How a painter stole my electrical work! | 80

I lost my best client over a painter’s poor decision—and it still stings. This episode’s about handling client relationships, especially when things go south, and why staying top of mind after a client moves is critical for your business. Don’t let a great client forget your name just because they changed address.

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Transcript

Push the painter off the top of the scaffold. It was an accident, I swear.

Welcome to Simplified Sparky Marketing. I'm gonna tell you a story about how I lost one of my best clients—probably my best client—to a painter.

This client had a very suave house in Sydney's Inner West. She was upgrading her halogen downlights to LED downlights with a brushed chrome look, and we’d been doing them in batches. There were about 300 in the whole house. She’d call me every few months to replace another 20 or so. I also did other bits around the house—tripping issues, data points, things like that. Lovely people. Very Italian. She even referred me to her son, who owned a business in the Inner West, and I did work for him too.

Then the painter came along.

She’d been postponing the downlight upgrades in a tricky part of the house. They were hard to get to—even with an extension ladder. But she finally got a painter in, who brought a scaffold. She rang me and said, “The painter’s here with the scaffold. Can you do those lights now?” I said, “Perfect. How many are there?” Let’s say it was 40—20 that needed the scaffold and 20 reachable with an 8-foot ladder.

I went out and started the job. The painter was busy and said, “Don’t worry, I’ve pulled one of the lights out and they’re just plugged in. I can finish the rest.” So I left a box of lights for him and said, “I’m two short. I’ll bring them in two days.” They were special-order lights.

The next day, she messaged me upset, saying, “You should’ve had the lights. The scaffold’s down now and we can’t get back up.” She was really disappointed. But remember: 20 lights were in the scaffold area, 20 in the ladder area.

So here’s the thing: if you had 38 lights and two areas—one difficult to access, one easy—which would you leave short? Obviously, the easy one. But the painter left two short in the scaffold area.

I told her, “That was a silly move on the painter’s part.” She blew up. “He helped you out by installing them, and now you’re blaming him?” I said, “I could’ve reached those other ones. Why not take two from there and use them up top?” She wasn’t having it. I offered to hire a scaffold and fix it, but she said, “Don’t worry about it. Just tell me what I owe you.” I replied, “Forget it—keep the lights.” Stubborn on both ends, and that was it.

I drove past her house today and thought about it. I actually miss her as a client. Lovely woman. Her family was great. It ended in ego. I wish I had gone over and explained both sides calmly. Even though I was in the right, I could’ve handled it better.

Now, onto the main point—clients moving house.

This week alone, two clients told me they’re selling. Here’s why this is important: if I wasn’t staying in front of them—via emails, reminders, updates—they’d have moved and forgotten me. You must stay top of mind with your clients. Even if they move within your service area, if you’re not in their inbox, they’ll forget you.

They’ll end up chatting to the new neighbor who says, “Oh, we’ve got a great sparky.” And your client—your once-loyal client—says, “Yeah, I can’t remember my old one’s name.” It happens all the time. One of my best clients couldn’t even remember my business name; she just remembered me as a person.

This is why I put every paying client into my flywheel. Every dollar paid equals a place in the sequence. If they’re just an enquiry or tyre kicker? They don’t go in. No nurturing there.

Even small jobs count. That $150 callout today might become a $15,000 job in their next house. But if you drop the ball, that money walks out the door.

And now that I know these two clients are moving, I’ve set a reminder. In 3–4 months, they’ll get a follow-up email. Something light, something personalized. “Hope the move went well—let me know if you need anything at the new place.” That’s how you stay relevant.

It’s all part of the system I walk my mentorship members through—especially when they reach the retention phase. That’s the gold dust. After a client pays the invoice, don’t reset and forget. Stay top of mind, and they’ll never leave your orbit.

Treat every single client who pays you a dollar as a return client. That’s how you build a bulletproof business.

All the links are in the bio if you’re interested in resources or mentorship. And please—tick the stars, leave a review. It really helps the podcast.

Catch you next week.