[8/21/26] AGOGE Sales Training

[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

[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.

[5/21/26] Open Coaching w/ Tom: $750k+ in Revenue

[5/21/26] Open Coaching w/ Tom: $750k+ in Revenue

A coaching session focused on strategic business growth, confident leadership, hiring and recruiting systems, and making disciplined decisions that prioritize long-term profitability and operational stability over rapid expansion alone.

Webinar Summary

This open coaching session focused on business growth, leadership, hiring decisions, operational challenges, and strategic expansion opportunities within contracting businesses. A major portion of the discussion centered around Josh’s detailed 32-page business plan aimed at scaling his company from $567,000 to $1 million in annual revenue. The plan included hiring Michael as a key team member with a $65,000 base salary plus performance incentives, increasing marketing investment, and pursuing larger projects to accelerate growth. Tom coached Josh on how to confidently present the opportunity to Michael, emphasizing leadership, conviction, and avoiding apologetic communication around compensation.

The conversation also explored the realities of sustainable growth versus chasing revenue for appearance’s sake. Christopher shared lessons from difficult hiring decisions in 2024 that created financial strain, explaining why his current focus is on profitability, efficiency, and operational control rather than simply hitting $1 million in sales. The group discussed how scaling too quickly without the right systems and people can negatively impact cash flow and business stability.

Another key topic involved Julio’s interest in entering the insurance restoration market for water and fire damage repairs. Tom and several members shared insights into the restoration industry, highlighting both the opportunity and the operational demands, including emergency response expectations, insurance paperwork, staffing requirements, and the risk of distraction from an existing core business. Participants encouraged Julio to gather more information before fully committing to the opportunity.

The session concluded with discussions around recruiting, leadership accountability, and building stronger teams. David openly shared his struggles with finding reliable subcontractors and rebuilding his team, leading to a commitment to dedicate consistent daily time toward recruiting and relationship-building. Throughout the call, the underlying theme remained focused on intentional growth, disciplined leadership, and building businesses through confidence, structure, and execution rather than emotion or uncertainty.

Key Points

  • Josh presented a detailed growth plan to scale his business from $567K to $1M through strategic hiring, larger projects, and increased marketing investment.

  • Tom coached Josh on presenting job offers with confidence and positioning opportunities as long-term growth paths rather than apologizing for compensation levels.

  • The discussion emphasized that sustainable profitability and operational efficiency are more important than chasing arbitrary revenue milestones.

  • Performance-based compensation structures were encouraged, especially for sales roles tied to self-generated leads and gross profit targets.

  • Julio explored entering the insurance restoration industry, with members discussing the demands of emergency response work, insurance processes, and operational risks.

  • The group stressed the importance of protecting focus and avoiding distractions that could negatively impact an already functioning core business.

  • David committed to dedicating daily time toward recruiting subcontractors and rebuilding his team after ongoing staffing struggles.

[5/7/26] Open Coaching w/ Tom: <$750k in Revenue

[5/7/26] Open Coaching w/ Tom: <$750k in Revenue


Your business doesn’t drift into failure, it gets there by tolerating poor performance, avoiding hard accountability, and not watching the numbers closely enough.

Webinar Summary

Tom broke down a real contractor’s situation to highlight how quickly things unravel when sales accountability and financial awareness slip—even for a strong business. The call centered on tightening control over sales performance, eliminating costly mistakes, and taking immediate, aggressive action to stabilize cash flow.

Key Takeaways:

  • You should know within 30 days if a salesperson is producing—anything longer is too expensive.
  • Never rely on high salaries for sales roles; lack of performance incentives kills urgency and hunger.
  • Weekly sales accountability is non-negotiable—track activity, close rate, and pipeline every single week.
  • A bad hire in sales doesn’t just cost payroll—it can cost hundreds of thousands in missed revenue.
  • If your numbers aren’t talking to you regularly, you’re already behind.
  • Strong past performance can hide current problems—don’t assume things are fine because they were before.
  • When cash gets tight, shift immediately into aggressive action mode (selling, estimating, follow-up).
  • If you’re funding your business personally, treat it like a loan and fix the root issue fast.

[4/17/26] Agoge Sales Training

[4/17/26] Agoge Sales Training

A hands-on role-play training that sharpened contractors’ ability to lead confident, structured sales conversations by mastering communication, clarity, and client engagement.

Webinar Summary:

This training session focused on developing stronger sales and client interaction skills through live role-playing exercises segmented by experience level (belt system). Led by Tim, Tom, and other coaches, participants practiced real-world consultation scenarios, emphasizing permission-based communication, proper tonality, and structured questioning. The session highlighted the importance of establishing timeline and budget early, maintaining control of the conversation, and creating clarity around service offerings and pricing. Additional discussions included mindset management, focusing on controllable daily actions, and announcements about upcoming training opportunities. Through live feedback and group discussion, participants identified common mistakes and refined their approach to delivering confident, client-centered consultations.

Key Takeaways:

  • Always ask permission before discussing pricing to maintain control and professionalism in the conversation

  • Clearly establish timeline and budget early using questions like: “Is there a timeline and budget I need to be sensitive to?”

  • Maintain strong energy and tonality to build trust and confidence with clients

  • Focus on proper questioning techniques, including confirming decision-makers and property ownership without assumptions

  • Avoid vague language (e.g., “potentially”) and instead provide clear, confident guidance

  • Use tiered pricing structures (good, better, best) to help clients make decisions more comfortably

  • Stay present and focused on controllables, avoiding overwhelm by narrowing daily priorities

[4/16/26] Open Coaching w/ Tom: $750k+ in Revenue

[4/16/26] Open Coaching w/ Tom: $750k+ in Revenue

A coaching session focused on fixing financial accuracy, strengthening operational systems, and using high-intent marketing strategies to drive profitable growth for contractors.

Webinar Summary:

This open coaching session featured Tom working directly with two contractors, Kevin and Matt, to diagnose operational inefficiencies and improve profitability. Kevin, an electrical contractor in West Michigan, uncovered major discrepancies in his financial reporting—showing 69% gross profit on paper but actually operating at 42% due to misclassified expenses. He was guided to fix his bookkeeping, implement consistent job costing, and delegate office responsibilities to reclaim time for sales and team development.

Matt, a general contractor transitioning to a subcontractor model after prior business challenges, shared his improved financials, including a 65% gross profit and steady debt reduction. Tom advised him to shift marketing focus toward high-intent lead generation through Google, SEO, and content marketing rather than relying heavily on Facebook ads.

Throughout the session, both contractors were coached on building stronger systems, improving online presence, leveraging virtual assistants, and increasing trust with clients through better sales processes and content. The overarching theme emphasized disciplined financial tracking, operational delegation, and strategic marketing as the keys to scalable growth.

Key Takeaways: 

  • Kevin’s reported 69% gross profit was actually 42% due to bookkeeping errors, drastically affecting his financial clarity and break-even calculations.

  • Implementing weekly job costing and financial reviews is critical for maintaining accurate performance tracking and improving margins.

  • Delegating administrative tasks (e.g., material ordering, calls, CRM updates) and potentially hiring a virtual assistant can free up time for higher-value activities like sales and training.

  • Improving Google Business Profile, collecting reviews, and publishing consistent blog content are essential for building trust and boosting search visibility.

  • Matt’s shift to a subcontractor model helped stabilize operations and maintain profitability while paying down significant debt.

  • Google Ads and SEO outperform social media ads for contractor lead generation due to higher buyer intent.

  • Conducting in-person sales presentations with detailed proposals and photos significantly increases client trust and close rates.