Ep 220 - BAMFAM [Book a Meeting From a Meeting]

Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to yet another episode of Electricpreneurs Secrets, the Electricians podcast, and this is episode 220, bam FAM. Yes, you heard me right book a meeting from a meeting, why this is so important to you and why this action Wednesday will absolutely light up your future if you take this advice and take action on it. I'm your host, clay Neumeier, with me, as always, my esteemed co-host, joseph Lucchani, and we are the Electricpreneurs just a couple of master electricians with business addictions here to serve, and this is your free coaching. Call the entry fee, only that you take action and promise to report it back. I'll say that one more time take everything we give, just promise to take action. Joseph, how are you doing today, my brother?

It's a wonderful day, man. I'm honestly feeling really, really good. As always, I really enjoyed class in the morning. I'm really looking forward to what we're putting out, and I thought this was going to be a great conversation, so I'm pumped and ready to go. What about you, brother? How's your day going so far?

Great man Halfway through the week, and it's you know what you always say it's a great day to have a great day. I think it's a great week to have a great week.

It keeps adding up. How do you like that? Yeah, nice spice, I like that. The reason why I always say it's a great day is because I feel like we don't control a lot in each day. But if you're willing to take it one step further and just blanket statement the week, I can't ask for a better outcome than that. Control with control Like leading with value.

I love it, yeah, okay. So this topic's really important. There is a bit of a setting for this one, something we've seen quite often, and really I mean, well, what's the best way to set this one? If you were having a two-call close, I can help with this. You might want to come back and you might want to set that appointment before you leave, and or the troubles you have are similar to what we've heard many times. Or it's just like, well, they canceled the second appointment, or they're reaching out asking me when it's going to be, or so let me put this in your court and you help me set that a little better, and let's get right into it man Okay.

So we've gotten situations that have been brought to our attention where clients will come and say or new clients, if they haven't followed our process yet, are saying you know what do we do when the customer reaches out and says, hey, I haven't gotten your email yet. Or they come to say, we haven't heard from you yet, we're going with someone else, or something along those lines. Now, there's a lot that's going on in that conversation as well as what is the knee jerk that the average person has. Like Clay, if I were to come by and say that you got an email from a customer that you just met originally and said, hey, I haven't gotten your email yet, we're going to go with someone else, what do you instinctively feel about this call?

Instinctively. I mean, I have to unlearn some stuff to go back there. But I'm feeling like I didn't set this up right, I'm not sticky, I didn't present. Well, I'm not sure. Maybe they're just aiming for price.

Okay, so you're right. The thing that I find is really impressive is that you're always good at looking at yourself when the average person doesn't Right. The first, earliest kind of contractor is going to look at the customer as if they are the problem before they look at themselves. So they would say something along the lines of oh, like you mentioned, they may just be price shopping. Oh, they're not. They're getting multiple bids. Oh, they're compared. But really, what did I do in this situation to have created this outcome? So you went to the call the first time, and there's two outcomes that can happen. The typical answer is I see what you want me to do. I have to go back to the shop, I'm going to get together a proposal and either I'll call you or I'll email you. Or the second is to say I see what you want, I'm happy to help you. Let's book a time that I can come back and we can discuss what we can do for you. Now, obviously, we know that we're going to be preference to that, but when someone doesn't take that meeting, it's going to leave to much bigger problems down the line. Now, what kind of problems are we talking about? The first problem is that people have open cycles that need to be closed. Mentally, right. We've said it before open cycles they drain you. So imagine you're a customer and that customer needs a chandelier put in their kitchen, right? The random thing they called you, they took time off, they wanted to meet with you, they invested that time in you and they've received nothing from it. Now Perhaps they've only gained more questions. They haven't gotten any answers, so you've actually added more problems to this customer's plate and, as a result, what do you think they're thinking of you right now? Is it favorable or in favor of you?

Yeah, it could be the latter man for sure. Now, speaking of open cycles, we've just created one, essentially with additional weight, so right now they've got even more questions and less answers. I mean, I have to agree with you, that could be unfavorable for sure.

Yeah. So when they're in a situation where they called you to answer a problem and you left creating more problems mentally for this customer, it's natural that they're going to look elsewhere for it. You've built something known as dissonance. Dissonance is one of those things that every person innately possesses. It's that uncomfortable feeling when you're put in a situation that you don't have control over and you're looking to grab control from something. So this customer may not be willing to wait for this arbitrary number that may or may not come in, because have you ever heard this yourself where someone will say I'll get an email to you and that's their way of saying I'm not going to get it to you, don't hold your breath.

And even if they do have the whole intent of emailing it over. The question becomes well when and even if they gave you a timeline of when. One of the conveniences of just emailing it over is what it's at their convenience. So they're going to get to it when they get to it, which won't follow any timeline. They'll send it over when they send it over. And all the while, the homeowners wondered what the hell is going on. They even reached out to find out.

Exactly so in those circumstances, this client, I would not blame them for one to go elsewhere, because if you've given them a problem, they need to solve it, with you or without you. You may have been highly recommended, you may have great Firestar reviews, and if you can't solve them in their circumstance, they will not proceed. That's why I want to focus on the second action that we recommended, which was book the appointment when you're there. The reason why that's so important, why we need to do that more, is because it does a couple of things for the customer. It communicates A. I want to work with this person Because if they're willing to say you know what, by this date I'm going to physically come back, I'm going to review the choices and we'll find a way to bring it to a conclusion. At the very least, it shows that they are committed to seeing this through with me enough that they put it on the calendar in pen, with a date. That alone could keep them from wanting to pick up the phone and get someone else. The second is that we say we're going to design a range of choices, from the finest money combined to the most bearable ones you can do Now. With that, the customer is less likely to want to need to get other estimates, because if they liked you and they trusted you and they respected you already, then you saying I'm going to design a whole menu for you. They may not need to go elsewhere, solidifying you in a second part. And the third is you just simply being able to be the trusted authority in the community. So that's where your five-star reviews, that's where your referrals, that's where all these other things happen. So if you can do all three, when you're at the call, the customer will not only be less likely to cancel on you, less likely to follow up, asking for the estimate, and then you also will have more control of the process because you're handling it directly rather than letting electronics handle it for you Totally, man, love it.

I think at the root of this there's this huge problem that is, literally that we're all looking to associate ourselves with people who will do what they say they will do and what is expected of them to be done. And that's the age-old problem of like oh, it's easy in my area no one else answers the phones, all we have to do is pick up and we seem to get the work. That's coming from an expectation that hey, there's a business established here with a phone number that I could call and I should be able to get a solution. And the frustration that homeowners feel when that doesn't connect for them on the first couple of tries is absolutely understandable. And this BAMFAM concept, then, is not even just about to the close, but also following that and through the delivery. If, at any point, we're leaving a customer's home and leaving a project or a task incomplete without setting the next meeting, without setting the next expectation of where your next touch point is, it's absolutely devastating to your reputation and your client's understanding of how to proceed. And let me just say this if it's not obvious enough, if they have to follow you up, it's a problem. If your customers are calling you back or reaching out, texting, emailing, whatever means it is. If they have to reach out to you after the first time that they first contacted you, it's a problem.

I couldn't agree more, man, I really, really do. Now, if you I didn't mean to interrupt do you have anything else you want to add to?

that the only thing I was going to jump into man was still just to answer this argument about the two call close altogether, because we're kind of presuming that everyone here is on board with that and we've seen the argument both ways and ready to handle that today too. I would love to tackle that, Okay.

So, with that being said, let's talk about why the two call close is going to dominate this particular situation. What we're doing is we recognize that we're going to go client to client. I'm going to create two scenarios and we can talk about how the two call close is going to benefit the situation. Okay, so, scenario one the customer calls you and for whatever situation let's take the same chandelier in their dining room or their kitchen they want to address Number one. You go out there and you're going to say I'm going to design these choices and we're going to email you when the time comes, I'm going to give you your. I'm just I'm going to email it, I'll mail it, I'll send it. Whatever it is, but it's not direct. Even if you gave them a date and a time and said by Friday, this Friday at 2 o'clock, you will have it in your inbox. Yeah, that's great. Versus the person who's going to say I'm going to schedule a time at Friday at 2 o'clock, I will come back and I will present you a complete range of choices that I've done. Now, theoretically, you have the same person, one emailing the exact same presentation. The difference is is it the content or is it the delivery. It's the delivery. That's what separates this. When you're in person, two things will happen. Either A, the client won't want you to come back. If the client doesn't want you to come back for a presentation, what does that imply about their commitment to moving this forward?

It's low.

It's low. If someone comes to you and says, no, you don't have to worry about it. I understand you're a busy person. I got a lot of things going on. Well, I understand emailing would definitely make my job easier too, but here at Service of Electrical, we've committed to giving you the best level of customer service possible. That means us explaining everything that we're doing rather than sending you an engineering document for you to translate. Is there wrong of us to want to make sure you understand what you're paying for?

Not at all.

The best part about that is, if they say, yes, that's actually an opportunity to pull, because if you adjust that I'm going to email it over, they can write that off as it's nothing, but for you to physically come back, they have to acknowledge there's no action that's required from this stuff and if they're not willing to take that action, they will decline the opportunity. And if they decline the opportunity, you don't have to design a presentation, which means you're not only saving your time, you're saving their time, and you can reallocate that to any other space you want to do 100%, man.

Here's what's really crazy and feeds exactly into what you just said. Doing the former, the email it over, leaves an open cycle for you and for them. And the common argument that I hear, especially in our one-to-ones with clients too, is like well, that takes more time to two-call close. I've got to schedule a second appointment. And what they're not realizing in that moment is that they're not accounting for all the team spread across the entire company at time, rather across that team in the back end of well then, who follows it up? Right, if you're not following up on sold calls, then you don't know what's happening. That's an open cycle. Either way this open cycle leads to that follow-up which furthers engagement. Does the tech then ask the CSR, who followed up or dispatch, or whoever office manager who follows that up, how the follow-up went and if there was any response and if we were going to get? That great job on the calendar right. So you get a few touch points that all lead to more thinking power. Whether you're driving down the road or laying awake at night, each one of these has a cost to your business. And it's all from the inconclusiveness of the process, that open cycle. But now the really crazy part, joe for me anyway, I find is to think well, it's pushy to go back and try to get them to buy from you. It's actually respecting them to email it over. And let me tell you why that is so far wrong. Because homeowners don't know and, like you said, now they're having to translate this engineering document. And what are the chances that John and Mary are now laying awake at night in bed, going I don't know what do you think? Well, you know, john says I really liked Joseph with service loop electrical. He was a nice guy. And Mary says and she's the numbers one in this relationship, right, mary goes, yeah, but John, we can't afford them. Didn't you see the prices? And John goes yeah, but he provided options and he was a nice guy. Mary goes yeah, but his lowest option was still this much, john, that's more than we wanted to spend. But, mary, you're always so hard on these nice guys, why can't? And you see what's happening here. It's literally causing time to stress and lost sleep because no couple arrives. That agreements on pricing and home advancements repairs in quick fashion. No one does Not. That I've experienced. So to me the open cycles on both both the contractor and the family are spinning tires, and the entire thing could be avoided by just putting that effort forth on one single person In this case you, joseph, the volunteer of service loop electrical for this story, actually take the time out of your schedule again to find the close in this situation, to schedule it from the time you were there, to show up at the time you scheduled it, to present and to come to terms with a conclusiveness that otherwise was not attainable. I completely agree.

If you don't show up, you will not be able to get a clear future. Without a clear future, how can you know what the next step is going to be? You really won't. You need to understand what is in this next path and more than likely, if I don't know what I'm putting in time for. My time is important and I consider your time important as well. If we were saying, hey, you know what, I'm going to take an hour out of my week, every week, and I'm going to put towards a presentation that I may or may not get actually statistically proven between five and 15% if I emailed over, I don't mind taking an hour every week for that we might, we might get one. Instead of saying you know what, let's just take that hour and physically go there and now, instead of having a 15% chance, we have a 60 to 80% chance of getting that job, wouldn't you rather spend the time with the highest yield?

Yeah, me personally. Yes, I'm huge advocate for the conclusiveness, because no business can really scale and endure that level of indecisiveness and open cycle, like it's anti-productive. So to me it's perfect, perfectly logical and sensible to follow that route. Joe, we got to crank out a couple of action items. Brother, do you have some? I got some. I got some basic one in the title here, so why don't you start us off?

Okay. So the most bare minimum that I can say is book the meeting, but it even below. That is really saying why would you do it in the first place? I'm asking you to book the meeting to save yourself time, not to cost you time, because if you think about it, all the hours and all the follow up and everything you would have done chasing the emailed customer who was not committed to using you in the first place, compared to I'm going to book the call and at the very least they're going to say yes or no. And if they don't say yes or no, it's now. Is it now or is it never? Is it just a not now or is it a not ever project? And maybe I'll book a third call four months in the future when they are looking to bring this to a conclusion. But I'll at least know now.

Love it, man, love it. And I just want to reiterate Book a meeting from a meeting, book a meeting from a meeting. It's a great rule, and in fact I did not create this expression. That one is borrowed from Alex Sormozi, a huge fan of the simplifications that he creates. It works in that industry, it works in hours, it works everywhere, because what's missing, as we discussed earlier, is the thorough communication and expectation management. That's where everything is falling short these days, and I believe personally that the more we automate things, sure we'll tighten some of these gaps, but we're losing a huge opportunity to be person to person, premium service providers, and I think we're both advocating for that. Joe, maybe I've done that wrong.

No, we're on the same page, man. Honestly, the more people we can help really to maximize their time, maximize their profit and also maximize the way they can serve their clients, I can't ask for a better cause to serve them that 100% man.

This has been another episode of Electric Pinner Secrets, the Electricians podcast. Speaking of maximizing, we're here with you five days a week to help you master sales, simplify pricing and deliver premium-level electrical service. If you're not following us already on Facebook, you might want to, because if you think this is valuable, you should see the value pieces were given away for free there every week, including tomorrow. So come join us and we'll see you again tomorrow.

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