Ep 281 - Replay - How to Creatively Create Options to Wow Your Clients

We're coming here five days a week live recording this live podcast to help you master your sales, simplify your pricing and create consistent premium level service. And today we've got quite a hot topic for you, or at least that's what our clients were saying in the Q&A session we had prior to this. They're loving it. And today is all about breaking through the barrier of options how to create options, how to look at an opportunity or a demand call and turn that into an overload of options six to be precise. Really, what we're looking for, right, I love that and some things to help you overcome some self image stuff as well as paint a picture for your clients. So it's not just creating options, it's creating options that they want. All right, so today, specifically, was about a hot tub call, but let's just touch on the basics of it, and I think maybe I'll start with the self image bit. Sure, I mean that work. We'll kind of flip it. Earlier we did it the other way, but we'll flip it here. I just want to start you guys by saying I did a post earlier and I think this really applies so much to so many of us that we're limited by our ability to imagine ourselves competing at a higher level, completing a sale at a higher level, making a higher option sale, and what that looks like is that really? Our self image is the accumulation of everything we've observed being said about us, we've heard about us, seen written about us, and what that often accumulates to is a negative self perception. That, on top of the fact that humans, kind of we, focus on the negative, it's such a problem. So one of the things you can do to set yourself up for sales success is honestly inflate that vision a bit. Give yourself a mental movie and see yourself transacting, doing this exchange with a happy customer and you being perceived in the way that you want to be perceived, which is as a trusted friend, an ally in this, helping them make the right decisions. What do you think about this, joseph?

I feel like this is the absolute first step that people need to take, because if they're not willing to look at themselves as the solution at a high level, they end up mostly just becoming the problem. We can manifest positivity into our lives by simply just saying I am. Anything that follows the word I am is. Doesn't matter whether it's good or bad, so I am liked by my clients. Damn right you are. I am poor. Well, you'll probably stay that way. I'm great at giving options. Good, you've got an open mind. So anytime you want to shift your thought, introduce the I am scene and you'll find that usually you'll end up in a better place.

I love that. I love that. What that story is that you're telling yourself. So now let's ship this into really getting right into it this options and how can we help people really achieve a better outcome by exploring the different benefits. Should I use the keyword benefits?

So its benefits is one way of looking at it, but it's actually more human than just benefits and features. What we want to do is people say how do you come up with options? What do you do for everyone? I can't make more than three options for something. Well, that usually means that you're not putting yourself in the customer's shoes. So what I mean by that is when the customer calls. Let's take the hot tub, for example, because we talked about that. If you're going into a hot tub, a customer gives you a call and they say why do I want a hot tub? Well, it could be for one of two reasons. Is it that they either A have some sort of pain and they're using it as like a therapy immersion pump, or they're using it for recreation? Is there something? They just plan on lounging it and spending time with family? If we don't understand what they're going to use it for, it becomes very difficult to imagine them using right.

Totally.

So the first step is ask questions. So I understand you want to get a hot tub and I'm happy to help you with that. But do you mind if I ask you a question? What is the main purpose of this tub? What are you going to be doing with it? When are you going to be using it? Is this all season? Is this partial season? Tell me a little bit more about it so I know how to best serve you. Let them envision it, imagine so. Does it make sense? So far, the first step.

Absolutely yeah.

All right. So now that they've imagined that first step, now we have to ask ourselves and say well, what do they typically do? Well, regardless of what season it's going to be, do you mind if I just kind of dig into it?

and just jump right in. Oh yeah, jump jump right in, yeah. We're doing it now. No holds barred, we're going, we're going into hot tubs.

So, depending on whichever it is whether it's a therapy tub or whether it's a recreational tub usually you can assume that it's an all season investment, right Like when was the last time you ever saw someone take their hot tub and drain it out?

Just my in-laws this week. I'm not sure why they do that, but I wanted a hot tub and they're like it's empty. I'm like, what do you? It's still winter, we could do this. Yeah, Anyway.

Exactly so. The thing is that you need to assume that this needs to be at served at all year round. So the first thought is to say okay, it's winter, I'm going to be using this. At five o'clock it's probably already dark, right? How can I get from my sliding glass door on the porch to this hot tub? The first thought is can I see where I'm going? So you have to look at yourself and say well, what's the typical lighting for a backyard? Is there just one sconce by the sliding glass door? Is that really illuminating the whole yard comfortably? Probably not. So should you either add flood lighting to the back of the home? Should you add a second sconce? Could you add post lighting? Could you offer a landscape lighting? Could you offer pathway lighting? What do you need to do to allow the customer to be able to see what they're doing and comfortably get to this hot tub? So lighting is a huge step in the first direction. That makes sense.

Totally yeah, awesome. The second Ambience Ambient lighting.

Think about it now.

Valentine's Day Lighting is everything today, joseph. Oh yeah, all right, now we're getting there.

You know what, for any of you guys who want to get to your hot tub, how nice would it be to simply be able to say I'm going to dim down the lighting a little bit and I'm going to have a nice glass of wine and sit back with my special someone. That's the goal of having a hot tub. That's the ultimate apex dream. So the second thing, then, is if we know that we can now see it, we can now physically get to the hot tub, how do we get there? How do we physically get there? Well, for those of us that live in winter climates, it's probably going to snow, right? So are you going to? If you get someone who's got a bad back and that's why they have an immersion tub, are you going to make them shovel snow to get there? Does that make sense?

No sir.

So, then, what's stopping us from saying well, we know for a fact that, more likely, you're going to have some concrete work done, or you're going to have a pathway made, or you're going to have even a landscape pathway. While that's being done, what's stopping you from running a heated pathway? Physically saying, I'm going to have a switch at the door, or even have it on a thermostat to where, if it snows, and I'm going to go to my hot tub, I'm going to turn it on for an hour or two and I'm going to melt the snow so that, when I get out of my hot tub, it goes right to the base and you're going. You can walk out with bare feet if you want to Love it, love it. Or, like one of our clients suggested, what about a heated towel rack? If you were going to get out and it's 40 degrees, wouldn't it be nice to get a nice, warm towel, all nice and fluffy, warm around you? So why are we not installing heated towel racks out there? The second thing, then, or continuous on this, is then saying well, what have you used in the summer? For those of us who might be like well, I'm in the South, we don't have winters, how do I do? Well, one thing you guys have is bugs. All season. You're probably having bugs one way or the other, right? So what I would always install is something known as a dinotrap. Why are we not offering ways to remove bugs from the property? It doesn't need to be like we're bug remedial specialists, but there are certain products that require electricity, which frequently we provide. So what's stopping us from saying I'm going to install one dinotrap by your system or in proximity of your backyard to give you one acre of bug-free enjoyment. Would it not be enjoyable for someone to have the ability of sitting outside not worrying about a horsefly coming to bite them?

Yes, definitely.

Next thing, then, is saying to yourself okay, now I've walked to my hot tub, I see where I'm going, my feet are warm, I'm in the water now and the bugs are inviting me. Now what? Are you listening to? Any music? And if you are, are we making them live back in the 90s with giant D battery boomboxes Like?

hopefully not.

Or are you going to make them have their corded? You know they're going to have an extension cord rounding all the way to the back deck so that they can have their speakers. Why are we not offering the ability of having speakers random in advance? Would it make sense to do that for someone to say, I mean, they literally make Bluetooth balls at Home Depot, if you wanted to. To. Where? Literally, if you're going to put a post light outside, literally screw a bulb into it and these particular styles will automatically connect the Bluetooth to the customer's phone. So when they walk out and their lights on, it'll automatically connect and now they can have speakers next to them without having the risk of it falling into the water. Or why not put in a pair of Sonos or you know, ambient, ambient sound, acoustic light or acoustic sound speakers?

I would say the biggest hindrance, because there was a question there why don't we do that? The biggest hindrance is because we get stuck in the moment with electrician brain, the blinders on focused on safety and compliance, safety and compliance, but not the benefits of the actions that they're going to be taking with this installation. This is bigger than hot tubs, you guys right. Yeah, you know every case. Who is your avatar? Who do you serve? What are they thinking? How are they using it, why, like Joseph said in the beginning, and understanding the benefits from there is always going to help you create options that are unmatched. So it's not apples to apples, it's apples to oranges.

There's no competition Apple to oranges.

Yeah, like that Apples to oranges. Absolutely, it's absolutely no competition, even if they got a second quote. That homeowner would then be saying well well, how much would it cost you if you were to install the Sonos? How much would it cost if you were to give a surprise for the light as well? You'd be creating all this extra legwork for any potential competition, even if you were worried about that.

You know they're 100% right on that. I wanted to add one additional thing that I feel is not relevant, not prevalent in our industry. So when I started my sales career, I was trained primarily by HVAC coaches right, Because that's what was available, right? And the common terminology for someone who gives quotes in the HVAC industry is what's known as a comfort advisor. What they do is they advise your clients on how they can be most comfortable in their home. But we electricians, we have estimators, You've got sales guys. None of them ever sound good because we're not speaking to the emotional needs that our clients have. We're not speaking to how our services make them more comfortable. What we're trying to do is the exact opposite. Here at Service of Electric, we're trying to change how the industry is perceived. So I consider myself a design specialist only because I'm able to get into mindset of the customer so that we can allow ourselves to get them better and join them. And when someone people don't like to spend money, but they love to invest it in themselves and what we're giving them is a means that they can enjoy our products on a more personal basis, Does that make sense?

Absolutely, absolutely it does. And forgive me for being slightly distracted. As we're talking, I'm seeing a couple of wins come in in our client group chat and one of the benefits I got a shirt here. I mean these are wins. You guys love to hear this right. One of the benefits of niching guys. What I want you to understand is when we niche, we offer a specialized service. We've got more options, which means we're able to create more value, which means we're able to better fine tune and help people buy, but also it's at an increased rate. So one of the wins we just received for this week from one of our clients is actually then people are worried about the niching closing off work. That's not the way it works. In this case he got a remodeled job, a bigger job at his elevated service rates from that niche. So just another amazing benefit I wanted to tuck in there If you were niched in hot tubs, if you became the master of this, that's an option. You can do that and the benefit is you'll actually be able to speak to someone about a specific problem that you aim to solve and you'll be the best at solving that problem. I know that was a bit of a curveball. Sorry, I had to share it. I got excited.

I think that's great. I mean, realistically, everyone who's listening. Right now. Someone could be in the living room, someone could be in a service room, but we have to speak to you guys. If you're taking the time to listen to us, it's going to have returning results. This is not something that is just going to be wasting your time. Take the lessons that we're trying to teach and you will be successful, but only if you take action on them. Definitely, my greatest pet peeve when it comes to training is that so many of us will go to these big training events, but you know that 90% of people who go there don't actually take action on the lessons that they were taught, so it's like what's the point of doing any of it? I want to speak to the 10% that actually will take action and say I see you and I respect you and I want to talk to you more. Please listen and take the actions we're trying to suggest, because we only want you better than we were. I feel like it's a noble pursuit, Definitely.

And I just actually replied to a post in Rebs there the other day where someone was showing the books, the reading, the e-myth, and then Profit. First, of course, by Mike. I always like to say his last name, Michaelowitz. Anyway, he gets it If he's listening to this. Hey, we've done our jobs Excellent. But the comment I made was taking action. That's the best way to read a book, guys, is to take action as you read it Is to literally make actionable steps and move towards your goal. Right, you bought the book. Clearly you're buying into it. No one buys a book to sit there and go, man, that won't work.

I mean, maybe it has a nice leather, maybe it has a nice leather bound and looks good. It smells like rich mahogany. Maybe I'll put it on my desk as a paperweight That'll look good in my library.

Other people respect me for having this. Yeah, that's not the right reason to read a book, listen to a podcast, listen to an audio book. I love all of the above and it's like we were talking about yesterday turning travel into training how important right Now. Really going broad here, guys, so we're gonna wrap this one up. We're going a bit long as well. We're here every day, five days a week, and you know how this thing really works Is based on the Q&A that we received from the previous session, from our clients and from you guys in the Electric Panner's Facebook group. So please let us know. Did this hit home for you today? Was there something we missed? Do you have a problem with hot tub options or maybe other options? Go ahead, send us a message, put it on the group wall, comment on the live here. Let us know how we can serve you best and we'd love to take your topic, give you special mentions and, of course, speak all around it. Help you as much as we can.

No, no, I absolutely love working on options. It's one of those things that really brings me a lot of joy, because I love seeing the aha moments that people have, where they're like, oh, I hadn't considered it that way, and that's where real growth and change happens. So I'm just, I'm really honored to be here to help support you guys with that.

This is our mission, guys. We're gonna help you master sales, simplify pricing and create consistent, premium level service. As always, reach us on the Facebook page, send us direct messages if you want. Keep on tuning in cause. We're gonna be here five days a week helping drive you forward. All right, guys. Cheers to your success. Bye, bye.