Latest / The Home Service Heartbeat Podcast / Why Cole Services Invests $150K+ in Its People | Mike Cottle of Cole Services

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Why Cole Services Invests $150K+ in Its People | Mike Cottle of Cole 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: And I'm Joe Cressera.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Today I am super excited to be joined by good friend and colleague Mike Cottle from Coal Services Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning, and Electrical.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, thank you so much for joining us today.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're thrilled to have you on the show.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: Joe, it's an honor.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I would do anything for you when you ask.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: Well, definitely.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I may be doing a lot of asking in the future, near future.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, be careful what you wish for.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I might do a lot of asking coming up here.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: But uh no problem.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Anytime.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I feel the same way about you, Mike.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's not you're you're you're the reason for my work, not an interruption to it.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: But today we're gonna do a thing and we're gonna feature coal services, which is the main focus of your work.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I want your community and Garden Grove and the surrounding Orange County areas to know a little bit more about um coal services and all the things you guys do over there to provide world-class pure motive service.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, can you share how you got started in the service industry and what led you to your leadership role uh for the long period of time you've been in business at Coal Services?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, Joe, but you already forewarned me that we have 25 minutes, so I'll keep it brief.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh uh graduate high school and uh committed to not ever going back to school again because I thought just sitting in a classroom was awful.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_03: Two months later, uh, I found myself in plumbing trade school and uh just an unbelievable experience.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: Didn't didn't teach anything about business there.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: It was all about the trade, but you great instructor, great, great group of classmates, still of them I still talk to to this day.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna date myself a little bit, Joe.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: That was in nine August of 1983.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, so just a just just a couple of days ago, right?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: It seems like.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: How long has coal services been around, Mike?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us about that.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_03: Well, coal services has been around uh since 1969.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: So we're we just celebrated 57 years of being in business.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, congratulations.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah one one of one of the one of the oldest or not the oldest plumbing heat and cooling businesses in Orange County, California today.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: That's fan still family owned and operated.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Mike, uh obviously when you when you worked with coal services and you wound up getting involved there, um it's changed a lot, right, Mike?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what are some of the biggest challenges?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh if you could speak to the people uh who are your clients and even maybe future co-workers looking to even work at coal services, what are what were some of the things that um were challenges to uh join this team and then to grow to grow it like you have and to uh make sure you had some slow, consistent growth to make sure you're there for the people of Orange County?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, great, great question.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh just to step back and unpack that a little bit more, Joe.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I found coal services through they didn't have the internet yet, but they had this thing called a newspaper and it was for sale.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I actually found that on businesses for sale in the LA Times and uh in 1995.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: In 1996, I acquired the business.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: That that was my third third business, and I've I've owned coal, proudly owned coal for 30 years now.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: So we celebrated that milestone this year as well.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: Congratulations, Mike.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know it was 30 years.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh appreciate that.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: I we definitely should we should definitely go out and celebrate that.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great achievement for sure.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'd love to we'll pick a date and time to do that for sure.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: And uh so so going game back to your question, cup a couple of twofold there.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: I saw that there wasn't back then, there wasn't the level of service that the customer deserved or wanted.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: And it was it was kind of it the the that whole experience was very dated, right?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: It was customer called in, let's just say garbage disposal not working, and uh we'd go out, we just change garbage disposal like for like.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: We give them, I'm date, again, dating myself time and material.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_03: We give them an hourly rate, how much the garbage disposal was, they pay it and and leave.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: There was no, there was really no exploring any permanent solutions or asking any really good questions on maybe they cook and maybe we should explore a higher, I don't know, horsepower garbage posal.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, a lot of the obviously all the things that you you give us access to through your coaching and and teachings that really have have leveled things up.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: So that was really what I I experienced first off 30 plus years ago.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: I was probably one of the only new construction plumbers right before I bought coal to wear shoe covers in their home.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and you know, just just wanted to give them a better experience.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_03: I still didn't understand the whole concept of writing options and and things like that.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: That took me a little bit longer to find out, but once once we did, it was like magic, you know, uh to help out the customer.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess the challenge would be that you kind of had to uh kind of rebuild or kind of like uh, you know, bring bring this thing into a new era of modern best practices, which are now today like the shoe covers, I think everybody would expect.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's an expectation.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Back in 1995, it was like, what are we doing with these things?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: And had to put these things on, right?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: That kind of a thing there.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what's it been like to see the personal development of the people?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, really, you're in a you're in the people development business.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think when I look at Cole Services online and look at the reviews, it's loaded with the mentions of the people who have served for those three decades.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the reviews you guys get are just outstanding.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, they're they're not like uh it's like a it's real reviews done by real people who appreciate the service.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how important is that the the people development at your company?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure that you're finding people and you're developing them into something that is uh superior to what they were before they joined you.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh perfect.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: Right up my alley right now, Joe.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: So I went from technician, I had the Michael Gerber EMyth entrepreneurial seizure, I became a businessman.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: And now I I say I'm in my third career, which is the people development business.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: And the the young men and women that are out there right now are uh I feel that there's great opportunity for them in the trades.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like some of them might be a little bit lost because they don't know how great the trades are, and we haven't really done a great job of promoting the trades.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, with back back, at least when I was in high school, we had shop class and some things like that.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_03: So that really kind of helped launch people to explore that.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_03: Now, with the the the younger men and women that are are in our organization now, they they they really see the purpose and the goal and the focus of serving serving the customer, right?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: And and not only serving the customer, but serving their teammates, right?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: We're all we're all in this together.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: It it starts with you know, marketing goes out and and says we need to generate leads.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, the custom the call center is uh uh you know to deliver the experience, that first touch, then dispatch gets the right technician, right person, and then we just kind of we keep flowing that that workflow just keeps going day in and day out, and we explore options with the customer.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: And if they want a permanent solution, great.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: If they want just something to a band-aid option today, no problem.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: We're we'll we'll still be here for you.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, something that's right for everybody, Mike.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't you go ahead and tell us a little bit about that part of it?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: The uh if I'm a consumer living in Garden Grove or Anaheim or uh any of those uh surrounding communities, um and what what would I expect?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: What would I expect?
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh so here's here's how give me a here's how it works at Cold Services, if you will, uh as a consumer, like like what can I expect as a consumer?
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: You did a little bit of it there, but go ahead and just give me a little bit more on that, if you don't mind.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: So what what what is the client experience journey, if you will, uh over at Cole Services?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: I know if I was a client, I know what to expect.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, you're giving me chills, Joe.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: So it and the and the reason the reason I I I made that that comment is that one thing that we really enjoy as humans is predictability, right?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: That that gives us much pleasure and comfort.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: So my analogy is that you know you and I have probably been to McDonald's at least once in our lifetime, and people go to McDonald's because of the predictability, right?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: They know they what you could I could smell the fries now, and I haven't been in McDonald's for years.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_03: So so but the but you know, traveling down this is that if we if we deliver a predictable service call each and every time from each business unit, whether that be the plumbing, the drains, the heating, the air, electrical, the customer feels good about what they're getting.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: And they and when they're when they're reaching out to us, Joe, they're they know what they're gonna get, right?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: They smell, they I'm not gonna say they smell the plumber, but they they they they they're they're very clear on like hey, you know, they're gonna they're gonna park the truck and in a in a certain spot, they're gonna they're gonna wear the shoe covers, there's gonna be a greeting, we're gonna go through uh an agenda card, and we're gonna ask them questions to bring out what exactly they want out of the service call today, instead of just walking in and pushing them to the side and going, Oh, I know how to fix this, I've been doing this for 20 years and get it out of my way, and I'll just fix it and charge you whatever I think is right and then leave.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of it, at the end of it, uh, they have a choice.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned that before, uh, the premium mid-range and sort of like a uh kind of like just get let's just let's let's get the the basic thing, the symptom fixed, or get the source or the root of the problem fixed.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh it's an investment in people.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: How important uh when you focus and you train your people, how important is the relationship with the customer at Cole Services as opposed to just the relationship with the plumbing or electrical or HVAC system?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: Oh uh there's no price on it.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_03: You really just can't put a price on it.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_03: We we just we were in a uh a leadership meeting the other day, and I am I am very grateful to the customers that we have.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: And believe it or not, Joe, we have customers that have been a coal customer before I acquired the company 30 years ago.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_03: So that's a testament to all of the young men and women that work for our company that still can continue to deliver that predictable outcome on a service call day in and day out.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: And the reason why that's kind of top of mind awareness is that what we want to do for those customers is we want to, we want to get you, we want to reward them for being long-term customers of ours.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: And I think I think that says a lot about coal as a whole and the leadership team that has been developed there.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like let's talk a little bit about, I was gonna talk about this element of it where um, you know, the uh, you know, as you go through this kind of a thing, uh, was there a key moment when you start this thing in 1995 and got involved?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: You start putting some of these best practices in these world-class service and focusing on people as well as premium, permanent, professional, and temper and just normal solutions for people.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it takes a lot of training to do all that stuff.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: But was there a moment in time where you realized that a customer gave you feedback?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Or I want you to think back to a time when somebody gave you feedback, Mike, and said, Hey, Mike, I think you might be onto something.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like that what you're trying to do here, it's working because I really feel like we got good service today.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Was there a special customer you can remember, or maybe a signature customer or experience that maybe you probably have so many of them, but is there somebody you can think of that maybe told you or gave you feedback uh that you were on track with this way of doing things?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: Well man, you you you're you're digging deep today.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: That's uh that's great.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh there is a there is a there is a customer there is a customer journey or service call that we did for somebody.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_03: And then that's part A.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_03: Part B I'll I'll get into afterwards as far as the young men and women I see that come in that have worked for another uh home service company.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: So the the the customer, we uh um a customer had two two heating and cooling systems in their home, one for upstairs, one for downstairs.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: They had replaced the upstairs system, and the downstair system had uh had not been replaced, but they were 20 plus years old.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_03: So they still had a 20-year-old system in the home.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_03: The uh I was referred to them personally.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: I went out there and you know with uh with the training that you've you've uh you know uh opened up to me, I was able to communicate with a customer, and I s you know, I wasn't really too convinced that he wanted to replace it.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: He already had a price from the other company.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't sure why he didn't he didn't want to use the other company.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I said, why don't I just have my top tech come out and do a complete safety check on this and and double check everything.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: We had we found a 17-inch crack on the heat exchanger, Joe.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, yeah, yeah.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: So my value what's that hazardous, dangerous, very hazardous, very hazardous.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: So we immediately immediately shut down the furnace.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_03: He was very disappointed in the other company, and needless to say, you we we were very grateful we were able to service him and his family and get him uh uh get them a new system that was right for them, uh and you know, and a safe one, right?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: So uh that that but he he was he he's an attorney, so he's very direct, but uh he wanted to share his experience with me.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_03: And he said, Man, when your service technician came out, he did this, this, this, this, and this.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I started thinking, I said, Well, I've I've invested in um he he went to he went to total immersion.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, he's been in uh the uh heat exchanger experts class.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: So he was certified to uh to to find that crack and to save those lives and also shut down that system because it was hazardous.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_03: And there was a couple other things I started thinking, I I probably invested in that young man at least$20,000 or$30,000 in the three or four years he had been with us, you know, not including probably the wages to go to those classes and the the lost revenue and everything else that you could probably times five or times ten.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I started thinking, I think, I think I'm on to something here.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: And that's where you know uh really I I got more deeper into utilizing your your expertise and very grateful for that.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, certainly we would never be where we are today without the relationship that we have with Uncle Joe or or you know, service MVP and total immersion.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_03: And um, and and there's other there's other relationships out there as well that I I hold in very high regards, and just all the people that I've met.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: So that was really that was really the aha moment for me.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then lastly, we still have young men and women coming in that have worked for other companies.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the first things, if I if I'm in the interview process, I'll ask them, you know, how much training do you do at you know where you were previously at?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: And they're like, uh, we don't do anything.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_03: Or we come in once a week and we just go over numbers, and I'm like, oh wow.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, well, how much do they invest in you?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: Because right now our budget's over$150,000 a year, just investing in our people to deliver that experience, that five-star experience to to a customer day in and day out.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_03: So uh, you know, it it yeah, it's a lot, but you know, my the the what I was taught a long time ago is is that you can bring somebody in and train them and you have the fear of them leaving, or you can bring them in and train them and have them stay for a lifetime.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yes, uh, that's great.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's a great I have look at as I look at the uh reviews and uh and I see people like Nico and Tyler and Christian and other people who are working for the company, how important it what what is you what is the how would if I was gonna work at a place like uh Cole Services, if I was looking to be employed by a place like yours, what is the relationship that you and the leadership team has with the employees?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, can you give us like a how would you summarize that in a thumbnail as to uh what's that what's that relationship like?
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes people hire me, I never even see the guy anymore.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even don't get communicated with in a way.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: What's the relationship between you and your coworkers over there?
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the people who would just get started, people have been there in leadership.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: What's what you said, how would you give us a description of the way you look at the relationship between you and the your employees?
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_03: Well, uh, it starts with onboarding.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_03: That's first and foremost.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_03: And we we're very we're very blessed and honored to be involved with a handful of associations.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: And we were just at another uh company and we saw how they were recruiting and onboarding, and we we had a lot of gaps to fill.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_03: So we took that to heart and we really redesigned that to follow it all the way through instead of it having fall off a cliff.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: So I think bring it when you bring somebody in, make it make it the best, mess, make it one of the best days of their life, right?
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_03: So they go home and if it was if it was Joe, which would gosh, if I had Uncle Joe at Cole Services, we'd be a we we'd take over the world, Joe.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um uh you know, I would want Joe to go back and and just tell Julie, like, holy smokes, that was a 10 plus.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: I I can't believe that A even got a position within this organization.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_03: So uh that that that that's that's one of the things that has been a topic of conversation for the last two weeks, and we're and we're we've already tweaked it and made some massive improvements on that.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you're gonna be greeted in our lobby with uh welcome to call services with your name on uh on a welcome board.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and and people love that.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_03: We want to take a picture with you with with that.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, we have uh a red carpet with some champagne holders that have apple cider in them.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_03: So uh get get you some, you know, get you some of your uniforms and your hats and and some starter kit to kind of just get that, bridge that and get that going right away.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: So those are all so giving the employees the VIP experience.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: So they can provide that for your uh clients too.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Is that the idea behind it, Mike?
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: And if I'm there, I'm going to make sure I come up, introduce myself, shake shake their hands, welcome to the team.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm excited for them because it's a I feel like we have secret sauce and we can offer something that a lot of the other companies out there just are unable to do at this point in time.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: How would I know if I was a good fit uh for the culture and the way you work over there?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like, like so how how could I give if I was a new employee uh aspiring to work at co-services, uh what kind of training would you provide me to get prepped to apply at your place to make sure I was uh I became the kind of person you're looking for?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: What what kind of uh what are some of the qualities of the people you're looking for, Mike?
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh character, integrity, uh wanting to do the right thing when nobody's looking.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh helping helping out, you know, how uh you know, instead of maybe and I'm very fortunate and blessed.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_03: We we've got we've built uh a tremendous talent pool at Cole.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, when we when the team doesn't see the right fit, they they come to leadership right away and let us know.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, and we're not perfect, right?
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_03: We we do, we're there's testing involved.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, we we we want to we're we're we're absolutely want to write have the right match every time and and you know we're not in we don't live in the perfect world, but uh yeah, we we want somebody that you know for a young man or woman that comes out of trade school, you know, why did you go to trade school?
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_03: Who paid for it, right?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: Those are those are very important questions.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_03: And if they're like, oh, well, it was something to do, and you know, I I I got laid off from my job and somebody else paid for it, maybe that might not be the right candidates today for us, right?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: I get you know, hey, I I I I searched, I went to all these different schools.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_03: I wanted to I pick this one because of the instructors and their placement history, and I I already bought all my own tools.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm vested in this.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_03: I go to swap meet, I buy used tools just so I can get in the trade.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I want I want that person.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I remember one time I worked for a guy, uh name was Dan Paprick, who was one of my mentors, and I really wasn't he it was overwhelming.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: He was so much better than I was at customer service and everything, and technical part too.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: He was like an engineer and he knew everything.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't really prepared.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: I came back.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: I worked there for a couple of months and I left because I wasn't like overwhelmed.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I came back a couple years later and it was like a perfect fit.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever seen that before?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Where uh you you like you develop people and hey, it didn't work out the first time, but maybe they came back again and uh give it another shot and it didn't work out the second time.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh how how I do you believe that I always believe that sometimes uh even though people aren't right for us, aren't maybe in the future they might be a fit.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Does that uh fit with your uh the way you think about it too, Mike?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Or what do you think there?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_03: I I can I I you know I'm proud to say that we've had we just recently had an individual come back.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_03: He thought the grass was greener, and he found no support, right?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_03: And and really, there's investment.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: There's there there's there's there's an investment in the human asset here, right?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_03: With us, there's one-on-ones, there's ride-alongs.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, one-on-ones to do to do one-on-one properly and consistently, it takes time.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_03: I just met with uh a service manager yesterday.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: We have I look forward to every 7 a.m.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_03: on Tuesdays because I meet get to meet with Jonathan, and he's a wonderful individual, uh great family man, and he just he has a thirst of knowledge that's incredible, right?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: He'll devour books.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_03: He went, I I sent him to your your toll immersion, and he's just he's brought it up to a whole nother level, which is fantastic.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but I look forward to that one-on-one.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I told him, I looked at him, I said, John, we're so busy right now, we're gonna have to move this to probably like 6 30 or 6 in the morning.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, let's do it.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: Without hesitation, no blinking, no, like, oh, I gotta get up early or whatever.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's that's the team, right?
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's the teammate you want.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, um, if I if I was gonna hire call services, uh uh how involved are you?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think I see a lot of companies around all of California and around the world, actually, Australia and everything like that.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: I see the ones that are more successful where the owner is like I I I had something in my business.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: I said, I will personally see to your satisfaction as the owner of the company.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, it doesn't mean I look at every single customer, but I am in touch with my customers, in touch with my coworkers.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, was that a street would that say true or false?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Cotto is personally involved in the satisfaction of both the employees and the customer.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is that true or false, Mike?
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_03: True.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh, and why is that so important to you, Mike?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it that you uh you feel because where owners are involved, that's where it, that's where there's heart, that's where the home service heartbeat comes from, right?
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: That that a heart to serve with heart.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, why is it so important for you to stay involved with this, Mike?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_03: Personally, I think that's what delivers the five-star experience.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_03: And and it you I'm a firm believer you gotta lead by example, right?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_03: And and General MacArthur, when he's landing on a beach back in World War II, he's in the front of the line, right?
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_03: He he's out in front.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: You know, let's let's go, boys, let's do this.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that says a lot because I think there's there's a big disconnect.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_03: My only my opinion is that there's a big disconnect because we lose touch with what exactly is happening out there.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_03: I I just announced that I'm gonna start doing rhymes, which I think is is hugely important.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's the ultimate.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: You're able to meet both clients and your coworkers at the same time and see how we kind of get that.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great idea, Mike.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great idea.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: So who knows?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe if you hire call services, you might have uh Mike Cottle himself could be uh out at your house.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: You never you never know.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, because I'm sure Mike, uh I mean, do you ever have a situation, Mike, where people you know call you?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to the owner of the company, you think, oh man, here comes uh here comes something bad, but then instead it's something good.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: You ever you ever have that kind of surprise where somebody says, I'm gonna talk to the owner right now?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's like what's going on, what's wrong?
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing's wrong.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: I need to talk to him.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then you talk to him, and it's like, I just want to let you know that Tyler was a great, great technician.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: And uh what's that like when you get that kind of feedback from your clients, Mike?
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do you get that kind of feedback?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's the you know, that's the A plus on the scorecard, Joe.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: That that really you we we did it right, right?
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_03: And and listen, we make mistakes, you know, we're we're human too.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, somebody really smart taught me that E plus R equals O, right?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: The event or the service call, right?
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_03: And how you respond to it equals the outcome.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_03: And that is that is that is preached consistently all the time, right?
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: How you respond to it will dictate the outcome.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I do, I have taken those phone calls.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, oh boy, here it comes, right?
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_03: Here comes the whirlwind.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, hey, I just want to say I'm not a big Google or uh internet person.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_03: I want to say thank you.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: You're your folks were just great, or we get a handwritten note that gets mailed to us.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_03: It just warms my heart.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_03: It really does.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: It it it gives me, it tells me that I'm I'm I'm pushing in the right direction.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, uh, let's have some fun now.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we got a couple minutes left over here.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I want you to imagine the future of the home service industry and and what technology.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if you said, let's look at this five years from now, uh, and look at what technology is doing right now with the home service industry.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, can you help us imagine uh what trends are shaping the future of the home service industry?
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: And how are you and Cole Services preparing to either incorporate those uh uh solutions with the in the future or uh get away from those?
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us some more about uh what you think of the future of the home service industry and coal services in particular.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_03: We need multiple podcasts for this one, Joe.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm I'm still learning.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh is it more positive or more negative?
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think of that, Mike?
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Is it uh you see, are you an optimist when it comes to that, or where do you feel about that?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_03: I I'm an optimist, and uh, and you know, one of the things that I feel is uh huge strength for me is that I'm very curious.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_03: And uh uh I don't I I'm not I don't want to be an early adopter, but I don't want to be late to the game either.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: I think kind of middle of the pack, especially with how fast and furious these things are developing, or uh kind of the right temperature for us and me.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm not spring chicken, so uh I I do uh I do have to kind of you know slow roll some things periodically here.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but uh I I want to be methodical and I want to make the right decision for the company.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_03: And ultimately that that goes back to our two customers, our internal customer, which are our employees, and our external customers.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_03: And what kind of experience are they gonna be left with?
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, now if you could go back in time, now we went into the future a little bit there.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go back in time a little bit here.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh go back and talk to a young Mike Cottle, who maybe was just getting out of high school and getting involved with that, just uh trying to figure out what he was gonna do for life and before he got it before he got into that plumbing trade school.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what advice would you give yourself if you can go back in time and talk to a young Mike Cottle when he was like 17, 18, and just getting out of high school?
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: What advice would you give yourself, Mike?
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_03: I don't even know if I can think that far back, Joe.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: Ah boy.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um there's no there there's there's no ceiling, right?
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_03: There's no there's no barriers, there's only the ones that you put in front of yourself.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um the the opportunities are endless.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you you don't have to paint yourself in a corner.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: You really don't.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot I think a lot of young people today feel kind of like hopeless or like uh like there's not opportunity.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: They don't see the opportunity.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh maybe I'm not sure.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: I I think I guess the home service industry has to take responsibility because maybe they're not opening the door or inviting people into it as they could be.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: You think it is uh the people of today, or you think it's more of that the home service industry needs to improve on opening that door to the people, young people of today, uh, so they can see some of the amazing, endless opportunities you're talking about there, Mike.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_03: I I you know we we're we're we're slow to the party on on every every facet there there is out there, Joe.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and that's one of them, right?
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_03: We we need to do a better job of promoting that this is this is a this is a great this is a great industry.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we're we're we're taking care of, you know, one of the stories is that you know, a husband and wife are at work or they work all day, they work really hard for their money, they got they got children, and you know, it it's really hot and humid right now in Southern California, and they deserve to have uh uh cooling when they get home.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_03: And and it's really not only not only taking care of them, there's a lot of satisfaction in that.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, but going back to your question, opening up the doors, yeah, we we need to get back out to uh high schools and uh and trade schools.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_03: I I I just toured uh uh job corpse in Long Beach, didn't even know it existed.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow, and uh uh I did that the other day.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm I just got invited back.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_03: I'm going back on I think tomorrow Friday.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_03: And uh just yeah, uh I'm very impressed with the young men and women that are there and uh you know the stories that they have for sure.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I think it's overblown about the uh the way some people talk about the younger generation.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a lot of great possibilities.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I think they're a lot smarter than we were when we were because it we didn't have all the information like they have today.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, uh one final couple questions, just one few questions.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna wrap it up here.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, sure.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh tell us what's in your heart and what what motivates you to get up every day and serve your community every day, Mike.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_03: The people.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: Just give them back, right?
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: I've been very fortunate and blessed uh to you know, just just the relationships that have been developed over the years, you know, not not only with somebody like you, but customers, right?
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_03: I get invited to birthday parties, to anniversaries of people that we've serviced for years and that I I've grown to call friends now, right?
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_03: Not not a customer, but a friend, uh employees, right?
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: I I had we just hired a young man that was referred uh to us by somebody that worked for me 10 years ago.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_03: So that that that that's kind of the stamp of approval for me.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_03: And uh when it when I have time, right?
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_03: When I'm not caught in a whirlwind uh uh of life, I check that box and go, okay, that that that I did something right there.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: That that that meant something.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's an amazing thing.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, is it possible for the your community to connect with you?
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and if so, how can listeners connect with you personally or just learn more about working uh with call services to have them in their in their home?
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but well, traditionally the email is uh mcotle at cold services.com.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh cell phone is 714-884-1180.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh our office line is 1-800-563-7757.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_03: And uh if you ask me about social media, I couldn't tell you too much about that, Joe, because I'm not on that a lot.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: So if you just type in, uh if you type in AI for the finest uh service company in Garden Grove, uh very sure that coal services will be in the top five for sure.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the very top two, hopefully.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: It should be in the top, top one as far as I'm concerned, but definitely in the top two for sure.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and just look up coal services and uh and say, hey, Mike Cottle said this, I'm gonna get a world fast experience.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I know Mike is definitely open to uh being accountable for that.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, uh let me just stop here and say what a great conversation it was with you, Mike Cottle from Coal Services in Garden Grove, California, who does heating, air conditioning, plumbing, and electrical.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, I really appreciate having you on the show.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's long overdue.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being here.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_03: My pleasure, Joe.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_03: Anytime.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you, everyone, who's listening to us on this podcast and sticking to us, sticking with us until the end.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you gain value from this podcast, we definitely uh appreciate that.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: And we'd love you to leave a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts or watch on YouTube.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you know someone in the service industry who might want to change their life and uh grow with an amazing company, then I would call Coal Services and ask for Mike Cottle and just say you have the heart of service and you're looking, you have a passion to serve.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: And Mike will just hearing those words, you'll probably be getting an interview right away.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next next thing you know, you're getting celebrated and a party and everything when you first get hired there.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and I look forward to seeing those people apply for a job and get a job.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, if you use it, but mention the podcast when you uh do apply and uh tell Mike I'm ready, I'm ready to start working here.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: And anyone who's just looking to hire cold services and lucky enough to have that world-class experience, uh, you can just look up their website at Cold Services in uh Garden Grove, California, and you'll find the most amazing customer journey you've ever experienced, not just in heating colling and plumbing electrical, but just in general, one of the best service businesses that there is.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, again, thank you so much.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate you coming on the show with us.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_03: My pleasure, Joe.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_03: Appreciate it.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you much.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, we'll take it from here.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, thanks again, everyone, for joining us, and we'll see you on the next episode of the Home Service Heartbeat Podcast.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: Goodbye, everyone.