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May 2, 2024

Replay - How to Barter Your Electrical Services and Not Get Screwed

Replay - How to Barter Your Electrical Services and Not Get Screwed
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Million Dollar Electrician - Sale to Scale For Home Service Pros

Ever found yourself in a sticky situation where bartering seemed like a good idea at the time? Join us as we share a laugh over life's unexpected moments before diving into the real talk about the dos and don'ts of bartering in the electrician business. From Guillaume's business achievements to navigating the potential quicksand of service swaps, we're peeling back the layers on how to keep your exchanges fair and your business thriving.

Cash discounts can be a slippery slope, leading to more headaches than savings if you're not careful. We discuss the delicate dance of offering discounts, maintaining integrity, and the importance of documented cash flow. Alongside wisdom from my partner Joseph Lucani, we'll equip you with the know-how to field those awkward cash price inquiries and keep your business above board and in the black. Get ready to level up your financial savvy and steer clear of the tax man's bad side.

We're rounding off with a powerhouse of practical insights to perfect your pricing strategy and sharpen your sales skills. Whether you're a seasoned electrician entrepreneur or just starting to spark up your career, our treasure trove of advice is sure to illuminate your path. Don't forget to join our Facebook group, Electricpreneur Secrets, to keep the conversation going and your business glowing. Trust us; this is one episode you'll want to plug into.

Join us LIVE 5 days a week on the Facebook Community page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/electricpreneursecrets

And see us and our stories and wins at:

https://www.servicebyelectricians.com

Chapters

00:00 - Mastering the Art of Bartering

05:57 - The Pitfalls of Barter Deals

17:15 - Cash Discounts

23:08 - Navigating Bartered Services in Business

33:18 - Mastering Sales and Service in Podcast

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:05.272
Hello and welcome to Electrepreneur Secrets, the Electrician Podcast.

00:00:05.272 --> 00:00:13.169
We're here with you live, five days a week to help you master sales, simplify pricing and deliver premium level service.

00:00:13.169 --> 00:00:15.989
This one is for electricians, by electricians.

00:00:15.989 --> 00:00:19.650
As always, I'm an electrician, joseph's an electrician.

00:00:19.650 --> 00:00:25.085
If you've been listening to us for a while, you are likely an electrician, joseph, how are you doing today?

00:00:26.019 --> 00:00:33.225
Feeling great, other than the random tattoo itch that we had going on, but otherwise I'm feeling great.

00:00:33.225 --> 00:00:34.067
It's been a good day.

00:00:34.487 --> 00:00:35.210
Yeah for a Monday.

00:00:35.210 --> 00:00:36.212
We got a great start here.

00:00:36.212 --> 00:00:37.701
We've already had a couple laughs.

00:00:37.701 --> 00:00:45.314
If you're not with us in the Facebook group Entrepreneur Secrets, you could be laughing your Monday morning away too with us.

00:00:45.314 --> 00:00:47.103
Before we actually get started here.

00:00:47.103 --> 00:00:59.723
We've covered a few things, but really what we just saw was Joseph do a big emphatic stretch, while forgetting that he just got his sleeve addition on the weekend a little bit of tattoo work.

00:00:59.723 --> 00:01:00.585
How did that feel, joe?

00:01:01.609 --> 00:01:02.811
It actually was a lot of fun.

00:01:02.811 --> 00:01:04.221
It was eight and a half hours in the chair.

00:01:04.221 --> 00:01:05.805
I loved it.

00:01:05.805 --> 00:01:11.614
I mean, I hated the inking part, but it's been years and years and years.

00:01:11.614 --> 00:01:15.269
I've been working on this, chipping away at it eight hours, six hours, five hours.

00:01:15.269 --> 00:01:16.900
So I finally have it done.

00:01:16.900 --> 00:01:21.447
I'm thinking about making a post about it sometime this week, but otherwise I can't wait to do some sharing.

00:01:21.447 --> 00:01:24.313
You are muted.

00:01:26.055 --> 00:01:26.716
I was muted.

00:01:26.716 --> 00:01:27.959
I'm not muted anymore.

00:01:27.959 --> 00:01:30.887
I had to move my squeaky chair, which I was just explaining.

00:01:30.887 --> 00:01:32.953
Got confused for a house haunting.

00:01:34.938 --> 00:01:36.382
You're about to smudge your house, right?

00:01:36.724 --> 00:01:38.347
I kept hearing doorbells.

00:01:38.347 --> 00:01:42.947
It turned out it was a spring in my chair that I recognized once I got back from New York.

00:01:42.947 --> 00:01:46.221
So clearly I had new clarity coming home from that trip.

00:01:46.221 --> 00:01:49.727
Really enjoyed your place and your hospitality, by the way.

00:01:51.010 --> 00:01:51.793
You're always welcome.

00:01:51.793 --> 00:01:52.521
You were you.

00:01:52.521 --> 00:01:56.212
Honestly, I could not have asked for a better guest and I miss you already, man.

00:01:56.212 --> 00:01:59.427
I was going to say the chemistry that you guys are all seeing.

00:01:59.427 --> 00:02:00.510
It's organic.

00:02:00.510 --> 00:02:02.262
This guy is an awesome person.

00:02:02.262 --> 00:02:03.884
You couldn't have asked for a better person to work with.

00:02:04.546 --> 00:02:13.409
Well, I appreciate that we do have a great show today and I want to let you guys know of some wins on the inside, as Guillaume's joined us on the live here.

00:02:13.409 --> 00:02:16.403
He's getting to hear this firsthand, but we got two.

00:02:16.403 --> 00:02:23.026
In our morning check-ins with our clients, received some great praise from Guillaume as well as some great wins.

00:02:23.026 --> 00:02:25.317
Um, congratulations to him.

00:02:25.317 --> 00:02:32.432
And having his biggest month and a couple years of business, we're super pumped about that, super pumped.

00:02:32.432 --> 00:02:38.793
And we were literally in our weekly planning session and I said to joseph isn't this why we do this?

00:02:38.793 --> 00:02:41.187
Ear to ear grins.

00:02:41.187 --> 00:02:47.584
Um, I couldn't be happier for you, guillaume, and we couldn't be happier to support you in that endeavor.

00:02:47.584 --> 00:02:48.887
Amen.

00:02:49.026 --> 00:03:05.885
It's one of those things where it took years and years, and years and years to put this process together and get it dialed in to where it was consistent, and it makes me so happy that all of our students don't have to grind the way that I had to to get to those wins that you're currently experiencing.

00:03:05.885 --> 00:03:11.324
So, guillaume, truly it is like nothing more than an honor getting the opportunity to work with you and seeing you succeed.

00:03:12.007 --> 00:03:15.865
And just a slight correction there to be clear it's still a grind.

00:03:15.865 --> 00:03:17.829
Still worked hard, brother.

00:03:17.829 --> 00:03:22.945
I know we know you've been working hard, but the duration is so different.

00:03:23.206 --> 00:03:31.367
Seeing that kind of change right, being exposed to that level of experience, where we're here with you guys five days a week, has been a game changer for so many.

00:03:31.367 --> 00:03:36.685
Guillaume able to hit that milestone in just three months of the program, so super pumped.

00:03:36.685 --> 00:03:39.830
And today's topic, big transition.

00:03:39.830 --> 00:03:46.826
I was actually listening to Friday's episode, or our last episode that we recorded, and we at this point made a joke about a drum roll.

00:03:46.866 --> 00:03:56.224
I was tempted to do it again dude, literally just tell me, I will get drums and bring them in this room just for the occasion I think there's a shortcut.

00:03:56.344 --> 00:04:02.270
I know we got rid of all the fancy shit you guys just to to just give value five days a week.

00:04:02.270 --> 00:04:10.210
We didn't want to be distracted, but I can see the novelty in having the little pad with the buttons and pre-recorded sounds so I can make the odd sound for you guys.

00:04:10.210 --> 00:04:14.510
But the big topic today is actually how to barter your services.

00:04:15.223 --> 00:04:17.420
As it came to, one of our clients this morning as a question.

00:04:17.420 --> 00:04:29.326
He was talking specifically about bartering services for a website, and we then enlightened him with many of the things that we should be looking out for in that exchange.

00:04:29.326 --> 00:04:31.952
How would you like to hash that out again, Joseph?

00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:34.543
The thing is with bartering.

00:04:34.543 --> 00:04:40.410
There's so many different things that go into it, because I want to first address the main fallacy that we experience.

00:04:40.410 --> 00:04:47.764
A lot of us got into the trade because we understand what it takes to build businesses or at least to do good electric work.

00:04:47.764 --> 00:04:53.490
So you may look at something and say, well, it only is going to take me three hours to do this job.

00:04:53.490 --> 00:04:58.985
Surely I can trade three hours of work for a perceived value of something more.

00:05:00.067 --> 00:05:10.372
The thing is this when you're bartering something, you always have to remember that it's never going to go as smoothly or as perfectly as you envisioned it.

00:05:10.372 --> 00:05:26.341
They may have a different vision, you may have a different vision, but the key concept of bartering is that you usually expect to spend less donating your time and service than you would if you were going to physically hand out an exchange of cash.

00:05:26.341 --> 00:05:38.353
So it's very, very, very important to do the proper research to make sure that you've done everything you can to say if I do this one, is it a win for everyone, or especially me?

00:05:38.353 --> 00:05:45.153
And if it's not a win, what would it cost MSRP to get this service if I was going to have to pay it out?

00:05:45.153 --> 00:05:45.461
Right?

00:05:45.461 --> 00:05:52.701
And then what could I do with the extra time if I wasn't physically trading time for the service?

00:05:52.701 --> 00:05:53.723
Does that make sense?

00:05:54.345 --> 00:05:56.971
Totally Very, very important questions.

00:05:56.971 --> 00:06:01.031
I'm reminded of a couple episodes we've done already in some of the topics.

00:06:01.031 --> 00:06:14.541
I think it's so important, like you said, to have that baseline established, but not just for yourself, like in many ways I always felt like the borders feel.

00:06:14.541 --> 00:06:19.290
There's an intuitive feeling of it's a shortcut service exchange.

00:06:19.290 --> 00:06:24.062
Yes, it feels like it's quicker and easier, but but there lies the danger.

00:06:24.062 --> 00:06:28.807
That's where we need that additional caution.

00:06:28.807 --> 00:06:30.269
Would you agree with that?

00:06:31.050 --> 00:06:35.134
I can, and I can actually speak to a personal experience where we got shortchanged on a barter deal.

00:06:35.134 --> 00:06:36.701
Let's do it so.

00:06:36.701 --> 00:06:55.971
A lot of times, as I mentioned earlier, you barter because you think that you can get a better value from trading your service than you can exchanging cash, and a lot of times it's because one or two of the people involved are salespeople, meaning that someone has talked up their service more than what it physically is able to do.

00:06:55.971 --> 00:07:02.726
I was just as experienced in that situation In about, I think, the first or second year of my business.

00:07:02.726 --> 00:07:05.773
We, as per usual, broke as a joke.

00:07:05.773 --> 00:07:11.072
We didn't have a lot of cash to expend on things and at the time, all of our marketing was organic.

00:07:11.072 --> 00:07:12.543
We were doing door hangers.

00:07:12.543 --> 00:07:16.211
We were literally just organically on Facebook doing what we could.

00:07:17.060 --> 00:07:35.589
So one of our clients that we were working with approached us and said hey, we're actually the owners of a major newspaper that's in your area and we currently appeal to something like 80,000 or 8,000 people that are in your area that are looking for work because they subscribe to this magazine.

00:07:35.589 --> 00:07:55.134
What we can do is I can take pictures of you and I can do like an interview of you and we can give you a nice centerfold picture of what you're going to do, and then people will naturally call you and you'll get more from the leads than you will from what we're going to exchange today.

00:07:55.134 --> 00:08:01.045
And we're thinking like, oh well, that sounds like a great deal Free marketing for you.

00:08:01.045 --> 00:08:02.786
It's a win, win, win, win across the board.

00:08:02.786 --> 00:08:10.274
And at the time it was like, yeah, this project seems a little extensive, but you know what?

00:08:10.274 --> 00:08:15.468
80,000 potential leads Wow, if we could only close 1% of them, that'd be perfect.

00:08:15.468 --> 00:08:18.485
How many people do you think called me from that arrangement?

00:08:18.485 --> 00:08:25.065
None, none, not a damn person.

00:08:25.346 --> 00:08:26.149
I still have the ad Right.

00:08:26.149 --> 00:08:26.889
Let's make the list.

00:08:26.889 --> 00:08:28.132
What went wrong here?

00:08:29.620 --> 00:08:34.929
So, really, what went wrong was it was an improper exchange of value.

00:08:34.929 --> 00:08:42.672
We realized that we could have paid more than the work that we traded to get the equal result of what it was.

00:08:42.672 --> 00:08:46.360
We were sold on the potential of what could have happened.

00:08:46.360 --> 00:08:48.363
It was wow.

00:08:48.363 --> 00:09:04.307
We are exposed to 80,000 people Not that 80,000 people are looking actively for electric work and don't currently have electricians, but we were exposed to 80,000 people.

00:09:04.307 --> 00:09:09.251
We had a nice center page which described everything about us.

00:09:09.251 --> 00:09:12.975
But if you weren't looking for an electrician, what are the odds?

00:09:12.975 --> 00:09:14.517
You're going to turn a couple of pages to read it.

00:09:14.517 --> 00:09:19.148
And then this is even then, 2013, 2014,.

00:09:19.248 --> 00:09:21.874
How many of us are really reading newspapers?

00:09:21.874 --> 00:09:29.645
As weird as it may sound, we thought newspapers were still pretty active at the time, but they're really not.

00:09:29.645 --> 00:09:35.865
Almost everyone gets their information from either online or streaming services or e-news.

00:09:35.865 --> 00:09:43.884
So I was taking a product and I was advertising to people who didn't need my services because I thought they might have.

00:09:43.884 --> 00:09:53.187
I was approaching them in a market that they wouldn't have seen and it turns out, if I really were to look back at it, it was an ego bait.

00:09:53.187 --> 00:10:03.221
It was an ego bait to say I'm center page with a full description and a nice photography picture and I could show off my business.

00:10:03.221 --> 00:10:07.172
Look, I'm in the newspaper and I clipped it and I saved it and I put it on our wall.

00:10:07.172 --> 00:10:09.157
That's all it was.

00:10:09.157 --> 00:10:12.725
It was just an ego bait and they knew it and we didn't at the time.

00:10:13.067 --> 00:10:19.328
My mind is like overwhelmed right now with different podcast ideas that have come just from what you just said.

00:10:19.328 --> 00:10:23.586
There's so many nuggets in there, ego bait being one of them, absolutely.

00:10:23.586 --> 00:10:27.173
But I also I was listening to another podcast.

00:10:27.173 --> 00:10:28.725
Of course we listened to them too.

00:10:29.248 --> 00:10:32.620
It was a Lewis Howes and I think the guest was Simon Sinek.

00:10:32.620 --> 00:10:33.845
I want to say it was just.

00:10:33.845 --> 00:10:48.509
I heard it in passing while working around the house yesterday, but they actually used a metric to define the time and the length of scrolling that humans do on average in america.

00:10:49.412 --> 00:10:58.240
It's pretty pretty scary about the number because I don't even want to know what my number is we're talking beyond miles every week of thumb scrolling.

00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:01.446
Wow, it's incredible.

00:11:01.446 --> 00:11:02.206
It was a big number.

00:11:02.206 --> 00:11:03.856
I don't want to quote it, but it was huge.

00:11:03.856 --> 00:11:12.264
That enough is alone, um, to say, yeah, the newspapers don't get as much attention anymore, it doesn't mean there isn't an audience there.

00:11:12.264 --> 00:11:15.325
There's a whole marketing lesson in this alone.

00:11:15.325 --> 00:11:19.686
But know who you're marketing to right.

00:11:19.686 --> 00:11:27.879
Know that demographic that reads the paper Like my dad still reads the paper every weekend reads the paper like my dad still reads the paper every weekend.

00:11:27.879 --> 00:11:31.495
He'll go his way to pick up the provincial one, for which, you know, for us the canadian equivalent of a state is a province.

00:11:31.655 --> 00:11:39.347
Not that we're here for geography lesson but, in case you guys didn't know and you've been living under a rock down there, guillaume knows what I'm talking about.

00:11:39.347 --> 00:11:42.037
So we'll grab a popular paper like the province.

00:11:42.037 --> 00:11:44.264
My dad will read that front to back every weekend.

00:11:46.109 --> 00:11:49.037
But that's the demographic, though you know what I mean.

00:11:49.037 --> 00:11:56.822
If I am appealing to the people that are in the older generation that reading a newspaper, that's great.

00:11:56.822 --> 00:11:58.567
Let's say sake of argument.

00:11:58.567 --> 00:12:06.306
I am a historic specialist and I'm appealing to historic property weekly, that would make sense.

00:12:06.306 --> 00:12:07.989
Be like oh, I've got a situation.

00:12:07.989 --> 00:12:14.368
My first mistake was I didn't do the research into who currently reads this paper.

00:12:14.368 --> 00:12:18.586
If I had done that, my first thought would have been okay.

00:12:18.586 --> 00:12:22.240
How many real leads could I suspect to get?

00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:25.883
The second was I didn't have a metric to go by.

00:12:27.735 --> 00:12:28.235
I mean, you think about it.

00:12:28.235 --> 00:12:28.857
Let me flip this for you.

00:12:28.857 --> 00:12:31.144
How much, just from memory.

00:12:31.144 --> 00:12:35.806
If you had to guess what was the value of exchange, you gave the newspaper.

00:12:37.836 --> 00:12:40.543
I want to say offhand $3,000.

00:12:40.543 --> 00:12:45.937
The reason why was because the project became more involved than what we originally thought.

00:12:45.937 --> 00:12:53.269
We were only supposed to put in like eight recess lights in their house and they had a drop ceiling.

00:12:53.269 --> 00:13:01.688
So it was like, oh okay, we're going to just fish, these lines are going to be done in half a day and we're going to get this Easy risk.

00:13:01.688 --> 00:13:06.306
But they actually painted the drop ceiling.

00:13:06.306 --> 00:13:13.282
They physically took latex paint at one point and they painted them so to physically get them up.

00:13:13.282 --> 00:13:33.076
We were sitting there carving away at the drop ceiling with a knife and there was one point where, even though it was a barter deal, part of the tile physically broke because it was sealed and glued at one point, and she was like, oh well, this isn't going to do, you're going to have to come back and take care of that tile.

00:13:33.076 --> 00:13:34.519
It wasn't broken when you got here.

00:13:34.519 --> 00:13:35.321
Yuck.

00:13:35.321 --> 00:13:39.376
So then we had to come back and get the tile and then repaint it.

00:13:39.376 --> 00:13:40.778
It was a nightmare.

00:13:40.778 --> 00:13:42.562
It was a nightmare kind of job.

00:13:42.861 --> 00:13:48.277
And meanwhile, the whole time, you're thinking about that exchange and I hope this pays off.

00:13:48.277 --> 00:13:49.240
I hope this pays off.

00:13:49.240 --> 00:13:51.567
So here's that big defining question.

00:13:51.567 --> 00:14:05.660
Looking back, if a newspaper approached you and said hey, joseph, we got a deal for you for just over three thousand dollars we'll give you the list of things that they gave you Would you have ever bought that?

00:14:06.341 --> 00:14:06.482
No.

00:14:06.482 --> 00:14:09.145
And well, actually I don't want to say no.

00:14:09.145 --> 00:14:16.062
My first instinct is to say no, but there are other questions that you can ask them and I would say okay.

00:14:16.062 --> 00:14:25.240
So, based on this information, let's say you have this newspaper and all the people are going to go to show me exactly which page I'm going to be accessed to.

00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:27.466
Am I front page or am I center?

00:14:27.466 --> 00:14:28.980
Like you have no idea where it's going to be.

00:14:28.980 --> 00:14:34.506
How many people can you suspect are going to call based on these?

00:14:34.506 --> 00:14:38.205
Do you have a track record based on ads that are run?

00:14:38.205 --> 00:14:40.844
How much exposure and call are currently coming from them?

00:14:40.844 --> 00:14:43.724
Are there other ways that this can be established?

00:14:43.724 --> 00:14:45.962
Do you have an electronic form?

00:14:45.962 --> 00:14:49.384
Is there an e-site that you currently operate off of?

00:14:49.384 --> 00:14:54.927
Are there other ways that we can reduce the total amount to get a higher impact?

00:14:54.927 --> 00:14:57.235
All these things are important.

00:14:57.475 --> 00:15:07.464
Or even then to say, if I took this page let's just say sake of argument this was a very well-to-do page.

00:15:07.464 --> 00:15:08.787
Everyone's got them.

00:15:08.787 --> 00:15:11.924
Time Magazine, something like that, wants to host your company.

00:15:11.924 --> 00:15:18.442
Just being in that magazine would be a marketing approach itself.

00:15:18.442 --> 00:15:25.280
So even if we weren't expecting to get any leads, I could then even ask and say, all right if I got nothing from this.

00:15:25.280 --> 00:15:35.365
Could I take this article and say we were showcased in Time Magazine and, as a response, this shows, this highlights our ability.

00:15:35.365 --> 00:15:36.921
See the page here.

00:15:36.921 --> 00:15:39.539
And that would just be clickbait in and of itself.

00:15:39.539 --> 00:15:53.559
That I can reallocate For sure, but without that information I'd be like I'm sorry If I'm going to take $3,000 and put it into something I'm probably not going to do, pay-per-click, I'm going to figure out.

00:15:53.580 --> 00:15:54.648
What can I do to organically get that kind of appeal?

00:15:54.648 --> 00:15:55.635
Love it, love it.

00:15:55.635 --> 00:16:12.825
And so what I'm hearing, and really what I feel about this situation as well, is that if you're listening to us right now and you're one of our electricpreneurs, out there on your own running a business, and these exchanges are coming to you first question is do you already have a crm?

00:16:12.825 --> 00:16:16.437
Now, I'm a big advocate for crms.

00:16:16.437 --> 00:16:29.864
I think there's a ton that they handle in communication and scheduling and continuity between you and your admin, csr, your, even if it's just for yourself, it'll help you get organized and appear more professional.

00:16:30.394 --> 00:16:43.460
So, no matter what the CRM is, when an exchange comes in, the tendency can be to shortcut that exchange, and I am all against this In every case.

00:16:43.460 --> 00:16:53.845
I want you guys, I want to see you guys not shortcut that exchange, but treat it like any other and recognize the costs associated with managing that exchange as well.

00:16:53.845 --> 00:17:01.764
Now, what else would you go to the next level, go even further with, to treat this like any exchange?

00:17:03.187 --> 00:17:05.076
so it actually is this.

00:17:05.076 --> 00:17:10.647
I'm thinking of another thing that I think would be very valuable, but it's a slightly different direction.

00:17:10.647 --> 00:17:13.016
Is it okay if I make a quick pivot, even though I think it's a point?

00:17:13.016 --> 00:17:13.797
Yeah, okay.

00:17:13.797 --> 00:17:20.490
Other things that come up is people will say the cash discount right.

00:17:20.490 --> 00:17:28.068
That happens all the time, where people will say, well, we're going to barter a service or the equivalent, we're going to pay cash for this job.

00:17:28.068 --> 00:17:31.721
Now, a lot of people say cash is king.

00:17:31.721 --> 00:17:33.207
I disagree.

00:17:33.207 --> 00:17:38.259
My financial advisor actually says cash is trash, cash flow is king.

00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:39.382
I say that too.

00:17:39.382 --> 00:17:40.305
I love that statement.

00:17:40.645 --> 00:17:41.836
I love it, it's beautiful.

00:17:41.836 --> 00:17:50.826
So the thing that would come into place is when someone says, well, I'm going to pay cash on this, the first thing, what's the cash discount you're going to apply?

00:17:50.826 --> 00:17:55.076
Usually it could be like well, that's a great offer and you're right, cash is a wonderful thing to do.

00:17:55.076 --> 00:17:58.246
So it's safe to say that you won't be looking for a warranty, right?

00:17:58.246 --> 00:18:02.244
It's safe to say that you won't be looking for a permit on this, correct?

00:18:02.244 --> 00:18:08.039
We won't be doing any kind of inspections.

00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:09.346
What do you think that question is going to trigger in someone?

00:18:09.346 --> 00:18:11.395
It's usually a one-word response, but what do you think it's going to trigger in them?

00:18:12.017 --> 00:18:12.699
Well, fear.

00:18:14.582 --> 00:18:15.262
It's going to be why.

00:18:15.262 --> 00:18:16.925
What do you mean?

00:18:16.925 --> 00:18:19.236
Cash is the best thing in the world.

00:18:19.236 --> 00:18:20.117
What do you mean?

00:18:20.117 --> 00:18:23.045
You're not going to warranty your insurance or anything.

00:18:23.045 --> 00:18:24.817
Well, think about it.

00:18:24.817 --> 00:18:40.634
The logic, the whole appeal of cash was the concept of someone saying I'm going to take money and it's going to be unreported money, to avoid tax, to further my business for one reason or another, and I'm not going to judge anyone for making that statement.

00:18:40.634 --> 00:18:54.932
But the moment there's an invoice and an insurance claim or a permit, you now have a paper trail, meaning that this is now a reported income, or the very least the IRS could pursue it as reported income.

00:18:54.932 --> 00:18:59.807
So is this actually qualified under the cash deal?

00:19:00.674 --> 00:19:01.558
Well, you know what it really is.

00:19:01.558 --> 00:19:17.402
It's a place that business owners make an excuse for tracking, for proper accounting, and this ties wonderfully I'm glad you brought it up it ties perfectly in with the trade and the exchange and, like I said, any exchange is any exchange.

00:19:17.402 --> 00:19:21.076
We got to track it too often, guys like.

00:19:21.076 --> 00:19:21.636
Seriously.

00:19:21.636 --> 00:19:27.548
Prado principle applies 80 of us are out there striking cash deals like it means something.

00:19:27.548 --> 00:19:38.847
I can tell you what it does mean when you get to the point where you come to us or someone else, some trusted advisor for help in your business, and we go, what was your revenue last year?

00:19:38.847 --> 00:19:39.336
And they go.

00:19:40.097 --> 00:19:54.579
Well, it was around here, but there was a bunch of deals under the table and that cash I then sunk in and some I gave to my daughter-in-law and they bought a car because they just had a baby and you know the baby's got to get to daycare and on and on and on the list goes.

00:19:54.579 --> 00:20:00.361
But there's no accountability and there's no trail there and, like you said, at some point it all comes back to you.

00:20:00.361 --> 00:20:03.446
It's not worth it cash is trash.

00:20:03.507 --> 00:20:04.737
It depreciates every day.

00:20:04.737 --> 00:20:07.144
Cash flow is king because guess what?

00:20:07.144 --> 00:20:09.440
This is why I believe in real estate and business.

00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:14.919
You know what I love about business Control Cash flow is king, like you said.

00:20:14.919 --> 00:20:22.000
So every bit that we earn is at today's rates, today's rates reflecting today's economy.

00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:24.787
If you want my services, you got to pay today's rates.

00:20:24.787 --> 00:20:29.500
As far as I'm concerned, the cash you have in your pocket is almost worthless.

00:20:29.500 --> 00:20:35.560
In fact, it creates an extra job for me because I run a wholesome business and integrity.

00:20:35.560 --> 00:20:43.622
So that means if I got cash, I'm then gonna either put it in the safe for the week or I gotta take it to the bank today the pain in the ass.

00:20:45.685 --> 00:21:01.901
Exactly and, if you keep thinking about it even further, so many people get blindsided by this because not only do they go by and not track it, like you're mentioning, they believe that it's worth something but some people look at the upfront and be like, oh well, he's paying me cash, all upfront.

00:21:01.901 --> 00:21:05.740
I mean, yeah, I mean, of course I'm going to take this job, I'll get a discount for extra cash.

00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:06.962
Why?

00:21:06.962 --> 00:21:09.388
Why are we bartering this way?

00:21:09.388 --> 00:21:11.374
You have to realize every barter.

00:21:11.374 --> 00:21:24.346
No one is going to give you a perfect, one-sided deal that doesn't benefit them on their own volition, unless they are truly so dim, and if that's the case, then you shouldn't be taking advantage of them.

00:21:24.346 --> 00:21:25.567
Yeah, exactly.

00:21:27.575 --> 00:21:38.222
So the logic is if someone is presenting you a deal that seems too good, it's often too good and there's actually a situation that comes up that I'd like to protect everyone against.

00:21:38.222 --> 00:21:39.506
Is it okay if I voice that?

00:21:39.746 --> 00:21:41.128
Yeah, do it, let's jump in, okay.

00:21:41.996 --> 00:21:48.179
Sometimes people will say here's my number, right, they'll be like round numbers I like to use.

00:21:48.179 --> 00:21:50.414
This job is only going to call it.

00:21:50.414 --> 00:21:58.782
Or this project is only this investment is only going to cost a thousand dollars, right, you see, I actually mentally had to condition my way of wording it.

00:21:58.782 --> 00:22:01.983
The right way Went from job to project, to investment.

00:22:01.983 --> 00:22:05.523
But anyway, this investment is only a thousand dollars.

00:22:05.523 --> 00:22:06.487
How would you like to proceed?

00:22:06.487 --> 00:22:09.702
Well, what's the cash price?

00:22:09.702 --> 00:22:18.407
That's your first thought, and what it does is it causes people to pivot, because if you see that there's too much of well, I wonder what I could do.

00:22:18.407 --> 00:22:27.979
It shows that there's money built in and, as a result, even if they weren't going to pay cash, they now have the expectation that there's something built in.

00:22:27.979 --> 00:22:33.445
There's a one-lining response that I found was super helpful to disarm that question.

00:22:34.535 --> 00:22:39.818
When someone says what's the cash price, I go oh, I apologize, I must've misunderstood.

00:22:39.818 --> 00:22:50.689
I thought this was a cash price and now they pause because you just completely put it back on them and now they need to turn.

00:22:50.689 --> 00:22:53.180
Am I actually going to pay cash for this?

00:22:53.180 --> 00:22:59.924
And if they're not, now you're in a situation to be like well, if I was able to honor the cash price, what would happen then?

00:23:01.174 --> 00:23:04.103
So it definitely implies that you've already sharpened your pencil.

00:23:04.103 --> 00:23:05.767
I love that, exactly.

00:23:06.194 --> 00:23:07.260
We're already at our bottom line.

00:23:07.260 --> 00:23:08.917
We're already at our bottom line.

00:23:08.917 --> 00:23:12.056
Yeah, here at ServiceSoup Electrical, we don't believe in handling.

00:23:12.056 --> 00:23:16.915
Our goal is to provide you the best service at the most reasonable and fair price that we can.

00:23:16.915 --> 00:23:21.536
If it could have been lower without cutting away certain services, we would have made it lower.

00:23:21.536 --> 00:23:29.871
If you want to remove things to make it lower, you're more than welcome to would like to proceed love that I learn new things from you every day.

00:23:30.271 --> 00:23:31.775
That's one of the best things about this podcast.

00:23:31.775 --> 00:23:39.201
We get to uh, we get to voice our opinions about these subjects and help people while helping each other love it clay.

00:23:39.301 --> 00:23:44.818
You are a plethora of knowledge and I learned just as much from you as I, hopefully, you learned from me absolutely.

00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:45.881
I appreciate that.

00:23:45.881 --> 00:23:48.226
So what, earlier?

00:23:48.226 --> 00:23:56.219
I made an example of what happens then if you accept these cash deals and then come for help later because you can't figure out what's going on.

00:23:56.219 --> 00:24:05.442
I mentioned revenue, but I did miss something heavy on that topic and it's more important than revenue and it's called cash flow and we've been talking about it.

00:24:05.442 --> 00:24:19.638
But cash flow in your business specifically suffers suffers when you do cash deals under the table and don't run that through like every other exchange cash flow.

00:24:19.638 --> 00:24:22.988
I mean, that's monopoly night with the family, as one of my mentors used to say.

00:24:22.988 --> 00:24:27.023
You're out of cash, you go to bed early, that's all there is right.

00:24:27.023 --> 00:24:29.167
80 fail in the first three years.

00:24:29.167 --> 00:24:36.500
Shouldn't we be paying attention to this and know where that cash flow is and how our accounts receivable and our accounts payable are doing?

00:24:36.500 --> 00:24:49.230
There's nothing harder to track at the end of the year oh, we did a cash job and then I went and I paid the wholesaler back with cash and in your QuickBooks you've got no record of either.

00:24:50.634 --> 00:24:51.921
You know, there was an example.

00:24:51.921 --> 00:25:06.103
I don't know anyone who gets into Broadway or not, but there's a play called the Producers and pretty much the whole concept was they had two books and the concept of the two books was show to the IRS, never show to the IRS.

00:25:06.103 --> 00:25:11.996
And the logic was is that if you're going to accept cash deals, still track them, Clay?

00:25:11.996 --> 00:25:15.839
You're 100% right, Even if you just wrote it on the back of a napkin.

00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:19.929
Track it, put it in the safe, know where it's going.

00:25:19.929 --> 00:25:26.219
If you're not going to report it, that's on you, but know where it's going, Otherwise you'll find out.

00:25:26.219 --> 00:25:32.084
You're in these bartered deals or these negotiated cash deals on a deficit, thinking you're winning.

00:25:32.084 --> 00:25:36.924
And there's nothing worse than showing up thinking you're winning when really you're the one getting screwed.

00:25:37.775 --> 00:25:40.884
You know what that's again another podcast in itself.

00:25:40.884 --> 00:25:51.539
One of my mentors, keith Cunningham brilliant guy, brilliant business mind says that very same thing too Blueprint model for success you have to have, especially as a small business.

00:25:51.539 --> 00:25:58.082
We're all prone to these little exceptional expenses for our personal benefit, to write them off at tax time.

00:25:58.082 --> 00:26:09.434
You ought to keep that second set of books to track that stuff, if for no other reason, to have it in case, but again to actually know your performance metrics.

00:26:09.434 --> 00:26:13.761
Most businesses struggle because of what we do to them.

00:26:13.761 --> 00:26:23.994
Let's be honest here, and steve went to uh, compliment you on, he said on the facebook group way to assume the sale with your cash comment.

00:26:24.215 --> 00:26:27.608
Yeah, the question, return that I, like that too, appreciate that.

00:26:27.608 --> 00:26:29.174
Thank you for the kind word, steve.

00:26:29.336 --> 00:26:34.397
I'm honored by you so we've been all over the place with this bartering for your services and how not to get screwed.

00:26:34.397 --> 00:26:46.576
But I think if you've been with us this whole time you begin to realize, hey, this is a narrowing tunnel that makes the conditions for an exchange of goods fewer and fewer.

00:26:46.576 --> 00:26:55.344
On the side of actually getting it done, there's a little more pain in the ass to it than most would prefer to just shoot from the hip with.

00:26:55.344 --> 00:26:56.867
Would you agree with that?

00:26:57.694 --> 00:26:58.297
I really would.

00:26:58.297 --> 00:27:24.557
At the end of the day, what I see is that and I think I said it before earlier, but I want to double down on it there is no one who is going to give you an absolute win scenario and a lose for them to where it's completely one-sided, unless either A they're selling you something and it's not that great, or they are completely dim and you shouldn't be the one taking advantage of them anyway.

00:27:26.042 --> 00:27:34.223
Reminds me a lot of the episode we did recently on selling to friends and family, where people expect that extra.

00:27:34.223 --> 00:27:43.588
There's some really good frameworks in there to then pivot it back and make sure they're asking for what they believe they're asking for.

00:27:43.588 --> 00:27:47.865
Make sure that they want the personal service without the company benefits.

00:27:48.816 --> 00:27:57.522
That actually lines up perfectly, because the thing that we would negotiate with our families are okay, you want less, you want me, you want cash, you want your own.

00:27:57.522 --> 00:27:59.166
Do you want a warranty?

00:27:59.166 --> 00:28:00.920
Do you want after-hours service?

00:28:00.920 --> 00:28:02.626
Do you want priority service?

00:28:02.626 --> 00:28:04.173
Do you want to be taken care of?

00:28:04.173 --> 00:28:06.462
Do you want me personally doing it?

00:28:06.462 --> 00:28:11.881
And then, as you create these expectations, they understand what's involved.

00:28:11.881 --> 00:28:13.325
Same thing with the cash.

00:28:13.325 --> 00:28:15.098
So thank you for actually thanks for stitching that.

00:28:15.098 --> 00:28:15.662
I appreciate it.

00:28:15.883 --> 00:28:16.445
Yeah, of course.

00:28:16.445 --> 00:28:20.644
So let's jump into some action items and wrap this one up, as we're getting a bit longer.

00:28:20.644 --> 00:28:23.935
I think we've already said them for the most part.

00:28:23.935 --> 00:28:30.824
If I can start the first one, by all means Keep the continuity on the books.

00:28:30.824 --> 00:28:34.188
Do that due diligence, please.

00:28:34.188 --> 00:28:34.528
Guys.

00:28:34.528 --> 00:28:37.010
Run this like any other exchange.

00:28:39.234 --> 00:28:44.980
You've worked hard to build a business that honors this exchange so that people experience that exchange at the highest level.

00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:47.500
Why shortcut it now?

00:28:47.500 --> 00:28:53.659
Please do the diligence of researching what they're offering.

00:28:53.659 --> 00:28:57.387
Like Joseph said, most deals, if they look too good to be true, they are.

00:28:57.387 --> 00:29:07.843
You got to know, which means you got to do the research, which to me means at the end of the day it's a 95%, no, very few.

00:29:08.222 --> 00:29:19.015
Very seldomly will we find the deal that actually makes a lot of sense to exchange and most times to understand that fully, it's going to take your research to recognize that.

00:29:19.015 --> 00:29:23.462
Now it doesn't mean you can't still work together.

00:29:23.462 --> 00:29:33.895
In fact it sounds like in these moments you've already got a conversation and you already know their needs, desires, problems, especially if they're the ones offering the exchange.

00:29:33.895 --> 00:29:36.321
So it doesn't mean no deal.

00:29:36.321 --> 00:29:48.690
In fact I would say it still means there's a deal there where you could just get paid for your services and if, in learning about there's more, you decided that that was a fruitful expense, then you buy.

00:29:48.690 --> 00:29:53.362
Exactly that's my base action.

00:29:53.362 --> 00:29:57.798
I know that was a big one, guys, but do the diligence, put it on the books.

00:29:57.798 --> 00:30:00.025
Do you have anything in mind for All-Star?

00:30:00.835 --> 00:30:10.557
I do, and this applies to not only just this, but if you apply this statement, this will actually be something that protects you in business as a whole.

00:30:10.557 --> 00:30:15.666
Very rarely do we make split second decisions.

00:30:15.666 --> 00:30:18.480
That are the right decisions, right?

00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:24.747
So I'm going to give you a scenario and I want you to tell me how the average person reacts and what we should be doing different.

00:30:24.747 --> 00:30:25.672
All right, I'm ready.

00:30:25.672 --> 00:30:27.858
That customer is standing face to face with you.

00:30:27.858 --> 00:30:28.220
They've I'm ready.

00:30:28.220 --> 00:30:29.384
That customer is standing face-to-face with you.

00:30:29.384 --> 00:30:33.722
They've already bonded with you, they've already connected and they say you know, it'd be great if we do a bartered service.

00:30:33.722 --> 00:30:39.063
I can give you this and this and this and this, and you only have to give me this.

00:30:39.063 --> 00:30:41.559
You're face-to-face with this person.

00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:42.604
You built a relationship.

00:30:42.604 --> 00:30:49.949
The instinct is to want to say yes, just out of politeness, even if we don't think it's the right thing.

00:30:50.214 --> 00:30:51.498
Especially if you brought that energy.

00:30:51.498 --> 00:30:53.382
I like it.

00:30:53.382 --> 00:30:54.222
I'm excited too.

00:30:54.222 --> 00:30:55.526
We could, we could.

00:30:55.625 --> 00:30:56.769
Exactly Right.

00:30:56.769 --> 00:31:04.642
So the magical line is that's actually an amazing offer and I really really appreciate it.

00:31:04.642 --> 00:31:11.022
My goal to make sure that I'm not taking advantage of you is to make sure that I have 48 hours to review this.

00:31:11.022 --> 00:31:19.546
Let me get back to you back within 48 hours and be able to tell you what the best decision is Right then and there you.

00:31:19.546 --> 00:31:26.965
Being able to take your moment and step back buys you so much mental equity, because think about what you could do in 48 hours.

00:31:27.667 --> 00:31:32.523
You're out of that situation to where they can say you're no longer under pressure.

00:31:32.523 --> 00:31:42.000
It could be in a situation to where you have the ability of researching what it would have actually cost to do that service and therefore you'll know whether you're getting a great deal or not.

00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:46.798
Or, if nothing else, maybe you weren't going to work with them in the first place.

00:31:46.798 --> 00:31:54.020
They offered your job at $1,000 and they're like listen, I'll give you $200 and I do a car detailing service.

00:31:54.020 --> 00:31:59.166
Now you're like, no, I don't want to do it, but you don't want to be rude.

00:31:59.166 --> 00:32:01.863
So thank you for the opportunity.

00:32:01.863 --> 00:32:04.901
That sounds like a great chance for us to work together.

00:32:04.901 --> 00:32:09.538
Just to make sure that I'm never taking advantage of myself or others.

00:32:09.538 --> 00:32:20.675
I always or if you don't want to take advantage, you can say I never want to overextend, both myself or others, so I always want to take 48 hours just to make sure that I'm doing the right thing.

00:32:20.675 --> 00:32:23.500
I love that that pause will be key.

00:32:24.101 --> 00:32:29.890
In fact, I have to add a layer to this because it was so good, joseph, I love it.

00:32:29.890 --> 00:32:34.823
In that 48 hours you've just bought yourself intuition time.

00:32:34.823 --> 00:32:49.487
Even if in that period you thought to yourself after that offer wow, I'm actually pretty excited about this, but you did not find time to do the research, then you know it's a no.

00:32:49.487 --> 00:33:00.458
If in that 48 hours you got excited and did the research, then it's a potential yes until the data drives you or tells you otherwise.

00:33:00.458 --> 00:33:04.305
Wow, what a great rule of thumb.

00:33:04.305 --> 00:33:05.748
I appreciate that, guys.

00:33:05.748 --> 00:33:18.042
I hope that that helps you the next time you're considering bartering for your services and making sure you don't screw yourself out of the payment that you deserve, the fair value exchange that you guys all deserve.

00:33:18.555 --> 00:33:22.306
So it's been another episode of Entrepreneur Secrets, the Electrician Podcast.

00:33:22.306 --> 00:33:29.175
We're here five days a week to help you guys master sales, simplify pricing and deliver premium level service.

00:33:29.175 --> 00:33:33.203
Again, I'm clay newmeyer with my partner, joseph lucani.

00:33:33.203 --> 00:33:47.268
It's been a pleasure and if you want to get more of us, get more from these episodes, then come join us on the facebook group electricpreneur secrets so you can engage with us like guillaume and steve did today.

00:33:47.268 --> 00:33:48.660
Sounds great.

00:33:48.660 --> 00:33:50.244
Take care, all cheers.