Replay - How to Do Referral Partners Right

Transcript

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hello and welcome to entrepreneur secrets, the electrician's podcast.

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Me and joe lucani are here with you five days a week to help you, master sales, simplify pricing and deliver premium level electrical service.

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Joe, for those trying to figure out what that means.

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Still, what do we help do?

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Realistically, if we were going to break that statement down to the most granular level we could.

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We're going to teach you how to master sales.

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That means we are going to give you and instruct you on a process that has been proven to work in almost every area of the country actually in multiple countries at this point every area of the country, actually in multiple countries at this point.

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Multiples, multiples.

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Let me insert this here joe, hit the hundred dollar ticket threshold multiple times with this process, like hundred dollar tickets every week of the year, would you say.

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That's fair, hundred dollar tickets.

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I was gonna say I was wondering what you're gonna set up.

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No, I'm sorry, I got confused.

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It's our hundredth episode and that's not the size of the tickets.

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That's the number of episodes and I threw that in there.

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I'm sorry.

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Yeah, you made my jaw hit the floor.

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I was like what kind of disgusting garbage are we teaching people?

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It's 100.

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Yeah, it's good.

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Every choice is a great choice.

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Just take the 100 pricing, got it.

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Yeah, so we're teaching you how to master your sales by giving you a process that you can actually use that's applicable.

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That doesn't sound like a cheesy sales pitch.

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That's one of the main things that I love about it.

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It's tried and true by actual electricians.

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I mean, I developed it while I was working.

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I took from every trainer I could possibly think of and made something better from it.

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Yeah, the second thing is we're going to teach you so master sales, simplify pricing.

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Way, way, way too often do we hear I don't know how to charge more than 150 an hour.

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And I was there.

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I was there with you guys.

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I remember when I was told to go from 165 to over 385, I thought that people were going to be launching catapults and siege weapons at my shop.

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I didn't think it was going to fly.

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But we're going to teach you the ways you can do it and only be profitable.

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But be fair with your clients.

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Teach you what to charge and how to charge.

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Spoken very well.

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Don't stop now.

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Hit us with number three.

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Lastly is to deliver premium level service.

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Now, the word deliver is intentionally placed here, because it's one thing to know how to do something.

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It's another thing to actually get off your seat and do it.

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We're gonna teach you the things that actually create and are consistently done by premium service providers, but we're also gonna give you a direct path on how to get there.

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And then, once you've gotten those three things, if you can sell and know how to close jobs that you want to get, you know how to deliver a premium level service and you know how to charge effectively for what you're doing.

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That's the total package to me.

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You know I'm a premium service provider.

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Absolutely.

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And we give the whole thing.

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It's all given away.

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Given it away, as I keep saying.

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Take everything you can from here.

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Just promise that you also take action, oh my goodness, and use it for good.

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All right, so we're going to celebrate this.

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Thank you for that breakdown, by the way, that's really refreshing.

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I'm glad that you took the time to explain that to us.

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Here's a couple of big ones that happened in 100 episodes really.

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We've been on this podcast now for about six months.

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We've hit 100 episodes.

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Today's number 100.

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We're super excited.

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Joe was just saying before the show we no longer know how to celebrate once you take any drugs or alcohol off the table.

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It's just kind of like, hey, we clap, we clap yeah we hug our children.

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Those are celebration moments, right.

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Here's a couple of things to celebrate outside of just 100 episodes.

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Joe, last week we had two um program records set yeah, that was pretty impressive, but let's tell us about it big stuff, big stuff.

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So one was uh, one of our clients are canadian sensation jacob and Electric.

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They had a 54.5K platinum sale.

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Did I say that?

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right.

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Yeah, it was really, really impressive, and what I loved about it was how he actually came to that by following the process the right way.

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I remember it was like literally biggest sale of our career.

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We made it happen.

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If we didn't offer options, it never would have happened.

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So think about it.

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Imagine what the bottom option would have been and what you would have typically offered, and then to somehow get so far above that and have the client say, no, that's the one I want.

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I want that one.

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Don't hold nothing back from me, that's the one I'm going with today.

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Yeah, a big rewire.

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Of course there's some things tied into that to make it all possible, like the options, like having good financing and, of course, having a premium process to deliver premium service and allow a client to want that level of service.

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I mean that's incredible.

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So hats off and applause to Jacob and Knight Electric.

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As I said, the the canadian sensation.

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Guess what, if you guys haven't seen it we actually did a little um, a little interview with with jacob just before last week when he accomplished this.

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In fact, it was just earlier last month, I want to say but we actually created a value piece inspired by some of his top three sales secrets that he's put forth to accomplish those big goals.

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You guys can get that if you're on the inside engaging with us on the Facebook Letrepreneur site, right?

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So just by chatting with us there, put top three in the chat and we'll send that over to you.

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Very cool.

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There was a second big win last week.

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Okay, this one goes out to our other homie, alan Watts, right?

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Electric biggest week in the program on service alone.

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You want to tell us the number, because it was an impressive one.

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Yeah, he had $115,000 week.

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More impressive than that A couple of install crews followed him doing the installs where he sold, as I understand, about 98% of that work himself.

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So that was a huge, huge effort to help a lot of people in just a week's time, and applause goes to Alan and Watts Wright as well.

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Huge win, if I can touch on that for one moment, because you said something there that I think needs to get more attention brought to it.

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He helped people.

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Now some people want to look at that as I sold jobs and I was able to take money.

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It's no.

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Alan's the kind of guy that operates on the same principles that we do.

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We're not taking money from people and leaving them worse than we found them.

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I know for a fact that there was no other company in his area that could have delivered the same level of quality, reliability and customer service, and naturally he has a certain right to charge what he needs to charge for that.

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And the fact was is every one of these clients that he helped were better off because they met him.

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He's the kind of guy that's not only unforgettable, but he did things for the right reasons, and that makes him even more rare, and I'm so grateful to have him on our team.

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Absolutely, absolutely.

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With that said, we've got a little case study coming exclusive to our Facebook group.

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There's going to be a few items you're going to want to get your hands on and see this interview with Alan, where he's going to also divulge in some of the secrets that helped push him to that mark and hopefully, continue to push him well beyond that.

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Congratulations, fellas, and thank you for that.

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That, to me, is how we're celebrating 100.

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When they win, we win.

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Joe, I love this and if you're listening, guess what?

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You're not immune to it either, because just being in the same room or just being exposed to these wins right, how they were accomplished, the strategies they used and the efforts they put forth means that you too can have these.

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You too can win, and that's why we're doing this podcast.

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We're doing this podcast.

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So, a hundred episodes later, we're here having conversations trying to build electrical businesses at least contribute to building as many as we possibly can.

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So, joe, thank you.

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I'm celebrating you today.

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No, I'm honored to be here, Clay.

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I could not have asked for a better mission and a better partner.

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Awesome, brother, awesome.

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Okay, should we let this Tuesday get away with today's topic?

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Let's go for it, let's get it.

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So yesterday we talked about when to ultimately say no to the bigger jobs, right, correct?

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And what was the exact title?

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Now I'm slipping on that one, but anyway.

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Today we led into referral partnerships, and when it's advisable, and how to even set up a referral arrangement with another electrician.

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This has to be sounding like nails on a chalkboard to many electricians right now.

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I get that and I want to, before you guys switch the channel, please hear us out.

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There's a reason for this.

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So I want to say right off the bat that there is going to be two types of relationships that you're going to be fostering, and we're going to tell you the pros and cons and how to do it.

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The first relationship is where do I send clients that I would never want to get?

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How can I get them to people that I don't want to succeed?

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And then there's a second group of these are good clients.

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I want them to be taken care of and I want to make sure that I'm passing it to someone that will appreciate the referral.

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By the way, on the first note you made there, the first option.

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I'm hearing Beastie Boys sabotage in the distance.

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Any Beastie Boys fans with us?

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I mean love it I can't give you.

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I can get behind this.

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So the thing about the first one is, when you're, it is a sabotage to an extent, because what can you do?

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Like, let's say you go to a call, let's just, let's just jump into it, if that's okay.

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Yeah, you show them to a call and the first thing you do is you smell that strong ammonia smell of cat piss.

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The whole house smells like cats.

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I remember there was one call I went to where my floor protectors literally stuck to the floor because there was so much urine everywhere that literally was like and I like literally almost one of my boot covers or floor protectors pulled off my shoe and was stuck to the floor.

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Yuck.

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There's no way I'm taking this job, there's no chance we are going to work with this customer, but at the same time, what do you do?

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You're not in a great situation.

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You can't just walk in and say bye.

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You've got to have an honest reason you can move forward with.

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Walk us through it, all right.

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So I'm just going to say there's a disclaimer because, personally, honor and forthrightness is very, very important to me.

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But I've only found one way to get out of this particular hoarder situation without offending people and allowing them to say okay, that makes sense.

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So the first step was the.

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You know within the first 10 seconds what you're in for.

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You can usually smell it right you don't even have to see it.

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Sometimes you can even taste it.

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You walk in.

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You're like like what is in this room?

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Like what is this?

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You know like it's terrible.

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So the fact is is usually what would happen is you walk into the room and the first thing it says hey, I'm so sorry, can I?

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I just got a call, quick timeout.

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It's just one quick question.

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Do you by any chance have any dogs or cats?

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Well, yes, I do.

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Why do you ask?

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I am so sorry and this is really unprofessional me for not bringing this up, but I actually have an allergy and the thing is is that if I breathe in too long, my throat starts to close or I really start to sneeze a lot.

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I need to step out and I apologize that I can't help you with this situation.

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This is what I can do to help you, because I understand that you weren't expecting this.

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I wasn't expecting it either.

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I still want to help.

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I'm going to waive today's diagnostic that I was going to come out and have to charge, and what I'll do is to make sure that you're not getting underserved.

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I'll stay in the driveway.

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I'll actually look up other companies that can come help you and I'm happy to give you their names, numbers and contact people so that you know exactly who can help.

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And I'll even stay here while you make the call.

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The benefit of this here was it gave you a safe way out to where you weren't offending the person, because the reason why I say offending is because, hoarders, I'm not speaking down to you.

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I understand there are people who have mental conditions that require that kind of lifestyle, but the thing is, most of the times they know it, they know deep down their home is not good.

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And if you say that, it usually comes off as more insulting than it actually is.

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Because, yeah, I can't work in a home that smells like cat piss.

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I get that, but they don't see it that way and it's more of a personal insult.

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So by you saying, hey, I want to help, you sound like a wonderful person, but I truly cannot help for this reason and it's not related to you, it's strictly because of the animals.

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But I'll stay and I'll wave the trip and I'll even refer you to the right place.

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Great, who wouldn't want that?

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Who wouldn't say, no, you're just trying to get out of here, because what would the typical contractor do?

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right, and we all know how powerful that because word is.

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You gave it to them they've got just cause.

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I'm sorry we didn't see this coming.

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I love that, joe, it really well done yeah thank you did this ever backfire on you?

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not once, literally not once.

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And it's unfortunate because there were a lot of homes that I went to that really were not well done and not well maintained and not upkept and I feel very bad for those families.

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But at the same time, health, family then business.

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I will not risk my health for someone else's situation.

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I'm not going to risk bringing bedbugs back home to my family or fleas to my family or even worse.

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You know how sometimes we say that we always want to have our spare van, like, sorry, spare uniform in the van.

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I wish we had a spare van in the driveway.

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The spare van in the driveway to dip out on.

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But if you had your spare uniform with you, you could go to that call and strip out of all your clothes and have a spare uniform.

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But why should you even have to?

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Are you in an area that just the smell alone makes you feel like I can't even be in the next call without changing?

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You don't want to be in those situations, so that's how we handle it.

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With that being said, can I go into how you can refer those people and who you'd be referring?

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Yeah, please, let's hear it.

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Sabotage.

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I love it.

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I love it, but that's really what's happening.

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The thing that you can do is you know that there are certain providers that you just do not have a good relationship with.

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I'm not saying that you have ones, that you're actively creating a problem, but there are always going to be some competitors that you're like.

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You know what I don't like what they're about.

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I don't like what they're doing.

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I'm not on board with this, Right.

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The kind of people that you'd refer the hoarders to are them.

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Now, what you do is you'd have a list of these people.

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I recommend having three, if you can help it.

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What you need is their name of the company, you need their phone number and you need to know who that you can refer to at the office.

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The way you would do that is simply just call them.

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Simply just call and just understand who's the person who answers the phone.

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Hey, if I wanted to refer a client your way, who would I refer?

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Or who would I need to talk to in order to do that?

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If someone called and say, hey, I've got work and I don't know who to refer to, what would the average contractor say?

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But again, I'm all about that, right.

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So the thing is in those circumstances, you'll know the name, you'll know their number and you'll know who to refer you name, you'll know their number and you'll know who to refer.

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You can send those to those people simply because you know what if they're not serving the community at the highest level, sometimes that's who you're going to be sending to Make sense.

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Yeah, it makes sense.

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Would this, as an example, be someone who continues to come and undercut your pricing?

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Like as an example.

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So we like to use tank top terry, but it could also be, it could also be chucking a truck, it could be standing in a van, like it could be any of those individuals, but the fact is, someone comes in and they're consistently like following your jobs and undercoding you or undercutting.

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Those are the people you can refer.

00:16:40.948 --> 00:16:41.792
Hey, you would like work?

00:16:41.792 --> 00:16:44.625
I'd love to give you all the work you could possibly want.

00:16:44.625 --> 00:16:50.095
In fact, I'll even have your number saved on speed dial so that when I can't handle a job, I'll know it'd be you I refer.

00:16:51.640 --> 00:16:52.361
Not unprofessional.

00:16:53.043 --> 00:16:53.905
I am giving you work.

00:16:53.905 --> 00:16:55.789
They do need electrical services.

00:16:55.789 --> 00:16:57.461
I'm not going to go there.

00:16:57.981 --> 00:16:58.943
It's a nice touch, Joe.

00:16:59.644 --> 00:17:01.128
Yeah, so that's that.

00:17:01.128 --> 00:17:07.590
It's easy to throw bad work away, but it's more important to know how to handle good relationships and the good work.

00:17:07.590 --> 00:17:08.682
Can we touch on that now?

00:17:08.682 --> 00:17:09.866
That's what we're here for.

00:17:09.866 --> 00:17:11.260
Let's do it All right.

00:17:11.260 --> 00:17:21.482
So maintaining relationships is extremely important because there are going to be some jobs, like some of our clients have pointed out, where you just physically can't do it.

00:17:21.482 --> 00:17:37.146
If we had a situation where you had three 600 amp services it turns out to be actually smaller than that, but we assumed that originally it was three 600 amp services it turns out to be actually smaller than that, but we assumed that originally it was three 600 amp services that were utterly submerged, covered in mud and water and needed like same day service.

00:17:37.467 --> 00:17:41.263
Yeah, and this is from yesterday's podcast, the continuation of that story.

00:17:41.423 --> 00:17:42.205
Yep, correct.

00:17:42.205 --> 00:17:45.402
And the thing is, is that what do you do in those circumstances?

00:17:45.402 --> 00:17:47.326
Obviously, you'd want the work.

00:17:47.326 --> 00:17:52.826
It sounds like a great opportunity, the client was great, the work was great, but you can't do.

00:17:52.826 --> 00:17:56.308
It Doesn't mean that you have to throw away this relationship.

00:17:56.308 --> 00:18:03.990
You want to keep this client in your pipeline, but you also want them to know that, hey, I may not be able to serve you now, but I know someone can.

00:18:03.990 --> 00:18:05.842
So this is how we'd approach that.

00:18:05.842 --> 00:18:14.255
The first thing we do is we'd say listen, clay, I'm so honored that you'd bring me here to serve at this opportunity.

00:18:14.255 --> 00:18:20.325
I really think that we'd be a great fit.

00:18:20.325 --> 00:18:21.028
I genuinely do want to help.

00:18:21.048 --> 00:18:35.346
My only concern is that this is actually beyond the scope of what we can currently take on at this point, just because of the extreme demand on our services throughout the entire area, due to the storm, due to the season, due to the weather it could be anything, but due to X, our services have been extremely high in demand.

00:18:35.346 --> 00:18:38.340
That being said, I don't want to throw away this relationship.

00:18:38.340 --> 00:18:40.386
I do think we'd be a great fit to help you.

00:18:40.386 --> 00:18:51.903
So what we've done for these kinds of circumstances is we actually have a list of partner companies that we've worked with that would be happy to refer to you and that I know that they would still treat you to the level that we would want to treat you at.

00:18:51.903 --> 00:18:55.152
Would it be okay if I referred three names to you?

00:18:56.960 --> 00:19:00.611
Yons, are People are going to be like, yeah, all right, sure, yeah, you're able to help me.

00:19:00.611 --> 00:19:05.267
It's also important that you're staying here For this type of client.

00:19:05.267 --> 00:19:08.493
You want to make the call yourself?

00:19:08.493 --> 00:19:16.977
Yeah, you would want to call that office and we're going to talk about how you find those relationships, but the first would be you'd want to call on their behalf.

00:19:16.977 --> 00:19:21.590
Say I'm going to reach out, I'm going to use my own connections, I'll go directly to the person who I know could help you.

00:19:21.590 --> 00:19:24.204
We'll get you the inside track and we'll get you connected.

00:19:25.247 --> 00:19:25.346
Can.

00:19:25.346 --> 00:19:26.128
I ask you a question.

00:19:26.128 --> 00:19:28.693
Go for it At this stage of the game.

00:19:28.693 --> 00:19:39.900
Would you ever ask, or have you ever asked hey, if we were to refer one of our preferred contractors to help you with this endeavor, would that disqualify us from future engagements with you?

00:19:41.585 --> 00:19:47.365
No, but I'm kicking myself that I didn't, because that's a great question to ask, just kind of opens the door to the future a bit right.

00:19:47.664 --> 00:19:49.249
So it's okay that you follow up now.

00:19:49.249 --> 00:19:53.164
It's okay that you check in on how that job went which I imagine we're going to get to anyway.

00:19:53.826 --> 00:19:57.445
Yeah, I mean, that's the ultimate goal, but I like that particular phrase.

00:19:57.445 --> 00:20:04.826
I think that would have been a very good way of enhancing it, and we use it in other parts of our program, but in this particular area you beat me to it, clay, I love it.

00:20:05.127 --> 00:20:06.630
All right, perfect, sorry to interrupt.

00:20:07.230 --> 00:20:07.771
No, it's great.

00:20:07.771 --> 00:20:08.512
No interruption needed.

00:20:08.512 --> 00:20:09.453
This is a two-way conversation.

00:20:09.453 --> 00:20:18.740
So we're in the situation now where we're going to be in, let's say, in the driveway or the kitchen table, wherever you are with the client and we're going to let them know that we're going to call on their behalf.

00:20:18.740 --> 00:20:32.992
What you would do is, before you've done any of this stuff, you've already established a relationship with three partner companies that you feel would match your level of service or match the values that you currently have.

00:20:32.992 --> 00:20:36.104
It doesn't necessarily mean to do that.

00:20:36.104 --> 00:20:42.767
They're the same size, but if they believe in similar things, then they'll serve your clients in a good way.

00:20:42.767 --> 00:20:49.020
What you would do is you would also be reaching out to your preferred contact at that person.

00:20:49.020 --> 00:20:55.182
So imagine the difference of calling the office and saying hey, amanda, hey, it's Joe, how are you doing?

00:20:55.182 --> 00:20:57.188
Yeah, no, it's service electrical.

00:20:57.188 --> 00:21:00.108
We were just talking the other day, great, and now you're continuing on.

00:21:00.108 --> 00:21:00.913
You have a relationship.

00:21:00.913 --> 00:21:02.121
It sounds like you're working together.

00:21:02.121 --> 00:21:05.227
What would that communicate to this client at this point?

00:21:06.930 --> 00:21:08.894
Much more confidence in that, for sure.

00:21:08.894 --> 00:21:12.968
Oh, these guys are actually a strategic alliance or a joint venture.

00:21:12.968 --> 00:21:14.009
They've done this before.

00:21:14.892 --> 00:21:17.605
Yeah, by being able to talk to the person by first name.

00:21:17.605 --> 00:21:23.523
Now you're in a situation now where they're able to say, like oh, clearly they have a connection, there's a relationship here, it's not just one person.

00:21:24.067 --> 00:21:34.846
Yeah, because I would have to say, like the fear would be that fear of disconnect.

00:21:34.846 --> 00:21:37.355
Here I'm safe with you, we've got trust, I feel good about this, but now you're going to hand me off to someone new.

00:21:37.355 --> 00:21:37.916
I got to start all over.

00:21:37.936 --> 00:21:38.198
That's a mix.

00:21:38.198 --> 00:21:44.528
So from there, what you can end up doing is, when you talk to the person at the office, let them know hi, I have a great customer that I've been working with.

00:21:44.528 --> 00:21:57.426
He's a really nice guy and he needs X, y, z and I came out here to evaluate the system, but it's currently more than I can currently take on, just because, due to the recent storm, I've got such a demand on my service.

00:21:57.426 --> 00:22:08.865
But because he's such a great guy, I didn't want to just give him to anyone, and I knew that you truly mirrored the level of service that we try to do and I felt that you'd be the next best to help Love it.

00:22:08.865 --> 00:22:11.487
So now imagine that.

00:22:11.487 --> 00:22:17.711
Imagine if someone called your office, gave you a lead, talked to you up in front of the customer.

00:22:17.711 --> 00:22:20.393
Would you not want to reciprocate that at any point?

00:22:20.752 --> 00:22:21.272
Absolutely.

00:22:21.272 --> 00:22:22.973
I love reciprocation.

00:22:23.494 --> 00:22:24.996
Yeah, exactly.

00:22:24.996 --> 00:22:28.018
So now we're in that moment where you've given them a great customer.

00:22:28.018 --> 00:22:36.101
Now, before we talk about the relationship itself, I want to say there's one last step we're going to do in this whole equation that's going to help wrap it up with a nice little bow, All right.

00:22:36.101 --> 00:22:47.929
So what we would ask is hey, I would never want to step on anyone's toes, but I know that I'm also handing you off to another company and I wanted to make sure that you're still getting served at the highest level.

00:22:47.929 --> 00:22:53.905
Is it okay, after the job is done, if I just check in just to make sure that everything was the way you wanted to be?

00:22:53.905 --> 00:22:56.864
And if there isn't, then I can talk to you about how we can help you.

00:22:58.307 --> 00:23:00.613
Yeah, definitely that would be appreciated.

00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:02.662
Perfect, happy to do that.

00:23:02.662 --> 00:23:10.953
So we'd schedule a time to follow when do you think the job is going to be done, or when do you think this project is going to be done, or even I'll coordinate with them when the project might be done.

00:23:10.953 --> 00:23:20.720
But it gives you the chance to come back in to offer your club membership, to offer a whole home safety inspection, to offer their warranty concern, whatever it is.

00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:24.229
But you are now keeping that relationship in your corner.

00:23:24.830 --> 00:23:32.217
Yeah, and that's important if you want to still again improve on and really make certain of that lifetime value.

00:23:32.217 --> 00:23:37.192
What I like about the one piece you said there about you can even coordinate it with them.

00:23:37.192 --> 00:23:56.232
That would be my preference, simply for the fact that they would know you're going to come back around and you can ensure with them that, hey, this isn't about me checking on codes or installations being up to snap, this is just me following up with the client to make sure they're happy because, hey, I passed them off to you.

00:23:56.232 --> 00:24:00.948
It makes sense that I closed that, so it's also a bit of a non-compete there.

00:24:00.948 --> 00:24:04.942
They know for a fact you're coming back around to discuss with them.

00:24:04.942 --> 00:24:07.765
You're coming back around to discuss with them.

00:24:07.765 --> 00:24:20.453
There's no point in trying to poach lack of a better word or try to harbor that client as their own, going forward Not without knowing full well that you're going to have your fair two cents to come back and speak with them afterwards.

00:24:21.694 --> 00:24:25.076
In addition, there's another thing we can do that mirrors that very, very well.

00:24:25.076 --> 00:24:31.066
All right, in that let's say this is a job that you currently aren't familiar with.

00:24:31.066 --> 00:24:34.492
So good example you just do residential grade generators.

00:24:34.492 --> 00:24:42.522
The biggest system you ever put in was a 22 KW Generac and now the customer has a 50 KW liquid cooled series.

00:24:42.522 --> 00:24:47.894
It's running off diesel and it's in the middle of their yard because the last contractor dropped off.

00:24:49.099 --> 00:24:58.691
Okay, clearly you do generators, but that's like saying, like you know, I'm a train conductor and that makes me able to now power down to the city if I needed to.

00:24:58.691 --> 00:25:00.355
It doesn't work.

00:25:00.355 --> 00:25:13.823
So the equivalent now is to say what's stopping you from handing this lead off, but making the condition in which you're going to actually be on site and now you get to learn and even say I'm willing to even help you out with this project.

00:25:13.823 --> 00:25:15.730
Just let me ask as many questions as I need.

00:25:15.730 --> 00:25:24.980
Now you're getting free education from your partner company, while also showing attention to the customer that you want to be present.

00:25:25.141 --> 00:25:33.202
Even if you couldn't do this, I feel like that's a great opportunity for so many people, because we don't need to always be racing to the bottom.

00:25:33.202 --> 00:25:36.901
I mean, that's one of the major things that we were trying to prevent in this endeavor.

00:25:36.901 --> 00:25:47.092
But if we think about collaboration rather than fighting each other all the way down, we can actually learn way more way faster.

00:25:47.092 --> 00:25:50.281
Help more people, and all of us could be more profitable.

00:25:50.281 --> 00:25:54.071
They can learn about your business, you can learn about their installations.

00:25:54.071 --> 00:25:57.931
We all can win, but we have to position yourself properly.

00:25:59.701 --> 00:25:59.861
Yep.

00:25:59.861 --> 00:26:03.070
As a mentor of mine said, there is no competition, there's only creation.

00:26:03.070 --> 00:26:07.028
It's better racing to the bottom, but we help each other climb to the top.

00:26:08.049 --> 00:26:08.589
I love that.

00:26:08.589 --> 00:26:10.152
I think it's absolutely wonderful.

00:26:10.152 --> 00:26:14.496
So there are some ways that we can pick out our strategy partners.

00:26:14.496 --> 00:26:15.415
Do you mind if we jump into that?

00:26:15.415 --> 00:26:17.340
Let's do it, man, okay.

00:26:17.981 --> 00:26:23.894
So in my experience, it's good to have one person per opposite trade of what you do.

00:26:23.894 --> 00:26:35.334
So, as an example, you'd want to have one plumbing company, one HVAC company and ideally one electrical company that does projects beyond what you do.

00:26:35.334 --> 00:26:38.949
So let's take that same generator example.

00:26:38.949 --> 00:26:58.494
If you are a residential electrician, you wouldn't want to bring on a residential electrician, but you could bring on an industrial electrician or a generator specialist or a strictly commercial electrician, because technically they would have the bandwidth to do projects like this and they wouldn't be encroaching on your customers.

00:26:58.494 --> 00:27:07.965
Because what are the odds that this company who may have that particular specialty, is going to come in when the customer calls for a ring doorbell?

00:27:07.965 --> 00:27:10.805
It's not likely going to happen.

00:27:10.805 --> 00:27:11.848
They're not going to make that call.

00:27:11.848 --> 00:27:14.365
They'll be like service, upgrade, generator.

00:27:14.365 --> 00:27:15.688
You want to do either one of those?

00:27:15.688 --> 00:27:18.482
Nope, okay, then we're going to go back to the project we're on.

00:27:19.445 --> 00:27:24.502
So it allows you to take on other areas that the customer could need.

00:27:24.502 --> 00:27:32.329
And this is where the real benefit comes in, because right now we've only been talking about a one-way direction us giving work to them.

00:27:32.329 --> 00:27:46.726
So how do we get the channel to flow this way, if you have one plumber, one HVAC tech or one HVAC company and one industrial company, what you'll find is each one will start returning the favor with work to you.

00:27:46.726 --> 00:27:53.982
For the HVAC company, they may say you know what, we're actually struggling because we need someone to come in and wire these condensers.

00:27:53.982 --> 00:27:55.807
Or you know what?

00:27:55.807 --> 00:28:01.847
We had a situation where we did the installation and for some reason, it's only showing 120 at the condenser.

00:28:01.847 --> 00:28:07.207
Okay, great, now they have a reliable service company that they can refer out to.

00:28:07.207 --> 00:28:17.945
For the plumber, he may be talking about putting in heat tape under the trailer or wiring the hot water heater, or putting in the water filtration system and having it all wired and set up.

00:28:17.945 --> 00:28:19.638
Those are great options.

00:28:20.421 --> 00:28:26.148
Keeping in mind that a big piece of marketing is just opening new doors, developing new relationships.

00:28:26.148 --> 00:28:27.634
Right, having more conversations.

00:28:27.634 --> 00:28:30.821
As we said in our four-part how to fix your schedule series.

00:28:30.821 --> 00:28:34.980
More conversations equals more offers, equals more customers.

00:28:34.980 --> 00:28:42.625
So the more exposure you have to homeowners, I mean, what are the chances the plumber is there but they don't have an electrician on standby.

00:28:42.625 --> 00:28:44.582
They don't know who they would call.

00:28:44.582 --> 00:28:45.538
They would go to Google.

00:28:45.538 --> 00:28:54.450
Still, you can intercept that future action by just developing a relationship and connecting your name to the warranty.

00:28:54.450 --> 00:28:59.826
Just connect yourself to that system and follow up.

00:29:00.007 --> 00:29:01.067
Connect yourself to that system and follow up.

00:29:01.067 --> 00:29:05.892
And you know, the funny thing is that I'm sure there are some people in the background who are listening to this.

00:29:05.892 --> 00:29:09.464
We're like I'm not going to refer an electrician out, like you're out of your mind if I'm going to do that.

00:29:09.464 --> 00:29:14.902
But devil's advocate here, what if that company was giving you work too?

00:29:14.902 --> 00:29:20.923
Now, the reason I said an industrial or commercial electrician is because most people don't know the difference.

00:29:20.923 --> 00:29:30.058
If you go to a homeowner, they think electrician.

00:29:30.058 --> 00:29:32.448
Whether you're working on a 480 system or a 120 system, no difference to them.

00:29:32.448 --> 00:29:33.953
You're an electrician, you're an electrician.

00:29:33.953 --> 00:29:38.862
So they're likely going to call that company for service work at some point in the future.

00:29:38.862 --> 00:29:46.103
When that happens and they're not in that wheelhouse, who would they remember to give that work to?

00:29:46.103 --> 00:29:49.579
That's the thing.

00:29:49.579 --> 00:29:51.361
We become that person.

00:29:51.361 --> 00:29:57.924
We feed you, you feed us and we both serve the customer at the highest level.

00:29:57.924 --> 00:29:59.942
That has to be the benchmark.

00:30:00.779 --> 00:30:08.556
We are in this relationship to serve our clients more effectively, more expeditiously and to the highest degree that we can.

00:30:08.556 --> 00:30:10.259
That is why we are a partner.

00:30:10.259 --> 00:30:14.048
It is not a money endeavor, it is strictly a service endeavor.

00:30:14.048 --> 00:30:17.422
On the other side you have those other customers that you're like.

00:30:17.422 --> 00:30:17.864
You know what?

00:30:17.864 --> 00:30:21.019
I don't like this guy and you know what?

00:30:21.019 --> 00:30:24.186
If I'm going to give any work, I'm going to make sure you can have the work.

00:30:24.186 --> 00:30:24.788
Go ahead.

00:30:24.788 --> 00:30:25.958
I don't want to take it though.

00:30:25.958 --> 00:30:38.381
So no matter what job comes in whether it's an absolutely disgusting situation or if it's one where you're like this is an amazing opportunity I just physically can't take it on at this point.

00:30:38.381 --> 00:30:41.915
You'll have a way of putting it out so that it comes back.

00:30:42.959 --> 00:30:43.401

Replay - How to Do Referral Partners Right

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