Send us a textDiscover how Ellen Rohr transformed her life from marrying a plumber to becoming an influential leader in the trades industry. Ellen shares her vibrant journey with businesses like Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and Zoom Drain Franchising, highlighting her dedication to empowering tradespeople. With insights from business consultant Al Levy and industry expert Frank Blau, Ellen underscores the importance of mentorship and financial literacy in achieving success.Explore the unexpecte...

Show Notes

Send us a text

Discover how Ellen Rohr transformed her life from marrying a plumber to becoming an influential leader in the trades industry. Ellen shares her vibrant journey with businesses like Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and Zoom Drain Franchising, highlighting her dedication to empowering tradespeople. With insights from business consultant Al Levy and industry expert Frank Blau, Ellen underscores the importance of mentorship and financial literacy in achieving success.

Explore the unexpected twists and turns of the drain cleaning industry through Ellen's candid reflections on financial challenges and personal dynamics. She opens up about the emotional rollercoaster of working with a spouse and transforming business hurdles into growth opportunities. Ellen’s unique story involves selling a plumbing business to its team, showcasing the power of open book management and instilling entrepreneurial ambitions within an organization.

From leveraging technology in hiring to mastering marketing strategies, Ellen offers a wealth of knowledge on optimizing operations and identifying top talent. Her enthusiasm is contagious as she discusses the role of AI in revolutionizing the hiring process, shares marketing insights inspired by figures like Dave Ramsey, and details the strength found in networking and collaboration. Listen to Ellen’s inspiring narrative and gain valuable perspectives on building successful careers and businesses in the trades.

https://www.servicetitan.com/blog/news-ellen-rohr-joins-servicetitan

https://www.linkedin.com/company/bare-bones-biz-inc.

Support the show

https://www.audible.com/pd/9-Simple-Steps-to-Sell-More-ht-Audiobook/B0D4SJYD4Q?source_code=ASSORAP0511160006&share_location=library_overflow

https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Steps-Sell-More-Stereotypes-ebook/dp/B0BRNSFYG6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1OSB7HX6FQMHS&keywords=corey+berrier&qid=1674232549&sprefix=%2Caps%2C93&sr=8-1

https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreysalescoach/



Show Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:03.084
Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast.

00:00:03.084 --> 00:00:07.934
I'm your host, Corey Barrier, and I am here with the one and only Ellen Rohr.

00:00:07.934 --> 00:00:09.096
How are you?

00:00:09.380 --> 00:00:12.185
Hi, Super excited to talk to you.

00:00:12.185 --> 00:00:15.233
I think you're one of the most interesting people on the planet.

00:00:15.233 --> 00:00:16.321
I love Jonathan.

00:00:16.321 --> 00:00:21.350
We just spent some time together at Lance Bachman's roofing event and here we are.

00:00:21.812 --> 00:00:22.152
Yeah.

00:00:22.993 --> 00:00:23.295
Yay.

00:00:24.140 --> 00:00:28.672
Ellen, most people know who you are, but there could be one or two out there.

00:00:28.820 --> 00:00:29.922
In our industry.

00:00:29.922 --> 00:00:34.173
I told my husband that in the ballcock replacement industry I'm a big deal.

00:00:39.261 --> 00:00:45.302
For those that may not know who you are hypothetically, let's just give a little bit of background, if you don't mind.

00:00:45.783 --> 00:00:47.046
Well, I married a plumber.

00:00:47.046 --> 00:00:54.572
I married my husband, Hot Rod, once upon a time, and that's how I got into the trades and I love trades people Corey and I were just talking.

00:00:54.572 --> 00:00:59.067
I've got our tile team and the granite guy.

00:00:59.067 --> 00:01:03.524
They're here to help me with the bathroom remodel and I just love them.

00:01:03.524 --> 00:01:04.968
I love contractors.

00:01:05.269 --> 00:01:19.805
When I met these cool guys through my husband and since then I've been through the ringer as far as being the wife of a plumber, having to figure out the financial piece of things once upon a time, and I really leveraged that experience into a great career.

00:01:19.805 --> 00:01:20.347
I've worked.

00:01:20.347 --> 00:01:24.424
I helped stand up Benjamin Franklin, the punctual plumber, once upon a time.

00:01:24.424 --> 00:01:31.691
I'm now an owner and founder of Zoom Drain Franchising and I've worked with thousands of contractors along the way.

00:01:31.691 --> 00:01:36.825
Primarily, I help people make more money, figure out where the money is, where it goes and how to make more of it.

00:01:36.825 --> 00:01:44.674
So that's been my career and right now I'm also standing up the brand ambassador program at Service Titan.

00:01:44.674 --> 00:01:53.751
So I get to shine a spotlight on cool people in the trades and I couldn't be happier about this new position.

00:01:53.751 --> 00:01:55.034
So I'm a busy girl.

00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:58.269
Well, so tell me about what does it mean?

00:01:58.269 --> 00:02:00.156
As the brand ambassador?

00:02:00.156 --> 00:02:01.340
I forgot what you just said.

00:02:01.340 --> 00:02:04.028
You just said it Brand ambassador, what did you call it?

00:02:04.028 --> 00:02:05.185
I forgot what you just said.

00:02:05.204 --> 00:02:06.652
You just said it Brand ambassador.

00:02:06.652 --> 00:02:13.502
What did you call it, the brand ambassador?

00:02:13.502 --> 00:02:14.365
Well, think of it this way Red Bull.

00:02:14.365 --> 00:02:15.587
Red Bull is to extreme sports.

00:02:15.587 --> 00:02:16.812
What service Titan can be to tradespeople.

00:02:16.872 --> 00:02:35.542
Okay, so our intention with this program is to shine a spotlight on tradespeople, from installers and technicians to call takers and dispatchers, executives, owners hopefully some diversity, because it's nice to see people who look like us out there in the world.

00:02:35.542 --> 00:02:49.145
And so I'm just in this great position to be able to brag on trades people of all stripes as a and in this brand ambassador program.

00:02:49.145 --> 00:02:55.650
So, if you're interested, reach me E-roar, e-r-o-h-r at service Titancom.

00:02:55.650 --> 00:03:01.479
So we've got some super ambassadors Lance is a super ambassador, tommy Mello is a super ambassador.

00:03:01.479 --> 00:03:10.332
We've got our core group of super ambassadors a Khadija head, catherine Pollock, carrie Kelsch, stephanie Allen a really exciting group.

00:03:10.332 --> 00:03:16.673
And I'm also looking for people who love social media, have a personality and a message, corey.

00:03:16.673 --> 00:03:21.426
They have something that they want to say and I'm interested in that.

00:03:21.426 --> 00:03:26.895
We are at Service Titan, so that's my real job.

00:03:26.895 --> 00:03:30.531
Then I've always got lots going on and I love doing podcasts.

00:03:30.531 --> 00:03:37.048
What's fun about doing a podcast with you is I get to learn a little bit more of you, about you and who hire.

00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:57.719
So thanks for the conversation You're welcome and I'm very lucky to have stuck with this for as long as I have, because it really has opened the door to talk to people like you that maybe outside of passing in a conference, or not to mention you're pulled in 7,000 different directions.

00:03:57.719 --> 00:04:06.872
I get to sit down with people like you and talk and just get to know who really who Ellen is, outside of all the things that we hear.

00:04:07.754 --> 00:04:12.411
It's the best we're going to have this time together that we wouldn't have otherwise.

00:04:12.411 --> 00:04:16.511
Podcasts are great to dive a little deeper into a topic.

00:04:16.511 --> 00:04:19.348
I listen to them all the time and I learn so much.

00:04:19.348 --> 00:04:26.250
And it's fun to be on a podcast because you get to spend some real quality time together and I have to mention your, dear friend and my dear friend Al Levy.

00:04:26.269 --> 00:04:28.894
It's fun to be on a podcast because you get to spend some real quality time together.

00:04:28.894 --> 00:04:31.398
Yes, and I have to mention your dear friend and my dear friend, al Levy.

00:04:31.398 --> 00:04:32.540
That man is just like dear to my heart.

00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:34.182
I know he's dear to your heart.

00:04:34.182 --> 00:04:35.324
Yeah, oh, isn't he best?

00:04:35.906 --> 00:04:36.586
Al's the best.

00:04:36.586 --> 00:04:39.632
Such a just an amazing human being.

00:04:42.459 --> 00:04:43.461
I'm so glad he's your friend too.

00:04:43.461 --> 00:04:45.286
He's had such an impact on my life.

00:04:45.286 --> 00:04:49.841
I quote Al at least five times a day.

00:04:49.841 --> 00:04:53.088
We laugh because there's two things about Al One.

00:04:53.088 --> 00:04:54.612
We wish he wasn't right so often.

00:04:54.612 --> 00:05:00.752
He's always right, and we should just wear bracelets that say WWAD.

00:05:00.752 --> 00:05:01.754
What would Al do?

00:05:01.754 --> 00:05:09.079
Wad?

00:05:09.079 --> 00:05:09.540
What would Al do?

00:05:09.540 --> 00:05:09.901
And just do it.

00:05:09.901 --> 00:05:11.004
So yeah, he's good Old school, not glamorous.

00:05:11.004 --> 00:05:12.809
He's a meat and potatoes operator and his stuff is solid.

00:05:12.809 --> 00:05:14.353
So I'm so glad that you're friends with him too.

00:05:14.353 --> 00:05:19.899
So, Al Levy, seven power contractor, if you're taking notes today, that's right.

00:05:19.918 --> 00:05:21.562
Yeah, he's one of my favorite guys.

00:05:21.562 --> 00:05:22.283
He really is.

00:05:22.283 --> 00:05:25.230
So, ellen, let's talk about so.

00:05:25.230 --> 00:05:26.774
You helped build Zoom Drain.

00:05:26.774 --> 00:05:29.928
You're part owner in the entire franchise, is that correct?

00:05:30.810 --> 00:05:35.091
Yeah, in fact Al Levy was our original investor.

00:05:35.091 --> 00:05:41.353
So Al Levy and I both of us have a long career in business consulting.

00:05:41.353 --> 00:05:51.247
We go, we boss you around a little bit, we try to listen and do as directed and give you some good counsel and then we leave like Mary Poppins.

00:05:51.247 --> 00:06:05.406
So Al and I have been in the consulting world for most of our careers and Al does operations and sales and marketing and really helps stand up a business.

00:06:05.406 --> 00:06:07.562
But the financial piece he didn't like that much.

00:06:07.562 --> 00:06:12.552
So he tapped me to come in and do that piece with some of his clients.

00:06:12.552 --> 00:06:15.084
That's how I met Tommy Mello, for instance.

00:06:15.084 --> 00:06:17.310
He was working with Alan than I was.

00:06:17.310 --> 00:06:27.891
And then one day Jim and I were, al and I were talking and we would do little business planning sessions and Al said to me okay, what do you have left in your career?

00:06:27.891 --> 00:06:29.024
What's something you really want to do?

00:06:29.024 --> 00:06:36.449
I'd had this experience with Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin, the punctual plumber and I really learned to love franchising.

00:06:36.449 --> 00:06:38.807
I just didn't know anything about it before then.

00:06:38.807 --> 00:06:39.730
I liked the model.

00:06:39.730 --> 00:06:41.867
I thought there's some cool things we could do with it.

00:06:41.867 --> 00:06:43.021
I wanted to do it again.

00:06:43.021 --> 00:06:44.262
Thought there's some cool things we could do with it.

00:06:44.262 --> 00:06:46.625
I wanted to do it again and I said to Al I'd like to franchise.

00:06:46.625 --> 00:06:52.334
Maybe one of our clients will magnetize them.

00:06:52.334 --> 00:06:57.540
They're ready to franchise, we're ready to go.

00:06:57.540 --> 00:06:59.185
I didn't really want to push anybody or move them in that direction.

00:06:59.185 --> 00:07:00.329
I thought I bet this will just organically evolve.

00:07:00.329 --> 00:07:02.497
And Al said well, that's great, because I want to invest.

00:07:02.497 --> 00:07:07.831
On my list is still to be a venture capitalist and to invest in companies I believe in.

00:07:07.831 --> 00:07:17.228
So as we're talking, al's phone lights up and it's Jim Crenitty, the owner of Zoom Drain, and he says I'd like to franchise Zoom Drain.

00:07:17.228 --> 00:07:18.264
Do you think we could do it?

00:07:18.264 --> 00:07:34.286
And we're like we were just talking about you and that's really how Zoom Drain came together and that's I think like eight, nine years ago maybe that we had that first conversation and now we have about 60 locations.

00:07:34.305 --> 00:07:39.781
I got the gray hair to show for it, that's why I color my hair and and wonderful stories and successes.

00:07:39.781 --> 00:07:42.324
And it's just, I love drain cleaning.

00:07:42.324 --> 00:07:44.728
I never thought I would say that as a kid.

00:07:44.728 --> 00:07:46.891
It's funny how life turns.

00:07:46.891 --> 00:07:48.653
Go Drain cleaning.

00:07:48.653 --> 00:07:49.656
It's my favorite niche.

00:07:49.656 --> 00:07:58.007
I love the trades, but oh, drain cleaning so good, so essential and wonderful and dirty and the guys who and people who do it.

00:07:58.007 --> 00:08:01.379
I love them so much, so that's how I came together with Zoom Drain.

00:08:01.379 --> 00:08:07.593
Now, al took an exit when we got PE investors.

00:08:07.593 --> 00:08:10.466
We have a wonderful investment group, mbk Equity.

00:08:10.466 --> 00:08:14.858
I love them and now it's a different company.

00:08:14.858 --> 00:08:16.141
It looks different as you get bigger.

00:08:16.141 --> 00:08:23.221
That's what allowed me to move aside from day to day and open up the opportunity for me.

00:08:23.221 --> 00:08:30.512
I'm still involved with Zoom Drain, but I'm now responsible for the brand ambassador program at Service Titan.

00:08:30.512 --> 00:08:31.555
Thanks for asking.

00:08:31.555 --> 00:08:35.249
It feels good to brag on all my coworkers and teammates.

00:08:35.909 --> 00:08:36.773
Yeah, for sure.

00:08:36.773 --> 00:08:42.226
Well, it sounds like Zoom Drain was pretty easy to build and probably not a lot of work.

00:08:44.861 --> 00:08:45.666
So tell me about.

00:08:45.666 --> 00:08:47.184
Are you being sarcastic?

00:08:47.205 --> 00:08:51.145
Very much, so Tell me about.

00:08:51.145 --> 00:08:59.667
I know that, looking back, you probably do remember a lot of the good times, but I'm curious and I like to ask people.

00:08:59.667 --> 00:09:05.732
There had to be some pretty dark moments in this process.

00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:14.793
The joke that the kid is digging through a pile of poop and he says there has to be a pony in there somewhere.

00:09:14.793 --> 00:09:17.607
That is 100 percent me.

00:09:17.607 --> 00:09:36.727
I am a very optimistic person and my partner, jim Crenitty, whose personality is very different from mine, like I'm really outgoing and I talk a lot, I love to visit with people, I have a lot of outward energy.

00:09:36.727 --> 00:09:57.552
He's more of an internal guy, he's very thoughtful, he's also incredibly optimistic and he says that optimism is a characteristic of a great entrepreneur and I agree that doesn't mean these horrible times haven't happened, but to me I always feel like in a bad story there's a pony in here somewhere.

00:09:57.552 --> 00:10:12.446
But man, I've been through a lot and I think some of my what's the word I want to use, resilience comes through age and having survived some things that really scared me.

00:10:12.446 --> 00:10:20.467
Now, once upon a time, I remember Hot Rod and I would lie in bed and I'd look at the ceiling and I'd say we are $500 short.

00:10:20.467 --> 00:10:24.263
If I just had $500, we'd be able to get payroll.

00:10:24.263 --> 00:10:26.109
And then it became 5,000.

00:10:26.109 --> 00:10:33.745
Looking at the ceiling, just adding up in my head middle of the night all the stuff you shouldn't do right, 5,000 and then 50,000.

00:10:33.745 --> 00:10:44.409
But that gut-wrenching I'm not going to make it moment I can still viscerally feel right now and I don't think it ever goes away.

00:10:44.409 --> 00:10:47.322
I think you get better at here it is again.

00:10:47.322 --> 00:10:53.701
Breathe through it, go for a walk, workout, take care of yourself, put it aside.

00:10:54.023 --> 00:11:03.264
This is where I think what happened in my career early is getting to a known financial position, figuring out the balance sheet and the profit loss.

00:11:03.303 --> 00:11:25.556
This was like the pivotal point in my life, in my career, because once I knew where the money was, where it's coming from, where it's going, once I got it like the scorecards nailed down then my conversations with Hot Rod the emotion went down and things got a little better.

00:11:25.556 --> 00:11:36.866
So instead of me saying we don't have enough money which he would hear as I'm not good enough, I'm not working hard enough, and we would fight Well, how much I don't know.

00:11:36.866 --> 00:11:38.630
That's where it was before.

00:11:38.630 --> 00:11:45.191
And then, once I started to get my arms around the financials, I could say, okay, here's what we're bringing in, here's what we're expending.

00:11:45.191 --> 00:11:46.714
We could raise our prices, we could do this.

00:11:46.714 --> 00:11:52.841
It seems like that was really the beginning of the beginning for me, so that's really what I built my career on.

00:11:52.841 --> 00:12:09.802
Corey was just my own personal experience of trying to handle those scare the poop out of your moments, of being an entrepreneur, being a family business or just being the one on the line for the money.

00:12:09.802 --> 00:12:12.769
Is that a good start here?

00:12:13.068 --> 00:12:26.833
Yeah, it is, and so actually I was thinking I was going to ask you, and if you could go into more detail, what kind of impact, if you remember, did it have on your marriage?

00:12:28.299 --> 00:12:31.289
Oh well, for one, we just don't work together anymore.

00:12:31.289 --> 00:12:32.333
It was okay.

00:12:32.333 --> 00:12:42.908
So two, two things happened that were really important and again, that's why I wrote the books, it's why I went into the career I have is an evolution of my personal development.

00:12:42.908 --> 00:12:51.623
What happened in my life and I thought I can't be the only one dealing with this Maybe I could share what I've learned Getting a handle on the money.

00:12:51.623 --> 00:12:56.634
Back in the day we didn't have podcasts like going back 40 years.

00:12:56.634 --> 00:13:01.346
We only had trade magazines, which are still relevant.

00:13:01.346 --> 00:13:04.602
My husband devours them, him for the technical stuff.

00:13:04.602 --> 00:13:08.485
I'm always looking for the business guru in this magazine.

00:13:09.707 --> 00:13:14.083
But back in the day Frank Blau wrote an article called how Much Should a Contractor Cost?

00:13:14.083 --> 00:13:16.789
1989, Plumbing and Mechanical Magazine.

00:13:16.789 --> 00:13:22.702
And I remember this and I read it and I understood the math.

00:13:22.702 --> 00:13:31.394
But I thought he was bananas because he suggested you should charge more than it costs.

00:13:31.394 --> 00:13:33.298
That sounds reasonable, right.

00:13:33.298 --> 00:13:34.566
But I didn't learn that.

00:13:34.566 --> 00:13:41.048
In college I learned about going right and what the market will bear and to be competitive and all this other stuff.

00:13:41.048 --> 00:13:47.749
So I wrote Frank a letter and told him that, yeah, I get the math, but that would never work for me.

00:13:47.749 --> 00:13:53.288
So I, like, did that basic reach out for help but then resist it.

00:13:53.288 --> 00:13:56.956
And he called me up and he told me where my head was and it was a.

00:13:57.197 --> 00:14:10.322
Frank Blau, the author of the magazine article, gets the letter and then calls me up and tells me that I'm an idiot and I hang up on him and like this begins this really great relationship with me and Frank.

00:14:10.322 --> 00:14:12.232
And I know you have a relationship with Nextar.

00:14:12.232 --> 00:14:29.676
Nextar was George Brazil, frank Blau and a bunch of their buddies and they got together and they created something that's still amazing and relevant today, which was a home of progressive and aggressive contractors, started with plumbers and HVAC guys and expanded.

00:14:29.676 --> 00:14:34.912
But Frank's mark is all over that organization and all the people who've gone through it.

00:14:34.912 --> 00:14:39.168
So a lot of us have have Frank to thank for kind of straightening us out.

00:14:39.168 --> 00:14:44.668
So as we got the money figured out, we made more money and it was that fast.

00:14:44.668 --> 00:14:47.376
We raised our prices, we got out of debt, we started to.

00:14:47.376 --> 00:14:48.888
It happened so fast.

00:14:49.009 --> 00:14:55.712
Once we just took the medicine, as Frank says, I felt like born again.

00:14:55.712 --> 00:15:00.296
Like how do people not know balance sheet profit loss?

00:15:00.296 --> 00:15:04.894
I didn't have a degree in business, like I was just like so on fire about it.

00:15:04.894 --> 00:15:07.291
And so I turned to my husband.

00:15:07.291 --> 00:15:09.532
Hot Rod, money buys options, right?

00:15:09.532 --> 00:15:12.471
So I turned to Hot Rod and I go okay, what do you want to do next?

00:15:12.471 --> 00:15:13.715
We're up in Park City.

00:15:13.715 --> 00:15:14.677
We could go to Salt Lake.

00:15:14.677 --> 00:15:16.051
I know where all the rich people live.

00:15:16.051 --> 00:15:17.331
Let's go take all their money.

00:15:17.331 --> 00:15:25.186
I just had this game plan and Hot Rod said to me I don't want to do any of that, I like working all by myself.

00:15:25.186 --> 00:15:26.187
I'm a technician.

00:15:26.187 --> 00:15:30.150
This business, this business thing I don't like, and that was hard.

00:15:30.150 --> 00:15:43.081
One of the things I learned there, corey, was I wanted my husband to be different, and that is not a good plan.

00:15:43.422 --> 00:15:48.668
No, so how did you?

00:15:48.788 --> 00:15:49.089
navigate.

00:15:49.089 --> 00:15:50.653
That Isn't that brutal, oh so how did you?

00:15:50.653 --> 00:15:51.336
Know that Brutal.

00:15:51.355 --> 00:15:53.140
Well, how did you know that?

00:15:53.140 --> 00:16:04.065
Because, when this is not uncommon for people in the trades, a lot of them, more than the most of people in the trades, do think a lot that way.

00:16:05.306 --> 00:16:10.605
Well, and, like you know, later on I talk to people Well, so what's your game plan here?

00:16:10.605 --> 00:16:14.296
Well, at some point my dad's going to do this and this.

00:16:14.296 --> 00:16:16.552
And I'm like, well, what if he doesn't?

00:16:16.552 --> 00:16:19.972
Well, and then like, are you waiting for your dad to die?

00:16:19.972 --> 00:16:22.311
He's only 60.

00:16:22.311 --> 00:16:25.514
Like, this is not a good plan.

00:16:25.664 --> 00:16:28.455
But that really came out of me understanding.

00:16:28.455 --> 00:16:39.639
Now I relapse on this, I tell you, I relapse, but my life goes much better when I just let my husband be, just be, and then that leaves me free and clear.

00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:49.013
But you can see too that if he would just do what I wanted him to do, if he were more interested in my plans, then we could do this, as he just wasn't.

00:16:49.013 --> 00:16:51.918
And so I wrote the books.

00:16:51.918 --> 00:16:52.679
Where did the money go?

00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:53.506
How much did I charge?

00:16:53.506 --> 00:17:00.374
And then the next two books I wrote were on business planning, and the essential business planning questions are what do you want?

00:17:00.374 --> 00:17:01.677
Why do you want that?

00:17:01.677 --> 00:17:04.688
Like what and why are great questions.

00:17:05.288 --> 00:17:08.993
And he and I did not want the same things and for different reasons.

00:17:08.993 --> 00:17:10.916
Did not want the same things and for different reasons.

00:17:10.916 --> 00:17:12.980
So this we almost split up.

00:17:12.980 --> 00:17:20.508
It's hard, and I know people who have the marriage.

00:17:20.508 --> 00:17:22.131
The business has ruined the family relationships or the marriage.

00:17:22.131 --> 00:17:23.535
We have stories like that.

00:17:23.535 --> 00:17:25.018
It is, it's a row to hoe.

00:17:25.018 --> 00:17:31.075
And so when I and Hot Rod decided that you know what, why don't we just do different things?

00:17:31.075 --> 00:17:37.332
That was probably the reason why now we've been married for 40 years, because otherwise no way.

00:17:37.332 --> 00:17:40.654
And I wouldn't work again with him no way.

00:17:40.654 --> 00:17:41.446
And it's not.

00:17:41.446 --> 00:17:45.213
He's a great person, he's probably the most self-actualized guy I know.

00:17:45.213 --> 00:17:50.076
It's just we don't have the same vision of what we want to do.

00:17:50.076 --> 00:17:58.396
I like a team, I like people, I like creativity, I like mess and making things happen that I couldn't do on my own.

00:17:58.396 --> 00:18:00.673
And he is a lone wolf.

00:18:00.673 --> 00:18:12.213
He'll be in his shop tinkering and he is well-respected, super well-regarded in his niche of this industry, in the hydronics and solar world of plumbing that niche.

00:18:12.213 --> 00:18:15.288
He's one of the top thought leaders.

00:18:15.288 --> 00:18:19.676
He's got an amazing career, but it wasn't what I wanted.

00:18:19.676 --> 00:18:33.828
And so I think just a really important responsibility that we each have is to look inward and say what is it that I really want and be willing to march in that direction.

00:18:34.451 --> 00:18:37.506
And I think some business owners I think some business owners are like hot rod.

00:18:37.506 --> 00:18:39.049
They really don't want to be there.

00:18:39.049 --> 00:18:43.185
A friend of mine, jim Mostynski, who also used to he'd be an.

00:18:43.185 --> 00:18:46.295
He was an editor or publisher at Plumbing and Mechanical.

00:18:46.295 --> 00:18:49.873
Once upon a time he said we cannibalize our team members.

00:18:49.873 --> 00:18:51.396
Now this ties in with who hire.

00:18:51.396 --> 00:18:55.073
We cannibalize them because there's nowhere to go.

00:18:55.073 --> 00:18:58.227
They're working for a company where there's no opportunity.

00:18:58.227 --> 00:19:03.739
We don't keep them busy all the time, and so they end up leaving that company.

00:19:03.739 --> 00:19:15.469
They're uneducated as far as being business owners and then they go start their own horrible business and they maybe really never would have or wanted to.

00:19:15.469 --> 00:19:18.375
So I think there's some of that too.

00:19:18.375 --> 00:19:24.886
If you really don't want to be in business for yourself, there's some pretty cool companies out there that you could work with Instead.

00:19:24.886 --> 00:19:35.588
Let me stop, because I can see you're thinking stop, because I can see you're thinking.

00:19:35.608 --> 00:19:45.059
Well, I think that a lot of people think that the old saying, the grass is greener on the other side, but they don't really realize they don't think about all of the stuff that a business owner and rightfully so.

00:19:45.059 --> 00:19:57.568
They're not supposed to think about, all the things that a business owner is to think about, starting out, because they haven't been there and they haven't done it, and so there's no handbook on all the things that go on inside of a business.

00:19:57.568 --> 00:20:06.048
It would be impossible to guess all the things that have cost you a fortune and unexpected situations.

00:20:06.048 --> 00:20:07.369
How are you?

00:20:07.369 --> 00:20:13.375
There's no handbook on how to handle that, unless you've got the right emotional intelligence.

00:20:13.375 --> 00:20:23.973
If you have the right, a lot of times it's patience, it's just being able to, you know, reset when things go sideways.

00:20:23.973 --> 00:20:28.828
That's not a skill everybody's got well.

00:20:28.969 --> 00:20:31.575
And so what happened with me and Hot Rod?

00:20:31.575 --> 00:20:34.728
This is going way back, but when we realized this?

00:20:34.728 --> 00:20:37.615
So, like, make sure the owners are on the same page.

00:20:37.615 --> 00:20:39.146
That's a good takeaway from today.

00:20:39.146 --> 00:20:42.153
And, if not, do something else.

00:20:42.153 --> 00:20:47.549
Like, don't wait for your dad or mom or kid or wife or anybody to change.

00:20:47.549 --> 00:20:50.855
Instead, maybe you could branch out on your own.

00:20:50.855 --> 00:20:53.527
Oh, I know that I can just feel the energy of that.

00:20:53.527 --> 00:20:54.749
That is super scary.

00:20:54.749 --> 00:20:57.835
However, it's okay, it will be okay.

00:20:58.676 --> 00:21:08.252
So we decide that we are going to sell the business and we start asking some other local plumbing companies around, and then our team members came to us.

00:21:08.252 --> 00:21:14.255
We had three plumbers plus Hot Rod at this little company and they came to us and they said we want to buy it.

00:21:14.255 --> 00:21:16.345
And I'm like, oh, that would be good.

00:21:16.345 --> 00:21:30.509
Now, keep in mind that when I was going through these changes with Frank and I'm raising my prices and I'm trying to figure, I am showing my team members, our team members here's the math, here's the balance sheet, here's how much we're in debt.

00:21:30.509 --> 00:21:31.471
Here's what we're trying to do.

00:21:31.471 --> 00:21:34.958
I didn't know how else to sell them on these changes.

00:21:34.958 --> 00:21:38.730
Like here you tell me like, what am I missing?

00:21:38.730 --> 00:21:41.817
And so I just started showing them the information.

00:21:41.817 --> 00:21:44.530
And then we're talking before the call.

00:21:44.730 --> 00:21:51.336
Then I read this book called the Great Game of Business by Jack Stack and I'm like, oh, this is called open book management.

00:21:51.336 --> 00:21:53.888
This is actually a thing, it's a movement.

00:21:53.888 --> 00:21:59.538
And I then pursued Jack Stack, so I called him.

00:21:59.538 --> 00:22:05.307
I did a little radio show on the internet they didn't have podcasts back then, it was called Internet Radio.

00:22:05.307 --> 00:22:07.556
I invited him, I talked to him for about an hour.

00:22:07.556 --> 00:22:10.789
I ended up moving to Springfield, missouri, which is where they're located.

00:22:10.789 --> 00:22:11.275
It was crazy and imposed myself on him.

00:22:11.275 --> 00:22:12.083
And about an hour I ended up moving to Springfield, missouri, which is where they're located.

00:22:12.083 --> 00:22:14.512
It was crazy and imposed myself on him and his team.

00:22:14.512 --> 00:22:19.769
And I absolutely love Great game of business, jack Stack, steve Baker Look these guys up.

00:22:19.808 --> 00:22:20.551
They changed my life.

00:22:20.551 --> 00:22:21.467
Now.

00:22:21.467 --> 00:22:24.675
They gave me some construct for what I was doing.

00:22:24.675 --> 00:22:37.154
So when our team members took over, they had some financial literacy training, just a little bit, but it was enough that they went into it with some education.

00:22:37.154 --> 00:22:40.548
So all these things change you From there on out.

00:22:40.548 --> 00:22:44.757
I thought I will do that every time I have an opportunity.

00:22:44.757 --> 00:22:49.775
It's what I always encourage my clients to do in my consulting business.

00:22:49.775 --> 00:22:52.929
It's what we do at Zoom Drain is let the team in on the game.

00:22:52.929 --> 00:22:55.255
One page dashboard report bring them to the party.

00:22:55.255 --> 00:23:04.492
All of that is a result of my experience with it, but I do remember we're in the middle of selling the company and it's officially the guy's company.

00:23:04.492 --> 00:23:05.494
Now we're still there.

00:23:05.736 --> 00:23:10.813
We ended up moving to Missouri and buying a farm and going middle-aged crazy and hot rod started another business.

00:23:10.813 --> 00:23:15.623
I went to work with next star, so there's all this stuff happening.

00:23:15.623 --> 00:23:26.931
But while we were still working together I remember one of the guys like turned his body and his elbow, hit a Grundfos pump and knocked it on the ground and it broke and he just went.

00:23:26.931 --> 00:23:28.634
That's $80.

00:23:28.634 --> 00:23:32.740
And I thought that only happens if you're the owner.

00:23:32.740 --> 00:23:36.332
That only happens if you're the owner that you like.

00:23:36.332 --> 00:23:43.776
Oh, you have that moment and it was a cool moment, just like yeah, I know that sucks, right.

00:23:43.776 --> 00:23:48.537
And then you start to hand over that stewardship to the new team.

00:23:48.537 --> 00:24:02.636
It was pretty exciting, but you are well served to teach your team what you're doing and to identify in your team when you're interviewing part of the overall process.

00:24:03.539 --> 00:24:07.128
Would you like to have your own business one day have you had a business of your own?

00:24:07.128 --> 00:24:09.354
What are your entrepreneurial ambitions?

00:24:09.354 --> 00:24:14.723
A business of your own, what are your entrepreneurial ambitions?

00:24:14.723 --> 00:24:19.473
Because you for those of you who've ever had someone on your team start their own business I hope you're really proud of that.

00:24:19.473 --> 00:24:20.377
Hope you're really proud of that.

00:24:20.377 --> 00:24:20.798
That's a cool thing.

00:24:20.798 --> 00:24:22.969
That's one of the great things you get to do in this country.

00:24:22.969 --> 00:24:25.656
In some countries you cannot start your own business.

00:24:25.656 --> 00:24:26.865
It's too onerous.

00:24:26.865 --> 00:24:30.332
You won't do it unless you're a relative of the president or whatever.

00:24:30.332 --> 00:24:35.319
So if that happens, that's not a lose.

00:24:35.319 --> 00:24:38.273
That could be a big win for you and them.

00:24:38.273 --> 00:24:47.233
And the other thing is could you teach them how to grow their own business and then be so interesting and creative in the development of your business that they don't want to leave?

00:24:47.233 --> 00:24:49.318
And this is what you'll see?

00:24:49.444 --> 00:24:52.315
Lance Bachman he and I did a podcast yesterday.

00:24:52.315 --> 00:24:54.613
He gives out a lot of equity early.

00:24:54.613 --> 00:24:57.212
He has a lot of equity out there.

00:24:57.212 --> 00:25:08.693
Tom Howard is very generous with equity, more aggressive than I would be, and I'm fascinated in watching this like, wow, that's super interesting.

00:25:08.693 --> 00:25:09.669
That could be a.

00:25:09.669 --> 00:25:10.030
Really.

00:25:10.030 --> 00:25:12.534
That could be a reason why they're so successful.

00:25:12.534 --> 00:25:18.736
So, in any event, teaching personal financial literacy and business literacy.

00:25:19.156 --> 00:25:20.946
Hey, one guy who's really rocked my world.

00:25:20.946 --> 00:25:23.952
What was his name?

00:25:23.952 --> 00:25:26.457
Who's the get out of debt guy?

00:25:26.457 --> 00:25:27.558
Old guy, dave Ramsey.

00:25:27.558 --> 00:25:33.027
He's been around, he's been around and I loved him and he's done a lot of good for people.

00:25:33.027 --> 00:25:37.017
However, there's a fresh voice in that space and I love him a lot.

00:25:37.017 --> 00:25:40.289
His name is Ramit Sethi, r-a-m-i-t.

00:25:40.289 --> 00:25:41.392
R-a-m-i-t.

00:25:41.392 --> 00:25:43.736
Even as a Netflix show.

00:25:43.736 --> 00:25:46.066
His book is called I Can Teach you to Be Rich.

00:25:46.066 --> 00:25:52.596
It's really good for personal finance he the man, really like him.

00:25:52.596 --> 00:25:54.680
And then for business finance.

00:25:54.680 --> 00:25:57.173
Hey, have a budgeting session.

00:25:57.173 --> 00:25:58.439
Take your team through it.

00:25:58.499 --> 00:26:01.970
How, if you were to start a business of your own, this is what you have to consider.

00:26:01.970 --> 00:26:04.237
Here's what goes into our selling prices.

00:26:04.237 --> 00:26:09.051
All of this I experienced cory, and that's what I would teach.

00:26:09.051 --> 00:26:10.755
As I learned it.

00:26:10.755 --> 00:26:14.299
I thought someone else may be interested, and then I'd see their experience.

00:26:14.299 --> 00:26:21.414
I had this lab going with the people I was working with and learning from and, like you, I'd travel the world to see a cool company.

00:26:21.414 --> 00:26:22.346
I'd just go.

00:26:22.346 --> 00:26:23.510
Can I come to your shop?

00:26:23.510 --> 00:26:24.413
Can we get on the phone?

00:26:24.413 --> 00:26:28.876
I would just go to figure it out.

00:26:33.652 --> 00:26:36.305
And I've learned a lot over the years as a result of people's generosity.

00:26:36.305 --> 00:26:42.291
I will say that's one thing I think is one of the most impressive things about this industry is most people that have done well.

00:26:42.291 --> 00:26:45.719
They don't mind showing you what they did Like they don't.

00:26:45.719 --> 00:26:53.358
I think maybe part of that's because the likeliness of you going out and duplicating it's probably not very good.

00:26:53.358 --> 00:27:01.159
But also, I think people are just really generous in our industry, more generous than any other industry I've ever seen.

00:27:02.244 --> 00:27:13.036
Well, I think there's a bit of an evolution to it, because I was noticing this In HVAC and I'm going to be a bit stereotypical right here.

00:27:13.036 --> 00:27:16.829
I believe there's a bit of a sophistication hierarchy.

00:27:16.829 --> 00:27:25.910
I think right now, really great HVAC contractors are the best marketers in the world in any industry.

00:27:25.910 --> 00:27:31.380
Like these guys, they have it dialed down.

00:27:31.380 --> 00:27:49.078
And then maybe plumbing companies and also these guys might be the same companies, and then maybe electricians are catching up, and then we have restoration, roofing, pest control, drain cleaning.

00:27:49.078 --> 00:27:49.941
Are you with me?

00:27:50.265 --> 00:27:56.612
Like, I think there are certain industries where it really that level and it's a marketing mindset.

00:27:56.612 --> 00:28:00.266
I believe that you have to communicate who you are.

00:28:00.266 --> 00:28:12.214
I think that the farther down this hierarchy you go, the more likely a business owner is to say well, everybody knows me, it's word of mouth, that's all I do, but then, as a result, they're a small company.

00:28:12.214 --> 00:28:23.646
Now again, if that's what you want, great, but if you want to grow, one of the skill sets you have to learn is marketing how to market your business and find people who know how to do that.

00:28:23.646 --> 00:28:33.826
Now, as you move up this hierarchy, the more successful you are generally, the more willing you are to share because you've had some help.

00:28:33.826 --> 00:28:36.113
You never got there by yourself.

00:28:36.113 --> 00:28:52.375
People have opened up their shop as you move up, but in some industries that are not quite as sophisticated overall stereotypically I'm not talking about individual companies, just like the group itself there is a lot more reticence to share.

00:28:52.375 --> 00:29:02.397
There's more of a I'm not going to let anybody in and see, based on really just not an understanding yet, but they'll get there.

00:29:02.765 --> 00:29:08.067
Now, the cool thing about that, corey, is I think that's where the real opportunities are In my career.

00:29:08.067 --> 00:29:11.133
I just wouldn't start an HVAC company.

00:29:11.133 --> 00:29:14.739
The field's too good, field's too good.

00:29:14.739 --> 00:29:17.991
But give me power washing, give me drain cleaning.

00:29:17.991 --> 00:29:18.874
I love drinking.

00:29:18.874 --> 00:29:20.505
That's one of the reasons I love it.

00:29:20.505 --> 00:29:27.972
You just have to be better than the average bear, and the average bear is not that great, not like some of the more sophisticated trays.

00:29:27.972 --> 00:29:28.694
Does that make sense?

00:29:28.694 --> 00:29:30.009
Yeah, it makes total sense.

00:29:30.586 --> 00:29:31.991
There's so much opportunity.

00:29:33.066 --> 00:29:40.117
You just made me think of something, so I don't know how you ran this with Zoom Drain.

00:29:40.117 --> 00:29:43.493
You probably know Alan Ferguson, do you know Alan?

00:29:43.965 --> 00:29:45.459
Oh, I love Alan Ferguson.

00:29:45.479 --> 00:29:46.105
I love Alan too.

00:29:46.184 --> 00:29:48.292
I know him from Contractors 2000, 100 years ago, and we have remained friends to this day.

00:29:48.292 --> 00:29:54.654
I love him from Contractors 2000, 100 years ago yeah, and we have remained friends to this day.

00:29:54.654 --> 00:29:55.730
I love him a lot.

00:30:05.232 --> 00:30:06.173
Okay, so tell me your story.

00:30:06.173 --> 00:30:16.182
It is which is often frowned upon, I think, by people that don't understand how that works.

00:30:16.182 --> 00:30:27.478
I'll see in plumbing groups where they just will bash the daylights out of someone that's running a very cheaper drain clean or whatever.

00:30:27.478 --> 00:30:32.892
There's two things right Drain cleaning and what's the other one?

00:30:32.892 --> 00:30:33.553
Yeah?

00:30:33.553 --> 00:30:39.451
What another industry like no, you could do two separate things.

00:30:39.451 --> 00:30:43.665
When you go out to you, you could do a drain cleaning or a drain inspection.

00:30:43.665 --> 00:30:46.656
No, I don't know what I'm trying to think of, it doesn't matter.

00:30:47.398 --> 00:30:55.097
Yeah, I, I can't remember well I think carry on with your story about the 59, because I do have some thoughts on those yeah, yeah.

00:30:55.159 --> 00:31:00.608
So the idea is that you get there and it's time.

00:31:00.608 --> 00:31:10.036
You've got to count the time that you're there and if you're not counting the time and you see your guys are spending two and a half hours on a fifty nine dollar drain clean, naturally it's not going to be productive, right?

00:31:10.036 --> 00:31:19.660
So the idea is not that you're going to try to milk the customer for every dime that you can, but if you go there and you find more problems, that you have to charge for those.

00:31:19.660 --> 00:31:20.441
So yeah.

00:31:20.441 --> 00:31:21.702
So tell me your thoughts on that.

00:31:24.207 --> 00:31:27.010
I tend to change my thoughts.

00:31:27.010 --> 00:31:29.058
Okay, I'll tell you my current thoughts.

00:31:29.058 --> 00:31:30.383
Okay, fair enough.

00:31:30.383 --> 00:31:32.636
Like I'm cause, I don't think we have to.

00:31:32.636 --> 00:31:35.669
There's something to be said for changing your mind.

00:31:35.669 --> 00:31:39.079
When you have more information or you're of a different opinion, you get to get.

00:31:39.079 --> 00:31:44.355
Your value should stay pretty constant, but your tactics can move around a little bit.

00:31:45.196 --> 00:31:49.846
I am one that doesn't like the discount loss leader for drain cleaning.

00:31:49.846 --> 00:31:58.086
Now, if you do drain cleaning but you also do plumbing, you could do free drain cleaning to see what needs to be done.

00:31:58.086 --> 00:32:11.564
We could clear the drain and then your your understanding is so many drains are going to need to be replaced or repaired that this becomes your lead offering.

00:32:11.564 --> 00:32:13.328
Correct, like, I'm following right.

00:32:13.328 --> 00:32:15.355
I understand the math behind it.

00:32:15.355 --> 00:32:21.048
However, I don't love discounting the honorable work that we do.

00:32:21.048 --> 00:32:24.500
I don't like like a plastic surgeon.

00:32:24.500 --> 00:32:31.820
If I was going to have plastic surgery, I've noticed that maybe I should have a facelift.

00:32:31.820 --> 00:32:43.141
I'll probably never get around to it, but just saying like, if I were going to go to a plastic surgeon and they were doing like a two for one discount, I wouldn't use that plastic surgeon.

00:32:44.344 --> 00:32:45.405
You see where I'm going.

00:32:47.329 --> 00:32:55.615
And lawyers who do really aggressive like marketing, where you don't pay anything and we're going to get a class action suit.

00:32:55.615 --> 00:32:59.205
They don't have a great reputation there.

00:32:59.205 --> 00:33:05.285
Again, I just don't like the reflection on the industry of giving away free work.

00:33:05.285 --> 00:33:08.256
Sure, I like now what I do.

00:33:08.256 --> 00:33:18.200
We do at zoom drain is we will come and do a bid on the job and you can say no, so we don't charge anything to come and look at the job.

00:33:18.701 --> 00:33:19.041
Okay.

00:33:19.123 --> 00:33:26.226
Right and we only give at that point our opinion and they can take the opinion and do it, do whatever.

00:33:26.226 --> 00:33:37.982
And then our responsibility is to train our team members well enough to present appropriate options and prices and have the customer say yes, now in drain cleaning.

00:33:37.982 --> 00:33:51.541
If you're doing that model right, you're going to close 92, 93% of your jobs because no one really wants to send a professional drain cleaner packing if they've got a drain problem.

00:33:51.541 --> 00:33:56.038
Like you're going to make a sale today unless you do something offensive, does that?

00:33:56.078 --> 00:33:56.519
make sense.

00:33:57.040 --> 00:34:02.237
So I think that in our industry I'm not saying this will be the way we do it forever.

00:34:02.237 --> 00:34:17.364
However, we support not doing a $29 drain thing and then explaining it's only this much and that you didn't cover that and we just don't want to make it that complicated and we want to give an opinion.

00:34:17.364 --> 00:34:24.164
You can go to a lawyer usually and get a little bit of expert advice before the clock starts ticking.

00:34:24.164 --> 00:34:25.909
Same thing with a surgeon.

00:34:25.909 --> 00:34:30.175
They might just say I'm not sure that surgery is right for you, but let's see and have a little meeting.

00:34:30.175 --> 00:34:40.887
So I really like elevating the industry in that way, but I'm okay, like if everybody's doing it one way and if it gets complicated I'm definitely going to want to go in another direction.

00:34:40.887 --> 00:34:47.746
Here's another thing that I feel like a bit of a rebel about this, but I've met more and more people on my, on my game plan.

00:34:47.746 --> 00:34:51.965
Ishmael Valdez at New Bay is one of these guys.

00:34:53.115 --> 00:34:56.907
There's a lot of work that goes into maintenance agreements.

00:34:56.907 --> 00:35:00.605
Now I liked plan service and this is different.

00:35:00.605 --> 00:35:11.532
Like at Zoom Drain, we could put together a price for a commercial property that needs the grease traps done, refreshed, cleaned out once a quarter, and here's the price to do it.

00:35:11.532 --> 00:35:12.777
It's non-emergency work.

00:35:12.777 --> 00:35:15.811
It's good for you, it's good for them, but those are real prices.

00:35:15.811 --> 00:35:18.780
Those are not discount, giveaway, loss leader prices.

00:35:18.780 --> 00:35:27.327
Planned maintenance are good sales, but a maintenance agreement as a plumber's wife, what does it include?

00:35:27.327 --> 00:35:30.083
Well, we'll wash out your water heater once a year.

00:35:30.143 --> 00:35:32.340
Well, here's what I know, no plumber does this.

00:35:32.715 --> 00:35:33.655
I don't know anyone.

00:35:33.655 --> 00:35:42.922
I don't know anyone in the trades who rinses out their water heater and as soon as you take that little valve off the bottom, it's never going to hold again.

00:35:42.922 --> 00:35:48.056
It's a problematic job and I just like it just sounds complicated.

00:35:48.056 --> 00:35:49.481
And now we have the revenue.

00:35:49.481 --> 00:35:52.115
Well, you're supposed to hold it as deferred income.

00:35:52.115 --> 00:35:58.943
And now you have to move it and service Titan can help you do that and it's fine and a lot of people have been uber successful with it.

00:36:05.494 --> 00:36:06.096
But all of that makes me go.

00:36:06.096 --> 00:36:06.737
What do we need them for?

00:36:06.737 --> 00:36:10.585
Why don't we just text them and let them know it's time to clear your drains, it's time to wash your windows.

00:36:10.585 --> 00:36:12.755
I got the idea because I've got this guy.

00:36:12.755 --> 00:36:19.809
I don't even know his name, but he will like quarterly text me and says hey, ellen, it's time to come over and wash your windows.

00:36:19.809 --> 00:36:21.237
Is Thursday, OK.

00:36:21.539 --> 00:36:24.387
And I go yes, I've never had my windows washed.

00:36:24.387 --> 00:36:27.195
I never signed anything, thanks for being a VIP.

00:36:27.195 --> 00:36:37.159
He says I'm a VIP, I didn't even know, I could not find, I could not nail this guy down in a crowd, I couldn't find him on the Internet.

00:36:37.159 --> 00:36:43.927
But I'm getting my windows cleaned all the time because he's making the barrier to service so small.

00:36:43.927 --> 00:36:49.300
He's telling me it's time for I don't have to track anybody down, right?

00:36:49.300 --> 00:36:55.280
And so now with Ishmael, he's got a thermostat, it's got your name on it, you push on, it goes to your service time.

00:36:55.280 --> 00:37:07.943
These are revolutionary things and they're breaking down the barriers between when your customer needs and wants you and when you can appear Like maybe we could take more control of that in ways that the customer will really benefit.

00:37:07.943 --> 00:37:14.614
So, anyway, I'm getting off track a little bit, but I thought you'd like that, based on the $59 drain conversation.

00:37:14.634 --> 00:37:17.880
That's where my mind goes is what can we get out of the way for?

00:37:17.940 --> 00:37:18.501
these guys?

00:37:18.501 --> 00:37:20.643
Yeah Well, I think it's convenient.

00:37:20.643 --> 00:37:29.559
So if it's convenient for me to, for me to do business with you, then I'm probably going to do business with you because it's convenient, even if you're a little bit more expensive, right?

00:37:29.719 --> 00:37:31.342
Well, yeah, pop quiz.

00:37:31.342 --> 00:37:33.065
Now I have tile.

00:37:33.065 --> 00:37:36.257
Troy is my tile guy, so I needed a granite guy.

00:37:36.257 --> 00:37:38.521
What did I do to find a granite guy?

00:37:38.541 --> 00:37:40.565
I asked Troy, I didn't look.

00:37:46.195 --> 00:37:47.438
I didn't search, I just said do you have a granite guy?

00:37:47.438 --> 00:37:48.161
Oh, I have a great granite guy.

00:37:48.161 --> 00:37:49.302
That was Jared, who just showed up today.

00:37:49.302 --> 00:37:50.385
So referral marketing too.

00:37:50.385 --> 00:37:53.639
Now how easy can we make referral marketing?

00:37:53.639 --> 00:37:56.608
How can we get the cell phone numbers?

00:37:56.608 --> 00:38:02.643
Get on text threads with your referral partners, get them into service Titan, do some regular reminders.

00:38:02.643 --> 00:38:03.889
So we're helping each other out.

00:38:03.889 --> 00:38:08.563
Boy, there's a guy, a local contractor I'm going to brag on a court and Maddie Lundberg.

00:38:08.563 --> 00:38:11.135
All of their business comes from Facebook groups.

00:38:11.135 --> 00:38:20.773
The lost dog Facebook groups, the disaster relief, the Christmas somebody needs a hand Facebook group.

00:38:20.773 --> 00:38:26.731
They're just involved in their community in such a way really low touch, a really low.

00:38:26.731 --> 00:38:35.469
They're not selling, they're just being great neighbors and their referral business is bananas as a result.

00:38:35.469 --> 00:38:38.119
Isn't that sexy Love that.

00:38:39.541 --> 00:38:41.103
It is sexy.

00:38:41.103 --> 00:38:56.244
There's actually a software that I discovered on this actual topic where I could, if I go, if I'm in a Facebook group and I want to know if Ellen posts about I have a plumbing problem, that it will tell.

00:38:56.244 --> 00:39:03.786
It will shoot me an email with all your information, the post, what group it came from, and you can even reply right into the software.

00:39:03.786 --> 00:39:14.168
So can you imagine like, based on those people's business they're probably hunting through all these groups all the time, trying to it could come right to their.

00:39:14.168 --> 00:39:15.855
It's amazing, it's unbelievable.

00:39:15.875 --> 00:39:16.717
Can you share that?

00:39:16.717 --> 00:39:17.661
Can you share that?

00:39:18.016 --> 00:39:19.244
I'll figure out the name of it.

00:39:19.264 --> 00:39:21.340
I haven't used it Okay, yeah, and maybe post that too.

00:39:21.340 --> 00:39:26.427
Well, and there's another software we saw at the event the other day PinParrot.

00:39:26.427 --> 00:39:27.958
Did you see how that works?

00:39:28.199 --> 00:39:28.943
No, tell me.

00:39:29.114 --> 00:39:30.882
You know how you want your service tech.

00:39:30.882 --> 00:39:33.119
Again, like, just make it easier on the techs.

00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:34.961
We ask them to things.

00:39:34.961 --> 00:39:41.097
Okay, so it would be great if our technicians dropped a pin wherever they are and took pictures.

00:39:41.097 --> 00:39:46.445
And they're busy and we nag them and I get it.

00:39:46.445 --> 00:39:49.769
So Pin Parrot does that for you.

00:39:49.769 --> 00:39:56.697
It like finds out where they are, it pins them, it adds the pictures that they're already adding to service Titan.

00:39:56.697 --> 00:40:04.737
I really don't know the mechanics behind it, but what I know is that they're taking it out of the tech's hands, out of their responsibility, and they're doing it for them.

00:40:04.737 --> 00:40:08.525
What a lovely win right there.

00:40:08.764 --> 00:40:10.909
We asked the techs to do so much.

00:40:10.909 --> 00:40:14.523
This is where, like now they got to sell a maintenance agreement.

00:40:14.523 --> 00:40:16.257
Now we have to get the paperwork for it.

00:40:16.257 --> 00:40:23.123
They have to explain a complicated thing to the customer, like what if we just didn't do that?

00:40:23.123 --> 00:40:25.844
What if we just assume now they're in our VIP club?

00:40:25.844 --> 00:40:35.177
They're in our VIP club, they're on Marketing Pro or whatever we're using to automatically send information back to that customer?

00:40:35.177 --> 00:40:40.596
Second chance lead them all those groovy automated things to that customer.

00:40:40.596 --> 00:40:41.878
Second chance lead them all those groovy automated things, apps.

00:40:41.878 --> 00:40:42.900
Yesterday, when Lance and I were on our podcast.

00:40:42.900 --> 00:40:47.088
It was really about the importance of great people.

00:40:47.088 --> 00:40:55.518
Corey, with awesome software, right the apps, the automation, the AI, the stuff that will really leverage what good people can do.

00:40:55.518 --> 00:41:00.168
This is where we are in our development as an industry.

00:41:00.168 --> 00:41:02.322
I see you shaking your head, you love that.

00:41:02.414 --> 00:41:25.425
So we work with WhoHire, we work with all of Lance's companies, our system, and it's pretty unreal because it solves the biggest problem in the industry, which is finding good people, and there's a whole lot of streamlining around the processes and automations and it's really fascinating.

00:41:25.425 --> 00:41:32.746
I just brought on I'm the partnership director for the company and we just brought on the Elliott group.

00:41:32.746 --> 00:41:34.940
Do you know, and you should probably know Andy Elliott?

00:41:34.940 --> 00:41:35.360
I'm sure.

00:41:36.684 --> 00:41:38.851
Oh yeah, yeah, I know of him.

00:41:38.851 --> 00:41:41.036
I haven't met him, but I know him when you think of that guy.

00:41:41.056 --> 00:41:46.561
you're like he's a sales trainer, right, he's a lot of things, but sales is like his thing, right.

00:41:46.561 --> 00:41:58.905
And so I've been working really closely with his team this week and putting them through this process and one of the guys just sent me a message and said I took the updated because there's a little tweaking that goes on with.

00:41:58.905 --> 00:42:00.286
Some of the guys just sent me a message and said I took the updated because there's a little tweaking.

00:42:00.286 --> 00:42:04.831
It goes on with some of the questions and not a lot of tweaking.

00:42:04.831 --> 00:42:08.923
Actually Most of it's already built out, but we tweaked his and he retook it.

00:42:08.923 --> 00:42:33.740
And for somebody that's a customer to take from their own standpoint, to take to go through the process and score an 89 on the whole thing out of 100 is pretty compelling because he knows how good he is in sales and then to have this program tell him how good he is in sales, it's pretty phenomenal.

00:42:33.740 --> 00:42:35.465
So it was really cool getting that message.

00:42:35.987 --> 00:42:41.478
So you're like, you're on the bleeding edge of this human, the human humanity.

00:42:41.478 --> 00:42:47.048
Plus technology leverages your ability to succeed.

00:42:47.454 --> 00:43:28.239
Well, yes, and so we've really taken we've taken just gobs and got like 7,500 people of real humans in the field and then utilized our technology to match that with that performance data inside of ServiceTitan or whatever field service software, and then, through AI, we can predict how well your candidate's going to do, how well the applicant's going to do in the whatever position they're you're hiring for, and so there's no possible way that a human being would ever be able to tell you the intricate information that we can tell you.

00:43:28.239 --> 00:43:40.148
I mean to be able to tell you if someone has grit or if they have humility, or you know, over a 10 minute questionnaire is, and that's just two out of the 500 things.

00:43:40.148 --> 00:43:42.041
It's ridiculous.

00:43:42.041 --> 00:43:46.760
It's like a personality test on steroids, like it's crazy.

00:43:48.615 --> 00:43:50.362
I'm really intrigued by what you're doing.

00:43:50.362 --> 00:43:57.396
So, like, you're going to let everybody know how to do a demo, or, yeah for sure, yeah, okay, yeah for sure.

00:43:57.396 --> 00:44:11.967
So, in addition to that, so so, like, in addition to getting a demo of the who hire software, yeah, for the sake of our conversation today, what is it that you've learned about hiring that most people don't know?

00:44:11.967 --> 00:44:20.617
In addition to, like, we figured it out and get the demo, what's another like tip or something that, wow, it really blew my mind when I figured this out.

00:44:21.059 --> 00:44:22.623
All right, so I'll tell you, so I'll tell you.

00:44:22.623 --> 00:44:26.081
I'm going to tell you two separate stories, to give you two different examples.

00:44:26.081 --> 00:44:41.407
So we did this whole thing with cleaning companies, right, people that clean houses, and one of the traits that came up to be the highest on the flight risk.

00:44:41.407 --> 00:44:43.130
So we can measure.

00:44:43.130 --> 00:44:45.251
We measure performance and flight risk.

00:44:45.251 --> 00:44:46.018
How long is somebody?

00:44:46.038 --> 00:44:46.360
going to stay.

00:44:46.360 --> 00:44:47.619
How long do they stay?

00:44:47.619 --> 00:44:48.583
How long do they stay?

00:44:50.936 --> 00:44:54.201
And are they going to perform once you hire them?

00:44:54.201 --> 00:45:05.775
Data completely matched up with was how sincere an applicant is would determine how quickly they're going to leave you.

00:45:05.775 --> 00:45:16.173
Now that's really strange to think about, because you would never think the sincerity of a human being would determine how quickly they're going to leave you.

00:45:16.173 --> 00:45:18.668
But the data was there.

00:45:18.668 --> 00:45:20.235
You couldn't argue with the data.

00:45:20.235 --> 00:45:22.139
Now here's a different story.

00:45:22.239 --> 00:45:29.802
We have a guy in I think he's in Tennessee, and he brought on this guy who was like I don't know.

00:45:29.802 --> 00:45:31.827
He was a Navy SEAL, he ran a Chick-fil-A.

00:45:31.827 --> 00:45:34.458
Like his resume was.

00:45:34.458 --> 00:45:43.130
Nobody would argue with this guy's resume, like there's no question he's going to excel in this position.

00:45:43.130 --> 00:45:45.262
I think it was a service manager or something like that.

00:45:45.262 --> 00:45:47.943
Well, a couple of months went by.

00:45:47.943 --> 00:45:48.838
The guy's not.

00:45:48.838 --> 00:45:52.965
The numbers are not his numbers are not matching up with his resume.

00:45:53.795 --> 00:46:05.922
And so they hired him before they brought on WhoHire, and so he gave all of his employees the WhoHire test and they were sitting on an airplane heading to somewhere and the results came back.

00:46:05.922 --> 00:46:11.362
And so the Army guy or the Navy guy, whatever he was, said yeah, let's look and see what it says.

00:46:11.362 --> 00:46:14.445
And this guy was like a 97% flight risk.

00:46:14.445 --> 00:46:20.003
And so the owner was like what's up with this?

00:46:20.003 --> 00:46:22.608
And he was like, oh, the AI is wrong.

00:46:22.608 --> 00:46:25.981
30 days later he puts in his notice.

00:46:25.981 --> 00:46:31.179
And here's the real kicker, because he gave all of the employees the test.

00:46:31.179 --> 00:46:42.157
There was a guy on his team that he said Corey, I would never in a million years have put this guy in this service manager not in a million years, he said.

00:46:42.157 --> 00:46:54.427
But his WhoHire score was the highest of anybody that I've ever seen, and our profit went from 20% to 48% in 30 days and hasn't dropped since Now.

00:46:54.427 --> 00:46:55.389
Isn't that nuts?

00:46:56.436 --> 00:47:05.833
That is so cool, so do you recommend that you I'm assuming, yes, that you would recommend your existing team members take this to see if maybe they're in the right seat on the bus.

00:47:05.833 --> 00:47:15.150
Yeah, or there may be some as yet unidentified leaders or superstars you might have on your team already.

00:47:15.375 --> 00:47:16.987
Or unidentified flight risks.

00:47:17.534 --> 00:47:18.981
Or unidentified flight risks.

00:47:20.014 --> 00:47:20.436
Wow, your team already.

00:47:20.436 --> 00:47:21.679
Or unidentified flight risks, or unidentified flight risks.

00:47:21.679 --> 00:47:27.637
Think about how much damage a technician does when he's got one foot out the door he's looking for another job.

00:47:27.637 --> 00:47:30.463
He's half-assing his job every day.

00:47:30.463 --> 00:47:32.938
He's not giving you good customer service.

00:47:32.938 --> 00:47:36.735
He's certainly not charging what he's supposed to be charging because he doesn't care.

00:47:36.735 --> 00:47:39.177
How much money does that cost?

00:47:39.177 --> 00:47:40.179
Well, I'll tell you.

00:47:40.179 --> 00:47:41.420
Here's the numbers.

00:47:41.420 --> 00:47:47.387
To replace that guy is about half of his salary, so just pretend it's $100,000 he's making.

00:47:47.387 --> 00:47:55.021
It's going to cost you about $50,000 in training, customer loss, all of those things to replace that guy.

00:47:55.021 --> 00:47:56.614
Now imagine you do that 10 times a year.

00:47:56.614 --> 00:47:59.003
That's a half a million dollars.

00:47:59.003 --> 00:48:07.349
And here's the problem On the balance sheet every year there's no place for turnover.

00:48:07.349 --> 00:48:16.869
So it's like one of these numbers that are it's a massive hole that you don't see on the balance sheet.

00:48:16.869 --> 00:48:18.422
So it's really hard to track.

00:48:18.422 --> 00:48:21.023
But we've tracked it, but we know.

00:48:24.177 --> 00:48:25.061
This is so good.

00:48:25.061 --> 00:48:26.500
Well, you've got me intrigued.

00:48:26.500 --> 00:48:36.385
All right, I want to see the demo too for companies I'm working with, and I'll rattle some interest at Zoom Drain too.

00:48:36.385 --> 00:48:39.878
Now, this is really cool and I love Jonathan so much, I love you, you.

00:48:39.878 --> 00:48:56.181
I'm so glad we had a chance to connect and actually I talked to christy dear, whom I know you christina, christina, christina oops, I knew I was gonna be here whom I adore, yes and I was telling her I'm like we really need to talk to your dad.

00:48:56.202 --> 00:48:57.949
I'm like I really need to talk to your dad.

00:48:57.949 --> 00:49:00.922
I'm like I really need to talk to your dad because, like he and she's like he's not your guy.

00:49:00.922 --> 00:49:05.900
I could put you in front of the person that you need to talk to, but he's probably not going to be your guy.

00:49:05.900 --> 00:49:11.342
So I am going to talk with them at some point and maybe that could be something you could introduce me to.

00:49:11.342 --> 00:49:11.943
Okay.

00:49:12.003 --> 00:49:14.057
I'm good, I'll put you on my end here.

00:49:14.057 --> 00:49:14.358
Well.

00:49:14.498 --> 00:49:19.989
Well, I know we're getting short on time but I and thank you for asking I enjoyed this so much.

00:49:20.715 --> 00:49:26.608
If someone bails on you at the last minute, you call me and I give you my text and my phone number.

00:49:26.608 --> 00:49:31.663
So you call me and I'll come on, I'll be your, I'll be your go-to fill in person.

00:49:31.983 --> 00:49:32.485
You're the best.

00:49:32.485 --> 00:49:34.382
I really want to have you an out on actually.

00:49:35.737 --> 00:49:36.420
Oh, we will.

00:49:36.420 --> 00:49:40.306
We love it and we'll probably argue It'll be a fantastic show.

00:49:40.306 --> 00:49:43.360
We're like an old married couple.

00:49:43.360 --> 00:49:44.405
He's my work husband.

00:49:45.074 --> 00:49:45.617
I love it.

00:49:45.617 --> 00:49:49.088
So, ellen, if somebody wants to reach out to you, where would they go?

00:49:51.815 --> 00:49:51.835
L.

00:49:51.835 --> 00:49:53.579
Let's use my Service Titan email address.

00:49:53.579 --> 00:50:00.527
It's the best E-R-O-H-R at servicetitancom.

00:50:00.527 --> 00:50:02.630
Yes, stay in touch.

00:50:02.630 --> 00:50:05.625
Let me know if you're interested in our brand ambassador program.

00:50:05.625 --> 00:50:08.543
And hey, I know cool people like Corey.

00:50:08.543 --> 00:50:12.827
If I can't help you out with something, I think I could connect you.

00:50:12.827 --> 00:50:17.844
So thanks, corey, let me know when this comes out and I'll help you spread the word.

00:50:18.324 --> 00:50:19.396
Thank you, dear, I appreciate you.

00:50:20.802 --> 00:50:23.652
You too too, love and say hi to Jonathan, thank you.

Comments & Upvotes

Listen On