Dec. 21, 2023

Ep 225 - Hitting Sales Records by Doing Watt's Right - Client Case Study

Growing up with a wrench or a screwdriver practically in hand, Allen's tale is one many of us can relate to—whether we've dodged or embraced our family legacies. Join us as Allen, an electricpreneur, gets candid about the circuitous route he took from avoiding his father's electrical trade to powering up his own business. His insights into the shifting cultural landscape of the trades offer a fresh perspective, one where the once 'fallback' career is now a robust foundation for success.

In our illuminating conversation, Allen unpacks the nuts and bolts of his business evolution, detailing how a strategic pivot to residential services and some key team additions sparked a revenue surge to an electrifying $1.23 million. Allen's experience is a masterclass in finding your niche and the impact of a dedicated service philosophy. Electricians will find his journey from a home garage to a thriving enterprise nothing short of inspiring.

As we wrap up the year, Allen's reflections on the importance of company culture, legacy, and the transformative power of rebranding provide valuable lessons in staying grounded while reaching for new heights. His story of adopting a structured sales process showcases the importance of adaptability and the significant achievements that come from stepping outside one's comfort zone. So grab your favorite holiday beverage, and let's toast to the camaraderie of shared experiences and the growth that awaits in the new year!

Join us LIVE 5 days a week on the Facebook Community page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/electricpreneursecrets

And see us and our stories and wins at:

https://www.serviceloopelectrical.com

00:01 - Alan's Journey

10:09 - Success and Growth in Residential Services

13:51 - Niche Focus and Personal Growth Impact

18:09 - Shift in Mentality and Rebranding Impact

27:17 - Sales Process and Achievements

41:35 - Kicking Off the Holiday Season

WEBVTT

00:00:01.663 --> 00:00:08.526
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to yet another episode of Electricpreneur Secrets, the Electricians podcast.

00:00:08.526 --> 00:00:12.471
We're on episode 225, and this is no slouch.

00:00:12.471 --> 00:00:23.804
We're hitting sales records by doing what's right with our client, alan, and we've got a huge story for you to connect with, get inspired by and help rise the tide for electric preneurs everywhere.

00:00:23.804 --> 00:00:37.484
I'm your host, clay Neumeier, with me, as always, my esteemed co-host, joseph Lucani, and we're the Electricpreneurs, a couple of master electricians with business addictions, here and ready to serve the entrance fee.

00:00:37.484 --> 00:00:46.871
The admission fee for this is simple sit back in the hot seat, listen to everything we have to give and promise to take action and report your wins back to us.

00:00:46.871 --> 00:00:50.584
Not my best intro, joe, but I'm going with it, man, we've got a huge interview today, brother.

00:00:50.624 --> 00:00:51.145
How are you doing today?

00:00:51.145 --> 00:00:52.869
Full steam ahead, man, full steam ahead.

00:00:52.869 --> 00:00:54.744
I'm feeling really really good.

00:00:54.744 --> 00:00:56.941
We've had some good laughs today, as always.

00:00:56.941 --> 00:00:57.884
I love working with you.

00:00:57.884 --> 00:01:00.246
We had an awesome class this morning.

00:01:00.246 --> 00:01:01.604
I'm fired up about that.

00:01:01.604 --> 00:01:03.926
We're talking to our friend Alan.

00:01:03.926 --> 00:01:06.125
I like talking to the guy in general.

00:01:06.125 --> 00:01:07.983
Why not here too, right?

00:01:08.605 --> 00:01:09.147
Absolutely.

00:01:09.147 --> 00:01:16.808
You know what I was thinking of this banner, but, as you reminded me, Alan is a stud and we're going to give him the goats there they are there we go, there we go.

00:01:18.180 --> 00:01:20.875
If you're watching this live with us on the Facebook live stream.

00:01:20.875 --> 00:01:25.531
We're here five days a week to help you master sales, simplify pricing and deliver premium level service.

00:01:25.531 --> 00:01:27.165
Alan's going to help us with that today.

00:01:27.165 --> 00:01:30.906
Why don't we bring him in, joe, and talk through Alan's story a little bit?

00:01:30.906 --> 00:01:32.430
Can't wait, let's make it happen.

00:01:32.430 --> 00:01:37.060
All right, alan brother, how are you Good?

00:01:37.301 --> 00:01:38.003
How are you guys?

00:01:38.825 --> 00:01:39.567
Fantastic.

00:01:39.668 --> 00:01:39.929
Good.

00:01:40.680 --> 00:01:42.344
It feels like Groundhog Day here.

00:01:42.344 --> 00:01:42.906
We're trying.

00:01:42.906 --> 00:01:44.170
We're trying to get this right.

00:01:44.170 --> 00:01:46.408
We've tried a couple iterations in the background.

00:01:46.408 --> 00:01:47.444
We got it right this time.

00:01:47.444 --> 00:01:50.950
I am pumped up to hear your story, man, as so many other people are.

00:01:50.950 --> 00:01:52.623
Tell us why electrical.

00:01:52.623 --> 00:01:53.567
Why did you get into this?

00:01:53.567 --> 00:01:54.623
Why is it important to you?

00:01:54.623 --> 00:01:57.927
That was like three huge questions in one, but I know you got this, brother.

00:01:58.909 --> 00:02:04.611
Yeah, I really didn't have a choice in the matter, so to speak.

00:02:04.611 --> 00:02:09.631
My dad was an electrical contractor and so I grew up in the trades.

00:02:09.631 --> 00:02:13.389
Essentially, he owned an electrical slash HVAC company.

00:02:13.389 --> 00:02:23.907
Growing up in the summers and on the weekends and things of that nature, I was always helping them Wire houses, run duck work, build plenums.

00:02:23.907 --> 00:02:31.091
We were kind of old school, I just kind of grew up around it and it was never something that I wanted to do.

00:02:31.091 --> 00:02:34.006
Honestly, I did not want to be an electrician.

00:02:34.006 --> 00:02:39.683
If I could have been either one of the two, I would have been an HVAC tech, but I really didn't want to do either.

00:02:39.683 --> 00:02:47.687
My dad, what I wanted to do was what every teenager wanted to do, which was go hang out with their friends and chase girls and things of that nature.

00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:50.004
My dad did that.

00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:54.031
I put forth some time and some effort and some energy into learning a trade.

00:02:54.031 --> 00:02:57.467
That way, I would always have something to fall back on.

00:02:57.467 --> 00:03:00.585
That's just kind of how it started.

00:03:00.604 --> 00:03:03.048
man, I just was born into it, so back on it.

00:03:04.703 --> 00:03:07.650
I was going to call him on that because I think about it.

00:03:07.650 --> 00:03:13.485
When we started off, think about that's 90s parents mentality, where it's like you should have a trade to fall back on.

00:03:13.485 --> 00:03:18.091
Now us in 2023, where kids are like you got to get into the trades.

00:03:18.091 --> 00:03:20.006
They are the only stable thing to be in.

00:03:20.006 --> 00:03:25.929
So your fall back ended up being the most solid foundation you could have ever built yourself on.

00:03:26.850 --> 00:03:28.253
Yeah, man, Absolutely.

00:03:28.253 --> 00:03:41.846
Looking back on it, it's just one of those things where I, just in the moment, I didn't really understand how blessed I was, and it's taken some time for everything to come to fruition for me to look back on it and be like man.

00:03:41.846 --> 00:03:42.587
Thank you, dad.

00:03:44.350 --> 00:03:45.012
That's awesome.

00:03:45.012 --> 00:03:46.074
I love that share.

00:03:46.074 --> 00:03:56.705
I feel like so many people were kind of given the gift of if you'd call it a gift their dad or someone trying to pressure them and just be like take the family business, just do the family thing, I'll make this easy for you.

00:03:56.705 --> 00:04:01.170
And as a teenager or young adolescent, you're just like I want nothing of that.

00:04:01.170 --> 00:04:02.682
I want nothing.

00:04:02.682 --> 00:04:03.425
Leave me alone.

00:04:03.425 --> 00:04:05.509
I want to do my own way, find my own way.

00:04:06.592 --> 00:04:11.787
Yeah, and I did, man, and that's kind of how it unfolded is.

00:04:11.787 --> 00:04:15.481
I don't know if anyone else has ever worked with family In high school.

00:04:15.481 --> 00:04:24.607
It was a little bit different, because it wasn't a job, it wasn't a career, it was just something that I was casually learning to make some extra money, like there wasn't a lot of pressure to it.

00:04:24.607 --> 00:04:44.235
And when I got out of high school, working with my dad like I would be lying if I said that that wasn't kind of the opposite I'm very, very strong-willed and so was he, and so we kind of, to a degree, butted heads a little bit and there kind of came a point in time where the discussion happened about.

00:04:44.235 --> 00:04:45.100
You know maybe.

00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:58.350
I should go to some other companies and see how they operate and kind of do that, and so that's where, you know, the foundation was laid with him and I went to some other places and gained some knowledge there and ended up coming back there.

00:04:58.350 --> 00:05:02.586
So it was a very, perfectly imperfect journey.

00:05:03.968 --> 00:05:05.713
Perfectly imperfect, all right.

00:05:06.420 --> 00:05:07.403
That's a good way of saying it.

00:05:07.403 --> 00:05:08.245
Nice pickup, Sure.

00:05:08.245 --> 00:05:11.788
I'm wondering why go into business for yourself then?

00:05:11.788 --> 00:05:16.591
Did you always see this coming, or was there something that happened that was just like?

00:05:16.591 --> 00:05:17.060
You know what?

00:05:17.060 --> 00:05:18.225
I got to do this on my own?

00:05:18.225 --> 00:05:19.502
What caused this?

00:05:24.100 --> 00:05:26.302
You know that's a good question, clay.

00:05:26.302 --> 00:05:28.982
The truth is, man, that it opens your入口.

00:05:28.982 --> 00:05:30.644
It's the impact that comes into your consciousness, the Promotion.

00:05:30.644 --> 00:05:35.216
My intention was always to go back and run my dad's business.

00:05:35.216 --> 00:05:44.052
That was always my intentions, you know, because that's what supported my mother and things of that nature, and that was kind of that's what was supposed to happen in my mind.

00:05:44.052 --> 00:05:50.952
That's how the story was supposed to unfold going forward and in 2016, we lost him.

00:05:50.952 --> 00:05:57.572
He was in an accident at work, in his work man, and we lost my dad in 2016.

00:05:58.706 --> 00:06:04.942
And I was in no place to be running a small business then.

00:06:05.886 --> 00:06:15.271
And you know, I had always struggled with addiction issues growing up, something that I'd kind of battled my entire life, so to speak.

00:06:15.625 --> 00:06:37.112
And then, when that happened in 2016, and all the guilt and all the shame if not only the time that I had missed with my dad, but also the fact that I wasn't gonna be able to carry on that portion of his legacy just drove the addiction to a place where it just I went places and did things that I said that I would never do ultimately.

00:06:37.946 --> 00:06:47.613
And then, in November of 2017, I got clean and when I went to my first job, just as a kind of a starting point of reference.

00:06:47.613 --> 00:06:53.194
You know, I showed up to my first job with a flat blade screwdriver and one pair of dogs.

00:06:53.194 --> 00:06:57.190
That's all I had in my name, man, and the guy that was there was.

00:06:57.190 --> 00:07:02.565
You know, the guy that was there was like why don't you have a journeyman's license and only this, you know?

00:07:02.565 --> 00:07:04.889
Like something about this story isn't quite adding up.

00:07:04.889 --> 00:07:15.629
And I was just honest with the guy man, for the first time in my life I was honest about where I was at in my situation in life and the fact that I was willing to work but I needed some help.

00:07:17.329 --> 00:07:34.415
And he worked with me, man, and it just kind of got me on my path and I think, at about three years clean, I kind of worked my way up there to a point to where it was like I'm waiting on a project manager to retire and they ain't going anywhere.

00:07:34.415 --> 00:07:44.293
They weren't like, oh guys, they're early 50s, they're not going anywhere, they're firmly playing into their seats, you know, and decided that, man, why not?

00:07:44.293 --> 00:07:45.555
You know what I mean why not?

00:07:46.466 --> 00:07:55.091
And that's really what it did, man, and, to be honest, I just got bored at the other place that I was at, and just not because I needed the money, not because anything else.

00:07:55.091 --> 00:07:57.934
It's just like I want to try this new thing.

00:07:57.934 --> 00:07:59.689
I want to try this challenge.

00:07:59.971 --> 00:08:01.254
Yeah, Wow, man.

00:08:01.254 --> 00:08:06.473
Hey, that's a huge vulnerable share and I appreciate you going there with us.

00:08:06.473 --> 00:08:11.250
Man, I know that that's tough times and tough things that you've had to work through.

00:08:11.250 --> 00:08:14.533
There's something that I do want people to take away from this.

00:08:14.533 --> 00:08:30.112
Ahead of any talk about revenue or money or business growth or anything, what's really important here is I know for a fact that we've had to work around and schedules of working with you to always make room for there's a weekly visit.

00:08:30.112 --> 00:08:36.432
Is that right when you go and speak to other people that are having hard times and help them through these challenges as well?

00:08:37.825 --> 00:08:39.110
Yeah, so that's I mean.

00:08:39.110 --> 00:09:22.187
One of the things is, you know, in November of 2017, there were people who I met a group of people that were just like me, had struggled the way that I had struggled and been to a lot of the same places and stuff and I think that the thing that was different about that point in time in my life versus every other treatment center or rehabilitation center or counselor or doctor or judge or lawyer or probation officer that stood in front of me was, finally, for the first time in my life, there was someone across from me who had the experience, in other words, empathy could take place, and so having that experience fast forward to today and over the past six years is I didn't wanna.

00:09:22.187 --> 00:09:37.716
I never wanted to forget that and always wanted to like express my gratitude by going back every Thursday to one of the local treatment centers here and just share them with those guys that like, hey, I understand, I've been there too and you know what I mean.

00:09:38.025 --> 00:09:40.731
There's a way out Totally, totally, man.

00:09:40.731 --> 00:09:42.049
Yeah, I appreciate that.

00:09:42.049 --> 00:09:43.370
I know I have a similar thing.

00:09:43.370 --> 00:09:45.292
Joe's got a similar thing he'll speak to.

00:09:45.292 --> 00:09:49.788
I just wanted to say quick I think the three of us bonded really well because we all share.

00:09:49.788 --> 00:09:55.169
It seems like on one fork in the road that we always hold in our mind there's a burning dumpster.

00:09:55.169 --> 00:09:59.668
Fire down one end and maybe that's what's helped driving us down to the right path.

00:09:59.668 --> 00:10:01.254
Always right, joe, go ahead brother.

00:10:01.424 --> 00:10:02.649
Yeah, I was gonna say.

00:10:02.831 --> 00:10:08.875
One thing that I've always respected about you, alan, was those of us, like you, know my past and everything like that.

00:10:09.085 --> 00:10:25.715
But the fact that those of us with a darker past or a more muddled past, I feel we're actually putting those situations for a good reason, because, if you think about it, all the people that you're talking to on the other side of the table may not ever believe that what you have is possible for them.

00:10:26.445 --> 00:10:31.788
And if anyone else told your story who hadn't gone through it, I know I wouldn't have believed it.

00:10:31.788 --> 00:10:41.534
Like, when I was going through what I had to go through, I needed someone who was in my seat to say, yeah, this happened and this is how I overcame it.

00:10:41.534 --> 00:11:01.527
So, if anything, I think you're blessing other people by saying you know what, I've been there and this is what's possible on the other side and I'm not judging you for what you've gone through I think that's really changing lives in a big way and I want you to know personally, like from the bottom of my heart, it means so much to me that you do that and I'm not.

00:11:01.527 --> 00:11:13.606
I'm sorry if I've not given you enough credit for it, but I wanted to publicly just say that I have an immense, immense amount of respect for someone who's able to say you know what my scars are now the shield that protects others.

00:11:14.971 --> 00:11:17.650
I appreciate that Just means a lot to you.

00:11:17.650 --> 00:11:21.850
Well said, you're welcome All right into the business stuff.

00:11:21.850 --> 00:11:23.129
Again, thank you for sharing that.

00:11:23.129 --> 00:11:25.129
You're going on three years.

00:11:25.129 --> 00:11:26.365
I believe in your business right.

00:11:26.365 --> 00:11:29.592
Would you just tell us kind of how did first year, second year and now third year?

00:11:29.592 --> 00:11:30.508
How is that going in?

00:11:30.508 --> 00:11:31.993
Just a quick snapshot.

00:11:33.184 --> 00:11:35.633
You know, first year was was truck in a truck.

00:11:35.633 --> 00:11:37.129
Man, I didn't know any better.

00:11:37.129 --> 00:11:39.787
I didn't know anything about home services I had.

00:11:39.787 --> 00:11:41.626
I had no idea I had the.

00:11:41.626 --> 00:11:52.110
Really, what I think is kind of the old school mentality about residential electrical work is you're either wiring a new house or you're going in, you're replacing an outlet and there's not much money in it.

00:11:52.110 --> 00:11:54.231
I better go to some commercial where there's some money.

00:11:54.231 --> 00:11:58.067
And so the first year in the truck was just taking whatever I could get.

00:11:58.067 --> 00:12:00.429
Man, you know, I mean it was just like survival.

00:12:00.429 --> 00:12:09.133
You know, I mean we've all, we've all started businesses and there's like you talk about your back being against the wall is it's like there's no paycheck on Friday unless you go make it.

00:12:09.133 --> 00:12:10.068
You better go make it.

00:12:10.784 --> 00:12:16.671
And that's what I did, man, and that was like I'm so grateful for that for that time because it was hard, man.

00:12:16.711 --> 00:12:22.753
It was a struggle Like I did like dig deep and like find ways to to make things happen that that I didn't know.

00:12:22.753 --> 00:12:29.231
It's like I call it follow the bouncing ball, you know, figuring out how to pull a permit for the first time you know this stuff like that.

00:12:29.231 --> 00:12:38.231
And then in March of the following year March of last year, really, really January, february of last I started hearing about home services.

00:12:38.231 --> 00:13:08.794
I started hearing about this philosophy of residential service and things of that nature and I started listening to some podcasts and around around the end of February, march of last year, I think that the biggest, the biggest turning point in the business at all was I took a hard line in the sand of we are a residential service company only, I mean to the point where people would call and want us to do commercial and I would respectfully decline and that's all we did was residential service.

00:13:08.794 --> 00:13:15.875
And then I started learning about options and we were given half as many options, as should be given Three instead of six.

00:13:17.269 --> 00:13:47.043
But it was something you know, I mean, it was, it was something, man, and I just happened to make some really, really, really key key hires Guys that are still with me today and we just we just went and it just happens, you know, just the right place at the right time and I feel like I didn't waste a whole lot of time doing we found our niche man and we made a commitment to that niche and last year, by the end of the year, we ran 1.23 million out of my garage.

00:13:48.789 --> 00:13:49.572
So it was.

00:13:49.572 --> 00:13:51.398
That's the good thing.

00:13:51.398 --> 00:13:55.556
Yeah, the you can imagine the chaos that it was.

00:13:55.856 --> 00:13:57.441
I mean it was, it was.

00:13:57.441 --> 00:14:01.732
It was hard, it was hard on me, it was hard on the guys that there were.

00:14:01.732 --> 00:14:19.567
There were far more that didn't make it to the end of the year than did make it to the end of the year, and that's kind of one of the one of the things that I knew that was was lacking going into this year was like this philosophy, once again, of of culture and what that is and what that is our culture, what is our identity?

00:14:19.567 --> 00:14:20.110
Who are we?

00:14:20.110 --> 00:14:21.094
What do we do?

00:14:21.094 --> 00:14:28.486
Things of that nature and that that is as well as wanting to have, like, some sort of sales process so we can train people.

00:14:28.486 --> 00:14:35.053
Like I don't want to be the one to have to always do it or or depend on the couple of guys within the business.

00:14:35.053 --> 00:14:42.456
Like how can we train people to serve at a high level that will result in enough revenue for us to keep the doors open and everybody be happy?

00:14:42.456 --> 00:14:44.162
And that's when we got with you guys.

00:14:45.110 --> 00:14:47.115
I love that and I'm hearing a couple of things.

00:14:47.176 --> 00:15:14.724
Joe, I'm sure you picked out a couple of things there, but you mentioned two or three big things that were massive shifts, but it was mostly about niching down, like deciding hey, I'm going to work in service and do nothing else and I won't really explore that a bit more with you, because that niching is so important and it's not just for electricians, like we see this in almost every industry, where people really get distracted by every big number that comes their way.

00:15:15.311 --> 00:15:22.309
And next thing, you know, for some reason, right that generalist mentality, there's just more month at the end of the money than money at the end of the month.

00:15:22.309 --> 00:15:26.370
But, interesting enough, that was a very personal decision to focus on the niche.

00:15:26.370 --> 00:15:30.389
But then you said well, culture was the next big shift that you were looking for.

00:15:30.389 --> 00:15:49.029
So a couple of your biggest mentality shifts and biggest breakthroughs in your business weren't even necessarily about a sales process yet or the offer, training or any of the stuff that we talk about often, but just the personal side of it, and I think that's so impactful and I really wanted to call attention to that.

00:15:49.029 --> 00:15:59.870
Do you think here's the hard question you'd be where you are today, if you did not focus on the service I mean in a sense of revenue growth in size.

00:16:02.596 --> 00:16:05.062
No, no, I mean I hear, here's the thing.

00:16:05.062 --> 00:16:15.110
I think that I was fortunate enough to do it before we had a commercial side of the business even going, so there was no revenue drop before we got back up to strictly running residential service.

00:16:15.110 --> 00:16:20.149
It was just a decision that was made without a loss of revenue at all.

00:16:20.149 --> 00:16:24.869
I say that to say that the numbers speak for themselves.

00:16:24.869 --> 00:16:34.404
I mean it's not that I never did commercial work or that I didn't study the numbers, commercial against residential.

00:16:34.404 --> 00:16:37.556
I mean, to be honest, the whole reason that I did that niche is because I knew that the margins were higher.

00:16:37.576 --> 00:16:39.607
I knew that there was no accounts receivable.

00:16:39.607 --> 00:16:40.937
I knew that the customers were grateful.

00:16:40.937 --> 00:16:42.190
I knew that the customers were grateful.

00:16:42.190 --> 00:16:45.610
I knew that they were going to call us back, they were going to refer me.

00:16:45.610 --> 00:16:49.110
Well, they weren't just going to want to hold me down to themselves.

00:16:49.110 --> 00:16:50.392
So no there's.

00:16:50.392 --> 00:16:53.730
I don't think that you know.

00:16:53.750 --> 00:17:16.060
I just want to say, and I don't know if I'm stretching it here but it almost seems like it's a gift that your father is giving you, even when he's not around, Because you think about all the years you spent in there, like all the years you spent wiring houses and doing it and working with your old man, and those lessons helped you shape this business, even though originally you're like I never want to go there.

00:17:16.060 --> 00:17:20.990
But lo and behold, here we are and you have all those memories of your father guiding your business.

00:17:20.990 --> 00:17:30.263
Isn't that like a beautiful thing, Like when you look at it that way and you're like the thing that I thought I was running from was actually the biggest blessing that I didn't realize I had.

00:17:30.263 --> 00:17:33.417
Yeah, every day.

00:17:33.417 --> 00:17:34.743
I mean, I, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not.

00:17:36.048 --> 00:17:50.401
I'm not, yeah, every day, I mean, I don't, I don't just say that lightly, you know that's, that's a realization that gets deeper and deeper as time goes on, how much of a blessing that that period of time in my life was.

00:17:51.170 --> 00:17:51.471
Yeah.

00:17:51.592 --> 00:17:58.531
And how I know like I've heard a lot of people say like that have had, you know, deceased relatives.

00:17:58.531 --> 00:18:00.798
You know, I hope that they're proud of me.

00:18:00.798 --> 00:18:02.501
It's like no man like I know.

00:18:02.501 --> 00:18:04.819
My dad is proud of me, there's no doubt.

00:18:04.819 --> 00:18:07.971
My mom, yeah nothing else.

00:18:08.012 --> 00:18:08.493
I'm sorry.

00:18:08.493 --> 00:18:23.481
Yeah yeah, there was another piece there that I really wanted to drill down a bit, and I know that it wasn't even us at this time, but you mentioned like listening some podcasts and that being a bit of a breakthrough for you.

00:18:23.481 --> 00:18:26.337
How big was that really for you?

00:18:26.337 --> 00:18:34.962
I know we've chatted about this before and it seemed like there was a mega Mentality shift that that kind of led to that second year being over a million dollars.

00:18:37.131 --> 00:18:42.369
Yeah, you know, I believe what you put in is what you're gonna get out.

00:18:42.369 --> 00:18:53.109
I've always, I've always believed that, and so I became obsessed, and I truly became obsessed, and I don't have specific you want me to get with which podcast, or or what?

00:18:53.912 --> 00:18:55.654
Yeah, free to mention any podcast.

00:18:55.674 --> 00:18:58.961
Yeah, I mean the first one was was waste no day.

00:18:58.961 --> 00:19:00.503
I believe there's there's in.

00:19:00.503 --> 00:19:03.700
There's an episode on there that that attracted my attention.

00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:19.682
It was running a service call like a three million dollar electrician, and I know there's not a whole lot of similarities between me and that guy, but just that possibility was like what you know what, like I would hope to get there as a business and this guy's doing it in residential service.

00:19:19.682 --> 00:19:21.529
It was like I need to learn more about this.

00:19:21.529 --> 00:19:24.479
Like where, where can I get information about this?

00:19:24.479 --> 00:19:24.921
You know?

00:19:24.921 --> 00:19:25.892
For?

00:19:25.912 --> 00:19:26.232
sure.

00:19:26.555 --> 00:19:26.816
Yeah.

00:19:27.609 --> 00:19:28.135
Absolutely.

00:19:28.135 --> 00:19:29.569
Yeah, no thanks for sharing that.

00:19:29.569 --> 00:19:37.441
I mean, as you know, we're friends with the waste no day guys too and Sort on there, and I know they've helped a ton of people and they're absolutely blowing up.

00:19:37.441 --> 00:19:44.762
So I want to roll into them Another thing that happened in the background in another episode we did with Dan and to Nelly.

00:19:44.762 --> 00:19:47.369
Now you are branded by kick charge as well.

00:19:47.369 --> 00:19:49.372
Is that right, correct?

00:19:49.372 --> 00:19:52.292
Yeah and Did that have like?

00:19:52.292 --> 00:19:58.064
Did you notice a considerable growth impact from that rebranding, both internally and with clients?

00:20:00.911 --> 00:20:10.093
Yeah, it's funny that you mentioned it internally and externally, with clients, because, yeah, I mean, the first thing was like this, like aura of pride.

00:20:10.093 --> 00:20:18.714
All of a sudden that was within the facility and within the group of guys that just wasn't there before, you know everybody.

00:20:18.714 --> 00:20:28.223
All of a sudden, we had wrapped bands and and our uniforms and we got our badges, you know, and it went like thing that could be something to like.

00:20:28.223 --> 00:20:48.025
All of a sudden, it feels like or something, it looks like we're something, you know, we were a step closer, we're something in the other, something all of a sudden, you know, and I think that the why behind that, though, was because what happened is how we got the name once right, you know, and the tagline is in darkness and light, we do what's right now.

00:20:48.145 --> 00:20:49.932
I didn't think of that, you know.

00:20:49.932 --> 00:20:54.803
What happened is is through numerous interviews similar to this one with Dan and his team.

00:20:54.803 --> 00:21:11.416
They were the ones who came up with that because of the story in the premise of we built the company from day one, on the premise of do the right thing for the right reason, with the core value of integrity, which is doing the right thing even when no one's watching, and so that reflected our name and it was just kind of like a battle cry.

00:21:11.416 --> 00:21:18.220
All of a sudden we're like and kind of a joke within the business as far as like Guys for that questions and I'm like what's the right thing to do?

00:21:22.510 --> 00:21:30.450
Love this like play on words and then, all of a sudden, then we, you know, people were like we've seen your band, we see you all over town.

00:21:30.450 --> 00:21:39.265
I'm like, yeah, we're all over town with the same number of vehicles last year, it's just it just looks different and we started getting calls from from neighbors.

00:21:39.325 --> 00:21:42.634
This is before we even really started running Good neighbor program.

00:21:42.634 --> 00:21:48.089
We started getting calls from neighbors that we're seeing this in the neighborhood and people just calling off of the bandwraps.

00:21:48.089 --> 00:21:54.056
And yeah, man, a tremendous internal and external Influence that that provided.

00:21:55.530 --> 00:21:55.892
Love that.

00:21:55.892 --> 00:21:56.554
I love that.

00:21:56.554 --> 00:22:02.952
Okay, well, let's fast forward to today, then a bit more of kind of this, this becoming of our Relationship.

00:22:02.952 --> 00:22:08.316
Now I know that when we met, that was back earlier in 2023, first quarter, I think.

00:22:08.316 --> 00:22:26.682
We started working together at the end of March and, from my memory, what it serves me is you were just really looking for more like sales Consistency and something to kind of pave this pathway to make sure that you had a trainable, consistent Process so that you could also have more culture control.

00:22:26.682 --> 00:22:28.849
I think that was really a huge focus for you.

00:22:28.849 --> 00:22:33.622
But now, even down in the nitty-gritty details, I'm sure people are waiting for.

00:22:33.622 --> 00:22:41.454
You told me on on our first call that you would die on the Hill of three options and Outer 90-day review.

00:22:42.195 --> 00:22:44.843
You said that you would die on the Hill of six options.

00:22:44.843 --> 00:22:48.798
Can you, can you help us understand that that change?

00:22:48.798 --> 00:22:51.262
What happened there to cause that for you?

00:22:54.511 --> 00:22:54.954
So what?

00:22:54.954 --> 00:23:05.739
What caused the change essentially, was a lot of resistance at first, and I just, you know, I just, and I didn't even know why the resistance was there.

00:23:05.739 --> 00:23:07.915
You know, I didn't understand.

00:23:07.915 --> 00:23:13.656
You know, all it was was like there's this old saying that it's not the change, it's the resistance to the change.

00:23:13.656 --> 00:23:23.369
That's hard, and I think that for me, when I started looking at it, for me, this is just for me, and I don't have this is not say our way versus that ain't.

00:23:23.369 --> 00:23:43.202
It's not what I'm saying, I'm just giving my experience here, which was that I did three options and then, slowly but surely, I started to open my mind not to six, but to the possibility that maybe there could be more than three, which led to four and five and six and seven, and so before long I had to tone it back down to six.

00:23:44.231 --> 00:23:58.461
So six just kind of fell into place, and what I mean by that is, you know, I don't know how granular you want me to go with this, but just from a logical standpoint, I said last year there's some meat left on the bone in between good and better.

00:23:58.461 --> 00:24:05.756
There should be an option in between there that people can step up to without having to step up thousands of dollars there.

00:24:05.756 --> 00:24:07.109
That should be there anyway.

00:24:07.109 --> 00:24:13.394
And so once I started to understand the premise of six options, it's like that's right, why wouldn't they have to?

00:24:13.394 --> 00:24:34.817
It's off to the middle and to at the bottom, and that was just like, oh my god, I don't know any sense, you know, and so and, and I think that's where for me, you know, I think that there are certainly situations where only giving three, in my opinion, would be a little bit unethical.

00:24:35.330 --> 00:24:35.992
I think they should.

00:24:35.992 --> 00:24:50.463
If we're gonna give options and we're gonna give them a menu of choices, you know I prefer I stand, I'll stand on the hill and die on it of six, but at least there should at least be some option in between the bare minimum and thousands of dollars in the middle.

00:24:50.463 --> 00:25:06.337
And I think that's wrong to not give people not at least, like you start, professionalism and our expertise and our training, to give them an option that makes them to where they can enjoy their home more and it's more safe, without spending all of that money, unless they want to.

00:25:06.337 --> 00:25:13.398
You know, and that's where it like for me it was like dang man, like that was it play.

00:25:13.398 --> 00:25:16.309
I don't know if that answers your question, but it was a great answer.

00:25:17.452 --> 00:25:20.561
I was gonna say it really sounds like you're doubling down to doing what's right here.

00:25:20.561 --> 00:25:25.700
You know, like you know where I stand when it comes to six options.

00:25:25.700 --> 00:25:34.194
Man, like I'm all I am that hill and I know you and I had to go back and forth a couple of times on why and how and everything, but you know what.

00:25:34.194 --> 00:25:38.208
You're right when you focused on the integrity behind it.

00:25:38.208 --> 00:25:42.560
Like Everyone can say good, better, best, but you simply saying you know what.

00:25:42.560 --> 00:25:49.630
There should be some stepping stone between you know what we're going to just do a restoration of your panel and we're gonna gut the whole thing.

00:25:49.630 --> 00:25:56.163
There's got to be something in between there and I'm glad that you could grasp that and really just you know, put it into your own belief value.

00:25:57.332 --> 00:25:59.534
Yeah, yeah yeah.

00:25:59.595 --> 00:26:00.397
I agree.

00:26:00.397 --> 00:26:04.035
There was one more Kind of thing.

00:26:04.035 --> 00:26:05.685
I wanted to pick on you a little bit, brother.

00:26:05.685 --> 00:26:20.580
I hope you don't mind, but we had this moment where you had said to me you know, clay, in the beginning, on that first call, you told me that I might have an attachment to my sales process, an emotional attachment that might be difficult to overcome.

00:26:20.580 --> 00:26:26.663
And at the time you had said, but I didn't even think I had a sales process to be attached to.

00:26:26.663 --> 00:26:40.204
But later on, in that 90-day review sort of the same situation there was kind of this Aha moment that we had together where you shared okay, no, I was, and that was a real challenge actually to overcome.

00:26:40.204 --> 00:26:42.854
Do you kind of have some words for this?

00:26:42.854 --> 00:26:47.644
And and maybe helping others to embrace that change and the resistance to the change that you mentioned?

00:26:50.951 --> 00:26:53.538
Yeah, I mean, I think that you know.

00:26:53.538 --> 00:27:16.486
Just to kind of touch on what you said, I mean it's I Think if you, if you do something for a period of time, whether you know what you're doing or not know what you're doing, especially in a when you're selling technician and you go into a home, you may not realize that you're doing these certain things throughout the call, but after doing them for a period of time, that is repetition.

00:27:16.486 --> 00:27:18.199
There's pretty similar.

00:27:18.199 --> 00:27:23.297
It's a series of steps, the goal is the same and it's a sales process of some sort.

00:27:23.297 --> 00:27:29.096
I just didn't realize what it was or anything, and there was no troubleshooting it of any kind.

00:27:29.778 --> 00:27:38.939
I think I was just very ignorant to the fact that I was emotionally attached to the way that I had done it for the year prior.

00:27:38.939 --> 00:27:51.865
I think that, moving more in towards a process, it was a hard shift, man, it is a hard shift, but for me it's been incremental.

00:27:51.865 --> 00:27:54.377
I had this belief.

00:27:54.377 --> 00:28:02.903
I started off with you guys not thinking that I had a process and that we were just going to modify what I was already doing a little bit.

00:28:02.903 --> 00:28:04.365
I'm already doing pretty good.

00:28:04.365 --> 00:28:07.344
Then it was like, well, if you're going to do it this way.

00:28:07.344 --> 00:28:09.030
These are some non-negotiables.

00:28:09.030 --> 00:28:12.220
These are some of the things that you're going to have to do.

00:28:12.220 --> 00:28:15.407
My idea of what was going to happen completely transformed.

00:28:15.555 --> 00:28:16.759
That was a lot of change.

00:28:16.759 --> 00:28:20.454
There was a lot of resistance to that, just like anything else.

00:28:20.454 --> 00:28:24.542
The one thing that I haven't done, thanks to you guys, was quit.

00:28:24.542 --> 00:28:25.786
I never quit.

00:28:25.786 --> 00:28:29.521
I got mad, I got sad, I got cried, I screamed.

00:28:29.521 --> 00:28:31.608
Every emotion that there was to fill.

00:28:31.608 --> 00:28:32.531
I felt them all.

00:28:32.531 --> 00:28:36.102
On the other side of that, it was like why not just try the one thing?

00:28:36.102 --> 00:28:39.740
What if you just changed this one little thing?

00:28:39.740 --> 00:28:40.885
Well, that worked.

00:28:40.885 --> 00:28:42.212
What about this other little thing?

00:28:42.212 --> 00:28:44.377
And this other little thing, this other little thing?

00:28:44.377 --> 00:28:46.863
That's what started it.

00:28:46.863 --> 00:28:56.647
I'm more of the type that I'm not going to tell you something, that I think that something works, just to toot your own horn.

00:28:56.647 --> 00:28:58.362
I'm going to get my experience.

00:28:58.362 --> 00:29:00.712
If I think it works, then I will do it.

00:29:00.712 --> 00:29:03.521
That is what I will share, and nothing else.

00:29:03.521 --> 00:29:16.335
I say that to say that through those incremental shifts, that is what's got me to a point where I believe in this process, because it's worked, because it's worked, that's it.

00:29:16.576 --> 00:29:20.823
Just because it worked Really really good feedback there.

00:29:20.823 --> 00:29:23.627
I'm still learning.

00:29:23.627 --> 00:29:29.450
Still, I'm not by no means do I have, I don't think that I have a master.

00:29:29.450 --> 00:29:33.423
I think that I've come a long way and I've still got a longer ways to go.

00:29:33.423 --> 00:29:34.547
That's what I think.

00:29:35.892 --> 00:29:39.162
Well, as long as you're walking that journey, man, I'm really excited to be walking it with you.

00:29:39.162 --> 00:29:42.101
You've really just been a pleasure to have as a student.

00:29:42.101 --> 00:29:56.560
I know that you and I we have our bouts every now and then, but you know, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, there isn't anyone that I'd rather want to be working with, because I know that once you commit to something, there is nothing on this good green earth that's going to pull you off the path of it.

00:29:56.560 --> 00:30:00.660
If you believe that there's something, you go for it, and your teeth are out every time.

00:30:00.681 --> 00:30:04.501
I appreciate that, bro so huge growth.

00:30:04.654 --> 00:30:08.182
but, alan, I got to get your cheeks a bit rosy here.

00:30:08.182 --> 00:30:14.422
You currently hold two of our program records, both involving sales.

00:30:14.422 --> 00:30:24.526
So biggest month that just under $183,000 from your van and biggest week at just over $97,000 from your van.

00:30:24.526 --> 00:30:35.980
And now, honestly we kind of alluded to this in the marketing bit and in a bit earlier in the conversation you're almost at $900,000 in sales for the year from your van.

00:30:35.980 --> 00:30:40.375
And being that you started in April, I've done the math and run it back.

00:30:40.375 --> 00:30:48.320
If we went April to April, april to April rather, and continue with this trend, you may even beat Joseph's 1.3 million record.

00:30:48.320 --> 00:30:51.086
Not to jinx it, brother, I'm at a wood desk and I am knocking.

00:30:51.086 --> 00:31:02.388
I don't want to do that to you Anyone superstitious with us today, but man, there's got to be a few top, like a few things that have really amounted to this for you.

00:31:02.388 --> 00:31:07.078
Would you just share, like your top three, what's helped you achieve this?

00:31:09.824 --> 00:31:20.797
Yeah, I mean the first one was having a sales process like a written out not written out necessarily, but like a guideline as far as how to run a residential service call.

00:31:20.797 --> 00:31:30.486
And the benefit to that was we could, I could see, we could see where things were going wrong and we could correct it where it was going wrong.

00:31:30.486 --> 00:31:36.784
In other words, before, without having any guidelines, it was either you got the sale or you didn't get the sale.

00:31:36.784 --> 00:31:38.007
What went wrong?

00:31:38.007 --> 00:31:54.913
Just the wrong kind of call, wrong kind of person, you know, whatever, whatever it was that I could come up with or whoever could come up with, and having a sales process to be like no, this went well, this went well, this went well, this went well, right here, something was off.

00:31:54.913 --> 00:32:00.128
And being able to trace back to that and be like, okay, maybe this, maybe that.

00:32:00.128 --> 00:32:08.996
So that just having a sales process that enabled us to troubleshoot where it's going wrong, what the deal is, so on and so forth.

00:32:09.458 --> 00:32:12.006
The second biggest one was, for me, was generators.

00:32:12.006 --> 00:32:19.152
So we had never I didn't, I didn't install some generators, but I had what's right electric, K and K electric.

00:32:19.152 --> 00:32:28.068
Before we were what's right, had never installed a generator period until we got with you guys, and so we've.

00:32:28.068 --> 00:32:38.557
We've done, I think, 125, 130 thousand dollars in generator sales this year alone, and I've been the only one to sell generators.

00:32:38.557 --> 00:32:43.410
So we're still, we're still training on that, so that helped a lot.

00:32:43.410 --> 00:32:58.711
Also, something I don't think it's talked about a whole lot that I think that we do that I don't know if some do or don't, but that that's just generators, that's a generator transaction.

00:32:58.711 --> 00:33:07.601
We take a piece of the pie and was like this much went to the generator, but there's a lot of rest of the pie that was connected to that generator work that we got.

00:33:07.601 --> 00:33:25.521
I'm like I don't know, I don't know how much to contribute to that, but I am aware that by having that niche also it leads off into other areas, If that makes sense.

00:33:25.622 --> 00:33:27.826
Generators having a sales success.

00:33:27.826 --> 00:33:39.401
Yeah, yeah so same things like your maintenance agreements, your first class agreements, the customers that came after you sold the generator, the neighbors that were connected to it.

00:33:39.401 --> 00:33:43.136
I also know that you're definitely niche on the portable installations.

00:33:46.232 --> 00:33:46.492
Portables.

00:33:46.492 --> 00:33:54.251
Yes, what I was kind of referring to is there are a lot of companies in our area, not a lot.

00:33:54.251 --> 00:34:06.875
I've seen some installations by multiple different companies in our area where, to the best of my knowledge, they never even took the panel cover off and hooked the generator up to it.

00:34:06.875 --> 00:34:16.985
I mean, there were just situations where we look at everything, we look at the panel, we make sure of the electrical system and so kind of.

00:34:16.985 --> 00:34:23.672
What I was referring to is the panels that we've gotten to replace, as a result, all the surge protectors that we've gotten to put in.

00:34:23.672 --> 00:34:29.943
As a result, business that is accrued because of a generator, if that makes sense.

00:34:30.831 --> 00:34:42.936
That does I appreciate you clarifying and what would your third big top three SOPs that you've leveraged or strategies that you've leveraged here in this last year?

00:34:46.434 --> 00:34:49.201
So I think the last six options for sure.

00:34:49.201 --> 00:35:06.231
But here's the thing about that I had a teacher to do those six options, because could you imagine trying to do six options without knowing how to do six options or what the framework is supposed to be or anything like that?

00:35:06.231 --> 00:35:07.215
Does that make sense?

00:35:07.215 --> 00:35:23.454
So, having six options, knowing how to use six options and understanding the ethicality behind six options, that was all explained to me by Joseph is the third one for sure, because if someone I could have came up with, I guess I could have came up with six options.

00:35:23.494 --> 00:35:27.353
I never would have, but even if I could have, I would just would have confused people.

00:35:27.353 --> 00:35:31.873
I would have known at least marginally how to use them where I'm at today.

00:35:31.873 --> 00:35:36.851
So the third one would have to be six options and Joseph teaching me those options.

00:35:36.851 --> 00:35:38.255
I gotta give credit where it's due.

00:35:39.530 --> 00:35:53.391
So I'm grateful to have been in your corner, man, and, like I said, any knowledge that I possess I'm happy to share with all of our students, but you've truly been a pleasure to work with, and knowing that you're taking the knowledge and doing something with it it means a lot.

00:35:53.391 --> 00:36:02.541
Like there are so many people who listen to these podcasts who may not take action, but it really really makes me happy when someone's like you know what.

00:36:02.541 --> 00:36:08.514
I heard you, I saw it, I did the thing, and here's the result yeah, so thank you for being a man of action.

00:36:09.929 --> 00:36:19.932
Speaking of taking action and we're in our final moments here too, but I have a feeling whatever gets said here about the future of your business and what you want is actually going to happen.

00:36:19.932 --> 00:36:22.746
Alan, what do you see for the future of what's right?

00:36:22.746 --> 00:36:24.411
How big are you going for, brother?

00:36:27.929 --> 00:36:35.338
You know, clay, I have to be honest, man, I really haven't given that much thought and, to be completely honest, I haven't.

00:36:35.338 --> 00:36:43.844
I think our market would verify the seven million dollar company, but again, what I've got is good enough.

00:36:43.844 --> 00:36:49.920
Dude, it really is, man, like I mean that from the bottom of my heart, like I'm the richest man that I know.

00:36:49.920 --> 00:36:53.318
It doesn't have anything to do with money, you know it's.

00:36:53.318 --> 00:36:57.251
I didn't intend to do 270 the first year.

00:36:57.251 --> 00:37:00.278
I didn't intend to do 1.23 last year.

00:37:00.278 --> 00:37:02.445
I didn't intend to do 1.7 this year.

00:37:02.445 --> 00:37:03.630
I didn't intend.

00:37:03.630 --> 00:37:05.434
It was never my plan.

00:37:05.434 --> 00:37:17.757
I mean, we've had goals and we've kind of worked towards them, but we've just focused on getting better, serving the customers better and, ultimately, building the culture, and I think that everything else will take care of itself.

00:37:17.757 --> 00:37:19.621
If another.

00:37:19.621 --> 00:37:23.438
Maybe that wasn't the answer you were looking for, but we're going to try to do $2 million.

00:37:25.170 --> 00:37:27.844
We're going to try to do $2 million.

00:37:27.889 --> 00:37:29.516
You know, I actually liked your first answer more.

00:37:29.516 --> 00:37:42.811
The reason being is that it showed that you focused on culture, you focused on doing the right thing, but it was also a place of gratitude, and I don't know if anyone else caught up with that, but gratitude means a lot to me.

00:37:42.811 --> 00:37:44.456
It's central to who we are.

00:37:44.456 --> 00:37:54.824
But the fact that you're like, you know what I'm the richest man and it doesn't have to do with money that says a lot about your character, because you know, as a man of faith, you get it.

00:37:54.824 --> 00:37:56.931
You know when we feel like you've been blessed.

00:37:56.931 --> 00:37:59.215
Is there any feeling better than that?

00:37:59.215 --> 00:38:04.697
Is there any amount of money you'd pay to trade it, to change it or trade it?

00:38:04.697 --> 00:38:10.318
You've done the thing that people would say that someone in your situation couldn't have done.

00:38:10.318 --> 00:38:14.014
Then we know where the busting came from and I'm proud of you for getting there.

00:38:15.632 --> 00:38:16.215
I appreciate that.

00:38:17.231 --> 00:38:18.914
Very impressive, alan.

00:38:18.914 --> 00:38:20.478
Closing comments.

00:38:20.478 --> 00:38:22.461
Man, I know that we could keep going.

00:38:22.461 --> 00:38:25.077
In fact, I'm sure we will again someday.

00:38:25.077 --> 00:38:32.559
We'd love to have you back and continue to work with you, of course, but do you have any closing comments for this 2023?

00:38:32.559 --> 00:38:42.822
If someone's in sort of maybe where you were chucking a truck even, or in that next year of yours or anywhere in between going into 2024, like what am I going to change?

00:38:42.822 --> 00:38:43.746