The focal point of this podcast episode is the innovative closing technique known as the "ping pong close." This method is particularly advantageous when navigating sales situations involving multiple decision-makers who exhibit varying levels of enthusiasm for the proposed solution. We delve into a scenario in which one partner expresses eagerness and readiness to proceed, while the other hesitates, often citing the inability to make a significant decision in a single encounter. By employing the ping pong close, we facilitate a dialogue that alleviates pressure and clarifies any underlying uncertainties between the decision-makers. Through strategic questioning and a thoughtful approach, we guide them to arrive at a consensus, ultimately fostering commitment and ensuring a smoother closing process.

The ping pong close scenario is when you have the two primary decision-makers sitting at the table that can’t decide on moving forward. Sam Wakefield dives deeper into this closing technique and explains how this can help you level up in your closing. The psychological aspect always presents itself in terms of decisions. Sam believes that tackling the psychological level allows a person to decide and commit faster.

The discourse presented within this episode delves into a pivotal closing technique known as the 'ping pong close', which is particularly effective in scenarios involving multiple decision-makers. The host, Sam Wakefield, articulates a practical approach to navigating the complexities of sales conversations where two parties, typically a husband and wife, are involved in the decision-making process. This method is predicated on the understanding that often one party exhibits a greater enthusiasm for the proposed solution, while the other may harbor reservations. The episode meticulously outlines the dynamics of such interactions, highlighting the importance of reading verbal and non-verbal cues that indicate a party's readiness to proceed. By directing attention to the more enthusiastic party, the salesperson can facilitate a dialogue that encourages commitment from both sides, ultimately leading to a successful close. The episode emphasizes that effective sales techniques are not merely transactional; they require attentiveness to the emotional landscape of the clients involved. Sam Wakefield further accentuates the significance of employing a calming and reassuring tonality, which serves to alleviate the pressure that often accompanies high-stakes financial decisions. Through illustrative examples and a structured approach, the episode provides a comprehensive guide for sales professionals seeking to enhance their closing strategies in residential HVAC sales.

Welcome to Close it now, an H Vac sales training podcast with Sam Wakefield.

Here we'll build your reputation in residential H Vac sales to be the expert influencer in your market.

You'll get insight into the top minds in the industry as they share their skills and hacks to help you on your journey.

This podcast isn't just about selling more.

It's about understanding your customers needs and building efficiencies behind the scenes so you can sell more by but work less while being top of mind when people think H Vac.

Now let's get started with your host of the Close it now podcast.

This is Sam Wakefield.

Greetings, Sam Wakefield.

Here I am back.

It is the new decade.

First of all, we are going to copy cover a fun topic today.

This is a closing technique called the ping pong close.

You know, like table tennis, ping pong is the ping pong close.

The scenario is when you have two decision makers.

The two primary decision makers sitting at the table just can't decide on moving forward.

So that is what we're going to cover today.

First of all, I want to give a huge shout out to every single one who is in the Facebook group.

If you're not in the Facebook group, find it.

Go to close it now.net the very first thing you're going to see is join our group.

Click this button and that will send you right to our Facebook group.

There's a massively growing community there of people just like you who are out in the world every single day, sitting at that kitchen table, saving the world one heat stroke at a time, saving the world one frostbite at a time.

Making magic happen for the clients you serve and for your own family and your businesses.

It's a group of people from all over the world actually.

We've got, gosh.

This podcast is in at least 25 countries now around the world.

So thank you all, every single one of you who listen.

I do this for you.

I pour my heart and soul into this to make you a better H Vac salesperson.

And I've been hearing messages back from you guys.

Go to the website, send me an email.

Samoseitnow.net I love to hear from you on the website.

You can find out about the coaching programs.

I have an amazing group coaching program which is super affordable and it takes you through everything you need to know to step into the house and be confident in the sales process.

We cover closing, we cover all kind of stuff.

There's also private coaching program which is awesome as well, of course.

And we've also have lots of things going on coming up with some live events that I'm going to be putting on in this coming year.

So stay tuned for that.

But yeah, so get involved.

Join the Facebook community.

Shoot me an email samoseitnow.net Go check out the website, go check out the coaching programs.

They're all there to help you become the better version of you, become the best version of you possible.

It's time for you to level up in your closing, level up in your sales game because the world deserves the best version of you that you can possibly give it.

So alright, let's jump into today's topic.

It is called the ping pong close for a reason.

So let's set this up.

The context and in fact this idea came from one of the members from our Facebook group.

The context is they were in a scenario, they're in a home just a couple nights ago and both decision makers were there.

In fact, in this case it was a husband and wife.

We all know that could be partners, it could be whoever.

But the important part is it's a two decision maker process.

Everybody's involved that's there, right?

Most of the time it's husband and wife.

But all kind of scenarios then.

Yeah.

So in this case and really in this context, you've done a great job at your presentation.

You did your intro right.

You set your credibility pieces, you closed all the objection doors before they opened, before you ever got there.

So everything went smooth, right?

So you're sitting at the table, it's time for the close.

They've even narrowed it down and decided on which level of equipment that they want to move forward with.

They've decided which accessory packages are also going to be included.

All of that's decided.

In fact, in this case it was a big zone system.

I think it was like an $18,000 project or something like that.

If I remember right, when he was telling me, the wife seemed really excited about it.

She was showing all of the buying signs.

She's got the eyes, she's doing the nod, nodding her head, she's got her eyebrows kind of raised.

She keeps smiling.

She's almost basically elbowing her husband, kept looking at her husband.

She's ready to go.

It all makes sense to her.

The husband is kind of that on a scale of 1 to 10, his energy is about a 6, maybe 6 to 7.

He likes the project.

It makes sense.

There's no confusion in what the accessories do.

There's no confusion in the project.

There's no confusion in the pricing.

They're just going to finance it.

They've decided the financing works best.

Everything is decided.

The objection that he keeps bringing up is, I just can't make this big of a decision in one night.

Just can't make this big of a decision in one night.

Which, as we all know, another version, it's a variation on I want to think about it.

Well, the I want to think about it is, as we know, a smokescreen for something else that's really going on in his mind.

So what do we do?

Well, in this case, this is the perfect scenario to use what is called the ping pong clothes.

What is the ping pong clothes?

You say, raise your hand, say, sam, tell me the ping pong clothes.

Okay, so it could be either this scenario where one person is really into it, the other person is, you know, kind of halfway.

It could also be the scenario where it seems like both decision makers are excited about the project.

It just seems like they are kind of unsure about how the other person feels.

So this is a perfect way to close this one down.

You, first of all, and go with the person who's the most excited about it.

In this case, we're going to use, let's say Johnson as the last name.

So we know again, the wife is the one that's more excited about.

She's ready to go.

You can tell from all the buying signs.

So in this case, I would say, Mr. Johnson, do you mind if I talk directly to your wife for just a moment?

And he says, of course.

He's a little taken aback.

Yeah, I guess so.

And nobody's ever told me no in this case.

And so okay, Ms. Johnson, if you're, hypothetically speaking, if your husband were to turn to you right now and said, hey, I feel really great about this project, why don't we go for it?

What do you think?

What would you say?

Because you know that she's excited about it already and she's going to say, oh, well, I would say, well, that's great.

Let's go ahead and do it.

And then at that point, you turn to Mr. Johnson and you say, well.

Then you ask Ms. Johnson, say, Ms. Johnson, would you mind if I talk to Mr. Johnson directly for a moment?

And of course, at this point, they're starting to grin, they understand what's going on.

And then she'll say, well, sure.

So you say, okay, Mr. Johnson, if Mrs. Johnson were to sit, look at you directly and say, well, I feel really great about this project.

It all makes sense to me.

Why don't we go ahead and do it?

What would you say?

And of course, at this point, he's going to look at her, they're going to look at me, he's going to look at you, and he's gonna laugh and says, you know what, that sounds good.

Why don't we go ahead and do it?

Because really what was going on in that case is he was unsure about what she thought about it and she was kind of unsure about what he thought about it.

But you answered that for them by hypothetically having them speak to you directly.

So that's the ping pong close when they're ping ponging back and forth, back and forth.

And so I'm going to go through it all really quickly without the explanations, just so you can hear it all back together.

Because it's so powerful, this is a very powerful close, that it takes the pressure off.

The psychology behind it is.

It takes the pressure off.

The clients, it takes the pressure off, they're like, okay, and important in this.

And this is really a key aspect that I want you to get.

It's not just about the words, because the words are only 7% of what they're really hearing at this point.

You're going pretty low and slow because it's to the money part.

But here's where you get a little bit of kind of fun.

You can play with it a little bit, throw some fun into it, but it's all about the tonality and your tone of voice.

Your tone of voice is extremely important in this close.

And the tone of voice you want to use, the tone of voice you want to employ is the money aside.

It's the money aside tonality that hypothetically speaking, money aside.

Because what you're saying is you, you're asking Ms. Johnson if Mr. Johnson said, Hey, I feel good about this, but the tone of voice you want to use is now, Ms. Johnson, if Mr. Johnson were to look at you right now and say, I feel great about this project, why don't we go ahead and do it?

What would you say?

Did you hear my tone of voice?

My tone of voice was very much money aside, very much.

Hypothetically speaking, I didn't have to say hypothetically speaking because it was understood.

And mentally, subconsciously, even though they know you are asking for a buying decision for thousands and thousands of dollars in that moment, the psychology behind the tone of voice completely almost takes them out of the situation for a minute, takes the pressure off and gives them the ability to Clear their mind and think.

Because what happens in this situation when you're sitting at the kitchen table and you're asking for money, you're asking for a commitment.

As a society, our globe, people are scared of commitment as it is.

So in order to go take somebody from blind date to marriage proposal with a commitment in an hour or 45 minutes, it takes a lot of overcoming this kind of psychological things.

And when we understand them and we can recognize them, that's when we're able to step right past them.

So by using that money aside, hypothetically speaking, tone of voice like Ms. Johnson, if Mr. Johnson asked you right now, he says, man, I feel great about this.

This project looks good.

What would you say?

And she says, well, of course, let's go for it.

And then you do the same thing with Mr. Johnson and Mr. Johnson.

So let me back up.

Let's do the whole thing, start to finish, so you can hear it in its entirety.

And then we're going to wrap up here in just a couple minutes.

So here it is.

We're sitting at the kitchen table.

They're back and forth.

One decision maker, in this case, Mrs. Johnson, is really excited about the project.

Mr. Johnson keeps saying that he can't make that big of a decision in a single night, which we know is a smokescreen for a variation of I want to think about it, which is a smokescreen for something else altogether.

Now, ping pong clothes.

Here we go.

Mr. Johnson, would you mind if I spoke directly to your wife for a moment?

He says, sure.

Okay, great.

Now, Ms. Johnson, if Mr. Johnson looked at you right now and said, I feel great about this project, it all makes sense.

Let's go ahead and get on the calendar.

What would you say?

She says, well, you know, I would say, yeah, that sounds awesome.

Let's do it.

Great.

Now, Mrs. Johnson, may I speak directly to Mr. Johnson for a moment?

Sure.

Okay.

Now, Mr. Johnson, if Mrs. Johnson looked at you right now and said, you know what, honey?

I feel awesome about this project.

Everything makes sense.

It's gonna accomplish what we want to accomplish.

Our house is gonna be fixed finally.

I really want to get this done, what would you say?

And of course, that's when he says, yeah, you know what?

I think we should do it.

Let's.

Let's go for it.

And the way you're gonna wrap it up once they both agree is you say, well, great.

It really feels like that's settled then.

Why don't we go ahead and get on the calendar?

Or you say, great.

Sounds like we just Made the decision.

Does Tuesday or Thursday work for you?

Or.

Great, sounds like you guys just decided which day next week works best for install and you just smoothly wrap it up with a nice little bow, just like that.

And at this point they're going to be grinning, they're going to be smiling because they know what happened is you just took the confusion out of the room.

You were able to help them overcome their last minute, just kind of resistance to commitment.

A lot of times there's not necessarily a big hidden black swan, so to speak, type of objection, a kind of big reason that they're not committing.

A lot of times it's just people are scared of committing to anything, even if it's something they want to do.

And so you're just helping them slide right past that.

With this type of a psychological judo match, so to speak, a psychological game, it's your ping pong match and that's why it's called the ping pong close, because you're going back and forth between them.

And then of course, wrap up the closing with as little effort from them as you possibly.

And of course wrap up the clothes with in your normal way, with as little effort from them as you possibly can.

Make it, make it super easy and smooth for them if they need to apply for financing or they're paying by credit card, they're paying my check, whatever they're doing.

But that is the ping pong clothes.

And it's one of my favorites.

It's one that I don't get to use as often as I like, but I can tell you a decade of doing in home sales, I've used it a handful of times every single year, very effectively and usually for really the bigger projects, typically the ones that it seems to really come out on.

But you try it.

I want to hear from you, how did this one work for you?

Go try it in the field.

Implement, implement, implement.

Success happens at the speed of implementation.

So I want you to implement this right away.

Listen to it over and over.

If you have to get the words in your mouth, practice in front of a mirror.

It's going to seem silly at first, but if you can get the words comfortable in your mouth by yourself, then they'll just flow out.

When you're in the house, in front of people, make this type of thing, make this your favorite song in your car, in your drive time university, because that is how you get comfortable.

I have CDs and CDs of scripts and closing techniques and all kind of things.

I swear the laser beam has burned a hole through my CD because of just listening to it over and over and over and over and over again and practicing it.

I would practice the pauses, the tonality, everything over and over and over to the point that you couldn't tell the difference between my voice and the recording's voice if you were sitting in the passenger seat.

And that's how you have to be if you want to be a next level closer.

And that's how you have to be if you want to be a next level closer.

And that is exactly what I want for you.

So go implement this right away.

And of course, as a reminder, close it now.net, join our Facebook group.

Check out the coaching.

I want you to succeed.

I want you to see more success than your dreams could wildly, possibly imagine.

I will talk to you soon.

Sam Wakefield, go save the world one heat stroke at a time.

Go save the world one frostbite.

Sam Wakefield, go save the world one heat stroke at a time.

One frostbite at a time.

I will see you and talk to you again soon.

Thanks for listening to Close it now with Sam Wakefield.

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