The Home Service Expert Podcast

Episode: Insights from a Marketing Veteran with Megan Beattie

Host: Tommy Mello
Guest: Megan Beattie
Release Date: December 15, 2025

Overview

This episode of The Home Service Expert Podcast features marketing veteran Megan Beattie, who shares her extensive experience in outbound lead generation, team-building, call center leadership, and the nuances of marketing in the home improvement industry. Together with host Tommy Mello, they deep-dive into leadership, the power of scripting, effective canvassing and event marketing, the challenges of scaling, and fostering a results-driven yet ethical culture in a traditionally gritty space.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Leadership in Home Services and Home Improvement

• Leadership is Key: Megan emphasizes the importance of empowering young leaders and creating true team-focused managers rather than promoting the best technicians or sales reps by default.

  “Empowering young leaders specifically, that's really...what I'm passionate about.” (Megan, 02:55)
  “The best sales guys are definitely not the best managers.” (Tommy, 03:25)

• Not Every Top Performer Should Be a Manager: Both agree that star performers may lack the patience and EQ for leadership roles.

  “That doesn’t always necessarily mean they have the skillset that it takes to be a great leader. Maybe your leader is better because they are more team-focused…” (Megan, 03:53)

2. The Power of Scripting and Training

• Scripting as a Foundation: Scripts, when memorized and internalized, create consistency, enable measurement, and free up headspace to truly listen to the customer.

  “If we don’t use a script…it’s not measurable, it’s not manageable, and it’s very tough to track if everybody’s doing something 75 different ways.” (Megan, 05:54) “Once you memorize the script…that’s when the script becomes real, because then it’s a working part of how you talk.” (Megan, 06:50)

• Roleplay & Repetition: Megan champions extensive initial and ongoing roleplay.

  “[In] the entire first week…we will usually train the entire first week on the script and the whys behind the script.” (Megan, 07:46)

3. Understanding Human Behavior in Sales

• Lessons from Early Jobs: Megan’s first sales jobs (like booking vacation resort appointments at 17) ingrained lessons on word choice and psychological triggers.

  “Would you like to sign up? Nobody wants to sign up for anything.” (Megan, 10:22) “Creating fear of loss with humans, the way that human beings respond to certain phrases on the phone.” (Megan, 09:46)

4. Mentorship & Top Principles

• Learning from Tony Hody:
  • Serve, Not Sell: Focus on helping customers instead of aggressively selling.
  • Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast: Buy-in from the team is critical; even the best strategy fails without it.
  • Outwork Everyone: “You might be smarter...but you’ll never outwork me.” (Megan, 15:42)

  “If I come across as I’m here to serve, which I am, sales are going to come as a natural result.” (Megan, 13:49)

5. Ethical Canvassing & Door-to-Door Tactics

• Ethical Approaches Over Gimmicks: Door-to-door gets a bad reputation due to deceptive pitches, but long-term success only comes with ethical, honest approaches.

  “Any decent human being will not be able to do the job for a long time, lying to people at the door every single day.” (Megan, 18:30)

• Local Job References Work: Megan recommends canvassing around real, recent job sites for authenticity and warmth.

  “Go ethically to an area where we’ve recently completed work. And the reason is...canvassers are gonna get a warmer option.” (Megan, 19:54)

• First Impressions Matter: Wearing branded vests fosters trust and safety, especially with the prevalence of security systems and neighborhood watch apps.

  “We call it, the vest is the best.” (Megan, 21:22)

6. Lead Sources: Best Mix, Not Magic Bullets

• Mix of Inbound and Outbound: No single lead source rules—it’s about balancing inbound (reputation, referrals, PPC) and outbound (events, canvassing) for seasonality and volume.

  “I don’t think there’s a best lead. I think there’s a best lead mix…” (Megan, 26:11)

• Different Leads, Different Obstacles: Canvassed (outbound) leads require more persuasion up front but usually only get one quote.

7. Scaling & Delegation

• Capacity Planning Is Crucial: Tommy breaks down challenges with fluctuating demand and cancellations.

  “If we could flex that muscle…you add up cancellation rate plus time slot not available…and then look at conversion rate, we’re losing, unfortunately, a third of the opportunities.” (Tommy, 28:45)

8. Effective Use of Events and Home Shows

• It’s About People, Not Displays: Success at events comes from trained, engaging staff, not expensive displays or swag.

  “Take everything…put it into training people…you could take a person…my fence company booth…Cost me $1,000…63 appointments in two days…But because I have two master lead generators…” (Megan, 48:55)

• Principles for Event Success:

  • Train staff on engaging, consultative dialogue
  • No chairs in the booth—staff should be approachable and active
  • Tie giveaways to the event’s theme for reciprocity
  • Lead with conversation, not sales pitch

9. Overcoming Limiting Beliefs (“That Doesn’t Work in My Market”)

• Execution Over Excuses: The “doesn’t work in my market” objection is usually a symptom of poor training or half-hearted execution.

  “That’s my favorite cry of the lack mentality person.” (Megan, 46:44) “Most of them aren’t prepared with the right training…so they gave it a half-ass attempt and then they got half-ass results.” (Megan, 47:19)

10. Recruiting, Training & Culture

• The Spouse Factor: Buy-in from technicians’ families is critical for retention in roles with “non-traditional” hours.

  “If I would find out they have an unsupportive wife at home, he won’t make it.” (Megan, 56:51)

• Asking the Right Interview Questions: Look for candidates with passions, positive outlooks, and quick-thinking skills.

11. The Science and Art of Sales Language

• Avoid Outdated, Annoying Call Center Scripts:

  “The two phrases...asking the customer what other decision-makers need to be there is one of the things that hurts home improvement companies big time.” (Megan, 39:21)

• Focus on the Value for the Customer: Shift messaging to what's in it for them, especially when asking about decision-makers and time commitments.

• Objection Handling: Use open-ended and diagnostic questions (inspired by figures like Robert Cialdini and Chris Voss) to truly uncover buyer motivation.

12. Life, Adversity, and Legacy

• Leadership at Work Starts With Leadership at Home: Megan, a mother of eight, sees leadership and integrity as universal across personal and business life.

• Advice to Her Younger Self: Persevere through hardship, seek faith early, and trust that setbacks will shape success.

  “You might not see the purpose behind the pain right now, but one day you will.” (Megan, 64:24)

• Legacy:

  “I want people to be able to say that once I came in contact with Megan, she left me better than she found me.” (Megan, 67:19)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” (Megan quoting Tony Hody, 14:06)
• “If you don’t trust anyone, the question is, why haven’t you developed leaders you could trust?” (Megan, 16:58)
• “Everything in life is sales. The consultant is…if they’re a good salesperson, they’re going to come along, see the…I mean, sales is problem solving.” (Megan, 37:26)
• “We have no horror stories…of people who spent too much. It’s always people that didn’t spend enough.” (Megan, 62:42)
• “Everything your fault because you can do something about that. If it's somebody else's fault, they might not ever change.” (Megan, 69:34)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Leadership and Promoting Managers — 02:54–05:27
• The Real Reason for Scripts — 05:54–07:46
• Ethical Door-to-Door and Canvassing Tactics — 18:25–21:37
• Mixing Lead Generation (Inbound + Outbound) — 26:11–27:35
• Event & Home Show Strategies — 48:55–53:20
• Overcoming "Doesn't Work in My Market" Excuses — 46:44–48:42
• Best Interview Questions and Building Sales Talent — 58:09–59:48
• Advice to 17-year-old Megan — 64:24
• Views on AI in Home Services — 70:34–72:12

Final Takeaways

• Commit to Continuous Leadership Development: Train not just for skills and scripts, but for leadership, culture, and human connection.
• Consistency and Ethics Win: Master the script, follow processes, and always act with integrity.
• Execution Is Everything: “It doesn’t work in my market” is rarely true—success follows diligent execution and adaptation.
• Invest in Your People: The right event, canvassing, or sales strategy works only when your team is properly trained and bought in.
• Growth is Personal: From overcoming homelessness to leading multi-million dollar growth, Megan’s story underscores resilience, faith, and learning from adversity.

How to Connect with Megan Beattie

• Website/Email: megantonyhoty.com (megantonyhody.com)
• Social: Look for “Megan Knows Marketing” on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

Episode Close

“Investing in training and leadership is everything. The companies that do it scale and grow much faster than the companies that just kind of use it as an afterthought.” (Megan, 72:50)