1-on-1 Coaching: The Shortcut to Contractor Growth

Do you have an expert confidant who truly understands your business—and can guide you to highs while avoiding the lows?

Having someone to bounce ideas off of, challenge your thinking, and offer real-world advice can be the difference between staying stuck and scaling up. When owners get the right support, they stop second-guessing and start trail blazing.

This week, hear how a third-generation business owner found that kind of support through Next Level Coaching and can now sleep at night. One-on-one coaching helped him increase profit from 18% to 26% in a year, led to key team hires, and helped him break growth records. Learn how having a trusted coach in your corner helps you focus on what matters most and grow your business exponentially.

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Audio Transcription (in beta, please be wary of typos)

00:00:00:00 – 00:00:10:02

On today’s show, another amazing contractor interview with Mr. Scott Devitt.

00:00:10:04 – 00:00:36:24

All right, let’s get going with today’s show with Scott Deming as he interviews another one of our successful members. Hello my friends. Welcome to another episode of Cracking the Code, the official video interview series of contract. The university powered by Gea. I am your host, Scott Deming, and this is actually the second installment of a special edition that we’re doing, and we’re talking about the Next Level coaching program with me today.

00:00:36:28 – 00:00:57:15

One of the participants in this amazing program, Mr. Ben Cox of Expert Air Cooling and Heating. How are you doing, sir? Pretty good. How about you? Good. Did I say that right? You did. Oh, awesome. That’s a lot to get out in a couple of seconds. Hey, Ben, you know, thank you so much for taking the time and your consideration today.

00:00:57:16 – 00:01:15:06

We really, really appreciate it. And if you’ve seen any of these programs, we like to start them all off the same way. And that is you talk a little bit about your, your company, how you got started, where you’re located. You know what you specialize in and that kind of thing. And don’t don’t tell us what your sales are and all that.

00:01:15:06 – 00:01:41:00

Just give us an idea of what it is you’re doing and how far you’ve come since you began. Okay, so I’m third generation. My grandpa started the first company in our family. My dad took that company over, and now I’ve purchased this company from my father. And we’re located about 20 miles north of Houston, Texas. We have two locations in the area, and,

00:01:41:02 – 00:02:02:24

Yeah. So I was, actually previously a minor league baseball player, got back into the trades in 2009, and I’ve been with my dad for almost 13, 14 years at this point. And I just bought him out last year, and that’s why I joined the program. Awesome. So do you do you do both residential and commercial? Yeah, yeah we do.

00:02:02:27 – 00:02:25:09

What do you do? 80%? We do 80% residential and 20% commercial. Okay. And, trucks and vans and employees all over the place. How many folks do you have? We have six technicians to install crews, a few CSRs, so I have about 22 employees total. That’s wonderful. That’s wonderful. Hey, let’s talk a little bit about this next level coaching program.

00:02:25:11 – 00:02:52:17

When did you get involved in that? January of this year. Oh no kidding. So it’s pretty fresh. So have you done anything else before with Contract University? You’re taking any of the other training programs or attended epic or any of that? I’ve never been to epic. I did do one course, in Dallas. It was a, pricing course, and I’ve taken almost every module on the website.

00:02:52:19 – 00:03:16:19

And what I was really just looking for at this point was someone to bounce ideas off of, and someone just to talk to a real person, because it’s really hard to go through and do it each module at a time and try to implement it by yourself. Yeah, I actually take still to this day, after all these years of being self-employed, I still take modules online and it is kind of tough.

00:03:16:19 – 00:03:33:28

It’s, you know, you’re kind of sitting there watching a virtual, instructor, and you can’t really. Hey, hold on a second. I got to ask you a question. You really can’t do that. So you’ve only been involved since the beginning of the year? It’s it’s a bit of an investment on your part to get involved in this. Both money and time.

00:03:34:00 – 00:03:58:07

How do you feel it’s paid off for you so far? So far, it’s been great. To be completely honest, I had a really bad mindset coming into the beginning of the year. I was super stressed. I felt like I was very overworked. I was lacking direction. Losing a lot of sleep. And so it really started there.

00:03:58:15 – 00:04:28:02

And I have to say, they they really guided me in the right direction of how to handle those things and get the ball rolling in the right direction. So you were super stressed because you were you felt like you were kind of running in circles or you just didn’t have a focus. It was a mixture of things. I think that when you buy a company, a lot of people don’t understand what business ownership really is.

00:04:28:05 – 00:04:49:03

It sounds great. It’s like, oh, yeah, I’m going to make all this money. And the truth is, you have to be dialed in. You have to. You have to know your stuff, and you have to be able to handle the ups and downs. And we were in our down season and I was just really struggling mentally with my mindset with it.

00:04:49:05 – 00:05:12:02

So they helped me a lot with that, be it. Can you be specific what you said, that they helped you get focused and helped you dial in? What is it that you learned from them that helped you do that? Well, you know, so from from day one when I got on the phone with it’s Bob and Darryl who were my coaches and when I got on the phone with them on the first day, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

00:05:12:02 – 00:05:41:12

And Darryl said, hey, man, you need to go talk to somebody and work on your personal growth and take care of yourself first. No one’s ever told me that. You know, it’s always been about how can we move the business forward. When he said that, it really hit me. And so I did it, and I did. I went and found someone that I could talk to personally, work on myself, work on my personal growth.

00:05:41:15 – 00:06:05:01

And what that’s done, that’s translated over to the company, has translated through my confidant. It’s just helped me a lot. You know, the one thing that I’ve heard from a lot of people who have worked with Contract University at all the different levels and all the different programs, is they all feel like they’ve made a friend. They all feel like they’ve taken the all the different instructors have taken such a personal interest in them, not just as a business.

00:06:05:01 – 00:06:23:02

They didn’t just look at numbers and and statistics, but they really looked at them as somebody who they care about and somebody they want to help. On a personal level as well, which is, you know, you just kind of reaffirm that. So, yeah. What about let’s talk a little bit about what they’ve done for your for your organization.

00:06:23:05 – 00:06:43:23

Now that you’ve taken it for several months you’ve been part of this program. What can you give us any tangibles, any real solid information on what how it’s moved the needle for you. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, number one is I was very hesitant to hire an operations manager. That’s something that I had a lot of fear in losing control.

00:06:43:26 – 00:07:07:07

And so I went ahead, and they really, you know, they hit it home, convinced me. Let’s go ahead and hire it. Ops manager, see how it goes. So I did best decision I ever made. I have an ops manager. That’s great. She, keeps the guys accountable. We’re focused on goals, growing our membership. You know, we’ve grown our membership almost 50% this year.

00:07:07:07 – 00:07:32:12

That that was one very tangible thing that we did is I was always marketing for replacement. And they came in and said, no, let’s let’s switch. Let’s just flip this model, right? And let’s focus on members. Get as many members as you can get, price it aggressively get members. So as soon as we did that, like right now, we broke our August record by 70% revenue this year.

00:07:32:13 – 00:07:55:06

Wow. It was yeah. It’s insane. So, like our our fruit, we’re finally seeing the fruit. But I say finally. But it’s only been a matter of months, right? Hi, I’m Daryl, you shensky. Hey, I’m Bob Larkin. Many of our contractors meet with us monthly. And you. Chances are I’ve met with us monthly. We found that members have deeper and greater needs.

00:07:55:07 – 00:08:15:11

So we came up with next level coaching, which is we meet a lot more often. And there is accountability to deal with some of the issues of money growth, finding employees, having an exit strategy to get off this roller coaster. These are the issues the contractors want answers to, and we can provide those answers at the next level.

00:08:15:11 – 00:08:39:02

Coaching. When you join next level coaching, you’re going to find solutions that are easy to implement and logical. Most importantly, we hold you accountable to specifics. We’re going to meet twice a month and have specific to do’s. And with those specific to dos. We’re going to discuss and dive into your financials in a very granular way. You’re going to have a clear budget.

00:08:39:02 – 00:09:03:29

We’ll be able to establish pricing. We’re going to help you create leadership programs to build your people. We’re going to help you find people. You may think of differing ways to engage employees that will keep them more involved by joining next level coaching. So if you’re interested in making more money, growing your company, finding good employees, and developing an asset strategy, give del on our call.

00:09:04:04 – 00:09:22:09

We’ll be happy to talk to you about next level coaching, and we’re going to see you on the next level. I mean, I know what your members are, your customers who sign up for for annual programs. Is it is it different than just somebody signing up for a you know, the pre-season checks and all that? They get special pricing.

00:09:22:09 – 00:09:49:06

How does your membership work if you’re not if you don’t mind. Yeah. So we have we’ve actually priced ours extremely aggressively. We’ve got $120 a year for our maintenance plan. And, we get two, three nights a year. We’re offering 20% off repairs. They get 10% off replacement, 10% off IQ. That is a great about it.

00:09:49:06 – 00:10:20:25

I mean, of course, yeah. It’s aggressive. And so it’s paid dividends. I mean, it was pretty much an it but now is now we’re really seeing fruits come from it. Are you seeing a lot of business from referrals. You get getting a lot of word of mouth business. We’re getting word of mouth. But what’s crazy is we looked at our numbers two days ago and I think it was 92% of our revenue has come from members.

00:10:20:27 – 00:10:44:21

Wow. That’s believable. So, Ben. Yeah, you you were a little hesitant. You know, I don’t want to use the word afraid, but you were not really willing to make that investment. And an ops manager, they convinced you that the investment would pay off. And it is. You were doing things the way you always thought they should be done.

00:10:44:21 – 00:11:20:25

They came in and said, let’s flip this model. And it has completely blown your revenues, through the roof. And that the thing that I want people to understand and again, I’m not this isn’t just a, you know, a shameless plug, but the the folks at EGI, a contractor university, you know, they have this knowledge and so many people don’t understand that you need an outside set of eyeballs to look at you on a personal level, look at your business from a completely different, you know, perspective and give you that that perspective and, and it and it’s good stuff.

00:11:20:25 – 00:11:46:09

I mean, it’s real sound advice. What else do you do believe, the this Next Level coaching program has done for you and your organization? The biggest thing has just been that we that that every time we have a conversation, I’m able to be held accountable to what I’m doing in a realistic way. I hope that makes sense.

00:11:46:11 – 00:12:08:09

Definitely not. There’s no expectation of perfection because no one’s going to be perfect. If. How are you doing? What do you think you need to work on? And, you know, sometimes we just have a conversation. Sometimes we just sit there and and shoot the breeze for a while and see how each other doing. And that’s also good.

00:12:08:16 – 00:12:44:13

So it’s you’re right. It’s a relationship and it’s and it’s transparent. It’s authentic. Does he call you out on things if you, if you’re kind of going astray, he will, Daryl especially would at first, just because I had a really poor attitude, to be honest with you, I was I was really down in the dumps and, you know, Bob, actually, kami, they did compliment the other day, I was like, man, you’ve turned to 180, you know, and and it is it’s nice to sleep again, you know, because I got to attribute a lot to these guys.

00:12:44:13 – 00:13:18:27

I mean, I’ll throw it out there so far this year where 26% in that profit, that’s where our net profits are this year. And we’ve never been anywhere near that where we’ve usually been at like 15, 18. So a healthy company, you know, but we’re our net is just five. So and you and you are comfortable saying you can directly attribute your growth, your your improvement and profit improvement and attitude and all that to the day that you started working with these folks and they started pointing out some things to help you correct?

00:13:19:00 – 00:13:43:21

Yeah. I mean, the biggest thing was from day one, I mean, when they recognized just really where I was mindset wise. It was so eye opening. And since that day, I’ve just personally worked on that and having knowing that I have these guys to go Lee on and say, hey, I have a question. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do here.

00:13:43:23 – 00:14:23:25

It does. It gives you an extra layer of confidence that you normally wouldn’t have. It’s kind of like the but doesn’t necessarily stop with me all the time. You know what I mean? Yeah, it’s exactly right. And you know what? It warms my heart that, that you took the plunge. You took that you risked, you know, some investment, and you are reaping the rewards, and I, I, I wish that more people recognize the importance of having a mentor, the importance of getting ongoing training, and having friends out there that, for example, Bob, his introducing you to people you’re networking and meeting folks on the manufacturing side that you never would have

00:14:23:25 – 00:14:43:21

met before. Correct? Yes. Yeah. I mean, I’m here. I’m here with you right now. I wouldn’t have been here with you having this conversation right now. And the big part, you like you lucky you. Yeah. Exactly. Right. But, you know, the biggest question to ask yourself is, are you willing to invest in yourself because that’s what you’re doing.

00:14:43:24 – 00:15:12:13

You’re not investing in a coach. You’re not investing any ego. You’re investing in you because you’re the one that’s going to reap the reward. You’re the one that’s going to grow. It’s going to affect your people. I mean, just hiring an operations manager for me, I mean, she brought in all these great technicians with a great attitude. And I mean, they’re jam and like, they’re they’re competing for, you know, number one every month.

00:15:12:15 – 00:15:35:04

I mean, we blew I mean, we we beat our goal by 100 grand this month. And I mean, we never have done this before. So it’s exciting. Good for you. Good for you. And it’s, again, it warms my heart to hear you reaping the rewards of your investment. Hey, I think we pretty much covered what we wanted to cover, but I want to ask you a question.

00:15:35:07 – 00:15:55:24

An athlete? You played minor league baseball? Yeah. Who would you play for? I played, I got drafted by. Well, originally, I got drafted by the San Diego Padres, and I pass on that. Played one more year in college. Then I got drafted by the Montreal Expos and their last year. Then they got Tran. That’s when I transferred over to the nationals.

00:15:55:26 – 00:16:13:09

No, I played for the. I played one year for the Expos and played with the nationals for a couple of years. Got traded for the Giants and played with the Giants organization. No kidding. Good for you. Where did you play in college? Played at Lamar University and then I what position. Yeah but let me guys let me guess.

00:16:13:09 – 00:16:40:12

You’re a you’re a third baseman catcher outfield catcher. How are you. Yeah I what I was yeah I had a lifetime ago man I know try to throw that fastball now and see how you can eat dinner with the same arm. Yeah. No joke, man, no joke. Yeah, well, listen, Ben, this has been really a lot of fun, and you’ve been fantastic.

00:16:40:12 – 00:16:59:01

And thank you for sharing. I mean, you you got into some personal things in addition to the business side of things. And, you know, that’s not easy to do and really appreciate you doing that. Is there anything else you want to add? No, I mean, I just, you know, I, I do think Bob and Darryl, I do thank you.

00:16:59:03 – 00:17:17:28

For what? For what y’all are doing. Yeah, I know it’s a lot of work. The amount of content on the site is unbelievable. I mean, yeah, it’s a lot. So, I mean, there’s there’s work behind that, you know, you don’t just get that. So, you know, I think a lot of people appreciate it. And maybe y’all don’t hear that enough.

00:17:18:01 – 00:17:41:12

Well I we appreciate you all. So, the feeling’s mutual. Hey, don’t go away. I’m going to sign us off. But I’m going to come back to you again. Ben, thanks so much for your time. This was really a wonderful conversation. Thank you. Well, folks, that’s a wrap. Another episode of Cracking the Code, the official video podcast of Contract University powered by ego.

00:17:41:15 – 00:17:58:23

I’m your host, Scott Deming, with me today, Ben Cox from Expert Air Cooling and Heating. And, man, what a wonderful conversation. What a great guy. I mean, he really talked a lot about a lot of things that some people wouldn’t be comfortable with, and I truly appreciate him. So until next time again, I’m Scott Deming.

00:17:58:23 – 00:18:15:16

We’ll see you. Bye bye. Awesome content right there from Scott, as always. Now be sure and share this on Facebook. And if you’re not a member, click the button below and get a free trial giving you access to all of our amazing content. That’s our show for this week, folks. We’ll see you soon. Until then, bye bye for now.