1300 Vanity Is Costing You Work | 126

Most electricians don’t need to look national. They need to look trusted. A 1300 number or flashy branding can push away the small local jobs that keep your service work flowing. And those little jobs turn into switchboards, EV chargers and long term clients. Drop the vanity. Build trust.

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Transcript

I know what I want and I want it now. I want you. I’m Mr Vain.

Welcome to Simplified Sparky Marketing.

A few days ago I was chatting to someone. We’ve got a mutual friend who owns a business. My mate turned to me and said, “That guy must be huge.”

I said, “Why?”

He said, “He’s got one of those 1300 numbers on the van.”

I just looked at him and said, “You can get one of those in 10 minutes. Anyone listening to this podcast can get one.”

He genuinely thought you had to be some national company to have a 1300 number. I explained that you don’t.

And it got me thinking about vanity metrics.

A 1300 or 1800 number is a national number. Why a local electrical business serving a local area would use one is beyond me. Well, it’s not beyond me — I know exactly why people do it.

It’s to look bigger than they are.

I used to think the same thing when I started. I thought you had to look bigger than you actually are.

But here’s the dilemma.

If you’re a boutique electrical business and your reputation is built around clients knowing they’ll get you, or one of your skilled team, sometimes it pays to lean into being the small guy.

Using big-boy tactics doesn’t always work.

Let’s say Mrs Smith wants a few PowerPoints replaced. She’s getting a couple of quotes. She sees your business. She sees another local business. Then she sees a 1300 number.

Her brain might immediately go:

“They’re national.”
 “They’ll be expensive.”
 “They won’t care about my small job.”

So she doesn’t call.

You’ve just lost a lead because you tried to look big.

It gets worse when you’ve got something like “1800 SPARKY” on your van.

Now the client has to decode it.

“S is seven… P is seven… A is two…”

That’s friction.

You’re literally making it harder for someone to call you because you wanted a fancy number.

You’re better off with a clear, obvious number in black and white that’s easy to dial.

This flows into websites as well.

Big digital marketing agencies get hold of your site and try to portray you as a massive operation. Corporate jargon. Stock photos. Buzzwords.

Meanwhile, your client just wants to know:

Are you local?
 Can you fix my issue?
 Can I trust you?

An 02 number in Sydney.
 An 08 in Perth.
 Or just a mobile.

Local builds trust.

Trying to look national can kill it.

And here’s the thing — I love little jobs.

I absolutely love them.

Because little jobs turn into bigger jobs.

It might just be PowerPoints today.
 Switchboard next year.
 EV charger after that.
 Then their sister calls.

You choke off the little jobs by looking too big, and you choke off your pipeline.

Vanity shows up in other ways too.

Big social media followings.

People chasing viral trends. Ice bucket challenges. AI figurines. Whatever’s doing the rounds.

Funny the first one or two times.

After the 80th one, it’s noise.

And noise doesn’t pay invoices.

People think more followers equals more money.

Sometimes. But usually, one post went viral for some random reason, and now you’ve got thousands of followers who will never spend a dollar with you.

I’d rather have a smaller, local audience who will actually open their wallet.

Most of you listening are servicing a local area.

Stop trying to look national.

You don’t need to look big.

You need to look trusted.

Build trust with your local clients.
 Remove friction.
 Drop the vanity metrics.

Because looking big might make you feel important.

But being trusted is what makes you money.

All the links to find me are underneath.

Catch you next week.