REAL Mowing Sales Call Review

Sales is the number one most highest leverage task that you have in your business. Failing to do it properly and to sell with authority and confidence can crush your spring marketing tactics and approach. In this video, we're gonna be going down and breaking down a game tape from a real life call from one of my awesome buddies, Caleb, who asked me to review exactly what he's saying at every section in the conversation when he's selling a customer over the phone for weed control or mowing services. Now, I haven't listened to this call recording, so you and I are gonna listen to it for the first time here all the way through, and I'm just gonna give you my feedback on what I would say at the right time with the right tone to maximize your conversion so you can learn from this real-life game tape example and close more sales for your department and business. Let's jump into it.

Hello?

Is this Christy?

Yes, this is Christy.

Hey Christy, this is Caleb with Cruise Lawn Care. How are you?

I'm well, how about yourself?

Hey, I'm doing just fine. I was wanting to call you. I know, I think you filled out a little form on Facebook and I think you're looking for a quote for the weed control, is that right?

Yes, yes.

Yeah, that's why I was calling you. I can actually get you a quote here on the phone.

Sure.

Everything you're looking for. And was that all you were looking to get done, was just the weed control?

Oh no, I think that's what the only thing that they advertise. Are you doing something else?

So we also offer like mowing services and also flower bed maintenance.

Uh, what maintenance?

Uh, flower bed maintenance.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, so like weed pulling, mulching, shrub trimming, stuff like that.

Okay, to start, one of the biggest things that I really like that Caleb is doing here is when he called, he He's asking her questions for her to get to say yes more. So one of the tactics we use in sales is the more times you can get the customer to say yes, the more likely they are to convert at the end when you actually ask for the sale. So the first thing he did was, hey, you filled out a submission form that I basically have in front of my eyes with your information, right? Like he is already asking questions that she's going to say yes to. You know, hey, you filled this out for the weed control service, correct? She's going to say yes. Right. And so I really liked that opening it up with those questions.

Okay.

Are those anything you also want to quote on too?

You can give me a quote on it, but I was really wanting about the weed service, but I didn't really. So I had my yard looking really good at one time that I was doing it myself. I didn't want to do a commitment. I know you said something about every 6 weeks or something, I think on the commercial.

Okay.

But I was trying to get a real good treatment that I could just start back up keeping myself, to be honest with you.

Okay, so you're just like, it's like a one-time deal?

Yes. Okay, but I will, uh, but I do want to know what the program is too because it may be beneficial to me. But right now, um, I'm in real estate and so I'm waiting on, uh, I gotta wait on my buyers and then my— this property to sell that I got, so I didn't want to do too much of a commitment because, you know, as a real estate agent, um, yeah, fair enough.

Now the only thing is we don't do one-time treatments, and that's only because just one treatment usually doesn't cut it. It can take a couple treatments to see really good results. Uh, so we wouldn't want to sign you up for a one-time deal and then you don't get the results you're looking for. Um, we don't— then you just wouldn't be happy with it.

Sure.

Yeah, so this is— so this is really good so far. So what Caleb's doing is setting boundaries. And so oftentimes what happens is we get caught up in the sales process. We try to like overpitch ourselves to try to close the deal. But instead what he's doing is he's almost like reverse psychology-ing this. I don't even know if that's a word. Basically say, hey, look, if you're looking for a one-time cut, like we're probably not the best fit. It's not going to get the results you want. So I'm not even going to try to sell you on just one-time services or one-time treatment because I don't want to waste your time. I don't want my time wasted either. That's basically kind of like what he's saying. Subconsciously in this. Number one, the customer will appreciate you being honest and not trying to be that salesperson that just tries to collect any money they get, right? Like, we want to make sure we're helping people to the highest level. So he's doing a really good job so far.

Are those anything you're also wanting to quote on too?

I didn't want to do too much of a commitment because, you know, as a real—

yeah, that's, that's why we, we have it ongoing.

Um, yeah, so you can just give me the, um, price, you know, I'm gonna see what I can, uh, You know, if I can even afford it.

Yeah, of course. No worries. That's what I'm here for. And, um, and have you— has someone been doing it on that property, or has that been you?

Yeah, I have. Yeah, I've been only— I did have TruGreen, but TruGreen, it took too long to see progress because when I was doing it myself, I saw progress like quickly.

Oh yeah, nope, I've heard the tales. True. Okay. Well, tell you what, I just need to measure your property real quick. I can actually get you a quote on the phone. Have you worked with us before, by the way?

No. Okay.

Okay. That's fine.

So one of the tactics that I would say to switch up that question, because now she just said no, right? Like, we don't want her to say no. So, um, this is also what I train my in-house, like, office, uh, team is like, when you're asking these questions, you want to make sure that the answer is yes. So don't say, hey, is this like, have you worked with us before? 95% of clients that are calling in the spring have never worked with us before. That's why they're calling us, is because we need to— they need a new professional, reliable lawn care company to sign up. So instead, what I would say is, hey, so, um, is this your first— this is your first time reaching out to us, right? Because I already know 95% of them are going to be the first time reaching out. So, hey, this is the first time you're reaching out to us, right, to get a quote? She's going to say yes. We got to get her to say yes more.

So with the property needing just the weed control, or I know I brought up like flowerbed stuff, like, is it— is that something to be cleaned up too?

I don't know. I think my flowerbed just needs more mulch. I think it's okay for the most part.

Yeah. Yeah. We can always do something like that in the future if you're looking for that.

I like the idea of saying, hey, this is what's on this shelf that you're wanting to buy. I also have this stuff over here, which is mulch and property cleanups and landscape that you can also buy as well. I don't like where it's positioned in the conversation. I would prefer that to be at the end. The goal today right now is to get this customer signed up for ideally recurring services. I will tell you, anybody that's trying to build a location in a department and a business, recurring revenue is far more valuable than any one-time service. So anytime I'm taking inbound or outbound calls and they want quotes for multiple things, what I like to do is take that one-time landscape property cleanup and shift it to the side and say, hey, I won't be able to get you an exact estimate over the phone right now because we need to have our drive-by estimator kind of swing by and get the, get the numbers for you. But instead, what I can do is I can get your pricing and we can hopefully start to get those weeds taken care of today and get you on the schedule. And so let's start with that. And then I'm asking those questions related to just that service and then trying to close and make that sale before going into the next property cleanup service or mold installation service.

Okay, cool.

I've got your property pulled up and I'm assuming otherwise it's kind of just a distraction from getting her an estimate and then trying to close her on the phone, right? Like, I've done this time and time again. You start throwing too many prices at too many services at them at once. 99% of the time they're not going to book. It's just gonna be too expensive. A $400 cleanup and then an $80 treatment every 6 weeks and then a mow service, like, it's just a lot. So let's silo the recurring work. Let's focus on that first. Let's try to get her to sign up for that, and then we're going to move into the mulch cleanup at the end.

You want the front and the back done?

Yeah.

Um, love that question. Love that question. I use this every single time I'm booking a customer.

Why?

Again, we're asking open-ended questions for them to say yes. Most people want their lawn mowed or weeds treated in the and the backyard. And so I say, Mrs. Jones, so are you wanting this weed treatment service for the front and the backyard? So great job, Caleb, you're doing an awesome job.

But do y'all do just the front?

We can, yeah.

Yeah. Can you just give me a quote on just doing the front and then what it is doing the back as well? I have a dog and he just makes a mess back there.

What does he do? He just like digs up holes and stuff.

I love this that she's asking for both because now it's not a here's the price, yes or no. It's a here are the two prices. Do you want the front, just the front, or the front and the back? And it's not a yes or no question. So this is great. She's kind of teeing herself up to get closed well on the phone. Also, any kind of questions that deter you from closing the sale, I would try to kind of cut out.

Digging holes, chewing up everything. Oh yeah, he's a, he's a 12-month-old Catalu— Catalu— Catalu— I can't pronounce.

The reason why I say that also, Caleb, is like, we're not selling cars, right? We're not selling homes.

We're not—

we don't really have to build this immense rapport with the customer. We need to position ourselves as the professionals and the authority in the space, which you're already doing. So to kind of go off rail and like talk about other things outside of us getting closer to the end of the sale is really kind of just a distraction in the process and just, it just kind of prolongs things.

Yeah, it's a Louisiana dog though.

Yeah, it's a dog that likes to dig holes. That's all you need to know. That's fine. I'll just encourage you for the front, um, separately. So Got it. Just bear with me one second while I finish this up.

While this is happening right now, Caleb, what I would recommend is like, it's— there's this awkward thing, right? Like either A, I'm okay with you kind of getting distracted and talking about random things if you don't have anything else to say. But what I like to do is like right now you're mapping out the property, I'm assuming, and plus you have to do it twice because it's like the front and the backyard. I'll just say, hey, you know, did you just move into the area? Or, you know, what brought you here Texas, just to kind of ask some open-ended questions to get her to talk if you need to buy time. A more intentional and better approach is like while you're mapping out the property, you just go over the services with her while you have to map it out anyway, instead of waiting until you get the price. I would just say, hey, like while I'm mapping out this property, because I do this 1,000 times, I already know what I need to do, where I need to click, you know, hey, I can go over how the services work and what the frequency is of each service. So let's, you know, start off with the weed treatment service. What this includes, we professional spray for weeds in every visit, and then kind of start to go down that spiel, like what is all included before I give them the price?

Included in our fertilizer and weed control program, you're going to get your weed control, your fertilizer, weed preventers, and winterizer. It's going to make your lawn green, healthy, and weed-free. And the pricing per treatment is for just the front $85.

And then—

all right, so quick tip here: I would always throw the big price out first so that way you anchor her at the high price. And then you say, hey, the full property— I don't know what it is because I haven't listened to the thing— is $129, right? That's what it's going to be for the, for the full property. If you just want— and she's gonna be like, wow, that's a lot of, a lot of money, right? Hey, cool, no worries. If you want just the front, it's going to be $89.95, or whatever you said. right? So I would always anchor her to the, to the larger one first and then go with the cheaper one.

Yes.

And treatments are done every 6 weeks.

So that's $86 every, every 5, 8, every 6 weeks.

Yes. And then if you want to do the front and the back, it's $99 per treatment every 6 weeks.

Okay. So when they ask that question of like, hey, is that every 6 weeks? In their mind, they're trying to like be like, hey, is this like, is this gonna give me good value? Right? So anytime they ask me that question, I always try to give them just a little bit more information. Yes, ma'am, that is going to be every 6 weeks. And every time we're there, we're going to do 2 things on every single stop. We're going to visibly spray all of the weeds that we see, and then we're either going to do a pre-emergent if we're in the pre-emergent window, or we're going to do a fertilizer. So every visit for that price, we're going to do not 2 things out with 1 stop to bring you the most value. Right? And so again, I'm readjusting it to more value.

Oh, okay. I might as well do the, uh, front and the back.

Yeah, because it's only an extra like $14 just to do both, right? And the cool thing is, if you sign up today, I'll actually give you your first treatment half off because today is the last day of our promotion. Um, and it looks like your first day on our route is next Wednesday. Do you want to go ahead and just get that started?

Well, like, I'm waiting on this house that I got to sell, but if you could remember me and honor this, I would—

All right, so this is great. So where most people get hung up is they give them the price and then they stop talking. Please, guys, don't do that. Give them the price and then tell them when you can solve their problem. Tell them what's included. Otherwise, if you give them the price first, they're just going to turn their brain off. Hey, this is what it includes: professional weed spraying, commercial-grade fertilizers to make the grass green, and then pre-emergent to help block new weeds from sprouting. I am summing up what it includes in like 4 words for somebody that has no idea what treatments are used for or what they do. Then I'm going to say it's $89.95 or whatever the price is. And then without stopping, I'm going to say, and then as far as the frequency, we're going to go 6 weeks and we can get you in on Wednesday this upcoming week to get those weeds treated. Oh, and by the way, I really like how Caleb dropped in there a sense of urgency and scarcity for the 50% promo he's got going off for the first week. What I would also do, Caleb, it has— I would follow that up when you say, hey, by the way, Mrs. Jones, you called on the right day today because we are running a special promotion today to where if you signed up, we would get you 50% off your first week treatment. And the best part about that is there's no contracts or cancellation fees. You can cancel at any time. What that's doing is you're giving them a back door to leave. It holds us accountable to 5-star services every visit, every day, every service. All the 580 clients we have, there's no contracts. We don't want to lock you into anything, and we want our quality to retain our customers.

Great, appreciate it.

Well, that's the thing, the promo ends today. Like, you're actually on like literally the last day.

Um, that's why today, but okay. Oh, maybe you'll have another one when I'm ready.

Well, our next promo— our next promo we're running starts next week and it's for mowing. We're gonna go away from it. Yeah, that half off the first treatment for this service is gonna go away, but we will have a promo for the first mow starting next week.

Okay, so 50— so it'll be 50 today for the front and back to get started.

Yeah, but you wouldn't pay until after it's actually done. That's a good thing.

Oh, okay. Yeah, and then 6 weeks later. Okay, um, oh, I got a check coming in.

Yeah, like I said, I have a spot open.

Yeah, sign me, uh, sign me up because I should have—

one of the things that I like when she was kind of contemplating that, Caleb, you stepped in Again, you're reassuring her. When can we solve the problem? Like, you called me because you have weeds and issues with your yard. I can solve it on Wednesday. I know you said it earlier, but again, she's kind of on the fence. She doesn't know what she wants to— hey, like I said, I can get you in on Wednesday. We can get this taken care of for you. We can check this off your to-do list so you don't have to continue to stress out about it. Let the professionals take over. Professionals. Let the professionals take over.

I have a lease closing um, next week? Yeah, go ahead and sign me up. $50 for the front and the back?

Yes, for the just the first one. Then going forward, front and back is $99 per treatment.

Okay, every 6 weeks?

Every 6 weeks, yeah. And it, it should be on the same day.

Uh, what is there— what is your, um— so how soon should I be seeing results?

Yeah, I, I usually see you start to see some results.

All right, little quick tip, coach here, Caleb. So the minute they say yes, sign me up, they're bought in. They have committed verbally. They say I'm ready to go, sign me up, put me on schedule. The last thing we want to do is keep talking about anything else except getting the card on file and getting her on the schedule. Okay, we'll talk about all those other things about how soon to see results and how, you know, the notification of when will be there later once we secure the card on file. Her committing to the sale is step 1. Getting the card on file and actually putting her on the schedule is part 2. So now that she has verbally committed, the words that I like to use to the customer are, great, Mrs. Jones, I can go ahead and get you taken care of. Let me go ahead and save this so that way I can secure your spot. I'm saving the estimate and then I'm securing her spot so that way we can get that 50% promo going for you that we got going on today on this last day special and get those weeds treated for you. Now, Mrs. Jones, really the only thing that we would need to to get you on the schedule would be a good card on file. Did you want to use a Visa or MasterCard? Those are the words that convert. A lot of people stumble here. They say, cool, okay, do you have your card? We need your card. You need to prep them properly. Hey, Mrs. Jones, all we need is a good card on file. Do you want to use Visa or MasterCard? Literally in those words. Don't just say, hey, I need— we need your card information to get you set up, because now it's a yes or no. Well, do I have to give you my card? What if I don't want to give you my card? It's, I'm going to assume you're going to follow protocol because we require a card on file for all of our customers. So which one do you want to use? This isn't a yes or no question. This is a Visa or MasterCard. Oh, by the way, we also do Discover. Which one do you want to use? Right. So we're taking away the yes or no question to we're going to assume the sale, we're going to assume you're going to sign up. Which of these 3 options or 2 options are you going to select? And then once we get her secured or card on file, then we can talk about how soon she'll start to see results, when we're going to notify, when we're coming out, etc. In the first week or two.

Or the next week. Now you'll see weeds die, you'll see the grass green up a bit. Just know it can take time though to see like awesome results. That's what you're looking for. You want an awesome lawn. You want it to be green, healthy, weed-free. So it could take a couple treatments to see what I'm talking about there.

Okay. Okay.

Now, Christy, quick question. Do you— I know you said you have the dog. Do you also lock your gates?

No, my gate's not locked.

Yeah. So again, at this point in the sale, we don't even have the card on file. I've had customers flake out on me last minute where they don't give me the card or they— the minute I propose, hey, we got to put a card on file, they're like, yeah, I don't do that. So you taking the time right now, Caleb, or anybody else that's watching to figure out if they have locks on their gates or if they have dogs and telling them to stay off until it's like— none of that matters until we get the card on file and then we'll go into those Let's go.

And the only thing I'll need to get you scheduled is just a card on file. Like I said, we don't charge until we're actually done, and I can add that here on the phone for you.

Oh, okay. Give me a second.

Yeah, no worries.

Yeah. So same thing. Just follow— like, that's good. But say, did you want to use a Visa or MasterCard? Right? Like, we got to act like we've done this 1,000 times. We already know what the process is, right? This is a little bit kind of a grind— grinding. Section, so we got to make it as smooth as possible. Hey, really, the only thing we need to go is, is get you, get you on the schedule officially would be a good card on file. We're going to use a Visa, Discover, MasterCard. Which one did you want to use today?

If you're ready, I'll just start with the card number.

Yeah, sure. Give me a second. I'll get it.

No worries.

Take your time. 6 weeks.

Every 6 weeks on Wednesday. So unless we change it, which we'll obviously, we'll tell you if we do, that's what it'll be. All right, I'll get this added to your account. And what I'll do now is I'm going to send over a couple messages. So one's going to be your welcome email with your details and expectations of services. Also, I'm going to send a guide about our weed treatment service to help you make sure your lawn looks awesome, like what you're looking for. Um, and then you're also going to get a text with access to your client portal so you can see like your payments, visits, and also update your card at any time.

Okay, I'll ask a quick question.

I love this, Caleb. You're doing a fantastic job. You just closed the sale, you just got the card on file, and where most people fall short is the next steps. And you are delivering at a high level. The second you get that on file, you're telling her what the next steps are. What should she expect when she gets off the phone here? Is she gonna feel remorse of— which I don't know if that's the right word— of like, oh my goodness, I just made this buying decision? Was this the right decision? Or is she going to get off the phone with you and feel, wow, Spruce Lawn Care took care of us. They're gonna get us all cleaned up. I feel confident in their ability and the right questions they were asking over the phone. They told me what the next steps are going to be. These guys have done this a thousand times. Is that what she's going to think? And clearly she is, because you are telling her she's going to get a welcome email, you're going to get a watering instruction email, what to expect. Here's, here's going to be the client portal. You can go in and see Right. Amazing. Good stuff.

Yeah.

Do you have like, uh, so my guy that, uh, does, does that, treats my pests, he has his stuff kind of like on a water hose and he squirts that. Is your system kind of similar to that?

Uh, it's not. So what, what it is, is it's like they use a push spreader to put those little pellets out. Okay, and that's going to be for your weed preventer right now and fertilizer later in the season. And then they come by with a—

water it, right?

Yeah, so then I was going to say that, so you do need to water the next morning or just at least a day after, um, to help activate it better. Okay, but they, they will also come in with weed control and they're going to spray that on top of the weeds. Okay, they actually— they'll start dying.

Okay.

Um, now, yeah, the way that I would have maybe responded on that, again, to again position ourselves as the authority and the professionals, Caleb, is, hey, you know, that stuff that you attach to your hose, you know, that's, that's stuff you get from Home Depot, Lowe's, that kind of residential stuff. So where we're different is we carry a professional applicator's license where we take a test, we learn how what what products kill what certain, certain weeds. And so we have to pass multiple exams. And so we are licensed. We carry that license for the commercial grade products we use. I like, I like using those words a lot. Commercial grade. We're going to come out, we're going to put commercial grade fertilizers down. We're going to, we're going to spray from our backpacks commercial weed control and really make sure we're targeting those weeds to bring you the best looking lawn on the block. Those are kind of the words that I would like to— again, because she just gave you her card.

Right?

And she's— again, you don't want her to get off the phone and be like, oh man, did I make the right decision? You want her to get off the phone and be like, wow, that was the best call decision I made all week calling this company. They're going to get me taken care of.

We do ask for at least the 24-hour notice for any cancellations, rescheduling, or skip visits, uh, to avoid full charge. And also, I just want to ask, make sure to keep any pets, children, anybody inside until the next day.

The treatment.

Okay.

Okay.

Just, just not on the lawn.

So by law, the product states that the weed control— all the products that we use down here in Texas, your program is probably similar to us— you just have to wait until it dries. They don't have to wait 24 hours because sometimes that's an inconvenience for people. As long as the dog is not eating grass or weeds, which would technically be considered agriculture at that point, I just say, hey, look, As long as all of the products we use are pet and human friendly, you just have to wait until it dries before going back out onto the lawn. Our applicators will put one single yard sign in the backyard with a timestamp down to the exact minute when they completed that treatment. Once you see that on a normal summer day, typically it's about an hour until it dries, and then you can go back out safely, out back onto the lawn.

And again, just remember to water it in the next day. I recommend between 3 and 6 AM is the best.

Yeah, so the watering thing is good. Technically speaking, they don't necessarily have to water it in the next day. Uh, natural rainfall within the next— maybe honestly within the next week should be good. But most people have an irrigation system, so spring and summer they should be watering 2 times a week. Sometimes it again is an inconvenience for customers if they— if their watering schedule's on Monday and Saturday and you treat it on Wednesday, then you tell them, hey, you gotta, you gotta water it in on Thursday morning. Some won't do that or want to do that, right? So hey, as long as it gets watered in within the first probably 72 hours max, like a week, it'll start to like produce the results, right? It doesn't activate until it gets watered in. So ideally, the quicker it gets watered in, the better, but it doesn't necessarily have to get watered in the next morning.

If it's like high, you don't want to do it during the hottest part of the day.

Good stuff on the watering times. Yeah.

Um, cool. I'll get that scheduled for next Wednesday. Uh, any questions before I got that scheduled?

No.

Cool, man. Dude, very good job. Yeah, really kind of close this out. What it would look like is like, hey, well, thank you so much, Mr. Jones, for calling Military Lawn Cuts, your 5-star lawn service. We're gonna go ahead and get your lawn looking fantastic this summer. One of the tactics that I like to use and pitch to customers is I say, hey, especially if they're kind of on the fence where you kind of feel like they're a little still uneasy, I say, hey, Mrs. Jones, why don't you do me a favor? When we get off the phone today, why don't you walk out to your backyard, you take your cell phone out, you take a screenshot picture of your yard condition right now. And I promise you, in 3 to 6 months, go out there, stand in the same spot with the same angle, take a screenshot of your yard, and you will see significant improvements 6 months from now after multiple treatments. Less weeds, darker green lawn. That's our goal. That's what we deliver. That's what we're good at, right? So thank you so much for choosing Military Lawn Cuts today. We look forward to getting your lawn looking in tip-top shape this summer. And that's kind of how I get off the phone to again reassure them that they made the right call and sign up today. Thanks for the audio, Caleb. Thanks for being vulnerable and allowing us to use that. Hopefully this helped people. We're probably gonna use this maybe as some sales training in-house. So appreciate the content, my friend. Keep crushing it. Sales is the number one thing. I've done thousands of these calls, thousands. And I will tell you, there are certain keywords and certain timing on when you should say things at certain times and when you should not say things and go off the page beaten path. There is a methodical process. Volume matters. The more you do it, the better you'll get, and the more you'll close the sale. At the end of the day, achieve your goals. Sales is one of those amazing skill sets you have to cultivate every single day, get better. Thank you so much, Caleb. Thank you guys for watching. If you found value, hit the like button, leave me a question in the comments below, subscribe to the channel if you want to get to $500,000 in annual revenue.