Today we explore how contractors can use AI to enhance personal connections with customers while maintaining their unique brand identity. Michael Wheelock from Affiliated Tech shares how their AI tools analyze customer interactions to improve service quality, identify at-risk clients, and boost retention rates without sacrificing the human touch.
• AI can analyze calls to identify customers at risk of leaving or sales opportunities without replacing human interaction
• Personalized service consistently outperforms rushed customer interactions in closing deals and building relationships
• Call recording and analysis helps enforce brand standards across all customer touchpoints
• Technology can transcribe calls, summarize interactions, and integrate with existing software systems
• Using sentiment analysis allows companies to address negative experiences before they become poor reviews
• Call recordings provide training opportunities and recognition for excellent customer service
• Successful implementation requires transparency with both customers and employees about recording purposes
• The right AI approach helps contractors scale while maintaining their unique brand voice and values
Ready to explore how your business can grow without losing your brand voice? Reach out to the team at Affiliated Tech via sales@affiliatedtech.com to learn how their solutions can help improve your operations.
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We'll see you next time, Lemon Heads!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, lemonheads ?
Welcome to another episode ofFrom the Yellow Chair.
I am Crystal and today I amreally excited to talk about
something that, I'll be honest,I have a love-hate relationship
with.
But I today am going to betalking about AI with a soul,
how contractors can really staypersonal in a tech-driven world.
I know that we are reshapinghow home service companies are
(00:24):
connecting with customers usingartificial intelligence, but,
before you roll your eyes, thisisn't really about replacing
your people with robots,necessarily.
This is really more about.
Today's call is specificallymore about protecting your voice
, your values and everythingthat makes your business and
your brand uniquely you.
(00:45):
So joining me is going to bethe head of customer
interactions for Affiliated Tech, which I got to meet them when
I was helping them set up withmy pest families pest control
company called Voice for Pest isthe program that they had that
particularly, I engaged with,and once I got to listening to
what they were doing, I was likeman, this is super cool.
(01:06):
So we're going to talk throughhow they are helping contractors
use AI to listen better,respond better and stay true to
their brand, all while growingsmarter and faster.
So listen, grab your lemonade,get your chip off your shoulder
about AI and let's talk abouthow the right tech can make your
brand much more human, not less.
Let's sip some lemonade, allright, perfect.
(01:35):
So, michael Wheelock, welcometo From the Yellow Chair.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Hi guys, great to be here so excited.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Oh yeah, and we've been chatting already before the
recording started.
So I know that you are the headof sales for Affiliated Tech.
You're a seasoned communicationexpert.
That home service is no, you'reno stranger to that.
Love your AI driven likecustomer analytics things that
you guys have going on.
So why should any one of mylisteners, michael, care kind of
(02:04):
what you have to say?
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Absolutely so.
First off, I was born and bredin the communications industry.
I spent 23 years growing up inthere, from college to now.
I started out even working onthe copper out in the field back
when we had old dial tonephones, and then I became very
high up in the communicationsfor the phone company running
(02:30):
contact centers and call centersfor them, helping with customer
experience.
From Affiliated Technologiesperspective, we've been in the
industry for 30 years.
We are the industry's firstcommunications provider that
focuses on home services.
So we find most of ourcustomers don't go out and use a
(02:53):
sales force for running theirwhole business.
They use an industryspecialized software to run that
business, things that controlroutes, things that are made for
you.
We are the communicationscompany that is made for you.
You'll find, as we talk through, a lot of the solutions today
they actually came from customerinput.
(03:14):
So our customers have a bigvoice in how we support them and
how we grow their business.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Man, I can tell you, you know, when we talk to
vendors, that we know arelistening to the contractor,
because you know I'm acontractor at heart.
My heart goes to watching my dad, brother, my grandpa and me
being in that, and so you know,really listening to your people
is where I think vendors canreally miss the boat.
Like, what are people lookingfor?
And so you know, michael, youknow I, as a brand person, this
(03:42):
idea that AI is coming in andreplacing everybody and you know
brands can be whipped up in 20minutes, you can buy them off of
a shelf and things like thatthose are super concerning to
people like me.
So what I really want to knowis how can I use AI as a
supplement, as a resource, as anefficiency tool, but yet still
have that people first mentality, efficiency tool but yet still
(04:07):
have that people first mentality.
And so you know how did youguys really decide that needed
to be a direction that you guyswent for voice for pest or voice
for turf, or you know all thelittle cool voice fours that
you're doing.
So how are you using tech tohelp keep brands feel still
personal, yet all the coolthings that come along with AI?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Absolutely so.
You'll find in the industrythere's been a progression to
use AI to talk to your customers.
The challenge with that hasbeen you lose that personal
touch that you were talkingabout.
We have stepped back and takena much different approach using
AI to make you more efficient byanalyzing phone calls and
(04:47):
conversations to tell you whichcustomers are getting ready to
leave your service, which onesneed your special attention,
which ones are viable salesopportunities that you should be
pursuing, and automating allthat without you having to lift
a finger.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Well, I mean, you know contractors another thing I
know contractors are like, man,I don't need one more thing on
my plate, or or trying tomicromanage one more thing, like
, yes, I can hand it off, butyou know, really this comes down
to having a tool that works forme and makes us more efficient
and definitely supportseverything that good tech should
(05:28):
support.
Right, but it can't replacepersonality, but it can support
it.
So, you know, it can help us beI know it can help us be more
consistent, hopefully moreauthentic and even maybe more in
tune.
You mentioned, like whencustomers are getting ready to
leave.
I love the thought processbehind that because, you know,
sometimes tone is hard tomeasure when you're just like
(05:48):
quickly listening to things orif you're just kind of in an
environmental sound of what'sgoing on in your own office, and
so I love the idea that AI isin there picking up on tone and,
just again, all we're lookingfor are red flags, right.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Sometimes, people.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
just my customer had a bad day right, but at least
you knew we even talk about thathere at Lemon Seed.
You know we are always tryingto run customer satisfaction
Like are we hitting all thepoints.
I do not know a vendor or acontractor out there who doesn't
want to serve their clientswell.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I think those great little red flags are super cool
things that we can definitely beup to.
So, when you know, I've sharedthis with you before like, it's
not just about auto.
You know automation.
While that is the cool piece ofthis, it's about staying on
message, and so can AI actuallylike correct off-brand moments
or inconsistencies and like allthose tone and empathy and
(06:47):
authenticity pieces that weretaught to include in our CSR.
Like, can AI really help uswith that?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
You know, I just had a flashback because you know, as
I said, I grew up running callcenters and doing other things
for the phone company and backin the day we used to have to
record calls as a supervisorwith a physical tape deck call
recorder.
Remember the days back in atape deck.
But what we would do is wewould have a sheet of paper.
I'm just going to show a blanksheet of paper here, but that
(07:17):
had all the criteria that wewanted our employees to talk
about Did they greet thecustomer, did they express
empathy, did they do things likeovercome objections?
Now, with AI, you don't have toinvest in the call center
manager because the call centermanager or the customer service
manager they're so busy as it isthey don't have time to listen
(07:42):
to those calls.
Well, with our model of AI, weactually run all those through
the AI engine to analyze is thecustomer service rep hitting
those key metrics that you'relooking for?
I'll give you a great example.
I had a customer just yesterdaytalk to me about we were
(08:02):
reviewing their calls.
Just yesterday talked to meabout we were reviewing their
calls and we identified a trendwhere their lead sales agent was
not even getting an address ofprospects before they were going
in and talking about pricing.
Well, there's two things aboutthat.
One, is the company serving amarket that are a prospect
that's in their market.
And then number two how do wefollow up and make sure that
(08:26):
that customer is getting thesupport they need?
If we don't have any informationabout that customer, just
getting on the phone and givingthat prospect a price is costing
you hundreds of dollars as acompany in marketing spend and
you're not getting a return oninvestment because the prospect
is then going out and shoppingyou around and just price
(08:48):
shopping you.
The other key metric aroundthat is we're in an industry of
value.
Both from my perspective andour clients' perspective, the
biggest thing that we can offerto our clients is value.
If we are not defining thatvalue to a prospect, how are we
ever able to close a deal otherthan offering the cheapest price
(09:11):
?
The days of racing to a zerodollar price should be over for
our customers.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yes, and you know I we had a client the other day
and I was looking through their,their information and I was
like why it?
It's costing us money to runthese calls and we're not
building any value on the frontside of things.
So you know again, you have tobuild value in your business
through the entire customerexperience.
So I preach this a lot too.
(09:37):
Like you're right If I showedup to your house to work on your
unit or spray for pest controlor whatever you've got going on
and I smell like a cigarette, myshirt's untucked, I got stains
all in the pants, trash fell outof my car and then I'm like
well, it looks like it's goingto be a $5,000 termite treatment
.
They're like kick rocks ExactlyNumber one.
You look like I could buy youwith meth.
(09:58):
So you know Exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
And as somebody who signed up for termite treatment
this month, I wouldn't have paid$5,000 for that interaction
either.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Well, and so you know it's your customer service reps
.
You know I say this a lot too.
You know you really arecontractors.
All contractors, all industries, tend to undervalue the CSR.
They're like they spend a lotof money training the technician
, they spend a lot of moneygetting the great, these great
installs or applications, butthen they're like, well, this
(10:29):
CSR, we're going to pay himeight bucks an hour, stick them
in there, answer the phone.
How hard is it to answer thephone?
It's not hard to answer thephone, but it is hard to protect
a complete customer journey andto dispatch for profit and to
build out profitable routes.
And it is hard to navigate theall of the personalities of all
(10:50):
these field technicians alongwith customers.
And so you, we need to beinvesting in our csrs, and this
is voice for pest and anythingwith the affiliated tech.
You know kind of model is builtto be a support tool, um, there
to just take a lot of theguessing out and be able to
identify a lot of the red flagssooner.
Um, because again, this is sobeneficial, especially, let me
talk to the contractors that arelistening, that are intending
(11:13):
to in make their customerjourney a lot more engaging
overall.
So this means from the momentthat they interact with your
brand through marketing, to thatfirst call with your CSR, to a
dispatcher or whomever you know.
Dispatching to the technician,to the application or install,
to the followup call.
You know those are a lot ofhands and you've got to be
(11:35):
monitoring all of that.
You have to prioritize thecustomer's experience.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
I agree wholeheartedly, the customer's
experience.
I agree wholeheartedly.
And the whole experience yeah,absolutely.
And what I would say is ourvalue does not stop in the
office brick and mortar.
We can also actually capturethat live conversation between a
technician and a customer andensure that your technician is
hitting the KPIs that you wantto as well.
(12:02):
That varies market by market,but the technician simply wears
a little Bluetooth microphone ontheir collar.
If you're in a market where weneed to let or you want to let
the customer know that they'rebeing recorded, you simply walk
up and say Mr Customer, I'm John, I'm your technician today,
just want to let you know I'vegot a note taker running on my
(12:25):
bridge here.
If you need me to turn it off,no problem.
Happy to turn it off for you,but it'll make sure that I don't
miss any notes of what'simportant to you.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I love that.
I love that and it kind of like, again, this is a part of your
brand experience, this is a partof your you know, feeling of
the transparency and lettingthem know you're taking notes
and why.
Why you're taking notes it'snot to have a big brother, it's
not to listen, it's not to judgeWell, overly listen, so you
(12:55):
know, I mean like invade theirprivacy.
This truly is like hey, I'mtransparent with you, I'm taking
notes so that I don't missanything.
At the end of the day, that'sthe truth.
But I will say this it also isimportant that you, as the owner
operator of that business, thatyou are teaching and coaching
your team, your own internalteam, on why you're listening
and not using that as ammunitionif you will, absolutely, but
(13:22):
more as ammunition.
If you will, absolutely, butmore is like hey, I've been
listening to some of your calls.
This is what we need to dodifferent.
Remember, transparency is thekey to solutions and so just not
allowing hey, this was reallyan off-brand experience for this
customer.
Hey, you walked out of thehouse with out representing lots
of options, whatever that lookslike.
So I love that.
Again, ai, navigating thejourney of just is your team
(13:46):
making the best of every singleinteraction, so I definitely
love that.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Our most successful customers are using this as a
carrot with their employee.
How do they incentivize theiremployees with this?
Not just the stick on the backend, but let's celebrate the
wins, because you may not knowabout all of those wins and
those great customer experiences.
We all know that customers arevery quick to complain, but
(14:13):
they're very slow to complement,and this will give you the
visibility into both.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Absolutely, and I love visibility.
So, hey, I know that listeningto calls can also teach us a lot
about culture and customerexperience.
You've probably listened tothousands upon thousands of
calls and recordings and whatthey're telling us, and so what
do you think you've discoveredthe most about the customer
experience, or even companyculture, through listening to
(14:39):
some of those calls?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
That personalized service wins deals.
The reps that are most rushedand most anxious to get the
customer off the phone are lesslikely to close the deal and
build the relationship.
In the end, it is all aboutrelationships.
We are in a relationshipbusiness.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Absolutely.
We just happen to sell whateverpest control, roofing, hvac,
whatever Exactly.
So have you seen any likereally big data, blind spots in
customer service or teamperformance that maybe stick out
to you that contractors couldtake and look for in their own
business?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Absolutely so.
There's a couple of things thatI'd like to highlight, and
we've talked about some of thesolutions for our bigger
customers and largerorganizations, but we do start
at just one employee, a guy inthe truck.
We bring a lot of value to himbecause he's driving down the
road and he doesn't even havetime to necessarily take notes
(15:39):
on a conversation.
With every call we willactually fully transcribe the
call, summarize the call andmost of the time we can push
that summary straight into theirindustry-specific software that
they're running.
That's a major blind spot atthe end of the day.
I know I need to call Ms Johnsonback, but I don't remember what
we were talking about.
(16:00):
Number one, number two, asyou've talked about, our tone
detection and we call itsentiment internally being able
to evaluate the sentiment.
Turn around a lot of very upsetclients that were getting ready
(16:21):
to leave them a negative socialmedia review on Google.
Because we can actually takethat call and send a member of
management an email near realtime, right after the call is
processed, of that interactionor even a text message if they
want to see that.
That way they know something'sgoing on right then and there
they need to jump in get theirhands on it and get that
(16:42):
customer cared for.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I mean there's just nothing about being that nimble.
I mean there's just somethingabout being that nimble for sure
, for sure.
So you know, every phone callthat we take is basically a
mirror.
You know how do we seethemselves, how do we see
ourselves when we're on thosecalls and how do we grow from
there.
So I know that AI can help yougrow by efficiency, but how do
(17:04):
we make sure that we grow theright way?
How do we use this data toscale without losing our whole
brand identity?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah, absolutely so.
One of the things you just saidabout a mirror boy, I love that
.
Yeah, absolutely so.
One of the things you just saidabout a mirror boy, I love that
and in fact, I encourageeveryone, if you've got CSRs in
the office, put up a mirror intheir cube and encourage them to
smile as they're on the call,because that really transitions
(17:34):
and shows through a phone call.
So I'm sorry, I apologize, Imissed the question.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
You're good, you're good.
I just was saying, like, whatare some of the data that maybe
we could use, maybe like a KPIor or anything like that, that
we can pull to improve and togrow?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, absolutely so.
You know, one of the greatthings that I love working with
CSRs because many times I do getengaged and almost work as a
business consultant working oncustomer service experiences but
is number one, showing themgood scenarios and what we
genuinely do expect out of them,versus just all the negativity.
(18:14):
Again, it's very important tobring the positive side of
things to our employees to keepthem motivated and driving
forward.
And then second around, that is, our tool can actually define
where a risk, a customer, acustomer at risk of leaving your
service or leaving a negativeGoogle review.
(18:35):
What was their issue?
Was it communications?
We're not doing a good jobletting our customers know
before we're heading out on anappointment.
That's always a hot topic.
The service manager only caresabout things going out in the
field.
Our tool will give him thevisibility of interactions that
(18:57):
are just field-related that heneeds to focus in on.
So not only is our tool openingup doors for growth, but it is
increasing retention levels at alevel that I've never seen in
the industry before.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Retention is an issue for sure.
Client retention, employeeretention, all the retentions
are definitely pushing up.
You know into the perks that weneed to be monitoring better.
So love those thoughts.
So last little question herefor us before we wrap up we do.
(19:37):
Do you have a new littleventure that you're doing with
Highland Cows?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah.
So it's pretty exciting andnerve-wracking at the same time.
We're very nervous.
But if you get to talk to me inthe near future, this may not
be my office Short term.
We're moving to a new homesteadand we're going to get three
acres north of Denton, Texas, inbetween Dallas and Oklahoma, if
you're not from the area.
(20:05):
And we have bought our firstminiature Highland cow.
So I tell my wife jokingly, boy, she should have been better
off just getting diamonds forher birthday because it would
have been half the cost of oneof these cows.
But very excited to to ventureout, get our hands dirty and
(20:28):
help the ag population grow aswell.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
I love that.
I love that.
Well, michael, thank you somuch for hanging out with us.
How can anyone, if they want toreach out to you and just get
more information, just make sure, like I know, it's affiliated
techcom, but also, like you do,all home services?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Oh, perfect.
And then what is the best wayfor them to reach out to you?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yeah, so you can reach us at sales at affiliated
techcom.
A member of our team will reachout to you very quickly.
Make sure that we get what youneed.
Understand your needs.
Understand how we can make adifference and help you improve
your business.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Fantastic, all right, all right.
So I think you've totallyreframed for me a little bit at
least a different way to look atAI, making sure that we're not
just running hard and forgettingbrand, and it's more about how
we're going to be able to keepbrand and keep culture.
So I loved our conversationtoday.
Definitely not a threat.
It's definitely a tool toprotect.
So it's absolutely a greattalking to you.
(21:28):
So, guys, if you're ready togrow your business with, maybe
without losing your voice no punintended make sure that you
reach out to the team over atAffiliated Tech or Voice for
Pest and things like that.
So thanks for listening toanother episode of From the
Yellow Chair.
If you enjoyed this episode,please go share our socials,
leave us a review whereveryou're listening to podcasts.
(21:50):
Thanks for sipping somelemonade and we'll catch you
next time.
Bye, bye guys.
What's up, lemonheads ?
Welcome to another episode ofFrom the Yellow Chair.
I am Crystal and today I amreally excited to talk about
something that, I'll be honest,I have a love-hate relationship
with.
But I today am going to betalking about AI with a soul,
how contractors can really staypersonal in a tech-driven world.
I know that we are reshapinghow home service companies are
(00:24):
connecting with customers usingartificial intelligence, but,
before you roll your eyes, thisisn't really about replacing
your people with robots,necessarily.
This is really more about.
Today's call is specificallymore about protecting your voice
, your values and everythingthat makes your business and
your brand uniquely you.
(00:45):
So joining me is going to bethe head of customer
interactions for Affiliated Tech, which I got to meet them when
I was helping them set up withmy pest families pest control
company called Voice for Pest isthe program that they had that
particularly, I engaged with,and once I got to listening to
what they were doing, I was likeman, this is super cool.
(01:06):
So we're going to talk throughhow they are helping contractors
use AI to listen better,respond better and stay true to
their brand, all while growingsmarter and faster.
So listen, grab your lemonade,get your chip off your shoulder
about AI and let's talk abouthow the right tech can make your
brand much more human, not less.
Let's sip some lemonade, allright, perfect.
(01:35):
So, michael Wheelock, welcometo From the Yellow Chair.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Hi guys, great to be here so excited.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Oh yeah, and we've been chatting already before the
recording started.
So I know that you are the headof sales for Affiliated Tech.
You're a seasoned communicationexpert.
That home service is no, you'reno stranger to that.
Love your AI driven likecustomer analytics things that
you guys have going on.
So why should any one of mylisteners, michael, care kind of
(02:04):
what you have to say?
Tell us a little bit aboutyourself.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Absolutely so.
First off, I was born and bredin the communications industry.
I spent 23 years growing up inthere, from college to now.
I started out even working onthe copper out in the field back
when we had old dial tonephones, and then I became very
high up in the communicationsfor the phone company running
(02:30):
contact centers and call centersfor them, helping with customer
experience.
From Affiliated Technologiesperspective, we've been in the
industry for 30 years.
We are the industry's firstcommunications provider that
focuses on home services.
So we find most of ourcustomers don't go out and use a
(02:53):
sales force for running theirwhole business.
They use an industryspecialized software to run that
business, things that controlroutes, things that are made for
you.
We are the communicationscompany that is made for you.
You'll find, as we talk through, a lot of the solutions today
they actually came from customerinput.
(03:14):
So our customers have a bigvoice in how we support them and
how we grow their business.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Man, I can tell you, you know, when we talk to
vendors, that we know arelistening to the contractor,
because you know I'm acontractor at heart.
My heart goes to watching my dad, brother, my grandpa and me
being in that, and so you know,really listening to your people
is where I think vendors canreally miss the boat.
Like, what are people lookingfor?
And so you know, michael, youknow I, as a brand person, this
(03:42):
idea that AI is coming in andreplacing everybody and you know
brands can be whipped up in 20minutes, you can buy them off of
a shelf and things like thatthose are super concerning to
people like me.
So what I really want to knowis how can I use AI as a
supplement, as a resource, as anefficiency tool, but yet still
have that people first mentality, efficiency tool but yet still
(04:07):
have that people first mentality.
And so you know how did youguys really decide that needed
to be a direction that you guyswent for voice for pest or voice
for turf, or you know all thelittle cool voice fours that
you're doing.
So how are you using tech tohelp keep brands feel still
personal, yet all the coolthings that come along with AI?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Absolutely so.
You'll find in the industrythere's been a progression to
use AI to talk to your customers.
The challenge with that hasbeen you lose that personal
touch that you were talkingabout.
We have stepped back and takena much different approach using
AI to make you more efficient byanalyzing phone calls and
(04:47):
conversations to tell you whichcustomers are getting ready to
leave your service, which onesneed your special attention,
which ones are viable salesopportunities that you should be
pursuing, and automating allthat without you having to lift
a finger.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Well, I mean, you know contractors another thing I
know contractors are like, man,I don't need one more thing on
my plate, or or trying tomicromanage one more thing, like
, yes, I can hand it off, butyou know, really this comes down
to having a tool that works forme and makes us more efficient
and definitely supportseverything that good tech should
(05:28):
support.
Right, but it can't replacepersonality, but it can support
it.
So, you know, it can help us beI know it can help us be more
consistent, hopefully moreauthentic and even maybe more in
tune.
You mentioned, like whencustomers are getting ready to
leave.
I love the thought processbehind that because, you know,
sometimes tone is hard tomeasure when you're just like
(05:48):
quickly listening to things orif you're just kind of in an
environmental sound of what'sgoing on in your own office, and
so I love the idea that AI isin there picking up on tone and,
just again, all we're lookingfor are red flags, right.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Sometimes, people.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
just my customer had a bad day right, but at least
you knew we even talk about thathere at Lemon Seed.
You know we are always tryingto run customer satisfaction
Like are we hitting all thepoints.
I do not know a vendor or acontractor out there who doesn't
want to serve their clientswell.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
I think those great little red flags are super cool
things that we can definitely beup to.
So, when you know, I've sharedthis with you before like, it's
not just about auto.
You know automation.
While that is the cool piece ofthis, it's about staying on
message, and so can AI actuallylike correct off-brand moments
or inconsistencies and like allthose tone and empathy and
(06:47):
authenticity pieces that weretaught to include in our CSR.
Like, can AI really help uswith that?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
You know, I just had a flashback because you know, as
I said, I grew up running callcenters and doing other things
for the phone company and backin the day we used to have to
record calls as a supervisorwith a physical tape deck call
recorder.
Remember the days back in atape deck.
But what we would do is wewould have a sheet of paper.
I'm just going to show a blanksheet of paper here, but that
(07:17):
had all the criteria that wewanted our employees to talk
about Did they greet thecustomer, did they express
empathy, did they do things likeovercome objections?
Now, with AI, you don't have toinvest in the call center
manager because the call centermanager or the customer service
manager they're so busy as it isthey don't have time to listen
(07:42):
to those calls.
Well, with our model of AI, weactually run all those through
the AI engine to analyze is thecustomer service rep hitting
those key metrics that you'relooking for?
I'll give you a great example.
I had a customer just yesterdaytalk to me about we were
(08:02):
reviewing their calls.
Just yesterday talked to meabout we were reviewing their
calls and we identified a trendwhere their lead sales agent was
not even getting an address ofprospects before they were going
in and talking about pricing.
Well, there's two things aboutthat.
One, is the company serving amarket that are a prospect
that's in their market.
And then number two how do wefollow up and make sure that
(08:26):
that customer is getting thesupport they need?
If we don't have any informationabout that customer, just
getting on the phone and givingthat prospect a price is costing
you hundreds of dollars as acompany in marketing spend and
you're not getting a return oninvestment because the prospect
is then going out and shoppingyou around and just price
(08:48):
shopping you.
The other key metric aroundthat is we're in an industry of
value.
Both from my perspective andour clients' perspective, the
biggest thing that we can offerto our clients is value.
If we are not defining thatvalue to a prospect, how are we
ever able to close a deal otherthan offering the cheapest price
(09:11):
?
The days of racing to a zerodollar price should be over for
our customers.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yes, and you know I we had a client the other day
and I was looking through their,their information and I was
like why it?
It's costing us money to runthese calls and we're not
building any value on the frontside of things.
So you know again, you have tobuild value in your business
through the entire customerexperience.
So I preach this a lot too.
(09:37):
Like you're right If I showedup to your house to work on your
unit or spray for pest controlor whatever you've got going on
and I smell like a cigarette, myshirt's untucked, I got stains
all in the pants, trash fell outof my car and then I'm like
well, it looks like it's goingto be a $5,000 termite treatment
.
They're like kick rocks ExactlyNumber one.
You look like I could buy youwith meth.
(09:58):
So you know Exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
And as somebody who signed up for termite treatment
this month, I wouldn't have paid$5,000 for that interaction
either.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Well, and so you know it's your customer service reps
.
You know I say this a lot too.
You know you really arecontractors.
All contractors, all industries, tend to undervalue the CSR.
They're like they spend a lotof money training the technician
, they spend a lot of moneygetting the great, these great
installs or applications, butthen they're like, well, this
(10:29):
CSR, we're going to pay himeight bucks an hour, stick them
in there, answer the phone.
How hard is it to answer thephone?
It's not hard to answer thephone, but it is hard to protect
a complete customer journey andto dispatch for profit and to
build out profitable routes.
And it is hard to navigate theall of the personalities of all
(10:50):
these field technicians alongwith customers.
And so you, we need to beinvesting in our csrs, and this
is voice for pest and anythingwith the affiliated tech.
You know kind of model is builtto be a support tool, um, there
to just take a lot of theguessing out and be able to
identify a lot of the red flagssooner.
Um, because again, this is sobeneficial, especially, let me
talk to the contractors that arelistening, that are intending
(11:13):
to in make their customerjourney a lot more engaging
overall.
So this means from the momentthat they interact with your
brand through marketing, to thatfirst call with your CSR, to a
dispatcher or whomever you know.
Dispatching to the technician,to the application or install,
to the followup call.
You know those are a lot ofhands and you've got to be
(11:35):
monitoring all of that.
You have to prioritize thecustomer's experience.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
I agree wholeheartedly, the customer's
experience.
I agree wholeheartedly.
And the whole experience yeah,absolutely.
And what I would say is ourvalue does not stop in the
office brick and mortar.
We can also actually capturethat live conversation between a
technician and a customer andensure that your technician is
hitting the KPIs that you wantto as well.
(12:02):
That varies market by market,but the technician simply wears
a little Bluetooth microphone ontheir collar.
If you're in a market where weneed to let or you want to let
the customer know that they'rebeing recorded, you simply walk
up and say Mr Customer, I'm John, I'm your technician today,
just want to let you know I'vegot a note taker running on my
(12:25):
bridge here.
If you need me to turn it off,no problem.
Happy to turn it off for you,but it'll make sure that I don't
miss any notes of what'simportant to you.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I love that.
I love that and it kind of like, again, this is a part of your
brand experience, this is a partof your you know, feeling of
the transparency and lettingthem know you're taking notes
and why.
Why you're taking notes it'snot to have a big brother, it's
not to listen, it's not to judgeWell, overly listen, so you
(12:55):
know, I mean like invade theirprivacy.
This truly is like hey, I'mtransparent with you, I'm taking
notes so that I don't missanything.
At the end of the day, that'sthe truth.
But I will say this it also isimportant that you, as the owner
operator of that business, thatyou are teaching and coaching
your team, your own internalteam, on why you're listening
and not using that as ammunitionif you will, absolutely, but
(13:22):
more as ammunition.
If you will, absolutely, butmore is like hey, I've been
listening to some of your calls.
This is what we need to dodifferent.
Remember, transparency is thekey to solutions and so just not
allowing hey, this was reallyan off-brand experience for this
customer.
Hey, you walked out of thehouse with out representing lots
of options, whatever that lookslike.
So I love that.
Again, ai, navigating thejourney of just is your team
(13:46):
making the best of every singleinteraction, so I definitely
love that.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Our most successful customers are using this as a
carrot with their employee.
How do they incentivize theiremployees with this?
Not just the stick on the backend, but let's celebrate the
wins, because you may not knowabout all of those wins and
those great customer experiences.
We all know that customers arevery quick to complain, but
(14:13):
they're very slow to complement,and this will give you the
visibility into both.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Absolutely, and I love visibility.
So, hey, I know that listeningto calls can also teach us a lot
about culture and customerexperience.
You've probably listened tothousands upon thousands of
calls and recordings and whatthey're telling us, and so what
do you think you've discoveredthe most about the customer
experience, or even companyculture, through listening to
(14:39):
some of those calls?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
That personalized service wins deals.
The reps that are most rushedand most anxious to get the
customer off the phone are lesslikely to close the deal and
build the relationship.
In the end, it is all aboutrelationships.
We are in a relationshipbusiness.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Absolutely.
We just happen to sell whateverpest control, roofing, hvac,
whatever Exactly.
So have you seen any likereally big data, blind spots in
customer service or teamperformance that maybe stick out
to you that contractors couldtake and look for in their own
business?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Absolutely so.
There's a couple of things thatI'd like to highlight, and
we've talked about some of thesolutions for our bigger
customers and largerorganizations, but we do start
at just one employee, a guy inthe truck.
We bring a lot of value to himbecause he's driving down the
road and he doesn't even havetime to necessarily take notes
(15:39):
on a conversation.
With every call we willactually fully transcribe the
call, summarize the call andmost of the time we can push
that summary straight into theirindustry-specific software that
they're running.
That's a major blind spot atthe end of the day.
I know I need to call Ms Johnsonback, but I don't remember what
we were talking about.
(16:00):
Number one, number two, asyou've talked about, our tone
detection and we call itsentiment internally being able
to evaluate the sentiment.
Turn around a lot of very upsetclients that were getting ready
(16:21):
to leave them a negative socialmedia review on Google.
Because we can actually takethat call and send a member of
management an email near realtime, right after the call is
processed, of that interactionor even a text message if they
want to see that.
That way they know something'sgoing on right then and there
they need to jump in get theirhands on it and get that
(16:42):
customer cared for.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I mean there's just nothing about being that nimble.
I mean there's just somethingabout being that nimble for sure
, for sure.
So you know, every phone callthat we take is basically a
mirror.
You know how do we seethemselves, how do we see
ourselves when we're on thosecalls and how do we grow from
there.
So I know that AI can help yougrow by efficiency, but how do
(17:04):
we make sure that we grow theright way?
How do we use this data toscale without losing our whole
brand identity?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah, absolutely so.
One of the things you just saidabout a mirror boy, I love that
.
Yeah, absolutely so.
One of the things you just saidabout a mirror boy, I love that
and in fact, I encourageeveryone, if you've got CSRs in
the office, put up a mirror intheir cube and encourage them to
smile as they're on the call,because that really transitions
(17:34):
and shows through a phone call.
So I'm sorry, I apologize, Imissed the question.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
You're good, you're good.
I just was saying, like, whatare some of the data that maybe
we could use, maybe like a KPIor or anything like that, that
we can pull to improve and togrow?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, absolutely so.
You know, one of the greatthings that I love working with
CSRs because many times I do getengaged and almost work as a
business consultant working oncustomer service experiences but
is number one, showing themgood scenarios and what we
genuinely do expect out of them,versus just all the negativity.
(18:14):
Again, it's very important tobring the positive side of
things to our employees to keepthem motivated and driving
forward.
And then second around, that is, our tool can actually define
where a risk, a customer, acustomer at risk of leaving your
service or leaving a negativeGoogle review.
(18:35):
What was their issue?
Was it communications?
We're not doing a good jobletting our customers know
before we're heading out on anappointment.
That's always a hot topic.
The service manager only caresabout things going out in the
field.
Our tool will give him thevisibility of interactions that
(18:57):
are just field-related that heneeds to focus in on.
So not only is our tool openingup doors for growth, but it is
increasing retention levels at alevel that I've never seen in
the industry before.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Retention is an issue for sure.
Client retention, employeeretention, all the retentions
are definitely pushing up.
You know into the perks that weneed to be monitoring better.
So love those thoughts.
So last little question herefor us before we wrap up we do.
(19:37):
Do you have a new littleventure that you're doing with
Highland Cows?
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Yeah.
So it's pretty exciting andnerve-wracking at the same time.
We're very nervous.
But if you get to talk to me inthe near future, this may not
be my office Short term.
We're moving to a new homesteadand we're going to get three
acres north of Denton, Texas, inbetween Dallas and Oklahoma, if
you're not from the area.
(20:05):
And we have bought our firstminiature Highland cow.
So I tell my wife jokingly, boy, she should have been better
off just getting diamonds forher birthday because it would
have been half the cost of oneof these cows.
But very excited to to ventureout, get our hands dirty and
(20:28):
help the ag population grow aswell.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
I love that.
I love that.
Well, michael, thank you somuch for hanging out with us.
How can anyone, if they want toreach out to you and just get
more information, just make sure, like I know, it's affiliated
techcom, but also, like you do,all home services?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Oh, perfect.
And then what is the best wayfor them to reach out to you?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Yeah, so you can reach us at sales at affiliated
techcom.
A member of our team will reachout to you very quickly.
Make sure that we get what youneed.
Understand your needs.
Understand how we can make adifference and help you improve
your business.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Fantastic, all right, all right.
So I think you've totallyreframed for me a little bit at
least a different way to look atAI, making sure that we're not
just running hard and forgettingbrand, and it's more about how
we're going to be able to keepbrand and keep culture.
So I loved our conversationtoday.
Definitely not a threat.
It's definitely a tool toprotect.
So it's absolutely a greattalking to you.
(21:28):
So, guys, if you're ready togrow your business with, maybe
without losing your voice no punintended make sure that you
reach out to the team over atAffiliated Tech or Voice for
Pest and things like that.
So thanks for listening toanother episode of From the
Yellow Chair.
If you enjoyed this episode,please go share our socials,
leave us a review whereveryou're listening to podcasts.
(21:50):
Thanks for sipping somelemonade and we'll catch you
next time.
Bye, bye guys.
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