February 4, 2025 • 28 mins
Unlock the secrets to exceptional technician training and business success with our special guest, Danielle Wernert, a visionary leader who has transformed the training landscape for over 500 technicians. By tuning in, you'll discover how to bridge the gap in technical training and embrace a culture of learning and adaptability. Danielle shares her journey and insights on fostering a mindset shift that encourages experienced technicians to welcome new technologies and methodologies. Learn how a family-owned business successfully created a training academy to ensure a steady pipeline of skilled talent in the trades.
Our discussion also highlights the vital connection between stellar customer satisfaction and effective technician training. Discover how five-star reviews not only elevate your marketing strategies but also help your business shine among potential customers. We explore the synergy required among sales, technical, CSR, and marketing teams to optimize performance. Technicians are encouraged to educate homeowners on potential upgrades, empowering them to make informed decisions and enhancing trust, which, in turn, drives additional service investments and business growth.
In an engaging twist, we dive into innovative training methods that make learning both enjoyable and effective, moving beyond mundane presentations. From creative games like Safety Jenga to the use of funny video clips, we explore how leadership can set the tone for a culture of learning and adaptability. For smaller businesses, owners might need to lead by example, stepping out of comfort zones to partner with specialized companies for comprehensive training programs. Discover how scalable training solutions not only enhance brand perception but also contribute to building a loyal customer base and a successful business.
If you enjoyed this chat From the Yellow Chair, consider joining our newsletter, "Let's Sip Some Lemonade," where you can receive exclusive interviews, our bank of helpful downloadables, and updates on upcoming content.
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From the Yellow Chair is powered by Lemon Seed, a marketing strategy and branding company for the trades. Lemon Seed specializes in rebrands, creating unique, comprehensive, organized marketing plans, social media, and graphic design. Learn more at www.LemonSeedMarketing.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up, lemonheads ?
Welcome to another episode ofFrom the Yellow Chair.
I am Crystal and today I'msitting down with a rock star
woman in the industry that ismaking great moves, doing great
things in the training space.
She's worked with over 500technicians, more than 200 of
those being brand new to thetrades, creating innovative
(00:24):
training solutions that make herlearning style.
She teaches them with anengaging and measurable and
impactive techniques.
I'm really excited for us totalk about how training can
impact your marketing.
Let's sip some lemonade awesome.
(00:55):
Well, today I have the supersweet already on this call as we
got on here to prepare.
Prepare.
Danielle wernert, owner ofupsell, upskilled consulting and
a 40 under 40 recipient.
So hey, we're from the samething there 40 under 40s, yes.
So, danielle, I always say thisfor every one of my podcast
guests.
Why should anyone care what youhave to say?
Tell me a little bit about whoyou are.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, so I have been in the industry for a little
over five years now and I haveworked with a lot of different
technicians at various levels intheir career path, right so,
from very new technicians cominginto not knowing how to read a
tape measure or what a hammerreally does, all the way to the
technicians who have been in theindustry for years and they
(01:37):
they're very familiar with, withwhat they do every day, but
they also have the mindset thatthey could always learn more.
So I have had the pleasure ofhelping my previous company I
was on the team to start theirinternal training academy, which
is where I connected with somany of those technicians.
But I've had the opportunity toalso just work with multiple
companies across the country andreally develop their technical
(01:59):
training strategy.
We found that there was a gapin technical training
specifically.
So many people talk about salestraining or leadership training
and there's not as much therefor the technicians on, quite
literally, how to do the jobthat they're in the home to do.
So we focus on that gap.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Fantastic.
Well, I absolutely adore thisbecause growing up a lot of our
listeners know I grew up in theindustry.
My grandfather, my dad, now mybrother, own a heating and air
conditioning and plumbingcompany here in rural East Texas
and we started our own trainingacademy called the Home Service
Academy, and basically wedecided that if we couldn't find
(02:38):
skilled technicians we wouldcreate our own.
And we definitely we went at itfull force, so we didn't just
put some chairs in a room and aTV.
We literally built out a wholeentire program around bringing
on people that just want to besuccessful.
They just want a good careerand how we could train them and
(02:59):
honestly, like for the business,how we could be quick and
impactful and efficient aboutgetting them in their own
vehicles out to be maintenance.
Technicians eventually demandtechnicians.
And then we added that samephilosophy to our plumbing
program and it really took offfor our company.
It really helped us have aconsistent flow of people into
(03:20):
our trade and into our companyto where we were basically
farming our own team andtraining them up in the way we
should go.
Do you see, a lot of times withthe ones that aren't new to the
industry, do you have toovercome some bad habits when
you're training.
What do you think the biggestobstacle is?
Is you start to train peoplethat are coming from the trades?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, when you get people that come from, they've
already got that experiencemaybe somewhere else or or you
know, there is a stigma of likehey, I already know how to do
this, I don't need the training.
And it's really that mindsetshift and it's not just a
training mindset shift.
If they're in that head spaceof I already know how to do it
my way, then they need a mindsetshift in their entire culture
(04:01):
with who you guys are.
And so a lot of that is gettingthem to understand that like,
hey, there's new technologiescoming out every single day,
there's new ways to you mightknow how to do this, but what if
I could save you an hour andmaybe you do it differently?
And now you're, you're gettingto your next call, You're
getting opportunities for yournext revenue faster, and there's
always new ways to do it.
(04:22):
And so it's kind of gettingthem to have that light bulb
moment of, even if I know how todo this, or think I know how to
do this, there's probably abetter way somewhere that
somebody else has learned.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Absolutely so.
Why my pastor says thissometimes why pioneer when you
can partner?
So there's really there's verylittle reason right now to be
out there trying to just buildyour own self, like learn from
literally the old ways oflearning.
Now there's so many people thathave gone before you.
I mean, even think about it.
Now you've got YouTube,training and channels and TikTok
(04:56):
.
You know, as of today, tiktokis still legal in the United
States, but lots of, lots ofplaces, resources for you to
access data that really willhelp you become a better
technician, and so you knowyou're right, like I do think it
affects your culture.
Yeah, so one of the things I'llnever forget and I'm sure you
can speak to this too is when Imean back in the day when we
(05:18):
implemented flat rate pricing,and so we would implement, we
implemented flat rate pricingand we had people that were like
, oh, this is never going towork, how are we ever going to
do this?
And it literally the more andmore we coached around him, we
tried to involve them and keepthem going, but eventually he
stood out so badly becauseeveryone else had gotten on the
(05:40):
train.
Everyone else was interactingcorrectly, everyone in was going
in with a good attitude tolearn these new processes and
software and he eventually justliterally fell off because he
couldn't get.
He couldn't get the buy-in, hecouldn't get the the.
You know drama behind it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, no, you're exactly right.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah.
Yeah, so I know you probablysee that a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, oh for sure.
And that's the thing is they,they, they find their way out
the door, right.
If they're not the right fitfor your company, they're going
to find their way that and moveon to the next one.
And that's okay, because if ifthey weren't the right fit,
you've got to be okay lettingthem go Right.
And so you kind of talked aboutat the beginning, like there's
so many different resources outthere and jump to this website
and jump to that.
And that's really part of thefoundation of why up skilled was
(06:23):
even created is so many ofthese companies offer these
giant libraries of you know,thousand videos and thousand
courses.
And as an individual technician,and often as a company in
general, you you kind of getdecision paralysis and it's like
okay, there's so much content,I don't know where to start, I
don't know what to do, and thenyou shut the whole website down,
right.
(06:44):
And so that's why we put such afocus of like, let us help you
build that strategy, let's put aplace of hey, let's make sure
we watch this video at thispoint.
Let's do a safety topic of themonth in your department meeting
, and we put kind of that impactbehind.
Here's all the resources thatalready exist, how do we best
use those?
So?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I love that and you're right, decision fatigue,
yes, is very common, I'massuming, through from
especially especially youngcontractors that are super
aggressive.
They're very entrepreneurialmindset, so, or have that type
of mindset, so they're alwayslike, oh, we could do this, we
could do this, and there's,their brain is just swirling
(07:27):
with so many things to do.
And so, again, you know, justhaving someone organize and
structure how to train and when,to train on what, when and
where and how, is really anasset that we, probably a lot of
us, need to take advantage of.
And so, danielle, I know thattraining might not seem like a
marketing topic at first glance,but definitely we, as the
(07:51):
marketing side of life, wedefinitely see the connection,
yeah.
And so I thought, how can youtell me, like, how do you think
a properly trained technicianreally plays a key role in
shaping your company's brand?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question.
So you know, when you thinkabout technicians being properly
trained, like what, what doesthat mean for you as a business?
And so the two kind of keypoints that stuck out to me are
you, when your technicians areproperly trained and they're
doing the skill right, youbecome the company that gets it
done right the first time, andthat's huge.
You know, you think of allthose those five star reviews,
(08:25):
which is a big giant piece ofmarketing, right, and so it's OK
, the company that has the mostfive-star reviews is typically
the company that is the firstone that people are looking for
online.
I know that's how I make mydecisions half the time of okay,
what are people saying aboutthis?
And, yep, enough people like it.
Okay, I'm going to trust thosepeople.
Sure, I'll go with that one.
And so when you increase thatcustomer satisfaction and
(08:47):
decrease that callback ratethrough training, you're going
to find that those five-starreviews come up.
So I think the five-starreviews and just being known as
that reputation of we're goingto get it done and we're going
to get it done right the firsttime, those are huge marketing
pieces that come from training.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Oh yeah, and let me tell you we can have the best
marketing tactics out there.
We can have really cool offers,really cool loss leaders out
there that are just to get youin front of new customers, put
you in front of new homes thatyou can service, with even new
products that you have.
But if your technician can'tflip that lead, that low cost
(09:27):
lead, to your maintenance clubor over to a higher end repair
or eventually a replacement,we're kind of just throwing
dollars to knock on a door.
It's literally costing us moneyto do business that way.
So when you train yourtechnicians better to understand
, I think they need to have adeeper understanding of why
you're doing the differentmarketing tactics that you're
(09:47):
doing, so you know why.
Helping them understand in thesetraining meetings like, why are
we even talking about marketingin a meeting?
I don't care if y'all aregiving away a TV, who cares?
Well, that TV can help you makemore money as well, especially
if your performance pay.
So how can we help you getthere?
But also understanding the waythat you're positioning things.
(10:08):
So we're not going to drive outto a house for $79 and do a
tune-up.
Well, you're right, youshouldn't, but that got you to
the house.
Now it's your job to seek outand make sure you make every
recommendation that thehomeowner might want to take
advantage of and at the veryleast, getting them on your
maintenance program.
So when you can really buildout a complete like the synergy
(10:30):
between the sales team, thetechnician team, the CSR team
and the marketing team and allof those pistons are pumping
together, you really startseeing movement.
Then.
But I cannot tell you how manytimes we hear from a contractor
that says well, my guys justdon't want to do that when they
get in the home.
Okay, well, the last time Ichecked sorry, you were the one
that made payroll, like you werethe one that signed the payroll
(10:55):
check.
So we've got to like.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
You know, we've got to make sure everybody
understands yeah right like howthat works.
It was too like getting them toto understand that it's okay to
be proud of their work, it'sokay to brag on themselves, and
so I think back to you know eachsemester that I had students
come through.
They always had a texting threadat the end and it was hey, they
were all best friends and theyhad the instructor in there, and
(11:17):
anytime they post-graduationwent out to jobs, you know
they're going in, they're doingtheir work, and they would see
something super bizarre and theywould fix it.
They were constantly takingpictures and sending it to each
other and they were so proud oftheir work.
But that's kind of where itstopped.
And so it's like teaching themthat it's okay Be proud of your
work with your homeowner.
They might not understand everysingle little piece of what
(11:38):
you're doing, but if you'regoing in there, even if it's
just a maintenance, even if youmade sure that that tankless
flush went flawless, go be proudof that, educate that homeowner
and don't be afraid to haveconversations about their
equipment, because you might notbe the best salesperson, you
might not be the most confidentsalesperson, but if you know
your technical skills and you'reproud of what you did, that can
also sell itself.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Oh, absolutely Absolutely.
And you know, I tell, I telltechnicians all the time too,
it's not your job to worry abouttheir, the homeowner's budget,
right, so go in and do a goodjob.
Most of the people that you'reprobably coaching are just good.
They're good fixers.
They're not necessarily greatsalespeople necessarily.
Now, some of them really are.
(12:20):
If they were honed that skillin, they would be great.
Yeah, but at the end of the day,you have to remember, like,
this is a business, it's not acharity.
So, yes, we want to repair, wewant to do good work, we want to
be ethical, we want to repair,we want to do good work, we want
(12:43):
to be ethical, we want to betruthful and do the work that
needs to be done.
But providing options tohomeowners like the upgraded
things of, like an upgradedefficiency on the or, you know
correct.
What you should be worriedabout is that you're just
providing as many options thatseem reasonable to that
homeowner.
Options are what the homeowneractually wants more of.
(13:03):
Let them tell you, no, don't.
Let them wonder why you didn'ttell them that you had that
option in the first place.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah Well, and as a customer yourself to think about
it, like I know for me, if Ihadn't had that homeowner
education, I wouldn't havebought my RO system.
And so now I've.
I received all of thatinformation and maybe I didn't
make that decision that same day, but now I know okay, this is
something that's important forme and my family, and I made the
decision to go ahead andpurchase one, but I'm not out
(13:29):
there in my free time.
Goog, go ahead and purchase one, but I'm not out there in my
free time.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Googling RO system.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Well, okay, I might be, because of mine, the average
person isn't sitting thereresearching the upgrades that
that exist, and so you, as atechnician, have to be able to
be comfortable educating thatthat homeowner in what exists
and stop spending their, theirpurchasing money as if it's your
budget, because we all know,going into a home, you're not
going to judge a homeowner youshouldn't judge a homeowner's
(13:56):
budget based on your firstappearance, and so stop being
worried about what they're goingto spend or worried that your
options are too expensive ormaybe you gave them too many
options.
Follow whatever process yourcompany uses, but, at the same
time, all of those options thatyou're providing are going to be
backed up by the education youprovided them during your visit.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Love it.
That's exactly right.
That's exactly right.
And just a little, a little.
A little confidence, too, goesa long way.
So there's a lot that you cando there.
So well, tell me a little bitabout like.
You have some cool things thatyou mentioned in your like
onboarding call that we didabout like inventory races or
safety Jenga.
These are some things.
(14:39):
So this is speaking to my heartfor culture, because I was
always a really big fan when Iwas working with my family's
company of just and I'm fromEast Texas, so I say like loving
on those technicians,encouraging them, giving them
something that's fun andinteractive, and not just this
hardcore punch them in the facewith everything you're not doing
(15:00):
wrong, you know not doing right.
So I wanted to hear about thoseengaging and creative training
methods that maybe you havetaught other companies to
implement or implement yourselfhave taught other companies to
implement or implement yourself,yeah, so these are my favorite
part.
So people, joke that I drive thefun bus I love to.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I love to take like a boring concept like safety.
Nobody loves sitting there andstaring at a safety power point
for three hours, Like it's justnot enjoyable, Right.
And so like, how do you takethose fundamentals and turn them
into a game or a competition?
And I'm not talking about acompetition of, okay, whoever
sells the most UV lights thismonth gets a hundred dollar gift
card.
Like, okay, that might workonce, but if you're having the
(15:37):
same competition or the samegame over and over again, it
burns out.
And so we work with companiesand design a lot of games for
them that we share, likeinventory races, which is my
absolute, absolute favorite.
But safety, Jenga, go to YouTubeand look up OSHA fail videos
and play a funny video.
Make sure you bet it first.
But like, make sure you play avideo at the beginning of like
(16:00):
two minutes of people not usingladders safely and what can
happen to start yourconversation of safety.
But just finding fun ways tomake it different.
At six or seven in the morningthey are usually asleep in your
department meeting.
They're not going to sit thereand retain everything that
you're spewing out from aPowerPoint, so fun games are a
good way to do that.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
I love that.
And two, it makes it listen.
I give this like a precursor toeveryone.
Listen, male technicians arenot exactly the first ones to be
like oh yeah, let's dosomething crazy.
You know they really, theyreally just want to get up and
go to work and go fix some stuff.
You know they really don't wantto be like you know drawing or
racing or running, but if youwill just plow through those
(16:43):
first few times, just do itanyway.
Set yourself up for success.
Plant some people in the roomthat you say hey, john, you know
what I need from you today.
I really need you to be engagedwhen we do this running
tic-tac-toe game.
I know it's not everybody'sidea, but, if I can get, you and
your leadership should lead byexample.
If you are an owner who sits inthe back of the room arms
(17:03):
crossed, scowl on their face,drinking a cup of coffee and
complaining that everything'staking too long, that is how
your team is going to be.
So culture starts from the topand their approach to training
starts at the top, and so reallymake sure that your leadership
team is engaged and on board.
And if you're wanting to golike hardcore, super engaging,
(17:24):
super energetic and things likethat, then I encourage you, like
, prepare your leadership teamto lead by example from there.
Pick out some people and coachthem.
Hey, I'm going to call on youtoday for the cereal eating
challenge and you know I reallyappreciate you doing it.
If you'll just help me leadwith a positive example and a
great attitude, I would reallyappreciate it.
But again, they're going tofollow the lead that they have.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
They do and I love that you hit that.
So one of the things that wedid which was really silly and
we called it Surprise Fives, andthis was specifically in our
academy at the time.
But you could do it with yourdepartment meetings, especially
if you're a larger company withmore leadership and you've got
director titles and all of that.
But we would plan these.
We came in with a silly outfitand we would have almost like
(18:08):
minute to win it style games.
no-transcript yourself to thisgroup, because a lot of times
you are a scary name on apayroll check or you are a
really intimidating person thatmaybe you're the HR director and
(18:30):
they are terrified to come talkto you because your HR it's
associated with your role, right, and so getting them involved
in playing those games, we wouldcome in, we would do again a
quick intro of who you are, whenthey might see you, and then
when you play that silly gamewith them, it breaks down your
title.
You're no longer a title,You're a fun person who's there
(18:50):
to engage and just build rapportand build connection.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yeah, yeah, yes, I love that Like, break down some
barriers and so you know, andfor let's talk about the
companies that are smaller.
For companies that are smaller,listen, owner, it might be you.
You might have to put yourinsecurities and your shyness to
the side and jump up there andlead some things that are
outside of your own comfort zone, but you're asking your team to
(19:13):
get out of their comfort zoneoutside of your own comfort zone
, but you're asking your team toget out of their comfort zone.
So I just really encouragecontractors to understand the
importance of leading by example.
Just like when we're parents orwhen we're leading
organizations, we have to leadby example.
And so if you're rough andtumble and not really paying
attention and very disengaged,don't be surprised when your
(19:34):
team is disengaged.
Yeah, and so really trustingthat process.
And again to Danielle's point,not that this is a sales pitch
for your company, but some ofyou guys just really listeners
need to identify if it is youthat can organize and
orchestrate and put together afull, comprehensive training
plan and implement it yourself.
Or do you need to rely on peoplethat specialize in that area of
(19:57):
business, like what Danielle'scompany does, because we can't
be great at everything inside ofour company.
So we need to surroundourselves with people that fill
in the gaps that we have.
And for those of you that havelike a great personality, you
just don't have the time toorganize it.
Man, you've got like a doubleweenie there, like a good double
shot there of greatness,because just get with someone to
(20:18):
create a unique trainingschedule for you and then bring
your personality to the tableand it is a win-win for everyone
involved there.
So, well, listen, what isanother way that you think, like
milestones and career pathways,leadership development, like
what are some ways that youthink companies should be
marketing or should be talkingabout when companies have a good
(20:40):
training program?
You know, like, how do I go out, danielle, and tell people like
, hey, I invest in my people,and things like that?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
What are?
Speaker 1 (20:47):
your thoughts on that .
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So those are huge.
So your social media is goingto be huge, you know, talking
about get pictures of thosesilly games, of those surprise
fives.
You know we, we offer aleadership academy and so it's
gamifying your, your leadershipdevelopment in your team, like,
what are some fun ways that you,you incorporate reading a book
versus just a book talk, kind ofthing.
(21:09):
So I think that's important.
Your, the other big piece of itis going to be like when it
comes to career pathways.
Companies don't often have veryclear pathways and a lot of
those promotions are subjectiveversus objective, with numbers
and data and things like that.
And so when you have a careerpath that you can say, hey, new
(21:30):
hire, welcome to the team, we'reso excited to have you, you get
to drive the car, here's yourmap, and you leave that up to
them.
That's going to help yourrecruiting efforts.
So so much in your marketing.
So, again, if you're going tosocial media to market open
roles, don't wait until yourrole is already open to have all
these social media posts.
Keep building that rapport.
(21:50):
So then, when companies, or,I'm sorry, people in your local
community are like, hey, okay,I'm getting ready to graduate
this program, what company do Iwant to work with, or maybe I'm
not getting what I need out ofmy current company.
Who's the first company thatcomes to mind?
You want that to be you.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Absolutely.
And you know, when Lemonsietalks about social media
marketing, that we do for ourclients.
Our social media marketing isnot necessarily a lead generator
in a traditional sense of youknow, I spent, I spent $7 and it
generated X.
It's brand building and lettingeverybody in my service area
know that we are a trusted, acompany that you can trust, and
(22:29):
we introduce you to the peopleon our team and we show you the
cool things that we do, not onlyfor our customers but for our
team, and I just think itvalidates, like, how good of a
company you are, holisticallylike all the way around.
And then people go well, man,that company you know they take
they feed their team breakfastevery Wednesday.
Or man, they're doing thisreally cool training on this new
(22:50):
IQ equipment or they're doingsoft skill training.
Man, that's where I struggle,talking about when your team
earns things like trips andvacations or whatever you're
giving away.
You know, celebrating that withthem.
When your company wins an award, celebrate that with them,
because you're actually yourpotential customers.
They want to be a part of acompany that looks and feels
(23:11):
successful and out there andedgy.
They want to be a part of thecool kids group.
Yeah, and so you have to tellpeople a lot of the cool stuff
that you're doing so that youdon't get left behind.
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
So the last kind of thing Ithought we would talk about here
is how you guys really liketell me a few like the behind
(23:32):
the scenes things of how youguys empower businesses to
really create some scalabletraining solutions that really
don't just grow the teams butactually can help strengthen
those overall marketingstrategies.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yeah.
So again I kind of go back tothose career pathways.
When you, when you have thatyou've got, you're really
building a foundation, not forjust for the technician
themselves standing in the room,but they're going to be the one
to refer, right when you'rehaving your, your internal
training academy and you'reposting.
I know for one of our semesterswe had over 2000 applicants and
(24:07):
so that was a huge marketingboost, of like hey all of these
people want to come to thisprogram.
We must be doing something right.
Don't stop.
Incorporate those employeetestimonials and things like
that as part of the careerpathway program.
But there's also the new hireexperience that we strategize
with companies a lot as well.
And so you know there was astudy I want to say it was
(24:27):
through SHRM, but it wassomething like 60 to 70% of
employees were not happy withtheir onboarding experience and
were looking to leave in thefirst year of employment
somewhere.
And so when you're marketingthat program and you're you're
saying, okay, hey, we're notjust jumping a truck and go do
what that guy does, we have atraining, checklists and we have
(24:48):
check-ins and we haveintentional meetings and
intentional questions and all ofthis development for you You're
, you're really just buildingthat candidate pool.
And also same with successionplanning.
That's one thing that we'reworking on right now
specifically with some of ourclients is a succession planning
guide you know so many peopletalk about hey, I want to
succession plan, we need to dothat, but then it doesn't.
(25:10):
As far as I know, there's notreally that many guides out
there that walk you through howto do that.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
So, that's.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
that's kind of what we're working on right now with
clients and as far as, like thetraining, interfering with the
or not interfering, butoverlapping to to impact the
marketing.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, and I'll just tell you again.
You know, to reiterate some ofthe things I've said earlier,
you know there's power in aholistic approach to running a
home service company.
So you can't take your eyes andonly put it on the operations,
and only put it on the marketing, or only put it on training, or
only, put, you know, leadgeneration.
Whatever you put it on and Iwatch it every day of
(25:48):
contractors that arehyper-focused, it's the
contractors that really take astep back and look at everything
as a whole and this is generalfor most businesses, right, look
at everything as a whole andare you doing the best that you
can in each of those areas ofthe business to grow it?
And then are you telling peopleabout what you're doing.
And that definitely changesthings for companies when they
(26:11):
start figuring out thatconsistency in training,
consistency in marketing,consistency in training,
consistency in marketing,consistency in expectations
those things are building atrustworthy brand.
It's building a customerjourney that your team, that
your customers, are watchinghappen, just not only for the
(26:32):
actual team members that youhave, but for themselves, as the
journey like from the firstimpression to the actual service
they're receiving.
They're actually watching it inhigh time, so or in true time.
So consistent, high qualitytraining ensures you know that
our brands deliver on thepromises that we are marketing
and putting out there and itreally will create loyal
customers who advocate like theybecome raving fans for our
(26:54):
business.
Okay Well, danielle, I knowpeople have go.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Yeah, jeff what else do you want to say?
No, I was just going to echoyou on like that customer
journey, like having them knowthat those those career pathways
of hey at this level we teachall about our mini splits and
these technicians are our minisplit champions or our mini
split experts.
Then I know, as a homeowner,like hey, you know, joe's coming
to my house, I'm so excited.
He told me he's a mini splitchampion and I can't wait to see
(27:19):
, like I've had this tough minisplit that just keeps giving
people trouble.
And so it just reiterates thathey, our technicians are skilled
and they're knowledgeable, andif they're not, for whatever
reason, if they get out thereand they don't know it, they've
got a plethora of resources toget you the right answer.
So, yeah, that, that brandloyalty Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yes, I love it.
I love it.
So, danielle, if someone's beenlistening today and they're
like oh, I need Danielle in mylife, I need her company in my
life, how can people reach outto you?
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Yeah, definitely so.
Our websiteupskilledconsultingcom is a
great starter place to just kindof see what services we offer.
If you want to schedule kind ofa quick consultation.
I'm also very active onLinkedIn, so send me a
connection request.
I'm happy to talk to you there.
I share every Friday a trainingtip of the week and lots of
different training resourcesthat you can implement into your
(28:06):
company.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Love that, love that and, of course, in the show
notes we'll have all ofDanielle's contact information
and hopefully your CNS promoteher on social media.
So thank you, guys, so much forlistening to another episode of
From the Yellow Chair.
I think Danielle's storyreminds us that investing in
training is investing in yourcompany's overall reputation and
(28:28):
growth.
From forming stronger customerrelationships to even employee
advocacy, the ripple effect ofgreat training touches every
part of business.
So thank you guys for listening.
If you're really ready tosupport from the yellow chair,
I'd love for you to leave us areview, like all of our social
media channels, and share thiswith someone that really needs
to be encouraged about training.
(28:48):
Thank you so much for sippinglemonade with us.
We'll see you next time.
What's up, lemonheads ?
Welcome to another episode ofFrom the Yellow Chair.
I am Crystal and today I'msitting down with a rock star
woman in the industry that ismaking great moves, doing great
things in the training space.
She's worked with over 500technicians, more than 200 of
those being brand new to thetrades, creating innovative
(00:24):
training solutions that make herlearning style.
She teaches them with anengaging and measurable and
impactive techniques.
I'm really excited for us totalk about how training can
impact your marketing.
Let's sip some lemonade awesome.
(00:55):
Well, today I have the supersweet already on this call as we
got on here to prepare.
Prepare.
Danielle wernert, owner ofupsell, upskilled consulting and
a 40 under 40 recipient.
So hey, we're from the samething there 40 under 40s, yes.
So, danielle, I always say thisfor every one of my podcast
guests.
Why should anyone care what youhave to say?
Tell me a little bit about whoyou are.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, so I have been in the industry for a little
over five years now and I haveworked with a lot of different
technicians at various levels intheir career path, right so,
from very new technicians cominginto not knowing how to read a
tape measure or what a hammerreally does, all the way to the
technicians who have been in theindustry for years and they
(01:37):
they're very familiar with, withwhat they do every day, but
they also have the mindset thatthey could always learn more.
So I have had the pleasure ofhelping my previous company I
was on the team to start theirinternal training academy, which
is where I connected with somany of those technicians.
But I've had the opportunity toalso just work with multiple
companies across the country andreally develop their technical
(01:59):
training strategy.
We found that there was a gapin technical training
specifically.
So many people talk about salestraining or leadership training
and there's not as much therefor the technicians on, quite
literally, how to do the jobthat they're in the home to do.
So we focus on that gap.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Fantastic.
Well, I absolutely adore thisbecause growing up a lot of our
listeners know I grew up in theindustry.
My grandfather, my dad, now mybrother, own a heating and air
conditioning and plumbingcompany here in rural East Texas
and we started our own trainingacademy called the Home Service
Academy, and basically wedecided that if we couldn't find
(02:38):
skilled technicians we wouldcreate our own.
And we definitely we went at itfull force, so we didn't just
put some chairs in a room and aTV.
We literally built out a wholeentire program around bringing
on people that just want to besuccessful.
They just want a good careerand how we could train them and
(02:59):
honestly, like for the business,how we could be quick and
impactful and efficient aboutgetting them in their own
vehicles out to be maintenance.
Technicians eventually demandtechnicians.
And then we added that samephilosophy to our plumbing
program and it really took offfor our company.
It really helped us have aconsistent flow of people into
(03:20):
our trade and into our companyto where we were basically
farming our own team andtraining them up in the way we
should go.
Do you see, a lot of times withthe ones that aren't new to the
industry, do you have toovercome some bad habits when
you're training.
What do you think the biggestobstacle is?
Is you start to train peoplethat are coming from the trades?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, when you get people that come from, they've
already got that experiencemaybe somewhere else or or you
know, there is a stigma of likehey, I already know how to do
this, I don't need the training.
And it's really that mindsetshift and it's not just a
training mindset shift.
If they're in that head spaceof I already know how to do it
my way, then they need a mindsetshift in their entire culture
(04:01):
with who you guys are.
And so a lot of that is gettingthem to understand that like,
hey, there's new technologiescoming out every single day,
there's new ways to you mightknow how to do this, but what if
I could save you an hour andmaybe you do it differently?
And now you're, you're gettingto your next call, You're
getting opportunities for yournext revenue faster, and there's
always new ways to do it.
(04:22):
And so it's kind of gettingthem to have that light bulb
moment of, even if I know how todo this, or think I know how to
do this, there's probably abetter way somewhere that
somebody else has learned.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Absolutely so.
Why my pastor says thissometimes why pioneer when you
can partner?
So there's really there's verylittle reason right now to be
out there trying to just buildyour own self, like learn from
literally the old ways oflearning.
Now there's so many people thathave gone before you.
I mean, even think about it.
Now you've got YouTube,training and channels and TikTok
(04:56):
.
You know, as of today, tiktokis still legal in the United
States, but lots of, lots ofplaces, resources for you to
access data that really willhelp you become a better
technician, and so you knowyou're right, like I do think it
affects your culture.
Yeah, so one of the things I'llnever forget and I'm sure you
can speak to this too is when Imean back in the day when we
(05:18):
implemented flat rate pricing,and so we would implement, we
implemented flat rate pricingand we had people that were like
, oh, this is never going towork, how are we ever going to
do this?
And it literally the more andmore we coached around him, we
tried to involve them and keepthem going, but eventually he
stood out so badly becauseeveryone else had gotten on the
(05:40):
train.
Everyone else was interactingcorrectly, everyone in was going
in with a good attitude tolearn these new processes and
software and he eventually justliterally fell off because he
couldn't get.
He couldn't get the buy-in, hecouldn't get the the.
You know drama behind it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, no, you're exactly right.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah.
Yeah, so I know you probablysee that a lot.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, oh for sure.
And that's the thing is they,they, they find their way out
the door, right.
If they're not the right fitfor your company, they're going
to find their way that and moveon to the next one.
And that's okay, because if ifthey weren't the right fit,
you've got to be okay lettingthem go Right.
And so you kind of talked aboutat the beginning, like there's
so many different resources outthere and jump to this website
and jump to that.
And that's really part of thefoundation of why up skilled was
(06:23):
even created is so many ofthese companies offer these
giant libraries of you know,thousand videos and thousand
courses.
And as an individual technician,and often as a company in
general, you you kind of getdecision paralysis and it's like
okay, there's so much content,I don't know where to start, I
don't know what to do, and thenyou shut the whole website down,
right.
(06:44):
And so that's why we put such afocus of like, let us help you
build that strategy, let's put aplace of hey, let's make sure
we watch this video at thispoint.
Let's do a safety topic of themonth in your department meeting
, and we put kind of that impactbehind.
Here's all the resources thatalready exist, how do we best
use those?
So?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I love that and you're right, decision fatigue,
yes, is very common, I'massuming, through from
especially especially youngcontractors that are super
aggressive.
They're very entrepreneurialmindset, so, or have that type
of mindset, so they're alwayslike, oh, we could do this, we
could do this, and there's,their brain is just swirling
(07:27):
with so many things to do.
And so, again, you know, justhaving someone organize and
structure how to train and when,to train on what, when and
where and how, is really anasset that we, probably a lot of
us, need to take advantage of.
And so, danielle, I know thattraining might not seem like a
marketing topic at first glance,but definitely we, as the
(07:51):
marketing side of life, wedefinitely see the connection,
yeah.
And so I thought, how can youtell me, like, how do you think
a properly trained technicianreally plays a key role in
shaping your company's brand?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question.
So you know, when you thinkabout technicians being properly
trained, like what, what doesthat mean for you as a business?
And so the two kind of keypoints that stuck out to me are
you, when your technicians areproperly trained and they're
doing the skill right, youbecome the company that gets it
done right the first time, andthat's huge.
You know, you think of allthose those five star reviews,
(08:25):
which is a big giant piece ofmarketing, right, and so it's OK
, the company that has the mostfive-star reviews is typically
the company that is the firstone that people are looking for
online.
I know that's how I make mydecisions half the time of okay,
what are people saying aboutthis?
And, yep, enough people like it.
Okay, I'm going to trust thosepeople.
Sure, I'll go with that one.
And so when you increase thatcustomer satisfaction and
(08:47):
decrease that callback ratethrough training, you're going
to find that those five-starreviews come up.
So I think the five-starreviews and just being known as
that reputation of we're goingto get it done and we're going
to get it done right the firsttime, those are huge marketing
pieces that come from training.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Oh yeah, and let me tell you we can have the best
marketing tactics out there.
We can have really cool offers,really cool loss leaders out
there that are just to get youin front of new customers, put
you in front of new homes thatyou can service, with even new
products that you have.
But if your technician can'tflip that lead, that low cost
(09:27):
lead, to your maintenance clubor over to a higher end repair
or eventually a replacement,we're kind of just throwing
dollars to knock on a door.
It's literally costing us moneyto do business that way.
So when you train yourtechnicians better to understand
, I think they need to have adeeper understanding of why
you're doing the differentmarketing tactics that you're
(09:47):
doing, so you know why.
Helping them understand in thesetraining meetings like, why are
we even talking about marketingin a meeting?
I don't care if y'all aregiving away a TV, who cares?
Well, that TV can help you makemore money as well, especially
if your performance pay.
So how can we help you getthere?
But also understanding the waythat you're positioning things.
(10:08):
So we're not going to drive outto a house for $79 and do a
tune-up.
Well, you're right, youshouldn't, but that got you to
the house.
Now it's your job to seek outand make sure you make every
recommendation that thehomeowner might want to take
advantage of and at the veryleast, getting them on your
maintenance program.
So when you can really buildout a complete like the synergy
(10:30):
between the sales team, thetechnician team, the CSR team
and the marketing team and allof those pistons are pumping
together, you really startseeing movement.
Then.
But I cannot tell you how manytimes we hear from a contractor
that says well, my guys justdon't want to do that when they
get in the home.
Okay, well, the last time Ichecked sorry, you were the one
that made payroll, like you werethe one that signed the payroll
(10:55):
check.
So we've got to like.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
You know, we've got to make sure everybody
understands yeah right like howthat works.
It was too like getting them toto understand that it's okay to
be proud of their work, it'sokay to brag on themselves, and
so I think back to you know eachsemester that I had students
come through.
They always had a texting threadat the end and it was hey, they
were all best friends and theyhad the instructor in there, and
(11:17):
anytime they post-graduationwent out to jobs, you know
they're going in, they're doingtheir work, and they would see
something super bizarre and theywould fix it.
They were constantly takingpictures and sending it to each
other and they were so proud oftheir work.
But that's kind of where itstopped.
And so it's like teaching themthat it's okay Be proud of your
work with your homeowner.
They might not understand everysingle little piece of what
(11:38):
you're doing, but if you'regoing in there, even if it's
just a maintenance, even if youmade sure that that tankless
flush went flawless, go be proudof that, educate that homeowner
and don't be afraid to haveconversations about their
equipment, because you might notbe the best salesperson, you
might not be the most confidentsalesperson, but if you know
your technical skills and you'reproud of what you did, that can
also sell itself.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Oh, absolutely Absolutely.
And you know, I tell, I telltechnicians all the time too,
it's not your job to worry abouttheir, the homeowner's budget,
right, so go in and do a goodjob.
Most of the people that you'reprobably coaching are just good.
They're good fixers.
They're not necessarily greatsalespeople necessarily.
Now, some of them really are.
(12:20):
If they were honed that skillin, they would be great.
Yeah, but at the end of the day,you have to remember, like,
this is a business, it's not acharity.
So, yes, we want to repair, wewant to do good work, we want to
be ethical, we want to repair,we want to do good work, we want
(12:43):
to be ethical, we want to betruthful and do the work that
needs to be done.
But providing options tohomeowners like the upgraded
things of, like an upgradedefficiency on the or, you know
correct.
What you should be worriedabout is that you're just
providing as many options thatseem reasonable to that
homeowner.
Options are what the homeowneractually wants more of.
(13:03):
Let them tell you, no, don't.
Let them wonder why you didn'ttell them that you had that
option in the first place.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah Well, and as a customer yourself to think about
it, like I know for me, if Ihadn't had that homeowner
education, I wouldn't havebought my RO system.
And so now I've.
I received all of thatinformation and maybe I didn't
make that decision that same day, but now I know okay, this is
something that's important forme and my family, and I made the
decision to go ahead andpurchase one, but I'm not out
(13:29):
there in my free time.
Goog, go ahead and purchase one, but I'm not out there in my
free time.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Googling RO system.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Well, okay, I might be, because of mine, the average
person isn't sitting thereresearching the upgrades that
that exist, and so you, as atechnician, have to be able to
be comfortable educating thatthat homeowner in what exists
and stop spending their, theirpurchasing money as if it's your
budget, because we all know,going into a home, you're not
going to judge a homeowner youshouldn't judge a homeowner's
(13:56):
budget based on your firstappearance, and so stop being
worried about what they're goingto spend or worried that your
options are too expensive ormaybe you gave them too many
options.
Follow whatever process yourcompany uses, but, at the same
time, all of those options thatyou're providing are going to be
backed up by the education youprovided them during your visit.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Love it.
That's exactly right.
That's exactly right.
And just a little, a little.
A little confidence, too, goesa long way.
So there's a lot that you cando there.
So well, tell me a little bitabout like.
You have some cool things thatyou mentioned in your like
onboarding call that we didabout like inventory races or
safety Jenga.
These are some things.
(14:39):
So this is speaking to my heartfor culture, because I was
always a really big fan when Iwas working with my family's
company of just and I'm fromEast Texas, so I say like loving
on those technicians,encouraging them, giving them
something that's fun andinteractive, and not just this
hardcore punch them in the facewith everything you're not doing
(15:00):
wrong, you know not doing right.
So I wanted to hear about thoseengaging and creative training
methods that maybe you havetaught other companies to
implement or implement yourselfhave taught other companies to
implement or implement yourself,yeah, so these are my favorite
part.
So people, joke that I drive thefun bus I love to.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I love to take like a boring concept like safety.
Nobody loves sitting there andstaring at a safety power point
for three hours, Like it's justnot enjoyable, Right.
And so like, how do you takethose fundamentals and turn them
into a game or a competition?
And I'm not talking about acompetition of, okay, whoever
sells the most UV lights thismonth gets a hundred dollar gift
card.
Like, okay, that might workonce, but if you're having the
(15:37):
same competition or the samegame over and over again, it
burns out.
And so we work with companiesand design a lot of games for
them that we share, likeinventory races, which is my
absolute, absolute favorite.
But safety, Jenga, go to YouTubeand look up OSHA fail videos
and play a funny video.
Make sure you bet it first.
But like, make sure you play avideo at the beginning of like
(16:00):
two minutes of people not usingladders safely and what can
happen to start yourconversation of safety.
But just finding fun ways tomake it different.
At six or seven in the morningthey are usually asleep in your
department meeting.
They're not going to sit thereand retain everything that
you're spewing out from aPowerPoint, so fun games are a
good way to do that.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
I love that.
And two, it makes it listen.
I give this like a precursor toeveryone.
Listen, male technicians arenot exactly the first ones to be
like oh yeah, let's dosomething crazy.
You know they really, theyreally just want to get up and
go to work and go fix some stuff.
You know they really don't wantto be like you know drawing or
racing or running, but if youwill just plow through those
(16:43):
first few times, just do itanyway.
Set yourself up for success.
Plant some people in the roomthat you say hey, john, you know
what I need from you today.
I really need you to be engagedwhen we do this running
tic-tac-toe game.
I know it's not everybody'sidea, but, if I can get, you and
your leadership should lead byexample.
If you are an owner who sits inthe back of the room arms
(17:03):
crossed, scowl on their face,drinking a cup of coffee and
complaining that everything'staking too long, that is how
your team is going to be.
So culture starts from the topand their approach to training
starts at the top, and so reallymake sure that your leadership
team is engaged and on board.
And if you're wanting to golike hardcore, super engaging,
(17:24):
super energetic and things likethat, then I encourage you, like
, prepare your leadership teamto lead by example from there.
Pick out some people and coachthem.
Hey, I'm going to call on youtoday for the cereal eating
challenge and you know I reallyappreciate you doing it.
If you'll just help me leadwith a positive example and a
great attitude, I would reallyappreciate it.
But again, they're going tofollow the lead that they have.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
They do and I love that you hit that.
So one of the things that wedid which was really silly and
we called it Surprise Fives, andthis was specifically in our
academy at the time.
But you could do it with yourdepartment meetings, especially
if you're a larger company withmore leadership and you've got
director titles and all of that.
But we would plan these.
We came in with a silly outfitand we would have almost like
(18:08):
minute to win it style games.
no-transcript yourself to thisgroup, because a lot of times
you are a scary name on apayroll check or you are a
really intimidating person thatmaybe you're the HR director and
(18:30):
they are terrified to come talkto you because your HR it's
associated with your role, right, and so getting them involved
in playing those games, we wouldcome in, we would do again a
quick intro of who you are, whenthey might see you, and then
when you play that silly gamewith them, it breaks down your
title.
You're no longer a title,You're a fun person who's there
(18:50):
to engage and just build rapportand build connection.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yeah, yeah, yes, I love that Like, break down some
barriers and so you know, andfor let's talk about the
companies that are smaller.
For companies that are smaller,listen, owner, it might be you.
You might have to put yourinsecurities and your shyness to
the side and jump up there andlead some things that are
outside of your own comfort zone, but you're asking your team to
(19:13):
get out of their comfort zoneoutside of your own comfort zone
, but you're asking your team toget out of their comfort zone.
So I just really encouragecontractors to understand the
importance of leading by example.
Just like when we're parents orwhen we're leading
organizations, we have to leadby example.
And so if you're rough andtumble and not really paying
attention and very disengaged,don't be surprised when your
(19:34):
team is disengaged.
Yeah, and so really trustingthat process.
And again to Danielle's point,not that this is a sales pitch
for your company, but some ofyou guys just really listeners
need to identify if it is youthat can organize and
orchestrate and put together afull, comprehensive training
plan and implement it yourself.
Or do you need to rely on peoplethat specialize in that area of
(19:57):
business, like what Danielle'scompany does, because we can't
be great at everything inside ofour company.
So we need to surroundourselves with people that fill
in the gaps that we have.
And for those of you that havelike a great personality, you
just don't have the time toorganize it.
Man, you've got like a doubleweenie there, like a good double
shot there of greatness,because just get with someone to
(20:18):
create a unique trainingschedule for you and then bring
your personality to the tableand it is a win-win for everyone
involved there.
So, well, listen, what isanother way that you think, like
milestones and career pathways,leadership development, like
what are some ways that youthink companies should be
marketing or should be talkingabout when companies have a good
(20:40):
training program?
You know, like, how do I go out, danielle, and tell people like
, hey, I invest in my people,and things like that?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
What are?
Speaker 1 (20:47):
your thoughts on that .
Speaker 2 (20:48):
So those are huge.
So your social media is goingto be huge, you know, talking
about get pictures of thosesilly games, of those surprise
fives.
You know we, we offer aleadership academy and so it's
gamifying your, your leadershipdevelopment in your team, like,
what are some fun ways that you,you incorporate reading a book
versus just a book talk, kind ofthing.
(21:09):
So I think that's important.
Your, the other big piece of itis going to be like when it
comes to career pathways.
Companies don't often have veryclear pathways and a lot of
those promotions are subjectiveversus objective, with numbers
and data and things like that.
And so when you have a careerpath that you can say, hey, new
(21:30):
hire, welcome to the team, we'reso excited to have you, you get
to drive the car, here's yourmap, and you leave that up to
them.
That's going to help yourrecruiting efforts.
So so much in your marketing.
So, again, if you're going tosocial media to market open
roles, don't wait until yourrole is already open to have all
these social media posts.
Keep building that rapport.
(21:50):
So then, when companies, or,I'm sorry, people in your local
community are like, hey, okay,I'm getting ready to graduate
this program, what company do Iwant to work with, or maybe I'm
not getting what I need out ofmy current company.
Who's the first company thatcomes to mind?
You want that to be you.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Absolutely.
And you know, when Lemonsietalks about social media
marketing, that we do for ourclients.
Our social media marketing isnot necessarily a lead generator
in a traditional sense of youknow, I spent, I spent $7 and it
generated X.
It's brand building and lettingeverybody in my service area
know that we are a trusted, acompany that you can trust, and
(22:29):
we introduce you to the peopleon our team and we show you the
cool things that we do, not onlyfor our customers but for our
team, and I just think itvalidates, like, how good of a
company you are, holisticallylike all the way around.
And then people go well, man,that company you know they take
they feed their team breakfastevery Wednesday.
Or man, they're doing thisreally cool training on this new
(22:50):
IQ equipment or they're doingsoft skill training.
Man, that's where I struggle,talking about when your team
earns things like trips andvacations or whatever you're
giving away.
You know, celebrating that withthem.
When your company wins an award, celebrate that with them,
because you're actually yourpotential customers.
They want to be a part of acompany that looks and feels
(23:11):
successful and out there andedgy.
They want to be a part of thecool kids group.
Yeah, and so you have to tellpeople a lot of the cool stuff
that you're doing so that youdon't get left behind.
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely.
So the last kind of thing Ithought we would talk about here
is how you guys really liketell me a few like the behind
(23:32):
the scenes things of how youguys empower businesses to
really create some scalabletraining solutions that really
don't just grow the teams butactually can help strengthen
those overall marketingstrategies.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Yeah.
So again I kind of go back tothose career pathways.
When you, when you have thatyou've got, you're really
building a foundation, not forjust for the technician
themselves standing in the room,but they're going to be the one
to refer, right when you'rehaving your, your internal
training academy and you'reposting.
I know for one of our semesterswe had over 2000 applicants and
(24:07):
so that was a huge marketingboost, of like hey all of these
people want to come to thisprogram.
We must be doing something right.
Don't stop.
Incorporate those employeetestimonials and things like
that as part of the careerpathway program.
But there's also the new hireexperience that we strategize
with companies a lot as well.
And so you know there was astudy I want to say it was
(24:27):
through SHRM, but it wassomething like 60 to 70% of
employees were not happy withtheir onboarding experience and
were looking to leave in thefirst year of employment
somewhere.
And so when you're marketingthat program and you're you're
saying, okay, hey, we're notjust jumping a truck and go do
what that guy does, we have atraining, checklists and we have
(24:48):
check-ins and we haveintentional meetings and
intentional questions and all ofthis development for you You're
, you're really just buildingthat candidate pool.
And also same with successionplanning.
That's one thing that we'reworking on right now
specifically with some of ourclients is a succession planning
guide you know so many peopletalk about hey, I want to
succession plan, we need to dothat, but then it doesn't.
(25:10):
As far as I know, there's notreally that many guides out
there that walk you through howto do that.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
So, that's.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
that's kind of what we're working on right now with
clients and as far as, like thetraining, interfering with the
or not interfering, butoverlapping to to impact the
marketing.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, and I'll just tell you again.
You know, to reiterate some ofthe things I've said earlier,
you know there's power in aholistic approach to running a
home service company.
So you can't take your eyes andonly put it on the operations,
and only put it on the marketing, or only put it on training, or
only, put, you know, leadgeneration.
Whatever you put it on and Iwatch it every day of
(25:48):
contractors that arehyper-focused, it's the
contractors that really take astep back and look at everything
as a whole and this is generalfor most businesses, right, look
at everything as a whole andare you doing the best that you
can in each of those areas ofthe business to grow it?
And then are you telling peopleabout what you're doing.
And that definitely changesthings for companies when they
(26:11):
start figuring out thatconsistency in training,
consistency in marketing,consistency in training,
consistency in marketing,consistency in expectations
those things are building atrustworthy brand.
It's building a customerjourney that your team, that
your customers, are watchinghappen, just not only for the
(26:32):
actual team members that youhave, but for themselves, as the
journey like from the firstimpression to the actual service
they're receiving.
They're actually watching it inhigh time, so or in true time.
So consistent, high qualitytraining ensures you know that
our brands deliver on thepromises that we are marketing
and putting out there and itreally will create loyal
customers who advocate like theybecome raving fans for our
(26:54):
business.
Okay Well, danielle, I knowpeople have go.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Yeah, jeff what else do you want to say?
No, I was just going to echoyou on like that customer
journey, like having them knowthat those those career pathways
of hey at this level we teachall about our mini splits and
these technicians are our minisplit champions or our mini
split experts.
Then I know, as a homeowner,like hey, you know, joe's coming
to my house, I'm so excited.
He told me he's a mini splitchampion and I can't wait to see
(27:19):
, like I've had this tough minisplit that just keeps giving
people trouble.
And so it just reiterates thathey, our technicians are skilled
and they're knowledgeable, andif they're not, for whatever
reason, if they get out thereand they don't know it, they've
got a plethora of resources toget you the right answer.
So, yeah, that, that brandloyalty Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yes, I love it.
I love it.
So, danielle, if someone's beenlistening today and they're
like oh, I need Danielle in mylife, I need her company in my
life, how can people reach outto you?
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Yeah, definitely so.
Our websiteupskilledconsultingcom is a
great starter place to just kindof see what services we offer.
If you want to schedule kind ofa quick consultation.
I'm also very active onLinkedIn, so send me a
connection request.
I'm happy to talk to you there.
I share every Friday a trainingtip of the week and lots of
different training resourcesthat you can implement into your
(28:06):
company.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Love that, love that and, of course, in the show
notes we'll have all ofDanielle's contact information
and hopefully your CNS promoteher on social media.
So thank you, guys, so much forlistening to another episode of
From the Yellow Chair.
I think Danielle's storyreminds us that investing in
training is investing in yourcompany's overall reputation and
(28:28):
growth.
From forming stronger customerrelationships to even employee
advocacy, the ripple effect ofgreat training touches every
part of business.
So thank you guys for listening.
If you're really ready tosupport from the yellow chair,
I'd love for you to leave us areview, like all of our social
media channels, and share thiswith someone that really needs
to be encouraged about training.
(28:48):
Thank you so much for sippinglemonade with us.
We'll see you next time.
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