WEBVTT
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00:00:03.297How do you find a marketing company you can trust?
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00:00:08.277I wouldn't go with the cheapest. I wouldn't go with the most expensive, but it makes sense.
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00:00:11.997I would find somebody that relates to my business, knows my business,
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00:00:16.877understands the whole customer journey, the lifecycle costs, all of these things.
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00:00:23.797Welcome to the Home Service Hacks podcast, the show for contractors who refuse to settle for average.
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00:00:29.677Hosted by Bill Brown, licensed HVAC contractor, AI and automation expert,
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00:00:32.537and founder of Service Titan Hacks Community.
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00:00:37.857Each episode features real conversations with contractors, tech founders,
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00:00:43.277and innovators who are reshaping the trades from AI and automation to pricing,
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00:00:44.397marketing, and management.
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00:00:49.297If it's working in the field, you'll hear about it here. Let's get into it.
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00:00:54.557Welcome back to the Home Service Hacks podcast. Today, I've got Jason Jackson
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00:00:58.677on the show, the founder of Growth Pro Agency, and someone who's been in the
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00:01:00.537trenches as a business owner himself.
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00:01:04.617Jason's here to talk about the hard lessons he learned building his own company
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00:01:08.657and how those mistakes now fuel the systems that he builds for their contractors.
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00:01:13.477We'll dig into what really moves the needle in marketing, why businesses don't
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00:01:19.297need more leads, and how the first 10 seconds of a customer interaction can make or break the sale.
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00:01:23.397So this one's packed with real-world advice. Let's jump in. Jason,
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00:01:27.077thanks for joining me. Hey, Bill, I appreciate you having me on, buddy.
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00:01:30.237Great. So for those who don't know you,
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00:01:34.714Tell us a little bit about your background from the contractor to agency owner
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00:01:36.394and what sparked the shift.
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00:01:41.494Yeah, man. So just like a lot of people, we were fresh out of school and we
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00:01:43.634saw a need. I don't come from the trades.
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00:01:47.854I come from the business side, but my partner comes from the trades and we saw a need.
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00:01:54.874And we started our company and quickly, quickly realized that there was a lot
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00:01:58.494more to it on the building side than what we were ready for.
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00:02:02.474And like most contractors, phones were ringing, but it wasn't customers.
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00:02:06.334It was people trying to sell us something. The email inboxes were melting.
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00:02:13.274And honestly, just trusting the wrong people made us shift from,
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00:02:17.814you know, just being an owner to actually learning the marketing side of it
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00:02:20.754and what people actually wanted and what we actually needed.
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00:02:27.994And those costly, very costly mistakes we'll get into really shifted it.
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00:02:32.894That we were able to understand the marketing side, grow our business.
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00:02:38.754And now I kind of have made position myself in my company where I don't have
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00:02:42.674to be there day to day and I can help other contractors and business owners do the same.
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00:02:49.154That's great. It's great to hear. So you said that you help contractors avoid mistakes you made.
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00:02:54.314And I think that's very natural for a coach to do because, man,
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00:02:57.614you've made, everybody's made more mistakes than they have had successes.
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00:03:04.834Like the successes are usually pretty big, but the mistakes really stay with you, right? Yeah.
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00:03:11.094Because it's that Monday morning, quarterback, hindsight's 20-20. So can you think about.
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00:03:16.703Some big mistakes that you made. What were some big ones? I think the biggest
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00:03:19.263one was, man, just not having patience.
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00:03:24.963We were always chasing that next, like, oh, this is it. This is it. This is it.
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00:03:28.423Like, this is going to make us rich. This is going to blow our business up.
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00:03:33.303And after five of six of those of buying leads,
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00:03:37.583trusting every SEO company from cheapest to most expensive,
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00:03:40.563you know trying to do facebook ads for something
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00:03:43.463that wasn't really for our niche we
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00:03:47.403were just trusting what someone's email said looking back
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00:03:53.383and really just understanding that it takes time it takes commitment and it
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00:03:58.523takes a lot of effort like these seven eight figure home service companies were
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00:04:03.323not built in six months and i think a lot of contractors you know they they
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00:04:06.803get into the business because they want to make money or they want to be their own boss,
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00:04:12.303but they don't realize the commitment and the actual time it takes to build to that level.
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00:04:20.583Yeah. You just see the highlight reel online and people don't post their mistakes
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00:04:25.663along with their successes. You just see, oh, this company's got to 20 million, right?
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00:04:28.523They're like, well, I should be able to do that. What's different about me?
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00:04:32.263You know, I'm not, this guy doesn't seem like he's much more special to me.
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00:04:37.823I take care of my employees, things like that. And it seems like marketing tends
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00:04:42.683to be the thing that people are extremely impatient with, right?
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00:04:49.163They want to put money out into the market and have it return right away.
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00:04:54.583And I did too, right? So I had an HVAC business for 12 years.
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00:05:01.883And I was, you know, that was a big mistake I made. And I didn't really think
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00:05:04.503about marketing as like an investment.
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00:05:11.243So when you put $100 into the market, you don't get $200 back very often.
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00:05:15.743It's not consistent. You put it in and you get, if you're happy,
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00:05:17.903you get 10% back and things like that.
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00:05:23.643So with marketing, I feel that I looked at it way too short term,
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00:05:26.183which is the same thing along with you just being impatient.
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00:05:31.129A hundred percent. And it, and it sucks, but it's, I guess it's the reality
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00:05:35.689of it is, you know, these lead gen companies prey on new business owners because
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00:05:38.769I think they know how vulnerable they are, including us.
00:05:39.049 -->
00:05:43.829So the full story on us was we thought we would come into a market that wasn't
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00:05:48.109saturated and it was just going to take off. And so we did like most people did.
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00:05:51.749We made some Facebook posts, created a Facebook page, you know,
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00:05:54.289grandma shared it. Our friends shared it.
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00:05:58.189It was real popular for the first couple of weeks. and it
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00:06:01.689fizzled out and then it was like wow now
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00:06:04.569what do we do and then here came the
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00:06:07.409legion companies you know hey we got 30 people looking
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00:06:10.329for your service and your area we'll sit
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00:06:13.209up to you and we're i'm like well jake this is easy let's just
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00:06:16.149yeah hire these everybody not do this well
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00:06:18.969weird how special are we and i'm
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00:06:21.969so and looking back at it i i'm glad it
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00:06:25.989happened that way but i was like what were you thinking and
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00:06:28.629you know we were in we're doing a lot of we do a lot of
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00:06:31.469heavy indoor air quality so a lot of erv fresh air
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00:06:37.229ventilation things like that and it's not very saturated and we're pulling the
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00:06:41.229houses and our competitors were pulling out of the driveway from already giving
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00:06:46.789them a bid it's like how'd he know and it was like if they're doing that for
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00:06:49.029our little indoor air quality niche.
00:06:49.169 -->
00:06:51.709What are they doing for roofs? HVAC plumbing there.
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00:06:55.889It's six, seven people in a 10 mile area. They're selling these leads to.
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00:07:01.109It took us about three or four months, you know, and they got us for about 20
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00:07:04.569grand. I think when we were done. Yeah. And finally I was like, all right,
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00:07:09.244timeout, this ain't it, reset. I had to block their numbers.
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00:07:12.784We had to cancel our credit card because they wouldn't let us out of contracts
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00:07:15.184that were supposed to be canceled. It was an absolute disaster.
00:07:15.724 -->
00:07:20.124It is a mess, isn't it? You get so soured by dealing with these companies.
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00:07:22.344And I feel sorry for them. It's dirty.
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00:07:26.084It is. And if you get on, like, I'm probably like you, I'm in all these home
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00:07:27.244service groups on Facebook.
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00:07:32.124And on a given day, I can probably see five to 10 people that have got ripped off.
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00:07:37.984And it's like, no wonder the blue collar industry has their guard up so high
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00:07:42.904and they're scared to invest in this stuff because everybody's got a story like mine almost.
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00:07:46.264I almost guarantee it. And if they don't, they may be afraid to admit it,
00:07:46.344 -->
00:07:49.804but it's literally that bad for these people.
00:07:49.984 -->
00:07:54.084And I could probably count on my hand or maybe two hands of people that I would
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00:07:55.564say, yeah, you're in good hands.
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00:07:58.644Like they're a good company. I know them. and I
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00:08:01.604talk to a lot of my competition because it's healthy
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00:08:05.104to be friends with your competition and learn what they're doing and
00:08:05.104 -->
00:08:07.864I really like of all the
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00:08:10.604people that I know in the industry there's probably 10 that
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00:08:13.504I would be like yeah you're good like stay where you're
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00:08:16.984at they're a good company like you just need to have some more patience you're
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00:08:20.524not going to get your return in two three four months it's going to take time
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00:08:27.484right and I've always liked it it took me probably in the year eight or nine
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00:08:35.884before I met a agency who I had a discovery call with that gave me really reasonable expectations.
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00:08:41.684So most of them would, you know, I, you'd engage for $6,000 a month,
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00:08:44.584which was a ton of money for my little business at the time.
00:08:44.704 -->
00:08:47.524We're going to build your website. We're going to do SEO.
00:08:48.244 -->
00:08:54.704And as a former computer programmer, I even was a little skeptical goal about SEO.
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00:09:01.584And we're going to build a website, SEO, do blog posts, create city pages and everything. And,
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00:09:05.869you know, we're going to give, I'm going to give you $6,000 a month.
00:09:06.009 -->
00:09:10.549But the thing that wasn't really talked about is what are the returns look like on that?
00:09:10.829 -->
00:09:15.349How many months do I have to give you $6,000 before things come in?
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00:09:20.089And it was very muddy and unclear. And I didn't even know to ask that question.
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00:09:26.189So my expectations were not aligned at all because obviously I wanted the returns
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00:09:27.869a lot faster than they were going to come.
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00:09:32.709And I think that if I were in the agency's shoes, I probably wouldn't want to
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00:09:37.749say, well, once you're about a year in, you'll start to notice some gains from what we did.
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00:09:41.889Well, it's very easy to go down the street to another marketing agency where
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00:09:44.409they say, no, no, no, we're better than these guys.
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00:09:49.229We'll do it in 60 or 90 days. And it's just not true. No, it's not true.
00:09:50.049 -->
00:09:54.389And it costs me, I'm not sure where you were at with it, but I'm sure that a
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00:09:59.389lot of other listeners can, you know, are in the same boat.
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00:10:03.009I've spent millions of dollars in
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00:10:05.909marketing that is a waste
00:10:05.909 -->
00:10:08.769and a lot of it was because of lack of
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00:10:12.029patience like you said and but the the
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00:10:17.509lessons learned from that millions of dollars of mistakes were so valuable and
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00:10:23.209you do online see the newer startup contractors going down that same path that
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00:10:28.829we went down yeah but a lot of them this will they'll go out of business because of it They will.
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00:10:31.969This will end their company. And that's really sad to me.
00:10:32.529 -->
00:10:35.629Yeah. No, it's, it's terrible. It almost, and that's what happens to us.
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00:10:39.589Like we were at a do or die phase where both of our wives were looking at us
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00:10:44.949and they're like, guys, you're 30,000 in, you're making maybe 10,000 a month here.
00:10:45.269 -->
00:10:49.429Like we're not, we're barely paying the bills. Like maybe this just isn't it.
00:10:49.529 -->
00:10:53.189And it was because we trusted all these predators out there.
00:10:53.669 -->
00:10:55.409And, you know, luckily it's,
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00:11:01.449I had a little bit of a business sense to me from school and where I came from, I wasn't a tradesman.
00:11:01.549 -->
00:11:06.049And so I shifted full time into marketing. I learned SEO. I learned Facebook
00:11:06.049 -->
00:11:07.309ads. I learned Google ads.
00:11:07.569 -->
00:11:10.069And I learned our website and all this stuff.
00:11:10.389 -->
00:11:15.929And it took, even with me doing it, a couple more years of just hard work to
00:11:15.929 -->
00:11:20.609be like, oh, we're starting to routinely get organic Google profile calls.
00:11:20.749 -->
00:11:24.609We're getting more, you know, and that was the thing that finally like switched.
00:11:24.609 -->
00:11:27.849And I was like, oh, well, then, you know, other people were like,
00:11:27.909 -->
00:11:28.929how are you guys doing this?
00:11:29.029 -->
00:11:31.609And I'm like, well, it takes a long time to learn this stuff,
00:11:31.629 -->
00:11:35.169but it was having patience.
00:11:35.309 -->
00:11:39.269And that's the number one thing, you know, like any other agency, we've lost clients.
00:11:39.689 -->
00:11:42.249And on the outboarding call, I'm like, what could we've done different?
00:11:42.369 -->
00:11:45.069They're like, well, you could have gotten more leads quicker.
00:11:45.269 -->
00:11:51.429And I'm like, all due fairness, you've been with us for 60 days and the algorithm, we just dialed it in.
00:11:51.549 -->
00:11:53.509Like, we just figured out your, your
00:11:53.509 -->
00:11:57.069keywords. We just figured out your competition. We just figured it out.
00:11:57.209 -->
00:12:00.749And I a hundred percent respect that. But I said, you know what,
00:12:00.749 -->
00:12:05.609that was like the 90% of our churn was instant gratification.
00:12:05.909 -->
00:12:11.089And, you know, we almost wanted to start going to like yearly contracts because of that.
00:12:11.209 -->
00:12:15.269Cause I was like, you're going to appreciate me more if you work with me for
00:12:15.269 -->
00:12:17.689a year than if you work with me for three months, I promise you.
00:12:17.889 -->
00:12:22.209But yeah, when you're starting out, man, and you're new, or even if you're established
00:12:22.209 -->
00:12:23.869and you're that, you know, that.
00:12:23.989 -->
00:12:26.749That charge is coming out of the account every month.
00:12:26.949 -->
00:12:30.069It just, it works on your mind and emotions start playing.
00:12:30.269 -->
00:12:34.369And then you make these, you know, quick decisions that aren't well thought out.
00:12:34.469 -->
00:12:38.489And then you're right in the same position where you started. Then it sucks.
00:12:38.949 -->
00:12:43.669And if this is your last $5,000 that you're paying to an agency,
00:12:43.669 -->
00:12:50.029you're pulling the goalie and you have to, you have to land on red.
00:12:50.229 -->
00:12:52.549You got to land those sevens. then,
00:12:53.144 -->
00:12:55.724you're, you're kind of, you're in trouble there at that point.
00:12:56.004 -->
00:12:59.164You know, you might as well go to the casino. You might as well.
00:12:59.804 -->
00:13:03.724I mean, literally you have a, you have a 50, 50 chance of landing on red or
00:13:03.724 -->
00:13:07.544black than you do getting that money back from a Google ad, you know, it's just the reality.
00:13:08.404 -->
00:13:15.344I remember talking to an agency and we, and we're really diving deep in that,
00:13:15.684 -->
00:13:18.104having reasonable expectations and patience.
00:13:18.104 -->
00:13:22.084And I remember talking to an agency and they were, we're talking about Google
00:13:22.084 -->
00:13:25.344ads, which never worked for me in HVAC in Columbus, Ohio.
00:13:25.544 -->
00:13:32.864I never was able to, to justify the ROI on it, but I also never stayed in longer than six months either.
00:13:33.364 -->
00:13:37.804So is it is what it is. Maybe if I would have stayed in for a year or two years,
00:13:37.804 -->
00:13:38.604it would have been better.
00:13:38.724 -->
00:13:42.724But the first company said, all right, you're going to get, it's going to be
00:13:42.724 -->
00:13:49.444$75 cost per lead. and I didn't even know exactly what a lead meant.
00:13:49.764 -->
00:13:55.504What is the definition of a lead? So, okay, so I'm thinking 75 bucks and I'm
00:13:55.504 -->
00:13:57.484going to be in a customer's home for that.
00:13:57.784 -->
00:14:01.464All right, I'll pay $75 all day to get into somebody's house.
00:14:01.904 -->
00:14:07.144And then even, and then I remember talking to another agency after I went through
00:14:07.144 -->
00:14:10.924a couple of them and they're like, it's going to be more like 275,
00:14:11.304 -->
00:14:14.044$300 cost per lead. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:14:14.784 -->
00:14:21.284That probably is more accurate. And now that changes the whole game.
00:14:21.484 -->
00:14:25.704And then educating myself, I understood that a lead isn't necessarily an appointment.
00:14:25.704 -->
00:14:27.124You have to convert that lead.
00:14:27.344 -->
00:14:32.404And marketing agencies are on the hook for the customer converting that lead.
00:14:32.884 -->
00:14:39.524So if we bring a lead, if your company brings a lead to someone and they don't
00:14:39.524 -->
00:14:42.504convert it, they don't answer the phone, they go back to you and say,
00:14:42.604 -->
00:14:44.064I need more leads. Right.
00:14:44.184 -->
00:14:50.544So we talk about that, that myth of needing more leads. Right. And,
00:14:51.254 -->
00:14:55.994What do you think causes contractors to say, I need more leads, more leads, more leads?
00:14:56.694 -->
00:15:00.174I think it's just that it goes back to that instant gratification.
00:15:00.434 -->
00:15:03.854You know, they're living for today and not for tomorrow. And that's why we kind
00:15:03.854 -->
00:15:08.914of shifted to a more of a consultant role because our guys were wanting the phones to ring.
00:15:09.014 -->
00:15:12.834And I would go in, you know, we use some software where we track conversations,
00:15:13.034 -->
00:15:15.134pickup rates, callbacks, things like that.
00:15:15.494 -->
00:15:20.634And they wasn't answering the phones. They, I'd look at the LSA account and
00:15:20.634 -->
00:15:24.674the Google LSAs would just no answer, no answer, no answer, no answer.
00:15:24.994 -->
00:15:28.954And it was quick to realize that you guys don't need more leads.
00:15:29.114 -->
00:15:33.194You just need to talk to the ones that are calling you and, you know,
00:15:33.314 -->
00:15:36.094or call them back or nurturing them, right?
00:15:36.194 -->
00:15:39.794They talk to them or they miss their call. They're like, ah, someone else will call.
00:15:39.934 -->
00:15:43.474They don't call them back to check on that estimate they sent a week later.
00:15:43.654 -->
00:15:47.494They don't call them in six months for a tune-up. They didn't have a service
00:15:47.494 -->
00:15:52.014agreement in place to, you know, do routine maintenance, things like that.
00:15:52.134 -->
00:15:56.274And so it was quick for us to realize that, yeah, you guys may need some leads,
00:15:56.454 -->
00:16:00.194but the ones you have, you're only getting 10% out.
00:16:00.314 -->
00:16:03.554Like the lifetime value of that lead is so small.
00:16:03.894 -->
00:16:08.454And they, a lot of contractors don't think that way because they're like me.
00:16:08.454 -->
00:16:12.354And a lot of us, when we started, we're just trying to keep food on the table,
00:16:12.494 -->
00:16:16.534trying to keep the lights on. And as long as that phone's ringing, hey, life's good.
00:16:16.814 -->
00:16:22.434But that's what takes you to that next level or the big guy in your area that
00:16:22.434 -->
00:16:27.074you want to be is they have a system in place. When that lead comes through,
00:16:27.294 -->
00:16:30.834it's followed up with, it's nurtured, it's the review process.
00:16:30.974 -->
00:16:34.674They want to make sure the customer's journey's flawless from that.
00:16:34.870 -->
00:16:39.510Time it clicks on the ad to the time they leave. Then they want to make sure
00:16:39.510 -->
00:16:43.630that customer reenters the sales cycle somewhere down the line so that they
00:16:43.630 -->
00:16:45.270can double dip on that customer.
00:16:45.530 -->
00:16:49.490And then it's another touch point. They have kids, they have neighbors,
00:16:49.670 -->
00:16:53.430they have family members, all that stuff. And you're back in that customer's
00:16:53.430 -->
00:16:55.930house in six months doing some kind of service.
00:16:56.050 -->
00:17:02.490And that's what we had to shift from just making the phones ring to helping
00:17:02.490 -->
00:17:06.970them actually, you know, get more out of the phones that were ringing.
00:17:07.330 -->
00:17:13.450You talk about that customer lifetime value, and that's something that many,
00:17:13.630 -->
00:17:15.210many businesses use, right?
00:17:15.350 -->
00:17:20.750Because if you look at a company like a retail company, let's just look at somebody like Walmart.
00:17:21.070 -->
00:17:27.190If somebody comes into Walmart and has one transaction and then leaves and never comes back, that's it.
00:17:27.510 -->
00:17:31.810They're looking at this person coming back every week or every two weeks.
00:17:31.810 -->
00:17:37.030And so they understand, man, I can spend 50 bucks to get a customer because
00:17:37.030 -->
00:17:41.450I know they're going to spend $2,750 a year with me.
00:17:41.550 -->
00:17:46.790And then without digging down through all my costs, that's what I can spend is 50 bucks.
00:17:47.550 -->
00:17:52.230HVAC contractors and home service contractors don't look at that because when
00:17:52.230 -->
00:17:56.830they're calculating their return on ad spend or the lifetime value,
00:17:56.950 -->
00:17:58.690they're looking at a very narrow window.
00:17:58.690 -->
00:18:04.450So one thing that I did in my company, unfortunately, after like year 11,
00:18:04.790 -->
00:18:10.870is I went in and said, all right, when I get a new customer, what are they worth?
00:18:11.050 -->
00:18:15.530Because I had years and years of data. What are they worth after the first appointment?
00:18:16.254 -->
00:18:19.574And they were worth, on average, it was like $3,000.
00:18:20.354 -->
00:18:23.814And that was heavily weighted by system replacements, right?
00:18:23.874 -->
00:18:26.594Because we had $15,000 services that we did.
00:18:26.794 -->
00:18:29.754Well, what are they worth on the second appointment cumulatively?
00:18:30.174 -->
00:18:33.374Well, now it was another 30% above that.
00:18:33.554 -->
00:18:39.094So if I looked at that customer in the first six months of our lifetime,
00:18:39.514 -->
00:18:41.894then it was worth $4,000 or so.
00:18:42.034 -->
00:18:45.234And then what about a year and a half? What about two years?
00:18:45.234 -->
00:18:50.694And I found that 90% of the customer's lifetime value would come within two years.
00:18:50.874 -->
00:18:55.734So now I was starting to look at customer acquisition cost.
00:18:56.034 -->
00:19:01.274How much money did it take for me to get in that home and establish a relationship?
00:19:01.614 -->
00:19:08.454And that's a very long-term thinking because that isn't what puts food on the table tomorrow.
00:19:08.454 -->
00:19:13.914If you're desperate and you're near the end of the line and you're out of cash,
00:19:14.134 -->
00:19:17.614then what you're hoping is you throw this money into marketing and it returns
00:19:17.614 -->
00:19:20.014$15,000 HVAC system replacements.
00:19:20.254 -->
00:19:25.414If you get a diagnostic or a capacitor only, then you're like,
00:19:25.674 -->
00:19:27.974well, I can't pay my bills with that.
00:19:28.174 -->
00:19:30.474Well, yeah, you can, but in two years.
00:19:30.814 -->
00:19:37.754So I was fortunate before I looked at all that to be pretty focused on retention.
00:19:38.334 -->
00:19:42.574So I did send out emails to customers. I did send out direct mail.
00:19:42.974 -->
00:19:45.414We did sell a lot of maintenance agreements.
00:19:45.834 -->
00:19:51.054And without doing that, we wouldn't have made it without the maintenance agreements.
00:19:51.254 -->
00:19:54.994We wouldn't have. Because those people,
00:19:55.314 -->
00:20:01.234the people that we got as maintenance members in year 10 or 11 of their systems
00:20:01.234 -->
00:20:07.594age, those became future $10,000 bills without any marketing costs.
00:20:07.594 -->
00:20:11.894Or $10,000 revenue jobs without that. So...
00:20:12.221 -->
00:20:14.901To have that patience, though, you have to have money and you have to have a
00:20:14.901 -->
00:20:17.421plan. You know what I mean? You do.
00:20:18.301 -->
00:20:23.641And it blows me away the amount of people that don't keep track of who they've done work for.
00:20:23.761 -->
00:20:26.821So you can go back, even if you don't have a system, right? Even if you don't
00:20:26.821 -->
00:20:29.481have a fancy AI system or automations.
00:20:29.841 -->
00:20:34.901But if I was down to my last dollar, I would go back to every job I've sold
00:20:34.901 -->
00:20:38.381in the last two years and I would call them and try to sell them something.
00:20:38.561 -->
00:20:39.641I would. I'd be like, hey.
00:20:40.061 -->
00:20:43.041Yeah. We installed an HVAC unit. two years ago?
00:20:43.281 -->
00:20:45.061Have you had it serviced? Hey, I'm
00:20:45.061 -->
00:20:48.881doing a special right now for a $99 tune-up. Can I get you on the list?
00:20:49.001 -->
00:20:52.701And I would go through those people. One, they're already warm. They know who you are.
00:20:53.161 -->
00:20:56.461Two, they've already given you money. So they have some kind of level of trust
00:20:56.461 -->
00:21:00.981with you. And three, it's going to cost me nothing to go through that.
00:21:01.441 -->
00:21:04.641And I asked some of my customers, you know, or even my clients, I'm like, Hey,
00:21:04.721 -->
00:21:07.641so you have like a Excel spreadsheet or a
00:21:07.641 -->
00:21:10.401CRM or even your accounting software well yeah
00:21:10.401 -->
00:21:13.301but i don't keep their numbers i just write their name and address and
00:21:13.301 -->
00:21:16.221i just give them an invoice i'm like you guys
00:21:16.221 -->
00:21:19.181like we could literally touch your whole audience in 30
00:21:19.181 -->
00:21:25.201seconds in 2025 and i could probably book your whole fall in october whenever
00:21:25.201 -->
00:21:29.581you're dying for one and it's 60 degrees and the windows are open we could be
00:21:29.581 -->
00:21:34.761doing furnace tune-ups for winter and fill in these schedules but now we can't
00:21:34.761 -->
00:21:38.221because we haven't kept track of anything Yeah.
00:21:40.801 -->
00:21:48.781Every job needs to have a phone number, an email address, and an actual service
00:21:48.781 -->
00:21:50.101address or a customer address.
00:21:50.221 -->
00:21:56.361So you can do direct mail, email, and either voicemail drops or text messages.
00:21:56.361 -->
00:22:01.841Is what I found near the end of my company is nobody would answer the phone anymore.
00:22:01.941 -->
00:22:07.501My customer base was a little younger, about 40 to 50 years of age.
00:22:07.641 -->
00:22:09.581If you called them, they wouldn't answer.
00:22:09.761 -->
00:22:13.661If you did direct-to-voicemail, they would call you back. If you texted them,
00:22:13.861 -->
00:22:14.881they would text you back.
00:22:15.021 -->
00:22:17.581You know, that's a great piece of advice for any contractor.
00:22:17.841 -->
00:22:19.381I don't care how you do it.
00:22:19.721 -->
00:22:23.501Write this down. Put it in an Excel spreadsheet or Google Docs.
00:22:23.581 -->
00:22:29.721Google Docs is free. get every bit of customer information no matter if they
00:22:29.721 -->
00:22:34.681even if they didn't buy from you get it because they found you somehow in the
00:22:34.681 -->
00:22:42.061first place you can go back and still market to them for almost nothing it's yeah.
00:22:42.748 -->
00:22:45.628It's crazy. It's crazy how cheap it is.
00:22:45.848 -->
00:22:49.748Do you think that that's the reason why contractors don't reach out to their
00:22:49.748 -->
00:22:52.788existing customers is they don't have the contact information?
00:22:53.288 -->
00:22:56.988I think a lot of it, I get it. Maybe if you've been in business for a long time
00:22:56.988 -->
00:23:01.468and you didn't have an iPhone in your hand, back in the day it was paper receipts and I get that.
00:23:01.688 -->
00:23:05.188But a lot of these guys that I've seen come into the market in the last five
00:23:05.188 -->
00:23:08.828years, there's no reason you couldn't keep a spreadsheet or,
00:23:09.008 -->
00:23:12.448I mean, a CRM is a staple in almost any successful company now.
00:23:12.748 -->
00:23:17.608Yeah. And they're cheap too. And they're cheap. It's not like it's thousands of dollars a month.
00:23:17.668 -->
00:23:23.128And I mean, I don't care if you have service Titan or you have just a free trial of something.
00:23:23.308 -->
00:23:28.428I had a client about a year ago, he was on his last $5,000 and he wanted to
00:23:28.428 -->
00:23:32.028do marketing. And I said, Hey, you've been in business for 20 years and you're
00:23:32.028 -->
00:23:33.408down to your last $5,000.
00:23:33.668 -->
00:23:37.368I said, let me ask you, do you have customer information of the last two years
00:23:37.368 -->
00:23:40.448of all of your clients? And he said, yeah, it's in my CRM at Housecall Pro.
00:23:41.088 -->
00:23:45.328And I said, perfect. Can you export that to a CSV file and give it to me?
00:23:45.488 -->
00:23:48.048We're not going to do nothing but reach out to them. And he was like,
00:23:48.108 -->
00:23:51.708well, I don't know about that. I'm like, you got $5,000 to spend.
00:23:51.988 -->
00:23:57.408I am not going to go to the casino with your money. I said, give me that list.
00:23:57.748 -->
00:24:02.348I'm going to text all of your old clients. We're going to do a database reactivation.
00:24:02.428 -->
00:24:06.188I said, we're going to do a $79 furnace tune-up as long as you're good with
00:24:06.188 -->
00:24:09.508that. And I said, we're just going to text them and say, Hey, winter's coming.
00:24:09.688 -->
00:24:12.768We're offering a special to our existing clients. Are you interested?
00:24:12.788 -->
00:24:17.668If you are, let us know. We set it all up, linked it into Housecall Pro through an API.
00:24:18.028 -->
00:24:20.908They could book their service tune-up, all that right there,
00:24:21.128 -->
00:24:22.128populate it on his calendar.
00:24:22.348 -->
00:24:26.228We probably booked 60 furnace tune-ups for October, November, and December.
00:24:27.021 -->
00:24:30.641Without spending that money. And I told him and he's like, why,
00:24:30.861 -->
00:24:32.041man, I didn't think about this.
00:24:32.121 -->
00:24:36.901I'm like, you spent so much money to get this list.
00:24:37.141 -->
00:24:42.961Why all of it? All of it. That guy goes back to that 275 customer acquisition that you talked about.
00:24:43.201 -->
00:24:48.801Why would I'm going to get every 275 out of it that I can till there's nothing left.
00:24:48.901 -->
00:24:52.521And then I'm going to try selling it to their kids or their grandkids or their
00:24:52.521 -->
00:24:56.821neighbors or their family members. I want to stay on top of their head,
00:24:56.901 -->
00:25:00.261whether it's a newsletter, whether it's a mail flyer.
00:25:00.361 -->
00:25:06.041We do a ton of referral campaigns for our clients around Christmas because everybody needs extra money.
00:25:06.501 -->
00:25:09.321Hey, we're giving away $100 Visa gift card.
00:25:09.321 -->
00:25:13.521If you refer someone to us and they do an install or a roof or whatever my client
00:25:13.521 -->
00:25:18.561has, people will go sell for you to get $100 Visa gift card because it's the
00:25:18.561 -->
00:25:20.521holidays and they need Christmas money.
00:25:20.521 -->
00:25:23.461You have free salesmen literally working for you for a
00:25:23.461 -->
00:25:26.341hundred dollars a hundred dollars a job there's just so
00:25:26.341 -->
00:25:29.061many things out there that i feel like we don't
00:25:29.061 -->
00:25:34.261tap into because we get caught in the hamster wheel of seo google ads hamster
00:25:34.261 -->
00:25:41.061wheel seo website and it's like there are so many old school i call it the ice
00:25:41.061 -->
00:25:45.101cream machine salesman tactic like the guy that went around to mcdonald's and
00:25:45.101 -->
00:25:47.281sold the McDonald's ice cream machines, like literally.
00:25:47.561 -->
00:25:54.281I'm just hypothesizing here or just speculating, but I've engaged with so many
00:25:54.281 -->
00:26:00.521agencies over the years that do not do any sort of retention marketing for their clients.
00:26:00.521 -->
00:26:07.441And I think that they're missing a big part here because if they did that.
00:26:07.981 -->
00:26:12.341If they ensure that their clients always got that information,
00:26:12.341 -->
00:26:19.561So most clients will let you get into their CRM and look and make sure you're capturing that data.
00:26:19.841 -->
00:26:26.441If they went through and the agency helped them maybe get that data from invoices
00:26:26.441 -->
00:26:31.861or use their advanced skills they have with AI and knowledge of APIs,
00:26:32.161 -->
00:26:36.861and they marketed their existing clients, then they could say, look.
00:26:37.563 -->
00:26:42.743We're going to your existing clients first, like you said, and we're going to
00:26:42.743 -->
00:26:47.723use the money that we bring in from that to fuel getting new clients.
00:26:47.983 -->
00:26:52.523So we get as much as we can out of existing clients. There's a lot of money
00:26:52.523 -->
00:26:53.923left on the table from those.
00:26:54.283 -->
00:26:58.023We get that, then we can buy new clients with it.
00:26:58.103 -->
00:27:02.663And I think that if the agencies bundled themselves together with both of those things,
00:27:02.983 -->
00:27:09.263they would be able to keep clients longer term because ultimately for me,
00:27:09.563 -->
00:27:15.223when my bank account started to get low is when I really, I try to look at my
00:27:15.223 -->
00:27:23.583P&L every three months in detail and say, all right, is this particular expense, can it be lowered?
00:27:23.803 -->
00:27:27.963Is it bringing a return on investment? Or is it making my employees happy?
00:27:28.123 -->
00:27:29.683Or is it just making me happy?
00:27:29.903 -->
00:27:34.723And if you sort your expenses, marketing is always up there.
00:27:34.923 -->
00:27:35.983It's up there with labor.
00:27:36.263 -->
00:27:39.363And if we're looking at overhead, it's up there with labor.
00:27:39.543 -->
00:27:43.683But one question that you have is, all right, I look at this labor and I have
00:27:43.683 -->
00:27:47.383this office staff to want to get rid of one of these people.
00:27:47.783 -->
00:27:51.783No, that's a much more difficult decision. So marketing's up there and you're
00:27:51.783 -->
00:27:53.703like, well, what have I really got from it?
00:27:53.843 -->
00:27:57.103If it was great, my business wouldn't be where it is today.
00:27:57.423 -->
00:28:02.763And so if a marketing company, marketing agency doesn't have kind of all of
00:28:02.763 -->
00:28:06.503the options that they can give you for marketing, and they just say,
00:28:06.683 -->
00:28:08.283all we do is SEO and pay-per-click.
00:28:09.063 -->
00:28:14.523Well, now you're going to need another agency because you have to have all of
00:28:14.523 -->
00:28:15.663the right options for you.
00:28:15.863 -->
00:28:19.343So, man, I've learned a lot over the years.
00:28:19.563 -->
00:28:23.803And like you said, you spend a lot of time educating yourself on this.
00:28:24.023 -->
00:28:31.263Can a contractor really be successful if they don't understand lead generation
00:28:31.263 -->
00:28:32.963and customer life cycle.
00:28:33.183 -->
00:28:39.643If they don't dig into that and understand all those metrics and create a customer journey.
00:28:40.399 -->
00:28:44.839Or at least find the right marketing agency, but still educate themselves.
00:28:45.119 -->
00:28:50.299I mean, I've never seen any contractors who grow monster and go,
00:28:50.419 -->
00:28:53.399yeah, we just get leads at such a mountain.
00:28:53.639 -->
00:28:57.559That's it. You know, I think they could be successful. I just don't know how
00:28:57.559 -->
00:29:01.079successful, right? How much are you going to be able to scale?
00:29:01.219 -->
00:29:04.679Because it's just going to be that hamster wheel effect, money coming in,
00:29:04.779 -->
00:29:10.459money going foul. Now, knowing that you have a, just a database of people that
00:29:10.459 -->
00:29:14.259want to give you money or have given you money is the most powerful thing any
00:29:14.259 -->
00:29:15.379business owner can have.
00:29:15.679 -->
00:29:20.639And that's why we made that shift to more of like a chief operations partner
00:29:20.639 -->
00:29:24.999approach was because I can get, I can make your phones ring.
00:29:25.099 -->
00:29:28.779It's going to cost money. But if we go in and look at what you're doing,
00:29:28.979 -->
00:29:31.919what's, and there's so many dang softwares out there right now.
00:29:32.059 -->
00:29:35.139And everybody there, I got this, I've got that.
00:29:35.359 -->
00:29:40.759And we can go in and really see what you have and start carving things out.
00:29:40.919 -->
00:29:46.119We almost pay for ourselves in tech stack costs by cutting the fat and being
00:29:46.119 -->
00:29:47.759like, hey, here's what you need.
00:29:47.939 -->
00:29:53.339Now go execute on it. Being able just to make their phones ring or touch their
00:29:53.339 -->
00:29:55.499customers because everybody's busy.
00:29:55.679 -->
00:29:58.479They don't have the staff. They don't have the money for staff.
00:29:58.479 -->
00:30:00.279And with technology, being able
00:30:00.279 -->
00:30:05.659to mass text and mass email and ringless voicemail and all this stuff.
00:30:06.419 -->
00:30:10.999You know, working with an agency that understands a more holistic long-term
00:30:10.999 -->
00:30:16.279picture instead of, you know, like a drug dealer approach, you know, chasing that quick fix,
00:30:16.639 -->
00:30:21.159you know, starting out, just our biggest thing is keep track of everybody's
00:30:21.159 -->
00:30:23.579information and, you know, and just
00:30:23.579 -->
00:30:27.379seriously be careful who you give your money to. You work hard for it.
00:30:27.479 -->
00:30:32.379Just if it sounds too good to be true, Jason and Bill would have already used it. Yeah.
00:30:32.963 -->
00:30:38.743Oh, yeah. Yeah. All you got to do is shoot me a message on Facebook,
00:30:38.943 -->
00:30:42.823shoot you a message on Facebook, and I'll tell you how much I lost on that marketing campaign.
00:30:43.063 -->
00:30:45.763And I'll tell you how I would have done it differently, too.
00:30:46.083 -->
00:30:51.143So one of the things that I found was, so we talk about those lead generation
00:30:51.143 -->
00:30:56.143companies, and one of them that's the biggest is obviously Angie's List slash HomeAdvisor.
00:30:56.723 -->
00:31:00.903Angie, you know, bought HomeAdvisor. These, I remember when they used to be service magic, man.
00:31:01.103 -->
00:31:07.343That's how old I get on that. What I found was, you know, you pay $25 to $35
00:31:07.343 -->
00:31:14.123per quote-unquote lead for a repair or a maintenance.
00:31:14.123 -->
00:31:19.343And you pay five times that for a system replacement.
00:31:19.663 -->
00:31:22.803And we had very granular data.
00:31:23.463 -->
00:31:29.023So we looked and found that after, you know, we had 30 system replacement leads
00:31:29.023 -->
00:31:33.523that we bought, only one of them closed. And it wasn't worth it.
00:31:33.623 -->
00:31:39.423And not only did they not close, they didn't close a year down the road.
00:31:39.583 -->
00:31:42.483So even though we kept reaching out to them, they didn't close.
00:31:42.703 -->
00:31:45.503And so that money that we spent was just gone.
00:31:45.843 -->
00:31:49.883So I don't know, maybe it was a competitor. Maybe they bought from a competitor.
00:31:50.303 -->
00:31:53.043Oh, by the way, if you want to know if they bought from a competitor,
00:31:53.343 -->
00:31:55.663there is information you can get for that.
00:31:55.783 -->
00:31:59.083I think that's important to know if they bought from someone else.
00:31:59.083 -->
00:32:07.683But we found that the repair leads didn't convert to technician turnovers in systems as much,
00:32:07.683 -->
00:32:14.943as fast as they did in retail leads or in leads we got like Google Local Services or SEO.
00:32:14.943 -->
00:32:18.023So we'd look at it and say oh man we got
00:32:18.023 -->
00:32:21.563all these repair leads and man out
00:32:21.563 -->
00:32:24.283of all of those leads in the first six months when
00:32:24.283 -->
00:32:27.563we got one system replacement and our marketing cost
00:32:27.563 -->
00:32:33.743is 30 percent of revenue this is terrible and we cut it off well i i looked
00:32:33.743 -->
00:32:39.783back years down the road and said you know what let me attribute the original
00:32:39.783 -->
00:32:47.003campaign the original way that we got the customer to revenue and then go back and look and say, oh,
00:32:47.343 -->
00:32:51.823well, these Angie leads did turn into systems because we followed up with customers.
00:32:51.823 -->
00:32:56.983It just took longer than it did with organic leads.
00:32:57.343 -->
00:33:02.603And so Angie's actually ended up working out correctly, but we wouldn't have
00:33:02.603 -->
00:33:06.423known that for years till after we did it. It's wild.
00:33:06.723 -->
00:33:14.083It is. And the biggest thing is you got to think about is when that phone rings, they charge you.
00:33:14.707 -->
00:33:19.087A lot of these guys that are opting into platforms like Angie and HomeAdvisor
00:33:19.087 -->
00:33:20.867don't have secretaries.
00:33:20.927 -->
00:33:23.147They don't have CSRs. They don't have anything.
00:33:23.247 -->
00:33:27.007And so they're on a roof. They're in a crawl space. They're in a basement.
00:33:27.267 -->
00:33:30.307They're customer facing. They can't stop the conversation.
00:33:30.667 -->
00:33:35.067And if that phone rings and you answer it and you're not prepared to service
00:33:35.067 -->
00:33:36.667that customer, you're getting charged.
00:33:36.807 -->
00:33:38.867They're not giving you credit back. It's over.
00:33:39.147 -->
00:33:44.447And that lead's probably gone forever, right? It is. It is. But they're still
00:33:44.447 -->
00:33:45.807burning those leads, right?
00:33:46.047 -->
00:33:51.307They're still setting $300 on fire while they're on a roof because that speed
00:33:51.307 -->
00:33:53.187to lead really is a real thing.
00:33:53.507 -->
00:33:55.807And every marketing agency says it.
00:33:56.867 -->
00:34:01.607But it's true, right? Even though we have these marketing agencies that we talk
00:34:01.607 -->
00:34:05.047about that are predatory and you feel take all of your money,
00:34:05.167 -->
00:34:10.547and some of them do, speed to lead is no joke. and put yourself in the customer's shoes.
00:34:10.887 -->
00:34:14.607If you happen to reach out on Angie's, it's not like you're cheap.
00:34:15.007 -->
00:34:21.207Angie's has massive pull and massive market and SEO push. And you reach out to that.
00:34:21.427 -->
00:34:26.027Whoever answers the phone with a friendly voice is going to get that job.
00:34:26.227 -->
00:34:32.747And if it happens to be an HVAC system repair, I don't care how much you follow up with me tomorrow.
00:34:33.127 -->
00:34:37.627It's already been repaired. It's over, right? So...
00:34:37.879 -->
00:34:42.019Yeah. No joke on speed to lead guys. No. I mean, especially in HVAC.
00:34:42.179 -->
00:34:46.119I mean, when someone calls for an HVAC, they're not calling because their HVAC's
00:34:46.119 -->
00:34:48.779getting old 90% of the time.
00:34:48.959 -->
00:34:52.059They're calling because they got three kids. It's 105 degrees.
00:34:52.199 -->
00:34:57.239It's 4th of July and their air conditioner's out and their kids are crying and
00:34:57.239 -->
00:34:58.619they need it fixed yesterday.
00:34:59.339 -->
00:35:02.319And if you don't answer that phone, you don't call them back,
00:35:02.499 -->
00:35:05.099you're busy, whatever it may be, it's gone.
00:35:05.239 -->
00:35:08.279And that customer may be gone forever because the customer that The company
00:35:08.279 -->
00:35:14.139that does answer the phone may have a system in place that keeps it in that pipeline forever.
00:35:14.379 -->
00:35:18.919So you literally just lost a lifetime of work by not answering the cell phone.
00:35:19.319 -->
00:35:22.659It could have been $20,000 that you lost. Could have been.
00:35:23.059 -->
00:35:27.279Very easily. Could have been. Yeah. And what would you, with the $20,000,
00:35:27.659 -->
00:35:31.999if you're doing everything else right, there's your future marketing dollars right there.
00:35:32.239 -->
00:35:39.059So you're not to your last 5,000. So, man, the theme of this podcast has really been stepping back,
00:35:39.639 -->
00:35:45.939creating, having a customer journey, not just answering the phone,
00:35:46.099 -->
00:35:52.459but looking at it and maximizing that lifetime value and being patient for it to bear fruit.
00:35:52.459 -->
00:35:56.939I think that a lot of these companies who don't have those processes,
00:35:56.939 -->
00:36:05.099if they get a lead and it turns into a big ticket, it's mostly luck that happened, not by design, right?
00:36:05.679 -->
00:36:11.159So, you know, so you go ahead. You know, let's think real quick before we move on.
00:36:11.299 -->
00:36:14.219I want to talk about the, you know, the lead list we were just talking about.
00:36:14.379 -->
00:36:19.359And you and me both know how much private equity is coming into play right now in the trades market.
00:36:20.099 -->
00:36:22.139And a lot of these guys are,
00:36:23.124 -->
00:36:28.604The guy I told you about that we did out in Utah, he was in his 50s looking to exit soon.
00:36:29.364 -->
00:36:34.324And his lead list, that it just makes your exit value that much more.
00:36:34.524 -->
00:36:40.784If you have 300 service contracts, if you have a lead list that you can sell
00:36:40.784 -->
00:36:43.764to all this stuff, I see it every day.
00:36:43.904 -->
00:36:47.604Hey, how do I sell to private equity? How do I do this? It's no joke what's going on.
00:36:47.604 -->
00:36:51.424But if you want to make your exit that much more valuable,
00:36:52.064 -->
00:36:57.184having these systems in place and being able to show them quickly how efficient,
00:36:57.404 -->
00:37:01.144how much money you make in your customer base, it's only going to make you that
00:37:01.144 -->
00:37:05.144much more money, even at the end when you sell, retire, whatever it may be.
00:37:05.144 -->
00:37:11.624So it's not just money now, it's money later and your kids money later, college money later.
00:37:11.804 -->
00:37:19.444Like it is such a compound effect on your customer base of keeping that database clean and accurate.
00:37:20.144 -->
00:37:26.104There's a lot of crap talked about with private equity, mostly on their business
00:37:26.104 -->
00:37:30.904practices and how they treat employees and everything. But I'll tell you one thing.
00:37:31.204 -->
00:37:36.444These guys know their numbers. They know how to analyze the numbers.
00:37:36.604 -->
00:37:37.864They know how to gather data.
00:37:38.044 -->
00:37:41.484They're not even in the shop. They're, you know, in New York City.
00:37:41.724 -->
00:37:48.444And they know that existing customer is infinitely cheaper than a new customer.
00:37:48.684 -->
00:37:50.644Plus, you can market to them all year.
00:37:51.124 -->
00:37:54.864New customers are only in the market during busy season. Like,
00:37:55.044 -->
00:38:00.424nobody's going to Google and searching for HVAC in, at least in Ohio,
00:38:00.744 -->
00:38:02.344in September. They're not.
00:38:02.604 -->
00:38:07.004They're not. Right? So private equity that, yeah, they're going to value that
00:38:07.004 -->
00:38:09.784because that's what they've done. They're, they're.
00:38:10.422 -->
00:38:17.362They look at what kind of things can I pull the trigger on in this business that maximize ROI.
00:38:17.702 -->
00:38:24.742And it's buying equipment for less cost than you would buy because they have more buying power.
00:38:24.862 -->
00:38:27.782That puts a couple percent to the bottom line right away.
00:38:27.782 -->
00:38:32.182It's optimizing operations with consolidating employees.
00:38:32.182 -->
00:38:35.722But a lot of it is on that marketing side. They're not just going to,
00:38:35.882 -->
00:38:40.102even though they can and they do, they're not just going to go in and say,
00:38:40.242 -->
00:38:43.782all right, my strategy is to pay infinite amount of money to acquire new customers.
00:38:44.202 -->
00:38:47.882Yeah. Why wouldn't they just start a business from scratch if that's what they
00:38:47.882 -->
00:38:50.782were going to do? Yeah. They buy existing business.
00:38:51.042 -->
00:38:55.222Yeah. They'd go spend 20, 30K a month on Google Ads if they wanted to start from scratch.
00:38:55.422 -->
00:39:01.082And that's what their plan was. they run a lean operation and they're going
00:39:01.082 -->
00:39:05.862to get every ounce of dollar out of that company before they reinvest in the new.
00:39:06.322 -->
00:39:10.922And that's a lesson to be learned from an existing business owner.
00:39:11.062 -->
00:39:15.022Even if you were a technician turned operator, turned owner,
00:39:15.362 -->
00:39:18.662you should be doing the same type of things that they do.
00:39:18.782 -->
00:39:24.962That doesn't mean that you have to do the things that you feel that are negative that they do.
00:39:25.142 -->
00:39:29.582You can still take care of your employees. You can still have that family-like
00:39:29.582 -->
00:39:34.322atmosphere, but there's a lot of lessons learned from business owners.
00:39:34.582 -->
00:39:38.162And we all, most of us didn't start out like that. I didn't.
00:39:38.282 -->
00:39:40.802I wasn't a good business owner when I started.
00:39:40.942 -->
00:39:43.762I was a technician who liked serving customers.
00:39:43.982 -->
00:39:49.482What does that have to do with how to take a lead all the way through the customer life cycle?
00:39:50.222 -->
00:39:54.602Not a lot. I was fortunate to always get that customer information though.
00:39:54.742 -->
00:39:57.062And if I didn't get it, that would be tough, man.
00:39:57.582 -->
00:39:59.802I'll tell you what, that would be brutal. Very tough.
00:40:00.402 -->
00:40:04.162I don't know. I wouldn't know what to do. I mean, if you have a customer come
00:40:04.162 -->
00:40:09.522to you that doesn't have that lead list, what can you actually do?
00:40:10.270 -->
00:40:15.090For them. Nothing in the future. You just hope they remember you or you hope they find you.
00:40:15.450 -->
00:40:21.450And you're just kind of, you know, I know we relate to casino a lot in this,
00:40:21.530 -->
00:40:25.110but really you're just betting on them to come back and use you again.
00:40:25.230 -->
00:40:29.790And the chances are that an emergency, they're going to find the first person
00:40:29.790 -->
00:40:34.930that pops up or who left a magnet on their new fuse panel or their new,
00:40:34.930 -->
00:40:37.970you know, air handler or whatever it may be.
00:40:38.030 -->
00:40:41.590And that's who they're calling at the time, especially in the trades,
00:40:41.770 -->
00:40:47.490when action strikes, they're going to find the quickest way to make the paying stop.
00:40:47.710 -->
00:40:53.370And they're probably not going to dig around for your invoice that you left them three years ago.
00:40:53.770 -->
00:40:56.770There's no way that's gone. It might have even been emailed.
00:40:57.450 -->
00:41:00.890And good luck finding anything in your email, right? Yeah.
00:41:01.490 -->
00:41:04.830This has been, it's been a great conversation, but we're just,
00:41:04.970 -->
00:41:08.550we've been thinking long term for these business owners because that's what
00:41:08.550 -->
00:41:11.970business is. That's what investing is. It's really long-term.
00:41:12.190 -->
00:41:17.130You might have some short-term wins, but people that really make it, make it long-term.
00:41:17.390 -->
00:41:22.710What do you think the most overhyped marketing tool is right now in there?
00:41:23.190 -->
00:41:25.350Man, I think just because I
00:41:25.350 -->
00:41:30.850get hit up with it every day, I think it's the putting AI in front of SEO.
00:41:31.950 -->
00:41:36.410Yeah, yeah. I've seen a lot of that stuff. And I've seen a lot that says AI
00:41:36.410 -->
00:41:38.830can do your SEO. That's one thing I see.
00:41:39.150 -->
00:41:45.110The other thing I see is he optimized for chat GPT search, right? I see that too.
00:41:45.430 -->
00:41:51.250So are we even far enough down the path of knowledge to know if that's a good
00:41:51.250 -->
00:41:52.250investment at this point?
00:41:52.510 -->
00:41:55.830I don't think so. I think it goes back to one of them money grabs.
00:41:56.070 -->
00:41:59.090You know, they're just trying to get, they're trying to get somebody on there
00:41:59.090 -->
00:42:03.590because they know like a good SEO firm's about $1,500 to $2,000 a month.
00:42:03.850 -->
00:42:07.070And they know if they can come in at $500 a month.
00:42:07.695 -->
00:42:13.575They're going to pique interest on cost. And then AI is just the trending keyword right now everywhere.
00:42:13.795 -->
00:42:18.575And so they think that they're the latest and greatest tool in the market that
00:42:18.575 -->
00:42:19.995they can cut a thousand dollars.
00:42:20.455 -->
00:42:24.335They're just gambling on it if it's going to work or not. And I actually did
00:42:24.335 -->
00:42:26.855a demo last week on one because I wanted to see.
00:42:26.935 -->
00:42:31.695I'm like, I've been doing SEO for 10 years now. I want to see what it was just
00:42:31.695 -->
00:42:38.235another plugin on a WordPress that was doing the same thing that we were already doing,
00:42:38.235 -->
00:42:41.055but it was just a little bit of
00:42:41.055 -->
00:42:46.435content writing that maybe, maybe takes my team five to 10 minutes to do.
00:42:46.595 -->
00:42:49.935And I called him out on the demo and he's like, well, I get it. We're competitors.
00:42:50.175 -->
00:42:54.115And I'm like, kind of, but you're kind of misleading here. You're using AI just
00:42:54.115 -->
00:42:57.575to kind of like build content here. It's not really doing anything.
00:42:58.075 -->
00:43:02.135Superpower here. And you're basically just charging lower margins than guys
00:43:02.135 -->
00:43:03.435that are doing proper SEO.
00:43:03.695 -->
00:43:08.595But I get five to six a week of cold calls and emails and Facebook messages.
00:43:08.835 -->
00:43:12.715And it's some fancy AI tool that's going to blow my business up.
00:43:12.835 -->
00:43:17.275And I had to finally do a demo because I wanted to see just how magical it was.
00:43:17.415 -->
00:43:19.835And that's the stuff. It's just predatory.
00:43:20.115 -->
00:43:26.375Tech bros coming in, right? 22-year-olds that don't understand the customer
00:43:26.375 -->
00:43:34.055life cycle, don't understand our business, don't understand lead generation and ROAS.
00:43:34.235 -->
00:43:38.395And they're just coming in. I like ROAS. I love it. I love it. ROAS.
00:43:38.735 -->
00:43:41.535That's just straight ROAS right there.
00:43:41.695 -->
00:43:45.615But a lot of these companies who are spending the $1,500 on SEO,
00:43:45.975 -->
00:43:51.575I think that if you're well positioned, if you're a great operator and you have
00:43:51.575 -->
00:43:54.135the cash, aka the profit,
00:43:54.475 -->
00:44:00.495you can spend $500 trying on a new tool, but you don't take away the $1,500
00:44:00.495 -->
00:44:03.395that got you there in the first place, if that makes sense.
00:44:03.555 -->
00:44:07.355So, you know, I talked to a lot of contractors who were like,
00:44:07.495 -->
00:44:10.795well, with marketing, you should test this, you should test that.
00:44:11.235 -->
00:44:15.535Well, that means that you have a lot of things that are working well that you
00:44:15.535 -->
00:44:17.755can add on these tests for.
00:44:19.035 -->
00:44:22.795And if you're to the point where all you're doing is testing, you're in trouble.
00:44:23.512 -->
00:44:27.512Yeah. You know? No, a hundred percent. And that's just the biggest thing right
00:44:27.512 -->
00:44:32.352now is, you know, trust who you talk to, give your money to the right people
00:44:32.352 -->
00:44:37.652and do your own part of the bargain. Right. That's the thing.
00:44:37.852 -->
00:44:40.572These marketing agencies aren't going to fix all your problems.
00:44:40.692 -->
00:44:42.092They're not going to do all the work for you.
00:44:42.212 -->
00:44:46.752They're going to position you to be successful, but you've got to finish it off.
00:44:46.852 -->
00:44:50.072You've got to sell it. You've got to fill it. And you've got to do your job
00:44:50.072 -->
00:44:54.132as a business owner to position yourself to do all those things.
00:44:54.652 -->
00:44:58.312How do you find a marketing company you can trust?
00:44:58.792 -->
00:45:03.312What is the process for that? I mean, gosh, man.
00:45:03.452 -->
00:45:08.252And can it be referrals from people? I mean, what would you do if you're going
00:45:08.252 -->
00:45:10.432out searching for a marketing company today?
00:45:10.432 -->
00:45:15.292Honestly, man, finding people that are on podcasts like right now,
00:45:15.712 -->
00:45:20.172guys who are putting their vulnerability on social media, whether that be with
00:45:20.172 -->
00:45:24.652content, whether that be with podcasts, whether that be with blogs and people
00:45:24.652 -->
00:45:28.292that are putting their life, their face, and they're consistent.
00:45:28.692 -->
00:45:33.952And that's easy to tell that someone is not only committed, but they're easy
00:45:33.952 -->
00:45:36.012to find. You know who they are.
00:45:36.332 -->
00:45:41.992You can find a lot of data on them. The people that are trying to sell you this
00:45:41.992 -->
00:45:49.572$99 a month Facebook ads or whatever it may be, you can't find them anywhere, anywhere. Right.
00:45:49.952 -->
00:45:53.772And you can't find the guys who were selling leads on these Facebook groups.
00:45:53.772 -->
00:45:57.192If you go and look for them, half the time it's a fake profile.
00:45:57.212 -->
00:46:01.172They're from another country and they're using another fake profile because
00:46:01.172 -->
00:46:02.572they don't want their identity known.
00:46:03.052 -->
00:46:06.912Find the guys that are putting their self out in the open. Find the guys that
00:46:06.912 -->
00:46:09.352are being vulnerable enough to tell their story.
00:46:09.712 -->
00:46:13.752Good, bad, ugly. Those are the guys you want to work with. They're going to
00:46:13.752 -->
00:46:17.452cost you a little more, but they know their stuff, man.
00:46:17.852 -->
00:46:23.152And they're easy to find and you are going to get the results from it.
00:46:23.152 -->
00:46:27.932So, you know, if I, if I was starting out and if I had to do this over again,
00:46:28.112 -->
00:46:35.132I would wait till I was in a position to heavily invest in marketing and I would
00:46:35.132 -->
00:46:37.092do it right again. I wouldn't go with the cheapest.
00:46:37.112 -->
00:46:40.832I wouldn't go with the most expensive, but it makes sense.
00:46:41.052 -->
00:46:44.892I would find somebody that relates to my business, knows my business,
00:46:45.072 -->
00:46:49.012understands like what we've talked about, the whole customer journey,
00:46:49.152 -->
00:46:51.472the life cycle costs, all of these things.
00:46:51.472 -->
00:46:57.872And if it's too good to be true, it's probably too good to be true. Let's just be honest.
00:46:58.792 -->
00:47:04.432Yeah, 100%. Yeah, that's great advice because finding the right marketing agency
00:47:04.432 -->
00:47:05.912is extremely important.
00:47:06.332 -->
00:47:11.592And educating yourself on the fundamentals of marketing is...
00:47:12.215 -->
00:47:17.035This is very important. One of the things that I like that I've found because
00:47:17.035 -->
00:47:19.795Service Titan Hacks, we have sponsors in our group.
00:47:20.075 -->
00:47:25.375So what I did a few months ago is one of the things I really like to do is I
00:47:25.375 -->
00:47:28.655like to find solutions, love to find solutions for my own business.
00:47:28.655 -->
00:47:34.115So every CRM, every add-on, every tool, every physical tool,
00:47:34.335 -->
00:47:39.595I wanted to try everything and find out what provided the best return.
00:47:39.955 -->
00:47:44.955And so when I sold my company, I want to do that for other contractors.
00:47:45.195 -->
00:47:52.475So we have a sponsor named Volca that just does referrals. That's all they do.
00:47:52.595 -->
00:47:56.375They have an automated system that does referrals. It's very simple.
00:47:56.375 -->
00:48:01.235But what I liked about it is the owners of the company are from the home service space.
00:48:01.395 -->
00:48:08.515So I found that if the owners are from the space and had the experience of what
00:48:08.515 -->
00:48:12.795not to do, they tend to be a little bit better on what to do.
00:48:12.955 -->
00:48:15.515They can set expectations a little bit better.
00:48:15.915 -->
00:48:21.355And what I've found is all of the people that are sponsors, like,
00:48:21.475 -->
00:48:22.715so I'll do a demo with them.
00:48:23.095 -->
00:48:26.895Like, so Volca, I come in and I'll find out who all their competitors are and
00:48:26.895 -->
00:48:30.275I'll do demos with all of them because I'm really good at understanding whether
00:48:30.275 -->
00:48:33.935or not this person's full of shit or if they know what they're talking about.
00:48:34.175 -->
00:48:37.695And the ones who really know what they're talking about have leadership.
00:48:38.592 -->
00:48:43.232That have been in the space that they're serving. That's really a big difference.
00:48:43.492 -->
00:48:49.012So who are these people? Anybody can put the name digital marketing agency on
00:48:49.012 -->
00:48:50.332them. Anybody can put AI.
00:48:50.792 -->
00:48:56.472It's so overhyped that you have to look and dig into who these people really
00:48:56.472 -->
00:49:00.192are and look at contracts and things like that.
00:49:00.352 -->
00:49:05.672And if they set your expectations right, then most likely this will be a good
00:49:05.672 -->
00:49:08.252relationship. And think long-term with your agency too.
00:49:08.752 -->
00:49:11.432Yeah don't think you know don't don't say
00:49:11.432 -->
00:49:14.532i'm gonna give these guys two months to perform now if
00:49:14.532 -->
00:49:17.852they don't if they don't do the the deliverables
00:49:17.852 -->
00:49:20.612that they say they're gonna do like i've had ones that said they're gonna
00:49:20.612 -->
00:49:23.612do a monthly call and they don't even do it yeah that's
00:49:23.612 -->
00:49:26.552different like you're not even doing the monthly call with me
00:49:26.552 -->
00:49:29.692they say they're gonna do two blog posts whatever strategy
00:49:29.692 -->
00:49:32.832they have they need to at least do exactly what
00:49:32.832 -->
00:49:35.532they say they're going to do all the way the results at
00:49:35.532 -->
00:49:38.672the end that might not be measurable day one it isn't
00:49:38.672 -->
00:49:41.612but you can find out if they're going to do what they
00:49:41.612 -->
00:49:44.492say they're going to do pretty quickly right yeah
00:49:44.492 -->
00:49:49.452and i think i know another good key indicator is that you see them doing content
00:49:49.452 -->
00:49:54.452with their clients i think that's huge you know we've got we've got some companies
00:49:54.452 -->
00:49:59.572that we've filmed like day in the life videos with they're just in person if
00:49:59.572 -->
00:50:04.172i'm if i'm comfortable enough coming to you and sitting down with you face to face,
00:50:04.372 -->
00:50:07.052I'm probably a pretty good company to work with.
00:50:07.172 -->
00:50:09.812And there's a couple out there and you've probably seen them too.
00:50:09.952 -->
00:50:12.372They go and they film on roofs with people.
00:50:12.552 -->
00:50:18.012They go and film, you know, testimonial videos in person because they've basically
00:50:18.012 -->
00:50:22.712implemented themselves into their client's business. And they're basically like a teammate.
00:50:23.032 -->
00:50:26.912If guys are comfortable enough and committed to doing that, they're going to
00:50:26.912 -->
00:50:28.292be committed to growing your business.
00:50:29.077 -->
00:50:33.597Yeah, I really like that. That's another big thing to have on the checklist.
00:50:33.897 -->
00:50:39.277And if you can't afford those people yet, then you probably would be better
00:50:39.277 -->
00:50:44.597off not going with the $99 a month one and spending that money educating yourself.
00:50:44.797 -->
00:50:49.397You know, one of the things that I really liked was that when I reached out
00:50:49.397 -->
00:50:53.677to agencies that I couldn't afford, some of them said, hey man,
00:50:53.677 -->
00:50:56.497you can't afford me. But here's what you should do.
00:50:56.657 -->
00:51:01.157One agency told me my website was on one and one when I first started,
00:51:01.377 -->
00:51:02.757maybe because they had a deal.
00:51:02.937 -->
00:51:06.017They said, here's what you should do. You should move your website over to WordPress.
00:51:06.637 -->
00:51:10.657I know your skills after talking to you. You can easily do it yourself.
00:51:10.897 -->
00:51:14.237Own the domain name and do this. Get Google reviews.
00:51:14.417 -->
00:51:17.997And they did some things that were guerrilla marketing tactics
00:51:17.997 -->
00:51:22.997that were for people that had more time than they had money as you know typically
00:51:22.997 -->
00:51:28.197you have one or the other and at the beginning of a company you have time so
00:51:28.197 -->
00:51:34.597invest your time wisely and education is a great way to invest your time listen to podcasts.
00:51:35.537 -->
00:51:42.897Listen to read books on marketing and understand marketing because it's one
00:51:42.897 -->
00:51:47.457of the top core competencies that you have to have to grow a business it is
00:51:47.457 -->
00:51:51.797and you can't you shouldn't in my opinion, outsource all of that.
00:51:52.137 -->
00:51:56.097You need to be able to talk the talk with the marketing companies.
00:51:56.397 -->
00:52:01.237No, the first thing we did was I asked my partner for permission and I said,
00:52:01.377 -->
00:52:04.437hey, I need to get $2,000. I'm going to go to Florida.
00:52:04.737 -->
00:52:08.337I'm going to sit in a four-day mastermind with some people that with a marketing
00:52:08.337 -->
00:52:10.677company that was holding a mastermind.
00:52:10.837 -->
00:52:14.217I literally, I'll never forget it. I sat in a hotel room in Fort Lauderdale,
00:52:14.377 -->
00:52:18.557Florida with like 20 other, there was fencing owners, plumbers, electricians in there.
00:52:18.717 -->
00:52:23.777And we were all just absorbing Facebook ads, Google ads, website,
00:52:23.977 -->
00:52:27.177where a contact form should be, where a call button should be.
00:52:27.337 -->
00:52:32.277It's all, it's all psychology, things that I would never think of as a business owner.
00:52:32.437 -->
00:52:36.397And that was the first step was just admitting I knew nothing,
00:52:36.677 -->
00:52:39.997went and learned it all, and then came back and was like, okay,
00:52:40.177 -->
00:52:41.137now we have to implement.
00:52:41.337 -->
00:52:44.417And I sat down and we started building things out piece by piece.
00:52:44.417 -->
00:52:48.937And once you started going, it made so much sense why a contact form should
00:52:48.937 -->
00:52:54.077be there or why your logo should look this way and why your colors should be
00:52:54.077 -->
00:53:00.417this way and why they should be able to call you every scroll on your website.
00:53:00.417 -->
00:53:04.977And so it was things like that. And that's what got me going.
00:53:05.197 -->
00:53:09.537And so what I've actually done is about two weeks ago, I got into school.
00:53:09.697 -->
00:53:14.197I don't know if you played around in school yet, but I, I created a school community
00:53:14.197 -->
00:53:15.637and we've just launched it last week.
00:53:15.757 -->
00:53:19.077There's only like 16 members in it, but inside that school community,
00:53:19.077 -->
00:53:22.357I've got videos on how to launch your first Facebook ad campaign,
00:53:22.557 -->
00:53:25.437how to launch your Google ad campaign, how to sell.
00:53:26.169 -->
00:53:30.329You know, what is SEO? What is automations? What is QuickBooks?
00:53:30.449 -->
00:53:34.969How to keep your books in order, things like that. And I, it doesn't cost, it's free.
00:53:35.169 -->
00:53:39.869I built all this out because I wish there would have been a lifeline whenever
00:53:39.869 -->
00:53:43.349we were 30,000 in the hole and we didn't know what to do.
00:53:43.649 -->
00:53:48.929And so I've built this out and I'm, I'm pushing it out right now to everybody
00:53:48.929 -->
00:53:50.709and it doesn't cost me anything.
00:53:50.769 -->
00:53:55.789But my hopes is, is that you grow your business to a spot where you can afford my services.
00:53:56.369 -->
00:54:01.829And then you come to me and you're like, Hey, Jason, we're doing a hundred thousand a month now.
00:54:02.029 -->
00:54:05.309And what, what now? Obviously, right.
00:54:05.649 -->
00:54:10.909Google ads, isn't it no more? What now? And then I've built a client right for my time.
00:54:10.969 -->
00:54:14.669And so it's not really about them being a client because I guarantee you,
00:54:14.789 -->
00:54:17.089I may get one or two clients out of the whole school community,
00:54:17.089 -->
00:54:19.429but it's about just being able to collaborate.
00:54:19.429 -->
00:54:23.729I do a weekly call on Thursday nights where I'll go over your website and just
00:54:23.729 -->
00:54:26.229tell you, hey man, do this, do that, do this.
00:54:26.409 -->
00:54:30.049So a lot of these guys are building them or their wives or kids are building them.
00:54:30.149 -->
00:54:35.089And I just trying to give back because whenever I was starting this whole journey,
00:54:35.249 -->
00:54:38.569there wasn't a lot out there. And so we didn't have school.
00:54:38.809 -->
00:54:43.029We barely had Facebook groups back then. And so it's like, I'm just trying to
00:54:43.029 -->
00:54:48.589give back to all these guys because I see how predatory it is and I've been down that path.
00:54:48.749 -->
00:54:52.669And if I can save one or two people from buying leads, then I've done my job.
00:54:53.249 -->
00:54:57.229I wonder if that's great. That's great to hear. And I'll drop that link to your
00:54:57.229 -->
00:55:02.249school community everywhere that this podcast is shown so people can educate themselves.
00:55:02.629 -->
00:55:08.849I wonder how many good marketing agencies there are out there that also,
00:55:09.129 -->
00:55:10.609or I'm sorry, I wonder how many
00:55:10.609 -->
00:55:15.529bad ones provide a lot of free content and education to their consumers.
00:55:15.689 -->
00:55:17.989I doubt it. I doubt it.
00:55:18.169 -->
00:55:23.509Right. So if you're a guy who's a fly-by-night and all you want to do is make
00:55:23.509 -->
00:55:28.249a quick buck, you're probably not going to sit down and put together free education.
00:55:28.249 -->
00:55:33.109That's a great thing about the marketing, about the agency world is because
00:55:33.109 -->
00:55:39.509they are content creators and they understand websites and they have dedicated copywriters,
00:55:39.949 -->
00:55:46.209they can provide you with a ton of free stuff today to learn this skill set.
00:55:46.209 -->
00:55:46.989Because that's what it is.
00:55:47.049 -->
00:55:51.309It's just, it's a very different skill than what you have as a technician.
00:55:51.549 -->
00:55:53.949But it can be learned. It can be, okay, I did.
00:55:54.643 -->
00:55:57.703I wish I could have done it cheaper though. Holy crap. Well,
00:55:58.223 -->
00:56:01.723yeah, I wish if I could start over, I'd be in a whole different conversation
00:56:01.723 -->
00:56:04.183with you, but, you know, but it's good.
00:56:04.463 -->
00:56:09.523It made us, it made us tough. We regret it a little bit, but we learned a lot
00:56:09.523 -->
00:56:13.323from the journey and we don't get into business because it's easy.
00:56:13.443 -->
00:56:17.183We get into business because it's rewarding and it's a risk and it's always
00:56:17.183 -->
00:56:19.483going to be a gamble and it's not going to be easy.
00:56:20.543 -->
00:56:23.083But surrounding yourself and your community is great for that.
00:56:23.083 -->
00:56:28.003Like surrounding yourself with people that are like-minded, trying to solve
00:56:28.003 -->
00:56:32.243problems, people that are just stuck on one little thing in service Titan and
00:56:32.243 -->
00:56:35.163they can ask a question and get 30 responses.
00:56:35.263 -->
00:56:41.803Like that didn't exist, you know, and having the private chat channels and things like that.
00:56:41.803 -->
00:56:45.343It just, it helps everybody just be that much better.
00:56:45.343 -->
00:56:50.663And if we can give back just a little bit, it, it'll, it, you'd be surprised
00:56:50.663 -->
00:56:55.063how many people really benefit from, you know, I, I filmed all this content
00:56:55.063 -->
00:56:58.303and I just think to myself, like, is it really going anywhere?
00:56:58.343 -->
00:57:01.003And then I'll get a message from somebody and they're like, oh man,
00:57:01.023 -->
00:57:06.363I, I use chat GPT to do our tense Facebook posts this week as your YouTube video.
00:57:06.363 -->
00:57:08.923And I'm like, okay. All right. So there we go.
00:57:09.903 -->
00:57:13.723Yeah. And so that's the thing, man, is like, you're right. You know,
00:57:13.803 -->
00:57:18.143the fly-by-night people, they're not putting out content. They're not holding free webinars.
00:57:18.183 -->
00:57:20.243They're not holding masterclasses.
00:57:20.343 -->
00:57:21.763They're not holding this stuff.
00:57:21.963 -->
00:57:24.803They're just trying to promise you the world and deliver nothing.
00:57:25.576 -->
00:57:28.636Yeah. And you see that and be careful of it, guys.
00:57:28.816 -->
00:57:32.976And don't don't be careful of it after you've bought so much of it that your
00:57:32.976 -->
00:57:34.536business is in dire straits.
00:57:35.056 -->
00:57:39.616Don't be like me. Yeah. Yeah. Let me tell you all about it.
00:57:39.816 -->
00:57:43.596All about it. I don't want to look. I could go back and look at all my QuickBooks
00:57:43.596 -->
00:57:48.476and look at all the line items for marketing and go, oh, shouldn't have done it at all.
00:57:48.656 -->
00:57:51.156Should have done it longer. It's one of those, right?
00:57:51.656 -->
00:57:55.916None of them are, you either need to put more into it or less into it.
00:57:56.016 -->
00:57:59.556So you have this 60 minute marketing audit that you give away.
00:57:59.796 -->
00:58:02.856Can you tell me a little bit about that? What's it include?
00:58:03.236 -->
00:58:07.176Yeah, man. So everybody that joins our school community, I give them two options.
00:58:07.356 -->
00:58:11.416I can help them set up a Facebook campaign or we do a 60 minute marketing audit
00:58:11.416 -->
00:58:12.996with me or one of my teammates.
00:58:13.156 -->
00:58:16.156And we just look at their stuff, right? If you're using software,
00:58:16.156 -->
00:58:21.916if you're using any of this stuff and you're just thinking, Hey, I, I'm paying.
00:58:22.436 -->
00:58:25.476I just, we started working with a roofing company down in Florida.
00:58:25.636 -->
00:58:29.176He's a, he's a really successful roofing company. He does about 10 million a year in roofs.
00:58:29.556 -->
00:58:36.076And he had like seven conversation softwares for texting, email,
00:58:36.356 -->
00:58:39.156all this stuff. And I went in and I was like, why?
00:58:39.356 -->
00:58:42.296Well, my old company told me to do this. I didn't do that.
00:58:42.576 -->
00:58:47.056He didn't have access to any of his websites. He didn't have access to any of
00:58:47.056 -->
00:58:51.516his ad accounts. I helped him go in, be able to delete old people off of stuff
00:58:51.516 -->
00:58:53.096and just get him lined out.
00:58:53.256 -->
00:58:56.276And then he ended up becoming a customer because he was just like,
00:58:56.336 -->
00:59:02.096for once in my business, I have ownership of my business. If that makes sense.
00:59:02.516 -->
00:59:07.496It doesn't make sense. It does, you know, cause he's had so many people's hands in his business.
00:59:08.036 -->
00:59:12.696And, you know, this guy said he needed this, but he never canceled that because he was scared.
00:59:12.776 -->
00:59:17.356And that company didn't know how to transfer that workflow over to this workflow.
00:59:17.356 -->
00:59:19.696And he didn't want his leads to get dropped.
00:59:19.776 -->
00:59:24.656And so we're getting ready to launch it next week. We've built an AI voice and chat platform.
00:59:25.536 -->
00:59:29.756And he was one of my, probably my fifth customer on it.
00:59:30.056 -->
00:59:34.676And I went in and we built everything that he had out inside of our stuff from
00:59:34.676 -->
00:59:39.376hand. We built all the messaging out, all the AI out, the voice calls, all that stuff out.
00:59:39.576 -->
00:59:41.136And he's like, well, now what? I go,
00:59:41.216 -->
00:59:45.556well, you can cancel that $1,900 in subscriptions. And he was like, what?
00:59:46.128 -->
00:59:50.568I'm like, oh, yeah, you don't need this. And that was from a free audit, right?
00:59:50.908 -->
00:59:56.568And now he's a client of mine. And basically I cut $1,900 where he puts it back
00:59:56.568 -->
00:59:58.408into his ad spin from just stacks.
00:59:58.548 -->
01:00:02.348And that's just knowledge and not understanding what's going on.
01:00:02.528 -->
01:00:06.408Like you're in the field, you're in the business and you think you need something.
01:00:06.648 -->
01:00:12.628But in today's world, there's so many universal softwares that you don't need five or six tech stacks.
01:00:12.628 -->
01:00:17.108You need one main solid program like Service Titan and things like that,
01:00:17.228 -->
01:00:22.248where you can send automations and service agreements and all this stuff from one platform.
01:00:22.748 -->
01:00:25.448You don't need six different subscriptions anymore.
01:00:26.128 -->
01:00:29.768And the less platforms that you have, the more consolidated it is,
01:00:29.868 -->
01:00:32.608the more accurate the data is going to be, the easier it's going to be to work.
01:00:33.108 -->
01:00:38.168And that's the I mean, I've had the same thing, especially as being a computer
01:00:38.168 -->
01:00:41.688programmer. I can't tell you how many pieces of software I had all working together.
01:00:41.688 -->
01:00:44.608But yet not working together, right?
01:00:44.748 -->
01:00:47.348They were just a lot of distractions, right?
01:00:47.548 -->
01:00:52.268So that's great information. Would you say that the best way to reach out to
01:00:52.268 -->
01:00:54.128you would be through that school platform?
01:00:54.748 -->
01:00:57.608Hey, you can reach out to school. You can follow me on Instagram.
01:00:57.608 -->
01:01:00.108It's Jason Jackson underscore 01.
01:01:00.588 -->
01:01:04.968On all my, I do TikTok. I got Instagram, YouTube, school.
01:01:05.428 -->
01:01:10.208I'm really active on Facebook. I'm in a lot of groups and things like that.
01:01:10.208 -->
01:01:14.508Just trying to save people from buying leads one day at a time.
01:01:15.648 -->
01:01:19.428That's great, man. So Jason, thanks for joining me today. Really appreciate
01:01:19.428 -->
01:01:23.348it. Absolutely, man. I appreciate you having me on. All right, man. Great.
01:01:25.348 -->
01:01:29.548Thanks for listening to the Home Service Hacks podcast. Be sure to subscribe
01:01:29.548 -->
01:01:33.448on your favorite podcasting platform so you never miss a future episode.
01:01:33.648 -->
01:01:35.748For more information or to connect
01:01:35.748 -->
01:01:40.028with Bill, you can check us out on Facebook at Service Titan Hacks.
01:01:40.208 -->
01:01:45.168Or visit our website at servicetitanhacks.com. We'll see you next time.
