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Michael: Hi, this is Michael with www.hardtofindseminars.com . I think you are going to enjoy this consultation that I did with a lady who owns an electrical contracting business. She is one of the largest electrical contractors in her area and she was introduced to me in some Jay Abraham material. She found me on the internet and we talked for about 30 minutes. She wants to increase her business about 15 percent every year and has been doing pretty well, but she is looking for some new ideas on how to do what she is doing, but do it even better.

I think you will enjoy it. We talked a lot about a direct mail piece that, if she follows the advice give, can probably double her business just on that one strategy alone. The consultation lasts about 30 minutes and I hope you enjoy it. She is very gracious and has allowed this to be recorded. Get ready for a great consultation.

Michael: So you are an electrical contractor?

Overall Electric: Yes, we employ about 20 electricians.

Michael: Are you residential?

Overall Electric: We do everything. Residential, commercial, service work….

Michael: By the way, I told you that I am recording this, right?

Overall Electric: That’s fine. The service work is what we do the most of because that is what makes the highest profit.

Michael: What is service work?

Overall Electric: That is where we go to somebody’s house because their plug doesn’t work or they need power hooked up to an air conditioner.

Michael: How do you pay the electricians? Do you pay them hourly?

Overall Electric: Yes.

Michael: Okay. For the residential service calls, if their power went out or something else is wrong, residential is where the money is?

Overall Electric: Yes, that’s right. Exactly. A lot of our money comes from what we consider “heavy” jobs. The heaviest are from air conditioning companies and furnace companies, because they always need electricians to run the power for their air conditioners and to run the power to the furnaces

Michael: Right

Overall Electric: And we also work for property management companies because everybody has electrical problems. So we try to get in there and get a contract for all the electrical work.

Michael: So you try to get in with companies that are going to give you consistent business. You try to get in with companies that are going to give you repeat consistent residual business.

Overall Electric: Exactly.

Michael: How much more work can you handle?

Overall Electric: Well, we try to go up each year 15 percent.

Michael: And have you been doing it?

Overall Electric: Yes. Just about every year.

Michael: Okay. What kind of goal do you see for yourself? Do you want to put on more electricians? How much do you want to grow? How big do you want to get?

Overall Electric: We want to grow 15 to 20 percent a year. We want to become the biggest electrical company in the area.

Michael: What methods have been working the most effectively for you?

Overall Electric: Direct mail. That's all we have done so far. We also have a lady that sits in the office here and solicits business for us. She goes through and contacts these contractors asking if they need electricians. And asking if we can send some information on us for when you have some upcoming bids. So then she faxes out the company information and then when they have something, we are in their bid process.

Michael: Is she cold calling? Is she identifying her own leads?

Overall Electric: Yes. Basically, she is using the Yellow Pages.

Michael: Is she full time?

Overall Electric: Yes. She makes $10 an hour.

Michael: $10 an hour. Is she good? She works full time soliciting business.

Overall Electric: Well, no, she is a full time employee, however, that is only part of her job. We have been so busy lately, that she only dedicates approximately 20 hours a week to the solicitation of new business.

Michael: And how are her results?

Overall Electric: So far, so good. She gets a positive response maybe one out of every 20 contacts.

Michael: Okay. Your direct mail piece… tell me a little about it.

Overall Electric: It’s a letter and it gives a brief introduction of our company, telling them what we do and that we have reasonable prices, like $25 an hour. And if it like and air conditioning company, we have a different price for them. We offer same day service…

Michael: Just your general sales message. Now, have you been able to measure any of the results from your direct mail letter?

Overall Electric: Yes. We always get excellent results.

Michael: What do you consider excellent results?

Overall Electric: Out of three hundred mailers, we always pick up 4 or 5 new companies.

Michael: And, if you can quantify it, what is an account worth to you?

Overall Electric: I have no idea.

Michael: What percent of your accounts are just great accounts? The ones that are consistent money makers?

Overall Electric: 20 percent.

Michael: 20 percent. That is pretty consistent with the 80/20 rule. That means that 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. Tell me about the 80 percent that are not good, consistent accounts. What is it like working with those 80 percent?

Overall Electric: What’s it like? What do you mean?

Michael: You are saying that 20 percent of your customers are great consistent money makers. What percent of your revenue are those 20 percent responsible for?

Overall Electric: 80 to 90 percent.

Michael: 80 to 90 percent.

Overall Electric: What I was looking for with Jay Abraham, and the reason we went to the internet at first, was not to become ruled by statistics. The 80/20 rule is interesting and all, but….

Michael: No, absolutely not.

Overall Electric: I want to know how to do my direct mail better. I want to be able to create an advertisement, through direct mail, that will catch somebody’s eye. And in that way, if I can do that better, then I feel like I can get more of those companies.

Michael: There’s no doubt. And we can talk about that a little bit, because I am going to send you a copy of this recording anyway. When you do your direct mail piece, what does the envelop look like?

Overall Electric: It is a white envelop with a red logo up in the corner where the return address is. The logo is a fat little electrician man screwing in a light bulb. The logo takes up one third of the return area and then it has “Overall Electric” with our address.

Michael: So when someone receives this, are they receiving it for the first time? Do they know who you are? When you are soliciting new business, is it the first time the prospect sees this little electrical man?

Overall Electric: Yes. Possibly yes.

Michael: Okay. Do you put a label on the envelope? Do you hand address it?

Overall Electric: She does do that.

Michael: She puts a little sticky label on it?

Overall Electric: Yes. Is that a no-no?

Michael: Well, let me ask you. Where do you pick up your mail? Does it come to the office?

Overall Electric: Yes.

Michael: Who goes through it? Do you go through it?

Overall Electric: No. I used to. One of the girls does.

Michael: Remember when you got that big pile of mail and sorted all that mail, the junk mail from the real mail? What do you think most of the people, when they get that letter with the little electrical man, do with it?

Overall Electric: Pitch it.

Michael: They pitch it. So your most important thing is, first of all, to get your letter opened. Here’s how you do that: Absolutely get rid of that sticky label and start to hand address it.

Overall Electric: You know, I thought of that. You are right. It has crossed my mind before.

Michael: Either have it lasered on there with a laser printer or you can hand address it, which is even better.

Overall Electric: Right.

Michael: And then start using, especially for your new customers, a simple sales letter. Mail it in a number 10 envelope with no corner card, no little red man, no logo, not even your company name.

Overall Electric: Okay.

Michael: Your address, city, state, and zip code, and address it to the person. When they open it, they are thinking, “Well, who is this from?” They don’t know if it is from and attorney and they are not going to throw it away until they know.

Overall Electric: They’re curious.

Michael: They are curious and curiosity is the number one human emotion. There could be money in there and they are going to open that letter. Isn’t that what you want them to do?

Overall Electric: So, when we are doing a mailing to a brand new group of potential clients, just put Overall Electric in the corner?

Michael: No. Don’t even put that on there. Just your street address, city, state, and zip code. And then you address it to who ever you want it to go to. Do you have a person’s name, or just a company name?

Overall Electric: It’s about half and half, actually. What we are doing is when mailing the first time to, for instance, real estate companies, we don’t have a specific name. I suppose that that is a no-no.

Michael: It’s going to reduce your response. Those names are available. You can certainly, through a list broker, get a list of anything you want. You can get every owner of a real estate company.

Overall Electric: Can you?

Michael: Yes, you can. You can look in the yellow pages and look up “List Brokers” and I can introduce you to a list broker who I use who is very good. They can get you names for anything you want.

Overall Electric: Okay.

Michael: There are tons of sources. It’s incredible, you can go on the internet and, once you are set up with the system, there is a company called American Business Lists. They buy from all the huge mailing list companies and they work with the credit card agencies. You can sign up on line, type in what you want, and have your list downloaded into your computer within 15 minutes.

Overall Electric: American Business Lists?

Michael: American Business Lists or, I always forget the name; it’s either American Business Lists or Business USA. I’ll send you a link to the mailing list companies. But you are going to pay a little higher retail. I have a guy who is pretty good and pretty fair with his prices, and you can talk with him and negotiate with him. When buying data, always negotiate. You can always negotiate with these people. You can even go on eBay, type in Mailing Lists, and there are all kinds of mailing list brokers who have great deals. Just tell them what you are looking for. They’re the experts.

Overall Electric: Okay, so I would tell them that I am looking for real estate companies, and they can give me a whole list of companies in our area along with the names of whoever owns them?

Michael: Absolutely. They will give you the SIC code, because with every real estate company, someone had to fill out a form listing the owner's name. Any information that you want on them.

Overall Electric: Okay.

Michael: You get the ones right in your zip code. So, when you are mailing the letter, it will be more effective because you are mailing it to a person. If we could make you a direct mail piece that was twice as effective, you could possibly double your gross.

Overall Electric: That would be great. That would give us the 15 percent a year that we want.

Michael: And that is why I am saying, with this marketing stuff, all you need is a couple of good ideas. You don’t need to do them all. You are just trying to increase your business incrementally. If you did 10 different things just a little bit different, you would have a geometric growth.

Overall Electric: Right.

Michael: And that is what Jay Abraham is about. So, you want to start mailing in a regular number two envelop using no company name when mailing to your first time contacts. Just a street address, city, state, and zip code. You want to hand address it to a person. When I do my direct mail, I don’t even put the company’s name, because you aren’t selling to a company name, you are talking to a person. This will get the letter opened. I wouldn’t even recommend a letterhead or a logo. I’d have “Dear so and so,” One important thing, what you will learn in this material, is that you always want to have a headline in your letter.

A big and bold headline. Look at the letter you got from Jay Abraham. You want to make it look just like that. You want to have a huge benefit on there.

Overall Electric: A reason why they would want to call you?

Michael: Right. Reasons why. That's what advertising is. Advertising is reasons why someone should do business with you and not the other person. Can you give me some reasons why someone should want to do business with you rather than any other electrical contractor in your area?

Overall Electric: Well, we offer outstanding service.

Michael: What does that mean?

Overall Electric: Meaning we have professional, courteous, intelligent electricians that can solve your problems.

Michael: What makes them professional? Do they go through a training?

Overall Electric: Ah, no.

Michael: Are they screened?

Overall Electric: Yes, that is involved in the way we hire someone.

Michael: Okay, the way you hire them… you make sure that these guys know what they are doing?

Overall Electric: Sure.

Michael: And what do you look for?

Overall Electric: We look to see, first of all, if they have a license. What their experience is, who they have been with.

Michael: And you check their background?

Overall Electric: Sure.

Michael: And you make sure that they haven’t been in trouble. Are there a lot of felons out there?

Overall Electric: Not really. We have one or two applicants a year who are.

Michael: Okay. So you check them out. You want to make sure that any electrician that you hire, absolutely has a clean record and is honest. Before you bring one of your electricians into someone's home, you want to absolutely know that it is an honest guy, so they are not going to steal from the customer.

Overall Electric: Right.

Michael: You said they were courteous. Do you put them through any kind of training?

Overall Electric: No.

Michael: But you want to make sure that these guys are not rude to your customers.

Overall Electric: The best way that we have found to do it is, before we put them on what we call “service work”, where we put them in one of our vans and send them to people’s homes, they are put on new construction. Nobody is out there, there aren’t any homeowners, and you are just dealing with the superintendent.

Michael: So they are getting some of their training there.

Overall Electric: Sure and we get to know them like that.

Michael: So, in other words, where most other electricians may get hired on off the street, with out a background check, you safeguard the customer by bringing them on and not allowing them to get into a customer's home until you get to know them. How long are they on new construction?

Overall Electric: Probably a year or so.

Michael: So, all of your electricians are on new construction, meaning they are not working with the public, for at least a year – until they pass your mustard.

Overall Electric: Exactly.

Michael: And that protects the customer, doesn’t it?

Overall Electric: Yes, it does.

Michael: What else?

Overall Electric: I know we offer one of the best rates in the city.

Michael: Your rates for service.

Overall Electric: Our rates for service are extremely reasonable. We offer a really good deal.

Michael: And how do you know that?

Overall Electric: Because people have told us that we are one of the lowest in the market. We have also done cold calling, posing as a homeowner, trying to get the other company’s rate.

Michael: Right. Now let’s say I’m a resident and my lights are out and I can’t figure it out and I want to get five estimates from five different contractors around the city. Are the estimates going to be all over the board?

Overall Electric: I would say that you are going to have maybe three that are really close, and we will probably be in the bottom price of those three.

Michael: And you are going to have one that is outrageous.

Overall Electric: You are going to have a couple that are probably twice as high.

Michael: And there are companies out there that go out and bid huge numbers and hope for the best.

Overall Electric: We call them the “Neiman Marcus’s.” They are going to have fewer customers and they charge outrageous prices

Michael: And it’s not necessarily that that their service is any better. It is a numbers game.

Overall Electric: Absolutely. We are more on the target end of it. We can do the same job for a fraction of what the Neiman Marcus charges.

Michael: There is another thing. The customer needs to know that there are electricians out there who will come out to their home and highball them, give them an outrageously expensive rate – almost twice of what you charge – just hoping that they are going to fall for this ploy. You can explain that you come out and give them one of the absolutely most competitive prices in the industry, and they get all of your service behind it.

Overall Electric: Right

Michael: You want to assure them that you are not going to come in and highball them, or rip them off. What’s another reason?

Overall Electric: We stand behind our work. If the lights are out and we fix them, and they are out again the next day, we will go back.

Michael: Do you offer a 100 percent money back guarantee?

Overall Electric: No, we offer a satisfaction guarantee. We will go back until it is right and the customer is satisfied.

Michael: Do you tell them that?

Overall Electric: We tell them that we offer a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. And it has worked well. It keeps people from saying, “Well, your electrician looked at me wrong when he go here, so I am not 100 percent…”

Michael: But you make most of your money on the residential service. If a homeowner is dissatisfied, and the only reason he would be dissatisfied was if you didn’t do the job, and he called you and complained, you have to make it right or give the guy his money back.

Overall Electric: Well, we would make it right.

Michael: Right. So you would offer that guy 100 percent satisfaction?

Overall Electric: Right, but I hate to use that terminology, because I have seen it work to where it is a nightmare. More than once.

Michael: Even with residential?

Overall Electric: Even with residential. We worked with a company that offered that and, my God, it just got to be ridiculous. And so we just say…

Michael: If you are not happy, we’ll make it right.

Overall Electric: Exactly. So it doesn’t get to, “Well, when your electrician came out, he got a little speck of mud on my carpet.” Maybe he did, and maybe he didn’t. “I want you to pay for my carpet cleaning bill. It’s like you said in your ad. And I am not 100 percent happy, and I’d really like this done.”

Michael: Okay, then you can qualify it. You can say, “If you aren’t happy, we’ll make it right.”

Overall Electric: Correct. And leave it at that.

Michael: And you want to mention that up front.

Overall Electric: We do. “Satisfaction guaranteed” or something like that.

Michael: That is a principal that Jay talks about. You may get some of those nit pickers who may take you up on a refund…

Overall Electric: Sure they do. Trying to get something for nothing.

Michael: But most people are honest. Okay? And if you compare that small loss to the amount of additional business that you will get because of that offer, you come out way ahead. It is a double edged sword – you deal with more pain in the ass people, but you customers in the bottom line.

Overall Electric: That’s right.

Michael: Here’s something that I can imagine that is a real benefit of an electrical contractor: getting out to the home on time, servicing the account fast when the customer needs it. When a customer calls, how fast do you get out to their house?

Overall Electric: It depends on when they want it. If they say, “I have to have it today,” then we put it down as an “afternoon” service call, meaning anytime during the after noon. If they are calling to schedule a service call for another day, we can give them within an hour, the exact time that we will be there, but they have to call us the day of the job.

Michael: It sounds like you have a dispatcher. Are all your trucks wired to you, where you can communicate with all of your drivers?

Overall Electric: Sure.

Michael: Do the drivers have cell phones?

Overall Electric: Sure.

Michael: So, when someone schedules an appointment, they can get the time of the arrival within an hour, as long as they call in to the office.

Overall Electric: If someone calls in and needs an appointment within an hour? Is that what you are asking?

Michael: No, I am saying… Let’s say I set up and an appointment…

Overall Electric: Sure, they can get a timeframe, within an hour of when they will be there.

Michael: I am just trying to find more reasons why someone would want to do business with you. You don’t make someone wait from 8:00 to 12:00.

Overall Electric: No. we set it for Thursday Morning, November 12 th. If they want a more exact time, we can give it to them if they call us the morning of the 12 th. At that point, we can tell them, within an hour, when we are going to be there.

Michael: That right there is a huge benefit. There’s nothing more frustrating than waiting all morning for someone.

Overall Electric: I know. I agree.

Michael: That could be part of your USP, your Unique Selling Position. What I am trying to identify is reasons why someone would want to do business with you. Reasons that really hit home to the consumer. All you need is a slight advantage; even though other electricians may do the same thing, they may not state it.

Overall Electric: Right.

Michael: That could be part of your USP. “Call us and we will be there within an hour of the time you want.” Any other reasons why somebody would want to do business with you? You said that you had been around how long?

Overall Electric: 1978.

Michael: How did you start?

Overall Electric: John, my husband, his dad was an electrician and he just fell into it. And then he started his own company.

Michael: So he comes from generations of electricians. Well, I certainly think that you can accomplish your goals and you are on the right track. You have some of the Jay Abraham materials. Sales and marketing is nothing but getting your message…

Overall Electric: You know, the only thing that I hate about that Jay Abraham thing, it’s too long. Maybe it is just a fallacy to me, but I think direct marketing should be direct and to the point. Who has time to sit there and read? You know what I am saying?

Michael: Let me tell you, he is selling programs that are two grand, five grand, fifteen grand and twenty grand. A lot of people will say the message is too long, but for what he is selling, if someone….

Overall Electric: You’re right.

Michael: They will read every word.

Overall Electric: Right. To make sure that they want to pay that kind of money.

Michael: That's right… and they will read it three times. I have a web page where I sell pens that I manufacture. And I have a business opportunity that I sell that is over 25 pages. And people will read it over and over and over again. It’s like if you are getting married and you can’t meet the five men you have to choose from. You can only read a letter from them. Aren’t you going to read every word? So, it’s only too long for the prospects who aren’t really interested.

Overall Electric: Right. But isn’t that different if you are a real estate agent here? And you have hundreds of pieces of mail every week and here is this electrical company that wants to do business with you and it just goes on and on…

Michael: Yeah. I agree. It depends on who you are getting your message to. This is what I figure: If you will trust me enough, and I want you to know that if you are absolutely unhappy about anything, I have a 100 percent money back guarantee.

Overall Electric: Okay.

Michael: I’d like to put a package together with some Jay Abraham material as well as some additional excellent marketing material, which can give you a lot of great, tangible ideas. I will go through some of my stuff and I will see if I can find some ads and sales letters and headlines that would relate to your particular business that you can copy or steal or modify, and use to your advantage. I am absolutely sure I can find you some good stuff.

Overall Electric: Okay.

Michael: And what I am thinking is: 24 audio tapes of MasterMind program, the pre-attendance stuff, the workbook, and I can give you everything for $475. Plus, I will go through some of my other marketing material and find specific, targeted ads and letters that you can use specifically for your business.

Overall Electric: Okay. Including the information on how to get the mailing lists?

Michael: Yes, I will hook you up with my source for mailing lists and I will give you the links to a couple of websites where you can buy these lists on line. You may pay a little more for them, but the data is there for you to do that. And I will include some specific steps on how to generate a good sales letter. You will have lots of examples to choose from.

Overall Electric: And I won’t be disappointed for my $475?

Michael: Absolutely. You won’t be disappointed.

Overall Electric: And you will send a receipt too, right?

Michael: Sure, I will send you an invoice with it. Absolutely. Look, I will give you a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. I am going to send you the audio recordings. Can you listen to audio recordings, audio files? Do you know how to do that?

Overall Electric: You mean….

Michael: Have you ever listened to something on the internet with sounds?

Overall Electric: Oh, sure.

Michael: I am going to send you this recording for you to listen to, and I think when you listen to it again, you will have more chances to get more idea out of it. And if you are unhappy, you get your money back. I am absolutely confident that I can give you enough information. I think already, with some of the advice I have given you, just with the direct mail, you can accomplish your goal. Just with that alone.

Overall Electric: Okay.

Michael: If you can double the effectiveness of the letter you are currently using, meaning let’s get it open and let’s get it read more, communicate more reasons why….

Overall Electric: Then I keep it.

Michael: Also, one of my services is you can call me anytime and pick my brain. It’s not like, “Here’s your tapes. See you later.” You can pick up the phone any time and call me if you want to ask me questions, or ask advice, or have me look at a letter… I am not going to create everything for you, but I will certainly give you consultant advice on it and you can do that at any time.

Overall Electric: All right.

Michael: You can even fax your letter over to me; I’d love to take a look at it. But I will go through some of my great material and I will hand pick some specific stuff that will relate to you. I am sure that you’ll be happy.

Overall Electric: All right. So you need my e-mail address?

Michael: I need your e-mail address, and I want to ask you how you want to pay for it. Do you want to put it on a Visa/MasterCard? Give me your e-mail address first. I am going to e-mail you my contact information and instructions on what you need to do. Do you have a fear of sending credit card information through your e-mail?

Overall Electric: No.

Michael: I am going to send you and e-mail that summarized what you are going to be getting for $475, I will put the total on there and you will send me and authorization that says, “Yes, Michael Senoff, you have my authorization to charge $475 plus the $15 for shipping on my card and I am getting this this, and this.” I will put that together and get it out to you.

Overall Electric: Okay. And how do you mail this stuff?

Michael: I am going to mail it UPS Ground. I will need your street shipping address and everything.

Overall Electric: Okay, put all that in the e-mail.

Michael: Once I get it in the mail to you, I will send you a tracking number.

Overall Electric: Very good.

Michael: It has been a pleasure.

Thank you again for listening; this is Michael Senoff with www.hardtofindseminars.com . If you want to get in touch with any of the people in the interviews, please email me
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