Role-Playing Sales Objections: Pro Sales Tactics That Work

Summary

The Home Service Expert Podcast: Role-Playing Sales Objections – Pro Sales Tactics That Work

Introduction

In the November 29, 2024, episode of The Home Service Expert Podcast, host Tommy Mello delves deep into the art of handling sales objections with expert guest Brian Burton and top-performing electrician Logan Altland. This episode, titled "Role-Playing Sales Objections: Pro Sales Tactics That Work," offers invaluable insights into effective sales strategies tailored for home service professionals. By leveraging real-world role-playing scenarios and sharing personal experiences, Tommy, Brian, and Logan provide listeners with practical tools to enhance their sales techniques and build stronger customer relationships.

Guest Introductions

Tommy Mello begins the episode by introducing Brian Burton and Logan Altland, setting the stage for an in-depth discussion on sales tactics.

• Brian Burton: A seasoned professional with extensive experience in the home services industry, Brian emphasizes the importance of relational salesmanship over transactional approaches.

• Logan Altland: Recognized as the top-selling electrician in Mr. Sparky nationwide, Logan brings a wealth of knowledge from his successful tenure and exceptional customer satisfaction ratings.

Building Relationships vs. Transactional Sales

One of the central themes of the episode is the distinction between relational and transactional sales. Tommy elaborates on this by referencing Robert Cialdini’s concepts from Influence and Pre-Suasion, highlighting how genuine relationship-building can lead to sustained business success.

Notable Quote:

Tommy Mello (04:27): "There are two types of salesmen. The guys that believe in the company, believe in the product... And then there's the other guys that are just there for the sales. Transactional versus really building that relationship."

Brian underscores this by sharing his observations and training experiences:

Brian Burton (05:08): "Logan is purely, purely relational. And he's the top selling electrician in the history of Mr. Sparky. He's got the highest Google rating of anyone in that company. Clients are crying all the time because he's so relational."

Effective Hiring Practices

The discussion transitions into effective hiring practices that foster a relational sales culture. Brian explains the criteria he and his counterpart use during interviews to assess a candidate's potential fit based on the energy and demeanor they bring.

Notable Quote:

Brian Burton (10:16): "If the energy goes up like we're having more fun because this person walked in, then it's like a shoe in. But if the energy drops, we just didn't move forward."

Role-Playing Sales Objections

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to role-playing common sales objections, allowing Logan to demonstrate effective rebuttal techniques. Brian presents real-world scenarios, and Logan showcases his adeptness at navigating and overcoming these challenges.

1. Price Breakdown Request

   When a customer asks for a detailed price breakdown, Logan skillfully reframes the conversation to emphasize value over mere numbers.

   Notable Quote:

   Logan Altland (16:14): "You're paying for a certified technician, 24-hour service, background-checked professionals... So, at the end of the day, I can't make that a parts and labor quote."

2. Financing Concerns

   Addressing financing objections, Logan avoids high-interest plans and focuses on realistic, interest-free payment solutions, fostering trust and transparency.

   Notable Quote:

   Logan Altland (50:57): "What do you think would you get from financing? You think people would stay if you couldn't offer them flexible payment terms that work for them?"

3. Comparative Pricing

   When faced with competition offering lower prices, Logan maintains confidence in his company's superior quality and service.

   Notable Quote:

   Logan Altland (59:36): "Brian, you could get this done at a quarter of this price, but you're also going to get a quarter of the quality and service. Do you think there would be anybody else in business if they could provide you with the best quality, the best service, and the best cost?"

Financing Strategies Without High Interest

Tommy and Brian discuss the pitfalls of high-interest financing options, advocating for transparent and manageable payment plans that do not burden the customer with excessive interest.

Notable Quote:

Brian Burton (49:14): "I don't promote and I'm not a fan of the 6 months, 12 month, 18 month, no interest plans. They either fee up the yin yang."

Building Trust Through Transparency

Logan emphasizes the importance of earning trust by being upfront about costs and services, ensuring customers feel secure and valued throughout the sales process.

Notable Quote:

Logan Altland (36:50): "I always offered it up, and I've never had anybody just go ahead and do that... it just creates so much trust."

Health and Fitness Balance

Towards the end of the episode, Brian introduces the "Four Fs" philosophy—Faith, Finances, Family, and Fitness—as essential quadrants for personal balance and professional success. He highlights the significance of maintaining physical health to sustain high performance in demanding home service roles.

Notable Quote:

Brian Burton (62:34): "We make it a big point to constantly push health and fitness... even the most trivial steps you take toward physical fitness will set you on a path to improvement."

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

The episode wraps up with reflections on the effectiveness of relational sales techniques and the value of continuous training and role-playing to master sales objections. Logan and Brian's collaboration demonstrates how combining confidence, empathy, and strategic communication can significantly enhance sales performance and customer satisfaction.

Final Notable Quote:

Brian Burton (67:05): "Choose every single morning to Waste no day."

Insights and Recommendations

• Emphasize Relationship Building: Prioritize building genuine relationships over mere transactions to foster long-term customer loyalty.

• Transparent Pricing: When faced with pricing objections, focus on the value and quality of services rather than breaking down costs.

• Effective Role-Playing: Regularly engage in role-playing scenarios to prepare for and effectively handle various sales objections.

• Flexible Financing: Offer manageable, interest-free payment plans to accommodate customers' financial situations without overwhelming them with interest.

• Maintain Balance: Adopt a balanced approach to personal and professional life by focusing on faith, finances, family, and fitness.

This episode serves as a masterclass in sales strategy for home service professionals, providing actionable tactics to overcome objections and build lasting customer relationships. Whether you're new to the industry or seeking to refine your sales approach, the insights shared by Tommy, Brian, and Logan are invaluable for achieving sustained success.

Transcript

[Brian Burton]

We eliminate all that by giving you the upfront price upfront. So everything that goes into that price that we give you, our warranties, that we stand behind, that I personally stand behind my cell phone number in case something goes wrong. The drug testing and background check so that you know, whether it's me or anyone else from our company, you only have the safest people inside your home whether you're here or not. Does that make sense? Yeah, because oftentimes people just leave the key under the mat for us. I mean, it's that level of care that we take with the home. The warranty that we put behind a thing is forget industry standard, it's unbeatable warranties that we put behind it. And we're actually there for you when something happens because, hey, things happen. We don't get perfect material all the time, as well as people who actually answer the phone when you need us.

[Tommy Mellow]

Welcome to the Home Service Expert, where each week Tommy chats with world class entrepreneurs and experts in various fields like marketing, sales, hiring and leadership to find.

[Brian Burton]

Out what's really behind their success in business.

[Tommy Mellow]

Now, your host, the home service millionaire, Tommy Mellow. Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes. But I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text notes N O t e s to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode. Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevate and win.com podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview. All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert. Today's going to be an amazing day because I'm pretty psyched. You know, I talk a lot about marketing, I talk a lot about business ownership, structure, growth, but you don't get growth without sales. And the Mr. Infamous, Brian Burton is joining us today. You guys know his podcast Waste no Day? Today we're doing stuff a little bit differently. We got the number one salesman of all time in Mr. Sparky. He's been there for about two years. His name's Logan Altland, and been there two years. Been number one for two years. So, Brian, why don't you go ahead and take us off and introduce him and just talk a little bit about your experience and how you guys met.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, Logan's. He's number one in all of Mr. Sparky nationwide. The two full years he's been in Mr. Sparky. He's the only technician ever in Mr. Sparky to hit 3 million in sold revenue. And a hell of a nice guy. What's up, Logan?

[Logan Altland]

What's up, buddy? How are you?

[Brian Burton]

Good. Good to see you. Logan and I don't work together anymore. He's in Pennsylvania. But I was the. I believe I was either Ops manager of Mr. Sparky or Vice president of sales when Logan joined up. So, Logan, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, buddy. Let's hear your story.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah. So I started out in the electrical field when I was 13 years old, riding along with my grandfather, helping him with his own business. He worked for Moorefield Telephone Communications at the time. It's not what I thought I wanted to do. I came home from school one day with a college application, and my mom said I was too dumb to go to school. So I'm here. From there, I went to votec, which was a vocational electrical school. I studied electrical occupations. When I graduated there, I went to the apprenticeship program for four years. I'm a certified journeyman in high voltage, low voltage, and pole climbing. And, yeah, I worked all over the United States, and it brought me to Mr. Sparky. I was the head electrician at three local hospitals before I took the job here.

[Tommy Mellow]

So here's the deal, man. Brian's gonna shoot some questions at you. And, you know, when I talk about sales, I think a lot about customer experience because there's two types of salesmen. We were just at a Robert Ciadini convention a couple weekends ago. So Robert Ciadini wrote the book Influence and Pre Suasion.

[Brian Burton]

Awesome.

[Tommy Mellow]

And he said you could use manipulation or you could really do great things for customers. And there's two types of salesmen. The guys that believe in the company, believe in the product. I think they're doing the right thing by the customer. They're treating them like mom. And then there's the other guys that are just there for the sales. Transactional versus really building that relationship. So, Logan, I really want to dive into that today of not only getting the customer across the finish line and making a bunch of money, because that's why we do it. What's in it for me. I mean, we want to provide for our families, but also taking care of the clients. So Brian's going to shoot some questions and kind of guide us through the discussion. And I'll just add some context. We'll have some cool discussions here.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, I would say in terms of transactional, relational. I've trained plenty of guys who were transactional. Like they're doing this for the money, but still we train them to put the client first and watch that the money will come. Logan didn't need that training. Logan is purely, purely relational. And he's the top selling electrician in the history of Mr. Sparky. He's a top selling person at the One Hour Ben Franklin and Mr. Sparky Tri Brand in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And he probably has the highest Google rating of anyone in that company. Clients crying all the time, people with no power, saying they'll wait a day to get Logan out. Like this kind of thing because he's so relational. So Logan, before we, before we get moving, tell us the story of how he got to our shop in Lancaster. Is awesome. Tell us how that happened, buddy.

[Logan Altland]

So, yeah, Brian, it is, it is a cool one. One of my favorites to tell, actually. I worked at a local manufacturing plant and my crane operator, I did a lot of controls and PLCs. My crane operator overdosed on heroin in the bathroom. And I went to the HR and I said, look, like, I don't think this is a gonna work. I don't want him to be my. The guy over top of me and basically in charge of my life. So they literally told me like, you don't fit the culture. And I was like, what? The culture of drugs? Like, really? So from there they fired me on the spot. On the way home to tell my. I think she was pregnant. On the way home to tell my pregnant wife that I had just lost my job. I had called my father in law. I was in a mess, as you can imagine. On the way home to call my pregnant wife, I got a call from Alexia, our old talent acquisition officer. And she had said, hey, we came across your job application on Indeed. I was like, yeah, okay, I didn't put one on Indeed. Who, who. What company is this for? She had said, Mr. Sparky Electric. Which basically I laughed when she said that. Mr. Sparky Electric. What the hell kind of name is that, right? So I hung up on her, went home, talked to my wife, broke the news, told my father in law. He said, well, why don't you give it a try? You really don't got anything else? So I went into an interview. I called her back. I said, okay, I'll come in. I went into an interview. That's where I met Brian. Let me tell you, from day one, I walked into the office to Brian and Aaron, and it was. It was the weirdest interview ever. It was fist bumps. It was just like I was talking to some friends. I went through the interview process, which I thought went well. I walk in with a big. A big book, probably 4 inches thick of all my experience and certifications, and Brian. Brian literally looked at me and was like, hey, I. I don't think you need any of that. I don't care what you know, electrically, which kind of threw me for a loop. But just the. Just the overall interaction with Brian and talking. Brian's like, at the end of the interview, I remember Brian said, hey, now I think it's time for a ride along with Jamie. Which at the time, I didn't know if that meant I had the job or not, but. So I rode along with Jamie, came back to the shop, and I told Brian, I said, I want to work here. And that's where we've been ever since.

[Tommy Mellow]

I got some questions for you, Logan, and then I want to ask Brian a few questions before we get started. So what is it about working with Brian? Because I want managers and leaders to understand this aspect. What is it that just helped you grow, and what is it that you love the most? And what are the challenges that you saw? And what was the brotherhood like? Unless there's a female technician, I apologize. But what were the things that really caused you to excel so quickly?

[Logan Altland]

Don't let Brian hear this. I don't want him. His head to get too big. But the amount of belief that he has had in me, even when I didn't have belief in myself, his constant willingness to push me to the next level, to bring me out of my slumps and tell me, hey, you're being kind of down on yourself here. Just. Next call, baby. Next call. The amount. The amount of availability he's had to take calls in the middle of the day when I am struggling to go out into the truck and role play. I mean, Brian is instrumental to anybody's career, and now he's in Arizona and not in Lancaster. So he's a traitor to me.

[Tommy Mellow]

I love that. And Brian, I think this is really important because I think a lot of people, when they walk into an interview, this is like a career. This is their life. This is their family. This is their future. This is their Dreams. This is their goals or aspirations. Like how do you make them feel good and how do you really know it's the right person on an interview? Because I can't. I'm not good at this. I need to take them out to eat. I need to do ride alongs. I need to do all this stuff to see the real human being. What did you notice in Logan?

[Brian Burton]

Well, rarely, rarely did we hire anybody out of the interview for sure. But we talked about this on our last episode together where Aaron Buckwalter, who's of my counterpart there, and I had this agreement where if you and I are sitting in the conference room and the interview walks in and sits down and the energy stays the same, he's got a shot. If the energy goes up like we're having more fun because this person walked in, then it's like a shoe in. But if the energy drops like that negativity or that entitlement or then we just didn't, we didn't do it. We just didn't even move forward.

[Tommy Mellow]

Even if it was like, what if they had a huge resume and you knew this guy was the top guy from another company?

[Brian Burton]

Now we had made that mistake along the way because we worked together for so many years. We got to the point the last few years I was there where this is the rule.

[Tommy Mellow]

This is the rule.

[Brian Burton]

It just is what it is. So that's the beginning. And then they'll do a ride along. We'll see what some of our other top techs think about them. Let them meet other certain people who they won't interact with. But they're good judge of character.

[Tommy Mellow]

Now what technicians. You know, my rule is I'm setting the most optimistic my ride along. Techs that work for A one, they've got to be like, they got to represent the company, they got to be talking good about the company and they got to show like real life. This is how easy it is.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah.

[Tommy Mellow]

For some reason, every good guy I have rides with a guy that's not so good. And the guy that's not so good goes. Every customer you get is a lay down. You know what I mean? And it's not a lay down. It's just the words you're saying and the body language. How are you getting such great clients?

[Brian Burton]

Oh, I could sell your clients.

[Tommy Mellow]

I called Google and I just.

[Brian Burton]

No, it's interesting because you gotta pay the dispatcher more.

[Tommy Mellow]

Pro.

[Brian Burton]

It is what it is.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Burton]

How many times have you had that with somebody in your passenger seat?

[Logan Altland]

Yeah, actually it's it happens all the time. And it's so hard because I want to show, I want to show these people that I can my ride alongs, that I can come over these objections, but it just comes so naturally that I don't know what to focus on with them in here.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, Logan had Jamie to do his ride along with. And at that time, Jamie was our top tech and I believe number one in the nation.

[Tommy Mellow]

And Mr. Sparky, he hasn't give us the context. What does number one mean? Out of what type of pool are we talking about?

[Brian Burton]

So I don't actually know how many. Mr. I believe in terms of territories, there are like 320. Mr. Sparky.

[Tommy Mellow]

300 and something. And the average amount of text, maybe.

[Brian Burton]

Four, probably something like that.

[Tommy Mellow]

So about 1200, we'll say.

[Brian Burton]

Yep.

[Tommy Mellow]

Okay, that's good context.

[Brian Burton]

Well, there's one, there's one Mr. Sparky that has several hundred out of Sarasota service mines. They actually have the number two tech the last two years. But we're going to have Jamie on here soon and we're going to talk trash about him for not beating that guy. Right. Joey Abadini.

[Tommy Mellow]

Okay, so we got Logan, he started. And there's all these different theories out there. If you do the right presentation that you're kind of overcoming the objections in the presentation. And obviously you've interviewed Chris Voss a bunch of times and some of the questions he asks, who's that?

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, they'll never split the difference. The FBI hostage goes, has this started Waste no Day podcast?

[Tommy Mellow]

Has this started giving you issues yet?

[Brian Burton]

What's that?

[Tommy Mellow]

So yet he always adds yet.

[Brian Burton]

Oh, yeah, right.

[Tommy Mellow]

And then another thing is he'll make you say no. Yeah.

[Brian Burton]

So he loves to, he loves to rephrase questions. So your answer will be no, but it's meant, it's said like a. Yes, like. And so one piece of advice he gave us was instead of saying, is my truck parked in the right spot? Right. You'll say, is there any issue with where I've parked my truck? So the answer is no. But the person's saying, yes, your truck is fine where it is because he believes and it's proven, I mean, through certainly what he did for a living was high risk sales. Right. That there's like a balloon in somebody that's kind of pressurizing and pressurizing throughout a presentation that they need to say no to feel comfortable.

[Tommy Mellow]

I prepared for this. Listen to this. Logan, you love this. Any one of your yes questions can be switched to are you against? Do you disagree Are you against? Do you disagree? Have you given up on. Is it a ridiculous idea? Is it a bad idea?

[Brian Burton]

Would you be opposed to.

[Tommy Mellow]

Would you be opposed to.

[Brian Burton]

So we have all those. We've got all those written on our whiteboard at our shop here in Phoenix.

[Tommy Mellow]

I love this. So let's just jump into it, man. This is what we've been all waiting for, is role play, baby. Let's see it done by the masters.

[Brian Burton]

All right, so I'm gonna. I'm gonna throw a couple objections at you that you would typically get in the home. Now, one of them is one. So I'm. I'm gonna throw the ones that just kind of stump people. They just blow past them, and they're not probably the favorite that people would want to hear, but they are the ones that just tend to stump people because Thomas Edison said, what do you say? 5% of people think? 5% of people think they think. And the other 90% of people would rather die than think.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah.

[Brian Burton]

And it really takes deep thought and concentration to overcome the real objections that beat the heck out of us in the field. But I spent years getting my butt kicked by him, and at some point, I was just like, time out. I just don't feel like I need to keep doing this, spinning my wheels. So one is one that last night, somebody posted in your Facebook group, which is called what again?

[Tommy Mellow]

The home service Expert.

[Brian Burton]

The home service expert Facebook group. Yeah. Awesome group. Because this kind of stuff is nonstop posted in there, and I'm sure we can get a link to that on this episode. If you're not part of it, you should be somebody posted. What do you say when your client says, can I get a price breakdown on that?

[Tommy Mellow]

The parts and labor? Yep.

[Brian Burton]

Well, they just kind of said price breakdown, so we assume we know what they mean. And Logan and I have been through this once or twice. Right, buddy?

[Logan Altland]

Yeah, once or twice.

[Brian Burton]

All right, so I'm gonna roll. I'll be the client. Logan, I like what you're showing me here, buddy, but it's. It's a little salty. Can you show me the breakdown on this? What's the breakdown on the price?

[Logan Altland]

Yeah, Brian, so I. I really get what you're asking here, and I appreciate why you're asking. Is what you're asking a parts and labor breakdown?

[Brian Burton]

Yeah. Yeah, that's. That's what I need. Just what am I paying for the material? What am I paying for you to put it in? Because it seems like a lot of money.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah. So basically, I get what you're Saying you're not paying for parts and labor. You're paying for a certified technician. You're paying for the 24 hour service. You're paying for me to show up in a marked vehicle. You're paying for the background check technician. So at the end of the day, I can't make that a parts and labor quote. Is there something you would like to take out of that quote?

[Brian Burton]

What do you mean, buddy?

[Logan Altland]

So, yeah, like what I mean by take things out is like copper panel with surge protection. I can take the surge protection out. That gets you a little lower on price. Or I can give you an aluminum panel, that kind of thing.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, I don't need you to remove anything. I'm just wondering what the breakdown is. Like how much does the material cost versus, you know, how much you charging me to throw it in?

[Logan Altland]

So the material and the parts and labor breakdown, that's. That's not something we do. The reason is we aim to make 20% on every job. If another company comes in any more than 20% on that, I would be curious as to where they're making that up. I mean, we make to make 20% on each job.

[Tommy Mellow]

Are you happy with that answer?

[Brian Burton]

No.

[Tommy Mellow]

Brian was looking for something else. Brian, why don't we.

[Brian Burton]

I'm looking for the script. Buddy, you're not role playing the script.

[Tommy Mellow]

All right, well, let's see you. I'll do the same thing. Well, let's go back to Brian. Let's put him on the spot here. So. Brian.

[Brian Burton]

Nobody does it to me.

[Tommy Mellow]

Brian, I gotta ask you, you know, you seem like a nice guy.

[Brian Burton]

I am a nice guy.

[Tommy Mellow]

And the reason I called your company. I see you guys on my street. You're rabbitable. I looked up your reviews.

[Brian Burton]

How were they?

[Tommy Mellow]

You know, they're pretty stellar. Yeah. Overall, I gotta say. But there's a lot of. A lot of companies that do this, and I want it done right. But I want to understand. I looked up some of the parts online and I just want to understand what I'm paying for. And so if you could break that down, it would really be a lot easier for me to make a decision.

[Brian Burton]

It makes sense. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're looking for like a price and. Or a labor and material breakdown.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah, I like to know what I'm paying for because it seems like from the prices I've seen, this seems a little outlandish.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Everything right now is just outlandish, isn't it?

[Tommy Mellow]

It really is. Yeah, it's Just I went, I went to. Not me personally, but my girlfriend Brie went to McDonald's because she just loves McDonald's. No, I'm kidding. But you know, waiting for the door open, like what?

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me. But let me tell you real quick, fortunately for you, we're not a time and material company. And what that means to you is that no matter whether you just by luck of the draw, get the most experienced tech at the company or you get the guy who just got his own tools and his own truck, you won't pay any different amount to have it installed. Whether experienced guy does it that fast or brand new guy does it in six times the time because he's learning. What you also won't have is a tech coming in here and milking the clock, trying to make the job take longer, sitting on his five gallon bucket, playing on his phone because he wants to make more money. We eliminate all that by giving you the upfront price upfront. So everything that goes into that price that we give you, our warranties that we stand behind that I personally stand behind my cell phone number in case something goes wrong. The drug testing and background checks so that you know, whether it's me or anyone else from our company, you only have the safest people inside your home whether you're here or not. Does that make sense?

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah.

[Brian Burton]

Cause oftentimes people just leave the key under the mat. For us, I mean, it's that level of care that we take with the home. The warranty that we put behind a thing is forget industry standard, it's unbeatable warranties that we put behind it. And we're actually there for you when something happens because hey, things happen. We don't get perfect material all the time as well as people who actually answer the phone when you need us. Have you ever had an experience with somebody who you needed and didn't answer the phone all the time? What was that like?

[Tommy Mellow]

It's kind of nerve wracking.

[Brian Burton]

It's nerve wracking, right?

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah.

[Brian Burton]

We eliminate that, we get somebody to be able to answer that phone and as soon as humanly possible, we get them to your home. So all these extra things like above industry standard insurance policies again, in case anything bad happens, because things happen, all these things go into that, but there's no way to break all these things down. Does that make sense?

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah.

[Brian Burton]

So again, we just give you, here's the investment amount, the total, if it takes twice as long as I thought, guess how much more you pay?

[Tommy Mellow]

Nothing.

[Brian Burton]

Nothing more Can I go ahead and get you taken care of, Tommy?

[Tommy Mellow]

Absolutely. Yeah. No, that's really, really, really, really good. I don't think we get very many people wanting a breakdown. And I know you said these aren't the most common ones.

[Brian Burton]

We're thinking it in our trades. We're getting it nonstop. H vac, plumbing, electrical, it's pretty common. I would say if you're not getting it yet, it's on its way.

[Tommy Mellow]

One of the things we really try to do, and I think it's different than any other industry, is if your garage door is broken or you need a keypad, or you just decide you need a tune up. We're gonna start the work you called us out for. We're not doing an inspection up front. Just like a mechanic does not start an inspection on the car. He starts the oil change and then they bring stuff up and usually they come to you and they say, hey, listen, I found this serpentine belt. And here's a good one, here's a bad one. When this breaks, it's going to bend all your. It's going to screw up your engine.

[Brian Burton]

Sure. The bird in the hand.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah. So we get the bird in the hand and then we do the second knock and the third knock. And I think it's very, very effective. And then at this point we're like, well, these parts are going to outlast these non insulated panels. Now that I got the door functioning, I'm looking at everything on the door. Have you ever thought about our new door?

[Brian Burton]

No. No. Do I need to do that?

[Tommy Mellow]

I'm just wondering because it will actually be 30 degrees cooler in here in the summer. It'll save on your energy. Bill, Remodel magazine came out just in the last two weeks and said 183% return on investment. So you make for a new garage door. Yeah. And what I could do today, Brian, is I could apply some of this, what we did today, towards that new door. Or I could just bulletproof your door now and make it safe. And I just want to see which one makes more sense for you.

[Brian Burton]

You said 30 degrees cooler in the summer.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah. And a lot warmer in the winter, depending. I mean, if you're in pa, right?

[Brian Burton]

Yeah. But here in Arizona, buddy, it's a big deal. My wife's actually sitting behind us right now. Are you hearing this? 30 degrees cooler.

[Tommy Mellow]

Well, we'll get back to that, honey. I bought a thermal camera just so I could show people real pictures. I think evidence is so important to show people. This is what a Insulated, high R value door looks like of the thermal breakdown. And you can see a little bit coming out of the sides.

[Brian Burton]

I don't.

[Tommy Mellow]

When you look at yours, you could just, you could touch it on the inside and outside it's 140 degrees.

[Brian Burton]

Our house is like 14 months old here in North Phoenix. And it's like, I don't need a thermal imaging camera. I just close the door and I can see where the sun pours through.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah.

[Brian Burton]

And I'm dead sear right this. The light comes through in like five different places on a brand new house.

[Tommy Mellow]

I think that that's important and that has a lot to do with install quality. And I think that's. No, but that's a really good point. So we got. So if it's parts and labor, I would have bought, I would have definitely. And it's not because of what you said necessarily. It's because of the eye contact, the confidence level. You didn't say, you know, like, you know, as I just said, you know, really what happens is you said it like a doctor would say it. You were prescribing me and you said it so confidently. And you've definitely trained to do that over and over.

[Brian Burton]

Right. Where does that come from?

[Tommy Mellow]

It comes from training, repetition and it's.

[Brian Burton]

I could get some guys that are here with us in, in Phoenix to do that right now. But here's the issue. You know, I'm gone. So the exact scripting of it just kind of. I could hear it as Logan was overcoming that objection is like it kind of fades away. But I also know that that objection, and Logan had not heard we were going to do that objection before today. So that this, this is one that he's not going to get very often because he is. And our people are trained to overcome this throughout. So, you know, I don't know who made the analogy of you're walking through a hallway the second you get there and there are objection doors along the way that you can go ahead and close before you ever try to close. Right. So you're closing these objection doors by having conversations like this upfront and early.

[Tommy Mellow]

So that's what I was talking about at the beginning.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah.

[Tommy Mellow]

When you avoid the, you know, don't wait for them to come up. Your presentation should be.

[Brian Burton]

Should be shutting them down.

[Tommy Mellow]

Shut those doors.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah. And you know, this is one that you might deal with. So you start adding that in in the beginning. All right, let's go to another one, buddy.

[Tommy Mellow]

I'm just reading some of these.

[Brian Burton]

These are great so here's another one, and this is the one that particularly newer techs, they get tripped up real hard on. This one, because the second you knock on the door and they open it and you're going to do, hopefully your upfront contract or whatever your opening greeting is, is this one can make you feel like that Tyson quote, you know, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. This is one that's a deliberate punch in the mouth by a lot of clients. Now, what most young technicians and young salespeople don't understand is that when a client does this, goes on the defensive in the beginning like this, it's because they are buyers, and what they're trying to do is shut us down early so we don't even present. And this one is. Are you starting to understand what this one's going to be, Logan?

[Tommy Mellow]

Yep.

[Brian Burton]

All right, let's go. You ready, buddy? I'm not prepping you this time. Every time you guys come over here, Logan, you try to sell me something, you get the H Vac team over, you get the plumbing team over, you get the electrical team over. And I just want to tell you up front, I'm not buying anything today, so don't even bother. Copy.

[Logan Altland]

Oh, yeah. I understand you feel that way, Brian, and that wholeheartedly is not my intention, and that's not what I'm here for. That hurts to hear that. But you. You want to know what hurts even worse to hear? What hurts even worse to hear is I show up here on Christmas Eve when you have no electricity, and I'm here to try to help you get out of your problem. Your family's panicking, you got company coming over tomorrow, and I hear you say, why didn't the last technician find this problem when he was here? Or even yet. Even better yet, that hurts a little worse is when I come back in a month for your maintenance, and I see someone else's sticker on the panel, and I bring it up to you, and you say, why? Never even knew you guys did that. So do you see why that is my job to bring this stuff up to you?

[Brian Burton]

Perfect. Freaking perfect.

[Tommy Mellow]

I love it.

[Brian Burton]

You've still been getting hit with that one, huh?

[Logan Altland]

Oh, yeah.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah. So oftentimes, the calls that Logan will run are piggybacked off of the H Vac and the plumbing team out there. So we have the most calls in the one hour in Lancaster. So we'll call those clients and say, hey, we're a little slower in the electrical team. What we'd like to do is send an electrician over, do a complimentary electrical safety inspection in the hopes that you'll meet our electrician and he will be your electrician for life. Right. And then Logan just goes over there like that. Oftentimes you're going to get hit with that right at the front door.

[Tommy Mellow]

Okay, so let me ask you. So I interviewed Aaron Gaynor's top couple guys and Adam is just one of the best salespeople I've ever met. Very genuine. And from the get go, what he does is he says, okay, Brian, Mr. Burton, it was a pleasure to meet you. I just want to tell you kind of how this whole thing's going to go and laid out for you. You I'm gonna go ahead and do my inspection different than anyone does and like to come down and sit somewhere that's comfortable for you to go over some of the options. His goal is to get into the house at the kitchen table, in the living room. I think a lot of people fail in lancaster. It's probably 20 degrees in the winter and it's very hot in the summer. It's not very comfortable to be out in your breaker box to discuss stuff if it's outside. It's not very comfortable in a garage to have a discussion when you're freezing. You're not really thinking clearly. You're not really presenting options in the right way. What's the best way to take the approach to get the client in a comfortable spot that's different than anybody else is doing?

[Brian Burton]

Well, the way we do it is it's always. Again, it's always relational. So if you have some kind of script that you use that's like very rigid to say, I need to be at the. My process is to like. I see people do that a lot. I'm like, throw that out the window and just say, I don't care if you rub your knee and say, where's a comfortable place? We can sit down real quick. That's it, like. And then on top of it. Now, we didn't have this when I was in a truck, but we have this heavy tablet, right, that we're holding and maybe like a stylus pin or a notepad or something and you can just start fumbling it and go, is there a cozy place? We can go have a seat for a minute and then. And they'll just take you to go sit down. I never hear pushback on this.

[Tommy Mellow]

And that's interesting too. The top guy I've ever met used to write stuff down on a pen and A piece of paper. I think Dale still does that. I think a lot of the guys in the industry, they kind of write down some of the pros and cons, they take notes, they talk about what's important to you, and then they say something along the lines of. So let me get this straight. You guys have lived here for seven years and you're planning on raising the kids here? You know, they kind of just repeat everything they just said. Do you advise getting out of old fashioned pen and piece of paper?

[Brian Burton]

Absolutely. It's. It's. Imagine somebody comes and sits at your kitchen table and starts taking a note based on everything you say and then turns around and reads it back to you like how. How heard you feel versus every other person that's come into your home.

[Tommy Mellow]

So, Logan, talk to me a little bit about that. So when you sit down, what are some of the stuff you're writing and how is it presented back? Depending on what it is, let's just say it could be any. Any part, but just general sales in general. What kind of notes are you taking? How does that play out?

[Logan Altland]

So, yeah, Tommy, I actually sit down first thing. It's part of my introduction. I actually sit down right at the table, get the client's name, information, why I'm there, have the history of the house, anything like that is what I do here. Actually, check this out. I got notebook. Notebook. Oh, a bunch of notebooks. I have notebooks everywhere.

[Tommy Mellow]

Oh my gosh. Are those diaries?

[Brian Burton]

Dear diary.

[Tommy Mellow]

Wow.

[Brian Burton]

Jamie's kicking my butt this month.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah. So then once, once we're done going over all that, I just say to the client, I say, hey, I explained my process on what I'm going to do. Give a time, the GoPro statement. Give a time of how long it's going to take me get permission to go do the job. At the end of the job, I give them three options. Good, better, best. That's when I sit down again at the table with the client and then I go over all my findings.

[Tommy Mellow]

Go.

[Brian Burton]

Go pro real quick. Okay.

[Tommy Mellow]

That's where I wanted to dive into. Talk to me about the GoPro. What kind of software you guys run it to make it simple.

[Brian Burton]

So GoPro is not. He's not talking about a GoPro camera. GoPro is my selling system. Oh.

[Tommy Mellow]

I was like, that's. But I've seen guys that used a GoPro.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah.

[Tommy Mellow]

And they actually take the customer and they start circling stuff. They set up a 10 minute presentation.

[Brian Burton]

I've never seen someone do that before.

[Tommy Mellow]

I've seen it Doing for gutters. And the guy was the top guy in the world. Selling gutters.

[Brian Burton]

What does he have, like the chest mounted?

[Tommy Mellow]

I'm not sure exactly. He had one on his head.

[Brian Burton]

Okay.

[Tommy Mellow]

And he'd show the gutters how they were installed and he'd take. And he'd circle everything through the picture.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, he does that for sure. Yeah. GoPro is the reason I stopped him there is. Because I've never talked about it on. On a podcast, so everybody just probably thought you were talking about the helmet mounted camera.

[Logan Altland]

So, yeah, when I walk in the door, it's the GoPro is the introduction, the permission to do what you're there to do. Ask if you're parked. Okay. That kind of thing.

[Brian Burton]

We actually find out if all decision makers are present in.

[Tommy Mellow]

That's what I was going to ask too. So what happens if obviously I'm married, my wife is not here and she. We, you know, when it's something that is above a certain amount, we like to get to. We like to make those decisions.

[Brian Burton]

So we're actually going to find this out in the beginning. It's one of the three things that we have to find out before we'll move forward. Now, even if you say my wife's not here, we're not asking you if you can make a decision without her. I'm just going to go ahead and assume you can't. But we are going to move forward. We're still going to do our process. What we'll do at the end is just say now you said your wife. What was her name? Bri. Yeah. Is unavailable or she's not here. Can we get her on the phone real quick? This is something important for all three of us to cover together.

[Tommy Mellow]

That is brilliant because I think one of the main things that we don't do is we're really skipping that step a lot of the time.

[Brian Burton]

Getting it in the beginning, getting it.

[Tommy Mellow]

In the beginning and making sure we're getting that person on the phone.

[Brian Burton]

This reminds me of a great freaking story. So we have these things at the shop called Loganisms and everybody knows what they are. Even at my team here in Phoenix now knows what Loganisms are because Logan will literally say anything on a call. You have never seen someone who's. Who will just say the stuff that most of us think. Like, you asked him that. I mean, he's not like vulgar or anything. He treats people with respect. But tell him the, the story about the guy who, whose wife was a nurse.

[Tommy Mellow]

He said, go ahead.

[Brian Burton]

So, so let's role Play it. Ask me if we can get a hold of her.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah, so you said your wife. Can we get a hold of her?

[Brian Burton]

No, like I said, she's a nurse. She's in the hospital. She's unavailable. So.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah. Is there. Is there any way you can get a hold of her? Text call?

[Brian Burton]

Oh, I don't think she could have her phone on her.

[Logan Altland]

Oh, yeah, I get that too. My wife. My wife says she's busy all the time, too, and then she just sends 30 text messages.

[Brian Burton]

Logan, you don't remember this at all? It was the funniest story because I don't remember how it got back to us that it happened, but, like, I call him, like, dude, did this actually happen? And I told my Phoenix team about it, but Logan was head. Where were you? Head of maintenance. Electrical maintenance. In the hospital. Yeah. Told this. This guy said he couldn't get a hold of his wife. She's working. She's a nurse. Logan said, I worked at a hospital for four years. Those girls are always standing around on their phone. Let's just shoot her a text and she. If she can talk. And the guy said he shot her a text and she called immediately.

[Tommy Mellow]

And that's just a little bit more of a. A no fear, tenacity, just really.

[Brian Burton]

And that's him to a te. He's so genuine. He's not trying to offend anybody, so he doesn't fear offending people. He will. He will literally just say anything. And he has this way of doing it where people don't feel like he's taking some kind of shot at him. But when you're in a room with Logan, you feel like you're the only person in that room.

[Tommy Mellow]

Is there a threshold that you say, like, over $3,000 that you need that other person? Like, if it's just. I mean, if equipment, mainly new equipment, or is it just.

[Brian Burton]

So we have a way of asking if both decision makers or all the decision makers are present. So the way we ask it is we will say, I'm going to go through my entire system inspection like I told you. I'm going to check everything with a fine tooth comb and make sure it's. Everything is in great condition. If I find anything that I think should be brought to your attention or anything that I think you and your family would really enjoy, would you like me to bring it to you or would you like me to keep it to myself?

[Tommy Mellow]

Let me know.

[Brian Burton]

You want me to let you know? Is there anybody else who would want to be part of that conversation? Yeah.

[Tommy Mellow]

Okay, got it. My wife. Yep.

[Brian Burton]

Your wife would.

[Tommy Mellow]

Okay, cool.

[Brian Burton]

And then we just move on.

[Tommy Mellow]

Or if they. If they say something along the lines of, you know what? I could pretty much tell you if I want to get this or not, because quite frankly, I would make that a decision without calling Brie or anybody else.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah. I wouldn't say there's a threshold, but. And it's a tough one because this requires you doing this over and over and over to start realizing, who is that, Tommy? And who is that person that needs permission for a frigging $40 repair?

[Tommy Mellow]

Well, what I hear sometimes is I brought my Cadillac into the dealership and I walked away spending five grand. And my husband will have a shit fit if, like, they're more worried, especially the wife. Usually she's the one at home during the day. And I know it's a new society and different things are happening, new times, but she doesn't want to make that decision. And so what I do is I call the husband up and I say, listen, I want to let you know you got a really nice garage door, a beautiful home. Your wife has been absolutely phenomenal. She even offered me iced tea. And I really appreciate that. It's hot out today. Just want to let you know, panels are in great condition. Your rails look great. So I always start out with a few compliments, and I'll say, here's some stuff that really scares me. Really not good condition. It's not safe. And here's what I like to do, Mr. Burton. I'll leave these old parts here so you can inspect them when you get home. And if you don't think they're completely wore out, the cycle, life is gone on these, then I'll come back on my own time and reinstall the old parts. And there's a box. She just pointed out all the old parts there because they're shot. And that just creates so much credibility. And I've done this over a hundred times. Never once has a client or Mr. Burton called me back and say, I want these old parts installed. That just creates so much trust.

[Brian Burton]

Time out on the role play. How many clients do you have that just say, let's just do it, don't worry about leaving the stuff. Is that the majority?

[Tommy Mellow]

I always offered it up, and I'm like, I'm just going to leave them here in the corner? And I've never had anybody, really. I just always left them there when I had the person on the phone. I've never really had anybody. Just go ahead and do that because, like, the bottom rubber is not really going to affect the performance of the door. If you're like me, I've got dogs. You know, I don't want tarantulas. I don't want the spiders. We've had mice get through there. We've had actually the rats chew up the bottom rubber. We've seen a lot. And the scariest thing is those small scorpions.

[Brian Burton]

Tommy lives in the hood, so, you.

[Tommy Mellow]

Know the small scorpions. So, you know, when you bring up those things, it's like, yeah, let's get those replaced. Let's just replace it. And that's. I like it in bite sizes. I don't like to bring up this big quote. I like to say, listen, now that I got your door working, there's a couple things like a surge protector that'll protect this unit. So it's only. It's not warrantied against the surge. And another thing I want to let you know is where the nasty bugs come in and the tarantulas and the scorpions, that's your bottom rubber. It's not going to affect the performance of the door, but something I'd highly recommend. And usually, and I never say the word recommend, but it's something I would do. If this were my home, that's what I'd be doing. And if I'm making. If I've already built rapport and I'm talking to them, they're usually like, is this going to be it? I thought you said everything was good last time. Oh, I didn't get the door up. Now that I see the strip is just completely hardened. It's not doing its job. And people. I've had so many technicians ride along with me, they're like, there's no way this lady's already pissed she spent this much money. She's not going to say yes. I'm like, yeah, she will. She's not going to be happy about it, but it's just another 200 bucks. Yep. So let's keep going. I love this. This is one of my favorite things. And I want everyone that's listening to just take these as many of these tools with them and train on them. So keep.

[Brian Burton]

So, yeah, so we talk about this on Waste no Day all the time. It's like the people who get the most out of the show. And this is an actual analogy we use from time to time. Like, you can have the most nutritious meal that's ever existed. And in my world, maybe that's like white rice with a little Bit of sweet potato and a filet mignon. You know, just all nutrients set that thing right in front of you and you only take one bite. What was the point of this super nutritious meal? Like you're going to have to get your fork and you're going to have to get your knife and you're going to have to get to cutting and eating. Nobody's going to chew it for you, right? And this I feel is the same thing. Like you just got two lights out rebuttals. Two pretty common objections, but not just common ones. The ones that nobody, really not nobody, but like most people don't take the time to come up with a rebuttal to, that actually works. So if you look in your group that, in that post last night, I.

[Tommy Mellow]

Saw your comment, well, the majority of.

[Brian Burton]

The comments were what? No, period? That's it? Yeah, we don't do that. That's great because you can, you can take your stand, but you're going to lose the client 100%. The client's not buying from you. So every rebuttal you have has to be meant to answer their question, make them at least feel like they got what they want and then advance the sale. Right. And then move to close. So what the people who take the most from our podcast, that's almost all sales training do, and we get texted about this all the time, is they're driving primarily and they hear something that was very profound for them. They take a screenshot of where it was in the podcast and then when they get home or park or get to the shop or wherever, then they rewind it to that part and listen and write and take notes. They get it to the shop, they role play it and this is what has to be done. We did the seven Deadly objections episode where we role played the seven toughest objections we face in the home services. And we had been asked to do it for so long and I love doing it. It's a, you know, role playing is a lot of fun for me, but I don't like giving that much in one hour, two hour episode because you cannot. It's just so much information to take and it makes everybody feel great, right? It's like, oh, this sounds awesome, but there's so much there that you're not, you're not walking away and doing anything.

[Tommy Mellow]

There's a lot of information.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, there's so much there. There's so much to the voice inflection to when I'm going to smile versus when I go serious, to when I Said, would you like me to share it with you or would you like me to keep it to myself? And I put my hand over my heart right there. Like, everybody. Every single move that's made. Eyebrow twitch or whatever is accounted for. So if you're just blowing through those things, even, like these two, and you don't take every. You don't focus in on everything that was said and everything that would happen, there's a lot to miss. So pause it, rewind it, and listen to the soothing sound of Brian's voice. No.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah, no, it's good stuff.

[Brian Burton]

Brian's nasally drone over here.

[Tommy Mellow]

So let's get. Let's keep going. So what about a big one we get is. I need to think about it. They say, you know, I really. Now's not a good time anyway. That's more than I was planning on spending. We've got a lot of bills going out. I need to think about it. And everybody's coming into money. Everybody's saying, I got some money coming. But what about. I need to think about it?

[Brian Burton]

Sure. You want me or Logan?

[Tommy Mellow]

Go ahead and you guys do it.

[Brian Burton]

Logan. All right. Logan, I love what you're laying down here, buddy. I mean, this stuff makes a lot of sense to me. I need. It looks like the panel, the garage door, the water heater, the. My H vac system. Yeah, it looks like the stuff needs to be replaced, but I'm the type of guy that always takes my two days to think it over. I. I always consult my rabbi. I. I go to the altar, call at church to make my decisions, talk to my aunt, who's my financial advisor, my Sherpa on Mount Everest, and he's climbing right now, so it'll be a couple days. So just give me a couple days to think about it, and I'll. I'll probably shoot you a text next week. Does that sound good?

[Logan Altland]

Oh, that's perfect. I totally understand. I'll wait for that text back from you. But before I get out of here, is there anything that you don't think needs done or that you don't find the value in?

[Brian Burton]

Honey, I think we're good, right?

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah. Right, Babe, it makes sense. I mean, I think I can get by with what I got.

[Brian Burton]

Oh, well, yeah, we could probably get. But yeah. Again, another thing we just. We need to talk about with. With her mom, who's our financial advisor.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah.

[Brian Burton]

No, I think everything sounded good.

[Logan Altland]

So is it just the money? Like, just the financial part?

[Brian Burton]

I mean, if it was free, you'd be doing it for sure, yeah. I'd say it's the money, right?

[Logan Altland]

So why don't we do this? I'll do the work and you can. You can pay us later.

[Brian Burton]

What do you mean?

[Logan Altland]

We do the work, you pay us later.

[Brian Burton]

When would I pay you?

[Logan Altland]

When do you think you'll have that much money? Do you think it'll be a week, three weeks, four weeks, anything like that?

[Tommy Mellow]

Probably by the end of the year.

[Brian Burton]

End of the year? Yeah, maybe six months or so.

[Logan Altland]

So you say the end of the year. About six months or so. That's cool. Why don't we conservatively say two years? Does that work?

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah.

[Logan Altland]

So the way that this will work is we'll do the work, you pay us later, you're gonna pay a minimum monthly payment, and then at the end of the job, you just pay it off in the year, you have your money. Does that sound good?

[Brian Burton]

Is there any interest with that?

[Logan Altland]

No, interest free. 100% interest free.

[Tommy Mellow]

Oh, man, that is good. I love that. And I love. You really look like somebody I trust, too. I don't know what it is.

[Brian Burton]

He is.

[Tommy Mellow]

The way you say it. It just, you know, you're the nodding and. Yeah, okay. Yeah, that's great. I mean, if you. If you're not watching this, you're probably losing some of the social. The cues that he's doing. It's just. Just the confidence, the eye contact, just, oh, no problem.

[Brian Burton]

His relaxed nature in that he's never pushy, but he's the pushiest salesman you've ever seen. But you never feel pushed by him. So he was.

[Tommy Mellow]

That is like the best thing I've ever heard, actually, is, when do you think you'll have the money? By the end of the year. Okay, well, let's just do that then. The best salesperson I've ever met in real estate. They do. They buy houses for cash and they got two choices. Either I can list it for you because some people decide they want to sell it and they'll be the listing agent. So his job is never to go on the phone and say, so, Brian, what did you think you wanted for the house? And what are you going to say? Well, I looked at Zillow and I think it's worth $280,000.

[Brian Burton]

My zestimate.

[Tommy Mellow]

He doesn't ask those questions. He goes, brian, you sound like a great guy. Sounds like you really just looking for an offer. Why don't I come out, take a peek, you show me what you're looking for. And he sits down at the kitchen table and they explain what they want. And he goes, okay, let's just do that. Then he agrees. Hey, I want to list it for 283,000. The house is worth 230 on a good day. The roof needs to be replaced. But his goal is to make them make a decision. And then he says, well, listed at 283. If we get some bites, we'll get it. Or if they. A lot of people are like, you know, it's worth 283, I just need to get 240 for it. Okay, let's just do so. He gets the contract signed. And then he says during the inspection, this roof is on its last leg. You probably have a leak. You've seen the leak. The drywall's actually. It looks like it got mudded over. Like, we're going to have to fix that. And, you know, your cost on that would be 30 grand. I'm just going to take 10 off the top. And so that gives you, like, they already went through all this stuff, and it's not trying to be shady. It's just, let's do an inspection and make sure everything's good. And if I see anything, you know, we'll be fair about it.

[Brian Burton]

You think about it and we just. Amelia and I again, my wife sitting behind us here, but a million. I sold a home recently, just less than a year ago in Pennsylvania, bought a home here in Arizona. And you really think about the fact with her either nodding in agreement or telling me I'm crazy. Once we've done paperwork with a realtor, we're not switching Realtors. Right. I mean, that's the brilliance in that. And, you know, our mutual friend Andy Elliot always says in the car dealership world, if you get them into the financing office, it's getting done. It's 80% done. Like, 80% of those close. And we're the same way. If we can get you to start filling out the ally or service finance or whatever financing paperwork, it's a wrap. If you get approved, it's a wrap.

[Tommy Mellow]

So is there any time in the process where you go. Because I just met a really, really good door of sales, door to door salesman, and he says, what would you say your credit is? 6, 7, 8?

[Brian Burton]

So I do what I did. I don't train this a whole lot because it's. It's hard to teach somebody, but it's.

[Tommy Mellow]

Easy to pull on. Good leap. You just hit a few buttons and you.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah. So what I did myself was I. I would say on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being hot, 1 being not so hot. Where would you rate your credit?

[Tommy Mellow]

That's it.

[Brian Burton]

And if I got people that said nine or ten, I would start.

[Tommy Mellow]

Where would you put that into the conversation after what Logan said?

[Logan Altland]

No. So there's actually more to that. Brian didn't give me that objection. After I get them to agree the work and agree the payment plan, I just simply say, okay, it's just going to be a brief credit check. That shouldn't be a problem. Right. And that's when it will come out. If they have good, bad credit or any problems with the credit, I love it.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah. If they say, you know, we filed bankruptcy three weeks ago.

[Tommy Mellow]

Well, also the other option is a lot of times, well, it's really anybody under the roof or a co signer and a lot of people are like, yeah, my dad, this needs to be done. I can get my dad to do it.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah. How often do you use a co signer? That's not part of the, that's not a husband or wife.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah, bro, I'm calling family, relatives, you got any neighbors? Anybody? I'm getting someone approved in there.

[Tommy Mellow]

So would you say it's often?

[Logan Altland]

Yeah. So I don't really know the percentages. It's not often they fail, but if they do, I'll use Ally or then I'll ask for the co signer. It doesn't tell me why they fail. It tells me that they just failed. The other thing is, is if you use Good Leap, they don't, they have to be on the deed of the house.

[Tommy Mellow]

The reason I like Good Leap, Greensky or Service Finance is they integrate service finance. Yeah, that's makes it simple.

[Brian Burton]

It's simple. Yeah, but you don't, you don't need it to do that. I mean if you're, if you're on Ally or one of the ones that.

[Tommy Mellow]

You like Ally a lot.

[Brian Burton]

I'm not that partial to a brand. But the reason, you know, if you don't have one that integrates with Service Titan, you just have to know your number. I don't promote and I'm not a fan of the 6 months, 12 month, 18 month, no interest plans.

[Tommy Mellow]

No, those are expensive. That either fees up the yin yang.

[Brian Burton]

I don't use them. Not just that, that's probably the biggest reason, but the second biggest reason is actually when I was selling timeshare, right. I sold a big package to a Filipino couple and I always gave people my cell phone number and said the first time you use this, call me and let me know how it Worked. And this lady called me and said they loved the property, they loved the experience, but she has a bone to pick with me. Like, they got the 12 months, no interest.

[Tommy Mellow]

And then the interest all accumulates on the 12 months.

[Brian Burton]

One day a small catastrophe hits at the end of that 12 month period. And they go, oh, we can't pay this off. We got to do that. Because that's the first thing that gets put on the shelf. And she. I forget what the number was, but it was a lot of money. Just landed.

[Tommy Mellow]

Interest.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah. And she was like, we should have just done the 9.99 plan and we would have been much better off. And I'm like, so ever since then, I've always said, I'll get you in at this low monthly.

[Tommy Mellow]

So like Dale says, credit cards are 23, 27, 30%. I got some of the. Less than half of that.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, we'll get you in at 10.99 on Ali or Green sky or whatever. And maybe their multiple for that monthly is like it's 0.0178 or 0.0181. So it's whatever the total of the ticket is times 0.0181. So at 10 grand, it's $181 a month. So you just need to memorize that number. Doesn't matter if it integrates, Right?

[Tommy Mellow]

That's true.

[Brian Burton]

Memorize that number and you spit that out. I don't use the month, no interest. Divide 10 grand by 12 months. Like that's a freaking house payment. Yeah, most people aren't paying that off. And then they're gonna. There is no way around them kind of hating you a little bit for putting them in that position.

[Tommy Mellow]

Logan's got something here.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah, Brian, I. I do that too. I try to stay away from the 18 months interest free. What I found has worked is first I get them to pull the credit and then I'll show them the $119 a month. Because what I'll have them say is, what's that? $119 a month for 45 years. So it. For some reason, it feels a little bit different after they were already approved.

[Brian Burton]

That's awesome, buddy. I like. That's a great place to interject. A Gene Slade thing that he always talks about, which is when they say, well, what is that? 30 years? And he would always interject with, you know what, Tommy? That's the best part. You can pay it off anytime you want.

[Tommy Mellow]

There's no prepayment penalty.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, he always. Any objection on the financing, he would go that's the best part.

[Tommy Mellow]

That's the best part. You know, and Tom Hopkins calls it a prepayment privilege.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah.

[Tommy Mellow]

You got a privilege to pay it.

[Brian Burton]

Off earlier without paying an extra penny.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yes. Yeah.

[Logan Altland]

If you remember when Gene Slade was in the building, Brian, that's what I had the hardest part was, is asking. That's when I had the problem with him, was asking, do you have that much money?

[Brian Burton]

Yeah, everybody does.

[Tommy Mellow]

Says he'll go through that with me.

[Logan Altland]

Okay, Tommy, perfect. Your total today is going to be $4,900. Is that something you want to get taken care of?

[Tommy Mellow]

No, I don't know what's. That's a lot of money.

[Logan Altland]

Do you have that much money?

[Brian Burton]

Not for this.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah, not for this.

[Logan Altland]

When do you think you'll have that much money?

[Tommy Mellow]

Oh, there's a lot of determining factors. I got my tax check coming back. Supposedly I'm supposed to get a bonus end of Q2. Yeah. You know, I should have that money the next year.

[Logan Altland]

Okay, perfect. So to be conservative, you say let's like, three years, right?

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah, I'd say that.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah. No problem, man. I'll do the work now. You can pay me later. Pay me in three years.

[Brian Burton]

Serial killer. Smoothness to him, isn't it?

[Tommy Mellow]

It is smooth. And I love this, because I'm going to have a lot of guys listen to this. Let's do a couple more objections. And I got some here if you want, but you probably know them by heart.

[Brian Burton]

You got some that you want to throw out?

[Tommy Mellow]

No, no, I just was reading. This is my scribbled notes, but go ahead and do a couple more that you like.

[Brian Burton]

Let's just assume we talked through the financing part. All right, I know what you're saying. Yes, I don't have the money. I won't have it till the end of the year. And when you say use your money, I know what you're saying. You're talking about financing. And I gotta tell you, bro, we hate financing. We just hate it. I'd rather pay it when I. When I can just write a check.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah, I. I totally understand what you're saying. I come from the generation where if you don't have cash, you don't get it. But I believe in being happy and getting what you want. What's your hold up with financing?

[Brian Burton]

You know, it's just like my dad taught me. If you got. If you don't have the money to pay for it, then don't buy it. Yeah.

[Logan Altland]

Oh, okay, cool. So you never financed a car or a house. You Bought everything outright, correct?

[Brian Burton]

Well, we had. You know, we had to have a place to live, so obviously we financed the house. And then we both needed a car because it's a little more convenient. So of course we financed those, but really. And the furniture and a couple appliances, but almost nothing.

[Logan Altland]

Okay, so can I level with you a second here, Brian?

[Brian Burton]

Sure, buddy.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah. Does it make sense to finance a house, but not finance the protections that the house is going to need to keep you safe and happy?

[Brian Burton]

I got nonsense. I mean, obviously, like, if this was something that was going to cause the house not to work tomorrow morning, we wouldn't have a choice. But like you said, this is something that needs to be done, but doesn't have to be done right here, right now. So it's, you know, it's just tough to come outside that teaching that my dad instilled in me so many years ago.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah, Yeah, I totally get it. Is your dad reachable? Still alive. Right? Okay. Yeah, perfect. Let's get him on the phone and we'll walk through it with him.

[Brian Burton]

Loganism. Who the hell is going to ask to get dad on the phone for this except Logan, Alan. And I guarantee you he would do it.

[Tommy Mellow]

Well, the confidence level. The one thing I say is I dressed up like a doctor during my orientation. Really? Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I'll put the stethoscope on, and.

[Brian Burton]

I'll say, I want to go through your orientation.

[Tommy Mellow]

And I say something along the lines of this. So when you walk into the doctor, you fill out a lot of paperwork, right? And then you sit down, and then the nurse comes out, checks your height, your blood pressure, your weight. You sit there, you talk with the doctor. The doctor walks in about 30 minutes late, walks in, he's got his clipboard. He says, okay, so, Brian, how are you?

[Brian Burton]

Great.

[Tommy Mellow]

I'm just going to just ask you a few questions. First and foremost, how's the family doing?

[Brian Burton]

Pretty good. Yeah? Everybody's well. Amelia says hi.

[Tommy Mellow]

Oh, that's. Listen, she's a sweetheart. So, just running through here, what would you say? Your alcohol, how much are you drinking?

[Brian Burton]

I quit drinking.

[Tommy Mellow]

Fantastic. Okay. Smoking, Any recreational drugs?

[Brian Burton]

No. I mean, no.

[Tommy Mellow]

Okay. And with work and everything, what's you. What would you say your stress, anxiety levels are?

[Brian Burton]

Depends on the day. I mean, today, not bad. Yesterday was probably about an eight.

[Tommy Mellow]

Okay. You know, makes sense. And how's the sleep going?

[Brian Burton]

Well, ever since you prescribed me that CPAP doc, which I cannot recommend enough to anyone who snores, it's been going great.

[Tommy Mellow]

Okay. And finally, I'M just going to say, what would you say overall the diet is? Sugar. You know, you feel like you're healthy.

[Brian Burton]

I have a bet with this guy right now, so I'm actually doing pretty well on the, on the diet, so we're good there.

[Tommy Mellow]

And one final one.

[Brian Burton]

This garage door guy that I'm trying to.

[Tommy Mellow]

What would you say your overall energy level is? Throughout the day?

[Brian Burton]

When I'm doing something I'm passionate about, I'm. I'm a 10, which is pretty much always.

[Tommy Mellow]

So based on what you told me, I'm going to go ahead and just run through a few things. Look in your ears, nose, check your heartbeat, heavy cough times, check some reflexes. And after that, you know, I'll get done with this stuff. Let's say I'm done. Brian, you know, you came in and here's what. Where's cvs? Or Walmart?

[Brian Burton]

Walmart.

[Tommy Mellow]

Okay. Or Walgreens?

[Brian Burton]

Walgreens. Sorry.

[Tommy Mellow]

Walgreens. Okay. So I'm going to go ahead and just get you this to make you feel better and it'll be ready tomorrow.

[Brian Burton]

Awesome.

[Tommy Mellow]

So the doctor asks all these questions, does these tests, has a lot of confidence, and writes you a prescription.

[Brian Burton]

Just move.

[Tommy Mellow]

And have you ever been to a doctor and the person says, or the person that walked into the doctor's office, have they ever said, well, I'm going to need to get a couple quotes on that. I mean, yeah, if it's cancer, maybe, but no one ever says no. You go in because they know exactly. They've done all the work, they've done all the tests, and they don't ever say, this is what you need to be better. So I'm going to go ahead. Here you go. I want to get this filled.

[Brian Burton]

And even, even taking it back a step, they've earned that right the whole way by being such an authority. Like, at no point did you, sheepishly and timidly staring at the ground, walk up to me with the stethoscope and go, are you okay if I just put this on and listen to your heartbeat?

[Tommy Mellow]

The confidence levels through the roof.

[Brian Burton]

Hands. He's just like, sit back for me. Take a deep breath. Boom.

[Tommy Mellow]

The doctor always sits down on a round chair, sits back and there's no, you know, likes. They're looking at you. They're genuinely interested and they're taking notes. And I think if you could walk in to a home with that kind of confidence level and know you've got a superior part and know you've got the answers, you are the doctor, the Minute I set foot in that garage, you are the doctor. And a lot of people, the first thing they do is, oh, it's a broken spring. I walk in, and after I've talked to them for a long time, I say, so what's going on with the garage door? Well, the whole thing snapped. It was a loud bang noise. The cables flew off. Man, this thing, me and my wife have been talking about replacing it. Well, if I walked in there and said, I know exactly what's wrong. You're a schmuck. Because now the. Well, how much is that? It's only a few hundred dollars. Well, shoot. We were thinking, we gotta spend five grand, you know, so you gotta ask more questions. And I think you're doing a great job of that. Logan, let's do another final one here. Cause I could eat this stuff up all day.

[Brian Burton]

All right, let me think here. What's. What's going to be a good one that we get quite a bit of. All right, you ready, buddy?

[Tommy Mellow]

Yep.

[Brian Burton]

Logan, I like what you're showing me here. And, hey, I'll be real with you. Some of the things you're pointing out here, nobody's ever said to me before. But one thing I. I failed to tell you in the beginning is, is her cousin is a plumber, lives an hour and a half from here. Or, sorry, is an electrician. And he told. I texted him while you were talking, and he told me we can probably get this stuff done for half. What company does he work for, Amelia's cousin? Electrical and Flagstaff.

[Logan Altland]

Okay. That's awesome. Yeah, I've never heard of them, but that's neither here nor there. Okay. So cost is obviously the driving factor here.

[Brian Burton]

Well, let me ask you, is it true? Can I get this done for half of what you're telling me?

[Logan Altland]

Brian, you could get this done at a quarter of this price, but you're also going to get a quarter of the quality and service. Let me ask you something, Brian. What is more important to you? Quality, service or price?

[Brian Burton]

Quality, money or value? If I really think about it, I probably wouldn't sacrifice too much quality or value for money, frankly. I want to get as much quality and as much value as I possibly can for as little money as possible.

[Logan Altland]

So do you think there would be anybody else in business if they could provide you with the best quality, the best service, and the best cost? Do you think there would be more than one business out there?

[Brian Burton]

No, I guess probably not.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah.

[Logan Altland]

Brian, we are not the cheapest company, and I don't hide from that. But one thing that you do get is you get 100% service. You get live call center 247 on New Year's Eve. When your crock pot trips a breaker, you're going to get my smiling face at your door ready to fight the problem with you. You're going to get the fair treatment. As far as, hey, you and your neighbor both called in at the same time, but you've done work with us before, so do you see why we're more expensive? Brian, if cost is the only thing that's driving you and you don't understand why we're more expensive, by all means, go with that other company, if that makes sense. What I've typically found, though, is I'm the one following up behind them, fixing it once or twice. So then you're at three times the cost. And that brings you out exactly to what I originally quoted you. So the choice is really yours. I'm just here to help you, guide you through the way, you know.

[Brian Burton]

You know, it was funny. Okay, let's give him.

[Tommy Mellow]

That was genius.

[Brian Burton]

That was beautiful. What was funny was he said, do you see why we might be a little more expensive? I saw Amelia out of the corner of my eye and she starts nodding yes. Fell right into the role play with you.

[Tommy Mellow]

See why I love it? Well, Logan, I gotta tell you, buddy, you're more than welcome to come out. Maybe Brian will have you out. I'd love you to. Just meet you in person, brother. You seem like a wholesome good dude.

[Logan Altland]

Yeah, that would be awesome, Tommy. I would love to come out and hang out with you guys and get to meet you for the first time, Tommy. And of course, hang out with you, Brian.

[Brian Burton]

We'll have to put you up in a hotel. Tommy doesn't have any room at the house.

[Tommy Mellow]

Kind of strapped for space right now.

[Logan Altland]

I heard you're going to need someone to show you how to play some big Buck Hunter.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah, you know, is that the game that you cock the gun and you shoot the little stuff walking around?

[Brian Burton]

Don't bet him. Don't fall for this. He does it with one hand and still gets a perfect score.

[Tommy Mellow]

We really appreciate you. You know, those of you that can't see Logan, he's actually in his service vehicle right now doing this for a huge favor for us, so.

[Brian Burton]

With his wife's apple cans on.

[Tommy Mellow]

Logan, I'm. I'm going to just close up here with Brian. I just need 10 minutes of his time to kind of end this. But I really appreciate you jumping on. We'll do this again, appreciate your time, brother.

[Brian Burton]

Thanks for coming on, man.

[Tommy Mellow]

Appreciate you. So this has been a masterclass of sales.

[Brian Burton]

It's a great thing to talk about. We talk about this, you know, for three years we've been running waste no day. We've Talked about the four Fs and the F wheel is kind of what I train on.

[Tommy Mellow]

Where you have four flies or. Oh, no, no, no.

[Brian Burton]

We leave the most important one, never mind. But faith, finances, family, fitness, it's just the four quadrants that you should always be, try to be in balance. Because if everyone thinks like I can put the majority into work, my finances, men in particular, and everyone else will just fill in. But imagine a tire with a bulge on one side and how, you know, how well is it going to roll? But in terms of the fitness one, because I don't know how garage door techs are, but I know how the H vac, plumbing and electrical trades are wildly unhealthy. Wildly unhealthy. So we make it a big point to constantly push health and fitness. And you know, you said something great. There was like, I won't see anything in 30 days. I see a little in 60, but after that 90 point, the fat just starts falling off, it sheds.

[Tommy Mellow]

It's like amazing.

[Brian Burton]

And I was, you know, Jordan Peterson often talks about the Matthew Principle. You know what the Matthew Principle is from the Book of Matthew, it might have been the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said, for those who have even more will be given from those who have not even what little they have will be taken. And people are often like, oh, that's really harsh and horrible. But the way Jordan Peterson broke it down was like, he's just talking about your momentum. Like you're either heading this way down, getting worse, or you're heading up and you're getting better, right? You're moving in direction, right? There's no stagnation, you're getting better or you're getting worse. And I love that principle because it says that if you're even the most trivial, almost to you, nonsense step you can take toward physical fitness. And for most people I recommend if you're severely overweight, finish your dinner, stand up and walk outside and take a 15 minute walk. And even that little bit of nonsense walk is putting you in this direction, you're heading up and you won't believe not 30 days, not 60, maybe at 90, maybe at a year, how fast you start moving in that direction later. Because you what happens is the law of accumulation kicks in, right? And you're this Person who's first, you're doing 10 minute walks, then you're doing 15, and guess what? They don't do it for you anymore. Like, F that I did that last week. Now it's 20. Now all of a sudden you're like, walking's not doing much for me. I gotta go for a swim. And you're fine in a gym.

[Tommy Mellow]

Well, then the other thing that happens is people start saying, holy cow, you look really good. You look healthy. Now you're getting amped. Now you're getting.

[Brian Burton]

Now you're running.

[Tommy Mellow]

What did my trainer tell me? He said, you won't notice it in yourself, but people will. First the people that are around you the most, then the people at work will start noticing. Then you'll notice because you see yourself. Whoever sees you the most. It's like, I think it's the people at work first. But he has this great analogy. But listen, health is super important. And my cousin and I were just on the phone earlier, and he's like, dude, I just never seen you this optimistic in this energy level and this focus. And he's like, that's what I want. I want to show up for my kids in a bigger way. I want to show up for my wife. He goes, I don't want to get ripped. He goes, I just want to be 100% of who I'm supposed to be.

[Brian Burton]

Don't let him get away with that.

[Tommy Mellow]

Yeah, well, I'm going to get him.

[Brian Burton]

Let him talk to Andy.

[Tommy Mellow]

And the other thing is, like, I'm a KPI driven guy, so it's like, I want to go as far as I could go. But for him, he just said, I want to be the best I could be. And I posted some the other day. I said, there's two. The two most important days of your life are the day you're born and the day you figure out why.

[Brian Burton]

I know why.

[Tommy Mellow]

And I think that that's important. And I don't want to be. That guy was super successful, but he just didn't take care of himself. He didn't love himself. Yeah, I don't think that that's important, but I'm more excited to talk about, you know, when did you move out here exactly?

[Brian Burton]

Was July. August.

[Tommy Mellow]

August. So a little August.

[Brian Burton]

2023.

[Tommy Mellow]

Little under a year. And you have a fantastic podcast. Waste no Day. Listen to. You know, you had me on there.

[Brian Burton]

Even with Nate, it's still a fantastic podcast.

[Tommy Mellow]

Nate's a legend. Well, listen, I'll let you close us out here, brother. This was a great day.

[Brian Burton]

Cool. Well, if I'm going to close this out, I'm going to leave you, the audience with the challenge that we leave everybody with on every episode of Waste no Day, which is to choose every single morning to wake up and Waste no day.

[Tommy Mellow]

Let's go. Waste no Day and home service expert.

[Brian Burton]

Yeah.

[Tommy Mellow]

All right. Thanks, brother. Hey there. Thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before, before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high performing team like over here at A1 garage door service. So if you want to learn the secrets that help me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700 plus employees growing in the same direction, head over to elevate and win.com podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.