Best Electrician – Tell a story to grow your business

This audio was created using Microsoft Azure Speech Services

If you’re a top, confident electrician you’re creative. You’re a storyteller. You have a fund of tales from all walks of life and your own personal experience. Use them.

How to tell and sell the shocking truth

Try to get across just how fast and unexpected electric shocks – and electrocution – can be. And that no-one is more prone than children.
They happen mostly in the home and hazards can develop without anyone noticing. Wires get trapped under furniture, folded under carpets, damaging the insulation. Or there might be slow leak in or near an electric appliance like a washing machine.

Use a story like that to illustrate that the residual current device is a lifesaver. In the event of an accident, there’s no time to act. Only the RCD tripping out in milliseconds can save a life.
Telling a story is surefire way to direct customers’ understand when it comes to a more unknown quantity in protection systems – voltage surges.

Lightning never strikes twice, or does it?

People often know very little about voltage surges. What they are or how lightning can cause them.
So you explain how a discharge from a lightning strike to the ground can get into nearby buildings’ electrical and Ethernet wiring. And that it blows phones, hi-fi systems, modems and computers. Electronics are particularly sensitive, you say.
But then your customers counter by saying lightning seldom strikes.
Your response? Not only does it strike, it can even strike twice. Refer them to the story of the 12-year-old girl in Gothenburg who was struck by lightning twice while taking a shower during a thunderstorm.
Now add a personal story.
“Once I lost all the data on my PC because, just I was backing it up to an external drive, lightning struck, blowing all the electrical and electronic devices that were working at the time…”.

Protection is invaluable

So you can state the case for surge protection devices (SPDs) which affords protection and peace of mind.
And if the customer baulks at the price? You cut to the chase. An SPD costs €50 to €100. How much does it cost to replace frazzled TVs, computers, fridges? A hundred times more? Then put the SPD into a wider context. Be authoritative. Tell your customers if the SPD isn’t compulsory, but you believe it’s invaluable.
The end user won’t be expecting this. He or she might say no. But if the answer is yes, it’s a job well-paid. And more business, because you gain trust-ability and your customer recommends you.

The cherry on the cake – energy efficiency

The ideal job is one which you can round off in style by selling an energy efficiency solution. Energy efficiency is about getting more for less – an argument all users are sensitive to.
The initial cost is an investment, you tell your customer. There’ll be a payback period for recouping investment. After that, you explain, he or she will actually make money and the installation will have paid itself back many times over.
You can suggest a lighting system with dimmers in an ordinary flat which can be controlled from different locations remotely. That’s a solution that works for apartments. To commercial building managers you can suggest solutions for remotely monitoring, measuring, and controlling water, gas and electricity consumption from computers, tablets, smartphones, etc.
The benefits? An investment that pays dividends in terms of money, comfort, and the environment. If you’re installing energy management systems in homes and small buildings, you’re already a top electrician.

Whatever, I hope my advice in these four blogs has been useful. It’s meant to give you pointers about the way to go and grow your business sustainably and profitably.
What do you think? Any advice or experience of your own you’d like to share?

Know more

Best Electrician – The extra something is a solution not a device
Best Electrician – Learning more, earning more
Best Electrician – Goes Beyond Customer Expectations