1
00:00:07,839 --> 00:00:10,839
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, Paul Abernethy here on today's episode, we're going

2
00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:15,240
to talk about being the best electrician does not always

3
00:00:15,359 --> 00:00:19,719
make the best electrical contractor, and it's kind of time

4
00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,519
for us to have that one on one talk. If

5
00:00:22,559 --> 00:00:25,079
you're out there and you're an electrician and your sole

6
00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,600
focus is to I'm the best electrician in the world,

7
00:00:28,239 --> 00:00:30,440
But if you're working for an electric contractor, or if

8
00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:34,560
you're an electrician you're working as your own contractor, it's

9
00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,759
kind of time to start understanding that it's not about

10
00:00:37,759 --> 00:00:40,759
how good you are. Okay, I can tell you over

11
00:00:40,759 --> 00:00:45,039
the years and I'm a previous VICA winner, I've competed

12
00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:47,679
and that's kind of what got my career started back

13
00:00:47,719 --> 00:00:51,880
in the eighties and went on to do some great things.

14
00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:55,200
But it didn't take me long to realize it wasn't

15
00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,159
about being the best electrician. Yes, all of my cables,

16
00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:00,640
you could lay a level on them, all my conductors.

17
00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,759
There is this element of pride that you have to

18
00:01:03,799 --> 00:01:06,480
take in, but at the end of the day, you

19
00:01:06,599 --> 00:01:09,079
have to be able to mix that pride and that

20
00:01:09,159 --> 00:01:14,200
workmanship and that sense of really wanting to do the

21
00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:17,599
right thing even when people aren't looking and they'll translate

22
00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,439
that into your business, whether you are the electrical contractor

23
00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,400
or you work for electric contractor. Look, at the end

24
00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,959
of the day, you may say, look, I'm just an electrician.

25
00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,280
I am just here to do the work. The boss

26
00:01:30,359 --> 00:01:31,920
is the one that makes all the money, or the

27
00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,879
boss or the owner is the one that reaps the benefits.

28
00:01:34,879 --> 00:01:37,760
And that's not true because you're getting a paycheck and

29
00:01:37,799 --> 00:01:41,840
there's a high probability you're getting paid very well to

30
00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,439
do what you do. So at the end of the day,

31
00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,879
the success of the company is what's going to push

32
00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:52,280
you along as an electrician. So that's kind of what

33
00:01:52,319 --> 00:01:54,159
we want to talk about today, is being the best

34
00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:57,200
electrician does not always make you the best electrical contractor.

35
00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,760
It really doesn't. So that's kind of what we're going

36
00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:05,359
to dig into in this episode and really kind of

37
00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,080
break it down. Okay, all right, So there's a lot

38
00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,360
of stuff we're going to unpack today. Okay, so you know,

39
00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:15,599
I've got my notes so that we can make sure

40
00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:17,199
this and some of this is going to be a

41
00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:20,759
hard truth for many of you out there. Okay, so

42
00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:24,639
again take it what it is, and again, this is

43
00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,719
something that the CMEMECP program, and when you're dedicated to

44
00:02:28,759 --> 00:02:32,319
making sure that you complete something on a task, it

45
00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,039
kind of helps you understand these things not only to

46
00:02:35,159 --> 00:02:39,400
become better electricians, but it also helps to become better leaders,

47
00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,400
and that is about your time management and things like that.

48
00:02:42,599 --> 00:02:44,879
So let's kind of get into it. So number one

49
00:02:45,039 --> 00:02:48,719
the hard truth most electricians avoid one. The market does

50
00:02:48,759 --> 00:02:54,319
not reward technical perfection. It rewards professional presentation and trust.

51
00:02:55,039 --> 00:02:57,719
So if I am electrician, I go out to do

52
00:02:57,759 --> 00:02:59,800
a job and I might do the neatest job in

53
00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,719
the world, the customer is going to praise the company.

54
00:03:04,759 --> 00:03:08,199
They will maybe say good things about the technician, but

55
00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:09,680
at the end of the day, they're going to praise

56
00:03:09,719 --> 00:03:12,599
the company, and that's what they should do, because if

57
00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:14,560
I'm going out there to do a task, I want

58
00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:16,360
to make sure that the company I work for is

59
00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,759
shined in the best light possible so that they'll call

60
00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,520
us back. I think that many people, and I hear

61
00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,199
a lot of people say this, is that they're almost

62
00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:28,719
bitter in a sense that they think they deserve more,

63
00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,000
they think they should get paid more, and they maybe

64
00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,319
they do, but at the end of the day, you've

65
00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,960
accepted the job. You're doing the job, so you need

66
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,360
to remember who you actually work for, and we want

67
00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,719
to make sure that every time we leave this project

68
00:03:45,159 --> 00:03:49,039
that they talk about how good the company is, not

69
00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:54,120
necessarily how great the technician was. Okay, now you have

70
00:03:54,199 --> 00:03:58,360
to remember that customers cannot see your code knowledge. You're

71
00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:00,719
there for a brief moment in time. You may solve

72
00:04:00,759 --> 00:04:03,599
their problem, you know, very quickly, and they like that

73
00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:06,319
because they're going to pay less right less time you're there.

74
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:09,560
But the end of the day, they can't see these things,

75
00:04:10,599 --> 00:04:12,840
and you're not there to simply patch yourself on the

76
00:04:12,879 --> 00:04:15,719
back and let the customer know how great you are.

77
00:04:16,879 --> 00:04:20,600
So social media going on videos and doing stuff again

78
00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,759
for us to boost our egos. That's great. Everybody wants

79
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:26,920
to be a teacher, and that's great because we all

80
00:04:26,959 --> 00:04:29,279
have an element of what we can teach. At the

81
00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:30,879
end of the day, if you're an electrician and you're

82
00:04:30,879 --> 00:04:32,800
out there doing the work, you know, the customer can't

83
00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,639
see that code knowledge. They're relying on the fact that

84
00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:40,000
the company that hired you hired you because you're proficient

85
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,040
at what you do and that you do a good job,

86
00:04:43,079 --> 00:04:45,360
and that they assume you know these type of things.

87
00:04:45,439 --> 00:04:48,839
But one thing they can see is they cannot see

88
00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,920
the code knowledge, but they can see your truck. They

89
00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:55,120
can see the company's website. They can see the paperwork

90
00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,480
and how well it's done. You're penmanship and you're not sloppy.

91
00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:01,680
They can see the logo, they can see the attitude

92
00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:03,759
that you project from the moment you arrive to the

93
00:05:03,879 --> 00:05:07,800
job site. And they also see the follow through. How

94
00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:11,839
you finish this up, okay, how you get there, present

95
00:05:11,879 --> 00:05:13,920
what you're about to do, how you make it very

96
00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,519
clear what you're going to cover, and then what happens

97
00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:18,519
when you finish it up and you leave, and how

98
00:05:18,519 --> 00:05:21,199
you follow up with that's the stuff they see. That's

99
00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,759
what reflects from the company. You have to remember and

100
00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:27,399
we have to understand they really don't care about you.

101
00:05:27,959 --> 00:05:31,199
They don't and so you know, at the end of

102
00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:35,000
the day, you as an electrician should already have an

103
00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:39,040
innate responsibility in yourself to be the best electrician you

104
00:05:39,079 --> 00:05:42,399
can be. Don't look for that gratitude from other people. Now,

105
00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,720
I am a firm believer within a company the company

106
00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,519
should reward and let you know. And some people say,

107
00:05:48,519 --> 00:05:50,240
I don't need somebody to tell me I'm doing a

108
00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,879
good job. You know, I find that is not one

109
00:05:53,959 --> 00:05:57,279
hundred percent accurate. Everybody likes to be told they're doing

110
00:05:57,319 --> 00:05:59,920
a good job. And if you're the owner I'm talking,

111
00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:04,120
do you let your people know, reward them, take them

112
00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,279
out to eat again. Don't think about nothing but the

113
00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:09,560
bottom line and the money and the return on investment

114
00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:12,879
without spreading it around. That doesn't mean you have to

115
00:06:12,879 --> 00:06:15,279
give thousands of dollars to your employees, but you need

116
00:06:15,319 --> 00:06:18,240
to let them know that they're worth means something. Okay,

117
00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:23,240
Now it's incumbent on you to teach your staff, if

118
00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:26,759
you're the owner, how to carry themselves. They need to

119
00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,480
develop soft skills. Now, you may hire somebody and think

120
00:06:30,519 --> 00:06:32,360
that only reason I hired them is because I want

121
00:06:32,399 --> 00:06:34,079
them to be a really good technician. They do a

122
00:06:34,079 --> 00:06:36,279
lot of good work for me. I don't get many callbacks,

123
00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,360
But at the end of the day, that's a kind

124
00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,560
of a death sentence to any company because you need

125
00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,800
to put an effort into training your staff so they

126
00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:48,199
have those soft skills. They can deal with customers. They

127
00:06:48,199 --> 00:06:51,439
know how to handle resolution and how to pause, how

128
00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:56,279
to breathe and respond with technically accurate information but also factual,

129
00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,240
not blowing smoke up their ass type of responses. All

130
00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:03,120
can be trained. It's not like you're born with it.

131
00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:05,839
You can be trained with it. Now, being the best

132
00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:09,319
electrician in the world means nothing if the business you

133
00:07:09,439 --> 00:07:14,720
work for or the business itself is disorganized, sloppy, and unreliable.

134
00:07:15,399 --> 00:07:19,800
So sometimes we have to do this kind of raise

135
00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,600
up and do a thousand foot view of our company.

136
00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:24,720
So if you're the owner, you need to look at

137
00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,600
your company. Do your guys wear shirts, Do they wear

138
00:07:28,279 --> 00:07:31,879
nice jeans or khakis? Are you giving them the tools

139
00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:35,879
to make you look the best you can? Because the

140
00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:38,600
more you focus on the fact that it's not about

141
00:07:38,759 --> 00:07:41,439
how proficient they are, that's good for you in the

142
00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:46,040
company and you know you have hierarchies there. But ultimately,

143
00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:49,720
as an owner, who's your boss? Your boss is the customer.

144
00:07:50,519 --> 00:07:54,959
And when that employee gets there, the truck, they come in,

145
00:07:55,079 --> 00:07:57,480
the vehicle, are there, the website that got them there,

146
00:07:57,519 --> 00:07:59,920
the return on investment from all that work that you

147
00:08:00,079 --> 00:08:05,120
put in with the logo and the attitude. Okay, you've

148
00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,240
probably heard me say this before on podcasts. This attitude

149
00:08:08,360 --> 00:08:11,319
is huge because if you go there with a chip

150
00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:13,720
on your shoulder. That's how it's going to be conveyed.

151
00:08:14,199 --> 00:08:18,160
And while it's important to make a good first impression,

152
00:08:18,519 --> 00:08:21,120
you've heard me talk about that, bad first impressions can

153
00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,560
be overcome. It just takes a lot of work. It

154
00:08:24,639 --> 00:08:27,519
takes a lot of extra time to do that. And

155
00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,319
if you train them to start out properly. Or if

156
00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,600
you're the electrician, think about the company you work for.

157
00:08:33,639 --> 00:08:36,600
They're giving you a job, and many times we look

158
00:08:36,639 --> 00:08:39,720
at an hourly rate or a salary and we do

159
00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:43,240
not realize what else is baked into that, the benefit

160
00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:47,879
package maybe, or the time off, or the security that

161
00:08:47,919 --> 00:08:50,480
the job gives. I tell you it's a hand in

162
00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,120
hand deal. Everybody should be taking care of themselves, but you,

163
00:08:53,159 --> 00:08:55,919
as the owners, take care of your employees. The employees

164
00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:58,480
you should be taking care of your owner. Ok Now,

165
00:09:00,279 --> 00:09:07,720
skill alone does not scale a business. Systems scale a business. Okay,

166
00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,639
So if you run a mom and pop shop and

167
00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:15,879
you're not interested in growing, then that's on you. But

168
00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:18,759
if you wonder why when times get tight during off

169
00:09:18,799 --> 00:09:22,519
seasons or downtimes, it's because you haven't built a system,

170
00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:28,399
a procedural method of looking the part carrying the part

171
00:09:28,639 --> 00:09:32,879
setting the image, following up on every call that you've made,

172
00:09:32,919 --> 00:09:35,720
so there's a follow up. So these people, these customers think, wow,

173
00:09:36,399 --> 00:09:39,759
these people went out of the way to make me happy.

174
00:09:39,879 --> 00:09:43,039
Not everybody's going to be happy, but you have to

175
00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:47,120
make the effort. Okay, Now, just talk a little bit

176
00:09:47,159 --> 00:09:52,200
about electrician versus electrical contractor a little bit. So best

177
00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:58,080
electricians think about perfect raceway runs, being very code accurate,

178
00:09:59,399 --> 00:10:03,559
technical pride in what you do, the workmanship, personal reputation

179
00:10:03,759 --> 00:10:07,759
amongst your peers. That is very much what I think

180
00:10:07,799 --> 00:10:09,960
about when I think about being an electrician. I want

181
00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:11,600
to do the right thing. I want it to look

182
00:10:11,639 --> 00:10:15,519
good all the time. Now, if you have it, If

183
00:10:15,519 --> 00:10:18,279
I'm an employee and I have this mentality, is that

184
00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:20,399
I'm working for somebody, but I go to a job

185
00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:22,440
site and this may offend some of you and you

186
00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:25,120
may stop watching the video. And that's okay, because I

187
00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:28,360
offend people all the time. If you say, look, I

188
00:10:28,399 --> 00:10:31,279
can't see it from my house, then it tells me

189
00:10:31,519 --> 00:10:34,200
that you're not really worth a damn. You may be

190
00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,240
a very efficient technician, you may make the company tons

191
00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:39,159
of money, but at the end of the day, you're

192
00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:43,200
the person that I'm getting rid of. When I'm on

193
00:10:43,399 --> 00:10:46,399
I'm working. I'm working, whether I'm working from seven to

194
00:10:46,519 --> 00:10:50,519
four or eight to five or whatever my schedule is,

195
00:10:51,159 --> 00:10:54,120
I'm giving one hundred percent to the company that's it.

196
00:10:54,639 --> 00:10:58,399
Ok And if you're a person that says I can't

197
00:10:58,399 --> 00:11:02,159
see it from my house, then I'm speaking to the owners.

198
00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:04,720
You need to get rid of them. That's not going

199
00:11:04,759 --> 00:11:06,440
to help you. That is nobody that's going to help

200
00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:10,679
further your business. Okay. So again some people say, oh, Paul,

201
00:11:10,799 --> 00:11:14,200
lighten up. Well, you're just the person I'm talking to, Okay.

202
00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:18,960
And you may think you're good, but you're not. You're

203
00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:21,879
really not in the scheme of what that electrical contractor needs.

204
00:11:22,279 --> 00:11:25,039
You may be good in skill, maybe a good electrician

205
00:11:25,639 --> 00:11:29,039
know your stuff can troubleshoot well, but you're not the

206
00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:31,960
package that I would want because I can replace you,

207
00:11:32,039 --> 00:11:36,080
and everybody's replaceable. They may not be as quick, Okay,

208
00:11:36,399 --> 00:11:39,000
they may not be as neat, but they can get

209
00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,399
the job done. But if they help push the mission. Remember,

210
00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:46,840
the end customer doesn't know what's neat. They assume that

211
00:11:46,879 --> 00:11:50,399
you're gonna always give them the needs that you can. Okay.

212
00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:54,440
So you're replaceable. Don't ever forget that everybody's replaceable. Now,

213
00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:59,600
what does the best electrical contractor think about? They think

214
00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,200
about the ultimate customer experience. They always think about the

215
00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:07,200
company brand, the professional image that their employees are carrying

216
00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:11,720
out because that's what they expect. The systems and the processes, okay,

217
00:12:12,279 --> 00:12:15,840
change orders, all those type of things. How can it

218
00:12:15,879 --> 00:12:19,480
be done so that it is streamlined across the entire team?

219
00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,879
And then they look at the overall team performance. If

220
00:12:23,919 --> 00:12:27,080
I've got one technician that is just killing it and

221
00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:29,919
I got others that are not, then maybe I want

222
00:12:29,919 --> 00:12:33,039
to understand why this one electrician in my team is

223
00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:35,879
killing it and the others are not. Maybe it takes

224
00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:40,120
an evaluation. I have to determine why one is killing

225
00:12:40,159 --> 00:12:43,440
it one is not, and there's some simple processes that

226
00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:49,080
can identify that out. Okay. Also, as a contractor, how

227
00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:52,600
it differs from electrician is that I am looking for

228
00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:58,720
consistent results constantly time after time, not excuses. I'm looking

229
00:12:58,759 --> 00:13:01,799
for when some when in electrician makes a mistake, they

230
00:13:01,879 --> 00:13:04,320
own up to it. I want that electrician it's not

231
00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:07,320
going to bury their problems. Hoping it never rears its

232
00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,080
head down the road. That is not what I want.

233
00:13:11,039 --> 00:13:12,879
And I also don't want to instill the fear in

234
00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:16,120
the electrician that they're afraid to come forward with something

235
00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,039
because it's going to cause them problems. That's a bad

236
00:13:19,039 --> 00:13:23,039
way to be as well. Okay, so the electrician builds

237
00:13:23,039 --> 00:13:27,919
the work. The contractor is who builds the business. Now,

238
00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:31,720
many of you might be in this situation where you're

239
00:13:31,759 --> 00:13:36,120
wearing all those hats. You're the contractor, you're the business owner,

240
00:13:36,279 --> 00:13:39,200
and you're the electrician. Well, and nobody knows more keenly

241
00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,320
than you, because I get calls all the time with

242
00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,759
contractors one man two man shops, going how do I

243
00:13:45,799 --> 00:13:48,840
grow my business? And I'll talk to them and I'll

244
00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:51,639
do a consult consulting session with them, and I'll ask

245
00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:54,840
them some real tough questions. I'll say, okay, well, how

246
00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:56,960
do you treat customers? Well? I think I treat them great,

247
00:13:57,039 --> 00:14:00,399
do you? Well, let's talk about it. I'll throse some

248
00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,840
scenarios out there, and you know, inevitably somebody will say, well,

249
00:14:03,879 --> 00:14:06,840
the customer's not always right. You know, they're probably not

250
00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:10,639
always right, but there are tactful ways to handle situations

251
00:14:10,639 --> 00:14:12,919
where they're not always right. And now I have people

252
00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:16,360
that say, well, I'm not kissing any customer's ass. Okay,

253
00:14:16,639 --> 00:14:19,759
that's fine. I didn't say kiss their ass. What I

254
00:14:19,759 --> 00:14:22,080
said is understand how to compromise and come to a

255
00:14:22,159 --> 00:14:25,879
mutual agreement that satisfies everybody, and you walk away with

256
00:14:25,919 --> 00:14:28,440
a win win, and you walk away with a potential

257
00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:32,440
customer that may refer somebody else. You heard me say this.

258
00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:37,440
Word of mouth is extremely important. But people, if they

259
00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,879
have a bad experience, they immediately rush to Yelp, or

260
00:14:40,879 --> 00:14:44,039
they immediately rush to Google and do a bad review.

261
00:14:45,639 --> 00:14:49,320
Why because they had a bad experience. Now, when somebody

262
00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:51,159
has a really good experience, some of those people will

263
00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:53,120
rush and give you a really good And we talked

264
00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:56,200
about this in other episodes and other podcasts that I've done,

265
00:14:56,879 --> 00:15:01,639
where it's extremely important to make sure that you prompt

266
00:15:01,759 --> 00:15:05,120
that customer and you train your staff to prompt that

267
00:15:05,159 --> 00:15:08,039
customer to give a review while you're there. That's why

268
00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:10,559
I have these these little tags. You see them if

269
00:15:10,559 --> 00:15:12,799
you're watching the video, you'll see this little QR code

270
00:15:12,799 --> 00:15:15,399
that's on my hat. But we sell these little things.

271
00:15:15,759 --> 00:15:19,639
You can make them yourself. Basically, we put the customer

272
00:15:19,879 --> 00:15:23,480
right there and go to this QR code where they

273
00:15:23,519 --> 00:15:26,480
can give a review. And that review is what's going

274
00:15:26,559 --> 00:15:31,840
to drive the confidence in other customers when they see

275
00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:34,440
these reviews. And if you're a local business and you're

276
00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:37,519
trying to grow your business, that is fundamentally important for

277
00:15:37,559 --> 00:15:40,639
you to understand that. If you don't understand that yet

278
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:43,799
yet you're trying to scale your business and grow your business,

279
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:48,799
then you're fundamentally missing something. You really are. Now, let's

280
00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:55,279
talk about the customer's thought process. What are they actually buying? Okay,

281
00:15:55,879 --> 00:16:00,639
remember the customer's not buying your conduit bins, not buying

282
00:16:00,679 --> 00:16:04,399
the neat routing of your conductors. Okay, they're not buying

283
00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:07,480
you like your cables to be all level. And again

284
00:16:07,519 --> 00:16:10,600
that's innately something I like to do. I like to

285
00:16:10,639 --> 00:16:12,480
make my work look good, even though it's gonna be

286
00:16:12,559 --> 00:16:17,080
hit behind sheet rock. That's a pride thing, and I

287
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,480
would hope that vast majority of electricians have that pride. Sadly,

288
00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,039
younger ones today, all they're worried about is speed. And

289
00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:27,200
if that is what's promoted, is speed alone, then something

290
00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:31,039
has to suffer. And usually in the skill, it's the

291
00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:34,279
workmanship suffers. When we start thinking about nothing but speed.

292
00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:37,240
So there has to be a happy balance. But look,

293
00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:39,919
if you're the electrician, you're gonna have to learn that, right.

294
00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:43,519
But let's think about it. What is the customer actually buying.

295
00:16:44,039 --> 00:16:46,639
They're buying confidence that when you show up or you

296
00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:52,960
as a company, send out that technician. Confidence, reliability, the

297
00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,559
ability to communicate effectively what you're gonna do, what you're

298
00:16:56,600 --> 00:17:02,120
gonna fix in the outcome, paying for professionalism. They do

299
00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:04,480
not want the headache. Hell, if they wanted this, they

300
00:17:04,559 --> 00:17:06,960
try to be a di wire. They try to go

301
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:10,640
to Low's or home depot and do it themselves. Why

302
00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:13,880
are they calling you not because you run the neatest

303
00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:16,920
wire in the world. That's the electricians responsibility. They're calling

304
00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:22,799
the electrical contractor because they want confidence, reliability, communication, effectively

305
00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:26,720
communicating the issue. They want professionalism, they want that level

306
00:17:26,759 --> 00:17:30,400
of trush and they want finality. They want you to

307
00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:35,480
solve their issue. They're gonna go on with their life.

308
00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:37,640
I can tell you right now. I have been on

309
00:17:37,759 --> 00:17:40,759
calls back in the day when I worked in the field,

310
00:17:42,279 --> 00:17:46,319
and that people electricians seem to want to tell and

311
00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:48,720
I've heard this with other trades. They seem to want

312
00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,519
to tell the homeowner how good they are, that they're

313
00:17:51,519 --> 00:17:55,200
the best. There's ways to do that without having to

314
00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:58,759
say it. Now you've heard me say there's nothing wrong

315
00:17:58,799 --> 00:18:01,480
with tooting your own horn. If you're trying to grow

316
00:18:01,519 --> 00:18:06,599
your business, you're trying to get followers, or that's fine, okay,

317
00:18:07,079 --> 00:18:09,400
But when it comes to the customer that you're going

318
00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:12,240
out there to do the work for them and you're

319
00:18:12,319 --> 00:18:15,920
putting on your company face, then there's things that you

320
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:20,799
have to do ahead of time that conveys all those professionalism, trust, communication,

321
00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:25,480
and that is like become a CMMECP. It conveys that

322
00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:29,279
that the patches they're looking good, okay, the nice looking

323
00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:32,039
vehicles with the signage on it, or the magnet mounts

324
00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:35,839
or whatever. That sends that response, that sends the message

325
00:18:35,839 --> 00:18:38,240
to the customer. They don't give a rat's ass about

326
00:18:38,279 --> 00:18:41,759
you personally, They really don't. They may listen to you,

327
00:18:42,279 --> 00:18:44,880
but the moment you're gone, guess what, they got their

328
00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:47,200
own life to deal with. They could care less that

329
00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:49,640
you run the best looking conduit in the world. They

330
00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,319
could care less that all of your cables you could

331
00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:55,559
put a level on them. That's something that me as

332
00:18:55,599 --> 00:18:59,000
an electrician, I do because I take an immense amount

333
00:18:59,039 --> 00:19:01,559
of pride in what I do. And if you're electrician

334
00:19:01,599 --> 00:19:04,880
that doesn't, well, that's on you. But again, beauty's in

335
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,599
the eye of the beholder. But there is this level

336
00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:13,079
of expectation from the customers. They judge your company well

337
00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:17,200
before they judge your workmanship. Trust me, if you're late,

338
00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:20,640
they don't care how need of work you do because

339
00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,000
they don't know what need is. All they do is

340
00:19:23,039 --> 00:19:26,759
immediately they're judging you. If you get to a job

341
00:19:26,759 --> 00:19:30,119
site and all you do is cusss and look sloppy,

342
00:19:30,319 --> 00:19:33,759
or smoke on the job site, or your vehicle looks terrible,

343
00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,559
it doesn't matter. You may be the most code savvy,

344
00:19:38,079 --> 00:19:41,480
neatest electrician in the world, trust me, they don't care.

345
00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:48,720
All they know is AB's c electric sucks. That's the

346
00:19:48,799 --> 00:19:51,680
image they have and as an owner of a company,

347
00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:56,319
you cannot let that be propagated. And if your employees

348
00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:00,599
cannot get on the board or you don't provide the

349
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:05,119
tools they need to set that image, then you're never

350
00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:07,480
going to grow. And you might say, well, my business

351
00:20:07,519 --> 00:20:13,279
is doing fine, trust me, everybody always wants more, and

352
00:20:13,759 --> 00:20:15,880
you know, maybe you're happy with the way you do it.

353
00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:18,440
That's on you. I'm just trying to tell you that

354
00:20:18,839 --> 00:20:21,400
it's just kind of like codes. Right. If I say

355
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:23,720
something about the electrical code, there's always somebody out there

356
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,119
that says, not my jurisdiction. Well, I don't care about

357
00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:30,599
your jurisdiction. I don't even care about your state specifically.

358
00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,519
I teach the National Electrical Code. So it's national. It's

359
00:20:35,519 --> 00:20:38,519
what the codebook says. Now, somebody may amend it or

360
00:20:38,559 --> 00:20:40,960
modify it, or supplement it or whatever. As a state.

361
00:20:41,319 --> 00:20:44,400
That's on you to understand. I'm not here because I

362
00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,559
am not going to teach fifty states. I teach one

363
00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:51,000
national Electrical Code. So when I hear people post comments,

364
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,240
for example, that say, well that my state, well good

365
00:20:53,279 --> 00:20:56,480
on you. That's your state. I don't care about your state.

366
00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:02,319
I teach the national It's your responsibility to learn what

367
00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,680
changes are modified. That's why you do continuing it because

368
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,720
tenue ed we'll talk about what changes may have taken

369
00:21:08,759 --> 00:21:12,039
place specifically in your state. You get what I'm saying.

370
00:21:13,079 --> 00:21:15,680
So at the end of the day, you have to

371
00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:21,039
set the message the mindset for the company. Now, something

372
00:21:21,039 --> 00:21:27,079
to remember, your company is always speaking okay, if your

373
00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,519
company image is speaking true the look of your vehicle,

374
00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:35,000
your truck, your van, your company speaking by the website

375
00:21:35,039 --> 00:21:38,680
and online presence that you have. Look if you have

376
00:21:38,759 --> 00:21:42,400
nothing but a Google listing, but it just looks very weak,

377
00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:46,119
it's not followed through with images. Chances are, the way

378
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:48,680
people are today, you're not going to get the call anyway.

379
00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:54,119
You're just not so your website. Everybody should have a website,

380
00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:57,160
whether it's a simple one page, simple frontal page with

381
00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,240
the phone number and brief information about your company. I

382
00:22:00,279 --> 00:22:02,279
believe that you should have something that you can share

383
00:22:02,319 --> 00:22:06,559
with everybody. If you don't, you're just falling behind. You

384
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:08,839
need to have an online presence. But all of those

385
00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:13,559
things are the image that speaks to the company. So

386
00:22:13,599 --> 00:22:16,359
it's got to look good. And with today's templates and

387
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,440
things that we have available, it should not be hard

388
00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:23,160
to have a professional looking website or online presence. Also,

389
00:22:23,559 --> 00:22:28,559
in your company, how the phone is actually answered can

390
00:22:28,599 --> 00:22:33,000
go a long way. How your emails are written. I'll

391
00:22:33,039 --> 00:22:35,440
tell you right now that a lot of the people

392
00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:39,960
have jumped on our trade hog because trade Hog allows

393
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:44,839
you to when you write something for customer in trade Hog,

394
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:47,160
for example, you can throw it in trade hog, in

395
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:51,200
the office hog and ask it to rewrite this professionally

396
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:56,039
and keep the customer satisfaction in mind, and post what

397
00:22:56,079 --> 00:22:59,079
you wrote, and it will correct it. It will fix

398
00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:03,400
the grammar, it will make it sound professional. Goes a

399
00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:09,079
long way. Use AI to your benefit, because sometimes the

400
00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:13,519
things that people write can kill a deal. That's why

401
00:23:13,599 --> 00:23:15,960
a lot of people do get our trade Hall product

402
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,920
because it is tailored to the contractor. It's going to

403
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:23,200
say things based on contractor slang. It's going to keep

404
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:27,720
it very much around that type of tradesman industry type

405
00:23:27,759 --> 00:23:34,200
of responses. Right, but emails important, consistency of headers, footers,

406
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:40,640
signature titles, things like that extremely important. How your invoices

407
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,680
are delivered, how quickly they're delivered. All of these things

408
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:46,400
set an image. Look, if you're a one man show

409
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:47,960
and you want to be a good old boy type

410
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:50,839
of system, that's fine. Maybe these things don't matter as

411
00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:55,160
much to you. But it doesn't take much for somebody

412
00:23:55,319 --> 00:23:58,279
to say, look, I need to make sure that I

413
00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:02,200
give my electricians and our company all the tools necessary

414
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:06,759
to be successful. And that means the simple tools emails

415
00:24:06,799 --> 00:24:11,480
with proper formatting, the process on how you answer the phone,

416
00:24:11,559 --> 00:24:16,480
the follow ups after appointments, letting customers know before you

417
00:24:16,599 --> 00:24:19,079
get to the appointment that you're on the way. All

418
00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:23,559
these things are simple that can be done right. Also,

419
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:28,599
how you handle problems, understanding how to do problem resolution,

420
00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,480
and in fact, in our thermal imaging program, our Certified

421
00:24:32,519 --> 00:24:36,960
Thermal Imaging, we have an entire module that talks about

422
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,480
the zig Zigglar approach to sales and how to deal

423
00:24:39,519 --> 00:24:41,480
with objection and how to do that, because I think

424
00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:45,440
it's extremely important that you learn. Patients. I can tell

425
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:49,119
you right now, I am fifty. Gosh, I'm fifty seven,

426
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:53,400
fifty eight years old, fifty seven, I guess and look,

427
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,359
I learned early on. I was so hard to deal with.

428
00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,079
When I was a young electrician, I knew it all

429
00:25:00,279 --> 00:25:03,640
you know in the field. I did have an advanced

430
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:07,359
knowledge of most people, and I knew it. And at

431
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,839
the end of the day, I also didn't know how

432
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:13,519
to handle certain things with my son, and I would

433
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:16,720
get upset quickly, and he would escalate and get upset quickly,

434
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,200
and it would just result in arguing. And I had

435
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:23,839
to learn through life to chill. I had to learn

436
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:28,400
to just relax and breathe before I said anything, Take

437
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:33,119
a moment. That's why we teach these techniques. How to

438
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:38,000
kind of wind down a situation. I've got podcast episodes

439
00:25:38,039 --> 00:25:39,920
on this, how to take a breath, and how to

440
00:25:40,039 --> 00:25:43,960
de escalate a situation, look for a win win opportunity,

441
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:48,119
all those type of things. It does take practice, doesn't

442
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:52,079
happen immediately right. How to handle problems is huge. How

443
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:56,000
to overcome hurdles in the field is huge, okay. How

444
00:25:56,039 --> 00:25:58,880
to not bullshit the client and be very honest with

445
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,920
the client. Okay, those type of things. It's a learned process.

446
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,480
It's not natural. Okay. If you think that people are

447
00:26:06,519 --> 00:26:10,799
a natural born salesman, that's not true. What it is is,

448
00:26:10,839 --> 00:26:13,359
the more you get familiar with the product, more you

449
00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:16,039
get familiar with the process, the easier it is to

450
00:26:16,039 --> 00:26:18,400
have it just flow off your tongue and it comes

451
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,880
across as a natural born salesman. I tell people all

452
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,519
the time, the better you know something about something specific,

453
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,240
the better you are to convey it. That's when people

454
00:26:28,279 --> 00:26:31,799
start out in public speaking, they suck. The better they get,

455
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:36,160
the further on stand up comics they bomb. The better

456
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:39,480
they get, they learn their delivery. They get better. Same

457
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:42,720
thing with sales, same thing with electricians, same thing with

458
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:47,000
following having conflict in the field, it gets better. And

459
00:26:47,079 --> 00:26:49,680
as an employer, you want to give those tools to

460
00:26:49,799 --> 00:26:53,079
your customer. Okay, again, one of the other things that

461
00:26:53,279 --> 00:26:56,960
speaks to the company image is always going to be

462
00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:01,960
how your employees behave on the job site, because you

463
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:06,519
know what they speak for you, right, It's one of

464
00:27:06,599 --> 00:27:09,119
those things that you know what. I have always made

465
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:12,200
it a habit. For example, most people know that I travel,

466
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:15,000
you know, travel for for Encore Wire for years as

467
00:27:15,039 --> 00:27:18,920
their technical expert. We go to meetings. You know. Typically

468
00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,559
it wasn't the thing to wear company shirts into the

469
00:27:21,599 --> 00:27:24,799
bar after the meeting and drink because I didn't want

470
00:27:24,839 --> 00:27:27,480
anybody to see the name of the company. I was

471
00:27:27,519 --> 00:27:31,000
on my time, right, so it might have been inconvenient,

472
00:27:31,599 --> 00:27:35,240
but changing your shirt, Okay, Your company policies can be whatever,

473
00:27:35,839 --> 00:27:38,680
But when you're on the road, you know, I always

474
00:27:38,759 --> 00:27:41,759
had to think about the image. I did not want

475
00:27:41,799 --> 00:27:44,200
to be in an elevator with a with a woman

476
00:27:44,319 --> 00:27:47,680
by myself. So if I was ever in an elevator,

477
00:27:47,759 --> 00:27:49,640
and again I tried my best to do this that

478
00:27:49,799 --> 00:27:51,400
I would if it was a woman walks in, I

479
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:53,400
would stop and I would leave the elevator and take

480
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:57,920
another elevator. I know you're saying, oh, come on. We

481
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,319
get talked to all the time from lawyers and we

482
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:04,000
learn certain things. And again, I know what to say

483
00:28:04,039 --> 00:28:05,799
and what not to say and what to do, especially

484
00:28:05,839 --> 00:28:09,359
when I'm on the job and being very tactful, and

485
00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,880
that is stuff that you have to understand as an electrician.

486
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,000
There's certain things that you come to do your job.

487
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:16,599
You don't need to say, you don't need to do

488
00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:19,319
because at the end of the day, you're an employee

489
00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:22,240
and how you behave affects the company. Okay, so you

490
00:28:22,279 --> 00:28:24,759
may be the best electrician in town. Hell, you may

491
00:28:24,799 --> 00:28:29,960
be the best electrician in the state, but your company

492
00:28:30,039 --> 00:28:34,200
might be the worst impression in the room. And they're

493
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,039
not going to see how good you are. What they're

494
00:28:37,039 --> 00:28:42,599
going to see is the company. That's a problem right now.

495
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:49,240
Why great electricians fail as contractors. So there's tons of

496
00:28:49,279 --> 00:28:52,599
contractors out there or were contractors who electricians and they

497
00:28:52,599 --> 00:28:55,200
come to the realization that they can't make it as

498
00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:59,240
a contractor. Right I think the biggest problem of is

499
00:28:59,359 --> 00:29:03,440
in my opinions, is that they overvalue technical excellence and

500
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:08,480
undervalue business discipline. They don't understand how to run a business.

501
00:29:10,079 --> 00:29:14,039
They believe that just because they're so good, that the

502
00:29:14,079 --> 00:29:17,839
customer are to overlook all their deficiencies because dude, you're

503
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,960
getting the best electrician in the area. So don't worry

504
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,119
that I look sloppy, or don't worry that I cuss,

505
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,279
or don't worry. It doesn't work like that, and it's

506
00:29:26,319 --> 00:29:28,920
not going to take long. You may have a spike

507
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,519
where people share you upfront and they'll tell people, well,

508
00:29:31,559 --> 00:29:34,920
he's a little brass, but he's a great electrician. That's

509
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,279
gonna it's not going to be good for long term,

510
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:41,839
trust me. So there's many electricians who tried to be

511
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:46,680
contractors and failed at it right. Also, they operate as

512
00:29:46,799 --> 00:29:52,559
craftsmen instead of executives. There is this mind shift, and

513
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,000
I give it a good example is the guy that

514
00:29:55,039 --> 00:29:58,799
works for me. Y'all know, Jeff took my spot at

515
00:29:58,799 --> 00:30:03,720
the City of Richmond, Virginia as the top lead plans examiner.

516
00:30:04,119 --> 00:30:06,279
I was an engineer, but he was the lead plans

517
00:30:06,319 --> 00:30:11,319
examiner when I left, and when I hired him back

518
00:30:11,359 --> 00:30:16,480
as an inspector. He was electric contractor been electrical contractor

519
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:18,640
for years. One of the first and he would tell

520
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:20,359
you this story. One of the first things I told

521
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,640
to him was, when you become an inspector, it's kind

522
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:25,599
of like that movie Over the Top, you know, with

523
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:29,240
Sylvester Stallone. And then is when you become an inspector.

524
00:30:29,279 --> 00:30:32,480
You have to take that electricians hat and turn it

525
00:30:32,519 --> 00:30:36,680
around and put on an inspector's hat. It's not about

526
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,160
how you were rejected or how you failed things, or

527
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:45,160
how inspectors treated you. Your job is to be the inspector.

528
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:48,559
Now there's a minimum standard. You do not impose your

529
00:30:48,599 --> 00:30:53,400
personal wills on installations. You follow the code minimum. If

530
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:57,720
the customer and the electrician together want to exceed the

531
00:30:57,759 --> 00:31:01,079
basic bare minimums of the NEEC, that's on them. That

532
00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:03,799
is not on you. So I used to tell them,

533
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:09,039
don't impose your own personal wills. It's not your responsibility.

534
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:13,039
Your responsibility is the minimum standard, and that's what the

535
00:31:13,119 --> 00:31:16,079
NEC is. If they want to go above the minimum

536
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:20,279
and exceed it, that's their choice. It should never be

537
00:31:20,359 --> 00:31:24,319
the inspector's choice. Oka And so when it comes to

538
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:29,960
electrical contractors who go out and fail, they focus so

539
00:31:30,119 --> 00:31:32,799
much on the craftsmanship, or they do their work, their

540
00:31:32,799 --> 00:31:37,359
impeccable work, but they don't know how to be executives

541
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:39,960
of their own company, and that is where they fail.

542
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:41,960
They don't know how to do taxes, or they don't

543
00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:43,759
know how to do their business. They don't know how

544
00:31:43,799 --> 00:31:48,519
to treat customers. They know how to create a repetitive

545
00:31:48,599 --> 00:31:53,640
process or communicate with their customers effectively, or marketing or

546
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:56,960
advertising or promotion. They don't know any of that. They

547
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:00,160
just know that they're good craftsmen. They have said, let

548
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:03,720
themselves up to fail, and that's sad because they could

549
00:32:03,759 --> 00:32:06,519
have been rising stars, but they ended up teetering out.

550
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,839
That type of thing. Now, another thing is they focus

551
00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:15,440
on their personal pride instead of the company's reputation. Right,

552
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,359
So the electrician wants to be known as the best

553
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:24,160
electrician in the world. Right, and let's say they go

554
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:25,920
to a job and they can solve it in ten

555
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,799
minutes where the next electrician may take thirty minutes. They

556
00:32:29,039 --> 00:32:32,079
pride themselves in that I found it where that sucker

557
00:32:32,119 --> 00:32:35,359
took thirty minutes. At the end of the day, that

558
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:37,920
guy that took thirty minutes, if he follows all the

559
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,039
things to keep their company in the highest regard. They're

560
00:32:41,039 --> 00:32:43,960
going to get the business because you're still charging the

561
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,720
middle of an hour, doesn't matter how quick you were.

562
00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:51,559
But if you do not convey the company image or

563
00:32:51,599 --> 00:32:55,440
that company reputation very high, then you know what, the

564
00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:58,759
customer doesn't see the wire, they don't see the cable.

565
00:32:59,119 --> 00:33:01,960
They don't understand that if it's a little slanted versus flat,

566
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:04,400
that that even makes a difference. They really don't know.

567
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:10,279
They really don't, you know, And that's something innate within you,

568
00:33:11,079 --> 00:33:14,359
has nothing to do with the end customer. So typically

569
00:33:14,559 --> 00:33:17,880
those that fail, they focus too much on their personal

570
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,200
pride instead of worrying about the reputation or putting the

571
00:33:21,279 --> 00:33:24,599
company first. Whether you're a one man's shop or one

572
00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:26,960
woman's shop, or you're working for somebody that's got one

573
00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:32,279
thousand employees, you should be always putting the company first

574
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:35,079
because they're the one that are paying you. They's the

575
00:33:35,119 --> 00:33:37,480
one that keeps your employed and keeps food on your table.

576
00:33:38,319 --> 00:33:41,079
They're the one that gives you the benefits. Okay, to

577
00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,720
leave the insurance if you get hurt, they're the ones

578
00:33:44,759 --> 00:33:51,000
paying that. I'm just saying things you have to think about. Okay, Now,

579
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,119
what else do they fail, well, they try to be

580
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:58,599
the hero instead of building a brand that works without them.

581
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,000
So as you go from a one man to a

582
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,440
two man to a three man or whatever, a lot

583
00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:09,239
of people try to build their value and their worth

584
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:13,400
in a company as me, me, me, rather than build

585
00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:17,440
a company as a whole so that they are replaceable

586
00:34:17,519 --> 00:34:20,320
by another electrician in the company. Now, you know what

587
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:23,320
I said about tooting your own horn and making yourself

588
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:28,000
valuable within the company. That's true. There's nothing wrong with

589
00:34:28,079 --> 00:34:30,320
letting people know in the company that you know that

590
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:33,199
you're good and you're worth it. That's fine, but never

591
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:39,079
let that carry over to the customer. No, they don't care, okay,

592
00:34:39,119 --> 00:34:41,360
But what you want to do is let them know

593
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,360
that you're there to be a team player with everybody else,

594
00:34:44,599 --> 00:34:48,639
but you are that good. Right, But you want to

595
00:34:48,639 --> 00:34:53,000
give the impression to the customer that everybody in your

596
00:34:53,039 --> 00:34:57,679
company chain is that good. When you figure that out,

597
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,519
that's when your company is going to be successful, really

598
00:35:00,519 --> 00:35:04,039
it is. Okay, Now, let's talk a little bit different

599
00:35:04,119 --> 00:35:07,840
to shift a gear here. Let's talk about what real

600
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:12,119
contractor success looks like. Okay, real success of an electric

601
00:35:12,199 --> 00:35:16,000
contractor means what So if you're the contractor and you've

602
00:35:16,039 --> 00:35:18,679
done things right, whether you're a one man show or

603
00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:23,800
a one hundred man show, whatever, the customers recommend the company,

604
00:35:24,079 --> 00:35:28,239
not an individual. They push the company. That's when you

605
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:35,239
know you're successful. Okay, the business produces consistent income without

606
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:40,519
your constant presence, so at some point you're able to

607
00:35:40,519 --> 00:35:46,000
take time off as a contractor and the business keeps running.

608
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:50,079
Those are little signs that you're being successful. In other words,

609
00:35:50,119 --> 00:35:52,960
there's a call about a project and it gets scheduled,

610
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:56,079
and it gets done, it gets fixed, and you basically

611
00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,840
hands off. Now, look, i'm gonna tell you I grew

612
00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:02,480
up as being a sole proprietor. Then it went into

613
00:36:02,519 --> 00:36:06,039
being a corporation. We started out mom and pop, started

614
00:36:06,039 --> 00:36:08,519
out with me and my brother, so vacations were far

615
00:36:08,599 --> 00:36:10,920
and in between. We always had to have our hands

616
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:15,199
in every issue, but we slowly build it up that

617
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:20,639
it was bringing in income and problems were getting solved

618
00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:25,679
without our constant presence looking over everything, whether we had

619
00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:28,679
helpers or people working for us, whoever. We got to

620
00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:31,000
that point, and at that point we knew it was successful.

621
00:36:31,159 --> 00:36:36,920
As a sole, single shop owner. That should be your

622
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:40,159
goal is so that it's generating you income even when

623
00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:42,400
you're not doing it. Now. I know you might not

624
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:44,960
be ready now, you may not even want that. You

625
00:36:45,039 --> 00:36:48,880
might say, dude, I'm okay by myself. That still doesn't

626
00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:51,320
mean that you don't want more work. That doesn't mean

627
00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:53,719
that you want to have people waiting to come to

628
00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:57,079
your company, not you, your company. That's where you should

629
00:36:57,119 --> 00:37:01,599
be focused on. Okay, Now, the one thing to remember

630
00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:04,119
is that your system that you put in place will

631
00:37:04,159 --> 00:37:08,840
outlast your own labor. Right, So from the moment you

632
00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:10,400
show up or the moment you do the job, the

633
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:13,400
moment you lead, the system has to be a process,

634
00:37:13,679 --> 00:37:18,320
right that helps grow your reputation. Okay, not just while

635
00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:21,679
you're on the job site. So for example, follow up

636
00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:24,239
calls when you do maybe it's a service call, or

637
00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:26,679
you finish a project even though you've been paid, the

638
00:37:26,719 --> 00:37:30,199
project's finished, out, you should be calling the general contractor

639
00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:32,519
as a follow up, you should be calling the owners

640
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:34,480
and say, you know, we just wanted to call and

641
00:37:34,480 --> 00:37:36,440
thank you for allowing us to do that last project.

642
00:37:37,119 --> 00:37:38,679
We're here if you need us, if you've got any

643
00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:42,719
problems with it, we stand behind our work. I don't

644
00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:47,119
know that many contractors today that follow up. They seem

645
00:37:47,159 --> 00:37:50,000
to think that you only have to follow up with

646
00:37:50,639 --> 00:37:56,119
the customer on a service call. No, there is absolutely

647
00:37:56,119 --> 00:38:00,400
nothing wrong with following up to the general contractor or

648
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:02,960
the owner whoever got you the work or saw that

649
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,679
you got the work, following up and thanking them for

650
00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:09,960
that business. And you're here as a follow up. That

651
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:16,280
doesn't say anything about your work crew. That says everything

652
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:20,239
about your commitment as a company. And that's what you're

653
00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:24,719
trying to do. Show the company is committed, not any

654
00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:29,079
one individual or even you. It's the system that you're

655
00:38:29,079 --> 00:38:34,039
trying to build that's extremely important. Now let's talk about

656
00:38:34,079 --> 00:38:36,800
the shift that changes everything. Okay, stop trying to be

657
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:39,639
the best electrician in the world. If you want to

658
00:38:39,639 --> 00:38:45,400
be a contractor, start building the best electrical company you

659
00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:49,360
can in the world. Build your image, lay out your system,

660
00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:53,960
process for change orders, process for invoicing, process for follow

661
00:38:54,039 --> 00:38:59,719
up calls, all those type of things. Okay, build your team,

662
00:39:00,599 --> 00:39:03,480
build your process. I can tell you as a back

663
00:39:03,519 --> 00:39:05,119
in the day when I was a one man show,

664
00:39:05,559 --> 00:39:09,920
my team was my wife. So I'm busy doing the work.

665
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,760
She would take the calls and it wasn't that she

666
00:39:12,880 --> 00:39:16,320
was technically savvy. She wasn't trying to solve calls on

667
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:20,280
the phone. She was trying to schedule them and line

668
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,280
them out so that I could effectively return those calls.

669
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:27,159
So she would say, Hey, this is electrical service facialist.

670
00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:29,519
My name is Darlene. How can I help you? And

671
00:39:29,559 --> 00:39:31,320
you would ask me to say, okay, let me set

672
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:34,400
up a time for one of our estimators or service

673
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:36,440
technicians or whatever to get out and reach out to you.

674
00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:38,280
What's your name, what's your number. I'll have them get

675
00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:40,159
right back to you. They're more than happy to speak

676
00:39:40,159 --> 00:39:45,159
to you. That's great because that sets the expectation for

677
00:39:45,199 --> 00:39:48,960
the customer. Now you have to make sure you have

678
00:39:49,039 --> 00:39:55,679
a system that follows up simple, right, sounds simple, But

679
00:39:55,719 --> 00:39:59,320
you don't have to have people that are technical experts

680
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:02,280
or the best electrician in the world that answers the phone.

681
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:05,360
You don't, and so you need to build a team.

682
00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:07,880
Whether it's you and your partner, but it's you and

683
00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:11,639
your wife. Maybe you're answering all the calls, right, Well,

684
00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:14,440
then you're gonna have to wear multiple hats and you're

685
00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:15,920
gonna have to try to do the best you can

686
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:19,239
at every hat. But remember whatever hat you're wearing that

687
00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:22,480
day needs to convey one solid message, and that's to

688
00:40:22,519 --> 00:40:28,480
the customer. It's all about the company, not about the individual. Okay,

689
00:40:29,199 --> 00:40:34,480
build that brand around the company. Don't focus on yourself.

690
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:38,000
Don't focus on you being the best electrician in the world,

691
00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:41,280
because you may be, but it's all about the company.

692
00:40:42,119 --> 00:40:45,320
And if you're the electrician worker for somebody, you would

693
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,840
want the same thing for your business. You'd want the

694
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:51,400
same employees. So again, let's stop hearing this stuff about

695
00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:53,480
well it's good enough, I can't see it from my house.

696
00:40:54,519 --> 00:40:57,440
Take pride in what you do. Okay, it's a profession.

697
00:40:57,599 --> 00:41:00,119
We're all electricians. Now there'll be some out there on

698
00:41:00,199 --> 00:41:03,360
social media and that'll say it's corny that this is

699
00:41:03,519 --> 00:41:07,760
BS and all that. They usually are nobody's. They usually

700
00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:10,760
have nothing, and they're the first ones to post a

701
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:13,679
comment because they won't look in a mirror. You realize

702
00:41:13,679 --> 00:41:16,800
that they're thirty, forty, fifty years old and they got nothing.

703
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:22,760
You're not that person. They are the first person that

704
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:27,079
rushes to the keyboard. It usually a nobody. They've got nothing.

705
00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:31,400
They get very defensive because it's the truth. The truth

706
00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:35,719
hurts sometimes I'm just saying so. The market does a

707
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:40,320
reward who knows the most folks. The market rewards the

708
00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:46,119
most professional, acts the most organized, and delivers the most

709
00:41:46,159 --> 00:41:50,039
confidence in the eyes of the for the company. That's it.

710
00:41:50,079 --> 00:41:53,199
Success is not about being the best electrician in the world.

711
00:41:54,039 --> 00:41:59,519
It's about building the best electrical contracting company in the world.

712
00:42:00,079 --> 00:42:02,719
That's why I tell people all the time. You become

713
00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:06,280
a CMCP, you portray that on your vehicles. It will

714
00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:10,480
do the message, it will send all that confidence. It's

715
00:42:10,519 --> 00:42:12,679
all about how you market it. It's all about how

716
00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:14,920
you use it. It's all about how you display it

717
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:20,360
with the patches on your uniform, the hats. It's all

718
00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:24,280
about how you carry yourself. It's the business cards, it's

719
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:29,480
the professional communication. It's the professional invoices, it's the professional

720
00:42:29,559 --> 00:42:31,599
follow ups. All of that. I don't care if you're

721
00:42:31,639 --> 00:42:35,079
a one man show. Your goal should be the executive

722
00:42:35,159 --> 00:42:37,400
of your company and be the best you can be.

723
00:42:38,639 --> 00:42:40,880
You know what, And if you're an electrician and you

724
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,159
work for somebody and you say, screll a that I'm

725
00:42:43,239 --> 00:42:47,719
just I'm happy with being just doing none of that. Okay, Well,

726
00:42:48,119 --> 00:42:50,880
you're still getting paid. You work for somebody, take a

727
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:53,880
little pride in your work. You can try to be

728
00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:57,119
the best electrician you can be, but ultimately you need

729
00:42:57,159 --> 00:43:01,119
to shine, shine, shine for the company, work for I'm

730
00:43:01,119 --> 00:43:03,320
just saying, at the end of the day, a good

731
00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:08,840
employer will reap the benefits and hopefully they showered down

732
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:11,360
on you folks as well. All Right, all right, folks,

733
00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:13,880
hopefully you got something out of that today and you've

734
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,360
been listening to whether you're listening to the podcast or

735
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:19,679
you're watching the video, we appreciate you. Until next time,

736
00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:22,239
Stay safe, God bless and we'll catch you on another

737
00:43:22,239 --> 00:43:24,920
episode of Master the NEC Peace Out

