In a Galaxy Far, Far Away….
and Then the Good Guys Won!

We’re all familiar with this movie and its impact on culture. But If that’s all there was to the story, it easily would have tanked at the box office. Instead, it became the highest-grossing movie of all time a few months after its release. It has gone on to earn $1.6 billion (adjusted for inflation) and spawned a franchise worth much more. Correction, it spawned a brand that became far larger than a mere franchise.

Getting There

Storytellers are not very successful if they simply take the audience from point A to point B. The story has to have some meat on its bones. It has to present problems to overcome. Usually difficult ones that make us appreciate the hero’s journey that much more. They get bonus points if they face extreme challenges that can only be resolved by a combination of intuition, resourcefulness, and courage (or similar). You get the drift.

That may seem a little counterintuitive to apply if you’re in Sales. Most of us are accustomed to hearing a homeowner state a problem, and then the light bulb goes off in our heads because we know the solution. We’ve been doing this for years and we’ve heard the problem a hundred times. Our brain even replays a video of the time we last solved it. Maybe it was fixed using a certain tool, and we’ve filed it away in our long-term memory. We can easily recall the steps to help the customer.

You Called?

The nature of our industry is to take calls throughout the day, to get dispatched to the next home on the calendar or to sometimes even go out on an emergency. The drive time alone eats into our profits. It makes more sense to make 3 longer calls than 5 shorter ones. So how does this work in real life?

The answer is quality time. That’s the way to experience a great movie, and that’s the way to help your customers and your bottom line.

We’re in the business of helping people. And most of the time, homeowners aren’t aware of the entire problem, only the problem they called about. As a matter of fact, we mainly hear symptoms. In the same manner that a patient tells the doctor the symptoms, the homeowner tells us what’s wrong, and we’re the experts who know how to diagnose and resolve.

Is It Serious?

If someone comes into the urgent care with a hurt foot because they stepped on a nail, a doctor can patch that up. But if they don’t test for tetanus, they’re being irresponsible. It’s in the patient’s best interest if blood pressure, heart rate, and other essential health measurements are taken. The tests may catch something bigger, like tetanus or cancer. It calls for thoroughness.

Seemingly minor problems like rattling sounds or puddles of water near the unit can actually be signs of major problems. If we simply clean up the puddle and put a bandaid on the problem, it can come back later even worse than before. As professionals, it’s our responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen. So we must spend quality time investigating why these symptoms are appearing and quality time getting to the root.

If more problems are found, it’s better that the homeowner is informed and given choices. We need to have built rapport and our trustworthiness must be on full display here as we want to earn their business. The issue needs to be taken care of by someone, so it should be natural to have them use us for the repairs or replacement. All of that comes from our training and our caring.

No Shortcuts

We don’t want to go from problem to solution in one step. That would skip several steps of the impact of the emotion. The homeowner knows the symptoms and they know the inconvenience they’ve felt. And that should be a focal point of your discussion when you present your findings at the kitchen table close. But don’t rush so fast to get there that you stop looking for other problems.

Our duty is to listen to the homeowners, investigate and inspect thoroughly, remind them that they’ve suffered enough, and present our solutions, all while being honest and forthcoming. It may take repair, or it may even take replacing the entire system to fix the real problems. If you’ve ever given a child their medicine, they rarely want to take it. But they need it nevertheless.

You’ll be much more successful in getting them to take the medicine if they know they need it. And the short version of “Because I said so” doesn’t suffice. Spend quality time in the home and give them your full professional attention to their story, beginning, middle and end. The way George Lucas intended.