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, it's about understanding your customers needs and building efficiencies behind the scenes so you can sell more, buy, 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 BAll right, well welcome to the podcast today.
Speaker BSam Wakefield here, Close It Now.
Speaker BI am super excited, excited for my guest today.
Speaker BLet me take a quick second to welcome everybody.
Speaker BI hope you're loving this new format, having the solo podcast every Monday and an interview every single Friday.
Speaker BAnd that is going to be the pace from now on for the foreseeable, at least for the foreseeable future.
Speaker BWe are really ramping up the amount of podcasts that we are putting out because you know what, it's time to raise the standards in the industry.
Speaker BIt's time to embrace our society and basically just take this industry to really into this century.
Speaker BBecause we all know that the H Vac industry is a big old slow ship that's very slow to turn and move.
Speaker BSo everything that we can do to speed that process, bring it current, get us where we need to be, is part of that journey.
Speaker BSo I'm super excited about our guest today.
Speaker BWe have a woman, which is awesome.
Speaker BI love, love, love.
Speaker BAs you know, if you've listened to my podcast, you know, I always love to give shout outs to women out there in the, in the industry.
Speaker BAnd it's part of what we're going to talk about today is what it's like as a woman in such a mostly male dominated industry and what we can do to support that.
Speaker BSo my guest today is Lisa.
Speaker BShe last name, help me out here, but let me almost say right here.
Speaker CIt'S a hard g. It's against Lisa Gentz.
Speaker BYep.
Speaker BOkay, so Lisa Gentz, she is, she's been in the industry over a decade.
Speaker BShe's been a million dollar year person for over a decade and she's out there doing the do just like every single one of you, all the rest of us.
Speaker BAnd yeah, we actually connected through Drive Time University.
Speaker BShe found the podcast, has joined the Facebook group and we started chatting and I just really wanted to bring her on Today, if you watch the video, you'll see that I have the challenge accepted shirt on today.
Speaker BBut if you're not watching the video, that right across my chest is challenge accepted.
Speaker BAnd I wore that very intentionally.
Speaker BSo as you're listening, because getting into the industry as a woman can sometimes be a little bit of a challenge.
Speaker BAnd this is somebody that stepped up, dominated the game.
Speaker BShe now leads a team of about to be five people, and they are all out there doing the same million plus a year and just crushing the goals.
Speaker BAnd so they're doing it, too.
Speaker BSo welcome to the show, Lisa.
Speaker BI'm so glad to have you today.
Speaker CThanks.
Speaker BGive us a super quick synopsis of why in the world you chose heating and air.
Speaker BHow'd you get here?
Speaker CSo I had an opportunity as somebody who knew me and knew my sales background.
Speaker CI was actually selling cars at the time, and they were associated with the business I'm working with now.
Speaker CAnd they knew that they were looking for a salesperson.
Speaker CAnd she called me and said, hey, would this interest you?
Speaker CAnd I'm never one to turn down an opportunity.
Speaker CCame in and talked to them and knew nothing about heating and cooling.
Speaker CAnd the owner of the company said, that's great.
Speaker CI don't want anybody who knows anything.
Speaker CI'll teach you all of that.
Speaker CAll I want is somebody who feels comfortable in sales and going into people's houses and just talking to them.
Speaker CWell, shoot, I can do that.
Speaker CAnd it's worked out well.
Speaker CBut, yeah, absolutely green to the industry.
Speaker CBut you have a great team and good training, and it's just been.
Speaker CIt's been the best decision that I could have made.
Speaker CI think the number one thing that prompted me to do this was that, like I said, I was selling cars, and I was one of maybe five, four salespeople fighting for every single sale that came on that lot.
Speaker COr could I just be the one salesperson and get.
Speaker CAnd, you know, trying to make that work.
Speaker CAnd it's like, well, I'd rather.
Speaker CI'd rather be one salesperson than fighting with all of those other people.
Speaker CSo I'll do it.
Speaker CI'll try it.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CAnd the funniest thing is when I went home to tell my husband that I was thinking I was going to do this.
Speaker CI said, I got to crawl into crawl spaces and addicts and look at things.
Speaker CI think I can do that.
Speaker CAnd he just.
Speaker CHe laughed hilariously.
Speaker CHe said, you are going to get in a crawl space, right?
Speaker CYeah, I think I can do that.
Speaker CI think I'm going to try it and I never looked back.
Speaker BI love it, I love it, I love it.
Speaker BSo what.
Speaker BI'm just so curious when you're, especially when you got started.
Speaker BBut I'm sure it even happens still, you know, when you're in the house and you tell the homeowners that you're going to go in the crawl spaces, that you're going in their attic, you know, what's that response?
Speaker BLike, is it, Are they surprised?
Speaker BThey laugh, they don't believe you.
Speaker CYeah, it's usually, oh, well, you don't have to get in there.
Speaker CThe other guy didn't get in there.
Speaker CLike, well, here's the thing, here's how we handle it.
Speaker CAnd yeah, I would really like to get in there.
Speaker CI need to.
Speaker CSo that we can make sure that there's no issues.
Speaker CThe worst thing we can do is install a system and then get in there and find out that you have a problem.
Speaker CSo I'm going to inspect everything and usually it's, it kind of throws them back a little bit that I'm actually going to do this.
Speaker CAnd I love it when the person, the guy that was there before me didn't do it because it, I don't know, it just, I think it carries more weight.
Speaker CYou know, they're not expecting it from a female.
Speaker CThey really aren't expecting a female salesperson to begin with.
Speaker CAnd you always get that, oh, it's a woman coming out.
Speaker CSure is.
Speaker CAnd I just think that it really.
Speaker CBecause it's something different and people aren't expecting it.
Speaker CI find that I have, my customers have less of that defense, you know, you know, that guarded defense mechanism that you get.
Speaker CI don't want to be sold.
Speaker CYou know, it's just, hey, I'm very non threatening coming in and talking to you about what you need and then, yeah, I'm going to crawl around your attic, you know.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CI see it as, I see it as a huge advantage being a woman in the sales for H Vac sales.
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BYeah, that's, you know, you hit the nail on the head.
Speaker BIt's, you know, either if it's from our, the way we're raised or socialization or just subconsciously something we don't intentionally do.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker BBut just.
Speaker BAnd that's why, like I mentioned, you know, everyone's heard me mention this before in the podcast.
Speaker BI've always hired for women on my sales team when I could.
Speaker BWhen somebody, you know, we would intentionally look for women for that very reason of if somebody was willing to learn the things they needed to Learn and had the drive then I can, man.
Speaker BEvery single time I've turned them into, you know, million dollar plus rock stars.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker BBecause they have the instant difference of rapport.
Speaker BThere's instantly an additional amount of guard that's down.
Speaker BWell, and when we think about it too, how many times do you go out and it's.
Speaker BYou're hanging out with the housewife during the day, during the appointments, you know, it's so much.
Speaker BIt's so less threatening.
Speaker CYes.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CYou know, gone are the days when it's the husband making all of the decisions for the household.
Speaker CIt's.
Speaker CAnd it's more of a joint decision anymore.
Speaker CBut still, you know, another thing that we thought about too is you're right, we are dealing with women there during the day.
Speaker CAnd you know, they'll say, well, the other guy that came, he kind of made me a little nervous, you know, being alone in a house with somebody for two hours that you don't know.
Speaker CSo I do again, that's another advantage.
Speaker CWoman going in and speaking to a woman.
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BI love it.
Speaker BWell, cool.
Speaker BSo let's talk a little bit about your process.
Speaker BSo it sounds like from that just the whole ideology and model of less threatening that over time you've developed basically a model of.
Speaker BFor your sales system, for your company, for your team that kind of follows suit on that.
Speaker BSo talk about that a little bit.
Speaker CFor us, we use a very low pressure.
Speaker CIt's more educational than anything.
Speaker CWe have a series of questions, comfort concerns, we call them, where we're doing a little bit more just setting up a conversation with the client, finding out what they need.
Speaker CSo we spend a certain amount of time doing that.
Speaker CThat slows the sales process down too, which is really good.
Speaker CYou can really gather a lot of information.
Speaker CWhole home inspection, ductwork equipment and then insulation.
Speaker CAnd so we're looking in, like I said, attics, crawl spaces, going through the whole home and doing the heat load that's done on every sales call.
Speaker CSo then all of that information is used to educate the client on.
Speaker CHere's what your system is doing.
Speaker CHere's what we need to do.
Speaker CWe have found this.
Speaker CHey, we found a health and safety issue that we need to address.
Speaker CSo then it's a lot of the education process and then it's presentation of the equipment we like to do.
Speaker CUsed to be, you know, good, better, best right now.
Speaker CNow the thought process is good, better, best.
Speaker CFantastic.
Speaker CFour options.
Speaker BYou must have been to the same training the once upon a time.
Speaker CI don't think we're Reinventing the wheel here.
Speaker CYou know, there's a reason why that.
Speaker CNo pressure.
Speaker CSales boot camps are out there.
Speaker CYou know, all of most of.
Speaker COr a lot of the sales training that I've been into for the heating and cooling industry is exactly this layout.
Speaker CAnd it's because it works.
Speaker CAnd if you work the process through like that and you set up a really good rapport and you educate the client where we should make the sale.
Speaker CAnd I'm still amazed at how many of our competitors don't do it.
Speaker CThey just take a legal pad and write down, here's what you're going to get, and then they're on to the next one.
Speaker CIt's.
Speaker CIt's astounding to me how they still stay in business doing that.
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BWhat's.
Speaker BYou know, that's why the industry average close rate is 30% and statistically 30% of people will buy from you no matter what.
Speaker BSo they're not doing any sales, they're just an order taker.
Speaker CYeah, exactly.
Speaker BThat's that moment of like, okay, whoever comes out first and I'll just do what they say because I just don't want to mess with it.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker BVersus we get a chance as, you know, going through a real process to really connect and have a build relationship with that other basically 30% that are, you know, that we have the influence to, you know, have that.
Speaker BThat conversation.
Speaker BBecause we know 30% of people are not getting back from this anyway.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker BThere's also that.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker BSo that's the.
Speaker BThey might not like your hair that day or the color of your shirt or they just had a bad day.
Speaker CYeah, yeah.
Speaker CThey're just.
Speaker CThere's times when you just can't make a connection with the person.
Speaker CIt just doesn't happen.
Speaker CAnd that's.
Speaker CPersonalities clash.
Speaker CWho knows?
Speaker CBut.
Speaker CBut if my sales guys and myself are not hitting a 50% or better close rate, we're.
Speaker CWe're starting to worry a little bit.
Speaker BRight, Right, Absolutely.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo you mentioned earlier as well that you are bringing on a another woman onto your sales team.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker BAnd so this is.
Speaker BI love it.
Speaker BI'm super excited.
Speaker BHow'd you find her?
Speaker BBecause I know there's a lot of business owners and managers out there that would.
Speaker BThat understand this concept that women are just deadly in the house when it comes to closing deals.
Speaker BHow do you find a solid woman salesperson?
Speaker CLots and lots of resumes.
Speaker CThis last time, this search is actually for a salesperson, has been going on for a couple of months now.
Speaker CI would have liked to have had somebody hired earlier in the year so that we would be a little bit more ready to send them out during the busy period here.
Speaker CBut it just didn't work out that way.
Speaker CBut it's, you know, one.
Speaker CAnd again, nothing against women, obviously I am one.
Speaker CBut when you tell them what the job entails, some of them, oh, well, I didn't realize that.
Speaker CSo no, I can't do that.
Speaker CSo we kind of weed them out.
Speaker CThis one, she's been in a sales position where she was designing kitchen cabinets for a client.
Speaker CSo it's really the same type of sales process.
Speaker CTell me what you need, tell me what you want.
Speaker CAnd then she's taking that and designing a project for them.
Speaker CSo she's got those skills.
Speaker CI think she's going to fit in really well.
Speaker CBut it was just a lot of sifting through resumes and people and I wasn't necessarily looking for a woman in particular, but her sales experience stuck out and happened to be a woman.
Speaker CAnd we're really excited.
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BI love it.
Speaker BThat's, you know, the last one of the places that I found too, for every, just kind of a ninja trick for everybody out there.
Speaker BRealtors make fantastic H vac salespeople.
Speaker BThey make fantastic consultants.
Speaker BI've had a couple across the years that came from real estate because they understand commission based selling, because that's realty.
Speaker BYeah, I understand the grind.
Speaker BYou've got to get out there and do the work.
Speaker CIt is not an 8 to 5 job.
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BYou know, it's what they say in the industry.
Speaker BIt's a 40 hour a week job, but that's 60 hours a week in the summertime and 20 hours a week in the off season.
Speaker CYeah, exactly.
Speaker BBut yeah, so realtors, especially in housing markets like now statistic 80% of people that get their real estate license never sell a house.
Speaker BSo when you have that, you meet that person that's out grinding and you know, depending on the success rates, say, hey, listen, you can make, you know, in a day you'll make the same as selling a single house for commission and it closes a whole lot faster.
Speaker BLet's just get it in and get paid.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CYou know, with a realtor you might make a sale and then it might drag out for 30 days before you're closing and before everything's said and done.
Speaker BEasily.
Speaker CYes, One day.
Speaker CYeah, yeah.
Speaker BYou sell it, you get it in, you get paid.
Speaker BThat's good stuff.
Speaker CWhat's wrong with that?
Speaker BYeah, no, no kidding.
Speaker BIt's a fast turnaround.
Speaker BSo I love Your model, the, the whole model of value for.
Speaker BBasically, you know, generally speaking, we're talking about value first selling, which is we build that stack of value and the moment that, that stack of value that we've built through rapport through actually not just asking the questions, but actually listening, listening to understand, not just listening to respond.
Speaker BAnd then building, you know, co creating that project with that homeowner and becoming that trusted advisor before they ever see the price.
Speaker BAnd the second that stack of value is higher than their stack of dollars.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker BThen it's game over.
Speaker BRight?
Speaker CYeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker CThat's, you know, it's been very successful for us from the get go.
Speaker CAnd truthfully, I don't think I could sell any other way.
Speaker CI just try to treat my clients the way that I, I want to be treated.
Speaker CIf, if I'm having, if I have a salesperson in my house, you know, and they're trying to sell me on something, that's the way that I approach it, how would I want to be treated?
Speaker CAnd you know, and that includes making sure that I'm talking to the wife as well as the husband and making sure that both of them are included in the conversation.
Speaker CAnd a lot of times I get that feedback.
Speaker CWell, those other guys, they didn't, you know, they didn't even talk to me about it.
Speaker CThey didn't even tell me about it because they assume that the husband's going to make that decision, so.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BYeah, that boys club mentality.
Speaker BRight?
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CBut you, you're right.
Speaker CYou have to build value in your company.
Speaker CThere's, there's a million of us out there within a 20 mile or 10 mile radius of our shop.
Speaker CWe probably have 10, 8 to 10 competitors.
Speaker CSo it's, you have to set yourself apart.
Speaker BAbsolutely.
Speaker BI love it and it's, it's easy to do, but at the same time it, A lot of times it's like, what do we do to differentiate that?
Speaker BYou know, it's like, okay, so we all know the canned answers of, well, you know, we've got these warranties and, you know, this, our brand is the best and you know, here's our reviews and on paper, you look like the same company over and over and over walking in the door.
Speaker BOnce companies are past a certain threshold.
Speaker BWhat's some of your, you know, ninja tricks, basically to differentiate yourself.
Speaker BWhat, what sets you guys apart from.
Speaker BI think it's how do you communicate that to the homeowners?
Speaker BThe better, better question.
Speaker COh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker CYou know, number one is that I think the time that we spend sometimes that can work against you a little bit.
Speaker COur sales calls are generally a minimum of two hours just in order to get all of the information that we need.
Speaker CAnd sometimes the customers are, oh, I didn't know you were going to be here so long.
Speaker CAnd, but building the value.
Speaker CWe just, we try not to sell on our brand of equipment because we know that two or three other competitors are selling the same brand of equipment.
Speaker CSo we're really just selling our company.
Speaker CWe're selling what we bring to the table.
Speaker CWe have just a ton of recent, not old, not a year old or even six months old, but recent Google reviews, Facebook, Facebook reviews, business bureau reviews.
Speaker CWe work really hard for that.
Speaker CAnd that comes from our, not just our sales, but our service, our insulation department reviews for all of those.
Speaker CSo we encourage our clients to take a look at those.
Speaker CAnd we're getting more and more people calling us just because, hey, we saw your Google reviews and you guys are five star.
Speaker CSo that's, I think in this day and age, social media and utilizing Google reviews is a big part of IT.
Speaker BTechnology in general in the process.
Speaker CYeah, I mean, you know, we are very heavily a referral based company.
Speaker CSo we pay a referral spiff or referral fee to a client if they refer us and we sell our system.
Speaker CI send them a check and sign it and say thank you and send them a thank you card for a check for $100.
Speaker CSure, yeah.
Speaker CAnd so we do that kind of stuff.
Speaker CBut, but as far as building the value in the company, it's really just spending that time with the client.
Speaker CAnd like you said, it's, it's listening, it's, it's deep listening.
Speaker CYou know, it's, it's really hearing what they're saying because sometimes they don't want to tell you or they don't know how to tell you.
Speaker CSo, so you spend the time with the client, you just, your demeanor, your professionalism has to speak volumes for it for yourself.
Speaker CAnd then we, I ask that question, what can I tell you about my company?
Speaker CWhat do you need to know to make you feel comfortable to work with us?
Speaker CAnd I address all of that.
Speaker BYeah, that's a great question.
Speaker BThat's a dangerous question.
Speaker CWell, yes, it is.
Speaker CBut again, I want to find out what they're looking for.
Speaker CYou know, are they just looking for a cheap price?
Speaker CI'm just looking for, you know, I just need the, I need the lowest price because, you know, great, I've got budget lines but you know, I've got some other items Too.
Speaker CBut sometimes you just have to flat out ask the question.
Speaker BOf course.
Speaker BOh, I love it.
Speaker BThat's one of my.
Speaker BMan.
Speaker BOne of my biggest philosophies is at, you know, for too many years and too many trainings in our industry taught people to dance around subjects and to just like.
Speaker BAnd replace the obvious things with, you know, how, how many ways can we ask this obvious question indirectly?
Speaker BAnd it just makes it feel squeaky and gross and it does.
Speaker BYou know, like we're trying to ask the obvious question.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CThere's no reason that we shouldn't be trying to put something over on the client.
Speaker CAnd unfortunately, you probably know as well as I do that our, our industry has had a reputation for that in the past that we're so we're overcoming that reputation as well as then trying to build value in our company.
Speaker CIt can be a tough road of hope.
Speaker BOh my gosh.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAbsolutely.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BThere's like that diverging path that at least I kind of am recognizing right now in the industry.
Speaker BThere's that fork in the road and this is why there's.
Speaker BIt could be a half a dozen or a dozen people training the exact same thing.
Speaker BBut you say it differently.
Speaker BLike I said that client that you just might not connect with.
Speaker BSame thing with, you know, all the different trainings that are out there.
Speaker BYou know, we may or may not be saying some of the same things, but you resonate with somebody differently because of the way they communicate.
Speaker BThere's kind of this diverging path though of this model of, you know, like permission based selling, which is, you know, one of my biggest, you know, tenants.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker BYou know, be just listening, connecting value first, no pressure because.
Speaker BAnd understanding that when somebody says, you know, not right now, yes, we can force the issue.
Speaker BBut you know, the people that don't say yes to us, if they haven't gone with somebody else, chances are they haven't done anything.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker BAnd understanding that we're, you know, the value of a pipeline and we, we circle back and stay and read.
Speaker BWe're building relationships.
Speaker CYes.
Speaker BIf this is truly a career, if I don't make the sell right today, it doesn't end my career.
Speaker BIt's not a one shot and you're done.
Speaker BWhile we always want to close it now, obviously, but understanding that soft value and then of course the other divergent road is like the rah rah.
Speaker BYou know, you tell me no and it's perfectly fine and I'm down the road and that closes the door for that.
Speaker BAnd it's a whole.
Speaker BLet's hurry up and make the sale and get it installed before they can change their mind.
Speaker BI just really feel like that's the philosophy of a scarcity mindset.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CIf there's, there's nothing better than we've given a client a quote and six months, eight months later, or sometimes even a year later, they'll call us up, hey, you guys were out.
Speaker CWe didn't do anything.
Speaker CWe were waiting until it broke down or we're, you know, but we'd like to take a look at that quote again.
Speaker CAnd they come back to us and it's because we spent the time and built the value, you know, or, you know, like you said, we're not going to do this right now or we need to think about it.
Speaker CIt's not a no.
Speaker CIt's not a no until it's a no.
Speaker CAnd whenever we call back for a follow up, it's usually, hey, what else can we get for you?
Speaker CWhat other information can we help you with?
Speaker COr hey, just wanted you to know that I got a price increase coming up.
Speaker CI just wanted to make sure that you were aware of that or try to give them some sort of information.
Speaker CIn addition, what else can we do to help help you make your decision?
Speaker CYou know, we want to earn your business.
Speaker CYou know, constantly doing that.
Speaker CSo.
Speaker BYeah, I love that.
Speaker BOh my gosh.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo when you're following it.
Speaker BSo if I'm hearing you right, every single time we follow up, having some sort of either offer new promotion or information about something that's coming up for sure, price increase, etc.
Speaker BA new piece of information for that homeowner.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CIt just helps open the door.
Speaker CI'm not just calling to beg for your business.
Speaker CI'm concerned and want to make sure that you get a good quality installation or if you're getting other bids.
Speaker CIs there something I can, a question I can answer with theirs compared to ours?
Speaker CBecause people, you know, the industry average says the people only change their heating and cooling system 1 1/2 times in their lifetime.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker CAnd it's, it's the third largest expenditure normally for most people besides a house or a car or college education.
Speaker CI mean this, it's a big deal and, and it's just, it can be so confusing for a client.
Speaker BYep, absolutely.
Speaker BOh my gosh.
Speaker BI totally agree.
Speaker BThis is, this is such a fun conversation because, you know, and you know, I think that the people that like the other method of just closing the door and moving on are lazy salespeople.
Speaker BIf you're not willing to put in the work of the follow up, you're missing out on literally hundreds of thousands, potentially millions of dollars in revenue every single year.
Speaker BAnd then once I had my pipeline built, I would have people from, you know, three, four years ago that phone rings and they're like, oh, thank God you still work there.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo happy to hear your voice.
Speaker BThey decided when you were out before because of your Rockstar presentation, they're not shopping now, they're just, you know.
Speaker CYeah, yeah.
Speaker CI ended up, I left here a couple of years ago in 2016.
Speaker CMy husband took a job out of state and I moved with him.
Speaker CSo I left, did something completely well, worked a little bit in the H Vac industry in that location.
Speaker CAnd then again, coincidences, things brought us back here and after a two year absence, I'm back.
Speaker CAnd it was funny that when some of my older clients found out that I was back, those referrals started coming back in.
Speaker COh, I told them to specifically call you because you were back or so happy back.
Speaker CAnd it was just great to connect with those, those older clients that I had seen for the, those first 10 years I was here and to know how much they appreciated the service that they got, it just, I thrive on that.
Speaker CThat's the best part of the job.
Speaker BSo for the listeners out there that are in the industry, of course, where is here?
Speaker BWhere are you located?
Speaker BAnd then we can.
Speaker BSo everybody that's listening.
Speaker BFantastic connection company.
Speaker BJust awesome.
Speaker BLisa said.
Speaker BJust an awesome person to work with if you're looking for a new home.
Speaker BI don't know that they're hiring right now, like right this second, but if Lisa's anything like I've always been, I find a place for when I come across awesome, awesome people.
Speaker BBut at least make the connection.
Speaker BGo meet her.
Speaker BSo tell us a little bit more about the company and where you're located.
Speaker CSo I'm located in southern Illinois.
Speaker CWe're based out of a little town called Carterville, Illinois.
Speaker CWe cover a 50 mile radius around us.
Speaker CWe're about 45 minutes north of Paducah, Kentucky.
Speaker CSo that kind of gives you a little bit of a logistics where we're at.
Speaker CThe company's name is RSP Heating and Cooling.
Speaker CBeen in business since 2004.
Speaker CWhen I started, there was just about eight of us.
Speaker CWe're up to about 50 employees now.
Speaker CSo we've, we've, we've grown at times we've grown really fast and then at other times it's been a nice steady growth where it's more maintainable as they say, but it's.
Speaker CI can't speak enough about the owners and how wonderful they've been to work for.
Speaker CWhen you luck into, I guess, or when you find a place like this to work, you just.
Speaker CAnd you see what else is out there.
Speaker CYou just know how fortunate you are.
Speaker CWe've got really good benefits.
Speaker CWe've got great people to work with.
Speaker CWe've got a great team.
Speaker CWe've got great training, and, you know, so I could sit here and talk all day about how great the company is, but we are always looking for resumes for people because you never know.
Speaker BLife happens.
Speaker CYou're gonna have an opening.
Speaker CYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BI love it.
Speaker CI was never intending to leave.
Speaker CYeah, we did for two years, but I came back.
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BI love it.
Speaker BSo if you're anywhere in that area.
Speaker BSo free.
Speaker BFree plug for RSP and for Lisa.
Speaker BI know everybody listening to this podcast is focus on getting better, becoming someone worth buying from that person.
Speaker BWe know how important that personal growth is in all of our journeys to become that person.
Speaker BSo there's your plug.
Speaker BIf you're anywhere in that area or want to move to that area, go talk to Lisa, because, man.
Speaker BSo definitely a much better talent pool listening to this podcast than you'll find on the street.
Speaker CWell, that's the.
Speaker CYeah, I'm always up for that, even if it's just, hey, you want to call and just talk about sales techniques?
Speaker CI'm always.
Speaker CI love to learn new stuff, because I don't think even if you're in it for 10, 11, 12 years, there's.
Speaker CThere's not something new out there that you can learn.
Speaker BAbsolutely.
Speaker BOh, my gosh.
Speaker BI learned something new every day.
Speaker BThat's.
Speaker BHow to become that successful person is have a lifelong learner mindset.
Speaker BYou know, and the second that we choose that and decide to never get to a place of where I can't learn something, you know, learn something from everyone, even if they're a beginner.
Speaker BFocus on.
Speaker BEven if it's learning what not to do from somebody, that's still a lesson.
Speaker BRight?
Speaker BRight.
Speaker CYou can learn from my mistakes.
Speaker CI've made a lot of them.
Speaker B100%.
Speaker BNormally, I was like, okay, how do I know?
Speaker BRaise my hand.
Speaker BI've made the mistake.
Speaker BRight?
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker BSo what's on your.
Speaker BWhat's on your reading list right now?
Speaker BWhat are you.
Speaker BWhat are you doing for that?
Speaker CActually, I'm reading a book that was written by a family friend.
Speaker COh, shoot.
Speaker CThis is gonna.
Speaker CI can't remember the name of his.
Speaker CHis name is Jeff.
Speaker CFlesher, PhD.
Speaker BI totally put you on the spot.
Speaker BSorry.
Speaker CYeah, I know.
Speaker CHe was on nuclear submarines in the Navy, and he's written a book about leadership.
Speaker CIt's a series of interviews with fellow submariners, vice admirals, you know, everything from just an engine room.
Speaker CI say just engine room.
Speaker CYou know, an engineer all the way up to an admiral.
Speaker CAnd it's just talking about the leadership that they've encountered within the submarine corps, because it's a very different.
Speaker CDifferent type of leadership.
Speaker CSo I'm finding that really interesting.
Speaker CI'm a big fan of John Maxwell.
Speaker BSo I've read Leadership from Below.
Speaker CYeah, Leadership From Below.
Speaker CThat's it.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker BLeadership From Below, Paradoxes of Submarine Leadership.
Speaker CThere you go.
Speaker CLike I said, he's a family friend, so I had to support him and buy his book on Amazon, but I am finding it very interesting to read.
Speaker CSo.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker BYeah, I love it.
Speaker BCool.
Speaker BI just dawned on me that as I do my interviews, I'm gonna start asking that question to everybody, because, I mean, people in our industry or just anybody that I mean, and I won't always be interviewing just age H vac specific people, but, you know, just people that are everyone who's focused on becoming a better person, becoming, growing, and to make a bigger impact in the world, you know, so that's always a personal growth question.
Speaker BPersonally, right now, I'm actually listening to Greenlights, the Matthew McConaughey book, which.
Speaker BOh, my gosh, the amount of wisdom in this book is blow.
Speaker BEvery single day, I hear something, and I'm constantly making notes.
Speaker BIt's blowing my mind.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker BAnd if you listen to the audiobook, he narrates it himself.
Speaker BSo just listening to his voice tell stories is really cool because he's a great storyteller.
Speaker CI'll have to.
Speaker CI'll have to get that one always.
Speaker BI recommend it.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker COkay.
Speaker CAll right.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BGreen lights by Matthew McConaughey.
Speaker BYeah, it's.
Speaker BIt's one of the most inspiring books that I've read or listened to in probably five years easily.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAlso a good one.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BAll right.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BSo help.
Speaker BHelp build everyone's reading list.
Speaker BWe're constantly getting questions.
Speaker BHey, what's, you know, what's your recommendations?
Speaker CSo it's always good to have something audio, too, in between.
Speaker CI don't know how long or how.
Speaker CHow much distance you have to drive, but that's when I get caught up on all my podcasts.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BDrive Time University.
Speaker BYeah, that's it.
Speaker BI love it.
Speaker BI love it.
Speaker BWell, thank you so much for Hanging out today, this has just been a great conversation supporting women in the, women in the industry.
Speaker BIt's not the biggest demographic, but it's, it's an important one and we really feel we need to grow that demographic because, you know, every industry that I touch that as far as different trades, different home improvement, every time I come across, you know, just always support women in the industry, it's a tough place to be.
Speaker BThere's, unfortunately, there's still a lot of, you know, a lot of male dominated ego and chauvinistic type of areas in our country and just in our industries that shouldn't be there.
Speaker BAnd it is a challenge sometimes.
Speaker BBut thankfully that, that ship is turning as well.
Speaker CI think so, yeah.
Speaker B100% supportive of women.
Speaker BSo it's a great place to be.
Speaker BMan, the industry is, it's only getting better from here.
Speaker COh, it's wide open.
Speaker CAnd you know, we keep talking about the tradesman shortage and you know, not just in H vac sales, but, you know, H vac technicians for women to get into it.
Speaker CYeah, this is, this is a field that's always going to be around.
Speaker CWe're always going to need heating and cooling and it can be very lucrative for male or female.
Speaker CSo it's a great trade to think about.
Speaker BYeah, absolutely.
Speaker BI mean, where else can you step out of, you know, get paid to learn and within a couple years make six figures and not have to pay for school?
Speaker BRight.
Speaker BI mean that, I mean, I've always been a proponent of like, yes, you could go to trade school.
Speaker BAwesome.
Speaker BIf that's what you want to do, go for it.
Speaker BOtherwise, join my team.
Speaker BI'll put you on a crew.
Speaker BYou're going to be a helper first.
Speaker BYou're going to start off like the rest of us.
Speaker BI was an anacrat years ago pulling ductwork.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker BAnd.
Speaker BBut as soon as you learn it, you can quickly promote to anything that you want because there isn't a root.
Speaker BOne of the lessons from the Matthew McConaughey book, a roof is a man made thing.
Speaker BA roof is a man made thing.
Speaker BThis, the limit.
Speaker BThis ceiling, the cap is only in our mind.
Speaker BAnd the second we understand that, we can literally choose to blow right past it through becoming better, learning, growing, doing so this industry is one of those that there's, there's no limit.
Speaker BYou can literally do anything you want to with it.
Speaker CYeah, I agree 100%.
Speaker BYeah.
Speaker BGood stuff.
Speaker BSo well, awesome.
Speaker BWell, thanks.
Speaker BSo thanks so much.
Speaker BAnybody that does want to reach out to you, what's the best way to get in contact to you, Lisa, if they just want to have coffee or, you know, have that.
Speaker BSo you offered for that sales conversation or whatever.
Speaker CSure.
Speaker CI mean I can, I can give out my office phone number.
Speaker CIt's 618-942-2424.
Speaker CAnd you can just ask for Lisa and tell them what you're, you're calling about.
Speaker CAnd if I'm in, I can take the call and if not, leave a message and I will call you back.
Speaker BAwesome.
Speaker BI love it.
Speaker BThanks for, thanks for that offer.
Speaker BThat's, that's great.
Speaker BWe, you know, we always love sharing, sharing knowledge on hair.
Speaker BThat's the important part.
Speaker BWell, cool.
Speaker BWell, we've got, I'm sure you have plenty of things to do.
Speaker BThis season is really starting to crank up.
Speaker BThis year we have two solid years of pent up replacement.
Speaker BThat didn't happen two years ago.
Speaker B2019 we had, it was 30.
Speaker BThe industry was 30% down across the board, across the country.
Speaker BAnd then last year with COVID some companies had record years at the same time.
Speaker BThe whole industry was also down.
Speaker BYeah, but so two years of pinup replacement, this is a year to just go dominate the market.
Speaker BRight.
Speaker CIt's crazy.
Speaker CIt is crazy right now.
Speaker B100%.
Speaker BSo I love it.
Speaker BSo awesome.
Speaker BWell, everybody out there, thanks for listening today.
Speaker BLisa, thanks for being a guest with me.
Speaker BIt's been a pleasure.
Speaker BAnd I'll notify you as soon as you get you a copy when make sure you know when this episode goes up.
Speaker CThank you.
Speaker BIt's in production.
Speaker BIt's going to be roughly four to six weeks out right now because I have several others ahead.
Speaker BFor everybody listening, I am also excited.
Speaker BI've got a guest that's good at two different people coming up.
Speaker BOne is a roofing, a guy that owns a roofing company that I actually just had dinner with last night.
Speaker BHe is just a sales rock star.
Speaker BHe's a killer.
Speaker BHe's been out just closing deals left and right and he brings a lot of wisdom.
Speaker BSo I'm excited to have a guy named Aaron Washburn on.
Speaker BAnd then also we've got a guy in from Denver named Peter Roth that is coming up.
Speaker BHis company Home Guardian is a heating and air company in Denver and he's shaking things up.
Speaker BThis may be a little interesting for you, Lisa.
Speaker BHis model is not the value first process.
Speaker BHis model is he has an entire price book right on their website.
Speaker BAnd so price first build value through the process.
Speaker BHe's 11 for 11 in a row right now.
Speaker BSo he's on fire and we're gonna talk about how that's happening.
Speaker BThere's some, as we know, the industry is a slow boat to turn, but there's rumblings right now in the industry of E commerce for heating and air.
Speaker BSo I'm gonna, we're gonna have a cool conversation of how he's doing it.
Speaker BYou know, what is he overcoming by, you know, he's, he's pissing some people off in the area with his price book online.
Speaker BSo we're gonna talk about that and what he's seeing because he was, he came from a completely different industry, bought his company a little over a year ago and said, you know what, I'm just going to do things like nobody's done to get results nobody's getting.
Speaker BSo we're going to have a cool conversation about how that's going for him.
Speaker BSo.
Speaker BAll right, everybody, that's what's coming up in the future and otherwise, thanks for being with me today.
Speaker BLisa, go join the Facebook group, everybody.
Speaker BThis is a great place to pop in and have conversation.
Speaker BLisa's in there.
Speaker BAll of our guests basically are in the Facebook group typically.
Speaker BAnd yeah, we're going to be constantly doing Facebook lives, all kind of stuff.
Speaker BAnd yeah, good times.
Speaker BAll right, everybody, it's summertime.
Speaker BGo save the world one heat stroke at a time.
Speaker BWe'll, we'll talk to you 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.