February 19, 2024 • 22 mins
In the latest episode of the Service MVP Podcast, host Joe Crisara welcomes guests Helmi Ben Flah and Joe Rivera from Guaranteed Services. The duo shares their incredible journey in the service industry, discussing the strategies that catapulted their business from zero to a staggering $33 million. From the importance of mentorship and tactical market strategies to the power of a customer-oriented approach and strong employee culture, this conversation is a goldmine of insights for anyone looking to achieve exponential business growth.
The episode takes a deep dive into the journey of Helmi and Joe, which started almost two decades ago. Their dedication, resilience, and unwavering commitment to client satisfaction took their venture from less than a million dollars a year to a stunning $17 million, with plans to reach even higher. The conversation steers towards the importance of value delivery to customers and showcases how happy clients can be the best advertisement for a business.
Underpinning the discussion is the essence of focusing on the controllable aspects of business and not succumbing to distractions. Despite various challenges, the team at Guaranteed Service has remained devoted to their vision, never allowing doubt to sway their confidence. The conversation delves deeper into their unique approach to team management, emphasizing continuous training, belief in the process, and commitment to overall business goals.
Listeners are also treated to an honest recounting of the highs and lows they've experienced during their growth phase. The duo stresses the importance of nurturing talent in-house and proffers advice on prioritizing employee well-being, diligent training, implementation of robust processes, and team accountability. The episode concludes with an inspiring message about the intersection of passion and business, reminding entrepreneurs that success requires patience, perseverance, and hard work.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to the Service MVP podcast, and my name is Joe Crisara.
And today we are featuring two of my very best friends and colleagues that I have known for years.
And we have Helmi Ben Flah and Joe Rivera from Guaranteed Services.
Welcome to our show, guys. Welcome, Helmi, and welcome, Joe.
(00:23):
Thank you, Joe, for having us. It's a pleasure to be with the America's Coach.
Thank you so much, Joe. We love you. Well, thank you guys so much for being here.
We have a long history that goes back quite a few years.
I first met Helmi when he was the service director over at the company that
(00:45):
Mike Aguilero used to own at Gold Medal, right? Was that the name of the company?
Yeah, I was the general manager there. He was the general manager over there,
and he was always helping to teach our program back there. And it was definitely
an honor. I first met him. I knew I had a friend for life.
Helmi, why don't you start by just telling us a little bit about the background,
about how you got started doing this kind of a thing and how you wound up where you are right now?
(01:10):
Yeah, well, you're right. It's been almost 20 years, Joe. The first time we met was in 2005.
I was the general manager of a company. We used to be doing less than a million
dollars a year and kept in contact until 2018 with you.
And we finished up that year with over $33 million.
(01:31):
And we decided in 2018 that I decided to go on my own as part of the NET.
Zero technicians, zero calls, zero employees. My first call was to my friend Joe Crisera for help.
Fast forward five years later, we finished up this year with $17 million and
(01:52):
going for $25 million next year.
$25 million. So we're trying to go in $25 million in six years.
That's the pace we're looking at here? Yeah, 100%. There is no doubt.
100%. I always tell people the goal is $365 million a year by December 31st, 2021.
One million a day. One million a day, baby. Well, you know what?
(02:17):
You probably have the guy to your right over there, right? Who's literally the right-hand man.
It'd be hard to do it without him, wouldn't it? Joe, tell me,
what's this ride been like for you?
Oh, it's been amazing. You know, not only having you as a great coach,
but Helmi has been my, you know, life coach.
(02:38):
And we believe in, you know, being a window and not a door and,
you know, believing in the process and giving people all possibilities.
So it's just been a great ride.
Let's go over that, Joe. Let's say, so today we're going to cover the three
things that are responsible for growing a service business.
Make sense? How do you grow a service business from a startup?
Startup, a lot of people who grow a business or people who've been in business
(03:01):
for 100 years haven't made it to even $17 million, much less have a growth pattern from there.
So tell us the three keys to growing a business. Start with you,
Joe, since you're the guy on the ground grinding it out more.
I'm not saying Helmi doesn't do the work too, but I know that you're doing more
of the grind out there every day.
Joe, could you tell us what's the first key, do you think, to growing a a service
(03:24):
business, if you don't mind?
First key to growing a service business is to care about the customer.
I believe the first thing is, you know, if you don't care and you don't fully
love the customer, I want to see the right thing being done for them and nothing
else is going to be executed right.
So that would be the number one thing.
Joe, it's interesting. A lot of people say care for the customer,
(03:45):
but they have a different version of that.
You probably met people who came in to your company and said,
yeah, I care for the customer by saving them money or something like that.
How would you define caring for the customer? Because a lot of people think,
well, just try to do the job as cheap as possible. That's how you care for the customer.
Tell us a little bit about what your version of caring for the customer is.
(04:08):
How would you define that a little more clearly, if you don't mind?
My version for caring for the customer is permanent solutions,
something that they don't have to worry about for the next 10 years or the next 12 years.
Not just putting a Band-Aid on it and having to call companies or your company
and spending money every single year on today's repairs, future repairs,
and not really getting anything for it, but more grief.
(04:31):
So we want to see our customers be customers for life and just know that they're
in good hands and let the worry be on us.
Yeah, I mean, you got to do good enough service so that if you're going to make $17 or $25 million,
I see behind you got that window that goes right out to your street that you
don't want to have a customer at that window knocking on the window saying he's not happy, right?
(04:55):
So how important is it that not only do we have to have that revenue,
but also make sure that the customer got value? What do you think about that, Joe? Tell me about that.
Um, it's super important, you know, it's super important that the customer gets
everything that they paid for all the benefits, all the value.
And, you know, what that does is creates a good, um, it creates a good,
(05:16):
uh, relationship, um, because that customer will be a customer with you for
a long time and be able to refer you to friends, family, neighbors.
Um, if they don't feel that, then that's not going to happen.
We're, we're in a relationship and a connecting business. That's what we're looking to do.
Right. Right. Well, you know, one thing I noticed about all the people there,
Helmi, is all the guys at Guaranteed Services that I've met,
(05:39):
they really believe in the brand in a way. Does that make sense?
Because I always have a saying. I say sales begins with the person who's offering something.
They have to believe in it. Does that make sense, Helmi?
100%. How do you build that kind of a culture where everybody believes in what
Guaranteed Services is doing? Could you comment on that a little bit?
(06:01):
And thank you, Joe. It's great. Great comments. I appreciate that.
We don't cheat. We don't steal. We don't lie. That's number one.
We always say the truth no matter what the truth is.
That's the only way we do it. And we always say to do business in any job or
to do any job, three wins has to happen.
Customer has to win. The employee has to win. and the company has to win, right?
(06:25):
So when they see the value of that, that's we're not just, we're not a homerun here, right?
We love our people. We love our customers.
And they believe in it. They really, truly believe in it. And our culture here is fantastic.
Everybody is having fun. And in the end of the day, everybody wins.
(06:46):
Yeah, I think when you're, you always notice that teams that are winning have
a lot more fun. Does that make sense?
It's hard to have fun when you're not winning. Does that make sense, guys?
It is absolutely fun to work here. Honestly, it is fun to work here.
We have vacations together.
We celebrate stuff together.
(07:07):
We rent houseboats.
Yeah, houseboats. We go out to the Poconos and the hills together.
We try to have a really good time at what we do. And I think that's what relates to the homeowner also.
They know that if the technicians are having a good time, the company's having
a good time, and making sure it's done right, then it's just going to create a great product.
(07:29):
Yeah. And you can check Google reviews, do thousands of five stories.
That's awesome. Well, I think that speaks volumes. And I think from what I see,
that's the best advertisement is a happy employee who believes in the company
and believes in the value the customer gets, right?
(07:51):
Now, what would you say, number two? I think you mentioned before something about the process.
Helmi, you want to give us a little bit of thoughts on that about having a
process and how important that is?
Could you share that with us? Absolutely, 100%. It's like having a playbook
in a football team. You need to know what you're doing.
You need to know in advance. You don't make it as you go.
(08:14):
So we have a process for everything.
I mean, when we say for everything, for everything, including the cleaning lady has a process.
All right and and and
you just follow it and makes the makes the
things very very simple we have scripts to say when
we answer the phone we have scripts to say when we go to people's houses we
(08:39):
have process how to handle paperwork here in the office uh and you in order
to succeed you have to have a process first of all you have to have the love
of your guys are working here right you know You know, they say,
if you earn their hearts, they give you their hands.
All right? So that's the philosophy we work with. And then we have a process how to do things.
(09:06):
Like when we bring in a new employee, we just show him the playbook. We call it the playbook.
When we show him the playbook, he knows exactly what to do.
He knows how to follow the training stuff, how to follow service MVP coaching,
how where to go I mean really for every single move there is a process there is a playbook for.
(09:29):
Well, you know, I'll bet, I mean, Joe probably could speak to this.
He's the guy who's training the props.
He's like the main trainer over there. He is the implementation guy.
He is. He's the guy who makes it happen, right? He's the guy who makes it happen.
You know, we kind of create the playbook, and Joe's like, okay,
let me take that playbook and let's execute that playbook.
(09:50):
Joe, what's it like when you show people the playbook?
There's got to be some times where it's kind of a defining moment, right?
Some people are like, wow, this is the best. You guys got this all mapped out. This is amazing.
It's so much better. And there's other people who are like, oh,
my God, what are you doing, babysitting me or what?
(10:11):
Like, you ever had that, Joe? You can notice that, like, instantly whether this
is going to be a good fit or not.
It all looked good until you show them the process.
Tell us a little bit about that, Joe. What's that like for most of the employees?
I probably would suppose it's good because they wouldn't get to that point unless
they were. Tell us a little bit about that, Joe.
So for most of the employees, it's a sigh of relief.
(10:33):
Because when you have it mapped out and when you have an accurate game plan,
you can execute that game plan. You know, it takes the worry away.
You know, the technician is coming in, they're coming in. Company,
they want to know that, you know, the plays work and all they have to do is stick to the process.
When there is no process and, you know, you're kind of, you know,
brainstorming as you go, that never makes for anything good.
(10:57):
So I would say more just a thigh relief, definitely. They know that we got to
figure it out. All they have to do is our process, and they're going to wait.
Yeah, when you got the right person, it is like, oh, thank God,
I'm home. I found a place where I feel like I'm home here, right?
It's very interesting. By the way, I did forget to mention to everybody here
that this company, Guaranteed Service, is in New Jersey,
(11:20):
which if anybody doesn't know this, Like if I had to pick probably the worst
place to start a business, it'd probably be New Jersey.
The most challenging environment I could possibly have would be right there in New Jersey.
I mean, although it doesn't seem to stop you, I still see those,
(11:40):
all the employees are smiling and you guys are having a great day all the time.
It seems like I've never seen any doubt that you guys are going to be successful.
Successful what's it like what do you how would you respond to
people who say you know you can't do
well with the government and the city and
the states and all that kind of because there's a lot of it's difficult
to operate a business like even just the traffic in new jersey is so it's tough
(12:05):
tell me a little bit about that guys it's just the white noise man no you just
need you don't need to hear it you don't need to concentrate on it you need
to focus it what what's going to move the needle as we never move the needle
that will put you backwards like focus on what you can do,
yeah just focus on things you can focus on yeah uh
let's go over the third the third element so getting the right process how about
(12:28):
implementing it tell me about that what's that uh how does that take place so
i mean to talk people say well how do you get your guy how do you get your guys
to do all this stuff that's one of the hardest things to get people to do you
got these strong-minded guys from New Jersey who think they're pretty smart.
The wise guys from New Jersey, right?
You got the heart of Tony Soprano and everybody over there, right?
(12:51):
How do you guys get these guys to do what you want them to do instead of doing
what they want to do? Go ahead there, Joe.
First of all, they have to believe in it. They have to really believe deep in
the inside. They have to believe it.
And then you get the guys that they don't believe in the first time,
the second time, the third time, fourth time.
And you just keep going. You just keep going. Don't give up.
(13:12):
Right? And you just keep going.
And then at one point they believe in it and then they will say, wow.
You know, I told you, Joe, years and years ago, you changed my life. All right?
And then the first time I remember I sit down watching the, you know,
in the total emergency system. And I'm like, why am I here?
And after a couple of weeks, I could not wait to just join that training session.
(13:36):
And honestly, it really changed my life. And I'm grateful for it as well.
But you have to believe in it. You really have to believe in the process.
Once you believe in the process, it becomes natural to you.
It becomes really natural. And it makes the implementation very easier,
(13:58):
a lot easier, when you are excited to come into the training.
Then it makes it like, I mean, we got guys, Joe, they show up like 30 minutes
before the training and they're coaching each other.
Before Tanya jumps in, they're already like coaching and they're doing role
(14:20):
playing with each other. They believe in it. They love it.
You know, implement, I think, is even more important than following it.
And they're doing it willingly.
And because they believe in it. I took Total Immersion in 2013.
So everything that we've taught here has been, at the core, Total Immersion.
And they believed in it since then. So when we rolled out the new Total Immersion,
(14:44):
the advanced course, they couldn't wait to get to it.
They couldn't wait. It was the new. It was the updated version.
It was 2.0. and they couldn't wait. You know, I couldn't wait.
Let me tell you some jokes. Since 2005, I never hired somebody that did not
go through your training system.
Zero. Wow. Every single person, it went through your training system since 2005.
(15:10):
We never had anybody in the road with us. 60 videos, 67 videos.
Yeah, that's what I used to do. Over three days, cram it.
Yeah. Yeah, and Leon's cool, but service MVP now is a lot different.
Well, good. I hope. Well, tell me about, just tell me this, when you're growing
a company like you guys are growing and you start to see new results,
(15:32):
because as you're growing, like before 17 million, it was less,
and now it's 17 million, and now it's going to be more.
As you're growing like that, tell us about some of the greatest challenges first
that you go through that people can expect to go through as they're growing,
and what are some of the greatest victories?
(15:52):
Let's start with the greatest challenges, and then we'll go on to the victories.
Either one of you can respond to that. What are some of the greatest challenges
that you're going to run into?
The biggest challenge when we started is you're new in the business,
and you obviously want to hire the best of the best, and the best of the best,
they always think, are you going to keep me busy?
(16:14):
You just started. All right. So the biggest challenge was to attract talent people.
And then once the first person, second, third, and the team grows,
and they start the team that started bringing other team members to the game.
(16:35):
So we honestly, we almost, we don't have any hiring ads.
Most of the new hires that They come in from the guys that work with us.
They bring them in because, like you said, you saw everybody smiling,
everybody having a good time.
That was the biggest challenge for me, is bringing very good,
(16:57):
talented people when you are new to the business.
Because people, they don't believe in you yet.
Would you say that you're looking at talent that you have to build,
Helmi, in this regard as you're growing the company? company or is it talent
that's already finished, a product when you get them? What would you say?
No, talent that we have to, we grow from the inside, right?
(17:20):
We teach from the inside. We have our process, we have our training.
We, you know, I like to have somebody that really doesn't have any training.
You know, sometimes it's hard to teach an old trick. It's better with a blank slate sometimes.
But you need to have the talent of that good personality. It looks good.
(17:44):
You know, top good, clean person.
That's the challenges is to be, you know, that we, you know, we went through.
And going back to what I said earlier is finding somebody that cares.
You know, listen, we could teach everything, but I can't teach care.
You know either either you you know genuinely love
people or you don't you know and it's very it's
(18:06):
very hard to teach that so that that's what
we look for i've seen a lot of plumbers who are like hey
my job is just do plumbing i don't i'm not here to talk to
people i'm just so you really have to care for people
and care about the process you're following right does
that make sense guys we're servants first let's end
on a good note though what are some of the what what do you
(18:27):
you guys high five or your fist bump on a
on a weekly basis tell us what are some of those highlights that make
you guys smile and laugh and have a great time what are the some of
the things that uh that happen that on a weekly basis
that people can expect from the good part of it not just the challenger we we
just had a meeting like move it and i will go i will i will January of 2023
(18:48):
compared to January of this year we're up by 39 percent uh that's the way they
give us high high fives to everybody.
And then we'll look around and we survey all of the employees.
We got like, what, 4.8 out of five.
We're happy to say 8.5%.
(19:10):
That's what makes us really feel good. You know, numbers up,
morale up, and people that love to come to work.
And that's what we really celebrate in the end of the day.
I think so many times people focus on financial growth, but what I'm hearing
from you guys, really the whole theme of this call has been focused on the personal
(19:32):
growth of your people. Does that make sense?
Everything else, you know, it follows, right?
You know, if you have a great morale and you're doing good by the customer and
you're having a good time doing it and make sure you do strong work, the money follows.
You turn around and you say, oh, wow, we did that much. Great.
You know, that's the fist bump, right? You know, it's the reward.
(19:54):
Well, you know, they always say a good podcast starts on time,
but a great one ends on time.
I'm not sure if it's going to make it a great one because I think we're going a little bit over time.
But I just wanted to say thanks to both of you for coming on today.
What final words of encouragement would you give to the service nation that's
out there about people who are seeking to grow their businesses?
Anybody want to go ahead and just chime in or both of you can do it.
(20:16):
Helmi, what do you think? What do you think your thoughts were?
Secret sauce love your people.
Earn their hearts. They give you their hands and they work for you forever.
To create a process to the business. Every single step has to have a process.
Create a great implementation and follow with training.
Training, training, training, training, training, training all the time. Never stop training.
(20:39):
You always stop. You always do training and hold people accountable. accountable.
They hold me to have their payroll check in the end of the week, right? Right, right.
Is that important? Is that important that they could... Because you allow people
to hold you accountable too, right, Helmi? That's what I've seen so far.
Everybody holds me accountable. You know, it starts by the top accountability.
(21:03):
And then, yeah, so when you train someone and you give them the process,
you implement the process, make sure he knows how to do it, you train him,
you have to hold him accountable to him.
If you don't have a process, you don't have implementation, and you don't have
training, there is no accountability and there is no success.
Joe, what do you think? Any final thoughts here? I would say it doesn't happen
(21:25):
overnight. Practice, practice, practice.
We're blessed to be able to go out on five, six, seven calls a day sometimes
and be with a lot of different types of homeowners and personalities.
So the more you practice, the more you stay in the game, the better you get.
But it definitely doesn't happen overnight. It takes a little bit of time,
but when it gets there and it clicks, you're a beast.
(21:49):
Well, one thing I can tell you is my life improved a thousand percent the day I met both of you.
Thank you for being here on the show. I really appreciate both of you guys. And thanks for that.
I thought I was going to meet just clients, but I wound up having two of my
best, very best friends. So thank you so much, guys.
Thank you, John. Thank you. Thank you. Good luck to you.
Welcome to the Service MVP podcast, and my name is Joe Crisara.
And today we are featuring two of my very best friends and colleagues that I have known for years.
And we have Helmi Ben Flah and Joe Rivera from Guaranteed Services.
Welcome to our show, guys. Welcome, Helmi, and welcome, Joe.
(00:23):
Thank you, Joe, for having us. It's a pleasure to be with the America's Coach.
Thank you so much, Joe. We love you. Well, thank you guys so much for being here.
We have a long history that goes back quite a few years.
I first met Helmi when he was the service director over at the company that
(00:45):
Mike Aguilero used to own at Gold Medal, right? Was that the name of the company?
Yeah, I was the general manager there. He was the general manager over there,
and he was always helping to teach our program back there. And it was definitely
an honor. I first met him. I knew I had a friend for life.
Helmi, why don't you start by just telling us a little bit about the background,
about how you got started doing this kind of a thing and how you wound up where you are right now?
(01:10):
Yeah, well, you're right. It's been almost 20 years, Joe. The first time we met was in 2005.
I was the general manager of a company. We used to be doing less than a million
dollars a year and kept in contact until 2018 with you.
And we finished up that year with over $33 million.
(01:31):
And we decided in 2018 that I decided to go on my own as part of the NET.
Zero technicians, zero calls, zero employees. My first call was to my friend Joe Crisera for help.
Fast forward five years later, we finished up this year with $17 million and
(01:52):
going for $25 million next year.
$25 million. So we're trying to go in $25 million in six years.
That's the pace we're looking at here? Yeah, 100%. There is no doubt.
100%. I always tell people the goal is $365 million a year by December 31st, 2021.
One million a day. One million a day, baby. Well, you know what?
(02:17):
You probably have the guy to your right over there, right? Who's literally the right-hand man.
It'd be hard to do it without him, wouldn't it? Joe, tell me,
what's this ride been like for you?
Oh, it's been amazing. You know, not only having you as a great coach,
but Helmi has been my, you know, life coach.
(02:38):
And we believe in, you know, being a window and not a door and,
you know, believing in the process and giving people all possibilities.
So it's just been a great ride.
Let's go over that, Joe. Let's say, so today we're going to cover the three
things that are responsible for growing a service business.
Make sense? How do you grow a service business from a startup?
Startup, a lot of people who grow a business or people who've been in business
(03:01):
for 100 years haven't made it to even $17 million, much less have a growth pattern from there.
So tell us the three keys to growing a business. Start with you,
Joe, since you're the guy on the ground grinding it out more.
I'm not saying Helmi doesn't do the work too, but I know that you're doing more
of the grind out there every day.
Joe, could you tell us what's the first key, do you think, to growing a a service
(03:24):
business, if you don't mind?
First key to growing a service business is to care about the customer.
I believe the first thing is, you know, if you don't care and you don't fully
love the customer, I want to see the right thing being done for them and nothing
else is going to be executed right.
So that would be the number one thing.
Joe, it's interesting. A lot of people say care for the customer,
(03:45):
but they have a different version of that.
You probably met people who came in to your company and said,
yeah, I care for the customer by saving them money or something like that.
How would you define caring for the customer? Because a lot of people think,
well, just try to do the job as cheap as possible. That's how you care for the customer.
Tell us a little bit about what your version of caring for the customer is.
(04:08):
How would you define that a little more clearly, if you don't mind?
My version for caring for the customer is permanent solutions,
something that they don't have to worry about for the next 10 years or the next 12 years.
Not just putting a Band-Aid on it and having to call companies or your company
and spending money every single year on today's repairs, future repairs,
and not really getting anything for it, but more grief.
(04:31):
So we want to see our customers be customers for life and just know that they're
in good hands and let the worry be on us.
Yeah, I mean, you got to do good enough service so that if you're going to make $17 or $25 million,
I see behind you got that window that goes right out to your street that you
don't want to have a customer at that window knocking on the window saying he's not happy, right?
(04:55):
So how important is it that not only do we have to have that revenue,
but also make sure that the customer got value? What do you think about that, Joe? Tell me about that.
Um, it's super important, you know, it's super important that the customer gets
everything that they paid for all the benefits, all the value.
And, you know, what that does is creates a good, um, it creates a good,
(05:16):
uh, relationship, um, because that customer will be a customer with you for
a long time and be able to refer you to friends, family, neighbors.
Um, if they don't feel that, then that's not going to happen.
We're, we're in a relationship and a connecting business. That's what we're looking to do.
Right. Right. Well, you know, one thing I noticed about all the people there,
Helmi, is all the guys at Guaranteed Services that I've met,
(05:39):
they really believe in the brand in a way. Does that make sense?
Because I always have a saying. I say sales begins with the person who's offering something.
They have to believe in it. Does that make sense, Helmi?
100%. How do you build that kind of a culture where everybody believes in what
Guaranteed Services is doing? Could you comment on that a little bit?
(06:01):
And thank you, Joe. It's great. Great comments. I appreciate that.
We don't cheat. We don't steal. We don't lie. That's number one.
We always say the truth no matter what the truth is.
That's the only way we do it. And we always say to do business in any job or
to do any job, three wins has to happen.
Customer has to win. The employee has to win. and the company has to win, right?
(06:25):
So when they see the value of that, that's we're not just, we're not a homerun here, right?
We love our people. We love our customers.
And they believe in it. They really, truly believe in it. And our culture here is fantastic.
Everybody is having fun. And in the end of the day, everybody wins.
(06:46):
Yeah, I think when you're, you always notice that teams that are winning have
a lot more fun. Does that make sense?
It's hard to have fun when you're not winning. Does that make sense, guys?
It is absolutely fun to work here. Honestly, it is fun to work here.
We have vacations together.
We celebrate stuff together.
(07:07):
We rent houseboats.
Yeah, houseboats. We go out to the Poconos and the hills together.
We try to have a really good time at what we do. And I think that's what relates to the homeowner also.
They know that if the technicians are having a good time, the company's having
a good time, and making sure it's done right, then it's just going to create a great product.
(07:29):
Yeah. And you can check Google reviews, do thousands of five stories.
That's awesome. Well, I think that speaks volumes. And I think from what I see,
that's the best advertisement is a happy employee who believes in the company
and believes in the value the customer gets, right?
(07:51):
Now, what would you say, number two? I think you mentioned before something about the process.
Helmi, you want to give us a little bit of thoughts on that about having a
process and how important that is?
Could you share that with us? Absolutely, 100%. It's like having a playbook
in a football team. You need to know what you're doing.
You need to know in advance. You don't make it as you go.
(08:14):
So we have a process for everything.
I mean, when we say for everything, for everything, including the cleaning lady has a process.
All right and and and
you just follow it and makes the makes the
things very very simple we have scripts to say when
we answer the phone we have scripts to say when we go to people's houses we
(08:39):
have process how to handle paperwork here in the office uh and you in order
to succeed you have to have a process first of all you have to have the love
of your guys are working here right you know You know, they say,
if you earn their hearts, they give you their hands.
All right? So that's the philosophy we work with. And then we have a process how to do things.
(09:06):
Like when we bring in a new employee, we just show him the playbook. We call it the playbook.
When we show him the playbook, he knows exactly what to do.
He knows how to follow the training stuff, how to follow service MVP coaching,
how where to go I mean really for every single move there is a process there is a playbook for.
(09:29):
Well, you know, I'll bet, I mean, Joe probably could speak to this.
He's the guy who's training the props.
He's like the main trainer over there. He is the implementation guy.
He is. He's the guy who makes it happen, right? He's the guy who makes it happen.
You know, we kind of create the playbook, and Joe's like, okay,
let me take that playbook and let's execute that playbook.
(09:50):
Joe, what's it like when you show people the playbook?
There's got to be some times where it's kind of a defining moment, right?
Some people are like, wow, this is the best. You guys got this all mapped out. This is amazing.
It's so much better. And there's other people who are like, oh,
my God, what are you doing, babysitting me or what?
(10:11):
Like, you ever had that, Joe? You can notice that, like, instantly whether this
is going to be a good fit or not.
It all looked good until you show them the process.
Tell us a little bit about that, Joe. What's that like for most of the employees?
I probably would suppose it's good because they wouldn't get to that point unless
they were. Tell us a little bit about that, Joe.
So for most of the employees, it's a sigh of relief.
(10:33):
Because when you have it mapped out and when you have an accurate game plan,
you can execute that game plan. You know, it takes the worry away.
You know, the technician is coming in, they're coming in. Company,
they want to know that, you know, the plays work and all they have to do is stick to the process.
When there is no process and, you know, you're kind of, you know,
brainstorming as you go, that never makes for anything good.
(10:57):
So I would say more just a thigh relief, definitely. They know that we got to
figure it out. All they have to do is our process, and they're going to wait.
Yeah, when you got the right person, it is like, oh, thank God,
I'm home. I found a place where I feel like I'm home here, right?
It's very interesting. By the way, I did forget to mention to everybody here
that this company, Guaranteed Service, is in New Jersey,
(11:20):
which if anybody doesn't know this, Like if I had to pick probably the worst
place to start a business, it'd probably be New Jersey.
The most challenging environment I could possibly have would be right there in New Jersey.
I mean, although it doesn't seem to stop you, I still see those,
(11:40):
all the employees are smiling and you guys are having a great day all the time.
It seems like I've never seen any doubt that you guys are going to be successful.
Successful what's it like what do you how would you respond to
people who say you know you can't do
well with the government and the city and
the states and all that kind of because there's a lot of it's difficult
to operate a business like even just the traffic in new jersey is so it's tough
(12:05):
tell me a little bit about that guys it's just the white noise man no you just
need you don't need to hear it you don't need to concentrate on it you need
to focus it what what's going to move the needle as we never move the needle
that will put you backwards like focus on what you can do,
yeah just focus on things you can focus on yeah uh
let's go over the third the third element so getting the right process how about
(12:28):
implementing it tell me about that what's that uh how does that take place so
i mean to talk people say well how do you get your guy how do you get your guys
to do all this stuff that's one of the hardest things to get people to do you
got these strong-minded guys from New Jersey who think they're pretty smart.
The wise guys from New Jersey, right?
You got the heart of Tony Soprano and everybody over there, right?
(12:51):
How do you guys get these guys to do what you want them to do instead of doing
what they want to do? Go ahead there, Joe.
First of all, they have to believe in it. They have to really believe deep in
the inside. They have to believe it.
And then you get the guys that they don't believe in the first time,
the second time, the third time, fourth time.
And you just keep going. You just keep going. Don't give up.
(13:12):
Right? And you just keep going.
And then at one point they believe in it and then they will say, wow.
You know, I told you, Joe, years and years ago, you changed my life. All right?
And then the first time I remember I sit down watching the, you know,
in the total emergency system. And I'm like, why am I here?
And after a couple of weeks, I could not wait to just join that training session.
(13:36):
And honestly, it really changed my life. And I'm grateful for it as well.
But you have to believe in it. You really have to believe in the process.
Once you believe in the process, it becomes natural to you.
It becomes really natural. And it makes the implementation very easier,
(13:58):
a lot easier, when you are excited to come into the training.
Then it makes it like, I mean, we got guys, Joe, they show up like 30 minutes
before the training and they're coaching each other.
Before Tanya jumps in, they're already like coaching and they're doing role
(14:20):
playing with each other. They believe in it. They love it.
You know, implement, I think, is even more important than following it.
And they're doing it willingly.
And because they believe in it. I took Total Immersion in 2013.
So everything that we've taught here has been, at the core, Total Immersion.
And they believed in it since then. So when we rolled out the new Total Immersion,
(14:44):
the advanced course, they couldn't wait to get to it.
They couldn't wait. It was the new. It was the updated version.
It was 2.0. and they couldn't wait. You know, I couldn't wait.
Let me tell you some jokes. Since 2005, I never hired somebody that did not
go through your training system.
Zero. Wow. Every single person, it went through your training system since 2005.
(15:10):
We never had anybody in the road with us. 60 videos, 67 videos.
Yeah, that's what I used to do. Over three days, cram it.
Yeah. Yeah, and Leon's cool, but service MVP now is a lot different.
Well, good. I hope. Well, tell me about, just tell me this, when you're growing
a company like you guys are growing and you start to see new results,
(15:32):
because as you're growing, like before 17 million, it was less,
and now it's 17 million, and now it's going to be more.
As you're growing like that, tell us about some of the greatest challenges first
that you go through that people can expect to go through as they're growing,
and what are some of the greatest victories?
(15:52):
Let's start with the greatest challenges, and then we'll go on to the victories.
Either one of you can respond to that. What are some of the greatest challenges
that you're going to run into?
The biggest challenge when we started is you're new in the business,
and you obviously want to hire the best of the best, and the best of the best,
they always think, are you going to keep me busy?
(16:14):
You just started. All right. So the biggest challenge was to attract talent people.
And then once the first person, second, third, and the team grows,
and they start the team that started bringing other team members to the game.
(16:35):
So we honestly, we almost, we don't have any hiring ads.
Most of the new hires that They come in from the guys that work with us.
They bring them in because, like you said, you saw everybody smiling,
everybody having a good time.
That was the biggest challenge for me, is bringing very good,
(16:57):
talented people when you are new to the business.
Because people, they don't believe in you yet.
Would you say that you're looking at talent that you have to build,
Helmi, in this regard as you're growing the company? company or is it talent
that's already finished, a product when you get them? What would you say?
No, talent that we have to, we grow from the inside, right?
(17:20):
We teach from the inside. We have our process, we have our training.
We, you know, I like to have somebody that really doesn't have any training.
You know, sometimes it's hard to teach an old trick. It's better with a blank slate sometimes.
But you need to have the talent of that good personality. It looks good.
(17:44):
You know, top good, clean person.
That's the challenges is to be, you know, that we, you know, we went through.
And going back to what I said earlier is finding somebody that cares.
You know, listen, we could teach everything, but I can't teach care.
You know either either you you know genuinely love
people or you don't you know and it's very it's
(18:06):
very hard to teach that so that that's what
we look for i've seen a lot of plumbers who are like hey
my job is just do plumbing i don't i'm not here to talk to
people i'm just so you really have to care for people
and care about the process you're following right does
that make sense guys we're servants first let's end
on a good note though what are some of the what what do you
(18:27):
you guys high five or your fist bump on a
on a weekly basis tell us what are some of those highlights that make
you guys smile and laugh and have a great time what are the some of
the things that uh that happen that on a weekly basis
that people can expect from the good part of it not just the challenger we we
just had a meeting like move it and i will go i will i will January of 2023
(18:48):
compared to January of this year we're up by 39 percent uh that's the way they
give us high high fives to everybody.
And then we'll look around and we survey all of the employees.
We got like, what, 4.8 out of five.
We're happy to say 8.5%.
(19:10):
That's what makes us really feel good. You know, numbers up,
morale up, and people that love to come to work.
And that's what we really celebrate in the end of the day.
I think so many times people focus on financial growth, but what I'm hearing
from you guys, really the whole theme of this call has been focused on the personal
(19:32):
growth of your people. Does that make sense?
Everything else, you know, it follows, right?
You know, if you have a great morale and you're doing good by the customer and
you're having a good time doing it and make sure you do strong work, the money follows.
You turn around and you say, oh, wow, we did that much. Great.
You know, that's the fist bump, right? You know, it's the reward.
(19:54):
Well, you know, they always say a good podcast starts on time,
but a great one ends on time.
I'm not sure if it's going to make it a great one because I think we're going a little bit over time.
But I just wanted to say thanks to both of you for coming on today.
What final words of encouragement would you give to the service nation that's
out there about people who are seeking to grow their businesses?
Anybody want to go ahead and just chime in or both of you can do it.
(20:16):
Helmi, what do you think? What do you think your thoughts were?
Secret sauce love your people.
Earn their hearts. They give you their hands and they work for you forever.
To create a process to the business. Every single step has to have a process.
Create a great implementation and follow with training.
Training, training, training, training, training, training all the time. Never stop training.
(20:39):
You always stop. You always do training and hold people accountable. accountable.
They hold me to have their payroll check in the end of the week, right? Right, right.
Is that important? Is that important that they could... Because you allow people
to hold you accountable too, right, Helmi? That's what I've seen so far.
Everybody holds me accountable. You know, it starts by the top accountability.
(21:03):
And then, yeah, so when you train someone and you give them the process,
you implement the process, make sure he knows how to do it, you train him,
you have to hold him accountable to him.
If you don't have a process, you don't have implementation, and you don't have
training, there is no accountability and there is no success.
Joe, what do you think? Any final thoughts here? I would say it doesn't happen
(21:25):
overnight. Practice, practice, practice.
We're blessed to be able to go out on five, six, seven calls a day sometimes
and be with a lot of different types of homeowners and personalities.
So the more you practice, the more you stay in the game, the better you get.
But it definitely doesn't happen overnight. It takes a little bit of time,
but when it gets there and it clicks, you're a beast.
(21:49):
Well, one thing I can tell you is my life improved a thousand percent the day I met both of you.
Thank you for being here on the show. I really appreciate both of you guys. And thanks for that.
I thought I was going to meet just clients, but I wound up having two of my
best, very best friends. So thank you so much, guys.
Thank you, John. Thank you. Thank you. Good luck to you.
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