When a customer says, "That's too expensive," how do you respond?
What’s your go-to move when a customer pushes back on price? Do you ask a follow-up question? Offer different options? When do you know to walk away? In this episode of Masters of Home Service, Kevin Cook and Rob Soper explain how: "Too expensive" usually isn't about price, it's about trust and value Asking the right questions beats defending your price Giving options (like good, better, best pricing) changes the conversation Want to put these tips into action? Download our free guide to handling price objections (includes scripts). Never miss an episode of Masters of Home Service. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Referral Credit System Is Very Lacking
This post is feedback, and a place to allow other users to leave feedback, for the Client Referral marketing tool in Jobber. The current client referral system is very lacking for a premium paid feature. We would like to see some deep functionality changes and additions immediately, since this has been around for a while now with no improvements....here is my current thoughts on what could be added or should be changed - Credits need to show in the Clients file (maybe under account balance) Staff needs to know if a credit is available or could apply for sales purposes. Currently its restricted to owners/admins in the marketing section and you can't do anything with that info anyway from there, its pretty useless. Credits need to be usable across the whole system & in the field (mobile invoices), we better for techs in the field ('hey, i see you have credit, would you like to use it on this invoice?') Credits need to be adjustable, we want to be able to add referral credits manually if we see fit. (this is especially ideal for when staff forgets to fill out the referrer entry on a job) which happens all the time. Apply credits anyway we would like (if a client has a $100 in credit, we want to be able to apply that whole amount if they have a huge invoice(s) being paid at once) the current automatic application is not good enough. Credit Amount settings ($ / % amount) should be able to be set based on Client type/tag (if the client is a Builder Partner we want to give them 10%, instead of just the $50 we give to a regular customer per lead) Option to set the Amount of credit ($/%) given based on a range of invoice value (5% for $100-500 invoice amount / 8% for $500-1000 invoice amount / etc) Option to exclude certain Clients from the referral program (we have builder partners that are on a completely different program internally, we do not want there account to also be getting other discounts). Option in Jobber websites to add a Refer A Friend button, so we do not have to rely on the email campaigns that most people don't open. Allow the client to see credits in their portal, and apply them to invoices when making payments.Virtually Estimating with Video and A.I
Check out this recent presentation I gave at the Breakthrough Academy Winter Summit on Virtual Estimating using LiveSwitch and Jobber. I've done over 600 now and saved over 200 man days / year. Check it out and let me know if you have any questions. Cheers. Is it possible to eliminate hundreds of in-person site visits and still grow your electrical business? Cory from Vancity Electric breaks it all down in this powerhouse talk, sharing how his small Vancouver-based company leverages AI and virtual estimating tools like LiveSwitch and Jobber to increase efficiency, boost conversions, and modernize customer experience. This is more than tech talk—it's a blueprint for electricians and tradespeople ready to scale smartly, not stressfully. What you'll learn: How to close 48% of quotes using virtual calls The real cost of in-person estimates (time, fuel, stress) Tools & automations that build trust and win jobs Behind the scenes of AI-driven estimating (yes, it can measure footage!) How to onboard customers like Amazon does—with automations Why speed = professionalism in the customer’s eyes 🎯 Whether you're just starting to explore virtual quoting or you're scaling a service business, this session will leave you with tactical steps and tech you can implement today. Check out the youtube here: https://youtu.be/el6qMhu5vuw?si=iXe_ZYp5fohIG0EvWhat to do when business gets slow?
What would you add? Here are 10 things you can do when business gets slow to help drive more business: Call past clients. Cheapest client to acquire but most overlooked. Send out monthly newsletters that have nothing to do with sales. Just connect. Relationships are the goal. Send out handwritten cards to past clients with a $5 Gift Card for coffee. Create raving fans who market your business for you! Hit the street. Get door hangers and go door to door. Get your team to join you! Double down on networking relationships. Schedule a meeting every day with a different referral partner. Don’t cut back on marketing. Cut down on other areas but never marketing. Double down on marketing when others are pulling back. Negotiate costs with vendors instead. See how partnerships could lower costs or help cover costs…for example providing co-branded marketing material. Be disciplined and active on social media and community pages. Low hanging fruit. Serve. Givers gain. Give your time, your expertise, and resources and it will come back to you. Communicate with your team. Let them know what they can do to help. Don’t suffer in silence…before it’s too late. Start a service contract that keeps you top of mind with your clients all year and generates reoccurring revenue. LEARN. IMPLEMENT. TAKE MASSIVE ACTION! 😎🤙🏼4 Overlooked Sales & Marketing Techniques! *They all have to do with appearance.
I am posting this because it might be overlooked due to being pretty foundational but newer people to business might not know. If you are new to business, you are actually skilled at what you do, but business just isn't taking off, then read this. If you get offended easily, then don't continue. However, if you really want to grow and improve yourself, then read on. Appearance - This is going to take some serious ability to be self-aware and evaluate yourself for growth. Some people might not want to bring this up because "just do you" is a cultural norm now, but the reality is that people are going to judge your appearance before they ever hear a word you say. We might want to assume people will overlook appearance but they might not and we just have to understand that is a reality no matter how we feel about it. Here are a few things to consider: Professional Attire - If you are the owner of your business and you are trying to sell your services you shouldn't show up to sell the way you would to just any other casual occasion, or to do labor. Step it up. Wear nice shoes, slacks, and a collard shirt, or button up shirt. Make sure your clothes are neat, clean, and not a wrinkled mess with stains. Hygiene - Make sure you have decent hair cut and don't look like you just crawled out of bed. If you have beard make sure it is well groomed. Wear deodorant and make sure you smell nice. Make sure your breath smells good too. Keep gum or mints in your vehicle. Piercings & Tattoos - I personally hire guys/gals and I don't personally care about piercings or tattoos but our customers might. Just take that into consideration and make an attempt to cover them if you see that this could be a factor in certain sales situations. Weight/Personal Care - This one could get some hate but its just real. I'm not even 100% where I want to be with this one. Here is the reality... being healthy and in shape takes discipline. When you show up as someone who is in shape and not overweight it communicates something without using words. It communicates discipline. People want to hire people who are disciplined and do what they say they will. When you look good, then you don't even have to say you are a disciplined and consistent person because your presence communicates it. You will also show up into rooms with more confidence which will help tremendously when selling. Language - you may cuss like a sailor and that is fine. But when you are in a sales situation air on the side of caution and clean up your speech. Speak professionally and never bring up politics or religion. Vehicle - Make sure your vehicles are clean and organized. I don't care what you say. People will judge you based on your vehicle. That is just the culture we live in. I'm not saying you have to polish your work truck but make sure it is clean and organized. If you have papers covering your dash board, fast food that is a month old shoved in the dash, and bottle, cans, and other trash falling out of the floor board when you open the door, then do better. Have a place for your tools and equipment and keep them clean and organized on your vehicle. Website - Your website is going to make a big impression on your customers. How you do one thing is how you do everything to your clients. If your website is unprofessional, messy, unorganized, and confusing then your clients might think that you are all those things. Take time, or money to invest into having a nice website. Social Media - If you are not present on social media (personally or professionally) and posting professional looking content, then you are communicating something to your client. You could be communicating that you aren't active, you aren't truly professional, or if your content is low quality...clients might view you as being cheap or low quality. Business Practices - This is such a simple concept. Have professional business practices and standards. Answer your phone. Show up when you say you will. Do what you say you will do. Be organized and clean. You can ignore all of these little things if you think they aren't important but I can promise you if you are letting your offense of any of these things keep you from doing them, or giving them attention then that is probably part of why you aren't growing. I promise you that companies that are growing and doing big things take all of these things into consideration and constantly try to improve them. Make excuses for yourself, or start making changes. This is all part of your brand. You want a better brand, then make yourself better. Raise the standard. Always be improving and evaluating. Make it easy to refer your business because your professional standards are so high and seen by all that make contact with you. Never get complacent and satisfied always find ways to improve. When you do this be ready for the new opportunities that will come your way!How do you get more jobs in the same neighborhood?
What’s worked best for you to get more jobs in the same neighborhood? Door hangers? Reviews? Yard signs? Something else entirely? 🎙️ In this episode of Masters of Home Service, Keith Kalfas and Daniel Dixon break down: Simple, repeatable tactics to win more jobs nearby How weekends are gold for booking neighbors Why you should never stop marketing, even when you’re slammed Never miss an episode of Masters of Home Service. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
What Are the Best Practices for Expanding Painting Service Contracts?
I have a painting service contract for our customers. It has worked out well for the last year but we haven't signed up a lot of customers. I think we have 15 customers on service contracts right now. I really want to vamp this up but I am hoping to get insight from other businesses on best practices for service contracts. I'm also trying to figure out if I should just sell as many as I can and then hire a full time person to service those clients, or keep slowly adding them until I can hire someone full-time to do it. I have been hesitant to go after this super hard because I don't want to be in a position where I can't get to our service contract clients for too long.Customer Appreciation Dinner/Event?
Do you put on an annual customer appreciation dinner/event for your customers? Maybe a cookout, or a dinner at a nice restaurant? I am thinking of doing this to engage with clients and build even better relationships for the purpose of repeat work and referrals. If your company is doing this, or has done this please share your feedback.What is the biggest bottleneck for you as a blue collar trade owner?
Hey what's up if we've never met, my name is Jeff aka "The 360 Electrician" or @the360electrician on all social media. I coach over 1000 electrical contracting and blue collar businesses and have been a Jobber ambassador for well over 2 years now. I run 2 electrical contracting companies for the past 20 years. I'm located in California and Montana, so you better believe I have the experience to help anyone from 0 to 360. After talking to hundreds of you in my 8 week contractor playbook course, time and time again the topic of the "unknown" comes up. Most of you want to grow your business, you are booked solid, you know there is a shortage in the trades but the unknown of being the "boss" is what holding you back. I have 3 tips that may help you with this and I hope you will reach out if you have any questions or need a more comprehensive hiring system. Hire before you need to hire - Don't wait till it's too late. If you know you need help start looking NOW! Otherwise you hire out of desperation and trust me, that's a recipe for disaster. Make sure you aren't hiring to fill a spot, but rather to buy back your time. This is based on the best seller from Dan Martell "Buy Back Your Time". When you can step away from the tools, you change the game as far as your business goes. You can hire anyone qualified to cut the grass, or install an electrical panel, you can't just hire anyone to run your business and take care of the finances taxes etc. Freeing up your time is PRIORITY 1 so you can grow. Own the trains don't run the trains. Hire 24/7 always hire better, more qualified employees. Make sure you have a Win-Win / profit sharing system in place and you will keep employees longer and happier. Constantly losing good employees takes time to retrain and trust so don't lose good people, reward them to stay. Need more tips, check out what we offer at http://www.The360Electrician.com and you can always email me at mailto:jeff@the360electrician.com
