Speaker 1: Welcome to the Master of the NEC podcast, the ultimate
destination for anyone passionate about the electrical trade. Whether you're
a season electrician, an eager apprentice, or just someone who
wants to dive deep into the world of electrical work,
you've come to the right place.
Speaker 2: Join your host, Paul.
Speaker 1: Abernavi, a true authority in the industry with over thirty
eight years of trade experience, as he electrifies your mind
within depth discussions, expertips, and valuable insights.
Speaker 2: That will keep you ahead of the curve.
Speaker 1: Each episode, Paul will illuminate the complexities of the trade
de code, the National Electrical Code, and share the latest
industry trends, all while empowering you to take your electrical
career to the next level. So gar up, plug in,
and get ready to supercharge your knowledge because with the
Master of the NEC podcast, the power is in your hands.
Now get ready.
Speaker 2: Here is your host, Paul Abernavi. What up, everybody?
Speaker 3: Welcome to another episode of Master the NEC where we
talk about the National Electrical Code, all electrical things, anything
that helps your business grow, all things for electricians.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 3: If you've never listened to our podcast before, we have
over a thousand episodes on all different types of topics.
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It's exclusively downloadable from our website, so check it out
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do Monday through Friday and we talk all things electrical.
It's designed to get your week started, get your day started.
Just a great lighthearted way to help encourage you to
be more successful in the electrical industry and in your trade.
Speaker 2: So join us. We hope to see you there on
one of those future episodes.
Speaker 3: Okay, on today's podcast, we're going to be talking about
five tips again, and one of the things that I
find that people struggle with, especially electrical contractors and electricians
in general, and pretty much anybody in the service industry
is they don't know how to overcome a hesitating customer
or a hesitant customer, or a person that's just on
the fence, or a customer that needs what you have,
but you just can't get them over that hump, and
you are not selling snake oil.
Speaker 2: Okay, because I'm a big I do not believe in that.
Speaker 3: If you're really selling them something that they need, they
get to make the ultimate decision. But it might be
the way you're approaching it that you just can't get
the customer to get over that hurdle and say, you
know what, this is what I need now financial conditions.
But you got to remember they called you out there
or you got out there for a reason. So you
still have what's called a captured market at this time.
Speaker 2: So you need to take advantage of it.
Speaker 3: And learn how to overcome and persuade a hesitant customer
into wanting your electrical services or whatever service business that
you're in.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to kind of give you my tips.
There's about five.
Speaker 3: There's obviously a lot more than that, and we're going
to cover a lot of this in our CIA program.
Speaker 2: If you're INSTED.
Speaker 3: It's the Certified Electrical Energy Auditor program that is designed
to offer unique products to your customers, but ones that
we have vetted and there is a way to offer
them and it's a tangible way to return net zero
to their investment. In other words, a way for them
to get is a win win for everybody. And they
get some things like energy monitoring.
Speaker 2: If they have ev systems, you can do that.
Speaker 3: If they have solar you can integrate into that. There's
a smart receptacles that There's so many things that you
can do to make their lives so much easier in
today's world, and we want to offer those solutions.
Speaker 2: So that's what c is all about.
Speaker 3: But one of the big things in CAIA is that
we're going to offer services. In other words, we're going
to make you a better salesperson. We're going to make
you a better person that interacts with a customer. We're
going to make you a basically a better employer and
employee through common practice in educational offerings that we offer.
And then of course you're going to stand We're going
to stand behind the see A name and give you
that support as well moving forward in that program. If
you're interested in that and learning more about CIA, then
go to Electrical Energy Audit dot com. That's Electrical Energy
Audit dot com and it's read about. It may may
not be for you, but if you have any questions,
feel free to give us a call. Call me personally
five four oho six zero seven zero one one six
talk to me personally. I'm more than happy to explain
the program and the benefits. And I think the education
on dealing with customers and the pre done templates and
the pre done sales material, I think all of that
type of stuff is probably going to help you be
more effective in your business. And that's what it's all about.
We want you to grow your business and be more successful.
That's what C is all about. Okay, all right, so
any day, let's look at what we're talking about. So
what we're going to do today is we're going to
talk about overcoming a hesitant customer. And I'm gonna give
you my five tips. This is not an all inclusive list.
It's just my five tips to help you make it
a little easier. And you're gonna have to practice these things.
These are not things that are just gonna come innately
to you by just reading it and going, oh, you
need to practice this. So I encourage employers to have
training sessions with their employees and make it part of
their job. If they say I don't want to do this,
then you get rid of them, because that's not somebody
that's in your interest of growing your company.
Speaker 2: They say I'm not a salesman. That's bullshit.
Speaker 3: Every damn electrician it works for you, every apprentice that
works for you, every journeyman that works for you, they
are salespeople. Don't let them say they're not. They're selling
your business. They're selling themselves. They're selling the fact that
you want repeat customers. Do not let them taint your business.
And if they are, they're a cancer to your company,
and you need to get rid of them because there's
always somebody right behind them that's willing to do what
needs to be done for everybody to be successful.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, so.
Speaker 3: Let's talk about that hesitant customer Number one. I think
it is. And I've done this for years and people
know me as a as an inspector, a hj's deputy
to the HJ. If they know that, I always want
to educate somebody instead of selling them. Now, ultimately, if
you're well educated on something, the sale is easy. I
have people say to me that all the time. In
the wire and cable industry. They go, Paul, I go,
I'm not a salesman. I don't sell wire, I don't
take orders. But if they put me in front of
somebody they want to buy for some reason like I
want to buy, I want to buy, I want to buy,
I want to use your product, and they go, Paul,
You're an amazing salesperson, and I'm like, but I'm not
a salesman. I believe in the product. I believe in
the education that I'm presenting. It sells itself. So at
the end of the day, Number one, educate instead of selling.
Become passionate in what you have. If you believe that
adding AFCIS and GFCIs to an older house that doesn't
have it, then passionately understand why you're doing it, not
just the monetary value of doing it, but really understand
why you're doing it. If not, don't offer it, you
get me. That's the passion that you need to bring today.
So most resistance comes from not understanding why your service matters.
They just don't understand, okay. Instead of pushing it. Explaining
the real benefits is important, so I'm just not pushing
it down their throat and saying you need this. It's
my responsibility to explain the benefits, the safety, the compliance,
the code compliance, the lower energy bills, things like that.
That's preventing costly breakdowns and increasing property values. Things like that,
things that are people are interested in.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: People buy when they understand the why, not just the
what of a product. Okay, they understand that, for example,
GFCIs and AFCIS are required today, they weren't required back
when their house was built.
Speaker 2: They go, well, why don't I have these?
Speaker 3: And you explain, Well, let me explain to you the
why and how the code has changed over the years
because it's a safety standard. Yes, I understand that they
cost money, but they do bring an inherent benefit safety
compliance value. So there's a way that you can approach it.
But don't sell the customer. Educate the customer with your
sales hook. And the sales hook is you're the one
they're providing these things that you're talking about, so you
don't need to sell it. You just need to educate
them on it, okay, And now once they start understanding it,
you can tell. They'll starting noting, their nodding their head.
They'll acknowledge it and they'll say I understand. They start
to understand it. Then you're no longer just dry selling them.
You get me saying now you need this as search
protective device.
Speaker 2: Well why do I need it? Well, let me explain why,
and you don't lie.
Speaker 3: You be very honest. Okay, that's that's the one thing.
Honesty is the key. Don't try to pull smoking mirrors.
There's a lot of people out there. There's snake oil
salesmen who try to sell it, and people say, well,
I don't believe in search. If you don't believe in
search protective devices in their application, then you know what,
you shouldn't be pushing them. I'm just saying, next, use
social proof and authority. What do we mean I mean
by that?
Speaker 2: Well, you need to obviously, you're in business.
Speaker 3: You can share some success stories, some testimonials, case studies.
For example, you could say something like, well, I just
worked with a homeowner in uh Louisa County who had
the same concerns that you do, and after we upgraded
their panel, their actual insurance premiums dropped. Now, don't make
that up if that really happened. Use those stories. Any
little tidbit of success can be embellished into a story,
but make sure it's a factual depiction. If if I
put in an energy management or injury monitoring system for
somebody and the customer realizes a savings, now whether it's
a dollar savings or one thousand dollars savings, the end
of the day, they found a savings due to the system.
It's not a discussion of how much savings. And then
if you hopefully you know you don't need to go
that deep into it. But the point is it's factual.
You're not lying now, you didn't guarantee you're gonna save
them one thousand bucks a month. I think that the
point here is you need to think of real world
examples that reduces doubt and put you in a position
of the trusted expert.
Speaker 2: And that's why we created SIA.
Speaker 3: For the Electrical Energy Auditor and a Certified Electric Energy Order.
The reason we did that is because it is a
way for the electrician and it's also be honest with you,
why we created the CMECP program Certified Master Electrical Code
Professional Program. It's to raise the bar it's to set
that level of trust, that expertise, and the way you
present yourself, the way you look, the way you address
the issue. All those things set the tone. You've probably
heard me talk about. A first impression is the most
important impression. It is, but if you don't have the
best first impression, it can be overcome with this series
of things that you do right during your experience with
that customer. So you can fix a bad first impression.
But it's an uphill battle. So I teach people go
in with the best first impression. Don't go in with
a dirty truck where stuff falls out your door when
you pull up and open it up. Okay, make sure
your trucks are marked properly, that you have the right
licensing numbers on the front of your trucks like you're
supposed to do. Don't work out the back of a
of a sedan. I know for some people you might
say that's all I've got. Well, you've got to work harder, okay,
because you need to look professional. Definitely have your company
shirts look good. I don't care whether you're blue jeans
or khakis, but not holy jeans, not holy khakis.
Speaker 2: Look the part.
Speaker 3: Look professional, set the tone, come in with authority, and
if you have company wide success stories, use that as
social proof and authority to what you say is accurate
and use that.
Speaker 2: Now, those may take you time to develop. Okay.
Speaker 3: Next, one of the key things that I think that
people have to understand is that you have to go
into a mentality that you're actually reframing the cost that
they're about to invest in as an investment. Just like
it sounded that cost that they're about to invest in
is exactly that it's an investment. If a customers hesitant
because of the price, shift the conversation from the expense
to the long term savings or avoided risks. Okay, for example, yes,
this service is blank up front, but it prevents ten
thousand dollars in repairs or risk of fire down the road.
Tie every dollar to a value, safety, reliability, or savings. Now,
I don't mean pull wild numbers out the air, but
you know how much it would cost to have to
replace something or rewire.
Speaker 2: Something tens of thousands of dollars today.
Speaker 3: The house that I used to wire back when I
was actively in the field doing a lot of homes
back in the late eighties, early nineties and early two thousands.
Speaker 2: Those homes.
Speaker 3: You know, I could wire those homes for fifteen twenty
thirty thousand dollars the same freaking home today as thirty
forty fifty thousand dollars just an electrical Now, I'm not
talking to little spec homes of twelve hundred square foot
fourteen hundred that some of you may be doing. That's
a feast or famine. Everybody's fighting to get those, but
you're not making any money on those. I only went
for the big dollar homes, So I'm saying when I
priced something, prices always go up.
Speaker 2: Everything goes up over time, repairs go up.
Speaker 3: You can't get a new HVAC system installed probably for
less than eight thousand dollars today. Now I know you
maybe not an HVAC guide, but if you have, for example,
you're in SIA and you promote an energy monitoring system,
you may be able to see when a compressor is
going bad based on how linked it runs, how long
it runs, how often it runs.
Speaker 2: Because all this stuff is monitored of consumption.
Speaker 3: So at the end of the day, you know there
is ways to approach certain things, and there's a reason
why the code is a way. It is today minimum
safety standard, whether you like it or not. The same
person that bitches about the code is also the same
person that has no problem telling a customer that they
need to get a GFCI or an AFCI.
Speaker 2: Or something like that in a certain location because it's code.
Speaker 3: So you know, you can cry about the code, but
it's it's things that people need and you're making money,
they're being safer. It's not snake oil. It is what
it is and it's what you got to deal with.
Same with the search, protect the device, when you do
a panel change, things like that.
Speaker 2: It just is what it is, and so embrace it.
Speaker 3: But you have to understand it to be able to
sell it to a customer. And it's really at that
point not selling it to them, it's educating them on it.
Speaker 2: But always ties something to value.
Speaker 3: If you run into that price issue where they question
the price, next is and I think this is real important,
is you have to ask questions to find the where
their pain point is, where their problem is, and you've
got to get used to being good at asking questions.
Speaker 2: Okay, you have to be good at it.
Speaker 3: For example, instead of arguing with the customer overprice or
something like that, try to uncover the real matter that
So that's the only way that you can actively target
their hesitation is understanding what their argument is. Are you
worried about safety? Are you worried about the cost? Are
you just not seeing the urgency. Once you know the
real objection, then you can tailor your response around that.
For example, if they say, well, we've never had a problem,
she might, you might respond with That's exactly exactly why
preventative service is valuable because electrical failures rarely give warning.
Houses don't just burn up by giving you a pre
warned notice.
Speaker 2: Okay, this doesn't happen.
Speaker 3: Appliances don't just fail by giving you a notice that
they're going to fail. However, However, if your appliance, or
your piece of equipment, or your water heater or your
air conditioning unit is being monitored by an energy monitoring system,
then it can give tailtale signs of usage and staying
on too long or taking up or pulling too much
current for too long a time that we can monitor
that for you on a monthly basis. On a weekly basis,
we can check it to make sure everything's in line,
and we can even give you follow up emails to
let you know what you may want to tweak in
your system. Hey, you might not want to use your
wash your dryer during this time of the day. That's
what Asia does. That's that's the whole nature of the
professional support back end of it. We're not selling you
any products that you can't go get. We're showing you
how to use them, how to sell them, how to
market them, how to be a professional with them.
Speaker 2: But this can be to.
Speaker 3: Anything you need to over. You need to find out
very quickly by just point blank asking them, Okay, what
is your concern? Don't argue. Remember, go listen to my
podcast I did on the five ways to to deal
with the upset customers. Go listen to that. It's an
effective podcast. It's available, go look at it or go
listen to it. Those are effective techniques, but you have
to find out what is their main hurdle. And the
only we're gonna get that is to asking very pinpoint questions.
Speaker 2: Okay. Now the last one.
Speaker 3: Is kind of a two for uh, because I'm gonna
throw something at the very end to you for that.
Every sales versus the old zig zigglar approach, there's a
there's a something that you have to do at the
end of every conversation about.
Speaker 2: A product sale.
Speaker 3: Okay, because you can do all the education you want, right,
you can educate them till they're blue in the face.
You can give them social authority. You can explain how
you've done this for this customer down the street or
for this one and you save them money and they
love their system.
Speaker 2: YadA, YadA, YadA.
Speaker 3: You can show them how to reframe the cost is
really an investment overturned over excuse me, over time, and
you can even in our program, we even show you
that how they can get back to what's called net
zero on their investment because of the potential savings in
the program. And then ultimately you know what their hurdles are. Okay,
what is really the problem? Are you you're not concerned
about safety or this you've never had and you've never
had a problem in these that's the perfect time for
you to have monitoring system on your system so they
can head off those potential things. Or you can see
what's coming down the road because you can monitor your
own energy usage. Or maybe it's the same thing with
AFCIS and GFCIs and you can say, you know what
code is the code. You never know at one moment
where you could it could happen to you, and these
products like AFCIS are basically keeping an eye on the
it's in your house. Now, I'm not getting into whether
or not it's an old house and it can't use AFCITA.
I'm just saying in general, in general, there's ways to
position certain things with spurge protective devices. You explain that
the surges can come from inside as well as outside.
And you have a lot of sensitive electronic equipment in
your house, maybe expensive electronic ranges, smart ranges, smart washers
and dryers, all this stuff that has circuit boards. There's
a reason the code has surge protective devices in there.
Whether you believe in them or not, you should be
promoting them. They can choose if they want them or not.
But you got a valued way of or.
Speaker 2: I shouldn't say valuate.
Speaker 3: You have an educated way of positioning these to the
customer and you have to overcome and you need to
know what their concern is. Now again, I told you
the last one here is going to be give opinions.
Do not give ultimatums. People resist when they feel pressured.
Offer a tiered solution. That is another thing that I've
told people about for years, Like I might offer you,
let's say you're a c A member, and you may
offer the energy monitoring, and then you offer a basic
plan and then a premium plan. The basic plan they
monitor their own premium plan. You will check in it
on a weekly basis and look at their energy usage
and make recommendations and things like that. You know, there's
two different tiers. They may not want the premium, but
they may be on board with the basic. That's fine,
but you bridge that hurdle and they say, you know,
this way, they feel comfortable. They're still choosing your service.
Even if they don't pick the highest package. You're still
going to close the deal, folks. You're still going to
close that deal.
Speaker 2: All right now.
Speaker 3: With that said, I think it would be totally the
right time in this podcast to explain what we mean
as closing the sale. There is a certain time in
a conversation about the sale that you're gonna get to
the point where you've educated them, they understand it, they
see the benefits you've given them the literature. They're on
that fence, and at the end of the day, you
don't know whether you're gonna get the sale or not.
Speaker 2: You're right there.
Speaker 3: But I'm going to tell you what. A lot of
people spend a lot of time talking to talk, walking
the walk, laying the foundation, convincing them, but at the
end of the day they give them an out, and
that out is because they do not ask for this sale.
Speaker 2: They don't.
Speaker 3: And some people really struggle with this because they're like, dude.
Speaker 2: I just hate asking the customer. I just hate it.
Speaker 3: Well, look, you just spent all that time educating them.
Why do you feel so hesitant to ask for the sale.
For example, I might give them a package, and I
might be selling them on a sea a package energy
monitoring system with some smart plugs, and maybe I do
smart up home where I put in some ELECXA devices,
or maybe I put some recept those smart receptacles that
interact with the with the monitoring system and and all done,
I say this is the package, and I'm sitting there
and I might go to them. I'm like, okay, well
you see the benefits. You see what I can do
for you here when you want this installed. See, So
what you're doing is you're trying to get confirmation and
if they go, well, I don't know. I got to
think about it, you know, I gotta I gotta ask
the wife. You're gonna understand. I understand, you know, I
get it. Sometimes these things like this, it's better to
work together as a team. Is there a time when
we both can talk to her and I'll explain it
to you so to make sure that she fully understands.
But uh, you know, we can put you on the
We can put you on the schedule, you know.
Speaker 2: Now, some people say, well that sounds pushy.
Speaker 3: Well, you've already done the sale, you've already done the education,
you've done everything. At this point, it's all for nothing
if you don't complete the mission. And the mission is
not to be pushy, not to pressure them, give them opportunities.
For example, I might say, well, I understand that the
premium plan is probably not not something you're interested in,
so the basic plan or this plan is probably the
best for you anyway. But I can get you and started,
and we can get you in and get you scheduled.
In fact, I have an opening that I can get
you in and we can get you programmed and all
that stuff here and tomorrow. If you've got if you're ready,
all I'm saying is you'll develop your way to close
the door, but you got to ask for the sale
in some way. You have got to ask for that
sale because for that everything you've.
Speaker 2: Done is all for nothing.
Speaker 3: So you know at this point it does take time.
You have to practice it, but you got to understand it.
When it comes to for contractors, here's a tip for you.
Instead of trying to convince shift being a trusted advisor.
Customers buy from people they believe have their best interest
at heart, not just someone that's trying to make a sale.
It is proven proven, So I firmly believe that every
on tractor that has technicians and salespeople that are going
out doing service calls should be actively practicing on a
weekly basis for one hour together sales techniques and overcoming
hurdles and having a discussions and having this this training.
And it's a great time to regroup with your team,
all this type stuff. I mean, if they're remote team,
it can be done through video conferencing, but you have
to role play. I believe that these are skills that
you have to train somebody. I do not believe they
are innate in anybody. That there are things that you
have to learn, and the more you learn them, it's
like anything, it becomes the more you do it, the
more habitual you become at it, the easier it's gonna flow,
the easier you're gonna have a discussion with a customer
and you're gonna get over those hurdles. Are you gonna
get every sale? Absolutely not, But you're not gonna pressure them.
You're gonna leave them with the right amount of information.
You're gonna ask for the sale. If it don't get
the sale, that's fine, sucks, but that's fine. But what
you want to do is you want to get their information,
get their email, get all their contact information, and you
want to follow up with them because sometimes that old
approach is sometimes it takes four or five or six
times of putting something in front of their face. If
y'all ever heard about that stuff called value mail or valpack,
where they send you these things in the mail and
you get it and you look at it and you
see the same damn coupons over and over and over again.
Speaker 2: And finally you use a coupon after you.
Speaker 3: See it five or six seven times, you know it
might be too little Caesar's or Papa John's or whatever
it is, you finally use the thing they have wore
you down. That is the approach it takes in sales.
That's why billboards work. You see them, you pass them,
you see them, you see them, you see them, and
you finally go, oh shit, I remember that name and
it becomes something that's ingrained in your mind. There is
a whole method of follow up that every customer has
to have when you're a contractor, and we'll talk about
that in another podcast or even another video where I
talk about retaining that customer after you've made that connection.
How do you take a customer and then turn it
into a recurring customer or at least a lead generation
magnet for you because you do good job for them,
you make them happy, They're going to tell other people.
And there's a proven way to do that. And hopefully
we'll cover that in another upcoming episode here at Master
the NEC podcast, or maybe even on Coffee Hour, which
you should be joining us Monday through Friday at eight
am Eastern Time over on fast Tracks Tube. You'll see
a link to Coffee Hour. Join us every morning Monday
through Friday. We'd love to have you there all right,
Till next time, folks, Stay safe, God blessed, and we'll
catch you on another episode of Master the a NEC podcast.
Speaker 2: Peace.
Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning into another electrifying episode of the Master
the ANC podcast. We hope you're feeling more powered up
and ready to tackle the electrical world with the knowledge
and confidence you need to succeed. Remember, in the electrical grade,
knowledge is power, and we're here to make sure you
stay plugged into the latest insights, tips and code updates.
If you enjoy today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave
us a review, and share the podcast with your fellow
electricians and industry pros. Until next time, keep your tools sharp,
your circuits clear, and you're my focused because here at
the Master of the NEEC podcast, we're all about sparking
your success. Stay safe, stay smart, and keep mastering the trade.
From all of us here at Electrical Code Academy, thank
you for all your support and we will see you
on the next amazing Master of the NEC podcast episode.