Page 4 - The Compass 2017 | Volume 12 | Issue 4

LEARNING FROM THE BEST
by Bob Houchin
It's SERVIcE Not SALES

Dave Glover of Pacific Coast Electricians in San Jose, California, sold an astonishing
$1.8 Million of electrical work in 2016. He accomplished this feat, not with
high-pressure sales tactics; instead, he educates, informs, influences, and ultimately
persuades homeowners to do what’s best in the interest of their home and family.

hen you hear one person sold over $1.8 Million in electrical repairs, it stops you in your
wtracks a bit. No, he didn’t install all the work, but does it matter? That’s a number that
demands attention. It certainly grabbed mine. I had to speak with this individual, Dave Glover of
Pacific Coast Electricians in San Jose, California.
When I called Kim Hancock, owner of Pacific Coast Electricians, to pitch the story and ask for
his approval to conduct the interview, he agreed with a resounding yes. He mentioned that Dave is
passionate about his work and what he can do for his customers. I absolutely found that to be the case,
as you can see by the length of this story. When you can sit down with a premier salesperson in a
difficult industry for 30 minutes, I felt compelled to share with you as much as I could. Dave Glover
Dave’s background isn’t unlike many people in the trades. He grew up the son of an electrician.
By the time he was a teenager, he knew the basics. He and his father didn’t always see eye-to-eye, so rather than enter the trade, he
enlisted in the U.S. Army for a six-year term, serving in both the first Desert Storm and the Bosnia conflict.
Upon leaving the military, Dave quickly found a job selling computers for Circuit City. “That’s when they were still the big dog,”
Dave chuckled. “That’s when I realized that I had some talent in sales. From there, I sold cars for Ford and later manufactured homes.”
“I got disillusioned by the sales industry. I’m a man of faith, and some of the things I was seeing didn’t sit well with me,” Dave
insisted. “I decided I wanted to work with my hands. I decided to give the electrical field a try again. That was 16 years ago. I started
as an apprentice and worked my way up. I got my Master’s license after 10 years.”
“What was great, after I became a journeyman, I happened to get hired with a company that did service in the 90s. For the first time,
I could marry sales and electrical and found a fit.”
Along Dave’s professional journey as an electrician, he mostly worked for service companies, including two that had been members
of Electricians’ Success International. “I was trained early on the process of providing service,” Dave professed.
Finally, not long ago, Dave and a partner tried to start a business of their own, but he was very forthright in admitting that it didn’t
work. Being a great technician or salesperson doesn’t always lend to business success. “That’s when I went knocking on the door of
Mike Council. I wanted to meet him. Mike was nationally known for his passion for service for some time.” Dave also met with Mike’s
business partner, Kim Hancock. [Mike and Kim amicably separated their plumbing and electrical businesses last year.]
“When I met Mike and Kim, I told them that I was going to be their top dog. They laughed and said, ‘Around here, we like that type
of confidence.’ Sure enough, I was able to do it,” Dave said proudly. “I joined in August of 2015. I came on as a sales tech, and I was
doing $100,000 a month right out of the gate. After three or four months, I moved to sales exclusively. That’s what I’ve been doing
for the last year.”

What you will find is that Dave insists what he does is much more than sales. It’s service. He doesn’t
push for the business; instead, he prefers to educate, inform, influence, and then ultimately
persuade customers into sometimes $50,000-plus jobs. His process obviously works for him.
Let’s explore exactly what Dave does on his appointments in this issue’s “Learning from the Best.”

YOUR POSItION IS UNIqUE tO mANY ELEctRI- tricians’ owner] Kim [Hancock] does the other half of the
cAL-cONtRActING cOmPANIES. cOULd YOU EX- sales. Kim will train on the steps of the call, what to look for,
PLAIN tO PEOPLE whAt YOU dO? and how to bring me out to the home. We train for 90 minutes
My sales position is designed much like what heating-and-cool- every morning, Monday through Friday. We have the same
ing companies do. I’m the sales manager internally. When it problem everyone has—not enough techs. You have to find
comes to the clients, I’m the Master Electrician. I’m the expert good, quality young guys and train them up—electrical is very
that shows up to evaluate the larger issues and projects. technical. There’s a lot to learn.
AS thE SALES mANAGER, ARE YOU dOING mUch whEN YOU ARE cALLEd OUt tO A jOb, whAt kINd
Of thE tRAINING fOR PAcIfIc cOASt ELEctRI- Of jObS dO YOU GO ON?
cIANS? To give you the big picture, in the early part of the day, I will
I do the technical and some of the sales. [Pacific Coast Elec- sit back and look at my iPad with Fleetmatics running. I can
see where all [of my electricians] are, and I’m looking at the

4 THE COMPASS | Issue 4 | 2017