Google Search: "Simon Sinek Golden Circle"

 

Stage 1: Prepare

·         Think about all the things you do before every call that makes you better prepared.

·         Preparation starts from the time you receive your call and ends when the tech enters the neighborhood.

·         Failure to prepare, is preparing to fail!

·         Physical preparation help you avoid predictable mistakes.

·         Mental preparation helps you avoid distractions.

·         Take a moment to list all the things you should do to mentally and physically prepare for every call!

 

Stage 2: Greet

·         Sales are not made in the greet step, but they are lost!

·         Only 7% of the words you speak are effective in first impressions.

·         According to the UCLA study, 38% is from tone of voice and 55% is from your nonverbals (facial expressions, body language).

·         You never get a second chance to make a first impression!

·         Remember you are at the castle, and the King and Queen are watching you.

·         The greet step starts from the time the technician is visible to the customer and ends once the agenda has been set.

·         New research has shown that visual first impressions are made in the blink of an eye.

·         The technician should always park on the correct side of the street.

·         When getting out of the vehicle make sure to be quick to get to the back of your truck to retrieve tools, red carpet, and booties. Don’t forget your pricing guide.

·         Salesman carry clipboards, technicians carry tools.

·         Never walk through the yard, stay on the sidewalk.

·         When at the door, we always knock and never ring the doorbell.

·         When the customer answers the door greet them by saying: Thank you for calling Milestone, my name is ____________, how can we help you today?

·         Make sure to ask if your truck is parked okay.

·         Ask permission to enter the home: “May we come in?”

·         At this point we are still strangers, and we need an ice breaker to start creating a relationship with the customer.

·         People do business with people they trust.

·         Address the issue we were called out by saying: “since you’ve owned the home, is this the first time you’ve had this issue?” Follow up by saying, “Is this the first time you’ve used Milestone?”

·         Now is the time to set the agenda. This is where you set the tone for the call and how you take control of the service call.

·         We set an agenda for the customer so that they understand what we’re going to do to address their particular needs.

·         An agenda should sound something like this: “Before we look at the issue, I would like to let you know a few things. First, we will look at the issue together and I’ll ask you a few questions so that I can come up with a good solution for us, then I might need to see some other key components of the system. After that I will be able to write up some repair solutions for us and with your approval we will be able to start the work today. Does that sound okay?”

 

Stage 3: Explore

·         The explore stage is where you establish yourself as the professional.

·         Nobody likes a know-it-all, but everyone respects and admires a professional.

·         The explore stage starts after the agenda has been set and ends after options have been written.

·         Start by asking: “Do you mind taking me to the issue?” When you are taken to the area of concern, you need to start asking questions like a doctor would. We like to call these, “symptom” and “lifestyle” questions.

·         Symptom questions are product related and lifestyle questions are people related.

·         Symptom questions help us diagnose the issue, while lifestyle questions help us come up with permanent solutions.

·         Symptom Questions:

o   Electrical

§  “Does this receptacle give you issues often?

§  “How many receptacles are not working?”

§  “How long has it not been working?”

o   Plumbing

§  “Does this toilet/faucet give you issues often?”

§  “How many toilets/faucets are not working?”

o   HVAC

§  “Does the cooling system work appropriately?”

§  “How long has the AC unit been shutting off unexpectedly?”

·         Lifestyle Questions:

o   Electrical

§  “How often are the receptacles used?”

§  “Who in your family noticed these not working?”

§  “What was going on when they noticed that?”

§  “Do you feel you have enough power in this room when they are all working?”

o   Plumbing

§  “Is this the most frequently used restroom in the house?”

§  “Do you feel the pressure is sufficient when it was working properly”?

o   HVAC

§  “Does anyone in the family work from home during the day and require the system to run cool more frequently?”

§  “What temperature do you prefer to keep the thermostat at?”

·         Both symptom and lifestyle questions need to be asked so that we can uncover the wants and needs of the customer and determine the proper solution.

·         Now that you have asked both lifestyle and symptom questions, it is time to re-assure the customer that they are in good hands.

·         Talk about your credibility a little at this point and that there is no reason why this can’t be taken care of today for the customer.

·         Electrical Example:

o   “Now that I have a good handle on what is going on here there is no reason I can’t get this taken care of for you today, as I have seen this problem before and with my ________ years of experience in the field and working in homes like yours I WILL be able to get you taken care of TODAY.  Before I get started I would like to see where the panel, electrical box is just in case I need to turn off power to the area.”

o   Have the customer take you to the panel and this may set up for conversation about the panel condition, age, or brand depending on what type they have.  This is also your opportunity to mention surge protection as well.  Keep in mind we are not giving a sales pitch about either replacing the panel or installing surge, we are simply making an observation and verbalizing it.  If the customer offers up interest then go through the steps of the symptom and lifestyle questions.

·         Plumbing Example:

o   Ask the customer about shut-off in case water needs to be shut off in the home. Depending on the age of the home, it may or may not have a shut off, or it may be inoperable. At this point, mention if the water pressure is known due to most plumbing being warrantied only up to the 1980’s.

·         HVAC Example:

o   Ask the customer to take you to the thermostat and see if it comes on. Even if you know that the unit is working, verify this before beginning work. Ask the customer, “Are there any other issues I can address while I’m working on this for you?” (hot spots/cold spots) Ask the customer, “Where is your air purification system located.” This prompt shows knowledge and experience, as well as prompting IAQ referral.

·         After all this has been done it is now time to ask the customer for comfortable area where you can write some repair options.

·         Let them know it may take you about 10-20 minutes to write them up and you will notify them when you are ready to present.

Option Sheet Guidelines:

·         Now that you have a comfortable place in the home to write up repair options, there are some general guidelines to follow for successful presentation of options.

·         There should be a minimum of three options and a maximum of five.  This will avoid not having enough options to where they feel forced to make a decision and will also avoid having too many to where they can’t make a decision.

·         Options should be informative and descriptive with the scope of work to be performed.  One- or two-word descriptions will not work.  Remember you are presenting to the King and Queen of the castle.

·         There are a few tricks that help with keeping customer price anxiety from happening while presenting options.  The first is bundle your options rather than line item pricing your options.  The next is ALWAYS have finance options next to every total for every option over $1,000.

·         Options should not have too much of a price gap between them.  It’s very hard to present options if the bottom option is $100 and the next option is $3,000, so make sure they are reasonably spread out. 

·         Finally, but the most important, make sure your options are legible.

·         If you take time to make sure your hand writing is nice and neat then it shows attention to detail which most likely the customer will associate that with the quality of work you will provide.

·         Take out an option sheet and practice writing up some options based off the 33 point provided on the next page. Keep in mind all the guidelines on the previous page.

·         For this exercise here is some needed information.

o   Electrical Scenario:

§  House is located in Plano TX.  House was built in 1970.  Panel is located in the closet on an exterior wall back to back with the meter base.  The customer has expressed interest in getting the panel replaced as well as surge protection.  The customer is not too concerned with installing hardwired smoke detectors, but is interested in a whole home re-device, and does agree that the existing smoke detector in the hallway should be upgraded.

o   Plumbing Scenario:

§  House is 13 years old. The water heater is located in the garage. Customer has expressed interest in getting it replaced, as well as seeing if there is any way to not have to wait so long to get hot water to the master shower. The customer is not overly concerns with the scale build up at the faucet, but asked if anything is good for cleaning it. 12 of the home 16 shut off valves are original multi-turn stops.

o   HVAC Scenario:

§  Customer’s home is 20 years old.  Customer has 2015 outdoor unit and 2014 indoor unit. Homeowner called us out because the unit wasn’t working correctly and was poorly installed.

§  Come up with your best option sheet for the scenario above using the safety inspections on the following pages and using the guidelines on the previous page.  You will have about 30 minutes to write these options.  Feel free to ask questions.

Credibility Speech:

·         Before you present your options, you need to have a confident, but not arrogant credibility speech prepared.

·         There are three major components to a successful credibility speech.  It must give credibility in these three areas:

o   Personal

o   Company

o   Pricing

·         Personal credibility is basically a reason of why the customer should be using you to do the job and why you are the right choice.

·         Company credibility is the reason why the customer should be using the company to back up the job you are going to do.  Give the customer the highlight reel of what an awesome company we are and what your favorite part of Milestone is.

·         Pricing credibility is giving the customer reassurance that our pricing system is fair and allows for easy up-front pricing, kind of like a menu at a restaurant.

·         Time to come up with your own credibility speech

·         Here is an example: “Ok, Mr. Douglas, I have come up with some solutions for your issues today and I am ready to go over them with you.  I would like to start by reminding you that I am licensed, background checked, and drug tested electrician who has been in the trade for _____ years, so I can definitely take care of this today for you.  I love my job and the best part is I get to help people and their family with making their home safe.  I work for the best company in the world in my opinion, but definitely in the DFW area.  We back up all our work with 5 guarantees that most companies won’t make, and my personal favorite is the 100% money back guarantee.  We will do everything possible to make sure you are 100% happy with our service and if we fail to do that you get all your money back.  Pretty awesome right?  Now you can see I have this pricing guide and it has all of our pricing for every job we may encounter inside it.  It’s basically like a restaurant menu but for electrical work.  All the pricing is done up front and with customer approval before any work is started, that way there are no surprises.  Does everything sound great so far?”

 

Stage 4: Present

·         Now you are ready for the PRESENT stage of the call.  This starts once you have finished writing the options and have the customer’s attention again.  Present ends when you have a signed invoice.

·         Make sure to be ready to deliver your credibility.

·         After the customer says: “everything sounds great so far.”  they must say this so that you know going into the options that you are on good terms or at least common ground.  Then you go into your option sheet explanation.

·         Your top option should be your best option.  All the remaining options should have some sort of reminder or bring attention to the top option so the customer can remember what they are losing getting by choosing a lower option.

·         Clearly describe each option.  Give visuals if necessary or show and tell may work as well, so that the customer can understand what is going to take place.

·         Do not speak the total, just point to it.  Make sure to bring attention to the finance monthly payment.

·         After you present all options you should have a closing statement and it should sound something like this:  “Mr. Douglas, if this were my house and it was in my budget I would choose this option here, but they are all good options.  Which one can we get started on today for you?”

·         Now the critical moment.  After this last statement you need to shut up.

·         The first person to speak loses.

·         Wait for them to ask, respond, say YES, whatever.  Do not start buckling under the awkward silence.  Let them take a moment to soak in the information and make their own decision.  You had your chance to speak already. 

·         If they ask questions, answer them.  Then shut up again.

·         Once they have agreed to an option then have them initial the option sheet and then transfer all work over to the invoice and write the total at the bottom of the invoice and gain the approval signature from customer.

Stage 5: Execute

·         Once you have gained the approval signature on the invoice it is time to get to work, but first we need to check in with the customer. 

·         Let the customer know what is going to take place first, what you are going to work on first, how long it is going to take, what things you need to get out of the truck to get started, etc.

·         Make sure to be efficient by getting all you need out of the truck in the least amount of trips necessary.

·         The less trips out to the truck the less doubt the customer will have about your competence as a technician and the work you are doing.

·         Make sure to check in with the customer as you go from room to room.

·         Just because they said yes does not mean the relationship is over.

·         You are still a guest in the Queen and King’s castle.

·         Make sure to clean as you go.  Do not leave a mess to clean up later.

·         At some point before all is done you will need to perform your safety inspection, if not done already.

·         If not done already and presented to customer then after completing the safety inspection you will need go back to the explore stage and through the present stage.

·         If done already and presented to the customer then be sure to double check all work and make sure all areas of the home are cleaner than when you arrived.

·         Now you are ready for the last part of the service call.

Stage 6: Wrap Up

·         Wrap up begins once all work has been completed and tested, and all work areas are clean.  The service call always ends with us thanking the customer for using us today.

·         Once you have everything cleaned and ready, it’s time to get the customer to do a walk through of the job.

·         Show the customer all the work you did, have them operate the equipment if applicable. 

·         Answer all of their questions and make sure they fully understand everything that was done and how to use it.

·         Now it is time to finish up the invoice by writing a detailed description of the work performed in the notes section of the invoice. 

·         Ask the customer before getting final signature: “are you 110% satisfied with the work completed today?”  If they say yes and express that through tone and body language, then ask them for form of payment.

·         Do not collect any money from any customer you feel might be concerned with anything about the service call.  If they are concerned, it is your job to ask what can I do to make things better. If a Manager needs to get involved, then call a Manager to help. 

·         After collecting payment information from the customer and gaining the final signature, ask the customer if they have any more questions.  Now it’s time to ask for a review.

·         “Mr. Douglas, if you are happy with the service today would you mind writing a review about how I did out here today, my owners and managers love to hear how we are doing in the field.”  Direct the customer to one of the social media sources to leave a review if they agree.  If they don’t agree then maybe there is a concern, and you need to address it.

·         If all is good then politely thank the customer for choosing us and leave with a smile, and calmly drive away from the home to the nearest gas station to send in your info.

 

Things you need to know:

·         Call the office for pricing on any multiples of 3 or more.

·         The gross margining, we are trying to hit on every job is 65%

·         My material percentage should never be higher than 15%

·         When re-devicing a home I need to call a Manager for pricing.

·         When re-wiring a home, I need to call a Manager for pricing.

·         My task hour rate is $54.50/HR

·         If a job is going to take significantly less than the time allotment given I should discount it.

·         Our pricing in the pricing guide is meant for service calls that we are going out to do just one or two of the items.  Anything more than that an adjustment needs to be made to price the job correctly.