August 4, 2023 • 47 mins
Explore efficient management practices in HVAC businesses, emphasizing personalized service and the selling of additional services.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Corey Berrier (00:01):
Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast.
I'm your host, Corey Berrier.
And I'm here with my man, JoeCunningham.
Joe Cunningham (00:07):
What's up, Joe?
Not much.
Corey.
How are you today?
Corey Berrier (00:10):
I'm good.
Thanks for asking.
So, I'm pretty, pretty excitedabout having you on, Joe.
We've had a bunch ofconversations via text and so on
and so forth.
Joe Cunningham (00:19):
First
Corey Berrier (00:21):
I really want you to talk about.
The fact that you can bring atechnician, or let's just call
it a non technician, let's justcall it somebody that you met at
a bar that's got a greatpersonality, that's interested
in doing HVAC or interested indoing sales of some sort.
You can take that guy and ifhe's got the right attitude and
(00:45):
train him up to about 80% inabout 10 days.
Do I get the, do I have thatright?
Joe Cunningham (00:51):
Yeah, we create probably the best entry level
technicians out there today inextremely short period of time.
You know, the process thatworked this way started a long
time ago when I was withContractor Success Group and ran
future University, and we'vejust kind of perfected that over
(01:11):
the years.
But if a contractor can find aguy with a good personality and
mechanical aptitude, He doesn'thave to know anything about air
conditioning in 10 days.
We can give him the skills andthe competency needs to become
pretty much an entry leveltechnician that's more advanced
(01:34):
than 90% of'em that you're gonnaget out there.
And the reason we're able toachieve this is because 65 to
70% of what we do in ourclasses, which is 10 days, is
all hands on.
You know, the trade programsthat have been done in the
community colleges and thingslike that, they focus on a lot
of stuff that this technician'sreally not going to need to know
(01:55):
in the field.
I mean, why am I taking a monthor so to teach this guy
thermodynamics when he needs tofind out why Ms.
Johnson's condenser won't turnon or why this furnace won't
fire, or why when it does fire,it goes out in a couple of
seconds.
So, So we give him the basichands-on stuff.
(02:17):
You know, 80 to 85% of theissues to call in.
No cool, no heat into a heatingand cooling company are the same
problems.
So we take this technician andwe teach him the components of a
heating and cooling system so heknows where all the parts are.
(02:38):
Then we used a detailedchecklist to teach him how to
check every component.
And we teach him how to use hisgauges.
We teach him how to use meters.
We teach him how to charge asystem using subcool and
superheat.
And then in taking hischecklist, we teach him how to
test each component, and then wemake the technician check every
(03:00):
component on every call.
So if he knows how to checkevery component and tell you,
yes, this is good, or no, it'snot any good.
He doesn't miss anything.
Now it takes him a little bitlonger.
We drop our callbacks down if hefollows the process.
And because he sees everything,his average ticket is higher.
So he pays for himself with thelittle extra time that he
(03:22):
spends.
But we just don't have anyproblems with it.
No bad habits.
No.
No bad habits.
You know, most people when theygo to looking for techs and you
know, as we take a look at theheating and air conditioning
business, A lot of the problemsthat we have come from not
having enough people in thefield.
(03:43):
Not that they can't run enoughcalls, but we don't have enough
people to run the calls, so weforce the ones, we do have to
run more calls than they should,and Then we hire people.
Everybody wants to hire anexperienced person, and most of
the guys you get in instead ofhaving 10 years of experience,
have one year, 10 times.
(04:04):
And he is got a multitude of badhabits and it's harder to
untrain somebody.
I.
Than it is to train'em in thefirst place.
And they've all got theirshortcuts that have been taught
to them over and over becausethe training process usually
consists of, okay Jim, I'm goingto hire you.
You ride with my guy Bob,'causehe's the best guy that I got.
(04:27):
He's gonna show you how we doit.
And then after thatconversation, Jim and Bob get in
the truck.
And then Bob says, Jim, I'mgonna, I'm gonna show you how we
really do it now.
I know Joe's gonna tell yousomething.
I'm gonna show you how we reallydo it, and he's gonna teach him
to be as good as him almost.
And we have this ending downwardspiral in our training program.
(04:52):
'cause we're depending on otherpeople that we don't know what
the hell they're doing to trainour new guy to do stuff that we
don't know what they're doing.
And then we wonder why we havelow tickets and high callbacks
and no sales and no leadgeneration and things like that.
So in getting the new guys in,they don't have any bad ho
habits.
They have no misconceptions ofhow you're supposed to run this
(05:15):
call.
All they know is I got thislist, it's got everything on it.
I gotta do it all, and then thecontact process, so they stay in
touch with us.
So it becomes much easier togrow these techs.
It makes sense.
I mean,
Corey Berrier (05:32):
look, everybody says there's a shortage of
technicians,
Joe Cunningham (05:35):
but
Corey Berrier (05:36):
I would argue if they knew about your.
Your school that there wouldn'tbe a shortage of technicians
Joe Cunningham (05:42):
or
Corey Berrier (05:44):
maybe it's just keeping people with, you know,
keep maybe not enough peoplehave an open mind about it.
Do you find that
Joe Cunningham (05:52):
there's a lot of contractors don't have an open,
not enough mind about it, butyou know, here's the thing.
We've got some guys, somecompany owners that have now
sent us.
18 or 20 techs over the periodof six or eight years, you know,
so if it didn't work, theywouldn't do it.
And they keep sending'em to usover and over again, and we keep
hearing these stories, you know,and will every tech work?
(06:16):
No, a hundred percent, they'llwork a hundred percent of
anything.
Doesn't happen.
Anywhere anyway, but you've gota much greater chance of
success.
And then you find thecontractors that, you know, they
look for every reason to putthings off.
They say, well, you know,summer's coming, so I can't send
this guy because I need him torun calls.
(06:38):
Okay, so you're going to take aguy that doesn't know anything
and you're gonna send him to runcalls.
He will cost you more.
Screw ups, then you would'vepaid in tuition so he could come
and do'em.
And then you get pissed off andyou fire him and you say you
can't find anybody.
You know, it makes no sense.
(06:59):
If you want somebody to do whatyou do or want them to do, a
couple things have to happen.
Number one, you gotta tell'emwhat it is you want'em to do.
Right.
You know?
And I do a lot of one-on-ones.
I go into a lot of companies andI ask the tech, do you have a
job description?
They say, no.
Well, how do you do your job ifyou don't have a job
description?
(07:20):
What do you say?
Go forth and do good.
I mean, you know, so you have tohave a step by step job
description, and then you haveto explain to the guys how they
achieve that.
I.
And that allows you tocompensate them more, whether
it's performance pay, or evenhourly.
When the guy comes in and say,Hey boss, I need a raise.
(07:41):
And you take his job descriptionand you see if he meets or
exceeds his description, andthat makes it happen.
But another thing you have to dois you have to training to do
it, you know, and there's.
Because of the way we've trainedpeople, just sending them out
with other people, it doesn'treally work that well.
You know, and we get guys inhere from a two year college and
they can't hook gauges up.
(08:03):
They don't know what an inducermotor is.
I mean, I don't know whatthey're teaching'em.
They're just taking their moneyand they're not getting them
prepared to be in the truck.
But the reality is, if you cantake these guys, especially the
younger guys that have been outworking, In a tire shop, an auto
parts store somewhere where theyhave some kind of a mechanical
(08:25):
inkling and take this guy andsend him to 10 days of school
and within his first year, havehim making over 50,000.
And that's not hard to do.
And the second year of making70, 80, or a hundred thousand,
you've done something for thisperson.
And if you prove to'em that youcan do that, they're not going
anywhere.
(08:46):
I agree.
And it's a quick process If youput the right things in place to
start with.
Totally.
Corey Berrier (08:54):
Alright, so this must cost, I mean, my guess is
something like this to fasttrack.
I mean, what is a two year tradeschool cost?
I'm just
Joe Cunningham (09:00):
curious.
I don't know.
You know, we get'em in from allover and the guys say they pay
anywhere from eight to 24, 205,000.
Just depends on where they go.
And you know, most of theseplaces are diploma mills, so
they try and get'em in, youknow, the guys that are coming
outta the service.
And how much was your tuition?
Well, it was all I had on my GIbill.
Well, you must have told'em whatyou had,'cause that set the
(09:22):
rate, you know.
So our rate is set up front andI've kept it reasonable.
You know, it's 34 95 for 10days.
So they send them from whereverthey send them.
Houston's a major hub, which iswhere the school is.
They send them here.
We have a little deal worked outwith a hotel.
It's a residence in withinwalking distance of two or three
(09:43):
food places.
They Uber back and forth.
Hotel, gives'em breakfast.
We give'em lunch.
This is a big city.
I don't want'em wandering offand getting lost.
So we give'em lunch, we givethem their basic hand tools so
when they go back, there's nolearning curve there.
You know, like, boss, I don'tknow how to use this type of
whatever you're giving them.
No, they know how to use it.
All that, they've gotten thatbag.
(10:05):
Now we teach'em the basics.
We don't give them, forinstance, we don't give'em
digital manifold or digitalgauges.
We give'em regular standard.
Manifold gauges that they hookup and they have to learn to
read the numbers.
And I tell'em, when you go back,you'll probably get digital
gauges and that's okay, butdon't ever take these off the
(10:25):
truck because one day thebattery's gonna go dead.
And then what do you do?
These are your backup gaugesthen.
But for right now, you'relearning why stuff works this
way.
So we tell'em to take the longway around.
You know, they get a set ofbasic hand tools.
They get a set of gauges, theyget Klein electric clamp meter,
(10:48):
they get their gloves andglasses and all this stuff.
So they're safe in school, butthey've got the basic stuff to
get in the truck and actually gostart running calls.
That's tremendous.
The first week they come back,you know, you're probably gonna
wanna work with them on yourpaperwork and your communication
process, but other than that,they've got it.
Corey Berrier (11:08):
That makes, look, that makes complete sense.
Is there any reason why you doit 10
Joe Cunningham (11:13):
days straight?
Yep.
We used to do it at FutureUniversity in two five day
weeks, but here's what happens.
I.
Guys from all over the country.
Usually younger guys, they'vebeen never been away from home
(11:35):
unsupervised with the companycredit card.
So on Friday night and Saturdaynight, they will find every bar
in town with no windows.
So, It takes me when they comeback on Monday, it takes me to
Wednesday to get'em back wherethey were on Friday and they ran
up all those expenses, you know?
(11:56):
And some people say, well,that's mean make it, it's one
weekend.
One weekend, 10 days of yourentire life.
If you can't give 10 days ofyour life up to learn a career
that's gonna support your familyfor the rest of your life better
than most of the guys that youwent to school with that went
and got a college education,then you probably aren't the
(12:18):
right person for virtually anyjob.
But that's why we keep'em 10days.
That makes sense.
Yeah.
Corey Berrier (12:26):
So, alright, so great explanation.
I mean, I'm, I think it's just ano brainer in my opinion, but
look, that's just my opinion.
So you mentioned, I, I did wantyou to talk about rehash for a
second.
I know that's something that you
Joe Cunningham (12:42):
do really well, right?
I've always been a proponent ofrehashing calls, you know, and
let me explain what that means.
Number one, we're gonna sendthese techs out to a job.
So they come to your house andit's a no cool call, no heat
call, doesn't matter.
And my tech goes through yourentire system.
(13:02):
Well, he finds everything wrong.
So we're out there on a no coolcall and your contactors are
burn up.
Your capacitor's weak becausenobody's looked at your system
for about three years.
You think it'll run forever.
Your fan motor's still turning,but it's over amping your coil's
dirty because the lawn guy can'tfigure out, you can blow grass
away from it.
It just as well as on it.
(13:22):
When I ask you where your filteris, you say what filter?
I've never seen that.
And your blower wheels caked upwith dirt and your evaporator
coils cleaned or dirty.
And I come back in, I give youthe list, all the stuff I find,
and you say how?
Well the only thing that you'llunderstand about it all anyway,
you say, well, how much does itfix?
All Agile?
And I say, well, it's like$2,200or whatever.
(13:44):
It's.
You say, oh my gosh, that's alot of money.
You gotta do all that just to,to make it run and blow cold
air.
I say, well, no, Corey, I don'thave to do all of it.
But I mean, we gotta put thecontactors in'cause that it
won't turn on without that.
And it looks like you're low onrefrigerant, so I gotta put some
refrigerant in there and it'sgonna run and blow cold air.
I just don't know how long.
Could be a day, could be a week,could be a year.
(14:06):
I don't know.
And then you're gonna ask me thenext question, which is the only
thing you'll understand.
Well, how much to do that?
I say, well, that's 500.
So now you're sitting thereweighing the only two things you
understand about the whole damncall.
Joe can fix it for 2200.
Joe can fix it for 500.
I need new tires on my pickuptruck.
(14:28):
What's the best deal for me?
Well, you know what the bestdeal for you would be is a
uneducated homeowner.
Well, if it's gonna blow coldair, I'll do the$500 deal.
I'll worry about the rest ofthat crap later.
Right?
Buy the$5 repair and Two weekslater, something breaks down.
Well, I had all thatinformation.
See what happens on the call ismost texts just tell you that
(14:50):
stuff, but they don't recordeverything.
Or you'll use some of these moresophisticated software programs,
and if you don't understand howto do the workaround, you'll
have everything listed in there.
But when you present it to thehomeowner, he picks up these two
or three repairs that getspushed into QuickBooks.
And unless you backed it upsomewhere, the rest just
disappears so you don't evenknow what's done.
(15:13):
But if you really keep recordsof all of that, you know
everything that needs to be donewithin your customer base.
Two weeks from now, three weeksfrom now, when it starts slowing
down or the phone isn't ringing,we need to get on that phone and
call you up and say, Hey, Corey,we were at your house and we did
this and this.
However, you elected not to havethese three, three things done,
(15:35):
and we're really afraid.
I.
When this hot weather reallygets going, your air
conditioner's not gonna start,and it's sure not gonna make it
long through the long hotsummer.
And we get back in the house.
And if you combine that processbetween sending them a letter
and then calling, you'll getback into 28 to 30% of the calls
that you ran.
(15:55):
And here's the thing if yourcall is set up right and your
technician is trained properly,50% of those customers.
Are gonna buy more items thanthey really thought they should
have that were legitimaterepairs.
But the other 50% are gonna haverepairs that should be made that
they don't do right then.
That doesn't mean they neverwanna do'em, it just means they
didn't wanna do'em that day, youknow?
(16:17):
And there's some guys out theresay, well, when we get done,
we've sold'em everything.
Well, that's bullshit.
Nobody sells them a hundredpercent at everything.
Every time you go, you alwayshave a list of something done
with 40 to 50% of yourcustomers.
If your tech only runs threecalls a day, it's gonna run 750
calls a year.
That's 375 calls with repairsthat you already know what it
(16:40):
is.
So why aren't you going backwhen you're ready to go?
Not when the customer's ready,'cause all your customers call
you.
At the same time, I wanna bedoing what could be conceived as
a no cool repair in March orApril.
Why don't wanna wait till it's ahundred damn degrees outside?
I wanna get these people off mybooks.
(17:01):
I don't want'em calling in.
I wanna do it now.
And that's what rehash is, andthat's how it works and that's
why it's so effective.
But the thing about it is rehashis a part of every call.
Every single call and most ofthe people in their air
conditioning business, they takea look at it and like right now,
you know it's gonna be a hundreddegrees all week long this week.
(17:22):
So most people say, I just wannago him to go out there and fix
the call.
Just let him get it going andwe'll go back and worry about
the rest later.
They ain't gonna let you back inthe house.
That's why you do it now.
You list everything.
Let him tell you no.
If he doesn't want it done, lethim tell you.
No.
And you're covering your buttbecause you told him everything.
He has to decline everything hedidn't want done at that moment.
(17:45):
And I have my list of stuff Ican go to later, so why wouldn't
you wanna do that?
And yet it takes a little bitmore time.
But look at the money you'regoing to get 50% of your
customers, you're gonna be ableto rehash.
28 to 30% are gonna let you backin the house.
You do the math.
You already paid
Corey Berrier (18:02):
for'em.
Right, too?
Like you already paid to go outthere one time, so why would you
not
Joe Cunningham (18:08):
remarket to those people?
This seems crazy to me.
Yeah.
And the lead costs you nothing.
That's right.
Yeah, that's right.
But too many people, well, youknow, I need leads, so I'll
spend$5,000 on the internet andbuy all this Facebook stuff and
do all this stuff, but when youalready got a boatload of leads,
(18:29):
you could cut way back on yourother stuff and rehash your
existing customers.
You need to keep selling yourexisting customers.
They buy more from you thananybody else, and they already
have, they know you.
They trust you, so why wouldn'tthey keep doing it?
Corey Berrier (18:42):
I think it's the responsibility.
I think it's any contractor'sresponsibility to make sure the
customers know there are otheroptions that you all can do.
For example I think that, youknow, I, yeah, I totally agree
with you.
So, alright, so let me ask youthis.
I know I'm firing a bunch ofquestions at you at once, but
really I'm probably most excitedabout getting into this next
(19:05):
conversation.
So call by call.
Now, I don't know if it wasalways called that, but call by
call, from what I understand isa process that, and just correct
me if I'm wrong, but it's aprocess that you eliminate.
The biggest thing is youeliminate the gap of time
(19:25):
between that service technicianand that selling technician to
get there.
And I know that you, there'sother parts of that are
important, but.
I think it's about 60% of thetime when somebody leaves that
house, there's a chance you'renot gonna sell that customer
about 60%.
I think if I'm right I know I'min the ballpark.
(19:45):
So we hear all the time,technicians we're missing
technicians.
We talked about that at earlier,trying to hire people.
Tell me about the call by callprocess from your standpoint and
all the benefits of
Joe Cunningham (19:56):
that.
Well, you know, the call by callprocess.
Eliminates one big problem.
Number one, there are sellingtechs out there that do an
absolutely fantastic job.
You know, I've got one sellingtech that I trained and he, in
fact, he's working for acompetitor of mine because, you
(20:17):
know, we just have a littlecompany here that I do a lot of
experimentation with.
But Sean sold 636,000 lastAugust.
So would I try and change whathe does?
Probably not if he's already,that ain't broke, so I ain't
gonna fix it.
But does everybody sell 600,000?
(20:40):
No.
Does everybody sell a hundredthousand in a month?
No.
Does everybody even sell 50,000in a month?
And the answer to that is no.
So the question becomes why notyou?
The thing about the company thathe works for, people think that
he just gets picked out forspecial calls.
(21:02):
Not really.
You know, he does get more oldersystems, I will say that.
But with that being said,they're in the same
neighborhood.
They.
They're in the same economicdemographics.
They're in the same economy,they're in the same weather.
Everything's the same.
The only difference is thedifference between him and his
(21:23):
ability and the guys that don'thave that ability.
So the question comes up is, andit's this, how do I get the guy
with lesser abilities closer tothat level?
Well, we can train them, but I.
A lot of the guys that aretechnicians are not geared or
(21:44):
wired that way.
You know, I've never had atechnician come in during an
interview and say, Joe, youknow, you know what I'd really
like to be?
I wanna become a public speakerand a creative writer.
That's, you know, so most of'emare just the opposite.
They wanna work on those littlecell phone buildings on a power
line that they can ride a fourwheeler, two, and there's nobody
(22:05):
out there.
So, I gotta turn him into apublic speaker and a creative
writer.
So I have to take his innateabilities, which is he's really
a good technician and he canfind stuff if you train you the
right way, and then fix that soI can now educate the customer.
As to why they should makecertain repairs with a person
(22:27):
that is skilled at doing that.
And that's what call by callmanagement is.
Now, this stuff kind of started,heck, 30 years ago, I guess, 25,
30 years ago, and we had aposition in a couple companies
that we worked with that I wasconsulting with, and that
position was called SeniorService Advisor.
So the way it started was we hadthese guys that couldn't sell,
(22:51):
so they'd go out.
And then they'd find a list ofstuff wrong, and they would come
to you and show you their listand say, Corey, this is wrong
and this is wrong.
And according to my numbershere, you should either replace
your system or do this bigexpensive repair.
And they were trained to justsay this after they explained
that.
But before I ask you to do that,Would you mind if I get you a
(23:16):
second opinion from a seniorservice advisor now that put the
customer in a whole differentframe of mind, because now it's
like going to the heart doctorand getting a second opinion and
everybody likes a secondopinion, but he's gonna get two
from you.
That's where a second opinioncomes.
So then it comes, yeah, you cansend him out.
(23:36):
Okay, so now the senior serviceadvisor would go out to that
job.
That worked real well and we gotthe tickets up when we started
the communication thing, but theissues were, I was having
problems getting the seniorservice advisor physically to
enough calls to handle that.
(23:57):
So it required that you have alot more.
Senior service advisors, andthen we started doing it on the
phone.
And I guess that, and I don'tknow who coined the phrase call
by call management, but that'sreally what it is.
I don't know if we just sataround and talked about it.
I don't even know where it camefrom, but that's where the
process came from.
So now, We take the guys thatare rock stars, like Sean can
(24:20):
sell five, 600,000 in a month.
Okay?
We're not gonna jack with him.
We're gonna let him do what hedoes because I know what he can
do.
But the guys that aren'tperforming in that area, you
know, the less than a milliondollar guys, I'm gonna take that
guy.
I'm gonna assist him and he'sgonna go and run the first part
of our perfect service call.
Gotta be prepared to have allhis stuff, but before he even
(24:43):
gets to the house, we're gonnacall you and set it up for him
so it's easier.
And this is where it all starts.
And a lot of people forget this.
You know, they call and say,well, our tech bob will be at
your house in 30 minutes.
You know, they think, well,that's good enough.
I'll send a picture of Bob.
That should do it.
That has some warm fuzzies overthat.
No, you gotta set this thing upso this customer feels real
special.
(25:03):
You call him up and you say Ourtech bob.
This is Joe from over at Joe'sservice Company in, and I just
wanted to drop a line to, ormake a call and tell you that
our tech Bob will be at yourhouse in about 20 to 30 minutes.
Now, what we've sent you apicture and a biography and
learn a little bit about him,but the main thing I want to do
is tell you that I'm gonna beyour personal point of contact
(25:25):
for this call.
So if you have any questionswhatsoever or any concerns, I
want you to know that you canask Bob whatever you want, but
you can also call me.
I want to give you my directline so you can reach me right
away in case you want to talkabout any of this.
Here it is.
Is that okay?
They always say, yeah, and thenthat's the end of your setup.
(25:46):
But what you did was you justtook this customer and I mean,
you put him up on a platform.
Who the hell has ever had a callfrom a service company, plumbing
or H V A C that says, I'm yourpersonal point of contact?
It's like, I got conciergeservice.
I mean, they don't do that goodat a restaurant that I pay too
much for my food in.
So now they feel special andthey feel good about it.
(26:07):
I also tell him what Bob's gonnado.
So when he gets there and hedoes this whole house
inspection, they're notsurprised.
'cause I'm telling them that heis.
I'm tell him he's gonna do thisand this, and to make sure we
don't have any unexpectedproblems from your equipment
before he leaves.
He's gonna check everything outfor you so you're completely
safe.
Is that okay?
And who would say no?
So, Now we've set that thing upand then Bob gets there and he
(26:30):
does his first part.
You know, his introductory partgets the customer to talk.
I want him to be completelyengaged with my customer at that
point.
So he asks the customer what'swrong, and he physically takes a
pad of paper and he writes downtheir exact words and repeats it
back to them.
So they know the tech's reallypaying attention.
Right?
And then he goes, He inspectseverything, but before he talks
(26:53):
to the customer, he finds areason to go to the truck, and
he calls into the senior serviceadvisor and he tells him what he
found.
Then the senior service advisorwill call the customer and say,
Hey Cory, this is Joe.
I talked to you a little whileago, and if you remember, I told
you I'm the senior serviceadvisor for Joe's Air
(27:14):
Conditioning Company, and Ourtech, Bob is out at your house
and he inspected everything andhe find, found a few things that
he was really concerned about.
So he took pictures of them andhe sent them to me.
And quite frankly, after Ilooked at that, I was kind of
concerned too.
Would you mind if I share thatwith you?
And the customer always say yes.
And then you do, you make yourpresentation and because my
(27:35):
senior service advisor is adeptat making presentations, then
you sell more.
Or you set that appointment, oryou just sell the replacement
right over the phone and I can.
A senior service advisor canhandle four or five packs.
So that's why call by call is soeffective.
It takes it to the next level.
(27:56):
It makes the customer feelbetter.
We're solving all the problemsthat we find in the field or
more of them.
We're having less callbacksbecause I tell the customer, you
know that's fine that you don'twanna do it, but let me tell you
what could happen, Corey, andwhat probably will happen if we
don't address this while mytechnician's here.
He'll give you a list.
So what you don't want, I needyou to initial it.
(28:18):
So we don't do that.
We're only gonna do it.
You initial and now I have anotarized list or a, a signed
off list of everything thatneeded to be done that he didn't
wanna do.
And I also have a list ofeverything we can use to rehash
later, so it takes a little bitmore time.
It makes a ton more money and Ifound the sweet spot.
You know, everybody said, well,how many calls can he run a day?
(28:39):
That takes more time.
Yeah, it does take more time.
You know, number one, why thehell are you asking your tech to
run six or seven calls a dayanyway and work till 10 o'clock
at night and on the weekends andwonder why he quits?
Right?
Give the guy three or fourproductive calls, then hire
somebody else to do the otherthree that he didn't run.
And if you really take a look atwhat that does for your company,
(29:01):
let's say your guys, you're onlymaking your guys run four calls
a day, and I got three guys.
Well, if I have three guys thatI'm making run four calls a day,
I cut them back to three each.
Okay?
That means I got three morecalls.
I don't have to do any moremarketing.
I can have one more tech with nomarketing cost and I can make
him a more effective, and I'llhave four techs with a higher
average ticket, lower callbacks,and lower my percentage on my
(29:24):
marketing.
So, Call by call managementmakes sense.
And it works every time it isdone.
But you gotta do it all.
You can't half do it, you know,it's just like getting half
pregnant.
You can't do that either.
You know, you, you either do it,you don't do it right, but it.
(29:47):
So do you, so
Corey Berrier (29:48):
are you just picking up the phone with this
process or do you also, you havepeople utilize
Joe Cunningham (29:54):
Zoom, like, we're on here.
We can, you can use Zoom.
It depends on what it is.
It depends on the comfort levelof your senior service advisors.
Some will use Zoom, some justcall'em, you know, some
customers don't zoom.
Some are are on a phonesomewhere and they can't do it.
So you better be prettyadaptable at making your
presentation.
(30:15):
Now, naturally, the more.
The more physical connection wehave, the better it works, you
know?
Because if you're sitting therein your office at the house and
we're doing a Zoom, and I'mtalking to you about your
capacitor, which we don't callit capacitor, we call'em other
names, but I could have my techBob bring it in and show you,
(30:36):
right?
And say, you know what, let memake sure Bob shows you what
we're talking about.
You mean you want me to go lookat it?
You can if you want.
I'll tell you what I'll justsend him a text and have him
bring it in.
That way you don't have to getup, you know, so he can bring
all this stuff in.
So the more we get youphysically involved in this
stuff, the better it is now.
I would rather if I can get youto walk up at and look at the
(30:59):
condensing, if I unit, if I canget you in the attic I know I
got it done then.
But worst comes to worst.
We can do it right at yourchair.
Corey Berrier (31:11):
I'm a sales guy so I understand you know, audio,
visual, kinesthetic, which isreally why technicians, or
technicians, they're not this,they are salespeople, but they
do better with their hands'causethey're kinesthetic, most of
them.
So would you say that peoplethat do the presentation on
Zoom, because you've got more ofa visual aid there, well I guess
(31:32):
you've got a visual aid if thetechnician brings the stuff in,
but do you find that one does
Joe Cunningham (31:37):
better than the other?
No you know, the best would beif my senior service advisor
could go to that customer'shouse every time.
Sure.
But, you know, that we'restretched too thin for that.
So as you take a look at thedifferent kind of learners, and
it's important that youunderstand that, you know, like
you said, that these technicianor kinesthetic learners, and
(31:58):
they find it hard to even make apresentation without having
something in their hand.
But there's some kind of specialneurological con connection, I'm
convinced between a kinestheticlearner's hand and his brain.
Because if you take atechnician, the average one out
there and say, explain to Mr.
Johnson how his capacitor works,okay?
(32:20):
When he gets done, You're gonnabe confused as to how it works
because the guy can't ad-libthat part, but given the part in
his hand plus his meter so hecan show it, he can make a great
presentation because a couplethings happen.
Number one, he's using his hand,he's using his tools, and he's
not looking at you to make thepresentation because he's got
(32:43):
whatever part it is, you know,and he's pointing at that part
and saying, well, this is howthis works.
So the scary part for akinesthetic learner is looking
in your face and tell yousomething.
So it takes that, he's nowmaking his presentation to his
part, not to you.
So couple that with what you do,because most of your customers
(33:05):
are gonna be visual learners.
Very few of'em are auditorylearners.
But that's why the combinationpresentation works best.
Yeah, that makes sense.
I mean,
Corey Berrier (33:16):
you already got the guy
Joe Cunningham (33:17):
there.
It seems
Corey Berrier (33:19):
cra Yeah, because of the gap of time, the amount
of technicians under the serer,whatever you wanna call'em,
selling technician service,senior advisor y, you can for
sure do more calls.
But look, the se the sellingtechnician's gonna make more
money if he can run eight calls,so to speak, or take eight calls
(33:40):
or seven calls or six calls.
It's far more than his.
Two or three that he's gonna bemaximized.
He's gonna be completely maxedout.
Joe Cunningham (33:48):
Yeah.
You know, and three calls as faras making money, three seems to
be like the sweet spot for mostpeople.
If you take a look at it, andyou don't have to be in a big
metropolitan area to prove it toyourself.
But, you know, we want to keep,try and keep this guy in his
eight hour window.
So he leaves here at eight andhe goes to see a customer.
(34:12):
Then he is gonna drive anotherhalf hour and he is gonna go see
a customer.
Then he is gonna drive anotherhalf hour.
Then he is gonna go see acustomer.
So we got just take it and makehis drive time.
20 minutes.
Well, I got 1, 2, 3, 4 drivetimes at 20 minutes.
Well, that's an hour and 20minutes out of the eight hours.
So I've got six and a half hoursto inspect four or five systems,
(34:37):
which is what you're asking meto do.
If I just dropped in a three, Igot six and a half hours to
inspect three, what, where areyou gonna get the best results?
'cause the guy's gonna findeverything and now he's gonna
bring you in so you can sell itand you can install those parts
while you're there.
You know, I was always a bigproponent on four.
(35:01):
That's because I was working sohard getting the guys to stop
running six or eight.
You know, and I work with a lotof plumbers as well, and one of
the most successful as far asdriving revenue as a percentage
of profit is David Rat Ratliffwith Midway Plumbing in Abilene,
Texas.
He has never had his plumbersrun more than three calls a day,
(35:25):
but David's little company's gotfive plumbers, and I've been
going to his company every yearsince 2008, with the exception
of maybe 21.
And so 2008 to 23, that's 15years.
He's got five plumbers.
Four of them till this year werethe same ones as when I started
(35:46):
there.
That's how long they stay.
Wow.
He hired a new one.
One guy's getting older.
He retired this year, so he hadto hire the plumber.
But David's doing three and ahalf million dollars at over 30%
net with five plumbers runningthree calls a day, and he's in
Abilene.
So.
Abilene is a rural community, sohe drives a long damn way for to
(36:11):
go from call to call because he,you don't know about Texas, I
guess, but you know, he's goingto Sweetwater.
He's going way past Baird andClyde.
I mean, he's going everywhere,but that's what they're doing
because the guys understand theprocess and we've been doing it
so long that, that's all theyknow to do.
Corey Berrier (36:36):
It's a no brainer to me.
Like I think that is, you know,and it's a dream job for a sales
guy in my opinion.
If you could sit behind acomputer or off telephone and
continue to make more sales thanyou would, it seems like to me
Joe Cunningham (36:50):
the perfect sales job.
Well, yeah.
You know, you take a look at theguys that have lots and lots of
calls, like, Ken Goodrich.
Phoenix.
He's got a guy that will sellseven or$8 million a year, maybe
even more Now I haven't checkedon his number because he does a
senior service advisor, I think,and he's good.
(37:12):
Where in the world would you gosit in a chair and sell seven,
eight,$10 million worth ofequipment in a year?
That's phenomenal.
Corey Berrier (37:23):
Yeah, that makes complete sense.
Well, yeah I really hope youknow, the folks that are
listening, I hope they reallypaid attention to everything you
said.
'cause I believe this is, thisshould be implemented in any of
these companies because it justmakes sense to me.
And I'm a little shocked thatmost people don't do it.
It makes sense.
So many different ways.
(37:44):
Joe, this has been such afantastic conversation.
You've got some training comingup, right?
Yep.
August 15th or
Joe Cunningham (37:50):
so?
Well, we've got a 10 day fasttrack program coming up on
August 15th, I think it is.
Let me look in the book and makesure that's right.
I then start running together.
Yeah, August 15th through the 2024th.
And again, it's 10 daysstraight.
(38:11):
And the tuition's only 34 95.
And it's a great deal.
You will be happy with whoeveryou send back if the guy applies
himself.
And you know, the, we keep'emplenty busy when they get back.
They'll be tired, they'll betired.
And they study at night.
You know, we make sure that wetell them to do that.
Now, some of'em slip out atnight and they don't do as well
(38:33):
as the other, you know, that we,before they leave, they take a e
p a 6 0 8 test.
So they have that done and outof the way, and we have about a
92 to 94% pass rate onuniversal.
Because we teach them to do thatas well.
So if they don't have an E p A,they're gonna come back and
they'll be ready to put in atruck.
Then you're not gonna send themout to troubleshoot
(38:55):
communicating systems.
But as far as tuneups and thebasic repairs, because we give
them a troubleshooting guidewhen they leave, they have a
book that gives them achecklist.
To send them to the right place.
You know, do these things work?
Yes or no?
(39:16):
Okay.
Then you take that sheet, andthen we have what we call our
truck book.
And then the truck book, itsays, steps to take when, steps
to take.
When condenser runs, furnacedoes it furnace runs, condenser,
does it?
None of this crap runs.
Heat pump won't.
Heat and heating heat pump won'tcool and cool, whatever it is.
(39:37):
And then it gives'em the 12 or15 most common problems and how
to troubleshoot'em andeverything.
If they take their book and theyuse it, set their self up with
their sheet.
Follow a checklist to checkevery single component in there.
They know how to use theirgauges.
They know how to use theirmeters.
They understand sequence ofoperation.
Sequence of operation is a tr isthe basics for most
(40:00):
troubleshooting.
And then you do the call by callmanagement.
So now the guy has called in andthe thing about using the
checklist that's so good, Corey,is service managers used to be
put in a bad situation becausethere really weren't any.
Written down processes to dothis with.
(40:20):
So I would be out on a job andI'd say, Corey, I can't get it
running.
I did this and this.
Then you say, well, did you dothat?
No.
Well go do that and call me backlater.
Well, we'll do that four times,right?
Four times.
Or the guy will just not wannado that, and then they put in
$400 worth of parts and thenthey call you and tell you that
he can't get it going and say,well, did you check the breaker,
(40:42):
Bob?
He said, oh shit, you.
So it eliminates that and ittakes that four or five call
situation and puts it down.
Now the guy's got all theinformation, he's followed all
the troubleshooting steps, he'sdone all those things.
So now when he calls you in, hegives you the exact information
(41:03):
because you have moreexperience.
You can pinpoint that thing.
You can use a app if you want toFaceTime it and watch him do it.
So it's simple.
Seems like it's too
Corey Berrier (41:16):
so simple that it, you know, I guess people
could mess it up, but it seemspretty
Joe Cunningham (41:20):
straightforward to me.
You know, you can mess up andthe one thing I will say about
the training is this.
When you train these guys, theylearn how to do it real well
upfront, and then they startgetting good.
And that's when you have aproblem because, They will tend
to skip using the books andthey're looking and say, oh, I
had this problem last week.
I know what to do.
(41:41):
And then they just start at stepnumber six or seven instead of
one.
And then they go back and theycan't do it or they forget
little things, you know?
And in our perfect service call,we have'em do everything.
And one of the main things and alot of people overlook this, is
cycle the system three timesbefore you leave.
So I don't want him 20 milesdown the road before it cuts on
(42:04):
the second cycle and it won'tstart, you know, I make him do
those things there.
So all of that stuff that youmake, controllable gets done.
What gets done and getsinspected works for you.
And that's just my philosophy onit.
Well, Joe,
Corey Berrier (42:20):
this has been a fantastic conversation.
I really appreciate you comingon and sharing this stuff today.
I think, you know, if people,you know, they should really go
back and listen to this againbecause this is really powerful
stuff and a pretty simple way toget employees that are not
currently in the trades.
Bring people into the tradesthat you know that ultimately,
(42:41):
maybe not, whatever, would neverconsider this.
So I
Joe Cunningham (42:45):
appreciate you, my friend.
I appreciate you having me onhere.
You know, if anybody needs toget a hold of me, we do the fast
Track program here.
I tend to do most of the call bycall stuff in-house.
I'm going up to Joe StripMatters at Fry Myers in Dallas
tomorrow, and, Tomorrow, thenext day.
(43:06):
We've already implemented thatthere, but now we're going back
with a perfect service call withhis plumbers.
I was there last month.
We did the HVAC guys, and I'veknown Joe forever.
He is done a fantastic job, butI mean his guys are getting
better and better and he's donesome amazing stuff at Strip
Matters.
But I can come to your place andhelp you with the call by call
management.
We will probably be having somecall by call management classes
(43:28):
with Service Roundtable andService Nation.
To kind of pay the industryback?
I do.
I do the rehash program freeonline.
Couple times a year.
Once in the spring and once inthe fall.
So if you just kind of, ifyou'll send me an email, I'll
put you on the list and tell youwhen I'm doing it.
There's absolutely no charge forthat whatsoever.
(43:49):
And I'll tell you exactly whatto do.
I give you the scripts for thephone.
I give you the scripts for yourletters that you send out.
I tell you the.
What to tell the techs to makeit work when you're out in the
field.
So it's really easy and that'smy way of giving more back to
the industry.
But thanks.
I'd like to thank everybody forjoining us and if you need to
(44:09):
get ahold of me, I'm gonna giveyou my cell number, which is the
easiest way because I travel alot.
My cell number is 3 1 8 2 8 6 77 4 2.
So you can reach me there or youcan send me an email at Joe.
five2@verizon.net.
So thanks for letting me joinyou today, Corey.
(44:30):
My pleasure, Joe.
Thank you very much my friend.
Okay, thanks.
Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast.
I'm your host, Corey Berrier.
And I'm here with my man, JoeCunningham.
Joe Cunningham (00:07):
What's up, Joe?
Not much.
Corey.
How are you today?
Corey Berrier (00:10):
I'm good.
Thanks for asking.
So, I'm pretty, pretty excitedabout having you on, Joe.
We've had a bunch ofconversations via text and so on
and so forth.
Joe Cunningham (00:19):
First
Corey Berrier (00:21):
I really want you to talk about.
The fact that you can bring atechnician, or let's just call
it a non technician, let's justcall it somebody that you met at
a bar that's got a greatpersonality, that's interested
in doing HVAC or interested indoing sales of some sort.
You can take that guy and ifhe's got the right attitude and
(00:45):
train him up to about 80% inabout 10 days.
Do I get the, do I have thatright?
Joe Cunningham (00:51):
Yeah, we create probably the best entry level
technicians out there today inextremely short period of time.
You know, the process thatworked this way started a long
time ago when I was withContractor Success Group and ran
future University, and we'vejust kind of perfected that over
(01:11):
the years.
But if a contractor can find aguy with a good personality and
mechanical aptitude, He doesn'thave to know anything about air
conditioning in 10 days.
We can give him the skills andthe competency needs to become
pretty much an entry leveltechnician that's more advanced
(01:34):
than 90% of'em that you're gonnaget out there.
And the reason we're able toachieve this is because 65 to
70% of what we do in ourclasses, which is 10 days, is
all hands on.
You know, the trade programsthat have been done in the
community colleges and thingslike that, they focus on a lot
of stuff that this technician'sreally not going to need to know
(01:55):
in the field.
I mean, why am I taking a monthor so to teach this guy
thermodynamics when he needs tofind out why Ms.
Johnson's condenser won't turnon or why this furnace won't
fire, or why when it does fire,it goes out in a couple of
seconds.
So, So we give him the basichands-on stuff.
(02:17):
You know, 80 to 85% of theissues to call in.
No cool, no heat into a heatingand cooling company are the same
problems.
So we take this technician andwe teach him the components of a
heating and cooling system so heknows where all the parts are.
(02:38):
Then we used a detailedchecklist to teach him how to
check every component.
And we teach him how to use hisgauges.
We teach him how to use meters.
We teach him how to charge asystem using subcool and
superheat.
And then in taking hischecklist, we teach him how to
test each component, and then wemake the technician check every
(03:00):
component on every call.
So if he knows how to checkevery component and tell you,
yes, this is good, or no, it'snot any good.
He doesn't miss anything.
Now it takes him a little bitlonger.
We drop our callbacks down if hefollows the process.
And because he sees everything,his average ticket is higher.
So he pays for himself with thelittle extra time that he
(03:22):
spends.
But we just don't have anyproblems with it.
No bad habits.
No.
No bad habits.
You know, most people when theygo to looking for techs and you
know, as we take a look at theheating and air conditioning
business, A lot of the problemsthat we have come from not
having enough people in thefield.
(03:43):
Not that they can't run enoughcalls, but we don't have enough
people to run the calls, so weforce the ones, we do have to
run more calls than they should,and Then we hire people.
Everybody wants to hire anexperienced person, and most of
the guys you get in instead ofhaving 10 years of experience,
have one year, 10 times.
(04:04):
And he is got a multitude of badhabits and it's harder to
untrain somebody.
I.
Than it is to train'em in thefirst place.
And they've all got theirshortcuts that have been taught
to them over and over becausethe training process usually
consists of, okay Jim, I'm goingto hire you.
You ride with my guy Bob,'causehe's the best guy that I got.
(04:27):
He's gonna show you how we doit.
And then after thatconversation, Jim and Bob get in
the truck.
And then Bob says, Jim, I'mgonna, I'm gonna show you how we
really do it now.
I know Joe's gonna tell yousomething.
I'm gonna show you how we reallydo it, and he's gonna teach him
to be as good as him almost.
And we have this ending downwardspiral in our training program.
(04:52):
'cause we're depending on otherpeople that we don't know what
the hell they're doing to trainour new guy to do stuff that we
don't know what they're doing.
And then we wonder why we havelow tickets and high callbacks
and no sales and no leadgeneration and things like that.
So in getting the new guys in,they don't have any bad ho
habits.
They have no misconceptions ofhow you're supposed to run this
(05:15):
call.
All they know is I got thislist, it's got everything on it.
I gotta do it all, and then thecontact process, so they stay in
touch with us.
So it becomes much easier togrow these techs.
It makes sense.
I mean,
Corey Berrier (05:32):
look, everybody says there's a shortage of
technicians,
Joe Cunningham (05:35):
but
Corey Berrier (05:36):
I would argue if they knew about your.
Your school that there wouldn'tbe a shortage of technicians
Joe Cunningham (05:42):
or
Corey Berrier (05:44):
maybe it's just keeping people with, you know,
keep maybe not enough peoplehave an open mind about it.
Do you find that
Joe Cunningham (05:52):
there's a lot of contractors don't have an open,
not enough mind about it, butyou know, here's the thing.
We've got some guys, somecompany owners that have now
sent us.
18 or 20 techs over the periodof six or eight years, you know,
so if it didn't work, theywouldn't do it.
And they keep sending'em to usover and over again, and we keep
hearing these stories, you know,and will every tech work?
(06:16):
No, a hundred percent, they'llwork a hundred percent of
anything.
Doesn't happen.
Anywhere anyway, but you've gota much greater chance of
success.
And then you find thecontractors that, you know, they
look for every reason to putthings off.
They say, well, you know,summer's coming, so I can't send
this guy because I need him torun calls.
(06:38):
Okay, so you're going to take aguy that doesn't know anything
and you're gonna send him to runcalls.
He will cost you more.
Screw ups, then you would'vepaid in tuition so he could come
and do'em.
And then you get pissed off andyou fire him and you say you
can't find anybody.
You know, it makes no sense.
(06:59):
If you want somebody to do whatyou do or want them to do, a
couple things have to happen.
Number one, you gotta tell'emwhat it is you want'em to do.
Right.
You know?
And I do a lot of one-on-ones.
I go into a lot of companies andI ask the tech, do you have a
job description?
They say, no.
Well, how do you do your job ifyou don't have a job
description?
(07:20):
What do you say?
Go forth and do good.
I mean, you know, so you have tohave a step by step job
description, and then you haveto explain to the guys how they
achieve that.
I.
And that allows you tocompensate them more, whether
it's performance pay, or evenhourly.
When the guy comes in and say,Hey boss, I need a raise.
(07:41):
And you take his job descriptionand you see if he meets or
exceeds his description, andthat makes it happen.
But another thing you have to dois you have to training to do
it, you know, and there's.
Because of the way we've trainedpeople, just sending them out
with other people, it doesn'treally work that well.
You know, and we get guys inhere from a two year college and
they can't hook gauges up.
(08:03):
They don't know what an inducermotor is.
I mean, I don't know whatthey're teaching'em.
They're just taking their moneyand they're not getting them
prepared to be in the truck.
But the reality is, if you cantake these guys, especially the
younger guys that have been outworking, In a tire shop, an auto
parts store somewhere where theyhave some kind of a mechanical
(08:25):
inkling and take this guy andsend him to 10 days of school
and within his first year, havehim making over 50,000.
And that's not hard to do.
And the second year of making70, 80, or a hundred thousand,
you've done something for thisperson.
And if you prove to'em that youcan do that, they're not going
anywhere.
(08:46):
I agree.
And it's a quick process If youput the right things in place to
start with.
Totally.
Corey Berrier (08:54):
Alright, so this must cost, I mean, my guess is
something like this to fasttrack.
I mean, what is a two year tradeschool cost?
I'm just
Joe Cunningham (09:00):
curious.
I don't know.
You know, we get'em in from allover and the guys say they pay
anywhere from eight to 24, 205,000.
Just depends on where they go.
And you know, most of theseplaces are diploma mills, so
they try and get'em in, youknow, the guys that are coming
outta the service.
And how much was your tuition?
Well, it was all I had on my GIbill.
Well, you must have told'em whatyou had,'cause that set the
(09:22):
rate, you know.
So our rate is set up front andI've kept it reasonable.
You know, it's 34 95 for 10days.
So they send them from whereverthey send them.
Houston's a major hub, which iswhere the school is.
They send them here.
We have a little deal worked outwith a hotel.
It's a residence in withinwalking distance of two or three
(09:43):
food places.
They Uber back and forth.
Hotel, gives'em breakfast.
We give'em lunch.
This is a big city.
I don't want'em wandering offand getting lost.
So we give'em lunch, we givethem their basic hand tools so
when they go back, there's nolearning curve there.
You know, like, boss, I don'tknow how to use this type of
whatever you're giving them.
No, they know how to use it.
All that, they've gotten thatbag.
(10:05):
Now we teach'em the basics.
We don't give them, forinstance, we don't give'em
digital manifold or digitalgauges.
We give'em regular standard.
Manifold gauges that they hookup and they have to learn to
read the numbers.
And I tell'em, when you go back,you'll probably get digital
gauges and that's okay, butdon't ever take these off the
(10:25):
truck because one day thebattery's gonna go dead.
And then what do you do?
These are your backup gaugesthen.
But for right now, you'relearning why stuff works this
way.
So we tell'em to take the longway around.
You know, they get a set ofbasic hand tools.
They get a set of gauges, theyget Klein electric clamp meter,
(10:48):
they get their gloves andglasses and all this stuff.
So they're safe in school, butthey've got the basic stuff to
get in the truck and actually gostart running calls.
That's tremendous.
The first week they come back,you know, you're probably gonna
wanna work with them on yourpaperwork and your communication
process, but other than that,they've got it.
Corey Berrier (11:08):
That makes, look, that makes complete sense.
Is there any reason why you doit 10
Joe Cunningham (11:13):
days straight?
Yep.
We used to do it at FutureUniversity in two five day
weeks, but here's what happens.
I.
Guys from all over the country.
Usually younger guys, they'vebeen never been away from home
(11:35):
unsupervised with the companycredit card.
So on Friday night and Saturdaynight, they will find every bar
in town with no windows.
So, It takes me when they comeback on Monday, it takes me to
Wednesday to get'em back wherethey were on Friday and they ran
up all those expenses, you know?
(11:56):
And some people say, well,that's mean make it, it's one
weekend.
One weekend, 10 days of yourentire life.
If you can't give 10 days ofyour life up to learn a career
that's gonna support your familyfor the rest of your life better
than most of the guys that youwent to school with that went
and got a college education,then you probably aren't the
(12:18):
right person for virtually anyjob.
But that's why we keep'em 10days.
That makes sense.
Yeah.
Corey Berrier (12:26):
So, alright, so great explanation.
I mean, I'm, I think it's just ano brainer in my opinion, but
look, that's just my opinion.
So you mentioned, I, I did wantyou to talk about rehash for a
second.
I know that's something that you
Joe Cunningham (12:42):
do really well, right?
I've always been a proponent ofrehashing calls, you know, and
let me explain what that means.
Number one, we're gonna sendthese techs out to a job.
So they come to your house andit's a no cool call, no heat
call, doesn't matter.
And my tech goes through yourentire system.
(13:02):
Well, he finds everything wrong.
So we're out there on a no coolcall and your contactors are
burn up.
Your capacitor's weak becausenobody's looked at your system
for about three years.
You think it'll run forever.
Your fan motor's still turning,but it's over amping your coil's
dirty because the lawn guy can'tfigure out, you can blow grass
away from it.
It just as well as on it.
(13:22):
When I ask you where your filteris, you say what filter?
I've never seen that.
And your blower wheels caked upwith dirt and your evaporator
coils cleaned or dirty.
And I come back in, I give youthe list, all the stuff I find,
and you say how?
Well the only thing that you'llunderstand about it all anyway,
you say, well, how much does itfix?
All Agile?
And I say, well, it's like$2,200or whatever.
(13:44):
It's.
You say, oh my gosh, that's alot of money.
You gotta do all that just to,to make it run and blow cold
air.
I say, well, no, Corey, I don'thave to do all of it.
But I mean, we gotta put thecontactors in'cause that it
won't turn on without that.
And it looks like you're low onrefrigerant, so I gotta put some
refrigerant in there and it'sgonna run and blow cold air.
I just don't know how long.
Could be a day, could be a week,could be a year.
(14:06):
I don't know.
And then you're gonna ask me thenext question, which is the only
thing you'll understand.
Well, how much to do that?
I say, well, that's 500.
So now you're sitting thereweighing the only two things you
understand about the whole damncall.
Joe can fix it for 2200.
Joe can fix it for 500.
I need new tires on my pickuptruck.
(14:28):
What's the best deal for me?
Well, you know what the bestdeal for you would be is a
uneducated homeowner.
Well, if it's gonna blow coldair, I'll do the$500 deal.
I'll worry about the rest ofthat crap later.
Right?
Buy the$5 repair and Two weekslater, something breaks down.
Well, I had all thatinformation.
See what happens on the call ismost texts just tell you that
(14:50):
stuff, but they don't recordeverything.
Or you'll use some of these moresophisticated software programs,
and if you don't understand howto do the workaround, you'll
have everything listed in there.
But when you present it to thehomeowner, he picks up these two
or three repairs that getspushed into QuickBooks.
And unless you backed it upsomewhere, the rest just
disappears so you don't evenknow what's done.
(15:13):
But if you really keep recordsof all of that, you know
everything that needs to be donewithin your customer base.
Two weeks from now, three weeksfrom now, when it starts slowing
down or the phone isn't ringing,we need to get on that phone and
call you up and say, Hey, Corey,we were at your house and we did
this and this.
However, you elected not to havethese three, three things done,
(15:35):
and we're really afraid.
I.
When this hot weather reallygets going, your air
conditioner's not gonna start,and it's sure not gonna make it
long through the long hotsummer.
And we get back in the house.
And if you combine that processbetween sending them a letter
and then calling, you'll getback into 28 to 30% of the calls
that you ran.
(15:55):
And here's the thing if yourcall is set up right and your
technician is trained properly,50% of those customers.
Are gonna buy more items thanthey really thought they should
have that were legitimaterepairs.
But the other 50% are gonna haverepairs that should be made that
they don't do right then.
That doesn't mean they neverwanna do'em, it just means they
didn't wanna do'em that day, youknow?
(16:17):
And there's some guys out theresay, well, when we get done,
we've sold'em everything.
Well, that's bullshit.
Nobody sells them a hundredpercent at everything.
Every time you go, you alwayshave a list of something done
with 40 to 50% of yourcustomers.
If your tech only runs threecalls a day, it's gonna run 750
calls a year.
That's 375 calls with repairsthat you already know what it
(16:40):
is.
So why aren't you going backwhen you're ready to go?
Not when the customer's ready,'cause all your customers call
you.
At the same time, I wanna bedoing what could be conceived as
a no cool repair in March orApril.
Why don't wanna wait till it's ahundred damn degrees outside?
I wanna get these people off mybooks.
(17:01):
I don't want'em calling in.
I wanna do it now.
And that's what rehash is, andthat's how it works and that's
why it's so effective.
But the thing about it is rehashis a part of every call.
Every single call and most ofthe people in their air
conditioning business, they takea look at it and like right now,
you know it's gonna be a hundreddegrees all week long this week.
(17:22):
So most people say, I just wannago him to go out there and fix
the call.
Just let him get it going andwe'll go back and worry about
the rest later.
They ain't gonna let you back inthe house.
That's why you do it now.
You list everything.
Let him tell you no.
If he doesn't want it done, lethim tell you.
No.
And you're covering your buttbecause you told him everything.
He has to decline everything hedidn't want done at that moment.
(17:45):
And I have my list of stuff Ican go to later, so why wouldn't
you wanna do that?
And yet it takes a little bitmore time.
But look at the money you'regoing to get 50% of your
customers, you're gonna be ableto rehash.
28 to 30% are gonna let you backin the house.
You do the math.
You already paid
Corey Berrier (18:02):
for'em.
Right, too?
Like you already paid to go outthere one time, so why would you
not
Joe Cunningham (18:08):
remarket to those people?
This seems crazy to me.
Yeah.
And the lead costs you nothing.
That's right.
Yeah, that's right.
But too many people, well, youknow, I need leads, so I'll
spend$5,000 on the internet andbuy all this Facebook stuff and
do all this stuff, but when youalready got a boatload of leads,
(18:29):
you could cut way back on yourother stuff and rehash your
existing customers.
You need to keep selling yourexisting customers.
They buy more from you thananybody else, and they already
have, they know you.
They trust you, so why wouldn'tthey keep doing it?
Corey Berrier (18:42):
I think it's the responsibility.
I think it's any contractor'sresponsibility to make sure the
customers know there are otheroptions that you all can do.
For example I think that, youknow, I, yeah, I totally agree
with you.
So, alright, so let me ask youthis.
I know I'm firing a bunch ofquestions at you at once, but
really I'm probably most excitedabout getting into this next
(19:05):
conversation.
So call by call.
Now, I don't know if it wasalways called that, but call by
call, from what I understand isa process that, and just correct
me if I'm wrong, but it's aprocess that you eliminate.
The biggest thing is youeliminate the gap of time
(19:25):
between that service technicianand that selling technician to
get there.
And I know that you, there'sother parts of that are
important, but.
I think it's about 60% of thetime when somebody leaves that
house, there's a chance you'renot gonna sell that customer
about 60%.
I think if I'm right I know I'min the ballpark.
(19:45):
So we hear all the time,technicians we're missing
technicians.
We talked about that at earlier,trying to hire people.
Tell me about the call by callprocess from your standpoint and
all the benefits of
Joe Cunningham (19:56):
that.
Well, you know, the call by callprocess.
Eliminates one big problem.
Number one, there are sellingtechs out there that do an
absolutely fantastic job.
You know, I've got one sellingtech that I trained and he, in
fact, he's working for acompetitor of mine because, you
(20:17):
know, we just have a littlecompany here that I do a lot of
experimentation with.
But Sean sold 636,000 lastAugust.
So would I try and change whathe does?
Probably not if he's already,that ain't broke, so I ain't
gonna fix it.
But does everybody sell 600,000?
(20:40):
No.
Does everybody sell a hundredthousand in a month?
No.
Does everybody even sell 50,000in a month?
And the answer to that is no.
So the question becomes why notyou?
The thing about the company thathe works for, people think that
he just gets picked out forspecial calls.
(21:02):
Not really.
You know, he does get more oldersystems, I will say that.
But with that being said,they're in the same
neighborhood.
They.
They're in the same economicdemographics.
They're in the same economy,they're in the same weather.
Everything's the same.
The only difference is thedifference between him and his
(21:23):
ability and the guys that don'thave that ability.
So the question comes up is, andit's this, how do I get the guy
with lesser abilities closer tothat level?
Well, we can train them, but I.
A lot of the guys that aretechnicians are not geared or
(21:44):
wired that way.
You know, I've never had atechnician come in during an
interview and say, Joe, youknow, you know what I'd really
like to be?
I wanna become a public speakerand a creative writer.
That's, you know, so most of'emare just the opposite.
They wanna work on those littlecell phone buildings on a power
line that they can ride a fourwheeler, two, and there's nobody
(22:05):
out there.
So, I gotta turn him into apublic speaker and a creative
writer.
So I have to take his innateabilities, which is he's really
a good technician and he canfind stuff if you train you the
right way, and then fix that soI can now educate the customer.
As to why they should makecertain repairs with a person
(22:27):
that is skilled at doing that.
And that's what call by callmanagement is.
Now, this stuff kind of started,heck, 30 years ago, I guess, 25,
30 years ago, and we had aposition in a couple companies
that we worked with that I wasconsulting with, and that
position was called SeniorService Advisor.
So the way it started was we hadthese guys that couldn't sell,
(22:51):
so they'd go out.
And then they'd find a list ofstuff wrong, and they would come
to you and show you their listand say, Corey, this is wrong
and this is wrong.
And according to my numbershere, you should either replace
your system or do this bigexpensive repair.
And they were trained to justsay this after they explained
that.
But before I ask you to do that,Would you mind if I get you a
(23:16):
second opinion from a seniorservice advisor now that put the
customer in a whole differentframe of mind, because now it's
like going to the heart doctorand getting a second opinion and
everybody likes a secondopinion, but he's gonna get two
from you.
That's where a second opinioncomes.
So then it comes, yeah, you cansend him out.
(23:36):
Okay, so now the senior serviceadvisor would go out to that
job.
That worked real well and we gotthe tickets up when we started
the communication thing, but theissues were, I was having
problems getting the seniorservice advisor physically to
enough calls to handle that.
(23:57):
So it required that you have alot more.
Senior service advisors, andthen we started doing it on the
phone.
And I guess that, and I don'tknow who coined the phrase call
by call management, but that'sreally what it is.
I don't know if we just sataround and talked about it.
I don't even know where it camefrom, but that's where the
process came from.
So now, We take the guys thatare rock stars, like Sean can
(24:20):
sell five, 600,000 in a month.
Okay?
We're not gonna jack with him.
We're gonna let him do what hedoes because I know what he can
do.
But the guys that aren'tperforming in that area, you
know, the less than a milliondollar guys, I'm gonna take that
guy.
I'm gonna assist him and he'sgonna go and run the first part
of our perfect service call.
Gotta be prepared to have allhis stuff, but before he even
(24:43):
gets to the house, we're gonnacall you and set it up for him
so it's easier.
And this is where it all starts.
And a lot of people forget this.
You know, they call and say,well, our tech bob will be at
your house in 30 minutes.
You know, they think, well,that's good enough.
I'll send a picture of Bob.
That should do it.
That has some warm fuzzies overthat.
No, you gotta set this thing upso this customer feels real
special.
(25:03):
You call him up and you say Ourtech bob.
This is Joe from over at Joe'sservice Company in, and I just
wanted to drop a line to, ormake a call and tell you that
our tech Bob will be at yourhouse in about 20 to 30 minutes.
Now, what we've sent you apicture and a biography and
learn a little bit about him,but the main thing I want to do
is tell you that I'm gonna beyour personal point of contact
(25:25):
for this call.
So if you have any questionswhatsoever or any concerns, I
want you to know that you canask Bob whatever you want, but
you can also call me.
I want to give you my directline so you can reach me right
away in case you want to talkabout any of this.
Here it is.
Is that okay?
They always say, yeah, and thenthat's the end of your setup.
(25:46):
But what you did was you justtook this customer and I mean,
you put him up on a platform.
Who the hell has ever had a callfrom a service company, plumbing
or H V A C that says, I'm yourpersonal point of contact?
It's like, I got conciergeservice.
I mean, they don't do that goodat a restaurant that I pay too
much for my food in.
So now they feel special andthey feel good about it.
(26:07):
I also tell him what Bob's gonnado.
So when he gets there and hedoes this whole house
inspection, they're notsurprised.
'cause I'm telling them that heis.
I'm tell him he's gonna do thisand this, and to make sure we
don't have any unexpectedproblems from your equipment
before he leaves.
He's gonna check everything outfor you so you're completely
safe.
Is that okay?
And who would say no?
So, Now we've set that thing upand then Bob gets there and he
(26:30):
does his first part.
You know, his introductory partgets the customer to talk.
I want him to be completelyengaged with my customer at that
point.
So he asks the customer what'swrong, and he physically takes a
pad of paper and he writes downtheir exact words and repeats it
back to them.
So they know the tech's reallypaying attention.
Right?
And then he goes, He inspectseverything, but before he talks
(26:53):
to the customer, he finds areason to go to the truck, and
he calls into the senior serviceadvisor and he tells him what he
found.
Then the senior service advisorwill call the customer and say,
Hey Cory, this is Joe.
I talked to you a little whileago, and if you remember, I told
you I'm the senior serviceadvisor for Joe's Air
(27:14):
Conditioning Company, and Ourtech, Bob is out at your house
and he inspected everything andhe find, found a few things that
he was really concerned about.
So he took pictures of them andhe sent them to me.
And quite frankly, after Ilooked at that, I was kind of
concerned too.
Would you mind if I share thatwith you?
And the customer always say yes.
And then you do, you make yourpresentation and because my
(27:35):
senior service advisor is adeptat making presentations, then
you sell more.
Or you set that appointment, oryou just sell the replacement
right over the phone and I can.
A senior service advisor canhandle four or five packs.
So that's why call by call is soeffective.
It takes it to the next level.
(27:56):
It makes the customer feelbetter.
We're solving all the problemsthat we find in the field or
more of them.
We're having less callbacksbecause I tell the customer, you
know that's fine that you don'twanna do it, but let me tell you
what could happen, Corey, andwhat probably will happen if we
don't address this while mytechnician's here.
He'll give you a list.
So what you don't want, I needyou to initial it.
(28:18):
So we don't do that.
We're only gonna do it.
You initial and now I have anotarized list or a, a signed
off list of everything thatneeded to be done that he didn't
wanna do.
And I also have a list ofeverything we can use to rehash
later, so it takes a little bitmore time.
It makes a ton more money and Ifound the sweet spot.
You know, everybody said, well,how many calls can he run a day?
(28:39):
That takes more time.
Yeah, it does take more time.
You know, number one, why thehell are you asking your tech to
run six or seven calls a dayanyway and work till 10 o'clock
at night and on the weekends andwonder why he quits?
Right?
Give the guy three or fourproductive calls, then hire
somebody else to do the otherthree that he didn't run.
And if you really take a look atwhat that does for your company,
(29:01):
let's say your guys, you're onlymaking your guys run four calls
a day, and I got three guys.
Well, if I have three guys thatI'm making run four calls a day,
I cut them back to three each.
Okay?
That means I got three morecalls.
I don't have to do any moremarketing.
I can have one more tech with nomarketing cost and I can make
him a more effective, and I'llhave four techs with a higher
average ticket, lower callbacks,and lower my percentage on my
(29:24):
marketing.
So, Call by call managementmakes sense.
And it works every time it isdone.
But you gotta do it all.
You can't half do it, you know,it's just like getting half
pregnant.
You can't do that either.
You know, you, you either do it,you don't do it right, but it.
(29:47):
So do you, so
Corey Berrier (29:48):
are you just picking up the phone with this
process or do you also, you havepeople utilize
Joe Cunningham (29:54):
Zoom, like, we're on here.
We can, you can use Zoom.
It depends on what it is.
It depends on the comfort levelof your senior service advisors.
Some will use Zoom, some justcall'em, you know, some
customers don't zoom.
Some are are on a phonesomewhere and they can't do it.
So you better be prettyadaptable at making your
presentation.
(30:15):
Now, naturally, the more.
The more physical connection wehave, the better it works, you
know?
Because if you're sitting therein your office at the house and
we're doing a Zoom, and I'mtalking to you about your
capacitor, which we don't callit capacitor, we call'em other
names, but I could have my techBob bring it in and show you,
(30:36):
right?
And say, you know what, let memake sure Bob shows you what
we're talking about.
You mean you want me to go lookat it?
You can if you want.
I'll tell you what I'll justsend him a text and have him
bring it in.
That way you don't have to getup, you know, so he can bring
all this stuff in.
So the more we get youphysically involved in this
stuff, the better it is now.
I would rather if I can get youto walk up at and look at the
(30:59):
condensing, if I unit, if I canget you in the attic I know I
got it done then.
But worst comes to worst.
We can do it right at yourchair.
Corey Berrier (31:11):
I'm a sales guy so I understand you know, audio,
visual, kinesthetic, which isreally why technicians, or
technicians, they're not this,they are salespeople, but they
do better with their hands'causethey're kinesthetic, most of
them.
So would you say that peoplethat do the presentation on
Zoom, because you've got more ofa visual aid there, well I guess
(31:32):
you've got a visual aid if thetechnician brings the stuff in,
but do you find that one does
Joe Cunningham (31:37):
better than the other?
No you know, the best would beif my senior service advisor
could go to that customer'shouse every time.
Sure.
But, you know, that we'restretched too thin for that.
So as you take a look at thedifferent kind of learners, and
it's important that youunderstand that, you know, like
you said, that these technicianor kinesthetic learners, and
(31:58):
they find it hard to even make apresentation without having
something in their hand.
But there's some kind of specialneurological con connection, I'm
convinced between a kinestheticlearner's hand and his brain.
Because if you take atechnician, the average one out
there and say, explain to Mr.
Johnson how his capacitor works,okay?
(32:20):
When he gets done, You're gonnabe confused as to how it works
because the guy can't ad-libthat part, but given the part in
his hand plus his meter so hecan show it, he can make a great
presentation because a couplethings happen.
Number one, he's using his hand,he's using his tools, and he's
not looking at you to make thepresentation because he's got
(32:43):
whatever part it is, you know,and he's pointing at that part
and saying, well, this is howthis works.
So the scary part for akinesthetic learner is looking
in your face and tell yousomething.
So it takes that, he's nowmaking his presentation to his
part, not to you.
So couple that with what you do,because most of your customers
(33:05):
are gonna be visual learners.
Very few of'em are auditorylearners.
But that's why the combinationpresentation works best.
Yeah, that makes sense.
I mean,
Corey Berrier (33:16):
you already got the guy
Joe Cunningham (33:17):
there.
It seems
Corey Berrier (33:19):
cra Yeah, because of the gap of time, the amount
of technicians under the serer,whatever you wanna call'em,
selling technician service,senior advisor y, you can for
sure do more calls.
But look, the se the sellingtechnician's gonna make more
money if he can run eight calls,so to speak, or take eight calls
(33:40):
or seven calls or six calls.
It's far more than his.
Two or three that he's gonna bemaximized.
He's gonna be completely maxedout.
Joe Cunningham (33:48):
Yeah.
You know, and three calls as faras making money, three seems to
be like the sweet spot for mostpeople.
If you take a look at it, andyou don't have to be in a big
metropolitan area to prove it toyourself.
But, you know, we want to keep,try and keep this guy in his
eight hour window.
So he leaves here at eight andhe goes to see a customer.
(34:12):
Then he is gonna drive anotherhalf hour and he is gonna go see
a customer.
Then he is gonna drive anotherhalf hour.
Then he is gonna go see acustomer.
So we got just take it and makehis drive time.
20 minutes.
Well, I got 1, 2, 3, 4 drivetimes at 20 minutes.
Well, that's an hour and 20minutes out of the eight hours.
So I've got six and a half hoursto inspect four or five systems,
(34:37):
which is what you're asking meto do.
If I just dropped in a three, Igot six and a half hours to
inspect three, what, where areyou gonna get the best results?
'cause the guy's gonna findeverything and now he's gonna
bring you in so you can sell itand you can install those parts
while you're there.
You know, I was always a bigproponent on four.
(35:01):
That's because I was working sohard getting the guys to stop
running six or eight.
You know, and I work with a lotof plumbers as well, and one of
the most successful as far asdriving revenue as a percentage
of profit is David Rat Ratliffwith Midway Plumbing in Abilene,
Texas.
He has never had his plumbersrun more than three calls a day,
(35:25):
but David's little company's gotfive plumbers, and I've been
going to his company every yearsince 2008, with the exception
of maybe 21.
And so 2008 to 23, that's 15years.
He's got five plumbers.
Four of them till this year werethe same ones as when I started
(35:46):
there.
That's how long they stay.
Wow.
He hired a new one.
One guy's getting older.
He retired this year, so he hadto hire the plumber.
But David's doing three and ahalf million dollars at over 30%
net with five plumbers runningthree calls a day, and he's in
Abilene.
So.
Abilene is a rural community, sohe drives a long damn way for to
(36:11):
go from call to call because he,you don't know about Texas, I
guess, but you know, he's goingto Sweetwater.
He's going way past Baird andClyde.
I mean, he's going everywhere,but that's what they're doing
because the guys understand theprocess and we've been doing it
so long that, that's all theyknow to do.
Corey Berrier (36:36):
It's a no brainer to me.
Like I think that is, you know,and it's a dream job for a sales
guy in my opinion.
If you could sit behind acomputer or off telephone and
continue to make more sales thanyou would, it seems like to me
Joe Cunningham (36:50):
the perfect sales job.
Well, yeah.
You know, you take a look at theguys that have lots and lots of
calls, like, Ken Goodrich.
Phoenix.
He's got a guy that will sellseven or$8 million a year, maybe
even more Now I haven't checkedon his number because he does a
senior service advisor, I think,and he's good.
(37:12):
Where in the world would you gosit in a chair and sell seven,
eight,$10 million worth ofequipment in a year?
That's phenomenal.
Corey Berrier (37:23):
Yeah, that makes complete sense.
Well, yeah I really hope youknow, the folks that are
listening, I hope they reallypaid attention to everything you
said.
'cause I believe this is, thisshould be implemented in any of
these companies because it justmakes sense to me.
And I'm a little shocked thatmost people don't do it.
It makes sense.
So many different ways.
(37:44):
Joe, this has been such afantastic conversation.
You've got some training comingup, right?
Yep.
August 15th or
Joe Cunningham (37:50):
so?
Well, we've got a 10 day fasttrack program coming up on
August 15th, I think it is.
Let me look in the book and makesure that's right.
I then start running together.
Yeah, August 15th through the 2024th.
And again, it's 10 daysstraight.
(38:11):
And the tuition's only 34 95.
And it's a great deal.
You will be happy with whoeveryou send back if the guy applies
himself.
And you know, the, we keep'emplenty busy when they get back.
They'll be tired, they'll betired.
And they study at night.
You know, we make sure that wetell them to do that.
Now, some of'em slip out atnight and they don't do as well
(38:33):
as the other, you know, that we,before they leave, they take a e
p a 6 0 8 test.
So they have that done and outof the way, and we have about a
92 to 94% pass rate onuniversal.
Because we teach them to do thatas well.
So if they don't have an E p A,they're gonna come back and
they'll be ready to put in atruck.
Then you're not gonna send themout to troubleshoot
(38:55):
communicating systems.
But as far as tuneups and thebasic repairs, because we give
them a troubleshooting guidewhen they leave, they have a
book that gives them achecklist.
To send them to the right place.
You know, do these things work?
Yes or no?
(39:16):
Okay.
Then you take that sheet, andthen we have what we call our
truck book.
And then the truck book, itsays, steps to take when, steps
to take.
When condenser runs, furnacedoes it furnace runs, condenser,
does it?
None of this crap runs.
Heat pump won't.
Heat and heating heat pump won'tcool and cool, whatever it is.
(39:37):
And then it gives'em the 12 or15 most common problems and how
to troubleshoot'em andeverything.
If they take their book and theyuse it, set their self up with
their sheet.
Follow a checklist to checkevery single component in there.
They know how to use theirgauges.
They know how to use theirmeters.
They understand sequence ofoperation.
Sequence of operation is a tr isthe basics for most
(40:00):
troubleshooting.
And then you do the call by callmanagement.
So now the guy has called in andthe thing about using the
checklist that's so good, Corey,is service managers used to be
put in a bad situation becausethere really weren't any.
Written down processes to dothis with.
(40:20):
So I would be out on a job andI'd say, Corey, I can't get it
running.
I did this and this.
Then you say, well, did you dothat?
No.
Well go do that and call me backlater.
Well, we'll do that four times,right?
Four times.
Or the guy will just not wannado that, and then they put in
$400 worth of parts and thenthey call you and tell you that
he can't get it going and say,well, did you check the breaker,
(40:42):
Bob?
He said, oh shit, you.
So it eliminates that and ittakes that four or five call
situation and puts it down.
Now the guy's got all theinformation, he's followed all
the troubleshooting steps, he'sdone all those things.
So now when he calls you in, hegives you the exact information
(41:03):
because you have moreexperience.
You can pinpoint that thing.
You can use a app if you want toFaceTime it and watch him do it.
So it's simple.
Seems like it's too
Corey Berrier (41:16):
so simple that it, you know, I guess people
could mess it up, but it seemspretty
Joe Cunningham (41:20):
straightforward to me.
You know, you can mess up andthe one thing I will say about
the training is this.
When you train these guys, theylearn how to do it real well
upfront, and then they startgetting good.
And that's when you have aproblem because, They will tend
to skip using the books andthey're looking and say, oh, I
had this problem last week.
I know what to do.
(41:41):
And then they just start at stepnumber six or seven instead of
one.
And then they go back and theycan't do it or they forget
little things, you know?
And in our perfect service call,we have'em do everything.
And one of the main things and alot of people overlook this, is
cycle the system three timesbefore you leave.
So I don't want him 20 milesdown the road before it cuts on
(42:04):
the second cycle and it won'tstart, you know, I make him do
those things there.
So all of that stuff that youmake, controllable gets done.
What gets done and getsinspected works for you.
And that's just my philosophy onit.
Well, Joe,
Corey Berrier (42:20):
this has been a fantastic conversation.
I really appreciate you comingon and sharing this stuff today.
I think, you know, if people,you know, they should really go
back and listen to this againbecause this is really powerful
stuff and a pretty simple way toget employees that are not
currently in the trades.
Bring people into the tradesthat you know that ultimately,
(42:41):
maybe not, whatever, would neverconsider this.
So I
Joe Cunningham (42:45):
appreciate you, my friend.
I appreciate you having me onhere.
You know, if anybody needs toget a hold of me, we do the fast
Track program here.
I tend to do most of the call bycall stuff in-house.
I'm going up to Joe StripMatters at Fry Myers in Dallas
tomorrow, and, Tomorrow, thenext day.
(43:06):
We've already implemented thatthere, but now we're going back
with a perfect service call withhis plumbers.
I was there last month.
We did the HVAC guys, and I'veknown Joe forever.
He is done a fantastic job, butI mean his guys are getting
better and better and he's donesome amazing stuff at Strip
Matters.
But I can come to your place andhelp you with the call by call
management.
We will probably be having somecall by call management classes
(43:28):
with Service Roundtable andService Nation.
To kind of pay the industryback?
I do.
I do the rehash program freeonline.
Couple times a year.
Once in the spring and once inthe fall.
So if you just kind of, ifyou'll send me an email, I'll
put you on the list and tell youwhen I'm doing it.
There's absolutely no charge forthat whatsoever.
(43:49):
And I'll tell you exactly whatto do.
I give you the scripts for thephone.
I give you the scripts for yourletters that you send out.
I tell you the.
What to tell the techs to makeit work when you're out in the
field.
So it's really easy and that'smy way of giving more back to
the industry.
But thanks.
I'd like to thank everybody forjoining us and if you need to
(44:09):
get ahold of me, I'm gonna giveyou my cell number, which is the
easiest way because I travel alot.
My cell number is 3 1 8 2 8 6 77 4 2.
So you can reach me there or youcan send me an email at Joe.
five2@verizon.net.
So thanks for letting me joinyou today, Corey.
(44:30):
My pleasure, Joe.
Thank you very much my friend.
Okay, thanks.
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