The Psychology Behind Buying HVAC: Part 2
The best in-home sales strategies aren’t flashy.
Don’t think high-tech, think high-touch. With thoughtful, structured, customer-first selling techniques your team will close more sales without being pushy or too hands off.
On this week’s episode, New York Times bestselling author Weldon Long unpacks the psychology behind HVAC buying decisions. Learn how to use tiered pricing to ease objections, rebuild confidence, and give homeowners the power to choose comfort levels that fit their needs and their budget.
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Audio Transcription (in beta, please be wary of typos)
00:00:00:00 – 00:00:09:08
On today’s show, we’re going to talk about the Buying psychology part two.
00:00:09:10 – 00:00:29:20
So last week we introduced the topic of the buying psychology. Today we’re going to take a deeper dive. So pay attention and get out there and sell better. Now I’m going to talk to you about a little bit of old school stuff. I know everything in the world is gone. High tech. And I use Service titan in our business.
00:00:29:20 – 00:00:47:23
I love the technology. It’s great. I can manage my company from my phone, see what everybody’s doing. I love it, it’s great, but sometimes high touch is better than high tech. And I’m going to tell you exactly what it is. At the end of your sales presentation. Listen, we all know that. You know, you know, people buy based on the relationship, right?
00:00:48:01 – 00:01:07:01
What is your relationship with your home owner going to be at its peak at the end of the sales call? It doesn’t get stronger after you leave. It always gets weaker after you leave, which is why you should never wait for a callback for next Tuesday. Because Tuesday never going to happen. But you build this relationship with your home owner over the course of this hour, hour and a half, whatever it is, two hours, and then you get up to the peak.
00:01:07:03 – 00:01:23:12
The last thing in the world you want to do is to break the connection with your home owner. And here’s what happens. Some people will go out to their truck and put a proposal together. Are you freaking kidding me? If you’ve ever done that, what happens if you come back in the house? Mom’s gone. Dad’s gone. Dad’s the garage.
00:01:23:15 – 00:01:45:06
You just email me the bid. You set yourself up for failure. You cannot email bids. If you email bids, we cannot be friends. We just can’t be because it’s a losers mentality to email or text bids. That’s not what we do. We’re professional salespeople. So some people will at least use like Service Titan or something like that. And they can put it together real quick.
00:01:45:08 – 00:02:02:05
But here’s the problem. Even if you put a system together in the computer, it takes 7 or 8, nine, ten minutes. And during that ten minutes, what’s your homeowner doing? Oh, they’re going off to the garage. Mom’s going to help the kids with the homework. Whatever. And next thing you know, you’ve lost the entire dynamic, the entire dynamic that you spent two hours building.
00:02:02:09 – 00:02:19:12
Poof. It’s gone. The puff of smoke. Right. And I’m going to tell you something else about the CRM again. They’re great. They serve a lot of a lot of purpose. But we use service time. And I a lot of my clients use service time. And when you get down to a comfort advisor down to the end and they start swiping through those different options and they’re going back and the homeowner says, well, how much was that one?
00:02:19:12 – 00:02:36:15
And we go back to that one. Watch their eyes roll up in the back of their heads. And what are they going to say? Can you just email this to me because they’re confused. And the confused mind always says, no. So this is why I’ve gotten completely away from high tech. And I use high touch presentation cards. Right?
00:02:36:17 – 00:02:52:20
And here’s what they look like. Right? So this in my company, this is the one for my company. It’s eight and a half by 14in. It’s a laminated card. And think about it like a restaurant menu like Denny’s or something. That’s what it looks like. That’s what it feels like, right? And so what I’m going to do, I’m going to create these for every system I have.
00:02:52:22 – 00:03:09:01
And I’m going to use this to present. Now here’s the key. Once I go from everything I’ve been doing and now I go into my clothes, I’m ready. I’ve, I haven’t qualified a low budget. I built the value. They expect me to be higher. Right. I’m going to keep all this stuff in mind and then I’m going to cut.
00:03:09:01 – 00:03:23:22
When I get to the end, I’m going to say Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner. Other than price, is there any reason YouTube wouldn’t use my company and say, nope, if we can afford you, you’re going to get it. That’s what they always say, right? Then I’m going to turn and reach in my bag, and I’m going to pull out the proper price card for their system size.
00:03:23:22 – 00:03:38:07
And that’s all that’s going to be on the table. Aside from my product demonstration parts, which I like to leave on the table. I got to refer back to him. So what you see here is this is a two sided, menu card right on the front. You can see here it’s the monthly payments on the back. It’s the total investment.
00:03:38:13 – 00:03:54:05
But we always start with the monthly payments first. Why? Because I don’t want my homeowner freaking out just yet. I wanted to freak out on 29,000, but I don’t want them freaking out just yet. I want to be able to go through and explain all my seven options the features, the benefits of every system, and they’ll probably say, what of those numbers?
00:03:54:05 – 00:04:08:07
And I say, oh, those are just approximate monthly payments, but we’ll get to that later. And so now they’re not focused on the number. They’re just listening to what you’re saying. So you go through you describe your variable speed modulating heat pumps, whatever it is you sell. If you’re selling Ductless, we design these for Ductless systems, for boilers.
00:04:08:07 – 00:04:26:01
I mean, we just you do it, but you got to be able to go from bam to bam and start closing. You cannot have a 5 or 10 minute interval. And God forbid you go back out to your vehicle. Or if you go to your back to your shop and just shoot me, right? I’m not saying follow ups aren’t ever necessary, but if you have to follow up on a sales call, you never get the numbers first.
00:04:26:03 – 00:04:39:17
You only get those the second call when you come back. Hold of the topic, but we can talk about that later. So I’m going to go through and by the way you’ll see my systems. I always like to name them after local landmarks. So for us we’ve got the Stanley, the Penrose, the Broadmoor, Colorado, so on and so forth.
00:04:39:22 – 00:04:55:09
They’re all things around here. I’ve got a client down in Louisiana, South Louisiana, which I grew up down there, by the way, and they named all their systems after local dishes. They got the A2 say they got the jambalaya, they got the boudin, they got oh, it’s just it’s hilarious doing people love it. Your customers love it because they’re sick of gold, silver, platinum or whatever else, right?
00:04:55:11 – 00:05:15:21
Give them something local. You’re a local company. Let’s see a local. Right. So anyway, we name the seven systems I go through. I explain all of the various, systems, the features, benefits, efficiency, warranties, everything. And I go through system by system from my high end to my low end. And then I flip the card over right now, when the blood pressure starts to elevate.
00:05:15:21 – 00:05:36:05
And I want it to. Right. So here’s what I do I flip the card over. They understand all the seven systems now, and I say, Mr. and Mrs. Homer, this is why it’s so important to ask the questions in the questionnaire. Mr.. And Mrs.. Homeowner, earlier you said that protecting the environment for future generations is a nine. Either one of these two systems in green.
00:05:36:07 – 00:05:52:15
We’ll do that for you. Which one makes the most sense? I asked for the order just out of the first two the first time. Right. I’m going to go to the other stuff. Yet I always because they said they want to protect the environment. So I said earlier, you said you want to protect the environment. Even one of these systems in green will do that for you, which makes the most sense.
00:05:52:20 – 00:06:11:22
And it is hilarious to watch people, right? Because even the cheapest guy on the planet will play the game for like 30s, right? But most people, most regular people, they’re looking. It’s one 29,000, honey, that’s a bit much. That’s 2020 3000. So these are really efficient. And they will engage in the conversation and their heart’s racing. Their blood pressure is pounding.
00:06:11:23 – 00:06:28:15
They’re having a near stroke because I can’t believe the price. But they’re playing the game. They will play the game with you. It’s amazing to watch this happens. But now I’m setting up all my compromised choices, right? Because at some point now, sometimes they’ll say, now let’s go with the the Penrose. Right. I might go to the Stanley whatever.
00:06:28:17 – 00:06:44:12
But at some point the majority of people, probably 7 or 8 people are going to say, I don’t know, man, that’s just a little too rich for my blood. That’s just a little too that’s a little too steep for me. I’m. Hi, I’m Daryl, you shensky. Hey, I’m Bob Larkin. Many of our contractors meet with us monthly. And you.
00:06:44:12 – 00:07:09:16
Chances are I’ve met with us monthly. We found that members have deeper and greater needs. So we came up with next level coaching, which is we meet a lot more often. And there is accountability to deal with some of the issues of money growth, finding employees, having an exit strategy to get off this roller coaster. These are the issues that contractors want answers to, and we can provide those answers.
00:07:09:17 – 00:07:32:11
The next little coaching when you join next level coaching, you’re going to find solutions that are easy to implement and logical. Most importantly, we hold you accountable to specifics. We’re going to meet twice a month and have specific to do’s. And with those specific to do’s, we’re going to discuss and dive into your financials in a very granular way.
00:07:32:16 – 00:07:58:19
You’re going to have a clear budget. We’ll be able to establish pricing. We’re going to help you create leadership programs to build your people. We’re going to help you find people. You may think of differing ways to engage employees that will keep them more involved by joining next level coaching. So if you’re interested in making more money, growing your company, finding good employees and developing them as a strategy, we have Dale on our call.
00:07:58:23 – 00:08:14:06
We’d be happy to talk to you about next level coaching, and we’re going to see you on the next level. So I asked for the order on one of the green ones. If they show interest on any of the green ones, I’m going to go straight for my clothes. But most often they’re going to say, yeah, no, man, that’s that’s a little whiskey.
00:08:14:07 – 00:08:30:18
What else you got? And I said, well, you know what? Here’s the great news. Either one of these two systems in blue, the Colorado Broadmoor, they will protect the environment for future generations. Also, which of those makes the most sense to you now they have all this pressure come off because not only is it less expensive, but hey, it does all the same stuff.
00:08:30:18 – 00:08:47:16
I needed to do the stuff I told you it needs to do protect the environment. Yes. What? It does that too. I had tons of relief. Oh, it’s not going to be 23,000. It’s not going to be 29,000. Right. And what’s funny in my company is we hardly ever sell anything below that. We hardly ever sell a basic system.
00:08:47:18 – 00:09:03:08
In fact, the only time the basic system comes up, the homeowner will say, well, what kind of system do I have now? Oh, you got this basic system here. And they’ll say, oh, I don’t want to be in the gray, and they’ll push themselves back into the blue. It’s hilarious. And I’m going to say another huge benefit, seven Systems is the key, by the way.
00:09:03:10 – 00:09:19:16
And I’m going to tell you why I’ve done it. I’ve done this 20 years. Three systems, five systems tried all different kind of combinations. What I found out that we went to seven systems. One of the things that makes me crazy on a sales call probably does you do is you get down to the end. The homeowner says, well, I got to see what the other guy’s got, right?
00:09:19:18 – 00:09:35:15
Because I’m only showing him 3 or 4 options. I might be more out there. What he’s thinking might be more options. When you show him seven options, they’re thinking they see everything from basic to high end, because how much more could there be in their mind than seven systems? So now they don’t feel like they have to go to the cheap guy to see what else they got.
00:09:35:17 – 00:09:49:11
If they want cheap, I’ll get them in cheap down here. I’ll get them in a grid. There’s no shame in selling a basic system so long as the margins are adjusted properly and you’re selling at the right price. We sell some basic systems sometimes, and we sell some, some some high end systems, but mostly we sell those ones.
00:09:49:11 – 00:10:07:05
The blue right, right down the middle. Right. So that’s the strategy. This is an image of one I did for a client. So we always put their their stuff on it. It’s really important, but the same strategy. I think these guys are mostly electric. It looks like. Yeah, yeah. No, they do some axes and some furnaces.
00:10:07:05 – 00:10:24:15
Yeah. And then one of the things I want to mention is that when we create this, we don’t just credit for one size. If you see down the left hand side there, on that, those thumbnails like we produce these cards for every size. And like I say, we have, we have clients that we have a set for all electric systems, for dual fuel, you know, for Douglas, whatever.
00:10:24:15 – 00:10:36:17
And it takes time. But that’s what we do. We design these for. Let me tell you something. One of the things I’ve done in the last few years is I’ve done it. I do it for you mentality. For 20 years I’ve been teaching people how to do this. You know how many go back to their office and actually do it?
00:10:36:22 – 00:10:52:00
Precious few, because they get back to work and they get busy, right? So we started doing at SGI here, last year, a little year before maybe we started saying, you know what? We’re just going to do it for them. We create your price cards. We do that. We do the pricing for you. I show you exactly how to do your pricing.
00:10:52:04 – 00:11:15:14
And then we we produce those. We also produce, accessories, books and all that kind of stuff. So that is what you got to do if you want to be able to sell at a nice average ticket. It’s part of the overall strategy. And this is a strategy I’ve been teaching for many, many years. And now we’re just offering a program because this, this part of it, as you might have expected, that’s actually step four of a six step process, right.
00:11:15:16 – 00:11:31:20
So I’ll run through those real quick. And then Dave’s got some information he wants to share with you. When you talk about a sales system, people always think sales training. It’s not sales training. Sales training is only one part of a six part process. The first thing you have to do in step one is you have to train and provide scripts for your lead coordinator.
00:11:31:22 – 00:11:54:23
Setting a lead is a skill. You can’t just say, oh, we’ll have Joey out there at 2:00 tomorrow. You have to be able to qualify and set that lead. You qualify for time. You qualify for both homeowners. You make sure the homeowner understands what to expect and you properly settle. Lead. Anybody out there who sold for more than a weekend knows that the probability of your success in the home quadruples if you’ve got both homeowners present.
00:11:55:04 – 00:12:15:17
So we got it. We can’t always doesn’t always work right. Sometimes it doesn’t happen. We’ve got strategies for that too. But we have to put a immense amount of effort and passion into trying to get both homeowners there. It’s a ton of different, techniques we use very effectively. You should have both homeowners present at least 65% of the time, and sometimes you have to present to a one leg or do a follow up.
00:12:15:19 – 00:12:32:19
But again, if you have to do a follow up, don’t share the information with you. So we provide your lead coordinator training. We give them the training and the scripts. Everything they got to say to set the lead. Property number two world class mindset and sales training. Right when I say world class mindset, I wrote a book this some back here power, consistency, New York Times, the Wall Street Journal bestseller.
00:12:33:01 – 00:12:52:12
This is part of the Leadership and Mindset program at Fedex, Home Depot, Allstate insurance farmers, Comcast giant companies that have bought into this program and I teach them have to have the mindset of personal responsibility and learn how to overcome adversity. We’re all going to face challenges. We’re all going to face adversity. Hell, every time you go into a lead, you’re going to face a challenge because you’re home.
00:12:52:12 – 00:13:06:23
One to watch, three bids wants to think about it. Well, you know what’s the better price, right? So how do we thrive in the face of those obstacles? Or as we referred to in sales, the objections? Getting the right mindset is the key to the kingdom. It’s what really helped me transform my life. You probably don’t know about my background, but I spent 25 years in the streets.
00:13:06:23 – 00:13:23:01
I was broken, homeless. I was living in a freaking homeless shelter at 39 years old. Right? So I know what it is to suffer. And I know what it’s like to prosper and become wealthy. And the mindset is the key to the kingdom. You have to change the culture in your in your company, to the mind, to the prosperity mindset and personal responsibility.
00:13:23:05 – 00:13:37:16
My dear friend Gary Ellis always says that culture will trump your strategy every single time. You can have the best strategy in the world, but if you got a crappy mindset, you got a crappy culture, it’s not going to matter. So a big part of what we do in this program is we change the culture and the mindset of everybody in the company.
00:13:37:16 – 00:13:53:23
And of course, sales training. We train people on the sales process. All that stuff is based on these three books that I’ve that I’ve written over the years. Right. These are workbooks and stuff. Number three, we complete the sales presentation material. So we give you the actual flip book. I designed the actual presentation for your company. This is one, the one for my company here.
00:13:54:01 – 00:14:18:08
But we we design and print and everything. Your entire sales process. Right? So you’re not flipping through some three ring binder or trying to do something silly. You got a professional presentation, which, by the way, communicates a ton of value to your home owner. Just the mere fact that you have a professional presentation. If you’re focused on process on your sales call, they’re probably going to think you’re focused on process and your install, and that’s what they want is a quality process oriented install.
00:14:18:08 – 00:14:35:08
So those are some of the interior pages. But we create your entire sales book. And then of course we do the menu the price cards I make those for you. And then we do an additional, accessory book, whatever accessories you sell, we build that for you, help you with the pricing, make sure you get it right. And then we teach your lead cord and how to follow up and to track sales.
00:14:35:11 – 00:14:49:22
What gets measured gets done. You need know exactly how many leads you run. You should know your close rate. You should know your first call clothes rate, your rehash rate. You should know your revenue per lead. If you don’t know those numbers, you’re not going to be a successful entrepreneur. Every successful entrepreneur has a few key numbers. They live and die buys.
00:14:50:03 – 00:15:06:07
And if somebody if you ask me right now, what are my revenue for lead? I can tell you for November it was exactly $5,600, right? That means if I give a guy a lead, I’m getting 5600 back. That’s our average revenue per lead. It’s not average ticket. Average tickets 15, 16, 17,000, but average revenue per lead is 5000.
00:15:06:07 – 00:15:25:10
It’s a key metric. And it’s one you got to follow. And then number six is critical for everybody ongoing sales coaching and mentoring. This is what I do. So we meet with your guys once a month. We also I do a daily motivational thing. They’re going to get on their phone 3 to 5 minutes of just talking about, you know, maybe closing a relationship, building just something to pump them up for the day.
00:15:25:10 – 00:15:40:14
3 to 5 minutes every single morning on their phones. Then I do another weekly meeting. And that weekly meeting, we, we do a 30 minute sales training, and we send it to you and now you have content for your sales meeting. I find that a lot of people don’t do sales training because they don’t know what to do.
00:15:40:16 – 00:15:58:02
So I produce a 30 minute segment every week. We send that to you. You throw it up on your screen. Now you got your your sales meeting, and then we help you with ongoing stuff on a monthly basis. I do a wide open with all of our current clients. And by the way, this is I work with tens, tens of companies at a time, not hundreds right now.
00:15:58:07 – 00:16:17:23
Ego has thousands of people that use their services, but this little portion that I do, we only have maybe 20, 25 people companies at a time. I can’t judge just to juggle 200 different companies. So we have a monthly meeting that’s live our two hours. How long it takes. We do it on on zoom or one of these platforms and we answer their questions or role play with them.
00:16:17:23 – 00:16:35:02
We help them get clarity. We help them teach them how to overcome different. It’s just the ongoing stuff. I’m talking you guys every day, every week and every month. I’m I’m going to get in their brain when they like it or not. Awesome content right there, as always. Now, if you like this content, please share it with your friends on Facebook.
00:16:35:08 – 00:17:10:05
And if you’re not a member, go ahead and click the button below to get a free 30 day trial of our entire contract university platform. We’ll see you next week. Until then, my friends, bye bye for now.
