Lessons From the Field: Show and Tell, Don’t Tattletale
October 3, 2024
The last time we spoke, we were discussing a call I was on with an associate who had just discovered that the homeowner’s blower motor had seized up.
Seeing Is Believing
So he showed me what he discovered, and then, more importantly, he showed the homeowner up close. Why? Because people don’t believe what they hear. They only believe what they see. We have to show the problem to the homeowner. If your techs haven’t been through the 3-Step Tech Process, they definitely should. It’s really important that they’re doing show-and-tell, not tattletale.
Being a tattletale means going and telling the homeowner about their system. Showing them the actual problem, when it’s possible, makes a huge difference. People have a mistrust of salespeople in general, regardless of the industry or business. Showing them the seized-up motor lets them see for themselves. Hell, it also gets their hands dirty, and they’ll think about it even more when they’re at the sink trying to scrub the grease off their fingers and nails.
So he gets her out to the garage and shows her the motor. The first thing she says is:
Homeowner: Oh my goodness, can you fix that?
Tech: Oh yeah, we can replace these blower motors.
Homeowner: Well, how much would that cost?
Tech: Oh, I don’t know, these are pretty expensive. And to be frank with you, I don’t even know if I’d recommend changing it out on a system this old, but we’ll talk more about that later.
He didn’t try to turn the lead at that point. I’ll say it again. He didn’t try to turn the lead then.
Patience, My Friend
I’m telling you, 99 out of 100 technicians would have said, “Oh, a new blower motor’s about $1,500. Do you want to get a new motor, or do you want a new system?”
Here he had a $1,500 repair (the replacement on that blower motor), and he simply didn’t give in to the temptation to turn the lead yet. He was so patient and he would say:
Tech: Ma’am, they’re very expensive. I don’t know if I would even replace it in an old system like this, but we’ll talk more about that later.
And he continues to find more problems, problems she didn’t even call about. For example, he knows it’s a 20-year-old system, so he drills a little hole in the coil. He drops a camera in there, and of course, it looks like a 20-year-old coil that’s all gnarled up and has all kinds of nasty-looking stuff in there.
He seeks out the homeowner, brings her back out to the garage, and shows her the coil.
Tech: Mrs. Homeowner, would you take a look at this?
Homeowner: Oh wow, what is that?!
Tech: That’s 20 years of buildup on that wet coil. Do you have respiratory issues?
Homeowner: No, I don’t.
Tech: Wow, I’m surprised with all this in there.
Homeowner: Well, can you clean that?
Tech: We can definitely clean it.
Homeowner: Well, how much would that cost?
Tech: Oh, that’s pretty expensive. I don’t even know if I could recommend doing that on a system this old, but we’ll talk more about that later.
Now, she didn’t call about the nasty coil, but now she’s thinking about the nasty coil, right? Back in the old days, we used to call this the pain pyramid. You find the pain; you irritate the pain; you offer to solve the pain. So he went and found some more pain, which was the nasty-looking coil, and he brought her out to put her eyes on it. “Do you have respiratory issues?” Now, he’s irritating the pain. He continues, “Oh, yeah, we could take care of it. We’ll talk more about that later.” But again, he’s patient. He then goes out and does a complete examination of the ductwork. I’m talking with a full flow hood and measuring every CFM in the house.
Pippen with the Assist…
He asked her to hold the pen and paper for him and jot down some numbers. He has her going around with us for the rest of the inspection. He briefly tells her about the flow hood and the importance of balanced airflow. And now it’s time to measure vent output.
We’ll talk again next week and continue this valuable lesson that could potentially bring about new levels of success for you. See you soon!
