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.

Hey, hey, hey.

Welcome back to the Close it now sales training podcast.

Now I am so excited to have my Special guest today, Mr. Gene Slade.

He is with Lead Ninja and just so many things.

He's been around for a long time in the industry.

I don't know if you know this, but he is definitely one of the sales training pioneers in in H Vac and has been around for a while.

I love this testimony from Joseph, I want to read to you real quick.

Says I hit my last year to date sales in six months because of what I've learned from Gene Slade.

This stuff works.

It isn't just blowing smoke.

If you implement what is taught, you'll get results.

And that I love that testimony.

It ties into what we say all the time on this podcast which is success happens at the speed of implementation.

It doesn't matter how much you know, but if you don't use it, that's just knowledge on ice.

And so super excited to have you with us today, Gene.

And yeah man, it's been a while.

It's a couple years since we, since we've done this.

So fill us in man.

How you been, what's happening in Gene Slade's life and tell us a little bit about what's going on.

Man, we're doing a lot more of the same, just at a higher level, right.

We, we been doing a lot of training all over the country.

We've been doing on sites but our main thing, main two things that we've been doing is this mastermind that happens twice a week.

It's a paid mastermind.

We've got three ones too, right.

But we've got this paid mastermind for salespeople and then we've also got one called the Profit Coach Mastermind for business owners and it's an owner's only thing that are anywhere between zero to $5 million.

What we think is that like there's Not a whole lot of attention given to that group.

And so a partner of mine, Don Johnson, and I recently started the Profit Coach Mastermind on Facebook.

And we, like, give the first 30 days away for free so that people can see what we're really about.

And we found that if we help people at free first, usually it becomes transactional later.

Right.

We usually end up getting paid to take care of them later.

So.

And then we have also, over the last year and a half or so, started doing these events where we actually rent out these big mansions somewhere in the country.

And Orlando seems to be a great place for that.

Sam.

There's an area called Reunion there, and they've got, like three championship golf courses and Disney's, like, right down the street.

So we got this place called grand hala, and it's 16,000 square feet.

We'll be there at the end of the month on the 31st of March, and we'll probably have 20 to 25 people there.

We will stay on site at the Mansion with everybody.

And so we'll be doing two days, two solid days worth of training in the theater.

There's.

And then afterwards, we'll just hang out and chat and talk.

And there are relationships that get built there that are not between myself and the client, but between clients, too, and they end up helping each other out and becoming resources for each other.

So this place is unlike anything people have seen before.

And I'm even.

I've even got a private chef that's going to be coming in for the days of the training who is going to make us a beautiful spread so that we can fuel up before we start doing training.

So.

Love it.

These.

These events are unlike anything anybody else in the sales, you know, space does.

And it's kind of something that people told us they really, really like.

So that's really what we've been up to.

Right on.

I know you've been 2020.

So if you're listening to this, in March of 2023, that is when that.

May.

I'm sorry, March.

May.

I have a couple months behind in May.

May of 2023.

It's coming up.

It is quick.

I will get.

People don't have a whole lot of time.

Yeah.

So reach out to Jean.

The urgency is there for sure.

If you happen to catch this episode after May of 2023, reach out to him anyway, because these are events that repeat periodically.

Yeah.

About every quarter or so we get one of these big spaces and it's not cheap to do it.

Right.

But, man, is it a You know the other reason, Sam, that we do these things?

I have a friend of mine, a good, close friend named Gary Cox.

And Gary is a world famous mindset coach.

He's also been flying for 30 years.

And Gary got me to do one of these beyond first class events.

Have you heard of these?

Just a little bit from you, actually.

So it's essentially where you get some of your clients and you jump on a private jet and we head down to either Key west or the Bahamas and we sit out over the crystal blue water and we, we train, we mastermind, we, we help them with their businesses.

It's usually business owners that do that kind of thing.

I mean, we get, we get police escorts and Rolls Royces like it, it's a really cool thing.

Right.

And Gary introduced me to this and he said, once you do this, it's going to be like you got bit by a bug.

Like you're going to expect more from yourself moving forward.

And my gosh, if he wasn't right.

And we've done like six trips now with Gary on the private jet and just, it takes your mind to a new space.

And that's why I like to immerse people in these experiences where we go to these mansions and we hang out because, like, look for a lot of the technicians that are there or even the owners that are there, they've never even considered that something like that was possible for them.

Sure.

Right.

And if we can get them to just expand their mind and their expectations of themselves and their lives just a little bit, we can impact them.

Right.

And money's great.

I mean, I like money, I'm motivated by money, but it's not, Money's never really going to be fulfilling.

Right.

It's not until you have a serious impact on somebody's life and it's changed forever and generational transformation happens that you're like, man, that's what actually will get you up in the morning.

Sure.

Oh, my gosh.

I, I love it.

I 100 agree.

I mean, money is just, it's just paper.

It's what we can do with it, the choices we can make.

Was it.

Jim Rowan always said work to become a millionaire, not for the million dollars, but for the person you have to become to earn that million dollars.

Because then you can lose it and have it right back.

And so I have a new mentor, Sam, and he, I, you know, he, he talks about, Everybody wants to 10x this and 10x that.

And he says, you've got a, you've got a 20x yourself.

In order to 10x your business.

And it really didn't click for me at first.

But like, to break it down even further, if I'm not focusing on my personal growth, my business can't expand.

I've got to grow first before my businesses can expand.

And he said something to me that I like everybody to just take into consideration.

You've got goals, you've got dreams, you've got expectations out of your life, right.

Who do you have to become in order to.

For those goals and dreams and visions to become a reality?

And I was like, like, it, it blew my mind.

And I was like, well, first, like, if I'm following somebody, first thing I need to do is start looking at my fitness.

Right?

Because I, I was 20 pounds heavier than I am now.

I'm gonna be 20 pounds lighter in six months than I am now too.

Sure.

But I figured, hell, I gotta get my.

I look at the, the different speakers and stuff like that that I follow, it's clear and evident that they work out.

They're not out there doing drugs and drinking all the time.

Right.

Like there, there's already kind of a model, you know, you, you can, you can look out there and see what are these people doing that are successful.

And so I've been working and I'm, I started working on myself again, right?

And success leaves clues.

Yeah, man, I parked as far as a personal growth perspective is concerned for probably two or three years and didn't even realize it.

And then one day I woke up and I was like, when was the last time I read a book?

Yeah, Right.

So this year, I, I think I've read six books this year, which for me is like, way more than I'd ever do before, you know, but it's starting to inspire me again, Right.

And I'm starting to get excited.

And then I'm start.

I've attracted new things like Don Johnson's come in and we've started this profit coach mastermind that didn't exist until Don came in.

But it took me getting on the vibration of growth for those things to be able to show up in our lives.

So, guys, think about that.

When you, when you want something, who do you have to become in order to grow into that?

Right.

Man, it was a big thing for me.

Oh, I love it.

Yeah.

Success leaves clues.

We can look at the people that don't take advice from people that haven't gotten there.

Look at the people that have achieved what you want to achieve and model that.

Right.

What does their life look like?

Who Are they looking up to what, where do they, what seminars and events do they attend?

You know, what are they reading, what are they learning from?

And.

Yeah, and then, you know, I just went to another training event for myself and my business.

My wife went and it was actually a guy named Mike Agugliaro.

I don't know if people have heard of him or not, but he's got a book called Mind Power and I just want to give him a shout out.

I would pick that book up if I were you guys because it made a big, big difference in my life.

Nice.

I love it.

I forget I was gonna say something.

Always looking for a new one.

I was gonna say something else about that, but it slipped my mind.

Like I, I think I might have ADHD or ADD or something like that, like Squirrel.

And the thought is gone.

I'm thinking like five different things at one time.

No, that's all good.

That's.

That's really fun.

Since the name of the book is Mind Power, so.

So yeah, the irony.

No, just giving her time.

Well, cool.

I love it, man.

So tell us what, what I'm, I'm really curious about the events with the, at the, the mansions.

Who is that for?

And because you mentioned like your profit coach mastermind, that's specifically for typically owners who are the events for?

So the events are for service industry.

So it could be H vac, plumbing, electrical.

Those are like the, the most of our clientele like makes up those, those three.

And it would be technicians who are out there fixing stuff.

It could be comfort advisors who are out there selling equipment.

And then it's also owners, right?

Like my owners that come and hang out with us.

They like imagine spending.

Look, it's not cheap, right?

It's like the base ticket is 6,000 bucks.

And let's say that you sent three people to me and it's 18 grand.

And you don't come out yourself, how are you going to know whether or not that was something that you would endorse?

Like, how are you going to help hold you guys accountable?

How are you going to know whether or not they're implementing the training or not?

Right.

So my most successful people that come out, it's an owner and their technicians and or managers.

Right.

And so it will be the 31st through the third.

It's like you check in on Wednesday at 6pm and then Thursday and Friday we'll do training and then Saturday morning we check out.

So it's three nights, but you're looking at technicians, comfort advisors.

Owners typically are the People that are going to show up to that thing.

I like it.

I like it.

Yeah.

That is fantastic.

And so you're.

You're really just taking them through.

Well, one, I love that because, you know, we're the average of the people we hang around, you know, the five closest people.

And so to get into a space that one, expand vision and see what's possible and create that peer group of people to hold you accountable.

Because it's not how high you jump, it's how, you know, how straight you walk when you land and you go back home.

Start implementing.

Right?

A hundred percent.

Yeah.

It's like, all right, this is great for the weekend, but let's go home and use it.

Well, on that topic of implementation, like, I've been to just about every sales training that you can go to is at least inside of the trades.

And what I.

The biggest place that I struggled were a lot of these places wouldn't tell you exactly what to say.

They sales trainers are always telling you to ask questions, right?

But they don't tell you what kinds of questions to ask and how to ask those questions.

And one of the things that we'll cover and give some people some nuggets here is that.

Okay if we give them some nuggets, please.

Exactly.

So you talk your way out of more sales than you'll ever talk your way into.

Yes or no?

100% agree.

Like, we.

We.

I was just doing a training this morning where the technician had talked his way out of the sale.

He literally talked his way out of three surge protectors.

He got three on the outdoor system, but he talked his way out of the other ones on the indoor system.

And the reason this happens, y', all, is because you guys are vomiting on your customers.

You're talking too much.

You're giving them too much information.

And for you.

For you to expect that they can absorb all that.

That's a tall order for your clients.

Like, how long did it take you to get as technical as you are?

And most of the stuff that you're sharing with them is technical, right?

So I teach people to ask questions.

And here's an example.

I give this away for the H VAC guys and the electricians out there, okay?

So surge protection.

You guys want to tell them all about it?

I want to ask them questions because my main goal in the beginning is to get the client to come to their own conclusion that something needs to be done.

Okay.

And that encompasses all the products.

I want to get the client to get to the point where they believe Something needs to be done without me seeming like I'm trying to convince them.

Because nobody wants to be sold.

People love to buy.

Just look at your own credit cards out there, right?

Like people love to buy stuff, but they don't really like to be sold.

They don't like to be educated either.

You guys say you're going to educate people.

Think of the word enlighten.

Enlighten.

Maybe substitute educate for enlighten.

Okay?

But here's an example.

When it comes to surge protection for people, I would ask the client, first and foremost, why don't you have surge protection?

Like, it's something that I see on almost every call that I go to.

It's something that I truly believe everybody should have, right?

So I want to know, why don't you have surge protection?

And what is, what do you think that does psychologically to the client?

You, why don't you give me some feedback, Sam?

Well, so one, instantly I'm thinking, well, does it, do other people have surge protection?

So there's a little bit of social proof there and then also herd impact mentality.

Yeah, yeah, exactly, there's that.

And then also it just raises the question of, I don't know, why don't I have surge protection?

Like it's supposed to be there and it's not there, right?

So the client immediately is like, I don't know.

Right?

And the next question that I might ask them is, did you know that we get over 800,000 cloud to ground lightning strikes a year here and that when that happens, we get in home surges?

And then I won't even, I won't even wait for them to answer that question.

Some questions that you ask guys should be almost rhetorical, right?

It should be.

You should be able, some of your questions you should be able to ask back to back.

So without even hardly taking a breath, I'll say, what do you.

Did you know that when you get an in home surge that your compressors and your motors can glow cherry red on the inside?

Do you think that's good?

And then I'll pause and let them answer that.

They'll say, no.

What do you suppose that does to the reliability of your system?

And they'll say, it reduces it.

How about the lifespan of the system?

They'll go, probably reduces that too.

And I go, have you ever purchased a new compressor before?

And they're like, no.

So you weren't aware that a new compressor could cost you a little over three grand for this system?

They're like, no, right now, now, now.

We're talking about fear of loss, right?

Because I don't have this protection.

I could be in a place where I have to replace my compressor.

Is this legit?

Of course it's legit.

100%, right?

So now they're like, no, I didn't know that.

It was 3,500 bucks.

And then I can run a trial close, and I can go, can you see now, why are other customers just get surge protection rather than replacing expensive fan motors and compressors and maybe even their whole system?

And they're like, yeah, I can see that.

Right?

Like, now the customer has come to their own conclusion that they need surge protection without me pushing anything on them.

And if you guys notice, I didn't make one statement.

They were all questions.

What would life be like if you could control what your clients were thinking?

Did you realize you can actually do that through the use of questions?

How many questions have I asked you guys so far?

This is part of what we have to do as speakers, right, Sam?

Oh, you got it.

That's it.

It's like leading people to the destination.

And the one other thing that I'm hearing you do, and I'm sure this is a big part of really where you go into in a lot of your trainings is we know that communication is 15% of it is the words we say.

But I'm here.

I'm hearing your tonality in these questions of this is the just.

I'm just innocently asking tonality, which comes across.

So, and this is.

This is lead ninja.

This is like ninja level sales right here.

So everybody that listens to the podcast.

So.

And in these events, what we do is we give them these word tracks and language patterns, right?

People call them scripts.

We've changed the name Word Jackson Language patterns.

And at first, people don't like it because they sound kind of robotic, right?

They sound scripted.

And that's just because they haven't memorized it yet.

The tone and inflection, that's 2.0 or 3.0.

Like, 1.0 is just memorizing the words.

And unfortunately, when I went to these sales training events, like one that I went to in St. Louis one time, you probably know what I'm talking about.

This is 10, 15 years ago at least.

Like, they made us write all of our own scripts, and I just wanted somebody to tell me what to say, you know, just shortcut it for me, give me the Cliff Notes, tell me what to say.

And so that was always a pet peeve of mine.

So when I started My H VAC company.

I listened to my father.

My father's like, you need to write down all the shit that you say.

Yeah, right.

He was like, you really do.

Because one day you're not going to want to do this anymore.

And I know you, you get bored easily and you're going to want to teach this and you better start writing it down.

So I started writing it, all of it down, right?

So we actually give them for H vac, plumbing, electrical, we give them 5, 6, 7 different word tracks just for products on top of all the closes and all that other stuff.

But the reason people aren't buying from most of these salespeople out here who are listening to this right now, two reasons.

Number one, the client doesn't feel like they need something.

They don't feel like anything needs to be done.

It's working just fine.

I'm getting electricity, I'm getting water, I'm getting hot, I'm getting cold air, right?

And until they come to their own conclusion that something's wrong and something needs to be done, they're not going to move off of their wallet.

And you guys are out there just throwing information at them, expecting them to come to the conclusion that something needs to be done.

And then you're trying to sell them with all of the features or benefits, Guess what?

You can.

There can be all kinds of features and benefits to this television behind me, but if I don't feel like I need one because I've got one sitting in a box over there and two sitting in boxes and garages, I got three 70 inch televisions sitting around, somebody could not walk in here and sell it.

Send me a, sell me a 70 inch television right now because I don't need it.

You have zero need for it.

I don't care what the features and benefits are to me.

I've got to come to the conclusion that I need something before I'm ready to let go of cash, right?

And then you can be there and in a position to provide a solution for them.

And then you can share benefits and stuff like that, but it doesn't matter if they don't feel like there's a need.

So that's number one.

And then number two, Sam, how many of your customers have eliminated themselves from the running of being able to own, let's say accessories and products that you offer because you presented a price and they don't have that much money in their bank account?

How many people have eliminated themselves taking themselves completely out of the running because they don't know that you actually have a payment plan or because you're not presenting it.

Right, Right.

There is a way to present payment plans.

You don't want to call it financing.

Right.

People, I think the statistic is something like 60 to 70% of Americans don't have $600 in their bank account.

And if you go out there and you're offering them a ten thousand dollar Breathe easy package, guess what?

They've eliminated it in their mind from even being a possibility.

They can't see how they can afford it.

So you need word tracks and language patterns to ask them the right questions and show them that they can actually afford it.

Because hell, a $10,000 project is really only 132 bucks a month.

Right.

Or less.

So.

And there are ways that we can break that down for the customer where they feel really good about it and they're not embarrassed that they don't have the money.

Right.

You gotta get, you gotta uncover that stuff first, guys.

And there's a good way to do it.

There's some disastrous ways to do it.

So I've done the disastrous ones.

I've made all those mistakes for you, so you can trust me to guide you through there.

Oh man, I feel it.

Anytime somebody asked me, I'm like, ask me how I know.

Because I've been in the ditches with it.

Yeah.

Because I've got my team kicked in.

Oh, exactly.

I want to park on this for a second because we keep using the, the word word track and language patterns versus like scripting.

And this is so crucial because there's a difference in learning a script.

When you teach people.

And, and this is what I like so much about what you do, is when you teach people the script, they have one.

It's like everything is now a nail because I have one hammer.

When you teach people a word track in a language pattern, they're, you're giving them the ability to craft it to how it applies for the situation.

And so now they have this multi tool that is so much more effective and it's, it's a whole different, different animal than just, hey, here's a script for selling a one search protector or one capacitor.

Right.

This is not just a script here.

Now we have a way to communicate that.

Right.

And apply to all of your life, let alone what we're doing in selling accessories or IQ or whatever it is.

No, I agree with you.

100.

Nailed it.

Yeah.

Love it.

Love it.

Yeah, that's, that's the, the power of, that's just the power of Learning not is teaching people to fish, not just give them.

Amen.

So yeah, you know, we were having that, I was having that conversation with my boys because I told my boys, all of them, I said, guys, number one, I don't want you to ever think that I'm gonna leave you money.

Like, you might call me rich, but you ain't rich, right?

You're gonna have to earn everything yourself.

And they were like, that's, that sounds, that doesn't sound fair, dad.

And I'm like, charles, listen, if, if you give a man a fish elite for a day, if you teach him how to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime.

Now, Charles, what does that mean?

It's important to ask your kids questions like that and get them to think themselves, because schools are not going to teach your kids to think.

They will teach them to memorize some things, but they will not teach them to think.

They don't want them to think.

The people that created your schools have designed them for your kids not to think, but to become robots, right?

To become workers.

They want a nation of workers.

So, Charles, what does that mean?

And he's like, that means that if I know how to fish, that I can go catch my own fish.

And you don't have to get fish for me.

I'm like a hundred percent man, you know?

So ask.

Have those teachable moments with your kids, right?

Don't just, don't just spit at them, you know, some, some sort of rhyme, right?

But actually break it down and ask them to think about what that meant.

Like whether you think you can or can't.

You're right.

What does that mean, Charles?

Right?

When they say I can't do something, I, I forget where we were going before we went on that little tangent.

Oh, that's right.

You know, I love it.

It's.

It's really powerful.

In fact, I've a fun story of exactly that with my daughter.

She just turned 10 this last weekend, but she.

Right after Covid, we homeschooled our daughters for about a year and a half.

And so they got to live the homeschool life, the sleeping in or whatever, get their schoolwork done an hour or two a day, and then you get to use the other time.

I like my oldest, she started her own business, a craft business at Etsy store when she was nine, right?

She's two years in and she's building funnels for her business now.

So she's, she, she came home, she's like, I've got three orders from school and.

Which is Great.

You know, she's in sixth grade, but the youngest one, we're sitting on the couch, and she's.

It was over the weekend, and she kind of has this moment of like, oh, I don't want to go to school on Monday.

I'm like, why not?

She's like.

She's like, I'm glad that we went back to public school, but I also can't just take a day off when I feel like it.

And I was like, I'm glad that you see that.

I said, you clearly know the difference now between homeschool is, like, owning your own business and being an entrepreneur.

And she finishes the sentence.

She's like.

And going back to school is like working for somebody else.

They control your hours.

And I was like, man, I was like, you've been listening.

This is great.

Beautiful, man.

Beautiful.

I remember where I was going with that.

I told Charles when I was talking to him about that, I said, charles, I'm not going to leave you any money.

And he was like, that's.

That sounds really mean, dad.

And I said, son, it's not about what I leave for you.

It's about what I leave inside of you that is going to count, right?

And again, Charles, what does that mean?

But I. I even took it one step further.

I said, charles, I'm gonna.

Just gonna.

Just so you know how serious I am, if you're standing next to my deathbed and I'm dying and I got a quarter in my pocket, I'm going to swallow it.

We got.

We have a good time with it, but I just want to train them to start thinking about being a productive member of society.

And I don't want them to have an expectation that because daddy might have a little bit of money, that they're good.

No, I mean, they know at 18, you're out, unless you're going to college or something here, locally, you got to go get a job.

You got to go get your own place, right?

So.

And I. I think that's one of the biggest challenges that we're running into nowadays with our society and with.

You know, we've had good times for a long time that have created some weak men.

And unfortunately, those weak men will create some hard times.

And once we get into those hard times, people will have to toughen up a little bit more, and those tough men will then again create good times that we'll go back into another cycle.

I love it.

You know, that.

That actually reminds me of.

You know, it's.

Especially with what's going on, people are so they lack resourcefulness.

You know, people don't lack resources normally.

And this really fits in what we're talking about.

They don't like resources, they like resourcefulness.

And so in, in fact, you, the.

I have a new coaching client that just started with me, and it's exactly that.

It was inspired by the first episode that we did together when you were talking about taking ownership, and there was, you'd mentioned a story about, you know, one of the technicians that was like, complaining about the owner not buying him a new radio for his, for his van.

And it's like, just go buy one yourself.

Right?

And so it was actually that story that inspired him.

He was like, I'm not going to wait for the company to pay for this training.

So he just reached out and did it directly himself, which is awesome.

I love that.

So it's super cool because it's like, you know, and this for everybody listening, you know, how can so be thinking of, how can you take more ownership in what you're doing?

You know, the man that does more than he's paid for will soon be paid for more than he's, than he's doing.

Amen.

How can you implement that in your life?

Right?

Take the risk.

Yeah, you got to take the risks.

And look, I, I, I spent like six figures with one coach like a year and a half ago throughout the year.

And it shortens the amount of learning time, guys.

Like, I want you to think money replenishes, time does not.

Right?

So how long are you going to wait before you do what is necessary?

Hire the necessary people so that you can compress time.

Right.

And shorten that learning curve?

You want to work until you're 100, or do you want to work until you're 50?

Like, seriously, you have to, you're gonna have, you're gonna pay.

You're either gonna pay money or you're gonna pay with your time and your life, right?

So I'm a big proponent of investing in myself.

And until you've got at least a hundred thousand bucks just sitting around, every dollar should go back into right here, right into books, courses, things like that in order to make you better.

You can't take what's up here, y'.

All.

That's it.

That's it.

Absolutely.

That's.

I mean, it kind of goes back to where we started with, you know, work to become that person to earn the million dollars.

And yeah, you can pay somebody for six months of coaching to speed your process, or you can spend 15 years out in the field Beating your head against the wall.

Like we have to learn it.

Yeah, man, it's like just learn it from us to start with, right?

That little over a hundred grand that within four months turned into $700,000 in revenue for my company.

So was that an expense for me?

Like, I guess on the, on the profit and loss sheet it's an expense, but that wasn't an expense, man.

That was.

I multiplied that money, you know, I7X that money in four months.

So like it wasn't an expense and too many people are thinking of it like that.

Any I can take any sort of class and go to it and get one or two things out of it that will be enough for me to get a return on investment out of that class.

Right, right.

Love it.

Oh, so good.

So good.

So when you are working with a, let's kind of change shift gears just a little bit.

And when you are working with a, you know, doing like we'll go to site visits for a minute.

When you go out to, to a company and you're working with site visits, walk us.

Because what, what I'm wanting to do is give everybody a good feel for the different ways that they can connect with you and just get an idea of what, what services, you know, you're offering there.

But also to give us a feel for what to expect, you know, when you go out to a site visit, how long does that look like you're doing ride alongs, you're doing classrooms.

And what are you really working to take that company, how to change them?

Well, so one of the areas that I noticed really quick when I owned my first H vac business, Sam, one of the areas I noticed really quick had massive potential for improvement was that 8 out of 10 calls that we ran were not a replacement opportunity.

And that's a real negative thing for most contractors, right?

Eight out of 10 calls, we don't have a replacement opportunity.

So those calls end up costing us a bunch of money to go out and run.

And then that sucks the profit out of the other two jobs that might could have turned into a replacement.

Right.

So I saw really early on that there was a massive opportunity in the accessory and ductwork spaces, right.

That we were leaving 60, 70% of the meat on the bone still, even after a system had been put in.

So I got really good at selling indoor air quality packages.

I think we've got like 11 stages of products now in the indoor air quality arena.

And then I got really good at selling the water treatment products.

And man, if that, if that didn't take the revenue from those 8 out of 10 calls that there were no other opportunities on for equipment and just blow us up.

We were doing $2 million a year just in indoor air quality with my company.

Yeah.

The traditional heating and air model is, you know, you're this concept of service drive cells.

But you know, when I started 20 years ago in the industry, everybody said, well, your service truck is going to be your loss leader just to get you in the door for installs.

Yeah.

I mean, how, how horrible is that?

It doesn't have to be that way.

Right.

It really doesn't.

Service truck can be paying your overhead, so your install turns into pure profit.

And some owners are like, hey, yeah, but if I'm talking, if I'm always looking at selling the indoor air quality stuff, I'm not going to sell systems.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Right.

We teach people to make an options list that could be 20, $30,000 long, that doesn't have any equipment in it.

And a lot of times that ends up turning into a customer saying, how much is a new one?

Right.

And then we end up having that conversation or doing a turnover to a comfort advisor or whatever.

But going back to your question, we're going to be doing a lot of conversation about indoor air quality and water treatment.

That's what people typically hire me most for.

And it's a niche that we kind of carved out now.

Can I handle equipment sales and comfort advisors?

Yeah.

I've done that for decades.

Right.

And my first straight commission sales job was as a comfort advisor when I started my first air conditioning company.

Sam.

My very first service call I ever ran was from my own company.

Like, I'd never run a service call in my life.

I've done installs and I've done sales.

So we're gonna, we're really gonna focus on getting money when there is no equipment opportunity replacement available.

Okay.

We're also going to really focus on in, in these trainings or even in an on site, really focusing on the establishing of a need for those.

Remember I said if I got three of these sitting around, I don't need another one.

The client needs to feel like something needs to be done and then you can be there waiting in the, the wing winds or wings or whatever they call it to provide the solution for them.

So we will get people the tools that they need to get customers to actually want to transact with them.

And then we'll show them how to make sure that the client can see that they can afford It.

Remember we were talking about those being the two number one problems?

Right.

Sure.

After that, we can go over, you know, features and benefits and building value and making the customer feel good.

But most salespeople mistake that as being what sales is all about.

Right.

It's not.

It's not.

Y'.

All.

The client has to want it first.

Yeah.

People write checks for what they want, not what they need.

Yeah.

So.

And.

And that's the biggest problem that I see in the industry is salespeople going in there, selling when they really should be asking questions and listening to their clients.

All right.

Professional salesperson is not a good talker.

They're a master at listening.

You listen to your clients, they will tell you exactly what you need to say to close them for them.

Right.

Closing is something that's for a client, not to a client.

That's.

I mean, I heard something recently.

I was at an event, and the.

The mc, he says, I. I never really heard it like this, but this is a great analogy to keep in your mind when you're walking into.

Into appointments is for everybody.

Listening is.

Think of.

Think like you're.

It's not about being combative, but it's like every appointment you go into, you're walking into a gunfight.

And you have a revolver that's empty.

And the only way to load your.

To get bullets in your gun is by your discovery, asking the questions.

If you ask enough questions, they will give you every bullet you need in your gun.

So when it comes time for the gunfight, now you have ammunition to close.

Right.

You have ammunition to.

To respond back.

Pro tip, when they give you that piece of ammunition, don't just start right in the gun and fire it.

Yeah.

You got to save it.

You want to get a whole pocket people, and then fill that six shooter up and still have some in reserve.

Right.

So I can't tell you how many times a customer has come up with a challenge or a problem.

And immediately a salesperson launches into a sales pitch about a product that will take care of that.

No, no, no, listen, you're like a detective.

You're gathering information.

Some of it'll be useful, some of it will not be useful.

Right.

You're looking for the bullets, Right.

I love that analogy, Sam.

That's awesome.

It's like don't immediately.

Yeah, it's my friend Josh Wiles, but yeah, it's like don't immed offer the solutions.

The other part of that, too, is when you're asking those questions and you're doing that discovery Helping them realize they have a need.

The reason we don't.

The other reason we don't immediately offer solutions is let them sit in the pain and simmer in it for a little while.

Yes.

Because as they're talking about it, a good example that I like to talk about is when.

If.

If, for example, we're entering summer now, it's hot, but we're still asking in the winter which rooms are colder than the rest.

Yeah.

And so the best thing to do, though, is take me there.

Let's get situationally in the environment to help them remember what it feels like.

So now, just now that we're in this room, describe it to me.

And as they start to describe it, so we're helping them remember back six months ago what that's like.

And it's like, so.

And you're gonna find out just.

Just how much of a hot button this is when you're in that room paying attention and listening to them.

Yeah, right.

And then.

Where it's at.

Yeah, exactly.

And then asking the questions like, you know, is this a concern or is this just more of an observation?

And they might say, well, nobody's ever in this room.

I don't care.

Okay, well, let's not waste time here then.

Let's go to your actual concern.

Yeah, I. I'm famous for asking them, do you care?

Yeah.

Right.

The master bedroom is three degrees hotter.

Do you care?

Or would it be nice if it was different?

Or you just good with it?

Yeah.

And a lot of times they'd be like, well, you know, I just.

I never really even thought about it.

It's just.

Is what it is.

And if there were.

If there were a way for us to fix that, if I can figure out how to fix it, do you want me to bring that solution to you or should I just ignore it?

Right.

You know?

Yeah.

And those are.

Those, those.

So the word track and those language patterns for everybody.

Listen, that.

That's a great example right there of a great pattern of how to ask the right questions when a situation comes up.

You know, is it something you're concerned about?

If I can come up with a way to figure, do you want to know about it?

Or.

As we're going around the house looking at this, if I see anything else that pertains to comfort or energy savings or do you want me to bring it to your attention?

And when they say yes, it opens the door to whatever else we find.

I love following up.

Following it up with something like.

Or should I just shut up?

Yeah, like here's Here's a perfect example.

We were talking about duct ceiling.

I talk about H Vac a lot because I deal with a lot with H Vac and plumbing contractors.

But do you know that, like the ep, not the epa, the Department of Energy says the average duct system in the United states leaks about 25 to 30% of the air that goes through it.

Okay, now that's a big deal, right?

So I'll ask clients.

Number one, why isn't your ductwork sealed?

And they're usually, I don't know.

Did you know that the Department of Energy says that you lose 25 to 30% percent of the air that goes through your ductwork into the crawl space or up into the attic, like gone forever because of leaky ductwork.

If there was a way that I could get the power company to pay for you to have your ductwork sealed, would you want me to share that with you or should I just ignore it?

Of course share it.

Right.

You're never gonna get a no.

And I just, I just give them that straight faced look, right?

Like, so that has been massively successful.

And then we can go through.

Okay, so what are you.

What's your average power bill?

It's 200 bucks.

So were you aware that the power company says 60 to 70% of that is to heat and cool your house?

No, I didn't know that.

So let's take 200 times 60%, that's 120 bucks.

Okay, now, do you remember what percentage the Department of Energy said you lose?

25 to 30%.

Yeah.

25.

Yeah, let's take 20.

Let's take 30% of 120.

How much is that?

Yeah, right.

So now we take the cost of sealing the ductwork, which is 3, 200 bucks multiplied by 1.32 payment factor, right?

Low, low payment factor.

And it's about 40 bucks.

42 bucks to have the ductwork sealed.

Can you see now why I say that you're paying for the ductwork to be sealed whether you get it done or not?

Like, it just.

You gotta know the right questions to ask people.

And look, you can either, you can either.

You can either create your own road, right?

Chop down all the trees, get the excavators out and pack all the gravel down and lay your own road.

Or you can go pay a toll to drive on a road that some other man created, and you can go 200 mile an hour, right?

And that's why people hire people like Sam and people like myself to shorten that learning curve so that you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

I love to say, Sam, like, if you and I and we're in this room together.

And Bill Gates walked into the room and he was like, sam, you, me, Gene, we're going to build Microsoft 3.0.

And he took one piece of paper and sketched it out how we were going to do it.

Would Sam or I look at Bill Gates and go, you know, Bill, maybe we should do it this way.

How stupid would we be?

Yeah, right.

Then why are you guys out there trying to reinvent the wheel when it's already being created?

Why are you winging it?

Right.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

That's why I've always invested into myself.

Agreed.

Agreed.

100.

And we'll continue to do so for.

As long as I can remember.

Well, I heard something forever ago that was about 10% of your income should go into personal growth every.

Every single year.

You know, so as your income goes up, that along with it.

And it's just so powerful to always develop that mindset and just reinvest and reinvest because like I said, it's something that can never be taken away.

And their life skills, you know, yes, it applies to cells, but it applies to every element of your life.

Because we know sales is not just the performance of an hour.

It's, you know, a person.

That's why we say work to become someone worth buying from, because that hurt.

You know, people are buying from you, people are buying from people and.

Right.

You know, if.

If you have zero energy and your vibes are low.

Yeah, that's why I said, when's the best time to make a cell, Gene?

Right.

Make a cell.

Yeah, because your energy's already there.

The vibes are already there.

You walk into the nibble, baby, nibble.

You assume it and it's closed from the beginning.

And so it's like, how do we create a way to anchor that, to be able to turn that on every second that we walk into a door, even if it's not when we just made us up.

I want you to ask me about seven words before we end this.

But getting back to your question, Sam, about, like, structure and everything and what it looks like when we do an event or we go out on site, when we do on sites, it's typically four half days now.

Why would we not just do all day?

Like, I don't know how many training sessions you sat through, but 8 to 12 hours of sitting somewhere is a real B.

If you know what I Mean, like, I. I stop absorbing stuff.

Like, I can't drink out of a fire hydrant, man.

Like, my brain needs time to, like, process.

So when we do these on sites, it's.

It's usually between 8 to 12 in the morning, and then they send the technicians out into the field to go run calls and to utilize the material that we gave them.

Right.

And then the next morning, we'll unpack.

How did that go?

Let's share the successes, let's share the failures.

And then, boom, here's more training.

Right?

Right.

So four half days, typically.

And then when we do our events, it's usually either four half days or two solid days.

And this one coming up, it will be two solid days.

Look, I've relented a little bit because people's schedules.

Schedules are, you know, important to them.

And so we're doing, you know, we'll do a little mini training session at the evening of this mansion event that we're doing at the end of the month.

And then the next two days will be.

We'll be going for it.

Like, we will be in there anywhere between 9 to 14 hours with breaks.

Right?

Like, we'll take Tony Robbins in it for people.

Yeah, bro.

Yeah, exactly.

I.

And I. I make the Tony Robbins joke that we're running on GST here, man.

This is.

We're not Eastern Standard Time.

This is Gene Standard Time.

When we're done, we're done, you know, and.

And.

But it's cool because a lot of the.

The conversations are directed by the questions that are asked.

Of course, we get the same questions every single time.

So it's, you know, we figured that stret.

We've figured out kind of the process.

Oh, yeah, I love it.

And that's how I do my.

A lot of the coaching that I do is, you know, we start off each session with, okay, what was your failure from the week?

What things that you can control?

What would you have done differently in this situation?

And then what was your win for the week?

And, man, so many times that directs the coaching sessions too.

It's.

All right, here's what.

Here's what's going on, and.

And here's how we.

Here's how we handle that.

So.

Love it, man.

That's how I do all of my Mastermind sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:00am Eastern.

Like, I've got a group of maybe 75, 80 people, and we'll get in in the morning.

First thing is somebody give me a success story.

I want to hear somebody who won Right.

So do one or two success stories.

Then it's like, all right, we're going to open the floor for Q and A. I want to hear about the failures.

I want to hear about the jobs you didn't close.

Yeah, right.

And then we'll walk through a process, a lead ninja process of figuring out what were all of the different things that we could have done better on that job.

And we actually even have a sales tracker that is a lead ninja sales tracker that goes on everybody's phone.

So with one click, it opens up.

Boom.

They answer seven multiple choice questions.

And I can start to see the patterns that are happening right in their, in their, their sales.

Right?

Like if I can look at that spreadsheet and see the same objection five times in a row and I go, okay, we need to work on the.

I want to think about it objection.

Yeah, yeah.

They didn't, they didn't, they didn't upload a prioritized list to the group.

I know they didn't make a prioritized list for that customer.

And the, the process has been, it's breaking down now.

Right, right, guys, you just got to have a good process and then stick to the process.

All right?

This is a huge thing.

I know.

You know, Sam, like, I don't know if you're anything like me, but, like, back when I was just a salesperson and I, I didn't pay for leads as an owner, right?

When I was a salesperson, I would follow my process and then I'd get on a roll.

And then I'd be like, man, I'm the shit, man.

I'm close at everything.

And I would start to shortcut the process and leave.

Steps out.

And then inevitably, what would happen is 30 days later, I'd go through a period of four or five days where I just couldn't even close a door.

The slump.

Yeah, yeah, man.

And I remember calling up one of my mentors one time and going, bro, like, I don't know what's going on.

I couldn't, I couldn't hit the inside of a barn with a baseball if I stand in the middle of it and all the doors are closed.

Like, I, I, I don't know what's going on.

And the question he asked me, it was a short conversation.

That was what I said.

And then he goes, what have you been listening to while you've been driving around in your truck?

I went, I gotta go.

I'll talk to you later.

Bye.

I love it.

I went over to books a million and I bought Myself a bunch more audio, you know, stuff.

And so now I'm filling my mind with the stuff I need to be filling my mind with.

Not listening to Conway Twitty or Britney Spears or Taylor Swift or whatever.

Yeah.

You know, Michael Jackson.

Oh, you got it.

That's it, man.

I had, I do that with my coaching client.

Anybody who does a, my private coaching for now through eternity, I will do a tune up call with them whenever they want.

I mean to, to a degree, of course.

And I had a, the biggest one that I remember was a guy over in, in Carolina.

He's actually training for it works for Master the Hustle.

He's doing some training now too, and a couple other companies he's doing training for.

But when he first started.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's not with them anymore.

Oh, he's not with him anymore.

Cool.

Oh, he's with Flywheel.

Oh, nice.

Yeah.

Right on.

Yeah.

So Nathan, so when he first started, he, he hit me up and we, we coached with him like just completely going on.

He's been to two of my events.

Nice.

Yeah.

So he was, did some private coach with me for like very, very beginning.

Was getting off the phones and he was killing it.

He was numbers were going and saying hits the slump.

So Nathan, this is for you, man.

He calls me up and we did a 15 minute phone call and I was like, all right, here's, here's the five categories.

What are you doing?

Are you.

How's your nutrition?

How's your, I know you're into the, into working out.

How's your gym life?

You know, what are you listening to?

You know, are you following the process and how's your relationship at home and with your spiritual life?

And he's like, you know what?

I've been eating fast food, not hitting the gym.

It's like, all right, yeah.

So a week later, sure enough, he's like, oh man, my numbers, numbers are doubled again.

It's like perfect.

It's amazing how just a little thing can make the biggest difference, isn't it?

And ask yourself, if you don't have a Sam Wakefield to call, if you don't have a Gene Slade to call, if you don't have that person who has been there, done that and knows the right questions to ask, to think, flip that switch and snap you out.

It's gonna be tough.

That's it.

Right?

And fortunately, I had that most of my professional career.

You know, I had somebody that I could look to and if not, I went out and hired somebody, you know, who, who has done this before.

Who can tell me what to do so that I don't have to keep hitting my head up against this brick wall and believe.

Right.

So I paid for the answers.

Yeah.

And, you know, and the other half of it too is so many times and a lot of is what we're actually teaching us, you know, what to do.

But equally important that so many, just generally speaking people don't have is they know what to do but just can't make themselves do it without that extra accountability.

The accountability is equally important because, I mean, I know what I should do every single day to look like a bodybuilder and I'm making progress.

But the, in fact, last night where it was like having a conversation with somebody.

It's like the conversation was what's one thing you wish you were more consistent at?

You know, and so let's work on that this month and then next month we'll check in what's the next thing we wish we were more consistent at doing, you know, so constant accountability is so important too.

The.

That could be done.

The Mind Power book that I was sharing with you earlier talks about that a little bit.

Unfortunately, it's only like a 90 page book.

Right.

I don't really like long books, but that, that is a great resource for that.

And my buddy Gary Cox that I was talking to you about earlier deals with a lot of that.

He's constantly shooting videos.

Do you know what you're supposed to do, but you can't get yourself to do it.

And there's this whole exercise that he goes through with people to help to get them past that hump.

But it has to do with your values and beliefs, you know, not aligning with certain things.

I'm not going to give it all away for Gary, but go check out at, at Gary Cox Coxe on any of the social platforms.

I'm sure you'll be able to find it.

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, man, it.

I think we're wrapping up our hour here.

This has just been fantastic.

I, I always love when we can get together and, and brainstorm some stuff and, and just bounce back anything that you would like to, to add or contribute or leave people with before we start landing this plane here.

Yeah.

You know, guys, you gotta have a purpose.

Right?

And for, for me as a man, I was always really frustrated about that until about five years ago when I really truly like, got it, what God had put me here on this planet to do.

Right.

At least from a professional standpoint.

I'm not talking about my family here.

But I, my purpose is to help people that are listening to this to be able to, A, make more money, everybody wants that.

B, work less, and C, get home for dinner on time or be able to tuck your kids in.

All right.

The service industry, we're always at somebody else's beck and call, it seems like.

And when you don't have a high level of communication skills, when you haven't been honing and practicing it, chances are pretty good that you're not going to be making the company as much money as if you really, you know, we're focusing on the communication side.

So I want to give people the tools to be able to work less, make more money, get home for dinner on time.

Because we both know that divorce rates are as, as high as they've ever been.

They're even higher inside the service industry.

I mean, how many of you, when was the last time that you actually did get to tuck your kids into bed?

I know a lot of people are working 6, 8, 10 o' clock at night, even later.

So I encourage you to continue to ask yourself and search for, for what that purpose is for you.

It was frustrating for me until I finally got it.

But once you get that, man, the joy that you can find out of your career and out of life is just outstanding.

It, it will bring you to tears.

Like, it'll give you goosebumps and everything.

We, we, we get really choked up when we see the impact that we're allowed to have in people's lives now that we really, truly understand the purpose.

So if you guys need anything, listen, I'm here for you.

My cell Phone number is 239-848-6533.

Text me, okay?

It's the best way to get a hold of me one more time.

239-848-6533.

That is my phone.

It will not be a bot who's responding to you.

Oh, my gosh.

I got into this big, long thing.

I was literally responding to somebody at a little after midnight.

And guy's name's Joe.

If he sees this, he'll laugh his butt off.

But he thought I was a bot responding back to him.

I'm trying to convince him I'm not.

I literally sent him back a voice message to tell him it wasn't a bot.

And he kept texting me to like 12:30 at night.

And I was like, this guy is either a jokester or a real a hole.

Right?

Right.

Like, bro.

I talked to him the next day.

He's like, dude, I'm we were laughing about.

He's like, I really truly thought that that was a robot.

I can't believe that you were responding, responding at 12 o' clock at night.

Hit up my cell phone, guys, I got your back for life, all right?

I will take care of you and I'll.

The, the first one's on me.

The first, the first lessons on me.

So if you want to talk, I'll, I'll schedule some time with you on my dime and see if I can't maybe help you for free.

Business owners, technicians, comfort advisors, anybody, please hit me up.

But everybody, you heard it straight from Gene.

His personal cell phone number.

You don't always hear people that are at the level he is just giving that out.

So, and here's a question, following that up, here's a question I have for you.

We're going to have thousands of people to actually hear this podcast and, and get your number.

How many people actually reach out to you to and use that number that you just gave?

A lot fewer than I wish would.

Yeah, right.

I give that out because of love, because like I, I feel where a lot of these guys are at because I've been there myself.

I've been the guy that's 80 hours behind the wheel of that van, coming home at 12 o' clock in the morning.

I felt that pain.

And look, pain is necessary, as they say.

Suffering, that's.

That stuff is optional, right?

If you, if you continue to do what you've been doing, guys, what are you gonna get?

The same thing, same stuff, right?

So about all I have to say about that, I love it, man.

So that's perfect.

Thank you for being with us.

Everybody.

Use that number.

Actually reach out and text works best.

Text works best.

Where else can they learn more about your programs and your.

Give us some good, like websites or resources.

The best thing really is to reach out to me directly.

And, and I can't promise that, you know, I won't be on vacation and somebody else won't have that phone at some point.

But, you know, that's the one that I carry almost on a daily basis.

You can, I think it's at Gene Slade.

G E N E S L A D E on Facebook.

Probably on Instagram too.

I'm on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, like, yeah.

All the places I can test.

I just searched Gene Slate.

He comes up everywhere.

He's got really good, really good SEO.

And you know, that is just.

I think that that's probably as a result of people like you because we do these podcasts and stuff.

I'm not good at that stuff.

I'm not good at it at all.

I've hired some people to help me, but I'm not good at that at all.

I'm only good at one thing and that's what we've been talking about.

I love it.

I love it.

Well, thanks for hanging out.

It has been a pleasure as always.

I'll shoot over all the recordings of this so you can use it as well.

And until next time, my friend, have a have a great day, have a great week.

Have a good event coming up and everybody listening as always.

We'll wrap this up with Go Save the World one heat stroke at a time.

Thanks for listening to Close it now with Sam Wakefield.

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