Welcome to Close it now, the podcast that's revolutionizing the H Vac and home improvement trades industries. Get ready to dive deep into the world of heating, ventilation and air conditioning. We're turning up the heat on industry standards and cooling down misconceptions. And we're not just talking about fixing vents and adjusting thermostats. It's about the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H Vac and home improvement. We're the driving force, inspiring top performers who create excellence not only in their professional endeavors, but also in fitness, nutrition, relationships, and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all. This is Close it now, where excellence meets excitement. Let's get to work now your host, Sam Wakefield.

Well, all right. Welcome back to Close It Now. Sam Wakefield here today we have our blessed with an incredible guest today. I'm super excited about it. And also this is one of the things. Our guest today is someone who is insanely inspiring, insanely motivating, and proves that there is no such thing as limits. Our limit is only in our mind. It's only in our head. We can literally do anything we set our mind to do and want to accomplish. That's why I'm so excited about our guest today. He is the the regional manager for Air Pros. Now listen to this, everybody. At 26 years old, she is the regional manager for a $50 million a year company, which is incredible and awesome and she has clearly earned the right to be in this position because of the result. Results prove someone's worth. We're not in a society anymore where just because you have a degree means you're going to be successful. Results driven performance is what our whole industry is about. And I know that this person is so involved with that and it shows in everything she does. So, so excited to introduce our guest today. Brianna McAdori, college dropout and regional manager of a $50 million a year company. Thank you for being on the show today.

Thank you so much, Sam, for having me. I'm definitely happy to be here. It's nice to be able to push the word out there that it doesn't matter who you are or where you came from, you can be as successful as you put your mind to.

Love it, love it, love it. So thanks for being on the show today. We always like to start with, where'd you come from? I mean, everybody listening, at first glance, we talked about this. So at first glance, everybody listening is like, 26 year old woman running a $50 million company. How is that even Possible, let alone why should we listen? One for everybody. Listen, listen. Because of that Intrigue piece. But more importantly, give us a highlight reel. How in the world did you get where you are from, where you came from?

So I'm from a little bit everywhere. The majority of my life, I lived in New Orleans. That's where I would say I'm technically from. I was in New Orleans for about 10, 12 years and went to high school there. Graduated a year and a half early from high school at 16, fresh out of high school, moved out on my own and had to find a real job while I was in college. So I got a full paid scholarship to Loyola University for six years to go to school to be a lawyer because I'm very good at arguing. So what better career than a lawyer? In the meantime of going to school, I needed a professional job. I wanted to get some professional setting experience. And so a friend of mine told me an H Vac company was hiring for a customer service rep. Now, meanwhile, I'm in an apartment. I don't even know how to change the filter on the air conditioning system there, but I'm like, yeah, whatever I put my mind to, I'll figure it out. So I interviewed for the position and started as a CSR at 17 years old in this industry, convinced that I'm going to be a lawyer. And boy, did my world change quite quickly. About a year in, I really invested a lot of time into the business and started being promoted up to dispatcher office manager by year 2. I realized I can make more money in H vac than I can being a lawyer without going to school for six years. So I took the leap of faith and I dropped out of college, put my all into the business and worked there for five years. And we grew the business from three and a half million to 28 million in three and a half years. So the first years we were kind of coasting through, they invested a lot of training into me because I put a lot of time and effort into it, and I just had to really focus on my mindset, and I'm very passionate. So I come from a very addictive background with my parents. I grew up a pretty rough childhood, and I chose for my addiction to be worked. So that's really what drove me, and I wanted to ensure that I was the complete opposite of everything that I've come from.

I love it. I love it. So let's unpack that a little bit. So you started at 17 as a CSR, and by 19, you were running the entire Call center. Is that what I heard?

The call center and the dispatch department?

Yes, and the Dispatch department at 19. That is incredible in its own. Because you chose to be someone worth, you know, worth leading people. You know, how. What were the big moments of, like, you started to realize that when you. You have the mindset and the skill set to be able to be a leader, let alone, I mean, do the work. But now we're talking about leadership. We're talking about some different things than just being a really good csr. Right. So where were some of those moments when you're like, you know what? I can take on this responsibility. I do want to grow into those other positions. Where was the big change happen for you?

So I found that I'm very blessed in the childhood that I grew up. I've been a leader from the jump. So I raised my brother and sister at a very young age and had to kind of take charge. So I'm aged well beyond my years. I noticed when I got. When I was onboarded, the manager that trained me, I picked up on some of the things that she did that I liked, some things that I didn't like, and I took all those attributes and a lot of YouTube videos on leadership and put that into my training with the staff. So one of the biggest signs was they would come to me. They wanted to follow me. If I brought up a new idea, they jumped all over it, okay, let's try this. Because they trusted me, and the things that I had rolled out had been proven to be successful. And I didn't feel that I was better then because we were on the same level. That's how I treated them. And essentially they just wanted to follow me. The owner noticed, everyone in the building noticed, and it just took off from there.

Oh, I love it. I am going to make a quick note because there's something I want to come back around to that is really powerful, which is when you're rolling out. We'll talk about this more in depth, but I want to talk about. Because I know so many leaders, so many owners in our industry struggle with, and I'm sure you've heard the same kind of thing is I have these ideas for the company, for the team, for processes, for systems, but how do we roll them out in a way where people are, where they will. They'll adopt it, where they engage, where they actually like the idea, they embrace the idea and even try it. And not to get the resistance and the pushback from the. From employees and from people on the team. Because I'M sure you hear that too. It's like, I have all these things that I want to try, but I get nothing but constant battle from my team every time we try to roll something new. So what's that like, how do we properly pitch things to the team? You're saying everybody's on board and they're excited because they trust you. Like, what's the difference there versus people that struggle with have this idea everybody? And they're like, oh, another one of these things and we don't want to try it.

So there's levels to it. The first level is you have to be a leader, not a manager. You have to ensure that your team trusts and respects you. And before you're going to get the open mindedness. And once you get to that level, you also have to be very particular about how you implement things. Make it their idea, have them partake in the idea. So what's the root problem that you're having? What do you feel is the solution? Now you drop little nuggets about this issue. Oh well, for dispatching, for instance, you want to turn, I turn the dispatch features off for the technicians to dispatch themselves. Dispatchers lost their mind at first, right? They're like, oh my gosh, we're going to have to dispatch them ourselves. Well, so then I turned it, turned it back on and then the complaints were, oh, they're just dispatching to the next call and not finishing their calls. And I'm like, wow, yeah, that sucks. I wonder if there's something that we could do about that. And just keep dropping these little golden nuggets and then, and then you have, have a meeting with them. You're like, okay guys, these, this is the issue that we're having. What do you think that we can do to fix this problem? Let them talk and lead them to that solution and then have them partake in it. When it's their idea, it's a great idea. When it's your idea, it's not always a great idea. And then, you know, you win together, you lose together, right? If works out great, fantastic. They feel so good about themselves and it empowers them. And then if we lose, guess what? We lose together. I approved this implementation, this process and we're just going to try something else, we're going to roll with it. And like I said, it's trust, respect and have them be involved even if they can't create the exact solution for you and you don't know how to lead them into that direction. Have them partake in It, Hey, I'm thinking this may be a good idea. What do you think is going to work with this? What isn't going to work? Let's, let's jot some notes down. How can we make this work? So that's a big culture that I've created is I don't want to hear that we can't do it. How can we do it now? When the how can we do it solution sounds absolutely bananas, then we, okay, then maybe that's not something we're going to roll with, but we want to make sure we keep a positive mindset on everything this industry is ever changing.

Yeah, absolutely. Oh, I love this too. This is, it's when, when they are so involved in co creating the systems and, and I love this so much. This is, I mean, part of the way that I train for, you know, for sales and that kind of thing is helping the homeowner to co create projects so they can't say no to it. They're on board with it and it closes at the table. It's the same thing with our team, right. It's like they've got to be on board. We have to remember our employees are customer number one.

Correct.

We take care of our, our employees. Right. And our team.

Right.

They take in turn take care of our homeowners correctly.

Right, Absolutely. I've always believed in that. Employees first, customer second. Because if you take care of your employees, right, they're always going to take care of your customers.

I love this. So good. So we're into your, your growth journey into leadership. A couple years in, you're running the, you know, a couple divisions in the company. Then you, then you continue to grow. Right. And so now you're into this place where you are now. How did you get, how were you promoted to this position with Air Pro? So like where, how did that jump happen?

So that's an interesting jump and not one that people like talking about too much. Right. So given my success and you know, the, what I've built myself up to, I'm now very comfortable talking about it. I worked at the last company I was with for five years. Everyone has downfalls, right? Everyone gets dropped to the bottom of the barrel at some point. And that happened to me in August of 2021. My father unexpectedly passed away and I was currently going through a divorce at that time as well. So I'm one of the strongest people that I know. I felt that I can overcome anything like I did in my life. It hit me pretty hard. So, so I was not myself. For about a month, four to six weeks at work. I was doing the bare minimum to get by, and it wasn't really sustainable for the company. So the company brought me in and told me that unfortunately, I've been going through a lot right now, and they can't really partake in that. It's affecting the company too bad. So they let me go. So that was a huge rock bottom for me in my career because I put my all into everything to a fault sometimes. And I put my all into that company for five years. And I went home, I cried for a couple of days, and then I applied at every company that I possibly could, whether it was a CSR position, dispatcher. I needed to get back in the trades in another business. I sent my resume over on Facebook messenger for businesses that weren't hiring, because if they see me, they're gonna want to hire me. They need me. And this was kind of during COVID time. So when I did interviews, I'm not oblivious. I'm a young woman. A lot of older people look at me like I'm a child, and they don't believe that a woman should run a business. So I wouldn't turn my camera on. So that way they couldn't see that I was so young, because you could tell that I'm young. And I interviewed. And within the first week, I had 20 offers, half of them being double what I was already making at my last company. So honestly, it's the best thing that could have ever happened to me. And one of those offers happened to be from. From Hanson, so here at Hanson Supertex. And I got hired on as a service operations manager. I had no idea what that meant, but I was going to do it.

I love it. So, you know, the cool thing that I'm hearing here too, is one that winners don't, like, really suffer through setbacks. Yes, it hurts. And also, you know who you are and the level that you can produce and perform, so. So everybody listening? When things in life happen like that. Yes. Take some time to go through the process. Try your eyes out for a couple days. You know, I've had those moments in my life where it's like, oh, my God, this sucks. But boy, one of those lessons is like, give your choose a timeline to go through the valley of despair with a set ending time. And it's like, okay, it's like, yes, give yourself grace for those emotions and those feelings. They're valid, but how do we get past it? Right.

Correct. And that's what I did. For myself. So I said, you know, I'll give myself a couple of days before I start interviewing. But while I was in bed, I am eating ice cream, all that good stuff. I was applying online at every company that I could possibly apply to. So by time I got over my. My stump, then I was headstrong. And one thing I've always believed in is every tragedy that's ever happened in my life, there was a beautiful outcome. There was an amazing opportunity that was at the end of that road. So I just focused on that. I knew that there was something greater than what I currently could feel and realize on the other side. So I just had to keep pushing for that. And boy was there, because I got an amazing opportunity with an amazing company. Absolutely love every single employee that I have. And we just have such a wonderful operation here. And had I not went through that, then I wouldn't be here today.

Sure. And so how long have you been at Hanson Supertext@AirPros?

Two and a half years.

Two and a half years. So take everybody through the growth journey there, because I know, I know your numbers there are really fun to cover as well.

Yeah. So whenever I started at Hanson, I was the service operations manager. First goal, fixed goal, call center dispatch. Train the service technicians and sales guys on a process. There was the call center. Dispatch was one department. Like there was no separation. They dispatched by location and would just pile 10, 15 calls on each tech and the tech would choose what call they went to when. So a whole lot of work I had out for me. So I started there. So I'm very grateful that I started in one department because I worked through the process, trained the dispatchers how to dispatch for profit. We turned off the dispatching features for the technicians. We got them aligned in what actual processes and that we need to make sure we take our time and build value with our customers. The CSRs got trained up and then from there, I was promoted over to the operations manager. As operations manager, I started focusing on the company as a whole. Right. So the leadership team, the plumbing and electrical department, because we do have all three trades here and implementing all new processes. So the business was a $35 million business whenever I started. 65% commercial, 35% residential. And I had not a clue about commercial business. So it was a learning for me too. Completely new. So I had to figure out, how does commercial work? Why do we have so much ar? How do you fix this? What's a payout from? So we had a lot of changes. And throughout that journey, residential is my bread and butter. It's what I've always done. So we transitioned our customer base too. So we're now 95% residential, 5% commercial, and we'll do 50 million this year. So we've had a long journey. We have processes and procedures galore. I mean implementation and change is nothing to my team now. But that essentially shows you what happens when you really hone in on SOPs. Because it was a 30 million dollar business and people didn't have job descriptions or processes built out in. In the new age. Right. It was a large business. We had a lot of change. And that's leaps and bounds.

Yeah. Oh, I can totally imagine. And that's for everybody listening. There's never. And I'm sure you would agree with this, and we'll have you talk about this in a minute, of how the kind of some best practices for recognizing where a missing SOP and SOP for everybody. That's your system of procedure. Right. So what is the actual. What are the steps in this role and tasks? But I'd love for you to talk a little bit about how to recognize where a missing procedure is or a missing SOP is and how to maybe put together some just bones and some skeleton around how to develop that in a. Because there's so many companies just like you just described everywhere. From, you know, tiny companies through. I mean I've worked with companies that are, you know, $100 million a year that are still missing procedures. They just have a few great people in place that run the show. But if that person left, the company goes into shambles because it's built around a person, not a procedure. So how do we recognize where we're missing those procedures and start to develop something in place of that?

So I always start. We're at the top of the company. So the start when the customer calls in. That is your first form of defense to the customer. That's the first relationship the call center. So I always focus there. So you got to. You have to know your numbers. You have to know your numbers. Look at your KPIs, what's your booking percentage, what's your cancellation rate, what's your reschedule rate? How long are the CSRs actually on the phone with these customers? Train them to actually have a process, make sure they're gathering proper information. Because who would have known? It's important to know if the system's 10 years or older. Right. It's very crucial to know the age of the system and make sure you're actually talking to the homeowner. Focus in there and as you're working in your processes, write them out and have each person have a job description and make them sign it. If it's written, it is real. Make sure they fully understand. From there. I move over to the dispatch department. Are you actually dispatching for profits? You have to look at your technician KPIs. What is each technician's turnover percentage? How often are they going to a system and turning it over for a replacement opportunity? What's their conversion? How often are they running a call and actually collecting something? Because if they're only collecting a diagnostic, a customer is paying you to walk away. So there's no sense in that. Right. How many $0 tickets do you have? So that's going to fix your dispatching for profits area to make sure. Right call right tech. If this guy has a high turnover rate and older opportunities, he needs to get those calls. Write that process down. The good thing about this trade is there's so many resources. You can reach out to hundreds of people and get processes from them and compare. And I'm always open to it too. I love talking, talking H Vac, right? Plumbing, electrical, all of it. Processes. Once you train your dispatchers, then you move to your technicians because 80% of the businesses are more.95%. However many techs you have, that's how many companies you have. I had 30, 30 companies in the field. No one was doing the same process.

Right.

Doing the same thing. You know, you never know what service you're going to get. Maybe it's all good, but it's all different. They need consistency. You need to make sure that they have actual process that they're performing out on site with the customer.

Sure, absolutely. And you know, I ran into that years ago in our company. The reason I started, you know, we, I started with the company, we were less than. Just like you, less than 3 million at the last place I was at here in Austin. And the same thing every single time we went out. The homeowner's getting a completely different experience. I told the owner, I was like, we will never be able to grow and scale like this. You have no idea what's going on. And so totally the same thing. So question then when you've got. Because that's. Technicians are, as we know are a lot of times some of the most cantankerous people in the field because of just their, their mindset. The way that they think is technical. It's very black and white normally and there's a lot of drama that can happen if things aren't handled properly. So how in the world did you get 30, you know, would you say 33 different companies, 30 companies all on board into the same one? Help everybody with some timelines because this is not something that happens overnight. You don't roll something out. Once they say something one time, roll it out and expect it to happen. When you're converting a division like that into adoptive process one, how do you start that? Because we talked about the team conversation earlier and making it their idea, but over time, one, how, how long does it take to start really making a solid turn to see those results start to change? And is there a limiting factor on how long or short it takes, what speeds that process, and then how to get into that team?

So I'm two and a half years in here. The first year was the full on implementation for us to really perfect what we do. And we still have to train on it every week. We have to train on it. Just like the NFL. You're not going to have your best player on the field and not practice all week, right? He's practicing every single day. We have to practice every day. I believe in team ambassadors for implementation like this. So imagine me, 23 years old, walking into a group of 35 technicians from Mobile, Alabama, and I'm from New Orleans, blonde hair, blue eyes, look like I'm 20. You know, obviously I believe a word I said. They're like, who is this girl? Like, she doesn't know.

What's this Instagram model here trying to tell us what to do?

Yeah. Looking at me like I'm absolutely crazy. Like, the good news is, as a woman, you can use it as a superpower. They'd pay attention. Doesn't mean they believe me. So definitely didn't believe me. So I, we, we went over the process, you know, we talked about it. What can, how can this affect you? So one of the biggest shockers for me is you have to learn your team, right? You have to know what they're looking for. My last business, it was money. They were money motivated. So I went directly into this business thinking, okay, they're all money motivated. This is going to be easy. I'm about to show them their average ticket is $5,500. Yeah, we're going to triple that. And I went over that way immediately. The guys were like, no, no, no, no, no. Like, we're not here for money. Like, it's not about that. We need to take care of our customers. And I was like, okay, this is not saying we're not going to take care of the customers. I had to completely change the approach because I did not take the time to make sure I understood what they're looking for. They were looking for to make sure that what does the customer get out of this? Which I absolutely loved because a lot of people don't focus on that. So you have to find the root of what, what is going to make them want to change. And in this case it was the value this customer is going to get from this process is worth far more money than they've ever, ever received before. You know, we, we purchased by a parent company of Air Pros. So that was a change. Well, now you are able to get more for your money. We were able to afford higher innovative technology. We're taking your entire system apart, doing a full clean test and inspect before we do anything, which is completely set us apart from everyone else. And that's the service we're providing. That's why we need to do it, to take care of our customers. So I trained, we trained with a couple of technicians that were really good technicians, open minded, wanting to improve. Everyone's got to have at least one or two of those guys. When they learned that process and they bought into it and they started making more money, their customers were happier. It spreads like cancer, right? It spreads. So then everybody's like, oh well, let me try using this process, right? So then they get bought into it and then once, once they're bought into it, now it's a requirement, right? This is, you know, this is, it is what it is. And everyone who learns this process that's fit to be here and that knows what we're looking to do for our customers, they love it. I mean, this is just what we do. Yes, it's more time consuming, but we're here to take care of our customers and make sure we provide them with multiple options. And you can't implement anything unless you know what your team is looking for. That's the biggest thing. It took us a year, I would say, to fully perfect it, a couple of months to really start to spread throughout the entire team. But there are steps with that. You don't just wait around for someone to say, hey, you know, I want to do it now, right? So you start with a couple and you're implementing small pieces in the back end. So, so we started with a couple and the back end we were doing, we were opening slack channels for all the techs. We're just using this for communication to check in, you know, make sure you don't need anything. We're getting rid of the dispatch phones. So we're slowly implementing these processes in the meantime until we get to the end.

I love it. I love it. So let want to pause here super quick and pull out the golden nuggets from that because you went through, you probably just dropped 20 golden nuggets on everybody listening in. That super seems like a super quick explanation. But everybody listen, go back and, and listen to that again and unpack it a little bit. First thing is the time it takes to actually make effective change in an organization. For most people listen to this, it's longer than you think it's going to be. But also measure the gain, not the gap. You don't set up this, you know the ideal and then only ever beat people up if they don't achieve it. Start and start measuring successful progress along the way to keep everybody involved, keep everybody on track there. And I love that. The way you describe that reminds me of John Maxwell 21 irrefutable laws of leadership. I read years ago. This talks exactly that. Find the influencers in your organization, get them on board first and then from there is where it grows. So thanks for sharing that. That's super powerful. So you're now at a $50 million. Your organization obviously not stopping there and converted from 65% commercial to 95% residential even if it stayed at 35 million a year. What did that. I want to cover this super quick. What did that do to your margins and your bottom line by converting to so much more residential versus commercial?

I mean double digit profits all day long. The business, the, the, the, the profit margins on residential is just through the roof. Right. So reduce the AR tremendously. So now you're not waiting months and fighting with contractors over payments. And look, we still do some commercial. I'm not anti commercial by any means. But the residential, your margins are a lot better. You're. You, you can easily run 65 plus gross profit on these jobs. Your, your labor is more set in stone. I know that we can do two to three change out today. Right. So I'm hitting my gross margin per crew times two. We're making sure that everything is covered and we're collecting our money upon completion. There's no upfront out of pocket costs. We're taking care of everything right then and there. So it was completely different. I mean we had, we had a lot of work to get there and it helped that my bread and butter is residential. So I love residential. It's easier to train the technicians on we build those relationships in our community and we're able to touch so many more customers than just a couple of large commercial jobs.

Right. I love this and I feel the same. I wanted everyone to hear that from you though, because the so many times when I'm working with people, they're like, you know, I have this. We're split with commercial. I've got all of this volume coming through. I know it doesn't pay much, but it sure, it keeps my, my guys. And what they don't realize is the opportunity lost that they could replace this 8% margin job or 10% margin or 3% margin job with one that's 50 or 55 or 60 or 65%. So there's that opportunity loss that most people miss in this conversation. Is that something you can cover a little bit?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean the majority of commercial jobs, at least for this particular area, we were looking at 50, 60% costs on materials and equipment alone. Like that already is only leaving you 40% left over. And then you still 30 to 40%, you still have labor to cover, you still have overhead and bills to cover. Whereas on H Vac we can easily sell a replacement for 15 to 20% material cost. And even if you're selling at 25 to 35%, you're still so much in the green, people get scared by the volume. Right. So a commercial job is. You could do one, one million dollar commercial job and it's, it's such a lot of, it's so much money in revenue. Well, if that's 60, if that's. Let's do nice, let's be nice. If that's 50% equipment costs, 20% labor, that's 30% gross profit. First of all, is very rarely ever going to happen on a commercial job. And then you do that volume at residential and you're at 20% material cost, 20% total labor. Now you have 60% gross profit. It's about the money that's in your pocket at the end of the day, not the top dollar revenue. Right. So that's the biggest focus is to make sure you're very profitable. And if you have a large commercial business, you can convert and get a lot more residential customers. Contact all your commercial contracts, offer the employees a maintenance for free, offer them a discounted maintenance contract. Now you're in their door, they're happy with what you did. Now they're telling their friends and then it just cascades from there. So that's one of the biggest things we did to really drive some additional residential Clients as we utilized our commercial clients to do so.

Yeah. Oh, I love this. And this is thinking outside the box. It's those things that we have access to, we could easily do. Just nobody thinks we already have this massive client base. Let's talk to them. They all work, they all live somewhere. Right. They have to use somebody at their home.

Yeah, they have homes. And then usually when you're doing commercial, you're dealing with the general contractor. You have the actual location. And a lot of times, a lot of people do the new build construction for commercial. Right. So they're about to hire all these new employees. So my contract also comes with a perk. All your new employees get a free maintenance for a year.

Brilliant. I love this.

Their employment at this new business. And then we've gotten a couple of bids extra just by that extra offer because now they get an extra perk for their employees too. And then we're getting in their doors and we just need to get your door on time. And then you're going to call us back every time.

Oh my gosh. And for everybody listen. And like employers and commercial, the people love if they can give extra value to their employees without costing them anything. I don't, I can't really think of many places that would say no to that. So that's massive value for one. But two, it's so cool. I mean, and so many times, everybody listen. I know you've done this. You've gone into these, into your commercial accounts and you start talking to them and they have no. Because that's the way that they have seen your company. Most people just think, well, that's all they do. So they don't even think to call you for residential. So having the communication, having that conversation and making sure that all of your commercial pants also know that you do residential is step one. If we don't tell them, we might as well not be doing it. So man, I love this. So thank you for that. That's, that's a, that's a big nugget for everybody out there listening. Implement that right away because it'll make a big difference for you. So we've got. So now we're in this place here. $50 million a year. You're crushing it. You're doing some cool stuff. Big weekend already into. And we're in in April. You know, you've done several hundred thousand dollars in the last three or four days and prepping for summer. What are some of the. Because, because you're so. Operations. I love these kind of questions. What are some of the maybe top two or three things that you've done with your organization, with your team to prep them and really get ready for launching into this summer, this year because we know it's going to be a crazy one. We've got a lot of pinup replacement from the last few years that hasn't happened that we're working towards. What are some preparation things organizations can do to kind of get ready to capitalize this year.

So number one thing is train, train, train, train. So now is the time of year that you have. Well, we're coming out of it now. Right. But the last several months these are the time to capitalize on training. So we add additional trainings in during the week. Every department does a training at minimum one hour a week, every individual department. So we usually we take that up a notch. Usually we'll turn into two a week to hyper focus on training, make sure that we're prepping up for, for the summertime. We're role playing scenarios of objections, we're role playing urgency, we're role playing our process. We're making it fun. We play games. We just did a couple weeks ago. We played Tech Jeopardy and the guys had a blast. So you know, in the jeopardy there was role playing categories of objections and leading with airflow first. How do you explain to a customer that they have a bad duck system? So we go over all these things every single week to prep to prepare us. Same thing like, like I say in sports, NFL, NBA, they're practicing non stop preparing for big game day. This is our big game day and we're ready. On top of that, make sure we get as many of our customers spring tune ups done in advance because once the heat hits we're going to be focused on the emergency situations. Yeah, we hyper focus on training our call center to make sure they book every call. I mean right now it's interesting, I actually have, I get a text message every time we don't book a call and this is kind of a large organization for that. But because we're hyper focusing on insurance, we're able to book every call and in order to do that you have to inspect what you expect. And this is our hyper focus. So we have, we build a schedule out of what we're going to focus on to prep for the summertime and it's train, train, train. That's what we work on. Technical training, process, training operational. And the second biggest thing is recruiting. We are always recruiting but we are hyper focused on recruiting throughout the fall because not Many others are looking to recruit during the fall. You're going to find the best years and the A players. This is their down season. Good luck finding a player during the summer. Right now is the time to recruit and focus on making sure you're bringing in the A players and preparing for summertime to where you're ready to take over.

I love this. So drive down the recruiting road a little bit because recruiting is also something that most people don't have a very good handle on or even know how to get started. They're. They think recruiting is putting up a zip recruiter ad and you know, some monster. Well, I guess not monster, but putting the ad on LinkedIn and, you know, hoping for the best and well, nobody's coming to me. Well, most people forget that all of the best people are already working for somebody else. We're only finding unemployed people in those places mostly. Let's talk about recruiting because there's some, definitely some power ways to recruit that most people miss.

Yeah, so I get very creative with recruiting. Anyone who knows technicians, tradesmen, they don't really want to go online and fill out an application. They'd rather just stay where they're at than deal with that. Right. They're not going to go and build a resume. You're not going to find many that'll do that. Every. Every one of our managers, all of our employees, for one, we do a recruiting bonus. So if an employee refer someone to get hired on with us, then they'll get $1,000 and then they'll get $500 when they make a year as well. So we do a awesome recruiting bonus to where we have our employees recruiting for us because those are your number one recruiters. Our leadership team's always recruiting. I carry business cards around. If I'm at a gas station, a grocery store, someone has phenomenal customer service. I'm giving them a business card and I'm talking to them about what we do and who we are. You give me a call, I talk to all of our vendors, make sure that they're recruiting for us. I've also, when we were in a sit, we really needed more techs. When we had a restructure, I paid a gas station $100 for every person they sent over to me. They're looking at techs all day.

Love it.

Yeah, talk about us. And we sat flyers out on the counter for them for Hanson. We're hiring. Pass it out, give it to people so we can bring some technicians in because techs aren't looking for jobs. Typically, very rarely are you really going to see an A player look for a job. You have to find them. So another creative thing that we do is we have in house job fairs. So I've done this in my, in my past. We're moving into a new building here where we'll have space. So next month is going to be our first one here. We have a, on a Saturday, couple hours, couple employees, couple of managers, food, drinks, snacks, walk on in, open interviews, come have a good time, get to know us. Because the texts are not going to want need to come in during the week they're working, give them a free open space. Don't worry about an application, just come in and have a conversation. Conversations are free, will feed you while you're here. And I've hired so many technicians and CSRs and dispatchers and installers by those job fairs because they're available on the weekend and it's an hour or two they stop in, get some food. So a lot of them will stop in with their kids. We'll meet the team, we'll talk about what we do here. They don't have to worry about all the paperwork. Obviously that comes at the end. Right. But we're going to have a conversation. You have to make it easy for them. It's. And then the last thing I'll say is geofence. The competitors that have really good employees.

So unpack that for us. When you say geofence, most people are thinking, oh, we're going to put a fence around so they can't get out or what?

No, no. So another thing I've done marketing wise for recruiting is you can set geofences. So I would contact whoever you do market with because I'm not a marketing expert. I just know that this works and I've done it many times before. And it essentially makes it to where every time someone walks in that supply house or that business or wherever you select a certain neighborhood ad pops up that you're hiring. So imagine every time they walk into the main supply house in your town, an ad pops up. Hanson Super Techs hiring for technicians, top pay, uncapped income. Right. So they're right there. They're probably aggravated because it's early in the morning, they're getting equipment, they're like maybe I should apply there. That's it's a great opportunity and that's where your people are going to be.

I can really imagine too that that specific ad, you can really be very specific in the wording and talk to that individual and even if like, we know that. I'm going to give a random example. If we know that one big company in town who's got a lot of a players has one specific problem that they complain about, we can even message in our ad directly to that type of problem. We don't have this, this, this very generic. We're not pointing fingers, but you won't ever have to experience that with us. Xyz, Right?

Yes, exactly. Because I mean, most areas, if you, if you know that you have a competitor, you know something about them. Right. So you can be very, very intentional with your, your postings. Absolutely. Because. And they're not going to think about that, but it's going to trigger something like. So I don't have to deal with that there. Like if you're someone who doesn't offer on call and you want to hire from technicians from companies that have technicians, but they do on call and obviously they'd rather not have it. No on call. Give us a call. Be specific about exactly what, what will trigger them to get them to call you.

Right? Yeah. Really speak into the pain points. Right?

Absolutely.

Of course. This is such a great conversation too, that ties into, you know, obviously the, the main theme of this podcast is sales. And you know how even more than that communication, we know sales is really just getting better at communicating and so being very clear in calling out the pain points and offering a solution from that.

Yes. So it's, it's huge and it's a great way to recruit. You always have to recruit. If you're going to grow, you're always recruiting. Another thing people always say, well, what if there's not enough technicians? I've hired all the good ones and there's nobody else from. No installers, no technicians. You know, there's nobody else out there. Well, there is someone else out there for one, but for two, you can train them in house. Some of the best technicians I have started or that work here, they were at a grocery store a couple years ago or a gas station or Home Depot or Lowe's. You hire for communication skills. If they have communication skills and the capacity to understand and learn, you can train them to be the best technician there is.

Right? Right. So good. So good. It's, it's flipping the, flipping the recruiting model upside down. But most people think that they hire for the skills and then train the. And it's so opposite of that. And thank you for really re emphasizing this because it's super powerful to. And then once you bring people in, find the right seat on the Bus forum instead of going the other way around, right?

Yes. And then the. What comes with that is just. It's so much loyalty and appreciation and you're able to impact someone's life like that. And I think back to early on in my career, I started off in this industry making $10 an hour, living the dream. I was so excited about this job and that business put so much into me and training and uplifting me and building me into the leader that I am. And without that, I may not be exactly where I'm at today. So I was. I'm so grateful. And I would have stayed with that company forever because of what they put into me. So you're. You're building on your culture, you're changing people's lives. And look, that's. That's what I'm here for. That's why I'm in the industry. I want to change as many lives as I possibly can.

Oh, I love it. Let's. And that's so. Everybody, listen, I hope you're hearing the theme here. Every single thing that we're talking about, the underlying theme is helping. It's helping people. It's like one getting to know your team well enough to know what they're working towards. Right. There's somebody saving for a house or they need a new car or they've just. They're having twins coming up. You know, all these things. How do we help them be successful in, in life first and then by, by extension, you know, they're going to do the best they can and be loyal and all those things. So super powerful. So let's turn the corner here a little bit because I'm so blessed and grateful and thank you for being on today, being a woman in the trades. Women belong in the trades.

Yes.

I know you've been through it. Yes, we do. I know you've been to some of the events, the women's events and stuff this last year. Tell us a little bit about that and what, what those events are like for all of the women that are listening. One, Tell them what they can, you know, learn and how they can grow by attending the women's events. And because I'd love for. I know there's a lot more women in our trade than go up those types of things and so speak into the women in our industry a little bit.

Yeah, absolutely. So it's something that's not talked about enough. Finally, we. There are a few women's groups out there. I spoke at E3. That's a one group for the trades In February. So they're a very, very impactful organization. They have another meetup May 1st at the start of Profit Rocket. So that's a big trade event that's coming up as well. It's super impactful. So there's also women and H Vac and R. So that's huge. And then I just spoke at Women in plumbing and Piping. So they're an upcoming women's group. That's absolutely fantastic. I've learned so much by being in these groups. I felt like I kind of toughed it out for, like, seven years on my own, like, like acting like, oh, it's okay, you know, it's fine. It's normal. It's normal. You know, it's not normal being a woman in the trade, but it's right. And having to be able to surround yourself with so many women that are experiencing the same things that you are or on a different level than you are and have already overcome those challenges is phenomenal because men don't get it. So, like, they're not in that situation. So to be able to talk to a woman who has overcome that and has been through that challenge that you're currently facing, it's just amazing. You learn so much, and it helps elevate you to a new level because you realize, well, they overcame it, so can I. And they can give you some tips and tricks. And on top of the fact that it's empowered with a trade knowledge, just like a lot of the other trades events, you can learn sales tactics and service and communication. We talk a lot about leadership. There are really some amazing groups out there. If you're not a part of one, you need to join immediately. I recommend all three highly. The larger group of women the better. And it's just nice to have open arms and be able to have someone who really will help you and understand where you're coming from.

Right. Oh, I love this. The I. You know, personally, I've been on such a mission this last year to feature more women in the trades as well as, you know, just forever in my history, I've always hired women first because I understood early on that as good as I could be in the house, just naturally, women have so much better instant rapport with homeowners. The connection is better. I've always said that women who understand our trade and really dive in should make men's numbers look stupid when it comes to sales, when it comes to any of the other things, especially when it comes to soft skills to connect to homeowners, that's really, where, where we should be. So all of you women out there, I if, and I'm going to say this out there like as specifically as I can. If you are a woman in our industry and you want sales training, reach out to me. I will. I'm part of what I'm doing right now. I'm donating my one on one. I've got a one on one coaching spot that is open for a woman that I will do at no charge to get you to top level. So everybody listening. If you're a woman or you know a woman who is in our trade that wants to be a top performer, have them reach out because I am, I love this. I want to support it. So if you know anyone who is in sales in our industry, either selling tech or Comfort Advisor, send them my way. I will, I will train them for free because I want to see more women at the top because there's no reason they shouldn't be. So everybody listen. That's something I've really been working towards and to support the trades as well. So let's, let's celebrate our women and because at the end of the day, most of the time when I've ever had conversations with you or anyone else in our industry, I'm usually learning something. I definitely don't say that I know everything for everybody. All you men listening, you can learn a lot because they just understand things so differently than we do and it's usually better. And so drop the ego because we're all on the same team. And the more not. And it's not just women, the more that we get racially mixed in our industry and the more that we become so much welcome, more welcoming and open arms within our industry and your organization is going to grow like crazy. So this is my soapbox. I wanted to just mention that. But I thank you for giving back into the industry with E3 and the women's groups that you're working with and speaking at because I mean, you've come to a place where you're a leader, you're a thought leader in the industry and we're grateful to have you for sure that you made that decision and at 26 to where you already are. Geez. I've talked to people who are, you know, 30, 40, 50, 60, that they don't have a handle on half the stuff that you already do. So that's awesome.

Yeah. Yeah. The age thing is a big. I had, I had multiple. Right. I'm a woman. I was very young and I had a rough upbringing. So it was like all odds were defying against me. But you're only as limitated as, as you believe that you are. It's all, all about mindset and I'm officially 26 over half of 50, so I'm confident to say my age. I feel like this is my year, adulthood and, and I can be proud. I used to like cover it up and be nervous and try to change the subject, but now I'm like, oh no, I'm old enough now.

Where you know what, honestly, age doesn't matter. It's results. Right? That's what we talked about. Something everybody that I'm going to say this again. If anyone can do it, anyone can do it. So that means to view this interview, listen to this interview and see it as what's possible. Don't see it as well, you know, because of her situation. She could do it, but I never could. No. Do you. Brianna came from a bad upgrade upbringing, poor mindset and overcame it all through personal growth and through all these things. So you can too. So I love this so much. So what are you doing with your team right now? What's, what's this year going to shape up to be? What do you look like? And better question, what are you most excited about right now? Both within the company and then also just with our industry in general.

So what I'm most excited about within the company is growth. Growth this year. It's always exciting. We finally have the majority of our mass process changes in place. We're two and a half years later. We really get to focus on our growth now, excited for an upcoming summer and we have, we have millions to achieve. Right. So we're going to do 50 million this year. Without a doubt. I have a phenomenal team. We have a great culture. We get to live what we, what we've worked for the last two years this year. So it's going to be an amazing year for us. I'm super excited as far as personally. It's kind of work too. Super excited. Outside of business, I. My word for this year's elevate. That was another thing I learned from E3. So I'm going to elevate. I'm elevating myself in all angles. Personal, professional. One of my biggest hyper focus moments is personal branding. So I focus so much on the business. Over the last eight years, whatever business I was in, I didn't really focus on me. I focus on behind the scenes, helping other people behind the scenes. Me, I didn't feel that I accomplished enough or I Was successful to really put myself out there. Who wants to talk to me, you know, so I've overcome that challenge this year, and I'm really making sure I get myself out there, talk to as many people as I can and be a known factor in this industry. I'm always open to help anyone at all that. That needs assistance. This trade is my passion.

Love it. Love it. Good stuff. So how does everybody get a hold of you? So everybody listening to Mobile, Alabama? If you're anywhere nearby, this is the place to work. The culture is incredible. They're clearly always hiring and always looking for top people. If you're in another part of the country and want to move to Mobile, Alabama, I'm sure that Brianna would happily entertain a conversation there as well. So putting this out there on Close it on throughout the whole community with Close it now stamp of approval by Close it now for Hanson in Mobile, Alabama. Reach out and open a conversation. If you're a top performer or you want to be a top performer and you have the right attitude, let's. Let's create a way to. Let's support this. And I know all of you are looking. If you hear I've liked what you heard about the culture and the way they do things here, reach out because they will make a position if you're the right person. I'm sure we haven't even talked about that, basically volunteering this for you, but I can tell enough by what we've talked about. Is that true?

Yes, absolutely. You took my conclusion. I was gonna. I was gonna end it that way and say if anyone's looking for something out there, yes, we are in Mobile, Alabama. We, we do plumbing, electrical, H vac. We have office operations we hire for attitude, personality, communications. Give me a call. I'll give my information at the end on LinkedIn. You can look us up on our website, www.hansensupertex.com. there's an easy, quick little application on there as well. We're open doors. We're always hiring, no matter what time of year it is. And if you're not close by, still call. Even if it's just for a conversation, you know, you never know, you might want to move down south. Some beautiful weather over here.

Word. Beautiful weather. Great barbecue at the. That's a good place to be. And it's not too far from the beach either, so not far at all. I love it. So thank you so much for being on the show. It's time to land this plane. Any. Any last insight or words of wisdom? You want to drop on everybody and then definitely give your, your contact information as well.

Okay, absolutely. I, I can't speak about mindset enough. You are only capable of what you put your mind to. Sometimes that takes lying to yourself and that's okay. I'm going to make your goal so unachievable it's not even funny. And tell it to yourself every single day. I'm going to run a $50 million business. I can't tell you how many times I told myself that when I was 20. And here I am, 26 running a 50 million dollar business. You know, I'm going to make six figures by the time I'm 20. Sounds crazy, but it's possible. You have to change your mindset and set those goals and tell yourself those goals every single day to make it come to light. If you need anything at all, I'm always here. I have a hour and a half drive home every day, every evening. So I do live in Louisiana and I do commute. So I'm always open for conversations. Conversations are free. Brianna McAdorry is my name on LinkedIn and I can be reached on cell phone at 504-944-4488.

Love it. Thank you so much for that info. I'll make sure that's in the show notes as well for everybody listening. If you're like driving because it's drive Time University, most of you are driving and listening so I'll make sure it's in the show notes so you don't have to dangerously try to make notes while you're listening. So it is, it will be in the show notes. This has been a powerful episode. Thank you for breaking stuff out for us in a way that, you know, most people at your level are very scarcity mindset and they just don't like to open up their playbook of, you know, what we've done to be successful because they think somebody's gonna steal their thunder. And I appreciate you functioning from an abundance mindset to help raise the standard of our industry. And it's something that's very near and dear to my heart. And, and I appreciate you for everything that you're doing to give into the industry. It's, it's super. Does not go unnoticed. Say that well, thanks for being on the show. It's been great. Can't wait till we connect in person at some event. I'm sure that we'll run into each other and yeah, that's basically it's everybody listening. Thanks again for being on the show. Make sure to go check out the online course@h vacdoors.net I rolled the one on one coaching program. There's only a couple slots left. I haven't done one on one coaching in a long time. Everybody listening. And so I'm doing it again because I want to help as many people as I can get to really capitalize on the summer. So email me, Sam closeitnow.net to learn more about that or just go to closeitnow.net on the on the website. You can sign up. I can reach out to you there, find out some more info and also join the Facebook group. Facebook group is really powerful. Briana's in there. So many. Just about every guest that's ever been on the show is in our Facebook group. It's a really positive place. We do training in there and just come enjoy the conversation. Good place to ask questions. There's so many top performers in there that are happy to just share and give best practices. So. All right, everybody, thanks for being on Briana. It has been great. And for everybody else out there, it's summertime. Let's go save the world one heat stroke at a time.

You've been listening to the Close it now podcast, our passion. Our mission is to dive headfirst into the transformative movement that's reshaping the very foundation of H VAC and home improvement and at the same time covering fitness, nutrition, relationships and personal growth, proving that we can indeed have it all. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did, make sure to like, rate and review. We'll be back soon, but in the meantime, find the website and close it. Find us on Instagram at thereal Close it now. And on Facebook at Close it now. See you next time.