Marie Caruso
The host
Sweet, welcoming, and genuinely pleased you are here. She will offer you a coffee, ask about your family, and forty minutes later you still have not looked at the water heater.
Teaches: Staying warm without losing the call.
For the individual plumber
Nobody Taught You the Selling Part.
You know the trade. You can diagnose it, quote it, and fix it. What nobody ever sat you down and taught is the twenty minutes in between — the part that decides whether you're doing one repair or solving the whole problem.
Members sign in at university.stratellaconsulting.com
How It Works
Three Things, Over and Over
Watch
Short modules built for a truck between calls, not a classroom. One idea each, taught the way we teach it in person.
Do the work
Every step has an exercise. You write out what you'd actually say — because knowing the step and saying it out loud are different skills.
Get certified
Finish the modules and pass at 75% or better. It is a mark you have to earn, which is the only reason it means anything — and once you have earned it, it is yours: it does not expire, and it does not disappear if you stop subscribing.
The Curriculum
What You Actually Learn
Modules with titles listed come out of books we already wrote and already teach in person. Tracks still being written are marked that way below — nothing here is theory we invented for a website.
The Stratella 6
6 modules Taken in orderFrom The Stratella 6
The whole service call, in the order you run it. Six modules, start to finish.
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Preparedness
What happens before you knock decides most of it.
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Intro Call
The first sixty seconds, and what they buy you.
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Arrival into Discovery
Getting from the doorstep to the real problem.
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Evaluate & Educate
Teach them what you found before you price anything.
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Options with Purpose
Three options, built to be chosen from.
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The Close
Asking for the business without pushing for it.
Objection Handling
7 modules Any orderFrom Objection Pocket Guide
Seven objections you hear every week. One module each, take them in any order.
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Can You Do Anything on the Price?
Protect the recommendation. Solve the concern.
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I Need to Think About It.
Never answer the words. Understand the concern.
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I Need to Talk to My Spouse.
Respect the relationship. Never compete with it.
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That’s More Than I Was Expecting.
Surprise isn’t resistance. It’s a request to understand.
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Can You Just Fix What’s Broken?
Provide options. Not pressure.
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I’d Like to Get Another Estimate.
It’s uncertainty. Not the estimate.
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We’re Going to Wait.
Waiting is a decision. Make it an informed one.
Water Quality
3 modules Any orderWhat the water is doing to the house, how to show a homeowner, and how the conversation opens without turning into a pitch.
Personality Types
4 modules Any orderFrom The Stratella Personality Guide
The same options land differently with different homeowners. Four modules on reading who you are standing in front of before you lose them.
Module counts are confirmed. Individual module titles go up as each track is finished.
Certification
75 %
or you take it again.
A Mark You Have to Earn
Plenty of online training hands you a certificate for finishing the videos. This one has a pass mark. That is the entire point — a credential nobody can fail is a credential nobody should believe.
One certificate, not a pile
You earn it by finishing everything, not by clicking through one module.
Signed by the people who wrote it
Alissa Forte and Damien Bookal put their names on it, the same way they do in person.
Your name on it
It carries your name. It is yours to put in front of a customer, or in front of the next person who interviews you.
Yours to keep
It issues the moment you pass, it never expires, and it stays yours if you ever stop subscribing. A credential that vanishes when you cancel is not worth putting on a résumé.
Pricing
One Login, Everything In It
$149 /mo
Or $1,490 a year — ten months, twelve months of access.
- Every module, on your own login
- The written exercises for each step
- 8 role-play scenarios, all open from day one
- Your certificate, in your name — 75% or better to pass
- A 45-minute group call every two weeks on Google Meet — recorded if you miss it
- The private group
Free to try
Practice on a Customer Who Pushes Back
Reading about an objection is not the same as hearing one. This is a role-play partner your technicians can argue with — a homeowner who hesitates, asks the awkward question, and doesn't always say yes.
- 8 scenarios: the seven objections from the Pocket Guide, plus the running-toilet call Alissa wrote out herself.
- All of them open from day one. Nothing to unlock.
- 3 difficulty levels, and the technician picks — nobody is dropped in at the deep end.
- The bot plays the homeowner. You play yourself.
- Scores are practice. They gate nothing, and you keep your own history.
It runs on the same method as the books, so it never coaches something we wouldn't. It comes with every plan, individual and company alike.
Try it — no sign-up Sample exchange
Homeowner Should be a cheap fix right?
You Hopefully! But I'll need to evaluate.
Homeowner My husband used to handle all this. Alright — have a look, then.
The opening of scenario one, in Alissa's own words. Try the rest →
The cast
Three Customers You Already Know
Every technician has met all three. The point of practising against them is that they each go wrong in a different place.
Jethro Haggins
The DIYer
He has done this before, or watched someone do it on YouTube, and he will tell you which part is bad before you have opened anything.
Teaches: Correcting a confident customer without making him wrong.
Preston Caldwell
The negotiator
Tells you he does very well for himself, then argues about the service fee. Treats the whole visit as an inconvenience he is doing you a favour by allowing.
Teaches: Holding a price while letting someone keep face.
The Library
Start With a Book
If a subscription is more than you want right now, the books are the same method, and they're yours forever.
The Stratella 6
$95Great service takes more than technical skill. The Stratella 6 gives plumbing technicians a six-step communication process for every service call: Preparedness, Intro, Discovery, Evaluate & Educate, Options with Purpose, and Close. With practical examples and exercises, this field guide helps technicians ask better questions, explain what they find, present clear options, and confidently ask for the sale. It’s a process your team can practice, coach, and use on the next call.
The Stratella Personality Guide
$95Every customer communicates differently. Stratella Personality Types helps technicians recognize four common styles—the Driver, Analyzer, Connector, and Protector-and adjust their approach while staying true to themselves. Learn the cues to listen for, what each customer needs to feel comfortable, and how to present information in a way that connects. Exercises help turn those insights into conversations you can use in the home.
Objection Pocket Guide
$79“I need to think about it.” “That costs too much.” “I need to talk to my spouse.” The Little Book of Objections is a pocket guide for the moments that can stall a sale. Built for plumbing technicians, it pairs common customer concerns with clear, practical responses that help you uncover the real hesitation, explain the total cost and available options, and agree on a specific follow-up. Keep it in your truck. Review it before a call. Use it to build the confidence to stay in the conversation.
The Stratella 6 HVAC Edition
$95Shipping date pending approval.
Check back soon. These go fast.
CSR Playbook: Customer Service Excellence
$95CSR Playbook Customer Service Excellence
Check back soon. These go fast.
The Complete Set
All three books. The full system, at less than the price of the parts. The Stratella 6 · The Stratella Personality Guide · Objection Pocket Guide
$249 $269
Printed and shipped from our office. In-stock titles leave promptly; any wait is noted on the title.
Buying for a whole team? Talk to us about volume →