The Letter Close: How One Ask Can Win the Deal, Build Your Brand, and Fill Your Pipeline

Guest: Christian Moore

What if one handwritten letter could close the deal, generate referrals, and turn your install into a reputation machine?

In this episode, Sam Wakefield sits down with Christian Moore—a rising sales leader who used a personal, simple, and powerfully intentional close to separate himself from the noise.

They break down the psychology of The Letter Close, how to plant seeds for referrals before the sale is even done, and what it means to truly “be someone worth buying from.”

If you’ve ever felt stuck, slow, or forgotten after the quote—this episode will change the way you look at every install and every conversation.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• The story behind The Letter Close—and how it led to an immediate deal
• How to position yourself for referrals before you leave the home
• Why personal touches still dominate in a digital-first world
• What to do when momentum slows and you need to reignite your pipeline
• How to create inbound leads through 6-pack introductions
• Why trust, timing, and presence still matter more than tech or pricing

🎟️ Relentless: The Ultimate Sales Transformation – May 6–8, 2025 | Boston, MA

🔥 Tickets are 50% off right now through the event!

No code needed. Grab your seat and invest in the version of you who closes with confidence.

👉 https://www.closeitnowbootcamp.com

💳 0% interest financing available: https://www.closeitnoweasypay.com

📲 Let’s Connect:

Website: https://www.closeitnow.net

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealcloseitnow

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/closeitnow/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/closeitnow

⭐ Enjoying the show? Leave a review and help others grow.

👉 https://g.page/r/CbfnnDqTCwQdEAE/review

💡 Final Thought:

"You don’t need a complicated close—you need one moment of trust, done right."

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, welcome back to Close It Now.

Today.

I am honored and privileged to have this guest on Today.

This is somebody that you may have.

You're starting to see his face on the promotion for the Relentless event.

Also, make sure to check out the video.

We've got a promotional video for the event.

I'm going to make sure it is tagged everywhere.

Throw it in the Facebook group.

It's all over social media.

Search Close It Now.

You're going to see the promotional video for the Relentless event.

This is Christian Moore.

He is several.

He's a lot of things.

He is an incredible family man.

He is a person of integrity, a person of ethics.

He leads with his heart in a jiu jitsu maniac.

He's a monster.

So check out the cauliflower ears.

You don't want to cross this guy.

But one of the things that he is the best at is the emotional connection in the home.

He's also my longest running coaching client.

So he knows the Close it now system better than anyone on the planet besides me and maybe my wife because she has heard me build it for probably 15 years now.

But I'm so honored to have this guy.

We're going to talk about some fun stuff.

We're going to talk about a way that you can absolutely, like destroy your competition by one simple request of the homeowner.

That is not what you think.

It's not asking for referrals.

It's not asking for your, you know, this five star review on Google.

It's a lot simpler than that and it's way easier than you think it's going to be.

So we'll get to that here in a minute.

So I am honored and privileged to introduce my good friend Christian Moore to the show today.

Welcome, Christian man.

Sam, thank you for having me.

How can you not have a smile from ear to ear with an introduction like that?

Dude, thank you for allowing opportunity today.

This is awesome.

Yeah, man.

Yeah.

So you know how we do these interviews?

You've listened to just about every one of the podcasts, in fact.

This is really fun fact.

My wife and I did the math a couple nights ago, last night in fact, and we were adding up the number of episodes and just kind of a rough number at 200.

And I think we're at 226 episodes now.

Somebody.

So for all of you listening too, here's the crazy part.

If you've listened to all of the episodes, you've listened to.

If you started the episodes and played them solidly without stopping, you've listened to over eight days of content.

The crazy part is there's only been one topic I ever repeated as well.

So there is just a massive amount of value in the podcast.

So, Christian, we've spent over a week together, not in person, but in Drive Time University.

Oh, man, that's awesome.

To quantify that kind of a number.

That blows my mind.

Yeah, it's wild, isn't it?

So you know how we start these interviews?

Well, actually, before we do that, do a little quick.

What's in your cup?

I've got something.

I had to go pick up a pot roast this morning for dinner tonight, and we happen to have a Starbucks in our grocery store.

So what's in my cup today is a Starbucks cold brew with lavender cold foam.

What's in your cup this morning?

We're running.

Fucked up energy.

Oh my gosh, dude, we still gotta talk about how you're killing your gut with those things.

It's all good.

Let's take a sip together and then we'll get into this.

3, 2, 1.

Cheers, everybody.

If you're on YouTube, you can see what's happening here.

Make sure to like and subscribe on the YouTube channel and share with everybody that you know could.

That could get some value from what we're going to be talking about.

So let's dive in.

Give us a quick highlight reel of your journey.

Man, you weren't.

You've been in the industry for a bit.

But tell us how you started, where, how your journey, you know, where you were before, where your journey has landed and, you know, especially the transitions that you've made across time, going from, you know, your first role in H Vac to where you are now.

Oh, man, I would love to.

So not a super crazy story, but still an interesting one nonetheless.

Actually lucked out getting into heating and air.

At the time, I was a caregiver for adults with special needs.

My wife and I were doing the same job.

She worked days, I worked nights.

And one of my best friends, Isaiah, and I used to go to this gym every single day.

And we just were polite to everyone that we met.

Hey, how's it going?

How's the family?

And one day, just so happens, we were polite to the right person, gentleman named Dave.

And he asked, you know, hey, what do you do for a living?

And have you ever thought about doing heating and air?

Like, I don't know what that is.

I know you touch the thermostat and it's colder, it's hot.

So it's a little bit more than that.

Call this number you're going to interview.

And there's only three things I need from you.

Show up, have a good attitude, and don't quit.

Said, oh, man, I can do that easy.

Little did you know what you were getting into, right?

Oh, yeah.

So I did.

It started out with actually one of your previous guests, companies that he was with.

Scott Silvan, Bell Shout Out.

Started at Bell brothers out in Sacramento, California.

Wow.

And started out as an install helper.

I didn't know a screwdriver from a hole in the ground and went through a lot of hard lessons with the lead that trained me that first year and a half, Became what they called a crew lead.

So I started running jobs from there and was running crews there for about two years.

My wife and I wanted to look at another opportunity and get the heck out of where we were living at.

So hopped a red eye flight, flew out to Texas at the referral of a good friend of mine, James, who's now working with the company I'm at now.

And I just said, hey, man, I'm with the biggest heating and air conditioning company in my area.

I want the biggest, best name one that's over there.

Yeah, go talk to this company, John Wayne.

They're great.

I go, okay, what if that doesn't work?

If that doesn't work, call me.

Walked in the front door asking to talk to the install manager.

Debbie, who was the one at the front desk, looked at me like I was crazy, said, okay, we'll fill out this application.

HR took me back.

I met with the install manager, and I simply just handed him my phone and said, hey, here's the last two years of the jobs that I've ran.

He looked through them.

We played 21 questions, and it was, okay.

When do you want to start?

I love it.

So you built your own, Built your own resume just in the pictures of the jobs on your phone then?

Yeah, that was it.

It was, here's the work that I do.

And flew back.

Ran cruise here at John Wayne for, oh, gosh, two and a half years.

Almost a year and a half into that, they put out an open application for anyone that wanted to be a comfort Advisor.

And I'm in an attic on a Friday with my best friend Jake Daly.

And I'm like, hey man, did you see the message?

And he's like, we don't have time for that.

We got to do this.

I threw my name in the hat.

I get a phone call from the install manager of what the heck did you just do?

No one's applied to be a CA from the install department.

Everyone goes through the service path.

And I just said, you know, well, okay, am I not allowed to?

Right?

And he goes, no, just no one's ever done that.

Well, I don't want to do this forever.

My body hurts.

So I put my head down, didn't think anything of it.

I said, all right, install for life, let's go.

Well, yeah, of course.

As.

As you do.

Yeah, yeah.

And the guy that came in, that was just starting in the trade as a CA looked at me like I was crazy.

I'm talking long Justin Bieber hair, shaggy beard.

And the best part is I got stung in the eye by a red wasp on my last day in the field.

So just a Forest Whitaker, just mess.

So went through some training, did a couple days.

You're listening for us.

We love you.

Shout out.

Forest Whitaker.

Did some ride alongs, did some training, and then was told, okay, go do it.

And I've been doing it for almost four years now.

Almost four years now.

Wow.

Well, take us through a little bit of your CA journey because it hasn't always been roses from what I know.

No.

So I'll tell you that I excel at getting kicked in the teeth and standing back up again.

And my journey as a comfort advisor has been Just that first day, they put me out in the field, I stumbled through my first sale on my first call and thought, man, this is easy.

And oh, how you didn't know what you didn't know, right?

Exactly.

So I went through.

We have a process at my company that we follow.

And at the time there wasn't much, you know, fine tuning or tune up of your calls or anything like that.

It was just, well, why aren't you doing what you're doing?

So eventually me and my friend Cody, who was the guy that got hired on at the same time with me, started opening our eyes like, okay, well, let's figure out how to get what we're missing.

We start getting into some sales trainings, communication training, and it did a little bit for us.

We brought in a trainer for the company that worked for a little while.

One of the selling techs that works with us told me, hey, check out this podcast.

And I go, okay.

He goes, yeah, the guy lives up in Austin.

His name's Sam.

It's close it now.

So I jumped into the podcast, joined the Facebook group.

You were doing a live training, and I asked a question that was just so discombobulated that you called me out on it on the spot and said, hey, this is why we need to learn how to ask better questions right here, because I can't understand this.

And you and I connected offline for a couple of hours on a phone call and we started working together from there.

And I'll tell you that it's made what I do for a living so much easier and so much more fun, and it's so great.

I love that you use the word fun in that because that's everything with what we do in life.

It's like, why would you do it if you hate it?

It's like, find something else if it's not fun.

Yeah.

And I mean, let's face it, most homeowners aren't happy to see us when we show up.

So we have to knock down that wall of resistance as fast as possible, as professional as possible, and get to a point where everyone can have fun and just serve, because that's where it's.

I love it.

This is really fun.

I didn't realize that's how you had applied for install, but it makes total sense with what we're going to talk about today.

So this is something that is.

The process we're about to talk about is not new to you.

It's just A different format, which is really interesting.

So why in the world did you do that?

I mean, I'm just curious what gave you the idea to just keep a solid record like that and to be able to take it forward?

You know, that was an accident as well.

It's like most companies across the country, you know, when you're finished with the install, you're going to upload photos of the completed work.

Sure.

And I was just a lazy installer that didn't delete any of his photos.

So I had a full blown album of, no joke, two years of installs.

Oh, you're, you're not.

Are you kidding?

That's common was all the jokes about when she grabbed my phone and what is she looking for?

Things that we see all these, like, videos on the Internet and it's just pictures of projects from over the years.

Ductworks, roofs, attics, crawl spaces.

It's like, well, there's nothing in here.

It's like, well, yeah, that's my life now.

Go back through my Google Photos, it's ridiculous.

I'll have like one or two pictures of my kids and 85 pictures of jobs in between.

Yep.

It's no fault of our own.

It's just what we do for a living.

Yeah.

And then we, of course, get the, you know, we're driving down the street with our families and the classic, oh, I worked in that house.

I worked in that house.

It's.

I don't think you can break that because I, I do that to this.

Day, whether I'm still in the field.

Slinging equipment or not.

It's like, okay, yep, I put that one in.

I quoted and sold that one.

Let me know.

And my wife's like, what are we doing?

We're trying to go out to lunch.

Yeah.

But I was here.

This is fun.

I love this because I know that 99.9% of everybody listening, it has the same experience.

This is a fun, shared moment.

We have no unique experiences as a people.

Oh, my gosh.

So let's get into a bit of what we're going to talk about today.

So you are going to be one of the speakers at the relentless event.

And I wanted you to do this piece because of as much as I travel around the country and I meet reps all over the place, if they're selling techs or they're comfort advisors, project managers, whatever you want to call yourself, it's the same role, basically.

And I think that you do this better than anyone I've ever seen.

And I wanted to really highlight that in a way that there's so much value here that everybody can get.

So what we're going to talk about today for everybody listening is Christian has books, three ring binder full of handwritten, full page almost every time referral letters from homeowners.

Now for we've worked together for what a year and a half now, probably something like that.

And this entire time, everybody, he'll go out on call it three appointments in a day.

And two out of three of those are writing a letter for him.

It's a about 60%, roughly 2/3 are writing letters for him.

And it's blown my mind watching this along the way.

And I'm so excited that we're going to share this with you because first of all, tell us some of the reasons why this is important and how it differentiates you in all the different reasons in all the different ways.

Man, that's a great thing to touch on.

So let's talk about the competitive bid space, right?

You're going to be one of 2, 3, 5, 6, 20 people that are stepping into this home and they don't know you from Adam.

They don't know who you are, they don't know what you do or how you serve people.

Now the reasons why they called your company can be anything.

Most people nowadays are going to go to Google, they're going to look at reviews, they're going to look at some good ones and some bad ones and make the decision on who to call out at that point.

The biggest reason why I love these letters is because it's how I serve my clients.

Regardless of the company or anything else.

This is how I am and how I'm going to continue to be.

It.

It's basically your resume.

So like you mentioned with the install photos on my phone, it's the same thing.

And I have, you know, no joke in that book.

Any reasons from, you know, he was just nice and he listened to.

He loved my dogs and none of the other people that came out loved my pets like I do.

Patience, understanding, I mean it's everything.

And when I hand that over to a homeowner and they look through it, it's creating such a warm, glowing effect with them that they know, like, yes, I am here as a sales rep, but I'm not here to sell you something.

I'm here to find out if I can even be of service to you and if I can, how can we navigate this together to make this as easy as possible for you.

I love this so much and you know, for so many Kind of go back to the differentiation a little bit.

You know, there's.

Yes, we're always working towards, you know, Google reviews and we're planning that credibility flag at the beginning so we can use that catch all objection handler or close.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, everybody make sure to get to the event because this is what we're going to be covering.

But a lot of times in markets, you know, the San Antonio is no different.

Austin was the same.

You know, everywhere I travel, it's very similar.

Yes, you might be at the most incredible premium company in the area.

However, there's one to five other companies who on paper look identical.

You know, maybe they have the same amount of reviews, maybe they have more reviews, maybe they have a higher.

Maybe you're a 4.8 and somebody else is a 4.9 or a five star rating.

So, you know, initially that's the race for the Google reviews is, oh, this is going to be a big differentiator.

Yes.

But also now there's other companies that look the same.

So that's why they call the top three or five because, hey, they read through their views and well, this might as well be the same company in the homeowner's mind.

So how do we differentiate outside of that?

And this is such an incredible piece for that.

So take us into a little bit of.

And I'm going to say this, Christian's not saying this for everybody on the, on the call too.

We, we know in this industry, you know, there's not unless you own the company.

And even in those cases, not a lot is permanent.

Right.

People move on.

People go to different companies, you move.

That's a beautiful part of this industry is, you know, say you want to move your family across the country, you can have a position before you ever get there when you achieve a certain level of quality of ability.

And in fact, when we moved to Austin, I told my wife, I was like, where do we want to go?

You know, we were looking at Colorado, we were looking at wherever.

I said, throw a dart.

I can have a job anywhere we go.

This is easy once you hit a, you know, level of achievement.

And so that's awesome.

And we can even go to, say, Australia and you have a job before you even get there.

So the cool part with that is a book of how you treat your clients.

You talk about a resume.

That's absolutely what it is because then you can go through there and you walk into the new place and you show them that this is how I treat my clients.

The conversation is not going to be, well, you know, how do you work with a team?

And you know, the traditional interview questions, it turns into, when can you start?

And it's beautiful.

I kind of did the same thing when I applied.

I put together a whole slideshow of awards that I was standing on stage with the distributors winning of top sales awards and that type of thing.

And I had a picture of our entire wall of 10 years in a row of dealer of the year.

And when I walked into the new place when I moved to Austin, this happened to be the same distributor, the owner of the same distributorship.

And asked the owner of the company here, I was like, you know who this guy is?

Right?

Here's him handing me my award.

And he's like, so after a two hour, the initial interview that was scheduled for 25 minutes turned into two hours later, and I walked out with a position.

And so this is the type of thing that happens when you become that professional and you have this type of a resume, which is this book of referral letters from homeowners.

So it's so powerful.

So for everybody out there that's thinking about this, there's one more reason on the other side of the same coin to differentiate yourself in the marketplace between other people that are applying for the same position.

So with that being said, and again, that's my perspective here, this is not Christian saying he's moving anywhere or anything like that.

But I just want to make sure.

But so tell us a little bit about.

Let's get into the nuts and bolts of this, the mechanics of.

What does this conversation sound like?

Because I know a lot of people at first glance, are they, oh, man, this is a big ask.

I don't know if I could ask somebody to handwrite me a letter.

That's a lot of work.

So where do you start in your process, in your appointment?

Where do you start planting the seed?

Where does this conversation first come up in the appointment?

So it depends on a couple of factors.

The biggest one is whether or not you've already started this.

Because if you haven't, the way to start it is to just ask after an appointment, after you've closed a project and the homeowner's happy with everything.

It's, you know, hey, Sam, first off, congratulations on the project.

You guys are going to be blown away by how different your home is going to feel.

And I know you're going to love it.

By the way, would you mind doing me a favor real quick?

I'm working on Something a little bit different.

You know, obviously, we would love if you would leave us a Google review that really helps us out tremendously.

But what I'd like to do is share your story with other homeowners who might be in the same situation.

So with your permission, I'd like to ask you for just a handwritten letter that I could build a binder out of and then again share your story with anyone that might be in the same spot moving forward.

Would that be all right?

Wow.

So let's.

Let's unpack this a little bit.

And I love the permission question in there, of course.

But for everybody listening, there's a lot of things that happened there.

One, the first part of it was what I'd like to ask you a favor.

There's a lot of power in asking for a favor once they've already gone through the process and said yes.

The second part that stood out to me was you didn't say review, you didn't say testimony.

You said, I'd like to share your story.

Yes.

So tell us a little.

And you came up with this verbiage on your own.

I had no part with this.

So tell us how you came up with that little.

And does it sound the same every time, or is it just variations on the same type of a question?

I mean, it's essentially the same every time.

And I will tell you that although you didn't directly have an impact on how I tee up that script of sharing your story, you actually did from one of your podcast episodes about the video testimonial interview software that you use.

And in that podcast episode, they said, you know, everyone wants to feel like the hero of their story.

And it really resonated with me because everyone's situation is unique to them, and if you can help them become the hero of their own story, they're going to chomp at the bit to be able to share how great that experience was.

Beautiful.

Yeah.

And so what Christian's referring to, that's actually episode.

Go back and look for the episode with share one with Dan Levens.

In fact, this is.

I'm glad that you brought that up.

Him and I are working on a really cool program that is going to be an opportunity for everybody to just sample his product and get some testimony video for a free testimony video to try it out and see if you like it.

So everybody watch for that link.

I'll make sure the link is in the show notes.

So, quick side note, but it's really fun.

But coming back to this, I love that you picked up on that.

That's really powerful.

So the nugget, that wasn't even about what we were talking about.

You applied it into this variation.

So that's if you don't have a book.

So go through that again real quick because I know it was first glance for everybody.

Break it apart just a little bit more on where this happens.

So you've sold the job.

They're happy with it.

Is this before you leave the house the first time?

Is this when you come back?

Does it matter?

Could you get, you know, where does it work the best?

So, man, that's a great question.

So I'm personally a fan of asking for it while I'm still in the house.

I leave some.

Some videos and some busy work for me to do at the end of the appointment.

So that way I'm going to step away.

I don't want to be the helicopter parent looking over their child's homework.

I want them to have some time to cool off.

And one of the neat things that I've studied on recently is that as a homeowner is writing that handwritten letter.

That cool off period is solidifying all the reasons why they're happy with the decision that they've made today.

And I'll tell you, I've yet to have a cancellation from anyone that's written a handwritten letter with me.

No doubt.

It's.

Everyone is just so excited that we were able to come in and take care of them the way that we do as a company again personally.

So circling back to what you said.

Yeah, we'll break it down step by step.

The project is closed.

You've already got everything ready to go on your iPad, computer, whatever you use.

And, I mean, you have to congratulate them.

First off, if this is a big decision, big purchase.

And again, because this isn't something fun, you have to try to put that emotional bow on it at the end.

Hey, Sam, first off, congratulations on your project.

You're gonna love the way that this house feels, and you're gonna be blown away by how we're gonna take care of you.

By the way, could I ask you for a favor?

Got it.

So there's the segue right into it.

Right into it.

And if you've done your job right, you've developed that level of relationship connection with that homeowner.

This favor is no big deal at all.

So every time it's asked, it's, yeah, what do you need?

Hey, I'm working to do something a little bit different.

You know, obviously I Would love if you guys would leave us a five star review on Google.

That helps us out tremendously.

But what I'd like to do is ask you for a handwritten letter to share your story with other homeowners like yourself that are searching for the right person to take care of their needs.

Would you mind just doing that while I step away to get the last couple of things I need to get your job scheduled and squared away with no problems.

Would that be all right?

Beautiful.

And so then when you say you save videos and stuff, that's where you're going.

So you've saved a few measurements and, you know, video and the work, the work site and all of that for the crew to pass that information forward for your.

For your retro teams.

Right, exactly.

So whether or not you take a video during your investigation, great.

But I don't know what the homeowner's going to pick at that point.

So once they've already narrowed down a project and that's what we're doing now, I'll go back and say, okay, hey guys, this is what we're doing here.

It's going to be an upflow heat pump system in the closet.

We're going to do this return aero seal, the whole nine yards.

And it's just some busy work to get me away from the homeowner.

Sure.

They feel like they're in a safe space to write out their thoughts and feelings.

So even if you don't truly have more measurements to do or whatever you're going to, you're going to come up with look over things again.

Really.

And the point is to give them maybe five minutes to sit with themselves without you there.

That's exactly it.

It's almost like the porch light close, but it's the letter close.

In a way.

It reinforces the clothes.

Okay.

So that's if you don't have a book.

So that's the ask there.

It's like, hey, I want to start something different.

So how long do you use that?

Is that just for the first letter or do you use that kind of early on?

Kind of like playing the new guy card at a new job or something?

You can.

I find after the first ask, once you start building up this book, it just gets easier every time.

Okay.

Because once you have a few one, you can use that in your process.

I'm a fan of depending on the homeowner's readiness to follow me around the house when we investigate.

If they're going to be with me the entire time, I'll bring it Out.

After I've done investigation, I'm plugging the measurements in on my iPad and I'm in the corner.

Just quiet.

I'll explain it exactly like this.

Okay, Sam, I've got all my measurements.

We've done the investigation.

I'm going to be over here in my own little world for a little while.

If you'd like, I have some reading material for you I think you're really going to like.

This is a book of handwritten letters from homeowners like yourself as to why they work with not only John Wayne, but myself specifically.

You might find some reasons in there that are similar to what you're looking for.

You might find some that are.

Are just going to make you laugh, but please feel free to dig through it.

I'm going to be over here and I'll let you know when I have everything squared away.

Nice.

So it gives them something to do to keep them engaged while not only reinforces all of the reasons, but it just gives them something to do so they're not sitting there bugging you and peppering you with questions while you're trying to build your project too.

Exactly.

And if the homeowners are the type that they don't want to follow you around, you've done your.

Your investigating and your discovery with the homeowner, and then you're going to break off and investigate the house.

It's essentially the same thing.

Okay, guys, at this point, we're going to go start the measurement side of the appointment.

We're going to take a look at everything.

Would you like to come with me or do you just kind of want to hang out?

Oh, no, please.

You guys have free reign in the house.

Do what you need to do.

Yeah, okay.

You're kidding.

It's 105 out there.

I can't even imagine what it is in the attic.

I'm not going up there.

Well, you know, did you know that every house comes with a free sauna?

I love those.

Keep it fun, everybody.

I love these one liners, too.

Yeah.

I don't know why people pay a gym membership to sit in the sauna when you could just sit in your attic for free.

But yeah, it's.

If they're not going to follow you around, it's the same thing.

Okay, I'm gonna go be in my own little world, taking a look at everything, learning your house.

If you'd like some reading material, I've got this book of handwritten letters from homeowners like yourself as to why they work with my company and Myself specifically.

Some reasons may be exactly similar to what you're looking for.

Some may make you laugh, and some may just be one off, off the wall reasons.

Sure.

Feel free to dig through it.

I'll be back shortly.

So is this inside your brag book or is this a totally different book than the book?

You've got your before and after pictures and all of the other collateral that you use for the company.

So everything that we use for a brag book, I have on my tablet.

Got it.

So this is a separate binder that comes in with me.

I have a clipboard with my note paper.

I've got a scratch pad under it.

And then I have this binder ready to go.

And then obviously my tablet, so that comes in with me every single time.

Got it.

Okay, so, so now you've got, say, a book of, you know, 10, 20, 30, 50 letters, actually.

Do you have any idea how many you have?

Do you have a number at this.

Point in this book?

I'm probably close to 50.

50.

Okay.

Yeah.

Geez, that's incredible.

Okay, so now that you have so many, is the ask at the same place and does it sound the same?

It's so it's at the same place.

It does not sound the same.

In fact, it gets so easy once you have a book built up that it's teed up exactly the same way.

So.

Hey, Sam, first off, congratulations on your project, man.

You're going to love this thing.

When it's all said and done, you're going to be blown away by how we're going to take care of you.

By the way, remember that book that you read while I was doing my thing around the house?

Do me a favor and just add your story to my book.

I'd really appreciate it.

Wow.

And so now they're excited to get to get to help build it then.

I've had homeowners that when I ask that, like, I mean, no joke, I have been waiting for you to ask this entire time.

Give me the paper.

Yes.

Wow.

That's awesome.

Oh, how cool.

It's.

Man, it really is the neatest thing.

And as a bonus, I'm sure many of the listeners in here, myself included, we've all been in a sales slump, right?

So you're doing your job, you're getting kicked in the teeth, and you're trying to figure out, like, man, what am I doing wrong, right?

What changed?

What changed?

What's the problem?

Selfishly, those letters are for me because when I'm in a bad space, mentally, I'll take 5, 10 minutes in my truck, and I'll start reading through those letters, and I'll mentally get back into that headspace of how great it felt to ask that homeowner to share their story.

And it's like, okay, no, this is who I am.

This is what I do.

May not have been the right person that I was talking with, but the next one will be.

And it just.

Man.

Like a flood that washes over you.

You're like, okay, let's go crush this.

Yeah.

So I love this so much because now we're starting to talk about identity.

Yes.

Which is a whole different animal.

And identity and mindset.

So unpack that a little bit for us.

Because I would say, and I think you probably agree with me, that, you know, that that is the biggest.

If we're a ship in the ocean, the mindset and the identity is the rudder that determines who.

Where it heads.

You know, if we're in a slump or if we're, you know, crushing it and cruising over the waves and going exactly where we want to be.

I'm sure you probably.

I know you agree with that, but tell us a little more about.

So.

Because this is.

I've been seeing a lot of comments on Facebook and getting a lot of messages lately about people being in slumps, especially right here at this time of year.

With date of recording, everybody is April 11th.

So we're in that part of the season where the weather is just perfect.

So what we're hearing is, oh, I'm just.

Just thinking about it, just kicking them tires, want to, you know, just see what it's like.

And there's no.

It doesn't seem like there's this urgency from homeowners.

They're relaxed a day isical in their process.

And so a lot of people get into a slump this time of year, and they're like, oh, nothing's moving.

Nothing's selling.

But then somebody like yourself and the people that are crushing it, they're wondering, what's the difference?

It's all attitude and mindset.

It really is.

You have to start your day off on the right foot.

You and I have worked on an affirmations list together, and I have that saved on my notes on my phone.

Everything you do from the time you wake up has to be with intent and purpose.

If you get up and you're the kind of guy that's like.

Or gal that just thinks, like, yeah, I'll figure this out on the fly.

Like, first off, I'd like to think that I thrive in chaos.

And hey, maybe it does work out for some people, but holy cow, is that mentally draining.

You are constantly on high alert.

If you can wake up to a structured day where you know what you're going to do and what you're going to feed your brain and body at every point of the day, it just takes that little bit of tension off your plate to focus on building that relationship with the homeowner, doing your investigation properly, co creating a project that everyone's happy with and at the end of the day, trying to help someone become the hero in their own story.

Love this.

I love the theme here is you keep coming back to that as helping people be the hero of their own story.

So what I'm picking up is that doesn't make you.

It doesn't make all of the effort just lay on your shoulders.

No, you're.

You're only a facilitator to their journey.

Scott Sylvan Bell said it best that our job is to be the tour guide for the homeowner in this process.

We're just here to point some things out to them, but they're going to leave themselves where they want to go.

Right.

I love this.

So.

And of course, that is in alignment with, you know, the way that I, the way that I train of.

We're co creating this project together with them.

You know, when they take ownership of this project, it's a lot harder to say no to something that you built.

It's like you built it okay.

You know, it's like, you know, you cook your own food, you eat it.

Yeah, exactly that.

I mean, I don't go to car lots a whole lot.

But imagine if you go, let's say you want to go look at a truck right now and you want an F150 that's sitting on the lot, and the sales guy comes out, you sit down at his desk and he just turns the screen around.

Okay, well, go ahead and build it.

And you pick the platinum trim package.

You decide, no, let's not do a 150.

Let's do an F350.

Do the tire and rim package, let's do the advanced protection, all of that.

And then when the rep says, okay, well, that's going to be $135,000, and your heart stops for a second, you say, well, that's ridiculous.

What is he going to say?

Well, you put in everything in here.

Do you not want that stuff now?

Yeah.

What can we take out?

Yeah, not.

Let's discount this.

Okay, what do you want to give up to get your price down.

What problems do you not want to solve to get that price down?

It's the same thing with what we do.

I love this.

So let's turn the corner a little bit because I know that.

So for everybody listening, this will be a bonus on this episode.

We've got some time because there's another piece of your appointment that I am a raving fan of how you handle this.

And it's when you, at the beginning of the appointment, there's something that you do.

Of course, everybody that's listened to, you know, Waste no Day, Chris Voss has been on that show a couple, two times.

So if you haven't, go listen to the Chris Voss on Waste no Day.

And of course, Reid never split the difference, but he talks about what is called an accusation audit and putting labels on things.

And so I love the way that you do this at the beginning of the appointment.

We've talked about this verbiage before.

I'd love for you to kind of unpack that a little bit for everybody because, you know, for everybody listening, this last solo podcast that I released this last week, go back and listen to Setting the Container.

So I'm in the series right now.

It's going to be a nine part series on controlling the energy in an appointment.

And this is huge for that component.

So talk a little bit about how you start your call and how you start your appointment and the way that you do your accusation audit to basically get the elephants out of the room first.

Man, I love this because I was just talking about it last night with a friend of mine that just moved into a technician role after installing for, gosh, 15, 16 years.

And the, the accusation audit isn't something that needs to be forced or strong armed or done every single time.

Sure, it's got to be that intuition.

And for all of us that are professionals in the home that have been doing this for a while, you know, when there's some tension in the air, you could see the body language, you can hear the tonality and how short the homeowner is going to be with their answers.

They're really resisting at the beginning.

The arms are crossed, they're not really engaging.

It's one word answers.

And so you have to be able to address that because if you just blow past that, we call it a yellow light, people will pass that yellow light and you strong arm your way to the presentation and then try to ask for the sale, you're going to get all the objections that you know are going to happen.

So what you need to do is, you know.

Look, Sam, it seems to me like you're not really excited about this.

I'm sure that before I got here, you and your wife were thinking that, you know, I'm the big bad sales guy.

I'm going to lie, cheat, and steal you out of your hard earned money.

I'm gonna embellish stories to make things seem like they're worse than they are in your home and just generally be a piece of crap guy.

I want to let you know right now that's not the case.

That's not my job today.

My job is to find out if I'm even able to help you right now, because I don't know if I can.

So what major concerns do you have at this point so that we can get them in front of us and make this an easier process today?

Wow.

So there's two things that happen there that I'm hearing.

One is, of course, well, there's more than two.

There's at least three or four.

But the ones I want to highlight that I just heard, first of all, the awareness to recognize that something's off.

So we talked about it a second.

The arms are crossed.

The short answers, tell me how it feels.

Because that's a different type of observation.

How it feels like with the homeowner.

Yeah.

So the energy that you're feeling in that moment, like, what's going on in your gut, that's starting to send up those red flags for you, man.

It's almost like your spidey senses are tingling because you're going through, you know, your process, your introduction, your agenda, your discovery, and it just feels like you're not getting anywhere.

Nope.

No problems.

Utilities are fine.

There's no issues with dust.

No allergies.

Nope.

Everything's fine.

And there should almost be like that red flag moment in your mind of like, okay, well, if you're not helping me, how can I help you?

Right.

So if everything's fine, why are we even here?

Exactly.

Are you just doing this because you're bored today?

Do you really have something that you're just.

You're holding tight to your chest and you don't want to share.

And so you have to be able to recognize that.

And it takes time.

Let's not shy away from that.

Sure.

It takes repetition.

It takes getting kicked in the teeth.

More than a couple of times, missing that piece, and then realizing when you debrief, you spent two more hours in the house, and then you leave and you're like, oh, my God.

I realized I Lost it in the first five minutes, and I didn't even pay attention to it.

Yeah.

So the first time that this happened for me, on accident, I just listened to.

Never split the difference.

For the second time.

A little over a year ago, I'm on an appointment.

Discovery went great, in my opinion, with one little exception.

The husband did not engage much.

The wife answered every single question that I had with so much data.

So we sit down.

We found some issues in the house, did some duct modifications in addition to the fact that their unit was bad.

And we're working through the design portion of the project.

And the homeowner going to use George for reference today, although that's not his name.

The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

He's just kind of scrunched up in the chair, and the wife is just all in, like she is owning her project.

And I look over and George is sitting there, and I go, hey, George.

And what's going on?

You.

You don't look excited for this thing.

Is.

Is anything the matter?

Any side?

And he uncrossed his arms and he said, you know, we've been talking about doing this for five years.

And I'm beating myself up because, what was this?

What would this project have cost five years ago?

Oh, big one.

And it was like all of a sudden, like, okay, that was your.

That was your trigger.

And I said, you know, George, I don't know what it was five years ago, because I wasn't in the field doing this at that time.

I was the guy putting this in.

I go, but, man, I don't want to know what it's going to look like in another five years.

And he goes, yeah, me neither.

Whatever she wants.

Let's get this done.

Wow.

How differently would that have gone if you'd not picked up on that and recognized it, though, and really called that.

Out, man, I feel like that would have been a cancellation because that was a question left unanswered.

Wow.

So kudos for recognizing it.

That's for sure.

It, man.

Thank you.

And like I said, that was an accident.

And I.

When I walked out of that call and I debriefed, I'm like, man, what was that?

That was really powerful.

And I start going back through, never split the difference.

And I realized I just took the bullets out of his gun that he was holding.

Yeah, you put a label on it and recognized.

Called it out, and then, you know, gave him the.

Basically the permission to open up and tell you exactly.

Wow, that's beautiful.

So in this.

In this process, when we're, we're, we're pulling the bullets out of their guns, right.

When we, we're shooting, you know, we're firing all the bullets into the air and just calling us, we're calling our own self out.

We're putting our own self on in the firing line before they even ever.

I've heard, you know, of course, Brian on waste no day talk about this.

It's kind of like back in the old Eminem movie when the last rap battle, Woody just goes off and rips himself apart before the other guy can.

And he had nothing left to say.

Exactly.

Then keeps going.

And there's just so much power in that.

Holy cow.

Yeah, you're right.

That's exactly what's going on here.

I mean, anyone that's in home services, in home sales, you should already know what the worst of the worst things that people could ever think or say about you are.

And I mean, not to be a huge pessimist on this, but what if that homeowner that's not opening up to you is thinking the same thing?

You have to label it like you said, and just completely disarm them.

And it's either going to go one of two ways.

They're going to open up and tell you what's really going on, or they're going to double down.

And if they double down, that's okay.

They're never your client to begin with.

And you just know that you may have potentially saved a whole lot of time, energy, resources and mental strength when they were never going to do anything with you to begin with.

Sure.

So it's really neat, man.

It either works or it doesn't.

True.

But like everything, I mean, I'm never going to be the trainer that's says, oh, you're going to close every deal.

And when, you know, when we do Q and A at my trainings, you know, people are always asking, hey, I had this situation, this happened, this happened, I didn't sell it, you know, God, there's so many trainers in the industry that say, well, you didn't say this part of the script.

Right.

Or you didn't do this in your process.

Well, no, we're not going to close them all.

That's just not possible.

Not a single person on the planet closes every single job they step into.

To no, it's whether it's circumstance, personality, or anything in between times, it's just not a good fit.

And that's okay.

You can't yourself up on it.

You just have to do what you do and if they were never going to work with you, that's fine.

Person is beautiful.

And for everybody, for perspective for everybody, when we're talking about closing, you know, there's a balancing act.

So I'm just going to run through this super quick because I've been really trying lately in the last several episodes to speak to a lot of people who are a lot newer in this process and say it's your early in your sales journey and there's some things that you have to know and some things you have to remember.

Because when I talk to a lot of coaching clients, a lot of times I'll ask, well, what's your goal?

What do you want to call accomplish?

And they'll tell me something like, you know, it's their first year.

Like, I want to get to an 80% close rate, I want to get to a 90% close rate, I want to get to a 95% close rate.

And I'm like, okay, where did you get that number?

You know what put that in your head?

Well, I just feel like that's a really good number.

Well, yes, it is.

You would be the, you know, hall of famer as the highest close rate ever in the history of any home services, basically, if that was your number.

Now, a quick little insert here.

When we hear these numbers on social media of people that are closing at 82% and their average tickets are absurd and they're doing 12, 14, 15 million dollars a year, I want you to know that's fake news.

Because those are hand picked appointments of old systems that are completely dead in the water.

That's all they ever get.

And somebody else on their team has qualified those homeowners to say, if we can get this person on the line, are you sure you're going to make a decision today?

And they've qualified all of those steps.

If that person has any hesitation or says no, that appointment goes to someone else.

It doesn't go to that person that they're trying to put on this high horse strictly to stroke the ego of the company.

So I want to be very specific about that with everybody.

That is fake news.

Do not compare yourself to those types of numbers because those people are not in the field.

They're not out closing every day.

They're not driving around.

They're able to sit in front of a Zoom and spend 15 minutes on an appointment eight times a day with people and just take orders.

They're not selling, they're just taking orders.

So with that soapbox out of the way, so perspective, real closing numbers Are, you know, starting out, you know, when, when somebody is early in their sales journey, two, three, four years in, depending on how, how hard to work you put in, the discipline and the practice, you know, you can expect, you know, somewhere between, you know, if you're less than 30%, we've got a major problem.

But 30% close rate to working up to 40, 45% specifically.

If we're talking about marketed leads, you know, leads that are not turnovers from technicians.

If we've, if we've got turnovers from technicians early on, you should be closing above 50% with, you know, warm lead turnovers from technicians.

If they're quality, if they're set up right now, once you get some experience and, and get, you know, really get going, you know, 50% is a solid benchmark.

I know companies across the country, you know, big shout out to, to my buddy Chris Sheeney over in Raleigh, you know, his team.

He doesn't even consider you if, and I, I did when I had my team.

I didn't.

Same thing if you didn't, because we were to the place we were.

If you didn't already have a 50% close rate, you couldn't even apply to my company.

Company, I wouldn't even look at your application.

I was like, go get your practice somewhere else because I only have rock stars here.

And what I ended up with was I never had a problem finding people because I always had a stack on my desk from people all over town that were the top people at their other smaller companies that had achieved that.

And then they came back and said, okay, I get my teeth kicked in enough, I know how to close better.

Now let's talk because I want to go to the next level.

And so for all of you managers and owners out there, once you establish a culture of that you are rock stars, that's what starts to happen.

So you never have a problem finding people.

So total side notes here, but for real perspective, everybody, especially if you're within your first five years, if you're closing anywhere above 4, 40% on marketed leads and your average ticket is, call it $10,000 or greater, you're doing a pretty solid job.

There's a lot of room to grow.

But don't beat yourself up either.

I mean, when people work with us, of course we look at 50% and 15k.

Average ticket is usually a pretty standard minimum after a little while of getting the practice and, and it, and it sells as a journey, right?

So, I mean, how long has it taken you to get to this point?

I Mean, you're four years in.

Yeah, we're going on four years in.

You and I have been together about a year and a half now.

Yeah.

And man, this is just the tip of the iceberg at this point.

I, I'm at the point where I don't know what I don't know and I know what I don't know.

There's a whole study on, it's called the Valley of Despair.

We'll go through at some point, but it's like a journey along the way.

We have all of these.

Every new thing, there's an expression I heard years ago, at every new level there's new devils.

Yeah, I agree 100%.

It's every time that I feel like I make a breakthrough and things start getting into the next step, there's something trying to drag me back or roadblock that's in the way.

And again, like I said earlier, and I am an expert at getting kicked in the pants, in the teeth and standing right back up and going right after it.

Whether it's jiu jitsu, whether it's in home sales, whether it was install when I was in the field.

I mean I am a master at just getting beat the heck up and showing back up for the next go around the next day.

Because what happens over time, and I know you see this now is, and for everybody, remember to measure backwards.

Don't measure constantly.

Set your goal forwards and think, oh, I missed it.

Look backwards.

Because what you, when you start to measure backwards and see how far you've come, what you realize is your worst day now you would have killed for that day.

It would have been better than your best day months or a year ago.

My favorite book last year that we read through the Close it now book club was the gap in the game.

Learning to measure backwards is huge because that goal that you have, that point on the horizon you're never going to reach, the second you get close to it, you're going to realize, well, that didn't make me happy.

Let me go ahead and move that further back.

Yeah.

And when you realize that you're never going to hit that and you sit there like, well, man, this sucks.

Most people don't look back and realize how far they've come.

Right.

And man, I'll tell you right now, I would destroy the me that started in this field as an advisor almost four years ago.

And I know that four years from now, I'm going to destroy the me of today.

And it's, man, it's just, it's so Fun to look back and be like, man, I was wishing for days like this.

Holy cow, they're here.

And the days after this are going to be so much more beautiful.

I love this mindset.

Well, it is time to land this plane.

I appreciate so much you being so vulnerable with us and opening up and really sharing your process and what you're doing in the field to help the homeowners serve at the highest level.

That's what I've always loved about you, is the way that you lead with your heart and servitude.

Last little bit here.

Speaking of that, I'd love for you to share what happened yesterday with the homeowner that you had that experience with.

Give the super tight nutshell of the what led up to it, and then take us through how it was handled.

Because I'm so impressed by this.

And for everybody listening, pay attention, because if you start to do these types of things, you will never have a problem with the word spreading and becoming so famous in your area for treating people the right way that people would be knocking down your door to do business with you, man.

So that one.

I've been working with this homeowner since February.

Now we're in.

It's April 11, so it's been a little over two months.

She had a house fire.

Her electrical panel in her garage had a recall on it for faulty breakers.

By the time I went out, it had already been almost six months since this fire occurred.

And insurance demanded that she get her ductwork replaced.

I look at it, I said, hey, you know, ma'am, that filter that you have up there, that one time of year, one caught all the smoke and soot from the fire that you said, you shut the AC system off really quick with the ductwork is darn near spotless.

Like, we can do some service to it when you put in some iaq because you said allergies, whatnot, and we can get the panel taken care of for you, get everything going.

She has a contractor going through, doing some work with insurance, and we go do a walk through yesterday, and that contractor did not live up to their end of the deal.

And I'm looking at it with one of the owners of my company, and she starts telling her story to the owner how she takes in these children that no one wants, mental health issues, just everything she's been fighting lupus, cancer, everything under the sun, and has just persevered with a smile on her face and with her faith in God.

And she asked if we had any ideas on.

On how to help Comfort in the house a little bit further.

And at my company, we have the ability to offer what's called a golden ticket.

And it's for a homeowner that's in a bad spot, that's a servant of the community, and we punched that ticket yesterday.

We pulled her aside after everything was said and done and said, hey, you don't have to worry about this.

We're going to come in and we're going to renovate everything on this system for you.

We're going to start tomorrow, by the way.

Wow.

She broke down in tears.

And it just.

It.

In my heart of hearts, it makes me feel amazing that man, it.

Yes, everyone wants to go out, everyone wants to crush it and sell, but if you don't come from a place of servitude, you're not going to last in this business.

And the homeowner is just blown away because of how much negativity she's had in her life these past few months that someone came in and was the hero in her story at this point.

Because in this story, she needed a hero.

Yeah.

And by this time next week, she's not even going to know what hit her because the amount of work that we're going to do for her is just going to knock her socks off.

I love this so much.

It speaks to the heart piece, like, really, really truly, as this is.

We're a service company and this is incredible.

And of course, for everybody.

Listen, if you're the owner, can you give away every job?

No.

I mean, you guys have, what, one golden ticket a year that you can use?

One per year.

One per year.

But at the same time, that's incredible that we can do that.

And at the same time, the way that this is going to create an incredible story, she's, of course, going to tell the world about it.

Absolutely.

Probably make a video talking about it, all of these things.

But more important, and that's for everybody.

Don't get it twisted.

It's not to brag about or to impress people of what you're doing.

It's to impress upon them of how you take care of the community.

And when that is your intention, when you do something like this, it changes everything.

So when you tell that story forward, you can, you know, you could use that in the.

In your appointment of when you work with us.

This is how we take care of people.

And so welcome to the family that you're one of us now.

That's exactly it.

And when I spoke with her last night, you know, she cried a second Time, just her and I on the phone.

And she asked, how can I ever repay you guys?

And I said, well, you remember a couple of weeks ago we talked about that letter.

Oh, don't even worry about that.

My best friend is helping me type this up.

Like, I've got you, Christian.

This is it.

Don't even worry.

I go, no, I'm not.

But since I figured I would remind you, she goes, I have the first draft and I have to scrap that because, oh, my God, I never would have imagined that this was going to happen today.

And I go, even worry, we're here, we've got you.

Just sit back and watch us get this done for you.

Love it so much.

That's a company.

And also you doing the right thing for the right purpose.

And so massive shout out to John Wayne and Christian for taking care of this lady the way that they did.

So, Johnny, if you're listening, good job, brother.

Well, awesome.

Well, thanks for sharing that story.

That is the perfect heart piece to wrap up this episode.

So we've got fact, fact, heart now.

So for everybody, if you don't know what I mean by that, come to the relentless event and we're going to break that apart and show you why that formula is so powerful when you're in the home and the way that we communicate.

So make sure to go get your tickets@closeitnowbootcamp.com Christian is going to be speaking.

He is going to.

We're going to go through the letter process.

I'm sure he'll have his book with him to show off so people can see what it looks like in the flesh in person.

And so, man, I'm just glad you're on the show today.

I appreciate it, brother.

Man, thank you.

I never thought I'd be here doing this with you, and I am so excited to see what the future holds.

Word.

We're working on some cool stuff in the background, everybody, so just be on the lookout.

We're about to change the game completely.

If you think we've innovated, you haven't seen anything yet.

So with that being said, I know Christian, Christian is in the field, so we're.

We've wrapped up the time that we normally do.

This is the time that we normally do our coaching and he's got to get out some appointments.

So he is currently out crushing it.

So I know you're going to go rock and roll and good job, man.

Keep it up.

Any.

Any parting words for everybody before we.

Before we do our sign off?

In fact, I'll let you do our sign off if you'd like to do today.

Oh man, put me on the spot.

So closing words.

If you're struggling, if you feel like you're hitting your head against the wall, reach out.

Join the Facebook group.

There is help out there and there is a better, easier way to do things.

And at this point, guys, go save the world one heat stroke at a time.

And go be 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, 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 hereal Close it now and on Facebook at Close It Now.

See you next time.

Next time.