WEBVTT
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You've helped franchise systems boost conversion rates by as much as three to five times.
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What are the most common mistakes you see leaders making in their sales process?
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Well, that's a great question, Brian.
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Franchise brands are strapped for resources and expertise sometimes.
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Nobody realizes how most franchise brands are operating with a skeleton crew, right?
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Uh they always just assume they're huge operations.
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And we work with some of the biggest brands, and you'd be shocked how small the teams are, right?
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So what we often see franchise brands struggling with when it comes to lead conversion.
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So whether that's on the FRANDEP side or we do a lot in home services.
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So I both places kind of the same problem is they don't have enough systemization.
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They actually don't have enough standardization on what the process should be.
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They've never really thought through intentionally.
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When a lead comes in, we're going to immediately email, we're going to use video in the emails, we're going to send a text within a minute.
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We're going to then follow up the text with a call within two minutes because that's going to increase our conversion rates 40% on the phone call.
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Like they don't know the playbook, so they don't follow the playbook.
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That's probably, I'd say, the number one issue that we see.
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And they're also not, their salespeople are not following up.
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What they often will do is invest in marketing, right?
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There are a lot of good marketing firms out there.
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So franchise brands invest in a great marketing firm, which then increases their lead rate, but then they're not operating with a system to that will automate the follow-up.
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So Bob in sales at the unit or in Frandev, right?
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Like he doesn't have enough system behind him to handle the 2x increase in lead volumes.
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So what happens is Bob reports back to his management because he doesn't want to look bad that the lead quality sucks.
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Of all the times I've heard that, maybe one in 20 has that been accurate.
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It's almost always a sales problem, not a not a lead quality problem.
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So I hear like I got like consult franchise consults.
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We work with hundreds of them.
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And some of them were like, oh man, those biz buy sell leads are terrible.
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Meanwhile, their peer across the aisle who's using like a solid tech like client tether or something to follow up effectively.
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He's making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on the same leads from the same source, even advertising for the same brand.
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So like, promise, I've got enough data.
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So usually 95% of the time it's a sales system and process problem and technology problem.
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That makes sense.
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Well, that's yeah, sounds like you've definitely seen it.
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That's that's fantastic.
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All right.
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Good work.
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You've led growth across multiple companies before becoming CEO of Client Tether.
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What experiences shaped your approach to leadership today?
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Wow, uh there are a lot.
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Yeah, I'd love to say that I well, let me start with this.
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First job out of college, I worked for a company called Altieris.
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It was a rocket ship, new technology, bleeding edge stuff, high-end technology.
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It was really cool.
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I was a scrub, like just an inside sales guy.
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But our leadership team was awesome.
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You know, Greg and a whole bunch of the folks that are I live in Utah, so a whole bunch of them have gone off and they they own private equity groups and they coach businesses now.
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But the and Jan Newman, like I saw a lot of like true leaders who were there because they wanted their team and their company to be successful.
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And they didn't care if anyone saw them driving around in a Lambo, right?
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There, there's so much of that now that just makes me a little ill.
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Everybody wants to be an entrepreneur, they want to be a leader because they want the spotlight, they want the love, they want the social, they want the likes, they want the, you know, they want all the social equity that comes with that.
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And some of the best companies I've ever worked for didn't have leaders that were all over themselves, right?
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So I I think uh I hate using the term servant leader.
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Whenever I see someone put that on there, I'm like, yeah, if you got to say it, then maybe it's not 100% true.
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Like I feel like it's important that we focus on the needs of our clients.
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That has to be number one, the needs of our people.
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It has to be right up there at the top, and the needs of the of like the business itself.
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Oh, and then there are my needs, right?
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Like those fall in probably fourth in line.
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And so I guess that's one of the biggest things I find in leadership is you have to not be a selfish prick and focus on what's best for everybody else.
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And that's ultimately what's best for you.
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You know, it builds a better company.
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100%.
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That makes sense.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, great lesson.
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That's awesome.
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All right.
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Client tether focuses heavily on automation, but relationships still matter.
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How do you balance technology with genuine human connection in business growth?
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Love that question, especially let's talk about AI right now, right?
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Like AI is everywhere.
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And AI, I grew up in the language industry before this.
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So we were in the industry that was building LLMs, right?
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So when AI started hitting the industry, I'm like, yeah, that's been around forever, guys.
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Like, welcome to the club.
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It's not ready, it's not ready.
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We'd have people hit us up all the time, like, look at our new AI caller.
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It's so good.
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And they were garbage.
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But in the last 18 months, it's gotten good enough that we're actually integrating it into our platform.
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We got a bunch of great stuff there.
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But AI, it still does not create relationships, right?
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Automation, where we can automate emails and texts and phone calls, we're still the only company in the world that does that.
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That seems weird to me.
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We've done it for 12 years, man, almost 12 years.
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Still the only ones.
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The reason why it's so important, though, so automation, you have to have an engagement.
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Somebody has to be responding to you.
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It has to be a give-take, or else nothing, you got nothing.
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So uh, and that window of time in which you have to initiate the conversation is so small now.
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Attention spans have gotten shorter and shorter and shorter.
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We've like 10 years ago, they were publishing data about five minutes, the five-minute follow-up rule.
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This franchise industry is kind of screwed up because like everyone still talks about four hours, like that's a real thing.
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That's like a 1988 rule.
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And we got to stop talking about that.
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But it used to be five minutes.
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Now it's shorter than that.
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People are like, if you haven't responded to somebody with a with a meaningful text and tried to get on the phone with them, now, in that order, by the way, then you can't have a meaningful conversation, but it's all about the conversation.
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So automations should lead to conversations.
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Conversations can lead to relationships and trust.
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And trust is the, it is the currency of transactions, right?
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You have to build the trust first.
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So you can't do that.
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Texting doesn't really build trust.
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Like you can get questions answered, you can start, you can start it.
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It's a longer pathway, it's slower to build.
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But if you can look somebody in the eyeballs, like right now, Brian, and we sit and talk for a while, and I hear how smart you are, I see your great haircut, and I'm like, dang, I like I like this guy.
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You know, he's a Notre Dame fan.
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Well, how can I dislike this guy?
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My buddy from high school, her son just got a scholarship to run cross-country there.
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Sweet.
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Right?
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Like now we're building a relationship.
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We got context, but texting, no context, right?
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Emailing, not very much context unless you're embedding video, right?
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So you can build relationships with technology, but technology doesn't build a relationship.
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Does that make sense?
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It augments the process, but it doesn't replace the process.
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I think that makes a ton of sense.
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That's fantastic.
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That's great.
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Good stuff.
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All right.
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You've built, scaled, and even exited businesses.
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What is one hard lesson about scaling that most founders learn too late?
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Boy, that's a hard one.
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So I've I mean, I started my first business when I was five.
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I snuck out of the house and sold.
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We have we have time.
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I'll show this.
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This is just kind of funny.
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But uh, I wanted money for baseball cards, didn't grow up in a family, had much money.
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Uh, we had, you know, my dad was a great entrepreneur, but hadn't quite gotten into a stride yet.
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And and baseball carts were awesome in the 80s.
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So, and I love the Dodgers.
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So I I didn't have money though.
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So I I found some whistles and I made some paper trinkets, snuck out of the house when my mom thought I was taking a nap next to her and I was five.
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And then I went knocking doors in the neighborhood to try to sell the stuff so I could get some money.
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And as it turns out, and I knocked on all of her friends' doors, just to be clear.
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And one of her friends, real friends, invited me into the house and had me go play Nintendo with her son Jeremy.
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She calls my mom and she's like, Hey, do you know where Dave is right now?
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And she's like, he's downstairs playing.
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She's like, he's not downstairs playing.
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He is going door to door trying to sell your unwrapped tampons as whistles to all of your neighbors right now.
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So that was my my first foot in the door to entrepreneurship as a kid.
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And I'll just say I've never had to sell anything quite so hard in my life ever since then.
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But but exiting, so scaling and exiting.
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And I've done it on small scales and I've done it on large scales.
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So we did e-commerce, had a great Amazon business we built up and ran and exited.
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My wife and I were multi-multi-unit franchise owners.
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We built that rapidly and then we sold our franchises.
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It wasn't the plan to do it so quickly, but I'll say this scaling, I saw someone say this yesterday.
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If you want outsized, oversized results, you have to put in oversized effort.
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And that's true, but it also has to be sustainable, right?
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Like you can burn yourself out all the time.
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And I just wrote an article yesterday about that that's getting a lot of attention in comments.
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And I appreciate that because we tend to try to burn ourselves out thinking I have to oversize my effort 24-7.
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I got to put my family on hold.
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I got to put my life on hold.
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You have to be disciplined with the effort.
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And so I'll just say this.
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Like for me, it was, you know, I'd work, you know, early, you know, let's say 7, 7:30 a day, 6:30 every day.
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But I also would say, I'm sure I try, I'm not always the best, but I try to shut it off and big 6:30 to 10, that's my family time.
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Or I'm gonna go work in the yard.
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I'm gonna mow the lawn.
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Like I've got to unplug, and then I'm gonna reconnect if I have to more work to do.
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I'm a night owl.
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So I'll I'll work from 10 to 10 to, and then I'll get up and do it again the next day.
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But I have, you have to create space for yourself because you can't infinitely scale if you're not taking care of yourself.
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That's the one thing I just I hate the hustle porn crap.
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So I just want to make sure we're being real about this.
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Like you can do it, but it's also about the systems.
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Like you have to create systems that help you scale.
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Your sales system, your lead gen system, your business development system are critical.
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But then how do you deliver services?
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Is your operations keeping up?
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How about your technology keeping up?
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So, so it's it's like spinning plates, and you'll see the plate that's spinning and getting wobbly, and you're like, oh crap, my technology, and you'll spin that sucker and then, oh, my marketing.
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So you also have to have optics into all your plates.
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The worst, the worst situations when you don't have know which one's about to fall.
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And then you can't spin it and pick it up.
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Then you're picking up broken pieces, right?
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So that's, I guess, that's more metaphorical than specific, but hopefully that gives you maybe some ideas of how I've I've seen scalability work.
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Yeah, but I love the metaphor.
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That's that totally works.
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That makes sense.
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And and boy, you you are literally a born entrepreneur.
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Again, from my dad.
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Five years old.
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I've never heard that.
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I got in some trouble for that one as well.
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Of course, but lessons learned, right?
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That's that's that's fantastic.
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I love it.
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Okay, good stuff.
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All right, let's go to the next one here.
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In a world where speed is everything, how do you help franchise brands stay responsive without losing quality in their customer experience?
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Oh man, great question.
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Brands have to systematize their processes first, which seems silly because the whole nature of franchising is a system.
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But I you'd be maybe shocked how often we start working with a brand that's trying to automate first, but they don't have a system in place first.
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So you gotta start with the system.
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Like figure out like what does that need to look like?
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If you want to have speed to lead, cool, like we can get you in touch with lead in literally 15 seconds or less, right?
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Okay.
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Is that actually the right way to do it though?
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The answer is no.
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There's a there's a real playbook for that, and happy to share that.
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It's on our website.
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You can just download it.
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But there's a proper web, like a playbook that shows people how to actually engage.
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But you have to know what what the messaging is.
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You have to have the system in place first.
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And you also have to have like, for example, it seems dumb, but like your leads have to be able to automatically get into the platform that you're using for your CRM, for example, and it has to have lead source attribution and it needs to trigger automation that's contextualized by lead source.
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Otherwise, like, for example, Facebook leads, you want to follow up with them a little differently than an SEO lead.
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SEO leads are gold.
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A AI recommended leads, if you're not getting ChatGPT leads right now, you got to fix your AEO and GGO.
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But like you got to know where they're coming from, and then your system should be able to engage with them based upon where they're from.
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You want to put a little more friction into your more top of funnel leads, like your Facebook.
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So understanding what's going on, building the automation of the system in place so you know what should happen when things are coming in and how the the how you want, let's say a franchiser wants to have a consistent lead follow-up in every circumstance.
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Think Chick-fil-A.
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If I go to Chick-fil-A in Charlotte, North Carolina or Salt Lake City, Utah, they're gonna greet me the same, it's gonna look the same, it's gonna smell the same, the food's gonna be the same.
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And so you have, but they systematize, and now once you systematize, you can then apply automation.
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And and AI is a great way to augment, like you can use a clientele type system where it's gonna start a conversation.
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Then if you use AI layered on top of that or separate from that, you can actually have AI engaging on your behalf.
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And it feels natural if it's happening through, let's say, let's say like a text channel.
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Uh AI automation and conversations over voice are a good backup, but I humans are always the best first line.
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So uh, but you still want to get as much automation as you can.
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But that's that closes the gap.
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Speed delete is still the name of the game.
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And you've got about three minutes now to follow up on that lead effectively before they go start filling out a competitive lead form, right?
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So, and if you're buying a lead from a portal, let's say you're a home service guy and you're buying a lead from Angie, Thumbtack, Modernize, Networks, any of those portal companies, you've got like two minutes.
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You you gotta be on top of that thing.
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It's Ricky Bobby.
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If you ain't first, you're last.
00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.399
But if you don't have the systems in place, you can't automate.
00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:52.799
Or if you do automate, it's gonna be a crapshoot.
00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:54.320
So uh hopefully that's helpful, Brian.
00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:55.840
I don't know if that answered your question.
00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:57.039
No, absolutely.
00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:58.320
That completely makes sense.
00:12:58.320 --> 00:12:58.879
I love it.
00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.600
That is that is uh you're dead on with that.
00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:03.039
That's gonna that's gonna look good.
00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:04.000
Okay, good stuff.
00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:06.320
All right, let's hit the last question here.
00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:12.399
For leaders trying to grow in competitive markets, what does relationship-driven success actually look like in practice?
00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:15.120
Wow, there there are a lot of facets to that.
00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:18.320
Relationships drive, I think, most success.
00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.000
The right relationships do.
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:28.320
So leaders need to have relationships with other leaders in the industry so they can have sounding boards to have honest feedback, have kind of a mastermind function.
00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.840
I mean, it's a shameless plug, but like we created an event for that, right?
00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:35.440
The service franchise summit, only because it doesn't exist in this industry.
00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:40.080
There's not, there are a couple of like here and there people that are trying to do it, but it's more like roundtables.
00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:44.240
You need someone you can sit down with and be like, here's my soul, like, or here's my real problem.
00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:45.519
And I cannot solve this.
00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:47.519
And I can't take it to my executive team, right?
00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:53.200
I can't take it to my wife because she loves me and she'll support me, but she doesn't have a background to understand how to fix it.
00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:58.879
Although my wife, she's got great ideas about how to fix our business sometimes or how to augment things and then increase things.
00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:05.039
So, but but you need peers that you can trust, and those relationships are helping help you with the strategy, right?
00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:08.320
I also find that relationships with strategic partners is critical.
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:11.200
We have a ton of partners in the industry that we love working with, they love us.
00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.279
We know we'll take care of them and vice versa.
00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:21.440
That's helped that helps us a lot as we as we grow to have people who are in marketing and they say, wow, we're doing a great job with this brand helping them get leads.
00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:22.480
They suck at follow-up.
00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.639
Will you please save them from themselves before they think it's our problem?
00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:27.600
They blame the leads.
00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:28.960
You know, remember one in 20.
00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:31.360
20 out of 20 times they blame the marketer.
00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:34.000
So having relationships with people like that is critical.
00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:36.000
And then the relationships with your clients.
00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.039
That's you know, obviously it's the next layer down.
00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:46.320
You got to build real relationships, provide real value, stay in touch with them, don't make it transactional, you know, close them and flip them.
00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:47.600
Like that's not how it should be.
00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:53.120
So I we still get 50 to 60% of our leads from referrals from clients and people who know us.
00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:56.559
So I'm like my grandma always used to, she said, we thought she was gonna pass away.
00:14:56.559 --> 00:15:04.559
So a bunch of me, you know, me, my cousins and siblings drove up to see her in Canada, and she pats me on the face and she and first she never liked my facial hair.
00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:06.879
So she says, You look so handsome without your beard.
00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:09.919
And then she said this, and this is like such a truism.
00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:12.559
She said, she, and I was a Hellion growing up.
00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:13.440
This is why she said this.
00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:18.960
She's like, You've got to, you've got to protect your reputation because your reputation will always precede you.
00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:21.440
And in business, it's so dang true.
00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:28.799
Those are some of the relationships, but there's one more layer that we've got to focus on, and that's the relationship with our people, with our employees.
00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:30.080
They're mission critical.
00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:31.279
You got to treat them right.
00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:34.000
You got to try to give them right enough compensation that they're happy.
00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:39.440
But people are more motivated by feeling cared for and feeling like they genuinely belong.
00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.039
Like then almost, then almost once you hit a certain threshold to pay, then they're pay.
00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:48.639
So I think you got to create an environment where people feel cared, cared for, and those relationships really, really matter.
00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:54.960
And if you've got a toxic jerk in your organization, they got to go because they'll wreck those relationships.
00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:58.799
And those relationships important to your client relationships and your partner relationships.
00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:00.320
So it's all they're all intertwined.
00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:03.840
That's how I see relationships making a big difference for entrepreneurs trying to grow.
00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:05.120
Absolutely agree.
00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:13.679
You you couldn't be more dead on, especially with the the spread of toxicity inner just one person can have such a huge impact in a negative way.
00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:15.440
It's shocking.
00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:18.720
We've we've obviously been through it.
00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:25.600
So more more than I would care to admit, honestly, but yeah, like how do we how do we not see that coming?
00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:27.120
But yeah, it's hard.
00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:32.799
People are so awesome in the interview process and even the first month, and then uh things change, right?
00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:37.679
Like to be fair to people, like sometimes things suck in their lives, and so they become a little crappy.
00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:39.519
It's not like they start that way.
00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:40.080
No.
00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:45.120
You just catch a bad phase and you're like, well, we got the you know, we got the worst of it, but it's it happens, right?
00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:46.559
Yeah, agreed.
00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:47.120
Awesome.
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.480
You've helped franchise systems boost conversion rates by as much as three to five times.
00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:08.080
What are the most common mistakes you see leaders making in their sales process?
00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:10.080
Well, that's a great question, Brian.
00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:14.960
Franchise brands are strapped for resources and expertise sometimes.
00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:20.000
Nobody realizes how most franchise brands are operating with a skeleton crew, right?
00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.000
Uh they always just assume they're huge operations.
00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:26.000
And we work with some of the biggest brands, and you'd be shocked how small the teams are, right?
00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.719
So what we often see franchise brands struggling with when it comes to lead conversion.
00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:33.840
So whether that's on the FRANDEP side or we do a lot in home services.
00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:38.240
So I both places kind of the same problem is they don't have enough systemization.
00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:40.880
They actually don't have enough standardization on what the process should be.
00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:42.719
They've never really thought through intentionally.
00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:48.799
When a lead comes in, we're going to immediately email, we're going to use video in the emails, we're going to send a text within a minute.
00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:54.000
We're going to then follow up the text with a call within two minutes because that's going to increase our conversion rates 40% on the phone call.
00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.759
Like they don't know the playbook, so they don't follow the playbook.
00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:00.479
That's probably, I'd say, the number one issue that we see.
00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:04.239
And they're also not, their salespeople are not following up.
00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:06.640
What they often will do is invest in marketing, right?
00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:08.560
There are a lot of good marketing firms out there.
00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:17.599
So franchise brands invest in a great marketing firm, which then increases their lead rate, but then they're not operating with a system to that will automate the follow-up.
00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:22.079
So Bob in sales at the unit or in Frandev, right?
00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:28.079
Like he doesn't have enough system behind him to handle the 2x increase in lead volumes.
00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:33.680
So what happens is Bob reports back to his management because he doesn't want to look bad that the lead quality sucks.
00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:38.319
Of all the times I've heard that, maybe one in 20 has that been accurate.
00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:42.400
It's almost always a sales problem, not a not a lead quality problem.
00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:45.439
So I hear like I got like consult franchise consults.
00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:46.480
We work with hundreds of them.
00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:49.439
And some of them were like, oh man, those biz buy sell leads are terrible.
00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:56.480
Meanwhile, their peer across the aisle who's using like a solid tech like client tether or something to follow up effectively.
00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:03.040
He's making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on the same leads from the same source, even advertising for the same brand.
00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:05.200
So like, promise, I've got enough data.
00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:10.800
So usually 95% of the time it's a sales system and process problem and technology problem.
00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:11.840
That makes sense.
00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:14.080
Well, that's yeah, sounds like you've definitely seen it.
00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:15.599
That's that's fantastic.
00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:16.080
All right.
00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:16.800
Good work.
00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:21.039
You've led growth across multiple companies before becoming CEO of Client Tether.
00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:24.000
What experiences shaped your approach to leadership today?
00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:25.439
Wow, uh there are a lot.
00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:28.479
Yeah, I'd love to say that I well, let me start with this.
00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:31.280
First job out of college, I worked for a company called Altieris.
00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:35.919
It was a rocket ship, new technology, bleeding edge stuff, high-end technology.
00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:36.960
It was really cool.
00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.759
I was a scrub, like just an inside sales guy.
00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:41.840
But our leadership team was awesome.
00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:50.080
You know, Greg and a whole bunch of the folks that are I live in Utah, so a whole bunch of them have gone off and they they own private equity groups and they coach businesses now.
00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:57.840
But the and Jan Newman, like I saw a lot of like true leaders who were there because they wanted their team and their company to be successful.
00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:01.840
And they didn't care if anyone saw them driving around in a Lambo, right?
00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:04.879
There, there's so much of that now that just makes me a little ill.
00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:14.000
Everybody wants to be an entrepreneur, they want to be a leader because they want the spotlight, they want the love, they want the social, they want the likes, they want the, you know, they want all the social equity that comes with that.
00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:20.479
And some of the best companies I've ever worked for didn't have leaders that were all over themselves, right?
00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:23.280
So I I think uh I hate using the term servant leader.
00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:27.599
Whenever I see someone put that on there, I'm like, yeah, if you got to say it, then maybe it's not 100% true.
00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:31.439
Like I feel like it's important that we focus on the needs of our clients.
00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:34.319
That has to be number one, the needs of our people.
00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:38.639
It has to be right up there at the top, and the needs of the of like the business itself.
00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:40.240
Oh, and then there are my needs, right?
00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:42.560
Like those fall in probably fourth in line.
00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:50.719
And so I guess that's one of the biggest things I find in leadership is you have to not be a selfish prick and focus on what's best for everybody else.
00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:52.319
And that's ultimately what's best for you.
00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:53.840
You know, it builds a better company.
00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:54.560
100%.
00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:55.680
That makes sense.
00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:56.159
Yeah.
00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:57.439
Yeah, great lesson.
00:03:57.439 --> 00:03:58.560
That's awesome.
00:03:58.560 --> 00:03:59.280
All right.
00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:03.759
Client tether focuses heavily on automation, but relationships still matter.
00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:07.680
How do you balance technology with genuine human connection in business growth?
00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:10.479
Love that question, especially let's talk about AI right now, right?
00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:11.599
Like AI is everywhere.
00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:14.400
And AI, I grew up in the language industry before this.
00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:17.120
So we were in the industry that was building LLMs, right?
00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:20.959
So when AI started hitting the industry, I'm like, yeah, that's been around forever, guys.
00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:22.240
Like, welcome to the club.
00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:23.759
It's not ready, it's not ready.
00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:26.879
We'd have people hit us up all the time, like, look at our new AI caller.
00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:27.519
It's so good.
00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:28.639
And they were garbage.
00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:32.560
But in the last 18 months, it's gotten good enough that we're actually integrating it into our platform.
00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:34.160
We got a bunch of great stuff there.
00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:37.759
But AI, it still does not create relationships, right?
00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:42.720
Automation, where we can automate emails and texts and phone calls, we're still the only company in the world that does that.
00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:43.839
That seems weird to me.
00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:46.079
We've done it for 12 years, man, almost 12 years.
00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:47.279
Still the only ones.
00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:52.879
The reason why it's so important, though, so automation, you have to have an engagement.
00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:54.319
Somebody has to be responding to you.
00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:57.199
It has to be a give-take, or else nothing, you got nothing.
00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:02.639
So uh, and that window of time in which you have to initiate the conversation is so small now.
00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:05.279
Attention spans have gotten shorter and shorter and shorter.
00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:10.079
We've like 10 years ago, they were publishing data about five minutes, the five-minute follow-up rule.
00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:15.040
This franchise industry is kind of screwed up because like everyone still talks about four hours, like that's a real thing.
00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:16.959
That's like a 1988 rule.
00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:18.639
And we got to stop talking about that.
00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:20.160
But it used to be five minutes.
00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:21.360
Now it's shorter than that.
00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:32.800
People are like, if you haven't responded to somebody with a with a meaningful text and tried to get on the phone with them, now, in that order, by the way, then you can't have a meaningful conversation, but it's all about the conversation.
00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:35.759
So automations should lead to conversations.
00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:38.720
Conversations can lead to relationships and trust.
00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:43.279
And trust is the, it is the currency of transactions, right?
00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:44.879
You have to build the trust first.
00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:46.079
So you can't do that.
00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.240
Texting doesn't really build trust.
00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:50.959
Like you can get questions answered, you can start, you can start it.
00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:53.279
It's a longer pathway, it's slower to build.
00:05:53.279 --> 00:06:01.920
But if you can look somebody in the eyeballs, like right now, Brian, and we sit and talk for a while, and I hear how smart you are, I see your great haircut, and I'm like, dang, I like I like this guy.
00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:03.199
You know, he's a Notre Dame fan.
00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:04.480
Well, how can I dislike this guy?
00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:08.079
My buddy from high school, her son just got a scholarship to run cross-country there.
00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:08.639
Sweet.
00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:09.120
Right?
00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:10.879
Like now we're building a relationship.
00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:14.240
We got context, but texting, no context, right?
00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:17.839
Emailing, not very much context unless you're embedding video, right?
00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:23.600
So you can build relationships with technology, but technology doesn't build a relationship.
00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:24.399
Does that make sense?
00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:27.199
It augments the process, but it doesn't replace the process.
00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:28.879
I think that makes a ton of sense.
00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:29.920
That's fantastic.
00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:30.879
That's great.
00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:31.839
Good stuff.
00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:32.560
All right.
00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:35.600
You've built, scaled, and even exited businesses.
00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:39.519
What is one hard lesson about scaling that most founders learn too late?
00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:41.120
Boy, that's a hard one.
00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:43.519
So I've I mean, I started my first business when I was five.
00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:45.600
I snuck out of the house and sold.
00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:46.560
We have we have time.
00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:47.040
I'll show this.
00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:48.319
This is just kind of funny.
00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:52.160
But uh, I wanted money for baseball cards, didn't grow up in a family, had much money.
00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:56.560
Uh, we had, you know, my dad was a great entrepreneur, but hadn't quite gotten into a stride yet.
00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:59.120
And and baseball carts were awesome in the 80s.
00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:00.800
So, and I love the Dodgers.
00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:02.079
So I I didn't have money though.
00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:09.040
So I I found some whistles and I made some paper trinkets, snuck out of the house when my mom thought I was taking a nap next to her and I was five.
00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:13.680
And then I went knocking doors in the neighborhood to try to sell the stuff so I could get some money.
00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:18.079
And as it turns out, and I knocked on all of her friends' doors, just to be clear.
00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:23.279
And one of her friends, real friends, invited me into the house and had me go play Nintendo with her son Jeremy.
00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:26.000
She calls my mom and she's like, Hey, do you know where Dave is right now?
00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:27.920
And she's like, he's downstairs playing.
00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:29.920
She's like, he's not downstairs playing.
00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:35.439
He is going door to door trying to sell your unwrapped tampons as whistles to all of your neighbors right now.
00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:40.639
So that was my my first foot in the door to entrepreneurship as a kid.
00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:45.279
And I'll just say I've never had to sell anything quite so hard in my life ever since then.
00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:48.000
But but exiting, so scaling and exiting.
00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:50.800
And I've done it on small scales and I've done it on large scales.
00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:55.040
So we did e-commerce, had a great Amazon business we built up and ran and exited.
00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:58.079
My wife and I were multi-multi-unit franchise owners.
00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:00.480
We built that rapidly and then we sold our franchises.
00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:06.000
It wasn't the plan to do it so quickly, but I'll say this scaling, I saw someone say this yesterday.
00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:09.920
If you want outsized, oversized results, you have to put in oversized effort.
00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:12.800
And that's true, but it also has to be sustainable, right?
00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:14.879
Like you can burn yourself out all the time.
00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:18.720
And I just wrote an article yesterday about that that's getting a lot of attention in comments.
00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:24.079
And I appreciate that because we tend to try to burn ourselves out thinking I have to oversize my effort 24-7.
00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:25.600
I got to put my family on hold.
00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:26.879
I got to put my life on hold.
00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:29.120
You have to be disciplined with the effort.
00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:30.879
And so I'll just say this.
00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:36.799
Like for me, it was, you know, I'd work, you know, early, you know, let's say 7, 7:30 a day, 6:30 every day.
00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:43.600
But I also would say, I'm sure I try, I'm not always the best, but I try to shut it off and big 6:30 to 10, that's my family time.
00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:44.720
Or I'm gonna go work in the yard.
00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:45.679
I'm gonna mow the lawn.
00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:49.679
Like I've got to unplug, and then I'm gonna reconnect if I have to more work to do.
00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:50.480
I'm a night owl.
00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:54.960
So I'll I'll work from 10 to 10 to, and then I'll get up and do it again the next day.
00:08:54.960 --> 00:09:01.360
But I have, you have to create space for yourself because you can't infinitely scale if you're not taking care of yourself.
00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:04.080
That's the one thing I just I hate the hustle porn crap.
00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:05.840
So I just want to make sure we're being real about this.
00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:08.480
Like you can do it, but it's also about the systems.
00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:10.720
Like you have to create systems that help you scale.
00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:14.399
Your sales system, your lead gen system, your business development system are critical.
00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:15.840
But then how do you deliver services?
00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:17.120
Is your operations keeping up?
00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:18.799
How about your technology keeping up?
00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:28.000
So, so it's it's like spinning plates, and you'll see the plate that's spinning and getting wobbly, and you're like, oh crap, my technology, and you'll spin that sucker and then, oh, my marketing.
00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:30.720
So you also have to have optics into all your plates.
00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:34.559
The worst, the worst situations when you don't have know which one's about to fall.
00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:36.480
And then you can't spin it and pick it up.
00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:38.240
Then you're picking up broken pieces, right?
00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:45.440
So that's, I guess, that's more metaphorical than specific, but hopefully that gives you maybe some ideas of how I've I've seen scalability work.
00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:46.960
Yeah, but I love the metaphor.
00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:48.159
That's that totally works.
00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:48.720
That makes sense.
00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:52.639
And and boy, you you are literally a born entrepreneur.
00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:54.080
Again, from my dad.
00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:54.879
Five years old.
00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:55.919
I've never heard that.
00:09:56.639 --> 00:09:59.039
I got in some trouble for that one as well.
00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:01.279
Of course, but lessons learned, right?
00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:02.720
That's that's that's fantastic.
00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:03.200
I love it.
00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:04.080
Okay, good stuff.
00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:05.919
All right, let's go to the next one here.
00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:12.879
In a world where speed is everything, how do you help franchise brands stay responsive without losing quality in their customer experience?
00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:14.960
Oh man, great question.
00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:23.519
Brands have to systematize their processes first, which seems silly because the whole nature of franchising is a system.
00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:32.159
But I you'd be maybe shocked how often we start working with a brand that's trying to automate first, but they don't have a system in place first.
00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:34.000
So you gotta start with the system.
00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:35.919
Like figure out like what does that need to look like?
00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:40.960
If you want to have speed to lead, cool, like we can get you in touch with lead in literally 15 seconds or less, right?
00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:41.519
Okay.
00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:43.519
Is that actually the right way to do it though?
00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:44.399
The answer is no.
00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:47.279
There's a there's a real playbook for that, and happy to share that.
00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:48.080
It's on our website.
00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:49.039
You can just download it.
00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:52.960
But there's a proper web, like a playbook that shows people how to actually engage.
00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:55.360
But you have to know what what the messaging is.
00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:56.799
You have to have the system in place first.
00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:10.799
And you also have to have like, for example, it seems dumb, but like your leads have to be able to automatically get into the platform that you're using for your CRM, for example, and it has to have lead source attribution and it needs to trigger automation that's contextualized by lead source.
00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:14.879
Otherwise, like, for example, Facebook leads, you want to follow up with them a little differently than an SEO lead.
00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:16.000
SEO leads are gold.
00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:22.000
A AI recommended leads, if you're not getting ChatGPT leads right now, you got to fix your AEO and GGO.
00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:27.840
But like you got to know where they're coming from, and then your system should be able to engage with them based upon where they're from.
00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:32.399
You want to put a little more friction into your more top of funnel leads, like your Facebook.
00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:44.480
So understanding what's going on, building the automation of the system in place so you know what should happen when things are coming in and how the the how you want, let's say a franchiser wants to have a consistent lead follow-up in every circumstance.
00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:45.519
Think Chick-fil-A.
00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:53.120
If I go to Chick-fil-A in Charlotte, North Carolina or Salt Lake City, Utah, they're gonna greet me the same, it's gonna look the same, it's gonna smell the same, the food's gonna be the same.
00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:58.399
And so you have, but they systematize, and now once you systematize, you can then apply automation.
00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:04.000
And and AI is a great way to augment, like you can use a clientele type system where it's gonna start a conversation.
00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:09.600
Then if you use AI layered on top of that or separate from that, you can actually have AI engaging on your behalf.
00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:14.639
And it feels natural if it's happening through, let's say, let's say like a text channel.
00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:20.720
Uh AI automation and conversations over voice are a good backup, but I humans are always the best first line.
00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:23.120
So uh, but you still want to get as much automation as you can.
00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:24.559
But that's that closes the gap.
00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:26.799
Speed delete is still the name of the game.
00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:33.360
And you've got about three minutes now to follow up on that lead effectively before they go start filling out a competitive lead form, right?
00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:43.600
So, and if you're buying a lead from a portal, let's say you're a home service guy and you're buying a lead from Angie, Thumbtack, Modernize, Networks, any of those portal companies, you've got like two minutes.
00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:45.039
You you gotta be on top of that thing.
00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:46.080
It's Ricky Bobby.
00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:47.360
If you ain't first, you're last.
00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.399
But if you don't have the systems in place, you can't automate.
00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:52.799
Or if you do automate, it's gonna be a crapshoot.
00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:54.320
So uh hopefully that's helpful, Brian.
00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:55.840
I don't know if that answered your question.
00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:57.039
No, absolutely.
00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:58.320
That completely makes sense.
00:12:58.320 --> 00:12:58.879
I love it.
00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.600
That is that is uh you're dead on with that.
00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:03.039
That's gonna that's gonna look good.
00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:04.000
Okay, good stuff.
00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:06.320
All right, let's hit the last question here.
00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:12.399
For leaders trying to grow in competitive markets, what does relationship-driven success actually look like in practice?
00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:15.120
Wow, there there are a lot of facets to that.
00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:18.320
Relationships drive, I think, most success.
00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.000
The right relationships do.
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:28.320
So leaders need to have relationships with other leaders in the industry so they can have sounding boards to have honest feedback, have kind of a mastermind function.
00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.840
I mean, it's a shameless plug, but like we created an event for that, right?
00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:35.440
The service franchise summit, only because it doesn't exist in this industry.
00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:40.080
There's not, there are a couple of like here and there people that are trying to do it, but it's more like roundtables.
00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:44.240
You need someone you can sit down with and be like, here's my soul, like, or here's my real problem.
00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:45.519
And I cannot solve this.
00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:47.519
And I can't take it to my executive team, right?
00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:53.200
I can't take it to my wife because she loves me and she'll support me, but she doesn't have a background to understand how to fix it.
00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:58.879
Although my wife, she's got great ideas about how to fix our business sometimes or how to augment things and then increase things.
00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:05.039
So, but but you need peers that you can trust, and those relationships are helping help you with the strategy, right?
00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:08.320
I also find that relationships with strategic partners is critical.
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:11.200
We have a ton of partners in the industry that we love working with, they love us.
00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.279
We know we'll take care of them and vice versa.
00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:21.440
That's helped that helps us a lot as we as we grow to have people who are in marketing and they say, wow, we're doing a great job with this brand helping them get leads.
00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:22.480
They suck at follow-up.
00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.639
Will you please save them from themselves before they think it's our problem?
00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:27.600
They blame the leads.
00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:28.960
You know, remember one in 20.
00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:31.360
20 out of 20 times they blame the marketer.
00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:34.000
So having relationships with people like that is critical.
00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:36.000
And then the relationships with your clients.
00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.039
That's you know, obviously it's the next layer down.
00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:46.320
You got to build real relationships, provide real value, stay in touch with them, don't make it transactional, you know, close them and flip them.
00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:47.600
Like that's not how it should be.
00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:53.120
So I we still get 50 to 60% of our leads from referrals from clients and people who know us.
00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:56.559
So I'm like my grandma always used to, she said, we thought she was gonna pass away.
00:14:56.559 --> 00:15:04.559
So a bunch of me, you know, me, my cousins and siblings drove up to see her in Canada, and she pats me on the face and she and first she never liked my facial hair.
00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:06.879
So she says, You look so handsome without your beard.
00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:09.919
And then she said this, and this is like such a truism.
00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:12.559
She said, she, and I was a Hellion growing up.
00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:13.440
This is why she said this.
00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:18.960
She's like, You've got to, you've got to protect your reputation because your reputation will always precede you.
00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:21.440
And in business, it's so dang true.
00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:28.799
Those are some of the relationships, but there's one more layer that we've got to focus on, and that's the relationship with our people, with our employees.
00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:30.080
They're mission critical.
00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:31.279
You got to treat them right.
00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:34.000
You got to try to give them right enough compensation that they're happy.
00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:39.440
But people are more motivated by feeling cared for and feeling like they genuinely belong.
00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.039
Like then almost, then almost once you hit a certain threshold to pay, then they're pay.
00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:48.639
So I think you got to create an environment where people feel cared, cared for, and those relationships really, really matter.
00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:54.960
And if you've got a toxic jerk in your organization, they got to go because they'll wreck those relationships.
00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:58.799
And those relationships important to your client relationships and your partner relationships.
00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:00.320
So it's all they're all intertwined.
00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:03.840
That's how I see relationships making a big difference for entrepreneurs trying to grow.
00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:05.120
Absolutely agree.
00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:13.679
You you couldn't be more dead on, especially with the the spread of toxicity inner just one person can have such a huge impact in a negative way.
00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:15.440
It's shocking.
00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:18.720
We've we've obviously been through it.
00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:25.600
So more more than I would care to admit, honestly, but yeah, like how do we how do we not see that coming?
00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:27.120
But yeah, it's hard.
00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:32.799
People are so awesome in the interview process and even the first month, and then uh things change, right?
00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:37.679
Like to be fair to people, like sometimes things suck in their lives, and so they become a little crappy.
00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:39.519
It's not like they start that way.
00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:40.080
No.
00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:45.120
You just catch a bad phase and you're like, well, we got the you know, we got the worst of it, but it's it happens, right?
00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:46.559
Yeah, agreed.
00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:47.120
Awesome.
