In our latest episode, Evan sat down with Brian McDermott, the mastermind behind Prostar Plumbing and Heating, to uncover the success secrets of the HVAC industry. Get ready to transform your business with insights that go beyond the conventional!
Key Takeaways
Tune in to uncover the secrets of creating an unstoppable HVAC business with Brian McDermott's expertise. Share this episode with your network to spread the wealth of knowledge!
Find Brian:
On The Web: https://prostarplumbing.ca/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-mcdermott-a21192195/
Join Our Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hvacrevealed
Presented By On Purpose Media: https://www.onpurposemedia.ca/
For HVAC Internet Marketing reach out to us at info@onpurposemedia.ca or 888-428-0662
Sponsored By:
Chiirp: https://chiirp.com/hssr
Elite Call: https://elitecall.net
On Purpose Media: https://onpurposemedia.ca
In our latest episode, Evan sat down with Brian McDermott, the mastermind behind Prostar Plumbing and Heating, to uncover the success secrets of the HVAC industry. Get ready to transform your business with insights that go beyond the conventional!
Key Takeaways
Tune in to uncover the secrets of creating an unstoppable HVAC business with Brian McDermott's expertise. Share this episode with your network to spread the wealth of knowledge!
Find Brian:
On The Web: https://prostarplumbing.ca/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-mcdermott-a21192195/
Join Our Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hvacrevealed
Presented By On Purpose Media: https://www.onpurposemedia.ca/
For HVAC Internet Marketing reach out to us at info@onpurposemedia.ca or 888-428-0662
Sponsored By:
Chiirp: https://chiirp.com/hssr
Elite Call: https://elitecall.net
On Purpose Media: https://onpurposemedia.ca
Hey, welcome back to another HVC Success Secrets Revealed without us in heaven today, just having, but I am down here in Memphis, Tennessee at Graceland. This is the last episode that we did at service MVP. We do have some more of his coaching clients coming on in future events or a future podcast, I should say, but we did manage to snag Brian McDermott. He is the owner of pro star plumbing and heating up in Calgary, Alberta. So I had to drive all the way to Memphis, Tennessee or travel all the way to Memphis, Tennessee in order to interview another Albertan surprise, but had a great conversation with him. He's running a three and a half million dollar business in Calgary with plumbing, heating, and air conditioning got into some great conversations around leaders and how to separate your technicians and transform them into leaders, how to have great conversations with your team and really set standards and dive into the new education and new learnings and new tech and new tools, how can you get that buy in from your team. It's incredibly important to get them engaged and to get the right people in the right seats on your bus so that you can all move forward together. It's tremendously difficult as a leader to grow a business when you don't have the right people on your team. So got into that today and also into some beliefs and projections, which I thought was a very interesting conversation and one that I think you'll enjoy as well. But before we get into the episode with Brian, a quick word from our sponsors, because without them, none of this would be possible.
Thaddeus Tondu:Chiirp, Elite Call and On Purpose Media. So Elite Call they are a us based call center champion for the home service industries for 20 years. Actually, they've been outbounding clients, databases, filling dispatch boards with lucrative service and sales appointments and boosting memberships like no other. They don't make calls. They actually directly integrate into your CI CRM, giving you a seamless experience, don't let your competition get ahead, let elite call connect with your customers and fill your board. You can visit them today at elitecall.net right there.
Evan Hoffman:And we've got Chiirp transform your home service business with Chiirp, the ultimate automation toolbox, capture more leads, connect instantly. When skyrocket your sales chirp integrate seamlessly with platforms like ServiceTitan and how it's called pro offering automated texts, emails, and even ringless voicemails, boost your Google reviews and customer loyalty with a proven rehash programs, schedule your demo today and get an exclusive 25 percent off your first three months. Visit chiirp.com/hssr for HVAC success secrets revealed and start boosting your revenue today. Hey, welcome back to another HVAC Success Secrets Revealed with Thaddeus and Evan. Unfortunately, Thaddeus is not here with me, but we are still live at Service MVP at TrueGrit down in Memphis, Tennessee, having ourselves a blast. The event is just starting to wrap up here. We're in the last and we have Brian McDermott here with us. He is the owner of ProStar Plumbing and Heating out of Calgary, Alberta. Yeah. So, three hour trip from me in Edmonton. And, we had to fly all the way down here to Memphis to get together. So glad we were able to make it happen though.
Brian McDermott:Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on.
Evan Hoffman:No worries. we've had some good conversations here already. We got introduced by, Michael and Mike, ServiceMVP, thought you'd be a great guest for the show. They said that you've been crushing it in the last year since you've been working with ServiceMVP. Yep. walk us into your journey into the trades, how you got started, why you started the business.
Brian McDermott:Sure. So, how I got into trades originally was, from my father. So obviously, you know, you've heard a lot of family people around here, generations of technicians and, you know, family values and they've been growing up in the trades, but I always pushed it away from it you know, I went to school in Calgary, grew up in Calgary. My dad was born in Detroit, immigrated over to Canada. his parents worked in the Ford's plants, right in Detroit and in Windsor. So my old man. He wanted no part of the factory life. So he came over to Alberta chasing, chasing the oil dream, right? Right. The, the oil money. unfortunately that never worked out for him. So he ended up becoming a plumber. So he was a commercial plumber and then he got into some residential plumbing. So growing up, he always tried to just, you know, going through school, you know, you need to get a trade, you need to get a trade and what did I do? I did everything opposite of that. I pushed, I pushed that way to the corner. I'm like, there's no way I'm waking up getting in this blue van. We're going to do what you do. Like you come home and, you know, I don't even know if you're happy. He was happy, but it just, it gets portrayed that way right like working long hours, always out at, you know, you're in the cold. So I finished high school and, went, went to college for a year, Mount Royal college and, I was just taking general studies, had no idea what I wanted to do and then I got into, radio in Calgary was doing some promotions and marketing for, the first hip hop radio station that, that opened up and was partnered with CJ 92 okay. Down there. So the, I started on their street team there and then, you know, naturally I like to talk to people. So they, they put me to lead of the street team and eventually from that, I started operating the radio, late at night and then from there, I was like, well, this doesn't pay. And I'm working from, you know, 12, 12 AM tell about eight. 8 a. m. In the morning and then I'd go home, wake up and then long story short from there, I just ended up meeting a guy who, who, uh, ran a nightclub in Calgary, a pretty successful guy there, PJ LaRue owns a whole bunch of businesses, craft, you know, home and away, tons of businesses out in Calgary, Kelowna, Vancouver, Edmonton. So I, I hooked up with him and then I started bartending for him and then was bartending, I found myself five years I'm bartending. You know what I mean? So I'm stuck in, stuck in the club scene, bartending, have no idea what to do and then finally, something just clicked in my mind uh, I was, Calgary stampede and talking to a guy and he's like, man, he's like, you should just be an electrician. He's like, I'm looking for a guy. You can start on Monday and that was my first, my first avenue into the trade. So not only did I not become a plumber, which my dad was, I went and became an electrician. So you can imagine the resentment he had for there, right? He's like, you did what? You never wanted to be in the trade. Now you're doing it. I'm like, yeah, I don't know. I'm just going to go to school, get this done. So I went to SAIT. four years of commercial, electrician in Calgary, woke up every day hating my job. you know, but I just needed a job. I needed, I knew I needed to get a ticket, so at least I could have a baseline wage to do something and then, once I hit year four and I got my journeyman ticket, that's when the big floods happened in Calgary. And, after the floods happened, I, I was like, you know what, man, I'm just going to quit this. I'm going to go work for this company, Arpeys, in Calgary. So they were doing, uh, residential retrofits on all the new HVAC equipment down there. So I got hired up with them right away and because I had some electrical experience, I worked in the field for about, I'm going to say, two weeks with them. Worked with some, some sketchy guys. I mean, I remember the first guy that I ever worked with at Arpeys, he walked up to me and he's like, Hey, I'm an, I'm an ex drug addict. My name is Ron. Nice to meet you and you know, I was like, Whoa, what am I getting myself into? Ron ended up being a great guy. I actually run into him at the suppliers lot in Calgary still. So he's. He's doing good. He's on the straight and narrow still. But from there I got into HVAC and then once I was in HVAC for a little while, about eight months in the HVAC, moved my way up and do a supervisor role with the company, but it just still felt like a dead end. I didn't, I didn't know what it was yet. Right. So then I ended up leaving Arpey's. And I worked for a service company in, Calgary that was part of the, uh, the next star network. I got introduced to their videos and their catalog of library. and what it was was they're like, Hey, we're just going to train you up and you're just going to go inside of a house and you're just going to have a conversation with a customer. You're going to put some really good options together and try to improve their, systems or their, their lifestyle, let them know things they wouldn't have. So, you know, they put me through all this library of videos. But when I was doing it, there's, there's a bunch of texts that were working there and they're like, oh man, you're only gonna last a week. You're not gonna like it here. Like, you know, they're making us do the scripting stuff. It's all, you know, I call bullshit on it and I'm like, I'm like, what do I walked into here? You know? Right now I'm walking into another area. Another shitty culture. Yeah, another shitty culture. It, it seemed right and it wasn't a shitty culture, but it was just like you have the technicians that, are trying to project what, you know, their failures onto you and what they don't like about it. Yeah. Right. So management team was awesome. There was, there was a guy there. John Fenning. He was, he's an outstanding technician. I absorbed a lot of, a lot of from him, from the ownership. They were all good, but it seemed like there was just like these technicians there that like, it's like, why are you here? If you don't like what you're doing, right. You know what I mean? And they just complain, but they'd show up every day and still go to their job. So within a, within about a week of working there, you know, they, they gave me the script. I learned it. And I went to my first call. And so my first call by myself, it was a landlord tenant, issue. It was in Martle loop, right? So a little bit higher revenue area where things are newer, walked into the house, you know, just went over the phone with the landlord. I just called him. I said, Hey, you don't want to be inside your house. Here's the one I'm going to look at, you know, this is the issues you were telling me when in the house. Spent about an hour there and then walked out with 9, 000 on my first call by myself. And I didn't think any, like, it wasn't exciting for me. I was just like, Oh, I just did what you guys told me to do. Just follow the process and then I got my iPad and on Slack, Slack's a messaging, board where people could just reach out to you from the office and everyone's like, Oh my God, man, good job. Good job. You're killing them. I'm thinking like, what the hell are you guys talking about? And then it kind of hit me. I'm like, is this not normal? Right. Like, is this something, something not right here? Yeah. So I went back to the office the next day and everyone's like, Hey, great job. And then right away, they started, you know, treat me a little bit differently, like, like, Hey, we're going to do some more training on some HVAC stuff, or, you know, do you want to go sell some, some hot water heaters and stuff like that, something like what's going on here. So then what, what it came down to was I wasn't afraid to do what they coached me to do. That's what I thought the job was like, I'm doing, I'm doing what the job is. But what I realized is that the other text, which I was speaking with earlier about is that they were fearful because they didn't believe what they were doing. Right. So they're trying to project themselves onto us as, as like, Hey, I don't really like my job and I'm not following any kind of protocol or any kind of system, but you're going to hate this place because that's the way I feel. I'm going to project this on you. So it wasn't until after I ran that first call and got some more training with the office, I really understand what the assignment was and assignment wasn't, I'm going and selling to clients like, Oh, here, go sell this lady, something go do this. It's, hey, how can I make your life better in your own home? Are you aware that you can have the best of the best or do you just want the most basic? Thing you tell me, but let's have a conversation about it. Cause the last thing I want to do is walk out of a customer's house and then they call back and they say, you know what? I just bought this 40 gallon hot water tank and then my neighbor just had a, had a Navion install. He has endless hot water. My two boys are still draining my tank and I have no hot water now. So it was like this weird transition and then from there, it just basically, I stayed with that company for about seven months, absorbed even more and then I just quit and I went and started my own and so I remember the first call I did, I went, I went to a, uh, an HVAC call. I just ran a Google ad, went to my first HVAC call. Uh, it was over in Renfrew, kind of by Peter's Drive In and went to a client's house, sat down with them, chatted with them for a bit, ended up selling them a furnace, but there was one issue. I didn't even have a gas ticket. So I went into the house. I just, I just did everything I was taught there. And I just sat in front of him and sold him a furnace. So then from that point, you know, I left the house and I'm like, Oh my God, that was like, that was thrilling. Like, you know, they were happy. I gave them the solution they wanted, let them know that, Hey, we could repair it or we could do this. So what happened from that is I ended up calling a buddy who was a journeyman plumber, had a gas ticket. Hired him with me, called him and said, Hey, you know, this is what's going on. I know you're at this company. What would you say if I paid you 2 more? And he said, well, I could start with you. So the next day he was the one that came in, he installed the system, you know, obviously got everything to code, got them sitting, inspected everything. That's how I started my HVAC division in Calgary with ProStar. Wow. So the journey from, from beginning to end there, it's, it's a little wild, but that's what really opened my eyes was, are you going to do it? If someone shows you something, are you going to apply it? Right. And I was finding that people don't want to apply. They don't like change or, you know, they're not comfortable with saying certain words or, you know, I don't want to knock on the door and ask how the client's doing. Right. Right. The guy I was with that trained me, he never, he never did that. You know, that's what they tell you. So it's just a whole bunch of, it's a whole bunch of stuff where it's like there's a whole bunch of really good guys out there, but they're, they're afraid to unlock and change, you know, their view to make sure that someone has a better experience in the house. It's almost like they're projecting like, Hey, you know what? I can't offer someone an option that's 25, 000 because I've actually never purchased anything that's over 10, 000. That feels weird to me. Right. But we didn't give them an avenue like that. Okay. Did you, did you offer them financing? Right. Cause I can't afford it. I got to finance it right I don't know anyone who just has 25 K to dish out for cars or, or, or heating equipment or water tanks. Right. So when you, when you look at the big picture, it's from the journey where I started to, to where I'm at now, it's everything's come from implementing processes and training and talking and speaking with people. Right. Right. We're at MVP event right now, true grit Memphis. And, you know, Speaking earlier about it. And one of my big passions is networking because you don't know who you're going to meet here. Who's going to, someone might have a conversation with you for five minutes. I can actually change your life, right or you might've found, you might've found someone that was you five years ago that were in the exact same place that you can now help and guide to get to the next level. I mean, there's people here that run remarkable companies. There's AI technology at these events now, right? So our industry is changing for the better. But the problem that we're always seeming to find is that the training needs to happen, but nobody's being held accountable for it right and with the service MVP process, their big thing is when I onboarded with them, it's the leader goes first, right? So as the leader, I better, I better know the script. I better know what I'm coaching my guys to do. Yep. Because how's it going to look when all of a sudden I send my guys in the field and I'm like, call uncle Joe and in three months I'm like, yeah, Joe, I don't know why I paid you guys this money. This isn't working. Yep. Yep. And the first thing Joe's going to say to me is, well, did you do it? Did you go through the training are you holding them accountable? Can you check these guys? Do you know danger line one? Do you know danger line two? Do you know the money warning? Right. And if you can't answer that, yes. Did you properly give these guys the training that they needed? And the answer is always going to be no.
Evan Hoffman:Correct.
Brian McDermott:So it's hard to, all of a sudden, go from where I was, where it was like, I'm in this culture, and I get this piece of paper, and they're like, memorize this script and then go have a conversation with, I can have a conversation, right? It's not, I don't find it. I don't shy away from having conversations, but how are you going to apply a good business model and a script to a client? It's just a piece of paper. You can read off a piece of paper. It doesn't mean anything. You just read it with a blank face, with no emotion, no personality, but it's how you deliver it, right? You actually care what you're doing in the customer's house.
Evan Hoffman:And
Brian McDermott:that's the
Evan Hoffman:difference between the lyrics and the music. The lyrics is what's on the paper. Yeah. Music is how you deliver it and it's the music that elicits feeling and emotion. Yeah. So how are you coaching your text then to be able to do that is it through role playing and practicing in the office? Yeah. What, what is that process?
Brian McDermott:So the coaching that we've done with Service MVP is first of all, I went through the training. We went through all the videos. We didn't go to L. A. at first to call Vercity to the site. We didn't bring anyone down there. I wanted to make sure that we did it in the office first. We did it with them, so we basically did it from Monday to Friday for three weeks. We'd block off an hour and a half. We'd watch one of the videos. We'd answer the questions after that, Joe has on the videos and we'd talk about what does that seem like. Like what just happened there? What's the meaning behind this video or, what's how important is it to actually understand the customer's name? Why would we ask the customer's name? And it was the little baby steps of playing the videos and pausing them and talking about it over with the team and then shortly after that, the buy in for the guys were like, okay, I see what we're doing here. This is a little bit different, right? So to get the training going, we held it, like I said, hour and a half, Monday through Friday, we did it for about three weeks. Then we let the guys go. Before we graduated, I let them run a couple calls in the field to see how it was because we were switching over from a different method program that we used to use. So last thing you want to do is just throw your guys in the fire and say, Hey, we're just switching right now, right? So we did a little like a soft engagement to try to release the full full program. So then once all the guys got graduated, they started going on the field and immediately our tickets started going up and the guys would come in and they're a little bit happier and they're like more excitable and I'm asking him, I'm like what do you guys think's changed? What do you guys think's the big things that's changed since we've taken this on? And they're like, you know what? We were just creating options to create options, right? You were telling us, Hey, we got to have six of these. So we were putting six of them on the page. But what we weren't doing is make them relevant to the client. We weren't asking like, okay can I ask you a question are you guys happy with everything else that's in the home or do you want us to look at everything and say, you know what? We really don't like this carburetor. Okay, tell me what you don't like about it. I think we just want to get rid of it okay, noted whereas before the guys wouldn't ask those questions. They'd just go in and they'd, have a look at a kitchen sink, go underneath of it, look at it, open up the door. Going to the truck, put options together. I'd review their option sheet and I'm like, this doesn't make sense to me. Like, why do we have such big gaps in what our six options should be? Did you actually talk to them about this? Or did you just go in the house and say I checked the water pressure noted that's why that's there. They didn't have an expansion tank. So that's why I put that in that option. You know what? I didn't see that they had a new 40 gallon hot water heater. So I just put that on an option, but we didn't talk to the client about it. So the change with service MVPs that got the guys understanding that we have to personalize these options for them. If we're just putting something on a sheet and not talking about it, that's us selling to a client. That's not what our job is.
Evan Hoffman:That's not allowing them to buy without the opportunity based on them.
Brian McDermott:And that's a way, and that was the big aha moment for us was it was like, Yeah, we're creating six options, but the guys aren't talking to him about the client. So when the client's looking at the sheet and they're like, why do I need a water heater? Like what's this? Like I have one, right? It's working. Yep. What do I need this for? So there's a whole bunch of confusion that comes around it. But once we finished the training and we started dialing it up, what we found was all the technicians and the way we were coaching them. Now we're. Hey, we're going to make them relevant to the client. We're going to ask them, right? Do you guys know you could actually now improve your system and have endless hot water. Did you know you could have better air quality in a home? Do you know we can actually get rid of that carburetor? Do you even like it? Do you want a newer one? One that we can just slam a turkey down and it'll just cut it up right away. Like bone crusher 3000. You know what I mean?
Evan Hoffman:And
Brian McDermott:it's leading
Evan Hoffman:into that too with questions. Yeah. I see you've got kids. How many kids do you have? Yeah. Oh, you've got three kids. Yep. Oh, interesting. Do you find that you have enough hot water for everyone to take a shower in the morning? Yep. And asking those questions and leading into it and now you can present the option of, Oh would you want to consider what it would look like to replace that?
Brian McDermott:Yeah. Yeah. And you hit the nail on the coffin. Especially with that statement. It's and it's the magic moments behind it. Why have we never asked if someone has allergies in the home? Or why have we never asked someone like, Hey, do you guys have pets? Yeah. Majority of houses that we go to, they do have pets. Yep. And they're bigger households and they have kids in there. So it's almost like the light bulb switched on in our heads when we realized we're actually doing our clients a disservice, like if I've been providing horrible service for the first three years, I've been running this company. And then when it hits you, you like, you feel guilty and bad and you're like, you know what, if someone does leave me a review, it's we probably deserve that. Because we didn't have a conversation and we didn't leave them with a clear thought being like, Oh, wow, this is why you guys are doing this. So when we started hitting all the benchmarks with service MVP and writing the options and personalizing them and having the magic moments with the clients, everything changed because now they're asking us like, Oh, we didn't know we could have that. Can you actually what do you like about that? Or we like this. It was almost shocking. You know what I mean? They're picking the top option and my texts were getting shocked by it. They're like, Oh, what's going on? This is different. Like they're sitting there waiting, think they're getting a price objection. The client's no, I absolutely love that.
Evan Hoffman:Where's exactly what I want.
Brian McDermott:That's exactly what I wanted. The custom tailor made solution for exactly what the conversation was. Everything's in the option. They got to pick it. We asked them what they like about it. They explain it to us and then we did the work. But the previous model was the technicians, we coach them and we say, we want to make sure that you guys are checking the water pressure in the home, for health and safety. We want to make sure that, the water pressure can damage all the fixtures. If it's over a hundred PSI, what do you think's happening to your faucets when they get turned on and turned off, right? Or the toilets. So once we had that shift focus for why we're doing this instead of, Hey, Brian's telling us that we have to create six options. He knows why we got to create them because he knows that they can benefit from, expansion tank or humidifier or UV light, but we don't know. All we're understanding is he's telling us we have to create these. So we're just putting them on. We're appeasing them. It's done and then he looks at our option sheet and going, Oh, yep. Tyrone did a great job today. He hit everything. But Tyrone, how can we never sell any of this stuff? What's going on? And then it gets back to the point where it's that's now the way Tyrone was writing the options. The previous way and the way he's presenting them, it comes off as selling because we never talked to the client about a humidifier. It's just there. So they're like, yeah, I went with the bandaid and it's why would you do that and it's Tyrone, they probably want the bandaid. Cause did you even talk to them about this? No, I didn't. I just put it there. Cause you told me, you want to make sure. And I'm like, okay guys let's rethink what we're doing this for. So that's the big change has come with the clarity of what we're doing.
Evan Hoffman:And that's, that's a great leading. So I was going to ask you, you know, going back to the company that you were working with before you started your company, that disconnect between what it was that the leaders were asking and what it was that the technicians were wanting to execute on. Yeah. They're like, Oh, we have to do this. So let's just go do it and we'll appease them. Yeah. Right. But it's stupid that they want us to do it. They just want us to sell more. They're just trying to make more money out of this. Why do you think there is such a separation between the technicians and the leaders in most organizations in terms of the direction of the company?
Brian McDermott:I think it comes down to, to, to one thing, majority. And it's the leadership of getting the technicians to understand, Guys, why are we doing this? Ask me the question. Why are we doing this? And then they come back and they're like, I don't know. I'm just doing it because this is what we're told to do. This all I've known. It's a check. Yeah. It's a check. Whereas the culture there was just like, they're, Oh, I don't like where you're not, you're going to leave here in two weeks. Like they make us do this. They're making us show people financing and every call and it's okay. And I'm like, this is weird. But then now when you look at the service MVP method it's we're showing them financing because we want to make sure that they can have a low affordable payment. Yeah, why wouldn't we show them that? So to answer your question, it's, it comes down from the top from leadership. It's how are we explaining this to our technicians? Because if we don't explain to them, guys, do you know why we offer financing? Guys, do you know why we want to give them better air quality? But if we just bark orders and tell them and we don't separate ourselves from where they've been before and just, like I said, barking orders and they're just, they're like, I'm just creating these options. But where it stems from is the leadership. You have to learn it first. And we have to do a better job of explaining to the technician. So guys, How would you feel if all of a sudden we went to a car dealership right now, okay? And you guys can have your dream car and we walked into that car dealership and what's your dream car? I want a red Corvette. No problem. Let's go to the dealership Let's go buy that red Corvette. Now all of a sudden a car salesman comes out and you go I want a red Corvette. He goes that's awesome. Let's bring you over here. We have this black one. It's leather seats I give you a good deal on it and you're like, but I didn't ask for that. That's not what I want That's not what I wanted I want the red one. We don't have that. Come sit inside this one. Let's go for a test drive. What did you like about it? I like everything about it, but it's not the one I wanted. So the leadership team has to, and the owner, number one, has to be the most accountable for it. You have to explain to these guys why we're doing this. Why are we building this way? And it's the explanation of why do we even create options? Why do we want to talk to someone about financing? Why do we want to talk to them about improving their quality of life inside the home? Because the thing is, the technicians come in and they're like, Hey, I just want to join the trade. I don't know. I like using my hands. I'm a mechanical person, right? This is what I think I want to do. But you have to get them to shift their mindset and be like, you definitely can use your hands, but what if I told you that you can use your mouth as well, and you can communicate really effectively, And teach someone something and teaching homeowner something and give them opportunities that they didn't know existed within their household. So when it came to the leadership, it was just communicating to the guys, why are we doing this? Instead of go do this, right? Hey guys, do you want to know why we're offering people financing? They want to go with this package right here, but they're telling you, it's a lot of money upfront. So why wouldn't we just make that number a little bit smaller and offer to them like they want it. But they're not going to do that. If I don't coach you guys on what is financing even? What's the terms? What's this? All they're hearing is we need to start financing. Yeah. Again, they're just trying to help us sell more. Yeah. They're just trying to help us sell more sales. Yeah. They want more sales. So it's understanding that it, everything has to be coached on. If we're going to offer financing, we got to pull the guys aside and be like, do you guys even know how to offer this? Or even come up with how to get engagement in talking about this. And then let's say we talk about it. Okay. So you talked about a client and we showed them a nice little payment. How do we even sign them up on it? So it's gaps like that that I discovered from the old places we were working, that now that's how I coach my guys. So before my guys even go on the field, they don't go anywhere unless they've been trained up on the iPad completely. Unless they've been thrown in the field, graduated, have a ride along, go on three calls, pass those calls, review, review the call. Do the debrief, right? Come back to the shop, figure out, is my truck dirty? Do I need to clean it? It's a whole process. Whereas before starting out, the other company would just hear, go to your call, go to your next call, go to your next call, right? You don't know how you're doing. It's just, yeah, you have a call and you're working head to it. There's no process, right? And that's the hardest part for guys, you bring them in and they want to learn. They want to absorb. But without the process, they're just like, I don't even know what I'm doing next.
Evan Hoffman:Not
Brian McDermott:only
Evan Hoffman:a process but standards that you're holding them to, right? You get what you tolerate when it comes to business and life and so if the tolerant or the standard that you set in your business is that we run calls and we run as many calls as we can get to, then that's what you're going to get and you're going to get technicians that are disconnected from the purpose, disconnected from the customer, not delivering a five star experience. Because they're just trying to get to all the calls on their job board and they don't want to work till 10 o'clock at night. Versus this is our standard for how we keep our truck. This is our standard for what you need to do in order to be able to run calls with our company. That elevation of standards is what's going to make a massive difference.
Brian McDermott:Yeah, no and you absolutely nailed it on that. Before we used to just on service side and I'd just throw calls on everyone's board, right? Start today and I'd have three on each board and they'd go from there and it would just be like calls over. Next call that calls over next call where now they have one call on their board. Once that call is done, they do the debrief with the dispatch. We figured out everything that's going on. There's part need to be ordered. Number one is customer happy. Does the work have to go happen today? Do they want to the later date? And then from there, once we've debriefed, then they get their next call cause the last thing I want to do is I don't know if the Evan of today is going to be the Evan of tomorrow, right? Maybe something happens at home tonight where, you come in and you didn't get a good night's sleep or. maybe there's traffic you got an accident, right? And then I expect you to come in and be the same guy you were yesterday. That's not going to happen. So we got to make sure that if the call wasn't ran properly, we got to figure out why right then, is it just Evan having a bad day or is it, did we drop something in the office? Did we give them the wrong call? The dispatch not send them to the right place. So to have everything run correctly. Is that you got to check all the boxes. You got to make sure that there is a system in place, right? So everyone has to just be on board with it. But when it comes to the training is that you have to encourage the guys. Like I wouldn't want to work for myself if I just woke up and did the same thing every day, I'm looking for coaching. There won't ever be a level that I get where I won't seek out mentorship or coaching, regardless of how big the person is. Like you look at Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, they had coaches, right? They seek that. That's what they want to get to the next level. Yeah.
Evan Hoffman:Well, and they had personal trainers and they had massage therapists and they had physiotherapists and everyone to make sure that they were at peak performance. So we get LeBron James and what he's doing now, investing over a million dollars a year in his health, his own body.
Brian McDermott:Yeah. Yeah. Every single year and now he's what, just broke 40, 000 points, right? First person ever do it and it's how did he do that? He's stuck to the process. Yeah. He doesn't shortcut anything. Yeah. There is no shortcut. Consistency over time. Yeah. Yeah. It's all about consistency. And that's what we've been finding is just like training the guys and letting them understand when you onboard them. Hey, here's what we're about. Okay. I understand you've worked for a company here before, and the number one question I always get when I onboard new plumbers or HVAC guys is, were you guys selling at the company you were with? Yeah. Oh yeah, we were selling. Okay, cool. What was your average ticket? What do you mean by that? What was your average ticket at that company that you were selling for? Like I just show up at the call and then, the guy gave me a price book. So we charged like 329, and then I'd just be like, all right, man, no problem. Yeah. Not how we do it here. But, just asking that question right away, just. Identifies. Okay. This guy has no training. Yeah. Not a problem. He thinks he had training. He thinks he can sell, but he has no clue what he's doing. And it doesn't matter even if you do have a clue what you're doing when you join our company, you're getting trained up right away you go through the whole process. You graduate service MVP. Like I said, then we run those calls in the field. We give you your test calls and then finally you're out on your own. But. It gets too much when you're trying to onboard these new guys, cause everyone's Hey, the shortage of technicians, we can't find journeymen. We'll stop looking for journeymen. Find the kids that want opportunity. Yeah. What we're spending so much time trying to convert the guys from the old way and their old systems that never worked because they were trained improperly at those companies. And then they come over and we pay them this top dollars and then we're mad that they don't perform the way that you expect them to. What do you mean? You've been working, you've doing just off for eight years. And this is your level of performance and then you're mad at the guy. Yeah. You didn't train him.
Evan Hoffman:No and he came from a company where he had low standards. Yep so what do you expect?
Brian McDermott:Yeah. That's what you get. Yeah. So now I find it easier to just basically find guys that just want opportunity, want a chance to come into trades because I've never experienced anything like that. Yeah. So imagine being able to walk into a team. You already walk into a team and you're like, Kobe Bryant's on my team. I just got drafted to the NBA. This should be interesting. This should be pretty easy and then you realize you're like, yeah, it is interesting. Cause you're gonna have to work your ass off. You're gonna have to prove yourself here. There's a little competition inside the shop, right? It's not one guy's the best. It's the whole team has to be the best, right? This thing doesn't fly with one person, right? Oh, I'm doing this in sales. I'm top dog here. Oh, I'm the best HVAC technician. No, we all gotta be the best. Cause the only reason you're top dog right now is that. The other guys are freeing you up to go be the top dog by helping you out, grabbing parts, making sure you're getting work done.
Evan Hoffman:So how do you blend that, that competitive nature with the collaboration and still the team aspect? Cause it's great to foster that competition on the team, but how do you also bring along that guy who's right behind you, but you still want to beat, but you want to bring them up too, because it helps everyone.
Brian McDermott:Yeah. So that's awesome. Cause that's actually a big part of what we're going through right now. It's. At the end of the day it's when the guys get hired and I talk to them, I'm like, look guys, here's how it's going to happen here. Two things are going to happen. You're either going to really like it because you're going to be into the process that we have, or are you going to hate it because you're going to just fight it? But if you really like it, what's the next step? Are you just going to be a technician your whole life, or are you going to develop leadership skills that gets you to the next level? So for us, the competitive part of it, what I love is that all the guys know that there's always a next spot to get to. I don't want anyone to stay stagnant unless they say, you know what, man, I'm just so comfortable here. I want to still just be a technician the rest of my life. But I don't know anyone who's Hey, I want to wake up when I'm 55, get into the truck and go get on my hands and knees under a kitchen sink. Eventually their bodies are going to turn on them. So I'm a big believer in telling my guys, I want you guys to get to the next level. You need to become a trainer. You need to become a manager. Even if in five years, you're not with me, all the stuff we're teaching you guys right now, you can, you'll be able to go out and start your own company because you'll understand how to do it. We don't hide anything. So the competitive advantage between the texts in the shop, it's just them going out and being like, I had a good day today. Talk to miss Smith, hit my magic moment. Personalize their options. She loved it, referred me to the neighbor. Then the next tech would come in and be like, man, I had a monster day today and then we have a tech that will come in and be like, man, I dropped the ball today. I wasn't on it. So we hold each other accountable and it's not about, who's making the most revenue, who had the most spamster Google reviews. It's about, Hey guys, this week, we all stepped it up. Good job. But let's keep it going. Yeah. Don't let this fire die down. Let's just keep on it. Tyrone. Yeah. You killed it. Darcy, you killed it this week. Sean, you killed it. Steven, you killed it too. Had a call back. You still killed it though. So it's just making sure that they understand that we're always going to push them to the next level. There's never going to be a ceiling. When we hit a ceiling, that's when we start failing. It's always, I'm always going to be looking for the next thing. Always going to be trying to find the next thing. And we were talking about it earlier when it came to Rilla. They have call by call here. I signed up with Rilla before I knew what call by call was. But Rilla is an AI app that the technicians get inside the house and it records the conversation that they have with the client. And we've tagged it with Joe's benchmark sheet. So when we first got Rilla we went out into the field, tested it with one of my technicians and he's yeah, man, this is actually pretty awesome. Cause after the call, we could review it. We could go through it. But the big change that I found right away was. I don't always have time to do ride alongs with the technicians and how am I going to hold them accountable? Are you running the system? They always tell you yes. Yeah. Okay. No, I'm not. Never once have they said that, are you guys doing the system in the field? Yeah. I'm doing it always. Okay, cool. Give me danger line one right now. Sorry, Brian. It's different because you're here right now, but how's it different? What I'm, you should, You should know it. We trained it together, right? So if you can't do it with me, there ain't no way you can do it with Mrs. Smith in the field or any customer. So Rilla gave us the ability to have the techs go out in the field, listen to the call and what started happening is we'd review the calls and we'd ask them, how did that call go? And they're like, you know what, man, I think I talk a little bit too much. And it's let's have a look. It's you sure do. You sure do, Tyrone. You talk a lot. Let's just slow it down a little bit. Or you know what, man, I think I didn't ask him enough lifestyle questions. And you're like, you didn't, you hit some points, but you didn't hit them all. So what naturally started happening is because the guys know that we're going to listen to them now, and we're just going to review them for their benefit and our clients benefit to make sure that they're getting the most out of it. The technicians started coming to me in the mornings and they're like, Hey, Brian, can I ask you a question? Can we review that call from yesterday? I just want your input. I think it went really well. And I was like, what the hell's going on? This is different. You guys went from, you don't want, sorry, you don't want me to come on ride alongs. Because my presence makes you uncomfortable. Oh, I'm messing this up. Cause you're here to now. I don't need you there right now. I'm still going to do ride long. So not ending. I like to put the pressure on the textile and still have someone in the field every now and then. Yep. But the big difference was they started feeding me this information and being like, Hey, can we listen to this call? I think it went really well, or Hey, can I ask you a question on this call? They asked me a question about finance and I didn't really know how to answer it, but when you're in a customer's house for an hour and a half, Having a conversation and diagnosing the system. How much do you think you're retaining from that conversation? So when the call ends and you're debriefing, that's Hey, how did the call go? Oh, it went well. Like you, do you think you had all of it? Yeah, I think I had all the points. You forget 70, 75 percent of what you did. So now it gives them ability to go back in there, listen to it and be like, Oh my God, I didn't even realize I said that and it's been just a way and it's been a tool for them to be coached up. And they look at it now is they're like, man, I really love this. Can you share this call with the other technicians? So it's encouraging the guys now to pat each other on the back and be like, Hey man, I realized I was weak in this area, but you're really good. Brian is saying you're really good in this area. Is it okay if I listen to your call? Cause I don't just say, Hey guys, we're going to, Hey guys, we're listening to Evan's call today. I want to make sure I get your permission. Hey, Evan, you ran a really good call yesterday. Would it be okay with you? If we listened to the call, so the team can absorb and see where you really dial it in and they go, yeah, because what happens when we run a call that didn't go so well, I'm going to ask the guys the same way, Hey guys, do you mind if we listen to this call? Evan, are you okay if we listen to this call? We know it didn't go well, there's areas in here where all these guys are going to have that same experience. Yeah. What's the coaching points that we can get some bullet points on this and be like, Oh, man. Actually, yeah, I had a customer two weeks ago that was similar to that, right? How'd that go? Oh, this happened. Okay. So similar to his call, right? And it's just been a way to keep them competitive, but engaged together. So they don't really fall off track. But like I said, you still need the live ride alongs, right? You still want to put the pressure on them for that. You know what I mean? The AI is a great tool to help the techs, but you definitely, I'm still going to do the ride alongs. It's just I like having that presence knowing that you're there and I like the customer knowing as well. Like we tell them, Hey, you know what? We don't tell them, Hey, this is the owner with us. Hey, this is just our supervisor in the field. He's just on the call just to make sure we guys can provide you the best service today. Correct. Are you guys okay with that? Yeah. No problem. They've never said no.
Evan Hoffman:And
Brian McDermott:even
Evan Hoffman:on the recording side of things as well. that accountability and to let a customer know Hey, and you don't have to yeah. Many states, many provinces. Yeah. They're a one sided consent. State. Yeah, so you don't need to inform them that this call is being recorded. No, but you can yeah, if you wanted to and it would just provide reassurance to them like this is our quality control. Yeah, this ensures that we deliver the best possible service to you that we're not overselling and that we're building trust with our customers.
Brian McDermott:100%. Yeah, and they're fine with it. Yeah. Yeah. No one says no. Yeah, I mean it's no different than anything really like the technicians, you know when they their objections are starting up It's oh my god, is this thing gonna record me all the time? Yeah. And I'm like, boys, look, if you don't want to use it, don't use it right away. Cause I knew it was going to happen. The one or two guys that started using it right away, they were going to start winning and naturally the guys that aren't using it, it'd be like, okay, I'll use it now. It's not bad. It's not what they think. It's just, it's another change. Yep. And how do you combat change by just. Throwing it in their hands, guys, you guys don't want to use it. Use it. If you guys don't, not a big deal. No sweat off my back and then naturally the culture just shifts to, Hey man, these guys are actually smashing it right now and they're listening to their own calls and learning how to get better from listening to their own calls. Yeah. Brian, can you get me on this? Yeah. I'll get you on it. Yeah. Yeah. I knew it was a matter of time. You're going to come. Oh, totally.
Evan Hoffman:No,
Brian McDermott:I remember
Evan Hoffman:i, so I worked at Spence Diamonds for a minute. Yeah. Hated it. Yeah. Don't believe in the product whatsoever. Yeah. So it was not a good fit for me. But one of the concepts that I really loved that they had there was, every week you had to record a presentation. You had to turn it in for evaluation. Yep. So you would always ask, and it was just on a little recording device, right? Yeah. You'd upload the MP three afterwards. But I love that concept because you were constantly evaluating yourself as you were listening to it. You would listen to it back, and then you would also get feedback from your supervisors as well, in terms of what went well in, in the conversation and I remember one, I absolutely nailed it. Like every objection that came up, handled it perfectly, crushed it. They used it as like a teaching point. And then one of the other salespeople came up to me afterwards. Is that the one you did with your buddy? I was like, no, it was an actual customer. because it was just, it was almost too scripted, but yeah I've been doing sales forever. I sold Cutco knives before that. So well versed in objection handling was a comfort advisor in between the two. Last thing I wanted to touch on as well is when you started your business this idea, this concept of leaping, taking the leap. Before everything's perfect. Because you didn't have your gas setters permit yet. You're licensed to be able to do that. Probably didn't have a website yet. But you took the leap anyways, bet on yourself. You put out some Google ads, spent some money to be able to get the phone to ring. Why, how did you feel comfortable enough taking that leap? And betting on yourself, even when it wasn't perfect.
Brian McDermott:I just did it. So I should go back. So my old man had a company just a one man plumbing company. So that's when I used his company to turn the HVAC add on just running it on there. Yeah. So that's how I got into that. But what it was, man, Evan is basically I just did it. Yeah. Like it was once I left, once I had that first commercial electric job and then I left it, I felt freed because when I went to Arby's and then when I ended up at that comp, that other service company in Calgary, it was like, I left the job where I was making 37 50 an hour. And I'm like, I left it and then I went to Arby's and I was making 26 bucks an hour and I was like, this ain't that bad. Like you fear the worst of letting something go, had to let that go to start my next journey. You know what I mean? And that's sometimes a scary thought because a lot of people. You do talk to people are like, I don't know, man, I can't leave here. Like I'm pretty comfortable here. What if I do this? I could always go back. I had the ticket, right? What's the last thing that's going to happen? Oh, it didn't work out. I guess I'm going back to fucking electrical. You know what I mean? I guess I'm making 37 50 an hour again, right? Climbing up ladders. So I just went into it like full force. I didn't care. I just knew I'm like, I want to do this because once I got the taste of, I love talking to people, I love networking. I love, I love engagements with people. Hey, where are you from? What are you doing? Share your story with me. So for me, it's I was getting paid to go inside to customers houses and talk to them about, Hey, how awesome can I make your house today? You know what I mean? How much what do you need in here? I don't even know if we can provide you this, but if I can, I'll find a way. So when I started ProStar, I, that's exactly what I just jumped headfirst into it. I was like, here's what I'm doing. I had a really good guy met, trained him up. He got sold on what my vision was and about just Hey man, all we're going to do is continually learn. We're never going to stop learning anything. It doesn't matter what ceiling we're at. We're going to keep networking. We're going to meet people way better than us all the time. We're going to meet some people that used to be us and we're going to help both those people and we're going to ask for help and we're going to ask for coaching. So starting it with, I thought that's pretty much the easiest part was just doing it. It's not hard for me. Cause I'm willing to take the leaps. Cause like I said, I know I can just go back to where I was.
Evan Hoffman:So when you were at that point, there was obviously a lot less to lose. Now that you're running a multi seven figure company, you've got people who depend on you, employees who depend on you. How do you evaluate that risk now in making decisions and what to add in? You added in service MVP, you added in RILA different changes that you make, future decisions that you're going to make. How do you balance that risk assessment when you're making a decision now?
Brian McDermott:Now
Evan Hoffman:it's, I still
Brian McDermott:run it pretty much the same. With the one thing that's changed is how do I give more to my guys and my girls there, right? So I look at it is like To me, there's never a risk in changing something for the positive. There's a risk of not changing anything. So we, I make it very clear to these guys and then as I'm here they're working hard in Calgary, so I can be here. But it's making sure I keep the team engaged to where we're going to go. How do you meet the other people here that are running 500 million companies, 300 million companies. They're here with 18 people, five people I'm here solo. But I'm talking to these people and absorbing from them and trying to get on that level. So it's just the team buying of, Hey guys, do you remember when we were this, when we were, we're literally not, we didn't even have no vans marked. Yeah. Nothing. Yeah. Four years ran the company, just ghost vans, no branding. You know what I mean? And then all of a sudden now we're here, we're branded, we're getting that. So they see where we've come. I have a good leadership culture in my team. Every now and then we have our moments. I have my moments. Fuck, am I dropping a ball on this? And then it's just shake it off, man. Yeah. One day, right? You got this. Yeah. Let's get off next day it'll be different. So the buy-in for the team, for us is amazing. The leadership is, but it's always making sure that we have an avenue to go. Like, where are we trying to go? Do we want to try to get to a company that's doing X amount or do we, are we comfortable in this little space? Do we want to turn on another, do we just turn on garage doors now and we find a guy and we're like, Hey, let's just add garage doors to this. So it's just basically keeping the guys in check. And every year when we have our, when we do our budgeting and our yearly review, we go on our little retreat when we take everyone out at the end of the year. And it's guys, what more do you guys want? Do you guys feel like we provided enough this year or did we not provide enough? Were we good in helping you guys get to the goals we wanted to reach? Or do we not even hit them? So the important part is just to keep the communication going with them. And I don't hide anything from them. I'm very, like my door open door policy all the time in my office. Just come up, hey, do you have a minute? Yep. Come right in. So it's just, I think for us, it's being, I'm completely transparent. I'm brutally honest. Like I, I'm just I'm direct. With them. I don't beat around the bush. So I think that helps, but it's just getting the vision into what are we trying to be right when we're trying to be as the best service provider in Calgary, in Alberta, how do we get there? There's amazing service provider. We get there with the best customer service, right? You have no customers, you have no service, right? So it's not about how much can we sell them? It's how much customer service can we deliver to them? And make it amazing for them to be like, Oh my God, I've never, ever been treated like that in my own household. Right? That's what the difference is. It's not a dollar figure, right? It's, Hey guys, we're in this for them. I want to better them and then give back to the community. How do we do that? But if we don't provide the best customer service, all that fails. So at the end of the day, it's customer service where we're focused. I love the team's focus. That's where we're trying to go. That's what the vision is.
Evan Hoffman:And
Brian McDermott:that's
Evan Hoffman:the, that's that long term game. Yeah. You're not trying to make the sale today. No. You're building the relationship. You're fostering the relationship. Allowing it to grow. Still presenting the options. But they get to decide what it is that they want to move forward with today. And then we know that we're going to be back out here in 3 months, 6 months, a year, 5 years, 10 years to replace that system at that point. Because we delivered a five star experience today. That's what it is.
Brian McDermott:Love it. Yeah. That's, and you nailed it. That's exactly how it goes. Cause the best review you can have is when you leave someone's house and then a neighbor calls and they're like, Hey, Julie from next door just said, you guys put in a system for us. Can you come over and have a chat with us? And we're like, Oh, thanks, Julie and it's yeah, we see your truck out front. It's just, that's what you want. It's if you can give someone good customer service, they're going to rave and rant about you. But if you just show up to try to sell them something, it's okay, Hey, your kitchen sinks plug go to the call. Hey, Ms. Smith. So you have a plug kitchen sink. Yeah, I do. Okay. That's going to be 389. I could have told you that I just searched up on Google. Okay. So you want to do the job? Yeah. That's that, but that is the experience that a lot of people have, right? And plumber goes in there, cleans out the drain, 389 done onto the next call.
Evan Hoffman:Yeah. But there was no value added there. Not a memorable experience whatsoever.
Brian McDermott:Not memorable. No value. Yeah. Probably gonna get a call back. Yep. I remember talking to a technician actually not too long ago. He was a new hire and I onboarded him and he's like, why are you offering to line their sewer? And I'm like they have a fracture in their sewer pipe. I said, we've got to line it to make sure it's permanently fixed. He goes my last company, we would just offer, they just pay us 700. We'd come out every year and just, we just auger that main line. And I'm like, okay, how long are we working there for? And he was there for five years. And he says, but we've come to the same customer for 10 years. I said, so for 10 years, you're telling me for 10 years, you guys have went back to the same customer. Charged her 750 every year to go and drill the roots out and you're asking me why we're lining the sewers. So she just spent 7, 500 over 10 years with you guys when you could have just lined that area and had permanently had it fixed for her. And she would have spent the same amount of money and it's permanently resolved. Because now it's still not resolved. It's worse now. You know what I mean? You guys are still going back and doing it. So did you provide her a permanent solution or did you just give her a band aid? And he's Oh, I've never thought about this. Like I thought we were doing the right thing. And it's no, that's horrible, man.
Evan Hoffman:But again it's ignorance is not bliss. Yes. Ignorance is pain. Yep. And it's not the technician's fault in any way, shape or form. Yep. That's on the owners and trying to do a quick fix. And I get what they're seeing. They're like, Hey, it's reoccurring revenue. Hey it's a customer that we can go back and service again and again and again. Yep. But that's if they call you back. Yeah. Because had they called you. For a heating issue because this other company was just doing plumbing and cleaning out the drain the sewer line You go in there for a heating issue. Your technicians are properly trained. So they're asking the great questions and like I've got the sewer problem I got to get it augered every single year have for the last eight years Instantly you provide a different option where they could get this fixed permanently, not have it be an issue anymore. What a convenience for you and maybe she doesn't want to go forward with it. Yeah. That's fine.
Brian McDermott:Yep. But at least she knows what it looks like.
Evan Hoffman:And who is she going to call back to get it augered next time? Exactly. And so it's a missed opportunity for a lot of companies.
Brian McDermott:A hundred percent. And the big takeaway from that and for that technician was he was like, man, have I been like giving people horrible service? I'm like you didn't know. This is just the standard that you didn't know. That's the way they did it my man, you just went in the house and you did exactly what you thought was happening. So after he went through the coaching for us, when we coached him in the shop on service, MVP's ways of doing it, he was like, his mind was shattered, like literally he was shattered. He's Oh my God, man. He's I see such a different way now. Like even before at the other company, like I was actually trying to sell to the client. Like I was like forcing these things on them because I only gave them, I only gave them one option. And I'm like, yeah, so what? You gave them one option, but what did you really give them? You gave them a loaded gun with one choice. Here's your choice. What do you want to do with it? And all you did is shot yourself in the foot because you're going to be coming back. Cause you didn't give them a permanent solution, right? Or you didn't even fix the problem, correct? You didn't diagnose it properly, but they don't know, right? It's just, Hey, that's how we did it. So now the new wave of technicians, it's different now. It's not like it was 20 years ago and someone in the conference today said on the side of a van and we have a company in Calgary and it says it on the side of that it goes What is it? Is it happy today? Happy today. We don't pay or are fixed right. Or it's free. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Let's put that on our van fixed writer. It's free. All right, Evan, we have a policy here. It's fixed right. Or it's free. Shouldn't it be fixed right in the first place? So where's this coming from? And Joe today says better slogan would be, we're going to give you premium mid range economy options, and we're going to have a choice if you don't want to those That it's free. If we don't offer you any of those, it's free. We want to make sure you guys have the choice. But why would we say fixed right or it's free? It should be fixed right. That is the expectation. 20 years ago that's what that was about. You know what I mean? The older generation. But fixed right or it's free, it's what does that tell someone? It's how many of these do you guys give for free? It's right on the side of your van, man. You know what I mean? It's like, how about this? How about we give you two premium options, two mid range, two economy. And if we don't give you those options, we'll actually do the job for free. It was a powerful moment in there. And I just, it just hit me and I was like, man, he's absolutely right. We're projecting wrong things to the clients, just in our marketing, not even knowing you're doing it.
Evan Hoffman:But it still stems from the idea that, and just to play devil's advocate on this, and we can have some dialogue around it. There's a lot of mistrust in the trades. Yep. Homeowners do not trust trades companies to come in and one, get the job done. Two, not sell them something that they don't need. Yep. And again, misnomer here, but making sure that presenting options is different than selling. Yep. A company is saying fixed writer, it's free, or we had Ryan shoot on the show a couple weeks ago. Yep. And one of the things that he talks about is an offer that they put out that did extremely well from a marketing perspective, instead of 1, 500 off your new AC system, he said, our Northstar, our, this company that he was working with was we're going to show up on time for our installs. Yeah. Period. That is our minimum standard. We absolutely will do that. Come hell or high water, no matter what. Yeah. And so the offer they put out was we'll be there on time for your install, or We'll write you a check for 1, 500, right? So same expense is doing 1, 500 off, but now you're only having to write it for when you fuck up. Yeah, exactly. But it did extremely well in the customer's minds. Cause they're like, Oh, I was told by this company, that's going to be two weeks for an install. And you're telling me it's going to be next day, or you're going to write me a check for 1, 500. I'm going to go with you because you're going to, you're willing to stand by your word. And what Ryan followed up with was. The best piece of marketing that they did was when they weren't able to do it. And then they had to write the check and then they use that piece as marketing. Hey, we actually follow through on what it is that we said we're going to do. For that company that does fix writer, it's free for them to put out a post and say, guess what? We fucked up. It was free for these guys because we did that. That's a powerful piece of marketing because now it's backing up what it is that you're saying. Yeah. Cause you're, you're human mistakes happen. Oh, a hundred percent. And I'm not saying I hate it. I hate that what they have on there, but it was a different outlook and that you could take it a certain way.
Brian McDermott:And that's why when I heard it in there and Joe touches on it, he's guys, they expect it to be fixed. And you're like, you think about it. You're like that's right. It's like the old school marketing tactic. But it was hilarious. Yeah. It was an aha moment to say least inside there for me on that point.
Evan Hoffman:Yeah. And I think if it, if To twist that even further to say, okay, so if the goal is we're going to present options or it's free what is it presenting option does for the customer while it's removing the pressure from the sales presentation, that's what they care about. So how can you then craft a message that's going to be, we're not going to sell you on something that you don't need or it's free.
Brian McDermott:Yeah. A hundred percent. Now you're hitting on the benefit to the customer. Yeah. Yeah. And that's important. Cause like I said, at the end of the day, the customer is everything. There is no you without a customer. There's no sales without customer. A hundred percent. Who's going to keep calling you back. Yeah. Who's going to make the phone ring. Yeah. It's not a random ghost. It's the customer. Yeah. So you got to do everything to please them. So that's, yeah. At the end of the day, it comes down to, like I said, it's making sure that. You're giving them custom relevant solutions, right? You're, you are checking the quality, reliability, health and safety, and being honest, even when it's not popular. Yeah. That's what it comes down to. Mopure motiveervice. Love it.
Evan Hoffman:Brian, this has been absolutely fantastic. Thank you so much for taking the time out of the event here. I know you got to get back in there and get back to learning again. Yeah. Implementing. I think there's going to be another breakout room here in a minute, but thank you so much for taking the time to do this. Great value that people can take out of this. If they did want to get in touch with you, do a shop tour, have some questions, have some conversations. You said you'd love to help people. What's the best way for them to get in touch with you?
Brian McDermott:They can phone me or best contact method would be my email, brian at prostarplumbing. ca. Fire me a message and I get back to everyone right away. Perfect. Not a big texter. I'd rather just have a phone call after the email is sent.
Evan Hoffman:Awesome. I love it. I love that it ends in C A. Our website as well is dot C A. We say it because we're Canadian, eh? Yeah. It's great. Thank you so much for doing this. I appreciate it. And until next time, everyone. Cheers.
Thaddeus Tondu:Well, That's a wrap on another episode of HVAC Success Secrets Revealed. Before you go, two quick things. First off, join our Facebook group, facebook.com/groups/hvacrevealed. The other thing, if you took one tiny bit of information out of this show, no matter how big, no matter how small, all we ask is for you to introduce this to one person in your contacts list. That's it. That's all one person. So they too can unleash the ultimate HVAC business. Until next time. Cheers.