Next Level Pros - #103: This Technique Made Me MILLIONS!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Are you tired of customers that tell you maybe or that they really need to think about it or talk to their spouse? Do you struggle with getting customers to commit to a decision? Are you working on improving sales in your business? In this episode, I dive deep into setting proper expectations with your customers. Expect to learn how to get anyone to make a same-day decision. How to get those same customers to make a decision before price has even been revealed and learn the one secret that people have literally paid me hundreds of thousands of dollars to teach them all this and more on this episode of the founder podcast. All right.

Starting point is 00:00:37 So now that we've covered the four principles of closing, we now have the four duties of a closer. Essentially, the things that the closer has to do every single time in order to close a deal. Now, I understand that right now in your business, you may not have a really good title for a closer. You may not have a salesperson. Maybe your technicians are selling. Maybe it's you selling. Maybe you're getting referrals for business. But as you build out this direct-to-consumer line where consumers are actually meeting with you about projects and making decisions, it's imperative that you have the closer position. Initially, that can be you. It can be anybody. But a closer position is absolutely imperative to bringing in more business for your company. So we're going to jump on over to the iPad once again and start with number one, the first duty of a closer.

Starting point is 00:01:35 This is setting clear expectations. I don't care what product you're selling. Expectations is the way that the world operates. Expectations from your spouse, expectations of what's going to happen next. It's the reason why people eat at McDonald's. It's not because McDonald's has the greatest burger or whatnot. It's just they know what they can expect.

Starting point is 00:01:57 No matter where I go in the world, I can walk in the door, order a Big Mac, I'm going to get three buns, it's going to have two burgers, it's going to have the Big Mac sauce, it's going to taste the same regardless of where I'm at. That's the reason why we go back or the reason why you continue to go to your barber or your hairstylist or really anything. Expectations make the world go round and it's what makes us comfortable making decisions on a continuing basis. And so with setting clear expectations, this is, I'm going to teach you a few things right here that are really going to be life-changing.

Starting point is 00:02:31 And if you can get down, you're going to close so many more deals, gain so many more customers, which is really exciting. So the first example I want to share with you about setting clear expectations that's so important is that a lot of times we sit down with a customer with a proposal and your proposal needs to have a factor that isn't just line items and numbers, right? Line items and numbers are going to kill your business. Once again, going back to what we talked about earlier, this is an emotional sale that you are making that's going to be justified with logic. Quit trying to sell completely off logic. You need to have some sort of proposal. The proposal needs to look like potential design, what their current pain points are, what people are experiencing that makes them

Starting point is 00:03:17 need or want your product or service. And that is what needs to be presented when you go and you share this with them. And so if you don't do this, if you go straight to the numbers or you go and you present, and then you go to the numbers and you expect somebody to make a decision, this is like slapping them out of the blue. And let me give you an example. This is actually one of my favorite live trainings. And I usually ask for permission beforehand, but you might want to try to implement this. Essentially, so I'm just sitting there and I go and I slap somebody in the face and they're like, wait, what just happened? And what that is, is a parallel to what we do to customers when we either throw the numbers at them or we try to throw the numbers at them and we expect them to make a decision

Starting point is 00:04:06 based off of right now when by no means were they expecting to make a decision today. And so setting clear expectations isn't necessarily taking the slap away, but it's letting them know, hey, listen, just so you know, I'm about to slap you. Prepare yourself. I'm about to slap you. It might be a little painful, but I'm about to slap you. Prepare yourself. I'm about to slap you. It might be a little painful, but I'm about to slap you. You slap somebody under those conditions, it's going to be way more well-received than out of the blue. And too often in sales, in running our business, this is what we're doing is we just go and we slap our employees,

Starting point is 00:04:39 we slap our customers, and they literally have no idea where it's coming from and literally zero expectations. So understanding that you need to set clear expectations. Now we're going to dive in and show how this actually applies. So the structure of any sale needs to be what I call framing the sale. So one frame, the sale two is give it, you're going to identify pain and we're going to talk about this in some of the other duties of the closer. Three, we're going to present value. Why is this not working?

Starting point is 00:05:25 Come on. Come on. All right, just imagine I was drawing it there. So we're going to present value, and then we're going to close down the deal. So the frame is where the expectations are set, and essentially the reason why it's called a frame is because you are outlining what is going to be taking place and then you are filling in the picture after. So at setting the proper expectations, what you're going to do is you're going to sit down with the customer and say, okay, Mr. Customer, this is what your experience has been thus far.

Starting point is 00:06:01 You've reached out to us because you were interested. You had this certain pain going on. We've taken some information from you. We've crunched some numbers. We created a design. We've created a proposal. And now I'm going to go over that with you today. And essentially, the whole process is this. And so depending on what your product or service is, you should have a four-step, a five-step, or an eight-step process that the customer goes through from first meeting you until they actually have their product on their roof, installed in their home, on their floors, whatever it may be. And setting the proper expectation by telling them how that process is going to go. And I'm going to use solar as an example of the way that we would outline that. Say, okay, so step number one, you took care of yesterday, you

Starting point is 00:06:50 submitted your electric bill, you talked with one of our professionals that is now we've created a proposal. Today, we are going to take care of step number two and step number three. Step number two is we're going to show you the design, the numbers, how it pencils out, why it's such a no-brainer, why so many people are going solar right here in your area. And so the way that this would be applied in like windows. So like, hey, so today we're going to go over the design, what we have proposed that we feel is like an awesome solution based off of the needs that you gave us. We're going to show you the numbers, how it all pencils out, why this is going to be a slam dunk, no-brainer for you. And then step number three is we are going to get you approved for the financing.

Starting point is 00:07:32 And so, once again, going back to your offer, having a form of financing makes it so much easier for your customer to buy your product. And so, this is typically what I would say is my step number three. So, back into the script. So today we're going to be getting you qualified for the financing. We're going to send you over a couple documents. We're going to have you sign them. And then we are going to schedule the measurements or whatever it may be next. In solar, we'd be scheduling the site survey. So step number four, we're going to come out. We're going to measure everything on your roof, get final measurements, make sure everything was according to the satellite images that we did.

Starting point is 00:08:11 We're going to look at your electrical panel, make sure everything's properly engineered. Step number five is we're going to take back that engineering. We're going to create a final design. We're going to send it off. We're going to get everything permitted with the city, the utility, which is step number five. Step number six is the most exciting part. We're going to come out and we're going to send it off. We're going to get everything permitted with the city, the utility, which is step number five. Step number six is the most exciting part. We're going to come out and we're going to do the installation. I've got my team of professionals.

Starting point is 00:08:30 They're going to come and do this amazing work. Step number seven is we're going to have permission. We're going to actually get inspections done by the city, the utility. Don't worry. Your system isn't on at this point, but we are taking care of everything and any corrections or whatnot that they needed, they're going to submit to us. We'll fix them. That's step number seven. Step number eight is the permission to operate, to flip the switch on. And so depending what your industry or what your product is, you're going to kind of morph

Starting point is 00:08:58 a similar type of expectation list of this is the customer journey. And what you need to do is be detailed as possible. I wasn't actually as detailed as I typically go, but I'm going to be very detailed because I want to paint a mental picture for the customer of, okay, I'm already doing this. I'm going to experience this. This is going to be phenomenal once I have this done. And you're just kind of walking them through. But going back, one of the most important things that I did was talking about what's going to happen today, which was step two and three. I'm going to go to the design numbers, show you why it's a no-brainer. Three, we are going to get you approved for the financing today.

Starting point is 00:09:40 We're going to send you over a couple docs. You're going to sign the paperwork. Literally, you are setting the expectation that this is what is going to happen what happens too often in sales is we are afraid to be direct and say this is what we are going to do it functions way better if you let them know in advance the expectations of the directness, right? So being super direct, but you're setting the expectations and you're creating this frame. And then here is the money line. You guys, if you paid for this course, this one, you're going to want to push pause, take out your notebook and get ready because this right here, what I'm going to teach you will help you close more deals than anything. This coupled

Starting point is 00:10:25 with the first principle of closing. Oh my goodness. All right. So this is what we call the hard, soft close. Are you a home service business owner struggling to get your time back? Maybe you're feeling like you have to do everything yourself, or maybe you aren't able to break through that certain revenue plateau. You feel like owning your business isn't quite what you thought it would be. Am I right? I understand you more than you know. I've launched many businesses throughout my life and I was lucky enough to have built multiple businesses that scaled to two nine-figure exits. But more importantly, I have had even more businesses fail. Why would that be more important? I learned a ton from each venture that I was a part of, each teaching me lessons about how to hire the right people, how to price my product,

Starting point is 00:11:09 how to build out proper SOPs, and even building the right culture. These lessons are what led me to being able to sell my most recent business for nearly $200 million. Why am I sharing all this with you? Because I've been in your shoes, feeling the same exact feelings that you are, and if I knew back then what I know now, life might have been a lot easier for me. Unfortunately, I can't travel back in time, but I can help you so that you don't have to. How?

Starting point is 00:11:38 I package everything that I learned into over 150 videos all about my wins and mistakes that I've made in business over the years. And I want to give you access to these videos, but it's so much more than just a bunch of videos. I've created a community of home professionals just like you, where people interact and share ideas with each other. Plus, we host live calls every single week where you get direct access to people like myself and my business partners that were a part of these different ventures who are experts in marketing, operations, software, and even more. All you have to do is book a free call with one of our team members to see if this would be a good fit for you. That way,

Starting point is 00:12:16 I can help you take your business to the next level, making you a next level home pro. Because the hard soft close is so important, we actually had to make it a completely separate video so that you can go back and rewatch this and train your sales teams because it's going to be a game changer for you. I promise that. Okay, so the hard soft close is created. It's part of setting clear expectations, but it is created around a framework that is going to change your life. So let's jump back over to the whiteboard here. So setting clear expectations with the hard, soft, close. Hold on.

Starting point is 00:12:55 I am on the wrong thing. Here we go. So setting clear expectations with the hard, soft, close. Hard, soft. So essentially with the hard, soft, close, the reason why it's called the hard, soft, close, the reason why it's called the hard, soft, close, it sounds like counterintuitive, right? Like what? Those are two completely different things. It is called a hard, soft, close because there is a hard decision. A hard

Starting point is 00:13:16 decision is a yes or a no. It's not like a, let me think about her optionality or whatnot, it's literally yes or no. And it is, so it's a hard decision based off of soft numbers, based off of soft information, things that, that are, that are still yet to be decided, but you know, absolutely you can control. Okay. So once again, you are making, you are getting them to make a decision before a decision needs to be made. And that is the magic of what we call the hard soft close. And so diving into it, essentially the way, the way that a hard soft closes is, uh, is created is first you got to do what's called the hot button.

Starting point is 00:14:01 Now, depending on what your product is, there are different hot buttons or different reasons why people are going to buy your product, right? So if you're in windows, maybe aesthetics is one, maybe, you know, impressing their friends or family, maybe saving money because it's got good insulation factor, whatever it is, you need to understand. And this is really up to you as we talk about like identifying our avatar and like why people want your product. What are the pains that they experience? You really need to boil it down to two different things of why people use your product. And in the solar world, the way what we would always discuss with people is like typically when

Starting point is 00:14:42 somebody goes solar, it's either they want to go green, right? So they want to take care of the environment. They want to do good by future generations. They want to take care of the climate. They hate global warming, whatever. Those are all under the umbrella of go green, or they want to save green. And there's a bunch of derivatives of saving green. They want ownership. They want to take back control. They want short term savings. They want long term savings. They want equity, right? Like whatever it is, usually it can be boiled down to one to two reasons why somebody is going to use your product. And so when you're setting up the hard soft close, you need to properly identify, okay, what motivated you to sit down and discuss this? Is it the fact that you hate your kitchen? Is it you want just the new look? Is it you want durability? Is it a motivation to save money over

Starting point is 00:15:33 time? Is it a motivation to impress your friends or impress yourself or just something you like to surround yourself with beauty? Whatever it is, right? And so really understanding what got them sitting down with you and like ask deep questions to get that hot topic out. Okay. And what you properly have identified what their, what their main reason for looking into your product or wanting to buy your product is, then this is how you were going to structure. Okay. So you've got the hot button, and you're going to say, as long as I can help you. And these words are so important. As long as I can help you accomplish X. So whatever their hot button is.

Starting point is 00:16:22 So, Mr. Customer, as long as I can help you save money or take back control or get you that big, beautiful kitchen that you always desired, right? Or the windows or the insulation or whatever it is, whatever product you're X. And I can do so with, so now you're going to talk about how your product or service solves their four things. Okay. Number one, two, three, and four. Number one is great product, fair price, company, and rock star like me. And this is all setting up for eventually what is the number one question that is going to change your life. So going back, say we're in solar, and I say, okay, Mr. Customer, as long as I can help

Starting point is 00:17:36 you gain back control and really give you ownership over your energy production, and I could do so with a quality product. We use top tier. It's the best in the game. And we can do it at a fair price. We're not going to be the cheapest, but we're going to do you fair. It's going to pencil out. And I can do that with a company you can know and trust. So backing up, I'm like fumbling over my words. So as long as I can do it with a quality product at a fair price with a company, you know, you can trust. In fact, we have a thousand Google reviews. We're at like four and a half stars. We take care of people. If there's ever any issues, we're going to get you taken care of. And you can do so with a rock star like me. I've been in this game for a long time.

Starting point is 00:18:26 And so whoever your sales rep in this situation, you need to train them like – you can be specific or you can be vague. A long time, long is – everybody has a different interpretation of long. They can be in the game 60 days or 60 months or 60 years. And all those could be considered long depending on who you are. And so using words like these are ways in sales that you can be vague like because you don't have to be specific, right? Like and this helps you position yourself in an incredible way. So you look, Mr. Customer, I've been doing this for a long time. And the beauty of it is like, I am going to be here. If you ever have any questions, I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to take care of anybody you refer to me because I guarantee you're going to have an incredible experience and you're going to want to share me with your friends, your family or whatnot.

Starting point is 00:19:18 Like you are getting the best in the game. And when you deliver this line, like you've got to be so confident, whether you're the business owner or you're the salesperson coming like customers by confidence. And we're going to talk about this a little bit later. Customers by the evangelists that believe so much in themselves and their product customer doesn't necessarily have to believe in them or their product. They just need to believe that that salesperson that's sitting in front of them believes. And it's like, wow, this person really is a rock star. I really do want to do business with this person.

Starting point is 00:19:50 And so you kind of outline the whole thing, and then you come back and you say, okay, yeah, so as long as I can do that with a quality product at a fair price, a company you know can trust, and a rock star like me, and here's the golden ticket. Is there any reason why you wouldn't move forward today? And that word, wording has to be specific, okay? So I'm writing it down so you have it. Is there any reason why you wouldn't move forward today. And as you can see, this is so product agnostic. It doesn't matter what you sell. This line will make you sell more. And let me give you the psychology that's behind this line. What you're looking for from a consumer is the answer of no.

Starting point is 00:20:53 Okay? Why? Why would you structure a question that gets a no rather than a yes? I'll tell you why. It's way easier for a customer to say no, right? It's simple. It rolls off the tongue. We're used to it.

Starting point is 00:21:08 Hey, I'm just looking. No, I'm not interested. We've been trained since we were six years old to say no to salespeople. And so if you can play on that, the fact that it's easy for them to say no, that's psychology magic number one. Psychology magic number two is when you ask this question, is there any reason why you wouldn't move forward today? They have to rack their brains of all the reasons, all the excuses of why they wouldn't move forward. And when they say no, it literally means all of those questions, concerns, potential roadblocks have been eliminated as long as I'm able to help them accomplish their hot button, provide a great product at a fair price,

Starting point is 00:21:52 company you know you can trust, and a rock star. The beauty of what I refer to as these four are called the controllables. And why they're called the controllables is the fact that you control these absolutely. You know that you have a great product. You know that it's at a fair price. You know your company's awesome, and you know that you're a rock star. These are things that cannot change no matter where the sales pitch goes. These are the controllables, and you're able to control those things while helping them accomplish whatever this hot button is.

Starting point is 00:22:26 Okay. The big hot button. So when they say no, they're saying, look, yeah, as long as you could do those, there's literally no roadblocks. It's not, I need to talk to my spouse. I need to think about it. We never make same day decisions. I'm not sure if right now is the right time. All those things are going out the door when you say no. Now, what's going to happen is that when you do this hard, soft close, people are going to start coming up with excuses. They are going to come up with reasons why they can't. But before we dive into that, I'm going back to why it's structured this way

Starting point is 00:23:01 versus like a yes. I'll give you an example. So as long as I'm able to do these things, would you feel comfortable moving forward today? Right? The difference is if they say yes, they haven't racked their brain of all the reasons why they couldn't move forward. Right? And so, aha, later down the road, they're going to be like, oh, Chris, I forgot. Yeah, me and my wife, we never make same day decisions or, oh, Chris, I forgot. Yeah, me and my wife, we never make same day decisions. Or, oh, I forgot I got to run this by my wife or whatever it is, right?

Starting point is 00:23:30 That question of yes doesn't make them think of all the reasons why they wouldn't move forward. And so it is so, so, so imperative that you structure it this way. Is there any reason why you wouldn't move forward today? Right. And the psychology of today, this isn't tomorrow, next week or whatnot. It's today. So getting them to a no. And once again, what's going to happen in this? And they'll be like, well, yeah, Chris, like I'm, I'm really worried about the price. I want to see the price before I commit. Oh yeah. Yeah. No, no problem, Mr. Customer. But instead of But instead of moving on, this is where most salespeople mess up. The customer brings up a reason or why they can't say the

Starting point is 00:24:11 word no in that situation. And then they just move on in the proposal. Do not move on in the proposal. You need to recap this and get a no. You cannot move forward. You cannot show them the pain page. You cannot identify concerns. You cannot show them the pain page. You cannot identify concerns. You cannot show them the design, any numbers or anything until you get this dang word of no. And so I'll show you an example of what you would do in this situation. Oh, I just really need to see the price. Hey, no problem, Mr. Customer. Like I said, we're going to help you accomplish this. We're going to be talking about the numbers. I'm going to show you that it's a fair price.

Starting point is 00:24:47 So as long as it's a fair price, is there any reason why you want to move forward today? Well, come to think of it, no, that's the only thing. So no, no. Okay. You have to get the word no. And if they're like, well, I really don't make any decisions without my wife. So yeah, that would keep me from moving forward today. What you've got to do is resolve this concern right now. You either need to talk through why

Starting point is 00:25:10 they need their spouse to make the decision. You need to get their spouse there, get them on the phone, whatever, before you actually show them any numbers. Because once you've divulged numbers and design, you've got everything that this person is looking for. Like literally the golden egg in this whole proposal is what they think they want, the numbers, right? And so as long as you have those close to your chest, you control the cards. And you cannot move forward and divulge that if you haven't properly resolved the concern. So if the wife really is the concern, do not, I repeat, do not go and just show numbers and say, okay, talk it over with your spouse because they will not move forward.

Starting point is 00:25:56 I promise you, if they do not answer no here, they will not answer yes at the very end of actually getting them to sign up. So you have to fight in this situation to actually resolve any concern that comes up when you ask this question. And so if you dive in, for example, I'll give you the spouse and they're like, well, I never make a decision based on the spouse. Hey, look, totally understand. I'm a married person. I get it. What would you consider a decision-making process? At at what level do you actually have to get your spouse involved? Because I'm assuming you don't make a decision every time you fill up

Starting point is 00:26:32 your car with gas, you don't consult her or whatnot. So like what level is that? Well, that's a great question, Chris. Typically, if anything, it's over $10,000. Okay. And if you know that your product is over $10,000 and you can help them get to the question, is it total price? Is it a monthly payment? Like what, at what level do you, do you typically get them involved? Okay. Would you be opposed to giving her a call right now? That is also a nice little psychology trick of, Hey, do you want to give her a call right now? Yes. That's much harder to say than would you be opposed to giving her a call? No, I wouldn't be opposed to that. No problem. Let's get her on the phone. Or would you be opposed to us rescheduling a better time when we can all be

Starting point is 00:27:13 together? This also goes back to one of the very main important things when we talk about 24 to 48 hours. When we gather that information initially for the lead, for the proposal, you need to make sure that all decision makers are there so that when you show up, they are ready to be making a decision. And this actually plays into the whole setting expectations. Like when you let them know you're putting together a proposal, let them know as well that, yeah, hey, at that point, we're going to get you to move forward. Like you're going to make a decision. If it's a no, no big deal. If it's a yes, we'll get everything taken care of. We just need to make sure that the decision is able to be made. So can you make sure that all decision makers,

Starting point is 00:27:52 is there anybody else in the house that keeps them from making decisions, right? And so this is all the different things. But ultimately, with the hard, soft close, you've got to make sure that any concern is resolved and that you get a no, that you actually go back, you recap the hard, soft close. Okay, so they're like, oh, I'm really concerned about the warranty. Okay, perfect. Yeah, that's one thing that we're going to be addressing. As long as there is a good quality warranty that you are comfortable and confident with. Is there any reason why you want to move forward today?

Starting point is 00:28:25 No, that's really the main thing that's keeping me back. Okay, so there's no reason that you want to move forward today. No, no, there is not. Boom, got the no, ready to move on. This is the power of the hard, soft close. You are getting them to commit to something before the full design, before the full numbers. You're getting that good on the soft numbers, but you're doing it with things that you know you can control and that are going to ultimately help your customer take advantage of the reason why they're looking into your product.

Starting point is 00:28:56 So now what I want you to do is think about the last time that you use this. Have you ever used a hard soft close? What is your closing scripts look like? Do you have a closing script? Are you just shooting from the hip? Is it your technicians that are just like presenting like, hey, do you want it? I promise you that is not a strategy that is going to help you scale your business. You have to dial in these type of tactics into your sales force to be able to move on to the next level. So take out a sheet of paper, take out your iPad, whatever you're taking notes on, ask yourself, what does my sales process look like? How can I improve that?

Starting point is 00:29:35 How can I implement setting proper expectations? One, do I have a proposal that I'm actually showing, or is it just literally line items and a price? If not, what can I do to have a proposal that I'm actually showing, or is it just literally line items and a price? If not, what can I do to implement a proposal? Number two, how can I implement setting proper expectations? And under setting proper expectations, how can we implement this best practice of a hard, soft close? I promise you it's going to be a game changer.

Next Level Pros - #103: This Technique Made Me MILLIONS!

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