The Home Service Expert Podcast
00:17:44 · Tommy Mello, Zach Deering
[00:17:44] S3: You know, lot of people are talking about ChatGPT Claude Sure. The different LLMs. You know, from what I've heard from very smart people is we got about another year. A lot of people are still purchasing off of Google and doing research on the LLMs. What are your thought and take on that? [00:18:02] S0: Yeah. I think the data would suggest that people are not finding contractors today on Claude or ChatGPT. Right? 3%. And going back to that survey we did Gemini. Or or Gemini. 3% founded on some sort of answer engine today. Right? So they're not finding it today, or at least that today was as of end of twenty twenty five. That obviously will start to change, and we are increasingly hearing sort of murmurings of people, right, taking a proposal and running it through ChatGPT to see sort of what they should be thinking about it. I still think it's a relative sort of minority that's happening, but the shift will eventually happen there. And I think that that's where it's even more important given what the model's reward, which is specificity. Right? Hey. If I go search for how much to the garage door in Milwaukee, like, what are the results that I'm getting back? So are you as a contractor putting out the right information that the models will reward and likely show you as a source that you can get that get that lead from them.
00:18:58 · Tommy Mello
[00:18:58] S3: You know, this has gotta be scary for a lot of contractors listening right now because quite frankly, we want a chance to sell face to face. Totally. We wanna give you enough information where we're not giving you the farm. Totally. But there is this theory that I predict that things are gonna start getting commoditized, not next year, not the year after, but as things become... And I think more about the OEMs building a workforce around them because I think the OEMs kinda control a lot. What are your thoughts about the future of the home service industry, home improvement industry?
00:19:31 · Zach Deering
[00:19:31] S0: Yeah. Totally. Pretty vast question. I think what is really clear, as you've talked about on this show before and with various guests, is, like, really home services on the forefront of really being able to use AI for really practical purposes. Right? Whether it's dispatching, whether it's call answering, and increasingly over time, sales. With that said, having a human in the loop will continue to be really important. And so I think the way that we think about it as an organization is we're not replacing the seller, right, you know, maybe you'll replace a CSR, certain organizations will, but rather how do you use AI to augment the seller? There are tasks today that sellers either don't like doing or they're not particularly good at doing that we use AI to make it easier for them to do. Classic example is follow-up. How do you personalize follow-up that understands the conversation that's happened, that isn't trying to close the homeowner, but instead just bringing them back to the table with a question? Or how do you help give real time coaching to the seller about their proposal? Hey, you only offered four options, if you would have offered five options, that would have helped. Or hey, we noticed you did three add ons. Hey, could you personalize this more? So we really see AI as the opportunity to help augment or assist the seller and really sort of elevate that role. I think to the broader question, in ten years, will y'all still be sending a role... Organizations still be sending sellers into homes? Probably not. I don't know whether that's ten years or fifteen years, but, I mean, clearly, the trend is going that way. 69% of homeowners try to shop online for home services today. Right? So there is definitely the interest. With that said, I think it is a gravel... Gradual evolution. I think the reality... I was talking with someone yesterday, and he talked about how he sold... Actually, someone you know well, Christiano, how he was selling yellow book ads even in the mid two thousands. Right? The yellow book was still something that you could make a decent business even fifteen, twenty years after the internet came out and I think that's very suggestive of the reality that, you know, Google and in person sales isn't going away tomorrow. At some point it will, right, but it's gonna take a long time.
00:21:44 · Tommy Mello, Zach Deering
[00:21:44] S3: Well, it's it's... I've always said it's hard to diagnose a car over the phone. My dad used to be in the transmission business for a very long time and they'd call call and say I'm looking for a price and he'd go, anybody that's giving you a price over the phone without really getting under the hood and diagnosing every single failure point. Sure. Might be a bait and switch. [00:22:02] S0: Sure.
00:22:02 · Tommy Mello
[00:22:02] S3: Most likely it is. Sure. And we've seen simple things like it could be a major fuse out. I mean, could be a timing belt issue, it could be a lot of things causing this. If you're... It's just interesting to me that homeowners expect I got a broken spring, but there's a system. The... It's called the whole torsion system. Springs, rollers... Well, it's really springs, cables, drums, bearing plates, and a torsion tube that goes into that system. The rollers help assist it for a little friction, but everything's rated on a cycle life. So if your brakes are gone, do you want me to check your calipers and your rotors as well? Because if your rotors and your calipers are screwed up, so you quote on springs and you go out there and then it it still feels like a bait and switch because it gave you a price and I don't think that's fair for the client. Although a lot of the companies listening like to quote over the phone and they think it's the right thing to do Sure. And then they find themselves at a pickle. Most companies that I know especially in my industry, they go to the homeowner every other year. And I'll tell you this, I get clients that call us every single day and not just one, not just a dozen, but very very a vast amount. And they say, I've had the same company in my house four times the last two years. Can somebody just come fix this thing right? We we missed another play for our daughter. We missed another day of work. We missed another weekend. And I just don't think that's the right thing to do for clients is nickel and dime them for the next ten years. I've got a ton more questions. I'm gonna bounce around a little bit because I've got... You prepared a sheet and I've got a prepared sheet. Used to work at McKinsey and also at Amazon. What are the two companies teach you that most founders never seem to figure out? I think Amazon, like, the
00:23:50 · Zach Deering, Tommy Mello
[00:23:50] S0: thing that has seared into my mind is customer obsession. Right? It was a common practice to bring an empty chair to the table, because in that chair is supposed to represent the customer. And you'll even see people gesture to the care... Chair being like, hey, is this right by the customer? I So think that's one thing that really stands out from my time at Amazon. And it's really impressive because when I was at Amazon, it was over twenty, twenty five years from its original founding, that core leadership principle was still very much embedded. So if you wanna talk about a master class in culture, it is that. I think from McKinsey [00:24:21] S3: Well, well, I wanna just... On Amazon Yeah. I've I've heard that their internal Net Promoter Score is not great. Their internal clients don't feel the love. I've heard they obsess over the true client at home doing the shopping experience, but I've heard... And by the way, when a company grows that fast, it's hard to keep the wheels on to make sure everyone's happy. Those guys work in the factory. But but anyways, let's go to McKinsey.