Welcome And The Three Ideas

Ty Cobb Backer 0:00

Episode 337.

Speaker 0:02

Referrals, rating fans, and a story customers can repeat. We have a kind of a belief system that either we're gonna push you up, we're gonna push you out. I don't want to be around five other people that aren't pushing themselves to succeed. Success isn't about taking, but giving value first. Compensation follows contribution always. This is true authenticity. This is true. Every week, this is our story. We share with you our journey. We share with you our scars. Please welcome your host, Tycombacker.

Ty Cobb Backer 0:34

Hey, hey, hey, welcome back, everybody, on this wonderful Wednesday after frickin' noon. Yeah, we're live. It's all good, all good in our little neighborhood down here in the great state, Pennsylvania. It's another great day, and you work PA. Today we're gonna talk about probably probably one of my most favorite topics. And I'm gonna call it topics plural because they are it's three, but not really. Last week we talked about Jim Collins flywheel, and this this kind of this this kind of branches off on from from from that, but but not really. And some things have have came up, or I got to witness and experience a few things this week that that brought this topic, these topics top of mind for for me today. And of course, as you guys always know, we we share where we're at, what we're doing, how we do things. It's a pretty much a playbook on on how we we operate over here personally, professionally, the good, the bad, and the ugly. You know, and today, today's about, I feel, is is like three powerful business ideas that I feel every every single contractor, service company, trades, business owner should should understand. And and the first one is referrals. The second one would be, you know, creating fans. And the the third one would be brand. Okay. And I know at first these may sound like three separate topics, you know, referrals, customer service, and marketing. But when you put when you put all three of them together, they they create one simple business truth. Okay. People refer businesses, they trust customers, become fans when when they they feel cared for, and clear messaging makes it easy for others to remember, to remember you and and recommend you. That is what that's what we're gonna

Why Word Of Mouth Wins

Ty Cobb Backer 3:00

talk about today, right? And I think I think a lot of business owners spend most of their time chasing strangers, okay? Strangers on Facebook, strangers on Google, strangers who see an ad, click a link, fill out a form, and maybe pick up the phone. Okay. Now there's nothing wrong with with marketing. I love marketing, okay? We all need leads, but I feel like the best businesses aren't built only by chasing cold, cold calls or cold leads. They're built on trust. Because when someone refers you, they are not just giving your name. They are putting, they're putting their reputation on the line. They're they're saying, I trust this person enough to send them to someone I care about. And and that's powerful. I mean, that is the biggest, best form of of marketing ever. I don't care how much AI there is, I don't care how many pay per clicks you pay for, I don't care how many door hangers you put out there. I don't, I don't care. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing. And and like I said, I got to I got to witness and experience a lot of this stuff this week. And that's why I really wanted to talk about it, why it was so fresh on my mind. But but also it it's it it's it's responsibility. Okay, if a past customer refers you to their neighbor, their sister, their friend, their coworker, they are trusting you not to embarrass them. And I've been embarrassed. I've been embarrassed myself, where somebody will refer us and we shit to bed. That means referrals are not just a sales strategy, they are a result of how we treat people. Okay. If we want more leads or more referrals, do not start by asking the question, how do I get more leads? You need to start asking the question, am I the kind of person people feel safe referring? That is a completely different question. And I've had to ask myself that question. I've had to ask our team that question. Are we safe enough for someone to refer us? Did we shit to bed? And if so, how can we correct that? So then people feel confident and secure in referring us because people refer you when they believe you are competent, honest, and respectful. They refer you when you show up on time, they refer refer you when you communicate clearly. And I got to experience that this week. They refer you when your your their our crew is respectful to the customer. I got to experience that this week. They refer you when you do what you say you're going to do, okay? They refer you

Become Safe To Refer

Ty Cobb Backer 6:10

when they feel proud to say, call my guy. Call my guy. So if you want more referrals, we have to build trust. We have to create those warm fuzzies. And and then when then make then make this simple ask. Okay. At the end of a successful job, you can say, Mr. Johnson, Mr. or Mrs. Johnson, I'm really glad we were able to take care of this for you. We grow our business through relationships and referrals. When someone in your neighborhood mentions they they need help with this kind of project, would you feel comfortable passing our name along? It's not pushy. That is respectful. And it gives the customer a clear moment to remember you. Do not just ask for anyone who needs work, be specific. Say when someone mentions a roof leak. Okay, don't sleep on those repairs. When someone when someone is tired of of contractors not calling back, right? That gives them that gives them a trigger. And referrals often happen when someone hears a problem and remembers that you solved it. Okay. So a lot of business, a lot of I I think, and I've done this myself. I think I think we aim too low. That was good. Whoo, shit's cold too. I think we aim too low. I think we aim for satisfied customers. And we've talked about good enough before. Okay, so satisfied customers, but satisfied customers do not always talk about you. A satisfied customer might say they were fine. And fine, fine does not create word of mouth. Nobody runs to the neighbor and says, You have to call. You have got to call this company. They were acceptable. Fans are different. Okay. Fans remember how you made them feel. And and we have fans, okay. They remember that you communicated, they remembered that you protected their home. They remember that you explained everything clearly. They remember that you cleaned up and you followed through in the trades. Man, creating fans usually does not require, you know, some big flashy thing. It requires doing the basics with unusual consistency. Okay. And because and and and listen, I'm all about flashy stuff. I'm all about marketing. I'm all about omnipresence, and I'm I'm all about all of those things. Okay. Just look at our building. Okay. Look at our trucks, look at our wraps. Everything is on point. I don't care if you if you're handed a business card, you look at our websites, you you look at the swag that we wear, everything is on point. And some people may say that's that's a bit flashy. No, what it is is I'm obsessed with brand. Okay. Which we could which could potentially be a whole other topic. However, it's about it requires doing the basics with unusual consistency. That's key. It's not

The Simple Referral Ask

Ty Cobb Backer 10:20

about how many door hangers you put out there. Not that type of consistency. Okay. Call when you say you will call. Okay. That's the consistency I'm talking about. Show up when you say you will show up. Explain the process, set clear expectations, give updates, respect their home, finish strong and follow up. Those things I know, I know, sound simple, but simple does not mean common. That's not common for us as contractors. It's not common at all. We think about how quick we put the roof on. We think about you know all kinds of other things. We don't necessarily always take the needs and the feelings and the concerns we say we do into consideration of our clients. You know, but they're simple things, but but sometimes can be very difficult. And I think a lot of companies know that these things matter, but very few build systems to make sure that that they happen every time. And I know we fail on that, but but fortunately, I feel like we've had a good week with this. And again, that's why I'm I'm I'm bringing this up because I know we do it, and when we do it, it shows. It pays off. It really truly pays off when we're banging on all eight cylinders and we hit every single one of those marks. It's not about how fast we put the roof on. They don't truly, at the end of the day, they don't give a shit about that. Anybody can come out and put the roof on. It's how we made them feel throughout the entire process. Sorry, my phone keeps blowing up here. So what so do we want them right? What do we how do we want them to feel? I guess. Sorry, I was kind of getting off track there a little bit. We we want them to feel informed, we want them to feel respected. We we want them to obviously feel confident and cared for. And once you know what, you know, once you know what what you want them to feel, okay, because I just expressed it, telling you, right, what our team should be doing. You need to build a process around that, all right? Before the job, reduce anxiety, okay. During the job, keep them informed. After the job, follow up and make sure that they're happy, okay. And one of the things that we got to experience this week was is during our pros and ops meeting, Lauren shared with us how Colin chimed in through an email thread saying, Hey, I'm Colin with TC Backer. I will be your your job foreman for the job. I'm gonna keep you updated, you know, explain the entire process of like what his job was and what they could expect with him being on the job. I'm gonna follow up with you all day long. I'm gonna send you photos, yada, yada, yada, yada. Well, that is amazing, right? They're

From Satisfied Customers To Fans

Ty Cobb Backer 13:40

at work, they know they have a point of contact, they're gonna be being informed throughout the the entire process, they're gonna know what to expect when they get home, okay? Whether it is gonna look like a bomb when you get here, but don't worry, we'll have things cleaned up, or everything is going to be better than it was before you left for work that morning. That is how customers become fans, not just because the work was done, but because the experience made them feel taken care of. Okay. This is where I think a lot of companies lose business. Okay. They do good work, they have good people, okay. They care about the customers, but they're mass, but but their communication is is confusing. Okay, you gotta make sure that the the communication is key. I don't care what what department, what topic, what subject, what what doesn't matter. Communication is key for for everything. So okay. I'm gonna bounce over to uh to brand. Okay, and this this is where I think a lot of us screw up, and we get to talk about this, we get to nerd out on this weekly in our Tuesday afternoon marketing makeover meeting. Okay, we talk about making our message less confusing, making our website say things like, or we don't, we make sure that our website doesn't say things like quality service you can trust, family owned and operated, committed to excellence, your local experts. Those phrases, they're not bad, but the but they're very vague, and vague does not get remembered, okay. Brand, brand teaches the customer that they're the hero, and your business is just the guide. Okay, the customer's not looking for a company to admire, okay? They're looking for someone who understands their problem and can help them solve it. Okay, so our message needs to needs to answer basically three three questions. What do we do? How does it help them? What do I do next? Essentially that's it. We help blank. We solve blank. So they can blank, right? So for an example, sorry, my phone, it just frickin' is blowing up. Kind of getting a little distracted here. That's okay. Squirrel.

unknown 16:49

Okay.

Ty Cobb Backer 16:50

So brand. So we help homeowners fix roof leaks before they cause expensive damage. That's clear. Okay. We help property managers handle repairs quickly so tenants stay happy and buildings stay protected. That kind of message is clear, and clear gets repeated. This matters because people refer what they can remember. If your customer cannot explain what you do, okay, they will not refer you as often as we would like. But if they can say, call them, they help homeowners fix roof leaks before things get worse. That is

Build Consistent Communication Systems

Ty Cobb Backer 17:40

easy to pass along. So clarity helps with referrals. That's why your messaging is so important. Okay. And then to put this all together. So here's how these three ideas work together. Okay. Relationships create referrals, great service creates fans, and clear messaging creates a story people can repeat. Put all three of those together, and you can get a powerful business system. Around here, we have we have trifecta. I call them trifectas. We have the the three Rs, which could potentially be four, four Rs, okay? First, first is repeat customers, okay? Reviews. Shit, now I'm drawing a freaking blank here. Completely drawing a freaking blank on our own trifectas. Referrals, repeat, and reviews. And I was gonna throw in there, and this is what threw me off a little bit. Repairs. Okay, don't sleep on the repairs. Repairs get you reviews and referrals and repeat customers later. So you can't sleep on the repairs. Okay, that's the long-term goal. Okay, that is a seed that you can plant and continue to keep watering for generations to come. Okay, we have our core values, our KPIs, and our SOPs. Okay, so this this is also a trifecta, okay. Referrals, fans, and brand. Okay. And and when you when you can put those three together, that creates another system, very powerful system. It creates, I don't know, a clear message, right? That that people can can understand. A great experience makes them feel taken care of. A strong relationship makes them feel comfortable referring you. Then the next customer comes in, trust is already built. And this is how our reputation grows. We've done this for decades, okay? That is how word of mouth grows. This is how you build something stronger than just another lead machine. And I think, again, like I think we get so wrapped up in chasing Google. I think we get so wrapped up in chasing Facebook ads.

Brand Clarity People Can Repeat

Ty Cobb Backer 20:40

I think, you know, in chasing those, those strangers. Well, what about the what about the hundreds and maybe thousands of of clients and customers and homeowners and property managers and real estate people that we've done work for over the past 18 years? When's the last time any of us have reached out to them to to see how how the last project that we did for them hold up? I think it's pretty freaking cost effective and easy to do on a rainy day when you can't be out knocking doors. So, anyhow, the three things you can do essentially, I would say this week, right? First, clarify our message, which we do every single week, okay. Write one sentence that says who you help, what problem do you solve, and what results they can get. And remember, always, always, always, always keep it simple. Okay. Second thing, improve one customer experience. Okay. Maybe, maybe it is the the confirmation text before the appointment. Maybe it's the job site update. During the project. Maybe it is the follow-up call after the project is done. These are all things I see on a daily basis that our team performs and is getting better at. Because it's not, it's simple, but it's not easy. That's what I was trying to say earlier. So pick one, make it better. And that's something I try to do because sometimes I want to get in there and I want to fix everything, but find one little thing and just keep pecking away at it and make it better. Just one thing, right? And then the third thing, ask for referrals in a clear and respectful way after a successful job. Okay. And then say, say to them, hey, we're grateful, and we are that you trusted us with this project. When someone you know mentions they need help with this kind of work, would you feel comfortable passing our name along? Okay, that's simple. It's professional and it works because you have earned the right to ask them. Okay, so final thought here. At the end of the day, people do business with companies they trust. We talk about this all the time and emphasize it. Emphasize that about trust. They become fans of companies that make them feel care for. Okay. And they refer companies they can easily explain to others. Okay. And that's something I know that we had to work through

Action Steps And Final Takeaway

Ty Cobb Backer 23:40

for a minute because we were trying to throw shit on the wall. And I mean, all kinds of it just to try to figure out what's what stuck. And we we we got back to the basics and and simple less is more a lot of times. So so do not ask for more referrals, okay, necessarily. Become more referrable. Okay. Do not just hope for great customer service. Build a system that creates it. Point it out. Point out what we're where where we're failing. Okay. We don't just have to to market louder. We just we just necessarily have to make our message more clear. Because the strongest business is not, they don't always, they're not always the ones that are that are shouting the loudest. Okay. And for me, that was very humbling to identify that and finally figure that out. Because I used to think that we had to be screaming from the rooftops. No. We have to create fans that are screaming from the rooftops and our teams. So not only are we making the message clear for our customers, we need to make the message clear to our team members so they can articulate the message clearly, also. Okay, so anyhow. I think that's it for episode 330 freaking seven. You know, today we talked about essentially referrals, fans, brand, three very, very, very, very powerful ideas. Okay. Simple takeaway. Be easy to trust, easy to remember, and easy to recommend. Okay. If you can do that, you will not just win more jobs. You will build a business that people are proud to talk about. And not just your clients, but your team. Thanks for listening to Behind the Tool Belt. Keep building, keep growing,

Closing And Where To Follow

Ty Cobb Backer 25:55

keep taking care of your people and your customers. And remember, the best referral strategy is becoming the kind of business people cannot help but recommend. We'll see you next episode.

Speaker 26:08

Thanks to our sponsors, TC Backer Construction, Hook Roofing Marketing, Roofal, and Project Map It. And thank you for watching. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook. We are streaming on all major platforms. See you next week for another episode of Behind the Tool Belt.