From the Yellow Chair
From the Yellow Chair
Why Contractors Don’t Need More Leads — They Need Better Conversions
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Your marketing is generating leads — but are your techs and salespeople closing them? If not, you're basically lighting your marketing budget on fire. This week, Crystal sits down with Sam Wakefield, founder of Close It Now and a 20+ year HVAC veteran who started as an attic rat in the Texas panhandle. Sam built an average ticket triple the industry standard and now trains contractors across the country to do the same — not with pressure tactics, but with one simple mindset shift: understand the human first, their problem second, the solution third.
In this episode, Sam breaks down why most technicians fumble conversions (hint: they're selling to the house, not the homeowner), why your follow-up process is likely costing you 15–20% of your revenue, and a word track you can implement today that opens more conversations without feeling pushy. Plus — the "on the way" video strategy that warms every appointment before you even knock on the door.
Whether you're a comfort advisor, a tech, or an owner trying to get your whole team closing better, this one's for you.
🎙️ Connect with Sam: sam@closeitnow.net | closeitnow.net | Search "Close It Now" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify & YouTube
🍋 Ready to build a brand that actually converts? Visit lemonseedmarketing.com to learn how Lemon Seed helps home service companies market smarter
If you enjoyed this chat From the Yellow Chair, consider joining our newsletter, "Let's Sip Some Lemonade," where you can receive exclusive interviews, our bank of helpful downloadables, and updates on upcoming content.
Please consider following and drop a review below if you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to check out our social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.
From the Yellow Chair is powered by Lemon Seed, a marketing strategy and branding company for the trades. Lemon Seed specializes in rebrands, creating unique, comprehensive, organized marketing plans, social media, and graphic design. Learn more at www.LemonSeedMarketing.com
Interested in being a guest on our show? Fill out this form!
We'll see you next time, Lemon Heads!
Welcome And What We’re Solving
SPEAKER_00What's up, Lemon Heads? Welcome to a whole nother episode of From the Yellow Chair. I'm Crystal, and today I'm talking to someone that I probably could do a two-hour long, if half day long, uh podcast episode with. We are going to be getting down and dirty a little bit about closing and selling and how marketing can drive all of these leads. But if you can't do anything with it, friends, you're missing the boat. You might as well walk out in the yard and light all of your marketing dollars on fire. So get it. Get a little pin because I think we're going to be dropping some great information pieces today. But let's sip some lemonade.
SPEAKER_01I love it. Thanks for having me on today. This is fun.
SPEAKER_00So Sam. Yes. Steve and I have done a podcast together before for him, and we both were like, uh, we could talk forever. So today I wanted you to tell everybody you're on from the yellow chair this time, and I was on yours last time. So you're the founder of Close It Now, which I think, you know, I see so many contractors every single day that just can't, they blame the digital company, they blame the direct mail when really there's a closing problem both on the phone and in the home. Um and so I'm really excited for you to share your insight today. But I know that you're the king of clothes, but what about people that are listening? Why should they care what you have to say today?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thanks for that. Uh thanks
Sam’s Background And Proof
SPEAKER_01for that lob. Um, yeah, so you know, I've been in in the home services and the trades and HVAC for a little over 20 years now. I started off as an adecrat pulling ductwork in the hot Texas panhandle years ago. And so I'm I come from a place of I've been in thousands and thousands and thousands of homes over the years. And so I come from this place of I've proven it. There's not a single thing that I trained that I haven't made the mistake and gotten the scar along the way. And so um, so yeah, why should we sit in this chair? This is fun. I don't get a brag moment very often. One of my favorite, so how I earned the right to be as a sales trainer. I mean, back in uh here's a couple stats. Um back in 2013, I went 20 in a row one summer. My average ticket in 2012, 2013 was around 18, right around $18,000. So when you fast forward that into to that's back when a time when the average sell was right around 6,000. And so my average ticket was triple the industry average. So you fast forward that into today's numbers, you know, we're looking at somewhere between 25 and 30 uh K as an average ticket. And so I was doing the things that are the new stuff now, way back then. And so the the fun part is now I get to take my experience and help people literally. The last time, in fact, last summer when I offered a course, I had one guy triple his uh triple his company's revenue strictly from my one-month course. I did a one week in the with a company in Raleigh, and a guy's average ticket went from 8,900 to 16,000 and has stayed there for almost three years now. Um, did a session with a guy in Michigan, an electrician up there, and his close rate went from 30 to 60 in a week's time. And so that's the kind of numbers we see all the time because it all comes down. It's I'm nothing special. It comes down to we just have to understand how to have a conversation, and we have to just have a process that is repeatable, something that is built to to just in for for our current current way people buy. Um, everything that's out there that I've seen is just so it's 20 years old and no one buys like that anymore. So it's time to update our industry to the place where you know we've got to meet people where they are. And this is 2026, man. I mean, we can't be living from 1995 anymore.
SPEAKER_00No, no, you know, I I hear things all the time about that. Like, well, this is how we used to do it. And I'm like, listen, you have just like marketing, your sales processes have to evolve. And like people now people want to deal with things so much quicker. You know, my grandpa, when we started the company, he'd go sit down and have some coffee. Now we're like, no, none of that. Well, we are gonna do a unique thing today. I've come up with three questions that I think are cool things that people are hungry to know, contractors are hungry to know. So just kind of three kind of quick, quick little questions for you. They probably won't be real quick because I know you and I, but number one, why do you think technicians struggle with the conversions? So when you were mentioning your class and you're like, this guy goes back any troubles, what are some of those like it's these three things, Crystal Art? It's these couple of things that normally we have to get them through.
SPEAKER_01You
The Human First Sales Mantra
SPEAKER_01know, the first thing is we've forgotten that the house doesn't pay the bill. You know, that the we the the number one thing that I see the most common is most people, technicians or salespeople, either way, whatever industry, whatever role, we go in and we diagnose, okay, here's what's broken, or here's what's needed replaced, and here's how much it is. And we're selling to, oh, this is out of code or all these things, and the house doesn't write the check, the people write the check. And so we've completely bypassed the human part of the conversation. So when they go in and like, okay, well, this is broken, and I showed them how what we were going to do to fix it, and I don't understand why they had to think about it or why they didn't move forward with me. Well, we had zero connection there, and so if that's the case, we might as well just be standing at the counter at Home Depot or Lowe's because it's the same thing, we're just taking orders. The difference is, and I've I've taken seven years, all my entire career, and then seven years of training and running the podcast and boiled it down into one simple mantra. If a technician or salespeople, whatever you are, if you can learn this one mantra, it will completely revolutionize your whole process. It's my job is to understand the human first, their problem second, and then the solution third. My job is to understand the human first, and then their problem second, and then the solution third. So to unpack that quickly for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Understanding what is the desired outcome here. You're the homeowner, this is your home. Are we looking for a simple solution? Are we looking for a long-term uh completely never have to think about it again solution? What are we looking for here? Also, when I say we have to understand their problem, uh, let's let's take HVAC and take a simple, uh, a common issue, like, hey, the room in the corner of the bedroom is always too hot in the summer. Okay, so what do we do? We go, you know, if you're like me, what I used to do is I would go in the attic or I'd go in the crawl space or whatever it is and come back and be like, oh, look, I found your problem, your ductwork's disconnected. And they're like, that's not my problem. And we forget that. Their problem is the room is too hot. So slight language changes to, hey, I found what's causing your problem. Can you see how this is causing that to happen? And they go, Yes. That slight change means so what that means is we understood their problem being the room is too hot and they don't want it to be like that anymore. So then we find what's causing that to happen, and then we can have a conversation of, okay, here's what we would do to solve that. And so that this that's the main thing is that just so many people go straight to the equipment or straight to whatever the issue is, and they forget that there's a human being standing there right next to them going, Hey, wait a minute, why should I upgrade this? You said, Hey, it's out of code, but it's been that way for 25 years. Why should I even care?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. There's just so much of things like when I think of it, there's just so much like they can't get into the emotional piece. Yeah. Right? Like there's an emotional piece to this. Yes, you're selling heating and air conditioning or plumbing or or roofing or pest control, it doesn't matter, but there is an emotional piece, right? Like, like you mentioned that like um air in the back room. We, my own house, my parents have a heating and air conditioning company. Um, but my own house has broken like hot and gold pockets, right? But there's an emotional piece to this, like, you know, are your kids sniffling? Like, but there's the it's an emotionally driven thing, and so an outcome, desired outcome, and then their problem, address their problem, and then provide the solution is sounds so simple.
SPEAKER_01It does, but boy, it's
Emotion Versus Logic In Decisions
SPEAKER_01a deep conversation. I'm so glad you mentioned the emotion side because let's let's go go into this for a second. Because there's so first of all, most people misunderstand what that truly means. Um, so I'll break it down super simple so everybody will really get it. So, first of all, we've all heard it, I'm sure you've probably heard the expression before uh people buy on emotion and then they justify that with logic. That's a fairly common expression. So um, if you haven't heard it, there there's that's only two-thirds of it, though. People buy on emotion, they justify that emotional decision with a piece of logic, and then the rest of that is they actually justify that logic with another emotional piece. So there's there's a whole sequence to this. So I think of it like this a sales decision is like driving a car. Logic is the steering wheel, it's gonna point the tires in the right direction. Is this the right company? Is this the right person to do my project? Is this the right project for me? Does it make sense to do it? Yes. Great, perfect. And if that's where we stop with logic, we still, yep, project makes sense. Yep, I could totally see I need to do it, but then we're left with, well, you know, Crystal, I gotta think about it. Can you can you email that to me? We'll get back to you. What's missing is emotion is the gas pedal. Emotion is the gas pedal that so they take action and they take action now. Because, and this is how we are able to sell year-round, especially in an industry like HVAC, where you know, with HVAC, we've got quote unquote shoulder seasons where I get asked a lot of, man, it's you know, it's spring, it's fall. How do I create urgency? How do I create urgency? How do I get them to move forward? And they're saying, hey, I'm kicking tires, or we're planning for the spring. Well, the reason people take action is, or no, the reason they're not taking action, like you're saying, is we're just locked into logic. So to break this down, logic is the what, emotion is the why. So logic is the what, emotion is the why. And so what I mean by people buy on emotion, justify it with logic, and justify that logic with another piece of emotion. We know that um if you study statistics at all, which I do, 70 people, 70% of people will take action to avoid pain. 30% of people statistically will take action to in the pursuit of pleasure. So we know this to be true, or more people would say, be, you know, a healthy body weight, or they will do the things that we all know we should do. But when do people make life changes when it comes to health? When something has happened and the doctor says, if you don't make a change now, this is going to happen to you, heart attack or whatever. And so, okay, so there's proof. So now let's break it, bring it into this conversation. In
Discovery Questions Homeowners Understand
SPEAKER_01order to have a nice complete conversation with us, we have to not only so for everybody that's out there, when you're in your discovery and you're asking the questions, first of all, don't ask, hey, do you have hot spots, hot, hot and cold spots?
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01That's a dumb question. Don't ask that question in the summer, when some rooms are cool, are others warmer or harder to cool down? In the winter, when some rooms are warm, are others cooler than the rest or harder to heat up. So, whatever the answer is. So when you're in discovery, your first passive questions um are exhaust all the questions about the the thing, the problem itself. And so I always say that clear discovery is about helping their homeowner get clear. If I mean, if somebody's been doing this a while, you can diagnose a house from the street, but that does not help the homeowner. This is about them. It doesn't matter what we say, it matters what they say. And so the better we can ask clarity questions that help them understand that's truly their problem. So we ask our questions in a way of if you were on a phone and Crystal, this is your old school phone with the dial, curly Q cable, you can't see them. There's no FaceTime. Curly Q on the other person on the other end of the line knows nothing about heating and air. How would we have to structure our questions to still get the information we need? So that's the level of question we want to ask them. So is it happen year-round? Is it daytime? Is it nighttime? Is it door open? Is the door closed? It tell me more, tell me more, tell me more. And to really get them talking about the problem itself, but here's the here's the secret sauce. Once we've gone through and we understand and they understand the problem, then we turn around and we need have to ask questions about the person or people the problem affects. This is where most people stop before they get to this. It's like, okay, Crystal, now I mean you you now that we've talked about that room in the corner of the of the house, it's always too hot, always too cold. Um, who lives in that room? How old are they? Tell me more about what so in the winter when it's cold, what do you do to help out with that? Wow, boy, that's awful. They have to have extra blankets. Man, how's that make you feel? And so so now the questions are about the person and people. And so, because I know if someone came to my house and I know that the very next day after I do a project, my daughter's room is gonna be cool enough at night where she doesn't have to sleep with, and I'm literally telling you the truth, sleep with two fans blowing on her face and sweating in the middle of the night. She's gonna sleep better and she's gonna do better in school, and she's gonna be able to do better in her physical activity. I don't care what time what part of the year it is, I'm gonna take action to solve that for her. But that's where most people miss is that we just ask about the the thing, the room or whatever, and we don't talk about how does it affect the person or people associated with that problem.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So what I see is that contractors talk like they're talking to other contractors. We don't under they don't people may not even understand cold and hot spots, and you know, is your ductwork crimped? And you know, I I love contractors like we need electronic air filter, and what about an air night? And a well my kids freaking know what you're talking about. Yeah, speak contractor, you know what we speak dollars, and we also speak as homeowners, we speak emotional, so I don't care what it takes to get it fixed, my kids sneeze all the time, or whatever, like it's hot in my bedroom at night, and my kids is freezing like there's a problem, right? Or the water, like my kids shower, even right now, it takes a long time for that water to get hot. We've got to figure something out, right? But yeah, you're right, they talk like a contractor instead of talking like a homeowner.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you
“Open To More Information” Word Track
SPEAKER_01know, look, let me give one more quick uh ninja tip for everybody out there. Look, this is a a word track that will immediately for everybody listening, this will immediately get you um a much better result right away. You can use this immediately. So, Crystal, you just mentioned that so say we're in an appointment, I'm at your house, so you just told me that. Um, so oh my gosh, Crystal. So it sounds like um, so so tell me more. I mean, you're you're it takes forever for the water to get hot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, my kids will turn it on and then it still can take 20 minutes, it feels like, for it to get hot enough, but then it's like a hot shower.
SPEAKER_01Oh, holy cow! So, I mean, the obvious is you're wasted a lot of water. That's just going, that's like throwing dollars right down the drain. If I could show you how we could get hot water there a whole lot faster, maybe cut the time down to just a minute or so. Would you be open to some more information about that?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So, time out. That's the word track. That's literally it. So for the for what most people miss is they have a hard time just we know how to have the conversation a lot of times. We just don't know how to open the conversation because it feels like we're pushing something. So the word track is really simple. If I would you, if I could show you how to how we might be able, and I didn't even promise anything, if I could show you how we might be able to reduce that time to get hot weather there a whole lot faster, would you be open to more information? I'm not asking you to buy anything, I'm asking you if you would just be open to learning about how we would do that, and you will almost always get a yes. And then once we've given them the information, then they can make a buying decision, but not until they understand it. And the the one word I tell everyone eradicate from your vocabulary is are you interested? So it going back and do it the wrong way. Hey, Crystal, are you interested in uh maybe shrinking the time to get the water water to the bathroom, to get hot water to the bathroom? That's usually how people would ask. Hey, I've got something we could do. Are you interested in hearing about it? And most of the time they'll go, well, well, maybe later. Because no one would be interested in anything in anything we don't know anything about.
SPEAKER_00Correct.
SPEAKER_01So that's why, hey, if I could show you how we could do this, are you open to some more information? And because no one wants to be perceived as closed-minded, we always want to be perceived as open-minded. And I'm just asking you to look at some information, and boom, that'll open up the conversation almost every single time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just loosening the um barrier there where they're for they feel like they're not being, you know, we don't want them to feel sold to, we want them to feel heard. Absolutely. Yeah.
Follow-Up Systems Owners Ignore
SPEAKER_00Okay, so let me move to my second one. Tell me, yeah, it was you had an interesting. I kind of asked this question to make sure it was still in your vibe, and you you were like, you kind of like this question. Um, kind of quickly here. Why follow-up systems matter than most owners recognize?
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00So I will tell you real quick, follow-up systems right now, I think, are the most underestimated tool in your marketing tool belt. But what do you think?
SPEAKER_01I 100% agree. And uh, most I've looked at hundreds of companies and talked to hundreds of companies over the last several years, and one in maybe 10,000 has a follow-up process or program.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01And it blows my ever-loving mind because a a well-built company that understands their metrics that actually has a follow-up process, I don't care what your numbers are right now, if you grab your calculator and multiply it conservatively by 15%, that's exactly how much you're leaving on the table. So a well-run company, let's take a um step out of home services for a second and say a company that's home improvement, like a LeafGuard or a Power Home or you know, the big guys that are the billion dollar valuations. I guarantee you they have a follow-up program. And roughly 20% of the entire company's revenue will come from their follow-up program every single time. It doesn't mean that the people in home doing the sales didn't close it, but it does mean that you're able to capture that later. And so we're I don't believe I do not buy into the lie that some of the trainers in HVAC have told us that if you don't close it in the house, you're not gonna get it. It's a straight lie that's unproven. There's no statistics behind that, they're just lazy, and so don't be a lazy salesperson. We have to have follow-up.
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, think about your own self. Yeah, like I mean, it's not like you just wake up and go, you know what I want to do today is buy a new $25,000 heating and air conditioning system. No, so you're all it's not something you look forward to, and people do more work on buying a car that you're gonna enjoy, like tangibly enjoy. So there has to be an expectation of should you have a really good process in the home? Absolutely. As a matter of fact, you should understand the entire customer journey of someone trying to buy from the minute we enter the phone to the minute we do follow-ups. But to insinuate that just because someone doesn't buy immediately in the home, then number one, you're not a good salesperson, and number two, you don't you haven't won the job is very short-sighted. And honestly, it's allowing you to leave hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table from just simple follow-up processes.
SPEAKER_01Oh, no doubt. And so the here's where so many people get stuck. Well, I don't know what to say. Honestly, it doesn't matter as long as you're consistently reaching back out. The reason I have like all of the super powerful scripting and all of the things for follow up is for you to just get you to do it. The homeowner doesn't care if you literally call him back and say, Hey, I'm following up on this, I don't care how many Jeremy Minor videos you see on on your reels that say you know, lowered posture frame, all those things. Nobody. Nobody cares. The fact that you actually kept them in mind and reached back out. In fact, every single every few years, this uh some reports are done. Um, Harvard Business School, a lot of the different ones study and they'll they'll pull the homeowners and they literally say they expect between five to seven follow-ups. A homeowner expects between five to seven follow-ups from someone in doing in-home sales. And so if we're not at that minimum threshold, we're we're not doing our job. And so it and it's just so powerful to do it. I mean, back when I was in the field, the last three years I was in the field, I tracked over $300,000 annually in revenue from my follow-up from my pipeline. And this isn't from the same year, this is from previous years. I had over $300K the last three years I was in the field from previous years. I didn't, that's not including follow-up from the current year I was in. And so that's the power of actually having a pipeline that continues to get worked. And so it's um we're leaving millions on the table. And it's not enough just to get a program that's gonna send text messages for you and you don't ever manage it. Um, that's better than nothing, but we we've got get get tracked. It's funny that you asked this. I happen to have my the close it now epic follow-up system sitting right here next to me. I I wrote the most robust follow-up system in all of um HRAC, and it's sorted by four different personality types and like day zero to day three, and day four to day seven, and day seven to fourteen with four different messagings.
SPEAKER_00But uh yeah, so well, and because there's it's a honestly, it's a little bit of a float. Like you kind of have to figure out what do I say within you know two hours of leaving and then the next day and the next day after that, and the next day after that, then wait a week and then send another one. There's a science to it, and honestly, I think you nailed this earlier, like it's lazy salesmanship. So whether it's lazy on you because you can't get like at least you should be presenting it to if you're not the owner and you're a sales guy, you should at least be presenting it to people that have control over that. And then if you have control of that, it's about looking past, excuse me, y'all're I'm talking too much, but looking past the okay, well, not everybody's gonna buy. I have a lot of people, even with lemon seed services, they'll say, Oh man, it's all about the follow-up. Thanks for following up with me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Oh man, I've been meaning to. I'm so glad you reached back out.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01And so, so one super quick trick that everybody can immediately use, you don't need a full book or all of this stuff, um, is to just completely eliminate follow-up in your life forever.
BamFAM And Staying In Touch
SPEAKER_01Is this word called Bam FAM, B-A-M-F-A-M. If you book a meeting from a meeting, that means never leave a homeowner interaction without scheduling on the calendar the next time you're going to be in touch with them and it goes on your calendar. Now it's not a follow-up, it's a scheduled appointment on your own calendar. So it completely changes our frame of mind around it. It's like, okay, that's the next. So then you're it now that sales appointment turns into a it's just part two, it's part three, it's part four. It doesn't matter how many times, as long as they are staying engaged and continuing to commit to the next time. What that is a live, active sales conversation. There's no such thing as we lost them. The other misconception around follow-up is so many people get stuck on if they didn't buy from me, they went with someone else. And that's absolutely not true. Statistically, and this is proven, only 30% of people who don't buy from you buy from someone else. That means 70% of them didn't do anything and they're waiting. That's the numbers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they got stuck in indecision and decided to hang it up for a while. Let's just put a pin in it. Somebody wasn't able to get them out of their indecision. It's just a matter of uh staying in touch.
SPEAKER_00Well, ignoring it and pretending like it's not an opportunity is the biggest nightmare ever.
SPEAKER_01You know, the other thing that people get stuck in is I don't want to bug them. Well, think DoorDash. DoorDash isn't bugging you. They're gonna they're gonna text you 17 times before you get your food, and nobody complains about that.
SPEAKER_00Well, and my thing is like for Lemon Seed, I'll tell you, like, they reached out to us willing to talk to us about services. So, me following up with you, you know. Um I mean, most of these people reached out to you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no kidding. They they called you to start with. It's your professional responsibility to be a decision collector.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm just like, sir, I'm just here like making decisions. So okay, final question. Okay, can you give me maybe a couple of small process changes that might create really good revenue return and growth if they would just make a couple of these little tweaks?
SPEAKER_01One of the first one is uh from a sales perspective, I'm a massive fan, and I know you're gonna like this
On-The-Way Video And Calling Ahead
SPEAKER_01one. Uh, so this is one teeth into marketing a little bit, but develop an on the way video. No one uses video enough. And so uh the simplest there's there's a whole science and philosophy behind it, but literally just grab your phone, be clean, you know, stand in front of your van or a logo, or or just even the outside or a nice wall and literally selfie video. It literally can sound like this. Hey, my name is Sam. I'm with Close It Now HVAC. Want to let you know I'm on my way. I'm excited about our appointment. If you would please take a quick minute and uh go ahead and clear out anything. I will need access to your attic, basement, crawl space, and your equipment. If there's anything in front of them, just clear it out of the way. That way, while I'm there, we can be efficient and focus on what's important to you. Excited for our appointment. See you soon. That's it. Yes, now what happens is when we call, when I'm on the way, I'm so so this is the simple process change. So many people have started relying on the again, being lazy, they hit dispatch on their program, and it sends that homeowner that text and email and their picture and bio, and they think that's good enough. This is the process change. So pick up the phone and freaking dial because there's so much information we can get from just a 20-second, 30-second conversation with somebody.
SPEAKER_00Yes, what you can hear.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like, are they young, are they old? Are they busy? Are they slow? Are they fast? Is there kid chaos going on in the background? We're listening, we're paying attention. What's happening? Is there anything I need to know about parking? Oh, by the way, um, so I'll be there. GPS says 42 minutes. Um, also, um, hey, I'm gonna text you. Does this phone receive text messages? Perfect. Uh, I'm gonna text you a quick video. I'd appreciate if you take a look before I arrive. Thanks, see you soon. Boom, that's it. And we just text them the link to our video. We've got it parked somewhere so we're not sending data. And they get that video, and now the living room effect kicks in. And I promise you that's gonna be a even if it's a marketed lead, it's gonna be a much warmer appointment than it ever would have been if we did any of the other things. So it's one that we'll get immediate lift by doing that.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, I love it. I love it. Well, anything else that you want to say to contractors today? I love the on the way video. Like, I'm over here, like I just wrote all this down. I was like, listen and wrote it down because an on the way video just stuck with me now because I don't know, they're just so relatable. Again, it's emotional.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, and they they get to see you ahead of time, they get to know you a little bit, and now we're in marketing, it's like takes what 10-12 touches before somebody realize like the all the statistics around it in marketing. Well, we're we're just getting that out of the way ahead of time, so they're much more likely to buy when we do show up. Um, gosh, you know, the main thing is well, I could say the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's lots of main things, but that's okay. I'm here for it.
SPEAKER_01The you know, realistically, we just got to remember that we're working with humans. So we get my my friend Everett, uh Everett Lapelle. He he's great guy, host the uh Sows in This House podcast. Yeah, he said something last year that has stuck with me, said stop tripping over bags of money on your way to follow your process. Oh and so it's super powerful. If you're we're stuck in our head of oh, I've got to say this and I've got to do this and I've got to do this, and they're literally going, Hey, I I need I have a problem that I need it solved, and we're missing that because we're so focused on all of the other things that quote unquote we have to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but that's not next, that's not what I do next.
SPEAKER_01Exactly, exactly. So so that's it. Just remember we're working with human beings.
SPEAKER_00I love that in all this AI world, everything's coming on so strong. Like human connection will always win.
Summer Sales Surge And Where To Find Sam
SPEAKER_00Well, Sam, if people want to consider you for maybe coaching or just reach out to you, how do they do that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. And I've uh can I make a super quick announcement for something I've got going the summer too? Yeah, so um, so you reach me at Sam at closeitnow.net. Uh, they can find the podcast. So I've uh 300 episodes now of Apple, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube. So search close it now uh or go to the website closeitnow.net. And I have a summer sales surge program that is kicking off the first week of June. We're doing four months together. It's intentionally in the busy season because it's gonna be Monday nights for an hour and a half each Monday night. And I'm gonna get we're gonna deep dive each month into one topic that are the the biggest parts of your sales process to give you the biggest lift. And every single week I'm gonna give you an immediate step-by-step how to implement immediately. So you get practice during the week, and then that next Monday. So I'm basically hybriding uh course, and this is how I do one-on-one coaching. And so I'm gonna take people through. So June, we're doing the first five, first five to ten minutes, uh, how to set up the appointment. July, we're doing uh how to deep dive into discovery. We talked about it a little bit. We were gonna go deep on how to make the emotional connection and how to turn that into a project that they're co-creating together because if they help build it, it's harder to say no to. August is we're gonna go, it's everything objections, how to ask for the business and how to handle objections. And then September, this is the perfect setup. I'm actually doing a follow-up challenge. So September, I'm gonna host have we're gonna gamify it, and I'm gonna have several awards for and I'm gonna teach people how to follow up and then accountability and assignments each week. So who closes the most follow-up projects from the summer, who closes the most volume? I'm gonna have some awards with that. So that is uh summer sales surge. And uh you can email me about it or go to um and find it on Facebook. We've got a close it now Facebook group that uh, and and I'm all over Facebook as well. So search Sam Wakefield or Closing Now.
SPEAKER_00So well, I love it. Same, I think that's a super cool opportunity. Sales is often underrated, like honing your sales skills, even if you think you've been good or you feel like you do sales well, it's always good to get back in the back in the grind of things, learn about it, and really get engaged with you about how to just hone your skills. It's just like anything else.
SPEAKER_01And so and one quick note too, this is um so for everybody listening, don't get lost in the word sales. This is not just for salespeople. Uh, what I do it is equally values valuable to both say comfort advisors and people in the sales role, but also for technicians. Um, you if you have equipment rights or not, it doesn't matter. The conversation is the same, and it's the cut the topics that I cover is universal to everywhere from a basic maintenance, you know, I say basic, from a maintenance to this is just a high value position if you know how to handle it right. Yeah. So every single role, if you're customer-facing and you're in the field from technician to sales, it applies to everybody.
SPEAKER_00I love it. I love it. Well, Sam, thank you so much for joining us and talking us through this sales
Final Takeaways And Share Request
SPEAKER_00process. Listen, guys, Limit Seed Marketing is a full connected marketing company where we help you strategize on the right vendors in the right place with the right budget, the right messaging, helping you build a brand, stop chasing leads. But when you do have good marketing, I really feel like investing in coaching for yourself is definitely the way to go. So thank you for listening to another episode of From the Yellow Chair. If you liked what you hear, please go share this with someone that maybe could use Sam's Coaching or Lemon Seed Services. Until next time, keep sipping lemonade. See you later.