Ep 194 - Don't Say Too Much! (Put Down the Firehose)
Customer Resistance to Electrical Services
Speaker 1Hello , hello , hello , and welcome back to another episode of Electric Pinner Secrets , the Electricians podcast , where me and my co-host , joseph Lucani , go live with you five days a week to help you master your sales , simplify your pricing and , of course , deliver premium level electrical service . If you're wrong , if we didn't , wouldn't it I ?
Speaker 2know , and I got to make you through the cadence of ever so slightly , but I love that finish .
Speaker 1I told you , I like to mix it up , man . I think we talked about that a bit yesterday .
Speaker 2We did . You're the one who likes mixing it up , and I tried true and consistent , so we bring both .
Speaker 1Is that cringe-worthy for you ? Don't change it . Stop changing it , man .
Speaker 2You know what , though , at the same time , I acknowledge that not everyone the majority of people don't have my lens , so I take it with a grain of salt and say you know what ? Clay is an awesome strategist or probably the best partner I could have ever asked for . You know what the hell you're doing when it comes to marketing , I would rather listen to someone like you than say I'm just going to default and touch on an area that I'm not a specialist of .
Speaker 1That's fair and I appreciate the compliments man coming from Mr Gratidude himself .
Speaker 2We're bringing that one in man .
Speaker 1Yeah , I'll mix it in time . You're in there anyway . Love it , man . How are you doing today ?
Speaker 2Today's been a good one , in all honesty . We had one of those moments earlier where we noticed that there was a ton of hands up for some value pieces , and it felt really , really good knowing that I was connecting with people that genuinely wanted the content . It's one thing to market something . It's another thing for them to want it from you , and people are actively like I want this , I want this , I want this , I want this . I got that lift under my wings in a way , to where I'm like you know what we're doing , something that really has impact , and I'm so grateful to be doing it .
Speaker 1Yeah , I appreciate that too , man . I'll join you in just thanking everyone for your patience . Of course , we're giving away a ton of free value on our Facebook page primarily , and in our . You know what they're linked in the email campaigns as well . If you're on our email list , getting those weekly emails highlighting the topic of the week , you're also getting an opportunity to click on and grab a value piece for free and that can really help you in your business . You know what A lot of these value pieces are driven right from our program . Again , we called it Electric Pinner Secrets because we're giving them all away , the reason being just if I can highlight this foundation of our belief .
Speaker 1Strategy is not the problem . I once did a live on Facebook with I don't know like 30 electricians joined me Maybe you're listening now when you were one of them or we . Literally I shared a screen and we went to Google and we Googled how to increase sales in my small business . We got about 4 billion results in half a second . And they all work , joe . Every single one of them work a bit . The challenge is do you work them Right ? The plan works . If you work the plan , please take everything we give . Just promise to take action , as you'll keep hearing us say I will not put that one away . If you're with us , live and you have a hand free , then go ahead and throw a hand up right now . If you've received value from us in any way , shape or form , we'd love to give you a wave back and just thank you again for following along . I hope that we're able to keep contributing to you . Now , who's the graded dude ? Yeah , I guess it's me , isn't it ?
Speaker 2I love him , man , this is great , bring that energy , clay , Keep bringing it .
Speaker 1Well , you know what ? We've got a great topic to bring that energy to . Don't say too much . Oh , you ever have someone ask for a drink and you give them the whole fire hose . Yeah , I've got a picture that comes to mind of this poor little four-year-old girl going to the hose and it's just spraying her in the face . I feel like this happens every day for electric printers and they're probably spraying that sale right out the front door . What do you say to that , joe ?
Speaker 2I want to take a bite out of this one because it's so near and dear and there's so many problems that come from it . Do you mind if I just can I run with it ? Jump in , man , that's a great deal . I want to create a scenario for almost every electrician that's listening to this right now . You're on a residential call . Customer called you because they're checking out the kitchen countertop electrical point . They say the fridge isn't working or the microwave is not working , the breaker is not tripped and we don't know what it is . You know it's a GFI , but you're going to go to the panel and you're going to run the play .
Speaker 2As you're walking down the stairs you see that there is a federal Pacific panel . Or you see that there is an exposed length of wire that's just hanging from the ceiling . Or you go down and you see the smoke detectors just hanging by the wires . It's not even attached to the bracket . You know there's this feeling inside where you're like . I got to talk to them about that . How long has that been there ? What's going on ? Has this been like this for a while ? Why haven't we haven't this addressed yet ? What is the customer likely feeling now at this point ? Clay , If I was in your home , you called me for this , and now I'm going to a place you didn't think I needed to be , and now I'm pointing out something that you didn't even ask for . What are you feeling right now ?
Speaker 1I'm feeling a little bit like when I pull my car into the oil chain shop and they want to do a 3,000 point inspection 3,000 point inspection . Can you imagine ? Is that good ?
Speaker 2We've changed from a 38 point inspection and now we're sitting there for four hours from a 3,000 point . I love it .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2You're right . You get that similar feeling where people are like , oh , I know what he's trying to do .
Speaker 1Defend my wallet .
Speaker 2Yeah . So as a result , we as the customer naturally have this knee jerk reaction to say no , no , no , it's fine , don't worry about it , I can do that myself . I've got a handyman who does that . It's been like that for years . Nothing's wrong , we're moving , we're selling the house , we don't even care about it . They'll drop every reason , every reason they can , for you to not bring that up again or to make it so you don't want to bring other things up in the future . Now look at where we're at in this call . Right now You're in this circumstance where you know , as the electrician , that what you're seeing is mentioned worthy , but you also know that the customer has told you very adamantly that they're not interested in hearing about it . What's the right move ? What should we do ? What do we do here ?
Speaker 1I can tell you , from a visual standpoint I'm seeing like a spy versus spy scenario with that line in the middle , again at odds with great intentions versus salesmanship here .
Speaker 2I love the Mad Magazine reference here . With spy versus spy , it's like throwing me back to the 90s real fast .
Speaker 1They're not on the same team , right .
Speaker 2They're right . They're constantly at odds with each other , and that's really the dynamic that we've created with our customer , because when people tell us , oh , you can't make six options , it's often because they've recognized something that the customer should hear about , brought it up early , the customer declined or said , adam , I don't want that . And now you're left omitting this thing . And now you're like , okay , well , how do I make options ? When they said they don't care about the smoke detector , they're selling the home , they don't care this federal Pacific , they don't care that the pool has no GFI , like what do ?
Speaker 1I do and I feel like it forces you to qualify and quantify that little bit in the moment , instead of giving them a packaged price , which would be more fair to them and you for your ability to actually sit down and estimate it .
Speaker 2You know , it even gets worse than that . Okay , it's even worse Because we just described the customer that didn't want to buy right Like the one that was like no , no , no , no , I don't want to want , I don't want it . Let's say you same scenario . You go down the stairs , you open the panel and you say , oh wow , it's a federal Pacific . Oh , wow , there's water in the bottom of it . And you say to the customer hey , did you know there was water in your system ? And they immediately go oh no , that's terrible . What's that going to cost ? Now you're in a situation to where you have an enthusiastic person and you better have a number Because , let's say , Clay , I'm , you're my customer , you're the one who's got this panel . You said the interest of , I want to get the idea how much it's going to cost , and I don't either a give you a number or I seem like I don't know what the number is going to be . How confident are you in my ability to serve this situation ?
Speaker 1Well , either you can't do it or we're just not friends and you're looking for a way to again pick at my wallet .
Speaker 2That's really the only two options .
Sales Conversions and Trust Building Simplified
Speaker 2Either a I don't know a price . I genuinely do not . I don't even know a ballpark . I have no idea where we're at on this , which means I'm probably not experienced enough to help you with the situation . Or you see me I've got gray in my beard and just as bald as I am and showing up and you're like clearly this guy's been around and he's like yeah , no , we don't do ballparks . Would you have a rate ? I'm not . We'll get you a full gain , accurate number when we're done .
Speaker 2Now I've got someone who I'm like I don't know what's worse . You're either trying to set up a situation to sell me something when it's still the GFI upstairs on my kitchen countertop , or you don't know and I'm not going to hire either one of those people . So just by opening your mouth , on one side , you have a customer cutting away every opportunity for you to come up with a presentation and give options . Now , on the other side of the story , even if they genuinely want it , you're screwed because they either want a price right now or we'll feel , by you not giving them , that you're being dishonest or unconfident in the information .
Speaker 1And , if I can add , like I think the worst part here is that , intuitively , that's just the organic progression of the average call . If you don't have a process or a play that has , excuse me , has the steps in place to avoid that trap , then most people go there and fall victim to the space . It just happens . You see something , you respond , they respond . React . Rather right , you react , they react . Next thing you know you're in this space where you can feel the gap growing . You can feel it like there's tension in that space , right ?
Speaker 2And it's an ugly , uncomfortable feeling Like I'm awkward enough as it is . I don't need the customer to add to that . So now , going into that situation where , when you feel the customer distrusts you and even the littlest bit , it's a tangible feeling , right , yeah , I hate it . I hate that too . I really really do . So that's why the act of actually not withholding information but only giving information when you know it will serve the customer If I give you too much now , I'm either going to push you away or if I give you too much now , I'm going to push myself out of the running and you're going to be like I need this freaking panel , but I'm not going to go with Joe . He clearly is trying to take advantage of me . I'm going to go and get estimates on this now , because he wouldn't even give me a ballpark on this .
Speaker 1Yeah , and we talked about this . Like it is going to be revealed . This doesn't need to be seen as a break in integrity . It's more just like organized information versus throwing information from the hip , Much like a lot of our electric burners who jump on a call with us . They'll say , hey , well , I've been winging it . Should we really wing this ? Is that really serving anyone ? And then I would say , like the ultimate negative piece here is actually what happens after the call . That's actually the wrong doing .
Speaker 1That happens because then we turn around and we go well , I guess they're not our customer , or they were just price shopping , or there's a list of blame , excuses , denial , that we'll use to categorize people as not our customers , when in fact , we just had a couple of missteps that did not serve that trust we're trying to build . Go ahead , brother Jump in .
Speaker 2Well , I didn't want to interrupt . Man , I love when you're on your flow . You know what I mean . You got it .
Speaker 2So this also creates a scenario where it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy . Now imagine you go into the call and you see the house is all jacked up right and your first thought is like ah , there's things that they got a lot of issues in this house 1940s construction , old neighborhood scots falling off the front door . You go in and you find a federal pacific in there and your first thought is if everything else is wrong , why are they going to try and fix this ? So , as a result , you maybe mentioned that they might want to do it and they're like no , no , this is an old house , we're not going to address it . So just by you mentioning it , they declined because you also thought that they were going to decline .
Speaker 2And then , because you think they're declining , you're giving them less service because you already feel this is not your customer . By giving them less service , you give them less value , meaning that when you finally give them their number , they're less wowed by it because it's less value for the price . So when they say no at the end of the call , just like you're saying , you walk away saying I knew it . I knew the moment I walked into this door that they weren't going to be a fit and I was wasting my time when , the whole time , they're on the other side of the door like man . This was a real waste of time . I thought they were really good . I thought they were going to be able to help me with this , but all he wanted to talk about was a panel .
Speaker 1Now talk about that at scale . You're talking about a single call . If that's you , and you're doing this five times a week , 10 times a week , 15 , 20 times a week , right , imagine the conversion rate difference if , again , you just held yourself to a consistent process that eliminated that problem and that assumption about the relationship from the get-go and what that difference could mean to your pockets at the end of the year .
Speaker 2It's wild because the thing is I found with high closing ratios it's actually a very high scale when you think about it , like going from 30 to 50 isn't a huge jump , though it feels like a big percentage jump . It's small , manageable steps . What we're talking about today , this is the kind of stuff that takes someone from like the 60% to the 75% Because you stop shooting yourself in the foot . It's not you answering objections better , it's not you designing better choices , it's not you even serving better , it's just you're shooting yourself by trying to make suggestions at the wrong time to the wrong person , when you can remove that particular thing now .
Speaker 1That's a lever that moves the higher percentage sales 100% , and if you're wondering where this goes after , I would actually go back to , I think last week we did the four W's of a presentation . I love that that would follow this and that would be a perfect structure for how you can then deliver this information . The things that you found throughout the home is one thing we didn't touch on , too is like , if they see water in the panel , everyone knows water and electricity doesn't mix . Right , don't mix . I mean , that's a question a lot of electricians like to ask , just as a simplification .
Speaker 1Are we in agreement that water and electricity don't mix ? Everyone knows you don't put a toaster beside the bathtub . Everyone seems to know there's a GFI in there for that reason . Right , it's life-saving device really . But if they see it at that point , there are certain things more than just water burning obvious burning . If they see that , how hard is it to then move their brains past what they've just experienced , to listen , to think of anything outside of ? Oh my gosh , what damage is this to our house and what damage is that to our safety and what damage is that to our pocketbook ?
Speaker 2It's pretty heavy . I mean , I've had situations where I've gone I think the most water I ever saw was . I went into a panel and I had to pump out the bottom half-inch knockout and literally hold a bucket and hope to God that it didn't touch the bus , because there was a lot in there and the entire time the customer , the whole time I was doing , was standing behind and saying , oh my God , oh my God , what do we do ? Oh my God , imagine if I was going to be able to tell them well , I don't know . We're going to have to open this up and see where we're at . Are they going to trust you with that circumstance ? Yikes ? No , they're going to need to know .
Speaker 2Don't worry , we're the professional . You made the right call . What we'll do is we'll do a full evaluation . We'll see exactly where we're at , create a range of choices , so you're in complete control of this . Do not worry , professionals , here we're going to get it figured out . I'll take that over . I'm going to tell you exactly what we do right now , before I even open the cover
Effective Communication in Sales Conversations
Speaker 2.
Speaker 1Yep , why this happens . Just full investigation at that moment , completely lose track . What I love about what you just said is it was about eight seconds flat . That means I can process that . It comforted me in that situation and it let me know that there are solutions coming and that we're okay and that you're the professional . All in like eight seconds . We don't need to talk too much , we really don't . This is where I see and it happens to me too I mean I get on sales calls too right . This happens in a sense of , especially after I find , like in objection handling right , where someone will say something and then you just ramble on on for minutes and minutes and minutes doesn't sound long until you're the receiver of that ramble , and the whole time it's like they're just digging and getting deeper and deeper and deeper , when really the correct response is again another eight to 10 . Second statement and a question that was the gold right there at the end , the question Asking that question .
Speaker 1Yep , Can you explain a bit more of that on this podcast before we shut this down ? Joe , Sure happy to .
Speaker 2So imagine , let's see I'm going to try and speak to all the electricians in the background . So imagine you've been on this call right , the one we've been talking about , the Federal Pacific Panel , the hanging smoke detector . You're now in that circumstance where you've presented the information to the customer and now this customer looks at you and you've told them their top option and they go oh my God , why is it so much ? $14,000 , I was not expecting that at all . Well , obviously you can go into . Well , let me tell you what you're going to get , but simply just restating what you're providing and that there are other options is the way to go . And now it sounds something along the lines of Clay . I completely understand where you're coming from and remember earlier we said right off the bat we weren't expecting you to take this top option . This was meant more as a standard of you truly wanted this done , the right way , with the highest quality and best reliability and safety . That's what we'd be looking at . That being said , I still have five other options . Which do you ?
Speaker 2feel is the best fit for you .
Speaker 1Nice touch , very light description , handing it over , putting it back in their control . There's another component there that I really liked . That kind of happened fast and if you didn't know , if you weren't looking for it , you might not have heard it , but I think it was something to the effect of remember how you said this earlier . Remember earlier when we discussed this . Even that is a little engagement point , or now there's a response implied Am .
Speaker 1I right here In having them out of listening mode for a second and back to contributing and being a part of that conversation , instead of drowning them out with Charlie Brown's teacher . What , what , what , what , what , what , what , what , what , what , what , what , what , what , what , what , what ? How impactful is that even getting them engaged in a conversation , versus just running your mouth , presentation or objection handles ?
Speaker 2So it depends on the psychology of the situation , meaning that if your customer is in an emotional state versus a logical state , their action and decision-making processes will be different . So when you tell someone something almost like a dissertation or as a lecture , you're forcing them to be in that student mindset where they're just trying to listen to everything you're saying and figuring out what's important in this conversation . It's all factual . There's no emotion connected to it . Water in my panel . What the heck do I do about that Other side , emotional connection ? By asking the question and bringing the engagement in .
Speaker 2Now they have a stance , they have a stake in it , saying , hey , remember when we were in the home earlier and you mentioned the whole reason you were trying to maintain this generator system was because you lost power on Thanksgiving . That's what I'm trying to avoid in this situation . Can you tell me more about what that was like Nice ? I'm shifting it back to you , remembering an emotional situation that you previously described and by me saying remember when we discussed this , it's now . I'm not bringing up in an imp , that was the word I'm looking for . I'm not bringing up an undue emotional situation . I'm bringing up one that they specifically had volunteered , that we had an engagement over that was also emotionally triggering to them . So now they're a fully emotional brain .
Speaker 1Like you were right then and you're right now , and here's why we added this , to make sure that that was addressed .
Speaker 2And that's actually the reason I chose that specific situation . We've actually had that . There was one particular customer that we had that did not want to invest in a generator with us . He wanted a generator but he didn't want to pay us to do it because there was a higher investment cost . But he actually lost power on Thanksgiving while he was hosting and because we insisted that we offered him options for a whole home , even though he wanted an 11kw , he wrote in the review they saved my Thanksgiving . Nice touch , so being able to come back and say these are real scenarios that happen with real customers and we want to help you guide to either the right way or at least , if you don't want to follow the right way , at least acknowledge what the wrong way is and you can come to the conclusion on your own .
Speaker 1Nice , okay , so great little episode , if I may say myself here . We got to wrap this up . But what I'm taking away is we got to be careful of speaking too much .
Speaker 2Oh yeah .
Speaker 1If we're able to follow a process that honors the client and I don't want to use the word withhold , but reserves information for a time when they can receive that in a consolidated package format , it would be better for them to receive it and better for you to close those sales 100% . I like it . Just sorry to sum that up just as a benefit , then would directly impact our revenue and our relationships .
Speaker 2I agree , and I like the way you used the word reserved rather than withhold , because the closest comparison I think of is we don't tell our children everything right , we just don't . And it's not because we want to lie to them or not tell them the truth , but we know that there are some things that are relevant to their situation and there are some things that are not . And if I give them information that is not able to be processed , I'm putting them in an emotional state before they're ready to be in that emotional state and that will derail the rest of the interaction . So , simply acknowledging , I'm going to give you the information when I know it would have the most action and the most ability for you to receive it without putting you in an emotional distress .
Speaker 1Nice touch . I like that , like contextual preparedness Nice . Okay , a couple of action items to crank out here . Joe , what do you want ? The action or the all star brother ?
Speaker 2I could take either . I got them off top ahead .
Speaker 1Okay , why don't you start us off ?
Speaker 2Okay . So the bare minimum action like if you're going to say what is the barest of minimums , it would be the going into the thought of saying I intend on going to this call to listen . A quote that I had that always stuck in my head was you have two ears and one mouth , so really you should be listening twice as often as you talk . Can you , at any call you , go to take a moment of reflection and say I definitely listened to more than I talked on that call ? The odds are usually going to be no , it's going to be . Man , I fucking talked a lot . Yeah . So the barest of minimums is simply acknowledging I should listen twice as much as I should talk . If you can aim for that metric , you're not going to miss . It's the broad side of a barn . You're going to hit the target .
Speaker 1Then I think the all star action becomes actually obvious . Spinning right off of that , if you weren't going to take a process like ours , if you're out there crafting your own or just looking to improve what you have , I would not start at the points in which we're articulating things . I would start at the points in which we're questioning , asking questions at those pivotal moments and really questioning exactly what Joe said . How much time are we spending in answers versus in questions ? Because the other factor there that's so wonderful , we didn't even touch on it . The best way to make people feel important and feel heard is to let them talk . So it's weight is an acronym , actually from the past . Why am I talking If we actually took that weight ? Why am I talking ? If we really took note of that on your process and aimed to be consistent and use that weight acronym , then I think you'll find that you'll do much better at not saying too much . That's sum it up .
Speaker 2Joe , you threw me for a second , because I was like W-E-I-G-H-T and there was like oh , it was like wrong weight . I was like oh , nevermind , did you see my look ? I was like wait a second , that doesn't add up .
Speaker 1No .
Speaker 2W-A-I-T . Love it .
Electric Pinner Secrets
Speaker 1Thank you for joining us on another episode of Electric Pinner Secrets , Episode 194 . Don't say too much . They wanted a drink . They gave them the fire hose . Let's not go there . Let's improve your sales through questions and listening and properly timed reservation of information . As you guys know , we're here with you five days a week to help you master sales , simplify pricing and deliver premium level electrical service . Tomorrow's Wednesday Action Wednesday , and I can't wait to come back and do it all again . I'm loving it .
