Nexstar member Chris Bishop talks to Jack about his journey from just starting out in the industry to owning a company with 28 employees and $5 million in annual revenue as of late 2019. The two discuss how learning what not to do is often as important as understanding the right thing to do.
Nexstar member Chris Bishop talks to Jack about his journey from just starting out in the industry to owning a company with 28 employees and $5 million in annual revenue as of late 2019. The two discuss how learning what not to do is often as important as understanding the right thing to do.
[inaudible].
Speaker 2:Hi, this is Jack Tester and welcome to another episode of Leadership Lounge. I'm laughing right now because I just did about five minutes of leadership lounge and I forgot to hit record. So I'm starting it over again here at St Paul's in August Day, a beautiful day. And I'm sitting across the table from Chris Bishop from Davis heating and air in Rocky Mount Virginia. How you doing, Chris? Doing Great. Why are you in town?
Speaker 3:I have three service technicians here doing the service system class.
Speaker 2:Okay. And you're observing in the back, correct? Well, I wanted to, I was sitting there having lunch with you and I was hearing your story, your journey into next door cause you're a relatively new member and uh, talk about how you came to own the business. I thought, you know, this would be an interesting topic for us to kind of talk about. And I'm not exactly sure where this will go, but let's talk about it. All right. All right. So first, tell us about your business right now. So people kind of have a sense of place and location. What is, tell me how big David's is, what kind of work you do. Whereas Rocky Mountain, we are
Speaker 3:South Central Virginia. Um, our company, we have about 28 employees and we'll finish somewhere around 5 million this year.
Speaker 2:Okay. Just eating an air, just heating and air service replacement? Correct. Okay. Very good. Well, I'm looking at your, you got a name badge on, which makes us easy for me cause I've met you before, but we don't know each other particularly well. And uh, I see your first name, Chris, last name Bishop in the company's Davis, but you own it. Correct. So, uh, did you change your name or did you buy a business that wasn't named after you and bought a business? It wasn't named after. How'd you own it? Tell me about that. Um,
Speaker 3:I had previously worked with the owner, uh, back in the early nineties, 92 93 and we had, um, just stayed in touch and we would see each other occasionally. And I was at another company and he had came in for a training class and I was asked to not, uh, try to recruit, uh, recruit any of the service technicians that were there. And, um, I ended up getting recruited away. Can work in reverse.
Speaker 2:Yes. Come back to that. So you, you knew this guy from back in the day, but it sounds like you started working there but then you went away. So tell us about your journey between starting in this industry and uh, you know, Kinda how you worked up to, to that moment when you got recruited away. So just so people get a little background there. Tell us about yourself.
Speaker 3:I had worked there for just a short period of time, about a year and a half or so. And uh, just a small company and I didn't see myself growing and I wanted more. So I went away to a larger company is, uh, over a hundred employees and it was all new construction and um, did a lot of warranty repairs, things like that for the mission. Yes, I was the technician. So, um, I ended up leaving there after about six or seven years. So you did warranties service for six years? Well, it was service repair and then, I mean, we had a service department, but we, a lot of our work was warranty repairs on the, on the work that we had installed. Um, so yeah, it was, it was pretty painful, which I learned a lot though, didn't, yeah, I did. I did. I learned a lot. I, I'm, I'm glad for the experience, uh, coming from the new construction side and seeing how that part of the business is ran, it's, it's a lot more peaceful to run a service replacement business than it is to run a, a new construction company. Just curious, tell me about that. Well, you're, I think it's, um, my opinion of that is, is you're always, uh, you're getting beat up on your price. Your, your employees. You can't hire employees that will, that you, you're gonna pay that are going to have a better life. Uh, you're always trying to find the cheapest labor, cheapest material. And then once you do all of that, then you have to chase a contract around and get your money. So I just see that as being miserable. Okay. Okay. So you
Speaker 2:experienced that for six or seven years. So not on the management side, but on the field side. Correct. So I guess you could see the manifestations in the field of, of what happens with a low price and chasing the work and having to go fast and all the things you had to do there. Right? Yes.[inaudible] not be a negative here, but that's just that just, which is our,
Speaker 3:it's very true. Yeah. And I think anyone that's been around that they, they know where I'm coming from with that. It's, it's a reason why your next star member is to enjoy the, um, the better side of the contracting business. Amen. All right,
Speaker 2:we're going to talk about that in a minute. So, so you worked there for six, seven years, and what happened? You decided to do, do
Speaker 3:you want her more or what? Well, I, I wanted the company to grow, uh, into the fact that, uh, the installers would do their own startups and take pride in their work. And I'm the owner and I had a different view and I think people need to be held accountable for their actions.[inaudible] that wasn't being done. So I chose to leave and I went to another company and they were service replacement and maintenance. It was, you know, back in the late nineties, uh, they had followed the, um, Ron Smith service system and, um, the dominant market share at that time. And it was really good. It was a shell shock to go from the new construction side too. We had a Callahan Roach price book that was about 10 inches thick. Uh, and it was pretty funny. So that was, uh, quite a, from coming from, um, you know, turn in a ticket in and it was priced from the office and the cinema bill to a price in the job collecting on the job. And it was really good though, because I could see the side of, I was in control of my destiny. Um, I'd made enough money at that time to, uh, we had had our first son and my wife, she was able to stay at home, um, because of the difference that I had made in my income by going to work for that car to that company. So it was, it was really cool. We were able to replace enough of her income to, um, to allow her to stay at home. So it was pretty awesome. So it's a private company that you went to? Yes. And tell me about it for short period of time. How many hours was the private, cause they told me what happened. Well, they, I guess they knew, but they didn't tell me, but they had been bought out by service experts and the day I went to work there, I found that out. Okay. Which I, I guess I don't know it, it didn't, it w it was kind of a shock, but I didn't, I didn't see it as a negative thing. I seen it as a positive to think that no. Any different. No, I didn't. No, no. So I would have never seen the changes. I want to put everybody else thought thought that day of it is a little different though. It was, there was some emotions. Yeah, it wasn't, I think it was, it was accepted fairly well cause everyone, um, everyone was happy to be there. They made more money than they did at other companies and that was the reason why they really here. So some of those things I think that kind of took some of the emotions away. Yeah. So you were there for how many years were there? Tell me how you'd tell me your journey through that company. Um, after a short period of time, I was asked to be the service manager and the new guy, the new guy, um, y rough, ruffled a few feathers. Um, one of the gentleman that actually referred me to be a technician there, uh, he wasn't very happy that I became his boss. Uh, but I didn't see it that way. I try to pride myself as being a leader, that if, if I asked you to do it, I've either done it or I'm willing to do it myself. So, with that being said, uh, most, most of the department was satisfied and very happy that I was the service manager. So I'm old management to this point in your life. None whatsoever. I was brand new, new technicians we responsible for, um, we had seven at the time and I think two maintenance, uh, technicians and I went on a hiring spree and we went up to 10 technicians for maintenance technicians. We were really growing the department and um, it was, it was exciting and it was new for me. A new challenge.
Speaker 2:You think back this, think back to, this was not the intent of this podcast, but this is an interesting ground because a, you're, you were their peer the day before and all of a sudden the calendar changes and you roll in and now you're the supervisor. Yes. Looking back on that experience, this is so you, you get through that experience and you might have thought that, that, that certain parts of the job would ended up being easier than you thought they would be in certain things, might've been harder or unexpected. So tell me, what were the things you worried about that really you shouldn't have worried about? Was there anything like that?
Speaker 3:I would say, I would say I have more problems coming from the management than I did the employees top down rather than top down instead of bottom up. So you expected it the other way? Yes, it's the problem. I'm the general manager. He was the previous owner and he had, or, uh, I think he had some resentments. Wasn't he the one that promoted you? He was, but there was some, uh, some issues. And once we, uh, got really involved with service experts, it really became, uh, difficult for him to be held accountable as being the previous owner. And then he became the general manager and he was accountable to someone else. All[inaudible]. Was He acting out? Yeah, he was hit with people above him. Yeah. And there was a ripple effect down to the management team.
Speaker 2:How did that manifest itself with you? What did you, what did you witness or feel?
Speaker 3:Um, it was, I'm very thankful that it happened. What's it yet? Um, his actions, um, it, it has made me the owner than I am today. Oh, this is fascinating. Tell me about, tell me more. Well, I know how not to treat people. I learned that lesson there. Really? Yeah. It was, uh, it was really good because he had no respect for the employees. It was terrible. So you witnessed that. Yep. So it made me really want to show respect to my employees and treat them how I wanted to be treated. Um, you know, so that was, that was probably my best, I would say my best management experience. And the thing I took away the most from there was how not to treat your employees. So it was, it was very, very, uh, how long did she have the great eyeopener? How long did you have that relationship high? About a year and a half, two years. It's a long time. It was, it was painful at times and, uh, I'd you endure it. Well, I'm not a quitter. I'm not going to give up. And I had the employees, the other guys there that I was accountable for. So I was asked to do things that I wasn't going to do when I wouldn't, uh, I wouldn't do what some of the things that were asked to be done and I just kept records of it at home. So, uh, but I, I stood my ground from my guys and that was like I said, I, I learned a lot as a manager just in that, uh, in that short period of time of how that I was gonna take care of the guys and I was going to stand behind them because I had people at service experts that I had to answer to. And, um, if it came down to the wire, I was going to stand behind the guys and do what was right by them. So how long were you a service manager there? Um, about a year and a half. I'm most pretty much the, I was a service technician out in the field for a short period of time and either there for a couple of years. Yeah. I, I always try to help people. So they didn't have that culture of helping each other and the teammate and teamwork. So when I came in, some of the younger technicians, they kind of gravitated to me because if they needed help, the thing, then we were on a CB radio in the truck. Everybody's listening. Aaron One's listening. So when I would help someone out, they would, the other guys started reaching out to me. So with that being said, then they, they were, they gravitate it. I think that's why I went from a service technician to the service manager so quickly is just the willingness to help others. I didn't, um, we had some of the technicians that I had problems with, they were more, um, um, more self-centered and more, it was about their performance, not the team. So let me just, I just want to recap what I think I heard from you is that when you came into this business, it seems like people were pretty happy. They were, they were making a lot of money compared to where they could, you know, they couldn't go anywhere else. And so maintenance agreements and duct cleanings and IQ products. And actually make money on it. Most of the other companies. And in the late nineties, uh, I sold the first UV light there. Um, it was, you know, so is it, I mean, you know, it was the, when some of those things were, were just coming out and you know, so a lot of those, a lot of the guys, they had opportunities to control what they made. But what I sounds like that, that, that
Speaker 2:the culture kind of diminished over time. It did. It's because of the transition of ownership, the lack of ownership. Correct. Negativity that might've occurred because things happen poorly at that business. I think over, I'm not the local business, but the overall business, right? Yes, very much so. It was difficult to I'm sure, to live through. Yes. You know, so that was in, that was impactful. So you learned how that, through that experience and kind of the kind of leader you want it to be. Yes. Right. And your leadership example was almost at a one that you didn't want to emulate, wasn't a mentor relationship. It was Kinda like, okay, I can see what, how I want to treat people and I've learned from this. Yes. Very cool. Yup. So you left, where'd you go? I went back to Davis heating and air. Is that the ones that you had this training? Now we're back to the training class. Yes. Right. That you're having, you had a big location, you were doing some kind of training for somebody offering up your location. Correct. The owner of Davis comes through and says, I'll send people here, but you better not recruit them. Correct. Right. And something happened there. Tell me about that.
Speaker 3:Um, just reconnected with the, the owner of Davis and we had, it was like catching up with an old friend. We hadn't seen each other in awhile.[inaudible] he was interested in the facility and we had a nice facility. Um, you know, we were right around 6 million at the time and in the late nineties, which was a fairly decent sized company at the time and took him through, he found out how many employees we had and how many employees I was in charge of. And I was actually in charge of more employees than he had in his company. So, um, he ended up with two people leaving, uh, his service technician and one installer to go start their own business. And then he, we kinda connected. I had found out that had happened. And of course you heard earlier the culture we were in at, um, at the previous company. So we just started talking and he said it at that time that he wanted to get out of the new construction business and get more into service and replacement. And I think that was, um, his vision through the, uh, the crash in 2008. I don't think the company would exist today if you didn't make those decisions, if he didn't make those decisions. Cause we were 100% new construction. I tell every one we used to, he used to take two days for us to do a service replacement job. It was, um, you know, it was just, we had to grow a lot to make those changes and um, but he was, he had a great vision, uh, to, to keep it going. And, and it was grandfather and father's business, so. Okay. Um, so he had, uh, he had a lot on the line, so, but it was, uh, it was really good.
Speaker 2:All right. So you, you went there and, correct. And, uh, what year was this? About? That was in, in 2000. All right. So when did you take over ownership of Davis in 2013. So you worked there as a manager leader in the business for 13 years. Correct. And you had kind of a, uh, uh, an opportunity at the end of Byte, or did you transition slowly and ownership? Yeah,
Speaker 3:we transitioned slowly. Okay. We had a five year plan to, uh, I earn shares and I bought shares and then, uh, we did a second five year plan with, at the end of that five years, I would, um, I would buy the company. And that was, um, it was a long 10 years, but it worked out and we were, we were great partners in partnership in most cases, does not work. But he had, um, he had majority share and I respected his final decision. I stood behind him and I think that's what allowed it to work.
Speaker 2:10 year transition. That's a long time. Very Long. Lot of bad things can happen in 10 years. A lot of personalities can pop in. A lot of spouses, a lot of family. All that can happen in it. Didn't. Congratulations. Thank you. When did, so when did you take over ownership again? A 2013. Oh, fantastic. All right. How big was the business then? Uh, we were around 2.2 million. 2.2 mil? Yup. Okay. Then did, did he transition out of he stay around for awhile? I stayed around for eight, five years. A little last night. Just a little bit. Yeah. He stay around for five years. Just til 2018, correct. Um, wow. His last day was, uh, March the 14th of this year of 1919 well for Craig Sake, yeah. This is, that's a long, thoughtful transition, Chris. 15 years. No kidding. Now you're the sole owner. Correct. All right. Congratulations. Thank you to so test. So to go into businesses is going to$5 million or so. Yes. So this, that's it. So we got a little thumbnail of, of what happened at, to get you to this point. Why don't you join Nexstar
Speaker 3:it was time to break through the next level. Um, I've read traction, you know, hitting the next ceiling and breaking through. Read that before joining the next extra. No. Okay. I read that after reading your book. Okay. And you had mentioned that, okay, I love you Chris,
Speaker 2:but so you, you couldn't have thought about that before you read the book. So why did you join next door?
Speaker 3:Um, I needed help okay. To take the company to the next level. Um, I had gotten it to where I've never been. Got It. So I was, um, I was really good at making everything happen and now I have managers and I have to, now I'm learning how to help them and stay on their way. Okay. So I think, uh, with Nexstar that's, that's been my,
Speaker 4:um,
Speaker 3:it's really helped me to, to take on and, and know what I need to be doing. That's a big thing there. Um, I think it's important that then I'm doing the right things to make sure that, I mean we have close to 30 employees now and we're adding employees, it seemed like every day. So with that responsibility, I want to make sure that I'm doing the right things to carry the company forward and growing and um, you know, looking forward, looking at the future. Okay.
Speaker 2:That's great. So let's talk about, um, when you joined nexstar you had an expectation, you had an expectation of, of what you needed and what you wanted. And then here we are, it's about six months later now, not quite six months later since you joined and then there's a reality of what you've experienced. Right. So what has been the surprise for you either personally or from what you've received or you know, what you, what you thought, what turned out to be really important that you didn't think was, is there anything like that?
Speaker 3:I think it's the, it's the simplicity and the simple approach of, I think the biggest thing for me is the, we started the pace report. Okay. You never do anything like that. We had never done anything like that. And I would win the month when the quarter, when the year. That was my vision and how we had done things forever. And then at work. Um, but I think at an, at a new level with the new approach, it's just amazing how simple it is. Okay. But without the knowledge, um, you just, you just don't know. Right. And you know, we, the first month I'd done it all myself, didn't really share the number.
Speaker 2:So patient port for those listening is, is a, it's a report that actually gives a revenue
Speaker 3:trend to see if you're going to hit what revenue are you going to finish the month at, right? Yup. Against budget against prior year, that kind of stuff. So go ahead. And we were shy in service. We didn't hit our numbers. So Jeff Stagolee your business coach. Yes. He says you've got to share it. What does the team think about it? And I had failed to do that as part of my growth as a leader. So now we have, um, we have daily huddles with the service technicians and we know when we win and we know what we have to work on. And that's, that's been big. Uh, last month we, we just had a phenomenal month. We, it was, it was awesome, but everyone shared and in the office, the dispatchers, um, when we didn't have enough calls on the board, I could hear them from my office had to be music to your ears. It was, it was amazing. I would email Jeff and just tell him all these little stories that were was happening, which I kinda feel like he knew they would happen and just, he needed me to execute those things. So, you know, so, but you didn't realize that was coming, but then you got that tool, you got that mindset that when the day mindset, and then that was, that was a real turning point for you. Yes. Our service tracking form, we used to track about probably 10 or 15 metrics. Now we track three. Okay. And some of that came from traction. Um, but, you know, daily revenue, our maintenance agreements, which is the lifeblood of our company as a service replacement company and then our sales leads. So we track those three metrics and that's been phenomenal. Um, but by knowing that and knowing what our daily goal was, we know exactly what our average ticket is and what, how many calls we need to run in a day. Um, we know how many installs we have to do in a month. And with knowing that the first thing we did was checked our capacity to see if we had the capacity to do it. And that it's just that one simple tool broke down all of those things. Um, which was just such an eye opener. It's, I mean, I'd never been exposed to that, but it's, to me it was so simple once I got involved with it. If, well, that was with Jess. Jeff's help. I can't say that I do this earlier. Exactly right. Yup. Yeah. What else? I th I, I'm very, very impressed with the entire organization. Um, I think service system, what you're here for, to what we're here for. This is our second one. Uh, been through leadership mastery. Yeah. And I haven't done anything with Nexstar that I haven't gotten help from. Uh, everything I've gone to, um, I'm meeting someone new. Yeah. That's a member that's willing to help and offering up information. Um, the coaches are phenomenal. Bill, Brittany, Jeff, everyone been through? Yes, they are. They're awesome. Yes. That's good. You know, I say this before though, you know, a coach will say, you know, I've coached good players and I've coached bad players, a better coach players just let me know that, you know, take some credit is what I'm saying Jeff. So yeah. Okay. What's been a challenge? I had some challenges once I'd done the profit pricer we needed to raise our prices. Was that a head trash thing or just an execution thing? Head trash for you? For me. Okay. I had to overcome it. You got in your own jar on that one and you had yup. It ended when the numbers spit out. Did you go all right. We were really, so the is the profit prices is just a tool where you input your, your expenses and your anticipated sold hours or soul days and it creates your break even rev cost per full billable hour or day is what it does. So just FYI. All right, go ahead. So our install numbers were, or sales numbers for equipment was fine. Uh, wasn't too out of line is what you're saying? No, it was, it was, it was really good, but our service was way off. Okay. And, um, and we've had, uh, we've had some questions, you know, well, we used to charge this and we used to charge that. So we've had to get through that know from, from the technicians. It's always internal. It's never with the customer. We face price resistance. Yes. Yeah. To myself. Yes, exactly. No. Yeah. All it is, you know, that's it. That's a good story. So you got through that. Are you still fighting it? No, we got through it. Um, we switched to service Titan and um, just change the prices in the book and that's the prices or the prices. So having five technicians now going through a service system with the one truck break even. Um, one of the gentleman in the class, not my employee, but, uh, he said, I realize if I discount it, I'm possibly taken away my health insurance that they're paying for me because I didn't charge what I needed to charge. And I thought that was, I thought that was pretty good. That's pretty big thinking right there. Yes. So that, it broke that down to say that if you're discounting something, you may be taken away your, one of your benefits and do you feel like your family should have health or something like that? And right when his Aha moments was that he's not going to discount anymore because he's gonna make sure he gets his benefits. These deserves the Music Jersey as a business.
Speaker 5:Exactly. Exactly. That's the kind of reinforcement we want to see there. Right, exactly. Yeah. So what's next? What do you, what's, what,
Speaker 2:what are you excited about going forward in your business, Chris?
Speaker 3:I'm just excited because I know the growth, um, creates opportunity and we have, we have a lot of young people in our company. It's awesome. Yes, I heard, I don't know the exact number, but I would say our average age in our company's about 22 to 24. You're kidding. We have a lot of young people. We bring them in very, very young.
Speaker 2:And are they going to be buck 12?
Speaker 5:Okay.
Speaker 3:No, it's, it's, um, my, my goal for the future is to, um, you know, turn the reins over and, and with that being said, you know, I know the growth will create opportunity for others and I can see, you can already see some that you know, that will, you know, we already have people that, you know, that will, they'll step into those roles when they get there.
Speaker 2:So I heard you talk early in this podcast and one of the m d and the part of the podcasts that I didn't record either is, but you said you want more. Yeah. And what's your, what I'm hearing you saying is there may be some young Chris Bishops in there that, that want more. Yup. And it could, but they don't have to leave this new construction company to find that. They can see that as your business expands and grows that they'll get more exact, they'll see more then maybe you'll have a nice lengthy common 15 year ownership transition.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 2:No, that's exciting. So you just want to grow the business and create opportunity.
Speaker 3:Yeah, create opportunity. My, my next step, we're currently in the process of building a new building. We're going to take our old building and um, I'd like to get a general manager because with our old building I want to create a HVC service school there and allow that to be our feeder to put Davis heating and on up to the next level.
Speaker 2:Very exciting. So I'll bet. I'll bet on you. Yeah, well done man. It's going to happen. Well done. Well done. Well I have enjoyed the conversation. You shared a lot. You've had a great journey through this industry to the point. And I, what I've taken away is you are a, you don't give up cause it isn't, not everyone can hang in there for 10 years waiting on a business that is a patient process that you went through. So
Speaker 3:it was, it was difficult and my wife will tell you, um,
Speaker 2:we had some pretty interesting conversations, but I never, I wasn't going to give up and walk away. Well done man. Thank you. All done. It's all worth it. Yup. Right. Very great. Well thank you for your just for spending time with us. Thanks for stepping out. I know you're observing your class. I want to get you back in there, but I met you at lunch and I got to know you a little bit better and I thought this is a story that we need to tell and I have enjoyed the heck out of it. I've enjoyed it. Thank you so much. Share. All right. Well if you see Chris Bishop, say hi to him. He's got a lot to offer and he's had a lot of nexstar events these days. So he's a good guy to talk to and I want to thank you and I want to thank everyone for listening. This very interesting special episode here, Leadership Lounges, Jack Tester, Chris Bishop, and we'll catch you next time. Thanks so much.