The Home Service Expert Podcast
00:37:13 · Zach Deering, Tommy Mello
[00:37:13] S0: I mean, you're here right now and so we could get it done. So yeah, I'd be inclined if if everything was the same price, you're gonna give me a $500 discount, great. Let's go forward. [00:37:23] S3: Well, if the prices were the same and you choose us, and you obviously know we're different companies, you've done some research, we've been in business two decades, you can see the difference in the parts we carry. But why would you go with us? So I don't wanna lead with that discount, I just said all things being equal. And hopefully you'd say, well, I did the research. Yeah. I looked at your BBB. Yeah. I know you guys do background checks. Yeah. I know you run warranty calls ahead of new clients. Yeah. And so I'd I'd ask you to sell yourself. Sure. But you're not the real... I mean you you... This is not the perfect scenario because you don't have both bids. [00:38:00] S0: Yeah yeah yeah. [00:38:01] S3: I want you to just literally, I wanna hear you destroy the other company. Sure. And say, so obviously Yeah. Is $500 worth everything you just said not being done properly? [00:38:12] S0: Totally. Totally. [00:38:13] S3: And I think that a lot of people miss that. A lot of people make it about price and you'd be surprised. And during my orientation I do for three hours, we talk a lot about... A lot of people say Oklahoma and Tulsa are not as good as Phoenix or Reno is not as good as Orlando. And the the... I hear this every day and then I'll take a top 10 technician. We'll send them to any market, same price book, and they'll get the exact same.
00:38:13 · Tommy Mello, Zach Deering
[00:38:13] S3: And I think that a lot of people miss that. A lot of people make it about price and you'd be surprised. And during my orientation I do for three hours, we talk a lot about... A lot of people say Oklahoma and Tulsa are not as good as Phoenix or Reno is not as good as Orlando. And the the... I hear this every day and then I'll take a top 10 technician. We'll send them to any market, same price book, and they'll get the exact same. [00:38:38] S0: Sure. [00:38:39] S3: So I always say we live in The United States Of America. Yeah. Like, if you told me to go to like Mexico City or something, I can't guarantee it would be the same. [00:38:46] S0: Sure. [00:38:46] S3: But we we always put those fallacies to to bed. You're an expert in shopping online, and we hear a lot about the challenges today being tricky, macro environment, lead flow being down, which it is. Consumer confidence, I believe, is going up right now. What do you feel like is the state of play in home services sales today?
00:38:46 · Tommy Mello, Zach Deering
[00:38:46] S3: But we we always put those fallacies to to bed. You're an expert in shopping online, and we hear a lot about the challenges today being tricky, macro environment, lead flow being down, which it is. Consumer confidence, I believe, is going up right now. What do you feel like is the state of play in home services sales today? [00:39:11] S0: Yeah. I think it's it's a bit of a tale of two cities. There are fewer leads coming in, they're more expensive than ever, right, it's not uncommon, right, to spend 500 or $1,000 to get a replacement opportunity. Prices, particularly in HVAC, but across the board, are significantly more expensive for equipment than they were 5 or 6 or 7 years ago. And so against that backdrop, there are the folks that are succeeding, and the way that they are doing that is through creating a shopping experience. Are you meeting the homeowner where they're at? Are you personalizing? Are you showing them different options? Are you putting them in the driver's seat, or are you slapping down three prices on a sheet of paper and a bunch of jargon? Right? Those are sort of the two things, and I think a lot of people are having a hard time. I mean, look at HVAC, for example. Shipments are significantly off. Right? You'll see some reports that say up to 49%. Yet, there are contractors that are succeeding in spite of it, and what are they doing? They are creating shopping experiences.
00:39:11 · Zach Deering, Tommy Mello
[00:39:11] S0: Yeah. I think it's it's a bit of a tale of two cities. There are fewer leads coming in, they're more expensive than ever, right, it's not uncommon, right, to spend 500 or $1,000 to get a replacement opportunity. Prices, particularly in HVAC, but across the board, are significantly more expensive for equipment than they were 5 or 6 or 7 years ago. And so against that backdrop, there are the folks that are succeeding, and the way that they are doing that is through creating a shopping experience. Are you meeting the homeowner where they're at? Are you personalizing? Are you showing them different options? Are you putting them in the driver's seat, or are you slapping down three prices on a sheet of paper and a bunch of jargon? Right? Those are sort of the two things, and I think a lot of people are having a hard time. I mean, look at HVAC, for example. Shipments are significantly off. Right? You'll see some reports that say up to 49%. Yet, there are contractors that are succeeding in spite of it, and what are they doing? They are creating shopping experiences. [00:40:18] S3: Yeah. You you know what's really frustrating is when I go online and I don't really shop for Rolexes, I got one. But a site that gave me the information, I know it's gonna be expensive, it's a Rolex. [00:40:31] S0: Sure.
00:40:31 · Zach Deering, Tommy Mello
[00:40:31] S0: Sure. [00:40:31] S3: I'm not expecting to find a deal, but I hate it when you gotta click get a bid. Sure. You gotta put your email in and someone's gonna contact you and it's like listen, I know why they do that and I understand the science mind and just get them on the phone, close them. But it's so much more transparent. By the way, the LLM machines love the transparency. [00:40:51] S0: Sure. [00:40:52] S3: And I think it's gonna give a really strong edge over over that. What do most contractors get wrong about sales today? [00:41:02] S0: Yeah. It's a great it's a great question. I think fundamentally at its core, they don't really put themselves in the consumer or homeowner's shoes. We talked about it already that as a consumer, you know what you want, you wanna be educated, you wanna be in the driver's seat, You want it to be personalized, and a lot of contractors don't actually build an experience that executes on that. Right? I think the good news for contractors out there is you know what great looks like. Right? You might not have seen it in home services, but you know because you recently bought a gun or a car or something else somewhere and someone did a really fantastic job. Think about what they did and then think about how to bring that to the garage door you're selling or the water heater you're selling or the generator you're selling.
00:41:02 · Zach Deering, Tommy Mello
[00:41:02] S0: Yeah. It's a great it's a great question. I think fundamentally at its core, they don't really put themselves in the consumer or homeowner's shoes. We talked about it already that as a consumer, you know what you want, you wanna be educated, you wanna be in the driver's seat, You want it to be personalized, and a lot of contractors don't actually build an experience that executes on that. Right? I think the good news for contractors out there is you know what great looks like. Right? You might not have seen it in home services, but you know because you recently bought a gun or a car or something else somewhere and someone did a really fantastic job. Think about what they did and then think about how to bring that to the garage door you're selling or the water heater you're selling or the generator you're selling. [00:41:49] S3: You know, I I can't keep... I can't stop thinking about just this customer obsession, and it's not something I feel like we've done an amazing job on. But it's something that I think everybody that's listening will be forced to start doing more. And that customer obsession and it it's kind of not fun to listen to customer complaints and the one star reviews [00:42:10] S0: Sure. [00:42:11] S3: And doing secret shoppers. But if you really focused on those things, imagine how great your company would become within six months.