SPEAKER_12 0:02

Well, here we are on our first book, our first book club for Trident. And um just really looking looking forward to this uh over the last month. It's been kind of a fun thing. And uh first of all, I want to I want to thank Josh uh Kozad. He kind of said, here's a book that you should be reading at the uh Build and Bond event, and I ordered it that afternoon and got it in, started reading it. And you know what's been really interesting is is that I'm requiring and didn't really have to require it, but getting all of the sales reps at Trident to start reading this. Because what better way to communicate with your customers and to relate to your customers than to be on the same path? And we may have different end goals of who we're trying to work with, but we're still in this to to grow our business. And I think it's really important that you're always educating yourself, you're always growing, you're always trying to find new ways to to skin that cat, right? And the the the book club was something that while we were doing the winter book series or the winter um series, that you know, it's like every week we were trying to figure out well, well, what are we going to talk about next? What are we gonna talk about next? Well, the good thing about the book series is that we're always gonna have something to talk about. Now we know that the season is going on, and we know that the season is really firing up right now, and it's going to be more and more difficult to take time off. But, you know, just a a a little bit of of education, a little bit, maybe just reading a little bit each night, it's always good to feed your brain right before you go to bed. Usually I feed my stomach with a bunch of ice cream, but I think at this time I need to feed my head, right? Because sometimes I can't quite see the results of feeding my head, but I can always see the results of feeding my stomach with a bunch of ice cream. So this is a fun way for us to gather information, talk to each other, see what we're learning about, and the pumpkin plan really has been absolutely a lot of fun to read, listen to, and take part of. So I want to kind of set the ground rules right at the beginning. There's not really rules, but kind of where we're coming from. We do have the trident team that's on here, and we're going to come from two different perspectives. One perspective is the trident reps answering these questions in their way, and contractors answering it in their way. So it's kind of a unique way to look in to see how we're dynamically growing trident, and then for a way for us to see how the contractors are growing their business. Now, I'm not requiring that everybody reads the book. Number one, I'm not going to go through and test and see if someone did you really read the book or did you not read the book? If you want to just get in here and just listen to it, and maybe you pick up a nugget, but if you really want to get the benefits, pick up the book. Read it, listen to it. Whatever you got to do, get some information from it. So I wanted to kind of start off right now. We've got around 17 people that are on here. We've got all the the sales reps. Um, Brad is in the question area there. So if you got questions or anything else like that, and you want to type those inside of the the chat room, by all means do so. Raise your hand and we'll answer questions and just kind of like how we've done the winner series, but towards this book club here. So I wanted to kind of start this off with that most contractors think growth comes from getting more customers. This book it it challenges the idea and says growth actually comes from getting the right customers. Tonight isn't about or this afternoon is not about a lecture. I want to hear real experiences from you guys, even from the sales reps. So let's start up with just a real simple warm-up question. This is a real simple one. What percentage of your customers actually make you money versus the ones that give you headaches? Anyone want to jump in on that one?

SPEAKER_04 5:03

About three quarters.

SPEAKER_12 5:07

Now, is that three quarters of them make you money and one quarter of them give you headaches?

SPEAKER_10 5:17

More or less.

SPEAKER_12 5:21

Yeah. Tim Spark says you're you're you're your top 20%.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

I will say, since I've been working closely with Trident, and since I've I mean, I've read this book probably four or five times now. Um my headache customers are very, very low now. Um I'd I'd focus on just targeting the better clients. And if they're if they're price shopping or they don't really care about a premium service, I just kind of just let it slide. Hey, there may be another contractor that would be better suited for you and focus on the good ones, and it's been paying off so far.

SPEAKER_12 6:00

It's amazing how many people will I think we'll we'll ask that question later. I think that's a that's a that's a good question to follow up with that a little bit later that I just kind of thought of there. But you know, what about anybody else? Anyone else? What percentage of those are are coming up that are making you money versus the ones that just give you headaches? anybody else?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

I don't know if I happen to have that percentage, but I feel like we have pretty good overall customers. But I mean, I've got one I'm texting right at the moment that in some ways she's a good customer, but she's also constantly nitpicking at stuff. Right.

SPEAKER_12 6:44

What about the Trident team? This is this is where it's gonna get real fun. Tammy, go Tammy, go ahead and then we're gonna get to uh Tammy, tell us what your thoughts are. Tammy. No?

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Alright, Marlo?

SPEAKER_12 7:15

Did you was that you?

SPEAKER_03 7:17

Yeah, I was joking around to say I plead the fifth since we've got contractors on this phone call, but no, honestly, uh, even when I was a contractor, I'd say maybe only you know one out of 20 customers was a headache. And and with with contractors now, I don't really have um any contractors to give me headaches. Maybe I just haven't been a rep long enough. I don't know.

SPEAKER_12 7:39

Give it time. Yeah, you're just not talking to enough people. Whoa. Dang. Slow your roll there, big guy.

SPEAKER_07 7:52

He's just he's just being a butt kisser.

SPEAKER_12 7:54

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

I I know Danielle's got some headache clients.

SPEAKER_12 7:59

Well, I'll tell you that that typically about 50% of the contractors that I dealt with um were either um a pain in the butt, right? Or they were pretending to be a big pumpkin when they really weren't. You know, they they they come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and they'll tell you, right? Like we just had some people that called today and basically are saying, Well, I am the biggest, I'm the best, I'm the crazy. You know, they'll they'll tell you everything that you want to hear just to get you excited. But those typically the ones that are screaming the loudest are the ones that are usually going to be the biggest pains in the butts. If you will do a good job for us, I'm going to fill you up with so much business because I'm a real estate agent and I talk to a lot of people. Anyone heard that one?

SPEAKER_03 9:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_12 9:06

Right. I've got a good comeback for that one. Mm-hmm. Well, don't just tease us, tell us.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

All right, all right. So, um, yeah, I would love, you know, I I can get you so much business in this neighborhood, I know everybody. I I know would immediately go, well, great. We've already got a referral program, and here's how it works. And then now, you know, you pay regular price, and then for every referral that I get that drops your name, then you get X, whether it's a gift card or a whatever. I just steamroll right past that.

SPEAKER_12 9:37

Right. Kind of sounds like uh what was the guy's name? Blimpy on the uh on Popeye. I will gladly pay you tomorrow for a hamburger that you give to me today. Right? So we we kind of got into a little bit of an idea that's right there. So chapter one, let's let's kind of open this up. So the first chapter that we got into, if you treated your business like a pumpkin farmer, which client would you pour everything into and which customer would you never take again? And and and what made that customer great, or what made that customer terrible? Anybody?

SPEAKER_04 10:39

The client that wanted a solution and you had an answer to versus the client that sits there and asks us a gazillion questions right off the bat.

SPEAKER_12 10:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 10:51

Every client that I've had, here's my problem, and I've presented a solution, had been a higher price ticket client than the client right off the bat asking a gazillion questions.

SPEAKER_12 11:04

Interesting. So the customer that is asking a gazillion questions at the beginning, do you do you feel like they are interested in getting something to come out, but yet haven't done any research to it? And the people that have done some research to it are less likely to ask you a gazillion questions but ask you the right questions.

SPEAKER_04 11:34

Yes. And I think the ones that are continuously asking the questions, they're trying to play catch up, but also play the shopping game as well.

SPEAKER_12 11:49

So I like that. That's an interesting dynamic. Andrew, what do you have?

SPEAKER_00 11:58

I think for me, a lot of it is the customers that while they expect quality, they don't expect perfection. Those are the people, at least as a customer, I per I I appreciate because things happen, right? Sometimes there are things beyond your control. Sometimes you get a technician who didn't do what he should have. Sometimes, you know, I hate to say it, I drop the ball, I forget to do something, I forget to put something in the notes, whatever. Um, but the people who understand that we're there to do something for them that they're not going to do themselves, um, now you know, we do a lot more than just sealing, so there are things that more of our customers could do themselves, but they realize that we're saving that time and effort for them.

SPEAKER_12 12:55

So those people that have realistic expectations.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_12 13:04

And and that are that are realistic expectations, good or bad. Yep. Because some people will come in and say, I really don't care. Just make it look better, right? I find that those are the ones that are just saying, get it done, and then I'm gonna come back and nitpick the hell out of you. But the ones that have realistic expectations that come in and say, Boy, I sure hope that this is gonna look better. Can you kind of give me your process? Tell me what's gonna happen here. They ask the right questions, they are not hovering over the top of you to pretend like I'm just very curious about what's happening here. No, you're not, you're hovering over the top of me, right? You want to make sure that everything's going correctly. Um those, those, those customers, so identifying the pumpkins or divine the the the big pumpkins is having a conversation with them, but also what are some of the cues that they're giving you that they're going to be a difficult customer? Verbal or non-verbal, I can tell you what mine are. Mine are is that when I went to go visit with a customer, and as I walked in and talked to the customer, if they were engaging with me one-on-one, or were they thinking about everything else? Oh, I gotta take care of my kids over here. Oh, go ahead and measure something while I go do this, right? They weren't engaged with me. And if they weren't engaged with me, they're gonna be the ones that's only gonna get half of the story, but then pin it all against you when something doesn't go right. Because they're just touching across the top of it. Kind of a thought process that's there. So what about what jobs have you taken that you knew that you shouldn't have? Like, what are some of the warning signs that that that that you ignored? Right? Like, I can tell you uh a ton of that. I can tell you from a trident standpoint when uh when a when a contractor calls me up and says, I need to just I need you to just tell me the band-aid. I need you to just tell me how to fix this, quick and simple and easy. I messed it up, but I need you to give me just a quick way to be able to fix this. I know a lot of times that's a that's a signal to me that they're not willing to really own up to the mistake that they made at the beginning. They just want the quick fix so that they can just get by. How can I pull the wool over somebody else's head by just giving them a quick? Now, there might be a simple answer, there might be a simple solution, but to ask for it is kind of a trigger to me that this person's really not into it for the high quality that they should be providing at the beginning. So, what about what jobs have you taken that you knew you shouldn't, and what are some of the warning signs that you ignored?

SPEAKER_02 16:29

I would say people that um are upfront about asking what pricing is before they even ask what how if you can fix their problem, you know what it before they even present you their problem where you have an option to to give them a solution, they're just what do you charge? What's the cost?

SPEAKER_12 16:47

Right now, do you think that that is a um an indicator of I I think it goes both ways. I don't think both ways are are good, but I think it kind of goes both ways. Is is that somebody in their mind thinking, well, if this is gonna end up costing me five thousand dollars, I'm not I can't I can't afford that, so I'm not interested. So why are we just cutting to the chase?

SPEAKER_02 17:20

I don't think that again, I mean, maybe, maybe, but I think some people the the money value should don't matter as much as the solution. You know, if you're able to provide that solution, they may be maybe they only wanted to spend$5,000, not anymore, but your price may be six or seven thousand. And you know, they you may be able to show them that the value in what you're doing, that you're able to actually provide a solution. You're not just slapping some cheap sealer down that's not gonna solve their problem. You're you're actually gonna provide a solution, then it may be worth it more to them.

SPEAKER_12 17:56

I can tell you another trigger, another trigger that usually indicates that it's a bad customer. I need you to come out and give me an estimate, but I'm not gonna be there. I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to visit with you, I don't want to feel pressured, I don't want to be sold. I remember when my father and I used to do these trade shows, and people would be like, and we even told them, we'll come by, we'll do an estimate, we'll send it to you. You don't even have to be there. That was just so that I could tell people that I got 65 estimates set up. And boy, we spent a lot of time giving estimates that didn't close. So I didn't have a chance to talk to them. It wasn't until we said that you have to be there for us to be able to come and give you an estimate did we increase our closing rate. So those people were telling me right at the beginning, or I was telling them how to be a bad pumpkin. I was allowing it to happen. So, were there any other warning signs that you ignored? From anybody else? I mean, there's 19 people on here. Don't blow it up.

SPEAKER_08 19:19

Mike, do you mind if I throw throw something in there? It seems to me that all of these things are circling one cause. And the what one cause is what is the level of their fear? Uh, the higher their fear, the more evasive they're going to be, the more distorted they're going to be, uh, they're going to be not manageable. So if you look at try to look at a client's and say, what is their fear factor? And then your job is to ease their fears. So when you talk about how many, too many questions, by asking questions, I keep the salesperson far away from me, so I can't be close, but I'm also in the gathering information stage of the decision. I'm not in the decision-making stage. So fear keeps you in an earlier stage. When you ease their fears, they become comfortable when they do that. Then they're prepared to move to the decision part of the process. So my fit, my my issue is that if you take a case, just take a guess, how fearful is this person, and then focus on easing their fears, you'll move them ahead to a close within a reasonable period of time. But you won't try to close them while they're too fearful to make the decision.

SPEAKER_12 20:44

Yeah. I can buy that. Uh Charles says, You give me cheap price. I have another house around the corner that you can do. Tim Spark says, the do-it-yourself customer is a red flag. Tell me about that, Tim. Are you able to talk? I don't know if you're if you're able to jump in there.

SPEAKER_09 21:14

My signal's not too good, and I'm driving. But so what I found over when I first get on that initial phone call, and a lot of times it's uh the elderly, uh, you know, the older client at this point, but they start out with, well, I used to do this, and I used to clean this, and I used to do that. I just find 90% of the time they're not a good client. They're always cheap and they're always looking for cut rate pricing instead of the value because they done it themselves and now understand a different level, plus the uh protection we provide by being insured, by having workers come, by the education that we offer.

SPEAKER_12 22:00

to them a lot of a lot of the people I deal with um they don't really they don't listen to that if that makes sense so they don't they don't listen to the to the having the insurance and having that kind of stuff is that did I hear that right well yeah just create the value you know like we're different from these other we're different from Chuck in a truck in all honesty what I found is them people that are the do-it-yourself types they're looking in my experience anyways they're looking for that chuck in a truck instead of that professional company that's going to provide an exceptional level of service to them they want that cheaper rate so when I hear that that's my red flag and I don't even usually quote them clients no more I tend to steer clear from them and I tend to tell my uh my office person just kind of push them off I hate to be that way but that's just been my experience over seven years.

SPEAKER_09 22:58

What what do they say to indicate that that's the type of person that they are well so we'll start talking and then they'll start telling me like I'm very uh vocal I'll I'll talk to a client maybe longer than I should and they'll start going into the process oh yeah well I used to have my pressure washer and I would get out there and I'd clean my concrete and I'd done it for 20 years and now I can't do it no more or you know little things like that. There's little clues they'll give you because they'll start telling you what they used to do and how they used to do it not understanding that they might be pressure washing it but they might not even be cleaning it correctly or they might be damaging their concrete or their home or whatever it was.

SPEAKER_12 23:43

And so in their mind even though I'm offering a different uh level of service they done it just as good as me so it's hard to sell them clients especially if you're a hiring company right have you thought about maybe reframing with them saying what does a good job look like when it's done and how long should it last yeah maybe um I don't know I'm just I'm just spitballing here right no yeah so like for instance if I had a if if if I had a homeowner that told me I used to clean the clean the let's just let's just play this scenario out. Homeowner comes up and says I I I used to do the pressure washing and stuff like that but but but I don't do anymore I'm just looking for someone else okay so when you got done what what was the indicator that that you did a really good job oh well it was clean. Well then why are you not continuing on to do it again and they're gonna tell you I don't have the time I don't have the money or or I don't have the time if they say they don't have the money then obviously haul ass right like that's enough that's probably one of the number one things why we say you're you're not a good pumpkin right but I hear this a lot I would pressure wash it and in three weeks it would look just like it did with all the stripes and all the mold and mildew would come back quicker because they didn't know anything about pre-treat and post treat. Right? Didn't know anything about chemicals they didn't know all those stuff so maybe asking them when they're a do-it-yourself customer well then why did you call me out here? Well I just don't want to do it again why and then if they give you vague answers just keep asking why until eventually you get to the question usually after three you're gonna get to the root box root cause of it okay you know give it a shot now it's easy it's easy just to go that's not the right customer that's not the right customer I mean I see it on Facebook all the time well that's not the right customer you need to go on and find somebody else sometimes those right customers are in disguise sometimes a pumpkin's behind a bunch of leaves sometimes it's worth just digging through a little bit but you shouldn't you shouldn't just continue it it's so easy to just write off everybody but but but that might be an option to to think of of you know hey let me ask you you know you you called me out here I I tell of uh when I would walk into the the paver sealers I would ask and do a paver sealing quote I would walk in I would say looks like you got a lot of pavers why did you call me out here next person that speaks loses because they're gonna tell you exactly why they want you out there in order of their pain well you can't see that there's three inches of weeds that are growing through here you can't see that there's no color on these pavers and there's no sand inside easy weeds color sand they told me in order their pain number one everyone loves to talk about their pain to everybody else and they're gonna tell it first they can't wait to spread the news as soon as they get done spreading the news but the thing is is that you got to solve those problems in reverse so now I'm gonna talk to them about sand well the reason that the sand came out is because you know you you you used either the wrong sand or you didn't dig out the joints or something like that. This is how we're going to do it to keep that from happening. You solved that problem. Then the next one was the color well we're gonna use a great enhancing two part urethane sealer that's going to end up giving you um great enhancement deep color it's gonna last longer UV protection blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah I solved that problem. Now when I get to the final piece which is the weeds right I'm gonna be straight up with them mother nature always wins I'm not gonna set unrealistic expectations but let me tell you how I'm going to put Mother Nature into my corner by doing this this and this now if you've solved the lowest pain in the second pain they have to in their mind go well you were right on number one you were right on number two must be right on number three you build credibility I like that fun it's the easiest way to sell people just let them just let them tell you it's the easiest way if I'm gonna sell someone I'm gonna go and say why'd you call me they'll tell you no that makes perfect sense you ask the questions and shut up you got that right how my wife does it she asks questions and then she tells me to shut up I couldn't pass that one up I gotta say it real quiet. She's downstairs I'm the man of this house I'll say whatever I want to say as long as it's on mute all right so chapter three chapter three was basically Okay so I got a suite right was that I don't need one but Tammy you're not muted she is now all right chapter three is if you could clone one of your customers a hundred times what type of client would that be like what would be the perfect client Josh Close ed obviously he's still on here right yeah you like that right Josh yeah I'm here I was muted sorry I know you weren't asking me but I just wanted I I just wanted to say that right well I think that there's everybody has their group right so well let's try this right all right Danielle what makes a client a good client like what makes that person a customer whether it be josh whether it be you know I got Bob I got Chad I got I got Josh I got Danny I got Keith I got Marlo I got Nathan Eastlake I got all these people we got Brenda got all these guys on here I'm probably not going to be able to name everybody Preston Tim Sparks Zach you know all these people a couple Zoom users what makes them a type of client like to you Danielle as a sales rep yeah so find out what what makes them a good one for you they take initiative um they don't need hand holding in a sense that yes we offer training but they are utilizing the training we offer because we do this with our um group trainings if you don't take the hour and 30 minute intro to ceiling course you cannot attend the hands on training I had a training in Tampa 50 people signed up I had about 22 people attend because the other what's 50 minus 22 Mike come on 38 no I'm gonna let you do it 27 sealer I don't 28 the other did not take the intro to ceiling so therefore they could not commit that hour and a half to us when a it's a free training free lunch um and we're we're the only manufacturer that does a full job site training and they told us right then and there by not taking the intro to ceiling that they had there's nothing that they want to invest into it.

SPEAKER_07 32:03

It doesn't mean enough to them so in in return we're not going to invest in them or I'm not going to invest in them. Now they can come full circle it's not like hey you didn't do it so you never get to work with us now. But they have to wait for that next opportunity and they have to do the same the same thing that was expected of them. I get people that say I've been sailing for 20 years. I don't need to take an online class okay but that's the requirement of everybody. So if you don't want to do it that's fine. I understand um or maybe I don't understand but that is required of everybody so I'm sorry but you can attend um we just do things that we that we do the things that we do for a reason to kind of weed out the people that are serious and investing in us so that we can invest back in them. So on our side of the spectrum that's kind of how it looks to me.

SPEAKER_12 32:58

Okay. So I wanna I wanna I want to share something on my screen if you all can take a look here I'm gonna I'm gonna share something and I've talked about this before but I'm actually going to show you the numbers right of how this pumpkin plan plays out for us as far as trident's concern. Right? And this is this is straight from our database. So you you you're you're you're getting an inside view here. I see people putting on their glasses they ready to go right Nicholas he's ready to see it I just happen to have you up in here right all right so I'm gonna do let me uh let me get to my share and then share screen two. All right everybody seeing this screen maybe oh sorry now you should be seeing it by see the screen cool all right this is the back end of T3 University here's what I want you to pay attention to there's five thousand five hundred and forty two can you guys see that number right here that's how many people have registered in the past three years for T3 University right so out of that right I'm gonna go to intro to ceiling and I'm gonna go to completed and I'm gonna apply out of that one thousand five hundred and twenty three people have completed intro to ceiling five thousand people raised their hands and said I want to know more I want to be educated I want to be trained I want to know more about this and out of all those people in three years one thousand five hundred and twenty three people have completed Intro to ceiling right now after that two hundred and seventeen this is not right something wrong here is there's something missing here completed out of out of that as far as finishing the advanced training there's a hundred and forty nine people that have completed the advanced training so out of five thousand people that said I want to learn more a hundred and forty nine people are master certified contractors that have completed that training. So now when a master certified contractor calls up and says I'm interested in I need some help you know when I look up somebody's name and I can go into each and every single one of these right let's look at let's just take Christina right I can go into here and I can go submitted five jobs right 100% intro to ceiling advanced training right I can go into intro to ceiling I can get into more I can see that she spent three three minutes and 27 seconds on or three hours and 27 seconds on the advanced training two hours and 20 minutes on the intro to ceiling and one hour and 21 on the submitted five jobs right she got 100% that's here. If I go into these I can see exactly how much time that they spent on every single one of these and whether or not they completed it or not now when a customer calls me up and tells me guess what your product sucks and I look them up and they've done two classes and then bailed you're not my pumpkin you see what I'm saying so these are the types of things that we look at when we're trying to determine who do we spend our time with and it's important right so does anybody else have any um you know what would your what would be the perfect client people who understand being proactive and not reactive okay tell me more about that what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 38:24

Well I mean I know like from a vehicle standpoint I've learned over the years that you can say oh I've got this issue I'll take care of it later and that issue will always cost you three times it would have cost you if you had just taken care of it then so you know for a lot of the services that we provide you will just see better results. So like for us one of the things I'm really trying to I don't want to say necessarily push but move clients towards this year is understanding that there's a lot more pollutants in the air and so if you just call me to just clean your windows guess what it's gonna cost you more because I have to work a whole lot harder to get that glass clean than if you're the same customer that understands really your whole house should have a house wash each year and then we'll shine up the windows on top of it those are the customers that understand the value in doing it in a certain way because they they ultimately get a much better overall service because they took all the right steps that brought everything into play for whatever the next service was so true paver ceiling in Florida how many people wanted me to come out and just clean their pavers what about this pool cage well it it's really not that dirty.

SPEAKER_12 40:07

I mean yeah there's green on top of it but when next time it rains what's happening it's picking up those mold spores and dropping it down onto your brand new cleaned pavers and then you wonder why in two months you've got mold and mildew everywhere it's not from the ceiling it's from you didn't go to the highest point then on top of that the roof was dirty what or the why didn't I why didn't you clean the roof too if you want to really maximize the cleaning potential you need to clean from the top down the roof the cage then seal the pavers well I I I I want you just to clean the gutters not the rest of the house okay sure you know it's it's uh everybody's trying to find that little just I just want what I want and I just want to get what I want but those customers that tell you that I want you know to really build up and and get the full experience what part of your business actually makes you the most profit but you don't focus on enough that's a tough question probably never had anybody ask you that question either but what part of your business actually makes you the most profit but you don't focus on it enough anybody annual maintenance that's a good one commercial flat work that's a good one yeah annual maintenance is big anybody else I I have something like from the trade standpoint I don't think we focus you know where with our contractors you know we focus on homes and you know paver systems where I think there's so much more potential with commercial you know municipality work schools um that our sealers and cleaners you know benefit and I think you know that's something that I you know been starting to focus on coming from the field coming into Trident and seeing how everything works. I think as a rep that's where I've been laxing you know what I'm saying and I think at the same time it would benefit the contractors that 142 that put in the the work right and and we've got a lot of them that are that are moving down that path right and identifying those people I you know the biggest the biggest takeaway from from the pumpkin plan that I took from the first four chapters was identifying who is worth your time and effort based on the objections that they give to you. Because there's too much out there. We d how many times do we watch these guys go I saw a guy yesterday having a full Conversation. I will to the day I die, I will remember this conversation in one of the groups. And I'm not going to call out who it was and who was and everything else like that, but I will never forget this. I had a guy that was arguing why are people teaching customers that a two-day clean sand and seal is the right way to do it and disrupting the one-day person? That'd be like me going in and saying, why are you selling at$3 a square foot? You're screwing up my 99 cent housewash guy. How does that make sense? You know how it makes sense? People are starting to understand that there's value to doing it not all in one day. That there is value to doing this in a systematic way and building value. You might be in a high volume world and willing to make a profit multiple times a year, but there are customers out there or multiple times uh a day. But there are customers out there that will go, so let me see if I got this right. You're trying to tell me that you're going to come out and do this in one day. Now, I know there's plenty of people up here doing it in one day, and I'm not trying to bash on that. That's not my whole point. My whole point is to say, when have we, how have we gotten to the point that somebody is selling at a higher price, at a higher value, and getting chastised by somebody that is doing it quicker, faster, and simpler. How did we get there?

SPEAKER_13 45:48

You know, Mike, when I when it comes to uh just your the one-day, two-day process conversation there. Um, you know, with my business back when I was running that, I I mean I did a two-day process, but when I first started, I was a one-day guy. And um, you know, when I first started, I was also very green. I was new and I never paid attention to concrete underlay, things like that. Um, and I would get callbacks, not a lot, one a month, maybe one every two months, too many. Uh went into a two-day process. Hell, I couldn't tell you the last time I had a callback. Um, you know, not saying that the one-day process is wrong, but definitely with when learning, especially, um, you know, there's a lot of things you don't know. Like I say, concrete underlay, um, you know, moisture issues underneath that can cause issues. So uh, you know, I I I always I I always went with the two-day for sure. And I and I can, you know, and I and I saw uh more profit because I could even do two jobs. I'll clean two, sand two in day one, and then day two, I'm sealing two jobs. I'm still getting the same amount of jobs done you're getting done in your one day, but I'm you know, I'm giving that ample amount of time for dry, you know what I mean, doing the two-day process.

SPEAKER_12 47:00

Right. Agreed, and everybody's got to find what works for them. But I think our our main thing is is are you identifying your customers and being realistic with your customers? Are you really looking at the customer? Are you looking at them and trying to mold them into being what you want them to be, not who they are? And I want our custom, I want our contractors to start to identify these customers of who they are, not who they tell you they are, not who they think they're showing you are, but who they really are. If you've got all these red flags that are showing up all over the place, that they are on the vine just sucking the water out of all the big pumpkins, move on. Don't drain yourself with that. You only got one trip around the sun. Why dig for scraps when there's plenty of meat on the table? There's plenty of meat on the table. There are plenty of people out there that will value this. I mean, what's the number one complaint about Trident? What's the number one complaint? Anybody know? What's the number one complaint? I'll tell you. But I'm gonna see what you guys are. What's the number one complaint? It's too expensive. Damn. But is it no?

SPEAKER_09 48:43

The rep in Boston. Huh? It's a number one complaint, the rep in Boston.

SPEAKER_12 48:50

Oh my gosh, that guy. Hey you. But the number one complaint is is the person that or the person that says it's um it's it's it's too expensive. Okay. But it's not. It's it it's so expensive. It's a kit and it's five hundred and something odd dollars compared to two hundred and something. Well, how do you tell me that you don't know what you're talking about without telling me you don't know what you're talking about? Right. Because I've got guys that are using our products that have been using it for years and years and years and years. If it was so expensive and they couldn't make any money with it, do you think they would continue using it? You think Andrew and Nicholas and and Brenda and Chad and Josh and all these guys that are on here, if they couldn't make any money, how long do you think it would be before they got back and they said, I can't use this stuff anymore. I can't make any money. If you were getting callbacks like crazy, if you didn't get the support and the education and the training from the from the contractors and from us in general, eventually you would say this ain't worth it, but they're not.

SPEAKER_04 50:31

I don't think there's a company out there that spends this much time with contractors, on contractors, like Trident does, period. And I've used multiple programs before.

SPEAKER_12 50:44

Well, I can tell you I've never seen a book club on a manufacturer in my life. I've never been a part of a book club my whole life.

SPEAKER_07 51:01

No, a pillow.

SPEAKER_12 51:03

Oh, a pillow. Okay, fair enough. I ain't gonna lie, I thought that was a good one. So out of how many people are actually reading this book? I just want to open this up, right? How many people are actually reading this book and who's got something to say? This is wide open now. We've kind of done the hard stuff, we've asked the four questions and stuff else like that, right? But who wants to just throw some stuff out there about what they picked up and ask any questions that you've got? This is kind of the free open time. Yeah, audio version.

SPEAKER_06 51:48

I'll say something on the contractor standpoint. Coming over from uh being a contractor and and coming into this, this book has really taught me, you know, when I got into this, I just wanted to go after everybody. And then, you know, looking at, you know, customers that'll call me and say, Yeah, I need help. I I want to do this, but I'm not willing to do the T3. Well, if you're not willing to do the T3, call me when you're ready. You know, and that's kind of been hard for me, but the book makes it make sense on why we have to do stuff like that. You know, we you have to be invested in yourself, and you have to be invested in your in your uh contractors uh on the Titan side of things. Um, you know, like a good example is Washworks. They came in, we did a class with them, did the T3, knocked out their um their uh master certification, and they don't ask me to hold their hand. You know, they call and they say, hey, look at you know, I we have this. Can you know what would you recommend for a product? We tell them and and they go right and they do it. Um, you know, but then you get those customers that are, I'm charging five dollars a square foot and I'm not profitable. Well, what's going on, you know, if you're not profitable? How many jobs have you messed up? How many jobs did you have to go redo? Because I have guys that are charging two dollars and fifty cents and making a killing on it.

SPEAKER_12 53:29

I got people down here charging a dollar fifty.

SPEAKER_06 53:32

Right. You know, so you know the nice part about us is we we're smart enough to where we can identify and say, look at this is why you're losing money. And if you don't want to listen or take advice, or you don't want to, you know, kind of learn and and take what we're telling you, at the end of the day, you're just not my customer, anyway, up here. Um, you know, I I just won't it made me realize that you can't just say yes to everybody, in other words. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 54:14

I think the section is chapter three where he was talking about like even our company name and how, like, especially with the uh the airplane scenario and travel and so forth, global travel. So last year we rebrand we renamed the my entire company last year. We lost in it'll be a year in April that we changed the name after three years with the uh three and a half years of the old name. But like just hearing that within the book, it pretty hard to like look how much more a name specified to what we do, compounded ROI and revenue, and why clients wanted to choose that versus Joe's soapy wash.

SPEAKER_10 55:10

Mike, I got one for a takeaway that I felt like was said multiple times in the first four chapters, and it's more isn't better, but better is better. So, you know, go go find those better clients, figure out who are your better clients, and that's that's where we want to focus. And for us, it's you know who's the better contractors? That's that's where I want to spend my time and effort. Work with better contractors, work with better clients. Um I felt like I kept getting that message as I got further further into the book. So I don't know, two cents to throw out there, something to keep in mind.

SPEAKER_12 56:02

Agreed. You know, the the the better clients, getting more of better clients and focusing in on those is gonna make a a a drastic change. You know, the the purpose of the T3 University was was I I'd never read the pumpkin plan. Never I didn't know what it was all about, right? But I knew that I wasn't gonna be able to spend the same amount of time with every single customer out there when I started. Oh my gosh, I'd someone would call me up and say, I've never I've never sealed pavers before. I've never sealed pavers before, but but I want you to tell and I would spend hours on the phone with them, two hours, three hours walking them through absolutely everything because I wanted to show them I knew what I was talking about. I wanted to be in their mind the best person. Nine times out of ten, those people never bought a drop from me, but I spent too much time. Hey, I I'll spend two hours, three hours, four hours, I'll do whatever you want as soon as you watch these videos. Well, I don't have time for that. Well, then I don't have time to sit here for the next two hours to teach you everything you need to know. Same thing with customers. Oh, well, you can go by and give me an estimate. Go by and give me an estimate and let me know how much it is, and then I'll let you know if I'm gonna pick you. But I got three other people that are coming out there, so you better sharpen your pencil. Stick it in the sharp pencil sharpener. So customers will tell you if they're the right one for you or not. And I and I think we got to come from a perspective of that not every customer is our customer, and that's scary. That's scary, that's scary, that's scary. I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed, I've got food to put on the table, I got electric bill to pay, I've got airline tickets from my kit, I got a flip pilot, I've got, you know, all these different things. There's all these reasons why we should do it. But I said this once and I'll say it again. There has never been a trouble customer that has not told you that they were going to be a trouble customer and you chose to ignore it. They all told you they were gonna be a pain in the ass because if I asked you when it was all done with, every one of you would say, Man, I knew I was getting into a deep shit with this person. They said everything. They told me that that I they were gonna be a pain in the butt. I just refused to listen to it. And the only reason I refused to listen to it is because I needed that money. I had to get it. And man, I lost my butt on that person because I didn't listen to my instinct, I didn't listen to my intuition, and I and I completely ignored the flags, the red flags. And Brenda says it right on here. In the beginning, she took it personal when customers didn't choose her. I mean, I was told a lot when I was growing when I was growing up and in the whole dating scene and stuff like that. Look, I like you in the as a friend. Yeah, you be you're you're you're you're fun to be around, but you know, let's just be friends, right? Take that personal. But really, the sales game is nothing but dating. Really is. Start thinking of uh start thinking of what it was like to date, like you courted people, you found out, but then all of a sudden that person, you know, just started started uh started burping every time that they they talk to you. I don't know if I'm gonna hang around with that. I don't know. I just made that up. It's kind of weird, but I just gave it a shot. Um, but they're gonna do these things, but they're gonna tell you that you're not the right fit. So I don't want to take up a whole lot more time. We're we're we've we've done this for about an hour. We're gonna do um in two weeks. Um so that's going to be on the 26th of March. I'd like to do the next four chapters. Um that's gonna be at four o'clock, same time there, but we're gonna do the next four chapters, so that's gonna take us up through um, like I said, uh through chapter eight. And hopefully, you know, we we pick up a couple little more things. Does anybody have anything that they want to throw in before we leave? Is everybody getting busy? Hey Mike. Is the phone's ringing? I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:31

It's Tammy. Can you hear me? I can. I missed, I was in and out. I don't know if you noticed, I was in and out. Um, finally got full access of Wi-Fi, but um, I got most of it. I just sorry I didn't get to engage and put my my two cents in, but it's a great book. It really is. It's changed my whole perspective on how to look at, you know, your top 10 and um you know, just basically how you guys laid it out there. The last I got about the last 20 minutes without getting cut out, but I just wanted to apologize for not engaging a little bit more. That's it.

SPEAKER_12 1:02:11

It's all good, it's all good. Anyone have anything they want to say? Just hopefully everybody's staying busy. Look, I I'm gonna give you guys a piece of advice. Get those emails out, get those text messages out, reach out to old customers, just barrage everybody that you've got, stir the pot, but then be very selective on who you pick. Use the pumpkin plan. Not everybody's your pumpkin. Sometimes we don't have to have a huge award-winning pumpkin. But we want something we can at least make some pumpkin pie out of. And boys, I love me some pumpkin pie. I love me some pumpkin pie. My mom used to make some awesome pumpkin pie. Amazing pumpkin pie. Right, dad? Yep. So next next uh next meeting is on the in two weeks. And um looking forward to chapters four through eight. I'm already on where am I at here? I'm on chapter. Well, I'm almost finishing this up here. I'm on, I'm finishing, I've got two more pages left in chapter seven, and then I got chapter eight. So hope everybody has a great week. This has been fun, it's been unique, it's been different. Um, but uh let's just keep moving forward. I already have another book picked out, but I'm not gonna say what it is next. Um, maybe after the end of the next one, I'll talk about what our next book is gonna be. Um, but I have a really good one, it'll be a lot of fun. And I hope everybody has a great week. And more importantly, I hope everybody stays Trident strong. Thank you guys for joining me today and joining the Trident team. And if you need anything, feel free to reach out to us. You guys, you guys are my pumpkins. That's that's about as awkward as I can make it sound.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:22

Thank you, guys.

SPEAKER_12 1:04:24

Thanks, all right, everybody. Thanks, Mike. We'll talk to you guys soon. Have a great week. Thank you.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:31

Bye, guys.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:33

You need to see that.