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Today, I'm having an honest conversation with Jonas Olson, who's built a $10 million pest control business called Pest Badger.
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And he started just five years ago and he did it knocking on doors.
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We're gonna talk about guerrilla marketing and using these not so often talked about strategies to grow your business, whether it be knocking on doors, door hangers, and how to make sense of paying 25 to 50% commissions to salespeople.
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Let's get started with Jonas from the Pest Control Millionaire.
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So maybe just kind of walk me through Pest Badger, the start, the story, the evolution of it all.
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I've watched your content.
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I'm sure some people out there have as well.
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But kind of give us the origin story in a nutshell.
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Yeah, I think I started out lawn care like you did.
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Young, pushing the mower.
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Did that for 12 years.
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It was fun.
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Learned a lot.
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It was my first business.
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And my mentor told me this is your first act.
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You'll have many more to come.
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But it was a good business.
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I learned a ton.
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And then from there, COVID hit.
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And Michigan got shut down.
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Oh, right.
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We couldn't work.
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Yeah.
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Like we could not work at all.
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But before that, my idea was to take over like five small towns and then get to one bigger town afterwards.
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And JP was like, well, if that's the end goal, why don't you skip those small towns and just go there?
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I'm like, yeah, good point.
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So anyway, so COVID hits.
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And so it was already planning on going to Green Bay as it was.
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And then COVID hit and we got shut down in Michigan.
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Couldn't work at all.
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Not essential.
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Couldn't do anything.
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We could plow snow.
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Was it three weeks?
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Four weeks?
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It was six weeks?
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Yeah, it was like two weeks.
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I remember people freaking out there.
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We didn't know what was coming.
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Right.
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Yeah, no, no.
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So yeah, I think I waited till like, cause I was like March.
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So I think I waited till like May.
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And then I started going down there every single day.
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I started driving and I've never sold in the doors before.
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All of a sudden it was my back was against well.
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I had a business up there that had been in business for 12 years.
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Couldn't do anything with.
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I'm like, I gotta go do something.
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Yeah.
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So yeah, I taught myself how to knock doors a lot at YouTube University, just trying to figure it out.
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And I got lucky in my first account, like first door that I knocked, their dog was allergic to wasps.
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And I was like, so I sold my first account, the first door I ever knocked.
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So in that moment, did you pivot to pass control almost immediately?
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When I was on the door, I didn't know what I was selling.
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It was either going to be fur.
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You're like, if you need anything done.
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For real.
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Paint your house and painting your house.
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So the name was Turf Badger.
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And so I went down there because lawn care was my background.
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Like, I'm just going to go sell fur.
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My first account, though, I knocked on the door and I sold the pest control account.
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I was like, huh, I can take care of this.
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It wasn't reoccurring.
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I was just like selling whatever I could.
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I'll be honest with you.
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Just to get my feet wet and learn.
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I noticed that car out front on the Jax.
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Need to tie.
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And then, yeah, from there, I think I sold like three more accounts that day.
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And so I was like, okay, I can do this.
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And so I ended up recruiting.
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I took my operations manager from another company.
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He came down with me.
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I held the license for Pest down there.
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So you just canned the lawn care business?
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No, I just couldn't do anything at first.
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I couldn't do anything for like three months.
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But did you continue on after that?
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Yeah, once it comes back, then we start back up.
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So I'm down there for like two months just knocking doors, two hours away, driving back and forth almost every single day.
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And so, yeah, I did that for the summer.
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And then by the end of that year, I had like 400 or 500 accounts.
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And then the other business got back up and rolling.
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Everything was going back to normal.
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I was like, okay, we're in a good spot.
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Well, at the end of that year, I was looking at these two businesses side by side.
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Yeah.
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How far away were they?
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Two hours.
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Oh, wow.
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Okay.
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And the writing was on the wall.
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Okay.
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Like, this business is so scalable.
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The margins are good.
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I can teach people, other people, how to knock doors.
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I can teach people how to do the service.
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It's hard.
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Like, during COVID, it's a hard time to find technicians, too.
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So I was robbing people from my old place.
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And at the end of 2021, that next year, I had two businesses side by side and I saw the scalability and I had the view.
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I knew I was pretty good at my job, but I just didn't have the right vehicle to take me where I wanted to go.
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And so I come from a super small town, I remember doing like $3 million in revenue with a lawn care company.
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My town's 13,000 people.
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So like we had a majority share, like it was really good company, but it just couldn't take me where I wanted to go, I thought.
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So I was doing pest control.
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I had more money in my new company than I did for my old company, one business for 12 years, although I got shut down with COVID.
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And that's when I like, like I was like, the end of the year, I'm like, I knew what I had to do.
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And I'm one to sell and end up selling my long hair company that year in 2021.
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Went on all in to turf badger.
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And then it was like that next year, we're like 90% pest control.
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We're some pest control in the doors.
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And then I was like, I want to change my name.
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So I sat down with my marketing team and they're like, no, don't change the name.
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Like everything looks good online.
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Like you're ranking everyone higher than everybody else, even for pest control.
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I'm like, I get that.
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But like, I'm just going to call Sally Smith five doors down and say, hey, I own Turf Badger.
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What do I do?
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They're like, good point.
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They could probably do sod or something.
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So that's when I changed the business to Pest Badger.
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Went all in on pest control, and so we have, I think, 17 locations.
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It's our fifth year.
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Awesome.
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And so walk me through the five years.
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First one was kind of dialing in, adjusting to the market and the industry.
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What's been the five years kind of since?
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Yeah, so the first year was just figuring out how to knock doors, start building a small team.
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You know, your second business is always faster.
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You have a little bit more money.
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You already have a lot of skills.
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You already know how to do marketing and sales, all that stuff.
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So it went faster, obviously.
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And then once, like, through our second year, I built, like, I think we had a team of, like, 20 sales reps. Mm-hmm.
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We're all doing pretty well.
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And then they were just getting to the point where, like, they wanted to have some skin in the game.
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I was like, I don't want to lose these guys.
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Because, as you know, in our industry, if you train someone really, really well, the first thing they're going to do is quit and go start their own.
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Because I've had that happen before.
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I lost some really good guys.
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Because they just got capped out.
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I was like, how could I give these guys a better opportunity here?
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So, like, I could just make them a minority partner in their own location.
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And so I did that for my second location.
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It went really, really well.
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And, like, so now we're running, like, basically three companies at the same time, all from remotely.
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I'm like, huh.
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And that's when I was like, I can do this.
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And that's how they evolved from, you know, now we had another guy, Dylan, down in Grand Rapids.
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His mom had got cancer.
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And so we always plan on moving him back down there because he lived up by me, but it's like six hours away.
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And then his mom got cancer, I'm like,
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Um, dude, like, well, whatever I gotta do to get you down there, we'll get you down there.
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Just go spend the, I just lost my dad.
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So like, whatever we gotta do, like just go spend the next six, eight months, however long she has with her.
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So we moved him down there.
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He started knocking doors down there.
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Uh, she ended up passing away like six or eight months later, somewhere in there.
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And then they moved down there.
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And now that business is like three years old, didn't really well.
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Well, that's kind of how the first three or four offices like happened like that.
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Then once we figured out that we started dialing the system, dialing the processes, um,
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finding the right people to take those leadership positions and then just scaling it up from there.
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And do you find the success of a location, does it hinge 95% on that leader or that general manager?
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At first, I'd say yeah.
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And then, like I said, we want to get those offices to $2 million as fast as possible.
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It's kind of like you, like you like you like it's like five, six hundred thousand.
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You have seven to eight guys there.
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You hire a branch manager.
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Kind of the same thing with pest control.
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It's like, no, we can run seven to eight guys.
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Do you have a two million dollar branch?
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Have like a lead technician branch manager.
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And so that's kind of our model.
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And so from the outside looking in, I see the differences a lot on the pest control.
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Like door knocking is a huge deal in pest control.
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Like door knocking for lawn care is one of those things.
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Like if you have the balls to do it, maybe do it to get off the ground.
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But for real, you can sell any service.
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Yeah.
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HVAC, plumbing, weed control, mowing, whatever.
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You just got to learn how to do the skill.
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And that's probably one of the skills that I wish I had learned earlier out of my career, honestly, is sales.
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When does the unit economics make sense to do that?
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Right.
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So for example, let's say someone that's doing vent cleaning, right?
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Like, yes, you can sell that door to door, uh, window washing.
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Like where is it?
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You're like, okay, there's a cost to docking these doors.
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Yeah.
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Having 20 salespeople is not cheap.
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No.
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Let it like take the systems part off the table and teaching them.
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Yeah.
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Assume you do a good job of that.
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Yeah.
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Having 20 people doing sales for a location or multiple locations.
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Um,
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What is the unit economics of like, okay, if you hit this, then you can, like, is there a certain customer acquisition cost?
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Is there a certain LTV?
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What are we looking at?
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Yeah, I think that there's a lot to that.
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So, like, it depends how much you pay your sales reps, too, right?
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And so, early on, like, you hear these crazy numbers, like, these big companies pay 80 to 100%.
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We're never going to compete with those guys.
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We don't want to.
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What do you mean by that?
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80.
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So they'll pay 80% to 100% of the contract value for a year.
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Got it.
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And then they're only banking on the LTV.
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Got it.
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Yeah.
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So they're banking on how long the customer will stay there.
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So the retention team just has to be extremely good.
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Got it.
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And or they tie them into these big contracts and then they have a bunch of customers that are unhappy.
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Hey, it's Mike Andes and just want to say thank you for watching the video.
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I wanted to stop here real quick, though, and say this is a really cool lake.
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I've hiked up here on the weekend, but when you're all by yourself, it's not as enjoyable.
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And that's a big part of why we started Augusta Lawn Care is the community that we call Augusta Nation.
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To be able to take in moments like this, but instead of being by yourself or feeling alone, they have people that you can lean on.
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depend on and you're part of a community and so i think that's the biggest benefit we can talk about the discounts we can talk about the give back program and all the things that make augusta different but it is the community that truly keeps you going when you really want to quit and so if you're tired of being in beautiful moments in your business beautiful moments in life but not having to share having a community to share with i really recommend joining augusta lawn care you can go check out augustalongresservices.com slash franchise talk to lee and see if it'd be good
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So yeah, for us, we could minimize how much we pay our guys, because they make a good living, or our customer acquisition costs are super high, where we could afford to do this and pay them per service, so we could afford to do it.
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So that's how we started it out.
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It's changed since then, but...
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Got it, so now, is it a percentage they still get of the initial year?
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Yeah.
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Okay, got it.
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Yeah, so usually the first year they'll get paid anywhere, let's go anywhere from 25 to 60% of contract value.
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00:10:14.938 --> 00:10:20.181
And then the remaining years, if you want to have them mailbox money or something, you can get a one to 3% overrun.
236
00:10:20.241 --> 00:10:21.082
Okay, cool.
237
00:10:21.102 --> 00:10:23.223
For the remaining years, as long as the customer stays active.
238
00:10:23.501 --> 00:10:27.144
All right, and then the 25% to 60%, what's that based on Tenor?
239
00:10:27.265 --> 00:10:29.066
Is that based upon what services you're selling?
240
00:10:29.126 --> 00:10:30.447
So we base it all off revenue.
241
00:10:30.848 --> 00:10:34.531
So like back in the day, it used to be, I say back in the day, it was like five years ago.
242
00:10:34.611 --> 00:10:35.993
It used to be off customer count.
243
00:10:36.533 --> 00:10:38.235
So like I say, the first 100 customers, you got 25%.
244
00:10:38.295 --> 00:10:39.676
Oh, it's like a tiered thing almost.
245
00:10:39.776 --> 00:10:45.401
So then let's just say from 100, making these numbers up, or 100 to 200 customers, maybe you go bump up to 27%.
246
00:10:46.302 --> 00:10:46.522
Okay.
247
00:10:46.662 --> 00:10:47.983
Where a customer account to me doesn't matter.
248
00:10:48.023 --> 00:10:49.625
It's like how much revenue have you generated?
249
00:10:49.645 --> 00:10:52.167
Because you could have 1,000 customers versus 500 customers.
250
00:10:52.187 --> 00:10:54.429
With 500 customers, it could be double revenue.
251
00:10:54.449 --> 00:10:55.250
So, you know what I mean?
252
00:10:55.670 --> 00:10:56.531
So that's how I look at it.
253
00:10:56.551 --> 00:10:58.552
So we change our model to more revenue-based.
254
00:10:58.572 --> 00:11:01.355
So at tiers of revenue, let's just go, let's say 100,000.
255
00:11:01.555 --> 00:11:03.336
Again, I'm making up numbers.
256
00:11:03.677 --> 00:11:04.858
You got 25%, say 150,000, 27.
257
00:11:04.878 --> 00:11:08.420
And you work your way up to that 50% mark.
258
00:11:08.741 --> 00:11:10.082
And then everything's retroactive from there.
259
00:11:10.342 --> 00:11:17.044
Okay, so on a dollar of new revenue, you're usually giving, let's call it 25% to 50% or so.
260
00:11:17.804 --> 00:11:22.045
And then it really is a churn, customer satisfaction, and retention game.
261
00:11:22.425 --> 00:11:22.645
Got it.
262
00:11:23.425 --> 00:11:25.886
Is that where you see the downfall of people that try to do this?
263
00:11:25.986 --> 00:11:33.547
Is like if you don't have that back end built, you're basically – anytime I think 25% to 50% of revenue, I'm like, oh, my word.
264
00:11:33.587 --> 00:11:34.487
That's so risky.
265
00:11:34.828 --> 00:11:36.748
So where do you see the downfall of that model?
266
00:11:36.768 --> 00:11:36.968
Right.
267
00:11:37.468 --> 00:11:39.430
there's two downfalls.
268
00:11:39.530 --> 00:11:43.232
One, you come in as a technician, you know the service side really well, but you don't know the sales side really well.
269
00:11:43.272 --> 00:11:47.835
So you'd never really get past that $250,000 mark, typically.
270
00:11:47.935 --> 00:11:53.579
And then on sales side, it's like you really got at selling it, but now you can't service it because you're not great at servicing.
271
00:11:53.599 --> 00:11:55.900
And the technicians and training them up and the rest of it.
272
00:11:56.000 --> 00:11:58.382
So I see a lot of door-to-door companies go like,
273
00:11:59.117 --> 00:12:00.518
really crazy fast.
274
00:12:00.878 --> 00:12:05.321
And all of a sudden they're shut down because their service can't keep up or they get terrible reviews.
275
00:12:05.942 --> 00:12:10.144
And then the other side is like, now a guy tries to go sell as a technician, you can't sell.
276
00:12:11.045 --> 00:12:12.426
So you have to be good at both.
277
00:12:12.946 --> 00:12:14.427
And I just happened to not be good at both.
278
00:12:14.827 --> 00:12:16.228
But I had a really good technician with me.
279
00:12:16.248 --> 00:12:17.369
I was good on the sales side.
280
00:12:17.729 --> 00:12:23.233
I didn't have I was good enough on operations to keep us alive my old business, but wasn't like my strong suit either.
281
00:12:23.713 --> 00:12:28.577
So if someone is listening to this and they're like, okay, I'm in a service where I can't collect up front, right?
282
00:12:28.597 --> 00:12:34.402
I think that's the thing I love most about pest control is people are totally fine with paying $800 up front for the year.
283
00:12:35.082 --> 00:12:43.389
If someone's like, well, I'm more of in the business of, you know, a $50 service or I'll use mowing, for example, or even treatments in markets where people don't buy packages.
284
00:12:44.149 --> 00:12:45.791
What would you say to them if they're trying to do door hangers?
285
00:12:45.811 --> 00:12:48.513
Because it's hard to give a percentage of revenue on that.
286
00:12:48.813 --> 00:12:54.481
So I would say like if you're doing it yourself, let's say you have an operator that's out there that just started now, maybe 300,000 below.
287
00:12:54.501 --> 00:13:00.330
Like if you have nothing better to do, you can learn to sell and just go start knocking doors.
288
00:13:00.350 --> 00:13:01.652
Like it doesn't cost you anything at that point.
289
00:13:01.672 --> 00:13:05.016
Like instead of like for me, like I know you guys, I like door ringers too.
290
00:13:05.597 --> 00:13:06.938
But I'd rather go talk to someone.
291
00:13:07.298 --> 00:13:08.978
And if they're not home, then you can leave the door hanging.
292
00:13:08.998 --> 00:13:15.301
But if I can get someone outside, off the porch, get them to walk around the property, odds of me selling them are pretty high.
293
00:13:15.961 --> 00:13:17.902
So if you have the time, go do it because it doesn't cost any money.
294
00:13:17.922 --> 00:13:18.602
It costs your time.
295
00:13:18.622 --> 00:13:20.543
And early on in business, you have more time than you have money.
296
00:13:21.023 --> 00:13:23.365
So I'd spend my time, you know, doing every door direct mail.
297
00:13:23.686 --> 00:13:32.414
You're doing your door hangers, but if you add that, let's say you're doing Facebook ads, Google ads, you run all these things, but then you have teams that are there yourself knocking doors, like it just adds another piece.
298
00:13:32.854 --> 00:13:38.540
Again, it's not the end all be all by any means, but it's just another tool to use in your bucket list, you know?
299
00:13:38.560 --> 00:13:38.720
Awesome.
300
00:13:38.940 --> 00:13:48.792
I think for me, like a lot of times when I hear people rebuttal, I'm just trying to play devil's advocate on the door knocking strategy where 25 to 50 percent of revenues out the door on year one.
301
00:13:49.373 --> 00:13:53.157
A lot of people are like, well, that works great as an owner operator because I don't have to pay the 25 to 50 percent.
302
00:13:53.177 --> 00:13:53.458
For sure.
303
00:13:53.938 --> 00:13:59.440
But that model breaks down as soon as I hire someone and 50% of my revenue is out the door.
304
00:13:59.460 --> 00:14:01.020
I'm not making money on the customer for a year.
305
00:14:01.300 --> 00:14:12.324
So meaning that if my churn is anywhere close to even two years, like how do you keep the customer for three, four, five years to make sure you can actually make sense of that?
306
00:14:12.344 --> 00:14:13.765
I think that's a lot of touch points, right?
307
00:14:13.925 --> 00:14:15.225
It's like it's not one thing.
308
00:14:15.245 --> 00:14:16.546
It's make sure you're following up really well.
309
00:14:16.566 --> 00:14:17.126
Make sure you do that.
310
00:14:17.766 --> 00:14:19.747
Again, you want to make sure your introduction call.
311
00:14:20.827 --> 00:14:23.009
Yes, they're signing the sales guys at the door.
312
00:14:23.029 --> 00:14:24.289
They're signing the agreement.
313
00:14:24.330 --> 00:14:25.330
They're going through everything.
314
00:14:25.510 --> 00:14:27.252
Everything's like signed, documented.
315
00:14:27.592 --> 00:14:29.793
Then make sure you have a follow-up call maybe two days later.
316
00:14:29.813 --> 00:14:33.576
Hey, just want to make sure you got everything that you need, like how it's the first service.
317
00:14:33.616 --> 00:14:37.399
Make sure that your branch manager or yourself is going to check on that service after technicians leave.
318
00:14:37.819 --> 00:14:40.261
It's doing the nurture nature emails too.
319
00:14:40.281 --> 00:14:41.582
And just more information.
320
00:14:42.462 --> 00:14:43.865
more touch points in that first year.
321
00:14:43.925 --> 00:14:47.110
Maybe that's what your second year, because you can turn on the frequency after that.
322
00:14:47.130 --> 00:14:48.653
Just make sure you have a lot of touch points.
323
00:14:49.053 --> 00:14:51.036
That's why we added the 30-day follow-up as well.
324
00:14:51.537 --> 00:14:56.005
So we're out there, their first initial treatment, I would call it a flush out, and then we're there 30 days later.
325
00:14:56.896 --> 00:15:05.487
Part of it is to pull something that money forward, but also the other part of it is to just have one more touch point with that customer.
326
00:15:05.547 --> 00:15:11.174
So now you see them an additional time per year, and you have your managers following up, make sure the technician did a good job.
327
00:15:11.214 --> 00:15:14.919
He's doing his ghost inspections, and then he's talking to the customer, make sure everything's going good for them.
328
00:15:15.219 --> 00:15:15.759
Cool.
329
00:15:15.820 --> 00:15:20.083
One thing I was looking at the other day, I kind of went through all the pest control P&Ls that I've seen.
330
00:15:20.403 --> 00:15:22.985
And I was comparing like the last 100 or so lawn care ones.
331
00:15:23.426 --> 00:15:31.132
And I think the biggest difference I saw was the difference in cost of goods sold, direct labor on lawn care and landscaping versus the pest control.
332
00:15:31.192 --> 00:15:37.977
It was a lot more in admin and sales because the touch point, like you have a thousand customers, right?
333
00:15:38.277 --> 00:15:38.758
And you have...
334
00:15:39.418 --> 00:16:04.220
multiple people knocking on the door lots of phone calls lots of touch points to your point to keep the the how do you make sense of that and what percentages do you kind of see as a breakdown of when i'm paying labor obviously for home services big chunk of our expenses we're just talking about that this morning because someone posted in our in our group is like you know asking what is your labor at and we've seen like 40s and 50s yeah and so we pay we're going to pay for pay for performance model too so i'd say it's under 20 percent
335
00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:06.340
And that's for operation, like doing the, for the technician.
336
00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:06.620
Got it.
337
00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:08.261
The cogs were like high 30s.
338
00:16:08.561 --> 00:16:08.741
Got it.
339
00:16:08.761 --> 00:16:09.341
And low 30s.
340
00:16:09.601 --> 00:16:12.742
And then for admin and operations, is there a functional percentage?
341
00:16:12.762 --> 00:16:14.742
I know it scales, so it's different somewhat.
342
00:16:14.982 --> 00:16:20.583
But like, because that's the part I saw different is like, once I get lawn care or landscaping, like, I don't have a lot of calls.
343
00:16:20.603 --> 00:16:22.583
I don't, like, they have a car and file and I never touch them, right?
344
00:16:22.983 --> 00:16:26.304
When it comes to this game of like, I have to reduce churn at all costs.
345
00:16:26.864 --> 00:16:30.705
How do you look at that as a way to balance that and make sure the numbers are still working?
346
00:16:30.745 --> 00:16:31.145
Yeah.
347
00:16:31.185 --> 00:16:31.425
So it.
348
00:16:32.546 --> 00:16:35.491
And that's like building up the call center was for me was one of the hardest parts.
349
00:16:35.511 --> 00:16:35.992
Yeah, it's hard.
350
00:16:36.012 --> 00:16:36.153
Yeah.
351
00:16:36.233 --> 00:16:37.475
And I struggled.
352
00:16:37.976 --> 00:16:38.557
I'll be honest.
353
00:16:38.577 --> 00:16:39.578
Like, this is who I am.
354
00:16:39.619 --> 00:16:42.043
It took me like four months of like...
355
00:16:42.752 --> 00:16:45.553
nonstop crazy work just trying to figure out the call center.
356
00:16:46.133 --> 00:16:49.493
And although it's that perfect, it's getting there.
357
00:16:49.793 --> 00:16:55.054
But that was that's actually the hardest part because like we'll get a thousand calls a day, like especially during spring.
358
00:16:55.074 --> 00:16:57.995
Like it's wild, you know, but so I wasn't prepared for that.
359
00:16:58.715 --> 00:17:03.296
So we had some VAs that we talked about before we started the podcast that worked really well.
360
00:17:03.496 --> 00:17:05.976
We sort of build a little call center, really dialed it in.
361
00:17:06.056 --> 00:17:07.196
That was one of the hardest parts for me.
362
00:17:07.376 --> 00:17:09.657
Yeah, because it's a lot more admin and overhead.
363
00:17:09.717 --> 00:17:10.257
It just really is.
364
00:17:10.637 --> 00:17:13.938
So when you're growing from the sales perspective, what percentage are you kind of targeting?
365
00:17:14.198 --> 00:17:20.620
I don't obviously first year revenue 25 to 50%, but that's not of your P and L, especially your two, three, four, and beyond.
366
00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:22.861
So the first year is going to be hard for you to get through.
367
00:17:23.061 --> 00:17:23.661
That's tough.
368
00:17:23.981 --> 00:17:27.222
And so like that first year is just me and a couple guys where it made sense.
369
00:17:27.242 --> 00:17:30.503
So I wasn't paying, you know, I think our top guy was like 25%.
370
00:17:30.783 --> 00:17:31.843
So it wasn't crazy numbers.
371
00:17:31.863 --> 00:17:33.564
It wasn't 50, 80, or a hundred.
372
00:17:34.464 --> 00:17:35.744
But we were paying them like per service.
373
00:17:35.764 --> 00:17:37.765
So if they canceled, they weren't getting paid on it either.
374
00:17:38.686 --> 00:17:38.946
Okay.
375
00:17:39.206 --> 00:17:39.426
Okay.
376
00:17:39.587 --> 00:17:41.188
So on a per service basis, they are making that.
377
00:17:41.488 --> 00:17:43.710
So if they canceled, that money is done.
378
00:17:44.251 --> 00:17:44.611
Interesting.
379
00:17:44.631 --> 00:17:46.733
So that was almost like, how do you keep track of that?
380
00:17:47.073 --> 00:17:48.354
So that's our software does it all.
381
00:17:48.575 --> 00:17:48.935
Got it.
382
00:17:48.955 --> 00:17:53.559
So when we were talking to your team down there, they asked the software reason why we switch them service out about it.
383
00:17:53.919 --> 00:17:58.984
And that was one of the biggest reasons because we're like trying to just really track commissions and making sure that we pay per service.
384
00:17:59.044 --> 00:17:59.905
And yeah, it's a lot.
385
00:18:00.145 --> 00:18:06.829
A lot of people wonder what makes homeworks different than any other CRM like Jobber, Service Autopilot or Housecall Pro.
386
00:18:07.249 --> 00:18:08.069
There's a couple of big things.
387
00:18:08.149 --> 00:18:11.431
One of them is that we actually have an office with real support people from the U.S.
388
00:18:11.691 --> 00:18:15.353
They're going to answer phones, chat and video calls throughout the day.
389
00:18:15.753 --> 00:18:17.554
The other thing is we're not owned by private equity.
390
00:18:17.955 --> 00:18:23.918
I own all the company and I'm making sure that this tool is built for your home service business so you can take it to the next level.
391
00:18:24.078 --> 00:18:27.982
Because now it's like year two if there's a residual and then someone does an upsell.
392
00:18:28.082 --> 00:18:29.304
It's like, wow, that's a lot of tracking.
393
00:18:29.324 --> 00:18:30.265
There's a lot of tracking.
394
00:18:30.365 --> 00:18:32.367
And so in terms of it, we just wasn't great at that.
395
00:18:32.427 --> 00:18:33.808
That's the only reason we changed.
396
00:18:33.888 --> 00:18:44.259
For the technician side of things, I think a lot of times people say, oh, I can't do pest control or even weed control and fertilizer from the certification side of things.
397
00:18:44.299 --> 00:18:44.800
Yeah, that's hard to do.
398
00:18:44.920 --> 00:18:49.863
And so where do you see those as the roadblocks and how have you navigated that in trying to do so many locations?
399
00:18:49.883 --> 00:18:50.944
Yeah, so it was great.
400
00:18:51.004 --> 00:18:51.684
That's a great topic.
401
00:18:51.704 --> 00:18:53.986
So we built out a training platform, probably like you did, too.
402
00:18:54.746 --> 00:19:00.610
So like the majority of what they learn the first two, three days is going to be from that book where it just speeds up the process.
403
00:19:00.630 --> 00:19:00.970
So like.
404
00:19:02.411 --> 00:19:06.754
We bring someone new that's never done it before, we can get them up to speed to pass their test within that first week, week and a half.
405
00:19:07.135 --> 00:19:09.556
And so how is that different than taking a state exam?
406
00:19:09.636 --> 00:19:10.297
It's the same one.
407
00:19:10.417 --> 00:19:11.057
Got it.
408
00:19:11.177 --> 00:19:14.439
Our training basically goes off of the book that they're gonna study from.
409
00:19:14.899 --> 00:19:15.179
Got it.
410
00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:18.581
So we try to, because people don't like reading anymore.
411
00:19:18.681 --> 00:19:20.342
Got it, so you made a trained video of the book.
412
00:19:20.362 --> 00:19:21.643
So we made a trained video of the book.
413
00:19:21.863 --> 00:19:23.284
From the test and all the questions.
414
00:19:23.324 --> 00:19:25.545
So every time I took a test or someone else took tests,
415
00:19:26.005 --> 00:19:29.927
We just come back and remember the questions and highlight them in the book and then made the training based off those.
416
00:19:30.427 --> 00:19:31.848
So that way we can speed up the process.
417
00:19:31.888 --> 00:19:35.270
Like the first, I think the first two days are just going through all the videos.
418
00:19:35.510 --> 00:19:39.992
They're learning and they're on the truck doing with our technician just learning.
419
00:19:40.012 --> 00:19:43.414
And then I think by the second or third week they're getting their license on their own.
420
00:19:43.534 --> 00:19:44.935
But it's definitely a bottleneck for sure.
421
00:19:45.175 --> 00:19:46.576
Is that a state license or national?
422
00:19:46.636 --> 00:19:47.236
It's a state license.
423
00:19:47.256 --> 00:19:49.198
Because that's what we're running into right now.
424
00:19:49.218 --> 00:19:49.498
It's tough.
425
00:19:49.598 --> 00:19:51.640
So this year we're moving into for a bunch.
426
00:19:52.040 --> 00:19:52.260
Yeah.
427
00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:54.261
Kind of mostly because we get so many leads for it.
428
00:19:54.602 --> 00:19:56.103
And I'm like, how do I train this?
429
00:19:56.603 --> 00:19:58.784
Because every single state, it's not just like a little bit different.
430
00:19:58.844 --> 00:19:59.025
Yeah.
431
00:19:59.105 --> 00:20:00.065
It is completely different.
432
00:20:00.085 --> 00:20:01.106
Completely different.
433
00:20:01.446 --> 00:20:02.367
And every state's different.
434
00:20:02.467 --> 00:20:03.127
Oh, yeah.
435
00:20:03.408 --> 00:20:03.628
Yeah.
436
00:20:03.708 --> 00:20:06.270
And then, yeah, every grass type.
437
00:20:06.290 --> 00:20:08.051
Like, I cannot make a training system.
438
00:20:08.071 --> 00:20:08.811
Like, watch this.
439
00:20:09.212 --> 00:20:09.472
So...
440
00:20:10.713 --> 00:20:13.536
being selfish for a moment, what would you do for that sort of scenario?
441
00:20:13.596 --> 00:20:18.841
Or is it more a matter of like, hey, you got to go to your state and you got to look this up on chat to BT and figure out what you got to do.
442
00:20:19.221 --> 00:20:21.063
But we really can't help on the training side.
443
00:20:21.464 --> 00:20:23.966
You can help on the train side, but you can't help them pass their tests.
444
00:20:24.186 --> 00:20:24.386
Right.
445
00:20:24.426 --> 00:20:25.948
So there's a bunch of apps that they can use.
446
00:20:26.308 --> 00:20:29.451
So general knowledge, general knowledge, like, because it's like most of it's,
447
00:20:30.568 --> 00:20:31.309
general knowledge.
448
00:20:31.850 --> 00:20:32.931
Like most of it really is.
449
00:20:32.991 --> 00:20:36.616
But then there's some compliance stuff, you know, like the PPE and just all that stuff that's normal.
450
00:20:36.636 --> 00:20:41.182
But then there's like specific state regulations that we have to train on for each different state.
451
00:20:41.202 --> 00:20:45.768
So every time we go into a new state, we're creating a new video so we can onboard these technicians.
452
00:20:45.788 --> 00:20:46.929
Because like, we're,
453
00:20:48.151 --> 00:20:51.275
I don't mean to veer off, but most of like the industry is changing for us too.
454
00:20:51.495 --> 00:20:55.280
Where all of our sales guys now have to be licensed.
455
00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:55.800
Really?
456
00:20:55.961 --> 00:20:56.161
Yeah.
457
00:20:56.201 --> 00:20:58.003
Because they're diagnosing, like they're doing things.
458
00:20:58.023 --> 00:20:59.465
Yeah, because they're actually selling the service.
459
00:20:59.485 --> 00:21:01.948
So they're like, they're trying to regulate people knocking doors.
460
00:21:02.108 --> 00:21:02.268
Wow.
461
00:21:02.289 --> 00:21:02.369
Wow.
462
00:21:02.669 --> 00:21:04.711
Because it can be very invasive.
463
00:21:04.771 --> 00:21:07.514
And some big companies ruined it for a lot of people.
464
00:21:07.814 --> 00:21:09.356
I would say big companies.
465
00:21:09.776 --> 00:21:10.777
Some sales guys just ruined it.
466
00:21:11.398 --> 00:21:14.080
And so they're really cracking down.
467
00:21:14.821 --> 00:21:17.223
So now all of our sales guys have to be licensed too.
468
00:21:17.463 --> 00:21:20.206
So that's just another bottleneck that we had to solve.
469
00:21:20.586 --> 00:21:24.991
So one of our states that we're in, they made it pretty simple, where you can just go to an eight-hour class and...
470
00:21:25.591 --> 00:21:27.934
And then you are basically go service long.
471
00:21:27.954 --> 00:21:29.015
Somebody already has the license.
472
00:21:29.236 --> 00:21:29.436
Wow.
473
00:21:29.576 --> 00:21:34.482
And then there's states like Michigan or Wisconsin where like you have to go get certified and licensed to be a technician.
474
00:21:34.502 --> 00:21:36.104
So there's definitely a bottleneck.
475
00:21:36.264 --> 00:21:40.068
But then what we did, like I said, is we just, we went in, we took the test.
476
00:21:41.089 --> 00:21:41.870
I held license.
477
00:21:41.950 --> 00:21:44.153
Most of the states, not all learned, uh,
478
00:21:45.594 --> 00:22:08.340
The question runs that's I go back to you with the book except highlight them then I just created trainings around that So when they come in we onboard them they're watching training take the first two three days And they have like a quiz through each little one helps them prepare for the test And they typically still don't pass the first time, but it's their second time though really well Interesting did the quest test questions change change every single time so they have like three They typically have three tests and although like it might be the same question.
479
00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:09.720
It's just asked for me got it.
480
00:22:09.740 --> 00:22:09.820
Yeah
481
00:22:10.080 --> 00:22:10.340
Got it.
482
00:22:10.420 --> 00:22:10.780
Interesting.
483
00:22:10.941 --> 00:22:12.201
Yeah, that's our biggest ball right now.
484
00:22:12.221 --> 00:22:13.822
It's like everyone's like, we need training.
485
00:22:13.842 --> 00:22:18.245
And I'm like, yeah, but I need to create 50 different video modules for completely different.
486
00:22:18.265 --> 00:22:21.947
Like, I can't mention your no one knows what that chemical is in this other market.
487
00:22:21.967 --> 00:22:22.107
Yeah.
488
00:22:22.327 --> 00:22:26.149
And most of them like aren't chemical specific, I should say.
489
00:22:26.169 --> 00:22:26.489
Right.
490
00:22:26.529 --> 00:22:31.212
They're more just like like just general questions, you know, like.
491
00:22:31.352 --> 00:23:00.679
it really is and it's really not that hard but if you've never taken a test like that before it's like it's just new one you get nervous too like it's new maybe not good at guessing uh so they fail and like oh i know how to now i know we're gonna go back and look for a study again and they just pass their second time yeah my biggest thing is i don't want to just add like hey watch these two days of videos but you still gotta go watch your state specific stuff and do the whole book because you still need that to pass and then i'm just adding to their plate essentially right so that's a bit of our our current bottom yeah i think we're trying to figure out yeah it's
492
00:23:02.060 --> 00:23:25.075
it's not hard but at the same time it's like that's that's what we did it's worked really really good and like and every state is different there's some states that are really hard like minnesota was harder north carolina was harder uh and those are just they're tough yeah where do you see the benefit of doing the 17 locations right so correct me if i'm wrong around 10 million in revenue is right now yeah we're like yeah we sold we're like we sold enough to do 18 for this year
493
00:23:25.255 --> 00:23:25.455
Cool.
494
00:23:25.695 --> 00:23:26.917
Oh, because you're so much ahead.
495
00:23:27.217 --> 00:23:31.060
Okay, so approximately, let's call it around a million per location.
496
00:23:31.581 --> 00:23:37.887
What's the benefit of doing that versus going to a big market that has 20 million people and just making a $10 million company?
497
00:23:37.947 --> 00:23:39.368
Why have you broken it up that way?
498
00:23:39.548 --> 00:23:40.489
That's a great question.
499
00:23:40.769 --> 00:23:41.991
It's because I came from a small town.
500
00:23:42.691 --> 00:23:45.775
And so the closest biggest town from me was two hours.
501
00:23:46.235 --> 00:23:48.218
And then from there, we just kind of started hitting all the small towns.
502
00:23:48.238 --> 00:23:50.340
So like, I don't know if you ever read Sam Moulton's book.
503
00:23:50.420 --> 00:23:51.061
Yep.
504
00:23:51.561 --> 00:23:52.462
We follow that same model.
505
00:23:52.482 --> 00:23:52.743
Yeah, 100%.
506
00:23:52.763 --> 00:23:54.425
It's one of my favorite books, Made in America.
507
00:23:54.445 --> 00:23:54.745
Me too.
508
00:23:54.825 --> 00:24:00.892
So we built all of our locations around the big cities first, and then moved into the big cities last.
509
00:24:00.972 --> 00:24:01.072
Yeah.
510
00:24:01.132 --> 00:24:03.753
And that's usually where our target market is at in the suburbs.
511
00:24:03.773 --> 00:24:04.414
We do the same thing.
512
00:24:04.614 --> 00:24:04.914
Got it.
513
00:24:04.954 --> 00:24:05.154
Yeah.
514
00:24:05.174 --> 00:24:07.175
So that's exactly we're looking for those same markets.
515
00:24:07.275 --> 00:24:13.419
And that's why we've been able to grow so fast because typically those big corporations, big companies are focused on those areas.
516
00:24:13.559 --> 00:24:13.839
Got it.
517
00:24:13.859 --> 00:24:17.281
So like they'll be like, hey, yeah, we're going to burn five million going into Houston.
518
00:24:17.421 --> 00:24:19.022
You're like, yeah, let's go with the five markets around.
519
00:24:19.082 --> 00:24:19.482
Exactly.
520
00:24:19.662 --> 00:24:19.842
Got it.
521
00:24:19.882 --> 00:24:20.282
And then work.
522
00:24:20.302 --> 00:24:22.563
So like we did send them like Madison and Milwaukee.
523
00:24:22.603 --> 00:24:24.925
We went all the small towns around it and then moved in there last.
524
00:24:25.305 --> 00:24:25.585
Got it.
525
00:24:25.605 --> 00:24:29.147
So like we are in those big cities now that can hold an eight to ten million dollar branch.
526
00:24:29.347 --> 00:24:33.370
But after a few years of brand penetration and ranking on SEO and stuff like that.
527
00:24:33.390 --> 00:24:33.550
Yeah.
528
00:24:33.790 --> 00:24:34.090
Very cool.
529
00:24:34.231 --> 00:24:36.512
And from an organizational perspective, how does that look?
530
00:24:36.552 --> 00:24:39.995
So let's say a million in revenue, several technicians underneath.
531
00:24:40.015 --> 00:24:40.655
Three technicians.
532
00:24:40.755 --> 00:24:43.297
And you have three technicians and like a lead tech.
533
00:24:43.762 --> 00:24:47.666
And then the sales, is that separate from the operations side?
534
00:24:47.886 --> 00:24:49.507
It's technically a whole different entity.
535
00:24:49.807 --> 00:24:50.208
Oh, really?
536
00:24:50.248 --> 00:24:51.929
Okay, so we get the work.
537
00:24:51.989 --> 00:24:57.134
Sales is completely removed from the operations of a technician underneath a general manager.
538
00:24:57.154 --> 00:24:57.394
Got it.
539
00:24:57.434 --> 00:24:58.015
Okay, interesting.
540
00:24:58.415 --> 00:24:59.656
And why have you done it that way?
541
00:24:59.756 --> 00:25:03.579
Is it mostly... Because I'll just play my devil out of here as a general manager.
542
00:25:04.080 --> 00:25:05.641
I can't control what you guys are doing in the sales team.
543
00:25:05.661 --> 00:25:05.841
Right.
544
00:25:06.101 --> 00:25:07.102
I just get my leads.
545
00:25:07.142 --> 00:25:07.803
You want me to grow?
546
00:25:07.883 --> 00:25:08.143
Cool.
547
00:25:08.163 --> 00:25:08.524
But like...
548
00:25:09.144 --> 00:25:11.846
you guys aren't giving me enough leads or like, I'm not getting enough work.
549
00:25:11.866 --> 00:25:14.389
Like I, Hey, I got three technicians over here sitting there, throwing the thumbs.
550
00:25:14.689 --> 00:25:16.531
How do you balance that with the general managers?
551
00:25:16.551 --> 00:25:17.852
Don't really have control of the sales.
552
00:25:18.272 --> 00:25:19.533
Uh, they're heavily involved.
553
00:25:19.573 --> 00:25:26.419
So, so like every single morning we have a sales meeting and then he's usually the link between like the branch manager is the link between the sales team and then the service team.
554
00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:26.840
Got it.
555
00:25:27.040 --> 00:25:32.665
And so they, they typically have like start technicians that they have on the schedule waiting for the sales team to sell.
556
00:25:33.215 --> 00:25:39.840
Okay, so sale goes to the lead technician, the start technician, and then it would go on an ongoing basis.
557
00:25:39.880 --> 00:25:44.564
Yeah, so when the guys are on the doors, they can literally schedule right from their app.
558
00:25:44.764 --> 00:25:45.064
Got it.
559
00:25:45.084 --> 00:25:49.407
So then as soon as they see it pop up on their job pool, then they're heading out to their job.
560
00:25:49.848 --> 00:25:50.148
Got it.
561
00:25:50.168 --> 00:25:54.851
So it's really the handoff is like that first technician getting there, really solidifying their relationship.
562
00:25:54.871 --> 00:25:58.334
And then usually the other two or three technicians are just doing reoccurring from before.
563
00:25:58.733 --> 00:26:04.395
When it's so important to reduce churn and have those touch points, one thing you mentioned is like having that start technician.
564
00:26:04.915 --> 00:26:15.138
Walk me through that step and that process because I would imagine like almost everything recurring, you have a spike of churn and as long as you can get past the first three months, you basically got them forever.
565
00:26:15.778 --> 00:26:18.819
What are you doing in terms of touch points as well as that initial visit?
566
00:26:19.070 --> 00:26:22.352
And it's a simple thing like so obviously there's sales guys there.
567
00:26:22.712 --> 00:26:24.893
They usually build a ton of rapport.
568
00:26:25.693 --> 00:26:27.855
And then they're signing the agreements, doing all that stuff.
569
00:26:28.215 --> 00:26:30.356
And then typically it's the same day or the next day.
570
00:26:30.516 --> 00:26:33.337
I actually like next day better than the same day because they're going to cancel.
571
00:26:33.457 --> 00:26:35.138
I'd rather them cancel before we do the service.
572
00:26:35.479 --> 00:26:36.659
It's not true churn.
573
00:26:36.859 --> 00:26:37.900
They just cancel before the service.
574
00:26:38.600 --> 00:26:40.321
So I try to keep it up 24 hours.
575
00:26:40.341 --> 00:26:41.181
That doesn't always happen.
576
00:26:41.201 --> 00:26:42.102
Sometimes you have to move them up.
577
00:26:42.342 --> 00:26:43.784
Do you know what that looks like?
578
00:26:43.804 --> 00:26:45.767
If you say, hey, it's next week versus tomorrow.
579
00:26:45.787 --> 00:26:47.649
Have you do you know what that turn difference is?
580
00:26:47.709 --> 00:26:48.570
Usually about 10 percent.
581
00:26:48.791 --> 00:26:49.712
Well, so 10 percent.
582
00:26:50.153 --> 00:26:51.715
If you just say, hey, next week will be there.
583
00:26:51.735 --> 00:26:53.537
10 percent are just going to be like, I forgot.
584
00:26:53.557 --> 00:26:54.338
You know, forget it.
585
00:26:54.478 --> 00:26:55.139
OK, interesting.
586
00:26:55.259 --> 00:26:56.501
She's like, hey, just get you on tomorrow.
587
00:26:56.521 --> 00:26:57.883
Sales guys love it.
588
00:26:57.923 --> 00:26:58.364
Same day.
589
00:26:58.904 --> 00:26:59.344
Really?
590
00:26:59.364 --> 00:27:01.666
Because that's how they're getting paid.
591
00:27:01.686 --> 00:27:03.547
So they want it done that same day.
592
00:27:03.567 --> 00:27:03.868
Got it.
593
00:27:03.968 --> 00:27:05.129
Because it's going to get service.
594
00:27:05.229 --> 00:27:09.392
Where I, as the owner, would rather push it off a day rather than cancel before.
595
00:27:09.672 --> 00:27:10.032
Interesting.
596
00:27:10.332 --> 00:27:13.675
Yeah, we've noticed too, like if we say, even from a moment, it's like, well, you're on Mondays.
597
00:27:13.775 --> 00:27:13.995
Yeah.
598
00:27:14.075 --> 00:27:17.597
Well, if that's being sold on a Tuesday, there's some likelihood.
599
00:27:17.858 --> 00:27:19.359
10% is quite substantial.
600
00:27:19.619 --> 00:27:21.900
And what I find is people don't even measure that in their close rate, right?
601
00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:23.281
Because it's like, well, I closed the job.
602
00:27:23.321 --> 00:27:25.023
You did, but they never did service.
603
00:27:25.043 --> 00:27:25.203
Right.
604
00:27:25.663 --> 00:27:29.465
So, okay, 10% leakage essentially by just having too much added time.
605
00:27:29.966 --> 00:27:33.588
So within 24 hours, awesome next day, better yet, day of.
606
00:27:33.728 --> 00:27:34.688
What else are we doing in that?
607
00:27:34.708 --> 00:27:36.169
And then from there, it's usually the next day.
608
00:27:36.209 --> 00:27:40.172
They're going to call ahead from like our office and, hey, something to be out there, automated text to you.
609
00:27:40.192 --> 00:27:45.755
So X, Y, Z person is going to be out there at this time, usually like half hour or 20 minute time slots.
610
00:27:46.315 --> 00:27:48.237
Get there, knock the door, talk to the customer.
611
00:27:48.397 --> 00:27:53.800
That's when we try to introduce like our welcome packet, give away a few things, goodies, just to try it like dog treats, things like that.
612
00:27:54.501 --> 00:28:02.230
Uh, just, uh, not, it's not so more like, it's more like if we mess up, like they'll give us another opportunity cause we're so good in the first service.
613
00:28:02.350 --> 00:28:02.611
Got it.
614
00:28:02.851 --> 00:28:09.339
So it's not like it's, uh, it's not, it doesn't solve all the problems, but it just, it's that thing that gives you like to get back out there to talk to him more time.
615
00:28:09.679 --> 00:28:11.761
And so from there, we're going to do the service.
616
00:28:12.122 --> 00:28:15.846
And then the next day, they'll get another call from our office, just follow up, make sure that service went good.
617
00:28:16.266 --> 00:28:21.352
Usually like seven to 12 days after that, usually when our branch manager go there and just do a walk around, make sure everything looks good.
618
00:28:21.752 --> 00:28:29.060
Talk to the customer, make sure that, you know, that they had a pleasant, you know, the sales guy was good, that the technician was good, that they're always taken care of.
619
00:28:29.120 --> 00:28:32.201
So I imagine the thing that hurts most is someone who churns within like the first month.
620
00:28:32.382 --> 00:28:32.762
Exactly.
621
00:28:32.782 --> 00:28:34.663
Because you've had a high touch service.
622
00:28:34.863 --> 00:28:36.163
You've had a sales commission.
623
00:28:36.183 --> 00:28:38.384
That's why you push up that 30-day follow-up.
624
00:28:38.625 --> 00:28:38.805
Got it.
625
00:28:38.825 --> 00:28:41.626
To make sure that we're coming out there within 30 days to try to recoup some of that money.
626
00:28:42.326 --> 00:28:45.208
And if someone does stay for, say, three months.
627
00:28:45.228 --> 00:28:45.408
Yeah.
628
00:28:46.507 --> 00:28:47.988
what does that churn difference look like?
629
00:28:48.008 --> 00:28:52.411
If you say, Hey, if they're going to turn the 80% turn, like, do you have those numbers?
630
00:28:52.611 --> 00:28:56.894
And mostly just for the sake of like the importance of those first 90s.
631
00:28:56.934 --> 00:28:58.135
It's even something with software.
632
00:28:58.195 --> 00:28:59.716
It's still, it's still like a 10%.
633
00:28:59.916 --> 00:29:00.196
Really?
634
00:29:00.396 --> 00:29:00.917
Yeah.
635
00:29:01.157 --> 00:29:03.118
Then after like that 90 days, then we're good.
636
00:29:03.638 --> 00:29:08.021
You know, then we usually stay like most branches that are, are 80% plus.
637
00:29:08.302 --> 00:29:13.325
We have a few that are really tough markets that are like 75%, a little lower, but overall, you know,
638
00:29:13.485 --> 00:29:17.026
So 20 to 25% churn annually is pretty normal.
639
00:29:17.066 --> 00:29:17.866
Yeah, it's normal.
640
00:29:17.886 --> 00:29:20.007
So that's why like door to door gets a really bad name.
641
00:29:20.347 --> 00:29:21.247
Churn rate can be crazy.
642
00:29:21.307 --> 00:29:23.108
That's just who sells on the door and how it's sold.
643
00:29:23.668 --> 00:29:24.988
Like it can be done the right way.
644
00:29:25.008 --> 00:29:26.849
And that's where we've done a really good job.
645
00:29:27.049 --> 00:29:30.130
And where do you see the churn rate where it's like alarm bells go off?
646
00:29:30.170 --> 00:29:31.790
Is it 50% like basically two years of service?
647
00:29:31.810 --> 00:29:34.691
Yeah, I've talked to people who are 50% lower and it's like, oof.
648
00:29:35.071 --> 00:29:36.832
Like we personally, knock on wood,
649
00:29:37.052 --> 00:29:40.874
We haven't had that happen to us yet, but I've seen some markets that are just tough.
650
00:29:40.934 --> 00:29:43.736
Like a lot of big door-to-door companies, and they're really good at switchovers.
651
00:29:44.577 --> 00:29:47.719
So they'll knock on the door and be like, hey, oh, you do have service, or I saw your sign up.
652
00:29:47.739 --> 00:29:48.439
We do that too.
653
00:29:48.639 --> 00:29:49.199
Got it.
654
00:29:49.600 --> 00:29:55.083
But when you get into like the big markets, and there's a lot of big companies, and they're switching over people like crazy.
655
00:29:55.375 --> 00:29:55.695
Really?
656
00:29:55.735 --> 00:29:57.676
So that's where churn comes to play.
657
00:29:57.716 --> 00:30:01.877
Yeah, and I've seen churn at 50%, and every single year you have to make up with a 3% churn and then try to grow 10%, 20%.
658
00:30:01.897 --> 00:30:02.297
That's tough.
659
00:30:02.317 --> 00:30:03.438
I pay that commission up front.
660
00:30:03.458 --> 00:30:03.918
That's brutal.
661
00:30:04.218 --> 00:30:04.338
It is.
662
00:30:04.358 --> 00:30:04.498
Cool.
663
00:30:04.678 --> 00:30:05.498
Very cool.
664
00:30:05.638 --> 00:30:09.560
For home services in general, I know we talked a lot about door-to-door stuff.
665
00:30:10.040 --> 00:30:16.122
What do you see right now in 2026 as sort of being an opportunity that people aren't exploiting fully?
666
00:30:17.242 --> 00:30:21.904
And more broadly, probably sales side, because I think that's really the part that I see as a huge strength of yours is like,
667
00:30:22.604 --> 00:30:23.785
Growing scaling quickly.
668
00:30:24.525 --> 00:30:28.787
What are some of the untapped sort of things that people can can use this year because it's your channel.
669
00:30:28.847 --> 00:30:31.228
And I think that's this is true, though.
670
00:30:31.688 --> 00:30:33.789
I think door to door sales for position.
671
00:30:33.809 --> 00:30:36.070
We control mowing is a blue ocean.
672
00:30:36.931 --> 00:30:37.531
It's wide open.
673
00:30:37.791 --> 00:30:38.271
No one does it.
674
00:30:38.772 --> 00:30:44.654
And what's the what's the main differentiator between those who do it well and crush it versus the people that do it.
675
00:30:45.135 --> 00:30:46.335
And it's OK.
676
00:30:46.355 --> 00:30:47.056
There's bad turn.
677
00:30:47.076 --> 00:30:47.696
I can't upsell anyone.
678
00:30:47.716 --> 00:30:48.816
There's bad quality customers.
679
00:30:49.317 --> 00:30:50.217
All the other list of stuff.
680
00:30:50.897 --> 00:30:58.423
I would think demographics probably like not like something they don't pay attention to that they need to pay attention to like doing your homework first You're going knocking the door.
681
00:30:58.443 --> 00:31:11.914
Let's say they can't afford it, but you're good at selling That alone could increase your turn because they're just gonna cancel anyway Just knowing your demographics of where you're knocking doors make sure you know like a decent neighborhood and then from there I would say I
682
00:31:15.535 --> 00:31:16.156
It's another good one.
683
00:31:16.816 --> 00:31:18.518
Just being honest.
684
00:31:18.718 --> 00:31:19.880
Honestly, it's not that hard.
685
00:31:20.020 --> 00:31:21.281
Just explain the service really well.
686
00:31:21.582 --> 00:31:22.783
Explain exactly what they're getting.
687
00:31:23.163 --> 00:31:26.287
Show them if you have a cancellation fee, what the cancellation fee looks like.
688
00:31:26.507 --> 00:31:29.510
Just go through the full agreement and be open book because they're going to find it anyway.
689
00:31:30.171 --> 00:31:30.792
And so that's right.
690
00:31:30.832 --> 00:31:35.116
I mean, just be very honest because if they got something the next day that says something totally different than what you told them, they're going to cancel.
691
00:31:35.257 --> 00:31:35.357
Yeah.
692
00:31:35.377 --> 00:31:35.477
Yeah.
693
00:31:35.777 --> 00:31:40.839
I think that's the part, like people watch my stuff or your stuff and like they, they get the sales, especially young guys.
694
00:31:41.079 --> 00:31:41.919
They're good at selling.
695
00:31:41.999 --> 00:31:42.679
They're ambitious.
696
00:31:43.240 --> 00:31:44.360
Like they can open the door.
697
00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:45.300
They have no fear.
698
00:31:45.740 --> 00:31:52.303
And then it's like, well, but you, if you don't service them, like if you don't solve their problem, the whole reason they signed, like they hired you.
699
00:31:52.323 --> 00:31:53.443
That's all that people want, right?
700
00:31:53.463 --> 00:31:54.263
Is you to solve their problem.
701
00:31:54.363 --> 00:31:54.563
Yeah.
702
00:31:54.683 --> 00:31:55.484
That's all you have to do.
703
00:31:55.544 --> 00:31:58.245
Like, and I just made a video recently about sales.
704
00:31:58.265 --> 00:32:02.066
Like most companies overcomplicate sales and just doesn't have to be complicated.
705
00:32:02.086 --> 00:32:04.827
They're calling, solve their problem, get their card on file.
706
00:32:04.867 --> 00:32:04.967
It's.
707
00:32:05.167 --> 00:32:05.689
That easy.
708
00:32:05.790 --> 00:32:05.970
Yeah.
709
00:32:06.492 --> 00:32:06.753
Awesome.
710
00:32:06.994 --> 00:32:08.740
Well, thanks so much, Jonas, for coming by.
711
00:32:08.780 --> 00:32:09.402
I appreciate it.
712
00:32:09.703 --> 00:32:12.031
And what's your channel name again?
713
00:32:12.091 --> 00:32:12.573
Jonas Olson.
714
00:32:12.633 --> 00:32:13.536
It just changed.
715
00:32:13.577 --> 00:32:14.118
Let's go.
716
00:32:14.179 --> 00:32:15.764
I was so happy about that.
717
00:32:16.025 --> 00:32:16.286
Awesome.
718
00:32:16.406 --> 00:32:17.089
Thanks so much for coming on.
719
00:32:17.109 --> 00:32:18.413
I think you're the one who told me to change it.
720
00:32:18.534 --> 00:32:18.795
I did?
721
00:32:18.875 --> 00:32:19.296
I think so.
1
00:00:00.511 --> 00:00:08.955
Today, I'm having an honest conversation with Jonas Olson, who's built a $10 million pest control business called Pest Badger.
2
00:00:09.175 --> 00:00:12.736
And he started just five years ago and he did it knocking on doors.
3
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We're gonna talk about guerrilla marketing and using these not so often talked about strategies to grow your business, whether it be knocking on doors, door hangers, and how to make sense of paying 25 to 50% commissions to salespeople.
4
00:00:26.722 --> 00:00:29.523
Let's get started with Jonas from the Pest Control Millionaire.
5
00:00:30.489 --> 00:00:35.331
So maybe just kind of walk me through Pest Badger, the start, the story, the evolution of it all.
6
00:00:35.752 --> 00:00:36.792
I've watched your content.
7
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I'm sure some people out there have as well.
8
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But kind of give us the origin story in a nutshell.
9
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Yeah, I think I started out lawn care like you did.
10
00:00:45.957 --> 00:00:47.337
Young, pushing the mower.
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Did that for 12 years.
12
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It was fun.
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Learned a lot.
14
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It was my first business.
15
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And my mentor told me this is your first act.
16
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You'll have many more to come.
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But it was a good business.
18
00:00:57.823 --> 00:00:59.143
I learned a ton.
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00:00:59.423 --> 00:01:01.344
And then from there, COVID hit.
20
00:01:02.105 --> 00:01:03.245
And Michigan got shut down.
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Oh, right.
22
00:01:04.966 --> 00:01:05.586
We couldn't work.
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Yeah.
24
00:01:06.167 --> 00:01:07.187
Like we could not work at all.
25
00:01:07.988 --> 00:01:13.710
But before that, my idea was to take over like five small towns and then get to one bigger town afterwards.
26
00:01:14.431 --> 00:01:19.053
And JP was like, well, if that's the end goal, why don't you skip those small towns and just go there?
27
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I'm like, yeah, good point.
28
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So anyway, so COVID hits.
29
00:01:21.954 --> 00:01:24.656
And so it was already planning on going to Green Bay as it was.
30
00:01:25.556 --> 00:01:28.518
And then COVID hit and we got shut down in Michigan.
31
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Couldn't work at all.
32
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Not essential.
33
00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:30.739
Couldn't do anything.
34
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We could plow snow.
35
00:01:31.600 --> 00:01:32.380
Was it three weeks?
36
00:01:32.941 --> 00:01:33.321
Four weeks?
37
00:01:33.361 --> 00:01:33.881
It was six weeks?
38
00:01:34.101 --> 00:01:35.642
Yeah, it was like two weeks.
39
00:01:35.682 --> 00:01:37.723
I remember people freaking out there.
40
00:01:37.864 --> 00:01:39.104
We didn't know what was coming.
41
00:01:39.144 --> 00:01:39.404
Right.
42
00:01:39.444 --> 00:01:40.125
Yeah, no, no.
43
00:01:40.700 --> 00:01:43.343
So yeah, I think I waited till like, cause I was like March.
44
00:01:43.363 --> 00:01:44.704
So I think I waited till like May.
45
00:01:44.724 --> 00:01:47.087
And then I started going down there every single day.
46
00:01:47.107 --> 00:01:50.470
I started driving and I've never sold in the doors before.
47
00:01:50.490 --> 00:01:52.072
All of a sudden it was my back was against well.
48
00:01:53.013 --> 00:01:55.755
I had a business up there that had been in business for 12 years.
49
00:01:55.775 --> 00:01:56.396
Couldn't do anything with.
50
00:01:56.736 --> 00:01:57.797
I'm like, I gotta go do something.
51
00:01:57.817 --> 00:01:58.218
Yeah.
52
00:01:58.598 --> 00:02:02.000
So yeah, I taught myself how to knock doors a lot at YouTube University, just trying to figure it out.
53
00:02:02.861 --> 00:02:08.084
And I got lucky in my first account, like first door that I knocked, their dog was allergic to wasps.
54
00:02:08.385 --> 00:02:10.806
And I was like, so I sold my first account, the first door I ever knocked.
55
00:02:10.946 --> 00:02:13.848
So in that moment, did you pivot to pass control almost immediately?
56
00:02:13.868 --> 00:02:15.749
When I was on the door, I didn't know what I was selling.
57
00:02:15.769 --> 00:02:16.650
It was either going to be fur.
58
00:02:16.710 --> 00:02:18.311
You're like, if you need anything done.
59
00:02:18.331 --> 00:02:19.552
For real.
60
00:02:19.572 --> 00:02:20.773
Paint your house and painting your house.
61
00:02:22.013 --> 00:02:23.393
So the name was Turf Badger.
62
00:02:23.714 --> 00:02:26.234
And so I went down there because lawn care was my background.
63
00:02:26.254 --> 00:02:27.334
Like, I'm just going to go sell fur.
64
00:02:28.155 --> 00:02:31.615
My first account, though, I knocked on the door and I sold the pest control account.
65
00:02:31.635 --> 00:02:34.216
I was like, huh, I can take care of this.
66
00:02:34.616 --> 00:02:35.456
It wasn't reoccurring.
67
00:02:35.556 --> 00:02:36.997
I was just like selling whatever I could.
68
00:02:37.017 --> 00:02:37.877
I'll be honest with you.
69
00:02:37.917 --> 00:02:39.557
Just to get my feet wet and learn.
70
00:02:39.577 --> 00:02:41.458
I noticed that car out front on the Jax.
71
00:02:42.118 --> 00:02:43.178
Need to tie.
72
00:02:43.978 --> 00:02:46.959
And then, yeah, from there, I think I sold like three more accounts that day.
73
00:02:48.385 --> 00:02:50.126
And so I was like, okay, I can do this.
74
00:02:50.246 --> 00:02:51.846
And so I ended up recruiting.
75
00:02:51.866 --> 00:02:53.947
I took my operations manager from another company.
76
00:02:54.167 --> 00:02:54.907
He came down with me.
77
00:02:54.927 --> 00:02:59.649
I held the license for Pest down there.
78
00:02:59.849 --> 00:03:01.050
So you just canned the lawn care business?
79
00:03:01.270 --> 00:03:02.530
No, I just couldn't do anything at first.
80
00:03:02.570 --> 00:03:03.891
I couldn't do anything for like three months.
81
00:03:03.951 --> 00:03:05.291
But did you continue on after that?
82
00:03:05.311 --> 00:03:08.733
Yeah, once it comes back, then we start back up.
83
00:03:09.193 --> 00:03:13.294
So I'm down there for like two months just knocking doors, two hours away, driving back and forth almost every single day.
84
00:03:14.055 --> 00:03:15.295
And so, yeah, I did that for the summer.
85
00:03:15.375 --> 00:03:17.396
And then by the end of that year, I had like 400 or 500 accounts.
86
00:03:18.743 --> 00:03:20.504
And then the other business got back up and rolling.
87
00:03:20.525 --> 00:03:21.445
Everything was going back to normal.
88
00:03:21.465 --> 00:03:22.706
I was like, okay, we're in a good spot.
89
00:03:23.567 --> 00:03:26.670
Well, at the end of that year, I was looking at these two businesses side by side.
90
00:03:26.730 --> 00:03:27.310
Yeah.
91
00:03:27.350 --> 00:03:28.131
How far away were they?
92
00:03:28.451 --> 00:03:28.871
Two hours.
93
00:03:28.991 --> 00:03:29.252
Oh, wow.
94
00:03:29.272 --> 00:03:29.432
Okay.
95
00:03:29.552 --> 00:03:30.633
And the writing was on the wall.
96
00:03:30.713 --> 00:03:30.973
Okay.
97
00:03:31.053 --> 00:03:32.835
Like, this business is so scalable.
98
00:03:32.855 --> 00:03:33.875
The margins are good.
99
00:03:34.176 --> 00:03:36.037
I can teach people, other people, how to knock doors.
100
00:03:36.678 --> 00:03:37.859
I can teach people how to do the service.
101
00:03:38.019 --> 00:03:38.319
It's hard.
102
00:03:38.559 --> 00:03:40.521
Like, during COVID, it's a hard time to find technicians, too.
103
00:03:40.561 --> 00:03:43.964
So I was robbing people from my old place.
104
00:03:44.704 --> 00:03:50.847
And at the end of 2021, that next year, I had two businesses side by side and I saw the scalability and I had the view.
105
00:03:50.907 --> 00:03:54.830
I knew I was pretty good at my job, but I just didn't have the right vehicle to take me where I wanted to go.
106
00:03:55.450 --> 00:03:59.732
And so I come from a super small town, I remember doing like $3 million in revenue with a lawn care company.
107
00:04:00.272 --> 00:04:01.613
My town's 13,000 people.
108
00:04:01.713 --> 00:04:07.016
So like we had a majority share, like it was really good company, but it just couldn't take me where I wanted to go, I thought.
109
00:04:07.156 --> 00:04:08.317
So I was doing pest control.
110
00:04:08.337 --> 00:04:13.820
I had more money in my new company than I did for my old company, one business for 12 years, although I got shut down with COVID.
111
00:04:14.420 --> 00:04:18.125
And that's when I like, like I was like, the end of the year, I'm like, I knew what I had to do.
112
00:04:18.525 --> 00:04:22.470
And I'm one to sell and end up selling my long hair company that year in 2021.
113
00:04:22.490 --> 00:04:26.455
Went on all in to turf badger.
114
00:04:27.236 --> 00:04:30.240
And then it was like that next year, we're like 90% pest control.
115
00:04:30.260 --> 00:04:31.482
We're some pest control in the doors.
116
00:04:32.483 --> 00:04:34.704
And then I was like, I want to change my name.
117
00:04:34.744 --> 00:04:37.486
So I sat down with my marketing team and they're like, no, don't change the name.
118
00:04:37.826 --> 00:04:39.006
Like everything looks good online.
119
00:04:39.026 --> 00:04:41.868
Like you're ranking everyone higher than everybody else, even for pest control.
120
00:04:41.888 --> 00:04:43.168
I'm like, I get that.
121
00:04:43.889 --> 00:04:49.252
But like, I'm just going to call Sally Smith five doors down and say, hey, I own Turf Badger.
122
00:04:49.272 --> 00:04:49.752
What do I do?
123
00:04:49.772 --> 00:04:51.833
They're like, good point.
124
00:04:52.373 --> 00:04:54.395
They could probably do sod or something.
125
00:04:54.595 --> 00:04:56.737
So that's when I changed the business to Pest Badger.
126
00:04:57.398 --> 00:05:02.102
Went all in on pest control, and so we have, I think, 17 locations.
127
00:05:02.242 --> 00:05:03.563
It's our fifth year.
128
00:05:03.923 --> 00:05:04.164
Awesome.
129
00:05:04.204 --> 00:05:06.346
And so walk me through the five years.
130
00:05:06.946 --> 00:05:11.530
First one was kind of dialing in, adjusting to the market and the industry.
131
00:05:11.830 --> 00:05:13.432
What's been the five years kind of since?
132
00:05:13.592 --> 00:05:18.196
Yeah, so the first year was just figuring out how to knock doors, start building a small team.
133
00:05:18.437 --> 00:05:19.758
You know, your second business is always faster.
134
00:05:19.798 --> 00:05:20.719
You have a little bit more money.
135
00:05:22.360 --> 00:05:23.461
You already have a lot of skills.
136
00:05:23.501 --> 00:05:25.403
You already know how to do marketing and sales, all that stuff.
137
00:05:25.683 --> 00:05:26.765
So it went faster, obviously.
138
00:05:26.805 --> 00:05:32.250
And then once, like, through our second year, I built, like, I think we had a team of, like, 20 sales reps. Mm-hmm.
139
00:05:32.650 --> 00:05:33.911
We're all doing pretty well.
140
00:05:34.051 --> 00:05:38.694
And then they were just getting to the point where, like, they wanted to have some skin in the game.
141
00:05:38.714 --> 00:05:39.995
I was like, I don't want to lose these guys.
142
00:05:40.015 --> 00:05:45.978
Because, as you know, in our industry, if you train someone really, really well, the first thing they're going to do is quit and go start their own.
143
00:05:46.538 --> 00:05:47.699
Because I've had that happen before.
144
00:05:47.719 --> 00:05:48.740
I lost some really good guys.
145
00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:50.161
Because they just got capped out.
146
00:05:50.181 --> 00:05:53.123
I was like, how could I give these guys a better opportunity here?
147
00:05:53.663 --> 00:05:57.505
So, like, I could just make them a minority partner in their own location.
148
00:05:58.046 --> 00:06:00.988
And so I did that for my second location.
149
00:06:01.028 --> 00:06:01.828
It went really, really well.
150
00:06:01.868 --> 00:06:06.491
And, like, so now we're running, like, basically three companies at the same time, all from remotely.
151
00:06:06.511 --> 00:06:07.152
I'm like, huh.
152
00:06:07.512 --> 00:06:08.953
And that's when I was like, I can do this.
153
00:06:08.973 --> 00:06:14.076
And that's how they evolved from, you know, now we had another guy, Dylan, down in Grand Rapids.
154
00:06:15.157 --> 00:06:16.878
His mom had got cancer.
155
00:06:17.618 --> 00:06:21.663
And so we always plan on moving him back down there because he lived up by me, but it's like six hours away.
156
00:06:22.283 --> 00:06:23.685
And then his mom got cancer, I'm like,
157
00:06:25.207 --> 00:06:28.610
Um, dude, like, well, whatever I gotta do to get you down there, we'll get you down there.
158
00:06:28.630 --> 00:06:30.291
Just go spend the, I just lost my dad.
159
00:06:30.611 --> 00:06:35.335
So like, whatever we gotta do, like just go spend the next six, eight months, however long she has with her.
160
00:06:35.715 --> 00:06:36.716
So we moved him down there.
161
00:06:36.756 --> 00:06:38.097
He started knocking doors down there.
162
00:06:38.117 --> 00:06:41.539
Uh, she ended up passing away like six or eight months later, somewhere in there.
163
00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:42.980
And then they moved down there.
164
00:06:43.080 --> 00:06:46.002
And now that business is like three years old, didn't really well.
165
00:06:46.022 --> 00:06:50.326
Well, that's kind of how the first three or four offices like happened like that.
166
00:06:50.966 --> 00:06:54.389
Then once we figured out that we started dialing the system, dialing the processes, um,
167
00:06:54.969 --> 00:06:58.913
finding the right people to take those leadership positions and then just scaling it up from there.
168
00:06:59.214 --> 00:07:06.442
And do you find the success of a location, does it hinge 95% on that leader or that general manager?
169
00:07:07.323 --> 00:07:09.225
At first, I'd say yeah.
170
00:07:09.425 --> 00:07:14.571
And then, like I said, we want to get those offices to $2 million as fast as possible.
171
00:07:14.791 --> 00:07:17.915
It's kind of like you, like you like you like it's like five, six hundred thousand.
172
00:07:18.295 --> 00:07:19.516
You have seven to eight guys there.
173
00:07:19.737 --> 00:07:20.938
You hire a branch manager.
174
00:07:20.958 --> 00:07:22.440
Kind of the same thing with pest control.
175
00:07:22.460 --> 00:07:24.122
It's like, no, we can run seven to eight guys.
176
00:07:24.142 --> 00:07:25.203
Do you have a two million dollar branch?
177
00:07:25.223 --> 00:07:27.385
Have like a lead technician branch manager.
178
00:07:27.846 --> 00:07:28.807
And so that's kind of our model.
179
00:07:29.387 --> 00:07:33.369
And so from the outside looking in, I see the differences a lot on the pest control.
180
00:07:33.389 --> 00:07:36.590
Like door knocking is a huge deal in pest control.
181
00:07:36.610 --> 00:07:38.631
Like door knocking for lawn care is one of those things.
182
00:07:38.651 --> 00:07:41.152
Like if you have the balls to do it, maybe do it to get off the ground.
183
00:07:41.452 --> 00:07:43.153
But for real, you can sell any service.
184
00:07:43.213 --> 00:07:43.874
Yeah.
185
00:07:44.054 --> 00:07:47.355
HVAC, plumbing, weed control, mowing, whatever.
186
00:07:47.375 --> 00:07:48.856
You just got to learn how to do the skill.
187
00:07:48.916 --> 00:07:53.178
And that's probably one of the skills that I wish I had learned earlier out of my career, honestly, is sales.
188
00:07:53.798 --> 00:07:55.740
When does the unit economics make sense to do that?
189
00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:55.960
Right.
190
00:07:55.980 --> 00:07:59.342
So for example, let's say someone that's doing vent cleaning, right?
191
00:07:59.362 --> 00:08:02.085
Like, yes, you can sell that door to door, uh, window washing.
192
00:08:02.105 --> 00:08:03.125
Like where is it?
193
00:08:03.205 --> 00:08:05.467
You're like, okay, there's a cost to docking these doors.
194
00:08:05.487 --> 00:08:05.747
Yeah.
195
00:08:06.108 --> 00:08:08.189
Having 20 salespeople is not cheap.
196
00:08:08.309 --> 00:08:08.450
No.
197
00:08:08.650 --> 00:08:11.172
Let it like take the systems part off the table and teaching them.
198
00:08:11.292 --> 00:08:11.492
Yeah.
199
00:08:11.572 --> 00:08:12.513
Assume you do a good job of that.
200
00:08:12.533 --> 00:08:12.933
Yeah.
201
00:08:12.953 --> 00:08:17.757
Having 20 people doing sales for a location or multiple locations.
202
00:08:18.537 --> 00:08:18.678
Um,
203
00:08:19.418 --> 00:08:24.522
What is the unit economics of like, okay, if you hit this, then you can, like, is there a certain customer acquisition cost?
204
00:08:24.622 --> 00:08:25.803
Is there a certain LTV?
205
00:08:26.064 --> 00:08:26.704
What are we looking at?
206
00:08:26.924 --> 00:08:28.766
Yeah, I think that there's a lot to that.
207
00:08:28.786 --> 00:08:32.429
So, like, it depends how much you pay your sales reps, too, right?
208
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And so, early on, like, you hear these crazy numbers, like, these big companies pay 80 to 100%.
209
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We're never going to compete with those guys.
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We don't want to.
211
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What do you mean by that?
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80.
213
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So they'll pay 80% to 100% of the contract value for a year.
214
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Got it.
215
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And then they're only banking on the LTV.
216
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Got it.
217
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Yeah.
218
00:08:48.184 --> 00:08:50.006
So they're banking on how long the customer will stay there.
219
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So the retention team just has to be extremely good.
220
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Got it.
221
00:08:53.349 --> 00:08:56.873
And or they tie them into these big contracts and then they have a bunch of customers that are unhappy.
222
00:08:57.093 --> 00:09:00.075
Hey, it's Mike Andes and just want to say thank you for watching the video.
223
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I wanted to stop here real quick, though, and say this is a really cool lake.
224
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I've hiked up here on the weekend, but when you're all by yourself, it's not as enjoyable.
225
00:09:08.301 --> 00:09:13.244
And that's a big part of why we started Augusta Lawn Care is the community that we call Augusta Nation.
226
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To be able to take in moments like this, but instead of being by yourself or feeling alone, they have people that you can lean on.
227
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depend on and you're part of a community and so i think that's the biggest benefit we can talk about the discounts we can talk about the give back program and all the things that make augusta different but it is the community that truly keeps you going when you really want to quit and so if you're tired of being in beautiful moments in your business beautiful moments in life but not having to share having a community to share with i really recommend joining augusta lawn care you can go check out augustalongresservices.com slash franchise talk to lee and see if it'd be good
228
00:09:49.835 --> 00:10:02.289
So yeah, for us, we could minimize how much we pay our guys, because they make a good living, or our customer acquisition costs are super high, where we could afford to do this and pay them per service, so we could afford to do it.
229
00:10:02.309 --> 00:10:03.931
So that's how we started it out.
230
00:10:04.311 --> 00:10:05.733
It's changed since then, but...
231
00:10:05.833 --> 00:10:08.935
Got it, so now, is it a percentage they still get of the initial year?
232
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Yeah.
233
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Okay, got it.
234
00:10:09.835 --> 00:10:14.658
Yeah, so usually the first year they'll get paid anywhere, let's go anywhere from 25 to 60% of contract value.
235
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And then the remaining years, if you want to have them mailbox money or something, you can get a one to 3% overrun.
236
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Okay, cool.
237
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For the remaining years, as long as the customer stays active.
238
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All right, and then the 25% to 60%, what's that based on Tenor?
239
00:10:27.265 --> 00:10:29.066
Is that based upon what services you're selling?
240
00:10:29.126 --> 00:10:30.447
So we base it all off revenue.
241
00:10:30.848 --> 00:10:34.531
So like back in the day, it used to be, I say back in the day, it was like five years ago.
242
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It used to be off customer count.
243
00:10:36.533 --> 00:10:38.235
So like I say, the first 100 customers, you got 25%.
244
00:10:38.295 --> 00:10:39.676
Oh, it's like a tiered thing almost.
245
00:10:39.776 --> 00:10:45.401
So then let's just say from 100, making these numbers up, or 100 to 200 customers, maybe you go bump up to 27%.
246
00:10:46.302 --> 00:10:46.522
Okay.
247
00:10:46.662 --> 00:10:47.983
Where a customer account to me doesn't matter.
248
00:10:48.023 --> 00:10:49.625
It's like how much revenue have you generated?
249
00:10:49.645 --> 00:10:52.167
Because you could have 1,000 customers versus 500 customers.
250
00:10:52.187 --> 00:10:54.429
With 500 customers, it could be double revenue.
251
00:10:54.449 --> 00:10:55.250
So, you know what I mean?
252
00:10:55.670 --> 00:10:56.531
So that's how I look at it.
253
00:10:56.551 --> 00:10:58.552
So we change our model to more revenue-based.
254
00:10:58.572 --> 00:11:01.355
So at tiers of revenue, let's just go, let's say 100,000.
255
00:11:01.555 --> 00:11:03.336
Again, I'm making up numbers.
256
00:11:03.677 --> 00:11:04.858
You got 25%, say 150,000, 27.
257
00:11:04.878 --> 00:11:08.420
And you work your way up to that 50% mark.
258
00:11:08.741 --> 00:11:10.082
And then everything's retroactive from there.
259
00:11:10.342 --> 00:11:17.044
Okay, so on a dollar of new revenue, you're usually giving, let's call it 25% to 50% or so.
260
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And then it really is a churn, customer satisfaction, and retention game.
261
00:11:22.425 --> 00:11:22.645
Got it.
262
00:11:23.425 --> 00:11:25.886
Is that where you see the downfall of people that try to do this?
263
00:11:25.986 --> 00:11:33.547
Is like if you don't have that back end built, you're basically – anytime I think 25% to 50% of revenue, I'm like, oh, my word.
264
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That's so risky.
265
00:11:34.828 --> 00:11:36.748
So where do you see the downfall of that model?
266
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Right.
267
00:11:37.468 --> 00:11:39.430
there's two downfalls.
268
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One, you come in as a technician, you know the service side really well, but you don't know the sales side really well.
269
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So you'd never really get past that $250,000 mark, typically.
270
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And then on sales side, it's like you really got at selling it, but now you can't service it because you're not great at servicing.
271
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And the technicians and training them up and the rest of it.
272
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So I see a lot of door-to-door companies go like,
273
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really crazy fast.
274
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And all of a sudden they're shut down because their service can't keep up or they get terrible reviews.
275
00:12:05.942 --> 00:12:10.144
And then the other side is like, now a guy tries to go sell as a technician, you can't sell.
276
00:12:11.045 --> 00:12:12.426
So you have to be good at both.
277
00:12:12.946 --> 00:12:14.427
And I just happened to not be good at both.
278
00:12:14.827 --> 00:12:16.228
But I had a really good technician with me.
279
00:12:16.248 --> 00:12:17.369
I was good on the sales side.
280
00:12:17.729 --> 00:12:23.233
I didn't have I was good enough on operations to keep us alive my old business, but wasn't like my strong suit either.
281
00:12:23.713 --> 00:12:28.577
So if someone is listening to this and they're like, okay, I'm in a service where I can't collect up front, right?
282
00:12:28.597 --> 00:12:34.402
I think that's the thing I love most about pest control is people are totally fine with paying $800 up front for the year.
283
00:12:35.082 --> 00:12:43.389
If someone's like, well, I'm more of in the business of, you know, a $50 service or I'll use mowing, for example, or even treatments in markets where people don't buy packages.
284
00:12:44.149 --> 00:12:45.791
What would you say to them if they're trying to do door hangers?
285
00:12:45.811 --> 00:12:48.513
Because it's hard to give a percentage of revenue on that.
286
00:12:48.813 --> 00:12:54.481
So I would say like if you're doing it yourself, let's say you have an operator that's out there that just started now, maybe 300,000 below.
287
00:12:54.501 --> 00:13:00.330
Like if you have nothing better to do, you can learn to sell and just go start knocking doors.
288
00:13:00.350 --> 00:13:01.652
Like it doesn't cost you anything at that point.
289
00:13:01.672 --> 00:13:05.016
Like instead of like for me, like I know you guys, I like door ringers too.
290
00:13:05.597 --> 00:13:06.938
But I'd rather go talk to someone.
291
00:13:07.298 --> 00:13:08.978
And if they're not home, then you can leave the door hanging.
292
00:13:08.998 --> 00:13:15.301
But if I can get someone outside, off the porch, get them to walk around the property, odds of me selling them are pretty high.
293
00:13:15.961 --> 00:13:17.902
So if you have the time, go do it because it doesn't cost any money.
294
00:13:17.922 --> 00:13:18.602
It costs your time.
295
00:13:18.622 --> 00:13:20.543
And early on in business, you have more time than you have money.
296
00:13:21.023 --> 00:13:23.365
So I'd spend my time, you know, doing every door direct mail.
297
00:13:23.686 --> 00:13:32.414
You're doing your door hangers, but if you add that, let's say you're doing Facebook ads, Google ads, you run all these things, but then you have teams that are there yourself knocking doors, like it just adds another piece.
298
00:13:32.854 --> 00:13:38.540
Again, it's not the end all be all by any means, but it's just another tool to use in your bucket list, you know?
299
00:13:38.560 --> 00:13:38.720
Awesome.
300
00:13:38.940 --> 00:13:48.792
I think for me, like a lot of times when I hear people rebuttal, I'm just trying to play devil's advocate on the door knocking strategy where 25 to 50 percent of revenues out the door on year one.
301
00:13:49.373 --> 00:13:53.157
A lot of people are like, well, that works great as an owner operator because I don't have to pay the 25 to 50 percent.
302
00:13:53.177 --> 00:13:53.458
For sure.
303
00:13:53.938 --> 00:13:59.440
But that model breaks down as soon as I hire someone and 50% of my revenue is out the door.
304
00:13:59.460 --> 00:14:01.020
I'm not making money on the customer for a year.
305
00:14:01.300 --> 00:14:12.324
So meaning that if my churn is anywhere close to even two years, like how do you keep the customer for three, four, five years to make sure you can actually make sense of that?
306
00:14:12.344 --> 00:14:13.765
I think that's a lot of touch points, right?
307
00:14:13.925 --> 00:14:15.225
It's like it's not one thing.
308
00:14:15.245 --> 00:14:16.546
It's make sure you're following up really well.
309
00:14:16.566 --> 00:14:17.126
Make sure you do that.
310
00:14:17.766 --> 00:14:19.747
Again, you want to make sure your introduction call.
311
00:14:20.827 --> 00:14:23.009
Yes, they're signing the sales guys at the door.
312
00:14:23.029 --> 00:14:24.289
They're signing the agreement.
313
00:14:24.330 --> 00:14:25.330
They're going through everything.
314
00:14:25.510 --> 00:14:27.252
Everything's like signed, documented.
315
00:14:27.592 --> 00:14:29.793
Then make sure you have a follow-up call maybe two days later.
316
00:14:29.813 --> 00:14:33.576
Hey, just want to make sure you got everything that you need, like how it's the first service.
317
00:14:33.616 --> 00:14:37.399
Make sure that your branch manager or yourself is going to check on that service after technicians leave.
318
00:14:37.819 --> 00:14:40.261
It's doing the nurture nature emails too.
319
00:14:40.281 --> 00:14:41.582
And just more information.
320
00:14:42.462 --> 00:14:43.865
more touch points in that first year.
321
00:14:43.925 --> 00:14:47.110
Maybe that's what your second year, because you can turn on the frequency after that.
322
00:14:47.130 --> 00:14:48.653
Just make sure you have a lot of touch points.
323
00:14:49.053 --> 00:14:51.036
That's why we added the 30-day follow-up as well.
324
00:14:51.537 --> 00:14:56.005
So we're out there, their first initial treatment, I would call it a flush out, and then we're there 30 days later.
325
00:14:56.896 --> 00:15:05.487
Part of it is to pull something that money forward, but also the other part of it is to just have one more touch point with that customer.
326
00:15:05.547 --> 00:15:11.174
So now you see them an additional time per year, and you have your managers following up, make sure the technician did a good job.
327
00:15:11.214 --> 00:15:14.919
He's doing his ghost inspections, and then he's talking to the customer, make sure everything's going good for them.
328
00:15:15.219 --> 00:15:15.759
Cool.
329
00:15:15.820 --> 00:15:20.083
One thing I was looking at the other day, I kind of went through all the pest control P&Ls that I've seen.
330
00:15:20.403 --> 00:15:22.985
And I was comparing like the last 100 or so lawn care ones.
331
00:15:23.426 --> 00:15:31.132
And I think the biggest difference I saw was the difference in cost of goods sold, direct labor on lawn care and landscaping versus the pest control.
332
00:15:31.192 --> 00:15:37.977
It was a lot more in admin and sales because the touch point, like you have a thousand customers, right?
333
00:15:38.277 --> 00:15:38.758
And you have...
334
00:15:39.418 --> 00:16:04.220
multiple people knocking on the door lots of phone calls lots of touch points to your point to keep the the how do you make sense of that and what percentages do you kind of see as a breakdown of when i'm paying labor obviously for home services big chunk of our expenses we're just talking about that this morning because someone posted in our in our group is like you know asking what is your labor at and we've seen like 40s and 50s yeah and so we pay we're going to pay for pay for performance model too so i'd say it's under 20 percent
335
00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:06.340
And that's for operation, like doing the, for the technician.
336
00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:06.620
Got it.
337
00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:08.261
The cogs were like high 30s.
338
00:16:08.561 --> 00:16:08.741
Got it.
339
00:16:08.761 --> 00:16:09.341
And low 30s.
340
00:16:09.601 --> 00:16:12.742
And then for admin and operations, is there a functional percentage?
341
00:16:12.762 --> 00:16:14.742
I know it scales, so it's different somewhat.
342
00:16:14.982 --> 00:16:20.583
But like, because that's the part I saw different is like, once I get lawn care or landscaping, like, I don't have a lot of calls.
343
00:16:20.603 --> 00:16:22.583
I don't, like, they have a car and file and I never touch them, right?
344
00:16:22.983 --> 00:16:26.304
When it comes to this game of like, I have to reduce churn at all costs.
345
00:16:26.864 --> 00:16:30.705
How do you look at that as a way to balance that and make sure the numbers are still working?
346
00:16:30.745 --> 00:16:31.145
Yeah.
347
00:16:31.185 --> 00:16:31.425
So it.
348
00:16:32.546 --> 00:16:35.491
And that's like building up the call center was for me was one of the hardest parts.
349
00:16:35.511 --> 00:16:35.992
Yeah, it's hard.
350
00:16:36.012 --> 00:16:36.153
Yeah.
351
00:16:36.233 --> 00:16:37.475
And I struggled.
352
00:16:37.976 --> 00:16:38.557
I'll be honest.
353
00:16:38.577 --> 00:16:39.578
Like, this is who I am.
354
00:16:39.619 --> 00:16:42.043
It took me like four months of like...
355
00:16:42.752 --> 00:16:45.553
nonstop crazy work just trying to figure out the call center.
356
00:16:46.133 --> 00:16:49.493
And although it's that perfect, it's getting there.
357
00:16:49.793 --> 00:16:55.054
But that was that's actually the hardest part because like we'll get a thousand calls a day, like especially during spring.
358
00:16:55.074 --> 00:16:57.995
Like it's wild, you know, but so I wasn't prepared for that.
359
00:16:58.715 --> 00:17:03.296
So we had some VAs that we talked about before we started the podcast that worked really well.
360
00:17:03.496 --> 00:17:05.976
We sort of build a little call center, really dialed it in.
361
00:17:06.056 --> 00:17:07.196
That was one of the hardest parts for me.
362
00:17:07.376 --> 00:17:09.657
Yeah, because it's a lot more admin and overhead.
363
00:17:09.717 --> 00:17:10.257
It just really is.
364
00:17:10.637 --> 00:17:13.938
So when you're growing from the sales perspective, what percentage are you kind of targeting?
365
00:17:14.198 --> 00:17:20.620
I don't obviously first year revenue 25 to 50%, but that's not of your P and L, especially your two, three, four, and beyond.
366
00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:22.861
So the first year is going to be hard for you to get through.
367
00:17:23.061 --> 00:17:23.661
That's tough.
368
00:17:23.981 --> 00:17:27.222
And so like that first year is just me and a couple guys where it made sense.
369
00:17:27.242 --> 00:17:30.503
So I wasn't paying, you know, I think our top guy was like 25%.
370
00:17:30.783 --> 00:17:31.843
So it wasn't crazy numbers.
371
00:17:31.863 --> 00:17:33.564
It wasn't 50, 80, or a hundred.
372
00:17:34.464 --> 00:17:35.744
But we were paying them like per service.
373
00:17:35.764 --> 00:17:37.765
So if they canceled, they weren't getting paid on it either.
374
00:17:38.686 --> 00:17:38.946
Okay.
375
00:17:39.206 --> 00:17:39.426
Okay.
376
00:17:39.587 --> 00:17:41.188
So on a per service basis, they are making that.
377
00:17:41.488 --> 00:17:43.710
So if they canceled, that money is done.
378
00:17:44.251 --> 00:17:44.611
Interesting.
379
00:17:44.631 --> 00:17:46.733
So that was almost like, how do you keep track of that?
380
00:17:47.073 --> 00:17:48.354
So that's our software does it all.
381
00:17:48.575 --> 00:17:48.935
Got it.
382
00:17:48.955 --> 00:17:53.559
So when we were talking to your team down there, they asked the software reason why we switch them service out about it.
383
00:17:53.919 --> 00:17:58.984
And that was one of the biggest reasons because we're like trying to just really track commissions and making sure that we pay per service.
384
00:17:59.044 --> 00:17:59.905
And yeah, it's a lot.
385
00:18:00.145 --> 00:18:06.829
A lot of people wonder what makes homeworks different than any other CRM like Jobber, Service Autopilot or Housecall Pro.
386
00:18:07.249 --> 00:18:08.069
There's a couple of big things.
387
00:18:08.149 --> 00:18:11.431
One of them is that we actually have an office with real support people from the U.S.
388
00:18:11.691 --> 00:18:15.353
They're going to answer phones, chat and video calls throughout the day.
389
00:18:15.753 --> 00:18:17.554
The other thing is we're not owned by private equity.
390
00:18:17.955 --> 00:18:23.918
I own all the company and I'm making sure that this tool is built for your home service business so you can take it to the next level.
391
00:18:24.078 --> 00:18:27.982
Because now it's like year two if there's a residual and then someone does an upsell.
392
00:18:28.082 --> 00:18:29.304
It's like, wow, that's a lot of tracking.
393
00:18:29.324 --> 00:18:30.265
There's a lot of tracking.
394
00:18:30.365 --> 00:18:32.367
And so in terms of it, we just wasn't great at that.
395
00:18:32.427 --> 00:18:33.808
That's the only reason we changed.
396
00:18:33.888 --> 00:18:44.259
For the technician side of things, I think a lot of times people say, oh, I can't do pest control or even weed control and fertilizer from the certification side of things.
397
00:18:44.299 --> 00:18:44.800
Yeah, that's hard to do.
398
00:18:44.920 --> 00:18:49.863
And so where do you see those as the roadblocks and how have you navigated that in trying to do so many locations?
399
00:18:49.883 --> 00:18:50.944
Yeah, so it was great.
400
00:18:51.004 --> 00:18:51.684
That's a great topic.
401
00:18:51.704 --> 00:18:53.986
So we built out a training platform, probably like you did, too.
402
00:18:54.746 --> 00:19:00.610
So like the majority of what they learn the first two, three days is going to be from that book where it just speeds up the process.
403
00:19:00.630 --> 00:19:00.970
So like.
404
00:19:02.411 --> 00:19:06.754
We bring someone new that's never done it before, we can get them up to speed to pass their test within that first week, week and a half.
405
00:19:07.135 --> 00:19:09.556
And so how is that different than taking a state exam?
406
00:19:09.636 --> 00:19:10.297
It's the same one.
407
00:19:10.417 --> 00:19:11.057
Got it.
408
00:19:11.177 --> 00:19:14.439
Our training basically goes off of the book that they're gonna study from.
409
00:19:14.899 --> 00:19:15.179
Got it.
410
00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:18.581
So we try to, because people don't like reading anymore.
411
00:19:18.681 --> 00:19:20.342
Got it, so you made a trained video of the book.
412
00:19:20.362 --> 00:19:21.643
So we made a trained video of the book.
413
00:19:21.863 --> 00:19:23.284
From the test and all the questions.
414
00:19:23.324 --> 00:19:25.545
So every time I took a test or someone else took tests,
415
00:19:26.005 --> 00:19:29.927
We just come back and remember the questions and highlight them in the book and then made the training based off those.
416
00:19:30.427 --> 00:19:31.848
So that way we can speed up the process.
417
00:19:31.888 --> 00:19:35.270
Like the first, I think the first two days are just going through all the videos.
418
00:19:35.510 --> 00:19:39.992
They're learning and they're on the truck doing with our technician just learning.
419
00:19:40.012 --> 00:19:43.414
And then I think by the second or third week they're getting their license on their own.
420
00:19:43.534 --> 00:19:44.935
But it's definitely a bottleneck for sure.
421
00:19:45.175 --> 00:19:46.576
Is that a state license or national?
422
00:19:46.636 --> 00:19:47.236
It's a state license.
423
00:19:47.256 --> 00:19:49.198
Because that's what we're running into right now.
424
00:19:49.218 --> 00:19:49.498
It's tough.
425
00:19:49.598 --> 00:19:51.640
So this year we're moving into for a bunch.
426
00:19:52.040 --> 00:19:52.260
Yeah.
427
00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:54.261
Kind of mostly because we get so many leads for it.
428
00:19:54.602 --> 00:19:56.103
And I'm like, how do I train this?
429
00:19:56.603 --> 00:19:58.784
Because every single state, it's not just like a little bit different.
430
00:19:58.844 --> 00:19:59.025
Yeah.
431
00:19:59.105 --> 00:20:00.065
It is completely different.
432
00:20:00.085 --> 00:20:01.106
Completely different.
433
00:20:01.446 --> 00:20:02.367
And every state's different.
434
00:20:02.467 --> 00:20:03.127
Oh, yeah.
435
00:20:03.408 --> 00:20:03.628
Yeah.
436
00:20:03.708 --> 00:20:06.270
And then, yeah, every grass type.
437
00:20:06.290 --> 00:20:08.051
Like, I cannot make a training system.
438
00:20:08.071 --> 00:20:08.811
Like, watch this.
439
00:20:09.212 --> 00:20:09.472
So...
440
00:20:10.713 --> 00:20:13.536
being selfish for a moment, what would you do for that sort of scenario?
441
00:20:13.596 --> 00:20:18.841
Or is it more a matter of like, hey, you got to go to your state and you got to look this up on chat to BT and figure out what you got to do.
442
00:20:19.221 --> 00:20:21.063
But we really can't help on the training side.
443
00:20:21.464 --> 00:20:23.966
You can help on the train side, but you can't help them pass their tests.
444
00:20:24.186 --> 00:20:24.386
Right.
445
00:20:24.426 --> 00:20:25.948
So there's a bunch of apps that they can use.
446
00:20:26.308 --> 00:20:29.451
So general knowledge, general knowledge, like, because it's like most of it's,
447
00:20:30.568 --> 00:20:31.309
general knowledge.
448
00:20:31.850 --> 00:20:32.931
Like most of it really is.
449
00:20:32.991 --> 00:20:36.616
But then there's some compliance stuff, you know, like the PPE and just all that stuff that's normal.
450
00:20:36.636 --> 00:20:41.182
But then there's like specific state regulations that we have to train on for each different state.
451
00:20:41.202 --> 00:20:45.768
So every time we go into a new state, we're creating a new video so we can onboard these technicians.
452
00:20:45.788 --> 00:20:46.929
Because like, we're,
453
00:20:48.151 --> 00:20:51.275
I don't mean to veer off, but most of like the industry is changing for us too.
454
00:20:51.495 --> 00:20:55.280
Where all of our sales guys now have to be licensed.
455
00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:55.800
Really?
456
00:20:55.961 --> 00:20:56.161
Yeah.
457
00:20:56.201 --> 00:20:58.003
Because they're diagnosing, like they're doing things.
458
00:20:58.023 --> 00:20:59.465
Yeah, because they're actually selling the service.
459
00:20:59.485 --> 00:21:01.948
So they're like, they're trying to regulate people knocking doors.
460
00:21:02.108 --> 00:21:02.268
Wow.
461
00:21:02.289 --> 00:21:02.369
Wow.
462
00:21:02.669 --> 00:21:04.711
Because it can be very invasive.
463
00:21:04.771 --> 00:21:07.514
And some big companies ruined it for a lot of people.
464
00:21:07.814 --> 00:21:09.356
I would say big companies.
465
00:21:09.776 --> 00:21:10.777
Some sales guys just ruined it.
466
00:21:11.398 --> 00:21:14.080
And so they're really cracking down.
467
00:21:14.821 --> 00:21:17.223
So now all of our sales guys have to be licensed too.
468
00:21:17.463 --> 00:21:20.206
So that's just another bottleneck that we had to solve.
469
00:21:20.586 --> 00:21:24.991
So one of our states that we're in, they made it pretty simple, where you can just go to an eight-hour class and...
470
00:21:25.591 --> 00:21:27.934
And then you are basically go service long.
471
00:21:27.954 --> 00:21:29.015
Somebody already has the license.
472
00:21:29.236 --> 00:21:29.436
Wow.
473
00:21:29.576 --> 00:21:34.482
And then there's states like Michigan or Wisconsin where like you have to go get certified and licensed to be a technician.
474
00:21:34.502 --> 00:21:36.104
So there's definitely a bottleneck.
475
00:21:36.264 --> 00:21:40.068
But then what we did, like I said, is we just, we went in, we took the test.
476
00:21:41.089 --> 00:21:41.870
I held license.
477
00:21:41.950 --> 00:21:44.153
Most of the states, not all learned, uh,
478
00:21:45.594 --> 00:22:08.340
The question runs that's I go back to you with the book except highlight them then I just created trainings around that So when they come in we onboard them they're watching training take the first two three days And they have like a quiz through each little one helps them prepare for the test And they typically still don't pass the first time, but it's their second time though really well Interesting did the quest test questions change change every single time so they have like three They typically have three tests and although like it might be the same question.
479
00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:09.720
It's just asked for me got it.
480
00:22:09.740 --> 00:22:09.820
Yeah
481
00:22:10.080 --> 00:22:10.340
Got it.
482
00:22:10.420 --> 00:22:10.780
Interesting.
483
00:22:10.941 --> 00:22:12.201
Yeah, that's our biggest ball right now.
484
00:22:12.221 --> 00:22:13.822
It's like everyone's like, we need training.
485
00:22:13.842 --> 00:22:18.245
And I'm like, yeah, but I need to create 50 different video modules for completely different.
486
00:22:18.265 --> 00:22:21.947
Like, I can't mention your no one knows what that chemical is in this other market.
487
00:22:21.967 --> 00:22:22.107
Yeah.
488
00:22:22.327 --> 00:22:26.149
And most of them like aren't chemical specific, I should say.
489
00:22:26.169 --> 00:22:26.489
Right.
490
00:22:26.529 --> 00:22:31.212
They're more just like like just general questions, you know, like.
491
00:22:31.352 --> 00:23:00.679
it really is and it's really not that hard but if you've never taken a test like that before it's like it's just new one you get nervous too like it's new maybe not good at guessing uh so they fail and like oh i know how to now i know we're gonna go back and look for a study again and they just pass their second time yeah my biggest thing is i don't want to just add like hey watch these two days of videos but you still gotta go watch your state specific stuff and do the whole book because you still need that to pass and then i'm just adding to their plate essentially right so that's a bit of our our current bottom yeah i think we're trying to figure out yeah it's
492
00:23:02.060 --> 00:23:25.075
it's not hard but at the same time it's like that's that's what we did it's worked really really good and like and every state is different there's some states that are really hard like minnesota was harder north carolina was harder uh and those are just they're tough yeah where do you see the benefit of doing the 17 locations right so correct me if i'm wrong around 10 million in revenue is right now yeah we're like yeah we sold we're like we sold enough to do 18 for this year
493
00:23:25.255 --> 00:23:25.455
Cool.
494
00:23:25.695 --> 00:23:26.917
Oh, because you're so much ahead.
495
00:23:27.217 --> 00:23:31.060
Okay, so approximately, let's call it around a million per location.
496
00:23:31.581 --> 00:23:37.887
What's the benefit of doing that versus going to a big market that has 20 million people and just making a $10 million company?
497
00:23:37.947 --> 00:23:39.368
Why have you broken it up that way?
498
00:23:39.548 --> 00:23:40.489
That's a great question.
499
00:23:40.769 --> 00:23:41.991
It's because I came from a small town.
500
00:23:42.691 --> 00:23:45.775
And so the closest biggest town from me was two hours.
501
00:23:46.235 --> 00:23:48.218
And then from there, we just kind of started hitting all the small towns.
502
00:23:48.238 --> 00:23:50.340
So like, I don't know if you ever read Sam Moulton's book.
503
00:23:50.420 --> 00:23:51.061
Yep.
504
00:23:51.561 --> 00:23:52.462
We follow that same model.
505
00:23:52.482 --> 00:23:52.743
Yeah, 100%.
506
00:23:52.763 --> 00:23:54.425
It's one of my favorite books, Made in America.
507
00:23:54.445 --> 00:23:54.745
Me too.
508
00:23:54.825 --> 00:24:00.892
So we built all of our locations around the big cities first, and then moved into the big cities last.
509
00:24:00.972 --> 00:24:01.072
Yeah.
510
00:24:01.132 --> 00:24:03.753
And that's usually where our target market is at in the suburbs.
511
00:24:03.773 --> 00:24:04.414
We do the same thing.
512
00:24:04.614 --> 00:24:04.914
Got it.
513
00:24:04.954 --> 00:24:05.154
Yeah.
514
00:24:05.174 --> 00:24:07.175
So that's exactly we're looking for those same markets.
515
00:24:07.275 --> 00:24:13.419
And that's why we've been able to grow so fast because typically those big corporations, big companies are focused on those areas.
516
00:24:13.559 --> 00:24:13.839
Got it.
517
00:24:13.859 --> 00:24:17.281
So like they'll be like, hey, yeah, we're going to burn five million going into Houston.
518
00:24:17.421 --> 00:24:19.022
You're like, yeah, let's go with the five markets around.
519
00:24:19.082 --> 00:24:19.482
Exactly.
520
00:24:19.662 --> 00:24:19.842
Got it.
521
00:24:19.882 --> 00:24:20.282
And then work.
522
00:24:20.302 --> 00:24:22.563
So like we did send them like Madison and Milwaukee.
523
00:24:22.603 --> 00:24:24.925
We went all the small towns around it and then moved in there last.
524
00:24:25.305 --> 00:24:25.585
Got it.
525
00:24:25.605 --> 00:24:29.147
So like we are in those big cities now that can hold an eight to ten million dollar branch.
526
00:24:29.347 --> 00:24:33.370
But after a few years of brand penetration and ranking on SEO and stuff like that.
527
00:24:33.390 --> 00:24:33.550
Yeah.
528
00:24:33.790 --> 00:24:34.090
Very cool.
529
00:24:34.231 --> 00:24:36.512
And from an organizational perspective, how does that look?
530
00:24:36.552 --> 00:24:39.995
So let's say a million in revenue, several technicians underneath.
531
00:24:40.015 --> 00:24:40.655
Three technicians.
532
00:24:40.755 --> 00:24:43.297
And you have three technicians and like a lead tech.
533
00:24:43.762 --> 00:24:47.666
And then the sales, is that separate from the operations side?
534
00:24:47.886 --> 00:24:49.507
It's technically a whole different entity.
535
00:24:49.807 --> 00:24:50.208
Oh, really?
536
00:24:50.248 --> 00:24:51.929
Okay, so we get the work.
537
00:24:51.989 --> 00:24:57.134
Sales is completely removed from the operations of a technician underneath a general manager.
538
00:24:57.154 --> 00:24:57.394
Got it.
539
00:24:57.434 --> 00:24:58.015
Okay, interesting.
540
00:24:58.415 --> 00:24:59.656
And why have you done it that way?
541
00:24:59.756 --> 00:25:03.579
Is it mostly... Because I'll just play my devil out of here as a general manager.
542
00:25:04.080 --> 00:25:05.641
I can't control what you guys are doing in the sales team.
543
00:25:05.661 --> 00:25:05.841
Right.
544
00:25:06.101 --> 00:25:07.102
I just get my leads.
545
00:25:07.142 --> 00:25:07.803
You want me to grow?
546
00:25:07.883 --> 00:25:08.143
Cool.
547
00:25:08.163 --> 00:25:08.524
But like...
548
00:25:09.144 --> 00:25:11.846
you guys aren't giving me enough leads or like, I'm not getting enough work.
549
00:25:11.866 --> 00:25:14.389
Like I, Hey, I got three technicians over here sitting there, throwing the thumbs.
550
00:25:14.689 --> 00:25:16.531
How do you balance that with the general managers?
551
00:25:16.551 --> 00:25:17.852
Don't really have control of the sales.
552
00:25:18.272 --> 00:25:19.533
Uh, they're heavily involved.
553
00:25:19.573 --> 00:25:26.419
So, so like every single morning we have a sales meeting and then he's usually the link between like the branch manager is the link between the sales team and then the service team.
554
00:25:26.599 --> 00:25:26.840
Got it.
555
00:25:27.040 --> 00:25:32.665
And so they, they typically have like start technicians that they have on the schedule waiting for the sales team to sell.
556
00:25:33.215 --> 00:25:39.840
Okay, so sale goes to the lead technician, the start technician, and then it would go on an ongoing basis.
557
00:25:39.880 --> 00:25:44.564
Yeah, so when the guys are on the doors, they can literally schedule right from their app.
558
00:25:44.764 --> 00:25:45.064
Got it.
559
00:25:45.084 --> 00:25:49.407
So then as soon as they see it pop up on their job pool, then they're heading out to their job.
560
00:25:49.848 --> 00:25:50.148
Got it.
561
00:25:50.168 --> 00:25:54.851
So it's really the handoff is like that first technician getting there, really solidifying their relationship.
562
00:25:54.871 --> 00:25:58.334
And then usually the other two or three technicians are just doing reoccurring from before.
563
00:25:58.733 --> 00:26:04.395
When it's so important to reduce churn and have those touch points, one thing you mentioned is like having that start technician.
564
00:26:04.915 --> 00:26:15.138
Walk me through that step and that process because I would imagine like almost everything recurring, you have a spike of churn and as long as you can get past the first three months, you basically got them forever.
565
00:26:15.778 --> 00:26:18.819
What are you doing in terms of touch points as well as that initial visit?
566
00:26:19.070 --> 00:26:22.352
And it's a simple thing like so obviously there's sales guys there.
567
00:26:22.712 --> 00:26:24.893
They usually build a ton of rapport.
568
00:26:25.693 --> 00:26:27.855
And then they're signing the agreements, doing all that stuff.
569
00:26:28.215 --> 00:26:30.356
And then typically it's the same day or the next day.
570
00:26:30.516 --> 00:26:33.337
I actually like next day better than the same day because they're going to cancel.
571
00:26:33.457 --> 00:26:35.138
I'd rather them cancel before we do the service.
572
00:26:35.479 --> 00:26:36.659
It's not true churn.
573
00:26:36.859 --> 00:26:37.900
They just cancel before the service.
574
00:26:38.600 --> 00:26:40.321
So I try to keep it up 24 hours.
575
00:26:40.341 --> 00:26:41.181
That doesn't always happen.
576
00:26:41.201 --> 00:26:42.102
Sometimes you have to move them up.
577
00:26:42.342 --> 00:26:43.784
Do you know what that looks like?
578
00:26:43.804 --> 00:26:45.767
If you say, hey, it's next week versus tomorrow.
579
00:26:45.787 --> 00:26:47.649
Have you do you know what that turn difference is?
580
00:26:47.709 --> 00:26:48.570
Usually about 10 percent.
581
00:26:48.791 --> 00:26:49.712
Well, so 10 percent.
582
00:26:50.153 --> 00:26:51.715
If you just say, hey, next week will be there.
583
00:26:51.735 --> 00:26:53.537
10 percent are just going to be like, I forgot.
584
00:26:53.557 --> 00:26:54.338
You know, forget it.
585
00:26:54.478 --> 00:26:55.139
OK, interesting.
586
00:26:55.259 --> 00:26:56.501
She's like, hey, just get you on tomorrow.
587
00:26:56.521 --> 00:26:57.883
Sales guys love it.
588
00:26:57.923 --> 00:26:58.364
Same day.
589
00:26:58.904 --> 00:26:59.344
Really?
590
00:26:59.364 --> 00:27:01.666
Because that's how they're getting paid.
591
00:27:01.686 --> 00:27:03.547
So they want it done that same day.
592
00:27:03.567 --> 00:27:03.868
Got it.
593
00:27:03.968 --> 00:27:05.129
Because it's going to get service.
594
00:27:05.229 --> 00:27:09.392
Where I, as the owner, would rather push it off a day rather than cancel before.
595
00:27:09.672 --> 00:27:10.032
Interesting.
596
00:27:10.332 --> 00:27:13.675
Yeah, we've noticed too, like if we say, even from a moment, it's like, well, you're on Mondays.
597
00:27:13.775 --> 00:27:13.995
Yeah.
598
00:27:14.075 --> 00:27:17.597
Well, if that's being sold on a Tuesday, there's some likelihood.
599
00:27:17.858 --> 00:27:19.359
10% is quite substantial.
600
00:27:19.619 --> 00:27:21.900
And what I find is people don't even measure that in their close rate, right?
601
00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:23.281
Because it's like, well, I closed the job.
602
00:27:23.321 --> 00:27:25.023
You did, but they never did service.
603
00:27:25.043 --> 00:27:25.203
Right.
604
00:27:25.663 --> 00:27:29.465
So, okay, 10% leakage essentially by just having too much added time.
605
00:27:29.966 --> 00:27:33.588
So within 24 hours, awesome next day, better yet, day of.
606
00:27:33.728 --> 00:27:34.688
What else are we doing in that?
607
00:27:34.708 --> 00:27:36.169
And then from there, it's usually the next day.
608
00:27:36.209 --> 00:27:40.172
They're going to call ahead from like our office and, hey, something to be out there, automated text to you.
609
00:27:40.192 --> 00:27:45.755
So X, Y, Z person is going to be out there at this time, usually like half hour or 20 minute time slots.
610
00:27:46.315 --> 00:27:48.237
Get there, knock the door, talk to the customer.
611
00:27:48.397 --> 00:27:53.800
That's when we try to introduce like our welcome packet, give away a few things, goodies, just to try it like dog treats, things like that.
612
00:27:54.501 --> 00:28:02.230
Uh, just, uh, not, it's not so more like, it's more like if we mess up, like they'll give us another opportunity cause we're so good in the first service.
613
00:28:02.350 --> 00:28:02.611
Got it.
614
00:28:02.851 --> 00:28:09.339
So it's not like it's, uh, it's not, it doesn't solve all the problems, but it just, it's that thing that gives you like to get back out there to talk to him more time.
615
00:28:09.679 --> 00:28:11.761
And so from there, we're going to do the service.
616
00:28:12.122 --> 00:28:15.846
And then the next day, they'll get another call from our office, just follow up, make sure that service went good.
617
00:28:16.266 --> 00:28:21.352
Usually like seven to 12 days after that, usually when our branch manager go there and just do a walk around, make sure everything looks good.
618
00:28:21.752 --> 00:28:29.060
Talk to the customer, make sure that, you know, that they had a pleasant, you know, the sales guy was good, that the technician was good, that they're always taken care of.
619
00:28:29.120 --> 00:28:32.201
So I imagine the thing that hurts most is someone who churns within like the first month.
620
00:28:32.382 --> 00:28:32.762
Exactly.
621
00:28:32.782 --> 00:28:34.663
Because you've had a high touch service.
622
00:28:34.863 --> 00:28:36.163
You've had a sales commission.
623
00:28:36.183 --> 00:28:38.384
That's why you push up that 30-day follow-up.
624
00:28:38.625 --> 00:28:38.805
Got it.
625
00:28:38.825 --> 00:28:41.626
To make sure that we're coming out there within 30 days to try to recoup some of that money.
626
00:28:42.326 --> 00:28:45.208
And if someone does stay for, say, three months.
627
00:28:45.228 --> 00:28:45.408
Yeah.
628
00:28:46.507 --> 00:28:47.988
what does that churn difference look like?
629
00:28:48.008 --> 00:28:52.411
If you say, Hey, if they're going to turn the 80% turn, like, do you have those numbers?
630
00:28:52.611 --> 00:28:56.894
And mostly just for the sake of like the importance of those first 90s.
631
00:28:56.934 --> 00:28:58.135
It's even something with software.
632
00:28:58.195 --> 00:28:59.716
It's still, it's still like a 10%.
633
00:28:59.916 --> 00:29:00.196
Really?
634
00:29:00.396 --> 00:29:00.917
Yeah.
635
00:29:01.157 --> 00:29:03.118
Then after like that 90 days, then we're good.
636
00:29:03.638 --> 00:29:08.021
You know, then we usually stay like most branches that are, are 80% plus.
637
00:29:08.302 --> 00:29:13.325
We have a few that are really tough markets that are like 75%, a little lower, but overall, you know,
638
00:29:13.485 --> 00:29:17.026
So 20 to 25% churn annually is pretty normal.
639
00:29:17.066 --> 00:29:17.866
Yeah, it's normal.
640
00:29:17.886 --> 00:29:20.007
So that's why like door to door gets a really bad name.
641
00:29:20.347 --> 00:29:21.247
Churn rate can be crazy.
642
00:29:21.307 --> 00:29:23.108
That's just who sells on the door and how it's sold.
643
00:29:23.668 --> 00:29:24.988
Like it can be done the right way.
644
00:29:25.008 --> 00:29:26.849
And that's where we've done a really good job.
645
00:29:27.049 --> 00:29:30.130
And where do you see the churn rate where it's like alarm bells go off?
646
00:29:30.170 --> 00:29:31.790
Is it 50% like basically two years of service?
647
00:29:31.810 --> 00:29:34.691
Yeah, I've talked to people who are 50% lower and it's like, oof.
648
00:29:35.071 --> 00:29:36.832
Like we personally, knock on wood,
649
00:29:37.052 --> 00:29:40.874
We haven't had that happen to us yet, but I've seen some markets that are just tough.
650
00:29:40.934 --> 00:29:43.736
Like a lot of big door-to-door companies, and they're really good at switchovers.
651
00:29:44.577 --> 00:29:47.719
So they'll knock on the door and be like, hey, oh, you do have service, or I saw your sign up.
652
00:29:47.739 --> 00:29:48.439
We do that too.
653
00:29:48.639 --> 00:29:49.199
Got it.
654
00:29:49.600 --> 00:29:55.083
But when you get into like the big markets, and there's a lot of big companies, and they're switching over people like crazy.
655
00:29:55.375 --> 00:29:55.695
Really?
656
00:29:55.735 --> 00:29:57.676
So that's where churn comes to play.
657
00:29:57.716 --> 00:30:01.877
Yeah, and I've seen churn at 50%, and every single year you have to make up with a 3% churn and then try to grow 10%, 20%.
658
00:30:01.897 --> 00:30:02.297
That's tough.
659
00:30:02.317 --> 00:30:03.438
I pay that commission up front.
660
00:30:03.458 --> 00:30:03.918
That's brutal.
661
00:30:04.218 --> 00:30:04.338
It is.
662
00:30:04.358 --> 00:30:04.498
Cool.
663
00:30:04.678 --> 00:30:05.498
Very cool.
664
00:30:05.638 --> 00:30:09.560
For home services in general, I know we talked a lot about door-to-door stuff.
665
00:30:10.040 --> 00:30:16.122
What do you see right now in 2026 as sort of being an opportunity that people aren't exploiting fully?
666
00:30:17.242 --> 00:30:21.904
And more broadly, probably sales side, because I think that's really the part that I see as a huge strength of yours is like,
667
00:30:22.604 --> 00:30:23.785
Growing scaling quickly.
668
00:30:24.525 --> 00:30:28.787
What are some of the untapped sort of things that people can can use this year because it's your channel.
669
00:30:28.847 --> 00:30:31.228
And I think that's this is true, though.
670
00:30:31.688 --> 00:30:33.789
I think door to door sales for position.
671
00:30:33.809 --> 00:30:36.070
We control mowing is a blue ocean.
672
00:30:36.931 --> 00:30:37.531
It's wide open.
673
00:30:37.791 --> 00:30:38.271
No one does it.
674
00:30:38.772 --> 00:30:44.654
And what's the what's the main differentiator between those who do it well and crush it versus the people that do it.
675
00:30:45.135 --> 00:30:46.335
And it's OK.
676
00:30:46.355 --> 00:30:47.056
There's bad turn.
677
00:30:47.076 --> 00:30:47.696
I can't upsell anyone.
678
00:30:47.716 --> 00:30:48.816
There's bad quality customers.
679
00:30:49.317 --> 00:30:50.217
All the other list of stuff.
680
00:30:50.897 --> 00:30:58.423
I would think demographics probably like not like something they don't pay attention to that they need to pay attention to like doing your homework first You're going knocking the door.
681
00:30:58.443 --> 00:31:11.914
Let's say they can't afford it, but you're good at selling That alone could increase your turn because they're just gonna cancel anyway Just knowing your demographics of where you're knocking doors make sure you know like a decent neighborhood and then from there I would say I
682
00:31:15.535 --> 00:31:16.156
It's another good one.
683
00:31:16.816 --> 00:31:18.518
Just being honest.
684
00:31:18.718 --> 00:31:19.880
Honestly, it's not that hard.
685
00:31:20.020 --> 00:31:21.281
Just explain the service really well.
686
00:31:21.582 --> 00:31:22.783
Explain exactly what they're getting.
687
00:31:23.163 --> 00:31:26.287
Show them if you have a cancellation fee, what the cancellation fee looks like.
688
00:31:26.507 --> 00:31:29.510
Just go through the full agreement and be open book because they're going to find it anyway.
689
00:31:30.171 --> 00:31:30.792
And so that's right.
690
00:31:30.832 --> 00:31:35.116
I mean, just be very honest because if they got something the next day that says something totally different than what you told them, they're going to cancel.
691
00:31:35.257 --> 00:31:35.357
Yeah.
692
00:31:35.377 --> 00:31:35.477
Yeah.
693
00:31:35.777 --> 00:31:40.839
I think that's the part, like people watch my stuff or your stuff and like they, they get the sales, especially young guys.
694
00:31:41.079 --> 00:31:41.919
They're good at selling.
695
00:31:41.999 --> 00:31:42.679
They're ambitious.
696
00:31:43.240 --> 00:31:44.360
Like they can open the door.
697
00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:45.300
They have no fear.
698
00:31:45.740 --> 00:31:52.303
And then it's like, well, but you, if you don't service them, like if you don't solve their problem, the whole reason they signed, like they hired you.
699
00:31:52.323 --> 00:31:53.443
That's all that people want, right?
700
00:31:53.463 --> 00:31:54.263
Is you to solve their problem.
701
00:31:54.363 --> 00:31:54.563
Yeah.
702
00:31:54.683 --> 00:31:55.484
That's all you have to do.
703
00:31:55.544 --> 00:31:58.245
Like, and I just made a video recently about sales.
704
00:31:58.265 --> 00:32:02.066
Like most companies overcomplicate sales and just doesn't have to be complicated.
705
00:32:02.086 --> 00:32:04.827
They're calling, solve their problem, get their card on file.
706
00:32:04.867 --> 00:32:04.967
It's.
707
00:32:05.167 --> 00:32:05.689
That easy.
708
00:32:05.790 --> 00:32:05.970
Yeah.
709
00:32:06.492 --> 00:32:06.753
Awesome.
710
00:32:06.994 --> 00:32:08.740
Well, thanks so much, Jonas, for coming by.
711
00:32:08.780 --> 00:32:09.402
I appreciate it.
712
00:32:09.703 --> 00:32:12.031
And what's your channel name again?
713
00:32:12.091 --> 00:32:12.573
Jonas Olson.
714
00:32:12.633 --> 00:32:13.536
It just changed.
715
00:32:13.577 --> 00:32:14.118
Let's go.
716
00:32:14.179 --> 00:32:15.764
I was so happy about that.
717
00:32:16.025 --> 00:32:16.286
Awesome.
718
00:32:16.406 --> 00:32:17.089
Thanks so much for coming on.
719
00:32:17.109 --> 00:32:18.413
I think you're the one who told me to change it.
720
00:32:18.534 --> 00:32:18.795
I did?
721
00:32:18.875 --> 00:32:19.296
I think so.
