The Trusted Technician: Recent Episodes
SBE - Service Business Evolution
The Trusted Technician Podcast from SBE is a must-listen for technicians who want to set themselves apart. This short format podcast covers topics from a fresh perspective of increasing trust. We take care of the customer first. Learn the tips and strategies to communicate like a professional while solving problems with 5 star service. Guests will include some of the top performing technicians in the country as well as experienced HVAC coaches and trainers.
In this special episode of the podcast, SBE Trainers Zak and Louis join to share their perspectives from their time in the field running HVAC calls.
This perspective helps them understand how to get the most out of training.
Key Takeaways:
- Things they know now as trainers they wish they knew when in the field.
- Why companies struggle with training and being consistent with results from training.
- How to build a system around training so that it is effective.
- The most important thing that goes along with training that most companies don't do.
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Hunter from D&R Heating & Cooling in West Virginia shares how learning a process to follow on his HVAC service calls helped him create guardrails to stay on track, have better conversations, and better help his customers.
Key Takeaways:
- Guard Rails keep you from going off the cliff by going in the wrong direction with customers.
- How to separate Mechanical Problems from People Problems.
- Why it's helpful to understand customers' wants vs needs.
- The secret to selling a lot of add-on accessories.
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Will Calhoun from NWA Cooling & Heating in Arkansas joins the podcast again to share tips for making it through the busy summer HVAC season in the most productive and efficient way possible.
Key Takeaways:
- Not every customer needs the same amount of time.
- With so many calls coming in during demand rush, you have to have a way to manage your time.
- Good questions help qualify customers.
- By qualifying, customers can get the help and attention they prefer.
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Cori, a Maintenance Technician from George Brazil Air Conditioning & Heating in Phoenix, AZ, shares his strategy for running high-level maintenance visits.
Key Takeaways:
- Learning HVAC - Both the mechanical skills and the people skills.
- Keeping customers engaged and involved in the maintenance visit.
- What the homeowner wants from their HVAC maintenance visits.
- How to make your visits more engaging and interactive.
- Asking questions as you find things on the visit.
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Phillip from George Brazil in Phoenix, AZ is a Maintenance Technician and shares his strategy for running high level maintenance visits.
Key Takeaways:
- The right mindset to have while running HVAC Maintenance Visits.
- What homeowners want from their maintenance visits.
- What it means to slow down and how long a maintenance visit should take.
- How to better communicate and help homeowners understand what is going on during a maintenance visit.
- Opportunities on a maintenance visit.
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Caleb, a maintenance technician from George Brazil in Phoenix, AZ, shares his strategy for running high-level maintenance visits.
Key Takeaways:
- Why maintenance is so important for HVAC Systems.
- How to help homeowners understand the importance of regular maintenance.
- Why, as a technician, you must also be sold on maintenance.
- Running a thorough maintenance visit that builds value and trust.
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John from Alexander Services shares how consistency is the key to improvement for him. His HVAC journey has been finding ways to improve consistency and stay in the right mindset.
Key Takeaways:
- Why we stop consistently doing things that have been working well.
- Our Mindset impacts how consistent we are with all of the little details.
- It is not enough to consistently ask questions. You need to know why you are asking each question.
- If something is important to you, it will be important to your customers.
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Larry from Itak Heating & Cooling in New Jersey shares how he went from a problem solver to a Trusted Advisor and how that helped him find success with his HVAC career.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Finding a new process and changing old habits is hard.
- Asking questions shows that you care.
- Asking questions is not enough. You need to show that you listen and do something with that info.
- Stay on top of your training and practice so you don't lose skills.
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John from Hopkins in South Florida joins the podcast again to share how he stays motivated and constantly improves as an HVAC technician through coaching and training.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- How to learn the skill of goal-setting
- How goals lead to motivation
- Why coaching is so important
- What effective coaching looks and sounds like
- The right mindset about training
- How being an HVAC technician has changed his life
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Curtis from Patrick Riley in Arizona joins the podcast again to share how he approaches the HVAC off-season and makes the most of every single opportunity.
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Slow down, be really thorough, and don't miss details.
- Have the right mindset and ignore limiting beliefs about what people will spend.
- Focus on the right opportunities at the right times.
- Building trust and adjusting your strategy during each call.
- Don't get tunnel vision on just the equipment. There is so much more around the house.
- How he did $75,000 in revenue on a single, slow day.
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Chris from Russell's Heating Cooling Plumbing and Electric in Virginia shares how loving install work and the attention to detail of a good install helped him become a top HVAC technician and the lessons he has learned along the way.
Key Takeaways:
- How to constantly improve and get better through analyzing everything
- Follow a process so you can repeat what works and remove what doesn't
- Ask questions to understand the customer. Each one is different and needs to understand who they are
- Focus on engagement and trust
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Matt from Patrick Riley in Phoenix, Arizona, shares how HVAC technicians can bring more clarity and consistency to their results by getting clear and consistent with their process.
Key Takeaways:
- If you are guessing what to do on a call, you aren't following a clear process.
- Results won't be immediate when you change your process. You have to work at it and get through the "valley of woe."
- You have to have trust that the result of your process is to benefit the customer.
- How to stay proactive in finding ways to grow.
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Berto from Burkhardt Heating & Cooling in Wisconsin shares how learning to always provide options while showing empathy has taken his ability to help customers to new levels.Takeaways:
- Always Give Options to Customers for Every Scenario
- How to demonstrate empathy to build trust
- Slow down and ask better questions so that you can give the right options
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Morgan from Kellam Mechanical in Virginia shares his approach to taking care of his customers, which keeps him always booked for months out.
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Christian is a technician at Jackson & Foster Heating & Air Conditioning, and he shares how he's improved his revenue and found success without sounding like a salesperson.
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Richard from Kellam Mechanical in Virginia shares how he stays positive and focused on maintaining success year-round, even outside of demand seasons.
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Jeff from Blazer shares how using a consistent process for his calls led to more than doubling his revenue.
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Nathan from Harris shares how his process shows value by using curiosity and listening so it doesn't sound like he is just following a script.
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In this episode, Joe, a Technician at Kale Company Heating & Air Conditioning in Moline, IL, shares from his 34 years as an HVACTechnician.
Hear about how things have changed and why he has stayed with it for so long.
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Steve from Blair Heating & Air in California talks about how if you aren't careful, your ego will keep you from being successful with sales. Instead, he goes through tips for how to learn, listen, ask questions, and get better by removing your ego from your sales process.
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Charlie from George Brazil in Phoenix, Arizona, was rookie of the year last year in the SBE rankings. He shares how he is dialing in his process by not being afraid to try things and using each call to work on things to make his process better.
Regional Training Dates - Learn more and register at https://sbeodyssey.com/regional-training
Service Champions - Level 1
- SEPT 21 & 22: Nashville, TN
- OCT 2 & 3: Richmond, VA
- OCT 5 & 6: Virginia Beach, VA
- OCT 17 & 18: Charlotte, NC
Special Regional Training Events
Service Champions - Level 2
- SEPT 18 & 19: Houston, TX
Trusted Advisor for Comfort Consultants 2-Day
- SEPT 26 & 27: Phoenix, AZ
Service Champions - Level 1 (3-Day)
- OCT 2-4: Dallas, TX
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Cory Holman, co-owner of George Brazil in Phoenix, Arizona, explains the tough situations facing HVAC comfort consultants right now and how truly understanding consultative selling is the answer to overcoming them.
Join Cory's NEW Trusted Advisor Regional Training with SBE in Phoenix, AZ, on September 26th & 27th in the NEW state-of-the-art, million-dollar training facility at George Brazil/Patrick Riley. Save your seat at: sbeodyssey.com/regional-training/phoenixaz-2-day-trusted-advisor
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Jonathan from Woolridge Heating & Air Conditioning in Virginia shares from his vast experience of helping his customers. Using his story-based approach, Jonathan did over a million dollars in revenue last year outside of the demand season in the maintenance and tune-up seasons.
Register for Regional Training in a city near you at sbeodyssey.com/in-person-training
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Learn more about selling HVAC equipment with Forrest, an installer turned technician turned comfort consultant from Horne HVAC, as he transformed his sales by learning to bring organization to his thinking and process.
Listen in to discover the power of a well-defined plan combined with learning to appreciate practicing and training and how it turned Forrest into a sales success story.
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Curtis from Patrick Riley in Arizona shares his record-setting goals and his pace for the year. He shares how his mindset helps him avoid slumps and maximize every opportunity in his goal to go further than any technician in our program has gone before.
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Jason from Dunco Heating & Cooling in Lawrence, Kansas, shares how his strategy of getting incrementally better every year has enabled him to continually make his customers happier while focusing on improving and practicing his skills.
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Gerald from Kellam Mechanical in Virginia lived without HVAC, so he knows passionately the service he provides to his customers helps them be comfortable. Hear how after many years of running calls, he changed his mindset and, in return, achieved the success he never before imagined.
Want to get your techs ready for summer? Register for SBE's Regional Training. REGISTER HERE
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In this episode, Lamont Page, a Worley's Home Services technician in Yorktown, VA, shares insights on how to make the most of a career in the industry. He shares tips he learned from going from a "fix anything jack of all trades" to significantly increasing his sales revenue without any pushy or fake sales tactics.
In this episode, Coach & Trainer, Darbi Shumway talks with Marc Sawyer, GM at Russell's Heating Cooling Plumbing & Electric in VA, about how they continue to have multiple million-dollar technicians. You'll hear what a successful company thinks about training and what they do to make sure it's integrated into their daily business. Russell's is all about diving into training and getting better at it along the way. If you're a technician or a company looking for guidance and growth, this episode is for you.
Want to get your techs registered for SBE's Regional Training? It starts back up this April 2023. REGISTER HERE
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Tune in to hear Marc Sawyer, GM from Russell's Heating Cooling Plumbing & Electric in VA, talk about why he has flown his top technicians out to AZ every year for the past 5 years. Understand why Marc thinks the rewards they set up for their team are pivotal to their positive company culture. Hear about what drives his team to keep moving their goals higher each year. If you're struggling to motivate your team or if you're a team member struggling for motivation, then this episode is the right one for you! Listen for the key takeaways and start shooting for a celebration worth working for.
Want to learn more about the SBE Annual Conference?
Visit our website https://sbeodyssey.com and click the "Annual Conference" tab to learn more and register.
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John, a tech from Hopkins Air Conditioning in FL, shares how he doubled his annual revenue over last year by implementing a strong upfront contract with his customers that he learned from our Annual Conference.
Want to learn more about the SBE Annual Conference?
Visit our website https://sbeodyssey.com and click the "Annual Conference" tab to learn more and register.
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Reyna from Air Specialty in Norfolk, VA shares how she went from a tech to a selling tech to full-time sales by getting really good at selling systems.
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In this episode, SBE's VP of Coaching & Training, Will Smith talks to Chris Horne, Owner of Horne Heating and Air Conditioning (& SBE Coach), about how to get everyone in the company focused on changing gears and making the most of maintenance season.
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Cory Holman, Co-Owner of George Brazil Air Conditioning and Heating, joins the podcast again to talk about why goal setting is a must for every technician who wants to improve.
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SBE's 2021 #1 Ranked Technician Justin from Russell's in VA shares how his career as an HVAC technician skyrocketed after he learned a process for fully taking care of his customers. Find out what motivates him to constantly train and improve to be the best.
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George Brazil Air Conditioning and Heating Co-Owner Cory Holman and creator of the Trusted Advisor process shares why building trust is the key to success with selling and how to avoid acting and sounding like a salesperson.
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Tune in to hear from Eric and Katie Snyder, the owners of EMS Heating & Air, as they share the story of how they and EMS have grown. Not only are they owners of EMS, but Eric is still a very busy and successful technician in the field. EMS was founded in 2009, but 2018 was when the business really started taking off.
Eric shares some of the keys to success as a technician that also greatly impact the success of a company:
- Talking to people.
- Sell maintenance agreements!
- Be coachable and put in the work.
- Build trust with customers.
- Role play and practice your process!
- Do what's best for the customer.
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Hear from HVAC Technician Will Calhoun of NWA Cooling & Heating in Rogers, Arkansas. Will grew up in the HVAC industry but has seen a lot of success as a tech at fairly young age. Will’s 2021 revenue was close to $800,000 and he’s on track to do well over $1 million for 2022!
Will shares what has helped him become more successful and what’s different now versus a few years ago, including:
· Sticking to a process
· Consistency
· Focus
· Good communication with customers
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If you're listening to this episode when it's first released, it is the middle of the summer busy season for HVAC technicians! But even if it's not summer, every tech experiences at least one busy season per year (and often 2!) and many techs struggle with chaos in the midst of these busy times.
Tune in to hear as I speak to Darbi Brisbon, Coach and Trainer at SBE, about the 3 steps to avoid this chaos and the practical tips you need to do these steps:
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Have a process. This is simple but it isn't necessarily easy!
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Communicate with your co-workers and managers and let them know how they can help you more successful.
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Monitor your emotions and your customers' emotions to help build relationships and trust.
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Tune in to hear from 2 techs who work together regularly, and always make sure to have a little fun while working hard - Josh Heinen and Taylor Tobias of All Service Heat & Air. Both techs have seen significant improvements in their overall truck revenue in the last few years, without working longer and harder and while still having fun.
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Are you ready to have your best summer yet as an HVAC tech? Join me as I talk to Aleks Ozgur, Coaching & Training Operations Manager at SBE, about how to stay focused and consistent during the busiest time of year for many HVAC technicians. Aleks shares practical tips and tricks you can put into practice today to help you take better care of your customers and have a more successful summer.
"What's fast is slow and what's slow is fast." ~ Aleks Ozgur
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Meet Jon Orr of Blazer Heating & Air. He switched from being an installer to a service tech halfway through 2020…and then doubled his income in 2021! In his first full year as a residential HVAC technician! Not only that, but he’s not working nearly as hard as he used to. His revenue in 2021 was just under $788,000. Pretty impressive for a new tech. What's his secret? He follows a consistent process. Here are the key parts of the process for him:
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Calling the customer on the way to their home.
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Having an upfront contract with the customer.
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Showing or sending pictures and videos to the customer.
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Tune in to learn the secrets of successful HVAC Technician Nathan Carter of Harris Air Services! Nathan's 2021 annual revenue was $990,000, and he is on track to increase that by 50% to $1.5 million for 2022! What's more, Nathan's close rate for new systems is 40%!
Here are a few of Nathan's key tips for success:
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Don't memorize a script...make any questions or responses you learn your own.
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Don't forget your process! Follow it, even on demand calls. And be sure to ask how long they want their system to last.
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Get permission from the customer to inspect their whole HVAC system.
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Secure the repair(s) needed first; then bring up the option for a new system.
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Hear from HVAC Technician Derrick Dixon of Dale's Heating & Air. Derrick's 2021 annual revenue was $1,060,000, and he has set his sights on hitting $1.3 million for 2022!
2021 was Derrick's first full year as a selling tech and he shares what has helped him be successful. One of those keys to his success has been the decision to work at Dale's Heating & Air - a place with great company culture, an awesome team, an investment in training, and work-life balance.
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Summer is coming and it is full of calls on systems that are 10+ years old - which are the exact systems that you want to capture and keep in your pipelines! There is so much opportunity available and unfortunately it is easy to get missed without a very intentional and strategic effort.
Tune into this episode to learn why maintenance agreements are a key to your success and to learn the 3 steps to selling maintenance agreements:
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At the beginning of the call, ask the customer "When was the last time you had maintenance done on your system?"
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When you're doing the tour of the home and reach the outdoor unit, ask the question "How long do you want your system to last?"
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Reinforce the value of maintenance agreements.
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Are you a tech that's tired of missing time with family and friends? Are you working like crazy but money is still tight? There is a better way and Jeff Williams, and HVAC Tech at Blazer Heating and Air will tell you about that way! Tune in to hear how Jeff made a change in his career when his wife was pregnant with their first child, and how that change helped give him life balance and gave him and his family financial freedom.
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Do you dread going on maintenance visits? What if we told you that maintenance visits are a huge opportunity for techs! That's right. They are. Don't believe it? Then tune into this episode to hear SBE Coach and Trainer, Derrek Hofrichter, talk about the top 5 ways to maximize HVAC maintenance visits:
- Make a great first impression
- Include the homeowner
- Follow a consistent process 100% of the time
- Slow down and uncover problems
- Document everything with photos and videos
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On the very first episode of the SBE Trusted Technician Podcast we have a special guest!
Hear from HVAC Technician Ricky Garland from Wally Falke's Heating & Air Conditioning. Ricky finished out 2021 as the #7 Technician in the Top 100 SBE Technician Rankings.
Insights from Ricky include:
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Shifting his mindset from a Maintenance Tech to a top 10 tech ($1.6 million revenue in 2021).
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Going from running 10-12 calls a day to 5 while dramatically increasing revenue and opportunities.
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Having a process for everything and consistently sticking to it.
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Increasing sales without feeling like you are selling.
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Needing coaching and training and actually listening to it!
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How do you sell without being salesy?
On this episode of the SBE Trusted Technician Podcast, tune in to hear how techs can sell without being salesy! Hear from Will Smith, our very own Vice President of Coaching and Training at SBE. Will explains:
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How and why our Trusted Advisor process started.
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What the Trusted Advisor process is.
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Things you can start doing today to build trust with your customers.
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Tune in to this episode of The Trusted Technician to hear how Caleb, an experienced HVAC tech who says he did it so wrong for so long increased his annual revenue from 2020 to 2021 by $400,000!
Caleb shares the key things he did to become a more successful HVAC Tech:
- Stopped selling.
- Sold more IAQ products.
- Discovered the power of showing pictures and videos to customers.
- Being quiet more.
- Asking more questions.
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Listen in to find out what The Trusted Technician will be about and why we started this podcast.