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Million Dollar Electrician - Sale to Scale For Home Service Pros
Rewiring Our Mission: (Electricpreneur Secrets)
Helping Electricians Achieve the $1M Service Van so they can experience ultimate control over their futures.
Join Clay Neumeyer & Joseph Lucanie for a new electrifying episode & High-amperage action item each week to spark up your service van sales to $50K, $70K, $100K, $150K months, and beyond!
Million Dollar Electrician - Sale to Scale For Home Service Pros
Replay - Inbound Call Training That Makes the $100K Difference
Did you know that a staggering 60% of inbound calls in the home service industry don't convert into bookings? Join us in this eye-opening episode of Electricpreneur Secrets, where we uncover the secrets to turning that statistic on its head. Joe brings a personal touch, sharing how selecting a calming purple hue for his workspace has helped manage anxiety and depression, setting a reflective tone for our discussion. Drawing insights from a 2022 ServiceTitan study, we illuminate how crucial inbound call training is for electricians, emphasizing that better call handling can be a game-changer for your business's bottom line.
But it's not just about picking up the phone—it's about connecting. We delve into the essence of quality customer service, spotlighting how genuine belief in your company's value can transform ordinary calls into lasting client relationships. With practical tips and real-life stories, including Joe's success in turning objections into loyal clients, we illustrate the power of professional assertiveness and effective communication. Tune in to discover how a well-defined process, heartfelt enthusiasm, and strategic delegation can optimize your call conversions, reclaim your time, and catalyze substantial business growth.
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and going live. It Sounds good to me. All right, joe, I think it worked. I think we're actually live again. I think so. Are we on the face crack yet? Yeah, I think we are, man, just going to wait for someone to log on, someone to view us and let us know that you can see us. That's all that's missing here. Just a little confirmation. Hello, hello, hello. Are you there? Facebook world? Okay, I can't see anyone just yet. Joe, I'm going to literally log in on my end.
Speaker 2:I'm going to try and get this troubleshooted.
Speaker 1:Once we can see that we're here and people can see us, we can do this thing.
Speaker 2:Joe, we're live here, can see us we could do this thing shows we're live here, what's relevant. We're live now. Live now. I see it on the next burner page live now I see it too perfect, we're one minute in one minute in and we are live, awesome, awesome, awesome.
Speaker 1:Okay, so here's what we're gonna do, man, we're already recording. When you're ready, how about we drop a podcast?
Speaker 1:Let's do it. I'm ready whenever you are. Okay, very cool, very cool, all right. So one minute and 40 seconds, here we go. Hello, hello, hello. And welcome back to yet another episode of Electricpreneur Secrets, the Electrician's Podcast. I'm your host, clay Neumeier, with me, as always, my esteemed co-host, joe Lucani, and we are the Electricpreneurs just a couple of master electricians with business addictions, here and ready to serve, serve, who Serve you. If you're an electricpreneur looking to make a difference out there, looking to master your sales, simplify your pricing and deliver premium level service, then you're in the right place. And this week we've got a cool topic, man, we've got a really cool topic and not just our new backgrounds and that's the new uniforms not just new uniforms, new backgrounds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we got out of the Australian office. We're now here. You can see our offices. This is it. But today we're talking about inbound call training. That makes the 100K difference, and that's just a number we had to choose, but it comes from some very significant data to do with how your inbound calls affect your bottom line, and I can't wait to jump into that with you today. Joe, how are you doing, bro?
Speaker 2:I'm feeling great. I gotta admit it's a bit of a throw, because I love looking at our offices and seeing, like the different parts of the personalities that shine through. Like you've got an awesome background with all like the foam in the back. It looks like a nice tile brick room and you got me in the nice purple room. So so I'm feeling great, feeling happy and authentic.
Speaker 2:Why do you choose purple? So the reason why was, as a person who lives in battles, anxiety and depression, I wanted to make sure that I was in an area that made me feel as comfortable as possible. So there was a time when I was really going through it, when I wanted to pick out paints and I waited until I was close to having a panic attack and then saw all the swatches and I was like, okay, which one gives me the most comfort? I remember seeing this purple and being like, oh, that's nice. So I just circled it, I rode through my emotions and then, when I was back to my better self, I was like that's the color I'm going to paint and it's really a soothing color. I feel very comfortable here.
Speaker 1:Nice man, nice. So I appreciate that share and always as always, the vulnerability with that and I get it. It's a very calm purple. I enjoy looking at it. You're making me calmer in the process, brother.
Speaker 2:Good, that's a goal then.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hey, I can share this piece. Less anxiety, since working with you in the purple wall showing for sure, I think we could track the stats. Speaking of tracking the stats, I want to hear your opinion on this. But first I'm going to say you exactly what I saw in a service Titan memo, this blog, where they they put out about a 2022 study they did about average call booking rates in the service industry. I think this number might shock you, pun intended.
Speaker 2:I was going to say getting the battery cables out, like what are you hooking up here?
Speaker 1:The average call booking rate. So what this means is actual qualified calls coming in to actual booked calls on your calendar, right Call booking rate. For those of you that haven't tracked this, don't know this super power to know this because of what I'm about to tell you, average call booking rate across the home service industry is just 40. You know what I'm saying. Like 10 calls come in, four go on the calendar that sounds pretty dismal.
Speaker 2:I'm not gonna lie like. That was not the standard at my operation and now it's the standard here at ours, so like that's a weird situation and you know what's interesting.
Speaker 1:You've told me this before and that I can't reference the material, but you've told me before that the industry average close rate to conversion rates around 40%. Is that true?
Speaker 2:It's right around 45%. So on the lowest possible tier, like usually, you'll see a metric of around 35%, but that's the very low outliers and the 45% is the higher outliers as well. So it's usually right between that 40. If you're going to say four, you'd be right in the middle.
Speaker 1:And that seems crazy. So short math and I haven't prepared this right. Present, not perfect. We keep showing up to have hard conversations and great trainings. Here live guys. So present, not perfect math. Here 10 calls come in four book Assuming the same 40% conversion rate, then out of four you're maybe two customers out of 10 calls.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not a good situation to be in, and that's if you're following that logic. It's also incredibly expensive. I can only imagine you're paying for your office to be man, and that's if you're following that logic. It's also incredibly expensive. Like, I can only imagine you're paying for your office to be manned or staffed, you're paying for the leads to come in, you're paying for the phone service, you're paying for the office that they're in, you're paying their salary and you also. Now these leads are coming in and they're just spinning, like where are they going? Were people just calling to get out of the rain? Like why were they calling your office? That's, I think, the biggest like gap here. Whereas if someone is qualified and they're calling you with intention and they still don't make it to the calendar, that's a very big problem and I'm down to get into solving that with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. There's something that came up recently. I was actually I was in a call with alan. You remember we interviewed alan. Of course, alan's been with us a while, and one of the recent things that alan went through is is he said we've got this csr, we've got this person taking calls right now. That's done what I didn't think was believable before he told me this joy. I swear to swear to God. He said I've gone to calls now where the sales are getting easier because of the experience they're having on the phone. I'm selling more because of my CSR and how they're handling those calls. Do you believe that too?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do Not only that, because I was going to say we have another example. I mean, when we're working with our team, remember there was a situation where they literally got a call and made a sale. I think it was like a platinum sale because they said we had just an amazing experience. So I think it was working. Even working with Shelby, it was like I had such an amazing experience over the phone that I already knew we were going to want to work with you guys. You were our kind of people.
Speaker 2:So when the tech arrived, they showed up like a 10 and they carried that momentum, built some killer options and then was able to close on the project because they already had such a good disposition toward them. If the phone did not go well, if that initial call, it's like you're already setting your tech up to be less than a 10. So even if you expect them to lose some favor, it's hard going from an eight to a six compared to a ten to an eight. So if you can get your operation down over the phone, that makes everything smoother.
Speaker 1:This is huge, and so I'm going to go back to the service titan study for a moment, because we're not quite done so. On the title of this call, this podcast, we called it well, the 100k difference. Well, how is that justified? I think you guys deserve an answer there. So what their study found was and for sizes of companies between 5 and 14 total staff total staff. So sure, this isn't the solo electricpreneur that's maybe just starting out or first year or so, but this is kind of that next step, that good, good size small business 5 to 14 staff. For those people, every 5% increase to the 40% call booking rate resulted in an approximate average of $100,000 in additional sales.
Speaker 2:I can actually see that making sense.
Speaker 1:And here's the thing that's just a number and it leaves kind of an imprint here to say wow, just 5%. What does that mean? Can we give context to what 5% could mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It could just mean that you're following a consistent process and answering the phone and saying the things that create value on that phone, and did I say the word consistently already Because I think that's important here.
Speaker 2:I was bold and underline that one.
Speaker 1:Right and feel free to jump in with any other 5% examples, but the other one we're leading into today is the value piece we're giving away this week and into next week. Is this CSR or inbound call objection handling guide? So how we're speaking to people on the problems that they've reached out to have solved does make a difference In some cases. If we're talking about 5% being equal to 100k and you're at 40%, I mean one person that commented on my post about this today said, hey, they're at 80 to 90% call booking rate. So is that achievable Absolutely? And what's that difference? Two, three, $400,000.
Speaker 2:You know, there's also something else that comes into play, because you said to yourself like, why 5%? What else does 5% look like? For me, if you're following a process, it means you've started to embody that form of being, and the best thing about that is then you'll find that, yes, you're reading a script, but when that script becomes how you talk, you can do so authentically. Now imagine you're a customer calling an office and not only are they giving you a professional experience, but it's an authentic and really just energizing experience. Just that authenticity that come from the muscle memory of doing a process could also be a deciding factor of whether they're going to move forward or not. So that's also something that can't be undermined either. You know what else?
Speaker 1:could be the 5%. You said you used to have a mirror by the phone, right, correct. Why'd you have the mirror?
Speaker 2:I needed to know if I was smiling. The smile heard over the phone is absolutely critical because literally I could turn off my video right now and you can tell by my voice inflections what I'm doing or not. A smile is heard. You can tell the voice just goes up compared to when I don't, and it just drops down the octave a little bit so you can actually infuse energy into your call based on how you're actually holding your demeanor and your body posture.
Speaker 1:This is awesome and that's an awesome piece of feedback. Can I put you on the spot for a minute? Go for it. What do you think, then, with this topic of you know the most important things? Really to get that percentage up and have people experience value on the phone from someone who's trained a quite a number of CSRs at this point and done so really well with incredible feedback, by the way. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:What do you think are like the top couple, maybe three things that really, really matter for this position on these inbound calls?
Speaker 2:So I found the spot, but I do actually have some answers I can give you here. Awesome, love it. So the first is always do you have a process, but it's almost one and two are hand in hand. Okay, do you have a process, and do you believe that that process is there to serve your customer? Because I can imagine working with a CSR who's given a script and says here you go, this came out of the boiler room, this is going to go make 100,000 outbound calls and we'll get leads, but they don't feel like they're doing the right thing. Even if the words are correct, they'll be delivered incorrectly and the delivery is more important, like what you say is less important than how you say it. So, first, do you have a process, but also, do you believe that process is here to serve the customer? I'd say that goes hand in hand.
Speaker 2:The second, then, is if you believe that you're serving your customer, do you believe that your company has value? Do you believe that you're the best fit to serve someone? Because if someone calls you and they have no power and they're like Joe, I'm in a situation. Can you please help me? And I know that my team has the best electricians that money can buy and we have that level of service I can dispatch out quickly. It would be an honor to do so. Clay, don't you worry. Where you call the right place, we're going to help you out with this. I can have amazing technicians out to you. In fact, because you're a first class member, we're going to move you right to the front of the line. Get this taken care of. Nice, like. That level of dedication is there as well.
Speaker 2:And then the last is really the inflection in which you give, and I feel like that comes from the smile. So, like, let's break this down. We know we're running a process and we've practiced the process and we believe in what we're doing. We also believe in our company and we believe that we're the best fit to serve them. So there's a desire to get the customer on the call and a process to get them on the call. Okay, so that's someone saying the right things in the right place to the right person, but how you say it is just as important. So now you've done so authentically that you're now doing with energy and enthusiasm. So if I'm talking to someone who knows what they need to say, has the ability of saying it the right way, knows that the team can serve them the right way and they're happy and honored to do it. That is a 10 out of 10 experience.
Speaker 1:That's awesome man, really incredible feedback, and I couldn't help but notice how big belief is set into that and the confidence that you are the right solution. And that seems to be a trend brother. It comes up in pricing, comes up in service tech training, in installer training, in sales tech, training in CSR. Now training those inbound calls. You can see why it's so detrimental to be the person answering your phone If you're also the person doing the work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you also can't speak to yourself either. Like, let's say, sake of argument, I'm the one who's answering my own phone, right, and I believe, an amazing electrician, which I actually do. I do think I'm a great electrician, but the fact is is that I can't speak to that Like I can't be, like, don't worry, you've called the right place, I am the best electrician you're going to come across. No one's going to be like you're a clown, like it's not going to work, but if I have a CSR, that's like. You know what? Joe is an amazing electrician and I can't believe how much he cares about every person he works with. We're going to make sure shortly. I could say the exact same thing, but because it's delivered by someone else, there's a second level of biases attached to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, makes sense, man, and so let's, let's trend on with this a little bit. And it's not where we intended to go. But hey, present, not perfect. Here we are, live, right, so with that belief. This is why, for those of you, this is why for those of you of you out there leading teams, starting with, why is so important having this all rooted in why you're here. This mission, the vision what is that? Is it built around people, value building with people? If so, when you communicate that, well, then you can get people's belief up because you can perform at this highest level. So when you find yourself with someone who doesn't believe, well then you're in a bit of a pickle. So what do you suggest there? Joe? If this is someone listening to this with um, you know they're just not meeting that belief criteria with their CSR. If you had to say generally what maybe an approach or two might be to help with that, Sure, Just so I understand correctly, you're saying how do we give feedback to the CSR?
Speaker 2:that may not believe in everything we're trying to do.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Okay, so realistically in everything we're trying to do Absolutely Okay, so realistically it's okay, though I like being on the spot, it works.
Speaker 2:So the situation that we're in then is I would treat it similar to a tech that doesn't believe in the pricing. There's usually some sort of core belief that either comes from a previous operation or something in their upbringing that they feel that we're not doing the right thing. So, rather than lead to the process and say, like, this is what we're doing, I would then go into do you know why we're doing what we're doing? Can we go through and explain the why? Can you tell me why we're saying these things? And then, based on their responses, it would gauge their level of understanding and where there's a disconnect, I could correct in real time. So it sounds like I'm training process, but really I'm actually getting insight into our CSR's mind so that I can properly redirect and help them.
Speaker 2:So, at the end of the day, I'm not trying to manipulate anyone, and if they're not the right fit to be here, they're not the right fit to be here. You don't believe that we're the best, and if they're not the right fit to be here, they're not the right fit to be here. You don't believe that we're the best and obviously you can't convey that we're the best. So it's my job as your leader to say this is why we're better and this is why so many people still choose to use us, even though we're more. Why do you think that is? And then, from there, their responses lead us to the next step.
Speaker 1:Really powerful stuff. I appreciate that. My pleasure More into this value piece. Then handling objections or awkward conversations on the phone could be representing much more than a 5%. Maybe this is that 10 to 20% zone, because there's a great portion of callers who feel like price shopping, for instance, might be in their best interest at this point. So, yes, there's a problem, and I'm just going through the flow chart of logic here for them. Yes, there's a problem. Yes, this is painful for me because it's taking time that I didn't allot for, didn't have this on my schedule. This is a pain now for me, effort and sacrifice, and I've got to reach someone, but I feel, I think, I estimate that this could be solved for $100.
Speaker 2:And that's always a fun thing because it's very similar to how, once again, the tech has to go through it. We're not challenging what they're saying. We're challenging the belief behind it. So let's really look into this. The client believes that the number is their source of salvation. If I just get the number, I could compare it to someone else's number and then I'll know the right number to choose. So what's the focus here? They're doing the number shopping.
Speaker 2:What we're trying to do, through our experience, is, when they call us, we shift it towards the person who do I have the pleasure of talking to, and then going and building a relationship from the very beginning, before we even start talking about their problem. Then we're shifting the conversation to we'd love to help you with this. We feel we're the best fit to help you with this and you've called the right place. So we're shifting the approach and then explaining to them how doing it our way actually serves and gets them what they want, with less effort and sacrifice on their part. So all three are essential One, building the relationship. Two, shifting the direction of the conversation. Three, building that value. So objection handling is going to be key, because some people want to call in for a price when really they're calling because they need a solution, but they feel that the price is the lens in which they need to see it through. I'm just being the optometrist and changing the lens.
Speaker 1:Nice look, pun intended. There you go right. I loved how you said the source of salvation. I think that's where we get kind of disconnected as people having discussions with other people. What's that reference? What's their source of salvation? That's a really good way to look at it, instead of just painting people with the same same brush, same stroke there to say, well, they're just cheap yeah, and that's not the case like and a lot of times it's often those who are in more wealthy situations or better, more affluent positions.
Speaker 2:They have those struggles too, and in fact, even sometimes more so, because when you show up in the nice car, you roll up to the nice home, it's possible that they're worried that you're going to judge them and their financial capabilities. And, plus, I've also learned that even some of the most wealthy people, it's not a sign of wealth, it's a sign of debt. So the person who has the big house could be over leveraged and, as a result, price is their biggest factor, you know. So it's okay, I want to view you as a person and I'm going to solve your problem to the best of my ability, and that's why we have the process in place.
Speaker 1:So it's a path for all people to come to us, regardless of which level or which archetype they come from draw kind of conclusions and parallels between just call time and success rate with those customers and saying like hey, your call center or your CSRs or your incoming calls should be at five minutes or six minutes on average. Do you believe that that is accurate?
Speaker 2:I have a different belief. I believe not in the length of the conversation, but the quality of the conversation. Right, when we do what we do. You could literally run through our script in probably less than a minute if you so chose to rush through it. You'd say all the right things, but you wouldn't be making the connection. I would say that there are some calls where I've been on the phone for 20 minutes. Do I recommend that? No, I don't recommend that.
Speaker 2:But there are certain times when some customers require that additional conversation in order to solidify that I'm the right fit before they even come out. So is there a certain time? I think too little represents boiler room Just get it through via pressure and go through via numbers. I think too much is where you're not able to redirect conversations the right way. But I think anywhere between three and 10 minutes is really the sweet spot, and the reason why I say that is because at least it gives you the opportunity to say the things at a pace. That way, if the customer chooses to shut down, you've at least done it with the best of your intentions and you've also given yourself enough time on the opposite side to where, if they are super talkative. You've built the relationship but also can properly redirect without it going too long.
Speaker 1:I love that Great answer. I've got just one more question for you, joe, before we wrap this one up. How may I serve? One more question for you, joe, before we wrap this one up. How may I serve? All right, entertain one more right. Have you seen? I know the numbers are in front of you and this is a simple yes or no, but I'm sure you'll give us more than that have you seen these calls where their source of salvation seems to be cost and or be here in an hour or less? Or I'm calling someone else where you solve these problems on the phone through objection handling skills, through some of this training that we provide? Have you seen those calls then turn into the gold and platinum sales in your experience?
Speaker 2:So, just so I understand you correctly, you're saying has there been a situation where a customer came in with an objection that we solved, and after solving the objection, they became our type of client and you made a big sale out of it?
Speaker 1:Phone objections to big sales.
Speaker 2:Yes, that is something that's possible, and the reason why is this I've seen it. I don't have a particular example that comes to mind immediately off the top of my head, but I do know from experience that there have been customers that we've worked with Actually, you know what. There is one that comes to mind Now. This particular customer we had a situation with where he was very insistent that we needed to come right now, and the biggest problem was this was prior to us offering the first class membership and we said I can come out to you by this time, and it wasn't in the time that it worked for him. So he called back. He said I'll call someone else. He called back an hour later and he still wasn't able to get it solved, and this time he wanted to dig in, that we had to be there right away and that he didn't want to pay a diagnostic.
Speaker 2:We went through the objection handling and ended up going through this particular situation. It took a longer time, but we ended up getting him on the calendar and he ended up becoming a first class member years later after the fact. So we made the sale first and then, once we came to first class membership, we were able to onboard him onto that. So, yes, it is possible, and those objections are going to be a very strong indicator. Another factor I'd say I want to add in is that if you're able to showcase that you can handle an objection upfront, it also reduces their desire to object to you later. Have you ever noticed that situation where you ask for a discount and then they give you a discount and because you've asked for it and they accepted it, you wonder if you should have asked for more?
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:But if you ask for a discount and they declined and did not move forward and then you ended up paying full price, there wasn't that same buyer's remorse Because it's like I tried and they wouldn't it and this is what I had to pay. Same kind of situation where if they call and they're intentionally being difficult and you take the reins of the call with professional assertiveness, not rudeness, professional assertiveness then they're less likely to feel that they can steamroll you later.
Speaker 1:Nice, really nice touch, joe. And to wrap this one up, I just wanted to add guys, you could be live with us and if you are on the Facebook group, letrepreneur Secrets, hello, hello, hello and thank you for joining us today. If you guys wanted to grab this value piece and get this free training video training on some of this call objection handling that we're talking about that could make the 100K difference for you. Get these big clients on the call booked on the calendar so that you could still fulfill your obligation to premium service then all you got to do is throw one in the chat below and or reach out to us or the post on electricpreneur secrets or the website service by electricianscom. Joe, I want to thank you again and all we've got to do is wrap this up with a couple of action items man and an outro and we're out of here. You want basic or all-star?
Speaker 2:I'd be willing to take either or both, depending on whatever you want.
Speaker 1:Okay, let me throw a basic out. You got it Basically, if you're still answering the phone, we want you to stop doing that. This is a huge piece of leverage that you need your time equity, that you get back as soon as you delegate this and get this process to help you train that position out. If, at the very basic level, you're not there yet, please take that walk with us. Please take that and take this, take this value piece and run with it. Joe, you're up, All-star brother.
Speaker 2:The all-star level is I'm going to speak directly to the business owner considering having CSRs. Who already does have CSRs? All right. Too often in my experience I have found that we train our technicians to be beautifully crafted machines of getting sales and doing great, amazing customer service, but at the same token we neglect our front offices because we believe that all they need to do is read a script and get it done. I believe the all-star level is to train in the intensity in which the call flow goes. You cannot sell anything if you can't get to the call. So the majority of your focus should be let's get our CSRs really, really dialed in.
Speaker 2:How many times a week are you training? Some of you might even be shaking your heads because you're like I'm not training at all. Or maybe you're saying once a week, but you're training your techs two, three times a week. That doesn't make sense. You're training the person who's coming after the first point of contact. Why don't we simply just get more calls on the board and then, even if the text didn't improve their closing ratio, simply due to volume, it would increase. So if you're going to train one, train both and understand that they serve two parts of the system and you need both parts to have synchrony.
Speaker 1:I love that man. Make the office your lever, not your bottleneck guys. You heard it here first. This has been another effort to help you master your sales, simplify your pricing and deliver premium level electrical service. Please come back and join us again next week. We've got another client interview we're so excited to bring to you guys to further help you on this journey. Thanks so much. Cheers to your success. Can't wait to see you soon.
