting to feel like a bigger hassle than it should be.

Did I get that right?

And this is a question.

It's not rhetorical.

Wait for an answer, then you stop talking.

The pause matters because when you pause and wait for an actual considered answer, this is crucial.

So why the pause?

This pause is everything.

There's so much power in the pause.

The silence is what starts to create the trust.

And this is where trust is built.

A lot of times we'll rush past this moment, but when you pause, the homeowner feels heard.

They step into agreement, and they will either clarify.

Very, very often they're going to clarify or expand on it to make sure that we get it right.

So this is where we gain real clarity, not just for you, but also for them.

And so if they correct you, that's a win.

If they add more detail, they're dropping gold nuggets for you to pick up so you can help them with the solutions better and more clearly.

But either way, the conversation is going to deepen to the place where now you're in alignment together with your homeowner to come up with the right solutions that make sense for them.

So here's how this step is going to prevent objections later.

You know, especially in sales, we get objections.

And I get.

As you can imagine, I get the questions all the time.

How do I handle objections?

Every single time I put up, hey, what do you mean?

To train on some.

Top of the list is always, hey, how do I handle objections better?

Every single time I train, it's always on the whiteboard goes, you know, how do we handle the price objection?

How do we handle three bids?

How do we handle, Like, I gotta talk to my spouse.

How do we handle, I gotta think about it.

Then everything else is a variation of that.

So those are the only four possibilities.

But.

So how do we prevent objections from coming up later?

When you skip showing understanding, what happens is the solutions that we recommend, they start to feel really disconnected.

The price starts to feel arbitrary because there's not a mental tie to why you're recommending what you're recommending.

And now they don't see the value that's behind the price.

They don't understand everything that's going into that.

And the objections start to show up later, Right?

So when you slow down and you show understanding now, your solutions are going to start to feel relevant.

Price is going to start to make a whole lot more sense and the resistance is going to drop naturally, because most objections are just delayed confusion from earlier in the conversation.

That's absolutely the case.

Anytime somebody gets a consistent objection over and over and over, it's not your market, it's not your price, it's not all of these things.

It's something you're doing in your process that's planting the seed for that to come up later.

So most objections are just delayed confusion from earlier in the conversation.

Is this good?

I hope you've gotten value from this series.

I really, really enjoyed putting this together for all of you.

So now let's get into the key here.

Understanding before educating.

You know, anytime I do training, I always ask, you know, who thinks it's their job to educate?

And every hand goes up, of course.

Now, here's where the breakdown happens.

Most of the time, people think the more and better I can educate the homeowner, that's going to close the deal.

But the truth is, it's not.

People don't buy when they're more educated.

They buy when they feel safe.

And safe is that safety piece, that trust.

That's the trust that creates that safe space is developed through truly understanding what they're experiencing.

So this is key.

People don't feel understood when you explain things.

They feel understood when you reflect their experience back to them accurately.

And not just the exact words, the meaning behind the words.

So education works after understanding, not before it.

So if you teach too early, it's going to feel like pressure.

If you reflect first, the education will feel helpful to clarify even further.

But if you teach too early, it feels like pressure because then you're just word vomiting on them.

Oh, you need the solution.

You need this thing and all of the way that we try to educate when we reflect first.

Education is now helpful and supports the conversation.

Is this making sense, everybody?

So let's tie it back to the core identity statement.

Remember, this is your mantra.

My job is to understand the human first, the problem second, and the solution last.

So my job is to understand the human first, the problem second, and the solution last.

Showing you understand is proof that you honored those first two steps.

So if you can't clearly articulate their situation in a way they agree with, you are not ready to recommend anything yet.

If you do, you're only going to be bumping up against that brick wall of, hey, we Got to think about it because it's not clear for either way.

So you've got to be able to clearly voice back their situation, what they're experiencing in a way where they go, that's right, you nailed it.

That's it.

And you know the second that it happens because the energy shifts in the appointment and you can feel the alignment.

And so.

And if you want to know more about that, of course I did a whole series on controlling the energy of the, of the appointment.

So go back and listen to that series.

But the thing is, you have to remember you don't need better scripts, you don't need to explain more, you don't need to impress anyone.

You're not there to impress them.

You've got to slow down long enough to show the homeowner, I understand what this has been like for you.

When people feel understood, then they relax.

When they relax, decisions get easier.

And this is super important to remember.

So today we covered why feeling understood drives decisions, why understanding is not agreement.

The beginner mistake of just repeating the words back.

A simple structure to show you, of course, how to understand.

To show you understand why the pause is critical, how this step prevents objections and how this fits into the human problem solutions order that we've established.

So remember, this is the thing to remember.

Show you understand before you try to solve anything.

And if you do that, as long as you do it in this order, you're gonna find your process is much, much smoother and better conversion.

It'll be received so much better.

So if this episode has helped you share it with someone who explains too much and listens too little and make sure that you, that you subscribe for episode four.

So if in YouTube like and subscribe where, what we're going to do is complete this foundation, episode four is going to be how to present simply and confidently, how to recommend solutions without pressure.

And this is crucial because if they feel pressured or pushed that is very difficult to close, they're going to run away from you.

And so when you present simply and confidently now, the solutions align with what their situation is because you truly understood it.

So thanks for listening.

Today, a couple quick announcements.

First, if you've gotten value from this podcast, leave me a five.

I would love for you to leave me a five star review.

Apple podcasts, go to Google, there's a link in the show notes.

Leave me a review.

And if I read your review on the show and you hear it, message me samloseitnow.net and you will have earned yourself a free coaching session.

Not going to do this forever.

That window of opportunity will be closing in 2026 because with the start of the door to door Institute, which is my next announcement, my bandwidth is going to be taken up a lot more.

So I won't be able to do these forever.

So capitalize on them while you can.

So two quick announcements.

One is I'm booking my calendar for 2026 for on site visits to come train your team.

So definitely reach out to me.

Every single time we do that, there's a huge bump in numbers.

Of course.

Obviously numbers happen, close rates, average tickets.

This is lasting change though we're not talking about doing something that there's a bump but then they fall off because nobody remembers what they're doing.

This is true lasting change that when I worked with teams, they get lasting results.

So the lifetime value is incredible.

So message me about coming to your location and training your people.

The next is we've got some cool stuff going on and that.

So clarity there, that sales team, that service techs or both, it depends on, you know, what your focus is.

And so we train, you know, sales and service or both.

Either way, if you're selling techs, if you're not selling techs, you got a tech flip model.

If you got call by call, we're really well versed in all of those components so we can have a solid conversation around that.

Next is the door to door Institute.

If you want to be able to put 100 appointments on your calendar in a really short amount of time, especially in all the seasons where you need work, you don't have to sit around and wait for people to call and be wondering, why isn't the phone ringing?

We can why isn't the phone ringing?

Why is nobody filling out the form?

Why is nobody responding to my social media ads?

Why is nobody responding to my pay per click?

Where's all the business?

We can go find it for you and put those appointments on your calendar.

So message me about that.

In fact, along with that, I wrote a guide.

It's a guerrilla marketing guide of how to get a consistent flow of leads year round without spending a dime online.

You can get your copy@doortodoorinstitute.com that's D O O R. Go grab your free guerrilla guide.

And then there's a form on that website if you want to know more and have a conversation around what it would be like for us to come and put appointments on your calendar.

Fill that form out and get on our calendar and we'll have a good conversation.

You know, great conversation around that.

And so those are the announcements.

Thank you all for listening.

Thank you for investing your time in Drive Time University.

I appreciate every single one of you.

Stick around for the next episode where we're going to wrap this beginner's sales 101 series.

And this is these, these concepts, these ideas, these are the steps to help you become someone worth buying.

From.

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 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.

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