Blue Collar Success with a Masterclass in Operational Excellence

Summary

Podcast Summary: To The Point - Home Services Podcast Episode: Blue Collar Success with a Masterclass in Operational Excellence
Release Date: July 8, 2025
Host: Chad and Jim
Guest: Chris Crew, President of Blue Collar Success Group

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Introduction

In this episode of To The Point - Home Services Podcast, hosts Chad and Jim welcome Chris Crew, the President of Blue Collar Success Group. Chris shares his inspiring journey from a young electrician to a successful business leader and coach, offering valuable insights into operational excellence for home service companies.

Guest Background and Journey

[00:00] Chris Crew:
Chris Crew begins by recounting his early life, growing up in a single-parent household and leaving school in the 10th grade to support his family. At 16, influenced by a friend working as an electrician, he applied and quickly discovered his passion and aptitude for working with his hands. By 20, Chris started his own electrical business, although he initially lacked strong business acumen.

Key Quote:
"Owning a business, you got to have good business acumen. And I didn't have it at that time. I owned a paycheck." [00:00]

Despite early challenges, Chris worked for a large contractor in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was mentored by industry legend Jim Abrams. Under Jim’s guidance, Chris refined his skills in sales and operations, eventually partnering with Patrick Kennedy of Mr. Sparky. Together, they scaled the business from $3 million to a $30 million run rate within four years, demonstrating Chris's ability to drive substantial growth through fundamental business principles.

[07:40] Chad:
Chad highlights Chris's impressive feat of growing the business rapidly, emphasizing the significance of sales and operational strategies in achieving such growth.

Operational Excellence Principles

Chris emphasizes the importance of foundational business practices to ensure lasting success. Drawing from Jim Abrams’ teachings, he identifies two primary reasons businesses fail:

1. Improper Pricing:
   Key Quote:
   "The number one reason why business, any business fails is they're not priced properly." [00:00]

2. Lack of Effective Sales Systems:
   Key Quote:
   "The second reason why a business fails is they don't know how to get the price that they need to charge." [00:00]

Chris stresses that beyond just driving revenue, businesses must manage margins and overhead efficiently to ensure profitability.

Challenges in Home Services

The conversation delves into the common hurdles faced by contractors today, particularly in marketing and operations:

• Marketing Misconceptions:
  Chris observes that many contractors were misled into believing they were adept at sales and marketing, especially post-2020. This overconfidence often leads to reduced marketing efforts during downturns.
  Key Quote:
  "We're not going to stop marketing. Redirect funds instead." [16:02]

• Operational Organization:
  As businesses grow, they often outpace their owners' capacity to manage operations effectively, leading to inefficiencies and declining margins.

Training and Development

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the importance of continuous training, tailored to the specific needs of different teams within a business.

• Seasonal Training:
  Chris advocates for year-round training, aligning training topics with the current business season to ensure immediate applicability.
  Key Quote:
  "Train on the exact same stuff in the summer to manage high volume effectively." [35:59]

• Segmented Training:
  Effective training should cater to different roles within the company, ensuring that each group receives relevant and actionable information.
  Key Quote:
  "We do micro trainings where the content is directed at them." [42:44]

• Engagement and Retention:
  Chris highlights that well-executed training increases employee retention and enhances performance by addressing specific pain points and skill gaps.

Technology and Tools Implementation

The episode also explores the integration of technology in home service businesses, emphasizing the need for proper implementation to maximize benefits.

• Adoption of Tools:
  Chris discusses common pitfalls in adopting new technologies, such as Rilla and Peak Z, where contractors often struggle with implementation, leading to underutilization.
  Key Quote:
  "If you don't set it up correctly, it won't work for you." [48:47]

• Focus on Goals and Objectives:
  Successful integration of technology starts with understanding the business's goals and ensuring that the tools are aligned with these objectives.
  Key Quote:
  "Pick what you need and implement it correctly instead of chasing multiple solutions." [46:53]

Insights and Best Practices

Chris shares several best practices for maintaining operational excellence:

• Trust but Verify:
  Regularly monitor and audit business processes to ensure they are functioning as intended.
  Key Quote:
  "Trust but verify. Inspect what you expect." [26:02]

• Small Hinges Swing Large Doors:
  Paying attention to minor details can lead to significant improvements in business operations.
  Key Quote:
  "Small hinges swing large doors." [28:15]

• Building a Self-Running Business:
  The ultimate goal is to create a business that operates independently of the owner, allowing for scalability and long-term sustainability.
  Key Quote:
  "Build a business that runs itself." [20:34]

Conclusion

The episode concludes with a light-hearted exchange, reinforcing the importance of maintaining a balance between humor and professionalism in business settings. Chris emphasizes the value of genuine engagement and tailored training to foster a motivated and efficient workforce.

Final Thoughts:
Chris Crew's expertise in sales and operations provides actionable strategies for home service companies aiming for substantial growth and operational excellence. His emphasis on foundational business practices, continuous and segmented training, and thoughtful technology integration offers a comprehensive roadmap for contractors striving to elevate their businesses.

Contact Information:
For more insights and coaching opportunities, visit thebluecolarsuccessgroup.com.

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Notable Quotes:

• "The number one reason why business, any business fails is they're not priced properly." — Chris Crew [00:00]
• "Trust but verify. Inspect what you expect." — Jim [26:02]
• "Small hinges swing large doors." — Chris Crew [28:15]
• "Build a business that runs itself." — Chris Crew [20:34]

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This episode offers a masterclass in operational excellence tailored for HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Roofing, and other home service companies. Chris Crew's journey and insights serve as a valuable guide for contractors seeking growth through effective marketing, sales, and operational strategies.

Transcript

[Chris Crew]

Just school wasn't going for me. Raised in a single, single parent home, needed to be able to kind of relieve mom from some of the stress of having to put food on the table. Two kids. My buddy was working as an electrician. I went and applied and ta da, that happened. I found out really quick that I enjoyed working with my hands. I was really good at it. What I learned was to own a business, you got to have good business acumen. And I didn't have it at that time. I did not have that. So I owned a paycheck is what I tell people. That this industry literally changed my life. It changed my life and my future, my family's future. And for that, I feel forever indebted to it. I worked under Jim and his team for a while as a coach and a trainer, and I learned that I was pretty, pretty damn good at it. And I learned this from Jim Abrams. He said the number one reason why business, any business fails is they're not priced properly. So first thing that we're going to do is we're going to check to make sure they're priced correctly. The second reason why a business fails is they don't know how to get the price that they need to charge. Sales and operations are really my thing, man. Like, that really jazzed me up a lot. Like helping businesses not just drive revenue, but do it profitably, right? Manage margins and make sure that they're really dialed in on their overhead. This is to the Point a Rhino.

[Chad]

Experience voted one of the top home.

[Chris Crew]

Services, marketing and operations podcasts. Cutting through the and getting to the point.

[Chad]

Hey, what's up to the Point, listeners. It's your boy Chris. Ready for another exciting episode with another Chris. Not just you, Chad, but another Chris. It's a great name. You know, it was more of a common name, you know, when our guest, Chris and I were born because we're pretty much the same age, a little older than Chad. Not so much of a common name now. I don't know why I thought Chris is pretty solid. Like, he can go either way. He can be a boy or a girl named.

[Jim]

So pretty.

[Chad]

It's, you know, it's. There's something special about the name Chris, I think. And I know Chad, you feel the same.

[Jim]

I definitely. There's two of you here. I think it's. I think it's interesting though, because, like, all those names come back around. So, like, I think about all the boys in my son's daycare class, you've got like, Jack, my brother's name, and his son Hank. Like, all of these, like, old school names that are making a resurgence, which is interesting.

[Chad]

Yeah. Dude, you met. Did you meet my. You met my friend Dan that I grew up with? It's like one of my best buddies I grew up with. Chad. I can't remember if you met him at. He was at Rhino X this past year. He owns a. Yeah, he. He has. He had two twins. They're about. I think they're like five or six years old, named George and June. Pretty cool, but like little George and June, so. Well, listen, okay, I know Chad's got to get out the top of the hour. He's playing Mr. Mom right now. Okay. So we got to make sure he's out on time to go pick up the. The Little Peterman's. But we are excited to have our friend Chris Crew, president of Blue Collar Success Group, on the show today, which we just met. Time to see episode. This episode airs probably a few months ago. I got to actually meet a new of Chris, but never actually met him. And I told him as such when I got to meet him at the conference that Blue Collar Success Group had out here in. In Phoenix. Glendale, actually, like I said a few months ago. So excited to have him on. Just in a short amount of time, he and I got to chat. I'll just, you know, I. I saw him presenting on stage, and he was actually presenting. He did like a Q A with Ryan Kettering from Prolific, which was cool. Which is kind of what sparked the conversation a little bit, was. Was that he picked up that there might be something more than me just being supportive of Prolific, which is. Now, you could see a sponsor here on the podcast, but I got to spend some time with him, watched how he communicated to that room full of contractors, which is a great event, dude, by the way, like, that's the first one I. I'd been to. I mean, it was a. That was a legit. That was a legit deal, man. And it was cool to. To watch you do your thing. And I didn't get a chance to. To get with Kenny, but he was kind of bombarded with a bunch of people, and that's usually how the stuff goes. But it's always fun having different coaches on here too, but coaches who kind of been through it, and Chris has been through it and had some success in the industry. And he was just an electrician. He learned how to coach other electricians and plumbers and H Vac technicians and. And so I'm always excited to have these guys on one because they usually have a lot to say, but they've also worked with a bunch of different size contractors in today's climate, you know, to experience, like, what's good, what's bad, like what are the things they're dealing with, what are they looking forward to, all that type of stuff. But I don't want to forget a couple of things. Number one, though, Chris did not graduate high school. Is that correct, Chris? Did I get that right?

[Chris Crew]

Well, I tell people my experience. I got it in a shorter amount of time. I just got it done in 10 years, so.

[Chad]

Oh. Oh, makes total sense. Yes. Must have been all those honors classes you were taking.

[Chris Crew]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, we called those the honors classes for sure.

[Chad]

Oh, the pride of Paulding County High School. Go Patriots. Yeah, that's a word we don't like to say around here. Go Colts, by the way, Cardinals fan. If the Cardinals play the Colts, I choose the Cardinals. So I'm there. So it's clear. So nobody, like, misunderstands that I'm not a Cardinals fan, but I cheer for the Colts too. Thank God they're in different divisions. Works out good. So I can't. I think I heard you tell me, but I don't know because I was doing a little bit of research on you, Chris. I was starting to get confused because you've kind of bounced around the US A little bit. Now, let me now see if I got this thing right. Do you. You currently live in Florida?

[Chris Crew]

That's correct.

[Chad]

Yeah, I got one. Right. But you're from. But you're a Georgia boy. Is that correct?

[Chris Crew]

It is, yeah. Originally from northwest Georgia.

[Chad]

Okay. They're two for two. Doing.

[Chris Crew]

Doing pretty good, man. You're batting a thousand percent right now.

[Chad]

But Paulding County High School is in Texas.

[Chris Crew]

Oh, no, sir.

[Chad]

Son of a.

[Chris Crew]

No, sir. However, while we're on this, I tell people I'm originally from Paulding County. The town I'm from is from Dallas, Georgia. And I tell people all the time.

[Jim]

The real Dallas, Dallas.

[Chad]

And I assume you know what happens when you assume, Chad.

[Chris Crew]

Yeah.

[Chad]

Make an ass out of you.

[Chris Crew]

Me.

[Chad]

Son of a. Well, anyhow, and just, you know, for the record, for all of our listeners too, I do not have any affiliation with Rhino. With blue collar success group. So that's not why I, I brought Chris on here. I legit brought him on here because I was like, dude, he like. It was. I was.

[Chris Crew]

It was.

[Chad]

He's got some good stuff to. To. To share with all of our listeners. I think a lot of ours will. Or will Resonate with what Chris has to talk about. And some of the question have. But I'm excited to have you on, man. And. And I want to. I'm gonna have you just share a little bit of your background. But beforehand, I think what I read was that you started as an electrician, which, by the way, so did I. So did I. Fun fact, not a good one. But I did start. Start as was. Chad, stop laughing. You know, I was an electrician. Shut your mouth. Okay. I'm a contractor. Okay.

[Jim]

That pergola says otherwise.

[Chad]

You remember that guy's got a good memory. Started as an electrician at 16, you know, and then eventually built and sold, you know, built and sold a electrical service. Electrical service company. And I think it was from. You got it at three and took it to 30 or somewhere in that 30 million mark. And it was in four or five locations or somewhere like that. Am I close, Chris?

[Chris Crew]

Yeah, we're. You're close to that. That's. That's maybe.

[Chad]

Why don't you actually tell the story a little bit better? Because I don't know if I butchered it or if I was closer or what, but just kind of give the listeners a little bit of your background and then kind of what, what your job days. I know you were a coach for blue collar success group before you become president. So maybe just kind of walk us through a little bit of that journey, like the cliff notes version of it, and then we'll get into some questions.

[Chris Crew]

Yep. So as you alluded to 10th grade, just school wasn't going for me. Raised in a single single parent home, needed to be able to kind of relieve mom from some of the stress of having to put food on the table. Two kids. I got out, started working in my hands. My grandfather says, chris, if you're going to quit school, you got to get a job. You can work forever. I was like, all right, cool. My buddy was working as an electrician. I went and applied and ta da, that happened. I found out really quick that I enjoyed working with my hands. I was really good at it, mechanically inclined. But that, as crazy as it sounds, it was a new construction company. And as many people know, new construction. I ended up moonlighting, doing side work, service work here and there. And it got to a point to where I couldn't do both. And so early on, I started an electrical business at. I was 20 years old. What I learned was to own a business, you got to have good business acumen. And I didn't have it at that time. I did not have that. So I owned a paycheck is what I tell people. So fast forward, I went to work for a large contractor in Atlanta, Georgia, which is my hometown. That company would get bought out and then they franchised it as a part of that franchise. That's how I ended up in Sarasota. They recruited me to come to work for their corporate office. I was very, very fortunate to go to work for somebody that I would consider to be a legend in the industry and Jim Abrams. I got to work for Jim Abrams directly and just met a lot of people. And it was there where I went and kind of got what I call my college degree. Like I worked under Jim and his team for a while as a coach and a trainer. And I learned that I was pretty, pretty damn good at it and moved my way around in corporate. In 2000, 2013, Patrick Kennedy, which is who I worked for in Atlanta, Georgia, who owned. Who was the original owner of Mr. Sparky. He asked me to come partner with him. And me and another one of his partners would eventually grow that business. We bought Patrick out in 2014. We bought him out. And it was a small electrical company, about $3 million in revenue. And when I sold that we a $30 million run rate. That business today will do 70 million electrical service only. Just. Just fundamental basic business principles of things that I learned while I was getting my education.

[Chad]

I did not know it was Mr. Sparky. That's a interesting fun fact. So Rhino is a. Has a strategic partnership with Authority Brands. So the. All the trade brands. We do lots. A lot of stuff. I have no idea how many at this day, but we have a relationship with Mr. Sparky. We had Aaron Hagen on here before. You know who Aaron is?

[Chris Crew]

Aaron is actually a very, very good friend of mine and also one of our clients as well. So.

[Chad]

Oh yeah, Great human being.

[Chris Crew]

Yeah. Dear friend of mine, him and Daryl both.

[Chad]

So. Oh, a guy's probably been. I think it was maybe the end of last year, I don't know. Good dude. And his business keeps blowing up too. I think he might be like the largest now independent. Like the independent Sparky, Right?

[Chris Crew]

They are the largest independent in the franchise network for sure. And that guy came from some humble beginnings, man.

[Chad]

Golly. He shared. He shared like the down and dirty details of that whole thing. It was a. It was. It was a great. A great episode.

[Chris Crew]

Yeah.

[Chad]

So. So then you transition into blue collar success group in. I think it was 18, right? 2018. Is that when you went into it?

[Chris Crew]

Yes, I sold. I sold my shares at the end of 17 and kind of took a six month hiatus and was like, all right, I don't know what I'm going to do next, but I'll find something to do. And Kenny, Kenny was a. It's really crazy how the industry works, but I had two separate friends of mine that were friends with Kenny and was like, you guys should meet. And so Kenny was in Tampa one day and I drove up to Tampa, we met and, you know, shot the shit for a little bit. And I was like, all right, cool. Well, it surfaced and he was like, hey man, I don't really know what we can do together, but let's see if we could do something. And so I was like, yeah, man, I don't really need anything, but hey, I can do some coaching and training for you. And I remembered at that point why I loved doing it when I got back into it again after I had left Clockwork in that world where I had coached. And so I was a little bit different. Where you see contractors today that sell and then become a coach. I was a coach before I owned and operated. So after I operated, then go back to coaching again, which is really been my passion. This industry literally changed my life. It changed my life and my future, my family's future. And for that I feel forever indebted to it.

[Chad]

What was your strongest, like, what was your strongest contribution to the business then? Like, if you're also coaching, then you must have been super passionate about like a thing or a couple things. I mean, not everybody's good at the entire facet of business. But like, what was your niche? Like, what was your thing that you were best at?

[Chris Crew]

Sales and operations are really my, my thing, right? So I, going up, didn't even know that sales were a thing for me. I sold. Sold door to door, cancer insurance at night, right on the side. And I did okay with it. But man, talking to people about dying is not fun. It wasn't fun for me. And so when I went to work for Mr. Sparky, I was able to connect the concept of doing electrical work with selling. And quickly was able to hone in on that skill. And then, you know, fast forward to that being, being the, the opportunity I had when I was with Clockwork. Just really the operational stuff, man, like that really jazzed me up a lot. Like helping, helping businesses, you know, not just drive revenue, but do it profitably, right? Manage margins and make sure that they're, they're really dialed in on their overhead.

[Chad]

You don't usually hear somebody say sales and operations combined Together as your skill set. Yeah, usually.

[Jim]

I don't think they, I don't think they actually like each other. They don't, don't jive. Not, not hanging out together.

[Chris Crew]

Yeah. So once again I'm an anomaly. I get it, I get it.

[Chad]

Well, I, I, I appreciate, I have a very, a very good, great appreciation for well run operated businesses and people who can do them. Um, I also have a appreciation for sales but I lean in the sales and marketing world. So if I was going to do any coaching, it's going to be in that world, not so much in operations. So, so let's just fast forward a little bit into your coaching world today. Okay. Because, because you're working with a lot of contractors and probably even some that are listening right, right now. What are the, what are the main things now? Actually me back up a second. How many, how many coaches do you guys have blue collar success group today?

[Chris Crew]

Six Today.

[Chad]

Okay, six. So the what like I'm sure that they all like, they're all coaching all facets of the business are some like geared towards one's operations, one marketing, one's finance ones, you know, sales, whatever. When you're coaching like or even now with all your other, with all the other coaches, what are like, what are the main hiccups that you see these, that these contractors are running into today like that you guys are hearing? Is it, you know, you know volume, lead volume is slow. Is it. We're having a hard time with recruit. Like what are the things that you're hearing are the biggest pain points for the contract or the members in your group? Sorry for the interruption to the point listeners. Have you heard of Rila? Are you using Rila yet? If not, are you for Rilla? See what I did there? Rilla is the leading speech analytics software for the trades. It is on a mission to bring physical ride alongs to an end. You can coach your reps with virtual ride alongs now that are a hundred times better, faster and much more efficient than the physical ones. All you got to do is use the Killa Rilla. That's R I L L A L A.

[Jim]

By now you've probably heard how much of a proponent I am for Blue on. But I'm not the only one. When you talk to service managers using Bluon, the stories all sound very familiar. Nick Christiansen over at Herbal Heating says his team saved 46 hours in just the first month. Between the parts lookup, wiring diagrams and AI troubleshooting, his techs are solving issues faster and ordering the right Part the first time, it's even streamlined communications, communications between the techs and the parts department. They just screenshot over the right part from Bluon and send it over. It's simple, it's accurate and it works. And yeah, Peterman Brothers is definitely seeing that impact too. Do yourself a favor, click the link in the description and book a quick demo to see it in action.

[Chris Crew]

That has changed and evolved a little bit. We're now getting into where some markets, not all of them. Some of the work is slowing down and I would equate that to, you know, go all the way back to 2020. And 2020 made operators believe that they were good salespeople and marketers and it kind of lulled them to sleep. And so, ta da, here we are. I mean like, and I tell people, if you, if you would have cut, say December to January, December of 2019 and cut it off and then cut all the way out to, you know, the beginning of 25 and smash those two together, not really much changed. Not a lot changed with marketing. What happened is people got led to believe that they were better at it than they were because it was easy. And so, yeah, we do see quite a bit of that today where, you know, I heard people say things like, oh, we just turned off marketing. And I was like, God, that's the kiss of death, man. Don't turn it off. I was like, redirect funds. Like, do something, don't just stop. So we do see that. The next thing that we really see people struggle with is the actual organization of the operation, like making it run the way it's supposed to run. Because most operators, once again, don't come with the operational experience of running a big business. And so sometimes the business grows beyond their capacity.

[Chad]

Yep. Well then, so I love to thank you for the plug on not stopping marketing. I agree. That was not scripted to the listeners. Just so you know, that was, was all organic. I appreciate you, Chris. So then the, I mean, listen, there's, there's listeners of all shapes and sizes here. Now would you. And, and, and what is like a, what's a, what's a range on size of businesses that, that are members in, in your guys's group?

[Chris Crew]

So a little. Let me answer the question. The caveat. So we are not a one size fits all, meaning that it's just one membership. So a lot of your other best practices group, it's just one, one level of membership. What we recognize is a smaller operator can't afford the coaching that a $30 million business needs. And the tools and training that a $30 million business needs is not the same as a one truck operator. So we do work with various sizes. Our real sweet spot is that 5 to 12 million dollars. That's kind of our sweet spot of operators and businesses we've got, you know, we work with companies that are private equity and very large, you know, you know, 100 million plus dollar businesses all the way down to people that are, you know, still trying to get figured out how to get the second truck added. So I know it's probably not the best. What people say, man, you really got to focus on one thing. But it goes back to we're trying to help people. So our business model is a progression model. So once you grow to a certain level, hey, you need to unlock additional tools and resources and coaching and training that take your business to the next level. So we grow with them. They never outgrow us.

[Jim]

Chris, in that sweet spot of what you said, five to twelve million dollar contractors. What. So I'm a, I'm a ten million dollar contractor and I come to you and my guess is there's, there's, it's pretty predictive of what you need to work on. What do you typically see like those contractors? Like, there's the, what I think I need to be doing and then there's the, well, this is really what you need to be doing. What are those, this is what you really be, need to be doing type things that they may not be thinking about that you guys are like, hey, we could unlo a lot of growth and efficiency and all of that stuff there.

[Chris Crew]

That's a great question, Chad. The. What we typically find. And I'm going to back up and answer, answer the question a little bit more methodically. When people come to us, the very first thing that we do is we make no assumptions. We make no, I mean you're, you're a $30 million business. We make no assumptions of how you got there. So we do, we do a process where we go back. Very first thing that we know, and I learned this from, from Jim Abrams, he said the number one reason why business, any business fails is they're not priced properly. So first thing that we're going to do is we're going to check to make sure they're priced correctly. Number one, Jim Abrams taught me the second thing. He said the second reason why a business fails is they don't know how to get the price that they need to charge. And that goes back to. All right, cool. So you don't really Have a good selling system in place. And selling systems are more than just technicians at closing tables. It's more than a kitchen table sales. For me, a selling system is the culture of the business. Like, it's how we operate. And I also am very careful to say this. We don't believe and teach people that. The idea is the truck backs up to the door like a dump truck, and you hit the eject button and sell as much shit as you can. It goes back to, what's the full experience that your client is asking for? Right. How do we really become a premier provider in the marketplace? And then once we get that dialed in, now we can start working on the number one problem that we see with every contractor that comes in the door. Really bad gross margin. Not a strong gross margin. So we go to work on material and equipment and field labor. It goes from comp plans to that are just terrible to not really understanding how to source and markup material correctly. And so we take a little bit of a different approach. Hey, we're going to check the box, make sure you know how to do this so that we don't have to revisit lesson three when we're at lesson 15. Does that make sense? So the number one thing we see, not priced correctly. Number two, not good at selling. And that includes the phones, too, like how they answer the phone, the dispatching systems. Because as the business grows, it's eventually going to outgrow the person who got it off the ground, the owner. And for me, that's a good feeling. When I'm like, this thing runs without me. That's what I think. That's the entrepreneur's dream. Build a business that runs itself.

[Jim]

Yeah, I would agree with that. I think that the advice that I've given is in agree with all those things. The advice that I've given is you want to get to a point to where it runs by itself, and you're able to go back in and validate that it's actually running the way that it should be. Because I feel like so many entrepreneurs are like, yeah, man, this thing runs. I'm going on vacation doing all that. Like, the minute they say that is the minute that I get scared. Like, hold on a second. Like, I get it. You gave them the keys. You've got the sops, all of this stuff. But are you holding them accountable? What's the saying? Trust but verify or inspect what you expect. That is a lesson I have learned. I feel like I never have learned it yet. I just keep going back to Crap, I forgot to do that again. But, yeah, I think those are the couple of things. And the people that I talk to and they're like, hey, I got a problem. Or, hey, can you help me out? Where would you start? It's all on the nuts and bolts. And I think that especially in today's day and age, you can get caught up in all of the shiny objects that are out there that are just supposed to be the magic bullet. And all of a sudden, I'm going to go from 5 million to 50 next year because I've got some widget that supposedly does something. This business hasn't changed. It's. There's tools that are nice, that make things more efficient and you can do more, but there isn't a whole lot that's changed.

[Chris Crew]

My guess is your listeners know another legend in the industry. It's a dear friend of mine, Alan o', Neill, of course. And Alan. Alan. It's so funny. I love him. I love him to death. He's such a great human being. I was listening to him talk to another manager. He was talking to one of his managers and we were having a conversation. He said, here's the one thing I can tell you. When the business isn't operating correctly, I guarantee you there's a basic that's not being done. Guarantee you it's a basic that's not getting done. And he said, the challenge is people think when businesses get really big that the basics don't matter anymore. The basics are boring. And so, you know, sometimes people are looking for the next shiny thing. But it goes back to what you said, Chad. If I'm an owner of a three truck operation today, I'm assuming that what I taught them to do in the field is being done. I still got to inspect that. When I'm a $30 million business, I still got to inspect the same stuff. And how you inspect it might be a little bit different at 30 million versus a three truck operation, but the concept doesn't change. And I think that's where a lot of entrepreneurs get lulled into sleep, is to believe, like, hey, this thing's growing. It's printing cash. But then I always ask the question, what if the key person that's running this business quits? What do you do? Absolutely right.

[Jim]

Yeah. Here's a great example. So every Single morning at 9am we have almost 500 people running around here at 11 different locations. And every single morning, my call center manager sends me the booking rate from yesterday because I know that that is the key. I Want to see that sucker every single day. And it's amazing. The minute that I. Asking for that is the minute it started getting better every single day. Just getting better and better and better and better. And. But yeah, it just goes all back. It's. It's. It's so base. All of these basics, we get. We get lost in the. In the shuffle so often.

[Chris Crew]

Well, Chad, that's interesting that you say that. Even, you know, when. When me and my partner were growing the business, we. We grew at a very rapid pace. And some people would say growing fast is messy, but I say if you've got a good plan and you work the plan, it's not messy. So one of the things that we knew was as we were growing trust but verify. So to this point, I'm going to get all my reports. And then I taught all managers to do this, because I did it. Said, here's the deal. I'm going to do a sampling, which means I'm going to go in and randomly listen to a call. If it sounds exactly like it was supposed to sound, I don't dig any further. If it doesn't sound good, you can guarantee I'm gonna dig in a little bit deeper, because I'm trying to find. For me, I'm not trying to find how do we get to the 90%. I'm trying to find the 10% that we're not good on. And I always told them, like, what's the chances that I stumble across a needle in a haystack or I review a call on the board, and I'm just gonna go look at it, and I'm gonna notice that, you know, Chris did not do. Didn't follow our sales process. Well, how in the hell did Chris not follow the sales process? And then I'm going to go back and look at Chris's calls from yesterday. Oh, he's not following the sales process again. But yet we're growing and we're profitable. Like, how do we. How do we improve the business? It's. It's those little. Because I've heard it said before, small hinges swing large doors. And so in a business, once it gets scale, start trying to find the small hinges. Because small hinges can make such a massive difference in the business.

[Chad]

I've never heard that analogy before. Small hinges. What was it? Small hinges.

[Chris Crew]

Small hinges swing large doors. I think there was a book that was written on it.

[Chad]

Well, there's. That's probably part of my problem.

[Jim]

Figured it out.

[Chad]

Okay, so. So we're.

[Chris Crew]

We're.

[Chad]

Actually let Me, take a step back real quick. When and when you were. What was the time frame it took you to get from that? 30 to 3 minutes. Since you're referencing growing it fast.

[Chris Crew]

Yeah, we. We went from really. I mean, we took that thing over in 13, and one of the reasons why we bought Patrick out, I mean, that guy was filthy, stinking rich at the time. He's passed on now, and he did a. He left an amazing legacy. That man. That man was amazing, but he was kind of content. And me and my partner, we're still young and trying to be aggressive to do what he had done, and he throttled us back a lot. So we were like, we got to get him out of the way. Right. So that was the whole. We got to buy him out. So really, that transition happened around the end of 13, and then I sold at the end of 17. Yeah. So we went from, you know, $3 million to a run rate of 30 and, you know, three, three and a half years.

[Chad]

That's pretty cool. Damn. Hell of a job. Electrical.

[Jim]

All electrical service.

[Chris Crew]

All electrical service. Man, when I was a franchise, I was also paying my fees.

[Chad]

I felt the pain in that statement.

[Chris Crew]

In saying that, hey, look, man, I believed in that brand. That brand. Even after I sold, I was still emotionally attacked. I had to take a hiatus from the brand. I didn't have anything to do with it. I still got my trophies from when I was in the field selling. I got all kinds of memorabilia. That brand, it means a lot to me. And every penny that I paid them was worth it.

[Chad]

Yeah. I mean, well, and you probably had a nice exit from that. So.

[Chris Crew]

Yeah.

[Chad]

You Cameron Kerr, by the way, I.

[Chris Crew]

Happen to know that guy.

[Jim]

I sure do.

[Chris Crew]

Another Canadian friend of mine.

[Chad]

Figured you probably would.

[Chris Crew]

Yes.

[Chad]

So, okay.

[Chris Crew]

We.

[Jim]

We're.

[Chad]

So for our seasonal folks in the H Vac world, it's summertime, so hopefully everybody is rocking and rolling and busy. And then this podcast comes out. I believe it's probably going to be in early July. I'm somewhere around there. Ish. Maybe June. Ish. Anyway, whatever, it's summer, so it should be busy now. I think I read your stance on this, But. But in regards to, like, training and employee development for you, this, for you, this isn't a seasonal thing. Like, you're an advocate for year round, you know, training and development and things like that. So. So when it's busy like that, you're not thinking, oh, no, no, we're busy. Let's just keep running. You're saying, hey, man, we don't Just train when it's, when it's a shoulder season. We're also training when it's in the busy season. Did I read that right? Homeowners are searching H vac pricing more now than ever before. And they're landing on big box stores and online retailers instead of you. The local contractors Contractor Commerce is changing the game. Their plug and play online store installs right on your existing website so customers can buy filters, sign up for service plans, and even get instant online quotes for fully installed systems. Super simple. They stock and ship filters from five warehouses nationwide under your brand name. Contractor Commerce has helped over a thousand contractors connect with customers where they're already shopping online. Visit contractor commerce.com to schedule your demo today. In home services, speed to lead is everything. Chirp stands out by transforming your communication strategy strategy with Chirp, accelerate your lead response time with instant sms, text messaging, email and ringless voicemail automation. Chirp's cutting edge technology ensures you're the first and the most persistent, helping you close more deals than ever. But that's not all. Say goodbye to missed opportunities with Chirp's incredible follow up system. Keep your leads engaged and moving smoothly through your sales funnel without lifting a finger. And with your deep integrations with top CRMs like ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro and Jobber, you can launch laser targeted campaigns to connect with the exact right leads at the exact right time. Automation creates efficiency. Efficiency unlocks scalability. With Chirp, you can automate speed to lead, estimate follow ups, rehash abandoned call follow ups, cancel job follow ups, review, request outbounding to your list, annual reminders, membership expiration follow ups, and so much more. So stop chasing leads, capture them, connect faster and close more deals with Chirp. Contact Chirp today and elevate your communication game.

[Chris Crew]

Well, let's put that to professional athletes for a minute, right? So they, they do train in the off season to maintain, but they kind of take some time off in off season or slow season. Right? They take some time off when, when really training starts to ramp up, when they're about to start playing the game for money and when the stakes are on the line. And so I tell people all the time you're missing the biggest opportunity because retention rates are not as high. If I train in the fall for things that we're not going to do until the winter, like in the fall I train on fall stuff. In the winter, I train on winter stuff. In the summer I train on summer stuff. Right? We got to make sure because what happens is when volume goes Up. What do you think happens? I got plenty of calls and every salesperson knows this. So if they're at the kitchen table, it's not as easy. I'm like, I'll just run the next one. I'm not like, why would I fight this? I'll just go run the next one. But in the fall, we're like, every call matters. So what happens is I'm more meticulous about following the process. When things are slower in the spring, when things are slow now, do I train on the exact same stuff? No. In the summertime, I'm going to be training on the stuff that makes us who we are. That allows me to have high tickets in the summertime, for example, you know, and I see this all the time. H VAC contractors don't really want to do duct work and insulation to win slow season. But I'm like, you're in the home in the summer, even if you sell it now and let them know that you're scheduling for a couple of months out for that, that's fine, right? I'm a get it done kind of guy. I'm not, I'm not a proponent to sell it and put it off. My, my rule of thumb is don't let more than 24 hours go by without something being done that the, the job gets locked in. Example, generators. We sold a lot of generators. And it's a 8, 8 to 12 week process to get a generator done. The day that we sold it, the next day we dropped the equipment off, set the pad and everything was there. Mount the switch gear. Even though we can't really, quote, work on it. I got to get that job going. And that goes back to, you know, summertime. What is it I'm training on? I'm going to be training on all the smoke screen stuff, all the. Objection. Handling stuff in the summertime. I gotta, I gotta, you know, because, you know, every, every company around town right now is trying to price it cheap just to get it done. And I'm like, in the summertimes, most people try to maximize revenue by selling cheap. And I'm like, in the summertime, it's the best time to make the best margins. Right. It's good to play when you're playing from ahead.

[Chad]

Yeah. Is there a frequency to it? Like, are you, is this like a weekly thing that you're doing?

[Chris Crew]

Oh, hell to the. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're training every week now. Am I going to bring everybody in? And I do believe in segmenting your training as well, so making sure that the topic that I cover is applicable to the people that are in the room. Right. So I might, if I run a company with selling techs versus straight advisors, I may be having a little bit of a different conversation. So if, if, and this goes back to, you know, Chad, we, you know, we talk about this operationally, I need a training plan that I can follow so I don't have to just like, oh, shit, you know, we need to train like this is the regular cadence every day, every time I might change and shift. If I say, hey, I'm noticing right now that, you know, close rates are going down. And it's not just, you know, my tech leads. It's also, I've got my salespeople and advisors. I'm probably going to bring them both in. We're going to talk about close rates and like, what are the tactics of why we're not getting there? I mean, are we getting a soft commitment on the front end? Are we following the steps? Are. And I'm on a lot, a lot of skill practice. You guys might call that role play. But a lot of that, because what I teach, what they've, what they've proven is retention rates are much higher if I can apply it immediately. That's why I'm a big fan, Chris, of training in the summertime. Like, no better time to train this. Like, I can learn it right now. And the calls I go run today, I'll use it right now. And so retention rate goes up. So therefore you get better, more bang for the buck in the summertime than you do the slower times.

[Chad]

Dude, you see him perk up a little bit when I asked that question, Jeff, Sorry about that.

[Chris Crew]

Yeah, some people might consider it pissed off. I just consider it passionate.

[Jim]

Well, no, I mean, it makes, it makes perfect sense. And I mean, you know, I think that I wrote that down. Make training, mirror an athletic schedule. Train on the thing that you're doing today. Because how often have we ran a training and it's like, well, we're just preparing for summer and it's 50 degrees outside. It's like, well, they're never going to see it. Like, what's our application going to be like in four weeks? Hopefully they remember that really powerful training session that we have. That's going to be awesome. So, yeah, no, I mean, I think that that's. It's such. We always like, hey, just again, to your point, do all the stuff in the off season that you don't want to do because you're going to be busy. Well, like what's to stop you from having a 30 minute training before you go to your first call? And that may be super impactful and help you raise while the calls are there. You need to be training, training. So no, I, I got, I got plenty of notes. I appreciate this. This is awesome.

[Chris Crew]

And think about even huddles, man. Like how powerful is a huddle? And, and don't overlook the fact that a formal training, like it's no different than, you know, you know, we're playing a football game or we're playing a basketball game. It's like, hey, we're down three points. We got to call a timeout right now. I need to know what play we're running right now. And so when it's hot, reminding everybody of like, hey, do this, don't forget this, make sure you take care of this. And it's that we, and I'm going to say this, this industry ask a lot of frontline people. We ask a lot of them. Learn how to be a finance expert, learn how to be a salesperson, learn how to be a technical person, learn how to. And, and this, you know, not everybody remembers everything. So it's like that we, we've got to be that constant reminder for them of the things that matter. Chad, like that that's what you're writing down is let's talk about what matters, not just what we think we need to talk about.

[Chad]

Yeah. And I love role playing because I think it does as much as everybody hates it and people probably try and ask, you know, you questions just to keep you talking. So they got, they get to do less role playing. But it's such a good tool because it's uncomfortable, but it actually puts you in a real life scenario. It's, it's never going to be harder when you're talking to the person who has the answer right when you're role playing with the person that has the answer. But it's so impactful. I always hated doing that whenever I was in sales before I started this. But, but I, it did make me better. We would do. So this is. Have you ever heard the. Of the movie Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross, Chris.

[Chris Crew]

Oh yeah.

[Chad]

It's old school sales. So that is, you know, copies for closers. If you've never, if anybody's listening, never heard of it, just look it up and, and thank me later. Especially your sales organization. But you can't show it to your sales organization because you'll get in trouble for it.

[Chris Crew]

But yeah, it's not PC, I guess you would say, right PC.

[Chad]

But, but that's kind of like, you know, it was before I started this company, I worked for another company and it was you, you came in, you. I, I hated Sundays because Monday was the next day and I knew I had to do all this stuff. And it was, you came in Monday, 7am, 7:30 maybe if you're doing good on your numbers and all you do is pick up the phone and set your appointments for the week, Friday back and then you'd stay till 7pm that night. And so what it did is from 5, maybe 4pm to 7pm you just do straight sales training. Straight sales training. Hated it. And I was like, if I just get really, really, really good at sales, they're never going to ask me to stay for sales training. They might ask me to give some sales training but I'll never have to do it again. And, and that's, that's actually not how that works at all. They still made me stay for sales training. But even as good as I was, I still feel like I learned shit in each one of those things. Or you know, I remember like, oh damn, I've been trained on this twice before. I just forgot about it. And then this just reminded me that I could do xyz. So even as good of a sal as I was, I was still continuing to learn shit because of the role playing situation. But I don't think it's changed. I think that's probably been a shitty thing for a lot of salespeople for a long time.

[Chris Crew]

Well, I'll mention this, typically it's because the facilitator sucks. That's why when you have a really good facilitator, that makes things engaging, that makes things applicable, that, you know, when I, when I realized that I'm getting an opportunity to improve the quality of my life even if I am good, right? And that goes back to what we had. I mean if you've got really high powered salespeople in a room with entry level salespeople and you're trying to teach basic fundamental stuff and it, that's where you, it's like you, you gotta teach on the level of the people that are in the room and make it engaging, make it fun. Like training doesn't have to suck, man. Like working out in the gym doesn't suck, but getting there does. Like the process of getting to the gym sucks. But once you're in the gym, hey, you're good. Well, the same thing is with training inside of a service business. It's early mornings are usually not, I Mean, you got, you know, people that are propping their eyes open. So how do you make it to where people want to be there? Right. And so it goes back to I can always tell if the, if the trainer is prepared or not.

[Chad]

Yeah, my facilitator was a total dick, so that probably was part of.

[Chris Crew]

Well, there you go. I figured that one out, didn't I?

[Jim]

But I would double, I would double down on Chris's comment about the segmented training. We do some longer trainings where it may be, you know, a day or two, but our most successful ones are these micro trainings where like, if we're going to teach financing, I'm not going to teach it to every tech that I have. Like some of my maintenance techs, they're not going to be, need to use financing nor do. Is that what they should be worried about? But I may take my top performers and we may do some finance training because they're the ones presenting the big tickets. And you're so right in that we get so much more engagement when the content is, is directed at them. And I don't even care if you have five techs. You've got two that are really good and you got three that just need to know the basics, like meet with just those two and go over some of these more advanced topics. I think the other thing it does is you start to set them apart because I feel like sometimes when you put them in a room and you teach them the basics, you like, don't respect their talent. Whereas, like when you bring these high performers in, it's like, hey, you're in this high performer class. Obviously not everybody's here because we think you are the best of the best. And we want to treat you some more advanced topics and like the things that you actually want to know. And then again, you don't have the guys falling asleep that are the, you know, more novice that I've never, I've never done a financing application. I just tune up furnaces like that. That's what I'm here for. Now. One day you may get there, but today is not that day. I, I just think that that's such a powerful topic that I don't want people to gloss over as far as segmenting that train.

[Chris Crew]

Well, and this is a great point that you make as well, because when you really break it down, what is it? They're sitting in a room and they're giving a part of their life to you because you told them to. And so if they don't feel it's applicable. They don't feel like it's improving them. They don't really want to be there. It's a waste of their time and a waste of your time. You're not really going to get through to them. And so really understanding the needs of the audience. Right. Understanding the people that are in the room. To your point, Chad, when I first, we first launched our, our Safety Advisor program, I had two. I can't teach safety Advisor tactics to the entire company. I just can't. Right. Because those people, it's going to be so high level, they're, it's not even going to land with them and then they're going to walk out and be like, well, that was a waste of time. And then the salespeople are going to be like, well, that was great for me but if I had to teach on everybody else's level, they're going to say, God, that was so basic today. I didn't really learn anything. So that's where, you know, segmenting things out. And as the business gets larger, that becomes easier. It's, it's hard to do it when you're a small business and I always say this all the time, you'll never become a big business until you start doing what big businesses do. Simply put.

[Chad]

Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I, I want to just do a small little segue but still kind of on this training piece or, or and it's mostly going to be around like the new tools, the new technology, AI, things like this. And you're having to like train on this stuff, I'm assuming at least at some level or at least helping them to understand how to actually integrate whatever the hell it is that they've chosen. If they've chosen 500 things, maybe they need to slim it down to like two and actually implement the two things instead of trying all of them. But I mean, because, because this is still new to, to really you, any coaching group, any business, because there's so many new options today. And Chad and I talk a lot about, about a lot about shiny objects because there's, there are so many options. But you know, a lot of the contractors are kind of half ass integrating them. Right. So they're not really getting the value out of the tool that they've chosen and then they'll move on to another one without having figured out the first one. But are you guys having to, are you noticing that that's, that's also some sort of, or at least your coaches are noticing. Hey, this is another thing that keeps popping up is, hey, we bought the tool, we got the thing, but it's not actually working. And you're like, oh, yeah, it's because, well, let's. Let's look and see how you're actually, like, how are you using it and is it and have you integrated it properly? Are you dealing with stuff like that business?

[Chris Crew]

Yeah, and I'm gonna use one. I know that they spot that they sponsor the show and so. Which is funny. I was actually just on with contractor commerce this. This morning. I did an interview with them. They're. They're great people as well.

[Chad]

Who was it?

[Chris Crew]

Oh, yeah, with Paul Redmond. Yeah.

[Chad]

Yep. Buddy of mine.

[Chris Crew]

So let's go back to Rilla for a minute. Right? So. So Rilla is a perfect example of poor implementation, bad result. So if I'm going to implement Rilla, I've got to make sure that, number one, that my sales process is built into it. Right. Like the actual sales process. And we. We hear all the time, you know, people come to real and they're like, well, we can't really do anything until you get your sales process. Which I'm just blown away at. The contractors, like, well, we don't really have one of those. I'm like, oh, you do. You just don't know. You do. Because if you've got 30 techs, you've got 30 sales processes. Right? If you've got 10 techs, you've got 10 sales processes, you've got one, whether intentionally or not. So, you know, I start with that, which is, you know, build the foundation of the technology and then answer the question, what's in it for them? Forget what the business is going to do. Forget the customer. Forget all that, man. You're going to hit a sore subject for me because most people are like, you know, we're in the customer service industry. Like, yeah, well, let me just tell you, if the difference between that technician paying his rent and the customer, I can promise you they're going to pay the rent. They're not going to do the customer the solid. Right. Right. Like, it's just natural reaction. So living in this world to believe that our people are going to put our customers at the top of their list, we're lying to ourselves. I got to win first, but I want to be able to win in equal proportion to the customer. In other words, if my comp plan says, well, when you do the right thing for the customer, you take a pay cut. That don't make sense to me, man, at all. So, Rilla, if I implement Rilla and go, hey, this can be a great way where we can train you.

[Chad]

You.

[Chris Crew]

It's going to be this thing that listens to your calls and grades you.

[Jim]

Oh, shit.

[Chris Crew]

So now you're following me on all my calls. Why? So if you position it correctly and answer the question, what's in it for me? You're going to get a lot further, right? Because now the adoption rate is much higher. The all in is going to be much higher. Right. So it's not just that I'm doing it. I'm doing it all the way. So, hey, we use Rilla, but. Yeah. All right, cool. So let's say it's in place. I got my sales system in place and I'm doing it. But I haven't taught my managers how to use Rilla as a tool. It's just in software. If not just like any other software would be, it's just another software if we don't train the how to use it. But more importantly, you got to start with, why? Why are we doing this? And if it's all about the company, the adoption rate's not going to be high. You've got to first ask the question, how does the team member win first? How does the customer win second? And then how does the company win third? And I've always lived that way because I came from the customer's always first. And I'm like, well, that might be true in certain situations, but I can promise you, if it comes down to me getting paid or the customer doing work, I'm gonna get paid within moral and ethics rules and guidelines. I'm not saying sell stuff to make false claims about stuff, but, you know, you. You know, somebody said this once, you can customer service yourself right out of business.

[Chad]

That's right.

[Chris Crew]

If you customer service yourself so high that you customer service at the example or at the expense of the team member, you're losing. So when we see this, you know, concept of, hey, I signed up, and I don't know if you guys are familiar, there's another. There's another AI platform out there to blow your freaking mind. You guys familiar with Peak Z? Oh, okay. All right. Well, so Pawan is who owns Peak Z Startup, but he's the guy that actually started Pulse M. So if you know that little story. So. So they do this crazy analysis where I've been really paying attention. I know this would be really near and dear to your heart as well, Chris. But they said SEO is dead, but then they caveat it because it's no longer search Engine optimization, it's search engine, it's search everywhere. Optimization everywhere. Yeah, it's like, so now it's your video, it's your social media, it's your stuff. And so Peak Z basically takes in all your information about your business. I've seen the demo of this and I know customers that are using it. I can pick three to four to five to six. I can pick as many competitors in my market that I want right now. And the sediment stuff that's out there about that company because it's, if it's on the Internet, it's found. Right. So they pull it in, they're able to compare you to your competitor. But more importantly, it's now being used as a recruiting tool because now online reviews, well, those are searchable as well. And when I've got got customers mentioning technicians names and all this stuff, I mean it, we live in a very. And by the way, if you're afraid of privacy standards, then you shouldn't even have a phone. Right. You shouldn't have a computer if you're afraid of privacy standards. The reality is information's on the Internet and this is another prime example. Oh, I signed up with Pig Z because they do help you with understanding your marketing. They understand with recruiting, they understand with acquisitions. And you can really find out information about other companies in a market. Right?

[Chad]

Right.

[Chris Crew]

Not just yours, but about others. And compare yourself. If you don't implement that correctly, all you do is you just found out information like what are you going to do with it? What's the plan? What's the motive behind it? Right. So that is one of the things that we work with contractors to answer the question, pick any kind of new software, whether it be AI, anything at all. Example, contractor commerce. If you don't set it up correctly, it won't work. Right. If you don't do the hard work, it won't work for you. So for us it's more of what's your goal and objective? Why did you even sign up for this? Why did you start doing this? That's the number one thing. What, what, what problem were you trying to solve or what opportunity were you trying to take advantage of? Okay, cool. That's a good point of reference. And we use that to leverage in our coaching now. You know, Chris, you said you wanted this, you said you wanted to do that. Has something changed? Because if it has, I mean, it sells 101, right? It's just communication. We got to understand what, what, what they're wanting and then how do we help them get it pretty straightforward. Sometimes they don't need the shiny object. I'll just say that you need to go focus. You need to go focus on your close rate in the call center.

[Chad]

Yeah, 100. Well, well, well. For the sake of Chad, because I know you got to get going buddy here pretty soon. I just, I want to say I had. I'm bummed because there was another question I really wanted to get to but I didn't. And it was around AI agents versus human beings. But we don't have time for it, so you got to just.

[Chris Crew]

Cliffhanger.

[Chad]

Yeah, cliffhanger.

[Jim]

But hey, do we have a minute? Just one minute?

[Chad]

Yeah, you're the one that I'm trying to hurry for. So if you have a minute, then sure.

[Jim]

Well, Chris, I hate to do this at the end of the episode. Chris was trying to prepare you before this episode, trying to give you all the pointers. This is how it's going to go. There'll be an intro. This will be our talk. The one thing that my partner here was remiss to say is that he has been on this kick since beginning of the year where he is just so proud, just so damn proud of these dad jokes that he tells. And he forgot them. And even though he shows them to me, he forgot them. And so I did a little Google search and I will be providing a dad joke here at the end so that we can keep consistency throughout this. Because it's while embarrassed, I'm happy to lend a helping hand. And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna give a dad joke. It doesn't have a punchline. It's just a running joke. Okay. I'm not good at selling these, but it kind of goes along with the, with the trades. I gave my handyman a to do list, but he only did jobs 1, 3 and 5. Turns out he only does odd jobs. Jobs. Yeah, there we go.

[Chris Crew]

Yeah.

[Chad]

Peterman. He'll be here all week.

[Jim]

Watch out. Multi, multi talented here. Jokes. Now.

[Chad]

Next. Next time we're gonna have Chad either doing a little karaoke or dancing. That's next, right, Chad?

[Jim]

Maybe that'll be next next.

[Chris Crew]

I mean that was good enough. I mean I think he could at least get a stand up act going out of it.

[Chad]

Sure. Yeah. Dud miss my dad jokes and I had some good ones prepared. So Chris. Sorry out on those and had. But Chad, that was pretty solid. Dude. I'm proud of you.

[Jim]

Yeah, I was waiting for that in the prep session before we started recording, but I was like, hey, this is my opportunity to be a helping hand.

[Chad]

I. That was, I'm very, I'm very proud of you. So. Well, I. Chris, that was a real treat, dude. You just like. That was the first experience. Chad tell his first dad joke. See, he's. He hated it in the beginning and now he loves it so much so he brought his name to the table. Table. Well, listen, Chris, we appreciate you giving us the time and you know, and hanging out with us for a bit. The time flew by. Which sucks because I, like I said, I really love to have talked about the AI agents versus, you know, human beings. I have a pretty strong, you know, thoughts on, on that, on all of that. But we appreciate you, you know, you know, coming on here too and just, and just sharing with everybody and if any, anybody wants to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to contact you? Chris?

[Chris Crew]

Just our website, thebluecolarsuccessgroup.com cool.

[Chad]

We'll share it in the notes and to make it easy and then obviously, if any of the listeners want to reach out to us and you want me to connect you with Chris, I'm happy to make the connection as well. And you share a lot of things on here too. And sometimes it's just as simple as maybe you seem to focus on the blocking tackling or hey, maybe you just need to focus on doing some sales training. Even if it's specific to the sales training you need in that particular season. Maybe that's the basics you need to do in a. It's actually the first time I think we've ever talked about something like that, Chad, that I can remember where we talked about doing actual seasonal training in the season that it's in. I don't know we've ever absolutely had that conversation.

[Jim]

Makes a lot of sense, right? We overlook the obvious.

[Chad]

Maybe you listener, that's what you need to focus on is do some fucking seasonal training, man. It's summertime, all right? You got a lot of, you got a lot of at bats right now. So just keep refining that, that sales process. But Chris, I appreciate you coming on.

[Chris Crew]

Here, but brother, man, it was absolute pleasure. Chris and Chad, it was a pleasure to meet you guys today and have some time here in the studio. So thank you all for the invite and the opportunity.

[Chad]

Yeah, man, it was our pleasure. And to our listeners, you don't got to do everything, but you got to do something. No zero days.