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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
Ep 4 - Service Over Skills, How Pre-diagnosing Doesn’t Pay
What if your quick fixes are costing you thousands in lost revenue? Discover how pre-diagnosing electrical jobs can revolutionize your sales and enhance customer satisfaction on the Million Dollar Electrician podcast. We share an incredible story of turning a simple faulty outlet diagnosis into a $7,030 success by focusing on the emotional aspect of the issue. Dive deep into the frequent errors electricians make by treating symptoms rather than root causes and why effective communication often trumps technical skill. We’ll also challenge the notion of profiling clients and situations, offering insights into presenting comprehensive solutions that resonate on a personal level.
Shift gears with us as we dissect a systematic approach to troubleshooting electrical faults—because jumping to conclusions can miss the mark. Learn how thorough inspections of physical connections, device quality, and proper wiring are essential for long-lasting fixes. We’ll expose the pitfalls of new construction practices like backstab receptacles and scant warranties, highlighting the necessity for quality workmanship in ensuring system longevity. This enlightening episode promises to elevate your expertise and refine your sales strategies, making you not just an electrician, but a trusted advisor to your clients.
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Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the Million Dollar Electrician podcast where we help home service pros like you supercharge your business and spark up those sales.
Speaker 2:I'm Joseph Lucani and, together with my co-host, Clay Neumeier, we're here to share the secrets that have helped electricians sell over a million dollars from a single service man.
Speaker 1:Now it's time for sales, it's time for scale, it's time to become a million dollar electrician. Hey Joe, super pumped another week, man, and we've got a great topic today. I can't wait to dive into another area where expertise is kind of letting us down, holding us back when it comes to sales. Yep, we're talking about pre-diagnosing before you get to the call, and we've got a great example to run through today. You guys are going to stick around with us. This is going to be absolute fire. Before I ask how you're doing, though, I want to share this win of the week. We had Saul share that Emilio sold recently an economy for $7,000, $7,030. But he said hey, prior to actually implementing our process, our options, following the play, this would have been a $250 call, that's a 30X return on an economy sale. Joe, can you believe that?
Speaker 2:You know I can because I've seen it. But it's also really, really amazing Because what Sal did is he shifted from solving the problem on a technical level to solving the problem on an emotional level, like, if you think about it, like, I have one bad faulty outlet in my dining room, okay, you have one point. If you'd simply solved that one point again, the circuit would have turned on. You didn't have an issue. But by now going into it and saying if this problem happened here, it's safe to say it's also going to happen in all these other points. And if it's going to happen all these other points, we can either solve it once and be done with it completely and you'll never have to deal with it and have a lifetime guarantee, or we can do it where you just keep pinching it piece by piece by piece. How would you like to proceed? Proceed? And they took one of the options that was a permanent solution great chairman.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely love it, and that's exactly what it was. Faulty outlet in the dining room uh, turned into a seven thousand dollar sale. Like we said, 30x that's huge. Ties perfectly in with what we're talking about today pre-diagnosing these jobs. What do we mean by that, joe? What's pre-diagnosing?
Speaker 2:we are as electricians. We are so guilty of this. So imagine you get your work order and the next call you go to they say hey, I'm not really sure what happened on this call, but the customer said that she hasn't had her home built built in 2023 or built in early 2024. And she plugged in a vacuum and one of the breakers turned off and doesn't know why. Like, think of it as an electrician. What is the thing you're suspecting happen on this call?
Speaker 2:yeah, arc fault yeah, you had an arc fault trip. But this is where we start having a problem. We as the technician assume what is the technical problem here and what is the quickest solution from a to b. We assume we have a faulted arc fault. Oh well, they just plugged in a motorized appliance. He tried plugging a vacuum into it. Of course it's going to pop the arc fault, yeah.
Speaker 2:So we as a technician go downstairs to the panel, we check the thing, we realize the arc fault's off, we throw it back on and maybe we offer a new arc fault or maybe, in the worst, we say I'll take it off. Take it off arc fault. It's not getting a permit on this. It worked for years. So the biggest crime here is you solved the symptom, you didn't solve the problem. There are so many ways that we can go further and further, but this is an issue that happens so consistently. It's the trip GFI on the countertop, it's I bought the fan and I already have it and I just need you to install it. We start to profile our clients and we start to profile the situations into boxes that we can easily wrap our minds around, and once we have someone in a box, it's very hard to take them out of it. Does that make sense, clay?
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, it does, and you know, we hear this from different companies different times too, and they talk about wanting to put their best troubleshooters on service calls and it's actually for this reason and could be a huge mistake when really I just want the person that runs the play best on these calls Cause there's no problem that we can't solve at least create solutions for in a home today and start to accomplish those solutions.
Speaker 2:You know, I can see it from both sides, because the thing is I would want a competent troubleshooter, but I wouldn't want them to go from A to B. I would want them to have, like, the perfect situation is someone who has the technical know-how to solve and trigger out what's wrong, but also the service know-how to know. I don't need to immediately communicate this to the client. I can recognize what's going on, use my technical knowledge to look at the big picture, evaluate how that's going to affect the customer and then present my solutions accordingly. Sometimes you have someone who's too technical and they just solve it, and you have someone who's not technical at all and offer solutions that don't make sense. So you got to have that middle of the road.
Speaker 1:So here's the hard question then what's more important?
Speaker 2:What's more important at the end of the day? That's a hard question. I would say someone who can better communicate the information than someone who physically knows how it's going to be done, because I've seen very smart, very well trained electricians shoot themselves in the foot by starting to either over-educate or diagnosing in advance, or being able to have the solution but not being able to speak to it in a way that doesn't sound salesy or pushy or scary.
Speaker 2:So, if I had to choose one or the other. I can teach technical skill. It's much harder to impart values and morals and different levels of emotional standing into people yeah, yep, I'd agree with that.
Speaker 1:I mean assuming it's a competent electrician. Again, yeah, we could teach the technical, but there's just something about serving a person that can't be replaced here and in this pre-diagnostic position that we're discussing, we can shoot ourselves right in the foot, like you said, and just end up with a very a a low value transaction. So what I find is really interesting I think we've mentioned this before is, like there's this concept of do I want to be a 15 minute hero today? Yuck, that's kind of where the pre-diagnosing leads you, isn't it? Because you end up with really one solution. Try to keep it over simple. Hey, I could just solve this for you, but then what's your minimum charge on this? Call out? And now you're overcoming a price objection on your bare minimum and they've got nothing to compare it to and no idea of the level of service that you could provide.
Speaker 2:Believe it or not, you're actually going to get more price objections doing it that way than you would actually going and running multiple options on it.
Speaker 1:Why is?
Speaker 2:that it's actually a self-fulfilling prophecy. So imagine it this way You're the technician and you assume that we just have a faulted arc fault. Right, all I've got to do is I either have to reset it or I've got to change that arc fault. That's the only thing you keep in mind Bottom option reset. So you, assuming that you're a competent service provider you're probably somewhere between 350 and 600, somewhere between there and your hourly rate but you're trying to condense all of your service into just the technical to try to be in and out faster problem you try to make it go faster. They don't see the level of service that justifies that expense and, as a result, it becomes an expense and not an investment. They don't feel that you're competent or they don't feel that you were fair with the amount of time you put into it, justifying the expense. And that's when you'll have someone say well, what are you charging per hour? As a result, that same person is no longer someone who's going to call your future services. So not only did you lose the call you're currently on or get a low ticket, but they're less likely to refer you and less likely to call you back, meaning it hurts you long term. I would rather be in a situation to where I stay and we'll even talk about how to run the play on this particular call and say what do you do here? How would you create value? Because if I can have that value being built at multiple stages throughout this call, even if they didn't buy, I have every justification, such as we were able to arrive on a prompt time.
Speaker 2:You were able to talk to someone instead of getting an answering machine. We were able to come out directly within a few hours to get this problem resolved. A certified electrician came to your home and did an in-depth diagnosis. We sat and designed multiple ways of getting the situation done. For the most permanent fix and the most temporary, we went through and offered different payment options that were available. We're able to do the job same day if necessary. That's what you're paying for. If I've communicated that you're only paying for an outlet or changing or a breaker, that's on me. Could I have one more chance to re-explain what you're only paying for an outlet or changing or a breaker? That's on me. Could I have?
Speaker 1:one more chance to re-explain what you're actually getting from working with us. Okay, so the question that's burning in everyone's minds here you're still presenting six solutions on this project, this, this arc fault job for lack of better words.
Speaker 2:Fuck yeah I'm going to that's a hundred percent, and you want to actually figure out how we're going to do it.
Speaker 1:Let's run it.
Speaker 2:Okay. So it comes down to how I would be doing my diagnosis and based on that diagnosis it's going to lead us to our options. So let's assume we've got this arc fault call. Instead of going right to the panel first, what I would be doing is I'd go to that fault and say where did you physically plug it in? I'm going to be opening that device up, looking at the wiring. I'm then going to be seeing any kind of abnormalities. Are there any backstabs that were going on? Were the connections done perfect? Is there tape done on this? I assume it's tamper. But is it just a basic commercial grade $2 outlet? Or is this something of quality? Was there spacing behind it? Was everything good?
Speaker 2:Okay, if that's been good, then I'm going to go to the panel. I'm going to disconnect my wire from the breaker. I'm going to physically check the breaker, turning it on. Did it hold voltage? If it did, okay, maybe it's not the breaker. Then I'm going to check the ohmic value of the wiring and say, okay, is there any continuity between two points? Is two points? Is there any conditions to ground? If it's not there, then I'm going to power it back on. I'm going to energize the circuit and see where the fault is, then remeasure.
Speaker 2:So, right from here, what I'm doing is I'm actually saying is there a fault or was this a faulted device? That's a huge difference compared to the average way the call is going. Because most of us assume that's a huge difference compared to the average way the call is going. Because most of us assume I hate arc faults. They're always tripping for no reason. They don't do anything. They're just made by engineers that make more sales. It's like some people think that way and that's okay. So if you're doing that, you're only going to focus on the product. What we're doing is we're focusing on the system as a whole.
Speaker 2:So, with that being said, I'm in your panel, I'm checking the physical wiring, I'm checking the enclosures. That can actually scale, because if I found something in the home let's assume it's a 2023 or 2024, most builders are hacking it in. So I'm going to look at it and say was this a 20 amp circuit? No, it's probably just a standard 15, because they could get away with it. Okay, how good were the connections made and was there an issue here that I could suspect happening somewhere else? Did they have the protective systems in place? Is this the highest quality protector we could have had.
Speaker 2:Is it sharing with too many other devices? Should it be localized in different rooms? Could it be that instead of having an arc fault breaker then instead I had an arc fault electrical point protecting certain things? So the fluorescent lighting that I know is going to trip? It wouldn't be there. So I have to look at the room as a whole and say what is this doing, and was it set up to succeed or not? So of course, we're going to build that. Six options, because we've looked at the panel, we've looked at the wiring, we've looked at the outlets, we've looked at all the devices. We looked at how they're designed, how they're sized. That's six things right there. So, based on what we found, go ahead.
Speaker 1:I was going to say negating any conversations, like you did this in silence, with no one home, which obviously is not the play that we run.
Speaker 2:Negating any conversation answers to the questions that you would have Correct. So let's assume no emotional connection at this point. That's where this thing falls apart, because with logic A to B, thinking things not working, get the thing to working you're only able to solve the right now problem. I don't want to solve the right now problem. I don't want to be a bandaid guy. I want to solve the systematic issue because I'd rather make sure that you at least are aware this can happen in other places of your home and I can either prevent it from ever happening again and you can have complete peace of mind of the safety and security of your electrical system, or we can just keep waiting for this to happen again and again and again and again and again, and you'll just keep getting the 150 diagnosis call.
Speaker 1:So can I be devil's advocate here? Go for it, man. Because something I hear right off the bat here is like oh, it's a 2023 home. Immediately Even me like there's this mind trick that happens. It's like a new home Well, it's got to be a great electrical system. And it's like a new home well, it's got to be a great electrical system. And it's like you said, just hacking it in there, right backstab receptacles everywhere. You know that's going to be the case because it's faster. That's what creates profit margins for construction and project-based electricians. Is it wrong of them?
Speaker 1:well, it's to code legal yeah, it's legal, they're able to do what they're doing, but what's the long-term solution, what really promotes a longevity of a system? Then, when you reintroduce that question, is it the right thing to do?
Speaker 2:So a best way to gauge that is do you know the average length of a builder's?
Speaker 1:warranty. No, you'll have to help me with that.
Speaker 2:It's one year. It is one year and not a day past it for almost every new construction that I've seen and that falls on painting, that falls on plumbing, that falls on HVAC, falls on electric, and the logic being is that everything is put into a new construction home to maximize margins. So the fact is is that something has to be seriously wrong to make it where it doesn't even last one year, but it can be mostly wrong and last over a year. So, as an example, you can have an arc fault or you can have a backstab, and that backstab we've seen them last 30 years. But the fact is is you're also taking a quickly connected wire that's likely done by an unprofessional individual, so stripping a little bit too much. We're not taping it, which means that we know that there's going to be some connection loss or there's going to be issue when it comes to servicing it. And then we're also connecting it to probably the lowest quality device we can. We're not getting our Legrands here we're talking about, like this. Isn't even Home Depot great, this is the big box of a thousand that they get from the commercial supply house. So if I have bad connections with worse connecting wiring connected to faulted or builder grade devices. I know it's not an if, it's a when. So focusing on that when that's the angle that I'm going to solve the emotional concern and can I explain how I build those options, hit it Okay. So we would know at the very bare minimum, right? If the customer said we've gone through our diagnosis, we've done all these things and we've determined that it's just a faulted arc fault, let's just assume, devil's advocate, that it is just the breaker. That implies much larger things for this home. So the very bare minimum would be well, we recognize that there is a fault with. This Bare minimum is I'm going to take this arc fault out, put another arc fault in, right, let's at least address that.
Speaker 2:Going above that, how can I guarantee this doesn't happen again? Well, let's look at the connections on that particular circuit. If there's anything on that particular circuit that justifies it, such as backstabs or too much copper or not taping or loose it's not side tight to the wall, it could shift I'm going to say we're going to repair everything on that circuit, just basic reconnection. It doesn't even have to be a re-device reconnection of that circuit, just basic reconnection. It doesn't even have to be a re-device Reconnection of that circuit. Then I would continually scale up to let the customer know okay, if this happened here and we have 12 other circuits that are arc faulted and we recognize that it happened because bad builder connections, what are the odds it's going to happen anywhere else? Good, it's going to happen right, or at least at some point within the next 30 years.
Speaker 2:Every one of these arc faults will fail at one point. If they were due to build their connection it's going to replicate. So what I can do is then, from there I can say what are the next highest priority things that I wouldn't want to fail, whether that could be furnace circuits, could that be your refrigerators, could they be your sub pumps, could that be hell. It could be your office computer that you don't want to trip out. Then you're downstairs and you're losing all your productivity. It doesn't matter where it is, it matters where it matters to the customer. So the next levels is hit, all the priority areas, and we keep scaling higher and higher.
Speaker 2:So the bottom would be change the arc fault. The option above it is change the arc fault and the connections on that circuit Above. That could say, change the next highest priority circuits Above. That could then be let's maintain the connections on those circuits. So maybe that gets you to maybe three to four options Above. That is now.
Speaker 2:What can we do to make this less likely to happen on an emotional level, if we've changed every circuit out on this panel, I know that I can give a warranty on all of that workmanship, meaning that if there's a problem it's now on us, not on this customer. We could also offer first-class passes offering the continuous annual inspections and maintenance of your home, thus preventing you from having downtimes. We can offer, if we recognize that things are concerns. Additionally, beyond your first-class pass, we can offer the electronic protection we can also, if there's very sensitive and particular appointments, we can have it almost bypassed with electrical outlets, our electrical arc fault outlets, rather than the whole protected circuit.
Speaker 2:So saying something along the lines of I recognize that I want this one computer to not have that arc fault circuit, but I want all the other things in my room to have it. Well, that's not a problem. I can break everything before it, jump it between this point and then connect it further downstream. So depending on how involved you want to be as a customer, I've gone from. Here's the problem. It's going to happen again, but it's not going to happen at this one circuit All the way to. We've addressed that it could happen everywhere. We've prevented it from happening everywhere. We're giving you a lifetime guarantee because of the extent that we've done the repair and your grandfathered into first class service. At that point they were truly created a full range.
Speaker 1:It's a hot mic man. Well done there. Let me play devil's advocate one more time. Sure, go for it To the electrician that's listening to this right now and just going yeah, but this is a waste of time because they're not going to buy that.
Speaker 2:How do you know? So the fact is is that if you follow that logic, you are 100% correct, because if you follow that logic, it means you're not going to offer it. If you're not going to offer it, they're 100% not going to buy, because there's no way they could buy something that they don't. The second thing that I'm going to say is do you believe that in your heart that this is a solution that isn't warranted? Because if you believe that this is a solution that isn't warranted, because if you believe that this is not something that's necessary, then how you'll communicate it will come across as it's not necessary.
Speaker 2:Me personally, I believe that people's time is often worth more than their money, and I've recognized that this particular fault caused inconvenience to them because they had to take time off of work or they had to take time to meet me instead of doing other things, and there's also a mental weight of this is going to continually happen again, resulting in less time and more time and more time. So, if I can say, sure, we can solve the specific concern, but I can also protect your time, and that time is directly associated with safety and convenience. Now, I'm not selling a technical solution. I'm offering to the right person, I am buying your time back for you, while also assuring that you have the best levels of safety and security. And I don't feel like that's wrong because at least if I offer it, there's a chance that they'll take it. And I have a strong because frame, because I believe it, and if I believe it and I offer it, there's a high chance I'm going to close it.
Speaker 1:Boom, big mic drop. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how pre-diagnosing, or at least stopping pre-diagnosing, could set you free. I can't say how much exactly from where we stand on this podcast. Joe can't say how much, but for Emilio and Saul that was like a 30X return, not just treating that symptom, focusing on the greater solutions. We'll see you guys again next week. Looking forward to it, y'all be well. That's a wrap for today's episode of the Million Dollar Electrician Podcast.
Speaker 2:We hope you're buzzing with new ideas and charged up to take your business to the next level.
Speaker 1:So don't.
