S3 EP48 Stop Losing Service Calls: Fix These 6 Revenue Leaks

SPEAKER_01 0:00

You paid for this lead. You paid for this Google listing. I'm gonna be listed on Google and be high. I've already invested all my reviews. All of that's lost. Or if it was a pay per click, whatever you paid to get this phone to ring, if it came from a lead source, gone. Just completely gone.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Million Dollar Electrician Podcast, where we help home service pros like you supercharge your business and spark up those sales.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

I'm Joseph Witani, and together with my co-host, Clay New Meyer. We're here to share the secrets of how electricians sell over a million dollars to a single service band.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Now it's time for sales. It's time for sale. It's time to become a million-dollar electrician.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

Hey you guys, welcome back to the Million Dollar Electrician Podcast. With me as always, Joseph, the Salesbot Lucani, and we are wasting no time today. We've got a value-packed episode, not enough time to fully cover this, so we're going to pack it all in, Joe. Today we're talking about the six service call stalls. Now, this is a very important episode. If you guys haven't heard this before, you're going to want to stay tuned in because we're going to go through all six on this list and they go in order, front to back, from the moment a lead actually discovers you, reaches out, or you reach out to them all the way to the back where we're trying to earn that review, that referral, that repeat customer. And from front to back, it gets more expensive as you go. So if you're missing this, it could be worth $1,000 today. It could be worth $10,000 today for some of you, or tens of thousands of dollars in this week. And heck, even millions, I would suggest, Joe, over the period of the next few years of your business to some of you guys. So we want to help you with this. And I'm so excited to start with this first one, Joe. Why don't you uh get us started off with the failure to answer the call? Number one, this is massive and it seems so obvious, but why do we miss this call? What's going on here?

SPEAKER_01 1:53

So this literally happened to me the other day. So I'm pursuing a new coach for something. I'm looking for a boxing coach, and I found one in my town. Good reviews, all the stuff. I'm like, great, I'm gonna give this guy a call. I call, goes to voicemail. I call again, goes to voicemail. Call again, no answer. It just rings and rings and rings. And I literally took and said, even though he's got good reviews, even though he's closer, X. Because if he can't answer the phone, what kind of establishment are they literally gonna have? It gives the customer a bad view. So you paid for this lead. Whatever this was, you paid for this Google listing that this guy went to and said, I'm gonna be listed on Google and be high. I've already invested all my reviews. All of that's lost. Or if it was a pay-per-click, whatever you paid to get this phone to ring, if it came from a lead source, gone, just completely gone at this point.

SPEAKER_03 2:40

And let me pause you there for a second, just say like most guys have no idea what the cost of their leads are. Maybe their marketing company told them, Oh, for LSA, you're paying $45 per caller. And that's great, but that's a shallow look at what a lead cost you, right? What about the investment in the marketing company itself? Even if you're doing it yourself, what about your time invested into that marketing channel? What is your time worth? Most guys can't answer that either. Not to pick on you guys, but just to help you with an idea of like what's a lead actually costing you. Think hundreds, not tens, at least hundreds. In most cases, a lead by time they talk to your office and everything you've set up, your systems, your CRM, the software, the phone lines, the actual paying for the channel and the lead itself, a lot of times you could justify $500 to $1,000 per call. And then if you don't pick up the phone, once again, which most are missing at some point, like even after hours. What about the five to seven trap where everyone in your area closes at five and you know, guy might try to call and no one answers, it goes to a voicemail. I heard a study, Joe, 75%, it's right in there, right in there. You guys could fact check this, but 75% of the first answer gets the job. Have you heard that before?

SPEAKER_01 3:54

I haven't, but I experience tells me that it's very likely because if I have a need for service and I've already looked at a couple of people, I'm like, all right, I've got this guy, I got this guy, I got this guy. If I call the first person and he meets the requirements that I'm looking for, and they can give me some sort of greeting that establishes that I can trust them, I'm not gonna need to keep going because I'm not the guy who's gonna shop everything out. I'm like, this is what I'm looking for. They seem like they can provide it. It's their job to lose now. If they disappoint me, I got three other guys I can work with, but let's start with you first.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

Absolutely. So, number one, guys, answer the damn phone. No matter how obvious that is, find a way to get to a hundred percent answer rate worth it. Second service call stall. Failure to book that call. Joe, can I tell you about a recent situation? Because this comes up in night school. Sure, by means. If you guys don't know this already, we created this thing called night school, which teaches what trade school forgot the business side, the other apprenticeship. If you haven't caught on to this already, it might be worth thinking about for a moment because business is its own trade. We're all electricians here, for sure. And that took a lot of investment to learn it. But business is a total different trade, and we deserve to have a theory side of that too. So night school helps with that. And one of the most common problems that comes up in night school very early on is guys say, Well, what do you do with these people that are just price shopping on the phone? You knew I was gonna say this, didn't you, Joe?

SPEAKER_01 5:18

It's hilarious. But yeah, you're right. It's the first thing that people will say, it's why am I gonna even want to go out there? Why can't I give them a number over the phone? Why do I have to physically go there? They're just gonna shop me out. Why am I wasting my time? And I thunk my head every time thinking about it because how are you standing out from anyone else? Where's the value in your offer? How are you serving the customer in a way that goes, hey, this guy's different. Maybe I should listen to him.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

You know what? Let me add to that. How could I hand off my phones to someone who's not an electrician? Then how could they handle the technical talk on the phone?

SPEAKER_01 5:47

That's phenomenal. I actually would love if they were an electrician. And we tell our CSRs this all the time. They're like, but I'm not an electrician. How am I going to answer these facts? You don't have to. And you've got a built-in excuse. I would absolutely love to answer that question for you. The thing is, is I myself am not an electrician. And the last thing I want to do is give you advice that's not credible. What I can do is send a professional service specialist to your home who can solve those problems and give you a menu of easy to understand ways you can help this. When's the best time to come and serve you? Autopilot.

SPEAKER_03 6:14

Love it. A lot of times guys will be out there and say, like, oh, they're all bad leads, they're all bad leads, or our lead quality sucks. First step was answer the damn phone. Now we've got a lead on the phone. Second step is book the call. There's some really easy ways to overcome the price objection or the price digging rather on the phone. One of my favorites, Joe, is just to follow our process. In fact, if you guys are listening to this, we're going to make sure we give away the brighter day call process. All you got to do is open the description if you're on YouTube and it's going to be linked right in there. I think on the podcast we can do the same. But I want you guys to get this and I want you to follow the process. Because a lot of times people might just start early in the call and just say, well, how much is it for you to come and add a circuit in my bedroom? Right. But a lot of times that's completely overcome by just saying, hey, perfect. You've made the right call. That's our specialty. Let me just get your name again and your address and make sure you're even in an area that we serve. And by the time you get all those commitments of their information, they're able to let go of the price and just actually agree to have someone come to the house. What are your thoughts on that, Joe?

SPEAKER_01 7:13

I love it. It's actually the word for it is the three keys to the castle. Because if you can get someone and actually deflects the conversation and they start investing information in you, it actually does enact the some cost fallacy where someone's like, Well, I'm already here, I've already given you this stuff. Now let me at least give you a little more information, let's talk. So I get the name and the full name. I often even will tease like, oh, before I look you up, are you currently a first class member? Then I'm like, hey, the last thing I want to do is disrespect your time and have this call dropped off and not be able to reach back to you. Is this the right number? I already have a call RD, but is this the right number to get back to you? And again, I don't want to waste your time. I got to make sure you're even in our area. So where would we be going in order to help you with this? And now I've got their name, their number, their address. Great, phenomenal. Lead book. Let's go.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

And I know there's a lot of guys listening to this that again are thinking, well, this is kind of obvious. Obviously, we're gonna do our best on the phone. But guys, I'm telling you, if you pay attention to your phones, if you pay attention to your office, it will grow too. You can always improve. Service Titan did a study, which of course is biased to bigger companies. They didn't say the average company size, but you could imagine Service Titan users are three to five million at least on average. Now, out of those averages, they found that there is a 35% from the article I read, 35% booking rate overall, from actual calls in to actual calls booked, assuming that data is correct. But what was more interesting is they said for every 5% that we increase, that booking rate was worth on average $100,000 in revenue to these companies. Now that, when I saw that, I was like, wow, I know there's some pieces missing, but to think 5% increase in booking rate, right? That means five more per hundred. Actually, just book an appointment with us. It's so hard to believe that that could be worth maybe $100,000 in revenue for us. Big breakthrough, something to really consider, guys. And Joe, what would you say then? Just quick, let's say the three keys to the castle don't quite get us there, and there's still someone hooked on. I just want to quote, it's that kind of attitude. What do you start to lean into to get this call booked and have a chance at this lead?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

So the thing I would want to do, and actually a couple different directions. It would either be we would start by wanting to help them, like I did previously and saying I'm not the electrician, and let's say, well, can you talk to an electrician? Right? And be like, well, this is what I can do for you. Are you looking for a high price or are you looking for a low price? Now, naturally, someone's gonna say, I'm looking for a low price. Phenomenal. The thing is, is I'm gonna give you a low price in the lowest possible scenario we've seen, but I want you to know it's very unlikely gonna meet your needs because I don't know what we're dealing with when we come to your home. So it's likely just gonna get our foot in the door and you're gonna be pissed when you give it the real number. On the other side, if you're looking for a high number, we can do that. That actually would be preferred because then we can cover our butt. That way we can show up and say, well, whatever it is, I know it's not gonna be more than this. But at the same time, I'm gonna give you that number and you're also not gonna let me come because it's not gonna apply to your situation, but it's gonna scare you off. That's why what we do is focus so much on giving you the right number. We properly evaluate it, we design a range of choices that we urin full control of the budget, the level of quality, and the service you're investing. All we ask is a time to actually serve you in that way. When's the best time to come and help you with this?

SPEAKER_03 10:13

Yeah, I love that. And I always say to guys, too, don't be afraid to tell them that what we do also is lock in that price and we never move no matter what we find behind the walls. So you're always sure on what you're going to be spending with us. So important. Guys, I hope that helps. So that's number two, failure to book the call. Book more calls, it's gonna equal more revenue, right? Failure number three, failure to hold the appointment. This one gets interesting, and there's actually an Uber study I want to tie in that was really, really cool. They talked about idleness aversion. Now, that might be a little complex. So let me break down what this means. It means that humans are naturally pretty paranoid. And so, in the absence of communication, in the absence of confirmation, we assume the worst. Have you ever heard this before, Joe? I've lived it.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

It's like literally you have someone and say, he's gonna be at your house at this time, and it's getting minutes and minutes and minutes. I'm always like, oh God, this guy's gonna make me late. He's just two minutes down the road, but I'm thinking he hasn't even left his house yet.

SPEAKER_03 11:09

Holding the appointments just as important. If you ever suffered from cancellations, either pre-sale or post-sale, there's some important steps throughout a process that help guys do this. You need to be communicating with your customer, especially in, you know, we talk about if you've followed us for any length of time, you've heard us talk about demand calls and opportunity calls. Well, slightly different natures, but a demand call has that element of time being really a priority. Something interrupted your potential customer's day, they've got a problem, and physically they want that problem solved in as physical least amount of time as possible. So if your system's not set up right to hold that appointment, such as we recommend having like a diagnostic fee, right? Yeah, I wouldn't say the word fee, but it'll be a diagnostic service. Thank you. Right? To hold that in so they're committed to so that even if they have to wait a couple of days to get there, that they're assured that you can solve this problem. That's really important. Opportunity calls tend to be more driven by a bit of a different driving force. It doesn't mean they won't spend, it doesn't mean these are bad customers, it means they deserve their different approach. Joe, go ahead, brother.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

There's actually another fact as well, and we've found that two weeks is the dead drop time where if someone actually is booked further out than two weeks, the chance of them canceling it goes substantially higher. So if you think about it, the additional communication leading up to that time reduces the chance that they're gonna cancel. So we know we don't want to go further than this, but the less communication happens within that time, that risk goes up.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

Yeah, some really crafty ways, and you'll hear this from some of the big players. Like, I don't listen to Tommy Miller too much, but one of the last podcasts I did clock in with him, he was actually talking about even sending videos. I know this is advanced level stuff, but they'll send videos while people wait to introduce the tech and the team that they're waiting for. So you already know who's coming to the house. And what does that really tell the client? It tells them that, oh, this is someone I can trust and they've got my back here. I'm handled. Any absence of that, the opposite of that is do they have me? This is still important. It keeps coming up for me. I want this done, but I don't know. I haven't heard from them. Maybe I call someone else. And it seems so irrational to call someone else at that time, but there's like a feelings hurt button in there that's like, well, they can't want my business that bad. Do you know that button I'm talking about, Joe?

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Exactly. It's where we want to have the customer feel good, but unfortunately in these moments, they feel untouched, untouched in a way. And because of that, it actually can get buyers' remorse before they even purchase anything. Did I really go with the right company? Are these really the right people to go with? You know, maybe I should actually get a couple other calls just in case. And then the only thing is they were worried because you didn't send them a message the day after. That's really all it was.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

Yep. So number three, guys, failure to hold the appointment. Really good way to help you with this is just communicate more between the time you book it and the time that you're going to actually go. Heck, even the same day, right? Like the reach out in the morning to let them know, hey, we're gonna be here within a couple hours, looking forward to meeting you again. This is so and so. Hey, you guys, if this episode sparks something for you, imagine stacking that every single week. That's how businesses stop flickering and start running steady. If you subscribe to the show or leave a review if you're on audio, and if you're driving down the road, please pull over when it's safe because I've got something you're not gonna want to skip. For every person that subscribes and or leaves a review and fills out the form below, letting us know that you did that thing, we're gonna draw one monthly subscriber for our open circuit lifetime membership worth $1,500. And that's not all. Every six months, we're actually gonna draw another subscriber for our $5,000 scholarship, which you can use for any of our electric service packages to get your business and your service rocking better than ever. Come on, guys, let's brighten this thing up. Is it gonna be you? Back to the show. Number four, finally, we're going to an appointment. Joe, I have a feeling this might be your favorite. Well, these last three might be your favorites, but number four is failure to focus. Yep. Here's why I wrote it this way, and what I mean by that failure to focus on the right things at the right time with the right people. When you're there, are you focused on just trying to make a sale? Are you focused on troubleshooting on the way to the call? Are you focused on these things? Because those are the wrong things. Those are very selfish things. And they only make you more of an authority. Walk in, oh, I know what's happening here. I could solve this in short time. And you just look like a big dick instead of someone who actually reaches in to understand their customer. And so I use the word focus for this one because here's how I picture it: a process done right is done right through muscle memory, and your entire attention and intention is focused on your customer and their needs at that time. What are your thoughts on this, Joe?

SPEAKER_01 16:11

So you're completely correct. And the cool thing is, we literally just did a masterclass on this exact topic where someone would come in and get the call saying, Hey, I have one outlet I need you to change. It's feeling a little loose. The technician diagnoses it on the way there. They're already thinking they wasted their time because they don't think someone's gonna want to buy, they don't follow the process as to as accurately as they should, because the process isn't as followed, the customer doesn't see the same value. When they see, don't see the same value, they don't purchase at your premium ticket, and you come back to a self-filling prophecy saying, I knew they weren't gonna buy, this was a waste of my time. So are we focusing on the right thing, or are we just stuck in our own heads thinking this call won't go right before we even get there?

SPEAKER_03 16:53

And I think there's an argument against the old inspection sheets. And there was a time where I was a believer in these, but the more and more I've hung out with you and seen this work without it, Joe, just being fully transparent and honest here, the more I've realized that anytime I was using an inspection sheet, I was looking down instead of looking at my customer.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Bingo.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

That might be the biggest hole that I've learned over these years is you need to look at your customer a little bit more and look at your job a little bit less, especially in these initial consultation appointments. That check sheet, it's a crutch for something that you should just have in your muscle memory. These are things that you should just know to look for. You're a trained electrician. Please spend less time on the page and more time with your customer. That would be my overall message. Anything you want to add to that, Joe?

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Yeah, I was gonna say now, as the individual that I am, it's less about the verbal and it's more about the non-verbal cues that they're gonna get. So if you're looking down at your cheat sheet and they look at you and they're rolling their eyes, you're not gonna pick that up. Or if they start shifting side to side, showing they're uncomfortable, or if you notice they start clenching their hands, or they start like there's a lot of things that will give away their feeling. And if you can't recognize what they're feeling in a moment, you can't course correct. You may have made a mistake with the wrong word, and now the call is starting to unravel while you're going, oh, it's a tanning smoke detector. We're gonna change that thing.

SPEAKER_03 18:10

That's awesome. You just reminded me of something. I don't know why this is tying in, but right now I'm gonna pause this at four for a moment. We got five and six, and they're even bigger and badder and much more important as we go through this, but I want to do a win of the week. We'll do it. Yesterday it was confirmed that one of our current night school clients, Matt, Matt and his wife Randy, working together, Eastern Canada, great couple, awesome people. And what happened is they got a call and they followed the play loosely, right? And they learned about if there was any other electrician ever. And there was another electrician, and in fact, that electrician told the homeowner to look it up on YouTube and to essentially fix it themselves. Okay, here's why this is win of the week, though. If you can believe this, I know this is comical, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

He jumps in the WhatsApp group yesterday and he's like, Well, 12K gold sale. And we're like, This is awesome. What was the job about? What was it like? He's like, Oh, it's the YouTube one I told you guys about in class. So one electrician literally, I know a lot of you guys rolling your eyes, listen to this, going, that ain't me for sure. But you gotta know this happens even in moments of weakness. We might just have enough, endurance runs out, we have just like our plates full, we're not into it, schedule's tight, we're just like, whatever, you know, go do this, call this other person. Just so you're aware, though, just so we're all on the same page, there's almost always more meat on the bone. And these last two are gonna tie perfectly into that. But Joe, what do you think of that win of the week? 12k gold from a YouTube referral.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

First off, that's phenomenal. Like, I absolutely love that. And as you're saying it, and you're like, no one would ever send a client to go to YouTube. I actually just experienced this, I think, one or two months ago, where I had an issue with my water filtration system. And as usual, I can't seem to find good service. I go in there and I'm working with it, and the guy's like, Well, here's the thing. I don't have the part with me. But uh, if you want, here's a picture of the part number. You can order this part number, and when you get it, you could either do it yourself by unscrewing this and putting it in, or if you'd like, you can give me a call. It'll be a separate dispatch for you for me to come out. But like, you know, it shouldn't be that hard. I don't have it with me. So here's the diagnostic charge for today. But yeah, if you want us to come back, let us know.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

It's like so confused by that.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Yeah, it's it's I literally sat there. I'm like, I want to come back.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

Here's all the parts. This used to be a calculator. Good luck.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

It's wild, it's absolutely wild. And it was like, you know what? I've invested this water softening system and water filtration for a damn good reason. I want it maintained. I paid you to come up. And you're gonna tell me to go do it myself? No, not gonna fly.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

This is so right in line with all the times that customers tell us, well, we only want this, we're providing parts for this, and so don't even estimate that. Then we have someone like Nathan Miles come on in his podcast right after a call like that, sell a platinum from it, you know, deep dive and like, why do you think that happened? Why do you think they say one thing and then at the end they choose much more than that? Just to recap that, Joe, what are your thoughts on this phenomenon that happens?

SPEAKER_01 21:07

It's along the lines of you don't know what you want until you know what's on the menu. Like I've sat down at a restaurant before and been like, I go on this thing, I want this. But really, when I look at it, I'm like, actually, that sounds really nice. How you translate it into electrical service is I remember going to a call where the homeowner said, Hey, I'm gonna run all the home runs, I'm gonna have all these things, all you gotta do is tie it in the panel and sign off for the license. But when I presented the solution, the full rewire package, it was to him and his wife. His wife slaps him and was like, Hey, when are you gonna have the time to do this? My in-laws are moving in in two months and you haven't even got the framing up. And he's like, actually, yeah, you're right. I didn't think about that. Okay, you can do the whole thing. And it'd be like a $17,000 job. So it really does happen because people don't consider all the things that go into getting it done.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

Yeah, I love Nathan's approach on that one too. I believe he's generally just said, like, hey, that's awesome that you know what you want, just so you know. How we work, I literally have to make a list of solutions so you can see the best we could offer, the lowest you have complete control, but I'll make sure one of those options exactly what you're asking for. So it's as easy at the end, right? Just that idea of you make less work for me, that's awesome. But I still have to follow this, unfortunately. Love the concept. Do you think that your server at a restaurant has something to do with how much you choose on that menu?

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Oh my god, yes. And it actually comes down to two words. Great choice. So if you're going down and someone opens it up, their energy and how they come across makes you feel, all right, this is a good thing to do. But if they are encouraging you, like, hey, first of all, you guys looking for anything to drink? Actually, what do you like? It's not even, hey, it's not even like it. It's like, what do you what do you want to drink? Let me get you something. Sure, well, if you're offering, yeah, I still gotta pay for it, but it's you want to entice it. But the best thing someone can do is when you make a selection, that's a great choice. And we that's why we do the exact same thing in our process.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Yeah, we were out for dinner with Mariel's old friends. She hadn't seen this dude. They played volleyball together 20 years ago. So one of those like awkward, kind of like, okay, we're gonna go for dinner with people we don't know. But what was interesting is we made equal friends with the server at the time. And I was paying attention to my tip at the end, which I did give her the 25, which was the biggest percentage that they just naturally give you a selection, an option for. And I remember at the time, because we all have this, every time we look at is it 18, 20, 25, right? Is it 10, 15, 20, whatever the tip machine says, you're make you're choosing an option and you're quickly reflecting on that experience. And because this girl actually knew Meryl's dad was a high school teacher at the high school we went to, she's like, Oh, Mr. Andy, dude's the best, man. That guy's a G. What an awesome guy. And she just like laid it on thick. She loved him. And I realized that was part of my tip. Just the relation piece. Just like, I feel like I made a friend here. You get more.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yeah, going the extra mile. Like, you know, if someone were to be familiar with the menu, instead of saying, like, let's say, oh, you have an allergy, and instead of going, Oh, I'm gonna have to ask the chef and you have to go back. But actually, I know a lot about that. Believe it, I have I have a friend who has that same concern, and this is what they found was one of the best things on the menu. I personally would endorse it. Now I'm not worried about them glutening the food. I'm like, all right, great. You want this? You said it's a good idea. Thank you for recognizing. I'll be happy to help. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 24:16

Absolutely. Nailed it. Number four, guys. That was number four. Failure to focus on the right things while you're there. We all know the electrical. Yes, of course, you have to scope that out. But do you know your customer? You can get to know them enough that you can frame your options, that menu for them, like Joe just said. Here's some things because you're gluten intolerant. Here's the menu I made for you. Here's the menu I would focus on. That's so important. So important. Number five, now we're after the call, and this one's huge. Failure to follow up. Honestly, we could have made this list seven because I'm realizing and saying this, can I tuck a bonus one in here? I know we don't have infinite time. Sure. Can we just say like failure to do a good work order process and then have your installers come and bomb this too? That should have been on this list.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

That for sure, because there's nothing worse. Like, truly, there is nothing worse than you buying from a salesperson and connecting with this person and liking this guy, and now you're gonna invite him to the barbecue and everything's all good. And then suddenly the tech shows up and they do not look like this guy. It looks like all different kind of person, and then like, yeah, where's the panel? I don't really know where we're going here. It's like, Joe didn't tell you. Nah, he just said I gotta change this thing. He said to find the panel somewhere, somewhere in the basement. Totally.

SPEAKER_03 25:30

Let's even draw this out a bit in your mind. So, like, okay, terrible work order process, not enough photos, not enough details, don't have the who, what, and the why. Right. And so as a result, like Joe's saying, they don't know where shit is, they don't even know the full scope, they don't know who asked for what, they're asking the wrong person weird questions. And then what happens following this? Callbacks. Very easily seen how this erodes your profitability and just destroys customer relationships. Nobody wants a callback.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

There's one more thing on that. And I personally had to experience it. If you don't know the who, what, and the why, when the homeowner asks you, because you're the tech, they're the installer, they'll trust you more than anyone because you have no reason to sell them anything. They're gonna go, hey Joe, was this really necessary? If they don't know why you offered it, like literally what happened to me was the homeowner goes, Do we really need to change all these things? He goes, Oh, probably not. You know, I think I could have just changed a dimmer and been fine with it. But you know, Joe put it on the work order as soon as we gotta get it done. And ended up being a huge blowout in a refund situation. They hated us. Terrible review. Because the installer couldn't say, you know what it was. The reason was was your son's autistic and sensitive to these flickering lights. So we could have just changed a dimmer, but I wanted to be sure it was done, and that's why you changed all of them. That way you'd be flicker-free. That would have changed the whole game.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

Massive. Yeah, so that's a new five then. Failure to pass off, failure to work order process, failure to process what just sold so that your team can know how to serve the customer at the highest level. But also, we could tuck in the installer upgrade on that same one because that work order process helps them identify also where they held back on their investment a bit, some areas of opportunity, maybe during the climax of an installation. So that installer upgrade's massive. But if you don't have this process in place, who knows what you could be missing? It's a shit ton.

SPEAKER_01 27:19

It's like part two episode, man. Like this sounds great. Like we could do a whole separate topic.

SPEAKER_03 27:23

Yeah, yeah. So that was five. Five. We just upgraded it. That failure to process this sale properly, have a work order process that serves you. So that moves six to failure to follow up. Now, this is massive. This is massive. A unsold follow-up. A lot of us, if you're listening to us, you probably do two call closes on your opportunities. Even if not, if you're just dishing an email, then you have that awkward conversation inside your head at night. Oh, should I reach out to them again? Should I text them again? Either it's you or it's your team. But the unsold follow-up is a massive piece of this. I don't know how you feel about this entirely, Joe, a refresh view here tonight, but like I look at this like a battlefield.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

Someone has let us know that they're in pain out there. They're out there, they need help. And it's our duty to help them. And we need to either get them to say, yes, I'm Anne and I want this. Yes, I want this, but I can't right now for XYZ reason. And I want it at this time so that we know when to come back and approach it again. Yes, I got someone else, or no, I'm not interested in working with you. Like if I don't have that clarity, that clearer future, then I'm a mess inside. Yeah. And the longer that list grows, the bigger that mess becomes. Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 28:40

You know, I like the battlefield analogy because what came to my mind was a shooting technique called fire aim fire. Where what you do is you may not have the means of placing the accurate round, but you gotta do the quick draw. That you see where it lands, you reaim, and then you fire. So what I'm hearing in this is, you know what? We tried hitting the target and we didn't. It didn't go through for whatever reason, didn't penetrate. So what we did was we called them back, and now this is the re-aim. I'm trying to refocus on what we actually missed. Why did we miss? What happened? What went wrong? And now that we know what went wrong, we're gonna re-fire. Either that we're going to try to re-engage this client, or we're gonna change our process, say, guys, this part of the process is done, or this needs to be done better because we're losing clients from this point.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

Yeah. Most guys run their business like there's no money in that, or like there's no value in that. And both are just not true. Think about the value, even of someone telling you they went with someone else and then telling you why, and you having a minute to go into detail on why that was. Think about the value of following up and them saying, Hey, I'm really glad you followed up, man. I haven't had time for this, but clearly I need your help. Well, let's move forward. Which, whether you doubt that or not, listening to this, it happens. We've got these recorded testimonies and wins in our vault that are overflowing with guys that see wins all throughout these call stalls. And those that consistently address this list do not question it. They do the follow-up, they make sure they know what outcome are we going to achieve with this client? Are they with someone else? Are they still needing this? Did they have intent to move forward and win? Or is there questions I need to answer still? Are there problems, objections I need to solve? Where is that clearer future? Anything else to add to this one, Joe?

SPEAKER_01 30:20

I mean, in the time we have, it seems like there's so much we can dive into. Because I'd say even in the follow-up, it shows commitment. Because imagine this if you're a buyer, but you try building a relationship with this person and we really connected, we really engaged and we're emotional there, but I didn't buy, and you never call me back and you never check back in, I'm like, that was a salesperson and I just dodged a bullet. But if that person called back and was like, now granted, I'm never gonna say I'm checking in, I'm never gonna say I'm following up, because that implies sales angle. But if it's I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay, or even if you didn't go with us, that you got that problem taken care of, because that's really what I'm concerned about at the end of the day. How did it get how did it go? Is everything all right? We're able to get that taken care of. Now I know this person, even though I didn't buy, shows that they care. And that is gonna give me a huge guilt trip personally if I didn't buy from this guy and he still cares about me. And if I haven't made that purchase already, and now I know like this guy does care, and therefore, maybe I should reconsider him compared to the three guys who emailed me a quote and never even did anything about it.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

Yep. So, number six, guys, there it is. Failure to follow up. That's important. We literally have about 90 seconds here, so we're gonna drop seven like it's hot, and we're gonna get the F out of here. But I want to start this one with a story. We had Guillermo Castillo on the podcast, and if you guys remember this last one, we came up with, or what he shared, was what we call the second insight, which meant that he told us at that time his average ticket for the first transaction with a customer was just over $2,000 at that time. And they had a slow leads year, so every lead needed to be made the most of. But they hired a data company to come in, and that data company found that their second transaction average lifetime value. So it went from $2,000 average ticket to $3x, over $6,000 from repeat customers. And if your process isn't in place to get clients to repeat, then you might have a problem with fail number seven, which is failure to happy call and make sure you actually accomplish the thing you set out to accomplish. Joe, what are your thoughts on this one?

SPEAKER_01 32:22

You know, there's one last thing that may not have been discussed, and that is the result of not getting the review and ensuring they're at least neutral or happy. And here's what I mean by that yes, more reviews equals more people will call you. So there's a reason you'd want to get it. But ensuring they're satisfied is more important because let's say they're not satisfied, the majority don't flame you online. They're not gonna go for your throat one star you. What they're gonna do is even worse. They're gonna say, no, it's all right. No, I just went with someone else. But really, every time someone else asks for an electrical problem, they're gonna mention you that you didn't do the job. Or if you ever get brought up in conversation, they're gonna tell how you didn't satisfy them. That's the worst thing can happen because you can't fix that because you don't know what's happening.

SPEAKER_03 33:07

Reminds me of that sad country song when you say nothing at all. That's it for this week, guys. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Find the link for the brighter day call process below, and we're gonna see you next week with more great podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Be blessed, friends. See you soon.