When you’re dealing with brand-new challenges, sticking to the same strategy isn’t going to cut it. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a rough period for business owners in most industries, but the smartest leaders aren’t just sitting around waiting for all of this to be over. They’re adapting, innovating, and building strategies that will bring them success over the long term.
This is the mindset home services pros must adopt. Even though countless questions have come up over the past few months, leaders must use a long-term approach — by taking action now, you’ll set yourself up for years of growth once life returns to normal.
To help provide answers in a situation none of us has dealt with before, Scorpion organized a series of panel discussions with home services experts over the course of the summer. These influential figures have decades of combined experience and have built businesses with millions in revenue. And now, we’ve gathered all that knowledge in one place. From current marketing best practices to tips for finding first-rate employees, you’ll find helpful tips and up-to-date insights in the videos below.
Panel 1: Building Your Brand and Crafting Your Message
To help business owners come back from the pandemic with a polished image and a better chance to win business, our first discussion focused on why your company’s brand is so important, as well as steps you can take to improve your image and make a stronger impression on potential customers.
Moderated by:
Josh Smith, Vice President of Internet Marketing, Scorpion
Panelists:
- Patrick Crawford, Vice President of Strategic Marketing, Scorpion
- Alyssa Lapp, Director of Creative Development, Scorpion
- Mary Jean Anderson, Owner, Anderson Plumbing, Heating and Air
- Sheila Fox, Brand Strategist, Fox Marketing Network
- Tommy Mello, Owner, A1 Garage Door Service & Host, Home Service Expert Podcast
Key Takeaways
- A successful brand encompasses everything you do: your website, your vehicles, your messaging, and the way your techs treat customers.
- You must understand what makes your company unique and attempt to connect with the potential customers who identify with those traits
- Make sure every employee knows your brand inside and out and reflects it in their words and actions.
Highlight Quotes
“Your brand is the emotional and practical connection that a customer has with a company or its products and services — it’s who you are and what you stand for. It is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the off-strategy, it is defined by your best product as well as your worst product. It is defined by your best employee, the shining star of the company, as well as the mishaps and the worst hires you’ve ever made.”
—Sheila Fox
“Your brand story is what people think about when they think of you. You need to think about the legacy you want to build and what you want customers to know you for.”
—Tommy Mello
Panel 2: Marketing Technology Tips and Tricks
In recent years, more and more home services companies are wising up to the fact that a smart digital marketing strategy can make or break their businesses. And with more competition comes a greater need for effectiveness and efficiency.
It’s no longer enough to cover the basics of online marketing. To maximize your potential, you need to be taking advantage of every tool at your disposal. In the second part of our series, we asked five experienced business leaders to share their advice on marketing technology and details about which tools and platforms they’ve found to be most effective.
Moderated by:
Josh Smith, Vice President of Internet Marketing, Scorpion
Panelists:
- Rustin Kretz, Chief Executive Officer, Scorpion
- Eric Reuveni, President of Home Services, Scorpion
- Tim Flynn, Owner, Winters Home Services
- Dan Dowdy, Founder, Built for the Trades
- Susan Frew, Co-Owner & President, Sunshine Plumbing, Heating and Air
Key Takeaways
- Marketing technology can help you get a better picture of the success of your business and find solutions to help you reach your goals.
- The more data you have, the easier it is to make decisions — the numbers will tell you what to do.
- Reputation management platforms can help you get more reviews and improve your image online.
Highlight Quotes
“Marketing technology helped us stop the ‘shotgun approach’ and get more focused. Now, we’re actually spending way less and adding way more customers.”
—Tim Flynn
“I think we’ll see more data being used to the home services provider’s advantage. Are you spending in the right places and saying the right things to the right people? At the end of the day, what is your marketing doing to generate revenue?”
—Rustin Kretz
Webinar Panel 3: Finding and Keeping Top-Notch Employees
Great techs can be hard to come by, and harder to keep around. But with solid training procedures and a creative retention plan, you can build an all-star team that’s thrilled to come to work every day. Our next webinar focused on the hiring, training, and morale-building techniques that fellow leaders have used to build successful businesses.
Moderated by:
Josh Smith, Vice President of Internet Marketing, Scorpion
Panelists:
- Steve Levitt, Executive Vice President of Home Services Sales, Scorpion
- Christian Dunwoody, Director of Regional Sales, Scorpion
- Eric Dutton, Owner, Dutton Plumbing
- Chad Hart, Co-Owner, Continental Plumbing Services
- Amy Hart, Co-Owner, Continental Plumbing Services
- Ken Goodrich, Owner, Goettl Air Conditioning and Plumbing
Key Takeaways
- Don’t wait until you need to hire — bring great people onboard as they come to you.
- Train your techs and customer service reps in the exact ways your company operates.
- You wouldn’t hire someone from Burger King and expect them to know how to make a Big Mac.
- Give every position clear goals and career path.
Highlight Quotes
“Along with treating people well, you should know them all as individuals. Involve your managers and get to know what makes all of your people tick and what makes them happy — as well as what makes them grumpy. People like to feel like they’re part of a family.”
—Chad and Amy Hart
“You have to touch the heart before you ask for a hand. And so you have to connect with your people and have a culture. You have to have a community inside your business to make guys want to stick with you.”
—Ken Goodrich
Panel 4: Finding Growth Opportunities in Daily Operations
If you aren’t putting ideas into action, even the strongest plan will fail. Our final panel discussion equipped business owners with all the tools they need to make their daily operations run more smoothly and to maximize opportunities for increased success.
Moderated by:
Josh Smith, Vice President of Internet Marketing, Scorpion
Panelists:
- Craig Shetterly, Director of Regional Sales, Scorpion
- Ellen Rohr, Chief Operating Officer, Zoom Drain Franchise Company
- Tommy Mello, Owner, A1 Garage Door Service & Host, Home Service Expert Podcast
- Kelly Schols, Author, Speaker, Coach, Success Mentor & Former Home Services Owner
- Brandon Grover, Chairman of Sage Pest Control
Key Takeaways
- Consider how video and tech can help you improve training processes and customers’ experiences.
- A clear mission, organization chart, and standard operating procedures are essential for success.
- Use KPIs to build a foolproof plan to control marketing costs and foster growth.
“Once upon a time, I was a kid with a lot of jobs and I can tell you every one of them. I would come to work with no idea how I was going to be measured. So I was always failing and it is really frustrating. So your manuals have to set your people up to win.”
—Ellen Rohr
“We’re always giving our team availability and an ‘open door,’ so to speak, that if a process could be improved or standardized, and it’s something that we could train our people on, then we need to do it.”
—Craig Shetterly
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Stay tuned for more Scorpion home services webinars, blog posts, and videos — it’s our mission to help business owners emerge from the pandemic empowered to be more successful than ever.
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