I Tried That and It Didn’t Work: The Real Reason Your Systems Fail

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>> Lani Dickinson: Welcome back to the Freedom to Exit podcast. I'm your host,

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Lani Dickinson and I still have

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my favorite Jena deaier here, tech

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wizard, business wizard here.

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And together we are launching the tool belt

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empire and booked out radio

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for all of those home service pros who are

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still working really hard

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and chasing this income roller coaster

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and making all the things happen, but super tired

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and we can make all that go

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away. Today we are talking about why

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most home service Pros use like

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10%. That's probably generous of what's

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possible, which keeps them stuck.

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Today's conversation is going to hit home for a lot of you.

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If you've ever said something like, yeah, I tried that,

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it didn't work. This episode is for

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you. Let's talk about why that's

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happening and why you might only

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be using that small 10% of what's possible in

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your business right now and what we can

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do to solve that. We see it all the time. A

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solo home, services handyman

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person signs up for something like

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online scheduling, but they don't connect it to the quote

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system and maybe even the quote system is still pen

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and paper and they're typing things out or they don't connect

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it to their review system or their reminders

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so then the client isn't home when they show

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up. Maybe they've tried missed call text

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back but they didn't have a booking link in the message.

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So it was still more back and forth that needed

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to happen rather than it happening autom magically.

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Or somebody sells them a Facebook ad. We don't sell

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any Facebook ads. Somebody says, oh, you need Facebook

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ads, but there's nobody to answer

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the phone and you can't keep up with

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the callbacks because now you've been flooded and you can't follow up

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with those 250 leads that you just purchased.

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We see it all the time.

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>> Speaker B: So therefore you think they're bad leads.

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>> Lani Dickinson: So bad leads. Or it't. The system didn't work.

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>> Speaker B: The system didn't work. So I'm not gonna do it

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again.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Not gonna do it again. It's kind of like

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installing from my perspective, a smart

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thermostat, but not putting it on your H Vac.

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It's tech, but it's not helping. It's

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still hot and you're still minim pretty.

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>> Speaker B: They're on your, on your wall. But.

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>> Lani Dickinson: So why is it not their fault?

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>> Speaker B: Well, it's not their fault because

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they've been sold on a tool,

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probably from another

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bro as we call them.

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but they Were never told how.

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>> Lani Dickinson: To use it or expected to just go figure it

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out on their own.

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>> Speaker B: Exactly, exactly. And if you're not techie,

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it's a scary thing to get something that you think,

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oh my gosh, I don't know how to do this.

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Like the thermostat.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Yeah.

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>> Speaker B: You know, they're all like computerized

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now.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Well, today I came back to the Airbnb and

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I said, I got to get changed, I got to put my makeup on. You

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want to put that printer together?

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>> Speaker B: Sure. She did.

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So we put together a printer and printed out our papers before we

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came. but you're not told how to use it,

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so it's not your fault. You're

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not dumb. By all means. I don't

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liket make people feel like they're

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dumb. they just weren't told how to use something.

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>> Lani Dickinson: The other thing I think happens in the it's not your fault

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category is these people are looking for a

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solution to grow their business or make life less stressful

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or easier. they're not really looking for easy

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life. I've never met, home services pro who's looking for

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easy. Right. But they're trying

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to get more leads. That's

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usually the thing, you know, get more leads. There's other

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things they're trying to solve. Get home for dinner, no more empty chairs at dinner.

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Those kinds of things.

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>> Speaker B: Well, the main one is get the, get the invoices out

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in time, get the invoices out, quotes out, get the

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invoices out so that you can get.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Paid, get the cash back, get cashackeah. And then go

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on your collection rounds. Right?

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>> Speaker B: Yeah, exactly.

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>> Lani Dickinson: So they're trying to solve this one thing and then

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they get ah, hold of a marketer.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Us marketers are not very popular in the home

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services world. We know because

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the bro marketer comes and says,

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I sell Facebook ads. You need Facebook ads,

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that'll solve it. And then all this other

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infrastructure isn't in place. So,

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they're often not the expert

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in what they need. They just know they have the

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problem.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Somebody's not listening really well.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Or they're too eager to sell what they have available to

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sell instead of saying you need a comprehensive

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strategy.

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>> Speaker B: We've met, I've met so many clients in

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my day that had Facebook ads

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or something else they were

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given and we start looking at it

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and was just never even set up for

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success, you know. And they've paid all this

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money because Facebook people

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know how to run ads. They don't know marketing.

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They really don't. They just know how to run ads.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Certainly don't know tech.

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>> Speaker B: No, they don't. And so they're selling them

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what they want them to have and not what they

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need because they, number one, aren't listening

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to their problems. So what

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we do is we talk. We talk to

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you and say, what is your biggest thing you want to be solved?

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What's bothering you the most?

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>> Lani Dickinson: How's that impacting? Yes, show me what you do when you try.

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>> Speaker B: A lot of people that I talk to say it's

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not the lack of leads. It's like my phone rings

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all the time and I can't get to it. So

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I know I'm losing them. It's not like I'm not being found,

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it's like I'm not being able to answer them. And

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so that a lot of times is the number one thing that we need to

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go in and start with.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Yeah, let's start at the beginning, start.

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>> Speaker B: There and solve that problem. And then, okay, we

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got an automated system that's answering those calls for

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you and answering questions like Voice A

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IY answers your questions, answers their

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questions, it vets them for you and then

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they come to you ready to buy. What's the next piece

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that you need help with to make that work?

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>> Lani Dickinson: Yep. So yeah, that you're

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amazing at that. So as we talk about

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this, I want to describe what a full lift

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automation stack would really look like. And there's some stuff left

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out just. But I think this will give a pretty

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good example. When someone sees your

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QR code, hopefully you have that on your door hangers

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or your truck, they scan it,

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sends them to a booking page, they

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get automatic follow up with

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confirmation. They get their service or their

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quote or whatever scheduled. You control the calendar,

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but they get scheduled and then they get

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reminders so that they remember you're coming

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and if they need to change the appointment, they can do that without

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ever bugging you. All of that can happen with automation

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which decreases your no shows and all those

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kinds of things. And then after that they're on

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your list. So now we can

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send them, oh, the service was done. Can you leave us a

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review and then we'll respond to

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the review? That's all in automation with AI. And

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then we can say, can you refer a friend?

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All of that without you having to ask for a referral.

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Ask, hey, did you ever get a chance to do that review?

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And then they get the email like Gina talked

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about in a couple episodes ago where the Painter

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sent you a new email with a 20% off. Right.

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So now we can get, get your people

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on an ongoing relationship building

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email list that sends seasonal specials

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and give special pricing and those kinds of

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things, but keeps you top of mind.

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That's a system.

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>> Speaker B: It's not all about sellingeah, it's

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about nurturing your people.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Perf. Perfect.

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>> Speaker B: And let them know you're still there.

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Like you talked about seasonal. So when you're

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going into the summer months, if you're an H

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VAC person, you want to send out, want

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maybe some email about how your

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conditioners run harder in the summer and

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just information.

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>> Lani Dickinson: How you can keep it alive a couple more years.

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>> Speaker B: Yes, yes. Which everyone wants to.

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so just that nurturing. And so when something happens

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they're remembering you because. Oh yeah, they've been talking to

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me about this. They're gonna call you

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probably before they're gonna call someone else.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Now I've been at the

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digital game for I don't know,

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15 years or something, how long we been

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together. And so what I just

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said sounds like a lot probably to somebody who's

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just texting or has just started. Right. So they're

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like oh my gosh, that sounds like a

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lot. I don't even know how I would put all that together. So

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they're freaking out. So I'd love for you to share like all

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the times I come to you, I have this big

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flip chart vision and

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you're like hold on, what

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problem are we really solving?

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>> Lani Dickinson: You don't need that. So share a little bit about that

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and how easy it is actually to build this stuff

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one piece at a time when you know what you're really trying to

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solve.

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>> Speaker B: I come from the Floo Flowart days of computer

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programming and so I think in

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Flowchart it's kind of weird, but so I back

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her up and go, okay, number one, back it up.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Tonka truck.

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>> Speaker B: What is the problem? And then

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how are we going to solve it?

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>> Lani Dickinson: Ye.

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>> Speaker B: And then there's all these questions of okay, when they answer

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this way, what are we going to do? So I

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start asking all these questions and by the time we're done we've

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got this whole flip chart of arrows going. They do

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this, they go over here, they do this, they go down here. And so

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we've got it all visually.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Built all the way around a hotel.

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>> Speaker B: All the way around the hotel room. And then we take that

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and give that to our lovely

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assistant who then builds that

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for us in the background. So it's a

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whole feel, but it's starting

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out simple.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Yep.

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>> Speaker B: You know, you don't need. And we've just done this not

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too long ago. They don't need all this stuff down here.

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They need this. And that's kind of where the

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tool belt empire has evolved from

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her big exit

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strategy stuff. But you gotta get them

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ready for that. And so let's start with let.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Start here two days before the exit.

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>> Speaker B: Yeah, you gotta start them here and start helping them build

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that business to be ready to exit down

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the road.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Right. That's one of the things that I think

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you're really good. I'm always like,

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the whole thing. No kidding. I go somewhere to a

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conference or something. And she's like, do not

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purchase any new stuff. You don't need it. You don't

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need it.

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>> Speaker B: That's right.

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>> Lani Dickinson: And so many people try to sell you more

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stuff. But Gina's like, what problem

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do you have right now? And what's the next problem that it's going

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to create when we fix it? Let's focus

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on that. And because

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that once you fix that, there's actually other problems. It's not

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all this. No, problems are opportunities. I

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say problems, but like, if we get you more leads now, you have

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to follow up. That's a problem. But it's a really good. It's an opportunity. It's a good

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problem to have. If you've ever

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said, I tried that but it didn't work, I truly want

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you to go and download. It'll be in the show notes.

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Download the six hidden leaks in your

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business that are bleeding you dry

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because it shows you some of the parts that are missing

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and how to connect the tools that are readily

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available and not

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tough to really implement.

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And when you download that

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and in the show notes, there's also an opportunity to have a

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free Google your business profile audit with

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Gina. This she's really good at

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making Google my business profiles

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optimized and helping that thing,

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turning that thing into money, I guess I would say.

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So go download the

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guide book your call. Get your

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audit and join us next

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week when we talk about.

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What are we talking about?

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>> Speaker B: I don't know. Episode.

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>> Lani Dickinson: What happens when your book solid but still broke

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because yes, that's a thing'ye. So that's what we're

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going to talk about on the next episode. For now,

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download the guide book your Google my business profile

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audit and start thinking about how

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you want to make some of these easy changes in

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your business.

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>> Speaker B: And you can tell you're not tech because it's not called Google

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my business anymore. It's called Google

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business profile.

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>> Lani Dickinson: Google my business or Google business profile.

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Whichever works for you.

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>> Speaker B: Just want to throw that out there.

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>> Lani Dickinson: M. Remember, I'm the strategist. She's the typ.

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>> Speaker B: People that know that they're going know what she's talking

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about. She doesn't. That's why I'm here.

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>> Lani Dickinson: That should not get edited out.

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So funny. As always, I want to say thank you for joining

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us today. We are so grateful for the time that you give us

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to talk about your business and help you make it

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better. And, we'd love for you to share this

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with somebody who needs the information. We'd love for you to

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subscribe, leave a comment, anything that

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will serve you. We'd love for you to do

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that. And we will. See you on the next episode.