[00:00:00.000] - Brandon
What's up, dude? An interesting show today. A little tech-oriented.
[00:00:03.640] - Chris
Yeah, very tech-oriented. It's funny. Lane was like, not to make this a sales pitch. This is not a sales pitch. These guys are not sponsors of the show. They weren't sending us wads of cash. But I think whenever you're talking about software, it's inevitable. When you try to contrast between existing platforms and solutions on the market and trying to describe what's different about it, inevitably, it sounds like a presentation. But I thought this was a really conversation, and it's very interesting. We're talking about Clean Claims and Magic Plan. I think it's such an important episode because the impact of our job management software and the various software tools that we use is enormous in this business.
[00:00:42.750] - Brandon
It is, yeah. It's an enormous area for pain, and we all know it. Oh, gosh. Lane talks about that pretty early in the conversation as an extra store, of this was my number one hatred on a weekly basis was showing up and talking to my people.
[00:00:58.360] - Chris
Why aren't the photos in the system Where's the document? Why didn't... Which is like, ever present, where every store to store understands. It's interesting, Andreas and Lane both have a background of being operators in the restoration industry, which I think is always... It seems to lead to the best products and service solutions is when people have actually been in the trench, and both of these guys have. It shows up in the conversation. They understand they started these companies and have really developed these businesses out of their own pain as restores.
[00:01:28.980] - Brandon
That's right. I I think proof is there. I think you'll get it from some of the feature sets that we talk about and just compare and contrasting. But I think more importantly, you're going to walk, just go try their stuff. The whole reason we have these guys on at the same time, Magicplan in and of itself is a really powerful and easy to use and deploy sketching tool, but it's this combination of both. It's the full integration of Magic's plans, sketching capacity and LiDAR use, and then marrying that up to clean claims like administrative accountability. It's really-It's cool.
[00:02:02.900] - Chris
My wife and I had an experience with Magic Plan. Actually, one of my friends is one of those desk estimator, project manager guys at Home Depot. Oh, yeah. He's retired and it's his retirement job. He's like, we were getting ready to do a home kitchen remodel. And he's like, Hey, just get Magic Plant out and just sketch your room. And then you can fuss with the walls and taking walls out and moving this and here and there. And so we did and just did it on the iPad. It was super easy, super simple and free. So you can go download Magic Plan and do a couple of plans yourself and play around with it at home while you're watching Netflix.
[00:02:36.660] - Brandon
What did you say, 136,000 users currently. Crazy. On Magic Plan from the App Store.
[00:02:42.600] - Chris
Well, I think Home Depot has some strategic partnership where they recommend it to their clients who are thinking about doing a remodel or whatever. But yeah, they've got traction. It's a big deal. It's not just in restoration, but gosh, after hearing about the integration with CleanClaims, it sounds like a rad tool. Instantaneous, right? And That seems like the magic play.
[00:03:01.580] - Brandon
Yeah, it's literally instantaneous.
[00:03:03.520] - Chris
It happens right away versus having to wait and get an email or whatever.
[00:03:06.420] - Brandon
It's in your hands as you do.
[00:03:07.760] - Chris
Okay, so here we go. Let's jump in. And Lane. Let's go. Wow. How many of you have listened to the Head, Heart, and Boots podcast? I can't tell you that reaction, how much that means to us. Welcome back to the Head, Heart, and Boots podcast. I'm Chris.
[00:03:21.790] - Brandon
And I'm Brandon. Join us as we wrestle with what it takes to transform ourselves and the businesses we lead. This new camera angle makes my arms look smaller than yours.
[00:03:31.560] - Chris
I'm noticing that, and I really appreciate it. I thought you did that on purpose.
[00:03:34.540] - Brandon
No, I don't. I didn't, and I am not happy with it. Hey, all, thanks so much for listening to the show. Hey, if you're not already following, please do so. And Ultimately, share. The coolest currency that we have in terms of supporting this is share it with a friend, share it with somebody, a colleague, a peer, one of your downline team members. Let them be able to take advantage of the information you're already leveraging in your favor. And finally, guys, if If you hear a show that really moves you, that really moves the needle, will you please leave us a review? Those five-star reviews help us a ton.
[00:04:08.700] - Chris
Right on. Listen, if you're trying to grow your business, you might consider checking out Floodlights' business opportunity audit. It's free. We provided it no charge. It's actually what we use to assess new clients as they come in. It's a 110-point assessment for your business. We've now decided to give access to the general public for it. Go and take our business opportunity audit at floodlightgrp. Com. It's going to help you identify the biggest gaps and opportunities in your business right now. At the end, it'll assign you a health score to let you know exactly where your business stands right now. Go check it out, floodlightgrp. Com/audit, and take the Boa. It's a great way to get a pulse on your business.
[00:04:48.990] - Brandon
Well, gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us and taking time. Lane, you just came out of the woods, didn't you? I did, yeah.
[00:04:55.590] - Lane
Back in civilization. So it's good. Thanks for having me.
[00:04:58.580] - Brandon
I think the last time we talked to you, you were talking about bears. So I think you still had camo on when we were actually-Yeah, I did.
[00:05:06.200] - Chris
Which is pretty awesome.
[00:05:08.120] - Lane
It was probably good that we switched days.
[00:05:10.950] - Brandon
But that was probably a good day for smell a vision not quite coming to fruition just yet, right?
[00:05:17.380] - Lane
We just need-I agree. I definitely agree.
[00:05:20.270] - Brandon
Three-dimensional on that. Awesome. Well, thanks for joining us, guys. Hey, just get us started. Why don't we do this? Why don't we give everybody a 30-second pitch on who each one of you the companies that you're representing, and then we'll get into where we're headed, because I think it's going to be a really fun conversation around our tech staff. Andreas, you want to get us started, my friend?
[00:05:39.980] - Andreas
Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here today. So who am I? Andreas out of Germany. What's my story? I basically joined my family business 12 years ago as a project manager in recon and restoration jobs. I was a little bit let down by the analog nature of all of that. At that time, already a big iPad fan. I always carried my iPad with me on my job sites. That was V1. That was not common at that time. I really wanted to find a better way of putting it all down. I played around with GoPros and whatnot, but then I started working with Magicplan as a user. Now, long story short, now I'm here as the CEO of Magicplan for the last eight years. Bought the company out of my own conviction that this is the product that the industry needs, and that's what I'm doing to the state.
[00:06:37.340] - Brandon
Nice. Right on. You know what? I totally spaced it in our previous conversations that you grew up in the family business, too. Both our guests are veteran restorers, so that'll be rad, man. I totally forgot about that, Andreas. Lane, for the two people that haven't heard anything about Clean Claims yet, you want to do a quick introduction of yourself, my friend? Yeah.
[00:06:56.080] - Lane
So thanks for having me. I've been in construction, just my background. I've been in I've structured my whole life. I grew up cleaning up job sites from the time I was eight years old. So that's my world. So the fact that I'm on a software company is weird now, but it was built out of necessity. So I built four of my own restoration companies, sold those as well, and built the software along the way to help for documentation and different things, just simplifying things. So the whole point was creating systems and places to where it makes it easy for the technician. The critical data is making it easy for the technicians in the field to be able to document It all starts with that. If you can make it to where they get the data they need, then that's what's crucial and trickles down to all the way to getting paid, eliminating all those problems. That's where it stemmed from is living in that construction world and restoration to know what we need.
[00:07:46.020] - Brandon
It's funny because I know everybody, we're always super guarded. We're not going to do an hour long pitch on a product. You guys, it's so interesting this merge. The reason we were so excited to get you guys on the show, one is your two products working together is creating a pretty magical product. But more importantly, what we want to talk about is you guys, and especially, obviously on the backbone of CleanClaims, there's just this really tech-facing prioritization in terms of what you guys are doing. As we were coming up with these conversations leading up to this, we were like, Man, we should get into that vein, because I think that's the thing we miss, is that we create all these software solutions about getting more data, being able to track performance and do these things, which are great. But then we miss the end user, which is actually not the leadership team, if we really think about it. It's actually our tech staff, and they get left in the cold. It feels like when it comes time to prioritize and pick these solutions. Anyway, so that was a long ways around to say, we just want to hang in that pocket and talk about what you guys have done to create a more effective performance.
[00:08:52.320] - Brandon
I think people get a good picture of how the software can support that. But more importantly, a mind shift that probably all of us can make as we the end user, i. E, our team members, maybe over some of these other priorities. Anyways, a long workup, but I think we know where we're going.
[00:09:07.260] - Chris
I think we got a starting point.
[00:09:08.800] - Brandon
All right. Well, let's do this, you guys. Why don't we just set the stage first with what's happening between these two products? Then I think that'll make a lot more sense while we're going to be talking about our tech staff. Andrew, do you want to just give us that first overview of what it is that you guys are integrating right now? Then, Lane, why don't you play cleanup on that and just seal the deal for us?
[00:09:29.840] - Andreas
Yeah, sure. What are we doing? Basically, we are a mobile sketching and field documentation solution. One of my core principles that I act upon is I want to plan ahead. It's in the word, I need a plan. I need a layout of the property, the site, or whatever I'm dealing with because that tells me the story. That has been my focus on, Okay, give me the square footage, but give me also what rooms are in there, what's the DNA or a corpse of the property. We have that field sketching element that we are doing, and we try to make it as easy as possible and basically using your mobile phone. That was also what brought me to actually pulling the trigger and saying, Yes, I want to do this because handing out the pure product to my project managers 12 years ago, I basically looked back after a year and they started picking it up themselves and used it for every project. That ease of use is what we try to preserve to this day. Then basically handing over that documentation, that field sketch, two link names, two lane, so that he can really go into detail of all the different data sets that you need for a restoration project.
[00:10:46.980] - Brandon
Yeah, man.
[00:10:47.580] - Lane
Just to add to that, the key to this that people need to know, and this is me putting my restore hat on, right? Speaking for the restoration company, not as a software guy. I hate that everybody says they integrate, that everybody says that you use this, use that. You have 10 different logins. You have 10 different like double, triple, quadruple entries, the nightmare that never ends, right? And so the biggest thing is about our integration is, I mean, in our system, as a lot of people know, and maybe they don't, is I mean, I trained 68 technicians on a job in 10 minutes how to use the program. No BS. That's not to hype up my product and say, that's the whole point of it. It's supposed to be simple, right? But with that, my product without these true integrations isn't valuable to me. You have to have an integration. And so what we've done with Andreas in the magic plan is that it feels like you're in one system. Even though you're going back and forth, the technician doesn't know that. It literally is so smooth and easy to capture the data, and we have it to where it pushes and pulls that data back and forth to eliminate the double login and then the double entry.
[00:11:53.590] - Lane
So the key to the integration, especially with us, is now we get a sketch tool that's right from your phone, and it's instant, which that's the key that's huge for me. That's what I was teasing you guys, I think, last time about why I wanted to start another restoration company. Is I'm like, if I don't have to wait 24 hours, and I have to go back out the next day to start, that's what's huge. And that's what we're really excited and that you guys were having this podcast because that's what we're going to market, is that the convenience of it. There's nothing really that convenient in the industry. And together we're providing this insane convenience and speed. And it's all live data. You can share that data with the carrier, the agent, the adjuster. I mean, you're allowing it to create total transparency where that's never existed. So that's one of the huge things I just wanted to touch on for like, Restore is listening, is that that's what we're trying to provide. It's not an add on or another software. This industry in the last three to four years has just been an insane amount of like, here, eat this software, have that one nonstop.
[00:12:50.170] - Lane
And it's like we're trying to make it to where it's not that way. It's very, very simple, it's easy, and it's a one login use. You know what I mean? So that's what I would add to that.
[00:12:59.670] - Brandon
It's It's interesting because I think one of the things that Chris and I have been having a lot of conversations with folks recently has been around closing and conversion rates. One of the things that we've just seen come true over and over again is that one of the ways that teams can secure a higher conversion rate, meaning from EMS to, let's say, a repair service opportunity, is how quickly do we get on site and begin gathering the information that will create that scope negotiation and get it that process started? Because we have this thing we reference as the silent phase, that handoff time, where the restoration company is negotiating on the client's behalf to secure that scope approval, but they don't really know what's going on. And after five days, let's say, of just crazy activity on the EMS side, it feels weird then for them to go into this holding pattern, where we secure funds and secure scope. But anyways, this is one of those things we push, is how quickly can we gather information and get that really competently handed from our EMS team into our recon team to create that consistency, obviously, but to shrink those time frames.
[00:14:07.150] - Brandon
I was watching you, you demoed this product, I think at Large Loss Mastery was the last time we saw it. And literally, you guys, as fast as you could walk the phone in a circle, essentially in the room, it was capturing the measuring data and creating the floor plan, which ultimately then can become the basis for that recon scope. I mean, if you guys want to elaborate on that a little bit, but that just blew my doors off. That's what got me hyped is was I don't have to send in now another person. My staff that's already on site in their normal protocol can gather what I need as a recon team and begin that process from the very beginning. Scanning with this product, which to me, that's creating wins. Again, it's in the hands of the tech. It doesn't require a project manager to go out to scan. I'm not carrying a $5,000 camera. Anyways, I don't know if you guys want to unpack that a little bit, but what are you guys seeing from that in terms of users?
[00:15:02.610] - Andreas
Maybe I go first again because we kick it off. The key element to me always was and always is that the user is in full control. When are you in control? When you have your results instantly and you can checkmark them off. That is all that we care about is, okay, I am on site, I observe the scene or whatnot. Once I leave the site, I want to have the peace of mind that I've done everything and I've closed everything. I know that if I see the result instantly while I'm still there, I can do that and I can say, Okay, that actually captures the picture that I had in my head while walking through here. If I drive off, I can hand it off, I can pass it to the back coffers to whatnot, but I don't need to remember anything, and I most hopefully don't need to go back because I forgot anything. That is really one of the key elements, what we want to achieve, put the user in control and make it transparent to them if they've basically done their job.
[00:16:02.690] - Brandon
Yeah, I love that.
[00:16:03.450] - Lane
Yeah, the key to add to that, too, is just the simplicity. This is what I love about Andreas and Magic Plan and us is it's all about keeping it simple. What you guys were bringing up in the beginning, all these CEOs want all these things. They want to see all this stuff. But it's like, you got to get down to the heart of where are you getting that data. If you can't get the data correctly, right? And then on Travis' point, knowing that you have it. So when you combine Magic Plan sketching into Clean Claims Process Enforcement, to where in our system, for people that don't know, you can require everything from before pictures, videos, moisture readings, whatever it is, and you can't move on. So now we're adding that sketch tool into that to where now they don't have a choice. You're getting perfection every time, but without micromanaging or just yelling down their throats about, you need to do this, you need to do that. It's built to where you just you can't move on to the next step till you do it. So tying in Magic Plan into making sure that we're getting our daily photos and moisture readings and thermal imaging and all that.
[00:17:00.080] - Lane
Now we're tying in that sketch to where now you have to go through and do that scan. And with one click of a button, it opens up Magic Plan. You do the scan. And the other fun thing we've been doing with Magic Plan's team is our remote monitoring piece. So when you set up the remote monitoring, when you scan that room, and, Andreas, you correct me if I'm wrong, it'll pick up the sensors as well. So you want to talk about instant moisture mapping. And I'll probably be in phase two that we're working on. But it'll literally be if you have the remote sensor set up, when you scan that room and you hit done, It'll be instantly moisture mapping. You don't even have to... So you want to talk about speed and efficiency, and then I can share that data live with anybody I want. The client, if the adjuster wants to know about it, here you go. It's eliminating that he said, she said argument that everybody wants to go. I mean, I was ready to leave restoration a couple of years into it because I was just like, oh, my gosh, if I have to go one more day arguing to get paid for what I did, even if I have the documentation.
[00:17:56.450] - Lane
So this eliminates at the end of the job, if it took five days and then sending it and then starting the debate, now it's like, well, let's just share the sketch and all the information right now as it's happening, and they can see it live as it's going on. And now everybody involved is all on the same page. And it's this. There's no need to argue anymore.
[00:18:14.150] - Brandon
Okay. So I want to poke at that a little bit. I want to get your perspective on this because I've heard you make that comment before, and it sounds rad on paper. And we know that in recent experience, I think there's an absolute amp on frustration around negotiation applications and getting a claim close. I just want to hear very specifically from you, Lane. What is it? Because this is your own experience. This isn't just you pitching product, but this is the use of you internally and your prospects and your current users right now are talking about it as well, what is it? What specifically is happening that's creating that reduction in friction in the approval process? Because a lot of different ways we're providing documentation, and it doesn't seem to be the silver bullet to make it a lot easier to close a claim out. What is it that's happening that you're seeing from-Yeah, what are adjusters like?
[00:19:08.560] - Chris
What are these auditors of these claims like about this?
[00:19:11.960] - Lane
I would say, again, this is me just putting my restore I have back on, right, from my experience, and then I can add in client's experiences, too. But the main thing is every software program out there that's been built for their stores, either built by a software company that thinks that we know what we need, or it was by a carrier that's saying, This is what we need. But it's not realistic in the field. That's just my opinion from my experience. So the difference is, in any other program that you use, you can edit and manipulate the data whenever you want. So every time I carry a claim, and no matter how much documentation I have, I can debate that all day long, because in certain systems, I can change the dates, the times, the readings. So it leaves everything up for debate. There's nothing you can really trust on, did you really do it or did you not? Where in our system, it's the first of its kind, where you can't edit and manipulate the data. It is what it is. And so that's what makes it huge. But then again, it's simplifying it.
[00:20:04.590] - Lane
That's not rocket science or anything. It's just... And then giving the data now in the moment, why wait till the end of the job to start the going back and forth? If an adjuster gets a sign right on site, I can send him a link to this job, and he can see exactly what we're doing live. You can watch the videos, you can see the pictures. If you have any questions, now you can ask now. We don't have to wait till after five days, and then start that debate of like, well, the standard is only three, so I only want to pay. You're trying to pay for five. And that whole thing. We can have that talk on day one or day two already showing the progression or if it's not progressing and what changes need to be made. So having the S500 standards built into the software helps a ton because then it tells the technicians what's recommended for equipment, what you need to do. So that's all normal. The difference is that we're sharing that data live with all parties involved that want to be involved. So That's the key. So then you're seeing people get paid.
[00:21:02.290] - Lane
We've had clients call us. I mean, it gives me goosebumps thinking about because it's what it's supposed to do. We've had a client do a 16 day dry out on a Walmart. I won't mention who it is, but they were sending out their daily snapshot reports out of clean claims every day to all parties involved, from the property owner, the manager, the adjuster. At the end of 16 days, they got paid out $1.8 million in four days of completing the job because there was nothing in a debate. There was nothing to argue. Everybody knew why it was taking 16 days. They knew what equipment is there. They saw the psychometric readings every day. That's the biggest difference. So it's not rocket science. We're trying to simplify it. Everybody thinks they have this grand, huge idea and make it all complicated. Our process is like the simpler you can make it for the field technicians. They're the ones collecting most critical data. So when you throw in our data collection and then Magic Plan scanning tool of Inkster sketch, I mean, it just makes it to where it's just, in my opinion, a flawless system. You can't debate facts in real-time data.
[00:21:59.270] - Lane
So that's what I would say, be the biggest thing that really trickles down to your question I'm asking is, how to adjust or debate, or why does that make it better? It's just transparency. It's just it is what it is live in the moment, and I don't know how you debate that. You know what I mean? Because that's the problem is they show up and they're like, okay, it's already been demoed and trashed, and that's why the questions start. But if they're involved in that process from the beginning, then there is no arguing or fighting. It's like, okay, cool. Here's where we are and what we're doing. And it allows you to, hey, this hardwood floor is super wet. We're going on two days of an injective dry floor system. It's not drying. And then the adjuster is a part of that conversation saying, cool, let's give it a few more days. If we can save eight grand of ripping out that hardwood floor, then we should do that. Now it's collaborative. It's not fighting. It's like we're working together now. So that's the key.
[00:22:48.290] - Brandon
Yeah. I mean, that makes a lot of sense. I think a lot of the other ways that we've merged into digital is it's just a way to gather the information. You're still essentially presenting it in that more static format at post-project, right? Formating is a lot cleaner and more pro-looking than hand scratch notes, but you're providing a product that you could ultimately manipulate any way you want. It's just cleaner, essentially.
[00:23:12.740] - Lane
Right.
[00:23:13.170] - Chris
You know, guys, what I think might Maybe useful is to draw some contrast or comparisons between some of the other solutions on the market, because I think while everything you guys are saying makes perfect sense in terms of the transparency and the speed at which you guys render this information and provide it out and share it out, the transparency piece, I think there is an element with so many competing software solutions in the market that your typical restore. They're like, I feel like I've heard this before. It feels like everybody is saying the same thing to one degree or another. I think of even, I forget who I was talking to the other day. They were talking about how you can share inside certain job management software. You can create a public link for an adjuster, an insurance agent, referral partner, or a client to where they can track with the real time updates of notes in the system and so forth. And I'm like, well, yeah, we utilize that in Dash seven or eight years ago. I think people can get lost in the noise of the market. So could you guys take a moment and contrast between, say, DocuSketch and InCircle or Matterport and some of these other types of solutions that are out there that restores may already be using or have heard about with the integration with the platform that you guys have put together.
[00:24:26.670] - Andreas
I'm going to start with a quick one. I had one of my project managers, and we basically interviewed him, What do you like best? And he was like, Okay, now I can produce drawings that feel as if they were to come out of an architect's office. And he was really proud of himself that he is producing field notes or whatnot that typically would require a trained architect to produce those. That really, it's in the hand of the user and they are in control of their result and they are proud of it. That is what triggers me most of the time. It's like their product, they like it, and that's what gets the adoption. That's what gets everything. Once you get to that point, they actually want to do it. They want to produce more of their great work. I think it's similar to what Lane is doing, and we are trying to combine those two. It's really a feeling of the people in the field that carries us forward. I think, to be honest, that's the difference. To some of the other solutions, it's a little bit different. That's what I've observed, and that's what is the feedback, and that's what I also like.
[00:25:33.710] - Andreas
I want to enable and empower the people that are doing the work, and that's the feedback that I get. That is what I think then really tips to scale.
[00:25:42.970] - Brandon
I feel like to a certain extent, once they establish their own what's in it for them, if it's a high enough return, at least from their perspective, and it engages consistent use or even drives like an accelerated use, that's a pretty awesome outcome. Regardless of what the execution looks like, I think any time you get a user, one of our staff, that's excited to use an in product, then I think we got to be pretty motivated by that as well, just because adoption seems to be our biggest issue with any of the tech or any of the solutions that tend to come to the market. It's just driving use at all. Just seems to be a nightmare, it feels like most of the time. Liftify.
[00:26:24.350] - Chris
Com/bloodlight. You've heard Brandon and I talk a bunch of times about the importance of Google reviews. Maybe even heard our episode with Zack Garrett, the CEO and founder. Recency, consistency, two of the most important things when it comes to maximizing the benefit from your Google reviews. Why not use an outside partner? Liftify is targeting 20 to 25 % conversion, right? So if you do a thousand jobs a year, you ought to be adding right now 200 to 250 reviews a year, every single year. If you're not doing that, you owe it to yourself to get a free demo from liftify. Com. See their system, see how it works, see how affordable it is. I promise you, you'll thank us. Liftify. Com/bloodlight.
[00:27:06.790] - Brandon
We spend a lot of money and a lot of attention trying to get that first call. And one of the things that we do once it happens is sometimes we leave it to chance, right? Who picks up the phone? How do they respond? How do they walk that client into a relationship with us? Well, one of the benefits of partnering with a team like answerforce. Com is we can systemize that, we can make it more consistent. We can also have backup for when our teams need that help, right? Somebody goes on vacation, somebody's out sick. We get a storm search, we get cat event. All sorts of things can have an impact on how we receive that client. But the most important thing is they need to know that they've chosen the right team. And so answerforce. Com can support you, be a bolt on partner to help you consistently produce an awesome onboarding experience with that first call with your client. So answerforce. Com/bloodlight. That's great.
[00:27:59.320] - Chris
Cnr magazine We're friends with all the folks at CNR. Michelle and her team, they do a great job of keeping their ear to the ground and reporting all the important information from our industry. You want to stay up on all the M&A activity and what the latest best practices are for selling your company successfully. She's got that. Great articles about all the four quadrants of our business. Cnr is constantly pushing out great material and leveraging great writers and subject matter experts in our industry. It is the water-cooler of our industry. So if you're not subscribed, go to cnrmagazine. Com. Follow them on LinkedIn. Follow Michelle on LinkedIn. Trust us, if you're trying to stay on top of everything happening in the industry, your best destination is cnrmagazine. Com.
[00:28:42.740] - Brandon
You guys, many of you have already heard Actionable Insights and the training and the technical expertise that they bring to the industry. But how many of you are already leveraging the Actionable Insights profile for Xactimate? That's the game changer. It's essentially an AI tool that's walking alongside of you as you write your estimate, bringing things to your attention that should be added, that could be considered. All of them items that increase our profitability, increase the effectiveness and the consistency of that scope, and it can do anything from helping a new team member assimilate some estimating best practices. And it also helps the grizzled vets add back that few % that we've just forgot over time. So actionableinsights, getinsights. Org, forward/ floodlight, and take a look at what the Actionable Insights Xactimate profile could be doing for you and your team.
[00:29:38.900] - Chris
So can you dig into that just a little bit more, though? Objectively, when a technician is performing the scan, magic plan versus, say, what they might see or what might the end result be at the end of that scan between, say, DocuSketch or a Matterport scan, and what the technician is experiencing in terms of user interface. Articulate the difference that they experience and why they'd be excited about that as producing an architectural drawing versus what they're going to see or produce on site with, say, DocuSketch.
[00:30:09.660] - Andreas
One of the differences, really, again, is this instantaneous element. They are producing it, they are doing it. If there is a odd corner, something off, we give you the opportunity to sketch on your tablet by hand. We give you the opportunity to connect a Bluetooth laser. That is the highest level of detail that you can get. It's their product, it's their work, what they produce. That gives them the whole perception of creating value. I think that is different. With some of the other solutions, You are supposed to do a certain procedure, and then in the end, after some time back, you get sent something that might or might not be how you recall it, and you can't edit it, you can't do it. It's not... It like a shapes your personal workflow. I think this is really where the difference is. I am out there, I know what the site looks like, I know what I would like to produce to actually complete the job to its fullest, and you have that possibility at hand. That is really for the users, the difference that I observe. Because in the end, we can't debate about, Okay, in the end, there is a floor plan, right?
[00:31:25.760] - Andreas
But how do you get to that result and what does it take and how qualified you get there? That is the difference.
[00:31:32.650] - Brandon
Because most of the product, you're basically doing the scan. Then you're waiting for some rendering to be available after a few hours or a day or whatever the platform is. Okay.
[00:31:43.900] - Chris
That makes That's what I'm looking for.
[00:31:45.000] - Brandon
Why don't you hammer on that? Because obviously, the translation is where the rubber hits the road. It's like, we've done this scan. Now, what are we doing with it? Yeah.
[00:31:53.890] - Lane
Well, I'll say from my perspective as a contractor, it's what you were bringing up earlier, Brandon. It's one less item that they have to carry and lose. People live on their phones. You're not going to... I don't know anybody... Sure, in the house, you'll forget to place it somewhere. I don't know anybody that can't live without their smartphone. Everything is run on that. So it's just one item that's always in your pocket that can't be lost. You know what I mean? It's, again, the ease of use. It's one less thing you got to carry around and break. I've had stuff lost and broke, and it's hard to account for tens of thousands of dollars being lost when you can just have it on your phone. So again, I always look at it just back to simplicity, right? It's all on the here. It's all on the phone. I don't have to have another thing I got to carry around. Just that's one simple thing, just coming back to the difference. Cost, you guys know, like I do, it's always the cost. The cost is significantly less, right? All the products are amazing, don't get me wrong.
[00:32:48.120] - Lane
They're significantly like less. And that's the thing, because people, every question you guys have probably seen and heard on this podcast is always like, it's immediately, what does this cost? That sounds awesome, but what's the cost? And so that's a key element. In Clean Claims, you can buy as you go. You don't lose your credits. If you buy a job, it's there until you use it. You don't lose it. Where I know our competitors, you got a monthly subscription where you just have to buy it. So it works great for the new guy coming in doing two jobs a month. And then we have companies that are doing $500 million a year. So it again all just comes back to ease of use. The instant sketch is for me what triggers it as a restore is that the point you guys are bringing back is I don't have to go back the next I don't have to pay another guy. I knew when I sent out a crew, it was $325 every time we went on a trip. That was fuel cost there, back in the time on site, right? If I can avoid those days, the efficiency goes through the roof, and I can track that efficiency.
[00:33:43.890] - Lane
We increase our efficiency by 30 % in our company overnight, just eliminating the extra wasted trips. I mean, that's a huge deal. When you have a three-day dryout and it's 325 bucks a day, that's an extra almost grand of just labor and fuel, right? And if I can cut all that out, then I I mean, do the math. If you're doing one job a day, 365, and you just save $300 on every job, that's 110 grand a year. Do the math. It's like it is not hard to grow and get more efficient. We increased our margins by 30 %, and I didn't go get one new client. I didn't get one. We net it 30 % better of just being more efficient and eliminating, oh, I forgot to do this, and I forgot to do that. We got to go back out. We got to argue, and all the waste of time in the office, it's eliminating all that. Talking with insurance carriers, they have the same problem we have as restores. You can't find people to work in the field today. It's really hard to find good labor. And so the same problem with adjusters, you know what I mean?
[00:34:39.600] - Lane
And then the ones they do hire have three days of experience. And here's a checklist of what you need to tell the restorer, what they can or can't do. We can automate it. Carriers, big carriers we're talking to is like, we're talking about anything under 10 grand because in clean claims with the process enforcement driven, if you turn in that job, it's either done or it's not. So if it's done, Then checks can go out. Why wait? If they're within the standard and doing it, it's that efficiency on both sides. I know that's cheesy, but it's a win-win. The contractor makes more because they're being more efficient, and then the carriers love it because now they're avoiding fraud. The big thing is we eliminate the three-day dry out BS. We can prove that if it went further, it's irrefutable data in our system. I mean, that would be the biggest thing is price, ease of use, and that transparency is what our competitors cannot touch what we're doing.
[00:35:30.080] - Brandon
I want to hang in that pocket. We're friends with Rachel Stuart, runs Accelerate, owns Accelerate. What's interesting is she's a pastor store GM, very effective company, was really forward-thinking, very commercial-heavy, just a great operator. One of the things that she's discussed and talked about. And again, the company she was a part of in her culture now, they prioritize culture. They're not turning people over just because. And though, she just spoke to the reality that our frontline tech staff, when you walk into an organization, they have tenured staff that have been techs or leads or PMs for extended periods of time. We all recognize that and we all tip our hat to it because it's hard. It's hard to do it. Reality of it is our frontline staff is going to turn over, especially in our industry. So even if you're prioritizing great culture development and employee stickiness, we're going to have people coming and going. And one of the things she just hyper-focused on was you've got to build a routine where within 30 to 45 days, you have someone that can be competent enough to begin creating some value in the field. Obviously, they're just getting started, but we've got to cross that threshold where the only thing they can do is grab some gear out of the truck.
[00:36:40.540] - Brandon
I just want to hang in that pocket with you guys a little bit because I feel like you've made this comment now, I can train people in two days. Let's have a reality check on that. Don't give me the software spin, but give me what that means and why is it that you can effectively say you know how to onboard somebody into that responsibility in such a short period of time. If you can for me, Elaine, especially is please try to separate the difference between what are they learning and they're able to do versus the stuff that the simplicity of the software is not addressing. Just because I want it to be really clear because we get caught up in that, well, you do this and your whole experience and relationship with your tech will be easy. That's not true, right? So give us the reality check on that.
[00:37:26.630] - Lane
What's that meaning? So here's my thing, right? So when I had my Four restoration companies. It was a constant training on trying to get people to do things. Every Wednesday meeting for six years was just begging. It was the most unproductive, worthless meeting. I think I told you guys the story, and I tell this a lot, but it's true. It's every meeting was, where's your pictures? Where's your meetings? Why don't you document? Why are we going back out? Why are we going to get paid? It never ended. Every Wednesday, I guaranteed that was my conversation with my team, whether it was my admin team or my techs in the field, right? That's the problem. So in clean claims, and I'm not trying to sales, the difference is that Me as an owner of a company, I dictate control on a residential water or a commercial fire. This is what I want, and I check off what I want. So that becomes to where when the tech show up, they don't have any control over what they can or can't do. So me as the owner, I set that these are the patterns I want, and this is the order it goes through, and I can't move on to the next step.
[00:38:22.490] - Lane
That's the only way I could figure out how to create that consistency. In any other program that you go into, all those options are there that we have But you can do it whenever you want, and there's no fluidity to get that consistency. So that was the key and the biggest difference is, and really what I told people the story, State Farm is the one that led me down this path to sell my restoration companies and to do this, because I got a call, this was five years ago, and from one of their executives, and it was all they asked me is, why is it from your company, whether in Utah, Colorado, or Nevada, we get perfect documentation for you guys all the time. So I had 47 employees employees when I sold my company, right? How do I get 47 restores that are all thinking different? And one came from this company, one came from that company, and they have this opinion. That's the problem is that it's always that, right? And that's what you're always fighting as a staff. You can have a great culture, but you guys are still going to... And it's not that all guys are bad.
[00:39:18.730] - Lane
I'm making it sound like it's bad. I'm guilty of it. When I'm on call by myself and 10 calls come in, you bet your butt that I'm going to forget to do things, right? The whole point of this is that you don't forget. It makes you spend the extra five minutes to take the picture of the structure, to take the outdoor reading. You have to do it, right? So that's the key of doing that, is that it's not leaving it up to the technician to decide, and then you have to micromanage them. You decide, you pick the requirements in that flow, and they don't have a choice. They have to just go through and do it, right? So that's the real key. Is that answering your question? I had a 30-year veteran that worked for me, just cancered my culture, just destroyed my culture. He knew better than He knew better than everybody. Everything I said, he would say against it. It was hell. But those are stories I think, can relate. I kept him because it was like, well, he knows what he's doing, but oh, my gosh, but it was a nightmare, right?
[00:40:12.180] - Lane
So when I finally had a really good reason to fire him, and that's a whole other story. Holy cow. But when I did, I literally hired a kid that I met at a drive-through through taco Bell. I literally just thought he had a good attitude. I was like, dude, I'll hire you and pay you more. Hired him. I spent 30 minutes with him in our flood house showing him that process I'm telling you that we've built, right? And in 30 minutes, he did the whole thing perfect. No joke. I sent him out the next thing. You can ask our clients that this is not a try to BS people to buying our product. This is just the thing I love about my product is it is what it is. Don't Take my word for it. I'll give you five jobs for free, and you go try. And if it doesn't work, then don't use it. That's what I tell everybody, right? But that kid went out the next day and did a whole entire residential loss. It was like a four bedroom loss, but he did it perfect. And he had 30 minutes of training and has no idea what restoration is.
[00:41:00.760] - Lane
Now, I strongly love the IRC and the certifications. You need to understand what's happening. But think of how amazing it is in a temp, like when you hire on 10 temp labor, right? So my brother owns a restoration company in St. George, and he called me, And he's like, I just hired 12 guys to do content manipulation. I spent five minutes with them training and showing them, because the reason why it's easy to train is if, hey, if you're not sure what to do, hit next or save. And it highlights in red what they have to do. And until they do it, they can't move on. So it's not rocket science and overthinking. It's just, here's the task, you don't have any choice. And now, if you're not sure, just hit next. It'll tell you what you're missing, and then you can move on. So that, what I would say, be really what it comes down to. It all comes back to just take the thinking away, make it simple, and just a clear path to this is how we do it, and that trickles down. The most critical data is being collected by the restore in the field.
[00:41:56.300] - Lane
And if it's hard and complicated for them, and they don't know how to do it and understand it, you're You're consistently... This is the normal. You guys talk to probably more restorers than I do. It is the never-ending he said, she said battle of, and then the arguing of making your technicians do it. You don't have to deal with that anymore, literally. And don't take my word for it, just try it. Everybody's tried everything out there. And it's always funny when I come into a class, I'm always like, I have to be like, I'm not another software. This is not an add-on, I promise. Let me just establish that, right? So that's the... Anyway, sorry, going off on a tangent, but yeah.
[00:42:30.460] - Brandon
I think what you touched on, and this is truth that I think some of us get a little callous to, is that normally it's not malicious intent. Normally, we don't have people that are just rolling their eyes and saying, Oh, gosh, I got to do X, Y, Z. Does that happen? It does, but it's a rare. It's literally people doing the best they can most of the time. And either we normally fail to give them any adequate training, and or there's just a reality that when you're new to an industry, taking on a lot of information. And it is hard to retain it all and be executing flawlessly within a really short period of time. It is difficult, right? And I think what you're talking about is creating a solution or a tool for our end user that eliminates the guesswork. We're just helping them be more confident in the steps that they have to take. I also did hear that it doesn't teach you how to dry good. It just teaches you what administrative processes to go through or what steps to take. We still got to equip our people on how to do mitigation, if you will.
[00:43:30.410] - Brandon
All those other pieces that this makes a lot easier.
[00:43:34.010] - Chris
Yeah, what this reminds you, we talk a lot with our stores about creating Grooves in their business. Like when you get on the freeway, right? Or the Autobahn, Andreas, where it's like you have sections of road where just the Grooves are well worn. It's like you get on the on-ramp and you almost slide into the groove and you have to work hard to get out of it, right? And there's so much value in creating those in our business where new people can just onboard and just get in the groove. We have this established method And so it sounds like you guys have platform in many ways. It's like, as a company, this is the highway we all drive on. And when people get into that groove, we also talk about making it simple and easy to do the right thing in all of our systems and processes. And that's what it sounds like is you guys are having people get into a highway where it's like, okay, the only option is, the only option is this next thing, right? And then after you do that next thing, then there's a next thing. And then there's a next.
[00:44:27.340] - Chris
There is no room for people to pick and choose what they're going to do when they arrive on the job site. I mean, is that-Forget or remember, basically. And it makes so much sense to me because like you say, and I think to Brandon's point, where I think in general, people want to do the right thing, but they get so many pieces of conflicting data because you've got this guy Billy, who's been in the industry forever, and he has his own way of doing things or approaching a job. You got Sally over here that came from another big company, and she knows what she's doing. Everybody's right, but they're all doing it differently. Whereas it sounds like your guys' platform forces people to, okay, you start by doing this thing, then you do the next thing, then you do the next thing, and there's a groove that it presents to them where they just stay in the groove, and they're going to produce a really positive outcome. And they don't have to stress about how or what next or anything else. It's just, hey, this is the next thing, and then the next thing, the next thing.
[00:45:20.250] - Lane
Yeah, pretty much. It's just essentially just walking text, how they need to do. If you're an admin or a project manager or something, you can make changes on the fly if needed. But it just set that exactly what you're saying, just that path of like, this is what we're going to do and this is how we're going to do it. Simplest way to do it, right? So that's what's nice is you can have all these different ideas, but it's just like, hey, just do it, just go through and do it. So you're all accomplishing the same goal.
[00:45:41.850] - Brandon
Andreas, like with your guys' piece on Magic Plan, one of the things I just thought was so interesting, and you guys have both references, just literally your phone, LiDAR versus non-LiDAR. Talk to us about that just so I think from an end user perspective, we understand what toolkit needs to be deployed to get the best result.
[00:46:01.110] - Andreas
Lidar combines a Bluetooth laser distance meter with your camera. This is super powerful, and that obviously makes the process even simpler. However, you don't necessarily need to be LiDAR-equipped, whereas if possible, we definitely recommend this. Then in terms of ease of use, I like to reference, we have, I think, more than 150,000 reviews in the app store. We are focusing on the restoration industry, but we are out there. You can download us as a private individual and play around if you move home or whatnot. That ease of use gets validated day after day. That is what we try to hold ourselves accountable and make that possible to everyone. I was at a trade fair and there was a bored kid, seven years old, and he asked me to pick up my iPad that I had, and then he did it. That is what we try to focus on and what we try to enable to really make it accessible. It's accessible if you have it on your phone. Your phone, you have it always with you. It's easy for everyone. Also, one story that I just like so much. We had one comment of a couple in their 70s, and they said, Hey, thank you so much.
[00:47:18.570] - Andreas
Because we had the plan, we could actually talk to our contractor and visualize what we wanted. That is this renovation site that we have. But that really Basically, is the moment when I say, Okay, it's all right. It's accessible enough for everyone to use it. You don't need hours of training. You don't need to study architecture. You don't need to be trained in crazy equipment. You can just do it. That is what I think is great about and what we consistently try to stress over and over again.
[00:47:49.910] - Brandon
That's so funny. Literally from 7:00 to 70. From 7:00 to 70, yeah. Now that you say it. I think it's funny because you guys have We'll both mentioned the older dogs. We'll have that guy or gal on our team. They've been around. They're a seasoned veteran. They know how to do the job. But many of us, too, we're deferring our commitment to technology. There's a few on the team still that haven't quite grasped that conversion. So I think knowing 7-70 is a good number, I think we can fit just about anybody in our roster into that toolkit. That's solid.
[00:48:24.910] - Lane
It's a small window. It's fine.
[00:48:27.040] - Brandon
If you fall outside of that, you probably shouldn't be in the restoration. I think we're okay. That's really rad. Well, I'll tell you what, guys. Chris and I have talked about both these solutions a lot, and Lane, us getting a chance to see it firsthand, both your guys' platforms working in conjunction with each other at the LLM piece there at Thomas's Large Loss Mastery event, it was like instant, I fell in love because I was like, anything that we can do to make it easier to do the right thing is always going to be mandatory. I love the model. And again, we're really talking about magic plan is in and of itself a really powerful tool. But when it's embedded in this platform, it's magic. But I think it's this idea, like you said, Lane, try it. You get five claims for free. You're a per-claim fee structure is how clean claim works. It's silly to not try it. Just try it. If you don't like it, great. It's not going to hurt my feelings. It might hurt Lane's, but you'll never know because he's not going to tell you about it. But it's worth trying.
[00:49:28.290] - Brandon
We've just seen the system play out so far, and I am really impressed. I love the training wheels. I love the idea that we can just place some parameters on the process to prevent us from using that energy up, just trying to determine what next step to take versus being focused on the It. That's something that we didn't talk about much. But our people, Chris and I really hammer on, it's how we make them feel in the process. But when our people are struggling because all their energy is going to remembering this, do this, take this action, put this file in, send this thing out before you leave, we actually place them in a position where they can't focus their effort and their energy on the customer relationship. They're doing mitigation, yes, but they're not prioritizing how we make them feel in the process. That's just one of the things I feel like when you can begin to remove the need for energy to go to those places of just, no, I know what to do. It's like breathing. I do those parts. I do them like second nature, and I focus all my attention on what my client is experiencing.
[00:50:30.890] - Brandon
Dude, we start crushing. That has nothing to do with profit margin. That's top line. That's next opportunity. You put those two things together. You're making more money and you're creating more opportunities. I just don't see very many reasons for people to ignore that. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe top line and bottom line is not an important thing for our business.
[00:50:49.100] - Lane
Well, I'd say the hard thing too, right, is for us, and I'm not trying to make this. It is like a sales pitch, I guess, a little bit. But what's huge is you've got to be in with the right networks, right? That's the key is if you're not accepted, it doesn't happen. So we, being a newer product, I've been showing the product for two years about, but we've only been selling it seven, eight months, technically, right? But we just signed our agreement with Contractor Connection. We're working with Alacrity. We have a bi-directional integration that we are beta testing right now through exact analysis. So we built it to where carriers can push data in the exact analysis, and that's now pushing into clean claims and vice versa. So it's not just eliminating that. In CRMs, we have integrations where it's all built to it, pushes that data over automatically. So again, if I can't integrate with companies to where it's a true integration, to where I'm eliminating that, then I'm not interested in integrating because everybody's selling that we integrate. And then it's like, well, you got to log in and out, and you got to copy and paste this and that.
[00:51:44.060] - Lane
And it's like, to me, I'm not going to buy that because I dealt with that my whole career. It's like, unless it's talking back and forth and I don't have to go in and out and have my teams logging in, logging out, that to me is not an integration. Sorry. So that's huge. Corelogic, Scott Severe, let me tell people that they're integrating into our remote monitoring and all that. So what's huge is getting that acceptance and how fast we've been able to. If that doesn't tell you just use the product and find out for yourself, I don't know what is. It's like, don't take my word for it. Try it. That's what's been amazing is getting these big companies. We've got pilot programs with insurance companies in different countries that are using it right now. You know what I mean? So it's just it is what it is. And those integrations are huge. So I'd say that that'd be the key thing that maybe stop people in the beginning. But now that we're in with all these big big contractors and insurance carriers accepting it, it makes it so much easier for clients to just stick into one system.
[00:52:36.700] - Lane
And that integrations, everybody's got to have Xactimate or Simbility or whatever. Those integrations are critical because now we're pushing that data back and forth and eliminating that double triple entry. So that's what I would say is we're very excited as a company, our trajectory, we're moving at a great pace just because of those. If it wasn't for those integrations with what we're doing with Andreas and exact analysis and everything, it's not going to going. It's like, oh, it's cool, but it doesn't work with our system. It's now going to where we're very excited that we are now being accepted by a lot of different big players and companies.
[00:53:11.210] - Brandon
So it's pretty cool. I think at the end of the day, it warrants people taking some time, give it a test run. Obviously, you can try Magic Plans separately outside of Clean Claims in and of itself. Super powerful tool, super powerful sketching and documenting tool. The two of you guys together is really silly. I just think it's super powerful. So let's do this. Andrew Andreas, just give us where people are going to go. If they wanted to try Magic Plans separately from the Clean Claims process, maybe they're already using something else and they're wanting to test out your guys' sketching tool, where are we going? And then Lane, I'll have you do the same thing.
[00:53:45.160] - Andreas
Go to your phone, open the App Store, download and try. Then if you're happy, reach out to one of our team members. We give you opportunities to do so. Just open the app store on your phone, type in Magic Plan, you're good.
[00:53:58.890] - Brandon
Nice. Lane.
[00:53:59.610] - Lane
Ours currently, you just go to cleanclaims. Com. So today, actually, as we speak, we have 15 clients we're onboarding right now with Magic Claims and CleanClaims. So our native app will be in the app. It's in the beta app store right now. Our native app will be in the app store in about 2-3 weeks, if I remember correctly. So maybe sooner. But yeah, just cleanclaims. Com is the easiest place to go. You can do it all from right there, and then it will be in the app store here soon.
[00:54:24.070] - Brandon
Nice. Okay. So Magic Plan, you can test for free, correct, Andreas? Yes.
[00:54:28.210] - Andreas
Test for free. We give I think two free plans, but I'm following through on Lane's offer. If you want to test it, five projects all time, give it a try. I always typically say, do three plans, one in your hotel room, one in your office, one in your home, and then you're done in terms of onboarding and training. Give it a try. Tell us what you think.
[00:54:48.950] - Brandon
Love it. Yeah, nothing to lose here. Zero risk on our part to give it a test run. I would advise everybody to give them both a real hard wrap and put it through the paces and see what you end up with. I think one of the experiment on CLEAN claims would be literally put it in somebody's hands in your company that's never even seen a loss and have them go out with an experienced tech. Experience tech, keep your mouth closed and let this individual walk through the paces and see how bad they do for a first try with little training and input. And I think that'll give you a real strong understanding of, wow, okay, well, maybe if we took 10, 15 intentional minutes, we would reshape this experience. I think you'll actually be really pleasantly surprised.
[00:55:29.140] - Lane
It's super fun to see for sure. I do it live on demos. I'll pick somebody from the audience that wants to volunteer. I'll plug my phone in and I'll say, cool, just start going through it. And I'm not going to say anything. And if you have a question, just let me know. I'll do it live. And it's the funnest thing to see on job sites and that. So, yeah, I recommend the same. It's fun to see it happen.
[00:55:48.250] - Brandon
Super cool. Well, thanks, guys. We really appreciate you taking the time to hang out with us. Obviously, both of you have huge things in front of you right now. We'll continue to keep our eye on you and rubbing elbows at events. We got a few coming up. I'm assuming that both of you will have a team present and walking around. So we'll hopefully get some FaceTime with both of you at the next event. Yeah.
[00:56:07.270] - Lane
Thanks for having us.
[00:56:08.510] - Brandon
All right, boys. Enjoy. Thank you for your time today. You got it. Thanks, guys.
[00:56:11.900] - Lane
See you later.
[00:56:14.730] - Brandon
All right, everybody. Hey, thanks for joining us for another episode of Head, Heart, and Boots.
[00:56:19.390] - Chris
And if you're enjoying the show, if you love this episode, please hit follow, formerly known as subscribe, write us a review, or share this episode with a friend. Share it on LinkedIn, share it via text, whatever. It all helps. Thanks for listening.
