August 4, 2023 • 35 mins
Delve into sales strategies, the importance of outbound communication, and effective follow-up practices that drive business growth.
https://www.facebook.com/brandon.saiz.5?mibextid=LQQJ4d
https://www.ncbmechanical.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to the Successful LifePodcast.
I'm your host, Corey Berrier,and I'm here with Brandon Saiz.
Did I see it right?
You got it?
Yes sir.
Dang.
Good morning dude.
How are you brother?
You got it?
I'm doing great.
How are you this morning?
I'm good.
Good to see you.
So good to see you as well.
So Brandon, you have alright, sotell everybody a little bit
(00:22):
about what you do, where youare.
You're in New Mexico right?
We're in Albuquerque, New Mexico29 years old.
We started the business threeyears ago, mid pandemic.
All the craziness and chaos thatbrought chip shortage, equipment
shortage was definitely advisednot to open a business.
We did it.
We did it anyways, and we'remaking it happen.
(00:44):
So, you know, it's interesting,I've talked to a couple of
people that have, you know, thathave started around 2020 and I,
you know, one would think that,holy shit, that would be a
terrible time to start, but Ireally think it might have been
the best time to start.
Yeah.
So I kind of thought that aswell.
I was at a different company atthe time and I personally had my
(01:05):
best year and it was one ofthose things that I just felt it
was time and when I did it wegot off and running to actually
a pretty, pretty good start.
We did over a million our firstyear.
So from zero to a million thefirst year.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
We did.
We did over.
So walk me through like thecraziness that had to have
(01:26):
happened in that year.
'cause you don't, I mean, firstof all, we don't, we're not born
knowing how to run a business.
Right.
You had never run a businessbefore.
Right.
No sir.
Big thing for me has always justbeen speed, fail fast and win
fast.
And that's how we were able tobe successful that first year.
Everyone down here is probablypretty familiar, but I was a big
Angie's List guy only for thevolume, and that's all that I
(01:49):
cared about was volume.
Get as much names as possible.
Post as much as possible.
And like I said, just speed,focusing on volume.
Big pipeline.
Try to make a pipeline.
Build a brand.
That's right.
So, So, so Angie's, you saidAngie's for the list, right?
Yeah.
No, we don't really use it somuch anymore.
(02:09):
I was just giving the example ofthat first year, but just still
that, that's interestingbecause, you know, I, I don't
know if I've ever had anybodytell me that they've depended
on, and so that was your primarysource of leads, which look, I
mean, it works.
What made you choose Angie'sList?
Just outta curiosity.
Well, they called me.
I thought it was a spam call atfirst, and that's just kind of
what I rolled with.
I wouldn't say it was our only,I'm just mentioning it.
(02:32):
So Angie's List is anyone that'sused it, it's very frustrating,
but you get a lot of names,addresses, and emails.
So we were getting these names,addresses, and emails and
putting them into our C R Mright away.
So whenever we started to sendout direct mail or anything like
that, we already had thispipeline.
So that's how we used it.
It wasn't like a, oh, we built abusiness off evangelist.
You definitely can't do that.
(02:52):
So, Yeah.
No, that may I'm actually evenshocked that you said c r m is
that you had the foresight to,to do that because most dude,
I've talked to people that stilldon't use the C R M.
Yeah.
No, we're big on processes.
You know, I try to follow a lotof the big names in the game and
you know, model and mimic.
Yeah.
Who's been your biggestinspiration, would you say?
(03:13):
Business wise?
Yeah.
I like Grant Cardone a.
I like Victor Rancor a lot.
I like Ishmael Valdez a lot.
I know those two are the buttheads a little bit, but those
are two big guys that I follow.
Ken Goodrich is great.
Business wise that's probablywhat I would say the most.
I mean, it's pretty goodexamples, but those, all three
of those guys have made a wholebunch of money as the industry.
(03:36):
Yeah, they're all pretty similaras well, so That's fair.
That's fair.
So take me back to when, youknow, before 2020, before you
started this business, were youwere in this industry.
Have you always been in thisindustry?
Yeah.
I've pretty much done, beeninvolved in this industry my
entire life.
(03:56):
I started really young.
My dad would help, have me helphim.
Do you know swamp coolers?
We did gas lines as well.
That's how I started.
I actually worked for a verysmall company and I used to have
a little giant ladder.
An Altima and I would go do abunch of changeovers for him and
just do whatever it took.
You know, I've always kind ofhad that mentality to just go
after whatever I saw.
(04:17):
Well, I, you know, I you to be abusiness owner, you kind of
have, you have to have that.
You gotta do whatever it takes.
And if you are the guy that hasto sweep the floor or mop the
floor or clean up shit, you justhave to do it.
'cause you're the owner.
Still do.
Yeah.
It's what it's, yeah.
You have to be relentless.
You have to be persistent.
There's a bunch of little wordswe could use here, but
Absolutely.
You have to be persistent.
(04:38):
You know, you gotta know whereyou're going and believe in it.
Self-confidence is huge whenyou're in this game and when
you're trying to get somewhere.
Dude, that I agreewholeheartedly.
I, so I wrote a book, nineSimple Steps to Sell More Shit.
And the very first chapter ison, is called Confidence to
Close.
Because if you don't haveconfidence you're never gonna
get to the end of the saleperiod.
(04:58):
Yeah.
Yeah, you have to believe inwhat you're doing.
You know, if I don't believe init, none of these other guys are
gonna believe in it.
When we're starting out thatfirst year, and I'm trying to
build a brand and recruitpeople, if I'm like, Hey man,
you know, this might work out.
I'll think be like, well, fuckthat.
I don't wanna be, I don't wannado that.
But I'm saying, Hey, look, we'regonna be the best there is.
You need to show up and be hereand we're gonna make it happen.
You start to, to stack, youknow, people and a brand.
(05:19):
Yeah.
And it builds more confidence inyou as well when you start to
lead people and they start doingwhat they need to do.
Absolutely.
And it really makes adifference.
And it makes a differencebetween you talk to your
customers 100%.
Yeah.
Agreed.
So you've kind of been in, youknow, and for everybody listed,
you cover multiple areas in theindustry.
(05:39):
You cover plumbing, heatingplumbing, hvac, what else?
Drains.
Drains, okay.
And you're thinking aboutgetting into electrical?
We will be getting intoelectrical.
Yes.
Okay.
Hopefully within the next yearor so, we're looking to buy out
a company actually here, so.
Okay.
So like that's kind of inprocess maybe?
It sounds like kind of.
I'm working on it, yeah.
(06:00):
All right.
That's cool.
So, had, did you start out indid you start out with all three
of those or did you add one asyou went?
No, so we actually started outwith both HVAC and plumbing.
I have a little bit ofexperience with plumbing, so I
kind of just picked it up andkept that again as a volume
thing for property managementsor for people.
(06:21):
I wanted to make sure that Ioffered that as well.
Would definitely mostly HVAC wasmy background.
So I am curious because I know alittle bit about drains not the
side that you know of it, but Iunderstand the business side of
it a little bit.
Yeah.
And so let me ask you, when yougo out, what primarily the drain
calls that you go to, what arethe problems?
(06:41):
Because I know different areas.
There's different problems, likeI'll give you a quick example.
Texas, for example, the Earthand I guess it's called
sentiment or something likethat.
So it's sentiment called S.
Yeah, there you go.
Yeah, right.
It's where the ground moves,right?
Yep.
It shifts pipes, so that's alittle bit different call than
we would have in North Carolina'cause that we don't have, we
(07:03):
don't deal with that issue hereas far as I know.
Yeah, so, well, there's quite afew different problems.
Most of'em are blockages ofcourse.
Just the simple stuff.
And then that same thing wherethe ground moves and the pipe
goes like that, or like that itsettles, right?
So those are probably the mostpopular ones, as well as breaks.
We have a lot of cast iron outhere, so we get a lot of calls
(07:24):
for breaks and different thingslike that.
What is the, so it's wild.
It's wild to me to think castiron breaks.
Oh it destroyed.
There was actually a cast ironvent that had busted, which was
super strange, like, and thiswas about a year or two ago.
And it flooded his entirebathroom.
So anytime it rained or anythinglike that, it just went in there
(07:45):
and wherever that it dipped, itjust settled and.
Destroyed the whole thing, thevent side of the pipe too.
Not the main side.
I can't imagine, you know,that's what you know, so it's
interesting.
I was listening to a podcastwith welding along on it, and he
was talking about, okay, he hada couple of people, he had
people coming in town.
It was like two weeks beforethey were coming in town and I
(08:06):
guess he had a a drainage backupor something and it backed up
into his house.
Like that was, I'd lose my mind.
Yeah.
Drains are a fun thing.
You know, we had one with it wasa three story apartment and it
went out to the main street andthe main line backed up.
We didn't know that.
And what we did, which was ahuge mistake at the time.
(08:27):
We undid the drain at the bottomof the sink, which is on the
first story.
All the back pressure came backup and into the house, into the
apartment.
Now.
We stopped it.
We stopped it and like it didn'tdo any damage, but it was full
of back pressure.
It was a fun time.
I bet you have seen some reallynasty stuff.
(08:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You do it enough.
See some nasty stuff.
So, so the name of your companyis N C B.
I'm interested since I don'tknow Yes sir.
What exactly does that mean, andis there some significance
behind that?
Yeah, of course.
So it was actually a company, mydad started a long time ago.
I took over the name.
So the first the initial standfor Nathan, Christopher, and
(09:14):
Brandon my name.
Okay.
My total brothers passed awaywhen I was one, passed away when
I was 18, and the other one Iwas 26.
So it's just like anything, youknow, it's a brotherhood, but
you wanna make sure that they'rewith you on any big journey.
You grow up with them, they haveyour back.
It meant a lot for me to carrythe name my dad chose, and to
make sure that they, their nameis in it as well.
(09:34):
So, if you don't mind me askingwhat that's bizarre that you had
two brothers pass away.
Do you mind me asking why?
Yeah.
So one had a mental illness.
He was actually schizophrenicwho was crazy to say the least,
you know, that was my bestfriend.
The other one, the oldest one,Nathan, it was substance abuse.
It was alcohol.
Some opiate stuff and differentthings.
(09:55):
So that's how, that's the paththat one went down.
Well, look, dude, I mean, I'm arecovering alcoholic.
I've been, I hadn't had a drinkin almost 14 years.
You know, I've been down thatpath.
All of it.
Every bit of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I'm lucky I'm not dead.
No, for sure.
And it, 1414.
(10:17):
You know, go going into thisyear is drinking was actually
something that I really gave up.
I have a drink every now andagain as far as being socially,
but to bring it back tobusiness, you know, it came down
to what are you willing to giveup to go up.
So even just like for you, youprobably had to give that up to
get to your next destination tolevel up.
I'll tell you interesting story.
So I haven't had a drink in 14years, but I did smoke weeded
(10:40):
for a little while.
Got it.
Gotcha.
But I'll tell you in fact, itwas three months ago when I
quit, so it's not even been thatlong.
But, and the reason that I, thereason I stopped smoking weeded
is because spiritually I wasdisconnected.
Yeah.
And, you know, in, in theprogram, and I guess, and not
really supposed to say what itis, I really don't give a shit.
(11:01):
But it's a 12 step program.
Everybody fucking knows what I'mtalking about.
You know, it, that's not a partof it that, you know, you, I
guess you could do that and bein that program.
But for me, I under, you know, Ihad been through the steps years
ago, several times.
And so I knew going back intothis,'cause I look, I went out,
I stepped out of, I, I steppedout aa, I stepped out for like
(11:23):
six years and that was duringtime that I was smoking weeded.
I stopped going to AA because Iwas smoking weeded.
I just, Kind of moved on.
I don't know, ego, I justdecided that I didn't need it.
And that was the wrong decision.
And I didn't realize that for along time.
And I've, you know, I've createda bunch of havoc in my life,
even not drinking.
(11:44):
Basically it's called a drydrunk, still act like you're
drinking but you're notdrinking.
But I was smoking weed and I hadto let that go because.
I just, you know, like you justsaid, it's exactly what you're
talking about.
In order for me to move forward,that had to go.
Yep.
Yes sir.
Yeah, that was a big pivotingpoint.
(12:04):
You know, as I wanted tocontinue to scale and grow
business, you have to sacrificemore and more.
It comes at a price and what areyou willing to give up to go up
is some of the best advice thatI've ever gotten.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
But you've never struggled withlike addiction or anything?
No, I wouldn't say addiction somuch, but kind of like business
(12:24):
related.
I was going to the military whenI was 19, kind of the weeded
story here.
I was going to the military.
I was 18 or 19 years old, and Igot pulled over and I got caught
with the, or I got caught withthe possession charge that I
didn't tell the military about,and I was supposed to be leaving
in a week.
They stopped me.
They discharged me from themilitary and I was going to the
(12:46):
military for this.
So it's all related to what I'mstill doing today, but yeah,
that, that had came up.
How hard was that when you gotthat call?
I was devastated.
You know, I was, like I said, Iwas 18 or 19 years old.
I always wanted to be in themilitary.
I knew I was always gonna dohvac.
I wanted to travel, I wanted toexperience it.
You know, if you've ever goneinto the military, there's a,
(13:06):
it's like a multi-step process.
You know, you have to do a bunchof stuff, sign a bunch of
paperwork, you have to enlist,you have to do a hand, whatever.
You gotta stay the night at ahotel.
And it was kind of like my dreamat the time, you know, I've
always liked the military and Iwas I was devastated, but, you
know, it played out.
It is what it is.
It played out in my favor.
Right after that, I wentstraight to school.
I got on with the rightcompanies, different company.
(13:28):
Started running.
Are you I guess looking backnow, are you glad that, you
know, a lot of things in my lifethat happened that I thought
were not good, not for me, butlooking back, things that have
happened, they've happened formy benefit, not, I'm not a
victim in a lot of this stuff.
Right.
Absolutely.
I feel like it may be at thetime, but looking back, I, I'm
(13:52):
really grateful for, I mean,look, I've been, I've had DUIs,
I've got caught with drugs.
I've done it all.
Yeah.
No, certain things need tohappen, you know, I would never
look back and regret anything.
It is what happened.
But at the end of the day, I'mhere now.
I built a decent business.
I have a great group of friendsand I'm excited with where we're
at, so I would never look backand hope for something else.
(14:13):
You can't look back anyways,where, you know, we don't live
there, so That's right.
You can't really live anywherebut right now.
Correct.
You can only be present.
That's right.
No, exactly.
It's hard to do though.
So you, are you married kids?
Are you?
No, no kids, no marriage.
Just a little french bulldog.
(14:34):
Well, that's okay.
Hey, look, it gives youopportunity to and time to focus
on what you're doing becauselook, what you're doing is busy.
It's hard to do.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
And again I don't regretnothing.
I'm pretty content with whereI'm at and even the
opportunities that this hasgotten me, so I'm not hurting.
So how many guys do you haveworking for you?
(14:54):
How much, how many staff do youhave working for you?
Yeah, we have 14 now.
Wow.
How do you like managing people?
So managing people's different,you know, it's not something I
was fully used to, solely forthe reason that, you know, when
I was in the field and I was atech, you have tunnel vision.
You know, you're focused on yourday, your schedule, your bonus,
(15:17):
your revenue and all that.
When I had to pivot tomanagement, it was different
because I had to learn that noteveryone's gonna think like me.
Not everyone's gonna act likeme, and it's my job as a leader.
To now build these guys up.
And that's what was, it was justdifferent.
It wasn't something that I wasused to.
So it was a learning curve andthat's what business is all
about, you know?
(15:37):
Hundred percent.
Alright, so let me ask you this.
You're a fairly young dudecompared to me anyway.
When you look at yourtechnicians and you look at your
staff or do you have any youngertechnicians that work for you?
Yeah, we have actually quite abit.
I think.
We're a pretty young company.
We.
21, 22, because almosteverybody's younger than I'm,
(16:00):
besides probably three or fourpeople.
Well, because you're younger, itmay not seem like it's much
difference, but here's myquestion, you know, Look when I
was coming up, it's just thingswere different, right?
Things were very different whenI was coming up.
You work your ass off, you dowhat you have to do, and right
now, I don't know that a 21 or22 year old has that mindset,
(16:24):
but maybe you can shed somelight on that.
Yeah.
So I would agree with that to anextent.
I can honestly say the ones thatwe have are great.
So one of'em started us with uswhen we were, when I was, when
he was 19.
I'm sorry.
And he was the, when we wereworking out of my house, he was
the first one to show up everyday at 7:00 AM so I can really
(16:44):
back that up.
We have another guy he justturned 21 and he is usually the
first one here at the shop everyday.
You know, we tell everybody he'sseven 30.
He's here between, he is hereabout seven 20 every single day.
See, that's awesome.
To be honest, I guess I've beenlucky or I've just got around
the wrong group of peoplebecause the ones that are
younger are phenomenal.
(17:05):
For sure.
So when you bring in new peopleon what kind of criteria do you,
I mean, what are some of themain things that you look for
that you say, well, these arethe, it's a red flag.
There's no way I'm hiring thisperson, or, this is such a great
trait, you know, I gotta havethis person.
Well, there's a few things,right?
(17:26):
A red flag when we wereinterviewing somebody is he said
he wasn't gonna put us two weeksinto another job.
To me, that's a red flag becauseI'm all about, you know, ethical
ethics and morals.
And it's just important that youdo your part and if you, that
company had you on for three orfour years, you need to put your
two weeks in.
So to me, that's a red flag.
(17:50):
No.
No.
I mean, some people do.
Yeah.
And that's their opinion.
You know that's their choice,right?
I think it's lots of times theyfeel like they're in a jam, and
so they feel like they have tohire the person, which is the
wrong move in my opinion.
But what are some of thepositive traits that you look
for?
(18:10):
Positive traits is when peoplecome in here with a good
attitude, not to be basic, butthen when they're like, you
know, I'm just looking for abetter opportunity.
They trust when they trust me tocome in and say, Hey, you know
what?
For some reason I've heard goodthings about you guys, and I
trust that you can take me tothe next level.
That's a big one for me becauseI remember being a 19 year old
kid in a warehouse and justwanting the next opportunity and
(18:31):
wanting to grow so bad.
I just wanted the nextopportunity at a company the
right tech, the right journeymanto work under whatever it was.
I wanted that next step.
So that's a green flag.
When somebody comes in here,they're early.
And they wanna get to the nextlevel because I know what it
takes to get to the next leveland I know I can help them get
there.
Hell yeah, dude.
I love that answer.
So what would you say what wouldyou say the company's biggest
(18:53):
struggle is?
Could be with techs or c s r,whoever it is.
What would you say, you know,that y'all don't do the best of
your ability?
Well, there's a few things.
I think we can maybe managecalls a little bit better at
times.
Maybe start our days earlier,technician wise, start earlier
(19:15):
be more proactive throughoutyour schedule, which is on me to
kind of teach that and coachthat up.
And there there's a few things.
If I could get nitpicky, youknow, we have a great team and
all that, but if I was to sithere and get, you know, nit
nitpicky there, there's quite abit outbounding, we could
outbound better becauseespecially when you're in the
shoulder season and differentthings like that.
(19:35):
You have to know how to outbounddirect mail follow up.
So all that follow ups, a bigone.
You know, follow up.
It's huge.
If you're in sales, even atechnician, it's huge.
A hundred percent.
So how's that?
What does that process look likefor you guys?
When we're following up.
Yeah.
So let's just say new customerca calls in c s r answers.
(19:58):
She books the, he or she books.
The call technician goes out,the deal doesn't close.
What happens next?
Hey, it'll go to me.
They'll let me know that.
And then And you make call?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
Okay.
So I'm a big kind role that Iunderstand position.
I'm.
(20:18):
I'm a big Grant Cardone guy.
I'm a big sales guy, and I lovethe follow up game.
I love the persistence.
I love the push of it.
I love the strategy of it.
It's a huge strategy and onceyou're able to start closing,
you're never gonna be slow.
And I can say that we haven'treally had a very slow time ever
since we've been here.
So, yeah, I look I don't love, Idon't love Grant Cardone, but
(20:38):
for this you've gotta bepersistent.
You've gotta be, yeah.
And look, I actually do this foranother company.
I do exactly what you're talkingabout.
Like I do their follow up.
Okay.
Because look it, it's a prettywide open game out there.
Most people are not like you.
Most people don't do follow up.
Most people, it's the owners arebusy putting out fires or doing
(20:59):
whatever the hell they're doing.
And I get that and it's realeasy to get sidetracked with all
the other shit you've got goingon.
But it sounds like you got a bigdifferent mindset than most of
those guys.
I do.
Well, I'm just really big onsales and I know that.
You know, no matter how manymistakes I've made, I don't
wanna say like this, but I haveto say it like this.
(21:20):
No matter how many mistakes I'vemade, I knew that I could sell
my way out of a, out, out of anissue if we got slow.
I knew for a fact if you gave mea follow-up sheet, we're selling
something and it's going intoday, tomorrow, next week.
So again it, I had to beextremely disciplined that way.
I didn't just rely on being ableto sail decently, you know?
But I knew I could and I could.
(21:41):
I know it's been a big Bigdifference for us.
Now, do you, alright, so let'sjust say technician gets to a
house.
He's get, he's pitching a newsystem or assuming that he, do
you have service and sellingtechnicians or do you have
service slash They do both.
Okay.
They, yeah, they do both.
Yep.
Do you help them close the dealover the phone?
(22:02):
How does that work if they getjammed up?
Yeah, so a little bit, you know,I've never actually called a
customer.
I try to leave it on them.
That way they can get better.
You know, Victor Rancor?
Oh yeah.
He has a Profit RocketBlueprint.
Yep.
That's been huge for us.
So we've done courses ormeetings on some of that sales
stuff, and he talks to you abouthow to go into the call and how
to sell and different things ofthat nature.
(22:24):
So that's been big.
So for hvac, how many options doyou give?
Three.
Okay.
And usually, obviously they landin the middle, typically Mo most
of the time.
Yeah.
You know, I know some peoplehave gotten like five to seven.
I think everybody has their ownopinion.
To me, that's too much.
But, you know, I understand thateveryone's gonna work it a
(22:45):
little bit different.
I agree with you because it's,you know, it's overload.
I can't remember.
It's there's a, there's actuallya term for it.
Man, I can't remember what itis, but I'll tell you a quick
story.
So this is, this will paint thepicture.
They did a a, they did a, not asurvey, but a Well, let's just
call it a survey.
(23:06):
And so they, it was in a grocerystore and the first weekend they
had three jars of jelly, right?
Yeah.
And they, it, they sold, I don'tknow, 50 jars of jelly that
weekend because they wereletting people try it, like you
go into Sam's Club or whatever,right?
The next weekend they set outlike 12 jars of jelly, and they
sold like 30% of what they soldthe weekend before.
(23:28):
Because there's so many choices,you wind up not making a choice.
For sure.
And that's kind of what I'venoticed when I try to go too
crazy with options is Ipersonally feel like you're
gonna get lost in the weedsbecause I get lost in the weeds
as well too.
You know, like, it's kinda liketoo much going on.
These guys don't know anythingabout HVAC and you're talking
about app draws and two stagesand single stages and 80%, 90%,
(23:51):
and they're just man, just gimmethe three best options and then
explain it.
But it's also easier to explainto'em, you know, I found it
easier to sell.
Yeah.
You know, you're talking productto benefit Dump is the look,
your customers don't give a shitabout the specifics of that.
They care about one thing, twothings.
Is the damn thing gonna work?
(24:13):
And how much is it per month?
That's about the biggest twoquestions they have.
If you can answer that, you'regood.
But if you start throwing outall these terminology and stuff,
you're gonna lose them.
Yeah.
And it makes sense.
You know, it's just like you,when you go to whatever store or
anything like sometimes.
Or like, I was at a restaurant afew weeks ago and this guy's
giving me like 30 options aboutthe menu.
(24:33):
And I'm like, I don't know, Ijust like seafood.
Like, what do you have on that?
You know?
But it was, he was like runningdown this crazy list and I
looked at who I was with and Iwas like, I, he lost me after
like the first thing.
It was too much.
Yeah.
Yeah I still can't remember whatit's called, but there is a
terminology for that.
So, so you got kicked outta themilitary.
That was a good thing.
(24:53):
I think you, I think so, yeah.
You said you did a million thefirst year, right?
So what are you currently doing?
We'll do 3 million this year, sowe'll go zero to six in three
years.
Man, that's pretty impressive.
It's not bad, you know, like Isaid, we have a very good team
and my best friend helps me runbusiness, so, we've been able to
(25:15):
put together a good team.
And would you say because of thesystems and processes that you
have in place have helped youscale like you have 100%?
Yeah.
You know, we, so this last yearwe really focused on systems and
processes.
We moved our c r m, we moved ours e o company, and we have
hammered the systems andprocesses, the ethics of just
(25:35):
the company come in, shirttucked in with a collared shirt.
You know, we've tried to hammerthis stuff.
We're in nice vehicles, we'removing to a new acre and a half
property we just bought, youknow?
And that's been the biggestthing is to focus on systems and
processes and speed.
You gotta, with urgency ofcourse.
That's right.
(25:55):
A hundred percent.
I love that you.
The appearance is superimportant.
I it's mind blowing to me when Isee some of these companies that
their guys look like they justcrawled out of a landfill.
Correct.
It's pretty insane that theyeven allow it.
It's, and then it also kind ofblows my mind that people would
even wanna, you know, you gottacarry yourself with a little bit
of pride here, you know?
(26:15):
Agreed.
So now you mentioned that you'vegot nice vehicles.
Did you, are they branded prettywell?
Yeah pretty well.
Did you go through somebody toget that done, or how did you do
that?
Yeah, so it's just our logo andthen a lot of the vehicles that
we bought, they added the wrapto the loan.
Okay.
But did you go through somebodylike Dan Antonelli or No.
(26:40):
No.
No.
And he's great, you know, butours is a pretty simple logo.
I, we've had pretty good luckwith it.
The biggest company in town hasa very simple logo, so, How much
is the biggest company in towndoing in comparison to you, if
you don't mind me asking?
Strictly hvac.
They'll probably do betweenabout 18 and 25 million.
Yeah.
You're pretty close on theirheels though.
(27:02):
And you're a third, you'll be athird of the way there in three
years.
Yes.
Yes, sir.
That's wow.
Company.
Yeah.
The, there's only about amillion people in this market,
so it's not a huge market, butit's not a small market either.
Okay.
You also mentioned SS e o, sowho are you using now for that
and who were you using?
It's called we were using acompany called Ali.
Ali outta Texas.
(27:22):
Okay.
They didn't, I'll leave it, thatwe decided to move on.
Yeah.
And then we went to thiscompany, first Click Digital is
what it's called.
They're here in Albuquerque andthey've done a phenomenal job
for us.
They've taken us to the firstthey've gotten us everywhere
that we needed to go.
We track calls.
How much time did you take them?
Yeah.
From the time you hired themuntil now or to when you started
(27:44):
getting on the first page ofeverything.
How long we just started?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We just started working withthem this year.
I think we just got on the firstpage probably the last few
months.
It's still not bad.
No.
Like I said, they've done good.
You gotta spend a little bit,you know, the more you spend, as
long as you're spendingcorrectly with the right
company.
Help you get there.
We brought'em on last October,but they had to do a bunch of
stuff to clean up for us.
(28:05):
You know, I don't know if you'refamiliar, but anytime you hire
the new SS e o companies, it'skinda like a complete overhaul
of what was there before andthey rebranded and reworked it
completely.
So it did take a little bit oftime.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
I think a lot of people, youknow, I think a lot of people
think the ss e o and Ss e o isunbelievably important.
(28:27):
However, it's not the quick,it's not, it's the long game.
Right.
It's not a quick turnaround atall.
Correct.
But it is what it is.
Yeah.
So marketing is superior tosales, like how you're saying
SEO is the most important.
It truly is.
You know, you can only sell somuch.
You can only sell when you getthe lead.
You can only sell when you're atthe house.
That's right.
So marketing is huge.
(28:48):
It is something we've reallyharped on and I believe it's
taken us been able to take us tothis next level this year.
Alright, so I'm gonna throw onemore question at you.
In terms of reactivating yourcustomer list, when I say
reactivation campaign, do youknow what I mean by that?
Just rehashing with thecustomer.
Yeah.
So like, you know, do you sendout a monthly newsletter?
(29:08):
Do you send out something tokeep your customers thinking
about you as their primary go-toservice person?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So all the time really we postevery, we post twice a week on
Facebook.
We post twice a week onInstagram.
The other thing that we do is weemail out a coupon or some sort
of discount or some sort ofservice every week.
(29:31):
We send that out every Monday.
And then we have our servicecontracts, of course, which
we're trying to really pushthose because the more
memberships you have, the morevalue of your business.
That's right.
So, obviously you started outwith zero memberships.
How many memberships have youbeen able to grow to since you
started?
I.
A few hundred.
We just rolled them out I thinkaround February or March.
(29:55):
So we sold quite a few.
We were probably, you know, eachguy was probably selling
multiple a week.
It makes sense.
Memberships to me makes sense ifyou're selling when you go to
the appointment.
What was that?
Memberships make sense as longas your guys are also selling at
those, when they're going out todo the service work.
(30:16):
Yes, absolutely correct, becauseI tell'em all the time, this
call covers you for about anhour.
That's it.
You know, there's no revenue inthis because we do hours like a
flat price.
It's like, for example, ours 225, we're collecting that on
front end.
There is no.
Technically I'm making a dollarnext time you go out there and
service it.
So I try to tell them that theyhave to find something.
(30:40):
Ethically, you always doeverything ethically correct.
Of course.
You don't ever go in there andsay you need a new water heater
because for whatever reason it'slike at the bottom you need a
new one.
It's good that we were out thereand diagnosed it, but now when
your guys, let's just use thewater heater for example.
When they go put a heater in,how do you.
(31:00):
Make sure if something goessideways with that water heater,
they know to call you.
Do you put a sticker on it?
Do you put a magnet on it?
How do you do with that?
No, we weren't gonna start doingthat.
I didn't know how, I felt toomuch about, I don't know how you
are on those.
I never knew how I really feltabout those, putting those
magnets and stuff like that.
I felt like when I was atdifferent companies and even
doing this, I would always go topeople's houses that had another
(31:20):
company sticker and I'm like,well, they called me out.
They didn't even call these guysout.
So, I guess how I view it is ifmy water heater's leaking and it
has happened, and if there's asticker on the front of it,
that's the perfect person.
I'm gonna call your a hundredpercent.
Yeah.
And you know, I'm definitely notopposed to it.
I think it's definitelysomething we should be doing.
I was just saying why I haven'tput the emphasis on it yet.
(31:42):
Yeah, I mean, that makes sense.
It's just another, you know,just one more thing that you do.
It's just a little bit extra.
That's right.
When you're trying to get betteris, the 0.001 is sometimes what
you need, and if a sticker isgonna get us that 0.001 extra
better, let's do it.
Yeah.
Do you make I just, I've got onemore question for you.
Do you have when your guys goout, do they make sure to let's
say they're going out for a hotwater heater, do they make sure
(32:05):
to let the customer know that,Hey, if you have eight fact
problems, if you have.
We also cover that stuff.
Yes.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
They all do.
Like I said, especially in thismarket specifically, everybody
pretty much does heating andcooling.
I mean heating and plumbing,HVAC and plumbing.
And I make sure these guys letthem know that as well.
That makes sense.
(32:25):
Well look, Brandon, I appreciatethis dude.
This has been a killerconversation.
You're super smart dude.
Be 29 years old, so Yeah.
Percent.
We've got a long way to go.
You know, we are where we are,but I think the sky's the limit
for the people that we'rearound.
And we wanna be the best in NewMexico and that's what we're
gonna work towards.
I love it, dude.
(32:46):
Where can people find you?
Where are the social mediachannels they can go to?
Yeah, you can get me onInstagram.
It's Brandon Unders, the threeZs.
It's Brandon size on Facebook.
Brandon, size on face, onLinkedIn.
I'm on pretty much everything.
Is NCB mechanical com.
(33:06):
Perfect.
Well, listen, my friend, Iappreciate you.
Awesome.
I appreciate your time.
I look forward to this onecoming out.
You got it, brother.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Welcome to the Successful LifePodcast.
I'm your host, Corey Berrier,and I'm here with Brandon Saiz.
Did I see it right?
You got it?
Yes sir.
Dang.
Good morning dude.
How are you brother?
You got it?
I'm doing great.
How are you this morning?
I'm good.
Good to see you.
So good to see you as well.
So Brandon, you have alright, sotell everybody a little bit
(00:22):
about what you do, where youare.
You're in New Mexico right?
We're in Albuquerque, New Mexico29 years old.
We started the business threeyears ago, mid pandemic.
All the craziness and chaos thatbrought chip shortage, equipment
shortage was definitely advisednot to open a business.
We did it.
We did it anyways, and we'remaking it happen.
(00:44):
So, you know, it's interesting,I've talked to a couple of
people that have, you know, thathave started around 2020 and I,
you know, one would think that,holy shit, that would be a
terrible time to start, but Ireally think it might have been
the best time to start.
Yeah.
So I kind of thought that aswell.
I was at a different company atthe time and I personally had my
(01:05):
best year and it was one ofthose things that I just felt it
was time and when I did it wegot off and running to actually
a pretty, pretty good start.
We did over a million our firstyear.
So from zero to a million thefirst year.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
We did.
We did over.
So walk me through like thecraziness that had to have
(01:26):
happened in that year.
'cause you don't, I mean, firstof all, we don't, we're not born
knowing how to run a business.
Right.
You had never run a businessbefore.
Right.
No sir.
Big thing for me has always justbeen speed, fail fast and win
fast.
And that's how we were able tobe successful that first year.
Everyone down here is probablypretty familiar, but I was a big
Angie's List guy only for thevolume, and that's all that I
(01:49):
cared about was volume.
Get as much names as possible.
Post as much as possible.
And like I said, just speed,focusing on volume.
Big pipeline.
Try to make a pipeline.
Build a brand.
That's right.
So, So, so Angie's, you saidAngie's for the list, right?
Yeah.
No, we don't really use it somuch anymore.
(02:09):
I was just giving the example ofthat first year, but just still
that, that's interestingbecause, you know, I, I don't
know if I've ever had anybodytell me that they've depended
on, and so that was your primarysource of leads, which look, I
mean, it works.
What made you choose Angie'sList?
Just outta curiosity.
Well, they called me.
I thought it was a spam call atfirst, and that's just kind of
what I rolled with.
I wouldn't say it was our only,I'm just mentioning it.
(02:32):
So Angie's List is anyone that'sused it, it's very frustrating,
but you get a lot of names,addresses, and emails.
So we were getting these names,addresses, and emails and
putting them into our C R Mright away.
So whenever we started to sendout direct mail or anything like
that, we already had thispipeline.
So that's how we used it.
It wasn't like a, oh, we built abusiness off evangelist.
You definitely can't do that.
(02:52):
So, Yeah.
No, that may I'm actually evenshocked that you said c r m is
that you had the foresight to,to do that because most dude,
I've talked to people that stilldon't use the C R M.
Yeah.
No, we're big on processes.
You know, I try to follow a lotof the big names in the game and
you know, model and mimic.
Yeah.
Who's been your biggestinspiration, would you say?
(03:13):
Business wise?
Yeah.
I like Grant Cardone a.
I like Victor Rancor a lot.
I like Ishmael Valdez a lot.
I know those two are the buttheads a little bit, but those
are two big guys that I follow.
Ken Goodrich is great.
Business wise that's probablywhat I would say the most.
I mean, it's pretty goodexamples, but those, all three
of those guys have made a wholebunch of money as the industry.
(03:36):
Yeah, they're all pretty similaras well, so That's fair.
That's fair.
So take me back to when, youknow, before 2020, before you
started this business, were youwere in this industry.
Have you always been in thisindustry?
Yeah.
I've pretty much done, beeninvolved in this industry my
entire life.
(03:56):
I started really young.
My dad would help, have me helphim.
Do you know swamp coolers?
We did gas lines as well.
That's how I started.
I actually worked for a verysmall company and I used to have
a little giant ladder.
An Altima and I would go do abunch of changeovers for him and
just do whatever it took.
You know, I've always kind ofhad that mentality to just go
after whatever I saw.
(04:17):
Well, I, you know, I you to be abusiness owner, you kind of
have, you have to have that.
You gotta do whatever it takes.
And if you are the guy that hasto sweep the floor or mop the
floor or clean up shit, you justhave to do it.
'cause you're the owner.
Still do.
Yeah.
It's what it's, yeah.
You have to be relentless.
You have to be persistent.
There's a bunch of little wordswe could use here, but
Absolutely.
You have to be persistent.
(04:38):
You know, you gotta know whereyou're going and believe in it.
Self-confidence is huge whenyou're in this game and when
you're trying to get somewhere.
Dude, that I agreewholeheartedly.
I, so I wrote a book, nineSimple Steps to Sell More Shit.
And the very first chapter ison, is called Confidence to
Close.
Because if you don't haveconfidence you're never gonna
get to the end of the saleperiod.
(04:58):
Yeah.
Yeah, you have to believe inwhat you're doing.
You know, if I don't believe init, none of these other guys are
gonna believe in it.
When we're starting out thatfirst year, and I'm trying to
build a brand and recruitpeople, if I'm like, Hey man,
you know, this might work out.
I'll think be like, well, fuckthat.
I don't wanna be, I don't wannado that.
But I'm saying, Hey, look, we'regonna be the best there is.
You need to show up and be hereand we're gonna make it happen.
You start to, to stack, youknow, people and a brand.
(05:19):
Yeah.
And it builds more confidence inyou as well when you start to
lead people and they start doingwhat they need to do.
Absolutely.
And it really makes adifference.
And it makes a differencebetween you talk to your
customers 100%.
Yeah.
Agreed.
So you've kind of been in, youknow, and for everybody listed,
you cover multiple areas in theindustry.
(05:39):
You cover plumbing, heatingplumbing, hvac, what else?
Drains.
Drains, okay.
And you're thinking aboutgetting into electrical?
We will be getting intoelectrical.
Yes.
Okay.
Hopefully within the next yearor so, we're looking to buy out
a company actually here, so.
Okay.
So like that's kind of inprocess maybe?
It sounds like kind of.
I'm working on it, yeah.
(06:00):
All right.
That's cool.
So, had, did you start out indid you start out with all three
of those or did you add one asyou went?
No, so we actually started outwith both HVAC and plumbing.
I have a little bit ofexperience with plumbing, so I
kind of just picked it up andkept that again as a volume
thing for property managementsor for people.
(06:21):
I wanted to make sure that Ioffered that as well.
Would definitely mostly HVAC wasmy background.
So I am curious because I know alittle bit about drains not the
side that you know of it, but Iunderstand the business side of
it a little bit.
Yeah.
And so let me ask you, when yougo out, what primarily the drain
calls that you go to, what arethe problems?
(06:41):
Because I know different areas.
There's different problems, likeI'll give you a quick example.
Texas, for example, the Earthand I guess it's called
sentiment or something likethat.
So it's sentiment called S.
Yeah, there you go.
Yeah, right.
It's where the ground moves,right?
Yep.
It shifts pipes, so that's alittle bit different call than
we would have in North Carolina'cause that we don't have, we
(07:03):
don't deal with that issue hereas far as I know.
Yeah, so, well, there's quite afew different problems.
Most of'em are blockages ofcourse.
Just the simple stuff.
And then that same thing wherethe ground moves and the pipe
goes like that, or like that itsettles, right?
So those are probably the mostpopular ones, as well as breaks.
We have a lot of cast iron outhere, so we get a lot of calls
(07:24):
for breaks and different thingslike that.
What is the, so it's wild.
It's wild to me to think castiron breaks.
Oh it destroyed.
There was actually a cast ironvent that had busted, which was
super strange, like, and thiswas about a year or two ago.
And it flooded his entirebathroom.
So anytime it rained or anythinglike that, it just went in there
(07:45):
and wherever that it dipped, itjust settled and.
Destroyed the whole thing, thevent side of the pipe too.
Not the main side.
I can't imagine, you know,that's what you know, so it's
interesting.
I was listening to a podcastwith welding along on it, and he
was talking about, okay, he hada couple of people, he had
people coming in town.
It was like two weeks beforethey were coming in town and I
(08:06):
guess he had a a drainage backupor something and it backed up
into his house.
Like that was, I'd lose my mind.
Yeah.
Drains are a fun thing.
You know, we had one with it wasa three story apartment and it
went out to the main street andthe main line backed up.
We didn't know that.
And what we did, which was ahuge mistake at the time.
(08:27):
We undid the drain at the bottomof the sink, which is on the
first story.
All the back pressure came backup and into the house, into the
apartment.
Now.
We stopped it.
We stopped it and like it didn'tdo any damage, but it was full
of back pressure.
It was a fun time.
I bet you have seen some reallynasty stuff.
(08:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
You do it enough.
See some nasty stuff.
So, so the name of your companyis N C B.
I'm interested since I don'tknow Yes sir.
What exactly does that mean, andis there some significance
behind that?
Yeah, of course.
So it was actually a company, mydad started a long time ago.
I took over the name.
So the first the initial standfor Nathan, Christopher, and
(09:14):
Brandon my name.
Okay.
My total brothers passed awaywhen I was one, passed away when
I was 18, and the other one Iwas 26.
So it's just like anything, youknow, it's a brotherhood, but
you wanna make sure that they'rewith you on any big journey.
You grow up with them, they haveyour back.
It meant a lot for me to carrythe name my dad chose, and to
make sure that they, their nameis in it as well.
(09:34):
So, if you don't mind me askingwhat that's bizarre that you had
two brothers pass away.
Do you mind me asking why?
Yeah.
So one had a mental illness.
He was actually schizophrenicwho was crazy to say the least,
you know, that was my bestfriend.
The other one, the oldest one,Nathan, it was substance abuse.
It was alcohol.
Some opiate stuff and differentthings.
(09:55):
So that's how, that's the paththat one went down.
Well, look, dude, I mean, I'm arecovering alcoholic.
I've been, I hadn't had a drinkin almost 14 years.
You know, I've been down thatpath.
All of it.
Every bit of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I'm lucky I'm not dead.
No, for sure.
And it, 1414.
(10:17):
You know, go going into thisyear is drinking was actually
something that I really gave up.
I have a drink every now andagain as far as being socially,
but to bring it back tobusiness, you know, it came down
to what are you willing to giveup to go up.
So even just like for you, youprobably had to give that up to
get to your next destination tolevel up.
I'll tell you interesting story.
So I haven't had a drink in 14years, but I did smoke weeded
(10:40):
for a little while.
Got it.
Gotcha.
But I'll tell you in fact, itwas three months ago when I
quit, so it's not even been thatlong.
But, and the reason that I, thereason I stopped smoking weeded
is because spiritually I wasdisconnected.
Yeah.
And, you know, in, in theprogram, and I guess, and not
really supposed to say what itis, I really don't give a shit.
(11:01):
But it's a 12 step program.
Everybody fucking knows what I'mtalking about.
You know, it, that's not a partof it that, you know, you, I
guess you could do that and bein that program.
But for me, I under, you know, Ihad been through the steps years
ago, several times.
And so I knew going back intothis,'cause I look, I went out,
I stepped out of, I, I steppedout aa, I stepped out for like
(11:23):
six years and that was duringtime that I was smoking weeded.
I stopped going to AA because Iwas smoking weeded.
I just, Kind of moved on.
I don't know, ego, I justdecided that I didn't need it.
And that was the wrong decision.
And I didn't realize that for along time.
And I've, you know, I've createda bunch of havoc in my life,
even not drinking.
(11:44):
Basically it's called a drydrunk, still act like you're
drinking but you're notdrinking.
But I was smoking weed and I hadto let that go because.
I just, you know, like you justsaid, it's exactly what you're
talking about.
In order for me to move forward,that had to go.
Yep.
Yes sir.
Yeah, that was a big pivotingpoint.
(12:04):
You know, as I wanted tocontinue to scale and grow
business, you have to sacrificemore and more.
It comes at a price and what areyou willing to give up to go up
is some of the best advice thatI've ever gotten.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
But you've never struggled withlike addiction or anything?
No, I wouldn't say addiction somuch, but kind of like business
(12:24):
related.
I was going to the military whenI was 19, kind of the weeded
story here.
I was going to the military.
I was 18 or 19 years old, and Igot pulled over and I got caught
with the, or I got caught withthe possession charge that I
didn't tell the military about,and I was supposed to be leaving
in a week.
They stopped me.
They discharged me from themilitary and I was going to the
(12:46):
military for this.
So it's all related to what I'mstill doing today, but yeah,
that, that had came up.
How hard was that when you gotthat call?
I was devastated.
You know, I was, like I said, Iwas 18 or 19 years old.
I always wanted to be in themilitary.
I knew I was always gonna dohvac.
I wanted to travel, I wanted toexperience it.
You know, if you've ever goneinto the military, there's a,
(13:06):
it's like a multi-step process.
You know, you have to do a bunchof stuff, sign a bunch of
paperwork, you have to enlist,you have to do a hand, whatever.
You gotta stay the night at ahotel.
And it was kind of like my dreamat the time, you know, I've
always liked the military and Iwas I was devastated, but, you
know, it played out.
It is what it is.
It played out in my favor.
Right after that, I wentstraight to school.
I got on with the rightcompanies, different company.
(13:28):
Started running.
Are you I guess looking backnow, are you glad that, you
know, a lot of things in my lifethat happened that I thought
were not good, not for me, butlooking back, things that have
happened, they've happened formy benefit, not, I'm not a
victim in a lot of this stuff.
Right.
Absolutely.
I feel like it may be at thetime, but looking back, I, I'm
(13:52):
really grateful for, I mean,look, I've been, I've had DUIs,
I've got caught with drugs.
I've done it all.
Yeah.
No, certain things need tohappen, you know, I would never
look back and regret anything.
It is what happened.
But at the end of the day, I'mhere now.
I built a decent business.
I have a great group of friendsand I'm excited with where we're
at, so I would never look backand hope for something else.
(14:13):
You can't look back anyways,where, you know, we don't live
there, so That's right.
You can't really live anywherebut right now.
Correct.
You can only be present.
That's right.
No, exactly.
It's hard to do though.
So you, are you married kids?
Are you?
No, no kids, no marriage.
Just a little french bulldog.
(14:34):
Well, that's okay.
Hey, look, it gives youopportunity to and time to focus
on what you're doing becauselook, what you're doing is busy.
It's hard to do.
Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely.
And again I don't regretnothing.
I'm pretty content with whereI'm at and even the
opportunities that this hasgotten me, so I'm not hurting.
So how many guys do you haveworking for you?
(14:54):
How much, how many staff do youhave working for you?
Yeah, we have 14 now.
Wow.
How do you like managing people?
So managing people's different,you know, it's not something I
was fully used to, solely forthe reason that, you know, when
I was in the field and I was atech, you have tunnel vision.
You know, you're focused on yourday, your schedule, your bonus,
(15:17):
your revenue and all that.
When I had to pivot tomanagement, it was different
because I had to learn that noteveryone's gonna think like me.
Not everyone's gonna act likeme, and it's my job as a leader.
To now build these guys up.
And that's what was, it was justdifferent.
It wasn't something that I wasused to.
So it was a learning curve andthat's what business is all
about, you know?
(15:37):
Hundred percent.
Alright, so let me ask you this.
You're a fairly young dudecompared to me anyway.
When you look at yourtechnicians and you look at your
staff or do you have any youngertechnicians that work for you?
Yeah, we have actually quite abit.
I think.
We're a pretty young company.
We.
21, 22, because almosteverybody's younger than I'm,
(16:00):
besides probably three or fourpeople.
Well, because you're younger, itmay not seem like it's much
difference, but here's myquestion, you know, Look when I
was coming up, it's just thingswere different, right?
Things were very different whenI was coming up.
You work your ass off, you dowhat you have to do, and right
now, I don't know that a 21 or22 year old has that mindset,
(16:24):
but maybe you can shed somelight on that.
Yeah.
So I would agree with that to anextent.
I can honestly say the ones thatwe have are great.
So one of'em started us with uswhen we were, when I was, when
he was 19.
I'm sorry.
And he was the, when we wereworking out of my house, he was
the first one to show up everyday at 7:00 AM so I can really
(16:44):
back that up.
We have another guy he justturned 21 and he is usually the
first one here at the shop everyday.
You know, we tell everybody he'sseven 30.
He's here between, he is hereabout seven 20 every single day.
See, that's awesome.
To be honest, I guess I've beenlucky or I've just got around
the wrong group of peoplebecause the ones that are
younger are phenomenal.
(17:05):
For sure.
So when you bring in new peopleon what kind of criteria do you,
I mean, what are some of themain things that you look for
that you say, well, these arethe, it's a red flag.
There's no way I'm hiring thisperson, or, this is such a great
trait, you know, I gotta havethis person.
Well, there's a few things,right?
(17:26):
A red flag when we wereinterviewing somebody is he said
he wasn't gonna put us two weeksinto another job.
To me, that's a red flag becauseI'm all about, you know, ethical
ethics and morals.
And it's just important that youdo your part and if you, that
company had you on for three orfour years, you need to put your
two weeks in.
So to me, that's a red flag.
(17:50):
No.
No.
I mean, some people do.
Yeah.
And that's their opinion.
You know that's their choice,right?
I think it's lots of times theyfeel like they're in a jam, and
so they feel like they have tohire the person, which is the
wrong move in my opinion.
But what are some of thepositive traits that you look
for?
(18:10):
Positive traits is when peoplecome in here with a good
attitude, not to be basic, butthen when they're like, you
know, I'm just looking for abetter opportunity.
They trust when they trust me tocome in and say, Hey, you know
what?
For some reason I've heard goodthings about you guys, and I
trust that you can take me tothe next level.
That's a big one for me becauseI remember being a 19 year old
kid in a warehouse and justwanting the next opportunity and
(18:31):
wanting to grow so bad.
I just wanted the nextopportunity at a company the
right tech, the right journeymanto work under whatever it was.
I wanted that next step.
So that's a green flag.
When somebody comes in here,they're early.
And they wanna get to the nextlevel because I know what it
takes to get to the next leveland I know I can help them get
there.
Hell yeah, dude.
I love that answer.
So what would you say what wouldyou say the company's biggest
(18:53):
struggle is?
Could be with techs or c s r,whoever it is.
What would you say, you know,that y'all don't do the best of
your ability?
Well, there's a few things.
I think we can maybe managecalls a little bit better at
times.
Maybe start our days earlier,technician wise, start earlier
(19:15):
be more proactive throughoutyour schedule, which is on me to
kind of teach that and coachthat up.
And there there's a few things.
If I could get nitpicky, youknow, we have a great team and
all that, but if I was to sithere and get, you know, nit
nitpicky there, there's quite abit outbounding, we could
outbound better becauseespecially when you're in the
shoulder season and differentthings like that.
(19:35):
You have to know how to outbounddirect mail follow up.
So all that follow ups, a bigone.
You know, follow up.
It's huge.
If you're in sales, even atechnician, it's huge.
A hundred percent.
So how's that?
What does that process look likefor you guys?
When we're following up.
Yeah.
So let's just say new customerca calls in c s r answers.
(19:58):
She books the, he or she books.
The call technician goes out,the deal doesn't close.
What happens next?
Hey, it'll go to me.
They'll let me know that.
And then And you make call?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
Okay.
So I'm a big kind role that Iunderstand position.
I'm.
(20:18):
I'm a big Grant Cardone guy.
I'm a big sales guy, and I lovethe follow up game.
I love the persistence.
I love the push of it.
I love the strategy of it.
It's a huge strategy and onceyou're able to start closing,
you're never gonna be slow.
And I can say that we haven'treally had a very slow time ever
since we've been here.
So, yeah, I look I don't love, Idon't love Grant Cardone, but
(20:38):
for this you've gotta bepersistent.
You've gotta be, yeah.
And look, I actually do this foranother company.
I do exactly what you're talkingabout.
Like I do their follow up.
Okay.
Because look it, it's a prettywide open game out there.
Most people are not like you.
Most people don't do follow up.
Most people, it's the owners arebusy putting out fires or doing
(20:59):
whatever the hell they're doing.
And I get that and it's realeasy to get sidetracked with all
the other shit you've got goingon.
But it sounds like you got a bigdifferent mindset than most of
those guys.
I do.
Well, I'm just really big onsales and I know that.
You know, no matter how manymistakes I've made, I don't
wanna say like this, but I haveto say it like this.
(21:20):
No matter how many mistakes I'vemade, I knew that I could sell
my way out of a, out, out of anissue if we got slow.
I knew for a fact if you gave mea follow-up sheet, we're selling
something and it's going intoday, tomorrow, next week.
So again it, I had to beextremely disciplined that way.
I didn't just rely on being ableto sail decently, you know?
But I knew I could and I could.
(21:41):
I know it's been a big Bigdifference for us.
Now, do you, alright, so let'sjust say technician gets to a
house.
He's get, he's pitching a newsystem or assuming that he, do
you have service and sellingtechnicians or do you have
service slash They do both.
Okay.
They, yeah, they do both.
Yep.
Do you help them close the dealover the phone?
(22:02):
How does that work if they getjammed up?
Yeah, so a little bit, you know,I've never actually called a
customer.
I try to leave it on them.
That way they can get better.
You know, Victor Rancor?
Oh yeah.
He has a Profit RocketBlueprint.
Yep.
That's been huge for us.
So we've done courses ormeetings on some of that sales
stuff, and he talks to you abouthow to go into the call and how
to sell and different things ofthat nature.
(22:24):
So that's been big.
So for hvac, how many options doyou give?
Three.
Okay.
And usually, obviously they landin the middle, typically Mo most
of the time.
Yeah.
You know, I know some peoplehave gotten like five to seven.
I think everybody has their ownopinion.
To me, that's too much.
But, you know, I understand thateveryone's gonna work it a
(22:45):
little bit different.
I agree with you because it's,you know, it's overload.
I can't remember.
It's there's a, there's actuallya term for it.
Man, I can't remember what itis, but I'll tell you a quick
story.
So this is, this will paint thepicture.
They did a a, they did a, not asurvey, but a Well, let's just
call it a survey.
(23:06):
And so they, it was in a grocerystore and the first weekend they
had three jars of jelly, right?
Yeah.
And they, it, they sold, I don'tknow, 50 jars of jelly that
weekend because they wereletting people try it, like you
go into Sam's Club or whatever,right?
The next weekend they set outlike 12 jars of jelly, and they
sold like 30% of what they soldthe weekend before.
(23:28):
Because there's so many choices,you wind up not making a choice.
For sure.
And that's kind of what I'venoticed when I try to go too
crazy with options is Ipersonally feel like you're
gonna get lost in the weedsbecause I get lost in the weeds
as well too.
You know, like, it's kinda liketoo much going on.
These guys don't know anythingabout HVAC and you're talking
about app draws and two stagesand single stages and 80%, 90%,
(23:51):
and they're just man, just gimmethe three best options and then
explain it.
But it's also easier to explainto'em, you know, I found it
easier to sell.
Yeah.
You know, you're talking productto benefit Dump is the look,
your customers don't give a shitabout the specifics of that.
They care about one thing, twothings.
Is the damn thing gonna work?
(24:13):
And how much is it per month?
That's about the biggest twoquestions they have.
If you can answer that, you'regood.
But if you start throwing outall these terminology and stuff,
you're gonna lose them.
Yeah.
And it makes sense.
You know, it's just like you,when you go to whatever store or
anything like sometimes.
Or like, I was at a restaurant afew weeks ago and this guy's
giving me like 30 options aboutthe menu.
(24:33):
And I'm like, I don't know, Ijust like seafood.
Like, what do you have on that?
You know?
But it was, he was like runningdown this crazy list and I
looked at who I was with and Iwas like, I, he lost me after
like the first thing.
It was too much.
Yeah.
Yeah I still can't remember whatit's called, but there is a
terminology for that.
So, so you got kicked outta themilitary.
That was a good thing.
(24:53):
I think you, I think so, yeah.
You said you did a million thefirst year, right?
So what are you currently doing?
We'll do 3 million this year, sowe'll go zero to six in three
years.
Man, that's pretty impressive.
It's not bad, you know, like Isaid, we have a very good team
and my best friend helps me runbusiness, so, we've been able to
(25:15):
put together a good team.
And would you say because of thesystems and processes that you
have in place have helped youscale like you have 100%?
Yeah.
You know, we, so this last yearwe really focused on systems and
processes.
We moved our c r m, we moved ours e o company, and we have
hammered the systems andprocesses, the ethics of just
(25:35):
the company come in, shirttucked in with a collared shirt.
You know, we've tried to hammerthis stuff.
We're in nice vehicles, we'removing to a new acre and a half
property we just bought, youknow?
And that's been the biggestthing is to focus on systems and
processes and speed.
You gotta, with urgency ofcourse.
That's right.
(25:55):
A hundred percent.
I love that you.
The appearance is superimportant.
I it's mind blowing to me when Isee some of these companies that
their guys look like they justcrawled out of a landfill.
Correct.
It's pretty insane that theyeven allow it.
It's, and then it also kind ofblows my mind that people would
even wanna, you know, you gottacarry yourself with a little bit
of pride here, you know?
(26:15):
Agreed.
So now you mentioned that you'vegot nice vehicles.
Did you, are they branded prettywell?
Yeah pretty well.
Did you go through somebody toget that done, or how did you do
that?
Yeah, so it's just our logo andthen a lot of the vehicles that
we bought, they added the wrapto the loan.
Okay.
But did you go through somebodylike Dan Antonelli or No.
(26:40):
No.
No.
And he's great, you know, butours is a pretty simple logo.
I, we've had pretty good luckwith it.
The biggest company in town hasa very simple logo, so, How much
is the biggest company in towndoing in comparison to you, if
you don't mind me asking?
Strictly hvac.
They'll probably do betweenabout 18 and 25 million.
Yeah.
You're pretty close on theirheels though.
(27:02):
And you're a third, you'll be athird of the way there in three
years.
Yes.
Yes, sir.
That's wow.
Company.
Yeah.
The, there's only about amillion people in this market,
so it's not a huge market, butit's not a small market either.
Okay.
You also mentioned SS e o, sowho are you using now for that
and who were you using?
It's called we were using acompany called Ali.
Ali outta Texas.
(27:22):
Okay.
They didn't, I'll leave it, thatwe decided to move on.
Yeah.
And then we went to thiscompany, first Click Digital is
what it's called.
They're here in Albuquerque andthey've done a phenomenal job
for us.
They've taken us to the firstthey've gotten us everywhere
that we needed to go.
We track calls.
How much time did you take them?
Yeah.
From the time you hired themuntil now or to when you started
(27:44):
getting on the first page ofeverything.
How long we just started?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We just started working withthem this year.
I think we just got on the firstpage probably the last few
months.
It's still not bad.
No.
Like I said, they've done good.
You gotta spend a little bit,you know, the more you spend, as
long as you're spendingcorrectly with the right
company.
Help you get there.
We brought'em on last October,but they had to do a bunch of
stuff to clean up for us.
(28:05):
You know, I don't know if you'refamiliar, but anytime you hire
the new SS e o companies, it'skinda like a complete overhaul
of what was there before andthey rebranded and reworked it
completely.
So it did take a little bit oftime.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
I think a lot of people, youknow, I think a lot of people
think the ss e o and Ss e o isunbelievably important.
(28:27):
However, it's not the quick,it's not, it's the long game.
Right.
It's not a quick turnaround atall.
Correct.
But it is what it is.
Yeah.
So marketing is superior tosales, like how you're saying
SEO is the most important.
It truly is.
You know, you can only sell somuch.
You can only sell when you getthe lead.
You can only sell when you're atthe house.
That's right.
So marketing is huge.
(28:48):
It is something we've reallyharped on and I believe it's
taken us been able to take us tothis next level this year.
Alright, so I'm gonna throw onemore question at you.
In terms of reactivating yourcustomer list, when I say
reactivation campaign, do youknow what I mean by that?
Just rehashing with thecustomer.
Yeah.
So like, you know, do you sendout a monthly newsletter?
(29:08):
Do you send out something tokeep your customers thinking
about you as their primary go-toservice person?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So all the time really we postevery, we post twice a week on
Facebook.
We post twice a week onInstagram.
The other thing that we do is weemail out a coupon or some sort
of discount or some sort ofservice every week.
(29:31):
We send that out every Monday.
And then we have our servicecontracts, of course, which
we're trying to really pushthose because the more
memberships you have, the morevalue of your business.
That's right.
So, obviously you started outwith zero memberships.
How many memberships have youbeen able to grow to since you
started?
I.
A few hundred.
We just rolled them out I thinkaround February or March.
(29:55):
So we sold quite a few.
We were probably, you know, eachguy was probably selling
multiple a week.
It makes sense.
Memberships to me makes sense ifyou're selling when you go to
the appointment.
What was that?
Memberships make sense as longas your guys are also selling at
those, when they're going out todo the service work.
(30:16):
Yes, absolutely correct, becauseI tell'em all the time, this
call covers you for about anhour.
That's it.
You know, there's no revenue inthis because we do hours like a
flat price.
It's like, for example, ours 225, we're collecting that on
front end.
There is no.
Technically I'm making a dollarnext time you go out there and
service it.
So I try to tell them that theyhave to find something.
(30:40):
Ethically, you always doeverything ethically correct.
Of course.
You don't ever go in there andsay you need a new water heater
because for whatever reason it'slike at the bottom you need a
new one.
It's good that we were out thereand diagnosed it, but now when
your guys, let's just use thewater heater for example.
When they go put a heater in,how do you.
(31:00):
Make sure if something goessideways with that water heater,
they know to call you.
Do you put a sticker on it?
Do you put a magnet on it?
How do you do with that?
No, we weren't gonna start doingthat.
I didn't know how, I felt toomuch about, I don't know how you
are on those.
I never knew how I really feltabout those, putting those
magnets and stuff like that.
I felt like when I was atdifferent companies and even
doing this, I would always go topeople's houses that had another
(31:20):
company sticker and I'm like,well, they called me out.
They didn't even call these guysout.
So, I guess how I view it is ifmy water heater's leaking and it
has happened, and if there's asticker on the front of it,
that's the perfect person.
I'm gonna call your a hundredpercent.
Yeah.
And you know, I'm definitely notopposed to it.
I think it's definitelysomething we should be doing.
I was just saying why I haven'tput the emphasis on it yet.
(31:42):
Yeah, I mean, that makes sense.
It's just another, you know,just one more thing that you do.
It's just a little bit extra.
That's right.
When you're trying to get betteris, the 0.001 is sometimes what
you need, and if a sticker isgonna get us that 0.001 extra
better, let's do it.
Yeah.
Do you make I just, I've got onemore question for you.
Do you have when your guys goout, do they make sure to let's
say they're going out for a hotwater heater, do they make sure
(32:05):
to let the customer know that,Hey, if you have eight fact
problems, if you have.
We also cover that stuff.
Yes.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
They all do.
Like I said, especially in thismarket specifically, everybody
pretty much does heating andcooling.
I mean heating and plumbing,HVAC and plumbing.
And I make sure these guys letthem know that as well.
That makes sense.
(32:25):
Well look, Brandon, I appreciatethis dude.
This has been a killerconversation.
You're super smart dude.
Be 29 years old, so Yeah.
Percent.
We've got a long way to go.
You know, we are where we are,but I think the sky's the limit
for the people that we'rearound.
And we wanna be the best in NewMexico and that's what we're
gonna work towards.
I love it, dude.
(32:46):
Where can people find you?
Where are the social mediachannels they can go to?
Yeah, you can get me onInstagram.
It's Brandon Unders, the threeZs.
It's Brandon size on Facebook.
Brandon, size on face, onLinkedIn.
I'm on pretty much everything.
Is NCB mechanical com.
(33:06):
Perfect.
Well, listen, my friend, Iappreciate you.
Awesome.
I appreciate your time.
I look forward to this onecoming out.
You got it, brother.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
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