Ep 256 - 1M Launch Series 2024 - Filling the voids - Failsafe Electrical Biz

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to yet another episode of Electric Printer Secrets, the Electricians podcast, where me, my esteemed co-host, joseph Lucani, go live five days a week to help you master sales, simplify pricing and deliver premium-level electrical service. Why, I don't know. We're kind of stuck here. We're the Electric Printer's couple of master electricians with business addictions, here and ready to serve. So welcome to our freemium daily coach. Call the admission for you. Sit back, sit in that hot seat, enjoy what we have to give. Just promise to take action on it. Report the wins back to us. We've got quite another episode here in this million dollar launch series, and today's more about fail-safing that electrical biz. As we turned up the taps on the last episode, there's still going to be some voids. Would it be wrong of us to spend a little time explaining how we might fill those voids and keep things going consistently? Joe.

No, not only is it not wrong, but I think it's absolutely essential, because what's the point of getting a customer only to then lose that customer again? Everything we should be doing, jb, is keep the customers coming. Keep them continuously coming.

There's no point. I know that wasn't a question, but can I just say there's no point in gaining customers only to lose them and lose all influence on them. And that relationship I mean that's everything that this loop, method, service loop, and that little bit extra for future serviceability. Why wouldn't we foster that relationship? Why wouldn't we keep it going? The only answer I've ever had, or ever here, is we don't know how. We don't have the process in place. Just what are we doing? Because most electricians in our experience are finding that, hey, after you install a receptacle, what's the serviceability of that? Maybe you'll get in the house again in a decade. Maybe, if little Timmy shoves a fork in it, then we can get back there. It's not tamper is it?

Yeah, I was going to say, but we make them tamper resistant now, but technically there's some electricians listening like ah, they're not doing it to code.

Yeah, exactly man. So I think we started back on this. Let me just get us rolling here. We'll steamroll this episode, but club memberships come to mind. That's one of the seven things in this loop method that are hugely important. What can we do to fill these voids? Joe, just trying to tee you up here, brother.

No worries. So there's really two avenues that are extremely impactful. One is your club membership inspections. The second is going to be your maintenance agreements with either solar, tesla or generators. Now which one do you want me to tackle first? I'm down to do both.

Well, you know what? I think we haven't touched much on the maintenance. So I love what you're putting down there, and because in this million dollar launch we agreed to be a generator provider, I mean this actually makes sense and maybe it's something we could have addressed sooner.

Really, Okay, yeah, well, hey, this has benefited going live and being able to go top of head, right. So let's talk about doing generator maintenance then, as a generator specialist. So a lot of times what we would do is in our first installation, such as when not our very first as a company, but as our first with this customer we're going to offer them one year of complimentary service. Now some people are going to look at that and be like, well, why aren't you charging for it? Because we consistently want to have at least one year of service, because when you've worked with us, we serve you before, during and after, and the aftercare is extremely important for the additional touch points.

Love that. And, if I can just add quickly, remember back when we did the price objection and you had paused and said look, this is the time where you're going to insert all the value you provide. Don't miss this. If you installed a generator and you're giving a year of service included, that seems important. So I just want to throw that in there. Brother, Hope I didn't take you off your game.

Now it's all good. So we want to continuously foster that relationship. So we're giving them that year free. Now some people are opposed to the word free, but it is a planted move. We are intentionally doing this because if you charge for every year of service at the front, the very first intro, it's possible your client could say they want to do it themselves. So the way that you originally are going to position yourself is, when you do your options, it's going to be options from top to bottom five years of service, four years of service, three years of service, two years of service, one year of service. That's how you're going to want to position you, but you're going to want to at least have one year service regardless. Now why we've done and why I'm stressing that we have to include multi-year agreements, is because there are some clients who, at the jump, we'll just say you know what, we're already doing it, we're already taken a loan, we're already financing it, you're gonna have to come back and maintain it anyway. Why not offer the agreement?

roll it in.

Secondly, there's a huge benefit to having those front-loaded when they purchase the installation of the generator. Now, every residential generator is considered a capital improvement, meaning that it's a non-tax process. Additionally, what will end up happening is most tax laws are it's a non-taxed for the entire project, meaning anything that was required for the installation also is in taxed. So if you had five years of service agreement already built into it, they're saving five years of tax on that.

And do you know, is that just a state rule or is that a US wide rule?

So I know it's a rule in New York, yeah, and it was a rule that we followed for over 10 years. Now, granted, whether it transfers over to other states, I can't say definitively, but I have not found a single person in any one of the companies that I've trained across the country that objected to this statement. We said no, that doesn't apply here, right? So I'm not a tax lawyer, but it is something that we've done. It is something that we've advised and that other people have agreed with as well, that they're doing make sense. So we want to have those agreements in place, because when you have a generator, you want to maintain it every year anyway, and the customer just put $20,000 into this piece of equipment. Are they just gonna let it rot until it physically bleeds out? Well, they shouldn't. They shouldn't, right. So by you implying that, you guys a multi-year agreement, it sets the precedence that this is an ongoing service, compared to oh well, we just tuned it up once and it should be good after that.

It's like you know we're gonna easy work on it and on the flip side, you've shared a story many times about you know the, the client that you gained in that lifetime value you gain from a situation where there was no service agreement and for some reason, this keeps happening all over the world. Really, there's a reason for it.

Okay, great. So the thing is is that when people become generator dealers, there's very rarely a requirement to learn how to service them. We know how to fix them, or so we know how to install them, we know the connections, we know everything is required, we know there's a manufacturer's warranty. But when you get that call that says hey, my generators not working, and after hours or during the holiday, there are some companies that would rather just push aside like, yeah, we don't service them, that's not what we're set up to do. So as a result, you'll have people who install them, who decline the service. Secondly, it's also because without that ongoing service training, people don't like to seem incompetent, hmm. So imagine you were called out to a system and you want to service it, but you don't have the know-how. Now your entire future relationship with this customer is on the hinges, because if they think that you're incompetent there, where else are you incompetent?

Good point.

But it's that exact reason why we want to do the service, because if we prove competency there, where else are we competent? Nice?

It just grows on itself right.

Yeah. So, if it's true there, it's true here. So five, four, three, two, one, you could go zero, but I recommend at least having that bottom year agreed.

All right. So can I back us up just a moment? Sure, by all means. So we're talking about filling the voids and schedule. Now let's say someone just takes the complimentary first year of that service agreement. How does this help us put money back in our pocket and ensure that we're not just filling time with free value everywhere?

Correct, and that would be dangerous if all we did was just move it sideways and nothing came of it. Right? So there's two things that we're doing. One is an additional touch point, right? So by being able to now be present in the customer's mind, you're able to then follow up on additional unsold opportunity, such as if they didn't take the top option, okay, well, there's still electronics protection, winterization, info hubs, all different systems you can include. Maybe they didn't take it then, but after seeing the need, maybe they lost power more than they thought they were going to you, maybe it was particularly cold. You are already guaranteed one additional opportunity to present to them. So is it a free opportunity? Yes, but at the same time, you already know this customer, they already like you, they already trust you, they already saw the product work for them.

Now you show up to be a competent individual, yeah, and you have a very valid reason for being there. Exactly no threat.

No threat at all. So secondly, well, actually, technically, there's three things. Secondly is additional opportunity to reinspect the system. So, as a result, if you have a whole home generator after your year of service, would it not be justified for you to come in and say well, I'm going to throw the power off and I'm going to monitor the generator's power output and I'm going to check throughout your home where the proper power is going to, just to ensure that after a year nothing's changed. So now I'm looking at outlets, switches, lights, panels, looking at their whole house, and they're inviting me to do so. So not only have we proven that we're competent, not only have we showcased the value that they've already gotten by having the system installed, but now, to be more thorough which technically you'd want to do anyway you now have an additional opportunity to do a whole home safety inspection.

Right.

And they've invited you to do it.

Yeah, yeah, and would you then and maybe you said it and I missed it, joe, I was trying to follow along very carefully but would you then also potentially readdress the six options that you provided in the first time and just saying, yeah, hey, I remember you didn't want to make this choice. In this inspection we did again find that that's still an unresolved issue. Is this a better time for you to approach that, or do you want to leave it till later?

So we mentioned that earlier. But, yes, it is something that we want to make sure that we have, the addition of having any other options we did not have the move forward with. So the concept would be you know what I noticed recently that we had an extremely cold winter. Did you have any issues with your generator? No, wonderful. The only reason why I was asking is because and you can put certain clauses into it we always make sure that we hold the pricing for a year after we've done this installation, and I just wanted to make sure that this was definitely something you did not want, because if it was something you wanted in the future, it would be an additional cost. So I just wanted to make sure that it was something that you did not want to move forward with. Love it Benefit. There is that we're not being pushy. We're saying there's a reason why we're offering it. I'm offering it because I want to hold the pricing for you and I want to give you the best options possible. I want to make sure it's something you didn't want, because it wasn't something you brought to our attention. Is it safe to say you do not want this going forward? More than likely, you're gonna have someone be like well, I mean, what's the price gonna be? What is it gonna be? Because now, if they choose to do it in the future, they're losing, but if they do it now, they're saving. And people want to save and hate to lose. So it's a double entendre there.

Absolutely, man, and I think this is worthy of a pause. Really I do, and I know we're about two thirds into this one already, and you could go so much deeper, but there's so much power in filling the schedule gaps with reasonable conversations that lead to more exchange.

Exactly.

Too many people rely on those taps that we turned up, waiting for the next new lead to come in and then hope you know, or get angry at if they receive a low price objection or something where they start to feel like, oh gosh, the conversion rate's going down, I'm not moving stuff and they ignore the customers they've already earned trust with. I see this is a massive issue. Like pause, stop, really reset this whole podcast to listen again. I think it's that important, Joe, I just had to throw that in there.

You're right, and there's also likely another reason for it, and from my personal belief, it's because we as an industry have not been taught that customers are repeat buyers, because in the most part, what we have is we, let's say, we rewire your home. How often are you going to have me come back for that? Or we go in and we say what's a new major system we've put in. I install a new panel, okay, great. How often does it truly require you to come back in the typical electricians mind, but you approach this to an HVAC tech and say I just installed the furnace. They're going to laugh at you if you don't come back it has to be maintained, or water softening systems, or water safety systems, or water sanitation systems You're going to come in. Of course you want to make sure the Androids are not burning out. Of course you want to make sure that you're going to always have salt as prepped or that the filters are maintained. So the other trades are already on it. We just need to shift our focus to catch up and say the best customers are the ones you've already sold to. They already like you, trust you and respect you. There is no reason that you need to find a whole new relationship when you've already paid for the lead. You've already paid the time to invest in them. There is a certain amount of debt, of time you've put into this job. Put it to this customer, into this home. Why not just revisit it? Is it not worth going through? Maybe they want something that you previously offered and now is the right time for it.

There's two things that come to mind, and one is the endurance race principle, and I keep finding places to put this man. We've talked about in the podcast a couple of times how, in sales, it's an endurance race. We're going to touch on it again in the next episode where we go back to sales, sanity and continual improvement of this process. But in this endurance race, you mentioned something like a rewire. How many of us have felt that feeling of, like the nitpicking customer, the lights not quite in the right spot? I want to move this now. Actually, I want three receptacles in the bathroom on the near the vanity, all these things that they wear us down and they wear your patients down. And next thing you know, you're going back to this customer again and you're feeling it first thing in the morning oh, another day of serving the queen. Oh, another day of nitpicking everything I do. That's a situation where we want to shine and I don't want to let that feeling overcome what our commitment is to premium service. And if we're feeling that, then it's quite honest that most people would so wouldn't that also be a place to capitalize, get control of that emotion, take a breath, have a reset and recognize that we're trying to serve someone at the highest level and come back to a person like that and keep coming back to a person like that, even where others wouldn't.

You know what? There's something very specific about the queen type customer, Because the one who's like you know what? Oh, I have to serve this person. Now there's a thousand change orders. You know, if you're thinking that, what are the on the typical contractors going to want to work with this person again? And additionally, if this person has ever had to hire someone before, is it likely they've changed their personality in the past 30, 40 years?

Not likely.

Which means that if they are doing this now, they've likely done this in the past and they'll likely do it continuously in the future. If you can establish a good relationship with that client now, you've got a client that pretty much no one else is going to want to touch, and if you serve them at the highest level and you choose to pull away, they're now losing the person who is truly going to serve them at the best level, and they will usually change their tone in order to pull you back in. Because if you establish yourself as I'm your person, I will do everything in my power. I know your home intimately. I will do everything in my power to serve you before, during and after. The only time I won't is when you actively tell me you don't want that and that this relationship no longer serves you.

Awesome as.

long as you're interested in help, I will be glad to be here to be at your service.

I love that. I love this so much. This episode's one of my faves. Obviously, we've got to wrap this up, though I'm going to summarize this quick, let's jump into some action items. I've got a burner, a burning basic for us already. Okay, go for it. Okay. So we're talking about filling this void. If we're not two weeks out, we're taking action. We're going offensive on the schedule to reengage in relationships using our maintenance agreements and something we didn't deep dive in on today, but we have in the past club memberships and even following up the unsold and happy calls and warranty calls and or checkups. There's so much we could be doing and that ties perfectly into this burning basic activity. For most of our smaller contractor electric printer friends. What we find is again this passive role on developing opportunities. What if we made a rule in house? What if we said look, we're looking to have at least 10 incoming opportunities every day. Maybe that number is a bit high for you, maybe it starts with five and you're still smaller and earlier on in this, but let's go with 10 for now. How many phone calls did we get? If we're not getting the 10, then what if we made it a rule to then actually go on the offense for the gap, the difference, so that we're always every day going to have 10 conversations with potential clients or re purchasing repeating clients, rather every single day, so five days a week. How big would your business be then If you could ensure I'm going to have 10 conversations with potential customers every single day? That's 50 a week, joe.

That sounds like a pretty good amount of opportunity. I like the fact that we're going in and saying, well, it's like if you don't have it, then create it. I like that a lot because it's something that not a lot of people touch on enough, because it's true and actually that ties in perfectly with the all star action you know.

if you want to do it, yeah, man, drop it.

So I heard a quote the other day and I'm not sure exactly where it comes from Otherwise I'd be giving credit to it but from what I remember, it was where are your challenges, their lives, your next task and what this means is remember earlier we were talking about how some people don't want to do maintenance generators because you're not familiar with it. Yeah, so your challenge is that you don't feel familiar enough or comfortable enough or skilled enough with the servicing of generators. Wouldn't that put up a red light to say that's the thing I need to be focusing on, then, 100%, if I'm going to be selling generators, if I'm going to be installing them, I want it to be a two way door. I want new customers to come to us with new installations and I can repeat it with ongoing maintenance agreements, and I want new customers who have existing systems to call us because someone else either can't service it, won't service it or isn't competent. And then you can continually see how they back and forth new customers, old customers, repeat maintenance, new maintenance and especially if you get good at this, you'll find that it's often you're the only one who is, and if you're the only one who is, that's a hell of an opportunity.

And it's just a turtle race man. Consistency, keep going, you guys. This has been another episode of Electric Printer Secrets episode 256, if you can believe that. I don't know when we're going to stop this nonsense, so tomorrow, I guess we just got to show up again. Do it again, man, helping you guys master your sales, simplify your pricing and deliver premium level electrical service. I'm Clay. This is Joe. We're out. Take care, I'll look forward to seeing you soon.