From Stress to Success: Michelle Myers Talks Remote CSRs and Work-Life Balance

Unlock the secrets to elevating your customer service game with insights from Michelle Myers, founder of Pink Callers. Michelle joins us to discuss her innovative approach to providing remote Customer Service Representatives (CSRs), dispatchers, and call center managers. By offering specialized training and robust community support, Michelle's team ensures that CSRs are well-prepared to improve customer experiences, ultimately allowing business owners to focus on what they do best.Relinquishi...

Show Notes

Unlock the secrets to elevating your customer service game with insights from Michelle Myers, founder of Pink Callers. Michelle joins us to discuss her innovative approach to providing remote Customer Service Representatives (CSRs), dispatchers, and call center managers. By offering specialized training and robust community support, Michelle's team ensures that CSRs are well-prepared to improve customer experiences, ultimately allowing business owners to focus on what they do best.

Relinquishing control can be a significant stress reliever, both personally and professionally. In this episode, we explore the importance of establishing effective business processes and share personal stories of overcoming challenges, including my journey to recovery from alcoholism. Michelle and I delve into how aligning employees' strengths with their roles and embracing personal hobbies, like gardening, can lead to substantial growth and well-being in both business and life.

From organizing the largest Christmas parade on the East Coast to navigating the complexities of starting a business during an economic downturn, this episode is packed with valuable lessons on leadership, resilience, and adaptability. Listen as we discuss the entrepreneurial balancing act, the nuances of managing remote CSRs, and the importance of maintaining a strong virtual culture. Don't miss out on these actionable insights for transforming your customer service and leading your business to success.

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Show Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:02.383 --> 00:00:04.166
Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast.

00:00:04.166 --> 00:00:07.753
I'm your host, corey Barrier, and I'm here with Michelle Myers.

00:00:07.753 --> 00:00:10.740
Hey, michelle, hey there, corey, how are you Good?

00:00:10.740 --> 00:00:12.025
Good to see you Good.

00:00:12.066 --> 00:00:12.667
Nice to be seen.

00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:20.274
So, Michelle, for those folks that may not know anything about you or the business, could you just give us a quick overview?

00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:21.621
Sure, absolutely.

00:00:21.621 --> 00:00:22.524
I'm Michelle Myers.

00:00:22.524 --> 00:00:24.187
We are located.

00:00:24.187 --> 00:00:28.065
Our headquarters are in Virginia, northern Virginia, just outside of Washington DC.

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I've got a distributed team all over the nation in every time zone, and Pink Collars is my main Monday through Friday gig and it keeps me busy, and we set up companies for success by providing CSRs, dispatchers and call center managers into their business remotely.

00:00:46.188 --> 00:00:58.152
We work on several CRMs, but Service Titan is the main one that we focus on and we are excited to be here and share a little bit about what we do and how WhoHire may have helped get us on top.

00:00:58.152 --> 00:00:59.414
I'm just saying I love it.

00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:20.706
So I mean, this is you know, the CSR role, in my opinion, is one of the most overlooked, underpaid roles in the industry as it pertains to in-house CSRs.

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It drives me insane because you spend thousands, tens of thousands of dollars driving people to the phones and then you have the arguably the lowest person on the totem pole fielding those calls and driving them to the right direction, Whether that be if you've got multiple, if you've got, you know, plumbing or heating or electrical or whatever that might be, and not asking the right questions, which is just mind boggling to me why they would.

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People would make that decision, but they do all the time.

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Every day and I wouldn't say, if I can correct you, I'm sorry.

00:02:03.332 --> 00:02:14.248
First sentence out, I would say it's the least supported person in the business, right, it's got the least amount of training, it's got the least amount of community, it's got the least amount of support.

00:02:14.248 --> 00:02:18.872
And, to be fair, business owners go into business because they're one of two people.

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They're either a visionary right, they see the future.

00:02:21.468 --> 00:02:22.945
They're like I'm going to do it my way.

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They do like I'm going to do it my way.

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They do it.

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Then they get out there and they kill it, right, they're out there doing the thing.

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Or they're tactical and they're technicians.

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They've worked for somebody their whole life and they're like I'm doing it a different way, I'm going to start my own thing.

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And they're on the tools from the beginning.

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So, whether you're a visionary or an integrator, a guy that's on the tools, likely the CSR in your business is a complete different than either of those humans.

00:02:46.816 --> 00:02:59.582
Right, they're box checkers, they're list takers, they're active listeners, they've got a really good level of kindness and concern about the customer and so oftentimes, as a business owner, they're almost like a.

00:02:59.582 --> 00:03:11.424
It's like you two are speaking two different languages you and that customer service person, and so that's where I think a lot of disconnect happens is that we as owners don't really speak that customer service language.

00:03:11.424 --> 00:03:20.442
We're either, like I said, living in the future or we're out there doing the thing, and so the customer service really falls in a lane that some of us aren't really familiar with.

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And that's where I think a company like ours can come in and serve, because we know that and we can provide that support and that culture and that training piece that you as a business owner may not have time to do.

00:03:31.246 --> 00:03:39.662
And that's, I think, where they fall through the cracks, and I don't think it's anybody's fault, I just think it's a function that some people just don't understand to be honest.

00:03:39.741 --> 00:03:41.567
You know you don't know what you don't know.

00:03:41.567 --> 00:03:55.923
Yeah, and you're right, it's, you know there it does.

00:03:55.923 --> 00:04:00.731
It for sure falls in one of those two categories a visionary or the guy getting out of the truck starting his own business.

00:04:00.731 --> 00:04:06.302
But either one, people, if you're CSRs and here's what I love about your business is you take that.

00:04:06.302 --> 00:04:10.293
You take that all of the guesswork out of that, right, you don't?

00:04:10.293 --> 00:04:15.501
They don't have to worry about if they're being nice to the CSRs or if the CSRs are doing their job.

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That's your job.

00:04:16.622 --> 00:04:25.882
Exactly, and we stand in the gap and you know we kind of speak their language right and we do that support and we do that additional training and we do that.

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You know leadership development and that professional development.

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We want our people to be better after working with us, just like our clients are better.

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We want our individuals that work on our team to be better.

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So we do certifications and webinars and you know a career path and a career ladder and we have a lot of different implemented tools in our toolbox that we can utilize.

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And don't forget, the cool thing about working with a team of a lot of the same people is that you can learn from one another.

00:04:54.009 --> 00:04:56.824
So there's a lot of cross-functionality in.

00:04:56.824 --> 00:05:03.324
Okay, I'm working for this plumbing company in Frisco, but those cats in California did something very similar.

00:05:03.324 --> 00:05:19.615
I'm going to talk to her so I understand how to do that thing, and so you speed up the sort of runway to getting an effective CSR on the phone, because you kind of have that hive mind mentality of the whole group of people working with you on your business, which I just think is really cool.

00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:23.762
Well, and it's your lane and you're only in your lane.

00:05:23.762 --> 00:05:33.067
It's like it's hard to juggle 14 different things a day, and you certainly can't juggle 14 different things effectively.

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I don't care who you are.

00:05:34.728 --> 00:05:39.632
And I like to tell business owners we don't have any issue outsourcing our bookkeeping.

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Right, none of us are accountants and we have zero problem outsourcing our marketing.

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I'm like I don't know how to market right.

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So we do that in other lanes of our business, and I think what I'm really attempting to do with Pink Collars is make customer care feel like a bolt-on service, just like those other two I just mentioned, because if we can get that idea across to business owners that wow, I don't actually have to do this.

00:06:05.632 --> 00:06:15.867
It can bring a ton of relief to everybody, and then it really does help support the CSR at the end of the day, which is one of my missions as a business owner.

00:06:15.867 --> 00:06:35.836
I answered the phones, so I know what the role is, I did the work, and so I want that professionalism brought to that group of people, I want support brought to that group of individuals, and so that's really part of my passion is to get that role to be seen as as important as marketing and bookkeeping are.

00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:46.834
So would you say, the biggest obstacle is the owner letting go of control of that particular thing.

00:06:47.321 --> 00:06:48.420
You know it's possible.

00:06:48.420 --> 00:07:02.091
The messaging that that CSR gives to the consumer is incredibly important, right, the tone is important, the accent is important, the delivery, the speed of calling or talking, all of those things are important.

00:07:02.091 --> 00:07:14.550
The technical knowledge that the CSR has, can they get in and out of the software effectively, maybe even a technical language that they use about the component parts of whatever issue they're having?

00:07:14.550 --> 00:07:23.043
Can they write and spell some of the HVAC parts effectively, right, can they put them in the CRM effectively so that technician understands?

00:07:23.043 --> 00:07:33.127
Really, they're a translator between the homeowner and the technician, right, they kind of stand in the middle and make sure the two people that neither one really knows what the other one does.

00:07:33.127 --> 00:07:38.307
We stand in the middle and try to do that, you know, effectively.

00:07:38.809 --> 00:07:46.384
And so for me, the business owner often does have control over that, because that'll be the first place he or she will start their business.

00:07:46.384 --> 00:07:53.428
Right, they'll be on the tools themselves and they'll answer the phones themselves, right, that's generally how a home service business gets going.

00:07:53.428 --> 00:07:59.810
And so when they do that and they become the face of their own business, it's really hard to separate.

00:07:59.810 --> 00:08:03.990
Okay, I am not Joe's plumbing, I am actually Joe.

00:08:03.990 --> 00:08:05.815
Right, it's really hard.

00:08:05.815 --> 00:08:07.321
It's a hard emotional battle.

00:08:07.321 --> 00:08:09.408
I mean I've struggled with it myself.

00:08:09.408 --> 00:08:19.005
In a lot of ways I am the face of pink collars and over the last year and a half I've really had to kind of step back and say that isn't effective, nor is it sustainable.

00:08:19.005 --> 00:08:22.392
And I think that CSR role can feel like that.

00:08:22.392 --> 00:08:27.254
It can feel kind of scary to business owners for sure, and I think that CSR role can feel like that.

00:08:27.274 --> 00:08:29.019
It can feel kind of scary to business owners for sure.

00:08:29.019 --> 00:08:40.365
Yeah, so when you got this thing started I mean nothing that's successful, starts easy and certainly doesn't become you know, it's hard to get into a business and everything just work Right, right.

00:08:40.365 --> 00:08:52.495
So what are some of the things that you found were maybe obstacles in the beginning, or maybe even now that you've either overcome or yeah, ok.

00:08:52.596 --> 00:08:54.817
Well, I'm a fully people based business.

00:08:54.817 --> 00:09:33.404
Right, I have no tools, I have no trucks, I have no warehouse, I have no bards, I have people, and so, as in every business, I'm a people focused company, and so the challenge for me was how to effectively cast the vision, lead the people, give them the tools to succeed, and then step back and watch them, maybe drop the baby a couple of times, because that's what happens in all of our businesses, right, the baby gets dropped, the car gets crashed, I mean, something happens, and so that was a really hard thing for me.

00:09:33.404 --> 00:09:39.486
I struggled in my childhood and young adulthood with perfectionism, and some people that know me, even recently, know that that can still be an issue for me.

00:09:39.486 --> 00:09:51.191
I really want things to be like ding, ding, ding right, like really good and perfect and dialed in, and that's an incredible skill, but it does not translate well in leadership.

00:09:52.240 --> 00:10:00.147
It's great if you're a technician and doing the thing, but the minute you start to lead and cast the vision for others, that perfectionism just kills you.

00:10:00.147 --> 00:10:22.624
It rips your guts out at night and it makes you feel like you're not being heard, and it really disempowers the people around you and it makes them feel like they're not being heard, and so that was probably the biggest struggle for business ownership for me was starting to let go of that perfectionism, starting to know that people weren't going to do it exactly like me and that that was okay.

00:10:22.624 --> 00:10:34.368
And then I got really dialed into the empathy that I felt for my clients now right, because now they, and now I know exactly how they feel because I'm trying to build something with others, just like they're trying to do with me.

00:10:34.488 --> 00:10:52.009
So I think that led to some real neat aha moments in our team and I'm grateful to say that traction and Gina Wickman's process EOS has really helped me unwind a lot of that, that bad mental stuff that I was struggling with.

00:10:52.760 --> 00:11:01.726
How much stress would you say has been lifted from you now that you and I can identify with it, being able to try to control everything?

00:11:01.726 --> 00:11:06.779
I'm a recovering alcoholic and we're too long for, you know, trying to control everything in our lives.

00:11:06.779 --> 00:11:20.514
If we're not working a program, we're not sober, sure, and so that's very frustrating and it's very draining and hard to deal with for not only ourselves but the people around us.

00:11:21.014 --> 00:11:24.168
Yeah, Well, I get on stage and talk about process.

00:11:24.168 --> 00:11:28.027
It's one of my kind of key talking points, and so I talk about processes.

00:11:28.027 --> 00:11:31.782
We as a company wouldn't exist if there weren't processes in place.

00:11:31.782 --> 00:11:40.147
Right, I have to have the client be able to see fully visibility through the processes that my team is performing on their behalf.

00:11:40.147 --> 00:11:42.801
They need to have comfort that we know we've got the ball right.

00:11:42.801 --> 00:11:48.312
And then I have to have processes to learn and teach these people to grow and scale the company.

00:11:48.312 --> 00:11:55.049
So process is my gig and process can be a perfectionist like best friend.

00:11:55.049 --> 00:12:02.673
Right, you can write it with a period and a comma and an extra thing and check a box and underline and bold.

00:12:02.673 --> 00:12:04.827
I mean you can just get wild with that stuff.

00:12:04.827 --> 00:12:06.474
And check a box and underline and bold.

00:12:06.474 --> 00:12:08.200
I mean you can just get wild with that stuff.

00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:23.547
And what I realized was I was trying to turn a certain group of people into more than they needed or wanted for themselves, and so I needed to revisit who was on my team and what seats they sat in and what longevity they were going to have for my company.

00:12:23.547 --> 00:12:30.265
And that light going off and saying, wow, I'm trying to force a square peg in a round hole here.

00:12:30.265 --> 00:12:44.011
It was painful for both of us, but I was able to have those types of conversations with a lot of my team and say you know, you are great on the phones, but if I put you in charge of a team it seems to kind of crumble.

00:12:44.011 --> 00:12:45.234
Are you feeling that way?

00:12:45.234 --> 00:12:51.225
And instead of it feeling like an indictment for them, they were like relieved oh, thank God, you see it.

00:12:51.225 --> 00:12:51.988
Ok, right.

00:12:52.504 --> 00:13:12.261
And then I was able to pivot and now, with the help of WhoHire, I go in the marketplace now and look for people who are preloaded with some of those skills but then also just have that sort of personal, functional like approach to who they are in their career path and I don't have to second guess are they going to be the right fit or not?

00:13:12.261 --> 00:13:14.807
Because it's more attitude than anything.

00:13:14.807 --> 00:13:19.522
It's more attitude and ability to be open and be coached.

00:13:19.522 --> 00:13:22.609
So I'm not trying to shove stuff in anymore.

00:13:22.609 --> 00:13:30.731
It's just much less painful for everybody Because we can say man, this really does work and your ideas are as important as mine.

00:13:30.731 --> 00:13:39.145
And that's just a result, I think, of up leveling myself, to be honest, and I hate to say that because everybody goes oh yeah, you're the owner.

00:13:39.145 --> 00:13:39.707
Blah, blah blah.

00:13:39.707 --> 00:13:45.932
But it's really true the more you work on yourself, the better your business becomes, you know for sure.

00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:49.931
So what are some of the ways that you do outside of you know work?

00:13:49.931 --> 00:13:52.927
What are some ways that you grow personally?

00:13:53.429 --> 00:13:53.831
personally.

00:13:53.831 --> 00:13:55.243
Well, I'm a gardener.

00:13:55.243 --> 00:13:59.533
I'm an avid gardener and I went for many, many years without a garden.

00:13:59.533 --> 00:14:11.083
I moved homes and so I used the excuse that I didn't have time and I didn't have this, I didn't have that, and I made all kinds of excuses and over the last two years I've been able to get back into the garden.

00:14:11.083 --> 00:14:20.370
I am a recovering interior designer, so I worked in art and fashion and architecture for many years, so I'm highly creative.

00:14:20.450 --> 00:14:40.469
And so the process of growing, caring for and nurturing something I was giving all of that to my team, I was giving all of that to my business and then all of that to my family, of course, and it's been really fun to spend that time with plants and in nature and being outside and watching.

00:14:40.469 --> 00:14:49.386
The same feelings of I don't know the same winds come across when there's a really great tomato as when there's a really great five-star review.

00:14:49.386 --> 00:14:53.241
Right, and I don't have to always be in business mode.

00:14:53.241 --> 00:15:03.049
I think being a woman, business owner and leader is also has its own complexity, and so gardening is one of the things that I do that I absolutely love.

00:15:03.049 --> 00:15:09.243
And then in our local area, my husband and I own a nonprofit that puts on the largest Christmas parade on the.

00:15:09.323 --> 00:15:12.150
East Coast other than the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Day Parade.

00:15:12.150 --> 00:15:22.750
But we're in charge of that and we have about 15,000 people come to our town for a party once a year and that is my favorite, because when I go, to the coffee shop I get to talk to people about the parade.

00:15:33.139 --> 00:15:37.293
When I go to the coffee shop, I get to talk to people about the parade and I get to kind of be that fun, exciting, let's do it planner for my community's event that is so held, so near and dear to their hearts.

00:15:37.293 --> 00:15:37.714
So that helps me too.

00:15:37.714 --> 00:15:38.176
And where is that held?

00:15:38.176 --> 00:15:38.738
It's in Middleburg, Virginia.

00:15:38.738 --> 00:15:39.500
It's called Christmas in Middleburg.

00:15:39.500 --> 00:15:42.283
Wow, yeah, how long have you been doing that?

00:15:42.283 --> 00:15:44.126
We've been doing that for three.

00:15:44.126 --> 00:15:45.769
I think this is our fourth year.

00:15:45.769 --> 00:15:46.851
This will be our fourth year.

00:15:46.851 --> 00:16:01.743
Yeah, we took it over right as COVID came along and we were helping as volunteers for a couple of years and then the gentleman who was the organizer said you know, it's time to send it down the road to the next people, and he chose my husband and I to take it over.

00:16:02.705 --> 00:16:06.013
Wow, that must be a lot one, a lot of work.

00:16:08.663 --> 00:16:08.845
It is.

00:16:08.845 --> 00:16:09.706
It is super fun.

00:16:09.706 --> 00:16:24.850
It's super fun and that working in the remote and digital world right, and the virtual world, those things that are tactile and human and feel really real in my real life actually bring me back down to earth in my business world.

00:16:24.850 --> 00:16:25.793
So it's helpful.

00:16:26.900 --> 00:16:28.846
You know I think going.

00:16:28.846 --> 00:16:30.312
You know you mentioned COVID.

00:16:30.312 --> 00:16:35.927
I think that COVID was harder on people because of the lack of human interaction.

00:16:35.927 --> 00:16:41.945
Even though we could talk on Zoom, it's just it's not the same thing and I want you know.

00:16:41.945 --> 00:16:48.774
I wonder how our kids are gonna wind up because of the ones that went through that and they were virtual and not the human connection.

00:16:48.774 --> 00:16:53.990
I just have to believe that that's not going to turn out, right, yeah.

00:16:54.870 --> 00:16:56.134
I'm not sure, I don't know.

00:16:56.860 --> 00:17:06.614
It's interesting because the tools like Zoom, like what we're on right now, have helped in that regard be able to have more options for business owners, right.

00:17:06.693 --> 00:17:13.623
So in our case, if there wasn't a Zoom or there wasn't that ability to be remote, the business that I actually have wouldn't exist.

00:17:13.623 --> 00:17:16.528
So there are some good things to it.

00:17:16.528 --> 00:17:27.269
I just spoke to a guy yesterday, did a discovery call with him, and they're at the point in their town where they can't afford any more real estate and they physically don't have any more space for CSRs.

00:17:27.269 --> 00:17:28.853
They don't have any more space for office.

00:17:28.853 --> 00:17:30.784
They are maxed on, maxed.

00:17:30.784 --> 00:17:49.470
They need to keep all the room they have for parts and pieces and stuff that generates revenue, and so in that regard, it actually the being remote does help some companies as they kind of look down the barrel of are we going to have some financial challenges in the forefront or are we going to have any recession of any kind?

00:17:49.470 --> 00:17:58.884
So in looking at, you know, hard brick and mortar buildings, it's really nice to have a little bit of an option that's not just a call center.

00:17:58.884 --> 00:18:00.829
So there's that.

00:18:00.829 --> 00:18:02.012
That's a good thing, I think.

00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:03.922
No, I agree with you.

00:18:03.922 --> 00:18:11.727
I mean, business looks very different than it did four or five years ago, and you know there are companies exist.

00:18:11.727 --> 00:18:13.511
This podcast wouldn't exist.

00:18:13.511 --> 00:18:17.489
I wouldn't have the time or the try to get people like.

00:18:17.489 --> 00:18:19.032
That would be impossible.

00:18:19.032 --> 00:18:20.603
I think it'd be impossible.

00:18:20.603 --> 00:18:24.152
It would be good things for sure.

00:18:24.152 --> 00:18:25.667
I totally agree.

00:18:25.667 --> 00:18:31.490
But there is part of that human connection that we desire and I think it's something that we've got.

00:18:31.490 --> 00:18:32.692
I, I have to have it.

00:18:32.692 --> 00:18:40.425
I have to have it to a degree, um, otherwise I just am not the same person yeah, me too.

00:18:40.746 --> 00:18:41.186
I'm with you.

00:18:41.606 --> 00:18:53.457
Yeah, so you mentioned that you've got people all over the country or all over the world.

00:18:53.717 --> 00:18:54.497
Just in the country?

00:18:54.497 --> 00:18:54.798
Yeah.

00:18:54.798 --> 00:18:56.646
Just US based on the phones yeah.

00:18:57.082 --> 00:18:58.827
So what made you start this?

00:19:01.022 --> 00:19:03.428
Well, I started originally.

00:19:03.428 --> 00:19:06.534
It was renamed something else and it was called my Virtual Page.

00:19:06.534 --> 00:19:09.666
I had made a mess of my personal life.

00:19:09.666 --> 00:19:12.573
I was in the middle of a divorce and a custody dispute.

00:19:12.573 --> 00:19:20.265
I had to move out of my home quickly and I lost my job, kind of all in the same round robin fashion.

00:19:20.265 --> 00:19:27.242
Everything happened at once and I realized that if I was going to get my, everything happened at once.

00:19:27.242 --> 00:19:29.914
And I realized that if I was going to get my head out of my backside, I was going to need to build a business for my daughter.

00:19:29.914 --> 00:19:34.909
So I named it after her and it was called my Virtual Page and we just did office work.

00:19:35.068 --> 00:19:40.288
Like I said, I was a designer and that work was all but dried up in 2008, 2009.

00:19:40.288 --> 00:19:48.987
So I went out into the marketplace and found people that needed work from home stuff done, filing done, garage organizing.

00:19:48.987 --> 00:19:49.888
I did a little bit.

00:19:49.888 --> 00:19:51.132
I just did a little bit of everything.

00:19:51.132 --> 00:19:53.226
Just a hustle to try to keep food on the table.

00:19:54.589 --> 00:20:01.327
And in 2010, I had a tree service that answered an ad of mine and they said you know, we're a husband and wife.

00:20:01.327 --> 00:20:04.083
I want to be in the tree as much as he is.

00:20:04.083 --> 00:20:06.369
I don't want to sit in the truck and answer the phone.

00:20:06.369 --> 00:20:13.266
Here's a clamshell phone and here's a laptop and here's a Google calendar Can you help us run our business?

00:20:13.266 --> 00:20:16.148
And so that's how this whole idea started.

00:20:16.220 --> 00:20:17.598
It was far before the cloud.

00:20:17.598 --> 00:20:20.189
It was far before CRMs on the cloud.

00:20:20.189 --> 00:20:21.742
It was way before any of that.

00:20:21.742 --> 00:20:22.625
It was way before any of that.

00:20:22.625 --> 00:20:25.151
It was a phone number and a Google calendar and an idea.

00:20:25.151 --> 00:20:36.094
And we fast forward to 2013, when I met and married my husband and he said this isn't just a side job, this is like a business, this could be something.

00:20:36.094 --> 00:20:49.065
And so at that time, we rebranded, we started serving the home service businesses, not just the green industry, and we came out of the shadows of some of the other folks and said we could do this a different way.

00:20:49.065 --> 00:20:54.869
It doesn't just have to be an offshore call center, it doesn't just have to be a call center, it doesn't just have to be someone in your office.

00:20:54.869 --> 00:20:57.086
There could be some hybrid of both.

00:20:57.086 --> 00:20:58.891
And so that's how we started.

00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:09.298
But that's fascinating, and so you've been rocking and rolling under this brand since 2013.

00:21:09.317 --> 00:21:13.339
Yeah, yeah, we rebranded and did that in 2017.

00:21:13.339 --> 00:21:15.787
So it's a couple more years before we did that.

00:21:15.787 --> 00:21:19.796
Yeah, wow, that's pretty fast, but I've been doing it for a while.

00:21:19.796 --> 00:21:20.471
Does your?

00:21:20.510 --> 00:21:22.439
husband also work in the business or no?

00:21:22.891 --> 00:21:23.652
He does not.

00:21:23.652 --> 00:21:24.674
He's in the trades.

00:21:24.674 --> 00:21:29.733
He has a floor coatings company so he does polyaspartic floor coatings during the day.

00:21:29.733 --> 00:21:49.180
He worked at Pink Collars at the beginning and he was our salesperson, did a lot of the infrastructure of the business from the beginning and once it got up on its feet he's like I'm off to better pastures, greener pastures, different pastures, and he wanted to run his own business and I was like well, we know a lot about the trades, why don't you get into something service related?

00:21:49.180 --> 00:21:50.954
And he really liked coatings.

00:21:50.954 --> 00:21:55.175
It was fun, it's creative, it's fast and he's enjoying that.

00:21:55.175 --> 00:21:56.413
So that's what he does all the time.

00:21:56.413 --> 00:21:57.538
That's amazing.

00:21:59.259 --> 00:22:07.606
Yeah, out of just, can you ballpark about how many companies, which I guess would equal how many CSRs, because one CSR per company, right.

00:22:08.111 --> 00:22:09.175
It typically is.

00:22:09.175 --> 00:22:12.009
Now sometimes it's fractional because of volume, right.

00:22:12.009 --> 00:22:21.738
So if you've got a smaller plumbing shop or a smaller HVAC shop that has a CSR dispatcher, that's just on a red line, right, they just need help.

00:22:21.738 --> 00:22:28.601
We will come in and do fractional services for them, meaning we will do all the incoming traffic, all the lead traffic.

00:22:28.601 --> 00:22:33.800
We won't do the dispatch, we'll hand that over to their in-house person.

00:22:33.800 --> 00:22:40.340
But if the volume is low enough, I can utilize that CSR's time for another small business.

00:22:40.340 --> 00:22:48.131
So I can make it affordable to the smaller guy and I can make it effective for the CSR to keep them fully busy and engaged throughout the day.

00:22:49.455 --> 00:22:58.861
Angie Snow, a friend of mine and a business partner, says that if a CSR is doing between zero and 80 calls per day, that's really about the max that they can accomplish.

00:22:58.861 --> 00:23:03.616
So an eight hour shift the most you want to give them is about 10 calls per hour.

00:23:03.616 --> 00:23:10.803
And so we find that there are a lot of companies that fall well below that threshold and we still want to serve them.

00:23:10.803 --> 00:23:29.096
So we say, okay, this hourly rate will cover you for those 40 hours, but your CSR is going to work for you and Joe's plumbing shop up in Milwaukee, and usually everybody's like, okay, great, that makes sense to me, and so that's what we discover when we talk on the phone what kind of level of service your company needs, and we customize it for you.

00:23:30.050 --> 00:23:41.457
Okay, so just for those that may not know exactly what fractional means, so fractional you know in an hour, like how many hours would a fractional person work and how many hours would you have a full-time person?

00:23:41.457 --> 00:23:42.921
If I'm looking to hire one, Sure?

00:23:43.529 --> 00:23:45.615
Well, it's fractional, but it's actually.

00:23:45.615 --> 00:23:52.761
They're available all eight hours of the day, so it's actually fractionally priced, but they're still working all 40 hours of the week.

00:23:52.761 --> 00:23:57.642
Well, the last thing we want to do is have you know, mary on my team, come in from eight to noon.

00:23:57.642 --> 00:24:03.945
Nothing really happens, and then all of a sudden, at 1.30, the phones just blow up and you just feel like we haven't done our jobs right.

00:24:03.945 --> 00:24:05.971
And that's the way of customer service.

00:24:05.971 --> 00:24:07.915
You never know when the phone's going to ring.

00:24:07.915 --> 00:24:10.643
It rings in waves or it's really quiet.

00:24:10.643 --> 00:24:16.742
It's very unpredictable, and so to be available all eight hours is really the key to our success.

00:24:16.742 --> 00:24:23.852
But then to charge you for a lesser amount so that you feel like you can afford it, is better for everybody.

00:24:23.852 --> 00:24:25.414
So it works out for both people.

00:24:26.036 --> 00:24:29.523
Okay, so then if you wanted someone for.

00:24:29.523 --> 00:24:31.034
So it's really based on volume.

00:24:31.374 --> 00:24:41.335
It's based on volume, a hundred percent, and if you fully eat up all that volume and you're at those, you know, 50 to 80 tasks per day, then we call that person a dedicated CSR.

00:24:41.335 --> 00:24:43.171
So it's either fractional or dedicated.

00:24:43.171 --> 00:24:45.455
Okay, both of them are 40 hours.

00:24:45.997 --> 00:24:47.661
So where do most folks fall into?

00:24:48.402 --> 00:25:06.604
It's interesting, almost to a fault, everybody starts out fractionally and they either start out fractionally at kind of our entry level, low level or level two, and then they very quickly build trust and rapport with our team members and then they say, man, we could have your help doing this, let's add email or let's add texting or let's add this in.

00:25:06.604 --> 00:25:11.260
So then we just kind of load that person up to the point where they're at that 80.

00:25:11.260 --> 00:25:17.953
And then that's where we say, okay, it's time to add another person or another fractional individual to help support that person.

00:25:17.953 --> 00:25:24.480
So we've built several call centers, remote call centers, for people for their business portfolio.

00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:31.444
We have a lot of people that do acquisition in our lineup right now and so they'll acquire something and it's relatively small.

00:25:31.444 --> 00:25:37.320
They'll tuck it in and they'll bring in somebody fractionally to help support that particular business or brand.

00:25:37.761 --> 00:25:45.134
And that's really fun to see how we can kind of scale and then retract if the business needs require that.

00:25:45.134 --> 00:25:55.292
And that's been really fun to watch because there's a lot of movement and even if we do go through any sort of downturn, there's going to be a lot of opportunities for people to purchase businesses.

00:25:55.292 --> 00:25:59.212
And that's another place where we shine, because we're already trained and fully loaded.

00:25:59.212 --> 00:26:10.917
We can come in and just answer the phones for that company while you're doing all of that back-end movement of training the technicians, again rebranding, doing a website.

00:26:10.917 --> 00:26:12.155
You've got a lot to handle.

00:26:12.155 --> 00:26:16.820
We can just handle the traffic while you redo that location, which is also really fun.

00:26:16.820 --> 00:26:17.982
That makes sense.

00:26:18.084 --> 00:26:20.635
Okay, yeah, that makes total sense.

00:26:20.635 --> 00:26:23.659
So would you say that you built part of this business?

00:26:23.659 --> 00:26:27.681
Also, you know, I'm sure you you mentioned marketing.

00:26:27.681 --> 00:26:43.142
Obviously you have some sort of marketing campaign, but have you found that referrals, like people you know collaborating with other businesses and then recommending you guys has that been a pretty big source of how you built the business as well?

00:26:43.570 --> 00:26:44.192
It has been.

00:26:44.333 --> 00:26:47.181
It really has been and that's been the key to our success.

00:26:48.132 --> 00:27:00.878
To be very fair, and we have CSRs that have been with us five, six, seven years, like the entire time, and that's been really nice to see those people stay and have that long a duration with the client that they support.

00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:11.833
So it's really a lot of fun to watch a business grow and change with us, and part of that success is also the marketing of the company.

00:27:11.833 --> 00:27:17.417
So it's one of the questions I ask when people come and do a discovery call with us, I say what's your marketing plan?

00:27:17.417 --> 00:27:25.198
Because there won't be anything more disheartening if you pay us to sit there and then the phones aren't ringing like something's not happening.

00:27:25.198 --> 00:27:30.901
It's almost like you got to do the marketing and us kind of at the same time so that we can pay for ourselves.

00:27:30.901 --> 00:27:34.718
Right, we can earn our keep with the marketing dollars that you've spent coming in.

00:27:34.718 --> 00:27:38.135
We can capture them all and then translate that into closed business.

00:27:38.135 --> 00:27:56.614
And that's really a part of the conversation that I think business owners forget sometimes that those two things have to go in concert and oftentimes your P&L kind of can reflect either your lack of customer service or your lack of marketing or both, and that relationship is really intrinsic.

00:27:56.614 --> 00:27:58.818
So you got to get those two connected.

00:27:58.838 --> 00:28:02.185
So you got to, you got to get those two connected.

00:28:02.185 --> 00:28:03.828
Yeah, that makes sense.

00:28:03.828 --> 00:28:11.990
So is how do you keep?

00:28:11.990 --> 00:28:12.511
You know how?

00:28:12.511 --> 00:28:13.413
What is your method of keeping?

00:28:13.433 --> 00:28:14.474
you know, I guess you call it a virtual culture.

00:28:14.496 --> 00:28:15.356
There has to be some sort of culture.

00:28:15.356 --> 00:28:27.880
If you've got people around five to seven years, that's a long time in this industry to stick around in one spot, so you must be doing something interesting to keep these folks around Well, we have all kinds of cool stuff for culture.

00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:30.432
We have an entire Zoom environment.

00:28:30.432 --> 00:28:33.378
We have breakout rooms that everybody's in all day long.

00:28:33.378 --> 00:28:42.384
You can pop in and out with your team leader, your manager, your team success person, and so our CSRs are constantly connecting with one another.

00:28:42.384 --> 00:28:48.313
We have daily standups every morning where everybody just kind of checks in on camera, says, hey, how's it going?

00:28:48.313 --> 00:28:51.911
Everybody feeling good, anybody got anything going on that we need to know about?

00:28:51.911 --> 00:28:54.656
And then we just have digital boards.

00:28:54.717 --> 00:28:56.641
We talk on Slack all day long.

00:28:56.641 --> 00:29:08.921
So Slack is the texting platform that we connect not only with all of our customers and clients on, but with each other, and that visual and auditory delight between Slack and Zoom.

00:29:08.921 --> 00:29:10.223
I think we've got it covered.

00:29:10.223 --> 00:29:13.019
We do a monthly meeting every month.

00:29:13.019 --> 00:29:22.157
In fact, we just did it and off my shoulder here you see my wheel of fortune spinning wheel here, and I actually spin for prizes.

00:29:22.157 --> 00:29:29.804
Everybody that's had high booking rates, high call answer rates, perfect attendance, all that kind of stuff.

00:29:29.804 --> 00:29:47.518
We give them the opportunity to earn additional money every month based on the wheel spins, and so that kind of stuff is where that culture part comes in, and the business owner doesn't need to provide any of those pieces, so that makes sense yeah, um, yeah, that makes that makes total sense.

00:29:47.557 --> 00:30:06.692
Just, you know, managing human beings, you know, if I think I'm not sure who said this, but they said if, um, managing people it worked for the people, something along the lines of managing people is really hard.

00:30:06.732 --> 00:30:16.212
If it worked for the people, I'd have an easy job or if it weren't for the people and the customers, this business would be easy something like that, something like that yeah, boy is that?

00:30:16.814 --> 00:30:18.217
yeah, that's, that's fascinating.

00:30:18.217 --> 00:30:20.020
So do you okay?

00:30:20.020 --> 00:30:29.682
So, let's say, abc Plumbing HVAC, whatever company hires you, and they've got let's say they've got a full-time CSR.

00:30:29.682 --> 00:30:30.323
What is your?

00:30:30.323 --> 00:30:32.833
How do you guys communicate with either?

00:30:32.833 --> 00:30:33.674
Well, I guess there's.

00:30:33.674 --> 00:30:38.393
There may not be a CSR manager, if, in the case of you being there is that right?

00:30:38.413 --> 00:30:39.615
Yeah, sometimes there isn't.

00:30:39.615 --> 00:30:44.740
So if we come into a company like that, the first thing we do is get with that CSR on Zoom.

00:30:44.740 --> 00:30:47.238
We talk to them and say here's what we're going to do.

00:30:47.238 --> 00:30:55.559
You have earned the trust and loyalty of that business owner because you're sitting there in Oklahoma City and we're not okay.

00:30:55.559 --> 00:30:57.958
So here's how we're going to help you shine.

00:30:57.958 --> 00:31:06.876
We're going to take all the incoming traffic off of you and we're going to take all the incoming phone calls so that you can focus on dispatching effectively and efficiently.

00:31:07.700 --> 00:31:11.893
You can do callbacks and happy calls, which is another thing that falls down in customer service.

00:31:11.893 --> 00:31:13.676
Nobody has time, we're all too busy.

00:31:13.676 --> 00:31:21.201
But if now, if the phone's not ringing at you, you can actually ring the phone at others, right, so you can get out of the way of that traffic.

00:31:21.201 --> 00:31:27.721
And then we're also just going to help you with anything that's escalated customer service, right?

00:31:27.721 --> 00:31:29.175
Somebody's upset, somebody's angry.

00:31:29.175 --> 00:31:31.458
We're going to talk to them, calm them down.

00:31:31.458 --> 00:31:39.941
We're going to make the appropriate notes so that you're prepared with your answer when you call them back to discuss the escalated issue.

00:31:40.411 --> 00:31:58.242
There's nothing worse than a call coming in that's super escalated and on fire and you don't have all the information ready right, the tech's still in the field or something's not on the CRM yet, or you're not sure what's happening, and so to give them that space and time to handle those escalations is also really valuable.

00:31:58.770 --> 00:32:06.761
And then that also gives them the ability to run, you know, their accounts receivable or anything else that they just haven't ever had the time to quite get to.

00:32:06.761 --> 00:32:14.213
They need to focus on that, because they are now like the elevated person in the business and now we're coming in just to support them.

00:32:14.213 --> 00:32:23.554
And so when we have those kinds of conversations and I do it on every discovery call who's in your office, what are their names, how many are there, how long have they been there?

00:32:23.554 --> 00:32:31.672
I want to know all of that walking in so that they don't think we're coming in to take anybody's job or they're changing vendors or something chaotic's happening.

00:32:31.672 --> 00:32:38.536
I want to put them at ease, saying you're about to get a promotion, let us take all this silly work, and you go on and do the bigger and better things.

00:32:38.536 --> 00:32:48.039
So that's where we really pivot ourselves is that we come in with a heart of service, and I think when you come in like that, you just you win the hearts and minds of your people.

00:32:48.039 --> 00:32:48.781
So that's what we do.

00:32:49.550 --> 00:32:50.576
Yeah, that makes sense.

00:32:50.576 --> 00:32:52.375
So do you check in?

00:32:52.375 --> 00:32:56.892
So how often are you checking in with, let's say, the owner, if they're the ones that you're dealing with?

00:32:56.892 --> 00:32:58.898
What's that process like?

00:33:02.230 --> 00:33:03.113
What's the cadence look like?

00:33:03.113 --> 00:33:11.336
So we have a management channel in Slack that is only our high-level team, so our customer or client success manager and then the business owner, and that is a one-on-one conversation.

00:33:11.336 --> 00:33:17.281
That's private in Slack that nobody else in the team gets access to, including our side or their side.

00:33:17.281 --> 00:33:20.191
So that's where the high-level conversations can happen.

00:33:20.191 --> 00:33:27.664
The owner can say, hey, I need Mary to do X, or Mary forgot to mention our service programs or our memberships.

00:33:27.664 --> 00:33:29.532
Please make sure Mary does that.

00:33:29.532 --> 00:33:35.214
And then at that level we deploy our team to uplevel our staff and make sure we're delivering that correctly.

00:33:35.214 --> 00:33:38.510
So there's that private channel that they can talk to.

00:33:39.333 --> 00:33:49.343
I actually send out fully automated sequences of text messages and emails at the 30, 60, and 90-day mark so that they can check in with my team.

00:33:49.343 --> 00:33:53.401
They come for me personally and they say, hey, congratulations, you're at 30 days.

00:33:53.401 --> 00:33:55.355
I really want you to check in with Kim.

00:33:55.355 --> 00:33:56.438
Here's her calendar link.

00:33:56.438 --> 00:34:10.759
I'd like you guys to get together, and so I direct them to communicate with my team so that everybody's happy along the way, and that just over communication, especially being remote, is really critical and we can't feel like we're bugging people.

00:34:10.759 --> 00:34:13.914
We actually have to say we're here and this is what we're doing.

00:34:13.954 --> 00:34:21.983
We have to constantly be re-earning our job every month, and so those monthly check-ins and the data that we drop in those channels is really important.

00:34:21.983 --> 00:34:39.614
We drop all the calls that we've taken, all the voicemails, any emails that we've handled, text messages, and so we do that data drop once a week so that the customer can also the business owner, pardon me, can kind of see the heat map of the business, right, is it really busy now?

00:34:39.614 --> 00:34:40.835
Is it kind of slowing down?

00:34:40.835 --> 00:34:43.561
And they don't have to pull a bunch of data from their own tools.

00:34:43.561 --> 00:34:50.240
They can kind of see it in a visual graph from our people, so that makes it easier on them to see where we are.

00:34:51.269 --> 00:34:51.811
Makes sense.

00:34:51.811 --> 00:34:53.335
Yeah, so all right.

00:34:53.335 --> 00:34:59.014
So we're coming up on shoulder season, we are, so is that typically?

00:34:59.014 --> 00:35:06.103
I mean, my guess is they lean on you fairly hard to help it not be such a tough time?

00:35:06.103 --> 00:35:07.085
I guess they do.

00:35:07.284 --> 00:35:07.666
They do.

00:35:07.666 --> 00:35:11.320
So we do some outbounding for some of our clients at this time.

00:35:11.320 --> 00:35:14.760
We'll do rehash campaigns through Service Titan.

00:35:14.760 --> 00:35:20.242
There's some really good tools out there to do that to retouch customers that didn't close in the high season.

00:35:20.242 --> 00:35:26.632
That to retouch customers that didn't close in the high season.

00:35:26.632 --> 00:35:29.077
We can help support the in-house team in doing any actions that we're directed to do.

00:35:29.077 --> 00:35:31.222
So that's really where we shine.

00:35:31.442 --> 00:35:46.099
And then we find that all the trade shows and all of the activities for the business owner kind of happen at this time and I think you'd be surprised at how few people leave at this time because they don't want to lose that consistency.

00:35:46.099 --> 00:35:54.992
And so oftentimes they'll say it's going to be quiet, michelle, but we're willing to push through because we've had such a great high season.

00:35:54.992 --> 00:35:59.190
We don't want to lose that knowledge now from that individual that's on our account.

00:35:59.190 --> 00:36:04.219
So we're going to push through and we have those tough conversations with people and it's fine.

00:36:04.219 --> 00:36:21.998
I mean, I understand business ownership better than most, so I have a heart for it and I just go hey, we're going to do our best to keep you here, but they have to make the dollars and cents work for their company as well for their company as well, Are you?

00:36:22.039 --> 00:36:23.942
I'm sure you've had to fire somebody.

00:36:24.461 --> 00:36:26.824
We have Hasn't been a while.

00:36:35.030 --> 00:36:45.963
The cool part about one of the things that we set up was we set up a coaching mechanism for our team and we coach people first and then we give them a written warning or a verbal warning, and then we give them a written warning, so they have lots of chances to know what improvements they can make.

00:36:46.931 --> 00:36:54.516
I think there's a moral obligation as a business owner and as a person in leadership to tell people where they're at.

00:36:54.516 --> 00:36:58.630
You know, you can't just sideswipe them by saying, yeah, you're out of here.

00:36:58.630 --> 00:37:07.525
You have to give them the chances and the talks and the documentation to know that they might be a little bit in the gray zone, you know.

00:37:07.525 --> 00:37:19.733
And so I truly believe that we do that as a company and that's really important to me that people know, man, you're doing really well, but you're missing the mark here, and this is what we need to have done.

00:37:19.733 --> 00:37:30.376
I think that implementing the Zoom rooms and the breakout rooms and having people on camera more during the day has been really beneficial and that's really helped.

00:37:30.376 --> 00:37:37.599
So I encourage people to have a remote team member in their organization to have that camera as part of your SOPs.

00:37:37.599 --> 00:37:45.260
I think it's really smart, it doesn't feel intrusive and it just feels like, hey, we're in this together and we're all working in a remote office.

00:37:46.565 --> 00:37:48.771
That's helped To clarity on that.

00:37:48.771 --> 00:37:57.594
So you're saying that if ABC whatever company brings on one of your CSRs, that they're on Zoom the whole day?

00:37:58.135 --> 00:38:02.163
They're on Zoom with our team in a breakout sessions in breakout rooms.

00:38:02.163 --> 00:38:06.137
They don't have to be on camera the entire day, but they have to be in the room working.

00:38:06.137 --> 00:38:11.543
So, yeah, they're in a breakout room, similar to how your WhoHire support works.

00:38:11.543 --> 00:38:12.286
It's really nice.

00:38:12.286 --> 00:38:18.900
You guys have a very similar setup with contact, support or accountability too.

00:38:18.980 --> 00:38:21.083
Yeah, and it's just good for community.

00:38:21.083 --> 00:38:24.076
I mean, we need to see each other, we need to hear each other's tone.

00:38:24.076 --> 00:38:31.016
Reading it on slack feels totally different than hearing it on with your voice, right, because our tone is really important.

00:38:31.016 --> 00:38:40.239
So that really has cleaned up a lot of miscommunication and that's really helped a lot too so um, has there been an op?

00:38:40.259 --> 00:38:47.681
has there been a time in the business where you were at a point where you thought I'm not going to make payroll?

00:38:50.012 --> 00:38:54.043
there hasn't been a time like that, but there's been a time where I emotionally wanted to give up.

00:38:55.010 --> 00:38:58.440
And what was the reason for that or what happened there.

00:38:59.110 --> 00:39:00.815
I had put EOS in the business.

00:39:00.815 --> 00:39:09.878
We'd been in EOS about 12 months and it was apparent to me that the people that I had in leadership were not the right people.

00:39:09.878 --> 00:39:14.407
Right, square peg, round hole, great individuals, great people.

00:39:14.407 --> 00:39:18.639
I'm not saying they were the wrong person People are great, that wasn't it.

00:39:18.639 --> 00:39:20.570
They just were in the wrong seat right.

00:39:20.570 --> 00:39:44.253
And so, after discovering this wrong seat and this bad fit, I as a leader didn't have the confidence to make the hard decisions and to have the hard conversations, and so I avoided it and I avoided it and, despite me thinking I was holding them accountable, I was doing nothing but creating friction in my own company that I didn't see.

00:39:44.253 --> 00:40:04.018
And so I went out on trade show season and I went out to do what I do in the booths and on the stage and on the podcast and on the stuff like selling the business and I came back and 25% of my staff was gone and they had quit over about a three to five week period.

00:40:04.018 --> 00:40:08.619
So one would leave and I'd go man, it's kind of strange and then another one will leave, and that was kind of weird.

00:40:10.610 --> 00:40:18.516
And when my operations manager left, I knew that I had missed the mark as a leader and so I went on some time off.

00:40:18.516 --> 00:40:24.380
I took about five days off with my family and I came back thinking that I was going to sell the business, I was going to close it and I was going to sell it.

00:40:24.380 --> 00:40:27.905
And I had a fractional integrator at the time.

00:40:27.905 --> 00:40:34.835
He was a consultant and he looked at me and he said well, you can close the business, you can sell the business, you can do whatever you want with the business.

00:40:34.835 --> 00:40:35.916
The business isn't you.

00:40:35.916 --> 00:40:39.038
And I remember driving home going what do you mean?

00:40:39.038 --> 00:40:39.958
The business isn't me.

00:40:39.958 --> 00:40:44.523
And that was when that thing clicked in my head no, the business isn't me.

00:40:44.523 --> 00:40:49.847
I'm a good parent and I'm a good human and I'm a good community member.

00:40:49.847 --> 00:40:50.871
And I'm right.

00:40:50.891 --> 00:41:04.311
I had to go through all those little things in my mind because I fully identified myself with the success or failure of my company and I had to give myself a break for not knowing what I didn't know Right.

00:41:04.311 --> 00:41:12.010
And so I took about two weeks and I decided in those two weeks, yeah, I think I'm going to fight.

00:41:12.010 --> 00:41:26.565
And my integrator and I went out to the marketplace to find a general manager and we found her and she's been very successful in the seat and it's been a really wonderful turn of events for the business and for me.

00:41:26.565 --> 00:41:36.793
So, instead of giving up emotionally, I stood up and said I'm going to do it differently and I'm not the person who should be in this role.

00:41:36.793 --> 00:41:38.215
I was the wrong person.

00:41:38.215 --> 00:41:53.070
Therefore, all those other people were in the wrong seats, of course, because I was in the wrong seat and then, once I let myself off the hook of not having to be the one that does everything, it really brought a great deal of relief to me and to my family.

00:41:54.211 --> 00:41:56.012
Sounds like there was not dignity shift.

00:41:56.512 --> 00:42:00.976
Oh, totally, totally, and it was not of my choosing.

00:42:00.976 --> 00:42:08.382
I was holding on to those people, like like a girlfriend, with the man walking out the door I was like holding onto their pant legs, right.

00:42:08.382 --> 00:42:13.967
And it was just ridiculous because we were both suffering, on both sides of the relationship.

00:42:13.967 --> 00:42:19.161
We were all suffering and yet I was the one that was just clenching on and it was just not effective.

00:42:19.161 --> 00:42:31.617
And so when they left, however they left, but most importantly, that ops person, when she left, I really had to sit back and say where did I go wrong?

00:42:31.617 --> 00:42:36.873
And instead of being hurt and blaming and doing all that, you know who I got on the phone with.

00:42:36.913 --> 00:42:42.996
I got on the phone with Al Levy and Al Levy looked at me and he about read my mail.

00:42:42.996 --> 00:42:44.599
Man all the way from Phoenix.

00:42:44.599 --> 00:42:46.003
He looked in the camera and he goes.

00:42:46.003 --> 00:42:49.996
But, michelle, what do you think they saw from their perspective?

00:42:49.996 --> 00:42:53.403
I mean, talk about a gut punch.

00:42:53.403 --> 00:42:54.114
He literally just read me like that.

00:42:54.114 --> 00:42:55.041
He said think about it from their perspective.

00:42:55.041 --> 00:42:55.644
I mean, talk about a gut punch.

00:42:55.644 --> 00:42:56.369
He literally just read me like that.

00:42:56.369 --> 00:42:58.295
He said think about it from their perspective.

00:42:58.295 --> 00:43:09.833
And the minute I did that, I knew I was the one that was wrong the whole time, and so finding someone that could hold me accountable was what was missing, and so that's been.

00:43:09.833 --> 00:43:15.335
The really fun part is to be put in my own place and said no, visionary, you don't get to do something wild like that, right?

00:43:15.335 --> 00:43:16.907
And that's been the really fun part is to be put in my own place and said no, visionary, you don't get to do something wild like that, right.

00:43:16.907 --> 00:43:21.800
And that's been the really cool thing about what's emerged from that difficult time.

00:43:22.590 --> 00:43:26.815
And I bet it's had a tremendous impact on your family.

00:43:26.815 --> 00:43:34.485
You being you and not being this identity you know, hold on to the identity of being the owner, which is really hard.

00:43:35.090 --> 00:43:36.795
It's impossibly hard yeah.

00:43:36.815 --> 00:43:37.800
Yeah, yeah.

00:43:38.521 --> 00:43:49.018
And I think we put ourselves through the ringer because we think, okay, well, I started it and I was on the phones and I built the bookkeeping and I built the marketing and I built the sales and I built right.

00:43:49.018 --> 00:44:06.277
You look back at all the things you've done and, sure, that's great, but what brought you here isn't going to take you there, and so you max yourself out and then you go okay, all of my skills and ability, all of my dancing and singing isn't going to get me there and I had to sit down and go.

00:44:06.277 --> 00:44:09.347
You're actually wrong, michelle, you're out of it.

00:44:09.347 --> 00:44:10.271
You're really wrong.

00:44:10.271 --> 00:44:18.536
You got to figure it out, and finding a comparable individual that could do the operations of the business was the secret sauce.

00:44:18.536 --> 00:44:25.277
I was not the operator and I was trying to be that with someone, and it just was ineffective.

00:44:26.059 --> 00:44:27.320
Yeah, yeah.

00:44:27.320 --> 00:44:37.280
Well, let me ask you you know, since you know, since you've taken yourself out of you know the whole hiring process.

00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:42.126
How has that been and what's that been like for you on a day to day basis?

00:44:42.126 --> 00:44:45.039
It's fair to assume that you probably were handling a lot of that.

00:44:45.610 --> 00:44:45.931
I was.

00:44:45.931 --> 00:44:51.701
And here's the funny part I was hiring myself because I think we do that.

00:44:51.701 --> 00:44:53.273
I think we do that.

00:44:53.273 --> 00:44:54.197
I think we do that, don't we?

00:44:54.197 --> 00:44:59.458
We look at the camera and we're like, oh, you and I could be buddies, let's go get a beer, like we do.

00:44:59.458 --> 00:45:06.713
Right, it's a party, and as soon as we find that person that feels and looks and smells like us, we're like I recognize you.

00:45:06.952 --> 00:45:08.978
You're going to be perfect and you know what.

00:45:08.978 --> 00:45:17.150
It's almost always a mistake, almost always.

00:45:17.150 --> 00:45:20.018
So I think the coolest part of some of this other painful stuff is I removed myself from hiring a couple of years ago.

00:45:20.018 --> 00:45:21.911
So a few years back I was out of hiring.

00:45:21.911 --> 00:45:29.744
But we were always having challenges and there was a lot of reasons.

00:45:29.744 --> 00:45:29.945
Why.

00:45:29.945 --> 00:45:31.353
Was it the remoteness?

00:45:31.353 --> 00:45:32.436
Was it the different things?

00:45:32.436 --> 00:45:34.001
Was it the complexity of the business?

00:45:34.001 --> 00:45:55.298
I mean, I could go and shoot holes in all of it, right, but at the end of the day I didn't have the confidence to say this is actually what is required to be here and it's not just a fun kumbaya, let's all sit at home in our jammies, like it's not that we actually run businesses for people and it's serious.

00:45:55.298 --> 00:45:56.568
And so once I got that fixed, that was easy.

00:45:57.193 --> 00:46:00.547
And then bringing in new tools and who hire was the one.

00:46:00.547 --> 00:46:01.630
Right, who hire?

00:46:01.630 --> 00:46:09.063
Let us put people through a process that was no longer squishy and emotional.

00:46:09.063 --> 00:46:19.438
Right, it took all the squish out of it because I would get on camera or my people ops person would get on camera and they'd be like oh, I just love this person.

00:46:19.438 --> 00:46:27.672
We have to find a place, they're just so great, and then, of course, it would implode and we would both look at each other and go I really liked him.

00:46:27.672 --> 00:46:28.773
I really liked him too.

00:46:28.773 --> 00:46:29.414
What happened?

00:46:29.414 --> 00:46:30.936
Right, we'd be just dumbfounded.

00:46:30.936 --> 00:46:46.376
And so when we employed deployed WhoHire into our business, we said, okay, we're going to take all that nonsense out and the only thing we're going to look at is people that pop out the other end with the right numbers.

00:46:46.376 --> 00:46:57.036
And then if we want to feel all squishy and nice about it, we can, but we'll at least know there's a baseline of truth to what we're feeling, instead of just all mush and gush.

00:46:57.036 --> 00:47:05.440
So that has been hugely helpful for our business, because people can be performative on camera.

00:47:05.440 --> 00:47:13.800
You forget how important it is when you're hiring remotely, how important it is when they walk in the business.

00:47:14.240 --> 00:47:15.550
What are their shoes look like?

00:47:15.550 --> 00:47:16.592
I can't see that.

00:47:16.592 --> 00:47:18.536
What does their car look like?

00:47:18.536 --> 00:47:19.880
I can't see that either.

00:47:19.880 --> 00:47:21.811
What do they smell like?

00:47:21.811 --> 00:47:23.259
What are they dressed like?

00:47:23.259 --> 00:47:23.780
Right Like?

00:47:23.780 --> 00:47:24.684
I can't see any of that.

00:47:24.684 --> 00:47:28.603
They can have a totally a suit and tie on up here and they can have shorts on.

00:47:28.603 --> 00:47:29.206
What is that?

00:47:29.206 --> 00:47:30.931
Is that Mr Wonderful that does that?

00:47:30.931 --> 00:47:32.916
He's on CNN all the time.

00:47:33.297 --> 00:48:10.094
He's got like shorts on under his suit, so I could have hired a hundred Mr Wonderfuls that don't have any drawers on and I don't have the benefit of them walking in my business, and so for us it was even more important because we didn't have those other tools in person, and so when we deployed it into our business, it changed everything, and my geeky, mathematical, like design mind just loves the way you all have set it up, the way there's, you know, the ready to launch, like all the stuff, like everybody's just go and I just I'm geeking out, but it's really been beneficial for us.

00:48:10.094 --> 00:48:20.668
It's also helped us stack a bench so that we don't ever have to feel like we're either being held hostage by an underperforming team member or we're left hanging.

00:48:20.668 --> 00:48:28.052
If somebody quits quickly, we always know we can pivot fast because we have that bench built, and that really gives us a lot of security.

00:48:28.072 --> 00:48:32.244
Yeah, that makes sense and the process is it really takes a lot of the stress out, but I love that you talked about the emotional part of it, because that makes sense.

00:48:32.244 --> 00:48:37.699
You know, in the process it really takes a lot of the stress out, but I love that you talked about the emotional part of it, because that is true.

00:48:37.699 --> 00:48:43.320
We like to hire people like us and we're not hiring people like us to do a job.

00:48:43.320 --> 00:48:43.621
We're not.

00:48:45.429 --> 00:48:47.697
It's so silly how we can't figure that out.

00:48:47.958 --> 00:48:53.820
Yeah, I totally agree with you and it does for sure helps.

00:48:53.820 --> 00:48:56.514
And I'll tell you one thing you also mentioned keeping a bench.

00:48:56.514 --> 00:49:03.346
You know, one thing I think is really cool is that it measures the people that have already come through against the newer people.

00:49:03.346 --> 00:49:08.862
So if you do have a better person coming in, you have the opportunity to sub that person out if you need to.

00:49:09.909 --> 00:49:15.054
Yeah, you absolutely do and you know, in the work that we do, performance is key.

00:49:15.054 --> 00:49:22.159
I mean, the business owner sees our business as a bolt on, it's a solution and we are not here to cause problems.

00:49:22.159 --> 00:49:38.458
We are not here to not book calls we for people to say I've had enough, I want to do something different in the business and that's happened.

00:49:38.458 --> 00:49:47.132
So subbing people out is is critical for anybody in any business, because humans are humans, they just are.

00:49:48.376 --> 00:49:52.346
Now, have you seen a difference in, you know, in revenues?

00:49:52.346 --> 00:49:55.259
It's sometimes hard to measure, but I'll tell you.

00:49:55.259 --> 00:49:56.311
I'll give you a quick example.

00:49:56.311 --> 00:50:04.177
I was talking to a guy not long ago and he said you know, we, through the platform, we, you, we use the platform to hire.

00:50:04.177 --> 00:50:17.885
I can't remember what position it was let's call them a gm and the first time in eight years they, their revenue, rose from like 20% to 48%.

00:50:17.885 --> 00:50:25.001
Have you seen any way for you to tie a revenue to how you've hired?

00:50:25.682 --> 00:50:26.505
To how we hire.

00:50:26.505 --> 00:50:49.117
I have not dived that deep yet, to be honest, because the revenue that's generated for the company as a whole, it can be portions of us, it can be portions of people in the business, it can be portions of the answering service, it can be portions of artificial intelligence, and so to pull us out of that, I have not dived that deep.

00:50:49.117 --> 00:50:55.954
We have a minimum booking rate that's acceptable and then people get put on performance reviews if they can't meet that minimum.

00:50:55.954 --> 00:51:00.971
And our clients are super happy with that minimum, and so they're like let's go.

00:51:00.971 --> 00:51:16.494
And so I haven't seen a connection financially, just because I haven't sat down and done the math, but I know from their retention that it is working, or we wouldn't be working with them.

00:51:16.494 --> 00:51:17.577
So there's that.

00:51:18.179 --> 00:51:18.701
Makes sense.

00:51:18.701 --> 00:51:23.856
So the last thing I was going to ask you is what are the ends?

00:51:23.856 --> 00:51:24.940
We see you at this year.

00:51:25.851 --> 00:51:28.659
Okay, well, you will see me at Pantheon in about three weeks.

00:51:28.659 --> 00:51:30.536
I'm speaking.

00:51:30.949 --> 00:51:32.876
That's really freaking cool.

00:51:32.876 --> 00:51:33.880
I'm so excited, I'm super excited.

00:51:33.920 --> 00:51:34.222
I'm speaking.

00:51:34.222 --> 00:51:34.943
That's really freaking cool.

00:51:34.963 --> 00:51:35.746
I'm so excited I'm super excited.

00:51:35.947 --> 00:51:36.530
I'm super excited.

00:51:36.530 --> 00:51:38.916
It's a huge honor.

00:51:38.916 --> 00:51:47.014
I'm going to be on stage with Angie Snow from Service Titan and Erica Lenore from Good Leap, and these are my two business partners.

00:51:47.014 --> 00:51:57.449
In another thing which we didn't get around to talking to, called the CSR Academy, and I'll make sure and send you a link we didn't get around to talking to called the CSR Academy, and I'll make sure and send you a link.

00:51:57.449 --> 00:52:03.360
We are going to do a community for CSRs and we're going to teach them soft skills.

00:52:03.360 --> 00:52:05.146
We're going to talk about scripting and we're going to do an in-person event.

00:52:05.146 --> 00:52:08.112
We're not going to come to them, we're going to let them fly somewhere.

00:52:08.112 --> 00:52:09.255
That's the other thing.

00:52:09.255 --> 00:52:14.985
Business owners go all over God's green creation going to see fun stuff and CSRs get stuck at home all the time.

00:52:15.471 --> 00:52:19.221
So we want to put them on a plane, send them to Las Vegas, send them to us for two days.

00:52:19.221 --> 00:52:38.750
It's going to be me, erica, angie and the three of us are going to just absolutely wrap our arms around these men and women that do this work, and then we're going to send them home with a lot of tools that they can deploy into your business and a vibrant community on Slack that they can ask questions of one another and they can connect with one another.

00:52:38.750 --> 00:52:40.615
We'll do monthly masterclasses.

00:52:40.615 --> 00:52:41.599
There's all kinds of stuff.

00:52:41.599 --> 00:52:49.083
We did two monthly masterclasses right now, just sort of as a warmup to Pantheon, and then we'll be introducing this product to Pantheon.

00:52:49.210 --> 00:52:50.313
So I'll be there.

00:52:50.313 --> 00:52:54.362
I will be at PHCC in Birmingham, alabama.

00:52:54.362 --> 00:53:02.635
I will be at Service World Expo and then I will come back and be at when else will I be?

00:53:02.635 --> 00:53:05.327
Women in HVACR in Dallas.

00:53:05.327 --> 00:53:06.070
I'll be there.

00:53:06.070 --> 00:53:10.641
Sarah Hammond, yeah, sarah, sarah, and I will be hanging out.

00:53:10.641 --> 00:53:14.400
Yeah, so a lot happening.

00:53:14.400 --> 00:53:17.059
And then I'll come back and we'll do our women in HVAC.

00:53:17.059 --> 00:53:22.030
We'll do our CSR Academy event in November, right before the holidays.

00:53:22.030 --> 00:53:27.614
We'll get that squeezed in this year and then we'll do two more and we're going to try to do two every year?

00:53:27.614 --> 00:53:30.280
Fantastic, yeah, that's amazing.

00:53:30.561 --> 00:53:31.463
Yeah, yeah.

00:53:31.463 --> 00:53:34.519
Well, look, this has been such a great conversation.

00:53:34.519 --> 00:53:40.222
I'm so happy that we got to connect and I got to learn more, and I'm super excited about the Academy.

00:53:40.222 --> 00:53:41.271
That's really cool.

00:53:41.592 --> 00:53:42.014
Thank you.

00:53:42.014 --> 00:53:43.619
It's we're really excited.

00:53:43.619 --> 00:53:47.197
It's a long time coming, it's something that's needed in the industry.

00:53:47.197 --> 00:53:50.650
It's going to help up level those individuals.

00:53:50.650 --> 00:54:12.594
It's going to give them that community and that support that we talked about when we first started, and I really truly believe that you, as a business owner, putting your business and putting your CSR on an airplane or a car and sending them somewhere really shows them how important they are in your company, and so we're really excited to do that for the men and women that do this work.

00:54:13.617 --> 00:54:15.581
I think it's a wonderful way to get back.

00:54:15.581 --> 00:54:16.603
Thanks.

00:54:16.663 --> 00:54:17.244
We're excited.

00:54:17.871 --> 00:54:21.576
Well, so if somebody does want to reach out to you, where would be the best place to do that?

00:54:22.030 --> 00:54:22.512
Absolutely.

00:54:22.512 --> 00:54:24.880
They can go to the website and fill out the contact form.

00:54:24.880 --> 00:54:35.534
They can go to the website and just hit the contact, or they can email me at Michelle, at pink collars and it it's pink, like the color Collars like calling on the phone.

00:54:35.534 --> 00:54:37.717
C-a-l-l-e-r-s dot com.

00:54:37.717 --> 00:54:56.650
Any of our social media outlets I'm always engaging in, so you can ping me on any of those Instagram, facebook, linkedin is a great place to find me too, so any of those places are great, and the website is Pinkcollarscom Perfect?

00:54:56.670 --> 00:54:57.693
Yeah Well, Michelle, it's been a pleasure.

00:54:57.713 --> 00:54:59.938
Thank you so much, thank you so much I really enjoyed this.

00:54:59.938 --> 00:55:00.840
I love it.

00:55:00.840 --> 00:55:01.672
Thanks so much, Corey.

00:55:01.873 --> 00:55:02.617
You're very welcome.

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