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Episode transcript from the Close It Now podcast with Sam Wakefield.
Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back. Sam Wakefield, Close it now here. So I've got a question for you, and I want you to really sit with us for a second. So when a deal falls apart, what do you blame?
Because most of the time, the answer, you know, we, we always go to the easy things. The price, it's the market, it's the economy, or we'll, you know, we'll get a hold of a bunch of our peers and call people around the country and, well, if everybody's down right now, well, surely that means should be down right now. And, you know, the homeowner just wants the cheapest option. Maybe a competitor came in lower. And I'm here to tell you after, here's what I know.
After over 20 years in this industry and coaching hundreds and thousands of salespeople and technicians across the country, the number is almost never the real reason. There's four agreements that have to happen before anyone pays money to you for a product or service. Doesn't matter what you do. There's four agreements. And most of the time when a deal dies, it's not because the investment was too high.
It's because one of the first three agreements never got made. So today we're going to break all four of them down and by the time we are done, you're going to look at every stalled appointment, every stalled deal, every differently. So welcome back to Close It Now. I'm excited that you're here and I want to thank you, all of you listeners, for being with me for the ride. We're over seven and a half years into this podcast journey.
This will be episode 293. So it's been so much fun and I love every bit of what we do here. And so I'm going to start this episode off with reading a testimony that I just got from my buddy Jeff. He is a current coaching client up in the DMV area and he actually sent me a big message here this morning in fact. So I'm going to pull out some of it because there's more here than I'm sure you want to listen to, but it's really, really fun.
So he said, hey Sam had a large sale from a client last night with the tech and he's actually has his son riding along with him to learn some of the sales process and that type of thing as well. So large sale for a client last night with the tech and one my son and I did yesterday. The larger one called me back this morning to thank me again for taking the time and making sure she was taken care of from start to finish and address any questions or concerns she had. She said the term you have as comfort consultant is perfectly fitting as I provided her comfort throughout the entire process. Super cool to hear.
And then the second one, they had a system installed a week ago, so pay attention here. This client had a system installed a week ago. It was removed the day before he got there completely. So one week of having a heating in their system and they had it removed because it was done so poorly. So they said they never cared about them or provided what they were actually looking for.
We came in and they felt heard we were laughing throughout the three hour appointment. They have trusted us to provide them the level of service and installation they deserve. And so, you know, it was really fun. Actually I'm going to read you this whole thing because it actually goes on to get really cool. So on a separate note, my AC was not keeping up last night.
I was out about 9pm looking it over and his son, who's been with him the last couple weeks riding along was inside with his wife, adult son and so he was out inside with his wife and she was of course she was concerned. He says he walks back into hearing him repeating the things and asking questions he had heard him do throughout the week. So they laughed and he just smiled at him and said I was listening. So super, super cool. So thanks Jeff, appreciate that man.
That is super awesome. And I see actually you have already booked your one on one appointment coaching session for this next week. So for everybody listening, if you send me, if you write me a review, it goes to hits Google or if it hits Apple podcasts and I read it live on the show and you hear it, message me and you will have earned yourself a no charge one on one coaching session with me and we will find places and help you up level to be able to go serve at a higher level. Which of course that means bigger average tickets. That means higher close rate.
Jeff right now got a 38% close rate. It's been rising and over a $20,000 average ticket right now. He is out there crushing it. So good job, Jeff. If you want numbers like that, average tickets like that, message me and let's leave me a review and let's get you a coaching session.
So hopping in today. What's in your cup? I've got some black coffee in my NASA mug. All in search for a new cup. So remember, this is the summer of diarrhea.
I guess it sounds like who knew if you cut all the funding to the, you know, the organizations that, you know, check for that to make sure the country doesn't have catch these wild diarrheas from our foods that it would spread. Hmm. Imagine that. But so remember, everybody stay hydrated. Also try to, I guess it's.
What is it? Stay away from lettuce right now. So which is weirdly hard to do if you're trying to eat healthy. But so I guess we'll figure it out. But hope you listeners, I hope you are not one of the any of the people that are get that.
Catch that. And so yeah, so what's in your cup? You obviously, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully stay hydrated. Drink your water, drink your Gatorade, drink your electrolyte. But what else are you drinking, monsters?
You're drinking sodas, you're drinking coffee, you're drinking espressos. Let's toast this episode together and then we'll get into this content because I really think it's going to open your eyes to a couple of some of the reasons that maybe some of your deals haven't moved through when you thought they should. So grab your drink, whatever drink of choice, whatever it is. Three, two, one. All right, so let's get into it.
So this topic has really been coming up a lot in coaching calls lately across multiple trades. I work with plumbing, I work with a track, I work with electricians, I work with garage roofing, you name it. Window, people in windows. We've had the same conversation over and over and over. Bathroom remodeling.
The thing is, it's the same thing. It's the same conversation. I've even been working with people that own digital marketing companies and do all kind of different stuff. But so when something shows up that consistently likes this like this, of course it belongs in the podcast. So four cells every appointment here we go.
So what I want you to do is I want you to think back to the last deal that you lost. You know, what story did you, you know, it starts internal. What story did you tell yourself on the drive home? What story? Once you left the house, you were like, man, okay, what was it?
Was it price? Was it the market? Was it competition? Maybe that, oh, they were just kicking tires. But what I want you to think about, what if it was something else that was unresolved, Something that they just didn't have the language for it?
Because we know homeowners, a lot of times they will say one thing when they mean something else. They've just never had to put those specific thoughts into words before. So this is why we really have to unpack this. Because if you want to grow and you want to improve and you want to get better, you have to self analyze. You have to be able to adopt this mindset that we don't lose.
We either win or we learn. And if we're not, and even in our wins, we can learn lessons as well. But we learn so much more when we lose. There's something there when we can pull the lessons out of those failures and losses. And there's nothing wrong with failures and losses as long as we're learning from them and moving forward.
To not repeat the same mistakes over and over and over, especially when you start to expect different results. If you're not willing to make changes, in order to get change, you have to make change. So, but let's think about this a bit. We've got to unpack this. And so you know, when certainty is missing, price becomes the only thing they can grab onto.
Yes, we've heard that over and over. We've got to create urgency, all these things, but the real question is never, you know, how to handle the price objection. It's, we have to start to shift this because if there's a price objection. A price objection. I'm here to tell you a price objection is usually a smokescreen for something else.
That's just the only way that they know how to vocalize their fears. Anxieties, concerns, lack of trust, lack of certainty. It's, we've got to reframe this question of how to handle the price objection into something more like, what are they uncertain about? Because if they were certain price wouldn't be an issue anymore. If they had done a few projects with you in the past and everything turned out great, you wouldn't even be having a price objection.
It's more of, okay, when can you get it installed. We know this, we've seen it happen. We've had our clients and so we always beat ourselves. So many times we beat ourself up when we have those particular clients but they're like okay, well how do we get to that place with the new clients? Well, we have to have this conversation.
And the limiter is not the fact that they. Because a lot of people feel like it's this chicken and egg. It's kind of like when you first get out of school, you know, trade school or not, and you're, you know, looking for a job and you're like, hey, you have to have this much experience to apply here. But you can't get the experience if you don't get the work. And so this chicken and egg thing starts to happen.
And so it's almost the same thing. We, we, we allow ourselves to get caught in this mental trap and then what that does, it gives away our power to make the changes in it. So when you're not making a sale it almost always tricks traces back to one of four things. So we're going to go over them now. So number one, so there's four sales you have to make in every in order to complete a transaction in order to, to help a client.
Cell number one is the company. Do they believe your company is the right company to do the work? So we're going to break this into different parts here. So the company, do they believe that your company is the right company to do this work? Reputation reviews, how long have you been in the market?
Your history, your warranty, your processes, how clean is your truck, how it looks in the driveway or on the street. All of the things matter, right? Most of the time this is basically partially made before you walk in the door, they called you you for a reason. They wouldn't have called if they didn't trust the at least have a little bit of either trust or they're open to trusting a company and your company. And so what the main thing is don't take that for granted.
There's a granted there is a difference between, you know, called Google lead and a neighborhood referral for a reason. Because it's trust factor. And trust is we're not after trust. We're after when somebody trusts that means they feel safe. And so this is why we have to plant those credibility flags early.
We talk about our reviews, we talk about the we're local, family owned or we have a national presence which means we do things right. Whatever your situation, there's always a way to present it in a way that is in the best interest of the client. What are our guarantees? We've got to establish that before anything else because cell number one has to be, is this the right for me? And if they don't agree to that, it's pointless to go into anything else until they're solid on, hey, you might be the right company and then cell number two is the person.
Company might be great. Are they comfortable with you specifically personal more. It's so, so, so, so important. It's so much more important than most of you realize because how many of you raise your hand? And I know this, I know because I've done so many hundreds of ride alongs with all of you in the field, all across the country.
You'll go through the whole process and the only thing they know about you is your name and the fact that you work for said company. That's it. You didn't give them any history. They have no idea if you started last week or if you started 35 years ago. They have no idea about any of that.
And if you've listened to this podcast a lot, I've covered this a decent amount. So. But personal is sell number two. They have to agree that and totally so making this agreement. But we have to sell them on the fact that you're the right person to represent the company in this situation.
I've totally seen situations where people have lost deals because the company, they love the company, but just something didn't feel right about the person. And you all know these people, they're on your team. And so I'm getting to. Let's have a quick little side conversation here. If you're on a team of people and you can't instantly recognize that person, that shouldn't be there, I would consider looking in the mirror because maybe it's kind of like in poker, if you can't instantly recognize the sucker in the first few minutes at the table, you might be the sucker.
So, and this is not a stab at you, it's much more of a self realization moment of pay attention. Would I buy from me today? And if I wouldn't, buy from me today. And be truthful with yourself. If you know that you are doing things a little on the edgy or the manipulative side, or not quite truthful, that is caution.
If you know that that's happening, red flags all around, that means you're not the only one that recognizes that everyone sees it. I promise you, every home you go into, the homeowners are going to See it. And so that's why they're saying no. So you have to self analyze first. So how we earn this place, the right to be that person that they say yes to is we earn it by being present.
We earn it by being curious. We earn it by not being in a rush or in a hurry, treating their home and their problem like it actually matters. Because so many times I know you, you get in this, you're just phoning it in and phoning it in and oh, it's just a numbers game. It's not every appointment is quality if you know how to handle it. So when they feel safe, that is when they will agree that hey, yeah, you're the right person.
And so when they start to feel that it's not, it's not just hearing you say it, but when they start to feel safe, that's when the second cell is made. So the first cell is they have to agree that the company is the right company for them. The second one is, hey, yes, you are the right person to make sure that I get everything we talked about today. Because think about sales in General for over 100 years or the history of time. If you go back in and you can look up, up even cartoons, Saturday morning cartoons from the newspapers before there was such a thing as Internet.
There's jokes year after year and month after month about the person bought something and I didn't get what I was promised. I mean, how many we all know people we've had. Every single one of you have had this experience. You buy something on Wish or Temu and it's the whole joke. I thought I was getting this, but here's what I actually got.
So we don't wait. We have to present in such a way where. And that's your job as that representative from the company to make sure they receive every single thing that you promised them. That also means don't be that deadbeat salesperson that promises the moon knowing you can't deliver it. Because that is manipulation.
That's the definition of malpractice. So, but so once they agree, they see, they feel it's not just see, they actually start to feel authenticity from you, that you are not in a hurry, that you truly care. You're curious to find out what their actual concerns are and then only offer solutions that match that. That is when the magic starts to happen. So that's cell number two.
Cell number three. So that was company first, person second. And then number three is the project. And here's where so many people. This is where most deals fall apart because usually it sounds something like, oh yeah, you guys are a great company or I wouldn't have called you.
You know, you have a good reputation. You were a good. We read your reviews. You came as a referral. Yep, yep.
Awesome. You're a great technician or you're a great salesperson. Yeah, you're super thorough. You know what you're talking about. But where it falls apart for most people is the project itself.
And this doesn't matter what industry you're in or what you're doing, it gets the least. We spend the least amount of attention here and this is what causes the most problems. So two things have to be true in your homeowner's mind when we're talking about the project, that the what's causing their problem was correctly identified and that your solution will actually fix it and fix it for good. And if it's not for good, you've clearly defined the parameters of what the solution will do for them and they're in agreement with it. And so we've correctly identified what's causing their problem and correctly been able to explain what your solution will actually fix and the parameters around that.
So if we're finally able to solve this problem for good, here's what that looks like. And these other options are not a forever solution, but here's what they will provide. You get to choose Mr. Homeowner and Ms. Homeowner.
So when we can correctly do both of those things, it's two sides of the same coin. And if either one of those is in doubt, they are not going to write you a check, they're not going to hand you a credit card, they're not going to sign your financing application. Because there is mystery left in this. Why would I pay you any amount of money if I'm not confident that you're confident that you figured out what's causing the problem? And I'm not confident that you're confident that the solution will take me to my desired outcome.
I won't. You're going to get an I want to think about it, which is the nice way to say I don't believe you. And that's exactly what they're saying when they give you an I want to think about it a lot of the time, not every time. Absolutely. I believe in follow up.
And there's a. There's millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars in sales that come after the one sit after the first appointment. So don't buy into the bullshit that says you have to Have a one sit close. I don't care who it is, they're a liar. They've never studied true sales and the psychology of how people buy.
But does it mean that we can't overcome objections and help people make a decision? First appointment. But there is a place that is appropriate for that. And there's a place where we shift to Bamfam, which is. We continue the conversation.
It's not another appointment, it's to be continued. So that's a whole nother episode. That's a whole nother story. So let's stay on. On topic here.
But if either of those are in doubt, either the problem, what's causing their problem, or the solution, they are not going to give you money for it. They might nod along, they might seem engaged, but something inside is unsettled. That unsettled feeling shows up as a price objection. The diagnostic phase is not just technical, it is a selling conversation. So you have to show them what you found.
You have to walk them through it in plain language. You've got to walk through every step of the solution. Not the technical version, the version that answers. Am I going to have to deal with this again after I pay you money? That is the conversation that they care about.
It's never what. It's not about you. All of you in the house, stop thinking it's about you. It's not. It's about them.
So when this is done right, they are not comparing your proposal to a competitor's proposal. They stop with the comparison. They are comparing the feeling of having this solved to the feeling of still living with it. That is a very, very different conversation. So so far we've got the company.
The first cell has to be. They have to agree that you're the right company for me. They have to agree that you're the right person to oversee the project or the repair. And then number three, they have to understand. They don't have to understand the technical, but they have to have confidence and certainty and agree that there is no mystery in what's causing the problem and there's no mystery left in what the solution will bring them.
And then that takes us to number four, which is where most of you start, but it's where you have to actually end. So if you get the first three right, when those first three are solid, this one actually gets easy, because it's not. I didn't say it was effortless, but it does get simpler. The reason the investment conversation feels like a fight. Like you have to put the boxing gloves on and it's this fist fight at the end.
It's because we're trying to close the fourth cell before the first three are done. You're trying to close cell number four, which is the investment, it is the price, it is the money. We try to close that before there's complete full agreement and understanding on cells 1, 2 and 3. And that's why overcoming objections seems like such a forced thing. And so if we get them out of order, of course you're going to get.
Think about it. So of course you're getting three bids, of course you're getting. I got to talk to so and so. All of the things. I know what it's like.
I'm in the field all the time still doing ride alongs with you. So when you present a price in a vacuum and hoping it, and you hope it lands, it almost never does. So we cannot change, not change. We can't create certainty with a number. You can only create certainty through the process that gets you to the number.
I'm going to say that again. So many of you try to create certainty with the number because you constantly play this game in your head of well I. Okay, they said they got other quotes, so I better drop some off this price because I know what those other guys charge. So if I come in just below that, that's going to create certainty? Hell no, it has nothing to do with that.
You cannot create certainty with a number. You can only create certainty through the process that gets you to the number. So if the price feels like a fight, stop fighting at the price. Find which of the first three is still open. Which of those first three did they not understand or agree to.
And then when you hit resistance. So here's how to use this in the field. Let's get some application because as you know, I love to give you something you can immediately implement. Success happens at the speed of implementation. So when you hit resistance before any script or objection handling, ask yourself one question.
Which one of the four agreements is still open, not which objection did they give you? Which of the four cells is actually incomplete, guarded from the start? Company person. The company or person cell, right? Slow down.
You can, you can revisit this. If you're at the end of the process, you can go back to the beginning and start again. It's just like in Sound of Music. Let's start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start.
So slow down. Rebuild trust, go back. Don't rush to just present the thing, the system, the components, the repair, the whatever it Is go back to the beginning. We've got to reintroduce the company. Talk a bit more about the company.
Talk a bit more. And when I say that means help the homeowner feel like your entire team is sitting at the table with you. Like, oh, you're going to love Johnny the installer. Because the. Oh, my gosh, their attention to detail is incredible.
I'm so glad that you got so and so as a technician to figure this out. He's one of our best. Help them feel like the entire team is sitting there. Did you happen to talk to Mary on the phone? She's one of my favorite people.
She cares so much about our clients. Or Jose in the call center. Man, he is incredible. Didn't you like the way that he. That when you were working with him?
Everyone has to feel like they're sitting at the table. That's reintroducing the company. They've got to agree to the company. You. It is okay to go back and spend a little more time on your experience and your history, telling stories of.
Oh, so when I had you remind me of another client that was experiencing something very similar. Here's what they had. Here's how we solved it. Here's what it looks like today, telling those types of stories. Talk about how I've dealt with this hundreds of times and here's what I found in that process.
And so what I see here is. And on the other side of that, here's what it's going to look like for you. That is what builds the confidence and certainty that will help people move forward. So staying engaged all the way to through. And, you know, that's what.
That's what keeps it. That's what keeps you from stalling at the number. So one of the, you know, the. One of the lines that really cuts through almost every version of this and you can. So here's.
Here's a word track for you. It sounds like something still doesn't feel completely settled. Help me understand what that is and then stop talking. Or if you see that your homeowners are really starting to struggle or they're stressed or any of that, ask them, lean in, get a little quieter. Say what would make this a relief for you instead of a stress.
And then shut up and listen and they will tell you what comes out next is almost never the price. It's the real objection. We're looking for the real it. Because it's almost never price. Price is a byproduct of their belief and confidence and certainty of you being able to solve their problem and.
Or it could be they have their stack of dollars allocated for something. So it could be they're weighing the decision between doing this or doing something else. So we've got to find that out too. But you'll never know unless you start asking more and better questions. So to recap here, four, sales.
Every appointment, every time, company person, project, investment, in that order. If you go out of order, that's also a problem. You have to go in that order. So don't skip the steps. Don't rush to the number.
If you rush to the number, you're just an order taker. You can do that standing at the counter at Lowe's or Home Depot. Nobody needs that. No wonder you're only closing at 30%. That's the industry average and that's the percentage of people that, it doesn't matter who walks in, they're gonna say yes.
If you're closing at 30%, that's a problem. That's not sales, that's taking orders. So the more that you start to think about this and go through this process with intention and not just haphazardly, that's where you're going to start to see increases in your numbers because you're able to help more people because they start to feel safer with you. So build the foundation and the close becomes the natural conclusion of a conversation that was set up right to start with. And so that is the message for today.
I hope you got some value from this if you did. Like I said, go leave me a review on Google and also on Apple podcasts. You can comment into Spotify now. I appreciate every single one of you and if you want to know more about coaching with me, pop me a message. You can reach me.
You'll see all of the contact information in the show notes. net, you can email me directly. net, that is the website, or find me on Facebook. We've got a really thriving Facebook group. So just search Close It Now.
If you search Close it now in your search bar, you're going to find me everywhere. So this is how you work. We say over and over in this podcast, you have to work to become someone worth buying from. And the more that you increase your own personal growth, the people that buy from you will naturally start to happen. Smoother, better, easier.
So until next time, my friends, you go be someone worth buying from. You've been listening to the Close it now podcast. Our passion is to dive headfirst into the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of HVAC and home improvement and at the same time covering fitness, nutrition, relationships and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did, make sure to like, rate and review.
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