How much time do you spend actually doing the work of sales versus how much time do you spend tripping out about the appointment?

Be honest. You're driving to the appointment, mentally role-playing every possible scenario. What if they say this? What if they ask about that? What if they don't like me? What if the price is too high? What if they already got three quotes?

You're rehearsing responses. Building entire conversations in your head. Catastrophizing outcomes that haven't even happened yet. And by the time you knock on the door, you're exhausted. Not because you did the work. But because you tripped out about doing the work.

Here's the truth: Most of your sales anxiety doesn't happen during the appointment. It happens between appointments. And if you could solve that anxiety, sales would become exponentially easier.

Sam breaks down the framework that sounds ridiculous but works every time: The courage of a six-year-old in a Batman t-shirt.

In This Episode:

• Most sales anxiety happens between appointments, not during them
• You're mentally exhausted before you knock on the door
• Anxiety kills confidence—and confidence is what homeowners buy
• The 6-year-old framework: unaffected by responses, asks clarifying questions, takes people at their word
• Scenario: "I got two cheaper quotes" (defensive spiral vs curious clarifying question)
• Marry the process, divorce the outcome—control what you can control
• Kids don't worry about being liked, don't rehearse conversations, don't catastrophize
• Presence is what confidence looks like

The Framework:

Without childlike courage (before appointment):

• "What if they're price shoppers? What if I mess up? What if they don't trust me?"
• Knock on door already defeated, anxious, mentally exhausted

With childlike courage:

• "I'll find out what's wrong, show them what I found, help them decide"
• "If they want my help, great. If not, that's fine too"
• Zero attachment to outcome—homeowner feels your confidence

When they say "I got two cheaper quotes":

• Without courage: "Oh no, I'm screwed. I should lower my price"
• With courage: "Interesting. What did they find? What was included?" (Unaffected, curious)

Work with Sam:

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

Summer Sales Surge Series 2026:

Live virtual training June through September. One night a week through busy season. One guy tripled his revenue. Another doubled his income. Another doubled his close rate. Email sam@closeitnow.net for details.

3 Ways to Work with Sam:

1. On-Site Training - Half-day classroom plus half-day ride-alongs with your team
2. Virtual Training - Same frameworks, delivered remotely for teams or individuals
3. Growth Catalyst - Find 15 to 20 percent revenue hidden in your company that should have gone to your bottom line

Next Week:

Going for the No - Why Most Salespeople Waste Time Being Nice. Stop prolonging conversations that should have ended five minutes ago.

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.

Okay, so how much time do you spend actually doing the work in sales versus how much time do you spend tripping out about the appointment, thinking about it in between your appointments, thinking about the one you just left, thinking about the one yesterday or last week or last month?

Now be honest here, because you're driving to the appointment right now.

You're probably in Drive Time University.

You either are headed to an appointment or just left an appointment.

And we're mentally role playing every possible scenario.

What if they say this?

What if they ask about that?

What if they don't like me?

What if the price is too high?

What if they already got three quotes?

What if I'm the first one in?

You're rehearsing responses.

We're building this entire conversation in our heads.

We start to catastrophize outcomes that haven't even happened yet.

And by the time you knock on the door, we.

We're freaking exhausted.

Not because we did the work, but because we were tripping out and having anxiety about doing the work.

But here's the truth most people don't want to hear.

Most of the sales anxiety doesn't happen during the appointment.

It happens between your appointments.

And if we could solve that anxiety, sales would become so, so much exponentially easier because the actual work is simple.

Have the conversation.

You know the stuff.

But you can't have the conversation if you're stuck in your head rehearsing every possible disaster.

That is very different than practicing.

That's very different than being intentional and working on your process and your presentation.

So today I'm going to give you a framework that sounds ridiculous, but it works every single time.

The courage of a six year old in a Batman T shirt.

So I'm Sam Wakefield.

This is Close it now.

So welcome.

Welcome to Drivetime University.

I am Happy you are here.

We are way less announcements today.

We're going to hop right in.

I do have a couple quick announcements that I want you to know.

One is just super quick.

If you have gotten value from the podcast ever, or if you get value from today's show, I would love a review that you survive on reviews and so does close it now.

So you can leave a review on Google or you can leave a review on Apple podcasts or leave a comment on Spotify.

And I love every single one of those.

They help me grow the show to reach more people.

And the other question that I get super often from a lot of people is do you do coaching?

Do you do training?

How do we work with you?

So there are three ways that you can work with me.

This is going to be, I timed it to go across the busy season for most of you through the summer.

So it's good around June, July, August and September.

They're going to be one a week in the evening.

So June is a session, July is a session, August a session and September is a session.

And they're insanely affordable.

But what we're going to do is dive through every single component of the highest value things you can do in your appointment to get to maximize those appointments.

And because it's going to be during the summer, you get to practice those in real time, in rhythm.

When you've got your appointments.

So that has just launched, you can email me samoseitnow.

You can go to the Facebook group I've got a lot about on my Facebook page and on the Facebook group search Close it now or Sam Wakefield on Facebook.

You can find me there or go to the website closeitnow.net and fill out the form and I'll send you information about that.

So it's going to be super high value.

The last time I ran this series last summer, a couple of the fun stories from there.

One guy actually literally tripled his revenue from one month of training with us one night a week.

Another guy actually doubled his income through the process.

The third guy, he doubled his close rate.

So I want you to get those same kind of results.

We're just kicking off the promotion for it.

So you have time to get registered and get signed up for that series.

So that is for sales training for individual reps, individual technicians, if you're selling tech, if you're a comfort consultant, a project manager, a comfort advisor, a design consultant, whatever the title is, the conversation is the same.

And so that is so if you own a company and you want to put some people in it, if you're individual and you want to do it, one cell will cover the 1 commission from 1 cell will cover this entire program.

So I want you to know it's an.

I've priced it to help as many people as possible.

So that's one way.

Second way is if you own a company and you want or sales manager, leadership wherever you are.

If you want to get me to your location, in fact, next week I'm traveling to Maryland to work with a company up there.

But I spend a week on site with you in the field, in the trenches, we do half a day classroom, we do half a day in the field doing ride alongs.

So we've got not only the laboratory classroom part, but in the field is hands on training where we go through.

I'm in the house with you, in your truck with your people.

And we are changing the game.

So this will be the difference if you have me out to train.

It's literally the difference.

Every single company I go to, their revenue spikes and stays there.

Because when we train, it's not just, hey, learn the script, it's true identity change and it shapes the culture of your organization for the better.

So reach out to me, we can discuss what that looks like to come on site and work with your team directly.

And then the third way is I have developed a program and a system where we help companies grow and scale.

So if you are the owner and you keep bumping up against that same wall, the same revenue wall, or you feel like your processes and procedures are patched together with duct tape and super glue, this is the program for you.

And so we've got a couple different versions of this, but it is time to take your business to the next level.

We help with that.

And the best part about it is because our process is so insanely unique, we find the money that's hidden in your company that you don't even recognize is there.

So do this exercise, get a calculator right now and punch in what your total revenue is for the year.

Take 20, 25 and multiply that and find out what 15% of that is or 20% of that is.

And that is the number that we always find hidden in your business.

That should have gone to your revenue line.

It should have gone to the bottom line, that didn't.

And we can show you how to reclaim that, how to get it back into your pocket and then how to grow from there.

So that is the third way that you can work with me.

So reach out again samoseitnow.net or find me on Facebook at the Close it Now Facebook group, or just message me directly on Facebook or on Instagram, it's hereal closeit now.

Or go to the website and you can, there's a form on there, a contact us form, that's CloseItNow.net, and that's how you can find out more on how to work with us.

So let's get into the content today.

So recap the last several weeks.

Over the last several weeks, we've been building a complete framework for how to approach appointments.

We talked about the tipping point, how homeowners have already overcome massive anxiety just to call you.

We talked about showing your work, building the bridge so they can see how you got to your solution.

We talked about language, how only and just will kill the value that you're working so hard to build.

During your appointment, we talked about credibility, planting the flag so they know who they're listening to.

We talked about some analogies.

We talked about training homeowners how to buy, how to train your homeowner.

I got a lot of response from that episode last week.

So go back and listen if you hadn't yet leading them instead of just presenting options.

But all of this breaks down if you're stuck in your own head.

So the anxiety.

So that's what we were talking about when I, when this episode started.

Because what happens is, you know, you can have the best diagnostic process in the world, you can have the best presentation skills, you can have the best pricing structure.

But if you walk into your appointment anxious, second guessing yourself, mentally rehearsing every possible objection, none of it matters, because I want you to hear this.

Anxiety kills confidence.

And confidence is what your homeowners buy from you.

They don't buy your product, they don't buy your process.

They buy your certainty that you can solve their problem.

They don't care if you have any of the other things.

If they don't have confidence that you can solve their problems.

So you can't project certainty if you're not certain yourself.

So before we go any deeper into tactics or strategies or the advanced techniques, anything like that, handling objections, we've got to fix the thing that undermines all of it and that is your anxiety around the appointment.

So if this is Resonating with you.

Raise your hand.

So here's a model that I want you to really grab onto.

Most of your sales anxiety lives between the appointments, not during the appointments.

Think about the last time you were nervous about an appointment or after you left.

What were you nervous about?

Probably, if you're like me, because I remember these days so, so, so deeply, I can go back over the last 20 years of my career and every single year I can pull out.

And I guarantee you can too, every single year, do 3, 4, 5 appointments that live in my head rent free.

And I bet you have the same thing.

So we're thinking, like, what if they don't like me?

What if they think the price is too high?

What if they already got three quotes?

What if I'm the first one in?

They haven't gotten quotes.

What if they're rude?

What?

I can't answer their questions?

And here's the thing about all of those thoughts.

None of them have happened yet.

You're creating an entire disaster scenario in your mind before you even knock on the door and remember something.

If you've listened to many episodes, something I say really often is your energy will introduce yourself before you ever knock on the door.

So by the time you get there, you were so mentally exhausted from fighting battles that don't exist, we can't show up with the energy and confidence the appointment truly needs to be successful.

So this is what we call the anxiety trap.

You're spending all your energy preparing for disasters that rarely happen.

And when they do happen, you handle them fine in the moment, but you've convinced yourself ahead of time that you wouldn't be able to.

So I want to give you this framework because this helped me and it will help you act as if you have the courage of a six year old in a Batman T shirt.

What does that mean?

Think about the six year old kid.

Think about you as you know when you were six, you know that kid, he believes he's Batman.

Remember running?

I had, I remember having this one shirt that had Velcro, that had the cape.

It was everything, it was so cool.

And I remember just being able to do all of the things that I couldn't do when I didn't have that on.

And so when you ask that kid that question and he answers it honestly, when you know that is, you know, he doesn't have the anxiety around that.

And so when something doesn't make sense to that kid, he asks a clarifying question.

Think about your kids.

You know, they're always asking the questions what about this?

Why?

Why?

Why?

What about this?

What about this?

What about this?

When someone tells that kid something, he takes them at their word.

He's unaffected by responses.

He doesn't second guess himself.

He doesn't worry about being liked.

He doesn't overthink.

He just shows up, ask questions, and does the thing.

That's the energy you have to bring to appointments.

Not arrogance, not aggression, but childlike courage.

Unaffected by responses, asking clarifying questions, taking people at their word.

So let's get a practical, real world explanation, a translation for this, and so showing you what this looks like in practice.

So scenario one, before the appointment, this is where most of the anxiety really lives.

Without childlike courage, you know, we're driving to the appointment, we're thinking, okay, so they called about their furnace, or they called about their water heater.

They called about their garage door, whatever it is, they called about their windows.

And so we're, you know, what if it's just a simple fix and they don't want to spend money?

What if they already got three quotes and I'm the last one?

What if I'm the first one in and they've got more quotes coming?

What if they're price shoppers?

What if they're tire kickers?

What if I recommend a replacement and they get mad?

What if I mess up the diagnostic?

What if they don't trust me?

Because you hear in sales training over and over and over, you've got to build trust.

You got to build trust.

So by the time you knock on the door, we're already defeated, anxious, second guessing, mentally exhausted.

The thing is, your homeowner can feel that.

So with childlike courage, what this looks like, what this sounds like is driving to the appointment, we're thinking, all right, whatever it is, the furnace, the air conditioner, the, you know, the ac, their condenser, their, you know, whatever the thing is, okay, it's not working.

I'm going to find out what's wrong.

I'm going to show them what I found and help them make the best decision for their situation.

If they want my help, great.

If they don't, that's fine, too.

And this is an important factor because you have to marry the process and divorce the outcome.

So when you marry the process and you dial into the things you can control, everything starts to change for you.

You knock on the door with zero attachment to the outcome.

You're there to have the conversation, and the homeowner feels your confidence.

So scenario two, handling the unexpected.

So without that courage, you know, your Homeowner says, hey, I already got two other quotes.

They were both way cheaper than what you're probably going to tell me.

Our internal response, though, no, I'm screwed.

They're price shopping.

I should probably lower my price.

Let's show them the discounts.

Maybe I should just leave.

This is a waste of time.

But what we actually say is, well, I mean, yeah, prices can vary.

Let me, let's just see what I can find and we'll go from there.

Let's see what it can do for you.

You were in your head, you're second guessing.

You're already lost.

You've already lost the sell at that point.

So with that childlike courage, what this looks like is when they say, hey, I've got two other quotes.

They're both way cheaper than what you're probably going to tell me.

Our internal response is interesting.

I wonder what they quoted.

What you actually say though, is, got it.

Can I ask what did they find?

What was included?

We're unaffected by their responses.

There's lots of different ways to handle this, and of course I cover that in a lot of episodes.

But the point is we get completely unaffected by their response.

We ask clarifying questions and we're taking them at their word.

We're not defensive.

We don't have anxiety, just curiosity.

You cannot be too curious during your appointment.

And now what happens is we start leading the conversation instead of reacting to it.

Because if you're there, one, they have not made a decision and to some degree, well, they definitely want to solve their problem or you wouldn't be there.

To start with, there is no such thing as a tire kicker.

There's no such thing as, hey, we don't want to do this at all.

They do want to do it at some point, maybe today, maybe later.

But we're leading the conversation instead of reacting to it.

And they absolutely want to do business with you to some degree or they would have ended the conversation already.

So when they say something that doesn't make sense, this is scenario three.

Say they say, hey, we're just going to wait until it completely dies and then replace it.

Raise your hand.

How many of you have heard that inside?

Mentally, we're thinking, well, that's dumb, but we can't tell them that.

I guess I'll just leave.

This is a waste of time when we don't have that.

And so what we actually say is, okay, well, you know, if you change your mind, give us a call or, okay, well, I'll send this over and let us know if you want to do something and we leave.

We no sell.

Or even worse.

A lot of you, I know this happens.

You do that on the call before you even show up and don't even go through the process with them.

And we leave no sell.

We're frustrated and it feels like we, we keep running this failing.

You know, we're just like, oh, we failed again.

And we know they keep running their equipment or they're not solving their problem, or even worse, they're going to go with somebody else and get, either get taken advantage of or somebody's going to do work that is so subpar they're giving them worse problems.

So when we have that courage, what that sounds like is when they say something like, hey, we're just going to wait until it completely dies and then replace it internally in our head.

Now our brain goes, hey, that doesn't make sense.

I'm curious why they would want to risk a breakdown.

So what we now say is got it.

Can I ask, you know, when it completely dies, how long are you comfortable going without heat or without air conditioning?

How long are you comfortable going without ac?

While we wait for the replacement to get scheduled and installed?

A few days, a week.

We're unaffected by the response.

We're asking a clarifying question.

We're taking them at their word and making them think through what they just said.

This is not confrontation.

We're asking curiosity questions.

We're slapping basically this is reality and we're showing them the truth of what they just said.

It's not judgment, it's not pressure.

We're just being curious and what happens.

This is a reframe.

Now they're reconsidering.

It opens the door for you to continue in your process.

So the emotional anchor here is kids don't have the baggage we do.

They don't worry about being liked.

They don't rehearse conversations, they don't catastrophize outcomes.

They just show up and be themselves.

And somewhere along the way we lost that.

We started worrying about what people think, what they'll think about us.

We started overthinking.

We started creating anxiety where nonexisted.

And that anxiety is killing our ability to do the one thing cells actually requires.

Just have the conversation.

Not rehearse the conversation in your head, not catastrophize the conversation before it happens.

Not to second guess ourself during the conversation.

We just need to have the conversation.

This is the work of cells.

It's having the conversation.

The ultimate prospector, the person who gets in front of more people will always outsell the best salesperson on the planet.

Because we see more people, we have the conversation over and over and over.

And when you adopt that childlike courage, then when you show up unaffected by responses, asking clarifying questions, taking people at their word, everything gets easier.

Because we stop tying all of this to the outcome and we start dialing in our process.

Because the logical resolution to a well executed process is what the cell.

And so we don't just present presence is what confidence looks like.

We go in and we just present the problem, we present the solutions.

So the next time you're driving to an appointment and you catch yourself spiraling into what if scenarios, I want you to do this.

So here's the trick, here's the frame.

Ask yourself, what would a six year old in a Batman T shirt do right now?

Or to reframe it, to think of it a little bit differently, if I could just have 30 seconds of absolute confidence in the world, what would change?

And then you can adopt that and you can tell yourself, how do I have that?

In several different places in your appointment, right when you knock on the door and they say hi, and we ask what's going on?

We're not rehearsing, we're not catastrophizing, we just have courage in those moments in your appointment, when they bring up, hey, we've got other bids and they're cheaper.

And you know, you should say the things you've rehearsed, the things you've role played, the way to handle a objections you've learned from this podcast or my training or from anywhere else.

So there's a quote that I love to quote in my trainings.

And if you ever do a training with me, I can guarantee you we go over this.

And this quote is from Abraham Maslow.

If you don't know who that is, look up Abraham Maslow.

And he was brilliant and he came up with, of course, the human hierarchy of needs.

But the quote is, and I want you to hear this very clearly, in any moment, we have two options.

To step forward into growth or step back into safety.

And what that means is when those times come up, when those moments happen and you know, you should ask another question, you know, you should hang in when they say, hey, can you email this to me?

We need to think about it, we don't stop there.

This is that moment.

And I'm pointing it out very specifically because this is the moment when you have to tell yourself, what would I do in this moment If I had 30 seconds of absolute courage.

And anyone can create courage for 30 seconds.

You just have to do it.

So in that moment, step into that courage.

Ditch the anxiety for a second.

If you have to visualize yourself as a six year old in a Batman T shirt or Superman, whatever it was for you, or Wonder Woman, for all of the ladies out there, or Batman, it doesn't matter.

And this is not a gender conversation.

This is how to have the courage to say the things you know you should say, to ask the questions you know you should ask.

To ask again.

To ask again.

Because most of the time that first objection is really just a test to see if you actually believe in what you're talking about.

Do you have the confidence to get past it?

A lot of times they're just testing you and you ask again, and that's what happens.

And so let's bring it home.

Most of your sales anxiety happens between appointments, not during appointments.

You're spending all your energy fighting battles that don't exist, mentally rehearsing disasters that rarely happen.

So the framework is act with the courage.

Tell yourself, 30 seconds.

That's all we need to have absolute courage.

We can do this for 30 seconds.

Act with the courage of a 6 year old in a Batman T shirt.

That childlike courage means unaffected by responses, asking clarifying questions, taking people at their word.

When's the last time your kids asked you for a cookie?

And when they asked you for that cookie and you said no, what happened?

They're like, oh, come on, please, come on, can I have a cookie?

Can I have a cookie?

Can I have a cookie?

How many times do they ask?

5, 6, 8, 10, 12?

Until what happens?

Either we get mad and say, no, absolutely not.

Or for a lot of us, we say, well, you know, we'll give in and say, okay, you can have the cookie, or you can have the toy or whatever it is.

Why?

Because they asked again and asked again and asked again and we said, you know what?

I'll reconsider.

The same thing happens in the house.

You have to have the courage to ask again.

So when your homeowner says something unexpected, don't spiral.

Ask a clarifying question.

Because remember, the person that asked the questions remains in control of the conversation.

The fun part of that is the flip side of that same coin is the person answering the questions feels like they're in control of the conversation.

So when they say something that doesn't make sense, we don't judge.

We make them think through what they just said.

Because, I mean, raise your hand if you know.

Sometimes the Homeowners make the most absolutely absurd statements about waiting or not wanting to solve their problem when we all know it's in their best interest to do the work.

So kids don't have the baggage we do.

They just show up and be themselves.

And when you adopt that energy, everything gets easier.

Because now we're not fighting the battles in our head anymore.

We just do the work, we have the conversation, we take them through the process and we present.

And presence is what confidence looks like.

So if this hit home, if you're realizing that most of your anxiety happens before the appointment or after it, but not during it, I want you to try this exercise this week before your next appointment when you catch yourself spiraling into what if scenarios, ask yourself, what would a six year old in a Batman T shirt do right now?

What would, If I had 30 seconds of absolute courage, what would this look like right now?

And then do that.

Knock on the door, say hi, ask what's going on.

Don't rehearse it, don't catastrophize it, ditch the anxiety.

Just childlike courage.

So if you want help with this, if you want to work through these mental blocks that are keeping you stuck in your head instead of allowing you to present in the appointment, instead of allowing you to be present in the appointment, go to CloseItNow.net or find me on Facebook.

That is exactly what the course along the way through the summer sales surge series will solve for you.

Will help you solve.

It's not going to solve it for you, but I will show you the way.

And these are going to be, these are live, live trainings in my Zoom room where we get to, you get to ask.

We're going to have Q and A.

We're going to go over the content and we're going to have Q and A and we're going to role play and we're going to go through different scenarios because every time I train, of course somebody has, well, what happens in this scenario?

What happens in that scenario?

So we're going to talk through every bit of it so you have something applicable you can use every single time we have one of those things you'll be able to use immediately.

So that is what we're working towards.

And so next week we're going to be diving into something that's going to make you maybe a little uncomfortable going for the no.

Why Most salespeople waste time being nice.

And so I want you to think about that because most people think being nice is the same as being effective.

It's not.

And we're going to talk about how to stop prolonging conversations that should have ended five minutes ago.

And we're going to talk about how to, how to handle those tough situations.

So I am Sam Wakefield.

This is Close It Now.

Until next time, everybody.

The more you work on this, the more you establish that 30 seconds of courage.

This is what it takes to be someone worth buying from.

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

Our passion is to dive head first 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 at the real Close it now and on Facebook at Close It Now.

See you next time.