The central theme of this podcast episode revolves around the intricate dynamics of negotiating with clients from ethnically diverse backgrounds. We delve into the complexities that arise when engaging with such clients, emphasizing the importance of understanding their unique perspectives and negotiation styles. It is imperative to recognize that these clients are not merely seeking the lowest price; rather, they desire to feel valued and to believe that they are receiving the best possible deal—a sentiment that transcends cultural boundaries. Through a detailed examination of effective sales techniques, we articulate strategies that enable sales professionals to foster meaningful connections with these clients while maintaining the integrity of their pricing. Ultimately, our discussion aims to enlighten listeners on the significance of adapting one's approach to meet the nuanced needs of diverse clientele, thereby enhancing their sales efficacy.

How do you sell to an ethnic client? Most people think that ethnic clients are always after the cheapest offer out there because they're ethnically different.

In this episode of Close It Now, Sam talks about the importance of discovering what they're truly after by doing a good job on asking the right questions because there's not a single objection that you can't overcome by asking questions.

Today we’re going to talk about a controversial topic. But it’s something that has to be talked about. It’s a topic that we have to be very careful in teaching and I get the most questions about it because the hardest objections to overcome are the ones surrounding the topic today.

How Do We Deal With Ethnic Buyers?

Today we talk about ethnic clients, clients whose cultures are not native to North America. Please know that this is not to single out any specific ethnic group.

We have a lot to learn when it comes to the topic of negotiations from the rest of the world. Because foundationally Americans suck at negotiations and we’re going to prove it. This is why the biggest questions I get as a trainer are always about overcoming objections because nobody knows how to negotiate. I have recognized this and have been able to do my research that probably took me five or 10,000 hours on this topic so I can come to you with some verifiable evidence that what I’m saying is true.

We’re going to cover how to sell and negotiate with different ethnic cultures other than North America. So buckle up everybody! This is going to be good!

Raise your hand if you have ever had difficulties selling to an ethnically diverse client. (And again I’m not singling anybody out). This is just a reminder that there are hundreds of countries around the world with different mindsets on how to buy. Everybody grew up differently in a way that they have distinct ways to socialize that programs them to negotiate and how to deal with sales people when they buy or sell things. With that said, every client was brought up in a different way.

I normally hear from most people who reach out to me about this type of client who’s always just looking for the cheapest price. What normally happens is anybody who goes to that appointment will just go to the appointment and offer the cheapest product that they have. And I’m here to tell you to stop being lazy! Stop being a lazy salesperson. Your lazy *** needs to wake up because that is not what they’re after.

Let Me Prove It To You

That client you have is the same person you know that has a nice car in the driveway and that same person lives in a big nice house. If they wouldn’t have any of that and if they only cared about the cheap price, they wouldn’t have any of that stuff.

I was a carrier dealer and I sold a number of green speed combo systems for about $2,000-$30,000, the complete systems. I am sure you know what I am talking about because everyone has them.

I was a carrier dealer and the number of green speed combo systems, you know complete systems that I sold for about $2,000-$30,000 to this particular client and everyone has them in your mind you know who I’m talking about. Nobody could understand how I did it for a long time and I didn’t understand how I did it either. The more I started to analyze it, it came down to the client being an ethnic client. Everybody always says that they’re always after the cheapest price.

They would know what’s really top to bottom out of the offer on the cheap thing and ask it to be discounted even more. How I overcame it is how I understood it after.

Let’s go back to the car and go back to the house and how they like nice things. Everybody from around the world likes nice things. We need to do a really good job in discovery and it’s asking particular questions with the client.

How Long Are You Going To Be In The House?

There’s two types to this and let’s unpack it a little bit. There’s one type of client that you’d notice that has a very sparse house: Not too much furniture in the way, not too many wall hangings.

Your first step is to find out how long they are going to be in the house. What are their plans? What do they want to do? Because that client is no different than anyone else who is going to stay short term in a house. However,they’re smarter than most North Americans because they’re not going to fill the house up with junk and would just have to move it. Chances are YES they are truly looking for the basic bottom end equipment and that is when the cheap price is important.

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 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.

All right, Sam Wakefield, Close It Now.

Back drive Time University.

I am driving, you're driving.

Let's get some info.

Let's go freaking rock it.

It is time.

When I'm recording this, if you are hearing this anywhere close to when I'm recording it, then I know it is hot and you are out there killing it.

And if you're not killing it, whose fault is it?

It's your fault.

Don't blame it on anybody else.

We have to take radical responsibility for every single thing in our lives.

Has nothing to do with the leads.

There's no such thing as good leads and bad leads.

There's leads that you do something with and leads you don't do anything with.

Boom.

That's our daily dose of reality.

But alright, let's get into some talk some business today.

This is gonna be a good one.

I've been working on this for a little bit.

In fact, I did a live recording, Facebook live in the, in the Facebook group this past Friday about this topic.

Today we are going to talk about a kind of a controversial topic, but it's something that it's got to be talked about.

It's a topic that without be very, very, very careful the way that I teach this but it's something that I hear literally the number one biggest.

Most questions about the biggest topic.

The hardest to overcome objections are about surrounding this topic today.

How do we deal with ethnic buyers?

We'll put it that way.

Cultures that are not native to North America.

America.

Right.

You know exactly who I'm talking about and I'm not pointing anyone out particular.

I'm not isolating or you know, you know, singling out any specific ethnic group because there's lots of countries around the world.

Newsflash, in case you didn't realize it, America is not the only country in the world.

You know, United States is not the only country in the world.

In fact, I would submit to you that we have a lot to learn when it comes to the topic of negotiation from the rest of the world.

Because foundationally, Americans suck at negotiation and we're going to prove it.

That's why.

That's why the biggest questions I get as a trainer are always surrounding overcoming objections.

That's because nobody knows how to negotiate.

Alright, so we're gonna get into that today.

I've recognized and been able to through a lot, literally hundreds of hours, thousands of hours of I probably have five or 10,000 hours of research on this topic.

So I can come to you with some verifiable evidence that what I'm saying is true.

So that is going to be the topic today.

We're going to cover how to sell to and negotiate with different ethnic cultures than North America.

So buckle up everybody.

This is going to be a good one.

Drive Time University in the Hisy so right now I'm actually driving from Round Rock, Texas to Dallas, Texas because I am going to be crushing some deals in the Dallas market for a while.

So if you catch this, reach out to me.

I may or may not be in the Dallas area, but I'm going to be there for a while.

So let me know.

But so let's get to the topic.

Also, newsflash.

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So let's get into this topic.

Raise your hand if you have ever had difficulty selling to an ethnically diverse class.

And again, I'm not singling anybody out because there's.

I forget how many hundreds of countries around the world.

Everyone grew up with a different mindset of how to buy.

Everybody grew up with a different the way that they were just taught, the way they were socialized, the way they were programmed to negotiate, the way they were programmed to deal with sales, to deal with salespeople to buy things, to sell things.

Everyone grew up a little bit different.

So we all know the client and what I normally hear from most people who reach out to me Is, man, they're always just looking for the cheapest price.

So what happens is anybody ever.

Most people will go into that client, that client's appointment, and they're just offering the cheapest product they have and they're already discounting just to try to win the project simply on price.

And I'm here to tell you, stop being lazy.

Stop being a lazy salesperson.

You're a lazy ass.

Needs to wake up the.

That is not what they're after.

And I can prove it to you.

That same person, you know, has a nice car in the driveway.

That same person lives in a big, nice house.

There is no way that they are the cheap buyer if that is all that they were.

If they wouldn't have any of that, if they only cared about the cheap price, they wouldn't have any of that stuff if they only cared about the bottom end.

And I guarantee you that I've sold, literally, I lost count of the number of very top end.

I mean, completely.

I was a carrier dealer.

Carrier dealer.

So, oh my God.

The number of green speed combo systems, you know, complete systems for, you know, 20, 25, $30,000 that I sold to this particular client.

Everyone has them in your mind, you know who I'm talking about.

All day long.

All day long.

And nobody could understand how I did it.

And for a long time I couldn't understand how I was doing it either.

But the more I started to analyze it, it comes down to this.

That client, the ethnic client that everybody always says was, well, they're just after the cheapest price.

We're just, you know, let's really knock the bottom out of it, Offer them the cheap thing and discount it even more.

How I did it has to do with understanding what they're after.

What are they truly after?

What they're at.

So kind of going back to the car, going back to the house.

They like nice things.

Everybody from around the world likes nice things.

It's not about the cheap thing.

We have to do a really good job in discovery, in discovery, asking the questions, particularly with this client.

How long will you be in the house?

How long are you going to be in the house?

Because there's two types of this client.

One, if we.

Let's unpack that a little bit.

One type of that client is when you notice the house is very sparse.

There's not many, not much in the way of furniture.

There's not many wall hangings.

Find out, how long are you going to be in the house?

What are your plans?

What are you wanting to do?

Because that client is no different than anyone else who is short term in a house.

However, they, they're smarter than most North Americans because they're not going to fill the house up with junk to have to move it.

So if they're short term in the house, chances are, yes, they are truly looking for the basic bottom end equipment.

That is when the cheap price is important.

And if you ask your questions right, you'll find that is no different than in any other ethnic culture.

Any North American, anybody else that is moving in a year, it's the same.

So your excuses about them just being a cheap buyer because, because they're ethnically different.

Sorry, let's shotgun that one right out of the water.

You're just being lazy and you're discovery.

You've got to find out what you know, ask questions.

There's not a single objection that you cannot overcome by asking more questions.

All right?

Now, when it's not that buyer, when there is, you know, we're asking the questions, we're doing our due diligence.

There's no plans to move or they're going to be there, you know, five, 10 years, whatever the houses, furniture in it, there's wall hangings, it looks like they live there and they're there to stay.

Do your due diligence, ask the right questions.

So the difference is, and I'm not, this is not a podcast to give you like how to present or any of that.

This is a mindset podcast.

The whole point is we're talking about how to overcome just one.

I'm trying to shake you out of your system, shake you out of your rut of only ever offering cheap crap to that client.

Because that's not what they want, they'll buy it.

Because if that's all anybody ever offers to them, then that's what they, you know, that's what they'll buy.

But that doesn't mean that's what they want.

People remember, people write checks for what they want, not what they need.

They write checks for what they want.

This person wouldn't have a nice car and wouldn't have a nice house if they only bought on what they needed.

They buy on what based on what they want.

Ethnic clients are no different.

So the thing is, growing up in, because I literally, I'm telling you, I've done hundreds and thousands of hours of research on this, growing up in a different country, in a different political climate, in a different social climate, a different religious client, all those different things, a completely different worldview, all of the things that Go into what creates a human being, what creates a person, what creates a mindset, what creates a negotiation style.

All of those things are what builds this person.

Now, going back to one the old sayings from Zig Ziglar, from Brian Tracy, about everybody walking around has a sign over their head that says, make me feel special.

We have to remember that that's very, very crucial in this conversation.

The next step, though, is a little further, because what is happening here is you can almost replace that expression on this person, on the sign over their head with, make me feel like I'm getting the best deal.

Make me feel like I'm getting a better deal than anyone else.

And when we can do that, that is when this client will buy the products that they actually want.

They'll buy the products that you are offering.

Because here's the deal.

North Americans, we suck at negotiation.

We're horrible at negotiation.

What is it we're taught growing up to negotiate?

What's the one thing that everybody says, well, I got to think about it?

Well, that's not even negotiating.

That's just hesitating.

That's just inability to make a decision.

That's what I want to think about it is that's the smoke screen, right?

That's not even a real objection.

That's nothing.

As North Americans, we are horrible at negotiating.

Now think about those clients.

Think about cultures in other countries.

We all know they are so much better.

It's very much more direct.

It's very much more with asking for what they want.

I want a cheaper price.

It's just asking for what you want.

When you start asking for what you want and say, I want you to buy this product at this price, that's a whole different posture.

That's a whole different conversation.

So truly, we have, for one, have to understand that when we're dealing with those clients, it's truly a matter of they are literally just asking for what they want, which is the first step.

And it's super important to remember that now, once.

And think about it.

Go through your life and think about all of the people in different ethnic cultures that you know.

It's not just when they're buying something and negotiating, it's how every conversation ends up.

They're much more direct and they will ask for what they want.

A lot of times North Americans feel like it's a little blunt or direct, but it's truly the best way to get what you want.

So start trying that yourself.

You'll find that it's actually a really great communication way of Communication, but next to that.

So once we understand that the next steps are.

And so going back to how you present, if you show up to anybody, it doesn't matter who they are.

And you are, when you're presenting your price, if you are showing discounts, before you ever have a conversation, when you're showing your price, if you're nervous about your full price, then you need to work on yourself.

You have to know that your value that you're bringing is exactly what a fair market price is without discounts.

That should be your price.

Discounted discounting price.

That means if you're discounting before you ever have any single word, before they ask any questions, before anything else.

It's like if you're presenting your price and say Your system is $10,000 and you present the prices, okay, so this price is normally $10,000.

But right now we've got this thousand dollar discount going on.

So just wanted to show that to you before we ever get started here.

You suck at negotiations.

Stop it.

That's ridiculous.

Quit it.

Start with your price.

Your price is your price.

Be proud of your price.

Be proud of the value that you and your company bring for the prices that you charge.

That is step one.

If you can't do that, find something else to do.

That means you're not cut out for this or you need to grow as a person.

Get on your personal growth.

If you're a salesperson, you've never for a day in your life gone out and literally worked a job with your install crew.

Get off your butt, get out in the field, sit in a 130 degree attic all day long and get your ass to work.

Understand why we charge the prices we charge because it's hard freaking work.

It's worth it.

The time it takes to do it right is worth the prices you charge.

If you've never gone out and rode with a service person that's hitting 76, 7, 8, 10 calls in a day that starts 7:30 in the morning.

That works until midnight or 1 or 2 and then does it all again the next day.

Get your butt out there and ride with them all day long and see why we charge the prices we charge, why your company does.

Because it's worth it.

The value is what you're selling.

It has nothing to do with, well, you know the price of the condenser is this.

So I just feel like we're taking advantage of people if we mark it up this much.

No, it has nothing to do with that.

Completely forget the price of the piece of Equipment.

That's not what you're selling.

You're selling value.

That is the only thing you're selling is value.

If you get stuck in anything else, that's the reason that you feel guilty or you feel ashamed of your prices.

So fix yourself.

So getting back to this client, I'm.

I'm just fired up about this.

Today I realized we've got to get better at negotiating.

We've got to get better at owning your price, being proud of your price, and then we have to get better at negotiating if we don't have to discount to make a sell.

Awesome.

You make more money and the company makes more money.

Stop this stupid idea that you've got a discount just to feel good about yourself.

Find something else to do.

You're not cut out for sales.

Sales is selling value.

So back to this client.

This client.

You present your price.

Don't present discounts.

You present your full book price.

Be proud of it.

And that goes across the board, not just with your ethnic client, but with your ethnic client.

Present your full boat price.

Whatever it is, what this client is after, the way that they are conditioned to negotiate, that's why they'll instantly hit you with, well, I got a price from this other company that was $5,000 cheaper than yours.

Okay, great.

That's no problem.

Now what are they doing?

They're using it as a leverage.

That.

That's it.

That's all they are.

They're just using it as leverage.

Leverage against you.

So, of course, take them through the whole conversation of, you know, if I can't do it at that cheap price, or I would have to cut out, you know, you know, the conversation.

You wouldn't want me to do it at that cheaper price because the steps I would have to cut out to get there, you would end up with the cheap suspension, and you would end up with breakdowns and headaches and all those kind of things.

You know that conversation.

It's the conversation that everybody has taught you to have for decades now.

Yes, we get that.

Once you have that.

So that's step one.

You have to.

They have to agree with you that they don't want part steps cut out of the installation process.

They.

That would bring the value of the installation lower.

They have to agree that they don't want you to cut any steps out first.

That's step one.

Step two.

Step two is important.

You have then.

So then after they cut you go through, they agree with you.

They don't want steps cut out of the process.

Drive time University.

So step two Once they've agreed they don't want anything cut out of the project.

Step two is, and this is when they still come back to you, but they're going to do it this much cheaper.

That's when you come back to them and you do the clarification.

Here's the clarification and there's a whole podcast on how to use this properly.

Okay, so let me ask you, do you want, are you really looking for the best value for your dollar or are you looking for the low down, dirty rock bottom, scrape the bottom of the barrel price?

What are you looking for?

Force them to clarify that they're not looking for the absolute cheapest price, but they are looking for the best value value for the dollar.

So step one is having them agree that they don't want you to cut any steps out of the project that would cheapen the value of the install.

Step two is clarifying that they don't want just the cheapest price, but they want the best value for the dollar.

That's step two.

So now if after both of those parts of the conversation, they still come back to you with any other comparison of and it doesn't matter how much cheaper so and so is if they're still coming back to you.

This is what I know that means they want to use you, they've decided to use you.

Now they're just using that other quote as leverage to get the best price for the you.

So here's where the actual negotiation starts.

That's where we have to become excellent actors.

So much of sales is acting in order to overcome the objections that ethnic client is giving.

You know what your discounts are available, know what you can discount because you're going to have to do some discounting to win this client.

And if you've done this properly, you haven't shown any discounts yet, not a single one.

So when that conversation actually starts, you have those first two steps of clarification.

When the negotiation actually starts, you're going to dull the discounts out a little bit at a time.

A little bit at a time.

And every single discount, you're going to act like it's more exhausting and more exhausting and more exhausting.

And you're getting worn out by it and you're getting worn down by them.

Because the bottom line is that client will pay for a high value system, a high value item, a high value project.

They will pay for great work, they will pay for great quality.

What they're truly after is what that sign says.

Make me feel Like I'm getting the best deal.

So here's how that game works with ethnic culture.

You have to make them feel like, and it can't be just an instant thing over a little period of time.

You have to make them feel like they are winning the game, they're winning the battle against you, that you're getting worn out, you're getting exhausted, until finally you throw up your hands.

Say, alright, listen, I don't do this for everybody and recap what you've already discounted.

So here's the verbiage.

Listen, I don't discount this for everybody.

But you know what, you've worn me out here.

Here's what I can do for you.

Then show your discount.

And then the verbiage is this, you're getting a better deal than everybody else.

Because truly that's what this client just wants.

They want to play the game a little bit.

The game of the negotiation game is that your best price, is that the best you can do?

Come on, I know you can do a better price.

Come on, give me some better discount.

But at the end of the day, what they're after is they want to feel like you've given them a better deal than everybody else.

They want to feel like you have.

They've won by getting a better deal than all of the rest of the clients.

And the second that happens, game over, they're signing the contract.

So that is the negotiation with the ethnic client.

But you've got to get those steps in order.

And in fact, you've got to.

If you have to, you can do even a harder takeaway.

You show them, you know, remember step one was, you know, making sure that they're, you know, having the conversation about quality, not cutting out, you know, they have to agree to that.

They want a quality project, not cutting any steps out to make it cheaper.

Step two was verifying that they wanted value for the dollar, not just the cheapest price.

Step three, and here's where sometimes if they seem more aggressive, there's where you, if you ever hear the words, come on, I know you do so many projects, you can give me a special deal.

Step three is posturing up and saying, listen, yes, you're right, I do so many projects, I don't need a single project to be successful.

Do I want you to earn your business?

Absolutely.

But I'm not going to cut corners enough to get to the price that you want to make that happen.

So you've got the takeaway going.

You posture it up and say, listen, I don't need your project to be successful.

I have plenty of other thousands of other projects that we're going to do this year.

So that's where that will soften them up just a little bit enough to get to that moment of, well, so the other competition still has this price they're offering me.

So that's where you can start the discount.

And as you do the discounts, do the if I would you, if I were to discount it this much, are you ready to sign right now?

If I discounted it this much, would you get it installed this week?

And so start that conversation.

Remember, you're asking that you're turning that negotiation into a question, which means you asking the question.

So you're controlling the conversation.

Everybody else is paying this higher price.

But tell you what, let's just get this done.

You wore me out.

I'm exhausted.

Here, here's the best I can do.

Show them the fully discounted price and say, listen, if I discount it this much, will you, will we get it installed this week?

If I discount this much, will you sign right now?

And that moment when you tell them, listen, you're getting everybody else pays this, you are this much below that, you're getting a better deal than anybody else.

That's when it's game over and you just won the negotiation battle with that ethnic client.

Does this help?

I hope this is helpful information for you.

This is how for years and years I've sold top end price systems within our range of negotiation discounting.

Not done additional discounts or extra discounts with those clients for years.

This is how you sell to that client without having to drop your pants or give away the farm to do it.

So if this was helpful, drop me a line, join the Facebook group and drop some comments about it or shoot me an email.

Samloseitnow.net is my email address.

Go to closeitnow.net, check out the website.

Just had a really awesome rebrand.

We've got our high performance coaching, which is your one on one private coaching with me.

We just redesigned the whole program.

It is freaking rockstar.

Gosh, my Client Mark, he started with me, he was one week into the heating and air industry, didn't know anything about anything.

And in the first four months of being in the industry, he's about to cross the million dollar mark in four months from never doing it before.

That's the power of private one on one high performance coaching.

So got that coaching program.

We've got a couple other programs that are coming at the book that's about to be in first draft stage.

We've got the online course.

So much is happening this year with closing now.

Also got some really cool partnerships.

If you're not developing strategic partnerships with different trade, different industries, then you're missing out on a massive referral source.

I've got a killer referral program if you're interested at all.

I've got a cool side project going.

If you're interested at all in learning more about solar, reach out to me because I am building some teams over there as well.

It is another opportunity to be able to work with me personally and just check it out.

Solar is the wave of the future, the perfect marriage.

Can you imagine how the number one energy producer in the house, which is H Vac, combined with the consumer energy consumer in the house, which is H Vac combined with the ability to produce enough energy to take somebody away from the electric company.

Oh my God, what a beautiful combination.

The hybrid model is the wave of the future.

So reach out to me.

I've got some, I'm working with some specific.

If you're an owner and you want to know more about this, definitely reach out to me.

If you are a documented closer, reach out to me as well.

I've got some positions on my team that I want to take you to the next level.

Otherwise I hope this was a valuable lesson for you today.

Lock it in, practice it, let me know how it goes.

The ethnic client still wants to purchase high value, high dollar equipment.

You have just sucked in negotiating up until now.

Get better at negotiating and you'll start to be able to close that client.

All right everybody go print your Money.

I will talk to you again soon.

Thanks for listening.

To Close it now with Sam Wakefield.

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