Episode 7 - The Elevated Consumer Buying Experience - Drew Cameron

Service MVP Sales Training Podcast with Joe Crisara

"I'd really rather lose the Business Today, than lose them as a customer tomorrow when the things that they buy don't perform as promised because we ended up cutting corners to save a buck!"- Drew Cameron

Are you doing your customer right? Are you sticking to your guns in terms of offering the safest most practical options for the repair or replacement?

Drew Cameron joins Uncle Joe on this episode of The Service MVP Podcast to explain the importance of "The Elevated Consumer Buying Experience.

This is a must listen episode of The Service MVP Podcast! Learn how to serve your homeowner customer by getting their buy-in on the repair or replacement.

Contact Joe Crisara Service MVP.

Podcast Episode Transcription:

I'd really rather lose the Business Today than lose them as a customer tomorrow when the things that they buy don't perform as promised because we ended up cutting corners to save a buck - Welcome to the service MVP podcast this is where you go to learn how to use pure motive service to create higher value to grow your results grow your results and now here is your host America's service sales coach Joe Crisara welcome to the service MVP podcast and I am Joe Crisara American service sales coach and we have with me today one of my very best friends drew Cameron from flow odyssey drew they had all the people who are listening to our show well hello everybody and thank you for having me tell you greatly appreciate that and likewise you're one of my best friends in the industry as well I'm not sure everybody realizes this but you know drew and I have a relationship to go back as far as 2001 when I sat in a class of his one of the very first high level classes I've ever taken and definitely I still apply many of those lessons today so thank you so much for getting me started with this and you know drew is one of the people who got me started with helping service professionals achieve great results so thank you so much for that my pleasure and I was a privilege to do it at the time and just enjoy seeing what you're doing and kind of think of you as my brother on the West Coast kind of making the impact that I'm trying to make and all we're doing is just elevating contractors although it's been definitely over 20 years you've been doing this exercise by helping service professionals and today we are going to talk about a very important subject which is the elevated consumer buying experience uh drew check go ahead and uh just give me a little bit of overview about what you like to provide with this episode so that our listeners can get the best results possible sure uh you know when we talk about the elevated consumer buying experience you know really what we're talking about sales and everybody talks about sales and selling and the sales process and I think there's a little bit of a misnomer of misunderstanding and we use those words because we know them and we understand them and we know what that means in the in the world contracting or even just in the world commerce right but I think when it comes to the in home experience and specifically with the sales professional not necessarily the technician because I think that's a different model that we approach and kind of a conversation another time about that but we talk about sending in a comfort advisor or design tech you know somebody who is focused on that side of the business running either a tech flip lead or a marketing lead what the consumer buying experience is it's an evidence based approach to teach customers how to buy and where value comes from so that they get what they truly want and pay for because I want the customer to understand why the scope of work has to be what it must be and that any shortcuts will lead to headaches and heartbreak sometime after the purchase what they buy doesn't do exactly what they expected to do because happiness is all about expectations and so I I'd really rather lose the Business Today than lose them as a customer tomorrow when the things that they buy don't perform as promised because we ended up cutting corners to save a buck and that's just something that you know I and my clients you never do and it's also how we offer 100% you know unconditional happiness money back guarantee and no surprises no compromises no excuses guaranteed you know that whatever isn't you know whatever isn't working up to their expectations you know we're going to make it right all the way up to 100% of a refund because I believe the myth of sales is that you know that we actually sell something I believe people choose to buy they choose not to buy for their reasons and on their timeline and my job is to align myself with their process and not afflict inflict my process you know upon them because I want to make a sale or film crew day to get a result that I desire I want them to get the result that they desire so it's a shuttle subtle paradigm shift Joe you know it's something that I know that goes back in your family history with your father John Cameron right Yep who probably had who you told me he had he had the theory you can't do it right don't do it at all right and so I think I heard you say to me early in the process when you're teaching me I'd rather turn you down then let you down right this that makes sense and this is a really a good approach it's like sometimes uh the hardest part of sales is being able to guide people the right direction because I think most consumers have a self-inflicted wound is that which sets a fair statement that most consumers when they don't get the service they want that it was mostly a self-inflicted one because they didn't really shop for the most of more effectively yeah but it's also because I don't think it can really knows how to do it right and I think that's kind of the you know the thing I think that's why comparisons customers do comparison shop right they don't know any other way it's the way that they know how to buy cars electronics appliances groceries clothing and no one tells them that comparison shopping is the worst thing you could do when it comes to the you know something that has to have you know workmanship or craftsmanship or craftsperson ship to be you know politically correct right and comparison shopping is the worst you can do right explain that grew a little bit expand a little bit more how is shopping for a service different than shopping for an item on Amazon or commodity you would call it I mean I was just expand a little bit more on that as to why is that such a difference between those two things yeah great question because you know all the value in the thing right the appliance part the tronics the groceries the clothing all the value is in the thing and for us in the service and this really the design the service the installation business the craftsperson ship business if you go all the value of the things comes from the people in the process right and the service you know of that and so it's not in the things but the customer doesn't know any better and most contractors go out there and sell those things anyway right they focus on the boxes the brands the models the efficiencies the capacities and those things are really just you really think about it those ratings are a matter of potential from the manufacturer the contractor through their processes and people and design and whatnot and then practices of putting things in and service and maintaining them ultimately determine the performance at the end of the day that's what the customer wants is the performance if the contractor sells the brand and the alternate commoditize that decision and so customers know no better and so they end up Paris and shopping yes so to get the elevated consumer buying experience it's gonna take somebody who's able to kind of fight upstream against that paradigm where people are trying to commoditize it and turn it into a thing because service is done by people and so in a way you are shopping for the right person we don't really realize it we think we're looking at the furnace or a tankless water heater or electrical panel whatever it is we're trying to do but knowing unknowing we don't realize that the person who does it is the most important element of the service rather than the than the parts itself is that correct 100% exactly you know I mean unfortunately you know as well as I do as long as we've been doing this sales is not a bad thing and selling is not a bad thing it's an honorable profession and salespeople you know I mean I mean people a lot of people say nothing happens until somebody sells something I say nothing happens until somebody buys something it's usually from a salesperson right and so it's an honorable profession it's got a bad stigma and so when people go out there and talk to salespeople consumers I should say go out and talk to salespeople it's like they it's almost like they shut away the person that they need the most you know cause that person's responsible for your ultimate happiness but because you've gotten triggered in buying cars or appliances and things elsewhere you don't realize how important the contractor sales person truly is into your ultimate happiness and quite frankly I don't think the contractors truly realize how important they are to the customers ultimate happiness yeah I think there's a balance between the technical solution that people are you know that's they represent this in the in the service trades by the technical solution you know the equipment or whatnot and the materials and then the balance between that and the people I think most of the industry is out of balance because they focused on the manufacturers the one who sponsored all their training mostly and that's why they wind up and that's kind of a cycle so this cycle of you know as long as long as you and I have been doing this and I've been doing it for just as long as you have except we're kind of brought we could be brothers literally both probably got my slightly younger brother but nonetheless could you better looking one too as I could probably tell you so I'll give you that you know the how can the contractor break the cycle that's been going on and there are a few people who have broken the cycle obviously and you know people who are following training like yours in our mind and our training we have learned how to break that stuff so tell us what is the way that you can give us some Nuggets that people can do to break that cycle of utility where people focus on the equipment and materials rather than focusing on that relationship which is what you're really get yeah exactly I mean it's that that is that relationship that's why I love about what you're doing with you know the service MBP and the little immersion approach with you know pure motive service because you're of the same mindset that philosophy and psychology is you know I am here to serve I'm here to help if I can I don't know if I can I don't know if you want me to there is certainly a price to pay for that but I think how we break the cycle is is to stop selling and be compelling because when you're compelling there's no comparison and so you know if we go out that go about our job about being compelling in our approach to the home and the people and the system and we teach people how to buy and where value comes from versus trying to sell them teach them the process that they should go through when picking a contractor who we are we already said a little bit earlier the most important decision you get to make is the person who you invite into your home to design this configure the solution of the parts and the pieces and the labor component right and then have the installation done and then have that installation verified after the fact test out right verification I think that's important ultimately then leads to customer confirmation that's where you get the review and or referral because you'll know if they're happy I mean because every customer is a author and a critic nowadays with the power of the review and social media and so I think if you basically teach customers how to buy and where value comes from and that the house is a system we look at the people we look at the building envelope and we look at the equipment and the and the duct system and the any of the fuel or the electrical assembly that's attached to it and we approached by gathering data so that we can then take that data from sizing the equipment designing air flow have you been looking at air quality and we can gather that plug that into some software tools that we now have available to us as contractors and build an evidence based approach to back up what I share because then that way it's not my opinion all contractors have their opinions and give proposals on their on their opinions we're backing our opinions up with math facts science data right thermodynamics and physics because I'm not going to just tell you need a certain sized piece of equipment a certain amount of air flow and certain duct modifications and sort of air quality things I'm going to have reports that back it all up right and we're going to teach them that our people and our processes ultimately is what the termed the performance which is the real product because you buy the outcomes and the results is what people pay for and what they want they get the things they don't want the things nobody wants a furniture an air conditioner ductwork or electrical panel right they want the outputs of those things So what is the thing I mean I can understand that the competence in terms of the solution and doing things I say compelling to me means that what's compelling to me is when I see somebody do something different than everybody else is doing that's kind of raises my compelling meter if you will right and so how important is commitment to the process by the service provider to make your case compelling tell me about that I love the question it's a fantastic one because yes you have to be committed to the process and your process is designed to teach them how to abide so it aligns with what they want to do it teaches them how to pick a contractor what the scope of work should be the standards that they shouldn't compromise on and so when you stay committed to that um you'll get the right result because your intention is right and sometimes the right result is you not earning their business and you have to be OK with that as long as you've basically done the best that you could to teach them how to buy and make a good buying decision if they make what they feel is a good buying decision then you should be happy right I mean I don't care what they do as long as they do it knowing and I don't compromise my process no matter how busy it gets how hot it gets with the calendar shows right I mean we don't run to run any more than two to three new opportunities per day Max because that allows me to stay true to my process that's when you start giving salespeople 456 opportunities a day they just start burning through the opportunities and they go away and they violate this commitment that you're talking about yeah because you're giving them it's like this the amount of calls uh being flooded and the people make each call seem like it's less important each relationship less it dilutes the relationships that it seems like you create with people you know and it kind of start goes full circle that would say what you know your dad said which is that right turned you down the left down right I guess that's the way we can gauge commitment drew how many I mean you're the that's why it was compelling about you when I first met you in 2001 you're the first person ever said it's OK to tell the customer no like it's OK to tell him if you want to do it that way we'd have you'd have to call somebody else so you'd be able to been away so we'll just say that's kind of like the defining moment sales people who are really more of a service person who says you know if we're going to do it let's do it right if I'm not going if we're going to do it wrong you're going to have to use somebody else I mean through how many how many how often would you say on a normal sales cycle or it looks like there's a week worth of calls that it salesperson is going to wind up telling you customer listen we need to stay true to this process and if you're going to do it that way we're going to have to tell you to find somebody else or we have to move it you have to move a different direction you know it's nice as you can say it you've got to say we're going to move this direction instead because that's really what it's about is that early in the call move in the right direction so how could you gauge that level of commitment by a service provider when I know you coach a lot of salespeople as you could probably tell me this the best what's your method of making sure that you get your pulse on the guy to make sure that he is committed to that process yeah I mean I don't want them to be so desperate that they're trying to make a sale I mean I again I think playing you know that game is kind of the finite you know game as they say right it's like you're trying to get a result you're trying to get a sale you're trying to get a Commission you know and they and they use that type of language instead of really using that the language that you talk about which is being you know pure heart right they're in it for the customer and if I teach the customer how to buy and I teach them the standards that they shouldn't compromise or compromise on it and I teach them how to pick a good contract what makes a good contract and it's like you don't have to do business with me but you should do business with somebody like me and you know do I want to earn your business sure if it makes sense and because I have to earn their business but they have to also have to earn the right to do business with me as you were saying right so if you wanna do it wrong then we may not be the you know the company for you and that's OK and so how I gauge it is are you willing to walk away if the customer is basically you know you know trying to compromise the integrity of the approach because it's like why would I go into a house and tell you need to modify your ductwork you know when you replace the equipment and then you say well throughout you know I want to do business with you but I really don't want to spend the extra $3500 on modifying the ductwork and if you were basically willing to say yes to that then you're the wrong guy you're the wrong person for the team right because you put the burden on the team and then the team was wondering what the heck the sales guy selling this isn't gonna work with the 14 buyer return drop 100,000 BTU furnace right there the team questions your credibility too not only does the external client but now the internal client too yeah you got to stay committed to doing the right things you know for people the right things for the company and like I said when you stay committed I guess I think when you are so committed and you leave no room for vacillate when people start you know customers start to kind of say hmm maybe I shouldn't not do the duct work you know I probably should listen to them now you know because I mean he's he's going to walk away yeah yeah and I think it shows like when you're when the salesperson starts calling his boss it shows you that cannot because if you're committed you don't have to call your boss you know when I stand for and that's it that's why I look at that drew I have one question for you I wanna make sure I running out of time I want to make sure that's a good that would say a good many starts at time and a great one heads that time we're gonna try but I'm not I'm think I'm gonna accomplish it because I'm you're compelling though thanks here's number three my third question for you is you know how should contractors share options to create a better experience for better results I think it's the mindset I know you're the options mindset I've always been of that way as well we say options not you know ultimatums like give people choices and they'll make good choices and so I in some scenarios though we have to tell customers where they have no choices that's where we talk about code safety functionality pre-existing conditions comorbidities you know the things that we're going to do that you really get a choice on because we have to do those right and then once I share those things with you I then share with you the things you have choices on and I approach it from in this in this order air flow and I give you a replace renovate or repair and repair options air quality I share with you the items as Ala carte as well as bundled solutions on air quality and then air conditioning right where we're heating and cooling the air and we have 7 levels of options that are available with brand neutral basically the equipment becomes plug and play once we do the aforementioned things and then I share within the third thing which is enhancements things that they can do now to improve and enhance things and take things to the next level or build the perfect home environment overtime and that might be things like again could be some air quality stuff could be a generator could be a water heater you know something else that they can they can add to the solution the nice thing about that is you do it now we roll it into one small payment option and inflation so I use a generic investment guide it's like a menu it's like going to a restaurant printed we lay it out in front of them we share with them all their options we lead with payment plans because the majority of consumers are our payment based customers and then we wrap it in a security blanket of Peace of Mind protections and assurances To remove that risk and reverse the risk but it all squarely on our shoulders way up along Wilder that is a mouthful and you just unfolded the whole sales process in about 3 minutes good job on that that you saw it's like I I try to think of you left something out I think he covered it all I I'm not sure if everybody can if I might want to put it on pause is going through that list though because and you were you were shooting it out pretty good now drew this is just the tip of the iceberg if people want to do what I did and learn from drew Cameron how can they do that how can people become more involved with your camera and I and I definitely I'll put this way everybody for every dollar you invest in drew Cameron you're going to get at least 1000 back pocket tight cause I have I've gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars back for every dollar invested in him and I even if I do buy him a nice dinner or cigar someday let's go but I'll still be behind the behind I'll be behind my payback there too but what can I do to help pay it forward for you to make sure that you know people can get involved with you and they can learn from you well I appreciate it John appreciate you having me on here and everybody tuning in listening and in the way you know what I always say is the way we get better is together and so if people think what I'm saying is a fit they can go to flow odyssey dot US or reach me at drew at flow odyssey dot US or just you'll reach out to me directly [phone] what's that phone number one more time [phone] that's my cell you can call me or text me if you're texting me let me know who you are you're probably not in my contact great and I will give you special credit too for having from Philadelphia and he still said the word water heater like a normal person that drew thanks a lot it's is it's very few times I have so much fun I shouldn't get paid for it and this is one of those times drew thanks so much for being here I really appreciate you being here with us appreciate you brother alright thanks again have a good one everybody we'll see you on the next episode.