The Trust Thermometer: How to Read Buyer Energy and Create Safety That Closes
In this episode of the Sales Psychology Series, Sam Wakefield introduces the Trust Thermometer—a powerful tool to instantly gauge your buyer’s emotional state and build the safety they need to say yes.
Most salespeople think buyers say no because of money or logic. The truth? Buyers say no because they don’t feel safe yet. This episode teaches you how to feel the room, recognize cold vs. warm vs. hot energy, and adjust your approach in real time.
If you’ve ever walked out of a call thinking “They just weren’t ready,” this episode gives you the clarity and confidence to never guess again.
🔥 What You’ll Learn:
- The 3 levels of buyer readiness: Cold, Warm, and Hot
- What energy, tone, and body language really reveal
- How to warm up skeptical or hesitant homeowners
- The psychology of emotional safety in high-ticket sales
- Tools for calming the room and leading with trust
🎧 This is emotional intelligence in action — not manipulation, but empathy-based sales mastery.
📞 Want to sell with calm confidence instead of pressure?
Coaching & Training → https://www.closeitnow.net/coaching
⭐ Love the show? Leave a review:
https://g.page/r/CbfnnDqTCwQdEAE/review
🌐 Website: https://www.closeitnow.net
📲 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealcloseitnow
👥 Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/closeitnow
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to Close it now, thepodcast that's revolutionizing the
H Vac and home improvementtrades industries.
Get ready to dive deep intothe world of heating, ventilation
and air conditioning.
We're turning up the heat onindustry standards and cooling down
misconceptions.
And we're not just talkingabout fixing vents and adjusting
(00:21):
thermostats.
It's about the transformativemovement 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 theirprofessional endeavors, but also
in fitness, nutrition,relationships and personal growth,
proving that we can indeedhave it all.
(00:44):
This is Close it now, whereexcellence meets excitement.
Let's get to work.
Now, your host, Sam Wakefield.
All right, let's go.
This is episode three of theSales Psychology series.
(01:04):
Coming right up, this episodeis all about one of the most foundational
concepts in emotionallyintelligent selling.
This is the trust thermometer.
We're going to be talkingtoday about how buyers decide who
feels safe.
Because remember, people don'tbuy any other time than when they
(01:26):
feel safe.
That is the, the really theemotion that they are looking for.
When we talk about trust.
The reason they're looking fortrust is so they feel safe in their
decision.
So we're unpacking that.
And how does this trustthermometer work?
It's how, when buyer, how dowe decide?
(01:49):
How do we figure it out?
How do we know?
How do we, how do buyersdecide who feels safe?
So that's what we are going tobe talking about today.
So stick it around.
This is going to be fun.
Before we get into that, let'sdo a quick little what's in your
cup today?
I have some iced coffee.
Nothing too crazy or fancy.
(02:10):
It's been a little bit sinceanybody we've talked about beans.
I've been on the tea kick fora while.
Earlier I had some berries,Irish tea, but getting my taste back
for coffee beans.
So if there are some beansthat you would recommend or you feel
so inclined, shoot me a message.
If you want to send me some totry that is unique or different or
(02:33):
unusual in your area, I amhappy to try it and we can talk about
that.
But today I've got just someiced coffee.
What is in your cup today?
What are you drinking and whatare you listening to?
What are your jams?
What is your first of all,what are you listening to?
Podcast wise, of course you'relistening to this.
What else are you listening to?
What audiobook are you inright now?
What are you doing forpersonal growth?
(02:54):
You have to do personal growth daily.
Remember Zig Ziglar said,personal growth is like taking a
shower.
You can't do it on Sunday andexpect it to last all week.
You got to do personal growthevery day.
So what's in your cup?
Is it tea?
Is it coffee?
You got iced coffee like me?
Is it.
You got a Coke out there?
Is it energy drink?
(03:14):
What are you sipping on?
Drop a message in the Facebookgroup and let me know.
So let's take a make a toastto this episode and we'll dive right
in.
3, 2, 1.
All right, so before I getinto this, I want to talk about something
because I'm super into musicand a lot of you are into music as
(03:37):
well.
This, the date of thisrecording is July 8th, and one of
the most incredible thingsI've ever seen happen this last weekend.
It was the Black Sabbath, OzzyOsbourne's final show.
And man, I have been bingingthose, those, those concerts all
the last couple days.
It's a miracle that I'mactually getting this done and I'm
(03:59):
not watching another, another,another one from there.
But holy cow, talk about aninspiring moment.
To get to see all of thoseartists like, truly in a once in
a lifetime type of experienceand singing and playing their hearts
out was so cool.
And man, you want to talkabout someone I have a whole lot
(04:21):
more respect for than I didbefore that I will keep my eye on
as an up and comer is Youngblood.
Oh my gosh.
That was pretty incredible.
So clearly they passed thetorch to him.
Ozzy passed the torch toYoungblood as the new British young,
young rocker.
And he's leaning into rock androll now as well, but pretty cool
(04:45):
stuff.
Anyway, it was, it was greatto see all the different bands, Pantera
and all my, all my faves.
Who was your favorite from the.
From the show?
Let me know.
I'm super curious.
But let's get into a reviewreal quick before we get to the content
today.
See, this one is from all right.
(05:10):
And this one is from says newlistener Chris Garrison.
And then bigger Vision.
So, yes, bigger vision, sir.
Five star says really enjoy,really enjoy the if I could talk
today, really enjoying thepodcast as a business owner that
is looking to build a strongone call close sales team.
(05:33):
So rock and roll Chris.
Man, I love that.
Pop me a message if you hearthis on an episode.
And you left me a five star.
If you read this, let me knowand we will do a, we can do a coaching
call together.
I'm happy to do that.
That is my incentive toeveryone who leaves me a five star
review and if you hear it readon an episode, message me and you
(05:58):
get a free coaching session.
So we can help you workthrough friction porn or if you just
want to chop it up and talkabout music or coffee or whatever
it is.
I'm fitness nutrition.
We can, we can dive in.
We use the time how you wantbut you've earned an hour of my time
my friend.
And so great.
So One Call Close sales team.
That, that is incredible.
(06:18):
I love that.
And at the same time it'sreally funny that I'm, I'm getting
comments about the One CallClose because yes, we absolutely
train and teach One CallClosing at the same time.
We don't abandon the fact thatthere's a huge portion of society
that are not going to close atone call.
So there's also, I'm tellingyou all 20 to 30% of your revenue
(06:44):
you could increase immediatelyif you followed up the way you should.
So while we absolutely pushfor the One Call Close, we, we don't
abandon the people that saidnot right now because all that means
it's not a no, it's a notright now.
So love that and if you arewould like to know more.
(07:05):
I did just write the most epicrobust follow up system on the planet,
especially in home servicesand I'm working on getting that packaged
up and put together a littlebit better.
And I'm going to be offeringthat soon and will be doing a virtual
training on that.
So watch out for it.
It's going to be coming pretty soon.
(07:27):
One last announcement realquick before we get into this content.
Today I am in process ofworking on the door to door program.
Yes, you heard it right coming here.
Here at Close it now we aregoing to have the most incredible
robust door to door program.
Everything from entry level todone for you blitz come out and literally
(07:53):
generate millions of businessfor you.
Millions of dollars inbusiness for you in a short amount
of time and every step inbetween that is getting built.
Right now I'm working with acouple partners in this project and
you are going to love it.
Look, for fall 2025 there'sgoing to be a two day event and after
(08:15):
that that's where we're goingto introduce the different programs
that will be available if youwant to.
And know that you have to goto business differently in 2025.
We cannot keep functioning thesame way.
Just give the Internet machinemore dollars and hope that we get
leads.
That is the Way to murder yourbusiness as fast as possible.
(08:35):
I'm here to tell you thecompanies that are winning the most
in the country right now arethe ones that are going to business
as if the Internet didn'texist and then only supplementing
with digital ad spend.
So those are the winners right now.
And you can see it.
They're instantly growing and dominating.
And we are putting together apackage and plan to help you do exactly
(08:58):
that in your marketplace.
So be on the lookout.
The door to door program is coming.
It's coming, it's coming.
So let's sink into this content.
So here's.
We'll start with a story.
Have you ever walked into ahome and you felt the tension the
second you said hello?
It's like they started toresist you from the minute you walked
(09:21):
in.
Or you had a buyer who said all.
They said all the rightthings, but something just felt off.
You knew it wasn't sittingright, it wasn't hitting right.
I had a coaching client this morning.
This is exactly what we weretalking about.
They just, the entire time,they were distracted, they were talking
to each other.
They're texting in the middle.
It's like they weren't really.
They weren't locked in, theyweren't paying attention.
Well, the thing is, that's notjust coincidence.
(09:44):
That's the true.
That's the temperature.
That's the trust temperature.
That's the thermostat.
And you know, the thing is,you've been reading it your whole
career without even knowing it.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to break this down for
you a bit, because this is oneof the key elements that nobody's
talking about, but everybodyneeds to know.
(10:06):
So this is episode three ofthe Close It Now Cell Psychology
series where we train salespros to read and respond to real
humans, not just objections.
This is not just the script.
We're going beyond the scriptin this one.
So we're gonna.
In this episode, we're gonnaunpack the trust thermometer.
This is a tool.
(10:27):
So giving you another tool foryour tool belt, a tool to help you
assess your buyer's emotionalstate within the first few minutes.
And then we can adjust ourapproach, we can adjust it accordingly.
Because buyers don't say yeswhen they understand.
They say yes when they feel safe.
And this is important to remember.
It doesn't matter if they understand.
(10:49):
They're not going to say yesto a buying decision with you until
they feel safe.
They feel safe enough thatthey can trust comes first.
But out of trust, the emotionthat we're looking for is there.
They feel emotionally safe totrust you in this buying decision.
So that is where we're at.
So the first step is, what isthe trust thermometer?
(11:12):
So we're going to break thatdown first.
So with this, the main thingis, you know, we can't close anybody
who doesn't trust us.
They're not going to buy fromus if they don't trust us.
And you can't build trust ifyou don't know where the buyer is
emotionally.
We have to know where they areemotionally to be able to go to work
(11:33):
on that, to build that trust.
So the trust thermometer is areal time awareness tool that helps
you gauge your buyer'sopenness and emotional readiness
to receive what you're offering.
So there's three levels, andyou may have heard this in as far
as a lot of people like tosay, leads, marketed leads are cold
(11:55):
leads.
So you've got cold leads,you've got warm leads, and you've
got hot leads.
Traditionally, the way thiswas explained is a cold lead is somebody
that you've never met beforejust meeting them for the first time.
They have not used thecompany, They've not used you.
It's first time, they're fresh.
That is a cold lead.
(12:17):
All right, so cold, warm and hot.
Warm is, of course, you know,maybe it's somebody that you already
know.
Maybe it's somebody that'sused the company.
But they haven't necessarilyraised their hand and said, hey,
I need this or I need thisservice or I need this product or
I need.
I need you to do this work.
So that's a warm lead.
(12:38):
Just it's familiarity of awareness.
They've.
They know who you are.
It's not completely new.
And then a hot lead, that'sthe ones that traditionally, we've
always said, oh, man.
There, for example, in H Vac,that's the system that's down.
Their house is hot or theirhouse is freezing cold.
(12:58):
They need something now that'sa hot lead.
They are in the their buyingcycle to buy immediately.
Now, the problem is we baseand we build our entire organization,
our companies around onlyfocusing on the hot leads and a little
(13:20):
bit of the warm leads.
And then as the company grows,we pull in a little bit of the cold
leads and.
But we hate it.
It's like this, you know, thisconstant struggle of, oh, we know
that marketed leads arenecessary, but they're also cold
leads.
So we got to work so hard toclose this conversation is this downward
spiral because we've lost thetrue vision of what it means to truly
(13:43):
be a brand in the marketplace.
What it truly means whenyou're just, when you're an individual,
to be able to create aportfolio, a pipeline of people that
you have met, know, like, andtrust, and you cultivate to the place.
And even if they were coldwhen you first met them, how do we
(14:04):
warm them up?
How do we warm them up quicker?
How do we get them to theplace of buying in the shortest amount
of time possible, whileunderstanding that everyone has a
different length of a buyingcycle and there is only so much we
can do to manipulate orinfluence the length of their buying
cycle.
(14:25):
So I'm absolutely not here to.
And I love.
That's why I started with thisreview today, because I'm not here
to tell you that we can forcea one sit close every single time.
That's absolutely not the case.
And if we do that, those arecompanies that are either selling
too much on discounting orthey are, yeah, we're making sales,
but we're also getting a lotof cancels, which is worse.
(14:47):
That's awful.
So we're not going to forcethe one sit close.
We're going to allow it tohappen and to show up organically
and naturally.
And yes, when you do all ofthe steps correctly and when you
do all the steps right, youget a really high closing rate in
one sit.
It happens.
You know my, one of myfavorite stories from my own numbers,
(15:09):
I went 20 in a row one summer.
20 in a row.
Sit close, sit close, sit close.
One June.
It was nuts.
I just, it was incredible.
I loved it.
But that doesn't always happen.
So we have to understand whatis the buying cycle and how to, and
how do we measure it, how dowe sense that, what that level is
(15:29):
when we get in there.
So let's break these threelevels down differently for the context
of this conversation, becauseit's more than just that.
When we really start to lookat what a cold, warm or hot level
is in the trust thermometer,this is not just a general umbrella
labeling of cold, warm, hot.
(15:51):
This is the trust thermometer.
It's the awareness tool.
This is the buyer's opennessand emotional readiness to receive
what we are offering, whatwe're communicating.
So here's the three levelsunder this new definition.
Cold is.
They're guarded.
And so here's are someindicators to just describe them.
(16:13):
And then we're going to get alittle more deeper into how to spot
Them, So they're guarded.
Cold is guarded.
They're skeptical, they'reemotionally closed off.
Warm is.
They're a little more open,they're curious, they're emotionally
neutral or possibly exploring,dipping the toe.
(16:34):
Some.
A warm is somebody that says,oh, well, you know, we just wanted
to, we wanted to see, check itout for the future.
That's a warm.
They're not just completelyclosed, they're.
Well, we wanted to see just sowe'll be ready.
Hud, of course, is engaged,trusting, emotionally invested in
a solution.
So those are pretty obvious aswhat the three levels are.
(16:58):
The thing to remember though,is buyers move up and down the scale
constantly.
And it's not a slow move.
They move up and down thescale, not just across weeks, months,
days.
They move up and down thescale in real time, in a moment,
(17:19):
while you're in yourappointment even.
They can move from hot to warmto cold, back to warm, back to hot,
and all the way back andforth, depending on a lot of variables,
depending on what's going onin their life, depending on how you
run your appointment,depending on how you show up and
(17:40):
how you lead that appointmentand that presentation.
You can absolutely takesomebody from hot to cold or from
cold all the way to hot in amatter of moments if you do it properly
or improperly.
So how do we spot where they are?
So the first is, let's startwith cold buyers.
Cold buyers, resistance.
(18:01):
This is how we know.
This is the easy one.
Short answer, especially whenyou're getting into discovery.
Short answers, little eyecontact, very little eye contact,
crossed arms, really guardedbody language.
They're overly logical or veryflat in their answers.
Very flat in the way that theyrespond to you.
(18:24):
There's no emotional tonality changes.
They have a distrust of your intent.
A cold buyer, I know of a lotof you, you've had those homeowners
that they just don't trustwhat you're saying, like, yeah, but
how do I know?
Well, yeah, but you can tellus anything.
(18:44):
Yeah, but you're the sales.
All the yeah, buts.
All the yeah but.
Right?
That's, that's a cold buyer.
It's, it's pretty easy to recognize.
Now, before we go on, there'ssomething that I want to discuss
here because in, in thecoaching session earlier that I was
talking to my, my guy Chrisabout, and he's total rockstar, he
(19:05):
is killing it lately.
He is putting up some insane numbers.
Didn't have hardly any salesfor a few weeks before I showed up
to their place.
And then in the last month hehas been putting up rock star numbers.
So that's what happens if you,if you look, jump on my Facebook
page, you'll see a snapshot ofsome of his text messages to me.
Oh, got another 24,000 up, gotanother 27,000.
(19:27):
So he's doing it all the time now.
But what we're talking aboutthis morning is he had this client
and so stories from the field here.
Because I've had this clienthundreds of times and if you've done
this very long, you have too.
And if you have not done salesenough to have the client that I'm
about to describe, you justhaven't seen enough people yet because
(19:50):
you will.
So this client is, was very,very closed off and he's getting
into the, getting into theprocess and he's going through and
he's asking his questions andthey were just distracted.
Every answer was short.
There was no, it was justsuper flat.
And he was telling me, it'slike I had this, the thought crossed
(20:13):
my mind, he's like, why am Ieven here?
And so the first thing that Iwant to tell you everybody, there
are different scenarios, thereare different things that could be
happening behind the scenesthat if you don't call it out, they're
not going to tell you.
Because turns out, you know,in this situation, they tell them
in the beginning, well, youknow, this system is just old, like
(20:34):
25 year old heating and air system.
I mean super old.
Somebody has an old, whateverit is, if it's a heating and air
system or if it's a garagedoor opener or water heater or whatever
it is that you do in thefield, when one is super old and
they know it and they still,and you're there to maybe quote a
(20:57):
new one, but they're not engaged.
They act like it doesn'treally matter to them.
Something is going on.
These are major red flags.
You've got to clue in on this,pay attention.
Don't just force your processbecause if you're not able to.
So the goal is to get thempast even a brand spanking new client.
(21:19):
If you do your introductionright, set your agenda right and
you get into your discoveryand asking questions, if they haven't
become warm by the time youget that far into your appointment,
pump the brakes and call it out.
Say, literally just shut,close your book.
Give them the big breath, givethem the, and ask this question,
(21:43):
what's really going on here?
Ask them what is really goingon here?
Find out.
Call out the elephant in the room.
It could Be.
Maybe they're distractedbecause something, you know, something
happened in their life.
Something bad happened.
I mean, this is so for.
I mean, this is really realwhat's going on here in Texas right
(22:04):
now.
For all of you listening inTexas, there is a high probability,
if you're anywhere nearcentral Texas, that people may be
distracted in the heaviness ofwhat just happened this past 4th
of July weekend with the flooding.
And over a hundred deaths noware verified in the flooding.
(22:26):
Somebody may have a relativeor a close friend that maybe lost
a child or maybe somethinghappened in the flooding.
So this is.
It's not always something nefarious.
It's not always some, youknow, an intentional thing that they're
doing to, you know, undermineyour process.
They could legitimately be distracted.
(22:49):
Maybe their dog died that morning.
I've told a story in the pastwhere I showed up and I got no engagement
from this family because theirfreaking grandpa had just died in
the wedding.
The wedding, the funeral wasright after my appointment.
I should have recognized itand pumped the brakes and said, hang
on, reschedule this.
There's no reason to be goingover this right now while you guys
(23:11):
are getting ready to go to a funeral.
So there are reasons why thiscan happen.
Now, let's talk about thisdifferently, though.
At the end, this appointmentparticularly, they told him at the
beginning, you know, we don'twant to look at repairing.
We don't really truly knowwhat's going on.
We don't even want to look atrepairing it because it's a very
(23:33):
old equipment.
We know it.
We just want to get quotes fora new one.
Okay?
So he moves through theprocess like normal.
And then at the end, they say,well, you know, we're getting quotes,
but we have a family friendwho we're going to have come out
and take a look and see ifit's an easy fix.
(23:53):
Okay, That's a totallydifferent situation.
Right?
So that's where the mysterycan happen.
It could be maybe that familyfriend has a small company, but he
doesn't know any engineering.
So many times they'll have usout to do this incredible engineering
and design.
And, oh, you need ductwork,and you need this.
And here's this test we did,and here's all of this, and we give
(24:17):
it to them, and they're like,okay, thanks.
We'll call you.
And then they take that andthey give it to their family friend
or somebody they know thatdoes this on the side that doesn't
know how to design a dang thing.
But maybe they were a helperon a crew and they know how to put
it in and follow somebodyelse's plan.
That happens all the time.
Or maybe they're secretshopping you.
(24:40):
If you don't think thatanother company has had you come
out to a house to give a.
Give a proposal.
Take them through the wholeprocess because they want to know
what you're.
And the videotape, they willrecord it.
Absolutely.
I can tell you this happensbecause it's happened to me.
They will have a video cameraset up in the house to record you,
(25:03):
record your process withoutyour knowledge and then get all of
your numbers and that clientthey're going to have you go through.
Just give me numbers on everything.
I don't know what I want.
So they can secret shop you.
This is another company.
This happens.
Also, just know.
Also be aware the FBI and theFederal Trade Commission is looking
(25:25):
into our industry right now.
There are some bad apples thatare ruining this industry and taking
advantage of homeowners andtaking advantage of contractors and
stealing their companies andwiping them out, making them right
over this.
You know, sign up for thesecrazy PE groups and give up half
(25:46):
of the ownership of yourcompany and all your voting rights
and transfer your money intotheir bank accounts and all this,
all the stuff that shouldnever happen, that's a scam.
If you're, if anybody'stalking to you about doing that,
just know that that is a scam.
It's not how business should work.
And.
But then what happens is thesecompanies are getting horrible reviews
and they're closing down andlosing money and they're going into
(26:08):
the negative.
So then what happens?
Then what happens?
So right now the FBI and theFTC are looking into our industry.
So just know, beware.
But what.
So that could be, you know,there's a lot of news crews that
you know all over the countrythat are doing sting operations and
(26:29):
what used to just be ontechnicians, they're going to.
I'm predicting this.
I have not seen it happen yet,but I predict it will, that they're
going to start doing it withsalespeople to see if they can recognize
some, if they're lying,cheating and stealing to homeowners,
forcing them to sign thingsthat they shouldn't be signing.
(26:51):
So that's why here you have tohave integrity.
We don't lie, cheat or steal.
Stay in integrity.
Everything is legally,morally, ethically sound.
If, Listen to me, salespeopleand technicians.
If you're at a company that'sasking you to do something that you
don't Ethically, morally,agree with run.
(27:13):
Find another place.
Do not lie, cheater.
Still to people, especially ifit icks you out.
So I'll get off my soapboxback to this content.
So there's.
The point is there's athousand different reasons why buyers
might be cold.
The thing is, if they're notwarming up, don't move on.
(27:35):
You're not.
That's pointless to move pastthe first phases of your appointment
if they're not warming up intoa warm or hot fire.
If they stay cold and nomatter what's going on, they stay
completely resistant, call it out.
Listen, I can only help you ifyou help me.
I need to get some questionsanswered so we know, even know what
(27:57):
to design for you.
You wouldn't go to the doctorwith something wrong with your ankle
and he starts looking at your shoulder.
You would think he's a quack.
You would think he doesn'tknow what he's doing.
But if he didn't ask questionsto find out, why are you here today?
What are you experiencing?
It's the same thing here.
(28:17):
So I'm here to help.
But if you don't open up andshare some of this information with
me, I can't help you.
And we might as well justshake hands and part ways as friends.
So that's a conversation youhave to be able to have with the
homeowner if they are notopening up.
So that.
So that's a cold buyer.
We've beat that.
(28:37):
That horse, that dead horse,is now beaten.
Now let's move into warm buyers.
How do we recognize them?
Neutral curiosity.
So they're not, they're notextra curious, but they're not cold
or resistant either.
They start asking.
A warm buyer will start askinglow stakes questions, questions that
aren't necessarily majorquestions like, hey, let's talk about
(29:00):
financing or when can you do this?
But low stakes questions are,you know, maybe asking about light
details of the project, thattype of thing.
They start nodding.
They start leaning slightly in.
They have this tell me more energy.
They might not be through whatthey say, but it's what they're.
You can feel they're startingto dig what you're saying and it's
(29:24):
starting to almost pull it outof you.
They're not committed yet, butthey're open.
Now.
Here's a ninja trick.
We can move them from cold tohot very quickly, or at least cold
to warm, because I will go allthe way through a presentation with
a warm buyer.
If they're the slightestdegree open and warm, we're going
(29:46):
to rock that sucker outbecause we're going to show them
how exceptional we are.
If we're not able to get themwarm from a cold buyer, that's where
you pump the brakes and you stop.
So you've got to be able torecognize that.
So with the warm buyer, that'swhere you know they're starting to
get open.
(30:06):
So the ninja trick here isthat's why, if you've heard me talk
about the difference ininterested versus open, this is why
we use the word open as oftenas we do.
Because no one can stay a coldbuyer if they're open to more information.
So the way that we ask ourquestions changes everything.
Change your language, changeyour results.
(30:26):
So let's move into the hotbuyer because the goal is, of course,
by the time we are not done,by the time we're partway through
our presentation, through ourappointment, we have turned that
homeowner from a cold or awarm all the way to a hot.
And if they were already hot,we're only adding fuel to the fire.
(30:47):
So emotional engagement, theystart asking ownership based questions
like when could this be installed?
How fast can you get started?
Those types of things.
Smiling.
They start picturing the outcome.
They start visualizing whatthe future is going to look like.
They'll turn to each other orthey'll tell you, oh, so this would
(31:09):
solve such and such problem.
Or oh man, so I wouldn't haveto experience XYZ again.
Right?
And you're like, yes.
So when they start futurepacing and they start visualizing
what the future is going to belook, going to look like, that's
how you know you've hit thehot buyer level.
Now it does not mean their level.
All of this, I want you to bevery clear.
(31:32):
It does not mean their levelof excitement.
That is something totally different.
And we have to learn todistinguish the two.
Because if you're like me, mylevel of engagement, emotional engagement,
when I'm a hot buyer, myexcitement is tied to it and I have
to work hard to separate it.
But for a lot of people, it'snot that way.
(31:54):
So do not judge this cold,warm, hot by their level of excitement.
It's different than that.
So they're smiling the pictureand the outcome.
They start asking the what isthe next step?
Showing signs of urgency.
They're buying language.
They start very much future pacing.
Some of the cues to listen forfor cold are, I'm just looking, we're
(32:17):
not ready yet.
With warm, how does it work?
What does that include?
Those are those the tell memore energy.
Those are the low stakesquestions I was talking about.
How does it work?
What does this include?
Hot questions are or verbiage cues.
How soon could we start?
What's the process from here?
(32:37):
So that is a hot buyer type of verbiage.
So let's talk a little bitmore about how to warm a buyer up.
Because buyers don't start hot.
No one does.
This is that spectrum.
They become hot when they feelemotionally safe.
I'm going to say that againand slow it down for a second.
Buyers don't start hot.
They become hot when they feelemotionally safe.
(33:01):
So here are some tools thatincrease the emotional temperature.
Soft starts Permission based questions.
This is exactly why the closeit now process is built on permission
based language.
Now calm congruent vocal tone,your voice tone.
(33:21):
This is why it's so importantto record yourself so you can hear
what you sound like.
Eye contact match, pacing.
All of the, you know, thetempo, the rhythm, we start to match
all of this.
Mirroring language.
It's not enough to just mirrorthe pace or the rhythm.
(33:42):
If somebody speaks fast, youspeak fast.
If they speak slow, you speak slow.
That's not enough.
Also we have to understand andrecognize their level of language.
And by level of language Imean are they speaking at a third
grade level which is where wewant to be most of the time for the
(34:03):
most general population.
However, if you're having aconversation with someone and the
the actual word choice andtheir language elevates to a more
academic or engineering orwhatever the level of their language
goes to.
If they start using biggerwords, you better have a large enough
(34:24):
vocabulary to be able toarticulate a verbose language pattern
to rise to the level to match.
This is why leaders are readers.
It's so important toconstantly be learning and fill your
mind with more tools.
And when you are in sales,your tool bag is no longer the needle
(34:46):
nose and the six in one andthe you know, your pipe wrench and
all the things.
Your tool bag is now your vocabulary.
Your tool bag is now how manywords do you know and how well can
you articulate them?
How well can you tell a story?
How well can you get yourmessage across succinctly in a way
that's understood?
(35:06):
Those are your new tools.
And the more robust you buildout your verbal tool bag of your
vocabulary and your skillsinside that verbal tool bag, the
higher the level of client youwill be able to that will buy from
you.
I was going to say sell to,but we know that's wrong.
(35:27):
They buy from us.
We lead them to the solution.
So.
And we also have to be able tolisten without correction or steamrolling.
Now, I know there are sometraining out there that is all about
steamrolling that homeowner.
Steamroll that client, Forcethem into the decision.
Because earlier you said, ifI'm going to pick on question 12
(35:50):
for a minute, question 12drives me absolutely batty at the
end.
If there's any reason, if itall makes sense, money aside, is
there any reason you can'tgive me a yes or no answer today?
That's steamrolling.
But earlier you said you couldgive me an answer.
What did I do wrong?
Well, that's awful.
(36:11):
Stop doing it.
Stop saying that.
Don't do it.
There's so many better ways.
That's like 20 years ago typeof ABC closing coffees for closers.
Okay, back to the.
Back to the mission.
I'm on my soapbox again, listening.
Without correction or steamrolling.
We listen, we mirror the language.
(36:31):
All of these things, all ofthese tools will elevate that buyer
from.
They start to feel safe and comfortable.
And as they feel safe andemotionally safe, that's when they
start to warm up from a coldto a warm to a hot.
So here's an example with cold buyer.
You know, we just wanted toget some info.
(36:52):
The response.
Here's how you're going torespond to that.
Totally get that.
Can I walk you through a fewbasics so it's easier to compare
options later even if it's notwith us?
Ooh, that's really powerful.
Right?
Because so many times I knowall of you hear this.
I used to hear this all thedamn time.
I know you hear this.
(37:12):
Hey, we're just getting some.
We just wanted to get some info.
We just want to get some numbers.
Not buying anything today.
Totally get that.
Can I walk you through a fewbasics so it's easier to compare
options later?
Even if it's not with us, theywill not expect that response.
And it's going to totallydisarm them.
So here's your pro tip.
When in doubt, slow down.
(37:35):
A nervous buyer is a cold buyer.
A herd buyer is a hot one.
If they feel seen, heard, andunderstood, that will warm them up
faster than anything.
And one of the ways to do thatis slow down, slow down.
So you're listening.
(37:55):
Listen to understand, not respond.
One of the tenets and sevenhabits of highly effective people.
So here's why temperaturebeats timing so so many times.
You know, we think reps oftenthink, you know, they weren't ready
to buy today?
Oh, they just weren't ready.
The truth is they weren'temotionally warm enough to decide.
(38:19):
Buyers buy in a warm, trustingemotional state, not a perfect financial
one.
They have to be in a warm,trusting emotional state.
Plenty of people have all ofthe money to buy and they still don't
buy.
Because if it was only aboutlogic and money, logic and price,
(38:41):
they would have already bought.
But why didn't they?
They were not in a warm,trusting emotional state yet.
So that is so, so, soimportant because it has to do with.
Remember that emotionalbicycle we talked about safety, then
to belief, then division, thento decision.
(39:03):
That was the last episode thatwe talked about.
So that's the emotional buy cycle.
So here's how we're going toanchor this in.
Imagine walking into a home,into the home and knowing within
60 seconds where your buyer isemotionally and being able to lead
them confidently fromskepticism to security.
(39:26):
When you're able to do that,you're not just selling, you're regulating
the room.
That's where you become thethermostat, not the thermometer.
So here's the recap.
The trust thermometer helpsyou assess emotional readiness.
Cold is guarded, warm is open.
Hot is ready.
(39:46):
Just like Little Caesar'scommercials, hot and ready.
The only way to get there isthrough making them feel safe, seen
and heard.
Use body language, questionsand tone to spot where they are.
We're not only using that,we're not only using that.
We're like constantlymeasuring their body language, questions
(40:07):
and tone so we can spotexactly where they are in the spectrum.
And you can.
And it's not just a 1, 2, 3.
It's, it's a spectrum, it's atrue range.
So of course we can warm them up.
So it is a range, it's a true spectrum.
And we can warm them up by allof these things using regulating,
(40:32):
you know, we can feel, we canwarm them up by being calm, being
curious, permission based.
We don't rush to close by cold buyers.
Again, if they're not warmingup, we have to just recognize what's
going on.
We have to help them feel safebefore we ever get to asking for
(40:54):
the sale.
If you start showing signs oftrying to close them and they're
still cold and they don't feeltruly safe yet, it's going to have
the opposite effect.
You're going to push them awayand they will absolutely have to
think about it and get you tojust email this over.
And they don't even open theemail when that's the case you're
(41:17):
scaring them away if you'retrying to close a cold buyer.
So here is your homework.
I want you to in your nextthree appointments, or however many
appointments it is betweenthis episode and the next one, I
want you to try to identifythe buyer's temperature, not what
it seemed.
(41:37):
I don't want you to go by whatthe notes say.
Don't go by, hey, they calledand they need this now or don't go
by, oh, it's a tech turnoverand this everything's completely
broken.
Don't do not go by thatbecause I can tell you I've run into
every single level of thishomeowner in a say they're com it's
105 degrees outside and theair conditioner hadn't run for 24
(42:01):
hours and it's hot as Hades intheir house.
And I've had cold buyers.
It does not mean situationdoes not mean the buyer's temperature
is zero correlation there.
Sometimes it does, but do notmake an assumption that that's what
directs it has nothing to dowith that.
It has everything to do withthem feeling safe enough with the
(42:24):
company and you to make thebuying decision.
This is why in the last fewyears so many people said I've got
all these longtime clients ofours and they still had to shop around.
Well, they didn't feel safewith you or they wouldn't have shopped
around.
It's exactly what's going on.
So do not just go by the situation.
Start fresh.
(42:45):
Enter your appointment as ifit's a blank slate and see if you
can recognize within the firstfive minutes.
Give yourself a five minute timeline.
It doesn't matter the timeline.
See if you can recognize wherethey're at and then watch as that
starts to change.
Make a note of it.
Be aware.
Awareness is key in this andwe can pay attention to where they
(43:06):
are in their buying cycle,where they are in their temperature
and then you know how torespond accordingly to continue that
process to continue growing.
If they start to get colderagain, you know you said or did something
that or they thought ofsomething based on what you said
or did that made them colder again.
(43:28):
What changed?
Pick it out, notice it, talkabout it.
If they continue to get warmerand warmer, you're on the right track.
But you have to be aware andknow and we do not tell that.
You don't tell the punchlineto the joke until they're to the
hot part.
That's that nothing comes out.
The the important stuffdoesn't come out.
We're not asking for the celluntil they're hot.
(43:48):
Don't ask for the cell ifthey're cold or warm.
That means you haven'tanswered enough questions and made
them feel safe enough yet.
So see if you can notice that.
Second is tag a teammate whoneeds to hear this.
Send this episode to somebodyand start rating your appointments
as cold, warm or hot in yourown notes.
Not what the notes from thecompany said, from what your CSR
(44:11):
said, your own notes as youtake notes about the appointment
and about these homeowners and everybody.
If you've gotten some valuefrom this, make sure to leave a review.
If this has helped shift howyou sell, drop me a review.
You can review me on Applepodcasts, you can review me on Google
and thank you every single onebecause your reviews, five star reviews,
(44:35):
help drive this podcastforward and helps me pay the bills
so I can continue to do thisfor you guys and help our entire
industry level up.
Because it's my heart and mypassion to make some major impact
and change to start themovement and lead this movement within
our industries in all of homeservices to raise the standard.
(44:57):
So stick around.
Next week, the next episode isI'm entering into a very touchy subject.
Nobody's talking about it, butit has to be discussed.
Neuro Aware Selling Part onewhy neurodivergence is more common
than you think and how to spotit in the field.
So this is going to be a big one.
We're really going to unpack it.
(45:18):
So we got a couple episodes onthat in this Psychology of Sales
series.
So thank you for sticking around.
I appreciate every single oneof you.
I'm grateful for every singleone of you.
If you want to know more aboutthe close it now coaching programs,
we have virtual programs forone on one.
A virtual program for company level.
(45:39):
You come out to your locationand train your team on site.
That comes with virtualsupport on the back end.
And if you want to know moreabout trade scale where we partner
with companies and blow yourbusiness up in the best of ways,
we see, you know, 2, 3, 400%growth in 12, 18, 24 months.
(46:01):
You can reach out about thatas well.
And yeah, we don't takeownership of your company.
We don't take equity.
What we do is we work out aprogram that everyone wins.
And you know me only in integrity.
That's the only way I'm goingto do anything.
And I know that you are the same.
(46:22):
So until next time everybody,thanks for listening and make sure
to go become someone be someone.
Don't just become be.
Choose to be every single day,be someone worth buying from.
You've been listening to theClose it now podcast.
Our passion is to dive headforward first into the transformative
movement that's reshaping thevery foundation of H Vac and home
(46:45):
improvement, and at the sametime covering fitness, nutrition,
relationships and personalgrowth, 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 themeantime, find the website@closeitnow.net
(47:07):
find us on Instagram at thereal Close it now and on Facebook
at Close It Now.
See you next time.
Welcome to Close it now, thepodcast that's revolutionizing the
H Vac and home improvementtrades industries.
Get ready to dive deep intothe world of heating, ventilation
and air conditioning.
We're turning up the heat onindustry standards and cooling down
misconceptions.
And we're not just talkingabout fixing vents and adjusting
(00:21):
thermostats.
It's about the transformativemovement 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 theirprofessional endeavors, but also
in fitness, nutrition,relationships and personal growth,
proving that we can indeedhave it all.
(00:44):
This is Close it now, whereexcellence meets excitement.
Let's get to work.
Now, your host, Sam Wakefield.
All right, let's go.
This is episode three of theSales Psychology series.
(01:04):
Coming right up, this episodeis all about one of the most foundational
concepts in emotionallyintelligent selling.
This is the trust thermometer.
We're going to be talkingtoday about how buyers decide who
feels safe.
Because remember, people don'tbuy any other time than when they
(01:26):
feel safe.
That is the, the really theemotion that they are looking for.
When we talk about trust.
The reason they're looking fortrust is so they feel safe in their
decision.
So we're unpacking that.
And how does this trustthermometer work?
It's how, when buyer, how dowe decide?
(01:49):
How do we figure it out?
How do we know?
How do we, how do buyersdecide who feels safe?
So that's what we are going tobe talking about today.
So stick it around.
This is going to be fun.
Before we get into that, let'sdo a quick little what's in your
cup today?
I have some iced coffee.
Nothing too crazy or fancy.
(02:10):
It's been a little bit sinceanybody we've talked about beans.
I've been on the tea kick fora while.
Earlier I had some berries,Irish tea, but getting my taste back
for coffee beans.
So if there are some beansthat you would recommend or you feel
so inclined, shoot me a message.
If you want to send me some totry that is unique or different or
(02:33):
unusual in your area, I amhappy to try it and we can talk about
that.
But today I've got just someiced coffee.
What is in your cup today?
What are you drinking and whatare you listening to?
What are your jams?
What is your first of all,what are you listening to?
Podcast wise, of course you'relistening to this.
What else are you listening to?
What audiobook are you inright now?
What are you doing forpersonal growth?
(02:54):
You have to do personal growth daily.
Remember Zig Ziglar said,personal growth is like taking a
shower.
You can't do it on Sunday andexpect it to last all week.
You got to do personal growthevery day.
So what's in your cup?
Is it tea?
Is it coffee?
You got iced coffee like me?
Is it.
You got a Coke out there?
Is it energy drink?
(03:14):
What are you sipping on?
Drop a message in the Facebookgroup and let me know.
So let's take a make a toastto this episode and we'll dive right
in.
3, 2, 1.
All right, so before I getinto this, I want to talk about something
because I'm super into musicand a lot of you are into music as
(03:37):
well.
This, the date of thisrecording is July 8th, and one of
the most incredible thingsI've ever seen happen this last weekend.
It was the Black Sabbath, OzzyOsbourne's final show.
And man, I have been bingingthose, those, those concerts all
the last couple days.
It's a miracle that I'mactually getting this done and I'm
(03:59):
not watching another, another,another one from there.
But holy cow, talk about aninspiring moment.
To get to see all of thoseartists like, truly in a once in
a lifetime type of experienceand singing and playing their hearts
out was so cool.
And man, you want to talkabout someone I have a whole lot
(04:21):
more respect for than I didbefore that I will keep my eye on
as an up and comer is Youngblood.
Oh my gosh.
That was pretty incredible.
So clearly they passed thetorch to him.
Ozzy passed the torch toYoungblood as the new British young,
young rocker.
And he's leaning into rock androll now as well, but pretty cool
(04:45):
stuff.
Anyway, it was, it was greatto see all the different bands, Pantera
and all my, all my faves.
Who was your favorite from the.
From the show?
Let me know.
I'm super curious.
But let's get into a reviewreal quick before we get to the content
today.
See, this one is from all right.
(05:10):
And this one is from says newlistener Chris Garrison.
And then bigger Vision.
So, yes, bigger vision, sir.
Five star says really enjoy,really enjoy the if I could talk
today, really enjoying thepodcast as a business owner that
is looking to build a strongone call close sales team.
(05:33):
So rock and roll Chris.
Man, I love that.
Pop me a message if you hearthis on an episode.
And you left me a five star.
If you read this, let me knowand we will do a, we can do a coaching
call together.
I'm happy to do that.
That is my incentive toeveryone who leaves me a five star
review and if you hear it readon an episode, message me and you
(05:58):
get a free coaching session.
So we can help you workthrough friction porn or if you just
want to chop it up and talkabout music or coffee or whatever
it is.
I'm fitness nutrition.
We can, we can dive in.
We use the time how you wantbut you've earned an hour of my time
my friend.
And so great.
So One Call Close sales team.
That, that is incredible.
(06:18):
I love that.
And at the same time it'sreally funny that I'm, I'm getting
comments about the One CallClose because yes, we absolutely
train and teach One CallClosing at the same time.
We don't abandon the fact thatthere's a huge portion of society
that are not going to close atone call.
So there's also, I'm tellingyou all 20 to 30% of your revenue
(06:44):
you could increase immediatelyif you followed up the way you should.
So while we absolutely pushfor the One Call Close, we, we don't
abandon the people that saidnot right now because all that means
it's not a no, it's a notright now.
So love that and if you arewould like to know more.
(07:05):
I did just write the most epicrobust follow up system on the planet,
especially in home servicesand I'm working on getting that packaged
up and put together a littlebit better.
And I'm going to be offeringthat soon and will be doing a virtual
training on that.
So watch out for it.
It's going to be coming pretty soon.
(07:27):
One last announcement realquick before we get into this content.
Today I am in process ofworking on the door to door program.
Yes, you heard it right coming here.
Here at Close it now we aregoing to have the most incredible
robust door to door program.
Everything from entry level todone for you blitz come out and literally
(07:53):
generate millions of businessfor you.
Millions of dollars inbusiness for you in a short amount
of time and every step inbetween that is getting built.
Right now I'm working with acouple partners in this project and
you are going to love it.
Look, for fall 2025 there'sgoing to be a two day event and after
(08:15):
that that's where we're goingto introduce the different programs
that will be available if youwant to.
And know that you have to goto business differently in 2025.
We cannot keep functioning thesame way.
Just give the Internet machinemore dollars and hope that we get
leads.
That is the Way to murder yourbusiness as fast as possible.
(08:35):
I'm here to tell you thecompanies that are winning the most
in the country right now arethe ones that are going to business
as if the Internet didn'texist and then only supplementing
with digital ad spend.
So those are the winners right now.
And you can see it.
They're instantly growing and dominating.
And we are putting together apackage and plan to help you do exactly
(08:58):
that in your marketplace.
So be on the lookout.
The door to door program is coming.
It's coming, it's coming.
So let's sink into this content.
So here's.
We'll start with a story.
Have you ever walked into ahome and you felt the tension the
second you said hello?
It's like they started toresist you from the minute you walked
(09:21):
in.
Or you had a buyer who said all.
They said all the rightthings, but something just felt off.
You knew it wasn't sittingright, it wasn't hitting right.
I had a coaching client this morning.
This is exactly what we weretalking about.
They just, the entire time,they were distracted, they were talking
to each other.
They're texting in the middle.
It's like they weren't really.
They weren't locked in, theyweren't paying attention.
Well, the thing is, that's notjust coincidence.
(09:44):
That's the true.
That's the temperature.
That's the trust temperature.
That's the thermostat.
And you know, the thing is,you've been reading it your whole
career without even knowing it.
So what we're going to do iswe're going to break this down for
you a bit, because this is oneof the key elements that nobody's
talking about, but everybodyneeds to know.
(10:06):
So this is episode three ofthe Close It Now Cell Psychology
series where we train salespros to read and respond to real
humans, not just objections.
This is not just the script.
We're going beyond the scriptin this one.
So we're gonna.
In this episode, we're gonnaunpack the trust thermometer.
This is a tool.
(10:27):
So giving you another tool foryour tool belt, a tool to help you
assess your buyer's emotionalstate within the first few minutes.
And then we can adjust ourapproach, we can adjust it accordingly.
Because buyers don't say yeswhen they understand.
They say yes when they feel safe.
And this is important to remember.
It doesn't matter if they understand.
(10:49):
They're not going to say yesto a buying decision with you until
they feel safe.
They feel safe enough thatthey can trust comes first.
But out of trust, the emotionthat we're looking for is there.
They feel emotionally safe totrust you in this buying decision.
So that is where we're at.
So the first step is, what isthe trust thermometer?
(11:12):
So we're going to break thatdown first.
So with this, the main thingis, you know, we can't close anybody
who doesn't trust us.
They're not going to buy fromus if they don't trust us.
And you can't build trust ifyou don't know where the buyer is
emotionally.
We have to know where they areemotionally to be able to go to work
(11:33):
on that, to build that trust.
So the trust thermometer is areal time awareness tool that helps
you gauge your buyer'sopenness and emotional readiness
to receive what you're offering.
So there's three levels, andyou may have heard this in as far
as a lot of people like tosay, leads, marketed leads are cold
(11:55):
leads.
So you've got cold leads,you've got warm leads, and you've
got hot leads.
Traditionally, the way thiswas explained is a cold lead is somebody
that you've never met beforejust meeting them for the first time.
They have not used thecompany, They've not used you.
It's first time, they're fresh.
That is a cold lead.
(12:17):
All right, so cold, warm and hot.
Warm is, of course, you know,maybe it's somebody that you already
know.
Maybe it's somebody that'sused the company.
But they haven't necessarilyraised their hand and said, hey,
I need this or I need thisservice or I need this product or
I need.
I need you to do this work.
So that's a warm lead.
(12:38):
Just it's familiarity of awareness.
They've.
They know who you are.
It's not completely new.
And then a hot lead, that'sthe ones that traditionally, we've
always said, oh, man.
There, for example, in H Vac,that's the system that's down.
Their house is hot or theirhouse is freezing cold.
(12:58):
They need something now that'sa hot lead.
They are in the their buyingcycle to buy immediately.
Now, the problem is we baseand we build our entire organization,
our companies around onlyfocusing on the hot leads and a little
(13:20):
bit of the warm leads.
And then as the company grows,we pull in a little bit of the cold
leads and.
But we hate it.
It's like this, you know, thisconstant struggle of, oh, we know
that marketed leads arenecessary, but they're also cold
leads.
So we got to work so hard toclose this conversation is this downward
spiral because we've lost thetrue vision of what it means to truly
(13:43):
be a brand in the marketplace.
What it truly means whenyou're just, when you're an individual,
to be able to create aportfolio, a pipeline of people that
you have met, know, like, andtrust, and you cultivate to the place.
And even if they were coldwhen you first met them, how do we
(14:04):
warm them up?
How do we warm them up quicker?
How do we get them to theplace of buying in the shortest amount
of time possible, whileunderstanding that everyone has a
different length of a buyingcycle and there is only so much we
can do to manipulate orinfluence the length of their buying
cycle.
(14:25):
So I'm absolutely not here to.
And I love.
That's why I started with thisreview today, because I'm not here
to tell you that we can forcea one sit close every single time.
That's absolutely not the case.
And if we do that, those arecompanies that are either selling
too much on discounting orthey are, yeah, we're making sales,
but we're also getting a lotof cancels, which is worse.
(14:47):
That's awful.
So we're not going to forcethe one sit close.
We're going to allow it tohappen and to show up organically
and naturally.
And yes, when you do all ofthe steps correctly and when you
do all the steps right, youget a really high closing rate in
one sit.
It happens.
You know my, one of myfavorite stories from my own numbers,
(15:09):
I went 20 in a row one summer.
20 in a row.
Sit close, sit close, sit close.
One June.
It was nuts.
I just, it was incredible.
I loved it.
But that doesn't always happen.
So we have to understand whatis the buying cycle and how to, and
how do we measure it, how dowe sense that, what that level is
(15:29):
when we get in there.
So let's break these threelevels down differently for the context
of this conversation, becauseit's more than just that.
When we really start to lookat what a cold, warm or hot level
is in the trust thermometer,this is not just a general umbrella
labeling of cold, warm, hot.
(15:51):
This is the trust thermometer.
It's the awareness tool.
This is the buyer's opennessand emotional readiness to receive
what we are offering, whatwe're communicating.
So here's the three levelsunder this new definition.
Cold is.
They're guarded.
And so here's are someindicators to just describe them.
(16:13):
And then we're going to get alittle more deeper into how to spot
Them, So they're guarded.
Cold is guarded.
They're skeptical, they'reemotionally closed off.
Warm is.
They're a little more open,they're curious, they're emotionally
neutral or possibly exploring,dipping the toe.
(16:34):
Some.
A warm is somebody that says,oh, well, you know, we just wanted
to, we wanted to see, check itout for the future.
That's a warm.
They're not just completelyclosed, they're.
Well, we wanted to see just sowe'll be ready.
Hud, of course, is engaged,trusting, emotionally invested in
a solution.
So those are pretty obvious aswhat the three levels are.
(16:58):
The thing to remember though,is buyers move up and down the scale
constantly.
And it's not a slow move.
They move up and down thescale, not just across weeks, months,
days.
They move up and down thescale in real time, in a moment,
(17:19):
while you're in yourappointment even.
They can move from hot to warmto cold, back to warm, back to hot,
and all the way back andforth, depending on a lot of variables,
depending on what's going onin their life, depending on how you
run your appointment,depending on how you show up and
(17:40):
how you lead that appointmentand that presentation.
You can absolutely takesomebody from hot to cold or from
cold all the way to hot in amatter of moments if you do it properly
or improperly.
So how do we spot where they are?
So the first is, let's startwith cold buyers.
Cold buyers, resistance.
(18:01):
This is how we know.
This is the easy one.
Short answer, especially whenyou're getting into discovery.
Short answers, little eyecontact, very little eye contact,
crossed arms, really guardedbody language.
They're overly logical or veryflat in their answers.
Very flat in the way that theyrespond to you.
(18:24):
There's no emotional tonality changes.
They have a distrust of your intent.
A cold buyer, I know of a lotof you, you've had those homeowners
that they just don't trustwhat you're saying, like, yeah, but
how do I know?
Well, yeah, but you can tellus anything.
(18:44):
Yeah, but you're the sales.
All the yeah, buts.
All the yeah but.
Right?
That's, that's a cold buyer.
It's, it's pretty easy to recognize.
Now, before we go on, there'ssomething that I want to discuss
here because in, in thecoaching session earlier that I was
talking to my, my guy Chrisabout, and he's total rockstar, he
(19:05):
is killing it lately.
He is putting up some insane numbers.
Didn't have hardly any salesfor a few weeks before I showed up
to their place.
And then in the last month hehas been putting up rock star numbers.
So that's what happens if you,if you look, jump on my Facebook
page, you'll see a snapshot ofsome of his text messages to me.
Oh, got another 24,000 up, gotanother 27,000.
(19:27):
So he's doing it all the time now.
But what we're talking aboutthis morning is he had this client
and so stories from the field here.
Because I've had this clienthundreds of times and if you've done
this very long, you have too.
And if you have not done salesenough to have the client that I'm
about to describe, you justhaven't seen enough people yet because
(19:50):
you will.
So this client is, was very,very closed off and he's getting
into the, getting into theprocess and he's going through and
he's asking his questions andthey were just distracted.
Every answer was short.
There was no, it was justsuper flat.
And he was telling me, it'slike I had this, the thought crossed
(20:13):
my mind, he's like, why am Ieven here?
And so the first thing that Iwant to tell you everybody, there
are different scenarios, thereare different things that could be
happening behind the scenesthat if you don't call it out, they're
not going to tell you.
Because turns out, you know,in this situation, they tell them
in the beginning, well, youknow, this system is just old, like
(20:34):
25 year old heating and air system.
I mean super old.
Somebody has an old, whateverit is, if it's a heating and air
system or if it's a garagedoor opener or water heater or whatever
it is that you do in thefield, when one is super old and
they know it and they still,and you're there to maybe quote a
(20:57):
new one, but they're not engaged.
They act like it doesn'treally matter to them.
Something is going on.
These are major red flags.
You've got to clue in on this,pay attention.
Don't just force your processbecause if you're not able to.
So the goal is to get thempast even a brand spanking new client.
(21:19):
If you do your introductionright, set your agenda right and
you get into your discoveryand asking questions, if they haven't
become warm by the time youget that far into your appointment,
pump the brakes and call it out.
Say, literally just shut,close your book.
Give them the big breath, givethem the, and ask this question,
(21:43):
what's really going on here?
Ask them what is really goingon here?
Find out.
Call out the elephant in the room.
It could Be.
Maybe they're distractedbecause something, you know, something
happened in their life.
Something bad happened.
I mean, this is so for.
I mean, this is really realwhat's going on here in Texas right
(22:04):
now.
For all of you listening inTexas, there is a high probability,
if you're anywhere nearcentral Texas, that people may be
distracted in the heaviness ofwhat just happened this past 4th
of July weekend with the flooding.
And over a hundred deaths noware verified in the flooding.
(22:26):
Somebody may have a relativeor a close friend that maybe lost
a child or maybe somethinghappened in the flooding.
So this is.
It's not always something nefarious.
It's not always some, youknow, an intentional thing that they're
doing to, you know, undermineyour process.
They could legitimately be distracted.
(22:49):
Maybe their dog died that morning.
I've told a story in the pastwhere I showed up and I got no engagement
from this family because theirfreaking grandpa had just died in
the wedding.
The wedding, the funeral wasright after my appointment.
I should have recognized itand pumped the brakes and said, hang
on, reschedule this.
There's no reason to be goingover this right now while you guys
(23:11):
are getting ready to go to a funeral.
So there are reasons why thiscan happen.
Now, let's talk about thisdifferently, though.
At the end, this appointmentparticularly, they told him at the
beginning, you know, we don'twant to look at repairing.
We don't really truly knowwhat's going on.
We don't even want to look atrepairing it because it's a very
(23:33):
old equipment.
We know it.
We just want to get quotes fora new one.
Okay?
So he moves through theprocess like normal.
And then at the end, they say,well, you know, we're getting quotes,
but we have a family friendwho we're going to have come out
and take a look and see ifit's an easy fix.
(23:53):
Okay, That's a totallydifferent situation.
Right?
So that's where the mysterycan happen.
It could be maybe that familyfriend has a small company, but he
doesn't know any engineering.
So many times they'll have usout to do this incredible engineering
and design.
And, oh, you need ductwork,and you need this.
And here's this test we did,and here's all of this, and we give
(24:17):
it to them, and they're like,okay, thanks.
We'll call you.
And then they take that andthey give it to their family friend
or somebody they know thatdoes this on the side that doesn't
know how to design a dang thing.
But maybe they were a helperon a crew and they know how to put
it in and follow somebodyelse's plan.
That happens all the time.
Or maybe they're secretshopping you.
(24:40):
If you don't think thatanother company has had you come
out to a house to give a.
Give a proposal.
Take them through the wholeprocess because they want to know
what you're.
And the videotape, they willrecord it.
Absolutely.
I can tell you this happensbecause it's happened to me.
They will have a video cameraset up in the house to record you,
(25:03):
record your process withoutyour knowledge and then get all of
your numbers and that clientthey're going to have you go through.
Just give me numbers on everything.
I don't know what I want.
So they can secret shop you.
This is another company.
This happens.
Also, just know.
Also be aware the FBI and theFederal Trade Commission is looking
(25:25):
into our industry right now.
There are some bad apples thatare ruining this industry and taking
advantage of homeowners andtaking advantage of contractors and
stealing their companies andwiping them out, making them right
over this.
You know, sign up for thesecrazy PE groups and give up half
(25:46):
of the ownership of yourcompany and all your voting rights
and transfer your money intotheir bank accounts and all this,
all the stuff that shouldnever happen, that's a scam.
If you're, if anybody'stalking to you about doing that,
just know that that is a scam.
It's not how business should work.
And.
But then what happens is thesecompanies are getting horrible reviews
and they're closing down andlosing money and they're going into
(26:08):
the negative.
So then what happens?
Then what happens?
So right now the FBI and theFTC are looking into our industry.
So just know, beware.
But what.
So that could be, you know,there's a lot of news crews that
you know all over the countrythat are doing sting operations and
(26:29):
what used to just be ontechnicians, they're going to.
I'm predicting this.
I have not seen it happen yet,but I predict it will, that they're
going to start doing it withsalespeople to see if they can recognize
some, if they're lying,cheating and stealing to homeowners,
forcing them to sign thingsthat they shouldn't be signing.
(26:51):
So that's why here you have tohave integrity.
We don't lie, cheat or steal.
Stay in integrity.
Everything is legally,morally, ethically sound.
If, Listen to me, salespeopleand technicians.
If you're at a company that'sasking you to do something that you
don't Ethically, morally,agree with run.
(27:13):
Find another place.
Do not lie, cheater.
Still to people, especially ifit icks you out.
So I'll get off my soapboxback to this content.
So there's.
The point is there's athousand different reasons why buyers
might be cold.
The thing is, if they're notwarming up, don't move on.
(27:35):
You're not.
That's pointless to move pastthe first phases of your appointment
if they're not warming up intoa warm or hot fire.
If they stay cold and nomatter what's going on, they stay
completely resistant, call it out.
Listen, I can only help you ifyou help me.
I need to get some questionsanswered so we know, even know what
(27:57):
to design for you.
You wouldn't go to the doctorwith something wrong with your ankle
and he starts looking at your shoulder.
You would think he's a quack.
You would think he doesn'tknow what he's doing.
But if he didn't ask questionsto find out, why are you here today?
What are you experiencing?
It's the same thing here.
(28:17):
So I'm here to help.
But if you don't open up andshare some of this information with
me, I can't help you.
And we might as well justshake hands and part ways as friends.
So that's a conversation youhave to be able to have with the
homeowner if they are notopening up.
So that.
So that's a cold buyer.
We've beat that.
(28:37):
That horse, that dead horse,is now beaten.
Now let's move into warm buyers.
How do we recognize them?
Neutral curiosity.
So they're not, they're notextra curious, but they're not cold
or resistant either.
They start asking.
A warm buyer will start askinglow stakes questions, questions that
aren't necessarily majorquestions like, hey, let's talk about
(29:00):
financing or when can you do this?
But low stakes questions are,you know, maybe asking about light
details of the project, thattype of thing.
They start nodding.
They start leaning slightly in.
They have this tell me more energy.
They might not be through whatthey say, but it's what they're.
You can feel they're startingto dig what you're saying and it's
(29:24):
starting to almost pull it outof you.
They're not committed yet, butthey're open.
Now.
Here's a ninja trick.
We can move them from cold tohot very quickly, or at least cold
to warm, because I will go allthe way through a presentation with
a warm buyer.
If they're the slightestdegree open and warm, we're going
(29:46):
to rock that sucker outbecause we're going to show them
how exceptional we are.
If we're not able to get themwarm from a cold buyer, that's where
you pump the brakes and you stop.
So you've got to be able torecognize that.
So with the warm buyer, that'swhere you know they're starting to
get open.
(30:06):
So the ninja trick here isthat's why, if you've heard me talk
about the difference ininterested versus open, this is why
we use the word open as oftenas we do.
Because no one can stay a coldbuyer if they're open to more information.
So the way that we ask ourquestions changes everything.
Change your language, changeyour results.
(30:26):
So let's move into the hotbuyer because the goal is, of course,
by the time we are not done,by the time we're partway through
our presentation, through ourappointment, we have turned that
homeowner from a cold or awarm all the way to a hot.
And if they were already hot,we're only adding fuel to the fire.
(30:47):
So emotional engagement, theystart asking ownership based questions
like when could this be installed?
How fast can you get started?
Those types of things.
Smiling.
They start picturing the outcome.
They start visualizing whatthe future is going to look like.
They'll turn to each other orthey'll tell you, oh, so this would
(31:09):
solve such and such problem.
Or oh man, so I wouldn't haveto experience XYZ again.
Right?
And you're like, yes.
So when they start futurepacing and they start visualizing
what the future is going to belook, going to look like, that's
how you know you've hit thehot buyer level.
Now it does not mean their level.
All of this, I want you to bevery clear.
(31:32):
It does not mean their levelof excitement.
That is something totally different.
And we have to learn todistinguish the two.
Because if you're like me, mylevel of engagement, emotional engagement,
when I'm a hot buyer, myexcitement is tied to it and I have
to work hard to separate it.
But for a lot of people, it'snot that way.
(31:54):
So do not judge this cold,warm, hot by their level of excitement.
It's different than that.
So they're smiling the pictureand the outcome.
They start asking the what isthe next step?
Showing signs of urgency.
They're buying language.
They start very much future pacing.
Some of the cues to listen forfor cold are, I'm just looking, we're
(32:17):
not ready yet.
With warm, how does it work?
What does that include?
Those are those the tell memore energy.
Those are the low stakesquestions I was talking about.
How does it work?
What does this include?
Hot questions are or verbiage cues.
How soon could we start?
What's the process from here?
(32:37):
So that is a hot buyer type of verbiage.
So let's talk a little bitmore about how to warm a buyer up.
Because buyers don't start hot.
No one does.
This is that spectrum.
They become hot when they feelemotionally safe.
I'm going to say that againand slow it down for a second.
Buyers don't start hot.
They become hot when they feelemotionally safe.
(33:01):
So here are some tools thatincrease the emotional temperature.
Soft starts Permission based questions.
This is exactly why the closeit now process is built on permission
based language.
Now calm congruent vocal tone,your voice tone.
(33:21):
This is why it's so importantto record yourself so you can hear
what you sound like.
Eye contact match, pacing.
All of the, you know, thetempo, the rhythm, we start to match
all of this.
Mirroring language.
It's not enough to just mirrorthe pace or the rhythm.
(33:42):
If somebody speaks fast, youspeak fast.
If they speak slow, you speak slow.
That's not enough.
Also we have to understand andrecognize their level of language.
And by level of language Imean are they speaking at a third
grade level which is where wewant to be most of the time for the
(34:03):
most general population.
However, if you're having aconversation with someone and the
the actual word choice andtheir language elevates to a more
academic or engineering orwhatever the level of their language
goes to.
If they start using biggerwords, you better have a large enough
(34:24):
vocabulary to be able toarticulate a verbose language pattern
to rise to the level to match.
This is why leaders are readers.
It's so important toconstantly be learning and fill your
mind with more tools.
And when you are in sales,your tool bag is no longer the needle
(34:46):
nose and the six in one andthe you know, your pipe wrench and
all the things.
Your tool bag is now your vocabulary.
Your tool bag is now how manywords do you know and how well can
you articulate them?
How well can you tell a story?
How well can you get yourmessage across succinctly in a way
that's understood?
(35:06):
Those are your new tools.
And the more robust you buildout your verbal tool bag of your
vocabulary and your skillsinside that verbal tool bag, the
higher the level of client youwill be able to that will buy from
you.
I was going to say sell to,but we know that's wrong.
(35:27):
They buy from us.
We lead them to the solution.
So.
And we also have to be able tolisten without correction or steamrolling.
Now, I know there are sometraining out there that is all about
steamrolling that homeowner.
Steamroll that client, Forcethem into the decision.
Because earlier you said, ifI'm going to pick on question 12
(35:50):
for a minute, question 12drives me absolutely batty at the
end.
If there's any reason, if itall makes sense, money aside, is
there any reason you can'tgive me a yes or no answer today?
That's steamrolling.
But earlier you said you couldgive me an answer.
What did I do wrong?
Well, that's awful.
(36:11):
Stop doing it.
Stop saying that.
Don't do it.
There's so many better ways.
That's like 20 years ago typeof ABC closing coffees for closers.
Okay, back to the.
Back to the mission.
I'm on my soapbox again, listening.
Without correction or steamrolling.
We listen, we mirror the language.
(36:31):
All of these things, all ofthese tools will elevate that buyer
from.
They start to feel safe and comfortable.
And as they feel safe andemotionally safe, that's when they
start to warm up from a coldto a warm to a hot.
So here's an example with cold buyer.
You know, we just wanted toget some info.
(36:52):
The response.
Here's how you're going torespond to that.
Totally get that.
Can I walk you through a fewbasics so it's easier to compare
options later even if it's notwith us?
Ooh, that's really powerful.
Right?
Because so many times I knowall of you hear this.
I used to hear this all thedamn time.
I know you hear this.
(37:12):
Hey, we're just getting some.
We just wanted to get some info.
We just want to get some numbers.
Not buying anything today.
Totally get that.
Can I walk you through a fewbasics so it's easier to compare
options later?
Even if it's not with us, theywill not expect that response.
And it's going to totallydisarm them.
So here's your pro tip.
When in doubt, slow down.
(37:35):
A nervous buyer is a cold buyer.
A herd buyer is a hot one.
If they feel seen, heard, andunderstood, that will warm them up
faster than anything.
And one of the ways to do thatis slow down, slow down.
So you're listening.
(37:55):
Listen to understand, not respond.
One of the tenets and sevenhabits of highly effective people.
So here's why temperaturebeats timing so so many times.
You know, we think reps oftenthink, you know, they weren't ready
to buy today?
Oh, they just weren't ready.
The truth is they weren'temotionally warm enough to decide.
(38:19):
Buyers buy in a warm, trustingemotional state, not a perfect financial
one.
They have to be in a warm,trusting emotional state.
Plenty of people have all ofthe money to buy and they still don't
buy.
Because if it was only aboutlogic and money, logic and price,
(38:41):
they would have already bought.
But why didn't they?
They were not in a warm,trusting emotional state yet.
So that is so, so, soimportant because it has to do with.
Remember that emotionalbicycle we talked about safety, then
to belief, then division, thento decision.
(39:03):
That was the last episode thatwe talked about.
So that's the emotional buy cycle.
So here's how we're going toanchor this in.
Imagine walking into a home,into the home and knowing within
60 seconds where your buyer isemotionally and being able to lead
them confidently fromskepticism to security.
(39:26):
When you're able to do that,you're not just selling, you're regulating
the room.
That's where you become thethermostat, not the thermometer.
So here's the recap.
The trust thermometer helpsyou assess emotional readiness.
Cold is guarded, warm is open.
Hot is ready.
(39:46):
Just like Little Caesar'scommercials, hot and ready.
The only way to get there isthrough making them feel safe, seen
and heard.
Use body language, questionsand tone to spot where they are.
We're not only using that,we're not only using that.
We're like constantlymeasuring their body language, questions
(40:07):
and tone so we can spotexactly where they are in the spectrum.
And you can.
And it's not just a 1, 2, 3.
It's, it's a spectrum, it's atrue range.
So of course we can warm them up.
So it is a range, it's a true spectrum.
And we can warm them up by allof these things using regulating,
(40:32):
you know, we can feel, we canwarm them up by being calm, being
curious, permission based.
We don't rush to close by cold buyers.
Again, if they're not warmingup, we have to just recognize what's
going on.
We have to help them feel safebefore we ever get to asking for
(40:54):
the sale.
If you start showing signs oftrying to close them and they're
still cold and they don't feeltruly safe yet, it's going to have
the opposite effect.
You're going to push them awayand they will absolutely have to
think about it and get you tojust email this over.
And they don't even open theemail when that's the case you're
(41:17):
scaring them away if you'retrying to close a cold buyer.
So here is your homework.
I want you to in your nextthree appointments, or however many
appointments it is betweenthis episode and the next one, I
want you to try to identifythe buyer's temperature, not what
it seemed.
(41:37):
I don't want you to go by whatthe notes say.
Don't go by, hey, they calledand they need this now or don't go
by, oh, it's a tech turnoverand this everything's completely
broken.
Don't do not go by thatbecause I can tell you I've run into
every single level of thishomeowner in a say they're com it's
105 degrees outside and theair conditioner hadn't run for 24
(42:01):
hours and it's hot as Hades intheir house.
And I've had cold buyers.
It does not mean situationdoes not mean the buyer's temperature
is zero correlation there.
Sometimes it does, but do notmake an assumption that that's what
directs it has nothing to dowith that.
It has everything to do withthem feeling safe enough with the
(42:24):
company and you to make thebuying decision.
This is why in the last fewyears so many people said I've got
all these longtime clients ofours and they still had to shop around.
Well, they didn't feel safewith you or they wouldn't have shopped
around.
It's exactly what's going on.
So do not just go by the situation.
Start fresh.
(42:45):
Enter your appointment as ifit's a blank slate and see if you
can recognize within the firstfive minutes.
Give yourself a five minute timeline.
It doesn't matter the timeline.
See if you can recognize wherethey're at and then watch as that
starts to change.
Make a note of it.
Be aware.
Awareness is key in this andwe can pay attention to where they
(43:06):
are in their buying cycle,where they are in their temperature
and then you know how torespond accordingly to continue that
process to continue growing.
If they start to get colderagain, you know you said or did something
that or they thought ofsomething based on what you said
or did that made them colder again.
(43:28):
What changed?
Pick it out, notice it, talkabout it.
If they continue to get warmerand warmer, you're on the right track.
But you have to be aware andknow and we do not tell that.
You don't tell the punchlineto the joke until they're to the
hot part.
That's that nothing comes out.
The the important stuffdoesn't come out.
We're not asking for the celluntil they're hot.
(43:48):
Don't ask for the cell ifthey're cold or warm.
That means you haven'tanswered enough questions and made
them feel safe enough yet.
So see if you can notice that.
Second is tag a teammate whoneeds to hear this.
Send this episode to somebodyand start rating your appointments
as cold, warm or hot in yourown notes.
Not what the notes from thecompany said, from what your CSR
(44:11):
said, your own notes as youtake notes about the appointment
and about these homeowners and everybody.
If you've gotten some valuefrom this, make sure to leave a review.
If this has helped shift howyou sell, drop me a review.
You can review me on Applepodcasts, you can review me on Google
and thank you every single onebecause your reviews, five star reviews,
(44:35):
help drive this podcastforward and helps me pay the bills
so I can continue to do thisfor you guys and help our entire
industry level up.
Because it's my heart and mypassion to make some major impact
and change to start themovement and lead this movement within
our industries in all of homeservices to raise the standard.
(44:57):
So stick around.
Next week, the next episode isI'm entering into a very touchy subject.
Nobody's talking about it, butit has to be discussed.
Neuro Aware Selling Part onewhy neurodivergence is more common
than you think and how to spotit in the field.
So this is going to be a big one.
We're really going to unpack it.
(45:18):
So we got a couple episodes onthat in this Psychology of Sales
series.
So thank you for sticking around.
I appreciate every single oneof you.
I'm grateful for every singleone of you.
If you want to know more aboutthe close it now coaching programs,
we have virtual programs forone on one.
A virtual program for company level.
(45:39):
You come out to your locationand train your team on site.
That comes with virtualsupport on the back end.
And if you want to know moreabout trade scale where we partner
with companies and blow yourbusiness up in the best of ways,
we see, you know, 2, 3, 400%growth in 12, 18, 24 months.
(46:01):
You can reach out about thatas well.
And yeah, we don't takeownership of your company.
We don't take equity.
What we do is we work out aprogram that everyone wins.
And you know me only in integrity.
That's the only way I'm goingto do anything.
And I know that you are the same.
(46:22):
So until next time everybody,thanks for listening and make sure
to go become someone be someone.
Don't just become be.
Choose to be every single day,be someone worth buying from.
You've been listening to theClose it now podcast.
Our passion is to dive headforward first into the transformative
movement that's reshaping thevery foundation of H Vac and home
(46:45):
improvement, and at the sametime covering fitness, nutrition,
relationships and personalgrowth, 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 themeantime, find the website@closeitnow.net
(47:07):
find us on Instagram at thereal Close it now and on Facebook
at Close It Now.
See you next time.
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