Episode 16- Overcoming Option Fog- The Key to Closing More Deals

@14:15 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

We're here to help you master your sales, simplify pricing and deliver consistent premium level service and today we're talking about options, how we get in the way of our own selves really when we're creating those options and just some frameworks to help you guys with that as we just got off.

doing a RSS, as we call it, round table support session with a couple of our clients, where we were helping them from scratch develop six options for a living room ceiling fan and a couple of Smokies, I think were in there as well.

We delivered this in about 35, 40 minutes flat from scratch, Word document, everything laid out. And then on the side, I was even working on a templated one with some branding and just showing the possibilities for making that look great at the same time.

That was a mouthful.

@15:28 - Joseph Lucanie

Joseph, how you doing today? I am freaking pumped as I love options and I feel like electricians need to know a hell of a lot more about them than we do.

So let's make today count.

@15:38 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

I'm so ready to make this happen. I wanna frame this up and let you guys know if you haven't witnessed Joseph's innate ability to create options, really let's go deeper into his innate ability to be in the mindset of the very homeowners we're serving that makes him uniquely equipped to handle this challenge.

I just love your ability. in this area, man, I got to say that live right here on the podcast.

So can I just ask quickly, how did you have this mindset shift? How'd you get to this place of just being with the customers in their needs, desires, and problems?

@16:14 - Joseph Lucanie

Well, I mean, not to get too dark with it, but realistically, I spent my entire life not being happy.

Right. And then I realized that my goal wasn't to solve people's electrical concerns. My goals were to help them be happy.

So because I had been looking my whole life for ways for me to be happy, I was in that mindset to say, okay, you've asked for this, I was asking for things and wanting more, what's stopping them from asking for things and wanting more.

The only difference is that they had no idea. They don't know what homeowner knows electrical systems and what options are available to them.

So technically I was doing a disservice by not thinking of things for them. And I wasn't okay with that.

@17:01 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

I love that. And this has to be a problem that I've encountered with more electricians than anything else, including myself.

I get it. We get this, this brain block. It just like the fog of options. And that's why we called this actually option fog.

We've created that term and we're going to stick to it because we just get in our own way. And some of you said so important is we're focused on electron flow and the code.

Right. They didn't give us a little book to follow. It's pretty large for good reason. But then our entire training is all what we call convergent thinking.

So it's all yes and no. And does this apply? Does this rule apply? Does this rule apply? We spend so much time in that space.

We forget to just make a customer happy.

@17:48 - Joseph Lucanie

That's why they want you there in the first place. They're not calling me to do things just because they're bored.

You didn't show up door to door. They called you for a reason. The best thing to do is to figure out what emotions.

What emotional concern or pain motivated them to call? And then your sole responsibility is to say, if that's your pain, I need to solve it.

So it makes you, when you're focused in saying, you know what, this person's hurting and they don't realize it, you're more motivated to find better solutions.

@18:19 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

I love that. And one of the first things we were addressing it live in the group, of course, we're live every day in the group before these podcasts.

If you're not part of the Electropreneurs group, it's never too late. Join us at Electropreneur Secrets on Facebook to get more active and engaged with us.

And live right here, we've got Harrison saying, we've been good at, sorry, we've been doing good, better, best. Would love to know how to simply present the six options better.

And some we were talking about already is three. And so it's not really a surprise that either, either electricians are making no options, option offers, three option offers, but it never seems to exceed that.

@18:58 - Joseph Lucanie

Why is that? So the thing. is that we often become limited in two ways. We're either limited in our electrical knowledge, which for not all of us is the case, or we're limited in how we feel like these new options connect to what the customer really wants.

So like, you know, you take a typical outlet for an example and it trips. Well, logically you're like, okay, well, my bottom options just changed the outlet.

What more could the customer want? Two outlets change all the outlets in the room. Okay, and that's usually where it tops off.

They're like, that's all they called me for. I don't want to seem like a salesman, but realistically there's so much more.

And you've heard me talk about this when it comes to, what do you do with a trip countertop GFI, right?

I feel like I don't have to beat that one down anymore.

@19:48 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

You could, you could. If you let me, I'll do it. You know what, like just to expand on this.

Okay, so if that's the limitation, if the problem really is, hey, I can't think of anything else. Mm-hmm. And we.

We've touched on, well, we're trying to make your customers happy. By the way, Segway works for staffing and retention too.

People all are chasing happiness if you didn't notice. I'm holding my hand like this like it's one of these electropreneurs secrets that everyone's avoiding.

It's right in front of us guys, right? There's books, the happiness method. Everyone's chasing this thing, so let's give it to them.

All right, so you could do a trip GFCI. We could also touch on, I mean, there was some really obvious hot tub solutions that a lot of people experienced roadblocks on, brain blocks, fog of options on.

@20:39 - Joseph Lucanie

Mm-hmm.

@20:40 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

Okay. Your choice.

@20:42 - Joseph Lucanie

I'll leave it in your court. No worries. So the first thing that I want to do is I want to describe the dangers of good, better, best.

Then I'd be happy to take on anyone. In fact, Harrison, if you're listening, I'll even let you be the one to suggest what options I'm going to design off the fly.

Love that. The dangers with good, better, best is it's very rarely presented. as best, better, good. It's always presented as good, better, best.

You start with your lowest offer and then you move up from there. The problem is, is what if they say no to your first offer, which is the lowest one?

So you went in and you're saying, hey, I'm gonna change the ceiling fan for you. Yeah, I know you provided it.

The bottom option is, hey, I'll just throw up what you put up, 300 bucks. And they're like, no, that's outrageous.

I can't do it for $300. Well, now what? You can't tell them about the one above it where you're gonna put a better remote control in for 500 or the one where you're gonna recess the wiring in the wall for 1500.

You just cut yourself off short. So literally if you wanna do good, better, best, all you have to do is flip it and say, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give you the best first.

Then I'm gonna give you the mid range. Then I'm gonna give you the economy. Because technically now each level is an opportunity to ask for the sale.

So previously with good, better, best, if I didn't get the bottom option sold, I was done. I was tapped out.

I can't offer anything more. But in this method, I can say, well, this is the best possible way. What I'll do is I will recess all the wiring in the wall.

It'll be hidden, we'll spackle, we'll paint it, dual controls, problem solved. No, I don't want that, it's too expensive.

Not a problem, let's get rid of that choice. The middle one is instead of having it fully recessed and us painting it, we reassess it, you paint it, still get it done, everything's perfect.

No, I don't want that either. Okay, well, our bottom, bottom, bottom option is if you don't want it recessed and you don't want it painted, we could just put track molding on the wall.

Not the prettiest thing, but it'll do. How would you like to proceed? So theoretically, you have three options now to ask for a sale.

@22:51 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

Doesn't that sound better? Yeah, yeah, big time. At the end of the day, working through this stuff like we did in our art.

process, as long as we split, at least this is my interpretation, you correct me if I'm wrong, I love watching you work with this stuff, so long as we're able to remove the pricing at first and work through, not the options as a exchange at this point, but a decided value piece, a decision of perceived value, would we like that option or not?

@23:25 - Joseph Lucanie

Okay, that sounds like you would.

@23:28 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

Okay, perfect. Would we like to do this or have you guys do it? Et cetera, et cetera. As you go down this list, and it seems very intuitive actually in this presentation.

So price really is kind of the last thing to deal with. And I'm seeing Harrison saying here, we start with the highest offer and remove extras going down in the lead with financing.

@23:51 - Joseph Lucanie

Okay, fair enough. That's a more effective model than just good, better, best, basic, but there's even better ways in enhancing it from that.

So be personally, I always. believes in offering five to six options because realistically you need to know that let's okay.

So Harrison, I'm speaking directly to you here, buddy. And I don't mean to bad mouth you whatsoever.

@24:11 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

It's not my intention. No, he's already, he started off with love to know how to simply present six options better.

Harrison's in a constructive mindset. He's open, ready to tackle this with us.

@24:22 - Joseph Lucanie

So I love that. That's perfect. It's just when you're doing that particular format where you're just starting from the best then you do the mid range and you do the economy but you only have three choices.

Are you really giving three choices? Because imagine I'm a premium buyer, right? And you only offer one premium choice.

How many choices do I have? I don't have three. I have this one or nothing. Same applies to the mid range.

Same applies to economy. If I'm an economy buyer and there's this buy this or nothing it's no different than.

just giving one choice. That's why it is so essential that when you design your choices, we have two premium, two mid range and two economy.

That way becomes this premium or that premium, this mid range, that mid range, this economy, that economy. When people are presented with choices of this or that compared to this or nothing, they end up choosing something.

And that almost always ends up benefiting you and them.

@25:31 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

Make sense? Absolutely. I love that. And for anyone who's on the fence about options at all at this point, just assuming there's a few of you out there, let me just say like one choice is no choice at all.

So any situation with a few options or not, that leaves them feeling like there's only one choice is a dangerous place that becomes an ultimatum of whether or not they're going to work with you or someone else.

And if you don't know the danger of ultimatums, look over at your partner and tell me how that worked out last time.

I think we've all made that mistake once, right?

@26:03 - Joseph Lucanie

Yeah, every one of us have done those things before.

@26:05 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

End up in the doghouse. Okay, so what's something actionable people can take steps towards grading six options? How do we make this something that's achievable for a listener today?

@26:16 - Joseph Lucanie

No problem. So when it comes to building options, this thing that usually scares most electricians is they like to start at the top.

And they're like, what's the best? What's the best? What's the best? And the problem with that is it often keeps you detached from what the customer really called you for in the first place.

So for those who are newcomers to building options, this is my suggestion. Start off at the bottom. I mean your bottom, I mean like your bottom, bottom.

Option six is what is the most basic possible way that I could solve what you're asking for? Even if it's not a permanent solve, it's just a solve.

So like as an example, let's say you have, once again, you can have your kitchen countertop. GFI get. stripped, right?

What is the most basic thing you could possibly do? Well, I mean, you could say something like, I'm just going to reset the GFI at my bottom.

And that's only going to be the cost of my trip charge, or it could be, I'm going to change that GFI, but that would be pretty much considered the bottom bottom, right?

@27:18 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

Yeah.

@27:20 - Joseph Lucanie

Deciding to go up from there, you can say, all right, what other enhancements could there be? Well, I know if my bottom option was, I'm just going to change the GFI, or I'm just going to reset it.

Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to take that GFI off the countertop and I'm going to make it the best installation I possibly can, which means I'm going to take that enclosure, tighten all the wiring behind it, make sure that I got my spacers around because no tile guys ever making it right.

So it makes sure it's spaced all good, wrapping your tape, put it in no locks if needed. And you could say, this itself has a lifetime guarantee on it, or this itself is a one-year guarantee.

They don't like that. Okay, let's go up again. What is that GFI controlling? Is it controlling, if it's in the kitchen, you probably know you have two GFI kitchen circuits, right?

So is that where you can either have the circuit being, you know what, the one thing that this GFI was controlling, I'm now going to localize each one of those points.

So instead of when God knows whatever tripped it in the first place trips it, it's not taking out your toaster and your fridge and your coffee machine, it's all localized.

So when one trips, all the others still function. That gives the customer a better level of peace of mind as well as less frustration of having to reset all their clocks, right?

Yeah. So now you can go above that. What would be a better way? Every electrician that I've ever met can say the same thing in that have you ever gone into a home and found a surge strip sitting on the countertop.

Plugged in. to one outlet behind their refrigerator because that's the only one they have. Like, we know those exist, right?

But how many of us have ever done anything about it? Wouldn't it make more sense that your option above this is, yeah, not only am I going to have all the ones localized, but I'm going to install either a two-gang box and have them installed, or even a three-gang box.

Or if you find out there's all different phone chargers in place, why not install USB charging points? If you notice that they don't have under cabinet lighting and they want it, what's stopping you from installing backlit outlets?

All these things are enhancements that would benefit the lives of your customers.

@29:44 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

Follow me so far?

@29:44 - Joseph Lucanie

Absolutely.

@29:46 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

I mean, I could keep going if you're down. Um, we're getting a little late in it, but let's give it a couple more minutes, sure.

@29:52 - Joseph Lucanie

All right, we're in. All right, so as you continue on, you think to yourselves, what else could be included?

Well, we now offer our club members a chance to meet our club members. You think to yourself, well, if I'm going to install this, and I see that this itself was installed not in the best possible way, would it not benefit the customer for me to be able to say, I'm going to go through the entire house and check every single individual point, and I can give you a written report at the end of it?

That way you can be in full control of your budget and your timeframe? Would it not be better if for your fridge, I had an audible alarm GFI?

So if the food ever went bad, you know that it's going to ring you and you know about it?

The sky's the limit on what you can do. And it's up to us to ensure that we're doing it the right way.

@30:41 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

So what would you classify out of those as the all-star action for today? I got the all, the first action is, listen, we're going to start options at the bottom.

Take that little tweak. And maybe it's just coming up with six options. Maybe that's the commitment that's all-star here today.

@30:58 - Joseph Lucanie

I don't think we can, I think we can do better than that for the all-star. All right. All right.

The all star action, if you really want to do options the right way, it requires a very specific mind frame.

You are not a salesperson. You are not an electrician. You are a conduit to which people can get their needs met.

That is all you are. When a customer calls you for something, your responsibility isn't just to say, I'm here to fix this one point.

Your responsibility is to learn what is motivating this customer to want this in the first place. And once I understand that motivation, I now have the ability to solve their problems in a way that will make them happier.

Our goal is to make them safe, but they have to be happy because people don't like to spend, people don't like to buy things, right?

They don't know, I'm saying, scratch it. People don't like to sell. They don't like to be sold on anything.

No one wants to be sold, but everyone wants to buy when it's in their best. interest. So the all-star action is a line up your ways to say, am I making the customer safer and happier by me being here?

And if you are, you're very likely moving towards a successful presentation.

@32:13 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

I love that. I love that. I'm just going to throw one more little tidbit and maybe it's a whole other podcast, but, um, there was a, uh, misspoke that for a second.

There's definitely a connection, a chemical connection for many people when they purchase a dopamine release that actually causes happiness.

That is very real. So we have to definitely embrace that people do like to spend. They don't like seeing that money leave their account.

The exchange has to be ripe and worth it for them.

@32:48 - Joseph Lucanie

A hundred percent, a hundred percent. None of us want to be people like being a salesman is such a dirty word.

People just don't like it. But we need to be able to communicate value to our clients.

@33:00 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

Otherwise we're all sitting on our asses at home.

@33:02 - Joseph Lucanie

Yeah. So the thing is, is that if you're going to sell, why not do it in a way with integrity and honesty, but why not also do it in a way that makes them happier and your business profitable?

Is that really an unfair exchange? I will trade you your happiness for me being able to continue to provide you and others in our community happiness.

@33:23 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

Absolutely. Abundant exchange, man. It's the best way to go. We are premium service providers trying to help you master your sales, simplify your pricing and really perfect your premium level of service.

So I'm Clay Neumeier. This is Joseph Lucani. Thank you guys again. If you're watching the replay on Facebook, feel free to please continue commenting, let us know what your thoughts were.

And if someone you know needed to hear this, do share it with them, bring them to the Electropreneurs group.

Can't wait to see you guys again tomorrow.

@33:53 - Joseph Lucanie

Cheers to your success.

@33:55 - Clay Neumeyer (serviceloopelectrical.com)

Bye for now.