Quest to Be the Best: How Zach Wehrle, an Electrician from Safe Electric in Columbus, OH, Sold & Installed $570K in Residential Electrical Work Last Year

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Welcome to The Successful Contractor, powered by CertainPath, formerly Success Group International, a show for residential contractors about residential contractors. We chronicle business journeys, share insights, and celebrate successes in this wonderful industry. I'm your host, Bob Houchin. As a reminder, all episodes of The Successful Contractor are available on YouTube as well as your podcast player of choice. And yes, you heard me correctly. SGI is now CertainPath. We've rebranded ourselves under a name that we believe best represents what we do for residential contractors, and that's put them on a certain path to success. For more information on what we can do for you, visit our new site, www.mycertainpath.com, or give us a call at 866-299-8505. Today's show is an interview I recorded a couple months ago. It's with Zach Worley, an electrician from Safe Electric. In Columbus, Ohio. Zach sold and installed $570,000 in residential electrical work last year. I texted him last week about his numbers thus far this year. He's already sold and installed over $400,000, and that's again by the end of June, and he's targeting between $750,000 and $800,000 by the end of this year. Zach will share with you and me his service call process. I hope you enjoy the conversation. and take away another 2. Zach, thank you so much for sitting down with me and talking with me today. I really appreciate it. For those who haven't had the pleasure of meeting you, could you kind of share your name, your company name, where you guys are located?

Yeah, absolutely. I'm Zach, I'm from Safe Electric, and we're based in Columbus, Ohio.

We're talking today, you had an awesome year last year, right? I think you became a Crown Champion, which is awesome. Kind of share with everyone, what did you do in terms of total revenue last year?

I did $569,967, and I was $33 off from $570,000, which is why I know that.

I was just gonna say, that's really impressive you had that down exactly.

Yeah, I was pretty annoyed about that, but almost $570,000. And I think my average ticket was about $16,000, was over $16,000, almost $17,000.

That's awesome.

I want to say I did about 82% close rate.

That's incredible. That's great.

Yeah.

Do you— what's your goal for this year?

I wanted to break 6. My goal's just been to hit 6.

Yeah.

And so it's just stayed at 6. Yeah.

Are you pacing at that?

Yeah, I've been— yeah, I paced at it last year and then actually I got COVID and I think I would have hit it if it wasn't for those 2 weeks.

So, yeah, it just messes everything up. So Well, that's all right. That's pretty good. Even at that number, you can survive on that. So that's exciting. Now I know you work for your dad, right? So I'm sure that you're in the electrical industry, but maybe I want to hear you tell the story. So when were you running tools to him and all that kind of stuff back in the day?

So yeah, I mean, my whole life, I mean, he's— I was like, when I was a kid, I was like, get him a screwdriver. But then I really got into it in probably 2015. I just got out of Well, 2014, I got out of high school. I didn't know what I was going to do.

Sure.

I made the mistake of going to college and taking out loans.

Oh yeah.

And I ended up— I left college and I was working as a general manager actually at a Jersey Mike's.

Oh, okay.

And I was working part-time, so I didn't have a day off. I was working part-time. We weren't an SGI yet.

Yeah.

And so I was working as a general manager there part-time. And I was just kind of going back and forth between the two. And then I was like, you know, I don't want to work here forever, obviously. So I didn't know what I was going to do. So my dad was just like, hey, well, just come work for me full-time. So I started doing that.

So when was that?

Yeah, that would have been 2017.

Okay.

About is when I really got into it full-time and I left my other jobs, 2017, 2018. Yeah. And I started full-time there. And you knew that, you knew the trade because you'd been with him for a long time. And we then, so I was doing commercial work some of the time. Like we weren't doing it the way I got started, but we were doing whole house rewires and stuff for contractors.

Okay. And then, so you've seen that, you've been there with the whole emergence of Safe Electric because your whole company has just taken off. What did you guys end up doing last year total?

$4 million. We just broke $4 million.

Just broke $4 million. I mean, you guys were like, what, under half a million not that long ago? Every time I talk to your dad, he's like, oh, it goes like, yeah, it just went up another.

I did more in sales last year than we did total the year I started.

Isn't that crazy? Yeah, that's just amazing.

That's just what— where we've been from SGI, like seriously, this stuff.

So, well, you guys are all hard workers. I mean, listen to you. Hey, I'm working part-time as a general manager here, doing this. Knowing your dad, I mean, he was working 12 different— you know, he had flipping houses and he had the company. He was just trying to figure a way.

That's when I was working for him.

Yeah, yeah, you guys are trying to figure it out. I mean, you're smart guys, hard workers. You just needed a direction, and here you are. Let's talk about your, you know, your progression in this. I mean, you knew the trade, right? But it's the soft skills, the talking to people, you know, the mechanics of a call. When did you— how did you learn all this? Did you go to Learning Alliance, or how— what was your training like?

It was— I just learned from being on the job. So he was flipping those houses, and that's really where I got the experience from. So I was never at a point where, like, I mean, I felt like I was almost a new build person, if that makes sense, where I learned all this stuff. So I was putting in, you know, we were doing panels, arc faults, everything got permitted. So I was, you know, pulling wire, dropping switch legs and stuff. Sometimes it was completely gutted, sometimes it wasn't. So I mean, I feel like that was the best way for me personally to learn the trade was just to go through and rewire those homes. So I got to see the whole from start to finish of a house.

How about the sales end of it though? That's the technical part. But how about, you know, the approach to the home?

The approach?

Yeah, all that stuff. The stuff that leads to sales, you know, did you just learn with your dad? I know he's gone through training and everything, or—

Yeah, we had a lot of trial and error with, you know, just watching the videos, doing role-playing. We weren't even— I mean, we were running calls, and I mean, I was showing up in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

Things have changed a little bit.

Yeah, so I mean, we've learned a lot, and just trial and error and trying to implement stuff. I mean, it wasn't overnight, but I mean, you just keep on. Every year it's gonna get a little bit better. What's it gonna take to get to the next step?

Yeah.

So to get— for me, for sales, you know, watching other people do it. And Tom, who we were talking about before we hit record.

Yeah, go ahead and give Tom a shout out, right? He's another Crown Champion.

Yeah, Tom's Crown Champion coming in tonight. And he's the one who actually trained me in sales. He came from Virginia and he was working for a company that was very similar to the way that SGI runs. Yeah. And he came over and we got to see it firsthand. Yeah. And so he, I think he did—

Kind of took you under his wing a little bit. Yeah.

I think he did 450 his first year. And then my next year was, my next year, my next 10 months, I think that was his first 10 months was 450. And then my next 10 months was 409. And so now, like ever since then, and then it's like we had 2 guys doing it. So we're like, hey, we're figuring this out.

Yeah.

And not to say that the other guys weren't, Yeah, yeah.

No, the numbers you guys are putting up, everyone's doing pretty well.

I think we're gonna have 4 next year here, maybe 5.

That's awesome. That's incredible. That's incredible. All right, let's talk about the mechanics of the call a little bit and what you do to be so successful. You're dispatched to a call. What do you do to kind of prepare, whether it's mentally or to learn maybe more about the customer? I guess you're getting pretty good notes, right, from your dispatch team. Kind of talk about what you do as you drive to your next service call.

I just kind of, I listen to some music normally. I always look at the house before I go there. Like, I just want to know if, you know, if we've been out there and what we've done. If we haven't been out there, I always look at the age of the home. In Columbus, it could be built in 1880 or it could be this year.

Sure, sure.

So I like to know what I'm getting into a little bit beforehand.

Yeah.

But just mentally preparing, as you know, I try and No matter what the last call was, whether I just— well, actually, if I actually just crushed it, then I'm fine with that.

You're feeling pumped, right?

You're feeling good about it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But just try to clear my mind and focus only on what I'm going to next.

Right, right. So, all right, you pull up to the house, you get out of the door, you walk quickly, you knock, you back up, you smile, you wave, and someone greets you, you come inside. Now you start— obviously, rapport is huge. You're trying to build a relationship. What do you do to start building rapport? Is it—

do you—

are you the guy that gives a compliment, or do you like to just start open-ended questions about something you noticed about the house, or what do you do?

I give a compliment. I prefer to give a compliment if it's genuine. If there's nothing for me that pops out, I'm not gonna, you know, I don't want to sound fake. I don't want to say anything. I like to garden, so if someone's growing some stuff, I'll talk about what they're growing if I know what it is. I'll be like, oh, that's cool, you know. You know, whether I talk about really anything that I can think of, yeah, to try and break the ice before. I always introduce myself and My apprentice at the time.

Okay. And you always have an apprentice with you for the most part?

I always have an apprentice with me. So, you know, first thing is we introduce, we start talking about it. I try and associate myself to the area as much as possible. So I'm from a spot called Clintonville and, you know, anywhere, anytime I'm in there, I tell people, oh, I grew up right down the street. They're like, yeah, I lived here my whole life. And then I moved. I mean, I moved all over Columbus, so I like to say, oh, I used to live right— yeah, people like the neighbor thing.

100%. 100%. Early in the call, do you try and establish yourself as— you know, we say establish yourself as the expert before going to why they called? Because you're a young-looking guy. I'm like, holy cow, you just got right out of high school.

I get that sometimes, where people are like, are you old enough to be doing this?

Yeah, right, right. So how do you kind of establish, you know, give the credibility of the company and for yourself and that kind of stuff? Or do you not force it? You just do it later on?

I don't force it at the door or anything. It depends on the situation. If it's a diagnostic I tell, you know, I want to take the, the ease— I want to take the customer's mind off the problem like immediately and just let them know, put them at ease. So, right, uh, I'll tell them, uh, you know, I've been doing like— I've been doing this for most of my life, you know, we're family owned and operated, there's not something that— I'm gonna get this working for you today, you know. So I'll just kind of go through and there's a couple— it all depends on the situation, but I'll go through and build my value statement for the diagnostic. And then I always, you know, sometimes I'll— if it's a quote or something, I'll go down there and I'm like, Yeah, you know, body language says a lot too. And so I'll be like, man, you called the right guy out here. Yeah, so like when they see that, the confidence in there, and I think that that has them feeling a little bit better about it, and they're not, they're not thinking about my age anymore. And then if I get technical with them or start talking about it, they're like, okay, he knows what he's doing.

Yeah, yeah. How long do you typically— will you talk with someone in like in the foyer or in a living room? Does it just kind of depend?

As long as possible. Like as long as they want to talk. You know, I'm super comfortable with talking to somebody in their house because the longer that they talk, people are going to buy from people that they like. And, you know, and I want— and it's not even about that. You know, I'm in their house. You know, they have me out there. If someone came out and didn't want to talk to me, I'd feel weird about it.

Yeah, right, right, right, right. How do you handle those D personalities that like guys that are working and they're like, oh yeah, come in, right there. And they do the point kind of thing. How do you establish control of that?

I ask them, so if they're like on the phone, they point to it, you know, like I'll kind of, I'll almost wait for them, like, you know, I'll let them know that I need to talk to them and I'll ask them specifically like, hey, is this something that we, or is this something that, this is something that we need to, are you gonna have time to talk to me today?

Yeah, yeah.

So I stumbled over that.

No, that's all right.

Are you gonna have time to talk to me today? I'm gonna need, At least 20 minutes of your time today where we can actually talk and go over this. And then, you know, they normally make the time for me once I say that it's important. You know, they want to know.

Right, right. So let's say, let's say, you know, it's a— someone's calling you out to install a ceiling fan, right? They're not looking for you to look at the house and do a safety inspection. It's in the family room or whatever. How do you kind of get them to start thinking about a safety inspection? Like, I know you're here I'm here to hang this, but explain the value to that.

Yeah, I want to make sure that I— so I tell them, yeah, I know, so I can definitely get the fan for you up today, but for me to install this, I'm actually going to do a 10-point keep it safe inspection, and that's just to make sure that I'm installing it on a safe circuit to make sure that the rest of it's safe as well.

Okay.

And that if I install this, the circuit can handle it.

Okay, very good. And so basically, in any kind of situation, your goal is to what? To get to the panel is your next step?

To go from there and move out?

Yeah, absolutely. All right, and what do you say, like someone's like, you know, why do you need to look in the, you know, if they push back at all, like why do you really need to look at the electrical? Like what does that mean? Like I just want you to hang it, why can't you just do that?

And I can, then I'll say, well, you know, if I hang this and, you know, it stops working because of something else going on, you know, then you're gonna call me. I just want to make sure that this is safe and that installed correctly for you.

Yeah, that makes sense. Now you mentioned the diagnostics, you guys sell those Obviously, you don't disagree. Well, you know, so say I'm that type of customer. Hey, I called you out for a service fee, right? And then all of a sudden you haven't touched anything and you're telling me I got to— you're selling me on a diagnostic. How do those crotchety guys like me, how do you handle those guys?

I get that sometimes. Yeah, our dispatchers do a phenomenal job of telling them, you know, that doesn't come with any diagnostics. So we've actually had a lot less of that.

Oh, you put that into the script?

Yeah. So if they say something's not working, they say, you know, it's a $69 service fee that brings them with the fully stocked with a warehouse on wheels. And then it says, you know, if they actually have to do a diagnostic or get into diagnosing, if the problem's not there, then that's gonna be a separate charge. So most people aren't surprised.

That's great.

So I haven't gotten that in a while. But if somebody was surprised about it, you know, I just kind of go through and try to let them know, like, you know, I'm gonna take this whole circuit apart. I'm gonna have to back all these out. This could take all day, you know. And I try just to explain to them that it can take Yeah, for sure.

So do you like to have the homeowner go with you during the inspection, or you just kind of whatever goes?

Whatever goes. If they're there, it's really awesome to be able to show them like, hey, this is wrong right away. Sometimes it works. I like— I don't prefer either one. Sometimes it's really nice to have the homeowner there to show them like, hey, this is wrong right away. Sometimes it gives me a second to gather what I'm gonna say.

Right, sure.

So if they're not there. But whatever happens, you know, it's— I'm comfortable either way.

And do you document it on a tablet?

I take a picture of what's wrong and I normally show them, but if they're there, they know specific, you know, hey, he didn't do that. Like, yeah, so yeah, this is mine right here. Like, they can see it.

Right now, so say, okay, I'm, you know, I'm on a call or you're like, we're talking, like, okay, I got to get back and work on some stuff in the kitchen. And you notice something like, oh man, this outlet's burnt out. Maybe you didn't notice that or something. Will you grab me one at a time at each thing you see, or do you kind of wait towards the end because you don't want to over-inundate them with different interruptions?

Depending on what I see. Like, if it's something that I see that's like, this needs addressed like now, then I'll come pull them. Or if I see something that like, like if it is like a burnt outlet, I'll probably grab you right then and there.

Sure.

But if it's like, you know, I'm going down to the panel and it's double-tap neutrals or something, then it's like, okay, I'll just write that down.

Okay, right, right. So if it's a safe— maybe if it's a safety issue.

If it's a safety issue, I show you right away.

Is it a code issue too, or just a safety?

Just a safety issue. It's just a code thing if it's a pressing safety issue, like a safety here and now issue.

Yeah. All right, so you go, you know, you've got— look at the ceiling fan, and then, you know, you've gone to the panel. Where do you have a natural progression through the home that you'd like to go to, or are you just, you know, I guess you ask them, is there any rooms I can't go into, right?

Yeah, always. I start at the panel and I normally say I'm going to start at the panel just because I like— I start at the panel, I'm going to work my way up is what I say. And I'll let you know everything as I— I'm going to write everything down. We'll go over the 10-point.

Okay. And so you're right, you still like to handwrite kind of everything, or you guys—

We have a tablet. I prefer to handwrite the 10-point inspections, but I don't always do that. I fill it out on the tablet. It does the— it's about the same.

So yeah, what are some things that you are always cognizant of that come up that would always help a homeowner but also build a ticket? Like, you know, what are some things?

Grounding, arc fault breakers, surge protection are huge. Those are the— I mean, that has to be my biggest ticket items, or like most common, what I sell. Yeah, most common upsells: surge, grounding, arc fault breakers.

How do you explain what grounding is to someone like me? No technical background. I'm just here talking. You know, I'm just a guy that talks to people. So I don't— what is grounding? What do you explain that?

Well, the neutral is a grounded wire, and so you have 3 wires coming into your house. You know, you have 2 hots and a neutral. And actually, if the neutral becomes ungrounded, then it can actually ruin all the appliances in your house because it's sending excess voltage or sending different voltage. It could be sending 180 to appliances that are only rated for 120. Yeah. So if your house isn't properly grounded, Then that can happen. But not only that, it's also if you have a bleed on a motor and you say you're using your washing machine, you don't have ground rods, so you're down in your basement, you're using your washing machine, there's a bleed on that motor to the metal housing on it, and you're standing there and you have— it's not grounded and you are, you touch it, you're gonna get shocked. Whereas if you had the ground rods, you'd have the same potential energy.

I'm sure when you explain that to somebody, they're like, oh, okay.

Yeah, see, when you say it could, you know, this could be detrimental to your— any appliance in your house, or this could hurt you. So that, yeah, it's normally— it's a safety issue at that point. And also, I don't want to spend the money on stuff, so let's just get it done.

Yeah, another safety issue is arc fault. What— how do you explain an arc fault again to someone, just Joe homeowner who doesn't know a thing about electrical?

They're fire guard breakers is what I call them. I normally ask, are you familiar with the term arc fault? Most of the time I hear no, and I'm like, well, they're fire guard So, you know, you used to have fuses, then they had the push technology, then in the '60s they came out with the flip breakers, and that's what's in your panel right now. Well, they came out with arc fault breakers, and that's what's the new. If I were to run a circuit today, by law I have to protect it by arc fault, by a fire guard breaker. So to me it just makes sense to protect if the new wire needs it. If by law I have to protect that new wire, then— Your old wire. Yeah, your old wire needs it.

And all of a sudden that becomes a panel. It does.

Later on.

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How about the idea of surge? Because that's not exactly safety. Now, granted, it's an expensive problem, right? So what do you explain to people? Like, I got all those things all over my house plugged in. You know, don't those do enough?

Yeah, I like to say something like, if I'm doing my 10-point, I'm I'm like, you know, if I'm going over it with the customer, I'll be like, you know, I also found you have, you actually have no form of surge protection on your panel. Like, act like it's almost a surprise.

Surprise.

You have no form of surge protection. 'Cause it is, it honestly, it almost is surprising because, you know, I mean, that's, I did it when I lived in an apartment.

Yeah. Right. So you even say, you probably should tell people that. I don't even own the place I put it in.

Yeah. But it's, you know, it's still my stuff there. Like, it was my washer, dryer, TV, all my appliances. And so I don't trust that they grounded their stuff right.

Right, right, right. So those are 3 big ones you pointed out. Other ones I always— like, when I first got into this years ago, foolishness, you guys will laugh that are watching— smoke detectors. I'm like, those things expire? Like, I had no idea 20 years ago those things expired.

Smoke detectors are a big one. And, you know, they're— I'm not the best at selling them. I always offer them. I don't— some people knock them out of the park. I think my best week I did 33 smoke detectors in one week.

Which sounds pretty good.

Yeah, that was a good week. That was a good week for smoke detectors. But I always offer them and I always talk about it with people. But now that they're wireless and I feel like so many people plug them in now, people are so disinterested in paying for me to hardwire and install them.

Yeah.

And I do, you know, I try and sell the value on— because we do the, the, the dual sensing and carbon monoxide.

Yeah.

But they, they're like, oh, they're getting more commoditized in your opinion.

Okay. Okay.

They think it's something they can do. And, you know, I'm okay with that.

Yeah.

So I'd rather— they can't do some of the other stuff.

For sure.

So do you get a lot of rewire situations?

I probably— no, I think I've only done Yeah, I mean, I go into a lot of situations where I quote a rewire. Yeah, I probably do one. I normally do a partial rewire. Okay, I guess I should say I'm not— I don't normally do a whole house.

It's like the family room or something that was added on or something.

Yeah, or BX cable, or if it's aluminum, I always, you know, that circuit's got to be reran and, you know, I'm going to run it to code. So we're going to add a couple circuits up here, but okay.

Very good. All right, so, you know, we've gone through— see, you know, originally you call— I called you out for a ceiling fan and on an older house, and man, you've noticed, boy, they've got arc fault issues, they've got grounding issues, they have the ability to surge. Okay, you've told me all these things, maybe kind of at the— let me back up. So you noticed all this, maybe pulled me to the side to talk about, but now it's time to like write options, right?

Yeah.

And let's package this up. You know, do you do that on your— kind of, do you go to the truck and kind of do it? You like to do it in the truck?

I like to go out to my van.

Okay. What do you like if someone goes, oh, you know, like, what do you say to someone? Hey, I'll be right back.

I just want to be like, if you give me just a couple minutes, I'm going to go write all this up. And I show them the book. I go through the book and I'm like, okay, everything through a straightforward price guide. So, you know, I'm just going to have to find this and write it all up for you. Yeah. Sometimes it just takes a couple minutes for me to find this. And I tell them It might be about 10 to 15.

Do you use the guide anywhere else throughout the call or how do you use it?

Definitely during diagnostics. I mean, because people start thinking, you know, if I just said, oh well, your outlet's not working, it's going to be a level 2, or these outlets aren't working, so level 3, and they start being like, well, $400 for what? So if I pull it out and I'm like, you know, this, and I just read the book. I read the book right to them.

No, hey, if it works, it works, right?

Yep.

All right, so man, you go out in your truck, you're like, oh my God, they've got arc fault grounding, they got surge. How do you, do you just go, hey, I'm gonna put it all out, plus the ceiling fan, right?

Oh, I put it all on there.

So you just pull it. Now, how do you, like, how would you build those 3 options? I guess the cheapest is what you called me out for, right? How about, but how those other 2, how would you structure those?

So being, you know, called Safe Electric, I do my options, you know, Safest, safer, safe. Oh, I like that.

No, that's great.

So I do safest and I do grounding, arc fault, surge protection, and the ceiling fan or whatever they needed.

Sure.

So we'll just, we'll just say that those, those things are what they needed. And then my next option, you know, I'll take something away. Like I'll take, I might take the arc faults away because I feel like those, those are probably going to be the bigger item on the On the ticket.

Yeah.

And also, I personally, I think that if the house has an outdated ground, I think that's more important than getting a couple arc faults in there.

Right.

So then I'll take, I'll take that down. And then on my bottom option, I'll probably do ceiling fan surge. I try to— or maybe ceiling fan grounds. As I found out last night, actually, from talking to people, I used to put— I used to say put a surge on every option because— and let them take it off for Okay, all right. As I found out last night, I was talking to, I was talking to one of the guys and he was telling me that he thinks that, you know, why push the surge to everybody when, you know, sometimes there's something out there like grounding might be more important for the house. So now I think that I'm gonna start doing that my bottom option because then it is more surprising, like, wow, you really don't want this? You know, right? So, right.

Interesting. You guys do a good job selling clubs too, don't you?

Yeah, we do.

So will you— do you build that into every option, or when do you start talking? Do you start talking about the club early on and, and, you know, again later on? And do they hear about it on the phone, or how do you guys do it?

I'll talk about it early on, especially if they say like, oh, well, we are at these projects. I'm like, oh, well, we actually do a club. So, and then I'll start talking about, you know, I'll go into the details about our club membership. Or normally I do it when I'm going over, you know, their options.

Okay.

I'll do it right then. I guess it all depends on the situation. I'll do it all. I'll do it at all sorts of spots.

Okay. And then when you, when you're writing out your options, is it always in all 3 or just how do you, how do you build it into your options?

It's always— so we do ServiceTitan, and so it's presented right next to it as potential savings and it line items everything.

So So you have to take it out, basically?

Yeah, they know.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's not like there's ever a chance for me to like— because everyone would be like, well, what's this potential savings? Yeah, you know, so they have to know right then and there.

Okay. All right, so you've written this out in your truck, it's time for showtime. You come in, maybe I'm typing on my computer in the kitchen because I know I'm waiting for you. Like, do you go, hey, you want to sit down and talk somewhere? Or how do you kind of, you know, get their attention, the customer's attention, and And have this discussion.

I'll be like, hey, yeah, so I just wrote this up for you guys. I don't know if you have a couple minutes and we can sit down and talk about this and go over the options. That's exactly what I say.

All right, perfect. So, and you built this all out. So, you know, when you, you know, this best option, you can, you know, you kind of explain all that. When you start taking things away, how do you talk about that thing you're taking away? Can you maybe give me a demonstration?

Yeah, so I like to let them know, like, I don't So I give them the— I like, you know, so we'll just do the ceiling fan. You know, this one, this option comes with arc faults, it comes with grounding, it takes care of the grounding system, it comes with the whole home surge protection, and it's also gonna come with getting your ceiling fan up there today. And so I'll write that up, and then my next option, I'll be like, okay, that's my next option, the safer option. It just— it's the same thing, but you're not gonna get the FireGuard breakers, you know? And I try and act like it's like—

You're disappointed.

Yeah, like I'm disappointed with them. It's like, so I'm trying to like have Have them like almost match, like oh well you know I kind of want those. Yeah, right.

So yeah, the body language. Okay. You know I need to back up. I forgot to ask you. You come back. I'm sure you go through the inspection, right? You go through what you found first.

Uh huh.

And I should. That's my mistake.

No no.

So what do you? So yeah. So you got this laundry list of stuff. I'm sure you're going to talk about the item you're called out for first. Can maybe walk me through how how you do that?

Um so it depends on what I was called out there for. Sure. So was I I'm sorry.

So let's just say it was a ceiling fan, but boy, you noticed all this other stuff and you have it on your inspection. But, you know, do you talk about, you know, what do you— how do you talk about the inspection?

I guess let's transition to that. So I'll say something like, you know, well, I mean, because I have to install it on something to make sure that it's safe for me to install a ceiling fan and stuff. And so I'll go to that. And then are you— I'm sorry, are you asking like, how do I get to—

Yeah, like, so I— hey, I came in and before I show my 3 options I want to show them. I know we kind of talked. You showed me, oh yeah, you're not grounded, you know, and this is an issue. But now it's let's go through everything, right? You know, when you come in, you kind of— before you hit them with the 3 options.

And sometimes I also want to know, like, it's also good to know what they're going to be really interested in, because if they have no interest at all in something, if they're like, yeah, no, I'll still write it up. But it's really good to know what they're going to be— then I can prioritize my options.

So you do go through the inspection Before you— okay, see, I know other guys that don't do that. Okay, that's interesting.

Yeah, I go through so that way—

You can gauge by the response.

Yeah, so that way, and then I can also then see, like, if— so then I can also see, I guess, if, like, not if they're interested, but then I can also see, like, it also gives me a chance to have that— then they're thinking about it, and it's not just right then and there.

Right, you're not hitting them cold.

Yeah, it's not just, oh, you don't have arc faults. And they're like, I don't even know what that is.

Right, right. Okay, so you walk them through and then you go, okay, excuse me, I'm going to go right back and write up your—

I do the 10-point and then I say I'm going to go write all this stuff up. Sorry I messed that up.

You did all right. All right, so boy, you present me with this ticket, $1,600 or whatever, and I go, that's a lot of money. How do you kind of deflect that? Boy, that's a lot of money, and they just kind of end it right there. What do you say?

I guess there was a lot leading up to that that we didn't get into, but I always ask when was the last time an electrician was in the home and I'll say stuff like, did they offer this? And then it'll be like, well, this is, I might say 15 years, they might say a year ago. And I'll be like, well, it's kind of surprising they didn't offer this to you because this is about 15 years of maintenance that we're taking care of for you today to get your house up to code today.

Yeah.

You know, it's not gonna be cheaper than this, or it's never gonna get cheaper than this.

Do you deal with a lot of bid guys, like, or not really?

Yeah, I mean, what do you mean?

Like multiple bids, like, why? Well, I had Joe's Electric out here and they said it was gonna cost $1,000 and I thought that was high. Now I had you guys come out and now it's $1,600.

Yeah, sometimes we get that. And I just talk about the scope of work, the guarantees, the warranties that we have. And I just try and show them the value of going with us and also signing up for a club. It's the same guy that's going to be working on all your stuff.

Yeah, I'm intrigued by it. How do your guarantees differentiate from the rest of your market typically?

From the rest of people in Columbus?

Yeah, how do you stand out? Or maybe just how you talk about them.

We really don't have— I mean, we've got a lot of small electrical companies that are just like a chuck in a truck.

Yeah, that's what we call it.

We just have, you know, those guys who are out there and even going on Google for some of the bigger companies that are our competitors, it'll be like, oh, they blocked my number. So it's like, you're not going to get that here. And so just by— we back our guarantees up. And actually, we actually just had one the other day where someone was upset about the price. And they ended up leaving us a 5-star review because they said, and it's on our Google review, you know, I don't know if it's the best review, but I think it's a pretty good one because they came back and said, you know, this company actually cares about their customers' satisfaction. They are actually not happy unless you're happy.

Right, right.

And I think that was a good one.

That's very cool, very cool. To back up, you're right, I did forget to ask you, so when do you ask some of those open-ended You know, how long have you had an electrician in the home? When do you try to slide that in? Is that after you're kind of making chitchat early on, or—

Yeah, I ask a lot of questions.

Yeah, what are some of the big ones that you feel are very revealing and provide a lot of insight into their mindset and the home?

How long have you been in the home? When was the last time an electrician was in the home? I guess all situational as well. Those are some of the big ones I ask, and then I always, you know, I ask stuff like if it's a diagnostic, when did this go out? Did you turn anything on? I try and get just as much information as I can by asking questions. Sure, sure.

Can never ask enough of them.

Yeah, no, yeah, cannot.

Good stuff. All right, so let's say I said yes to the work, you do the job, what do you do to kind of wrap it up? Do you show the homeowner what you did?

Every time, always. Okay.

And then you kind of walk through what it does or, you know, if that's—

Yeah, no, I walk through what I did and what I installed does or what I found. Or if I'm doing a diagnostic and I pull— I show them once everything's out of the wall so then they can know, okay, this guy really knows.

Oh, okay. You see it's in depth. Right. Well, that eliminates that. What did I pay for?

Yeah. I'm not backing stuff out. Most of the time I'm not backing something out and being like, no problem here, putting it back in. So that way the homeowner can come in and be like, okay, wow, like he did a lot of work here, like he pulled everything out.

Yeah, okay, that's good stuff.

Yeah.

All right, and then before you, you know, you're collecting payment, and then do you ask for a review?

Always, I always ask for a review.

How do you phrase it to a homeowner?

We've done contests in the past, and I don't know if I still say that we're doing a contest because I mean, we're doing a little contest right now, and I'm trying to get the most reviews. If you left us a five-star review, I'd consider it a personal favor.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

And everyone's pretty good with that.

Yeah, everyone's pretty good with that. Well, I mean, we do a contest about every other month, it feels like. So why would I change it up for that month? That's right.

I like it. I like it. All right, man. What just kind of last question? Well, I got maybe two. What advice would you have for you know maybe a guy like yourself years ago that was just getting into the service side to be successful? What's the key to being a successful residential electrician?

I learned all the safety aspects about it, and I learned a lot from, you know, being at work and learning this. But also when I went home, that's all I did. I mean, I would watch videos and videos and videos on YouTube, SGI videos for sales. I would watch a bunch of stuff on this.

Yeah.

And so just, it takes time and just be patient with it. I mean, I was at a point actually where I thought, you know, I'm just not getting Yeah. So like, I— and then it was just like one day it clicks. So one day it just, it just happened. So you just got to keep with it, and it, you know, it's definitely worth every— it's definitely worth all the time that I spent watching those videos every night.

So you're a motivated learner. That's something you just gobble stuff up. Do you still feel like you're that way? I mean, you're always looking for edges and information?

Oh yeah, definitely.

You were telling me last night you met some guys, you're trading war stories and getting stuff, right? No, that's great. That's great. Larry, last question. What's your why? Like, what motivates you every day to get up, you know, and maybe you had a rough day the day before, but you come out with a smile on your face and you service customers, you do a great job. Like, what drives you?

Honestly, I want to be the best at what I do. Yeah, I really, I really want to be, you know, I want to be up there. I know that there's some guys doing $1.2 million. That almost seems unachievable. But actually watching that video in particular was what actually put— I really think that watching that video That video in particular with everybody in the class there is what got us going because our numbers skyrocketed after watching that guy, John.

Yeah.

After watching him talk, him and all those guys actually talk because we were all like, okay, so this is doable. Yeah, this isn't fake.

Yeah, this is doable.

And it was funny because we had some guys who actually aren't here, but they're like, oh well, you know, they did Had excuses, and then, you know, then we start— I mean, I think I saw my first $20,000 week after watching.

Is that right?

I swear.

Isn't that awesome?

Yeah, yeah. So, and then after that, it became pretty consistent. So with all— there's someone doing $18,000, $20,000, whether it's me, Tom, one of the other 4 or 5 guys. There's someone doing that every week.

So yeah, that's awesome. That's great stuff. Well, Zach, thanks so much for all your time tonight. I appreciate you waiting for me, and this was a lot of fun.

Yeah, absolutely.

All right, buddy. Yeah, thank you, sir. That's Zach Worley, an electrician from Safe Electric in Columbus, Ohio, sharing with us his service call process. I hope you've enjoyed today's show. If so, please like and subscribe on YouTube. If you're on your favorite podcast player, please leave us a 5-star review. The 2 seconds you take to leave a review will help other success-minded contractors like you find us and hopefully get a little bit better, which elevates our entire industry. And please join me for future episodes. This has been The Successful Contractor powered by CertainPath.

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