Chris Yano
Appearances
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
When I got into business, I didn't get into the business thinking about selling it. I was just trying to make a decent living. But then as I got smarter in business, I thought, okay, maybe I can build something really meaningful here that I could sell someday or bring my kids into if they wanted to. None of them want to be in my business. That's okay.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So now they can log into one pretty little reporting metric dashboard, whatever you want to call it, and see exactly how things are performing. We do that. We're having real conversations because let's face it, like when it comes to digital marketing, you know, we know a lot of the different companies.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I've always played nice in the sandbox with any of the competitors because no decisions that they make are going to impact me anyway. Like I'm still running my own race. But regardless of who you choose, there's a lot of smart digital marketing companies that are out there. And there's even more home services.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I use air quotes, you know, specific companies now, or like the OG in that space, us and blue Corona, two of the oldest companies who've been doing work with the trades, but find the one that you trust the numbers, right? Like you can legit trust the numbers and please own your website, please. And when I say own it, I don't just mean the content and the pictures in it, own the site.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Whereas if you want to take your ball and go home, you could take that website and And you'll have to rebuild it and put your content back on it, which, by the way, is still a big misunderstanding with two major players in this space. I think they have great leaders at these businesses. I know them. I think they have some great services.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I still completely disagree with the customer not owning their website.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah, but again, this is where I think it's important that transparency really matters. And that word gets thrown around a lot. What I look about it is a lead isn't just a lead. Like a lot of leads come through for A1 that aren't leads that your marketing company generated for you. They're just leads because you have a good brand.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
You've got good, great customer service and people come back and use you or there's been referrals. So new clients. New clients is the game. Like that's the game for your digital marketing company. If, yeah, you're in business for 17 years, in our case, 17 years, and we have all these ads that we know run and convert into an install, why would I want to share that with my competition?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
But you still have to maintain trust, right? Because people will lose trust if they think that your numbers are wrong or they think that you're charging a different management fee than you are. If you just make it clear, this is my management fee I charge every month. And do you have to run a percentage fee? In perpetuity for no matter what your spend is?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
No, because at some point in time, it doesn't take any extra work. Like you have to cap your management fee at some point. Otherwise, you're just taking advantage of the client. I believe. And plus, it impacts your cost per anyway. So why the hell would you want to run the number clear up if somebody, you know, have a customer who spends a half a million dollars a month with us?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Like, I couldn't charge them a 20% management fee on a half a million dollars. That doesn't make sense. I wasn't doing that much extra work, you know, that would make up, I don't even know where we would find that. So you got to be fair. That's how you make a long time in this business is that you have to be fair.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah, that part's been different because I've invested in plenty of other home services companies. I've had like ownership here and there. I'm not doing anything right. I'll give marketing advice. Maybe we're running marketing for some of them. Some have sold. But the roofing one, yeah, like I am the marketing guy for it. And I'm like, so thankfully, I got a great partner in Chad Peterman.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So he's able to help on the operational side. And we're in a market where he's at. So that's helpful. But the key thing was, this is going to be no shocker to you. Like the only way this was going to work when we launched this new roofing company was you had to have a good GM. You had to have the right guy running it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
And thankfully, we were able to leverage our friend Chad's business because they have a massive brand to get some good talent. And we got a good ops guy. We had a good GM. And then we found the right salesperson to make it work. But this person knew how to work with the suppliers. This person knew how to work in the roofing CRM. I didn't know those things.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
The only thing that made me comfortable was I knew what I could generate for business for the company. As long as this has always been the fear I've had because I've had lots of opportunities to go in business in an HVAC company. The thing that always gave me heartburn was it's the operational side. Yeah. Because my side becomes, it feels like the easier part.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
It's how are we going to execute on that? Well, there's so many variables I don't know. Like the suppliers, what are we spending? What's wages? Like, are we making sure that we're OSHA compliant? Like the guys are tied off on the roofs. Like some of it I'm learning while we're in it. It's been a little bit different because, you know, I think it's easier to start a roofing business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
There's not much, there's not a whole lot of upfront expense. I say that even though we've dropped... a million bucks in this thing already. It's just different, man, looking at it from that side of the coin versus the marketing side. I've learned like, yep, my side is the easier part.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Well, that's my background, right? So if I was, you know, that's what, but this is why it worked because, you know, Chad certainly has that with his hundred and whatever million dollar, you know, company. I trust him, right? And if I could trust somebody, it's him. But he's not in it every day either. Like we're just, you know, in weekly calls.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
But then it was like, hey, I had a number in mind. I thought...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
but you know that's one of the questions i have is is how much just traditional i remember ishmael was saying dude everyone's doing digital these guys have more to spend these pe back companies than most what's the right mixture of digital and traditional listen i get asked this question all the time because i don't i don't play in the traditional space as a marketing company i do buy it now for redbird roofing and i'm a fan of doing all of it a variation of all of it but i think it also depends on like what do you are you looking for direct leads now or can you brand like
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
We could at Redbird, we could afford to brand first. Right. So we spent, you know, we spent a lot of money. I would say we probably spent 6%. Let's look at 10% marketing, all in marketing budget. I probably spent 6% on traditional and the other four on digital. And I owned the digital company. That does it because I was trying to brand build as quickly as I could. And that's hard.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So we kind of did the five mile famous play, hammer these three locations, OTT ads, radio ads, TV ads, kind of followed the Peterman brothers playbook a little bit. The Olympics helped out big time for us because we were able to tag on Olympics and that was good for us. But no, I don't know that anytime someone says, well, Chris, what should we be spending on digital marketing?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
7% is the number I always feel really great about because it's aggressive, but that could change if you need to go build some brands too. 3% is definitely not what you want to spend, you know, in that space, but it's not a creative product. It's a demand product. So like we are going to bet, we're going and looking for people actively looking for a service with no business in mind.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I think it's home service. When I think garage door, I think more home service and improvements. I think roofing falls into the home improvement side of it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah. Different type of client. I thought that, you know, It's been interesting with the roofing business because the thing I didn't take into consideration was the insurance. Like the insurance business was not really what we were going to focus on. We're just going to focus on the traditional service and install of residential roofs. So not really commercial play at all. Then one storm hits.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
And next thing you know, you're in the insurance game. Yep. Like it or not, because people are reaching out and calling you and you're going on an estimate. So critical error we made was not having an insurance specialist in-house. We have that person now, thank God, because there's a whole claims process you got to work through. The sales cycle is different.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
And a salesperson who's traditionally going out and selling something does not want to get caught up in the minutiae of the insurance work. Like they're not trying to go and do paperwork in the back. They just want to keep going and selling. Yeah. Critical error that we had made. But rare is a person who just says, you know what?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Like, I want to go ahead and get a new roof on this house because this one I don't love as much. Like, you're not really thinking about the roof. Garage door is different. It's a smile of your home. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah, man. So it's cool to come on right after we were just together in Vegas. Yeah. Because I got to try and separate. What can I talk about? What can I talk about? I'm just kidding. No, we had a great time because we talked a lot about business, which we get to do, which is anytime we're together.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah. You, well, you're also on a, Like your travel schedule, like mine was bad for the longest time and yours was equally as bad. And then I took a little break from it on purpose. But, you know, you have to have non-negotiables. That's what it boils down to.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
And I learned this probably, I would say, after we did our rebrand from Brickyard Marketing back in the day to Rhino, I had a good mentor who was like, hey, your kids are only young when they're young. Like they're going to grow fast. Don't miss a bunch of things. It's unrealistic to say you're not going to miss some things when you're building a business because you have to miss some things.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
man if i can get this company to 20 million dollars i'm gonna feel really successful and we hit that and passed it and by the way that was a like an empty number for me it was just a goal but i thought okay i'm not doing this again because i typically want to say if i say i want to be a hundred million dollar company tommy it's not because i want to be a hundred it's not the hundred million dollar you should focus on it's to what i've built to get to the hundred million and the impact that we're having in a hundred million dollar company
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
but I really wanted to minimize the things I missed. So I just came up with my own non-negotiables. And sometimes, you know this, but to the listeners, that meant I was having to miss things or say no to things I would have normally not said no to. Because it was, who do I put first? You know, the business is going to be fine.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
But in our brain, it's like, oh, you don't want to miss any opportunity. And like this speaking event, you know, it can be really great for us. And I'm like, then I'll leave the speaking event. There's one in particular meeting you went to that I, we would, neither one probably would have wasted the time on. But I had to make a decision. And I'm like, you know what?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
That's one I like to have had back. Yep. Because I missed a game that I wish I didn't miss when we did that thing. So you just got to give yourself non-negotiables and then stick to them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah, I think that it feels good to be able to do that for your family, especially coming where we come from. I think it would feel good to do that for your family in general. But the few things that I missed aren't what the kids focus on. They focus on... I've been there for every major thing that I've been through. I have four kids, by the way. So this is not an easy task.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So yes, I was taking red eyes back. But these kids are humble. They understand what we've built. They understand how we've built it. So by all means... They live a very privileged life that I didn't grow up. Like, I felt like I had a great childhood. It just was different. Right. We didn't have money, but we had a lot of things we could go do. And they respect.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
And maybe it helps because Anna and I both work in the business because I've seen this kind of, you know, both have to work at it and the time and effort we put in. But me making a decision to not go on one trip and then show up at their game, they knew that I gave up that trip for that game.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
And that was important because then, you know, my son is nine, you know, like he's smart enough to get like, okay, cool. Dad gave up a trip and he's staying for my game. I love that. That stuff is what's like, you know, ingrained in their brain is like, okay, like it's not just about business. I asked the kids the other day, I said, hey, what's one thing that we're always working on ourselves?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
What's one thing that about me that you know would change? That's a hard question to ask your kids, by the way. My nine-year-old basically was like, yeah, I wish you'd take me to go get ice cream more. Okay, that one doesn't count. It counts, but don't count. We took her to get ice cream yesterday, by the way. But my oldest daughter was like, I wish you would stop talking about business so much.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I was like, damn it. Like, I didn't realize I was going to talk about business. Well, it's because my wife and I are in business together. So we have business conversations while the kids are around. So we shifted. We shifted that and kind of gave ourselves a rule. We won't talk about any business while we're at a family dinner or anything like that again with the kids.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So that was a hard like pivot. I mean, it's hard.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
That's right.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
We have a massive, like a massive announcement, you know, at Pantheon that we're rolling out. And by the way, you don't make those without doing all the footwork ahead of it. Right. The hard work is what we've been in. So, yes, we're talking about it often because we have leadership roles in the business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah. Anna's like, no, we're not talking about business, Tommy.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I just think that, like, you're right, because it's an investment that they're making, right? It's an investment in business. We are invested in our customer service. We're invested in our employees. We're invested in our clients. And so there has to be a different connection there. If you legit are like, if you like you, somebody who really, really cares about
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Anna's my wife. Yeah. So just a quick update. I know last time I was on, I was, I think it was towards the end of last year. We were kind of finalizing integration from the sale of the business, you know, so I still rolled 30%. So I'm still in it, as you know, and like have a whole other new phase I got to go through here.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
your people i know like i'm this doesn't like what you hear tom like i'm friends with this is like a guy who genuinely cares about his people and customer experience things like that it's just a different focus than what the private equity is relying on you to continue i think relying on you to continue to be that for your business while they're continued to focus on how do i how i scale this thing and grow this thing or what's other acquisition opportunities or whatever but for me it's been a mixture because i have you know yes i have a private equity company that you know
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
that we are now a part of. I'm also working with clients that are private equity companies, a dozen of them, different ones. And some get it. I would say more those who've been in the industry get it than those who just came into it because we've had a lot of new players come into the space. And that's where I start to see the differences.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Are you letting these business owners kind of do what they've normally done to build these businesses and come in behind them and support them? Dude, it's either way at this point. Like there's some that I don't care for based on what I've learned the last few years and some that I think really get it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Well, yeah, I mean, that's the life we live though, right? Like we're constantly challenged to make our businesses better, use the different tools and figure the things out. That's part of being a front runner in our businesses is you're the one willing to kind of fall on the sword if it doesn't go well. But you have to have good leadership, you know, to... It's not just you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
But yeah, I mean, co-founder of Rhino still, um, along with Anna, the CMO, I have taken over the marketing role and Rhino is just now one of four companies that I'm the over the, all the marketing for. So I'm still leading, you know, like I'm in the Rhino office every single day. I still have a leadership role in Rhino.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
You have to have good leaders who also... You got to develop leaders underneath you. And I'll say one thing that you just said that really kind of made me think is, I never knew this until I've been going through this current process on how important an integrator is in your business.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
And what I mean is, when you have another company coming together, somebody who's responsible for that integration... is so important because there's so many things that can be miscommunicated or go wrong if you don't. I'm grateful we did. So I'm grateful that we did. But man, is it important if you're merging companies together because people have feelings and those feelings will come first.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So you have to be able to make sure that you're sharing whatever your message is with your leadership team and on down. Like I love one thing that Peterman was doing is he said, I stopped having conversations, just regular conversations with my leadership. And I started recording videos and said, just share the video so the message doesn't get missed.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So then they would share the little video clip, 60 second clip of Chad talking about X, Y, Z, whatever is changing in the business or adding or whatever. And there was no telephone. I thought that was like such a simple, little easy idea. Still had the meaning with leadership, you know, but then just said, hey, let me make it easy on you. Let's just share this video.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
And it is not easy. And you'll lose some of that talent if you don't.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah, for you.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
That makes sense. It's a different, it's a much different beast, I think, than some of the small.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah, no, but I mean, I understand both sides of it. Yeah, my whole point on that was like, you know, you don't want to lose, you still don't want to lose good talent because of lack of thoughtful integration. That's where I was like, man, it gives me heartburn to think about, to think about that. So it was like something that was really important.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So it's kind of like weird not having the title, but I'm still doing the same things. Because really anything that's like franchise relationships, OEM relationships, private equity relationships, I take lead on all those things because I'm the one with the majority of the relationships. Right. So that is still my life today.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
And by the way, I've heard this, it's not just me, I've heard this from the different private equity groups and those that they've acquired that are either my friends or customers of mine or whatever, on how some are great at it and some are poor at it. And they lose good leadership of their businesses.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
That's like lead me and share with me and tell me who's been there. They love that.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I think that one thing I hope the listeners hear in this conversation is if our markets were if our industries weren't doing great, these wouldn't be conversations that we're having talking about some of it's that ours is doing fantastic. But now I think people have more options than ever before. They also have good places to learn from, like podcasts like this or like ours or whatever.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
We want to be able to openly talk about these things so that you, the listener, if you're considering, you know what to look for or what questions to ask if you don't have that conversation. leader in your business to do it. And listen, we've all been there. I was just having a conversation on the way here with Aiden. Shout out to Aiden back there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I learned business by being in business and I had to switch my friend group. We have a really, really great friend group circle with a lot of really smart guys, successful guys that I continue to learn from. Well, those circles have changed over the years. But before then, I wasn't listening to podcasts. So now that the listeners have so many options to get this kind of information from...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
But, you know, like I told you, I have this whole next phase of growth I got to go through. But like we were talking about is this is like a new era of digital marketing that we're in. Like, it's not the same. This is significantly harder. What we're talking about was to be an elite digital marketing company today. You cannot just do lead generation like those days are gone.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
God, you know, like I don't even like the question because I know some people are afraid to talk about creating wealth. And by the way, you shouldn't be afraid to talk about credit. I think how you make your money is more important than how much money you make.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
But I've always believed it is if I use that number as my finish line, the numbers I'm going to be running so many races, it's going to continuously change. The goal changes. Yeah. I think it's important that I share. When I got into business, I didn't get into the business thinking about selling it. I was just trying to make a decent living.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
But then as I got smarter in business, I thought, okay, maybe I can build something really meaningful here that I could sell someday or bring my kids into if they wanted to. None of them want to be in my business. That's okay. But then it was like, hey, I had a number in mind. I thought... Man, if I can get this company to $20 million, I'm going to feel really successful.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
And we hit that and passed it. And by the way, that was like an empty number for me. It was just a goal. But I thought, okay, I'm not doing this again. Because I typically want to say, if I say I want to be a $100 million company, Tommy, it's not because I want to be a hundred. It's not the $100 million you should focus on.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
It's to what I've built to get to the $100 million and the impact that we're having at a $100 million company. Because what you know and everybody in my company knows is giving back is one of my core, like one of our core values. It means a lot to me. So still to this day, now we have 300-ish employees with everybody combined.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Still pay for everybody to go do customer service one Friday every single month. At that size, it's a big deal. Think about all the good that I've accomplished by creating customers. Not a $100 million company yet, but $5 million. Pretty decent-sized business. That's a lot of giving back at scale that we were able to accomplish. The byproduct of that was we made a lot of money doing it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah, we earned it. But again, two decades. Yeah, it was like it was a grind to get there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah, I'm pretty easy to find. I think you'd go on any social media platform and just search for Chris Yano. There's not many Chris Yano's out there way, you know, so you can find me there. Obviously, I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, I have to the point home services podcast. By the way, I think we're probably due for another round of getting you back on there. Yeah.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
There's so much more to being an elite partner in digital marketing today. And mainly because there's so many tools that you can use to track everything that make it easy for the actual customer to see exactly what you're doing. Because transparency, one of the biggest core values of mine is and has been since the beginning is just be honest.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
But you can always catch us there. Those are every week of Tuesdays we launch those. I am going to be at Home Service Freedom. So I'm excited to be at the Freedom event. We just recorded a promo for it today. Me and Anna did. I'll be at Pantheon. I'll kind of be showing up to some more shows again this year. I took a little hiatus from speaking, but kind of get back on the... I got some big plans.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I got to get back on the horse a little bit and get back on stages again.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yes. Yeah. It's going back to the East Coast. Northeast to me is always the worst because you get to like go so far up there. But yeah, I mean, it's, you know, it is something I really enjoyed doing, you know, getting on stages and speaking, but I needed to take a break. Yeah. I needed that because it had been so many years of traveling so much. So I'll be back at it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So if you guys are going to be at those events, I'd love to meet any of you. I'll be there.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
One final thought? Whatever you... Okay, yeah. So let me... So this is something I've been on as of recently. When I went into this next phase of business that we're going into, I really needed to reset my routine. And so I went to this event and I won't share the event on here, but I went to an event that was in Texas that allowed me new direction.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
And it gave me four simple pillars to focus on in my life. And I'm journaling every morning, which I never did before. So that was kind of a routine. But it was these four pillars. And it was your faith, your family, your fitness, and your finance, finance slash business, which is something I've focused on, you know, always anyhow at some level, but not equally. So this is a...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
A way for me to hold myself accountable weekly to each one of those pillars to make sure that I'm doing something to improve each one of those. You've heard me say no zero days a hundred times because that's a phrase I've lived by for a long time. But I want to be no zero days in all four of those pillars. And I missed two of them when we were in Vegas. I beat myself up over it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I got back on the horse yesterday and went to the gym. I didn't want to go to the gym. I was feeling a little under the weather. from the Vegas trip, but I got myself right back on and you can drift for a minute, but get your ass back on board. And so those four pillars and whatever you need your four pillars to be, that's fine.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Or if you have six or five or whatever, to me, it's, those are the four aspects of my life that mean the most. And I hold myself accountable to moving those four every week.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
You and me both, man. I'm excited. I can't wait to see what comes up on the Q&A panel. Usually I'm the one Q&A-ing on the panels.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Dude, that's how loud is RhinoX for me. I'm not.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I always appreciate it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Like if you had a shitty month, it's crystal clear you had a bad month. If you have a, you know, if you had a good month, it's crystal clear that you had a good month. Like there's no questioning what the end result is. And if you don't, if you have that kind of relationship with your customers, then you maintain trust. If you lose the trust, that's, you know, when it goes downhill.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Still is. Easy to point the finger at Mark.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah, I think that, well, what you're kind of hitting on is the point of this is, you know, lead generate, like for all the listeners, Let me explain to you what I believe this new era of digital marketing is to kind of walk you through the process. You cool with that? Yeah. Okay. So think of an end-to-end solution, right?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So I've been generating leads for home services businesses only for the last now 17 years. Only. That's it. That's been my job is generating business for contractors, both home services, home improvements. Okay. But we've also listened to every single phone call since the beginning. So that way, I always knew for any customer of every call that came in, not all of those that came from what we did.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Some of them are repeat and referral business. That's a big chunk of what the business is. As long as you're running a good business, you have a lot of repeat business. So I just wanted to know, I wanted the customers to know, did we do a good job? Yes or no? Because it allows me to hold my team accountable too, right? There's KPIs in there to find out, are we doing a good job or not?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Whether it's PPC, SEO, social media, OTT, whatever it is. But I want to be able to see for every lead that came in, how many came from what lead source and at what cost per lead? One metric. OK, second piece is, is that how did your team perform on it? Because you have accountability as well as the customer, right? Like you can't just blame us.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
I have to because I, you know, like if I can only work with so many people in one market, I certainly want to work with those who can keep going and who are fixing the problems. Because because we're listening to every phone call, we're doing CSR assessments every month anyhow, because I also want to know, is it a us problem? Is it a you problem? Is it a we problem? Is there no problem?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
You know, even you can solve that by a couple of things. One, are we doing our job bringing in good quality leads or legit bookable leads? And how are you performing on them? This is the other piece of it. So most agencies will do lead generation. They give you some sort of call report. It's not a call. It's not CSR assessments, you know, and coaching. We see a booking problem.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
We have internal coaches. You know, some people have them, but we have them and we can put them in house to go fix your code, you know, fix your CSRs. I want you to book the leads too.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
it makes me a better partner if you're booking leads because you start to grow make more you spend more money right it's perfect the last piece of this was you know i brought in ara this year to rhinox to talk about our new like more integrated relationship with service titan and the point of that was whether you're using service titan you're using house go pro you're using whatever serum that you're using if i could attach every dollar that was sold to every lead source then we should have the perfect picture of exactly what to spend we should know what our return is
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
If I got to spend every dollar I spend, I'm getting eight in return. We keep spending more dollars. But if I take all that work off of the plate of the customer, the contractor, and just automate it, do it for them, it should give them a clear picture on what's working and what's not. And that's broken down by...
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
If it's garage door service, if it's install, if it's AC installation, AC service, if it's drain cleaning leads, whatever. If you break it down by service and by lead source, like, shouldn't you have a crystal clear picture in what the formula is to scale the business?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Lead attribution issues.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah. Well, the good news about on my end is thankfully with the API integrations, it's just pulling the end result of the sale to and attaching it to the lead by customer name, customer name address. The piece that's been missing is I wanted to be able to attach pending revenue, like proposed revenue that didn't close should also be something that you're giving credit to your market.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So that's revenue.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
That's right. Or is it now? with this new era of digital marketing. Like, and yes, I can't, I'm not responsible for making your sales for you, but I should be responsible for helping. You're a little bit more sophisticated. There's some that aren't sophisticated or have as many people to go and pull that data. I know that. That's why we've been doing it for a lot of the contractors is,
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
If I could help give them that info, hey, of all this, the book stuff that came in, yes, you only closed X, but you still have Y that's impending proposals. If you attach that in, what would we look like as a marketing company for you? Will we look better to you?
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Because that's how you maintain this trust with everyone is I'll bring in the lead, I'll track the lead, I'll listen to your CSRs, and then I'll track it all the way through your CRM to see how are you actually performing on it too.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
It was emotional connection to it.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah. Listen, if you want to scale your business to any size and you're in that home services, home improvement space, that is the platform that I believe you should be on. Or some, if you're smaller. You've got to be on something.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
But the best thing that I love about just this phase of marketing that we're in in general and the conversations that you and I get to have are it's forced me to think about... things as I've grown this business over the years from a much larger perspective.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Like if I can serve a private equity group who has multiple brands or a company that has multiple locations, and I could offer that same service to somebody if they're 5 million, $3 million, and it's all automated for them.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Well, that's a pretty good partner, you know, because if I can bring in the lead and track it and do all the hard work for them, which I've had to do forever, and I'm tracking everything for them, they just have to perform.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah, that's a big number.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Yeah, man, they're going through the motions. Yeah, and that's still a big problem. Like, even though we have some good sophisticated companies, we also have a lot of small companies. You know, like anybody in that three to 10 million range, we have a lot of customers in that space. And so they're still wearing probably multiple hats if you're on the lower end of that, figuring things out.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So, yeah, I mean, a lot of people just go through the motions and we tell them you got to make the monthly meetings. The biggest difference now is where we've really elevated our game is we're
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
you know reporting you know come pantheon which will have maybe making a massive announcement of pantheon which i'm really excited about is you know when i'm working with private equity i need information now like now i need to know like a perfect conversation was talking with frank demarco and he's like i don't care i'll make a business you bring me the leads let me worry about the cost i'll make a business decision it's a capacity game for them right that's what i'm just trying to fill the board fill the board fill the board fill the board well if i have access to your three-day board i can fill the board
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
As long as there's opportunity there. Yeah. So I can go fill the board. I wanted to be able to deliver real-time results. So that's where this thing is headed. Not only can I generate the lead, I can track it all the way through and everything's real-time.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
Whether you haven't even went and run the job yet, I can still capture all the front-end data, cost per lead, how many leads, booking rate, right then real-time, boom. And you can log in. You can log in every day, look to see how your different locations were performing.
The Home Service Expert Podcast
Transforming Data into More Calls and Better Conversions
So to anybody who's listening, this sounds overly complicated. It is overly complicated. You have to build a lot of these things out. But that's the point is we've done it for you. Being part of an elite digital marketing company is creating all this stuff and doing it for the customer.