Sean Michael Crane's Unstoppable Mindset

How To Close More Deals & Increase Your Revenue

• Sean Michael Crane • Episode 136

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You decide what your setbacks mean. That idea powers a wide‑ranging conversation with master sales trainer Gene Slade, who shows how technicians in HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing can turn survival mode into momentum by changing their story and tightening their sales process. We dig into the mindset that fuels consistent action—separating what happened from the meaning we assign—so confidence comes from competence, not hype.

Gene walks us through the journey from teenage installer to top closer to industry trainer, including the moment he was fired after passing his contractor exam and chose to build instead of retreat. He opens his playbook on the tactics that move the needle fast: presenting payment plans without the “financing” stigma, using “Did you know” question frames to bypass the truth‑false filter, and mirroring “I want to think about it” to uncover the real price objection. We also get into objection handling that preserves trust, why silence is a tool, and how pre‑planned presentations let you listen better and close bigger.

Beyond tactics, we explore the habits that create durable influence—morning rucks, cold plunges, reading daily, and a media diet that feeds your goals. Gene’s mansion‑style training immersions, complete with memory pictures and role‑play, help reps recall complex scripts effortlessly and walk into homes with calm authority. The results are real: technicians doubling and tripling sales within weeks, building careers that fund their families and future.

If you’re in the trades or lead a blue‑collar team, this is a masterclass in sales psychology, practical scripts, and leadership. Tap play, share it with a teammate who’s ready to level up, and leave a review to tell us which tactic you’ll implement first. Subscribe for more conversations that build mindset, skill set, and results.

SPEAKER_00:

You're the one that determines what everything happens to you means. The fact that you failed at something means absolutely nothing. It's completely meaningless until you or somebody else decides what it means. And by the way, other people's opinions of you are none of your fucking business.

SPEAKER_01:

Welcome back to another episode of the Unstoppable Mindset Podcast. I'm your host, Sean Crane. I got my man Gene Slade in the house. Gene is a master sales trainer, uh, specifically for the trades and all the all the blue-collar business owners out there that are wanting to improve their sales practices, get their team dialed in. They're looking to hire Gene to bring them uh not just you know in-house, but I I know you do a lot of events. I'm sure you have a lot of ways you work with your people, but uh it's cool to have you here, man. It's cool to hear and learn more about your business and what you're doing. I just see you connected with all kinds of people in the in the blue-collar world, right? Like all the trades, and we have a lot of similar friends, acquaintances, and stuff like that. So looking forward to this interview, Gene. How you doing today, man?

SPEAKER_00:

If I was any better, I'd have to be twins just to handle it, man. I mean, you got me, you got me over here getting more muscle and everything and getting back in shape as a part of your program. So I really appreciate what you do, and I'm I'm uh grateful and humbled to be able to talk to your audience, man.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, absolutely, man. I know we connected, I think it was like probably three months ago now at this time. Uh you called me just on Facebook Messenger, and I was out with my rucksack on, walking in the hills, like out of breath. But I had I had seen you, you know, I'd seen you enough to know, like, okay, this is a guy I want to talk to. And we could discuss that as well. Like how to get attention, how to become someone of of influence, of intrigue. I think that's really, you know, like if someone sees your Facebook profile or they see you at an event, would they want to talk to you? Would they want to get to know you? I think a lot of sales, marketing, business in general comes down to that. But at the core of that, it's almost how you're living on a personal level each and every day, you know? Um yeah, and for me, man, like like when I said I was out on a ruck and I was out walking in the hills, I do that every day because I honestly love it. I love the way it makes me feel. And I've noticed over the years, it has just helped me to become more confident, bring better energy into those rooms, build more powerful relationships because then you get around people and it's almost like they could pick up on the work you've been putting in on yourself, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Whether it's Yeah, well, you you end up vibrating at a different frequency when you walk into those rooms looking like you look compared to walking in there, you know, at 275 pounds. Yeah. You're gonna be taken, you're gonna be taken differently.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. And it's the physique, it's the energy, it's the self-confidence. You can't you can't fake it, you know, you can put on a mask in a lot of ways in life, but eventually your true colors are gonna emerge. Um, and so yeah, you called me that day. We got you in the the fitness and nutrition program, and you were already working out and taking care of yourself. Um, but I think now just pushing you to a whole nother level. It's really cool to see you progress and put the work in on yourself because you have a an effect over a lot of people. Like, I don't know how many lives you're touching through team members, through events, yeah, on a on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. But you're the type of individual that I love to be able to work with the most, knowing the ripple effect that's taking place. Because you're a leader, man. Right? I mean, you're a leader, and other people, you're gonna, you're gonna really help them just by the way you live your life and impact them. So that's why I titled this episode, uh, How to Create Influence and Impact, because I think you're someone that exemplifies true influence and impact. Uh, so why don't you share a little bit with the audience what you exactly do for business day to day right now? Like what's your bread and butter?

SPEAKER_00:

So today I help HVAC, plumbing, electrical, solar, roofing, the trades, those contractors or technicians to really what we focus on is multiplying their average tickets, right? And then we focus on increasing closing ratios. And what I found a long time ago is if I helped the technician, I could help the business owner. Business owners are kind of difficult, especially once they get to a certain level, right? They're putting out so many fires, they're saying no to so many things that it's difficult to get in front of them. But if I can help their technicians, all of a sudden I've got their attention. So we do sales training events around the country. Sometimes they're at movie theaters, sometimes they're at a mansion like Gatlinburg. We just got back from Gatlinburg. Uh, there's a 57-seat theater there. We can put like an extra 10 chair. So we can put like 67 people in this mansion. It's like 25,000 square feet, and we live with them for three or four nights and we pour into them. And what we see coming out of those events is just insanity. I mean, people go out and within seven to thirty days, they're doubling, tripling, quadrupling their sales, and it has an equivalent impact on their income, right? And then they start to be able to dream again, right? I mean, I I'm sure that you had some dreams when you were younger, and when you started going into life as an adult, life's tough, right? And a lot of people give up on those dreams that they had for themselves. And it's sad to see that. It's sad to see the place where they're living. Uh, I mean, start stories like guys who are homeless living in abandoned buildings and in their cars with their wives and their their infant child, um, that now today are you know making four or five hundred thousand dollars a year with paid-off houses and paid off cars and six figures in the bank. I mean, that's generational transformation. It might not be generational wealth, but that guy now knows how to fish instead of having people give him fish. And so he's gonna be able to pass that on to his kids and everybody. They say it's not what you leave for your kids, but what you leave in them that counts, right? So that's the kind of work we do. Sometimes we go on on sites, and then we also have online classes and stuff like that, online masterminds, um, a lot of different programs, if you will. That's that's that's the 30,000-foot view of of what I'm doing today.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, no, that's really cool because I have a lot of questions. And I and I love, you know, we spoke the other day on the phone, and you kind of alluded to some of the guys you've helped by developing the skill set in sales, completely rebuild their life, you know, completely going from sleeping on a park bench to, like you said, now owning a home and having money in the bank. And a lot of people, when they're under stress, they can't, like you said, they can't dream big, they can't have those abundant thoughts where anything's possible. It's just survival mode. You know, when you look at society, and I think a lot of society right now is in survival mode, whether it's just paying the bills, you know, a lot of people are renting, they can't even afford to buy a home. They don't have skill sets or they don't have a career path that's gonna allow them to make a lot of money. Like they're stuck in a nine to five job where they're making X number of dollars per hour. And so you see people and they get in that place and they just get in survival mode. And that's why they look forward to the weekends. They love eating big, tasty meals of unhealthy food, they love to drink alcohol and do all this stuff because they get that little moment of reprieve where they can forget about the stress. Um, and God, that's like the the rat race, right? So, what I love that you just described is teaching people the mindset and the skill set in sales to be able to take back control of their lives, you know. Um yeah, yeah, and well, if you're good at sales, if you're good at sales, you can work from home, you can you go into other industries. Um, once you have that understanding of like, you know, persuasion, sales, the whole process, it's such a valuable skill set, man. Um and the trades more than ever right now is so lucrative. Like young people would be better off to learn how to be successful in the trades than go to college for in most cases. Um, but let me ask you this, because you said something that was interesting, you go, you know, I don't really work with business owners right out of the gate. I work with the technicians. Now, when you work with the technicians, obviously, if you're training them and helping them to sell at a higher ticket or to have a higher close rate, you get the business owner's attention. They're like, damn, what's this guy doing? I like this guy. But are the technicians paying to work with you or are the business owners hiring you outright for their team?

SPEAKER_00:

It's both. It's both. A lot of times the business, the business owner or a manager will end up getting in touch with us and they'll send a few people to an event. And a lot of times it's technicians that are reaching out to us and and saying, hey, how can you help me? And we're the premium service provider in the sales training field for our industry. Nobody, I mean, we're just we're up there and it's because we're worth it. And so we're out of reach sometimes or have been for some of those technicians that I would really like to work with, which is why we recently launched a new program, Sean, where um it's basically no money down. Uh, there's a re there's a refundable deposit that ends up going towards whatever money we help them earn moving forward, but it's essentially a risk-free program where I and you got to qualify for it, but there I'm gonna work with seven businesses and seven per just technicians, where all I do is I take a percentage of the increase in income or the percentage of the increase in the average ticket. And it's an insane program, and it's gonna help people that couldn't work with us before be able to work with us.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, I love that, man. I love that. So, how did you get your start in sales? Like, take me back to when when you started what that looked like.

SPEAKER_00:

I gotta kind of go back a little bit further than that um for just 30 seconds. So when I was 11, my dad owned his own heating and air conditioning business or had just started it, and he needed cheap labor, right? So he said, Boy, if you want food, you want clothes, come to work, essentially. And uh, so I did. And within a couple of years, well, by the time I was 15, I was a capable full installer. And so he decided that he'd hire a 21-year-old to be my helper and drive me around because I didn't even have a license yet. And we turned a one truck business into a two-truck business. Uh, but that was up until high school. So I ended up going off to college for wrestling. That didn't last long because I got injured. And then I came back and basically got right back into the trades. And I was an installer making 42k a year. This is back in probably, shoot, this is this is probably 25 years ago. And uh I was pissed because I saw these salespeople coming in that didn't know anything compared to what I knew about the trade, and they're making two, three times as much money as me. So I decided, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna send out 50 resumes to Florida, 50 resumes to Michigan. I ended up taking a job at the most expensive company within 100 miles of me in Michigan. I had no clue that they were gonna be that high. Uh, but they did, they were a premium service provider, they provided the best service and the best installations, and I quickly learned how to not sell value, but how to sell for more money. I I hate the word creating value. Um, I I look at it a little bit differently, but I I look at it as um describing the difference between myself and the other guys, really creating doubt about doing business with people that are gonna provide a lower service. And so that was really how I ended up getting into sales was I got sick and tired of watching other people make more money in me.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, it makes sense, right? Like you're over there busting your butt, climbing in attics and stuff, like 110 degree, 20 degree weather. Um and so how did you transition though from being uh a salesperson in a business to being a sales coach?

SPEAKER_00:

Well there's a step in between there. So I was a salesperson and then I ended up becoming a sales trainer. And the way that that happened was the general manager of the company that I was working at at the time had to have a gastric bypass. Um, and because he really wanted to lose weight. And he asked me to take over the training for him for I was the best salesperson in the company, so he said, you know, could you take over the training for the next couple weeks while I go have this surgery? And so I took over the training and immediately our revenues went up, our average tickets went up, our closing ratios went up, and I was kind of proud of that. And so I just called him up like a week into it to find out how he was doing, and I let him know he didn't need to come back to do training anymore, that I would just take over. And I wasn't paid anymore to do it, but I was paid more to do it because of what it gave me between my ears. Yeah. And I got to I got to practice on somebody else's company before starting my own. Okay. And how long did you do that for? Uh, I did that for probably two years, and I ended up eventually becoming the general manager of the company. I think I was with them two and a half before I ended up going to take a test for my contractor's exam. And I hadn't gotten any books or anything like that. I just wanted, I was going to take a practice test essentially. So I took a day off of work and went to take a practice test for the business law and the contracting side. And I accidentally passed the test. Uh always been a pretty good test taker, but I passed the test. So I qualified to get my license. And the next day that I came back to work, I don't know how they found out because I didn't tell nobody, I didn't tell a soul. But I ended up coming back to work. I did a training session in the morning, and at the end of the meeting, both the owners came into the room, which was really weird because they hated each other and they never were around each other. So I knew something was up. And they called me into the office and said, Hey, we found out that you passed your contractor's exam and your services are no longer needed here. Um and I'll tell you, I was it was it was a shock to the system because I I wasn't I was in no position to start a company. I had$100 between four bank accounts because I was paying off all of my debts and everything. So I was I was debt free, fortunately. Um, but I had just had uh a baby boy who was five weeks old, uh, a wife who had major surgery having him, just signed a brand new lease on like an almost two thousand uh two thousand dollar month house back then, which was a lot of money, and I had a 50-mile non-compete. So I mean I was I was really screwed in that market. So on my drive home, I decided I would start my my air conditioning company because I I didn't want to I didn't want to spend another two or three years fighting somebody else to grow their business because that seems like what it's like a lot of times with some owners is is you're you're fighting to grow their business, you're fighting against them a lot of times.

SPEAKER_01:

Why is that?

SPEAKER_00:

And so I decided they just want to have control over everything, or they don't yeah, man, don't trust the process. Business owners, business owners are just very fearful of change, and unless they're in a good you know mastermind or they've got good mentors that can show them what the next steps are, like with you and I uh the fear of going backwards is greater than the fear of staying the same, right? So um plus I think that a lot of times they get intimidated by talent that's greater than themselves. You know, it doesn't mean that just because somebody's a great salesperson doesn't mean they're a better business person than you, but give them credit for being who they are and try not to hold them back. I find that that's when a lot of salespeople end up leaving, the really good ones, is when they feel like they're bridled, right? If and I've heard this before, I'm sure you have. If the owner's dreams are not big enough for all the employees' dreams to fit into, it's a recipe for disaster.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, absolutely, man. And you know, it could be a control thing, like you said, it could be they don't want to be outshined because sales are bringing in the revenue, and you you know, you're gonna get a lot of attention when revenue goes up, and who knows? There's a lot of factors there. Um a lot of hate too.

SPEAKER_00:

Isn't that crazy? A lot of hate when revenue goes up, like from other people within the organization, right? There's it's weird the human condition and how negative people are. I I think I must have said a dozen times in the the mansion event that I just left that being positive is a skill. Something you gotta practice like muscle.

SPEAKER_01:

So let's talk about that. Let's talk about some of the intangibles or the habits and routines that go into producing a good salesperson. Because I think being positive and optimistic is is absolutely key. Like if you go into any aspect of life pessimistic and expecting negative outcomes, you're not likely to persevere and succeed. It's just you the chips are stacked up against you, right? So, how do you uh you said being positive is a skill set. How do you develop that skill set?

SPEAKER_00:

Practice over and over. It's about getting pissed off over and over again and then catching yourself, right? And the best way that I've learned to do that, and and listeners, if you're out there or if you're watching this, if you got access to a piece of paper, I want you to grab a piece of paper and turn it sideways, like landscape version. Um, grab yourself a pencil and a and a piece of paper. If not, I want you to imagine an eight and a half by 11 sheet of paper in front of you. And I want you to draw two circles on it, one on the left, one on the right, and don't let them touch. All right. Now on the one on the left, we're gonna write what happened. And then on the right, we're gonna write my story. Okay, so there's what happened and my story about what happened. So everything that happens to you, and nobody most people are not gonna agree with this, but I'm telling you, it's the facts. Everything in life that happens to you is empty and meaningless. Doesn't mean anything. You got a divorce, doesn't mean anything. You've given up 17 times on getting in shape, doesn't mean anything. Somebody cheated on you, it doesn't mean anything until your brain says that it means something. You're the one that determines what everything happens to you means. So something happens and you create a story about it, and then you play that story over and over and over and over and over again in your head until it is not just a thought, but a belief. Right. So the trick is when something happens and your brain automatically makes it mean something, that's not your fault, right? But if you choose to continue to believe it or not, check it for validity, it will become your fault, and you'll become powerless, powerless to change your circumstance, right? So Warner Earhart, the guy who created this technology, uh everybody thinks that he just lives this great and perfect life. And in in the in the program, when we have an upset, we call that getting on it. All right. So that's what I'm what I mean by getting on it is we have an upset or we're upset about something. Warr Warner says, you guys think that I don't get on it anymore or get upset anymore. He said the difference between you and I is that I've trained my brain to change the story faster than everybody else, right? So something happens, you make a bad move. Sometimes we say to ourselves, man, that was stupid, or you're stupid, right? Guess what? You're creating that. It's a creation. The fact that you failed at something means absolutely nothing, it's completely meaningless until you or somebody else decides what it means. And by the way, other people's opinions of you are none of your fucking business, right? So, so if somebody says something to you about something that happened and makes it mean something, nah, nah, dog. You don't get you don't get to rent that space in my head. You don't, you don't get that kind of power or control. I choose what it means, and this is what I say it means. So that's a long version of it's a short version of a very long story, but it took a while.

SPEAKER_01:

No, that's good. I mean, your self-talk is so important, and I think a lot of people do what you were describing unconsciously because they've done it for so long. When something bad happens or is perceived as bad, a setback, a failure, something doesn't go their way, they automatically get negative about it and pessimistic, and that becomes a program that they they run their entire lives off of. You know, and one of the healthiest things people can do when something happens is pause and reflect on it and pay attention to their emotional reaction, ask themselves, why am I feeling this way? You know, why why does this matter? And then not just that, but start to look at the situation and go, well, how can I actually leverage this experience? How can I learn from it? How can I grow from it? Honestly, this is the craziest thing. If something goes your way and you get the result, cool, you're winning. If something doesn't go your way and it doesn't, the result doesn't come the way you want it to, that's even more of an evaluable experience sometimes because you can learn through that experience and become better, right? So you're winning all you're always winning. And this is something I always say, Gene, is like I never lose, right? I win or I learn through life circumstances. That shift right there that you just alluded to in my thinking, not only changed my life, but saved my life. I had to shift my thinking in really negative circumstances to try to find the positive potential. Like, you know how most people project it in the future and they think about all these negative outcomes. I had to project into the future and almost be delusional to think that positive outcomes would transpire from such a negative life experience. But what it did was it helped me to have a little bit of hope and it helped me to show up each and every day and still focus on what I could control and do. And then over time, I slowly move towards those outcomes. You know, so so positive thinking, when I think of it, it's being able to shift your self-talk and inner dialogue, like you just alluded to. Um, but then the second thing, and this is where I think a lot of people go wrong or just miss, is they're not doing enough stuff in their personal life that make them truly proud of who they are and how they feel. So it's it's it's inauthentic and disingenuous to try to act positive. Like if you're trying to act positive all the time, but you don't feel it inside, like it's not gonna hit the same. You gotta be able to create that energy first and foremost in how you live so that it's just so authentic and so pure and so real. Like we talked about earlier. You walk into that room and people feel your energy and they're like, damn, dude, like that guy Gene's got good energy. He's cracking jokes, he's making people smile. That comes from somewhere. You know, it's a learned skill set, it's repetition in your thinking. But chances are you're doing stuff in your life that make you genuinely proud of who you are. You're making money, you're treating people nice, you're taking care of your health, you're losing body fat, you're working out, whatever. And so this is the other thing I learned. Number one, you got to challenge yourself, talk daily, and you always look for the positive potential. But secondly, how many things are you doing on a daily basis to improve who you are and make you feel proud of yourself? And if you talk about that guy on the park bench or that guy battling addiction, that's the first place you start to build that man up so he can even fathom, you know, seeing himself as a high earner and almost you got to be able to paint a picture of that guy in a different light and get him to believe in that person before they'll ever really start to commit, you know. Um, yeah. So like I want to talk to you about that. How did you start working with guys who were, I guess, at rock bottom? Like, how are you finding guys who are homeless, broke, going through addiction, and and getting them to be higher earners and really elite individuals? What does that process look like for you?

SPEAKER_00:

They find me, man. When did this start though? Like, I'm curious.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, because when you hear about most sales trainers, you think about social media, you think about people that are already doing well but want to hit that next level. Um, how did that first start to transpire? Can you remember the first couple guys you mentored that were really down and out?

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, you know, I remember the first the first guy that really, really comes to mind was an installer of mine. And I wouldn't say that he was down and out, but I would I would say that he he wasn't living great. Um, he didn't have great living circumstances. He was making about 40k a year, and he ended up starting to come into our training sessions. We had training sessions every single morning at my air conditioning company. And he began to, he was an installer, he began to just start selling stuff at his jobs, and it got to a point where I needed him to see three clients a day, not just one, right? Because he he got so good at sales within a year, he was making$200,000 a year. So he 5x his income. And that was the first time that I really, really knew that there was an ability to take somebody who who knew nothing basically, and within sometimes 30 days, have him making six figures a year. And I've gotten really, really good at that. And I've got a very, very specific process for it, like kind of like you have for your business.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and and that's life-changing because you know, if you struggle financially, it's it's hard for people like we talked about earlier to dream big and to believe in those outcomes, and they're just in survival mode, man. And one of the most important reasons to make a lot of money is so you don't have to worry about money, and then you have options and then you can make moves, right? And I think now, right now, we're in this place in America where like the old traditional way didn't work, and the cost of living is so high, housing prices are so high. People feel uh they're despairing right now when it comes to their financial ability, uh, their financial like well-being. And then from there, there's just no hope in the future. So um for you, that must be really cool to see a guy 5x, 4x's income, learning the skill set that you could teach him because it changes his whole life.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, that's where the real joy in my business comes from. It definitely doesn't come from the money that I make, it comes from watching other people do things that they never thought that they could do. And going back, Sean, to you'd asked about how how I personally have been learning to be positive over the however many decades I've been on this planet, um, there's there's a couple, one other thing, and that was the people that you surround yourself with, right? Like that I can't tell you how huge that has been for me. And it's been unfortunate that I've had to cut a lot of people out of my life that just really truly didn't serve me, couldn't think similarly. Um, but it's made room for other people like you to come into my life, right? So that's that's huge, huge, huge guys. If you've got people in your life that are dragging you down and you can't get them to come with you on the journey that you want to come on, then you're gonna have to leave them behind. And then the last thing, I don't know if you've seen this video, Sean, but there's a guy on the internet, I forget his name right now. He he shot a video and he was talking about when shit happens to him. I think he was talking about how he lost a million bucks in one day one time. And his response was good. Good, I lost a million bucks. Um, good, you know, this guy quit. Whatever, whatever comes at you that's negative, he would just say good, and people would be like, What do you mean good? He was like, Good that happened, it's gonna give us an opportunity to grow over in this area, or good that happened. Now we can figure out what to do to never ever have that happen again, right? So, again, it is a mindset shift, but uh again, it's also so important to be around the right people. And and too many people I I think today are listening to the radio, they're driving around three, four hours in their truck, and they're just they're listening to shit that doesn't feed them. Like, uh, how about you listen to somebody who is is where you're at or has been where you want to go instead of all the bullshit that people are piling into their brains? I I don't get it.

SPEAKER_01:

No, a hundred percent. I mean, a couple things to unpack there. It's like, yeah, the people you surround yourself with are super impactful for how you feel and just how you think. I'd rather be alone than around negative people. Like I just I would be alone, you know, and I like to segment the time I spend with people in thirds, you know. So 30% of people I like to be around who I can provide value for and mentor and coach and teach. The next echelon, that middle layer, is people who I can sharpen and vice versa, they can sharpen me almost on the same level as you in business and life, right? And and that's like your gym partner, that's like maybe people in your organization that keep you on your toes, whatever it may be. Maybe it's your wife or significant other, who knows? But then that top third are mentors and people that you can look to for advice and get inspired by. And I think if anyone's listening to this, one of the most impactful things you could ever do is get a mentor. Cut out negative people and people that are not going anywhere, like Gene said, because that's gonna free up time, space, energy for you to be able to focus on being around people you can learn and grow from. And you can learn and grow so fast by getting around people who have done what you want to do. Or like Gene, imagine a guy who is just starting on sales and he's uh an HVAC tech or he's in the trades and he wants to just 2x his income. Imagine if that guy got to spend like a couple hours each week picking your brain and talking to you the amount of information, the perspective shift, and then the skills you can help him to develop to actually go out and make that a reality. Like that's life changing, you know? And so for For me, when I started my career in coaching, speaking, and building my company, I always wanted to be around individuals that I saw who were further ahead than me. Where I'm like, dude, I could just watch this guy and pick up on what he's doing. Then you get to talk to them and pick their brain. And you, you, you minimize so many mistakes by doing that, and you can expedite your results, you know, because like you're it's like taking, it's like that game Candyland where you hit the ladder and you go like way far in the game. It's kind of like that, you know? Um, but mentorship is so powerful. And for whatever reason, some people don't want to spend money, they don't want to invest in themselves, they don't believe in mentorship. And I'm like, man, if you really want to do something valuable in life, learn from the people who have done it. It's it's so fast and instantaneous. Um, but then like it also comes down to personal accountability. You said if you're driving around just listening to the radio and wasting time, like you got to be mindful of how you're utilizing your time. I think everyone should have moments where they can check out, maybe get a little entertainment, a little pleasure. But gosh, like 90% 90% of your life and your days, in my opinion, should be to focus on getting better. You know, like one of my favorite things to do, I have a treadmill in the garage and I can wake up at five in the morning, do a little morning routine, and go walk for an hour. So now I'm getting cardio and I'm listening to podcasts. The other day I listened to like three podcasts, one on investing and finance and two on the housing market right now and this and some real estate because I'm educating myself in that area and I want the information. I want to start doing my due diligence. So I'm getting cardio in, I'm getting all these nuggets of information, jump in the cold plunge after, start my day. I'm like, dude, I'm freaking winning. It's hard to go in life not being positive when you're being that proactive, you know, and so it's all intertwined, man. It's hard to be negative after a cold plunge, too. It's one of the most impactful things to your energy and well-being. Like anybody out there, if you're having a bad day and you're feeling ungrateful, grumpy, irritable, go get in a cold plunge for three minutes and force yourself to stay in up to your neck and get out and watch how quickly it shifts your energy. It's incredible. Uh, and I saw you doing that with your guys at your recent mastermind, I think. Out on the deck, you had a cold plunge for them.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. Yep. Yeah, we uh I I didn't have one there, but I was like, you know, it's not too hot here. Um I'm gonna go over to Tractor Supply and get a big, you know, I think they call it a stock something. Stock, it's just like one of feeding trough. And yeah, we poured some water in there, and I had about 100, 110 pounds of ice every day delivered to the house.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's you're a beast. I got one in my garage here at home, uh, a cold plunge and a sauna, a home sauna. I love the contrast therapy. And honestly, man, for me, like a lot of my creative ideas come in those moments where I'm in in some type of extreme. It might be out or doing a hard workout too. I used to run a lot before I hurt my knee. And I would always get this flood of ideas and this inspiration in those moments, man. And then I could go back home and channel it into content or coaching calls or podcast interviews, whatever it is. Right. So I kind of want to ask you how important do you think personal development is for people in business and sales in general?

SPEAKER_00:

I don't think there's anything more important. Uh I'll never forget it's probably it's gotta be 20 years ago now. I I was already a good salesperson. I was a multi-million dollar salesperson, which was a big thing back then. And I got into this this slump, and I had no idea what was going on. So I called my mentor at the time and I said, Hey man, um I don't know what's going on. I I I couldn't close a barn door right now. There's just nothing's happening. And he said, What have you been listening to? And I went, Oh my god, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later. And I hung up the phone and immediately went to Book Summilian and got myself like five more uh CD sets to start listening to shit instead of listening to the radio. Like if and and and I've I've gone spurts in my life where I didn't do any of it, right? And every time I don't, I get stuck right where I was. It's just like I can't I can't go any further. So it's something that I think should be a part of everyday life. And shit, I mean, I think until a couple weeks ago, I had only missed maybe two days of reading in six months. And man, it made a huge difference. It gave me more shit to talk about with people, right? Like I had new content, new material because I'm learning shit. And and the the further that I go, the further the people behind me can go.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's such a good point. You know, um your growth in education never ends. I like how you said that. I'm the same way. I read a new book and there's like a chapter in there. I'm gonna do a podcast episode on the the principles in there and like take life stories and real applications and intertwine it for the listener, right? Put it in a uh a YouTube short or Instagram reel, write a post about it, share it on a coaching call. For me, too. That's how I can get information that's valuable and share it to help other people, but also you create like a program in your brain because like you teach this information so much and you reiterate it so often. Now it becomes a part of your mind, your subconscious, you know. Um, I really like how you said that. I think good leaders are lifelong learners. Would you agree?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, leaders are readers, they say.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but just in general, like people that are really making an impact, you see that they're working just as hard on themselves as they are to teach and pass on the information to others. Like there, there's something inside real good leaders that's they're insatiable for information, for growth, for experience. And I get that from you, man. I feel like I don't know how old you are, but you seem like young and fresh in spirit. Does that make sense? I'm 10 years older than you. Yeah, but you seem like just as excited as ever to be doing what you're doing. And I think that's the key right there. That's one of the keys to the sales and leadership, right? Is bringing that youthful, fun, and exciting energy in everything you do.

SPEAKER_00:

Man, that people are attracted to it, right? And it's how it's how I get access to their brains to help them. So I agree with you 100%, man.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, hey, I want to that brought something up in my mind. I want to do like some rapid fire questions. So if someone's listening to this and they want to kill in sales, this could be across the board because yeah, I mean, you teach a lot of blue-collar guys how to do sales, but you could use this information and apply it to sales in general. So I'm gonna ask you pros and cons. Okay. So anyone that's listening to this, get out your notepad, get a pen out. Gene's gonna give you some nuggets here, right? Uh, the first thing I want to ask you is like what not to do on a sales call if you're a salesperson.

SPEAKER_00:

Talk too much. Don't talk too much. We don't you don't make sales by talking, you make sales by listening. If you listen to a client, they'll tell you exactly how to close them. Have a list of pre-planned questions, have a completely pre-planned presentation. And if you don't have one or don't want to create one, come get mine or somebody else's. Yeah, and that's great. And where can people find you too, by the way, if they want to inquire about that? If you can't find me online, something is wrong. At Gene Slade, G-E-N-E-S-L-A-D E. You Google my name, uh, you'll find us in all kinds of national publications, uh, all over the place. Um, I mean, even in some print locations. We just had a big spread in New York Weekly.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

I love that. You should be able to watch it.

SPEAKER_01:

Google Gene Slade, you're gonna find him, right? He's a ninja. What's the name of the the sales training you do too? It's ninja something, right?

SPEAKER_00:

So, my my the name of my company is Lead Ninja, L-E-A-D-N-I-N-J-A. The website is lead ninjasystem.com. Singular, not plural system. I love that.

SPEAKER_01:

Hey, how important on a sales call is it to collect rev to collect money, to have them actually commit and make some type of investment versus thinking about it or circling back with them?

SPEAKER_00:

It's the only reason that we exist. I mean, the the purpose of your job, if you're listening out there and you're not an owner, the literal purpose of your job is to generate revenue and profit for the company. The boss didn't just wake up one day if you're in the trades and say, you know, I think I'd like more liability. I think I'd like to hire another human being that might take one of my trucks and crash it into somebody else and cause me all kinds of problems. No, they they invest in that truck, the training, the uniforms, the parts, the tools, all that stuff to generate revenue and profit. It's not making a profit in business is not an option, it's a requirement. Love that.

SPEAKER_01:

What's the number one objection you think salespeople come across? And how do you how do you handle it as well?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that's a two-part answer. Um, the real objection is the price objection, but most the most common objection is I want to think about it. But when a man or woman say they want to think about it, they already thought about it and stopped thinking. All right. When when somebody you quote somebody heating and air conditioning system, they know whether or not they want to use you, but they're gonna say, I want to think about it, because they're wired for cooperation. They they don't want to be uncooperative, they don't want to tell you that the price is too high. You've got to get it out of them. So learning that the real the I want to think about it objection is really a price objection could help a lot of people think about it. If it were free, would they need to think about it?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's so good. And and is that the way you address the objection, obviously, by getting clear on what they're really uh not sure about and trying to handle it from that point.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it depends on the circumstance, but I need to eliminate some things. For instance, in the in the plumbing HVAC electrical world, somebody says they want to think about it, I just mirror it back to them. I just say you want to think about it. I just turn the statement the form of a question, I listen because they'll usually tell me more, right? They might say, Yeah, we've made snap decisions in the past and we've lived to regret them. So we just want to sleep on this one. And I'll go, that's not a problem. Before I take off, I'm gonna find out, do they even believe that the work needs to be done? Do you believe 100% in your heart that this work needs to be done at this time? If they say no, there's no reason in me trying to close. They're not convinced that the project needs to move forward. I haven't established a need for them, right? And then when they tell me yes or no, I'm gonna ask them why they feel that way. Because they're gonna start selling themselves a little bit for me. They're gonna give me a little bit more information, some of their dominant buying motives. Um, afterwards, I'm gonna ask them if they trust me to do the job right for them, whether they think it's possible that it could be a mistake to use us. Yeah. They're wired for cooperation again, so they're gonna be agreeable. And then I'm gonna come in and support them a little bit more on that by sharing a couple more features and benefits of my company. And then I'm gonna ask them, how do you feel about the money? And that's when it'll come out, right? So I need to know do they trust me? Do they feel like the work needs to be done? Because if if one of those is not true, we don't need to be having a discussion about closing or even about the money.

SPEAKER_01:

If the work doesn't need to be done, they're not gonna have as much urgency. And I think what you pointed out there is really important. Like people, when they're going through a sales process, uh, the prospect, at times they can have their guard up and they feel that pressure and they know what's happening. So if you can become relatable to them and help them to feel comfortable with you, man, that's such a win, you know. And when people say stuff like that to me, I'll I'll hit them with, what do you mean? Kind of like what you said. Like, like, you know, and then you just shut up and listen, and and you got to get them to open up a little bit. And that right there fosters a little bit of a connection and trust, uh, because you're listening to them and paying attention. Yeah, you're not trying to to push them, right? I call it pull. Well, they're expecting some like uh like salesy tactic or for you to try to overcome them and persuade them, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, um some of my favorite words in sales are can you say more about that? Can you say more about that? Right? You people love being heard and listened to. When was the last time somebody actually really asked about your opinions and really just listened to you instead of trying to convince you of theirs? So good.

SPEAKER_01:

That's such a good point, right? They're human beings. Um, and I think for a lot of sales, a lot of salespeople have trouble being in those moments that can feel awkward, but you need that little bit of awkwardness there to handle the objection and get the truth out of your prospect, right? Um, and I noticed that because I I've trained salespeople for my organization and teaching them that it's okay to be quiet, it's okay to go through those little awkward moments of silence. Uh that's actually awesome. Yeah, that's gonna help you get to the the core issue of what uh their objection is and be able to handle it properly.

SPEAKER_00:

Um every word that comes out of your mouth is nothing more than an opportunity to mess it up. So be careful what you say. Listen more.

SPEAKER_01:

What uh what would be the like what would you think the top two or three things that you would want to start training the salesperson on are to absolutely crush it and be one of those guys that 5x's his income in a year?

SPEAKER_00:

So that's super easy. It's two things. Number one is teaching them how to sell payment plans. We don't even use the word financing, right? So if if if they won't accept my advice on that, they're doomed, right? Because my closing um our our how do you how do you say it? We have two different closes for payment plans, and they are deadly. Everybody that actually implements them, everybody I've seen implement them has increased their closing ratio by 20 full points, right? So a lot of people they want to do business with you, but they can't see how they can afford it because like 60% of America's America's got like less than$600 in their savings account. So they might want it, but they can't see how they can afford it. So they just eliminate themselves from the running, and it's embarrassing for them, right? So that's number one. But the most important thing is learning how to give people information, but in the form of a question. And this is this is this is probably the most impactful thing that I have ever done in business is teach people how to give information, but in the form of a question. And the in the way that you do it, here's the simple hack you just add a couple of different words to the beginning of whatever you're gonna say. Words like, did you know? And then go ahead and give them the information. Were you aware? And then go ahead and give them the information. When you do this, we bypass what I like to call the truth-false filter. So, Sean, when somebody tells you something or gives you a piece of information or trying to educate you, they have to go through this bullshit meter, right? You you've got this bullshit meter when you're being talked at, but when I say did you know, and then I give you a piece of information, I zoom right around that truth-false meter. Like, and you accept it as enlightenment as opposed to education. And we love uh uh discovering new things as human beings, and we don't really love being educated. If you if we did, we would stay in school. Um, but teaching people how to instead of instead of telling people something, turning it into a question keeps them from spacing out on me. I get to control what they're thinking the entire way through. So uh to to go even deeper into it, I would have to, you know, I'd have to spend 20, 30 minutes uh teaching this, but definitely the most impactful thing because when I when I ask these questions, instead of just giving them information, the clients end up coming to their own conclusion that something needs to be done about this situation. And if I can get the client to come to their own conclusion that they have a problem without me telling them that they have a problem, then just try to stop them from buying. It's almost impossible.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, I like that. The did you know, right? Like phrase it that way instead of just continuing to spew out information. Well, in the last bit you just said they're so important, and that's kind of a little bit, uh a little piece from um Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. He's like, if you can get the individual to come up, come to the conclusion on their own, right? It's so much more powerful because they take ownership of the decision versus being feel like it's forced upon them, you know. Um, and uh way you do that too is you ask questions and shut up. Something about speaking out loud. When people hear their own voice out loud and they're giving answers and they're talking, like for me, this is a big one because a lot of the discovery calls I do or my team members do, we're talking about personal stuff with people, stuff that they don't even tell their significant other about. And so when they hear their own voice out loud, and maybe it's accompanied with a little emotion that's been suppressed, something so powerful about that process that changes the way they look at the situation. You know, it makes it more real and tangible than this suppressed idea thought change they want to make. Now it's like, wow, this is a big deal. Like, I gotta change this versus it just being suppressed. Um, so the act of them speaking out loud, I think, is crucial. And you can only do that if you shut up, ask the right questions, and listen.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, if you listen, they will tell you exactly how to close them.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's a good point. I love that. Okay, uh, let's do one more because this is really good. Um, what's just one maybe we can call it like a nugget, or I don't know if you have any um unconventional teaching strategies when it comes to sales. What's something maybe you don't see talked about or taught in the industry often that you teach that maybe could set you apart or a little hack that you can provide for PA?

SPEAKER_00:

I I just thought of something and then it left me because I was thinking of something else. I I'm I've become famous for the indoor air quality and water treatment sides of the air conditioning and plumbing business. There's just nobody that does that like we do. But ask the question one more time because the first thing I want I want to try to get it to pop back up in my brain. Yeah. Um, oh Sam, what's something unconventional, maybe that you might teach. Okay, cool. So uh and it's gonna go, it's gonna go back into the indoor air quality water treatment side of it. Um, because we do this with a lot of our scripting or our pre-planned presentations. So, so important to have a pre-planned presentation when you're going into a call because if you have one, you don't have to think about what you're going to say next, and it gives you the ability to listen. But one of the things that we do differently than anybody else, and and I don't typically talk about this, we only do this really at our mansion events or our on-sites. It's the only place we teach it. We actually create pictures for different negative side effects of breathing in allergens. So, for instance, I've got like I think 25 different pictures that word pictures that we'll put up around the room. And those words sound like the negative side effect of breathing in these allergens. So, for instance, we'll put up a sign that says deep hole, and I'll ask them to imagine this deep dark hole that goes all the way back into infinity, and I'll see deep hole depression. Deep hole depression, and then I'll have a box of tissues, and there'll be a fan underneath it, and and it'll be shooting tissues up into the air. Like this is we're creating this in their mind, right? Tissues sneezing, right? On the on the wall, I've got a big nose that hangs off the wall, loss, loss of smell, right? So we do this for like 30 different negative side effects, and I can show somebody how to memorize 30 negative side effects in 20 minutes or less. 20 minutes or less. So now they're on the job site and they've got to recall all of the negative side effects of breathing this stuff in. All they do is transport themselves back to the training room and where all the words were. And uh it's a phenomenal, phenomenal technique that helps people to just crush it when it comes to indoor air quality or water treatment or even any of our other pre-planned presentations. Like we've got the way that we present the money, we create these different pictures for them in their van that helps them through the entire presentation. So each sentence or each paragraph starts with a different picture, and it helps them to not lose their place, it helps them to be calm and comfortable in front of the client. And it's not something that I see anybody else doing anywhere. It was it's a technique that was it was a technique invented by a guy named, I don't know if it's invented, but it was taught to us by a guy named Ron White. And it's not the tater salad guy, it's a different guy, he's a memory expert. And uh, he was at an HVAC convention, he met a bunch of people in a cocktail party when he went on stage. Uh, there's 2,000 people out in the audience. He said, I met 138 of you when I was in the cocktail party. All of you stand up. He got the microphone and went down and gave them each and every one of their names. That's impressive, man. It was crazy. That's impressive. Yeah, so we we learned those techniques from him, and it's something that it's like a superpower, man. Absolute superpower. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Speaking of that, how are you uh with remembering names? Because I'm sure you see and talk to a lot of people. Do you have any hacks like that that you apply to name name recall?

SPEAKER_00:

No, I tell you.

SPEAKER_01:

I might need to learn one of those, you know. I I try to do my best. If you make an association too, like um, I don't know, John, like yeah, you'd have to make an association with the person's name and and maybe where you saw them, where you met them, or something that stands out.

SPEAKER_00:

Um I meet so many people, man, that it to me it almost seems futile. And um, I don't know. It's I I'm also not afraid to ask somebody their name three or four times. And I have to, like at these events that I was at, if they're not wearing a damn name tag, my brain's going in so many different directions. I'm just gonna ask you your name again. And I'm gonna ask you to not get upset if I don't remember it for a while. I mean, it's it's not that big of a yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

If you're just honest, like, hey man, you know, I've been talking to a million people today, remind me your name again. Uh, but you know, if you can glance at their name tag and use their name back in a sentence to them, that really stands out to people. Uh, I think that's another little gem from uh how to win friends and influence people. He says, you know, Dale Carnegie goes, people's favorite word in the world is the hearing their own name spoken back to them. Yeah, because it makes them feel important, it makes them feel valued and appreciated. Uh, and a lot of training people, whether it's employees, team members, uh, I'm sure like other people's employees, is making the individual feel important, making them feel appreciated, making them feel capable. Like you got to breathe life and potential into people by the way you communicate to them. Because a lot of people just lack confidence, man. And if you have confidence in life, you will go after any and everything. You know, you won't let opportunities pass you by. And that's one of the coolest things about sales and what you're teaching, because that is one of the ways to really bolster someone's confidence. Like if you can teach them a skill set that can make them 5x the amount of money they were making previously, it changes the way they feel about themselves. That like that self-worth meter internally goes up, you know. And then if you can get them working out, eating right, reading books, you change that whole person's world, man.

SPEAKER_00:

They say that you must increase competence to increase confidence. Yeah. And I think it's exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, 100%, man.

SPEAKER_01:

100%. Well, this has been like very um insightful. I love I just kind of getting a glimpse of your teaching style and a little bit of what you do. Uh, it's awesome, man. I love the bit too about like for you, I know that it's it's deeper than money and uh social media posts. Like, you truly care about people. And it yeah, it is. And it gets me thinking, like, gosh, who do I know right now that could benefit from getting to learn from you? Whether it's a current client I have or just somebody I know in my community. Like, one of the things I'm really uh um a strong advocate for are the trades. You know, fast uh Rewind two and a half years ago, you know, all of a sudden all these business owners and individuals in the trade started reaching out for coaching. And that's when Unstoppable 365 came became predominantly for the trades. Now, like 90% of our clientele are blue-collar business owners or techs or, you know, but uh so I'm passionate about teaching young people how how advantageous it would be to go into a trade versus go to college and then learn like from a guy like you. And that's all young people want is opportunity, you know. They want opportunity to prove that they're capable, to develop that competence, to create a life that they're they're in love with, not one that they have to escape from. So who knows? Maybe down the road, man, figure out a way to get more and more people pushed to some of your courses, your seminars, and what you're doing. Because I I love it. I absolutely love it.

SPEAKER_00:

That'd be phenomenal, man. Absolutely phenomenal. We uh we love that 100%. Uh when when we when we can make a good difference in somebody else's life, man, that's better than any amount of money that we could be paid. And you know, I I made this huge sale uh years ago in 2007. It was like the largest residential HVAC sale in the country. It was for like$123,651.28. I I can't believe I'll I don't think I'll ever forget the number. Um, but the first time that I helped another guy sell like a$4,000 product and he made like$700 and he'd never made that much in a week, that was better than any sale I've ever made in my entire life. The joy that you get from showing somebody else how to do something and knowing that it will forever change their life and that that was never going to happen unless you intervened. There's just no better feeling in the world. Yeah. And so I thank you for what you're doing for the trades for all of us to help us keep our bodies in you know good physical condition, keep our energy up, look better, feel better. What is what does Dion say when you you look good, you feel good, when you feel good, you play good, when you play good, they pay good.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's true, man. Like when you feel better, you perform better. And that's both professionally and then at home with your family. And like the goal is that you create more positive thoughts, more energy, more mental bandwidth, you sleep better, you just feel like a machine. Because then you go into every day with gratitude and you're excited about what you're doing. A lot of people get burnt out, and it's just because they're not taking care of themselves. So I love the fact that you know, now we have Dr. J as a part of Unstoppable 365. He could do blood work supplementation. I have a team of amazing coaches and people that help hold guys like you accountable and give you the roadmap and blueprint to follow. Uh, so we're just getting started, man. You know, our goal is to continue to grow and reach more and more people because uh men and women alike, they need their health. They want to be optimized, they want to be dialed in and we can help them. So um, yeah, down the road, man.

SPEAKER_00:

Make sure we get you on, make sure we get you on my podcast so we can get you out to my audience, man. There's so many of them that need help and they're already asking questions. When people start to see you transform, they're like, Dog, what you doing? Right. So I'm looking forward to bringing some more people over into your tribe.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, I appreciate the support, man. I love seeing you continue to grow and make the impact you are. Uh, so let's let's do it, man. We'll set it up. And until then, thank you for your time. I appreciate all the value you provided, and we'll chat soon.

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Sean Michael Crane

Host