[00:00:07.450] - Chris
Welcome back to the head, heart and Boots podcast.
[00:00:10.070] - Chris
I'm Chris.
[00:00:10.870] - Brandon
And I'm Brandon. Join us as we wrestle with what it takes to transform ourselves and the businesses we lead.
[00:00:17.650] - Chris
Man, I love this industry. Hey, good morning.
[00:00:22.130] - Brandon
Well, sir, how are you?
[00:00:23.540] - Chris
Good.
[00:00:24.000] - Brandon
Good morning. I don't know. Is it morning?
[00:00:25.920] - Chris
Yeah, it is.
[00:00:28.240] - Brandon
Still in the am. Time frames my friend.
[00:00:30.190] - Brandon
I think we're getting tactical today. We're going to get into some nuts and bolts. I'm actually excited to talk about this one. I don't know why, but this topic just always gets me kind of fired up. In a good way, I think. Yeah, I don't know.
[00:00:43.610] - Chris
I think I don't get most of.
[00:00:44.520] - Chris
The time in there, but, yeah, let's.
[00:00:46.900] - Brandon
Rock some sponsors and get into this bad boy.
[00:00:48.800] - Chris
Let's do it.
[00:00:49.230] - Chris
Hey, so first of all, all, let's talk about answering your phone. Do you have a plan for when.
[00:00:55.330] - Chris
Your receptionist, your call intake person, is out to lunch?
[00:00:58.860] - Chris
Like, where do those calls go? And we all know how valuable those inbound calls are, right to our business.But do you have a plan if.
[00:01:06.070] - Chris
You don't have a plan, if your only plan is to just have your phone system kind of hunt for the next person that picks up the phone to randomly take in that customer job opportunity, you owe it to yourself to go to slash floodlight.
[00:01:20.000] - Chris
Right?Answer force as a call intake partner is an incredible solution, one that can.Flex up, flex down, right, if you've.Got a regional storm event or your receptionist is out for maternity leave.
[00:01:32.430] - Chris
Or, I mean, here's another practical reason, right?
[00:01:36.400] - Chris
What do you do when you have an all company meeting? Do you have your wireless phone, your receptionist is holding it in their lap, and then they have to get up and leave and step out every time the phone rings during your all company meeting. Well, if you had Answerforce.com, you just simply select it in your app to have them take the calls while your receptionist is in the all company meeting and then unford the phones when the meeting is over.
[00:01:56.360] - Chris
Right?
[00:01:56.840] - Chris
So everybody needs a redundant call and take solution. And if you don't have that in place, you owe it to yourself. Check out floodlight.
[00:02:05.900] - Chris
Bingo.
[00:02:06.730] - Brandon
Liftify. Liftify.com.
[00:02:08.780] - Brandon
Floodlight. Guys, we're just such huge fans.
[00:02:11.710] - Brandon
I mean, literally any business endeavor that Chris and I consider or think about, even for ourselves, I think one of the first toolkit items or one of the first teams we consider is how do we incorporate liftify into this mix so that we can be generating those five star reviews right consistently.
[00:02:28.170] - Brandon
We want them recent we want fresh.
[00:02:30.440] - Brandon
And we want to maximize the exposure.
[00:02:32.580] - Brandon
That we have to every relationship so.
[00:02:34.630] - Brandon
That we can leverage that in our favor and get more business.
[00:02:36.740] - Chris
So anyways, liftify.com, they are your bolt.
[00:02:39.500] - Brandon
On partner for gathering and systemizing the way that we gather those five star Google reviews. Obviously, if you're getting lots of them, their return rate is somewhere north of 20% 2020 5%, which is just massive if you're getting that kind of engagement. And then on top of that, they're consistent week in and week out, you're getting these fresh Google reviews. Google will prioritize you, you will. From just an organic SEO type byproduct, you are going to be ranking and you're going to potentially be outranking your competitors. If, for instance, they haven't had one in weeks or months, even if they have more than you all in, if they haven't had it recently.
[00:03:18.440] - Chris
It's like kind of old news, right?
[00:03:20.540] - Brandon
It's got an expiration date, if you will, in terms of how it's weighted.
[00:03:24.470] - Chris
And where it ranks you.
[00:03:25.730] - Brandon
So again, get them all the time, get them consistently, and get them recently, and those combinations are going to be in your favor. And that's what liftify.com will help you actually know. Chris and I talk often about this.
[00:03:37.110] - Chris
Idea of in order to get consistent.
[00:03:39.290] - Brandon
Process, right, we've got to be careful how dependent that process is on someone's current workload.
[00:03:45.820] - Chris
Right.
[00:03:46.220] - Brandon
We see this in sales, for instance, an organization is really keyed in on sales, and then they get a little busy and then that cadence drops off. Well, we can do the same thing with our Google reviews, but with a partner like liftify, it's consistent, it's the same methodology, it's the same pattern, and.
[00:04:00.770] - Chris
There'S wins in that. It's good.
[00:04:02.530] - Chris
And CNR magazine recently, actually, our business manager, Wayne Hudson had his debut, his first article published. Oh, that's right, yeah. Building trust with inside our company.
[00:04:14.930] - Chris
And Wayne is well up to this point.
[00:04:18.390] - Chris
Our experience with him, he's a subject matter expert on it. He does a great job of building trust, right? And he talks about some really practical best practices and leadership behaviors to build trust within your company. So I highly recommend you check it out. It's by Wayne Hudson. I really should have the actual title on quick draw, but Google or search Wayne [email protected]. And you'll see his article. And anyway, it's great. We're excited to see him publish more stuff. But CNR magazine, a source of great, not just industry information, but leadership and personal growth and professional growth. There's a wide variety of content that Michelle and our team are cultivating on the site and also helping us keep our ear to the ground to be up to date on the latest stuff happening in the industry. So check it out. Cnrmagazine.com.
[00:05:06.800] - Brandon
And it's and andc and R. All right, last and certainly not least, actionable insights. As you guys know, 501, very different business model as a nonprofit, basically, they got a primary mission and that is.
[00:05:20.620] - Chris
Helping us be more equipped as a professional restorer.
[00:05:25.040] - Brandon
And they're assisting us in training content that ranges all the way from the highest end tech that we're deploying in the field, all the way through estimating best practices. And right now, one of the most powerful tools and resources they have available to us as restorers is that profile, that actionable insights profile, and the fact that it literally is an AI partner helping write that estimate right alongside of you. So as you're entering in line items, it's monitoring those line items and helping you think, hey, are there some items missing here? Is there potential line items that we should be adding to ensure that the scope is more robust and that it's more concrete in terms of scope? It's one of those tools where not only is it going to help you onboard and bring up a new estimator to speed in a significantly finite time frame or faster time frame, but on top of that, as veterans, man, we just begin to kind of forget things, right? Like there's kind of that saying around those grizzled dogs that have been doing something for a long time. They've forgotten more than we know. I feel like that can happen to us on the estimating side.
[00:06:23.960] - Brandon
And that actionable insights profile really can just ride alongside of them and make sure that we're not missing the stuff that over time adds up and it becomes real concrete dollars and cents. So actionable insights, what an outstanding training and support partner. And then in addition to that, really keying in on the fact that they've got this actionable insights profile that we can partner in our exactimate best practices. So pretty powerful stuff.
[00:06:47.360] - Chris
Okay. All right, we have an interesting topic.
[00:06:50.380] - Brandon
That I wanted to dive into today. Really falls into kind of our nuts and bolts series where we get a little bit tactical. One of the things that, as we've worked with teams, and of course, we've had struggles and wins in this category across the board is there's this constant need to grow, right? Many of us who are in business want our top line revenue to grow. We want our exposure to new markets, to new relationships to continue to expand. And our default mechanism or thought process for that is hire more salespeople, spend more on marketing.
[00:07:20.740] - Chris
Now, that is certainly part of the.
[00:07:22.930] - Brandon
Strategy, and those are items that we can key in to have a profound effect on our business. But what's interesting, and something that I see a lot of us making the mistake of is we get keyed in on that, yet we're not doing something very critical, and that is measuring our success rate of closing a lead when it walks in the door. And maybe just as, and if not more important, then what are we doing to convert that initial relationship into a construction relationship?
[00:07:54.140] - Chris
Right.
[00:07:54.470] - Brandon
So if we're getting some kind of EMS work, what are we doing to successfully convert? And so that's why we look at it in two different methodologies, or numbers, is closing rate, which is a new job, gets called in a new relationship. Did you get it? Yes or no, and, or a conversion rate where we're moving that from one division into a second and we are taking care of more of that process.
[00:08:21.070] - Chris
Which can be confusing. I think it's maybe important at the outset because we're going to be using these terms probably interchangeably. It's like conversion and closing are essentially the same things. We have at different intervals, an opportunity in front of us. Right. Like when we're on the phone, when our receptionist is on the phone, we got to close that call. Well, we're also converting, we're converting that call into a new job opportunity. Right. And then when our technician arrives on site and is face to face with the client, the opportunity there is, we need to convert that face to face opportunity right, into work authorization. And then eventually, hopefully in most cases, we want to convert that mitigation job demos complete into a restoration or recon repair job. So, I mean, the terminology can really be used interchangeably. I think the thing that always surprises us when we start working with companies.
[00:09:15.440] - Chris
Is how easily jobs just get lost. Yeah. They slip through the crack.
[00:09:21.180] - Brandon
They just cracks.
[00:09:22.780] - Chris
Yeah. At each of those different intervals.
[00:09:27.010] - Chris
Right.
[00:09:28.070] - Chris
Certainly we miss jobs on call intake because calls go to voicemail.
[00:09:33.340] - Chris
Right.
[00:09:33.800] - Chris
And the moment a call goes to voicemail, there's a lower percentage of conversion you're going to get on, period, end of story. I mean, by probably at least 50%, your opportunity has gone from, I can book it and get a technician out there to it's 50 50. How fast do you get back on the phone with that person? Right. And then when our texts show up. There's a whole variety of things that potentially affect whether or not that technician is going to collect a work authorization or not. And then again, there's a bunch of factors that happen between that interval and when we go to secure the recon that affect whether or not we close and we get a signed contract on the recon. Right.
[00:10:13.570] - Chris
And so hopefully, it'll be helpful for.
[00:10:15.750] - Chris
People for us to kind of walk through those different decision points or those moments of truth.
[00:10:21.250] - Brandon
Yeah, for sure. And I think, again, just sort of the sake of clarity, I think let's do this. As we're talking through this episode today, closing rate is first call. Did you turn it into a job? Conversion? Is, did we transition that from one phase or division into the second? So let's just kind of hang in that pocket for the sake of understanding as we go through this real quick.
[00:10:42.030] - Chris
Though, people probably are not seeing. There's a new side of Brandon that he brought to the episode today. And I just feel like it's worth mentioning. It's a little bit distracting to me, actually.
[00:10:50.540] - Brandon
My flowers. Yes, it's the flower cup. You know, I'm going to be really transparent here. There is a lot more flowers going on here than I paid attention to when I first pulled this out of the drawer. But it's bit of a work of art, actually.
[00:11:04.850] - Chris
It really is.
[00:11:05.490] - Chris
And it's a side of you that I don't think many people get to see. I've seen it.
[00:11:10.010] - Chris
I've seen the flower part of you.
[00:11:12.550] - Brandon
I'm curious as to what that means. Well, maybe I don't want to ask that question.
[00:11:17.210] - Chris
Well, probably a lot of people are.
[00:11:19.390] - Chris
Acquainted with your fiery, sort of former army paratrooper. Like that Persona.
[00:11:27.190] - Brandon
There's some of that.
[00:11:28.030] - Chris
The commander's intent, and then there's this flower covered coffee cup.
[00:11:33.460] - Brandon
There's flower guy in there.
[00:11:34.980] - Chris
Please tell me you don't have, like, green tea in.
[00:11:39.870] - Brandon
Is. No, I'm not even going to.
[00:11:42.210] - Chris
This is just straight Joe, straight cup of coffee, which I feel like I.
[00:11:45.990] - Brandon
Actually need a whole lot more. We'll see how this episode goes.
[00:11:49.560] - Chris
Where do we want to begin?
[00:11:50.640] - Brandon
The brain's firing.
[00:11:51.560] - Chris
All right, so here's my thought. Let's just kind of walk through these project cycle. And as we're doing that, let's just.
[00:12:01.210] - Brandon
Kind of think through and highlight some.
[00:12:02.890] - Chris
Of these opportunities that we have to.
[00:12:05.270] - Brandon
Either think through some tools and resources and. Or adopt some systems and processes that are going to continue to affirm or, I guess, give us the highest chance of closing and converting these opportunities. The very first place I want to start with is that if closing and conversion rates is not a core metric that you and your team are tracking at a very high level, meaning that it is so important that all your key leaders in your organization have some kind of responsibility in terms of their performance and their tasking, that is, addressing and or monitoring closing and conversion rates, there's a real opportunity for improvement there. So I think right out of the gate, it starts with this number has to be considered important enough that it is one of the very foundational and core things that you track, measure, and talk to on a regular basis. And so the way that we think about that is that it's important, we think, for a team to have a running window, that they're tracking their current closing and conversion rate. And the reason that we say start.
[00:13:07.930] - Chris
With a running window is we all.
[00:13:10.030] - Brandon
Know I could get 50 jobs on a Tuesday. And as I'm working through that, beginning to move them into production, beginning to get work authorization signed, I could have this super dynamic closing or conversion rate for the week.
[00:13:23.010] - Chris
Yeah. Okay.
[00:13:23.950] - Brandon
All right.
[00:13:24.820] - Chris
What do you think is good? Like a three month look back?
[00:13:27.560] - Chris
Yeah, I think 90 days to 180 days.
[00:13:30.790] - Brandon
And it sounds like. Well, that's a big difference.
[00:13:32.710] - Chris
I agree.
[00:13:33.490] - Brandon
But I think at minimum, we need 90 day window that we're monitoring in terms of looking at our actual closing rate. But then what we need to do is we have to marry that with the kind of behavior that is looking at it in a small enough time frame that we can still affect change. So think of it. That 90 day to plus window is our real hard score. It's an accurate current score.
[00:13:55.620] - Chris
But then what we do on a.
[00:13:56.910] - Brandon
Weekly basis as part of, even in our production meeting and our leadership meeting, is that we are discussing our current closing and conversion rate based on the work that's in front of us that week.
[00:14:09.490] - Chris
Okay.
[00:14:10.670] - Chris
I think also, too, along these same lines, this stuff is super obvious when we take the time to step back and look at it.
[00:14:17.910] - Chris
Right. But we talk about the leakage, and.
[00:14:20.390] - Chris
I think some companies suffer on their conversion rate because they aren't looking at the inbound jobs on an often enough basis. Some of the best operators that we see, they're watching those inbound jobs daily and like a hawk. So if a job comes in the morning and it hasn't been touched or somehow responded to by the end of day, that's a huge alarm bells going off kind of scenario. So some of the most effective teams we see, they're so tightly connected to jobs that are inbound, where are they at in the process? What comes next? That it's next to impossible for those jobs to fall by the wayside, not get put into production. Some of the most effective teams we see, like looking at their pre production jobs, jobs that are sitting in pre production is at the very least a weekly part of their production meeting before they go into their whip. Right. Another example of sort of how to monitor the jobs that are flowing through your system.
[00:15:23.290] - Brandon
Yeah, I think you bring up a really good point there too, as we're.
[00:15:26.170] - Chris
Kind of like starting high level is we've got to be. In my mind, I think it's important.
[00:15:32.990] - Brandon
For someone to own a client from the moment they call. So we see a lot of kind of round robin programs where companies, they just take the phone call, like next in line takes the phone call. I'm not necessarily in love with that model, but that's not our job to critique that right now. But the idea is that no matter who takes that phone call, we want that project now, that client to be assigned to somebody, somebody that understands I have a working relationship in front of me. And part of my responsibility now is to continue to steward that relationship through the project lifecycle. And so anytime we have scenarios where someone doesn't own that client from the moment that they make a phone call to our company, we are running a risk because we get we mentality, right? So if we're not tracking this and we're not speaking to it and or oriented around inspecting it on a regular basis, and then thirdly, if we're not assigning ownership of this client, as soon as they hit the phone or hit the door, we are running a risk of greatly reducing our ability to close and convert that project.
[00:16:37.250] - Brandon
So I think that's just some high level stuff that we own right out of the gate. Here's some additional things to think about.
[00:16:42.740] - Chris
Just as we start a project lifecycle.
[00:16:45.610] - Brandon
I think it's important that we script out the way that we take that phone call and what it is that we talk about with the client. And the reason I say that is because I think it's important in order for us to get a consistent product to engineer that experience. And the way that we engineer an experience is we set standards. We set a process for how we take the call, how we record that call, and what it is that we say and do with the client as part of that receiving the call. When we do that, we can engineer an experience, and we can ensure that that experience sets a stage for a.
[00:17:19.720] - Chris
Client that feels welcomed, prioritized, and committed.
[00:17:24.040] - Brandon
To right, right out of the gate. Like the way that we interact with them. They understand that time is of the essence, that they're important to us, and that we're going to do what is necessary to help them and to take care of them. And so the best way to do that in my book is let's engineer a call intake scripting and what it is that we're asking and why we're asking the information.
[00:17:44.060] - Chris
Right.
[00:17:44.710] - Brandon
I think one of the things that if we're just in terms of leveraging.
[00:17:48.210] - Chris
Opportunity and exposure, we really under prioritize.
[00:17:52.890] - Brandon
Gathering good information in terms of why did they call us? And I'm not necessarily looking for the heartsy feely. What I'm looking for is this concrete piece of direction that they got, and that's why they called us. Whether it was a referral partner, like an adjuster, an agent, a previous client, whatever, if it was just a generic.
[00:18:13.530] - Chris
Google search, I want to know.
[00:18:15.710] - Brandon
I want to dig into that. And so again, it's not necessarily directly related to the closing, but it is absolutely directly related to us leveraging the exposure. We get into more opportunity. We have to prioritize that intake. As part of that intake gathering, how did they call us? What prompted them? Or put them in a position to call us?
[00:18:37.350] - Chris
Okay, so let's say we move through the first process.
[00:18:40.500] - Brandon
We've got a client that's now ours. We're dispatching our team. So now we have this opportunity to set, if you will. I would call it our second best first impression. Right? Like, first impressions legitimately just happened over the phone.
[00:18:54.030] - Chris
And if we engineered that experience, so far we're pumping.
[00:18:57.680] - Brandon
We've got some momentum in our favor.
[00:18:59.280] - Chris
Well, real quick, one thing that I think during that call and take that.
[00:19:03.020] - Chris
We'Re setting the tone for, we coach.
[00:19:05.880] - Chris
To this quite a bit. And I think we've talked about it in previous episodes, answering the three subconscious questions that every consumer asks, which is.
[00:19:13.630] - Brandon
You'Re a big cheater. I was going live with that one.
[00:19:15.940] - Chris
Can I stepping up to the door.
[00:19:18.690] - Chris
Well, but I think it starts. I think it starts with the call intake. Right?
[00:19:22.900] - Brandon
Love it.
[00:19:23.330] - Chris
The person's trying to answer the question, is this person on the line? Can they help me? Right. Do they have the competency? Are we conveying that we have the credibility and competency to help them in the way and manner in which we take that call and walk them through an intake process? Can I trust them?
[00:19:39.790] - Chris
Right.
[00:19:40.810] - Chris
Which really, in a lot of cases over the phone, it's really, what's the tone of voice? What's the posture and tone of voice that I take with that customer? Am I building trust?
[00:19:51.100] - Chris
All of that stuff begins at that.
[00:19:53.700] - Chris
Call intake, and I think it's just important for us to underscore. I think we generally take our call.
[00:19:59.380] - Chris
Intake way too flippantly.
[00:20:02.600] - Chris
We've commoditized receptionist work in our businesses to where often that receptionist role is.
[00:20:10.320] - Chris
One of the lowest paid roles on our team. Often, yeah, it can be often.
[00:20:15.080] - Chris
And I think they also tend to be the least trained and developed. We tend to, once somebody is, quote, trained up on call intake, we never really talk to them again. We just expect it's just one of those things that's in place. And I think it's one of the biggest errors that we make, is not observing, is not checking up on that person's skill base and continuing to help them refine their ability to show empathy and communicate that in that initial call and take and do all the things that we want them to do as part of that customer experience.
[00:20:47.020] - Brandon
Yeah, I think you're spot on. And I think the three universal questions and our ability to answer those with the way that we behave just continues right on to that first impression when we show up for the first time. So just really, again, we'll just touch those.
[00:20:59.090] - Chris
So it's, do you care about me? Can I trust you? And can you help me? Those are the three questions.
[00:21:06.680] - Brandon
And so our job, because most of the time, these are not questions that people say out loud. These are subconscious thoughts that 99% of the time all of us have when we're about to meet, get introduced to, and or hire someone for the first time. So we carry those on, right? So when we show up for the first know, we have like the saying, check yourself before you wreck yourself. When I was in the military, there.
[00:21:28.750] - Chris
Was a mirror that was in front.
[00:21:30.430] - Brandon
Of the barracks exit, and there was in the whole point of that mirror, and it was written in massive letters over the top of it. This was my first duty station at Fort Bragg. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. And the idea is, get your shit together before you go. Jump in line into formation, because if it's not, you're going to get wrecked when they figure out that you're not checked. Let's put it that way. Well, this is our opportunity as a team, too. There's this whole saying that we can adopt in our business, check yourself before you wreck yourself. And that's that mental body check we go through where we're preparing to go introduce ourselves to the client for the first time with the goal to answer yes to those three questions, with the way that we act, behave, and carry ourselves. And so, for instance, and we've talked about this before, and I'm not going to go into it in depth. If you smell like a carton of.
[00:22:17.320] - Chris
Cigarettes, you're in trouble.
[00:22:19.280] - Brandon
We're setting the wrong tone right out of the gate. If you look like someone just dumped.
[00:22:24.770] - Chris
You out of a military duffel bag, that's a problem.
[00:22:28.240] - Brandon
You're going to set the wrong impression. You're not saying yes.
[00:22:32.060] - Chris
Right. So our uniform, where we park, the.
[00:22:35.730] - Brandon
Current status of our vehicles, are they dented, banged up, wrecked? Do they look like they've been in the fleet for 25 years and it's on its last leg? You need to realize that all of these things are setting the stage, and all of those examples are making someone less likely to say yes to you than not.
[00:22:55.110] - Chris
Right.
[00:22:55.500] - Brandon
So let's go in the opposite direction. We want to maintain our odor, be present, be aware of the fact that we may stink. And so we need to be addressing that. We need to ensure that our uniform is prepared in such a way that we can look professional, clean, and approachable. And so one of the things that we teach a lot of teams is have a t shirt policy, meaning we do a polo over top of a work t shirt, a correctly labeled company t shirt. We introduce ourselves in our polo, and once the introductory is done and we begin the work, I can take that polo off and hang it in my cab so that I can put it back on when I go to present myself to the next client that afternoon.
[00:23:35.400] - Chris
Right.
[00:23:35.670] - Brandon
So there's this purpose behind the way that we show up, where we park, how we carry ourselves, our hair is done, we're shaven, we're trimmed up, we're well kept.
[00:23:44.960] - Chris
When we show up, we have a.
[00:23:46.390] - Brandon
Business card in hand that we can.
[00:23:47.930] - Chris
Hand to our client.
[00:23:49.590] - Brandon
We step back from the door and give that client room as we begin this dance of introducing ourselves. Okay. One of the things that Chris talks about often in this first introductory experience that we have with the client is asking that question of, hey, sir, ma'am, have you ever been through something like this before?
[00:24:09.360] - Chris
And the opportunity that we have in.
[00:24:12.350] - Brandon
That, in terms of setting the stage and building rapport with the client.
[00:24:15.640] - Chris
Yeah, it's huge.
[00:24:17.970] - Chris
All right, Headhart and Boots listeners wanted to stop here just a moment and thank our underwriting sponsor, bloodlight consulting group. As all of you you know, Brandon and I, this is our passion project. Headhart and Boots is, but it's also a way more and more that our consulting clients find us and in effect, they interview us, right?
[00:24:38.060] - Chris
Those of you been listening to show.
[00:24:39.110] - Chris
For a while, you get to know.
[00:24:40.470] - Chris
Who we are, right, what we're about.
[00:24:42.460] - Chris
So if Headheart and Boots is valuable to you, one of the best things.
[00:24:45.790] - Chris
You can do is share it with your friends.
[00:24:47.360] - Chris
And it's been incredible to watch just the audience grow. And we still get text messages from many of you about shows that you really like and impacted you. So that's number one. And please keep doing that. Many of you have been huge advocates of the show. We also just want to remind you too, if you're a restoration company owner and you're interested in a partner in your growth, you want some help building out systems, developing your leadership teams, helping set up the infrastructure for you to scale and grow into the company that you're trying to build.
[00:25:17.180] - Brandon
That's what we do.
[00:25:18.200] - Chris
That's what we do is we come alongside restoration company leaders, we help equip them and we help support them in that growth trajectory. So if you're looking for that, go to floodlightgrp.com. Potentially, we could be a great match for each other.
[00:25:31.340] - Brandon
Another way that we really do serve our client base and our sphere of influence is through our premier partners. We work really hard to vet those folks that we believe bring a level of value to the industry, that it can really be leveraged in a way to have a sincere positive impact on your business. We take that very seriously. The folks that we create, those kind of ongoing partnerships, that's not a check the box kind of scenario. We really see strategic alignment in the value that they bring. We see value in the way that their leadership teams and their partners are developed. And we've done very sincere work of ensuring that these folks that we introduce our clients and our sphere to can actually create vetted value. So go check out floodlightgrp.com premier partners and see if there's some folks on there that you can connect with and begin developing some other resources to support your growth and your business.
[00:26:22.890] - Chris
The other thing too, that I think we have to coach and develop our people to bring to that initial interaction.
[00:26:30.630] - Chris
Is a certain level of assumptiveness.
[00:26:34.120] - Chris
I think this is one of the bigger mistakes that we make as restorers is we show up thinking that we still have to sell the job and we approach it in that way when we forget that we're emergency service professionals, right? Once somebody has called us out there, certainly we have to prove ourselves. We have to answer those three universal questions. But I think one of the things you and I discovered over the years.
[00:26:56.540] - Chris
Was the more assumptive we were about.
[00:27:00.040] - Chris
The nature of that visit. The reality is they called us, they invited us out to their home. We are largely an insurance driven restorer. And speaking specifically to when we're working with a residential homeowner, I think one of the things you and I discovered in terms of conversion is just how important that assumptiveness is and how we coached and developed our people is, hey.
[00:27:21.370] - Chris
We'Re here to help.
[00:27:22.700] - Chris
Let me explain the process, help me understand what your past experience has been, and then I'm going to walk you through. And part of our role as a.
[00:27:29.660] - Chris
Company is to assist you and walk.
[00:27:32.430] - Chris
You through the entire process that's ahead.
[00:27:34.800] - Chris
I love that.
[00:27:35.540] - Chris
Have you been through this? You understand how the insurance process works because this is what we do.
[00:27:40.760] - Chris
Okay, I've got answers for all those questions. Yeah.
[00:27:44.090] - Brandon
I think what you're alluding to there is this idea of when we walk in without that assumptive posture, we don't lead the client.
[00:27:52.940] - Chris
It's exactly right. It actually is counter to establishing confidence and establishing their trust. The more assumptive we are about the nature of the process and us leading them through the process that's in front of them, the more it puts the customer at ease. That's what we.
[00:28:12.690] - Brandon
Yeah, yeah, right. And just for the sake of clarity there, we're not saying make assumptions. What Chris is referring to when he's talking about assumptive closing is they called us out. Our assumption is we are going to help this client. So let's begin acting, behaving, walking and leading the client in a way that gives them the confidence that we are the right fit for them, that we have the capability to lead them. So that's what you mean. Yeah.
[00:28:38.170] - Chris
In no way am I implying that we push, we gloss over, we shove that work authorization in their face, like sign this and then. No, it's just we're showing up, understanding our role as a restoration professional, which.
[00:28:55.450] - Chris
Is, and this is really true, whether.
[00:28:57.210] - Chris
It'S commercial or residential. But the point is, our objective is to solve their problem and meet their need that they have. And we know what that is.
[00:29:05.330] - Chris
Nine times out of ten, we know.
[00:29:08.000] - Chris
What is going to follow that initial greeting. And we need to lead them through that. So it puts them at ease. It calms some of the anxiety and stress and frustration and uncertainty that they're feeling right huge. And as we do that and the customer is able to sort of calmly.
[00:29:24.050] - Chris
Interact with us and navigate with us.
[00:29:26.200] - Chris
It just unfolds really naturally. I think one other piece too about.
[00:29:30.630] - Chris
That assumptiveness is if you're a full.
[00:29:33.110] - Chris
Service restorer, we ought to be conveying right from the initial greeting, the full service nature of our help.
[00:29:42.040] - Chris
There you go.
[00:29:43.290] - Chris
I think this is another really common misstep or blind spot that a lot of restoration companies have. Is that because we internally think of the different steps of the process as being different departments, different processes, different science, different process outlines. A lot of times we inadvertently train our people to talk about the business that way externally, and it really confuses people. I think we forget customer doesn't really understand the difference between mitigation and restoration. And we so often use all these terms interchangeably, like we call ourselves a restoration company, but then we refer to the reconstruction as the restoration part of the business. There's all this interchangeability that we do when those of us in the industry talk about what we do.
[00:30:34.570] - Chris
But to the customer, all they realize.
[00:30:37.280] - Chris
Is, my house is messed up. I think I'm going to need somebody to also rebuild it. To the customer, it's all one problem. And yet we can tend to confuse the customer and complicate the process by the way we talk about it instead of just saying, hey, Mrs. Jones, have you ever been through something like this before?
[00:30:56.640] - Chris
No.
[00:30:57.000] - Chris
Okay, let me walk you through the process because there's a lot to it, but it's what we do every day. So let me explain the different ways that we're going to help as we go through this and as we talk about it. We can talk about it as a seamless, continuous process, that we're going to be with them for every step of.
[00:31:15.850] - Chris
The way with the intent of calming.
[00:31:18.160] - Chris
Them down, to let them know by the time they're done with that initial interaction with the technician.
[00:31:23.270] - Chris
Okay.
[00:31:23.610] - Chris
We don't have to worry about calling more people. We don't need to figure out anything else about this. They are going to help us figure this super important.
[00:31:33.810] - Brandon
Yeah. And I think specifically when we're talking about that conversion from EMS or emergency services into the construction or whatever additional phases or divisions that we get to get engaged in, that that's the magic, is that we're very clear from the very beginning we will not allow an air gap to be created where they then feel like they have to go out and start solving this problem on their own, because that is that air gap is where we lose a lot of opportunity. We will lose the client when we haven't done a great job of preparing.
[00:32:06.700] - Chris
Them and letting them know, just as Chris articulated that, hey, this is one.
[00:32:11.930] - Brandon
Size fits all, we're going to take care of you from beginning to end. We're going to introduce specialists within our team to hold your hand during those phases. But we're here. We're here from the beginning until the final phase.
[00:32:22.900] - Chris
Yeah.
[00:32:23.090] - Chris
The recon is sold in the first 20 minutes of us showing up. Absolutely. That customer's home.
[00:32:27.380] - Chris
Yeah.
[00:32:27.630] - Brandon
And worst case, they're going to tell you very specifically they have another plan. Well, that's great. If that's the plan, we can prepare accordingly, but losing someone because of that air gap that we accidentally create just sucks, and it's absolutely preventable. So I think you're spot on. So again, just like, just kind of hovering in this building, rapport element.
[00:32:45.260] - Chris
In our initial meeting with the team. Right.
[00:32:48.140] - Brandon
We're asking those good questions. We're presenting ourselves in a professional way, but then this is really important. I've seen some teams do this to varying degree, and I think those that do it consistently get a lot of success from it. And that is, I will normally ask.
[00:33:01.040] - Chris
Or teach teams, ask them to walk you to the point of damage, have.
[00:33:06.030] - Brandon
The homeowner take you there. And this sounds kind of like, duh, but, man, this is our opportunity to ask more questions, to engage the client with a sense of purpose, not just bullshitting at the front door. We have a sense of direction and purpose with the conversation, but it is giving us time and grade with our clients. Hey, would you mind showing me where the damages are, as far as you understand.
[00:33:27.490] - Chris
Right.
[00:33:27.960] - Brandon
So then we go through that process, then I want to be really proactive with my communication and something to the extent of, okay, this is great. I'm going to ask some questions, like, is there anything specific that you're nervous about or worried about in this space? And that gives us the opportunity to hear directly from our client, hey, there's this piece of personal property, or there's this piece of furniture, whatever it is that they're extra nervous about, or maybe some kind of gray area in the process that now we can speak to. And again, we're answering yes to those three questions when we have an opportunity to do that.
[00:33:59.820] - Chris
So another thing that I like to.
[00:34:01.970] - Brandon
Encourage our teams to do, and it's mandatory in our system, is that I.
[00:34:06.430] - Chris
Am going to prep the stage for.
[00:34:08.610] - Brandon
My client from the sense of, hey, what I'm about to do now is I'm going to walk through this process where I use my moisture meter and my tools and I'm going to determine the extent of damages. Then I'm going to take some time to create a plan on how to best take care of your situation. What I will do is once I've had a chance to do that and kind of outline the extent of damages and come up with a dry plan, I'm going to meet with you and review that with you. Are you cool with that?
[00:34:34.710] - Chris
Great.
[00:34:35.290] - Brandon
Because what I've just done is said, hey, homeowner or business owner, I need some time to do my job. I don't want you hovering over me, but I want to be clear with you what I'm doing so that you can be confident enough to give me the space to do my job. And that is before I walk out.
[00:34:50.590] - Chris
Of here, I'm going to meet with.
[00:34:52.130] - Brandon
You and walk through my plan as I see it. Okay, so that's an important phase that I think we gloss over.
[00:34:57.740] - Chris
Then.
[00:34:58.500] - Brandon
Speaking of that, that walkthrough of what we plan to do, this is all of us doing what Chris said, assumptive closing. I'm leading the client. I'm teaching them how to say yes to me and inevitably let us start working on their behalf.
[00:35:12.860] - Chris
I'm teaching them what they need to.
[00:35:15.350] - Brandon
Do to walk through this process. So then I stop. I'm done. I have a dry plan. I know what I need to do, and I just walk through it with them.
[00:35:22.680] - Chris
Right?
[00:35:22.950] - Brandon
Hey, here's what my plan is. Here's how we're going to take care of this loss.
[00:35:26.510] - Chris
Good to go.
[00:35:27.260] - Brandon
Great. So what I'm going to do today is I'm going to start the stabilization, right? And I set the path or set the tone, how long am I going to be on site? What all will I be doing? And I'm getting these verbal agreements with me as I'm leading the client through this relationship and teaching them how to buy from me. Now, obviously, we get done with outlining with the client what we're going to do, what's expected, the extent of damages, and then we can walk through our documentation. But I've now had an opportunity while I've been on site to give them the buying signal to teach them. I'm answering yes to these three questions by the way I act, the way I behave, the way I talk to them, the way I've led them through the process. So when it comes time, finally to get those signatures so I can go out to the truck and begin doing work. I've had lots of opportunity to warm my client up to just saying, heck, yeah, let's go.
[00:36:16.330] - Chris
Okay, now, that's a big obstacle that we've just overcome at that point.
[00:36:22.640] - Brandon
So at least we've got an agreement. We're now producing the mitigation work. So now our opportunity is to continue to set the tone and move the client into this transition where our recon team, as an example, begins to hold their hand and lead them through that second phase of the project. And there's a few things that are.
[00:36:41.910] - Chris
Really important in terms of timing.
[00:36:44.090] - Brandon
One is, I think it's absolutely mission critical for our recon division that part of the team to begin engaging the client while demo is being done.
[00:36:54.340] - Chris
Now, I do understand from the sake.
[00:36:56.800] - Brandon
Of efficiency that it kind of sucks to go out to a job more than one time. Totally understand.
[00:37:02.360] - Chris
And however, I think a combination of.
[00:37:05.500] - Brandon
Experience and technology and clear communication with our mitigation teams, even if demolition is not completed 100%, I really don't see any reason we're not capable of gathering scope data and beginning to build our plan and start those negotiations with the carrier. The reason I want to do it then one again, I'm removing an air gap where my client is left in confusion or left to create this question mark of things they need to address on their own. But more importantly, I'm getting a jump because I now have three, four, five days of dry time that I can begin my negotiations with the carrier. All of us that pay attention to this show and that are restorers, you.
[00:37:47.270] - Chris
Know that one of the biggest bones.
[00:37:49.600] - Brandon
Of contention or pains for us is how long does it take us to get the carrier to come to an agreement on our construction scope, right? Especially in a residential environment where it's not a direct out of pocket, direct.
[00:38:02.330] - Chris
Pay, three to five days is a.
[00:38:04.510] - Brandon
Lifetime if your house is tore up. So us being able to compress that time frame and engage immediately as soon as we can is massive, and it does an absolute ton to help us secure that second part of the process.
[00:38:19.330] - Chris
Right?
[00:38:20.080] - Chris
And it's a perfect opportunity for what we refer to as the restoration checklist meeting.
[00:38:24.910] - Chris
Right. It's where, first of all, to the.
[00:38:27.030] - Chris
Customer, when we do it on that timeline, they don't experience that massive gap of what's happening and all of the stress and anxiety around that. So we keep that ball moving. I totally agree, man.
[00:38:38.550] - Chris
And I think the earlier that we.
[00:38:41.370] - Chris
Sit down and have that comprehensive conversation and get them oriented around the things that are going to affect the timeline early and upfront.
[00:38:49.370] - Chris
Things like when we go through the.
[00:38:50.830] - Chris
Checklist, we explain the material selection process and just how important that is of staying on top of that in terms of the timeline, explaining the silent phase, which you're actually working to shorten by getting in there while demo is potentially.
[00:39:05.240] - Chris
Even still underway, all of those things.
[00:39:08.000] - Chris
Serve to make it really easy and comfortable for the customer to continue saying yes. That's the thing about this. Like we talked about, Recon is sold at the very beginning. Hey, look, we're going to help you from soup to nuts right from now taking care of your initial problem to the final post construction, cleaning, it's just a process of them continuing to feel safe and comfortable with the process that you've already laid out for them.
[00:39:31.260] - Chris
Right.
[00:39:31.700] - Chris
And I think a lot of people, they get to that point where demo is complete and they send out an estimator or they send out a PM to go get the recon business, it's like, no, that's already the wrong thinking as far as the customer is concerned. They never thought there was another decision to make is the way that we want to treat that, right?
[00:39:52.830] - Chris
Yeah.
[00:39:53.230] - Brandon
And I think another part that you're alluding to that I don't want to jump over because this is that other breaking point where we will consistently lose a client as well, is what he referred to as the silent phase. And you guys know this. You can feel it in your guts. That is that place in time in a project's lifecycle where we've just gone into the paint. Time is of the essence. Move, right? And then you run into this point where we start this negotiation phase on the scope of repairs, and then it.
[00:40:23.050] - Chris
Gets just quiet for weeks at a time.
[00:40:26.620] - Brandon
We can be in this position where very little work is being done on the project because we're negotiating and getting an agreement on the repair scope. Now, for some of you that run as a bank and you do all the repairs and hope to get paid later, maybe you don't run into this. We don't believe that's a good best practice. We believe that you should negotiate scope, get an agreement and be sure that funds are being sent on that particular project before you open up your checkbook. So in my mind, that silent phase is very real for most professional companies, and we can win when we can talk about it openly before it starts.
[00:40:59.660] - Chris
So again, Chris is right.
[00:41:01.330] - Brandon
We get in right away. We shrink that time frame. But then on top of it, is part of that handoff, is part of us continuing to guide and lead the client through the buying process and through the project lifecycle, I'm going to talk about that phase and I'm going to be very clear with them. It's going to feel like nothing's happening. But it is absolutely critical that we proactively negotiate this scope to be sure that we can get you back to a pre loss condition without you having any out of pocket expenses that aren't appropriate.
[00:41:32.010] - Chris
Right.
[00:41:33.230] - Brandon
There's a reason that it's going to be silent for a while, and that's because we're negotiating on their behalf to protect them. And so by us talking about that as part of that recon review or that recon checklist, again, think about the signal that you're sending them. You're saying yes over and over to can they trust you? Can you help them? Do you care about them? And we're saying yes by the language that we're using, the leadership that we're displaying, the questions that we're asking, the way we carry ourselves. And that is just one more example of how you're saying yes to that.
[00:42:04.390] - Chris
By the way that you behave so.
[00:42:06.500] - Brandon
Kind of a fly by here. It's all about engineering that first call. It's about engineering the feeling or the impression that we want that customer to have when they talk to us. It's about engineering an experience when our people show up at the door, that we're able to answer yes to the three universal questions, by the way that we act, by the way that we behave, by the way we carry ourselves, and we repeat that process when it comes time to convert that into a recon lead, all on the basis of this assumptive closing, meaning that we're leading.
[00:42:37.880] - Chris
The client from the place of, of.
[00:42:40.310] - Brandon
Course they need us to do it all.
[00:42:41.940] - Chris
Yeah, I think this is so important, too, and we talk so much about this when it comes to commercial sales, is that we need to be more.
[00:42:51.220] - Chris
About the customer's experience and what the customer feels like they need and want.
[00:42:57.340] - Chris
Than our process internally. So some of us need to update our language about the way we talk about jobs, the way we talk about the process, because we've lost track of the fact that our clients, including even many of our commercial clients, if we're.
[00:43:14.920] - Chris
Honest, they don't think about the business.
[00:43:17.230] - Chris
The same way we do. And it's important we speak to their language. Right. In order for us to put them at ease, in order for them to recognize us as, hey, okay, these guys are here.
[00:43:26.720] - Chris
Problem solved.
[00:43:29.170] - Chris
I can be about my work and the things I need to do because they're going to help me with all of this stuff, 100%. That's the impression we want to leave. And it forces us to talk about our process a little bit differently each step of the way. So that has to do with how the person that's doing the call and take talks to the person, asks the questions, explains what's next. Same thing with the technicians that are responding. Same thing with them when they have their first conversation with the job file coordinator.
[00:43:59.000] - Chris
Same thing when the project manager takes.
[00:44:01.230] - Chris
Over that file and has that recon checklist meeting. Everybody's referencing back to this holistic, start to finish help that they can expect from us.
[00:44:12.020] - Chris
Absolutely.
[00:44:12.610] - Chris
And if everybody is pointing back to that role, that really important, specialized, complicated.
[00:44:20.770] - Chris
Unique role that we have, there's never.
[00:44:23.170] - Chris
A point at which the customer steps back like, oh, man, I need to fend for myself, or I need to protect myself, or I've got insurance questions, I got to call my agent. No, you call your job file coordinator or you call your PM, and they'll hunt down that answer, or they'll connect you to the right person.
[00:44:39.610] - Chris
That's all.
[00:44:40.250] - Chris
What we're trying to do is, hey, problem was solved the moment you called us. Yeah, that's the right mentality. That's good.
[00:44:48.000] - Brandon
All right, last piece here, guys, and we'll close this one up. And that is, we're not done continuing to earn and hold on to that client just because they've now agreed to. And we start the construction services. As you guys know, that's just one of those really important, critical relationships. We're exposed to that relationship for an extended period of time, and we can have moments where we could potentially lose that. Yes. And so examples of that where I tend to see these things show up, it's going to be based on the communication cadence that we hold with that client. If we have project managers that continue to struggle to give consistent feedback and communication and updates to our client, we're going to open up another air gap where they then feel the need to continue to fight for themselves or fend for themselves, inevitably putting them in a position where we could potentially lose them. So maybe we got the initial yes, and instead of doing $100,000 job, though, we break up, unfortunately, and we only get a portion of that job. In worst case scenario, we have a broken relationship, who then goes out and proactively speaks on behalf of the fact that it was a broken relationship.
[00:45:59.090] - Brandon
So I think the communication cadence ongoing in the construction side is so critical because we're exposed to that relationship so long, and at any moment, we could create a scenario where that client now has buyers remorse and we ultimately lose them. The other thing that I would say, and this can really be driven by our coordinator staff, our in house staff, is there is nothing wrong with having a weekly check in call where someone, through an unfiltered method, is checking in with that client, asking questions and making sure that we do a pulse check. Because the reality of it is, as project managers, we can run into moments.
[00:46:35.780] - Chris
Where we drop the ball, we lose.
[00:46:38.330] - Brandon
Our sight on the target. Our communication is not as consistent as it could be, and we could save that by having that redundant backstop of someone just checking in with the client. And we tend to see coordinators doing that and doing it in their role very effectively. And so that combination of things tends to put us in a position where we have the strongest chance of earning that business and getting the green light and then maintaining that green light through the entire customer lifecycle so that we get the entire project in scope.
[00:47:07.690] - Chris
All right, here we go.
[00:47:09.060] - Brandon
Kind of a beans and bullets. Hopefully there was some content in there that you guys can leverage in your favor. We'll see you next time. All right, see ya. All right, everybody. Hey, thanks for joining us for another episode of Head, heart, and Boots.
[00:47:22.160] - Chris
And if you're enjoying the show but you love this episode, please hit follow. Formerly known as subscribe, write us a.
[00:47:28.910] - Chris
Review, or share this episode with a friend.
[00:47:31.600] - Chris
Share it on LinkedIn, share it via text, whatever.
[00:47:34.040] - Chris
It all helps. Thanks for listening.
