Optimizing Sales and Communication: Michael Bears Shares Insights on Virtual Sales Platforms for Technicians in the HVAC and Plumbing Industries

In this engaging discussion, Corey Berrier and Michael Bears delve into a wide range of topics, touching on copyright issues, Facebook groups, and a scandal that rocked the industry. They emphasize the significance of maintaining a strong reputation in the business world. Introducing the Successful Life Podcast, they then shift gears to talk about their work at Free to Grow.
Michael sheds light on Free to Grow's call management services for the HVAC, plumbing, and trades industries. They have developed a virtual sales platform that allows technicians to connect with the company in real-time while still at the customer's location. This innovative approach leads to improved conversion rates and higher average ticket prices. Throughout their conversation, the importance of trust between technicians and the company is underscored as a vital factor for success.
Explaining the mechanics of their virtual sales platform, Michael shares that they have a pre-designed platform that can be tailored to each call with the client. They conduct morning huddles to discuss performance and address any questions or concerns that may arise. The ultimate objective is to boost sales and eliminate unnecessary overhead costs for service companies. Michael also delves into the onboarding process and provides insight into the associated fees.
Corey inquires about potential challenges, to which Michael responds positively, noting that things have been going well thus far. With Michael's extensive experience in the industry as a master plumber and previous successful trade companies under his belt, his expertise adds weight to his words. He also highlights his background of living in various locations before settling in St. Louis, adding a personal touch to the conversation.
As their discussion draws to a close, Corey expresses gratitude to Michael for sharing his valuable insights. Corey provides contact information for those interested in reaching out to Michael. Both participants express appreciation for the conversation and wish each other success before ending the call, leaving a positive and encouraging note to wrap up their exchange.

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Transcript

Welcome to the Successful Life Podcast. I'm your host, Corey Berrier. Today, folks. We got Michael Bears. I messed most people, but I got you. I got that one. Bears. 

Michael Bears
·06:05
You got it. I'm doing well, sir. Living the dream. 

Corey Berrier
·06:08
Living the dream. Well, dream is anymore, but, you know. 

Michael Bears
·06:16
I won't lie. Someday I get up and think it might be somebody else's. But no, I'm just playing, man. 

Corey Berrier
·06:24
You and I got connected through our friend Nathan. I guess he goes by Nathan for a lot of people, but I call him Nathan. But I guess a lot of people call him Nathan is what I should have said. You're working over at Free to Grow, which you all are in St. Louis, right? 

Michael Bears
·06:41
Correct. The headquarters in St. Louis. 

Corey Berrier
·06:43
Okay. And you have been hired on to basically kind of spearhead a new division. But what I think is interesting, though, is that Nate and Charlie were already doing this for CSRs. They were already acting as fractional CSRs for multiple companies. Is that correct? 

Michael Bears
·07:08
Correct. Yeah, CSR, DSR, remote Dispatching, all that approximately 30 clients right now. 

Corey Berrier
·07:14
Okay. And the company started, like, 2020 ish maybe yeah. 

Michael Bears
·07:19
Right. About three and a half years ago now. Correct. 

Corey Berrier
·07:22
Perfect. And so why don't you tell the listeners what this new thing is that you guys are doing over there? It's not new, but it's new. How you're doing it? 

Michael Bears
·07:35
Yeah, the whole platform is a little new. I mean, call by call management is not new. It's been around for years in the HVAC plumbing and trades industries. But now we're bringing a virtual sales platform along with it. So the current model is technician goes to the home, something is catastrophically wrong with the system, or the homeowner just wants a bid for a new system, whatever that case may be. And they wait anywhere from 3 hours to three days. In some cases, as you know, three weeks. So with this, we are able to eliminate all windshield time and in real time while the technician is still in the home, get them to connect us and what we're calling a warm TGL tech generated turnover. 

Corey Berrier
·08:26
It's basically the same process. It's just that you're getting to them significantly faster. 

Michael Bears
·08:32
Significantly faster. And what it's allowing for? I mean, already the industry is proving conversion rates are up 35%. Close rates are hovering around 80%. The average tickets are up 5000, $8,000. And that's on sales and repairs as well, because if we're not getting the sell, we're at least getting the repair out of it. 

Corey Berrier
·08:59
Sure. So just for everybody listening, just walk me through. So if a technician goes to the house, they check the things that they need to check whatever that system, whatever the system is that company has laid out for them and the process they've laid out. And then the technician. And it's not a knock against technicians, but most technicians are their technicians because they like to fix s***. They don't like to sell s***. So just walk me through what that process is like from the technician standpoint. And also I'd like for you to talk about for a minute how you gain the trust of those technicians to know that you're going to be the guy that's going to help them with this. That's actually a hurdle. 

Michael Bears
·09:47
That is a really great question. And that's what's been proven as well, that if you lose the trust of your guys, if you're not answering when they're calling you, if you're not able to tee these up and you're making clients wait, whatever the case may be, they're going to lose credibility and trust with you very quickly. So basically, the way it works is we have a pre designed platform with everything we need. All that has to be changed is a few particulars for each call the technician has. Let the person know what they need, what we're looking at, what the client needs for repairs. So you're putting together the presentation while they're putting together their options for repairs. And then basically, you're meeting in the middle, getting that client on a zoom call with you and presenting right then and there. 

Corey Berrier
·10:39
All right, I guess it works two ways. You also have to be able to depend on the technician to communicate with you throughout that process, I would imagine several times, right? Correct. 

Michael Bears
·10:54
That's why the whole call by call management system ties in perfectly with this, because basically, there's a morning huddle. You're discussing the day's previous performance, looking at today's schedule, making sure everybody's kind of pumped up and ready to go, and that there's not any questions, comments, or concerns to handle. Basically, I look at the Morning Huddles as a chance to praise, coach, or solve. Right. That's what that whole little time frame is. So it kind of lines us out so each tech knows kind of what they're walking into for the day, for their pre assigned calls, as far as the hot calls that will drop in for the no cools or the water heater leaking, those kind of things, we have to adapt to those in real time. And it's whoever's available. 

Michael Bears
·11:40
But I personally have found that when you work with the technicians daily, you let them know that you're there. You make sure that if they're having any hurdles or issues with the system, the processes that they're being handled in real time, they work with you. 

Corey Berrier
·11:57
So how are you communicating with them? Is it via text? Are you on a Slack channel? How does that work? 

Michael Bears
·12:03
We have a Slack channel, but then we do communicate a lot through text. And then we have Morning Zoom meetings every morning. 

Corey Berrier
·12:12
You run those meetings? 

Michael Bears
·12:13
Correct. 

Corey Berrier
·12:14
Okay, so you meet with basically meet with the team five days a week, have conversations with them in that morning Huddle, I would imagine it's five days a week. 

Michael Bears
·12:23
Is that correct? 

Corey Berrier
·12:24
Okay, so tell me about the owner that would be the best fit for a process like this. 

Michael Bears
·12:31
Basically, as you know, we're not the only ones out here rolling out this virtual sales platform. In the call by call man, you've got everybody from Peter Van and Absolute ghetto those guys, and they're having tremendous success with this platform. But what we're going after is the companies that are your one to $10 million, $15 million companies that want to grow, that want to add a division, but don't want to add the overhead on top of that can't necessarily find the employees to meet that overhead. So they already have technicians in place, but now they need to implement a process like this where we can just increase the sales. 

Corey Berrier
·13:11
I would imagine this is going to go I think it's going to go bananas. Look, if you got a one to five, one to $10 million company and you're having struggles with either finding good selling technicians or maybe you've got just one, and they're going between a bunch of different technicians and you've got a big gap in time, this seems like a no brainer. So how does this compare? And I don't know if you talk about this or not, but the biggest things cost? What is this going to cost me? I'm sure it's the number one question people give you guys. So how does that look structure wise, if you don't mind me asking? 

Michael Bears
·13:55
So that's going to be perspective based design specifically for each company, depending on how many texts and what the need is. Right. But basically what I can tell you is it's going to be less expensive than anything that's currently going on now because as you may or may not know, Corey, every vehicle that a service company has on the road approximately depending on your market and where you're at, is about a quarter million dollars to operate. And that's everything from the vehicle payment, wear and tear, insurances, liabilities, technicians, salary, parts, and you know what I mean, just everything crashes have to be factored, especially once you have more than about 1015 vehicles on the road, your crash rate goes up a little bit and we're eliminating all of that. 

Michael Bears
·14:42
Plus we're seeing that the industry is showing one project manager or comfort advisor or whatever you want to call it, can handle five technicians and they can run approximately seven to eight sales calls a day. Whereas when were in the field with all the windshield time, especially if you're in a big city where your territory is spread out three to four calls a day max. So when you factor in just the exponential increase in closed rate average tickets and then take away all the overhead, it's a no brainer. 

Corey Berrier
·15:22
I think this should be a relief for most of these guys that run any of these trade companies that you work with. And it's also got to be a relief for the technician because again, kind of circling back to where I was talking about earlier, they don't want to sell this s***, they just don't. Right? Yeah. Tell me a little bit more about other than your meeting. So you guys sign up a company, you just start meet with them on Monday morning, then you just keep meeting with them. What's that process like? 

Michael Bears
·16:01
Yeah, so like I said, we meet Monday through Friday and we just game plan, look at the day's previous wins and talk about what needs to be worked on. The biggest thing is just presenting options and making sure the technicians aren't afraid to present the options. Partnering with service MVP and just making sure that a minimum of three to six options per call are being given. We're finding that just increases. 

Corey Berrier
·16:36
The. 

Michael Bears
·16:36
Average ticket for the repairs as well. 

Corey Berrier
·16:39
So do you also help with repairs or you primarily are called in for the newer systems? 

Michael Bears
·16:47
Pause 1 second. 

Corey Berrier
·16:48
Corey, I apologize. 

Michael Bears
·16:58
And now I have another one. So this is yeah, all right, go for it. Repeat your question. 

Corey Berrier
·17:19
All right, so busy, man. You try to close deals while we're on the show, which I appreciate. 

Michael Bears
·17:26
Correct? 

Corey Berrier
·17:27
I can get it correct. So you guys bring on a company, and the only thing they really have to do is just you come show up on Monday morning. Is there anything in between that? Do you go out to the company? Does the company come to you? Is there any other interaction that a company would need to do before they bring you guys on to do this? 

Michael Bears
·17:47
Yeah. So we're doing an onboarding process where myself or someone like me shows up. Typically four to five days, meets the staff if they're not integrated with Free to Grow in our CSR process, then we meet with the dispatchers, and then we do a group meeting with everyone, and then we start ride along right away. The nice thing with this process is from day one, we're selling and implementing this process. So when the onboarding specialist is there doing that, he's riding with the technicians and he's getting them to turn that call over to an advisor that will be available, like I said, from day one. So it is a much better and simpler process than having to send your technicians out somewhere where they're out of the field for four to five days. We actually bring everything to you. 

Michael Bears
·18:42
And like I said, you're actually seeing the process of making money from day one. 

Corey Berrier
·18:46
That makes sense. So is it a percentage that the company has to pay out? I don't need to know the exact percentage, but how does the customer that you serve the company, how do they pay for this? 

Michael Bears
·19:02
Is it upfront? Yeah. So there's an onboarding fee that will be a flat rate, agreed upon fee, depending again on the size of the company and how many technicians have to be trained. And then there is a commission based percentage that is agreed upon beforehand for everything that Free to Grow helps close. 

Corey Berrier
·19:24
I mean, even if that percentage was even if it was even 10%, if you're doubling the sales, which arguably you probably are getting close to that this is a no brainer. 

Michael Bears
·19:38
Exactly. Comfort Advisors right now are getting anywhere from 8% to 12% or so of the gross ticket. But then, like I said, you've got all that overhead and the vehicle expenses and everything else, plus their insurances and all of that. It's a no brainer for a company that wants to scale and start playing in the big boy arena while they grow to that size. Where I see a really good fit as well. Is any trades company out there that wants to add a new division, like a plumbing company that wants to get into HVAC but doesn't necessarily want to buy into buying ten more vehicles and all of that'd be a great fit as well. 

Corey Berrier
·20:17
That makes sense. Okay, so what kind of bumps in the road have you seen throughout this process? Because I'm sure it hadn't gone smooth. It's super smooth, but I'm sure there's been some things that maybe were unexpected. Can you tell me about some of. 

Michael Bears
·20:30
Those, it's actually gone off pretty well. We launched a couple of weeks ahead of schedule and things have just kind of taken off like gangbusters. The only thing that has to happen is the team has to buy into the process, man. That's all. 

Corey Berrier
·20:48
Yeah, but that goes regardless. 

Michael Bears
·20:53
100% and that once they see the numbers and that the numbers don't lie. And then again that we're taking away that Comfort advisor that shows up and says you need a new system. We've designed this to where the homeowner is choosing what they want to do. 

Corey Berrier
·21:13
What makes sense to me. Yeah, that makes sense. All right, well, do you have homeowners that are given any pushback on another person not coming to their house and doing this on Zoom? 

Michael Bears
·21:29
No, there have been a couple of people that have been a little technology disadvantaged, but it's been half a percent, I would say. The rest of the people are absolutely floored when they see this PowerPoint presentation that has been custom designed for them. It mentions their home, their address right there. It's their options kind of a thing. So it's a lot more personable than one would think. 

Corey Berrier
·21:58
Yeah, that makes sense. Well, all right, so let's put that to the side for a second. I think we've probably gone over that quite a bit. 

Michael Bears
·22:06
Yeah. 

Corey Berrier
·22:07
You've got some experience in this industry before you ever started this, right? 

Michael Bears
·22:11
Correct. Yeah. I'm a longtime master plumber, trades guy. I've owned four different fairly successful variations of trades companies. I sold my last plumbing and HVAC business based out of Eleven, Colorado at the end of 2019. Then I just been doing sales management consulting, helping new companies open divisions and those kind of things. When I was in the field, I was a multimillion dollar producer as a dual tech because I could sell the plumbing on the HVAC. 

Corey Berrier
·22:40
That makes sense. Yeah. That's why you're doing this? Yeah, I mean, it seems like a smart process. So you were living in Colorado. Did you live in Colorado for a long time? Is that where you grew up? 

Michael Bears
·22:54
No, I was born in California, raised in Arizona, but I've kind of been all over, man. I've lived everywhere from Maui to Colorado to California to now St. Louis. 

Corey Berrier
·23:06
Yeah. Awesome. Excuse me. Well, Michael, look, dude, I don't know if there's anything else you want to share about this process or the success that you've had with it. This has been a really good conversation, but feel free to add anything else you want to add that maybe we haven't covered. 

Michael Bears
·23:30
I feel like we covered everything we needed to cover. I just want to make sure that everybody has my contact information. My direct phone number is 970-699-0021 and my email address is M, like Michael bears, B-E-A-R-S. Like the animals at Free grow. 

Corey Berrier
·23:55
Boom. Perfect. Well, listen, my friend, I appreciate you coming on and telling us all about this. I wish you much success, dude. 

Michael Bears
·24:04
Thank you so much, Corey. We appreciate you. 

Corey Berrier
·24:06
My pleasure. Boom. That wasn't so bad, right? 

Michael Bears
·24:10
No, that was good, right? 

Corey Berrier
·24:12
Yeah, it should be. That f****** easy, dude. Right on. Yeah, it shouldn't be hard. So yeah, man, I think we got a good look. I love it. I love what you're doing. I think it's f****** great. I know you got to get rock and rolling and I'll chat with you later, okay? All right, brother. 

Michael Bears
·24:33
We'll talk soon. Thanks, man. 

Corey Berrier
·24:34
All right. See you, brother. 

Michael Bears
·24:35
All right, bye.