How to Sell $4 Million/year on Maintenance Calls With Amy Cottrill

I think that's another important part of this. As technicians, instead of putting each other down, like if everybody just helped one another, it would make us all rise. The better we all get, the bar is going to continuously climb. You're going to be able to help clients better, you're going to put more money in your pocket, you're going to be happier, your company's going to be happier.

Welcome to the Waste No Day podcast, a podcast specifically for and about the Home Services industry as it relates to plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical. More than a podcast, Waste No Day is a credo, a determination, a mindset. It is a never-ending discipline. It is a refuse-to-lose pursuit. It is a wakeup call every morning to waste no day.

Now, here's your host, Brian Burton, and Nate Mink.

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Hey, welcome to another episode of the Waste No Day podcast. Your host, Nate and Brian, hanging out with you again and looking forward to another Monday and another great episode. This time, bringing on the show Amy Catrell, and we are excited to talk to her about her insane numbers working out of an HVAC maintenance truck. That's right, she's on track to do over $4 million this year, and she's going to tell us all about how she's making that happen.

Before we talk to her, though, and get into the episode, it's time to spend a little bit of time breaking it down for you ourselves. And we're going to turn to Brian for our quote.

"People don't know what they want until you show it to them." - Steve Jobs.

Ah, Mr. Apple himself. Okay, got it. Yeah, it hearkens back to the Henry Ford quote, right?

Yes, it does. If we asked the people what they wanted, they would have said, "Faster horses."

It is funny, though, because, I mean, his whole story is pretty amazing. But, you know, when I was, when I was a kid in school, like, every computer was Apple because they were the ones that would just give away, give away computers, you know? It paid off for them later. They, they knew what they were doing.

It did. But, like, the thing that saved Apple was the iPod. Like, they were on their way out. It was not good for them. And then they invented portable music. And, well, the rest is history. But if you think about that quote in relation to what would the people be asking for? They would have asked for a disman that can play three CDs at once, you know, or something like that, right? They'd be going, "CD storage in their, in their CD portable CD player." And yes, I did have six extra CDs in it. I had a disman, and I also had a disman connector or adapter, if you will, that would plug into the cassette tape player in my car so that I could listen to a CD in my car's radio, which is awesome.

That's back in the day. I didn't know you were old enough for all that.

I am, uh, sadly. You know, I'm 20 years behind you, but still have some history.

Well, we're talking today to Amy, and she is somebody who has not as much history as you would expect. She's actually fairly young in the trades, but her numbers would not indicate that. Yeah. And she's, she gets it, man. She understands the sales game and what it means. But she's, she's got a servant's heart for sure. And, you know, it's, it's just pretty rare, unfortunately, to find someone who meshes those two things together really well. You know, it's either drive, drive, drive, go, go, go, kind of run over the client and run over your fellow techs and run over dispatch, and all you do is push, push, push. Or you're an extreme servant with a big heart, and everyone gets given everything, and people love you because you never ask them to buy anything. And, you know, the most important thing is your relationship with the client, not necessarily what the client needs or wants or would really benefit from. And Amy's one of those few people that we see on this show, but in real life, you don't see a ton of them that really blends those two things together. And it's always a breath of fresh air. And you, you can't have a high producer who's all heart without the, you know, the Steve Jobs or the Henry Ford quotes. People don't really know what they need. They don't even really know what they want. But when you get in there and act like a true professional and build a real relationship with another human being, and then show them, you know, I don't use the word "educate" a whole lot because there's so many engineer mindsets, mechanics in our trade. I feel like when we overuse the word "educate," we're, we're kind of giving them a pass on the salesmanship of it. And a lot of people get squeamish when I say the word "sales," "salesman," "salesmanship." But I love it. I love it. It's, it's what I've built a career on. And I always believe there's a difference between a professional salesperson and a two-bit hustler salesman that gives everybody else a bad name. So I don't mind using those words and phrases at all. But if you're a true professional salesperson, you're building that awesome relationship with another human being, and then when you do the education process, you're going to give some recommendations that are most likely going to be acted upon.

Yeah, and and clearly, it's something that she has near perfected at this point. And, you know, we'll try to explore how that's happening for her. But hearken back to what you're saying there, Brian. Like, this is called the Home, what industry? The Home Services industry. I know that term can mean a number of things, but at the heart and root of it is an accommodation of service. You are providing a service, meaning that you are serving the client. And done so with the right attitude and the right intentions reaps great rewards. Done so with the wrong attitude and the wrong intentions is a turnoff. You know, it's, it's a difference of bedside manner in the medical world, or in, you know, the pushy sales perspective, or the, all those other negative things that we hear about or have experienced. And it's something that I think Amy has built her career upon, you know, and has beautifully meshed in the sales component of it, so that is this very comfortable presentation to a homeowner to make them feel like this is something I would like to get involved in.

Yeah, I had, uh, listened to a real service call, you know, real voice, uh, recorded service call recently. And it was a really good presentation from, pretty much, shout out, man, Sebastian. Yeah, it was a really good presentation, pretty much from start to finish. But there are a few times when, and I, I didn't say it, I think I kind of processed it later, but I, I heard the client not really fully aware of what we were talking about, right? Kind of like, "Yeah." And you said this, and then just skipped past something that he clearly didn't understand. The tech didn't catch it and, and bring him up to speed on it. But it, it just made me think of a phrase I used to use a lot when I was in a truck and haven't done a whole lot of training on it, but I'm getting ready to. And that phrase, "Everybody uses it." What that means is, and whatever we're talking about, when we're talking technical, man, when I would drop that phrase in there, well, what would happen is, I'd be, I actually use it in training when I'm training somebody. I'll say it during the training, but I don't train on using this phrase, and I'm going to start. Because what would happen is, I'd start losing my client in technical jargon. Let's say I'm just talking about the anode rod and the water heater, right? "Hey, this is a sacrificial rod that runs down the core of your tank." "What that means is," right? Is that this will collect the abuse from the dissimilar metals and whatever. And you go into, and I would actually use an analogy of like a scapegoat or whatever, sacrificial lamb, to make, help people understand it. But when you stop what you're doing and just add in, "What that means is," what you'll find is clients lean forward. It's a timeout. You're just taking a timeout.

Yeah. Well, uh, "Clean and seal your ductwork." "What that means is," there's probably a lot of dirt, dust, and debris up there. And, you know, I don't know how you go into it in your presentation, but there's the hair follicles and all the dead skin that gets sucked up in there. And the EPA has great articles about this if you want to look it up if you're not using it. But there's tons of all this stuff in there. And what we'll do is clean it out, okay? And then we'll seal the ducts. "What that means is," ductwork often has gaps and holes and splits and whatever. And a lot of the air that's supposed to be coming into your vents, into your rooms, it's just going out into your attic or into the walls and cooling or heating absolutely nothing. You get no benefits from all this air. So what we do is we just go in and seal all those cracks and crevices up. The great part is, we can do that without opening your walls all up. And let me show you how. But the whole, this is what it is, maybe this is what it does. But then the way to, the way to connect it is to use that phrase, "What that means is," and then you just go into an analogy. And that's what I usually do in my sales training. Is I'll say, "This is what it is. What that means is," and then I'll use an analogy of something that I know you'll understand to connect it, right? And the beauty there is the analogy forces you, at least it should, forces you to use layman concepts, right? You know, you're not trying to draw an analogy up like, "Well, let me use the analogy of the, uh, quadratic equation." You know how that works? Like, you're not going up levels of, of technical expertise when you're using the analogy. Typically, you're going down levels to make it simpler. And as our, our friend Jean Slate often says, "If you're not explaining something in a way that a fourth grader can understand, you're not explaining anything. You're talking way over them." So make sure that you're speaking at that fourth-grade level, eliminate the jargon, and start using things like analogies and "what this means is" as part of your presentation, right? An analogy is supposed to be something that, you know, the client understands already. So the best way to use an analogy is, and when I was selling for sure, I did this all the time. Look around the room, look around the garage, look around the basement, and find something that you know is sitting there that a client understands. You know, and it's like, people do it on maintenance all the time. And they just say, "You change the oil in your car, don't you?" Right? And that's just breaking something down to an analogy that everybody understands. Everyone has or has had a car, and that analogy makes perfect sense.

Yeah, and that's the beauty of it in terms of helping them understand something that they already have a decent handle on or a concept of, and then being able to tie that back into a concept that perhaps they're less familiar with or completely ignorant to. And again, as a reminder, what you do day in and day out is natural to you. In most cases, it is like a foreign language to the homeowner that you are serving. So being able to bridge that gap in new and simple ways for the homeowner to understand is paramount to your success. And I'm guessing that Amy, I don't know if we'll talk about today, but I'm guessing she's doing some of that when she's bringing those items to the homeowner.

Oh, I'd imagine. Yeah, you almost have to. And especially in HVAC, because those HVAC techs really hang their hat on their technical knowledge, you know? And they love to abuse a client's eardrum with it, don't they? So if you're, if you're producing at a high level in HVAC, you're most likely using analogies to dumb these concepts down. And that's not to knock the client at all. It's like when I go see an orthopedic surgeon about my knee, he spends very little time talking about, you know, cellular level damage. He's relating it to a concept he knows I can understand. What's funny is how many times I've been at the doctor and one of the first things they say, "Oh, what do you do for a living?" "I'm like a plumber." They'll start using plumbing terms to explain things to me. That's actually where I got that idea to use it. It's like the reason I started using analogies in the first place. You know, I was in rehab and I read the Bible cover to cover. I think I made it through twice while I was in there. And was using a Greek and Hebrew lexicon to translate the Old and New Testament. But we didn't have a whole lot to do in there. Like, we weren't watching TV, didn't have a radio, couldn't use the phone. It was, uh, it was fun. So, uh, went through it cover to cover. And one thing I fell in love with was the parables that Jesus would tell. He would rarely answer a sarcastic question from these Pharisees. He would explode everybody's mind with a parable. And what I found that to be was just an analogy. And I, so I started using those afterwards to explain things. And I found that I was able to explain things that were simple to me, because maybe it's what I do for a living or I've known it for a long time, but someone else had never heard whatever it was I was talking about. So I would explain it in a way that they would understand, like that. And I found, you know, when I got to Lancaster and would use analogies, you guys were all like, "Well, this is, this is amazing." And I'm just like, "This just, yeah, it's just, it's how I communicate." But you could see it. You could see it when I was selling. You could hear our clients talk about it. Then when I came to management, you could see it in my training. And it just makes the toughest concept really, really simple, really easy to understand for sure. And we're excited to maybe do that as a future episode sometime. That'd be really great.

Brian, we hear some of your amazing analogies. But for right now, it's time to shift to that perfect time of the episode where we highlight one of our amazing listeners. Brian, who do we have on the platform today?

We have our good buddy, Roy. You know what? There is no last name here. But Roy Williams. He reviewed. No, would be probably like a long, dry. I'm guessing it's Roy Jeromeo because it's the way he talks in it. Does that sound good? Huh? Huh? Raise the eyebrows, nod, smile. Roy. Roy's been in my training before. Five stars. What can you say? These guys are on fire when they talk about objections and sales. Brian, the hot stepper, and Nate Dog. Great content. Fire emoji. Love these guys. 100 emoji. Heart made out of hands emoji. Amazing. Roy with the little sunglasses emoji. And the name is Roy, the chosen one. So I don't know how many Roys you know that, uh, communicate in that much animation. But Roy Jeromeo sure does. And, uh, I'm guessing that was him. So whether it was or wasn't, man, awesome freaking review. Really appreciate you dropping that thing.

Yeah, it had to be him because my buying question. Does that sound good?

Yeah, yeah. You kind of had to have been in my training to see that, right?

Yeah, that's great. Thanks, Roy. Appreciate that, man. And we'd sure appreciate if anybody else would do it as well.

Yes, yes. We'd appreciate. Always appreciate a good review. You know what's funny? Because I'm getting, uh, I still get, you know, a lot of like private messages on the social accounts. But now people are starting to qualify them first by saying, "Hey, hey, just to let you know before I text you this, I went and left a review." So we definitely appreciate anywhere you drop a review, even if it's a private message to one of us. But the best thing you can do for the show, share an episode, share it on social media, write us a review somewhere public, or on, on Apple Podcasts is the biggest one. And then, yeah, and then let us know how you feel. Unless you don't like the show, we could not possibly care less about your opinion. If you don't, you don't have to text us, you don't have to leave a review. Don't care at all. It will, it just makes no difference whatsoever. Thank you.

Oh, yes. Thank you for that. Thank you, Roy. And we know that you're going to be thankful to hear Miss Amy Catrell as we put her in your passenger seat.

Our guest today is Amy Catrell. She started in the industry as a CSR and moved to dispatch very quickly. She got in a truck in 2020 and has been helping clients ever since. With a background in social work, she has made quick success of applying the things that she learned in the field of social science to the field of HVAC technical science. She has a great ability to connect with a client and is on pace to be $4.2 million out of a single truck this year. It's going to be a great episode.

Welcome here, Amy. Thanks for having me, guys. I really appreciate it.

Thank you for coming on the show and for taking, I don't know, what was it? 15 minutes the other day to tell me great Waste No Days. It was awesome stuff.

Funny. Yeah, I didn't tell you about it, Nate. That was just, that was between me and...

Yeah, okay. She was actually going on and on about how if I replaced you, it'd be even better.

I'm not like, I'm coming for your seat, Nate, one day.

Oh, that's right. If I replaced you with her, it would be better. That sounds fantastic. Let's do that. Go ahead. Let's have a guest host. Amy's our first podcast guest who also has a truck tattooed. Waste No Day. Tell us about that, Amy.

What? I'm just a big, uh, person on motivation and in keeping items around me to keep me motivated. So you guys have a whole panel on the back of the truck. When I open it up, it says "Waste No Day" on one side. And, uh, I see it every time I open the truck to get any kind of tools out of the back. So days where, you know, sometimes we're not feeling it, we have to make ourselves feel it. And you guys are a big part of that.

That's awesome. Is it the AI generated pictures that Brian created of us, which this like ridiculous looking?

No, that'll be later on this year. Just to, uh, get the story straight here, get my math straight. Before you heard Waste No Day, what was your annual revenue?

Well, because I'm still really new, right? So I, I started. Just, just answer the question. Don't start qualifying. I think the first year was like 1.1. Last year was 2.8. And so then I want to do 4.2 this year.

Oh, and this is, uh, middle of July 2024. And you are tracking 4.2?

Correct. Correct. Absolutely.

Exciting. That is exciting. And I had heard that number in probably April, and you were tracking it before the summer even got here. So you, you were on track without summer numbers, right?

Since January, it's kind of been, you know, a wow factor. January, I was hitting summer numbers and going, I had, I think, I mean, Florida dropped to like, what, 71 degrees? So I mean, just heater fall off the shelf, frost freeze over. It's just, to me, it's about, I mean, everybody says it, you know, the people, you guys have been doing this a lot longer than I have. And I just try to use all the information I can gather from everybody who's been successful doing this and taking every bit and putting it into my routine and process. And it's just, it's a routine and process. And it's coming from a place of service and utilizing your time. Those are the three things. So those three things, if you can have your ducks in a row, there is no limit. You know, coming from a place of service, I used to be a social worker before I got into the trades. And I still feel like a social worker. I'm just fixing a different set of problems for people. In Florida, especially, it's hot. They want to be comfortable. So I just go out and make a friend at every single call, you know, and go from there.

Well, I love that story. And a little bit of a teaser there, Amy. But before we get too far into it, I'm curious, like, how did you make that jump? You know, I don't know that I know a lot of technicians or plumbers or electricians that have said, "I was a social worker and I decided to get into the trade." So I'm curious.

Well, you know, it's a little bit of a Debbie Downer. My mom got sick. I had to transition and I moved back home to Sarasota, Bradenton. I was in Orlando at the time. And I moved back home. And after she, you know, healed and got better, I needed something to do. And a friend of mine was a CSR manager at a local company there. So I started as a CSR. And three weeks later, I was a dispatcher. And I loved being a dispatcher. And they had, you know, different contests where if you sold as many memberships, you would get, you know, X amount, this set, the other. And it just became a challenge to me. Like, I'm really, really competitive. And it was never about the money. The money is nice, don't get me wrong. Like, that byproduct is amazing. But it's really about always trying to be the best, you know, anything that I try to do. I was a terrible kid. I'm older now and I'm a little bit. So it's really important to me that time is managed well and I'm making the most out of everything that I'm dedicating my time to.

Yeah, fantastic attitude and certainly a competitive one is an asset when it comes to selling and being in the sales field in general. How long were you a dispatcher? And what was it that kind of, uh, even piqued your interest about taking it outside of the office?

Well, as a dispatcher, I also had to do follow-ups on part returns and sometimes estimates. I would call customers. It then turned into any customers that had any kind of client concerns, they would put me on the phone with because I would just sit and talk with them for a while until everything was resolved. And I really enjoyed that. And then I saw the guys and I just thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread, man. I was like, I want to do that. And, um, there was a couple guys that gave me a shot. And I've met a lot more guys after that have helped me tremendously. And I'm grateful for all of them because I, I think things happen for a reason. And without meeting every single one of those people, and any people that I, I'm blessed to go into their house, you know, I wouldn't be able to do what I do and what I love to do, wake up and do every day.

Wow, how amazing. So how long have you been in a truck now?

So I would say since 2020. I was a maintenance tech, like just doing IQ in 2020. And I was at one hour at that time. And they sent me to the, the sales factory, $2 million sales factory. But I was nervous I wouldn't sell equipment because I felt that I was going to screw up something. I don't like to do anything unless I'm comfortable doing it, you know? And that's part of this as well. You got to learn and keep continuous training so that you can do the best you can for each client you're blessed with. But I did that for, you know, what, nine, 10 months. And then I was challenged to learn how to sell units. So I started diving in and learned how to do heat loads. And met up with Mike Chefs, and he, a lot of knowledge into me. He still does to this day. He checks in on me and makes sure I'm doing well and kind of ribs me, you know, like he, he just puts a, a flame under your rear end to keep going. And that's it. I just took off. And now it's, when I walk into the house, I feel like it's my duty to go through everything. Like you cannot leave one iota unturned because they're calling you to come out and do a preventative maintenance. They want you to come out and prevent things from happening in their homes. So if I go out and I only did half of my job, I'm really just stealing from them. They've paid for a service and we're supposed to go out and do that service. And so now when I go to a home, it's not, "Okay, let's talk about UV." It's, "Let's fix the problem." Whether that's, you know, static pressure causing issues, or just ducting is is shot, or the equipment's not the greatest. But you're checking the whole house. No stone left unturned. And then at that point, it's just about relaying those solutions to clients. You know, I have a manager that always talks about the three E's. You know, it's, "Educated clients, they are ecstatic." You know, you just have to relate and educate. That's what it is, guys. That's truly what I feel it is. Coming from a place of service, having a routine and process, and telling your clients about what's going on in their homes.

A great perspective there, Amy. And shout out to, uh, Mike Chefs while we're at it. You said educate and EA? What was? Sorry.

Engaged and educated clients will then become ecstatic with you being in their home. You know, so come in and you start. They don't really care how smart you are. They really don't. They just, it's how you make them feel. And if they know that you have their best interest and you're doing everything to help them and working your tail off. I was talking to, to Brian the other day, like, "No one will outwork me." I don't know half of what goes on in this industry, but no one will outwork me. I will just sweat buckets and buckets and I will stay at a house until everything has been checked over, everything. You know, I don't mind an attic. I wish I had more attic units because everybody else hates going in there. I want to go in there. Uh, there's a quote in Florida, ladies and gentlemen.

Well, a great start to our episode here, Amy. And certainly a unique story. Fairly similar to Coral Whale. We've had her on our show a time or two, and she has a very similar backstory. I want to dig in a little bit on the, uh, Amy, didn't you, or did you train a little with Coral?

I didn't. I actually reached out to her. I heard about her, I think it was the beginning of 2021. And I had just started learning about AeroSeal. And I reached out to her on Facebook. And she gave me a lot of good pointers. Like, just immediately was welcoming. You know, and I think that's another important part of this. As technicians, instead of putting each other down, like if everybody just helped one another, it would make us all rise. The better we all get, the bar is going to continuously climb. You're going to be able to help clients better, you're going to put more money in your pocket, you're going to be happier, your company's going to be happier. You know, it, it's just good all the way around. Instead of trying to keep people, you know, in little areas like, "Oh, those are the maintenance guys," and "These are the service guys," and "Those are the installers." If everybody comes together and we learn from each other, then you have a real generation of people going out and being able to do their best to help others.

Yeah, it's well said, Amy. And that's something that, um, this podcast continues to try to focus on. We're, you know, dispelling all of the negativity as best we can and trying to not only put a positive but a useful and applicable message out there every single week. So kudos to you for having that mindset. We're talking today about three keys to selling $4 million out of one truck. And, uh, I'm excited to see where this is going to go because a lot of people are going to say, "Oh, well, you know, to do that, you'd have to be seeing down systems and repairing this and, and, you know, being placed in 25-year-old broken-down units and getting all those conversions." But that's not the case with you. In fact, you love maintenance. And that is your, the primary call type that you see. Is that correct?

Yeah, that's my preferred call. I mean, I'll, I'll run as a CA if I'm needed. I'm not a big fan of the marketed. I really like to work on building on value. Like if I'm going to outwork everybody and my clients are going to see me coming out sweaty, red-faced, I have, you know, sweat marks on my papers of of my checklist and my solutions. I don't want to go and battle somebody for the cheapest job. That's just not what I'm about. So when I go on a maintenance, those calls tend to be my higher tickets. I go out, I spend two, maybe two and a half, three hours on each call, go through everything. Have water or coffee, they make lunch sometimes, and, um, just have a good time doing it. And those calls end up having the happiest clients. I mean, it's everything that your guests preach. You get the happiest clients. You know, those are the higher tickets. Everybody's all around just happy. And then when I come back to continuously do the maintenance in six months and a year, and they're happier then too. They're not having breakdowns because we addressed all the issues in the home. They're comfortable because they had ductwork changed out. Their utility bills are lower because we put insulation in. It's just a win-win. You know, and, um, yeah, maintenance calls. I won't. I'll do light service if I have to. And I'll, I'll learn all the other stuff. But if I could pick one thing, I would never, ever, ever come out of that maintenance truck. Like, I, I'm going to be 45 in August, and my knees are starting to get a little crunchy. So I know that like at some point, I'm not going to be able to do it. But until someone drags me out of that truck, I'm, I'm here.

Well, hey, I mean, you're, you're 10 years younger than Brian, so I'm sure you're doing fine. Amy, I gotta ask, like, you've been in a truck for a few years now, so you're past the rookie phase, but you're still fairly young in terms of, um, the trades. I'm sure you've done your fair share of ride-alongs when you're in the passenger seat, like you've gone with other technicians, you've experienced them, of course, you're in trainings and all kinds of other things. In your opinion, what is the average technician's perspective on HVAC maintenance calls?

I think that most of the guys that I've done ride-alongs with, they feel like maintenance is the low man on the totem pole. Like it's a starting point. Like they can't really make a difference. They let themselves get beat down instead of looking at it the other way. Like, even on a six-month-old unit, if, if the person that went out and, you know, did that job and it approved, if, if I go out on a six-month-old unit and I've seen that there's stuff that could have been better, it's not my job to go in there and sell it. But on every call, it should be the same where your job is to go out, do what your job is, and then present those solutions on things that might not have been picked up by the guy before you. And I think if new techs would turn that thinking around of, "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter about what anybody else is saying. It doesn't matter how old the unit is. It doesn't matter how long they've been a client. It doesn't matter what area of town they live in." All of that stuff, you can't control. You can only control what you have the capabilities to do, which is your routine, your process, your client service, and the way you're going to spend your time at their house. I had a guy recently come up saying, "Oh, I'm just running through calls. I'm not taking two hours anymore." And I was like, "Well, how's that working for you?" Because I, I can almost guarantee I know how it is. He's probably miserable. He probably thinks that his average ticket is low. His clients are like, "Why is he only here for 45 minutes?" When, you know, people that are doing their job have come out and spent a lot more time there. You know, like clients expect way more than I think people realize. I think about when I have someone come to my house, and even before I got into the trades, like I'm kind of hard on them. I want the best in my house. If I'm going to spend money on something, I want to make sure the person knows what they're doing and is going to do it to the best of their ability, you know? So you just got to give it back.

Yeah, and, and I want to dabble into a little bit of a touchy subject here. I knew a guy one time who would refer to maintenances as "roached out" maintenances. They've, you know, we've gone there dozens of times. You sure that was the word? Remember it started with an F, actually. We've gone there dozens of times, you know, we've presented and presented. Yeah, they bought some, maybe not all. You know, we've meticulously looked over their systems time and time again. I assume you've seen calls like that. Does your perspective change, or or how do you go into a call where you're like, "H man, this is like a 20-year client that we've seen 45 times," and like, "How am I going to differentiate this experience from every other time?" Or, or what's your perspective walking into that call?

So to me, I don't think that there should be little bits of revenue every time you're going out on a maintenance. To me, that means someone missed something. Someone didn't do their job. If you have that going on. So if I encounter, you know, a situation where I've gone out and a client says, "Every time you guys are here, you're telling me to buy something." I kind of just stop it. The buck stops with me. Like, "Look, you know, I'm sorry that happened to you. From this point on, I'm going to be your technician." That's my biggest goal. Is like, "Hey, every call I go to, I want them to be an Amy-only." So I don't care what the tech did before you. You're getting a new deal today. From this point on, I'm going to be your point of contact. I told, uh, Brian the other day, my phone stays on my nightstand, probably to my, to my family's chagrin. I take it on vacation. I have it constantly. And anybody that has had me to their home knows that they need me at any point in time. They can call me. I got a call the other night at 10:00, and the guy's telling me that his unit's out. And I was out there the next day. I think I left my house at 6:30. I ended up putting him on as a first call before my first call. So even if I can't jump and be there that quick, they know that they're going to get an answer from me. I have clients call me to schedule maintenances. And they know that I'm not at the office. I have clients call me just to tell me happy birthday. Like, I have clients that just call and talk. You know, and it's my whole phone Rolodex. I don't even know if that's really what you would call it. All the contacts in my phone, the majority of them are clients that I've helped or referrals from those clients because they know that they can contact me at any point. Like, that's, it's part of coming from a place of service, you know? If you go out and you do the best job and then you end up closing 20, 30, $40,000 and you don't take care of them from that point on, really, what are you doing? If you're just shrugging that off to somebody, like you're not really coming from a place of service. And people pick up on that. It's the same thing as don't be, not being outworked on a call. It's people for me, no matter what I would do, as long as I have people around me and I'm interacting with people, that's what my focus and goal is. So I'm going to help them no matter what. I mean, I even tell clients, "If you just want to get a cup of coffee, call me." You know, because it's, it's learning about each person's story and their history and their families. You know, like Mike always complimented. He would say, "I don't even know how you remember these people's dogs' names from two years ago." But it's, it's important because that's what we're trying to do, right? Everyone preaches, "Build relationships." Well, you can't fake that. If you're going to fake it, then just stop. There's no point of doing that. You really got to be authentic about it. And so that takes me to another point, which is your background. So you, you have a background in, in, uh, social work, which you, there's different variations of that, but generally, you're going into a distressed home and, you know, maybe it's for children, or maybe it's for other scenarios that are going on, and you're trying to make sure that the environment is safe. You have to understand the dynamics of the people and the environment of what's going on and all those types of things. And so speak to how that career and the skill sets that went into that have provided you with assets for this career.

I think it's, uh, mostly just listening and having compassion. You know, like, it, it doesn't matter whose home you're in. If, if they're going through something and you can just sit and listen. I mean, how many times have we heard, "Oh my gosh, like, I can't afford this right now. I'm not expecting that my AC unit is down." You know, like, "I didn't anticipate this. I don't have any money." Like, people are emotional, you know? And you, you can't just be like, "Okay, yeah, thanks for sharing that. You know, sign here." That's just not right. You know? And so if they're going through something, you have to sit and listen. And that's what you should be doing when you walk in the door anyways, right? When you're doing your initial questions and asking how things are going and how has everything been working, you're starting that point from listening, you know? And, and if, if I can read through a lot of BS when I'm out in the community or I'm dealing with something in my life, I know that my clients can too. And I don't want them to feel that way. I want to turn it around. For the trades, it's not like I'm the Holy Grail of this, but I think the trades should have a higher standing. You know, they used to. They used to. People like you guys have said on before, you know, your AC man was your most trusted person, or your plumber was your most trusted person. So what happened? You know? So now, if we're elevating the game and we're all putting so much more into this and educating not only ourselves but our clients, then that's what we need to do is listen to them, educate them, and help them to the nth degree as much as you possibly can. It, it comes down to those things. It's all about just helping, listening, and helping fix the problem.

It's like the old beat cop, you know? It used to be a beat cop, a patrolman, kind of worked a neighborhood and he knew everybody in the neighborhood. And when he would walk by every porch, if anybody was on the porch, he'd know him first name. And everybody would say, "Hey, Officer Nate, good to see you." And he just kind of knew everything about everything. And that's how it was. Nowadays, if you call the cops, depending on what neighborhood you live in, where I, where I grew up, it would be the next day. But, you know, you never know who's going to show up. Most people have no real interaction with their local police department. And it's, it's missing that personal touch. And there's no difference between that and what our, our trades have kind of become. And I think depending on who you ask, what ruined it, some people would say this sales culture where it's like revenue over everything ruined it. I'm sure that plays a role. But I also know the majority of plumbers I knew outside of this kind of sales culture, the ones that you'll see on most of the Facebook groups, they don't have it either. They just, they're in and out as fast as they can, and usually hate the client. And it's just, it's just kind of a rundown mindset, especially when it comes to the client. At some point, our trades turned to, "It's me versus them." It's just not a good feeling. You know, going back to that beat analogy, I moved into a house in February. And I, I'm on a cul-de-sac. And I'm able to park my truck at home. My next-door neighbors had work done with the company that I'm with. Two houses down have had work done. The people at the beginning have. And it's, it says something. It's just about interaction. You know, like I go to people's homes and when I tell them, "Hey, I'll be your technician. If that's what you so choose from here on out." You should see them light up. "Oh, I would love that." Because every time someone comes, it's a different person. They get the unit done to what their standards are. And then the next person comes in and says, "Well, no, it really should be this." If you can have continuity along with coming from a place of service, routine, and utilizing your time, you're going to have happy clients. And what does that ultimately really bring? More money. You know, like, it's, that's just what it is. It's not rocket science. You know, and I think I said to Brian when we spoke, like, I kind of feel, I don't to say the word "fraudulent," but I've just taken the best from like everybody that I'm listening to on podcasts and audiobooks and people that I meet, you know, like if they're standing in the front of the room, they're there for a reason. So I'm going to write down notes and I'm going to go back over it and I'm going to take whatever I can that I've learned from them and utilize that into my routine and process. And then it becomes like a flowchart in your head, you know, like, "If this happens, you duck this way. If this happens, you bob that way." But you're always back on your routine and process. The only thing that changes is the person's house that you're going into. You're still helping them. And no matter what, you know, and I just, I don't understand why more people don't. Like, I, I don't have an understanding of it because if what Warren Buffett told you to, hey, do this, who said that recently? I don't know where I heard it. But if Warren Buffett told you, "Hey, go this way with your finances," you would obviously listen. So if you're coming into the trade new and have no experience with this and you see those guys that are the successful guys in your company, and they say, "Hey, do this," and it's coming from a place of ethical and honesty and service, why wouldn't you just shut up and do that? You know, you're going to start learning there instead of hanging out by the garbage can with the guys that they just don't care, you know? And they're, they're going to beat everybody up about how terrible it is to work that day. I don't want to hear that, you know? I don't want to hear negativity. I stay with the people that support me and lift me up. And, you know, I, it's not that I have, I'm not a 10 out of 10 every day. Like, we all have stuff going on that we try to push away. But I stay with the people that helped me push it away, you know?

Was that, I'm pretty sure that was Sam Wakefield that said that. Sorry.

I thought you were done.

Probably was. I'm telling you guys, I listen every single week. It was, uh, I want to say the June 10th episode, "Closing More Deals with Permission-Based Selling Techniques." Sam Wakefield. That was a great analogy. He was just.

Saying it was, if you had no idea who Warren Buffett was, he had no credibility or credentials in your eyes, and he gave you advice on finances, you'd probably say, "You know, buzz off, old man." But once he tells you who he is and you understand his qualifications, all of a sudden, you're all ears. That's it.

And so, I'm always going to feel like I know the least in any trade room. Just because there's been guys in there for 20 years, 30 years, 15 years. You know, even the guys that have only been in there for three, two, and one. Because I'm on my fourth year, I still can learn from them. You know, no one's ever going to know everything, everything about what we do in the trades. It's always changing. The technology, the different types of tools. You know, so you can control your attitude. You can learn from those around you. You can also give back to those around you. Any new guys come in, I'm immediately like, "Hey, I'm Amy. If you need me, call me." You know, just to try to keep them from going to the garbage can, guys. You know, like, if you can help someone get better, it makes you better. And it's just about, I mean, it's not just about service to my clients. It's about service to the technicians I get to meet. It's service to the CSRs. It's service to the dispatchers. And really, service to my family. You know, like, if I'm going to give up time out of my day, every day, to be away from them, and I'm trading that time for money to provide for my family, I mean, you can guarantee I'm going to maximize it. You know, like, every iota of it. Because I think, you know, it goes by too quick, man. And I'm not just going to, I don't want to swear, I'm not going to do something halfway. You know, I'm just going to do it to the best of my God-given abilities. And there's not a lot of those. You know, so I'm learning from you guys, and I'm learning from the crew at the shop. Every morning, I'm there at 6:30. Every morning.

I think what you're talking about there, Amy, is it's not a shortage of information. It's a shortage of application. Like, and we've, we've heard this from many, many guests over the years. You know, Tommy Melo, many other people who are like, "There's no trade secrets." Like, they'll give it all away. They'll provide you with every single thing that they do because they know the majority of people will become an academic listener and not an actual applier of the tendencies, the systems, the rules, the game plan. And here we're hearing from you the complete opposite, which is basically like, "Feed me all the information. I'm actually going to use it. I'm going to put it into the field. I'm going to trial test this thing and see where we go and take the best of it." And I mean, this is encouragement for everybody listening. Don't be pacified into thinking that the listening is the important part. Waste no day. You playing an hour and a half podcast, that's not the important part. The important part is what happens the other 38 and a half hours of your work week when you choose or choose not to apply the things that you heard in that first hour and a half. And we just got to drill that home because it's easy to become this just vicarious successful person where you're like, "Living off the successes of stories that you've heard on the podcast," but you're not actually taking that information into your own life. And so you get into this sick and twisted place of like, "Thinking that you're on the cutting edge of things," but you're not actually applying them. And it's a dangerous place to be. And if that's where you're finding yourself, you know, I'm encouraging you right now, snap out of it. Like, don't go back and binge listen to every episode. Pick one that you like, liked, and apply one thing from it. Apply two things from it. Like, go small. Go micro. Work on these things and get to a rhythm of actually putting those things into practice. Then go to another episode and listen to it again.

Amy, you're a first-year maintenance tech. And let's, it could be, uh, any of the trades. You show up and you fulfill client memberships by doing whatever maintenance comes with that membership. And you want to follow Nate's advice right here, right now. What's one thing you would say, "Start implementing today to get well on your way to catching up to Amy doing $4.2 million a year in revenue?"

Biggest thing is mindset. And knowing that you can do it. You know, like, we're all going to mess up. I think that's a big thing is people get nervous when they, when they start. "I'm going to screw something up." And the biggest thing I ever learned was like, "Yeah, you are. But there's someone that you can call and they'll help you fix it." You know?

Yeah, that's the, and that's, let's put a pin in that there and just expound on that a little bit. By probably the best way to do it is to ask. Well, let me, let me say before I do, you're 100% going to screw up in a huge way at least once, maybe dozens of times. Huge screw-ups are heading your way. You're going to be humiliated. You're going to wish you had never started selling. Like, something's going to happen where you're going to make such a big mistake that it's going to be, it's going to feel like the end of the, the world. And two, three weeks later, you'll have forgotten it ever happened. And the growth that you'll see in that time span will equal the entire rest of the year's growth because it's just plain what we have to do to grow. So just assume that you're going to fall flat on your face and let's get started.

So, what was the, so far, you said it's been four years. What was Amy's biggest screw-up? The day you wish you could have back?

Oh, man. As soon as you started talking about it, I immediately had it. You're smiling big. When I started, I knew something fun was coming. Oh, man, it was so bad, guys. So, I had been selling IAQ and duct cleanings. And then when I learned about Aerosolve, I was like, "This is the best thing ever. Like, this is going to fix so many people's problems." And I didn't truly understand static pressure. So, I went out, I did a maintenance on a house. I had a, a very high-ticket Aerosolve and IAQ job. And everything went swimmingly until the lady called back and there was water coming out of the vents because she didn't have enough return air and it was sealed up. So, she wasn't getting enough things started, condensating, water started falling. And I just got to deal with it by Mr. Mike Chef calling me and saying, "Well, what's going on?" And I was like, "Did, what are you talking about?" You know, like, "I went and helped this woman." And so, it was a big learning lesson. It was a lot of egg on my face. And you're right, I felt like, you know, I never wanted to do this again. It went back to like the equipment sales. And I wouldn't do that because I was going to screw up something here. It came through. I, I screwed up someone's house. But I learned from it. And it hasn't happened ever again. And I went out there and went back through it. And we made the right accommodations to help her get it straightened out and took care of it. And she's still a happy client. You know, like, if I don't screw up, I still screw up. I mean, even like on the sales process part of it. You know, like, it's not a, "Remember this word when someone says this, you say this type of thing." You know, you're listening and you're interacting. So, if I don't 100% hear everything because my mind goes a 100 miles an hour, you know, you can miss a step and you can mess up that way. You know, but no one's perfect. You just got to keep trying. You know, like, I, I think it was Brent Buckley that I heard had 7.7 million. And I was just, "What? How does that happen?" You know? And then I'm going to come for that. Like, at some point, I will get there. It might take me a minute, but I am going to consistently get better. And it's going to come from when I mess up or when I just didn't quite get it right. You know, like, even with guys at the shop, there's guys that, you know, they sell these jobs and I'm just in awe. Like, "How does that happen?" You know, I, I still feel like I'm the newest person in the room sometimes. I feel like I shouldn't be in that room. But that's just more motivation. You know? And I think if everybody can see it that way, then everybody will get better and overcome those things. And, and some of it is, I think that a lot of guys in the trade, especially in the maintenance department, they're younger. You know, so I'm always like, "Why wouldn't you just do this?" And like, you know, "How do you not listen to that and get better immediately if I was 20 years old again?" You know, like, all of those things I'm going through. But I guess everybody has to learn on their own time and from their own failures. You know? But, um, anytime someone says, "The biggest failure story?" That's it, man. That lady had water pouring out of those registers.

So, was this, this an insurance claim and everything?

I don't know. They took care of it. They didn't want me to beat myself up too bad. I just learned. I really love that mode. And a lot of people who've worked for me over the last 11 years have burned things and flooded homes and made some pretty huge mistakes. Several people were Nate and I were in Lancaster, uh, fell through ceilings and like, there's, it's just always these big messes. And I am not about this thing where, as a leader, I'm going to pretend that that tech wanted to do that and, like, I could beat him up any worse than he beat himself up on the way in to tell me about it. Like, I'm just like, "Dude, have seen, bro. Like, I'm sorry you had to go through this today." Or, you know, if it's pretty blatant and really shouldn't have happened, it's like, "Hey man, I get it. You got to tighten up here. But, you know, don't kick yourself around too much for one, especially when you're in sales. You'll carry that for days if somebody doesn't stop you." And at worst case, as a leader, why would you want that to mess up the revenue that that you could potentially see the next day and the day after? So, have the conversation. Make sure he or she understands where we went wrong and understands that it can't happen again. And then just pat hammer her on the back and say, "Hey, I know you didn't do that on purpose." And believe me, if you've ever made a mistake in the trade, nobody's beating you up harder than you are yourself. It's miserable. So, knock that off, leaders.

Yeah, I think it goes to like, I always think of it in two columns. People either don't know or they don't care. And the don't knows, it can be fixed. It can be solved. You can learn from it. You can move on and get better. It's the don't cares that I have a hard time with. Because I just think everybody should care. You signed up to do something. You signed up, you went out and actively sought a role at a company and said, "This is what you want to do." Or you went to school and got certified in in some way or manner, shape, or form. You've learned how to do what you're doing in the trades. And you said, "Hey, I'm going to sign here that this is what I want to do." So, if you're not going to give 100%, like, why, why are you there? Let somebody else come in that wants to give it a shot. Let someone else's life be changed dramatically, you know, for the better. Like, I just, I really wish I would have done this many, many, many years ago.

Yeah, I wish it was that simple. But unfortunately, a 22-year-old Amy would not do what 44-year-old Amy's do. It's just, I'm realistic. That's why when you get a tech in their 20s that is just crushing it, and you understand at our age, what level of immaturity they're dealing with. Like, they, they don't understand it and can't conceptualize it. I mean, they agree with you, but they don't really understand it. It's like the chaos that's going on in your brain in your early 20s. And you see someone in their 20s that's just crushing it, you're like, "Man, watch out. Holy crap, this is going to be huge later." I just want to be around and take some credit for it, you know?

Right on. Well, speaking of taking some credit, Amy, you're certainly, uh, out there doing some really good things right now. You said you're on track to do 4.2 million this year out of your own truck. And we want to talk about the ways that you're actually doing that. So, I think you have a couple things identified in terms of how this is actually coming into being. And we want to start off with that and saying, like, "What are you doing? How does this work?"

Well, I mean, I kind of touched on it a few points. Like, you do have to utilize your time to continue to learn and get better. Coming from a place of service, obviously. And then the routine and process is huge. You got to find mentors. You got to find somebody to help you. Because if you just try to go into a house and wing it, you might get one here or there, but you're not going to have much success. And your clients are going to realize that you don't really know what you're doing. You know? So, I always set goals. Keep the mentors that I can find around me. Follow up with mentors that I don't get to see anymore as much. Pick their brains. Uh, try to get other perspectives. You know? And really hold myself accountable. If something goes wrong, it's my job. You know? Like, it's not a team sport, guys. You know? Like, if, if I don't close, it's because I didn't close. If I have an unhappy client, it's because I did something that, you know, made them unhappy. So, just striving for better goals. At the end of each year, I usually get with the manager and say, "Okay, look, let's set it for next year." And then he'll send me my goals for the month, different percentages for different seasons. And then at that point, I run with it. I keep track. You know, I break it down into the ridiculousness. If I'm supposed to do 350,000, then how much is that each week? And then how much is that each day? You know? And I really, I really love Mondays. Like, I, I have names for my Mondays. It's either Money Mondays or Make It Count Mondays. And it starts when I get in the truck. I'm driving to the shop. I hear my podcast on. Go.

Which podcast is that, Amy?

I'm okay. Right. Best podcast ever. You guys are genius. Really have helped.

Hold on, I got to unplug this headphones. My wife can hear you say the genius part. I'm sure you want to follow suit, buddy. You know, but coming from a place of service, I don't think you guys realize like how much service you're giving. You know, like, people have to tune in. I get it. And you always joke about your dozens. But I think, uh, you guys know that there's way more than dozens. And I think we, we actually hit a dozen the week before last.

Congrats. Baker's Dozen.

Baker's Dozen. But you're helping everybody. You know? And you're not just helping techs. You're helping those techs go into people's homes and help those people.

So, speaking of helping people, that's, you know, obviously the perspective that you're coming from. Like, when you go into the home, thank you. First, Amy. Nate, Nate despises compliments. But I, I love them. So, if you want to go on, I'll unplug Nate's mic and you just continue as long as you want. Right?

No, I was, I was just saying like, like that's how you're walking into them. You're going in there with the perspective of like, "How am I going to serve this client?" Right? And somehow, inexplicably, or perhaps by intention, it is resulting in a run rate of over $4 million. Right? So, somewhere along the line, money purchases, solutions, even replacements are coming into the conversation. I want to understand from you, your perspective about how you're even engaging with a client to present these obviously very high dollar options to them in such a way that they're just like, "Yeah, this makes sense," and do it. Because, you know, I'm sure you're aware, but just in case, uh, you've lost perspective, $4 million out of any trades truck is insane. $4 million out of an HVAC maintenance truck is particularly impressive because again, it's not relying upon the breakdown of the system and like the urgency of the need. "I have to do this today." So, somehow you have mastered the ability to present things in such a way that it makes sense to people. And I really want to explore that and unpack that from you. Because I'm hearing, you know, lots of different people, "It's tight out there. Money's expensive. The interest rates are up." And like, you know, "We wanted to use that that money for something else." And, you know, "I know you presented three things that we could do. We're going to have to wait on the two and only go with the one." So, I'm hearing that over here in this ear. You know? And then I see somebody like you come on the podcast and you're obviously breaking the barriers. So, what's going on? How are you making these presentations in such a way that the homeowner just makes sense?

So, I would say like, doing my job. The actual checklist of everything that I check on a, a unit. I take a picture of every single step. Like, at every call, it's the exact same order. So, if I pull up my work phone, I can see when I started a call, when I ended a call, just by the two pictures at each end. And I usually take anywhere from 60 to 76 pictures. That now has turned into my presentation. So, I get my pictures. I do my job. I fill out the checklist. I then take my checklist and I turn that into three solutions. Always on paper. I'm not a big fan of of presenting off a tablet. It's very easy for you to turn a tablet and a client to be like, "No, I'm good. Thanks. I need to think about it." But if you put it on paper, you're now slowing them down. Like, if you called me out, I'm going to be there two or three hours. And I'm going to outwork everybody. I'm deserving of that 20 to 30 minutes at the end. So, I've already asked them, made sure that that's a good time for them. You know, all the things that we need to do to qualify before a call. And then at the end, I've shown them the 76 pictures. I had a mentor who coined that process, "the customer journey." Because they're not just seeing what's bad about the unit. They're seeing both. Like, it is what it is. I didn't create that unit. I didn't put it in that shape. I got it as good as it could be by the time I'm leaving there. So, as you show them that, now you're going over solutions on a unit that is 15, 16, 17 years old. I wouldn't tell my own family to to soak money into that. And my solutions are: Solution one is, "Let's discuss upgrading this equipment. We have 10-year parts and 10-year labor warranty available." And I put a word, "name free," right to the corner, and I circle that bad boy. My second solution is, "Every single thing that would get that equipment back up to like factory standards." Like, if the coils rusted out, we're putting a new coil in. If the fan motor's over-amping and it's all nasty looking, we're going to put a new one in. And that middle repair is most often more than what the unit's worth. And then my third solution is usually called "Band-Aid," or I'll call it "maintenance upkeep." Because the maintenance upkeep is, is not every old unit is bad. And I say that to my clients when they say, "Oh yeah, everybody's came in here and told me it's old, it's bad." I simply say, "Look, bad ain't or old is not bad to me. I'm getting up there, and I think I'm, I'm all right." You know, like, "I'm here just to do the maintenance." And so, I have those three solutions on there. And when I'm talking to them about it, I'll tell them, "Please, like, I mean, I'll do whatever you want me to do. But please don't choose that middle option." Like, you could either wait and not do anything today. That's the fourth option on the page is "do nothing." You know, like, you don't have to spend that money today. But if this is something that you're seriously wanting to take care of and you're wanting me to do it, I can either come back tomorrow or a day that works best to talk to you about the different ways we can upgrade the equipment here. Or I can simply, you know, change out this capacitor and a pan protector if that's what you're choosing to do. I used to go to a maintenance and if they wanted new equipment, I would then turn it right then and close it right then. And I found out that a lot of people, you know, like, at the beginnings, they would have a little bit of buyer remorse. And I don't want anybody uncomfortable. I hate that. Like, I want happy, happy clients. So, I kind of adjusted a little bit in the process that now, if they want to talk about upgrading the equipment, I'll set it for the next day or two days out. No, I don't like it any longer than 48 hours. Because now that gives them time in their own mind to go through it. Do they want to do this? It's not quick. And no one's pushing anything. They get to now tell themselves, "Is this something that they want to do?" And then when I go back out the next day or the day after, they've already made up their mind. They want a new unit. I'm their girl. I'm their tech. You know, like, it's just at that point now, you're going back over three more solutions. It's "Deluxe, Economy." Which one do you want?

So, I think it's particularly interesting. A lot of people set up their options to be like a V, meaning that they expect that they're not going to go with the low, they expect that they're not going to go with the high, and they're basically trying to get both sides to fall down into the middle option as like the probability. What I'm hearing from you is you're actually setting up your options more like an A, in which case you're trying to get them, like, "Don't pick that middle option. Pick one or the other." Ideally the replacement, you know, in terms of like all the benefits and privileges they would experience in their home and the quality of life and the assuredness of the unit, all those types of things. So, you're almost using that middle option as like a, a fence. Like, "Hey, pick a side to be on. But please don't sink $5,000 into this 15-year-old system." Correct?

Because I wouldn't tell my mom to do that. I wouldn't tell myself to do it. I would say, "Look, you either aren't wanting to change this bad boy out right now and you just want to limp by. Fine. We'll do that. I want you to know that you're still going to ultimately be changing this guy out at some point." You know? But if this is where you are and this is what you need to do, that's what we're doing. If you are ready and you want to have that conversation, let's go. But I am not advising you to go solution two and spend that type of money. And I mean, if you want that, if you truly in your heart of hearts want that, I will do it. But that is not my professional recommendation. I'm just telling you everything that I got. I have to let you know everything that I have my mind on what we can do to bring this back up.

Okay, so the inevitable comes up here. When people hear this type of thing, you know, it sounds to me like you're presenting, obviously, replacement is a frequent option that you're presenting. Not every technician is permitted to do that, you know, which is an operational choice and all that. The middle option, I'm guessing, is minimum four figures, probably significant four figures in terms of what you're often presenting. And then you have what you term the Band-Aid solution. You know, I, I think the able is what I'm talking about here. That some people are listening to you present that and they're like, "I mean, I show stuff like that all the time and everybody always goes to the 300 and they say like, '$300, $400, like I can't afford that, Amy. That's crazy. Like, what are you talking about? It's hard. Groceries have gone up 30%. You know, I, I can barely put food on my table right now. What are you talking about replacing a system or putting $10,000 into a unit? That's that's crazy talk.'" Are you hearing that? Or, or do you have a way that you're navigating that before it even becomes part of the conversation?

I hear it. I do hear it. You know, like, money is the ultimate objection. I don't hear it often. And I don't say it to say it like that. But I've already gotten through, like, "Where are they? What do they want with their house?" Right? But you can use that process on any age of equipment. It doesn't have to be the older units. You can use it on a seven-year-old unit, a five-year-old, a four-year-old unit. You're just changing what is going on there. If it's a brand new unit, it's probably not going to have a completely rusted out evaporator coil. But do they want one? Like, you know, what happened to the old system that you just got rid of? Was it full of bacterial growth? Do you want that for your new system? So, you just change your solutions to fit with whatever the discovery process has showed you. And that never changes. Because you're doing the exact same thing on every single call. The pictures are still the order. The pictures are going to show you what's going on there. The pictures then relay that information to the client. So, your solutions only change depending on what you're needing. You know, you can go in and have a $10,000 IAQ package as solution one. You can have a $5,000 solution two. And you can have a $2,000 solution three. As long as it's warranted, you know? But that's your job. You're the professional. So, you should be able to spot what's going on there. And when people talk about, "Well, it's $300. You know, can afford that?" I don't talk about that. Like, I'm talking about it's as low as, it's as low as $11 a month. It's as low as $49 a month. You know? And I think everybody should be talking like that. You know? Because I don't know, Kevin Hart has a a funny joke, "The way my bank account is set up." And that's most people. You know? Like, most people don't have 20 Gs sitting in where they just want to stroke a check for something. It is tight. Things are more expensive. And that just relays the fact that we need to be doing a better job. You can't go out and talk to people about what they should be doing to, you know, make their house better and more comfortable if you're not giving them everything you got. How dare you? How dare you go ask for $20,000 and you gave them, you know, half of what you're able to do? If you didn't even, like, wipe down a unit. That, that just grinds my gears. If I go out behind somebody and they didn't even take the 10 minutes to wipe down the outside of that unit or the inside, like, "What are you doing?" You know? You have to earn the right. You got to make it personal. And you do it by following all of those things that everybody smarter in the room has told you to do. And it works. If something, you try something and it doesn't work, then stop doing it. Like, just go out and do your job, man. That's really what it comes down to. The people that have been in this industry a lot longer, you know, than myself. And, and they put these processes and procedures in the play. They've tried them and they obviously know they work. So, what can you control? Go when you're putting that together with those processes and procedures is just doing your job. It's your responsibility. You know? But that, "Oh well, it's, it's a six-month-old unit or it's only two years old or it's only five years old or it's only seven years old." That's a cop out. Go to work.

That's so good, Amy. And I, I know that's hitting some people in between the eyes right now. But that's what's needed. And there, we can all fall to a sense of complacency or a sense of excuse making. You know, Brian likes to use the, uh, the Brian Tracy quote quite a bit about excusitis and what that leads to. And I'm sure you've heard that on the podcast a number of times. But let's take this full circle. Has Amy Katril ever found herself on excuse aisle?

Oh, yeah. I mean, everyone has. You know, "Oh, that's the wrong call for me." "Oh, the, you know, this isn't great." "Oh, that's the wrong neighborhood." You know? And it happens. It still happens to this day. Like, "Are you sure you want me to go to that call? I mean, I'm fine. I just, you know." Yeah. You know? Like, and then I'll, I'll think about it. And I'll call home. And the family will be like, "What are you doing?" Like, "What are you doing?" Even my five-year-old. Like, my five-year-old hears my work phone and she's running to go grab it for me. She has a little Home Depot tool belt. You know, "Oh, how many calls do you got today?" is what she says as I'm walking out the door. So, I have some reasons to get myself off of excuse island. You know? But I'm not immune to it. I'm, I'm not. I'm human. You know? I'm just fortunate that I'm, I'm not in management because then I can, I can just be as blunt as I need to be. You know? Like, you have to be honest with yourself. And I just, I mean, if I'm going to make myself better, I have to hold myself to those, those levels and those bars that I'm telling everybody else to. You know?

You, yeah, it's, it's difficult. I mean, it sounds like, "Yeah, of course." But it's like, "But it is difficult to constantly be trying to find people to associate with who are on a level higher than you in places you want to level up." It's not fun. It sounds so easy and painless when you just talk about it. But when you're, when you're actually trying to level up, you know that you have to put your, you do it virtually for the most part. I'm sure doing four million on maintenance calls, you probably have to find people on social media to associate with that are beating you in maintenance because not a lot of people have, you know, you're not going to be the third best maintenance tech at a shop doing 4 million in, in most shops. But yeah, that's part of it. Is one, holding yourself accountable. Holding yourself to a higher level. But two, finding people, be it in person or on podcasts or social media or what have you, that are at that level and above who, when you say, "I would be," but you know, "Excuse, excuse," they say, "Yeah, yeah. I mean, if that's what you want to tell yourself, cool. But, you know, that's not real." And how do they know? Because they've been there.

Well, and also too, if you're finding the right mentors, you know, like, I still talk to my manager and an amazing technician that helped me learn the technical side from Bradington. They're coming to visit me in a couple weeks. Like, I haven't worked with them for two years. But you got to know the people that are true. And those people that have helped you when you're new and you don't know what's going on and you're, you're learning the ropes. They know. So, when you start to get better and you see success and you go back into that excuse island, if you're talking to them, they're going to be like, "Get out of here. Like, get out. What, you know?" And kind of kick you back in. You know? It doesn't matter how, how well I'm doing. If I text Mike Chef, he's just like, "Not a happy Dad, man. He's like, 'It's never good enough.'" You know? And you need those people in your life. You need them. I don't want to be surrounded by yes men. Like, I'm, I'm very much a blunt, transparent person. My family is the same way. And so, when I find those people that will just be like, "You know, this, you need to do better," or "You need to look at it this way," or, "You know, get up off your your rear end and and go get out of this funk." You better hang on to those folks. You know? Because they're the ones that are going to get you out of it.

We all need a five-year-old who's like, "Mom, I love the Harbor Freight tool belt and everything, but I was hoping to get at least to DeWalt, if not Milwaukee, sometime soon. So, if you could make that four calls instead of two today, that'd be awesome." She's just the best thing ever, man. I hope that she follows in my footsteps and becomes a technician. I would just love it. I would love it.

This has been really good today, Amy. And I, we're going to start bringing things in for a landing here. And before we do, if people are interested in learning more about you, or, you know, hearing more about your story, maybe pinging you for some information or some, like, "Hey, what do you do?" And this type of thing, if you're open to that, where's a great place to find you?

I am open to it. Anything that I can do to help anyone, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. They can find me on on Facebook. It's Amy Catrell. It's C-A-T-R-E-L-L. And my cell phone is 941-872-84.

You're in the Waste No Day Facebook group, right? You know? Okay, good. Just making sure. Yeah, if you want to find her, she's in there. There is a link in the show notes now. You can just click on the Waste No Day Facebook group link in the show notes, whatever app you're listening on. I'll tell you, this has been like a professional bucket list, guys. I'm floored to even be sitting here talking to you. So, thank you so much.

Yeah, that's awesome. Appreciate that, Amy. Amy was at the first shop that I ever did my vacation what I called my vacation tour, which was in Bradenton, which is where I first met her. So, it was my first time doing it. Now, typically, if I go on vacation, I try to find a shop nearby, whether it's related to the shop I'm at or not, doesn't matter. Just any, uh, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, whatever shop, and go in and meet people and then just train. And that time in the beginning, I was doing it to get repetitions and to try to work on some new stuff. And it evolved into just meeting Waste No Day fans. And now just kind of spreading the message, you know, to people who weren't listening yet. But Amy was at the first shop I ever did that at in Bradenton, Florida.

Amy, what's your favorite episode, if I may ask?

Beside these? Those Coral episodes. The permission-based one. A lot of the tech ones. You know, I'm terrible with remembering the guest names. Obviously, Chris Voss. When I heard the term "mirroring," boy, you couldn't stop me. I was doing it to everyone just to play. And then I would text, "I just married you, bro. Haha." You know, like, good time with it, man. People do that to me in the Facebook group in comments. And I don't get it until three comments. Now I'm like, "I'm deleting this thread." It's so much fun to do. I do a lot of practice at the house, you know, because I, I have to not do well somewhere, you know? So, like, I'll just come through the house when I come home and take my lumps as I get them there. But, um, I just, I really think you guys have created something really special. And I am a fan forever. I'll listen every Monday. Don't matter what it is. I'm going to learn something from it. You're going to learn something from it. That's right. Just wanted to see if it would work. Mirror.

Well, we appreciate you being on, Amy. This is good. The last thing I want to ask you is, you know, it has been a rough set of, called, 18 months, 24 months for some people. You're not experiencing that. That's great. But realize that there is the counterbalance to that equation out there. And, uh, some of them are Waste No Day listeners as well. And they're struggling and scratching and clawing and trying to figure out what's going on. And, you know, the system that they used to use is failing them. Or things aren't falling into place. And, you know, they're starting to doubt the system. They're starting to doubt themselves. They're starting to doubt the possibilities. And, you know, they're second-guessing things in so many ways. And maybe even considering like, "I don't know if I can keep doing this." So, like, I want to hear from you. You've heard plenty of our episodes. You know who we're about. But I want to hear from somebody in the field who you're currently having success. But you probably haven't always had success. What can you do to speak to somebody who's in that place right now who's saying like, "Amy, I don't know. The stuff that I used to do just isn't working. Help me out."

First, it's, it's, you know, yourself, right? Like, if you are coming in and you're doing everything you can and you're just falling short, but you're still trying your your rear end off, keep doing that. And then get some outside influence in. If you need exterior communications and learning and and all of that to change it up, change it up. If you're not getting success with what you're doing, there's no harm, no foul in trying something else to see what works. You know, like, it's not a perfect, "This is the template for this is what you do." You got to take what matches with your personality. We're all different personality-wise. So, I'm not going to go into a house the way, you know, you or Brian would. I'm going to go in the way I would. And I need to learn from everybody around me to be able to find detail my process. So, if you're not succeeding with what you're doing, take the best part of that that you you've had some success with and pull something else in. Try something different. Get with those individuals at the shop. Hit me up. Text me. I mean, I know if I needed to, I can text Brian at any moment and be like, "Hey, like, what about this?" You know? You just got to keep moving forward. If you stop swimming, you're going to sink. And if you really love helping people and you love being in the trades, then it's, it's worth every iota to reach out to somebody and get another perspective and point of view.

Awesome. Great place to end it on there, Amy. Thanks, guys. Appreciate you coming on. Amy, let's, let's see. You're going to do five million next year if you don't hit it this year because you are on a tear right now.

I'm going to do my best.

Yeah, let's circle back again. Maybe let's say when you're tracking seven million. Let's go.

I'm coming for it all.

All right. Part two, heading your way. Fantastic. Thanks so much for joining us, Amy. It's been a pleasure to have you on. I hope you enjoy listening to your own episode one of these upcoming Mondays.

Thank you so much, guys. Have a good one.

Hey, that's a wrap for this episode. We hope you enjoyed your time with Amy. It was great to hear from her and just to, uh, enjoy the success that she's experiencing right now. Such a genuine heart and somebody who's just very clearly, uh, espousing their view of service and what it means to take care of a client. And obviously, she's reaping the benefit of that. And it's just such a good reminder that it doesn't have to be high pressure. It doesn't have to be, you know, tricks and this and that and whatever. It literally can just be you being real with the client, getting on a first-name basis, a trusted advisor perspective, and presenting what needs to be done. And clearly, she is doing it day in and day out. She has her process dialed in. And it's very clear that it's working for her. And so, just kudos to Amy. And I hope that you got something from it. She left her information for you. Make sure that you hit her up. Let her know that you love the episode. And maybe hit her up for some advice if you're in a place of, uh, just needing to change perspective or get something new into your life as well. And make sure that you are indeed taking the opportunity to apply the things and not just go about listening to them and putting them in some library in your head to, uh, get dusty on a shelf somewhere. That's an encouragement for this week as well. And where we're going to leave you now with our challenge, which continues to be the same: to choose to wake up each and every morning and waste no day.

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You.

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