Next Level Pros - How This HVAC Tech Sold $4.1M in One Year (Do This To ACTUALLY Increase Your Sales!) | Zack Reynolds

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

Most techs fail because they lead with a price tag, but Zack Reynolds just proved that slowing down is the fastest way to hit $4.1 million in a single year. We’re diving deep into the exact "front door" psychology he uses to dismantle a homeowner’s guard and turn simple maintenance calls into massive, high-margin victories. If you want to stop being a "parts changer" and start building real authority in the field, this is the masterclass you’ve been waiting for.CONNECT WITH ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA!TEXT ME: 509-905-4109INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/chrisleeqb/?hl=enFACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/chrisleeqb/TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@chrisleeqbPartner Spotlight: 1SEO Digital Agency: At Next Level Pros, we teach you the best ways HOW to market your business. If you want additional hands-on help executing, we trust 1SEO, our marketing partner. They implement SEO, PPC, Google Local Services Ads, and high-performance websites that turn stronger operations into booked jobs. Learn more or book a consult: https://1seo.com/next-level-pros/

A $4.1 million year HVAC selling tech is giving us behind the scenes look at his playbook. If you have ever wondered, how do these guys do it? You definitely don't want to miss this one. In this episode, Zach Reynolds, a field tech in Las Vegas, Nevada, walks us through his exact in-home sales process. This isn't theory. This is what he does every single day. How he spends the first 30 to 45 minutes building trust without ever talking replacement. How he uses pictures and education to let the homeowner reach the conclusion themselves.

and how he price conditions through stories and not pressure. If you're a technician who wants bigger tickets without feeling salesy or an owner trying to build repeatable production in the field, the next few minutes are going to be the best investment of your year. Zach, last year in 2025, you did $4.1 million as an HVAC technician selling down in Las Vegas, correct? Yes, sir. Cool. What would you tell somebody that is looking at getting into the trades

or starting as a technician right now? what is the number one thing that they need to avoid to get to that level? Definitely talking about any sort of replacement or pricing within the first 30, 45 minutes of the call. 30, 45 minutes? Yeah. Wow. So call, break that down. So you're coming in.

Are you typically doing service work, maintenance work? What are you doing? Maintenance, majority based maintenance. Run some demand calls here and there. but majority of our visits are our annual memberships that we have. So someone's coming in, they're paying an annual membership. So for you guys, you guys do that fairly cheap, right? It's like $99 or something.

For the year, yep. And what does a customer get for that $99 bucks? You get a cooling visit, a heating visit, and a plumbing visit. So cooling maintenance, heating maintenance, and then plumbers will come flush of water here to do a multi-point inspection throughout the home. Are you guys dealing with much heating issues down in Vegas? I mean, that's a...

No, we had a cold spill. We're for about a week, week and a half. Mostly cooling. Yeah. Yeah. So someone's paying that. You're coming in for the cooling visit, and you're coming in, and they're expecting you to be there, right?

That's scheduled on their calendar or whatnot. And what does the interaction look like? So you said 30 or 45 minutes, break that down for us. So when I get to a call, I set my cones out. I'll grab my tool bag. And I'll walk to the front door. I knock on the door. I try to step back at least six feet from the front door,

so I don't feel like I'm imposing on them. You're driving a company van? Company van. I try to park it with the inside of the front door. So when they see me, we also, we send a picture of the technician with the dispatch to the homeowner so they can see, hey, this is Zach. I'm getting Zach, and then this is obviously Zach at my door. Yep.

After I get there, make introductions, I'm a people person. I'm a talker, you know, so I want to talk. to people, get to know them. I try to crack some jokes here and there. I talk about, like, my, I kind of rule the thumb is like within the first five, ten minutes, I don't want to talk about air conditioning too much. For sure. Build that rapport. Exactly. Once I've established that, then I kind of give them a rundown of what my visit will consist of, going to walk them through everything I'm going to be doing that day, what they can expect, during my visit.

Hey guys, it's Chris. If you're finding value in what you're hearing, go ahead and like and subscribe. That way people just like you can find this content for free here on YouTube. Now, let's stop back in the show. Which is what? So, I mean, you're coming in for maintenance.

So, I mean, I'm assuming their hope isn't that, hey, this guy's going to sell me this big package. Right. And so how do you help manage those expectations by luck, walk, hey, I'm going to be doing this. What are they expecting that you're going to do? So I get there, I introduce myself obviously with chit-chat, and I'm like, so I'm here to do you cooling maintenance. I'm going to start the thermostat. I'll turn it on cooling from the thermostat. I'll get temp splits throughout the home from the return to the supply.

And you're typically doing this how long before the cooling season? We usually start rolling out cooling maintenance is around March. March? Yeah. And it starts getting hot in Vegas when? Good Lord Will and April for business, but usually April May you expect to get triple digits. So you guys are coming in advance. You're like, hey, I'm going to go. So you go to the thermostat, you run the cooling. So once I check temp splits, then I'll go outside of the condenser, pull the disconnect.

And the reason I do that, well, the thermostat is on. So it's calling for cooling. So when I do put the disconnect back in to check in-rush amps on the compressor, I'm able to get an accurate reading. And how are you keeping the customer involved in this experience? Are you wanting them just to like stay, continue doing what they're doing? Are you hoping that they will follow along and see what you're doing? What's the customer interaction look like? Best case, and obviously you have the homeowners that they just want to see what you're doing.

And I'm big on education throughout the process, so I don't mind it at all. Do you prefer it when they're tagging along? Depending on the personality type of the homeowner, you know. I'm a talker, but also I like to work. But, you know, occasionally you'll get the guy that just wants to chit-chat about whatever. And, you know, most of the time it's the older customers and maybe they're lonely or whatever, the wife's passed. So I just try to be a human, you know. Like, obviously I'm there to do my job.

And I try to maintain a level of professionalism. But at the same time, I also want them to know that I put my pants on one leg at a time just like you do. Yeah, got it. So you go out to the condenser and what are you doing at the condenser to be able to be able to? to add value to them. So I'm usually I'm like, do you mind showing me where the condenser is? So while I, why not I do that, they're following me out to the condenser. I'll pull the disconnect and that'll stop the fan motor so it allows them to see down in the condenser. Most of the time they'll sit there with me for a couple of minutes. I don't know if they're just uncertain

about what to do. At which point I'll grab my impact and open the fan shroud up and that way we can look down in it. And majority of the time it's when we feel with leaves, dirt, pine, needles, whatever the case may be. At that point, are you wanting to show that to the customer? Yeah, and I'll explain to them, you know, again, kind of retapping on what I explained initially. I'm going to grab my vacuum. I'm going to vacuum all this stuff out, and I'm going to make it look like brand new. And, you know, usually at that point, they're like, all right, well, I'm going to go back in.

Most of the time, it's kind of warm outside. They don't want to be out there with you. Right. So, yeah, once I've kind of set the ground rules about what my visit will consist of and get a good, allow them to get a good understanding or a viewpoint of what the before looks like. It kind of gives me a standard to go off of and or them to kind of reflect on when I show them the after of my maintenance visit. Got it.

So that is the whole kit and caboodle of what the maintenance looks like. Initially, yes. So once I'm, I obviously do all my tests on it. I clean it out really well. I spend a lot of time on my maintenance. I'm very meticulous when it comes to cleaning it up. So I'll vacuum it out really well. The hosa coils out from the outside, from the inside out,

and then the outside in, and then, of course, there's a big remainder left in the pan, and then I get my leaf blower and blow it out and kind of try to dry it out as best as possible and get a picture of after as well. For me, it's all about transparency and being honest and doing a good job and being of service, so that way they're able to see,

that like, hey, I'm getting what I paid for, and this guy cares. Yeah, yeah. So you go and do that, and that usually is taking you 30 to 45 minutes during that time. Yeah. So when you say you need to avoid the discussion around price or replacement, like, give me more color to that. Most of the time, unless someone has just purchased a home, Vegas is such a saturated market. and if they have a unit that's over 12 to 15 years old, they've been told they need to replace it.

A lot of times what you'll run into is when you get there, people are like, I know it's old and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, hey, you know, my job is just make, you know, make sure we ain't got no issues this summer. I don't expound upon anything that they've mentioned about age, condition, what anyone else has said or done. So you're not trying to drive the knife deeper at that point. You're pulling back and be like, yo, my job.

job. I'm just the maintenance guy. And at the end of the day, that is my job. That is my job description is to provide a service and provide a maintenance on the system. If there's anything I notice as I'm doing anything, I'll of course bring it to their attention, but I'm not doing it in a, hey, we need to replace this. So from a financial standpoint, though, I mean, you're, I'm assuming you're on performance pay. I am. Yeah. And so performance really comes to like when you do do an upgrade or sale or charge or whatnot. But you understand the psychology that like if you're just hounding that. Those days are gone.

You know, I've heard stories from people that have done this for a long time that, you know, back in the day you could go in there and be like, hey, you need a new unit. And it's going to be $10,000. And they'd be like, all right, let's do it. Those days are gone. So it's all about how can I, I look at it. This is kind of my analogy. The cartoon you see where there's like the valuable possession in the room.

Yeah. And there's all the laser beams around it protecting it. And they're like bobbing and weaving to get to the item. That's kind of the customer's guard when you get to this call. And my job is to bob and weave the lasers to get to the end goal. And you really do that by being the antithesis of a salesman, right? Like against what a typical, like what everybody in their mind has as a salesperson, like, hey, this guy all he wants is the deal.

He's going to push this on me. He's going to immediately like, hey, do this, the other. And you're saying, like, let me serve first. It's kind of like, you know, the example of Jesus even, right? Like serve first, and you're going to be able to have the greatest influence. Yeah. Yeah, I love it. So you're going in your building value by cleaning this thing out.

Are you taking pictures? What else are you doing to really gain trust of this customer? I mean, I do everything. I mean, I've raked and blown leaves. I've cut palm fronds off the trees for them. I've helped them move stuff in the garage. Whatever they need done, I intentionally buy extra 9-volt batteries in case they have a smoke detector that's chirping. I'll change it.

Light bulbs, whatever the case may be. My goal is to make sure that whether or not they replace anything or, you know, I make a dollar off of them. It's not the point for me. I sleep really good at night knowing that I'm truly there to be helpful. And that's just how I was raised is to just be kind to people. And it works out really well. And so what's like the average length? So you said 30, 45 minutes or but like how many of these are you doing a day?

Best case scenario, four. Four of these? Yeah, usually three to four. Okay. and the goal, are you wanting to spend two hours with them? An hour? Like what's kind of the time frame that you're hoping to be able to get this all done in? Minimum hour and a half.

I've spent four or five hours on a call with people because once you've presented evidence and they've kind of come to the conclusion themselves because that's where the market's at today is it's not forceful. It has to be the customer's idea. Right. We have an extensive amount of training from the guy who's saying about Brent that talks about, you have to make sure it's the customer's idea. That's the only way you're going to be successful.

Yeah. And at that point, usually I'm pulling back once we've kind of... So, yeah, talk to me about that. Like, up front, the customer's like, look, I know it's old and we probably need to replace it. How are you responding? I'm like, I'm just here to clean it up. I don't, you know, make sure we ain't going to have no issues this summer. And I'm big on I'll present evidence of something and then I'll literally just turn my back to him and walk away.

Like, all right, I'm going to get back started out here. I don't, you know, because I'm. So you want them to stew on that. Like, hey, here's the evidence. There's clearly an issue. But I'm not going to be the one pounding in. I'm going to let you conclude that that's what's going on. That's exactly right.

Yeah. So once I've cleaned the system up, I have the fan motor and shroud leaned up against usually the house. I'll bring them out. I'm like, hey, you remember what it looked like before? I just want to show you what it looks like. I'll go in and be like, hey, can I borrow you for a second? And of course, they usually say yes.

And I bring them out and I show them. And everyone's reactions usually the same. Wow, you know, that looks really good. And not, it's all about, it's about what you say. So if I say, hey, I found your fan motors leaking oil, well, that implies I was looking for something. So something that I've been taught is that when it's leaned up against the wall, they're looking at, hey, something else real quick,

well, I had this open, I noticed that your fan motor is leaking oil. And they're like, you know, most of the time, if they care, they're, oh, wow, you know. I'm like, yeah. And they're like, should I replace that? And I'm like, let me just finish running through everything. And it's all about. So you're pulling back because when they're suggesting should I replace it, instead of being like, yeah, you should.

You're like, hold on. Let me just, yeah. gaining a lot of, really what this is is an authority close, right? You're gaining a lot of authority by being very knowledgeable and just building that confidence around like, hey, this guy isn't just here to push someone. Yeah. My, I have two really big mentors in this, Brent Buckley and Jimmy Rivera. Jimmy is, um, the dude is super technical. The holy reason I have the information I have to be able to present to a homeowner's because he's taught me what to look for, you know, what it implies, what its job is,

and it's all about tying everything together. So I'm real big on like, yes, I presented, they see the motors leaking oil. I pull back, I continue running my maintenance. And then once I've gathered enough evidence to bring to them and show them, I explain to them what's going on, depending on a personality type of the homeowner, I might bring them back out again. I might do multiple check-ins throughout the call instead of just one. It depends on how engaged they are, and some people aren't easily engaged.

So you have to present more evidence to where they're like, okay, this is something I should care about. Yeah. Love it. So you go through this whole process. What percentage of the time are you finding something wrong versus, hey, I was just able to do my quick maintenance, and basically there's nothing to be able to sell? when I first started more often than not I didn't I when I very first started the company I was at and no one had taught me it was primarily a plumbing company that had just kind of spawned off a little bit of an HVAC side of it so you know my maintenance process was get there pull to disconnect

hose it down check the capacitor in rush amps running amps refrigerant levels and see ya um and were you getting paid performance pay at that point yes so So that was tough. Yeah. You know, if basically you weren't able to find anything or really coached up on how to do it, right? You were making $0. So I had started out as a install helper. Okay.

Didn't make much money. I would do plumbing and HVAC installs. I got put on commission after almost a year at this company. And I was initially doing plumbing. I was selling plumbing. installing plumbing and to me that was I had arrived I was like this is it because I'd been so used to making 20 bucks an hour so when I kind of got into selling H-FAC at this particular company I was I was the only tech some stuff had transpired where the other two techs I worked with were no longer with us

and I needed stuff to install so I just it was in July and one of the guys had called off work and the owner of the company was like hey Zach can you just run these calls and i sold 50 58 000 that day and the other tech was like oh well he got lucky well then the other guy was supposed to be off i was supposed to be off sunday monday he was working on a race core of his on sunday and dropped a transmission on his hand so he couldn't come into work monday so i was off sunday went back to work monday and sold like another 35 000 and then they were like oh oh okay and it surprised me, but I wasn't there to sell them nothing. My intention was I need something to install. It was July system. It weren't maintenance calls. They were demand calls, no cools.

Yeah. And that was kind of my introduction to the whole sales aspect of things. Yep. Very, very poor at it. Because, of course, like anybody that has no training, you get a taste of that commission and then you go in full sales mode. And that's, why I know what not to do because I was a guy that so you were immediately like hey we need to get this replaced it's going to be this much money no price conditioning involved and when you say price conditioning I know what you're talking about but for the audience what do you mean price conditioning if you wait till the end of the call and you're presenting a 15 20 30 40 000 option to

them you could present a 500 option to them it's going to be be too expensive. It's too much money. It always is too much money. Of course it is. Right. You know, um, so by price conditioning is done through stories for me. Um, so give us example. Like, what's the story that you tell? Um, well, I, my biggest thing is, uh, what I've been using lately is I bought a king size candy bar to grocery store the other day and it was $4 at a gas station, rather. And, and, I'm used to $1.99, you know, but, um, geez, dude. I remember when And growing up, for me, Snickers was 50 cents. King's size was 75.

That was pretty dope. Yeah, and that was still. Four bucks? Goodness. I'm your perfect client. Yeah. That's Vegas for you. No, but anything, you look at anything in the last 10 years what has been the same.

So there's been a lot that's changed in our industry. So you're letting the customer this? There's been a lot that changed in our industry? Or are you just telling that story and then moving on? It's really case-dependent. So I don't, not to not withholding information, but it's just it really is case-dependent. I'm usually that first five, 10 minutes of me running the call, I've done enough. I'm checking temperatures.

I'm going throughout the home. I've found enough things that I've noticed that the homeowner is interested in that I can then utilize that on the back end as something that they're able to relate to and provide perspective on. um like they have a new truck in the driveway or a new car like how much that that's a beautiful how much that truck cost you like 80 something thousand there's usually some negative connotation with it and i'm like god dog that's expensive i remember i paid like 20 000 for my truck and i thought that was a lot and then i get them to tell me about how much things have went up it's like perfect yeah they're just selling themselves and i pull back you know um there's a right in a wrong way to do this. You can do it the wrong way and still be decent, but I have found the

people that perform at the high levels are the ones that are able to adapt to the changing market, the changing economy, and are able to provide solutions. Absolutely. Absolutely. So you're going through and your price conditioning them. So, and you've gone through your whole, like you've cleaned everything, you've done, done these type of things. And so back to my original question. I guess that got us here was, so when you first started, you would go in and you do these service calls or these maintenance calls and basically nothing to sell them. Okay. So what changed because you were able to identify actual issues, got better at being a tech, like what changed?

All the above. My career, the trajectory of my career really took off when I came over to Simply, which is the company I met now. the owners Mike and Daryl have a phenomenal culture at this company it's a very technician heavy company meaning what does that mean very technically sound yep it's not some guys that just seen there was a bunch of money to be made in HVAC when they first started the company they were selling and installing their own stuff the owners were and they eventually grew it to where they didn't no longer have to do that but um

When I came here and I met Brent and I met Jimmy and they really poured a lot of time and effort into me because I showed up and I worked hard. Nice. And they seen that the information wouldn't be wasted. Yeah. And so I started to learn the dynamics of HVAC and how, you know, with heat transfer and heat load on a home and how the system operates, refrigerants, etc. the way my brain operates is I'm easily able to connect things once I have an understanding of it. So, and then how can you put that in crayon for the homeowner? Because they're obviously not a technician.

Right. So are you able to, because you're doing three or four of these a day, are you able to identify something to present to them on 100% of the time? Yeah. Now, whether or not they care is a different story. Right. Some people that, you know, there's a saying there's a reason why it's that old. You know, you get a 30-year-old system, and to the untrained eye, you're like, oh, heck yeah.

But most of the time, it's that old for a reason. But I've kind of adopted a mindset like, you know, we've been out there. We have a record of, we've been out there for, you know, four years. No one sold them anything. I'm like, because they ain't had me out there yet. Yeah. And not to be arrogant or anything of that nature. But you believe in yourself.

I do. And I run a very, very, very tight process. For sure. That doesn't really falter between homeowners or calls. Are there little at variables? I change, yes. So how would you, like, in your mind, obviously, you've got a process that's, like, step by step. How would you outline those step by step?

Like, when you say, I follow a very tight process, explain it to the new technician that's starting, like, what process is that? So you've kind of explained a lot of, like, the big stuff, like, what are some things that are, like, non-negotiable that you follow? Non-negotiable is I am communicating with that homeowner when I first get there, and it's usually not about anything air conditioning related. I am going to show them. If they don't come out with me, if they're an elderly customer, they will see what it looked like before. So pictures? Pictures.

Very big on pictures. So let me try to break this down for people that are watching. So we're talking rapport and we're talking evidence. Evidence, yes. Okay. and being of service. So rapport, evidence, serve them, being a servant leader, some leading with that, like keeping them forefront in the mind

rather than like, hey, how do I get their money? So I've been guilty of it. I think anybody has been guilty of it that's been in this for any amount of time. If you focus on the process and not on the outcome, you will usually get your desired outcome. But if you jump the gun and you skip, skip any part of that, you have no one to blame but yourself when you're sitting in the truck with a zero. Got it.

And that's kind of how I look at it, is that it's 115 degree day, it's 140 in an attic. The last thing I want to go do is check your evaporator coil. It's hot, but if I don't check that coil and I'm sitting in my truck. For those that aren't technicians, where is that evaporator coil usually hanging out? In the attic. In the attic. In Vegas. Not a fun place to be.

Not a fun place to be. No. Okay. So what does that look like? So this really goes into like that being of service and like bending over backwards and doing the extra mile. And being disciplined. Yeah. Because it's really easy to have irrefutable evidence on the condenser only.

And there, you know it's, it's a deal. Yeah. It's done. know it needs to be replaced. But if I... But you don't skip this step of getting into the attic, so you go up in the attic and what do you do? Well, as soon as I open the attic, I run through everything in the attic.

So I open the furnace and now I'm not deep diving it, checking inducer motor, flames, and all that stuff. But I am for sure checking the control board and the blower motor. Control board's the brain of the whole operation. Blower motor puts all the air in the home where there's heating or cooling. And are you bringing a vacuum with you? I will bring a vacuum with me, yes. Right off or do you go back and get it?

So if I'm doing, so it differs. So if I'm doing a cooling maintenance, I already have my vacuum with me. If I'm doing a heating maintenance, I do an initial evaluation of everything. And then I come down and let the homeowner know like, hey, the unit's filthy. I'm going to go grab my vacuum before you and get this thing cleaned up. And so you always follow that process. Every time. I love it.

Every time. Very disciplined. Yes. Once I'm done with the cooling portion, I'll get in the attic. The coil is part two of the air conditioner. It's responsible for absorbing all the heat from the home. It's welded into the condenser. It creates a refrigeration loop or the refrigeration cycle.

So, majority of the time, you will find rust on an evaporator coil. The severity of that rust just depends on how dirty the coil's been, how maintain the system's been. But 100% you want to open that coil. I don't know how many times I didn't want to get in the attic and look at the coil. And reluctantly, you know, I just make myself all that. that process and I get up there and the coil's ruptured and there's oil all over the coil from the refrigerant and I'm like thank God I opened this up because this followed my process exactly because the person that gets the most consistent results is the most disciplined person yeah um so and that's one

thing that we're really big on implementing where we work is being disciplined following the process um no matter what because it's real easy to get sucked into these homeowners aren't stupid you know and you run into some that are the guy that they go to the car dealership and they're like i ain't leaving without the best deal well they carry that into every aspect of their life so they're they're trying to get they're showing you their neck to try to get you to go for the jugular so they can in their mind know that you're the same way the same person that the last 10 companies that have been out here, you're no different. Right.

So picture what those people do and do the opposite. And that's what's been kind of my success. So, yeah, whenever they're saying, hey, try to sell me, you're like, no, pull back. And so you go through this process. You build rapport. You provide evidence. You are of service. And you go to great lengths to doing that, always making sure you follow the same exact

process. How do you transition from that to a sale? So once I've done my check-ins and I provided evidence, we're big on like providing repair options. Now, what comes with that is also the way I was taught, the way that Jimmy taught was like you explained to them this is, you know, four options is usually the best. once you've provided this is kind of like we're all in this is everything the system needs

the best preservation option the next best and conservative and then this is a must do no matter what you're so four options of maintenance of repairs yes maintenance repairs not replace if you've

if you've done a good enough job very rarely are you going to have any sort of of a conversation about repairs. The four options is really good for the people that aren't able to necessarily aren't effective communicators that can't get the call where it needs to be. But if you're able to paint a picture while providing service and being trustworthy and providing evidence, pictures, videos, they know that any money they put in this thing

is not good money. Yeah. Now, does that mean that everyone goes with replacement? No, of course not. And that's what the four options are for. when you present those four options of, these are four options of repair, not replacement, right? Yes.

And so that's what you first bring to the table. And what does that range of price typically look like on that for a customer? If you're going full regalia and you can run up a $8,000, repair ticket all the way down to the fourth option you want to keep sub 1,000. Because you don't, you want to make it a, attainable. And have you addressed financing at this point or have you held back on financing? I don't, for me, providing any sort of financing solution until we've, I feel the homeowners kind of narrowed in on a solution, to me comes off as salesy. So I pull back on that.

The amount of times that I've had all four options out, so sometimes you run a newer system and you're offering IAQ solutions, maybe a stuckwork installation, UV light, in line filtration, like an April Air Cabinet. They liked the best option. I just had one last two weeks ago that was $5,600. He was like, I like this one, but I'm going to have to wait. And I was like, is it a timeline thing or like a money thing? And he was like, it's a money thing.

He was a pool company owner. He's like, I'll get paid in a couple weeks from a job. I was like, we got 12 months no interest. And he was like, let's do it then. And at that point, did your price already have the dealer fee built in? Yes. So our pricing is structured to be able to have financing. Already built in so you don't have to add something on top. It's not a difference or whatnot. Exactly. Yeah. I love it.

That's how I coach everybody to do it. It's better that way because then you're not shortchanging the company. If the company wins, everybody wins. But if I'm out there winning but the company's losing, I'm only going to win for so long before I don't have a company to work for. That's exactly right. that's uh that's exactly what we teach business owners that uh company first like you've got to be company first because if you can't take care of the company you can't take care of the employees and they can't take care of the employees you can't take care of your customers exactly yeah help me take let me take

care of me so I can better take care of you yeah because if I'm taking care of you more than I'm taking care of me I'm going to eventually have no nothing to pour out yeah um so that's so assuming they've um they don't want to go with a repair option and they're like well what's it cost to replace this thing so are you waiting for that question or are you providing that as an option no so and and with that so if you're not doing that a follow-up question are you hammering home that like hey we can do these maintenance these of four options are you making them aware that like man this is like sunk cost or are you just doing that from a psychology standpoint,

you're not actually talking about it? Yeah, so I'm not directly telling them or really implying so much as I am being informative and letting them know like this is what kind of, this is what it's going to cost, this is what kind of reliability and guarantee is associated with that. Do you say, hey, I'm not sure how long this system has left if we do this, but we can do this. Yeah, so I'll explain everything to them how it all works, because I've educated them on what the fan motor's job is.

I've explained to them the coils job, the blower motor, whatever the case may be, contact or capacitor. They know that when I'm there and we get to the end of it, and I'm like, hey, you know, we've got X, Y, and Z. I can put, let me put together some repair options, see if we can kick the can down the road, buy a little time, hopefully get us through the summer. I like that phrase.

Hey, let me put together some repair options to see if we can kick the can down there, right? Because that is a non-sales but implies that, man, by putting money in, I'm just kicking the can. And I'm going to have to pay for this eventually. And so basically I'm syncing money into something that isn't a good investment. And I explain the homeowners. I'm like, look, I'm big on return on investment. I can't guarantee you what you get. And if I've, depending on the personality type of the homeowner,

I've told them, told multiple people, I'm like, look, I'll be honest with you. Any money we put in this thing, you might as well grab it and put it in that trash can over there. Now, if that's the route you want to go, by all means, I'll band everything saying up until the cows come home. I do not care. But I just want you to know what you're getting for your money and what kind of guarantee. That is such a beautiful pullback. you know, one of one of my favorite sales techniques is like, look, I don't need your money, right? And so that's essentially what you're doing with that same thing, right?

Like, hey, look, I'm happy to get this thing band-aided up until the cows come home. I like that. That's definitely a Tennessee thing. That's a Tennessee thing. I love it. That's beautiful. So you present them the options, but you're just like, look, I can't put my stamp of approval really on this, but I'll do it. This is what you want.

Customer, I'm here to serve you. not vice versa. No. I tell them it's your home, it's your machine, your money. I'm indifferent either way. However,

if I didn't explain to you the pros and cons of each thing and you went with a bunch of repairs and I've seen you in the Albertsons parking lot which is a grocery store, I wouldn't want to come say hi to you. And I truly do believe that. Like I don't,

if I see any homeowner or I go back, there's not a single homeowner that has purchased a system from us that I am afraid to run another call at their home. Now, do I want to go sometimes if they're like a spas or talk your head off, you know, not particularly, but I'll go back to any homeowner I've already been to and be able to look them in the eyes because I did right by them. Speaking of which, so your repairs, like just from a technical standpoint, how long do you guys guarantee a repair or do you guarantee? It's from the, it's a one year on that particular part.

And so that's another thing. If they start going, wanting to go the repair route, like, yeah, sure by all means, you know, we've got three items in question here, right? I can warranty it for a year. I can't warranty the overall functionality of the system just due to its overall age. I can only warranty this particular part. Yes. Which is another just like, hey, look, I'll do it, but. And it's the truth.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's not a lie. It's not, you know, but it's also implicative of like, hey, anything we put into this is not. Right. And frankly, the best salespeople are the most honest salespeople and understand their product and why it appeals to the customer. And so, like, you know, some people may think like, oh, this is a sleazy technique, but it's not. It's the truth. I can only warranty this part.

If you want me to go and repair this part, that's all I can cover. And it would be dumb business to do anything else. Right? I can't warranty a 20-year-old system where you want me to replace this one part. Yeah, it's like, all right, you got an old Ford Pinto with 300,000 miles on it, and someone brings into your shop, like, are you going to, you're going to change out an alternator and some struts and be like, I'll warranty this motor ain't going to go out on you.

Rod's not going to start knocking or nothing within the next two years. No, it's, it's, that's ignorant. Right. You know, I don't, I don't think that there's anything wrong with explaining, options. How, what, as long as you're indifferent with it, how, whatever choice they decide to go with, it truly is none of my business. I'm not going to be thinking about it that night.

As all I care about is that I do a good job, was honest. Whatever route they decide to go, it truly is their home. It's their money, you know, no matter what I advise against, I've had homeowners want to band-aid up a 20-something-year-old system. Yep. All right, sign here, and I will put in the disclosure and the invoice that they get. a copy of that I can no way guarantee the overall functionality of this system, but I can't warranty this part. So if I put in a condenser fan motor and it goes out in eight months,

I'm going to warranty the part. Your compressor craps the bed. I'm not, I'm not warranting your compressor, you know, so. No, I love it. I love it. So by presenting those options for repair, naturally they're like, what does it look like to replace? And is that when you, you bring it to them, or you flipping it to somebody or how do you typically go about that? So Jimmy, the guy was speaking about earlier, is we refer to him as a project manager because he does the designing of all the systems, financing, etc. Might know him as a comfort advisor, sales guy, whatever title you want to put on it. It's the same job.

At that point when they're asking, well, how much is it to replace it? that's where experience level and your ability to effectively communicate things comes into play because there's a lot of guys that you just shut up right there and you call your project manager out. I've had Jimmy out enough times where I could quote his entire, you know, we have conversations and he's like, I hear, that sounds familiar. It's almost like you heard that from me or something, you know. but um you know i i tell people because our pricing is not the same as everyone else's but i will tell people like there's you can get joe blow with a magnet on his truck no permits or inspections to probably do this for 1314000 you can find a big corporate billboard company with a whole bunch

of advertise and do it for 3540 we're not corporate we're still family owned but we're not working out of our garage either and they understand that there's you know options there um And then I'm like, let me do this. Do you got a minute? Let me call my project manager real quick. He's a guy that designs all this. We need to get something figured out. And they're like, yeah.

If you've done a good job, they're like, yeah. Jimmy comes in, we make introductions. So does Jimmy come physically to the location, or is he doing it over the phone? Major of the time he comes to the location. And so you're waiting how long? I share my location with Jimmy. We both have iPhones. There's a few people on our team underneath Jimmy.

Jimmy follows me around. So usually he's not far. I know wherever I'm at, and I'll call him like, hey, he knows if I say, hey, Jimmy, it's Zach. This is about business. I'm not just calling to give him a rundown of the call. And he'd be like, hey, what can I do for you? And I'm like, hey, are you still?

You know, I was off of college, which is an exit in Henderson. Yeah. And I was like, hey, are you still in the wagon wheel area, which is two exits down? like yeah I'm like hey you know I'll explain to him what's going on could you come by and possibly give us a hand with this and he knows so I'm like hey he's finishing up some paperwork he'll be here here shortly and that's that's how we approach it and but he knows because I've I've touched base with him also I've done check-ins with him throughout the process and letting him

know like hey this could or couldn't you know yeah love it love it so then flips it over chosen the options, and now you're closing. And typically those are, those are finance deals. From this, what is your close rate on getting a ticket? With Jimmy? No, just in general. I'd say probably 45, 50% of the time it's, it's going to. You're flipping it? It's going to go somewhere. What about as far as a repair? If you ran your process correctly, You can usually get something on every call. So you're close to 100% collections? Most of the time, yeah.

There's going to be times where there's just nothing there. But even then, if you really push for it, you can get a coil clean, you can get a service agreement, something. That's what we've been focused on. Coil clean service agreement. What does that run a customer? About 490. And you're doing that?

So you're doing that for him, which is what? How 20 minutes? 20 minutes. So you're doing it after the fact, after you present it to him. Like that's last ditch effort. Like, I got to get some money for being out here. I just had that the other day where they had home warranty. High voltage was burning in the disconnect.

I explained to him why my home warranty is Superman. He's going to save it. Home warranty is a scam. They're not going to touch that. But I also, I'll touch on it a few times. I'm not going to have a flat-out argument with somebody. and so when they have a home warranty, the biggest thing is maintenance. Home warranty does, they're not responsible for maintenance.

You are. Right. So I fall back on maintenance related items, keeping a coil clean, doing a blower wheel cleaning. IAQ, UVLite, April, or whatever the case may be. Right. So they were dead set on their home warranty. They weren't going to do nothing. And I was fixing leave and I was like, well, you got at least let me clean the evaporator cool,

like this thing's filthy and it was and they're like well i think home warrant to do that i'm like no it's you're contractually obligated to at least maintain the system if any if you're gonna call them out for this high voltage bowel means be my guess but if they open the system up and see that that coil is going to be in dirty like that's impeded airflow it's caused a lot of extra wear and tear on the system they ride a gray area so they're going to say well this cause this and we're not covering this so if you want to get this covered or at least best chance i got to clean it up. And that was $4.90. Like $4.96, I think it was.

Nice. Most of those people are paying cash for that. Swiping out a card. Here you go. I try not to just do to dealer fees. Try not to finance anything under a couple grand. Can I? Yeah. I don't usually go that route. Right. But do you typically have a dealer fee baked in there just in case? Yes. Yeah. Got it. Yeah, all of our pricing has that implemented in it. Yeah, very smart. So, I mean, you're getting something most of the time, or flipping, you're flipping about 50%.

I'd say I would have to look at the numbers. Try to flip at least one call a day. One out of three, one out of four. And on a flip, what's the close rate on that? With me and Jimmy probably 75.80%. 75. Yeah, Jimmy is the reason we work so well together is because, A, he taught me. so I modeled myself after him,

but he's also very kind, very cordial, very well-spoken, very informative, not salesy, not, I'm here to beat you over the head. Right. Very indifferent on how things are the outcome. The dude has forgot more about H-Fact than probably most people will learn. So the way he's able to present his options, very, very, very rarely are we getting a kind of builder-grade or base model system it's usually high efficiency so uh interesting question about jimmy for the people

are watching so you're driving a van is he coming up in a van is he coming up in a company car what he has a Chevy colorado okay a little four-cylinder yeah Chevy Colorado so looks looks a little bit different he's more of the the manager type right coming in the authority like oh man yeah project manager is that what you guys call exactly yeah got it yeah I'm not going to let me get my sales guy out here you know they're like immediate red flag yeah um but I can say that with a straight face because Jimmy isn't like yes he isn't so I mean here we go with technicalities but yes he's technically a sales guy but he's not right and is he you does he have other texts that he's servicing as well as or just you there's me

Doug and Adrian and another guy named Gasper that are on our team so how does he from a logistic standpoint if he's following you around or whatnot someone else has a as a job at the same time how do you guys manage that depending on looking at the calls on the board in the morning, which calls are opportunity calls. We're more likely to be an opportunity call. If, say, me and Adrian have equal opportunity calls, then he'll stage up somewhere in the middle and it's first come first serve. We have other sales guys at the company that two other teams that, if need be, can swing

in and take care of. Yeah. Got it. Got it. Cool. I think, you know, for somebody that's watching this for the first time, considering getting into trades, consider. considering being a tech or a sales tech or, you know, involved in HVAC,

like what you've shared is like extremely valuable. So you shared what not to do. What would you say is the most important thing while being a, that led to you doing $4.1 million last year? Trusting God. I don't know how many times I was on a call and I'm sitting there on the catwalk in the attic or looking at the condenser and, you know, there's a lot going on and I'm like, God, just give me the right words to say. And I'll come there and I'll say some stuff and I'm like,

wow, that was definitely not me that said that. For me and everyone I work with knows this, like it begins and ends with God for me. I love that. All of my success is only because of him. It is nothing I've done. I show up and I don't really do that the best half the time, you know, but I love that. I'm a firm believer that God is involved in every, fabric of our lives, whether it's our physical economic or associations or a spiritual side, right? Like he wants us to win across the board. And it is interesting, right? Like what you're talking about, that like revelation can really come to you and you're like, whoa, those words weren't mine, you know? Like even whether it's, whether it's sales, whether it's communicating with

your spouse or whatnot. And so, yeah, every facet of your life, he just wants a relationship with you. So think of it like this. Like, If you have kids, you have kids. How much you love your children. I'm a flawed human being. I'm far from perfect. God is perfect. You know, and God is everything or God is nothing

because by definition, God must be everything. So if I love my daughters as much as I do and I'm a flawed human being, how much does he love me and want to see me succeed and be happy? But there's a tradeoff there. He wants a relationship with you. He wants you to not be ashamed of him. He wants you to be honest, and he wants you to work hard.

God works six days a week. He built everything in six days, and he rested on the seventh. So he doesn't want you to be lazy. Don't let your hands be slack. You know, Proverbs talks about that a lot. So you can ask God for a ditch, and when he gives you a shovel, you can't get mad. You've got to dig the ditch. So.

Appreciate you sharing your faith. so important to me and thanks for just sharing all your incredible knowledge. Thanks for coming, Zach.