Welcome to Close it now, an H Vac sales training podcast with Sam Wakefield.

Here we'll build your reputation in residential H Vac sales to be the expert influencer in your market.

You'll get insight into the top minds in the industry as they share their skills and hacks to help you on your journey.

This 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 by but work less while being top of mind when people think H Vac.

Now let's get started with your host of the Close it now podcast.

This is Sam Wakefield.

All right everybody, welcome back to the Close it now podcast.

Your source for H Vac and solar sales trading.

My name is Sam Wakefield and I am very honored, privileged and excited to introduce this gentleman that is joining me today.

You know when you I heard something a long time ago that has been one of my guiding, guiding compasses for a long time is your network is your net worth.

And I'm going to say that again and write this down.

This is really important.

Your network is your net worth.

And if you've been the listener of this podcast for a little bit, you've recently I did a series on, it was a two part series on four ways to generate free leads.

And as we know in our industry there are some times of the year when it is slow and we're not getting leads from the company and we wonder what in the world do we do?

Well today I'm bringing you the expert in how to generate your own self generated leads.

And he is somebody that I've actually known for.

Oh my gosh.

He was one of the very first people I ever met when I moved to Austin, Texas probably eight years ago.

And I met him at a networking group and turns out every single networking group I went to, this guy just happened to be there.

It's like, wait a minute, here he is again, here he is again.

And he just seemed like he was everywhere.

The cool part and some of the ninja tricks he's going to share with us today is it's way less work than it seems, but you could make a big splash if you do this properly.

So I'm super excited to introduce our guest today.

We are here to first of all to promote his new book which you can get called Play the Room, the Short Guide to Networking.

And his name is Dagan Martinez Vargas.

Welcome to the show today, Dagan.

Thanks for joining us.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely, man.

So tell us a Little bit about yourself.

Give us this highlight reel, man.

Where did you come from?

Where did you start?

And how in the world did you find networking as a source for business?

Yeah, so it started shortly when I was graduating from college.

I got picked up to work for the beer and liquor industry and worked for 10 years working for huge brands, global brands, and they basically paid me to network five nights a week.

I was in mostly downtown Austin area and I was.

But I wasn't just doing like your late night bars.

I was doing happy hour events, galas, golf courses and fundraisers, events at hotels, festivals, all kinds of different things.

And helping promote our products in those events.

But in the end, I was constantly going into rooms and groups of people where I had to navigate the room and read the room and play the room and, and do all the things on how to move around a room and make things happen.

And then I later, years later, I worked in the downtown tech scene for a while and I basically had to do the same thing where I had to become ingrained in the tech scene and do it in a relatively short amount of time.

And I was able to do that in less than two years knowing everywhere of where to go, who to meet, who are all the key players, how to get on local news, magazines, local radio station, I've been on national radio station.

I learned how to get up, how to actually get into the, what they call the south by Southwest accelerator stage.

South by Southwest Festival.

That's the same stage that Twitter and companies like Foursquare and, and plenty of other companies we've known in the, in the, over the years have also pitched on stage in front of.

Right?

Yeah, that's where they kind of launched.

Right?

Yeah, they launched there and get incubated by bigger companies and, and I helped present on stage.

I even got to the.

Applied with Shark Tank.

Helped a company applied through Shark Tank and helped get them to the top 100.

Where out of the thousands that apply the top 100, when they, they call you, you're packing your bags and going to be part of the top, I think 30 that go out to Cali to be on the show, which was huge.

And the only reason we didn't make it is because we had just launched so we didn't have any revenue or users yet.

And you know, that's kind of important to have for the show.

Then I, then I moved.

I wanted to run my own business and do my own thing and got into insurance of all things because I was doing critical illness stuff.

So cancer, heart accident, disability Life, all the major things that can make a small business go bankrupt.

I've been helping businesses for so long that I realized this was a good way to use my biology degree without having to wear scrubs and go working in a hospital.

So I, it worked out really well for doing that.

And then I started networking, but a different type of networking.

Networking with like minded peers that also are small business owners.

And got fully ingrained into that and took over the entire Central Texas scene pretty quickly.

Right.

People were like, how?

I can absolutely attest to that for sure.

It's like everywhere I go, it's like it here.

Stay good.

Yes.

And they were wondering how I was able to do that and do it fast to the point where some people within the first year, they thought I'd been doing this for years.

And I did.

But I was in a different genre and different type of occupation.

But all that led me up to there.

And the problem is most people are not taught how to network.

I mean, we're not taught how to make us, we're all taught how to sell.

If you're an H vac, solar, any occupation, you're taught constantly how to sell, but you're not.

Which if we're going to use baseball as an analogy, we absolutely, we're taught how to go from how to sit down with a client at first base and try to make it all the way home to a closed deal.

But almost none of us are taught how to actually practice hitting the ball at home plate to get to first place.

And that's because that's your, your marketing.

That's how you get out and get known.

And so that's where networking comes in.

Oh, I love it.

It's beautiful.

And you know, I didn't know anything about networking when I moved to Austin and I can absolutely, completely agree.

I ingrained myself in a handful of groups and at one point right before COVID I was, you know, leading three groups and co chair of two others.

And you know, it was just pays to know people.

Right.

When you can be that resource of anybody that needs to get anything done and they come, people come to you to say, hey, who do you know?

And that's pretty valuable, valuable place to be, right?

Yeah.

Because of course, not only are you trying to stir up referrals for your business, but you're also getting a Rolodex for those that know what a Rolodex is.

You're getting a Rolodex, a contact list in your phone of all these important people to share with your Current clients.

In fact, I've gotten people to become my clients because I gave them some referrals of people they needed and they weren't even a client of mine.

But then later when they actually needed something from me, they came to me.

So when you're on the fence with a client or a potential client, that's where networking can come in because you're helping them in that aspect.

So.

Yes, totally agree.

I love it.

So tell us a little bit about kind of some, some basics because so, and I bring this up.

I have a lot of coaching clients across the country and in Canada.

And one right now specifically I'm thinking of, he's in Canada and it's been a really slow year for those guys.

And so he's an H Vac guy and I've been talking to him about like, go get in front of people.

It's.

There's power to be one in front of many.

If you can talk to one person at a time, or if you can talk to 30 or 40 or 50 people at a time, where's the more leverage?

But what happens is so many times sales guys are really great at the one on one conversation, but they get really scared and anxious when it comes to talking to a group.

So give us a little bit of insight into some, some ninja tricks like how do we overcome that?

What, what is it really like in a networking group?

Because most of the people listening have never been to one, so they don't even know, you know, what to, what to look for.

Yes.

No, great question.

There's all types of networking events.

And, and the first person, first thing I would ask the H Vac guy in Canada is would you like me to help you get 20 sales reps by the end of the month?

Would you like 20 sales reps to come, you know, promote your business?

Oh, and by the way, you're not gonna have to pay them.

I'll, I'll take care of it.

They would absolutely.

Yeah, of course, you know, it would jump to it.

Well, that's what networking is.

You're getting around a group of people that are an extension of your salesforce.

They're going out there and while they're not pitching you daily themselves, they're keeping an ear out for when people say, hey, I need an ac, my AC is out, or it's, it's having issues, or oh, I wish my AC could keep up with this weather.

They automatically are able to talk about you.

And so it's multiplying you times 10, 20, 30 people and, and you can't get any of that for free.

I mean, most groups charge some kind of fee, but again, that's a marketing expense, so you can write that off.

So I don't even count that as you're paying for to be in the group.

But the first thing and someone needs to do when you're going to get into a business, I mean into a networking group with your business, is what value do you offer and what can you do for them?

So, and where your product stands in that room.

So, for example, everyone needs their AC and heaters looked at.

It's, it's a necessity.

It's something they need.

So if you're an H Vac person and you're not going to a networking group, I'm going to tell you right now you're crazy because that's 20 people to 30 people that will need your service in the next year or two.

Maybe not them directly, but one of their neighbors or a family member.

It's just, it's just going to happen that they need it serviced or whatnot.

And then that's not counting all their friends and family.

So by going to a network group, you got to think, most people, unlike you and me, we've networked.

So we have a thick Rolodex of people.

But most people don't know a plumber, electrician, a solar guy, an H vac guy.

Most, I would say over 90% of people don't have that in their back pocket.

So you become that person that telling the other people that you're networking with.

Now, something like solar is considered more of a luxury item.

It's, you know, you, you can, you can survive without solar.

You really can't survive without heater or AC or electricity or your plumbing.

So you have to come in with somewhat of a different style than an H Vac.

An H Vac person can go network and just like wave and say, hey, I'm an H Vac, you need me, I'm here.

Boom.

You know?

Exactly.

With solar, you have to be a little bit more.

Just like with me, I'm not doing just typical traditional health insurance.

My counterpart handles that.

So with health insurance, everybody needs it.

It's kind of required for a lot of people.

I'm doing life insurance, disability and all that.

It's considered a luxury.

It shouldn't be, but it's considered a luxury.

So I have to go in with a different aspect than the person that comes in with health insurance.

But with networking, it's go out and visit as many network groups as you can just like you did, you go out and visit a bunch of networking groups and see which ones that you like and appeal to.

All networking groups are great and all of them are going to suck.

Just like buying leads.

They're going to have their bad and they're good.

The important thing is what works for you.

Now if you're a little more uncomfortable in one group than the other, that's generally a good thing I always say because if you're too comfortable, then it's, it may not be the best group for you, but you might find it comfortable for you because it's your, it's your Persona, your inner voice that makes you feel like that's best.

But the other group that you don't feel as comfortable in might be a much better group to send you referrals.

So I say be uncomfortable.

It's okay.

Go network.

Everyone's uncomfortable.

There's all types of groups.

When you're at groups, ask them what is there another group you think I should go visit?

You've got your local chambers of commerce.

Those are good groups.

You've got big national organizations.

BNI is the, is the, one of the largest.

And there's, there's your one offs, the little small chapter groups.

There's association groups and stuff like that.

Or and then try to, try to be a guest at.

Maybe if you're in solar, try to be a guest at a.

All roofers group or a sure something in commercial residential property.

A group, something like that.

And these days it's so easy to find them.

You just go to meetup.

Pretty much everyone's on meetup.com and they put their group in there in some form of fashion.

So you just type in, type in a couple of phrases.

You only need to find one or two groups.

People in that group will invite you to all the other groups in the surrounding area.

But love it.

You should definitely go and check those types out.

So when someone is looking for a group and they're investigating and visiting.

Well, there's a couple things I'd love for you to cover.

One is, you know, pros and cons, what are we looking for in a good group?

And you know, what are signs of a group that maybe is like a dying group because we know those happen.

And then after that if you could talk about, you know, what the expectation is as far as like the elevator pitch and, and that kind of thing.

Yeah.

So one thing I, I mention a lot is if you even the time of day will dictate the type of group it is.

So in the morning you're going to get a lot more groups that have brick and mortar.

Someone like, let's say a dentist or maybe a lawyer, they're going to be showing up to the early morning groups because they can't come during the day.

They're working out of their brick and mortar.

The people that come to maybe at lunch would be someone who can get out of the office, like a chiropractor, acupuncturist, electrician, painter, people like that.

And then later in the day you've got another different demographic.

You got to think, if you're going to a happy hour event, it might be harder to meet with people who you target, who are families, because they got to go pick up their kids at school or take them to events.

If it's a pretty much a very successful company or business owner, generally they're not trying to go out at happy hour.

They're making six figures.

They're doing very well.

Unless there's something to really gravitate them to a happy hour meeting.

It's just not really for them.

Now most people in H Vac and solar, this the two biggest mistakes they all make.

They go, they visit a group for a month or two, say hello to everyone, be super nice and happy, and then they disappear forever.

And not saying anyone on this call will do that.

But the thing you gotta think about is when you're gonna go network.

Realize that your predecessors did that.

So when you go join almost any network.

Every network I've ever been to has H vac people and solar people that show up and then disappear.

And generally it's because y', all, the jobs can be seasonal.

You're, you might be slow a little during the fall or spring and then you get swamped during Chris, the, the cold and the heat season.

So you do do that.

But I would say go to those groups and then make it a task.

You put it on your calendar that you will show up at least sometimes during the high seasons because usually the groups meet at breakfast and they meet at lunch.

You do have to eat.

Yes, you lose, so you lose some time with driving, but that's what you do because these are people that are bringing you referrals for when it is slow.

If you're only marketing yourself when you're slow, you're, you're just always playing catch up.

When you market yourself, when you're busy, you're, you're, you're helping fill the pipeline for when things get slow.

You can sit there and get with your clients and say, hey, if your AC is fine, why don't we schedule, you know me to come check it out, like when the weather gets a little better in October and so you can start filling up your calendar for down the road.

Love it.

That's one of my biggest ones.

Yeah, that, that's huge.

I 100 agree.

And you know, it's just like any other marketing.

We have to think of it like that is.

It's a 90 day cycle.

You know, the p. The businesses that are right now, it got slow.

So hey, let's dump extra dollars in right now.

That's not going to make any difference right now.

We're slow right now because you didn't dump dollars in 90 days ago.

If you're dumping a ton of money in right now, that means.

And so this is, this episode is going to release some probably mid September for Everybody listening of 2023.

If you're dumping dollars in right now in September, watch out.

Your December is going to be awesome.

But it's not going to help you today.

So it's digging the well before you need it.

Right?

That's the classic term.

So tell us a little bit about when somebody goes what to expect?

Because a lot of people have, have never been to a networking group.

And it was the same thing for me when I very first went to one and I showed up and everybody's like, okay, it's your turn.

I'm like, my turn for what?

What do I say?

What do you, what do you want me to say?

And so give us some.

Because there's good and bad ways to do that.

Give us a little bit about, about what that means.

Yeah.

So generally they're going to give you anywhere from 20 to 45 seconds to say something about yourself and what you do and what makes you special.

And anything along those lines, they'll, they'll just get you to say something.

Now the, the thing is, when you go to a group, you're not the only one talking.

Let's say there's 15 other people in the room and Sam's sitting in there in the room, just met you.

Well, everyone around goes around the room and says something.

Now this is the biology in me from my years in college.

The, the brain can't hold all the information that everyone's going to say going around the room.

So you have to make sure to say something that's very practical and very top level.

I always say, pretend you're talking to a room full of teenagers.

Not, not your teenagers, like the ones in your House.

That's a different, that's a different tone.

But how you would talk if you were showing up to a high school or college and, and they were asking you to speak on what you do, you have to be very top level so that the brain can hold all that information by the time it gets around the room.

So that's the first thing is figure out what the heck you're going to say.

And it doesn't matter how long they give you, just plan for 20 seconds.

If they give you 45, don't take 45, just take your 20.

You say who you are.

I usually tell people, say who you are at the very end because until you provide value, your name is irrelevant.

So say what you do and provide the value.

If you're going up there and saying, let's go with H Vac and you're saying, hey, you know, it's summertime, your, you know, AC is going to be out, you're going to need, blah, blah, blah, you know, this is what we do.

And you know, you use us because of this.

And my name is so and so that's great.

But to take it up a notch is, did you provide us any value, any education?

We already know our ACs might go out.

It makes it a little easier because you are a necessity.

But why, why you, why your company?

You're, you're number one in this, or you do this or whatever is your, your why we should use you.

That should be said and then provide us with some value.

Say, hey guys, do you ever notice that when your air turns on, it seems to take about 20, 30 seconds until the air is actually starts coming out cold?

Well, now it's like two minutes.

That's a tail sign that blah, blah, blah.

And by the way, I just completely made that up.

But no, that's perfect.

That's, that's what you do.

You sit there and say, educate me on the signs to look for.

If I know the signs to look for and I can call you out quicker, that means I'm going to save money.

So you, you say, you know, hey, you know, as y' all know, I'm with H Vac and blah, blah, blah, provide the education.

Then you say, why you out of all the other H Vac people, why should I call you?

And then finish by saying, who y' all are?

I'm Dagan with ABC H Vac and leave it at that.

I always say, put your name at the end.

Because until you show the value, if you've been to enough networking events like Sam and I.

You say your name, who you are.

The brain's like, yeah, whatever.

Okay, I'm listening.

And then you provide all this value.

And they're like, oh, damn.

Yes, I want to call this guy.

And it's the first thing you see people doing in the room.

What was the guy's.

What was his name?

What was it?

Oh, I didn't.

I didn't catch his name either.

I forgot it.

The brain said, oh, name's not important.

Wow, that was great content.

So say the great content first so that you, the brain, gets pulled into the conversation and then say your name and who you are.

You can say your name at the beginning and at the end.

Some people do that.

If you've only got 20 seconds.

I always say, that's kind of a waste.

And you're being repetitive.

They will come up to you and ask you your name or who you with.

So sometimes I don't even say my name.

It says it on my name tag.

And the person, like, if Sam was the host, he said, and Dagan, you're up next.

He just said my name.

Why do I need to stand up and say, hi, my name is Dagan?

Just wasted a few seconds saying my name.

Again, efficiency.

I said my name twice.

With no value.

With no value.

So that, That's a good way to think of.

Of that.

And then the other part is, if you're going into a room of networking room of any kind, the reason the book, the book I just wrote is called Play the Room is because it's you.

You have to know who you are looking for.

So who are your best referral partners or who are your best customers?

So for solar, who are the best three people to send you over a referral?

Who's.

Who's the best three referral partners?

I'm guessing roofers.

Right, Roofers.

You typically.

Other trades like roofers, you've got plumbers, electricians, especially electricians.

People get.

It's electricity.

They get asked a lot.

So.

Yeah.

And also there's this three.

Yeah, I mean, there you go.

Yeah.

I mean, I wouldn't even.

No, don't even worry about anyone else.

Just focus on those three.

If you're in solar, when you walk in a room and if I walked up to Bob first and he says what he does, and I'm like, hey, Bob, that's awesome.

I'm in solar and I'm looking for a electrician.

Is there any electricians in this group?

He's like, oh, yeah, you know John over there, he's an Electrician.

I'm like, cool.

And then, you know, don't be rude to Bob and just walk away from him.

Say, yeah, what do you do?

Cool, I'm gonna.

Do you mind if I go meet the electrician?

Because I, I.

That.

That was my goal coming here.

And so you target the three referral partners that are your best referral partners, and then you also might know who your top client is so that you can tell those people who your top client is.

It's.

It's.

You're basically your avatar.

Who's the best person for you.

Right.

So that helps too.

Who.

Who's liking it?

Tell us a little bit more about the book.

We're talking about playing the room.

We're talking about, you know, finding one our key referral partners.

Also knowing, being able to communicate to those referral partners who are perfect.

Avatar is.

Is there an exercise that you can take, just super quick, that you take people through?

Because a lot of people don't know who their key avatar is, who their demographic is.

Just a quick exercise to take people through to help kind of define that.

Yeah.

So generally speaking, the fastest way to figure out your avatar is who is going.

Who currently brings you the most business, who reaches out to you the most.

And sometimes people are like, yeah, it's all over the board.

I will tell them all the time.

No, it's not.

You just think it is because you haven't looked.

Is it a certain.

Is it male or female?

Is it a certain age bracket?

Is it a new homeowner or someone who's had a home for a long time?

Is it a certain occupation they have?

Is it a.

Is it a certain amount of income they bring in?

Is it a family or is it more of an individual?

Is it residential, commercial?

There's all these types of things that if I go looking through the last 15 customers you've had, I will find a trend every time.

And that's not.

That's not statistics.

I'm saying that's coming to you from all the best marketing and sales people that are out in.

In America that are doing huge coaching and, And a lot of books.

They will tell you there's always a trend you can find.

And in the alcohol industry, we always knew there was a trend.

Every trend, we.

There's times.

I know a little bit about you just by what you order at the bar, because depending on that drink that you ordered at the bar will tell me certain things about you, because that brand targets certain types of people, and I already know who they target.

And so by knowing that I can know things about you before I even come up and talk to you.

Wow.

So, yeah, brilliant.

That's one of the things.

Another thing I wanted to say earlier that just came to mind that I couldn't remember was the number one thing that solar can do is tell them, what's the catch?

Because the number one thing I get when people are coming to my home that are in solar or whatnot, they're always like, everything's kosher, everything's great, it's a miracle, I'm saving the day.

Every product, everything you do has a catch of some sort.

And so when you're out networking, you need to let this extension of your salesforce, the people that you're working with, know what's the catch.

And the reason why is because that is not the person you want to be referred to.

So if it's like, well, they have to be able to do financing, which means they have to at least have a bank that they work through.

There's plenty of people that, right, these days aren't really using their checking accounts or savings accounts, they're using debit cards and cash and whatnot.

Is it a certain who, who is not the great person to deal with who?

What's the catch?

That's not going to make it great.

Right.

And, and, and if there is a catch, what's the answer?

You're probably going to have an answer, especially in solar.

Solar people.

What I love is they got an answer for everything and I love it.

I, I always tell people, if you work for solar, I will hire you tomorrow because you're, you're trained, just like insurance people, you've got an answer for everything.

So I love it.

But that's what you need to look for.

Who is the, your current clientele?

And then second, who do you want to be your current clientele?

There's a lot of people taking on clients that they really don't want to mess with and they would like to deal with this type of clients.

So if you're going to a networking group, start talking about the clients that you actually do want, maybe not talking about the clients you do currently have.

So that is one caveat that you might want to look at doing.

But generally it's what are you looking for?

Now, of course, if you're an H Vac and you say or, or solar or any of the trade services and you're like, well, anyone that owns their own home, that's, that's a terrible answer.

Do you know why?

It's because we already know you.

That's what your number one goal is.

You did not provide any extra value.

Say, oh, you're a roofer.

You like people that own houses.

What.

Who are you looking for?

You know, I said that all in my head.

And then you sit there and go, anyone that owns their own home.

Yeah, yeah, I got that.

That's not what I asked.

Like, I didn't need to know that.

If I'm older than like third grade, I know that.

So what.

Who is that person that owns their own house and what is it they're looking for?

That's, that's the person.

And of course, roofers want to also know plumbers and electricians.

So that's your target.

And when you, when you're visiting a networking group, I'm an insurance, maybe I'm not your best referral partner.

So ask me, hey, Dan, do you know any plumbers and electricians?

Which I do.

I know plenty.

They say, cool, love to meet with them.

I'd love to talk to you and sit down with you and get to know you and let you know my business and why I'm a great roofer or trades person so that I want to introduce you.

I'm not going to introduce you just because I met you at a place.

I need to get to know you a little bit.

So you need to schedule those, what we, what's called one to ones meetings, where you sit down with someone.

The biggest issue people do is they go to a network group, they collect some cards, they, they talk about what they do, they walk away and they're like, yeah, nothing happened.

Yeah, you got to connect with those people you wanted to meet.

You got to connect with them on LinkedIn.

If you own your own business or you promote your own name, you should have a LinkedIn account.

I don't care if you like it or not, you should have a LinkedIn account.

Right?

And when you're, you connect with them there, you connect with them on email and you try to set up at least a phone call or a zoom, if not an in person meeting to get to know that person because that person might send you referrals.

I don't think I've ever sent a referral to someone I did not at least sit down with and get to know for a little bit.

Because in this day and age, if, let's say, Bob post on Facebook, hey, I'm having some AC problems, who should I meet up with?

Or I'm, I'm looking for some solar, who should I meet with?

Yeah, I Got a guy named Sam.

Cool.

Usually what they're going to do is they're going to follow up.

Why him?

Or did you, did he do solar on your house?

No.

Okay.

Why him?

Because I met him in a network group.

You know, that's not going to do it.

Yeah, there's no value.

People are, are pushing on Facebook and, and there's like five, six people, hey, use this guy because blah, blah, blah, blah.

He use this guy because he does this.

Use her because she does this.

Like they, they give more feedback.

So until you actually get to know the person, which means you have to go to the network group for a while, that's what you need to do.

Or do a one to one sit down with that person.

Right.

So that you can promote them and they can promote you.

Right.

100%.

Showing up to a network.

Yeah, just showing up to a network group is only 50 of the battle.

Oh, you got it.

I remember when I first started going to, before I learned this, I was going to all these groups and I was collecting all these business cards and then my, I didn't really know what to do with them.

So I ended up just carrying around like this gallon Ziploc that all these business cards got dumped into.

And my wife finally was, she was laughing one day.

She's like, throw that out.

It's just trash.

You're collecting trash.

If you're not going to actually sit down and call every single one of them and schedule a time to meet with them to get to know them, it's trash.

I was like, oh, you know what, you're right.

And so I, yeah, you absolutely start, you know, don't take every single business card, don't be a business card ninja and just, you know, blanket everybody with your business cards like they're ninja stars.

Connect with intentionality and with purpose.

And when, once you start doing that and create meaningful conversations, even if that means you only get to talk to five out of 30 people for the day, but they're meaningful conversations and you've created a connection and set a time with that is better than just going through and shaking every hand and not remembering a single name.

So definitely, definitely tips for everybody out there.

But take us through a little bit of, a little bit more about the book, man.

Tell us why.

What inspired you to write the book?

Because let's promote that a little bit.

What inspired you to write it and what can we expect to find in there that will, you know, will help everybody?

Yeah, so I did so many like sit downs with people that they Started asking me.

After we talked about what each other did, they would ask me, well, you know, as you notice, I'm not the best at my pitch or I'm not the best at brand or I don't feel like I'm connecting.

You seem to do very well at it.

What do you think?

And I would then open up and say, well, yeah, you're doing it wrong.

This is, this is what you're doing wrong.

But, but it's not your fault.

That's just what, you know, no one has shown you how to do it.

And so then I would help them out with it.

Well then when they meet other people that aren't doing that great at networking, they'd say, oh, you should go sit down with Dagan.

And so I was constantly sitting down with people and helping them through their whole process and like, man, you should do this full time.

And I said, well, I, I used to do this in branding back in the day in the tech and the alcohol world.

I was like, but I'm not trying to do that now that I'm in insurance, that, that's what I'm looking to do until retirement.

But I, but I help people in doing it also because I don't want to hear if you come to my network groups, I don't want to hear your terrible pitch every week because then not only do I feel bad, but I'm having to listen to it and I don't want to listen to it.

So I want to help you.

So your book is a little self serving too.

Yeah.

So I started helping everyone that everyone kept saying, like literally almost once a week I would get someone say, you should write a book.

And so I said fine.

And I basically record myself when I would start talking to people.

And there was the whole script of everything I was saying.

So it took me only like 2 weeks to 3 weeks to write the whole book because I had already done the book conversation fifty times, a hundred times probably.

So that's, that's what got me to, to write it.

And then my buddy wrote a sales book and so when his came out, I was like, okay, I definitely need to write my book.

He just wrote his sales book.

I need to write my network marketing group.

So, so that, yeah, that's what I did.

And of course it's also a glorified business card.

So it's, it's good to drum up business.

So it's got that added, added value.

Sure, yeah, absolutely.

And now, and now when people want to do a sit down with me, I just Go.

Hey, here's my.

Here, why don't you buy this book?

It'll give you everything you need to know.

And then if you want to talk more about how to use all that information you got and, and, and tailor it a lot to just.

You mean you can then talk.

But I, I'm not, I can't go over this conversation another time.

Yeah, a little self serving too.

I love it.

Well, and it's beautiful.

And that's how, that's how different things like come about.

That's literally how my business came about.

Because, you know, I, I started this company because I sent a couple people off of my sales team back when I was with the company here in Austin years ago as a sales manager and sent a couple of people to a training that I had taken like 10 years before that and they came back with the exact same slide deck and changed the thing in 10 years.

I'm like, throw that in the trash.

I'll teach you everything you need to know.

And it was like, okay, well, I keep saying the same training to my people.

I should just document it.

Right.

So that's what started the podcast and the training.

Exactly, man.

And the.

So many people in trades are also introverts and that's okay.

Most people that go to a networking group are introverts, so don't use that as an excuse.

The majority of them are and that's okay.

And you can be an introvert.

You're not, you're not going up in front of the room and having to do a juggling routine while balancing on a ball.

You're, you're just, you're walking into a room of like minded peers and, and talking to them and getting to know their business and they're getting to know you.

So it's okay if you don't like, if that's not your thing.

It doesn't need to be.

It's mostly not a thing.

There's, and there's people you'll notice when you go to networking where English is not their first language.

So everyone can do it.

Yeah.

I always like to say, if someone can do it who's not even from this country and it's not even their first language, other.

Other of us have no excuse.

Right.

There's no reason.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

And thank you for saying that because that's one of the biggest things I get.

And for whatever reason, the, especially the salespeople I talk to, they're so, they're so seemingly so interactive and so good with people and charismatic and all of These things or they're not.

But most of them are, especially the top performers.

Most of the people that listen to this podcast are the.

The top half of the industry.

And so they are already into personal growth and working on themselves and growing themselves.

But this one piece is like the Achilles heel for most people is like they're so scared to step in front of that room because they're, they're scared of something new.

They're scared to grow.

They're scared of failure.

What if I don't sound, you know, what if I stumble in my words?

So thank you for saying that because it's really encouraging to know that, you know, not everybody is an expert.

Right.

Every master was once a disaster.

Yeah.

And the one key thing is to practice your pitch, work on what you're going to say, write it down, and then just memorize it.

And the easiest way to memorize it is to memorize it only when you're doing other things.

So multitask.

So when you're driving down the highway, go over your pitch.

If you're at the park, sitting on the bench while your kids are playing, do it there while you're watching them, do it while you're doing something else.

And it'll get ingrained in your head and it won't seem cheesy.

It'll be authentic because you've given it everything.

So when I'm doing my pitch, that's what's going on.

I've repeated it a hundred times.

Maybe I'm in the shower, maybe I'm eating dinner, maybe I'm playing with the dog, whatever.

I've practiced it enough times so that it's not so nervous.

And if you stand up in the room, they're not going to make you walk to the front of a room, by the way, and go in front of a podium and talk.

You just stand up from your chair.

Sometimes you don't even have to.

Most a lot of, A lot of groups, they don't.

They don't even make you stand up.

And that's an option.

So you can literally sit down at the table you're at and introduce yourself to the room.

So it's, it's not, it's.

It's perfect for introverts or extroverts.

But the, the key thing is practice, practice, practice your pitch.

Like I said, if you're not practicing your pitch, you're basically giving 20 to 30 seconds to get everyone to get excited or to like what you do and to refer you.

Why are you practicing every day on how to sell a client, but you're not practicing how to pitch yourself to get in front of that client.

Baffles me how people will do that.

They'll stand up and you'll sit there and go, well, so I own an H Vac company and, oh, my name's John, by the way.

We, we kind of oversee this whole area.

We don't do that area over there, but we, we do this.

And I did.

You sound like it's your first day.

That's gross.

It makes me want to vomit.

Yeah, I have a six figure client that needs an H Vac guy.

I need to send him to someone who knows what the hell they're doing.

I can't.

It, it baffles me that people have five, six, ten years of experience, yet they stand up and, and they don't even know how to talk about their own business for 15 seconds without sounding like it's their first day working.

I, I can't send my client to you now.

I, whether I consciously or subconsciously think of that, that's.

That happens.

And there's people like, oh, yeah, I, that he doesn't.

I mean, he's too young or he's too new.

I'm not going to send it to that guy while you got the other guy.

Say, hey, this is us where we do this.

We cover this territory.

We're fantastic because of that.

We've been doing this for this many years, you know, and you know, don't get left out in the cold.

Use me because we're bold, you know.

Make sure to hit our Google reviews.

I support everything I'm saying.

Yeah.

And then, and then that person's like, okay, I feel comfortable sending him to him.

Remember, people buy from who they know like, and trust, not all these facts and figures and things you do.

So, so practice what you're gonna say.

Say in front of your spouse.

I'll say in front of your kids, and they go, dad, that's dumb.

You know, you're like, cool, that worked.

You know, that's how kids are.

So practice and so that when you go in, you do it.

So in my case, if someone walks up to me in a room and says, what do you do?

I say, I help people from drowning in debt due to medical catastrophes.

I say that every time.

If I've run into you into a room, I'm going to say that I don't care if you're Jennifer Lopez or the Pope or you're Sam, I'm going to say the exact same line every time.

Yep.

I keep people from drowning in debt due to medical catastrophes.

I know what they're going to say.

That doesn't really say much unless they see my, my name tag that might say insurance or something like that.

And then they say, well, and how do you do that?

That's called engagement.

I just got them the question and then we start the dialogue.

I already know the second question.

The second thing I'm going to say, oh, I help them.

Like, you know, if.

What do you.

I go, sam, what are you.

You're in solar.

Okay, so imagine if you got diagnosed with cancer, heart accidents, or someone passed away in your household.

Would that affect your income?

Okay, I give you a bunch of money so that you can keep all your bills up to date and you don't go bankrupt.

And they're like, oh, you like insurance?

Yeah, in the scheme of things, insurance is a very broad category.

I'm a very specific type of insurance.

But I already know three sentences in that.

That's the first time the word insurance is going to be spoken.

If I just walk up and say, hey, Sam, what's up?

What do you do?

Oh, I sell insurance.

Okay, cool.

And now does everybody go with that?

Yeah.

And they're going to go, what type of insurance?

And they're like, I'm already bored.

He said insurance, you know, so it's.

I know exactly what I'm going to say, and then when I stand up, I know exactly what I'm going to say.

And I've repeated it in my head 100 times so that it's authentic.

It's me.

It's me saying it.

Even if it's rehearsed, it's me.

If you're just winging it, that's not good.

You don't wing your business.

If, if, if you go in front of a client, why are you going to wing your.

What you're going to say to a bunch of us that are going to talk about your business down the road, right?

And people will say to me, well, I kind of just wing it because I'm more comfortable doing that and I get good business.

And I always say, well, have you ever compared it to if you did it the right way, like, how much more it would be?

And they're like, exactly.

Well, no, because I always wing it.

And I was like, huh, okay, so.

And then I say, let me ask you this.

I always use this excuse.

I have a six figure client I would like to send you, but there's certain things I want you to do with him.

And then he has some things that he would like to voice.

After I tell you what I would like you to do with him, are you just going to go ahead and wing it?

And then, and then when you're talking with him, are you just going to wing it with him?

Because if, if so, consciously or subconsciously, I may want to just go ahead and send him to someone else who's not going to wing it and who's professional.

Because my six figure client wants someone who's professional.

And I've said that to people in a nice way.

And, and, Right.

Yeah, I get your point, Dagan.

I'll stop winging it.

Yeah, exactly.

You know, I, I hear the same thing.

Especially with.

I don't say that to random strangers.

I say it to people.

I know.

Right, of course.

But it's the same thing.

I mean, the same thing in sales.

We all know.

You know, I've had coaching clients that are, you know, selling a million or 2 million a year, and like, well, I'm doing good.

I'm like, yeah, but good's the enemy.

Great.

You're winging it.

And the second we get established system down with some scripting and they practice it, those numbers double to 2 or 4 million a year, and their income doubles and goes from 100 to 300,000 a year, strictly in, in pocket income.

It's like, wait a minute.

Just by not wigging it and being intentional, we was able to double numbers.

Wow.

And it's the very same thing here.

I love this conversation.

And it's, it's effective.

It's super powerful.

So let's do this.

It's about time to land this place.

Elaine, any other nuggets that you want to, to land us with?

And I've got a couple other specific questions for you.

I, I would say the first thing that helps people and it's the reason on the, on the book, it's, it's set up with some chess pieces and it's a great easy read.

It's not like chess, but I tell people all the time, it's, it's chess.

It's not checkers.

If you just go walk into a room and like, I'm gonna go here because I.

There's a dude over there that looks interesting to talk to.

And then I'm gonna just go over there and they're like, oh, wait, someone's coming over here.

That's just checkers.

You're just, just moving around the room and, and just have no strategy.

Everything I mentioned today is chess.

It's about walking in Knowing who you want to look for, who you want to talk to.

You know, go meet the, the, the host right away of who, who throws, who's, who's hosting the event, say, hey, who should I talk to?

These are the three people I want to talk to.

Who should I meet right now?

If you see social butterflies, walking room like someone like me or Sam, then meet us because we know everyone.

So we'll help you get to that stage.

But it's, it's knowing and knowing your avatar and of course knowing what you're going to say.

All those things is having your chess strategies so that when you walk in and someone makes a move, you already know where you're going to go and you're thinking five moves ahead.

And so that's, that's the first thing I'd say.

And second, go do everything.

The biggest thing I, I hear is like, well, I'm thinking about going to this, this network group.

But I only, I heard it's only like eight or nine people.

Well, if one of them as a referral for you, is it worth it?

Well, yes.

Okay, so you have a chance to talk to eight people and one can send you a referral.

Basically, you know, under 15, around 15% chance one of them will send you referral in the next month.

Why is that not worth it?

And that's, that's the minimum.

And so go to that one.

And if they constantly have that and you go to some other events and they have 20 or 30, maybe those work better.

But sometimes the bigger groups, there's so many people, it's hard to really get to know some the people in the group that, which means it's harder for them to get to know you.

Right.

So it doesn't matter about attendance.

I say it doesn't matter about time of day.

It doesn't matter about anything.

If you're saying, yeah, but, well, that's the voice in your head, I say go anyway.

Build your brand.

You never know who knows who and who's going to give you a referral.

Sometimes those top three people that you want to, that send you the best referral might not be the best referral at first.

Someone in there that sells Mary Kay products might introduce you to someone who needs this huge project.

Her client is some multi millionaire who needs a really good roofer.

And so you're going to get the business from her before you get from the others.

You never know.

If you start trying to guess, you're now listening to the voice in your head which has no, no true facts on it.

So just go everywhere, visit everyone and get to know them all the referrals will come.

I love it.

I love it.

That is super powerful hints right there.

I hope everybody has been taking notes and it clearly, I mean I've known Dagan for a long time, everybody and he.

So if you don't know in the type of insurance he does is a hundred percent self generated.

It's not like he gets company leads.

They're not sending him, you know, all of these different lead lists or people to talk to.

And he's been a six figure earner for years and years and years strictly on self generated leads.

And because I know a little bit about the industry to be a six figure earner in an industry like that, everybody, that's a lot more sales than you have to do in solar or H Vac because the commission structure.

Right.

So he's doing a lot of business to get there.

So what that means everybody is with some, some action.

And the cool part is being self generated in our industry is we always, we know we get paid more on self generated leads.

They were now more valuable to the company because they're not spending marketing dollars.

I don't know everybody, if you knew this.

The average customer acquisition in H vac and solar is right now in most markets is floating between 800 and $1,000 a person just to get them to ring the phone.

So for customer acquisition costs for a company, if you can save them that hell yeah, they're going to pay you more in commission because now you're bringing in warm people who are your raving fans and want to do choose to do business with you because they know you, like you and trust you.

And then those are also the people who will refer you to others.

So that's another conversation we can have another time is how to, how to ask for referrals from the business that we're already doing.

But so let's do this super quick.

Tell us a little bit about because this is a conversation I've been wanting to revisit with you anyway for where I'm at with my business to become a client with your insurance.

So we talked it a while back.

So putting this out there to everybody, I will, I am and will be using Dagan for that as well.

Tell us all the areas that you serve for that.

And Dagan and I can absolutely stand behind Dagan and the way he takes care of people.

How can they reach out to you for that specifically and then also tell everybody how and where they can connect with you and get a copy of the book.

Yes.

Thank you.

So starting with the book first because that's the easier one.

Sure.

It's playtheroombook.com that's the website set up.

It has an Amazon link and we're hoping that Audible will be out soon.

But right now there's a Kindle and soft cover book.

It's only 15 bucks.

I should really be charging like $90 for all this wealth of information but you know, probably wouldn't sell that much then.

So it's about 15 bucks easy to read.

If you're in the Austin area, you can actually get a copy from me now if you can catch where the different places I'm at.

But that's, that's where you can get that on.

Now there, there's a, there's a section where you, we can connect, where you can fill in your information.

You can connect with me about the book or you can connect with me about insurance.

But I do have another separate website for the insurance.

It's char lifeguard.com.

it's called CHA because it's cancer, heart, accident.

Those are the three biggest reasons when someone comes to talk to me for life insurance, disability or your critical illness type policies, which for a lot of people they're like, what are those?

The biggest, most well known companies.

Aflac.

So think of those Aflac commercials with the duck.

I represent them along with a bunch of other companies and help people with cancer, heart and accident.

And no matter when people come to me and I ask them, why did you reach out?

It's usually someone in their sphere got hit with one of those three.

So I use that to come up with a cool name Cha.

Like Cha Cha Cha.

Made it seem kind of more entertaining because of course my industry is not the happiest type of industry.

So you can reach out to me there also.

And of course, like I say with all businesses, LinkedIn.

But here's, here's a caveat.

When you reach out to someone on LinkedIn or any social media or any email, always put down where you met them because we don't know.

So either we'll decline it or we add you.

And then later we're like, I don't even know how I know this guy.

So you hit, if you hit, you know, connect with Dagan on LinkedIn, which I, I think is the best way to connect with me is then put personalize the invite and say hey Dan, I saw you on this podcast and blah blah, blah, and go into it.

It was good meeting you or Good seeing you on there.

Would love to connect, do those things every time.

So that now it's not only timestamped for the individual you connect with, it's also timestamped for you.

I had someone reach out to me a year later, and when I looked on LinkedIn, I saw on the messaging how we met each other, and I said, oh, yeah, I remember you.

It was.

Last time I saw you was one year ago at this Mexican restaurant at some networking event.

And they're like, wow, Dagan, you have a great memory.

And I don't even know what to say because I don't want to correct them and say, no, actually, my memory probably sucks.

I just saw this on LinkedIn.

I'm just like, yeah, it's great seeing you.

What's up?

And.

And they love it.

And so it's.

It's a great way to do that for both people.

So LinkedIn or, or either one of the two websites is the best place.

And my LinkedIn, I'm the only Dagan, Martinez Vargas, probably all of LinkedIn.

D A G A N, everyone.

D A G A N. Yeah, probably.

The only Dagan and one of the only Dagons that will pop up for a lot of people.

But I'm nationwide, so I can service everywhere.

And I'm independent broker, so I help everyone of all types.

Well, thank you for that, too.

And, you know, with these industries, especially H Vac, there are so many things that can happen.

I mean, personal story.

I have a really, really close friend that his wife, they've been married 15 years.

His wife is like 41, and she spontaneous, I guess it wasn't spontaneously, but all of a sudden had a stroke about a month ago from just some random blood clots that formed.

And she's been fighting out of icu.

And, you know, that could happen to anybody, you know, and we're in the type of industry where, you know, we're in addicts, we're in a lot of places that accidents can happen.

So it's.

There's.

I learned something years ago.

There's no excuse to be underinsured.

And so everybody listening, reach out to Dagan.

You know, you.

There's a lot of, you know, bad talk about insurance sales people, right?

There's all the jokes, all the things.

Dagan is actually somebody I trust.

I've known him for a lot of years.

So everybody that's listening, reach out to him because he can help you protect your family.

You know, for most of us, if.

If we were put out of commission, income stops Immediately because it's so commission based and directly related to our direct work.

So everybody reach out.

Definitely somebody worth talking to.

I'd say the number one person that reached out to me is someone in the trades because y' all are more susceptible because of your occupation.

You're more susceptible to cancer, heart and accidents.

And I can give you $20,000 cash if that happens to you for the, for the monthly price of like Netflix.

Right, right.

And it doesn't matter your age.

Yeah.

And so everybody, this was not a podcast to, to promote that, but it is a high value service that if it's day again, if it's, if it's somebody you know, that you meet through your networking group, awesome.

You know, just, just look at protecting yourself and your family from, you know, from, from those types of things.

But so thanks for joining us today.

Play the Room, the short guide to Networking.

This is a powerful book, everybody.

I, I am going to be going through the series still and we're going to have tons of experts on the other ways to generate leads.

But I mean, how cool would it be if you could have a team of, you know, 30, 40, 50, 80, 100 people?

The more networking groups you go to, the more people you build on your team that for the cost of lunch, you now have a sales team that's going to talk about you every single day.

When they, you know, if you educate them properly, then they will talk about you and your, how cool you are and your amazing business and how you can help whoever they're talking to.

The average person knows 300 people, people that are intentional networkers.

That number is more like a thousand.

So if there's 30 people in the room and they're, we'll say below average networkers and call it 500 people.

That's a lot of people that you are now connected with.

So everyone think in those terms.

It's leverage.

Yes.

You're selling to, you know, a little bit to the people in the room.

More importantly, you're selling to their network and that's how we want to think about it.

So thanks for joining us today, Dagan.

It's always a pleasure to visit with you, my friend.

Everybody go buy the book.

Do it now.

Go pre order it.

Go buy the book.

It is so high value.

Play the room.

It's a blue cover, it's got chess pieces on it.

You are going to love it.

Dagan Martinez Vargas, thanks for joining us today, man.

Everybody else, you go save the world.

Yeah.

Everybody else, you go out there, save the world.

One heat stroke at a time.

Thanks for listening to Close it now with Sam Wakefield.

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