Ep 214 - How Safety Inspections Can Be Dangerous

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to another episode of Electric Pernurse Secrets. This is Articulation Tuesday. I'm your host, clay Neumeier, with me, as always, my esteemed co-host, joseph Lucchani, and we're the Electric Pernurs, a couple of master electricians with business addictions, and we want to welcome you to our freemium program with this daily coach call. This is the podcast One Thing series, and the investment for these calls is for you to take the hot seat. Pay attention, nothing else but promise to take action. Take everything we give, just promise to take action. It's totally fair to use this stuff. Guys, just remember to report your wins. And today we've got an important, important topic and this one's going to be polarizing again, joe how safety inspections can actually be dangerous to your clients, and I bet no one saw that coming. Brother, how are you doing today?

I'm doing great. I was going to say it's been a great. Really, it's almost been a great Tuesday. We ended up having an awesome class this morning. I got a nicely fresh shaved head, which just feels so, so nice.

It's a good day In fact, I haven't seen the beard brush out yet today.

Well, I've got it right here, so don't you worry about that. All we got to do is get into the most conversations where the stimmin' starts happening, and you'll see me brush away.

Every time I see you brush, I'm thinking like I should have my beard brush here. You were a beard brush in the van kind of guy, right? Oh yeah, no, I was.

Well, that's more of my sensory concerns. I can feel more things than the average person can. So when I actually use a brush, I brush top of my head, I brush the sides of my beard and it actually is more like a sensory relief. It's like. For me, it's like scratching an itch that you normally could not have gotten otherwise.

Nice man, nice, that's awesome, which makes me now feel like I'm going to start brushing on it. You're going to start the brushing. You know what I use it too, like I addressed this before little sandalwood in the beard, little brush every morning just makes a guy feel tip top right. No, I'm literally wearing sandalwood, everything right now. All right, man, Humor us, let's dive right into this. There is a problem happening out there, and I am guilty of this too. I have literally done this, I have coached people to do this and I have faced the very same issue that we're going to address today. I have no problem admitting that I was wrong, Joe, because you've actually taken me to a bit of a brighter place with this, a place that I understand now to be much more functional. And it's when we try to sell with a safety inspection, which so many electricians are going to the problem first when they get to the house and then pulling out a safety inspection and saying, hey, that's perfect. And with every call we do this complimentary safety inspection and the homeowners thinking what?

They're immediately thinking the same thing. All of us would be thinking at the same time. They're here to try to sell me something. This call must be too small for them, and therefore they've got to find all these other things so they can raise that ticket up.

And while that's actually rooted in good nature for everyone, because the safety inspections valid and many of them are well put together, heck, we even have one still that we give to people, but more as like a like training wheels to get to know the sort of things that we're looking for and make sure that we have that kind of top of mind. But the idea of training wheels is to eventually take them off.

Correct.

Otherwise I mean you just look kind of silly running down the block with your training wheels on.

I mean, don't judge me for my training wheels. I got rims on them and everything they spin.

All right man. So how is this dangerous, then? Help us out with that.

So the thing that I want to communicate here is that it's not physically dangerous, but it's dangerous to the relationship. Because let's create a random scenario here. Let's say that the customer called because you know what they have their ceiling fan that's not working in their master bedroom. So you, following a not our process, but following a process, you go and you're saying I'm going to write to the fault. I see the fan, you see the fan, I see it right here. Okay, great. Then I have to somehow justify to the customer why I need to offer a complementary safety inspection. And the problem is is that in the customer's mind they usually don't understand electrical systems as a whole. They know I turn the light on, turn the switch, the fan comes on doesn't work. I call an electrician or check the breaker. That's really the extent of the systems they have. So when we say a safety inspection, usually their thought of safety is contingent to that three foot by three foot space that's in their ceiling, or maybe to that room alone.

Yeah.

So when we start saying things like well, I need to check your smoke detectors, I need to check your GFI's, I need to make sure that things are bonded properly, I got to open your panel the thing that the customer is not thinking usually is that's a great service. I didn't know I needed all those things to be addressed. I'm glad you're doing this for me. Usually it's Wow, all right, either I don't need it and if you insist further, you're either not listening to me or you're trying to sell me something that I don't need.

Bingo, and I really want to touch on this because I don't think there's anyone saying it's the wrong thing to do that's not it at all, but even the device itself. We discussed this a bit yesterday about the two sides of the brain that we're trying to engage with to actually create a situation where people can make positive, supportive decisions. And so, just to add to that a little bit, can we see how logical a safety inspection is and how much it really engages that left side of the brain, that logical side where they're just going? Okay, I get there's a decision to make here, but I don't feel that this is a situation like you can feel that anyone using a safety inspection. I mean you got to tell me comment in the chat. If you're engaging with us live on Facebook, let me know if you've ever felt this. I feel pushy when I'm showing them the things that are wrong with their system via this logical piece of paper, and so the danger here I would say another danger is like okay, we arm them with information, they're not in a situation to really make a clear decision about this because we haven't engaged the right side of the brain as well, and now they're being left with this information. To what maybe seek advice or counsel from someone else who can engage them in a better way?

That's true In addition to that, it's creating an open cycle in the customer's mind Because let's say once again that same ceiling fan call. It's an open cycle in their mind in that I need an electrician to come out, my fans not working, I can't sleep at night because it's making a buzzing noise or it's making that grinding noise or it's not working at all. I need that get fixed. So in their mind, closing that cycle fixes their problem. But now I've given them that you don't have smoke detectors. I've given them that you have one GFI in the whole home that protects all your bathrooms and exteriors and garage and kitchen and you have no water bond. You call me to fix one problem and not only did I fix it, but I left you with three others that you physically cannot solve yourself. And then you often feel the need to either not say that you know what's wrong, but we're not going to do that right now. We'll get back to you, but I bet your butt they're going to be calling someone as soon as they get out and be like hey, what is this? What was he talking about? Can you come over and help me out with this, because I trust you.

Totally, man. Really good input there, and you said something earlier I want to address. You said that it might not be a physical problem, but let me actually spit a situation where it could become a physical problem, where you identify actual safety concerns and many of you have probably faced this as well and you literally like it almost becomes something you get stubborn about, like our minimum standard is to fix this. Your smoke alarms literally are not working, your water bond is physically disconnected there is actually a problem here and we really need to fix this and all they can see is this person pushing and pushing, and pushing. And what happens is if you leave this person with that disconnect because we were unable to engage the right side of the brain and cause a decision making and trustworthy positioning for all of this, then you're literally leaving a situation where they're just taking a stance against the force. And it's physically dangerous.

That's the craziest part about all this, because people don't ever want to be pushed into doing something. An expression that I heard was no one likes to be sold, but everyone likes to buy. What that means is that when you push something on someone, they're being sold something. No one wants that, but if you made it a voluntary commitment, they'd love to buy. So do you mind if I kind of touch on the example of how you can implement this in a better way?

Absolutely yeah, we should definitely give a little solution here, all right.

So for the safety inspection, I'm not saying that I don't do them, but I do them with a little more tact and Using a big cause frame. So let's say, zik of argument, you're talking about that ceiling fan. Same kind of call Customer says it's not physically working. Okay, well, would it be safe to say that that I should check the main electrical control points for it? I should check physically to make sure that the breaker that's controlling it, I know, would turn on and off, bare minimum. You have to check there anyway 100%. Would I be justified in checking the wiring that goes from that main electrical point Upstairs to the fan to make sure the circuits still active?

I think so.

Okay, could I check the bracing and the boxing? Could I check the switches? Could I check the smoke detectors? In that room alone All these things become justified. But the benefit of an electrical circuit is that it's a continuation of itself in most cases, meaning that if I were to go and open a fan and I saw that there was no box in the ceiling, it was just a splice connection. We've all been there. We've seen those kind of things before. Yeah, what are the odds that that's the only isolated incident in the whole home? They've never had. Everything else has done perfectly mint, but there's only one isolated incident where they did something wrong.

Yeah, mint, mint electrical system. You know what? We're just gonna absolutely wreck this one point. Just make it disaster right here in this one room only.

We're not even gonna cut it, I'm just gonna fist hold it, pull the wire, letting that sketch. Enough, problem solved.

You got it.

But that's the thing. We go into these situations and we're justified in asking, because if you were to go to the customer and say, hey, I just want to make sure we're all on the same page here, I'm gonna be looking at this electrical system to make sure that understand the root cause of why this happened. But in order to do so I need to look at the system as a whole. Could I just have your permission that way I don't want to seem like I'm snooping, but I have permission to look at this a little more detailed, just to make sure there's nothing blatantly unsafe. And if there is, I'll bring it to your attention. If not, then we'll all be good. I Can't imagine the customer at that point being like You're trying to sell me something, because I'm just saying I'm just looking to make sure that something that's really actually wrong is an existing. And If everything's great, wonderful, that makes all of our lives easier. I don't even, in fact even go further and say I don't expect to find anything. I think this home was probably wired perfect, but just for our own edification, I want to make sure there's nothing that can come back to bite us. Would it be wrong me to want to make sure I just have one more eye on this, a little more detailed.

Not at all.

And then full steam ahead. You gave me permission and therefore, when the presentation comes, I can say hey, clay, I really appreciate you giving the opportunity to look into this a little more detailed because, though I wasn't expecting to run anything, I saw symptoms that justified me giving a lecture. Attention, and I'm glad I did, because this is what I found. Do I have permission to tell you about it?

You see what I'm doing like I do there's a curiosity hook there that is like you can't avoid it. Of course, I want to know what you found great, but that's why voluntary commitments are so important.

Like, real salesmanship isn't spewing out lines. Real salesmanship is understanding the connective point between you and your client and understanding there's a question Somewhere between the two of you that can get you from saying, okay, we're not doing something to well. What made you decide to do this now? And now we're moving forward.

Love it, man Love it. And for those electricians that might be listening, joe, that are using a safety inspection because that's how they get to the panel, for example, in the first place, what would you say to help that person out, who's like? Well, they didn't call about a breaker swap, they called about the ceiling fan. How do I get to the panel in order to really check the health of that main electrical system? Control point.

So it really depends on what their angle is like, why they want to physically get there, but I can say why I choose to go to the panel every time.

Yeah, I think that's a good start.

There was a situation once and I'm sure I've told you guys before and I'll super, super shorten it where the worst shock I'd ever gotten in my life came from a pool circuit, because I thought the circuit was off. It literally was pool circuit off, but they mislanded it. What ended up happening was one phase was on the two pole 20, but another phase was on a single pole 20 directly underneath it that was not turned off. Now, to the customer's mind, okay, I'm an electrician, it's a hazard risk, right, but to me, if I had known that there was a circuit that was off, if I had taken that cover off, I would have seen it. So my angle is always for your safety and for mine. I just want to make sure that I know where the electrical system is, that I know that the emergency shutoffs are functional and then, if anything ever happened, I know where to run to. Do I have permission to do that? It's not just them.

Sorry, go ahead. No, and I was just going to say in our process that's the first place we go Mm-hmm Every time. So let me just ask you this. I know we've covered it before, but just quick, joe. They open the door, you run your foyer, report, play whatever that is for the listener, and at that point the customer takes off to the problem point.

Mm-hmm, and what do you do then? Well, it's actually you can answer that in a question as well which is who now has the power? If you follow this customer, they do, but you don't have to follow them. Realistically, what's happened is it's almost like a game of chicken, where you stood at the door and they're assuming that the control, and therefore they're going to assume you're going to follow them. But if you put your hand up and say, hey, before we go, I'm happy to help, but before we go further, the first area I have to inspect is the main electrical control system, just so that I know where the main shutoffs are. If there's an issue, that I can know how to run to them, and I want to make sure that before I touch anything electrically, that they function. Can you please go there first? I'm so sorry to interrupt your flow, but do you mind if we go there first? Now, at that point, they have a choice of either I'm going to force you to do something that you consider to be unsafe for both you and me, just so that I can save 10 minutes on this call, or I'm going to say you're the professional and you're insisting. Pretty, you're not, you're not moving. So you're pretty insistent that we're doing this. Yeah, all right, no problem.

Let's go. And since this is coming out so well, can I just be devil's advocate for a minute? Bring it. You know what Joe know. That doesn't make sense. I called you for a problem. Follow me to the problem, please.

I Completely understand what you're coming from, but can I ask you a question? Yeah, even if your particular safety isn't as high as concerned to you, can you blame me that my safety is concerned to mine?

No, I can't blame you.

So the reason why I'm looking for things is I don't expect to run into a problem ever, but the bare minimum. If there is a problem, I got to know at least what direction to run to. And even then I got to make sure that when I hit something, that it's going to be able to turn it off. And I don't feel physically comfortable addressing any electrical system or even having eyes on it If I can't make sure that my safety, my personal safety, is not being accounted for. So we can do one of two things here. Obviously I want to respect you in your home and I'm happy to serve you at the highest level, but that requires me to make sure that both of our safety is being addressed. If that's not something you're okay with, totally fine, no gun to your head. But I would have to disqualify myself because I'm not willing to compromise on safety. How?

would you like me to? proceed boom, mike, drop Little pole. There meant love it, absolutely great share. We're going over time, joe, so let's just cut it off right there, man, that is exactly how and why safety inspections can be dangerous for you, your relationship and your clients physical electrical system If they pull back, decide they don't trust this salesy process and want to just take some more time to think about it. I mean, consider what we're, what's being left behind, right? This has been another episode of electric printers secrets. The electricians podcast, or me and my good friend Joe here keeps showing up to help you guys Master sales, simplify pricing and deliver premium level electrical service. If you know an electrician who needs to hear this message on this podcast today, please share this and please leave a review. Where you heard us first. You know what. We didn't even do an action item, joe. I sped right through it. I'm. I was gonna say it's all good. One action item out. Do you have it or do I have it? I can do it. Okay, let's go.

I'm gonna give you, guys, the magic answer to any time a customer gives you a problem about your safety inspections, and it's the one word that you need to master. And it's the word because what you need to do is, if you don't have a reason that you personally believe why it's ethical for you to go and look at that system, you will never be able to have that answer when the customer questions you. So build the muscle memory and develop the. I'm doing this for you because If you have that and it's authentic and you can convey it with empathy or in thought authenticity, you will find your clients with far less resistance. You running this play.

Love it, man. Good late action, little run on there, guys. That is it for this episode. We'll see you again tomorrow. Cheers to your success, take care.