EGIA
Ask the Experts
EGIA Contractor University
Author: Lucas Ehrbar | February 14th, 2018

Ask the Experts | Getting Techs Emotionally Committed

Question: In the Prosperity Mindset training, you talk about getting emotionally committed. How can I help my service techs get emotionally committed?

Weldon Long: It’s really important obviously to be emotionally committed, because our actions typically are a reflection of our emotional state. If we feel sad we act a certain way. If we feel happy, we act a different way. So there’s a direct connection between our emotional state and our physiological state. You know, the things we’re doing are typically a reflection of the things we’re feeling. You can see that on somebody, you can talk to them, in many cases, you can tell what their emotional state is from talking to them.

To make sure that our technicians — anybody in our company – are emotionally connected, emotionally committed, to the company goals as well as their individual goals, one of the tried and true methods that has been around for thousands of years is repetition; getting people to make declarations. There is a consistency theory established by Robert Cialdini that public declarations dictate future actions. So if I tell you something, I’m more likely than not to actually do that thing. If I tell you I’m going to pick you up at the store at 4 o’clock, I’m probably going to pick you up at the store at 4 o’clock, because we tend to take actions consistent with our words.

So one of the things I talk about in The Power of Consistency is, individually, to have a prosperity plan and review those dreams, those goals, those aspirations on a daily basis. Allow yourself to get excited about that as you review it.

If we go back to Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill, he said as you read your goals you have to imagine yourself already in possession of those things. Allow yourself to get excited about that new car even before you have it. Well that works on an individual basis, but it also works on a group basis.

We’ve got clients that write out the basic affirmations, the things we talk about – “we’ve got to run every call with passion and purpose”; “we’ve got to diagnose and recommend like a boss”; and “we’ve got to ask for the order every time” — we have clients who have that made up into a poster. You put it up in your meeting room and, when your service techs are there, have them read it out loud, just like they would the Pledge of Allegiance or your mission statement or whatever.

Even though they may not completely believe in it, they may think it’s corny, the reality is public declarations dictate future actions whether we want them to or not. So even though they may not be completely bought-in to the prosperity mindset and those types of things, simply by saying, “I run every call with passion and purpose,” “I diagnose and recommend like a boss,” “I ask for the order every time,” they will feel an impetus, they will feel an obligation, to act in a manner consistent with those words when they’re in the house. And eventually those begin to drive the new behaviors. So emotional commitment is a reflection of what we tell ourselves, because our brain, obviously, is producing the chemicals that trigger our emotions.

So that’s one very common technique that’s been around forever, it’s worked well for me, works well for the customers I’ve dealt with and, frankly, industries and different companies I’ve worked with all across the country. It’s a matter of getting people to make public declarations according to what we want them to do.

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