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TTP Micro Episode: Peterman Leads With Financing With A High Close %
00:47:54
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to to the Point Home Services, the podcast where real contractors share real strategies. We cut through the noise and get straight to the point with the contractors that are working in the field right now. If you run a home services business and want to lead better, grow faster and stay sharp, you're in the right place. Now, before we get started, I need you to do one thing. Only 30% of our listeners are following the show. So stop what you're doing, hit follow, and let's get to the point. This is to the Point a Rhino experience voted one of the top home.
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B
Services, marketing and operations podcasts. Cutting through the bullshit and getting to the point.
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A
What's up to the Point listeners, Another micro episode with our dear friend Erica Lenore from Good Leap. Now this one is not a goodly promotion. It's merely about making financing fun. Everyone needs financing, they just don't know how much of it they need. Or you don't know how to use it. So in this episode, Chad is a. Chad's a big believer in financing, one of the largest financers in the service titan platform. So he really knows how to put this out there and make it work and he commits that. This is what really helped Peterman Brothers Scale was offering financing and they're exceptional. So we give so many great takeaways in this micro episode. Enjoy it with Erica Lenore and Good Leap. Hey, what's up to the Point listeners, it's your boy Chris, along with my co hosts, Mr. Chad Peacherman, the Ron Collie ringer, as he calls himself. I haven't said that one a little bit.
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B
It feels good to say and nor do I call myself that, but thank you, Chris.
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A
He does, but he just don't say it out loud.
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B
He's.
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A
He's shy. Look at him, his face is red already. Hey, by the way, this is going to be like completely off topic already right out the gate. I was back in my home state, the great state of Indiana, and I was at my mom's house and she was showing me all these old pictures from. That she got from my uncle and, and she showed me an old. Oh, God, I'm gonna regret saying this live on there, now that I think about it, but I'm down the path so I'm gonna give Chad this little gift. So he was showing me an old. You know when your parents would say, like if your kids, you know, when you graduate, you save like the, you know, the. What do you call that thing? Well, senior superlative, whatever those things are.
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B
But.
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A
Or when, when you have, you Know, award ceremonies, you say, the little pamphlet and all this stuff, or my daughter's inquire. So she'd say, well, I was in show choir. Okay. Vocal Jazz Ensemble was the actual name. Yeah, know, I. I was in show choir, and I noticed on there that we competed against at Southpaw High School. Competed against Ron Collie and my Southmont Panache, as we were called, were victorious over Ron Collie, whatever their dumbass name of their singers were. But we won, just so you know. And I know that might not sound like much to the. You know, to. To those who played football and basketball and, like, somebody. Some of the sports that matter. I was a wrestler. I was in show choir, and I wrestled. Okay. That's how I offset the. The immersive all busting that I had for four years of high school for being in show choir and on a wrestling team. But I saw Ron Collie made me think of you, Chad Peterman.
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B
I appreciate that.
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A
Yeah. Yep. And, you know, and Erica, what you don't know about Chad is he actually tried out for the show choir, but he didn't make it.
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B
I did not try out for the show choir.
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A
But he thought about it.
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B
No, I did not think about it.
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A
I mean, he really is a good singer. He always just. He just hides it, you know, and, like, he. He's, like, shy on. On the podcast all the time. But, like, he stayed with me plenty of times, and trust me, when the karaoke machine comes out, it's Raining Men is his go to song.
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C
There you go.
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A
It's me. Hallelujah. Right, Chad?
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B
No, no, that is wildly incorrect, but, you know, keep rolling with it.
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A
Okay, Moving on to more important things. Hey, Chad, we've got our dear friend Erica on the podcast today. I know that I've known Erica for a little bit now, and actually, fun fact about Erica is we have Liz Patel, who leads our CSR coaching team here at Rhino and is a phenomenal human being, an excellent coach, a great leadership of that. Of that team that's been growing and growing, and Erica, you know, sent her over to us. I appreciate that and because I try to get you to come, but you. You didn't want to be a Rhino, so. Damn it. But, yeah, we have Erica on, and she is the director of business development for Good Leap, great company, which I know Chad is a. Chad's been partnered with Good Leap for. For quite a while. Does a ton of stuff with financing. Chad, aren't you, like, in the service Titan world? Like, don't you have some of the Biggest financing LED sales rates in Service Titan or something like that. Something along those lines, isn't that right?
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B
Actually, I was talking to Connor the other day. That was news to me, but he said that we were. So here we are, thanks to our good friends at Good Leap and our training team here. I think that's the key. It's how you present it and how successful it will be. And then you obviously need a great partner behind you taking care of all of the nuts and bolts behind the scenes.
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A
Yeah. And to all the listeners, that's what this is about. It's not a Good Leap podcast, but we have our subject matter expert, which is Erica Lenore on here, and. And she will be our. Our go to for all the questions that we have. But it's around how leveraging financing today's, how you can leverage financing in today's market. Now, don't just go away because you're like, oh, I know how to finance. I'm talking about today's climate, like, what's coming, you know, with the way that our economy is progressing, what's it going to look like next year? Approval rates, you know, all the things I just want to talk about. And then we're going to keep this one short and sweet because I. Like I said, you know, at the beginning of this, nobody's going to listen to an hour worth of financing. Some will, okay? So to my CFOs or my, you know, in my bookkeeping, but most people aren't going to listen to an hour's worth of financing. So we're going to blow through this thing. If I would just get to the point, like the podcast suggests. So, Erica, welcome to the podcast. I'm glad we finally made it happen.
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C
Me, too. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks, you guys. Thanks for being good leapers too, Chad. We love working with you guys over the years and partnering with Rhino on a few things. It's just fun.
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B
Yeah, absolutely.
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A
Good leapers. Is that what you're called?
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C
That's what I say. I like to say, hey, thanks for being a good leaper. So I don't know.
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A
You're a good leaper.
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B
I know. I think we need shirts. Oh, my gosh.
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A
Leaper. You're like. What do you call it? Water? Taylor Swift. Swifty. You're like a Swifty for Good Leap.
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B
Yeah, exactly. We get friendship bracelets and all.
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A
Okay, well, we've accomplished something right out the gate. We. Are we good leapers and friendship bracelets now? You know what? You're just what your SWAG is at all the upcoming shows, Erica.
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C
That's right. We got to do that for next year.
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A
Well, let's do this. Okay, so before we get into some of these, you know, the questions, you know that the, the, that the listeners really want to hear is maybe just share a quick bit of your, of your background because you worked at Power selling pros for a bit, you know, and, and you made a transition and went through cancer and kicked its ass. Hallelujah. And so but maybe just share a little bit of like 30,000 foot view of your background for listeners so that way we can set the tone a little bit and then we're going to jump into some of the questions.
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C
Yeah, sure, absolutely. So a little bit about me here. I, I mean, 3,000 foot view. My favorite thing about life is being a mom. I love being a mom to my three year old girl. Her name is Arwen from Lord of the Rings.
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A
Adorable. If you were at Pantheon this past year, you saw her running around, she.
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C
Definitely loves those trade shows, that's for sure.
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A
So she covered the entire trade show flora like at least 100 times.
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C
She did, and that's why my husband was chasing her, not me. So she'll be back at Pantheon this year probably. So she comes around with me. But it's my favorite thing, you know, just God, family, all of those kind of values are just very important to me and I think that's what drives a lot of why we do what we do and how we go about doing it. And so yeah, I've done a lot of customer service training in the past and came over to Good Leap about three years ago and just having a really good time and you know, that's I guess, short and sweet and I love Lord of the Rings.
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A
Yeah, clearly. If you are watching on YouTube, you'll notice that the plethora of daggers and swords and whatever else behind the wall.
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C
Behind Erica and wizard staffs and all.
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A
Sorts of things, I mean potions, you name it, she's got it. Yeah, so, so what I see is don't try and break in Derek's place.
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C
Or if you want to come visit, let's go buy some watermelons and cantaloupes and we'll play fruit Ninja.
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A
So that sounds amazing. You should post a video on just doing that.
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C
We have. It's pretty fun.
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A
So one excited to have you on here. It's always awesome to have friends on here too. And Erica is a friend of both of ours too, so this will be fun. The but the thing that I that you have to talk about, even if you don't want to, is financing because it's so important and such an important part of your business. If you're utilizing it, like, if you're doing and if you're training on it, if you're paying attention, if you're not paying attention to the economy, that's okay. That's what you have good partners for, too. But you have to do something with it. So, so maybe let's just talk about like, today's economic climate. Okay, so we're, you know, just over halfway through 2025, regardless of which way you voted, you're, you're feeling the impact in the economy. I, I personally believe I was just having this conversation with Tommy, like a couple weeks ago when we were up in Idaho about what is next year going to look like. And we both have, like, really positive outlooks on what the economy looks like next year. Hopefully interest rates are dropping down, somebody's a little bit cheaper to, to get and you know, approval rates go up and like all the things. So, so that's kind of what I'm thinking. That's what I'm thinking is going to happen. Of course, it's just my theory, but it's, it feels. Makes me feel better to think about it that way. So if it doesn't happen, then whatever. But what if it does? Maybe let's talk today, like about, you know, interest rates, you know, consumer credit tightening. Like, what is the impact approval rates across, like, what are, what are some of the impacts on approval rates across his home services today? Like, Chad's killing it with financing. I don't want to get to that part yet about how. But like, what's your, what's your just take on today's climate and then what's going to look like next year?
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C
Yeah, you know, I've seen a lot of things, like people just looking for different types of solutions. Right. Like, I've seen people going into leasing programs and good leap is building a leasing program. You know, there's, there's people finding different solutions and different ways to have, like, financing for their customers. And so that's just one of the things is, you know, the typical traditional, my favorite F word or least favorite F word financing. You know, it's not a scary thing. There's a lot of different ways that you can go about providing solutions to your homeowners. And Chad, you guys have seen that, right? It's like if it's easy for a homeowner to grasp, like they're going to go forward with something. And you've probably seen that hands over with your team.
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B
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think there is a lot more creativity out there. I think people are maybe more in tune with it where, you know, as before you were coming to the home and they didn't even know why you were like finding what, what, what is this thing that you have. And I wasn't expecting to finance what I'm buying from you, but you know, I was just in a meeting earlier today and you know, just talking about the rise of how much a system costs. Like, I remember not even five years ago, like you, you were like, what did that customer just buy? They just spent $10,000. And today, I mean, I don't know, the majority of our systems are probably at least over 15 and a number of them are over 20. And so I think it's, it's understanding that this stuff has gotten more expensive. And so how are you going to help your customer, you know, make that purchase and get into the whatever system that they want on the H VAC side? And I think it's even more important for some of those, you know, when you think plumbing, electrical, H vac, some of those smaller repairs even, can you offer a solution that, you know, spreads out payments or lines up with their situation or. It just seems like people are a lot more in tune with it from a customer perspective, which I think makes it easier. But we still have to do our job in, in educating and, and helping them find whatever solution that they, that they need.
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A
What are the more popular options? Like do you have the, do you have like a deferred payment option? You have no interest payment options? Like what, what are the more popular options that, that the consumer is taking advantage of?
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C
Yeah, you know, it's really interesting. Our popular options are really a 15 year loan for a lot of reasons. You know, it gives people a low monthly payment to start. We're seeing a lot of things where that 15 year is paid off within five years, you know, and so sometimes, you know, people are talking, well, the life of a system is only 10 years, you know, but it's okay because most people do pay those off earlier, but they just really need a low monthly payment to pay. Pull the trigger a lot of times. And of course there's deferred loans, there's lots of options. You know, we've got so many different ways that contractors can pick and choose how they can sell it first to a customer, like how they can comfortably offer financing. And then of course, you know, best practice Groups and stuff like that. Sales trainers, Goodleaf, we all can help with being able to deliver that, but really, it's in a contractor's hands of how can you, you know, comfortably deliver this to your homeowners? But also, it is about the homeowner. Right? Of course we want contractors to have more sales and grow their business, but we're in it for the homeowner. Like, what's going to be a good experience for them? Soft credit pulls, no application fees. Having a good customer experience. That's what I'm really big on. And, you know, when you think about going in and selling in the home or answering phones as a CSR or whatever it is you're thinking about, how does this customer feel? Like, people will buy everything off of feelings most of the time. Right. Like, I'm gonna buy $120 pair of Lululemons. Like, well, it's because I like them and I feel good when I wear them. Like, it's silly to buy a pair of leggings that's. That's expensive. But Chad knows, you know. Yeah, Chad loves them too, but it's just how we feel. And so when you make a customer feel good and comfortable and that they're the hero and they're in control of things, that's really kind of what financing does, is it helps them be in control of their finances and their budget and, you know, how much they can afford every month and all of those things.
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A
Hey, real quick, you said you kind of threw soft pull in there. Maybe for those who don't know what that means, it's a really important thing for you to understand what that is. Maybe just explain what a soft pull is.
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C
Yeah. So it's a way for us to look at somebody's credit without getting it dinged. So, you know, eventually, yes, when a loan gets funded, there is a hard inquiry on a homeowner's credit. But really, in that application process, they can feel comfortable of I want to see, even if I qualify, what I qualify for, knowing that I don't have to get this hit as a hard inquiry on my credit just to see. And so once they get that approval or whatever happens, homeowners can then decide, do I want to move forward with this or not. And they don't have to feel that anxiety that this is ding their credit score just to apply.
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B
Yeah. I'll tell you, another important piece of this soft pull is it allows you to pre approve customers and find out. And it works both ways for the homeowner. You know, they May have some anxiety around, you know, am I going to be able to afford this? Am I going to look silly if I can't? What's this going to be? And so we send out a text message to all of our at least H VAC estimates. It goes out at 3 o' clock every day for the appointments that we have tomorrow to say, hey, you know, a lot of our customers choose to use, use financing in this purchase. Feel free to go ahead and get pre approved. It'll cut some time out of the process and so on and so forth. And so I think it allows them from that perspective and then from our perspective, if you're a salesperson walking into someone who's already ran their credit and has already gotten approved for a certain amount of money, well it makes that a lot easier to fit them into, you know, whatever system it may be because, well, they can afford said system or it works. And I think the other thing I was going to say when you were talking about, you know, or Chris asked the question on, you know, what plans are the most popular, I think it's more so about having kind of a menu of things and then using that as a negotiation tool. Like we're often talking about warranties or IAQ or something like that. And what we found is we go to the customer with a, you know, a couple of options. But well, you know, this, that and the other. Well, what if I could get you in, what if I could get you in this loan? What does that look like for you? Well, tell me a little bit more about that. Well, it's defer, you know, all the things about this particular loan where that may, that may fit their needs a little bit better. Obviously there's the popular ones, but something like that could be, could put you over the top and getting a sale like, oh shoot, no one else offered me that, that product and that seems like a good one. So I think it' been one of those things. I always feel weird because like before we got really heavily involved in this, it was like, you know, just, just sell equipment and then we got into this financing realm that we all had to learn and it's like we're almost to the point where you're, you're just as much a financing company as you are selling new systems. When it comes to sitting at the kitchen table with the customer.
- [17:49]
A
Well, you are because of how much you push it and like your sales training, this is a part, this is a big part of. I mean, I didn't even know you sent the text messages Out. That's a great idea. That's a great idea. And it makes total sense. Right? I bet you just from that you guys probably get a lot of pre approvals just straight from that. I mean, hell yeah, I'd love to be a sales guy going into a. Knowing what the pre approval amount was when I walk into the home.
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B
Geez, they got a hell of a lot more confidence, that's for sure.
- [18:13]
C
Well, that's something too. Like with Tommy at a one garage door with using Chirp, I think that they were doing a follow up campaign and you know, talked about it that way and just any unclosed estimates. They did a follow up thing with financing and got people approved with it. So there's a lot of creative ideas to make things affordable for people. And that's, that's really what financing does.
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A
This is, this should be a salesperson's best friend.
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C
Right?
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A
It is interesting though because we talk about different verticals. Like, you know, Chad and I, you know, I think, you know, Erica, Chad and I own Redbird Roofing together and we in good leap is our financing partner at Redbird. And it's like, but you're trying to train these guys on how to lead with financing. That's like, you know, German to them. Like they're, they don't, they're like, wait, wait, what? Like you can, you can ask for, you don't just have to take it to, through the insurance process. You can finance it. Like it's a different world. Like that's a whole other battle that we're fighting right now in the, in the roofing space. But to me, yeah, like if you could leave with financing options to get the, to get a large chunk sale down, like a roof or a unit, you know, an air conditioning unit, why would you not do that? I would use it and I'm a salesperson.
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B
Yeah, Well, I think the other piece too is to that point about like, do your technicians understand the nuances of financing? It's, it's exactly like any listener can relate to. Well, why don't they offer that IEQ product? And you ask them and they're like, well, I don't know anything about it. I don't look stupid in front of the customer. Like, why would I offer that? And so we've really dove in on especially the service lines, like your sales guys. Like that's their world. Right? Like they know it. A lot of them come from the car industry and different stuff like that. But you know, your, your plumber, like he's been A plumber. And so when you start talking, like, well, offer financing, do that. Like, you'll sell more stuff. It'll be great. They're like, well, I agree with you. I mean, I've talked to some of them. Like, I agree 100%. I just don't know anything about this. Like, I don't even know how to explain it to the customer or, like, what is deferred mean? Do they have to pay? Is there a minimum payment? I like all of these things. And so we've really focused our training on, like, the financing education for our technicians. Like, so they feel comfortable leading with financing. Like, it's one thing just to say, do it. They all agree, yeah, if my customer can pay $200 a month, that's a hell of a lot better than paying the six grand right today. But they just. They don't. They don't. It's not something they've been exposed to. And so we've tried our best to expose them to that. So they feel like, really, really comfortable. Like, they're talking about, you know, that new water heater that they know everything about, because they've been looking at one for 10 years.
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A
Chad. Chad, is. Do you think it's important when these guys are introducing financing to bring it up earlier in the conversation or later in the conversation with the homeowner? Because it seems like you're going to get to it. Everybody knows you're going to get to it. It's not like a secret. What is your. Like it. Should it be early in the process that they bring this. That they bring these options up?
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B
We have conflicting views on it around here. I think my theory has always been trying to feel out a customer and making sure that they feel comfortable, knowing that a lot of customers choose financing. I think if you bring it up at the table while you're presenting, it can often sound like, oh, well, you don't want to go with that option. Well, we have financing. If you can't afford it, that's never a good place to be. So it's a delicate balance, I think. And I also think it depends what you're. What you're doing. You know, H Vac nowadays, I feel like most people, they're. They're locked and load, like, that's what we're going to do. You know, some of the smaller repairs, maybe not so much, but that's kind of what I've seen. Erica, what have you. What have you seen as you go around and talk to people? Like, what. What are people's philosophy on that.
- [22:01]
C
Yeah, I, I mean I've seen it a lot of ways too. Like the conflicting ideas. I personally think it can become part of a company culture. I train CSRs on the talking points of financing and teach them, like, hey, if you have an install coordinator or something and you're taking that phone call, just plant the seed. By the way, we work with a financing company. Here's their name, here's a couple of things about them. I'm going to send you a link in your confirmation text or email. If you'd want to get pre approved, it's here. Something so simple and short it can be 20 seconds. But even just starting there and it becomes part of your company, it becomes part of your culture and everybody's involved in it. Then it's like everyone talks about it and it's not like a weird scary thing and mountains of paperwork type of idea that a lot of people have with financing. It's quick, it's easy. Of course there's going to be the little questions that come up situational based, that you can always reach out to good leap for or whoever you work with on financing. But you know, I start with the csrs and then I, you know, technicians make it part of your introduction. You know, just, you don't have to go long on it. Just say you offer it so that way when you do get to kitchen table, it's not awkward.
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A
Hey, what are some, I'm going to pivot for a second. What are some of the misconceptions that contractors have about offering financing to consumers?
- [23:28]
C
Yeah, I think that a lot of times they think that people don't want financing for something like this. Right. Like this isn't something you finance, but it is because it's. Prices have gone up. Everyone knows that everything's more expensive. So it's not necessarily something that's always been offered because it hasn't always been this expensive. But home services is expensive as well.
- [23:56]
B
Yeah, I mean if you're, if you don't think your customers need financing, I can tell you two things. One, your price isn't right because I'm telling you you're gonna need some financing. Like not everybody has 15, 20 grand laying around for something that they didn't think was gonna break, like it's not the case. And then two is stop shopping with your own wallet. Just because you're like my dad and pay cash for everything and don't wanna owe anybody anything doesn't mean that others don't. And you know, the, I mean, what is it Credit card debt is at an all time high right now. So credit card is a form of financing. People are using it obviously. So, you know, like just meet them where they are. Like they're used to doing this. And so if they're used to doing it, like, make it an enjoyable. Make it, you know, a very easy experience for them is always my thought.
- [24:50]
A
Yeah, well, and I think that you alluded to this a little bit, Chad. And when you're talking about, when you're presenting financing, it can come across as like a negative. Right. Because you feel weird that you don't have the cash to pay for even though it's $20,000. Like most people don't have a cash. You have to like be able to alleviate that from the person to know, like, hey, by the way, like this is, this is the majority of people who don't just have 20 grand sitting around to pay for an air conditioning unit.
- [25:16]
B
Yeah.
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C
So, you know, another one too is that people think that Everybody wants a 0% interest, you know, because that's one of the things that was going on in 2008, you know, like that you have to have a zero percent interest loan. And, and that's not the case anymore. Just the economy is different. Like, yeah, that's. That can be an option if you want it to be an option. Sure. But just be like the unders or thinking that everybody wants that. That's not true. Like people are being offered different types of loans with different interest rates all the time and they're being accepted. So.
- [25:48]
A
Yep, that's a really great point. Yep.
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B
The best. It's the best point, trust me. Our most popular loan is a 15 year, whatever the interest rate is now 1299 or something like that. Like it. And the way that we've always presented it is people if credit card debts at an all time high, that means that people are using credit cards. You get your credit card bill. What's the interest rate on your credit card? 30%? 25. So I'm giving you actually a loan that's a hell of a lot cheaper than your current loan that you have out right now.
- [26:23]
C
It's definitely not worth the sky miles. Right?
- [26:25]
B
Yeah.
- [26:28]
A
Chad, Chad, I think. Have you pitched this before, buddy?
- [26:32]
B
This is one. I'm so passionate about it because as we learned about it, it literally changed the trajectory of our business. Like when we went from offering, all we used to offer was what was the popular one? 0% for 60 months. Well, when we got away from that and offered these loans that were more advantageous to us as the business, our margins changed drastically because people were used to it. We just had to get over that fear of, well, everyone wants this. And again, not everybody wants or needs that. Yeah, you'll have the customer who's like, well, do you have anything for this? But that's when it goes back to a negotiation tactic. Well, yeah, I could get you in this loan, but, you know, for that price, I probably have to bump you down a unit here. But I can get you in that loan on this system right here, and you're going to be good. Like, it becomes a piece of the. Of what they're buying is the financing package.
- [27:28]
A
That feels like car sales. But the way you just said that actually felt like a car sale.
- [27:33]
B
Yeah. I mean, we're selling a small car.
- [27:35]
A
Yeah.
- [27:36]
B
At this point in time, like, I mean, now car prices have gone up, but yeah, you're selling a Prius, basically, that they're gonna put in their house.
- [27:44]
A
Well, actually, to that point, then this is for both of you. Like, what you. Because you mentioned earlier in the sales process, like, you. You like to be able to. What, like, maybe what are some of the, like, prereq questions that contractors can ask to even determine if financing is even a good option to roll out to these, you know, to consumer.
- [28:03]
C
Yeah, I think it's one of those things, like, you know, people say this all the time. Don't assume, like, you go to a certain house and just don't assume anything about their budget or their lifestyle or anything. Just doesn't matter the type of home they live in. Don't assume. It's one of the things. Like, don't assume they want or don't want it, you just mention it. It's just part of your script. If you want to call it a script, if it's what you want to do and have available. Like, it's got to just be part of how you talk, in my opinion.
- [28:29]
A
Yeah, but. But that's not what happens.
- [28:33]
C
No.
- [28:33]
A
A lot of times, like, we could say that that's not people. This is what's annoying. Chad's been to my place. Every time somebody comes to my house. My house, I assume the worst. I assume they're like, oh, yeah. Like, they just see dollar signs. I'm like, damn it, I know I'm gonna get a stupid. Like, the proposal is going to be. And so I literally feel that way every time somebody comes and does something at my house. I know when I go home today and I see whoever came over to look at my. My unit or Help me understand where this flooding came. I know I'm gonna have some big invoice because they showed up at my house. But we do that too, right? Like we look at somebody and we make an assumption of what they might, what their value is, right? Like, it sounds bad, but it's reality what happens. So, so we can sit here and say that, but really it still happens. So my question is, is that, like, what are some of the pre wet questions? Maybe, Chad, maybe you can answer this too, because you've done training on someone's training on it. What are the questions that you're asking to know that you're going to ask this homeowner for financing? Like, you got to get them down the path, even make like, make sure that they can do it. Like, what, what, what are some of those things?
- [29:40]
B
You know, I think it's just as easy as, you know, hey, we'll go take a look at the unit. A lot of our customers use financing. I can put some options together with that. I can do, you know, if you want to. I mean, they'll tell you what kind of buyer they are. You know, a lot of them at this point in time with new systems, they're already asking like, or telling you where their monthly payment should be. I think that's another easy way to do it. As you get closer to like, they're aware that they're going to have to do something. The water heater's leaking all over the floor. You know, hey, I'm going to put some options together. Where are you kind of, what do you, what do you want to look at? Are you more of a, you know, high end, low end? Where do you want to go? Where's kind of your monthly payment range? I can kind of tailor some options towards that. Different stuff like that. Because when you talk about monthly payment range, well, you're working within a monthly budget in your household. Then they may tell you, I'm just paying cash for this. Okay, sounds good. All is created equal. I don't care how you pay for it, as long as you pay. But yeah, I think there's some, some stuff like that. And I think just getting to know the customer, right. They've already gotten a link to get pre approved. So they already know financing is a thing. Thing. I think that's important. So it kind of tees up the, you know, the conversation of, oh, yeah, you got that link. You know, don't worry if you didn't fill it out, not that big of a deal, so on and so forth. So I think you can be very casual. It's not like you need to know how they're paying for it when you present options. They just need to know that it's available.
- [31:11]
A
Good point. I guess that makes total sense. Yeah, I guess it is a whole lot easier when you've already sent it to them to reference it.
- [31:18]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [31:20]
A
And we don't want to spend their money for them. I get it. Okay, I'm gonna shift gears for just a second. We're already like 30 minutes into the same. We're hot. We're 30 minutes into this progress already. I'm gonna shift gears on you, Erica. Are you guys. This is gonna be a little bit of a two parter, so I'll start with number one. Are you seeing more declines than normal right now?
- [31:39]
C
So I know there's some parts of the economy that are rough, but I have also seen, once again, people maybe not always going for the most expensive option, people going for maybe a repair option now or something like that so they can afford it a little bit more. They don't have to have, you know, a high, really high approval rate. They're only taking a little bit of amount of money. So debt to income's not being affected as much, those type of things. So, you know, there's, there's always this fun part of financing of you want it to be a win, win, win for everybody, right? It's got to be a win for contractors, got to be win for homeowners, got to be a win for the lenders and the investors. And what is it that we can do to make that happen. And I know it's not always going to be the picture perfect for everybody and everything, but like our team at Good Leap is a very good and strong team and we work with people every single day to make things as easy as we can knowing what the economy is right now.
- [32:42]
A
So yeah, it's got to be a hard question because it's like the one negative thing that you can have is a financing partner that can't get your customers finance, right? Like that's because otherwise it's not doing its job. But there is a market and an economy and there is like you said, the win, win, win. Like you have to take all these things into consideration. So then what happens next is they say, well, who is another, who is another lender that, that will get me financed at this credit range, right? Like it's just like this dance, right? So, so avoiding it there, you might as well not avoid it because people are like, they're thinking it right. Like, so you just gotta hit it head on. And it's like, you know, I, I wouldn't have you. Erica, I would have you on no matter what. But good leap. Specifically if I didn't believe. Right. Because even Chad use it. We use it river. So. But, and we know it. You guys, you guys are a great partner. But it's like, you know, a lot of these guys, a lot of the contractors will jump around and like try to find an alternative solution who will get the lower, you know, the lower credit person. Well, there's also risk with that. And there's still also risk with, with that. Like, of. Well, should, should they have actually gotten financing? Like, maybe they shouldn't have gotten. Maybe they shouldn't have gotten the financing. So like that's got to be the thing that you deal with. Like that gives you the most heartburn when that, when we have those conversations.
- [33:58]
C
It is hard because, you know, we, we do want to help wherever we can. But there is this aspect of you can only do what you can do, you know, as well. And so.
- [34:09]
A
And it's not your fault.
- [34:11]
C
Yeah.
- [34:14]
B
They won't approve this person with a 300 credit score. What are they doing? Well, I think there's a little bit of risk involved there, buddy.
- [34:24]
A
It's like I wouldn't loan money to my little sister.
- [34:28]
B
Yeah.
- [34:29]
A
You know what? I don't know. But I would not loan money to my sister. Why? Because the risk would be too great. I knew I wouldn't get it back.
- [34:37]
C
Gotta have a risk and a return, right?
- [34:41]
A
Oh my gosh. Well. And I actually do think though. I mean, I really do hope. I know I was, you know, we were talking about a little bit earlier, but I really do feel like there is a nice little uptick happening. Like. And so, and, and I really, I really do hope that we go into 2026 and it's like a really strong market. And I do feel like it's going that way and I hope it is for everybody's sake. And that doesn't mean people won't need to use financing. It'll just be. Maybe it's. Maybe it is becomes a little bit easier to actually get to the financing for the things done. I hate financing. I'm the same guy. Listen, I'm just like Pete Peterman. I would much rather just pay cash for it and not finance. Unless it's like a major thing where I'm like, money's. If money's cheap, well then maybe I would do it differently. Right. Because then I'd use cash for investments. But in this instance, like, man, if. You know, if you. Because the hard part for you, Erica, is if you can't. If your clients can't get approvals, that's when you guys have. You guys have loss. But. But there also needs to be some education around why, I think, like, why is this happening? Like, it's. Maybe you're going after a bunch of Facebook leads of people who can't afford to do these things in the first place.
- [35:49]
C
And. And, you know, it's one of those things where, like, you guys have a mortgage loan or people have a mortgage loan, how often, like, has that mortgage loan been sold to a new investor, a new company? Right. And those kind of things are out of our control. It's. There's just this whole world behind it. And, yeah, if people want more financing education, there's a lot of it out there. And. And if you are working in a certain demographic or geographical area where you work with, you know, some lower FICO score people, like, there are solutions out there. There are things that you can offer them, and you just want to make sure that you are legal, moral, and ethical with everything that you do. So.
- [36:26]
B
Yeah, you know, I think, Chris, you brought up a great point. And we measure this is. Is declines by lead source. Because it's to me, like, you can think that, oh, we're getting a lot of leads and then turn around and blame the financing partner, but we're getting all these declines. It's like, well, maybe that lead source is attracting the wrong type of clientele, and maybe you need to switch off of that. We see that a lot with social media ads. It's a lot of, like, tire kickers, right? It's people that are, you know, oh, I saw the ad, I clicked on it, boom, I'm here, and then I get declined. And they really weren't intent on buying anything. They just wanted to see if maybe they could. And so we look at that as part of our marketing analytics of, like, where we're getting declines. Where are those leads coming from? And maybe we need to shift funds out of that. Even though it's producing leads, obviously those leads aren't turning into business.
- [37:22]
A
Dude, that was a great bailout for Erica.
- [37:26]
C
That was.
- [37:27]
A
It's so true. Yeah, so. So, Chad, you'll remember this back, like, in that whole 20, 20, 20 21, when, like, socials kind of went bananas, like, it was different. Stop thinking about that. Those. The social media leads that from then. Because this is not the same. But remember when I started testing, like, you know, it was 59, 69, 79, like, like fees, where I was like, what's the number that's going to. That I can get a Facebook lead? It's, you know, financing as low as 79amonth, 89amonth, whatever the number is. I just wanted to see, okay, when that went, did it close? Did it not close? When we started seeing the decline happening in, like, 2022ish, like, started to increase, I was like, well, we need to stop run these social media ads because even though the cost per lead is low, they're not closing any of them because they can't pass a credit check. So there was like a diminishing return that happened there. I was like, well, let's. Let's not do that anymore. But then it makes it look bad on whoever your financing partner is, when really it's not even on them. It's like, no, but. But the marketing company look great. Here's your $69 cost per lead. That's what return on ad spend makes a big difference, ladies and gentlemen. Okay, shifting gears one more time. What are, like, some of the common mistakes that you see contractors when introducing financing? And Chad, you might deal with some of this too, in your coaching platform. But like, Erica, what are you guys seeing? Like, how are the. What's the mistakes that you're seeing when. When these guys are introducing financing, offering.
- [39:01]
C
Too many options right there.
- [39:04]
A
What's too many options?
- [39:06]
C
Well, here's the thing. I've seen people pick 12 or 15 different loans with different terms and rates and promotions, and you're scrolling through everything wondering what you should pick, and it's just. It's harder to sell. Especially as we were talking about, like, if you have a plumber or you have a technician, that financing isn't their world, and you give them 15 options. Like, which one do I pick? You know, your customer might see something, and it's just one of those things. Keep it short, keep it simple. You're only offering three to five options. Keep it the same for financing. The three to five options is very simple, and everybody can. Can learn it and learn how to pitch it. So that's one of the things I think is I do see people offering 15 different loans, and it just gets too convoluted.
- [39:58]
A
Yeah. Chad, do you. Do you guys talk much about that in your group and your group that you coach?
- [40:03]
B
Yeah, all the time. I figured, yeah, every week. Every week we're talking about this. But yeah, Eric is right. I mean, we offer three Three options. If someone, if a customer really pushes back and is like, well, so and so offered me the plan C. And we don't offer that. Okay. We can get it done. Like we still have access to those in a rare circumstance. We can use all of them. But yes, she is 100% right. Just giving them a couple. Because again, they have to be able to speak to them. They've got to be able to tell a customer what is a deferred payment. Is there a prepayment penalty? Like, there's a lot of stuff that they've got to educate the customer on so that the customer knows exactly what they are getting in the finance product. Because if they don't, then you're getting a call when they get their stuff in the mail. Like, I didn't know that. You know all of these things. So if you just have three, everybody can be really just like, they can rattle off how that loan works and so on and so forth and explain it very easily.
- [41:06]
A
Yeah. So they're not overcomplicating. We're going to call it the in and out menu. Okay. In n Out Burger is very simple. A couple options, you can modify them. Only a couple of options. But yeah, because you can't learn all these details about 15 different financing options. Like pick three and learn them and then you're good to go. It's kind of what I hear you say.
- [41:24]
C
Absolutely. I think one too though is like just being open to offering financing on repairs. You know, a lot of times people think that you just need it for big installs, but we're seeing more and more just people getting financed on repairs just with how things are rolling.
- [41:41]
A
Oh my gosh. I would never think the finance are there.
- [41:48]
B
Plumbing. Plumbing is a plumbing. 18 months, no interest. That's the one we offer no interest on. That's the rock star. Gainer taught me that one. I said, how do you do this plumbing thing? It's 18 months. That's the one you want.
- [42:02]
A
What's the, what's the, like, what are you seeing as far as like job size? That's that they're doing that on like.
- [42:09]
B
Or up water, water heaters, different stuff like that. I mean, you're usually in, you know, a couple thousand bucks, two grand, five, something like that in there. People are jumping on that all day long. Especially if you can offer a no interest on that because then you're just spreading out the payments. Like, well, I know you want to get the tank water heater, but you can get the tankless. And literally you can finance it and it's, you know, 70 bucks a month. Like. Well, shoot. I've been wanting one of those. That sounds like a great deal.
- [42:34]
A
Makes total sense. I'll be damned. Didn't.
- [42:38]
B
We're learning all the time.
- [42:39]
A
Wow. I. Yeah, I would. I guess that's like a mental shift. I don't know why I would never think you would finance, you know, service or repair. I guess it makes total sense if you're really. That kind of. Is a new installation though, right? Because you're, you're.
- [42:54]
B
It was a certain degree, but people. Yeah, people do rewires all the time if they want to upgrade their electrical panel, like, you know, all of those things.
- [43:03]
A
Why are there pergola.
- [43:05]
B
Yeah, you did. You didn't finance that.
- [43:08]
A
I did not finance that. Should have. I didn't. Better off. Okay. Hey, Erica, is there anything that I. That I or Chad haven't asked yet that you. That you know, that we wish you'd have asked just to kind of share with the listeners around financing or anything. Any of the above. I mean, I don't know what it would be, but.
- [43:25]
C
No, you know, I think this. I hope that this has been helpful and everyone's been able to get some kind of golden nugget or something to think about with it, you know, and with financing and looking at all the different options out there, like who do you want to work with? Who do you want to choose as your financing, you know, person or company? My. My advice is talk to them all and find the fit. Right. And because wherever you're at, like, you're going to want to work with people you like and that can back everything up. And you know, maybe good leap is not going to be for everyone, and that's okay. But I recommend having those conversations and finding something that fits your business and vetting them just like you would any other company out there that you choose to work with.
- [44:10]
A
All right. There you go. Hey. Well, why don't you share with the listeners and how they can get in touch with. With you? Erica?
- [44:15]
C
Yeah, you could find me always on LinkedIn. You could probably find me off of Chad's website. We got good leap on your website.
- [44:22]
A
Somewhere, so you're on mine too. Thank you.
- [44:25]
C
Yes, we got it on there. But really Find us on LinkedIn. I'm sure we can. Could put my phone number, email in the show notes or something. And I'm more than happy to have those talks with anyone who's interested.
- [44:34]
A
Awesome. Awesome. Chad, you got anything else, bro? Or you want me to close her out.
- [44:38]
B
I don't. Thanks, Erica. I love. As you can tell, I love talking about this stuff. I've even got notes on my end of things that you mentioned that I'm like, oh, yeah, I don't know if we do that anymore or we need to get back to doing that. So appreciate all of the advice and thanks for all you do for us. For sure.
- [44:56]
C
Thank you. We love working with y'.
- [44:58]
B
All.
- [44:58]
A
Chad's so giddy about financing. I'm a text Emily. Chad is giddy about financing, in case you want to have creative conversation now. Hey, listen, I. I didn't say this at the beginning of two, and I. And I meant to Erica, but really appreciate you good leaps support over the last few years at Rhino X, so thank you. Um, I guess last three years, you did the VIP dinner the first couple years.
- [45:25]
C
Yeah.
- [45:26]
A
And then you guys really stepped up to the day sponsor last year, which was awesome, and I really felt good about Day sponsor. I was gonna say this because I was just negotiating this with another event that I'm going to, using my own tactic, and that was I literally left Good Leap up on the big screens the entire day on main stage.
- [45:49]
C
Every single picture was. And I would just say, like, for any other person that is, like, looking to sponsor an event or something like that, like, what you guys did for Good Leap at that event, the water bottles, the mints, the. The little things, the signage everywhere, like, coming in as that sponsor was, like, it just made me feel so good and that you guys, like, really valued all of that.
- [46:12]
A
Yep.
- [46:12]
C
You know, thank you. And it's such a great event. I love Rhino X.
- [46:16]
A
Thank you so much. I. I just started planning for 2026. Like, I'm at the very beginning of it. I'm not sure what the hell I'm gonna do to up to updo last this past years when you create a freaking circus tent inside of a building. I'm not sure.
- [46:32]
C
I don't know what you're gonna do, but I can't wait to see it.
- [46:35]
A
We're gonna get it figured out. Speaking which, Chad, where in the hell is your award, dude? Where is it at?
- [46:41]
B
They were supposed to ship it to me.
- [46:43]
A
They were. We still have your. Your.
- [46:45]
B
I think. Yeah. They were supposed to ship it to me because I couldn't fit in my.
- [46:49]
A
Suitcase, obviously, because it's that big.
- [46:52]
B
Yeah.
- [46:52]
C
Big old rhino.
- [46:54]
A
Well, I better see that son of a. On that one.
- [46:57]
B
Put it up there. Yeah, that'd be a good spot for it. Go right next to Blake's Picture right next to Blake's.
- [47:03]
A
Picture Perfect. I will listen, Eric, I appreciate you coming on here, giving us time again. Thanks for waiting on me. You know, actually, thanks for making financing fun.
- [47:11]
C
Oh, thank you. I love it. I appreciate the conversation. You guys. You're the best.
- [47:15]
A
Thank you so much. Well, to our listeners, you're not offering financing. You are selling yourself short, like what I did there. But you can listen, like, even if you don't know how to do it. I mean, Good Leap is a great partner and they will help teach you as well. But also, you know, you know, if. If you haven't offered it, maybe now's the time, start thinking about it. It certainly will help you if you don't know how to offer. You seem to educate yourself. And even though, like they were talking about, there could be a bunch of different options, maybe you just land because you can handle three. Maybe it's just one to start and who knows? But do something, you know, Side note is what I heard Erica say is, you know, and Chad both is, you know, don't spend their money for them. If you walk up to a trailer park, don't just assume they can't afford an air conditioning unit. Okay, I've seen some air conditioning units on trailer parks. Maybe that is a bad example. Maybe I should use something different. I'm not knocking you by. Listen, trail park, by the way. Okay, just so it's real clear, point was don't spend people's money for them. Right? And financing is a. Is a great option to help scale your business. So you don't got to do everything. But what do you got to do, Chad?
- [48:19]
B
You got to do something. No. Zero days.
- [48:24]
A
Welcome to to the Point Home Services, the podcast where real contractors share real strategies. We cut through the noise and get straight to the point with the contractors that are working in the field right now. If you run a home services business and want to lead, better grow faster and stay sharp. You're in the right place. Now, before we get started, I need you to do one thing. Only 30% of our listeners are following the show. So stop what you're doing, hit follow, and let's get to the point.