Dominic Vella on Scaling, Systems & Customer Experience | F&D Mastery Podcast #75

Dominic started Fantastic Fence in 2011 with his neighbor during the housing crisis, neither knew much about non-pool fencing, and grew it to about $10M a year (95% residential), running 8 crews and 30+ all-in-house staff with no subcontractors, which lets them invest heavily in training and retention.

New California 'Zero Zone' fire regulations now require metal fencing within the first five feet of homes in fire zones, potentially millions of feet of replacement; Fantastic Fence has been importing and installing Australian Durabond product since before COVID.

The fence industry over-focuses on building a great product and under-focuses on customer experience; the winning move is copying HVAC/roofing on the front end (getting in front of customers) and the back end (retaining them) so you shift from constant 'hunting' to 'farming' your existing base.

Marketing back into your own customers beats buying cold leads: Refer Pro turns past customers and referral partners into commissioned advocates (their first campaign drove ~350 referrals), and a low-effort branded community event calendar keeps the logo in front of tens of thousands weekly.

The money is in the follow-up: Fantastic Fence empowered a commissioned offshore VA ($10 per approved job) who now drives millions in revenue purely by intentionally following up, because customers who had you out already want the job, they just need help getting to the finish line.

LSAs are the top lead source, but only if you work the back end daily, entering each caller's name, request, and booking so Google sees you're active; doing this more than doubled their lead volume. Layer in yard signs, PPC, and owned SEO ('the farm') for true omnipresence.

To break revenue plateaus, put your back against the wall and add revenue-generating capacity, hire for your weak spot (crew if you're a salesperson, salesperson if you're a builder), never outsource control of marketing and finances, document everything into repeatable processes (their sales process is now 22 pages), and stay a learner, because learners are leaders.