Replay - The Electricians Trust Blueprint: Niche Marketing and Beyond

0:04 Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of Electricpreneur Secrets, the electrician's podcast, where a couple of master electricians with business addictions go live five days a week to help you master your sales, simplify your pricing and deliver premium level electrical service. Now today, unlike the other days of the week Monday and Tuesday already had us we're at hump day now and Joe's actually on vacation. We are without Joseph the sales bot, lou Canney, but never fear, clay the pleasant peasant Neumeier is here, as you can see, that's literally on my title on the screen today.

0:49 If you're with us in the Facebook Electricpreneur Secrets group, then you're seeing that the pleasant peasant is now my official title. If you've just got here and you didn't know why that is, it's likely something to do with the fact that I am Canadian. I do live north of the border and I'm so polite, so pleasant that I'll hold the door open and then thank people for walking through. Oh, we're having fun. So, guys, I got to jump on the Facebook. Here I'm seeing someone saying hello, I want to be able to engage with you guys as we go through this today. Let's get on that Facebook group. Here we go.

1:30 So how's everyone doing today? That's my first question as we continue this niche marketing journey. And, guys, if you're not a member of Facebook and you're not interested in becoming a member of Facebook again and you're listening to this on your favorite podcast channel, then never fear. You can reach out to us in other ways, such as our website at wwwserviceloopelectricalcom. There's a number of contact forms and good information there to help you guys out with that, all right. So, that said, we've got some really powerful stuff to go through today. Here's my live feed. I can see myself now. Greg's with us.

2:11 Hello, greg, just saw you in class. Brother, appreciate it, and you're not driving right now. If you can type, if you can put a hand up, let me know have you ever niche marketed your business? Do you take active approaches to building trust in your market? Do you have a complete marketing strategy that goes beyond Google, that goes beyond website and SEO and just shoveling cash out to get that stuff done?

2:51 Man, this is important, these conversations, because I want you to connect with people. We want you to be able to connect with people at a higher level, and something we hear so often, we experience we've been talking about it all week is how we can feel well-rounded as an electrician, and we feel that's the advantage. Hey man, I'm well-rounded too. I come from an industrial project background. I've done home service, I've done pools and hot tubs. I've worked on big generators and small. I've done a lot of this stuff too. So it can be so difficult to want to narrow down our speak, our marketing, how we convey our messages.

3:35 It can be so difficult to decide who to speak to and who to diss, kind of like planning a wedding. Right, at some point you're running out of tables and seats. Well, this is like that. Your marketing is like a wedding. You're not going to hear that anywhere else. By the way, I'm going to go ahead and dub that absolutely hilarious, and if I could take anything back, it might be a reference from marketing to weddings on this podcast. But you know what. We're going with it, okay. So who to invite, who to diss, right In your marketing? Let's stay with this parallel In your marketing, if we get specific and we speak specifically, doesn't that mean we're saying no to some other people?

4:20 Doesn't that mean we're turning some people away? Well, here's the thing. Well-rounded does not equal well-trusted. It's not that you can't be well-rounded and well-trusted, don't get me wrong. I'm well-rounded too. I said it myself. But being well-rounded isn't actually helping you build trust. But being well-rounded isn't actually helping you build trust. As they say, the jack of all trades, master of none. Right, talking about mill rights, of course, but that's a real principle that applies Jack of all trades, master of none. Now think about that as it applies to you and your target market within electrical.

5:05 I mean, this is kind of counterintuitive, because everything we've learned, everything we've grown through, everything we've aimed to become through our trade training was just an electrician but we didn't realize it was happening is, as we were training, we were falling into a very specific place in the electrical field. And I love electric electrical. I love electricity. I love the fact that there's so much that we can do. So don't get me wrong. I love the fact that I'm well-rounded, I love that I can work on a VFD, I love that I've worked on so much with programmable logic controllers and I can wire a doorbell at a house.

5:48 It's cool to be able to do all those things. It's cool to just understand the fundamentals of everything. But please recognize what we're speaking to this week is niche marketing how to build trust in your market. Homeowners really don't care about the other stuff. Do you want to know what the homeowner market cares about? Speaking generally, they care about what's in front of them, they care about what's next. They care about what causes them pain in the morning, what causes them inconvenience, what causes them time delay. They care about those same things at lunch, at coffee, at dinner, at night.

6:37 They care about how electricity contributes to helping them raise and keep their families safe. They care about how their friends perceive them. They care about the connections that are built. They care about being able to have friends over for dinner and have great lighting around it. They care about being able to travel around their home at night and not trip and fall over stuff. They care about not having extension cords run all over the place. These are all specific, specific little areas, right. Landscape lighting, how your house looks from the curb these are all specific, specific little areas right. Landscape lighting, how your house looks from the curb these are all specific needs. They care about what happens with these rolling brownouts and the blackouts in their area.

7:20 They care about the times utility lets them down or the medical equipment they require on 120 volt power or 240 volt power that goes when they don't have a generator or backup power situations. They care about the environment sometimes and feel that EV vehicles are the way to solve that, and thus they care about having an EV charger and the ability to have an EV vehicle charged EV vehicle I know I'm saying that too much right? An EV charged at their house that doesn't take 18 hours because they plugged it into an extension cord to a 120-volt outlet. These are all the specific needs and pain points that they care about, and if we'll speak to those specifically, what will happen, guys?

8:07 What will happen next? What will happen, guys? What will happen next? What I can tell you from experience. You hear us say this over and over and over. Don't listen to what we say, watch what we do. I'd never ask you guys to do something that we wouldn't do. If you follow us, it's because we've spoken to a specific problem that you care about, and so what we want to help you do is the same for your clients, and so building trust, really focusing on trust, even over authority, is a powerful play that you can leverage.

8:49 You set yourself up as an authority, but the angle you work is for trust. Why, why, guys, is this phrase coming to your mind. People do business with who they know, who they like and who they trust. That phrase has never been and will never be. People do business with who they see as an authority. People do business with who they see as a well-rounded, experienced electrician. That's not the phrase, that's not how it went. If it went that way, sure, but it's not how people act, it's psychologically not how we actually respond and cause a transaction, and so that's not the way it's spoken.

9:38 People do business with who they know, like and trust, so shouldn't we put a little bit of effort into that, a little bit of emphasis into that? Now I'll bridge you back to something we've already given away. We've already given away before what we would call the Facebook cheat sheet. If you're listening to this, if you're with me in the Facebook group right now, live, you, go ahead, throw a hand up if you can, or let us know that you've already gotten that Facebook cheat sheet. And if you haven't, good news. We're in another marketing week and I'm happy to set you up with that. Facebook's a powerful place. Social media is a powerful place.

10:19 Most use it for authority. I was guilty of this myself Until this year. We really didn't have an active marketing strategy to target building trust over authority. You'll still see authority posts and engagements from us that demonstrate we know what we're doing here, but not as frequently as you'll see me talk about who I am as a person, not as frequently as you'll see me talk about who we're trying to become, the experiences we're having right, what we're listening to to help us grow, what we're doing to become everything we want to become and how we're helping people become.

11:10 Secondary to that. It's totally relevant. It's totally there, as you know, right. If you've ever put your hand up for any of these value pieces, like the Facebook cheat sheet, you've seen it. We've strategically structured a post to speak to the conversation in your head, to get you to say you know what he gets it. That's authority, right. And you might be doing that in your electrical business by saying things like number one electrician in your area and when they go to Google and they see all the reviews to support it. But the problem we're targeting this week is how much competition there is around that.

11:52 So would it be wrong of me to go outside of my way here today to help you guys with a little list Like a checklist, a trust building checklist. Would that be valuable for you guys? Because that's what I want to go into next here. Because that's what I want to go into next here. When you have trust as the specialist, people know why they call you. When you have trust as a person, people know that they like you, and if you already have that stuff built up in advance, then the transaction becomes easy.

12:33 We see evidence of this when people just reach out to us. And I love you guys, I love when you reach out and we love to help. So it's no surprise, guys. I'm just being transparent with how we make use of these very same principles. People reach out who I've maybe never had a full conversation with before, maybe we've just had a couple touch points, or maybe they've experienced our content by investigating, researching us, showing up for all of our posted content, all the free stuff, to just learn about us, and they'll come through with a message. I'll wake up in the morning and see a message Clay man, I feel like I know so much about you.

13:13 I just know you're the person that can help us with this X, y, z and that, in my humble opinion, is the best marketing you can get. That's the best sale you can get because the trust is already there. Do you guys agree with that? What's an example of a trusted sale you've made recently Starts with an R could be one of a few. A repeat transaction someone that already did business with you, so again, they know like and trust you check all the boxes. A referral transaction where their trusted partner told them about you, so they know like and trust you checks all the boxes.

14:01 Or how about even someone that connected with a review of your service, your specialized service, and that review spoke exactly to the problems they're having and how you guys solved it. Would also be an example of a place where you've got some additional know, like and trust, but in your content, in your consistent efforts out there in the world to just share who you are, how you specifically help people and, most importantly, why you can build so much trust. I appreciate that. I appreciate that, and so here's the definitive trust list.

14:45 Guys, I'm actually referencing a book that I think you all should check out as well Dan Kennedy. I'm a big fan Trust-based marketing. I'm going to do my best here to relate this into electrician language and what we can do. Okay, hope that sounds fair to you guys, let's go ahead and do this. Trust-based Marketing is the book. I love giving credit where credit's due, guys. We're trying to grow all the time. If you're a Dan Kennedy fan, let us know on the Facebook entrepreneur live feed. Or if you're watching the replay, guys go ahead and type Dan Kennedy, let us know if you're a fan. We talked about authority and we've talked about building the know, like and trust, and we've talked about them as they're separate, but also recognize that authority builds trust too, and it's the first thing on this list.

15:34 That's okay. It's okay to be an authority, it's good to promote yourself as an authority. We can all agree on that. But the connection I'm making to it earlier when I'm speaking to it is it's not okay if it's all we do, because when we drive just authority, we also drive a wedge, a gap between where they're at and what we do, and it's a gap between personal connection that will develop there. We need to be people as well. This is where the next one ties in something called affinity. If you guys ever heard about affinity and know what that means, this is like a basis for rapport.

16:17 A basis for rapport, guys. What's rapport? Rapport is when we connect with people right. Rapport is how we connect, how we get on the same frequency in electrical language, how we get to that shared energy space. Here's an example of affinity, shared background and experiences. Hey, you're an electrician, guys, I'm an electrician too. How good is that we're both working together to change this industry to help your business grow. And we're both from the same background.

16:59 Couple of master electricians with a little business addiction right here. Your shared philosophies, even me sharing this book, dan Kennedy, trust-based Marketing is actually affinity. It's building that common relation, because if you're a Dan Kennedy fan, like my boy, gary Fan, who follows us a lot, gary shout out for you. Brother, who says yesterday I love Dan Kennedy's stuff too and shares his preference for reading as well. Building a connection, guys. Credibility, factual basis that this stuff works. Like when I reference how our marketing is built around this and how you get to see how 150 plus electrical contractors put their hand up to connect with one of our value pieces last week because it spoke to the exact needs, desires, problems of that topic, of that niche marketing topic.

17:54 That's how this stuff works. So the factual basis for trust is that credibility. How about longevity? A lot of you guys might have this. You might be part of a company that's saying, hey, we've been around for 30 years, 40 years, 50 years Now. Please know that. Otherwise that really doesn't do a lot but it does help build trust because what it implies is that you've been part of a community for a very long time and that community trusts you. This reminds me of a little overlap. If we were putting a yard sign up in someone's yard and it said another happy customer.

18:39 That implies that that homeowner gave you permission to share that yard sign to put that up right. So there's implications with longevity that share and promote trust. Celebrity being known for something what are you guys known for? Are you leveraging celebrity? I see a 1977 comment Appreciate that. How to be James. Way to go, man, love it, love it, keep it going, brother. That how to be James way to go, man, love it, love it, keep it going, brother. Right, that's a long time in business. But that celebrity how are you guys known in your community? Celebrity, you don't need a podcast, you don't need to be me, you don't need to be the pleasant peasant, but celebrity as a subject, what are we known for in your community?

19:33 What are your charitable contributions? What are the causes you stand up for right? Where are you known to stand against something? Those are all areas of celebrity and they can do wonders for your pr and your trust. Familiarity, so recurring exposure those of you who've been with me since the lloyd days lloyd would talk about this a lot. Dan antonelli on our podcast talk about this a lot. How often do people see you and what are they experiencing when they do? Where is that exposure? Where's your shop? Is it in a great location where people are driving by every day? Where are your vans parked? Your staff drive a van home or is it in the yard of the shop? There could be an advantage if they're in their own neighborhood.

20:16 That exposure, where are we seeing you? And don't just stop with clients, guys. How are we exposed to you at the supply house? Let's tie staffing and development of your business in that growth, that scale. How do people experience you and where is that exposure taking place? That familiarity Frequency? How often are you being heard, seen, shown to people? So it's the exposure, but it's also how often of the exposure, that frequency. Dialing that up just means guess what I've been reminded of? Service Loop Electrical again. Service Loop Electrical again. Everyone on our team posts on social media.

20:58 There's a good chance. If you're with us in the Facebook group, you've seen our content this week, you saw our content last week. You may even see it daily, because our whole team contributes to this, our whole team in this podcast, and everything we're doing is about frequency and exposure and niche, speaking to the topics that are right there at your fingertips that you need help with Referability how good are we serving? How many referrals are we getting? What is our process doing to inflict, to cause, to promote referrals? Is it a program? Is it just quality?

21:38 Could you go to a deeper level? I mean, this is what it's all about. Depth guys, depth in marketing and referrals are no exception. Placement I already touched on this a little bit, but the geography of your target market and the placement of your exposure, the placement of your branding Is your van fully wrapped? Does it have, if you're a gen specialist, does it have generators on the side? Are they placed strategically from a van perspective? Are they placed strategically so they're perspective? Are they placed strategically so they're non-interrupted when the doors are open, so that when you park at a client's house, the right people are seeing the right stuff that you want them to see, to cause someone to come over and say, hey, you install generators.

22:20 Wow, you're a Generac dealer. No way, I was thinking about a generator. Geography how are you being experienced when you're in a neighborhood? How are you experienced in your neighborhood and in the communities around you? Demonstration this is a good one, guys. How are we leveraging demonstration? Seeing is believing, so it's a consistent quality In our marketing. Do we then promote reviews? Do we promote our favorite clients client of the month, client of the week? Do we promote our good work? Our staff is a great way to non-threat promote and have demonstration of the quality of execution in-house, to build up that trust in your market, to build up your brand and, especially if you're speaking to a niche topic, to build up your authority and your trust on being the only person, the only one that would get the call Because you became so good at speaking to the actual problems in the actual language that your clients use with specificity and build trust in all these areas.

23:38 So the dots that connect your guys. In summary, really we know, like and trust these guys. Service loop electrical. These guys know what they're talking about. They keep showing up. Everyone trusts them. We keep seeing examples of how good this stuff works on the inside track. It's only a matter of time before we join. We're already friends. We trust these guys can have that too. You can be the only call they'll make and guess what? For my well-rounded friends that started with us in the beginning of this long-winded podcast solo show. If you're a well-rounded electrician, then know this. What comes with trust is actually more request for work done, more request for service outside of your specialty All the things that you want to do anyway, that you like to do as a well-rounded electrician.

24:33 You'll get more of it still by being specific and targeting one area and allowing that trust to be built to the highest level and allowing those clients to connect you to their other problems, pain points, needs or desires. I'm out of breath, you guys. I've done everything I can here today to build value for you, to show you how electricians can build trust. The only thing I haven't talked about yet that I'm going to drop right here right now is we're going to do another little action post. It is Wednesday. It would be wrong of me to give some value away. I'm going to give you the checklist of what we talked about today on how electricians can build trust, everything I can brain dump on a page to show you, to give you all of the tools you need, all the actions you could take to build trust in your marketplace that you may not be leveraging today.

25:28 So you can get that by just typing build trust on the post. We're going to put that on the group as well as well as my personal page. It'll all be there, guys. You could get that. And so action items today. Action number one grab the checklist. It's going to help you. Trust is a big part of you making sales right Know, like and trust. So grab the checklist and use it right. All-star action, guys. Really dive deep on this niching this week. Stay with us and really put this together on the page. Write out your marketing strategy, consider these few things what do I love to do? What's in high demand?

26:12 What's most profitable for us? What are we doing that's causing the most revenue for us? Look through your business, through those lenses. Really put a thinking time aside and do that and you'll come to a few niche items that you could market very effectively, speaking to the actual pain points that your customers are talking about in the language that they use and I promise you results. That is it for another episode of Electropreneur Secrets, the electrician's podcast, where apparently I still have to fill 25 minutes by talking my face off, even without my partner, Joseph the sales bot. Luke, kenny Brother, if you're listening, I hope you're having a fantastic holiday, as that's mandatory here at Service Loop Electrical, because we're health, family, then business.

26:57 You guys should consider doing the same. Just a couple master electricians with business addictions trying to help you master sales, simplify pricing and deliver premium level electrical service. This has been another episode with the pleasant peasant Clay Neumeier. Guys Can't wait to see you tomorrow for another one. Cheers to your success. Bye for now.