This podcast episode delves into the paramount importance of first impressions in the realm of HVAC sales. We explore how an initial encounter, beginning from the moment a customer interacts with our company, significantly influences their perception and decision-making process. The discussion emphasizes that first impressions are established within mere seconds, underscoring the necessity for a polished appearance and professional demeanor. We examine various aspects, such as attire and greeting techniques, that can enhance credibility and foster trust with potential clients. Ultimately, we assert that by mastering the art of first impressions, we can cultivate a lasting rapport that not only facilitates sales but also establishes us as reputable figures within our industry.

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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, welcome back.

This is the Close It Now H Vac sales podcast and my name is Sam Wakefield.

Today we are going to talking about.

Be talking about.

Yes, go ahead.

Judge a book by its cover.

It is okay, because our subconscious does that to everybody we meet.

Which also means of course they are getting do that to you.

That starts from the very second you make your introduction phone call to let them know you're on the way.

That starts at the very first impression that they get when they pick up the phone and call your company or what kind of response they get when they put in a text or email inquiry inquiry on your website or on Yelp or through Angie's List or through your PPC or however you, however you get leads.

That starts from the very second that someone raises their hand and says, yes, I need some help.

Are you the company that can help me?

And so your first impression is huge in the homeowner's mind.

So that's what we're talking about today.

Because as much as you know, we've been taught since we were kids, don't judge a book by its cover.

That's exactly what we do anyway.

So in person you have about 46 seconds, not 46, between four and six seconds to make an impression that is going to be favorable, an impression that's going to stick in their mind.

And there's a lot of elements to that.

A lot of it is the way you dress.

A lot of it is, you know, little things.

You know, there's an expression I heard a while back.

It's like if there's one tiny thing that would keep any client from not doing business with me, that I can change in my appearance or something like that, I'm going to, I'm going to do it.

You know, you put a bunch hundred people in the, in a room and have everybody who may be turned off by say a long hair in a Ponytail.

Just the opinion that they might be a little bit less trouble trustworthy if a handful of people in that room raised their hand.

But then the difference between that and maybe a, you know, a clean cut haircut or something a little more conservative and less people raise their hand.

You know, there's nothing wrong with the long hair in a ponytail.

I WORE that for 10 years.

I mean, I was a rock star and hair down halfway down my back.

But when I got into sales, I realized that, you know, if it at the end of the day made a difference to me of thousands of dollars at the end of the year, difference in my income, you know what?

I'm okay with cutting my hair because, you know, and it's, and again, it's not that there's anything wrong with it.

However, if subconsciously someone has had a bad experience or something is that you can do, can not necessarily change their impression, but don't detract from their impression of you, then absolutely do it.

There is nothing wrong with dressing the part for the role you play in this career.

And so, and along with that, that doesn't mean wear a, you know, a blazer and a three piece suit to a sales appointment when you're a H vac contractor.

I mean, come on, I've seen that for, you know, for a long time.

I went out and I bought a couple sport coats.

I tried the tie, I tried the sport coat and the tie with slacks and then the nice shoes.

And then I would try just the sport coat without the tie.

And then I tried just the tie without the sport coat.

And I tried neither one.

No tie or sport coat, but just with a nice shirt and slacks and nice shoes and you know, where my sails have always landed the best because that, that dress is completely unexpected by people.

So yeah, they're going to remember you.

However, can you imagine, do you know what the perception in their mind is?

When I started up with all my people, when you dress like that to go for an air conditioning sales call, the impression in their mind is, well, gosh, these guys are going to be way more expensive.

Because that's the way people judge the book by its cover.

Were we necessarily more expensive than the nearest competition?

No, we weren't.

We were almost the same.

Pretty close as far as price goes.

Which also tells me we should have raised our prices.

But at the end of the day, their perception of us was that we were so much more expensive.

They mentally Shut me down and shut down the whole process before it even started.

Because they just in their mind subconsciously knew that they weren't going to be able to afford us.

Now where now this is with our company and of course we're in Austin, Texas so that you know that we're a little bit on the relaxed side.

But I've worked and I've trained all over the country.

I've worked in cities, I've trained in cities, I've trained in small towns in rural America.

And the consistently the outfit that gets the best response is something along the lines of like jeans and a polo shirt.

Never tennis shoes, but you know, some kind of regular shoes, deck shoes or you know, some kind of normal shoes.

Even boots.

Depends on the part of the country.

Cowboy boots.

I've worn my Dr. Martens before.

That were, works out just fine.

But something a little more relaxed.

Some guys like to wear dickies or some sort of like, you know, khakis and slacks and stuff.

And that's fine.

Even a button up shirt maybe with the company logo.

But that's about the middle of the road where you want to be more dressed up than that.

The perception is you're way too expensive for me.

Dress down from there.

You know, I've got a couple of, in the middle of the summer, a couple of our people, they'll actually have some nice, nice shorts that they wear and they get a pretty good reception from the homeowners.

It just depends on your market.

But first impressions are so important.

Another thing to think about this is has to do and I know this from experience, the context here is my mom is very, very, very sensitive to smells and odors and chemicals.

And she has like horrible allergic reactions to colognes, to hair products, to aftershaves, to anything like that.

And so years ago I decided that, well, and I saw this in experience because my parents had some sort of satellite TV coming to be installed one time.

And the guy that showed up at the door, the installer, had a pretty good amount of cologne on.

She told him as soon as he got in the door she said, leave, you can't be in my house.

So it completely turned him away and they had to send someone else who promised not to wear any type of cologne or any or they were literally going to change companies to go with somebody else who would comply with that request.

Was it because they were being mean or being, you know, being rude or, you know, we all have those customers who are just jerks or being rude?

No, it had to do with the fact that if he had come into the house and spent any amount of time she that night, she would have ended up in the emergency room with lung issues because that's how sensitive she is to smells and odors and chemicals.

So I decided years ago to one, always train my people, but to never.

If I show up to that one in ten thousandth house where somebody's that sensitive, I don't want to be the guy that has that gets turned away because, oh, you know what?

I decided to wear cologne today.

You know what?

That's ridiculous.

I'll just not wear it for the fact that I can be the most things to the most people.

Anything that you can think of that would be a detractor for first impressions is huge humongous in our industry.

Another tip along these lines, since this is a first impression podcast today, is the way you greet the door, the way you get to the door.

You know, obviously, when you can park on the street, never in the driveway, always, unless, you know, it's a long, winding driveway up to the house or something.

There's a lot of the bigger houses, nicer houses have a big, you know, big driveway up to the house.

That's a good way.

You're not going to park, park on the street there.

But for most normal neighborhoods, you're parking, you know, park on the street, never park in the driveway, and always park the right direction on the road.

Never park illegally.

You know, it's just simple stuff.

But here's the thing.

If you park the wrong way on a street, in their mind, they might mention it or not.

They might even notice, not notice.

But some people will, they will 100% think, well, if they're going to break the law there, what other things are they shortcutting?

What else are they skipping when comes to my project, if they're willing to break the law, what else are they, what else are they not doing?

So everything is perception.

You know, what we do, a lot of what we do is, you know, the show part.

So much of it is the show because if you don't actually tell the homeowner you're going to do something, it might as well not have happened.

And so that's another episode that we're going to talk about.

But for first impressions, when you get up to the door, knock, don't ring the bell.

You know, salespeople ring the bell, neighbors knock.

It's one of those old school slogans, but it's 100% the truth.

So knock on the door, don't ring the bell.

And then Back up.

A funny story.

Years ago I had one.

I took one of my foreman with me to look at this house to evaluate this project.

Needed to help get him there ahead of time to get some measurements for some of the insulation we were going to do and some of the other things and the, the duct work and all that.

And so before I could do anything, he goes up to the door, rings the bell and leans against the door frame right by the door with his arm leaning against the door, waiting for the homeowner to open the door.

She opens the door and just about falls over backwards because he's leaning right in her face as he's leaned up against the door.

I couldn't reach him fast enough to yank him back away from the door before she opened it and blew my mind.

That, that, that wasn't something that is common sense that people know, but that's why I'm bringing it up right now, because it's very, very important.

It's crucial.

Knock on the door and take one, two, three steps back.

If it's a porch, step down off of the first step on the porch, step onto the first step and lower yourself to.

When they open the door so you can back up, they can clearly see you from the door.

They can clearly see your vehicle.

It's a safety issue.

Big smile, door, big smile.

Hi, my name is.

Very first thing you say, hi, my name is.

Don't even let them say hi.

Say, hi, my name is, and whatever your name is.

So I'm like, hi, my name is Sam Wakefield with Precision Heating and Air.

Or, you know, with the company that you're with.

That's the company that I'm with in Austin, but so greet them with your name in the company you're with before they have a chance to say anything so they know who you are, because it gives them one, you are leading the conversation there.

And two, it's a safety thing for them and it puts their mind at ease.

Even if you called ahead and they know you're coming, still do that.

It's super, super important.

So taking the step back and do that.

And I know this is probably very simple things for a lot of you, but you would be amazed that there's a lot of people in the, you know, in the world that don't know these common courtesy skills, especially if you're new to in home sales.

These are things that will completely set you ap from other companies when it comes to how you are perceived in the house, how you're perceived with the homeowner and so these just handful of things will completely set you apart when it comes to, you know, what your clothes are.

Men.

Tuck your shirt in, wear a belt.

Simple stuff.

Shave, don't look like you haven't taken a bath in a week.

Take a shower.

The easy stuff.

Do it.

It's worth it.

People.

Nobody wants to hang out with somebody who smells like they haven't bathed in a week and they're working in attics.

I mean, come on, these are common sense things that you could be a service tech, it doesn't matter who you are.

All of this applies to every single one of you.

So.

And women, you know, you are kind of a. I love, I love, love, love, huge shout out to our women who are doing sales in this industry because you, my friends, have to make everyone else's numbers look ridiculous because of the amount of rapport that you could instantly get in a house.

It's amazing.

And I, I just am so thankful for you.

And yeah, it's time that you step up into your greatness because I know you've got greatness inside of you.

Let's see some amazing women.

H vac salespeople, comfort consultants, project managers, put up some mind blowing numbers.

It's time, it's time for women to really step into this industry.

But that's just a soapbox of mine.

But first impressions are so wildly important.

You've got to.

It starts with the phone call and then goes right into that first few seconds, you know, extend.

Hi, my name is, I'm with this company.

Extend your hand.

Good firm handshake.

All of that is crucial.

So make sure that you know, those first eight seconds are powerful, make it impactful.

People want to know that you're there for business, that you're sharp as a tack and that you know what the heck you're doing.

You accomplish that and the sale is halfway made.

And I promise you, it changes everything.

I've had so many people over the years say, you know, literally I've heard these words come out of people's mouths say, you know, I don't normally trust salespeople who come to the house, but for some reason, and I don't even know why I trust you, so I totally believe what you're saying.

And man, you know, I really feel like you're being transparent and honest with me where a lot of other people didn't.

And you know, I've heard these things over and over again.

So clearly these are techniques.

And it's not that you're trying to manipulate anybody, but you're just being upfront and transparent and truthful and honest with people and being as neutral as you possibly can.

Your job as you know, have a flag flying over your head when you're in a home of, you gotta be freaking Switzerland.

Switzerland.

You've got to be as absolutely neutral as possible when it comes to anything.

Anything that has to do politically, anything that has to do with money, with religion, with literally anything that could potentially be controversial.

You know, there's so much going on in the world when it comes to all the different things, you know, the left, the right, the, you know, sexual equality, racial equality, gender neutrality, all of these things.

You can go down the list of all the political hot buttons, and at the end of the day, you have to be neutral.

I guarantee you, if you followed me around an entire day and into 10 different houses, you wouldn't have a clue how I felt politically, how I felt religiously, how I felt about any of those issues in a house.

And if you followed along and asked any of my clients, every single one of them would think that I believe the way they did.

Why?

Because I did?

No, has nothing to do with that.

Because I asked questions about what the.

When someone.

If you go into a house and someone has over the top, maybe yard signs, over the top, things on the wall, anything that really points to something very specific.

You don't have to be for or against it, but just ask them about it.

Get them talking about what they're obviously passionate about.

Ask them about it.

Oh, wow, I saw you've got so many of these signs in the yard.

What has inspired you to be so passionate about this?

I love to talk to people about their passions and what they're really concerned about.

Is there something specific that has gotten you so involved?

Ask those kind of questions and just let them talk to you for a while.

They will happily tell you what their passions are, what their burning desire is, what their hot buttons are, and that will tell you so much about how you communicate back to them.

When it comes to the system that you're working on.

When it comes to.

If they're auditory, if they're visual, learn to speak their language.

And you do that by letting them talk to you.

God gave us two ears and one mouth to listen twice as much as we talk.

So when we start listening to just ask a few very specific key questions and listen to what their passions are and the way they communicate, then we'll be able to communicate back to them in the way that they understand, using the level of words they understand, using the Types of the types of communication.

A good example is, you know, you go into at someone's house and maybe the person is clearly an artist.

They've got their paintings up, they've got art supplies.

I'm going to use terms like, does this look good to you?

Whereas somebody who go in somebody's house, that may be a musician, I'm going to use terms like, hey, how does that sound?

Because, you know, that's the way that they communicate.

That's the life they live.

So learning to communicate with that type of power of those words will really change the way they respond to you as well.

So first impressions into learning to listen and communicate with neutrality.

So all of this has to do with the home experience, the experience you're giving the customer, the experience you're giving their homeowner in their own home of dealing with someone who understands them.

It makes them feel felt, feel understood.

Because at the end of the day, don't we all just want to be heard?

And that's what you know, that's why I win jobs over the competitors at thousands of dollars more expensive, because I'll hear all the time, they say, you know what?

We had you and two other companies, three other companies, five other companies, eight other companies.

I've heard all those numbers come out.

You're the only one that actually we thought, listened to the problems we have and came up with the solutions that was, that were going to solve those problems.

And it had to do with letting them tell me and listening and listening and listening to point that I understood what, listened between the lines and understood what they're trying to communicate because they don't always know the right words to use and they don't always know how to describe the problems they're having.

All they know are the words that are in their vocabulary.

And so by listening and then restating back using maybe restated a little bit differently, restate a little bit differently, describe it a little bit more thoroughly the way we know to describe things.

And they, you can tell the instant that light bulb goes off because their face lights up.

They're like, yes, that's it.

That's exactly what I was trying to describe.

And their face lights up and like that.

That's.

That's what.

Yes, that's exactly what happens in the middle of the night, or that's what happens in the summer, that's what happens in the winter.

And you know, at that moment you've heard them, understood them, when you've communicated it back to them a way that they understand and it reson with them that yes, you're the person that actually heard and understood what I was trying to describe to you.

I just didn't know how to describe it.

And when you can do that, that's the moment that your sales start to really take on a new adventure and are going to start to climb.

So that's a powerful podcast today.

I hope you got some value from this.

If you did share it with someone, share it with your service tech, share it with your salespeople.

If you're the own of the company, if you do it all, let me know.

If you are, you know, really compartmentalized like my company.

We've got different departments, We've got sales department, service department, we've got our install, you know, department.

But I know a lot of companies where you know, you sell you service and install all at the same time.

Maybe have a handful of people.

Every single person can benefit from today's message.

So if you got some value, share it Share this podcast.

I love when we have new people and go to closeitnow.net that is going to be your, your, your way to communicate with us.

Your way to stay connected.

Join the Facebook the Close it Now Facebook community is growing every single day and there's some really amazing content in there.

I'm doing lots of, lots of video trainings.

There is a coaching program that I'm fixing to kick off.

So if you're interested in our I'm going to do some really aff group coaching which is my way to give back to every single one of you to just one hold us accountable.

One of the main things I know in my numbers over the years has always been if I didn't have anyone to hold me accountable, there's a good chance I may or may not really be focused on the results.

So when what you where you focus goes, your energy flows.

So if you're focused on results, you're focused on seeing success.

You've got to be accountable to that.

So it's a big part of what my group coaching program is going to be involved with.

But go to, go to CloseItNow.net that's going to get you in touch with everything and keep you connected.

So again, thanks for listening.

Share this podcast Sharing is caring and I am super excited about upcoming events, upcoming podcasts.

I've got a live event, some live events coming in the fall that are going to be some just really killer three day boot camps that will completely transform the way that you yourself transform your results.

Who wants to work less and sell more.

I know that has been, I hear that a lot.

It's like I want to sell, I want to, I want to earn more.

But at the same time, I don't want to be completely disappear from my family throughout the summer.

I don't want to be the guy that works, you know, six, seven days a week, 12, 14 hours a day and never sees anybody throughout the year.

And you know what?

There is a way to do that.

There's a way to earn more, work less, and not have to kill yourself in this industry.

So you can actually have the best of both worlds.

You can have family life and you can have a mind blowing income.

So that is what we're gonna, that's what we're talking about.

That's the focus of this group.

My training is not like the others.

Just because you work harder does not always mean that you work better or work or that your work is better or more productive.

You don't have to work harder just to earn more.

And so that's totally what we're talking about.

So thanks for listening.

I will talk to you guys again soon.

Thanks for listening.

To Close it now with Sam Wakefield.

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