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Women In HVAC And Selling With Care
Episode 530th July 2021 • Sales Training. Close It Now! • Sam Wakefield
00:00:00 00:42:38

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This podcast episode elucidates the pivotal importance of fostering female representation within the HVAC sales industry, as we engage in an enlightening dialogue with Lisa Gentz, a distinguished sales professional with over a decade of experience. We delve into her journey, examining both the unique challenges and advantages that women face in this traditionally male-dominated field. Lisa articulates the significance of building meaningful relationships with clients, emphasizing an educational approach to sales as a means of establishing trust and rapport. Furthermore, we explore effective strategies for enhancing efficiency in sales processes, allowing professionals to serve their customers better while simultaneously increasing their productivity. This episode serves as an invaluable resource for those aspiring to elevate their standing within the HVAC market, underscoring the necessity of embracing diversity and inclusion as catalysts for industry advancement.

In this episode of Close It Now, Sam interviews Lisa Gentz, an amazing woman who's dominated the HVAC industry since 2008 (the year of the global financial crisis). She started her journey when her current employer, RSP Heating and Cooling, decided that a female sales person with no HVAC experience would be a good hire.

In her 11 years in the industry she has achieved at least a million or more in sales for 9 of those years. In 2019 she took over as the Sales Manager and have the good fortune of helping 5 sales people find the same satisfaction and success that she has had in HVAC sales.

Transcripts

Speaker A:

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

Speaker A:

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

Speaker A:

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

Speaker A:

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, buy, but work less while being top of mind when people think H vac.

Speaker A:

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

Speaker A:

This is Sam Wakefield.

Speaker B:

All right, well welcome to the podcast today.

Speaker B:

Sam Wakefield here, Close It Now.

Speaker B:

I am super excited, excited for my guest today.

Speaker B:

Let me take a quick second to welcome everybody.

Speaker B:

I hope you're loving this new format, having the solo podcast every Monday and an interview every single Friday.

Speaker B:

And that is going to be the pace from now on for the foreseeable, at least for the foreseeable future.

Speaker B:

We are really ramping up the amount of podcasts that we are putting out because you know what, it's time to raise the standards in the industry.

Speaker B:

It's time to embrace our society and basically just take this industry to really into this century.

Speaker B:

Because we all know that the H Vac industry is a big old slow ship that's very slow to turn and move.

Speaker B:

So everything that we can do to speed that process, bring it current, get us where we need to be, is part of that journey.

Speaker B:

So I'm super excited about our guest today.

Speaker B:

We have a woman, which is awesome.

Speaker B:

I love, love, love.

Speaker B:

As you know, if you've listened to my podcast, you know, I always love to give shout outs to women out there in the, in the industry.

Speaker B:

And it's part of what we're going to talk about today is what it's like as a woman in such a mostly male dominated industry and what we can do to support that.

Speaker B:

So my guest today is Lisa.

Speaker B:

She last name, help me out here, but let me almost say right here.

Speaker C:

It'S a hard g. It's against Lisa Gentz.

Speaker B:

Yep.

Speaker B:

Okay, so Lisa Gentz, she is, she's been in the industry over a decade.

Speaker B:

She's been a million dollar year person for over a decade and she's out there doing the do just like every single one of you, all the rest of us.

Speaker B:

And yeah, we actually connected through Drive Time University.

Speaker B:

She found the podcast, has joined the Facebook group and we started chatting and I just really wanted to bring her on Today, if you watch the video, you'll see that I have the challenge accepted shirt on today.

Speaker B:

But if you're not watching the video, that right across my chest is challenge accepted.

Speaker B:

And I wore that very intentionally.

Speaker B:

So as you're listening, because getting into the industry as a woman can sometimes be a little bit of a challenge.

Speaker B:

And this is somebody that stepped up, dominated the game.

Speaker B:

She now leads a team of about to be five people, and they are all out there doing the same million plus a year and just crushing the goals.

Speaker B:

And so they're doing it, too.

Speaker B:

So welcome to the show, Lisa.

Speaker B:

I'm so glad to have you today.

Speaker C:

Thanks.

Speaker B:

Give us a super quick synopsis of why in the world you chose heating and air.

Speaker B:

How'd you get here?

Speaker C:

So I had an opportunity as somebody who knew me and knew my sales background.

Speaker C:

I was actually selling cars at the time, and they were associated with the business I'm working with now.

Speaker C:

And they knew that they were looking for a salesperson.

Speaker C:

And she called me and said, hey, would this interest you?

Speaker C:

And I'm never one to turn down an opportunity.

Speaker C:

Came in and talked to them and knew nothing about heating and cooling.

Speaker C:

And the owner of the company said, that's great.

Speaker C:

I don't want anybody who knows anything.

Speaker C:

I'll teach you all of that.

Speaker C:

All I want is somebody who feels comfortable in sales and going into people's houses and just talking to them.

Speaker C:

Well, shoot, I can do that.

Speaker C:

And it's worked out well.

Speaker C:

But, yeah, absolutely green to the industry.

Speaker C:

But you have a great team and good training, and it's just been.

Speaker C:

It's been the best decision that I could have made.

Speaker C:

I think the number one thing that prompted me to do this was that, like I said, I was selling cars, and I was one of maybe five, four salespeople fighting for every single sale that came on that lot.

Speaker C:

Or could I just be the one salesperson and get.

Speaker C:

And, you know, trying to make that work.

Speaker C:

And it's like, well, I'd rather.

Speaker C:

I'd rather be one salesperson than fighting with all of those other people.

Speaker C:

So I'll do it.

Speaker C:

I'll try it.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

And the funniest thing is when I went home to tell my husband that I was thinking I was going to do this.

Speaker C:

I said, I got to crawl into crawl spaces and addicts and look at things.

Speaker C:

I think I can do that.

Speaker C:

And he just.

Speaker C:

He laughed hilariously.

Speaker C:

He said, you are going to get in a crawl space, right?

Speaker C:

Yeah, I think I can do that.

Speaker C:

I think I'm going to try it and I never looked back.

Speaker B:

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

Speaker B:

So what.

Speaker B:

I'm just so curious when you're, especially when you got started.

Speaker B:

But I'm sure it even happens still, you know, when you're in the house and you tell the homeowners that you're going to go in the crawl spaces, that you're going in their attic, you know, what's that response?

Speaker B:

Like, is it, Are they surprised?

Speaker B:

They laugh, they don't believe you.

Speaker C:

Yeah, it's usually, oh, well, you don't have to get in there.

Speaker C:

The other guy didn't get in there.

Speaker C:

Like, well, here's the thing, here's how we handle it.

Speaker C:

And yeah, I would really like to get in there.

Speaker C:

I need to.

Speaker C:

So that we can make sure that there's no issues.

Speaker C:

The worst thing we can do is install a system and then get in there and find out that you have a problem.

Speaker C:

So I'm going to inspect everything and usually it's, it kind of throws them back a little bit that I'm actually going to do this.

Speaker C:

And I love it when the person, the guy that was there before me didn't do it because it, I don't know, it just, I think it carries more weight.

Speaker C:

You know, they're not expecting it from a female.

Speaker C:

They really aren't expecting a female salesperson to begin with.

Speaker C:

And you always get that, oh, it's a woman coming out.

Speaker C:

Sure is.

Speaker C:

And I just think that it really.

Speaker C:

Because it's something different and people aren't expecting it.

Speaker C:

I find that I have, my customers have less of that defense, you know, you know, that guarded defense mechanism that you get.

Speaker C:

I don't want to be sold.

Speaker C:

You know, it's just, hey, I'm very non threatening coming in and talking to you about what you need and then, yeah, I'm going to crawl around your attic, you know.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

I see it as, I see it as a huge advantage being a woman in the sales for H Vac sales.

Speaker B:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B:

Yeah, that's, you know, you hit the nail on the head.

Speaker B:

It's, you know, either if it's from our, the way we're raised or socialization or just subconsciously something we don't intentionally do.

Speaker C:

Right.

Speaker B:

But just.

Speaker B:

And that's why, like I mentioned, you know, everyone's heard me mention this before in the podcast.

Speaker B:

I've always hired for women on my sales team when I could.

Speaker B:

When somebody, you know, we would intentionally look for women for that very reason of if somebody was willing to learn the things they needed to Learn and had the drive then I can, man.

Speaker B:

Every single time I've turned them into, you know, million dollar plus rock stars.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Because they have the instant difference of rapport.

Speaker B:

There's instantly an additional amount of guard that's down.

Speaker B:

Well, and when we think about it too, how many times do you go out and it's.

Speaker B:

You're hanging out with the housewife during the day, during the appointments, you know, it's so much.

Speaker B:

It's so less threatening.

Speaker C:

Yes.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

You know, gone are the days when it's the husband making all of the decisions for the household.

Speaker C:

It's.

Speaker C:

And it's more of a joint decision anymore.

Speaker C:

But still, you know, another thing that we thought about too is you're right, we are dealing with women there during the day.

Speaker C:

And you know, they'll say, well, the other guy that came, he kind of made me a little nervous, you know, being alone in a house with somebody for two hours that you don't know.

Speaker C:

So I do again, that's another advantage.

Speaker C:

Woman going in and speaking to a woman.

Speaker B:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B:

I love it.

Speaker B:

Well, cool.

Speaker B:

So let's talk a little bit about your process.

Speaker B:

So it sounds like from that just the whole ideology and model of less threatening that over time you've developed basically a model of.

Speaker B:

For your sales system, for your company, for your team that kind of follows suit on that.

Speaker B:

So talk about that a little bit.

Speaker C:

For us, we use a very low pressure.

Speaker C:

It's more educational than anything.

Speaker C:

We have a series of questions, comfort concerns, we call them, where we're doing a little bit more just setting up a conversation with the client, finding out what they need.

Speaker C:

So we spend a certain amount of time doing that.

Speaker C:

That slows the sales process down too, which is really good.

Speaker C:

You can really gather a lot of information.

Speaker C:

Whole home inspection, ductwork equipment and then insulation.

Speaker C:

And so we're looking in, like I said, attics, crawl spaces, going through the whole home and doing the heat load that's done on every sales call.

Speaker C:

So then all of that information is used to educate the client on.

Speaker C:

Here's what your system is doing.

Speaker C:

Here's what we need to do.

Speaker C:

We have found this.

Speaker C:

Hey, we found a health and safety issue that we need to address.

Speaker C:

So then it's a lot of the education process and then it's presentation of the equipment we like to do.

Speaker C:

Used to be, you know, good, better, best right now.

Speaker C:

Now the thought process is good, better, best.

Speaker C:

Fantastic.

Speaker C:

Four options.

Speaker B:

You must have been to the same training the once upon a time.

Speaker C:

I don't think we're Reinventing the wheel here.

Speaker C:

You know, there's a reason why that.

Speaker C:

No pressure.

Speaker C:

Sales boot camps are out there.

Speaker C:

You know, all of most of.

Speaker C:

Or a lot of the sales training that I've been into for the heating and cooling industry is exactly this layout.

Speaker C:

And it's because it works.

Speaker C:

And if you work the process through like that and you set up a really good rapport and you educate the client where we should make the sale.

Speaker C:

And I'm still amazed at how many of our competitors don't do it.

Speaker C:

They just take a legal pad and write down, here's what you're going to get, and then they're on to the next one.

Speaker C:

It's.

Speaker C:

It's astounding to me how they still stay in business doing that.

Speaker B:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B:

What's.

Speaker B:

You know, that's why the industry average close rate is 30% and statistically 30% of people will buy from you no matter what.

Speaker B:

So they're not doing any sales, they're just an order taker.

Speaker C:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker B:

That's that moment of like, okay, whoever comes out first and I'll just do what they say because I just don't want to mess with it.

Speaker C:

Right.

Speaker B:

Versus we get a chance as, you know, going through a real process to really connect and have a build relationship with that other basically 30% that are, you know, that we have the influence to, you know, have that.

Speaker B:

That conversation.

Speaker B:

Because we know 30% of people are not getting back from this anyway.

Speaker C:

Right.

Speaker B:

There's also that.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So that's the.

Speaker B:

They might not like your hair that day or the color of your shirt or they just had a bad day.

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker C:

They're just.

Speaker C:

There's times when you just can't make a connection with the person.

Speaker C:

It just doesn't happen.

Speaker C:

And that's.

Speaker C:

Personalities clash.

Speaker C:

Who knows?

Speaker C:

But.

Speaker C:

But if my sales guys and myself are not hitting a 50% or better close rate, we're.

Speaker C:

We're starting to worry a little bit.

Speaker B:

Right, Right, Absolutely.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So you mentioned earlier as well that you are bringing on a another woman onto your sales team.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And so this is.

Speaker B:

I love it.

Speaker B:

I'm super excited.

Speaker B:

How'd you find her?

Speaker B:

Because I know there's a lot of business owners and managers out there that would.

Speaker B:

That understand this concept that women are just deadly in the house when it comes to closing deals.

Speaker B:

How do you find a solid woman salesperson?

Speaker C:

Lots and lots of resumes.

Speaker C:

This last time, this search is actually for a salesperson, has been going on for a couple of months now.

Speaker C:

I would have liked to have had somebody hired earlier in the year so that we would be a little bit more ready to send them out during the busy period here.

Speaker C:

But it just didn't work out that way.

Speaker C:

But it's, you know, one.

Speaker C:

And again, nothing against women, obviously I am one.

Speaker C:

But when you tell them what the job entails, some of them, oh, well, I didn't realize that.

Speaker C:

So no, I can't do that.

Speaker C:

So we kind of weed them out.

Speaker C:

This one, she's been in a sales position where she was designing kitchen cabinets for a client.

Speaker C:

So it's really the same type of sales process.

Speaker C:

Tell me what you need, tell me what you want.

Speaker C:

And then she's taking that and designing a project for them.

Speaker C:

So she's got those skills.

Speaker C:

I think she's going to fit in really well.

Speaker C:

But it was just a lot of sifting through resumes and people and I wasn't necessarily looking for a woman in particular, but her sales experience stuck out and happened to be a woman.

Speaker C:

And we're really excited.

Speaker B:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B:

I love it.

Speaker B:

That's, you know, the last one of the places that I found too, for every, just kind of a ninja trick for everybody out there.

Speaker B:

Realtors make fantastic H vac salespeople.

Speaker B:

They make fantastic consultants.

Speaker B:

I've had a couple across the years that came from real estate because they understand commission based selling, because that's realty.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I understand the grind.

Speaker B:

You've got to get out there and do the work.

Speaker C:

It is not an 8 to 5 job.

Speaker B:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B:

You know, it's what they say in the industry.

Speaker B:

It's a 40 hour a week job, but that's 60 hours a week in the summertime and 20 hours a week in the off season.

Speaker C:

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker B:

But yeah, so realtors, especially in housing markets like now statistic 80% of people that get their real estate license never sell a house.

Speaker B:

So when you have that, you meet that person that's out grinding and you know, depending on the success rates, say, hey, listen, you can make, you know, in a day you'll make the same as selling a single house for commission and it closes a whole lot faster.

Speaker B:

Let's just get it in and get paid.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

You know, with a realtor you might make a sale and then it might drag out for 30 days before you're closing and before everything's said and done.

Speaker B:

Easily.

Speaker C:

Yes, One day.

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

You sell it, you get it in, you get paid.

Speaker B:

That's good stuff.

Speaker C:

What's wrong with that?

Speaker B:

Yeah, no, no kidding.

Speaker B:

It's a fast turnaround.

Speaker B:

So I love Your model, the, the whole model of value for.

Speaker B:

Basically, you know, generally speaking, we're talking about value first selling, which is we build that stack of value and the moment that, that stack of value that we've built through rapport through actually not just asking the questions, but actually listening, listening to understand, not just listening to respond.

Speaker B:

And then building, you know, co creating that project with that homeowner and becoming that trusted advisor before they ever see the price.

Speaker B:

And the second that stack of value is higher than their stack of dollars.

Speaker C:

Right.

Speaker B:

Then it's game over.

Speaker B:

Right?

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker C:

That's, you know, it's been very successful for us from the get go.

Speaker C:

And truthfully, I don't think I could sell any other way.

Speaker C:

I just try to treat my clients the way that I, I want to be treated.

Speaker C:

If, if I'm having, if I have a salesperson in my house, you know, and they're trying to sell me on something, that's the way that I approach it, how would I want to be treated?

Speaker C:

And you know, and that includes making sure that I'm talking to the wife as well as the husband and making sure that both of them are included in the conversation.

Speaker C:

And a lot of times I get that feedback.

Speaker C:

Well, those other guys, they didn't, you know, they didn't even talk to me about it.

Speaker C:

They didn't even tell me about it because they assume that the husband's going to make that decision, so.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

Yeah, that boys club mentality.

Speaker B:

Right?

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

But you, you're right.

Speaker C:

You have to build value in your company.

Speaker C:

There's, there's a million of us out there within a 20 mile or 10 mile radius of our shop.

Speaker C:

We probably have 10, 8 to 10 competitors.

Speaker C:

So it's, you have to set yourself apart.

Speaker B:

Absolutely.

Speaker B:

I love it and it's, it's easy to do, but at the same time it, A lot of times it's like, what do we do to differentiate that?

Speaker B:

You know, it's like, okay, so we all know the canned answers of, well, you know, we've got these warranties and, you know, this, our brand is the best and you know, here's our reviews and on paper, you look like the same company over and over and over walking in the door.

Speaker B:

Once companies are past a certain threshold.

Speaker B:

What's some of your, you know, ninja tricks, basically to differentiate yourself.

Speaker B:

What, what sets you guys apart from.

Speaker B:

I think it's how do you communicate that to the homeowners?

Speaker B:

The better, better question.

Speaker C:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker C:

You know, number one is that I think the time that we spend sometimes that can work against you a little bit.

Speaker C:

Our sales calls are generally a minimum of two hours just in order to get all of the information that we need.

Speaker C:

And sometimes the customers are, oh, I didn't know you were going to be here so long.

Speaker C:

And, but building the value.

Speaker C:

We just, we try not to sell on our brand of equipment because we know that two or three other competitors are selling the same brand of equipment.

Speaker C:

So we're really just selling our company.

Speaker C:

We're selling what we bring to the table.

Speaker C:

We have just a ton of recent, not old, not a year old or even six months old, but recent Google reviews, Facebook, Facebook reviews, business bureau reviews.

Speaker C:

We work really hard for that.

Speaker C:

And that comes from our, not just our sales, but our service, our insulation department reviews for all of those.

Speaker C:

So we encourage our clients to take a look at those.

Speaker C:

And we're getting more and more people calling us just because, hey, we saw your Google reviews and you guys are five star.

Speaker C:

So that's, I think in this day and age, social media and utilizing Google reviews is a big part of IT.

Speaker B:

Technology in general in the process.

Speaker C:

Yeah, I mean, you know, we are very heavily a referral based company.

Speaker C:

So we pay a referral spiff or referral fee to a client if they refer us and we sell our system.

Speaker C:

I send them a check and sign it and say thank you and send them a thank you card for a check for $100.

Speaker C:

Sure, yeah.

Speaker C:

And so we do that kind of stuff.

Speaker C:

But, but as far as building the value in the company, it's really just spending that time with the client.

Speaker C:

And like you said, it's, it's listening, it's, it's deep listening.

Speaker C:

You know, it's, it's really hearing what they're saying because sometimes they don't want to tell you or they don't know how to tell you.

Speaker C:

So, so you spend the time with the client, you just, your demeanor, your professionalism has to speak volumes for it for yourself.

Speaker C:

And then we, I ask that question, what can I tell you about my company?

Speaker C:

What do you need to know to make you feel comfortable to work with us?

Speaker C:

And I address all of that.

Speaker B:

Yeah, that's a great question.

Speaker B:

That's a dangerous question.

Speaker C:

Well, yes, it is.

Speaker C:

But again, I want to find out what they're looking for.

Speaker C:

You know, are they just looking for a cheap price?

Speaker C:

I'm just looking for, you know, I just need the, I need the lowest price because, you know, great, I've got budget lines but you know, I've got some other items Too.

Speaker C:

But sometimes you just have to flat out ask the question.

Speaker B:

Of course.

Speaker B:

Oh, I love it.

Speaker B:

That's one of my.

Speaker B:

Man.

Speaker B:

One of my biggest philosophies is at, you know, for too many years and too many trainings in our industry taught people to dance around subjects and to just like.

Speaker B:

And replace the obvious things with, you know, how, how many ways can we ask this obvious question indirectly?

Speaker B:

And it just makes it feel squeaky and gross and it does.

Speaker B:

You know, like we're trying to ask the obvious question.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

There's no reason that we shouldn't be trying to put something over on the client.

Speaker C:

And unfortunately, you probably know as well as I do that our, our industry has had a reputation for that in the past that we're so we're overcoming that reputation as well as then trying to build value in our company.

Speaker C:

It can be a tough road of hope.

Speaker B:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Absolutely.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

There's like that diverging path that at least I kind of am recognizing right now in the industry.

Speaker B:

There's that fork in the road and this is why there's.

Speaker B:

It could be a half a dozen or a dozen people training the exact same thing.

Speaker B:

But you say it differently.

Speaker B:

Like I said that client that you just might not connect with.

Speaker B:

Same thing with, you know, all the different trainings that are out there.

Speaker B:

You know, we may or may not be saying some of the same things, but you resonate with somebody differently because of the way they communicate.

Speaker B:

There's kind of this diverging path though of this model of, you know, like permission based selling, which is, you know, one of my biggest, you know, tenants.

Speaker C:

Right.

Speaker B:

You know, be just listening, connecting value first, no pressure because.

Speaker B:

And understanding that when somebody says, you know, not right now, yes, we can force the issue.

Speaker B:

But you know, the people that don't say yes to us, if they haven't gone with somebody else, chances are they haven't done anything.

Speaker C:

Right.

Speaker B:

And understanding that we're, you know, the value of a pipeline and we, we circle back and stay and read.

Speaker B:

We're building relationships.

Speaker C:

Yes.

Speaker B:

If this is truly a career, if I don't make the sell right today, it doesn't end my career.

Speaker B:

It's not a one shot and you're done.

Speaker B:

While we always want to close it now, obviously, but understanding that soft value and then of course the other divergent road is like the rah rah.

Speaker B:

You know, you tell me no and it's perfectly fine and I'm down the road and that closes the door for that.

Speaker B:

And it's a whole.

Speaker B:

Let's hurry up and make the sale and get it installed before they can change their mind.

Speaker B:

I just really feel like that's the philosophy of a scarcity mindset.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

If there's, there's nothing better than we've given a client a quote and six months, eight months later, or sometimes even a year later, they'll call us up, hey, you guys were out.

Speaker C:

We didn't do anything.

Speaker C:

We were waiting until it broke down or we're, you know, but we'd like to take a look at that quote again.

Speaker C:

And they come back to us and it's because we spent the time and built the value, you know, or, you know, like you said, we're not going to do this right now or we need to think about it.

Speaker C:

It's not a no.

Speaker C:

It's not a no until it's a no.

Speaker C:

And whenever we call back for a follow up, it's usually, hey, what else can we get for you?

Speaker C:

What other information can we help you with?

Speaker C:

Or hey, just wanted you to know that I got a price increase coming up.

Speaker C:

I just wanted to make sure that you were aware of that or try to give them some sort of information.

Speaker C:

In addition, what else can we do to help help you make your decision?

Speaker C:

You know, we want to earn your business.

Speaker C:

You know, constantly doing that.

Speaker C:

So.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I love that.

Speaker B:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So when you're following it.

Speaker B:

So if I'm hearing you right, every single time we follow up, having some sort of either offer new promotion or information about something that's coming up for sure, price increase, etc.

Speaker B:

A new piece of information for that homeowner.

Speaker C:

Right.

Speaker C:

It just helps open the door.

Speaker C:

I'm not just calling to beg for your business.

Speaker C:

I'm concerned and want to make sure that you get a good quality installation or if you're getting other bids.

Speaker C:

Is there something I can, a question I can answer with theirs compared to ours?

Speaker C:

Because people, you know, the industry average says the people only change their heating and cooling system 1 1/2 times in their lifetime.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

And it's, it's the third largest expenditure normally for most people besides a house or a car or college education.

Speaker C:

I mean this, it's a big deal and, and it's just, it can be so confusing for a client.

Speaker B:

Yep, absolutely.

Speaker B:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker B:

I totally agree.

Speaker B:

This is, this is such a fun conversation because, you know, and you know, I think that the people that like the other method of just closing the door and moving on are lazy salespeople.

Speaker B:

If you're not willing to put in the work of the follow up, you're missing out on literally hundreds of thousands, potentially millions of dollars in revenue every single year.

Speaker B:

And then once I had my pipeline built, I would have people from, you know, three, four years ago that phone rings and they're like, oh, thank God you still work there.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So happy to hear your voice.

Speaker B:

They decided when you were out before because of your Rockstar presentation, they're not shopping now, they're just, you know.

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker C:

here a couple of years ago in:

Speaker C:

My husband took a job out of state and I moved with him.

Speaker C:

So I left, did something completely well, worked a little bit in the H Vac industry in that location.

Speaker C:

And then again, coincidences, things brought us back here and after a two year absence, I'm back.

Speaker C:

And it was funny that when some of my older clients found out that I was back, those referrals started coming back in.

Speaker C:

Oh, I told them to specifically call you because you were back or so happy back.

Speaker C:

And it was just great to connect with those, those older clients that I had seen for the, those first 10 years I was here and to know how much they appreciated the service that they got, it just, I thrive on that.

Speaker C:

That's the best part of the job.

Speaker B:

So for the listeners out there that are in the industry, of course, where is here?

Speaker B:

Where are you located?

Speaker B:

And then we can.

Speaker B:

So everybody that's listening.

Speaker B:

Fantastic connection company.

Speaker B:

Just awesome.

Speaker B:

Lisa said.

Speaker B:

Just an awesome person to work with if you're looking for a new home.

Speaker B:

I don't know that they're hiring right now, like right this second, but if Lisa's anything like I've always been, I find a place for when I come across awesome, awesome people.

Speaker B:

But at least make the connection.

Speaker B:

Go meet her.

Speaker B:

So tell us a little bit more about the company and where you're located.

Speaker C:

So I'm located in southern Illinois.

Speaker C:

We're based out of a little town called Carterville, Illinois.

Speaker C:

We cover a 50 mile radius around us.

Speaker C:

We're about 45 minutes north of Paducah, Kentucky.

Speaker C:

So that kind of gives you a little bit of a logistics where we're at.

Speaker C:

The company's name is RSP Heating and Cooling.

Speaker C:

Been in business since:

Speaker C:

When I started, there was just about eight of us.

Speaker C:

We're up to about 50 employees now.

Speaker C:

So we've, we've, we've grown at times we've grown really fast and then at other times it's been a nice steady growth where it's more maintainable as they say, but it's.

Speaker C:

I can't speak enough about the owners and how wonderful they've been to work for.

Speaker C:

When you luck into, I guess, or when you find a place like this to work, you just.

Speaker C:

And you see what else is out there.

Speaker C:

You just know how fortunate you are.

Speaker C:

We've got really good benefits.

Speaker C:

We've got great people to work with.

Speaker C:

We've got a great team.

Speaker C:

We've got great training, and, you know, so I could sit here and talk all day about how great the company is, but we are always looking for resumes for people because you never know.

Speaker B:

Life happens.

Speaker C:

You're gonna have an opening.

Speaker C:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B:

I love it.

Speaker C:

I was never intending to leave.

Speaker C:

Yeah, we did for two years, but I came back.

Speaker B:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B:

I love it.

Speaker B:

So if you're anywhere in that area.

Speaker B:

So free.

Speaker B:

Free plug for RSP and for Lisa.

Speaker B:

I know everybody listening to this podcast is focus on getting better, becoming someone worth buying from that person.

Speaker B:

We know how important that personal growth is in all of our journeys to become that person.

Speaker B:

So there's your plug.

Speaker B:

If you're anywhere in that area or want to move to that area, go talk to Lisa, because, man.

Speaker B:

So definitely a much better talent pool listening to this podcast than you'll find on the street.

Speaker C:

Well, that's the.

Speaker C:

Yeah, I'm always up for that, even if it's just, hey, you want to call and just talk about sales techniques?

Speaker C:

I'm always.

Speaker C:

I love to learn new stuff, because I don't think even if you're in it for 10, 11, 12 years, there's.

Speaker C:

There's not something new out there that you can learn.

Speaker B:

Absolutely.

Speaker B:

Oh, my gosh.

Speaker B:

I learned something new every day.

Speaker B:

That's.

Speaker B:

How to become that successful person is have a lifelong learner mindset.

Speaker B:

You know, and the second that we choose that and decide to never get to a place of where I can't learn something, you know, learn something from everyone, even if they're a beginner.

Speaker B:

Focus on.

Speaker B:

Even if it's learning what not to do from somebody, that's still a lesson.

Speaker B:

Right?

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker C:

You can learn from my mistakes.

Speaker C:

I've made a lot of them.

Speaker B:

100%.

Speaker B:

Normally, I was like, okay, how do I know?

Speaker B:

Raise my hand.

Speaker B:

I've made the mistake.

Speaker B:

Right?

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So what's on your.

Speaker B:

What's on your reading list right now?

Speaker B:

What are you.

Speaker B:

What are you doing for that?

Speaker C:

Actually, I'm reading a book that was written by a family friend.

Speaker C:

Oh, shoot.

Speaker C:

This is gonna.

Speaker C:

I can't remember the name of his.

Speaker C:

His name is Jeff.

Speaker C:

Flesher, PhD.

Speaker B:

I totally put you on the spot.

Speaker B:

Sorry.

Speaker C:

Yeah, I know.

Speaker C:

He was on nuclear submarines in the Navy, and he's written a book about leadership.

Speaker C:

It's a series of interviews with fellow submariners, vice admirals, you know, everything from just an engine room.

Speaker C:

I say just engine room.

Speaker C:

You know, an engineer all the way up to an admiral.

Speaker C:

And it's just talking about the leadership that they've encountered within the submarine corps, because it's a very different.

Speaker C:

Different type of leadership.

Speaker C:

So I'm finding that really interesting.

Speaker C:

I'm a big fan of John Maxwell.

Speaker B:

So I've read Leadership from Below.

Speaker C:

Yeah, Leadership From Below.

Speaker C:

That's it.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Leadership From Below, Paradoxes of Submarine Leadership.

Speaker C:

There you go.

Speaker C:

Like I said, he's a family friend, so I had to support him and buy his book on Amazon, but I am finding it very interesting to read.

Speaker C:

So.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Yeah, I love it.

Speaker B:

Cool.

Speaker B:

I just dawned on me that as I do my interviews, I'm gonna start asking that question to everybody, because, I mean, people in our industry or just anybody that I mean, and I won't always be interviewing just age H vac specific people, but, you know, just people that are everyone who's focused on becoming a better person, becoming, growing, and to make a bigger impact in the world, you know, so that's always a personal growth question.

Speaker B:

Personally, right now, I'm actually listening to Greenlights, the Matthew McConaughey book, which.

Speaker B:

Oh, my gosh, the amount of wisdom in this book is blow.

Speaker B:

Every single day, I hear something, and I'm constantly making notes.

Speaker B:

It's blowing my mind.

Speaker B:

So.

Speaker B:

And if you listen to the audiobook, he narrates it himself.

Speaker B:

So just listening to his voice tell stories is really cool because he's a great storyteller.

Speaker C:

I'll have to.

Speaker C:

I'll have to get that one always.

Speaker B:

I recommend it.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

Okay.

Speaker C:

All right.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Green lights by Matthew McConaughey.

Speaker B:

Yeah, it's.

Speaker B:

It's one of the most inspiring books that I've read or listened to in probably five years easily.

Speaker B:

So.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Also a good one.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

All right.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

So help.

Speaker B:

Help build everyone's reading list.

Speaker B:

We're constantly getting questions.

Speaker B:

Hey, what's, you know, what's your recommendations?

Speaker C:

So it's always good to have something audio, too, in between.

Speaker C:

I don't know how long or how.

Speaker C:

How much distance you have to drive, but that's when I get caught up on all my podcasts.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Drive Time University.

Speaker B:

Yeah, that's it.

Speaker B:

I love it.

Speaker B:

I love it.

Speaker B:

Well, thank you so much for Hanging out today, this has just been a great conversation supporting women in the, women in the industry.

Speaker B:

It's not the biggest demographic, but it's, it's an important one and we really feel we need to grow that demographic because, you know, every industry that I touch that as far as different trades, different home improvement, every time I come across, you know, just always support women in the industry, it's a tough place to be.

Speaker B:

There's, unfortunately, there's still a lot of, you know, a lot of male dominated ego and chauvinistic type of areas in our country and just in our industries that shouldn't be there.

Speaker B:

And it is a challenge sometimes.

Speaker B:

But thankfully that, that ship is turning as well.

Speaker C:

I think so, yeah.

Speaker B:

100% supportive of women.

Speaker B:

So it's a great place to be.

Speaker B:

Man, the industry is, it's only getting better from here.

Speaker C:

Oh, it's wide open.

Speaker C:

And you know, we keep talking about the tradesman shortage and you know, not just in H vac sales, but, you know, H vac technicians for women to get into it.

Speaker C:

Yeah, this is, this is a field that's always going to be around.

Speaker C:

We're always going to need heating and cooling and it can be very lucrative for male or female.

Speaker C:

So it's a great trade to think about.

Speaker B:

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B:

I mean, where else can you step out of, you know, get paid to learn and within a couple years make six figures and not have to pay for school?

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker B:

I mean that, I mean, I've always been a proponent of like, yes, you could go to trade school.

Speaker B:

Awesome.

Speaker B:

If that's what you want to do, go for it.

Speaker B:

Otherwise, join my team.

Speaker B:

I'll put you on a crew.

Speaker B:

You're going to be a helper first.

Speaker B:

You're going to start off like the rest of us.

Speaker B:

I was an anacrat years ago pulling ductwork.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

And.

Speaker B:

But as soon as you learn it, you can quickly promote to anything that you want because there isn't a root.

Speaker B:

One of the lessons from the Matthew McConaughey book, a roof is a man made thing.

Speaker B:

A roof is a man made thing.

Speaker B:

This, the limit.

Speaker B:

This ceiling, the cap is only in our mind.

Speaker B:

And the second we understand that, we can literally choose to blow right past it through becoming better, learning, growing, doing so this industry is one of those that there's, there's no limit.

Speaker B:

You can literally do anything you want to with it.

Speaker C:

Yeah, I agree 100%.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Good stuff.

Speaker B:

So well, awesome.

Speaker B:

Well, thanks.

Speaker B:

So thanks so much.

Speaker B:

Anybody that does want to reach out to you, what's the best way to get in contact to you, Lisa, if they just want to have coffee or, you know, have that.

Speaker B:

So you offered for that sales conversation or whatever.

Speaker C:

Sure.

Speaker C:

I mean I can, I can give out my office phone number.

Speaker C:

-:

Speaker C:

And you can just ask for Lisa and tell them what you're, you're calling about.

Speaker C:

And if I'm in, I can take the call and if not, leave a message and I will call you back.

Speaker B:

Awesome.

Speaker B:

I love it.

Speaker B:

Thanks for, thanks for that offer.

Speaker B:

That's, that's great.

Speaker B:

We, you know, we always love sharing, sharing knowledge on hair.

Speaker B:

That's the important part.

Speaker B:

Well, cool.

Speaker B:

Well, we've got, I'm sure you have plenty of things to do.

Speaker B:

This season is really starting to crank up.

Speaker B:

This year we have two solid years of pent up replacement.

Speaker B:

That didn't happen two years ago.

Speaker B:

2019 we had, it was 30.

Speaker B:

The industry was 30% down across the board, across the country.

Speaker B:

And then last year with COVID some companies had record years at the same time.

Speaker B:

The whole industry was also down.

Speaker B:

Yeah, but so two years of pinup replacement, this is a year to just go dominate the market.

Speaker B:

Right.

Speaker C:

It's crazy.

Speaker C:

It is crazy right now.

Speaker B:

100%.

Speaker B:

So I love it.

Speaker B:

So awesome.

Speaker B:

Well, everybody out there, thanks for listening today.

Speaker B:

Lisa, thanks for being a guest with me.

Speaker B:

It's been a pleasure.

Speaker B:

And I'll notify you as soon as you get you a copy when make sure you know when this episode goes up.

Speaker C:

Thank you.

Speaker B:

It's in production.

Speaker B:

It's going to be roughly four to six weeks out right now because I have several others ahead.

Speaker B:

For everybody listening, I am also excited.

Speaker B:

I've got a guest that's good at two different people coming up.

Speaker B:

One is a roofing, a guy that owns a roofing company that I actually just had dinner with last night.

Speaker B:

He is just a sales rock star.

Speaker B:

He's a killer.

Speaker B:

He's been out just closing deals left and right and he brings a lot of wisdom.

Speaker B:

So I'm excited to have a guy named Aaron Washburn on.

Speaker B:

And then also we've got a guy in from Denver named Peter Roth that is coming up.

Speaker B:

His company Home Guardian is a heating and air company in Denver and he's shaking things up.

Speaker B:

This may be a little interesting for you, Lisa.

Speaker B:

His model is not the value first process.

Speaker B:

His model is he has an entire price book right on their website.

Speaker B:

And so price first build value through the process.

Speaker B:

He's 11 for 11 in a row right now.

Speaker B:

So he's on fire and we're gonna talk about how that's happening.

Speaker B:

There's some, as we know, the industry is a slow boat to turn, but there's rumblings right now in the industry of E commerce for heating and air.

Speaker B:

So I'm gonna, we're gonna have a cool conversation of how he's doing it.

Speaker B:

You know, what is he overcoming by, you know, he's, he's pissing some people off in the area with his price book online.

Speaker B:

So we're gonna talk about that and what he's seeing because he was, he came from a completely different industry, bought his company a little over a year ago and said, you know what, I'm just going to do things like nobody's done to get results nobody's getting.

Speaker B:

So we're going to have a cool conversation about how that's going for him.

Speaker B:

So.

Speaker B:

All right, everybody, that's what's coming up in the future and otherwise, thanks for being with me today.

Speaker B:

Lisa, go join the Facebook group, everybody.

Speaker B:

This is a great place to pop in and have conversation.

Speaker B:

Lisa's in there.

Speaker B:

All of our guests basically are in the Facebook group typically.

Speaker B:

And yeah, we're going to be constantly doing Facebook lives, all kind of stuff.

Speaker B:

And yeah, good times.

Speaker B:

All right, everybody, it's summertime.

Speaker B:

Go save the world one heat stroke at a time.

Speaker B:

We'll, we'll talk to you again soon.

Speaker A:

Thanks for listening to Close it now with Sam Wakefield.

Speaker A:

Subscribe to the podcast now so you're first to hear new episodes jam packed with actionable tools and tips to make you the top H Vac professional in your market.

Speaker A:

If you have friends and colleagues who would like this show, share it with them and send them to our Facebook community for more in depth discussion about the challenges we all face and how to overcome them on the Close it now podcast.

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