A Guide on How to Hire and Retain Top Technicians | Podcast Ep. 190 | Toolbox for the Trades

Hello, contractors, and welcome to Toolbox for the Trades. My name is Jackie Aubel, and today I am chatting with Lydia Brewster, the GM of Aquaclear Water Systems. Lydia shared her foolproof hiring process that helps her retain top talent and increase profits. Plus, she shared some hot takes about family dynamics in business. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Lydia Brewster, you are the GM of Aqua Aqua Clear Water Systems. Today you and I are going to be talking about how to retain top technicians, improve profits, and navigate family dynamics in business. I am so excited. Welcome to the podcast.

Well, thank you for having me. It's definitely a dream to be on the podcast, so.

Well, I think you've technically been on it before because you did come on and do some chatting with me when I was at Pantheon Live last year. So I think you ended up being in our compilation episode. But I am so excited to do a solo episode with you here. We are going to get right into it, but I'm going to start us off with an icebreaker. I would love to know, if you could travel anywhere right now, where would you go?

Um, probably Amalfi coast in Italy. That's definitely on the bucket list.

Oh, my goodness, that is such a fantastic answer. And I don't know about you, but it is hot in Southern California when we are recording and I would love nothing more than to go to the Amalfi coast right now and just like, being. Being the beach. Yeah. Oh, my God, it'd be so nice.

Agreed.

All right, well, I have had your brother JB on this podcast, maybe about like 50 or 60 episodes now. So you are now the second member of Aquaclear Water Systems who's been on this podcast. But every story is different and I want to know, how did you get into the trades?

Oh, yeah, that's a fun question. I think everyone's story is different, so it's like always fun to hear. But basically out of college, I worked in the family business up until college. I worked, you know, part time in college and then after college I went to Texas and took a full time job with transportation and trucking. And I just really miss my family, honestly. Like, we're a close unit and watching them grow without me kind of, you know, made me have an itch for it. So both of my brothers were definitely thriving and doing like, really good, like nationally ranking, setting records. And I was like, ah, you guys can't do all this without me. I need to come back so I can claim it. So I just. Dad offered. He matched my promotion at my other job and told me to move home, so I did. Amazing.

And did you work in the company when you were like, in high school, growing up? Were you in the office and all that kind of stuff?

Yeah, I won't get dad in trouble for child services or anything, but yes, working as long as I could walk. No, I'm just kidding. But I started in everything. So I actually went from taking out the trash to counting inventory every Christmas. Right. For taxes, to answering phones, booking filter changes, to helping sell half of our business to, like, the cooler part and different things like that. So I've always been in it just full time, starting three or two years ago somewhere around that.

Oh, my gosh. Awesome. That's so cool. And for the folks listening. So Aquaclear Water Systems, you're a water treatment company. Correct. And you do you do mostly residential or is it also a little bit of commercial, too?

Yeah, there's. Water treatment is actually pretty complex, so it's really fun to talk about. But we do commercial and residential, so I would say commercial is probably 30 to 20% and the rest is residential. And then we do city and well water. So we do, like, difficult problem water. We're in East Tennessee and all we really do is water treatment. So there's really light plumbing. We'll do some water tank replacements and different things that allow the code to not include a water license or a plumbing license. But we do have like our well water license, so we do work on wells as well. So.

Awesome. All right, cool. So when I first did my pre interview with you, well, actually I met you a while ago. You actually were the winner of Service Titans referral contest last year. You won the top prize, which was a brand new Tesla. I hope you're enjoying it. By the way, what color did you get? Did they let you choose your color?

Anthraite gray. So it like, kind of looks like black, but it's like lighter and then the handles are black. It's gorgeous. It's literally.

Oh, my gosh. Amazing. So anyone out there who's been thinking about referring Service Titan to their friends and family, you should, because you could win a Tesla like Lydia did. So, Lydia, you've been in the space for a while. A lot of my team members have spoken to you. I've met you before. But when we were planning for this podcast, you said something that, like, just blew me away. And I would love to know, how do you react when other people in the service industry. So all across all the trades, how do you react when they say you can never hire anybody good these days.

That literally like actually strikes a nerve for me. Like that makes me so mad, like my blood boils anytime I hear that. I think that's like the biggest excuse that leaders make. I just feel like that basically means they're not willing to take extreme ownership for themselves, for their new hires or their employees. I think that's definitely a fixable issue and I think that's an internal issue. We actually have five generations in the workforce right now. That's more than ever before. So we're literally working with, you know, the most morale, the most communication differences, like we have the most differences in the workforce right now. So if you said something like these new hires are really different and I'm not used to it, that would be better than saying you can't hire anybody good these days. And I think that's a self fulfilling prophecy. If you tell yourself there's no one good to hire, then every person who comes into your doors, you're going to look at them as if they're not good. And one things that I do really hit on is I hire soft skills and I can train the hard skills. Right. That's my goal. I'm the professional in my industry. So as long as they are good people who have good people skills, I can teach you everything else. I mean, as long as you can turn a wrench or hold one, you gotta have some mechanical inklings or you could just be a sales guy. Right. But basically, yeah, that definitely bothers me. And I think a few of the notes that we're going to hit later in this podcast are really going to help change that mindset and approach hiring, recruiting and retaining a little bit different. So then that way you don't have to have a negative outlook. You can actually be successful with your new onboarding hires.

I know that's such an interesting. I've never heard it framed that way, but it does make sense. So we've got boomers still in the workforce, we've got Gen X, we've got millennials, we've got Gen Z. And I guess is Gen Alpha now starting to. I guess so, right?

Yeah, I mean a few of them, especially in restaurants and stuff like that. Yeah, I don't know all the generations, but I can look it up.

Yeah. You know, I was doing a pre interview earlier today and there was a time because I've been at service Triton now for almost seven years. When I first started doing interviews like this, I was generally younger than the folks that I would interview and Now I'm at this place where I am pretty sure you're included in this. A lot of the folks I'm talking about are younger than me, or I'm talking with are younger than me. And so I, I can totally understand why you have that, like, visceral reaction to the phrase you can never hire anybody good these days. Because you're a perfect example of, like, being a total badass in this industry. I mean, you touch so many different operations at your family's business, and you're killing it. You're crushing it. And so you're literally living proof that in these, the younger generations, there are really fantastic hires that have the drive and have the work ethic to really achieve greatness.

Yeah, and I, I, I think that's true with everything. I think that's true with the dogs. Like, right. How, how well is your dog trained? Like, do you feed them the right things? Do you exercise them the right way? Do you train them the right way? I think it's the same with your kids, right? Do you tell them the why behind things? Do you tell them how to approach subjects? Same with your employees. I mean, it's literally like having a baby. I haven't had a kid, so all I can explain it to as a dog, but, you know, same day.

Oh, my gosh. What, what kind of dog do you have?

This is my dog right here. And I have a Doberman. Okay. Miniature wiener Isabella and tan dapple. Long hair, the longest name ever. And then also a Doberman. So.

Oh, my gosh. If anyone isn't already watching the YouTube, please go and watch the YouTube because I just saw the cutest little dachshund pop up on my scre. Oh, my God, what a baby. I'm obsessed. Oh, okay. Well, let's get into the juice of it. For anyone who's listening, who may not be obsessed with dogs like you and myself, you have actually a patented interview process that help that has helped you retain technicians and improved profits. Well, I don't know if you've actually patented it, but it is your system. I'm like, oh, that's not the right word for it, Jackie.

I appreciated it. I don't own the patent. I am happy to give it away because it made me blood. I blood, sweat and teared over this. And if I could save you the time and make your company profitable, that's why you're listening to this podcast. So I'm going to give away all my secrets because.

Tell me about it. Go for it, girl.

Okay. Yes, my Favorite thing ever. So basically, you get it. You get a resume first, right? Or you have someone call into your office, or you have an employee refer somebody, right? So that's kind of your lead. You have somebody who's interested in a job, right? So that's where it first starts. So if I have a resume, I text them, okay, this is my text to write it down. It says, hey, blank, I liked your resume on Indeed. I'm excited about your potential future as a blank. Whatever position is at Aquaclear. Let's chat. What time works best for you for a short phone interview? Question mark. And then I send a link to our recruiting video that I have on YouTube. My recruiting video literally is like two minutes long. It took me an hour and a half one day with an iPhone, and I made this YouTube video, and people love it, so feel free to check it out. It's on YouTube. It's called Join Our Team. It's by Aquaclear Water Systems. Super easy. Just copy and paste what I did and then just make it with your iPhone one morning. Not hard. So I text them the link to the video so they remember who I am and it adds value. And then I just tell them, like, what time works best for you for a phone interview? So in that way, as soon as they're responding to me, we're getting information down. And then these are the questions that I ask while we're on the phone interview. So say, oh, what have you been up to today? That's my first question. That's my opener. That's my icebreaker. Because were they sitting on their couch watching TV today? Did they have work and they're on their lunch break talking to you? Are they, you know, do they have a job right now? Do they not have a job? You know, are their kids, you know, going to doctor's appointments? Are their kids in school? You're figuring out all the things you kind of need to know. And how are they spending one and off day? Or are they currently working a job? So that's kind of giving you, like, an inside scoop. I'll be like, oh, are you currently working right now? If they don't give me information about that is the second thing I ask. The next thing I ask is, oh, what are you looking for in your next position? Like, what do you want in your next position? That's another question that I ask because they're like, oh, well, right now I'm working Saturdays, and I only want to work Monday through Friday. They're going to give you some insights onto what they prefer. Right. So we're really trying to learn about them on the phone interview to see if it's even worth the next step. Like I want to know the key points and then I'll be like, okay, what do you like most about the job that you're currently doing? Or last position if they're not currently working and then they'll tell me what their favorite parts is and then they might feed into what they don't like. If they go negative first and they don't answer my positive question, I kind of steer like I don't like them as much right now. So even when I ask them a positive question, if they went negative, they're basically like, probably not getting an in person interview for me unless they're working a position that isn't client facing. Because if they already have a negative outlook on life, they're not going to work out. So that's a X. And then I asked them, what is your dream job look like? So that's the next question that I ask. And I kind of want that to be at the end after they've already thought through everything and I make them tell me, like, what does the day to day look like? So one guy was like, well, obviously the goal is to be retired and sit on the couch and watch tv. And I said, you are not a culture fit. Thank you so much for your time. I hope you know, I wish you the best of luck. Bye. You got to break up with them fast. Okay. If you see the red flags now, you're going to see a ton later. So if their dream job looks like, hey, I want to be out on the road, I want to be doing this, I want to be helping people or I want to be a manager. So then you have to decide, do they have manager positions? Right. How much money are they wanting to be making all that stuff. It kind of gives you a good insight to will they actually be happy in the job that they're applying for? Because a lot of people don't know what job they're applying for, right? They're just clicking apply, apply, apply, apply. It's just like online dating. They're just swiping, they're just saying yes, yes, yes, yes. So they're not always educated on what it is. And then after that it's kind of small talk. You should know whether you like them or not. This is like a 5 to 10 minute conversation on the phone, maximum. If you guys have a really good conversation, it can go longer, but normally it's pretty Fast. And then I try to get them for, for an in person interview right away if I like them. So if you like them on the phone, what you're doing next is you're telling them about, this is what we do. So we do a job shadow. This is huge. So I had it cleared with hr. I have a contract that they sign in order to do a free job shadow day. So if I end up hiring them, I actually pay them for the hours that they spent on the job shadow. So I do record it. I think it's just a fun little bonus. I think you deserve it. Right? It's like you were willing to invest in your future and then so I want to pay you on the back end. So I'm like, if you're willing to change careers and if you're going to come to my company, I want you to see all the ins and outs. I want you to ask my technicians all the things you need to ask. I want you to see how I treat them. I want to see how I talk to them. I want you to see what training. I want to see what expectations we have. I want you to see our uniforms. I want you to know that we tuck them in. I want to know that we wear booties inside a house. I want you to know that we're going to call you when you're on the job site and you can't leave until the manager approves it. Like, I want you to see how strict we are, how together we are. Like, what expectations are. Especially if you're making a career change that's not used to a technician. Right? If you don't know the technician lifestyle, you don't know it, Right? Like, you don't know what you're getting yourself into. So I always say it's for you and it's for me. I want to see how you react with my team and I want you to really know if you're going to leave your job. This is, you know, your family that you're providing for. I want you to know that you could love this and that you could actually thrive at this. So I really focus on its clarity for you guys. I do the same thing for ccrs, for our accounting department, for salespeople. They watch a fake demo in the sales room to see what's going on. So I do this for every position, even warehouse. You'll come spend a day in the warehouse because I think you should really know what company you're getting yourself into. Whenever I was interviewing after college, I had a job shadow Day and it changed, you know, the way I looked at things. So that's why I brought it to my family's company. So Ulta actually did it for me. Always take good advice from other people. Right? No one's invented anything.

Yeah, actually you're, you're like, I just want to say you're barreling through excellent advice. So I'm going to give you a chance to pause here. The job shadow thing, I think that's fantastic. So you essentially, in all of your different departments, you have this idea of, okay, we have this program called job shadowing. So at any given day you could have some rando come into your day to day and they are going to shadow you. They're going to see what your, what everything looks like. So we want to make sure they know what they're signing up for. What kind of prep does that require on the back end with? Because you mentioned, like, you got all of your departments up and running on this, so what does that look like?

The technicians all have shirts ready for, so I'm a little bit more aware and I'll pick out their jobs. So I'll put it on the dispatch board. But I don't do any prep because I don't think we should. I think you should come see me as I am. Right. I'm not telling people. I'm not. We have a job shadow today. Clean the bathroom. You know what I'm saying? Like, no, like you are going to see me in my natural environment and know what everyone's like. And so it's just become a thing where everyone's ready to do that. We have a lot of shop tours that we do. A lot of water treatment companies across the nation also come. So my team's pretty used to people being up in their grill, asking them questions and watching them do their job. So it's just something that we've always been used to. The technicians just love an extra helper and they're so proud of what they do that they actually love talking to people about it and showing people and being like, this is my job. Like, they're all really proud. And I frame it as like, guys, the team needs to be stronger. You want someone who you're really proud, goes into a house before or after you and you know is going to do a good job. So everyone on my team wants really strong teammates. So they're really happy to be a part of the process and making the decision to hire somebody or not. So I don't necessarily tell the candidate all of this, but I tell my people all this. I'm like, tell me, what did he ask about? Was he on his phone? Was he falling asleep in the truck? He. Was he nice to the client? Did he offer to help you? Did he ask questions? And they're like, eating it up because they get to now make decisions with me. Right? Like, they decide who joins them, who's side by side, who's wearing their uniform next to them.

It's a lot more interactive than say, hey, first you're going to talk with me, then you're going to do a panel interview with three people that you may work with. Like, you're actually throwing them into the scenario and seeing how they may act as coworkers and also sleeping in the truck. Did that actually happen?

Yes. And he was like, so upset I didn't give him the job. I said, bro, you were asleep half the time. Like, what did you expect? He goes, well, I just. Can I have a second chance? I said, it's not going to work out. I'm sorry. So I see how willing they are to want to come on board. That's why I don't pay them. Because I don't want it to be something like, oh, you only work for money. You're not going to work out here. Because we care about our team, we care about our future, we care about our families, and that's what makes us different. Right. We're a really caring organization. So then that really matches. I haven't had anyone complain about that. I've maybe had one person be like, ooh, I don't like that. And I was like, okay, well, that's fine.

I mean, it feels like a culture thing. Yeah, it feels like then it's a culture mismatch. Right? Like, you're not forcing the person to do the job Shadow. You're. You're checking to see if they're willing to do the job shadow. And I would imagine that that's going to weed out a lot of people that are just applying to your company, as well as a hundred other local companies to just get a job. So with that, you're getting people that are really interested in the industry, the work you do and being a part of your team.

Exactly. So it weeds out a lot of people. So it has been really life changing for our culture wise, you know.

You know, your brother talked about stealing from other companies too, and I. You mentioned it when we first talked. I love that you stole this from Ulta. You were in supply chain management. Ulta Makeup, Big makeup store. And really, who to thunk. Working for a makeup retailer for just, you know, a few years out of college then brought this really, really powerful change your family's business. So the job shadow happens. Your team reports back about whether or not this person was a good fit and then what are the next steps?

So before the job shadow, I just wanted to talk about that because that's something we talk about on the phone interview. So I ask, are you willing to do a job shadow day if we decide to move forward? And then I explain what it looks like. Like, I'll have you a T shirt, you wear jeans, you know, tennis shoes, whatever. So then I basically discuss that and they tell me whether they're willing or not. So then I get to figure that out. And then I'm like, okay, well, you just text me the day and time that works for you. So what happens when on the job shadow day is it's actually interview day. So the first thing we do at 7am is we do our interview. So basically I'm always late to the interview because I want to see do they wait in their car? So I tell them 7 I get to work 715 ish. I, I want to see do they wait in their car? Do they go interact with the guys? Did they go explore the warehouse? Do they start talking to people? And then how are they going to react to me being late? Because I'm not perfect. And our Claire's never going to be perfect. We're always going to be human. So how are they reactive to me? Are they empathetic? Are they fine with it? Are they, you know, laid back? Are they pissed? Can they not recover from it? You know, who is it? Right? So I have my little, my little quirks. And then I interview them before the job. Shut up. Because I want to see if I'm even willing to put them in a truck, right? So I'm not just going to put someone that I liked on the phone. I'm going to make sure that I'm at least, you know, you know, 50 to 70% sure I'm going to hire them before I waste time with the technician. So I get into the in person interview and then these are the questions that I ask. How would your family and friends describe you? Right? Because I want to see what is their community think about them. And they're going to ask some questions. It's kind of like a therapy session. A few of these questions are definitely intrinsic. And then I ask what skills or characteristics do you think make someone good at their job? Right? What personality traits does someone have, in order to be good at their job? So then now I know. Do they care about trustworthiness? Do they care about communication? Do they care about. Basically I'm finding out how they like to navigate their job and what they deem as most important. So I'm. I'm making sure that we're a good couple at this point. I'm making sure that we'll make. I always say it's a marriage. You have to like me as much as I like you or we're going to be unhealthy. And then I ask them, how would you describe like a good teammate? Like, what characteristics do they have? Because we are a team here, that's something else we'll get into. But we are a team here. We're not a family. We're not just a job. Like, we're a career, we're a team. So then I want them to see what a good teammate does. Sometimes they're the same, sometimes they're different. Then I have them describe their dream manager. So I ask them what their dream manager looks like. So then they're going to tell me how they like to be managed because I'm going to know who their manager is going to be. And I want to see if that's a good partnership. And then I ask what motivates you in your career other than money? So I want to see, like, do they want more family time? Do they just want a better work culture? Do they want more opportunities for growth? Right? And I do talk about money here. So I'm like, okay, but money is obviously important at the end of the day. So how much are you needing to make or how much are you making now? Like, how much, you know, do you want to make in this position? Those are, those are the kind of questions I ask in order to get through that. And then I asked them, you know, things about the job. So can you handle 40 pound bags? Can you handle snakes? You know, cross faces, all that kind of stuff. Spiderwebs. And then they go on the job, shadow. And then they come back and then I basically see, do they have a smile on their face? Are they excited? Did they have fun today? Like, are they now friends with the technician who's, who was in their truck with them? Right. Most of my guys are, they're like, this is awesome. Like, I love this. Like, I could totally do this. A lot of them come back electrified. I've had a few guys who come back like monotone. And I basically like sit them down. I'm like, hey, like, obviously you didn't love it. What did you not love about it? And they'll, like, give me the feedback and we'll talk about it. So, like, we had one guy who was like, I applied for a mechanic position, and I just haven't heard back yet. And that's what I did in the, you know, Navy. As I worked on the. I worked on vehicles or mechanical stuff. He was like, that's kind of like what my dream was. But this is a really cool job and it's really awesome here. And it was just not what he wanted to be doing. So I said, hey, I have friends who are mechanics. I sent his resume to them. He works for them now. Right. Because my job is to change lives. My job is to make sure that you love this job and make sure that you're the right fit. So he was cool. He was awesome. He was mechanically inclined. Would he have done good at this job? Yes. But did I know from the interview that this was not what he was going to call home? Yeah, because I unveiled it. I actually cared about him. I asked questions that revealed why he wasn't ecstatic when he came back. And now he's in a happy place because he would have left if he got that mechanic job. So I just uncovered the landmines before they even happened by having an open conversation. And I always let them know, hey, we're both human. I got to make sure that this is the right fit for you. And that's why I ask these questions kind of thing.

I hear you. That's actually a really good strategy because then you're also preventing turnover. You're preventing turnover and you don't want to. I mean, we're going to get into training and onboarding, but that costs money. Right? Like, every. Every hour of training you put towards your. Your people, that is taking away some of your resources. So you want to be really specific about who you're offering this position to.

Yeah. And. And I'm. I wouldn't call it picky, but I'm just strategic. Right. I don't want someone who wants to be somewhere else. Like, I'm. I'm selfish. Right. I want you to want us really bad. I want you to have the same passion for Aquaclear that I do, or at least as close as possible. Right. So we do talk about that. So basically, that's the question. I'm like, how was the day to day? Like, what'd you think about hanging out with the guys today or sitting with the girls or, you know, whatever job Shadow. They did, and basically they'll just talk about it. I'm like, ooh, what'd you learn today? So then I know if they ask questions, I know, like, what kind of stood out to them, what they enjoyed most, Right. And then I asked them, why would you want to work for us? Or, you know, did the job shadow make you want to work for us? And then I basically asked them, like, what do you define as a stressful situation at work? And was anything about today's job, like, stressful to you? So that way I can unveil, like, what might stress them out, and if they can't think of anything, then I ask them about their last position. I'm like, well, can you, like, describe a time at your last position that, like, something at work stressed you out? So mine's like, when I ordered the right part and the supplier sends me the wrong one, and I did everything in my power to make it right. And then I have to go do the returns and send the emails and send the pictures and send the proof. So then I always give them my example if they can't think of something. So I always have an answer on the back end that I know because I've gone through these interview questions, and then that's my interview process.

Oh, my goodness. I mean, I. I love it. I love it for a bunch of different reasons, because I think you're being really crystal clear with the client. I feel like you creating these questions in such a way that you're looking for core compatibility rather than mechanical skills. And you mentioned a couple times about it sounds like quite a few of the people you've hired through this have done career changes. And like you said, you hire for soft skills, not necessarily for mechanical skills. I don't know if you have this data right off the bat, but how many of your techs are at the company now that came from different careers? If you could put a number on it, estimate or something like that.

Out of 33, there are three that came from water treatment. There are. There are four that came from a plumbing background. Okay, so.

So seven out of 33 had the background.

Water. Mechanical.

Water. Mechanical plumbing. So that's 26 that you've hired successfully that had. Didn't. Had no experience in water treatment before this.

Yeah. And those are just technicians. Everyone in the office has not had experience in water treatment. And then all of my salespeople as well.

You can never hire anybody good these days. Nope. Yeah. Yeah. Literally. You. You've literally proved your point in this. In this episode. So, okay, I want to hit on onboarding and training a little bit, but tell me about the kind of results that you've seen from the technicians that have run through this program, and not just your technicians. Let's also say, just what are the results you've seen since implementing this interview process?

Yeah, the interview process is huge. I always laugh because, like, some of the newbies will listen to me do the interview as they walk by, and I'm like, they may think I'm a robot because I ask the same things and I do it the exact same way, but it's fine because it gives me the results I need. And they're always like, at least I know what I'm expecting. I think it's consistent. Right. I'm not just basing the interview off the person. I'm asking the same questions, trying to find the same landmines and connecting with them on different levels. So I really get to know the person. So, like, I'm fully aware of who they are and kind of what I see from them. And then the job shadow just gives me so much more insight to who they are as a person, how they react, how they'll work. So now I'm not hiring people. Like, only one hire that's gone through this process has actually ended up like, we. We dropped them or they quit. Only one person. And there's probably been like 15 who have gone through this process so far.

Wow, that's awesome. So you've got 15 people that have gone through this program now successfully with one person that it didn't work out with at the end. So. Because so many of these folks are not from the industry, Tell me about what your kind of training and onboarding looks like.

Yeah, I think this is huge. So I definitely, truly believe in hiring green, like, as green as possible, because I want to create your processes. I don't want any bad habits. I don't want any SaaS. I do like knowledge, though. I do really like, okay, this is what the laws are. This is what we did in our state. This is what I did at one house. So that is super fun to pull from. I think that's super valuable. But you have to have someone who's willing to match culture and expectations, who's willing to change. And those people are really hard to find, especially if you're looking for a plumber. Okay. They do not like change, but yeah. So basically what I'm kind of seeing on the back end is these are my top sellers. Right. These are my top upsellers. These are my most energetic. These are my people who bring me the most ideas. Because what did I do? I created a relationship with them that told them that I care and I'm willing to invest. So what do they do? They invest back into me because of the way that I invested in them. Does that make sense? So when they know my heart, they can also match that and give me the same energy back.

These technicians that you've hired and these team members who you've hired through your interview process, they're the top sellers, Are the most energetic, the most communicative. What kind of training and onboarding do you guys give them afterwards? Especially when they're green?

Yeah. Oh, for sure. I love this. So whenever you first hire someone on is that not the most excited they are about doing the job? Right? So when I offer them a job, I outsource hr. So I send them to the HR company, but I'll also ask them, do you want any type of resources in order to start researching? And I have a whole list of, like, YouTube videos that just gives them general knowledge before they even come in. So I have like an email template that I just copy and paste. And I'm like, this is a water heater. This is a pressure reducing valve. This is, you know, what well water does? This is what city water does. And it's literally just basic YouTube, like what I learned on, right? And I think the. Everyone wants to win, right? Every single person you meet wants to win, but you have to teach them how to win. So you have to give them clear guidelines or show them the plan. And that's the hard part, right, Is making that plan. So we say, teach it, preach it, praise it. Okay? Teach it, preach it, praise it. So someone has to hear something seven times. You say something seven times before they deem, before they think you deem it as important. So if I tell you how to do something one time, it's not going to sit with you, right? You have to hear me say it at least seven times. You got to teach it, you got to preach it. And then if you want it to really set in, you praise it. So be like, whoa, whoa, she sent me a slack today. Or let's go or shout them out. Or if they get a review, I pay them $5 per review because I think that's important. So that's something that's really important, is you got to reinforce those things and you got to repeat them. So it does get a little, especially from people who have experience. You're like, why do I have to Say that. Like, how do they not know? I'm like. Because they are not in the. In the industry for 30 years like you. You know what I'm saying? Like, sure. It's not in their mind. They don't have the experience that you do, so have to repeat yourself and go over and over. So repetition is huge. So I do repeat myself a lot in the trainings that we do in order to make sure that they fully get it by the time we're done. So my training process is 47 days. I have it set up in units for the first 90 if they need it, but the last, like, I'm not good at math, but the last 40 days is like retention training. So it's basically just like testing them to make sure that everything that I told them in the first 47 days is good. So a lot of my guys are in the truck on their own 40 days tops. So it's great. It's been amazing for us. And I've sold it to some other companies too, as well, and they love it. So it's been awesome.

So you've done. You've created the internal training system and you just have this like, repeat it and repeat it. What is it? Repeat it. Praise it. What was the third one?

Teach it. Teach it. Preach it. Praise it. Teach it.

Preach it.

Preach it.

Praise it. I love it.

See, you liked it and I said it like three times and you didn't remember. I'm gonna say it. Seven.

You have to say it's seven. I know. Let's see if I can remember it before. I'm good. I'm writing it down. Teach it. Preach it. Praise it. Rhyming always helps. Honestly, rhyming always helps. I feel like I cut you off. Is there anything else you want to talk about with onboarding or training?

Yeah. So for onboarding that I created, so I basically made an Excel sheet and I have, like, a theme. So, like, the first week, your theme is plumbing. So you're going to learn pipes and fittings. You're going to learn. We have something. We use Milwaukee red boxes on all of our trucks. So I teach them what all the names mean for that and what kind of is in them, what to expect, what type of plumbings and fittings. I teach them about drains and I teach them about bypass. So that's the first week has a theme, right. Like plumbing. And then I break it up day by day. So in our training procedure, I actually meet with them, me personally, which I'm the training person. So whoever training is at Your company. I honestly think it's the best when the owner or operator does this. Because when I train from someone who understands marketing, warehouse and technicians, right Then I have an, like, whole encompassing view. So any question that this trainee asked me, I can tell them from a holistic approach. So that's why I've loved doing training is because I was warehouse manager and marketing manager. So I'm like, ooh, I know which ones I want to buy. I know which ones are the best quality. I know which ones I've been sending postcards about. I know which ones I want. You know, that hit the bottom line just right. So it's only 15 minutes a day. That's all it is. I made little PowerPoints just to make it easier for me. Or we have a training center that we go walk over to and we physically touch things, however you want to start it. I started it by having themes and then having PowerPoints. And I actually included my team into this. So I was like, hey, this is my bypass training that I made. I always picked a different senior technician, and I would go over each thing that I made with them. So that way it was collaborative, and that way I got more out of it, right? I learned more because I'm not the person touching it every day. And you're never going to be, but I'm going to be the person who starts it and sets the tone. And then I'm going to expect them to come in and. And add value because they're going to know that I'm investing, I'm willing to invest, and I care about them and I know how hard they work, and I know that they know this stuff, right? So I involved my team in this. I built, you know, the bones, and I let them put the meat on it. I mean, it took me probably a few months to put this all together. It was a lot of late nights, but it was definitely worth it. Like, it has given back tenfold. Like I said, these are my most profitable technicians. These are my most energetic. These are my most communicative. These technicians will be with us hopefully until they retire. And then my CCRs use the same platform. I don't go into as much as the technical, so I skipped those slides for them. But I use this for all my CCRs. I use this for, like, all my salespeople. I use this for all my technicians. Service or install. Everyone does the same thing. So it was really easy to make one big thing, and then I could just section it out for each person. Like, hey, can we do bypass Training tomorrow. Hey, can we learn about this some more? Hey, I really want to learn more about rebads. I really want to start upselling rebads on the phone. Like when you train them and teach them and invest in them for just 15 minutes in the morning before they start their day, you set a tone that you should be learning something every day. So now when you're no longer doing class, they're still going to be asking you questions. When something comes up, they're going to go to you. They're going to know who to call. Now, I would start integrating their manager into this process because now they're all like, my little babies. And it's hard to, like, let go and wean. Let them go. Yeah, wean off. That's probably the hardest part, is because I was like, now they're mine. But it does eventually happen.

Oh, my gosh. I just want to take a moment to remind everyone this is a free podcast, so I hope you enjoyed, like, this basic training course. Honestly, Lydia, I am getting so much just inspiration for my own. My own work. So thank you so much for sharing this because I think there's such great nuggets in everything that you had to share today. I think the big theme that I'm seeing is, like, this theme of consistency. Consistency in the way that you train your team, consistency in the way that you interview people. That's something that I think is my biggest takeaway from what you had to say. I'm someone who, as you, as you know, I interview people for a living, so I very much like ebb and flow to the energy that I'm being given. And I can see the value. I can see how that can be detrimental from an interview perspect and how the value of asking the same questions to every single candidate will give you more, like, more actionable data. Like, even if you have all those places, like, you'll know, oh, yeah, this guy I hired 3 months ago who was. Who ended up being a great fit, he answered similarly to this person. And so maybe that's a sign that they'll be a good fit here, too. So I really wanted to commend you on that because I think that's fantastic.

Something that I tell my team is we don't discriminate here. So I try to treat everybody the same. So, like, our logo or our slogan is changing water, changing lives. And I want every single person who comes in contact with our business to get the same experience. So I want the way that I answer the phone to be the same I want the way that I book the call to be the same. I want the way that I walk into your home. I want to put on my booties, I want to sanitize the unit. I want the same experience door to door. Like, I want you to not feel a difference. I want to tell you about the whole home reverse osmosis system. Even though it's 20 grand and not everybody can afford it, but I want you to be aware that there's an option out there. Like, I don't want you to discriminate in sales. I don't want you to discriminate in upgrades. Like, oh, I don't think they can afford a new water heater. Well, you need to tell them that theirs isn't working optimal and you need to give them the chance. Like, you can't decide for a homeowner whether they can or cannot afford it or whether they do or do not care. Right. It's not your decision. It's not. That's not your job. Your job is to solve problems and change lives. So you have to be an educator. You have to walk into the home. You're not there to sell, you're there to solve. So that's a new thing that I'm kind of pushing. But we don't discriminate here. We give everybody the same experience. We want you to know the same stuff. We want to be, you know, clarity, consistent, and we want to be the professional that comes into your house.

I love it. I love it. We have been speaking for almost 45 minutes, which is bananas to me because I have. I'm just. You've had me riveted this entire time. But there's one other thing I want to make sure we talk about about. So even though you work with your biological family, you don't consider the 63 person team at Aquaclear Family, which is a phrase that I hear all the time. Oh, at this company, we're a family. We're a family. We're a family. They use that to describe their colleagues. Tell me why you don't use the word family to describe your team. I want to hear your take on this. I think this is going to be a spicy take. I think this is going to be a little divisive. So let's go.

We are absolutely not family here. I tell every single person that I interview, I said, we are not a family. We are a team. I can drop you, draft you, send you in for more practices. A players, you know what I'm saying? They play. We can bench you like, but we will train you, right? So like a team, I am going to train you, I'm going to make sure you have the right equipment and I'm send you out, I'm going to give you the playbook and if you can play, awesome. If you can't buy, okay? So we are a team here. So it is competitive. I think that's one thing that really speaks to men especially, right? We're in the trades that so there's a lot more men dominant. So I love to make things competitive. Competitive gamification. I describe our team as a 4x4 relay. So I have to run my race, you have to trust me to run my race fast, easy, and hand off the baton perfectly to you. So that way you can run your race. So it's literally just going back and forth. And then I also describe it as football as well. Everyone has a position. So I describe my CCRs as the O line because they have to hold. They have to hold the line and they have to take all the heavy hits. So that's also a big thing. So I laughed about this. Jackie, this is something I would say a little bit ago, but basically, if you call your company a family, I already know your top three issues in the company, right? I already know that you are going to not confront your team members about things. Right? In family, most times you're stuck together, so you're not going to confront those issues because you don't want to cause drama that you know can't be resolved. So feeling that inside of a company is detrimental because that could have been a client care that we dropped. That could have been a training opportunity that could have been an upsell that was $10,000 and you just didn't want to upset that salesperson so you didn't talk to him about it, right? So communication has to be, we're on a team and we want to win and we have goals that we need to hit and we need to not be scared of confrontation. But we also need to know how to approach appropriately as well, right? We got to do it in a healthy way. And that leads into my next one is you guys probably don't communicate well, right? Like you're. My grandma texted my mom about the family reunion and she didn't text us because she got busy. So now we didn't know about it and we missed it and now she's upset and didn't tell us. So communication super siloed. I think in a lot of organizations, people won't talk to each other or brainstorm together or work things out. And when you're a team, you have goals that you need to hit, you have positions and you understand your positions, but you also understand that what offense does really affects defense and that they need to meet each other, they need a mismatch and things like that. So communication is huge, and you need to make sure that that's not siloed across departments. That's one thing that I really focused on is bringing everybody together within Aquaclear from every department, so that way we can make everything better all in one. And then assumptions. Assumptions is huge within a family. You're like, yeah, I know that they're going to do that, or, yeah, I know that we do Christmas every morning, so we're not going to have to talk about that. They wouldn't go to their girlfriend's house on Christmas morning because that's our tradition, just making assumptions and being upset by it. So don't assume that you train them on that. Don't assume that they know what they're doing because they've been here for two years. Don't assume that. You know what I'm saying? They're great at client care just because they do service calls, or they're going to be great at upsells because they worked a sales job. Always communicate, always ask questions. I'm always being like, hey, what does this mean? What does this term mean? If I need to do this, how do I do this? So always quizzing, always talking, always clarifying, right? Trust but verify. That's really, really huge. And then training on anything that you see might be a downfall. So that's kind of my rant about family teams, and I am a team. Okay. Hot.

Hot take. I love it. I love it. I wish I had a hot take button. I tend not to alienate any of my past guests or my listeners who think differently. I actually think I. I align with the way you think about your teammates. I personally would not call my. My small team at Service Titan a family. I think we're a team. And, like, the goal is we're here to support each other, and we're here. We're working towards the same goal. Because at the end of the day, too, you know, it's interesting. You don't have to answer if you don't want to reveal this, but are you a millennial or are you Gen Z? Technically, I'm.

I'm the, like, middle year. I'm 98.

You're like a cusp.

I don't. Yeah, I'm a I'm a mixture.

I think that's maybe where my spiciness comes from, perhaps. Yeah, maybe. I mean, also, you have so much knowledge for being so young. I'm sure you hear this all the time and I hope it doesn't sound patronizing for me to say that to you. I'm a little bit older than you. I wonder if because of like all of the different economy shifts we've had in just the last like several decades, that's part of the reason why I'm. Maybe younger generations don't feel that way, but I think it's an interesting conversation to have and I appreciate you for being so passionate about it because I kind of, I kind of share your thoughts on it.

Yeah.

Lydia, you've given so much insight here. You. I cannot, I truly. I cannot wait to see where you're going to be in just like five, ten years from now. I know it's going to be fantastic. What is next for you and Aquaclear Water Systems?

I love it. I did just get promoted to general manager, so that was super exciting. That happened about two weeks ago and basically the goal is to keep going, keep growing. So we've grown 30% the last three years and we continue to keep that on track. That's our goal every year. So it's something big to bite off. And I kind of see that with perfecting the water treatment, continued training. So every Monday and Wednesday I meet with my technicians and we do like a continued training. So that's how it keeps them sharp, keeps them top of mind, keeps them fresh. And I really think that's changed our bottom line. So continuing on that, perfecting the onboarding, training, even for managers, I think that's something that we've really messed up on at Aquaclear is not doing like a manager training to make sure that they know how to manage. So that one I really want to work on next. And then obviously the goal is to work myself out of job. So I want to be a company that changes lives for our internal clients and our external clients. So I definitely want to be someone who's like, this was a life changing experience and Lydia taught me everything I needed to know to succeed. And then I want to be a stay at home mommy with my farm and my dogs and my kids. And that would be the goal long term.

Okay. Okay. Final question. I love that. I love that final go. A goal. Last question. What are you reading, watching, listening to right now? Music, books, audiobooks, movies, TV shows. Is there anything that you're consuming? I know you work a lot but is there any media that you're really loving right now?

Definitely Tommy Mello's podcast that's in the top. I'm definitely listening to that one often I would say I don't know. My family is very like we're mostly brainstorming between each other so my older brother jb, brilliant minded, love him to death. He's always researching stuff so a lot of times he sends me things and then I research it so he's like the dreamer, the finder and then I'm more of like the doer so I'm more like an implementations person person so my consumption comes from talking to the technicians all day and making PowerPoints and you know I'm saying sending emails so nothing too culturally but yeah, hey you're in it.

You are like laser focused and that is awesome sadly.

Lydia Brewster, thank you so much for.

Being a guest on Toolbox the trades. I love chatting with you today.

Thank you Jackie. It was a pleasure. I.