KickStart: Increase your techs’ self-image, reduce homeowners’ fears and gain their respect when your workers wear photo ID badges.

What emotions is a new residential client feeling as they wait for your technician to (hopefully on time) ring their doorbell? 🤔 Hmmmm…

Folks, your first-time home service customer is (Drumroll, please!) ... nervous, skeptical, a bit suspicious and mostly… SCARED! 😲 Yes, you heard it right!

Homeowners are quaking in their designer shoes! (Honestly, can you blame them with the nightmare tales you hear about rogue techs?)

Now, here’s a little secret for you: This is precisely why those big-shot national franchises heavily promote stuff like, “Hey, we don’t use sub-contractors” or “We do background checks on all our techs.” Yeah, right…🙄

But, guess what? The “big boys” are smart because they are proactively responding to their 1st time customers fears. You can do the same without breaking the bank! Here’s the deal…

Have all your employees wear a photo ID badge at all times! NOTE: This includes you as the owner or manager and yes, that includes you, Mr. Owner/Operator too!

When a new customer sees a tech with a photo ID badge it is a soothing balm on their jittery homeowner nerves. 💖 (Can I wax poetic or what?) 😁

Wondering where to find photo ID badges? Just Google “Photo ID badge” to find a plethora of online options. Prices range from $5.00 to $8.00 per badge. (This is the investment ever!)

ProTIP #1: Always order two (or three!) ID badges per tech. Remember, losing their ID badges and/or forgetting them is pretty much guaranteed! 😠

But wait, lets go deeper on photo ID badges…

ID badge Bonus #1: It isn’t just your 1st-time clients that are intimidated. Your usually young on-site production staff are nervous too!

After all, your tech is standing in front of a huge home where they will be interacting with a client who is three times their age, make ten times their income and let’s not even think about the net worth difference between the two of them! 😫

But when you give a tech their very own logoed ID badge with THEIR name on it? Wow, they have instant credibility in the client’s eyes and more importantly, your tech now feels “credible” too! 👍👍

NOTE: Obviously your workers’ technical skills also need to up to par too- you can’t make it on smoke and mirrors indefinitely! (Don’t ask me how I learned this!)

ProTIP #2: Always put the employee’s first name in large, easy-to-read BLOCK letters. This way when the homeowner forgets your worker’s name (after your tech hopefully introduces themself 🙄) the client can easily refresh their memory from their badge.

ID badge Bonus #2: ID badges are an incredibly cost-effective marketing tool! Heck, I had homeowners see my techs’ ID badges and ask them for a business card at Burger King!

So DUH, here’s a hot tip: EVERY single one of your employees should be armed with their very own personalized business cards! In fact, let’s do a deep dive on employee business cards real soon!

KickStart: Even a “simple” one-person business is not “problem-free”. Read on for 5 proactive steps to beat your inevitable owner-operator challenges…

I get it. You are sick of the daily “employee drama” and long for the simple life you had as a solo “Lone Wolf”. Trust me, I’ve been there- felt this way!

True, I eventually built a large, Critical Mass Business. But before I found my way, I also “fired ‘em all” (it felt so good!) and down-sized back to an owner-operator.

HOMEWORK: Before you even think about “getting small”, you MUST re-read and meditate on my “The 5 moves to make BEFORE you decide to go solo!”

Done? No, you skipped the above link! I know this because you’re an impatient, cut-to-the-chase residential service entrepreneur… just like me! 🙄

And like me, you’re part of the infamous “ready-FIRE-aim” business club soooo… I give up! 😦

Read on (for now) but PLEASE 🙏 come back to this “Starting Out Right” Playbook for Solo “Lone Wolves” later.

But meanwhile, here are five Lone Wolf tips any owner-operator. Oddly enough, they all start with the word “build”!

NOTE: I still used these strategies even after growing into a large, multi-truck home services company!

1. Build A Roster of Reliable Part-Timers

I loved using regular, part-time helpers. Why? Because I no longer had the pressure of keeping someone busy 40 hours a week. 😁

Instead, you call on your part-timers only when you need them. This means you can pay better per hour, which attracts better people, and you’re not carrying fixed overhead.

Plus, helpers on big jobs mean you save wear and tear on your body while increasing your production rate. Even better, you can still have a life after 5pm! 👍👍

2. Build Predictable, Routine Cash Flow

The feast-or-famine cycle is brutal in home services for even the big guys. But it can quickly destroy an owner-operator. The fix? Get clients on a regular service schedule so you know what’s coming in every month.

Develop and sell recurring residential maintenance contracts, seasonal service plans — whatever fits your trade. Reliable, predictable cash flow is your Lone Wolf foundation. 🚫 STOP chasing one-off jobs and focus on building a routine, predictable base.

3. Build a Personal Disaster Plan (PDP)

Nobody ever plans to get hurt, wreck their van and/or lose their biggest account, etc. Stuff happens — and when it does, you need a cushion. So, do you have AT LEAST six months of living expenses in liquid investments? 🤔

If not, don’t feel like the Lone Ranger! But right now, as in TODAY- start automatically sweeping 3–5% of your gross income into an “untouchable” investment account!

If not, you’re constantly one moment away from disaster for your loved ones! 🥹 I beg my clients, build your PDP safety net before you need it. 🙏

4. Build Your Strategic Partners

Find two or three other quality home service pros you trust — quality people who work at your level and share your standards. Cover for each other without stealing clients. Refer overflow work to each other. Here’s why…

These relationships protect your clients when you can’t be there and protect your income when life gets in the way.

The bonus? These fellow entrepreneurs will likely become some of your best friends. Don’t try to build your Lone Wolf business in isolation.

5. Build the Courage to Simply Say “No”!

This one matters more than you think. If you’re the only full-time person in your business, your time is your most limited (and precious) resource. (Actually, true for all of us!) 🫣

So, firmly block off time for your faith, your family, your health, and yes — your FUN! 💖 Then suck it up and tell urgent clients, “Sorry, Mrs. Jones, but I’m already committed for that date. However, I could fit you in on…”

NOTE: If this frantic homeowner simply can’t wait? Call in your Strategic Partners profiled in Point #4! 👆

A business that pays you well but costs you everything else isn’t a win. Know your limits, set your boundaries, and protect them like the very valuable assets they are.

Steve’s TAKEAWAY: The beautiful irony? Every single one of these five strategies will also make you more profitable if you ever do decide to scale up. Like me, you may eventually decide to build a Critical Mass Business (CMB) that can run smoothly with you… or without you.

Personal NOTE: In my early years the solo Lone Wolf model worked well for me. However, eventually (not without frustrations) I eventually scaled up. I’m so thankful I did because my CMB gave me true wealth- the Personal Freedom to live my life as I chose!

But meanwhile, remember- you’re not choosing between staying small and being successful — you’re choosing to build a business that works for your life, right now.

That’s not settling. That’s being smart… on your terms! CONGRATULATIONS! 😎

KickStart: Use photos of your local jobs to gain credibility and to make your service(s) real in your prospects’ minds.

We’ve all heard this almost-100-year-old saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words”. (Attributed to marketing executive Fred R. Barnard,1927.)

I’m sure by now Fred would have updated his dictum to, “A PHOTO is worth a thousand words”.

Why are photos even better than pictures? 🤔 True, pictures 1) attract attention and 2) help prospects visualize your product. However, photos do this too plus they also 3) build credibility and 4) increase prospects’ trust in your company!

NOTE: Obviously SHORT (less than two minute) videos can be huge in your online marketing. So, in this KickStart just automatically add the word “videos” every time I use the word “photos”.

Remember, in the fractured world of online marketing you desperately need to differentiate yourself! So, set yourself apart and build trust with “local photos” of your company working in your clients’ homes!

NOTE: Please click HERE to review how to use these photos in face-to-face selling in your customers’ homes and for after-job follow-ups.

But now let’s go deeper to see how you can double dip with the vast photo library you’ll be building up of onsite work on your clients’ homes. For example…

When someone texts, emails, or pings you on Facebook Messenger asking for pricing, don’t just reply with your price. And please- no blah-blah-blah about how great you are! This verbal fluff doesn’t cut it anymore!

Instead, always attach a few photos of similar jobs. (Bonus points for before-and-after shots!) Photos have so many advantages during this initial contact…

1. They instantly elevate the conversation and help your prospect see the VALUE behind the price.

2. Photos will also position you as a credible, local pro instead of just another random contractor throwing out a quote. This “differentiation” will be huge in your all-important Lead Conversion.

And here’s the bonus move we perfected in my company…

My techs and I would carry a small camera on every single job. (Today I’d just use our cell phones.) We would take quick before-and-after shots, photos of our clean work vehicles, my techs looking sharp, and even action shots of our crew working commercial accounts.

NOTE: If you’ve got a shop, plant, or office, grab a few photos there too. All of this becomes proof—real world proof—that your team is real, credible and they know what they’re doing.

ProTIP: When clients see these “local photos” of your crew working on many different area jobs it sends a subtle message that just maybe your (hopefully much higher) prices are evidently worth it! 💲💲💲

Double-dip these photos

Your first step? Dump the same, worn out “clip art” photos all your competitors are using. Remember, you need to be perceived as different, including in your marketing.

Once your photos start stacking up upload these real, local project photos to your website, social media, and online quote forms. They’ll build trust before the customer even meets you! SCORE! 👍👍

Steve’s bottom line? If you’re not building your own visual proof, you’re leaving money—and trust—on the table.

Start photographing your work today and then bank away a photo archive that woven throughout your marketing will sell for you 24-7!

What? You’re still hanging out here with me? Git out there and start taking photos! 😎

KickStart: Clarity In Your Intentions Makes Everything More Pleasant

Fear really is the world’s ugliest emotion. 🫣

True, our fear(s) as residential service providers can’t possibly compete with an orphaned child’s terror, a homeless family’s fear or even worse, the loss of a child. 🥹

However, this message is directed to you folks- entrepreneurs who work in and on their clients’ homes. And yes, from a business standpoint, the all-too-common, paralyzing ‘Fear Of Rejection’ has a devastating impact on us and our families’ futures!

As I recently mentioned in my ‘Dump Your Fear Of Rejection to Supercharge Your Business’ article we KNOW what we need to do as in, “1) Git our butt out there, 2) knock on doors, network, etc. and 3) land some new customers.” And yet…

We don’t! Yes, the “we” is there on purpose. True confessions time? I was the King of Displacement Activities, which allowed me to shirk the essential ownership task of reaching out to new sources of business. 🫣

But I’m not here to beat you up! 🙄 Instead, here are the five main tips that I developed to conquer (most of the time) my Fear Of Rejection forever!

1. Lighten up and laugh a little.

Is your family going to actually go hungry if your next prospect says “no”? Of course not. So, stop treating every sales call or residential pre-inspection like it’s a life-or-death situation. Instead…

a) Walk in relaxed, b) with a bounce in your step, and c) a self-deprecating sense of humor about the whole thing. People respond to energy. “Easygoing confidence” beats “tense and desperate” every single time.

2. Lock down your opening 20 seconds.

The Fear Of Rejection hits hardest right at the start — those first 20 to 30 seconds when you’re introducing yourself and explaining why you’re there. After that? It’s just a conversation, and your friends tell me you’re good at “shooting the bull”! 😦

So, practice your opening lines until they are automatic. Say them to your spouse, your mirror, your dog — whoever will listen. When those first words come out naturally and confidently, the rest flows on its own.

💡 ProTIP #1: SMILE! 😁 I get it. You’re nervous which means your face gets contorted into a ghastly frozen expression. UGH! So, take a deep breath, reflect on point #1 and smile at people!

💡 ProTIP #2: Look people in the eye. I get it. You’re STILL nervous? This means you’ll look everywhere except straight into the eyes of your prospect. Fight this tendency. When you don’t confidently meet the gaze of a new potential client you telegraph that you’re unsure or worse, untrustworthy! 👎👎

3. Understand that selling is a process, not an event.

Every “no” you get is not a failure. It’s just a data point. It has become a cliché but never forget, every “no” means you are one step closer to a “yes!”

I call it the Law of Large Numbers — the more doors you walk through consistently, the more accounts you will land. It’s math, not luck. Commit to making a minimum number of new potential client contacts each week. (A daily goal is better.) Then… hold yourself accountable.

👍 Never forget: Consistent, Massive Action is what separates the home service businesses that grow from the ones that go out of business or (even worse in my opinion) really should hang it up but endure 30 or 40 years stuck in a rut! 😥

4. Make every visit count, even the short ones.

Didn’t get to speak to the decision-maker? Got the brush-off at the front desk or in the client’s home? That’s fine — smile, leave your card, grab a name, find out the best way to follow up.

Every visit should produce something useful. A contact name. An email address. A better sense of who makes the buying decisions. Nothing is wasted if you’re intentional about it.

ProTIP #3: Always make a ‘Last Ditch Request’. Precede it with, “Before I go, (quizzical expression appears on your face) let me ask you…”

🗝 My Favorite Commercial ‘Last Ditch Request’: “Before I go, let me ask you, “Could you put me down on your Vendor List for upcoming projects or RFB’s (Requests For Bids)?”

5. Above all else, just walk through the door.

Somebody once told me, “The hardest door to get through is your own.” This is so true. The hardest part of any sales call happens before you ever leave your home or get out of your truck.

Once you’re standing in front of someone, your Fear Of Rejection shrinks fast. So. make a personal commitment to get out there on a regular, consistent, DAILY basis. (Not just when business is slow or when you’re feeling brave.) Make it a habit. Build it into your schedule like any other task.

The business you want is already out there waiting. The only thing standing between you and a growing, dynamic exciting home service business?

😡It is that nasty, negative subliminal “FOR” voice whispering that you should 1) wait, 2) avoid, and/or 3) postpone! Now you know what it is, where this FOR voice comes from, and exactly how to shut it down!

Remember, my mom transformed my life with her simple, “Steven, it costs nothing to ask!” So, ummm… WHY are you hanging out here with me? Git yerself out there and start… ASKING! 👍👍

KickStart: STOP your fearful fretting about rejection. Your prospect simply may not be focused on and/or ready for the service(s) you are selling. Instead…

Let’s be real. You already know what you need to do as in…

1) Git yer butt out there, 2) knock on doors, network, etc. and 3) land some new customers.

You know this. Your bank account knows it. Your family definitely knows it as in, “DUH, Dad! Why are you still hanging around the house?” But they don’t say it and neither do you…

So, what IS stopping you? 😦

It’s that little voice that pipes up the second you even think about knocking on a door. Yep, the dreaded whisper, “Don’t bother. They’re going to laugh at you. You’re going to feel like an idiot.”

Who said that? It’s your Fear Of Rejection (FOR) talking — and if you’ve been in business for more than five minutes, you’ve heard it many times- loud and clear.

I’ve heard it too. More times than I can count. 😥

Why Your “FOR” Is Costing You Serious Money

Here’s what this little subliminal FOR voice actually does to you in practice. You postpone sales calls by inventing reasons to do them tomorrow, next week or, in reality… never? instead…

You suddenly find a dozen other so-called “urgent” tasks that need your attention — paperwork, equipment checks, anything to avoid walking through a prospect’s door.

NOTE: I call this deadly procrastination Displacement Activities, and it is lethal to your business growth.

Days turn into weeks that turn into months. And all that time you wasted not making sales calls? It is a HUGE “Opportunity Cost”. Why? Because it represents…

Business you could have had. Revenue you left on the table. All because of a stupid voice in your head that was lying to you the whole time! 😫

What My Mom Got Right About Selling

My mom used to tell me something I didn’t fully appreciate until I was years into building my own business. She’d say, “Steven, it costs you nothing to ask.”

Mom was right! (And it only took me 20 years to learn this!)

Think about it. What is the absolute WORST thing that can happen when you introduce yourself to a new prospect? They say “no”. That’s it. Here’s what they won’t do to you. (Hopefully!) 🙄

1) They’re not going to chase you out of their home. 2) They’re not going to post your picture on social media. 3) They’re not going to call the police on you!

They are just going to more-or-less nicely say “no”. *

* Actually, most people are too timid to even give you a straight out “NO”! Instead, they’ll disguise it with a “Let me think about it…” Trust me, folks, this is a hard “no” and we should talk about this soon!

But however your prospect couches it — and this is a key point — it’s not meant to be personal. YOU are the one making it “personal” by getting your panties all in a wad which leads to even more FOR!

So, let’s analyze how to beat your totally irrational FOR by asking my mom about them! When I was a grade schooler I woke up every day panicked so I’d blurt out to mom, “The other kids are all going to be looking at me!”

Good old mom replied, “Steven, nobody really cares!” Kind of hurtful, Mom! Now mom didn’t know it, but she was setting me up for a very successful career as a residential services entrepreneur! Thanks, Mom!

Once I put Mom’s “nobody really cares” principle to work I realized an essential truth. The two biggest forces working against me in any sales situation weren’t hostility or judgment.

My (and your) sales-killers are apathy and inertia! As in, most prospects aren’t thinking about you (or the service you are selling) at all. They’ve got their own problems, their own priorities, and their own fires to put out.

So, when you get brushed off, it’s almost never about you. It’s just “business friction”. They’re not focused on you and/or on what solutions you are offering AT THIS TIME. This means you must…

Stop taking your prospect’s lack of interest personally, suck it up, and git yer butt out your door… NOW! (And step away from those silly and very destructive Displacement Activities.)

BUT WAIT! I know what you’re thinking as in, “Steve, STOP it! Yer doing one of your patented ‘rah-rah, motivational closes’ and all I want from you is one thing! Tell me HOW to beat my Fear Of Rejection… NOW!”

Fair enough! How about in our very next KickStart I give you not “ONE thing” but FIVE tips that allowed me to ban “Fear Of Rejection” forever! Happy???

KickSTART: “Staying small” can be a valid business (and lifestyle) model… IF you structure it correctly from the git-go. Intrigued? Then read on…

Honestly? I get so very tired of this endless debate in our residential services industry: “Should an owner go solo as a ‘Lone Wolf’ operator or ‘go big’ and hire employees?”

Why my frustration? Because BOTH of these totally opposite philosophies work well… IF you do it right! (Most don’t!) The one business model that does NOT work?

Getting stuck in the middle! 🫣 I call this the “Road In-Between” (RIB) as in you are “too big” to enjoy the (supposedly) carefree life of an owner-operator BUT “too small” to hire mid-level management to give you the ever-elusive Personal Freedom! (Was that a run-on sentence or what?)😦

Steve’s cut to the chase? The Road In-Between is where entrepreneurial dreams go to die! The RIB will bleed you and your family dry… financially, emotionally and spiritually.

Now, I’ve been accused of being a “get big or go home” guy. Not true. You don’t have to go big to win. You just have to be smart about it. Actually, this “being smart” applies to residential service providers of any size!

The smartest shift all of us can make right now? 🛑STOP your obsessive flexing about gross business income! Listen carefully here…

💡Gross revenue is vanity. Net profit is sanity.

Got it? If so, let’s focus on how to build an owner-operated residential services business that creates absurd net profits while giving you, the owner, a balanced, fulfilling and happy lifestyle… long-term!

A 5-Point “Starting Out Right” Playbook for Solo “Lone Wolves”!

1. Count the Cost BEFORE You Commit

Don’t make the decision to “go it alone” after a bad week when a problem employee has driven you crazy. Staying small is a legitimate business model — but only if you go in with both eyes wide open.

Look at the real numbers, the lifestyle tradeoffs, the ceiling on your growth. If you’ve done that and you’re still saying “Steve, I want to stay small”… GREAT! Let’s start out right building your new life!

2. Own Your Decision — and Own Your Identity

Please 🙏 STOP apologizing for not running a fleet of vans. I’ve worked with residential service providers that are slaves to their 20-truck business and yet… they take home less than a sharp one-person operation.😫 Even worse, these poor saps dread waking up every morning! Life is too short to live like this!

Once you understand that income vs profit is the real game, you stop comparing your gross revenue to the guy bragging online and start comparing your take-home. That’s what pays your mortgage. Or even better…

💡 STOP “comparing”- we’ll talk about this!

3. Position Yourself as the “Boutique” Pro, Not the Budget Option

STOP trying to out-advertise the big franchises. (Or your low-ball, bait-and-switch competitor down the street.) Instead, morph yourself into the fussy, slightly OCD craftsperson. The local expert. An individual that clients trust with their home to actually care about the work.

Lean into this reputation hard. Be the service pro with the reputation so good that clients refer you to their neighbors… without you offering them a kickback. When you build this kind of loyalty, you won’t compete on price — you’ll compete on trust and win every time!

4. Raise Your Prices — Seriously, Do It Now!

Puhleeeease, don’t tell me, “Steve, I’m already the most expensive in town.” I don’t care and neither will your clients. (See #3 above.) Raise your prices anyway.

Steve’s “little known fact”: Small, regular price increases will go unnoticed by most clients. (Homeowners usually can’t remember how much they paid last time!)

Even a small price adjustment can increase your net profit by 20 or 30%... without adding a single job. Work less- make more! This is the fastest lever you have. Pull it... NOW!

NOTE: Make raising your prices a habit — a quiet annual price adjustment keeps you ahead of rising costs and increases profits without anyone flinching… or even noticing. (Thanks to our current “inflationary psychology” customers expect to pay more when they call you again!)

ProTIP: Always make a price adjustment an “odd percentage” instead of a “round number”. This adds credibility when you can explain to the (very few) previous clients who complain about an increase, “Yes, Mrs. Jones, on January 1^st we were FORCED (key word here!) to raise our prices by 13.4%.”

5. Sell More on Every Single Job

You’re already there. You’re already trusted. The client just needs to know what else you offer. Don’t assume they know your full list of services — walk them through it BEFORE you even arrive.

Pre-orient every client about what they can add on. They can’t buy what they don’t know exists, and every Additional Service Option you miss is money left on the table in a job you’ve already driven to! (Windshield time is a killer for Lone Wolves.)

Feeling better about your (reasonably) stress-free future as a solo owner-operator? Going forward, I’ll share more tips on how to structure and run your “Lone Wolf” operation!

KickStart: Obsess over hiring ONLY the Very Best People by recruiting them BEFORE you are desperate! Intrigued? Then read on…

I hired (and fired some!) more than 100 employees in my years running residential services companies. After waaaaay too much agony I finally learned the biggest hiring lesson for any business with techs working in clients’ homes…

Never (and I do mean NEVER) engage in ‘Desperation Hiring’. Grabbing the first warm body simply because you’re slammed with service calls will absolutely come back to bite you- BIG TIME! 😦 (Don’t ask me how I learned this!)🙄

💡 Instead, I realized we needed to treat recruiting the same way we marketed to homeowners—as an ongoing, never-ending process. 👍 This mindset transformed my business and honestly, my life!

If you want to build a real, dependable, scalable operation—what I call a Critical Mass Business—you must constantly be scouting, recruiting, pre-interviewing, and pre-testing solid Very Best People (VBP) “career candidates”. Then…

You keep them “on the hook” (warm and interested) while they stay at their current job… until you’re ready to bring them onboard.

But here’s the catch: if you want these A-players to hang out waiting on the bench, you must give them a reason to stick around. Ya gotta offer a better career, not just another job.

Here’s 8 strategies I used to successfully compete for new hires against giants like Walmart, UPS, Starbucks, and even my local plumbing outfit— because every business out there is my and your competition for these VBP! 😦

1. Build a strong LOCAL image

The Very Best People usually have roots in your town. They don’t want to move away. However, they do want to work somewhere they’re proud of.

So, ask yourself:

• Is my company active and visible in our community?

• Do we have great online reviews?

• Does our daily business presence (online too*) make us look like a company people will brag about working for?

* NOTE: A-players will absolutely look you up online even before they agree to an interview—they don’t want to join a business with a negative reputation.

2. Upgrade your “curb appeal”

Your brand and business should feel top-tier from the moment someone sees it.

• Clean, sharp trucks

• Organized shop

• Easy-to-spot, memorable signage

• Professional uniforms and photo ID badges

• And yes… your team (and YOU too)🫣 all need to look like pros too!

Top VBP talent wants to join a team that looks like they’re winning. The bonus here for you? Potential clients love seeing these bullet points too!

3. Create a real “Career Ladder”

The VBP don’t want to stay stuck at the same level forever. I mean, do you? 🙄 So, can you offer your VBP hires:

• Certifications?

• Specialized training?

• Leadership opportunities?

VBP want to at least have the opportunity grow and advance—help them climb!

4. Prove to them they’ll be more than a number

The big corporations can’t offer true security and an emotional connection. But you can!

Prove to your VBP candidates:

• “Here you’ll ‘create your own job security’ just by being awesome.”

• “We build and expect loyalty… both ways.”

• “We invest in our people who invest in us.”

This matters to today’s workers WAY more than most owners realize. 💖

5. Share a big picture vision they’ll want to belong to. (And buy in to!)

People don’t just work for a paycheck—they work for meaning in their life.

In my company, our rallying cry was: “We Make Customer Cheerleaders!”
My team was believed in and was trained to WOW their client. Your vision doesn’t have to be fancy—just clear, energizing, and bigger than “just show up and bang out the work.”😥

6. Allow your Very Best People to actually earn more

I know… we all think we can’t compete with the big boys.

But focus on this: Mail order maven L.L. Bean once said, “When I pay 20% more, I get 40% better employees.”

Paying more to the right people makes you more money—not less. When you systemize, market well, fill your schedule, AND raise your prices you CAN afford top-tier talent. 💲💲💲

7. Build a stress-free Business Infrastructure

The VBP hate chaos. And let’s be real… at best many residential service companies run on controlled chaos. (And some days the “controlled” part is optional!)

Written systems, procedures, checklists, scripts—these give the Very Best People confidence. Clearly explain how your business measures success so they can knock it out of the park! 😁

8. Add true accountability (the positive kind)

A-players LOVE being held to high standards. Why? Because it separates them from the slackers plus they get recognized and rewarded when they excel.

Your mission:

• Set expectations

• Track performance

• Celebrate high achievers

• Coach the ones who can (and want to) improve

• Terminate the ones who won’t!

Positive Accountability isn’t punishment—it’s rocket fuel for the right people! 🚀

Steve’s Final Thoughts

Sure, it’s tough competing with other businesses for talent… but you CAN do it when you offer something better: A career, a purpose, a team culture, and a future!

This is how you can consistently compete for new hires against the big guys and still win over the Very Best People.😎

KickStart: It’s true: A picture really is worth 1,000 words! Photos of your company and completed jobs will “kick start” (sorry) your in-home sales! Read on for the why and how…

When it comes to face-to-face selling our residential services to homeowners, my (and your) biggest challenge is simple… and yet so complex. Here’s the deal…🫣

Unlike buying a new pair of jeans, a new car, or even a new puppy🐶, homeowners can’t see, touch, “try on” and/or test our service(s) before they give us the go-ahead to work on their home.😦

Sure, my sales reps could talk all day about how great the client’s home would look or how fresh it would feel, but all the prospect would hear was, “blah-blah-blah”! 🙄

💡 Folks, when selling your residential services, “talk really is cheap” and a serious turn-off for most homeowners. So how did I not only survive but create a thriving residential services business that let me retire at age 38?

What would actually build my credibility and, more importantly, win a suspicious homeowner’s trust? After a lot of internal agony and mental brainstorming, I had an epiphany! 🌄

We started showing our prospect photos and/or videos of local, real jobs that we had successfully completed! BRILLIANT! 👍👍

ProTIP: “Before and after” photos of the property and/or job are powerful!

These photos of our work built homeowner confidence in us —a simple, visual strategy that worked BEFORE we would quote a price or try to close the sale.

Here’s the step-by-step system I built—and yes, you can stea… I mean, “borrow” this stuff from me TODAY:

1. Pre-orient the client. During the initial booking call, our CSR’s would explain that our techs document the job with periodic “progress photos” or even short videos. We told the homeowner that we’ll email them copies at the end of the job. (A great excuse to get their email!)
   
   ProTIP: If the client won’t be home during the work, ask if they would like us to send these photos to them in “real time” so they can see our progress on the job. (Clients LOVE being involved like this.)

2. Take “progress photos”. All techs carried company cell phones with quality cameras. We suggested a photo or two of set-up and then periodic “before and after contrast” shots during the work. (Bonus points for including our logo in the photo!)
   
   NOTE: Avoid “customer identifying items” such as mailboxes, house numbers, or even clients’ license plates in your photos.

3. Crew chief takes a quick selfie video at the end of the job. This is even better if you get the entire crew yelling out, “Thanks, Mrs. Smith! We appreciate your business!” Best practice is to take the video in front of the completed work. Keep it short and sweet.

   ProTIP: If the client isn’t home during the job, the crew chief should send it to the customer.

4. Send photos to the office at the end of each job. (Multi-day work gets sent daily.) Most CRM’s offer an easy way to attach work photos.

5. Office staff reviews photos. Review for quality and delete ones that don’t make the grade. Make sure there are no “customer identifying marks” (See NOTE in #2) and crop/ edit if needed.

6. Office attaches the photos to the emailed Job Quality Survey. Include a brief statement explaining that their job came out so well, we’d like to show other clients the results. If they agree, please check the box! (Most do!)

   NOTE: To sweeten the pot, some of my clients offer a $25.00 gift card to clients that give permission that they can use on the next service or give to a friend.

These on-the-job photos give you and your salespeople a HUGE “closing the sale” resource. Here’s how to use it!

ProTIP: These visual aids were even more effective if they were in the homeowner’s neighborhood! So, give your sales team a library of photos geo-tagged to search nearby clients before the pre-inspection.

A. Each salesperson has a dedicated client tablet. (Cleaned and sealed in a bag between homes.) Your salesperson should have already made up a “mini-album” for the homeowner with photos of the same work being done for other clients.

B. Turn it on and hand it to the prospect. We would usually wait till we needed to measure the job or when working up the quote. “Mrs. Jones, while I’m finishing up you might want to review other nearby homes that we’ve done the same work that you just showed me. Just swipe the screen to the left…”

C. Homeowners flip through real-life examples. Remember, these photos are of local people just like them. Some of them are probably their neighbors! Guess what? Your prospects’ guard will drop. They’ll ask better questions. They’ll trust you! And they will say “YES” a whole lot more!😁

NOTE: In a future KickStart, I’ll share how to “double dip” from all these wonderful photos you are banking away!

Now, don’t you have some techs to train on taking photos? Let’s “git ‘er done”!

KickStart: Convert your desperation hiring into an ongoing, routine system. The result? You’ll always have pre-vetted, pre-tested “Employees in Waiting” ready to jump in.

I’ll be honest—nothing ruined my Monday mornings faster than those dreaded “quitting without notice” texts from techs who bailed when we were booked solid three weeks out. 😡

One Monday, I finally called my tech Bill, because he was already late for his first residential job.
Me: “Uhhhh, Bill, where are you?”
Bill: “Uh… yeah, Steve… I got another job over the weekend. Just mail me my last check.” CLICK! 😲

There I was, staring at the phone like it had personally betrayed me. Then I turned to my office staff and screamed, “Find me a warm body—NOW!”

SPOILER ALERT: Every single time I hired in a panic, it blew up in my face. If you’ve ever done “Desperation Hiring,” you already know—it leads to headaches, callbacks, lost clients, and lots of lost sleep! 😥

Finally, I learned that if I wanted better employees, I needed a better system. And it had to become part of my everyday business routine—not something I dusted off when I was already drowning in work pulling the shifts of two techs who quit with no notice!.

Here’s the 30,000 foot overview of how I fixed my hiring issues…

My 7 Steps to Stop Desperation Hiring (and Start Attracting Better Employees)

1. We treated recruiting as a daily habit—not an emergency switch.

Once I accepted that consistent recruiting had to be an ongoing, routine system- everything changed. I wasn’t scrambling anymore. Instead, I was simply preparing for the inevitable. Negative? Maybe. Or was I realistic? Either way, as part of this process…

2. We routinely pre-screened and pre-interviewed long before we actually needed a new employee.

When I wasn’t desperate, I could spot the Very Best Prospects (what I call VBP’s) a mile away. It’s amazing how clear your instincts are when you’re not panicking and well… desperate!

NOTE: Words are important. So instead of the common “applicants” (or worse, “victims”!😁) we started calling these folks “Career Candidates”. Sure, even a Career Candidate might work three months and then quit- but at least we treated each person as if they were embarking on an exciting, long-term career!

3. I stopped “proposing marriage on the first date.” 😦

Instead of desperately rushing people immediately into full-time roles, after carefully vetting a Career Candidate, we then:

a) Did a paid “Working Interview”. This “Trial Hire” is great for everyone. (Some folks interview great but simply won’t like the daily physical work. Better to find out before you hire them full-time!) Loved the work? Then…

b) We normally started our Career Candidates part-time or on-call. This gave all parties concerned time to see if we both fit—without pressure. NOTE: This practice worked great if the Career Candidate was still at their original job, which leads me to…

4. We encouraged our VBP Career Candidates to keep their current jobs while waiting for a full-time spot with us. (I called them “Employees in Waiting”.)

No guilt. No games. Just honesty. And you know what? The great ones appreciated the flexibility. If an applicant was desperate to be hired, that was a red flag for me.

5. I made the waiting worth it by offering a real career—not just a job.

A “real career”? Yep, as in better pay, clearer growth paths, better training, better culture. If we wanted better employees, we had to BE a better workplace worth waiting for. (See point #4.)

6. I kept my VBP’s “warm” with a simple monthly update email.

Just a short note about what was happening inside the company. It reminded them we cared—and that there was a great career waiting for them. NOTE: Be sure to send this newsletter :bcc or using a simple mailing list service.

7. Always be planning ahead for staffing needs.🤔

I stopped pretending “everything will work out” with employee issues. When I saw work volume rising or someone looking shaky, I already had my Employees in Waiting ready—and since they were VBP’s they needed time to give notice to their current employer

Want to get those new hires trained fast? (Don’t we all need this?) 🙄
We used a simple “Fast Track” training system that helped us get new techs up to speed without babysitting. It saved me hundreds of hours—and a whole lot of lost sleep!

Now, don’t you have some Career Candidates to recruit?

KickStart: Base techs’ pay on both individual performance AND teams’ exceeding their production/ efficiency/ cheerleader targets.

I learned early on that the biggest challenge in building a residential services business that ran smoothly without me wasn’t marketing, equipment, or even customers… it was my employees.

Even worse, it wasn’t just one problem with employees—it was all of the staffing issues rolled up into one slimy, stinking mess! Yep, I’m getting PTSD just reflecting on my years down in the Home Front trenches…

Constantly recruiting, endlessly interviewing, fearfully hiring, frustrating onboarding, interminable training sessions, stressful evaluations, never-ending motivating, the list goes on and on.

And after all of the above? I was forced to fire people which of course was agonizing but then so was the rejection when an employee quit on me! This brutal parade just never stopped! 🫣

NOTE: I’ll cough politely here and mention that the “Hiring the Very Best” systems I developed as I grew into a Critical Mass Business saved me from a lot of headaches. 🗝️ 🗝️When you hire great people, 90% of your problems will miraculously vanish!

But the one area that always comes up on employee retention is compensation—specifically, how to use money to develop loyal, motivated people. Fair enough. However, remember that…

ProTIP: My Very Best People stayed with me long-term because of their emotional connection to our company (and me too, I guess) 🙄 along with their pride in being part of “something bigger than themselves”! But even these quality folks responded to smart, fair, transparent pay systems.

After a lot of introspective reflection, I came up with a totally new compensation system. We called it the Employee Efficiency Bonus (EEB). Basically, each employee earned a fair hourly base compensation. Then to increase their pay (and get more praise) they would get rewarded—and occasionally penalized—based on their performance.

If a worker rocked it, they got public recognition and a solid bonus. If they slacked off, well… the “consequences”🫣 came at them fast. (Heck, that kind of sounds like… LIFE!)

As I told one technician, “You want a raise? Perfect. With our EEB, you control your raise every pay period.” The result?

My Very Best People absolutely loved the EEB.

But then my EEB hit a snag. When compensation was based on totally on individual performance, it quickly turned into whispering, bickering, and lots of “the office is giving you all the great jobs and I get garbage” drama! 😡

All this posturing, suspicion and envy threatened to kill the culture I was trying to grow. I didn’t want a bunch of selfish, me-focused techs working for me—I wanted a crew that was a team focused on common goals!

So, I shifted gears and added another system: a shared Employee Efficiency Bonus Pool (EEBP) for each team. The EEBP introduced team incentives that created what I call “Positive Peer Pressure.” (PPP)

Now, when one guy kept losing tools, it wasn’t just his problem—it was money coming out of the whole team’s EEB pool. So, his teammates stepped in: “Bill, you’re killing our bonus. Suck it up, man.” 😈 And let me tell you—this PPP was way more effective than me screaming at my workers!

Even more importantly, the EEBP wasn’t only about penalties. It also rewarded crews for working together efficiently. 😁For example…

As part of our internal pricing process, we would normally set a reasonable target time for a big job—say a large residential project or a restoration loss—and beforehand we would post the projected workers’ target production hours.

Now if the team coordinated well and beat the target, (while keeping the client happy) everyone shared the extra profit.💲💲💲 Those were good days. That’s when I saw real teamwork, not the forced kind.

To make it stick, we shared EEBP updates constantly. Weekly team meetings were perfect for this. Transparency kept the momentum rolling. However…

THREE WARNINGS when it comes to employee compensation changes:

1) Legal. Be sure to have a labor attorney review your compensation adjustments. Even when you’re convinced your payroll modifications are a) logical, b) legal and c) better for your employees… better safe than sorry.

2) Avoid impulsivity. ALWAYS be positive your changes will work for your workers AND your company. It is extremely frustrating for your staff to have a new compensation structure announced with great fanfare and then two weeks later- you’re tweaking it again! 😡

3) Prepare yourself for initial rejection. Speaking of frustration, be prepared for employee suspicion and pushback initially. (This happens even if you sincerely are trying to be “Mr. Nice Guy” with your pay changes.) 😥 We all instinctively resist change- even if said changes will benefit us! 🙄

However, once we dialed in our EEBP team incentives and let Positive Peer Pressure do its thing, our whole operation changed. Teammates corrected each other, encouraged each other, and pushed for better results—without me stirring the pot!

NOTE: I’ll delve deeper into the nuts and bolts of the EEBP in a future KickStart.

That’s when I realized I wasn’t just paying people… I was building a culture that transformed my residential services company into a smoothly running Critical Mass Business that let me achieve the ever-elusive Personal Freedom!

KickStart: Sort your prospects. Then text a personal message to every contact the evening after you talked. Then call your “Hot Prospects” within 48 hours. Don’t give up!

WOW! I can’t believe it! Finally, we’ve arrived at my Part 5 (and last) missive on “Successful Home Expos for a Residential Services Provider”!

If you’ve read and implemented the four previous sections (check out the links at the bottom of this message) … CONGRATULATIONS! 🪇🎊🎉💐🎈 You’re well on the way to developing tons of qualified, pre-sold homeowner leads! WOO-HOO! 👍👍

But WAIT! What’s the key word above? “LEADS”! And here’s the shocking truth:

Most contractors will generate between 100 to 400 solid leads at a home expo, then let them rot away from poor to zero follow-up! Sad but true! 🫣😥

💡Listen carefully, folks: Your follow-up strategy will determine if your Home Expo efforts provide a great ROI 💲or just be a costly and exhausting bust! 😫

Sure, the gold standard is to book an eager homeowner right there at the home expo! Yeah right! 🙄 Seriously? Most of the time, attendees can’t focus (or even hear) with all the hoopla going on!

ProTIP: When having an in-depth conversation, ask your prospect if you can take notes while pulling out a small 3” x 4” leather-bound pocket notebook. (Small is less intimidating, and you won’t be tempted to set it down.)

You’re taking notes for two reasons: 1) It is extremely flattering for you to take notes on what a homeowner is saying. (But don’t overdo it.) 2) Detailed notes on the prospect will help you keep the details straight on each one so you can…

At end of day: (Or during the day while your thoughts are fresh.) Text out a copy and paste verification to your contacts after the expo closes for the day. The two bolded words are the only copy that you add to personalize this note…

Hi Bill!
Thanks for stopping by our Town and Country Restoration booth today! Your landscaping project sounds fascinating. I’ll reach out to you on Monday morning. Meanwhile, have a great Sunday! Steve

Your follow-up must start within 48 hours after the initial contact. (24 hours or less is even better.) Any longer and prospects start forgetting who you are and/or book with someone else.

NOTE: Sure, you’ve bought yourself a bit of time with the End of Day system above. But sooner is always better than later! Here’s the follow-up system that worked for us:

1. Immediately after each day of the expo: Sort your leads into three piles: Hot (requested pre-inspection), warm (general interest), and contest entries only.

2. Monday morning: Start calling hot prospects. Your goal is to at least schedule appointments within the next 3-4 days.

3. Monday afternoon through Wednesday: Call warm prospects. Offer a special ‘Home Expo Attendee Discount’ that’s good for the next 30 days. (To have the impact you want, a discount should be at least 15%.)

4. Thursday: Announce contest winners via phone (not email—you want that personal connection). Schedule their home services prize and use it as an opportunity to offer ASO’s. (Additional Service Options.)

Don’t get down! Don’t expect everyone to answer. You’ll reach maybe 30-40% on the first call. Leave friendly, professional voicemails, follow up with a text that includes a link to your website and your special expo offer.

NOTE: In both the VM and the text, it mentions you’ll reach out again. Then do so.

💲Employee bonus idea: Track which employees generated the most leads that converted to jobs. Three months after the show, give the employee with the most conversions a $200.00 cash bonus. This creates competition and accountability!

Is a Home Expo Worth It? The Bottom Line

Let’s be honest about the investment. A typical home expo will cost you:

• Booth space: $500-$2,000

• Materials and giveaways: $300-$800

• Labor costs: $1,000-$2,000 (depending on your setup)

• Your time and energy: Priceless (and exhausting!)

• After-show BBQ for all who helped out, along with their families! (This is important!) 🍺🍻🍷🍖🧺

Total investment: $3,000-$6,000 for a weekend.

The payoff? When done right, you should generate enough home expo revenue from past clients alone to cover your costs. Everything else—the 150-250 new prospects, the 20-30 commercial leads, the 200+ jobs booked over the following months—that’s pure profit!

Your long-term return on repeat clients? PURE GOLD!💖

Our average home expo (in a very small market base) generated over $70,000 in immediate bookings, plus residual calls for years afterwards. (Remember those check-style coupons? Some were redeemed a decade later!)

🗝️But here’s the key: That return only happens if you follow the system. 1) Home show analysis, 2) preparation, 3) booth action, 4) lead qualification, and 5) the fast follow-up I preach here!

Skip any one of the five elements above, and you’ll join the ranks of weeping contractors who bitterly complain that ‘home expos don’t work.’ What a bunch of whiners! 👎👎

Steve’s TAKEAWAY: Home expos work. The question is: Will you? 🤔 If so, aren’t there some local home expos you need to get signed up for? 😎

KickStart: How is your team going to greet, sell and sign up the throngs of attendees to your home expo booth? You need a system to “high-grade” people…

WOW! When I did a rough outline for a “why and how” series on Home Expos for a residential services contractor I never dreamed it would drag on for 5 articles! You neither, huh?🙄

But hey, we’ve covered a lot! Everything from doing a Part 1 reality check (on yourself and then the home expo) to the essential Part 2 Pre-Home Show Preparation. Plus in Part 3 we did a deep dive on Drawing Attendees to Your Home Expo Booth.

NOTE: My next Part 5 will wrap things up with The Follow-Up: Where Most Contractors Fail.But first…

You’ve worked so hard to get ready for this home expo. And hopefully attendees will be fighting to be a part of the in-crowd hanging out at your booth! But wait!

You’ll need oriented, motivated, sharp people to engage with and sell the attendees mobbing your booth! After all, you’ve invested a lot- now let’s get you a great ROI!

Here’s my home show staffing formula: Recruit enough people to always have “aisle staff” working in front of your booth (more on this in a moment) while passing on prospects that have more immediate interest to a closer. For a typical 12x12 booth, plan on 3-5 people minimum. Now for…

Steve’s controversial rule: Ban all chairs from your booth! People, I’m dead serious. Employees sitting around listlessly surfing their phones sends the wrong message. Here’s why…

Prospects want to see energy and ACTION! Keep everyone standing UP and engaging with attendees. (And no texting!)

How can you make this work without burning everyone out? Schedule short shifts and then a break. Rotating two-hour shifts ‘on’ followed by a 30-minute break ‘off’ works well. And yes, pay for these breaks, you cheap skate! 🙄 Your people are giving up their weekend for you!

Don’t have enough employees? Recruit friends or family members. Brief them on your key talking points, dress them professionally, and put them to work. They don’t have to be experts—they just need to be enthusiastic and know when to bring qualified prospects to you which leads me to...

Strategically Qualifying Prospects: The System That Separates Home Expo Winners from Losers

ProTIP: Not every person walking by is worth your key sales staffs’ time. Home expo attendees come in three categories. You need to treat each differently:

Tire-Kickers

These folks are just browsing, killing time, and/or collecting free stuff. They’re not “bad people”- just not in your target demographic (wrong zip code, renters, whatever).

For Tire-Kickers: Aisle staff should be polite, hand them a brochure and give them a $50.00 gift check or card (see #2 below), wish them a good day, and let them move on. Don’t waste time trying to convert someone who isn’t a prospect.

ProTIP #1: Don’t know where they live? Ask them… strategically! One way is you go first as in, “I live over in the Crestview area. What part of town do you live in?” The Principle of Reciprocity means since you trusted them first, they must now trust you! 👌

ProTIP #2: Approach attendees as they walk by (but definitely NOT while they’re in someone else’s booth!), smile, rech out with a check and ask, “Can I write you a check for 50.00?”

Once they have stopped (and they w,ill!) initial the gift check that states “Good for 50.00 in goods and services” and as you hand it to them mention, “If you don’t need our services feel free to pass it on to a friend.”💖

HINT: Always run a drawing. When creating your (short) drawing entry form include a line for their “zip code”. A zip code is anonymous enough that almost every attendee will give it up.

ProTIP #3: In your entry form include a box to check if they want a free pre-inspection. (And don’t forget lots of small clipboards and pens to fill out the entry forms.)

Warm Prospects

These are homeowners in your service area who show genuine interest. They slow down, ask a question, or engage with your display. This is your bread and butter—the majority of your leads will come from this group.

For Warm Prospects: Hand them a clipboard with your contest entry form. While they fill it out (it should take 30 seconds), start a friendly conversation. Ask about their home, their neighborhood, their current service provider. Build rapport.

If they check the box for a free pre-inspection, circle their name so you remember to prioritize them in your follow-up. NOTE:Either way, give the prospect an approved 50.00 gift check, initialed by the booth worker.

Critical point: Train your staff in your ‘desired demographics.’ If you primarily serve homes valued over $400,000 in specific zip codes, make sure everyone knows this. Your aisle people need to do subtle qualifying before wasting everyone’s time.

Hot Prospects

These are the gold nuggets—people who are ready to buy now. They’re asking serious questions, mentioning specific problems, or expressing frustration with their current provider. Don’t let these people slip away!

For Hot Prospects: Once identified, your aisle staff should walk them over to you (or another senior person) at the back of your booth. Here’s how to do it…

ProTIP: One great way to make a smooth hand off? Simply reply, “That’s a great question. Let me introduce you to (gesture and start walking) our senior engineer Chris Gripp. Chris, (gesturing) this is…” (pause here and they’ll interject) “Hi Chris, my name is Steve…”

Have a genuine conversation. Ask questions. Understand their needs. Create a great Moment of Truth by asking them if you may take notes. If possible, schedule the appointment right there on the spot. If you can, GREAT! 🪇🎊🎉💐🎈

After all, you have your prospect face-to-face! But at other times, a home show just isn’t a good closing environment. Too noisy, your prospect is distracted and/or has to go pee, their kids are yelling, they don’t have all their data, etc.

So in our final, part 5 of our Home Expo series lets focus on “The Follow-Up: Where Most Contractors Fail”… so you won’t fall into this trap! 😎 Oh, and one final reminder: Bring lots of business cards to your Home Expo… and use them! We’ll talk soon…

KickStart: How to get the best home expo ROI? A steady stream of attendees to your booth! HINT: More is better! (A crowd attracts others.)

NOTE: This is Part III in my 5-part series on Home Expos.

Welcome back!

This third article may be the most important in my series on “Home Expos for Residential Service Contractors”!

True confessions? I feel this way about every article I write!🙄 Doubt me? My Part I on a reality check on your company AND the home show was even better! No, wait- Part II on Pre-Home Show Prep was the best! Or this Part III even better? Read on and decide…😁

You’ll note the word “Strategically” in the title which means: “relating to a general plan to achieve a goal, usually with limited resources.”

Your home show goal(s)? To a) profitably book jobs and/or pre-inspections that lead to more work plus b) develop contacts for future work or referrals and finally c) to position your company as a reliable, caring and professional service provider.

Your challenge? To do all of the above since even the best home expo has “limited resources” of attendees. Time for you to plan “strategically”…

Creating ‘Action’ That Attracts Crowds

Never forget: In any home expo you are “competing” with all the other other exhibitors. Sure, you’ll be friendly with them. (Heck, some of your exhibitors may make great strategic partners!) However…

You need to sneakily stea… err, I mean “attract” THEIR attendees over to YOUR booth!

Your challenge? Boring, static, badly lit displays will attract… NOBODY! Instead, you need movement, ENERGY, noise, transformation- something, actually anything, that breaks through the glazed-over stares of overwhelmed attendees.🫣

So, time to get creative! For example, in my first home expo I instinctively knew our sad, forlorn, and very lonely booth desperately needed ACTION to increase our traffic!

ProTIP: Even better if this action is related to the residential services you are promoting! For example. in this home show I wanted to promote our carpet and rug cleaning services.) Then it hit me!

“Why don’t we demonstrate our superb cleaning services in ACTION? Guys, let’s clean rugs at this home show!” 👍👍

My team responded: “Great idea, Steve! BUT where can we get so many dirty “demo” carpets?” (It was a two-day show.) Then inspiration struck!

We promoted expo attendees bringing their area rugs (not Orientals or expensive rugs—nothing too complicated!) to the show and we’d clean them for FREE! Yep, we set up two truck mounted carpet cleaning plants in our outdoor booth space and cleaned continuously for two days.

The results? INCREDIBLE! Over 400 rugs cleaned in one weekend, with huge crowds of awe-struck homeowners watching the entire time! (Along with hundreds of grateful clean rug owners!) Why did this promotion work? 🤔

🗝️Key Principle: Residential services are “invisible” to most homeowners. Your prospects simply can’t visualize what you will do in their home.

But at this home show they saw the transformation happen with their own eyes right in front of them—in this case a nasty, dirty rug went in and… a sparklingly clean rug came out—they suddenly ‘got it’! 👍👍

The result? Our little residential services business booked over $70,000.00 in work during and immediately after this first home expo! 💲💲💲 It was a HUGE KickStart for us! 🎈💐🎉🎊🪇💖

Get creative!

You don’t offer cleaning services? No worries! Simply brainstorm what “action demos” your company can perform that will 1) attract attendees and 2) help them visualize your process and results!

💡 ProTIP: Involve their kids. With a parent’s permission put hard hats (with your logo) on the children, give them a (safe) tool to hold and then print out a color photo for mom or dad! Or have a ring toss or small corn hole game with prizes.

Steve’s Takeaway: Have fun! SHOW how you will transform their home as in “from problem to solution.” Before to after action. That’s what sells residential services! And of course, people attract people so obsess over attracting a (hopefully enthusiastic) crowd at your booth!

Of course, you’ll also need motivated booth workers to attract, qualify and sell your pumped-up home expo prospects. Let’s talk about this in our next chat on “Strategically Staffing your Home Show Booth”…

KickStart: Most of the work for a wildly successful Home Expo happens long before the first attendee wanders into your booth. Read on…

NOTE: This article is Part II in a 5-part series on Home Expos.

I’ve said it before… I love, love, LOVE💖 home expos for any residential services business… IF you “do it right”. Sadly…

Most home service pros’ home expo efforts fail long before the event even starts. Let me diss on just a few reasons why…

These clueless folks 1) show up unprepared, 2) have no visual marketing “props”, 3) don’t bring their own professional booth lighting, 4) SIT😯 passively in their booth texting (GRRRRR!) 😡 while lucrative prospects stroll by and then complain that “this show is a loser”! Seriously?

Meanwhile, savvy, proactive residential service contractors are booking pre-inspections and jobs like crazy!👌

Steve Reflects: Heck, even in our small town of 30,000 people my little residential services business would sell over $70,000 in work during our home expo.👍 Over the 16 years I was in business I watched a steady stream of “one show wonder” competitors that would slink out bitterly complaining, “What a waste of time!”

What was the difference? My success (and their massive failure!) was decided in the months and weeks leading up to the show.

Create Your Visual Arsenal

In the chaos of a busy home expo, prospects won’t stop to read detailed brochures or listen to long explanations. You need “props” that deliver a visual impact to attract people over to your booth at a glance. For example…

• Before-and-after photos: Large format prints (at least 11x17) showing dramatic transformations. Pet stains removed, landscaping makeovers, pest damage repairs, painting makeovers—whatever showcases your expertise.

  Don’t have enough photos? Create some! Do some work on your own house or family members, or offer discounted jobs to neighbors and friends in exchange for photo rights.

• Video demonstrations: A large flat-screen TV (minimum 40 inches) running a video loop of your work in action has far more impact than even the best static photos in a noisy, bustling environment. Show your team setting up, your equipment working, your results happening! 😁

• Professional lighting: This is non-negotiable! A dark, dingy booth screams ‘amateur’ and prospects instinctively avoid it. 💡 People are drawn to light! Invest in good portable lighting that makes your booth the brightest spot in your section.

  ProTIP: Bring duct tape along with lots of extension cords plus 3 and 6 outlet connectors.

Design Your Marketing Materials

You need three different marketing material subsets for three different types of prospects:

• For tire-kickers: Simple color brochures they can grab and go. Keep these inexpensive—many won’t even look at it. (But you never know!) So, the design and logo should still match up to your overall marketing concept and image.

• For warm prospects: Contest entry forms on small clipboards. Include spaces for name, phone, email, zip code, and a checkbox if they would like a ‘Free home pre-inspection.’ Make the form easy to fill out while standing.

• For hot prospects: Nothing except your business card. You’ll be talking to them personally and can capture their information directly.

ProTIP: When judging a home show’s success you’ll need to cover your initial investment, the staffing costs of the expo and get a return on the blood, sweat and tears you’ve invested! But before you get depressed factor in your long-term return in contacts made! (This principle applies to any marketing effort. More on this later in this series.)

💡Steve Reflections: We printed discount coupons that looked exactly like a business check. Same layout, same actual check paper, our logo and tag line. Then we printed “$50.00 in goods and services” on the payment line. Our booth staff would create respect for these coupons by signing their “authorized signature” before handing them to the home expo attendee.

Folks, this idea works! Your prospects will treat these “checks” like real money and save them for years! We had coupons redeemed more than 10 years after our original show.

Obvious ProTIPs: 1) Don’t put an expiration date on these coupons, 2) make them transferable, (you WANT people to “gift” them) and 3) don’t require a certain amount of work to qualify for the $50.00 discount. NOTE: Don’t freak out! You’ll be protected by your minimum charge so at the very worst you’ll work for 50 bucks less than minimum. But this almost never happened to us.

Now… let’s git ‘er done! 😎

KickStart: Home expos can work GREAT for a home service pro. But first, make sure you and the show are a good fit!

NOTE: This article is Part I in a 4-part series on Home Expos.

As a residential service provider would you kill for the chance to connect face-to-face with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of local homeowners over a one or two day period? You reply…

“Wow, Steve, absolutely! But there’s no way to do this… right?” WRONG! Home expos give you an incredible opportunity to get one-on-one to (forgive me) “Kick Start” your profits.💲

Why is this “face-to-face connection” with residential prospects so important? Because choosing a home service pro is totally different from selecting and buying a tangible good. For example…

Think about that new 4WD pickup, the new jeans, a new smartphone or that new set of golf clubs you’ve been lusting for and dreaming about! See? I’m everywhere, you dog! 😁

But unlike this physical object of your hot desire your residential prospects can’t touch, “try on” (test) or even visualize your finished service… until AFTER they commit to you! So, your prospects tend to 💡base their buying decision on emotional factors.

Home shows and expos let you make this all-important emotional connection that allows a homeowner to trust your company with their precious home… BEFORE you even do the job! WOO-HOO! 💐🎉🎊🪇💖

But WAIT! I’m gonna rain ☔ on your parade!😥 Many residential services companies (including you?) are wasting time, money, energy and even worse, losing 1000’s of potential clients at home expos!

Yep, home expos will just be an expensive way to burn you and your staff out unless you implement the strategies profiled in this series! 😥 OUCH! So, let’s get started with two huge reality checks!

Reality Check #1: Are you even capable of successfully doing a home show?

It’s no secret- I think home shows are an incredible route to long-term profits… IF you “do them right”! Done wrong? You’ll not only waste huge resources but may also “poison the well” for future business with homeowners turned off by your expo fumbles! So, ask yourself…

• How does my company “present”? If you don’t have a professional logo and marketing pieces, snappy uniforms, clean equipment to display, and at least a few ‘before and after’ photos, you’re not ready! 🫣

• Do you have the energy? Home expos are exhausting. Two 10-hour days of constant engagement, smiling, presenting, and being ‘on’ requires serious stamina. If you (and your team) aren’t up for it, your returns (and current clients) will suffer.

• What’s my follow-up capacity? A successful home expo can easily generate 300+ inspection requests that for maximum return need to be followed up on within 48 hours. (Next day is the gold standard.)
  Can you handle this much immediate follow-up? If you’re a solo operator or already booked solid, you might not be ready for this avalanche of leads.
  You say, “Steve, I’m ready to rock a home show!” GREAT! 👌 Let’s proceed to your…

Reality Check #2: Check the home show out before you sign up!

Not every home expo is worth your financial and time investment. Before you write that check, investigate these critical questions:

• Is the show a good fit geography wise? You don’t want huge amounts of “out of your service area” attendees. It dilutes your employees’ sales efforts plus trust me; you pay for all those non-productive prospects.

• Does it target your desired demographics? For example, if you are a swimming pool service company and yet most expo attendees’ homes are downtown condos? Don’t do it! You need upper middle class suburban homeowners.

• Does the show promoter actually “promote”? 🙄 Ask for their past attendance numbers. Find out where they advertise. A poorly promoted show means empty aisles and wasted resources.
  💡ProTIP: Get last year’s exhibitor list and ask home service companies on it, “Would you exhibit there again?” Past results don’t lie.

• Is your competition already signed up? If there are already three pool service companies signed up for a small show, you’ll be splitting a very small pie. On the other hand, being the only company at a large show? That’s opportunity!

Once again, I’m a huge believer in most home shows for most residential service companies IF… they “do them right”! 👍👍 (This “done right” applies to both the show and the business.)

So, have you checked all the above items? Feeling good about this upcoming home show? Then it is time for your “Pre-Home-Show Preparation: The Make-or-Break Phase”! We’ll focus on this in Part II!

KickStart: Focus on A) what produces more profit and/or delights your clients plus B) which of these items a given employee can affect. Then bonus these things!

Wouldn’t it be GREAT if we lived in a world where every employee bounced out of bed fired up to work purely for the joy of being productive? But let’s be real—this isn’t that world. 😒

People are motivated by MONEY. And honestly? I’ve always preferred “money-motivated” employees over “emotionally draining” workers who need constant stroking and/or shameless flattery. 🙄

So instead of fruitlessly begging people to “care more,” (they hear “blah-blah-blah”!) I encouraged my team to make more money—BUT with a smart bonus structure that allowed me PROFIT more when they EARNED more.

Notice something here: I didn’t say give employees more. In my residential services businesses, I avoided flat-out raises whenever possible. Why?

Because raises are permanent.👎 They’re “set in concrete,” even when your business slows down or the employee starts coasting. That’s a terrible way to run a home services company.

A better way? Build reward mechanisms that let your Very Best People make more when they perform better—while also putting more profit in your pocket. Win-win! 👍👍

Here’s exactly how I structured it:

1. For On-Site Technicians

Your techs are face-to-face with the customer. They’re perfectly positioned to identify additional needs and gently offer Additional Service Options (ASO’s). (I’m not a fan of the word “upsell!”)

These ASO suggestions should come across as helpful and natural. How to focus your techs?

• Raise your prices so you’ve got room to reward performance.

• Pay at least a 20% bonus on ASO’s sold and completed.

• Train techs to gently build the job ticket—never pushy, always helpful. (We need to talk about this.)

💡 Important: Pre-orient your customers on ASO’s a) during their initial booking call and b) with your emailed “Getting Ready for Us” checklist. Do all this before the tech arrives. Your techs will thank you, your customers will feel prepared, and your average ticket will skyrocket.

2. For Salespeople

Sales pros should be paid on profitability, NOT gross sales. Otherwise, they’ll chase big ticket jobs that make no money. (Or worse!) NOTE: Don’t ask me how I learned this! 🙄

I recommend keeping it simple:

• Commission based on net job profitability

• Higher commission for signing a regular Service Agreement

• A small extra bonus when they secure Open Access for your techs. (This allows your crew to work without the homeowner babysitting them.)

This approach keeps everyone aligned with your company’s profitable success—not just their own numbers.

3. For Office Staff

Your office team has more influence on revenue than most owners realize.

For example, I bonused dispatchers for Additional Service Options booked during that first phone call. Their gentle ASO pitch can be as simple as:

“By the way, Mrs. Jones, while Charlie and Bill are there Tuesday, have you thought about ___?”

Even a small 5% spiff on extra work booked 👌 gets your office staff listening, recommending, and helping build bigger, more profitable jobs.

4. For Your Whole Team

I’m a huge fan of our HFS Worker Efficiency Bonus. This program does two powerful things:

A) Rewards the team for working efficiently together.
B) Holds everyone accountable when sloppiness or screw-ups start costing YOU money! 😡

1) Teamwork, 2) Efficiency, 3) accountability, 4) Reward—it checks every box. And hey! Totally by accident, Steve Toburen, the King of the Acronym (KOTA) just invented a new one- “TEAR”! I’m on 🔥🔥🔥! 😁

Yes, Your Best People Want More Than Money

A solid bonus structure keeps the right people motivated, hungry, and focused. But the best employees (the ones you want to keep forever) need more than cash.

1) Leadership. 2) Respect. 3) Growth. 4) Clear expectations. 5) Appreciation. Along with a stable, organized work environment. We’ll work on these soon! (Sorry, no acronyms.)😥

For now, start meditating on a bonus structure that rewards excellence instead of entitlement. Your team will love earning more—and you’ll love the extra profits and HUGE increase in morale! 💖

KickStart: If you're struggling with turnover (many are) read, meditate and implement an Action Plan built on these 8 "Loyalty Tips".

I’ve been reflecting lately on our residential services industry. To paraphrase Charles Dickens, “It can be the best of businesses, it can be the worst of businesses.”

In my 40+ years in this game I’ve seen the best and the worst of our business. But I gotta say the Dark Side of our industry is much more common. So sad because...

Invariably these beat-up-on home service providers are “salt of the earth” honest people, competent technically, and work like dogs! (They don’t really have a choice!)

One common denominator among these long-suffering folks? Almost always they are struggling with poor Business Infrastructure, high turnover and dismal company morale. Why? This leads to one of my favorite proverbs…

“The fish rots from the head down!”

Yep, if you see yourself profiled above don’t blame your people. Instead, look in the mirror and start each question with “Do I…”

1. Lead by Example?

2. Publicly Recognize My People?

3. Say “Thank You” Often—And Mean It?

Want to do a deep dive review on these three Employee Loyalty suggestions? Then I highly recommend you click HERE.

But now let’s go deeper now with your somewhat uncomfortable self-analysis. Remember, begin each question with "Do I..."

4. Recognize my employee is not me? (And never will be.) I’ll admit it. I struggled (and still do) with this one. I loved the “game of business”. (Sioux correctly says too much!) 🙄 However, I’ve had to learn that even a good employee has higher priorities than my bottom line! This leads to my…

5. Seek first to understand? Yep, the new generation can be frustrating. But complaining has never built a strong team. Study what motivates your employees. Listen. Ask questions. Adapt. You don’t have to change your standards—just upgrade your leadership skills!

6. Realize I'm “competing” for employees? Never forget. Your Very Best People have lots of options. Great employees won’t stick around with a boss who ignores them, disrespects them, or treats them like faceless labor. This means you must…

7. Offer a real career opportunity- Top people want to grow. Extra responsibilities. Skills training. Bonuses for meeting high but achievable benchmarks. Quality employees need a vision of their future. A Career Path is one of the strongest loyalty builders you can create. 👍👍

8. Plan for even my best employees leaving? It happens. Life changes. Their spouse gets a promotion in another city, they go back to school, parents age or heck, your employee ages! 😯 Don’t take it personally. Instead, prepare for it. NEVER stop recruiting or training.

☠️ WARNING: If you do lose a valued employee? Please, please don’t fall back into “Desperation Hiring”!🙏 Click HERE to review why you need to be proactive starting NOW!

And if you’re struggling to compete with “The Big Boys” on wages—don’t stress. There’s a smart way around that, and we’ll tackle this topic soon!

KickStart: To keep good people long-term you must build an emotional bond with each employee.

Question: Which is more important to a residential services business? 1) Homeowner clients or 2) quality employees? I’ll wait while you ponder… 🫣

If you chose #2, “quality employees” WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER! 🐔🐔 NOTE: I have zero idea where this saying came from! 🤷‍♂️

Sure, without clients your company will quickly die. But without QUALITY employees it will be an agonizing “death by a 1,000 cuts”! Some of you are living this slow-motion demise right now. 😭

I hope you’ve finally made recruiting the Very Best People part of your everyday routine. If so, fantastic!

💡 When you surround yourself with solid, dependable, even great people, everything in your business gets easier—quality goes up, stress goes down, and customers notice the difference.

Sure, following my dictum to “pay 20% than the going rate” absolutely helps you ATTRACT good people. In fact, you must pay more if you want better talent. But here’s the uncomfortable truth most residential contractors learn the hard way:

High wages alone won’t KEEP employees loyal to you.

Not long-term. Not emotionally. Not through the inevitable business rough patches.

And again, you DO need great employees—because life is way too short to drag marginal workers along behind you.

So, once you’ve got a Very Best Person (VBP) on your team, your mission shifts from just attracting VBP's to actually keeping them. And the only way you keep great people is to…

Tie Your Employees to You (and your team) Emotionally!

Dollars (of any amount) don’t drive loyalty. Emotion does. Think about it. You see this emotional loyalty with your residential customers—and it’s even more true with great employees.

If you want loyal people, the kind who will go the extra mile and “take ownership” of their job like it’s their own business, you MUST build an emotional connection with each employee.

The easiest way? Make every worker feel like they’re part of your business family.

Here’s what worked in my home services business:

1. Lead by Example (Yes, Even When You Don’t Want To!)

Never ask a tech to do something you wouldn’t. Engage in “Servant Leadership” as in, don’t be that boss barking orders. 😡 Jump in on a tough job. Help carry equipment.

ProTIP: Cook (or cater) a monthly breakfast for your staff. BONUS! This much-looked-forward-to event will be a great opportunity to put my next point into action!

2. Publicly Recognize Your People 💐🪇🎈🎊🎉

Why do I beat this drum constantly? Because it WORKS! Public Recognition is the fastest, cheapest, and most powerful motivator you have. And yet most owners skip it! 🙄

Celebrate individual and team wins in front of your entire company. Brag on your people to customers. Call out great performance during morning huddles. 👏👏👏 Sincere recognition in front of others creates emotional glue.

3. Say “Thank You” More Often—And Mean It 💖

Not the generic “thanks guys.” Be specific as in:

“Jason, thanks for staying late to fix that squeaky dryer vent—Mrs. Green was thrilled.”

“Maria, thank you for calming Mrs. Martinez down. You saved the day. Well done!”

This specific thanks will supercharge your praise X 10! 😯 (X 20 if you can maneuver things to casually thank them in front of their coworkers!)

NOTE: Click HERE to review the why and how of thanking your residential clients.

KickStart: Create a simple system to send a personal Thank You note after working for every homeowner customer.

Allow me to get a little sentimental with you. Sioux and I love French Impressionist art — all those tiny brushstrokes that, when you step back, turn into a stunning masterpiece. 🎨👩‍🎨

Guess what? This is exactly how a great residential services business is built. And just like a painting, your “business masterpiece” isn’t created from one big dramatic action.

Nope. A great home services company is based on 1,000’s of tiny “brushstrokes” — I call them Positive Moments of Truth (PMOT’s) — that stack up into an incredible experience that routinely creates Raving Fan clients.

ProTIP: Want to create a truly great Critical Mass Business that will run smoothly, all the time, with you… or without you! If so, you can’t leave these PMOT’s up to chance, just hoping/ begging/ praying they will happen.

💡ProTIP: These powerful “little things” become “huge things” when you and your staff “program” them to consistently occur every… single… time.

One of the easiest (and most powerful) PMOT brushstrokes to schedule into your residential service company’s workflow?

Send a hand-written, personal “Thank You” note after every residential job.

I KNOW what you young folks are thinking! “Steve, you mean send as in a stamped envelope? That is so 1990’s! 🙄 Nobody mails stuff anymore- can’t I just email them?”

EXACTLY! You want to be different! This is old school, zero-dollar marketing! (OK, you’ll need to invest in some stamps- see below.) 🤷‍♂️

BUT this personal, signed and stamped note will be remembered FAR longer and appreciated MUCH more than the 100’s of digital messages your client scans every day!👌

Here’s the simple yet powerful “Client Thank You System” we used in my company:

1. After each job, the Crew Chief texted the office one specific thing they appreciated and/or enjoyed in that client’s home. Here’s some examples:

• We thanked Mrs. Smith for the milk and tasty home-made cookies.

• Really nice flower garden in the front that we were very careful with!

• Charlie and I had fun with Mrs. Jones Labrador, Smitty! Or if nothing else…

• Our team enjoyed working at their beautiful home/ nice neighborhood.

Then our office staff transferred these personal touches into handwritten thank you notes. We used simple but elegant cards with a tasteful embossed company logo.

True Story: In my early start-up days, we just used blank cards from the Dollar Store! And they worked great! Try them!

HINT: Write the note by hand and hand address the envelope. (Obviously choose someone with good handwriting- NOT ME!) 😁 Include your street address but not your company name. (A bit of mystery here will increase your open rate!)

ProTIP: Always use real stamps to add even more of a personal touch. We chose elegant floral stamps in rolls of 100. I suggest you avoid politically themed stamps.

Here’s the type of hand-written note we sent:

Hi Mrs. Jones,
Steve and Charlie really enjoyed working in your home on Tuesday. And please give your Labrador, Smitty, a big hug from both of the guys! 💖
Thank you so much for your business,
Beau Pleasant
P.S. Mrs. Jones, I’m including a few of our business cards. I know Steve and Charlie would appreciate any referrals you pass along — either by sharing a card or posting an online review.😁 THANKS AGAIN!

Simple. Warm. Human. And worth its weight in gold!

NOTE: This Thank You note should NOT replace your Immediate Quality Check call. The IQC call should still happen within five minutes of your tech leaving the driveway. (If only because you promised the client they would receive an IQC in the Initial Booking Call!)

A personal Thank You note is the touch-up “brushstroke” that nudges your customer one step closer to becoming a long-term Cheerleader!👏👏👏

So please, send out a handwritten Thank You note to every client. These tiny Moments of Truth will start building loyalty, trust… and a steady stream of “My friend said you’re the only one to call” referrals.

HINT: “Thank you” is also a powerful employee motivational tool too. Let’s talk about this soon!

Never forget! Focus on pre-programmed, routine, tiny PMOT brushstrokes — THIS is how you create your residential services masterpiece. (Don’t forget to include several business cards in each envelope!) 😎

KickStart: Implement your 10 day Fast Track Training system in 3 stages: 1) Create paperwork, 2) add accountability, and 3) reward completion.

Sure, I know. You and your newly hired tech are all lovey-dovey in an extended honeymoon phase with each of you vowing to work together forever! I’ve been there- done that! 🙄

However, I recently shared that a new employee will subconsciously decide if they’re going to build a career with you OR quickly bail out… in THEIR FIRST TWO WEEKS WITH YOU!

WARNING! Even worse? When someone “mentally quits” on you but sticks around being a disengaged Debbie Downer for several months (or years!) till they finally give their notice! 😯

All the above means you must “romance” new hires to subtly convince them your residential services company is “Career Worthy”! No, I’m not talking champagne 🍾🥂 and flowers 💐💐 here! Instead…

Remember that the Very Best People (the exact ones you want to hire!) need to feel challenged, useful and productive right from Day One!

However, even the best new worker needs someone to show them the ropes. I recommend you assign a personal mentor to each new hire to train and support them.

Let’s review how to do this with my structured 10-day Fast Track Training (FTT) system…

1. Break Down Each Task into Simple Procedures

2. Write Out Every Procedure with a Detailed Step-by-Step Outline

3. Decide What MUST Be Learned on Their First Day. (Not too much.) Put these sheets in their Day One Folder.

4. Create a One-Page “Skills Review” Test for Each of These 10 Days. Give their FTT mentor a copy. (Click HERE for the details on these four points.)

Are you ready to rock and roll with your Fast Track Training system? GREAT! So now it is time to get down in the trenches when your new hire walks in on their first day…

A. Go All In and Actually Do It!

After your new tech’s emotional Welcome Aboard introduction to your company… their FTT mentor grabs:

• Their Day One folder

• The Day One Skills Review

• The Day One FTT Procedures

Now your FTT mentor and new tech will work side-by-side, teaching only what’s assigned for that day. This focus prevents overwhelming your trainee. 👌

💡 ProTIP: We used to try and keep it secret from homeowners that we were using their home to train a newby! But then I decided, why not flip a negative into a positive?

So, after introductions our FTT mentor would orient the homeowner this about himself and his trainee, “Mrs. Smith, I’m our company trainer and today I’ll be using your home to show Charlie here the perfect way to do the job. You’re welcome to tag along…”

B. Make this Accountability IMMEDIATE

Here’s the fun part. During a new tech’s pre-hire orientation, you explain that at the end of their first day they will take their Day One test.

If they score 100%? (Your VBP hires should totally ace each test!)

👉 Their mentor gets a $20.00 cash bonus paid right then and there!

Nothing creates Positive Peer Pressure faster. Trainers become invested and will make sure the new hire stays focused. Folks, this FTT system works!

C. Celebrate Finishing All 10 Skills Reviews!🪇🎊🎉🎈🪅

When your new VBP tech completes their first ten days? (And aces their ten FTT Skills Reviews?)

You call a quick company meeting, hand your new tech two crisp $100.00 bills—in front of everyone—and your entire team breaks into spontaneous applause! 👏👏👏

Trust me… this new tech will never forget that moment. (Heck, I’m getting all excited just reliving these good times in my home services company!)

Steve’s TAKEAWAY: This Fast Track Training program works—if you do! It builds confidence, accelerates learning, and gives your new hires a sense of pride during those crucial first two weeks.

NOTE: By the way, this FTT concept works just as well for office staff, salespeople, shop employees, etc.

Try it, tweak it, and then watch your team level up fast! Even better, your new employee turnover rate fall dramatically! 💐🎉🎊🎈

Let me know how it goes—seriously. 😎