You're Not "Just a Technician": How to Educate Customers and Create Value

In this episode of the Successful Life Podcast, host Corey Berrier addresses common misconceptions technicians have about sales, emphasizing that technicians can also be effective salespeople. Corey highlights the importance of ethical sales and customer education, delivering value-driven suggestions without appearing pushy. He offers practical advice on how to build trust and establish rapport with customers, overcome objections, and handle common challenges in sales situations. Through real-world examples, Corey demonstrates that good service alone isn't enough; technicians must adopt a sales mindset on every service call to truly help customers and succeed in their careers.

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
00:12 Technicians and Sales: A Common Misconception
03:11 The Role of Ethical Sales
04:53 Educating Customers: The Key to Sales
07:05 Overcoming Common Sales Objections
09:03 Building Trust and Providing Value
12:19 The Importance of Role-Playing
15:49 Guiding Customers to Make Decisions
19:26 The Power of Transparency and Trust
31:32 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

https://coreyberrier.gumroad.com/

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction: Technicians and Sales Misconceptions
• 3:45 "I'm Not a Salesperson" Myth Busted
• 6:01 Sales Is About Service, Not Pressure
• 8:59 Educating vs Selling To Customers
• 13:28 Addressing Money Conversations Effectively
• 19:56 Offering Options builds Trust
• 26:39 Trusted Advisor vs "Just Doing My Job"
• 34:32 Closing Thoughts and Encouragement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:35

Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast. I'm your host, corey Barrier, and today we're going to talk about how most technicians feel like they're just technicians, that they don't know how to sell, they don't want to sell and, quite frankly, we're going to bust some of the misconceptions around what selling actually means as a technician. So I've just made a quick list here of things that I've heard over the last five years and I'm just going to go through these and I'm going to talk about why they're not exactly true or not really true at all. So the first one is the most common I'm not a salesperson, I am a technician. Well, here's the reality. You're both. Every single service call is a sales opportunity and your technical expertise gives you the credibility and your ability to educate now gives you influence.

Speaker 1: 2:47

Here's an example. Mr Jones, based on what I see here, I want to walk you through some options so you can make the best decision for your home comfort and energy costs. Right, you're not selling anything. You're really just providing a value-based suggestion, or really not even a suggestion. More of a value-based statement is really what you're doing and it's mutually beneficial. But I don't want you to think it's mutually beneficial in this scenario. I want you to think about it being really beneficial for that customer, because you're not going to recommend something that they don't need or that they don't want, and you can be a technician and a salesperson at the same time. Let me just point this out You've probably got kids, or you might be married, or you might have a partner, or you might have a girlfriend or boyfriend whatever it is you best believe. You are a salesperson if you have any of those things, or if you have ever had any of those things. What happens when your kid says I don't eat the broccoli, then you got to convince that. You got to convince your kid that broccoli is good for them. In whichever way you do it. Maybe it's through manipulation. Hey, guess what? You get the ice cream if you eat the broccoli. Manipulation not manipulation in a bad way, but just leverage. Right, you're leveraging the ice cream for the broccoli. So the next one I've got here is sales Are selling is pushy or manipulative, so I guess I couldn't have planned that one any better.

Speaker 1: 4:36

Ethical sales is about service. It's not about pressure. It's helping customers make informed choices. I'm going to repeat that Ethical sales is about service, not pressure. All you're doing is you're helping people to make an informed decision, and one of the ways you can overcome that is has this issue been affecting your comfort or your utility bills recently? And that's not a sales question, right, it is a sales question, but it's also a real human question that the only person that can answer is the customer. All right, if they didn't ask for it, they don't want it, right?

Speaker 1: 5:28

This almost probably should have been number one, but here's the reality. Most homeowners don't know what they need until it's explained very clearly. So, look, you got to think about I don't know how to flush my drain lines on my plumbing. I have absolutely no idea how to do that, and so I've got to call a plumbing company if I want that done. If I have a sewage leak, I don't know how to do that. I have absolutely no idea how to do that, so I have to call a professional to get those things done. Right. If I could keep on and on with examples. So here's an example.

Speaker 1: 6:20

And you want to educate, right, stop thinking about selling and more along the lines of educating the customer. So what you're seeing here is typical of a system that's 15 years old. If you'd like, I can show you a few options that can improve air quality and reduce strain on the system, you're giving the choice completely up to them. You're not making the choice for them. You're giving them the framework to give you their answer, and their answer may be I don't want to see options to improve my air quality and reduce strain on my system. Do what you came here to do and leave. You're probably not going to get that exact response, because most people are not buttholes like that. We have some for sure, don't get me wrong, but that's what we think. We think everybody's going to be a butthole like that. We have some for sure, don't get me wrong, but that's what we think. We think everybody's going to be a butthole when we go to their house, and that's just not really the case.

Speaker 1: 7:17

Customers only care about the cheapest option, to piggyback on that last one. That's not true. People will pay for value and they'll pay for peace of mind and they will pay for long-term savings. Just because you want the cheapest option doesn't mean your customer wants the cheapest option. So this is a mindset shift. You got to stop thinking about how you would handle things and think about and ask the question for the customer to answer and think about and ask the question for the customer to answer, because if you may want the cheapest option and it may be because your bank account's running low and you could only afford the cheapest option but you can't determine how much money your customer has, you just can't. So here's a way to overcome that.

Speaker 1: 8:10

If this continues, you talking to the customer. If this continues, how do you see it affecting your energy bills over the next year? So it gives them some context to think about. Well, how does this affect my bills over the next year? And maybe they don't know. It gives you an opportunity to explain that If the system still works, maybe they don't know. It gives you an opportunity to explain that If the system still works, they won't replace it. Well, that's unequivocally, without a doubt, not true?

Speaker 1: 8:40

Homeowners replace working systems when they understand the benefits of upgrading. Look, I can't tell you how many times people have because they want to do the replacement or they want to do the repair. In two months or three months or six months, you're right back out there replacing another part on that 15 year old system that failed. And now they're in the, now they're into this 15-year-old system for $4,000 or $5,000, when, if they would have just replaced it, they wouldn't have had that. They wouldn't have been in the hole that much money and throwing money into a system that's just not worth putting money into. And a way to overcome that would be would you be open to hearing what a newer system can do in terms of air quality, quieter operation and lower energy usage?

Speaker 1: 10:02

Guess what? Most people are going to be open to hear that, especially if you've gone and smiled when you got to the door you've done all the things that you need to do to build rapport. When I say build rapport, this is not some special sauce, right? This is just being a normal dude. Just treat people like you'd want to be treated, and this doesn't apply to every single human being, but the vast majority of people want to be treated the right way, and I think most people want to do the right thing. I think most people want to do. They want to be a good person, and so if you treat people good, most of the time, my experience shows, most of the time they're going to treat you with the same amount of goodness, so to speak.

Speaker 1: 10:50

I can't tell you how many people have heard say oh, I don't want to sound like a salesman. Here's the reality. You're not a salesman. You want to sound like a trusted advisor when you ask good questions and you listen and provide insight. You're not a salesman, you're a friend. You're trying to provide them options that would best suit them and their family. And if you look at it like that, it's look, it's look. It's just the easier, softer way you think about. I'll give you like a Chris Voss style you mentioned your allergies have been worse this year, right? So if they've mentioned that they've had allergies and they don't want to hear about indoor air quality, then you just mirror them back and say, well, you mentioned your allergies have been worse this year. So you're just mirroring back something they've said in a previous conversation, in the same conversation. But while you're finding out why you're out there and if you notice they've got allergies, they've got allergy medicine laying around, you can only assume somebody in the house probably got allergies.

Speaker 1: 12:12

A lot of guys, once they hear no the first time, they think, well, this is over, right, because we get rejected and that may be stemmed from something in childhood or who knows what that stems from. But the truth of the matter is it's very common to know that a marketing message needs to be seen eight or 12 times before somebody makes a purchase. I'm not telling you. You got to ask them eight or 12 times while you're at their house if they're going to buy from you or if they're going to move forward or if they've made a decision. No, I'm not saying that. But my point there is we have to see things over and over before we make a decision. And no often means not right now, or it may mean I need more information.

Speaker 1: 13:05

So you overcome that by just saying something like well, what's stopping you from moving forward with a solution today? And then that's going to open up a conversation of I don't think you explained X, y or Z. Could you tell me more about that? Or I'm waiting on my tax refund, so I can't move forward today, but it's coming in two weeks. Now you have an answer and you have the ability now to come back in two weeks and get them their problem solved.

Speaker 1: 13:40

So a lot of times people say, well, I can't sell if I'm not 100% confident. I partially agree with that to a degree, but confidence comes from practice and repetition. You don't just get confidence overnight. You got to bust your face a few times more than a few times, if you're me to get that confidence. It's practice and repetition. And so the way you overcome that is role play, common objections and focusing on delivering a clear value driven message. Now, I'm not telling you that's comfortable, because it is very uncomfortable to role play, especially in front of your peers, because then you've got to admit that maybe you don't have it all together or you could just keep getting a small paycheck like the other guys that won't role play. This is vitally important. This is role playing is so freaking important to your success. I cannot drive this home hard enough. I just can't. So good service sells itself Bullshit. It 100% does not. Good service earns trust, but you still need a guide in order for that customer to make a decision. And you're the guide right. You're the person that's guiding them, not selling them to make a decision.

Speaker 1: 15:16

Next is upselling. Is greedy Well, that's a ridiculous comment, because if you think that it's greedy well, your mindset needs to shift tremendously, because there's nothing greedy about offering an option, whether it's IAQ, whether it's, whether it's, if you're, water filtration, if you're in plumbing, whether it's anything, encapsulation, right, it doesn't matter what it is, and you're not upselling them on something that they don't need or that they may possibly want. But if you don't give them the opportunity to purchase this thing that you think is upselling, they're never going to buy it from you. It's only upselling if it's unnecessary. Otherwise, you're just providing options and or solutions for that customer right.

Speaker 1: 16:19

Whether I'm not suggesting that if you don't have a UV air purifier, that this would be the thing that you would say. But if this were my home, I would also consider a UV air purifier because it can really help reduce airborne contaminants. Now, notice I didn't say if in my home I have this thing, right, so you don't want to say in my home I have this thing, you should buy it, because that's probably being dishonest. If you don't have that thing, it is absolutely being dishonest. That's probably being dishonest if you don't have that thing, it is absolutely being dishonest. But by saying, if this were my home, I'd also consider a UV light or whatever, right, it can really help reduce airborne contaminants.

Speaker 1: 17:07

Most guys, talking about money makes them uncomfortable, right? Talking about money makes my customers uncomfortable. So if it makes me uncomfortable, makes them uncomfortable, jesus, I'm just going to avoid it, right? I'm just going to avoid talking about money and a lot of people. When you avoid talking about money, it creates confusion and it creates more mistrust in you. Overcome that with the transparency around the money problem, the money conversation I almost said money problem I want to talk to you. I want to walk you through some prices and break them down so there are no surprises, right? You just got to say that to the customer. They know you're there to charge them money, even if you're there on a bi-yearly maintenance. They know that there's probably going to be something that you're going to talk to them about that's going to cost them money. I shouldn't even say cost. Invest right, it could be an investment, it could be a repair, it could be an option that they don't have, that they don't know that they'd like to have. But unless you tell them, they can't purchase it.

Speaker 1: 18:18

We've all had the thought of well, it's just not the right time for this customer. It's only the wrong time. If you haven't uncovered the pain and if it's not clear to you that it's the right time, then you may need to go back and role play on how to uncover the pain. It's one thing when you go and a system's completely down, it's the middle of July. You know what the pain is right. But if you're unclear about whether or not it's the right time, or maybe that system could limp along a little longer, you may just want to ask the question what would happen if it, let's say, it's January or February, or well, I guess we're in April, so it's early springtime, right? So what's going to happen when it's mid-July and this thing goes sideways? I'm not telling you it's going to go sideways, but I can tell you, based on my inspection of the whole house, that there's going to be problems in the near future, and I don't have a crystal ball, so I can't tell you when that's going to be. But we can get this solved now. While I'm here. I have the part of my truck. We can change it now and you won't have to worry about this situation for another five years or whatever it is, or whatever it is, I'm too busy to sell.

Speaker 1: 19:59

Well, every technician should have a sales mindset on the service call. You're not just going out to service their system, you're also going out there to diagnose and uncover things that could be improved, that they could purchase from you. You should never walk away from a maintenance call without offering some sort of solutions. And then you might be saying well, corey, they're going to say, every time you come out here, they offer you, all trying to sell me something Incorrect. Maybe the last person that went out there was not a very good communicator and didn't offer options, but said hey, you should buy this thing. You never should tell somebody they should buy this thing, because who are you to tell people that? Right, you can give them your experience. I had a very similar situation with Mr Jones down the street and he had allergies, took over-the-counter medicine, eventually had to get shots. We replaced this and we put IAQ in his house and now he doesn't deal with those symptoms.

Speaker 1: 21:04

Let's just share the story about somebody else's experience. That's vitally important. If I do a great job, they'll just call me back. Oh no, people forget. That's the reality. People forget. They get busy and guess what, by the time it's time to call you back, they call somebody else because you didn't make a strong offer. Listen, we're busy people. I've got a million things going on, just like you. So you overcome that. Since I'm already here and it saves you a trip charge, why don't we go ahead and just take care of this? Now Back to that previous thing I was talking about a second ago.

Speaker 1: 21:53

If you're already there, just handle it, because listen, dude or chick, I guess it costs a lot of money to send a truck back out when you could have just handled it right then. And if you're too busy to handle it right, then you shouldn't be. Then either you need to either speed your calls up, which is probably not the case, or maybe your company's putting too many calls on you it's hard to say, sitting here I don't know which one it is, or maybe I don't know. I don't know exactly what it is for you. But do just handle it right then.

Speaker 1: 22:34

And there Only sales reps should sell systems. Well, guess what? That's not really true. The company that I'm working for now we've got 10 selling techs right, selling techs, meaning their first trade was the technical side, but they've learned how to communicate and they've learned how to talk to customers and provide options. And it's not just sales reps. In fact, I've heard service technicians or selling technicians say, hey, I could just call the sales guy or I could just handle this right now, and salespeople have not a great name. So at the end of the day, that's a great way, if you're a selling tech, whether you have comfort advisors or whether you don't, it doesn't really matter. Hey, man, I could just handle this for you right here and now, or I can just call a salesman out here to help you. Boom, that's awful for somebody to hear, because they don't want a salesperson coming out to their house.

Speaker 1: 23:38

Well, the customer knows best. They said the system's working great and they don't need any more refrigerant. Well, they don't know what they don't know. And that's why you educate them in this example of why they need to put more refrigerant in the system. And that's why you educate them in this example of why they need to put more refrigerant in the system. Because what's really going to happen is, if you don't put more refrigerant, in a month or two, when it gets really hot, you're going to get another call out and they're going to say well, james was just out here. He didn't mention putting more refrigerant in. Well, that's because James said well, the customer knows best. And guess what? The customer is not going to usually tell the right story. They're not going to benefit you by saying yeah, james did tell me about that, but I chose to just disregard it. Right, they're never going to tell that story, even if it's the truth.

Speaker 1: 24:30

Now, if you're smart, you'll have good notes in the system and then whoever they're talking to in the office or whoever it is taking that call, could say well, james did note right here that he said you were four pounds low in refrigerant and you said I'm going to be okay, I'll deal with it later or whatever the case may be. But if you didn't put good notes in, guess what? Now James got a problem because there was no good notes in the system. And whoever's talking to that customer now, they can't vouch for James because there's no notes in the system. They say they'll think about it. And boy do they mean it.

Speaker 1: 25:12

This is a smoke screen. It's just usually a polite way of saying take a hike, james. A great way to say if somebody says they need to think about it, just so I understand, what specifically will you be thinking about? There's a problem with that? Or, like Andy Hobica does and I think this is amazing Somebody says they need to think about it. He just stands there and lets them think about it until they decide to say something. And he said well, hang on, I thought you said I was just waiting for you. You said you need to think about it and they're like oh well, I need more time. Great, I can go out to the van. I may have butchered that, andy, but I think the listeners got the point.

Speaker 1: 26:01

I've heard this a million times I'll lose the sale if I give too many options. Well, depends on what too many options means. You could give two to three good options, and that builds trust and control. You could get five or six options, as long as they are in the proper order, as long as there's the best possible thing they could do with the maximum amount of bells and whistles at the top, and then guess what the other option at the bottom is. You don't have to do anything, you can just leave it exactly how I found it, because that is an option. It's like a decision. To not make a decision is still a decision, right. So it also gives you the ability. Then, if they take off that premium all premium option at the very top, it gives them context and guess what? It's sticker shock when you see $30,000 and you see it drop down to 21,000. You're like, all right, we're getting closer to where I could afford this, because, jesus, $30,000. They're shocked when they see that number and it's an effect that makes them feel better about spending $21,000. And that's just a fact. All right, so they can't afford it.

Speaker 1: 27:22

People buy on perceived value and financing, not just the cash on hand. Again, this goes back to one I mentioned earlier. If you're saying the service technician or the selling technician or the comfort advisor they can't afford it, you can't make that decision unless you've run their credit or unless you haven't provided enough perceived value for them to move forward. If you haven't provided enough perceived value for them to move forward, if you haven't provided enough perceived value, that's on you. If their financing fails, that is not on you. And if they don't have cash on hand, that's also not on you. But if you just assume they can't afford it, assume they can't afford it, then you're selling from their bank account. And so mention we have flexible monthly payment plans, we have zero percent down, zero payments for X number of months.

Speaker 1: 28:35

What would you be comfortable with spending on a monthly basis, you know? And it's just really asking more questions. And then, joe Cresceras, what should we do? You can follow up anything that I've said in here with what should we do, and he's just lobbing that thing right back into the customer's court, really, and look, it's a great way to keep circling back. What should we do? What should we do? What should we do? Joe says it like a hundred times in one conversation, but guess what? He gets to the end and either they say get the F out or and probably they don't probably do that because he does it in a way that's digestible. The next one is and you can use this with your family, you can use this with your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your kids, doesn't matter, right, but you should never interrupt the customer. You can respectfully guide the conversation without interrupting.

Speaker 1: 29:34

Now we've all had people who just throw up at them, vomit at the mouth and they just won't shut up. But you've got to figure out a way to just guide them back on track and listen. I interview people sometimes that go on and on, and so I have ways of guiding that person back on track. One way you can do this is sound, but sound tactical empathy really is what this is by Chris Voss. Never split the difference. Sounds like this has been frustrating for you, mind if I ask a few questions so I get the full picture. So sounds like this has been frustrating for you, mind if I ask a few questions to get the full picture.

Speaker 1: 30:27

There's nothing pushy about that. There's no harm with saying that whatsoever. There's no harm with saying that whatsoever, if I push too hard, they'll get mad. You're not pushing them. Your job's not to push them. Your job is to guide them. And if you don't guide them, you're not doing your job. It's listen again, if you're the guide here, you are the person that has to guide the ship here and you should feel very confident with that. And look, most people are not going to get mad if their system's down or if there's a replacement part or whatever you're there for.

Speaker 1: 31:14

People want to be taken care of by somebody they believe cares. And if you don't care, then that's a whole different set of problems. But if you do care genuinely and you're there to help that person, they're going to feel that. They're going to feel that. They're going to feel the empathy in your heart. They're going to feel the empathy in your heart and you want to transfer that energy to that customer. And it really takes a lot of the stress and worry out of that service call when you just genuinely try to help that individual. Just try it. I promise you you'll see what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1: 31:55

I need to be liked to close the sale. You don't need to be liked, you need to be trusted, and people buy from people they trust. And if they like you, great, that's a plus. But you really need to be a trusted I mentioned this earlier a trusted advisor. If people can trust you and sometimes trust means that you say today's, really you can get along with this for another year or two and do me a favor, let me know in a year or two when you need my help.

Speaker 1: 32:31

Lots of times you would be surprised when people will say let's talk about what this really looks like, right, let's talk about what the real costs are for doing it today, because they trust you. You've gained trust through being genuine and being honest and empathetic. Being genuine and being honest and empathetic, you can always say even look, if I were in your shoes, I'd wait another year or two. Dude, there is a lot of power in saying that Now. If you truly believe that now, if their system is going to go down in two months, you don't want to say that because now you're a liar. But if you think it's good to go for another year or two. Just say that. Just be honest with them. One that I think is the biggest, and this is actually the last one man James, I'm really glad that you came out today to look at the system. I know it's 830 at night Just doing my job.

Speaker 1: 33:38

Ma'am, you are not just doing your job. If you say I'm just doing my job, now you're the help, now they're not thinking of you as a trusted advisor or a professional, right? You don't go to the bank teller say, oh, I appreciate your help, and they go yep, corey, just doing my job. You would think, well, what crawled up that woman's ass today? Right, that's exactly what you would think. But I hear this a lot in the industry. Just doing my job, just doing my job? Well, if you're there at 9.30 at night, you're not just doing your job. You've already done your job all day. You're taking an extra effort to make sure that their home is comfortable and safe, healthy and that builds long-term customers, and you never know how that conversation is going to end.

Speaker 1: 34:43

And just be honest with them. Hey, here's what's going on today. Here's what I'd be concerned about long-term. I'm going to show you a few options of how we can get this fixed today or what it looks like, if you don't fix it today. But either way, now you have all the options. So I hope this was helpful. I genuinely hope it was helpful. I hope it was valuable and we'll see you next Friday.