Chris Elmore was 20 years old, running calls on his own and doing installs. He looked 16. Customers judged him on his appearance, not his technical ability. They would not have confidence in his competence.
That is the myth he takes apart in this episode: My work speaks for me. It doesn’t.
The customer can’t judge your diagnosis. The only way they can judge it is the way you communicate it. That’s it. And most customers object for two reasons: lack of trust and lack of value.
Someone who doesn’t seem to know what they’re doing because they can’t communicate well is less valuable.
So Chris walks the 3 Cs: competence, confidence, and control.
Competence is the minimum level of technical excellence for your trade and your company.
Confidence is knowing that you know.
Control is not manipulation of the customer… it means the outcome is more predictable because you are competent.
Together they let you step into being a professional expert authority.
You can live at the best technical academy on the planet for three weeks and never get any customer communication training.
Chris’s urging: spend as much time learning to communicate the work as you spend working on the thing.
-Service Excellence
Inside This Episode:
- The 3 Cs of the trades: why competence, confidence, and control work as a loop you climb over and over, not a one-time ladder
- How to know you’re competent: the line of minimum technical excellence, and why being sent out on your own calls means you’ve already crossed it
- Why “my work speaks for itself” is a myth that quietly costs you sales, trust, and average ticket
- The two real reasons customers object: lack of trust and lack of value, and how weak communication creates both
- The doctor test: why homeowners accept a doctor’s prescription but push back on a tech’s recommendation, and how to close that authority gap
- How to become a professional expert authority: the standard for how you show up, what you know, and how you lead the call
- The fastest way to grow all three Cs: be a sponge, stay curious, and practice till you can’t get it wrong
Episode Chapters & Summary
What Are the 3 Cs?
Chris introduces the framework for the episode: competence, confidence, and control. He’s upfront that he didn’t invent it, and he frames it as a progression that’s also a loop… you keep working all three at higher levels as you grow.
Key takeaways:
- The 3 Cs are competence, confidence, and control, in that order.
- It’s a progression, but you never stop working on all three at once.
- As each one grows, it feeds the others, and the loop moves higher every cycle.
Competence: The Line of Minimum Technical Excellence
Chris defines competence as the ability to do something well… crossing a line of minimum technical excellence, not reaching mastery. He speaks directly to techs younger in the trade: if you’re running calls on your own, someone already determined you’re competent.
Key takeaways:
- Competence means doing the work well enough to succeed on your own, not being a recognized master.
- In most states, plumbing and electrical require two to three years under someone else before running solo calls.
- Being sent out on your own calls is proof someone judged you competent. Take heart in that.
- Above the line, there’s still a vast variance in skill… mastery is the long game.
From Competence to Confidence to Control
Competence creates confidence: knowing you know. Confidence creates control: walking into a home, able to solve the problem and shape the outcome. Chris is clear that control is not manipulation of the customer… it means the outcome is more predictable because you’ve earned it.
Key takeaways:
- Confidence is knowing that when you walk into a home, you can take care of the customer.
- Control means controlling your circumstances and outcomes, never the customer.
- Confidence and control extend past the technical work into handling objections.
- Winning outcomes feed the loop: more competence, more confidence, more control.
The Myth That Your Work Speaks for Itself
Chris tells the story of running calls at 20 while looking 16, and being judged on appearance instead of ability. Customers can’t see brazing, nitrogen purging, or a vacuum below 500 microns. The only way they can judge your diagnosis is how you communicate it.
Key takeaways:
- “My work speaks for me” is a myth. It doesn’t, because the customer can’t evaluate the technical work.
- Customers judge your diagnosis entirely by how you communicate it.
- Customers object for two reasons: lack of trust and lack of value.
- Weak communication makes strong technical work less valuable and less trusted.
Communication Is a Competence Too
Technical skill and communication skill are not an either/or. Chris points to evaluating with questions as a skill that needs its own minimum level of excellence, and calls out the gap in the industry: even the best technical academies rarely teach customer communication, so techs have to take it on themselves.
Key takeaways:
- You need equal competence in communication, or your technical confidence loses value.
- Evaluating with questions is a skill you must bring to a minimum level of excellence.
- Most trade schools teach zero customer communication, service, or sales training.
- The tech with both technical mastery and communication mastery controls their own destiny.
Professional Expert Authority and the Doctor Test
Chris connects the 3 Cs to being a professional expert authority. Professionals maintain a standard: on time, clean, communicating well. Experts know their discipline. Authority comes from control. The doctor comparison lands it: visible competence plus clear communication is why patients accept a prescription… even when they don’t act on it, they know they need it.
Key takeaways:
- Professional means maintaining a standard. Expert means deep knowledge. Authority flows from control.
- Doctors carry authority because their competence is visible and their process is communicated.
- A doctor with poor communication makes patients doubt their competence, degrees or not.
- When you project earned authority, the customer knows they need the recommendation, even if they delay it.
How to Progress: Be a Sponge
Chris closes with the path forward, especially for techs younger in the trade: soak up technical knowledge and communication knowledge equally, stay curious, and practice till you can’t get it wrong. That confidence is what lets you respectfully fight for your recommendation when the objection comes.
Key takeaways:
- Spend as much time learning to communicate the work as you spend learning the work.
- Be a sponge: open mind, curiosity, deliberate practice.
- Practice till you can’t get it wrong… that’s what builds real confidence.
- Confidence and control are what let you stand behind your recommendation respectfully when objections hit.
