You’re Losing Money Before You Knock on the Door (Here’s Why)

Recognize cognitive biases: Be aware that unconscious mental shortcuts (like confirmation bias, anchoring bias, halo effect, similarity bias, and availability heuristic) influence your judgments about customers and job situations.

Challenge assumptions: Before making a diagnosis or pricing a job, actively question initial assumptions about the customer's financial situation or the problem's cause, especially if based on quick observations (e.g., car in the driveway, house appearance).

Stay curious and open-minded: Avoid tunnel vision. Just because a problem often has one solution (e.g., water heater issues for no hot water) doesn't mean it always does. Explore all possibilities and listen to customer descriptions.

Avoid premature pricing: Refrain from giving ballpark figures early in an interaction, as customers will anchor to the lowest number, potentially creating unrealistic expectations and making sales more difficult later.

Don't let familiarity breed overconfidence: Be wary of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Exposure to information doesn't equate to mastery. Continuously seek to deepen your knowledge and experience through practice and challenging situations (e.g., role-playing).

Separate personal connection from business decisions: While connecting with customers is good, be mindful of similarity bias. Don't let shared interests or personal rapport unconsciously influence your pricing or service recommendations.