Have you ever truly felt the heat of customer rejection?
Have you ever wanted the sales process to be cool and relaxed each time?
Sam Wakefield has always believed in learning from the ground up and that was no different when he entered the world of HVAC. Starting on install crews and working in tight spaces, Sam knew he wanted to advance up the chain and so the next obvious step was sales but that came with fear, doubt and anxiety of rejection. Not one to be stopped he followed the advice of the great Jim Rohn that said “For things to be better, you have to get better. For things to change, you have to change”.
Diving deep into his own growth and being willing to stand in the “HEAT” of self-development, Sam took control of the thermostat of sales. Breaking down the process, he was able to understand why customers get heated over sales pitches and give no’s to receiving cooler yeses with a 50+% closing rate. With his proven “Close It Now” sales system and Podcast working for him, Sam has not only sold millions of dollars in equipment he has gone on to win multiple sales awards while also becoming the lead sales trainer for companies in both small and large markets. If you truly want to raise the temperature of your results, contact Sam now and book a coaching session with him for yourself and your team.
[Podcast Transcript Using Artificial Intelligence]
Umar Hameed 0:01
Are you ready to become awesomer? Hello everyone. My name is Umar Hameed, I'm your host on the No Limits Selling Podcast where industry leaders share their tips, strategies, and advice on how you can become better, stronger, faster. Just before we get started, I've got a question for you. Do you have a negative voice inside your head? We all do, right? I'm gonna help you remove that voice and under 30 days guaranteed not only remove it but transform it. So instead of the voice that sabotages you, there's one that propels you too much higher levels of performance and success. There's a link in the show notes, click on it to find out more. All right, let's get started.
Umar Hameed 0:41
Hello, everybody, today, I've got the privilege of having Sam Wakefield, he's the X Factor for in home sales, he helps people that sell H back anything that comes into the house, you know, think about it, you're face to face with the customer, you knock on the door, you need your best game. And that's what Sam does for his clients. Sam, you're an amazing coach. Welcome to the program.
Sam Wakefield 1:03
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. It's gonna be a really good time, I'm sure enjoyed when we chatted before as well. And I know that this will be no different.
Umar Hameed 1:13
Brilliant, you know, I've got a client who does door to door vacuum sales. And when I found out it's like, you do what they still have this door to door thing going on. It's still vibrant and alive. Even during the COVID period, sales was still happening. So tell me how you got into this business?
Sam Wakefield 1:31
Yeah, that's a good question. And you're right during COVID with some of the biggest years, some of my clients have ever had. But yeah, so I've been in home improvement, or almost 20 years now. I started off years ago just on the crew. And you know, as an attic rat for air conditioning pool and ductwork through, you know, hot Texas attics in the time. And I found out real quick that a friend of mine, he gave me some advice one time, he said it is so much better to work with your mind and your mouth than it is to work with your body. And so from that moment forward, I started a personal growth journey that led me into sales. And so after if, you know, just a couple years I started, I realized that for things to get better, I had to get better. As Jim Rohn, Jim Rohn says, for things to change, I have to change. And so I picked up my first sales books, years ago, some Brian Tracy's Zig Ziglar, of course. And that just launched me into a career of award winning sales. You know, when tons of different words across the years, have led teams into those same awards, and, you know, help companies grow and scale. And a couple years ago, I yeah, totally just decided that I wanted to help everybody else do the same thing. So that's why I started the coaching program.
Umar Hameed 3:02
Brilliant, there must be something about the Texas sun, I've got a friend who was roofer in the middle of summer and then finally said, That's it, I'm not earning a lot, I'm baking to death, I'm gonna become a jeweler. So he goes to this jewelry store, he's got these hands with calluses all over the place, is that we like you, but you can't go on the show floor because no one's gonna want to buy anything from you. So for the next couple of months, he worked in the back and figured things out. And when his hands got, you know, halfway decent, he started selling and he's been in the industry for 20 some odd years, maybe 30 some odd years. And it was all about why toil in the sun, when you could be doing something better. So Sam, tell me about the transition from being a really good salesperson, somebody that's leading teams, to being a coach and actually reaching out to other professionals that are really good at what they do, but maybe not so good at sales. So tell me about one of those clients stories?
Sam Wakefield 3:55
Yeah, so that's a good question. I had a, you know, a guy recently that came from a totally different industry. Excuse me, he was in partially he was doing roofing he was also a doing car sales. And he wanted to do something better wanted to do something different because the struggle that was going on. So he found me for coaching and that one of the biggest obstacles he was having was asking for the sale. You know, that was always a big sticky point, he would go through have a rockstar presentation, but then he would just get stuck and just feel like it was almost like this guilt or or something would come on in the stomach, not the,
Umar Hameed 4:37
Oh yeah.
Sam Wakefield 4:38
You know, muscles tighten up, get tight in the jaw, and he would just drop the price and run. So that was one of the moments that we helped him work through, you know, helped me work through and, you know, he started with his new company, and he's been on what they call the hot list every single month since he started early and that was the missing piece for him.
Umar Hameed 5:00
Brilliant, and he's not alone. There's lots of research on salespeople actually coming down to that last little thing. And they'll talk around it, but won't say, whip out your credit card. Let's go buddy. Right? Yeah. Because we have beliefs in our society about salespeople, and most of those beliefs about salespeople are negative. And that's what we need to fight. We're not only fighting kind of our thoughts on what's going on, but society's thoughts of what's going on comes to you, we absorb those from our parents, or uncles, or aunts, or teachers, and enemies not out there. Sometimes the enemy is within.
Sam Wakefield 5:34
Absolutely, I heard of listening to so into personal growth. Currently, I'm in a book called green lights, it's the new Matthew McConaughey. autobiography.
Umar Hameed 5:44
Right.
Sam Wakefield 5:44
Fantastic, full of wisdom, I highly recommend it. But the perfectly matches what we're talking about right now, a line that I got out of this book, a roof is a man made thing. Any limits that we have? income, personal growth, any relationships, anything? If we think that there's a limit, we made it up, there's no, there's no reason that it can't be, you know, if somebody else can do it, then you can do.
Umar Hameed 6:13
So I think a that thank you for sharing that. And I wrote down the name of the book, I'll get that. But what's kind of interesting is this is that the same person that puts a limit on his income at an unconscious level, at a conscious level, he's like, this year, I'm gonna hit 200,000, or 500,000 is going to be a great year. So one part of their mind is going for it. But a more important part of their mind is saying, but not for you. And sometimes that's the dilemma, we have to face that the person can't even see their own limitations, and you as a coach have to go, do you realize you're saying one thing and doing something different? So how do you cross that chasm? How do you cross that bridge for your clients to realize what's going on? And be how do you get them over that hurdle?
Sam Wakefield 6:56
So two things one is, has to do a lot with confidence, you know, there's two things that breed confidence. One is experience, just by doing it accomplishing the others preparation, preparation. So one of those others are combinations. So that's a big part of it is setting, with with my clients, what we do is we'll set small, very achievable goals, to start them on that process of just success, to start the set success pattern. And then once they once we start achieving those little goals will start incrementally increasing on bigger and bigger, knowing that, you know, you have to have as one in a row. And then you just have one in a row, and then the next one, and that you string those together, and then you've got success. And that success is a journey. It's not a destination.
Umar Hameed 7:52
Brilliant. And I love that because I think what people tend to do is they take they look at the whole enchilada, I got to accomplish this. And the trick to success is saying, alright, what's the smallest positive step I could take. And just by doing that, you get momentum, by momentum, you get more confidence, and they can take on the next step. And by the time you do the 10th, smallest step, you're actually feeling pretty frickin good. And the rest of it, you can take on pretty easily.
Sam Wakefield 8:18
Right? And then once that starts to happen, that's one of the main things is I use, of course, a lot of different income or different trade terminology. But I call it resetting your internal internal thermostat. If your internal thermostat is set to Well, I'm just barely a $50,000 a year earner. But we start to see success past that. You realize, oh, maybe I am $100,000 year earner, I'm a $2 million a year earner, it doesn't matter. It's just a zero on the end. The numbers irrelevant, but you have to believe that that's who you are, to live in, and to have a consistent life to stay there.
Umar Hameed 8:58
This is really interesting, because you made the Texas comment made me think of Mark. And then this comment is also making me think of Mark because he runs some jewelry stores actually the biggest jewelry store in the country. He's a manager there. And he was saying you we got you newbies coming in. And then somebody wants to buy $1,000 item and they're like, oh my god $1,000 item, then they get comfortable selling the 1000 then is selling the 5000, the 10,000, then the 50,000, then the 100,000. And it's just getting to the different milestones and realizing that I did this and I didn't die. Because sometimes it feels like that we're gonna die. Does this person say? Are you kidding me? I'm not gonna pay that.
Sam Wakefield 9:36
Well, so we don't have to just divorce ourselves from the number and not spend other people's money for.
Umar Hameed 9:42
Absolutely. And I judge people spending power with our own limiting money beliefs. Because salespeople tend to do that. It's like I don't want to offer the top thing because they can't afford it and you have no frickin idea what people can afford and what they value.
Sam Wakefield 9:55
Sure.
Umar Hameed 9:56
So, so one of the things in our last conversation before we went on A few weeks back, he was saying, you know, there's three areas where salespeople get stuck or people that you know, have these H bad companies. So why don't you take us through the first one? What is the first theory? A lot of people get stuck?
Sam Wakefield 10:12
Yeah, well, let's, let's review that list super quick.
Umar Hameed 10:15
So it was like,
Sam Wakefield 10:17
Kind of unpack.
Umar Hameed 10:19
So cold calling, asking for referrals. And I forgot what the third one was.
Sam Wakefield 10:25
And follow up. Yep.
Umar Hameed 10:27
Yep. So let's start with the first time cold calling first.
Sam Wakefield 10:30
That's, Yeah, absolutely. That's one that's, you know, and, and not just a track, obviously, that's where I came from. But now,
Umar Hameed 10:37
Everybody.
Sam Wakefield 10:38
Solar and especially, yeah, anybody who it could be insurance, anybody who has outbound business model is, you know, fits this category. And that cold call he is, as and it's so interesting, we talked about this before, say we run into people at networking events, you collect a whole bunch of business cards. And I've personally lived this until I overcame it, you have an entire stack of business cards, and only to go home. And that stack gets set right next to the stack from the other networking group, right next to the stack from the other networker group, and all of these people said, Call me let's talk. But we get into a different situation, we get home and the phone feels like it's a million pounds, we can't just can't pick it up. And so it's like, what is the difference? situationally different, the energy is different. But we just we have to just remember if we can just it's easy visualization technique to just visualize you're back in that room with those people while they're handing you the card. Pick up the phone, just dial that number and just just remember, you're in that moment. And then it's the conversations easy, and they pick up the phone. They're like, Oh, yeah, I remember you. Let's I was what I can't, I'm so excited you called I was bit I've been waiting for your call.
Umar Hameed 12:03
So, I had this client come in, and she comes in and tells me Umar, My husband and I own this franchise embroid me where they sell, you know, those shirts with like the company logo on it, and mugs and pens, says you know, I meet people at networking events, I collected business cards, and I go home, and then I call them and I can't set a meeting because they don't want to meet with me. As soon as I hang up the phone. I know exactly what I should have said to turn things around. I didn't say it then or I go into a restaurant, I asked for the owner to come out. And we have this conversation. And they don't buy from me and I go back in the car and go I got when they said this, I shouldn't have said that. She said I know exactly what to say after the fact. But once she's telling me the story, she's telling me Umar, I know I could be great at this. And she uses a strong voice and strong gestures. And then she goes with this other hand. But you know, I don't have formal sales training. So I'm not sure. But I know I'll be able to do this. So as soon as you see that, you know, there's two parts of her mindset. One part knows exactly what she wants. And the other part is like, Who the hell do you think you are? You're not short enough, tall enough, pretty enough, ugly enough whatever to do this. And so as soon as I see that, I realize she's got an internal,
Sam Wakefield 13:15
Conflict syndrome, right.
Umar Hameed 13:17
And so we resolve the conflict using applied neuroscience. And I send her on away as a Friday afternoon and say on Monday, when you get to the office, call the people you met this week and see how things are different. So she calls me back. And she says, Umar, you will not believe this is called the first person Monday morning. And I got an appointment. It was such an exciting thing for me, I did a dance in the company. And that week, I got 14 appointments, and the right words just fell out of my mouth. So we didn't teach her a thing about what to say we got rid of the internal conflict. So sometimes people get stuck because they have an internal conflict. And sometimes they get stuck because they have a limiting belief inside their heads. So we tackled number one, cold calling, number two referrals. Now here's the interesting thing is that you're not going to ask somebody for a referral where you did a shitty job is just never going to happen in the history of the world. Of course, you're only going to ask people for referrals that you did a phenomenal job and they love you. If that's the case, why is it so difficult? So tell me about one of your clients that struggled with asking for referrals and how you got them over that?
Sam Wakefield 14:23
Yeah, so referrals, especially in, especially in trades or contractors. That's a big, it's a huge one. It's one of the most valuable lead sources, but it's also one of the hardest to get because so many people have had bad contractor experiences.
Umar Hameed 14:43
Yeah.
Sam Wakefield 14:43
So they're very reluctant to give referrals. So that's where we have to, you know, be exceptional in what we do. And the second that happens, that's where a lot of it is you know, there's I have a tagline that stop being weird and start selling And so when we remember that, and just, it's part of the normal conversation of, you know, when we're, it's got to be in the moment, of course. But the one missing piece that most people have is when they the project is done, they leave and don't go back. So the easiest way to get over that is, there's one more appointment, we start setting, which is to go back to them, you know, a day later, a week later, whatever the depending on the type of project to just follow up with, I teach all my clients to have some sort of gifts, it could be as simple as, you know, a $5 gift card to Starbucks or something, it doesn't matter. Show up with with a tiny gift, a gesture of gratitude, it can be just a handwritten note, it doesn't matter,
Umar Hameed 15:16
Which is more than $5 gift card.
Sam Wakefield 16:01
Exactly. In that moment of being there. It could be a vert, it could be a virtual meeting over zoom it for that matter, it doesn't matter. But you're checking up on step one is making sure what you did was great that they're still happy that they love it, any adjustments need to be made, etc. But what that does, it puts you mentally back in them doing the work mode, it puts you back in your area of expertise. So it makes the conversations about referrals so much easier, because now you're back in that peak state of what you did. That was extraordinary for them. They're so happy at this moment. And they've just got your gift. So now we're pulling on that interaction that if I will you moment, and it just makes it easy, because once they did you get my gift? Absolutely. Are you still loving your project? Awesome. Great. Who do you know? Not? Do you know anybody? But who do you know? That would be open to chatting about doing this for them? Who else do you know that I can help friends family, my business is built by referrals of love or love for a name or two from you.
Umar Hameed 16:34
So I'm going to add to that, if I may?
Sam Wakefield 17:14
Absolutely.
Umar Hameed 17:15
So I think people don't like surprises. So I think part of the process needs to be is even on when you're selling the thing up front, tell them this is what the process is going to be like, it's going to go da-da-da-da and the last meeting is going to be the most important meeting because I'm going to be doing a check-in a week and a half after the system to make sure everything's okay. And at that check-in. I'm going to ask for a kick ass amazing testimonial that you'll only give if we do something phenomenal for you. And I may ask you for other recommendations to other people, because I think both those things, those Google reviews are important. And so you're priming the customer and it also gives them confidence. This dude better do a good job because he wants a referral and he wants a testimonial. And then when you go into ask for that testimonial and give the gift is the way I kind of advise clients is what did you most value out of working with me. And number one, you get marketing language from them what I most valued was your drinking on the job or whatever it was for you. And then it prime's them up for a testimonial because give me a testimonial. Sure. But if you ask them the, what did you value most? Then you cueing them up to say? Yeah, I just write that dude, because it comes from the heart. So that's number two. So number three is the follow up, which should be which is this is part of it. But also people that said no following up. Tell me about one of your clients that you help them get over the follow up hurdle.
Sam Wakefield 18:36
Oh, my gosh. So the follow up hurdle is it's it's a big one. There's a lot of people in any type of cells that there was the trading happened started trading about probably 25 years ago and carried through to about 10, five to 10 years ago, some of still going on that in the setup. They set the whole process up with at the end. If I've done a good job, blah, blah, blah, this it makes sense. You can tell me yes or no and no is a perfectly acceptable answer. So in my mind, that's a lazy salesperson, because what that's doing is you're giving the homeowner permission to say no to you, and you close the door for any possible future interaction.
Umar Hameed 19:22
Yeah.
Sam Wakefield 19:23
So it's just it's, in my mind the wrong way to do it, because then you've cut off your pipeline. We all know in sales, a pipeline is highly valuable thing. It's basically your portfolio of clients. You may just maybe not have done business yet. And so part of it is just understanding the mindset when somebody says, No, we're not right now. That that's that's what it is. It's not a I don't ever want to do business. It's not right now. So just understanding that concept. Number one is highly important. And then with that concept, the follow up becomes easy. Those people try to follow up with, do you have any questions I can answer? How about now? How about now the new sound like a broken record? follow ups easy when you every time you reach out you one book a meeting from a meeting. So,
Umar Hameed 20:16
Nice.
Sam Wakefield 20:16
Go ahead and schedule the next fall even if it's six months down? Or do you mind if I reached out to you, as we have specials, or I hear about news in our industry, of course, no problem. All right, maybe three months from now, six months from now, whatever your timeline is. And then so getting permission first to reach out. So they just gave you permission, setting the next appointment. And then when you reach out, always have an offer or a piece of information. Either you got to sell you got a special running. Or in some cases, it's like, Hey, I wanted to let you know, we found out we've got price increases coming in two months, I don't want you to miss out on the lower prices before those get here because it's not going back. So always have a new piece of information, get the permission and have it scheduled and that and then just be diligent with your calendar. And then the rest is works itself out. It makes it easy to make the call because I already told you they wanted you to call back.
Umar Hameed 21:13
Brilliant. Sam, thanks so much for being on the program. And before we part company, two quick questions. Number one, what's a book you would recommend people read? Is it the Matthew McConaughey biography or is it something else?
Sam Wakefield 21:28
So for just general life, I would say that one is my it's every single chapter. It's like, flipping my wig back. It's blown my mind. I love them in there. For more of a sales perspective book, probably the last one that really got me going was never split the difference by Chris Voss.
Umar Hameed 21:49
Love it. Great book.
Sam Wakefield 21:50
It's fantastic. A lot of just love the cons. I have a ton of podcasts that were just based out of concepts from that book.
Umar Hameed 21:58
So you know, what's interesting about that book, is I forgotten the title of the book, because I remembered the title as being the subtitle, negotiate as if your life depends on it. So when I was telling people, I was using that as the title and it was like other people's like, no, I read this other book, never split the difference. And it was actually the same book payment for that menu title I went for, kind of shows you where your head's at. Number two question. Do you have a mind hack you could share with our listeners? Some little trick that you use to become more efficient or more effective?
Sam Wakefield 22:28
Yeah, absolutely. I decide I hate inefficiency. If I have to do something multiple times, or touch something multiple times, then it just starts to frustrate me. And then I find myself going down this path where I just won't do it at all. So I've learned years ago, and what I teach everybody is when when anything comes up that you have to do a task. Whatever it is, the more immediate that you can possibly get it done. sort of said, Okay, I'll schedule this an hour from now. But you've got five minutes now where you could do it, do it right now. Get it off your mental to do list and that might and in fact, create creating a mind dump list will clear up the mental space and allow you to to be able to accomplish more. So anytime, if I don't have time to do something, I'll open up a document on my phone. And I'll just start listing, dumping everything out of my mind. It's like, Okay, I've got to do this tomorrow or wherever. So it's on the list, so I could forget about it. Then the next open up the list and just knock them out because now you've got the clear mental space to be able to hit it.
Umar Hameed 23:38
Brilliant.
Sam Wakefield 23:39
That's it. That's a big ninja trick.
Umar Hameed 23:41
So Sam, thank you so much for being on the show. All your contact information will be in the show notes. So if you're on the treadmill running, listening to this, don't try and memorize his URL. It's going to be in the show notes. Sam, thanks so much for being on the show. I really appreciate it.
Sam Wakefield 23:54
Absolutely. Yep, totally appreciate being here. It's always always good time interacting with you. And I can't wait to see this episode and see what we do see what we do next.
Umar Hameed 24:05
Brilliant.
Umar Hameed 24:11
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to iTunes and leave a five-star rating. And if you're looking for more tools, go to my website at nolimitsselling.com. I've got a free mind training course there that's going to teach you some insights from the world of neuro-linguistic programming and that is the fastest way to get better results.