← To The Point - Home Services VIP Room Podcast
To The Point - Home Services VIP Room Podcast
Use Trends To Give Your Business a Personality & Stand Out
00:57:12
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- [00:00]
Host 1
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.
- [00:27]
Host 2
And let's get to the point.
- [00:31]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
This is to the Point a Rhino experience voted one of the top home services, marketing and operations podcasts. Cutting through the bullshit and getting to the point.
- [00:47]
Host 1
Hey, what's up, to the Point listeners? It's your boy, Chris.
- [00:50]
Host 2
I'm excited for this episode because it.
- [00:52]
Host 1
Has to do with Chad's very favorite.
- [00:54]
Host 2
Topic, and that is social media marketing. Don't you love that, Chad?
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Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
That's great. I'm an expert.
- [01:01]
Host 2
Yeah. Oh, you're a social media icon, no doubt.
- [01:03]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Icon. I don't even know how to log in.
- [01:09]
Host 2
When you think of social media marketing experts, the first thing that comes to mind is Chad Peterman, right next to Wedding Singer. By the way, Derek, he is a phenomenal wedding singer. If you ever need one or, you know, make a recommendation, Chad's your man.
- [01:24]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Amazing. You're hired.
- [01:25]
Host 2
Yeah, he's a master of all kinds of trades, including singing social media. And so it's pretty special guy. Okay, so first off, it is Pantheon week for us, by the way. By the time this is coming out, we're post Pantheon, so hopefully all you, those who attend the Pantheon, have taken away some really great stuff, and you're actually going to go back and implement it. And this is just another little reminder that if you're trying to play around with some of the social media stuff, that our guest has done a great job with it. And for those of you that were at home, service freedom. A few weeks back, I shared our guests a couple of his social media posts that I thought were funny. And I reached out and said, hey, I'm gonna share these posts. And I was really hoping you said yes. And he did. Because I talk a lot about giving your business a personality. Anybody who's heard me speak, I talk about using these six Ps of marketing, and the last P is personal personality. And. And Derek, damn it, you guys have done a hell of a job. You guys have done a hell of a job over there in. In Florida of. Of getting creative. So before I. I jump into anything, you know, our. Our guest Derek is From climate experts down in Melbourne, right? You're in Melbourne, Florida?
- [02:33]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Yes, sir.
- [02:34]
Host 2
Okay. Oh, my gosh. Melbourne, Florida. One of my. Back in my race car. Dr. One of my mentors for racing. Great race car driver, lived down in Melbourne, Florida. Not that that means to you, but just popped up in my head.
- [02:52]
Host 1
His name's Randy Pope.
- [02:53]
Host 2
Shout out to Randy Popes. I'm sure he's probably listening to this podcast. One of the best road car road racing drivers in the history of motorsports. But more importantly, Derek, before we jump into a little bit of your background, because, you know, me finding out that you were a police officer here not even that long ago and then rolling into a contracting world is interesting, but it actually, it might make sense when we start talking about what you guys are doing with social media. You guys been crushing it with social media, so well done. I enjoy watching your stuff. It's entertaining. You crush the entertainment piece of the entertainment pillar of social media.
- [03:25]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Appreciate it.
- [03:26]
Host 2
So. So to follow along those lines of entertaining, we're going to get to Chad's favorite part, and that is the dad jokes. Okay. I only have two. And Derek, if you have one, feel free to join in if you know the answer to these two. This is going to be an iconic episode because these two were submitted from some of our listeners. So public service announcement. These are not my jokes. I'm just the messenger, so don't shoot the messenger. Last. The last one set of dad jokes that we did came from Chad, so those weren't mine either.
- [04:03]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Those are not mine either.
- [04:04]
Host 2
Okay. Okay. I thought. Okay, maybe I must have been misunderstood.
- [04:08]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
I think you. I think you ought to announce who. Who sent in the joke.
- [04:12]
Host 2
So just in context, I don't think I can make this announcement.
- [04:17]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Okay, well, this ought to be interesting.
- [04:21]
Host 2
And I think once I read the jokes, you guys will understand why. But please feel free to share the. The answer if you know. Do not. Do not shy away from it, Derek. Okay.
- [04:29]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
All right.
- [04:29]
Host 2
Okay. Joke number one. Prepare yourselves, listeners. Okay, again, not my jokes. What gets longer when pulled. Jeez, somebody's got a filthy mind over here. What gets longer when pulled? Inserts in a hole and works best when jerked.
- [04:55]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Yeah, I've heard this one before.
- [04:56]
Host 2
Oh, yeah. Let that one sink in. Well, it gets longer when pulled, inserts in a hole and works best when jerked. A seat belt, of course. Not bad, right? Pretty good.
- [05:16]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Yeah, that's decent.
- [05:17]
Host 2
I feel like this one might go a step further, but we're going to let it rip. Derek, were you. I mean, you're A police officer. But were you ever in, like, any of the armed forces or anything like that?
- [05:27]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
No, sir.
- [05:28]
Host 2
Okay, so my dad was Navy. My oldest daughter is in the Air Force. This is a Navy joke. So there's my connection. Okay. And again, I didn't, you know, I didn't. I didn't supply this joke, but my dad could relate to this one. What is long, hard, and full of semen?
- [05:54]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
It's gonna be a Navy.
- [05:58]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Navy ship.
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Host 2
They're underwater.
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Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Submarine.
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Host 2
A submarine.
- [06:04]
Host 1
Hey.
- [06:07]
Host 2
My dad was a seaman. You know, all of us were at one point. Okay, moving on. Thank you. To our guests, you know who you are. Submitted those jokes who asked to be remained anonymous. I don't think you needed to be anonymous, by the way. I think those were totally appropriate, especially for this podcast. So. Thanks. I think they're.
- [06:26]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
I think they're only going to keep getting worse if they know that you read them and they're like, okay, he's willing to toe the line here. Like, let's see if they'll say this one. So I, I have a feeling this is just going to go spiral out of control here momentarily.
- [06:39]
Host 2
I'm probably gonna have to clean it up a little bit because, like, some of them that have been sent to me, I don't like, definitely cannot say on here. Like, I know, but then it was funny at home service reading. The people are coming up to me and giving me jokes, and I'm like, definitely can't say that one either. And you all know who you are, so. Okay, real quick, Derek, we're gonna jump into this bad boy. Okay? I. Like I said, I was able to show some of your, by the way, fan of your social media. This is why I have you. Have you on here. We do not work together. Right. We are just meeting. And so this is me saying, dude, well done. Job well done on social media. I think you're doing it right. I think you're doing it right. And I'm curious to kind of know and to let our listeners know, because I do believe this is important. Like what? Like, what are you doing? How's this all working? Who's doing it? Like, what are you paying attention to? Who. Like, all the things. Like, how do you get in your people to participate in some of this crazy stuff is interesting. So maybe what we do to set the tone is let the listeners know, you know, because you. Not your entire background. Okay, we don't. We don't need to know all that, but let's start. You were a police officer and you got into the trades, because I think you said your dad was a gc. So maybe let's start there and then. But. But let the listeners know what the business looks like today. Because you're H Vac, plumbing and electrical, right?
- [07:59]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Correct.
- [08:00]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Yeah.
- [08:00]
Host 2
Okay, so maybe let them know, like, what the business looks like today. You know, maybe if you're. If you're okay with sharing the size of the business, it gives people some context, and then maybe just walk us through that journey from. From police officer into contracting business. And then I'll kind of work into some of the tactical stuff.
- [08:16]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Sounds good. Yeah. So today we're budgeted to do 10 million, and we're on track, and we do H vac, plumbing, electric. I am the license holder for all three. I started as H vac, only one truck. I started back in 2016. I actually was a family business and then cut all ties, went out of business in 2019 because we just couldn't handle the partnership, and then restarted back in 2019amonth later. So I started back from scratch in 2019 and no employees. I think we had like 10 grand in permit debt. One of the owners didn't want to pull permits, so it was an interesting experience. But. But, yeah, from there, we. We doubled every year. Grew. Right now I hold the title of CEO. I just promoted a GM and a coo. So I'm kind of more on the back end. I do more the fun marketing stuff. I'm kind of living the dream right now at this point. But, I mean, yeah, I started working for my dad, 18 years old, you know, construction, roofing, framing, kind of doing it all. And, you know, back then in 2004, 2005, we had a bunch of hurricanes hit the coast. We're right on the east coast, kind of by Cocoa beach and Cape Canaveral. Just destroyed all the houses here. So we had tons of work. And, you know, I grew up in. In the trades and kind of the only thing I didn't do was plumbing, electrical, and H Vac. We hired, you know, specialty contractors for that. I kind of managed the subs. And, you know, after a while, my dad wanted me to run. Run the business. And, you know, really wasn't for me. I. I didn't want to follow in his footsteps, so moved down to South Florida, said, hey, I'm going to do something different. Police officer. Sounds fun. You can drive real fast, you can arrest people, you look cool, and you can help people along the way. So I moved down to Hollywood, Florida. It's right smack between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, it's kind of a rough place. Got these beautiful neighborhoods right on the water, you know, multi million dollar homes. And then right next door it's a crack motel, you know, prosecutes right there on the street. Like, right place.
- [10:23]
Host 2
You should vacation.
- [10:24]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Oh yeah, it's a beautiful. But yeah, us like federal highway. It's just, man, it's, it's just. And back then is when the pill mills were happening with all the paint clinics so people would come down from Oklahoma, shop the pain clinics and just oxycodone was everywhere. People were shooting up everywhere in their body. So it was a busy job. That was a, you know, different environment from Melbourne where I grew up. Moving down there did it for five years. Really the only reason I left was because the city was having kind of financial issues, budgeting and you know, I kind of was sitting there in my cop car kind of by the river and I look at these beautiful homes every single day and I'm like, man, what am I doing with my life? Like I just. Why can't I do you know what those people did? And you know, I just kind of got sick and tired of it because I was, I was bored. I was just like, man, this is, is this all I'm going to do? Like, this isn't my dream job. So I, you. I took a leave of absence. I ended up going back to Melbourne. Bunch of police departments wanted to hire me and you know, I was like, you know what, I'm gonna try to start my own thing. So started a bunch of little trade businesses, finally ended up with climate experts and that's where, where it went from there.
- [11:36]
Host 2
Okay. By the way, I want to. I have like a couple different questions and, and something I want to follow up on that you said. But Chad, I'm going to give you free re outside of social media because I know how your little curious brain works, Chad. Also being a behemoth of a H VAC plumbing electrical contractor. So. So have at it, Chad. I just need to make sure I get my social stuff in okay, buddy.
- [11:57]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
No, you're all good. Tell me a little bit more about when you started. You said you started something before you left to go be a police officer. Is that correct? Like you were start starting or was that after?
- [12:11]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
That was after. Yeah. So I. I was in construction, working for my dad as a supervisor, you know, in the field and then him a police officer. Then when I came back, I started a bunch of businesses. I started a handyman business called Spartan Home Services. I started a water treatment Company called Certified Water Technologies and they just kind of landed flat on their face. I just, they didn't do well again. Tried to do it with family. I worked for a couple businesses too. I worked for a water treatment company and I saw the opportunity so I tried to start my own, you know, working in construction. I tried the handyman side and you know, in between there I was working for some air conditioning companies and you know, all people wanted me to do was to fix their ACs, even as, even as a handyman and like, hey, I'm not licensed to do that. Can't do that for you unless you call this company. So after a while I said, you know what, I need to, I need to get my license. And at first, my uncle owns a company in South Florida. I rented his license out and kind of started just myself. And I think a year or two later I ended up getting my own license and starting climate experts.
- [13:17]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Okay, so I guess my question, I just want to make sure I have the timeline right to ask an intelligent question. Maybe we'll see how this lands. But what were some of the things that you think back on today after having grown a successful business? You tried it in call it home services trades, like, what were some of the things you learned from, you know, those endeavors that like today you're like, damn, I'm glad I learned that lesson, like not going to do that again.
- [13:45]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
I think the biggest thing was if something's really easy to get into, there's probably a lot of people doing it, you know, like real estate. You see all those realtors out there and it's like, you can make a lot of money in real estate, like you could, you're right. But you're going to have a lot of competition. So. And I realize, you know, as a haney man, you're going against like all those contractors. It's just. And again, like, look at the customer quality that you're going to get. You know, you're getting people that want to pay the least. So it's a lot of diy. So you're out there already not at the same level as a contractor. And then, you know, you're doing, you're doing work for people that want to do it themselves, people that are willing to cut corners. So I learned that, you know, if something's a little bit too easy to get into that it might not be worth it. And I said, you know what, I need to go after something that nobody wants to really do. Do people want to go in 150 degree attic in their home? No, that's how. And that's not even that hot of an attic here in Florida, in our area, like, they get. They get up to 180, 200 degrees. So I'm like, you know what? I'm tough. People don't want to go in their attics. You know, people don't want to, you know, buy the amount of tools that you need to buy to work on an air conditioning system. People don't want to put the time in to learn this. This trait. I mean, you've got electrical, you know, you have refrigeration, you have airflow, ductwork. There's a lot to it to do it properly. And, you know, I'm sure you know this, but. And I said, you know what? I'm gonna. I'm gonna go towards something a little bit harder. And again, I learned the same thing with water treatment, right? Like, you can get a water test online on Amazon. You can screw in a water filter, depending on your situation. You know, you could buy a Brita filter. So, you know, I learned early on that, you know, sometimes the harder it is, the better it is going to be for you in the long run.
- [15:26]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Yeah. Now that makes perfect sense. One other question I have, and then I'll let Chris get. I know he's chomping at the bit over here on the social media train, which is great. I want to learn more about it, too. But right now you're doing three trades. I find it. You know, I was just reading a book. What is it? Science of Scaling. And it's talking. It talks all about, like, you know, just get simple, get, you know, streamlined, all of these things. And yet then I look and I'm like, oh, great. We do three trades, plus excavation, plus all this other stuff. Like, how are we stay supposed to stay focused? How do you, like, focus in on, you know, because it never fails, at least for me. It's like one's doing well and one's not, and I can't ever get them all going at the same time. And it's like, crap. How do you kind of like, organize yourself or kind of organize the team in. Hey, we know we've got. We've essentially got three different businesses just happen to have the same logo. How do you kind of balance that?
- [16:26]
Host 1
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- [17:09]
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- [17:59]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
I think having a really strong budget is extremely important and plan. I think a lot of people make decisions on a whim and that's not good business strategy. I learned that the hard way being a driver. I tried a lot of things and I failed early on, flat on my face and I'm like, I don't want to keep doing this. So I always visit a person, a company or a shop that's already doing it well. So before we launched plumbing or electrical, I made sure I went to other shops that had added those trades on that were primary H Vac. And I learned from them what struggles they ran through so that I was prepared. And I learned that the hard way because I made a lot of mistakes and I fought adding other services on in the beginning. You know, NextStar is very clear, like, hey, do residential H vac. Stay away from new construction. So I listened. I never went into new construction in H Vac. I did do a little bit of commercial and I learned my lesson and I got out of that. But we added on services like blown in insulation, you know, duct cleaning, which I thought, oh, I don't want to be a duct cleaner. And it got us into more houses. I think it's kind of a marketing play, as I'm sure you know, like if you're in the home for plumbing now, you can be in the home for H Vac and Electrical. So H Vac is still our biggest driver. We have a certain amount budgeted that we need to make sure that we achieve. I think it's just not looking at the shiny penny and going after it. And like I heard plumbing does amazing. Let's just go full in. We have to focus and take care of our, you know, main business, which is H Vac, and make sure that's on budget. And if we want to test things out, then that's fine. And that's what we do. We learn a strategy for someone else. We try it, we implement it, but we make sure we don't take those essential people and bring them over. So I have dedicated plumbers. I think people try to get their H Vac guys to do plumbing or kind of take them H Vac install guy and have them on service. And in the beginning, I understand you think you need to do that, but it never works out well. Even taking a H Vac installer and putting them in service like he's better in install. So getting those people that specialize in what they do, and I agree with you, doing it really well. But I do also think that adding those little services on can help you in your business get more leads, more customers get in the door. And hey, I mean, there's a lot of homes where we can't clean the ducts because it's flex duct here. So we have to replace that ductwork and it gets us more opportunities.
- [20:24]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Yeah, no, I think you're spot on with. And I think for listeners, it's. The important thing to realize is, you know, yes, 100, adding these other services get you more business, more wallet share of the current customer that already knows, likes, and trusts you. But it is a separate business. Like, just because you add. It's not a. I always. I always make the kind of delineation of like, it's not a separate service line. It is a separate business. The plumbers are vastly different than electricians who are vastly different than H Vac guys. And, you know, there's. There's similarities between the businesses, but there's. They're. They're different 100%. And I think you made a great point of like, well, if I'm going to add this business, I might want to go look at some businesses that actually do this thing so that I can figure out, you know, what am I going to run into? What do I need to be aware of all of that stuff.
- [21:18]
Host 2
Derek, you got to get up to Chad's place, go check out Peterman Brothers.
- [21:21]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
You know, I, I really. Yeah, I know you've got something.
- [21:26]
Host 2
When's your next one?
- [21:28]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Oh, October. When is that? It's coming up quick. October 2nd, I believe it is. But then we'll have. We're gonna take a break in November and December just for the holidays and stuff like that and people traveling. I think it's, it's right around the time of super meeting. It may be overlapping. We didn't really think about that because I've already traveled for three weeks this month. So I decided not going to travel a fourth for the sake of my marriage. And so. But yeah, we got one there. And then we'll have one that probably kicks off in January or something like that.
- [21:59]
Host 2
But wait, Chad, you're not going to super meeting?
- [22:02]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
I am not.
- [22:04]
Host 2
Okay. I think you may just answer my question.
- [22:06]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
This is my third week in a row.
- [22:08]
Host 2
I get you.
- [22:10]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Don't they have Ryan Reynolds now instead of Arnold? I think Arnold's not coming. Is that Ryan Reynolds?
- [22:15]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Right again. He backed out again.
- [22:17]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Dude. He. I was so. I was so pumped, but he just keeps pissing me off.
- [22:20]
Host 2
Damn it, Arie. Yeah, gotta get to the choppa. Ryan Reynolds, by the way, is hilarious. So that'll be funny, but I'm on the fence and maybe that just made my decision, so. Okay, Chad, can I go now?
- [22:36]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Yeah, go for it.
- [22:37]
Host 2
Gave you the floor and then ask two questions. No, that was like a comment way more. Okay, so I want to back up just a second to what you were talking about because you, you said something that stood out to me that has nothing to do with anything we're going to pull from this podcast. I'm just genuinely curious. I love that you said there was like a, a pill epidemic and you said the people from Oklahoma are coming down. Like, it's like, what the hell, Oklahoma? That's what you pick.
- [23:04]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
It's because the rate that they would get for those pills there, because they were so hard to get over there, was so much higher. They'd get like 10x. That's why they.
- [23:14]
Host 2
Well, okay, so here's the other thing is you were talking about kind of sitting there and then looking at all these big ass houses and you're thinking, man, like, I want to, you know, I want to be able to do something like that. So your thought was, I'm going to be a contractor. That's what's going to get me there.
- [23:27]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
So I didn't, I didn't necessarily have the answer of what was going to get me there. I just knew police work wasn't Going to get me there. Like, I didn't see those owners, you know, that own those homes. So they weren't police officers. So yeah, yeah, I knew they were business owners.
- [23:43]
Host 2
So actually it is kind of a lot like it's a pretty, in a lot of ways a thankless job. Like you have to do a lot of crazy hard and like it's not great sometimes. Like we like it's just not great sometimes. So I actually, when I went to college, I went, I got my criminal justice associate's degree in four years and I thought I was going to be part of the sheriff's department. And then I moved to Arizona and I was like, I want nothing to do with law enforcement whatsoever in the country. That shit's easy. It's like, it's like Mayberry, you moved Arizona and these guys, these cops are getting killed. And I'm like, I'm gonna pass on that one. So pivoted. Okay, so I'm gonna jump into some social media stuff too because I, I really do, I'm like genuinely interested in this. Admittedly said this on the air and to many people here at Rhino, you know, we're, we're a big business and we've been in and doing marketing, digital marketing, specifically for the trades, almost 20 years now. Like, so I've tried to figure out what I believe is the is. Is the best service for social media marketing for contractors. And I genuinely believe today that it should be in house. It's an in house, it should be an in house role because that's how it becomes authentic. But there needs to be a, there needs to be like a bridge there where there's a company who can figure out how to get the authentic stuff in a way that you can actually make money as a business. Like. Cause I can't keep flying people in and out to create the content. So you kind of gotta hope that you have a team at your contracting company that will do some of this stuff for you or you. Right, you have to lead the charge. And so, you know, I want to hit on some of the things that you guys have done because I've not even seen everything. You just have a shitload of content that's out there. And again, I've talked about this multiple times on the two main pillars, you know, in my time of partnering with Gary Vaynerchuk that he gave me, that we followed, is you either got to be educate people or you have to entertain people. But if you can do both simultaneously, it's like the perfect cycle. It's the perfect storm. So when you, when you went down this path of trying to, of getting, you know, of hitting that sixth p that I love to talk about, giving your business a personality, you, you clearly love humor because it shows, you know, clear that you love humor. It's entertaining. And I caught it. Got me. Were you, when you were focusing on it, what was the goal? Was it was a brand awareness? Was it Legion? Was it recruiting? Was it all the above? Like, why did you go down this path? Why did you decide, okay, this is like, I'm, we're gonna go and we're gonna, we're gonna put ourselves out there.
- [26:21]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
It's funny you mentioned Gary Vee, because that's actually where it all started. I don't know if you were at that super meeting, Chad, but when he spoke on stage, he said, you know, just post every day. He, you know, he owned his wine business and he was talking about just dumb videos he'd post on YouTube and he just kept posting them and then people just would show up into his store and they'd be like, yeah, we were watching your videos. And he's like, what? I didn't even know anyone watched those videos. There wasn't even views on them. And I took it to heart. I mean, he was a smart guy. He, he's. I mean, I read a lot of his books and I just, I just got started and I'm not the type of person that's a big social media person. Like, I was the same way. I barely opened it up. I didn't have a tick tock. I didn't have an Instagram. I didn't have an Instagram until I watched the Gary Vee thing. But as soon as I did, I, I opened them up and I said, you know what, I need to try this out. So it really just started there because I know I knew I. Anywhere I went. And I'm sure you guys see this. What are people doing? Their, their face is stuck in their phone everywhere they go, at the dinner table with their family, even at Disney where they just maybe like, threw 10 grand on a Disney trip. They're at Disney on their phone. And if you look at it, it's usually just social media, right? Everyone just wants to distract themselves with the things that are going on and like, they're zoned out like zombies. It used to be tv, right? Like, a lot of people were on tv. And I'm not saying the TV doesn't work anymore, but the phone's taken over a lot of TVs. Some people don't even have TVs, right? They watch stuff on their phone or their laptop. So I'm like, okay, everyone's there. That's. That's where I need to be. That's where my customers are. And then I said to myself, okay, well, what do I like to, you know, look at on. On social media? And, you know, if I'm looking to fix a problem at home or DIY, I might go to YouTube. But if I'm just generally trying to be. Trying to be entertained or, you know, just want to watch some funny stuff, like, I'm just looking at funny stuff, right? I'm looking at things that are relevant around my age that I like to do. And, you know, so I said to myself, let me, let me just try it out. Let me see how, how it does if we do some kind of funny things and get some engagement from the team. And at first people said it was ridiculous. I've gotten. People say, oh, you don't have to make that silly content. You know, I could show you how to make educational videos. And I've done both, and I still do both. We do educational and we do funny videos, but we get a better response with the fun videos that we do. I mean, you will be at a gas station and people will run up to our truck saying they love our social media and our brand's cool.
- [28:51]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Right.
- [28:51]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
We have a big Jack Penguin. It looks like a Dan Antonelli brand. I designed it myself. So everyone knows our brand, right? It's, it's, it's out there, it's fun, it's bright. And they're not talking about our mascot, they're not talking about our cultures. They're only talking about our social media. Yeah. And, yeah, I mean, it's. For me, it's about branding first, because I'm going to invest in branding because I want to pay less in marketing. So if someone's doing a branded keyword search on climate experts, I'm going to pay a whole lot less for those keywords than AC repair near me. And I'm sure you know this, so I definitely want to put money into branding. And sure, like, billboards are a way to do it, but I don't know about you, but I wasn't driving the car. Don't you see people as they're driving with, like, this. They're more on their phones almost than looking at the road. So it's like, okay, like, if that's where everyone's attention's at. And I think you can get impressions very Cheap on social media. I mean a lot. We don't spend hardly any money as far as like, like sponsoring things and boosting things. Like people are just sharing this stuff. If it's really good content, they're just sharing it. Now you just got thrown to maybe 10,000 other friends and I'm pretty sure those friends probably live in the same neighborhood as them, most likely. So it's kind of like referrals, right? It's, it's. You're getting referrals on, on them looking at your content. So it's, it's a very low cost. It takes time to get good at. And I don't love the viral thing where the trend. Everyone's like, I just want to be viral. Right. They want the 3 million view video because it makes them feel good. Like the trophy. I don't want that. I want consistently people watching my videos that are in my area that are my ideal customer or my ideal employee. And that's what we get from our videos. It's insane. Like we've been able to reduce our recruiting expenses like, like at least 60%. We were spending money on indeed ads. We've grown to job fairs. We don't really need to do that anymore. Like people are coming just from our tik toks and it's crazy.
- [30:53]
Host 1
Well, yeah, because.
- [30:53]
Host 2
Because they want to be. Well, they see what the, what the. It's like basically a window into the culture of your company. Right. And they want to be a part of it. It's fun, looks like a good time. And that's why. So, so that's why I asked that question. I was like, was there a particular reason? And, and leading with brand awareness to me is the right move. Like I think that's the right mindset for it. And if things come and they will come from it, at least that's not the actual like expectation is. It's like let's just keep putting it out there knowing it's going to take time because we went through phases of that Sounds like. I think Gary was at the Next Star thing. That was actually. I can't remember if that was here. That was actually here. I can't. That was the one that was at the Marriott here in Phoenix. I think maybe he was at that one. I don't know. It was right. The tail end of my partnership with him. I think it was like 2021. Was it 2021? 2020.
- [31:36]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
It's been a, it's been a couple of years ago, but I remember it.
- [31:40]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Yeah.
- [31:40]
Host 2
And, and so I had the pleasure of learning like directly from him, which is awesome, you know, and so I.
- [31:47]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Guess one, one question, maybe for both of you, maybe for Derek and then obviously Chris, you know, this stuff, Is it one of these things where social media is confusing because of all the emphasis that has been put on the KPIs of marketing? Like, everybody's like, well, what's my cost per lead? What's my this, what's my that? And it's like people get frustrated because it's like, well, shoot, I spent. Now you may not have to spend as many dollars, but it's like, well, I didn't get a return. We didn't get any leads off that. But I think to your point, Derek, it's like, just keep doing it. Just keep pumping it out there. It's like a long game thing. I don't know what you guys think about that, but that was one thought that came to mind as you were talking about. Just put it out there. Like, you're not going to be great at the beginning, but it's going to be all of a sudden you're consistent and then you hit one and it's like, oh, shoot, now we've got a bigger audience and now we can start pumping stuff out.
- [32:38]
Host 1
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- [32:54]
Host 2
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- [32:55]
Host 1
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- [33:52]
Host 2
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- [33:53]
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- [34:36]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Yeah, I would completely agree. I think that's one of the main reasons why people don't do it, right. They're looking at it as a lead gen source and it's like you're treating it like Google. And you're right. People aren't going on social media platforms to look for ac contract or a plumbing contractor. Typically. Right. They go to Google a lot of the times. But if for branding, if they already know who you, who you are and the personality side, they love the personality of your brand. I mean, I get customers that want to work here just because they watch our social media videos. So it's like what you're trying to do with like an email campaign that nobody reads or like a text campaign which they're super annoyed with because that's their personal phone number. You could do it with social media and it's way less invasive. So I would agree 100%. Just get started, just like, and be genuine. Like, don't be fake. Because I mean, I think we're, if we're trying to be this like uptight professional person, people will see right through it. And that's why people come to apply at our company, because they know we're real. They can see it. Like, I'm sure you go on those social media profiles for businesses where it's like canned stock photos, the dog with the blowing, and it looks cute, but it's not real. Like, I wouldn't trust that company. I wouldn't want to work for that company. I want to see real people, what they look like. I want to see like what goes on behind the scenes. I want to see the facility. Like they're kind of having a little tour of our facility. We look professional. They see our vans. So I don't think it's just about the fun stuff. I think they get to see the other things as well because the fun stuff gets them in to want to even watch the rest. And that's where I get people to watch my educational videos, which they normally wouldn't. Now they're like, okay, I watched your fun stuff. What's this about and they'll watch a freaking six minute video on how we install ductwork and they'll be like, wow, you guys are so thorough. I've never heard of a company that does that. We're gonna hire you because of that. And they weren't the customer that would normally hire someone off of a fun personality video, but that's what got them, you know, kind of into that funnel. And then the educational video took them to the end.
- [36:33]
Host 2
Yeah, I mean you got it figured out. That's, that's, that is a hundred percent the model. Like so to answer your question, Chad, like I have a super strong opinion about this, but he nailed it. I mean, but people are still stuck on these KPI. Here's a perfect example you can run, you can get really low cost per cost per lead, you know, by running paid ads in social. But you, you're gonna roll a truck, they won't pass a credit check. You can't even do the install on it. So like who gives a about the low cost per lead or the high lead volume number? You can't even install the like. So it's completely pointless. So when I was tracking that metric, I was like, well, why are we gonna do this? So that's why I was saying I struggled early on trying to build a social media marketing department because it's like you can't, you can't base it on like paid ads. Like it needs, organic needs to be the way to go. And in order to make it really successful, it has to be authentic to you. The contractor, like Chad has a great social media team at Peterman Brothers that does a fantastic job and we mirror some of that stuff with our river, with our roofing business and I have a roofing business as well, so. But it's the same thing. Like what I love about it is if, if you create the brand awareness, you just keep pumping out the content and make it exciting to watch. When it does come time for somebody to want something, it's top of mind awareness. That's the game. But you can't really put some KPI on it unless an agency tells you, I'm going to give you X. Right. And you track it all the way through to see what it turned in as a return. So actually takes me to my, my question did when you were putting together your, your like your overall strategy, Derek, was it, did you have an outside consultant do it? Was this all you do you have somebody in house that you've hired to manage this thing for you? Like what does it look like, yeah.
- [38:10]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
I have an interesting setup. So you know, I meet obviously with my next door marketing coaches a lot. I, I love marketing by the way. So as a CEO, I'm still got my hands in marketing where like some people are like, I'm the gm, like, nope, I hired a gm. I love the marketing side. So like that's where a lot of my experience comes from. Just because I, I love the marketing side. So you know, we do a marketing planning workshop every year. I put a lot of effort into it. We currently have a outside CMO who we work with every week and then I have a marketing coordinator that I trained kind of from the ground up. She does all of our social media posts in house. She helps me do some of the videos. We kind of edit the videos together but she does a lot of the editing completely in house. We tried hiring it out of house before. It did not work out. We couldn't pump out as much content. It was too over complicated. It was expensive with the video creation and those videos didn't even do that well. People sometimes like the videos that come from your phone better because it looks like an advertisement. If it's so professional, which there's a place for that, right? Your website or you're trying to look professional, but on social media that's not the place for it. People want more real content. It doesn't. And again with AI coming out, people are going to start worrying about like is this AI or is this real? So the funnier you are and you know, the more of your, your yourself, they're going to be like, okay, this is an AI. And when people start seeing these professional videos of like, you know, the dude talking to the person with the clipboard, if it looks anything like AI, they're going to scroll right past because they want genuine content. Yeah.
- [39:44]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Derek, one question I got. So I'm just thinking about listeners actually I'm thinking about myself as a very not funny, not highly entertaining person. I would, I'm sitting here like where in the hell do you start? You know, like yeah, luckily got some people on my team who. That's their jam, right? Be as creative as possible, do all the things. But you know, for a smaller company it may be just a few guys like hey, how am I going to do this? Like give us some of like that you mentioned. Shoot it from your phone. Like it doesn't need to be professional. Don't worry about that. Be funny. What are some of the other things that you guys kind of like, hey, these are the things we've learned over the course of doing this that like, this is kind of our top of mind. Like these are the three to five things like we want to do to make one successful.
- [40:30]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Yeah, it's a great question. And I want to make it easy for contractors because, you know, I believe in supporting each other. That's one of the reasons why I love nexstar and I work with a lot of contractors, you know, for free, giving them advice, helping them out, because I believe that's what we need to do more of. Stop beating each other up. I don't believe in the competition thing, so I want to help contractors do really well with social. So I think we over complicated a lot of times. I think all you need to do is go on some of these platforms. Instagram, TikTok, type in hashtag trending look, hashtag viral. Look at the kind of things that are trending right now. Trending things always do better because people will just watch a video they just watched and if it's something like that, because they already laughed about it, they're like, oh, let's look at a different version of it. It's kind of like a sequel of a movie. Or like, you know, people are into that new Wednesday show on Netflix and like it's like the biggest show just because they watched the first one. So do something trending because they, they already watch it, it was already funny, they want to see a different version. And you can find that for free just on Instagram TikTok and you can type it in to see what's trending. I also like to bring it into the industry though, so you can do like trending construction, trending H vac, plumbing, concrete, whatever you do. And then you can bring it a little bit closer to, you know, videos that might be related to, you know, a shop, right? Like you can do something in a shop that's already been done, a location, right? Certain people are going to be in the video. And I would say get people that are comfortable on camera first. Don't force your people that never want to be on camera first because it's just not going to go well. It's not going to seem genuine. Get the people that are comfortably on camera first. It wasn't me. Like I had people on there that were really good in front of the camera and I was like, nope, I'm not doing this. I hate this. And then I did it because I'm like, I'm not being a good leader if I won't lead from the front. So yeah, Chad, Yeah, and I'm on.
- [42:22]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
A lot of, trust me, you're a.
- [42:24]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Funny guy, you're a sarcastic guy. It doesn't mean that you have to have the same sort of humor, right? You can have a completely different type of humor that'll hit with a lot of people. It doesn't have to be silly, right? There's all different types of humor. There's different types of entertaining content. So I think even some like the dad jokes are sarcastic things that you can do. And then like you want to find like your related customer. Like a lot of people will put in like girl dad, right? And they'll have pro, they'll have videos for like girl dads and then they'll have products related to it. So like look for what your ideal customer might, you know, be looking for. So like what's their age range, right? What are they going to be into? If you're looking for employees like that for recruiting, right? Like, what are they going to be into? What are they watching? So like, know your ideal clients that you want watching these videos. I don't want to go viral with a 5 million view video people in India or China or wherever. Like, I don't care. Like that's dumb. Like I, I only want the people that I want to hire or I want my customers to watch these videos. And hey, if other contractors watch this too and it can help them out, that's a win for me as well. So, so yeah, but I would say just kind of be okay to get on camera. Don't do something that's completely not yourself and start acting silly if you're not that person. But I mean, you can do something with sarcasm. I, I also use chat, GPT, so, or whatever AI platform you use. So I'll find a training video. I'll say, hey, you know what? I've already made like, tell me some ideas around this that would, would be relevant and we'll, we'll do it. Or I'll ask my team, like, they're so into it right now. They have so many ideas. We couldn't do all the videos that of the ideas that I get sent and don't you think the person that came up with that idea probably is going to be willing to be in that video. I think a lot of the times we have this little tight video marketing team and they do all the videos and they have all the ideas and we leave everyone else out. And they have a lot of good ideas too. Everyone's on social media, they all have phones. Get those people involved. And then if the whole team's having fun, like, they're going to be cracking up watching videos of themselves, you know how much that's going to make them feel better about the culture of your business, that the culture of your business is including them and having fun.
- [44:32]
Host 2
Yeah, I love that. I actually love that because that's. That's another piece that we didn't really talk about is it is good for, like, people who want to participate in the business because it's fun, right? And you get to. And then everybody else gets to see it, you know, and. And it is fun to continue to do these things. I want to ask that question. How did, like, did you almost. In every business, anybody that's listening right now, unless it's just you by yourself, almost everybody has somebody who's okay with, like, you kind of know who the person is who's outgoing, who can kind of, like, get the thing. And if they're younger, the good chances are they probably know what the trends are. I didn't know either. So, like, hashtag trending was, like, something I had to learn as well. Just because I have no idea what the hell is trending. Like, zero clue, right? And then I just have to record the things I'm told to record, and those are the things that Trent, I don't know. So. But you. You had to get these people to participate. Like, you. You have, like, a slew of people. Like, you've got, like, a stable of your employees who are down to do the crazy on your videos and love it. And they look like they're having the best time.
- [45:37]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Dude, we don't have to hire anybody for the videos. Like, we don't spend any money on really the content creation. We pump videos out. It's crazy. Like, in a couple hours, we'll maybe pump out 10 videos.
- [45:48]
Host 2
Question for you. Okay, so, one. It seems like you got a lot of willing participants. Was it that way from the start? And I want you to parlay that into, you know, what are you. What are your. What are your, like, top two favorite pieces that you guys have that put out that you've liked? I've seen, like, a bunch of them. My favorite one so far right now is the cowboy one where they do a little hip thrusting thing. But, like, I showed that. I showed that one on. On the big screen. So everybody, home service freedom.
- [46:13]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Oh, great. Great. These contractors are probably like, who the hell is this dude?
- [46:18]
Host 2
I set it up so good. I gave you so much props for. For doing that. Like, because again, the whole point is you guys all do the same. Ain't nobody want to have to call you in the first place. So like, let's make this entertaining and it like, that's funny. Like, that's, that's kind of like borderline like. Oh yeah. Way to go, Derek. So, so maybe just share like, how did you get, like, what would it, what was the start of this thing? Yeah, like, did you like have a couple people like, okay, cool, these are my, these are my guys or my gals. And then what are your, what are your top two favorite pieces that you guys have done?
- [46:47]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Yeah, so I started out with, you know, a couple of the lively individuals that I knew that would be good on video and I hyped them up. I'm a hype man, you know, so hyped him up. I said, great.
- [46:58]
Host 2
So good. You're perfect for this.
- [47:00]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
That's exactly what I mean. That's exactly what I did.
- [47:02]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
I, I, you missed your calling. You got this.
- [47:05]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
That's exactly what I did.
- [47:06]
Host 2
And you're doing this from now.
- [47:11]
Host 1
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- [49:09]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
For real.
- [49:09]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
And. And I started with a couple of people that I knew that would have fun with it, and I already had the ideas ready to go. So I think if you don't really have a good plan on the video, on, like, location, on the lighting, on, what's good? Because they don't want to look stupid, right? They want to look dumb in front of their peers. Like, don't make them look dumb. What I would say is don't embarrass people on video. Just like, you shouldn't embarrass people in a meeting and, like, put people's numbers on the board. Like, look at you. Don't do that on social media, too, because you're never gonna get that person back on video, okay? Because anyone can see this stuff. So I would say, you know, help them out, make them look good, right? Have a plan. Like, show them. Like, I used to write in the beginning, like, the scripts and the set. I'd hand it to them so they were prepared, and I let them do a couple practice shoots, and they ended up killing it. And then when all the other employees saw that, you know, people responded well to them. Like, customers were talking about it. Everyone was talking about it. I actually had one of my employees go on a date, and I think he's like. I think he's like, 20. He went on a date with this girl, first date, and they're out to dinner, and here he is, pulling out his phone, the first date, showing her videos of him at work. On one of the videos we did.
- [50:22]
Host 2
You said you cut out a little bit there.
- [50:24]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Yeah, so. So, yeah, so he. He was on a first date, 20 years old, and pulls out his phone on the. On the date, and he pulls up our company Instagram, and he's showing her videos of him doing these dances and doing these videos. And I'm just like, if they're that proud like, that they're showing this to, like, a girl on a first date of these videos, they must be pretty good, right? And they're also sharing this stuff, too, on all their social platforms. So, you know, you're trying to get your employees to get you referrals for more employees or more customers. Like, that's an easy way to do it, right? People like to see themselves, so. But you got to make sure that they're good, right? Don't embarrass them is what I would say. Don't force them to do it don't embarrass them. What I did that I think really worked very well is I embarrassed the. Out of myself in front of all of them. So then they saw a different side of me, and they're like, if Derek, the owner of the company, is going to wear wigs and do dances, like, I probably should give it a try and see what it's like to be on one of these videos. And then once they do it and have fun and they get a positive reaction from their friends, it's like they want to be in all of them.
- [51:31]
Host 2
Yeah. Yeah, that. That's a. You actually just said something that's super important. And Chad, you should take notes on this, because I think I have been. I can't wait for you to really start sticking your neck out there, buddy. And. And leading by example, I'm. I'm all of Peter Brothers can be excited to see it. I can't wait. I'm gonna keep following up to make sure you do it, but critical that when you get somebody to finally participate, that you make them feel as comfortable as possible, even when they mess it up. Because they're gonna mess it up. Right? Because once you put the camera in somebody's face, like, changes. Like, everything changes. And. But you also kind of want to let them do their thing, right? Because it. Once you. Like you said, once you make somebody feel uncomfortable once, like, it's game over to get them back to want to participate. And everybody messes up.
- [52:18]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Yep.
- [52:19]
Host 2
So at least, you know, Derek, you're willing to put yourself out there and mess it up yourself, too. And be an example.
- [52:24]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
You. You asked me about my favorite ones. I'd say my favorite ones are. There was this one trending video with these, like, really beautiful Colombian women. And they were like, papacito. Like, I don't know if you guys saw it sounded. Oh, in Colombia, we. We call you Papacito. Like, you know, they're saying, like, white girls in America suck. Come to Colombia. So we remade the video. And, you know, climate experts, you know, we don't say A.C. we say H. And we made it, like, sexy. And it was. It was pretty hilarious. And I. I made sure I put the clip of the social media video with the Colombian chicks first, right? To get everyone's attention because, like, it's already trending. It's already doing well. You could take a clip and you can make it and you could put, you know, what do I put on after that? I think I have. You could put a note like, you know, something incoming. You know on it. And that one was really fun. And then we also did one, There's a restaurant in Tampa where this, these girls at a Mexican restaurant like do these crazy dances as they're holding these shot glasses and all these menus and like millions and millions and millions of views. So I made this like airplane out of two by fours and instead of shot glasses I had capacitors and I had all my technicians at condensers and I, I, they had like all these light up things and I was like serving them capacitors as I would dip down and do the dance and it was hilarious. The guys, the guys loved it and.
- [53:53]
Host 2
He put some effort into that one.
- [53:55]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Yeah, I, I, I'm already a pretty creative minded person. So I, you know, like I said, I, I'm good at problem solving. So I'm like, all right, here's this video, I don't want to copy it. Like, how can we make it us, how can we make it industry related? And then we just go from there and I don't overthink it.
- [54:11]
Host 2
You know, I'm looking, I'm just look scrolling through your Instagram right now just looking at the different videos. Like there's so many, there's so much stuff to look at here.
- [54:21]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
I think they showcase community stuff too. Like we're going to showcase all the ways that we give back. We'll showcase education and how we do things differently. And honestly we did that before we did any of this funny stuff. And almost nobody watched them. They just didn't, they just, they didn't care that much.
- [54:37]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Yeah, I think the, the thing that I'm taking away from all of this is not so much like the social media, the tactics, the this, that and the other. For me, it's like the cultural piece of it. Like I'm just picturing like being in your office right now and like the vibe has got to be different. And I think it's one of those things that maybe I just got done interviewing a branch manager candidate and I feel like in an interview you're always trying to explain to this person about how you're different and maybe you, well, are, maybe it is a better spot than where they've ever came from. But I think we also have to look at like the contracting space. What you're doing is not the norm. And so what a great place to showcase this, where all of your technicians are, all of your customers are, but then also like internally facing to like show whether it be recruits or the people on your team of like, it is Definitely not going to be like this. If I take another dollar an hour more at the place down the street, it ain't going to be like this, I can guarantee you. And I kind of like it here, so why would I go do that?
- [55:43]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
So I.
- [55:44]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Hats off to you. I think that that is the biggest thing that I've wrote written down at least three times here of like the impact that it could have on the culture of the company. Even all the things we're doing, the breakfast, the parties, the this, the that. But like to be so consistent with it, I think is, is really fun.
- [56:01]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Appreciate that. Yeah, I think you nailed it. I mean, I'm sure you've been to some amazing organizations where they got the big warehouse and everything's clean, but it just seems cold. Right? It just seems like this cold place where it's like very much work. Right. And some people love to work. A lot of people don't.
- [56:16]
Host 2
Right.
- [56:16]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
A lot of people like to have fun. So I think it's just an aspect too. And like we do like Cuban coffee, little shots and we bring those into our videos too. So I think, I think I'm a culture guy as well. I don't want to come to work and hate where I work, you know, so I worked at so many H vac companies where it was like that. And I, I said to myself, you know what, it's never going to be like that here.
- [56:38]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
Yeah, well, and I think too it's, it's to your point, you know, you brought up your, the 20 year old guy going on a date. Like, I mean you. As employers today we have to meet. Our workers are between 20, probably in their 20s or early 30s. I mean contracting is a young man's game for the most part. Like, you know, so if that's what they want to do, if they value, I mean most of these guys value, I would rather, I don't need to make any extra money. I just want the time off. When I want to take the time off, I want to be, you know, entertained. I want to do all of these things. Like to me you're doing a fantastic job of meeting the candidates that you need to bring onto your team, meeting them where they are. Like this is who we want to be. Like, yeah, you can be the hard worker and work all the hours of the day and you know, you're the entrepreneur and running fast and doing all this stuff. But like, it's not like you've got 40 entrepreneurs on your team. Like they, some of them may be, but like they Want to work there because of the culture that you've provided and so on and so forth. And I think it's so important to meet them where they are as opposed to, you need to conform to work, work, work, work, work, work. Like, no one wants to do that, right?
- [57:52]
Host 2
Yeah. Dude. I see, Chad, you got educated today. This has been awesome, by the way. Chad, you've. You've come out of your shell quite a bit over the course these last few years, so I am proud of you. Okay, so this is just a natural next step for you is to, you know, you're not afraid to be in front of the camera, but you have a certain way you like to be in front of the camera. Correct. So I think.
- [58:19]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Nothing wrong with that.
- [58:21]
Host 2
No, but we're gonna. We're gonna. We're gonna work on that. And by the way, you and I have to record some stuff while we're at Pantheon this week too, so we're gonna find some time for that. We're gonna. We're gonna go ahead and put. Practice what we've been preaching here on this episode.
- [58:32]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
You know, that's right.
- [58:33]
Host 2
Time frame, and hopefully it's in front of a big group of people. So you can watch us.
- [58:37]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
I'll have some ideas ready.
- [58:40]
Host 1
Actually, we're.
- [58:41]
Host 2
Have Derek be a part of it.
- [58:42]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
He'll.
- [58:43]
Host 2
He'll.
- [58:43]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
He'll. He'll produce the commercial. Yeah, we'll be on there.
- [58:46]
Host 2
He's like, no, no, again. Again. Come on, Chad, real quick, because we're actually coming up on the top of the hour.
- [58:54]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
I want to.
- [58:55]
Host 2
Told you guys we'd be done by then, but we don't do spend any time on this. But are you using, like, a certain platform to manage all your. All your content there?
- [59:03]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Agree.
- [59:03]
Host 2
What are you using?
- [59:05]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
I mean, as of right now, we're not managing them all on, you know, one of the main ones. I know there's like, Sprout Social and all those. Right now. We just kind of manage them in each individual platform.
- [59:13]
Host 2
Okay. Okay. But not. Not. Not that anybody cares. Like, I think we use Sprout Radio. Do we use Sprout as well? Throughout Social. Okay. That's what we use as well. Demands all of our content. The thing I. I heard you. You know, I think the biggest thing I heard you take away besides, you know, just going out and having fun with it and getting your people involved and helping use it for cultures. It doesn't have to be perfect. You just want to be authentic, and you need to be consistent because I heard you say early, you know, and something that Gary preaches. Right. It just put as much out there as you can be consistent with it. And then that social. If you're thinking about social media just for leads, you're already thinking about it wrong. Like, that's the. That's the end result of what can happen based on the stuff that you're putting out there. But it's a. A great recruiting tool and a great way to kind of show the company culture and to get attention. And then when it's time for someone to use your service, they remember, okay, yeah, this. This is a company. Seems like they have a lot of fun. So am I missing anything in between? That's pretty much like the gist of it. And use your phone. You got to be so professional. Like, you know, sometimes it's easier just to watch the stuff that's not professional. I didn't even think, take into consideration the AI. The AI piece of it, like you were mentioning. Like, that's a perfect thing because there's. I'm watching now Charlie Kirk videos popping up that aren't even really Charlie Kirk. I'm like, I thought this was true. So everybody's taking advantage of these things, you know, right now. And now that I see it, it's happening more, more and more.
- [60:33]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
So can I give you one more example? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just made two videos. One was just a silly video I made in the Airbnb on opening closed grills with a piece of rebar I found in the garage. Got 200, 000 views. And I made another video and it was me talking about how most contractors just part swap a capacitor rather than checking everything in the system. Them also got like 200000 views on LinkedIn. Guess who is commenting on those? That LinkedIn video or that capacitor video. Other contractors that aren't my customers. Right. Owners mad that I made the video the way that it is. So it's not even really homeowners engaging with that stuff. Yeah, maybe a few will watch that video. That. But the ones that watch me opening the grill with rebar and I'm. I have no shirt on because I'm just at an Airbnb. They're. They're the ones that are my customers. You know, those. Those are the ones that are probably people that are like, oh, that's funny. Like, what does that guy do? So that's the only reason why I'm saying you don't need to just do that. But there don't think that that's not going to bring in customers or employees the same way, you know, a technical video about what an evaporator coil does. Because I can tell you from firsthand experience, I get way more employees and customers from the fun stuff.
- [61:50]
Host 2
Yeah, of course. Entertaining them. You're entertaining them. Well, listen, man, congratulations on doing such a good job with the stuff. And, like, just letting it rip, like that's half the battle, is just throwing it out there and seeing what works, having fun with it. And there is no I don't think right or wrong answer to it. Just do what you're comfortable doing. And, you know, if, you know, you don't have a videographer, that's better. Use your phone, man. Just make it, you know, make it authentic and keep doing it over and over again and keep building the, you know, building the brand. And. And I think in the social media space, if people are going into, you know, these community Facebook groups and stuff like that, like the different, like. And they say, oh, they mentioned this company, well, then they click and go into it, and they see that. Well, that certainly makes it more appealing to use that business as well. So not only do they get a nice referral, but they see your business, and boom, you got a good conversion. So take advantage of those things. But listen, man, congrats on building a nice business beyond all this, too. I mean, you guys are a short amount of time doing some things down there in an incredibly difficult market.
- [62:43]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
It is.
- [62:44]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
It is definitely a tough market.
- [62:46]
Host 2
I've. I've competed down there for many, many years, and it is a gnarly market to compete.
- [62:52]
Chad Peterman (Contractor, Social Media Expert)
It's.
- [62:52]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
It's a hard one.
- [62:54]
Host 2
But, hey, we'll see you this week over Pantheon. I appreciate you taking the time and coming on here for us, so appreciate.
- [63:00]
Derek (Guest, Owner of Climate Experts)
Having me on this podcast.
- [63:01]
Host 2
Yeah, it's. It's our pleasure. And, you know, I say to our listeners all the time, you know, you got to do everything, but you got to do something. No. Zero days.