Are You Asking For The Sale Or Creating Extra Work For Yourself?

The problem with so many brand new sales professionals, project managers, comfort advisors, or comfort consultants, whatever we are, is asking for the sale and closing it immediately. Even a lot of seasoned professionals that have been in this game a long time still create additional follow up and additional work for themselves that’s unnecessary. Today, Sam Wakefield shares some skills, principles, and techniques you can use to ask for the sale and close the deal on the spot.

We are going to be talking about a topic that is really important, How do you ask for the sale? How do you close the deal? Do you do it in the house? We’re going to be talking about how to close it immediately. How do you ask for the sale? The problem with so many sales professionals, project managers, comfort advisors, comfort consultants, whatever we are, is that brand new people, I’d remember when I was new, I spent an entire year challenging myself to put words in my mouth to ask for the sale in the house every time. I had this huge note that I’d put on my sun visor and when I get back in the car, I’ll be like, “Did you ask for the sale?” That was a big struggle. That was a big friction point. Even I know a lot of seasoned professionals that’ve been in this game a long time that still create additional follow-up and create additional work for themselves that’s unnecessary.

That’s what we’re going to unpack. That’s what we’re going to talk about because it is so wildly important. it will make your job way more efficient. It’ll make your entire life easier because you’re not doing that extra work. This is a good example of what I’m talking about when it comes to creating additional work for yourself. From what I know with most people, most of the time, the sale ends like this. “Mr. or Ms. Homeowner, how soon do you plan on making a decision for this project?” The answer is, “In a week, a month, a year. It can be in ten years,” whenever it is. it really doesn’t matter. Even if it’s a week, then you respond with, “Would Tuesday or Thursday be a good day to get back in touch with you? When is a good day to get back in touch with you?” What you just did is, you created extra follow-up for yourself that a lot of times is unnecessary. I’m not saying that every single job is going to close in the house on the spot, but by using some of the skills, principles, and techniques that we talked about, you’ll be amazed you’re going to close a lot more in the house and on the spot than you did before.

I wouldn’t say even 10% of your projects closing now instead of a week from now be an improvement in your numbers. I think that would be the answer there. The simple truth is that the numbers are a lot higher than that because people want to be led. The general public, especially when it’s in a situation like buying a heating and air system, it’s something that’s unusual territory for them. The average American family or American household buys 1.3 heating and air systems in their entire lifetime. What that means is for most people that you come across have never done this before and will never do this again. You’ve got this shot, make it an awesome one. Set the standard, set the bar for their experience. That way, if they ever do it again, they know exactly what to expect and how amazing it can be, how amazing their experience can be, and how painless it can be.

That is what we’re talking about. By creating that additional follow-up you’ve put into your calendar, hopefully, you use the calendar or some sort of reminder system to follow up with them, then on that set day and time, actually do it. What are the chances that they don’t answer the phone and they don’t respond back to your email and they start to ghost you? The chances definitely go up because while you’re there, the energy is high. They called you, which means they have a problem to start with. They want their problem solved. They are looking for solutions to their problem or they never would have called you in the first place. At the end of a well-executed sale, the logical conclusion is to close the deal. You don’t go to a restaurant and not expect to get the bill next week. You’ve got to present the price while you’re in the house on the spot. That’s step one to this section of the call.

With our company right now, we’ve got a menu system or where open up and like, “You’re three times horizontal, here’s the models that we talked about. Here’s the pricing. Here’s what it might look like financed, Which one works best for you?” A lot of companies I know, you’ve got a digital version. You’ve got the software where you can generate the proposal right on the scene. Do it. It’s wildly important, while the energy is high from the presentation, to present the prices right on the spot. Once you’ve done that, how are you asking for the close? We’ve just covered like so many people end that call with, “When’s a good time to follow up with you?” then the second you walk out the door, they have questions in their head. They say, “Since we’re not going to get in touch with that person for another few days, why don’t we go ahead and call some more people to get some more estimates?”

All of these things start going through the head. If you had just asked for the sale on the spot, so many times people say, “This sounds great. Let’s do it. We can install this next week.” Because even more than you, the homeowner wants to check this off their to-do list, check this off their mental list so it’s not weighing down their day. In order to properly serve the customer right, in order to serve with their best interest in mind, we have to put ourselves in their shoes. When you’ve got a big problem, and having an air conditioning and heating problem is a big problem, it weighs heavy on you. You suffer at work and in your family life. Everything suffers until that problem is resolved. It’s heavy. Their one goal in that moment is to resolve their problem. They might send up some smoke screens of, “We’re getting 500 bids. We’re going to compare apples to apples,” and all the things that they say, but at the end of the day, that’s really not the truth. They’re just trying to deflect. They don’t want you to know that they seem too over-anxious and over excited about this. At the end of the day, they are ready to just get it done.

Asking For The Sale: It’s wildly important, while the energy is high from the presentation, to present the prices right on the spot.

They wish it was done yesterday. Knowing that and having that context in mind, remember that when you do your presentation and you show your pricing, then ask. Here’s a great way to end the call. Here’s how I ask a lot, probably nine times out of ten maybe. We’ll talk about everything, go over the price, and go over all the different stuff and you see him sitting there thinking about things and then close everything up and set it aside. Stare at them across the table and say, “Mr. or Ms. Homeowner, we know that you can call a hundred companies in this town for that matter, two, five, ten, however many. At the end of the day, it’s a gut check of who’s actually going to serve you the best, who’s going to solve your problems. We don’t take that lightly. What I’m asking you today is I appreciate your calling us. We’ve talked about the project and as a reminder, here’s what we’re going to do. Little Johnny’s room in the corner of the house, we’re going to fix that by doing this and this with the ductwork and the return. That way, the solution is going to be when he wakes up tomorrow, he’s not going to be under those extra blankets in the winter because it’s so cold. He’s not going to be having to have the fan in there. You don’t have to have the window unit in his room because it’s too hot. It’s going to be the same temperature as the rest of the house.” Whatever it is, restate what you’re solving.

If the problem is when you wake up the day after tomorrow, you’re going to be waking up in a nice, cool house and that’s going to feel awesome. My question to you is, “Will you trust me with this project?” then be quiet. Restate whatever the problem is that you’re solving, but state it in terms of benefits, not in, “We’re going to be running ductwork. We’re going to do this.” No, talk about it in terms of, “That room is going to be the right temperature. Your bill is going to come down. It is going to be more comfortable in this house than you’ve ever experienced. Will you trust me with this project?” What we’re doing there is we’re narrowing the focus on what they’re buying. We’re narrowing the focus into a relationship because the entire visit, you’ve basically gone from first date to marriage proposal in probably about an hour is the kind of the average for most people with a good executed presentation.

In about an hour, you’ve gone from first date to marriage, and the entire time you’ve been building rapport, you’ve been building relationships, you’ve been working on the credibility piece of the company, the credibility piece of the project that you’re getting install, that you’ve got the right solutions for their problems and the credibility piece for yourself, your experience, the number of projects that you’ve worked on, what your credentials are, etc. You’re asking them to trust you with this project. You’re narrowing that. That’s a simple decision to make. If they trust you with the project, then the rest of the details are just details. It’s just a matter of figuring out, “How much or how little do they want to include in the project? Which system do they want to go with? Which price point is the right price point for them?” the financing options, all the things. The rest are just details.

When you’re asking for the sale, just do that, close everything up and just sit down. Look them in the eye and say, “We’ve gone through everything. Here’s the problems that we’re going to solve and here’s what the experience is going to be like after that. Will you trust me with this project?” Let them answer and just be quiet. If you have to sit there for 5, 10, 30 minutes, whatever it takes, force yourself to sit quietly. Have a bottle of water with you. If you have to take a drink at that point to keep yourself from talking and filling the uncomfortable void, take a drink of water. This is the water bottle closed. When you ask for the sale, you have to shut up. You’ve got to close your mouth and just be quiet and listen. They will feel the void. You’re going to be amazed, more times than you expect it’s going to blow your mind. You’re going to find a huge number of people who will say, “Yes, we will trust you.” The follow-up question is, “The next steps are let’s go ahead and get this paperwork knocked out and we can choose an install date.” That’s a simple way to flow into the rest. Once they say, “Yes, we’ll trust you with the project,” then the paperwork, picking the install date, all the rest are just details.

They’ve made the buying decision. Don’t make the buying decision harder than it needs to be. Don’t make the buying decision of, “Which system do you want? What days work for you?” don’t talk about financing or paying by check or credit card. Just ask them if they will trust you with a project. Once they say yes to that, all of the rest are strictly the details that can be figured out. Once you say yes to something, the rest is just going through the motions. They’re like, “Great, no problem.” The next steps are, “Let’s do this together even if it’s financing,” and say, “Let’s walk through this process together. Here’s where you go. Here’s what you do. Here’s what you’re going to need. It’s no problem. Let’s do it right now.” That is how to ask for the sale on the spot in person. That’s just one way. There are a lot of other methods. There’s a lot of other verbiage, that kind of thing. That’s the one we’re going to cover in this episode, break it down to trusting you with the project. Honestly, if they don’t trust you, they don’t even have to like you, but they have to trust that you’re going to solve the problem. There are a lot of people in the things that we do, we don’t necessarily like the person, the professional, but we trust their judgment.

Say if it’s a doctor or something else that you go to, you might not necessarily like them but you know they’re great at what they do so you keep going back to them because they’re excellent and they’re professional. It’s the same thing with this. At the end of the call, you’re going to have built rapport. You’re not going to call up to hang out with them on the weekend because you’re there to serve them. You’re not there to be friends, but you are there to be friendly. Don’t be friends, be friendly. That’s how you do it, just narrow it down to trusting you for the sale. That is the message. There’s one way to ask for the sale on the spot every time. I challenge you to challenge yourself. If you’re not doing this, just make a commitment to ask for the close every time. Did you ask for the sale today? Did you ask for the sale every single visit, every single time that you’re in a house? You’ve got to ask for the sale because it’s so important. With that comes a higher close rate. It comes a whole lot less follow-up, a whole lot less work that you built in for yourself. Who hates follow-up? I know raise my hand. Most people are probably raising your hands.

Asking For The Sale: Asking for the sale comes with a higher close rate, a whole lot less follow up, and a whole lot less work that you built for yourself.

The fortune is in the follow-up because every single pending you have, those can need to eventually be converted to wins or losses. Declare war on pending jobs or pending appointments. I hate pending appointments. You need to have a won or lost in that category, but not a pending. At the same time, with your pendings, you’re creating what’s called a pipeline. Your pipeline is when people call you back from six months, a year, two years back and say, “We made it through but our system finally died. Let’s go ahead and pull the trigger on this project. We saved up the money for it, let’s go.” That’s awesome too. That’s definitely what happens with your pending but a lot of your pendings are strictly wins or losses that you just haven’t asked them about.

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