The primary focus of this podcast episode is the profound significance of utilizing silence as a strategic tool in sales conversations. We delve into the concept of "the power of the pause," emphasizing the importance of allowing moments of quiet to facilitate deeper engagement and reflection during client interactions. By mastering the ability to remain silent, we can create an environment where clients feel empowered to articulate their needs and desires, ultimately leading to more substantial decisions. Throughout our discussion, we explore practical techniques for effectively incorporating pauses into the sales process, enabling professionals to enhance their influence and close more sales with ease. Join us as we unpack this essential skill, which serves not only as a means to improve sales outcomes but also as a way to foster authentic connections with clients.

The power of the pause! We talk about the amazing power of silence in this episode. This is an amazing tool in your tool belt.

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The podcast delves into the pivotal concept of silence as a strategic tool in the realm of HVAC sales. It elucidates the importance of mastering the 'power of the pause', which is defined as the ability to remain silent and allow clients to contemplate their options during sales negotiations. This episode emphasizes that the psychological aspect of silence can often lead to more fruitful discussions, as it encourages clients to articulate their thoughts and concerns, thereby enhancing the overall communication dynamic. The host shares a compelling anecdote illustrating how a colleague effectively utilized silence to let homeowners navigate their decision-making process, ultimately transforming a simple technical repair into a comprehensive home improvement project. This narrative serves to reinforce the idea that effective salesmanship is less about incessant talking and more about strategic listening, allowing the clients to 'sell themselves' on the value of the proposed solutions.

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.

Hello.

Welcome back to the Close it now podcast.

I am really excited to talk to you about today's topic and it's actually on the power of the pause, the power of silence.

When to not say anything.

Do you have the ability to sit through the uncomfortable silence and just let it be?

So that's what we're going to be talking about today because it is a very powerful tool that you've got to have in your toolbox if you are in the sales profession, no matter what you're selling.

In fact, it's a great tool anytime you're talking to anyone.

Because basically the power of the pause, it's one of those things.

It's the way that just psychologically most people don't have the intestinal fortitude, so the guts or just the ability to sit through silence and just look at each other.

So it's a really good way when you can practice this and build that muscle, you can overcome so many times when that that conversation would be ruined by interjecting words.

You know, we've all heard whoever speaks first loses in a negotiation.

And that is absolutely true.

So we're going to talk about how to build your.

How to build that muscle, how to build the silence muscle a little bit.

Because you do have to practice it.

It's not something that just comes naturally, especially to most people.

So you do have to practice it and it is something that you can learn.

It's something you can absolutely do.

And it's also something that if you work hard enough at it, if you master the skill, it can be one of your most valuable tools in your closing toolbox.

So first of all, so stick around, we're going to cover that.

But I want to give a huge, huge, huge shout out to all of the countries that we are being listened to in now.

I'm super excited.

It's just blown my mind how fast this podcast is growing.

But at the same time, I know this is valuable content.

In fact, I talked to a guy yesterday that is, he's got a H Vac shop, he's got a pretty small company up near Chicago.

I'll give you a shout out, Mark, great conversation yesterday.

And yes, I'm working on the things we were talking about will be available soon.

But yeah, so it's just really awesome to know that there other people out there that are looking for this kind of information.

You know, I've studied so many, literally read hundreds of books on sales.

Every single thing I could possibly get my hands on in the H Vac industry and just in the trades and in home selling and anything that has to do with sales at all.

The psychology of selling, all the things we talk about here and there's some missing pieces, there's some holes.

You know, we sent with our team.

You know, we do so much in house training, but it's always nice to get a new, new perspective sometimes.

So we sent a couple of our newer people up to some, some training with an organization that's fairly, well, fairly renowned in the H Vac industry.

And it blew my mind because when they came back and showed ME the, the PowerPoint slides from that training, they were the exact same ones that from when I took that class a decade ago.

Now, nothing against this organization and absolutely would never mention who it is, but more importantly, you know, this 10 years ago, sales in the H Vac industry and sales now, it's a different world.

People want different things, they buy differently, they research differently, the concerns are different and obviously psychology of sales is the same.

But to think that if you haven't stayed with the times in a decade that you're going to get the same results and that's just not true.

That's why I started this podcast, is to really share the techniques and the skills and the tips and just cover what is working right now.

I mean, what is working in our industry right now in this moment.

And so much of it's going digital, but so much of it at the same time is getting so far away from anything that smells like a salesman, smells like a salesperson, anything that it just feels salesy at all.

People can smell that from a mile away.

Their BS meter is a mile high and you absolutely get the door closed in your face.

And so that's what we are focused is on being authentic, real people, salespeople, professionals on this podcast.

I mean, that's our story.

My tagline, I haven't made it official and you tell me if I should shoot me a message and let me know if I should do this.

But I almost want to make the Close it now.

The tagline, stop being weird and start selling.

Because that's what happens.

I mean, how many people do you know, the second they enter that sales conversation, their voice changes and gets all weird.

And now they put on the salesperson voice, and with that, they start using words that they've never said before, and all of a sudden they're.

And it's just gross.

It grosses me out.

It's like, why are you using that voice?

Stop it.

Talk like a normal human being.

Just have a conversation with people.

Now, that doesn't mean that we aren't using all of these skills that we're talking about.

No, that just means just don't be weird.

Stop being weird and start selling.

But I want to give a huge shout out to all of the countries we're being listened to.

We're in 10 countries now.

So USA, of course, you've got the biggest listener base right now.

So, of course, the United States of America.

I'm right here in Austin, Texas.

Also, to my friends in the north, Canada, New Zealand, you hold the number three spot for most listens.

So there must be a lot of heating and air conditioning sales going on in New Zealand.

Right on.

Got the Aussies down there.

United Kingdom.

Yes.

Let's see.

New Zealand.

You guys are the Kiwis, right?

Yeah, that's right.

United Kingdom.

Awesome.

Colombia.

We got Morocco.

India, the Netherlands, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Did I say that right?

I hope so.

I'm working hard on that.

And welcome to our newest country.

Listening to the Close it now podcast is Ireland.

Welcome, Ireland.

Thank you for joining me.

If you are in those countries, shoot me a message.

I would love to meet you and have a conversation about what.

What your market is like over there.

So let's jump into the silence because there is.

There's so much power in the silence.

The.

When you're in this, actually.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Kelly, one of my.

One of my teammates, she was telling about the story from last night, in fact.

And so I'm going to retell your story a little bit, Kelly, because it's so powerful.

It really emphasizes how powerful the silence is.

She's telling me.

She's like, man, I had.

She was like.

It seemed like I sat there forever just listening to this couple.

So she's in a home.

Yesterday evening, the original call was.

And it was funny because she was telling me how the call escalated a step further and further and further and Got bigger and bigger and bigger because she followed the system, she followed the process that we teach, and she educated these homeowners on everything that's available to them.

You see, traditionally, you know, say if you're, you know, selling techs or just a technician comes in or a basic, just in and out salesperson would have gone in and, you know, what did the project need?

You know, as far as the old style is just, well, this is broke.

Let's fix it.

So it went from the technician recommended, well, they just needed an evaporator, coil, and condenser replacement, and that's it.

Oh, your furnace is fine.

You just need an evaporator, coil, and condenser replacement.

Move on down the road.

So she gets there and she goes through the process.

She starts asking the right questions, asking about how comfortable it is in the house, asking about their indoor air quality and allergies and asthma.

And she starts asking about the humidity levels and the noise levels and starts asking about all of these things.

How high are their utility bills, Are they interested in energy savings?

And really diving into the questions.

And then from there, she educates them on all of the different options.

She's like, okay, well, of course we can do exactly what you're saying.

Just replace this, what the technician said, or if you don't mind, let me go ahead and take you through everything that's available, and then you guys can decide what's best for you, right?

And so she goes through the process, educates them on every system that's available, educates them on the ductwork changes that needed insulation for the home.

It turns out she said she went through all of that and goes to, you know, and then asks them, you know, asks for the clothes and for them to make a bit of a decision.

And she said, then she just shut up and listened.

Feel the anxiety when I just got quiet for a minute.

That dead air, it's powerful, isn't it?

So you can feel it in your gut.

She said she just shut up and listened to this husband and wife that they were bouncing back and forth.

She sat there and said, literally, watch them sell themselves on the advantages of each step of the way.

And it went from basically a $5,000 coil and condenser change, and it stepped up into changing communicating equipment for, like, 13,000, changing to complete system into communicating equipment for like, 13,000, and then stepped on into a complete home performance package of changing the equipment, full on, communicating variable speed equipment, changing the duct, complete duct system, insulating the house, sealing air leaks in the house, all of the things just to take the house to the next level.

She's just sit and watched the project grow as these people are playing the ping pong match back and forth with each other.

And well, if we did this, we're going to be here a while.

So it makes sense to invest in the home.

And man, this is going to make it so much more comfortable and that's going to make it so much more comfortable.

And so she sat and watched this happen across the table and just sat in silence.

And that is where the power comes in.

If you see this type of thing start to happen, it will happen more than you realize.

Now that you know about it, recognize it, and do not interject unless they ask a question.

Don't interject.

Let your homeowners resell themselves on the advantages of all of the, everything that you educated them about.

Now, obviously the system has to be presented in the right order and the right information at the right time.

But when that's done properly, it's almost like lighting a fuse and letting it just grow and watching that fire build and build until it hits this explosion of energy and excitement about what the conditions of the house are going to be like, what is it going to feel like when this is done.

You start to describe the way the house feels.

You start to describe the way that the allergies are going to be different and waking up and not having that bloody nose because of your pollens and the asthma and all these things.

And you start to describe it and they get excited about the project and let them just resell themselves on exactly what they want to do and let it grow and let it grow and let it grow.

And so that's the power of sitting in the silence and just letting it happen.

You know, I've talked about this with the water bottle closed, but so another powerful, another power with this silence is when.

So we're going to shift gears a little bit.

So the power of the pause, the power of the silence.

When you ask a question, force yourself, wait for an answer.

Because what happens a lot of times too is when you're going through your process, when you're checking in, that's why you have to check in with the homeowner.

Very, very often you check in with them about the question you just asked them.

Does this make sense?

Are we accomplishing what you're wanting to accomplish?

Am I clear in what you're asking me to do?

All of these things, you keep checking in with them and the power of asking so many questions, is it them engaged it keeps their mind engaged.

Because what will happen if you start just telling instead of asking?

They're going to check out.

They're going to mentally start thinking about the kids soccer practice they got to take them to and, you know, the, you know, whatever's going on with work and the project that's due that they've got to get done.

And you know, there's dirty dishes in the sink and laundry needs move.

Their mind is going to go everywhere else if you don't keep them engaged and keep them involved.

And you do that by asking questions really often and then just.

And don't plow through it.

Ask a question and then wait, raise your hand if you've ever.

And say, that's me.

If you've ever asked a question and you find yourself, as soon as you ask it, moving on to the next thing without giving them time to answer.

Is that you.

If you've got kids, remember Dora the Explorer?

When you're watching Dora, Dora asks a question to the screen.

And then there's that almost uncomfortable pause while Dora is waiting for the kids to answer.

Oh, this is blue.

It's a blue rectangle or whatever she asked.

That's exactly what you have to do.

And wait to the point of uncomfortable.

Play a game with yourself, mentally start counting and see how long it takes them to wait.

And what you're going to recognize how long it takes them to answer.

And what you're going to recognize is there's some times that you're going to ask these questions and they're going to.

You'll almost see them like, shake their head and snap out of whatever their thought was and realize that you just asked them a question.

And that's when you could visibly see that they had checked out.

And so especially I watch people, anytime I'm doing a presentation, when I could see they're starting to check out, I'll start asking them lots of questions in a row because I've got to keep them engaged in the process.

We're going to do an entire episode on this.

There's an order every time you present new material to ask the right questions.

So that's going to be a whole episode.

But this is so powerful.

Keep them engaged by asking the questions and then waiting for them to answer.

And then, especially when you ask for the sale, sit in silence.

Sit in silence and let them resell you and resell themselves on the project.

If you've done the right job educating through the process and you've done the right job of establishing credibility for your Company credibility for yourself and through the process, credibility for the project that you're offering.

At the end, a logical conclusion is going to be them deciding to do it now.

And that's where you're.

You know how you've got to create urgency.

And so a lot of it is just asking for the sale immediately.

If you hesitate in presenting, this will backfire.

Because let me tell you, I just experienced this, and I'm one to.

I'll 100% own my mistakes as well.

I just had an experience that kind of shook me because I went and saw this lady.

Her system is down, but we start talking about.

The project keeps growing bigger and bigger and bigger with all the things that she wants to do in her house.

And so I.

We were working on the project.

She had something going on and I had to leave because her time constraint was up.

And so I said, okay, well, I'll get right back with you and we can.

It was late in the evening.

I'll get back with you tomorrow and we can schedule a time for me to come back over and present.

Well, I called and she said, oh, I've got something else going on.

Can we do a little bit later?

Called again, oh, I've got, you know, I'm taking another bid, so I've got somebody else coming back.

Can we do it later?

So I called the next time, the third time, and she says, you know what?

I just didn't have time to wait around.

So I went ahead and went with somebody else before I could even get back and present.

And I was like.

But we had talked about scheduling a time and you kept putting me off.

However, that was my bad.

I should have made the time to present the first time.

You know, that's why it's so important to.

In the beginning of your call, ask about, are there any time constraints that I need to be aware of?

Because I want to be mindful of your time.

If you run out of time in the house and you don't get the chance to present, this very thing could happen to you.

So I literally lost as probably when I got the numbers together was about a $20,000 project.

Lost it because I didn't do it right then.

I didn't check on the time constraints.

And we all.

We, you know, sometimes we just get complacen.

We forget.

If you skip steps, things can happen.

That escape door opens for them to escape into.

At this point, somebody else's arms.

Because we had great rapport.

It was a fantastic visit.

I just didn't get her the presentation in time because I didn't check on the time frame up front and she had to go.

We were getting back the next day.

Totally didn't happen.

So you've got to check on that.

And so that's real deal Holyfield, man.

That's honesty, transparency happening right there.

But you know what?

At the end of the day, it's okay because I don't lose.

I either win or I learn.

So you have to adopt the mindset to either win or learn.

So you can guarantee.

Bet your bottom dollar.

You think I'm going to skip that step from now on.

Absolutely not.

I'm going to always check on the time constraints of the appointment.

That way I know how to structure how long it's taking me for each step of the way.

See, this was an older lady and so we had a lot of conversation and rapport building at the beginning.

She wanted to tell me all about how her parents and grandparents sold their ranch and ended up buying this big house and all these things that took up way too much of the visit.

Where I could, have, had I known about the time constraint, I could have shortened that part of the conversation and directed it better, but I didn't because I didn't realize that she had a time constraint.

And so I was just letting it flow into.

We were on track, but each step of the way just took longer than it should have if I had known she had a time constraint.

So do not let that happen to you in your intro.

In the beginning, when you're in your first part of your questionnaire, ask, are there any time constraints that I need to be aware of.

That way I can process properly, be very, you know, I can manage the time.

I want to be very conscious of the time that you have available and not abuse that.

So ask the question, are there time constraints?

That way you don't end up running out of time and don't get to present while you're in the house.

And that's super, super important.

So.

But the power of the, the power of the pause, you know, that's it.

Ask a question and wait for an answer every single time as long as it takes for them to.

Especially when you're asking for the sale.

Let them do the work.

You've done the work up till then.

Hand it over to them and let them do the work by asking, asking for the sell and then being quiet.

And so that's, you know, will you trust me with this project?

And then just hush, let them talk through it.

Let them make the first move and then you're going to be amazed at what happens with that.

So thank you for joining me.

We have a awesome, awesome offer coming up here really, really soon.

I am finishing up the final details on the Close it now coaching program.

I'm going to start talking to you now about it a little bit.

We're going to be offering two different levels of coaching.

First is private coaching with me.

That's going to be a one on one session.

Once a week.

Our session we're going to deep dive into designing your very own specific cel following the Close it Now method and techniques, but designing it, customizing it for you and your company and then working hardcore to get you absolutely optimized into the, into the skills that you have to have into the deep psychology, learning every single step, soup to nut, start to finish, to close the cell now in the house.

So that's going to be one level.

The next level we're going to be offering is a group coaching which is to be a weekly call also but with a video conference style.

Lots of accountability there.

It's going to be weekly check ins and reports, both of those levels.

There's going to be a lot of different perks and advantages with each one.

So definitely some specials and giveaways.

You're going to be first to know about upcoming programs and packages and offers and just any events happening, planning some really fun three day boot camps that are going to be hands on in person to get you fast tracked to success, to get your system up and running and get you out crushing it.

You know, one of my success stories is yeah, is one of my people, man.

She started so recently, we're what, three, four months into into her career and never done H vac sales before.

First two months learning the process, the next two months she's had 60 plus or was like 57, 56, 57, 55% close rate and now she's sitting at 60 something so far into this month and killing it.

And so I love to brag on my students who are just making amazing strides because they're following the system and doing it right.

So that can be you.

Do you need some help with your process?

Need some help with overcoming some friction points in your process?

Reach out to me.

We'll do a free discovery call.

We'll spend about an hour and deep dive into what's going on.

You know our team does that all the time, so there's no reason you can't either.

So reach out to me and thanks for listening.

I am so happy that you are here, that this is a growing community.

Join the Facebook group the Close It Now Facebook Group and I will talk to you guys again and ladies, men and ladies again soon.

Soon.

Thanks for listening to Close it now with Sam Wakefield.

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