Anger Management for Leads | 52

Ever dealt with a client who just felt like a waste of time? In this episode, I share two frustrating stories—one about a mystery address and another about an indecisive EV charger install—that taught me the power of spotting "beige flags" early. Knowing when to walk away saves you time, money, and a whole lot of headaches. Tune in to learn how to qualify leads better and avoid time-wasters.

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Transcript

Unscrew the cap of the bazooka on top of the van. No 25mm conduit. Bollocks. Welcome to Simplified Sparky Marketing.

Very aggressive intro into the podcast this week, fueled by the frustration of a missing conduit that should have been picked up at the suppliers. But that’s not what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about anger management towards clients and share a situation that really pissed me off this week.

So, let's start with Mary. She was a lead who initially reached out to one of my mates, Nick, who isn’t in the area. Shoutout to his electrical business. Even though Mary is located in the Inner West, Nick CC’d me into an email so I could follow up with her. I contacted Mary and requested some basic information. Since I was CC’d into Nick’s email, we already had some details, which was great. But we always make sure to collect a full name, address, phone number, and email. This is critical because, as I always say, nurturing the client after the job is how we retain business. Getting their details allows us to use email marketing, SMS follow-ups, and other tools to stay in front of them and remain top of mind.

Fast forward—well, actually, rewind—back to Mary. She sent me all the necessary information, except for the address. Instead, she wrote: "Townhouse next to Bunnings on [Whatever] Road in Balmain." A bit random. But I thought, okay, maybe she’s just being cautious. It was a straightforward quote, so I prepared it and was about to send it. Before doing so, I emailed her: "Hey Mary, just letting you know we’re about to send your quote, but we need your full address for the paperwork." She replied: "Don’t worry about it. Just send it to my email."

At that point, I thought: No, f* you, Mary.** You’re not getting a quote unless you provide an actual address. If you’re serious about the job, you’ll need to give us your location. Otherwise, what are we supposed to do—knock on Bunnings' door and ask about some mystery townhouse?

So, I started justifying why we needed the address in an email. Reason one: We need to know where to go when the job goes ahead. Reason two: For legal reasons, we have to put the correct address on the quote. Imagine taking her to court for unpaid work, and the invoice just says: Mary, next to Bunnings in Balmain.

I had more reasons lined up, but as I was angrily typing them out, I stopped. I took a breath. I thought, This isn’t worth it. Mary wasn’t serious about the job. If she couldn't follow a simple process, then we weren’t doing business. I went into my job management software, ServiceM8, selected the job, and marked it unsuccessful. It disappeared from my job list and into the abyss.

There’s a term I recently learned: "Beige Flag." It’s not quite a red flag that screams danger, but it’s also not a green flag that says all is good. It’s somewhere in between—something feels off, even if you can’t pinpoint it. Mary was a beige flag. She was 75% there but missing that final 25% of seriousness. My gut said, "This isn't worth your time." And I listened to it.

Now, let’s talk about Bob. Bob reached out for a Tesla EV charger install. These are super easy to quote because we follow a standard process. Bob called the office, spoke to our receptionist, and we collected his details. Templates and confirmations were sent. Then—radio silence.

After a day, I followed up, and his response was: "Oh, it's all too confusing." That triggered me. I started thinking, Why is this confusing? We've sold hundreds of these. The process works. What’s the issue? For a second, I doubted my own system. Was my process actually bad? So, I went back and listened to his call. Bob, as it turns out, was just… indecisive. He sounded unsure, unprepared, and like he hadn’t done any research. The issue wasn’t my process. The issue was Bob.

He had no idea about the difference between plugging a charger into a standard 10-amp power point and using a Tesla Gen 3 Wall Connector for 32 amps (or 16 amps per phase in three-phase setups). He was getting frustrated because he didn’t understand the product, and that wasn’t my fault. I asked for some photos of his setup, and after much back and forth, he finally sent one blurry, useless picture—with no extra info.

At that point, I knew this guy was going to waste my time. I could have sent a snarky email like: "Mate, it's simple—click the link, add photos, and tick yes or no." But I didn’t. I bit my tongue, kept it professional, and sent him basic instructions. The beige flag was up. I quoted the job and never heard from Bob again. No surprise there.

Years ago, I used to fire off aggressive emails when clients annoyed me. Sometimes, I almost got a kick out of it—a little dig at them in writing. But it was silly and immature. Now, I’ve learned: If a client is serious, they’ll provide the info. If they aren’t, let them go. If you get a bad gut feeling, walk away early. If they’re serious, they’ll come back with the details. If not, you haven’t wasted time.

If you liked this episode and want more no-BS marketing advice, check out my Instagram (handle in the show notes). Send me a DM—I’d love to hear from you. Got a marketing question? Hit me up, and I’ll answer it in a future episode. Also, if you found this helpful, follow, rate, and review the show. And before you go, I’ve got a free "9 Ways in 9 Days" guide to help you grow your electrical business. The link’s below. Catch you in the next one!