Sam Wakefield is the Founder and CEO of Close It Now, a sales system designed to help individuals and businesses increase their closing rates. He is a celebrated luminary in HVAC, known for his innovative and unique approach to sales, training, and personal development. He has not only sold millions of dollars in equipment, but he has won multiple sales awards. Additionally, he hosts the podcast Close It Now, which primarily focuses on personal development and effective sales methodologies.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Sam Wakefield introduces Close It Now and how it helps people
Sales challenges people face
What are some of the best sales techniques?
Sam explains how to emotionally connect with potential clients and build trust
Permission-based marketing and how it works
How to get referrals from your client’s network
Overcoming limiting beliefs and developing successful habits
Sam shares his insights on the impact of AI on sales
In this episode…
The sales industry has undergone a rapid transformation in recent years, and simply promoting products or services is no longer sufficient to win over potential clients. Today, emotions and feelings are at the forefront of purchasing decisions, and businesses must adapt to increase their sales.
Sales expert Sam Wakefield advocates for a sales methodology that values understanding and empathy. By paying close attention to the emotional cues of potential clients during a sales pitch, you build trust, increase engagement, and create genuine human connections. When clients feel genuinely heard and understood, they are more likely to be receptive to your message, which translates into higher sales.
In this episode of The Customer Wins, Richard Walker sits down with Sam Wakefield, Founder and CEO of Close It Now, to discuss techniques for increased sales. Sam explains how Close It Now helps people, sales challenges people face, sales techniques, and how to emotionally connect with potential clients and build trust with them.
Resources Mentioned in this episode
Sam Wakefield’s Email: sam@closeitnow.net
"Leveraging AI Technology To Provide Holistic Financial Advice With Charlie Clark" on The Customer Wins
"Thriving With Improved Habits: An AI Approach With Mike Jalonen" on The Customer Wins
"The Better and Simpler Way To Scale With Austin Netzley of 2X" on The Customer Wins
The Gap and The Gain: The High Achievers' Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
Sponsor for this episode...
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Our vision is to become the leading forms automation company by making paperwork the easiest part of every transaction.
Meanwhile, our mission is to help the top firms in the financial industry raise their bottom line by streamlining the customer experience with automated, convenient solutions.
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Episode Transcript:
Intro 0:02
Welcome to The Customer Wins podcast where business leaders discuss their secrets and techniques for helping their customers succeed and in turn grow their business.
Richard Walker 0:16
Hi, I'm Rich Walker, the host of The Customer Wins, where I talk to business leaders about how they help their customers win and how their focus on customer experience leads to growth. Some of my past guests have included Charlie Clark of FP Alpha, Mike Jalonen of Habit Driven, and Austin Netzley of 2X. Today I'm excited to speak with Sam Wakefield, the founder of Close It Now. And today's episode is brought to you by Quik! the leader in enterprise forms processing. When your business relies upon processing forms, don't waste your team's time manually reviewing the forms instead get Quik!. Using for our Form Xtract API simply submit your completed forms and get back clean context-rich data that is 99.9% accurate. Visit quikforms.com to get started. Now before I introduce today's guest, I have to give a huge thank you to David Gonzalez for introducing me to Sam. David is the founder of Internet Marketing Party who hosts monthly events in Austin, Texas to bring together brilliant marketers and entrepreneurs. You should definitely attend the next Internet Marketing Party if you're in Austin. Visit internetmarketingparty.com to get your ticket. All right, I'm really excited to talk to today's guests because he brings a completely different perspective to this podcast that I believe you're going to want to hear. Sam Wakefield is a luminary in the HVAC industry, renowned for his innovative approach to sales, training and personal development. With over two decades of experience, he has evolved from hands-on technical roles to a strategic sales leader deeply understanding industries and nuances. As the founder of Close It Now, Sam has distinguished himself by pioneering a unique blend of sales strategies, and personal growth techniques, reshaping traditional sales training methodologies, Sam also hosts a popular podcast called Close It Now with a core focus on personal development and effective sales methodologies. Sam, welcome to The Customer Wins.
Sam Wakefield 2:10
Thanks, man, I'm so happy to be here.
Richard Walker 2:12
I'm happy to have you. So for those of you who have not heard this podcast before, I love to talk to business leaders about what they're doing to help their customers win, how they built and deliver great customer experience and the challenges to growing their own company. Sam, let's understand your business a little better. How does your company help people?
Sam Wakefield 2:30
That is a great question. So definitely over the years have evolved. Now I'm in a very much a role of helping companies help the customer, right, so my customer directly is the owner of a trades company, and people that are just in sales across the or around the world. And the podcast is listened to in 30 countries. But yeah, just help people to connect with basically sell more, earn more and serve at a higher level and really serve with their heart. My hope. I guess the tagline to sum this up would be just kind of helping to bring trust back to the trades.
Richard Walker 3:13
So the trades I mean, look, I'm in software so I don't get physical that often. Right? The trades you're talking about air conditioning, heating, plumbing, electrical. Exactly. You have all those windows.
Sam Wakefield 3:25
Yeah, so yeah. Heating and Air, plumbing, electrical solar. May could be Windows, I even have people listen to the podcast that do irrigation or fencing or closets or basically any way that helps a homeowner in home improvement. That is my key demographic.
Richard Walker 3:43
Okay. I think there's a lot of correlation to my audience who I think are generally focused on wealth management. So they're financial advisors, they sell life insurance. They are fee-only planners, etc. I think the corollary is they're talking to people, just like your customers are talking to people, they own homes, they have businesses, etc. They have real life challenges, and they're trying to solve problems. Right, right. Yeah. What is the biggest challenge that your customer faces in trying to meet their customer meet their needs, provide a great experience, etc.
Sam Wakefield 4:15
This is a topic that I'm very passionate about, and it relates to your normal listenership really dramatically, pretty accurately is the biggest challenge is we always come across too technical. And I see this and everybody that I talked to everyone I train is, when we're working with, if it's somebody that's talking to a financial advisor, or if it's somebody who's talking to somebody about a new air conditioner, the struggle is we know so much about the topic, that we have a hard time communicating in a way, one that they understand and more importantly, and this is the biggest thing is we've got to help that person see what their life is going to be like, once they have our service, if we can't do that, then we're missing the whole point. And we get a lot of I want to think about it.
Richard Walker 5:08
That makes sense. I took a training once, where the guy said in sales, you should think of what's called the consultative close. And the idea is think about yourself on an island of present day, and an island of the future perfect, or the perfect future, however you want to say it, and you need a boat to get across. And so trying to get your customer to see that future Island and where they could be, so that they can see the value. Right. But with trades, I mean, look, in financial services, we're talking money, it's a big deal to earn somebody's trust. But I think equally so inviting a stranger into your house. It's kind of a scary proposition in some ways.
Sam Wakefield 5:48
Oh, it's crazy. Yeah. Because we're going from the perspective of the people doing the cells there. It's nerve-racking, because we're going from blind date to basically marriage proposal and 45 minutes for 20, 30, 50 $100,000 of in some cases, depending on the size of the home, and how do we build the trust? How do we establish the rapport, to show our competence, and all of those things in such a short amount of time? It's no different in a conversation with consulting with someone for their finances, and as large ticket items there, too. So yeah. Pretty similar.
Richard Walker 6:28
Yeah, I mean, getting somebody to agree to put $100,000 into an annuity or a mutual fund or whatever. I there's a lot of correlation here. So helping people see that value, is, I think it's a challenging thing. So are there techniques that you actually use and teach that help people see that better? Or deliver a message that comes across better?
Sam Wakefield 6:49
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, there's a formula that I've actually developed in my process, which applies to everyone, because it's rooted in psychology. It's rooted in NLP techniques. It's rooted in a lot of basically verbal agreements and that type of thing, the thing we have to understand is we were helping our clients learn how to buy from us. So that's one mindset thing is when we can understand so okay, so we have to get better at giving directions and giving steps for our clients. And this is in whatever we do. But some of the ninja tricks are, you know, first is they need to know who you are. And they need to know more about the company. And so the introduction is crucial. So because most people will get into questions, and why are you here? What do you want to accomplish? And then way down the line, bill, okay, well, now let's talk about the company and myself. Well, that's too late.
Richard Walker 7:51
Yeah. The guys I bought solar from for my house, I think the two times I bought, I think the number one reason I bought from those because I liked their company, I liked what they represented, I liked the fact that they had tested every product themselves. And they were highly passionate and invested in the product. And it wasn't just a sale to them, it was a delivery of value and solution. Let's take a tack on this. Because there's a lot of new advisors joining the ranks and wealth management, they're sole proprietors, just like I imagine there's a lot of people are like, I'm going to hang my shingle, I'm going to become a brand new plumber or something. How does a new person talk about their company, when they don't have a lot of history yet?
Sam Wakefield 8:33
Oh, that's one of my favorite questions. When we're crafting introductions for people that don't have experienced in that specific industry, it doesn't matter because homeowner, the one thing to understand is your customer, your client, they don't expect you to know everything, but they just expect you to be able to get the answer in a short amount of time. So one when we understand that and don't beat yourself up for not knowing everything instantly. So it's okay to give you grace for that. But the other part of that is, when we're working with that, we're getting into the introduction, use whatever experience you do have. And so for example, would I take people through, say they're brand new in the trades. So Well, what did you do before? Were you in customer service? Were you in car sales? What did you do use that and pull out the core values from there and say, okay, maybe I'm brand new in wealth management, but I have this many years in customer service. I have this many years in project management, figuring out complex problems. So with that experience, that's why I'm best suited to help you now with what I'm doing. And here's the support team behind me. If I don't know the answer instantly, we've got a whole team together that we can help you out. So that's how I would advise to craft that use the experience.
Richard Walker 10:01
So I think what's interesting about that is you did not say, go get 20 certifications, or any kind of certification, right. And in financial planning, we have the Certified Financial Planner, it takes like three years to get, it's super difficult. It's quite the accomplishment. And there's other types of certifications. But that's not really what selling it, is it?
Sam Wakefield 10:19
No, not at all. And over time, you're gonna get the certifications, that's great. But don't wait to get started because you don't have those. That's okay to lean on the people in your team that do have them. But yeah, the thing that is, really, this is what it all comes down to the way people buy has changed so dramatically in the last three to five years, especially after the pandemic, it's feeling it's emotion, the emotional drivers and people are buying with their feelings. Because if a purchase of anything, is driving a car logic is the steering wheel. All of the numbers make sense. Yeah, that's in the head. Okay, great. I like the company, I like you. This is awesome. Well, that's pointing the wheels in the right direction. It logically makes sense. But that stayed in the head. And that's, it can all make sense, but then we're still gonna get okay, sounds good, Rich, I need to think about it. Motion is the gas pedal, which will cause people to take action and to take action immediately. So we've got to get the emotion and we've got to drop people into their heart and the feeling part of a decision. If we can get the emotional piece tied to it in yeah, it makes logical sense. We get the emotional piece. Now we're going to take action, and we're going to put foot on the gas and take action now.
Richard Walker 11:40
Okay, so I think there's two really interesting things about that. I mean, 20, 30 years ago, you always heard people say people buy from who they like, and it's not necessarily what they're selling, which is an emotional thing, right? Absolutely. But the other thing I think about is emotion isn't just showing emotion. It's showing passion, excitement, expertise. So for example, we had our carpets cleaned. And the guy that we hired, oh, my gosh, this guy knew everything about cleaning carpet, and told us things to think about that we had not even thought about, like how he brushes the carpet to leave it standing softer after he leaves. And really what happened was he showed his emotion through his passion for his craft, and his excitement for helping people have a better solution. And he said, in fact, you won't need to hire me as often because I'm going to do such a high quality service, which then showed value at the same time. So is this what you mean? Like in terms of emotion of my hitting it on the head or are there other things to show your emotion?
Sam Wakefield 12:39
Yeah, that's a huge part of it. So there's two sides to the emotion of one side is exactly that, Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, the trainers from forever ago, they always say sales is the transfer of enthusiasm, right? I love that. That's exactly that, when someone can see that you are passionate about what you do. Because the mindset with this is sales, be it financial planning, and wealth management, or whatever else the sells, sells is not the performance of an hour, it's the overflow of a life. If all of the other elements of your life are together, then you might no not have to know the most about that topic. But you're someone people want to do business with. In my podcasts, I say it very often work to become someone worth buying from. And as you do that the level of people that buy from you will rise. So this applies. That's why personal growth and nutrition and fitness and all these things are just as important as maybe learning a one-liner cell skill. And so it all carries over. And then the other side of the emotion. And here's a super quick example, is say I'm a financial advisor, and you came to me and we were working together, and the little emotional bow at the end of the conversation that could potentially sound something like and Rich, isn't it going to feel awesome, knowing that you're not going to have to worry about this any longer. And your kids are going to be taken care of.
Richard Walker 14:10
Yeah, I'm done. Let's go. Right, right.
Sam Wakefield 14:12
So it's like all the logic makes all the sense, but put the little motional emotional bow on the end of it. And it changes everything in the conversation.
Richard Walker 14:21
Yeah. And I liked that. Like with my adviser, she talks about how she does things for her own kids, how she invests for her kids how she set up security for her kids, which is her own example for us to follow. So when we were talking about having kids and now we have three, what we're going to do, I think that relatability is a really important aspect. So I want to ask you another question about this. Do you have it kind of codified Do you have a methodology for how to build trust?
Sam Wakefield 14:48
Yes, there's a shortcut for this. And it's so simple. Most people don't even believe me when I first start talking about it's called the permission stack. Everything is permission-based. It's so rich, would you like to hear with the permission stack is? I would. Yes. Okay, great. Well, step one is asking permission. Right? And it's one of the interesting things because in any conversation, say someone came and they're asking you about what vehicles do you have that I can place this money, if you just go straight into telling them what they just asked, walls go up, eyes glaze over, they check out because just the way we're wired and programmed in our brain, but one quick little adjustment, and it changes everything. So let's roleplay this. And just to give some practical stuff here, so say, so you're asking me about what vehicles so you came across a lot of cash and you want to invest it, ask me about what vehicles and we'll roleplay both different ways.
Richard Walker 15:47
All right. So Sam, I just got a massive inheritance. What should I be doing with it to make sure it's safe and secure and growing?
Sam Wakefield 15:54
Oh, my gosh, Rich. Well, we've got annuities, and we've got some stocks and we've got percent with no financial stuff, but I just kind of went right in. So when you go right into directly answering the question, what happens is that's really pushed-back type of response. Ask me again, and then I'm going to ask you how different it felt.
Richard Walker 16:12
Okay, Sam, I just got a massive inheritance. What should I do with my money to ensure my safety, security and can grow it over time?
Sam Wakefield 16:19
Oh, Rich. Tell you what, we have some really incredible options. Would you like to hear what they are?
Richard Walker 16:24
Yeah, yeah. What are they?
Sam Wakefield 16:25
Oh, perfect. So we've got of course, stocks. We've got annuities. We've got this, let's see what happened? How did you feel the difference in that response?
Richard Walker 16:34
So number one, you asked me the question made me feel like you were engaged in my interest? That was the first thing that I felt. And then second, you, I don't know how to describe this. It's like you took over the conversation in a way?
Sam Wakefield 16:47
Yeah. Yeah. So took over the conversation. But also, the coolest thing that happened is that level of engagement, you leaned, I noticed your posture, you leaned in a little bit. And that's what happens. The second week asked the permission question, we have some great options, who would you like to hear what they are? You leaned in instead of leaning back? It's subconscious, it happens. And now you're engaged in the conversation, you're actually paying attention to what's going on. So step two, then is give the data and we ask permission, then give data, whatever the data is, if it's talking about this, or if it's talking about air conditioners, or whatever. Then step three is checking in. Does that make sense?
Richard Walker 17:29
Yeah, right. I'm really curious how many financial advisors listening to this resonate with this or reject it. Because part of being a financial adviser, which I was, is to ask a ton of questions is to really seek to understand and put yourself on the side of the table with your client, so you can understand their needs and their drivers, etc. But you're also dealing with a clientele who has minutes to try to win customer rapport. And I mean, do you help people who sell door-to-door? Is that part of what you do?
Sam Wakefield 18:04
It is? Absolutely, yeah. In fact, I'm the face of door-to-door for HVAC in the industry right now. So we're all over the country doing exactly that. You've got seven seconds. That's it? To get engagement and interest in what you're talking about. So here's a super quick ninja trick, everybody. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Is the word interested. Never ask anyone if they're interested about anything, replace that with the word open. No one can be interested in anything they don't know anything about. Stop asking your clients, are you interested in this? They're never going to be replaced that with the word open. So it's like, hey, if I could show you this, that got this result, would you be open to more information? Because no one wants to be perceived as closed-minded, that everyone always wants to be perceived as open-minded. That'll change everything in a conversation like right off the bat. So that's instant report real fast.
Richard Walker 19:05
Nice, man. I want to keep asking a lot of questions about this. So one other technical type of question, I've noticed that if somebody is having something done at their house, across the street, down the street, whatever item suddenly getting sold or marketed to by that vendor who's there? It seems like that's a really powerful way to win new customers like, hey, I'm helping your neighbor across street get solar. Are you open to solar, but I want you to talk about this from a network effect. Because I think, financial advisors, they also look at, if I'm working with you, who can you refer me to in your network, or I'm part of a specific network, I only sell to dentists, for example. So what is your perspective on building the network and having a network effect helps you with your sale?
Sam Wakefield 19:50
Oh it's extremely powerful with that you're leaning into something called social proof that is insanely powerful. And so when you're approaching it? Well, first of all, so that you actually asked two different questions in your question. The first one is about how to ask for referrals better. And, you know, traditionally people ask for referrals like everybody that you said my way, I'll give you 50 bucks or whatever it is. And that is people were programmed to have a resistance to making money off of our friends and family. So much better way to ask for referrals, sounds something like, hey, rich, now that we've worked together, you saw how simple and easy the process was? Who do you know that I can help? Who do you know that I can help? And that's a very, very powerful line. Because now it has nothing to do with financial gain for you, if you send somebody my way or any of that, who do you know that I can help so they don't get taken advantage of by the guys out there that don't know as much or maybe, as kit don't work as well? So now they care about sending those referrals. And a great way to do it, too, is, it's like, well, perfect. So how about I buy lunch and just invite a couple of them to lunch? Let's have lunch together introduce me? Or let's call them up right now introduce me, right. So it's like these little things that nobody thinks about. The other side of that is the power of the network is crucial. So when we're talking to say you're somebody new that we haven't done business with, then we can still use social proof be like, Oh, my gosh, so many people app specifically, I work with people in your industry, or say you're a dentist. Specifically, I work with dentists all over town, right here in this area. Do you happen to know so and so, so and so, so and so? We've done some great work together, I'd love to be able to add you into the high five, love to be able to add you into that family? Would you be open to some information worked out well, for them? Would you be open to having a conversation and see what we can do together?
Richard Walker 20:27
Nice, nice. This is awesome. You are full of techniques. No wonder people call upon you. Okay, well, let's talk about another area that you talk a lot about. And that's also very near and dear to me, which is personal development. What do you think is like the top thing people are trying to overcome, a fear, a limiting belief or some kind of learning that they have that you're constantly addressing?
Sam Wakefield 22:20
Oh, that's a great question. Thank you for asking that. Yeah, it's probably the limiting belief of growing to a new level of person in really analyzing yourself, and that rise, because it the only difference between me there's lots of actual differences. But the main difference between the average and the top performers, it's not that they do anything different, their sales pitches, not any different. It's who they believe they are. This is like, I know, when I walk into any situation, I am a top performer. Because I've conditioned myself and I've developed my belief system for that for so many years, that you dropped me in a brand new industry, I guarantee you, within a year to two, I will be number one on the leaderboard. That's just what I do. Yeah. And not to impress you, but just to impress upon you that the belief systems, everything. So when I'm working with people, and especially all you new financial advisors out, the difference between where you're at and the top performers is really just believe it, believe in those success leaves clues, follow the habits of the top performers, and adopt those habits as your own habit. And now it's your habit.
Richard Walker 23:35
And how do you just believe it?
Sam Wakefield 23:37
Well, that is a mantra. No, it actually is the habits, right? Our life is a combination of the habits we put together daily, I mean time is an illusion. You know, anything that happened this morning or in the past is memory and anything in the future is like imagination. So all we have is right now and what habit are we developing? So let's be real with yourself, rate yourself on a scale of one to 10 of whatever area and then find somebody that's a level 10 In your mind, and say okay, what is one habit that they do that I'm not currently doing that I can incorporate in my life today? And then be very intentional about that. And once that habit long enough becomes your own habit. Now maybe I raised myself at a level four. Well, maybe with that habit now a level five, okay, what's the next habit, a top performer that I can adopt. And then so the more that we start to do this and build this muscle, then it creates this momentum in our lives where we start to rise to that level. And we start to believe it because we're starting to see the results we start to incorporate those habits and now we're becoming that better person.
Richard Walker 24:48
I love that and what you're not saying is go do it all. Drink the same smoothie and do the same workout and get up at the same hour and, and, and, you're saying pick one thing.
Sam Wakefield 24:58
Yeah, that's a recipe for disaster, if you do it all at once, you will last a week.
Richard Walker 25:02
Exactly, exactly. Change is hard. I don't know if you know, I wrote a book on change. It's a four-step methodology for how to change. And it's called, It's My Life, I Can Change If I Want To. And it's totally about beliefs, it's about instilling the right and beliefs inside of you to change your behaviors. So I completely agree. And change is hard. So doing one thing well is crucial to creating the kind of change that you want to have in your life. Don't try to change 10 Things change one thing, I remember when I met my wife is before we're married, and we decided to change our diet, we chose one item breakfast, and one breakfast item even, and then add it to that and add it to that, and then it became lunch, and then it became dinner, then it became week. And then it became how we ate out and man now, it's crazy. But our house is wildly different than 10 years ago.
Sam Wakefield 25:53
One quick thing that I just finished out. So if anybody wants to I lead a book club for personal growth. And so we meet once a month in the book we just finished is The Gap and The Gain. And that's exactly that. It's like so many times the other way to help out with the mindset and with success, is just start to measure backwards instead of measuring forwards if I set a goal to do, for example, 200 cold calls today to new clients, and I only did 180 instead of beating myself up about it, just be like, hey, this is awesome. I did 180. Tomorrow, we'll get to the next thing. But measure yourself in the success that did happen, not in what you didn't do.
Richard Walker 26:34
Well, and besides that, if you did 180, but a year ago, you only did 70 look how far you come.
Sam Wakefield 26:40
Or two days ago you did 70?
Richard Walker 26:42
Yeah, I heard a really great quote, and I'm not gonna be able to quote it by word, but it was something to the effect of you have already achieved some of the goals that you said would make you happy. Which is to apply why aren't you happy? Because you hit the goal, right?
Sam Wakefield 26:58
Oh, I love that. Well, I think in our society, we're so conditioned that success is a destination. And it's not if it's a destination, to where's it at, just tell me where it's at. We'll just go there right now. And then we're done. But it's not it's a journey. And so keeping not just keeping the getting and keeping that in the forefront of our mind helps with this process.
Richard Walker 27:21
Yeah, for sure. All right, we're gonna switch gears here, because I have to ask you about artificial intelligence. And I want to give another shout-out to one of my past guests, Mike Jalonen with his app called Habit Driven. Because when you talk about building the right habits, it's an app to help you track those habits. And it's not just eating right, or working out. It's any kind of habit you want. And it has AI driven inside of it to help remind you and help you move information forward into the next day or the next phase of your habit and your journey that you want to be on. So anyway, shout out to him. But back to your, I wanted your perspective, how is artificial intelligence impacting your industry, or how people sell and when they're in person to person like you do?
Sam Wakefield 28:02
Oh, it's everywhere right now. The one thing that I love about it, it's making things so much more efficient. I would say it's not replacing jobs, it's changing jobs, right if we choose to learn and grow with it. And it's everywhere in the industry. So everybody listening, if you haven't yet, you will be getting an AI call from your service company to schedule like, here's an example. Easy one, hey, it's time for your you know, spring maintenance, let's get your air conditioner checked before it gets hot. They're gonna be using AI to do that instead of a person, right? Those kinds of things, right? Yeah. So the It's everywhere. It's being used in 1000 different ways. But what I love so much about AI is the efficiency, what I also love about doing it with financial management and with Home Improvement, is it will never replace personal connection of someone who truly cares to help. And it will never be able to replace that. So we can use it to support it. But boy, it's just never gonna come in the replace what we can get in a real conversation with the person. Yeah. And so that's the other side of the coin that I see with AI right now.
Richard Walker 29:19
I think I'll have a very different reaction the day a robot knocks on my door to try to sell me something. It doesn't sit well with me, per se. But you brought up a really, I think, very useful use case, which is following up with existing customers to plan next steps with them. Like, hey, we serve as your air conditioner. Now it's time to change your filters. Now. Let's try and whatever. I think that's a really valid use case for it. Have you seen air AI?
Sam Wakefield 29:47
Yeah, in fact, I have, let's say there's a person within the HVAC industry that actually has a license for that that has built it out for with every bit of his scripting, every bit of his sales, training all of that as using the actually, on two different levels. One is, as an incoming call center for his clients for businesses, say its peak season and you have four people in your call center. Well, this will answer what several 100 phones at a time. Wow, there's no longer do we have to oh, well, it's busy, we can't get to them. So it's using it as a call center. Also using as outbounding that exact client to schedule things. Also, there's rehash programs for maybe proposals that were sent that didn't close. There's rehash programs with that. And then the other side of it is, it's being used for internal training, which is really cool. So you've got 30 technicians in the field and one salesman service manager. Well, now they can call in get loaded with all of the technical data, they can call in and get, oh, hey, I need help figuring out this wiring schematic, we don't have to call the service manager anymore. AI is doing it for you. And so now it's able to so for management and training, it's dramatically changing the scalability of that across the country right now.
Richard Walker 31:14
Wow. So I can imagine that's going to turn into AI-generated videos like on the fly, like, oh, I don't have to do this, well, here you go will generate a video for you. And now you can just watch it instead of translating it on YouTube. This is incredible. I'm going to tell you a story, a friend of mine just told me, and not to mention the company, he works for whatsoever. But they rolled out an AI to help with loans. And they were calling on people who are delinquent and late on paying their loans. And the AI started hallucinating and doing things It wasn't allowed to do like, oh, don't worry about paying your loan this month. If you can do it next month, that's fine with us. Like, wait a minute, you can't give away a free payment. Right? So, we're still in the early stages. But I agree, I think this is going to be pretty profound of how this is gonna go. Man, are there tools that you're using, personally, that you love?
Sam Wakefield 32:10
I am actually yeah, and the ones I use are pretty basic. So one has to do with writing, I do a lot of different blog posts and different things. So I'm using, I've built my own GPT within chat GPT with my voice, I've loaded it with actually my book. And so it gets my voice and so it writes all my posts and stuff and episode, copy. Also, I'm really getting into now, which you do a lot of is using it for video editing. In fact, actually the coolest thing just happened. My partner, she runs the craft business and she used I was the new Microsoft went in for a made a brand new logo that is like, awesome. And it was free. Wow, brand spanking new logo, video or image creation. And, you know, we didn't have to even hire anybody on Fiverr to do at this time, I was in trouble look out through the heads for sure. And use it for all kinds of stuff, chopping up video to make reels and stuff on social media. I think we've barely scratched the surface of what AI will be able to do and how it will be able to help and make things more efficient.
Richard Walker 33:25
Yeah, no, I agree. Sam, this has been awesome. And I do have another really big question for you. But before I go there what's the best way for people to find and connect with you?
Sam Wakefield 33:34
Yeah, for sure. So my Instagram is The Real Close It Now you can go of course to my website at closeitnow.net. If someone listening if you know someone in the trades that would like some sales training, I have a Facebook group. It's Close It Now. And or they can email me sam@closeitnow.net and pretty easy find.
Richard Walker 33:57
Awesome, man. Well, okay, my last question is who has had the biggest impact on your leadership style and how you approach your role today?
Sam Wakefield 34:06
That's a loaded question. I have been such a personal growth person for so long. I could say like Jim Rohn would definitely be a mentor from a distance. But in person, probably a gentleman named Jimmy Jays. He's currently my business coach as well. I've known him for several years. And I just got so much from his leadership ability and ability to connect to people and coach that a lot of the things that you actually model from his coaching with me, because again success leaves clues. So when you find things that work for you, you adopt them and make it yours.
Richard Walker 34:46
I love that, success leaves clues. Awesome. Sam, thank you so much. I want to give a huge thank you to Sam Wakefield CEO of Close it now for being on this episode of The Customer Wins. Go check out Sam's website at closeitnow.net and don't forget to check out Quik! at quikforms.com where we make processing forms easy. I hope you enjoyed this discussion will click the like button, share this with someone and subscribe to our channels for future episodes of The Customers Win. Thank you so much for joining me today, Sam.
Sam Wakefield 35:16
Thank you, man. I appreciate it. Everybody go win your day.
Outro 35:21
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