[00:00:00] / This is Toolbox Talks for electricians, the only podcast loading electricians with the skills they need to reduce stress, gain back more time and make more money. My name is Ben Polter, and today's podcast is packed with some stupidly simple steps you can take today. To fill your diary up with customers.

[00:00:24] After this podcast, you'll be able to have some ideas on how to get more work today to make more money tomorrow.

[00:00:36] Let's be honest, you haven't got a business if you haven't got any customers. They're the ones that keep your business growing and you getting better at being an electrician. They also help you pay for them upgrades you need to be doing as an electrician. I think it's December, 2022 at the minute, and we're on the 18th edition at the moment.

[00:00:54] We're technology moving well quite rapidly at the minute. It's not gonna be long before it's another update. Is there. And this is why you need a constant flow of customers. And this time of year is perfect for it too. So in this podcast, I'll tell you exactly how I'm gonna show you how to keep your electrical business at the top of everybody's mind.

[00:01:15] Customers are the main reason you actually have a business because they're the people who pay for your services to, for you to fix their problems. It's common for a customer to find electrician who does a good job, and then they'll keep their number. That customer will call you their electrician. He's my electrician, Ben.

[00:01:34] Oh yeah, I know Ben. He's my electrician. And they tell their friends. And if I tell their family they're all about, you're saying, yeah, he's my electrician. He's great. So you wanna be that person that's at the forefront of their mind all the time when anything electrical pops into their head or their friend's head had, I've known it to happen as well, that you might have had a, a customer maybe two or three years ago and you haven't heard from him for a little while.

[00:01:59] They have a needle electrician because you've done such a good job at the time when you did some work for them. So you still want to keep at the forefront of their mind if they ever do need an electrician, cuz no doubt, they go out and about and they talk to people and someone says, can you recommend an electrician?

[00:02:14] You wanna be that electrician in their mind that they recommend. . But there's no doubt other customers that we have that are always doing something, they're always doing something. They're getting new kitchen fitted or the bathroom redone and they think, why are, we're getting bathroom done. I want a new fan and a new light and new downlights.

[00:02:30] They're always upgrading. They're always doing something. We wanna keep at the forefront of their mind as well. And with every customer you have, what is the golden nugget that you have when you have , that customer, when maybe when you send an invoice or even text an invoice sort of thing, you've got their contact details.

[00:02:50] , It may be a phone number or it's more than likely their email, but you've got a relationship with them and there's something that money can't buy and there's ways you can use that information. To grow your business, use them two points, maybe their phone or their email to keep your business in their mind all the time.

[00:03:13] and it's probably, you know, that everybody else in the whole the world these days, they wanna save energy. This is the thing, I need to save energy because energy price are going up. So everyone wants to save a little bit of energy, cause obviously it'll save them a little bit of money. So this is your opportunity , to give your customers value, and to maybe spend an hour, just sit down for an hour, put a free pdf, download together what they can download about saving energy in their house, like maybe shutting their curtain.

[00:03:40] Only putting a certain amount of water in the kettle to boil it. Just these little tips to help them save money. And it'll go a long way cuz they'll appreciate you even more. Not only will they appreciate you even more, you'll be in their mind for when someone talks about electrician. They'll be like, yes, Ben is a great lad, he.

[00:03:59] Sent me an email the other day about . Saving money on energy. And , they'll just remember you. A little added bonus if you haven't got time to sit down and, , write out energy saving tips. If you jump inside my group on Facebook, there's a copy. You can nick it completely and just put your logo on it and email that out to your customers.

[00:04:21] It's a great way to sort of, indirectly to ask your customers if they need any more work doing cuz , a lot of times if the customers say, oh yeah, I, I meant to phone you. I've seen people in the street or in the supermarket, and they said, Ben, yeah, I've meant to phone you because I've got a problem with my light.

[00:04:36] But it will jog their memory to say, right, they need to bring you up and they need to book in to get a job done. So another idea to keep you at the, forefront. Of the customer's minds is when new technology comes out. Lately, for example, we've had the sockets with the USB plugs on. Everybody wants them. This is where you can go to your wholesalers if you've got a good relationship with them and get a deal on a hundred of them.

[00:05:00] A hundred. My sound a lot, but I can guarantee you, like everybody has at least five in their house, so you can get rid of them. Quite easy. I don't know, wherever It's, cuz they're new and everyone likes something , new technology. But then it's, cuz they're quite handy as well. Everyone wants them and they , obviously don't, just don't want one.

[00:05:18] They want 'em in every room. They want in their kids' room. So they obviously kids and, well, I do myself. You lose the plug when you buy no iPhone. You don't even get a plug with it these days. So you can just plug that USB straight into a socket. It is really handy. Well, anything that's so popular, there's so many, these Chinese ones on the market that don't even work or they, they're dangerous, they catch fire.

[00:05:41] So you could create a warning text about them, like text out your customer saying, watch out for these , cheaply made products that lend up. Setting your house on fire cuz people will appreciate that. Cause it shows that well you care. You wanna grow awareness about these cheaply made products that are on the market and you don't want your customers to suffer from a fire obviously.

[00:06:03] And then you could send the text out and direct them to the email. And in the email you could state that you are doing an offer for these actually branded decent that don't catch fire USB sockets. Cause no doubt the customer will Google basically how much the sockets are. But you can provide a service is where you supply and fit.

[00:06:23] And because sometimes you can explain as well that the back box is, they're a little bit shallow, so you need to adapt to maybe or dig them out to make these new USB socks that are a little bit thicker to fit inside so many places you have to adapt them. Cause if you think, if you did a deal say, look, I'll fit your five sockets in your house wherever you want, 450.

[00:06:45] Then how fast can you change five double sockets? I guarantee you, if you're any good, you gotta say less than an hour. You're gonna change five double sockets. It's gonna be quite simple. You're gonna drag it out by putting your mind our test on it just to make sure that it's done properly, which quite confident it will be.

[00:07:00] It's only a double socket at the end of the day, but it's a great little money earner. I always remember my dad used to say to me, once you've got a trade, you'll always have work. And it is, it is so true. But there's having work as an electrician and there's having good ideas to be able to make that pay, to make you earn more money through some of the ideas that you can do as an electrician, that you could use your skills.

[00:07:25] Something like the USB sockets. I think it's all about how much effort you are prepared to put in, how determinated and how enthusiastic you are to grow your own business. I haven't been an electrician for more than 20 years. I've met quite a few fully qualified sparkers that earn around 30 grand a year.

[00:07:44] And these electricians, they. On the books for a company, they're employed and they get a van with, well, they're not allowed to use it for personal use. And they get told where to go, when to go at a set hourly wage. And they're hard grafters, man. They do work hard for their 30 grand a year. However, when you're self-employed and you are building your own customer base, and you are able to do the little things like the USB socket offer, With that simple little offer, you can probably earn more in a day than some electricians do that are on the books in in a week.

[00:08:18] Then depending how. Many sockets you change or , how many you do, then you can just take a month off and go traveling around Australia. I knew electrician that did that, and uh, , he never came back. To be honest. He liked it out there and got a job out there because that's the bonus of being a tradesman as well.

[00:08:33] Electrician, every other country is crying out for him. This next idea did generate more customers. It is, it's fun to do as well. And it's something I did a couple of times back in the summertime, cuz everybody loves a barbecue, but not a barbecue at your house. You don't want people to all come around your house and pile into your back garden because then you got tidy up and , it's a bit of a nightmare.

[00:08:54] Well I did, I went to a local park. , It was a like a, local theme park. I didn't have to know Wick Deep Park. It's one of the first theme parks in the UK. It's crap now, but it's still stated as one of the first theme parks in the Uk. And even you could go that a step further like I did to a campsite.

[00:09:12] And you can do it again. You can let the customers know that you are doing a promotion day, maybe saying, look, my electrical company's gonna be down at Wicky Park and we're gonna do a fun day. Cuz the only reason I really did it as well is to get the kids off the iPads. When they're younger. All they do is a wifi and the iPads and they're look down.

[00:09:29] So I thought it'd be a great idea to take him down there, throw some sticks for the dog, and basically have fun outside. Get 'em outside in the summertime. , and I'll admit as well, there was an alternative motive to camping. It's so I could have a decent barbecue and have a few beers. So that's the whole point of me going down there is having a few beers and camp out.

[00:09:48] And I'll tell you, it is nice to do. You go down there, you get set up, you're in prime position with your sign written van for everyone to see. You obviously have a bunch of business cars handy to pass out to make sure your number is on the. Strategically placed in the way for people to take photos of everyone having fun.

[00:10:08] Your number's there, it's a perfect opportunity to promote yourself. And do know a few guys as well that have got , the QR codes on the side of their van. So if people see them in a shopping, , car park or anywhere really, they can go up, scan the QR code on their van and their business details come up.

[00:10:24] I think that is brilliant. But the final one today is gonna be for the Christmas. You've got it. Christmas lights, sometimes they're a ban. They're a ban for everyone. If the Mrs. asks, you can, you put the Christmas lights up. You don't like doing it. Like this is the thing. You gotta get the ladder out.

[00:10:41] You gotta tack around the gutter. In up pot heights. It's a bit of a nightmare. But how many times you've been asked to put up four friends or family? Everyone asked you because you are an electrician, they think you must be really good at putting Christmas lights up. Well, more than likely, cuz you've got the steps and you've got the clips all in the van anyway.

[00:10:58] But you do it because you know for a fact that someone's gonna put 12 sets of lights all around their house, called up all to an extension lead a. And it's gonna cause a fire. So you'd like to go around there just to make sure that they haven't done a stupid job where they're gonna cause a fire. And depending on what position you are with, your customer information, you could also put an email out.

[00:11:17] , Again, the email list with customers is valuable as gold. You could always put an email out to say, Hey, I'm, uh, doing Christmas lights with people for a certain offer, if you'd like me to put your Christmas lights up for you to make sure that they're safe and they're not gonna cause a fire. Because no doubt people leave 'em on all night sometimes when they're going and maybe if they leave them on when

[00:11:37] they go to work. And you don't wanna do that really cause it's a waste of time. You can't see the lights in a daylight. What I've done with mine is, um, I got a little remote control, remote controlled socket where you could, obviously you could supply and fit them as well, which they just plug in and then people could plug 'em into the garage.

[00:11:53] So don't have to cut the garage and turn 'em on. They've got like six settings. There's this little thing off eBay. It was fantastic. I still use it to this day. I've had it a few years. Normally you get things off eBay and they break after a little while. But no, this thing's happening cuz you only use it once a year.

[00:12:06] So , it's spot on. You can just turn your lights on from the comfort at your own home. But like I say, if you haven't got a big email list, you haven't got a big customer base, maybe you're just starting out even. Knock on people's doors, let them see your face. Talk to them. I'll put it on a Facebook post on your personal profile saying, I'm a fully qualified electrician.

[00:12:24] I've got ladders and I'm offering to put people's lights up for a, I don't know. So much of a figure. You can obviously work that out when you get there, how many lights you got? Cause if you say like, yeah, I'll do it for 50 quid, and you turn up and there's like six boxes of lights, you're gonna be there all day up here nightmare..

[00:12:41] But again, in that Facebook group that I told you about earlier, if you jump inside there, there's a download about how old you can be safe with your Christmas lights and plugging them in and basically not having a quarter of extens leader. I hate it when people do that. .

[00:12:52] You're basically making a heater. Come on, let's be honest. You're making a heater so it's gonna melt and cause a fire. So basically safety guidelines that you can obviously pinch, offer me, stick your logo on it, send that out to your customers as well. It's once you start thinking like this and you are constantly promoting your business and services to new customers, you flow of work will never ever run.

[00:13:15] That's when you get to a position where you pick and choose what jobs you want to do. Sometimes if you wanna do hundreds downlights, you can say, right, it's 20 pound downlight. How many downloads can you get down up in a day? You could probably do them a hundred in a day if you, uh, did a late day or something or jumped in.

[00:13:30] , it's easy. It's nice when you can pick and choose. Cause let's be honest, you'd prefer to do a job that puts a thousand pound in your pocket than a 50 pound job. So now you've got about 30 seconds to the end. So go out and rally up your customers and make your electrical business grow. Get inside the toolbox, talks for electricians group, and post your experience.

[00:13:52] If , what we've talked about today. I'll leave a link to the group in the show notes below. Until next time, we'll see you again.