Creating a Connected Contractor Community with Service Titan Hacks
Send us a text Discover the untapped potential of the home service industry with Bill Brown, a seasoned expert who recently sold his successful HVAC business after 25 years. Bill joins Corey Berrier on the Successful Life Podcast to reveal his innovative strategies for managing his business remotely from the sunny shores of South Florida. Learn how technology, particularly ServiceTitan software, and the PriceBook Pro feature, became pivotal tools in Bill's arsenal. Get an insider's look into ...
Discover the untapped potential of the home service industry with Bill Brown, a seasoned expert who recently sold his successful HVAC business after 25 years. Bill joins Corey Berrier on the Successful Life Podcast to reveal his innovative strategies for managing his business remotely from the sunny shores of South Florida. Learn how technology, particularly ServiceTitan software, and the PriceBook Pro feature, became pivotal tools in Bill's arsenal. Get an insider's look into Bill's thriving Facebook group, Service Titan Hacks, and hear how this community has transformed into a crucial resource for contractors navigating software hurdles.
Imagine a world where contractors can effortlessly access reliable reviews to make informed business decisions—Bill and Corey ponder the creation of such a centralized review platform. They delve into the challenges of maintaining its integrity while discussing potential monetization ideas like click-through fees and sponsored listings. The conversation takes a reflective turn as they highlight the importance of reciprocity within the industry, emphasizing that by supporting each other, contractors can achieve greater success and enrich the communities they serve.
The episode also uncovers the personal side of entrepreneurship, exploring how faith, family, and personal growth serve as anchors during life's challenges. Bill shares anecdotes about leveraging technology and community support to overcome adversity, illustrating the power of learning from setbacks. From navigating legal battles to building a strong support network within the Service Titan Hacks group, the discussion underscores the importance of shared experiences in fostering a thriving environment for all. With a focus on mutual learning, the episode champions the strength and growth that come from a connected and supportive community.
00:00:01.703 --> 00:00:03.545 Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast.
00:00:03.545 --> 00:00:07.314 I'm your host, Corey Barrier, and I'm here with my man, Bill Brown.
00:00:07.314 --> 00:00:07.854 What's up, brother?
00:00:07.854 --> 00:00:36.273 Hey, how's helps contractors and I want to find out more about what you're doing with your review site and I want you to tell us a little bit about that and the benefits of that and why you're doing it.
00:00:36.273 --> 00:00:42.453 But first, for folks that may not know who you are, just give a quick bio of you and all that good stuff.
00:00:44.604 --> 00:00:45.408 Thanks for having me.
00:00:45.408 --> 00:00:49.688 So yeah, I've been in the home service industry since 2000.
00:00:49.688 --> 00:00:51.972 So 25 years now.
00:00:51.972 --> 00:00:54.743 It's crazy to think it's been that long.
00:00:54.804 --> 00:01:00.393 I had my own company from 2012 to just a few months ago, when I sold it.
00:01:00.393 --> 00:01:07.861 We did heating and air conditioning and IAQ companies in Columbus, ohio, but I live in South Florida.
00:01:07.861 --> 00:01:17.750 I've operated it remotely for the last four years, and I believe that I was able to do that because of utilizing technology that we're going to talk about today.
00:01:17.750 --> 00:01:21.582 So I've done like every small business owner.
00:01:21.582 --> 00:01:31.415 I've done every job in the industry service, install, sales, tried to learn how to do call center work and all that good stuff.
00:01:31.415 --> 00:01:53.662 In addition, a couple of years ago, I started a Facebook group, service Titan Hacks and started that because I had some struggles with Service Titan, some struggles with service titan, and, as I was able to come up with some workarounds, I thought that other contractors might benefit from them, and so that was just a place to have a conversation, and I was.
00:01:53.662 --> 00:01:58.350 We're about 8 000 members now, so it's a nice group, very active.
00:01:58.350 --> 00:02:04.308 So that's a real quick 25 years for me yeah, makes sense.
00:02:04.989 --> 00:02:10.068 so I do have a question about your group, which I think it's a great group and, you're right, it is super active.
00:02:10.068 --> 00:02:12.306 What would you say?
00:02:12.306 --> 00:02:15.544 I don't know if you know this or not, but what would you say?
00:02:15.544 --> 00:02:21.110 The biggest, what is the number one question people want to know about in the group?
00:02:21.110 --> 00:02:22.866 What do they have the most trouble with?
00:02:23.883 --> 00:02:27.513 know about in the group.
00:02:27.513 --> 00:02:30.039 What do they have the most trouble with?
00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:38.039 That's, let's see.
00:02:38.039 --> 00:02:45.407 I would say that it's really finding solutions and wondering or questioning whether or not those solutions are found within ServiceTitan or in third-party add-ons within ServiceTitan or in third-party add-ons.
00:02:45.407 --> 00:02:51.032 So they'll ask how do I work with this price book?
00:02:51.032 --> 00:02:54.334 Should I get PriceBook Pro or should I use this other company?
00:02:54.334 --> 00:02:57.537 Should I use this AI answering agent?
00:02:57.537 --> 00:03:09.692 So a lot of they're looking for a lot of recommendations on how to solve problems, and first they'd love for ServiceTitan to be able to solve those.
00:03:09.692 --> 00:03:16.734 But if they need a third-party add-on, they're looking for advice on which one to use.
00:03:16.734 --> 00:03:19.229 So I get a lot of questions on that.
00:03:20.120 --> 00:03:26.649 So it's interesting that you bring up the price book thing, because that is one of the questions that I've noticed.
00:03:26.649 --> 00:03:37.622 That is a common question that people get a bit frustrated with, and I'm not super familiar with Pricebook Pro, so is it Pricebook Pro?
00:03:37.622 --> 00:03:44.335 You pull the Excel sheet into ServiceTitan and then it builds proposals.
00:03:44.335 --> 00:03:45.626 Am I understanding that right?
00:03:46.780 --> 00:04:07.479 It's already set up for your business unit and so if you are an HVAC contractor they'll have tasks for capacitors and contactors and compressor replacements and it's easier for you to build out your pricing because they have a pricing calculator.
00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:12.229 You could just put in your hourly rate, which a lot of contractors don't know.
00:04:12.229 --> 00:04:18.326 They're fully burdened hourly rate, unfortunately in our industry it can be north of $400.
00:04:18.326 --> 00:04:25.574 But anyhow, it makes the price book usable from day one.
00:04:25.574 --> 00:04:27.257 Now, is it optimized?
00:04:27.257 --> 00:04:36.737 Not really, but it is usable and updating a price book without that and creating your own is very difficult.
00:04:36.737 --> 00:04:40.189 In ServiceTitan Do they do that by design to sell PriceBook Pro?
00:04:40.189 --> 00:04:44.031 Maybe, but I'm not aware of PriceBook Pro.
00:04:44.031 --> 00:04:55.523 At least when I used it a couple of years ago Wasn't aware of it actually being able to build out equipment proposals and easy to use, very fast templates.
00:04:55.523 --> 00:05:00.233 That process was still very difficult and very manual to do.
00:05:01.860 --> 00:05:02.644 That makes sense.
00:05:02.644 --> 00:05:12.490 So right now the process is every quarter let's just say for conversation purposes the manufacturer sends the price book and the contractor is.
00:05:12.490 --> 00:05:21.624 Then, if they have price book pro, I guess they manually inject or pull that from the Excel sheet and it does its thing.
00:05:21.624 --> 00:05:25.826 And it does its thing right?
00:05:25.826 --> 00:05:35.350 So then, if I'm a technician and I'm in the field and I need a price on a capacitor, how do I go about finding that and how easy is that to do?
00:05:36.091 --> 00:05:38.351 It's like an e-commerce system, right?
00:05:38.351 --> 00:05:47.096 So you're going to open up your iPad and there'll be categories, and the categories could be in Pricebook Pro.
00:05:47.096 --> 00:05:50.598 It would say capacitors and contactors.
00:05:50.598 --> 00:05:55.687 You would tap on the capacitor and then you'd look for the one that applies in that situation.
00:05:55.687 --> 00:06:03.850 So I believe that they didn't have a specific one for each microfarad rating for a condenser.
00:06:03.850 --> 00:06:06.548 They'd have a 20 to 50 microfarad.
00:06:06.548 --> 00:06:11.271 You'd pick that, it would have its price and you'd add it to your estimate and you're ready to go.
00:06:11.271 --> 00:06:14.028 It also had suggestions for upsells.
00:06:14.028 --> 00:06:20.586 So if you had, maybe you were using like a turbo capacitor, if your company had those, it would have those suggestions.
00:06:20.586 --> 00:06:24.872 But just keep in mind that price book's never 100% ready to go.
00:06:24.872 --> 00:06:35.321 It still has to be tailored to your company and the services that you add and the products that you keep in your truck, right?
00:06:35.321 --> 00:06:40.605 So it's pretty easy to find tasks on there, yeah.
00:06:41.346 --> 00:06:51.634 So one of the things that we've built at AI Automations Group is a price book to where all you one.
00:06:51.634 --> 00:06:56.997 You drop the price book in Google and basically you drop it in Google Drive.
00:06:56.997 --> 00:07:07.252 We built a machine that will pull that out and, at the touch of a finger, you just type in whatever it is you need and it's going to give you the information right there.
00:07:07.252 --> 00:07:14.809 Yeah, Super fast and I think it solves a big problem.
00:07:16.940 --> 00:07:19.360 Pricebook is a big problem, big problem.
00:07:20.663 --> 00:07:23.071 I was fortunate with my tech background.
00:07:23.071 --> 00:07:32.586 So back up before 2012, the first time around with school, I went to school for computer science, so I've always been pretty, pretty knowledgeable on the tech side.
00:07:32.586 --> 00:07:48.257 So working with Service Titan's price book wasn't super difficult for me as far as exporting in Excel and updating everything I needed and even making the descriptions HTML and look pretty and all that.
00:07:48.257 --> 00:07:56.524 It was easy for me, but for other contractors it's a total.
00:07:56.524 --> 00:08:10.485 It's terrible, it's a shit show, right, and I actually at the end of my company I had AI write all the descriptions, so I sent the products through AI and it wrote all of them and it was really slick.
00:08:10.485 --> 00:08:25.213 But there's a lot of room for someone to come in and make a price book easy to use and faster and easy to update and to do that within service titan.
00:08:25.213 --> 00:08:32.576 Right, because you don't want to have to use so many external third-party add-ons to get the job done right.
00:08:32.977 --> 00:08:39.552 I mean, when you refer to third-party add-ons, you're really referring to a third-party company yeah, right for the most.
00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:51.402 Yeah, like a company that just does price books, and they'll have their own system that has the price book and then it'll update to ServiceTitan For us.
00:08:51.402 --> 00:08:55.470 I didn't like the way ServiceTitan presented their option sheets.
00:08:55.470 --> 00:08:56.793 I didn't like it.
00:08:56.793 --> 00:09:02.489 I had my own software that I built starting in 2014,.
00:09:02.489 --> 00:09:08.398 The pricing was all on one page and it was a.
00:09:08.398 --> 00:09:15.509 It was basically a fillable PDF that had a database behind it, and so it.
00:09:15.509 --> 00:09:19.461 We use price book pro for six months and our average tickets went down.
00:09:19.461 --> 00:09:24.167 Then we went back to the system that I had and they went back to where they were.
00:09:24.606 --> 00:09:35.063 So we have a separate proposal for equipment that looks and feels different than the proposal for service, and I did.
00:09:35.063 --> 00:09:44.245 I was able to link that to Service Titan, where it pulled all the pricing from Service Titan and when we sold something it put all of the.
00:09:44.245 --> 00:09:49.553 It put the invoice line itemized back into service Titan and then anything unsold.
00:09:49.553 --> 00:09:55.831 It would create proposals and it was 100 percent customized to our, to my company.
00:09:55.831 --> 00:10:03.094 There's room for companies to do things similar, but it probably couldn't be nearly as custom as mine.
00:10:03.094 --> 00:10:04.461 It wouldn't be scalable.
00:10:04.461 --> 00:10:14.110 So something in between would be good for contractors, but I haven't seen many things out there like that.
00:10:14.110 --> 00:10:14.910 I haven't.
00:10:16.211 --> 00:10:19.534 We built it, it's ready to roll and I'm going to show it to you later.
00:10:19.534 --> 00:10:25.797 I'm not going to show it to you now, obviously, but yeah, I'll show it to you when we meet up later.
00:10:25.797 --> 00:10:25.979 But it's.
00:10:25.979 --> 00:10:35.688 It's really amazing when you find my partners in the business are super techie people and that's what you need to get these kind of things done.
00:10:35.688 --> 00:10:38.662 As you mentioned, you've got a bit of a tech or you've got a tech background.
00:10:38.982 --> 00:10:47.554 If it was up to me, there's no way I could do it, because, yeah, it's just not, I would be, I'd be like a normal contractor, like I wouldn't be, I just wouldn't be able could do it because, yeah, it's just not, I would be, I'd be like a normal contractor, like I wouldn't be, I just wouldn't be able to do it.
00:10:47.554 --> 00:10:51.417 So, yeah, I think that we are all.
00:10:51.417 --> 00:11:00.179 I think we're in a time bill right now, just like when the internet first started and here's the comparison I'll give you.
00:11:00.179 --> 00:11:10.971 And I saw this graph the other day that basically showed the companies that said, yeah, not getting on that Internet, and the company said we are going to get on that Internet.
00:11:10.971 --> 00:11:21.389 And the ones that said we're getting on the Internet are still alive, the ones that didn't get on the Internet are not, and we are in the exact same time right this minute.
00:11:21.711 --> 00:11:28.049 With AI, it'll happen faster with AI, oh, 100% Faster, yeah.
00:11:28.049 --> 00:11:39.929 If you don't utilize it in your company, your costs will be way higher than your competitors who are utilizing it and the output will be way lower.
00:11:39.929 --> 00:11:47.360 That's when we're doing anything in business, we're saying how can I make more money and keep more money?
00:11:49.784 --> 00:11:51.307 this is it right, this is it.
00:11:51.307 --> 00:11:53.750 It's like a magic eight ball is what it is.
00:11:53.750 --> 00:12:01.808 Yeah it really is if you know how to use it and that's where you and I have the same kind of mindset.
00:12:01.970 --> 00:12:10.408 We understand how to use the software, the technology, and it's not that we're any smarter than anybody else.
00:12:10.408 --> 00:12:13.561 We just put in the time to learn how to do it.
00:12:13.561 --> 00:12:35.947 And if people that are listening to this don't know how to do it, you're going to have to hire somebody that does or figure it out, and right now you're not so far behind that you can't figure it out, but it is probably a full-time job and it's you and I've had the luxury of being able to spend hours and hours figuring this stuff out.
00:12:35.947 --> 00:12:43.041 So I want to ask you about the review site that you're getting.
00:12:43.041 --> 00:12:46.066 I think you're either getting ready to launch it or it's already launched.
00:12:46.365 --> 00:12:56.830 What I find super intriguing about it is I can't go to a place right now, and I'll use a sales coach as an example.
00:12:56.830 --> 00:13:11.067 I'm not going to call anybody's name out, but at the end of the day, every contractor that listens to this podcast has hired a sales trainer and they've been unhappy with the results every single one of them.
00:13:11.067 --> 00:13:11.988 Yeah.
00:13:11.988 --> 00:13:19.722 So there's no way to know who is the right sales coach, the good sales coach.
00:13:19.722 --> 00:13:28.597 There's no way to find out truly how that person did what the performance was after the fact.
00:13:28.597 --> 00:13:29.679 Are they happy?
00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:30.581 Are they not happy?
00:13:30.581 --> 00:13:45.395 The only way to find that out is if I go on one of these your group or whoever's group, yeah and ask the question, and it's the same typical people that chime in and there's not really a recommendation or a review.
00:13:45.395 --> 00:13:51.768 It's just call bill brown, right, bill brown, but there's really.
00:13:51.768 --> 00:13:53.270 No, there's nothing behind that.
00:13:53.270 --> 00:13:55.461 Right, you solve that problem.
00:13:55.461 --> 00:13:57.283 It sounds just a name.
00:13:57.342 --> 00:14:01.129 Right, that's it, and it really what it was is.
00:14:01.129 --> 00:14:06.316 I've been burned by every single category that's on this review site.
00:14:06.316 --> 00:14:11.600 So, looking at it, I've got a category for operations.
00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:18.653 This would be fleet and GPS, hr, payroll, financing, companies, procurement.
00:14:18.653 --> 00:14:28.543 I have a coaches and consultants one, so that's the business and sales coaching, also organizations like best practice organizations and things like that.
00:14:28.543 --> 00:14:36.243 So you're right in the group with all these users, all these members, these contractors.
00:14:36.243 --> 00:14:52.811 They're looking for recommendations on how to use the software and alongside that is recommendations for things like business coaches, industry organizations, and that's what you get is just call this guy.
00:14:52.811 --> 00:14:58.150 He's good, and you might not have ever even used that guy, you might've just heard he was good.
00:14:58.980 --> 00:15:09.509 And when I was looking for software, when I was looking for a field service management software, I went on a website called Capterra and Capterra is similar to this.
00:15:09.509 --> 00:15:19.653 It has a list of FSMs on it Service Titans on there, housecall Pro Jobber and there's pretty detailed customer reviews of those.
00:15:19.653 --> 00:15:37.159 So they'll ask five questions like how was onboarding, how's customer support, value for the money, Ease of use, pros, cons and then description and you can look at all the users reviews and make an educated decision.
00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:40.910 It's more educated than you could just asking in a group.
00:15:40.910 --> 00:16:14.876 Right and same thing If you're hiring a home service contractor, you can go and look at Google reviews and get a good idea of how they're as a homeowner, how they're doing, and so I wanted to take all that information that's floating around on all these groups on Facebook, put it in one place, and this way, contractors can go and get educated on solutions that exist that they might not have even known about, and how other users of that software or solution how they like it.
00:16:16.162 --> 00:16:32.635 And for now, I'm going to manually review the reviews to ensure their integrity, to make sure that whoever is submitting the review actually used that solution, and eventually, ai will probably do it right.
00:16:32.635 --> 00:16:44.308 But at the very beginning, it's so important that these reviews are trustworthy, and I don't believe that you can review a company unless you've used their product or service.
00:16:44.308 --> 00:16:47.605 Right, right, that's what you pay for.
00:16:47.605 --> 00:16:49.667 You pay for the ability to review them.
00:16:49.667 --> 00:16:59.413 Now, hopefully, this is a great site and it gets traction, but it'll be up to the contractors of whether or not they find this beneficial.
00:17:00.114 --> 00:17:04.799 Yeah, okay, how I'm curious.
00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:07.413 So is the contractor paying to be on there?
00:17:07.413 --> 00:17:08.500 How does that work?
00:17:08.500 --> 00:17:11.787 No, I'm not going to have them pay to be on there at all.
00:17:11.787 --> 00:17:13.549 So it's a free listing.
00:17:13.549 --> 00:17:17.263 And that's the question how do you monetize something like this?
00:17:17.263 --> 00:17:22.001 So I looked at Capterra and their business model and G2.
00:17:22.001 --> 00:17:42.320 These are the similar type review sites but for large enterprise solutions, and they'll charge like through click through, where maybe what they'll do is charge a user or a company 20 cents if they go from your site to the website, things like that.
00:17:42.340 --> 00:17:54.150 So I'm still looking at monetization options that are that still keep the integrity of the site, because it's not going to be free for me to run it and keep it updated and everything.
00:17:54.150 --> 00:17:57.450 And maybe sponsored listings.
00:17:57.450 --> 00:18:04.208 So a contractor could say I want to be at the top of the list and it would be sponsored, but that's not going to change the reviews you get.
00:18:04.208 --> 00:18:06.751 Be at the top of the list and it would be sponsored, but that's not going to change the reviews you get.
00:18:06.751 --> 00:18:11.058 You might just have customers find out that you're shitty a lot quicker.
00:18:11.058 --> 00:18:13.983 Right the site.
00:18:13.983 --> 00:18:24.785 If it's a place where contractors go and find solutions and it's beneficial, then the monetization stuff will come right.
00:18:25.865 --> 00:18:57.528 Yeah, but I think it's made me think of reciprocity, like you're doing something good for the industry and, by and large, my experience when I do something that's beneficial maybe not even mutually beneficial at the time, whether that be help my neighbor with their groceries or whether that be help somebody in recovery and that's the best way I can, actually it's the best way for me to explain it.
00:18:57.528 --> 00:19:05.551 When I help another person in recovery, by answering the phone and listening to whatever they have going on, two things happen.
00:19:05.551 --> 00:19:11.986 One, I get out of myself and I'm not thinking about whatever Corey's thinking about, I'm focused on you.
00:19:11.986 --> 00:19:32.885 And then somehow, some way, because of my intention behind that, there's a payoff at some point in my life, and I may not even know what that payoff is, but I've seen it happen so much that I don't, and I don't do it for that reason.
00:19:32.885 --> 00:19:36.009 Again, the intention behind it's vitally important here.
00:19:36.009 --> 00:19:40.070 If you're doing it just to get the payoff, then you're negating the results.
00:19:41.641 --> 00:19:52.705 For sure, and money is not the main driver for me, for anything I I don't for me personally I'm not talking bad about anybody else there's.
00:19:52.705 --> 00:19:54.911 I don't need an infinite amount of money.
00:19:54.911 --> 00:19:58.505 That's not what brings me joy in my life.
00:19:58.505 --> 00:20:03.994 It's if I have this skill that can help other people.
00:20:03.994 --> 00:20:08.521 I feel it's my responsibility to use it to help other people.
00:20:08.521 --> 00:20:11.550 There's some people that can do that and there's some people that need help.
00:20:11.550 --> 00:20:12.761 That's how it is.
00:20:12.761 --> 00:20:24.450 And so, at the end of the day, what can I do to make everyone else's lives around me better, and will that provide some sort of payback for me?
00:20:24.450 --> 00:20:25.652 I don't know.
00:20:25.652 --> 00:20:27.694 I don't know.
00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:35.152 It does feel good to do it right, but yeah, it's my responsibility as a Christian to do that.
00:20:35.152 --> 00:20:45.747 If I can and that's what I do I look for opportunities to make as many people's lives better as I can, and being a contractor does that.
00:20:45.747 --> 00:20:50.990 So if I can help contractors, those contractors are responsible for a lot of lives.
00:20:50.990 --> 00:20:56.627 They're responsible for their technicians' lives, everyone that their technician's responsible for.
00:20:56.627 --> 00:21:07.500 So if I can do something to make their businesses more successful make more money, keep more money then they can do a good job and provide for their people.
00:21:07.500 --> 00:21:17.741 And so just one guy doing one thing can spread a lot of success, and that's that's I feel that's my responsibility to do it.
00:21:18.923 --> 00:21:30.517 Yeah, and I I totally agree with you One of the things that because I'm not sure I don't think I've always probably felt that way.
00:21:30.517 --> 00:21:34.027 I probably when I was in my addiction.
00:21:34.027 --> 00:21:37.693 I probably I'm certain that I didn't think that way.
00:21:37.693 --> 00:21:50.181 But now that the recovery program that I'm in for, you know it's free, right, you don't pay to to go to these meetings.
00:21:50.181 --> 00:21:59.364 You put a dollar in the basket at the end of it if you want to, but it's a low cost for the life that it gives me.
00:21:59.443 --> 00:22:11.680 And so I think that one of the things that well, there's two things that I feel like I can help make a difference here in the industry.
00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:47.330 One of them is here doing this podcast, because it does help the industry, because I get to talk to people like you that have been there and done it, which we're going to get into some of that in a minute, especially one story I want you to tell for sure, there and done it, which we're going to get into some of that in a minute, especially one story I want you to tell for sure, but being able to, we talked about the sales coaches and there's a lot of people out there that they don't necessarily leave the contractor better off, and it really bothers me when that happens, because contractors are salt of the earth people.
00:22:47.330 --> 00:22:49.788 They're, by and large, good people.
00:22:50.259 --> 00:22:52.566 Sometimes to a fault on some things.
00:22:52.566 --> 00:22:58.769 As far as operation of a business and growing it, they are really usually very good people.
00:22:58.769 --> 00:23:14.396 They start with it because they come from the technician side and the thing on the technician that they like, that keeps them going to work, is the ability to solve the problem and the smile on the customer's face when they're done with that doing it.
00:23:14.396 --> 00:23:21.832 That's what did it for me as a technician, and then you become a contractor and you carry that same thing.
00:23:21.832 --> 00:23:26.432 So these guys are really down to earth and want to do a great job.
00:23:26.432 --> 00:23:33.125 Don't ever want to rip anybody off or overcharge them or anything like that and sometimes it leads to them really not.
00:23:33.125 --> 00:23:35.971 Sometimes, a lot of times it leads to them being taken advantage of.
00:23:36.593 --> 00:23:37.394 I totally agree.
00:23:37.394 --> 00:24:02.833 Yeah, and I mentioned to you before the show is we've developed an AI that helps that technician in the field Because, look, I've worked with technicians for years that they may not want to sell the product but they do want to solve the problem, which means you've got to sell the job.
00:24:02.833 --> 00:24:08.145 And they struggle hard with that because they're kinesthetic people.
00:24:08.145 --> 00:24:33.634 They just they're really, their goal is really just to fix something, and they're not very comfortable with the sales process and I've been there, I've always loved selling but it so, if so, we've made a process that'll help, that kind of like a call by call, immediately built in with a sales process and HVAC knowledge and plumbing knowledge and all of the different trades.
00:24:33.634 --> 00:24:41.971 That's going to make that process easier for them and I believe that it's I truly believe it's going to change the industry.
00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:44.308 And it needs to be changed.
00:24:44.308 --> 00:24:47.364 This has been something that's been talked about.
00:24:47.364 --> 00:24:51.952 If you go back and read the ACHR news all the way back into the 80s.
00:24:51.952 --> 00:25:02.887 This has been a challenge getting technicians to sell, and you're right, they like the results of the sale because the more that they sell, the happier the customer is.
00:25:02.887 --> 00:25:07.564 The most pissed off customers that I've had are the people that buy the least.
00:25:07.564 --> 00:25:18.320 The one-star reviews that we had are somebody that got a capacitor for $225 and you're like shit, I didn't even make enough money for a one-star review on that.
00:25:18.320 --> 00:25:22.671 And the customers that are happiest are the ones where I replaced the capacitor.
00:25:22.671 --> 00:25:27.260 The contactor are the ones where I replaced the capacitor.
00:25:27.280 --> 00:25:31.904 The contactor added a hard start kit, cleaned the whole system and technicians will actually enjoy performing that service.
00:25:31.904 --> 00:25:36.167 But you have to be able to communicate that in order to be able to do it.
00:25:36.167 --> 00:25:37.509 So that's one.
00:25:37.509 --> 00:25:40.010 And then also with the sales process.
00:25:40.010 --> 00:25:56.483 Sales is when a customer says no, it's an objection, but it feels like rejection right, and nobody wants to be rejected, and the equipment itself doesn't reject you.
00:25:56.483 --> 00:25:57.486 You get infinite shots at fixing it.
00:25:57.506 --> 00:25:59.630 A customer isn't that forgiving right.
00:25:59.630 --> 00:26:06.791 And so we are really asking a technician to have two very different skill sets.
00:26:06.791 --> 00:26:08.625 That's a lot of pressure.
00:26:08.625 --> 00:26:15.190 Oh, one of them, by the way, won't really make you tons of money and that's not the one that you got in the industry for.
00:26:15.190 --> 00:26:30.507 So that's where you come in, and AI makes it easier for them to be more successful, faster, right, and probably be able to do some things that they never would have been able to do A thousand percent.
00:26:30.507 --> 00:26:32.707 I do things I can't do.
00:26:32.707 --> 00:26:35.665 Ai does things for me that I can't do.
00:26:35.665 --> 00:26:38.411 So people are ever like Bill, you're smart.
00:26:38.411 --> 00:26:41.664 No, I haven't got any smarter, I just use this technology.
00:26:41.664 --> 00:26:42.748 That I'm not.
00:26:42.748 --> 00:26:43.790 That's it.
00:26:43.790 --> 00:26:46.488 I've gotten better at using the tech, that's it.
00:26:46.828 --> 00:26:49.406 That's it, which is the key right it is.
00:26:49.406 --> 00:26:53.007 Right, I do want you to share, and I can't even remember.
00:26:53.007 --> 00:26:56.766 I can't remember the full context of it, but I'll remind you and you'll remember.
00:26:56.766 --> 00:27:07.634 I have a feeling there was a time when you made some decisions in your business that cost you a lot of money.
00:27:08.500 --> 00:27:10.828 Oh, my gosh man, there's so many of them.
00:27:12.701 --> 00:27:23.330 One specific that I'm thinking about is I believe that you truly believe that you were doing the right thing on some hours.
00:27:24.300 --> 00:27:27.190 Oh yeah, the first lawsuit in the business.
00:27:27.190 --> 00:27:30.848 Yeah, if you're in business long enough, you're going to get a lawsuit.
00:27:30.848 --> 00:27:31.892 That's just the way it is.
00:27:31.892 --> 00:27:35.246 The bigger you get, the bigger the target on your back.
00:27:35.246 --> 00:27:40.001 That's, that's from my buddy, mike Aguilaro, and it's true.
00:27:40.342 --> 00:27:44.909 And so, yeah, I had a lady working for me and this was very early on.
00:27:44.909 --> 00:27:55.814 We were not, there was no HR department, nothing like that and I just told her hey, work, work 40 hours a week, that's it Right.
00:27:55.814 --> 00:28:01.269 And in the summer, if she works overtime, she did, but just, it was more like a flex time thing.
00:28:01.269 --> 00:28:04.450 But I didn't have a time clock for her.
00:28:04.450 --> 00:28:09.223 The time clock that I used for my guys was an app and she was in the office.
00:28:09.223 --> 00:28:28.646 And so I, in 2014, I had ulcerative colitis and had to go in for a, an emergency surgery in which I was out of the company for two months, and I remember during that time she billed me for overtime a little bit and I was like, man, I can't afford the overtime.
00:28:28.646 --> 00:28:41.688 I said, please try to keep it at 40 hours and after, and she worked at the company for a couple more years and she quit the first day of the AC season because as a contractor.
00:28:41.688 --> 00:28:42.471 That's how it goes.
00:28:43.153 --> 00:28:49.067 And seven days later I got a lawsuit saying you got to pay $55,000 for unpaid overtime.
00:28:49.067 --> 00:28:50.951 And I was fucking pissed right.
00:28:50.951 --> 00:28:52.753 What do you mean?
00:28:52.753 --> 00:28:58.099 I got to pay this and the amount of money I was like that's like a over a year's salary.
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