You just spent 45 minutes diagnosing the problem. You know exactly what's wrong. You're confident in your solution. And then they say, "Let me think about it." Or worse: "I want to get a second opinion."

What just happened? You didn't show your work.

Think back to math class. You solved the problem, wrote down the answer, and your teacher marked it wrong—even though the answer was correct. Why? Because you didn't show your work. The same thing is happening in your appointments. You've got the right answer, but the homeowner can't see how you got there. So they don't trust it.

Here's the reality: Only 3% of the population are technicians. That means 97% of your homeowners cannot mentally connect the technical dots on their own. They can't see the bridge between "my room is cold" and "restricted ductwork." You found YOUR problem. You found the HOUSE'S problem. But you didn't find THEIR problem. And when you don't build that bridge, you create cognitive dissonance. They're left uncertain. And a confused mind says no.

In this episode, Sam Wakefield breaks down the 3-part framework for showing your work so homeowners actually understand—and price objections disappear.

In This Episode:

1. Why the right answer still loses the sale if you don't show your work
2. The math class principle: teacher can't see how you got there equals wrong answer
3. Only 3% are technicians—97% need you to build the bridge for them
4. The 3-part framework: Past (their experience), Now (what's causing it), Future (the solution)
5. The critical check-in question: "Can you see how this is causing that?"
6. Why most price objections aren't about price—they're about confidence

Work with Sam / Join the Close It Now Movement:

1. Website: https://www.closeitnow.net
2. Coaching & Training: https://www.closeitnow.net/coaching
3. Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/closeitnow
4. Email: sam@closeitnow.net

New Group Coaching Program:

Starting April 2026 - Pods of 5 for 6 months. Weekly sessions covering process, skills, and communication so homeowners actually understand what you're telling them. No more 1-on-1 coaching—this is the only way to work with Sam directly now. Email sam@closeitnow.net to apply.

Next Week:

Stop Saying "Only" and "Just" - The Language That Kills Your Value. The words you use reveal whether you actually believe in what you're selling.

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Google to help more salespeople find this show.

Google Review Link: https://g.page/r/CbfnnDqTCwQdEAE/review

Welcome to Close it now, the podcast that's revolutionizing the H Vac and home improvement trades industries.

Get ready to dive deep into the world of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.

We're turning up the heat on industry standards and cooling down misconceptions.

And we're not just talking about fixing vents and adjusting thermostats.

It's about the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H Vac and home improvement.

We're the driving force, inspiring top performers who crave excellence not only in their professional endeavors, but also in fitness, nutrition, relationships, and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all.

This is Close it now, where excellence meets excitement.

Let's get to work.

Now, your host, Sam Wakefield.

All right, so you just spent 45 minutes diagnosing the problem.

You know exactly what's wrong.

You're confident in your solution, and then your homeowner says, let me think about it.

Or worse, hey, I want to get a second opinion.

And you're standing there thinking, what just happened?

I explained everything.

They should get it.

Here's what actually happened.

You didn't show your work.

So I'm Sam Wakefield, and this is Close It Now.

So last week we talked about the tipping point, how homeowners have already said yes by the time you show up.

And your job is to honor that courage.

But today we are going to talk about something a little bit different.

So the next step in the process.

So here's where most of us lose them.

We diagnose the problem, we know the solution, and we jump straight to the price problem.

Price solution.

And somewhere in that equation, we left out the most important part, the bridge.

And that's what we are going to talk about today.

So excited for this episode.

Welcome back, everybody.

This is Close It Now.

We are coming up on seven years in running, this podcast coming up on episode speeding towards episode 300.

So for all of you that have been here since the beginning, I appreciate every single one of you.

For every single one of you who are new, I appreciate every single one of you as well.

I'm grateful for you all.

For you to finally break through that plateau to get to the next level and your sales in your business.

It's time for you to take the steps it takes to finally say, you know what, what would happen if I went all in?

If I stopped just giving 80 and I went all in and did all of the things I know I should be doing or.

And Or I learn something new, I implement something new to get to the next level.

In order to get changes, we have to make changes, too.

For things to get better, I have to get better.

For things to change, I have to change.

That's the mindset we have to adopt.

So I am here to help you do that, and I appreciate all of you.

So let's take a quick second and toast this episode.

What's in your cup today?

I am still kind of rocking the same stuff.

I've got my basic coffee, actually, here's the interesting thing.

I was out earlier.

As you know, if you've listened to many episodes, you know, I love bougie coffee.

Starbucks has a new UBE and coconut latte, which I tried earlier and I tried the iced version, and it was pretty, pretty next level.

It was kind of generic, of course, as you can imagine, very commercial.

But it was good.

So I recommend it.

Give it a shout if you're.

Give it a shot if you're into stuff like that.

But let's toast.

Let's toast today's episode and hop right in here.

I've got a couple super quick announcements, and then we're going to jump into this.

So three, Everybody grab your drinks.

Three, two, one.

All right, so the couple quick announcements.

One is the growth catalyst.

The growth catalyst is the program is launching like crazy.

We have had so many conversations this week with companies that just instantly are able to see all the literal hundreds of thousands of dollars or even some, in a couple cases, companies.

We're looking at, we're looking at seven figures that are sitting in the.

That are just not being captured.

They're sitting in the company.

And you don't know how, you don't know where.

If are you that business owner that you work, you've got lots of revenue coming in, the money's rolling through, and at the end of the year or end of whatever period, you're just like, hey, where did it all go?

End of the year comes tax time, and you're like, holy cow, boy, we moved a lot of money through, but there's nothing left.

Why can't I pay myself?

Where did the profit go?

That is exactly what we're talking about.

So we're able to find all of those places and get it back to you, put it back in your pocket, and then put together a growth plan to get you past those walls that you've been bumping up against.

All of those places where you keep running up against these brick walls where you.

Seems like you'll get a little Bit past it and it slams you back down.

You get a little bit past it and it slams you back down right at those levels.

Is it the two and a half million dollar level?

Is it the three million?

Is it the one million?

Is it the.

You just can't break through?

Is it the 5 million mark?

Is it the 7?

Is it the 10 million number?

Where is that place?

Is it 12?

Is it 15?

Is it 20?

Every single company has this place, this barrier where it seems like you can't quite get past it.

That's what we do together, my team and I, we have scaled companies into, in fact, into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

And so we know the roadmap, we know how to get there.

We can show you exactly how to do it in a way that you won't.

You don't feel overwhelmed.

That's step one is to you feel like you're drowning, help you not drown anymore.

So you can actually have time to breathe, have time to focus with your family a little bit, as well as build your business at the same time.

So that is the growth catalyst.

If you are that owner and you want to know more about that, reach out to me because here's what's going on right now.

Time of recording here is March 14th.

This is a super short time window of opportunity.

Right now we're doing a diagnostic.

Normally that diagnostic is 7,500 bucks.

We're doing those at no charge in the launch of this program.

So that is the window.

That's what you got.

Beyond that, we'll talk, but it's not going to be at no charge anymore.

So I want to help you, I want to help as many companies as I possibly can this year break through those barriers and get to that next level.

Yes, I understand.

Lots going on in the world, in the economy.

It doesn't mean that homeowners are not investing in their homes.

And we can show you a way to make that work.

The flip side of this, I just want to make sure to mention this is we are not one of those companies that's going to steal your company.

We're not.

The platform, the blueprint, the roadmap, the magical guide, it's not how it works.

We actually work in your company with you to get this work done so you can see profit where you couldn't see a profit before and you can start to see a clear path out.

So if that's an exit or if that's just building a legacy business.

Either way, it doesn't matter.

The steps are the same and so reach out to me.

It's the growth catalyst.

You can email me samloseitnow.net you can find me on Facebook, go join the Facebook group and also you can go to the website CloseItNow.net, fill out the form there and I'll get right back to you directly.

Let's see.

That is it for now.

So let's hop into this content.

Okay, so we are talking about the bridge.

This is the show your work episode.

So with the bridge, let me explain what I mean here.

So I want you to think back to math class.

Remember when you'd solve a problem, you'd write down the answer, you know, your teacher would give you the answer and you'd write down, you know, give you a problem, you'd write down the answer.

Even if the answer was correct, it's still wrong.

They'd still mark it wrong.

Why?

Because you didn't show your work.

The answer is not the issue.

The issue is the teacher couldn't see how you got there.

That's exactly what is happening in your appointments.

What happens so often is you've got the right answer but the homeowner can't see how you got there.

So they don't trust it.

Because here's the reality and here's what you have to realize.

Doing what we do, we have to some degree.

And I don't care what your role is and what industry you're in.

If it's H Vac or plumbing or electrical or garage doors or fencing or irrigation or whatever your industry is, if it's solar or roofing, it doesn't matter.

Only about 3% of the population are technicians or technical minded.

That's the engineers.

That's why what?

1 in 50 appointments you'll come across an engineer.

But so realistically, it's only about 3% of the population.

Their brains are wired to be able to think in terms of what the outcomes are going to look like based on strictly the information of what the thing does.

Whatever your industry is, and what that means is 97% of your homeowners don't have the mental ability to connect the technical dots on their own.

They can't see the bridge between hey, my room is cold and restricted ductwork.

They can't connect no hot water on the third floor to undersized water heater.

They can't mentally link cause and effect the way you can because that's not their job.

It's yours.

And if you don't build the bridge for them, if you don't show them how this is causing that, they're left with this question mark in their brain, and a confused mind says no.

So here's the mental model I need you to lock into.

Showing your work is building the bridge between the problem that they experience and the solution you're recommending.

What happens is, most technicians and salespeople, they do this.

You say, your homeowner describes the problem, hey, my son's room is always freezing.

You diagnose the issue.

Hey, it's restricted ductwork to that side of the house.

Then you come back and say, I found your problem.

It's the ductwork.

And right there, you just lost them.

Because here's what just happened in their brain.

They told you the room is cold.

You told them it's the ductwork, but you never connected the two.

You found your problem.

You found the house's problem, but you didn't find their problem.

Their problem is, my son is freezing at night, he's complaining.

We have extra blankets.

We're running a space heater.

Your problem is restricted ductwork.

Those are two very different things in the homeowner's mind.

And when we.

What, when we don't build that bridge between them, you create what's called cognitive dissonance.

And so basically, they're thinking, okay, you say, it's the ductwork, but how does that explain why my son's room is cold?

And because 97% of people can't make the connection on their own, they're left uncertain.

And uncertainty is what kills the cell.

So, Sam, how do we fix it?

Here's how to fix it.

Instead of saying, I found your problem, it's the ductwork, you say, I found what's causing your problem.

You know, can you see the difference?

I found your problem equals technical diagnosis.

I found what's causing your problem.

That's the bridge between their experience and your solution.

Now, you're not just giving them the answer, you're showing them how you got there.

And here's the.

So I'm going to give you a framework.

So whatever the situation is, whatever it is you're trying to explain, this is the formula for connecting the dots for them and showing your work so they can clearly see what's causing it.

Because somebody's not going to invest money into something that they're not true if they don't have the confidence that that's truly what's causing their problem.

And so step one is the past We've got a step one is we've got to acknowledge what's happening, right?

So this is where you acknowledge their experience in their words.

So I'm going to use the same example and run through the language here because it's a simple example.

But what I want all of you listeners to do is yes, a, apply this to this particular example because I know some of you will have this experience.

But also think how you can apply this to your other situations.

Because once I go through this framework, I hope that you'll be able to immediately be able to implement this and use it.

If not, reach out to me and we'll have a conversation.

So step one, the past.

This is where you acknowledge their experience.

And it's not the experience, it's their experience in their words.

So you told me your son's room has been freezing all winter.

You got extra blankets on the bed, you're running a space heater at night because that's the only way to keep him warm.

And you mentioned, you know, the fire marshal says you're not supposed to leave space heaters running overnight in kids rooms.

So now you're worried about safety on top of everything else.

That's an example.

So what we're doing, we're not diagnosing yet.

We're just reflecting back what they told you.

This does two things.

It shows that you were actually listening because how many of us, we find ourselves not listening?

So this is step one, sales 101.

You have to actually listen.

Listen to understand.

Don't listen to respond.

So it shows them you are actually listening.

Number two, it confirms you understand their problem, not just the technical problem.

So that's part one.

So part two is the now snapshot of reality, what's causing it?

So this is where you connect the dots between what you found and what they're experiencing.

And here's an example script around that or just language pattern.

So here's what I found that's causing the problem.

The ductwork to that side of the house is restricted.

There's not enough airflow getting to your son's room.

So when the furnace is running, the heat is going everywhere else in the house, but not there.

Can you see how that restricted ductwork is causing his room to stay cold?

Notice the question at the end.

Can you see how this is causing that?

Can you see how this is causing that?

Can you see how the restricted ductwork is causing his room to stay cold?

Can you see how this is causing that?

That's your formula.

This is critical.

You're not assuming they made the connection.

You're checking in to make sure the bridge is there.

If they say yes, great.

Move forward.

If they pause and look confused, say it a different way.

Use an analogy.

Draw a picture.

Highly recommend.

Keep your notebook with you.

Keep some paper and draw pictures.

Keep going until they say, okay, I get it.

Because if they don't clearly understand how this is causing that, they will never feel confident moving forward.

And once they truly understand this, then and only then can we move on to part three, which is the future.

So this is moving forward.

This is finally to the solution.

So only now do we talk about this.

So here's an example language pattern around that.

So moving forward.

Here's what we'd need to do to solve that.

We would need to address the ductwork to get proper airflow to his room.

That way, when the furnace runs, the heat will actually get there.

No more freezing, no more space heater, no more safety concerns.

Can you see how doing this is going to solve that problem for you?

Again, notice the check in question.

We're making sure they see a path from problem to solution.

Past, now, future, problem, cause, solution.

That is showing your work.

So let me show you what this looks like in a real appointment.

Let's do the no hot water on the third floor scenario.

Because I literally just experienced this two weeks ago when I was in the Boston area with Fagundis heating and air and plumbing.

We went to a home.

It was a tankless water heater in a basement, third floor of this house.

It was really stacked house, no hot water.

Saw this exact thing.

So this is fun.

So I'm going to use that as the example for everybody listening of what it was like.

So the homeowner, of course, hey, we have no hot water on the third floor.

It takes forever to get hot, and even then it's barely warm.

So we investigate.

We came back, hey, we found your problem.

Your water heater's undersized for actually, in this case, I've got some notes here.

I'm going to actually get a change into what we experienced.

So we found the problem.

Your tankless water heater is getting plugged up with a bunch of the silt and the trash moving in from the street.

So what's happened is, of course, blank stare, right?

And so that was the scenario there.

Actually, I'm going to go back to my notes because it's a little simpler path, but that's what we found.

What we ended up doing is we put some filtration in, we cleaned out the Filter got them going and before we left had the homeowner actually the homeowner's wife.

It was funny too, because.

So this is a real life story.

She's standing in there, we adjusted it some, and she says, oh, my skin's not red.

It's not hot enough.

So we were laughing.

I said, oh, like the, you know, like a typical woman's lobster shower.

You're looking for the lobster shower.

And she laughs and she says, yes, that's exactly right.

So notice what happened there the moment that I.

That we made it fun.

But more importantly, I pulled out your typical woman's lobster shower.

And she goes, that's exactly right.

Because I was listening when she said, my skin's not red yet.

That told me I knew exactly what she was looking for.

So I was totally thinking about this the whole time.

But you want your homeowners to go, that's right.

The moment they go, that's right, you've nailed it.

So of course we, you know, added some more filtration in the system to keep it, prevent it from happening again, cleaned out the filter and the screen.

And now of course, we go back up to the third floor and she's standing there and steam's billowing out of the bathroom and her skin's turning red on her hand and she's like, oh, this is perfect.

And all the rest of us are looking at it, going, God, this is awful.

I feel like I scald my skin off.

But that's exactly what she wanted.

And remember, people will always pay more for what they want than what they need.

So let's go back to this other scenario because I want to walk through my notes here.

So back to we have no hot water on the third floor.

It takes forever to get hot, and even then it's barely warm.

So we come back, hey, I found your problem.

Your water heater is undersized for a three story house.

Blank stare.

Okay, so what do I need to do?

In this scenario, we just gave them the answer, but they have no idea why that answer is correct.

So when you give them the price, they're going to want a second opinion because you didn't build the bridge.

So here's the correct way.

Homeowner says, hey, we have no hot water on the third floor and it takes forever to get hot, and even then it's barely warm.

We investigate, we come back.

So you told me you're not getting hot water on the third floor.

It takes a long time, and even when it does get there, it's not Very hot.

Am I guessing that's frustrating because you've got kids up there trying to take showers in the morning, is that right?

Yeah, exactly.

Okay, here's what I found that's causing that.

Your water heater is a 40 gallon unit for a single story house.

That's fine, but you've got three floors.

By the time the hot water travels all the way up to the third floor, it's already cooled down.

And because the tank isn't big enough to keep up with demand, you're running out of hot water before it even gets up there.

Can you see how having an undersized tank is causing you to lose heat and volume by the time it reaches the third floor?

Then of course, the homeowner goes, yeah, that makes total sense.

So then, moving forward, we have a couple options for you we could look at.

So is it okay if I show you several different options and then you can choose what will be the best fit for you and your family?

Permission question.

They say, yes, of course, that's exactly why you're here.

And so now we know we're on the right track because they're using that.

That's exactly why language.

So moving forward, what we need to do is either upgrade to a larger tank, probably a 50 or 75 gallon, depending on your usage, or what we could look at is.

Have you ever heard about what's called a tankless water heater?

Now, quick pop out for all of you plumbers in the world, do not assume that your homeowner knows what a tankless water heater is or does, because most don't if they've never had one, and even the people that have one normally don't know how it operates, how to maintain it, any of that.

So.

So many times we make way too many assumptions about what homeowners know.

So that's why we have to start with the basics.

Have you ever heard of or do you know anything about what a tankless water heater is and what it does?

So it's not just what it is.

Staying with the theme of this episode and what it does and what it can do for you, ask those questions first they're going to say, well, I know some about it, or I've had one before.

Yeah, those are great.

Or no, I don't know anything.

But no matter what they answer, it gives you the opportunity to continue that conversation around them.

And that way you've got.

And then you just tell them, that way you know it never runs out of capacity, right?

Then you've got enough Capacity to get hot water all the way to the third floor and still have it be hot when it gets there.

So you go through your options, and then here's the.

Again, here's the important check in question.

Can you see how that's going to solve the problem?

And they go, yeah, absolutely.

Now and only now, you can talk about price, because they're not confused anymore.

They understand how this is causing that and how your solution fixes it.

You showed your work, and when you show your work, price objections are going to dramatically drop and start to disappear.

And I promise you, I can ensure you this is what happens.

This is how to get rid of price objections.

They just have to completely understand how this is going to help that, how this is causing that, and how your solution is going to fix what's going on.

When people say, wow, that's a high price.

And we're like, hey, compared to what?

They're like, oh, the other guy's this much cheaper.

Most of the time, they're.

It's not an objection.

They just need to understand what your difference in price versus the other company is.

And the moment you can communicate like this to them, all of a sudden the price objection goes away.

They're like, oh, I totally get it now.

Because now they understand they're getting better service.

They understand the quality.

They understand all the differences.

Because price isn't the real objection.

Confusion is.

So here's what I need you to understand on a deeper level.

Most price objections aren't actually about price.

They're about confidence.

When a homeowner says, I need to think about it or I want to get another quote, what they're really saying is, I'm not confident that you've actually figured out what's wrong.

And why aren't they confident?

Because you never showed them how you got there.

They gave you a problem, just like your math teacher.

You wrote the solution.

You wrote the answer.

You didn't show your work, so it's still wrong.

You don't get credit for it even if the answer is right.

So the next time you walk into an appointment, I want you to remember this.

Your job is to not just diagnose the problem.

Your job is to help the homeowner see what you see.

That means slowing down.

It means using their words, not technical jargon.

Not all of this, you know, contractor speak that we use all the time.

It means checking in.

Can you see how this is causing that?

It means building the bridge between their experience and your solution.

Because the truth is, they already trust that you're smart enough to find the problem.

What they don't trust yet is whether you found the right problem.

And the only way to prove that is by showing your work.

So let's recap real quick to bring it home.

Only 3% of the population are technicians.

The other 97% cannot mentally connect the dots on their own.

If you jump from problem to price to solution without building the bridge, you leave them confused.

So use this three part framework past, now, future past.

Acknowledge their experience in their words now show them what's causing the problem.

And then you check in with can you see how this is causing that future?

Explain the solution and then your check in question there is can you see how this is going to solve that for you?

When you show your work, your price objection drops because the objection was never really about price.

It's about confidence and you just gave them the confidence they needed.

So if this hit home, if you've, if you've been losing sales to let me think about it and you realizing it's because you weren't showing your work, I want you to try this in your next appointment.

And remember, do the try this 20 times before you even judge if it works or not.

So use that three part framework past now future.

Watch what happens when you stop assuming they understand and start showing them how you got there.

So if you want help with this, I am starting the next round of group coaching the first week of April.

Five people.

That's it.

I'm no longer doing one on one coaching.

This is strictly a group of five people now.

It's a six month program, weekly sessions.

We're going to break down every single part of your process including how to communicate so homeowners actually understand what you're telling them.

So if you would like to know more about that, head over to CloseItNow.net, fill out the form or message me directly.

Sam, close it now.net and let's talk.

We'll you know, go through what you're struggling with, what your friction points are and I'll cover all a lot more of the program details with you.

And next week we are diving into something that came up in the Nashua, Massachusetts training that no one else is teaching.

When I was up in the Boston area a couple weeks ago, it's called, it's basically stop saying only and just the language that kills your valley.

Actually not.

There are a couple people teaching that.

I know that there are a couple great trainers out there that talk about the power of language.

But I'm good as more than likely it's going to be different than you've ever heard it.

Because if you've listened to many of my podcasts, I talk about very different things.

So the words you use reveal whether you actually believe in what you are selling.

So Sam, I'm Sam Wakefield.

This is Close It Now.

If you've ever gotten value from the Close it now podcast, I would ask you to go leave me a five star review.

You can do that at Apple Podcasts and you can also do that go find me on Google and the link for Google reviews will be in the show notes.

So I would love it go leave me a five star review.

If I read your review on an episode and you hear it, you will have earned yourself a one hour coaching session with me.

And never has anyone ever done that and not laughed with a massive aha moment that they were able to immediately use and increase their numbers.

So until next time everybody, you go become someone worth buying from.

You've been listening to the Close it now podcast.

Our passion is to dive headfirst into the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H Vac and home improvement and at the same time covering fitness, nutrition, relationships and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all.

We hope you've enjoyed the show.

If you did, make sure to like, rate and review.

We'll be back soon, but in the meantime find the website@closeitnow.net find us on Instagram herealcloseitnow and on Facebook at Close It Now.

See you next time.