June 7, 2024 • 34 mins
Welcome to Episode 7 of The Robbins Podcast! This week, we're back at the old bench with Richard, Skyler, Steve, and Drew for an in-depth discussion about a typical day in the life of our team members. From early starts to tackling unexpected challenges, get ready for a candid look into what keeps the Robbins HVAC team running smoothly. Join us as we share stories, grill each other with questions, and dive into the nuances of working in the HVAC industry. Show Notes: - Introduction: Reintroducing the bench and the crew (Richard, Skyler, Steve, Drew) - Skyler’s Day: - Early morning routine and coordinating the team - Managing on-call duties and ensuring no customer is left behind - Handling daily activities, from briefing the team to solving on-site problems - What Skyler loves most about his job and the challenges he faces - Q&A with Skyler: Insights into his role and personal anecdotes - Drew’s Day: - Setting up the day for technicians and managing chaos - Ensuring smooth operations and handling special instructions - The importance of reports and meetings with technicians - Drew’s greatest skill: Quick problem-solving - Favorite part of the day: The quiet moments and music preferences - Steve’s Day: - Seasonal variations in responsibilities - Managing the warehouse and jumping into the field - Preferring to work alone but appreciating the team dynamic - Reflecting on training and the satisfaction of seeing growth in others - Richard’s Day: - Balancing sales management and customer satisfaction - Ensuring comfort advisors are prepared for their day - The importance of adaptability and helping others succeed - Biggest challenge: Balancing self-improvement with contentment - Team Dynamics: - Communication between sales and installation teams - Implementing CompanyCam for better coordination - Handling conflicts and focusing on what’s right rather than who’s right - The iceberg effect: Preventing customers from seeing the challenges beneath the surface - Closing Discussion: - Reflecting on childhood dreams and career paths - Teasing future guests and topics for the next episode
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Oh! Oh!
Faster!
Faster!
Are we good? Yep.
Here we go. Okay.
All right,everyone, I'd like to welcome you out
to episode number seven of the RobbinsPodcast at the old bench.
Back here again.
Took a break from the, The last one.
(00:22):
Last episode was not at the bench.
And today we are back.
So, that the main crew with us today.
to my right, Skyler to my left.
Steve.
And, directly across from me.
Drew.
So, today
we had the idea to, talk about a dayin the life of each of us
(00:47):
and have an opportunityto grill one another.
with some questionsabout what our career lives look like.
And when we come to work each day,what that looks like.
So who wants to volunteer to go first?
Skyler.
Okay.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay.
we're asking you questions first.
(01:08):
Yeah, that's that's what we're doing.
Yeah, it's just me. So. So in what sense?
I guess so.
So in in the day, in a life and what?
So, like when I show up to workin the morning, like, so. Yeah.
Just give us a rundownof your daily activities.
A brief synopsis.
So, I get here anywherefrom 530 to 630 in the morning,
just depending on what what's going on?
Most of the time we get herebetween six 2630.
(01:30):
I know every time you get here.Yeah. Yeah.
The thing so started to, Steve'salarm clock.
and then, I usually open it up.
Come in.
you know, sit down, open up my computer,check the on calls from the night before.
I there's 3 or 4 of us that do that,so that gets, make sure
we don't drop the ball on anyof the customers or anything like that.
(01:51):
So, and then,
basically the guys will start tricklingin, you know, about 645 or so
and they'll start grabbing their packets
for the day,start getting stuff lined out.
I'll kind of
give them a brief synopsisabout what they're doing,
a little bit of the details, kind of what's going on when I get there.
Subcontractorscheduled forum, things of that nature,
(02:13):
you know, a little bitabout the customer. What?
I do know what I talked about themwith, you know, what was explained to them
on, as far as
as far as when I scheduled the jobwith and things of that nature.
Hey, they have a dog, hey, make sure youcall this person and so on and so forth.
and then, they'll go and get loaded up
and they kind of do their thing, and,I'll kind of just help them with that.
(02:33):
And then we'll get with the coveredadvisor
and walk them through the job to as well.
Make sure we don't miss any details. And,
after that, after the guys
get out of here,kind of quietens down for a little bit.
That's kind of nice.
So, and usually Hunterwill come to my office
and likes to sit in therefor about 20 minutes in the morning
and ask me how my night went.
So that's always a goodI look forward to that every day.
(02:53):
So, And he doesn'the doesn't do that for me.
Yeah, I say I should, I
do I shut my door lockand it doesn't matter if he finds a way.
Yeah. He's in. He slips into the doorcrack somehow.
I don't know how, but, And then,
man, it's just kind of the rest of the daykind of changes.
I don't really have a schedulefor the rest of my day, but,
(03:15):
you know, I make sure all the new packetscoming in from the comfort advisors,
I do all the scheduling for the jobs
and the ordering of the equipmentand, of things of that nature.
So, I just take care of that.
And then sometimes I'll go outand I'll do some training with the guys,
so on and so forth.
So the rest of my dayin the morning, you know, between
630, you know, between 630 and 9:00.
(03:39):
It's pretty,you know, pretty on the money.
It has a schedule to it.
But, the rest of the day is kind ofjust solving problems as they come to us
and going to look at jobs as I can and,and, you know, whatever the neighboring.
So right on. I like that.
That's kind of a lot.I try to cut it off there.
So I could have kept going in the details.
But what do you love most about your job?
(03:59):
Man, I love, a lot of people say this, but
and I mean it in a sense, I love the the difference every day.
Right? It's always a different problem.It's always a different issue.
I love to solve problems as they come in.
So, my biggest thing isI like when the guys call.
Hey, I'm having a problem here.I can't fit a register here.
I can't do this. I can't do that.I can't do this. Okay, cool.
Well,let's let's let's figure it out then.
(04:20):
And let me help you.Let me get with the covered divisor.
See what are the what did you knowwhether I have to go out there.
We can solve it. We use FaceTime.We all have iPhones.
We use FaceTime quite a bit.
I mean, it's it's just so much funthat way.
Like even scheduling conflicts,things of that nature is something
that I really enjoy and I feel likeI really thrive on in that sense.
So it's awesome.
What questionsdo you guys have for Skyler?
(04:41):
Oh, I so I'm just like yousaid, you're on the hotseat right away.
Oh, we're not robbing. No.
This is this is Skyler's time to shineright here.
Dude, you better have another normally,like, a warning for this.
Geez. So.
All right, what's one thing you wouldchange about your job, if anything?
One thing I would changenot having to work with Richard.
(05:03):
Yeah,
keeping Hunter out of my, No.
Just kidding.
just sometimes
it's not all the time,but sometimes, we work a lot, man.
It's, you know, being a managerand having a lot of responsibilities
and being, you know,and having to keep track of certain
(05:23):
guys in certain jobs and problemswhen, you know, they arise.
It's,
sometimesyou want to get out of here, right?
And you want to you want to go home,you have something to do.
You have this or that,or your phone rings,
you know, in the middle of the night,there's a problem, you know, it's not,
you know. Yeah.
So sometimes I think if there's one thingand I don't really mind that
because that's what comes with it.
But if there's one thing it's like, man,you know, 50, 60 hours a week
(05:45):
every week, you know, I'd like to like,take a little bit of time off sometimes
and some of the responsibilityjust like, okay, you know what?
I'm going to take a day off today.
Please don't call me.
So, but I mean, like I said,it comes with it.
You just expect it now.
But some days when you're trying
to, like, Monday, I took offand I went golfing and nobody knew that.
I didn't tell any of the guysthat or anything.
Is Steve
(06:05):
the only person that knewuntil I was taken off, like, all right,
I'm out of here for the rest of the day,you know?
Hey, where are you going?
I'm like, I'm well, I'm going golfing.
I like what it's Monday.
Like, you go, oh, I likeyou know what I did?
I'm just. I was just going to take youto reset. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just go a little, do something different.
So I only called you four times.
Yeah, yeah.
My phone rang the whole time,which is fine.
(06:27):
Yes. He.
Did any of them runa ring in between a golf swing?
Like, right as you're
about to just hit the drive of your life,you know, and I've.
I've learned this.
I don't know, because I've learned thisto not wear my watch
when I'm playing golf, because it vibratesand rings like he'll be in a back swing
and then your watch goes offand you can't, you know, it's
not like your phone, your watch goes off,it's vibrating, and you're like, I
(06:48):
the at least that gives me somethingto blame it on when I dove at ten yards.
So that's usually I use it as an excuse.
I have to remember that because. Yeah.
Yeah, I wear that watch all the time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
when you were a little.
What did you what was your dream job?
What did you want to grow up and do?To be honest with you, I don't
if I don'tknow that I necessarily had one.
(07:10):
But, you know, something that I used to,my dad did class for a really long time.
He did, auto glass,just any type of glass.
He did a lot of other glass.
And I remember when I was reallittle five, six years old,
I used to always go to work with my dad,and some people have seen it before.
But what I always thought was the coolestthing is my dad did this trick
when he's cutting. he's.
I don't even remember what type of glasswhen he's cutting a certain type of glass.
(07:32):
And he would,he would pour, like, lighter fluid on it.
And when he went to go cut it,he would score it,
and then he would, it would snap off.
And something to do with the heatwould keep it from cracking.
So he couldliterally lay it over the table.
He would do it, score it,or he needed to cut it
and he would snap it off and everything'son fire and so on and so forth.
And the piece that he snapped offwould just fall and hit the ground.
And it wasI always thought that was really cool.
So I don't know if I ever had a dreamjob, but,
(07:53):
you know, growing up, of course,watching your dad do something that was
I thought that was really cool.
My dad,my dad was really good at stuff like that,
so I always thought thatwas pretty neat. So nice.
He's like a superhero.
He can cut through glass. Yeah, yeah,just cutting glass and putting.
I mean, I'd go with him to workand we'd be, you know, they
he had it like a glass fan
and we'd go do 5 or 6 windshields and,and a lot of them were regular customers.
(08:15):
So like during the summertime I'd go my,my dad to work every day.
So we'd go to the same places.
I remember all the guys like,he would go to like a,
almost like a Bruckner's like a,like the big truck
truck, places like and fix their glass
windshields and stuff and all the guys inthere, I, I just remember they knew me.
They call me by names. I would always goand like, hang out with them on.
My dad's working.So I always thought that was really cool.
(08:36):
Okay. All right. Drew.
All right.
Give us a give us a day in your life.
Oh, boy.
where to begin?
Where to begin?
No, I'm usually not tillI get to the office
in between 645 and 7.
depending on how busy we are,
will dictatewhether or not I get in a little earlier.
(08:56):
But, my day will start basically making sure
the guys are set up with filters, pads,whatever we need for the day.
As far as parts,just double checking our warehouse guy,
make sure he's doing his job,
check his,
(09:18):
and then honestly,
man, it's a matter ofjust trying to manage chaos.
I always like to say it's tryingto keep the ocean back with a broom.
but I honestly, most of my day, once
the guys get here, just kind of goingthrough the calls for the day with them.
if there's any special instructionsas far as, like,
a 32ft ladder, if we have to get a scissorlift or anything like that.
(09:39):
and just going over the day with them,or if you have to go to for states gasket
or if you have to go to four states gasketeither way.
And then once they get out the door,
then it's a matter of kind of goingthrough the last days
calls for the service guys,making sure the invoicing is correct,
(09:59):
making surewe don't need to follow up with anything.
as far as either comfort advisors,if we, one of our guys turned in something
to for a repair, a repair versus replace, making sure that that's on the schedule.
and then
depending on the beginning of the week,typically I have reports that I do
for the previous week for the guysbecause I have meetings
(10:21):
with my technicians,you know, twice a month.
and, you know, we have a lot ofexpectations for our guys that work here.
So we put goals in front of them.
And, you know,we want to make sure we manage to that
and just sit down with them and say,hey man, this is where we're at.
We're either on or on pointor we're behind and kind of try
and figure out and get a game plan onwhy we're either on or off.
(10:43):
and then the rest ofthey kind of like Scout or just depends on
what comes at us, man,whether we got to go deal with,
you know, help a technicianout in the field or deal with, you know,
if we have an upsetcustomer for whatever reason,
or Steve, one of the two, you know,there's always
that he's always upset and Steve sometimesthat Steve something so but yeah.
(11:05):
No that's basically it man.Just kind of helping guys out.
And then, you know, looking at theschedule board a couple days in advance
and just making sure both our customersand our technicians and our dispatchers
are we're just on point, man,making sure everything's smooth.
That's all I got.
That's my day.
Now. What do you thinkyour greatest skill is in your position
(11:26):
as a service manager? Greatest skill?
Oh, that's a good one.
I would say curveball.
That is a curveball. Gotcha. Wait.
I just was sayingyour greatest skill was your curveball.
Oh, no.
It was.
Oh, I just oh, yeah, I threw that.
That's that's
that's I thought it was, I think it is.
(11:49):
I think if it, if anything in
would be coming up with a solutionwith a problem that's thrown right at me,
I don't necessarily panic and,you know, have to
I figured that out pretty quickand make sure there's a resolve,
whether it's ayou technician calls in sick
(12:09):
or you should get a game plan togetherand it usually works out pretty well
majority of the time.
But someone calls in sick.
That is like one of the worst.Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
So terrible.
Yep. So what's, your favorite part of the day?
Lunch
meals.
Two through six.
(12:32):
And that's eight to noon.
Yeah.
those are questions.
I'll be honest, the whole food thingkind of got me going.
I am honestly starving.
So I was banking on
this being at 4:00 am and planmy meals around.
What's your favorite part of the day?
My favorite part of the day,honestly, from seven to,
(12:57):
whenever my technicians show up,I don't have any interruptions.
Or if I stay behind.
And honestly,if it's just us four at the shop,
for the most part,we don't bother each other
because we're usually getting stuff done.
So there's no interruptions.
There's no that quiet time to be ableto focus and just get stuff accomplished.
Because during the day, man,it it's it's nonstop.
(13:19):
There's always questions and always stuffgetting thrown at you.
So the quiet times sometimesare the nicest, where it's like, man,
I just crank the music upand let's, let's get it done.
I'm going to findyou a hunter. That's why I
somebody that moment of quiet.
Yeah.
Hey, what are you doing?
What's.
I'm hungry. Waiting on you.
(13:39):
Yeah. I'm hungry.
You go get lunch. It's mine.
Okay. Yeah, yeah.
That's not me, by the way.Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What music do you crank up from 7 to 8?
Oh, it just depends on the day.
But usually did I.
I listen to a plethora of genres.
So, you know, for meI'd, I'll either do like
(14:00):
classic country or 90s countryif I'm going to be in a country mood
or, I'll be honest, a little heavy metalif it's time to turn a hat backwards
and get caught up on some stuffand Celine or or, well,
then those are the evening onesto kind of wind you down with Celine Dion.
Yeah, yeah.
Or 2000 hits, baby.
(14:21):
That's that's the James.
Yeah. Like not three weeks ago.
I don't know why your door was open
and I had to gosit down at your desk or something.
I think I was going to pull up here.
I don't remember what it was,but I sat down and then, like,
your music was pretty lowand you weren't in there, so I was.
I sat down at your deskand I was like, going to pull piano.
So what,
like, crank it up.
I'm like, it was Jordin Sparks. No.
(14:45):
What,
brings backmemories, dude, back in high school,
dating myself now.
It's fantastic.
Oh, is that your best part of the desert?
830 when I walk through your doorand then I close it behind me.
well, there's that as well.
Yeah, that's got to be a favorite.
Yes, it was evening or the morning.
Doesn't matter. Yeah.
(15:08):
Either one. Yeah.
I usually starts out with dude,listen. Yeah.
No, dude.
No I don't want to or it starts outwith, listen, I got a question.
Yeah. No.
Did you say I got an answer?
My favorite is when Pete says, Houston,we have a problem.
I like what Pete.
He's all, we're out of toilet paper.
(15:28):
Pete, just go get some toilet paper.
Like it's not that big of a deal.
No, it's not because somebody left a boxon broken down.
Yeah.
Correct. Yes. oh. Fired up.
There was a penny on the ground.
No, Pete.
Yeah.
I'll.
Harry's Steve Stern, give us agive us a day in the life of Steve Day
in the life of Steve.
(15:49):
I get to wake up every morning.
My beautiful wife.
I don't know what you guys doin the mornings,
but that's why I start mine every morning.
He threw us under the bus rightthere. Yeah. You're welcome.
I still have a chance.I haven't gone yet. Yeah. This.
Look,why is it always us the first to say that?
It's just natural, right?
Let the dummies go first.
(16:10):
That's the, the beautiful part about doing what we do.
We don't have to travel andand do all that.
But I think as far as work goes, for me,
it depends on what time of the year it is.
we just got through our quoteunquote shoulder season or slower season.
So I do a lot of trainingduring that time.
So, now it's managing you three, which is
(16:34):
your favorite part of the day?
So. Yeah, I love that circus. Yeah.
So, no, I mean, it's, it's all hands ondeck this, this time of year, right?
We're starting up a bunch of coolersand and getting getting busy
on the install side.
And so, right nowin the warehouse side of it
as all, all the day beforeand make sure everybody's lined up,
make sure everybody's stage for theirwhen they get to work
(16:57):
and describe their stuffand get it out the door, get moving.
outside of that,I just jump in wherever I can.
I am not built for the office,
so if it's if I can go out in the field,that's where I normally go.
And so this time of year, it'skind of nice
because I get to shake off all the dustfrom the wintertime and go
pound on some sheet metal, or gostart up some coolers or whatever it is.
(17:20):
But that's my breadcomes into my office and sits down.
Yes. Reason where Steve ate?
Is he here?
I said, no,he's starting up swamp coolers.
He's all, whoa, what?
I don't know,
he's with drew just a little.
I have no.
but that's pretty much my day.
(17:42):
Then at the end of the day,just start all over again.
Make sure everybody's ready to gofor the next morning.
So do you mostly work aloneor with others?
You're not what you prefer.
No, I prefer working alone, for sure.
But there's, for some reason,especially in the install side.
(18:02):
I don't knowif it's that much in the server side,
but people are terrified to work with meon the install side
and that rumors just going around,
they're like,oh man, you got to go out there today.
I'm so sorry.
Most people get fired for the day's over.
And so I don't know where that came from.
I only fired two guys doing that. So
other than that,
(18:23):
I get to go work with,some new guys on Monday.
It's probably how they probably count.
How many of.
What are you doing
throughout the day? How many?
You know, if you get up to the seveneight mark here, you're on the edge there
or why are you doing it like, yeah,what are you telling.
Yeah, well, I wasI was thinking about Donnie yesterday
(18:43):
helping you start coolers.
And I remember the good old days.
Oh, yeah. Oh,I don't know why people don't like it.
I was always like,I'll go. Steve. Yeah, I'm on my end.
Let's go.
We're gonna get some stuff done. Yeah,I don't mind.
Yeah, we get stuff done that way.
I remember when I first startedhere, I went with Steven.
We were,You remember that new construction?
It was in Aztec off of,the ruins road up in that neighborhood.
(19:06):
Do you remember that night?
I don't know what that neighborhood'scalled, but, we went and it we were.
We're kind of. He's all here with metoday. I'm like, all right, let's go.
So we're going, and we get out there andor you hang the trunk line by yourself.
And so I'm pounding the duct together, andthen, so, and then you're like, okay.
I'm like, oh, thank gosh,I'm done. Panel duct together.
Anybody knows pan and duct together.Not a great time.
(19:28):
So I get them hanging all together like,all right.
I'm like, yes.Finally something different.
You're like,all right, wrap that whole trunk line.
Yeah, I can see it.
So then I start wrapping the trunk line.
You know, it'sit was pretty long trunk. Right.
But it was 30ft or so.
And so I'm wrappingand I get about halfway done.
And then I turn aroundand look at the beginning
and all the tapes already coming up.
(19:50):
What is taking you so long?
I don't know, Steve, I don't knowwhat is this tape?
Yeah.
Can I get this tape to stick?
I thought that was one of JerryMickey's houses.
I didn'tI don't remember who who was building it,
but I just rememberit was up in that neighborhood. Yeah.
Jerry Newman saw yesterday.
And then two days ago, actually.
So. Good.
Damn nice.
(20:10):
He's one. I did the remodel on Stefanshop down there that we just came from.
He redid all that.He did Stefan's house, too?
Yeah, it turns out.
Yeah. It looks really good. Yeah.
All right, Richard, you're up.
What's the day look like? Do you?
So my day startswith waking up next to my usual, like
I. Shit, that's what I'm trying to,
(20:31):
You're not making my life any easier.
You messed on that.
Yeah, I can forget that's been.
That's what's been kind of.
Don't forget that.
Don't forget that.
Don't forget that.
When I get here, my
my body clock is is goodwith the sunlight.
I move with the sun.
So like, in the summertime when the suncomes up at, like, six ish, I'm up.
(20:55):
I'm ready.
In the wintertime,I'm kind of like a pair of.
It's hard to get up when the sun's not up.
So usually in the summertime herea little earlier in the wintertime
get here about seven.
and then I show upand normally just looking
at what we did the previous day,looking at what we need to do today,
(21:17):
as, managing the sales department,looking,
making sure that, comfortadvisors are ready for their day
if they see anything concerning thingsthat they need to know about,
if they're going to a little bit
more complicated jobjust trying to look for that.
And then, you know, they normally get hereabout same time as me.
So we're looking through those together,
helping out with anything that was leftover from the day before.
(21:40):
And then usually just throughout the day,it's kind of whatever comes at me.
I try to get the stuff done that I knowneeds done.
but then there's just a lotthat flies at me throughout the day.
So looking at helping the ladiesin the office, it
you know,if the technicians have questions about RV
or have an RV are for us,you know, looking at,
(22:02):
getting the right comfort advisorset up and, and that kind of thing,
helping on the install side, managing,
you know, the what the comfort advisorswent out and, and promised on the job
and making sure the installers
were ready to go outand succeed at what they're doing.
So, just just helping out, stepping inif needed.
They're, but just kind of,
(22:24):
kind of a little bit of everythingit feels like these days. So,
what do you feel like you're your best at,
like, what skill do you possessthat really helps you the most?
During during the day?
I was thinking about this questionif it got thrown at me
during this podcast, but,
I don't know that we step backand think about these things very often.
(22:47):
You know, I don't know how many peoplein the world really step back,
take theirtake their selves away from the day to day
and think about some of these questionsthat we're talking about.
so that was hard.
I was thinking about maybeif I don't even have any skills, but,
no, I think, as far as
(23:07):
I really enjoy, I don't knowif it's my best skill, but I really enjoy
helping other people be successful.
So, you know,if they're if others are having questions,
if others have concerns,including customers, you know, I think
that's what's fun about salesis, going in,
looking at problems,
looking at ways to solve the problems and,and then helping people increase their,
(23:30):
their comfort in life,whatever it is, helping people and,
you know, techniciansincrease their abilities.
I enjoy just working with people.
I would I would say,
and it's kind of a fine line.
I walk because I, I don't know, it's
a lot of the timeI, I'm maybe similar to Steve.
I enjoy working alone because I feel likeI can get a lot done that way.
(23:52):
But then the reward
of helping others comes in,and I think that's a lot of fun for me.
So I don't know if that's my best skill,but that's what I do enjoy. So
yeah, there's definitely somethingwhen you when you
on the training side of stufflike we'll bring a new guy in
and train themand they don't know anything, right?
We put them out in the fieldand we give them a little more,
and then we bring them backand do some more training.
(24:14):
And about that third time you see thatmoment and that's pretty rewarding.
But then there's days where I just,
I'm gonna go rough in that houseall by myself.
Yeah, yeah.
You, oh,I'm just going to go get some work done.
Yeah, yeah. Oh.
What have you found to bethe most challenging for you?
I would think
(24:35):
the most challenging for meis being content and not.
Not that anybody should be content,but I'm.
I find I find it challenging to.
Know I've done enough.
I feel like my just.
Just who I am inside of me pushes meto always feel like I need to be better,
that I could do this better,that I've messed up
(24:56):
here, that I could fix,that I could do that better.
And so that that part of me
is challengingbecause sometimes I'm like, man, I'd
like if I could just be a little bitmore content with the things I've done.
my, I would maybe find find some joy there.
And so I have to make myselfdo that, make myself find joy in the, the,
(25:19):
you know, the things I've succeeded in andand what I've done well and
and then realizethat there's still room for improvement
and you can set goals and move forward.
But the challenge is,you know, taking the step
back andand realizing what you've accomplished.
So I got one.
It's going to kind of befor both of Skyler and Richard.
There you go. Curveball this.
(25:41):
Yeah yeah.
Obviously you guys work hand in hand.
was with sales and install.
So what have you guys found as far as keysto make sure that
from when we sell itto getting successful, install
what has been some of the hurdlesand the success that you guys have had?
What's what does that look like?
How does that kind of transition fromobviously Rich, you've been here ten years
(26:04):
to where now is Skyler beingin the install side with the managing,
how's that transitionedand what have you guys done.
Because it seems like it'sbeen a very smooth transition.
And where we're at now is definitely,you know, come a long way, what have you.
What are some thingsthat you guys attribute to that success?
I don't think I've ever been a partof any smooth transition.
(26:25):
It's it'sa trial and error type type setup. But
yeah, I think the
the hardest part betweenis the communication factor, right?
It's trying to it's trying to fit
a 90 minute, comfort advisor, you know,
estimate into a debrief with the guys.
(26:48):
do it.
They're do a prejob brief with the guys in five minutes,
and I need to fitall these details in here.
And some of the things, you know, thatwe use, we used to use, Google Photos.
And now Richard, canI had the idea of bringing on company cam,
which has been awesome because you can do,so much stuff with company.
Can you can put documentsin, you can put the roof pictures,
(27:08):
you can put checklists,you can put I mean, all this stuff.
And then all of our, all of our installershave that directly on the phone.
So I think that's that the
as far as the communication piece,that's really helped a ton.
But and then
it just making sure that everybody's on a
a good basisto is what I, what I've found out.
(27:29):
just like as far as likehey, we're all human
like the installers make mistakes,the covered advisors make mistakes.
at the end of the day,the customer's the one that gets,
you know,faulted for our lack of communication.
So it's the way we say
install department all the time,not don't make the same mistake twice.
That's the biggest thing is, like,you can make a mistake.
That's fine.
We're all learning.
We learn on a daily basis,but we don't like to make the same mistake
(27:51):
twice.
So, for me,that's that's kind of the biggest thing.
If you could narrow it down to one word,I would just be the communication between
the two is the most importantand also the biggest hurdle
to try to tackle at the same time. So
yeah, I would agree with that.
I think, you know, where when you're,
when you're comfortable visor,you're working for the customer,
(28:14):
but you also have to be able to design
the job in a waythat's doable for the installers.
So it's you know, we're we're kind oftrying to serve two teams and make them
both come together and do thatall in under two hours, you know.
So it does like you said,it gets challenging.
But there's there's a saying
that I took to heartwhen I was like 19 years old.
(28:37):
somebody told me it's not about,who's right, but what's right.
And so I have a hard head.
My wife would tell youI have a hard head, and, I,
I enjoy I,I like to see things happen the way that I
think things should happen in my head,you know?
But I've had to.
I'm glad that I heard thatwhen I was young.
(28:58):
And. And then, you know, with the helpof some of that Jocko training
and and the principles that he teachesof letting your letting your ego
go right, and, and stepping back and, andlooking at the situation for what it is.
I know Skyler and I have had some timeswhere we've butted heads
on some ideas or some thoughts on the waythings have been done,
but we've always been able to say,you know, step back and say,
(29:21):
let's make this work together.
Not about I'm not steamroll youbecause I think you're right or or,
you know, Skyler is going to steamroll mebecause he thinks he's right.
It's a it's a matter of just figuring outhow to let our egos go and work together.
And so I think those those factorsin my life have been beneficial
as far as, fixing thosesome of those things
(29:42):
that we had learning curves on earlyon in, in a working relationship. So
and so something I will
say something about that like sometimesyou have to have those conversations
where you're mad at each otheror whatever,
not really mad,but just trying to solve a conflict.
And then you'reyou're kind of butting heads a little bit.
And I found it the easiest way to goabout that, you know, over the years is,
(30:03):
just end the conversation with you'restill ugly.
So it always makes me feel better inside.
Makes me feel like I got the last shot.
And, you know.So mine starts with that, though.
Yeah. Oh, this season.
And then you're justsuper mad the whole time on.
Right.
So, I think along the lines of that.
Right.And we talk about the, the iceberg effect.
(30:24):
Right. And
we know
that underneath the surface, what we doon the management side on our day to day
basis is to prevent the customerfrom seeing the the rest of the iceberg.
We just want them to see the tip of itright.
And so a lot of the times that we dothat is if
if we mess up on that transitionfrom sales to the install or
(30:46):
on the service side, if we don't hand overthat repair versus replace, right,
the customer gets exposed to what,what the rest of that iceberg looks like.
And that's kind of our gameplan, is to just let them not see
all that stuff that we have to doto make all everything work so smooth,
and they just get an experience of, heyman, that I see a thermostat on the wall.
And that'sreally kind of the end of the day.
(31:08):
All right.
And then when we leaveand everything is done,
they're playing with thermostatand we just want it to go that smooth
where on the back end of it,we're trying to hold this thing up
and make sure that all the all the cardsare in the right spots.
And I think the way that we've tried toand we continually grow.
Right?
I mean, it'swe're I think we're our worst critics
when it comes to when we screw up,we drop the ball somewhere.
(31:31):
Let's find out where that was atand make sure that we kind of
smooth that overso it doesn't happen again.
So yeah,
it's a good question.
That's nice. Thank you.
I think, in closing to wrap this up, now
we get to give you guys a questionthat, oh, how are we time.
Yeah.
At the.
(31:55):
when you guys were mining Skyler's age,
what did you want to be when you grew up?
when I was 15.
Yeah. Okay.
mine was twofold.
So I enjoyed sports growing upand did a whole bunch.
so I always wanted to bea professional athlete.
(32:18):
I think any kidthat's in sports and is competitive,
I think that's what you're striving for,
is that that tall drink of waterto be a professional athlete.
and then I ended up
going to schoolbecause I was going to be on enough.
I was going to tryand be a lawyer, and then,
yeah, that didn't work out.
(32:39):
So so hereI am, heating and air conditioning.
Here I am, baby heating and air.
No, I think you know God has a plan.
And it worked out just how it should.
And I think I'm I know I'm happierdoing what I'm doing compared to
if I would have pursuedany of the other avenues.
But yeah, growing up, man,
those were one and two was going to be,professional athlete.
Either I was shooting for eitherfootball or baseball or be a lawyer.
(33:02):
Oddly enough, that was my goal.
I, I had no idea what I want to be.
I still don't know what I want to be.
Yeah, I know you get that in high school,right?
As you start to graduateand you start to freak out
like, oh, no, I'm betterfigure something out.
I got a sonthat's in that boat right now. But
you know that my brother
joined the Navy, and, and he's about fourand a half years older than me.
(33:23):
So I thought, well,maybe I'll join the military.
he strongly advised me against that.
And I still don't know why to this day.
But anyway, he did.
I, I thought about being a cop,
stuff like that. So other than that, I.
I didn't know what heating and airconditioning was.
I know I didn't want to be a mechanic.
And so other than that, that's one thing I
(33:47):
feel like I want to be a mechanic.
That brings us to the end of, podcast number seven and,
appreciate the, input, feedback,the quality discussion today.
That was sothat was a good one. Surprising.
Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
I would just smooth.
So appreciate y'all boys.
All right then, fellas.
Will till the next time
we'll have some different guests on nexttime is what we're thinking
(34:09):
some surprise guests.
So tune in, check out our podcast.
We'll see you next time. Adios, Adios.
Oh! Oh!
Faster!
Faster!
Are we good? Yep.
Here we go. Okay.
All right,everyone, I'd like to welcome you out
to episode number seven of the RobbinsPodcast at the old bench.
Back here again.
Took a break from the, The last one.
(00:22):
Last episode was not at the bench.
And today we are back.
So, that the main crew with us today.
to my right, Skyler to my left.
Steve.
And, directly across from me.
Drew.
So, today
we had the idea to, talk about a dayin the life of each of us
(00:47):
and have an opportunityto grill one another.
with some questionsabout what our career lives look like.
And when we come to work each day,what that looks like.
So who wants to volunteer to go first?
Skyler.
Okay.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay.
we're asking you questions first.
(01:08):
Yeah, that's that's what we're doing.
Yeah, it's just me. So. So in what sense?
I guess so.
So in in the day, in a life and what?
So, like when I show up to workin the morning, like, so. Yeah.
Just give us a rundownof your daily activities.
A brief synopsis.
So, I get here anywherefrom 530 to 630 in the morning,
just depending on what what's going on?
Most of the time we get herebetween six 2630.
(01:30):
I know every time you get here.Yeah. Yeah.
The thing so started to, Steve'salarm clock.
and then, I usually open it up.
Come in.
you know, sit down, open up my computer,check the on calls from the night before.
I there's 3 or 4 of us that do that,so that gets, make sure
we don't drop the ball on anyof the customers or anything like that.
(01:51):
So, and then,
basically the guys will start tricklingin, you know, about 645 or so
and they'll start grabbing their packets
for the day,start getting stuff lined out.
I'll kind of
give them a brief synopsisabout what they're doing,
a little bit of the details, kind of what's going on when I get there.
Subcontractorscheduled forum, things of that nature,
(02:13):
you know, a little bitabout the customer. What?
I do know what I talked about themwith, you know, what was explained to them
on, as far as
as far as when I scheduled the jobwith and things of that nature.
Hey, they have a dog, hey, make sure youcall this person and so on and so forth.
and then, they'll go and get loaded up
and they kind of do their thing, and,I'll kind of just help them with that.
(02:33):
And then we'll get with the coveredadvisor
and walk them through the job to as well.
Make sure we don't miss any details. And,
after that, after the guys
get out of here,kind of quietens down for a little bit.
That's kind of nice.
So, and usually Hunterwill come to my office
and likes to sit in therefor about 20 minutes in the morning
and ask me how my night went.
So that's always a goodI look forward to that every day.
(02:53):
So, And he doesn'the doesn't do that for me.
Yeah, I say I should, I
do I shut my door lockand it doesn't matter if he finds a way.
Yeah. He's in. He slips into the doorcrack somehow.
I don't know how, but, And then,
man, it's just kind of the rest of the daykind of changes.
I don't really have a schedulefor the rest of my day, but,
(03:15):
you know, I make sure all the new packetscoming in from the comfort advisors,
I do all the scheduling for the jobs
and the ordering of the equipmentand, of things of that nature.
So, I just take care of that.
And then sometimes I'll go outand I'll do some training with the guys,
so on and so forth.
So the rest of my dayin the morning, you know, between
630, you know, between 630 and 9:00.
(03:39):
It's pretty,you know, pretty on the money.
It has a schedule to it.
But, the rest of the day is kind ofjust solving problems as they come to us
and going to look at jobs as I can and,and, you know, whatever the neighboring.
So right on. I like that.
That's kind of a lot.I try to cut it off there.
So I could have kept going in the details.
But what do you love most about your job?
(03:59):
Man, I love, a lot of people say this, but
and I mean it in a sense, I love the the difference every day.
Right? It's always a different problem.It's always a different issue.
I love to solve problems as they come in.
So, my biggest thing isI like when the guys call.
Hey, I'm having a problem here.I can't fit a register here.
I can't do this. I can't do that.I can't do this. Okay, cool.
Well,let's let's let's figure it out then.
(04:20):
And let me help you.Let me get with the covered divisor.
See what are the what did you knowwhether I have to go out there.
We can solve it. We use FaceTime.We all have iPhones.
We use FaceTime quite a bit.
I mean, it's it's just so much funthat way.
Like even scheduling conflicts,things of that nature is something
that I really enjoy and I feel likeI really thrive on in that sense.
So it's awesome.
What questionsdo you guys have for Skyler?
(04:41):
Oh, I so I'm just like yousaid, you're on the hotseat right away.
Oh, we're not robbing. No.
This is this is Skyler's time to shineright here.
Dude, you better have another normally,like, a warning for this.
Geez. So.
All right, what's one thing you wouldchange about your job, if anything?
One thing I would changenot having to work with Richard.
(05:03):
Yeah,
keeping Hunter out of my, No.
Just kidding.
just sometimes
it's not all the time,but sometimes, we work a lot, man.
It's, you know, being a managerand having a lot of responsibilities
and being, you know,and having to keep track of certain
(05:23):
guys in certain jobs and problemswhen, you know, they arise.
It's,
sometimesyou want to get out of here, right?
And you want to you want to go home,you have something to do.
You have this or that,or your phone rings,
you know, in the middle of the night,there's a problem, you know, it's not,
you know. Yeah.
So sometimes I think if there's one thingand I don't really mind that
because that's what comes with it.
But if there's one thing it's like, man,you know, 50, 60 hours a week
(05:45):
every week, you know, I'd like to like,take a little bit of time off sometimes
and some of the responsibilityjust like, okay, you know what?
I'm going to take a day off today.
Please don't call me.
So, but I mean, like I said,it comes with it.
You just expect it now.
But some days when you're trying
to, like, Monday, I took offand I went golfing and nobody knew that.
I didn't tell any of the guysthat or anything.
Is Steve
(06:05):
the only person that knewuntil I was taken off, like, all right,
I'm out of here for the rest of the day,you know?
Hey, where are you going?
I'm like, I'm well, I'm going golfing.
I like what it's Monday.
Like, you go, oh, I likeyou know what I did?
I'm just. I was just going to take youto reset. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just go a little, do something different.
So I only called you four times.
Yeah, yeah.
My phone rang the whole time,which is fine.
(06:27):
Yes. He.
Did any of them runa ring in between a golf swing?
Like, right as you're
about to just hit the drive of your life,you know, and I've.
I've learned this.
I don't know, because I've learned thisto not wear my watch
when I'm playing golf, because it vibratesand rings like he'll be in a back swing
and then your watch goes offand you can't, you know, it's
not like your phone, your watch goes off,it's vibrating, and you're like, I
(06:48):
the at least that gives me somethingto blame it on when I dove at ten yards.
So that's usually I use it as an excuse.
I have to remember that because. Yeah.
Yeah, I wear that watch all the time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
when you were a little.
What did you what was your dream job?
What did you want to grow up and do?To be honest with you, I don't
if I don'tknow that I necessarily had one.
(07:10):
But, you know, something that I used to,my dad did class for a really long time.
He did, auto glass,just any type of glass.
He did a lot of other glass.
And I remember when I was reallittle five, six years old,
I used to always go to work with my dad,and some people have seen it before.
But what I always thought was the coolestthing is my dad did this trick
when he's cutting. he's.
I don't even remember what type of glasswhen he's cutting a certain type of glass.
(07:32):
And he would,he would pour, like, lighter fluid on it.
And when he went to go cut it,he would score it,
and then he would, it would snap off.
And something to do with the heatwould keep it from cracking.
So he couldliterally lay it over the table.
He would do it, score it,or he needed to cut it
and he would snap it off and everything'son fire and so on and so forth.
And the piece that he snapped offwould just fall and hit the ground.
And it wasI always thought that was really cool.
So I don't know if I ever had a dreamjob, but,
(07:53):
you know, growing up, of course,watching your dad do something that was
I thought that was really cool.
My dad,my dad was really good at stuff like that,
so I always thought thatwas pretty neat. So nice.
He's like a superhero.
He can cut through glass. Yeah, yeah,just cutting glass and putting.
I mean, I'd go with him to workand we'd be, you know, they
he had it like a glass fan
and we'd go do 5 or 6 windshields and,and a lot of them were regular customers.
(08:15):
So like during the summertime I'd go my,my dad to work every day.
So we'd go to the same places.
I remember all the guys like,he would go to like a,
almost like a Bruckner's like a,like the big truck
truck, places like and fix their glass
windshields and stuff and all the guys inthere, I, I just remember they knew me.
They call me by names. I would always goand like, hang out with them on.
My dad's working.So I always thought that was really cool.
(08:36):
Okay. All right. Drew.
All right.
Give us a give us a day in your life.
Oh, boy.
where to begin?
Where to begin?
No, I'm usually not tillI get to the office
in between 645 and 7.
depending on how busy we are,
will dictatewhether or not I get in a little earlier.
(08:56):
But, my day will start basically making sure
the guys are set up with filters, pads,whatever we need for the day.
As far as parts,just double checking our warehouse guy,
make sure he's doing his job,
check his,
(09:18):
and then honestly,
man, it's a matter ofjust trying to manage chaos.
I always like to say it's tryingto keep the ocean back with a broom.
but I honestly, most of my day, once
the guys get here, just kind of goingthrough the calls for the day with them.
if there's any special instructionsas far as, like,
a 32ft ladder, if we have to get a scissorlift or anything like that.
(09:39):
and just going over the day with them,or if you have to go to for states gasket
or if you have to go to four states gasketeither way.
And then once they get out the door,
then it's a matter of kind of goingthrough the last days
calls for the service guys,making sure the invoicing is correct,
(09:59):
making surewe don't need to follow up with anything.
as far as either comfort advisors,if we, one of our guys turned in something
to for a repair, a repair versus replace, making sure that that's on the schedule.
and then
depending on the beginning of the week,typically I have reports that I do
for the previous week for the guysbecause I have meetings
(10:21):
with my technicians,you know, twice a month.
and, you know, we have a lot ofexpectations for our guys that work here.
So we put goals in front of them.
And, you know,we want to make sure we manage to that
and just sit down with them and say,hey man, this is where we're at.
We're either on or on pointor we're behind and kind of try
and figure out and get a game plan onwhy we're either on or off.
(10:43):
and then the rest ofthey kind of like Scout or just depends on
what comes at us, man,whether we got to go deal with,
you know, help a technicianout in the field or deal with, you know,
if we have an upsetcustomer for whatever reason,
or Steve, one of the two, you know,there's always
that he's always upset and Steve sometimesthat Steve something so but yeah.
(11:05):
No that's basically it man.Just kind of helping guys out.
And then, you know, looking at theschedule board a couple days in advance
and just making sure both our customersand our technicians and our dispatchers
are we're just on point, man,making sure everything's smooth.
That's all I got.
That's my day.
Now. What do you thinkyour greatest skill is in your position
(11:26):
as a service manager? Greatest skill?
Oh, that's a good one.
I would say curveball.
That is a curveball. Gotcha. Wait.
I just was sayingyour greatest skill was your curveball.
Oh, no.
It was.
Oh, I just oh, yeah, I threw that.
That's that's
that's I thought it was, I think it is.
(11:49):
I think if it, if anything in
would be coming up with a solutionwith a problem that's thrown right at me,
I don't necessarily panic and,you know, have to
I figured that out pretty quickand make sure there's a resolve,
whether it's ayou technician calls in sick
(12:09):
or you should get a game plan togetherand it usually works out pretty well
majority of the time.
But someone calls in sick.
That is like one of the worst.Yeah yeah yeah yeah.
So terrible.
Yep. So what's, your favorite part of the day?
Lunch
meals.
Two through six.
(12:32):
And that's eight to noon.
Yeah.
those are questions.
I'll be honest, the whole food thingkind of got me going.
I am honestly starving.
So I was banking on
this being at 4:00 am and planmy meals around.
What's your favorite part of the day?
My favorite part of the day,honestly, from seven to,
(12:57):
whenever my technicians show up,I don't have any interruptions.
Or if I stay behind.
And honestly,if it's just us four at the shop,
for the most part,we don't bother each other
because we're usually getting stuff done.
So there's no interruptions.
There's no that quiet time to be ableto focus and just get stuff accomplished.
Because during the day, man,it it's it's nonstop.
(13:19):
There's always questions and always stuffgetting thrown at you.
So the quiet times sometimesare the nicest, where it's like, man,
I just crank the music upand let's, let's get it done.
I'm going to findyou a hunter. That's why I
somebody that moment of quiet.
Yeah.
Hey, what are you doing?
What's.
I'm hungry. Waiting on you.
(13:39):
Yeah. I'm hungry.
You go get lunch. It's mine.
Okay. Yeah, yeah.
That's not me, by the way.Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What music do you crank up from 7 to 8?
Oh, it just depends on the day.
But usually did I.
I listen to a plethora of genres.
So, you know, for meI'd, I'll either do like
(14:00):
classic country or 90s countryif I'm going to be in a country mood
or, I'll be honest, a little heavy metalif it's time to turn a hat backwards
and get caught up on some stuffand Celine or or, well,
then those are the evening onesto kind of wind you down with Celine Dion.
Yeah, yeah.
Or 2000 hits, baby.
(14:21):
That's that's the James.
Yeah. Like not three weeks ago.
I don't know why your door was open
and I had to gosit down at your desk or something.
I think I was going to pull up here.
I don't remember what it was,but I sat down and then, like,
your music was pretty lowand you weren't in there, so I was.
I sat down at your deskand I was like, going to pull piano.
So what,
like, crank it up.
I'm like, it was Jordin Sparks. No.
(14:45):
What,
brings backmemories, dude, back in high school,
dating myself now.
It's fantastic.
Oh, is that your best part of the desert?
830 when I walk through your doorand then I close it behind me.
well, there's that as well.
Yeah, that's got to be a favorite.
Yes, it was evening or the morning.
Doesn't matter. Yeah.
(15:08):
Either one. Yeah.
I usually starts out with dude,listen. Yeah.
No, dude.
No I don't want to or it starts outwith, listen, I got a question.
Yeah. No.
Did you say I got an answer?
My favorite is when Pete says, Houston,we have a problem.
I like what Pete.
He's all, we're out of toilet paper.
(15:28):
Pete, just go get some toilet paper.
Like it's not that big of a deal.
No, it's not because somebody left a boxon broken down.
Yeah.
Correct. Yes. oh. Fired up.
There was a penny on the ground.
No, Pete.
Yeah.
I'll.
Harry's Steve Stern, give us agive us a day in the life of Steve Day
in the life of Steve.
(15:49):
I get to wake up every morning.
My beautiful wife.
I don't know what you guys doin the mornings,
but that's why I start mine every morning.
He threw us under the bus rightthere. Yeah. You're welcome.
I still have a chance.I haven't gone yet. Yeah. This.
Look,why is it always us the first to say that?
It's just natural, right?
Let the dummies go first.
(16:10):
That's the, the beautiful part about doing what we do.
We don't have to travel andand do all that.
But I think as far as work goes, for me,
it depends on what time of the year it is.
we just got through our quoteunquote shoulder season or slower season.
So I do a lot of trainingduring that time.
So, now it's managing you three, which is
(16:34):
your favorite part of the day?
So. Yeah, I love that circus. Yeah.
So, no, I mean, it's, it's all hands ondeck this, this time of year, right?
We're starting up a bunch of coolersand and getting getting busy
on the install side.
And so, right nowin the warehouse side of it
as all, all the day beforeand make sure everybody's lined up,
make sure everybody's stage for theirwhen they get to work
(16:57):
and describe their stuffand get it out the door, get moving.
outside of that,I just jump in wherever I can.
I am not built for the office,
so if it's if I can go out in the field,that's where I normally go.
And so this time of year, it'skind of nice
because I get to shake off all the dustfrom the wintertime and go
pound on some sheet metal, or gostart up some coolers or whatever it is.
(17:20):
But that's my breadcomes into my office and sits down.
Yes. Reason where Steve ate?
Is he here?
I said, no,he's starting up swamp coolers.
He's all, whoa, what?
I don't know,
he's with drew just a little.
I have no.
but that's pretty much my day.
(17:42):
Then at the end of the day,just start all over again.
Make sure everybody's ready to gofor the next morning.
So do you mostly work aloneor with others?
You're not what you prefer.
No, I prefer working alone, for sure.
But there's, for some reason,especially in the install side.
(18:02):
I don't knowif it's that much in the server side,
but people are terrified to work with meon the install side
and that rumors just going around,
they're like,oh man, you got to go out there today.
I'm so sorry.
Most people get fired for the day's over.
And so I don't know where that came from.
I only fired two guys doing that. So
other than that,
(18:23):
I get to go work with,some new guys on Monday.
It's probably how they probably count.
How many of.
What are you doing
throughout the day? How many?
You know, if you get up to the seveneight mark here, you're on the edge there
or why are you doing it like, yeah,what are you telling.
Yeah, well, I wasI was thinking about Donnie yesterday
(18:43):
helping you start coolers.
And I remember the good old days.
Oh, yeah. Oh,I don't know why people don't like it.
I was always like,I'll go. Steve. Yeah, I'm on my end.
Let's go.
We're gonna get some stuff done. Yeah,I don't mind.
Yeah, we get stuff done that way.
I remember when I first startedhere, I went with Steven.
We were,You remember that new construction?
It was in Aztec off of,the ruins road up in that neighborhood.
(19:06):
Do you remember that night?
I don't know what that neighborhood'scalled, but, we went and it we were.
We're kind of. He's all here with metoday. I'm like, all right, let's go.
So we're going, and we get out there andor you hang the trunk line by yourself.
And so I'm pounding the duct together, andthen, so, and then you're like, okay.
I'm like, oh, thank gosh,I'm done. Panel duct together.
Anybody knows pan and duct together.Not a great time.
(19:28):
So I get them hanging all together like,all right.
I'm like, yes.Finally something different.
You're like,all right, wrap that whole trunk line.
Yeah, I can see it.
So then I start wrapping the trunk line.
You know, it'sit was pretty long trunk. Right.
But it was 30ft or so.
And so I'm wrappingand I get about halfway done.
And then I turn aroundand look at the beginning
and all the tapes already coming up.
(19:50):
What is taking you so long?
I don't know, Steve, I don't knowwhat is this tape?
Yeah.
Can I get this tape to stick?
I thought that was one of JerryMickey's houses.
I didn'tI don't remember who who was building it,
but I just rememberit was up in that neighborhood. Yeah.
Jerry Newman saw yesterday.
And then two days ago, actually.
So. Good.
Damn nice.
(20:10):
He's one. I did the remodel on Stefanshop down there that we just came from.
He redid all that.He did Stefan's house, too?
Yeah, it turns out.
Yeah. It looks really good. Yeah.
All right, Richard, you're up.
What's the day look like? Do you?
So my day startswith waking up next to my usual, like
I. Shit, that's what I'm trying to,
(20:31):
You're not making my life any easier.
You messed on that.
Yeah, I can forget that's been.
That's what's been kind of.
Don't forget that.
Don't forget that.
Don't forget that.
When I get here, my
my body clock is is goodwith the sunlight.
I move with the sun.
So like, in the summertime when the suncomes up at, like, six ish, I'm up.
(20:55):
I'm ready.
In the wintertime,I'm kind of like a pair of.
It's hard to get up when the sun's not up.
So usually in the summertime herea little earlier in the wintertime
get here about seven.
and then I show upand normally just looking
at what we did the previous day,looking at what we need to do today,
(21:17):
as, managing the sales department,looking,
making sure that, comfortadvisors are ready for their day
if they see anything concerning thingsthat they need to know about,
if they're going to a little bit
more complicated jobjust trying to look for that.
And then, you know, they normally get hereabout same time as me.
So we're looking through those together,
helping out with anything that was leftover from the day before.
(21:40):
And then usually just throughout the day,it's kind of whatever comes at me.
I try to get the stuff done that I knowneeds done.
but then there's just a lotthat flies at me throughout the day.
So looking at helping the ladiesin the office, it
you know,if the technicians have questions about RV
or have an RV are for us,you know, looking at,
(22:02):
getting the right comfort advisorset up and, and that kind of thing,
helping on the install side, managing,
you know, the what the comfort advisorswent out and, and promised on the job
and making sure the installers
were ready to go outand succeed at what they're doing.
So, just just helping out, stepping inif needed.
They're, but just kind of,
(22:24):
kind of a little bit of everythingit feels like these days. So,
what do you feel like you're your best at,
like, what skill do you possessthat really helps you the most?
During during the day?
I was thinking about this questionif it got thrown at me
during this podcast, but,
I don't know that we step backand think about these things very often.
(22:47):
You know, I don't know how many peoplein the world really step back,
take theirtake their selves away from the day to day
and think about some of these questionsthat we're talking about.
so that was hard.
I was thinking about maybeif I don't even have any skills, but,
no, I think, as far as
(23:07):
I really enjoy, I don't knowif it's my best skill, but I really enjoy
helping other people be successful.
So, you know,if they're if others are having questions,
if others have concerns,including customers, you know, I think
that's what's fun about salesis, going in,
looking at problems,
looking at ways to solve the problems and,and then helping people increase their,
(23:30):
their comfort in life,whatever it is, helping people and,
you know, techniciansincrease their abilities.
I enjoy just working with people.
I would I would say,
and it's kind of a fine line.
I walk because I, I don't know, it's
a lot of the timeI, I'm maybe similar to Steve.
I enjoy working alone because I feel likeI can get a lot done that way.
(23:52):
But then the reward
of helping others comes in,and I think that's a lot of fun for me.
So I don't know if that's my best skill,but that's what I do enjoy. So
yeah, there's definitely somethingwhen you when you
on the training side of stufflike we'll bring a new guy in
and train themand they don't know anything, right?
We put them out in the fieldand we give them a little more,
and then we bring them backand do some more training.
(24:14):
And about that third time you see thatmoment and that's pretty rewarding.
But then there's days where I just,
I'm gonna go rough in that houseall by myself.
Yeah, yeah.
You, oh,I'm just going to go get some work done.
Yeah, yeah. Oh.
What have you found to bethe most challenging for you?
I would think
(24:35):
the most challenging for meis being content and not.
Not that anybody should be content,but I'm.
I find I find it challenging to.
Know I've done enough.
I feel like my just.
Just who I am inside of me pushes meto always feel like I need to be better,
that I could do this better,that I've messed up
(24:56):
here, that I could fix,that I could do that better.
And so that that part of me
is challengingbecause sometimes I'm like, man, I'd
like if I could just be a little bitmore content with the things I've done.
my, I would maybe find find some joy there.
And so I have to make myselfdo that, make myself find joy in the, the,
(25:19):
you know, the things I've succeeded in andand what I've done well and
and then realizethat there's still room for improvement
and you can set goals and move forward.
But the challenge is,you know, taking the step
back andand realizing what you've accomplished.
So I got one.
It's going to kind of befor both of Skyler and Richard.
There you go. Curveball this.
(25:41):
Yeah yeah.
Obviously you guys work hand in hand.
was with sales and install.
So what have you guys found as far as keysto make sure that
from when we sell itto getting successful, install
what has been some of the hurdlesand the success that you guys have had?
What's what does that look like?
How does that kind of transition fromobviously Rich, you've been here ten years
(26:04):
to where now is Skyler beingin the install side with the managing,
how's that transitionedand what have you guys done.
Because it seems like it'sbeen a very smooth transition.
And where we're at now is definitely,you know, come a long way, what have you.
What are some thingsthat you guys attribute to that success?
I don't think I've ever been a partof any smooth transition.
(26:25):
It's it'sa trial and error type type setup. But
yeah, I think the
the hardest part betweenis the communication factor, right?
It's trying to it's trying to fit
a 90 minute, comfort advisor, you know,
estimate into a debrief with the guys.
(26:48):
do it.
They're do a prejob brief with the guys in five minutes,
and I need to fitall these details in here.
And some of the things, you know, thatwe use, we used to use, Google Photos.
And now Richard, canI had the idea of bringing on company cam,
which has been awesome because you can do,so much stuff with company.
Can you can put documentsin, you can put the roof pictures,
(27:08):
you can put checklists,you can put I mean, all this stuff.
And then all of our, all of our installershave that directly on the phone.
So I think that's that the
as far as the communication piece,that's really helped a ton.
But and then
it just making sure that everybody's on a
a good basisto is what I, what I've found out.
(27:29):
just like as far as likehey, we're all human
like the installers make mistakes,the covered advisors make mistakes.
at the end of the day,the customer's the one that gets,
you know,faulted for our lack of communication.
So it's the way we say
install department all the time,not don't make the same mistake twice.
That's the biggest thing is, like,you can make a mistake.
That's fine.
We're all learning.
We learn on a daily basis,but we don't like to make the same mistake
(27:51):
twice.
So, for me,that's that's kind of the biggest thing.
If you could narrow it down to one word,I would just be the communication between
the two is the most importantand also the biggest hurdle
to try to tackle at the same time. So
yeah, I would agree with that.
I think, you know, where when you're,
when you're comfortable visor,you're working for the customer,
(28:14):
but you also have to be able to design
the job in a waythat's doable for the installers.
So it's you know, we're we're kind oftrying to serve two teams and make them
both come together and do thatall in under two hours, you know.
So it does like you said,it gets challenging.
But there's there's a saying
that I took to heartwhen I was like 19 years old.
(28:37):
somebody told me it's not about,who's right, but what's right.
And so I have a hard head.
My wife would tell youI have a hard head, and, I,
I enjoy I,I like to see things happen the way that I
think things should happen in my head,you know?
But I've had to.
I'm glad that I heard thatwhen I was young.
(28:58):
And. And then, you know, with the helpof some of that Jocko training
and and the principles that he teachesof letting your letting your ego
go right, and, and stepping back and, andlooking at the situation for what it is.
I know Skyler and I have had some timeswhere we've butted heads
on some ideas or some thoughts on the waythings have been done,
but we've always been able to say,you know, step back and say,
(29:21):
let's make this work together.
Not about I'm not steamroll youbecause I think you're right or or,
you know, Skyler is going to steamroll mebecause he thinks he's right.
It's a it's a matter of just figuring outhow to let our egos go and work together.
And so I think those those factorsin my life have been beneficial
as far as, fixing thosesome of those things
(29:42):
that we had learning curves on earlyon in, in a working relationship. So
and so something I will
say something about that like sometimesyou have to have those conversations
where you're mad at each otheror whatever,
not really mad,but just trying to solve a conflict.
And then you'reyou're kind of butting heads a little bit.
And I found it the easiest way to goabout that, you know, over the years is,
(30:03):
just end the conversation with you'restill ugly.
So it always makes me feel better inside.
Makes me feel like I got the last shot.
And, you know.So mine starts with that, though.
Yeah. Oh, this season.
And then you're justsuper mad the whole time on.
Right.
So, I think along the lines of that.
Right.And we talk about the, the iceberg effect.
(30:24):
Right. And
we know
that underneath the surface, what we doon the management side on our day to day
basis is to prevent the customerfrom seeing the the rest of the iceberg.
We just want them to see the tip of itright.
And so a lot of the times that we dothat is if
if we mess up on that transitionfrom sales to the install or
(30:46):
on the service side, if we don't hand overthat repair versus replace, right,
the customer gets exposed to what,what the rest of that iceberg looks like.
And that's kind of our gameplan, is to just let them not see
all that stuff that we have to doto make all everything work so smooth,
and they just get an experience of, heyman, that I see a thermostat on the wall.
And that'sreally kind of the end of the day.
(31:08):
All right.
And then when we leaveand everything is done,
they're playing with thermostatand we just want it to go that smooth
where on the back end of it,we're trying to hold this thing up
and make sure that all the all the cardsare in the right spots.
And I think the way that we've tried toand we continually grow.
Right?
I mean, it'swe're I think we're our worst critics
when it comes to when we screw up,we drop the ball somewhere.
(31:31):
Let's find out where that was atand make sure that we kind of
smooth that overso it doesn't happen again.
So yeah,
it's a good question.
That's nice. Thank you.
I think, in closing to wrap this up, now
we get to give you guys a questionthat, oh, how are we time.
Yeah.
At the.
(31:55):
when you guys were mining Skyler's age,
what did you want to be when you grew up?
when I was 15.
Yeah. Okay.
mine was twofold.
So I enjoyed sports growing upand did a whole bunch.
so I always wanted to bea professional athlete.
(32:18):
I think any kidthat's in sports and is competitive,
I think that's what you're striving for,
is that that tall drink of waterto be a professional athlete.
and then I ended up
going to schoolbecause I was going to be on enough.
I was going to tryand be a lawyer, and then,
yeah, that didn't work out.
(32:39):
So so hereI am, heating and air conditioning.
Here I am, baby heating and air.
No, I think you know God has a plan.
And it worked out just how it should.
And I think I'm I know I'm happierdoing what I'm doing compared to
if I would have pursuedany of the other avenues.
But yeah, growing up, man,
those were one and two was going to be,professional athlete.
Either I was shooting for eitherfootball or baseball or be a lawyer.
(33:02):
Oddly enough, that was my goal.
I, I had no idea what I want to be.
I still don't know what I want to be.
Yeah, I know you get that in high school,right?
As you start to graduateand you start to freak out
like, oh, no, I'm betterfigure something out.
I got a sonthat's in that boat right now. But
you know that my brother
joined the Navy, and, and he's about fourand a half years older than me.
(33:23):
So I thought, well,maybe I'll join the military.
he strongly advised me against that.
And I still don't know why to this day.
But anyway, he did.
I, I thought about being a cop,
stuff like that. So other than that, I.
I didn't know what heating and airconditioning was.
I know I didn't want to be a mechanic.
And so other than that, that's one thing I
(33:47):
feel like I want to be a mechanic.
That brings us to the end of, podcast number seven and,
appreciate the, input, feedback,the quality discussion today.
That was sothat was a good one. Surprising.
Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
I would just smooth.
So appreciate y'all boys.
All right then, fellas.
Will till the next time
we'll have some different guests on nexttime is what we're thinking
(34:09):
some surprise guests.
So tune in, check out our podcast.
We'll see you next time. Adios, Adios.
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