134. Exploring Connection and Influence Part 2

Foreign. Hey, my friend, welcome back to the show. Kenny Chapman here, your host of Leadership in a Nutshell, Home service professionals. I'm super jazzed that you're with me. I love this time of my week when I get to spend some time with you. And I'm pumped today because I'm piggybacking last week. So last week I told you on the fly, I made a decision that I wanted to go a little deeper in this episode, but I don't want to drag it out and have too long of an episode. So I just wanted to go ahead and be respectful of your time and cut it off. But today we're at episode 134, exploring connection and influence, part two. And so last week we talked about, remember, the different levels of connection. Verbal, visual, intellectual, emotional. We're selling all day, every day. Regardless of our position in the business or in life, we are in a sales role. And sometimes you're selling benefits, sometimes you're selling water heaters, sometimes you're selling relationships, sometimes you're selling process or system change. Whatever it is, we are always selling. I think we all can agree to agree on that. And if not, hey, we can agree to disagree, too. I'm good with that. But, you know, I, I talked about the tire shop situation last week and I, and I just wanted to come back and talk a little bit more because as the economic business environment changes and shifts and there's so much fear being driven into our consumer, the competition is back. And I don't mean competition of other home service providers. I mean competition for every dollar in the wallet. And I'm not saying I want to go get every dollar out of every consumer's wallet. I'm saying I want a little folder available for all the dollars that, that my service company needs in order to, you know, generate a profit, take care of clients and make sure I offer them all the goods, wants, services, desires that they need. Right. As a home service provider. And so I would just want you to think about that for your own space and what you offer. Regardless of your trade, regardless of your sales process, you're competing for dollars with Apple, with Amazon, you know, with professional football is going on at the time I'm recording this, like, you know, there's, there's all these different types of things that, where people spend their money going out to eat, mortgage rates, what, whatever it is, right? So, so the, the, the main thing too that we're competing with is consumer confidence and consumer perspective. And the better that we learn to connect with consumers early in the process, the better we learn to connect with the relationship, the more trust we're able to build. And of course, the cliche, you know, no, people buy from people that they know like and trust. Yes, that's a cliche. Yes, people will buy from people that they don't like a hundred percent. You buy your, you know, your utilities, you buy from. I just had an insurance company situation that, where I needed to get a claims history thing and it took me four, four times of calling and emailing to get a loss report on my, on my homeowner's policy and check it. The on hold music the entire time I'm on hold for 30 minutes at a time and then automatically sends you to voicemail. It's telling you how committed to customer service they are. If you want to save your time, go ahead and email it, you know, email them at customer service at blah blah. Which I had done multiple times. Which I had been on the phone multiple times, you know, and so it, it's amazing. So, yes, people do business with people that they don't like when it's situations like that. Now, when my new house that I'm building is done, I will not be using that company. Let's be super clear about that. However, in our space of home services, we don't have this luxury. Our people do need to like us, they do need to trust us, they do need to know us, and they get to know us through the connection angle of connecting our team. We are competing now for quality team, for skilled labor at a level that perhaps we've never seen. April 1, 1994. When I came into the contracting world and I cut my teeth as an entrepreneur, I didn't hire my first team member for two years. But when I went to hire my first team member, there was a competitive labor market. And it's fascinating because when people say, oh, the labor market's soft, what that means is that people that don't want to work or the less than team that doesn't produce at the highest level, they're all looking for work. So unemployment's up or whatever. Top performers are always working, they're always producing, they're always doing what they do. Regardless of industry, regardless of trade, regardless of anything else, they are making it happen. And that's who we want on our team. We want people on our team that it really hurts if they leave. That's the whole point of having a team of rock stars rather than have, oh, if that person leaves, I don't care, I can replace them. I recorded A podcast of this I forget off the top of my head one what exact episode but it better hurt. If somebody leaves your organization, you better not be able to just plug and play or you've got to see a mediocrity when it comes to team customer service agents, dispatchers, salespeople, installers. You want rock stars and then you want to attract them, you want to get them on the team, you want to keep them. That's done from what we're talking about last week and this week which is exploring connection and influence. If I connect with a candidate, I might influence their decision to choose me over the 800 options they have of where to go to work and home services. Right. So last week I left off with asking you and challenging you. Where can you kind of up level your connection technique where your ability connect with people earlier. If you're in a leadership role again, maybe you're selling a compensation change, maybe you're changing benefits, maybe you're changing the on call schedule. Maybe, maybe you're adding a top performer and your other top performers are uncomfortable with this. Maybe you're adding somebody that has skill and even though it's headed to a quote recession, you're gonna double down and you're gonna invest in your business because you are going to grow through this economic downturn, whatever it is you are selling. And the earlier you connect, the better. So I learn and I observe from times when there's a disconnect, if you will, in connection or when I see there's a massive opportunity to connect early because people are uncomfortable in a buying interaction and I want you to jot that down. People are uncomfortable as buyers. Okay? Now I also want you to jot down people are uncomfortable as sellers and so I, I want you to, to be mindful of that. So if you're in the selling role, what's your level of comfort and if you're in a buying role, what's your level of comfort? So if I think about, you know, in leadership, if, if you're changing something for your team, your team, you sometimes their automatic default is to go to oh my God, you're going to screw me. You're changing something because you're going to screw me. You know the blue collar success group, a couple months ago we did our compensation equation class and where we did you know, a half a day online and then we had a half a day of people that came into the seminar room and we worked the second half of the day doing implementation skill practice, getting clear on, you know, the psychology of behavior around incentivizing behavior and changing things and different things like that. And a knee jerk reaction for a lot of people is to go to why are you trying to screw me? What are you trying to change? You wouldn't be changing it if it wasn't in your best interest, so on and so forth. And I personally, and I know you do too or you wouldn't be a fan of this podcast. I want everybody to win. I live in abundance. That number one law in Blue Collar Success Law is my newest book. The number one law is authentic abundance. And in this podcast I will be getting into recording more of that content before I get there. Go ahead if you don't have it already. Grab a copy of your book@blue collarlaws.com so you it's a free copy. Cover the shipping and my team will send you a free book. It's just cover the I don't know what it is. 6.99, 7.99, something like that in shipping so we don't lose on it. We want to get it to you for free so you can, you can follow along. But, but in, in, in the laws, authentic abundance is number one. And I don't write that for my health. I write that from my truth. My sole purpose is that everybody wins. And so if I'm changing something, it means something is out of balance in the universe. Something is out of balance in flesh flow. But a lot of people jump right away to oh no, this must be negative, this must be bad. So I've got to connect early and have their, you know, have a level of trust now that's on the leadership side. On the salesperson side, the same is true. I've got to make sure that I'm, I'm looking at how can I connect and when can I connect. So I, you know, I did thousands of ride alongs over the years after the lovely Christy and I launched Blue Collar over a decade ago. In the early days I spent a lot of time training frontline technician sales. I would come into a company, I would spend three to four days in their uniform in the truck doing ride alongs, observing sales, coaching sales training sales, making sales, all of that. And I was so gifted to see the process I even implemented in my own business before I sold that to my long term operator a few years back. So I believe in getting in the field and seeing what's really going on. Now last week I shared me happening to be in the field of the tire sales industry and watching that take place, we all See it at the dinner table when we're out to eat. Like getting to watch how that takes place based on servers or what. Maybe the dessert of the week is all this is all happening. And I remember years ago, I mean, gosh, this is probably, this is maybe eight, nine years ago. I was on a ride along and there was a younger technician that hadn't been in the field a long time. We were on a tune up and there needed to be some work done on this clean and check, tune up call, client wasn't a service agreement member at the time, and so on and so forth. And so it's in the fall and it's football season and we run, we go through the call and obviously, you know, I get it. Technicians are in. Salespeople generally are a little more nervous if I'm along. Until I had been at a company a couple of times when, then when people were raising, they know their sales go up every time I was in town. And that's true now with any of the blue collar coaches. Anytime our coaches come on site, sales go up. Record months are very common following an on site. Whether it's a coaching on site or a training on site. We pride ourselves in companies having record weeks following or record months following that, that interaction. So I started it, now my team continues it. And so I get that people are nervous. First time I'm in the truck with him or one of my coaches is in the truck with him and that's fine. So this kid was nervous, I get it. And so he's going through and he's asking questions and certain things are taking place and we, we walk out of the home and he, he had made an offer, built his option sheet and he, he, he made an offer. And gosh, it's been so long ago now. I think the client signed up for the service agreement and did the minor repair, but didn't do the major repair, whatever. And we go out and we're sitting in the truck and I said, was there any way you might have been able to connect? And the kid's like, nah. I say kid? He was like 24 or something, right? So I don't say that degradingly. I love, love, love youth coming into the trades. And, and so he says, you know, I, I think he's thinking about, he's like, I don't think so. I really, I can't see anything. And I'm like, okay, cool. I said, hey, before we drive away, look at the front door. And on the front door is a huge Ohio State Banner hanging. And you don't have to know a ton about college football or, you know, watch. I don't. I don't watch a lot of college football. I got some buddies that are into it. But if you've watched any game that ever has Ohio State as the. The Ohio State, I don't know where that came from or why, but, you know, Buckeye fans are huge fans. And so there's a banner hanging. I said, do you remember what the gentleman was wearing? So it was a husband, wife situation. And the gentleman, the husband was wearing, do you remember? He's like, nah, I didn't really. I didn't notice. I didn't notice. Well, I will remind you that he was wearing an Ohio State jersey. Okay. And today is Friday, and tomorrow there's probably a game. I'm not no Iowa State fan, but based on the banner and based on him wearing that jersey, there may be a game this weekend or there was one last. And so, you know, I'm like, you see this? He's like, yeah, but I'm not a big college football fan. And that's where I want to challenge you. That is a limiting belief that shows up in every aspect. So when. When I shared last week about the interaction around the McLaren and this and that, check it. I didn't really know what a McLaren until I moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, and now. Now they're as common as Range Rovers and Mercedes. Like, they're everywhere. And I love them. I think they're phenomenal supercars. If I was in the market, I would buy one of those instead of a Lambo right now. But. But regardless, I didn't. It wasn't really on my. On my radar. However, if I came into somebody's field and I'm a salesperson and they have a Mustang in the lot or in their driveway, or maybe they have a McLaren, and I don't know what it is back at at the time, I can still ask. Hey, man, so you're into supercars? Yeah, man. I love super, man. I just. I. I'm not really into them that much. What is it that, like, what's your favorite kind? What is it that you like about it? You start asking questions. And if you want better results in life, in sales and relationships and income, in every aspect of your life, if you want better results, ask better questions. And that shows up here. So this young, young guy, he was in a limiting belief, and I understand it. I'm not judging him. I'm not frustrated by it. I just am passionate about this Stuff. And he blocked himself from connecting with a lot of clients throughout a football season of, I'm not into it. How about you go, hey, man, I saw an Ohio State banner. You got a jersey on? Talk to me. I'm not a college football fan, but what's going on? You got a big game this weekend. What's. How's our team doing this week? Like, that's just being a person and connecting. And you can do it early and you can do it often, and you can remain connected. There was another time where I was on a ride along, and I watched a technician go through very similar type situation, except the difference was this time the client went, yeah, okay, cool. And then this one, the client bought a system, I believe it was. And so, okay, yep. Ran through the whole deal. Didn't connect. Clients standoffish, technician standoffish somehow because there was demand. Oftentimes we look like good salespeople. When demand is high, we struggle. When demand is low, guess what? In economic downturns, downturn also demand turns down, right? So we have to make sure that we're connecting and we're offering effectively, and we're really making the relationship matter. So in this case, the demand was high enough. The client bought whatever it was in the system that was being sold. Okay, cool. But then there was nothing going. There's this huge fish tank in the living room. And as soon as it was done, and the client's like, yeah, I'll go ahead. Okay. Technician says, let me get you to initial here. Initials. The client sets down his iPad and goes, man, you gotta tell me about that fish tank. I got a fish tank at home, and I love it. I love the tropical fish. I love this type. Well, what I noticed that you had a so and so in there. And I'm sitting back here like, are you flipping kidding me? How does that not come up sooner? And it just reinforces what I talked about last week with the, the tire buying situation, where it's like, oh, my gosh. I don't, I don't want to offend anybody. I don't want to, you know, make it. I, I, I've got a job to do here. I have to sell something. Meanwhile, the buyers standoffish because they're uncomfortable. The salesperson uncomfortable, the buyer's uncomfortable. Let's everybody get comfortable, have a human interaction. Let's just be, let's be happy. Let's have some fun. Let's get to know somebody. That's what it's all about. And sales go up, influence goes up. Results improve, everybody wins. And that's what it's all about, my friends. So that's in sales. Couple examples there. What about with your team? What about with your peers? What about with your significant others? Where can you connect earlier? Where can you listen just a little bit better? Where can you ask a better question and then shut up and wait for the answer? And I say shut up lovingly. It's just sometimes it's like I know for myself, sometimes I ask a question. Especially if you're asking a question you already know the answer to, right? You've got to let people be involved. Write this down. What's my intention? What is my intention? And the key there is to get clarity because if your intention is to go out and strong arm sell somebody something today, if your intention is that you're going to create a platform or a process that works for the company and not for the team member, then you're going to have a long miserable existence in sales and leadership. In fact, as I say that it might not be that long at all because you're going to suck at it and nobody's going to want to work for with you and nobody's going to buy what you have to offer. So it's probably going to be short lived as I say that. But if you're able to get by, it's going to be, it's, it's going to suck. There's no reason to have it suck. You're creating the game of life. Don't create a game that sucks. Create a game that you win. Create a game that you enjoy. And so you know, what's your intention when you ask yourself that, what is it? Hey, maybe it's to meet people. I had a salesperson recently tell me, you know, hey, my job, what I'm here to do in this world is to go meet people and improve lives. That is a lifelong salesperson. And that also could be translated to our leadership ability here in leadership in a nutshell. I'm just here to meet people and improve lives. I hope team members come in, I hope I can improve their lives and I hope they stay a long time and they crush it in unique ability while they're here. That is what it's all about. I write more about it in blue collar success laws. Again, if you don't have a copy, make sure you grab it. Bluecollarlaws.com thank you so much for being here. Do me a favor and just share this episode. Maybe both of these. 133, 134 kick them over to somebody, send one person right now an email sharing the show with them. I would be very, very grateful. And if you haven't given us a review, please jump onto your favorite platform and just write a short quick review with a rating. Super honored. Super grateful. Love having you here. Thanks for riding along for two episodes of Exploring Connection and Influence. Part one, Part two. We'll change it up next week. Thank you so much. Until we talk again, make it a better than fantastic week. I'll see you next time. Thanks everybody. Sam.