The Home Service Expert Podcast
00:23:18 · Kyle Erdmann, Tommy Mello
[00:23:18] S2: Yeah. The main thing we're looking for is is, you know, we we know we can train skill, but will is not is not a trainable thing. So we're looking for extreme will to succeed. [00:23:26] S0: What other question... I'm just obsessed with this right now with what we're going through with hiring this many people. Like, I wanna take a deep dive and I think most people that are begging for leads, if they just had better skills in the field, better conversion rates, better customer service, got more referrals, I think that solves the problem. It's like exponential growth when you get really good at hiring, but also you got to do your part on orienting correctly and then keeping them. It's not letting them go out the back door while you're so focused on the front door. And I wanna talk a little bit about that too, but what other things you guys do as little checks? Do you do like a ride along to see if they like it? Like, you're gonna spend a week in the field before and make sure it's right for you?
00:23:26 · Tommy Mello, Kyle Erdmann
[00:23:26] S0: What other question... I'm just obsessed with this right now with what we're going through with hiring this many people. Like, I wanna take a deep dive and I think most people that are begging for leads, if they just had better skills in the field, better conversion rates, better customer service, got more referrals, I think that solves the problem. It's like exponential growth when you get really good at hiring, but also you got to do your part on orienting correctly and then keeping them. It's not letting them go out the back door while you're so focused on the front door. And I wanna talk a little bit about that too, but what other things you guys do as little checks? Do you do like a ride along to see if they like it? Like, you're gonna spend a week in the field before and make sure it's right for you? [00:24:03] S2: We try to make the sales pro... Or that's not sales process, sorry, the hiring process as quick and painless as possible. We know, like... So I I look at it that would a high achiever want to do ride alongs with somebody and wait a week to draw out a process longer? Or are they gonna want to to Yeah. Start So the the quick... So it also... Like like she was saying, when they come in for that second interview, we're... We know at that point they're probably hireable. We're offering the job on the spot, if they don't accept on the spot, we rescind offers. So we're looking for people that want to commit to us right then and there and are all in with us. Because if we... If they'll go on with us, we'll go all in back with them.
00:24:03 · Kyle Erdmann, Tommy Mello
[00:24:03] S2: We try to make the sales pro... Or that's not sales process, sorry, the hiring process as quick and painless as possible. We know, like... So I I look at it that would a high achiever want to do ride alongs with somebody and wait a week to draw out a process longer? Or are they gonna want to to Yeah. Start So the the quick... So it also... Like like she was saying, when they come in for that second interview, we're... We know at that point they're probably hireable. We're offering the job on the spot, if they don't accept on the spot, we rescind offers. So we're looking for people that want to commit to us right then and there and are all in with us. Because if we... If they'll go on with us, we'll go all in back with them. [00:24:38] S0: And when you ask them, Becca, if they're interested, like, why did you apply? What are you looking for them to say? Like, they do their research Yeah. On
00:24:38 · Tommy Mello, Becca Erdmann, Kyle Erdmann
[00:24:38] S0: And when you ask them, Becca, if they're interested, like, why did you apply? What are you looking for them to say? Like, they do their research Yeah. On [00:24:49] S1: I mean, there's some people who are just saying like, oh, I saw your, you know, down the street from where I live. So, there's some responses that are kind of outrageous you wouldn't expect to get, but I'm not going to waste my time bringing in somebody who the reason that they want to work for our company is because we're a mile away from their house. Right? So I'm more looking for people to avoid rather than what they're actually saying. I mean, my time is valuable. I don't need to waste it with people who don't really want to come work. So yes, I'm looking for somebody who knows about our business, obviously did, even if it's five minutes of research, showed some effort. Show that they're interested. Show that they know anything about us. It's not just like another random job that you're trying to apply [00:25:32] S0: Where are finding these? Where are you putting ads? Indeed, Glassdoor. [00:25:35] S1: Only Indeed because I've never had luck with [00:25:37] S0: --. [00:25:39] S1: Nothing else. [00:25:39] S2: We've had back like we we used a recruiter at one point. We had terrible luck with the recruiter. We had terrible luck on LinkedIn. [00:25:46] S0: Nothing social? Facebook, we used to...
00:25:46 · Tommy Mello, Kyle Erdmann
[00:25:46] S0: Nothing social? Facebook, we used to... [00:25:48] S2: We ran sales ads from... We ran sales ads on Facebook for a little bit and we ran carpenter ads on Facebook. And carpenter ads, we still run all over the place. Yeah. Because carpenters You're [00:25:57] S0: still trading, you're trying to recruit. See, the problem is what I have with Indeed sometimes is it's mostly people that are unemployed or looking to leave and they hop around. But look, Indeed is our number one source by far. I mean, it's great. And if you pay, there's AI that does a lot of stuff. But now the AI is working in their favor too. They're applying to a million places. It's like the applicants are coming in way higher, so it's harder to kind of screen. Yep. And they'll spend, you know, a couple 100 to $500 a pop. Mean, you got to really be impressed before you're inviting them to take it. [00:26:27] S2: Yeah. [00:26:28] S0: Yep. Okay. So what do you guys do? I want to spend a little bit more time on this. What do you guys do to make people feel like really valued? Like, what do you do? Do you do community stuff with them? Do you invite them out to like... What are the things that you feel like build the culture? [00:26:46] S2: So, we do big quarterly outings with our whole team. Now we're doing them both locations. So, I think, next month you guys are doing a murder mystery party with the entire team. Just anything that we can do to get the entire team in a non work environment so that we're all just hanging out feeling more friendly with each other, more like a family.
00:26:46 · Kyle Erdmann, Becca Erdmann, Tommy Mello
[00:26:46] S2: So, we do big quarterly outings with our whole team. Now we're doing them both locations. So, I think, next month you guys are doing a murder mystery party with the entire team. Just anything that we can do to get the entire team in a non work environment so that we're all just hanging out feeling more friendly with each other, more like a family. [00:27:07] S1: We also do cookouts like Labor Day, Memorial Day. We'll, you know, pay for all the food, of course, and, like, have somebody grill out at the office. [00:27:16] S2: Usually, it's me. [00:27:18] S1: He likes to cook. [00:27:19] S2: I do like to cook. Went to culinary school, so... [00:27:21] S0: Very cool. [00:27:22] S2: So yeah, just a lot of the inter department stuff. So managers will take their people out. So we try to do team segmented and then entire company. And how many employees? We're up to like 75 now. [00:27:37] S1: Yeah. Both locations. [00:27:39] S0: What's the one rule that you never break as a couple in business? [00:27:45] S2: We will never not... Communication is the big rule we never break, is we'll never let a lack of communication bring anything down. So, she's a lot better at it than me. She's a very good communicator, and she won't let me... A lot of times, I wanna sleep it off, and she won't let me go to bed until I communicate it through with her. So, some of it's a little bit on her end, really making sure that I communicate everything out. But it ends up being a very helpful thing to keep our relationship healthy inside and outside of the workplace.