The Sharpest Tool™

Tatiana Schafer, Strategic Partnerships Manager for Google, and Vanessa Villa, LSA Manager for Scorpion, discuss how Google Partners and home services businesses can work together to achieve results. 

Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to understanding how your marketing is helping or hindering your home services business. And while there are lots of tools available online for learning the how and why behind the numbers, time is a precious commodity. Working with a Google Partner can help you maximize your time and most importantly, your marketing.

Google Partners are leading companies recognized for having advanced Google Ad skills and the expertise to optimize campaigns. 

“It’s great to have a partnership that helps us ensure that everyone is working together diligently and helping businesses grow with those trends and changes.” - Vanessa 

Tatiana explains that new requirements for Google Partners are being put in place to help small businesses choose the ideal partner for their unique needs. 

Come February 2022, Google will be selecting the top 3% of partners to receive the new Premier Partner badge. There will be a constant evaluation moving forward to ensure the partners are meeting these set expectations.

“One thing about Google, and technology overall, is that change is the only constant we have.” - Tatiana

Working with a Google Partner can help your business build trust online through Local Services Ads (LSAs).

Tatiana summarizes how search has evolved from organic search to paid search, and how LSAs fit into today’s marketing landscape.

“LSAs make it easy for you as a local provider to connect with people who search on Google for the services that you offer. It is a lead generation-based product charged on cost per lead (CPL for short). You can advertise your services, get leads in the area that you choose, all while tracking performance and staying in control.” - Tatiana

It’s important to consider that LSAs are not a replacement for your Google Ads, but rather a complimentary product that works synergistically with your pay-per-click (PPC) strategy. Working with a Google Partner to understand these nuances can be key for helping your business secure the right leads. 

LSAs and home services businesses are a match made in heaven. LSAs attract local leads, show up above regular Google search results, and only require you to pay for the results you get (since pricing is cost per lead).

To optimize your LSA performance, Tatiana recommends focusing on these factors:

1. Your verification status and whether you obtained a Google badge of trust.
2. Your review score and the reviews that you currently have.
3. Your responsiveness to customer inquiries online.
4. Your business hours and information.

For more information on LSAs, listen to Part 2.

Skylar Lewis is the CEO of Superior Restoration and Rise Up Kings. After overcoming the inconsistencies in his own life, Skylar shares what he has learned: caring for your employees and investing in personal growth will bring you fulfillment.

After noticing a lot of male entrepreneurs and business owners playing below their potential, Skylar saw an opportunity to help them show up for themselves and get more consistent with their routines. Through Rise Up Kings’ three-day event, he helps men (specifically men who are married with children) expose the areas that are preventing them from getting to the next level.

Skylar shares that there are four pillars that every man needs to focus on to become balanced in their life:

1. Faith
2. Family
3. Fitness
4. Finance

When you have a better grasp on these four pillars, you will grow in your business and personal life.

“Life happens, but we don’t realize that all those crazy things throw up walls, and they create insecurities and they prevent us from creating million dollar businesses.”

Put your employees' needs first. Skylar explains that in order to achieve his desired level of freedom within his business, he had to dig deep and reassess personal areas where growth was necessary. One of those was to care more about his employees. If you care more about your employees than you do your income, it allows you to operate better as a leader.

“People can tell if you actually care about them or if you don’t. They will read you and even if they know in the back of their mind that you don’t really care, they’ll still follow you. But you build such a stronger tribe, and loyalty, and a team of committed people if you actually, at your core, do care about your people.”

Don’t blame others for your business failures. Although it is easy to fault others for things not going right, Skylar encourages you to look at yourself first. Realization is generally the first step to overcoming these issues. Focus on what you have control over and where you have potential deficiencies. That is where the real change starts to happen - in your sphere of influence.

Evaluate your inconsistencies. Inconsistent behavior is a silent killer in the workplace that can lead to confusion, distrust, and error. Furthermore, you may not realize how damaging your unintentional inconsistencies may be. When you’re not showing up for your employees the way they need, there is room left for uncertainty. This can lead to a lack of direction.

“First, get clear on what you want. That’s the most important thing. Most people don’t know. They may be like ‘I want to grow but I don’t know how.’ Just get clear on what you want and who you want to be.” 

Start a to-do list. Hire a coach. Take a risk. You’re the only one blocking yourself from success. 

For more information on his business and services, visit Rise Up Kings.

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Skylar Lewis is the CEO of Superior Restoration and Rise Up Kings. Scaling a business from start-up to $10 million himself, Skylar shares how to hire the right people for growth, culture and stability.

Hiring the right people is crucial for the success of your business. After starting his company over 10 years ago, Skylar learned quickly that in order to leverage his company, he would have to hire people to do the work he was currently doing.

Have a formal hiring process in place when looking for new staff. By putting time and work into finding the right people, you will improve your chance of hiring the best performers and avoiding costly mistakes.

Despite having a good initial gut instinct about someone, Skylar says it is important to have a multi-step process in place before making any solid recruitment decisions. In his company’s unique process, potential candidates are assessed according to these standards: 

1. Skills. Do they have the skills that are required to be able to do the job and do it well?
2. Core Values. Does the candidate show that they can embody the company's core values?
3. Reliability. Are they going to be consistently a high performer in their role?

Make sure you document each step of the process and have solid, objective, evidenced-based reasons for deciding to hire someone or not.

“The whole goal is to get it out of your head and make it a duplicatable process. Simplify the process, make it duplicatable. So, what I started doing is writing down specific questions that would give me the answer as to whether the candidate is a good fit.”

Skylar emphasizes that it’s important to hire people with an ownership mentality. An inability to perceive and admit mistakes is not at all a strength, but a weakness – and in a business, it’s dangerous. If you hire people with an ownership and leadership mentality, your company will be able to run itself, says Skylar, because each employee has something that they are solely responsible for.

Time is of the essence when you first start your business. Everyday that you aren’t propelling forward can be an opportunity for your competition to get stronger. This often leaves entrepreneurs feeling pressured to make fast decisions, or decisions they aren’t confident about.

The downside to moving fast is that you make a lot of mistakes. You may hire the wrong people, trust employees with too much or make bad business decisions. Look at this as an opportunity to learn from those mistakes quickly and then move on.

“We know when we trust somebody and when we don’t. You can tell when you’re looking at somebody… there is something there. You have to dig into that, instead of just ignoring it, because it will cost you a lot of money down the road.”

Creating consistency within an organization is difficult but training helps reduce disparities. Training should help employees understand:

1. Their individual goals and the company’s goals
2. Their role and responsibilities on the team.

Skylar says the best way to ensure all employees have effective training is consistency. 

“So we first teach them, we show them, we let them do it and then we let them do it on their own. There is a process to properly train people. People skip essential steps… but those steps are critical. You have to tell them how, show them, let them do it while you’re watching and then let them do it on their own and then follow up.”

Through following these steps and creating long-term training systems, you will be on your way to creating an amazing team with strong ownership. 

For more information on his business and services, visit Superior Restoration

Allan Draper is the CEO and Co-Founder of proof. Pest Control. Scaling his own business from an idea to a thriving enterprise, Allan shares what it takes to see significant growth using visualization and goal-setting.

Reading is one of the best forms of self-education for adults and should always be made a priority. Allan attributes part of his success in business to his dedication to reading business books from a young age. When you take the time to learn, you’re opening up the possibility to expand your world view of what you can actually achieve.

“As I started to read, I started to realize what was possible. It was weird because I don’t have any direct mentors per se, there were a couple of people who have helped but reading is what really allowed me to see what was possible. I always say my best mentors are the authors of books and people I have never met before.”

Take one thing that you have learned from a recent book and apply it to your life today. Use the knowledge that you receive from reading (or a mentor) and put it to use. Allan emphasizes that knowledge is power.

Having a vision ensures you have a clear sense of purpose and a mental picture of the future you desire. It is a practical guide for planning, goal-setting, and decision making. Allan believes that creating a trajectory for your company has more to do with finding your “why” than it does projecting your numbers.

“So there are the SMART Goals. It has to be specific, measurable and attainable and all of those things, but I think it has to be consistent with the company… The goals that you set are just a reflection of the company. Creating goals, it gives you a little bit of a road map.”

Visualize what you want, make sure your team is on the same page and keep track of your progress.

Entrepreneurship is about so much more than simply starting a business. Find your purpose and acknowledge what makes you do what you do. The more successful you are the less money means, Allan says. Find what pushes you to keep going once you reach your goals.

“People ask me what my definition of success is and I always say it’s being able to control your time in a way that you see fit. You can do whatever you want… But when you visualize that before you have it, not only does it help put things in context but it gives you this motivation.”

For more information on Allan’s business and services, visit proof. Pest Control.

Allan Draper is the CEO and Co-Founder of proof. Pest Control. Growing up in a small farming town, Allan knows the importance of community and persistence. He shares how to scale a business from an idea to a thriving eight-figure enterprise. 

Think outside the box. If you embrace data from other industries and focus on constantly learning new things, you increase the opportunity for unique insights and potentially new services. You will learn how to be more analytical and your thought process will change.

“I think when you expand your horizons, as people say, and you learn new things, you acquire an ability to be able to solve problems. Business owners, I look at it as two things, they create something and they solve problems, and usually those two things go hand-in-hand.”

Plan for the possibility of scaling your home services business from the beginning. Allan states that his company was prepared for growth from the moment they opened their doors. As Allan himself was not on the ground working as a technician, he was able to hire the right people for the right positions. This ensured that the foundations of the company were working and stable.

Look at the goals of your business. If you are searching for a way to grow, be willing to put in the work required to do so.

“You get to a crossroads where you are like “Am I doing this, or am I not?” because growing a company is very painful in many ways… To get to a point where you want to really scale a company, you have to get comfortable with those growing pains and embrace the unknown.”

When bringing on new talent, using hiring strategies might help make it more efficient. For example, Allan explains that for his company, it is more important to hire a person for their personality than their skillset. If you have the right processes in place, your team will be able to train your new hire to do the job.

“That first 30, 60, 90 days is really important. And you can get people that initially weren't there for the right reason, but you can coach them and train them and help them, if you don’t give up on them too early.”

For more information on Allan’s business and services, visit 

proof. Pest Control.

Patrick Lange is an experienced HVAC business broker heading up The Business Modification Group. Coming from a unique background in financial planning and owning an HVAC business himself, Patrick shares why you shouldn’t fear focusing on one area of expertise as well as how to sell or acquire a new business. 

Customers want expertise. They want to know the broker knows about their needs and knows about serving them. Many business owners in the broker world fear losing out on opportunities if they create a more specific selling point. However, niching down gives you the ability to make more money, become more valuable, and enjoy your work more.

“The biggest thing is educating yourself because you know the more value you deliver to the customer, and that’s whether you own a heating and air company or a plumbing company or an electrical company or you’re selling them… the more people seek you out.”

The more you learn about your specific niche, the more information you will then be able to provide your client with. Immerse yourself in whatever area of expertise you are wanting to go in. Patrick says that success leaves clues—find those people and listen as much as you can.

Laying the groundwork for a successful transition when selling your business can help you receive the full value that your company is worth, without any hiccups. Selling requires careful planning. 

Patrick says that by following these four simple steps, you will remain on the offensive:

1. Keep clean books and records. Stop treating your business like your personal bank account. Pay your taxes, receive the correct income and you will benefit later down the track.

“The least amount of personal expenses you have in there [books], the better off you’re going to be.”

2. Take yourself out of the truck. Don’t be the only person doing the hard work and “turning the wrenches.” People do not want to purchase that kind of business and your exit strategy will be far more complicated.

3. Focus on service. Service should be placed above new construction. Buyers are fearful of new construction. The more service you focus on, the better your business is going to be.

4. Deepen those customer relationships. Get into customer homes more often, deliver a better maintenance agreement and this will lead to long-term profitability.

If you have a problem in your business, having more leads come in is not going to fix your issues. Patrick’s advice for anyone searching for a business to acquire is to first look at what is happening within your own company. Once you have the right systems in place in your own company then you are better prepared to purchase someone else’s.

“Don’t buy anything until your ducks are in a row in your own business. Many people think, and I’m sure you see it on the marketing side, they’ve got all these other problems, and they think that if we have more leads coming in that will fix the problems. That’s not the fix… Make sure your house is in order first, and that you’ve got systems in place in your own business before you go taking on somebody else’s. That’s the first step.”

Determine how and where you want to grow. Look at the location of the companies you are thinking about purchasing and decide whether these fit within your expansion. Patrick also explains the importance of checking in on the size and affordability of the business you are considering.

Understand what your business and clients need and go from there. 

For more information on his business and services, visit Business Modification Group.

Patrick Lange is an experienced HVAC business broker heading up The Business Modification Group. Coming from a unique background in financial planning and owning an HVAC business himself, Patrick shares how to run a successful services business, so that when it comes time to sell it, people are lining up to purchase. 

If you don’t enjoy your work, make a change. Find a career that you can take pleasure in, like selling products that you are knowledgeable and passionate about. Patrick shares that although he started out in the finance industry, he knew it was not the space for him. He decided to pivot, pursuing a career as an HVAC business broker instead.

Patrick emphasizes that success leaves clues. Finding your way in a new career path is not always easy. His advice is to: 

1. Try new things.
2. Learn from successful business owners.
3. Improve on what you learn.

“I get to steal a lot of ideas from successful companies that I see every day. I love successful businesses. So, for me it’s kind of neat to kind of peel back the layers and see what works… seeing what’s successful and what’s not successful and there is a fine line that separates the two, that’s extremely exciting to me.”

Buyers love simplicity and ease. When selling a business, it is important that you have clean records and great relationships with your clients. Patrick says these are the first things that buyers look for when considering a purchase.

“Separation of service, clean books and records, repetitive income and a business built on service. Those four things if they build their heating and air company, and plumbing company and electrical company that way, they’ll be able to cash a bigger check.”

Be aware of what the general rate for a business of your size is going for and try not to oversell or undersell yourself. People will not always be truthful with what they can truly afford, so you have to have to make a judgement call and understand how to communicate your desires.

Great customer service is an essential quality you should look for when buying a business. Patrick knows a lot about what is needed when acquiring a new company. Aside from assessing the right pricing and the paperwork, you have to ensure you have a good understanding of how the business was run previously. If the company you are considering purchasing has a bad reputation for inconsistency or bad customer service, those issues will now fall on you.

You can be incredibly successful in the trades. These jobs are always going to be needed, and Patrick believes this industry will continue to grow.

“I can tell you I know more people in the heating and air business that make more money than the people I knew in the financial planning business... It’s not all about income and I am not trying to make it like it is, but the opportunities that the trades offer that I didn’t realize existed, I get to see that on a daily basis and that’s incredible to me.”

For more information on Patrick’s business and services, visit Business Modification Group.

Idan Shpizear is a speaker, thought leader and the founder of 911 Restoration Franchise. He shares how to find alignment within yourself in order to grow your business and why this will help you care for your customers.

Businesses that define their purpose and values are better positioned for long-term success in an ever-changing climate. Idan believes that in order to align your business and your vision, you must first ensure you have found alignment within yourself.

“As a leader if your vision is not really connected to who you are… I think we need to embody our vision… First of all, you need to spend time with yourself and really connect with where you want to be, who you want to become, and why it’s important to you.”

Once you become clear on your mission, bring your team in and ask them for their thoughts and opinions. Idan shares that your vision should have a life of itself. Make sure everyone on your team feels as passionately about it as you do, because you want your organization to work as a whole - not as a bunch of individuals.

911 Restoration and its team are dedicated to living a ‘fresh start’ attitude. Idan describes this mindset as being the positive in every negative situation as well as providing support for every member of the team. You are there to be of service to your client. Once you adopt this mentality everything else will fall into place.

“We’re going back to empowering every person in the company and we know that once you’re empowered, everybody around you will kind of get that sense, get that feeling as well. So, it’s really, are you fit for service? When you go out there to work with somebody who is going through a disaster - water damage or fire - are you really present to be there for them and support them?” 

You want to be the calm in your client's traumatic storm. When you are worried about how your team members are, how your business is running or anything else that is happening in the background, you are not giving your client your full attention. You are adding to the chaos they are already experiencing.

Most people want to be heard and listened to. If you are actively listening to your clients and helping them through their tough times, you will gain their trust. Plus, when you really listen, Idan says, you don’t need to sell anything because people will tell you exactly what they want.

It is not about what you want to have in life, it is about who you want to become. You will find a greater sense of fulfillment from the level of contributions you make to your work, your family and your community. Find alignment with who you want to be and success will follow.

“When you put a light on a limited belief, it dissolves, it gets transformed. Suddenly I am seeing I am not working hard but I am making more money. I am putting meaningful relationships and adding value at the core of what I do. So it’s not about how much money can I make, it’s about can I build a meaningful business with that person. Can you really be aligned on the business and mission… Once my focus was on that, the growth was unbelievable. So when you chase something, you’re just really pushing it further away from you.”

Idan closes with the advice to start nurturing yourself, learn new information, and do things that bring you closer to who you want to become.

Idan’s LinkedIn
911 Restoration Franchise

Idan Shpizear is a speaker, thought leader and the founder of 911 Restoration Franchise. He shares how to generate consistent leads and build a culture where everyone - team and clients included - feels supported. 

Originally from Israel, Idan moved to the USA after leaving the military in search of lucrative business opportunities. Through perseverance and great business sense, he has flourished as an entrepreneur and found his footing among some of the top business leaders.

Idan says the customer experience is what drives him to work harder. Once Idan discovered the restoration world (including water, mold and fire) and he saw how elated his customers were to have their property back, he realized that was the type of business he wanted to be in. He is now the founder and CEO of 911 Restorations, which is ranked among the top restoration franchises in the nation by Entrepreneur.

Idan attributes much of his company’s initial growth to digital marketing. After hearing about Google and online marketing, Idan was ready to put in the time required to learn everything he could about scaling his business and reaching more people through Google AdWords.

“We grew our business from $250,000 a year to $3 million a year in about two years. So this was our first crazy growth experience… that growth was one thousand percent from digital advertising.”

Idan believes you must put your customers first. Every customer you are helping in restoration is going through an emotional journey, and you must be there to support them through that. If you are able to provide fair and excellent service to your clients, they will refer you to more people and help you grow your business. 

“We’re very conscious of the emotional journey of the client, right. So if you work with the manager of a building we didn’t think about what we need, we always thought about how we can help do better. How can I help him get to where he wants to get. And what we saw was that the more we can help more people, everything just comes back to you. So that was always in the back of our mind. The idea of us as a company, we want to build a culture where we are really nurturing our team, our franchises and our clients and really helping them go through this journey. That’s at the core of everything we do.”

911 Restoration continues to grow steadily, accepting new clients every day. In order to achieve this level of growth, Idan shares the three areas that his company has always focused on:

1. Online lead generation: Be available whenever a customer needs you.
2. Work your local market: Get out in the field and build relationships.
3. Create an account with a national list: If you work with a retailer that has many stores across the USA, you want to try and get on their list.

Idan firmly believes personal development holds an important role in business success. Idan explains that every one of his team members is responsible for their development but is there to support their colleagues as well. A company only thrives when its employees do.

“When you get everyone aligned, when everyone knows your expectations, everybody knows what they need to do and what success looks like. That way you celebrate as a team. You know when you guys are winning.”

He prioritizes people before profit. When you are clear about what is important, it is a lot easier to make decisions and you will have a far more obvious direction for the business. 

Idan’s LinkedIn
911 Restoration Franchise

Marika Carter is the Director of Internet Marketing at Scorpion. She shares her wealth of 20 years marketing experience to help home services business owners create strong online reputations.

Your online reputation really matters, especially for home services businesses. Remember, your marketing funnel begins with the consumer looking in many different places for someone to fix their problem. So you want to make sure that you give a good first impression and show up where they are looking.

Marika highlights that according to the current data, the consumer typically has five touchpoints with your business before they take action. These touchpoints should be searchable, educational, and valuable. 

Apps home services businesses should consider creating a profile on (in addition to Google, service ads, and paper ads):

• Nextdoor
• HomeAdvisor
• Angie’s List
• Yelp 
• Porch

The final touch? Make sure your information is consistent across all platforms.

In today’s market, consumers have a lot of options and places they can search for information. 

“Some studies show that the online reviews are basically 90% of what matters in somebody making a decision. So, in the past, somebody used to just call their neighbor or friends, family, whoever to recommend someone. But now, if you don’t have a good set of reviews, and it’s okay to have some not so good reviews too, but you have to show that you’re interacting with your client, so that online reputation really matters much more so than before.” 

Marika’s advice is to treat your Google My Business page as a little microsite. If your website is your house entryway, then consider Google My Business your front porch. Populate it with:

• Photos
• Coupons
• Website
• Hours
• Phone

Local service ads are also a helpful tool for promoting your business, and it is critical that your team on the other end of that phone number is responsive. You have to pick up the phone. With the high level of competition and low loyalty today, consumers will move right along to a competitor if you don’t answer immediately.

Marika acknowledges that being a business owner and trying to keep track of all of your responsibilities and respond to reviews can be overwhelming. She recommends thinking of your online reputation like building your credit history. Do what you can to improve it and monitor it closely. 

Responding to both good and bad reviews as soon as you see them is important. What other people want to see is that you are willing to make things right and resolve any issues that the poster addresses. Be charitable, consistent, and follow up. If you need support, Marika recommends taking action:

1. Choose someone in-house to help you manage your online reputation.
2. Find a trusted, expert partner outside your company to help you. 

“I think people are happy to leave reviews but it has to be in that moment. So, the best way to handle it is to have the technician ask for a review before they leave the house and then follow up from there. But you have a very, very short window to even get that review and you have to ask for it. Some companies, they do friendly competition between the technicians, a little incentive program there to motivate the technicians to get more.”