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.

Hey, what's up?

Close It Now.

Sam Wakefield, here.

It is an incredible day and I'm so happy that you joined me today.

We're going to be talking about something that is very important.

It's near and dear to my heart and I know that it will hit a chord with you.

It will resonate.

And whatever side of the fence you're on with it, this is important.

It's a message that you have to hear today.

So we are going to get into that and so much more.

There's a lot to cover and so I'm excited to be with you.

This is January 20, 2025.

It is an interesting day today.

It is Martin Luther King Jr. Day as well as this is inauguration day.

So, yeah, what an interesting mix of components today.

So we're going to talk about that.

We're going to talk about a lot of stuff.

And yeah, so let's, let's get going.

Let's kick off this episode with welcoming you.

This is, we're really get sliding into 2025, if you haven't realized that this is the third week of the year already.

So what are you doing to move towards those checkpoints like we talked about last week?

Right.

We've got the, instead of goals, we're using mile markers, we're using checkpoints.

What are you doing to get closer to that?

Are you taking consistent, persistent, disciplined action every single day to get there?

So let me know.

Right?

Pop me a message.

You can email me.

So also I'll give my contact info in a second.

It's also in the show notes, of course.

But one of the things I wanted to talk to everybody about is, hey, are you prepared for the year?

Right?

Is your company ready for the year?

All you owners, I'm talking to you.

Is your company ready for the Year the last organization that my team worked with had a listen to this number.

A262 60, 260% increase this last year.

If you would like to know how to do that to your organization, pop me a message.

You can email me sam closeitnow.net you can go to the website to closeitnow.net and fill out the form or join the Facebook group.

Join, close it.

Find the Facebook groups, close it now and then pop me a message over Facebook.

We can connect because that's the kind of results that we see.

We don't just kind of, you know, goof off and you know, hope for the best.

We're not teaching you, you know, it's like here's a script and let's role play a little bit and hope for the best.

Right?

No, we're getting deep.

We're creating, you know, creating people worth buying from.

We help you get there.

So yeah, pop me a message.

Yeah, like I said, the last organization we worked with, 260% growth.

You don't hear those kind of numbers typically.

So that's what, that's what we do.

I know everybody else is happy with 50%, that kind of thing.

No, we make like earth shattering types of changes and results and it's something we do every day.

Right.

It's what happens.

So what happens when you get the, when you get the right integrity in place?

Right.

And so, so yes, that's it.

The other thing is for everybody else, what all you individuals, I don't know if you knew this, but we have an incredible virtual coaching program.

It's built for the individual who may or may not have support from your company.

You might be on your own out there.

You might be, you know, the person that maybe you're the only guy in the company.

Maybe you own the company and you need some, some sales training, some guidance and coaching, some accountability.

Maybe you are, you know, small, smaller company and there's only one or two of you on the sales team.

That's how I started, right.

For the first, you know, so many years of my career, I was the only guy, right.

There wasn't resources, there was no Internet like this where you could just, you know, pod.

There weren't podcasts at the time.

There weren't, there wasn't a YouTube channel you could go to and to to get sales training.

All right.

Especially sales training.

That's specific to our industry.

So that's why we have our, a virtual program so you don't have to travel.

We can.

And, and the best Part about it is it's both coaching and training.

We're going to teach you and then your homework for the week is to implement, right?

And we coach you along the way to ensure that you're getting increased results, that you're able to apply everything that you're learning.

So it's the same contact info if you want to know more about that.

Sam, close it now.net is my email.

Of course you can same thing, go to the website, close it now.net go join the Facebook group.

Those are the three main ways to contact us and let us know where are you at, what's going on?

Are you prepared to make 2025 your best year ever?

Right.

Something I want to talk to you all about today though.

So let's get into some of this content and there's an idea, right, this idea that I'm going to leave you that I want to drop on you today.

It's about integrity, right?

Integrity is one we all know.

You know, we've heard the quote, integrity is doing the right thing even when no one's looking.

Right?

We've heard that before.

This is another quote about integrity that I actually like as much, if not better, and by a guy named Chris Carriker.

Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on values rather than personal gain.

Integrity is choosing your thoughts and actions based on values rather than on personal gain.

So this takes me to one of the main topics for today and this is really important because I don't know if you've seen what's going on in the industry.

The last handful of years especially there was a massive like not attack, right?

But just this on the news in, in Salt Lake City or in Utah, there was a plumbing and H vac company that was just shut down, right?

They, I think I saw the numbers.

They pulled like 16, 18 licenses and just closed them down.

What for?

For horrible sales practices, right?

The sell at any cost type of mindset is rampant in our industry right now.

And I hate to say this because I know all the trainers right.

In the industry and so I won't name any names, but there are some scumbags out there that are teaching people how to lie, cheat and steal to sell to people.

And I hate is way out of integrity.

And even worse, everybody, it is going to cause this industry some major, major pain.

And if we don't like nip it in the bud, if we don't take care of it, if we don't up level our industry now, right There is, you know, my, my family and I We went to a theater production the other night of it was called.

It was from Catch, Catch Me if youf Can There.

They made a musical of that and went to a theater production at the local high school.

There is a song in there and that's a big part of what this whole.

This whole idea came from.

It really solidified something in there.

One of the song in there says, the game ain't worth winning if you're breaking all the rules.

And that is exactly what has happened in our industry.

There are some.

Man, there's some gross stuff going on.

Here's the problem, right?

Well, there's lots of problems with it.

One, it gives the rest of us a horrible name, right?

It gives all of us a horrible reputation.

It makes it so much harder when you're doing things right.

But to go out and homeowners are so very resistant because of so many people getting taken advantage of by homeowners.

So like in the example in Salt Lake City or in Utah, I mean, one of the stories it just.

Oh my God, it made my heart break.

There was a.

One of their technicians filled out this lady's checks and made her sign them.

Evidently she's 80 years old, has dementia, and he writes $50,000 worth of checks and forced her to sign of her own checks for things that she didn't need.

Now how gross is that?

And it's rampant, right?

Evidently they did an expose on this company and that was just a consistent business practice over and over.

The.

The like all of this is.

That's not the only company doing it.

Every town has one, every city has one.

And if you are at one, and I know this because I get messages from a lot of you across the country all the time.

That is, you know, talking, you know, you'll message me, you know, like, hey, I'm at this company.

I.

They're asking me to say things and to do things that I'm not comfortable with.

Things that ook me out.

But the money's so good, right?

And so you've got this.

You.

We've got this like conundrum going on or like, what do we do?

And I'm here to tell you that the game ain't worth winning if you're breaking all the rules.

You.

The short term cash grab by doing something out of integrity, by lying to people, by doing.

And maybe not even lying, but here's a great example using fear mongering.

Fear monger sales techniques.

There are some dark sales techniques.

Sales is psychology.

It's how we use it.

Do we Serve.

Do we help or what?

Your intention is the goal to, you know, you've got commission breath and the goal is just to maxed out that ticket.

How big of a commission can I get?

That is not okay.

I mean, I'm here to be, I'm here to be the, the champion for this cause.

I will, I am happily raised the flag and raise the standard for our industry.

And I'm leading this charge here.

We can do better.

There is a better way.

Because here's what's going to happen.

Right, well, let's get into, let's talk about some of the fear mongering, fear mongering techniques first.

Right?

Some of the ways that people are being trained to sell, even from some pretty famous trainers is gross.

It's not.

Okay, think about this.

Have you ever heard training that says, especially if you're working on I, you know, you're presenting an IAQ product, indoor air quality product.

And so I'm specifically talking to H Vac, but also, this goes for plumbing, this goes for electrical, this goes for any home services.

Right?

But think about this kind of training.

You probably have heard things like let's take an air filter type of conversation.

You know, it starts off, of course, talking about, I don't know if you knew this, but you know those particles that float through your air when the sun comes through the window and you see all those particles floating, some of it is of course, dead skin cells, which we know that's gross, right?

But more importantly, here's where it takes the turn, right?

Here's where it gets off the beaten path.

Then we're trained to say, and you know what the rest of it is?

Insulation.

It's fiberglass insulation.

Now, Mr. Ms.

Homeowner, do you know what fiberglass insulation does to your lungs?

It shreds it.

And Mr. Ms.

Homeowner, do you know what the biggest air filter in your house is?

It's your lungs.

So I see that you have this three year old here.

Are you okay with this insulation shredding their lungs and possibly killing them?

Isn't it worth it to you for the cost of, you know, a dollar a day or whatever it is to keep your kids safe?

How gross is that?

Right?

That's awful.

Why in the world would we have that kind of a conversation with people?

Yes, those are the facts, kind of, but spun in a very awful, gross way.

Right.

There's so many better ways to approach this.

And if you want to know, go back and listen to the Closing out podcast.

I've got almost 200 episodes of free content.

I will train.

Literally.

I have so many dozens and dozens and dozens of testimonies of people that have messaged me and said I was at the rock bottom and now I'm winning awards in my own company.

But just strictly from the podcast that, that I've listened to from you, haven't even trained with you other than just listening to the podcast that implements.

So go back and listen to those.

They are powerful, but it'll teach you how to do it the right way.

With caring, with compassion, with conviction.

Right?

People buy from certainty.

People buy from confidence.

Yes, you can make some sales like that really gross.

But why, why would you do that to yourself?

The bigger picture here, and there's something way, way, way, way bigger than just, you know, doing the right thing for integrity's sake.

Even though that should be enough, everybody, I want you to pay very close attention to.

This is, this is something that's going to happen if we don't fix this and fix it soon.

Talking to, to my friend Scott Sylvan Bell the other day, and you know, we've got, there's so many people that I've been working with that were on the same page.

We're working to raise the industry.

But one of the things that we were talking about is, you know, federal regulation is a very real thing.

One, one of the things right now is there's not a whole lot of standards in the H Vac and in the home services industries across the country other than maybe some equipment things and, and stuff like that, you know, so let's step out of home services for a sec.

You know, I've been in and have watched other industries have the Federal Trade Commission step in and shut things down.

Because all it's going to take is, you know, Senator, some representative of a house, somebody at the federal level that them, a good friend of theirs or a family member, one of these companies goes to their house and pulls some shady, shady shit and they hear about it and then what do you think is going to happen?

We're going to have federal, federal regulations breathing down our neck and we.

And it, I've seen it happen, right?

I've literally watched organizations that were doing a billion dollars a year and more shut down in a heartbeat.

Zero regard for the employees, zero regard for the company.

They freeze every single account that business has.

So people who've, you know, earned thousands, you know, I know personally know people who have earned, you know, they were literally waiting for checks for, you know, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50, $60,000 and more at.

In.

At one time, the government froze the entire company's assets, froze their accounts.

Not a single person.

We're talking about hundreds and thousands of people do not get paid.

Never got paid.

They were literally waiting for those.

That's their, they'd earned it.

No pay came, company shut down, all the leaders taken to prison.

That's what happens, right?

When the, when federal regulations step in to an industry because of unfair practice, because of bad sales practices.

It is a nasty, nasty place and it's a nasty business when that happens.

Right?

So we do not want that level of regulation.

And I'm not saying they're going to come close, every single company in the country down, but they will pick a handful of companies like that and make some, make some examples for all of us.

And on top of that, they will slap on some regulations for our industry so tight it's going to make your head spin.

I've seen it happen in other industries.

We do not want that.

So the first half of this episode today, and my message here is, you cannot win the game.

It's not worth winning if you're breaking all the rules.

We have to do things the right way.

There's too much money to be made by helping people the right way.

There's no need to lie, cheat and steal.

Stay legal, stay moral, stay ethical.

Do not let your moral compass slide.

Don't let your ethics slide on this because it is not worth it.

I'm here to tell you, let's do the right thing for the right thing's sake.

We've got to save our industry and we have to start now.

So that's, that's one of my big passion points and I am leading the charge on this.

Message me.

Let's brainstorm.

I'm going to start having some sessions on this.

We have to make a bigger impact than we're doing or our industry is going to change and not in a good way.

So that's, that's part one of this episode today.

I hope this is resonating with a lot of you, especially on a day like today.

There's a lot of polarizing things happening in the country right now, which actually is going to take us to the second part of this episode, which we'll get to in a minute.

But before we do, I want to do a couple things.

One is our what's in your cup section of the day today, of course, you can see on YouTube if you're, if you're watching on YouTube, make sure to, like, subscribe.

And yeah, like and subscribe and share for everybody else.

Share this podcast share share the YouTube share the podcast with your who do you know that could use some value?

Right?

Who do you know that could help use some growth?

Who do you know that could really stand to get some, you know, some life breathe into them that maybe they're struggling, maybe they need some help, right?

Get a find a few of the episodes, go back and send them the if they're struggling in the cells, go back and send them the the three Bids Training I did send them some of the training on how to properly manage their mindset, how to properly manage your goals.

We've got so much of that coming up.

But what's in your cup today?

I if you're so if you're watching on YouTube, you can see I'm drinking from my Failure is not an option NASA cup.

And what is in my cup today?

Everybody knows I'm on this tea exploration.

If you've been listening, last year was coffee beans.

This year it's tea.

We'll see if it continues.

But today I have a it's hot.

It's Thai tea.

So we, we came across some tea bags that were that make Thai tea.

And if you've ever had Thai tea, you know, it's very specific, it's a unique flavor.

And so I have hot Thai tea in my cup today.

Got it sweetened a little bit with some honey.

Got some milk in there.

So what's in your cup?

I would love to know.

And if you, if you're a tea connoisseur, if you're into hot tea, I would love to hear what is your favorite tea?

Tea.

I'm always open to try new stuff.

Message me, let me know what I should try.

So far, I've been through English tea time, I've been through Earl Gray.

We've got Thai tea going on.

You know, of course, the classics, right?

You know, the bed, you know, sleepy time, that kind of stuff.

But what are you into?

What do you like?

If you're into tea, let me know.

I'm super curious about if tea that's made and sold in other countries that's not the United States.

How is it the same?

Is it different?

Is it better?

I don't know.

So let me know.

Super curious.

So everyone, what's in your cup?

Let's take a sip together.

Three, two, one.

All right.

Okay.

The other thing that I want to want to share with everybody before we get to the second part of today's episode is I got this text the other day from One of my coaching clients.

I've been coaching him and his.

A couple people in his company for a little while now.

And yeah, this is.

This is my friend for my.

For my friend Nathan.

And he texts me out of the blue.

And it was so cool.

It was so cool.

And he says, let me find the.

I want to find the text message.

He says, today I blew my old record out of the water.

This is on Wednesday.

So let's see, today is Monday that I'm recording on.

This is Wednesday.

This last week.

So today I blew my old record out of the water.

My highest residential sale ever was 38,500.

Today I sold a job for 68,465.

I was like, wahoo.

Right?

Boom.

My man.

He's like, thanks.

It means a lot.

He said, I think I might have shouted like a girl.

When I hung up the phone, I was like, he earned it, right?

We've been coaching together.

He's been implementing what we're training now.

It's not this.

This is very important, though.

I want you to hear what I'm saying, not what I'm not saying.

Hear what I'm saying.

When we do things right and we truly care and we serve, this happens.

This is.

I know this person.

This is not taking advantage of anybody.

This is doing things the right way.

It was a big project, right?

All kind of stuff in the.

In the project.

More importantly, he wasn't scared of the numbers.

He was able to communicate it in the way that the homeowner absolutely understood the value and was excited for the project, right?

So I told him, you earned it.

You definitely been putting in the work.

He said, of course.

Thanks, man.

Now I'm determined to break 100k in a cell, which is fun.

I can tell you the moment that happens.

It's one of those magnificent moments that, like, it's mind blowing.

You're like, wow, did I really just do that?

And so if you.

Everybody listening.

If you have made a residential home services sell over a hundred thousand dollars in one cell, I would love to hear about it.

I want to get you on the show.

Let's talk about it.

So I know my friend Jonathan Neaves has.

He is up in Boston.

I.

He had one recently.

In fact, we did a whole episode surround, you know, a whole webinar surrounding the mindset of that.

So you can actually go back and watch that recording in the Facebook group.

So go join the Facebook group and he'll tell you exactly how he did it.

He went through every bit of his mindset.

And his process and his steps.

So in the Close It Now Facebook group.

But so celebrate Nathan.

Celebrate Nathan.

Today he is crushing it.

He's doing a great job.

And that takes us to a couple of announcements.

Then we're going to talk about our second part of this episode today.

So one big announcement is.

So we talked about coaching earlier.

The biggest announcement is the Close it now relentless, the ultimate sales transformation training that is coming up at the end of April, April 29th, 30th and May 1st in Boston, Massachusetts.

We're going to have some Rockstar, a couple guests, but mostly it's going to be me and you in a room.

I'm capping it at 60 people.

And we're going to be going through the Close it Now system.

We're going to be going through the process.

We're going to be going through what it takes to be someone worth buying from.

We're going to get you to the next level.

While you're there, as long as you implement, you're going to see results.

Right.

So you're going to get, of course, the full sales system.

Get some, you know, workbook, all the things, probably some extra swag, too.

More importantly, you're going to learn to sell moving forward like you've never been able to sell before.

We're not.

So literally, we're not just talking about, here's some scripts and let's role play and wish for the best.

Fingers crossed.

Yeah, that's okay.

That's old school training, right?

We're talking about something completely different.

We're talking about getting you to the next level in a lot of areas of your life now.

No, we're not just going to go start working out and say, oh, you know, if you work out and work on your fitness, then your sales will go up.

Well, yes, they will, but that's not the point of this.

It's everything together, right?

We're good.

We're going to do some things you've probably not seen in a training for home services before.

And the coolest part is it's fun, it's exciting and it's impactful.

It will hit you like it's going to take.

It's not going to hit you.

I'm just so excited about the event.

The things that we're going to be doing, I can't share just yet because we're still working on a few pieces of it.

But there's some components that I'm absolutely in love with that you're going to love too.

So in the show notes got the link in there, go get your ticket.

It is going to be off the charts.

So let's get into the second part of today.

So we started this episode talking about what today is.

Today is both Martin Luther King Jr. Day and it's Inauguration day.

Now be really clear here.

This is not a political conversation.

What this is, is a. I, I want to give you a, a warning and I'm going to give you a. I'm going to tell the story of something that happened to me years ago.

This is one of those ask me how I know moments, right?

So the first thing that I want to tell you is this is a presidential inauguration day.

The one thing that I love about presidential inaugurations is every four years they happen.

The other thing is what I love about our industry is it doesn't matter which way the pendulum swings.

We do good.

When the pendulum swings to the left and there is a liberal focused type of leadership in place, then what happens?

Well, the rebates go up, the tax credits go up, all that kind of thing.

So people buy when the pendulum swings the other direction to the right.

Now with that being said, this last couple years was honestly, when we really analyze it, when you talk to market analysts, when you talk to economists, really didn't have that much to do with the presidents.

The last few years was right sizing after the pandemic, right?

We've got to, let's, let's think logically about this stuff, right?

The pandemic lasted several years.

It caused insane amounts of.

There was a huge boom for home services.

But also think about production, think about the world global economy.

This is a macro scale.

We're not just economy of a country anymore.

This is a global economy.

So when the pandemic hit, the pandemic happened, all the shortages, all those kind of things, the next several years were the, the economy's right sizing after the boom, right?

So for everyone who started into home services in 2020, 2021, 2022, 1H23, that's the, 1 of the biggest booms that home services has ever seen.

Right now what it did, it created this inflated idea of what this actually is.

What home services are, what sells should be like.

It was so easy.

It was like taking orders right now.

And this is why mid 2023, the bottom fell out, so to speak, and the like, everybody goes nuts.

Like, oh my gosh, why is it so hard?

Why is nobody buying?

Well, they are buying.

But I'll tell you what happened.

So many people rose to the top in that time period that did not have the skills, they had not put in the work.

They were not professional sales professionals.

Right?

And so when that happens and the bottom falls out, it didn't fall out, it just went back to normal.

Everybody, this is normal.

This is what it was always like.

I've been in this game almost 20 years now.

Talk to any veteran in the industry.

And I've been through booms and I've been through busts.

And when you are a professional, it doesn't matter what the economy does.

When you've got the right skills and the right training, you can close, you can close deals any time of the year in any market, it doesn't matter.

But what's happened in the last few years is that's why some people are still making great numbers and, and a lot of people are floundering.

Now what's about to happen is something really interesting because when the pendulum swings back to the right, that means we have a very capitalist focused leadership.

And so what goes on is people's money gets a lot more free flowing, right?

The Fed is going to lower interest rates a little bit, inflation's going to slow down and it always happens.

It's not just these past couple presidents.

Every single time, this, every four years when it swings, these numbers change, right?

It's not like it's a surprise.

It blows my mind.

Every four years people act like this is the first time this has ever happened.

Well, no, it's not.

Right?

We've had this kind of thing going before.

But let's get back to the topic.

So when things move to the right, it's very free flowing.

People are going to be a little bit freer with their cash once things stabilize, assuming, you know, there's no World War III or whatever.

But.

So that's part of it.

So the other thing that's going on is from the last several years every, this has been the talk in all the home services.

People have been repairing instead of replacing larger repairs than they've seen in years.

And people are putting off replacement, which means now we have a couple years worth of pent up replacement that did not happen.

So combine that with moving into a more capitalist focused economy and now we're getting into some of the cool new stuff, right?

All the technology's changing, there's some crazy things going on.

So the interest rates are going to go down a little bit there.

I'm sure you can watch.

I may be wrong.

Of course.

This is my opinion, right?

My scratch that we're going to stop using the Word opinion.

This is my belief, this is what I think.

Right.

So take it with a grain of salt.

But I do have 20 years of experience in the industry and I've seen this happen before.

Not only are is it going to be people are going to be spending a bit more money, is be a little freer with their money.

The pin up replacement and interest rates are going to go back down a little bit and I predict that they're going to loosen up on the requirements for credit scores and stuff again.

So with all of that combined, that means there's about to be a serious rise again for replacement for the larger tickets in home services.

Now this is where the first part of this conversation is going to tie in here.

We have to do it the right way.

We have to do it the right way.

Here's part two though.

You've got to keep your political ideas, your political opinion.

Opinion.

We'll do a whole topic on opinion.

Opinions are trash.

Stop using the word opinion.

Your belief, your ideas, how you think about politics.

There's no place in the home for your political viewpoint.

You have to be Switzerland in the home.

Leave your political viewpoint in the truck.

I don't care who you are, I don't care who you like.

As far as president or not, it doesn't matter.

I don't care if you like the new president or not.

You'll never know if I do or not because I'm neutral in these conversations, right?

In order to be an expert level professional, you have to leave your controversial opinions, your controversial thoughts and ideas, leave them in the truck.

They are not for your homeowners to discuss.

And when you get into a home where they're say they got the news on or whatever, if they're celebrating or they're not, if they're happy or sad, if they're angry or it doesn't matter.

Right?

When you get in that house, the way that you.

Here's a couple best practices to remain neutral, but also to connect with the homeowner and relate to them.

Because this, this could be kind of a dichotomy here.

It could be this like crazy paradox because I get questions, it's like how in the world can I remain neutral but also have a conversation when they're bringing it up because this is very polarizing time of year.

If they're bringing up a topic like that, how do I stay neutral but also engage with that homeowner in a way where I'm not either, you know, where you're not either in contradiction or you're not avoiding or you're not just, you know, jumping in and celebrating with them.

And I'll tell you a story of why that is important.

Also not to do here in just a minute as well.

But so we do that by asking questions.

Questions are so important.

The more intra.

To be the most interesting person in the room, you have to be the most interested.

In fact, I did a whole episode on that early on.

It's time for a new one, I'm thinking.

But that means asking questions.

But your questions sound like this.

Let me give you a two or three that will help you in this process.

The first one is, wow, I've never heard that perspective before.

Can you tell me more about that or just tell me more about that?

Or, man, that's really interesting.

What makes you feel that way?

Right?

Those.

The same kind of questions we would ask in discovery.

Ask them about this.

Be like, wow, how long have you thought, how long have you thought about that?

What makes you think that way?

How does it affect.

Ask them how has it affected your life?

What.

Ask them this.

What are you most excited about moving forward?

Right?

Ask them those type of questions to get them talking.

I mean, one of the stats we know from Rila, you know, is top performers, the top 1% talk like 42% of the.

Of the appointment.

Lower, the lowest performers talk like 60% of the appointment.

Ask more questions and let the homeowner speak.

Find out, how do you feel about this?

What are you excited about?

You know, ask them all the things.

Don't give your opinion.

Say, hmm.

If they ask for your thoughts and your, your, your ideas on it, just answer with, you know, I haven't put as much thought into it to be able to give you a good answer.

So I'm gonna just not.

I'm.

I'm more interested in learning how you feel about it.

That way I can form my own thoughts and ideas.

And, you know, I, I just don't feel comfortable answering that yet.

I just.

Because I don't know enough about it, right?

So that's a great way to, to not directly answer the question.

This is one of the only times I'll tell you to avoid a question.

But we're not avoiding it because it's the truth.

It's like, really, I would.

I've not lived things from your perspective, so I can't form a solid thought on exactly what that is, even if you know everything about it.

Right?

But, you know, the, the way to avoid that is, you know, I don't know enough about it to give You a good solid answer.

So I'm in the learning phase.

Tell me more.

Right, so that's a great way to handle that conversation.

But I'm here to tell you, leave your political view in the truck.

You will cut off 50% even.

I know markets change in cities and towns and stuff, wherever you're at, even if you think that everybody here believes a certain way, they don't.

Right.

They just don't.

Right.

So here's a story that will emphasize this for you.

Years ago, this was I.

So when I started, I had no filter.

I had no filter and I really would just be transparent about everything and I would just talk about anything as I didn't know any better.

And so this is this learning, talk about a learning moment.

I was standing in the garage with this homeowner one day and it was not long after, after an election.

And you know, I was super excited.

The homeowner and me were super excited about the new president.

It was great.

And we're high fiving in the, you know, in the, in the garage and just kind of going off on it.

And I thought it was going awesome.

You know, it was going to be this huge cell, you know, 30k or something, I don't know.

And so we're going through the, going through the process and we're looking at, looking at the equipment's in the garage and we're, you know, putting all this together.

And we got off on the tangent of the political conversation.

Well, what happened was the wife comes into the garage and it turns out this was a house divided.

They did not think the same thing.

And she came out and basically was like, you know what?

I will absolutely not agree with this.

And she kicked me off the property.

The gentleman, he was like, sorry, dude.

And that was basically it.

So what turned from, you know, being an incredible, you know, incredible connection, incredible cell, all of those things strictly by having that conversation.

She comes out and just basically kicked me out.

And my, there was, there was no, there's no saving that, you know, there's no going back and be like, well, I didn't really think that.

Well, did you or did you not have your.

Have your thoughts right?

Have, have exactly your beliefs, have your belief system, keep it in the truck.

I don't want to see you reliving the same, same experience as I had.

Learn from my mistakes, right?

There's, there's a mistake in the home.

I've probably made it most, for most things.

That's why I'm doing what I'm doing and why I have the competence in the House like I do because I've made the mistakes, right?

The, the most successful people fail faster.

The, once you make a, when you make a mistake that has dollars attached to it, you only make that mistake one time.

And so this was a big one.

You know, it was probably about a $3,000 commission that I talked myself right out of that would have been sold.

So that's my message is when you have a polarizing topic that's going on, it could be, you know, it could be politics.

Of course, that's huge right now because it's, you know, Inauguration Day and all of that.

It could be religion, it could be, you know, a handful of things.

Leave the polarizing conversations, the ones that turn people on or off, leave them in your truck.

Why in the world would you have a conversation knowing that basically half of the population is going to disagree with you?

Why would you even open that conversation?

Why would you enter into that conversation?

So that's my message today, is you've got to guard yourself.

You have to be the professional professionals.

Don't deviate from the topic of conversation.

Yes, you can have plenty of rapport building conversations.

You can.

If this is your style, I don't recommend it, but of course you can do the form.

You can do, oh, you've got a dog, I've got a dog.

We're just alike.

You wear clothes, I clothes, we're the same.

Woohoo.

You like the cowboys, I like the Cowboys.

You like the, the 49ers, I like the 49ers, whatever it is, right?

Those are neutral.

And be careful with sports teams.

Sometimes you can get, you know, it can be fun or it could also be polarizing.

But sports is not as, as controversial.

But when it comes to controversial topics, leave them in the truck.

You don't have to have, you don't have to say everything that's in your brain.

You just don't.

Right?

You don't.

Just because it's a thought that comes into your head, you don't have to voice it out loud, especially about controversial topics.

So that's my message today.

I hope you are, I hope this resonates with you in a way that makes sense.

And thank you.

I mean, just think about this, right?

If you.

Why in the world would you have a conversation with somebody that's going to cost you and your family?

And at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, right?

Let people have their ideas.

You don't have to argue with them.

You don't have to agree just they have their ideas, let them have them.

That's okay.

Did you know that you can have differing opinions and it both be correct.

You can both have perspective.

You didn't live their life experience, I didn't live yours.

You can have perspectives on the same topic that are different, that are both right introduce something to you that is a lot of people don't really think about.

People can have differing viewpoints and both be correct and it's okay.

The problem arises when we try to convince them otherwise.

And so that's my message today.

So definitely keep your political views in your truck today and for this next.

While it's gonna, it might be a, a bumpy ride for a little bit, it might be a rocky ride, but we know we are going to be here for the long haul.

Give it another four years, another change is going to happen and then another four years and another change will happen and another four years and another change will happen.

So what, our industry is here to stay.

If you become the professional, you will be here to stay to make this into a career worth having, being someone worth buying from.

So that's my message to everybody.

Go out there, do what it takes to grow, to become that person that just when people, when you walk into the room, they don't even, might not even know exactly what they're doing yet, but they just know they want to buy from you because you're someone of integrity, you're someone with a heart of service, someone that, that you, you lead with your heart, you don't lead with your head.

And when you lead with your heart, that means empathy and compassion and concern and care comes out first.

And when that happens, the rest doesn't matter.

The money will take care of itself because you're taking care of people the way they need to be taken care of.

So that's my message today.

Go be someone worth buying from.

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