Ep 159 - Obliterate Objections BEFORE They Happen

Hello again, and what is up, electricpreneurs? Welcome back to another episode of Electricpreneurs Secrets, the Electricians podcast, episode 159,. If you can believe that, I have with me, as always, my esteemed co-host and business partner, joseph the sales bot, luke Canny and I, of course, and Clay Neumeyer, the Canadian pleasant peasant. I've left that up long enough now, joe, that when people get on a call with us, with me, they're like hey, the pleasant peasant, nice to meet you. Finally, I love that. I do find humor in that. It's hilarious. But listen, here's what you need to know about us If you haven't seen us before. We're just a couple of master electricians with business addictions that are tirelessly, relentlessly, helping you master your sales, simplify your pricing and deliver premium-level electrical service. Big question would it be wrong of us to want to do that for them, joe?

Not at all. I think, honestly, teaching service is one of the highest honors you can aspire to, so I'm grateful to do it.

Oh, you just reminded me of a quote and it came from King George IV.

Okay so, we're dating ourselves. Go for it.

Yeah, man, service is the highest form of distinction. Somewhere along the line, we've all forgotten that. I don't know where it got lost, but it did. Here's the proof. When's the last time you had great service, joe?

I mean, I'm a bit of an outlier here. It seems like almost every time I go for customer service I'm getting the worst of it, but I would say, as far as the average person goes, it's still pretty dismal, because a lot of us were taught how to do the job, but we weren't always taught why we're doing it and how to articulate it, and that's really where the gap comes down.

You know what Customer service training might even be beginning at home. Maybe there's some real truth to that, but that's not our intention. Today we got much more important things to get into. I will bring this up, though, before we do. Joe again has become a plot of bad customer service. With the glasses that he's wearing, would you like to share your glasses story.

Yeah, I'd love to tell him about that. All right, go ahead.

Okay.

So, as you guys all tell, I'm wearing a pair of glasses now. The reason why is I've realized my vision's really started to go over the years and I'm getting to a point where one eye is really really getting bad. So I ended up going and getting a brand new pair. This is actually just my driving glasses, that's all it is. I went out, I got a new pair, custom fit, got everything included with it, obviously wanted to get the best I could, because this is what I'm doing all the time. And I literally showed up after calling, weeks and weeks of being like where are they? Where are they? Where are they? They said, hey, they finally came in. I go midday, I'm going to rush right out before our podcast. Come back, find out that one. I literally cannot see through To the point where I really take them off and you'd believe my vision was actually worse putting them on than it was keeping them off and they were like oh yeah, well, she's on vacation, so you'll just have to come back when you're ready, and then we'll have to go through this process all over again to get the lenses refit. So, yeah, sorry. And then literally the tenant went right back and started doing after this conversation just went right back to typing on the computer. Just nothing.

Oh man, this reminds me of family night on the monopoly table. Hold that community chest always risky, back to Go, do not. Or how does that go?

do not collect and yeah, you do not pass. Go, do not collect $200.

There you go, go to jail. We got a very important topic. We're continuing on from yesterday. Let's set the scene a little bit, though. If you are already using our strategies, this is exactly what this scene might look like. If you're not using our strategies yet, I just could ask why. We give them away for free every week. So join us again tomorrow for more excitement on what that free value piece looks like this week. But I can tell you it's going to be an objection handle lesson guide, with even a bit of a role play that you get to watch, of Joe getting Handling this objection himself. So we are getting there, guys, we are breaking this out, but, again, we just want to lay down the proper foundation for this and make sure that you guys are able to actually obliterate objections before they happen by having a foundation that supports objection handling, instead of leaving it to a moment, a chance, where someone may or may not, who represents you, may or may not actually Hold that value to be true and actually be able to speak from the heart, fully understanding that they believe what they're saying. Mm-hmm, here's the situation. You got a call. Let's say it's a demand call. Gfi was the example yesterday. Okay, you go, you're running the play, you're being patient, right? Everyone knows that big R word. We're trying to build rapport, whatever the hell that means. Right, trying to become friends with this person and serve them. Likely, you had a challenge, trying to go to the panel first and they can't understand why you're not just going to the GFI and fixing this thing already. First problem. Right, don't worry, we're gonna get there. You run your play. You put in the time to build these options In front of them, if you're trained by us, six options. So this time, this effort, the angst that goes into that, there's all this build up and then you present your tallest option first, mm-hmm, and they scan right to the bottom and go why the heck is it $360 to fix my GFI? That's not familiar, joe.

It does, and it's one of those things that I feel like there are a lot of Electricians who work in the residential field who are just clutching their chest going like oh, it's just causes heartburn. Hearing this so often, I honestly think there's very few things that feel worse than putting the time in to build the relationship, connect bond building options, diagnosing the home, doing all these things Only to be told at the end the client doesn't see the value of what you're trying to produce. So I'd like to open the first thing that needs to happen here. Is it okay if I just kind of jump into it?

Yeah, man, then do some root analysis here, let's get into it.

So the very first thing that needs to happen is you need to control your mindset. The reason why that's absolutely essential is I talked about earlier how you could be frustrated. Now, clay, if I were to be frustrated, let's say you're my customer and you give me an objection like why does it cost so much? And my first thing was like, well, let me tell you, do I am. I have a strong opportunity to really connect with you here.

What's going to feel like it right.

Yeah, right. So we need to make sure that, before we even handle anything else, that we shift into a gratitude mindset. That's hey, this customer is asking a question. They're not telling you, no, they're simply asking why is it so much? And we can't toss the entire relationship we just had with them previously, and we cannot forget about the commitments they gave, as well as the value that we've already demonstrated.

And what do you mean by commitments they gave? Okay, so using our process.

We have multiple commitments. Throughout the call. On an opportunity to call, you have up to eight commitments when the client could give you positive Affirmations that they want to move forward and follow this play. Now, if you don't keep record or mental inventory of those commitments, they're useless, they're just words in the wind. But it's very powerful when you can say I can understand where you're coming from, but if you don't mind me asking you a question, I mean, when we talked about this previously, what did you say? Or when we discussed this, what did you feel would be the best thing to do? Using their words Defeats the situation, because you can never use your words to argue with someone, but they will listen to theirs. So as long as you remember their words, you can present it almost like holding up a mirror Saying well, here's how I'm seeing it and here's how we described it. Where did I, where am I lost here? Please fill me in on what I misunderstood so that we can help you on a better level. I.

Think that's a really powerful share and there's something at a higher level I just want to kind of share as a vision here. You're the person in this situation that deals with this day in, day out.

Mm-hmm.

So you have the experience, you have the play, or should have the consistent play, the routine that you're following Correct. They're the person that rarely deals with this, maybe once, twice a year at tops for the various things they need home services for that, fair to say.

Yeah. I really would agree with that.

So, by having your opportunity of the repetition, which is the father of learning, as we know, wouldn't it only make sense to have these commitments built in and to have some intent go into that play, because you can see the future and the future is, you know, that this comes down to options at a table, in a presentation, and they don't really know that entirely, they don't really see it. So I love what you're saying about the commitments, because why wouldn't you then set up some inception, almost to create a moment later where they can then reflect on what they said, not what you told them to think Exactly?

So it's like situations where someone will come in and say, well, hey, you know, jimmy John said he can come in and he would do this for $75. I completely understand where you're coming from and I'm not trying to discount Jimmy John whatsoever, but if you don't mind me asking, remember, we were down at the panel and we were down at the main electrical system and we're discussing different things that we can do, and I remember asking about Jimmy John's why did you say that he didn't call him back for this? Oh well, he wasn't available for the next two weeks. Well, okay, well, I'd be happy to lower my price if I didn't have to come back for the next several weeks. I was under the impression that, because the service was down and laying in your yard, that it had to happen today. Was I wrong in that thought? No, we do need to get it done. Okay, I'm happy to help, I would like to proceed, and now we've just switched it because now Jimmy John's gone, I could be cheap if I was out two weeks and couldn't help you today, but you have no power right now. So what would you like me to do?

Really powerful, share Really powerful. And at the base of this, I really see three problems. We touched on the first one really big time yesterday is your value. Yes, and one of the biggest ways we defeat this like when people come into our program, pricing is the first piece of the offer we work on. Why? It's not just because we want to make more money. It's also because when you get to the door, when you get to the presentation, when you get to this conversation with that client, you need to know exactly where you stand. And where you stand is on top of your pricing. That's built to provide you with a sustainable future and a sustainable service company that you otherwise wouldn't have. I mean, by simple deduction, what happens if we keep discounting to beat this objection? Oh God.

Well, it's honestly the equivalent and I don't mean to be too graphic with it, but it's the equivalent of cutting yourself. And I can explain why Because when you lower your price, you may not see an initial bleed. It happens, right, this job well, I have a little bit in this job. One cut, well, I go to the next job, I can discount that too. Another cut, I can go again. And now you don't realize, but you're starting to drip, because where is the value? The only way you can stop the bleeding is by raising your price somewhere else. But you can't raise your price somewhere else because now you've created an inconsistent rapport with your clients and if you realize that your default is not only lowering your price, it becomes a habit, and habits become hard to break, especially when you're in heat of the moment.

Death by a thousand cuts. I love that. And it contributes to the second problem their value. I'm not talking about your clients, I'm talking about your staff. If you're a sustainable service company ever hoping to pass this phishing test, then you're going to need some staff right. And what are they going to do? Because you could sit there and tell them well, don't do it like this, Don't discount, Don't do this, but whatever you do, they will follow Right. People don't rise to the highest imagined versions of ourselves. We fall to the lowest accepted standard and if you can do it, they can do it too, they being your staff right and you can't even do much about that because it would be hypocritical at that point. The second challenge at this level the problem, Joe, I would like to introduce says their belief in your price. Have you ever encountered it where your staff didn't believe in the price that you charged?

Yeah, and I have to admit that it was actually a case that happened when we would hire new people because we would expose them to our numbers. We would say this is what things cost, this is why they cost. These are how things are broken down. But then there would be challenges where people would say, well, hey, it only took us like two, three hours. Why are we charging this? Well, it's because we don't charge by the hour, we charge by the outcome. This is the outcome that the client wanted to achieve. We wouldn't raise our price if it took us longer. Why would we lower it if it took us less? We've paid for the outcome. We've paid for the training. This is what they're receiving. They've gotten the product they've agreed to receive. It's like wow, I think we should discount it for this, this and this, and that was always a problem that came up.

And so, overcoming that, what do you suggest to the average service company that has that sort of uprising in their staff, where they just don't believe in that price?

So I've heard a lot of different methods and a lot of them hold water, but I can tell you what worked best for me yeah, please. So when you're in a situation where you have a set rate that you charge, you need to get your team's honest feedback about what's going on and why. What we found that was building a better relationship with our team. It allowed us to have more open conversations without having that boss-to-employee kind of dynamic role, because if we stayed in that role, the answers would always be what we wanted them to hear and not always what they really were thinking. By reducing that kind of status to say we can be on equal playing field, we can talk as equal as we can figure this out, then, usually, either when they're off the clock or whether we're on a job or wherever, be, like hey, I just wanted to get your opinion on things. How do you feel like we're doing, do you feel like we're serving our clients enough? Where do you think we can improve? How do you think we can do a better job for them? And usually, if you ask any technician, they have a whole list of reasons why you need to do things better or how you need to get to the jobs faster. We need to lower our prices, we need to get better insurances, we need to make sure our vans run better, we need to get better material. All these things will come up better, better, better, better, better. And then you could say OK, so I happily would be able to do all those things, but just so we're on the same page, does that mean you're OK with also a price increase? And now you can hear well, I don't want to do that. Our price is already high. So you can correlate the difference between. I'm willing to do whatever you want. If you think that this would help the customer be served better, I'm happy to do it. But you have to also understand that the money has to come from somewhere, and it's not coming from us and it's not coming from you. So where does it come from? I love that. That's usually where the breakthrough came in. Just say find the money, tell me. Tell me where it is. I'll even tell you my salary, like, where's the money going to come from? Ok, and it can't come from pay cuts, because I'm not cutting yours, you're not cutting mine. So what are we doing?

And I love that share. And I just want to say again that ties directly into that first problem problem. The first problem problem, the first pricing problem that we talked about, which was uncovering really what it takes to build this business in the way that we see it being built and become that sustainable Feed a bunch of families, have impact in your community kind of business. And if you did that exercise first, then you have no problem with what Joe just said, because you'll have all the numbers, you'll know it, you'll know it all guys. And that brings us to the third part of this problem, which is just the articulation of and what Joe began to make an example of here already. See once, problem one your value is solved and your pricing and your firm on what that looks like and you can stick to your offer. And problem two you can train and lead with vision and mission and passion and have a staff that follows you and has some input on that brand. That's what Joe just displayed A little tiny lever that you gave them to allow them to feel the weight of it. That's all that was. Third, we can finally work on the articulation of this, and I know there's people listening from even yesterday's episode. That are just like man. Can you just tell us how to handle the objection?

That's the point we are.

We are telling you guys, like no one's ever told you before, this is not the lazy man's. Here's the 12-page guide to just remember and mirror and answer anything that could come up in your presentation, because that's not truly handling objections. What happens when they word it differently? And now your staffs? So they're misunderstanding the objection, like you can't really be the sales bot without having the fundamentals of this stuff. Is that fair to say?

Yeah, I mean realistically, there's a lot of factors that need to go into it, but if you want to bring it down to the most simple concept possible, it's really just three things Do I believe in what I'm offering and do I feel like I'm offering for a fair value? Does my team know their roles? Are they committed to serving the client at the highest level and also believe in that value? And then, lastly, are they trained in a way that, if the customer were to come and pull them aside on the job Because, guys, let me know, this actually happens. It's happened to me where they'll pull over your installer on the job and say, hey, question for you. Do you think we really need to do this? Why are we doing this? And if they have no idea, they'll tell them the truth. And, unfortunately, what the truth might sound like is well, joe said to do it. I don't really know if it needs to be done, but this is what's on the work order. So this is what we're gonna do. Ouch yeah.

And then we're Big time, big time. So disgruntled customer following that one, right oh.

God, yeah, yeah, that happens. But the thing is is that we take everything in stride. If you're willing to fall, you're often being able to become stronger. So you don't in the future. But when you're always hesitant to try new things in fear of falling, you'll never grow beyond where you're currently standing.

Yeah, I've got great news for our listeners. If you're hearing this and also still salivating for the actual objection handle, I can tell you that with these fundamentals, with the responses to the problems we've mentioned, like your mindset, your leadership, leading with that vision, your staff's belief in what you present, what you bring to the table for your clients and the role play in training them to actually articulate that value, and, of course, styo, stick to your offer and be able to articulate that whole thing. Then what the product is is exactly what happened in sales class this morning. Do you wanna share what that's a bit about? Just at a high level, kinda how that went.

Yeah, I'm actually really, really proud of that, because I do like the opportunity to roll up my sleeves and be tested, because my view is that I'm always learning, regardless of who I'm teaching. I always wanna make sure that I don't come in saying I know everything. I'm coming in saying let me see what you know so that I can learn more from you. One of the situations that happened today was during our role play classes. One of our clients we love very much had this exact same problem. We were like hey, what do I do when they want to charge this much for just an outlet? And the problem was I heard the words just an outlet. And then I asked him to explain more and he was like okay, let's figure out the root cause. Why do you feel it's not worth it? Well, we've only been there for 10 minutes and it's only a $10 part. And we realized that by breaking it down, the value wasn't there because the process wasn't being followed to the T. What was being omitted was you cannot do this in 10 minutes. Realistically, you shouldn't even be doing the diagnosis step for 10 minutes. You should be able to say I'm going to the panel first. After I've built my four year report. I've diagnosed the system and the customer. I've learned why they've called me. I've learned why they didn't call the other person where they found us, why us in the first place. We then went to the problem, diagnosed that and what was connected to it, Step back, determined that now was the right time for a presentation, designed multiple options to front of the customer while educating them along the process, and then, lastly, getting into actually describing it. That's a 45 minute minimum right there, which means you've already demonstrated all the benefits of working with you, Meaning I follow the play and I'm looking for the root cause rather than just treating the symptom. I'm looking to highlight why our team is so much more effective. I'm looking to highlight the benefits of using Oscars were more available. And then I'm simply asking was I wrong to do this? Was I wrong to insist that I offer you a higher level of service, even if it meant I cost more? And more often than not, as in the case of today's situation, the answer is no, you're not wrong. So what ended up happening was, when our client tested us, I asked him please push me. Push me to an extent that you feel that you would have your clients push you, and the end result of that was that, after one or two objections, they didn't hold any more water because we built the framework and we said this is what you've told us, this is what we've seen. Am I wrong to wanna offer you this? And once we heard, no, you're not wrong. No, you were right to do so. All right, how would you like to proceed?

That's it. It's all washed out, man, as we've said so many times, taking it to the ridiculous. I love that, because it just gets to a place where it just runs dry, as you said, it can't even hold water. There's just nothing left to even argue. Already made all those commitments. I've already essentially said I need this, I said the timing I wanted and I said everything. But unfortunately I had a poor expectation of price as a client. I didn't realize that you were a premium provider. I thought maybe this could be $100, but the experience has been perfect and now I'm in a place where I just have to face myself and my own decision bore against this.

Can I give a magic line that I think would really help a lot of people, please? I think a little drip might be helpful in these situations. Yeah, so if you wanted to encapsulate this into just a couple of words, what it would sound like is this Well, clay, I understand where you're coming from. Obviously, you had a different expectation of what this would cost, and I can't blame you for it, because how often are you really doing this? Right now, I'm faced with just two choices. I could either do really really good quality work that I know that I can stand behind, but there's an investment because of it, or I can do the cheapest work that I can, so that you don't get mad at me at the upfront cost, but I risk making you unhappy long-term when you see the quality product. Was it wrong of me to want to give you something better, even if it cost more? And that's really the situation, because if that client says, yes, you were wrong, well then you realize that's not your client. They're just telling you even if you were better, even if you were higher quality, even if this made the house safer, even if this was more enjoyment, doesn't matter what the thing was. If I were to do this, would that disqualify me, and was I wrong to do so? It's yes or no question. If I wasn't wrong, okay, then let's explore that and let's determine why exactly you're feeling the way you feel about this. If they say it was wrong, well then I truly apologize for taking the time that I've taken, not because you're wasting my time, but unfortunately I feel like I've wasted yours, because my goal is to serve you at the highest level, and if we're not what you're looking for, then let me bow out of the situation, and I'm even happier to help you find someone that might be in the right level of service you're looking for, because I don't care who you work with, as long as you're being served to the level that you want.

And just to speak to something we call the value driver formula, coined by Alex Hormozzi here, what they're now facing, whatever the reasons were for saying yes to your question, is more time, delay, more effort and sacrifice, and so what they're actually facing now is the question of what's their time worth? Right, keep in mind, we are not ripping anyone off. This whole thing was about building value first. To ensure that that's not the case, and that's why I get behind this every single day of the week. Joe, I need you to answer one more question. I'm yours to command what's up. Who can do this?

Really, the person who can do this is the person who believes in it. And the reason why I say is this I won't want to say that everyone can do this, because I don't believe that everyone believes in themselves, but if you believe that you're doing things for the right reasons meaning that I want to serve my clients and you also are willing to charge enough to actually deliver what you believe in, then I feel you can do this. Where the gap is is when someone says well, I want to be cheap and I want to be quick, and then I want the client to love me, and that's where it's going to have a problem. So if you believe in doing great service and you're willing to charge enough to deliver it, then that is the person that I'm willing to train.

Whew, huge value, man. This has been an incredible episode. I cannot wait for tomorrow. Once again, we're actually going to share an objection lesson guide with you guys from our program, as well as a little more help with some of the actual role play side of it that everyone, I'm sure, is drooling for. Salivating for Joe. What do you say about a couple of action items today? You want action? All star both. What do you have?

to hear. I'm kind of tempted to hit the all star, but I'm willing to take both if you want. Okay, All right. So if I'm going to take both of them, let's start off with the most basic objection. The most basic objection that people will come up with is they won't like this right. My first question is to identify who is they because we usually conceptualize they as someone else, but that person is merely a reflection of your internal. If you believe that it's not worth it, then you'll often assume that they, whoever they are, won't. So the first, most basic and crucial action is do you believe in what you're charging? And the best way of answering that is actually with our all star action. So the all star action is if you believe in what you're doing, imagine yourself as a client. Would you call you and hire you at your rate for every one of your electrical problems? Because if you wouldn't, now, when your customer approaches you with a client concern or an objection, it's hard to argue against something you don't believe in. And if you don't believe that you would call your company, then you have to question why. What service are you truly providing? If you, the owner or the employee of the company, wouldn't use the person? You have your uniform on for it? Why is your sticker not on your panel? That's the all star, because when you can get in your own head and say, yes, I'm willing to call me and I'm willing to pay for it too, now you know you've built enough value that anyone can get behind.

Hard to sell a Mercedes when you drive a Ford Pinto.

That's a good way of describing it.

Great action items, Joe. I appreciate that, and we're sliding in at the end of a 30 minute, half an hour here and that makes a pretty good value episode. I would say I want to give a special shout out to Mike, Jason and Guillaume who joined us in the Facebook electricpreneur secrets group today and engaged with us. I appreciate you guys. We didn't have a chance to engage with you live, but Jason saying that all star action is a bright light there, so everyone's good man. Thank you guys so much. This has been another episode of electricpreneur secrets, the electricians podcast, where we keep showing up to help you master sales, simplify pricing and deliver premium level electrical service. I'm Clay Neumeyer. This is Joe Lucani signing off until tomorrow action Wednesday. Can't wait to give some free value to you guys and role play a little deeper. I'm so pumped. I can't wait. Cheers.