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To The Point - Home Services VIP Room Podcast
From Wagon Wheels to $20M+ – The Incredible Story of F.F. Hitchcock
00:56:59
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- [00:00]
Chris
Being completely naive. I mean, I go to my first Rhino X and I'm. I'm literally in the airport coming home, calling my dad. I'm like, dad, you wouldn't believe there's guys out here that are doing, you know, 40, 50, 60, $100 million in revenue. And he's like, there's no way. The best thing about Rhino X is you're there and you're talking to people and you're, you know, you're having a conversation. You realize they're not that much different than you are.
- [00:22]
Chad Peterman
Chad, did you see this? He built an upside down booth and did a photo shoot for it. And it is bad.
- [00:27]
John Bowman
I'm trying to find it, but I'm terrible at searching on.
- [00:30]
Chris
It was awesome. And, you know, we're at a home show and people are there, like, looking for bathroom remodeling, kitchen remodel stuff too. And they had no idea. Like, they thought we were trying to advertise bathroom remodels by showing this upside down bathroom. I'm like, no, it's just, you know, a play on. You know, we're trying to flip the home services space on its head.
- [00:48]
Chad Peterman
All this stuff was just entertaining, right? Because we are all in the entertainment business. How we get. That's how we get attention, right? For our businesses, regardless of what we do.
- [00:57]
Chris
This is to the Point a Rhino Experience bullet, one of the top home.
- [01:04]
Chad Peterman
Services, marketing and operations podcasts.
- [01:07]
Chris
Cutting through the and getting to the point.
- [01:13]
Chad Peterman
Hey, what's up to the Point listeners? It's your boy Chris, along with my co host, Mr. Chad Peterman. Chatty P in the place to be. Chad. What's up, buddy?
- [01:20]
John Bowman
Not much, man. Hanging in there.
- [01:22]
Chad Peterman
I got some new names for you, man.
- [01:24]
John Bowman
Oh, great.
- [01:25]
Chad Peterman
Can't wait. You know, I know you say that, but secretly you enjoy it. You're like, what else is he gonna. Is he gonna be able to call me that? And, you know, I. I don't know if I can get past the Ron Collie ringer. I mean, that one, I felt like I hit a pinnacle.
- [01:43]
John Bowman
That was good.
- [01:44]
Chad Peterman
It's pretty solid. So I'll come up with something. John, if you think of something, man, feel free to text me and let me know, man, see if I can come up with or if something pops up in your head, please feel free to share. Chad loves it. But, you know, favorite is I think, 22 Savage, which has, you know, deep roots, deep roots in the nickname game for Chad. If you don't know, sorry, have to ask him if you see him in Person.
- [02:05]
John Bowman
Great.
- [02:07]
Chad Peterman
Well, we have a good friend of ours on here and Mr. John Bowman who's been to a few Rhino X time or two now, who's grown a nice little business up in the old northeast up in Connecticut market. Hey, by the way, congrats to the Yukon girls.
- [02:20]
Chris
Yeah.
- [02:21]
Chad Peterman
Getting the natty.
- [02:23]
Chris
The. They were hot the other night.
- [02:26]
John Bowman
Yeah, I couldn't believe that had been Since. Was it 2016 that they had won the title or something crazy like that. No way. Yeah, exactly. That's was my thought. I was like, there's no way that it's 2016 was last time they won. Yeah.
- [02:40]
Chad Peterman
I mean that freaking program. By the way, I know John knows this because he rubbed it in last year. Oh, you're already laughing, huh? Is that funny?
- [02:50]
Chris
No, no jokes.
- [02:51]
Chad Peterman
Yeah, I had an. I saw a nice little pop up on my phone. It was a picture of me, Chad Mason and some friends of ours here in Phoenix. You know, the day of the devastating loss to the Yukon Huskies in the finals against our beloved bolo makers.
- [03:05]
John Bowman
Yeah. Well, then UConn went and stole the best player out of Indiana who's going there next year, so. Bummer.
- [03:13]
Chad Peterman
Sounds about right.
- [03:14]
Chris
I was nice about it. I thought. I didn't rub it in.
- [03:18]
Chad Peterman
Any message was mean. Okay. At that point. And it hurt for a long time afterwards. And then to have the stupid Facebook reminder pop up and remind me again of the loss that was to the Yukon Huskies. Whooped our ass.
- [03:33]
John Bowman
That was an ass kicking.
- [03:34]
Chad Peterman
God, that was terrible. But you know what? I think Purdue has a legit shot again this next year. I'm excited. I'm excited for basketball. But it was fun to watch the Gators win last night. So we're recording this, you know, the day after the Gators beat Houston with that dumbass last play. The Houston didn't. God, can you please. You see Kelvin's face?
- [03:56]
Chris
Yeah. He looked like he was gonna puke.
- [03:58]
Chad Peterman
I felt bad for him, but honestly, I was cheering for Florida, so. And I really didn't give a. Who wanted to be honest with you. But fun game. Leasing all the way down to the wire. So I just want to start this thing off by saying, John, if you. I want to see if you remember this. You are also a, you know, a customer of Rhinos. We have a friendship. You're a client of ours. You have been for a while now. And I remember saying to you early on one day in the near future once you kind of been through a nice little growth spurt together, we're gonna do this and we're gonna do it live on the to the Point podcast. Do you remember that conversation?
- [04:34]
Chris
That's right. Yeah.
- [04:36]
Chad Peterman
And here we are.
- [04:37]
Chris
Here we are.
- [04:38]
Chad Peterman
Here we are. And it's been cool to watch you, you know, and you. You and I actually have stayed pretty tight, you know, and stayed in contact throughout, you know, the years about all kinds of random tour when something pops in your head or just the growth and experiences that you go through. And like I said, you've been to a couple Rhino X's. And then, like, Chad Peterman won this year at Rhino X, the Charge Award. You had won the previous year, the Charge Award. And for those who don't know what Rhino X Charge Award is, is that's for those who attend the event and then actually leave and implement things they learn from the event. If it's not just things, tactics, it could be the relationships, you know, leveraging the relationships of the event to take and scale their businesses, which John did and has been doing successfully over the past couple years, man. So it's been fun to watch your journey, dude, you know, and I've been. And it's been cool to see you've had some serious growth happening, and that's the kind of stuff that we want to tap into. And the previous episode that we recorded was from the west coast, and now we're clear on the East Coast, Right. For all of our east coast listeners to hear. To hear your story up in Connecticut. We're representing from Connecticut here, representing the North East. So assuming you're also a Celtics fan, you're probably happy, I'm guessing, are you a Celtics fan? I'm a Celtics fan, of course. All right, well, congratulations. Congratulations to you on that, too. Just keeps. Looks like the good times are just rolling up there in the Northeast right now.
- [06:00]
Chris
Yeah, we'll see.
- [06:02]
Chad Peterman
Well, I want to. I just wanted to. Again, we're going to dig into some of your story, but there's some things that I paid attention that you guys have. Have done. And over these last, you know, I would say even the last few months that I felt like you guys have done a great job of, and Chad's really going to appreciate this. I've given lots of presentations over my tenure, you know, at Rhino, talking about marketing, and I talk about the six Ps and some of them are basic, but the last two Ps around people, and the other one is personality. And you have done a fantastic job of giving F.F. hitchcock a personality. So real quick, what I want you to do, you know, because FF Hitchcock is plumbing, heating, air conditioning, electrical, and some other fuel oil generators, and then somebody scratching the surface on roofing a little bit.
- [06:58]
Chris
Yeah.
- [07:00]
Chad Peterman
We'Re trying it to hit on all that stuff and to see kind of how you've experienced the, you know, the similarities or the troubles and the things and all that stuff. You know, Chad and I are just together last week going through our, you know, first year of our roofing business and talking about what we learned and where we're headed and that type of stuff. So we're on, we're in the journey, and you're at the beginning of that journey. So I'll be curious to hear your take on it, but maybe let's do this. Why don't you know the drill, man? Just like, right up front, just share a little bit of, of your background in the trades. Start off with where the business is at today, Right? Because you had some decent growth over these last few years, like, even through the hardship, like you were one of those companies that, when it was super hard, kept growing and kept scaling.
- [07:43]
Chris
Right.
- [07:43]
Chad Peterman
So I want to be able to, to share that journey, but maybe just again, let the listeners know, because this is a multi generational business. I love these legacy companies. And this thing's been around since like 18 years. Some crazy, like that wasn't some 1870. Like, it's hard to even understand, understand what that business is like in 1870, but it makes for. I love history. So anytime there's these legacy companies, man, I think it's so cool. Multi generational things like that. So, so just you're gonna have to give like the Cliff notes version of this deal, you know what I'm saying? But start off with where you're at, you know, and then just kind of maybe let listeners know your journey so they understand, you know, your take from, from your perspective.
- [08:21]
Chris
Well, you said we had 45 minutes, right?
- [08:23]
Chad Peterman
You got four.
- [08:25]
Chris
All right, so real quick. So, yeah, the company started in 1870. It was literally a general store. I mean, like, I have invoices from like the 1880s and stuff we sold. Like, it was like going on the Oregon trail. Like, do you need like a, you know, a wagon wheel and like a set of clothing and hopefully you'll get like cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever. Yeah, whatever it is. And so, you know, the, the, the business grew as technology came into place. I mean, literally, indoor plumbing gets invented. We started doing plumbing. Indoor heating is invented. We started doing, you know, heating and air conditioning as it got invented. So that chased us all the Way through to more recent times. We were primarily new construction, high end residential, like commercial. And then, you know, 2008 comes around. We had to reinvent ourselves. We struggled. We tried to get the service game going, but really nothing clicked. We're doing okay. And you know, a few years back we met actually at a Lenox show. And I know you guys are like, you're not ready for us yet. Like go, go figure it out. So you know, we rebranded with Kick Charge, threw it through, know with the new, the new website through. You guys really embrace service titan at that same time. And, and, and now really the rest is history. We, you know, we're, our growth is pretty incredible. You know, we're very humble or humbled to be on this ride with, with our employees because I wouldn't have necessarily. I believed it, but like people thought it was crazy, right. So just kind of proved them wrong. But no, it's been great.
- [10:14]
Chad Peterman
Well, you got to be a little bit crazy. But so, so where's revenue at today? Just so we know where your projected revenue is? Totally fine too, for the.
- [10:21]
Chris
Sure. Yeah. Just north of 20 million for, for revenues. You know, we're stringing together, you know, some serious million dollar months. You know, 14 is 15 somewhere in there on service and install and having some fun with some new products. You know, getting into the roofing and solar game. We'll see how that all pans out.
- [10:47]
Chad Peterman
Yeah, I told you to give the Cliff Notes version and that was probably the Cliff Notes or the Cliff Notes version because you went straight from 1870 to like 2022.
- [10:58]
Chris
Yeah, you know, maybe I, maybe I.
- [11:01]
Chad Peterman
Messed you up, dude, because I think that what's interesting to understand because if I'm listening to something and why the hell it takes so long to get to $20 million or whatever it is, you know, like. And you talked about new, new construction and kind of being in that game. So when did you actually get into the business?
- [11:18]
Chris
Sure, yeah. December 28, 2006 to be specific. I actually had my first time card.
- [11:27]
Chad Peterman
Significance to that date. Right.
- [11:29]
Chris
Yeah. So I left college, I, I did three and a half years of, of academics, played four years of football and decided that since I had no more eligibility, it was time to go work. And kind of a crazy story, but went to work for another company on an internship. They ended up going out of business and I got stuck, you know, kind of holding the bag. So I went to work for my dad and you know, right around that 2008 time frame and you know, and then again you know, the economy hit the shitter and new construction went to nothing. So I was a newbie in a company that was struggling and you know, we just tried everything but we had to learn it a lot along the way and made a lot of mistakes but just kept trying and you know, here we are. But you know, we got lucky. I mean, you know, service titan came along and sort of helped us get organized and you guys came along and helped us develop a brand. You know, we always had history, but we didn't have a true purpose. So I think that's where we kind of landed with, you know, the rebrand and embracing history but not hiding behind it. And we like to think of ourselves as like the 155 year old startup, you know, because it's just like it's, it's kind of wild fire here every day. I mean we're scrambling. We're building three desks on the other side of this wall right now because I'm out of desks, you know, buying a revan we can buy and, but it's fun. It's a lot of fun.
- [13:08]
Chad Peterman
I saw, I saw one of your posts. I forget when it was, I think it was at the end of last year when it was for the positions that you're hiring for and I was like, see more. You know, you click on and it's the drop down of the rest of the text. I was like, holy, that's like a no.
- [13:22]
Chris
Yeah, we'll take it. Yeah, you're interested in working, we'll, we'll hire you.
- [13:25]
John Bowman
Yeah. John, one question I've got for you. Just because it sounds like we've maybe experienced something similar. So you know, you said kind of new construction, you joined in 06. Obviously 08 happens. What, what was kind of that transition like with, with you? And I don't know if your dad's still in the business or you know, whatever that looks like, but maybe take us through that like transition because I know there's a lot of people or at least I get a lot of questions about, you know, family dynamics and the, you know, the transition of power and all of this stuff. Like kind of walk me through that transition, what that looked like hurdles, successes, different stuff like that.
- [14:06]
Chris
Yeah, my dad is still in the business. He's actually home from Florida. So he's here today. You know, he's here to help out and, and, and with just the knowledge. But also he's, he loves just going to pick up parts or drop things off, etc. I run the business with my two Brothers, we, we're not a company that's big on like titles and stuff, which is weird when we hire people in, like, especially as we're growing and we're hiring management levels and they're like, well, you know, what's my title? And I'm like, I mean, you're just gonna start doing this, you know, so I don't really care what people call me. I mean, you know, I kind of do it all. Fix the copy machine, you know, make the coffee. It doesn't matter to me. But you know, one of the hard things, I think, getting into the business, like you said, I mean, I was 22 years old and you know, I'm working with people who are in their 40s and 50s and like, how do I gain that respect? You know, we chose, you know, and my brother the same way. We just chose to work right next to him. And, you know, I committed to trying to, you know, work more hours than anybody else in the company. I tried to be the first one in the ditch and the last one out of the ditch. It didn't matter. Like, there was no job too hard or too easy. And I think I gained the respect of my peers really quickly that way because we were side by side. I never want to be treated like the boss's son. Actually, like, hated that. So just wanted to be one of the guys. And as things progress, we had to keep hiring more people and we built in some levels of management and we still are. But I still like to think that I know everybody's name and I still almost do every hire in every interview because I want to know that the people we're bringing in are going to add to the company, not take something away.
- [15:57]
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- [17:19]
John Bowman
I'm telling you right now, keep doing that, because that is what has got you where you are. I resonate with a lot of your story of like, you know, when I came into the business, I didn't, I didn't know how to do anything. So I'm like, well, how am I gonna like add any sort of value to this place whatsoever? And so it was just that. It was like, the only way I'm gonna earn the trust of the people that I need to carry this out because I don't know how to do that stuff, is I'll just work right alongside you. Just let me know what you need. I'm here. I'm a hell of an, I always said I'm a hell of a helper. Like, because I, I'm a go getter. I'll go get you whatever you need. I don't actually know what I'm doing, but I will help the out of you. You parts, pieces, tools, whatever you need, I'll, I'll get. I'll be that guy for you. But I, I think that's such a cool piece because I think that there's a number of family stories that I've saw go the opposite direction where someone comes in and they feel entitled and all of these things, and it just leads to a lot of chaos. But, you know, coming in with the right type of mindset of like, hey, you know, I'm just one of the guys. I'm just here, yeah, I have the same last name and you guys know I'm related. That doesn't really make a difference. We're all here to kind of push this thing forward.
- [18:31]
Chad Peterman
I think we need to clip the I'll help the out of you piece from Chad and then.
- [18:35]
John Bowman
That's Right.
- [18:38]
Chad Peterman
Well, so I, I respect that because you're saying you're kind of willing to come in and just, you know, work more hours to show, you know, versus to talk about it. You're going to be about it as we say. But if you play football in college, like, you kind of got to have some of that discipline already, right? Because once you play collegiate sports, like, that's a whole, whole another level of discipline because now you're trying to do academics and practice. So even if you sucked, you know, you still have to have some of that, like that discipline and like work hard mentality. So I'm assuming some of that kind of helped you when you transitioned into, into real life business.
- [19:15]
Chris
Yeah, I was a much better football player than I was a student, hence the three and a half years. But you know, I, I, I gotta be one of the longest students in Merrimack College history because I, I did go two years ago. I went back to school and completed my degree and, and like I marched right up there. I went right through like, you know, 38 years old and I'm walking for graduation. I didn't care, you know, I'm like, I earned this. So, you know. But I did finally graduate two years ago, which was awesome. But yeah, I mean football, you know, had a big impact in me. I, I post college, I, I coached football for 15 years. I just stopped a year and a half ago because I figured I couldn't do both. You know, I can't run a business and coach football. I can't leave at 3:30 every day to go coach kids, even though I love it. But yeah, you learned a lot about playing on a team. I was lucky enough to be the captain of my, my college team. And so I think a lot of my leadership skills and things I don't even realize I'm doing per se, just comes natural to me. But, but a lot of that was from sports for sure.
- [20:29]
John Bowman
Yeah, I, I, I mean I played football in college and high school and all of that. And I think that the, the whole mantra of just, hey, I just want to be one of the guys I'm just here, I think is like the most quintessential football like adage. Because in football you only get to play one side of the ball and you only get to play one position at a time. And you've got to depend on the 10 other guys while you're on the field to do their job and you've got to do yours. And sometimes that is, that means that you're not involved in the play. You know, it ran to the other side of the field and you're on the backside. Well, you're just not going to get there and that's okay. Or you're, you know, like young Mason, you may be a wide receiver and it's a running play. Well, you know, do your part and they may be running to the opposite side, but I think that that's such, I've actually never like, I mean I obviously knew football had a big impact, but like the way that you said it, I think really resonated with me of like, oh, I think that's kind of where I got kind of just hey, you're just part of the team. No one there is, you know, on a football field there's not a whole lot of hierarchy. It's, hey, everybody's got to do their thing. The D lineman, the linebacker, the safety, whatever it may be. Like everybody's got to do their job and everybody's a little bit. It.
- [21:41]
Chad Peterman
Yep.
- [21:42]
Chris
Takes care. Actually, I, I have I think six of my former players that work for me now.
- [21:48]
John Bowman
That's awesome.
- [21:49]
Chris
You know, hired them in different role service techs and stuff like that and help them go through tech school and stuff because you know, you got in a weird way like, I mean, you know, you got a kid that's going to do his 1/11 as you said, and, and, and, and not be, you know, committed to just himself. You know, we, we talk all the time about just being a one employee company. Like it comes down to each and every employee. Like, you know, everybody has to do their job in order to get. So that everybody get paid at the end of the day or everybody can enjoy their, their work at the end of the day. Yeah. So I mean it's, it's a, it's a good mentality to bring people into our organization that already have that mindset.
- [22:28]
John Bowman
Yeah.
- [22:29]
Chad Peterman
So. Okay, so let me, let me just walk through this with you for just a second. When did you really start getting. Well, actually let me take another step back. Your father was in the business, but did you. Was your grandpa or anybody else uncles, anybody like great uncles? Who else was in, in this. I mean this is.
- [22:47]
Chris
Yeah, I come from background plumbing and heating. You know, my, my uncles owned another company that was owned by my grandfather. My, my grandfather had a ch. Opportunity to buy this company in the early 1970. 1969. My dad started.
- [23:03]
Chad Peterman
Isn't it crazy to think he bought a hundred year old business then?
- [23:07]
Chris
Yeah. Right. Yeah. You know, and now. And my dad's been working here for you know, 50, 55 years, you know, which is even more crazy. But wow, you know, we've been lucky. You know, my dad's literally let us fail and you know, not warned us because you know, he knew he wouldn't be around forever to, to teach us those things. Luckily we still have him here, but you know, it's, it's been a big learning curve at different points for sure.
- [23:41]
Chad Peterman
So, so like Chad works with his brother Tyler. Right. And they kind of have their set roles with what they do in the business and it works, right? And they know that. And like, so there's, it's, it's crystal clear on like what their jobs are, what they got to do. You've got what two, you got two brothers in this with you?
- [23:56]
Chris
Yep.
- [23:57]
Chad Peterman
So so do you. Is it kind of like that? Where do you know who has what roles and you all focus on your roles. Is there still overlap? Like kind of. How's that? How' look, and there's a reason I'm asking that question because I, the, the whole, the lead up is I want to talk about some of this like growth spurt that you've, you have. I'm just trying to understand who's doing what in this, you know, in the, in the, you know, during this process.
- [24:19]
Chris
So our middle transition, I guess what I kind of left out was so in 2008, with the housing crisis sort of exploding, we focused mostly to new construction, commercial and tenant fit out type stuff, and focused a lot of that for a good portion of about 10 years. I was running service and fuel and installs on the residential side. My brother was running, my brother Mike was running commercial where that was the most of the company was on that side. And I was trying to figure out service and install. And really just in the last 18 months, you know, we got to a point where service and install, Ian adding, you know, electrical trades as well just became way too much work. And the, the last holdout was some of this commercial work that, you know, it's better than residential because you know you're going to get paid for it theoretically. But your terms are awful, you know, with, with pricing changes, you know, on a year long project, it just doesn't make sense. So we've continued to pull back from the commercial space and Mike and Sean have shifted back over to the residential side mostly and they handle purchasing installs, some of that service coordination stuff. But yeah, we're all kind of hands in.
- [25:49]
Chad Peterman
Are, are you mostly responsible for. Are you mostly you mostly responsible for like all the, like the overall growth of the business today? Is your, how much is your dad still involved in that piece of it?
- [26:00]
Chris
Dad's still involved, but yeah, I mean I, you know, I think he'd be the first one to tell you, like, what we've done here is something he'd never envisioned. And he's had many employees different, you know, at different points. We had 40, 50 employees and then we were back down at 10 or 15. We've gone through those cycles, but it was all on contract jobs. You know, you got 30 people on a site. We've never had, you know, 30 people in the field individually. That was sort of, I think the, the, the scary thing, you know, every time you go out and buy five vans, you know, you're like, you know, here we go. You know, it's just, it's, it's a, it's a lot of risk and reward, growing service and install. But, you know, I guess it's worth it.
- [26:53]
Chad Peterman
Yeah, I, I was just trying to think through like in this process, when did, when did you kind of get handed the keys of this thing to start taking it and making some of these major shifts? Because when you come to, to Rhino X, you listen to this, this podcast, we're all, you know, we're so heavily focused on the residential market. Right. And you know, the big argument I think a lot of times is, you know, there's thin margins on, on commercial, you're waiting to get paid. So you got to be able to, you know, you gotta be able to support that, you know, lag of cash. And like, there's so many things and it's like, oh, but the margin in retail is so good. And like. But it's also a change of mindset. It's a change of process. It's a lot of different changes and you've segued into, you know, into doing, you know, more of that. The difference is, is you, you actually play ball with a, you know, between the H vac side, the plumbing side, the electrical, the fuel oil, which is a great business, can be a great business, but there's also, you know, now you've kind of flirted with roofing and things like that. And some people might be like, John, what the hell you doing, man? You're doing too many things. Like you should be focusing on, you know, one thing or, or the other. And, and I can agree with some of these things because people, you know, but I also have understood, like the last one we just had on talked about how that may have made saved the business or maybe not saved, but that's what helped him scales because he learned how to bring on another, another trade and then cross market, you know, to existing customer base to scale the business when things got a little bit rocky. So I think there's some real value there if you have somebody who I think actually can execute on the trade. Right. And I'm not questioning any of those things. You guys are 155 year old business. So I'm not saying anything other than when you took the keys to this thing, you clearly had some intention because you didn't just come to Rhino X and pay the big ticket price to be there, to just take pictures and be around people. Like, you wanted to learn the things, and you did. Like, you proved it. That's why you end up winning the Charge award. That second year you came back. So what is it like? What. And you being a coach is like, the perfect position to be in to lead a business. It's even better when you're bringing in some of your old players who already trust you as their coach. Right. And. And I think this is something like Chad, it really excels at is being a leader in the business and understanding the, you know, how to bring people along with you and help them grow and scale to meet whatever the company goal is for the year. But you kind of took the reins and said, okay, like, I'm gonna go and start building this thing too. So you had to learn a lot of different, you know, facets of this business, but you picked up on, hey, we need to start going down this residential route. So what is it that you, like, let's just use Rhino X as an example. When you came to the very first one, or even the second one or any of them, forget it. You. What is it that you were looking for, you know, that you. You wanted to take back or what did you learn? It can be like, across the three of them you've been to, but what is it that you were looking for and then what is it that you started implementing in these businesses that helped you scale over these last few years?
- [29:55]
Chris
You know, I think in a way, we've kind of been sheltered here in Connecticut. You know, there. There isn't the major players at the time now there's, you know, some. Some more private equity money moving in. But, you know, at the time, it just was a lot of small companies, and I didn't even know. I'm just being completely naive. I mean, I go to my first Rhino X, and I'm. I'm literally in the airport coming home, calling my dad. I'm like, dad, you wouldn't believe. There's guys out here that are doing, you know, 40, 50, 60, $100 million in revenue, and he's like, there's no way. You know, we didn't even know about this. And I don't know what sheltered life we in New England. But, you know, it took me to go to. To the first Rhino X, and, you know, stupid me. I mean, I was. I was sitting with. With Chad, and I think he, like, you know, Told me what he was doing and I was like, I probably supposed to know who he is. I have no idea who this guy is, you know, and, and like. But I was, I was just that innocent and, you know, and so then I. The. The best thing about Rhino X is you're there and you're. You're talking to people and you're, you know, you're having a conversation. You realize they're not that much different than you are. And, you know, I kind of got that mindset of like, why not me? Why can't I can do, you know, if, if. If they did it, I'll do it. You know, I had a coach back in college who, who was really young and, you know, he. He said he was old enough to know better, young enough not to give a fuck. Kind of the mentality I just embraced. I was like, you know what? We, we literally have nothing to lose at this point. Point, you know, we were struggling as a business, struggling to, you know, make payroll and, you know, pay. Pay vendors and everything else. I said, we have nothing here to lose. You know, let's. Let's throw it up. And so a lot of risk, a lot of chances got lucky here and there. But yeah, I mean, it, it really, you know, would catapulted me from the first. I would say this actually, really the second Rhino, last year, two years ago, I should say, you know, we. I paid a little extra. I went to the VIP dinner, if you remember, I sat. Sat next to. Sat next to you. And, you know, that made it a little more intimate, I think, you know, being able to sit there and say, like, you know, just listening, you know, and a lot of times I don't think people do a good job of listening. You know, they're already thinking about how they're going to respond and they don't take in the full, you know, conversation. And I just tried to be. Control some of my ADD and nervousness, I guess, too, and listen. But, you know, sitting there and, and people around you and you're like, man, I should be writing notes at dinner. You know, it's pretty, Pretty remarkable the people that are in those rooms.
- [32:59]
Chad Peterman
Yeah, I. I want to commend you for saying that live on the air because it's, you know, it's. It is difficult, you know, I think, to be, you know, to say something vulnerable like that because it's easy to want to posture too, right? Like around people who have been successful and say things. People.
- [33:16]
John Bowman
People don't do that in our industry, do they? No, there's none of that.
- [33:20]
Chad Peterman
Never that here. But you did exactly what you should do. And by the way, like, that is something that, like changing the mindset. Chad, I'll tell you this, like, just being in. If. If that's what it took was you being around, you know, sitting next to Chad, hearing what Chad's. Chad's done, and you saying, hey, why not me? You're absolutely right. Why not you? Right? Like that's. You unlocked one little, you know, one unlock, you unlocked one lock there. They just kind of took you to a whole nother level or at least opened you up to thinking about, okay, I need to pay attention. And. And then you went. You know, the next level of going to the VIP dinner isn't so much around being vip. It's more so around who you're with in that dinner and the small group that it is with. That's what it's about. Because now you're creating relationships with people who can help you ongoing, too. Like, you can do that regularly, too, but the VIP puts you in a different situation, you know, and it was a great group. You know, we had in there of contractors and, you know, the, the, you know, the speakers.
- [34:18]
Chris
And last year I sat next to Mr. Kenner himself, Ken Goodrich, and. And, you know, I remember you're like, I'm looking at the name tags and you're like, yeah, you're sitting next to Ken. That's pretty good, right? And I'm like, dude, you know, what is this? You know, I'm listening to his book on the way to. To the show, and here he is sitting next to me, but another person who I hope he'd be okay with me calling him a mentor in the industry, because, you know, same thing. I mean, you know, I shoot him a text and, you know, he gets right back to me about what he would do, or I shoot him a text and he never gets back to me because he's just off doing something else.
- [34:56]
Chad Peterman
But, you know, just so you know, that's a very normal process for Ken.
- [35:02]
Chris
Yeah, no, and he'll tell you same way. Yeah, yeah. But again, you know, it's just amazing right back. And it's a.
- [35:10]
Chad Peterman
And I gotta be on it. But.
- [35:12]
John Bowman
But, John, I think your point there, I think the point that you made that I think is important for people to hear is. And you may not have even meant anything by it, but I think it's so important is I think he would be okay with me calling him a mentor. And I think there's so many people and I'm so fortunate to be in this industry as we all are, is that there's so many people who have done so many amazing things that are so willing to help. And even if it's not like, oh, I'm on, like a first name basis with this person or, you know, whatever it is, like, you can still watch from afar. I mean, there are plenty of people that I have stalked for many of years of like, all right, what are they doing? What are they. I'm gonna get on your website, I'm gonna get on this, I'm gonna figure out what you're doing. And I think that that's the beauty of this industry that. I mean, obviously we've talked a lot about Rhino X. I mean, that's a huge piece of just being around those people. I mean, I remember. What was it last? I was on the beach and I just so happened to look at my phone and it's Ken calling and I'm on the beach. I'm building sandcastles, doing whatever. But just because I've looked up to him for so long and followed kind of what he's done and all this stuff, I, like, picked up the phone. My wife's like, who are you on the phone with? It's like, oh, it's just Ken. And he had just like, some simple question, but, like, okay, yeah, I'm gonna answer the phone. Because I know that he would. He would answer the phone and, you know, help me out and do all of that stuff. And I think that's really the cool part that I think Rhino X is a. Is a prime example of like, kind of, I think, kind of meshing. All of us that are trying to build something and are like, you know, trying to figure this out with, like, the people that have done it and, you know, done a lot of the similar things. Like, you know, like, we've all been in the same spot. Like, you telling your story. I'm like, reliving like, oh, yep. I remember when we were in the office and we were thinking that same thing, thing. And that's what we were doing. Like, everybody's gone through the same stuff. So to posture and act like, oh, well, that doesn't affect me. And I'm all, guess what? We've all been through crap. There's all been. There's always been tough stuff. And like, to me, the fact that we can all lean on each other is like one of the coolest things. I mean, I. I talk to people from outside the industry and they're like, you would Share that with somebody. I was like, yeah, what the hell? You know, like, let's, let's figure it all out together and we'll, We'll. We'll build something better. So I think that's so cool. I appreciate you sharing that.
- [37:37]
Chris
Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I don't even, you know, I said, I said to Chris a few weeks ago when he asked me to be on the show, and I'm like, I don't really think I'm ready or deserve to be on the show because I don't want to pretend like I'm somebody that I'm not. I mean, you know, we literally walk into, you know, a fire drill most days of the week. It's still a mad scramble to get, you know, hire the right people and, and figure out what the next step is. We don't pretend to be perfect at all, but we try to learn from our mistakes, you know, because we made enough of them that we might as well learn from them. But, you know, it's. It's a crapshoot. But you're right. I mean, you know, just being able to bounce ideas off each other, whether it's through a text message or a phone call or, you know, I've gotten on Zoom a couple times with some different people and, you know, it's, it's invaluable to, to get some of that seat time with people. But you're right. I mean, you talk to other people in. Under other industries and, like, that's your competitor. Like. No, we're friends. You know, it's cool.
- [38:37]
Chad Peterman
You, you said fire drill. All you're doing is preparing yourself for every phase of the business as it scales, is an everyday fire drill. You're just going to end up building a full process around it and somebody lead the fire department.
- [38:50]
Chris
Yeah.
- [38:51]
Chad Peterman
You know, well, in order to, like, I love that you're taking advantage of the relationships and you're not trying to pretend like you know things that you don't. That way you can get to the answers that you need. But then you must have implementers in there who are actually putting these things into process. Unless it's just you. I can't imagine it's just you.
- [39:06]
Chris
So it was for. It was for a while. And, you know, I, I realized quickly that I can't do. Can't do it all. And I had somebody in the office sat me down, and she's like the motherly figure around here, and she said, like, we get it. Like, you, you are. You might be better at everything that goes on here than all of us. Like you, you could do it better than any of us, we'll admit it. But you can't do it all. And that sank like right, right here, like, because, you know, I, I didn't trust. And that was my hard, hardest thing I did was, was trying to give up some control and do some delegation. And that's what I'm trying to focus on this year. I'm just trying to hire people to do all of my jobs. Not because I'm lazy, but I know that it's really effective when I'm getting five tasks done by not doing them and being able to delegate. So, you know, my role in trying to shift is to more of that like head coach role. I'm just trying to tell people kind of what plays to run and, and sit back and watch play out on the field.
- [40:25]
Chad Peterman
Yeah, I, I wanna, I want to shift gears for just a second. I, I mean, the reason I was want you to say that out loud was because, you know, going into these events and meeting the people and doing the things and learning the things doesn't mean that you have to be the one to execute all them. At some level you can't. Like you. You've heard the term you gotta delegate to elevate. You've heard a million variations of that. That's so true. And then your job is just to. And this is a conversation I feel like I have or I get asked or talked about often whether to my, you know, my group of buddies or whatever. It's around, well, how do we start to build, you know, leaders internally? Like, how do we get some of our managers to actually become leaders? And you know, there's lots of options that you can, you can do to help you with that. Or if you have that skill like you do John, then you can build them internally with having to go to a third party, you know, company organization or something like that to help you. So. But I do want to shift gears for, for a minute because we're already kind of getting deep into this episode and there's some things that you've done really well that I want to commend you on. I want you to talk about it. But the most recent one is actually. Let me back up a second. You know, you hear me say right at the beginning of the show, I did, you know, I talk about, you know, the, the 6Ps of marketing and the, and the, you know, the two major things that can set a business apart are the fifth and sixth p, which is people and personality. Because everyone's so afraid to give their business a personality. And you've done a great job of it because you've implemented a few things and using, you know, even social media as your platform that I thought were great and I thought were funny and risky. A little bit risky. One of them was pretty. Was pretty funny. So I would encourage anybody who's listening, who wants to check out John's social, go to his Facebook page and look at some of the stuff his team has done.
- [42:00]
Chris
Yeah, we have fun.
- [42:01]
Chad Peterman
It is fun. And so you've done a few things. I'm going to call it out and then I'm going to get specific. On one, you did the. I'll actually finish with the. With the last. I want to go. But you've done the prank calls of the csrs, which is hilarious.
- [42:15]
Chris
Yeah, right.
- [42:16]
Chad Peterman
You did the one where it was a lady whenever she's talking through like a paper towel roll and like her head was stuck in duct work. And then the other guys talked about how he wanted to rent the toilet for Easter. It was hilarious listening to your csr. God bless her for being a good sport and taking that. But it was funny for you guys to. To do that. And then somebody's probably like, why is he wasting their time if that's you? Stop being lame. Okay. It was funny. It was good. It gave. It gave you guys a, per your business, a personality. Right. You can have fun with it. Right. And I thought that was pretty hilarious. You did the Hitchcock was the. The home service tips. Don't be like Herbert or. I think it was a couple of your employees, like kids or something like that.
- [42:56]
Chris
Yeah, it was our kids. Yeah, the kids.
- [42:58]
Chad Peterman
That was hilarious too. So that was a good use of. Of it. And then the, the home show thing that you just did with the upside down booth.
- [43:06]
Chris
Yeah.
- [43:07]
Chad Peterman
Now that was awesome. Because, you know, we all go to the home shows, we see a lot of the same things. You have cool setups, but you built. Chad, did you see this? He built down booth and did a photo shoot for it. And it is bad ass. Whenever we play this, we're gonna have to post a picture of this or somehow maybe throw it in the. Yeah, something. But that was pretty. That was pretty interesting. I gotta know, did it work like you hope it would work?
- [43:30]
Chris
It was awesome. And you know, we're at a home show and people are there like looking for bathroom remodeling, kitchen remodel stuff too. And they had no idea. Like they thought we were trying to advertise bathroom remodels. By showing this upside down bathroom. I'm like, no, it's just, you know, a play on. You know, we're trying to flip the home services space on its head. And so, yeah, we had. We. We went out, we bought a. A photo booth camera. Like, you know, you can see that on the iPad, and just flip the image. So when the picture got taken, it looks like it's upside, you know, right. Upside down. But they're up. They're hanging from the. The ceiling like a bat. And it was awesome, you know, and the. The. The camera we had, like, automatically texted out the photos to the people and hashtags and all that stuff, so. And I was trying to think. I actually think, you know, I saw that idea, Chris. It had to be five years ago on a list of, like, 50 guerrilla tactics. I think it was through Nexstar or something along that road. And always had a dream of building this thing for a home show. And we did it this year, so. But it's heavy.
- [44:39]
Chad Peterman
Was it a good.
- [44:40]
Chris
You have a toilet hanging from a ceiling.
- [44:42]
Chad Peterman
Yeah, dude. But it was so good. And it's different, right? And it was funny. Like, it was funny. People come and take pictures who have no interest, you know, in the service at that time. But it's Brandy at that point. Right? But it was a. You know, whenever people come to your booth, these home shows, there's a little bit of a crowd. That's better, right? Because then it makes it more comfortable for others to come by or want to know what the hell's going on. Right.
- [45:04]
Ken Goodrich
Sorry for the interruption to the point listeners. Have you heard of Rilla? Are you using Rilla yet? If not, are you Forilla? 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.
- [45:33]
Chad Peterman
That's R I lla. And that. There was a lot of that.
- [45:40]
Chris
We actually had a lot of vendors taking pictures in the booth, too, you know, because they thought it was funny. So.
- [45:45]
Chad Peterman
So will this be a part of your stuff moving forward?
- [45:49]
Chris
Yeah, so we. We actually built two of the shells. We only got the one done. That's the bathroom scene. But we're already working on, like, a mechanical room. So, like, the furnace will be upside down, the duct will be upside down. So you'll be Standing in a. You know, you'll be hanging out, changing the air filter in a upside down mechanical room or something.
- [46:10]
Chad Peterman
Chad, if you got your computer pulled up, take a look at it, go to the Facebook page.
- [46:13]
John Bowman
I'm. I'm trying to find it, but I'm terrible at searching on Facebook.
- [46:18]
Chad Peterman
John Bowman, you gotta look for him and go to his page and you'll find it there. Another one that you did, dude, that I thought was hilarious is. It was the playoff. Galifianakis is between two ferns.
- [46:29]
Chris
Yeah, between two ferns, between two.
- [46:31]
Chad Peterman
Between two furnaces. And I thought that was pretty hilarious. That was you being able to show your personality again. All this stuff was just entertaining, right? Because we are all in the entertainment business. How we get it, that's how we get attention, right. For our businesses, regardless of what we do. And you just used humor, which, like, is right up my alley. I love it. And I think my favorite skit you did there was the mullet one. When you walk around, everybody's got the mullets on in the office, and you're like, I don't like. Yeah, see, you got creative with it. So I don't know.
- [47:00]
Chris
Yeah, we were talking about people installing solar systems on their house. And I hate, like, you're going through a neighborhood and you see like this ugly panels on the front of a house. And. And so we're trying to say, like, solar installation should look like a mullet. Like, it should be business up front and the parties in the back. And yeah, we had fun. And then my dad shows up out of nowhere wearing a mullet. They actually got me on that one. So it was fun.
- [47:28]
Chad Peterman
Yeah, I mean, that's the whole point of it is just you got creative and you use that p very well of giving the business a personality, which, again, you know, I think is incredibly important. Right. Because it does set yourself apart when nobody wants.
- [47:39]
Chris
If.
- [47:39]
Chad Peterman
If nobody's looking for the service or wants to have to use the service. Right. It's good to just be able to entertain those people. So when it does come time, well, they know who to go to.
- [47:49]
Chris
But those kind of things don't cost a lot of money either. You know, you know, it's creativity, but, you know, all of a sudden you go sort of viral on some of this stuff. And, you know, we. We're just trying to be famous here in Cheshire, Connecticut. You know, I'm not trying to be famous across the usa, but, you know, we're trying to be famous for our customers. So, yeah, it's. It's Been pretty good so far.
- [48:14]
Chad Peterman
Keep doing it, man. I love it.
- [48:16]
Chris
Thanks.
- [48:18]
Chad Peterman
I will say I'm going to pivot one more time and this is going to be another hard pivot, but it's something I want to talk about because I know that you. I'm just, I want to understand how you're using this because it's another tool that the listeners can use, especially if you're in the H vac spaces. You use your online store, you have an online shop on your website for filters and equipment, things like that. We've had these conversations before around E commerce and there is a process to implement these things. Like some, some do, some don't with it. Like it's just an option, you know, if, if it works. Do you guys, you guys actually. I know a lot that have it on their site, but don't actually do anything to drive traffic to other than it just being filters. Like the filter, you know, the filter service. Are you guys actively using it or do you have somebody that owns that process of using that, that shop?
- [49:06]
Chris
Yeah, we're trying to refine it right now. You know, I, I think we're ready to start selling systems online, which scares me, but also, you know, makes me excited. I mean, people are getting more and more used to large purchases online. I just. So we're looking. I've never, you know, we, we. Right now we use as a lead source. So we give people like good estimates, they fill out a few questions and then we pop out, you know, a questionnaire. But those turn right into sales because they're really hot leads. Like, you know, somebody's on their computer at 10:30 at night and they send you a request for, you know, a quote. But they're already informed because you see them, they, they've clicked like a few different options. They've got a few different, you know, quotes. So you're going into that home and you like, you're ready to sell because you know what they already want. That's where it's been powerful so far. I'm trying to get to the point where we're literally selling a system online and maybe taking a deposit and then using that as the hottest lead you have, right? You already sold. You know, you have some of their money. They're gonna buy what you tell them to buy at that point. So we're getting there. But yeah, I think we're ahead of the game on some of it.
- [50:27]
Chad Peterman
Are you leveraging finance? Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Chad.
- [50:29]
John Bowman
Well, so I was just gonna say, so we've. We've been piloting this and we put a little bit different spin on it. So like the main model is just quote it so that they don't ever have to talk to anybody. But we've got virtual salespeople. So the way that we've done it is essentially like we give the customer the option which if you're looking for a marketed lead one, do you want someone to come out or do you just want to get what we call an equote? And so when we do an equo, essentially we just have a FaceTime. We've, we've built it out to where essentially they have to upload photos. So like hey, you want an equote? Great, okay, go take a picture of your furnace, take a picture air conditioner, Give us a little bit more information and then let us know what time you want to have a equote conversation. And so we've turned it to where we're doing these. But it's kind of a, it's kind of a hybrid, right? It's not full blown. Just buy a system without ever talking to anybody. So essentially we get their information and then we have one of our virtual people hop on a zoom with them and they can see their pictures and so on and so forth and they're quoting the systems right there. We're getting those leads of people. Now they would have potentially been marketed lead leads that we would have had to gone out to their home. But if you look at your marketed close rate, it's probably not like phenomenal. You know, obviously we want to drive most leads through service into sales, make a turnover opportunity. But it has essentially you don't have to run people all over town. Like I have a guy that can just sit in front of his computer screen and rattle off four or five estimates for people that are, you know, they may be kicking the tires, but at least they've had some face to face with somebody and so on and so forth. So we've tried it that way, just putting a little bit different spin on it. We're still building some stuff out, but it's, it's worked, worked decently well I think in generating leads.
- [52:25]
Chad Peterman
Are you, are you use. Chad, are you using. Cause I know you lead. You guys team lead so much with financing. Are you also adding the financing option to that so you can get pre approved in the process or do you wait for that?
- [52:35]
John Bowman
So we wait for it. So we give them the, we give them the price once they, once they get on the phone or once they get on the zoom Call with, oh, got it. And they're doing a presentation. So that's why I said it's kind of a hybrid piece. I think there'll be a day when people will just buy it online. And I know that people have had success with it. We're just. We look at this as kind of like that intermediate step of like, we're just kind of dipping our toe in the water and seeing how it can work. But we've definitely sold systems from it where people are interested, talking to somebody. It doesn't take that long. And, you know, there's guys selling them from, you know, the office.
- [53:12]
Chad Peterman
It's interesting. I've been talking about people buying systems online for a decade.
- [53:18]
Chris
Yeah, I think it's. I mean, we're ready to do it. I mean, we're, we're. I just got to figure out exactly the process, like Chad said, like, you know, I think you do need an insale side sales rep that's like, dedicated to, like, online consultations. But I think it's definitely possible. You know, on the fuel side, I started a website probably 10 years ago now. It's called delivermefuel.com. you know, we sell a million gallons online a year. Just people buying online. I know it's smaller purchases, but, you know, it's 24 7. It's open every day of the week, you know, and if I could sell oil and propane online, I'll. I could sell a water heater or a furnace. I know.
- [54:01]
Chad Peterman
Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I totally agree. Well, listen, man, I, I appreciate you giving us time. I know they're on the east coast, what's gonna be pushing 5:00, but since you don't have any. Oh, I'm sorry, Chad. Jesus. Keep you waiting on you Gotta go pick up. You can probably go pick up the kids, don't you? I do.
- [54:16]
John Bowman
Here in a minute.
- [54:18]
Chad Peterman
But, John, appreciate you giving us, you know, some time in the afternoon and, and just kind of sharing the story. Being vulnerable enough to talk about the. You don't know. Right. And. And just being open about your experience and, and it's not so much about Renault X, you know, that I'm. It's about what you learned and took away from it that you, you know, apply towards the business is what matters most. That's what I want our listeners to hear is, man, there's everybody going through it in all different phases, but the biggest thing you can do is just come in, you know, vulnerable and, and know that people are willing to help you. And you sat next to Ken Goodrich and talk to him. And did ever, did he ever once make you feel stupid? No, no, he didn't make you feel stupid because he's not a total dick like that. Like he's trees there to help. And the only way these guys can help you is if you actually tell them the problems that you're having. Right. Like the real problems you got to be open about other because they don't. Like, they're not going to be impressed. Like they're there to help you. They're not there to try and be impressed by you.
- [55:15]
Chris
Right.
- [55:15]
Chad Peterman
They're trying to help you.
- [55:17]
Chris
Yeah, I got the, the, the best compliment this year when I saw him again and we had dinner and I, he said, I just got to tell you, I love that between two furnace show thing you do. I think it's great. I'm like Ken Goodrich telling me that something, you know, something I do. But he did say, he goes, you gotta add some like low tech stuff in there. I said, okay, we're gonna do that the next show. Low tech for Ken.
- [55:40]
Chad Peterman
There you go. By the way, I just saw Ken roll out his first generator commercial with the cape on. Do you guys see that?
- [55:46]
John Bowman
I saw it. Yeah, it looks great. It's awesome.
- [55:51]
Chad Peterman
Oh, it's such good. Well, listen, what he did is exactly what we were just talking about. He's given the generator business a personality, right? They're just generators or I think he called them personal power sources or personal power plants or some like that for what the name of it is. But guarantee you that's going to be successful because he gave a personality to the business. Just like he rolled out and ghetto with the little boy with the flashlight. Right? He told a story, gave the business a personality. That stuff works. That's branding. So anyway, man, listen, I'm glad we got to do this. I was glad to be able to feature you on this and you guys have had some good scale and I know you're going to keep going and eventually, hopefully you work your dad right out, right into retirement and get him on the road because, my God, 55 years that you sent home.
- [56:34]
Chris
Yeah.
- [56:34]
Chad Peterman
It's time, man. Come on, pops. Yeah, hang it up. Like, let's just go chill for a little bit, all right? I, I gotta, I hope to be able to meet your dad sometime. I can't imagine. I mean, he's got you guys, he's been in this business that long. I mean, wow, 155 year old company is incredible. I'd love to dig into the history of it at some point. And you could probably do some really cool stuff with the history of that business, you know, for in. In marketing, you know, marketing the brand. So anyway, dude, listen, keep at it, you know, you got the right. You got the right attitude, you got the right, you know, skills to be able to lead this thing. Sounds like you got fantastic, you know, fantastic help, you know, inside the business. Nobody's got a title because everybody's kind of willing to do the thing. And that's what it takes, you know, at this time, is to scale these things and to try new stuff. So I appreciate our friendship, man. I appreciate you give us the time and sharing with our listeners.
- [57:30]
Chris
Yeah, I appreciate both of you and everything you guys do for the industry and everybody out there. I mean, you know, there's so many good people out there that are willing to help. And the people that are listening, you know, just ask because I think there's a lot of. Lot of information out there, right?
- [57:43]
Chad Peterman
And y'all. Tell you what, I'm going to finish with this. Chad, you got off the hook on this one. You know what I mean? You got off the hook because I had three dad jokes ready to go. And I completely.
- [57:56]
John Bowman
Thanks, John. Appreciate. You forgot guest ever. You confused him, diverted us attention.
- [58:02]
Chris
I appreciate the. I heard one today. What is a plumber's favorite vegetable?
- [58:10]
Chad Peterman
What is it?
- [58:11]
Chris
A leek.
- [58:16]
Chad Peterman
A leek.
- [58:19]
Chris
The leak.
- [58:20]
Chad Peterman
Nobody knows about that shitty vegetable.
- [58:22]
Chris
It's a terrible vegetable.
- [58:24]
Chad Peterman
God.
- [58:25]
John Bowman
Oh, someone telling jokes. Chris's segment. He's getting all up. Up at his feels. I felt it coming.
- [58:33]
Chad Peterman
These dad jokes. I've never done any other. Okay, thanks for that, John. Really appreciate you stealing my thunder, man. Thanks.
- [58:41]
Chris
Oh, come on.
- [58:42]
Chad Peterman
I'm just kidding.
- [58:43]
Chris
It's not as bad as, you know, you can't beat Purdue.
- [58:47]
Chad Peterman
God. Okay, well, on that note, John, I'll have you finish this thing for me. You don't got to do everything, but you got to do something. No. Zero days.