If you only recruit when you have an opening, you’re already behind. Recruiting isn’t a task you do when someone quits. It’s an always-on part of the business. When we were small, I spent 5:00 to 6:30 every morning on Indeed and LinkedIn before the day started. The pipeline exists because you build it before you need it.
If you're just recruiting when you have a need, you're already behind. It's important to understand how important recruiting is to your business. ...
Waking up with passion for what you do and who you do it with. Most people never find that in an entire career. I found it in this business. So when people ask if my kids will take it over, my honest answer is: I don’t need them to take over the company. I need them to find their version of this.
A question I get asked a lot being a second generation owner is what I want my kids to ever take over this business. It's a tough question because...
Everyone wants more leads. Meanwhile we found 900 of them inside our own customer base in six months, worth almost $1M in revenue. Cross-trade referrals. The HVAC visit that surfaces a plumbing need. The plumbing call that finds electrical work. Your techs are standing next to your next million. Train them to see it.
Most business owners are always asking for more leads. What if I told you there are so many leads hidden with inside the business that you're alre...
Every plumbing company sells water softeners. Almost none of them have a water filtration division. That gap is where the growth hides. Culligan built an entire company on something sitting in your price book. Before you add a whole new trade, look at the verticals already inside the one you’ve got.
So I wanted to ask you guys have found your way into plumbing at least. Are there any verticals that you guys have experimented with? Touch them a...
The most expensive thing in this company isn’t trucks or equipment. It’s people decisions, and mine have cost tens of millions over the years. Here’s the pattern behind most of it: someone got hired, then got stagnant. High performers especially don’t quit companies. They quit the absence of a challenge.
the most expensive thing that we have around here is people. When I think about the cost that it's costed me over the years, it's probably in the ...
Your team will never believe the KPIs if you can’t prove they’re accurate. Data integrity comes before everything else on the scoreboard. We waited six months to roll out recall percentage because we couldn’t track it right yet. A wrong number on the board does more damage than no number at all.
It's really important that those KPIs are accurate and one of the areas where that breaks in our business is like, is the job type correct. How do...
You’re never going to prevent negative reviews. So stop trying to, and start owning them. Understand they’ll happen. Take responsibility when they do. Thank the customer for the feedback even when it stings. That’s not damage control. That’s how you actually get better.
[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC]
Customers pick a service provider the same way they pick a restaurant now: who delivers the better experience. Who answers the phone. Who’s friendly when they do. Who gets a tech out fastest. Fifteen years ago you could get away with average. Today, average is how you lose to the shop that just tried a little harder.
The trades have never had more opportunity, but they also have never punished complacency like they do today. Data, AI, both huge buzzwords within...
When someone brings me a problem with a teammate, I ask one question: have you talked to them? The answer is almost always no. That’s the whole issue. We bottle up frustration, share it with everyone except the person who could fix it, and then wonder why we’re stuck in the weeds. Trust is built in the conversation you keep avoiding.
If you're working in your business more than you're working on it, here is why you're stuck. Most likely the problem is that you have a lack of tr...
The most important part of my day happens before the sun comes up. I get up at 3 AM because my calendar’s packed 8 to 6 and my house is full of little kids. It’s the one window where I can actually think instead of react. Leaders don’t rise to the chaos. They step out of it to see clearly.
- I wake up very early, 3 a.m. and there are days when I miss the 3 a.m. Mark, I will tell you, I'm not perfect, but that is my goal. Because that...
Your company starts growing the day you stop being the one who fixes everything. I used to ask, “how in the world am I going to solve this?” Now I ask, “what process do we have for this, and who owns it?” Same problem, completely different question. That question is what lets a business scale past its owner.
Moment that you stop solving every problem in your business is actually the moment that your company begins to grow. What do I mean by that? In sc...
Most owners think follow-up needs to be some clever sales script. It doesn’t. It just needs to be human. “How was your service? What can I answer for you? Want me to come back out and talk it through with both decision makers?” Simple, helpful, no pressure. The follow-up itself is the trust. And it puts real money back on the books.
I'm going to give you the follow-up message to save you millions. We all talk about follow-up or better said, a lack thereof. We have to follow up...