Seth Garber steps into The Boardroom while Paul is away. This time to tackle controlling a phone conversation. Sorry. Say what? From upset customers to prospects, does saying “I’m sorry” convey responsibility? Is Peacemaker Patrick alone here? 

Is the customer always right? Do your CSR’s go through 9-degrees of training? It sounds like it’s the perfect opportunity to role play with none other than Fat Pat’s Pest. 

Changing course here, what’s the interplay between pest control and the home inspection business? From equity to revenue share to profit share, is there a right answer?

And would it really be an episode with Seth Garber if he didn’t kill a sacred cow?

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Garland Vance has a PhD in leadership. Literally. Garland has helped industry-giant Rollins build and develop their leadership pipeline. Keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and author of Gettin’ (un)Busy, Garland can now add The Boardroom Buzz guest to his resumé 😉. Hear how Fat Pat met Garland at Arizona Pest Professional Organization’s (AzPPO) Great Western Conference. 

It goes without saying - leadership isn’t easy - but is there such a thing as a born leader? From clarity to consistency, Garland shares the traits that you need to lead. Garland breaks down strengths and weaknesses to expose both as potential liabilities. There are a few gut checks in this sit-down, including what causes organizational whiplash.

Quick word of advice…before you press play, go ahead and lookup the definition for intertemporally.

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You don’t want to miss this round of listener-submitted questions, including Andy Sanefski’s question on past and future consolidation trends.

• Is there such a thing as too high revenue per technician?
• In 2021, everything must go, but what about now?
• When to increase pricing, and how much? And should I communicate the price increase?

Paul has a secret trip planned. Don’t get FOMO like Patrick. Subscribe to Potomac TV today.

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This one’s for the partners out there. Before pressing play, ask yourself if there’s a common theme behind partnership problems. How do you prevent blowing up friendships over the course of building a business together?

Know your role. Tune in to hear about the importance of distinguishing between shareholder vs employee roles. Partners, how did you decide compensation, equity, and strategy decisions? How do you stay on the same page? What about a tiebreaker?

Maybe you don’t already have a shareholder agreement in place. It’s not too late. If you do, does it include a provision for calculating the value of your business?

Exits happen. Do you have a plan for both voluntary and involuntary exits? Have you worked through any issues that could arise? If your shareholder agreement has a preamble, email it to The Buzz ([email protected]).

Are you ready if your plane falls?

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Let’s keep this short and sweet. Paul and Patrick answer six listener questions.

So the 6th listener to email [email protected] with the Subject Line “I actually read this” will get a gift.

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He’s made his way up the ranks in the pest industry but David Johnson finds himself falling into plumbing of all places. Buy a commercial plumbing company in 2020 without any experience? It’s a great idea, they said. 

Now the proud owner of Atlanta-based Citywide Plumbing, David shares his life lessons on leadership, sales, taking risks and more in this Boardroom chat.

David takes us back to his pre-pest days in retail and his moving & shaking days of commercial pest control sales in Orlando. Tune-in to hear David’s take leadership and more in this multi-decade look-back. 

Have you ever seen your “exes” get married? David has.

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Of all people, how did Patrick’s college friend Ryan Bishop get swept into the cleaning business? Ryan leads DTK Facility Services’s over 1,600 employees across 190 counties. Similarities between pest control and janitorial cleaning? Step into The Boardroom to find out.

Clean. Setup. Repeat. Ryan breaks down the complacency breakdown in this repetitive industry. Salesperson at heart, Ryan shares his project-based entry methods and balancing sales with the operations-side of the business.

Tune-in to hear about the highs and lows of channel partners, hiring, management, peer groups and more. With a state as wide as Fat Pat, how does Ryan drive culture and density across the great state of Texas? 

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You could say that Bryan Benak worked his way up in the trades. Recruited by Albert Cantu himself into the glory days of Terminix, Bryan went from managing a $1 million branch to present-day where he’s the CEO of $250 million Southern Home Services. 

Making stops at ServiceMasters’ Merry Maids and American Residential Services, and then finding a special situations detour along the way, Bryan has experience in both realms of publicly traded and private equity. All eyes are on the local manager in this double-distributed service model chat. 

From interest rates affecting M&A to understanding people, this interview doesn’t lack substance.

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What do Switzerland, Cypress, Japan, Turkey, Israel, Germany have in common? This episode, of course. Banks are in the headlines. From SVB to Credit Suisse, who is getting bailed out and why? Is this bank event the calm before the storm of a real credit collapse?

Paul returns from his trip Across the Pond where he interviewed Rentokil CEO Andy Ransom. What’s Andy’s take on the near-future of pest control? Tune in and subscribe to Potomac TV to find out. 

Remember from Episode 102, money doesn’t sit on the sidelines. The bank event changes Patrick’s previous tune of chasing yield to chasing safe haven. It begs the questions ‘where is a good place to store wealth?’

From making bank deposits to bail-ins to kick the proverbial can up the stairs, there’s a lot to take in during this bank-centric sit-down.

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From building phase to harvesting phase to lining up fund sequences, Paul breaks down private equity funds’ capital allocation and limited duration. What lessons can you apply in your privately held service business?

Mike Rogers built Killingworth’s Komfort Air. Patrick tried to add carpet cleaning. What guiding parameters should you put in place if you decide to expand? FedEx and ISS show clear ups and downs of expansion. Don’t miss Paul G’s Law of Cross-Selling.

You’re convinced you could do so much more if you had access to capital. Stay tuned…

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