Creating Urgency Around Furnace Sales

Sam Wakefield: Greetings Sam Wakefield here with Close It Now. Hey, listen, we’ve got a really perfectly timed episode today. This is, let’s see, we’re mid-September recording this. I know that you are seeing a lot of situations where you’ve got people out there, you’ve gone out and you’ve given quotes for air conditioners, quotes for cooling and they’re saying, well, hang on, you know, it’s into the fall. Maybe I’ll wait until next year. And then also you’ve got people who are, um, you’re having the conversation with them about. Well, should they do the whole system versus just cooling or just the furnace?

So that’s what we’re going to talk about today. We’re going to talk about urgency. We’re going to talk about how do we take that client and through conversation through questions, turn them into a complete system sale. Especially in the time of the year where we have to create some urgency because a lot of people are trying to decide if they want to even do the project or not.

So stick around. This is going to be a great episode. One thing I want to talk to you about right now as well is just to let you know, uh, obviously we’ve got a Facebook group go join the Facebook group. If you haven’t joined the Close It Now Facebook group yet. It’s a great place for a lot of, uh, just so many people from around the world who are project managers, selling technicians, owners, people just like you, who are out there in the grind every single day, able to connect. Lots of people share great insights from around the world to lift each other up. So it’s a good place to connect. Go find the Close It Now Facebook group and join it today. It’s a killer place to, um, just to connect with a bunch of. Also, if you didn’t know, I now have swag, we’ve got, uh, shirts, caps, uh, go men’s and women’s, uh, even have some beanies this year, uh, coming out.

So there is a link also in the Facebook group to find out how to order the Close It Now branded clothing. Everyone who invites it, here’s a contest running. If you didn’t know. Whoever invites the most people to the group, uh, before we hit 1500 people. If you have heard this before, then the moment we hit 1500 people in the Facebook group, the person who invited the most is getting a free hat and shirt. So go invite people to the group.

Also, if you’ve got some value from this podcast, I want you to know I’ve got a new program. I have rolled out my On-Site Boot camp. It is just a killer way to take your team to the next level. I will come to your house, and train in your facility. We will get your get your mind, right. Get your skills, right. Get, uh, get your people’s conversations to the level that they got to be to be able to handle objections. How do we create urgency in the field? How do we take your average close rate? 30 or 40% to 50 or 60% or even more. How do we take your average sale from, you know, five, six, 7,000 to 10, 12, 15,000 Right? We, you have me out, we go through the boot camp and we’ll go into the field, show you how to apply it. Show you how every step of the process works. Get your team consistently on the same day. So reach out to me. Let’s get your team, making you some money. Who wants, to raise your hand, If you want more bottom-line income in your pocket, there’s no reason you can’t be a million or multi-million-dollar salesperson, or multimillion-dollar project manager. Uh, you know, it’s up to you. It’s up to you to take action and take those steps.

But let’s get into today’s. This is a really killer, uh, conversation. Actually, one of my coaching clients earlier, I also do private coaching as well, but one of my coaching clients, Chris, yeah, the situation. So let me recount to you the situation, and then we’ll go through the way that we were talking about how to overcome it. This was kind of a special situation. He was out to this house about three weeks ago, he quoted for a new cooling portion. This is a new coil, new condenser, you know, straight, pretty straightforward, like so many of us do. And when he saw the furnace, he realized it’s a 30-year-old furnace. Now the cooling portion has the 30-year-old cooling system as well. It’s dead in the water. He’s followed up, gave of course good, better, best quotes, that kind of thing. He followed up with them and their concern as well, it’s into the fall. I don’t know if we need cooling right now. It was a one-liner the husband evidently works nights. So he was asleep during the day. So one-legged appointment, he was meeting with the wife and had a good conversation, and built a good rapport with her, but turns out they’re working on deciding.

So first thing to understand is when you’re having a conversation in that type of situation. Um, we’ve got to be little, gotta be thorough. We’ve got to show them the things that are important. You know, when he was there, the conversation centered around the cooling equipment. Of course, once they saw the furnace, he said, wow you know, I can’t do a cooling system, a nuclear system, one this old farm, it, you know, it’s just not the best thing to do. So part of the conversation needs to revolve around, you know, when you do this project, let’s do the whole thing. You know, all of the reasons why it’s better to do a whole system versus, you know, you can’t attach a new air conditioning system to a 30-year-old furnace, we know that. How do we communicate it to the homeowner? We do that through questions. We do that by showing them how it’s going to save them so much money in the long run to do it all at once. Then. You know, two visits, part of the discussion needs to center around, okay let me ask you this. If I send a crew twice to do this project versus one day, do you think it would be more expensive?

We asked, of course. So it’s using these leading questions, so they arrive at the destination. You want them to arrive at now the most important thing here is when we talk about this situation. Uh, 30-year-old furnace, that’s a standing flame furnace. We know chances are, there’s probably going to be cracks in the heat exchanger.

We know for health and safety, it’s not in the homeowner’s best interest to keep using this furnace. So we’re mid-September right now. Now what happened was, in this particular situation where Chris, was that his because his focus was on the cooling and no fault of his, but it was a good learning moment because his focus was on the cooling.

He quoted for the cooling quote, and gave him several options for the system, but didn’t increase the urgency for the heating system as well.

So now here we are three weeks later. So here’s how to reopen the conversation. HE just followed up with her. She’s having these moments of indecision thinking that well, we’ll just make it through this next year with our furnace and look at the air conditioning system this next spring. What the conversation needs to happen though, as what we coached on today, is the great way to reapproach somebody is to tell them, you’ve been thinking about when you can say, I’ve been thinking about you and your projects. And so the way I coach this one was for him to reach back out to her and say, uh, this homeowner, you know, I’m, first of all, apologize, say, I’m sorry for not stressing the importance of this during the, my first visit. However, as my company is getting ready to enter into the fall with the cool weather to get everyone prepared for the heating season, your name and your face just rose to the top of my mind. And my alarm bells started going off because I remember our conversation about your furnace now.

Yes, it’s true that you may be able to go until next year, and not need cooling again. However, it’s a serious concern for the safety of your family. To let your furnace go into the next year without addressing that without doing something about it, would you be open to, uh, more of a conversation surrounding that? When I started thinking about it, your furnace being 30 years old is, has a, I would love to give you another evaluation of your furnace because the concerns of carbon monoxide are very high. I do not within all good conscience, I cannot let you go through the winter and not make you aware, not really evaluate and check over your furnace to make sure that we’re not leaking carbon monoxide into the house. You know, did you know they call that the silent killer? So I want to be extra sure that you’re going to be safe moving into this next year.

So that was how to reopen that conversation. Will you, will you let me come back out and evaluate that? And so that’s the way to kind of save the situation as well when you don’t address it all in the first place. Now, the main thing, of course, the whole point is to, yes. Take good luck, address it all in the first place. Before you move on, before you make any recommendations, we have to figure out the whole situation, you know, do your due diligence. Don’t cut corners in the timing, just because they mentioned it. Well, you know, we’re looking at the cooling that doesn’t mean to shortcut your process.

That doesn’t mean to not ask about asthma and allergy issues. He even told me that while they were looking at it, you know, he pulled out the furnace filter and it was broken and, the whole squirrel cage is covered with look like carpet. Of course, that’s the perfect time to ask who has allergies, who is experiencing issues like that.

Who’s experiencing respiratory issues? But more importantly, that’s where we can dive in a little deeper and point out those issues and show the homeowner and say and through questions say, do you think that this is working very effectively when it’s covered at all of this far from the house when it’s covered in this dust and grime?

No. Let them answer, let them direct that conversation. We’re leading them to the destination. We want to take them to, with these questions.

In that situation while you’re there, that’s where you, and of course, you’ve tested it, you’ve verified it, but you know, that’s, even if it’s 85 degrees outside and frame it with, I can’t be here and not evaluate the whole system. If you’re go to the doctor, you would want them to look at all of the things that could be causing the issues. Right. Right. Okay. So let me show you, what’s going on. And the moment that you kick the furnace on and you frame it first with here’s what we should be looking for, what we should be looking for, you know, nice even flames that aren’t moving. The second you kick the flame, the furnace on, if these start moving and dancing around, that means we’ve got air leaking through, which is putting carbon monoxide directly into your home.

Well, let’s watch this and have them watch, have them see what’s going on. It’s the verification that you know exactly what you’re talking about. The second it starts to happen. It’s like, listen, we can, we can YouTube this, this is a serious issue. I cannot let you go through the winter with this furnace. It’s leaking carbon monoxide into your home. What do you think we should do about this? Let’s have a serious conversation. And so that opens that whole conversation about how to open their mind to a bigger, a bigger picture, a bigger urgency. Much more about what is going on with the situation, how to open their mind to listen. It’s by asking questions. There’s not a single problem or objection, you can’t solve by asking more questions. You can lead a homeowner, lead a client exactly where you want them to be. By the leading questions that you’re asking them. And so that’s the power of that kind of situation but when you come across an old furnace, something like that this time of year to get the emotional buy-in to get the urgency, you have to respond appropriately, treat it like it is.

It’s a serious issue. Respond. Give them the big flinch. What? Whoa. Oh my gosh. I can’t believe that this is going on. We’ve got to talk about this. This is serious. We’ve got to have a serious conversation. Do we know the number in your state, in your area? Just look up the national number of how many people die every year from carbon monoxide poisoning deaths related to furnaces. It’s a published number every single year. Look it up and then buy through questions, ask them, and respond appropriately with, you know, once you see that you have the big, wow, I can’t believe this is going on. Then explain to them what’s happening with the carbon monoxide leaking into the home and then ask them, do you know how serious this is? Wow. Did you know that this many people die every single year from carbon monoxide poisoning in our country? Did you know, by my, our license says, I have to make you aware of this and offer solutions, then ask them, would you like some options of how to fix this? Because this is serious. It could potentially kill you and your family. Is this something you would like to take care of?

Ask the questions like that. Don’t be scared to be bold. Don’t be scared to be upfront because we are literally handling something we’re solving a problem a homeowner that could literally kill them or hospitalize them. How would you feel if you came across a situation like that and you didn’t address it to the degree that you needed to, with the sense of urgency that you needed to, and you were just kind of glossed over it and say, well, it’s leaking carbon monoxide in the house that could be dangerous. And then after that, they say, well, you know, we’ll consider it. You leave. The breath, that night or any, at any point, the leak breaks open and it kills them. How would you feel knowing that it was your responsibility to warn them of the severity of that situation? This is not manipulation. This is being concerned about the homeowners, health and safety. There’s a huge difference.

So, and that’s what most people miss. They’re scared to be bold. They’re scared to be upfront about this in those situations. Don’t be scared to ask them. Do you mind if I’m brutally honest with you about it? Ask them, if you can give them permission to be brutally honest, and then when they give it to you, that’s where you can just open up and say, listen, this could kill you and your family. You could die from this situation. If it’s left untreated long enough, I’m concerned for you. I have to tell you about this. These are the potentials. Would you like to see some options to correct this? So don’t be scared to be bold. Don’t be scared to ask that question though. Do you, do you mind if I’m brutally honest about this? Um, can I be brutally honest about this? Because the second we start using salesman speak that, the BS meter of the homeowner goes straight to the. They know that you’re just glossing it over your pussy footing around being direct, to be honest, because that is what people really freaking want from us as project managers, they know we’re sales, they know that’s what we’re doing. They know that’s why we’re there. And it’s okay if you approach it with the vision, with the perspective that we’re there to help them. We’re there to help them with concern and care. And at the same time respond appropriately. If it’s a serious issue, it is a serious issue. Respond like it’s a serious issue.

You wouldn’t let your own family live in a home that had a cracked heat exchanger. Would you? No, you wouldn’t. So help them see how serious of an issue is. To the same degree. Literally sometimes tell people if you saw what I see and you knew what I knew you would immediately make a change here because you wouldn’t know how serious of an issue this is. That is a really fantastic way to say it. You just communicate with them. If you’ve done, a good job of setting up your credibility and your intro and your, the credibility for yourself and your company is professional. When you say things like if you saw what I saw and he knew what I know you would immediately take action on this, that has such a posture, that it will change the way that your homeowners respond to your recommendations. It’ll change the way they respond to your, uh, to what, what you’re quoting them. Change the way they respond to how you’re presenting your product. Is this making sense to anybody raise your hand if it’s making sense.

So that is the topic for today. We, can’t stress enough that situation, and that is how to create the urgency, especially in the fall. Uh, you know, this is a big one. We want to get to the place where we, your posture and your urgency become their posture and their urgency. They feed off of you. You’re directing the visit. You’re directing the ship. You’re the one leading the appointment. If your energy is an energy of urgency, it’s an energy of you, there’s no other option than to do this, that they will, that energy will over little, basically become their energy. And that’s what they function out of that. Zig Ziglar used to say, sales is just the transfer of enthusiasm. And that’s a hundred percent true if we, if we if we can convince them, not convince, if we can show them and they can feel how we feel about the situation it’s game over. They’re not making another decision because of the way that you connect with them, they can feel the same thing. There’s no choice, but to make the right decision.

So that is our episode for today. I, uh, I’m so passionate about this getting, especially getting into this time of year, man. It is powerful to just be brutally honest with people.

If it’s an issue like that, like this with, especially in heating, we’re literally, you know, we have, uh, we’ve put a bomb in people’s houses if we don’t take care of it. Right. Or if we come across it that consider it a bomb in the house, and it’s up to you to diffuse the bomb through your communication and help that homeowner see they’re sitting on a time bomb and they must replace it with something that’s going to be safe. So that is the a that’s the analogy for today. Take that and internalize it. Start to communicate at that level. Start to have that passionate conversation, just brutally honest conversation with your homeowners and you’ll immediately see results. Start to change. You’ll immediately see your home. Agreeing with you say, okay, you’re right. Where do we find, and how do we get the situation resolved? And so that’s, uh, yeah, that’s it.

So, thanks for listening today. If you got some value from this, share it with somebody, also go join the Facebook group. Um, let’s get your, uh, let’s get your company on board. Pop me a message Sam at Close It Now. Uh, we can talk about the coaching program. We can talk about becoming to do a site visit for your company. Uh, lots of things working and, uh, yeah, go, go check out the shirts and the hats. You can connect all that. Connect all that through the Facebook group on fate. Uh, Close It Now on Facebook.

So until next time everyone postures up, be brutally honest, and tell them the. And don’t sugarcoat it because people are tired of being sugarcoated. They want to hear the brutally honest truth from you. All right, until next time go save the world one heat stroke at a time, go save the world frostbite at a time.

I will talk to you again, Sam Wakefield with closing now signing off.