Welcome to Close it now, the podcast that's revolutionizing the H Vac and home improvement trades industries.

Get ready to dive deep into the world of heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

We're turning up the heat on industry standards and cooling down misconceptions.

And we're not just talking about fixing vents and adjusting thermostats.

It's about the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H Vac and home improvement.

We're the driving force, inspiring top performers who crave excellence not only in their professional endeavors, but also in fitness, nutrition, relationships and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all.

This is Close it now, where excellence meets excitement.

Let's get to work now your host, Sam Wakefield.

Well, all right.

Welcome back.

Close It Now.

Sam Wakefield here.

I am so stoked to have this guest today.

This is a gentleman I met a bit about a year ago, a little over a year ago in Houston, Texas, at our mutual friend, Stephen Martinez.

His.

His event, the American Dream Conference.

Make sure to check that out.

That is a incredible event and also a big mission that we both support.

But today, this gentleman, he.

I've been so impressed.

I've got to.

We met there, didn't know who he was at the time, didn't know anything about the history of his organization, and across this last year, realized that, holy cow, I was sitting in the presence of greatness.

And as I've gotten to know him from afar, we have lots of mutual friends that mutually respect him.

This is the CEO and founder of Grasso University.

This is Dominic Caminata, and he is here today to light some fire under you because.

So if you don't know Grasso University, they are the leading.

The leading.

And I would definitely second this training organization in all of home services.

So they know exactly what they're doing.

They have a heck of a program and I'm excited to learn more about it today as well.

But we're sitting here with one of the world's greatest closers on the planet.

So, Dominic, welcome to the show, man.

Thank you.

That's a heck of an introduction, man.

So my head's going to be too big to walk out the door.

Oh, no, no, no.

I know that's not true.

No, I just want to say congrats to you as well.

Obviously you had your first event this year and I heard it was absolutely amazing.

I've been following you as well, ever since we met at the American Dream Conference and obviously the quality and caliber of training that you're providing to Home services, from what I hear, is second to none as well.

So kudos to you, congrats on the podcast and thanks for having me on.

Appreciate that, man.

Yeah, thanks.

Yeah, this is a fun month.

It's the six year anniversary of the podcast, which has been really.

It's consistency over time is where success happens.

You know what episode number this is, how many episodes you've done?

Oh, I don't.

We're pushing 250 though.

That's what I'll need to get the specifics in.

I know a lot of people track every single episode.

This is number such and such.

And yeah, yeah, after your first 10 or 15, then you're like, oh, who cares?

Yeah, I did that for about.

That's about how many I did that with.

It's about 15.

And then it's like, you know what?

I'm, I'm too busy to think about that.

I'm doing all the rest.

And sometimes when you say the episode number, you kind of, you know, pigeonhole yourself to when you can release certain episodes.

Because I've actually had it where I film multiple episodes within a few days.

But I'm like, I would like, you know, episode 18 to be released before episode 16.

So then I just started saying, you know, welcome to our next podcast instead of saying the specific episode number.

So, you know, 100%.

I think that's probably what happened because I had some guests a few times that, oh man, this was important.

I want to bump it in front of, you know, we did event, you know, building towards events or something that were real time specific and had others recorded and scheduled.

And.

But, but it happens.

But.

And that's adaptability.

That's, that's what we have to have in what we do.

Yeah.

Which is a cool topic.

But so let's start with this.

I always like to get all of the guests on the show a little bit of a highlight reel.

How in the world did you get to where I heard.

Of course I've heard your story a couple times, but I know our guests haven't.

And in fact, you know, it's, it's really interesting to me how a lot of times in generally speaking there's all of home services.

However, so many times the three verticals that get really siloed away from the rest of home services are H vac, plumbing and electrical.

And for some reason it's its own little world.

And so I've made it a big mission to bring in people from outside of that space because there's so much to learn and So a lot of people in my community probably have never heard of Grassdale University or of you.

So I'd love to have a highlight reel of who you are, how you earned your right to be sitting in the seat, how you, you know, lead the organization, every bit of that.

So give us a snapshot, man.

How.

What's your history?

Like, how'd you get here?

Yeah, I appreciate that.

So my journey started back in 2010.

I actually went to a university here in Wisconsin, so I'm based out of Madison, Wisconsin, for those watching this that don't know.

And there was a Division 3 business school called UW Whitewater that I attended out of high school, and, like many college students, really had no idea what I was going to do after college.

I did go for entrepreneurship, which I highly recommend for anybody that's going to college because it gives you a lot of options, a lot of opportunities, just simply learning the general framework of how to write a business plan and financials and sales and marketing, stuff like that.

But there is this competition that UW Whitewater had every single year called the CEO Business Plan Competition, and that that stands for the Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization Business Plan Competition.

So out of 14,000 students, you're able to submit your business plan.

And it's kind of like Shark Tank in a way, where you work your way through different levels of this competition, and then the very end is where you're literally pitching and presenting your business idea in front of a panel of judges and potential investors.

Nice.

And this was actually the real deal.

These were real world experience.

And one thing I really discovered about myself in college, because, you know, I struggled all through high school.

I always joked about.

I said I was in the 50% of my class and made the top 50% possible, you know, not very good, like, at taking tests.

But in college, I really discovered that I had a knack for giving presentations.

I always excelled anytime we were doing, like, a group presentation or getting in front of people and just speaking.

And I never really knew that about myself until I went to college.

It was very interesting.

So I entered this business plan competition, and it was for a prototype demolition attachment called DDC's dismantler.

So a lot of people don't know this, but throughout my childhood, I was in demolition.

So my father owned a demolition company.

So literally, buildings down, I literally had a sledgehammer in my hand ever since I could walk.

That's why I got the big arms, you know?

But literally, I.

I grew up in the trades.

I grew up in construction.

I've had jobs from demolition to concrete masonry, roofing houses, siding houses, working for window companies.

You know, a lot of real like grunt work, bull work.

So I had that sounds like is banging on something in every single one of those positions.

Yeah, exactly.

Just smack, smack.

They all require a hammer of different sizes and shapes.

Right.

So anyway, I had that background.

So I actually invented a product with my dad called the Dismantler.

And it was essentially an attachment that mounts on the front of skid loaders like a Bobcat skid loader.

And you could basically do all phases of a demolition project without the use of hand tools.

So it dramatically improve safety and productivity while exponentially increasing profitability of an organization and obviously not having the risk of injury and all that stuff.

So I get up in front of all these bankers and investors and I had a really dialed in business plan and I give my master presentation.

So I took first place in the whole competition out of everyone in the university.

I got a $5,000 check and I got an automatic A in three of my classes, which means I didn't have to take the final exam.

So imagine my relief being enough to take the damn test.

Right.

Easy button.

Yeah.

And that's when I'm like, man, I think I got a knack for giving presentations.

I'm not sure how that's going to apply to my life, but that really solidified my belief that I can give a really good presentation.

So I graduated from college, still don't know what I want to do.

And it was my mother that suggested I look for a job to be an estimator for a construction company.

Because I had the background in the construction industry and the trades.

I had my business degree.

It's a way I can still be active in construction without doing the physical labor.

And the estimators.

These project estimators make pretty decent money.

So I went on the Google machine and started researching estimation jobs construction.

And I came across this ad on Craigslist.

And the, the hook on the ad here.

Yeah, it was, it was a rare opportunity.

That's what the ad said.

A rare opportunity.

I'm like, I'm looking for a rare opportunity.

So I look at the ad and is this ad posted by Mad City Roofing, siding and Windows.

People that don't know Mad City, I'll get to like who they are here in just a minute.

But I was reading this ad and it said in home presentations, I'm like, I can do that, I can give presentations, right?

And it said selling home improvement products like roofing, siding and Windows.

I'm like, I just, I've installed that stuff before.

I know how to do this.

Like, this is the two things coming together that I want to do.

Yeah.

And then I'm looking at the add.

It says you don't have to generate your own leads.

I'm like, well, that's pretty ideal because I don't know the first thing about that.

And then I look at the income potential.

It said you can make anywhere from 150 to 200,000 your first year.

And my job dropped.

I mean, coming fresh out of college, that seemed like a million dollars, 150 grand.

I didn't think it was real.

So naturally I call on the ad and I talked to this amazing woman named Liana, and arguably she is one of the most talented people on the phone I've ever had the privilege of talking to.

Like, when it came to selling Mad City, selling the dream, immediately I was just like, I have to work here.

So she set me up an interview with Nathan Richmond, who had just came to Mad City and brought with him the Grosso 10 step sales methodology.

And this was written by my mentor, Rick Grosso.

Okay, so those people watching this podcast, some may have heard of Rick Grasso, some may haven't.

But pretty much in the home improvement industry, you had Dave Yoho and Rick Grasso for decades as the dominant sales trainers and consultants in the industry.

And as a matter of fact, many of the largest companies in the industry today were influenced in one way or the other by either Dave Yoho or Rick Gro.

And when Nathan Richmond brought the Grosso 10 step sales methodology to Mad City, Mad City had just switched from being a storm restoration company, you know, chasing storms, bidding jobs for cost.

They were leaving estimates in the mailbox.

They were known as the low price competitor in town.

And as a result of that, they were $800,000 in debt, on the verge of going bankrupt.

So Nathan came and changed it all around.

Had to let go of much of the team and kind of rebuild and no longer focusing on order taking and selling on price.

We're going to talk about value.

We're going to sell premium products.

We're going to be known as the Rolls Royce, dealer of the home improvement space in this city.

So that was his mission.

Right?

And thankfully, I was one of his first hires.

So now I came into Mad City with zero sales experience.

No sales experience at all, Some would say.

I didn't know the first thing about closing.

I didn't know how to close the door with the wind behind me.

But I had this paint by number system.

So have you ever heard of a sales process being referred to as a paint by number system, Sam?

Absolutely.

Okay, so paint by numbers.

I don't know about you, but if you gave me a blank canvas and asked me to paint something on there, it would look horrendous.

Like a two year old just threw some paint at it and called her a day.

But my wife and I occasionally, it's something we enjoy doing.

We'll buy these paint by number systems and essentially gives you the canvas.

It gives you all the different sections on the canvas.

They're all clearly numbered and it matches the numbers of every paint swatch, every paint color.

So let's say I have a 10 step paint by number system.

I got 10 paint colors.

As long as I can follow basic instructions, I can create masterpieces.

Yeah, no doubt.

And this becomes replicatable and duplicatable even if I'm not a natural artist.

So that's exactly what the right sales process can do.

It can take somebody that's maybe not a natural born salesperson and it can show them the step by step proven way to create sales masterpieces.

So I get into training.

I started at Mad City.

This was about, I think it was May or June of 2010.

I started as an outside salesperson, learned this system having never done this before.

I ended up closing my first seven sales in a row, not having a clue what I was even doing.

And I was robotic to a fault.

Sam.

I was like, that was step one, the intro.

John and Mary let me go on to step two.

Now the needs assessment and or survey.

That's how I was talking in the house.

Oh, I love it.

You're literally reading the bullet, telling them the bullet points of each step.

Yep.

My transitions was literally telling him which step I just completed and what step was about to follow it.

I feel like there's a massive lesson here though.

Yeah.

But the thing is crazy, it was working.

So I closed my first seven sales in a row and I started to quantify immediately.

Like, holy Lord, I just made like $10,000.

What if I could do that every week?

What if I could do that all month long?

What if I could maintain?

I mean, I'm just started.

What if I could grow on this all year?

What would that look like?

So it became very clear to me early in my career that the life of freedom, abundance, fun and love, the life of prosperity that I could in this industry was very clear.

And it became an obsession early on.

And as a matter of fact, in My first six months, I ended up selling just shy of a million dollars right out of the gate.

I was the number one sales rep in the company, first multi million dollar sales producer for Mad City.

And basically my first three consecutive years was the number one salesperson in the organization.

But putting that aside, one thing that I had even greater passion for was teaching.

Even without being a leader, without being required to, I was constantly role playing with reps, taking them in the house with me because as I'm kicking butt and taking names, everyone's like, what are you doing?

What are you doing?

I'm like, did you read the damn training book?

I'm just, I'm just doing what I was training.

Yeah, to a fault, right?

So anyway, I love teaching and I found early on that I had a lot of passion and fulfillment for watching others succeed in achieving their goals.

So when an opportunity presented itself in 2012 for me to take over as a sales trainer, sales leader, it was a very smooth and easy transition.

It was something I couldn't, couldn't imagine in any other way.

So I got my hands on the steering wheel.

At that time, Mad City was about a $7 million company.

So by the way, in 2010, when I first got there, they're about a four and a half million dollar company.

We grew from 4.5 million to about 7 million in 2012.

From 2012 to 2019, we grew that sales team to over 100 million.

Yeah, I had 55 adult lead babies.

I mean, sales professionals that are closing.

We can totally talk about that too.

We go hard in the paint on that one.

Yeah, so I was running Wisconsin largest adult daycare center.

But yeah, we were closing cumulatively as a team, over 50%.

And it was one of the highest performing sales teams in the industry, certainly in the Midwest.

And we're shattering records left and right.

And throughout this journey, throughout my 10 year career at Mad City, I became very close to Rick.

And I made up my mind early in my career that I didn't just want to master his training and master his system.

I wanted to be Rick Gro.

I wanted to be a national trainer.

And I made sure each and every year going back from 2010 to 2019 that when he's ready to retire, I'm first in line to grab the baton.

Right.

I'm right behind him, ready to go.

And that opportunity presented itself in 2019.

Rick Grasso announced that he'd be doing his last ever Closers Camp.

And that was in Washington D.C.

i talked about Closers Camp at the beginning of this conversation.

So those of you that haven't been to Closers Camp, it's a sales training event, but it's actually a competition.

So you go to this sales training event competing for $5,000 cash.

Oh, nice.

And whoever wins, and you win by being punctual, being on time, you, by role playing, getting your assignments done, getting up in front of the audience and delivering the key scripts, participating, get physically and mentally involved, not being negative, being a positive influence on the event.

There's a lot of different ways you can earn points.

And essentially at the end, whoever wins is crowned Closers Camp Champion.

Now, Rick Grasso wasn't giving out the cash prizes at the time, but that trophy that I earned from being Closers Camp champion, it's still one of the things that means more to me than anything I've ever earned, Especially the last ever Closers Camp champion.

So I go there in 2019, I win closers Camp, the last Closers Camp ever.

And I had the opportunity to take Rick Grasso out to dinner that evening to celebrate.

And obviously my goal was not just to win Closers Camp, it was to let him know that I'm taking over his legacy.

Now, Rick Rosso always taught that we don't ask for the sale, we assume the sale as if they already said yes.

So obviously that's the way I was going to approach him.

Absolutely.

Taking over his legacy.

Legacy.

I said after I had some wine with the guy, got him feeling real good, I said, rick, I just want to let you know in person that the real reason I'm here is I just want to let you know I'm taking over your legacy.

And his response was, I couldn't think of anybody better.

That's awesome.

So that was the origin story of Garassa University.

And it was no question that I was going to name my company after Rick because it was his gift that changed my life.

Without Rick's mentorship, without his step selling system, I wouldn't have had any success in this industry.

I didn't know the first thing about selling, but it was his gift that I was able to master.

And now I'm going to pay that forward to as many people as humanly possible.

So beautiful.

Yeah.

And very cool.

Since 2019, I'm hell bent on creating the single most powerful sales training group in the industry.

And that's one thing I'm really proud of, is Grass University is not just the guy you see before you.

It's a whole team of world class trainers and coaches.

And we offer more than Just sales training.

So we have a whole team of elite consultants that can educate our marketing, sales, even the back end of the business, production operation.

Yeah, I love it.

I love it.

I've recently, somewhat recently stepped into that because, you know, it's interesting and I'm glad that you're doing that as well.

I realized about a year ago that the first handful of companies I really got out in was training.

It was awesome.

And the sales went up and everybody's crushing it.

But it became almost detrimental to these companies because we were now all of a sudden outpacing every single thing that the company could do.

And so we were booking jobs out weeks at these places, and homeowners are getting angry because the fulfillment can't keep up with it.

So they've done the same thing.

I've expanded into being able to help people with all elements of the company because, holy cow, it's gotta.

It's gotta work together as a team.

It's a machine.

Yeah, that's very much my journey as well.

It was out of necessity because I was constantly getting in front of sales teams where I'm getting them fired up, we're gonna go sell, and all of a sudden they're like, well, Dominic, we're getting like one lead a week right now.

Like, how are we supposed to get excited about closing more when we're not getting any opportunities?

Yeah.

I'm like, man, we got to figure out this marketing issue that's horrendous, you know?

And then the opposite, like you just said, happened, where they're like, dominic, how are we supposed to get excited about selling more when we're nine, 10 months out on installs?

Like, our backlog is so extreme.

Most of these people are canceling their orders post rescission because we can't even install what we're already selling.

So I'm like, wow, we got to figure out the back end too.

So it really is necessary that companies have tools and resources.

I always say, from phone call to install everywhere in between.

Because if you're focusing on just one pillar of a business that is detrimental to a company long term.

Yeah, no doubt.

So you said something a bit ago.

You're a master sales trainer.

You've got the incredible system.

And you said something a minute ago that I want to go back to about assuming the cell.

There's a lot of.

We know the statistics.

80% of salespeople don't ask for the sell at all.

But there's a fine line.

So not asking for the sell is not the same Thing as assuming the cell is actually asking for the cell just a different way.

So I'd love for you to unpack that for everybody list.

Sometimes what they hear is, oh, when you say it, assume the cell, that means I don't have to actually ask them.

Which couldn't be farther from the truth.

So talk to us about this a little bit because, yeah, this is something.

I absolutely love talking about because this one little tip alone can transform your closing percentage.

Okay, so now a hundred percent, I'm on board with what you're saying that most salespeople don't even try to close the sale.

So most salespeople get one objection and they leave.

Here's the bid.

Hero attempts.

Yeah, so that's your competition, which is funny because there's a trillion dollars a year spent on sales training.

A trillion dollars a year.

And out of all that money, like you said, 80% of people don't even attempt to close a sale one time.

So that's your competition.

That's good news for us, right?

Yeah.

That means there's a lot of abundance out there.

So now a lot of salespeople, though, are trained to always be asking for the business.

Always be asking.

Now, I agree that asking for the business is better than doing nothing.

Rick Grasso always instilled in me, though, that you never ask for the sale.

You assume the order.

Now, there's a very powerful psychological reason why that's important.

So when you're at the negotiating table and you're following the closing sequence and you ask the prospect for your business and a lot of salespeople, they'll even like timidly beat around the bush and ask for the order in a very soft tone.

And they're trying to do this because they don't want to come off as high pressure.

Correct.

Because they feel like if they're coming off too aggressive and assuming the order, they're going to create pressure.

Now, I want you to picture for a minute that you're at the negotiating table.

You're sitting across from John and Mary homeowner, and you have this 200 pound bag of sand.

And on that bag of sand it says the word decision on it when you ask the homeowner for their business.

So if I say, what do you think, Sam?

Could we earn your business and get you on a busy schedule?

That doesn't sound bad, right?

Sounds pretty simple.

Yeah, I'm basically taking that 200 pound bag of sand that says decision and I'm setting that on your lap now.

And now the entire weight of that decision is bearing down on you.

So a lot of salespeople, in an attempt to be non confrontational and bypass any pressure, are actually achieving the exact opposite and creating much more pressure by asking for the sale.

And if you study millions of sales encounters, salespeople that ask for the business on average are closed between 10 and 31%.

Now you can make a decent living asking for the sale.

I'm not.

There's people watching this that probably ask for the business and they're having reasonable levels of success.

No, no doubt.

But what I will tell you is keep all other things created equal.

Let's say you're doing exactly what you're doing.

Now, if you can switch your approach from asking for the business to assuming the sale, you can in some cases double your closing percentage.

Now what is the difference?

By assuming the sale, instead of saying what do you think, Sam?

Can we get you on a busy schedule after you've determined that the project is affordable?

The initial deposit is something within your budget, the monthly investment makes sense.

I don't ask your permission.

I say congratulations, I knew we can make this affordable.

Welcome to Gross University.

And the key is the handshake.

You shake their hand, smile, and this is a relaxed, assertive confidence.

So I want everyone to think about those three words.

You want to have a relaxed, assertive confidence when you go for the no long headed into objection.

Right.

But I'm going for the assumptive close.

And what this actually does, it bypasses the entire process of them having to make a decision and also as a result, bypasses any pressure that they could be feeling as a result.

And the more relaxed, assertive and confident I am when I go for the no, when I go for that assumptive close, the more relaxed and confident they will be shaking my hand and moving forward as if they've already said yes.

So to simplify all this as much as humanly possible, when you're at the negotiating table, you want to act and behave as if the close is a natural conclusion.

You want to act and behave that this is the way every single person buys.

Now, what does the study show salespeople that assume the sale, assuming all our things created equal close on average between 50 and 71% of the time.

Now Sam, I want to ask you, do you believe that most salespeople should have the mindset they're going to walk out earning that customer's business more often.

Than they're not 100% every single time?

Right.

So your prospects are not going to.

Objections every single Appointment, you, you pull around the corner, you set your timer and you visualize closing the sale.

Just like Tiger woods visualizes making the putt every time.

Yeah, life's a self fulfilling prophecy, right?

So whatever, you're the man.

The mind of man can conceive it and believe it will achieve, but you have to have that visualization for sure.

You got to see before it happens.

But I'm a firm believer that a salesperson should have the expectation they're going to close the sale and earn that prospect's business more often than they're not.

Especially because we have the advantage of going into every house with next level preparation and we know what objections are coming in advance.

Where a lot of salespeople drop the ball is when they're at the negotiating table, they get too timid and it's almost like they're asking permission.

Now what happens in any step of the sale when you ask permission?

Well, this is really a fun conversation because I teach a very permission based selling approach to a lot of things.

A lot of times, again, depending on what you're selling and how you're selling it.

But.

So the way I train it is when you ask the homeowner permission, you're essentially handing them a key to the getaway car.

And what I mean is, let's say I'm going to make an attempt to measure and inspect all the windows in the house.

Right.

One salesperson would say, sam, let me ask you a question.

Would it be okay if we measure and inspect all the windows in the house?

That's asking permission.

Now, I just gave them the opportunity to say.

Say what?

Well, no, you can't go into these rooms.

Yeah, well, no, let's just focus on the one or two windows that we called you out here for.

Right?

So as we're a sales professional, be like, here's what we're going to do and why.

So what I'm going to do as a free service to you, Sam, is measure and inspect all the windows in the house.

That way you have a precise investment on what the whole thing would run.

And the great news is, if we can earn your business on the windows that are most important to you, that allows me to put a price lock in the windows you're not doing.

Which with everything going on with inflation and tariffs and lord knows price increases, this is going to really protect you in case any of those windows give you trouble down the road.

Fair enough.

Fair enough.

So I'm not asking permission.

I'm assuming that part of the sale, assuming that Part of the inspection, I'm assuming throughout.

But you got to do it with a relaxed assertive confidence because you got to remind yourself these homeowners really don't know what they don't know and they don't necessarily know like what's best for them.

And there's going to be some incentives and some benefits and some more excitement and passion around you taking control.

You being the thermostat, not the thermometer.

Correct.

You being the agent of influence.

Influence in the direction of the sales encounter.

Yeah.

I think the one of the most important elements to this and there's a fine line between the relaxed assertive confidence and being overbearing and brow beating.

Correct.

That's why this is so crucial in this step.

Otherwise than that's where you slide into that pushy salesman that everybody hates and is going to kick out of the house.

Yeah.

So now I will say that assuming the sale has to make sense.

So now if you didn't earn the right to assume the order, it will not feel right.

And if it doesn't feel right, you shouldn't be doing it right.

So like for example, let's say I'm at financial terms and I'm basically asking you.

So let me ask you a question.

The initial deposit 10% and the monthly investment that seven year term that's completely affordable for you.

And you're like, no, it's not, Dominic.

Well, congratulations, welcome to Grass University.

That would.

Wait, I just told you it's not going to work.

And then also if I don't have a sales process that is intentionally built to proactively overcome the objections before they come up in the close, it's going to be a lot harder for me to assume the order because I know in the back of my mind any and all objections are still on the table.

So what's really important is that I have a sales process that gets out the procrastination, that proactively overcomes the price conditioning and the monetary objections that destroy Shop around and ideally isolate any and all objections down to affordability.

Not price, but affordability.

And that way when I solve the affordability issue in the close, I have every right at that point to assume the order.

But if I haven't accomplished those things, if I haven't checked those boxes along the way in the sales encounter, assuming the order is not going to come off, it's not going to make sense and it is going to feel very uncomfortable.

100 I love it.

Your tonality is key here.

Right.

So that's why I say a relaxed, assertive confidence.

So making sure that I have a very soft delivery.

I don't want to be too aggressive.

A lot of salespeople make the mistake of talking faster in the close than they did throughout the demo because they get nervous.

They get borderline confrontational.

Again, I'm smiling, right?

Nothing's a big deal.

It's almost like I'm going through this.

Like I could care less whether or not they buy from me.

That's kind of my demeanor.

Absolutely.

But I'm also assuming the order, as if this is the way everybody buys, as if this is, again, the natural conclusion to every sales encounter.

Oh, I love this.

When I was at the event in Boston, you mentioned this.

What I've trained for years is the minute the dollars come out, all of us, we've led the energy throughout the appointment.

We've gone through our discovery phase, and we've been in the negative and the points.

And then when we're painting the picture forward, we're positive.

And it was like, oh, here's what life is going to be like.

But the second the dollars come out, we go low and slow.

And it's funny because I'm, of course, from Texas.

I was like, has anybody ever smoked meat in here?

It's low and slow.

This is how.

The second the dollars come out, this is how you treat the clothes.

It's got to be low and slow.

And your attitude and tonality has to be.

It's no big deal.

Whatever comes up, your attitude and tonality is.

We'll figure it out.

No problem.

Yep, exactly.

The top closers get dramatically more patient when price is on the table versus throughout any point the sales encounter.

Whereas the norm is to get even faster.

So the norm is when price on the table.

I.

I always joke, I say you turn into Rambo, your machine gun closing.

Like, yeah, we feel like vomit.

All of the technical specs onto the people.

As if that's going to do the job now.

Yeah, exactly.

So trying to handle it reactively versus proactively and.

Yeah.

So that it's.

So it's a very sensitive moment because when you're at the negotiating table, when price is on the table, both the salesperson and the prospect are tiptoeing on the edge of fight or flight.

So it's very easy for a sales rep to get their fight or flight response activated.

If the customer objects to them aggressively say, no, no matter what you do, we're not buying tonight.

And all of a sudden, the sales rep feels threatened.

Their fight or flight Response gets activated and they just go brain dead.

And raise your hand if you've ever had that happen to you in the house.

I've had it happen, no doubt.

Total jerk.

The customer is having a bad hair day.

They come off super aggressive and all of a sudden like, it's like they hit you between the eyes with this really aggressive objection.

Now I'm in my fight or flight.

Now I'm basically useless.

The same thing with the customer.

It's very easy if the salesperson does not keep the right tonality, does not keep the right pacing, does not have the right patience and voice inflection.

If they don't do it slow and low like you were talking about, you can easily activate their fight or flight response.

And the second they feel threatened, like you're trying to strong arm them into a decision, it's over.

Because now they're brain dead as well.

They have the most brain fog and they can't think of anything more that they want in life than for you to get the hell out of their house.

Well, no wonder they say, hey, we're gonna have to think about it, because we just shut their ability to think right down right then.

Correct?

Absolutely.

Right now there is no clarity of thought because of how you navigated the closing sequence.

Now, to help with this, it's really important that let's say I delivered the total investment, I'm in the beginning stages of the negotiation, that I'm remaining in the if and when stage.

So it's one thing we train extensively at Grass University.

When I'm first trying to talk about financial terms and how they're going to move forward with this project and talking about personal things when it comes to their finances and money.

I want to avoid making him feel and believe that we're closing them right now.

We call our system a velvet hammer.

So we don't telegraph the punch, we don't telegraph the clothes.

We essentially blindside them with the clothes after we've already gathered the information and funnel it down to affordability is the only thing.

Staying away and determined that it is affordable.

But if I'm in the if and when stage, if the homeowner feels and believe that the conversation we're having is just to for their future consideration, they see no harm in giving you honest answers.

So a lot of sales reps, a lot of amateurs, they'll be like, so if you were to move forward in the project today, how would you handle it?

And they just heard that word today.

Now that triggers a fight or flight response.

They're like whoa, whoa, whoa.

Today like you said, the total investment is good for 30 days.

And now they feel like they're strong armed into a decision versus saying if and when you were to move forward the project like this, how would you handle it?

Is this something you do as a cash investment check or credit card or like most of our customers, some you'd handle on a monthly investment or budget plan.

So if and when for their future consideration and let's say they say, oh, we have to finance it.

Great.

Since I'm here anyway, almost like before I leave, let me just show you a few of the most popular options.

Just let me know which one works best for you.

Fair enough.

So completely non confrontation confrontational.

No pressure, no problem.

So Rick Ross always said when you're at the close, pretend you're going to Jamaica.

It's like no pressure, no problem man, just chill.

That's a great mnemonic device to remember that.

Yeah, exactly.

So because sales is a transference of emotion and you've done the research, you know, there's so many studies that show the prospect's heart rate and their emotion that they feel will actually mimic the salesperson's.

So if my heart rate increases, I'm starting to feel anxiety.

I'm getting uncomfortable.

You're never going to have success doing that.

And if you do, they're probably going to cancel because they're feeling that same level of discomfort as a result of that.

You know, it's funny that you mentioned.

It's not funny.

There's no such thing as coincidence.

I just yesterday released episode nine of a nine part series that I just did on leading the energy of a sales appointment.

How to set the container, how to recognize third level listening in the energy.

And we talked very deeply in that series about mirror neurons, which is that our nervous system and how our nervous system leads their nervous system.

So we have to be the calm in their chaos.

So which allows those yeses and those decisions to appear because they don't feel pressure.

We're, we're, we're, we're the ones holding the anchor in the calmness.

So it allows them to kind of rest into it.

So I, I love that you said that because it absolutely matches, you know what the path that I've been on lately.

And for everybody listening, we, we did not coordinate this before we hopped on this episode.

It's just, you know, it's just top level, top level performers think very similarly because we found what works.

Yeah.

Rick always said when you go into a house, you gotta Be the thermostat, not the thermometer.

So which means you control and regulate the environment.

The homeowner is responding to what you're doing, not the other way around.

Yeah.

And nowadays they would talk about having high levels of emotional intelligence and being able to control your disruptive emotions and not be so easily thrown off or turned off by the homeowner.

And having your disruptive emotions completely squash the entire sales encounter, which is very easy to do.

And I've had it happen to me.

I actually had a sales rep, just as a story here, that was a $3 million producer, consistent, top performer, super profitable, and went into this slump, which happens to the best of us.

You know, sometimes we have a week where we're just off our game, and that's why it's great, Right?

You always have a chance to.

To turn it around.

Right.

You always have a second chance.

But the sales rep calls me on the phone because this salesperson had a daily sense of urgency about his numbers.

And he's just screaming on the phone how pissed off he is.

He doesn't know what the hell's going on.

And you could just feel the anger over the phone.

Okay?

And I knew the salesperson knew the system forwards and backwards, didn't need any coaching on what to say.

But clearly the salesperson start to lose control over their disruptive emotions.

Sure.

So I asked that salesperson, so I guarantee you're saying the right things.

But let me ask you, for the last few days, when the homeowner tells you no or objects to you, what are you feeling?

Are you getting pissed?

You getting angry?

You getting mad?

Because it keeps leading to a dead end in the sale.

He's like, yeah, I'm pissed.

I'm like, that is a hundred percent your problem.

You could be saying all the right things.

You can even think that, you know, you're coming off velvety smooth, and you have the right patience.

But deep down, if you're angry, you are transferring that negative energy, that aggression to your customer, and you're kicking them into fight or flight, and the deal is over.

As soon as you activate their fight or flight response, as soon as they feel threatened, it's over.

So you gotta calm down.

So next time the customer objects, take a deep breath, right?

Nothing's a big deal.

Pause for a few seconds, then respond first.

Getting control of your disruptive emotions, I guarantee that alone can turn you around.

So naturally, the sales rep goes in, they close their next sale, they get back on track.

Now they're feeling all good because when you're hot, you're hot.

When you're not, best time to make a sell is when.

Yeah, right after a sale.

So after that positive momentum.

Right.

So, yeah, so that's absolutely key in sales.

Now, this is why having scripted performances is so crucial though, or at least having a roadmap to follow in a sales encounter is so vital because it's absolutely impossible for a salesperson to think about what they're supposed to say when they're supposed to say it, and simultaneously control their disruptive emotions.

They can't do both this.

It's actually impossible for a sales rep to think about what they're supposed to say when they're supposed to say it and simultaneously actually listen.

Right.

So if I truly want to listen, instead of waiting for my turn to talk and shut off that talking robot.

That monologue, to understand, not listen, to respond.

Yeah, exactly.

I need to really master this stuff and get to the point where I don't have to think about what I'm supposed to say and when I'm supposed to say it.

Then you go into every sales encounter like a well trained chess player.

Right.

So I'm at the negotiating table, I'm five, six moves ahead.

So I do step one, I make my first move, the customer makes their move.

No sweat.

I already know where I'm going next anyway.

Why would I get upset?

And as it turns out, that sales rep that I was talking to that was losing control over their anger, he happened to be a really good chess player.

And that was the analogy I used.

I said, when you play chess with somebody and they make their move, do you get pissed or do you have no reason to get upset because you know where you're going next?

And even beyond that, you know where your next five moves are.

So you have no reason to ever lose control of your emotions.

Right?

Yeah.

No different.

When you learn the roadmap to the sale, this is why you should expect that you're going to come out with a sale more often than not because the homeowner is not sitting there role playing right now and how to not buy from you.

And you are that chess player that has the strategy in advance, has the game planned out the roadmap to the sale in advance.

As long as you can keep control over your emotions and you can really, truly listen to them, make them feel special, you're going to come out with the outcome you desire more often than not.

Beautiful.

This is such good stuff, man.

There's so much that I want to unpack with you and we don't have the time for it.

But let's talk about this.

When you're taking people from the average to the exceptional, there's some mental shifts that have to happen there.

There's some mindset things.

Resetting 1.

Reset.

You talk about being the thermostat, not the thermometer.

We have to help them reset their own internal thermostat of who they believe they are.

As far as I am a 30% closer.

I am a 40% closer.

So their belief system has to change so their outcomes line up with that.

How do you help people walk through that phase?

Because I know there's, of course, plenty of people listening at every different phase of that.

And no matter where we are, we can always adjust higher and higher and higher.

So I'd love for you to unpack this a little bit, because this is one of the most crucial steps in.

In growth and becoming a top performer.

Yeah, 100%.

Are you familiar with seating and layering a bit?

Yeah.

So doubt that a lot of people listening are, though.

Yeah.

So we're all creatures of habit.

We're creatures of repetition, and the repetitive content we're exposed to in the world actually controls and dictates our.

Our beliefs and our behaviors.

Okay.

So we wonder, like, why do we have the behaviors that we do?

Well, we like to think that we're in control over our behavior, but we're in less control over our behavior than we think and our beliefs.

A lot of that stuff has been programmed into us through repetition.

Okay.

It could be what you see in the movies, what you see in the media, what you see on social media.

Whatever it is, whatever I allow myself to be exposed to on a repetitive basis will ultimately control my beliefs and my behaviors.

So now, seeding and layering is simply when you plant a thought or idea in a prospect's mind, then through constant reinforcement and repetition, you allow that thought to nurture and grow into belief.

Because ultimately, if I'm going to have success in sales, I need to be able to reprogram a person's belief system.

Now we have to do the same thing as sales leaders and owners of our team as well.

We have to reprogram their belief system.

Because every person has a tendency to sell themselves short.

I say the first, most important sale you have to make is selling yourself to yourself.

So now, for me, this started the second I had him in my office for an interview.

The second I had any salesperson in my office for an interview, I let them know that it's, on average, when People come into our organization because we are an all star sales team.

We are a high performance sales organization that just so happens to do windows and roofing and siding.

Okay.

And on average when people come into this organization, they not only double their income potential that they did in their previous sales job, but they also double their closing percentage on average.

That is our expectation here.

And I say that right away.

So that was the seed, the thought I plant right away.

And of course I was always like, you're twice as good as you think you are.

And that's only half the truth.

Much of my sales training was mindset motivation, how to shatter these program paradigms and self limiting beliefs and scarcity mindset that we all have.

Because people are terrified to be successful in this country.

Absolutely terrified.

They're actually scared to make money.

And you wonder why?

Like why are we scared to make money?

Well, because human beings are pack animals.

We find safety in what we think or perceive the bigger herd is thinking, saying or doing.

And if you think about it, how many, what percentage of the population is making over $200,000 a year?

Oh, it's tiny.

So simply by doing that, by basically increasing your self worth to be like I can make $200,000 or more a year, multiple six figures.

That's a lonely place to be because a very small percentage of the population is there.

Now it's even more lonely to be highly successful financially and also physically healthy.

No doubt.

I wanted to ask you this question.

Okay.

What percentage of the population do you think makes over a million dollars a year and also lives a healthy lifestyle?

What percentage of the population?

Oh, so I do know the statistic around.

Been hanging out, did some stuff with Shawn Michael Crane.

So I know the statistic on visible abs in Men is 1 in 25,000.

Yep.

So that's a pretty tiny percentage there.

To get those two things together, I would say God, maybe a hundredth of a percent.

Yeah.

So this isn't just like six pack abs, but they're saying like they live a healthy lifestyle, they're physically well, they eat right.

They, they don't get into like all the, the poisons and stuff like that.

Now I will tell you that the more that we get into those levels, the, it's more common in the circles of the people that you run with at that level because you just attract each other to each other because.

Correct.

So few and far between.

Exactly.

So like the population, the percentage of the population that's healthy and also makes over a million dollars a year is 0.24%.

So it's one out of every 400 people.

So that's a very lonely place to be.

So that terrifies people.

That's why a lot of times when people start making money, they also destroy themselves physically because they have to balance it out somewhere because their self limiting beliefs, their thermostat that they have is like, well, I can make a lot of money but I'm going to still average by kicking the out of myself.

Yeah.

Physically.

Right.

So long story short is I repeat these things over and over throughout the training.

That multiple six figures is the minimum.

Multiple six figures is the minimum.

50 closing is the average.

Over and over.

I'll say it hundreds of times throughout the entire onboarding and training experience.

In every sales meeting we're repeating it.

We're showing the reps that are actually achieving this.

Because when they see it, they believe it.

Right.

Seeing is believing.

And then essentially by the end of the sales training, they actually have a newfound belief system, a new sense of belief in themselves that they never had before.

Especially when you pour it all out in the field and give them this gift of this world class training experience.

You pour in all this mindset, this inspiration, this motivation.

You repeat the stuff over and over.

They come out of training feeling and believing and 100 confident in the fact that they can make 2, 3, $400,000 a year.

But you have to repeat this stuff.

It has to become part of the culture.

It has to be intentional, just like seating and layering is in a sales encounter.

Because repetition is really the key to anybody forming any new belief system.

Yeah.

It doesn't just happen overnight.

And then when they start seeing other people in their organization achieving those things, you're going to run proportionate to the pace horses right now.

It becomes normal rise to the people around us.

Yeah, exactly.

Jim Rohn always said we're the average of the closest five people in our lives.

Oh, 100%.

But people, you just have to understand that most people in this country are absolutely terrified of being successful because they're stepping outside the pack.

They're stepping outside with the greater herd is thinking, singer doing.

And the subconscious mind will tabulate that as a dangerous place to be.

They want your, your mind is designed for security and safety.

Right.

It wants to keep you safe.

And it's not a defect, it's not a malfunction.

This is how, you know, human beings have been able to survive for so long.

You know, think of a pack of wolves, right.

If I'm getting attacked, if, if I'm a Pack of wolves is getting attacked by a lion or something like that or something.

A bear.

I have more safety in the middle of the herd than I do around the perimeter, or I have more safety within the middle of the herd than I do if I'm a lone wolf out there by myself.

Yeah, no doubt.

So that's how we're programmed to be.

But you got to understand that once you step out, it is going to be scary.

It is going to be uncomfortable.

But now, slowly but surely, after a brief amount of growing pains, you're going to assemble a new pack of high performers.

Yeah.

That, you know, think, feel, and believe the way you do, that have, you know, that don't have the same, you know, scarcity mentality and poverty of the mind.

And now you can all grow together.

So that you talked about.

You could become the average of the top five people you spend the most time with.

Everybody watching this, you have to be honest with yourself when it comes to this question.

Is my circle of friends and the people I associate with on a regular basis, are they motivating me and inspiring me to be better?

Are the people that are giving me advice and telling me how to live my life, are they living the life and achieving the goals that I see for myself?

Right.

So you got to be really careful, because if the answer to that is no, if they don't motivate you, if they don't uplift you, encourage you and inspire you, because they also get terrified when they see somebody within their pack stepping outside the pack.

They're like, no, it's dangerous out there.

Come back and be average with us.

Crabs in the bucket.

Exactly.

Pulling you back down.

So you got to understand that that will happen.

So if you do want to, you know, get to performance and success and income levels you've never seen before, you have to understand that temporarily, it will be a lonely road, and your subconscious mind will be battling you the entire time.

But the cool thing is, the more you listen to podcasts like this, the more you start educating yourself, exposing yourself to repetitive content that gets you to think bigger.

Believe in yourself in ways you've never believed before, listening to people that have achieved greatness, your.

Your mind can't tell the difference between real and imagined experiences.

Right.

So if I keep exposing myself to repetitive content from people that have achieved greatness and live, you know, essentially achieve the level of success that I see for myself over time, I will transform myself into that individual.

I will realize that same level of success.

But I do have to refuse any circumstance that can pull me the other way.

It's just like the book think and grow rich, right?

So if I truly want to achieve abundance of prosperity in life, I got to refuse to accept any circumstance that can pull, pull me towards the direction of poverty and misery.

Because they go in opposing directions.

Yeah, let go of old things.

It doesn't just add, add, add.

This is why, you know, some people talk about balance in life and, you know, balance is kind of a myth because sometimes by trying to balance everything, you know, balance being with the successful and the average and balance being around the positive, the negative, you go nowhere.

So you really got to commit, like, what is the, the best area to focus all my energy and really commit to that one area and excel.

Master it.

The good news is there's millions and millions of successful people out there.

And you know, they say if you want to hide the secret to the world, just put it in a library.

No one will find it there.

No doubt.

But realistically, you know, people gotta.

So I was doing some research on this too.

The average person watches two and a half hours of TV every day.

So what if, just, what if you could reduce that to an hour and a half a day and spend an hour reading a book that's actually going to benefit you?

Wow, what a difference.

Yeah, what a difference.

Also, the average person spends two hours scrolling through social media every day.

So that's like four and a half hours of time.

And what is that really doing to grow and develop you?

Maybe there's some stuff you see on social media, some motivational figure, whatever, but most of it is just a waste of life.

It's a waste of time.

No doubt.

So little things, you know, little bit of education each day will snowball and compound and take you to places you can't even imagine.

This is good.

Yeah.

So long story short, on the whole thing, like, if I want to create a team of sales warriors and killers, I have to lead by example.

And I actually use sales strategies like seating and layering to accomplish that.

So this is why it's not sales skill.

It's a leadership skill too.

Oh, no doubt.

Yeah.

So absolutely, when we're bringing teams in and, and having the ideas and, and like moving the direction of a team, that absolutely is imperative to do that.

Man, this is so good.

I feel like there's.

There's so much I wanted to say.

It's funny, Sam, almost every salesperson, though, that came in and I said the following quote, that almost everybody, because I'm using social approved bandwagon type language, Right.

I said almost everybody that comes in here their first year, they double their income from the previous sales position.

And guess what happened almost every single time.

I'm sure they did.

They almost doubled their income every single.

Some people more than doubled it.

But they.

They held that idea in their mind and it was like, seared into their subconscious.

And of course, I repeat that over all, all the time, but it almost happened every single time.

And I got salespeople that will, even to this day, they'll follow up with me and just tell me how much that just changed their life, getting them to believe in themselves in ways they haven't before.

So I love it.

Well, you're setting the expectation of what we expect as well as what you can expect for yourself.

And of course, there's a whole nother conversation we could have about the NLP side of that.

Oh, yeah, because you're just programming their brain of what the new thought and the new idea is.

Correct?

That's what it's all about.

As leaders, we gotta lead by example, too.

So, you know, if I'm demanding that I have a team of sales warriors that are working hard and physically fit and, you know, ready to chew through walls to dominate the competition, and I'm sitting there, out of shape, low energy, twiddling my thumbs behind a desk, putting the boat in the water three days out of the week, no doubt it's never going to happen.

So I always think it's comical when people get into a leadership role hoping and praying that they're going to work less than they did as a salesperson.

And that's just not the reality.

So you not only have your personal responsibility in your life, but now you have the whole team.

I mean, it's a upside down triangle.

You're lifting and supporting your entire team, and that's with you rolling up your sleeves, getting in the trenches, and doing whatever it takes to support your team to generate results, not behind it.

Oh, no doubt.

Oh, so good.

So we're gonna have to do a whole nother episode and, like, just make it a role play episode or something, because I'd love to have you demonstrate a bunch of techniques and objections and stuff for people, but we don't have time on this episode.

What I do want to do, I know that you guys, you announced it at the event that I was at.

I would love for you to take a couple minutes and cover what you've done with Wynn in the Spanish portion of your program, because I don't have that.

And so for everybody listening, what you're about to hear if learning in Spanish is better for you.

I 100% recommend you to get in touch with Dominic in Grasso University for this.

So tell us about it, man, because I'm so excited that you've done this.

Yeah.

This journey for me goes back to 2018.

So I had this gentleman that I trained.

His name was John Duarte, and he was from Honduras, and English was a second language.

Now, when this guy came in for the interview, he was probably the last person that people would have hired.

He had broken English, didn't know anything about construction, didn't know how to read a tape measure.

Never did in home selling before in his life.

And at the time, he was working at US Cellular, selling cell phones, making about 40 grand a year.

You can feel, though, occasionally when somebody has that eye of the tiger, when they have, like, this really deep, like, you know, that killer instinct where they want to achieve greatness, they really want it.

It's just no one gave them a fair shot at achieving it.

Right?

Yeah.

They're hungry.

They're hungry.

Yeah, absolutely.

So this guy had the eye of the tiger, but I knew it was going to be a project.

Okay.

Now, it wasn't just a project for me, it was a project for him because in order for him to go through this training, he had to hear me train it in English, go back home, translate everything he learned into Spanish, and then relearn it again into English.

So it makes sense to him.

Wow.

Because when you say things in Spanish, it's not like you can go on Google Translate and be like, hey, translate this into Spanish.

Like, no, culturally and contextually, like, you got to translate it completely different.

Like, you got to say the word, like, the sentences, the phrases, the one liners, the stories.

Like, everything's totally different.

Oh, yeah.

The language pattern is built completely opposite and.

And like the idioms, everything's so much different.

Yeah, exactly.

And this is why it's crazy to say that in 2025, this has never been done before in our industry, that someone offered a bilingual sales training platform.

But in 2018, when I went through this experience with him, I said, man, this is highly unfair.

Like, if this guy had the opportunity to learn in his native language from day one, it'd be game over.

So, but just to fast forward, even with all odds against him, his first year, he sold three and a half million dollars in home improvements and made $380,000.

So he went from making 40 grand to 380, and it changed his life and his family's life in ways you can't even imagine.

Yeah.

And he ended up being one of the top performers in the company year after year.

And you want to talk about someone that's grateful and hard working and never complained, I'm like, man, if I could just have a hundred of those guys, but give them the training from day one that they deserve, that would be a game changer.

Okay, so that's when that.

That first got ignited in me.

Now I founded grass University in 2019.

I met this wonderful woman named Wendy Harmeyer in 2021 at our Nashville Closers camp.

All right, and this is a big event.

We had Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall street there.

We had a huge production, very high energy.

And Wendy, if she ever attends an event, you're going to know she's there.

She makes sure you know she's there.

She's not afraid to get up in your face and make herself known.

So I got to know her pretty well at that event.

And then she became a client of Gross University for years.

And we did some amazing things with her and her husband's business.

They actually own a Universal Windows direct out of Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio.

And after working with me, we had many conversations about how it would be wonderful if we could offer our training in Spanish.

And Wendy's from Ecuador.

She's fully bilingual, actually trilingual.

She knows Spanish and Portuguese fluently.

And.

And I think it was in 2022, for the first time, she's like, well, why don't I just translate your book for you?

That way you can offer it in Spanish.

I'm like, you would do that?

She's like, yeah, I'd love to.

And I'm like, okay.

I mean, if you want to do that, that sounds great.

And I thought she was blowing smoke.

I'm like, you know, like, she's really going to translate my book.

Yeah, I swear it was in record time.

It was like three weeks later.

She comes to me with this 170 page, fully translated grass University Bible, then home song.

I'm like, my jaw just dropped.

I'm like, oh, my God.

Beautiful.

And not just translated, like, all the acronyms and all the analogies and the stories.

Like, everything was translated in the right context, so it's culturally fit, suitable, you know?

Yeah.

And she was breaking it all down.

I'm like, this is incredible.

So actually, three years ago, Wendy and I did a webinar announcing the first Spanish sales training platform in the home improvement industry.

And three years ago, it fell on deaf ears.

Nobody cared which is crazy to say, right?

Nobody cared.

Yeah.

I'm happy to say now people do care.

And there's millions and millions of dollars getting invested to support the Latino community and the Spanish speaking population.

And we have been forging some partnerships with companies like SRS and Owens Corning and several finance companies, stuff like that.

And it got to the point where now the industry is going full speed ahead at providing services and resources for this demographic that's been underserved for far too long.

Yeah, agreed.

And it was enough where Wendy actually stepped down as part owner of Universal Windows and went all in as our Spanish development and sales training director at Grouse University.

Beautiful.

So she not only translated the book, we have a whole online training platform, all the video modules to support it.

She does a monthly sales academy masterclass where basically every single month people from all over the country can get trained virtually live basically going through our entire sales methodology.

They get tested and certified, which people really love is fluent in the Grasso system and it's 100% in Spanish.

As a matter of fact, our closers camp that we have coming up July 7th, 8th and 9th is the first bilingual sales training event in history.

Setting, man, talk about raising the standard.

I love this so much and I'm.

I'm grateful to you and the commend.

Commend you man, that that is such a huge step and I agree.

It's so needed in our.

Just where we're at in our, in our society.

And it blows my mind.

Why has no one ever done this?

It's.

There's a million reasons.

Of course there, there's good ones and bad ones.

They were doing.

They're doing good enough and we all know the good's going to be enemy of gray.

Right.

They're doing good enough by neglecting this segment of the population.

But as we're seeing it now, there's a big tide shifting and these Latinos, the Spanish speaking professionals, they no longer just want to be subs anymore.

They want to be business professionals.

They want to have a fair shot to run a successful and profitable business the way everybody else does.

Yeah.

So they're demanding the hunger that we see for sales training and business development training and marketing training like professional high level coaching in the Spanish market is unlike anything I've ever seen.

People are literally, if you, if you host an in person event and you promote it to the Latino population, people drive across the country to attend this like they don't care, like whatever it takes.

Like I need to know this stuff because I'm done being a sub for somebody else.

Yeah.

Tired of playing small.

Yeah.

Because you look at 20% of our population is Latino.

I don't know if you know this, but the Spanish population in our country is the fifth highest GDP of any country in the world.

Just the Spanish population in this country represents the fifth highest GDP of any country in the world.

That is incredible.

So now what percentage of this industry is influenced by the Spanish population?

Oh, it's way higher than 20%.

Yeah.

So all we're doing is giving them the opportunity to learn how to run a professional business in their native language.

It's really simple, but it hasn't been done before.

And we're really, really honored to be the first.

And we're expecting that we're going to start seeing more training groups doing this and we hope that they do because we can't serve everybody.

It's an industry of abundance and a lot of people need help.

But yeah.

So I would announce that if anybody wants high level professional training, coaching, consulting in Spanish, in English, bilingual, whatever your preference is, we, we definitely offer that solution at Grass University.

I love it and I fully, fully support it.

I, I have this abundance mentality that, you know, there's so many people that need help.

You can multiply us by 10 and, and there still wouldn't be enough of us, enough of our companies and, and staff.

I agree.

Collaboration is very, very powerful in this industry.

And I'm all about working together with other trainers like yourself.

Obviously we have Doug Wyatt, a mutual friend.

Yeah, yeah.

Respect for what he's doing.

I think we can do a lot more working together to serve this industry than going against each other.

No doubt, no doubt.

Especially when we have so many similar philosophies and, you know, doing things ethically, doing things correctly, doing things how to go.

We had to go back the right way.

So talk to us a little bit about your closers cap.

Promote that for a second because I know it would, you know, a lot of people in the, in the organization.

Of course it's right in the middle of summer for air conditioning season.

However, there's never a bad time to sharpen the ax.

So.

Yeah, tell us about it.

Yeah.

So Closers camp is hosted in my home city, Madison, Wisconsin.

It's at this beautiful venue called the Monona Terrace.

This is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed venue, which is crazy.

He's one of the most famous architects in the history of humanity and he actually designed this venue before he actually passed away, before it actually got built.

So he designed it.

They Built it after he passed, but it's right on Lake Monona.

It's by downtown Madison, by the state capitol.

If you've ever been in Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin, it's absolutely incredible.

And Closers Camp is a sales training competition where salespeople from all over the country come to put their skills to the test against the top sales warriors in the business.

And we're literally there.

We're going to be putting $5,000 cash on the line for whoever can come in there and absolutely dominate.

And in order to win Closers Camp, you have to be willing to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

We definitely make them work for it.

But it's combination of several things.

As I mentioned, there's all kinds of activities we get involved in.

Role playing exercises for homework assignments every single day, Opportunities for them to get up on stage and go through the different scripts.

There's a final exam and it's two parts.

It's a digital exam.

But also we leverage AI to make sure that they have script adherence.

So we actually use it to grade and score their proficiency in the system.

Nice.

So they can actually graduate as a Grasso certified Sales Warrior, which people put that on your resume as a badge of honor.

It's definitely carries a lot of weight in the industry.

But we designed Closers Camp as three events in one.

So we have the English sales training ballroom or the English sales training track.

We have the Spanish sales training track and we expect people will actually probably be bouncing for back and forth from the English to the Spanish.

But then we also have the Profits for Sanity breakout session.

And that's where sales leaders, owners, executives, CEOs will basically go for two days during the Closers camp to learn how to grow and scale a profitable business from top to bottom.

So we got guys like Brian Gottlieb, I got Chad Holman, I got some amazing owners and executives and business professionals that are gonna be sharing the blueprint on how to grow and scale a profitable business from top to bottom for sales, marketing, production and operations.

So.

So if you're definitely looking in for your sales team or you as a business leader to receive legendary training for the modern world, Closers Camp will have something for everybody.

Love it.

How do they.

Where, where do they go to get tickets and find out more about, you.

Can go to grassuniversity.com we got the events tab.

There you'll see Closers Camp and from there you can go ahead and reserve your tickets.

We have the owner's level ticket, we have the Sales Warrior ticket.

And then we also have a virtual option if people don't have the means to travel.

They can experience closers camp virtually beautiful.

And for everybody listening, I'll make sure that that link is in the show notes so we'll make sure to get it.

And it's G R O S S O.

Everybody listening.

If you're, if you're only hearing it.

On audio, it's not grosso.

It's grosso.

I love it, man.

Man, I commend you for what you're doing.

I, you know, when I heard you heard for the first time about the Spanish a year ago.

That's.

And I agree it's, it's in my hopper for when I'm hit the place to be able to start translating things into Spanish and have, have that as well.

Because I, I agree there's, it's so needed and it just blew my mind.

I was like, well duh, why, why don't we do this in multiple languages?

Yeah.

I got really blessed with Wendy because she was a student of Rick Grasso before I actually met her because she's part of the universal Windows Direct network and that was founded by Bill Barr.

So Bill Barr was a student of Rick Grasso and he created this A to Z sales system that was built off of the Grasso step selling sales process.

Yeah.

And Wendy had been actually mastering that for six years before I even met her.

And not only was she mastering the sales side, but you know, with her and her husband owning the business, she learned about marketing and she learned about the back end and you know, how to read a P L and CRMs and everything, you know, involved in the business.

So to find somebody that's fully bilingual, that understands the industry to the depths that she does, that has a genuine passion for teaching like I do, it's definitely rare and this is probably why it hasn't happened yet.

But it's hard to find that person.

But when they exist, you got to give them the platform and the opportunity to shine.

So that's all I'm doing.

Absolutely.

Well, you attract, you attract who you are.

You attract like minded people into your circle.

When you become the target, not the arrow, it's incredible what happens.

Yeah, absolutely.

Couldn't agree more.

Well, cool, man.

Well, it is time to land this plane and if so, I'd love to give you one for everybody.

Go to Grassley University, check out all of their products.

Check out.

There's so many opportunities to learn this process at some point.

For everybody listening.

I will be attending a closers camp because I'M constant lifelong.

When you choose to be a lifelong learner, you can learn from everybody, which is awesome.

So always be sharpening your ax.

Now.

I'd love for you to give, you know, give a few.

What do you want to say to everybody?

If you could sum everything up into a couple things to really help them immediately, actionably be able to make some changes in their life, what would that sound like?

Yeah.

So your health is your wealth.

So I would say paramount ahead of anything else in your life is get optimal physically.

Because if you're not optimal physically, you will not be able to function to your best mentally, which means you won't be able to serve those people that desperately need your help to your fullest capacity.

So I always say, love yourself first.

Optimize yourself physically and mentally, and then everything else you're trying to do is going to be profoundly impacted as a result of that, because you sell proportion to how you feel.

If I'm functioning at my optimal, if I'm healthy, if I'm crisp, I'm clear, I'm sharp, I go into that house radiating that positive energy that alone is going to take your career to place you've never been.

So make your health a top priority.

You know, wealth does not equate to health.

Your health is your wealth.

That's the most important thing we have, because none of us want to be the richest person in the graveyard.

And as much mindset training as you can possibly take, that's great.

But if physically your body is dysfunctional, that mindset training is only going to go so far because everything's connected to how healthy you are internally.

So if my body is functioning optimally, all the mindset stuff that I'm doing is going to be much more profound and much more powerful.

And I'm going to be able to go into every house radiating confidence and joy and energy and enthusiasm.

I'm going to have quicker reflex responses.

I'm going to attract a, you know, a different level of vibration as a result.

So that'd be my biggest tip, is put your health and wellness first.

And this is why I personally created step one of our sales process being preparation.

And much of preparation has to do with your morning routine.

How to get prepared for a day of Lee running.

Invest in yourself first.

Love yourself first, so then you have enough love and energy to give to the rest of the world.

So beautiful.

Thank you so much for that.

It absolutely aligns with the message here at close it now.

When we work harder on ourselves than we do in our business, then the business follows because we can never, our business can never outgrow who we are as a person, as the law of the lid, as John Maxwell would say.

Absolutely.

Well, thanks for being on, man.

It has been a pleasure to have you on the show.

I'm excited about everything that you're doing and yeah, 100% can see we need to team up on some stuff because there's so much that we could accomplish together that could be super awesome.

Absolutely.

Well, I appreciate the opportunity to be on your show and congrats everything you're doing and I'm definitely 100% open minded to ways to work together.

So love it, man.

Love it.

We'll the next event that's coming up, we'll be in touch for sure.

Good stuff.

So we're going to end this the way we always do.

Everybody.

Thanks for being on.

Dominic, make sure to go check out Grasso University, everyone.

It is next level training that will, no matter where you are, it will get you to the next level even beyond what you think is possible.

So highly support it, highly recommend it.

There's so many good, good programs out there and this is the pinnacle of what is, what is good, what is exceptional.

It is great.

It's not just good, it is exceptional.

So thanks for being on.

For everybody listening, you know how we do this.

Go be someone worth buying from.

You've been listening to the Close it now podcast.

Our passion is to dive head first into the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H Vac and home improvement and at the same time covering fitness, nutrition, relationships and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all.

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