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.

Welcome back, welcome back.

It is the Close it now podcast.

Your cells training for solar and H Vac.

Today we have a topic which is actually gonna blend the two because that's a huge push.

If you've noticed the Electrify Everything movement, there is obviously a move to electrify everything, which is awesome because that means we can sell more equipment, we can make more money, we can help more people, we can help more people save.

I'm so excited about it.

And with the blooming industry of solar, if you haven't looked into adding it into your H Vac business yet, I highly recommend it.

I highly recommend, definitely taking a look or at least finding someone to partner with that you can trade referrals back and forth because it is where the nation is going, it is where the country is going.

It's such a hot button right now for homeowners because of awareness, because we just are passing the early adoption curve.

So that's where it's headed.

So today I know a lot of you, your companies are starting to roll solar into your company's offering.

So in the future episodes, in the future months and years, we're really going to dive into this topic a lot.

I'm doing it, going to be doing a ton of training on this.

I've spent the last two and a half years mastering the solar industry to bring back to you, to show you how to incorporate it together in a way that makes the most sense.

So today's topic is one of those conversations.

So yeah, my name is Sam Wakefield.

Thank you for joining me today.

We are going to hang out for a bit and I'm just stoked.

This is one of my favorite things, is being able to innovate, stay on the cutting edge of what is going on in the industry.

If you've listened to the Close it now podcast very much, You have definitely heard, you know, a lot of things that are different than what the norm is in the training.

You've heard a lot.

Well, in the training, I say in the training.

One of the things that I love to do is just if you've ever listened to the podcast, you realize every single one is a one take.

I don't re record sections, I don't edit things out.

I'm just freaking real, man.

I'm here to communicate what's on my heart to you gentlemen and ladies that are out there every single day crushing it in the, in the industry all around the world.

I did an analytics study the other day and holy cow, you guys, this podcast is listened to in over 20 countries around the world.

Basically, if it gets hot and they speak any amount of English, somebody's listening to this podcast.

So I'm so grateful to every single one of you who have take.

You've invested time in yourself to educate yourself, to grow, to become better in what you're doing, to sharpen that axe so you can go out and be more efficient.

The whole point is to work more efficiently, not work harder, work smarter.

You know, if you ran the same number of appointments in a year, but your close rate went up by 5% and your average ticket went up by 5% and your follow up rate, the closes after the sale went up by 5%, I mean that compounds to way more than 15%, you know, so it's, it's really amazing what you can do to your bottom line with a little bit of getting better.

A little bit of getting better.

You know, one of the mindsets that I adopted and years ago, actually I adopted this after reading a book called the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy that actually I'd gone through that and then also went through Brian Tracy sales course years ago.

And it was just, if I can get better 1% every single day, all I have to do is work on myself to improve 1% every single day.

And in fact, if you were a homeowner sitting in an appointment with me years ago, I would just straight up tell you that as a homeowner, you know, as the salesperson in your house, I'd be like, you know, we would get to talk, I would talk to people about personal growth.

When I'm doing a sales appointment for an air conditioner, right.

H VAC system, and we end up getting talking to.

I would always ask homeowners, especially if I'm in a house where somebody is obviously successful in something, I would ask them, what are you currently reading?

Do you mind if I look through your bookshelves?

I'm Constantly trying to better myself.

Literally just tell them, hey, my philosophy is if I can be 1% better than the me of yesterday, then I feel like I am making progress and successful.

And I tell you, you will be amazed at the number of people who, when you start to talk on a different level, when you start to think on a different level, they will happily open up to you and share what some of their secrets, some of their success.

You know, I've been in, you know, multi, multi, multi million dollar homes and talking to, literally homes of billionaires and talking to the homeowners and asking them, what are some of your keys to success?

When you started out, what were some of the things that you did that made the biggest difference for you?

And man, the book, the pages and pages of notes that I used to take from those homeowners, they were like, man, people don't ask me this often.

And they're especially, you know, we're looking at, you know, an H vac system or, you know, wing of their house that's down.

And it's amazing how much they will open up to you.

So I implore you to adopt that mindset.

Work, strive to be 1% better every day than you were yesterday.

And just like we say over and over in this podcast, work to be someone worth buying from.

And that level of purse.

As your personal growth goes up and your level rises, the level of individual who will buy from you also starts to increase.

No longer is it a struggle to close those deals and to, to make those sales and handle the objections, because your level of conversation rises.

And so you start to relate to that person even better.

And so it just makes sense that you're just having a conversation.

You're sharing what you have, you know what your product is.

You're caring for that person, caring for the individual, caring for the family.

And they can feel that when you authenticate, authentically care for the homeowners, they can feel that it's not about just trying to make a sale, it's about authentically caring about the concerns they have, the issues they have, and striving to solve those problems.

Telling them honestly, we don't have anything that can solve that specific problem, but here's what we can do.

And just being truthful and honest with people will go so many miles.

So that was, we got off topic a little bit, but I hope that brings you value.

You know, my goal is recording these podcasts is really to help every single one of you up level.

If you, you know, if you attend one of my coaching Courses if you, if your company has me to your, to your site visit and we do a boot camp for your company, the level that your company rises, personal growth, both personal growth and of course sales.

The sales are going to go up by default because just the group of people, the level we increase.

So it's about becoming a better person, striving to be a person of integrity, do the right thing even when nobody's looking.

I was just telling somebody in one of the private coach, I do high performance coaching, which is a private one on one session.

I was telling Nolan this morning in my, in the high performance coaching shout out to Nolan, he's killing it up in Canada up in Calgary.

But I was telling him this morning we were talking about serving the homeowner and caring for the homeowner.

And I was telling him, listen, I, you know, I've had people in the past who've applied for the one on one coaching program and if I can tell that they are strictly in it for the dollar, strictly in it for making the sell and not actually caring for the homeowner.

I've literally told people, you're not a good fit for me as a coach because I will only work with people who have a heart to help people.

And so that that's where my passion is and I hope that's where yours is too.

And I have a strong feeling it is or of course you wouldn't be listening to this today in Drive Time University.

So raise your hands if you are in Drive Time University.

You're out there on the road making sales, driving appointment to appointment.

If your service, if you're install, if your sales, shoot me a message.

Sam closeitnow.net I want to hear from you.

What are you facing?

What are your concerns?

Is there, is there anybody you want to hear me interview?

I've done a lot, we've got a lot of interviews coming out.

Also, if there's interviews with industry people, you know, some of the manufacturers people with different products, I can get those on the horn too.

We can interview some people.

If there's any kind of products that you want to learn about, let me know.

Also the Facebook group is a great place to stay connected.

Make sure to go find the close it Now Facebook group.

It's a great place for positive support.

We do a lot of live trainings in there which will, you know, keep you going.

So.

All right, let's do the what's in your cup?

And then we're going to get into today's topic which is solar and h Vac.

How does it work together in a home?

How does that conversation start to intertwine?

So many people get lost in mentally keeping.

You have this mental separation of the two completely separate industries, but it doesn't need to be.

So actually I'm feeling like as we're talking about this, this is going to become a multi part series.

So let's see, we'll find out if it does or not.

But today, what is in your cup?

What are you drinking?

I want to know.

In my cup.

Today we've got, let's see everybody.

Three, two, one.

We're gonna grab your coffee.

Let's grab a take a nice big sip of whatever is in your cup.

All right, so today is brought to you by.

Let's see.

This is Starbucks breakfast blend.

I know it's pretty, pretty normal stuff, but definitely better than like the Folgers of the world.

Nothing against that, but I want to know what are you drinking?

Is it some special beans from where you're at?

Is there a local roaster that you recommend?

Pop me a message, shoot me a message on, on the Facebook group.

Let me know if you are.

If you want me to try something, I definitely want to know that too.

Send me a link to order and we will definitely get, get some different stuff on the show.

But I always like trying out new, new coffee beans, new stuff like that, so.

Or if you're drinking something other than coffee.

Actually a friend of mine, Greg, he sent over some yerba mate recommendations.

So I haven't got, haven't got any of that yet.

Said you make it with a French press, but we'll give it a shot.

Also, if you are into the mushroom coffee movement, I want to know about that.

How is that working for you?

You know, this is our podcast is about up leveling.

So a lot of, lot of things we talk about, hey, you know, health is important, your nutrition is important.

You can't go out and save the world one heat stroke at a time.

If you're constantly getting run down, you'll never feel like a million bucks if you eat from the dollar menu.

We all know that.

So that is equally important.

Nutrition and fitness.

And some of the studies I'm seeing on, you know, just your brain's function on the mushroom coffee is really pretty amazing.

So.

All right, well, let's dive in.

I am really excited about this topic today.

I want to know who, how many of you are your company or you are looking into adding solar into your mix.

I tell you, I saw really early on in the industry two And a half years ago is when I a little over, that is when I crossed over and I jumped in because I'm always looking at the cutting edge of what's happening in the country, what's happening with technology.

And instead of, you know, what I did for a while initially, you know, five, six, seven, eight years ago is mentally I was kind of resistant to it.

I was kind of, I was like, the idea of solar is cool, but if I can make this sale for an H vac system and the homeowner's choosing between H Vac or solar, I'm going to sell against it because one, I need the sale, right.

But also didn't understand how they can work together, didn't understand how the financing structure worked.

I didn't really understand a lot of it.

And this is before I really, really dove in and learned about it.

So first of all, let's go over a little bit of how if solar's done right and if you want to know more about it, definitely reach out to me.

I've mastered it.

It is my mission right now to.

I'm looking for a handful of heating and air companies to basically take under my wing and literally would be able to double your bottom line without adding any overhead to the road.

So I am willing to work with a handful of companies and just help you get started.

So the way solar works, if it's done right and if it's got the right, the back end support is the financing is beautiful because of what it is, because it's green energy.

The lenders got on board because they realized that even in down economies, people pay the light bill, they'll cut a lot of things before they cut off the electric bill.

And with solar being ideally a utility replacement program, what that means is done properly, there's zero money out of pocket, so no down payment.

And then the electric bill or a huge portion of it goes away and is replaced with a solar payment that is the same or less than the homeowner's already paying.

So even if there's a little bit of interest attached and it's half of what you can buy a house for right now.

You know, it's like we had rates as low as like 1.49 this last year.

So what happens is it's good debt.

The homeowner is paying less than what their electric bill was and now it's locked in at a consistent rate.

It's the same every month and it never goes up.

So it's kind of like if you'd locked in Gas prices, you know, a couple years ago, two, three years ago at $1.15 a gallon.

What, that's the same conversation knowing they're going up to $4 a gallon.

It's the same conversation with the electricity.

So what's happening now is that that, that's kind of the basis for solar done properly with a great company.

There's also a guarantee for 25 years to it's going to produce with, you know what the guarantee it's going to produce and 25 year part and labor warranty and all that.

So, you know, quarter of a century, it's guaranteed to produce and lock that rate in.

So the electric rates we know are skyrocketing across the country and will be for the next, you know, 10 years.

Inflation in the United States in 2023 is right now, in May of 23, we're averaging a little over 8% inflation, led by energy inflation, which is at like 42 to 46%.

So these are just statistical numbers.

You can look them up.

That is what's going on right now.

Now, all that aside, the whole point is solar is just about one of the very best financial decisions a homeowner can make for their home because of the tax credit that's available, because of the property value increase, all of that.

Now that's outside of H Vac.

How do we incorporate those two things together?

So there's some context for you of the actual what is going on with solar?

I know there's a lot of misinformation.

There's a lot of deadbeats out there.

Just like in H Vac, there's a lot of deadbeats and Billy Butt cracks of the world that are, you know, doing solar wrong and, you know, screwing things up.

But done properly, it's, it's beautiful in it and it's great and it's going to be taking over the country.

Right now, In May of 2023, there's less than 4% of rooftops in the United States have solar on them.

The goal by 2050 is 40%.

That's why Warren Buffett is calling it the biggest wealth transfer to happen in our lifetimes.

So what are we going to do with that knowing it's going to be the biggest wealth transfer in our lifetimes?

As H Vac people, we know how to really capitalize on an opportunity if you decide to.

Now, the cautionary tale is H Vac people also know how to resist and avoid an opportunity if they decide to as well.

Case in point, thermostats.

We had to have Nest come in and Google come in to literally steal that spot on the wall for the H Vac industry to even sit up and take notice and realize, hey, maybe we should sell better thermostats to our homeowners.

They're begging for technology.

And the a trac industry is so slow to adopt technology and offer it right.

So it took that move.

And still I honestly, personally, I will tell you, I think the H vac industry is about 20 years behind the curve for most technologies.

Tell me why we still have to run control wire to our equipment.

I mean, preach.

That should be like preach from the platform at every action convention until it changes.

But that's just my soapbox.

So anyway, the whole point is the industry slow to grab technology.

At the same time.

The ones that do are always the forerunners.

Look at the biggest companies across the country in the industry and they're the ones that have grabbed technology and raced with it.

And so where we end up with is, how do we marry the two?

How do we have that conversation in a way?

If your company is adopting solar and bringing it in, how do you have that conversation?

So it's not confusing for the homeowner.

And so it doesn't, you know, stop one of the sales.

Right?

Because we all know the confused mind says no.

What's, what we don't want to cause is now we're offering too many things.

So the homeowner is stuck in a place of indecision.

So there's a lot of ways to do it.

What I'm finding to be the very, at least the best way right now is making it a really simple conversation about energy and the other parts of it.

So also understanding that when you finance an air conditioning system, you finance a system, you finance a furnace or AC or whatever.

It's a short term financing.

It is, you know, usually two, three, four, five years and then that's paid off.

It does cost people something.

It's not like they're, you know, not gonna, we're not showing them enough savings that the bill's not gonna affect them.

But we do it every single day because it's worth it.

It's a need.

Right.

And so the way that we start to incorporate these two conversations also don't get caught up in the trap of a company being able to finance everything altogether.

That is, that's a scam.

Don't fall for that.

But so what's happening though is we're going out and you're able to have the conversation with the homeowner and depends on how the lead comes in, what kind of lead it is, if it's your.

Because we have a mostly H Vac focused podcast here, we're going to follow the mental path right now that it's a, say it's an H vac lead, say it's a service lead, or it's just somebody that's called in for, you know, say, a new system quote.

So we're, we're in the home, we're doing discovery.

Discovery is the most important part of your, of your visit.

That's where most of your selling done.

And it's not even selling.

It's strictly just asking the questions.

If there's not a single objection that can't be overcome by asking more questions.

So if you're doing a properly executed discovery, what's happening is you're uncovering their pain points, we're uncovering why they want to buy.

Because sales is just two things.

It's one, exposing why they want to buy and, and the other 50% of sales is finding out why they don't want to buy or what's stopping them from buying.

So that's it.

That's just the two elements of sales, discovering why they want to buy and what's keeping them from buying.

So in discovery, we're going to ask the specific leading questions.

You know, we've got our comfort questions, we've got, you know, in the winter, when some rooms are warm, what rooms are colder than the rest?

Okay, show me, take me there, you know, and get them to describe what's colder.

Same thing in the summer when some rooms are cool, which rooms are hotter than the rest?

What's that like?

What are you experiencing?

Okay, great.

And remember, discovery is not the time to offer solutions.

So we're going through discovery, we're asking the questions.

So you've got your comfort questions, you've got your energy questions, you know, are your bills higher than you'd like them to be?

What does the biggest one, what are the biggest ones get in the summer?

If we can make a difference with that, would that be helpful?

If we could drop those bills a bunch, would that be helpful?

And now we have the opportunity to ask the question of, you know, with those bills being, you know, so much higher, how long have you been in the home?

Start to add the, ask those questions.

Okay, great.

Have you noticed them going up since you moved in?

Wow.

So it's higher now than they used to be.

Wow.

Okay.

So if we could maybe even one, if we could lower the bills, if we could even get rid of your electric bills.

That's something you'd like more information about.

Or even better is ask your the same energy questions.

Like always go through the health and safety questions and then the biggest loaded question you can possibly ask in discovery.

As I'm looking around the house, if I see anything else that will save energy, so save you money on your electric bill, that'll make the house more comfortable or maybe improve the health and safety of the home, do you want me to bring that to your attention?

Now that question is magic because what it does, if I see anything else that will reduce your, you know, they could help out with the energy efficiency of the home.

If I see anything else that could reduce your bills, help out with the health and safety or the building durability of the home, however you want to ask that question.

If I see anything else as I'm looking around, do you want me to bring it to your attention?

Because everybody knows you're the expert, you're there to look at things.

And the moment they say yes, what that does, it unlocks everything you could possibly offer them.

Now that question is powerful.

Use it accordingly.

Don't just start offering your entire catalog.

Only offer things that make sense for that homeowner that they may, you know, that they need or would want to buy.

It's one of those two edged swords of, and offer things until they say no.

I mean, do not be the one that stops the sale.

But also it gives you carte blanche to offer anything you want to them now.

So then you do your evaluation and this is, this is for how to incorporate that together.

You're going to come back and when you sit, once you've taken your measurements, you've looked at everything, you're going to sit down and then you're going over system options.

Perfect.

Awesome.

So you've chosen, we'll assume they've chosen maybe a two stage system.

Once you've done your explanation, they've chosen a two stage system.

Great.

So here's what the conversation sounds like.

Awesome.

On average, from experience, we've done thousands of these projects or hundreds of these projects.

We know on average this is going to save you about 20% or whatever your numbers are for that specific system.

You use real numbers.

I mean, don't escalate this.

It doesn't have to be anything but, you know, but basically, you know, use a real number.

I'm going to say 20% for the sake of the conversation here.

So we know on average this system will save you about 20% on the cooling portion of your electric bill.

Great.

Great choice.

Love it.

Would you like to hear how we could get rid.

How we can get rid of the rest of your electric bill?

Oh, okay.

Great.

You would.

They're gonna be like, what?

And so.

Well, I noticed as I was measuring the house, you have a fantastic roof that is situated.

So now that we've reduced the electric consumption in your house, you can actually produce the rest of the electric usage for your house and get rid of that electric bill completely.

Would you be open to some more information?

Oh, you would?

Great.

Perfect.

I'll just need to see that electric bill.

And most of the people by now have probably pulled out an electric bill for you to look at anyway.

So just need to see that electric bill and then follow your process that you normally do for solar.

So you've got them signed up for the new system, and then now they really pique their interest and you're like, great, can I show.

I mean, and you can spin it a lot of different ways.

Hey, if I could show you how you could pay for that new heating and air system with your tax credit, that's something you'd want some more information about.

Perfect.

And so it's just so many ways to do it, but it's easy to incorporate the two together.

And we're going to talk about this way, way, way more in future episodes.

This is the beginning of a, a long conversation, but what's happening in the industry is don't sleep on this because commissions are.

Commissions can be really, really, really big.

You know, your average commission, at least with the solar company that I'm hooked up with, is, with my company is average commission across the country out of 32 states is right around $5,000 or a little higher per system.

That can go up to, you know, 7, 8, 10.

So to add a $5,000 commission on top of your already great H vac commission, and now when you walk out of a house and your total commissions are, you know, seven, eight, nine, $10,000 per home, that'll make a big difference back at, back at home and on the bottom line.

Right?

So that is my message today, is think of ways.

But it's really smooth.

Don't over complicate it.

Don't over word.

The, the tendency so many times when we have a new product to offer is to just word vomit on people.

You get diarrhea of the mouth and people get too over complicated.

They're too confused.

Then they go, what do they do?

They go into Google research mode.

That is the last Place that we want to send people is into Google research mode.

What we need to do is just very gently because they already know you, they already like you, they already trust you.

You're already there for an appointment, you're already the trusted individual in the home.

It's different than somebody who just knocks on their door that they've never met before.

And so that's how as an industry, we can own this new move into the solar industry, if you will listen, if you actually embrace it and not fight it because it is where the country's going.

Do you want to be a part of the biggest wealth transfer to happen in our lifetime or do you want to fight it?

It's your choice, but it's happening either way.

So don't let these teams of people from who knows where move into your city, knock a bunch of doors and take over what you could legitimately be doing every single day and increase your revenue, increase your commissions, increase the bottom line of your company.

But keep it simple.

Don't over complicate it.

They already are open to more information because you asked them if I can show you if I see anything else that's going to that would help out with the energy efficiency of the home, make it more comfortable, help out with building durability.

As I'm investigating, as I'm measuring.

Do you want me to bring it to your attention?

Absolutely.

Okay, great.

I don't know if you know this, but our company recently started offering solar panels as an option because of the amazing benefits they have.

Would you like to hear more?

Would you be open for more?

Open for more information.

And it's the easy way to roll into it.

You don't have to do it all at once.

You say, okay, great, let me just grab your electric bill, I'll take it with me, I'll work some magic and if it comes back favorable, do you want me to let you know about it and then you should call them back.

Do your appointment for the solar over zoom.

You've already been to the house and measured.

Make it easy, make it easy on you, make it easy on them, make it efficient.

But we're gonna be talking about this a lot more.

I'll be walking through a lot of steps of how to have the conversation, but if this was valuable to you, if this is good information, if this is new information, I want to hear from you, the listener.

Email me samoseitnow.net Join the Facebook group we're gonna have a lot of chats about this coming up.

I can tell by the amount of chatter I'm already seeing in the Facebook group about it.

There's a lot going on.

There's a big shout out to Dell Thompson.

I see you are the first in the Facebook group to adopt it.

Your company rolled it in and out of your 300k this month for May in 2023, I see you've got a $30,000 sale in solar.

So I love that.

And yeah, we're going to see that more and more and more.

It's going to be just as common as remember back a few years ago when there was a tiny portion of H Vac equipment that was sold was mini splits.

And now how much of your volume is a mini split?

A lot.

Right.

How many mini splits you got?

A lot.

So here in the next little bit you're going to see the same trend, but it's going to move faster is how much of your volume is solar?

A lot.

We're going to take these, you know, the people that it will be Easy to take a 1, 2, 3, 4 million dollar a year h vac salesperson to a 4, 5, 8, 10 million a year or more H Vac and solar salesperson.

And so it's happening, it's coming.

Message me.

I've got, I'm putting together some coaching programs specifically for how to incorporate this and how to work it together, how to breathe life into this and get that spark and turn into a freaking bonfire for you and your company that's going to literally will be, I mean people in my organization do seven figures plus annually all the time.

So it's a, it's a definitely a great way to do it.

So yeah, reach out if you want to know more.

And otherwise that is the episode today.

I'm super excited about it.

And yeah, what's in your cup?

Let me know about your coffee.

What are you drinking?

And man, I feel like I'm rambling at this point.

So it's time to cut it off.

So this is the Close it now solar and H Vac combined sales training podcast.

Reach out to me if you want to know more about the one on one coaching.

Reach out to me if you want to know about the solar how to incorporate solar into your H Vac business.

And otherwise it is warming up here in Texas.

I know it's warming up where you're at.

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

Thanks for listening to Close it now with Sam Wakefield.

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