TTP Micro Episode: The Most Underrated Growth Strategy - To The Point - Home Services Podcast

Summary

Podcast Summary: To The Point - Home Services Podcast Episode: TTP Micro Episode: The Most Underrated Growth Strategy
Release Date: April 24, 2025
Host: Chris, RYNO Strategic Solutions

Introduction

In this engaging micro-episode of To The Point - Home Services Podcast, host Chris delves into what he identifies as the most underrated growth strategy for home service companies: relationships. Tailored for professionals in HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Roofing, and similar industries, Chris breaks down the essential types of relationships that can drive business growth, providing actionable insights and personal anecdotes to illustrate his points.

1. Building Strong Relationships with Mentors

Chris emphasizes the pivotal role mentors play in business growth. He underscores that having mentors is not just beneficial but critical for navigating the complexities of the home services industry.

Importance of Mentorship:
“Having a good mentor, and sometimes those mentors change as your business changes, right? But having them is incredibly important.” [04:35]
Personal Experiences:
Chris shares his own journey, highlighting mentors like Mike Branson from Carrier Corporation, who provided invaluable industry insights and guidance. He also references successful peers such as Keegan Hodges, who attributes part of his success to the mentorship he received from industry leaders.
Actionable Advice:
“Find a mentor, like somebody who you look up to and just have the nerve to reach out to him and say, hey, really struggling with this... What could I give you in return, you know, to be valuable to you for your time?” [12:50]

2. Cultivating Peer Relationships

Peers, according to Chris, are individuals who are in similar positions and facing comparable challenges. Building strong relationships with peers provides a support system that is both relatable and practical.

Understanding Peer Dynamics:
“Your peers are those who are in the same position as you are, going through the exact same struggles that you are...” [20:15]
Benefits of Peer Support:
Chris discusses how peers offer unique perspectives and advice tailored to current business challenges, acting as a sounding board for ideas and solutions.
Personal Reflection:
Chris highlights his diverse peer group, noting that even though their businesses vary in size and industry, the mutual understanding and support remain consistent.
“We have a great group of friends... but we understand their businesses and they somewhat understand mine.” [23:40]

3. Maintaining Positive Vendor Relationships

Vendors are crucial partners in the home services sector, and Chris insists that maintaining respectful and professional relationships with them can lead to significant business advantages.

Respect and Professionalism:
“Don't be a dick to your vendor partnerships... Treat them with respect. Hold them accountable, right?” [30:05]
Mutual Benefits:
By fostering good relationships, businesses can negotiate better terms, receive priority services, and secure favorable support when needed.
“Your odds are significantly greater that happening if you're not a fucking asshole to them.” [33:20]
Strategic Partnerships:
Chris illustrates how a solid vendor relationship can lead to collaborative growth opportunities, such as securing marketing funds by presenting a well-structured business plan.
“Here’s my business plan. Boom. Now, would you be able to give me some upfront marketing funds to help me accomplish this business plan?” [35:45]

4. Engaging Positively with Competitors

Rather than viewing competitors solely as adversaries, Chris encourages fostering cordial and respectful relationships with them, which can lead to healthy competition and mutual growth.

Healthy Competition:
“Good competition is healthy, right? And it's never going away.” [42:10]
Avoiding Negative Tactics:
Chris warns against undermining competitors through negative talk, advocating instead for proving value through superior service and offerings.
“Don’t lose the battle by being a shit talker about your competitors and letting that be your value.” [44:30]
Collaborative Growth:
By maintaining good relationships, companies can benefit from industry insights, referrals, and collective advancements that elevate the entire sector.
“Let that be your value proposition.” [46:55]

5. Bonus: Nurturing a Relationship with Yourself

In addition to external relationships, Chris highlights the importance of cultivating a positive and healthy relationship with oneself as a foundational growth strategy.

Self-Care and Health:
“Make sure that you believe and have a good relationship with yourself... self-care is crucial.” [52:25]
Chris shares his personal transformation through improved health and self-care practices, emphasizing how it enhances overall performance and confidence.
Self-Esteem and Confidence:
Building self-esteem is vital for leadership and business success. Chris encourages entrepreneurs to recognize their achievements and maintain confidence despite setbacks.
“Look in the mirror and say like, motherfucker, you got this.” [58:40]
Continuous Learning:
“You have to constantly educate yourself... The smarter I am, the more confident I become.” [1:02:15]
Chris stresses the importance of lifelong learning and staying updated with industry trends and technologies to maintain a competitive edge.

Conclusion

Chris wraps up the episode by reiterating the significance of nurturing various types of relationships as a cornerstone for business growth in the home services industry. From mentors and peers to vendors, competitors, and most importantly, oneself, each relationship type plays a unique role in shaping a successful and resilient business.

Final Encouragement:
“If building your relationships is it, then let that be it. Today. No. Zero days.” [1:10:05]

Chris leaves listeners with a powerful reminder to invest time and effort into building and maintaining these relationships, ensuring sustained growth and prosperity in their respective fields.

Key Takeaways

Mentorship: Seek out and cultivate relationships with mentors who can provide guidance and industry insights.
Peer Support: Build a network of peers who understand your challenges and can offer relatable support and advice.
Vendor Partnerships: Maintain respectful and professional relationships with vendors to leverage mutual growth opportunities.
Competitor Engagement: Foster positive relationships with competitors to promote healthy competition and collaborative advancement.
Self-Relationship: Prioritize self-care, self-esteem, and continuous learning to enhance personal and professional performance.

This episode serves as a compelling reminder that while strategies and tools are essential, the quality of relationships can significantly influence the trajectory of a home services business. By focusing on building and nurturing these connections, entrepreneurs can unlock unprecedented growth and sustainability.

Transcript

Chris (0:01)

This is to the Point, a Rhino experience. Fully one of the top home services, marketing and operations podcasts. Cutting through the and getting to the point. Hey, what's up everybody? It's your boy Chris coming at you with another micro episode. This is going to be a fun one. Let me tell you why. It's actually one of my favorite topics to talk about that is industry agnostic, size of business agnostic. Like this is just something that's applicable to every single person listening right now. And it's going to be short and sweet for you ADHD folks like me who can't listen to a 45 minute long episode or hour long if Chad gets to talk and won't shut the fuck up. So this one is going to be on the most underrated growth strategy. The most underrated growth strategy is relationships. Now, hang with me because you're like, ah, I thought Chris was gonna say something profound. Actually, this is profound. So when I break it down, you're gonna be like, ah, I get it. Which is why I'm saying, like, this one isn't so much of a. I guess it is a trained skill if you don't know how to treat people. But relationships are critical and every single one of us need them, right? You're either going to have good ones or you're going to have bad ones. And both of them impact you one way or another, good or bad. So let me go ahead and start with this again. The most underrated growth strategy being relationships. Now, here's the four. There's four main relationships you're going to navigate and there's going to be a bonus. But I'm not going to tell you what that bonus is till the end. And it's a good one, probably my favorite one, but number one, and you've heard that a few times on this podcast, and that is you got to have good relationships with mentors. Okay? That is so important. A few of the episodes we've done, like when we have Keegan Hodges, come on. Who built, you know, best home services down in southwest Florida and built that thing to a bottle monster and then became the platform company for Apex Service Partners, which has become a behemoth. And Keegan is brilliant. You know what? He had mentors. He had Jamie D. Domenico from Cool Today down in Florida, who was another, you know, beast, who he learned from. He went learned from Mike Aguilaro from Gold Medal up in Jersey, but he had mentors. Joe Huck from Williams Comfort Air, another monster in Indianapolis, but he had mentors. I had a Mentor. Actually, a lot of people don't know this. One of the people who mentored me from the beginning and how I even got into H Vac was at the time the brand manager for Carrier Corporation. His name is Mike Branson, who today is the president over air and water, a global president over air and water for Ream. Like fantastic human being. Help me understand the industry not only from the manufacturer level, but from the distributor level all the way down to the contractor level, like. And just a good guy who's been there for me all these years. But having a good mentor, and sometimes those mentors change as your business changes, right? But having them is incredibly important. So a very easy, underrated growth strategy is to have a great relationship with mentors, right? I'd say another good one I've had and I've got a great friendship with is Ken Goodrich. You know, he's made himself accessible the last five years to a lot of you. Listening, right. And open to mentorship. Now, maybe it's not in the capacity that you need, but in some way, shape or form, he's willing to have a conversation with you and help mentor you. And a lot of people reach out to him. But find a mentor, like somebody who you look up to and just have the nerve to reach out to him and say, hey, really struggling with this. I know you're probably busy, but if you could give me, even if it's an hour, 30 minutes, you know, a month, and I'll come prepared with these questions or these struggles, would you be open to helping me out in doing that? And what could I give you in return, you know, to, you know, that would be valuable to you for your time? Like, just put it out there and ask. Mentors, love to help fix your broken problems. They don't want to hear how good you think you've got it. Okay, so have great relationships with your mentors. Number two, you got to have great relationships with your peers. Okay? So this is kind of like a fine line, I'd say, between mentorship, you know, but really your peers are those who are in the same position as you are, going through the exact same struggles that you are, maybe in the same. In the exact same areas as you are. Maybe it's industry specific, maybe it's just business specific, maybe it's leadership, maybe it's recruitment, whatever it is. But I promise you, like, I've got a great group of friends, you know, that are peers. And our businesses are different sizes. I mean, shit, our businesses are actually different industries, right? Like, I'M a digital marketing company that works with my friends companies, right? So. But I understand their businesses and, and they somewhat understand mine. More often than not, it's not so much about the industry as is about the actual business itself. And some of it's just us pushing each other, or, excuse me, being there each other when we're struggling, you know, and then giving their advice. So having good peer relationships is incredibly important because they're very relatable to what you're going through today and they're there for you when you need them. Right? Because if you're struggling as a business leader, no matter what size your company is, you sure as hell can't tell your employees because they can't see you struggling, right? Like, I think there's something to that when you get, when you get bigger. But you gotta be the confident one, right? So you have to go to your peers who become your friends to help you work through any situation. So, number one, your mentors, you know, have good relationship with mentors. Number two, peers. Number three, and please turn up the volume on this one. This is one where I see people go sideways all the time because they do it wrong. You gotta have great relationships. Excuse me. Good Lord. With your vendors, you have to have them, okay? Don't be a dick to your vendor partnerships, okay? These guys are partners. A lot of people are being dicks to them, all right? Do you want to help somebody who's being an asshole to you? No. You want to be like pound sand, but you can't because you still need them as a client, right? Or whatever. Don't treat your vendors like assholes, all right? Treat them with respect. Hold them accountable, right? If there's, you know, things that you need that aren't getting done, by all means, hold them accountable. Do it respectfully. Do it respectfully. People want to help people they want to help, all right? And the people they want to help are those who they feel like they've got a good, respectful, professional relationship with. Not the assholes. Nobody wants to help the assholes. They're going to do the bare minimum to get you, you know, to move on from you. So it is so important to have good relationships because you can get more out of them, right? For anybody that's listening, it's an H Vac. You will need to have good relationships with them to say, hey, you know, maybe next year you guys could give me a little bit more marketing funds because I've come to you with the business plan. I'm going to grow another half million Dollars this year. Here's my business plan. Boom. Now, would you be able to give me some upfront marketing funds to help me accomplish this business plan? Your odds are significantly greater that happening if you're not a fucking asshole to them. Okay? So be nice, Be professional. Hold them accountable, but be nice. Be a good partner. Okay? So that's number three, vendor relationships, number four, okay? Some of you have finally embraced this. I've had to embrace this for the last 17 years. Okay? You got to have good relationships with your competitors, okay? And in some ways, maybe the peer is a competitor, right? In your market, but you got to have good relationships with your competitors you don't like. You can go and compete, but you don't have to talk shit about them, right? Like, it is such a poor look on you if you talk shit about a competitor in your market. Like, that's how you have to prove value, is by talking shit about your competitor. No, thank you. I've had to play nice in the sandbox since the beginning when Carrier Corporation brought us in. Back in the day, 2008, 2009, I was one of three options for preferred vendors. So I had to learn real quick, like, cool, let me go and win the business myself by the value that we have to offer and then by bringing on the customers that these people liked or looked up to that we worked with that was successful and let them, let them talk about us. So in your instance, it could be your, your clients, right? Get them to. Get them talking good about you. Let that be your value proposition. So you want to have a good relationship with your competitors. Good competition is healthy, right? And it's never going away. So don't lose the battle by being a shit talker about your competitors and letting that be your value. Actually have value, improve it that way. So quick recap before I get to the bonus fifth relationship. Number one, good relationships with your mentors. Number two, with your peers. Number three, with your vendor partnerships, and number four, with your competitors. Okay? Pretty straightforward, right? And again, you are listening. Maybe you've already recognized a gap in one of those. Cool. This is your. This is your notification to go and work on that and fix it, okay? Courtesy of your boy Chris. Fifth one, the bonus drum roll is you gotta have a good relationship now hang with me. With yourself, you're like, with myself. Chris, what the fuck does that mean? We're going through a therapy session here? No, but by the way, when you own a marketing company, you do go through therapy sessions often. Okay? If helping people understand I have to Listen to everybody's issues in their business, you know, and then also be a solution for it. And if I'm not a solution for it in a particular month, I gotta be a therapist. The good news is, is it all comes down to you and how you think about yourself and how you treat yourself, because you are number one. Without you, none of this other bullshit matters, right? Like, you gotta be at your best. So let me give you a couple points. And by the way, it took me a while to learn this too. One thing I've always been good at is having very a lot of self confidence. Like, I believe in me almost to the point of delusion. I believe in me so much. So you got to make sure that you believe and have a good relationship with yourself. Okay, now let me break that down for you. Let's talk self care. I never realized how important this was until these last couple years. And this is thankfully to my peers, my buddies, my friends who started getting on the bandwagon about taking care of themselves, eating right and becoming healthy. I did was like, now, like, listen, I just grind my ass off, you know, I eat like, because I'm traveling all over the place, you know, because I'm not fat guy, I'm a skinny guy. Like, I don't have to worry about gaining weight. Like, no, no, I was looking at it all wrong. Now that I do it, I actually am firing on like a 12 cylinders, right? I went from eight to 12. And because I'm taking care of myself, I'm eating the right food, makes me feel better, I'm less sluggish. I can get go to sleep, I can sleep better, I can get up better. My life is better with my family because I feel better. Like I just look better. So all that stuff is like adding to my already high confidence in myself. And it is a thing. And I'm telling you, I'm so glad I did it. I wish I would have paid attention to it sooner. Self esteem. This is a big deal. It's easy to put out there one thing, but then behind the curtain feel another way. Like, oh, fuck, my business is shrinking. This is me. I'm making wrong decisions. Listen, we all make them. We all make these wrong decisions. So what you gotta do is you change it up, man. You don't just sit and mope, okay? Look at yourself. You're an entrepreneur. Or if you're a leader in a business, you didn't like accidentally get there, all right? You earned your way to these roles or these positions, or you at least took the risk of stepping out and running it yourself like you got it in you. I'm telling you, you wouldn't be in the position you were if you didn't. So sometimes you look in the mirror and tell yourself again that, man, it's gonna feel weird the first time you do it, the first couple times you do it. But look in the mirror and say like, motherfucker, you got this. Like, you're built and you make mistakes, you learn from them. And you and you make and you and you move, you make a different one. And if I need to ask somebody for help, you ask somebody from help who's done it, who's not going to judge you. They're going to want to help you. Mentors, right? But you got to make sure your self esteem is on point, okay? You have to, because people feel that below you that you're leading. So you got to take care of your body, right? You got to take care of your body and your health. You take care of your self esteem. And second thing, or last thing, I'm sorry, on this whole yourself piece. Having a good relationship with yourself is your education, man. The smarter you are, the more confident you get and yet to be a constant student. Listen to all the people that come on this podcast that are major players who always talk about constantly educating themselves. It's worth repeating because you have to constantly educate yourself. I do. Like, I live in a world of AI, but like 10 times what you guys have to. I'm trying to figure out all this and how it works and how to best implement it, what's right, what's wrong, how to manipulate it so that it works best for you, how it works best for me internally. But I'm constantly trying to learn, always trying to learn so that way I can be smarter. All right? The smarter I am, the more confident I become. My self esteem tastes high, I'm healthy, I'm eating the right and I am on fire to go and tackle this world. And that's how I have so much belief in myself. I'm not afraid to ask for help with mentors. I'm not afraid to talk about my losses and how I can fix them with my peer group, my buddies. I am have a great relationship with my vendors, so they support me, right? And they go out of their way to help me because they like me and I like them and we have a professional relationship and I've got a good relationship with my competitors. Many of them reach out to me for advice and help and we have good relationships because I'M not a dick, all right? I believe in good, healthy competition, and I just want to beat them head to head. But I can do all that, and I'm confident because I believe in myself, and so should you. So hopefully this underrated growth strategy of relationships hits home with you, because it certainly does me. And it never ends. You don't got to do everything, but damn it, you got to do something. And if building your relationships is it, then let that be it. Today. No. Zero days.