October 15, 2025 • 42 mins
We dig into how to build momentum when the market feels soft, why your internal economy matters more than headlines, and the simple daily actions that turn trust into referrals and referrals into pipeline. We share a clear seven-day sprint, a weekly audit habit, and the brand moves that make growth repeatable.
• charity golf updates and funds raised for treatment access
• creating spaces for uncomfortable but needed conversations
• internal economy vs macro headlines and why mindset wins
• breaking the vicious loop with a flywheel of small wins
• brand as reputation at scale and trust as the engine
• designing referral moments and asking with precision
• weekly quality audits to protect margin and standards
• the 10 touches daily standard and pipeline block
• a simple Monday–Friday rhythm anyone can run
• thermostat leadership, steady energy, and calm urgency
DM me the word momentum and I will send you the seven day sprint checklist
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ty Cobb Backer (00:00):
And we are live.
Welcome back, everybody, toBehind the To olBelt episode
303.
I am your host, Ty Cobb Backer,and thank you for joining us on
this Wednesday edition ofBehind and The To olBelt.
We will be back after our shortintro from our sponsors.
What do you say?
(01:04):
Remember Fat Albert?
.
We're back.
We're back.
We're live.
We're raw, and we are uncut totalk about the wins, the
struggles, the strains, thepains, the growth, the wins, and
the successes.
Love this.
Love this podcast.
(01:25):
Um, it's become a platform forus to promote charitable charity
events and and for me to talkabout my personal development,
my my journey, where I'm at.
Usually, for those of you thatknow know me, know us, know that
we try to keep it authentic ashell.
(01:46):
Uh, try not to pull anypunches, speak the raw truth.
And usually a lot of it's justmy experience of trials,
tribulations, ebbs, flows, allthat good stuff.
But before we get started here,I want to plug uh the golf
outing real quick.
Myself, Rocket, Glenn, and Johngot to participate in Steven
(02:09):
Spence's swing for recovery lastMonday down in Baltimore.
And what a joy, what a treat tohave the opportunity to
participate in such an amazingevent that Steven Spence has put
on for three years now.
Last year, we jumped on boardwith him to try to help raise
some money for Roofers andRecovery.
Paul Reed and Kimberly Reed ofuh Roofers in Recovery and Hope
(02:34):
in the Valley treatmentfacility.
And this year, I think we'rebetween both of our outings,
we're gonna we're gonna raise alot, a lot of money,
surprisingly.
I mean, it's just it's amazing.
And Steven, Stephen has donesuch a wonderful job
facilitating, organizing,sticking to it, you know, not
(02:55):
giving up.
After the first year did it, Ithink they raised about two
grand last year.
I think we raised between bothtournaments about 30,000.
It takes 15 to send somebody torehab.
So two lucky people, twofortunate, two blessed, two
blessed people are able to, youknow, attend a treatment
(03:16):
facility, whether it be, youknow, for emotional purposes,
addiction reasons, what itwhatever the case might be.
But somebody in our industrywas blessed last year.
We should probably find out whothey were, see if they want to
come on the show or somethingand talk, tell us about their
their experience, their journeythus far, and when they went
(03:37):
through treatment and whatthey're doing today, what it was
like, how they got here andwhat it's like now.
That would be, I think that'dbe a good, that'd be good maybe
get Steve to come on to or Paul.
Paul, we need to get Paul andKim on the show.
Shit, I forgot.
We got to get those guys, guysand gals on the show.
But big shout out to Steve,man.
(03:57):
Thank you for for letting us,you know, participate in in
these activities to help ourindustry be a better place, you
know, and and talk, have thoseuncomfortable conversations,
given giving people a placewhere they can have these
uncomfortable conversationswhere maybe they didn't know
where to go or who to talk to,and and and being able to create
(04:18):
a space for an area for them togo to and and uh get some shit
off their chest and get somehelp.
So um, so there's that.
And ours will be tomorrow, uh,next Monday.
Next Monday, Regents Glen uhshotgun tea time is at 10:30.
Anybody wants to come out andgive us a hand or show up with a
pocket full of cash?
(04:38):
We'll have a bunch of rafflesand and a lot of good stuff.
Our sponsors, man, not todaydidn't step up last year, but
they definitely, man, we justmind blowing of the support that
we received this year.
And and you know, to for us tobe able to participate in that.
And most importantly for forlocally, not even most
(05:00):
importantly, secondly, second,second important thing is that
we're teeing up a an atmosphereof of networking with with
businesses that don't even knowthat they do business with each
other through us.
We we're the conduit, uh justabout everybody there, probably
everybody there somehow toucheseach other's businesses in one
(05:21):
way, shape, or form through us.
A lot of our friends, a lot ofa lot of partners, a lot of
people we do business with, alot of people that do business
with us will will be attending.
Um, you know, and a lot ofworthy rivals will be there,
distribution, manufacturing, allstepped up, you know, put put
all the bullshit aside.
And uh they came out, they'reshowing up, they're showing up,
(05:43):
suiting up and showing up andand participating in in such a
an amazing uh charitable, youknow, charity event like this.
So anyhow, um my topic fortoday, I I thought about it,
I've been thinking about this.
Those that are close to meknow, you know, what's been on
the forefront of my mind andstuff and and uh here lately and
(06:07):
and uh unfortunately orfortunately, they get to go
through the seasons with me.
Especially my close loved ones,you know, and they they know
I'm a nut job.
And I think they love me for itand they know I'm a neurotic
mess.
And and I honestly believe ifit wasn't for being neurotic and
(06:28):
driven and and uh don't knowwhen to quit, you know, we
wouldn't be here and have theopportunity to surround myself
around like-minded people thatare just as crazy, just as
nutty, just as neurotic as I am.
Man, we can accomplish someamazing things, man.
I mean, man.
And the list goes on too, andit and it gets bigger of the
(06:50):
amazing people, you know, whowho we get the the privilege to
work alongside every day, andand and our biggest fans, you
know, the Zach Fishers of theworld and and uh his whole
entire family and and tribe overthere shouting TC Backer from
the rooftops and supportingeverything that we do and the
David KXs and and all everybody,you know, everybody.
(07:11):
So thank thank you for thankyou for this.
My family, Jana and Rocket andJacob Quinn and McKenzie and
Joel and Skylar and everybodyyou guys make that make it
worthwhile, you know, and thesupport make me makes me just
want to be a better human beingin general.
So anyhow, uh topic for today,uh build, build your own
(07:35):
momentum.
I want to talk about that alittle bit, some some things
that I've experienced over theyears and seasons that that I've
gone through.
And and uh, you know, I thinkright now is is a perfect time
to kind of talk about, you know,uh the economic global economy
and and what that can do tobusiness owners and and managers
(07:57):
and and leaders in ourindustry, not necessarily just
owners, you know, becauseeverybody gets affected by by
leadership, poor leadership,negative leadership, energetic
leadership.
It it can rub off both good andbad, can rub off on your teams
and not necessarily just theowner's energy.
It could be you know the energyof the co-leaders that that are
(08:18):
rubbing off on you know peopleunder their management.
And and uh so I I thought, youknow, I'd talk about you know, a
time where I almost bought intothe narrative, you know, that
uh the global economy woulddecide our year, right?
And I I talk a lot about notnecessarily probably on on the
(08:38):
podcast here, but it's like, youknow, we've never paid much
attention to the externaleconomy.
It's it's more about theinternal economy, you know, and
and getting caught up in whateverybody says.
It's slow, you know, and it'slike, you know, and and and I
think this is a really good timeof year to talk about it too,
because I think most salespeoplein this position already set
(08:59):
themselves up, set setthemselves up for failure
because you know, they thinkwe're coming into a slow period,
and and a lot of that has to dowith their mindset and they're
already starting to pump thebrakes and and things like that.
And really now's the time to,you know, double down on your
efforts and and more follow-upand and stuff like that.
But, you know, I I too havegotten caught up in uh it's
(09:22):
slow.
And, you know, I let it let itget in my head and my
self-esteem dropped and activitystalled, and the team felt it.
And I didn't realize that I Ithink, I think for me, it's like
I don't want to call control,but you know, dictating our
future, a lot of that has to dowith momentum and and positive
(09:45):
energy, and somebody has tobring it.
Somebody has to bring it, andit has to be built by somebody.
Like it's not gonna be given tous.
Like we we we have to do ourpart.
And and then um, you know, itbecause it it it really boils
down to just mindset andpositivity and habits, habits
(10:06):
that you form, right?
Even through bad times, keep upthe good habits because all
good things will come tofruition if you work hard enough
for them, sometimes quickly,sometimes slowly.
But for me, yeah, it it clickedfor me during that downtime
where momentum um momentum justdoesn't arrive.
It's something and it's it'snot something that's handed to
(10:28):
you.
It's it's built dailyintentionally by me.
And and what and what if I toldyou the biggest threat to your
business is you know, the bigand and then this is what's
crazy because it's not thebiggest threat to your business,
isn't, you know, interestrates, inflation, weather, the
(10:49):
feds, um, it's it's you.
You know, uh, you know, andtoday we're gonna talk about
that.
We're gonna talk about um, youknow, the internal economy, the
mindset, the daily actions thatdetermine whether your business
grows or stalls.
It it isn't a theory, you know,it is it's real talk from from
the middle of a slow season thatthat you know almost ate my my
(11:15):
confidence alive.
Um, and I'm gonna I'm gonnagive you what what I think uh is
a good playbook that that couldturn things around and and step
by step.
Um and uh, you know, I'm sureI'll share a couple of stories
with you.
Um, and and uh, you know, thatway hopefully it'll galvanize
(11:36):
with somebody.
Um, but uh what I can do is isI'll try to break down how how
we're gonna fight through, youknow, whatever global, you know,
I'm not saying you don't payattention to it, right?
But you gotta you gotta payattention to more internally.
So um, you know, I caughtmyself, you know, outsourcing
the momentum to the headlines,right?
(11:57):
How I flipped the loop andrebuild confidence.
And the seven-day, I'm gonnacall it the seven-day momentum
sprint that reignited ourpipeline.
Okay.
And here's the thing anybodycan do this.
Um, even if the market's soft,things are starting to slow
down.
And really what I'm gonna talkabout is like the basics.
(12:18):
And if you never leave thebasics, you don't ever have to
go back to them.
Like I don't have, I'm notgonna share with you, you know,
a silver bullet or or the secretsauce.
Um I'm just gonna share withyou some basic stuff that uh,
you know, I did early on and uhhow we really need to stick to
(12:38):
that and and and never leave it,you know, even in even in the
the greatest of times.
And I think that's where westart to slip.
You know, I think that's thecorners, that's where we stop
inspecting things and and webecome complacent and a little
too comfortable.
And it's like it, these thingsdon't like it doesn't happen
overnight.
It's like a series of eventsthat that happen over time that
(13:01):
I think eventually at some pointin time catch up and um it's it
starts messing with you, right?
Um it starts, I don't know,just and when it starts messing
with you, it starts messing witheverybody else.
So, anyhow, the seven-daymomentum sprint.
Um, and you know what?
Any, anybody, anybody, anybody,anybody in organization, your
(13:25):
organization can can do this.
So I'll be straight with you.
So I've had plenty of smallsmall losses over the years, but
there was one particular seasonthat um that just hit a little
different.
And it it was it was probablymy first big, my first big one.
(13:45):
It hurt uh financially, um,emotionally, it messed up my
chi, right?
It it stole my energy.
And I was already, I caughtmyself already waking up, um,
you know, already thinking aboutwhat was going wrong instead of
what could I build for the day.
(14:06):
And like a lot of businessowners, I started doing what
felt harmless at first, right?
Doom scrolling headlines,reading article after articles
about interest rates, inflation,seasonality, soft demand, all
the reasons why things wereslow.
I started buying into thebullshit.
And somewhere in that mess, Iforgot what my real job was,
(14:27):
right?
And my real job is, and again,this goes for anybody, right?
Like I had to, I I I gotta sellmyself.
I have to sell our project, ourproducts.
And um, I gotta get busygetting busy, right?
I gotta fill that calendar up,I gotta get out, I gotta
network, I gotta, I gotta, youknow, stay positive, I gotta
(14:49):
bring that positivity to theoffice every day.
Um, and if you've ever had oneof those seasons where the story
in your head is is louder thanthe plans in your hands, right?
And I I literally felt that,right?
You know exactly what I'mtalking about.
And um, you know, if you'veever felt like the market was
(15:13):
deciding your destiny, right?
Like you, you were like youlike you were just along for the
ride, you know.
I was kind of you know,drifting along, right?
That's exactly where I was.
And but something had to shift,something had to give, okay.
(15:33):
And here's what pulled me outof it.
I'm gonna share a little bit.
There, there's two economies,okay.
And I I touched on that.
There's the macro economy, theglobal economy.
That's the big picture, right?
Interest rates, inflation,political cycles, all the
excuses, right?
All the stuff we can't control.
And then there's the internaleconomy, your mindset, your
(15:54):
habits, your energy, okay.
And this economy, this one is ahundred percent in your
control.
100%.
I realize something important.
Self-esteem is a leadingindicator, okay, and and and
complacency, right?
I feel like maybe I was asleepat the wheel, um, was getting
(16:15):
complacent, was was gettingpotentially um, I don't know, I
don't want to say a little soft.
Um, but my confidence dropped,activities dropped.
Um, and when activities drop,the pipeline dries up.
And when the pipeline dries up,opportunities start to
disappear.
And then confidence drops evenfurther.
(16:37):
Like it was like a viciouscycle for me.
It's a brutal loop.
Vicious cycle that I was goingthrough.
I was living in it.
I was literally living in that.
So I needed to to counter loop.
I needed a a momentum loop,like a look, like, like the
flywheel stopped.
Like I had to, you know, JimCollins wrote a book about the
(16:57):
flywheel.
It's a good short read.
And I believe that there's a adocument, a PDF document in
there too, that you can printout and actually work while
you're reading the book.
It's I haven't done it for awhile.
I might have to do, might haveto dig that back out.
And uh, but I can tell you thispositivity with consistent
action, early wins createsopportunities.
(17:21):
Opportunities createconfidence, right?
And and the team can multiplythat, but that spark has to
start with me.
And I'm not trying to make thisabout me, but I do know being
at the top, you know, shit rollsdownhill.
And um, and I found myself justnot as energetic, um low
(17:45):
self-esteem, all that, all thatcrap.
It, you know, and for me, Ihave to learn things the hard
way, right?
Leadership is uh is energyviral.
We'll call it energy viral,okay?
Good and bad.
I've walked into rooms, man,the energy was just off.
I've walked into rooms where Iwas off when I walked in that
(18:05):
room, but when I left that room,my energy was just
skyrocketing, you know, and it'sand it's it's the people, it's
the vibe, it's theconversations, it's the
attitude, it's the optimistic.
The glass is half full and nothalf empty.
And I think as human beings,yeah, just on cruise control.
(18:26):
Just like Zach said, you know,and I think we I I watch it, I
see people just kind of come in,clock in, clock out, forget the
purpose.
Why are we here?
You know, and then you throw acouple golf turnies in the mix,
you throw a 21 turkey salute inthe frying pan.
Next thing you know, man,spirits are lifted back up.
(18:47):
And we do that intentionallybecause I know spirits get down,
I know things get tough.
We never know what someone'sgoing through in their personal
in their personal life.
And and sometimes work shouldbe one of the positive places
people go.
I would, I would like to thinkso.
Okay.
I know it's not, it's calledwork.
(19:09):
Shit's not always, you know,tiptoeing through the tulips.
Sometimes we got to trudge theroad to happy destiny and pull
our weight and meet our teammembers halfway.
It's not always easy.
Half the battle's just suitingup and showing up.
Okay.
And um, so if I walk in tight,discouraged, uncertain, they
(19:33):
feel it.
They mirror it.
But if I walk in there clear,energetic, they catch that too.
And that's that's kind of whereI need to stay.
And some days I know I I'm I'mnot fit to be around.
And I know those days I gottafigure out what the hell,
because usually if something'swrong, something's wrong with
me, if I let something botherme.
This usually means that's ait's a clear like outside
(19:56):
circumstances should not dictatehow I feel on the inside.
If I'm having issues with theinside, it's because there's
something I've done, somethingthat I need to do.
Usually I need to get off mydead ass and do something.
Um and just like that, Istopped waiting, stopped waiting
for the momentum.
And I talked to Vic about thisa lot.
I talked to Vic and John aboutthis yesterday.
(20:18):
And uh we needed to startmanufacturing momentum.
Okay.
And I was talking about the uhat the last podcast a little bit
about brand and personal brandand company brand.
And the company brand shouldjust about be every
salesperson's start of theirpersonal brand, I would I would
(20:43):
think.
So let's talk about somethingthat that get gets overlooked.
And and that's that's that'spersonal brand, you know, and
especially during slow seasons.
How important is the brand?
Because brand should radiatetrust.
And trust, obviously, you know,going through the do I know
(21:03):
them, do I like them, do I trustthem?
Because that's that's whopeople do business with.
So brand isn't your logo, it'snot your colors, brand is your
reputation at scale,essentially.
Okay, it's the answer to thethree simple questions every
buyer asks.
Do I like you?
Do I know you?
Do I trust you?
Okay.
And the truth is, the truth isthat it isn't built by just
(21:29):
posting on social media.
It's earned by delivering.
Okay.
It's earned by delivering,suiting up, showing up,
communicating well.
And I'll give you just a smallsynopsis, a little example of
uh, you know, where we had a jobwhere everything went good.
Everything went right, clearcommunication, on time, and one
(21:53):
little extra surprise thatdelighted the homeowner at the
end of it.
Okay.
And that can be anything.
That could be you get it done aday early.
We didn't have to replace allthe plywood.
So we're giving you some of themoney back, you know, whatever
little delight at the end thatyou can give to a homeowner.
Um, and if you can do that,then next thing you know, right,
(22:14):
two weeks later, we're notchasing leads.
And why is that?
Because everything went smooth.
The neighbor called us, thentheir cousin called us.
That isn't luck.
Okay, when that happens, allright.
That's what trust is, you know,that's what trust is.
Trust then is doing the heavylifting.
Okay.
Trust is huge.
(22:34):
Trust is huge.
Okay.
Your brand can become a magnetif you build it deliberately.
Okay.
Referrals.
Referrals should be thestandard.
A lot of us hope for justreferrals to just start coming
in and the phone rings, but ittakes a good team to actually be
(22:55):
asking for referrals.
That should just be thestandard all day, every day.
Okay, it needs to be a habit.
Okay.
We have to turn asking forreferrals into a habit.
And I came up with three simplemoves.
Okay.
Create, create referralmoments.
Okay.
How do you do that?
(23:16):
I just explained a little bit,right?
That means clear communication,on time delivery, and one
surprise that delights theclient or the homeowner.
Okay.
Number two, capture proof.
Okay.
Ask for the reviews.
Okay.
That's another thing that Iknow a business owner, a manager
(23:36):
just wishes that their teamwould do.
But I'm telling you, if you dothis framework, okay, especially
during down times wheneverybody else is backing off,
okay, ask for the reviews.
Get testimonials, ask forpermission to share the outcome
of the project with thehomeowner.
Okay.
Make it easy.
(23:58):
Make it easy for them to sayyes.
Okay.
Now, if we're out there andit's like we can't, we keep
rescheduling the job, and thenwhen we get out there, we're
short materials, and then we getout there and it's all these
problems, there's nails all overthe place and all that stuff.
That's not making it easy.
Okay.
That makes it even moredifficult for us to ask for it.
(24:21):
But that's key because that'sthat's 90% of the battle.
Nobody's asking for it.
Okay.
So the key part is to ask forit.
Okay.
And you don't just say, hey, ifyou know anyone, no.
You simply ask if you were me,okay, who who is one person,
(24:48):
okay, I should talk to?
Be specific, be natural, makeit easy to answer.
Okay.
And by asking it that way,who's one person I should talk
to?
If you were me.
And if the job went well, ifthe production team cashed that
check that your ass wrote whenyou first showed up at the
doorstep, it should be easy.
You should be able to catchcapture proof.
(25:10):
You you should be creating areferral moment.
But if you're not asking, youyou're not going to get any of
that.
You know, and this is what'scrazy.
One referral can cover payroll.
One referral.
Okay.
One warm intro can change anentire month, not just for the
sales rep, but for the entirecompany.
(25:31):
And I think that's half theproblem too with the sales reps.
They're out for themselves.
They don't understand howimportant it is for them to do a
good job so everybody else atthe table can eat.
Okay.
From production toadministrative to the finance
department to to the guys thatare out busting their ass to
market the business to make thatphone ring.
(25:51):
Right?
Like, like we're back herebusting our ass to make the
phone ring.
Now it's time for you to go outand make a freaking referral
moment.
The rest of the team needs tocash that check that the
marketing department, okay, hasso diligently prepared, teed up,
okay, for that phone to ring,for that said salesperson to go
(26:15):
out there and offer value,right?
I mean, really, it it's it'sthat simple.
Okay.
If you can oper operationalizethis every single day, okay,
your past clients become yourbiggest promoters.
Okay.
(26:35):
I've seen it, I've done it.
When I was out in the field,when I installed shingles, when
I sold the jobs, okay, yourpromoters will fill your
pipeline.
Easy peasy, easy peasy.
Okay, now let's be honest.
When business gets busy, that'swhen corners get cut.
Okay, I've watched it, I sawit, I've seen it, I've
experienced it, I've been a partof it.
(26:57):
The complacency, thecomfortability, the corners get
caught.
We stop inspecting.
People stop expecting, whetherit's the dirty ass truck to the
oil change, to not caulking theend caps on gutters.
If we're not inspecting jobs,if we're not inspecting
vehicles, if we're not followingup with our teammates, and I
(27:21):
don't even want to say holdingthem accountable, but just
holding the standard, right?
Things things can get out ofcontrol.
Those little things turn out tobe very costly at the end.
Okay.
And for us, it showed up.
It showed up loud and clear.
We were so focused on thevolume that inspection slipped.
Quality started eroding inlittle ways, right?
(27:44):
That little things ended upcosting us big over time.
So, how are we gonna fix this?
One simple habit.
One simple habit.
And I talked to Jeremy Benderthe other day about this.
And a weekly quality audit.
Every week we pick one jobsite, okay?
(28:05):
We inspect it against thechecklist, we close the gaps,
and we document the fix.
Okay.
Scorecard, right?
Because quality, reviews,referrals fills the pipeline.
It's cause and effect, it's notluck.
It's not luck.
That's just organically whathappens.
Okay.
(28:26):
But it's a lot ofresponsibility, it's a lot of
work.
And that's how we end upoutworking everybody.
Because we cross those T's, wedot those I's and we inspect.
We inspect everything.
We inspect how the how the salewas made.
Did they miss anything?
Did they get the colorselection sheet signed?
Because that's where that'swhere some of the chaos begins.
(28:47):
When it hands it hands off tooperations and then over to
production, and production getsout there, it's like there's no
pictures.
What area am I doing?
It's like, and then thatcreates complete chaos.
And then that ripple effectaffects the client.
Here's the facts when marginsare compressed, we can't panic.
(29:12):
Okay.
There's been many times overthe years where I wanted to hit
the panic button.
Sad reality of it is nobody'scoming to save us.
Nobody.
Okay.
You increase volume withoutlowering the standards.
(29:34):
Okay.
And you do it through dailyrhythm, not random hustle.
And I've been there too.
I'm working on the wrongthings.
I'm just hustling, grinding,not getting anything done, and I
can't see the delay at the endof the tunnel.
But here's the new standard.
And I hope a lot of our team'slistening right now.
Okay.
The new standard is on thesales side.
(29:59):
Of things on the retail side ofthings and and even in the new
construction side of things,some of this will apply there
too.
But but uh I'm gonna call itthe 10 touches, 10 touches a
day, okay.
Four past clients, threecurrent client clients, and
three prospects.
Okay, if we're not following upokay with past clients asking
(30:21):
for referrals, if we're not ifwe're not um reaching out to
three current clients and orfollowing up with three
prospects, 10 touches there,okay.
One referral ask a day, okay.
One brand post teachingsomething, showing something, or
shared win, one quality audit aday.
(30:43):
Okay, and one 45 to 60 minutepipeline block.
I'm calling it a block, likeblocking out time on your
calendar, okay?
No slack, no meetings, nodistractions, just outreach and
offers.
Okay, if you got three in yourbucket and you haven't closed
the deal yet, call them, followup with them, email them, and
(31:05):
offer them something.
What are we offering?
Okay.
Has something changed?
Has materials gone up?
Has materials gone down?
Can we give them somethingfree?
What can we do to helpfacilitate your decision making
to go with us?
Okay.
Again, that is a huge problem.
Nobody's following up withanybody.
Okay.
Past clients, current clients,future prospects, whatever the
(31:28):
case might be.
Okay.
Follow up, follow up, followup, follow up, follow up.
Okay.
Big time.
40 to 60 minutes a week.
You cannot tell me we don'thave people on our sales team
that don't have 40 to 60 minutesa week or a day.
You know, a day.
Do that for a week and the mathwill change.
Activity creates opportunity.
(31:49):
Opportunity creates um options,and options rebuild confidence.
Okay.
If your calendar doesn't showpipeline, time block, don't
expect your bank account tochange either.
Basically.
That's the bottom line.
I think my getting a sorethroat.
(32:14):
That sucks.
Oh god.
Of course we did golf in therain on Monday.
So anyhow, let me show you howsimple this can be.
Okay.
I'm gonna break it down Mondaythrough Friday.
Okay.
Doesn't have to be the thisexact way, but just I went back
through and I started thinkingabout things that I used to do,
(32:36):
things that I wish werehappening, things that I've
tried in the past, but let's useMonday for an example.
Called four past clients,right?
One said, Okay, this justhappened to me two weeks ago.
No exaggeration.
Sorry, somebody keeps callingme here.
I call them, they said to me,funny timing.
(33:01):
My friend needs this.
They didn't need it, but theirfriend needed it, okay?
That single warm intro coveredone week's payroll.
Just random called a client,called four clients, okay?
One of them, three, four, oneout of the four, said, you know,
(33:22):
because timing is everything.
I mean, it really, truly,really, truly is.
Okay.
Tuesdays, quality audit, founda handoff gap.
Okay, we have a weekly meetingwhere we talk and stuff like
that.
We build a checklist andprevented future mistakes.
Wednesday, one brand post,sparked DMs.
DMs started coming in.
(33:42):
How many times have we postedon social media, especially down
south, that the the DM box,something fresh, something new,
something that caught somebody'seye?
Like, and they're tagging otherpeople's names in there.
The issue with that is that'sgreat, but if no one's
monitoring that and no one'spaying attention, because so
many people in that in those, ifyou look at the comments in any
post, especially if it's a paidad, there's so many people in
(34:05):
there asking questions.
Do you guys cover this area?
Do you guys do Windows?
Do you guys do this?
Or they'll tag an individual'sname in there.
That's great.
You're getting people to noticeyou, but if you don't have
anybody following up with that,then we're the problem.
We're the issue.
That's the problem right therein itself.
Okay.
(34:25):
Thursday, a referral ask.
Turns into a meeting.
Okay.
Friday, we build a roof, askfor the do, shared the wins with
the team.
No magic, no secret sauce, justrhythm.
So Monday through Friday, lookat your calendar.
Okay.
Mondays, you know, callclients, past clients, previous
(34:45):
clients, soon-to-be prospects,whatever the case might be.
Tuesday, we need to do betterquality, you know, checks on the
job sites.
Wednesday, a brand post.
Anybody can do that.
Anybody can do that in theorganization.
Okay.
Thursdays, ask for a referral.
Call up 10 past clients.
And I'm saying, and if youhaven't been doing this, okay,
(35:09):
once you get into a rhythm aftereach job is closed out, then
that you should go right intothe trifecta.
Okay.
It's the referrals, thereviews, and repeat clients.
You should go right into thetrifecta.
Like you shouldn't have apipeline of referrals you should
be asking for.
Hopefully, you do have some soyou have a place to start.
Okay.
(35:29):
But everybody should be callingtheir past, previous, current
clients and asking for a reviewand referrals.
If you were me, who would yourecommend?
Okay.
No magic, no secret sauce, justrhythm.
Once you get into that rhythmand like stop being such a
fucking lead, baby.
Like stop waiting for themomentum to happen and like
(35:52):
create your own momentum.
And that's the problem.
Everybody's just waiting aroundfor momentum, magic wand to
just smack them over the fuckinghead.
And it's not going to happen.
Okay.
It's never going to happen.
We got to go out and build ourown momentum.
Okay.
So here's what I've learnedwatching my team during the
season.
Okay.
My local self-esteem wasn'tjust in my head.
(36:15):
It was, it was in our numbers.
I saw our numbers, you know,drop.
Okay.
Because my momentum, my mycourage, my my self-esteem, all
that stuff was in the shitter.
Okay.
People don't need acheerleader.
I do know that.
But what they need is athermostat.
Ed Milette talks about athermostat.
Your job, my job, okay, is toset the thermostat and hold it
(36:37):
there.
Okay.
It's hard.
It's crucial.
It's it's it's nerve-wracking.
But I need to stay calm.
I need to stay focused and beurgent about the right things,
is what I'm learning here.
You know, I can't just hit thepanic button just over any
little situation.
It's also called um leadershipequity.
(36:58):
If I'm barking at every singlething, then it just tends to
fall on death ear.
So, anyhow, yes, other peoplein your organization can spread
positivity.
Okay, and that's important.
That's important.
Okay.
But it starts with you, itstarts with me.
All right.
Nobody hands you momentum.
We have to create it.
And here's the exact sprint.
(37:21):
I'm going to call it aseven-day momentum sprint that
I'd also like to share withanybody.
If anybody wants a PDF of this,I'll have Vic put it in the
comments or DM me.
DM me the word momentum, and Iwill send you a PDF of a
seven-day sprint.
Copy it, steal it, make it yourown.
I give two shits.
(37:41):
Okay.
But I'm going to pretty muchreview what I just went over.
It was, it's, it's the 10-day,10 touches a day, one referral
ask a day, one brand post a day,one quality audit a day,
pipeline block.
That's a 45 minute to 60minute.
Share a win, two minutes, onewin, one lesson shared with your
team.
Do this for one week and youwill feel the momentum come
(38:04):
back.
Not because the economychanged, but because I did.
And I'll share that withanybody.
Anybody that wants that?
DM me momentum and I'll sharethat with you guys.
Okay.
Now, I'm not saying ignore themarket.
Okay.
I'm not saying that whatsoever.
Okay.
Just adjust to it.
Tighten, tighten your offersup.
Okay.
(38:24):
Improve your services.
Price things intelligently.
Okay.
But never outsource yourresults to the headlines.
Don't get caught up in thebullshit.
Stop watching TV.
Okay.
Your pipeline doesn't read thenews.
Okay.
Pipeline doesn't read it.
All right.
So get your head out of theclouds.
All right.
Your clients don't care aboutin inflation charts.
(38:46):
Okay.
They care about whether you candeliver value right now.
Okay.
We all know it's become anAmazon world.
I mean, it truly has become anAmazon world today.
Okay.
And these are things, thesethis is my my experience.
I'm sharing my experiences.
I'm sharing the standard thatwe're going to hold here at TC
(39:09):
Backer Construction.
Um, and again, that's what's sogroovy about us doing a podcast
because our team gets to listento this stuff.
Okay.
We get to impact, you know,other local contractors global,
globally.
Um, my my experience, strengthand hope.
You know, I almost fell for thethe macro trap.
You know what I mean?
I almost fell for it.
(39:31):
And uh, you know, through paincomes growth.
And I know that I was looking,I was seeking like that next
level, that next gear.
And I'll be honest with you,it's like I'm so fixated on like
getting rest, working out,eating right.
And it was like the one thingthat was slacking my life.
I'm not afraid to say this onon on you know um on the podcast
(39:52):
here, but it was where I feellike I was really struggling was
with my spirituality.
You know what I mean?
Like I put everything else infront of it and and kind of
started to feel like I was in awhole entire room filled with
people, but I was standing thereall by myself.
I don't know if anybody canrelate to that, but when you can
walk into a room filled withpeople but still feel alone, you
(40:14):
know, and then really I wasn't.
I I wasn't.
It was it was me, it was it wasthe only thing that was wrong
was the six inches between myears at the time.
And it it dragged us all down.
It wasn't just me, it wasdragging us down.
And it's probably not as big asI I portray it in my head, but
it was enough pain for me to getoff my dead ass and do
something about it, you know,and we are, we are today, you're
(40:36):
right, and we we can changethis.
Anybody can do exactly what I'mtalking about right now, you
know, and God forbid somebodyneeds somebody to talk to.
You know, I'm always available,I talk to people all the time,
you know, but we can control ourinternal economy, built, built
(40:57):
by trust, you know, creatingthat trust engine, you know,
inspecting our craft, inspectingour jobs, okay.
Um, momentum isn't given.
It's not given.
Nobody's gonna give it to us.
We have to build, it's built,it's built by our team, it's
built by me, and it starts uptop, you know, and shit rolls
downhill.
And I understand that.
(41:17):
And I need good co-leaders withit to spread that that that
inspiration and that positivity.
And and when I'm down,hopefully they can lift me up
like they have.
Um, and I think I'm just aboutdone.
If this episode has helpedanybody, help how how much 42
minutes, plenty of time.
Plenty of time.
(41:38):
Okay.
So, anyhow, build, you got tobuild your own momentum.
Okay.
If this episode helped you,share it with share with
somebody that you feel that hasbeen frozen by the market or
outside conditions that theyallow to to affect their insides
and and DM me.
Okay.
DM me the word momentum.
Okay.
I'll send you the seven daysprint checklist.
(42:00):
You just need to build yourown.
We'll see you next time.
And we are live.
Welcome back, everybody, toBehind the To olBelt episode
303.
I am your host, Ty Cobb Backer,and thank you for joining us on
this Wednesday edition ofBehind and The To olBelt.
We will be back after our shortintro from our sponsors.
What do you say?
(01:04):
Remember Fat Albert?
.
We're back.
We're back.
We're live.
We're raw, and we are uncut totalk about the wins, the
struggles, the strains, thepains, the growth, the wins, and
the successes.
Love this.
Love this podcast.
(01:25):
Um, it's become a platform forus to promote charitable charity
events and and for me to talkabout my personal development,
my my journey, where I'm at.
Usually, for those of you thatknow know me, know us, know that
we try to keep it authentic ashell.
(01:46):
Uh, try not to pull anypunches, speak the raw truth.
And usually a lot of it's justmy experience of trials,
tribulations, ebbs, flows, allthat good stuff.
But before we get started here,I want to plug uh the golf
outing real quick.
Myself, Rocket, Glenn, and Johngot to participate in Steven
(02:09):
Spence's swing for recovery lastMonday down in Baltimore.
And what a joy, what a treat tohave the opportunity to
participate in such an amazingevent that Steven Spence has put
on for three years now.
Last year, we jumped on boardwith him to try to help raise
some money for Roofers andRecovery.
Paul Reed and Kimberly Reed ofuh Roofers in Recovery and Hope
(02:34):
in the Valley treatmentfacility.
And this year, I think we'rebetween both of our outings,
we're gonna we're gonna raise alot, a lot of money,
surprisingly.
I mean, it's just it's amazing.
And Steven, Stephen has donesuch a wonderful job
facilitating, organizing,sticking to it, you know, not
(02:55):
giving up.
After the first year did it, Ithink they raised about two
grand last year.
I think we raised between bothtournaments about 30,000.
It takes 15 to send somebody torehab.
So two lucky people, twofortunate, two blessed, two
blessed people are able to, youknow, attend a treatment
(03:16):
facility, whether it be, youknow, for emotional purposes,
addiction reasons, what itwhatever the case might be.
But somebody in our industrywas blessed last year.
We should probably find out whothey were, see if they want to
come on the show or somethingand talk, tell us about their
their experience, their journeythus far, and when they went
(03:37):
through treatment and whatthey're doing today, what it was
like, how they got here andwhat it's like now.
That would be, I think that'dbe a good, that'd be good maybe
get Steve to come on to or Paul.
Paul, we need to get Paul andKim on the show.
Shit, I forgot.
We got to get those guys, guysand gals on the show.
But big shout out to Steve,man.
(03:57):
Thank you for for letting us,you know, participate in in
these activities to help ourindustry be a better place, you
know, and and talk, have thoseuncomfortable conversations,
given giving people a placewhere they can have these
uncomfortable conversationswhere maybe they didn't know
where to go or who to talk to,and and and being able to create
(04:18):
a space for an area for them togo to and and uh get some shit
off their chest and get somehelp.
So um, so there's that.
And ours will be tomorrow, uh,next Monday.
Next Monday, Regents Glen uhshotgun tea time is at 10:30.
Anybody wants to come out andgive us a hand or show up with a
pocket full of cash?
(04:38):
We'll have a bunch of rafflesand and a lot of good stuff.
Our sponsors, man, not todaydidn't step up last year, but
they definitely, man, we justmind blowing of the support that
we received this year.
And and you know, to for us tobe able to participate in that.
And most importantly for forlocally, not even most
(05:00):
importantly, secondly, second,second important thing is that
we're teeing up a an atmosphereof of networking with with
businesses that don't even knowthat they do business with each
other through us.
We we're the conduit, uh justabout everybody there, probably
everybody there somehow toucheseach other's businesses in one
(05:21):
way, shape, or form through us.
A lot of our friends, a lot ofa lot of partners, a lot of
people we do business with, alot of people that do business
with us will will be attending.
Um, you know, and a lot ofworthy rivals will be there,
distribution, manufacturing, allstepped up, you know, put put
all the bullshit aside.
And uh they came out, they'reshowing up, they're showing up,
(05:43):
suiting up and showing up andand participating in in such a
an amazing uh charitable, youknow, charity event like this.
So anyhow, um my topic fortoday, I I thought about it,
I've been thinking about this.
Those that are close to meknow, you know, what's been on
the forefront of my mind andstuff and and uh here lately and
(06:07):
and uh unfortunately orfortunately, they get to go
through the seasons with me.
Especially my close loved ones,you know, and they they know
I'm a nut job.
And I think they love me for itand they know I'm a neurotic
mess.
And and I honestly believe ifit wasn't for being neurotic and
(06:28):
driven and and uh don't knowwhen to quit, you know, we
wouldn't be here and have theopportunity to surround myself
around like-minded people thatare just as crazy, just as
nutty, just as neurotic as I am.
Man, we can accomplish someamazing things, man.
I mean, man.
And the list goes on too, andit and it gets bigger of the
(06:50):
amazing people, you know, whowho we get the the privilege to
work alongside every day, andand and our biggest fans, you
know, the Zach Fishers of theworld and and uh his whole
entire family and and tribe overthere shouting TC Backer from
the rooftops and supportingeverything that we do and the
David KXs and and all everybody,you know, everybody.
(07:11):
So thank thank you for thankyou for this.
My family, Jana and Rocket andJacob Quinn and McKenzie and
Joel and Skylar and everybodyyou guys make that make it
worthwhile, you know, and thesupport make me makes me just
want to be a better human beingin general.
So anyhow, uh topic for today,uh build, build your own
(07:35):
momentum.
I want to talk about that alittle bit, some some things
that I've experienced over theyears and seasons that that I've
gone through.
And and uh, you know, I thinkright now is is a perfect time
to kind of talk about, you know,uh the economic global economy
and and what that can do tobusiness owners and and managers
(07:57):
and and leaders in ourindustry, not necessarily just
owners, you know, becauseeverybody gets affected by by
leadership, poor leadership,negative leadership, energetic
leadership.
It it can rub off both good andbad, can rub off on your teams
and not necessarily just theowner's energy.
It could be you know the energyof the co-leaders that that are
(08:18):
rubbing off on you know peopleunder their management.
And and uh so I I thought, youknow, I'd talk about you know, a
time where I almost bought intothe narrative, you know, that
uh the global economy woulddecide our year, right?
And I I talk a lot about notnecessarily probably on on the
(08:38):
podcast here, but it's like, youknow, we've never paid much
attention to the externaleconomy.
It's it's more about theinternal economy, you know, and
and getting caught up in whateverybody says.
It's slow, you know, and it'slike, you know, and and and I
think this is a really good timeof year to talk about it too,
because I think most salespeoplein this position already set
(08:59):
themselves up, set setthemselves up for failure
because you know, they thinkwe're coming into a slow period,
and and a lot of that has to dowith their mindset and they're
already starting to pump thebrakes and and things like that.
And really now's the time to,you know, double down on your
efforts and and more follow-upand and stuff like that.
But, you know, I I too havegotten caught up in uh it's
(09:22):
slow.
And, you know, I let it let itget in my head and my
self-esteem dropped and activitystalled, and the team felt it.
And I didn't realize that I Ithink, I think for me, it's like
I don't want to call control,but you know, dictating our
future, a lot of that has to dowith momentum and and positive
(09:45):
energy, and somebody has tobring it.
Somebody has to bring it, andit has to be built by somebody.
Like it's not gonna be given tous.
Like we we we have to do ourpart.
And and then um, you know, itbecause it it it really boils
down to just mindset andpositivity and habits, habits
(10:06):
that you form, right?
Even through bad times, keep upthe good habits because all
good things will come tofruition if you work hard enough
for them, sometimes quickly,sometimes slowly.
But for me, yeah, it it clickedfor me during that downtime
where momentum um momentum justdoesn't arrive.
It's something and it's it'snot something that's handed to
(10:28):
you.
It's it's built dailyintentionally by me.
And and what and what if I toldyou the biggest threat to your
business is you know, the bigand and then this is what's
crazy because it's not thebiggest threat to your business,
isn't, you know, interestrates, inflation, weather, the
(10:49):
feds, um, it's it's you.
You know, uh, you know, andtoday we're gonna talk about
that.
We're gonna talk about um, youknow, the internal economy, the
mindset, the daily actions thatdetermine whether your business
grows or stalls.
It it isn't a theory, you know,it is it's real talk from from
the middle of a slow season thatthat you know almost ate my my
(11:15):
confidence alive.
Um, and I'm gonna I'm gonnagive you what what I think uh is
a good playbook that that couldturn things around and and step
by step.
Um and uh, you know, I'm sureI'll share a couple of stories
with you.
Um, and and uh, you know, thatway hopefully it'll galvanize
(11:36):
with somebody.
Um, but uh what I can do is isI'll try to break down how how
we're gonna fight through, youknow, whatever global, you know,
I'm not saying you don't payattention to it, right?
But you gotta you gotta payattention to more internally.
So um, you know, I caughtmyself, you know, outsourcing
the momentum to the headlines,right?
(11:57):
How I flipped the loop andrebuild confidence.
And the seven-day, I'm gonnacall it the seven-day momentum
sprint that reignited ourpipeline.
Okay.
And here's the thing anybodycan do this.
Um, even if the market's soft,things are starting to slow
down.
And really what I'm gonna talkabout is like the basics.
(12:18):
And if you never leave thebasics, you don't ever have to
go back to them.
Like I don't have, I'm notgonna share with you, you know,
a silver bullet or or the secretsauce.
Um I'm just gonna share withyou some basic stuff that uh,
you know, I did early on and uhhow we really need to stick to
(12:38):
that and and and never leave it,you know, even in even in the
the greatest of times.
And I think that's where westart to slip.
You know, I think that's thecorners, that's where we stop
inspecting things and and webecome complacent and a little
too comfortable.
And it's like it, these thingsdon't like it doesn't happen
overnight.
It's like a series of eventsthat that happen over time that
(13:01):
I think eventually at some pointin time catch up and um it's it
starts messing with you, right?
Um it starts, I don't know,just and when it starts messing
with you, it starts messing witheverybody else.
So, anyhow, the seven-daymomentum sprint.
Um, and you know what?
Any, anybody, anybody, anybody,anybody in organization, your
(13:25):
organization can can do this.
So I'll be straight with you.
So I've had plenty of smallsmall losses over the years, but
there was one particular seasonthat um that just hit a little
different.
And it it was it was probablymy first big, my first big one.
(13:45):
It hurt uh financially, um,emotionally, it messed up my
chi, right?
It it stole my energy.
And I was already, I caughtmyself already waking up, um,
you know, already thinking aboutwhat was going wrong instead of
what could I build for the day.
(14:06):
And like a lot of businessowners, I started doing what
felt harmless at first, right?
Doom scrolling headlines,reading article after articles
about interest rates, inflation,seasonality, soft demand, all
the reasons why things wereslow.
I started buying into thebullshit.
And somewhere in that mess, Iforgot what my real job was,
(14:27):
right?
And my real job is, and again,this goes for anybody, right?
Like I had to, I I I gotta sellmyself.
I have to sell our project, ourproducts.
And um, I gotta get busygetting busy, right?
I gotta fill that calendar up,I gotta get out, I gotta
network, I gotta, I gotta, youknow, stay positive, I gotta
(14:49):
bring that positivity to theoffice every day.
Um, and if you've ever had oneof those seasons where the story
in your head is is louder thanthe plans in your hands, right?
And I I literally felt that,right?
You know exactly what I'mtalking about.
And um, you know, if you'veever felt like the market was
(15:13):
deciding your destiny, right?
Like you, you were like youlike you were just along for the
ride, you know.
I was kind of you know,drifting along, right?
That's exactly where I was.
And but something had to shift,something had to give, okay.
(15:33):
And here's what pulled me outof it.
I'm gonna share a little bit.
There, there's two economies,okay.
And I I touched on that.
There's the macro economy, theglobal economy.
That's the big picture, right?
Interest rates, inflation,political cycles, all the
excuses, right?
All the stuff we can't control.
And then there's the internaleconomy, your mindset, your
(15:54):
habits, your energy, okay.
And this economy, this one is ahundred percent in your
control.
100%.
I realize something important.
Self-esteem is a leadingindicator, okay, and and and
complacency, right?
I feel like maybe I was asleepat the wheel, um, was getting
(16:15):
complacent, was was gettingpotentially um, I don't know, I
don't want to say a little soft.
Um, but my confidence dropped,activities dropped.
Um, and when activities drop,the pipeline dries up.
And when the pipeline dries up,opportunities start to
disappear.
And then confidence drops evenfurther.
(16:37):
Like it was like a viciouscycle for me.
It's a brutal loop.
Vicious cycle that I was goingthrough.
I was living in it.
I was literally living in that.
So I needed to to counter loop.
I needed a a momentum loop,like a look, like, like the
flywheel stopped.
Like I had to, you know, JimCollins wrote a book about the
(16:57):
flywheel.
It's a good short read.
And I believe that there's a adocument, a PDF document in
there too, that you can printout and actually work while
you're reading the book.
It's I haven't done it for awhile.
I might have to do, might haveto dig that back out.
And uh, but I can tell you thispositivity with consistent
action, early wins createsopportunities.
(17:21):
Opportunities createconfidence, right?
And and the team can multiplythat, but that spark has to
start with me.
And I'm not trying to make thisabout me, but I do know being
at the top, you know, shit rollsdownhill.
And um, and I found myself justnot as energetic, um low
(17:45):
self-esteem, all that, all thatcrap.
It, you know, and for me, Ihave to learn things the hard
way, right?
Leadership is uh is energyviral.
We'll call it energy viral,okay?
Good and bad.
I've walked into rooms, man,the energy was just off.
I've walked into rooms where Iwas off when I walked in that
(18:05):
room, but when I left that room,my energy was just
skyrocketing, you know, and it'sand it's it's the people, it's
the vibe, it's theconversations, it's the
attitude, it's the optimistic.
The glass is half full and nothalf empty.
And I think as human beings,yeah, just on cruise control.
(18:26):
Just like Zach said, you know,and I think we I I watch it, I
see people just kind of come in,clock in, clock out, forget the
purpose.
Why are we here?
You know, and then you throw acouple golf turnies in the mix,
you throw a 21 turkey salute inthe frying pan.
Next thing you know, man,spirits are lifted back up.
(18:47):
And we do that intentionallybecause I know spirits get down,
I know things get tough.
We never know what someone'sgoing through in their personal
in their personal life.
And and sometimes work shouldbe one of the positive places
people go.
I would, I would like to thinkso.
Okay.
I know it's not, it's calledwork.
(19:09):
Shit's not always, you know,tiptoeing through the tulips.
Sometimes we got to trudge theroad to happy destiny and pull
our weight and meet our teammembers halfway.
It's not always easy.
Half the battle's just suitingup and showing up.
Okay.
And um, so if I walk in tight,discouraged, uncertain, they
(19:33):
feel it.
They mirror it.
But if I walk in there clear,energetic, they catch that too.
And that's that's kind of whereI need to stay.
And some days I know I I'm I'mnot fit to be around.
And I know those days I gottafigure out what the hell,
because usually if something'swrong, something's wrong with
me, if I let something botherme.
This usually means that's ait's a clear like outside
(19:56):
circumstances should not dictatehow I feel on the inside.
If I'm having issues with theinside, it's because there's
something I've done, somethingthat I need to do.
Usually I need to get off mydead ass and do something.
Um and just like that, Istopped waiting, stopped waiting
for the momentum.
And I talked to Vic about thisa lot.
I talked to Vic and John aboutthis yesterday.
(20:18):
And uh we needed to startmanufacturing momentum.
Okay.
And I was talking about the uhat the last podcast a little bit
about brand and personal brandand company brand.
And the company brand shouldjust about be every
salesperson's start of theirpersonal brand, I would I would
(20:43):
think.
So let's talk about somethingthat that get gets overlooked.
And and that's that's that'spersonal brand, you know, and
especially during slow seasons.
How important is the brand?
Because brand should radiatetrust.
And trust, obviously, you know,going through the do I know
(21:03):
them, do I like them, do I trustthem?
Because that's that's whopeople do business with.
So brand isn't your logo, it'snot your colors, brand is your
reputation at scale,essentially.
Okay, it's the answer to thethree simple questions every
buyer asks.
Do I like you?
Do I know you?
Do I trust you?
Okay.
And the truth is, the truth isthat it isn't built by just
(21:29):
posting on social media.
It's earned by delivering.
Okay.
It's earned by delivering,suiting up, showing up,
communicating well.
And I'll give you just a smallsynopsis, a little example of
uh, you know, where we had a jobwhere everything went good.
Everything went right, clearcommunication, on time, and one
(21:53):
little extra surprise thatdelighted the homeowner at the
end of it.
Okay.
And that can be anything.
That could be you get it done aday early.
We didn't have to replace allthe plywood.
So we're giving you some of themoney back, you know, whatever
little delight at the end thatyou can give to a homeowner.
Um, and if you can do that,then next thing you know, right,
(22:14):
two weeks later, we're notchasing leads.
And why is that?
Because everything went smooth.
The neighbor called us, thentheir cousin called us.
That isn't luck.
Okay, when that happens, allright.
That's what trust is, you know,that's what trust is.
Trust then is doing the heavylifting.
Okay.
Trust is huge.
(22:34):
Trust is huge.
Okay.
Your brand can become a magnetif you build it deliberately.
Okay.
Referrals.
Referrals should be thestandard.
A lot of us hope for justreferrals to just start coming
in and the phone rings, but ittakes a good team to actually be
(22:55):
asking for referrals.
That should just be thestandard all day, every day.
Okay, it needs to be a habit.
Okay.
We have to turn asking forreferrals into a habit.
And I came up with three simplemoves.
Okay.
Create, create referralmoments.
Okay.
How do you do that?
(23:16):
I just explained a little bit,right?
That means clear communication,on time delivery, and one
surprise that delights theclient or the homeowner.
Okay.
Number two, capture proof.
Okay.
Ask for the reviews.
Okay.
That's another thing that Iknow a business owner, a manager
(23:36):
just wishes that their teamwould do.
But I'm telling you, if you dothis framework, okay, especially
during down times wheneverybody else is backing off,
okay, ask for the reviews.
Get testimonials, ask forpermission to share the outcome
of the project with thehomeowner.
Okay.
Make it easy.
(23:58):
Make it easy for them to sayyes.
Okay.
Now, if we're out there andit's like we can't, we keep
rescheduling the job, and thenwhen we get out there, we're
short materials, and then we getout there and it's all these
problems, there's nails all overthe place and all that stuff.
That's not making it easy.
Okay.
That makes it even moredifficult for us to ask for it.
(24:21):
But that's key because that'sthat's 90% of the battle.
Nobody's asking for it.
Okay.
So the key part is to ask forit.
Okay.
And you don't just say, hey, ifyou know anyone, no.
You simply ask if you were me,okay, who who is one person,
(24:48):
okay, I should talk to?
Be specific, be natural, makeit easy to answer.
Okay.
And by asking it that way,who's one person I should talk
to?
If you were me.
And if the job went well, ifthe production team cashed that
check that your ass wrote whenyou first showed up at the
doorstep, it should be easy.
You should be able to catchcapture proof.
(25:10):
You you should be creating areferral moment.
But if you're not asking, youyou're not going to get any of
that.
You know, and this is what'scrazy.
One referral can cover payroll.
One referral.
Okay.
One warm intro can change anentire month, not just for the
sales rep, but for the entirecompany.
(25:31):
And I think that's half theproblem too with the sales reps.
They're out for themselves.
They don't understand howimportant it is for them to do a
good job so everybody else atthe table can eat.
Okay.
From production toadministrative to the finance
department to to the guys thatare out busting their ass to
market the business to make thatphone ring.
(25:51):
Right?
Like, like we're back herebusting our ass to make the
phone ring.
Now it's time for you to go outand make a freaking referral
moment.
The rest of the team needs tocash that check that the
marketing department, okay, hasso diligently prepared, teed up,
okay, for that phone to ring,for that said salesperson to go
(26:15):
out there and offer value,right?
I mean, really, it it's it'sthat simple.
Okay.
If you can oper operationalizethis every single day, okay,
your past clients become yourbiggest promoters.
Okay.
(26:35):
I've seen it, I've done it.
When I was out in the field,when I installed shingles, when
I sold the jobs, okay, yourpromoters will fill your
pipeline.
Easy peasy, easy peasy.
Okay, now let's be honest.
When business gets busy, that'swhen corners get cut.
Okay, I've watched it, I sawit, I've seen it, I've
experienced it, I've been a partof it.
(26:57):
The complacency, thecomfortability, the corners get
caught.
We stop inspecting.
People stop expecting, whetherit's the dirty ass truck to the
oil change, to not caulking theend caps on gutters.
If we're not inspecting jobs,if we're not inspecting
vehicles, if we're not followingup with our teammates, and I
(27:21):
don't even want to say holdingthem accountable, but just
holding the standard, right?
Things things can get out ofcontrol.
Those little things turn out tobe very costly at the end.
Okay.
And for us, it showed up.
It showed up loud and clear.
We were so focused on thevolume that inspection slipped.
Quality started eroding inlittle ways, right?
(27:44):
That little things ended upcosting us big over time.
So, how are we gonna fix this?
One simple habit.
One simple habit.
And I talked to Jeremy Benderthe other day about this.
And a weekly quality audit.
Every week we pick one jobsite, okay?
(28:05):
We inspect it against thechecklist, we close the gaps,
and we document the fix.
Okay.
Scorecard, right?
Because quality, reviews,referrals fills the pipeline.
It's cause and effect, it's notluck.
It's not luck.
That's just organically whathappens.
Okay.
(28:26):
But it's a lot ofresponsibility, it's a lot of
work.
And that's how we end upoutworking everybody.
Because we cross those T's, wedot those I's and we inspect.
We inspect everything.
We inspect how the how the salewas made.
Did they miss anything?
Did they get the colorselection sheet signed?
Because that's where that'swhere some of the chaos begins.
(28:47):
When it hands it hands off tooperations and then over to
production, and production getsout there, it's like there's no
pictures.
What area am I doing?
It's like, and then thatcreates complete chaos.
And then that ripple effectaffects the client.
Here's the facts when marginsare compressed, we can't panic.
(29:12):
Okay.
There's been many times overthe years where I wanted to hit
the panic button.
Sad reality of it is nobody'scoming to save us.
Nobody.
Okay.
You increase volume withoutlowering the standards.
(29:34):
Okay.
And you do it through dailyrhythm, not random hustle.
And I've been there too.
I'm working on the wrongthings.
I'm just hustling, grinding,not getting anything done, and I
can't see the delay at the endof the tunnel.
But here's the new standard.
And I hope a lot of our team'slistening right now.
Okay.
The new standard is on thesales side.
(29:59):
Of things on the retail side ofthings and and even in the new
construction side of things,some of this will apply there
too.
But but uh I'm gonna call itthe 10 touches, 10 touches a
day, okay.
Four past clients, threecurrent client clients, and
three prospects.
Okay, if we're not following upokay with past clients asking
(30:21):
for referrals, if we're not ifwe're not um reaching out to
three current clients and orfollowing up with three
prospects, 10 touches there,okay.
One referral ask a day, okay.
One brand post teachingsomething, showing something, or
shared win, one quality audit aday.
(30:43):
Okay, and one 45 to 60 minutepipeline block.
I'm calling it a block, likeblocking out time on your
calendar, okay?
No slack, no meetings, nodistractions, just outreach and
offers.
Okay, if you got three in yourbucket and you haven't closed
the deal yet, call them, followup with them, email them, and
(31:05):
offer them something.
What are we offering?
Okay.
Has something changed?
Has materials gone up?
Has materials gone down?
Can we give them somethingfree?
What can we do to helpfacilitate your decision making
to go with us?
Okay.
Again, that is a huge problem.
Nobody's following up withanybody.
Okay.
Past clients, current clients,future prospects, whatever the
(31:28):
case might be.
Okay.
Follow up, follow up, followup, follow up, follow up.
Okay.
Big time.
40 to 60 minutes a week.
You cannot tell me we don'thave people on our sales team
that don't have 40 to 60 minutesa week or a day.
You know, a day.
Do that for a week and the mathwill change.
Activity creates opportunity.
(31:49):
Opportunity creates um options,and options rebuild confidence.
Okay.
If your calendar doesn't showpipeline, time block, don't
expect your bank account tochange either.
Basically.
That's the bottom line.
I think my getting a sorethroat.
(32:14):
That sucks.
Oh god.
Of course we did golf in therain on Monday.
So anyhow, let me show you howsimple this can be.
Okay.
I'm gonna break it down Mondaythrough Friday.
Okay.
Doesn't have to be the thisexact way, but just I went back
through and I started thinkingabout things that I used to do,
(32:36):
things that I wish werehappening, things that I've
tried in the past, but let's useMonday for an example.
Called four past clients,right?
One said, Okay, this justhappened to me two weeks ago.
No exaggeration.
Sorry, somebody keeps callingme here.
I call them, they said to me,funny timing.
(33:01):
My friend needs this.
They didn't need it, but theirfriend needed it, okay?
That single warm intro coveredone week's payroll.
Just random called a client,called four clients, okay?
One of them, three, four, oneout of the four, said, you know,
(33:22):
because timing is everything.
I mean, it really, truly,really, truly is.
Okay.
Tuesdays, quality audit, founda handoff gap.
Okay, we have a weekly meetingwhere we talk and stuff like
that.
We build a checklist andprevented future mistakes.
Wednesday, one brand post,sparked DMs.
DMs started coming in.
(33:42):
How many times have we postedon social media, especially down
south, that the the DM box,something fresh, something new,
something that caught somebody'seye?
Like, and they're tagging otherpeople's names in there.
The issue with that is that'sgreat, but if no one's
monitoring that and no one'spaying attention, because so
many people in that in those, ifyou look at the comments in any
post, especially if it's a paidad, there's so many people in
(34:05):
there asking questions.
Do you guys cover this area?
Do you guys do Windows?
Do you guys do this?
Or they'll tag an individual'sname in there.
That's great.
You're getting people to noticeyou, but if you don't have
anybody following up with that,then we're the problem.
We're the issue.
That's the problem right therein itself.
Okay.
(34:25):
Thursday, a referral ask.
Turns into a meeting.
Okay.
Friday, we build a roof, askfor the do, shared the wins with
the team.
No magic, no secret sauce, justrhythm.
So Monday through Friday, lookat your calendar.
Okay.
Mondays, you know, callclients, past clients, previous
(34:45):
clients, soon-to-be prospects,whatever the case might be.
Tuesday, we need to do betterquality, you know, checks on the
job sites.
Wednesday, a brand post.
Anybody can do that.
Anybody can do that in theorganization.
Okay.
Thursdays, ask for a referral.
Call up 10 past clients.
And I'm saying, and if youhaven't been doing this, okay,
(35:09):
once you get into a rhythm aftereach job is closed out, then
that you should go right intothe trifecta.
Okay.
It's the referrals, thereviews, and repeat clients.
You should go right into thetrifecta.
Like you shouldn't have apipeline of referrals you should
be asking for.
Hopefully, you do have some soyou have a place to start.
Okay.
(35:29):
But everybody should be callingtheir past, previous, current
clients and asking for a reviewand referrals.
If you were me, who would yourecommend?
Okay.
No magic, no secret sauce, justrhythm.
Once you get into that rhythmand like stop being such a
fucking lead, baby.
Like stop waiting for themomentum to happen and like
(35:52):
create your own momentum.
And that's the problem.
Everybody's just waiting aroundfor momentum, magic wand to
just smack them over the fuckinghead.
And it's not going to happen.
Okay.
It's never going to happen.
We got to go out and build ourown momentum.
Okay.
So here's what I've learnedwatching my team during the
season.
Okay.
My local self-esteem wasn'tjust in my head.
(36:15):
It was, it was in our numbers.
I saw our numbers, you know,drop.
Okay.
Because my momentum, my mycourage, my my self-esteem, all
that stuff was in the shitter.
Okay.
People don't need acheerleader.
I do know that.
But what they need is athermostat.
Ed Milette talks about athermostat.
Your job, my job, okay, is toset the thermostat and hold it
(36:37):
there.
Okay.
It's hard.
It's crucial.
It's it's it's nerve-wracking.
But I need to stay calm.
I need to stay focused and beurgent about the right things,
is what I'm learning here.
You know, I can't just hit thepanic button just over any
little situation.
It's also called um leadershipequity.
(36:58):
If I'm barking at every singlething, then it just tends to
fall on death ear.
So, anyhow, yes, other peoplein your organization can spread
positivity.
Okay, and that's important.
That's important.
Okay.
But it starts with you, itstarts with me.
All right.
Nobody hands you momentum.
We have to create it.
And here's the exact sprint.
(37:21):
I'm going to call it aseven-day momentum sprint that
I'd also like to share withanybody.
If anybody wants a PDF of this,I'll have Vic put it in the
comments or DM me.
DM me the word momentum, and Iwill send you a PDF of a
seven-day sprint.
Copy it, steal it, make it yourown.
I give two shits.
(37:41):
Okay.
But I'm going to pretty muchreview what I just went over.
It was, it's, it's the 10-day,10 touches a day, one referral
ask a day, one brand post a day,one quality audit a day,
pipeline block.
That's a 45 minute to 60minute.
Share a win, two minutes, onewin, one lesson shared with your
team.
Do this for one week and youwill feel the momentum come
(38:04):
back.
Not because the economychanged, but because I did.
And I'll share that withanybody.
Anybody that wants that?
DM me momentum and I'll sharethat with you guys.
Okay.
Now, I'm not saying ignore themarket.
Okay.
I'm not saying that whatsoever.
Okay.
Just adjust to it.
Tighten, tighten your offersup.
Okay.
(38:24):
Improve your services.
Price things intelligently.
Okay.
But never outsource yourresults to the headlines.
Don't get caught up in thebullshit.
Stop watching TV.
Okay.
Your pipeline doesn't read thenews.
Okay.
Pipeline doesn't read it.
All right.
So get your head out of theclouds.
All right.
Your clients don't care aboutin inflation charts.
(38:46):
Okay.
They care about whether you candeliver value right now.
Okay.
We all know it's become anAmazon world.
I mean, it truly has become anAmazon world today.
Okay.
And these are things, thesethis is my my experience.
I'm sharing my experiences.
I'm sharing the standard thatwe're going to hold here at TC
(39:09):
Backer Construction.
Um, and again, that's what's sogroovy about us doing a podcast
because our team gets to listento this stuff.
Okay.
We get to impact, you know,other local contractors global,
globally.
Um, my my experience, strengthand hope.
You know, I almost fell for thethe macro trap.
You know what I mean?
I almost fell for it.
(39:31):
And uh, you know, through paincomes growth.
And I know that I was looking,I was seeking like that next
level, that next gear.
And I'll be honest with you,it's like I'm so fixated on like
getting rest, working out,eating right.
And it was like the one thingthat was slacking my life.
I'm not afraid to say this onon on you know um on the podcast
(39:52):
here, but it was where I feellike I was really struggling was
with my spirituality.
You know what I mean?
Like I put everything else infront of it and and kind of
started to feel like I was in awhole entire room filled with
people, but I was standing thereall by myself.
I don't know if anybody canrelate to that, but when you can
walk into a room filled withpeople but still feel alone, you
(40:14):
know, and then really I wasn't.
I I wasn't.
It was it was me, it was it wasthe only thing that was wrong
was the six inches between myears at the time.
And it it dragged us all down.
It wasn't just me, it wasdragging us down.
And it's probably not as big asI I portray it in my head, but
it was enough pain for me to getoff my dead ass and do
something about it, you know,and we are, we are today, you're
(40:36):
right, and we we can changethis.
Anybody can do exactly what I'mtalking about right now, you
know, and God forbid somebodyneeds somebody to talk to.
You know, I'm always available,I talk to people all the time,
you know, but we can control ourinternal economy, built, built
(40:57):
by trust, you know, creatingthat trust engine, you know,
inspecting our craft, inspectingour jobs, okay.
Um, momentum isn't given.
It's not given.
Nobody's gonna give it to us.
We have to build, it's built,it's built by our team, it's
built by me, and it starts uptop, you know, and shit rolls
downhill.
And I understand that.
(41:17):
And I need good co-leaders withit to spread that that that
inspiration and that positivity.
And and when I'm down,hopefully they can lift me up
like they have.
Um, and I think I'm just aboutdone.
If this episode has helpedanybody, help how how much 42
minutes, plenty of time.
Plenty of time.
(41:38):
Okay.
So, anyhow, build, you got tobuild your own momentum.
Okay.
If this episode helped you,share it with share with
somebody that you feel that hasbeen frozen by the market or
outside conditions that theyallow to to affect their insides
and and DM me.
Okay.
DM me the word momentum.
Okay.
I'll send you the seven daysprint checklist.
(42:00):
You just need to build yourown.
We'll see you next time.
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