Today's discourse centers on the paramount significance of leveraging inquiry as an instrumental tool in overcoming objections within the sales process. We are privileged to welcome Mr. Gene Slade, a preeminent figure in the HVAC industry, who shares his extensive experience and insights on how to transform objections into opportunities through the art of questioning. Our conversation underscores the premise that the adept application of questions not only facilitates the resolution of objections but also enriches the customer’s understanding and engagement in the sales dialogue. As we delve deeply into this topic, we will explore actionable strategies designed to enhance one’s sales acumen, thereby enabling us to elevate our business practices and achieve unparalleled success. Join us as we dissect these methodologies and equip ourselves with the knowledge necessary to excel in our respective fields.

We go.

All right.

Well, welcome back to the Close it now podcast.

Sam Wakefield here.

This is your drive time university.

I hope you are out there crushing it.

As we know, as we know 15 year career.

The statistics prove it.

The numbers prove it.

Charlie Greer always said that 15 year career is the equivalent of 3 PhDs if you use your drive time as education.

So that is what we are all about here.

Thank you for joining me today.

I know you are going to love this episode.

It's our next in the series of the guests that we're having.

I hope you've been enjoying the interviews.

This is the new format.

I guess it's not new at this point.

We're a couple months into the new format, so still have the solo podcast released on Monday.

The interview podcast release on Friday and today will not disappoint.

I was so excited to connect to this gentleman.

I know you probably saw it in the notes.

So, Mr. Gene Slade, he is our guest today.

If you've been around the H vac or trades industries at all, you know this man doesn't really need much of an introduction.

He is super tech lead ninja, Will.

Absolutely.

His track record is 10x ing your service tickets.

I mean, who else can say that with the amount of collateral to back it up and the testimonies and the history.

So I'm not going to go on and on about this because we want to dive into the content today.

Gene and I had the opportunity to chat a bit a couple of times preparing for this podcast.

And it's a topic that I know that you have all been wanting to.

Wanting to hear more about.

I've been getting a lot of questions about it, which is kind of a teaser into one of our main topics today.

But you know, you hear me say a lot of times, if you can tell it or you can ask it as a question, always ask it as a question.

Always use.

The problem with most people is you're not using enough questions and there's not a single objection you can't overcome by asking more questions.

So that is one of our main topics today.

But before we get into all that, Mr. Gene Slade, thank you for being on the podcast today.

I'm so excited to hang out with you for this bit.

Dude, you're excited?

I'm excited.

I'm jacked, man.

I'm ready to go.

I mean, let's do this, man.

Give some people some value, man.

Let's teach some people some stuff.

Let's make some people some money.

That's what I'm about.

Man, I want to help somebody out there, more than one people.

I want to help everybody we can to make more money, but to work less doing it and to be able to get home for dinner on time.

100% sound good.

That is 100% our philosophy here.

I love how it aligns with.

With this podcast.

So, yeah, let's do it, man.

So before we get into it, let's give.

Give us a. I know every single time we talk or you speak or you.

You're on a recording, there is somebody listening that doesn't know who you are.

So let's give them a quick history, give them a super nutshell of who you are, why you're here, what got you here, and what, you know, kind of what your focus is.

Absolutely.

So, guys, my.

I grew up in this business.

My father owned his own heating and air conditioning business.

You guys heard two chucks in a truck, right?

We were two jeans in a truck.

We were the guys that literally, we would do two or three air conditioners a day, and we were the beer can cold guys, right?

You grab ahold of the suction line, as soon as it's cold as a beer camp, roll them up, get out of there.

Absolutely.

And I didn't ever hear of a microngage before.

Are you kidding me?

But I was 11.

My father needed some help with his business, and so he recruited me.

And he said, boy, if you want food, you want clothes, come to work.

So wasn't really.

It wasn't really an option, you know, it was a family business.

So I began to follow him around with his tool bag and take stuff out of the basement that he didn't need anymore.

And eventually, by the time I was 14, I would be, well, 13.

I would be.

I'd be wiring up the outdoor system, leveling the pad, putting the disconnect on the wall.

Like, I'd do the entire outdoor system, Fish the line set into them from outside, cut the hole in the brick, all of it, you know, a little whole hog, you know, trying to knock me out, but.

And then by the time I was 15, I was qualified to do the indoor system, the outdoor system, like, everything.

And my dad was a perfectionist.

That was the one thing that he really instilled in me, was that if you're going to do something, do it right.

Right.

So he bought another truck for himself, gave me the old piece of shit truck, hired me a helper who was 25 years old and said, gene, you're now a lead man.

Sweet, right?

So shortly after that, I Became an installation foreman at a mechanical shop.

I wrestled at University of Tennessee for a little bit and then came back and got back in the business.

And so 19, I was a foreman at a big mechanical shop.

21.

I got into sales and I never looked back.

I mean, I loved sales.

What pissed me off though, before I got into sales, I was an installer.

And if you're an installer out there, this, this show is for you, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Because that's me.

I'm an installer.

So I'm making 42 grand a year as an installer.

And I heard that the salesman who sold the equipment that I was installing, who, he couldn't even install it himself.

He's just talking to the client.

He was making like 120 grand a year.

I'm like some bitch.

You got to be kidding.

I wonder if anybody gave me the opportunity to do that, right?

So I sent out 50 resumes to Michigan, 50 resumes to Florida.

Traveled down to Florida for a week, did a bunch of interviews.

Never heard of a maintenance technician position, believe it or not.

And that's what everybody wanted me to take.

But I've been selling multimillions for years, right?

Three years in a row.

And I was like, no, I don't want to do that.

So eventually I came down here and helped another company grow from a million and a half to $8 million in three years.

That was in Tampa Bay.

And I was the general manager at the time.

And I gave this speech, like I did every morning to 42 technicians.

I would train them every morning.

And one morning the owners both met in the back of the room.

And that was weird because they didn't like each other so they were never seen together.

I'm like, something was weird.

So they called me back, told me my services were no longer needed because I had, I had passed my mechanical contractor's exam, like accidentally.

I didn't take the books in or anything.

And I got like a 78 on the test.

And they're like, you passed, you can get a license.

I'm like, holy shit.

But my boss found out and he fired me.

I was nowhere near ready to start a company, guys.

I had $100 between four bank accounts because I was paying off all my bills, right?

And the good thing is I had good credit.

So they fired me.

I got a 50 mile non compete with this company.

I got a 5 week old baby boy who'd just been cut out of my ex wife's stomach.

And you know what?

Am I going to do?

So I went home and I said, hey, listen, we're moving to Florida or moving to southwest Florida, Fort Myers.

I went and took as many credit cards as I could get out.

But before I did that, I went to the bank or the dealership the exact same day and I bought two trucks because I knew that if the bank realized I didn't have a job, they wouldn't give me the trucks.

So within two hours of losing my job, I purchased two trucks, loaded them up, got caps on them, got a bunch of inventory.

Oh, and here was the great thing.

I got approved for like 26 different credit cards.

It was awesome.

That's your business Runway.

I was seventy something thousand dollars in debt before I ran my first call.

And I had a bitch of a time getting my license.

That's a whole different story.

But fast forward six and a half years later, I sell the company for a seven figure profit.

We were doing over $2 million a year in just IAQ sales.

And I had developed a radio show on talk radio, like Rush Limbaugh, like Sean Hannity, those stations that was bringing in two to three new route, two to 3,000 new customers a year.

Wow.

So it was amazing.

And then I just, I felt like I was just done.

I was burnt out.

And I just, I sold it really quick.

I sold it in like two weeks and it was all cash.

And I went into semi retirement.

I had a two week deal with the company that bought it.

I said I'll stay on for two weeks, but after that I'm out.

Peace, I'm gone.

And we had a little bidding war with him.

And I'm sure most of that two weeks was like, you know, moving the debt, moving their stuff out of the office, not actually working, right.

I moved.

Shit, man.

I sold him everything.

I'm not moving nothing.

I'm out.

Peace.

You could keep, you keep the phones, you keep everything.

So I'm sitting on my couch five months later and I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do because I'm getting bored.

And I was like, hell, I'll sell that radio show to other people.

And so I did.

I took a 26 page script, put other companies names in it, made sure they were willing to do the tune up the way that I promised that I was going to do it on the radio.

And then I bought the airtime for them and I just charged them every time the phone rang.

So every time they got an appointment for a new maintenance on the weekend and I got just so you know, in Dallas I got 82 appointments in an hour.

Oh geez, 82 appointments in one hour.

My very first show was in Tampa Bay and I got 42 appointments in an hour.

And on January 6th, when you can't sell air conditioning or tune ups.

Right, right.

So we created this demand and then I ran into another problem.

I'm sorry this is going long, but I ran into another problem.

And that was, that was that I was collecting maybe $100,000 a year from each of these clients, generating 2,000 leads a year for them.

And their technicians weren't closing deals.

Oh, right.

So if you're paying, if you're paying a quarter million dollars a year maybe in radio advertising like I was, and your guys aren't closing deals, that's a problem.

So I ended up eventually having to go out and teach everybody how to make money on tune ups.

Right.

Not selling equipment because let's face it, 1 out of 10 is an equipment opportunity.

Sure, yeah.

What do you do the other 90% of the time you get kicked in the balls.

Right.

You end up 0 ticket, 0 ticket, 0 ticket, 0 Ticket, 0 Ticket, 0 Ticket.

Next thing you know, you're feeling like shit.

Right.

I didn't want to do that.

And frankly, for the first two years that I operated my company, I didn't tell you this, we didn't even sell air conditioners or furnaces.

No geez, no equipment.

We were 100% maintenance and service and we just sold the shit out of IAQ.

We sold a million bucks in IAQ within the first 18 months.

So like that's a great margin, that's for sure.

Yeah.

And, and that radio show, by the way, we did free tune ups off of it.

They were free.

Yeah, we go out and do free and our average ticket was $1,032 with a 72.36% closing ratio.

You can tell I'm a numbers guy, right?

Absolutely.

Of course, if you don't measure it, you can't manage it.

So I ended up going out and starting to do on sites.

I created a virtual platforms.

We were the 59th fastest growing construction company in the country.

And all industries, all construction and privately held, that's the key.

But yeah, now I teach people how to do that.

I teach them how to add million, 2 million, $10 million in indoor air quality sales, water pollute water treatment sales to their tickets.

When there's not an equipment Replacement opportunity.

Oh, and I teach the ductwork side too.

Like, if you guys aren't selling ductwork, you don't know what's going on.

Because I've been selling 50, 10 and $15,000 duct systems for 20 years.

Absolutely 100%, man.

You know, I love that you're going through this because that's a lot of my background too is, you know, for years.

Some people, some of the podcast listeners may know this, some of them don't.

I owned a division of a home performance company.

Started it, grew it for five years, and then sold it in up in the Texas Panhandle.

And that was our thing.

You know, we did everything besides the equipment.

You know, sure, we were partnered with the ATRAC company also, but you know, we were doing $30,000 projects that didn't.

Have any equipment in them.

Dude, I was so blessed.

My first H Vac job that I got, remember I said I sent out a hundred resumes.

The place that I went to, I didn't even submit a resume to.

I just called them out of the phone book.

They had one of the bigger ads.

Turns out they were the most expensive company in the area.

And I didn't know that they were 10, 15% more than everybody else.

And I know sales experience, right?

What a beautiful place to start.

Think about that.

Starting at the highest trial by fire.

Learning.

Yeah, learning how to sell that way.

And we did the blower door there.

So like that I did home performance stuff constantly.

And so I think that's why I was able to jump into an air conditioning company and sell all this other stuff.

Right.

Smoke pencils, like, I mean, just amazing.

Yeah, I love that side of the business.

And people don't realize contractors out there, you don't realize you're only scooping up a third of the cash that the customers have for the H Vac.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

Geez.

A third?

There's so much more.

Yeah, well.

And the industry has done such a poor job of educating people, they don't even know it exists.

Until Google comes in and takes over owner, we allow them to take over ownership of our space.

Elon Musk is doing it now, guys, he's putting, he's putting HEPA filters in the new editions of some of the higher end Teslas, the new Model S. I'm looking at the plaid edition myself.

And that thing's got a HEPA filter in it.

Elon Musk is doing it.

You guys, we're idiots.

We're absolute idiots that we haven't taken advantage of this.

And beyond today.

If you don't take advantage of it beyond today, now that you have the information, it won't be that you don't know what you don't know.

You'll have the tools and some guides today after we're done with this.

And if you don't use it, you're a fool.

It's on you.

Love you.

Yeah, sorry.

Right.

Right now it's not your fault, but after this, it will be your fault.

If you don't take action, you don't do something 100%.

100%.

So cool.

Cool.

Awesome.

So let's dive in.

Let's get into some stuff.

Actually, that seg.

What you were just talking about segues into one of the questions that I wanted to ask you today specifically surrounding when you started in a company that was 10, 15% higher.

Because as you know, as a sales trainer, as a coach, you get this question probably more than just about anything else.

How do I handle.

Your price is so much higher.

Objection.

At the end, everything was great, but the other guy is this much less.

So I would love to hear your perspective just as a quick one on.

How you handle that.

I'm begging for that.

I am begging them to tell me it's the money, guys.

You guys realize that you can't handle.

I want to think about it.

Absolutely.

That's not an objection.

And that's the objection.

No.

It's a fricking smokescreen.

It's a. I'm going to be polite and not tell you what I really think.

That's.

People are wired for cooperation.

So it's actually painful to not be cooperative, which is why they give you a brush up.

They're trying to be polite.

They're trying to be nice.

They don't want to hurt your feelings.

Feelings.

And they don't want to have conflict themselves.

Right.

So we're going to think about it.

We'll call you.

Is bullshit.

If it were free, would you tell me you needed to think about it?

Well, of course not.

No.

No.

So then it's the money.

Yeah, 100%.

So I wouldn't go at it from that perspective.

But if somebody tells me that it's the money, like I'm.

I'm flabbergasted.

I'm super excited that I got to skip all those other steps.

Yeah.

Because usually I've got a good.

I've got to.

I've got to eliminate the veil that, you know, I want to think about it.

Here's.

Here's one other thing from Ron Smith.

When a man Says, I want to think about it.

He already thought about it and stopped thinking.

Love it.

Let that sink in for a minute, guys.

When a man says I want to think about it, he already thought about it and stopped thinking.

Holy shit.

Right?

So the first thing, first thing, if they tell me my price is too, I'm probably going to repeat it back in the form of a question like Charlie Greer would.

You know, they say your price is too high, My price is too high, and shut up.

Let them say more.

Right, because you don't know what it is.

Maybe it's too high compared to what they were expecting to Pay.

Maybe it's $12,000 and their budget was 10.

And you need them to say that.

If they say that that's wonderful, you get to go, okay, perfect.

Would you like to look at something a little bit cheaper or would you just like to use one of our payment plans like everybody else for the extra 2k?

Right?

Right.

That's a completely different process, isn't it?

Right now I got to say something like, would you like to know why more people choose us for this type of work regardless of any difference in price?

Or would you like to know why more people invest $12,000 on a new home comfort system with us when they can get a furnace and air conditioner down the street for 6k?

What are they going to say?

Well, of course I do.

Yes.

They're going to give you an opportunity to tell them why you're more expensive.

And just for the record, y', all, 84% of the population says.

Todd Lyles, you guys might know him, he says that 84% of the population buys based on value, not on price, and that 16, 15 to 16% buy solely on price.

The problem a lot of times, too is they ain't even on the right product.

Agreed.

The product don't make them feel good.

Product don't make them feel good.

You just go pedal a bunch of 13, 14, 80% bullshit try to make people feel good with that.

Right?

There are no benefits in that stuff other than on, off, I'm off.

That's it.

What's there to get excited about?

What's there to get excited about?

Exactly.

You know, something that we've talked a lot about is people don't care what the price is.

What they care is how is it going to make them feel?

They don't care how it works.

What they want to know is, how.

Is it going to make them feel 100% and you've got to transport them into that world before it even happens, right?

So here's an example.

You know, so and so says so and so could give me one for nine grand?

Sure.

Awesome.

Beautiful.

Would you like to know why more people choose us for 12 grand instead of them for 9 grand?

Of course they're going to say yes.

Now I'm going to hit them with features, advantages and benefits, right?

We all heard features and benefits, but a lot of people miss out on the advantage part too.

And we don't have time to get into that today.

But I'm going to say something like, well, we've been in business for 20 years or we're in over 5,000 homes a year.

That's what I used to say because we were a young company, right?

I go, we're in over 5,000 homes a year, which means that we know the codes, the climate, the construction of the homes in the area.

We know it works and what doesn't.

Your job's not going to be a testing ground or a training laboratory job is going to get done right the first time, which is going to save you time and money.

We're going to use drug tested technicians.

Drug testing technicians have clearer heads, make fewer mistakes and show up to work more often.

And they have all their teeth.

Yeah, all of our guys are background checkers.

You know the number one and number two trades being taught in the business.

They're air conditioning and plumbing with air pyro heating and cooling, which is my first company that I was with you.

Your family and even your belongings are protected, right?

I'm going to hit them with at least.

I'm going to be prepared with at least 25 or 30 reasons for them to buy from me.

I'm not putting everybody else down, right?

We prioritize our warranty calls.

Most contractors only do warranty calls Monday through Friday, 8 to 5.

When you use us, you get a speed pass to the front of the line and you get service right away, seven days a week, right?

I got to hit them with enough benefits to where it becomes overwhelming and they feel good enough to stop me.

Because guys, it's rare that I get through 30.

Features and benefits.

Usually that's enough.

Well, yeah, they'll do that or.

And they do what you just did, they smile, their eyes light up, their pupils dilate, right?

And if you have this stuff memorized, if you can memorize your features and benefits and then give them to a customer from memory and not struggle to do so, you can Start to watch their body.

You guys realize that 85 to 93% of communication is body language, tone, and inflection, right?

Absolutely.

I can see.

Am I getting head nodding?

Head nodding is a buying sign.

Am I getting pupil dilation?

Did they smile?

If they smile, what's going on inside the brain?

You guys realize that's endorphins, right?

I know they're feeling good.

They're chemically enhanced.

Time to ask them to buy.

Does all this sound good to you?

Does all this look good to you?

Depending on whether or not they're a visual or an auditory learner.

And you do that by looking at their eyes and which way they go.

We're not going to get into that, right?

Oh, you know, I've got an entire podcast on that where I talk.

We've talked about when you go in their house, if they have art hanging up, use.

Use visual stuff, do you.

Does this look good to you?

If they have music stuff, does this sound good?

Just pay attention.

100%.

100%.

You talk to them in the language that they like to send and receive information, and then remember to talk to them in third to fifth grade reading levels, right?

If the word's got four syllables in it, don't say it, Right?

Think make America great again, okay?

Think that.

Make one symbol America.

Well, that.

Everybody loves America, right?

So you're there.

Yeah.

But you can call it America.

America.

Yeah.

So guys, like the.

The price objection.

That's the one that you want.

And if you don't want it, it's because you're not prepared.

You're not having somebody like Sam or somebody like me help you.

You're cutting down the fucking trees yourself to build the road.

Excuse the vernacular, but you are, right.

I don't want to cut.

I don't want to blaze a new road if I don't have to.

Right?

I will if I have to, but I'd rather drive on the man's road and pay a toll and speed up my learning curve.

You guys can spend 20 years like I did or 30 years like I did to get where I'm at, or you can pay a little bit of money and accelerate it.

I just spent.

I've spent $40,000 in the last 90 days on my own personal education, right?

Why the hell would I do that?

People pay me 50 grand to come out and work with them or 2,500 bucks an hour to do zooms like this, right?

Sure.

Why would I need to continue my education?

Guys, always be, always be growing, right?

You're either growing or you're backwards.

One of the two.

Well, yeah.

And if I don't continue to learn, then I wouldn't expect you guys to stick around 100%, man.

I love it.

Yeah.

Here's a good power.

Good things come to those who go out and.

Oh, what's it say?

There it is.

Good things come to those who go out and fucking hustle.

Love it.

Yes.

I got these birthday gifts and stuff all the time.

I have a podcast coming while you're taking a sip there.

A podcast coming.

You know, there's something that people don't do in our industry that I'm learning in other industries is go out and work.

People complain all the time about what are we doing off season.

I'm like, go knock on some freaking doors, man.

Walk down the street and listen for the loud air conditioner.

Knock on their door, hey, I couldn't help but notice your air conditioner.

Instead they'll make excuses.

One of the other guys that I was in a mastermind with, Ryan Stuman, he handed me a chip one time.

I'm going to have them remade.

It's a poker chip and it said fye on one side of it and the other side it said fuck your excuses.

Yeah.

And I loved that.

Again, excuse me for getting your attention with these F bombs, right?

But F your excuses.

You can either make excuses or you can.

You could get money, right?

Yeah.

You can't make both.

So yeah, 100%.

Go knock on the frickin door.

What the hell is wrong with you?

You just gotta call.

If you're not knocking on the three doors across from you and the two next to you, you're freaking lazy anyways.

And you're suckling at the teeth of the company.

You're not really actually being a super productive member of that company unless you're doing $7 million like Brent Buckley.

Right?

Absolutely.

But you want to learn how to go out and generate your own business, guys.

Some of you want to have a business one day, but you won't go across the street and knock on the door and say, hi, I'm with ABC Heating and Cooling.

Just as a part of our standards.

We let everybody know who we are when we're working in the neighborhood.

We couldn't think of a good reason you weren't a client of ours.

Can you love it, right?

I didn't.

I stole that.

I stole that from John Young, right?

Jim Abram and John Young.

That's what he would do.

I heard that 20 years ago.

So just knock on the Door.

Hey, just wanted to let you know we're in the neighborhood.

We're doing a new air conditioner for.

Has yours been clean lately?

We couldn't think of you a reason you weren't a customer of ours.

Than you do you have an existing agreement?

Can we clean it for you for free?

Just to show you how good we are today before we leave.

Nice.

I mean, what do you got to lose?

I told you I did free tune ups for two freaking years.

But again, accelerate your learning by purchasing stuff.

That's it.

Brian Tracy says we can't learn everything and we don't live long enough to learn it all.

So learn it from the, from other people.

Right.

I've got two programs I'm going to starting tomorrow.

There are three days back to back.

One of them is $10,000 a ticket.

It's me and my girlfriend that are going.

She's my, one of my business managers.

And the other one is like 5,000 a ticket, right?

We're going, we're gonna be there.

And then as soon as I booked it I realized, shit, I gotta get a hotel.

All the hotels are sold out.

Now I'm looking at $1,100 a night for a frickin hotel over there.

So like there's 25 grand, guys.

Why in the hell would I invest in myself?

Cause I get it back.

I make sure I get it back.

Yeah.

And people that pay pay attention.

Absolutely.

I would make way bigger impact on somebody if I charged them $2,500 for this hour than for it to be free.

Agreed.

When I started coaching I had.

My prices were so low nobody was getting results.

So I tripled them immediately and we started to see results.

And then I upped it again.

And now the results are like through the roof.

And so it's them again.

Yeah, Help them again.

Right.

So because people that pay, pay attention.

And if you pay 25 grand for a weekend, I promise you you're going to pay attention.

You're gonna feel that and you gotta feel.

And guys that are out there that are not investing in themselves, technicians and stuff, you got bosses out there.

I've heard bullshit like my boss won't put in a CD player for me.

Are you shitting me?

Really?

Like I put in my own CD player two years ago into my work truck.

Just take the damn thing with you when you go.

Seriously, you're going to let $100 stand in between you and your success, your future.

Don't wait for your boss to invest in you.

Take ownership.

You'll be waiting 10 years.

That's it.

Take radical responsibility for your own life.

Right, what's your next topic?

Yeah, let's get into the kind of the bulk of what we're going to talk about today.

And this is something that everybody says, okay, ask more questions.

Ask more questions.

What do you mean by that?

There's lots of different types of questions we can ask, but the most powerful ones are leading questions.

I've heard you do this in podcasts and some of your trainings.

I've trained on this a lot.

But some actual practical examples and actionable items people can take and use immediately is what I'm all about in my podcast as well.

So let's talk about leading questions.

How do we get the customers to real.

Basically, they have the epiphany on their own.

We're asking the questions in a way that they realize where we're headed before we get there, even though we're leading them down that path.

And so it feels like their idea at the same time.

And they smile and they're happy and will happily buy what we're asked.

It's the best way of educating a customer.

I hate that term.

I would never, ever, ever use that term.

I look to educate my customers.

Guess what?

That's somebody who doesn't sell a lot.

Right.

Okay.

Enlightening them is what Charlie Greer would have called it.

Right?

Enlightening them.

Getting them to come to a conclusion.

Right.

So the way that I do that is through the use of questions like you're talking about.

And I'm going to give you a simple sales slash life hack.

You can use this with your kids.

You can use it in your business.

Right.

Matter of fact, I'll give you six of them.

Let's pull this bad boy over here real quick.

Love it.

Turn this down for everybody that's listening on the audio.

We're on zoom here.

And we're recording this.

Gene has this super awesome new screen where he's writing on.

So it's like a whiteboard times 10.

The video will be posted for everybody to be able to come back and review this part visually as well.

Cool.

There are six ways.

Is it forwards or backwards correctly?

We're good to me, so it should be forward to you.

Yeah, we're good.

Cool.

I'm going to shut this off so we get less of this.

Yeah, that's cool right there.

Beautiful.

Let's do surge protection, for instance.

And sorry about the camera.

And I have to hold this.

This is the first time I've used this board in here.

There we go.

So search protection.

When I go on site at these places and I do my two day or my four day classes, everybody's.

The first thing I ask them to do is sell me a search protector.

And inevitably people begin to puke all over me.

Like, just give me information, information and information.

And if they're, if I'm lucky, they'll ask me at the end, do you want one?

Right, right.

Actually asking for a sale.

What I do is information based selling.

I'm giving them information, but I'm going to give them the information to formula questions.

So here's an example for search protection.

First thing you've got to do is ask them why in the hell they don't have it.

Yeah.

All right.

And you ask them in a way that is like you see it everywhere you go.

Like you'd have to be a moron almost.

Not that search connection.

Right.

So I'll go, why don't you have surge protection?

And I'll get the 11s involved.

You know what the 11s are, right?

These right here?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If you got a frowny, questioning face.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

It's one of these right here, squint, that's called the 11.

Anybody that does Botox knows that.

I obviously don't because mine are still there.

Right.

But why don't you have search protection?

Why don't you have a water treatment system?

Why don't you have a filtration system?

Like that's the question.

Right.

Why don't you have a surge protection?

We're just making it absurd that they don't have it.

Yeah.

And for those of you who are scared about saying this to clients that you sold systems to, like another member of your team did, you're afraid of the client going, why didn't you tell me that when I put the system in?

Right.

Just go, I don't know, I wasn't here.

But.

And then ask him a question.

All right.

And that question should be something like this.

I don't know, I wasn't here.

But did you know that in Louisiana we get over 800,000 cloud to ground lightning strikes a year, and that when that happens, we get in home surges?

All right, So I started, I gave a piece of information.

You ready?

Here's the piece of information.

In Louisiana, we get over 800,000 cloud ground lightning strikes a year, and when that happens, we get in home surges.

Now I'm preaching at you there, right?

Very quickly you're going to shut me off.

Your brain's going to shut off and you're going to go on a day trip, La la land.

And then you'll come back three or.

Four days, push on back.

Information.

Yeah.

You'll notice this look.

It's the glassy eyed look, the deer in the headlights look that a client gives you, right?

If I continue to talk it, then that's what's going to happen.

Instead.

I said, did you know that we get over 800,000 cloud to ground, lightning strikes, you're hearing that when that happens, they get in home surges, they're going to go, no.

They might not even say no, right?

But in their mind they will answer that question.

No.

Many of the questions I ask, I'll ask in succession, like one right after another.

And I know that their brain is answering it while I'm doing it and they never even say anything and their body is moving, right, Nodding super, super cool.

Yeah.

So second question would be, did you know that when you get an in home surge that your compressors and your motors can glow cherry red on the inside?

Do you think that's good?

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

Can't be good.

How about the lifespan?

Probably the same.

Have you ever purchased a compressor before?

They're like, no.

So then you weren't aware that a new compressor could cost you as much as $3,500?

No, I wasn't.

Can you see now why all of our clients just get surge protection instead of replacing expensive compressors and motors?

And they're like, yeah, if they say yes, that was a trial close, by the way, guys.

Right?

Can you see now why all of our clients just get surge protection instead of.

You could say that with a filter.

Can you see now why all of our clients just get good filters instead of letting their systems get all gunked up and having us clean them all the time and spending a lot more money on electric quills.

Can you see now why I say that you're paying for a filter whether you get one or not?

If I can get somebody to agree that they're paying for something whether they get it or not, I can get them to get it.

All right, so here's the tips, here's the hacks.

You ready?

Hopefully the computer will stay good with us.

Number one, write these down, guys.

Write them down, put them in your truck and practice these because these will make you millions of dollars.

They have made me millions.

Okay, Ready?

Did you know.

I'm going to go shorter on this?

Were you aware those are the two questions that I just gave you in that script?

Did you know this?

Were you aware of that?

You add these three words to the beginning of the information that you're going to give a client, right?

So stop talking at them.

Put these three words in front, change the tone a little bit, and you'll have a question that will keep your clients engaged and not allow them to fall asleep on you.

Is it a good idea to allow them to fall asleep on you?

Of course not.

How many questions have I actually asked you guys in this presentation?

How many questions have I asked you guys in this presentation?

A lot.

Is what I'm doing with you the exact same thing that I'm talking about you doing with your clients?

Can you see that I practice what I preach?

Do the questions keep coming?

Do you see how good you can get at this if you actually practice it?

Did I just do it again?

So you weren't aware?

Do you see how I took this one?

Were you aware?

And then I flipped it.

So you weren't aware I did that when I asked them if they'd ever purchased a compressor before and they said no.

And then I went.

So you weren't aware that a new compressor could cost you 25 to $3,500?

You want the eyes to get wide at that stage of the game, when the eyes get wide, we just justified what you're talking about doing to protect their investment.

And stop bullshitting people and talking about you want to protect your investment.

No, I'm giving you the script here.

Don't change it.

Okay?

I gave it to you.

Rewind the tape.

Write it down word for word.

I gave you the exact script to go out and make yourself at least another thousand dollars in revenue every single day.

If you're a performance paid technician, that's 150 bucks a day, $750 a week, $37,500 a year.

You can thank me later.

Okay?

Use it.

I promise you those are the results that you'll have.

Did you know?

Were you aware?

So you weren't aware.

So you didn't know.

And then give them the piece of information.

So you weren't aware that just 1/32 of an inch of buildup on your blower wheel will reduce your airspeed by 20%?

So you weren't aware that people who drink chlorinated water are 90% more likely to get cancer than people that don't.

Three different examples.

Three different trades for you right there.

All right?

I hope you guys see that this shit works.

And by the way, the proof is in the pudding.

I know.

Bullshit.

I take people who've got two $300 average tickets as service technicians who don't sell equipment and turn them into 3,000 $3,500 average tickets.

Yes, that's average tickets.

Okay, I can give you example after example after example.

I could name drop like a mother right now.

All right?

And this is all over the country, too, guys.

This isn't just one area.

Yeah, I've traveled everywhere.

Do you suppose.

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

Do you guys remember that?

And the.

And the lifespan.

How about this?

Did you know?

And then would you believe.

And then we want to follow it up with a trial close.

What is a trial close, y'?

All?

What is a trial close?

Think about it.

I asked this question all over the country.

Hardly anybody gives me the right answer.

And we're supposed to be communicators, right?

We suck, man.

We suck.

Good news is that we all suck in the beginning, right?

And then when you start to get the reps in, right?

The frequency.

It's frequency before greatness, guys.

Frequency before greatness.

If you go out there and fail good, keep doing it.

Fail forward, all right?

You're not going to make less money than you're making right now, I promise you.

So trial close is a question that if they answer it, yes, I can almost assume they're ready to move forward.

Right?

I can go ahead and give them my final question, right?

And in this case, it was, can you see now why our clients just get surge protection rather than replacing expensive compressors and motors, possibly even the whole system?

And they're like, yes, if they say that, then they can.

They can see why others have done it, and they can see themselves doing it, too.

All I got to do is go, you want me to do it for you then?

And shake my head.

Social proof right there.

Yeah, you want me to go and do it for you, then?

And it's herd and pack mentality, right?

We're calling it social proof today.

The old term is herd or pack mentality.

And people like to follow the crowd because there's safety in numbers.

If other people did it, I'm probably not going to get hurt or embarrassed, right?

People hate to be embarrassed.

That's one of the number one fears of a human being.

Top Two fears.

So trial close would be something like this.

Can you see now why I say and then make a statement like the ones you're already frickin making.

Okay, so can you see now why I say that you're paying for this whether you get it done or not?

Can you see now why our clients actually get surge protection instead of replacing expensive components?

Right.

Instead of saying our clients typically even just using herd and back mental healthy, our clients typically protect their self with surge protection.

You think that's convincing enough?

Absolutely not.

Absolutely ridiculous.

So there it is for you guys.

Take a snapshot on your phone right now.

All right?

I'll try to get it zoomed in.

Good enough for you as perfectly as I can.

All right, so now you can take a.

Turn your phone sideways in landscape mode, everyone and take a screenshot.

Okay, you got 15 seconds to do it.

No less than that.

Love it.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Cool.

Fabulous.

All right.

That is beautiful, Gene.

Beautiful.

It's, it's.

That's a good.

Such a great formula.

And this formula works for everything?

Yeah, 100%.

I just had somebody ask me, they're like, this worked for everything.

I'm like, yeah, they're like, sell me a drone.

And I'm like, no problem.

This, by the way, this is only the first step of five steps that I use, right?

This is used to establish that there is a need to do something.

Because guys, hell, you don't know if the pressure reducing valve is bad.

If you're a client, you need to be convinced and you don't want to be sold.

Right?

Wouldn't it be better if you could come to the conclusion on your own that it needs to be done and then tell somebody else to do it?

People don't like being told what to do.

Do you like being told what to do?

How do you feel?

What do you, what's your reaction when somebody goes, do this.

Don't tell me what to do.

Yeah, no way.

Pretty much everybody's so sorry.

I get a little off track with that one.

But keep going.

Oh, no, that's good.

I love it.

I love it, I love it, I love it.

That is.

Oh, I know what it was.

I know what it was.

So this is to establish a need for everything that is on the list.

And that's the process for that.

But it's again, it's only one step.

And what I was going to say was, guys, all of you are out there trying to learn sales and all you're focusing on is the value and the features and Benefits.

And you got people that don't even want the shit you're trying to put in front of them.

You realize they do have to want it, right?

Which means that they've got to want to do one of two things.

They've got to either want to experience pleasure or escape pain.

What will people spend money on faster experiencing pleasure?

Escaping pain.

Escaping pain 100%.

So they have to feel some sort of pain.

And in the surge protector script that I gave you, they're feeling the pain of a future loss.

They're feeling the pain of being unprotected.

There.

There is fear that sets in with that.

Are you using scare tactics?

No, I'm telling the truth.

I'm sorry that the truth is scary.

Okay.

There's a difference between giving someone truth and using a scare tactic, right?

Always use truth 100%.

So, yeah, boom, I would do that.

Establish a need.

People got to want it.

Get them to come to the conclusion they need it.

And then they should be a lot easier.

And then when they say, what should I do?

Bring in herd and pack mentality and go.

So you want to know what our other clients do, right?

They're like, they're like, yeah, all right, well, most of them do this, right?

So now you're bringing a herd and pack mentality that makes them feel safe.

And if you need to later, you can go over features and benefits and stuff.

But most of you guys are losing sales because your clients don't feel like there's any urgency whatsoever, right?

There is urgency.

When I ask these questions to a client, it's urgency.

When I. Yeah, when they've got mold in their system, it's critical that I go, did you know that this causes depression, sneezing, earaches, ear infections, sinus infections, more trips to the doctor, more time waiting waiting rooms.

More time waiting exam rooms, being poked, being proud of, being told what to do.

A lot of time running around for prescriptions and more time off of work or follow up visits and like, itchy, watery eyes and, you know, loss of sleep, loss of taste, loss of smell, irritability, fatigue, rashes, poor gas medication.

Holy crap.

Yeah, exactly.

Right?

So like, again, that all started out with a question.

Did you know that it causes this?

And then boom, I rattle off a bunch of negative side effects.

That's what I'm famous for, by the way, all the air quality stuff.

Love it.

So that answered the first question of what's your question?

This is fantastic.

What a great topic.

It's one that.

Thank you for articulating It a little bit differently than I do because it just reinforces so much into.

Well.

And I've learned something today as well.

But, man, now you're going to sell from me.

Go sell it to other people.

But good for you.

Well, this industry is known for R and D, right?

How many times have we quoted other people R and D is Robin duplicate.

Yeah.

But the thing is, if we say it differently, maybe if we're.

Even if we're saying the exact same thing, maybe somebody out there will hear it in a way that actually impacts them and they take action on it.

It's not enough to know it.

Success happens at the speed of implementation.

Take action on it.

So love it.

And maybe it'll be somebody who has heard something from their boss and didn't choose to take it in and accept it.

But then, boom, they hear it from and they're like, you know, maybe the boss isn't such a dumbass after all.

Yeah, absolutely.

Oh, my gosh.

Love it.

So a couple more questions here.

We're getting moderately close to time here.

Couple things I want was curious to know.

One is if you, you know, if one thing.

Hang on, hang on one second.

I gotta holler at these kids that are just some of them.

I've got five boys.

Hey, guys.

I'm on a podcast right now, so keep it down, okay?

The nanny just brought my boys back from the community pool down here.

Got him out of the house for us, but brought him back too early.

That's right.

No worries.

That's one thing that's cool about my podcast is everybody knows we're real life here.

So we don't normally clip things like.

That because don't flip it.

It's cool.

Yeah.

And that's one of the values that Gene and I share.

Everybody and I know you share this.

Gene is what are we doing this for?

We're doing this for our lives, for our families.

Not at the expense of our families, not at the expense of our lives.

So if you're out there working 12, 14 days, you know, 12, 14 hours a day, six, seven days a week, sure, you could be making all the money in the world, but so what if it's at the expense of everything you actually care about?

So that's why we're all about work less and sell more.

Amen.

Yep.

Good stuff.

So one question.

What is one thing you wish you had known when you began your career?

So this is for all of the new guys.

Things that you know now?

One thing.

Oh, man.

I think it would probably be a Tie something that I recently have really just learned that has helped me to help others.

And that was something I mentioned earlier.

Frequency before greatness.

We have a generation that is coming up that is able to get things quickly.

Right.

Like on the Internet, these boards, these tablets, all the other stuff that we have.

I think it's something like 90% of all the information that's on the Internet's been put on there in the last two years right now.

Right.

So, like, understanding that every overnight success takes 15 years would have been something that would have helped me immensely.

Right.

With my patience level.

So I be willing to put in the work is something that I was always willing to do.

But I think just knowing that it was going to take repetition, frequency, lots of reps, like when you're working out to build a big muscular body, it's going to take a shit ton of reps, millions of reps.

Right.

So.

And to not be discouraged.

And then also, I really, I got fortunate with my career because within the first two years of my H VAC career, I found Charlie Greer.

Yeah.

Right.

And I remember years ago watching.

Putting in every morning we put the VHS of Tech Daddy in.

You know, watching those.

Yep.

And I mean, like, at the time, like, he was.

He was about all there was for that kind of training.

Right.

So that, that was one thing.

I think that's probably the thing.

Just knowing that I'm going to have to put in reps and that it's going to take time instead of, you know, assuming that I was going to get there overnight.

You know, we've got these big plans and dreams and goals and everything.

Shit.

I mean, it's been seven years now that I've been doing this, and I thought I'd be further than I am right now.

Right, right.

So be patient and just know that it's going to take a lot of repetition.

You're going to have to fail a lot in order to really get where you want to be.

What else?

I love it.

That's a good one.

That's a really awesome one.

Okay, here's a question.

If you could step into my shoes as the interviewer, what would you have asked yourself today that I haven't so far?

All these interesting questions.

These are like, we should really go over these questions beforehand.

So I come up with an intelligent answer.

What should you have asked?

Is there something you think we.

That was missing in our conversation?

Maybe as a way to rephrase that.

It's a really good question.

The first thing that came to my mind was something like, what outside of, like, ordinary sales training have you done that has had an impact on your business and.

Or life, maybe?

Oh, I like.

That would be what I would ask.

What outside of, you know, the normal Brian Tracy Zig Ziglar, like, studying the business and what other things have you experienced or trainings have you taken?

And they're a deep psychological type of company.

They're not.

Let me turn this board off real quick.

They're not licensed psychologists.

Right.

They can't claim that because there's all kinds of lawsuits and stuff with that.

Sure.

But they help me to understand myself and my mind better than anything else I've ever encountered.

They helped me to get past breakdowns and walls and stuff that were in front of me.

And really, if I could try to.

If I could try to summarize it for you, I'll do the best job I can.

We are meaning making machines.

Anything that happens in our life, we make it mean something, right?

We interpret everything, and you got something like 40,000 thoughts a day.

Oh, my God, how do we do it?

Right?

But let's just say, for instance, here's something that could happen to somebody.

Their brother could be in business with them and could steal some money from them, right?

And they could come to a conclusion or create a story for their life based on that circumstance.

He stole from me.

I can't trust family.

I can't trust anyone right now.

I've created this story, which is an interpretation caused by something that happened to me in my life.

And I used to live inside that story and was trapped inside those stories.

But because of Landmark, I was able to.

And because I still have a coach that I pay more than my attorney every week, like, I'm constantly in training, constantly trying to get better.

I've now been able to separate what happened in my life from the stories that I created about it, because the stories that I created about it were what held me back.

Right?

We have all this baggage and shit from our life, and we walk around carrying it in front of us, and we.

Everybody else got their baggage, and so we bump into each other's baggage and shit instead of each other.

And it took my communication skills to an entirely different level, my understanding of human beings, my empathy for human beings because of what we are all trapped in, inside of our minds.

And this is one of the things that has taken my coaching to an entirely different level.

When I am with a human being.

I am able to listen to them on a completely different level now.

And I can hear things that they can't see.

And I can help them to remove blocks by asking them more questions.

Right.

Getting them to come to the realization on their own about what they made up.

Right.

So it's an entirely different level of stuff.

People will be paying me $100,000 a week for it within the next two years.

I love it.

I love it.

That vision is also powerful.

So fantastic, man.

I think that was probably the last one for today.

I've got a whole nother topic that we're not going to cover because we don't.

Definitely don't have time, but.

Well, I'll make the time whenever you want, so I appreciate that.

Let's schedule another very much.

Yeah, that we definitely will.

Anything we can do, man, to help out.

And, guys, one of my mentors, Grant Cardone, says that you shouldn't have to ask people to share a stream or to share a video.

Right?

So.

But I'm.

I don't care.

I'm gonna ask you if you got any value out of this to give it to somebody.

Right?

Because this is.

This is a business of, like, you don't know something until you've taught it.

And you don't really get any massive rewards out of this industry, in my opinion, until you start teaching other people how to do what you're doing.

The amount of fulfillment that comes from helping another human being, huge.

Guys, you can have anything in life you want if you just help enough other people get what they want.

All right?

So help some other people enhance their lives by sharing Sam's podcast.

Cool.

Love it.

Appreciate it.

So, as we wrap up here, thank you for that.

One, how can people get ahold of you?

And two, is there anything specifically that you are excited about promoting?

I know you've got a lot of.

Different products and different programs and things.

What's your focus right now and what.

Do you want people to know?

My focus right now is massive, massive expansion.

I've got a.

You guys are going to start seeing a lot more.

I've got a videographer and video editor that I'm hiring.

I've got a new building that we're working on.

I'm going to be speaking with Grant Cardone on stage in Vegas in October.

We're doing this awesome private jet and mansion trip with a bunch of my clients coming up in November.

I mean, like, there's so many events that are getting ready to happen.

I can't Even tell you one that I, here's what I'll do.

I'll promote this one thing because it's not released yet and this will play a little bit later.

And timing might work for you.

It might not, guys, but I'm going to do a follow up event.

It's going to be three days and it's probably going to be $25,000 for a VIP ticket.

There might be one or two tickets underneath it, but it'll be a follow up class where you bring in your existing leads that you did not actually close on.

And I show you how to figure out why they didn't buy and get them to buy.

And the goal of the program is for you to sell at least $100,000 in those three days of business that you wouldn't have otherwise gotten.

And, and you're going to see people do it right in front of your eyes.

So we're going to teach CSRs, office people, people that have got good communication skills, how to call back after the technician and secure another a hundred thousand dollars minimum every single month for the company.

So we're talking about adding 1.2 million minimum to any company that I would say any company that's running a million and a half or more we could do that with.

Wow, that's powerful.

So super excited.

Love that they can reach out to me on Facebook.

They can go to leadninjasystem.com or theleadninja.com but DM me, whatever.

If I can't help you, I'll get to the right, get you to the right team member that can.

Perfect.

Well, I love it.

Gene, thank you for being a guest today.

You've been fabulous as always and we'll definitely, I see a lot more happening in the future, so we'll definitely stay in touch, stay in contact and.

All right, everybody, hope you got some value from that.

Like Gene said, if you did share it.

Also, this is going to be posted in a lot of places.

Go in one.

I'm going to ask for this.

Please.

Leave me some reviews on the podcast.

That's the number one thing that I need right now is a lot more reviews in the podcast.

So whatever platform you listen on, if you're an Apple podcast, if Google or Spotify, wherever you're at, leave a mere review.

I appreciate that.

Yeah.

Think about the time commitment that Sam has put in.

Think about the time commitment.

Just this one hour time commitment.

You should be able to do 30 seconds worth of a review, right?

It's two sentences, man, and hit the five stars.

Appreciate that.

Yeah, absolutely.

So also the very last thing here is we've got some cool things coming up in the Facebook group, if you didn't know.

Every Friday I do a one hour Q& A live Q and A training.

So hop into the Facebook group.

Join the Facebook group.

It's a great, it's, I keep it 100% positive.

If people start bringing throw a shade in there, we they get the boot because it's a community to build each other up.

It's not like some of the Facebook groups where if you ask a question, a thousand people just tear you down for it.

It's only a positive environment.

So join the Facebook group.

It's a lot of fun.

And the very last thing, like we always end every episode is everybody go save the world one heat stroke at a time.

We'll see you soon.

See you guys.