The central theme of this podcast episode revolves around the critical skill of effectively asking for the sale in the HVAC industry. We delve into the various techniques that sales professionals can employ to close deals immediately, thus enhancing their efficiency and reducing unnecessary follow-up work. By understanding the psychology of the homeowner, we emphasize the importance of presenting solutions while the energy is high and guiding them to make a prompt decision. It is essential to articulate the benefits of the proposed solution, thereby fostering trust and encouraging the client to engage in a purchasing decision on the spot. The episode underscores the significance of decisive communication and the transformative impact it can have on sales outcomes.

In this episode we discuss how so many salespeople build in extra followup that is unnecessary. We also cover 1 simple way to ask for the sale.

Make sure to check out www.closeitnow.net to get connected to all things related. You will get insight into the coaching program, sales system, and also learn how to connect to the Facebook community. www.facebook.com/groups/closeitnow

The current episode of the Close it Now podcast presents a thorough exploration of the methodologies associated with effectively closing sales in the residential HVAC market. Sam Wakefield, the host, opens with an incisive inquiry into a matter that resonates with many in the sales profession: 'How do you ask for the sale?' This question acts as a catalyst for a broader discussion regarding the common obstacles faced by sales professionals, particularly in the context of in-home consultations where the stakes are often perceived as high. Wakefield draws upon his own experiences, recounting the challenges that even seasoned individuals encounter when attempting to finalize a sale, emphasizing the tendency to postpone decisions through unnecessary follow-up interactions. A focal point of the dialogue is the recognition that homeowners are typically in search of immediate solutions to pressing issues. Wakefield articulates the importance of harnessing the momentum of the consultation to encourage a decision, asserting that many clients appreciate being guided through the process of closing the sale. He highlights a significant statistic that underscores the rarity of HVAC system purchases in a homeowner's lifetime, thereby framing the urgency and necessity for sales professionals to seize the moment and present their offerings in a manner that resonates with the client's needs. By articulating the benefits of the proposed HVAC solutions and fostering a sense of trust, sales professionals can effectively navigate the conversation towards a successful conclusion. In his concluding thoughts, Wakefield challenges his audience to adopt a more assertive approach by consistently asking for the sale in every client interaction. He posits that this practice not only enhances sales effectiveness but also alleviates the burden of follow-up tasks that can complicate the sales process. The episode serves as an essential guide for HVAC professionals, equipping them with the insights needed to refine their sales strategies and improve their closing rates, ultimately leading to a more efficient and rewarding sales experience for both parties.

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 here.

As you just heard, this is the Close it now sales podcast for H Vac residential sales.

Today we are going to be talking about a topic that's really important.

How do you ask for the sale?

How do you close the deal?

Do you do it in the house?

We're going to be talking about how to close it immediately, how to ask for the sale.

The problem with so many sales professionals, project managers, comfort advisors, comfort consultants, whatever we are, is that, you know, brand new people.

I remember when I was new this was I spent an entire year challenging myself to put words in my mouth to actually ask for the sale in the house.

Every time it's like I had this huge note that I'd put on my, my sun visor when I got back in the car and be like, did you ask for the sale?

Because that was a big struggle, that was a big friction point and even I know a lot of seasoned professionals, you know, they've been in this game a long time that still create additional follow up and create additional work from for themselves that's unnecessary.

So that's what we're going to unpack today.

That's what we're going to talk about because it is so w important.

It'll make your job way, way, way more efficient.

It'll make your just your entire life easier because you're not doing that extra work.

So question for you.

Raise your hand if you've ever ended the sale like this.

And this is a good example of what I'm talking about when it comes to creating additional work for yourself.

From what I know with most people, most of the time the sale ends.

Okay, Mr. Ms.

Homeowner, how soon do you plan on making a decision for this project?

And the answer is of course.

Oh, you know, in a week, in a month, in a year, it could be in 10 years.

Whenever it is, it doesn't, it really doesn't matter.

But then you know, even if it's a week, then you respond with well, would Tuesday or Thursday be a good day to get back in touch with you?

Or you know when is.

Or you ask when is a good day to get back in touch with you?

Well, what you just did is you created extra follow up for yourself.

That was a lot of times unnecessary.

Now I'm not saying that every single job is going to close in the house on the spot, but by using some of the skills and principles and the techniques that we talk about, you will be.

You'll be amazed.

You're going to close a lot more in the house on the spot than you did before.

Now, wouldn't say even 10% of your projects closing now instead of a week from now be an improvement in your numbers?

I think heck yeah would be the answer there.

But the simple truth is that the numbers are actually a lot higher than that.

Because people want to be led the general public.

Especially when it's in a situation like buying and heating and air system.

It's something that's unusual territory for them.

It's a place that they might the average, so here's the average.

The average American family or American household buys 1.3 heating and air systems in their entire lifetime.

What that means is for most people that you come across have never done this before and will never do this again.

So you've got this shot.

Make it an awesome one.

Set the standard, set the bar for their experience.

That way if they ever do it again, they know exactly what to expect and how amazing it can be and how amazing their experience can be and how painless it can be.

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

So by creating that additional follow up you've just now you've put into your calendar.

Hopefully you use a calendar, some sort of reminder system to follow up with them and then on that day, the set day and time actually do it.

You have to actually do it.

Then what are the chances that they don't answer the phone and they don't respond back to your email and they start to ghost you?

I mean the chances definitely go up because.

Because the energy, while you're there, the energy is high for buying.

They called you, which means they have a problem to start with.

They want their problem solved.

They are looking for solutions to their problem or they never would have called you in the first place.

So at the end of a well executed sale, the logical conclusion is to close the deal.

You don't go to a restaurant and not expect to get the bill next week.

So you've got to a present the price while you're in the house on the spot.

That's step one to this, this part, you know, this section of the call.

You've got to have a way, if it's with our company right now we've got a menu system where just basically open up, okay, you're three ton horizontal.

Here's all of our different.

Here's the models that we talked about, here's the pricing, here's what it might look like financed.

Boom.

Which one works best for you, you know, or you know a lot of companies I know you've got a digital version, you've got soft where you can generate the proposal right on the scene, do it.

It's wildly important to while the energy is high from the presentation to present the prices right on the spot.

And once you've done that, how are you asking for the close?

So like we just covered so many people end that call with, well, when's a good time to follow up with you?

And then the second you walk out the door, they have questions in their head.

They have say, you know what, since we're not going to get in touch with that person for another few days, why don't we go ahead and call some more people and get some more estimates.

All of these things start going through their head where if you had just asked for the sale on the spot, so many times people say, you know what, this sounds great, let's do it.

And yeah, sure, we can install this next week.

Because they want to more, even more than you.

The homeowner wants to check this off their to do list, check this off their mental list so it's not weighing down their day.

Because in order to properly serve the customer right, in order to serve with their best interest in mind, we have to of course, put ourselves in their shoes.

When you've got a big problem and having an air conditioning and heating problem is a big problem, so it weighs heavy on you.

You suffer at work, you suffer in your family life, everything suffers until that problem is resolved.

So it's heav and their one goal in that moment is to resolve their problem.

Now they might send up some smoke screens of Whoa, we're getting 500 bids and we're going to compare apples to apples and all the things that they say.

But at the end of the day, that's really not the truth.

They're just trying to deflect.

They don't want you to know that they seem too over anxious and over excited about this, but at the end of the day, they are ready to just get it done.

They wish it was done yesterday.

And so knowing that and having that context in mind, remember that when you do your presentation, you do your presentation, you show your pricing, then ask.

And here's a great, great, great way to end the call.

Here's how I ask a lot.

Probably nine times out of ten maybe is I'll, you know, we'll talk about everything, we'll go over the pricing, go over all the different stuff and you see them sitting, kind of thinking about things and then close everything up and set it aside and stare at them across the table and say, okay, Mr. And Ms.

Homeowner, you know, we know that you can call a hundred companies in this town for that matter, you know, 2, 5, 10, however many, and at the end of the day, it's a gut check of who's actually going to, you know, serve you the best, who's going to solve your problems.

So we don't take that lightly.

So what I'm asking, asking you today is, you know, I appreciate your calling us.

We've talked about the project and as a reminder, here, here's what we're going to do.

Little Johnny's room in the corner of the house, we're going to fix that by, you know, doing this and this and this with the ductwork and the return.

That way the solution is going to be when he wakes up tomorrow, he's not going to be under those extra blankets in the winter because it's so cold.

And he's not going to be having, have the fan in there and you don't have to have the window unit in his room because it's too hot.

It's going to be the same temperature as the rest of the house.

And then of course, your bills are going to come down.

Whatever it is, restate what you're solving.

If the problem is, you know, when you wake up day after tomorrow, you're going to be waking up in a nice cool house and that's going to feel awesome.

So my question to you is, will you trust me with this project?

And then be quiet.

Just, you know, restate whatever the problem is that you're solving, but state it in terms of benefits, not in, you know, we're going to be running ductwork and we do this.

No, talk about it in terms of, okay, that room's going to be the right temperature, your bill's going to come down, it's going to be more comfortable in this house.

Than you've ever experienced.

So will you trust me with this project?

And what we're doing there is we're really narrowing the focus on what they're buying.

We're narrowing the focus into a relationship.

Because the entire visit, you've basically gone from first date to marriage proposal in probably about an hour is kind of the average for most people with a good executed presentation.

In about an hour, you've gone from first date to marriage.

And the entire time you've been building rapport, you've been building relationship, you've been working on the credibility piece of the company, the credibility piece of the project that you're going to install, that you've got the right solutions for their, for their problems, and the credibility piece for yourself.

You know, obviously your experience, the number of projects that you've worked on, what your credentials are, etc.

And then you're just basically asking them to trust you with this project because you're narrowing that.

That's a simple decision to make.

Because if they trust you with the project, then the rest of details are just details.

It's just a matter of figuring out, okay, how much or how little do they want to include in the project?

You know, which system do they want to go with, is the.

Which price point is the right price point for them?

Financing options, all the things.

The rest are just details.

Because when you're asking for the sale, just do that, say, close everything up and just sit down and look them in the eye and say, all right, we've gone through everything.

You know that here's the solutions, here's our problems that we're going to solve, and here's what it's going to.

Your experience is going to be like after that, will you trust me with this project?

And let them answer, Let them answer.

Just be quiet.

If you have to sit there for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever it takes, it won't go 30 minutes, but force yourself to sit quietly.

Have a bottle of water with you.

If you have to take a drink at that point to keep yourself from talking and filling the uncomfortable void, take a drink of water.

This is the water bot close.

When you ask for the sale, you have to shut up.

You've got to close your mouth and just be quiet and listen.

And they will fill the void.

And you know, you're going to be amazed more times than you expect.

And we're going to talk about it, setting the right expectations, of course, but it's going to blow your mind.

You're going to find a huge Number of people who will say, yes, yes, we will trust you.

And then the follow up question is of course, great.

The next steps are, let's get this paper, let's go ahead and just get this paperwork knocked out and we can choose an install date.

And that's a simple way to flow into the rest.

Because once they say yes, we'll trust you with the project.

Then the paperwork, picking the install date, all the rest are just details, but they've made the buying decision.

Don't make the buying decision harder than it needs to be.

Don't make the buying decision of which system do you want, what days work for you, how don't talk about financing or paying by check or paying by credit card.

Just ask them if they'll trust you with a project.

Once they say yes to that, all of the rest are strictly the details that can be figured out.

Because once you say yes to something, the rest is just going through the motions and you're like, okay, great, no problem.

The next steps are let's do this together, even if it's financing and say, great, let's walk through this process together.

Here's where you go, here's what you do, here's what you're going to need and it's no problem, let's do it right now.

So that is how to ask for the sale on the spot in person.

That's just one way.

There's a lot of other methods, there's a lot of other verbiage and that kind of thing.

That's the one we're going to cover today.

Just basically break it down to trusting you with the project because honestly, if they don't trust you, they don't even have to like you.

But they have to trust that you're going to solve the problem.

There's a lot of people in the things that we do.

We don't necessarily like the person, the professional, but we trust their judgment.

Say if it's a doctor or something else that you go to, you might not necessarily like them, but you know they're great at what they do.

So you keep going back to them because they're excellent and they're professional.

It's the same thing with this.

But you know, at the end of the call, of course you're going to have built rapport.

Even the people that aren't, you know, you're not going to call up to hang out with them on the weekend, of course, because you're there to serve them.

You're not there to be friends, but you are there to be friendly, don't be friends, be friendly.

And so that is, that's how you do it.

You just narrow it down to trusting you for the sale.

So that is the message today.

There's one way to ask for the sale on the spot every time.

And I challenge you to challenge yourself if you're not doing this, to just make a commitment to ask for the close every time.

Did you ask for the sale today?

Did you ask for the sale at every single visit?

Every single time that you're in a house, you've got to ask for the sale because it's so important.

And with that, of course, comes a higher close rate.

It comes a whole lot less follow up, a whole lot less work that you've built, you know, built in for yourself.

And, you know, I mean, who hates follow up?

I know.

Raise my hand.

Most people are probably raising your hand.

The fortune is in the follow up.

Because every single pending you have, those need to eventually be converted to ones or losses.

You know, basically take out a war, you know, declare war on pending.

Pending, pending jobs, on pending appointments.

I hate pending appointments.

You need to have a one or a lost in that category, but not a pending.

Now at the same time, that's what work with your pendings.

You're creating what's called a pipeline.

Your pipeline is when people call you back from, you know, six months, a year, two years back and say, hey, you know what?

We made it through but our system finally died.

Let's go ahead and pull the trigger on this project.

We saved up the money for it.

Let's go.

And that's awesome too.

So that, that's definitely what happens with your pendings.

But a lot of your pendings are strictly ones or losses that you just haven't asked them about.

So we're also going to cover some different ways to do follow up in another episode.

But that is our message today.

If you got some from this, share it with somebody.

Join our Facebook community.

We've got the Close it now Facebook group is a fantastic way to stay in touch with all things Close It Now.

You get to hear when we're announcing upcoming coaching programs.

I've got a course that I'm working on that is going to be a fantastic course.

So go to closeitnow.net which is the website that'll get you connected to Facebook.

That'll get you connected to everything.

And yeah, share this with someone.

Share this with everyone.

We're going to be running a contest for who invites the most people to the Facebook group.

There's going to be some cool giveaways for that.

So thanks for listening.

I will talk to you again real soon.

Thanks for listening to Close it now with Sam Wakefield.

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