Ep 269 - Invisible Leadership, Innovation, and Qualifying Online With the Eddie Bros

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to yet another episode of Electricpreneur Secrets, the Electricians podcast. I'm your host, Clay Neumeyer. With me, as always, my esteemed co-host, Joseph Lucani, and we are the Electricpreneurs A couple of master electricians with business addictions, here and ready to serve, Serve, who Serve you. If you're an electrician out there looking to master your sales, simplify your pricing or deliver premium level electrical service, then you, my friend, are in the right place. On this podcast. This is no exception. We got some boys here that we have an interviewer chatted with in a while, that are back from episode three with Edward Rivera and Eddie Cruz. Oh my gosh. That one was titled Get Fired Up and Fire Yourself. We talked so much about some of the fundamentals of business really getting this stuff right, but also building up an enterprise and a culture that's actually culturally significant that people want to work for, and some strategies to do that. Well, today it's been a while, but we're going to get back to this with some more forward thinking, some innovation niching down to tie perfectly into this week and everything that these guys have been up to, which is pretty exciting stuff. We just thought it'd be pretty entertaining, Joe, first and foremost, how are you doing today, brother?

Speaker 2: 1:18

Man, I appreciate you asking. I feel absolutely blessed. It's been a great day. The class was amazing. This morning I had an absolutely great time when you told me that we had this conversation on lock. I was really looking forward to talking to the Yetis. It's just one of those things where I'm feeling very grateful to be where I am, and I'm even more grateful to be working with someone like yourself.

Speaker 1: 1:37

Awesome brother, I'm feeling good too.

Speaker 2: 1:39

How are you holding up?

Speaker 1: 1:39

today, absolutely Nothing but greats, man. Some days actually, it's more like five days a week you just kind of wake up and realize, hey, we're back to serving electric printers again Again. All the different ways that we receive praise and get to see results and get to help people with their challenges every single moment of it makes me reflect on how grateful I am for this journey and these guys who are with us. Let's get them introduced. Ion Electrical Team Size right around 10. Nitching down I think last time we spoke these guys were kind of doing construction service. I'm going to let them speak to this. But really exciting stuff for you guys. Eddie, join us. Edward join us, say hello. Let's get this conversation started.

Speaker 3: 2:20

Let's go. Let's go. This is awesome man. I love the introduction. This is awesome man. This is, like I said, from a year ago, from my last conversation. A lot has changed, a lot has happened. It's a lot of exciting stuff. Me and Eddie are really excited to talk about all that.

Speaker 1: 2:42

The last time we didn't even have an intro right, it was just a conversation. We literally, I think we were having a discovery call and we're like at the end wait, I think I saw an Edwards wall. You had foam on the back and I was like, wait, you got acoustic. What do you call those things?

Speaker 2: 2:56

Backing.

Speaker 1: 2:57

Yeah, acoustic backing behind you. You guys are like, yeah, we want to do a podcast someday. Here we are the second time, Edward. How about you, brother? How are you doing today?

Speaker 4: 3:06

Doing great, like we were talking about before we got on. I couldn't be happier with everything, for many different reasons, but mainly because since then, with the foam and everything it's all kind of, there's a method to the madness and we're still working on that. We were literally just talking about that, okay, like we're nicheing down and you asked this question earlier, clay like how are we doing that? It kind of comes back to the video thing. The reason why we got the mics and stuff is we're going to be pumping out crazy amount of content that's just going to drive leads back to us for those specific things only. I mean, and then I was just telling Eddie, my brain's changing because we talk about this so much. Now. When I get up to speak it just comes just right away. It's like a word track that like I just just off the tongue now, but sound like an expert. You know what I mean. I guess I could say it.

Speaker 1: 3:54

Joe, I see you going after that I got a time out right there, because we know so many people struggle with that exact thing Like when is it just going to feel natural than a word track for me? Can we just take a moment and give it? Give Joe, actually I'll let you run this one, but I see you pumped up. We're parallel.

Speaker 2: 4:12

I mean literally like it was one of those things that I was going to ask an extremely similar question. I think it's really interesting that you are on the same page with that, but please tell us a little bit more about what made you want to do that the five things you. Originally what we talked about was the areas you want to niche in. I like that they're narrowing the focus but also generating more leads for it. Can you tell us a little more about that?

Speaker 4: 4:33

Yeah. So you know, me and Eddie, like, the reason why we drive so much and I can tell you and Claire the same way is like we're just on the same wavelength where, no matter what we do, we're always trying to run it lean, efficient, high level, high quality, everything, everybody's premium, is our standard. So, with that being said, like same thing with the business and everything else, we're noticing like, oh man, like we're making the most money on these very particular ones. Oh, and it just so happens that we love talking about it on end, like in and out of work. We'll be over the weekend chatting about AI and technology and all this stuff and then it just, you know, just naturally threads into our business. And so that's what kind of motivated this whole thing. And I think what really was putting the final decision maker on there was two major things were happening. Eddie went out to a conference on behalf of ION, you know, just to level up again, you know, learn more. And at the same time, I entered this program called the Golden Sets 10,000 Small Businesses. The major theme of that is to identify a major opportunity that could elevate your business to the next level, you know. And so they run you through the ringer with coaches and mentors and long story short, me and Eddie. You know he calls me at the airport, he's heading back and we're on the phone. We're both excited. I talk, I go first and I'm like dude, I got this idea for like this, all this stuff smart home packages like it's going to help people save money, get off the grid, it's going to make them homeowners again, and we go to the Eddie goes dude. I love this. I literally have notes here saying almost the same thing, like I was. Like we got to put together like these packages, like custom made towards people's needs you know, meeting where they're at and so it was just wild and so we've been kind of just writing that way since then and we've just been trying to fine tune it and correcting course, you know to be brand ourselves.

Speaker 3: 6:22

That was so crazy. I called them at the airport and my dude, I got, I got all his ideas, but I got these top three out of all the ideas are written down. I got these top three that we could implement realistically in the next month and dates and everything. And those top three were the exact same top three he had and it was just like insane. They was just like damn, okay, cool, like this is follows energy, this follows this wavelength and you know and the results are. You know, are the results now. So no, that's pretty awesome.

Speaker 2: 6:54

And you know, it's also really cool how, like some people say and it's a frequently made quote at the fastest sinking ship as a partnership. But both Clay and I and you two eddies are exact opposite scenarios where you find the right person and it just elevates everything that you do. Like I wake up every day. I love what we do. It's hard work, but like I'm working with one of my closest friends in the world, we're genuinely helping lives. We're passionate about the things we do. I love I mean, you guys see, whenever someone talked about generators or options, I'm like so you know what? I'm happy that you guys get to experience that same kind of love and joy.

Speaker 1: 7:32

I can truly be happy we have to touch on this for a moment longer, because I literally had this thought the other day I was driving down the road to pick up my daughter from the airport and I'm thinking about, like that expression, fastest sinking ship as a partnership. But that hasn't been our experience. It's probably why we're all here again, because you guys seem to have this too, and me and Joe, I mean, we met online. Man, you're the best thing I ever found online, brother.

Speaker 2: 7:56

Yeah, I mean normally. I would say the same, but I did meet my wife online too. So like hey, you know it was.

Speaker 3: 8:02

so. You know, the cool thing about that is, like, clay, the last year, when me and Eddie were on the episode three of your podcast that you were talking about finding, like finding your best friend partner, that's saying that shares the same way with you, like we talked about that the last time we were hopped on together. The next year, you know, when you're later, there's Joe I thought that's so sick.

Speaker 2: 8:24

I just manifested it. You gotta tell me about this, because I was actually going to do this conversation to share with me.

Speaker 1: 8:29

At that time it was like a month later, though that's how close that actually was.

Speaker 4: 8:33

So I got this quote written on my board.

Speaker 1: 8:36

I got this quote written on my board and it says if you're a great manifestor, you have to be careful what you think. And I, sirs, am a great manifestor Guilty as charged. But let me say one more thing here that I kind of left off. The reason, joe, that our I know for us especially, that our partnership works so good, is because we share a passion for this purpose, and so what that means is, every day, I'm not driven by guilt or a shadow of what you're expecting me to do, or, likewise, I trust you to do the things because you're passionate about this too. So there's never this moment of like well, a cross accountability that's in a negative or a shadow, if that makes sense like we hold each other accountable to do our best, but I would never, ever put it across you or think about you in a way that that you didn't do your best for our mission. If that makes sense and I think a lot of partnerships don't have that- and that it's a very mutual feeling.

Speaker 2: 9:39

You know, it's one of those things where, like, we live on opposite sides, we live in two different countries, but I know every single hour of the day you're probably noses the same way. I think against the keyboard is mine. We were like we're going to grow this at every. In fact, literally this morning, when we had our morning meeting, I was like gushing over all the things that we're doing with our program, like we're implementing new lessons and we're having better recordings and we've got the app design, like all that great stuff, and I'm literally like high five and I'm over the screen because I feel so passionate about it. And I know you were the exact same way. So, if anything, the four of us seem like peas in a pod 100% man.

Speaker 3: 10:12

Can I say anything better myself, In fact, you know where we hold each other accountable most.

Speaker 1: 10:17

This is actually laughable. It's like lunchtime.

Speaker 2: 10:20

Oh my God, hey bro, do you take your break?

Speaker 1: 10:22

Hey bro take a break. You need a break, bro, like slow down brother. Hey, take some time right. You guys find that too.

Speaker 3: 10:29

Yeah, oh yeah, because me personally I don't take lunch. Me personally, because I always find myself kind of, if I do take lunch I kind of slow down, I become kind of productive and that kind of gained that kind of. I kind of started not taking lunch for my last career when I was traveling a lot and working on industrial machinery where it's like everything's heavy and they're tight spaces. So if I had a heavy lunch, I'm not yeah, I'm not lifting that crazy heavy motor Like I'm not doing that. So I just naturally became not taking lunch. It's kind of easy for me to not, you know stop that time.

Speaker 2: 11:04

intentional fasting.

Speaker 3: 11:05

Yeah, basically, well, just like that's.

Speaker 4: 11:09

That's a fun. I like to talk more about that a little bit, just because I was saying earlier about, you know, starting a Tommy Mello's book, and one thing I was took away from the podcast was, you know, he's like I did this major switch right, like you know, of, you know, health first, you know, and then Eddie has been helping me with that over the last couple of years and it's funny because I've been having a couple of my trade partners who have been going with me to the gym now, you know, and again Eddie takes that super serious and so they're asking me hey, I want to look like any cruise, like what is the workout he does? I'm like well, luckily enough he taught me the whole workout and and again. It's cool because I find myself and all of our other professional friends and, like you guys, you know we're all kind of sync, synchronizing, you know we're all coming together and and I love it. You know what I mean. It's it's very contagious and you know seeing you guys crushing it, it's the same way, man, we're watching you guys and we talk about you guys all the time like damn, they're out there just driving. You guys are just crushing it. You know what I mean. Like Vegeta. Goku, you see that picture where there's they're just fist pumping it, man, it's like you guys, man, Like exactly.

Speaker 1: 12:11

I appreciate that. You know there's an expression for this. It's called invisible leadership and we use this phrase all the time of like, don't listen to what we say, watch what we do. It's one of our most important values. That's not even listed. Really is congruent speech and action, but it is one of our superpowers is like man. We don't wait long to take action on something. If we know it's the right thing to do, we just fucking move right. It's just time to go. And on, your health is where it matters most in invisible leadership, because no workforce wants to be preached about eating the fucking chips or going to the fucking gym. Excuse my F-bombs, but this is important, no no, this is super important. Doing the thing, leading by example. That's that invisible leadership piece that will impact your culture huge, just by leading.

Speaker 3: 13:01

I mean, just just just go about just basic needs, like if your body is that healthy, how, and if you're in a position of leadership as a business owner, how do you expect to make good, healthy decisions for your business if you're not making healthy, good decisions for yourself? You know we only have this, this meat sack that we're in. We want to get one shot at it. Yep, take care of it.

Speaker 4: 13:24

And I feel like there's a lot on the line too, like about, like the, with the team growing and people coming on, and it's like man, I'm not just doing it for myself and the kids and the wife, my friends, like all of our other employees and stuff too, like they all depend on us to show up every day right, like a hundred percent and give it our all. And I feel like it's my responsibility to you know, kind of like to put what, put the oxygen demands on first before you can help the person next to you. Like I gotta take care of myself, be healthy, make those decisions and be there for my team, you know, and so that's why I'm glad Eddie helps with me every day, like that he takes health so serious and and I take it for granted, and so the last year has just been taken a lot more serious.

Speaker 2: 14:01

You know, I want to jump into a couple of things you guys said, which was first. It's like I've heard about the meat suit, but I've always believed that we're literally not even a meat suit.

Speaker 4: 14:11

We are a bone mech piloted by a meat outside guy piloted by some goo in the top of your head.

Speaker 2: 14:17

Like it's not even just a meat suit. You are literally a mech machine, that is being piloted by a pilot goo, which is really cool to think about and I love, eddie, that you're really into physical I always feel like, in addition, there's three pillars that we need to talk about, which is the physical health, the mental health and emotional health, and the spiritual health. Like, literally, when I start my day, yeah, there's a workout in the morning, but it's also intentional prayer time and it's also making sure that I'm grounded in what I want to do for the day, because, I mean, I don't know if you guys are fathers, but when your kids wake you up early in the morning and you're not already mentally and emotionally and spiritually prepared for it, you react differently. But even if you're not parents think about you have that ADM meeting or that seven, a meeting with your texts, and the one never cleaned out their van or they went through and they didn't order the material and pull it right. How you're going to react to that is going to send waves throughout your entire company culture. Did the boss yell at that guy in front of someone else? Well, was it because he didn't have a good breakfast and he was stuck in traffic because he didn't wake up on time? That's on you and we have to take ownership of that, because that's the invisible levers that people don't talk about, but it's the things that sink the most ships.

Speaker 4: 15:27

Absolutely. And I think that knowing I think knowing where to draw that line to, and knowing your own self, like you can ask Eddie and the other team, like sometimes I'll wake up and I'm a lot of this in a bad mood and I'm like my team doesn't deserve this side of me, and so I'll literally send a text out group chat hey guys, I'm not sure what's going on, I'm in a bad mood, I'm not really in the right mindset to really kind of talk. Give me an hour and I'll be back and I'll go on a walk. You know, do some reflection, drink some coffee and it's like, all right, I'm ready. I'm ready to like be there for my team now. Like I'm there and I was trying to save them from that. You know what I mean. So I think, being aware of like, like, kind of what mood you're in and kind of being able to manage that and protect others from that.

Speaker 1: 16:07

They don't deserve that. You know what I mean. They deserve the best view. I have to tie in the importance of what you just said to a philosophy that we kind of use and speak to sometimes, and it's this idea of like what it takes to get to the next level. And it's a ladder and there's three pieces to the ladder the first side rail is your personal development, the second side rail being your process and then the rungs being the people you add to it to help you up to that next level, and then you've got a big run to learn and get through all the challenges again before you're ready to climb right. But what you just said was so important to that first side rail that I don't think people have gotten this at the same depth from our podcast before, so I need to go into it for a minute. Let's do it, let's do it. I need to have the awareness to say I'm not in a good mood right now and my people don't deserve that Bingo. Most people that experience this, edward, are like I'm this person, I'm grumpy, I am negative all the time, I am a martyr. I am and they have all these identifier statements that are in their fucking heads. And what you just said is and that may have been you at times, you may have had those identifiers, but you're doing the work. That is personal development, the self awareness to say, hey, my team doesn't deserve this. Right now, I have a duty. I need to improve. I'm going to take a breath, I'm going to take a walk, I'm going to eat my fucking Wheaties, whatever that is, your team deserves that and it's a better you. And that's personal development. Most don't recognize. That's actually a skill, not an identity.

Speaker 3: 17:46

No, absolutely, I totally agree and just not even beyond like your team doesn't deserve that. If you're in a bad mindset and you have a consultation, you have a consultation call coming up. That customer, that homeowner that's reaching out to, doesn't deserve that grumpy attitude either, cause guess what, you're not going to land that sale, you're not going to be in a position to show empathy of why they're calling you. How are you gonna help them? It just stems so much deeper when you had that self-awareness of your mindset and where you were at and you're kind of your process or your day-to-day how you wake up and go from, and you're kind of the task that you decided to set you up for the day.

Speaker 1: 18:25

And how are you gonna lead a team to help them Exactly If you don't get that in check?

Speaker 4: 18:30

Exactly exactly, you know what I mean, the beautiful part about it is it kind of spreads out in all directions, right? I, my conversations with my wife and even my kids are better. You know what I mean, like me and Eddie doing like role plays and just being better communicators, like just all around. That's why, again, going back to this, I'm so happy. Just, things are just in this. You know just good. It's good, it's all love, man. You know me becoming a better person and just better listener and all these things. It's like wow, who would have thought everything else around me gets better? Yeah.

Speaker 2: 18:59

You know, there's something that I feel like we need to call into attention here that I think is a real deciding factor of why so many people choose to use you, and it's that the average man has the emotional capacity of a teaspoon. Like that's really all we have. It's like it's just this little tiny emotional awareness, that's it bro, and that is like 90% of men, even more so in the trades, and yet we're trying to appeal to homeowners on an emotional basis. So you see where the gap is, where it's like I'm trying to solve an emotional problem but I have such little grasp of my own emotions and what triggers them. How could you possibly solve their issues if you can't even comprehend your own? So the fact that you're able to say I recognize that I'm feeling this way right now they touched on saying, like you didn't drop an I am statement, but I'm feeling this way right now and my team doesn't deserve it. The reason why I'm good at what I do I mean other than my own inner gifts is the fact that I did years and years and years of therapy to learn who I am. Like I've been, I did therapy since like 2017, and on every day, every week. So the thought of saying do you understand yourself? You cannot control or influence anyone. Not that we want to control anyone, but the quote goes you cannot influence the feelings of others until you've learned to master your own. So, if you can't control yourself, how could you possibly influence others?

Speaker 1: 20:30

Yep, dude, I'm gonna drop a weight here right now. I'm gonna rock the boat a little bit. This is gonna sound crazy, you got my floating tongue, I'm at a point where I don't wanna hire anyone on my team if they haven't done therapy, because of what that means. It likely means that they understand this fucking weight.

Speaker 4: 20:51

Bro, normalize therapy. You know what I mean.

Speaker 3: 20:53

Like normalize that shit, normalize it, something wrong.

Speaker 4: 20:55

I love when my friends, bring it up because it's like, yes, but don't be afraid, let's talk about it, man, you know.

Speaker 3: 21:00

I mean like it's crazy. It's actually funny enough. We talk about this, One of the newest members that we brought onto the team. He has his own business as a media business and he's going through that right now with a lot of head trash and talking about it. And I talked to him all the time saying, dude, you gotta switch your thinking. You gotta change how you view that. You're viewing something that's a very positive thing and you're viewing it in a negative way. Why are you gonna purposely view things in a negative way? Look at the silver lining of certain things and it's awesome to see him change. It's seeing that and having these talks with him every day.

Speaker 4: 21:40

Yeah, so what I met him was in B&I, you know what I mean, and we immediately got in connected because one of the first things he says was let's, I want to dehumanize your business. You know what I mean. And I was like I like that and I was like I'll talk to that guy. And then of course he was in the media and I'm really into cinematography and all that. And next thing, you know, we're really connecting and we're doing one-to-ones and, like Eddie said, he brings that stuff up and again I'm the type of person where I'm just like I want to know about you, man so he's just spilling onto me all that stuff and I could just see. I could see like a lot of potential in this guy and I didn't know what it was. But I was like I want to work with him more and I started introducing him to the team and immediately everybody started loving this guy and it's just one of those things I wasn't expecting it. But an opportunity came up where we knew that he really needed a lot of help. I saw greatness in Chris man and I was like it's there, but he can't see it. But I can. And so I was like let's bring you on man. And it changed his life, like he was in this dead end job and, like Eddie said, he had a lot of head trash. And because me and Eddie are always doing personal development and always bettering ourselves, let's bring this guy in and, like I said, we're just dumping everything that we're learning, like we feel obligated to spread the knowledge right, spread the wisdom. So we're bringing them in and we're not asking for anything in return, just throw. Let's help you succeed.

Speaker 3: 22:58

I want to make a millionaire out of you.

Speaker 4: 23:00

I want to make a mid like we've heard before. I want to help everybody. And so he's been, and not alone. He's been crushing it for us, right, eddie, like he's been just, oh man, he's been such a powerhouse to the company and he's like the power of five people because we picked the right guy and we're literally pulling this greatness out of him. And I can see it, man, and it's great.

Speaker 2: 23:20

I'm like chomping on the mic at this point because you're saying so much that like. I'm like, oh, I can grab on that, grab on that. But I really feel like you're almost like I feel, almost like you guys, like you're like a lever with a fulcrum in the middle, and on one side is the new trade and on the other side is the old way the trade was operated. The new trade is we advocate for therapy, we advocate for new, we push to things, we work on communicating, on service. Old technology was push it down, don't box it up, keep it to yourself, man up right. And it's amazing how, if you were operating in the old way, you would have looked at someone and been like you know what, maybe he's too similar to me, we're not going to match. But because you were emotionally aware you could see something in someone that they couldn't even see in themselves and Clay, like what would that do for someone in their loyalty to the company? Like, hey, you found this person and you saw potential in them from the jump and you put them under your wing and you brought them in and you said I believe in you, even if you don't believe in yourself, and you gave them a seat at the table.

Speaker 4: 24:31

We had that conversation about emotional intelligence. Yep, we had that conversation just recently, yep, the other day. Because he says to me why are you, daddy, helping me so much? Like we literally coached him to land a $13,000 job that he was, what was he gonna send it?

Speaker 3: 24:45

He's gonna say he's gonna send it for the thousand bucks or something like that. I do know you need to be selling it 13,000. He's so scared to send it.

Speaker 4: 24:54

We ran a clinic. We have them run his numbers real quick and come up with that number it wasn't like fluffed up or anything, it was his real numbers and he didn't want to send it because he didn't think he was worth it. He sends it, gets the job, gets a 50% down deposit. So few weeks, you know, fast-forward. We're at a networking thing together and he goes bro, why are you guys helping me so much like not?

Speaker 3: 25:12

that I would ever leave.

Speaker 4: 25:14

He's like but aren't you afraid of me leaving? I was like yeah, you could, I was like, but I don't want you here just for a paycheck, like I want you here, because you believe in the vision. You're down to wake up every day and run this mission with us. You know what I mean, and so if I can eliminate that all these other worries that you have, you know. You know, cuz I know he's trying to get into a new place. I want to help him get there and if I can help him get there, that leaves all that other stress. He can focus on the mission that we have and he goes yeah, just so you know, I'm never leaving on an electrical. He's like I could be making millions and I'm still not leaving and I was like, see, right there, that's what I want.

Speaker 1: 25:45

Here's the dichotomy our Greatest, our greatest success will be realized through the leverage of other people. Right and everyone's on this journey, as we've discussed with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and if we help elevate people, there can be a lot of loyalty there. And you know what is it really? Forever? Probably not, statistically not, but I don't doubt that he'll give you his best for a while, as long as he possibly can on this journey, so long as they're aligned and in parallel. Because here's the dichotomy of Management versus leadership. As a manager, we need everyone to be replaceable and feel irreplaceable Mm-hmm as a leader. We need to invest in people so much that they could leave and do it themselves, but make it so easy for them to stay that they don't.

Speaker 4: 26:35

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 26:36

Yeah, I'm a percent. Masses. You said something really cool. I got to transition this humanized business. I love that he said that, because that's what I feel we do. At a time when and we're gonna get into the innovation side now at a time when AI is taken over and we start getting questions about well, should I have an AI? Yeah, I'm calling answering service. Should I have AI engage with my customers? Should I be doing less personal engagement? And we find that actually we're kind of like the old way sticks in the mud in this regard of like no. At a time when Everything's going to automation, we're still taking a strong stance for the humanized aspect and service as the highest form of Distinction. What do you guys thoughts on that?

Speaker 3: 27:21

Oh, so I have strong feelings about AI stuff. Okay, let's hear it. So I Agreed. Obviously don't want automated calls, anything except because you definitely be human interaction for sure. But AI is such a good tool to use at any level your business that Right now, any any to any level of business, whether your big one or small one, you should be learning how to utilize AI, how to incorporate in some way In your business, whether it's used to kind of again, this is the email come in, uploads to your CRM or whatever you know. It's just something that it could do to help you streamline a lot of stuff. Or whether it's immediate response via text and just have them go through their processes, whether it's them sending them, sending you photos or whatever, or scheduling a phone call, and but it's just. It's such a great tool to use and benefit from because it's so early stages right now with AI. If you're not positioned to learn how to use it and and Surround and be comfortable around it, you're gonna be left off the races five to ten years from now.

Speaker 4: 28:25

Yeah, I agree, I like what kind of kept going at anything is like. Use AI to enhance the customer experience. You know, I mean like what I said earlier time kills deals. So you know I'm not gonna say anything. We have a customer that I got to reach out to, where she's an introvert. She doesn't like to hop on a call. You know, I mean all that. She's not either talk through email and Texting, all that, and so I'm like I want to meet those people too, where they're at. You know, I mean. So it's like if they're, if they, if they just want to know, like my wife, I just want to know what price. I just want to be educated a little bit on some things. I want to be able to go to the website and quickly see kind of what to expect when you're working with Ion, or even maybe some Rough prices. You know, I mean, what the process looks like. Maybe you've got some common questions. I'm working currently on an AI chatbot that I'm teaching it to be an MIT graduate, harvard graduate In psychology, in in getting to the motive for people. You know, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna a fine tune the chatbot to ask those type of questions when you come to the website If you want to know more. It's not gonna be like these bullshit chatbots that we've seen before. I'm not talking about those Talking about it's. It's gonna feel authentic. You're gonna know it's a I, because we were transparent, but at the same time it's I want people to at least get what they're looking for really quick and I want them to feel like you know whether they left the website or they got to call with us, that they learned something and AI is gonna help with a lot of that. Like we can go on for hours, but, like what Eddie said, there's a lot of these menial things.

Speaker 3: 29:45

Yeah because he gets things to the customer, you know they mean right away and I think that's because you have to think about it. What the the customer clientele you have nowadays? The common clientele was a generation that grew up with computers and technology, so you have to Connect with them as well. Alongside us, for the still older people, the generation what happened? A phone, traditional ways, but we also got to still, you know, benefit and try to attract those Customers and new homeowners that grew up in an age of all technology in the internet.

Speaker 4: 30:16

Yeah, you grow up with them. By the way, just so you know like we will always have a person answering the phone. Oh 100 there are some. There are some tried and true old school things that you do not get rid of, that like 100 years ago they were still doing and they're still doing today that are trying to. I'm just saying Use what works with AI to enhance their business or else you're gonna get left behind everybody else is gonna be doing it. They're gonna be wondering how are they operating so efficient? You know what I mean. It's because AI gives you the power of 10. You know what I mean in many ways, so so I can.

Speaker 2: 30:45

I completely respect. You're coming from there where you're like I'm using it like a tool in the places where a human could not do these things. So it's like I'm treating it like it's a robot using the things for mechanical work and streamlining effects. So totally fine there and you're good with the human aspect. But you said one thing that just kind of caught me and I wasn't able to quite get away with it, which was on your website. You have lists of pricing. What do you mean? Like? Can you tell me a little bit about that? Like?

Speaker 3: 31:11

oh, I just want to have pricing listed. Oh, just like average prices based on certain installs is that way, when you, if they see those prices already, those average costs of what it looks like for a service upgrade, when you have a phone call, when you hop in the phone call with them, they're really kind of know what they're kind of here at that point sense of photos We'll get died a little bit deeper and there's kind of the less the conversation is, this has to go as long for you to get out there, get to do a consultation fee or whatever, or get them to lock in a schedule. Let's say, if they see average costs for a service upgrade on the honor price on our website, hey, I saw your average cost. That looks good. I want to move forward. How does it look like? Would you guys the process be hopping on the schedule? Fantastic, 50% deposit. Get you locked in the schedule, move forward and guess what?

Speaker 4: 31:56

if they don't like the price, they're gonna, they're not gonna call you.

Speaker 3: 31:59

You know what I mean.

Speaker 4: 31:59

Like I was, I was probably gonna tell up to him on the phone anyways, but you know what I mean. So Something about that.

Speaker 2: 32:05

Yeah, you can go deep into it.

Speaker 4: 32:06

But yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:07

Would you guys mind, because I feel like I actually have a very strong opposition stance to it and I don't mind if you guys entertain it, but like get me out for sure. So one of the reasons why I felt like my average was so high like I maintain a pretty consistent 80% close ratio Was because I didn't invite any pricing in the front but I was able to design options with a full range, from, like, the finest that money could buy to the most bare-boned basic someone could possibly come up with and, as a result, when you had something for everyone, they could get in at whatever level they wanted to. So when I think, when someone has an average price, I'm just gonna get a couple guesses and you tell me if I'm off on this, it could be like, hey, I want to get a panel change, I want to get a generator, I want to get an ev, like whatever it is they might look it up an ev charger. An average price, what's the range? Because you could get a panel with an neem, a 50 outlet, right underneath it and someone could call that a charging system. Or you could get someone who says you know what? I want to have a rapid charger, like there's even some prototype technologies where you could drive over a charger and have the wireless electricity carry it, like there is a lot of things that you can do, so I would one be able to create a range for that by all means.

Speaker 4: 33:20

Let me try to work with you. So I think context matters. Right, you know what I mean. So all the things that you just said, the goal, and I don't think it's on the current website we just went live on the new version. We're gonna be fine tuning it, but basically we go over those things, we try to summarize it and again we're trying to use it as a tool where we're all about the bracketing right, like you're never gonna always get it exact, because that's where the phone console comes from, that's where the pictures come from. But we know our numbers, probably down to, like the dollar man, like we're we know our numbers tight and so when we give those ranges they're gonna be bracketed, like you said. Okay, you wanna charge a car. You're trying to do level one, level two.

Speaker 3: 33:57

You're trying to just throw a plug like how, and it's gonna have all those explanations on there like again, if I'm on a call, be like hey, do you wanna go to our?

Speaker 4: 34:04

website real quick. Yeah, okay, if you look on there as we're talking, if you looked at kind of what we have here, where do you see yourself possibly falling on here? Are you just trying to go a plug? Are you trying to go bidirectional, like which, where you know what, looking at it, I probably somewhere in the middle. I think I like level two. I'm not trying to be bidirectional. Okay, roughly in the past because we like to use social proof. Right, you know our past customers. They've paid on average, this sex amount, let's call it 10,000, to keep the numbers easy, okay, and then you shut it up and you just see, kind of, was that in there? Don't give a fuck number that they had.

Speaker 3: 34:37

Cause everybody has it. I have it, you guys all have it.

Speaker 4: 34:39

I don't try to predict your wallet. I don't try to sell you anything. I don't try to force anything on you. I just wanna see if it even makes sense For us to go on a second date. If 10,000 to you, we get it all the time. You know what I was expecting more. Okay, that's great. Do you mind if we kind of dive deeper into this? And we have a lot of questions? We try to ask to get to that motive where we could get it down to the dollar. And it says we're gonna send you an actual detailed quote now, but we wanna find out right from the jump if it makes sense to keep going, cause sometimes it does it.

Speaker 3: 35:09

Sometimes they're like I only had like $500.

Speaker 4: 35:13

You know what?

Speaker 3: 35:14

God.

Speaker 4: 35:14

I could have just wasted it A lot of time driving out there spending windshield time. I would have wanted to know right away, just real quick Does it make sense to give them the details or not?

Speaker 1: 35:21

Go ahead, clay, you can tell. I just wanna give just a little bit of context, because this is a really healthy debate that a lot of people have in their own head, even right. So on one side we've got IonElectrical, who is essentially pre-qualifying a bit by using website, and you are I will give you a huge benefit here. Congrats for actually trying to educate them and ask brilliant questions at that time, because we believe in educating people. That's what we do, too, right in our process. The difference is that we actually invest in people and consider the pre-qualification, the fact that they reached out to us in the first place. So it's just a different timing. But as a result, anyone who even shows any remote interest in us gets to experience our service and absolutely we invest windshield time and as a goal, like Joe, achieved 80% conversion. Still on those. Go ahead, joe.

Speaker 2: 36:20

So one big example that comes up is let's say, we follow that same logic, right, and we're like, okay, I want my charger. I feel like that would almost hamstring us to an extent, and let me explain how. So let's say, you tell them you've got a range between $500 and $10,000. Well, obviously it's a pretty big range. No one may not know where they're gonna be at, but you can be tired, right.

Speaker 4: 36:39

I don't wanna mean to interrupt you, but we have bracketing, so there's actually a middle one. There's those three options. Everybody likes to have the three.

Speaker 3: 36:45

So that's because I wanna say we don't have big swings like that.

Speaker 4: 36:48

Yeah, I just wanna make sure we're keeping it close to what we actually do For the sake of accuracy.

Speaker 2: 36:53

The reason why I had brought it up was there were specific situations that have come up for me where I remember. One great example was a bed and breakfast we had done work for, where the customer came by and said I'm looking for a price, like over the phone, I wanna know how much it's gonna cost for you to replace two outlets. That's all it was, that's all they qualified it for. Right Now, normally people would be like, well, what's an outlet gonna cost? Anywhere between $150 to $450, somewhere around that? Right, we didn't do that. Instead, we said, well, I'll be happy to come on out, we'll do an evaluation, we'll see what's required, and that's gonna be that. While we were on site, we found out that there was aluminum wiring and we found out that he had a 400 amp service that was extremely old. We found out that he wanted five charging systems, five Tesla charging systems. We found out that they actually wanted generator backup. Now we went from a $300 to $400. Call that if we had given him a price over the phone, he was very, very strict with his money. He had it, but he was very, very strict with it. He may have very well declined us, but by us being there and investing in the company, investing in, like the customer, and learning about them. We ended up landing a 30,000 plus job, so go ahead.

Speaker 4: 38:04

Yeah. So I would say I think part of that too. Again, that's why the being a good communicator is key, Cause I wouldn't just tell him the price. I'd probably want to figure out, like why are you getting this? Yeah, way before the job and the money, or if they talking about the money, yeah, yeah, if you don't mind me asking and then really pulling more information out of that, I'd do it all the time. Do it at home depot. I literally sold a site visit I'm gonna do for my doctor when I had an anaphylaxis reaction and I was at the hospital my throat was closing up. Hit me with the EpiPen. He sees my bag over there. He sees the logo. Cause I just got off work and we're just talking and next thing you know, I find out he's really into technology, I find out he's really into saving energy. You know what I mean. I got a whole bunch of information from him, just from the spirit of conversation. Next thing, you know, he asked me well, how much does it usually cost? I can never usually find it like anywhere. Well, on average we charge this much. He goes actually. You know what I was expecting? Like way more. He goes. You mind coming out, Of course. Of course I don't mind coming out Like let's dive into it. I was able to do all that from a hospital bed just because I was. I've been training myself to have really rich, deep conversations, to pull all that out just from the conversations. Of course I want to go to your house, but I just want to first find out like not even just price, If you're being an asshole to me on the phone, I protect my time and I protect my guys' time. So there's a lot you can get just in a few minutes of conversation. The approving time.

Speaker 3: 39:29

I'm not saying what you're doing is wrong cause.

Speaker 4: 39:31

I love you guys and I want to incorporate what works. You know what I mean. But I think there is something to the transparency you know what I mean when it comes to it, and there's context matters man a lot. You just don't throw numbers out. And then the other thing I was saying too is we believe in the same thing too, where people they don't just buy right away. You know, at least I don't I do lots of research, I go visit websites, I read reviews, you know. So, with the website being used as a tool, I'm going to be pumping out, like I said, the content, because when they choose to call us right away, like you said, clay, I see that I was already as a qualifier and I want the people to call us, because the guy was like I'm really thinking about getting an EV and he types in you know, how do I choose the right EV? How do I pick the right whatever? I want my blog to show up, I want him to click on it, I want him to be educated and get hyped about it. Because I answered all those questions and then I wanted to fill out the form to call me, because when he calls me now, the calls a lot shorter. It's a lot more efficient. We can get right to his specific needs and I don't really have to answer all those little common universal questions that they have. And I'm going to do that with video. I'm going to deal with blogs. That's why I'm the doctor of electricians, because I'm going to subscribe electrical solutions. So I don't care if you don't call me right now or a year from now. You're going to call me when you're ready, because I help you get there. That's just the way I see it, the philosophy with it.

Speaker 2: 40:43

It's amazing because I feel like we truly are running a parallel. We want to get to the same location. We want to get to that same location for the same reason and we want to help and educate our customers along the way and make them Feel human. We're just not in agreement on giving them the price up front, and that's okay. You know what I mean. It's one of those things where I respect what you guys are trying to do, and I love the fact that you can have a rich conversation while getting an epi-pen to the thigh. I can't help you.

Speaker 4: 41:15

I genuinely love this stuff. You know I mean people, and I don't want people who I'm talking to would have feel that the same energy you know they mean, like when you call me. I want you to call me because you're looking for this thing that you want to do. You're not calling me because and maybe you are window shopping, but I'll be able to find that out right away. There's nothing wrong with that, because I'm never trying to sell you anything. I just want to find out. Is this a relationship that we should continue?

Speaker 3: 41:35

and if it is, let's come out, let's take a look.

Speaker 4: 41:38

I don't mind taking pictures, we're gonna find tooth comb. I mean, eddie got a job because of that. He Talked to him on the phone, did the phone consultation. He loved it. I told that you know what. I have the responsibility not to keep that going so when I get out there now, I'm gonna give him that white glove service answer all his questions, answered as much as possible and we got an email saying man, I just loved everything from the phone consultations to when Edward came out. We were way more expensive but because Eddie kind of got him pre-qualified with all those deep, deep level questions, really good.

Speaker 3: 42:07

It's exactly. It wasn't too much about the pre-qualifications. It's like hearing him out. Listen to him, just Shutting the fuck up and just listening to him speak. Let him let the ask the right questions, let him pour out why is he getting the span smart panel? Why?

Speaker 2: 42:24

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 42:26

It's like he just Exploded it. Well, I want to find out all his details. As far as, like you know, why am I electric bill so high? And it's another dog man. Well, how high has your electric bill been? Well, I've been paying this much damn real shit. How long you been paying that? I can't believe it.

Speaker 4: 42:42

Empathizing give you an ROI immediately.

Speaker 3: 42:44

You know, I mean what do you mean by that, edward?

Speaker 4: 42:46

Let me, let's give you mind if we get into it, can I, can I get technical with you real quick? There's a lot of people don't like that, by the way, sometimes they get glossy eyed, so you got to ask permission. Sometimes Can I get technically real quick yes, okay, let's go, and then you start getting into it, you know I mean. So again, it's all about kind of leading that conversation, but also not sort of went up on them and I don't know there's a whole philosophy that needed. He just died died, died as much as possible, because that we care about the most above everything else, yeah.

Speaker 2: 43:08

Yeah, yeah, no, I love that. It's a good way of viewing it is you're educating to enhance the relationship, not to detract from the relationship, by you understanding the authority and the professionalism I have. That's based in a strong Understanding of education and technology. I can use that expertise to serve you, but I'm not saying it so you think better of me. It's so that you can visualize what's in your future and in your potential of your home with your family.

Speaker 4: 43:37

No, it has a lot of your in there.

Speaker 2: 43:38

Yes, yes, you, you guys pick up on there.

Speaker 4: 43:42

Your story is not about us. We can brag about ourselves all day long. It's about you. All day long it's about you. We want to make sure we get that to a tee.

Speaker 3: 43:51

And, but I want to.

Speaker 4: 43:52

I want to bridge that gap though, like you were saying, because it's not that like we disagree with anything you guys are doing. If anything, our problem is, you know, it's just two of us. Like when we grow our team, when our guys are out there, I want them to sound like you guys. I want them to have that like being able to go in there. We got this doing this job and all of a sudden they're hey man, all of a sudden they're bringing in way more money now because they were able to use the tactics that we've seen you guys teach. Yep, you know, I mean. So I see it almost as a compliment to our system. Like we're handling it, I feel great on one end, but if I'm being honest, there's this other side that we're really lacking on, and then that that's having that continuity across the team, and we just don't. I feel like we don't have the resources or the strategy.

Speaker 3: 44:34

And I'm like me and Eddie.

Speaker 4: 44:35

We're always want to learn, so that's why we love you guys so much, because I can't wait to bring you guys into the fold, because you guys are gonna boost that like crazy on that side, you know. I mean, and that's the part where I mean Eddie, we don't have egos, man Like we're all about bringing all the best people, all the you know and you guys are forever student you guys are like brothers to me. You know, we don't know the other person, and so I told you you can't escape our love.

Speaker 3: 44:58

No, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 45:00

Sorry, I didn't want to cut you off.

Speaker 3: 45:02

But I was like again, just quick.

Speaker 1: 45:04

Just one of the things that's important to always recognize is, like Five days a week we go live, we spout off information based on our experience and what our clients are experiencing. We know the wins that we have. We know the reasons why for everything, because Joe is so absolutely beautifully gifted at Having a why never just saying something, but a why and so what also is important to Recognize, though, is what you're saying is is not De-faced at all. Right, like I'm not looking at your books. If you guys aren't having a call booking rate issue, then I wouldn't suggest changing anything anyway. Like, every business needs to also recognize how their KPI and those bottlenecks work. Just because we have a disagreement on when to qualify and how we're doing that Doesn't actually mean there's a change required there. If I can just say that now, if we're on here and you're holding to that and at the same time you're telling me I got a 20% call booking rate, we can't get anyone to the house, we're not getting the right calls, so I'm gonna dial up SEO to get more of those leads, so that, like that would be a different thing and it would be kind of like, but if that's not the problem? It's not the problem. Sorry, I had to throw that out.

Speaker 3: 46:16

Oh no, no, you're fine, I was just just continue to add on with the. What Eddie was saying is just, you know, that was the other no, honest, like we want more. We want everybody that's on site to kind of start think and talk the same as both me and Eddie. When we have all, when we talk On the phone with with customers, you know that way is just continuity as everybody's on the same mindset, able to talk in again. They'll do what you did, joseph. You went on site and found other things wrong. It's oh my god, you know, and just extrapolate more and turn a small project into a large project.

Speaker 4: 46:48

I want all electricians to be like that and we just don't have the capacity or the strategy likes to be something like that, you know.

Speaker 2: 46:55

I honestly think there's one major reason why and you know it circles back to the emotion again because so many people have view of sales as Something that's bad and it's something that they think they're doing to someone. I've always believed that sales is doing it for someone. Like if I were to go into your home and, as a professional, I noticed that something was either unsafe or I noticed something that could be enhanced, would it be wrong of me to at least let you know about it? It's like obviously people are gonna say no. Like like I came to your home, eddie and Edward, if I came to your homes and I were like, hey, I recognize that there's a piece of technology that could either save you money or enhance the quality of life or make you more comfortable or give you more time, were you gonna kick me in the chest for telling you that? No, but so many tax have this feeling of like you'd be thanking me right there. You'd say like, thank you for that. But so many tax have this feeling of if I give you a number, they'll see me as trying to sell you on something. And I just want to create that break and say it's not you trying to sell. I Love creating options, but because it educates and expands the level of professionalism, but also it really underlines I'm here to serve you. I could not have offered six options if I didn't know your why. But I didn't know your family, if I didn't know what you were doing in the future, why you're doing it. Why does it matter? Why now? Yep, but by learning those rich conversations now, we can create those conversations.

Speaker 3: 48:28

I was just saying and that builds that that we're particular when you talk into the customer, if now they trust you, you know they trust you to be in their home and their space, you know. So it's like and and that's where everything started, like you know, when first hopped on. Here's a big major thing for me is this being a better communicator, asking the right questions. When I do have a consultation call, position myself in a mindset I'm just having a cute this, just talking to this person. I just just talking to them, have a conversation with them, like you're at the bar having a beer. You know that's Just going back and forth, seeing you for a good fit and go and go from there.

Speaker 1: 49:06

Yeah, absolutely. It ties perfectly into a podcast we did just a couple of days ago, really talking about how you know we do service, not sales, and really even recommendations are a dangerous thing to place at someone's house, because really what we want to do is just have a system, like we do in our observations, explaining our for what's, which is always what they called for Right and what's good about their system. So they know, hey, I'm here as a friend too, I'm not just someone here to slam you and try to sell you something. Right, what we found that we know and they wouldn't right, the don't know, what you don't know. But then what else could be done based on the wise that we discovered and how to improve the quality of that of life and Time, delay and effort and sacrifice, and that's so huge guys. But that said, we've got to wrap this up because we're going long here. We didn't even get to everything we wanted to, because these chats are so rich with you guys, I think it's obvious. I mean, it's got my vote to Anything you guys wanted to say Outside of like. I do want to make sure people know how to to reach out to you guys, how to follow you on social media, how to see what I on's up to. But is there anything else you wanted to add to this podcast?

Speaker 4: 50:28

I guess. Yeah, I mean just wwionelectricallccom. I'm super excited about it. We just re-ramp in the website and there's a lot more to come, so just keep keep visiting, because it helps, as you know same on Instagram.

Speaker 3: 50:39

Instagram handle is also on electrical LLC and Leave. Do you also have a tiktok as well? As the same one as well, right?

Speaker 4: 50:48

Yeah, that's gonna be on the on the on the website and Um yeah you two stay tuned.

Speaker 3: 50:53

I got a lot of stuff. I'm in the Gen Z. Oh yeah, gotta get in there and I guess, be on that, drink your fucking water.

Speaker 2: 51:05

Stay hydrated. You're the only one home. Everyone hold it up. It's clay. The only one without a head-sized jug. Next to it I've got a hip-hop coffee mug empty.

Speaker 1: 51:17

Okay, honest to God, I've got a big water jug and someone in the family has misplaced it. I know that later I will find out. I put it in a special place and finally found it, but that's my excuse. Guys, this has been another effort to help you. If you're listening or engaging with us live, if you had questions, please throw them down. Talk to us where you heard us on your favorite podcast channel, or reach out to us on service loop electrical calm. This has been another effort to help you master your sales, simplify your pricing and deliver premium level electrical service. I know this episode is gonna help you too, and we'll see you again next time. Thanks, gents, thank you guys.

Speaker 2: 51:53

Thanks, you guys.

Speaker 1: 51:53

Thanks you.