Aaron Harshaw Archives - The Contractor Fight®

[9/11/26] AGOGE Sales Training

Greg DeSilva stole the show with a standout live Shin-Fu roleplay, earning his Black Belt and the first-ever Golden Ticket for his skill, consistency, and commitment to helping others improve.

Webinar Summary

This AGOGE focused on strengthening the sales process through better tracking, relationship-building, personalized proposal delivery, and consistent Shin-Fu roleplay. The coaches challenged members to look beyond price when they lose jobs and instead evaluate how they’re communicating, presenting proposals, and building trust. The call also featured a live Shin-Fu roleplay with Greg DeSilva, who was awarded Black Belt status with the first-ever “Golden Ticket.”

Key Takeaways

Track your wins and losses to identify what is actually affecting your close rate.
Don’t assume price is the reason you’re losing larger projects.
Avoid simply emailing estimates—use in-person meetings, Zoom, or personalized proposal videos when possible.
Focus on building relationships instead of becoming another contractor who simply sends a quote.
Reconnect with past customers and existing relationships as a source of new opportunities.
Shin-Fu should feel like a genuine conversation, not a memorized script.
Consistent roleplay builds confidence, listening skills, tonality, and stronger questioning.
Greg DeSilva earned his Black Belt, recognizing both his Shin-Fu skills and his commitment to helping other members improve.

[8/28/26] AGOGE Sales Training

Mat Tolman earned his Black Belt through a live Shin-Fu roleplay, followed by Derek taking the group behind the curtain on a real sales call to show what calm, confident, well-trained selling actually sounds like.

Webinar Summary

This week’s Agoge was all about what happens when repetition turns the sales process into instinct. Mat Tolman successfully completed his Black Belt test by staying calm, following the process, and controlling the conversation, then Derek jumped on a real prospect call live and demonstrated how to meet the customer where they are without overcomplicating or overselling the conversation. The biggest lesson: great sales isn’t about having the perfect script; it’s about listening, communicating, and trusting your training.

Key Takeaways

Mat Tolman officially passed his Black Belt test after sticking with it through multiple attempts.
Follow the Shin-Fu process and stay steady; you don’t need to be overly charismatic or “salesy” to control a call.
Get comfortable discussing money early, setting realistic investment ranges, and confirming the customer is prepared to move forward.
Don’t confuse silence with listening. Listen for the problems, acknowledge what you hear, and know when to dig deeper.
Roleplay builds the muscle memory that allows you to stay calm and confident when the real conversation gets difficult.
Meet the customer where they are. Not every prospect needs every question or a complicated sales process.
Don’t sell past the yes. Once the customer is ready to move forward, confidently establish the next step and keep things moving.
Derek’s bonus live call showed the process in action: identify the problem, connect with what matters to the customer, establish price, confirm the next step, and get them off the street.

[8/21/26] AGOGE Sales Training

This Agoge Sales Training Call focused on mastering tactical empathy to address underlying client objections, alongside an emphasis on tracking key financial metrics to guide strategic business decisions.

Webinar Summary

Coaches Tom Reber, Aaron Harshaw, and Micah Miller guided contractors through applying tactical empathy by listening for emotional motives, adjusting tonality, and anchoring closes around a client’s specific pain or pleasure. Micah Miller highlighted how tracking accurate P&L data allowed him to intentionally downsize his company’s revenue footprint while keeping total profit flat. Attendees then entered breakout rooms to roleplay high-empathy sales scenarios, practicing how to take charge of on-site meetings and build muscle memory for stating higher price points without hesitation.

Key Takeaways

Master Tactical Empathy: Actively listen for underlying emotions, fears, and core motivations rather than just gathering job specs or facts.
Reframe Price Objections: Address price hesitation as an indicator of uncertainty or fear of making an expensive mistake, helping the client focus on confidence and permanent solutions.
Core Sales Techniques: Apply labeling, mirroring, tone control, and strategic silence (STFU) to let prospective clients process deeper emotional concerns.
Contract Around Pain or Pleasure: Connect the final dollar quote directly to resolving a key emotional pain point or achieving a desired family benefit.
Track Financial Data: Maintaining accurate weekly P&Ls and understanding daily break-even numbers provides the clarity necessary to make profitable business pivots.
Build High-Dollar Muscle Memory: Roleplay using quotes two to three times higher than typical jobs to eliminate hesitation when delivering large numbers in real sales calls.
Drive the On-Site Meeting Agenda: Pause at the start of on-site visits to recap previously discussed motives and budgets, set the meeting structure, and commit to presenting quotes in person.

[8/14/26] AGOGE Sales Training

In this AGOGE call, Tom guided members through celebrating recent sales wins, evaluating local Total Addressable Market (TAM) potential, and engaging in belt-specific breakout sessions focused on sales communication, strategic silence, and defining key business priorities.

Webinar Summary

The training opened with contractors sharing recent victories. Tom spoke about calculating Total Addressable Market (TAM), illustrating the vast revenue opportunities available across local service areas. Members then broke out into groups based on belt levels, where lower belts practiced sales roleplaying while higher belts examined business capability, personal discipline, and quarterly focus. The session concluded with participants sharing key takeaways, emphasizing conversational discipline, the effective use of silence (“Shut The Fuck Up”), and maintaining focus on a single primary business “fight”.

Key Takeaways

Celebrating Recent Sales Wins: Coach Aaron shared a high point of closing $280,000 in project sales in a single week, while another contractor highlighted receiving a lead through an AI search recommendation.
Evaluating Total Addressable Market (TAM): Tom demonstrated how contractors can prompt AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude to determine their service area’s TAM, reminding members that market saturation is rarely the reason for sluggish growth.
Upcoming Member-Only Event Survey: Tom posted a survey regarding a potential November event, explaining that future member-only gatherings must make sound financial sense and have committed attendance.
Targeted Belt Breakout Rooms: The meeting divided into three breakout sessions—Emilio Ramos led White/Green belts, Coach Aaron worked with Blue/Purple belts, and Tom coached Brown/Black belts.
Mastering Communication & STFU: Breakout groups practiced sales communication and highlighted the importance of the “Shut The F*** Up” (STFU) rule, allowing silence after presenting price ranges so the client can respond first.
Identifying the Quarterly “Fight”: Tom challenged advanced contractors to identify the single area of their business lagging behind—such as lead generation, cash management, or time tracking—and commit to 90 days of focused progress.
Focusing on the Growth Journey: High-belt members reflected that earning advanced ranks represents personal transformation, better communication, and operational capability rather than just accumulating roleplay points.

[8/12/26] The Fight Way SALES: Your Price Isn’t Too High, Their Certainty Is Too Low

Coach Aaron argues that when clients claim a price is too high, contractors should avoid discounting or defending their rates and instead focus on uncovering and resolving the client’s underlying uncertainties and fears.

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Time Audit & Delegation Matrix Worksheet

The Deep Dive

Coach Aaron shares his journey from 25 years in full-time vocational ministry to running a successful renovation business, framing himself as proof that effective sales skills can be learned through dedicated effort. He contends that price pushback is rarely about the dollar amount itself, but rather a symptom of unvoiced client anxiety surrounding project execution, safety, and contractor reliability. Citing a study of homeowners, he highlights that reputation and experience are valued above price, demonstrating that clients are ultimately purchasing clarity and risk reduction. Rather than talking over clients or defending overhead costs, contractors must slow down conversations, practice quiet listening, and ask probing questions to address unresolved doubts. Through audience Q&A, Aaron illustrates how process transparency, retainer framing, and client references can turn uncertain prospects into confident partners.

Key Takeaways

The Core Premise: Price pushbacks usually signal that a client’s certainty is too low, not that the contractor’s price is objectively too high.
Avoid Defensiveness: Contractors should never run to a calculator, justify overhead, or offer high-pressure discounts when encountering price objections.
Clients Buy Risk Reduction: Homeowners are purchasing safety, clarity, and peace of mind rather than just a physical renovation product.
Reputation Outweighs Price: A cited 2025 survey of 1,000 homeowners revealed that reputation (25%) and experience (23%) ranked higher than price (19%) when selecting a contractor.
Slow Down the Conversation: Building certainty requires slowing the pace, using structured questions (such as Sinn Fu dialogue methods), and listening carefully to uncover the client’s unvoiced fears.
Make the Invisible Visible: Clearly articulating every step of the customer journey—such as temporary setup, material verification, and communication schedules—builds prospect confidence.
Use “Retainer” Terminology: Framing upfront costs as a “retainer” or a “pre-construction agreement” rather than a “fee” shifts the client mindset toward professional investment and partnership.
Address Quote Comparisons: When clients want to shop around, contractors should ask what specific details the client hopes to learn or who they would choose if all bid prices were identical.

[8/7/26] AGOGE Sales Training

This AGOGE sales training session covered the tree of life topic ‘Selling Past Yes’ and Taylor Payne went up against Tim Cutroni for his Shin-Fu blackbelt pre-test.

Webinar Summary

The session opened with an emphasis on consistent KPI tracking, demonstrating through real-world job-costing examples how tracking man-hours and equipment expenses prevents severe profit erosion. Coach Aaron then taught the negative Tree of Life topic “selling past yes,” illustrating through a live roleplay how trying to upsell additional services after closing a deal deflates buyer excitement and breaches client trust. Next, Taylor Payne entered the hot seat for his Black Belt pre-test opposite Tim Cutroni, who played an investor looking to complete an unfinished 65,000-square-foot commercial building. Taylor effectively established timeline goals, partner involvement, a $200–$250 per square foot budget range, and a $15,000 design retainer. However, when Tim delivered the final objection asking why he should hire him, Taylor froze, mishandled the reversal, and lost his closing momentum, leading Tim to withhold a passing grade until Taylor sharpens his elevator pitch and closing authority.

KPI Accountability & Margins: Members logged weekly leads and revenue while coaches shared margin stories—including a job that slipped under a 50% target by just $176 due to unclocked hours—to prove why daily tracking is essential.
Tree of Life (Selling Past Yes): Coach Aaron demonstrated how attempting to push extra projects immediately after securing a deposit damages client rapport and reopens closed deals.
Commercial Pre-Test Scenario: Taylor Payne roleplayed as a commercial drywall and metal stud framing contractor evaluating a 65,000-square-foot abandoned commercial buildout.
Qualifying Execution: Taylor successfully executed the core ShinFu steps, qualifying a target completion date of June, identifying three non-present decision partners, and setting a $200–$250/sq. ft. budget benchmark.
Design Retainer Set: Taylor established a $15,000 design retainer fee to initiate architectural plans and project scope documentation.
Closing Stumble: When Tim asked “Why should I hire you?”, Taylor faltered on his reversal, hesitated, and allowed the buyer to take back control of the conversation.
Coach Critique: Coaches Derek and Aaron praised Taylor’s smooth 90/10 listening ratio throughout the call, but criticized his scope summary for lacking emotional connection and clear closing confidence.
Pre-Test Result: Tim withheld a passing grade to ensure Taylor builds absolute confidence under pressure, requiring Taylor to practice his elevator pitch and gather yeses from black belts before re-testing.