Million Dollar Electrician - Sale to Scale For Home Service Pros

Ep 31 - Take Control & Close the Sale: The Panel-First Strategy

• Clay Neumeyer

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We explore the critical importance of establishing control during service calls and how it can dramatically improve your sales process and customer relationships.

• Going to the electrical panel first is a non-negotiable step that establishes professional control
• This approach creates a pattern interrupt that shifts customer expectations and establishes you as the guide
• Standing firm on your process helps quickly identify difficult customers who won't follow your recommendations
• Safety provides a truthful and effective reason for insisting on seeing the panel first
• Customers who resist your process early are likely the same ones who would resist your recommendations later
• One technician generated $80,000 in sales over just two days by following this structured approach
• Process adherence across your entire team creates a consistent customer experience
• Saving time by disqualifying the wrong customers early protects your family time and emotional wellbeing
• Your process should be team-adopted, thoughtfully planned, and consistently executed

Check out our upcoming mobile app launching in late April with electrician-specific calculators and exclusive resources to help supercharge your service business!

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Speaker 1:

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 van.

Speaker 1:

Now it's time for sales, it's time for scale, it's time to become a million dollar electrician. All right, welcome back. Hello, hello, hello. And Joseph, how are you doing today, my brother?

Speaker 2:

Man, I am feeling bald and beautiful. It is just a good day. Have you ever had one where you just stepped the right foot out of bed, got on the right foot when you started? That's been my day today. I'm just trying to keep that momentum going 100%.

Speaker 1:

I've had those good starts, but I've never felt bald and beautiful. If I'm being honest, give it a shot man, you can't go wrong. Give it a shot. Joe thinks I should shave. I don't know Wherever you're listening from. Know wherever you're listening from. If you've been following us for a while, you can let us know in the comments on any preferred channel. If you think I should be shaving my head too, uh, but never mind that. We've got a great show today. Joe, I'm going to surprise you with a topic today okay, what are we doing today earlier we did a zero ai ride-along class.

Speaker 1:

We're not going to name names, but there is a very specific objection that came up at the end of the call and it had come up later that there was something done very early in the call and I think this is sort of a frequently asked question by electricians. So I like to talk about is taking control of the call? Are you into talking about that?

Speaker 2:

I'm so down and there was a lot we went into, so I'm just going to go into mental rewind and right there with you, man.

Speaker 1:

Nice, we got a big, fat win of the week here to go through. Today we're going to teach you guys a bit about taking control and why it's important and what will inevitably happen if you don't, and definitely help you guys with maybe even a little role play at the end. What do you say? I'm down.

Speaker 2:

Let's make it happen.

Speaker 1:

Okay, very so in our process I'll just give you guys the spoiler to get this started we take control at the door. There's a certain step. Joe, can you tell us a bit about this step, why it's there and kind of how it's framed to give us control?

Speaker 2:

sure. So we've already stepped into the door, we've already established ourselves as the professional, but where the shift happens is it doesn't matter what they ask, it doesn't matter what they're looking for, it doesn't matter where they go. Our first step in every circumstance is we're going to the panel, and the way that sounds is what we would do is we'd say so. The first area that I have to inspect is the main electrical control system, just so we know where the emergency shutoffs are and that they're functional. Would you be so kind to take me that direction?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and what happens if someone says well, I called you for the fault and the fault's over here?

Speaker 2:

I completely understand where you're coming from. Can I explain why it's so important for me to do this?

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

No problem. So the thing is is, regardless of any electrical situation, we've come to learn that the only way to do it safely is if we know that we can turn it off. And God forbid there was ever a situation that I see something questionable or I'm in a situation where something needs to be turned off. At the very least I need to know which direction to run and that that safety system is going to work. So for my safety and fear is can you please take me to that system?

Speaker 1:

Hey, you know what I get it. Joe, I already flipped the breaker off for the whole kitchen. We're good to go.

Speaker 2:

You know. That's actually really thoughtful of you, first and foremost, that you'd go out of your way to not only find the circuit but try to identify it. With that being said, though, can I tell you a story? Yes, please go ahead. The worst shock I've ever gotten in my life, followed by someone saying they turned the circuit off. So I'm certain you told me the truth, and I am certain that it's the right thing, but I would not be any kind of a respectable electrician if I didn't personally have eyes on it. So this will make it easier if you've already done it, but can we please go there anyway, just so I can have my visual confirmation that everything's safe, and then I'll feel comfortable being in the right situation to help you.

Speaker 1:

Fair enough, man, Well done. I'm going to break there and ask you how often do you see someone take you to that level where they just won't go to the panel?

Speaker 2:

So every now and then it'll happen, but it happens to very specific people, right? It's not an issue of us going to the panel, it's the issue of them not wanting to give up control. So you'll see this with your contractors. You'll see this with certain types of engineers, those who are like I know what I need you for. I don't care what you're looking for, I need a price on that and just that and nothing else. And if you can't do that, f off. Those are the kind of people who will give you an issue. Everyone else, if you're like this is for my own safety and I don't feel comfortable doing something unless I see this, who's going to be like yeah, I don't care about your safety.

Speaker 2:

But it's got to make sense to them. You have to give a believable reason of why you're not shifting. And safety is true. We all believe in it. I mean, I was taught you know work, live, be dead, be dead, be live. It's just the concept of if I'm going to stay alive, I'm working on a dead circuit. I'm not trusting it. I don't trust you, I don't trust anything. I'm going to make sure it's good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely. And I had a awesome first year teacher. We called him King Om God, rest his soul, loved that guy. He was awesome. One of the first things he said dta, don't trust anyone. Test before touch dta. Even if another electrician, even if your journeyman tells you at that point that it's dead and you're good, you still pull out your meter. You test it yourself. If you've got to lock something out, your lock has to be on it. All of that still applies in this situation. Safety first, and I've heard you say this before and some of the objection role plays we've had, you know what. Is it wrong of me to hold our standards and protect my safety like I'm okay if you want to sacrifice yours, obviously that's your decision, but can you really ask me to sacrifice mine? And you probably said it better yes, yeah, well, you did great.

Speaker 2:

That's actually phenomenal articulation. So the thing is is why this is so important is the shift in control establishes a few things. We're establishing where we need to go. This is a pattern interrupt, because now the customer expects to go one direction. We're taking them in another and that's obviously going to be different for some people and, as a result, just by going along our way, they don't know what's coming next. So they're going to follow our lead and that's totally fine, because we articulate what's happening along the way, so they always have the sense of control. So it's still there. But the people who are not going to allow you to do it are those who you weren't going to work with in the first place, and they may seem like earlier. It may seem like that kind of person who's like yeah, it's going great, we connected, we bonded, but did you really? Did you connect because you were in control or were you connecting because they were in control?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, really important, and during this zero AI ride along with this unnamed member again, it's a very constructive environment, so we don't want to call people out or anything, but what a valuable exercise for him and the entire class today to go through this, because, exactly what you said the objection was met later on and ultimately this person was still in control and just wanted him to email over a single bid and just be entirely off process and, as a result, he ended up expressing frustration that he didn't realize the process was different from the first place and even to go as far as saying, hey, you should communicate that back with the shop, because this didn't feel fair to me in my time. So are you saying then, joe, in that situation, if we started out by asserting control earlier, we could have actually skipped maybe the half hour or whatever that call took and avoided the uncomfortable at the end, power struggle.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and I can explain where and why.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So in this situation, this customer seemed like a contractor type of individual. I know what I know. This is what I'm doing, this is what we're going to do, this is what I want, this is how you're going to do it. It was very I'm in control of the situation.

Speaker 2:

Getting to the panel would have been that shift, because he was trying to take the customer into the kitchen, or he's trying to take our client into the kitchen. You can tell that was where he was moving. You could tell from the recording. He had just walked in the door and the guy was already moving and talking while he was moving.

Speaker 2:

The stance would have been to plant yourself, smile and say I'm happy to do that, but just so we're on the same page. The first area I have to inspect is the main electrical control system, just so I know where the emergency is and you already know where I'm going with this. But the point is is that if he said no, we would have drawn the line and been like this is not going to move forward. I'm not going to cross that boundary, and if he's not willing to give up control to do that, we've just saved our time and our energy Because, instead of investing energy into someone who's the wrong person, I can cut my losses, rearrange the schedule and get in front of the right person, and that's a huge turnaround, because how many hours are you spending with the wrong person when you could have disqualified them earlier and got in front of the right one later?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and if you're listening or watching this right now, I'm sure you're spending with the wrong person, when you could have disqualified them earlier and got in front of the right one later. Absolutely, and if you're listening or watching this right now, I'm sure you're able to reflect on this question. How many of us have found ourselves investing half hour hour, sometimes two to three hours, only to find that awkward end where they disagreed with our process and we had just not followed it? Or maybe you're someone that doesn't quite have that steady process yet. Maybe you're someone that knows about the panel first, and something we've talked about a few times before in different contexts, but just hasn't been able to implement this step. It's so important, not just for our safety but, as Joe is saying, to assert control and show who's leading the process. Wow, so powerful.

Speaker 1:

I want to go deeper on this yet a little bit more, but I also want to insert a win of the week. If that's okay, let's go for it. Yeah, this one actually ties back to us. So I want to say a couple of things here just quickly. Our app is really close to launching and we are super excited for that. This is going to be an app that's on your phone in your pocket, with all sorts of calculators, all sorts of help from us, additional lives, all of that stuff coming up at the end of April roughly is the current launch date Super excited about that. But this win of the week actually comes from one of our clients and one of their great employees, lance. Lance had a massive early last week. I believe he did 80,000 in sales in two days, right in there.

Speaker 2:

Joe, he worked with.

Speaker 1:

Lance personally, so I'll let you speak to this a bit.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, lance is a truly phenomenal individual and one of the reasons why I really respect him so much is that he comes with a student mentality, even though he has a natural aptitude to sales. He's very, very skilled in what he does. But one of the things was that he went in and actually closed. I believe it was like two golds and a silver. So this was only over the course of like three separate calls that he ran, and these were all residential calls. I'm sure some people are like, oh, 80,000, two days. Yeah, that's fine, he won a bid. No, he went on a service call. One of them was actually from an inspection, from the best of my knowledge. So the fact is is that you start off with these very, very small things, but with running the particular process that we do, understanding it to a point where it's authentically communicated, you can see wins like that in a very short period of time.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and I mean no disrespect by this shameless plug, but the part where that ties back to us is I had a meeting with Nextar this morning because of this win, because his team is with Nextar, and they also took a chance with us to improve, just specifically, their electrical sales, and Lance was so kind to give you a ton of credit for those sales, joe. But as we've said so many times before, we're just the GPS, isn't that right?

Speaker 2:

That's right, I can give you phenomenal advice, but the reason why I have so much pride in our students is because, even with the GPS telling you where to go, they have to choose to listen to it and choose to put their foot on the gas and go. That's the thing. That's the separation between a winner and someone who's just going to stay at a certain level for the rest of their lives.

Speaker 1:

I love that. In another conversation just last week in a coaching call we were talking about the same step in the sales process and going to the panel first, and another one of our clients was also saying that they have some trouble sometimes just standing their ground and I know that this can be awkward to really assert that control that took place around this. Well, they said, maybe if I explained my process ahead of time by adding it to the CSR script, maybe as part of the brighter day call process, maybe then I wouldn't be so awkward to stand my ground at the door. What are your thoughts on that, joe?

Speaker 2:

So you hear this a lot like well, the CSR should be saying this, or the salesperson should be saying this, or the service, that it's always someone else should be saying this, or the salesperson should be saying this, or the service it's always someone else should be saying so let's get to the root cause situation. They can say it all they want, but it doesn't make your position stronger. When you get there, you still have to be willing to say this is my call, this is my process. I'm here to serve you in the way that I know how to best serve you. This is how I've seen done it best. This is what I'm going to do, and if they don't want to do that, that's fine, because I know that my goal was to serve you, not to sell to you. So if you don't want to be served at this level, I'm not going to push this on you. But is it wrong of me to want to make sure you got the white glove experience that people have come to know our company for?

Speaker 1:

on any sales call. It's important to assert control. I think you know what this ties into another conversation. I think it fits perfectly because we've seen different teams have different levels of process adherence right. There's something that I hold strong to and I think you and I agree on it when we adopt a process, that service loop, electrical, that means the team is in unison agreement that this is how we serve our customers. That is agreed, it's thoughtful, it's planned, it's tested and so it's beyond the individual, it's a team commitment. Therefore, when I have someone on my team, I just expect them to A receive the process, be trained on the process, but then personally follow the process, because that's what's mapped out for our customer experience. Does that make sense? Like it's bigger than the one person?

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well, it's actually a's bigger than the one person is going to use it as part of the intake process, which means they have to be willing to do it. The technician will then mention it not only during the call but also in his presentation. So he's got to be committed to it. And on the chance that the customer didn't move forward with it, the installer needs to be capable of going again and talking about why someone would want it and then again circling. The CSR is going to do a follow-up happy call and if they didn't have it, they're going to speak to how that service would make it even better in the future. So you have to have complete adoption to see this truly working as a multi-cylinder engine.

Speaker 1:

And so by following that process in fact I was going to say so when someone accepts a position at Service Loop Electrical, we expect process adherence. In fact, that's what your salary or hourly wage, your original, your initial pay, you know, that secure thing that we offer to help someone put food on their family's table. That's the expectation. And so for you guys and your own electrical companies, we want you to have a process that serves your customer, that minds the customer experience, and then have your team adhere to that process in just the same way. Then performance pay can come and add on to that. Then someone can go above and beyond to serve customers and to adhere to that process at a higher level than anyone else or improve on that process. In fact, you know what I feel us like. We could go really deep on this. I think maybe our next episode should be on how to change. This isn't something I think we've talked about, but how to actually change a process in your company in a way that isn't damning, if that makes sense.

Speaker 2:

It does, Because we've actually seen the opposite effect or the negative effects is what I want to say where some companies will have tried multiple processes, make an amalgamation of all of them and then, when it doesn't work, they flounder because they're going off emotion rather than logic. So this is definitely a great conversation to get into and I think we can help a lot of people avoid the same pitfall that we've seen others go into.

Speaker 1:

Awesome, really good stuff. So, guys, if you're listening to the show today, I hope you got some great value from it. We already handled the objection so early in this one. The only objection left to handle is you, if you're listening or watching and thinking, gosh, I still don't know about going to the panel first. Think about the time you could save. How valuable is it to get to a no faster? If you don't understand the value of that one, go ahead and listen to Chris Voss. Never Split the Difference Really strong. Go ahead, joe.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I was just going to say it actually even goes a little further as far as the time saving, and I just want to make sure the tech who's listening to this really understands what you're saving. So it's not just that you're saving the time on the call. You could then also, if you did the time away from your family, to design a presentation that you're not already emotionally committed to, because you feel like they're not going to buy from it and, as a result, that damns your mood as well. So it's not just you protecting that 30 minutes, it's you're protecting your family time and the quality of a person you'll be, as well as how your demeanor will be throughout the rest of the day. There's a lot at risk if you don't protect your time.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, absolutely Well said. And so, guys, if you're just hearing us for the first time, or if you've been following for a while and you haven't yet hit the like, subscribe or left us a review where you heard or watched us first, please go ahead and do that and join us on Facebook and on our group at Million Dollar Electrician to get all of the updates, including the app updates, because 2025 is another big year. We've been foot on the gas pedal to the metal, as they say for two and a few months now two years and a few months, so we're going to keep doing that. This year, we've got more in store than ever before Coach team expanding operations team expanding here the apps hitting the marketplace more value for electricians than ever before. Coach team expanding operations team expanding here the apps hitting the marketplace more value for electricians than ever before, as I mentioned.

Speaker 1:

So do follow along, come and like, engage with us and let us know. If you've got a sales problem that you're having trouble solving, an objection you can't overcome, reach out to us where you found us first. Let's have a chat about it. Maybe we'll do a podcast in honor of you and serving you better. Can't ask for better than that, cheers to your success, guys. We'll see you next week. Can't wait to see you then. And that's a wrap for today's episode of the Million Dollar Electrician.

Speaker 2:

Podcast. We hope you're buzzing with new ideas that charge up to take your business to the next level.

Speaker 1:

So don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share the show with fellow electricians. Together we'll.

People on this episode

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Clay Neumeyer

Host
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Joseph Lucanie

Co-host