Adam (00:12)
Welcome to Masters of Home Service, the best podcast for home service pros like us. I’m your host, Adam Sylvester, and I want you to crush it in business. You can have the fastest, coolest car on the planet, but if you’re not giving it gas, it’s not going to go anywhere. You can have a Tesla, you could have a Porsche, but if you don’t power the engine, it’s not going to go anywhere. And for us in business, that is sales and marketing.

Sales and marketing power the machine. You can have the best operations, the best people, the best processes, and the best customer experience. But if the phone isn’t ringing, then you’re not making any money. And so today we’re going to talk about sales and marketing and how to boost that in your business. My buddy today is Jeff. He is really good at sales, really good at marketing. We both love sales and marketing. So we’re going to give you a game plan for how to boost that in your business. So, whether you’re doing $5,000 a month or just getting started, you need some momentum.

Or maybe you’re more of an advanced business, but you’ve gotten kind of lazy on this. We’re going to inject some life into you today. So Jeff, let’s get into it. Who are you, and what do you do

Jeff (01:16)
My name is Jeff, The 360 Electrician. I happen to run the number one channel on social media for electricians to become electrical contractors and, most importantly, to help contractors level up in the game. Adam, this is one of my favorite subjects.

Adam (01:30)
We are both super passionate about sales and marketing. And so I’m pretty jazzed about this. There are people out there listening that just need some cold, hard advice on how to get the sales and marketing ball moving in their direction. Feels, sometimes it can feel like it’s moving against them. Right? What would you say is the biggest mistake that our listeners are making when it comes to sales and marketing?

Jeff (01:52)
Super easy, probably the biggest mistake I made. And that’s that they have no idea that they’re not just a electrical contractor. They’re not just an HVAC. They’re not a plumber, a lawn and service. They’re a marketing company. That’s right. And they forget that. And right now, people probably just went, huh? Because you have to be a marketing company if you’re in business, plain and simple. And so hopefully we’re going to talk about some uplifting, easy-to-swallow marketing tips and tricks, because I see so many of my coaching clients that just they don’t know how to make that phone ring. You know, look, I always say we’re great at the trade, but we suck at business. We suck even worse at marketing sometimes.

Adam (02:27)
What do you think is the first step someone needs to take in order to get this ball moving?

Jeff (02:32)
I think the first and foremost, no matter what, it’s not a big investment, but you have to set aside a little bit of money, and hopefully a lot of money, but it doesn’t have to be a ton specifically for marketing, but obviously targeted marketing. Like you better know where every single dollar comes and what the ROI on that’s going to be.

Adam (02:48)
Okay, so Google Ads, Facebook ads, flyers, and door hangers—what kind of stuff are you talking about? Yard signs?

Jeff (02:54)
Absolutely. So we started in Montana, my second brick-and-mortar in Montana. We completely dominate Google search maps. We’re one, two, three guaranteed. It’s organic. I do pay a media company to do that because, again, I’m not an expert on that, and I want to always get the best of the best for my company. So that’s the first, because if you’re pointing everybody to a website or reviews, they want to know more about you. SEO and all that good stuff for sure. It’s a little, I call that online marketing.

I specifically target offline marketing because you and I, as contractors and business owners, have full control over that. But absolutely, the first step I would say is yes, online marketing first, because that’s the foundation of all your marketing, especially in 2025 and beyond.

Adam (03:35)
Yeah, I mean, if your Google profile is not totally maxed out, you’re missing out. It’s free. You want to basically feed Google as much information as you can so that it knows who you are and, what you do, and how you can serve people.

Jeff (03:44)
Yeah, and you know what’s funny, Adam? I did that too, so I got pretty much put into place. If you don’t know how to do it correctly, don’t do it. It could actually mess you up. Go to a professional that you trust, someone that’s actually showing it, not just there to get your money every month. I don’t usually like to use companies that every time I call, it’s a different person answering. Get a small business, a small SEO company that you can call and literally talk to the owner. They’re the ones that are gonna take care of you the most because they want the referrals and they wanna keep you happy.

I made the mistake of thinking I could do that. And then later, when I had to fix it, it was really difficult because there’s nobody at Google you can call and say, “I messed up on this.” Tough luck. You don’t want to change your name, so you have to be really careful about that. But you’re absolutely right. It’s 100% the first foundation.

Adam (04:26)
I think a lot of people are probably wondering the same thing I’m wondering: What happened? How did you mess that up? Is it a short story? Is it a long story? Because I’ve never heard anybody say that, I want to hear it easy.

Jeff (04:35)
Yeah, I was cheap. I didn’t want to spend the money. I thought it’s not a big deal. I got cheap. And honestly, people who are listening to this probably saying, yeah, he’s right. You know, we feel like I’m going to pay someone a thousand to $2,000 just to put up my Google listing. Is that feasible? That’s your rocket ship, right? If you aim that rocket ship, I’ll say this a lot. If you’re off by one degree in five years, how many miles are you off, which would equal to dollars. So really getting that rocket ship, meaning your Google, that’s your foundation.

You better spend some more time researching it. Look, there’s a lot of self-help videos and stuff that you can do. I’m not saying you 100% can. 

Adam (05:14)
ChatGPT can probably help with that, too.

Jeff (05:17)
Probably, probably. I know the company that I go, I use is Joe Burnett’s Big West Marketing. I’ve partnered up with him. He’s actually a business partner on my coaching site as well. He’s got me to number one in every single location I’ve been to. Super fast, super easy. Common sense that I can even understand as a trades person.


Adam (05:30)
In terms of guerrilla marketing,  I built my business on yard signs. My vehicles were wrapped early on. And so those two things alone, people are like, yeah, I see your signs everywhere. I see your vans everywhere. Gosh, your signs are like raining down from heaven. Like, man, they’re everywhere. And like, yeah, we keep them out there. And so I think if you’re just starting out, yard signs are terrific. Adam, I can’t put yard signs in my city. They get mad at me. Put them in your client’s yards. Put them next to their mailbox. They’ll be there for a week and a half, and all the neighbors see it.

Jeff (06:00)
Yes, absolutely. So yeah, I didn’t know there was a term coined “the five around.” That’s if you and I train my guys before you knock on the door for the first service call, you pass a flyer to the left, right, and three behind. Well, Joe told me that’s the five around. Go, well, see, I’m not a marketer, but I knew it. So absolutely. And that sign, you’re there for three days. In three days, how many of your neighbors are gonna go, well, that gardener’s there, that landscaper’s there, that electrician. I’d like to get a quote.

And then you can give free estimates at that point because you’re already there. There’s so many pluses to yard signs for sure. We try to put banners on every single new construction we can during the whole construction. 

Adam (06:37)

What’s a banner? 

Jeff (06:38)
A banner, like a four-by-six banner, like a sports banner. It’s got our name, phone number, and just how to reach us. And then also one little caveat: I know it’s a side note, so make sure it’s in your contract that you’re allowed to put signs in their yard. Because if someone trips, then they’re going say you didn’t have permission and all that good stuff. So that’s just a little bonus.

Adam (06:54)
That’s California talking right there.

So what are some other things that you coach your clients, for example, what you’ve done in the past, like what else are we, I want to give our listeners just tons of ideas.

Jeff (07:06)
Yeah, I mean, I’m gonna shotgun them out to you. When I do marketing, I think of marketing in multiple levels. I don’t wanna just make a flyer. Oh, it’s a flyer. We’ve been around for a thousand years. I use that flyer for a closing tool. People wanna put a discount on there, right? For $100 off coupon, blah, blah. When my technicians are already in the door and they’re making the sale, and the customer says, ‘Oh, $2,800. Ooh, it seems like a lot. Is there anything you can do for me?”

Well, Mr. Adam, you know what? I do have a flyer that’s got a hundred-dollar coupon on it. Hey, look, a hundred dollars is a hundred dollars. I call that the floor mat giveaway. In my generation, when you bought a car and you’re about to sign the papers, the last thing you tell the salesman is, throw in some floor mats so you can get the win. But you see what I’m saying? So I will specifically I use my flyers as a kitchen sink. Put like six things you don’t do, solar, gate motors, at the bottom of the flyer. See, it’s your testing ground. See if people are calling you for that. And if they are, maybe that’s an avenue for diversity.

You see what I’m saying? I’m using my flyers as a marketing tool to get more analytics. I’m using it as a closing tool. I’m using it in a flyer. And if you do my course, I’m going to teach you how you’re going to get those flyers passed out for free without you lifting a dime. It blows everybody away, Adam.

Adam (08:18)
Wow, that sounds great. Well, you’re talking about the people around the house, and there’s so much gold in all the houses around your client that a lot of people just don’t even think about.

Jeff (08:27)
Not at all. I call it mining your client. So every client you go to is literally putting a stake in a possible gold mine. Well, look, if you’re already doing work there and they’ve already called you, you’re halfway through the door. To mine your customer means when you’ve got face time, you better get the processes. And I have a few I can share with you, that you better make sure that that client refers you to two, three, and four. Because again, don’t pay for leads, be the lead. And to do that, get your biggest cheerleaders or your existing clients, and you better mine those.

Adam (08:53)
In the beginning, they’re just so important. Gotta get your friends at church, your friends at baseball, your friends at this and that, your neighbors. They need to be your best allies. And you shouldn’t hide the fact that you’re in business. You shouldn’t hide the fact that you serve people. You need to get them on your side, referring people. And your clients need to be giving you referral. The whole thing needs to be referral-driven in those early days.

Jeff (09:13)
Yes, so there’s a system for that. I now call it the upside-down pyramid, or it could be the funnel. A lot of things, by the way, I’ve probably heard from this and this, and I kind of have a unique background of different businesses, and I put them all together. In general, advertising or marketing will work like this. You’ll pay somebody money, whether it’s Angi, Yelp, or Google, or whatever. You’re paying that, you’re seeing one client, and then you’re praying, pray and spray, right? Oh, I hope they, if you’re not mining them and doing this, oh, I hope they refer me, they refer me, refer me.

I flipped that around. Instead of getting one client making it two or three, which is one of my processes, which I just explained by mining them, I flipped the pyramid around, and now you have 27 customers, let’s just say on the top. Well, only one of those is every client you go to mine them. What’s the other 27? Well, that might be physically going to pass out flyers. One of them might be Yelp. One of them might be Angi. One of them might be getting together with that plumber and saying, Hey, let’s refer somebody. Church.

All those things on the top level, what they’re doing is, yes, they’re increasing that. But the goal is, our goal is what comes out of the bottom of that funnel, that pyramid. Drip, drip, right, this hourglass. I wanna make that bottom of that funnel, that tube, as big as possible. So, not just one trickling down, but since I have so much in that funnel, 27 customers are dropping in every single month instead of a couple. So to do that, you gotta flip it around. Think, you gotta shove everything. Put a magnet on the gas pump. You know what I tell everybody to do? Next time you’re going to lunch at Subway, don’t park in the front.

Park in the back and throw your magnet or a sticker on the panel, then walk around, and people go, well, sticker, is it vandalism? In Montana, it’s not vandalism. In LA, you can probably spray paint it. Nobody’s gonna care. I’m kidding. But what I’m saying is you make that little effort.  Everybody, every job you go to, if you’re not putting your panel sticker in a panel, this goes for, by the way, other trades. If you could put your sticker on… 

Adam (10:57)
The garage door or whatever

Jeff (10:59)
Yeah. If you can give them a magnet, or you know, people are gonna be really receptive when they’ve already used you. So it’s not just electrical because we’re in panels. I mean, I could put it somewhere else in the house as well, or just get creative.

Adam (11:11)
One thing I heard you say is, you know, there’s 27 different ways to get clients. I think a lot of people get pigeonholed. Oh, I just get all my leads from Thumbtack, or I get all my leads from Nextdoor. I get all my leads from it. Well, what are you doing that runs dry? If it breaks, how are you going to fix it? Do you know why it’s working in the first place? You have to have a really wide net because if you don’t and it dries up, then you’re toast. You need to have leads coming from everywhere.

Jeff (11:33)
Amen, you hit it, you hit it right in the head. I always say you gotta diversify your referral and client base as well. You know, look, if someone’s doing something super simple and it’s just residential, are you telling me you can’t do it for commercial? Of course, you probably can. Whether you want to or not, maybe it’s different, but you can. I always say, like, get the McDonald’s client. And I wanna explain what that is. Where do we go to eat? Really quick, in the car, I gotta run. McDonald’s, let’s go. Dollar menu, McDonald’s, you’re in and out. Well, what happens now, let’s just say the recession crashes, and nobody has any money.

I don’t have enough money to go to Outback Steakhouse. Where am I going now? 

Adam (12:05)
McDonald’s. 

Jeff (12:06)
Thank you. You get the McDonald’s customer, you’re busy. Rain, shine, economy’s up, economy’s down. So diversify your client base. How do you get McDonald’s clients? Well, obviously.

Adam (12:16)
What is McDonald’s? Say that again. What do mean by McDonald’s Client? Do you mean that pay a lot of money or little money?

Jeff (12:20)
A McDonald’s client is developers. I do restaurants, tilt-ups. I mean, you could physically really do McDonald’s. We do a lot of Starbucks. Trust me, Starbucks is building whether you’re sleeping and awake. You wanna get developers, people whose money is not affected by what affects you as a small business. I coach people in Texas. Guess what’s happening now to their housing market? That they were making millions three years ago. Now they’re sitting on their thumbs. They have no idea, they’re freaking out. And they go, that’s because you don’t advertise, by the way, when times are bad.

You advertise when times are good, right? That you have to. And so the McDonald’s client is that evergreen client.

Adam (12:56)
Yeah, that makes sense. And that’s so true about advertising. You just never stop advertising, never stop marketing because, oh, we’re booked out six weeks. Why would I market now? Because you’re not always going to be booked up six weeks. And when you are short of jobs, it’s too late.

Jeff (13:10)
Right. And how about the 80-20 rule? How much is it for recessed lights? Recessed lights are like the oil change of my industry. But if I have 27 calls coming and four of them are recessed lights, I can easily say, “I’m sorry, we don’t do recessed lights.” I still capture their information, too, by the way. I always get them. But you see what I’m saying? Everybody always complains about my customer is…

When you’re advertising 24-7, you get the higher ground. You get to pick and choose.

You never wanna burn anybody. I would usually say partner up with another company. Always have a sister, brother company that you’re a friend, somebody that worked for you that now has their own company. Give them the low-hanging fruit, cause they’re maybe they’re first starting out. If you’re the one that’s first starting out, trust me, I know you’re wanna go to every oil change, recessed like job out there, but you know, I’m not gonna say no to anything when I’m starting out. I’m gonna try to get everything I can. And then mind that customer, cause that customer might own shopping centers, properties, apartment buildings, and if not, a rich uncle or aunt does.

Adam (13:42)
Jeff, this is great. want to pause for a minute to talk Jobber. How does Jobber power your sales and marketing in your company?

Jeff (14:09)
I was absolutely blown away when Jobber introduced marketing within Jobber. It’s a game changer. And so what we do is I make it a point to try to collect as much information from a client, whether they’re gonna do work right now or not, because I always feel like that client that’s not your client actually today could be tomorrow. So we do what’s called a daily, weekly, quarterly, semester, and yearly marketing campaign. And so Jobber helps me automate all that to whatever those specials are. So if you called me today and we talked about it, we didn’t do a service call,

It doesn’t matter. I’m going to follow up with you with maybe like say fall or spring with battery backups on your smoke detector, etc, etc. Jobber’s one of the easiest ways to really do that marketing.

Adam (14:49)
Well said. I’m a big fan from a sales perspective, the quotes that you can add optional item line items on there for upsell. So they called for a new battery. But then you add like three different things that you saw in their house that they also need, and they can just choose those. It makes their quote go from hundreds of thousands. I love those. Yeah. If you’re trying to boost your sales marketing game and take it to the next level, then you need Jobber. You need the marketing suite. You need advanced quoting and all the other features that Jobber helps with sales and marketing. Go to jobber.com/podcastdeal. Get the exclusive discount and start using Jobber today. 

Let’s talk about sales now. I love talking about sales. I know you do, too. At this point, marketing’s working, phones are ringing, and someone calls in and says, “I want my electric heater fixed, or I want my recessed lighting.” What kind of things do you say to them, Jeff? I want to maybe role-play a little bit, but what do you say to them to get them in the door?

Jeff (15:39)
When they’re on the phone and how am I gonna make sure that they’re gonna call me? 
So, first and foremost, a couple of tricks I’ve never told anybody in either of my businesses. Yeah, here we go. So people mistake what a service call is. Let’s talk, cause sales starts with a service call, right? Many people mistake, and I hear it all the time. It kind of irks me, and I’m not perfect. Listen, I’m not saying it’s right every single time, but they say, I charged $237 for the first hour and then $150 after that. And I go, for lack of better terms, I said, that’s not very smart. Why?

(16:07)
Are you after the $237? Because how many people are gonna say no to that $237? What I do is I charge a modest service call. The service call fee is for one reason and one reason only, I believe, to qualify your client. If they’re not paying you a service call, they’re probably not gonna pay you what you’re worth. You’re not a cheap electrical contractor, but yet my service call fee is cheaper than everybody else. Why? Because I believe that I use them. I use my competition against themselves and I’ll tell you how they do that.

If you’re now my client and part of that mining is, and by the way, Adam, if you refer anybody and they say it came from you, I waived the $149 service call. So now you call me and say, hey, Adam referred you. And I say, hey, Bob, that’s awesome. And by the way, Bob, you just saved already $149 on that service call fee. Knowing that everybody else is going to charge $100, $200, $300. They already got a value. So right off that get-go, my whole team is trained to give value right from the first second. I always say this, and I say it a hundred times.

I mean, I know that camera pocket, you just need to be a hair thin more valuable than the next guy. Whether that’s cheaper price, putting booties on, showing up, answering the phone. I don’t know what value is to that client, but you just have to be that thread of the hair, better value, and you’ve got the job. So it’s from the very initial phone call is where I start selling. 

Adam (17:27)
So you the service fee and that creates an urgency because they have to before you because in order to get that discount before you arrive they have to go get another client on board is that what you’re saying like they’re gonna call their neighbor right now because they want to waive that fee before you charge them.

Jeff (17:41)
Well, again, my business is very high referral-based. So what I’m trying to say is I’m already selling from the get-go. So if there’s a service call fee, I fully explain what the fee is. I never tie anything into hourly. I’ve had too many lawyers in Los Angeles say, You charge more than I. And I say, well, when you bring your firm to my house to do my legal work, you can charge what I charge. It’s a never-ending process. So what I do is, dear ma’am, sir, listen. So what we do is we get a trained technician who’s licensed qualified to come out there to do the analysis for $149, it’s a credit.

What I’m saying is then if it’s a referral and it says, Adam referred me to you, I automatically tell them that we’re waiving the $149. I could just say it’s free. Yeah. I want to give them values, what I mean. So my sales pitch starts the second we answer the phone. And it’s honest, truthful, makes sense. And it’s across the board the same. No two people are going to say something different in my company.

Adam (18:31)
Now are they asking questions? Are they trying to figure out what the pain is? What exactly is the goal? Book the call?

Jeff (18:36)
100% for us is to go see the client face-to-face. No matter what, it’s always a goal. Now, again, if they say, Just want recessed lights, we might give them a ballpark and just say, Here you go. What I used to get very upset at early on was when they said, Well, how much is it for a panel upgrade? And I’m like, back then we didn’t have cameras on cell phones. That’s how old I am. Well, how much is an eye surgery? Ya know, like, me, so I said, hold up your phone and let me see, like they would be upset. And I realized, you know, I’m just pissing people off, and it’s not gonna work. 


(19:05)
And I just simply say, well, listen, there’s a lot of variables to it, but ours range from this to this. If you’d like a book to service call, this is how it goes. And that’s the best way we can give you an accurate bid. Or if you get another bid, feel free to cross the name out and the things send me it. I’ll know the scope of work, but we do charge $149 to come out and see you. I don’t budge on that because I just think it’s a non-starter for us unless you’re referred, because then you’re almost guaranteed going to get that.

Adam (19:12)
And if they buy $5,000 worth of work, will you waive it then?

Jeff (19:28)
Of course, any work that gets done, because how many times are we going out and we’re resetting a breaker? It’s just $149, thank you very much. Yeah, yeah. We don’t charge. You’re there for 10 minutes. But you’re changing an outlet or dimmer, it’s $199. $199 is the total. We don’t charge the $149.

Adam (19:41)
Okay, that makes sense. What if someone says, Can’t you just give me a price of the phone for this bigger thing? Well, I’m too busy for you to come right now. What are some of the objections that you have overcome for your client?

Jeff (19:53)
Listen, I mean, think of yourself when you’re calling for somewhere to do a party and you’re asking pricing, you’re kind of just looking for the cheapest or the most reasonable. Not always, but I find that when people ask for how much on the phone, it’s either that, they just can’t afford it, so they need it cheaper. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I have the three reasons why people say no, by the way, to your contracts, like almost guaranteed. I still want to get their information. So, first thing I’ll do is tell that, okay, well, let’s start with where’s your address. You want to lock that in for marketing. 

Look, you know what field software I use that is gold, right? So anyway, so I feel them out and I just simply make them put some more work. If they put more skin in the game, I’m more than willing to help them over the phone. Number one is to take a couple of pictures, text it over to us. Our phone lines get texted. So I’m glad I will never say no to anybody because you never know who that next client is. And I have a huge story about that. One of my biggest clients is a guaranteed 50 to $100,000 client for the past 20 years, based on helping that person over the phone.

Adam (20:51)
You never know who you’re talking to. Yeah. I think when you’re on the phone, you have to make sure that people understand that you can solve their problem. And because if they get off the phone and they are not sure if you were the right option, they’ll keep calling. Sure. But you say, ma’am, we’re going to solve X, Y, and Z like you told me. We’re going to be there on Tuesday. And the technician is going to park in the driveway. Like, problem solved. Move on with my life, and I’ll see you Tuesday. They’re not going to keep calling because they feel like you solved their problem already. You haven’t even been in their house yet.

(21:21)
But because you connected with them on the phone and you told them what you’re going to do in the future, now they’re booked.

Jeff (21:27)
And I love what you’re saying, Adam, because that’s exactly it. Remember I said I wanna use my competition against them? I’m betting on most of my competition being like, hello?

Adam (21:34)
Right. Not- What’s your name? What’s your address?

Jeff (21:36)
Thank you for calling. This is Jeff from 360 Electric. I really appreciate your call. How can I solve your problem today, or how can I serve you today? And then you said it, the more you explain, not to drag it out, just like, hey, by the way, we’re gonna come in there, guys are gonna wear booties. We’re make sure we take care of you. Make sure if there’s any other questions or anything else, if you have something that you didn’t even think about, let us know now because obviously we’re already there. You won’t have to pay for it. Whatever you give them that gives them that trigger that says, Gosh, I really love Adam. He just explained it to me. It’s really, look again, software, you’re gonna know when the technician’s showing up beforehand. You know, you’re gonna get that invoice all automated. People these days want, you know, boom, let’s go. I don’t think most clients wanna call four electricians, be honest with you.

Adam (22:20)
No, they’re just hoping and praying the first person they call answers the phone, seems professional and trustworthy and then they can go on with their lives. So then we get to the house and technicians parking in the driveway or parking in the street. What do you think?

Jeff (22:31)
Our technicians, so we do have brand new vans as well, but we’ve got some old beaters. I’m kind of, again, kind of that guy. What do you mean you don’t have everything new? I don’t wrap anything. I’m kind of the little anomaly. No, we always park on the street, 100,000%. I don’t want a single drop of oil. Everything that could possibly happen, let’s eliminate it right from the get-go. The reason why is again I don’t answer phones. I don’t do anything as the owner of my company. I want to be doing whatever the heck I want to do and not put out fires.

Unless you went off the guardrails, don’t call me. Everyone’s pretty much empowered to do it. So yeah, that process starts there. And the guys know automatically, depending on that on what it is. But remember, they do the five rounds. So they go, they knock on the door. Before they go in there, they explain everything. Hey, the office did explain to you, or sometimes they take the calls, by the way. I use a phone system that gets the calls to my technicians. Remember, if I don’t have to pay an office person, what do I do with that money I saved? Half goes to me, the owner, half gets paid back to them for doing that job. And they love it.

Adam (23:25)
We’ll say that again. So your technicians are answering the phone.

Jeff (23:27)
Oh yeah, we have a rotation. All my technicians answer the phone. There’s nobody. I don’t have office workers in both locations. 

Adam (23:35)
What? 

Jeff (23:36)
Oh yeah, this is the game changer. That’s micro franchising, and people now flip out because they think, look, I’m from California, I know every law there is, trust me. People are like, you can’t do that because you’re, my license, my W2 employees, my trucks, my insurance, everything, but they are treated as if it’s the next best thing to owning their own business. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a million times.

A lot of technicians are great at the trade. They suck at business and they know it. So they’ve never taken the leap to be a contractor, but they dream about it. I give them the dream without the headache.

Adam (24:05)
But aren’t they too busy? Aren’t they working in the field to answer the phone? Are they under the attic and in the, you know, under the crawl space and it just.

Jeff (24:12)
Right, training until someone is busy, it rotates to the next technician. So I have two teams that go out. We have the service call team. We have a van that’s just kind of does the service calls. And then we have the people that are there for three, four days if we’re building a house. But every journeyman master that’s on my team is trained to be a salesperson, knock on the door, get the sale. And they’re incentivized to do that, by the way.

Adam (24:32)
So John might answer the phone, and then, but then someone else might go see him, or no?

Jeff (24:35)
That does happen once in a while, and if that happens, then, who you contact from my team, I have the benefit of having long-term. I mean, my longest employee now is eight or nine years. My longest, unfortunately, passed away. Let’s put it that way. They go on to bigger and better things on my watch. So yes, it’s individualized. Remember, if they were their own contractor in that van, they’d be the only ones talking to that person anyway. You wouldn’t believe how many times I get a call, they don’t even know I’m the owner.

Because once in a while I do answer the phone to take the temperature of my company. My guys don’t know that, they will after this podcast. And they won’t even know who I am. And they’re like, I wanna talk to Brandon, it’s Brandon. Or the text messages all come to one text message. So you will never know. So you’re getting the giant, big company feel with the hometown one-on-one experience.

Adam (25:26)
I gotta know more about this. If John answers it he’s in the crawl space or maybe he steps out and he’s on the street talking, how does he know what the schedule when the next opening is and how does he know all that stuff?

Jeff (25:38)
Everybody has Jobber within Jobber. They open their Jobber app. Everybody on the technician side is an admin a team leader. I’ve separated them all out. My apprentices are not there yet. They know their goal is to get to that level because they know how awesome every level in my company is. So it’s an incentive for them. So each technician is assigned a apprentice. Those apprentices rotate, because I never want to leave one apprentice with one journeyman too long, that’s trouble. 

Hey, let’s get out of here and start our own company. It’s happened. I’m not worried about that, but I know people are. So I just do the same thing that I would preach. And so yeah, so then they would answer it and they would first look and say, I’m available this, this, and this. However, we have Joseph, we have Rudy, we have this that’s available. Is it an emergency? No, that’s fine, next week. Perfect, because I’d love to come and see you since I answered the phone. You already know me. 

We love you. We’re in, I always tell my guys, are you going to be no offense to my plumber brothers and sisters? Are you, are I tell my guys, are you going to be a plumber tomorrow? They go, no. You think you’ll die being an electrician? Yeah. Then make sure your clients know that. Hey, I’m here for you. Passion. And I always tell them, listen, Adam, there’s three things in life you need. Forget death and taxes, that you need. A plumber, an HVAC, and an electrician. I can help you with the electrical. I don’t know about the other two.

So you got me, I’m your best friend now, let’s roll. If you’re building million dollar businesses, if you just sit back, don’t let the business overtell, nothing is hard. It’s just, somebody just needs to hold your hand and just show you that one time. Toughest part for me being a coach for the thousands of electricians is them actually implementing what I’m teaching.

Adam (27:16)
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Jeff, this is great. I’m going to boil it down to three actual items here for our listeners. Number one is that you want to use as many marketing strategies as you can. There might be 30 different ways to get leads. Leads come from everywhere, and the person who says, I just get all my business from one source. What happens if that source stops and just dries up? Then you’re toast. So you want to diversify your leads as much as you possibly can. Number two is you want to solve the customer’s problem on the phone as much as you can. So they want to feel like their problem has been solved when they hang up. Okay. They’re coming. They know what the problem is. They’re coming on Tuesday. They’re going to fix it then, to them. To them, the problem solved. Even if you haven’t been in their house yet.

You don’t want them calling other vendors and other contractors because that you didn’t really listen to them or they don’t really trust you. You want to build that trust that I will solve your problem on Tuesday. And number three is collect client data so you can remarket to them for years to come. Jeff, this is great. I really appreciate you being here. You’re crushing it. Please keep going. How do people find out more about you?

Jeff (28:15)
You can get my coaching, all my courses, everything about the 360 electrician at www.360electrician.com, and we are at the @360electrician on all social media. I appreciate it.

Adam (28:27)
Go check him out and thank you for listening. I hope you heard something today that will fuel your business through sales and marketing. It’s the lifeblood of your business. I’m your host, Adam Sylvester. You can find me at adamsylvester.com. Your team and your clients and your family deservces your very best. So, go give it to them.