Latest / The Home Service Heartbeat Podcast / Building a 170-Person Team Through Service & Relationships | Dane Fosse of Zeppelin Cleaning Services

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Building a 170-Person Team Through Service & Relationships | Dane Fosse of Zeppelin Cleaning Services · The Home Service Heartbeat Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone, and welcome to this episode of the Home Service Heartbeat Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Joe Crocera, and today I'm excited to be joined by Dane Fossey from the Metro Detroit area.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's with Zeppelin Cleaning Services.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Zeppelin has created a professional cleaning company that focuses on value and quality.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: And over the years, they developed a system for maintaining commercial buildings, office spaces, carpet, homes, and more.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Dane, thank you so much for joining us today.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: We're thrilled to have you on the show.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Mr.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Joe, for having me.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Dane, why don't we just start?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because this interview is about you.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just here to facilitate and learn more about you so that the people of your community in Metro Detroit uh can learn about you.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: So share a little bit about how this company got started and what led you to your role as one of the leaders in the company.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: So uh Zeppelin Cleaning Services actually started in 2007, but my entrance was a little bit later.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I have been an entrepreneur since college.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: I went to a small college in Detroit and graduated around 2009 when the economy was doing really, really well.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh a couple of years prior to graduating, I started a small service business.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: We were shredding paper actually.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it was an on-site document destruction company.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we were fortunate enough to build that up and were bought by a larger competitor.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: And from there I got into the real estate business, which we're we are still in today.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: We have a small real estate investment company.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: And one of our properties was a co-working space.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: And one of my tenants, he had one little single desk, was a cleaning company.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: And instead of paying the desk rent, we bartered.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: He cleaned a part of the building and he got a place to work from.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that person was Chris Cooper, who owned Zeppelin Cleaning Services at the time.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: And this is around 2017.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: We had about, I think he had about six or seven employees.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: We uh I uh I stayed on them, we cracked a deal, and we became partners together.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: And uh from there, I think we now have about 170 employees, and it's been uh it's been a fun ride for nearly the last 10 years.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not like a great partnership.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: He he's got the idea about how to get this uh the actual work that gets done.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: You sound like you came in as more of an entrepreneur trying to help uh to grow the business more and uh to help uh give the people jobs and services that previously didn't have the capacity to do it.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like you've grown the capacity over the years.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: We've been able to, yeah.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's been uh it's been a fun ride.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's about right.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: He's more on the op side, and I'm more on the marketing, sales, organization side.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, it's been great.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: We've been uh it's been a fun ride.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we're just getting started.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's talk about it since you uh jumped into that business and uh and it sounds like it's been a huge uh you know growth experience for you and uh your partner.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: What was his name again?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Chris.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Chris, uh, you and Chris.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what's the biggest challenge you guys were facing while trying to work together to grow this team?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And and how did you overcome that challenge?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, because there is a natural tension between the marketing and that part of it versus the work that's being done, you know, the operation.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how did you guys uh work through some of the challenges?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: What were some of the challenges and how did you work through them?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think I think getting to the point, I think when you're growing, when you go from small from five to 10 employees, and you grow pretty quickly from to 50, 60, 70, 80, uh, there's a lot of pains along the way.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: It costs a lot more to grow than people realize.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you're constantly rebuilding the system.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: So what worked at 10 employees doesn't work at 50 employees, it doesn't work at 100 employees.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, at each of those levels, we had to have further investment, we had to get more organized, we had to be uh uh we had to have a completely different mindset.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that's been a challenge.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's it's where most of the fun is, but uh, but it's not easy.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: And and like I said, it's it's come with significant investment and a lot of time and and figuring things out, but um, but it's fun.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Every time we reach that new level, we uh uh we welcome the challenge and just keep working through it.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be interesting, uh the collaboration.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: How do you guys uh how do you guys get along during that collab collaboration?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Is there some creative tension or how do you guys work through some of that creative tension that must be there between what he started and what you're developing?
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh is he just uh happy and happy with everything, or has there been times where uh there you guys are able to work through some creative differences there?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm sure I'm sure he'll have some choice words about me.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think I can be a pain at times, but uh we uh we get along great and uh we're pretty separate.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: So he runs more of the janitorial side of our business, and then I run our vent cleaning, carpet cleaning, 24-7 water damage, restoration, mold remediation side of the business.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we're pretty separate, but uh I think we've had a good partnership.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: We think a lot differently, but we always look out for the others' best interests and uh just figure it out as we go along.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: So no, no, no big disagreements, anything like that.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're all we're not shy.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: We like to voice our opinions, but uh we ultimately I think have the same vision.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: We want to grow and just really take care of good people and take care of the community and have kind of figured out as we've gone along.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So when you first got there, Dane, and uh you saw the business, what were some of the strategies that you and uh Chris have uh agreed to implement that were crucial for growing the business?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's pretty big growth from seven to 170.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: What were some of the crucial um uh strategies that you guys have implemented implemented to uh that were responsible for the customer focused growth where you benefit where the growth benefits the community at uh Zeppelin?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think the number one thing is just we we're really obsessed with customer service.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: We we we call we're like the opposite of the cable company.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: So we we try to go above and beyond wherever possible.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: We do little things, we bring in the we bring in the Mrs.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Smith's garbage cans, we you know, vacuum a place where we weren't even in a room, we uh we over-communicate with our janitorial customers, and and it shows we've been able to get, I think, over 2,000 five-star Google reviews.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we get great feedback out of Facebook groups from the community, things like that.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: So just being obsessed with customer service has kind of been the overarching theme.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then some of the strategies have changed.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: We, you know, we like everybody, we're very focused on our Google business profile.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: And now the last six to nine months, it's uh we're living in an AI world.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we do a lot of the old-fashioned things.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we have salespeople here that go and they pound the pavement every day.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: They've really organized.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we do a little bit of everything traditional sales, digital marketing, gathering reviews, direct mail, you name it, commercials, TV, billboards.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we will try anything.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: So throw throw things at the wall, see what sticks, and just constantly uh, you know, constantly tweak and see what works.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So let's let the let's let the people of uh southeastern Michigan get a little bit of a a glimpse as to, I mean, a lot of people think like uh whenever you buy something from a cleaning service, we think that's that's the only thing they do.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it sounds like you guys have a really unique and uh different footprint and a different client avatar um for every one of those services.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh like there's a routine cleaning services you probably do, but then there's like an event-based service, like the restoration or like, hey, my mom died and we need to get this house cleaned up.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, sometimes sometimes it's a tragedy or something like that that can uh create the need for your services.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then you got the duck cleaning and the rest of it there.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell us a time where uh the expansion of all those services that's gotta be complicated to do all that?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: How does Chris maintain the quality control on all those things?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like uh like you probably got like about 10 businesses in the one business.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Can you give me like a list of all the different types of uh situations you do?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's not just like when I hear it's up on cleaning, I'm like, oh, we already got a cleaning service.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: But hang on, here's what here's the other kind of cleaning we do.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us a little bit, tell us a little bit about the tell us a little about the range of service because I think a lot of people don't realize I didn't realize it until you started talking about um I'm excited to learn about that, about the different types of things that uh you touch, if you don't mind just telling us that.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you got it.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we we we put them into three big buckets.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got the janitorial side of our business, that's the custom excuse me, commercial cleaning.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's your routine cleaning.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we we target a little bit larger customer than a lot of janitorial companies.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we do a lot of schools, we do a lot of car dealerships, large medical facilities, things like that.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and uh pretty cut and dry.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's that's your routine cleaning, which every business needs.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, we target a uh a customer that really wants a high-end experience.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh the other two buckets would be the carpet and air duct cleaning side, and then we have the restoration and mold remediation side.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you're right, the carpet and and vents, that's more of a you know, it's a it's not a recurring service, but it's reoccurring, something people do every two to three years, sometimes a little bit more often, and that could be a commercial and residential, quite a bit of residential work there.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and then that third bucket would be the uh restoration and remediation bucket.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: So that's when you have if you've got a flood or or something that you you don't want to happen, uh, you need to call somebody like us, we'll we'll help dry it out, help get it back to uh the way it was, make sure it's healthy, and then mold remediation kind of goes a little bit hand in hand with that as well.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we're so if you had a pipe break in your home or water's leaking through the ceiling, or God forbid, some kind of a fire in the kitchen and it created an issue like that, or anything, any kind of a fire or something like that.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: You guys are specialized in those because I don't think a lot of people think like, well, a cleaning service is not gonna help us with that.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, it's uh it's pretty amazing uh how many lives that you probably have touched in different ways.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: The both the commercial, because the commercial too, our employees are happy to have a clean bathroom when they come in.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then you got the uh restoration, like, thank God they Zeppelin does this job because I'm not sure how they even did all this stuff this quickly and everything like that.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell us a story about a client?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, maybe a client story, because you're in the marketing area, about a client's story about where you realize that you and Chris were on the right track uh by diversifying and adding on these different services.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell us the client story that can uh maybe would warm our heart uh to say it was a success there?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: You knew it was like, hey, we're on the right track, Chris.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what happened.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we've we've had a few instances of this happening.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: So customers will they might use this at their business and then they get their vents cleaned at their house.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we had a particular customer, they'd call us for their carpet cleaning every six months, like everybody should, and for their dryer vent cleaning once a year uh to help prevent fires.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, unfortunately, this person had a pretty significant pipe break in their basement.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: It was a pipe blistered, and then they went to go use the garden hose.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so they went out, they were doing some yard work, they come back into their beautiful finished basement.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: There's three or four inches of water.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, they're understandably just very, very upset.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh most people have never dealt with something like that.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: We, you know, fortunately and unfortunately see it every day, so it's nothing too jarring for us.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: But long story short, we were able to take somebody that was really, really upset.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: They were really, you know, the situation wasn't great.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: They they see their basement that they worked so hard to build and had all this beautiful furniture and beautiful finished basement.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Long story short, we were able to get it dried out, get it fixed, work with their insurance company, get it rebuilt, uh, and get it back to the way it was pretty quickly.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we were able to take a stressful situation, really kind of hold their hand through it and uh and turn it into something that wasn't so bad after a couple weeks.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: We had them back to where they were and uh uh and they were ecstatic.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: So it was just fun to see that life cycle, the customer help them in multiple different ways.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: And hopefully our customers don't have worse pipes, but it's uh it happens, and that's why we're here.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't you go ahead and give us um if you're saying if I'm a if I'm thinking about maybe using uh Zeppelin cleaning services, and I live in southeastern Michigan and Detroit metro area, I assume that stretches from Auburn Hills all the way down to like Lansing and pretty much anywhere you want to go in that kind of an area.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Does that sound right?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Or is that too far?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's a little bit a little bit further, but Metro Detroit, Southeast Michigan, yeah, it gets uh probably a 30, 30, 50 mile radius.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a there's a lot of pretty big radius, right?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it's a huge uh and every time I go there, I'm like, man, I didn't realize that was this big when I get there.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um tell us about if how would I know that I would be a good client for uh Zeppelin cleaning?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like what's the type of client, um, the the features or the avatar of the type of client that uh fits best with your services.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: You're somebody that wants a high-end provider, somebody that you can trust in your home, somebody that has social proof, right?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: We're really proud of our 2005-star Google reviews, not only because we've earned them, but because our customers can look at those and feel comfortable.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's a big deal to go inside somebody's home.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so the avatar for a business is somebody that really cares about their image.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're not looking for the cheapest provider, they're looking for the best service and the best communication.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and in terms of the the duck cleaning, the vent cleaning, and uh the restoration, you're looking for somebody that you trust that has a high level of integrity.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's some folks in our industry that don't have a high level of integrity, and and that's why we're really proud to be in this industry.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: We can we can offer our customers a solution where they feel great after it's done, they're not taken advantage of.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: We offer them flat rate transparent pricing.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, like I said, we've got the Google reviews to to to prove that their neighbors have used them.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so so I think that's a good description of who we're looking for.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, good, good.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that's uh that's it, because you know, the uh the most economical way is just do it yourself.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess that would not be the person you do it yourself or for cleaning is somebody who's not gonna be a good fit.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody who wants it done for them, it sounds like uh when you're like done the right way.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're gonna be able to do it.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: I want to get this done in a professional way, not the way I would normally do it.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of uh you know, not just you know, clean it up and hope for the best.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: But somebody's like, you know what, let's just get this done the right way this this time, as opposed to sometimes doing it.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Have you had seen people like, man, I'm glad I didn't realize how much you guys do with this stuff.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: You ever had those stories where people are like, I never realized how much you guys are involved with here.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: I thought it was thank God I called you.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Have you had that before?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, it kills me every time a customer doesn't know exactly what we do.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: We got we gotta continue to educate them.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, yeah, not everybody knows that some people might know us for a vent cleaning company, other people might know us for a carpet cleaning company.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: We uh we work very hard to make sure that all of our customers in our database know exactly what we do, but uh, but it's a challenge at times.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it's uh it's something we're continuing to to try to reinforce and remind people every single day.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're trying to do here today with you.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us about the team so we can get an insight about the kind of person you would uh if I if I was interested in employment, uh, because a growing company like you guys must always be looking for good people.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And also the consumer like wonders what kind of person would I be getting if I hired uh, you know, because cleaning business is still and will, I think, always be a good people business.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what kind of qualities do you look for when you hire your top talent over there at uh Zeppelin?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, we really look for people with great attitudes and high levels of integrity.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: We can we can train them to do everything else.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: We've got a really good training program.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we we put them through apprenticeships in the in the vent cleaning and the restoration.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, there's really good industry resources that we can get them trained for.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we'll make sure that they're experts at their craft after a certain amount of time with working with us.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: But it's really difficult to teach attitude and integrity.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we just want really, really great people that that you want in your home and that you want in your business that want to work hard.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we we really pride ourselves on how awesome our team is.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um again, not to belabor it, but people read our Google reviews and we our guys get guys and gals get called out by name constantly.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um we'll have people calling up to just say, hey, it was just it was just so great to have Tom and Bill out to your house.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: I just want to say how amazing they are.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: And um, little old ladies that don't know how to leave Google reviews will call up and give us their review over the phone.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we're really, really proud of it.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so people with a great attitude, high level of integrity that want to work hard.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um we'll teach them what to do after that.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: We'll make sure they're experts and uh we'll give them all the tools to make sure they succeed.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I noticed that they got guys like Tony and Marco and Jake and people like that who sound like they're uh they serve with heart.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're doing.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, service heartbeat, right?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Does that sound right?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, amen.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Good, good to that.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad glad to hear that.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh tell us about the training and communication that you do with the team.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: How much uh training if I was going to work there or if I hire somebody from there, how much training and communication is done with the team?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: How often uh should somebody expect to be trained at this company?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: How often?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I nonstop.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it depends for every position that you're in.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: So some the initial training might be uh you know a couple months, some might be six months or a year or a couple years.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so each position is a little bit different, but then it's ongoing.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: So we had a training this morning, we'll have multiple each week.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: We'll go visit people on site, and it's just something that we just never want to stop improving.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's constant training, constant morning meetings, constant videos going out to the team, constant, constant updating of our best practices, constant investment in new equipment and teaching people how to use them.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: So this is a bit of a commodity business, and being able to have the best people and the best practices is part of what separates us.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: So we're we're really diligent about the training and keeping up with it.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I could tell that's that's one of the reasons you were selected to be on this podcast because we look into it, we always look into the reviews, and when we see like, you know, Brandon or Zach or guys like that who are working at the company, and the reason I know those names because your client is using those names.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And to me, if the client is using the first name of your employees, it must mean that the employee is uh getting on that first name basis uh with your customer.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: How much uh how important is that that the employees dive into the relationship with the customers of of that area?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's so important.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: It just it's what gets people to tell their friends and what gets people to call us back, right?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: We don't wanna we don't want to service you once.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: We want to make sure you call us, you want to make sure your brother calls us, we want your uncle who owns a car dealership to call us, and it's all about taking care of people.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: And and word of mouth is is a world-class source of business for us, and we really just take pride in taking care of people and and having a great reputation.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's it's everything.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: We're so thankful for those guys that you mentioned that they go in day in and day out, and you know, they have bad days too, but they come to work and they make people happy and they get those awesome reviews.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: So shout out, shout out to all those guys who I just mentioned and all the ones I didn't mention.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: You can have them listen too and tell them, hey, you're you're on the podcast.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uncle Joe uh mentioned mentioned your name.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: So Joe, they got they got that they got that going for them, right?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so tell us about you know what you've learned over these past uh this like 16, 17 years on about leadership.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because uh when you get five or six guys, leadership is one thing, but when you got 170 people, leadership uh becomes something else.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me what you've learned uh and and what are the resources you learned from?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like who who have you learned from and what are some of the biggest, if you give us like one or two things that you've learned about leading a company with 170 people in the field out there?
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: We constantly learn.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: We members of Vista's, we're constantly reading, uh, listening to podcasts, all that good stuff.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we we keep it really simple.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: I think leading by example is huge for us and explaining why, and just being disciplined and and holding people accountable.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, if we do those three three things, everything else kind of follows.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: So our team knows that we work hard as well.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: We explain to them why things are important, why things matter, and uh and hold them accountable to getting stuff done.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, like I said, everything else seems to work out when we do those three things.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you wouldn't expect the employee to do something you guys wouldn't do yourself, or you walk walk the walk.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Is that uh it's not like that was at the beginning there, like you really believe that hey, let's show you what we do.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm not gonna ask you something I don't do myself.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Does that uh make sense?
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, I mean, I think at this level, I think we can't we can't be everywhere in every place, but just showing them that hey, we're we're showing up early, we're giving that extra effort, we're staying organized, we're doing the little things, we're keeping our desks clean, we're keeping our vehicles clean, and just show them how important that is and how that translates to every little thing that we do.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there is a balance in a business like this between the efficiency of doing the work and like, hey, we only got this much time to get this job done or whatever.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because time time is uh you can't you don't have unending time.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: People just keep paying for more of it.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so you kind of give that flat rate price and you say, Oh, here's how much time this includes.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: How do you balance the efficiency of how much time we're gonna spend there versus something that's not very efficient?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Which is to create that relationship.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: So it sounds like the relationship is valued more than, hey, I'm not going to worry so much about every minute being accounted for or 100% efficiency.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm willing to be a little inefficient to uh work with the uh to get to know my clients more.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh how do you guys teach that in terms of client versus process and that part of it there?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a good question, Joe.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's really important to follow the process and we're obviously mindful of time, but at the end of the day, we'd rather have a credit margin on a job or a credit margin on a project and have a really ecstatic customer.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we can win that back in different ways.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: If the customer's not happy, then it's that's you know, that's a no-go for us.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we'd rather take a little bit more time, we'd rather sacrifice efficiency and then have somebody that's really happy, have an employee that's really happy at the end of the day.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want them burnt out.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we don't want the customer upset.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, we we'll choose customer satisfaction over efficiency all day.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously we're mindful of both, but um keeping the customer happy is the goal.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, right answer.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: You got you nailed it.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, um, I was it wasn't a test, but you did pass it in case you pass.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: You got through it.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, how about this one here though?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's have a little fun and let's dream about the future.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh because uh, you know, that's there's two things that are fun to talk about reminiscing the past and the future.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: We can also talk about uh the future.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: What you know, you you're a student of the home service industry.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: What trends are you see shaping the future of the home service industry and especially like the cleaning and restoration business and things like that?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: How are you preparing for some of those changes that you can see coming?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: What do you what's this going to look like uh 20 years from now when maybe somebody in your family takes it over from you someday, hopefully?
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I well, I think the biggest thing is AI.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we we are really investing in AI, uh adopting it, making it part of our business.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: So that's huge.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then on the uh on the other hand, we're we're going back to thinking a lot in terms of sales and marketing, uh just about relationships.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's what's helped us build this business.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: I we don't know if it's gonna be Google's the way you're gonna find people, or ChatGPT, or Gemini or Claude in the next five to 10 years, but we know that relationships will be really important.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what we're continuing to invest into, and we're gonna continue to double down on uh because that's what we know is certain, right?
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: But uh at the same time, embracing AI for our operations, making our people's lives easier, um, and and jumping onto that because we don't think it's a trend, it's a it's a big shift.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: So uh so yeah, working through that AI and just making sure that we double down on relationships and and go back to shaking hands and making friends and making good relationships and hoping that uh uh we know that won't go anywhere and sticking to those tried and true strategies.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: So the AI being used as a tool to be able to stay in contact with your clients systematically, uh, so everybody feels like they're seen and heard as a as a client of your company.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not only staying in touch, but you wanna get to manage projects and restoration.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: We're able to do things sufficiently so maybe we can charge a little bit less to people.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: We're able to offer a more organized experience.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we're able to do more with less.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: We're able to communicate even better with our clients.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a number of different ways we're using it.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: We're just barely scraping the surface.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we think about it and talk about it almost every day.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, what keeps you and Chris motivated in this business?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: What's the part of the work that really matters to both of you?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think I think we like building things and and just keeping people happy at the end of the day.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: That story about the frantic lady with the burst pipe and just it was in a bad way in her basement, and and then seeing her a few days later being super hack happy, ecstatic, buying the guys pizza, making them making them drinks and uh and all that stuff.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it's very satisfying to see people really happy and turn a bad thing into a good thing.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: And uh just seeing people ecstatic after a good cleaning and and taking care of schools and making sure children are a safe and healthy environment.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's a it's a very dirty, unsexy business that's ultimately very satisfying at the end of the day.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's not going anywhere, which is what we like.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: So people people are gonna continue to make a mess and crazy things are gonna happen, and we're gonna be there to help them out.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, for those of you who are listening, if you have never tried a Detroit pizza, Detroit, uh, you are missing a treat.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: I will say that.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: I used to pride myself on the Chicago from Chicago originally.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the best pizza, but then I'm like, actually, uh uh hang on.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is you know, I start realizing that you know all of it's pretty good.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um everything's different, and I just say uh some of the best pizza I've ever had is in that uh in the city of Detroit.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: So great.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I gonna you made me hungry right just now again.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for doing that, uh Dane.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, let's talk about if you could go back in the past, though, and look at yourself when you were younger, when you first started out, and maybe it's advice for some of the younger people out there, because I think a lot of the younger people in Metro Detroit and just around the country, you know, I think they're they don't really get as much uh guidance as they can from some of the guys who've been around for a few years, like you and you and I.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: What advice would you give your younger self if you could go back and talk to yourself when you just graduated from high school or maybe you're about 20 years old, 18 to 20 in that period?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time and give yourself advice uh so the younger people of today can kind of hear what that advice would be?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think I just would probably stay a little bit more focused, focus on uh one or two projects, don't put too many buns in the oven and um just start.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: Don't overthink it.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, go make a mess, clean it up as you go along.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Things don't need to be perfect, and uh and just give it a go.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: And and I would tell myself to take bigger risks.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot easier to take risks when you're 20, 25, 30.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, now I have four kids, I've got a lot of things going on.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad I took those risks when I did because it would be a lot harder to do those things now.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Dane, uh the final question here it is: where can listeners connect with you or learn more about uh having uh Zeppelin cleaning, work with them or partnering with you?
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Come check out Zeppelin Cleaning Services.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, you can Google us our websites, zeppservices.com.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh anybody can call me at 313 731 0025.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm on social media.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, feel free to email me at Dane Fosse at zeppservices.com.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm an open book.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: If I can help any fellow business owners, I'm I'd be happy to.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: So give me a call and reach out.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that was another great conversation with Dane Fossey from Zeppelin Cleaning Services in Metro Detroit.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Zayn, I'm sorry, Dane, I really appreciate having you on the show.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for being here.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you, Uncle Joe.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: Good job.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: All right, thank you for sticking with us until the end, everyone who's listening.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you gain valuable insight from today's episode, we'd love for you to leave a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if you know someone who's in the service industry or anyone looking to scale their career or business, send this episode their way and take away one insight from today, put it into action and let us know how it goes.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: We'd love to hear about your progress.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for joining us, and we'll see you again on the next episode of the Home Service Heartbeat Podcast.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Goodbye, everyone.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great one.