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Home Service Expert

From Losing $250,000 A Month To Making $100M A Year with Ken Goodrich

πŸ“… February 26, 2020 ⏱️ 1:33:09 🎀 Tommy Mello, Ken Goodrich

Chapters

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  • 0:31
    Intro & Ken's early journey
  • 2:40
    The $74K IRS bill & learning the E-Myth
  • 4:54
    Selling companies & the Goettl opportunity
  • 10:24
    Targeting 20% profit & scaling
  • 14:12
    Controlling labor beats Amazon/Walmart
  • 20:13
    Buying customers: the acquisition thesis
  • 28:27
    Treating sellers as equals
  • 38:22
    Understanding multiples & deal structure
  • 40:27
    Turning around a $4.3M-in-debt company
  • 43:45
    The unicorn sales rep & brand trust
  • 50:18
    Marketing strategy: search, radio, TV
  • 55:10
    Owning the best customers & messaging
  • 1:01:18
    Monetizing a database with free tune-ups
  • 1:07:56
    Service agreements & maximizing value
  • 1:12:10
    Rebranding Goettl as a legacy brand
  • 1:16:32
    Ron Smith & premium pricing
  • 1:21:23
    Pricing for profit (Matt Michel)
  • 1:25:44
    Book picks & KPIs by department

Speakers

T
Tommy Mello
Host β€” A1 Garage / Home Service Expert
K
Ken Goodrich
Owner & CEO, Goettl Air Conditioning; HVAC acquisitions expert & author

Key Takeaways

✦

A surprise $74,000 IRS bill at age 25 forced Ken to learn the financial side of the business β€” cash flow mastery, systems and predictable, profitable service is what turned the company around and became his lifelong operating discipline.

✦

In a skilled-labor business, he who controls the labor wins; Amazon and Walmart can't disrupt home service, so the operators who systematize and adapt to how the customer wants to buy will capitalize.

✦

Acquisitions are really about buying customers and relationships β€” Ken has bought and sold 24 broken companies, 10x'd their sales with systems, and treats sellers as equals to make the transition non-scary.

✦

Target a ~20% net profit and use ServiceTitan the way it's designed; there's no magic pay plan, so pay the way the software works and control your biggest cost line first.

✦

Be the premium-priced, premium provider β€” Ken has been the most expensive in all 30 of his markets and still ranked #1-3 in each; charge what wins the job and delivers value, not what competitors charge.

✦

Buy your brand and market with mass media plus owned search: get the website up, run pay-per-click, layer radio/TV, and buy your own name keywords so when heavy marketing drives demand people find you.

✦

Service agreements build enterprise value β€” a maintenance-club subscription (the 'automatic customer') bonds customers, smooths shoulder seasons, and is what you truly maximize when building shareholder value.

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