Latest / The Home Service Heartbeat Podcast / The Secret to Selling More Without Selling Your Soul | Ricky Diaz of BillyGO

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The Secret to Selling More Without Selling Your Soul | Ricky Diaz of BillyGO · The Home Service Heartbeat Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this episode of the Home Service Heartbeat Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Joe Cressera.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm joined by my good friend Ricky Diaz, who is working at a company called Billy Go, who is over there in Texas.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, Ricky, how are you doing?
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you, Joe.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Nice to see you again, man.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, good Billy.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Billy Go, Billy Stevens is a good friend of mine.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Ricky, I'm not sure if he knows.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Does he know that you uh have used my services before that that you've been trained by us?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I let Billy know.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what did he say?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: He said he's been trying to do uh trying to do some kind of sales training with you, but you guys have been like playing phone tag or something like that.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we'll have to get going here.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if he's happy with your results, I guess we have to get him going here.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Nicole, why don't you get started, Ricky, by just sharing how you got started in the service industry and what led you to uh have a leadership role in uh in the in the sales field in the service industry.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us a little bit more about that.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I've been in uh the service industry, the home and service industry for nearly uh three decades now.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been I started when I was 17 years old.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: I'm now almost 46.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um I started in the trenches as a plumber, eventually became obsessed with um understanding why some companies scale and others don't.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, why some companies stay busy and some other companies just don't stay busy, right?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um over the time I realized the difference wasn't the technical skills, it was systems, communication, leadership, and the ability to uh create trust with homeowners.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um today I focus heavily on revenue architecture.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I helped other um co-workers, companies uh create different systems to help them generate more revenue.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, good, good.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you do that.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so what's the biggest challenge you face while trying to grow uh yourself and grow your sales and revenue?
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: What would that be?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: So the biggest challenges right now are gonna be um Google and AI, right?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: So customers, you know, they they turn to Google, they turn to AI for any questions and for answers.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: And when customers do that, or people in general do that, right?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Searching for information, they don't always get the correct information.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: So we're up against you know different challenges as far as pricing goes, and you know, as far as the economy goes as well, right?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: The economy is in very poor shape right now, inflation's up, um, the cost of living, um, everything, right?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: So for us to go in and provide a service, a quality service, it's getting harder now.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, how long have you been working with us, Ricky?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how long have we known each other for?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: You've you've known me, and how far do we go back, Ricky?
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, we go back pretty far.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: I want to say at least 2010, 2012, somewhere around there.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: This was back when I was in you know California and San Diego at My Plumber.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: So it's been a while.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: What did you learn when you came to that training?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: When you first met me and you came to the training that we were doing.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: What did you learn from all that, Ricky?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: What was the biggest, what's your biggest takeaway from all that?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And we recently did some coaching with you again.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And what was you, what was some of the takeaway from that as well?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna say that the biggest thing I learned from you, you were changing the game before the game was ready to be changed, right?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: With options.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: This was back when um everyone was still giving one price, right?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: It was a one price, you know, fits all type deal.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then you came in with the different options and showing people a different way of doing things, and not only that, um, option building, right?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, providing not only the customer but ourselves um a huge range of different um things that we can provide for the customer, right?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: As far as services go.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: And by doing that, we were able to generate more income, right?
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: And still be honest, right?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Have integrity while doing this stuff.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: We didn't have to rip anybody off.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: We just, you know, there there are some things that we consider upgrades in the industry, right?
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: They're not necessary, but people want to upgrade their house.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: And there are things that are necessary that people absolutely need.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, if your drain is clogged, right?
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's a necessity.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: You need that done right now.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then we can talk about doing an upgrade later after we, you know, get the initial repair done.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, how long was it after you first uh learned about this concept and that you tried it and took action to do it?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what was the first do you remember the first time you tried it and you were like, uh, like I can't believe this actually works?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what was can you remember the time when you start to see the strategy begin to work, Ricky?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Remember that, remember that those those days or that day when that happened?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, I do remember those days.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: So your your course at that time, I think was a three-day course.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I took the course, I came out of there, you know, super pumped, excited, um, started running your program.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: But in the beginning, right, the first 30 days were the hardest for me coming out of the program, right?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't just go straight out of your program and start producing all kinds of crazy money.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: It took me a minute to make it my own, to make it feel natural, to present things in a way that I wasn't used to doing before.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: And after I got over that initial hump, I was able to actually start generating, you know, a lot of income, not just for myself, but for the company I was working for.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think one of the biggest surprises is that like the part where you say, hey, this works, is that people like somebody you thought wouldn't buy anything, next thing you know, they're buying the best thing or whatever.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever any stories you can share about somebody you can remember, or maybe even recently if you want to, that uh thought it was going to be this isn't going to be a good call.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: But then when you gave them all the options and made the uh told them the problems and told them the solutions, that all of a sudden it was a game changer and people purchased more.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Any does that that stories must happen like that frequently?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Can you think of any that are uh uh near and dear to your heart you can share with the people here?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I actually have one.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: It uh it was last week.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Went out to a hydrostatic test, um, ended up being that she had well a hydrostatic test.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just start with what a hydrostatic test is.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm basically testing the sewer line underneath the foundation and checking for any leaks, right?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: So after I did my hydrostatic test and it failed, I presented the customer the option of doing um an isolation test.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: So hydrostatic test just tells me if there's a leak or not.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Isolation test pinpoints exactly where the leak is, right?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: So there's two steps to this process.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: So once I was able to set her up with the isolation test, you know, her house was 60, 70 years old.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: She had original cast iron in there.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, she had leaks, you know, everywhere.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Cast iron was cracked, broken, and just multiple spots.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so we can go in, right, and we can give her repair options to repair a bunch of different broken areas and attach to 60-year-old plumbing, or we can give her an option as well to replace everything and upgrade her system and give her peace of mind.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: That way she never has to worry about this again, right?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so, long story short, man, we were able to do a full repipe on her house, get everything up to you know, plumbing code tunneled underneath the slab, um, replaced everything, and she was a she's a happy customer now, right?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, if you're afraid of presenting pricing um because you feel like the customer can't afford it, you're doing yourself and the customer disservice, right?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Because by not presenting them the option to fix everything at once, you have no idea what their financial background is or what they can't afford and what they can't afford, right?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Plus, we offer financing options as well.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: So not everyone is gonna pay, you know,$50,000,$60,000 out of their pocket.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, most people are gonna finance big projects like that.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So uh when you talk to other contractors out there, what do you see them struggling with?
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: You've you've been around the block and you visited a few places and even worked in a few places.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: What are some of the biggest challenges the other contractors have out there in the field in the market right now?
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, a lot of contractors, right, they're too busy selling plumbing services, because I'm in the plumbing industry versus selling solutions, right?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: So we need to the industry needs to change as far as you know, we need to be people person, right?
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: So we need to understand people and understand their needs, their wants, and uh the things that that will um that best fit their wants and needs for their home, right?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: And their budget.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: So by us just going in, and when I say us, I mean the plumbing industry and just sales in general, right?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Going in and just presenting, you know, whatever we feel is necessary for them versus what is actually necessary for them is you know, you leave a lot of money on the table doing stuff like that.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then the work, work, work doesn't get done the best either, right?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Would you agree with that?
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: That the result is going to be poor workmanship and temporary band-aid solutions, Ricky.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yep, exactly.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, who wants a band-aid and who wants to go back on recalls and who wants to deal with, you know, headaches, and who wants to deal with people saying, Well, why didn't you give me the option to, you know, change everything at that time?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, this was five years ago, and every year you're coming back out here because we have multiple, you know, slab leaks or sewer leaks or whatever it be.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now there is a balance between the uh you know the job you're doing, the work you're doing, and then the people you're doing it for.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: The you know, the the people over the processor things.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh how much how do you balance that out between how much time to connect with people versus how much you're gonna be focused on only the technical solution?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what would you say is a good balance there between the two things, or Ricky?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: I would say technical solutions, probably anywhere between 10 and 20%, right?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, the um people uh, you know, spending the time with the customer, getting to know them, getting to know their family, getting to know the things that that make them happy is, you know, I would say 80% of what we need to do and what we need to focus on.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me how can you apply that?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: How do you how can you take that information and apply it so that it makes a difference?
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, I I agree with you, but I very I want to hear you say it.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: What's the way that uh uh what difference does that make?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of people say I connect with people, but they're not able to use those assets to help the client make a choice or to get the right solution.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: How how do you what's your strategy in terms of learning about the people and applying that information toward moving the project forward?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: So my strategy isn't so much um forcing a decision, right?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm more like guiding them to a decision.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um I like to, you know, take my time, understand the customer, understand their family, understand what the root of the problem is, so we can fix that part of it.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: And by fixing the root of it, we fix pretty much everything, right?
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so by me connecting with them and walking through the house, getting them involved in what I'm doing, right?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: Letting them help me find leaks throughout the house, asking them, hey, do you know of any of your toilets that are leaking, any drippy faucets, anything that could affect my hydrostatic test on the outside, right?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Getting the customer involved and having them walk through with you and having them understand what it is that you're doing is very helpful when you start asking them for money at the end.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so what are the trends you see right now, Ricky, is look into the future?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like you've been doing this for like three decades, like you said, but now things are changing.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of different technology.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: And what are some of the trends uh with technology and other things that are shaping the future of home service today, would you say?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And how are you involving yourself or preparing for those things?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: So again, AI and um Google, right?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think they're always going to be around.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: They're not necessarily gonna take our jobs because our jobs are you know very hands-on and they need a human interaction to to do them.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: The way I am utilizing my skills today is uh I do a lot of chat GPT.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: So if I have some objections that I've never had before and I don't have, you know, Joe at my disposal, um, I'll go on chat GPT.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: So now I use a lot of uh chat GPT and AI.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um when I have objections, I go on chat GPT and I say, hey, I have this objection.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Do a role play with me and help me get over this objection.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it kind of helps me uh look outside my tunnel vision, right?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because sometimes we get frustrated with these objections and we don't know how to handle them.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I can use the technology that's you know everybody has has uh the same um everybody has the same amount of uh I'm sorry, man, I messed up.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to say something.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: They got the same data, but what do you do with it though, right?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's the thing, right?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: So everyone has the the resources, the same resources that I have to get the same data that I have, but the problem is people don't know how to use chat GPT or AI and all this stuff because they don't understand how to prompt it to get the to get the data that they need from it, right?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: So right now you're involved with that, you're doing that then.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're kind of really getting into that and trying to use it to your advantage.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: You use those, so you're kind of diving into the technology, not moving away from it, you're saying.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and I think it's very important because you know, if you don't keep up with the times and the technology, you just get run over.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: So back to the one pricing, you know, option, right?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's been outdated for years now.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: Now everybody gives you options, right?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody's just like, hey, this is the only solution we have for you.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: You can, you know, you can think of three or four off you know the top of your head.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, every day when you wake up in the morning, you have to get up and hit the ground running, just like the a lion or or person who's got to go out there and hunt every day.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so it's the kind of job you got isn't one where you can sit back and relax, right?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, Ricky, what's what's the thing that's inside of you, the intrinsic motivation that makes you wake up every day and hit the ground running hard?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: What's the what's the thing that personally matters?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: What's what matters to you most about the work you do?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: What matters to me the most about the work I do is doing a good job and you know being able to provide for my family, uh making sure that you know the people that I interact with, my customers are happy and you know they they don't ever have to they have peace of mind, so to speak, right?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: They don't have to worry about anything that we've done for them is you know long term or short term.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Ricky, what's the most important skill you think for home service business professionals today?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you said what's the most important skill that there is for to be in this business today?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: So the most important skill is not so much the uh the ability to do the job, it's more of the ability to speak to people and communicate, right?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like a lot of people are missing that aspect.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, people don't buy things they don't understand, right?
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, if they're confused, you're gonna get an objection.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: If they don't understand, you're gonna get an objection, right?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: If your price seems a little too high and they don't understand why, you're gonna get an objection.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: So if you know how to deal with those objections, right, and you understand that this is just part of you being able to show your talents of your work, right?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because until you get past that price point, nobody knows that you're the best plumber in the world, right?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Ricky, uh, if you were giving yourself uh your younger self, this is I guess this probably could be the same answer, right?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what advice would you give your younger self when you were younger about first starting out in this kind of a business?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: What would it be?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what I would tell my younger self is it's gonna be hard work and it's not gonna be easy.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: And there's days where you wake up and you want to go back to sleep, but somehow you still get out of bed and you still show up every single day.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um I would say stick with it, man, right?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you start something, finish it.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: If it's not the career for you, find a different career then, right?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because plumbing is just you have to interact with people and communicate.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: There's no way around that.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that was another great conversation with Ricky Diaz.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Ricky, we appreciate having you on the show.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being here today.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you so much.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for sticking with us, everyone who's listening to this until the end.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you've gained value from today's episode, we'd love you to leave a rating or review wherever you listen to podcasts.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you know someone in the industry who's looking to scale their career or business, send this episode their way.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Take one key insight from today and put it into action and let us know how it goes.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: We'd love to hear about your progress.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for joining us, and we'll see you on the next episode of the Home Service Heartbeat Podcast.