We reflect our teachers | 61

Most sparkies speak to clients like they’re other tradies—and it’s costing them work. In this episode, I unpack how the school system messed with us, and how that same mindset is hurting your marketing. Learn how to dumb down your quotes (in a good way), speak your client's language, and win more jobs.

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Transcript

Open your books to page 61. Paragraph two—read aloud for the class. Welcome to Simplified Sparky Marketing.

Today’s podcast came to me while I was in a roof space thinking about marketing. That’s just the kind of weirdo I am. What hit me was this analogy about how we’re taught in school—and how wrong it is.

The so-called “smart kids” did well because they could store a bunch of stuff in their heads for weeks or months and then spit it all out on an exam. But if you didn’t learn that way, you were basically told you weren’t smart. You were already behind.

I listen to a podcast every week by this bloke who’s done everything—music, books, you name it. He only found out recently that he’s autistic, and when he looks back at school, he realised he was never taught in a way that worked for him. He said his brain works best when he’s blasting heavy metal music—he writes, he learns, it all flows from there. That’s how his mind ticks.

So imagine if schools actually catered to how people learn best—if a teacher said, “Right, we’re cranking up Metallica and writing essays.” But instead, if you weren’t a “top” student, you got nudged toward a trade. I’m guessing a lot of you listening had the same experience—you were told you weren’t cut out for uni, so go get a trade and “fall back on it.”

Well, stuff that. I’m glad I went into electrical. It’s brought me full circle to what I love doing now.

Back then, teachers played favourites. If you were having a bad day or if someone in class was mucking around, the teacher just gave up on you. And it’s no different now when it comes to how sparkies talk to clients—that’s where the marketing lesson kicks in.

We speak in electrical jargon. You’ve been talking to your boss or your apprentice about TPS, CBOs, 63 amps, and you forget that clients have no bloody clue what that means. Then you start throwing that into your quotes, talking in that same language. You might as well be explaining two-way switching—it’s going straight over their heads.

And when people don’t understand something, they don’t trust it. They don’t buy it.

That’s why you need to drop the jargon. Bring it to their level. One of the things I love is using analogies—especially car analogies. Everyone gets cars. You can explain the importance of safety switches by comparing them to brakes or airbags. It’s relatable.

If you’re writing quotes or emails using terms like “XLPE,” just stop. Ask yourself: Would my mum understand this? If the answer’s no, change it. Dumb it down. And trust me, that doesn’t make you look unprofessional—it makes you relatable. And relatable wins work.

This doesn’t just help with conversions—it helps with efficiency. When your quotes are clear, you won’t get follow-up calls or emails asking what things mean. It saves you time. Go back and look at the last few quotes that didn’t get accepted. Was there anything in there that might’ve confused the client? If so, fix it. Update your templates in ServiceM8—or whatever software you’re using.

A confused mind always says no. How many jobs have you lost simply because your wording was off?

If school taught us anything, it’s that not everyone learns the same way. So why would every client understand the same way you speak?

When you’re the sparky who can explain things clearly, you’re more trusted—and trust leads to booked jobs.

If you’re enjoying the podcast, please subscribe and give it a rating. There’s a bunch of links below, including a little gift if you want it. If not—hey, you can’t learn to swim by just looking at the ocean.