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 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.

Well, hey, hey, hey.

Welcome back to the Close It Now Sells training podcast.

Sam Wakefield here.

Solar and H Vac.

We are taking it to the homeowner to help them, to serve them and help them, you know, just live a better, more efficient life.

Right.

So super excited about our interview today.

This is going to be a good one.

Personally, I have known about this guy and followed him since I started in the industry 17 years ago.

In fact, one of the very first speakers I remember at an ACCA conference years and years and years ago was one of the first impactful people that really changed the way that I talk to homeowners in home was one I saw this gentleman present at the convention years ago and so, so excited to have him on today.

This is America's service sales coach.

The owner of Service MVP is his business.

Everyone put your hands together.

I know I won't hear you right this second because it's a podcast, but I feel like he needs a standing ovation.

Mr. Joe Cressera, thank you for joining us today, sir.

Well, Sam, thanks for inviting me here.

Definitely, it's an honor.

I didn't know that you saw me before, but definitely I hope I left the positive impression.

I tried to make a positive impact on the life of other, other people.

So hopefully I did that.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Or you wouldn't be here.

I love it.

It's, you know, so many people I've talked to, you know, in the last 45 years, four or five years of doing coaching and the sales training that I've done running the podcast have been influenced and affected by you in their lives in the way that they approach homeowners, the way that they present things, the way that they've been able to close.

And so definitely your, your reach is pretty widespread.

So from everybody that I've talked to, thank you for your contribution to the industry.

I've definitely done a huge service to the H vac industry to raise it up to a new level.

So super excited about that.

Well, definitely labor, labor of love and something I love to do.

And don't, don't tell anybody I said this, but I would probably do it for free.

I love it so much though.

People say when you're going to retire and I'm like, what's that?

I love when you do what you love.

There's no such thing as retirement, so.

Exactly.

Exactly.

I probably die.

If I retired, I wouldn't know what that looks like.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What is that the time frame.

Right.

So.

Well, tell us what's been going on in your life.

I noticing from your.

I don't know that this is a big announcement or anything, but man, it looks like you have been working on your health in the last while.

You're looking good, my friend.

Yeah, I'm working on it.

You know, I just got, you know, I got, I did, I did find out I was diabetic about.

Oh, what Was that?

About 25 years ago.

And I think it actually helped me get healthier because I realized I gotta get, get it together right.

So yeah, it's been a long process and it hasn't.

Has been overnight for sure, but it's just working on just trying to do the best I can with.

Had to work with, you know.

Yeah, I gotcha.

Yeah, that's good, Good stuff.

So the one thing we talked about that really excited to introduce to the audience that listens to the Close it now podcast is and if for everyone who listens to the podcast, you know that we're always on the cutting edge of technology.

Lately I've been, we've got a big, lots of conversation about how to include solar into the mix with, with H Vac because it's a great, great combination.

We've been talking a lot about how to use and working on figuring out how to use AI chat GPT in the process.

It's been very helpful in the conversations.

But so along that same theme of technology and new ways to.

To do things.

Really excited to introduce and ask Mr. Joe Chrisra about.

He's got a new app that has just come out recently.

So tell us a little bit about that app and what it does for people.

It's.

It sounds super exciting.

It is.

We had a.

Definitely put a lot of effort in.

It's been years in the making.

Probably got about $1.2 million in investment that we put into it, our bootstrapped investment on our own.

We do anticipate getting other investors involved because we feel like we're trying to build something similar to what Amazon prime did, where we have our kind of a, you know, service MVP originals there.

But even I can imagine, you know, Sam Wakefield having like maybe the Sam Wakefield video series and people can like on Amazon.

We have the Amazon stuff is free, it comes with the membership and then you can purchase Sam Wakefield's stuff and try and bring other people into it.

And you know, I've always, I always had what's called an open hand philosophy, Sam, which is that take a scoop in the sand at the beach and you hold it in your hand.

And if you hold it in your hand and that sand will just stay there forever really, if you don't move it.

But if you try to own the sand and try to hold it in your hand and grab your fist tighter, then the sand all falls out.

You have about what's left, about a quarter, the size of a quarter of sand left over because you tried to make ownership of it.

Right.

So, you know, everything we do, everything you do and everything I do, it's derived from somebody, you know, and I mean it goes far as back as Socrates and Plato years ago and called Socratic questioning, which is, which was made developed 2000 years before BC.

So the bottom line is that, you know, I'm not here to say take credit for everything.

I think, I think I just try to be the most effective messenger I can.

And the app is a good way to kind of scale that for both our stuff as well as for other people like you who we could have a relationship where, you know, we, our clients get to see your information and everybody has a revenue share and everybody wins.

The client wins, you win and we win.

So we're trying to create less competitors and more where everybody wins.

Yeah.

Oh, I love it.

Consumer win for our partners and do that.

So I was trying to do it.

So I love it.

That's really interesting that you mentioned that because since you've taken us there, we can camp out on this conversation a little bit, you know, so I started the podcast.

In fact, May of 2023 was the four year anniversary of the podcast and the, the trading company that I've closed it now and for this year I really did nosed out, you know, took a big nose dive back into podcasting and the recordings and the training.

But I took about a year and a half hiatus and I stepped back out of it right around the time that.

I don't know if you saw this, I feel like you probably did as well.

The, a lot of the trainers in the H VAC space just started pulling each other apart and ripping to shreds on social media.

And it's like, what's going on, guys?

Why is everybody calling each other names?

We're trying to raise the standard of the industry.

It's, it's everybody training, you know, the best people in homes.

And why are we, why are we infighting here?

So I'm 100 on board with the abundance mindset that hey, there's there, there.

Everyone has a different voice, everyone has a different way that they communicate the message.

And not everyone is going to resonate with that type of message.

And so there's room for all of us and let's support each other.

So, man, huge hats off to you for, for that mindset and for that abundance type of mentality.

Yeah, I think, I think that it's important if you, if you're, if you believe in the United States of America, which I always have and my dad was a marine and things like that.

So I always believe in freedom and I think that giving everybody a voice to express what they think and I think that's how, that's the freedom that people have to select.

Right.

That I think I'm just very fortunate that the vast majority of people select me.

And that's.

It makes me feel good.

But.

Right.

You know, the truth is that, you know, I think that I gotta.

Look, I'd like to see my.

The legacy I have is really not just of trying to be greedy and owning everything.

I mean there's definitely, I definitely very, very well taken care of financially.

But you know, truthfully, there's something that's a higher purpose which is to make sure that people get help with communication.

I think there's never been a better time in our history when the skill of communicating higher value is something that is needed, you know?

Absolutely, absolutely.

You know, in fact, yesterday I had an interview with a gentleman named Sam Taggart.

He's the train number one trainer in the country for canvassing and door knocking.

And we.

And so that kind of sparked this same type of conversation.

The more that the just society moves towards automation and AI using AI and just the one click shopping experience, what happens is so many people are starting to get lonely.

It's just a natural, you know, version of society and what's happening.

So there's, I agree with.

There's never been a better time to help people build those communication muscles and help them.

You're very customer focused like I am and service focused and taking care of the homeowner you know, there's never been a better time to help people see that their mindset every day needs.

You know, my goal today needs to be to make a new friend, not to see how much I can sell today.

Right.

And so when we start to adopt that mindset of taking care of people first, you know, the rest takes care of itself.

So I love that.

Yeah, it's called, I call magic.

It's a magic moment philosophy where you got these chances.

Chances to create a moment or create an event out of every.

Out of every relationship you have and make the other person feel better.

You know, I think if you're the kind of person who tries to make other people feel good, to make sure that they.

They leave the meeting feeling cared for, respected, and supported.

That's really my goal every time.

Every time I meet somebody, you know, we've.

The first time we've met this.

This week, you know, today is the first day we've actually met in person or met face to face.

And I just feel like I said, you know, I say, what am I going to talk about on this podcast?

Some people might be a basket case trying to figure out what am I going to communicate to everybody that's going to record it and everything.

Oh, my gosh, I'm gonna get nervous, which I have.

I don't have any nerves at all, because I know, you know, what I'm gonna do, which is to say, start the conversation with the thought that I want to make sure I had.

Sam Wakefield is going to feel, you know, cared for, respected, and supported at the end of the conversation.

And I think if everybody had that, then they would probably take the extra time to.

To complete the communication and make sure that they didn't assume that people heard what they said.

They'd make sure they finished their sentences more clearly and ask.

They would ask better questions.

Don't you think?

Sam, what do you think of that?

100% agree.

Yeah, that's.

That.

Well, was it Tony Robbins says, ask better questions, get better answers.

Right.

And so exactly the.

The articulation in our.

In our society, I'm gonna just definitely agree with that for sure that communication is powerful.

If we.

If we can't communicate a thought in a way that one, people understand it and two, to, you know, just go back to so many classics in a way that they, you know, they buy in with what you're talking about, you know, in a way that, hey, to clear to.

To take it to the industry.

Help them clearly see the problem and what's going on.

Help them to see what you're offering is the solution.

And but doing it in such a way where it, it just makes sense and that it's the right thing to do not because somebody's forcing them into it.

And so that, that agreement of communication is just powerful.

I agree.

I think it's got to be voluntary thing and of course it, it becomes easier to communicate.

It's like it's communication is a two way street.

Just like any sales event is a two way street.

It takes somebody who wants the solution, has a problem enough to have somebody who's got a solution for it.

Right?

Yep, absolutely.

I love that.

So a little bit more, I'm super curious a little bit more about the app.

What's the, the name of it and also you know we talked about the back end side of what's going to be available.

What in it is going to say?

I'm a service tech out in the field and if I was looking at this app, what do I get to see with it?

How's it going to help me?

You're going to have a dashboard that shows you how many classes you've started, how many of you completed and just tells you overall how many, what's the progress and the activity.

There's badges so if you just got started, you get the rookie badge, you get the veteran, you get somebody who's.

There's one if you're on the app really late, you'll get the one that says you're the night owl badge and things like that.

So we got different elements of reward rewards that get that little dopamine that people want.

That sure.

You know, get some good acknowledgment for not just I call intrinsic, you know motivation that say that felt good when somebody, somebody acknowledge that I did good and I did something right.

And you get, there's a bunch of video videos.

There's you know there's advanced training courses, there's mastery training, there's okay just basic, basic communication skills like eight barriers to listening and how to be a better listener and things like that.

So we have a bunch of different courses depending on what the subject is.

It's really modernized where you can hit different tabs like you know, you'll say like it's more of a service tech or field person or more of an office person or management.

It kind of directs you to those different activities and you know, and so it's like a cloud, a cloud type of thing where allowed hit but hit buttons that get you more directed to like you want to Go to objections to click on that.

And all the stuff on objections comes up with audio, video and downloads and stuff like that.

So it's the hardest thing we have is that at service MVP we have the most information.

The challenges that we.

We have used to be called contractorselling.com that web still have the website and the website that's contractorsonline.com has over 12,000 pages of content.

So it's the most, it's the most content that nobody's ever seen.

You can't Even count the 12,000 how much you guys are supposed to find it.

So we had to read, right?

Which blog am I going to read today?

Yeah, we had to reestablish everything and say let's get to the things that are, you know, let's whittle it down, get the things that are more important.

And the information is still there and we still are processing the information.

But we do have, you know, videos, audios, downloads.

Every podcast that ever did, including this one will be up there.

So try to try to provide value for the people who like inter interview me like you.

So it'll be spread not just in buried in your podcast archive, but it'll be on our app and it'll come up when we talk about the stuff we.

We do here today.

Right.

So that'll be something.

They'll have access to both me and they'll see you too.

So that's something beautif try to do.

Makes sense.

Beautiful.

So is that what kind of inspired the rebranding from.

From the old.

The old brand to servicing VP or what kind of.

When did that happen and what was the momentum for that?

Well, contractor selling.

We should have really done more market study.

We didn't.

I really found in the long run is that branding is the number one part of any business.

Right.

So if you don't get the brand right it can be.

It could be a harmful thing for us.

We thought, you know, contractor sell.

Learn how to sell.

Contractor selling deck this, this is.

Put it put it together and we thought that that would be perfect.

Unfortunately we didn't realize that blue collar people mostly do not want to sell at all.

That they.

Yeah they consider, they consider sales is not a really great thing.

I even dirty word of the.

I even sometimes just leave out the sales coach part of and just say America's service coach because it's more popular title.

But truthfully I think that's what we found.

So we realized that as soon as we put the rebrand we, we paid somebody, you know, high investment to get the new name, we kind of went actually Jay Abraham, where they work with him.

Oh, nice.

Here in.

Down in Torrance, California.

And he worked with for about six months and he helped us kind of come up with the brand.

And then we hired another person who was a branding expert who created the.

The archer, we call it Archie.

The guy who shoots the get the art, the bow and arrow.

And they look at us because we're hunt.

We're.

We're helping people learn how to hunt, right.

And how to get, you know, do an ethical, moral way.

So Service MVP became the thing that everybody came up with.

Once he came up with it, with J Brand, came up with, it was like, man, that's simple.

Why do we think of that, right?

It's like all that money, we could.

Have the big bucks for branding, right?

And so he just came up about 20 seconds.

Look, you're trying to create MVPs, and it's service, service MVP.

I'm like, that's it.

You got it.

So we all like, that feels right.

You know, that was it.

And.

And so once we got there, it was like, damn.

And we looked up, nobody had the, you know, URLs or anything like that.

I'm like, I can't believe that's not taken already.

But, you know, but immediately when we changed the brand name, our sales increased by about five times the amount immediately.

So it just jumped up big.

And so just rebranding it like that is the big thing.

It had nothing to do with the app.

The app.

The app is called the Service MVP app.

We're literally calling pretty much everything Service mvp except for our seminar.

We do live seminars called Total Immersion, which we still do, keep that brand name because Total Immersion means you're immersed completely into the situation in a live event.

We do like 12 total immersion for the field, about eight of them for the office, and about four for leadership the year.

About 28 to 32 live events a year.

We do so like that.

So it's pretty.

And then we have a full coaching staff.

We have 25 people here who do the coaching and training and live events too.

So it's a big staff of people.

We're not.

Yes, we all me before, right?

So now it's gotten kind of big time around here, you know?

Right.

Oh, nice 8, 500 square foot training facility here in Culver City, California, with a beautiful facility here.

So if anybody wants to stop by, just come by and see us.

You can take it for a tour of our.

Of our factory.

Factory of sales training.

And stuff like that.

It's pretty amazing.

Love it.

Well, congratulations.

Yeah, but I mean it had given.

It has been about 15 years since I, I saw you speak.

So clearly the growth has, has happened and that, that's a huge congratulations.

I've started my on site trainings as well.

I'm going to be in, in Pennsylvania and coming up in Knoxville, but when I'm out in Culver City, I will stop by and, and come see you.

That will be a good time.

So for sure.

So, man, I love it.

That is a.

So.

So the app is powerful.

That and 100 agree with branding.

You know, there's a.

The, the CEO of the Solar organization.

I'm connected with, Dave Bengal.

He says branding beats sell seven days out of seven.

And you know, it's one of those things that just clearly the content is valuable either way and we were providing value.

But you know, sales went up five times when you rebranded.

So if you're listening and taking notes, branding is important.

Don't be the guy that scribbles your name on the side of your truck with a Sharpie and hope people believe your credibility.

The magnet, the magnetic sign will only get you so far.

Yeah, I learned that twice.

I had a heating and air conditioning company from 1985 through 2001.

The first five years was called Chrisra and Sun Home Comfort.

And then I went to a branding expert in Illinois and he's like, just call it Home Comfort.

And then put Chrisra and Sun Company really small.

Nobody can read it because all I want him to see is Home Comfort.

And he rebranded it, changed the colors to blue and tan.

I had like red, I had orange and blue.

He's like, let's just make the.

He made tan and blue.

And I was like, that.

That is like, there's something about my first.

I'm like, I was like a glow.

Like, oh my gosh, that is so nice.

Like, because it was like just the, the colors comforted me.

Like the blue is integrity, the tan is comfort kind of thing.

And it just like really worked out great.

But in the service mvp, we learned the same lesson too.

I think I would have learned it the first time back in the 90s when it first happened, but.

But I had to learn it again.

So basically.

And then I, of course, I'm really good friends with Dan Antonelli now, who's obviously the expert in that.

So I definitely agree with that.

But I think that also, you know, the brand is sold before we get to the door.

But then what you're teaching what I teach are selling, executing the brand after the doorbell rings.

Make sure that.

Yeah, you have to make sure that whatever your brand is promising that the people who are trying to do it are living up to that promise.

That's an important aspect of it too.

Oh absolutely.

Yeah.

I think both things are needed.

That's what I was going to say.

Yeah, it is.

Yeah.

If you've got a great brand but you know you don't deliver once you get in the home and especially as the different elements start to overlap, you've got your service technician who's typically the very first face of the company that anybody sees.

And we know service drive sales, that the consistency of the messaging needs to.

Needs to be there.

And you know, they have to be confident that the person following them is going to deliver and then they have to be confident that the crew that in does the installation is going to deliver.

And it's just a big cycle.

And that's why one of the things I love so much about your company is you don't just focus on one aspect.

You really are kind of holistic to the office and to the management and all the different aspects of the organization.

Yeah, I look at like, you know, the brand and the marketing are really the top of the top of the pyramid where that's really where we're making the promise to the public and more and you know, the more specific you can make a promise.

Like in our, some of our companies we do some branding talking points we do for some of our clients like we say, you know, where, where you always get premium mid range and economy choices or the call is free would be a slow, a talking point we would put out there or ask, ask us about our pure mode of service or you know, you know, you know.

You know.

Use us to get your magic.

You know, we perform magic moments daily.

Magic moments perform daily.

Those are things that people kind of intrigue people.

It's like what's that?

And then they sure want to get out there.

Get out there.

We'll see what it is.

So I love talking points.

I like how we kind of feather into it.

Right.

And then the second part is sales that you can't.

Nothing happens unless the organization has the sales happening after the brand and then the operational team comes after that and then finally the financial team.

So a lot of times the companies make mistakes because they put the operation ahead of the, ahead of the rest of the teams.

Right.

That they're kind of out of whack because they don't realize that it's sales is really at the top of the actual organizational chart after branding and marketing.

But sometimes when the operation manager, install manager wants to be like the leader of the company, unless he understands the sales aspect of it, he's going to have a company that has the best people that never sold anything.

Makes sense, right?

Absolutely makes sense.

Yeah.

That's.

Nothing happens till something gets sold, just like you're saying.

And I love the putting things in the right order.

In fact, that's what one of the big sweet spots of what I help people do with the close it now system is.

You know, so many times people have a great system, it's just out of order.

You know, you can't bake a cake if you're putting things in the wrong, in the wrong order.

It's not gonna, it's not gonna do what it's supposed to.

And it's the same thing with the sales process.

And so it's just helping people move to the right, right combination.

I have a saying, I say your ego's not your amigo.

So sometimes it does take people taking a step back and saying, okay, we're gonna put somebody that they did nobody really believed in, like the sales guy.

We're going to make him, put him toward the top of the organization.

That's sort of not the most popular things with the, with the financial people sometimes or the right service manager or the install manager.

I think they should be there under the boss.

Truthfully though, it does bring up something too though, right?

If a, if a salesperson, if I'm saying a salesperson should be number two in the organization after the branding and marketing, then sometimes it is lacking.

And that's what salespeople should learn from this call today is how his character and competence and the ability to communicate earns you the right for that second in command.

That's why, that's why sometimes the other people do jump ahead.

It's not, it's not the fault of the organization that it happened.

It's the fault of the capability of the person who should be number two.

So the sales expert in the company should be the second person the company underneath the owner.

But because they lack the proper character, they don't show up when they're supposed to be there.

They don't have the competence, they don't sell anything.

They can sell low end, they always ask for discounts.

Number three, they can't communicate value.

They just don't or don't communicate at all with the team.

So what happens is that they wind up tumbling down the organizational Chart down to the bottom.

Not.

I would.

So I'm not blaming the financial people or the operational people because I can see why it does happen.

Because by default, if I, if I told somebody, hey, we're going to make your sales guy second in command, and they say, no, no effing way.

I would never have that guy supervising.

Exactly.

Or whatever type of thing, you know, so that tells you that because the character, competence and communication is low, that he hasn't earned the right to get there.

So although I can tell you that that's where I think that salespeople have just more than a.

Obviously the competence to be able to close deals is something to close it now, if you will.

It's got to be there because nobody's going to trust the person.

Why would I, why would I listen?

They can't do their own job.

Right.

Why would I listen to.

Why would I have them tell me anything?

Right.

And so the competence, the character, he's lying to people.

I wouldn't follow that guy either.

The communication, he never talks to me ever.

He just avoids me.

I'm not gonna, I can't respond to that.

So somebody who includes communication with everybody, somebody who's competent, doing their own job and has a high level of activity there, and then also somebody who's stays true that if you're saying you're going to be available, you're gonna, you stay available, you know, so.

Right.

That's why essentially some of those things don't take any talent like the sales skills does.

That's the only thing it takes.

Talent is the competence or the sales skill.

But everything else is just effort driven, really.

Yeah.

Integrity and like core values.

One of the, the key tenets that we, that I talk a lot about in this podcast that I train is, you know, work to become someone worth buying from.

And as your own personal growth level rises, then everyone around you will.

One will recognize that and they'll notice that with you.

And of course, sales people are notorious, like you mentioned, for that.

Big, big ego.

And so that's always a constant balance of how do you support your thoroughbreds that are out there, the, the drivers that are, you know, making it rain, so to speak, without allow, you know, without letting it go to their head as well.

So I agree.

Yeah, it's a big, It's a big balance because you want them to be top performers and be competition driven and, you know, all of that.

But at the same time, that, that's why I, I feel that a personal growth culture within a company is so Crucial because that, that rising tide will raise all the ships in the, in the organization.

So let's help everyone to not only get better at their skills but to better their, you know, their personal development as well.

So it's, it's a.

Just a constant journey in it within a culture of an organization.

Yeah, I agree with that too.

I think that's the, it's that shift you have to have that sort of like allows everything to make.

It just makes it easier.

Really.

Yeah.

100.

I'm not going to make it easy for my teammates to do their job after I sell something.

How can I make it easy for my, the person organizing my schedule to make sure I'm staying on track with it?

How can I make sure that it's easier for my clients to make a purchase?

All that stuff is really what's the job of a salesperson really a service job.

Service of making sure that everybody's life is easier because you're making the installation of equipment go easier.

The installers got the information they need.

The call center has the dates and money they need for.

That's all.

There's no, there's no questions left unanswered with a professional.

That makes sense.

Yeah, absolutely makes sense.

And I'm glad you mentioned that.

That's the, the piece that so many people within the industry, it's like a constant mix mentally of especially people are new to the industry or like myself.

You know, I started off in the install crew pull and duct work.

I was the attic rat for years.

And so the mental shift from being almost ashamed of what you do to move into being proud of what you do and being a professional and realizing it's a career and not just a job.

That's the big shift that has to happen in training that and teaching that in the culture.

And once that happens, then everything else runs smoother because people try at that point they're not just, you know, clocking in and out.

I agree with that 100% for sure.

Love it.

Love it.

So let's do this.

You are known for, of course, you're the, the America's service coach.

Service sales coach.

Service coach.

And so I got you, I got.

You confused now, don't I?

Well, so because I'm a sales guy, I can use either one and I can roll with the punches.

But so let's, let's do this.

I would love to role play a little bit if you're, if you'll do this with me.

Let's hit a little bit of some, some objection handling because this is always the biggest.

As you know, I'm sure you get the same questions.

You know, that.

How do I handle the.

When I'm the first.

The first quote in type of objection or how do I handle that?

I want to think about it.

The three beds.

And I've got to talk to so and so I've got to talk to my uncle's neighbors, brothers, sisters, Billy Bob, who lives three states over that owns an air conditioning company.

I can't make a decision until I talk to them.

Right.

Well, I was.

I would say it starts with this.

I would say, you know, a good sales professional is going to, you know, through the experience that we have.

Here's the thing that makes a difference in a professional and an amateur.

The professional sees these different events take place like that, and you can anticipate the need that this is going to happen.

And then you build your sales strategy.

And the way.

The way you position yourself in a way that you're already answered the question of that question before somebody asks it.

So when.

When they ask that question or you say, hey, just so you know, I'm going to get other estimates and, you know, you're the first guy.

So I'm gonna need to still shop around after you're done with this call today.

You know, I'm saying there.

And I'd say, well, that's actually perfect.

I was hoping you actually.

I was hoping so it really should be like this.

If you're a professional and you can anticipate everything that's going to happen, you should be able to use a trigger phrase.

That would be something like, you know what, Sam?

That's actually perfect.

That's what I was hoping you were going to say, because I actually thought.

I'm thinking the same thing, too.

Before I even came here, I thought you might want to shop around.

Is that true?

Yeah, I want to shop around.

Yeah.

So isn't it great?

Because what I did here is I created the shop around experience.

We have a thing called the name, your price shopping experience.

You want to hear more about that?

No.

Do you believe in freedom, Sam?

Oh, I love freedom.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah.

Because right now you're restricting yourself to have to go to three different people and call three strangers into your house.

Right.

And may I just.

Can I just tell you something, Sam, about that?

Sure, please.

Yeah.

I just think your family is lucky to have a guy like you would take the lead on this and you would actually make the time to make those phone calls and actually make three separate appointments and take the hours and hours of time it's going to take to do that.

It's really amazing.

You would like to do all that for your family.

And your family's lucky because otherwise they'd have to be doing it right.

What's your.

What's your wife's name, Sam?

Angela.

Angela.

I mean, imagine Angela having to sit here with you waiting for three different guys, having to sit through all that.

You know what I'm saying?

What do you think she'd say?

You know, she probably wouldn't be super happy about that.

You know what?

Even I wouldn't be if you made me do it.

So your fact that you're doing it is amazing.

You deserve special kudos, Sam.

Do you believe in freedom, though?

Let me ask you questions about that.

Oh, yeah, yeah, of course.

Yeah.

That's.

Well, that's why I.

You know, freedom to call several people.

Yeah, but right now you're restricting yourself by having to do that.

You made a decision to waste your time.

But what if I did this instead?

If I said I shopped the entire market all the way, like, where are you located?

Where are you at?

Yeah, yeah, I'm here in Austin, Texas.

What if I said I shopped the entire market, from Amarillo down to Houston and even Corpus Christi, San Antonio, everywhere.

I shopped the entire market and I actually created all the premium mid range economy options that the state has, and I said, I already done all that, and I give you all the prices that the entire market can bear.

And if I did all that, would you at least be willing to tell me which one is your favorite?

If I showed you which one, it would be just to show you the whole market?

Well, yeah.

I mean, if I had that information, that would be super helpful.

And you'd be free to share the one that's right for you.

Right.

Would you be willing to do that?

Sure.

Yeah.

That sounds like a pretty good deal.

You've got to purchase it yet.

Just kind of see which one's your favorite.

Which one do you rate your favorite on a scale one to five?

Which one's the five?

Right.

Which one do you like the best?

So we come up with that.

If I did that, would you be willing to let me modify it so your family would.

So you and Angela would have the perfect solution and you would.

You wouldn't have to try.

Try to worry about what other people got.

We actually find the exact thing that's perfect for you.

So let me modify it so we could find that.

It's perfect.

Yeah, I mean, that sounds like, pretty reasonable offer.

Yeah.

We do a thing where we take the furnace, the ac, the ductwork, the air quality, the control system, and we take you, Angela, your kids, your family, your extended family, and even your dog.

And we find the perfect solution like that, you know?

So if I could do that, and you guys came up with that and you saw the whole market and then.

Would you let me do one more thing, Sam?

Would you let me find a way to make it affordable?

So what if I said I could make it so affordable that I would actually give you the system that you're looking to get here?

And I would also give you the money interest free.

You don't gotta write a check for it.

Yeah, just don't even pay me how much money you were thinking of putting into this, Sam.

Like 5,000 or 10,000.

What were you thinking of?

You know, I really didn't have an idea ahead of time.

I mean, I.

It's the first time I've really done this.

I didn't have an idea.

So isn't that great that you wouldn't have to worry about it fitting into budget?

We'd make it fit into your budget.

We have a payment.

We have a monthly payment program that doesn't.

You give you the money interest free and you pay us back every month and you have to take money out of your pocket.

You keep your money and then we give you the money and you just pay us back every month for the next 10 years.

If I could do something like that, and it would be less than a Starbucks coffee every day, and you have the perfect system, then you'd be free to do what?

Guess what you'd be free to do, Sam?

Probably anything else I want.

Well, not by that Starbucks, I guess.

I mean, you'd be able.

I mean, you could be free.

I mean, there's a couple things you could do.

You could say yes.

You'd be free to say yes, you'd be free to say no.

Or you'd be free to still shop around if you want to.

Would you at least accept that freedom to do all three things?

Because right now you locked yourself into only shopping.

So you.

You're locking yourself in the one venue.

I'm only going to shop.

I mean, you're from Texas, aren't you, Sam?

Yeah.

Yeah, I am.

I mean.

I mean, you're a Texan.

Why would you want to just lock yourself into that shopping?

I mean, you like to go to the store shopping at the mall with your wife and stuff like that.

You like to just buy something when you need it.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, of course.

Yeah.

So this way you wouldn't have to keep shopping.

You just keep buying, Start buying.

So you could buy it, say no, or keep shopping, and you can do either way.

If I said you could do those three things, what would happen at the end of the whole thing?

Well, I'd say let's.

Let's go ahead and take a look and see what you got.

And if I found the thing that was right for you and you kept shopping, you found we were better, what would happen then?

You know, we'd just come back to you anyway, so.

So what should we do?

Well, let's.

Let's take a look at your options.

Let's see.

Let's make it fit.

Just to test you, Sam, what's going to happen at the end of my presentation to make sure we're on the same page?

What are the three possible outcomes that could happen?

So I guess yes, no, or shop.

And if you shop, I'm going to go ahead and make another appointment.

So when you're done shopping, you can tell me the final answer.

Who won?

That's how we do it.

Okay, sounds like a good plan.

So it's already going to have three outcomes, right?

Yes.

No.

Another appointment we're going to make, and you're going to tell me when it's all done.

You know, you'll make an appointment to set the install date, and then you're going to call me back later.

So that's that part.

Really, the biggest part of it is managing the project.

If you can manage the project and people know what's going to happen.

By the way, what other sales professional it would actually outline it that clearly.

That this is what nobody does, and there's nobody else in.

In the town that's going to walk in and have that same level of conversation with the homeowner.

Exactly.

And by the way, I'm not just telling you what we're doing.

I'm just asking you if you commit to this.

And every one of those little commitments is like, you know, this is the kind of guy that I like to do business with.

Right.

Like that kind of thing.

Now, let's say it doesn't feel like.

Any pressure at all.

Yeah, it's like, what if I said if I present the options, it's like, well, Sam, here it is.

The top option is 397Amonth.

What should we do?

Wow, Joe, that's.

That's.

That's all it is.

397 for a personal air conditioning system in every room.

Of the house.

Yeah, right.

What should we do?

Sure.

You know, nobody's, nobody's offered me that.

So another aspect I would say to stop the shopping is to make solutions that are completely different from other people.

The more similar you are to other people.

So I would say this people are asking for apples to apples.

I don't believe in that.

I think that's unethical.

You probably even see my, you my tick tock on that one.

Go look on TikTok and everything, you'll see it says it's unethical because I believe that I'm not here to provide the same thing other people are providing.

I'm here to provide something better than they provide.

If you want something the same, just hire the person who gave it to you at that, that thing that was insane.

Makes sense.

So.

And the way I do it, it's kind of like just make sure that if I'm doing estimate calls like that I would just make sure that everybody's going to agree to the same game plan that I'm going to do because customers can tell me what they want to do even if you tell me, hey Joe, can you, I don't got a lot of time.

Can you take a look at the house and email me the price?

Like that'd be another one they I get common right, Absolutely.

Go and tell me to do that.

Go and tell you to do that, Sam?

Yeah, listen, I've got about 15 minutes on my lunch break here and so yeah, if you could just go ahead and take a look at everything, I'll let you in and I'm gonna get back to work here in my office.

Just email me the results and you know what you come up with.

Well Sam, first of all, thanks for the opportunity and thanks for inviting me to your home.

Just so nice that you would take the time to do that and get.

Give me this precious 15 minutes.

That's really, that's a good start.

I'll tell you that.

That's a really good, that's really good start, Sam.

I mean I appreciate you giving me that time.

Sam.

Let's not waste any time then.

Here's what I'm going to do in the 15 minutes.

I'm going to take a look at everything, just interview you a little bit about the family, get to know some stuff.

So you're going to be able to help me with some questions I have about the family and things like that, Sam?

Sure, yeah, sounds good.

I'm going to take, then I'll do a technical survey of the house I'm not going to be.

You're going to leave me here so I can take a look at stuff.

Are you going to stay with me if I take.

I need longer.

Yeah, listen, I'm just going to be in my home office here, so if you need me, holler.

But otherwise, I've got a few calls I gotta make.

So you'll still.

You'll still be here?

I.

So now, after all.

After all that, I'm g. Take a look at it.

And instead of emailing a price.

I could do better than emailing a price.

Guess what I'm going to do instead, Sam?

What's that?

After I get the first 15 minutes here and you got your time.

15 minutes.

Ask you some questions about your family.

Then I'll go look at the technical part of the job with the equipment.

Then I'm going to set a time with you, a different time to come back with you.

And it says Angela on my dispatch.

Is that, you know, is she.

Is she one of the homeowners here, Sam?

She is, yeah.

Yeah.

So I believe in equal access to the information.

So I'll make sure that you and Angela can spend some time with me to make sure we go over everything.

Because that's how we do it, Sam.

So, Sam, if I said I could do all that that way and take the 15 minutes, get the information together, then make another setup of time with you and Angela to get together on this thing, what would happen then?

Yeah, so, you know, we're going to be super busy.

Our schedules are.

It's hard to coordinate.

There's no way you could just send.

Send over the price.

We can do better than that.

This is the area.

How important is the health of your family?

So, yeah, I mean, health is super important, for sure.

Yeah.

Is it really?

How about the safety of your family?

Oh, of course.

Yeah.

I mean, it could because right now you're.

You're spending.

You're shortening up the time that's needed to cut corners on this time for the safety and health of the area that you breathe in your house, you kind of help.

See, that doesn't really work.

So if you're trying to do it that way.

Sam, listen, it's been fun being in your house today, and I really enjoy the time, but I'm got the.

I'm got to withdraw myself from this opportunity if you're not interested in doing it the right way, if you want to do it your way and just, you know, minimize the time you're doing it and spend this kind of money on something that's going to affect the safety and health of your family.

And people did it fast just to make sure that you had more time.

Then just.

We'll just put this on pause until you're ready for it.

Now, if you want to do it now, I just take that 50 minutes you got, then meet again on a different day or maybe this evening and come back with you and Angela and talk about it.

So should we stop the call knowing I'm not going to do it the way you're asking me, or continue knowing that you would have to do it our way?

What do you think?

I'm fine.

I'm fine.

Either way.

We don't push our services on the people.

What do you think?

Well, you know, the way you explained it, that sounds like it's pretty important that we get back together.

So hang on, let me.

Let's compare some calendars, see what's going to work.

Let's say.

Not right now.

Take your time.

Keep doing your stuff.

I'm gonna go.

I'll come back after you after I get done with the rest of the survey here for 15, 50 minutes.

Oh, my good.

I already took it up, like, seven minutes.

Right now we got to get going.

Yes.

So it's like, you know, you could try and tell me we're going to do something.

I just say, yeah, it's a nice try, but we're not.

Here's how we're doing it instead.

And truthfully, that's.

That's the number one thing.

Every salesperson who goes with the flow.

There's only two things that go with the flow.

A dead fish or a turd.

Only two things.

So.

So don't be a dead fish or a turd.

You have to.

You have to steer people the right direction.

Really.

That's literally what a sale.

What the.

Why there still is a need for a salesperson.

You know, if you say someday that AI or something will take over salespeople's jobs, you never know.

AI could be so faceless that that says, no, here's how we do things.

You know, you press the button.

It doesn't work until you do it their way.

And it's kind of similar.

But the point is, people will get tired of the machine not doing.

If a person tell takes that time to explain it to them, they're going to need that.

The average human is going to do that.

Otherwise, they're going to have a severe amount of stress.

If it was AI saying that and they aren't responding in any kind of way, that's realistic, not seeing the other person's point of view.

In a way, does that make sense?

Right.

But you know, that's called.

That's called the stop or continue.

So stop or continue means.

Well, we can only stop and put it on pause if you're not interested, don't have time right now.

We can continue if you want to carve out a few more hours to help me with this and make sure we got it.

So it's up to you, though.

I can't tell you what to do.

I don't want to.

I don't want to push my services on to you.

I'm not pushy.

I want to make sure that we do have a way of doing things.

You know, it's like.

It's like going to Starbucks.

They can say, hey, can I just get a cup of coffee?

Sure.

Just walk past the pastries and look at the sign and pay for it.

And then we'll make the coffee.

It's like, you wouldn't argue about that.

Right.

So people have a certain pro.

What most salespeople don't realize, even if they have a comfortable way of outlining the process, they do.

Like I did in that first role play.

Right.

It's like, oh, that's how you do it then.

Well, that's how we do it.

So I didn't disagree and say I wouldn't do it your way.

I just say we'd have to stop.

If you want to do it that way, I'm not going to be part of that.

Right.

That way.

I love it.

I love it.

So.

So in a way, it's sidestepping it, but it's.

I'm not.

Not.

I'm facing it without having to be abrupt or rude.

It takes time to.

You know, I say people think it's like persuasion is like one step.

You just like two to three to four steps before you can get there and just request what you want.

Both times they had the magic, magic moment.

Like, Joe, can I just tell you something, Sam?

The fact that you're making an effort to be here.

Thank you so much for that kind of stuff.

We start with first to make sure we build the esteem of the client and get that gift.

Gift of esteem.

And then I'm like, yeah, but here's.

I'm going to take on withdraw a little bit now by asking my way of doing things.

So I'm going to get back to back.

Back to black back even.

Except for the differences.

We're going to do it my way instead of yours.

Makes sense.

I love it.

That poster is so important in the.

Real way service is really sales is really just moving the direction you want to head.

But I think a lot of salespeople, it's.

Truthfully, Sam, don't realize that the.

That the destination is to sell the job.

You know what I'm saying?

They think it's a numbers game.

Like, I just get the price and I'm an estimate.

They call themselves an estimator.

Right.

Which means that they don't even plan on selling the job.

They plan on coming up with the price.

Just give some numbers and hope they call back.

And that.

That is something I could do very easily without a person, you know, so that's something that.

Sure.

The thing I'm talking about managing a project, this is the selection part of the project we're talking about.

It does take a human to still do that.

There's no way you can maneuver around all those different nuances that client's asking you to do like that.

That's why it's gonna be a long time before AI can actually do all that.

I would say, you know, oh, I 100 agree.

100 agree.

And the.

Gosh, going back to that the posture is so important that, you know, you being a professional, professionals don't let anyone get them off of their path.

You don't go to the doctor and tell the, you know, tell your surgeon how he's gonna operate on you.

And he says, this is what we're doing today.

And so we have to walk in with that same type of confidence and uncertainty.

And you know that here's the plan.

You can.

We can do my plan or you can go to a different doctor.

We could do better than this, right?

We could do.

Actually, I could do better than just cut that foot off or whatever.

Hey, I need some Vicodin for my knee.

Really?

We could do better than that.

We're gonna do blood test and then do some examination of your knee for sure.

Before we start giving you drugs.

That's how we're going to do it.

You got it?

He would.

He would smile when he's doing it too.

It's not like a problem.

It's just like, I know he gets all kinds of.

Doctors get all kinds of crazy requests, and he's like, that's okay.

We're going to first just see if there's anything else we could do here to help you before we can start giving you drugs.

That's going to be the last case scenario.

Makes sense, right?

Yeah.

In both role plays too.

I love your Use of the if I would you question.

Use it several times.

And that's so powerful.

I think that's a missing question in permission based selling that a lot of people don't get.

And it's definitely not being trained very often in our current state of the training world.

But it's.

It's one of the most powerful ones because it's.

You're negotiating almost like a contract with them and very softly.

Where people use it wrong is they use.

They finish it with a leading question.

Like so if I were to.

So if I were to go ahead and get you the extra year warranty, do we have a deal?

Like see, that's a trap as opposed to.

So Joe, I mean if I were able to block my schedule and give you extra warranty, what would happen then?

That's sort of prediction of what you.

What their response would be.

What the.

What would happen then would be a much better way of entering.

What would you think of that?

We better.

Because if I said, you know, do we have a deal?

The leading questions, it's like, it's like you.

The battleship is coming over the horizon.

You can start.

People start to defend themselves against it.

Come on.

Too hard, right?

So it's got to be something where it's like I did.

I didn't see it coming in a way.

I just like it's now it's here.

It's my chance.

I gotta make a choice about something like type of thing.

So right.

If I say.

If I said I could do that.

See, all I'm doing is getting to make small little choices.

Every choice is moving my direction.

You know, that's what you're trying to do and that's it.

So they don't even realize they move the direction until you're there.

Makes sense.

Like yeah, yeah, the yes train, right?

It sounds like this at the end of the sale.

Like, yeah, I guess just get the job done.

Then it's like, it's like, so what should we do?

Yeah, just do the top option then.

Like it sounds like that, you know.

So it's like might as well go ahead and get it done.

Get it done then.

Yeah.

So it's like, yeah, he thought he's thought of everything.

So he's managed the project, thought of everything.

And what.

What am I what, going to waste time?

Where am I going to find a guy who's this thorough number one?

So I always say this, Sam, when the right person shows up, then the shopping stops.

Except they can tell you that in the beginning.

But if you, if you buy into that in the beginning.

That is where you are not a good salesperson.

Because I don't buy into that.

I'm just like, I don't tell them I disagree with it.

I just say, how would they know that's going to be happening?

How can they predict this when they haven't met me yet?

We haven't had a chance to talk yet for.

Well, so give me a chance.

Give me 15 minutes with somebody and all of a sudden I'll have them thinking, we don't need anybody else person here.

Makes sense.

I love it.

It does make sense.

Well, and I mean they already narrowed it down or they wouldn't have called you to start with.

So, you know, clearly the, the, the I want to think about it.

It's like, what were you thinking before we showed up?

Right?

So, right, right.

Oh, so powerful.

Well, thank you for doing that with us today.

I know that will be very valuable to our, to everyone that listens.

There's, and the cool thing about my podcast is there's of course H Vac people, there's solar sales people that listen.

But I've had electricians and plumbers and people selling California closets and yard work and all these different things that listen because the psychology is the same.

You know, they can take these principles and apply them in a ways that, you know, it just makes sense.

It's almost like a universal law.

And so because people are the same, they, they just want to be cared for.

I agree.

Love it, Love it.

Well, awesome.

Well, we're going to land this plane, so thanks for hanging out with us today.

It has definitely been a pleasure.

Before we go, go ahead and let everyone know how they can, one, how they can get the app and two, let them know a little bit about your, you know, the next event coming up and how they can contact you and get a hold of you to see everything that service MVP has to offer.

Well, if you're looking to come to a live event, we have a website.

It's where total.

It's called Total Immersion.

So all the web, all the training we do immerses people completely in the process.

Total Immersion is a five day event which is life changing and that is available at ti letter t I summit.com so tisummit.com you go there and pick out a date.

We have ones coming up in, in January and July.

We have two of them in July.

We got one in August in Boston, Massachusetts.

This is in Minnesota in September.

So we got the.

We do about 28 of those a year.

So we definitely, we average about 25 to 30 people coming to that mention.

Close it now and we'll give you a 500 bonus pricing that you can get off of the tuition to come there.

And I'd be happy to do that.

We also have the service MVP app.

If you want to go to.

You want to click, you want to just.

You can text us if you want to.

Let me get that number for you to text.

If you want to go on our.

Our text number it is 626-325-0860.

That's 626-325-0860.

And we'll give you a free tour and a test drive of our new world class training app and has a library.

It has the courses you can assign people.

It's going to have a thing where your company actually can put their own training courses in it.

Like you can use it to put safety training and stuff in the app too.

So it's going to be there, be there.

So companies can use it for training their employees and other aspects of things they do as well.

So it's really an amazing product.

It's going to have AI built into it.

The Joe Coursera, all that you have over.

We have over 10,000 videos and things I've done to that.

The transcriptions are being loaded into our own native AI program.

So if you ask a question of us in there within about three months it'll come up with the Joe Coursera answer within about 7 seconds.

Isn't that cool?

That is cool.

I love it.

This is one of those innovative.

One of the most innovative things I've heard in a long time.

I love it.

My brain will be able to answer even if I died, am I still all the thoughts I've had over the centuries.

I'll answer you directly to you and use your name and everything.

We got it planned on that.

So it's going to be pretty amazing there.

So the servicembp.com go there and just hit the chat module there or just go to 626-325-0860 and just ask for the free 14 day trial.

We'll take it for that tour.

We have Shreya or Mike.

Take it for a free tour and a test drive and you get to learn everything we do.

Be an honor to take it for that privilege and honor to be there.

And like I said before every.

You're going to not have to just ask us access to us.

But eventually even guys like Sam and other people who do this kind of stuff will be in there too because we're fine making this something that's going to make to help, I would think.

I'm trying to get Sam by five years from now, a million users in that program because I think that's how many people at minimum who could need help with communicating a higher value.

So that's why I really, I'm proud easily trying to help that and help other people too.

So it's like everybody, it's like a landing destination for everybody.

Even your stuff, you know, that's what we like to see.

I love it.

Well, that is the definitely a cool app to hear about.

I am, I'm going to go do the tour myself because I want to, I want to find out more about it and yeah, we'll, we'll definitely talk about how to get some closing out material in there so we can help your, you know, just help raise the standard for the industry.

It needs it and so many people need help and to serve, you know, serve homeowners better.

So 100% love that.

Thanks, Sam.

So thank you Sam, for saying those kind words and definitely thanks for inviting me.

I appreciate that.

Absolutely.

Well, all right everybody, you heard it here first about the service MVP app.

Thank you, Joe Chrisra for being here, America's service sales coach.

And we're going to end this episode like we always do, ending this, this podcast.

Everyone listening.

You go save the world one heat stroke at a time.

Thanks for listening to Close it now with Sam Wakefield.

Subscribe to the podcast now so you're first to hear new episodes jam packed with actionable tools and tips to make you the top H Vac professional in your market.

If you have friends and colleagues who, who would like this show, share it with them and send them to our Facebook community for more in depth discussion about the challenges we all face and how to overcome them on the Close it now podcast.