July 29, 2024 • 33 mins
In this episode of the Prime Partners Podcast, Paul Redman, VP of Sales at Contractor Commerce, shares how shifting consumer preferences are shaping the future of the home service industry. The discussion focuses on the importance of e-commerce and online shopping in the industry, as well as the challenges and benefits of implementing an online store. Paul emphasizes the need for contractors to adapt to changing consumer behavior and offers insights into how Contractor Commerce helps contractors integrate e-commerce into their businesses. Discover the future of the consumer journey in the home service industry and where to start in getting a leg up in your market.
Time Stamps- 00:00 Introduction and Background
- 03:39 Shifting Consumer Preferences and the Future of the Industry
- 08:28 Challenges and Benefits of Implementing an Online Store
- 13:28 Common Early Challenges and Solutions
- 18:37 Feedback and Reaction from Contractors
- 26:54 Contractor Commerce Elevator Pitch
- 28:42 Advice for Hesitant Contractors
- 32:40 Conclusion and Next Steps
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
BDR's Prime Partners podcast
delivers insight on services,
resources,
and business practices that can help your company
succeed faster.
Listen and learn for ways to take your
company forward. Welcome to the Prime Partners podcast.
I'm Tyler Gunn who's BDR's senior marketing communication
specialist.
Really excited about our episode. We've got an
(00:26):
awesome topic today and an awesome guest joining
us, a fellow podcaster, which is always fun
to have on the show. But I'm joined
by Paul Redmond, VP of sales at Contractor
Commerce. And we are talking about how shifting
consumer preferences are shaping the future of the
home service industry. Paul, welcome to the podcast.
(00:47):
Tyler, hey. Thank you for having me. My
pleasure. You know, I'm a big fan of
the BDR Group. So glad to be here.
Glad to contribute. Thanks again.
Yeah. Absolutely. I I'm I'm excited. I know,
you've been doing podcasting for a little while.
Again, it's always fun to have another person,
on the show who's a podcast,
enthusiast, and and, you you said it right
(01:08):
before we jumped on here. You're you're used
to asking the questions versus answering, so I
think this is gonna be really fun to
get to pick your brain a little bit
about, a really important topic in our industry
right now. Yeah. Thank you. And I admit
I have not recorded a podcast as a
host in over a year. I kinda put
it on ice to work on other priorities
in the business, but,
(01:28):
I've done it for a couple years with
a couple different podcasts. I it's it's one
of my favorite ways to learn too. So,
I spent hours and hours and hours in
the car early in my career and started
listening to people like Tim Ferris and even
like Joe Rogan. And, just learn hearing 2
people have a conversation is, like, my favorite
way of learning. So glad to be here.
I agree. It's it's, it's really cool what
(01:49):
what comes out when you put 2 people
with a microphone in front of each other
and and just kinda cut them loose. So
so that's what we're gonna do here today.
I'd love to just learn a little bit
more about you
and your background.
How did you get connected in the the
home service industry
and and,
and with contractor commerce and kinda what's what's
been your background look like? I'll give you
(02:11):
the TLDR, the quick version. So, one of
my first jobs out of college is with
a major manufacturer, and I grew up in
Ohio and had the opportunity to move to
Colorado and work for Lennox. And, worked there
for about 10 years, did a ton of
different jobs,
you know, traditional field sales territory manager for
the 1st couple of years, did really well,
moved to the corporate office, started working in
brand and digital marketing and product to some
(02:34):
degree, digital products,
and then had the opportunity to move to
Charlotte, North Carolina to run one of the,
what they call a district. So like 10
or 12 locations and all the employees and
all that stuff. And, throughout that process, I
met a lot of people in the industry,
but one person that stuck out to me
was a guy named Will Hausch, who was
one of our customers, but also just
he owned hvac.com,
and he was doing some interesting things with
(02:54):
ecommerce. And we just developed a friendship that
became kind of like a friendship and a
professional friendship.
And, I think both knew pretty early, like,
we're
probably gonna work together one day. So
took the plunge, and we started Contractor Commerce
in 2018
and really decided right after the pandemic,
when online shopping just blew up, that like
(03:16):
this isn't going away. People
want to shop from the convenience of their
home. They might not buy a fully installed
air conditioner heat pump, but they're gonna get
pretty far through the journey
on their couch. And they're not gonna do
it with contractors unless we take something to
contractors that they can use. And so so
that's contractor commerce.
(03:37):
Well, I I think that's a great segue
now into our discussion for today, which is
talking about shifting consumer preferences
and and how that's positioning the future of
our industry.
I think pretty much everybody out there could
could say that they see the trends in
this. If you've purchased anything on Amazon
(03:58):
and how that changes,
you know, instead of having to go to
the store.
But just last night, we ran out of
the diaper trash bags at my house. Oh,
yeah. Normally, that would just be,
oh, it's quick. We gotta get in our
car, run to the store. And the fact
that I could put it in a cart
and it would be on my doorstep by
the time I woke up the next morning,
that's just I think everybody's experienced that on
(04:19):
some level. But
at the contractor level and at the industry
level,
I don't believe there's anybody better to speak
to the trends and and what's been taking
place and what is continuing to take place.
So so what are some of those trends?
What are the things that you are seeing
and how customers
interact with home service contractors?
Well, if you really think about it from
just the consumer perspective, every contractor can put
(04:41):
themselves in the shoes of a consumer because
they are a consumer for different things in
their lives. And,
I always share this analogy. You know, years
ago when we first started speaking on MainStage
events for about this concept, I would ask
the group, like, who here has bought a
car online?
And usually, it's one person who raises their
hand, like, proudly in the back of the
room. And these last few years, it's become,
okay, 2, 3, and 4. But, really, the
(05:04):
last time I asked this, I think maybe
3 people answered the question. They're answered 3
out of a 100 said I bought a
car online. But then I reframed the question
and said, how many of you shopped for
a car online?
And almost the entire room raises their hand.
Right? And that's the whole concept. It's that
people may not,
contractors might think like, oh, people don't transact
for these things, so I'm not gonna pay
(05:25):
attention to it. This will never happen. But
they're starting the buying journey online. Right? And
they're not doing that with contractors. They're doing
it with HomeAdvisor. They're doing it with Lowe's.
They're doing it
with some sort of technology company that's trying
to
be a contractor or sell direct or whatever.
So,
yeah, I mean, it's
very, very predictable and repeatable. Every other industry
(05:47):
is there's been a huge shift to people
just doing as much as they can online
before engaging with a person. And so we're
helping contractors get, you know, get their act
together around that.
I I love that idea too of of
starting versus completing,
because I think we all have experienced that
at some point too. You've been in a
store somewhere and then maybe you looked it
(06:07):
up online to, like, price match or Totally.
Or or vice versa. You, oh, I I
should look for this thing. Oh, wait. I
know somewhere. I'm gonna be out somewhere tomorrow.
I can just pick this up there. But
it but it at least starts the the
thought process and and kinda prepares you for
that purchase
rather than you coming in cold and and
having to start from from scratch. So giving
(06:29):
I I would imagine giving those opportunities and
and making yourself available. It it doesn't hurt
you. If anything, it just prepares you and
prepares your customers
for what's going to take place rather than
every everything is required to take place online
or in person.
Exactly. And all consumers wanna do, it's it's
a basic human thing. They wanna reduce uncertainty.
(06:51):
Right? Uncertainty gives people anxiety. I just got
a text message yesterday from a salesperson,
with a company in,
Florida. I'm gonna read it to you. And
he said, I had to share this one
with you. Customer greeted me at the door
and stops me and says, I can't take
the anxiety.
She said, tell me what the range of
cost is because no one seems to be
(07:13):
able to tell me what the cost is.
So I so I told her that it's
from this number to this number. And she
said, you know, if there's only a place
I could go online, look at options,
and just like I bought my car, it'd
be so much more relaxing.
So come on in. So he he was
telling me, he almost this is this is
from Colin Cree. You can, I'll screen screenshot
to you. He's a a retail salesperson in
Florida.
(07:33):
But, yeah, people are,
not as patient as they once were.
And every consumer knows that, yes, they're going
to need to come in and do measurements,
and, yes, they're gonna need to do a
load calculation. And those are really
those should be value added exercises, but they
just need to know. It's not a mystery.
It's either 10, 15, or $20,000.
Let me digest that, then let me come
(07:55):
in and get to know your company. Right?
So when a contractor's in the home and
they're doing the traditional sales process, and they're
saying, we drug test and background check our
employees, and we do this and we do
this all to build up to
price. The customer's not hearing anything.
And even if they were, they're not remembering
anything by the time they get to the
price because now the
(08:16):
like, they have to rationalize and understand, and
then they go online, and it's just a
it's a whole
just broken, broken process.
And I wouldn't say it's just our industry
either. This is something that takes place
in every facet of life, and and so
many places are are trying to catch up
to it. I know,
(08:37):
you know, I know
there's
you can't do this, but we were we
had to take my son to the emergency
room, like, a couple of months ago, and
you just you don't know what that's gonna
be. And you're the entire time you're sitting
there thinking, like, okay. I want my son
to be better. But at the same time,
I'm, like, I'm just have this kinda, like,
thing
hang over my head of
what is this gonna cost. And Oh, yeah.
(08:58):
And the fact that somebody who is about
to receive a service in their home would
experience that same
blood pressure increasing anxiety, like, that should absolutely
be one of the things that we try
to eliminate from the start. So Yeah. And
and that's that's
part of it. The online pricing, online shopping,
the configuration of systems and quotes and good,
(09:20):
better, best, like, all that's really, really important.
Then there is an actual element that is
transactional with the customer. So,
you know, selling filter memberships and services and
those sort of things, making it super easy
to buy those things from your website in
a modern way is having a huge impact
on customers.
So I I wanna ask,
you know, the the story that you told
(09:41):
about purchasing cars,
online,
I think there's probably a generational shift that
plays into that as we see the different,
consumer
go from, you know, the average consumer being
this generation versus versus the next? And and
as we move through more millennials,
more,
(10:01):
gen z buying houses and and how that
changes how they wanna purchase.
Are are you are you guys seeing that
the traditional
sales process
is is almost being disrupted as as the
generational shift continues to move forward?
Absolutely. The concept of a younger generation homeowner
having 3 or 4 people come to their
(10:22):
house and go through a full sales presentation
and then analyze the or make a decision
from there is really, really dying down. I
mean,
the data in the American Home Comfort Study
suggests that people are having sometimes just one
contractor come to their house. So how are
they making that decision? How are they doing
that comparison? They're doing it online ahead of
time. People aren't even getting the opportunity to
go to the home. And I I should
clarify, like, we're all about going to the
(10:43):
home. Like, that's number 1. Like, get the
custom get those eyeballs on your website. Get
them to convert. Get in the home and
do what you do best.
But people are not as patient to take
time off of work and have you come
out and have you go through, you know,
all of those things. They wanna get down
to business pretty quickly, and you have to
you have to balance that tension. But you
(11:04):
see it in, you see it in Google
search. You see it in, you know, mobile
device versus desktop. I mean, people are just
erring toward convenience. You see it in, with
us. You know, for contractors who have an
online store for selling and,
you know, selling full systems and water heaters
and generators and those sort of things, you
see after hours mobile device. This is people
sitting on their couch watching Netflix
(11:27):
and shopping conveniently on their phone. Like, that's
where you see it.
Oh, man. That's that's it's interesting too because
you think about the time
and almost the convenience level of this.
The the time that it is a priority
for people
may not be the time that it's a
priority for us and our business,
(11:47):
especially with that after hours.
And and just
I I think about the
the analogy there of just sitting on your
couch and and watching Netflix and all of
a sudden something happens or all of a
sudden you're kind of prompted to think about
this. Mhmm. Like, I've been at work all
day. I haven't been thinking about, like, I
haven't been thinking about this. Your business is
open 8 to 5. I'm not thinking about
(12:08):
it at the same time it is, and
you realize that the ability to just be
more accessible
when the customer wants you Right. Again,
it's not a it doesn't hurt you. So
so if anything, it's just gonna prepare you
better for for that purchasing process.
Exactly. And you have to pull that customer
off the market at Friday night at 10
(12:30):
o'clock
through Digital Mind Journeys. Otherwise, they're just gonna
keep searching and keep being curious and
heaven forbid they go to HomeAdvisor
or somewhere like that. They put in their
information because HomeAdvisor will gladly give a quote
on a system, and then they'll sell that
lead for, you know, $75 to 10 different
contractors. So,
you've you've gotta answer the question and keep
(12:51):
you know, not let that customer's curiosity take
keep them on the Internet or you'll you'll
lose them. You'll never get them.
For sure. So I I think we've established
a pretty good
frame of reference here. And if if you're
somebody out there listening and and, like, you're
still in opposition to this,
I think we could go on and on
about all of the reasons why.
(13:12):
But I'd love to talk for a second
about the what because
you guys doing this for the past couple
years.
My assumption is you've seen some pretty big
challenges
and some
times where,
you know,
contractors who start this process, they may run
into
(13:32):
some of the early growing pains of of
adding pricing and adding commerce to their website.
What would you say are the the biggest
common early challenges when they transition to a,
you know,
a a a section on their website for
purchasing?
Yeah. So I can go back to our
early days. I mean, contractors everything we've built
here is in response to something a contractor
(13:53):
has asked us. They they've either tried to
do and been unsuccessful or have asked us
to do. And one of the things is
the selling of actual products, things like air
filters and indoor air quality products that consumers
just generally go to Amazon for, generally go
to the hardware store for. So,
you know, that's a really, really cumbersome process.
Right? If,
(14:14):
you know, to be able to set up
an ecommerce
system on your website and then have all
the inventory that you need to fulfill orders
in your shop and ship those things
in a fast, modern way.
It's not impossible, but it's very,
very, very complex. So
we've made our business modular. So contractors, you
know, through the discovery process, we learned, like,
(14:36):
what is it you want to accomplish? What
are you trying to drive? Are you trying
to drive replacement sales? Are you trying to
drive membership and recurring revenue things? Or do
you just wanna sell more stuff to your
customers without the the, you know, the the
burden of having to carry all this stuff?
So one of the areas we help customers
is we help them set up a physical
product store on their website where they can
sell actual products to customers, and we do
(14:58):
all the shipping and fulfillment. So we carry,
you know, hundreds and hundreds of OEM brand
filters and all sorts of different sizes and,
you know, combinations, and contractors will list those
products on their website,
apply retail markup, and still be competitive against
people like Amazon. And and we do all
the work. We do all the shipping. We
do all the packaging. We do the email
(15:19):
communication and tracking numbers and filter change reminders,
all with the customer's brand. So we're kind
of invisible.
So that was really the first challenge we
had to overcome is like, how can we
help a contractor
sell
physical goods to their customers without carrying the
operational burden. So we created it. We created
a way that they can just
have an online store, sell stuff to their
(15:40):
customers, make great margin, set their own price,
and not lift a finger. So that's a
big part of what we do here.
Yeah.
Would you say that,
I would imagine somebody
putting myself in the kind of the seat
of a of a
business owner for a second.
I might have some team members
(16:00):
that have been around the company for a
long time. They're just used to that process.
We don't there's no transparency, like, in our
pricing at least upfront. You have to come
out. You have to get the the the
quote and
all of that. I I would imagine there's
going to be some pushback
from team members that that it's just gonna
be hard to make that transition where this
(16:23):
is a new way just like
going into the grocery store and the robot
self checkers, like, they're Yeah.
The all of the the the store employees
that pushed back on that, you you're going
to have probably
some opposition internally
to a new way and a new process
of of of selling.
Yeah. It's funny you mentioned that my mind
went to, you know, I love self checkout
(16:44):
when I'm in a hurry, but not when
I have more than 4 or 5 things.
And particularly if they don't have a a
UPC code code on it, like, I will
always need Kathy at my Publix here. So
shout out to Kathy.
The biggest fear or misconception,
started with really the salespeople. Salespeople thinking that
this is an eve this is this is
(17:04):
an or, not an and. In other words,
like, hey, we're not gonna sell in the
home anymore. We're gonna sell online. 1, that's
true. It's it's an and not an or.
But the fear that salespeople had was like,
hey, if you can just go to the
price and see it, go to the website
and see a price, then I don't get
to build value. Like, what value am I
are you trying to get rid of me?
What we found the results was the exact
opposite.
Salespeople became the good guy. Right? They became
(17:26):
the guy who went out. Customer already has
a price. They already know it's between $10,015,
$20,000
And the sales guy goes out and does
an assessment of the home and gets to
be the good guy to say, hey. It's
it's actually not gonna be 15. It's actually
gonna be 145.
Or, hey. It's not gonna be 20. It's
not gonna be 15. It's gonna be 16.4,
whatever that is. They get to be the
good guy to customize it for the customer.
(17:46):
So,
it's usually the salespeople that think they're being
replaced by online sales, and that's not the
case at all. I mean, there's no shortage
of car salesman in
the world, and
online pricing for cars
started happening in, you know, 2011, 2012. So
that industry had the same fear,
(18:08):
but it's the same model. They wanna get
come come customers comfortable with their brand. They
wanna give customers
good options, good transparency, and then they wanna
get that customer in the showroom to show
them their options
and sell the car.
Yeah.
I'm I'm curious to know as we,
want I wanna give you some time to
talk a little bit more in-depth about contractor
(18:30):
commerce.
Sure. But just, like, what's been the feedback
or what's been the reaction?
You you shared like a like a text
from somebody who's like, man, if there was
just x thing or or
this thing, but, like, what what's been the
feedback or the reaction that you've heard from
from contractors
about those who offer this with their clients,
(18:51):
with their customers,
and kinda getting that almost
now referral
comments, those reviews, the things that come in
that that support
the benefits that this offers? It it's over
overwhelmingly positive. And I think specifically about a
company,
it's Air Nerds in Virginia, Jimmy Marty. I
(19:11):
don't know if he's a part of BDR
or not, but great, great guy.
Real name's James, but goes by Jimmy online.
Another story. Shout out to Jimmy.
But a customer went on and reviewed him
on his website and said, I had another
company out, and they said that I had
to do this. And I went online, and
I found a quote. Honey, I'm in a
I'm in a meeting right now. Oh, she
needs my,
she needs my touch ID to do something
(19:34):
like that.
Pardon me. Thanks, Eric, Tyler.
The homeowner wrote a review that I just
I went online and I saw a price
and it was so easy. And Jimmy came
over and he fixed it for $25100
instead of whatever for, you know, 3,000.
And it was just the most beautiful scenario
because,
that's exactly why we built it. Right? For
(19:54):
the for the
we we built it for the consumer
to have a great experience with the contractor
and for the contractor to benefit on that
or benefit from that. So
the feedback's been overwhelmingly positive. I can think
story after story after story. Charlotte, North Carolina,
Travis Crawford Heating, great company.
Within 60 days, it sold, you know, over
(20:17):
a $100,000
in new customer revenue from people that were
just like, oh, I went online, and said
instant water heater quote. And so I filled
it out, and someone called me, and
we bought a water heater.
And it's a no brainer, Tyler. I mean,
it's just
consumers expect this
to exist already. Like,
if you've never bought an air conditioner for
(20:37):
your house and you're let's we'll we'll not
pick on millennials, but if you're 30 years
old and you're living in a house and
it's time to replace your air conditioner, you
assume that you can do this. You assume
that you just go to go somewhere to
get a price and figure it out and
then contact them to customize
you know, figure out the details in your
house. It's only when you go to do
it, and you're like, what's this contact form?
(20:59):
What's this
chat? Like, help me now.
Let me use my
PayPal. Let me use my Apple Pay. That's
another that's another conversation.
Yeah. Well and and you hit on something
really important there. I think the best products,
the best services, the best feature are ones
that impact multiple levels of people.
(21:19):
Mhmm. That this this service, this feature,
it it puts the customer first. It it
puts them at the forefront
of this.
But then it also it it's not like
the
we use the used the used car salesman
came up. The used car salesman, he benefits
from this, but the consumer probably doesn't.
(21:40):
But but by offering this to their customers,
the contractors
get better can get better reviews, better feedback,
a smoother process for their team.
You know, the the potentials are endless, so
there's benefits there. And then you even go
up the chain and and just so the
levels of who this benefits and and why
(22:01):
it's important,
I think that's really cool to see because
there's there's not really a gap here. It's
it's every everybody wins and that's we're we're
looking for a situation where the customer is
first and then everybody wins.
It's something that we we work with our
clients on pretty consistently. So Yep. Exactly. You
have to do business in a way that
your customer wants to do business, but it's
also, you know, reasonable and responsible for how
(22:23):
you operate your business. Right? So we try
to thread that deal in a way that
benefits both parties. I mean, we do we
fully believe, and I cannot be convinced otherwise,
that,
every
meaningful contractor will at some point have some
sort of online
shopping journey or some sort of online store
on their company website. It's
(22:43):
hard to imagine a world where
that doesn't exist in, I don't know how
many years, 5, 10, or whatever. It's just
there's no way it stays the same. It's
impossible. And so
we're try well, we've been first to go
to market with this, and, the first
1,000 or so contractors who are doing this
are are,
in a big way, reaping the benefits of
(23:04):
it.
Conversations on the podcast here this year about
changing technology and and, the advancement of AI
and and everything that's happening. And the I
I kinda get keep getting the same message
from people. It's we you you if you're
(23:26):
learning about this now, if you're hearing about
this now, you have an opportunity to jump
in or or at least get in at
a level where you're going to be ahead
of
or or at least have that step forward
that maybe somebody else who waits another 6
months before they jump on the chat gpt
bandwagon or whatever that is. And I think
you could probably say the same thing for
contractors if we know.
(23:48):
And Daniel Burris, who is who is our
keynote speaker at Spark this year, we talked
about this concept of hard trends. Yeah. Do
we know that people? Can we confidently predict
that more people are gonna wanna buy online?
Or is that gonna go backwards? Now that's
a pretty hard trend that we can see.
More people are going to want to buy
online
for the convenience. They still want that human
(24:08):
interaction, and that's always going to exist. But
they're going to there's just more people that
are going to want that. That's a hard
trend. So the ability that you have to
get in on that level is going to
position you to
to take that next step forward and not
say, wow. I wish I had done this
6 months ago or I wish I had
done this a year ago,
because all of your competitors are already doing
(24:30):
it.
Exactly. And I I remember that keynote speech
specifically, and I remember just thinking like, okay.
We're we're not wrong. We're on the right
track. And and the forward thinking contractors, and
we work with many of yours,
they know the inevitability of this.
They're smart enough. They have been around long
enough. They remember when the first time they
were told that they needed a website. The
(24:52):
first time they were told they needed Google
My Business profile. 1st time they were told
they needed to do SEO.
They knew the inevitability of it because they
can step back from the business and kind
of just look at reality.
And so, you know, guys like Mason Pro
Services, and I think Tempe, Arizona,
great shared client of ours. Like, they see
it. They know that thousands of consumers every
day in in Phoenix go online looking
(25:14):
to get pricing on water heaters, and the
only place you could do it is Home
Depot or Lowe's or HomeAdvisor.
So they make it easy for a contractor
for a homeowner to answer a few questions
and get a quote on a water heater.
Duh.
The website obvious. The website analogy is perfect
here too. People that held out and said
I don't need a website.
(25:35):
Eventually, you needed a website. And so Yep.
At what point at what how far in
the future are we to reach in that
point where it's it's like I don't need
an online store. And then Yeah. Pretty much
pretty soon everybody has an online store. Yeah.
It's it's really interesting. Like, the the word
ecommerce
is defined a lot of different ways,
but most websites
in the world have ecommerce functionality.
(25:57):
You can buy something.
Home services,
unless they're working with us,
they have some plug in from Shopify or
whatever. I don't I don't can't speak for
everyone.
They don't have commerce functionality. And, eventually, all
websites will be built with some sort of
ecommerce functionality. And why wouldn't you for memberships?
Why wouldn't you have why wouldn't you let
a customer
see a compelling ad on Facebook that says
(26:19):
19.99
for the comfort club,
save 15% on repairs, but, you know, list
all those benefits. Let them click on it
and become a customer and have a profile
on your you know, have a user account
on your website where they can manage their
their membership.
It's a no brainer.
Yeah. Well, this has been a a really
cool conversation and and so many great things.
(26:40):
I have one final question to ask. But
before I get to that,
a question on what is that first step
that contractors can take? Before I ask that,
wanna give you a second. Give us give
us the contractor commerce elevator pitch. What what
is it that you are doing for businesses?
You've shared plenty of the benefits here, but
but give us that that kind of that
(27:01):
hook for for contractor commerce and what you
guys are doing. Yeah. Our Our real goal
is to connect 1 to 1 with a
contractor and help them develop a strategy to
how to integrate ecommerce into their business. And
there's not a one size fits all approach.
Sometimes they
need to focus on building their membership base.
Sometimes they need to focus on, you know,
(27:22):
recurring shipments of filters, or sometimes they just
need more leads or, you know, need to
convert more of their web traffic to, you
know, install leads.
The first step is really to go through
discovery call with us. Let us get to
know your business. Let us share with you
how people like you are leveraging ecommerce,
and then get set up. It's a really,
really simple onboarding.
(27:43):
It's
a couple of meetings with my team where
we help you configure things and tailor it
to your, you know, to your liking for
your website, and,
we get to work. It's
not a huge long process. It could be
up and running in in, you know, just
a day. Really, it doesn't take much time
at all. So step 1 is is to
schedule a discovery call at contractorcommerce.com.
(28:05):
Click learn more and fill that out. Or,
you know, find Tyler or me, and we'll
we'll connect you with
right people. Awesome. Very cool. Well, I
final question then from me.
I'm gonna put myself in the shoes of
a contractor for a second. And, Paul, I'm
gonna ask is if you're speaking to me
as a contractor who is incredibly hesitant
(28:25):
about taking this plunge into ecommerce and and
having an online store,
what what is that what's what's the one
thing that that you would want to communicate
to me, the contractor,
who is is just
not
getting over the hump quite yet in this
process? Maybe it's because it's Friday, and maybe
it's because it's been a long week. I
(28:47):
would say don't do it.
I would say don't do it. It is
so unbelievably obvious why you would wanna do
this. So if you don't believe it inside
your belly, if you don't believe it in
your gut and you can't implement that within
your business, then
don't do it. That would be
that would be my response.
(29:09):
I could convince you. I
could show you all the case studies. I
could show you the data. I could guarantee
a certain amount of ROI.
I could go until I'm blue in the
face convincing someone that this is the right
move.
But if they can't step back and see
the market and see where it's going,
they can't see it. And
(29:30):
they'll eventually see it, and we'll be here
when they're ready, And we'll help them gladly
get set up, and we'll support their team
and coach their team.
But if if they can't see it, I
would say don't do it. Alright. So then
follow-up.
I'm now the contractor
who with you saying that you've pushed me
over the hump. I see it. I'm ready
to go.
What's my first step?
(29:52):
The first step is just to sit down
with us and tell us your goals. What
do you hope to accomplish? What are your
revenue goals? How many sales people do you
have? How many technicians do you have? How
can we enable those people to
sell memberships
and
capture some of the filter sales that have
been lost over the years.
It's a pretty straightforward process. I mean, it's
(30:12):
really, really easy. This is what our team
does every single day,
and we work really hard to make sure
that we actually as part of our conversation
with the customer, like, if we can't agree
on
a mutual strategy to get this thing to
pay for itself quickly,
we shouldn't do it. I don't wanna and
we're only talking 100 of dollars a month
(30:33):
from us, and we're not talking a ton
of money. This is
a simple software subscription that you pay for.
Most most of our customers pay between 4.99
and 9.99 a month. And,
yeah, we come up with a game plan
to get it profitable and to get it
paying for itself, and we we get to
work.
So it's it's exciting, and it's fun to
(30:54):
what you just described there, someone who can't
get over the hump to someone who gets
over the hump. I,
was talking to,
Dan Friesen with Charlton Hill
in, Western Canada a year or so ago,
and he he loved this idea, but he
just something in his heart of hearts, it
didn't feel right. He didn't feel like he
could take it to his team. And I
(31:15):
told him exactly what I just told you.
Like, don't do it yet. Wait wait until
you can have buy in. You have enough
changes going on. He had a lot going
on. I was like, you don't need to
rock the horse. Like, when you're ready, rock
the boat. When you're ready, come back. And
so,
last couple of weeks, he's got his online
store up and running, and it's just been,
like, this huge breath of fresh air in
this building. His employees love it. The teams
love it. It's pretty cool.
(31:37):
Well, I
as I'm I'm kinda processing everything now that
we've talked about and going back to that
initial
raising your hand, who's purchased a car,
on line.
I can imagine, and I'd love for us
to do this at Spark this year. Just
a quick how many people have had somebody
how many how many people have purchased
(31:58):
a car online?
Where it is right now to where it'll
be 5 years from now, I think it's
just
we we can't begin to imagine where that
that's going. We can we can hope, we
can dream, we can think about all of
the exciting things ahead for ecommerce.
But
if you're one of those people who was
the first person to put your hand up,
(32:19):
there's gonna be some really cool opportunities ahead
for you and your market. So. Yeah. And
and then you ask who shopped online and
everyone raises their hand. So it's, you know,
it's not a pivot. It's it's something you
add to your business.
Very cool. Well, Paul, this has been an
awesome conversation. Again, if if people have questions
or or just wanna get in contact with
you, what's the what's the best way to
reach out to you? So you can find
(32:41):
me on LinkedIn, Paul Redmond. You can find
me on Facebook. I know there's a lot
of Facebook groups and a lot of, contractors
use those.
You can go to our website, contractorcommerce.com,
and click contact us or click, you know,
learn more, and that will route someone on
my team to contact with you contact you.
And, my email is predman@contractorcommerce.com.
(33:02):
Awesome. Well, Paul, it's it's been an honor
getting to talk with you and and talk
about this incredibly important and increasingly important topic.
Can't wait to see how we continue to
move forward in this area. Yeah. Thank you
so much. Thank you for the support, and
tell the team I said hello.
Absolutely will do. And thank you to everyone
out there for listening and joining
us for another episode of the Prime Partners
(33:23):
podcast. Whether you're listening on Apple, Spotify, Amazon,
or wherever you get your podcast or you're
watching us on YouTube, please like, subscribe, leave
us a review. We'd love to hear what
you think about the podcast and, and and
some of the recent topics and things that
we've been
BDR's Prime Partners podcast
delivers insight on services,
resources,
and business practices that can help your company
succeed faster.
Listen and learn for ways to take your
company forward. Welcome to the Prime Partners podcast.
I'm Tyler Gunn who's BDR's senior marketing communication
specialist.
Really excited about our episode. We've got an
(00:26):
awesome topic today and an awesome guest joining
us, a fellow podcaster, which is always fun
to have on the show. But I'm joined
by Paul Redmond, VP of sales at Contractor
Commerce. And we are talking about how shifting
consumer preferences are shaping the future of the
home service industry. Paul, welcome to the podcast.
(00:47):
Tyler, hey. Thank you for having me. My
pleasure. You know, I'm a big fan of
the BDR Group. So glad to be here.
Glad to contribute. Thanks again.
Yeah. Absolutely. I I'm I'm excited. I know,
you've been doing podcasting for a little while.
Again, it's always fun to have another person,
on the show who's a podcast,
enthusiast, and and, you you said it right
(01:08):
before we jumped on here. You're you're used
to asking the questions versus answering, so I
think this is gonna be really fun to
get to pick your brain a little bit
about, a really important topic in our industry
right now. Yeah. Thank you. And I admit
I have not recorded a podcast as a
host in over a year. I kinda put
it on ice to work on other priorities
in the business, but,
(01:28):
I've done it for a couple years with
a couple different podcasts. I it's it's one
of my favorite ways to learn too. So,
I spent hours and hours and hours in
the car early in my career and started
listening to people like Tim Ferris and even
like Joe Rogan. And, just learn hearing 2
people have a conversation is, like, my favorite
way of learning. So glad to be here.
I agree. It's it's, it's really cool what
(01:49):
what comes out when you put 2 people
with a microphone in front of each other
and and just kinda cut them loose. So
so that's what we're gonna do here today.
I'd love to just learn a little bit
more about you
and your background.
How did you get connected in the the
home service industry
and and,
and with contractor commerce and kinda what's what's
been your background look like? I'll give you
(02:11):
the TLDR, the quick version. So, one of
my first jobs out of college is with
a major manufacturer, and I grew up in
Ohio and had the opportunity to move to
Colorado and work for Lennox. And, worked there
for about 10 years, did a ton of
different jobs,
you know, traditional field sales territory manager for
the 1st couple of years, did really well,
moved to the corporate office, started working in
brand and digital marketing and product to some
(02:34):
degree, digital products,
and then had the opportunity to move to
Charlotte, North Carolina to run one of the,
what they call a district. So like 10
or 12 locations and all the employees and
all that stuff. And, throughout that process, I
met a lot of people in the industry,
but one person that stuck out to me
was a guy named Will Hausch, who was
one of our customers, but also just
he owned hvac.com,
and he was doing some interesting things with
(02:54):
ecommerce. And we just developed a friendship that
became kind of like a friendship and a
professional friendship.
And, I think both knew pretty early, like,
we're
probably gonna work together one day. So
took the plunge, and we started Contractor Commerce
in 2018
and really decided right after the pandemic,
when online shopping just blew up, that like
(03:16):
this isn't going away. People
want to shop from the convenience of their
home. They might not buy a fully installed
air conditioner heat pump, but they're gonna get
pretty far through the journey
on their couch. And they're not gonna do
it with contractors unless we take something to
contractors that they can use. And so so
that's contractor commerce.
(03:37):
Well, I I think that's a great segue
now into our discussion for today, which is
talking about shifting consumer preferences
and and how that's positioning the future of
our industry.
I think pretty much everybody out there could
could say that they see the trends in
this. If you've purchased anything on Amazon
(03:58):
and how that changes,
you know, instead of having to go to
the store.
But just last night, we ran out of
the diaper trash bags at my house. Oh,
yeah. Normally, that would just be,
oh, it's quick. We gotta get in our
car, run to the store. And the fact
that I could put it in a cart
and it would be on my doorstep by
the time I woke up the next morning,
that's just I think everybody's experienced that on
(04:19):
some level. But
at the contractor level and at the industry
level,
I don't believe there's anybody better to speak
to the trends and and what's been taking
place and what is continuing to take place.
So so what are some of those trends?
What are the things that you are seeing
and how customers
interact with home service contractors?
Well, if you really think about it from
just the consumer perspective, every contractor can put
(04:41):
themselves in the shoes of a consumer because
they are a consumer for different things in
their lives. And,
I always share this analogy. You know, years
ago when we first started speaking on MainStage
events for about this concept, I would ask
the group, like, who here has bought a
car online?
And usually, it's one person who raises their
hand, like, proudly in the back of the
room. And these last few years, it's become,
okay, 2, 3, and 4. But, really, the
(05:04):
last time I asked this, I think maybe
3 people answered the question. They're answered 3
out of a 100 said I bought a
car online. But then I reframed the question
and said, how many of you shopped for
a car online?
And almost the entire room raises their hand.
Right? And that's the whole concept. It's that
people may not,
contractors might think like, oh, people don't transact
for these things, so I'm not gonna pay
(05:25):
attention to it. This will never happen. But
they're starting the buying journey online. Right? And
they're not doing that with contractors. They're doing
it with HomeAdvisor. They're doing it with Lowe's.
They're doing it
with some sort of technology company that's trying
to
be a contractor or sell direct or whatever.
So,
yeah, I mean, it's
very, very predictable and repeatable. Every other industry
(05:47):
is there's been a huge shift to people
just doing as much as they can online
before engaging with a person. And so we're
helping contractors get, you know, get their act
together around that.
I I love that idea too of of
starting versus completing,
because I think we all have experienced that
at some point too. You've been in a
store somewhere and then maybe you looked it
(06:07):
up online to, like, price match or Totally.
Or or vice versa. You, oh, I I
should look for this thing. Oh, wait. I
know somewhere. I'm gonna be out somewhere tomorrow.
I can just pick this up there. But
it but it at least starts the the
thought process and and kinda prepares you for
that purchase
rather than you coming in cold and and
having to start from from scratch. So giving
(06:29):
I I would imagine giving those opportunities and
and making yourself available. It it doesn't hurt
you. If anything, it just prepares you and
prepares your customers
for what's going to take place rather than
every everything is required to take place online
or in person.
Exactly. And all consumers wanna do, it's it's
a basic human thing. They wanna reduce uncertainty.
(06:51):
Right? Uncertainty gives people anxiety. I just got
a text message yesterday from a salesperson,
with a company in,
Florida. I'm gonna read it to you. And
he said, I had to share this one
with you. Customer greeted me at the door
and stops me and says, I can't take
the anxiety.
She said, tell me what the range of
cost is because no one seems to be
(07:13):
able to tell me what the cost is.
So I so I told her that it's
from this number to this number. And she
said, you know, if there's only a place
I could go online, look at options,
and just like I bought my car, it'd
be so much more relaxing.
So come on in. So he he was
telling me, he almost this is this is
from Colin Cree. You can, I'll screen screenshot
to you. He's a a retail salesperson in
Florida.
(07:33):
But, yeah, people are,
not as patient as they once were.
And every consumer knows that, yes, they're going
to need to come in and do measurements,
and, yes, they're gonna need to do a
load calculation. And those are really
those should be value added exercises, but they
just need to know. It's not a mystery.
It's either 10, 15, or $20,000.
Let me digest that, then let me come
(07:55):
in and get to know your company. Right?
So when a contractor's in the home and
they're doing the traditional sales process, and they're
saying, we drug test and background check our
employees, and we do this and we do
this all to build up to
price. The customer's not hearing anything.
And even if they were, they're not remembering
anything by the time they get to the
price because now the
(08:16):
like, they have to rationalize and understand, and
then they go online, and it's just a
it's a whole
just broken, broken process.
And I wouldn't say it's just our industry
either. This is something that takes place
in every facet of life, and and so
many places are are trying to catch up
to it. I know,
(08:37):
you know, I know
there's
you can't do this, but we were we
had to take my son to the emergency
room, like, a couple of months ago, and
you just you don't know what that's gonna
be. And you're the entire time you're sitting
there thinking, like, okay. I want my son
to be better. But at the same time,
I'm, like, I'm just have this kinda, like,
thing
hang over my head of
what is this gonna cost. And Oh, yeah.
(08:58):
And the fact that somebody who is about
to receive a service in their home would
experience that same
blood pressure increasing anxiety, like, that should absolutely
be one of the things that we try
to eliminate from the start. So Yeah. And
and that's that's
part of it. The online pricing, online shopping,
the configuration of systems and quotes and good,
(09:20):
better, best, like, all that's really, really important.
Then there is an actual element that is
transactional with the customer. So,
you know, selling filter memberships and services and
those sort of things, making it super easy
to buy those things from your website in
a modern way is having a huge impact
on customers.
So I I wanna ask,
you know, the the story that you told
(09:41):
about purchasing cars,
online,
I think there's probably a generational shift that
plays into that as we see the different,
consumer
go from, you know, the average consumer being
this generation versus versus the next? And and
as we move through more millennials,
more,
(10:01):
gen z buying houses and and how that
changes how they wanna purchase.
Are are you are you guys seeing that
the traditional
sales process
is is almost being disrupted as as the
generational shift continues to move forward?
Absolutely. The concept of a younger generation homeowner
having 3 or 4 people come to their
(10:22):
house and go through a full sales presentation
and then analyze the or make a decision
from there is really, really dying down. I
mean,
the data in the American Home Comfort Study
suggests that people are having sometimes just one
contractor come to their house. So how are
they making that decision? How are they doing
that comparison? They're doing it online ahead of
time. People aren't even getting the opportunity to
go to the home. And I I should
clarify, like, we're all about going to the
(10:43):
home. Like, that's number 1. Like, get the
custom get those eyeballs on your website. Get
them to convert. Get in the home and
do what you do best.
But people are not as patient to take
time off of work and have you come
out and have you go through, you know,
all of those things. They wanna get down
to business pretty quickly, and you have to
you have to balance that tension. But you
(11:04):
see it in, you see it in Google
search. You see it in, you know, mobile
device versus desktop. I mean, people are just
erring toward convenience. You see it in, with
us. You know, for contractors who have an
online store for selling and,
you know, selling full systems and water heaters
and generators and those sort of things, you
see after hours mobile device. This is people
sitting on their couch watching Netflix
(11:27):
and shopping conveniently on their phone. Like, that's
where you see it.
Oh, man. That's that's it's interesting too because
you think about the time
and almost the convenience level of this.
The the time that it is a priority
for people
may not be the time that it's a
priority for us and our business,
(11:47):
especially with that after hours.
And and just
I I think about the
the analogy there of just sitting on your
couch and and watching Netflix and all of
a sudden something happens or all of a
sudden you're kind of prompted to think about
this. Mhmm. Like, I've been at work all
day. I haven't been thinking about, like, I
haven't been thinking about this. Your business is
open 8 to 5. I'm not thinking about
(12:08):
it at the same time it is, and
you realize that the ability to just be
more accessible
when the customer wants you Right. Again,
it's not a it doesn't hurt you. So
so if anything, it's just gonna prepare you
better for for that purchasing process.
Exactly. And you have to pull that customer
off the market at Friday night at 10
(12:30):
o'clock
through Digital Mind Journeys. Otherwise, they're just gonna
keep searching and keep being curious and
heaven forbid they go to HomeAdvisor
or somewhere like that. They put in their
information because HomeAdvisor will gladly give a quote
on a system, and then they'll sell that
lead for, you know, $75 to 10 different
contractors. So,
you've you've gotta answer the question and keep
(12:51):
you know, not let that customer's curiosity take
keep them on the Internet or you'll you'll
lose them. You'll never get them.
For sure. So I I think we've established
a pretty good
frame of reference here. And if if you're
somebody out there listening and and, like, you're
still in opposition to this,
I think we could go on and on
about all of the reasons why.
(13:12):
But I'd love to talk for a second
about the what because
you guys doing this for the past couple
years.
My assumption is you've seen some pretty big
challenges
and some
times where,
you know,
contractors who start this process, they may run
into
(13:32):
some of the early growing pains of of
adding pricing and adding commerce to their website.
What would you say are the the biggest
common early challenges when they transition to a,
you know,
a a a section on their website for
purchasing?
Yeah. So I can go back to our
early days. I mean, contractors everything we've built
here is in response to something a contractor
(13:53):
has asked us. They they've either tried to
do and been unsuccessful or have asked us
to do. And one of the things is
the selling of actual products, things like air
filters and indoor air quality products that consumers
just generally go to Amazon for, generally go
to the hardware store for. So,
you know, that's a really, really cumbersome process.
Right? If,
(14:14):
you know, to be able to set up
an ecommerce
system on your website and then have all
the inventory that you need to fulfill orders
in your shop and ship those things
in a fast, modern way.
It's not impossible, but it's very,
very, very complex. So
we've made our business modular. So contractors, you
know, through the discovery process, we learned, like,
(14:36):
what is it you want to accomplish? What
are you trying to drive? Are you trying
to drive replacement sales? Are you trying to
drive membership and recurring revenue things? Or do
you just wanna sell more stuff to your
customers without the the, you know, the the
burden of having to carry all this stuff?
So one of the areas we help customers
is we help them set up a physical
product store on their website where they can
sell actual products to customers, and we do
(14:58):
all the shipping and fulfillment. So we carry,
you know, hundreds and hundreds of OEM brand
filters and all sorts of different sizes and,
you know, combinations, and contractors will list those
products on their website,
apply retail markup, and still be competitive against
people like Amazon. And and we do all
the work. We do all the shipping. We
do all the packaging. We do the email
(15:19):
communication and tracking numbers and filter change reminders,
all with the customer's brand. So we're kind
of invisible.
So that was really the first challenge we
had to overcome is like, how can we
help a contractor
sell
physical goods to their customers without carrying the
operational burden. So we created it. We created
a way that they can just
have an online store, sell stuff to their
(15:40):
customers, make great margin, set their own price,
and not lift a finger. So that's a
big part of what we do here.
Yeah.
Would you say that,
I would imagine somebody
putting myself in the kind of the seat
of a of a
business owner for a second.
I might have some team members
(16:00):
that have been around the company for a
long time. They're just used to that process.
We don't there's no transparency, like, in our
pricing at least upfront. You have to come
out. You have to get the the the
quote and
all of that. I I would imagine there's
going to be some pushback
from team members that that it's just gonna
be hard to make that transition where this
(16:23):
is a new way just like
going into the grocery store and the robot
self checkers, like, they're Yeah.
The all of the the the store employees
that pushed back on that, you you're going
to have probably
some opposition internally
to a new way and a new process
of of of selling.
Yeah. It's funny you mentioned that my mind
went to, you know, I love self checkout
(16:44):
when I'm in a hurry, but not when
I have more than 4 or 5 things.
And particularly if they don't have a a
UPC code code on it, like, I will
always need Kathy at my Publix here. So
shout out to Kathy.
The biggest fear or misconception,
started with really the salespeople. Salespeople thinking that
this is an eve this is this is
(17:04):
an or, not an and. In other words,
like, hey, we're not gonna sell in the
home anymore. We're gonna sell online. 1, that's
true. It's it's an and not an or.
But the fear that salespeople had was like,
hey, if you can just go to the
price and see it, go to the website
and see a price, then I don't get
to build value. Like, what value am I
are you trying to get rid of me?
What we found the results was the exact
opposite.
Salespeople became the good guy. Right? They became
(17:26):
the guy who went out. Customer already has
a price. They already know it's between $10,015,
$20,000
And the sales guy goes out and does
an assessment of the home and gets to
be the good guy to say, hey. It's
it's actually not gonna be 15. It's actually
gonna be 145.
Or, hey. It's not gonna be 20. It's
not gonna be 15. It's gonna be 16.4,
whatever that is. They get to be the
good guy to customize it for the customer.
(17:46):
So,
it's usually the salespeople that think they're being
replaced by online sales, and that's not the
case at all. I mean, there's no shortage
of car salesman in
the world, and
online pricing for cars
started happening in, you know, 2011, 2012. So
that industry had the same fear,
(18:08):
but it's the same model. They wanna get
come come customers comfortable with their brand. They
wanna give customers
good options, good transparency, and then they wanna
get that customer in the showroom to show
them their options
and sell the car.
Yeah.
I'm I'm curious to know as we,
want I wanna give you some time to
talk a little bit more in-depth about contractor
(18:30):
commerce.
Sure. But just, like, what's been the feedback
or what's been the reaction?
You you shared like a like a text
from somebody who's like, man, if there was
just x thing or or
this thing, but, like, what what's been the
feedback or the reaction that you've heard from
from contractors
about those who offer this with their clients,
(18:51):
with their customers,
and kinda getting that almost
now referral
comments, those reviews, the things that come in
that that support
the benefits that this offers? It it's over
overwhelmingly positive. And I think specifically about a
company,
it's Air Nerds in Virginia, Jimmy Marty. I
(19:11):
don't know if he's a part of BDR
or not, but great, great guy.
Real name's James, but goes by Jimmy online.
Another story. Shout out to Jimmy.
But a customer went on and reviewed him
on his website and said, I had another
company out, and they said that I had
to do this. And I went online, and
I found a quote. Honey, I'm in a
I'm in a meeting right now. Oh, she
needs my,
she needs my touch ID to do something
(19:34):
like that.
Pardon me. Thanks, Eric, Tyler.
The homeowner wrote a review that I just
I went online and I saw a price
and it was so easy. And Jimmy came
over and he fixed it for $25100
instead of whatever for, you know, 3,000.
And it was just the most beautiful scenario
because,
that's exactly why we built it. Right? For
(19:54):
the for the
we we built it for the consumer
to have a great experience with the contractor
and for the contractor to benefit on that
or benefit from that. So
the feedback's been overwhelmingly positive. I can think
story after story after story. Charlotte, North Carolina,
Travis Crawford Heating, great company.
Within 60 days, it sold, you know, over
(20:17):
a $100,000
in new customer revenue from people that were
just like, oh, I went online, and said
instant water heater quote. And so I filled
it out, and someone called me, and
we bought a water heater.
And it's a no brainer, Tyler. I mean,
it's just
consumers expect this
to exist already. Like,
if you've never bought an air conditioner for
(20:37):
your house and you're let's we'll we'll not
pick on millennials, but if you're 30 years
old and you're living in a house and
it's time to replace your air conditioner, you
assume that you can do this. You assume
that you just go to go somewhere to
get a price and figure it out and
then contact them to customize
you know, figure out the details in your
house. It's only when you go to do
it, and you're like, what's this contact form?
(20:59):
What's this
chat? Like, help me now.
Let me use my
PayPal. Let me use my Apple Pay. That's
another that's another conversation.
Yeah. Well and and you hit on something
really important there. I think the best products,
the best services, the best feature are ones
that impact multiple levels of people.
(21:19):
Mhmm. That this this service, this feature,
it it puts the customer first. It it
puts them at the forefront
of this.
But then it also it it's not like
the
we use the used the used car salesman
came up. The used car salesman, he benefits
from this, but the consumer probably doesn't.
(21:40):
But but by offering this to their customers,
the contractors
get better can get better reviews, better feedback,
a smoother process for their team.
You know, the the potentials are endless, so
there's benefits there. And then you even go
up the chain and and just so the
levels of who this benefits and and why
(22:01):
it's important,
I think that's really cool to see because
there's there's not really a gap here. It's
it's every everybody wins and that's we're we're
looking for a situation where the customer is
first and then everybody wins.
It's something that we we work with our
clients on pretty consistently. So Yep. Exactly. You
have to do business in a way that
your customer wants to do business, but it's
also, you know, reasonable and responsible for how
(22:23):
you operate your business. Right? So we try
to thread that deal in a way that
benefits both parties. I mean, we do we
fully believe, and I cannot be convinced otherwise,
that,
every
meaningful contractor will at some point have some
sort of online
shopping journey or some sort of online store
on their company website. It's
(22:43):
hard to imagine a world where
that doesn't exist in, I don't know how
many years, 5, 10, or whatever. It's just
there's no way it stays the same. It's
impossible. And so
we're try well, we've been first to go
to market with this, and, the first
1,000 or so contractors who are doing this
are are,
in a big way, reaping the benefits of
(23:04):
it.
Conversations on the podcast here this year about
changing technology and and, the advancement of AI
and and everything that's happening. And the I
I kinda get keep getting the same message
from people. It's we you you if you're
(23:26):
learning about this now, if you're hearing about
this now, you have an opportunity to jump
in or or at least get in at
a level where you're going to be ahead
of
or or at least have that step forward
that maybe somebody else who waits another 6
months before they jump on the chat gpt
bandwagon or whatever that is. And I think
you could probably say the same thing for
contractors if we know.
(23:48):
And Daniel Burris, who is who is our
keynote speaker at Spark this year, we talked
about this concept of hard trends. Yeah. Do
we know that people? Can we confidently predict
that more people are gonna wanna buy online?
Or is that gonna go backwards? Now that's
a pretty hard trend that we can see.
More people are going to want to buy
online
for the convenience. They still want that human
(24:08):
interaction, and that's always going to exist. But
they're going to there's just more people that
are going to want that. That's a hard
trend. So the ability that you have to
get in on that level is going to
position you to
to take that next step forward and not
say, wow. I wish I had done this
6 months ago or I wish I had
done this a year ago,
because all of your competitors are already doing
(24:30):
it.
Exactly. And I I remember that keynote speech
specifically, and I remember just thinking like, okay.
We're we're not wrong. We're on the right
track. And and the forward thinking contractors, and
we work with many of yours,
they know the inevitability of this.
They're smart enough. They have been around long
enough. They remember when the first time they
were told that they needed a website. The
(24:52):
first time they were told they needed Google
My Business profile. 1st time they were told
they needed to do SEO.
They knew the inevitability of it because they
can step back from the business and kind
of just look at reality.
And so, you know, guys like Mason Pro
Services, and I think Tempe, Arizona,
great shared client of ours. Like, they see
it. They know that thousands of consumers every
day in in Phoenix go online looking
(25:14):
to get pricing on water heaters, and the
only place you could do it is Home
Depot or Lowe's or HomeAdvisor.
So they make it easy for a contractor
for a homeowner to answer a few questions
and get a quote on a water heater.
Duh.
The website obvious. The website analogy is perfect
here too. People that held out and said
I don't need a website.
(25:35):
Eventually, you needed a website. And so Yep.
At what point at what how far in
the future are we to reach in that
point where it's it's like I don't need
an online store. And then Yeah. Pretty much
pretty soon everybody has an online store. Yeah.
It's it's really interesting. Like, the the word
ecommerce
is defined a lot of different ways,
but most websites
in the world have ecommerce functionality.
(25:57):
You can buy something.
Home services,
unless they're working with us,
they have some plug in from Shopify or
whatever. I don't I don't can't speak for
everyone.
They don't have commerce functionality. And, eventually, all
websites will be built with some sort of
ecommerce functionality. And why wouldn't you for memberships?
Why wouldn't you have why wouldn't you let
a customer
see a compelling ad on Facebook that says
(26:19):
19.99
for the comfort club,
save 15% on repairs, but, you know, list
all those benefits. Let them click on it
and become a customer and have a profile
on your you know, have a user account
on your website where they can manage their
their membership.
It's a no brainer.
Yeah. Well, this has been a a really
cool conversation and and so many great things.
(26:40):
I have one final question to ask. But
before I get to that,
a question on what is that first step
that contractors can take? Before I ask that,
wanna give you a second. Give us give
us the contractor commerce elevator pitch. What what
is it that you are doing for businesses?
You've shared plenty of the benefits here, but
but give us that that kind of that
(27:01):
hook for for contractor commerce and what you
guys are doing. Yeah. Our Our real goal
is to connect 1 to 1 with a
contractor and help them develop a strategy to
how to integrate ecommerce into their business. And
there's not a one size fits all approach.
Sometimes they
need to focus on building their membership base.
Sometimes they need to focus on, you know,
(27:22):
recurring shipments of filters, or sometimes they just
need more leads or, you know, need to
convert more of their web traffic to, you
know, install leads.
The first step is really to go through
discovery call with us. Let us get to
know your business. Let us share with you
how people like you are leveraging ecommerce,
and then get set up. It's a really,
really simple onboarding.
(27:43):
It's
a couple of meetings with my team where
we help you configure things and tailor it
to your, you know, to your liking for
your website, and,
we get to work. It's
not a huge long process. It could be
up and running in in, you know, just
a day. Really, it doesn't take much time
at all. So step 1 is is to
schedule a discovery call at contractorcommerce.com.
(28:05):
Click learn more and fill that out. Or,
you know, find Tyler or me, and we'll
we'll connect you with
right people. Awesome. Very cool. Well, I
final question then from me.
I'm gonna put myself in the shoes of
a contractor for a second. And, Paul, I'm
gonna ask is if you're speaking to me
as a contractor who is incredibly hesitant
(28:25):
about taking this plunge into ecommerce and and
having an online store,
what what is that what's what's the one
thing that that you would want to communicate
to me, the contractor,
who is is just
not
getting over the hump quite yet in this
process? Maybe it's because it's Friday, and maybe
it's because it's been a long week. I
(28:47):
would say don't do it.
I would say don't do it. It is
so unbelievably obvious why you would wanna do
this. So if you don't believe it inside
your belly, if you don't believe it in
your gut and you can't implement that within
your business, then
don't do it. That would be
that would be my response.
(29:09):
I could convince you. I
could show you all the case studies. I
could show you the data. I could guarantee
a certain amount of ROI.
I could go until I'm blue in the
face convincing someone that this is the right
move.
But if they can't step back and see
the market and see where it's going,
they can't see it. And
(29:30):
they'll eventually see it, and we'll be here
when they're ready, And we'll help them gladly
get set up, and we'll support their team
and coach their team.
But if if they can't see it, I
would say don't do it. Alright. So then
follow-up.
I'm now the contractor
who with you saying that you've pushed me
over the hump. I see it. I'm ready
to go.
What's my first step?
(29:52):
The first step is just to sit down
with us and tell us your goals. What
do you hope to accomplish? What are your
revenue goals? How many sales people do you
have? How many technicians do you have? How
can we enable those people to
sell memberships
and
capture some of the filter sales that have
been lost over the years.
It's a pretty straightforward process. I mean, it's
(30:12):
really, really easy. This is what our team
does every single day,
and we work really hard to make sure
that we actually as part of our conversation
with the customer, like, if we can't agree
on
a mutual strategy to get this thing to
pay for itself quickly,
we shouldn't do it. I don't wanna and
we're only talking 100 of dollars a month
(30:33):
from us, and we're not talking a ton
of money. This is
a simple software subscription that you pay for.
Most most of our customers pay between 4.99
and 9.99 a month. And,
yeah, we come up with a game plan
to get it profitable and to get it
paying for itself, and we we get to
work.
So it's it's exciting, and it's fun to
(30:54):
what you just described there, someone who can't
get over the hump to someone who gets
over the hump. I,
was talking to,
Dan Friesen with Charlton Hill
in, Western Canada a year or so ago,
and he he loved this idea, but he
just something in his heart of hearts, it
didn't feel right. He didn't feel like he
could take it to his team. And I
(31:15):
told him exactly what I just told you.
Like, don't do it yet. Wait wait until
you can have buy in. You have enough
changes going on. He had a lot going
on. I was like, you don't need to
rock the horse. Like, when you're ready, rock
the boat. When you're ready, come back. And
so,
last couple of weeks, he's got his online
store up and running, and it's just been,
like, this huge breath of fresh air in
this building. His employees love it. The teams
love it. It's pretty cool.
(31:37):
Well, I
as I'm I'm kinda processing everything now that
we've talked about and going back to that
initial
raising your hand, who's purchased a car,
on line.
I can imagine, and I'd love for us
to do this at Spark this year. Just
a quick how many people have had somebody
how many how many people have purchased
(31:58):
a car online?
Where it is right now to where it'll
be 5 years from now, I think it's
just
we we can't begin to imagine where that
that's going. We can we can hope, we
can dream, we can think about all of
the exciting things ahead for ecommerce.
But
if you're one of those people who was
the first person to put your hand up,
(32:19):
there's gonna be some really cool opportunities ahead
for you and your market. So. Yeah. And
and then you ask who shopped online and
everyone raises their hand. So it's, you know,
it's not a pivot. It's it's something you
add to your business.
Very cool. Well, Paul, this has been an
awesome conversation. Again, if if people have questions
or or just wanna get in contact with
you, what's the what's the best way to
reach out to you? So you can find
(32:41):
me on LinkedIn, Paul Redmond. You can find
me on Facebook. I know there's a lot
of Facebook groups and a lot of, contractors
use those.
You can go to our website, contractorcommerce.com,
and click contact us or click, you know,
learn more, and that will route someone on
my team to contact with you contact you.
And, my email is predman@contractorcommerce.com.
(33:02):
Awesome. Well, Paul, it's it's been an honor
getting to talk with you and and talk
about this incredibly important and increasingly important topic.
Can't wait to see how we continue to
move forward in this area. Yeah. Thank you
so much. Thank you for the support, and
tell the team I said hello.
Absolutely will do. And thank you to everyone
out there for listening and joining
us for another episode of the Prime Partners
(33:23):
podcast. Whether you're listening on Apple, Spotify, Amazon,
or wherever you get your podcast or you're
watching us on YouTube, please like, subscribe, leave
us a review. We'd love to hear what
you think about the podcast and, and and
some of the recent topics and things that
we've been
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