April 19, 2024 • 54 mins
Welcome to a captivating episode of The TradeMarke, your ultimate podcast for trades and marketing perspective. In this episode, hosts Sarah Ghirardo and Eric Thomas are joined by special guest Amber McKee, founder of Amber's Home Service Marketing and a seasoned marketer in the trades industry. Prepare to take a deep dive into Amber's career journey, her invaluable advice for dealing with business challenges, and her insights on varying aspects that influence trades.
Listen in as Amber shares her experiences, beginning with her instrumental role in driving a large company's revenue to a staggering $240 million. Amber explores pivotal moments for growing a business and provides real-life examples, results, and takeaways from her expansive career in trades. Amber also addresses how e-commerce giants like Amazon Prime are impacting the future of trades, and tackles the pressing issue of replacements in the industry.
Emphasizing on practical advice and industry insights, this episode also features a robust discussion around the ever-evolving world of marketing, particularly the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a potent tool for saving customer's time and aligning strategies with market trends. It further glances into the potential of AI in boosting decision-making processes, streamlining operations, and enhancing digital marketing efforts.
Concluding with an explorative and fun discussion on personal passions and interests, this episode strikes a perfect balance between business advice and personal connect. So tune in, and gain in-depth insights into how you can navigate your trade in a rapidly evolving marketplace.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Step into The Trademark, your go-to podcast for everything marketing in the trades.
Hosted by award-winning industry marketing experts, Sarah Girardo from Remarketable
and Eric Thomas from Rival Digital.
Together, we're here to unite the worlds of trades and marketing,
bringing you insights, stories, and strategies from the heart of the industry.
(00:21):
Whether you're a trade professional, a marketing expert, or somewhere in between,
this is the place for you.
Listen in as we're here for the big ideas, the game changers,
and the everyday successes.
Because at The Trademark, we're with the trades and for the trades.
Well, hello again out there world.
(00:42):
Welcome back to another episode of The Trademark. My name is Eric Thomas.
Alongside me, my fellow host, Sarah. Sarah, how are you doing?
Doing great. Super excited for today. Today, we have Amber McKee,
world-renowned marketer in the trades. Look at her when I said that.
Amber, tell us a little bit about you. Global.
(01:08):
So Amber McKee, I am the founder of Amber's Home Service Marketing.
I've worked in the home service industry, driving marketing and revenue generating
strategic marketing plans for about eight years.
I was with a company, a large company that when I started, we did about 2 million
in revenue. When I exited about 240.
(01:29):
When I started, we had two locations. When I exited 11 and I read all of the
marketing efforts the entire time I was there.
I exited that and started Amber's Home Service Marketing, where I help businesses
really map out their revenue goals and the path to achieve them.
(01:51):
So, yeah, the responsible, economically responsible, effective path to achieve them.
I have a lot of experience with different sizes of businesses all over the country
and pretty much everything home services.
So I understand, you know, the limitations and the opportunities in our industry
(02:13):
and have a really large sample size of what works,
what doesn't, and what's coming up on the horizon that we need to lean into
to continue the growth that most of my clients have experienced.
And what's the one biggest opportunity that you are seeing out there with your clients right now?
(02:33):
Diversifying out of like traditional pay-per-click, radio,
TV, and leaning more into like YouTube, OTT, Amazon Prime,
and optimizing and understanding and also
integrating a lot of the tools that Marketing Pro has continuously developed
so that you can see how everything's performing and make performing and make
(02:56):
smart informed decisions very proactively to drive the different lines of business as needed.
You know, in our industry, we have capacity, which is humans that are running our calls.
We have logistics and we have seasonality and all of those things can make things
look, make, you know, as a marketer driving leads a little more complicated.
(03:20):
And also we need
to as marketers shift our messaging and our platforms based on how we can operationally
deliver on the leads that we're driving and have a really good tight understanding
of what that is and marketing part of the last couple years has really advanced
our ability to see the metrics determine what we need to drive and now you're like
(03:42):
layover school stuff where you can affect your campaign weight almost real time
and adjust what you're marketing in your campaign weight to really drive the
leads that you need for the capacity that you have for the human,
you know, touch industry that we're in.
Yeah, that makes sense. And so like, how do you plan their capacity?
(04:05):
I know that's one of your strong sweet like
sweet spots so what what guidance would you
give like three tips to someone just
starting out and they're like oh my god we have to plan for people like
what would you give them take your ops managers to lunch and get to know them
really well like go to coffee if you like happy or taking the happy or really
(04:28):
like get a strong line of communication with them so that that you're both vulnerable
and transparent what you can deliver and when.
Also watch your booking percentage and your cancellation rates.
So if as a marketer, we may at the beginning of the year, we're going to drive
$1 million of funding revenue in January, and then we get to January and we only have 10 plumbers.
(04:52):
That's the 30,000 dollars i'm sorry 30 or
300 dollars no it's 30 hold on 30 i'm not
great at that 90,000 dollars which is plumbing so like
having that like okay this is what what we
plan for like these pie in the sky goals which
when we were planning we defined what our average ticket was and
(05:13):
the technicians that we need to run those calls but
what do we really have and how do we
turn up and down marketing so we don't blow
our ebitda at the end of the month because we've overspent on
things we can't deliver on or so
we don't lose a bunch of technicians because we didn't know
we could run more calls and didn't turn up appropriately the marketing to drive
(05:36):
yeah speaking of like like capacity and planning planning marketing you know
you mentioned you know You have a very,
very impressive resume with the work you did when you were working internally.
What was the pivotal moment from when you said you started at $2 million when you left at $240?
(06:03):
What revenue growth was the big pivotal moment where it really just took off?
And what did that look like from a capacity planning standpoint? point?
So we got more dialed into automatic reporting that was sent to us daily.
And that got better and better as time went on.
(06:24):
So that, you know, essentially, we could, you know, look at all the data from
all the different branches, because we had 11, byline a business every morning,
and have an understanding of how we're pacing for revenue, and also calls and leads.
I would say that was a pivotal moment from a leadership standpoint.
(06:44):
You could then have a quick snapshot by the time you're done with your coffee of what you need to do,
throw in deeper and the guidance you needed to give and the changes you needed
to make to really align your efforts to meet your goals.
And as a marketer, did you have to manage 11 different brands and then how did you do that?
(07:09):
In that instance, I did not manage 11 different brands. And there's a couple
of different instances.
So what introduced me into the industry and where I am now, so I'll talk to both.
So the experience that introduced me into the industry, there was one core brand,
and then we would acquire businesses, run them until we operationally aligned
(07:29):
them with our core brand, and then rebrand them, enroll them in.
So that was you know that's tricky but we also like from a marketing standpoint it's kind of like.
Our engine wasn't running at full speed and then we put stuff in
it and then when we remarketed it ran full
speed so we didn't have i didn't have to do a ton to
(07:50):
drive revenue for them because we were kind of like level setting that to make
sure we prevented leakage through the customer dirty and we're you know being
as profitable as we can and then it was and so i just needed standardized campaigns
i understood seasonality and budgeted for the seasonality of the different of markets,
you know, over time I had a library of campaigns and just turn them on now.
(08:12):
And, and we had a much smaller marketing team for that instance.
We're in my, what I do currently, of course, I'm a consultant.
So everyone has a different brand. There's definitely themes in all of our businesses, but the mark,
the operational costs for managing the marketing for the different brands is
definitely higher and we have more marketing you know people hands-on watching
(08:37):
them because they're they have to create different content and different messaging for each brand.
What so yeah so i i love talking about the seasonality aspect you know of what
we do and you know by the time i think by the time this episode airs we'll be
we'll be a little bit into to April.
So what is just like some, I don't know, some best practices you would share
(09:01):
for contractors as they plan their marketing for spring and for summer?
Because I know there's a lot of contractors out there that don't do a full annual plan.
They kind of run and gun and kind of adjust on the fly.
So what are just some best practices as we're in spring and looking ahead to
summer to plan for that seasonality?
(09:25):
So one of the things I see happen in like operationally with marketing is when
we get into the summer months, we're so busy just trying to execute it.
It's like marketing kind of second marriage.
So whereas it's hard to prep hair and plan like one, you know,
ahead of time, look at a one to two months and do everything you can to create
(09:46):
a library content that you think you'll need.
If you're in the HVAC space, seasonality is going to affect you a lot more than
it is like electrical or plumbing.
So make sure you just have those campaigns prepared.
And if you are in the HVAC space and you have electrical and plumbing,
also don't forget your siblings that are going to still need love during those peaks.
(10:09):
And just make sure that you have consistency in running your sibling campaigns
so you don't lose your eye on the ball. but then you're like why are you guys
here you know because they don't have any leads.
So, you'll map it out, have a study book, and some ads in your back pocket,
because when you get into those changes, you're, of course, going to have operational
(10:33):
challenges, and you'll want to flip your campaign.
So, what I've seen work is writing in with maintenance and then flipping to
more opportunity, higher ticket campaigns.
And once you start booking out like two and three days, then make that flip
and switch to like more branding and quality and,
(10:54):
you know, upgrading kind of campaigns so that you can try and get people that
know they're in the market for a replacement, i.e.
Higher average ticket to call you.
Other things is also i i have found it most successful to to pull marketing
(11:14):
funds for in the year in the q1 so that you have that win behind you when you're
going through peak and do a lot of branding and brand building so people can
give you when they have a problem.
Other things is with your other trades if you
have a high influx of calls like if
someone needs an electrician and someone needs a plumber they may
(11:36):
just not wait on the whole they may like hang up and call someone else
if someone has an atrack system they'll sit there like broken
into heat they're gonna they're gonna wait on hold for you so like press one
for plumbing plus two for electrical press three for hvac is really effective
to not choke out that like lead flow for those other trades yeah another one
(11:57):
is make sure you're watching your your marketing spend because you get getting very busy.
You can also overspend a lot and I would say in paper cliff when you don't need the extra leads.
So that's, you know, if you want to cherry pick your leads for the highest opportunity,
that's one way to do it and just overpay or you cut back and streamline.
(12:18):
Yeah. Yeah. That's, yeah. I think you said a lot of great things.
You said, A, have a marketing plan, be consistent.
And then with your phones, have a great routing system for, you know,
to make sure that you're getting the most profitable lead to where it needs to be at that time.
And then also watching your spend because
(12:39):
yes ppc and lsa and
you know even your social media marketing which
is an element of a type of paid media like
ppc those can all go skyrocketing when they're when customers have a problem
so and if you don't have the capacity to run it then you've just wasted spend
and that's a shame so yeah most definitely i think that that's a great question
(13:04):
and great answers for that.
And so right now in the industry, a lot of people are saying they're having
a hard time with replacement.
And I want to know what your thoughts are on that and why do you think that that's happening?
So, you know, we did go through our industry for HVAC replacements went through a time where we pulled,
(13:31):
I believe, and reports on this, where we pulled replacements forward because
of COVID and people, you know, we had a pre-on change out. We had COVID.
We had people with discretionary income and that effect they may replace.
So that kind of created a little bit of a dull, a lull.
And then we have skyrocketing interest rates, economic
(13:53):
insecurity it's all going to
pan out what i'm reading is towards the
end of next year it's going to be another boom but we do
have rising cost of equipment next year so
yes i'm seeing replacement be a challenge where
i've seen people be affected is really offering good good deal on replacement
(14:15):
to differentiate themselves and really honing in on the value with their technicians
and their sales techs on the value of replacing versus repairing and mapping that out.
People are very value conscious now, especially if they're going to finance
it like 8% interest, like, oh, well, how much more am I going to pay?
(14:36):
Well, if they really train the team to have all the scripting and understanding
of what the customer's concerns are,
and then show shows the value of replacement versus spending a lot of money
repairing the system that you're going to have to replace again anyway, those are.
(14:57):
Wins that I'm seeing in people that are kind of overcoming the replacement issues.
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. And also understanding that,
you know, you're coming in to solve a problem that could be related to someone's health.
And you don't want to scare them, but you want to like, act as if they're your
(15:17):
own mom, or act as if they're your own, you know, family, because really,
like your HVAC, let's just take HVAC for a second, it, you're breathing air, right?
And that air that you breathe matters greatly.
Because for an example, my son has asthma.
Well, if I were to just repair a problem, would it really fix my entire solution or my need with my air?
(15:43):
Like, the problem isn't just it's not turning on, it's producing a bad output.
And so what I'm breathing in is not okay.
And, you know, Really relating it back to the human level of what's the problem
statement that they see, but what's really going on in the home and breaking that down.
(16:05):
And those are easy scripts that you can generate with AI just to even give you a basis.
And then you go in, test the script, edit the script, and hone in on the process.
So I think what you're saying is really like give them a good process for your
comfort advisor or your salesperson or your technician,
a good process of like, yeah, you're going to get these objections because,
(16:27):
you know, interest rates are high or because, you know, they haven't gotten
their tax money back because they overspent in taxes or or whatnot.
And they're waiting for something. But the fact of the matter is,
is every time that they wait, the price just keeps going up.
You kind of hit the nail on the head on a lot of it.
It's like those lifestyle questions of people's comfort and really setting up
(16:52):
the or helping technicians understand
that when they're walking into someone's home, it's their haven.
And it's where they spend the bulk of their time and their families.
They're in the most intimate moments in their life happening at home.
And, you know, understanding what type of lifestyle they're looking for in that home.
It's not just ASAC. It's also plumbing and electrical. and how much that system
(17:16):
actually affects people.
I think people sometimes get used to hot and cold spots and allergies and,
you know, water that isn't that great and hot water that makes you able to turn on and heat up.
I moved about a year ago and I had like a lot of these problems and I was like, what is this?
(17:37):
But those, you know, going into the, the with those lifestyle questions and
gathering a complete understanding of what's important to the customer is your
rights are super important.
Cause we're not just in the HR and plumbing business. We're in a home comfort.
Yep. Most definitely. I think that's the great part. Yeah. Yeah.
(18:03):
Just, yeah. And we're in kind of keeping the topic of replacements going.
And I feel like, you know, you're spot on, like being able to give them options is going to be huge,
especially since, you know, marketed leads for replacements is it's not, it's not quite as,
(18:24):
as frequent as it was in previous years.
We're seeing a lot of people leaning towards, at least from what I'm seeing,
you know, in search volume and, you know, from what people are searching and
what they're finding us for is towards repairs and service.
So shifting, not the entire approach, but also just making sure that the focus isn't lost.
(18:49):
I know we all want those hot, perfectly qualified,
ready-to-buy replacement leads, but just making sure that as marketers,
we're adjusting and pivoting with the way we're seeing consumer behavior and
all that stuff moving towards hitting the repair.
(19:11):
Or at least targeting repairs and giving yourself the opportunity because so
many people they just they want they want install leads and then they strike
out because they missed 10 opportunities for a replacement conversation because
they didn't talk about repairs in their advertising or anything.
(19:31):
Right. And understanding that lifestyle of the customer and what the comfort
they want and need, and then understanding, you know, if you repair it,
are you going to achieve that?
If you repair it, are you just putting a bandaid on something that's going to
break soon and you're going to spend more in the long run?
(19:53):
And also in that interim, not reach your lifestyle goals or your comfort.
And also costs are going up next year again.
All those things can help technicians down the journey and providing technicians
those trainings can help them then convert to replacements.
(20:15):
You've got to date someone before you ask them to marry you.
Maybe. I don't know. This is a bachelor.
Yeah, love is blind. Love is blind is throwing me for a loop i was like watching
it and i was like okay i get this and then yeah,
(20:35):
everything is changing how we how
we interact with relationships and interact with our
consumers you know we we give them what they want hopefully instead of what
we want and hopefully that drives what they need but you know lifestyle goals
i some people are just like surviving right and so So they're like,
(20:58):
what's a lifestyle goal?
Like one day I'll get there, but, you know, a Band-Aid might help them.
It's just, I think it's about how you market for the repair, right?
And what that message is that makes sense and resonates.
Because you could be all, I know companies that are all repair companies.
(21:20):
And, you know, and is that sustainable? I think that's my question.
Like like how do you continue to grow and
just repairing things because you obviously i
guess you'd get to go back out there again when it breaks but gosh
for the break i you
know i know i know of some i know of
(21:41):
some contractors in in my area
here in virginia that have been around for you
know 60 70 years and two
and a half million still and they're just
their entire business is just built on a book of memberships and it's just they
(22:02):
go do member maintenance and maintenance and maintenance and they've been around
so long that like just due to the nature of how you know equipment breaks down
those members turn into replacements which is which is crazy to me to
think that like that's how some companies run and operate too,
but like to, to hit on your point about messaging around repairs and.
(22:24):
Like I was, I was in Austin, Texas back in January, visiting the wizard of ads
and big, big Ryan shoot fan.
And something that we were talking about a lot then when I was there was how,
if you can, there's, there's, it's like time, energy, and money are like the
three, like most valuable resources in this world.
And the only one that you can't get back is time.
(22:46):
You can get more energy, you can get more money, but you can't get more time.
And so if you can solve one of those three problems through what you do and
through your messaging, then, you know, folks are going to call you.
And after hearing that, I adjusted a few, you know, a few of our campaigns that
were around like emergency service and repairs.
And the headline changes that we made, it was instead of saying like,
(23:10):
call now for fast service, we changed it to say, we're already on our way.
And those campaigns started performing exponentially better just because instead
of saying, you know, call now and we'll help you out. What everyone else is saying.
What everyone else is saying. It changed it to something where it's like,
oh, this is going to save me time. They're already on their way over here now.
(23:33):
And so I think little things like that, focusing on ways to save your customers time,
energy, and money in this year and probably early Q1, Q2 next year as well,
it's going to really help, especially if you're trying to go after those service and repair calls.
Yeah, and understanding, thinking about what your customer needs as a solution
(23:55):
versus what you want to achieve.
Really stepping back and understanding that. And a lot of that's through asking questions.
Yeah. And really going back and looking at your customer database and saying,
what did I leave on the table?
Right? And what problems did they talk to me about in the notes?
What problems did show up in the job types? What problems...
(24:19):
You know, why was I out there? And then rehashing and nurturing those by giving
them information on to, well, you know, last year we were out because you,
I don't know, let's just say you had bad indoor air quality.
And then you just keep telling them and informing them about that.
I think we forget about the rehash always having to be a closed deal right up
(24:47):
front. It can be a nurture.
And I think, yeah, hopefully that would help them understand that not everything
is going to convert right away.
Some things need a little bit more of that white glove service that can be used.
Yeah, those have a high value because you've already marketed that.
(25:09):
You've already gone out there. You've already paid operationally to assess it.
And then sometimes it's a sticker shock. And people, you know,
that's, you know, it's a big investment.
It's probably one-third the largest ticket you're going to pay for in house,
car, maintenance in college.
(25:31):
Following up with that, to your point, Sarah, is highly profitable.
It's probably one of the biggest opportunities by seeing companies and doing
it the right way. Don't just send an email. Call them. Mail them.
Have a campaign. Don't have a crappy campaign.
We were out there and you didn't choose because you're a standard company
you know understand you know what what did
(25:54):
you what was your estimate for you can build all this out and service
type me you know here's some more options and then have different personality
types following up with them because maybe there's something that the customer
a solution the customer needed or wanted it wasn't really clear to the initial
person but as it may be clear to a different person,
(26:17):
but yeah i'm seeing like about a 10
rehash rate on those which is fantastic if
yeah yeah it could totally i
think y'all are both spot on like i think a lot
of people you know especially if they don't know any better if they just see
you know a post or two on facebook think like oh i'm gonna rehash and this is
(26:40):
gonna blow my business up but like what i don't think this talked about enough
It doesn't always have to be a call to action in the rehash.
It could simply be as little as saying, Happy Easter.
Here's a photo of our family at church on Sunday for Easter Sunday or whatever.
It doesn't have to always be Easter Sunday, 10% off. It could just be Happy Easter.
(27:05):
Or, you know, it could be if you're, you know, if you're like me and you love
Red Robin and everyone jokes about me loving Red Robin, sending your clients
Red Robin gift cards on their birthday and saying happy birthday,
something, you know, it doesn't have to always be by now.
And I think that's where a lot of people miss the mark on rehash is they think
(27:26):
it's got to be call to action, fill up the board.
But the call to action, fill up the board will be typically the result of doing
it right, you know, time and time again for a while.
Yeah. One of the things the wizard says is when their hearts and their minds will follow.
Yep. Yep.
(27:47):
And then, yeah, and inform them, right? Like they don't know what they don't know.
And I guarantee they don't know if you're a plumber, they don't know about their
pipes. They don't know about water filtration.
They don't know about salt delivery for water filtration.
They, you know, there's, or changing your filters and getting a subscription
plan, making your life easier, your convenience, like, you know,
(28:11):
like just inform them and listen to their needs.
Needs and then be ahead of it.
And I think that's the one thing about marketers in general is the really great
ones are 10 steps ahead of the consumer.
They're thinking of like, okay, what's the, what's the action point? What's the reaction?
(28:32):
What's, what's going to happen in the market, you know, and always thinking ahead.
And that's really what you have to do as a business owner. You have to say,
yes, this is right here right now, but what's going to happen?
Like, what can can I do to get back into the door?
What can I do to, you know, really nurture that relationship and keep it going?
(28:53):
And even with gift cards for birthdays, flowers for birthdays,
you know, handwritten notes, like those things matter so much.
And, you know, they don't always have to be expensive.
But yeah, it will. Yeah. Well, I think, too, putting, you know,
anticipating what our customers need in advance, understanding what solution
(29:18):
that they're really trying to solve for,
and then building your messaging and your strategy around that.
And also having it in advance so that we're not reacting or talking,
not yelling, and building that relationship with them. And that's totally on point.
(29:38):
Yeah, I think the constant call to action of like an offer, offer,
offer, offer. You're right. That's yelling.
Like you're yelling at the consumer to take an action on something that they're
just either they don't understand because they said no.
Right. That you didn't have enough content or they are still just wrapping their
head around like this is this is what. Right. right?
(30:02):
Just as we think of ourselves, we are marketers, and not everybody has the same thoughts as we do.
And we're like, Oh, well, why wouldn't you think of this? Well,
it's what you don't know, you don't know.
So yeah, I think it's really important just to keep that conversation going.
So let's jump in. So you're using Marketing Pro a lot for your customers.
(30:24):
And, you know, So I always wonder, I see like a lot of people hook into APIs
and different integrations into their systems.
And from a marketing perspective and a compliance perspective,
what do you think about having, you know, so many different connection points
inside of your CRM and the way that compliance is going today?
(30:47):
So I think that when you're trying to... You create a bottleneck operationally
for your marketing department. That's one.
Because you're here and there and there and there and there and there and you're not...
You're recreating work versus streamlining it. Also, you have breaks in data.
(31:11):
And so you're not able to fully understand where's your cost per lead by campaign.
And now it's getting even more nimble. We have more opportunities in marketing
to be nimble and optimized, and i.e.
Really affect the lines of business quickly.
And if you're integrating all of that into one source, then you can snapshot
(31:33):
it and make real-time decisions that positively impact your business.
So, for example, that having your coffee, you're like, okay,
plumbing needs more leads.
Or, oh, no, we need more demand calls in HVAC.
Well, you look at what campaign, you know, this cost to leave here,
this cost to leave. Oh, this is underperforming. I'm overspending here.
(31:56):
I can shift. You just this from here. Super easy. Your coffee's still hot.
And then, and then by noon, you've made impactful changes that will start driving those leads.
And you need to have that in one place so that you can, you can see it and make those decisions.
(32:18):
Yeah. And I think a lot of business owners don't really understand that marketers are,
have a tab problem. We have a spreadsheet problem. Don't be right there. Never mind. Go on.
Like sometimes I just have to close all my tabs and I'm like, you know what?
If I have to restart, then I am fine. Like nothing's going right.
(32:43):
But yeah, we have fragmented thoughts and, you know, and they are outlined in
how many tabs we have opened.
And so having one source to do marketing out of, it really helps.
But also like the compliance side, all of my vendors have to be, I'm in California.
So all of my vendors have to be, are like, that's the level that I'm going on, right?
(33:06):
CCPA, yeah, I know they're going to change it. So I know that I have to go to
the top when it comes to compliance.
And then I have to make sure that if I have vendors in other states,
that they are on my level.
And they're not on my level or whatnot and it's not being passed through and
then I get sued because I went outside doors, right?
(33:28):
And I didn't know that they weren't compliant because I didn't check that as
a marketer or a business owner.
There are so many things that I was thinking about when it comes to API integrations
and it's not that they're bad, like they're not bad.
It's just that you're creating more chaos for your marketer, if that makes sense.
And you're taking your data in and out and then making sure that it comes back in.
(33:55):
And some people will just take
it out and they'll send it and then they won't put it back in properly.
And so are my, you know, am I in compliance with inputs?
Am I in compliance with, you know, if people opt out? You know,
these are all really important things for marketing.
And I think that, you know, we forget to ask those questions when we just give people our data.
(34:19):
Another thing with APIs is we are giving people our data.
How many times I've been asked to make legal decisions in marketing. I'm like, I don't know.
I wouldn't trust me, that's for sure. I'm like, let's have her lawyer.
Yeah. I'm like, let's have her lawyer.
(34:42):
Another on that point too, is anyone that's looking to recap or sell,
Well, one of the big things that they use to assess the value of the company is risk.
And as marketers, you're going to your marketing person for a long time.
You have some risk. Yeah.
(35:05):
Yeah. Most definitely. And then switching over to I really want to talk about
AI and how you're leveraging it. Because I know I was like, hey,
Amber, you should be doing this.
Thank you for that, too. Because now it's totally like, we'll just run for AI.
Yeah. So tell me about how you're using AI in your business,
(35:29):
but then also how you see the home service industry could use AI as an opportunity in their businesses.
Okay. So, well, as a marketer, I've used AI for proofing, for writing things,
for writing catchy subject lines for proposals, for ads, for...
I don't use it graphically yet because it's not hitting the mark there.
(35:51):
But as me looking at the customer journey, I see AI in call center performance,
measuring what's being said when, helping us rate our call center people.
And understanding where we need to provide them extra training because that's
a huge gap and kind of a hurdle that sometimes prevents growth because it is
(36:14):
labor intensive without the use of AI.
We've also seen AI and I mean.
I'm also seeing AI in training technicians and recording their calls real time
and giving them triggers and identifying where they have gaps or what they could
be saying and aligning their calls with the top performers'
(36:37):
calls and identifying the variances and using that as training opportunities.
There's tons of improvements. And, of course, AI has been used by Google for
optimizing paid search and campaigns.
I think you just have kind of a different name now in that regard.
But streamlining those tools and our workforce has continuously gotten more
(36:59):
and more expensive in the United States.
And those being able to leverage AI to kind of help offset those expenses and
drive efficiencies is really going to help small businesses continue to get ahead and compete.
Heat because as a small business you are more nimble and you're able to like
(37:19):
make decisions on the fly and that really you know and i think it's the american dream and also,
it's what allows smaller businesses
to to be more profitable than bigger businesses more competitive.
Yeah there's definitely a lot of ways i think that the folks can use AI to become more efficient.
(37:43):
And I think a lot of times folks like to try to think too hard about how to
do it, but there's so many things just sitting right in front of us that we can use AI,
like setting up a Zapier integration with ChatGPT to respond to Google reviews.
How many listeners out there have their CSRs or a dispatcher or someone in the
(38:04):
office responding to Google reviews, that doesn't need to be a thing anymore.
I mean, you could, I mean, and you can even within, we could get really nerdy
about this, but you could, you could, you can have a preset prompt that even
is like, this is our brand voice.
Here's the words that we tend to use in our gratitude.
And it'll be probably better than what the CSR writes grammatically,
(38:28):
you know, little things like that, that people don't think about using zapier
to send slack notifications to people automatically each monday and each friday
rather than a human doing it that way you can focus you know the the big money
brain power that's needed towards real problems in the business this is not
(38:50):
how am i going to respond to this google review,
Yeah. Yeah. I will say like going out on my own as a business person,
I use AI way more than I did two years ago.
I didn't, you know, it's a thing's different. You've got to be like agile. Yeah. Yeah.
(39:12):
I could tell you what AI I use, but like, you'd be like, you're a nerd and I am a nerd.
But, you know, image creation is probably something that I really enjoy using
it for mainly because stock photos are really expensive and learning,
you know, how to to get great quality images.
(39:36):
That's just fun for me with the prompts and then also video.
You know, I've been testing out the plug, the chat GBTs for video,
and they're phenomenal.
Phenomenal this new Sora that's coming out good lord like everyone developed
an app I'm just like waiting for access is how I feel show me what I can do
but I mean think about how much time it takes for us to make content or those
(40:00):
that don't even make content you know and now it's just like,
like you know we just have to jump on the opportunity have y'all tried an opus
clip yet No, I was waiting for you to give me the sign in.
Oh my gosh. Opus clip.
I'm not sure. I think the domain is opusclip.something. Just Google opusclip. O-P-U-S-C-L-I-P.
(40:27):
It is insane. So we have a client that we manage a podcast for, hour-long video.
I uploaded it to Opus Clip, and it took a grueling 10 minutes.
I was like, oh, I was getting so impatient with this computer.
It took 10 minutes, and within that 10 minutes, it came back to me with,
(40:47):
I think it was 10 minutes.
Ready to use clips with the captions
on the video you could change the colors to match
your brand it gave you a caption to use
in the social post and you could download the video
right then and there and i was like oh my gosh this would have taken a human
three to five business days and i just got this done in 10 grueling minutes
(41:09):
where i had to sit here and wait for this darn computer to load i was and it
was funny because like at first when i said 10 minutes remaining i was like
Like, oh, my gosh, it's taking forever.
But then I got to thinking, like, once I saw the output, I was like,
that would have taken a human literally probably three business days or more
to turn around that many clips with the captions. And it's incredible.
(41:31):
And there's so many tools like that out there. And so many people think,
oh, I'll use AI to write blog articles.
No, like, there's so much more that you can do with it.
And I'm just, every time I find a new AI tool, I'm just like,
what's next? I would have never thought of that. That's incredible.
Like Opus Clip. Yeah. Opus Clip is cool.
(41:52):
Lots of cool tools out there and they're just getting better, right?
Because they're learning from our inputs because they're language models.
And so like when we give them just like Google, when we feed Google information,
like it likes to eat and now they're saying it likes to, it's neat.
So they added notability and transparent. Who cares?
(42:14):
Whatever. Google likes to eat, right?
And, and so whenever you're thinking about AI, it's like you want to feed it
information as much as you can with very, you know, detailed inputs,
so that you can get a great detailed output.
And I think that's like the best tip. It's sometimes I just put my own brain
(42:37):
thoughts right into there.
And they're, I'm sure it's crazy, but,
but it gives me what I'm looking for right
instead of just saying black create a image
of a black cat i'd be like create an image
of a black cat with its fur standing straight straight up
you know on a background on a fence walking in a backyard and being like super
(42:59):
super particular because like like i said your your input is only as good as
your output and it's the same with data right amber like Like what have you seen with the data side,
not with AI, but like when we're talking about input and output,
you're in a CRM pretty much all day.
So what have you seen as an opportunity or a win when it comes to the input
(43:24):
of data? I mean, what goes in comes out and really understanding your dad.
I'm from Ohio. Your dad is from the customer experience from marketing all the
way through to booking to marketing.
Average tickets to warranty calls and callbacks and all that is super
(43:46):
important for really operationally running
your business and efficiently running your
business because there's only kids at every point but sir i wanted to ask you
guys because i'm probably a little behind the eight on ai what are some of your
favorite like editing tools what are some of your favorite are your most impactful
(44:08):
tools that you've seen in the industry?
Eric, you mentioned Opus Clip.
Sarah, you mentioned some that were editing graphics or creating graphics.
What have you had the most success with? So I use a lot of Midjourney and a lot of Dolly.
And I use a lot of, I test a lot of the plugins because I like to see what's going on.
(44:31):
And just like Google, there's spam.
That's coming out and hitting all of these plugins and ChatGPT in general.
And we knew that was going to happen. So I use Midjourney a lot.
I use a lot of Canva if I wanted to use Magic Erasers. They also have a new AI tool for video.
(44:52):
So it'll create video really quickly for you.
I have tested Gamma.ai, which makes landing pages for you and presentations. Love that one.
Yeah, I have a whole, you know, I make books at marketing summits and I'm like,
here are all the AI tools that I've played with.
I won't be doing it this one. But yeah, I've just been, I honestly,
(45:16):
I've been watching a lot of TikTok videos because they're all testing and becoming
these affiliate marketers and then using StanStore,
which is also a really interesting concept.
That's not AI, but it is like an easy way of purchase path.
So, yeah, like, I mean, anytime I find a new tool, I am I'm working with it and playing with it.
(45:39):
And even in my own video editor, Filmora and Wondershare or Wondershare,
I use the AI portions of that and see what it'll clip me with.
But Opus was one that I was really excited to to learn.
And then there's one that just like you can put in any YouTube video.
I believe it's called Knapp, K-N-A-P,
any YouTube video and it cuts it for you and then you can post it.
(46:02):
Which is pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, we've been using, I've got them all pulled
up here, Opus Clip, which is really good.
There's one called ReLume.io, which helps create.
Gosh, I probably shouldn't be giving away all my secrets. It helps create site
(46:24):
maps and UX UI wireframes, which is really cool.
It's not the best quality wireframes, but the site map's really cool.
So you don't have to sit there in like MindMeister or like a mind mapping software
sitting there trying to like map out a site map.
You just tell them like, I run a $3 million HVAC business and we offer plumbing,
(46:45):
heating, and air conditioning. And we specialize in, you know,
heat pumps and dual fuel systems located in Virginia Beach, Virginia,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Please create, you know, and you do a prompt like that and then it will prepare
you a site map, kind of map out like how the website should be structured, which is really cool.
And there's another one called originality.ai. AI. This is more of a AI checker
(47:09):
slash plagiarism checker that we use that I've found to be a little bit more
accurate than some of the free ones. This one does cost, I think, $9 a month.
But I use this personally to go back behind content that even we produce or
is on sites that we're looking at, especially if we're taking over a website to do SEO on it.
(47:32):
I like to see like upfront, like, all right, how much of this is AI,
how much needs to be either rewritten or trashed and original originality.ai.
You can put the full website URL in and it will scan the entire website.
It'll tell you how much of the site and which pages could be like rewritten possibly.
So those are the, those are the three ones that I've been using a lot lately.
(47:54):
Nice. Yeah. So many tools and they're, they're tools.
The other biggest thing for me is the GPTs and creating your own.
So I've created a fractional CMO that has inputs.
It does everything that a fractional CMO would do. But at the same time,
like I could literally just take a screenshot of an audience and put it inside of the custom GPT.
(48:19):
And then it'll give me basically a memo to my team.
It'll give me more channels that I can market this with.
And then it'll prompt me and to ask me for call center scripts,
technician scripts, FSR scripts, right?
Because I know that I need content for the full journey.
And then scorecards and goals and industry benchmarks for all of those things.
(48:41):
So really thinking about like, as a marketer, what do you do?
And then understanding that it's not just a one, like you only asking it for
one thing, like keep asking it more questions and then put that in your your
custom bbt so that you can create that experience,
or any marketer to have a best friend and that's what i call it i'm like oh
(49:05):
this is my market it's my best friend i think that you know we have a small
business and medium small and our clients do as well and with that you you.
A lot of fractional jobs when you have fractional jobs you don't
have people that are all in or 100%
skilled in that role and all these
(49:27):
tools help us have that knowledge
base and really like benefit our company
without like having to have full-time video editor
and you know it helps it helps us
be competitive and also just really be like
more holistically sound and what we're offering and
(49:47):
what we're doing because it kind of balances out our our
gap that we can't sell because we're not a huge company and then each company
you get like ground down and like trying to get things done so yeah like i think
it's really amazing and will really benefit you know our space in many ways
yeah i agree with you okay i'm going
(50:10):
to ask a random question to wrap this up if you
were required to have a job of some type but you
didn't need the money to survive what job would you choose
yoga instructor nice because i would love to be able to like i really believe
yoga helps empower people to instill themselves body mind and soul and that
(50:31):
is kind of you know at the end of your life what really did you do.
So, I mean, from a marketing standpoint, I feel that what we do is help provide
really good companies, a way to provide for really good people that want to
work hard for the future of their lives and children.
And that is a driving force for me.
(50:53):
And, you know, who I'm partnering with now, I'm being very selective to make
sure that that aligns with them too.
And that we're really like, you know, thinking about that in our daily decisions.
And, you know, we're affecting the next generation by giving their parents a
way to provide for them that, you know, the trades maybe, you know, didn't always have.
(51:15):
Have so that that's kind of my driving force but probably yoga starter because
i kind of feel like you do the same thing it's just totally different ways yeah
well that's awesome awesome okay yeah,
i've been waiting for you eric i hear you breathing and i was like you're
gonna say well i started thinking i started thinking about what i would do but
(51:35):
i don't know yeah what would you do eric i'd still i'd still be doing the same
stuff i think i'd just be building websites and doing my thing or no i know
exactly what i'd be i'd be a franchise owner of a red robin that's.
You could just have red robin every day yeah exactly i would love i would just
(52:00):
be an influencer of red robin instead of a franchise owner,
Sarah, what would you do? You know...
I want to say that it would obviously be something that would turn my brain
(52:21):
off, but I don't know how long I could turn my brain off.
I thought about a job where I would just pet animals all day,
be like, hey, but yeah, you know, I would always want to be in a space of helping
someone, but more with a passive income.
I think the goal is to, for me, is to have a passive income instead of one that
(52:45):
I'm just like grinding every single day for.
And yeah, that's what I'd like to see is just something that's like,
oh, I just automated this and we'll see you later.
Yeah, I get a break from theirlessness. Yeah, yeah, most definitely.
And like you said before is you only have so much time.
(53:07):
And sometimes we look at time as a trade-off or a sacrifice.
And when we start looking at it as a sacrifice, then we know that we need to
readjust our mindset set to make it a trade-off.
And you only have so much time in life.
And so I just want to do something fun and not rack my brain.
Well, Amber, it was great having you on the show. I really appreciate you coming
(53:30):
on and you provided some wonderful insight.
We are so excited to know you and hear more about your success coming down later in the road.
Well, thank you guys all for what what you're doing for, you know,
this industry and everyone that's involved in it. And it's, you know, it's their life.
It's the children's life. And, you know, it's coming together and doing things
like this to help others. Like, that's amazing.
(53:52):
I'm just so happy to be part of it. So thanks for including me.
Yeah. Yeah. With the trades, for the trades.
All right. Well, that's the end of the episode. We will see you all later.
And that wraps up another episode of The Trademark, where we bridge the worlds
of the trades and marketing one story at a time.
We can't wait to see you next time. Thank you to The Trades for giving back
(54:14):
big, loving big, and taking massive action.
Don't forget to join us next time for more engaging conversations and innovative ideas.
If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review and share it with your
colleagues and friends in the trades and marketing.
Your support means the world to us.
Stay connected with us off the air by following us on social media.
(54:37):
We'd love to hear your thoughts and get your feedback.
Until next time, keep making your mark in the trades.
Thank you for listening to The Trademark. Goodbye for now. And remember,
we're with the trades for the trades.
Step into The Trademark, your go-to podcast for everything marketing in the trades.
Hosted by award-winning industry marketing experts, Sarah Girardo from Remarketable
and Eric Thomas from Rival Digital.
Together, we're here to unite the worlds of trades and marketing,
bringing you insights, stories, and strategies from the heart of the industry.
(00:21):
Whether you're a trade professional, a marketing expert, or somewhere in between,
this is the place for you.
Listen in as we're here for the big ideas, the game changers,
and the everyday successes.
Because at The Trademark, we're with the trades and for the trades.
Well, hello again out there world.
(00:42):
Welcome back to another episode of The Trademark. My name is Eric Thomas.
Alongside me, my fellow host, Sarah. Sarah, how are you doing?
Doing great. Super excited for today. Today, we have Amber McKee,
world-renowned marketer in the trades. Look at her when I said that.
Amber, tell us a little bit about you. Global.
(01:08):
So Amber McKee, I am the founder of Amber's Home Service Marketing.
I've worked in the home service industry, driving marketing and revenue generating
strategic marketing plans for about eight years.
I was with a company, a large company that when I started, we did about 2 million
in revenue. When I exited about 240.
(01:29):
When I started, we had two locations. When I exited 11 and I read all of the
marketing efforts the entire time I was there.
I exited that and started Amber's Home Service Marketing, where I help businesses
really map out their revenue goals and the path to achieve them.
(01:51):
So, yeah, the responsible, economically responsible, effective path to achieve them.
I have a lot of experience with different sizes of businesses all over the country
and pretty much everything home services.
So I understand, you know, the limitations and the opportunities in our industry
(02:13):
and have a really large sample size of what works,
what doesn't, and what's coming up on the horizon that we need to lean into
to continue the growth that most of my clients have experienced.
And what's the one biggest opportunity that you are seeing out there with your clients right now?
(02:33):
Diversifying out of like traditional pay-per-click, radio,
TV, and leaning more into like YouTube, OTT, Amazon Prime,
and optimizing and understanding and also
integrating a lot of the tools that Marketing Pro has continuously developed
so that you can see how everything's performing and make performing and make
(02:56):
smart informed decisions very proactively to drive the different lines of business as needed.
You know, in our industry, we have capacity, which is humans that are running our calls.
We have logistics and we have seasonality and all of those things can make things
look, make, you know, as a marketer driving leads a little more complicated.
(03:20):
And also we need
to as marketers shift our messaging and our platforms based on how we can operationally
deliver on the leads that we're driving and have a really good tight understanding
of what that is and marketing part of the last couple years has really advanced
our ability to see the metrics determine what we need to drive and now you're like
(03:42):
layover school stuff where you can affect your campaign weight almost real time
and adjust what you're marketing in your campaign weight to really drive the
leads that you need for the capacity that you have for the human,
you know, touch industry that we're in.
Yeah, that makes sense. And so like, how do you plan their capacity?
(04:05):
I know that's one of your strong sweet like
sweet spots so what what guidance would you
give like three tips to someone just
starting out and they're like oh my god we have to plan for people like
what would you give them take your ops managers to lunch and get to know them
really well like go to coffee if you like happy or taking the happy or really
(04:28):
like get a strong line of communication with them so that that you're both vulnerable
and transparent what you can deliver and when.
Also watch your booking percentage and your cancellation rates.
So if as a marketer, we may at the beginning of the year, we're going to drive
$1 million of funding revenue in January, and then we get to January and we only have 10 plumbers.
(04:52):
That's the 30,000 dollars i'm sorry 30 or
300 dollars no it's 30 hold on 30 i'm not
great at that 90,000 dollars which is plumbing so like
having that like okay this is what what we
plan for like these pie in the sky goals which
when we were planning we defined what our average ticket was and
(05:13):
the technicians that we need to run those calls but
what do we really have and how do we
turn up and down marketing so we don't blow
our ebitda at the end of the month because we've overspent on
things we can't deliver on or so
we don't lose a bunch of technicians because we didn't know
we could run more calls and didn't turn up appropriately the marketing to drive
(05:36):
yeah speaking of like like capacity and planning planning marketing you know
you mentioned you know You have a very,
very impressive resume with the work you did when you were working internally.
What was the pivotal moment from when you said you started at $2 million when you left at $240?
(06:03):
What revenue growth was the big pivotal moment where it really just took off?
And what did that look like from a capacity planning standpoint? point?
So we got more dialed into automatic reporting that was sent to us daily.
And that got better and better as time went on.
(06:24):
So that, you know, essentially, we could, you know, look at all the data from
all the different branches, because we had 11, byline a business every morning,
and have an understanding of how we're pacing for revenue, and also calls and leads.
I would say that was a pivotal moment from a leadership standpoint.
(06:44):
You could then have a quick snapshot by the time you're done with your coffee of what you need to do,
throw in deeper and the guidance you needed to give and the changes you needed
to make to really align your efforts to meet your goals.
And as a marketer, did you have to manage 11 different brands and then how did you do that?
(07:09):
In that instance, I did not manage 11 different brands. And there's a couple
of different instances.
So what introduced me into the industry and where I am now, so I'll talk to both.
So the experience that introduced me into the industry, there was one core brand,
and then we would acquire businesses, run them until we operationally aligned
(07:29):
them with our core brand, and then rebrand them, enroll them in.
So that was you know that's tricky but we also like from a marketing standpoint it's kind of like.
Our engine wasn't running at full speed and then we put stuff in
it and then when we remarketed it ran full
speed so we didn't have i didn't have to do a ton to
(07:50):
drive revenue for them because we were kind of like level setting that to make
sure we prevented leakage through the customer dirty and we're you know being
as profitable as we can and then it was and so i just needed standardized campaigns
i understood seasonality and budgeted for the seasonality of the different of markets,
you know, over time I had a library of campaigns and just turn them on now.
(08:12):
And, and we had a much smaller marketing team for that instance.
We're in my, what I do currently, of course, I'm a consultant.
So everyone has a different brand. There's definitely themes in all of our businesses, but the mark,
the operational costs for managing the marketing for the different brands is
definitely higher and we have more marketing you know people hands-on watching
(08:37):
them because they're they have to create different content and different messaging for each brand.
What so yeah so i i love talking about the seasonality aspect you know of what
we do and you know by the time i think by the time this episode airs we'll be
we'll be a little bit into to April.
So what is just like some, I don't know, some best practices you would share
(09:01):
for contractors as they plan their marketing for spring and for summer?
Because I know there's a lot of contractors out there that don't do a full annual plan.
They kind of run and gun and kind of adjust on the fly.
So what are just some best practices as we're in spring and looking ahead to
summer to plan for that seasonality?
(09:25):
So one of the things I see happen in like operationally with marketing is when
we get into the summer months, we're so busy just trying to execute it.
It's like marketing kind of second marriage.
So whereas it's hard to prep hair and plan like one, you know,
ahead of time, look at a one to two months and do everything you can to create
(09:46):
a library content that you think you'll need.
If you're in the HVAC space, seasonality is going to affect you a lot more than
it is like electrical or plumbing.
So make sure you just have those campaigns prepared.
And if you are in the HVAC space and you have electrical and plumbing,
also don't forget your siblings that are going to still need love during those peaks.
(10:09):
And just make sure that you have consistency in running your sibling campaigns
so you don't lose your eye on the ball. but then you're like why are you guys
here you know because they don't have any leads.
So, you'll map it out, have a study book, and some ads in your back pocket,
because when you get into those changes, you're, of course, going to have operational
(10:33):
challenges, and you'll want to flip your campaign.
So, what I've seen work is writing in with maintenance and then flipping to
more opportunity, higher ticket campaigns.
And once you start booking out like two and three days, then make that flip
and switch to like more branding and quality and,
(10:54):
you know, upgrading kind of campaigns so that you can try and get people that
know they're in the market for a replacement, i.e.
Higher average ticket to call you.
Other things is also i i have found it most successful to to pull marketing
(11:14):
funds for in the year in the q1 so that you have that win behind you when you're
going through peak and do a lot of branding and brand building so people can
give you when they have a problem.
Other things is with your other trades if you
have a high influx of calls like if
someone needs an electrician and someone needs a plumber they may
(11:36):
just not wait on the whole they may like hang up and call someone else
if someone has an atrack system they'll sit there like broken
into heat they're gonna they're gonna wait on hold for you so like press one
for plumbing plus two for electrical press three for hvac is really effective
to not choke out that like lead flow for those other trades yeah another one
(11:57):
is make sure you're watching your your marketing spend because you get getting very busy.
You can also overspend a lot and I would say in paper cliff when you don't need the extra leads.
So that's, you know, if you want to cherry pick your leads for the highest opportunity,
that's one way to do it and just overpay or you cut back and streamline.
(12:18):
Yeah. Yeah. That's, yeah. I think you said a lot of great things.
You said, A, have a marketing plan, be consistent.
And then with your phones, have a great routing system for, you know,
to make sure that you're getting the most profitable lead to where it needs to be at that time.
And then also watching your spend because
(12:39):
yes ppc and lsa and
you know even your social media marketing which
is an element of a type of paid media like
ppc those can all go skyrocketing when they're when customers have a problem
so and if you don't have the capacity to run it then you've just wasted spend
and that's a shame so yeah most definitely i think that that's a great question
(13:04):
and great answers for that.
And so right now in the industry, a lot of people are saying they're having
a hard time with replacement.
And I want to know what your thoughts are on that and why do you think that that's happening?
So, you know, we did go through our industry for HVAC replacements went through a time where we pulled,
(13:31):
I believe, and reports on this, where we pulled replacements forward because
of COVID and people, you know, we had a pre-on change out. We had COVID.
We had people with discretionary income and that effect they may replace.
So that kind of created a little bit of a dull, a lull.
And then we have skyrocketing interest rates, economic
(13:53):
insecurity it's all going to
pan out what i'm reading is towards the
end of next year it's going to be another boom but we do
have rising cost of equipment next year so
yes i'm seeing replacement be a challenge where
i've seen people be affected is really offering good good deal on replacement
(14:15):
to differentiate themselves and really honing in on the value with their technicians
and their sales techs on the value of replacing versus repairing and mapping that out.
People are very value conscious now, especially if they're going to finance
it like 8% interest, like, oh, well, how much more am I going to pay?
(14:36):
Well, if they really train the team to have all the scripting and understanding
of what the customer's concerns are,
and then show shows the value of replacement versus spending a lot of money
repairing the system that you're going to have to replace again anyway, those are.
(14:57):
Wins that I'm seeing in people that are kind of overcoming the replacement issues.
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. And also understanding that,
you know, you're coming in to solve a problem that could be related to someone's health.
And you don't want to scare them, but you want to like, act as if they're your
(15:17):
own mom, or act as if they're your own, you know, family, because really,
like your HVAC, let's just take HVAC for a second, it, you're breathing air, right?
And that air that you breathe matters greatly.
Because for an example, my son has asthma.
Well, if I were to just repair a problem, would it really fix my entire solution or my need with my air?
(15:43):
Like, the problem isn't just it's not turning on, it's producing a bad output.
And so what I'm breathing in is not okay.
And, you know, Really relating it back to the human level of what's the problem
statement that they see, but what's really going on in the home and breaking that down.
(16:05):
And those are easy scripts that you can generate with AI just to even give you a basis.
And then you go in, test the script, edit the script, and hone in on the process.
So I think what you're saying is really like give them a good process for your
comfort advisor or your salesperson or your technician,
a good process of like, yeah, you're going to get these objections because,
(16:27):
you know, interest rates are high or because, you know, they haven't gotten
their tax money back because they overspent in taxes or or whatnot.
And they're waiting for something. But the fact of the matter is,
is every time that they wait, the price just keeps going up.
You kind of hit the nail on the head on a lot of it.
It's like those lifestyle questions of people's comfort and really setting up
(16:52):
the or helping technicians understand
that when they're walking into someone's home, it's their haven.
And it's where they spend the bulk of their time and their families.
They're in the most intimate moments in their life happening at home.
And, you know, understanding what type of lifestyle they're looking for in that home.
It's not just ASAC. It's also plumbing and electrical. and how much that system
(17:16):
actually affects people.
I think people sometimes get used to hot and cold spots and allergies and,
you know, water that isn't that great and hot water that makes you able to turn on and heat up.
I moved about a year ago and I had like a lot of these problems and I was like, what is this?
(17:37):
But those, you know, going into the, the with those lifestyle questions and
gathering a complete understanding of what's important to the customer is your
rights are super important.
Cause we're not just in the HR and plumbing business. We're in a home comfort.
Yep. Most definitely. I think that's the great part. Yeah. Yeah.
(18:03):
Just, yeah. And we're in kind of keeping the topic of replacements going.
And I feel like, you know, you're spot on, like being able to give them options is going to be huge,
especially since, you know, marketed leads for replacements is it's not, it's not quite as,
(18:24):
as frequent as it was in previous years.
We're seeing a lot of people leaning towards, at least from what I'm seeing,
you know, in search volume and, you know, from what people are searching and
what they're finding us for is towards repairs and service.
So shifting, not the entire approach, but also just making sure that the focus isn't lost.
(18:49):
I know we all want those hot, perfectly qualified,
ready-to-buy replacement leads, but just making sure that as marketers,
we're adjusting and pivoting with the way we're seeing consumer behavior and
all that stuff moving towards hitting the repair.
(19:11):
Or at least targeting repairs and giving yourself the opportunity because so
many people they just they want they want install leads and then they strike
out because they missed 10 opportunities for a replacement conversation because
they didn't talk about repairs in their advertising or anything.
(19:31):
Right. And understanding that lifestyle of the customer and what the comfort
they want and need, and then understanding, you know, if you repair it,
are you going to achieve that?
If you repair it, are you just putting a bandaid on something that's going to
break soon and you're going to spend more in the long run?
(19:53):
And also in that interim, not reach your lifestyle goals or your comfort.
And also costs are going up next year again.
All those things can help technicians down the journey and providing technicians
those trainings can help them then convert to replacements.
(20:15):
You've got to date someone before you ask them to marry you.
Maybe. I don't know. This is a bachelor.
Yeah, love is blind. Love is blind is throwing me for a loop i was like watching
it and i was like okay i get this and then yeah,
(20:35):
everything is changing how we how
we interact with relationships and interact with our
consumers you know we we give them what they want hopefully instead of what
we want and hopefully that drives what they need but you know lifestyle goals
i some people are just like surviving right and so So they're like,
(20:58):
what's a lifestyle goal?
Like one day I'll get there, but, you know, a Band-Aid might help them.
It's just, I think it's about how you market for the repair, right?
And what that message is that makes sense and resonates.
Because you could be all, I know companies that are all repair companies.
(21:20):
And, you know, and is that sustainable? I think that's my question.
Like like how do you continue to grow and
just repairing things because you obviously i
guess you'd get to go back out there again when it breaks but gosh
for the break i you
know i know i know of some i know of
(21:41):
some contractors in in my area
here in virginia that have been around for you
know 60 70 years and two
and a half million still and they're just
their entire business is just built on a book of memberships and it's just they
(22:02):
go do member maintenance and maintenance and maintenance and they've been around
so long that like just due to the nature of how you know equipment breaks down
those members turn into replacements which is which is crazy to me to
think that like that's how some companies run and operate too,
but like to, to hit on your point about messaging around repairs and.
(22:24):
Like I was, I was in Austin, Texas back in January, visiting the wizard of ads
and big, big Ryan shoot fan.
And something that we were talking about a lot then when I was there was how,
if you can, there's, there's, it's like time, energy, and money are like the
three, like most valuable resources in this world.
And the only one that you can't get back is time.
(22:46):
You can get more energy, you can get more money, but you can't get more time.
And so if you can solve one of those three problems through what you do and
through your messaging, then, you know, folks are going to call you.
And after hearing that, I adjusted a few, you know, a few of our campaigns that
were around like emergency service and repairs.
And the headline changes that we made, it was instead of saying like,
(23:10):
call now for fast service, we changed it to say, we're already on our way.
And those campaigns started performing exponentially better just because instead
of saying, you know, call now and we'll help you out. What everyone else is saying.
What everyone else is saying. It changed it to something where it's like,
oh, this is going to save me time. They're already on their way over here now.
(23:33):
And so I think little things like that, focusing on ways to save your customers time,
energy, and money in this year and probably early Q1, Q2 next year as well,
it's going to really help, especially if you're trying to go after those service and repair calls.
Yeah, and understanding, thinking about what your customer needs as a solution
(23:55):
versus what you want to achieve.
Really stepping back and understanding that. And a lot of that's through asking questions.
Yeah. And really going back and looking at your customer database and saying,
what did I leave on the table?
Right? And what problems did they talk to me about in the notes?
What problems did show up in the job types? What problems...
(24:19):
You know, why was I out there? And then rehashing and nurturing those by giving
them information on to, well, you know, last year we were out because you,
I don't know, let's just say you had bad indoor air quality.
And then you just keep telling them and informing them about that.
I think we forget about the rehash always having to be a closed deal right up
(24:47):
front. It can be a nurture.
And I think, yeah, hopefully that would help them understand that not everything
is going to convert right away.
Some things need a little bit more of that white glove service that can be used.
Yeah, those have a high value because you've already marketed that.
(25:09):
You've already gone out there. You've already paid operationally to assess it.
And then sometimes it's a sticker shock. And people, you know,
that's, you know, it's a big investment.
It's probably one-third the largest ticket you're going to pay for in house,
car, maintenance in college.
(25:31):
Following up with that, to your point, Sarah, is highly profitable.
It's probably one of the biggest opportunities by seeing companies and doing
it the right way. Don't just send an email. Call them. Mail them.
Have a campaign. Don't have a crappy campaign.
We were out there and you didn't choose because you're a standard company
you know understand you know what what did
(25:54):
you what was your estimate for you can build all this out and service
type me you know here's some more options and then have different personality
types following up with them because maybe there's something that the customer
a solution the customer needed or wanted it wasn't really clear to the initial
person but as it may be clear to a different person,
(26:17):
but yeah i'm seeing like about a 10
rehash rate on those which is fantastic if
yeah yeah it could totally i
think y'all are both spot on like i think a lot
of people you know especially if they don't know any better if they just see
you know a post or two on facebook think like oh i'm gonna rehash and this is
(26:40):
gonna blow my business up but like what i don't think this talked about enough
It doesn't always have to be a call to action in the rehash.
It could simply be as little as saying, Happy Easter.
Here's a photo of our family at church on Sunday for Easter Sunday or whatever.
It doesn't have to always be Easter Sunday, 10% off. It could just be Happy Easter.
(27:05):
Or, you know, it could be if you're, you know, if you're like me and you love
Red Robin and everyone jokes about me loving Red Robin, sending your clients
Red Robin gift cards on their birthday and saying happy birthday,
something, you know, it doesn't have to always be by now.
And I think that's where a lot of people miss the mark on rehash is they think
(27:26):
it's got to be call to action, fill up the board.
But the call to action, fill up the board will be typically the result of doing
it right, you know, time and time again for a while.
Yeah. One of the things the wizard says is when their hearts and their minds will follow.
Yep. Yep.
(27:47):
And then, yeah, and inform them, right? Like they don't know what they don't know.
And I guarantee they don't know if you're a plumber, they don't know about their
pipes. They don't know about water filtration.
They don't know about salt delivery for water filtration.
They, you know, there's, or changing your filters and getting a subscription
plan, making your life easier, your convenience, like, you know,
(28:11):
like just inform them and listen to their needs.
Needs and then be ahead of it.
And I think that's the one thing about marketers in general is the really great
ones are 10 steps ahead of the consumer.
They're thinking of like, okay, what's the, what's the action point? What's the reaction?
(28:32):
What's, what's going to happen in the market, you know, and always thinking ahead.
And that's really what you have to do as a business owner. You have to say,
yes, this is right here right now, but what's going to happen?
Like, what can can I do to get back into the door?
What can I do to, you know, really nurture that relationship and keep it going?
(28:53):
And even with gift cards for birthdays, flowers for birthdays,
you know, handwritten notes, like those things matter so much.
And, you know, they don't always have to be expensive.
But yeah, it will. Yeah. Well, I think, too, putting, you know,
anticipating what our customers need in advance, understanding what solution
(29:18):
that they're really trying to solve for,
and then building your messaging and your strategy around that.
And also having it in advance so that we're not reacting or talking,
not yelling, and building that relationship with them. And that's totally on point.
(29:38):
Yeah, I think the constant call to action of like an offer, offer,
offer, offer. You're right. That's yelling.
Like you're yelling at the consumer to take an action on something that they're
just either they don't understand because they said no.
Right. That you didn't have enough content or they are still just wrapping their
head around like this is this is what. Right. right?
(30:02):
Just as we think of ourselves, we are marketers, and not everybody has the same thoughts as we do.
And we're like, Oh, well, why wouldn't you think of this? Well,
it's what you don't know, you don't know.
So yeah, I think it's really important just to keep that conversation going.
So let's jump in. So you're using Marketing Pro a lot for your customers.
(30:24):
And, you know, So I always wonder, I see like a lot of people hook into APIs
and different integrations into their systems.
And from a marketing perspective and a compliance perspective,
what do you think about having, you know, so many different connection points
inside of your CRM and the way that compliance is going today?
(30:47):
So I think that when you're trying to... You create a bottleneck operationally
for your marketing department. That's one.
Because you're here and there and there and there and there and there and you're not...
You're recreating work versus streamlining it. Also, you have breaks in data.
(31:11):
And so you're not able to fully understand where's your cost per lead by campaign.
And now it's getting even more nimble. We have more opportunities in marketing
to be nimble and optimized, and i.e.
Really affect the lines of business quickly.
And if you're integrating all of that into one source, then you can snapshot
(31:33):
it and make real-time decisions that positively impact your business.
So, for example, that having your coffee, you're like, okay,
plumbing needs more leads.
Or, oh, no, we need more demand calls in HVAC.
Well, you look at what campaign, you know, this cost to leave here,
this cost to leave. Oh, this is underperforming. I'm overspending here.
(31:56):
I can shift. You just this from here. Super easy. Your coffee's still hot.
And then, and then by noon, you've made impactful changes that will start driving those leads.
And you need to have that in one place so that you can, you can see it and make those decisions.
(32:18):
Yeah. And I think a lot of business owners don't really understand that marketers are,
have a tab problem. We have a spreadsheet problem. Don't be right there. Never mind. Go on.
Like sometimes I just have to close all my tabs and I'm like, you know what?
If I have to restart, then I am fine. Like nothing's going right.
(32:43):
But yeah, we have fragmented thoughts and, you know, and they are outlined in
how many tabs we have opened.
And so having one source to do marketing out of, it really helps.
But also like the compliance side, all of my vendors have to be, I'm in California.
So all of my vendors have to be, are like, that's the level that I'm going on, right?
(33:06):
CCPA, yeah, I know they're going to change it. So I know that I have to go to
the top when it comes to compliance.
And then I have to make sure that if I have vendors in other states,
that they are on my level.
And they're not on my level or whatnot and it's not being passed through and
then I get sued because I went outside doors, right?
(33:28):
And I didn't know that they weren't compliant because I didn't check that as
a marketer or a business owner.
There are so many things that I was thinking about when it comes to API integrations
and it's not that they're bad, like they're not bad.
It's just that you're creating more chaos for your marketer, if that makes sense.
And you're taking your data in and out and then making sure that it comes back in.
(33:55):
And some people will just take
it out and they'll send it and then they won't put it back in properly.
And so are my, you know, am I in compliance with inputs?
Am I in compliance with, you know, if people opt out? You know,
these are all really important things for marketing.
And I think that, you know, we forget to ask those questions when we just give people our data.
(34:19):
Another thing with APIs is we are giving people our data.
How many times I've been asked to make legal decisions in marketing. I'm like, I don't know.
I wouldn't trust me, that's for sure. I'm like, let's have her lawyer.
Yeah. I'm like, let's have her lawyer.
(34:42):
Another on that point too, is anyone that's looking to recap or sell,
Well, one of the big things that they use to assess the value of the company is risk.
And as marketers, you're going to your marketing person for a long time.
You have some risk. Yeah.
(35:05):
Yeah. Most definitely. And then switching over to I really want to talk about
AI and how you're leveraging it. Because I know I was like, hey,
Amber, you should be doing this.
Thank you for that, too. Because now it's totally like, we'll just run for AI.
Yeah. So tell me about how you're using AI in your business,
(35:29):
but then also how you see the home service industry could use AI as an opportunity in their businesses.
Okay. So, well, as a marketer, I've used AI for proofing, for writing things,
for writing catchy subject lines for proposals, for ads, for...
I don't use it graphically yet because it's not hitting the mark there.
(35:51):
But as me looking at the customer journey, I see AI in call center performance,
measuring what's being said when, helping us rate our call center people.
And understanding where we need to provide them extra training because that's
a huge gap and kind of a hurdle that sometimes prevents growth because it is
(36:14):
labor intensive without the use of AI.
We've also seen AI and I mean.
I'm also seeing AI in training technicians and recording their calls real time
and giving them triggers and identifying where they have gaps or what they could
be saying and aligning their calls with the top performers'
(36:37):
calls and identifying the variances and using that as training opportunities.
There's tons of improvements. And, of course, AI has been used by Google for
optimizing paid search and campaigns.
I think you just have kind of a different name now in that regard.
But streamlining those tools and our workforce has continuously gotten more
(36:59):
and more expensive in the United States.
And those being able to leverage AI to kind of help offset those expenses and
drive efficiencies is really going to help small businesses continue to get ahead and compete.
Heat because as a small business you are more nimble and you're able to like
(37:19):
make decisions on the fly and that really you know and i think it's the american dream and also,
it's what allows smaller businesses
to to be more profitable than bigger businesses more competitive.
Yeah there's definitely a lot of ways i think that the folks can use AI to become more efficient.
(37:43):
And I think a lot of times folks like to try to think too hard about how to
do it, but there's so many things just sitting right in front of us that we can use AI,
like setting up a Zapier integration with ChatGPT to respond to Google reviews.
How many listeners out there have their CSRs or a dispatcher or someone in the
(38:04):
office responding to Google reviews, that doesn't need to be a thing anymore.
I mean, you could, I mean, and you can even within, we could get really nerdy
about this, but you could, you could, you can have a preset prompt that even
is like, this is our brand voice.
Here's the words that we tend to use in our gratitude.
And it'll be probably better than what the CSR writes grammatically,
(38:28):
you know, little things like that, that people don't think about using zapier
to send slack notifications to people automatically each monday and each friday
rather than a human doing it that way you can focus you know the the big money
brain power that's needed towards real problems in the business this is not
(38:50):
how am i going to respond to this google review,
Yeah. Yeah. I will say like going out on my own as a business person,
I use AI way more than I did two years ago.
I didn't, you know, it's a thing's different. You've got to be like agile. Yeah. Yeah.
(39:12):
I could tell you what AI I use, but like, you'd be like, you're a nerd and I am a nerd.
But, you know, image creation is probably something that I really enjoy using
it for mainly because stock photos are really expensive and learning,
you know, how to to get great quality images.
(39:36):
That's just fun for me with the prompts and then also video.
You know, I've been testing out the plug, the chat GBTs for video,
and they're phenomenal.
Phenomenal this new Sora that's coming out good lord like everyone developed
an app I'm just like waiting for access is how I feel show me what I can do
but I mean think about how much time it takes for us to make content or those
(40:00):
that don't even make content you know and now it's just like,
like you know we just have to jump on the opportunity have y'all tried an opus
clip yet No, I was waiting for you to give me the sign in.
Oh my gosh. Opus clip.
I'm not sure. I think the domain is opusclip.something. Just Google opusclip. O-P-U-S-C-L-I-P.
(40:27):
It is insane. So we have a client that we manage a podcast for, hour-long video.
I uploaded it to Opus Clip, and it took a grueling 10 minutes.
I was like, oh, I was getting so impatient with this computer.
It took 10 minutes, and within that 10 minutes, it came back to me with,
(40:47):
I think it was 10 minutes.
Ready to use clips with the captions
on the video you could change the colors to match
your brand it gave you a caption to use
in the social post and you could download the video
right then and there and i was like oh my gosh this would have taken a human
three to five business days and i just got this done in 10 grueling minutes
(41:09):
where i had to sit here and wait for this darn computer to load i was and it
was funny because like at first when i said 10 minutes remaining i was like
Like, oh, my gosh, it's taking forever.
But then I got to thinking, like, once I saw the output, I was like,
that would have taken a human literally probably three business days or more
to turn around that many clips with the captions. And it's incredible.
(41:31):
And there's so many tools like that out there. And so many people think,
oh, I'll use AI to write blog articles.
No, like, there's so much more that you can do with it.
And I'm just, every time I find a new AI tool, I'm just like,
what's next? I would have never thought of that. That's incredible.
Like Opus Clip. Yeah. Opus Clip is cool.
(41:52):
Lots of cool tools out there and they're just getting better, right?
Because they're learning from our inputs because they're language models.
And so like when we give them just like Google, when we feed Google information,
like it likes to eat and now they're saying it likes to, it's neat.
So they added notability and transparent. Who cares?
(42:14):
Whatever. Google likes to eat, right?
And, and so whenever you're thinking about AI, it's like you want to feed it
information as much as you can with very, you know, detailed inputs,
so that you can get a great detailed output.
And I think that's like the best tip. It's sometimes I just put my own brain
(42:37):
thoughts right into there.
And they're, I'm sure it's crazy, but,
but it gives me what I'm looking for right
instead of just saying black create a image
of a black cat i'd be like create an image
of a black cat with its fur standing straight straight up
you know on a background on a fence walking in a backyard and being like super
(42:59):
super particular because like like i said your your input is only as good as
your output and it's the same with data right amber like Like what have you seen with the data side,
not with AI, but like when we're talking about input and output,
you're in a CRM pretty much all day.
So what have you seen as an opportunity or a win when it comes to the input
(43:24):
of data? I mean, what goes in comes out and really understanding your dad.
I'm from Ohio. Your dad is from the customer experience from marketing all the
way through to booking to marketing.
Average tickets to warranty calls and callbacks and all that is super
(43:46):
important for really operationally running
your business and efficiently running your
business because there's only kids at every point but sir i wanted to ask you
guys because i'm probably a little behind the eight on ai what are some of your
favorite like editing tools what are some of your favorite are your most impactful
(44:08):
tools that you've seen in the industry?
Eric, you mentioned Opus Clip.
Sarah, you mentioned some that were editing graphics or creating graphics.
What have you had the most success with? So I use a lot of Midjourney and a lot of Dolly.
And I use a lot of, I test a lot of the plugins because I like to see what's going on.
(44:31):
And just like Google, there's spam.
That's coming out and hitting all of these plugins and ChatGPT in general.
And we knew that was going to happen. So I use Midjourney a lot.
I use a lot of Canva if I wanted to use Magic Erasers. They also have a new AI tool for video.
(44:52):
So it'll create video really quickly for you.
I have tested Gamma.ai, which makes landing pages for you and presentations. Love that one.
Yeah, I have a whole, you know, I make books at marketing summits and I'm like,
here are all the AI tools that I've played with.
I won't be doing it this one. But yeah, I've just been, I honestly,
(45:16):
I've been watching a lot of TikTok videos because they're all testing and becoming
these affiliate marketers and then using StanStore,
which is also a really interesting concept.
That's not AI, but it is like an easy way of purchase path.
So, yeah, like, I mean, anytime I find a new tool, I am I'm working with it and playing with it.
(45:39):
And even in my own video editor, Filmora and Wondershare or Wondershare,
I use the AI portions of that and see what it'll clip me with.
But Opus was one that I was really excited to to learn.
And then there's one that just like you can put in any YouTube video.
I believe it's called Knapp, K-N-A-P,
any YouTube video and it cuts it for you and then you can post it.
(46:02):
Which is pretty cool. Yeah, yeah, we've been using, I've got them all pulled
up here, Opus Clip, which is really good.
There's one called ReLume.io, which helps create.
Gosh, I probably shouldn't be giving away all my secrets. It helps create site
(46:24):
maps and UX UI wireframes, which is really cool.
It's not the best quality wireframes, but the site map's really cool.
So you don't have to sit there in like MindMeister or like a mind mapping software
sitting there trying to like map out a site map.
You just tell them like, I run a $3 million HVAC business and we offer plumbing,
(46:45):
heating, and air conditioning. And we specialize in, you know,
heat pumps and dual fuel systems located in Virginia Beach, Virginia,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Please create, you know, and you do a prompt like that and then it will prepare
you a site map, kind of map out like how the website should be structured, which is really cool.
And there's another one called originality.ai. AI. This is more of a AI checker
(47:09):
slash plagiarism checker that we use that I've found to be a little bit more
accurate than some of the free ones. This one does cost, I think, $9 a month.
But I use this personally to go back behind content that even we produce or
is on sites that we're looking at, especially if we're taking over a website to do SEO on it.
(47:32):
I like to see like upfront, like, all right, how much of this is AI,
how much needs to be either rewritten or trashed and original originality.ai.
You can put the full website URL in and it will scan the entire website.
It'll tell you how much of the site and which pages could be like rewritten possibly.
So those are the, those are the three ones that I've been using a lot lately.
(47:54):
Nice. Yeah. So many tools and they're, they're tools.
The other biggest thing for me is the GPTs and creating your own.
So I've created a fractional CMO that has inputs.
It does everything that a fractional CMO would do. But at the same time,
like I could literally just take a screenshot of an audience and put it inside of the custom GPT.
(48:19):
And then it'll give me basically a memo to my team.
It'll give me more channels that I can market this with.
And then it'll prompt me and to ask me for call center scripts,
technician scripts, FSR scripts, right?
Because I know that I need content for the full journey.
And then scorecards and goals and industry benchmarks for all of those things.
(48:41):
So really thinking about like, as a marketer, what do you do?
And then understanding that it's not just a one, like you only asking it for
one thing, like keep asking it more questions and then put that in your your
custom bbt so that you can create that experience,
or any marketer to have a best friend and that's what i call it i'm like oh
(49:05):
this is my market it's my best friend i think that you know we have a small
business and medium small and our clients do as well and with that you you.
A lot of fractional jobs when you have fractional jobs you don't
have people that are all in or 100%
skilled in that role and all these
(49:27):
tools help us have that knowledge
base and really like benefit our company
without like having to have full-time video editor
and you know it helps it helps us
be competitive and also just really be like
more holistically sound and what we're offering and
(49:47):
what we're doing because it kind of balances out our our
gap that we can't sell because we're not a huge company and then each company
you get like ground down and like trying to get things done so yeah like i think
it's really amazing and will really benefit you know our space in many ways
yeah i agree with you okay i'm going
(50:10):
to ask a random question to wrap this up if you
were required to have a job of some type but you
didn't need the money to survive what job would you choose
yoga instructor nice because i would love to be able to like i really believe
yoga helps empower people to instill themselves body mind and soul and that
(50:31):
is kind of you know at the end of your life what really did you do.
So, I mean, from a marketing standpoint, I feel that what we do is help provide
really good companies, a way to provide for really good people that want to
work hard for the future of their lives and children.
And that is a driving force for me.
(50:53):
And, you know, who I'm partnering with now, I'm being very selective to make
sure that that aligns with them too.
And that we're really like, you know, thinking about that in our daily decisions.
And, you know, we're affecting the next generation by giving their parents a
way to provide for them that, you know, the trades maybe, you know, didn't always have.
(51:15):
Have so that that's kind of my driving force but probably yoga starter because
i kind of feel like you do the same thing it's just totally different ways yeah
well that's awesome awesome okay yeah,
i've been waiting for you eric i hear you breathing and i was like you're
gonna say well i started thinking i started thinking about what i would do but
(51:35):
i don't know yeah what would you do eric i'd still i'd still be doing the same
stuff i think i'd just be building websites and doing my thing or no i know
exactly what i'd be i'd be a franchise owner of a red robin that's.
You could just have red robin every day yeah exactly i would love i would just
(52:00):
be an influencer of red robin instead of a franchise owner,
Sarah, what would you do? You know...
I want to say that it would obviously be something that would turn my brain
(52:21):
off, but I don't know how long I could turn my brain off.
I thought about a job where I would just pet animals all day,
be like, hey, but yeah, you know, I would always want to be in a space of helping
someone, but more with a passive income.
I think the goal is to, for me, is to have a passive income instead of one that
(52:45):
I'm just like grinding every single day for.
And yeah, that's what I'd like to see is just something that's like,
oh, I just automated this and we'll see you later.
Yeah, I get a break from theirlessness. Yeah, yeah, most definitely.
And like you said before is you only have so much time.
(53:07):
And sometimes we look at time as a trade-off or a sacrifice.
And when we start looking at it as a sacrifice, then we know that we need to
readjust our mindset set to make it a trade-off.
And you only have so much time in life.
And so I just want to do something fun and not rack my brain.
Well, Amber, it was great having you on the show. I really appreciate you coming
(53:30):
on and you provided some wonderful insight.
We are so excited to know you and hear more about your success coming down later in the road.
Well, thank you guys all for what what you're doing for, you know,
this industry and everyone that's involved in it. And it's, you know, it's their life.
It's the children's life. And, you know, it's coming together and doing things
like this to help others. Like, that's amazing.
(53:52):
I'm just so happy to be part of it. So thanks for including me.
Yeah. Yeah. With the trades, for the trades.
All right. Well, that's the end of the episode. We will see you all later.
And that wraps up another episode of The Trademark, where we bridge the worlds
of the trades and marketing one story at a time.
We can't wait to see you next time. Thank you to The Trades for giving back
(54:14):
big, loving big, and taking massive action.
Don't forget to join us next time for more engaging conversations and innovative ideas.
If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review and share it with your
colleagues and friends in the trades and marketing.
Your support means the world to us.
Stay connected with us off the air by following us on social media.
(54:37):
We'd love to hear your thoughts and get your feedback.
Until next time, keep making your mark in the trades.
Thank you for listening to The Trademark. Goodbye for now. And remember,
we're with the trades for the trades.
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