Knowledge Leads to Comfort: How Danielle Leisten of Buric Heating & Air Sold $1.76MM & Became the 1st Female CertainPath HVAC Tech to Earn Crown Champion Status

Support for this podcast comes from Trane. For more than a century, Trane has stood for products and technology that are innovative and reliable and always moving forward. Trane Residential works together with independent dealers to provide sustainable, efficient, and healthier environments that their homeowners want and deserve. The Trane portfolio addresses not only comfort, but indoor air quality, complete system control from anywhere, and and diagnostics to help manage and protect the investment, along with energy-saving opportunities through products like our smart thermostats and variable-speed air conditioner. You can install Trane and be confident in its reliability because every product is tested to withstand the harshest condition of nature or our engineers can throw at it, like freezing conditions in our System Extreme Environmental Test Lab or 5 inches of water an hour in our climate chamber. That's how we create heating and cooling systems you can count on to run through anything. It's that kind of reliability that's earned us the honor of being America's Most Trusted HVAC System for 9 consecutive years.

Welcome to Successful Contractor powered by CertainPath, a show for residential contractors about residential contractors. We chronicle business journeys, share insights, and celebrate successes in this wonderful industry. I'm your host, Bob Houchin. As a reminder, all episodes of The Successful Contractor are available on YouTube as well as your podcast player of choice. And for more information on how CertainPath can put your contracting company on a certain path to success, visit our website, www.mycertainpath.com. I'm excited to bring to you an interview with Danielle Leiston, a do-it-all technician for Burick Heating and Air in Columbia, Maryland. Danielle does maintenance, service, and sales. She even helps in the office. Danielle is also CertainPath's first female tech to attain HVAC Crown Champion status. She did it by selling $1.76 million in 2022. It was only her second year in any sales function. So how did Danielle achieve such incredible immediate success? Danielle believes that knowledge is power, And power comes from knowledge. She will take the time to educate homeowners completely about their system, even that 20-year-old dinosaur, and she gives them options of repairing it along with the option to replace it. And ultimately, those homeowners will feel fully informed. Through that information, they'll feel good about their buying decision with Danielle and with Purell, whatever it may be, repair or replacement. You have a technician afraid of sales, whether HVAC, electrical, plumbing, roofing, whatever. This is a sensational, non-pushy approach that will always work. If you use sales as a way to serve, you can have success and feel good about what you're doing. And that's exactly what Danielle did. Without further ado, here's my conversation with Danielle Leiston of Bjork Heating and Air in Columbia, Maryland. I hope you enjoy our conversation and take away Danielle, thank you so much for being here today.

I'm very excited to talk to you.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely. For those who haven't had the pleasure of meeting you yet, can you kind of share with everyone your name, your company name, and where you guys are located?

Yeah.

So my name is Danielle. I am with Burick Heating and Air. We are based out of Columbia, Maryland. Online, if you check, it says Ellicott City. They're very close. And I am a maintenance technician, service technician, sales I do a little bit of everything.

Yeah, that's right. A little bit of office stuff too. What are you doing in the office? Share with everyone too.

So usually when Nick Jr. is out of the office, I will cover the phones. I am transitioning to a bit more of a managerial role. Yeah. So just helping where I can and learning along the way.

Yeah. And we're talking as you guys had an awesome year. You had an awesome year, especially last year. I think you did 1 point— you tell me what would—

Yeah, 1.76 million. Yeah. So pretty happy about that.

Yeah. The technician. Yeah.

Yeah. Doing service and then just kind of rolling into sales, learning how to transition into that hat. It was my second year of sales, so I did not think it was going to be possible. Yeah, we made it work as a team.

That's fantastic. Good for you. Well, we'll dig into your process and how you approach calls in just a minute. But I love learning people's stories and how they got to where they are. So let's, let's talk about you. How, how did you end up in the trades?

I did not take a typical path. I went to college. I got a degree in mechanical engineering. My bachelor's was environmental studies. And then I actually got a master's degree in urban and regional planning. Sounds a lot wordier than it is. It's a very broad topic, but I focused on energy and energy efficiency. how to incorporate that at a small level as well as a community level.

Yeah.

And from there I did consulting in D.C. and I was a consultant for the energy efficiency programs run by the utilities.

Wow.

Okay. In true D.C. consulting fashion, when we lost contracts, junior associates got laid off.

Oh, sure.

And I learned very quickly in that position that I just was not made to sit behind a desk. There are days where sitting behind a desk, I can get a lot done, but if it's 40, 50, 60 hours a week, I just will— it's not my thing.

Sure.

During that time of being laid off, after panicking, applying to like 100 jobs in 3 days, I kind of had a— I guess you can call it a come-to-Jesus moment and opted to go into trade school because growing up, I loved working with my hands. My dad was a very mechanical, like DIY kind of guy.

Yeah.

Working on cars with him, helping him around the house with various projects. I remember one of my favorite memories was helping him and my grandfather build an addition onto our deck that wrapped around the pool. I helped as a child, but went to trade school and I was 30 in trade school, so I wasn't a typical age. So I got poached pretty quick out of trade school. And then after about a year and a half, wound up at Purex.

Wow. Now, how'd you decide HVAC versus some other trades?

So actually, it was very interesting. I originally thought I would want to be an electrician because of the energy efficiency. I was just thinking, hey, solar would be a perfect fit.

Yeah.

Uh, and actually at Lincoln Tech, you only learn about solar in the HVAC tract.

Interesting.

Uh, they don't do it at all in electrical, even though that the school time there is twice as long. So I went into HVAC and I was like, hey, this is actually where people typically use 40 to 60% of their energy of their household is with air movement. So yeah, it just kind of happened. And then how did you get linked up So during COVID my company that I started with, they like offered a temporary layoff to employees because it was March, it was our slow season. I took it because I hadn't had a vacation in like 6 years at that point. And I was like, this would be great to just hang out at home. And some of the guys that I went to trade school with, I was talking to him. I wasn't particularly happy with the company I was at at the time. And one of them was like, I think you might be a perfect fit for the company I was working with. He had COPD, so he decided to leave during COVID because of the scare.

Yeah.

I interviewed with Nick Jr. I did a telephone interview with Nick Sr., the owner of the company. We hit it off perfectly and I've honestly never been happier at a job in my life. So yeah, it's been great.

That's awesome. Yeah, very good. Let's talk about— so, you know, you had this trade, the trade school experience, but this whole way of kind of a certain path method of delivering service. So how did you kind of— what kind of onboarding did they do with you to start kind of learning that, you know, service process? Did you go to some of our trainings right away or was all in-house?

So A little bit of it was in-house. With Burek, it was kind of just hit the field right away. You're a small company. But once Nick Jr. and I were talking about how kind of how he envisioned the future of the company and we started talking more, he was just like, hey, you kind of want to like learn the ropes with me, you know, and be more of a player in that. And that's when he was just like, Why don't we try, you know, Service Essentials? Hey, you want to check out some videos on the Hub? Then he signed me up for a Selling Tech class and then the— and then just a couple more classes. And most recently we did Emotional Intelligence. So just kind of stacking the knowledge base and it's worked out really well. Yeah, actually.

Yeah. How fast did you take like Service Essentials and then sales class? Was that pretty quick?

They were probably 6 to 8 months apart.

Okay.

Yeah. So it was probably a good maybe about 5, 6 months at Buick before doing service essentials. So it did take a while because we were still getting our footing out. Like I was, I joined Buick the same day as another technician and at the time we were the only 2 that wasn't family.

Right.

So it was hit the ground running.

Yeah.

And, you know, during the slow season, that's when it was just like, Oh, actually, let's, let's do some trainings. Let's learn a little more. And yeah, once we started doing those trainings, it started going a little more of a rapid pace because we started seeing the benefits.

How, how long did it take for you to earn the right to sell? How many years was that? Like after a year or was that right away?

So I was with Burek. I joined June of 2020. I believe I started selling in early 2021.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

So I had been in the industry for about 3, 2 and a half, 3 years.

Yeah, at that point. Yeah.

Yeah. But you'd earned your shirt. I mean, they see, okay.

Yeah.

Knows what you're doing, right? That's great. Okay. And at that point, did you go to any of ours, like the sales training before you started selling or the webinar version?

The— yes.

Okay.

Yeah. So I know Esti taught a class and Cody taught a class. I can't remember which one was which, but they were kind of crucial. Because I very technical brain. I love helping people, but it was really learning kind of slowing down, reading the customer, and obviously my numbers took off from yeah from there.

That's great. That's great. Okay, let's let's let's dig into your process a little bit. So let's say you know you're going on a service call. Do you make a contact with with the homeowner, or does the office call from when I'm on my way?

Yes.

Yes. So The office will put either call on the way or text on the way. So we do whatever the customer requests. A lot more frequently these days is text on the way. So I'll just say, you know, hi, this is Daniel with Buick. Just want to let you know my current ETA is 25 minutes. So yeah, something to that effect. Pretty quickly I'll usually get a message back because I've realized when I call I'm getting a lot of voicemails.

Yeah, that's— yeah, yeah, that's interesting. Very good. Now what do you do personally to prepare for that call? Is it just kind of going through whatever notes were captured? How do you get yourself mentally prepared? Maybe you had a rough call one before or something. How do you, how do you get kind of ready for the next call?

So it honestly is just reflective of the prior call. You know, if it's my first call of the day, I'm usually just like, yeah, you know, let's go get it.

Yeah.

If I am leaving from a rough call, sometimes, you know, we live in an area where there's frequently parks. So I might pull off into some green space, take a minute.

Yeah.

Breathe if the call was particularly bad and then head to the call because usually at least people in the DC, Maryland area know that traffic is real. So if I'm 2, 3 minutes later than what I gave them, they will assume traffic. So if I just need that breathing moment, I take it. Otherwise, yeah, once I pull, you know, pull away from the house I was just at. I'll pull over, see if there's history. If it's a, it's a first time in college, yeah, just go. And usually when I pull into their neighborhood, I'll just start kind of scoping the houses.

Yeah.

You know, because usually you can see if they got one system, 2 systems typically in that house, stuff like that, to kind of just prep myself.

Sure.

Sure.

Very good. All right. So you pull up to the home, you know, you don't linger too long, get up to the front door, knock.

Yep.

Back up, all that good stuff. They invite you into the home. What do you do to kind of set the tone for the rest of the call, to kind of make that early connection? Is it a simple compliment? Are there certain go-to questions you always like to fall back on? What do you do?

I kind of let it happen organically. I don't know if it's from COVID or what, but we've had a— I've arrived on calls and people, if they're not on the Zoom call actively, have actually seemed a little more social than usual.

Yeah.

So, you know, I'll just say, hey, I'm Danielle with Burek, especially if it's a first-time customer, ask if I'm parked okay, and then preface what the call is. You know, it looks like I'm here for a no heat, you know, when, you know, just start kind of asking my questions gently, you know, has it happened before, stuff like that.

Yeah.

And based off of their answers, that's when I'll find something to kind of I don't want to say dig into, but yeah, to that degree, something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just like, oh, you know, like, oh, you're a new homeowner. When did you move in? Like, this is your first breakdown. So you probably don't know the age of your system, you know, stuff like that. And I, you know, I've really connected with people because I became a new homeowner during 2022. So, you know, just talking about how crazy the market was, stuff like that, you know, the process that they went through and just kind of let it go from there.

Does that happen in the doorway or do you go ask to kind of sit down somewhere or stand somewhere?

You know, I will say a lot of people will lead me to the system, right?

I don't—

yeah, I don't stop them. You know, sometimes I will just say, oh, you know, before, before you lead me all the way down there, do you mind showing me where the thermostat is? What, you know, so that I don't have to make you come all the way back upstairs, you know, and show me after that. But I don't stop people from doing that because I know that's what I'm there for. And if that's what they're most comfortable with, a lot of times during conversation we might start— stop somewhere midway and just keep talking. And yeah, you know, so I let the customer kind of take the lead and that kind of for the most part seems to relax.

Okay. Yeah.

Do you—

what other— you start going through some of the questions, you know, we have like the— you know, I guess you're there for the repair call, so you're not really going into the comfort survey stuff.

Correct.

Yeah.

So What—

so kind of talk about the process. So if it's, say, a no heat, no heat call, let's start with one of that. What's, what's your process? You look at the system and you kind of find out what the problem is, right? Well, I'm assuming the homeowner goes at that point, right? Will you go to him or her to come back to see maybe if you have a component that you can show that's broken or what? How do you manage that?

I love bringing the customer to the system if they're able.

Yeah.

Because when you have it right there in front of you, it's so much easier. Like, especially if it's, say, like a gas furnace, I can just say a very simple breakdown of like, this leads to this leads to this. And we broke down here and that's just why it's not turning on. And then kind of explaining the process. And then that's, that's where I'll lead into, you know, oh, I notice you are using this type of filter. You know, does anyone in the home have allergies? So that's when I'll start kind of planting those seeds of like, let's think of more of what's the immediate problem and just kind of go through the entire system in its whole.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Very good. All right. And so they say, oh man, look at that, that broken cord, whatever.

Yeah.

And, you know, what's your next step? You're like, okay, I just wanted to show, let you know what's going on. Do you, at what point do you kind of bring up maybe this is a good opportunity to think about replacement? Do you let them bring it up to you? Or do you bring it up sometimes?

If they don't bring it up, I will bring it up. It's all going to be age-based in the breakdown. So if it's something a little more serious, let's say the inducer motor breaks down, then that's when I'm saying, oh, you know, this kind of is a large factor to the system's operation. And, you know, if your furnace is 19 years old, I mean, honestly, with the supply chain issues we're having, if we can even get the part, Yeah. You know, it's going to be a little on the pricier side. So let's kind of like, let's talk through every single option that we have available to you because knowledge is power and you're not going to feel comfortable with whatever decision you make until you have all of the information in front of you. So that's where we might kind of go sit down at the kitchen table or on the couch and just run all of the facts and figures per se.

Yeah.

And then, of course, you know, like a lot of people might ask what my recommendation is, and I will always give that. You know, if it seems like a very obvious thing, I would just say, I think this is going to be the best move for you.

Right.

Because certain breakdowns, you don't know the full operation of the system until that part's replaced, and it's much more of a risk. So making them aware of the risks with, you know, one option versus another option.

We say in a situation, I would say, as a motor, do we even give the repair option or we go Right into the sales process and giving them 3 choices?

I will always give the repair option.

Okay.

And that's because I want them to know every option that's available.

For free, yeah.

I will always just, like, if it's a certain brand that I can look up instantly to see if the part's available, then I'll just say, I would love to give you the repair option, but it does appear that this This part is not available. The ETA for the part is such and such time or is no longer available, period. So this is going to be the next step for you. Yeah.

How much will you go into when you're finding, you know, I don't know, you've got a bad compressor, but do you try to avoid— I should probably— excuse me, rephrase it. I'm sure you try to avoid tech talk, right? You want to— do you try— there are certain analogies that you use all the time to explain what some of these components are? I mean, do you have any examples you can share with people?

Sure. I, um, I, uh, I love finding out the profession of, of whomever I'm in the house with.

Yeah.

Um, because we do have in, in the area that, uh, we are in, like the greater DC area, there are a ton of engineers and like really, really like, um, well-educated people. So sometimes the tech talk is preferred depending on the, on the person. Um, but like, for example, I was in the house of a nurse, and the compressor did go. So it was kind of a perfect example. So explaining that the compressor is essentially the heart of the system, moving the refrigerant like blood throughout, and without— when that fails, that can be a very, very temperamental breakdown.

Mm-hmm.

Because, you know, it's, it's one of those things that, can you do something to repair a heart? Yeah, yeah. But we're getting— we're involving other risks.

Yeah.

You know, so using tons of metaphors is like something that I love. I love learning new metaphors that other technicians use to explain parts.

Right.

So yeah, and, and kind of gearing it toward the knowledge base that the customer has.

Sure.

So yeah, that's, that's what I love doing.

That's cool.

Yeah.

Do you guys have like with, with furnaces? Because I do a lot of furnace, gas furnaces. Yeah. They do the camera for heat exchangers and stuff. Stuff like that and be able to get that, you know, the BIA?

No. And a lot of times when it comes to heat exchangers, I have, I have a carbon monoxide detector and that's going to be the number one thing to show that there's an issue. Subsequently, I will also sometimes pull out the blower motor and shimmy in there and see if I can get a picture. It has only worked out well a couple of times and it's a dirty job, but It's a big thing. You know, some, some people are like very adamant of like, is this the problem? You know? And I have my, I have my like little mirror that I can go down and inspect with as well. And that's not easy to take a picture of.

Right.

But I will bring the customer and try to show them themselves because seeing is believing.

Sure.

And it's their system. So they have the right to see whatever they wish.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. How do you communicate that's really bad without scaring them? Or, you know, you don't want to be the scare tactic person, right? But it is something concerning.

Yeah.

So especially when it comes to like a heat exchanger, if I am using my carbon monoxide meter, I mean, I do with every furnace call.

Yeah.

But I will show them because it'll show the active reading and then the max reading during the time that it's on. And, you know, if it's something like I had one that was 68 parts per million, well, That's, you know, that's past the point that we want to be, but it's, it's not lethal levels.

Right.

In explaining the different increments of, you know, this is your safe zone, this is what I've called the warning zone. And then this is where we turn off the gas line. You are above that. I just want to let you know I'm shutting off the gas line. It's your prerogative if you turn it back on, but please do know this is well documented on my invoice. And just letting them know, It's not lethal, but it's unsafe.

Yeah.

And just, you know, I say this, I've said it once, I'll say this again, and I've said it in most of my customers' houses. Knowledge is power and comfort comes from knowledge.

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I'm always intrigued. We talked about like a repair call, a tune-up that leads to a placement.

Yeah.

So such a hard turn and it doesn't happen obviously all the time.

Right.

How do you— first of all, how do you help make your tune-ups stand out? I've heard different. Is there a way? Is something you do or is it your approach? I've heard people take apart the system and lay it out. So it's like you're performing surgery. What do you have, a certain process you like to follow?

I mean, we do use the system performance reports.

Yeah.

So a lot of people have found comfort in— well, some really love the numbers. Like I said, some people just love seeing that line of all greens, you know, all the green checkboxes, walking people through as much or as little. And that's probably what makes our tune-up stand out is, hey, you want to sit down for 15 minutes and go over everything? You know, let me— you know, I'll bring the capacitor to you and show you what the reading is today. I'll, you know, I'll take pictures. We're going to have everything documented on the invoice so that moving forward we can track, uh, you know, the progress or, you know, like the breakdowns, stuff like that.

Yeah.

Um, I don't like taking systems apart and showing everything. Um, but yeah, it's, it's, it's just the, the tracking that our customers like, uh, because I love to give heads up of, you know, hey, you know, um, you know, we're kind of on the teetering edge for your capacitor this year. I, I want you to kind of just think that this is probably going to be a repair next year. Don't This is a common thing to be replaced in, in creating that heads up for the customers. So nothing is a surprise.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Let's say this is a newer customer, maybe it's a 5-year-old system. So really it's not expected to have a lot of—

Yeah.

When do you, when do you start talking maybe about a club membership to make sure they're secured to you long term? Is that, does that first happen at the office and then do you bring it up again? Or when do you typically bring up the club membership?

The office always prefaces that with any firsthand caller.

Yeah.

So the seed's been planted. I'm there to reiterate, you know, I might start the call with, hey, you know, I've never— I've never been to this house before. My name's Danielle. You know, looks like you're just looking for a regular cooling system check today. Yeah, I know our office personnel mentioned the club membership. I'm happy to discuss that with you now or at the end of the call. If especially if you have any questions. So I, I don't care what the age of the system is. I'm always bringing it up because, you know, you, you never know what you're going to get until you ask.

Sure.

So in especially a 5-year-old system, you know, that's kind of when we want to start tracking little things, you know, and checking, you know, make sure that condensate line is going to be clear. Because if they— especially if they just bought the house, you don't know how frequently the filter has been changed, stuff like that. So Catching stuff before it's a failure is a big thing for, you know, just peace of mind with our customers.

Sure. How do you— how do you turn— say someone calls that's bought the house or whatever, they got 15-year-old bad equipment. It's true.

Yeah.

And they don't know— they don't— all they know is they got to get it serviced, but they don't have any expectation it's going to— we're talking replacement, right? So how— what's— how's that conversation then when you go down there and you walk down with— this is Jones, whatever you like. Oh, you know, it's a dinosaur.

Yeah.

You know, it's 30 years old, whatever. I'm sure you've come upon— how do you handle that conversation where you start going, this might be something to think about?

Yeah, that's— that unfortunately did happen in the last year, year and a half pretty frequently with just the housing market, with people foregoing the inspections. So again, that's when I'm going to say, do you mind coming to the system with me? I just want to show you the age of the system. And I've gone through every aspect of the system's operation. Here are the pain points of its operation, or it's not working at all, you know, and then again, going into why it's not working, if it is catastrophic level, just having to be gentle bringing that up, especially because a lot of people really did kick themselves for not having the inspection done.

Yeah.

And I don't want to add to that stress. I kind of try to minimize Just being like, yeah, you know, this is unfortunately something that needed to be looked at. But just saying it is going to be time for replacement. I am sorry. There's the money that you would put into this. You're throwing good money at a bad investment. And the amount that it would cost to keep this system running, that's a good chunk of money that could go into the peace of mind of a new system with a 10-year parts warranty, 10-year labor warranty, stuff like that.

Yeah.

And then it's not something you have to think about for a while.

Do you bring up the seat of financing to offers?

Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. All the time. Because we, we do use Synchrony. So one of the, the financing plans that we absolutely were like, we have to use this is the 18-month, 0% interest, because I think most of our competitors do 12-month. So we want to have that, that a little bit more. And that's been a game changer.

That's great. That's a good nugget.

Yeah.

Do you utilize the True Cost calculator?

Not True Cost. I use HVAC Op Cost. So we'll talk about the repairs and I'll ask them how long they think the system will last if those repairs are done. I won't particularly use a True Cost, but I know I— it's something I wanted to incorporate, but I'm like, if I'm using one, the other—

yeah, yeah.

I don't want to get too many numbers involved. So the HVAC op cost has actually been really beneficial for me in how I approach situations.

Casey, you use that just like on a tune-up call where it's an older system that's not functioning? Okay.

Yeah.

Because bottom line, I don't care what you use, but you can show people you're really probably saving money over the long haul with a new system that's highly efficient versus a 30-year-old box.

I went over it with a customer actually about a week ago and His system was was very old, and putting in that system's information, and then the system that when when I was going through the different options, the one that he was most interested in, he put that in, and the actual cost savings over the lifespan was more than the system itself cost. And he was just like, "Well, this is a no-brainer." Yeah, yeah. And he's just like, "I yeah, of course I'm going to do that. This is my forever home, so I'd rather make that investment." Very good.

Yeah, very good.

All right.

So we met a little bit ago. We talked about you got to, you know, the options step. How do you— so you have the one option, that's the repair option. If it's a repair call, how do your other 3 options differentiate from one another?

Yeah. So, you know, there's the— we're going to be using the must, should, could. So there's— I always give them this is the absolute bare minimum that minimum you can do to get the system up and running. Here's bare minimum plus what, you know, depending on what the breakdown was, what would avoid the same breakdown in the future. Yeah. You know, if it's like condensate lines are clogged, condensate lines plus a water safety, maybe some better filtration option to, you know, prevent as much dust through stuff like that. And then, you know, giving the option of just a full-blown replacement. Yeah.

So you'll lay out the must, should, could, and then they'll go, You know, Daniel, we talked. This doesn't make sense, right? Yeah. You're like, okay. So then you reset and you what? Amazing on an iPad or something. You show the replacement options thereafter.

Currently we're still doing paper estimates. Yeah.

They— so you handwrite them right in front of them and you have that conversation?

Oh, in my truck.

Yeah.

Yeah. Because a lot of the issue right now is availability of equipment. So I always try to give at minimum 2 systems that are readily available. But depending on the customer situation, maybe it is just a tune-up and it's old. It's working. It's not just not working well. I might give a couple options that would take like maybe a week to get the equipment because of a discussion that we had. They're like, oh, I just really love Carrier. Okay, I'll give you Carrier options, but You know, if it's just carrier options, I'm just going to give you, you know, that baseline efficiency and a couple steps up and maybe that infinity option at the end.

Yeah.

And go through everything and just be like, hey, Mrs. Jones, you know, based off our conversation, I know you wanted something a little more energy efficient. That, that seems to be option 3 that I listed here. It isn't readily available, but your system's in good shape. Would you prefer to wait and get what you want? Rather than just get what you what we have available. Yeah. So it's it's always kind of a mix of that on every estimate.

Have you struggled with cancellations with that then if you don't have?

Honestly, I haven't. Yeah, because especially if if the if the install is going to be farther out, I'm going to collect a deposit.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Make sure it's secure.

Yeah.

Good. All right. So how I wanted to add my it kind of didn't. I passed over a little bit earlier because it can come up on obviously repair calls.

Yeah.

Replacement IQ. Do you sell a lot of IQ?

Yeah, actually.

On repair and like tune-up calls, you try to—

Not, not a ton of tune-ups. Repairs, it kind of depends on the repair and also the age of the system because I will have that conversation of, you know, we're doing this repair today, you know, the system's 18 and you're just kind of wanted to limp by to maybe do it during the install during a shoulder season, something. I might just say, if you are planning on replacing in the near future, let's, let's do the whole system all at once. So we do a ton of air cleaners. It's kind of hit or miss on whether customers prefer an AppGo or an iWave, you know, Some people really like the idea of a UV light on their coil. Some people like the idea of not having to replace a bulb every 3 years.

Sure.

Stuff like that. But especially in Maryland, the allergies are like crazy with the amount of pollen. So a lot of people are very like interested in just not having to wake up with stuffed sinuses in the morning.

Yeah.

So yeah, it's, it's pretty popular. And honestly, the Aprilaire air cleaners sell themselves. If you have a 1-inch filter and you're spending $8, $10 a month to replace a filter, if you're going to be in your house for a while, you get the return on investment and better indoor air quality for the, for the air cleaner being installed on your system. Yeah.

So it just sells itself.

Yes. Yeah. Because you get, you know, you know, you're going to get probably less breakdowns, better airflow because you're not getting a bunch of dust building up inside the system, stuff like that. And you only have to replace your filter once or twice a year depending on the lifestyle that you have.

Yeah, very good. All right. So you roll out your— let's go back to the replacement options. Danielle, I didn't expect— I didn't expect this much. Now, granted, you have the financing, right? We talked— that's a big tool. How do you handle people who are like, I just need to think about it? Like, did you like go out to your truck and say, oh, I need to do a few things and let them process it, or How do you kind of handle that objection?

I'll actually just say, hey, would you prefer I just give you a minute? You can think about it because I've sprung a lot of information on you. I know this is a lot to digest. Yeah, I can give you some time. You know, you can review this with your spouse or, you know, whatever the situation is. And let's just circle back in 5 to 10 minutes. Yeah. Because, you know, like, especially if it's Like out of nowhere, this conversation, a lot of people are just put completely on their back foot.

Yeah.

And just giving them that time to compose themselves, come up with any questions they might have, and then, you know, like we'll sit down again.

Yeah.

And I, a lot of my customers, I'm like, ask me anything.

Yeah.

I don't want you to think there's a stupid question here.

Sure.

Because again, knowledge leads to comfort.

Yeah.

And just sitting down with people. And if it really is a situation where they're like, I'm sorry, I just, I need a day. Okay.

Yeah.

Would you like a phone call tomorrow evening?

Yeah.

You know, now that you give yourself time to process, that's perfectly fine.

Yeah.

You know, I, one of the things that I do need to work on is, you know, closing at the table. But in the meantime, like the doing the, I'll follow up with you in 24 hours is, is actually been pretty beneficial.

That's great. Yeah, that's great. Do you run into, boy, I think I need to get a few other bids, you know, or is that, yeah, you still are like, boy, I grew up, we got to get 3 bids. You run into that still fairly frequently?

Yeah. And it's one of those things I hate when I'm the first one in the door. But that's fine. I will just say, you know, absolutely get your 3 to 5 and You know, like, can we circle back? I— we have an apples-to-apples guarantee. I'm happy to answer questions on why maybe this, you know, like Bryant system that I quoted, you know, like to go over the comparisons to the Trane system this other company has quoted you. Let's talk, you know, like I'm here to create understanding for you. Yeah, we're the professionals and we're ready to answer questions.

What are some of the other big value differentiators that maybe circle back to that point? Is this maybe because of a better warranty?

Labor warranty.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How's the difference?

We can offer a 10-year labor warranty on all of the equipment that we use. Competition do that typically 2 years, 3 years. We haven't come across another company that's offering a 10-year labor warranty in the area. So that's been pretty huge.

Yeah.

For us and just being able to tell people, hey, you don't have to worry about anything for 10 years.

Yeah.

You know, the other guys, if they do the install, if your compressor goes at year 8 for some reason, you know, power surge or something, you know, that's the labor costs for replacing. That's going to be pretty, pretty stifling for sure. Yeah.

Very good. Very good. You close the call. Well, all right, so let's talk good stuff. Close the call. What do you do to maybe, you know, make that customer feel warm and fuzzy about spending a whole lot of money, you know, and avoid those cancellations?

Is it right?

Do you have a process for that?

We have been working on calling about a week later. Okay. Circling back, just saying, hey, do you have any questions? Because we honestly install a fair amount of smart thermostats. You know, most people will want them. A lot of people don't know how to use them.

Right.

So that's been like actually the biggest thing on those like follow-up calls of just like, hey, you know, we, we did an install for you a week ago. We just want to see How everything's been working out for you. You know, do you have any questions? A lot of people will say, how do I set a schedule on this thing?

Right.

You know, kind of just walk them through that. I'm pretty sure I could use an Ecobee with my eyes blindfolded at this point. But that, and we actually send a thank you card.

Oh.

With a $50 gift card in it.

Cool.

Yeah, so it's just thanks for your business. We wanna know how— want you to know how much we appreciate you. A lot of people have just called in. They're like, "We're so happy.

Thank you so much." And that's like to you guys or to like a restaurant?

No, it's it's a visa.

Oh sweet!

Yeah, so you can use it wherever. Yeah. Yeah. So I had a customer email me just saying, "Oh my god, I'm so happy. I'm gonna have a date night." And I was just like, "Good for you, Nina." So yeah.

That's yeah. Very cool. Just kind of wrapping up. What what motivates you? to be a high achiever? I mean, you've done a lot in a short period of time. You've really grown as a person in this industry. What's driven you to do as much as you've done in a short time?

Honestly, that's, I feel like a super loaded question because I love being able to do something where I'm also providing opportunities for others. So through the company growing, we all grow. I like to know what everyone's personal goals are, you know, without getting too far into it. You know, just like the more the company grows, if everyone's willing to grow with it, we're all going to have so many more opportunities to do more with our own personal lives.

Yeah.

So when I started doing sales, Nick Jr. and I, we both were like, You know, we're at that age. We want to buy houses.

Sure.

We hustled. We are both homeowners.

Yeah.

So there's it's it's really really rewarding seeing others, you know, like through like the combined work of both of us achieve so much together. So I'm just you know trying to help like inspire the rest of the team. You know, our installers do a fantastic job.

Yeah.

And we're just getting better and better by the day. So. Yeah, just building, building one another up and just, you know, knowing that we're going to do the impossible.

That's great. Last question. What advice might you have for another newer technician in his or her journey in this trade?

Don't get frustrated. You are going to mess up. You know, we all do. And you just need to find a company that you fit in that when you mess up, It's okay. Yeah, I had so many like stumbling blocks with sales in the beginning. Sure. Nick Senior, fantastic man. I would call him with any question, and I'm like, "I can't remember." You know, like what size line sets at this customer's house? I I got I I can't. I don't know what I'm doing. And and he's just like, "It's okay. It's okay." Yeah. You know what? We're gonna work through this. Nick Jr., he's great in the office. If I like, with like some model numbers, if you just write down the wrong thing, him catching it and just being like, it's all right, you know, we're going to order the right equipment. The customer is going to get exactly what they need. You're going to mess up. It's all good.

Yeah.

And when you start or when you're messing up less and less, everybody's getting happier and happier. Right. So just, just have patience with yourself. Things happen and the world's going to keep turning.

Yeah, that's right. Well, Danielle, thank you so much for all your time. This was, this was a lot of fun.

Yeah, I appreciate it.

Thanks for being on the show.

That's Danielle Leisten of Bjork Heating and Air in Columbia, Maryland, who sold $1.76 million in residential HVAC on her way to becoming CertainPath's first female HVAC Crown Champion. I hope you enjoyed today's show. If so, please like and subscribe on YouTube or on your favorite podcast player. Please leave us a 5-star review. The 2 seconds you take to leave a review will help other success-minded contractors like you find us and hopefully get a little bit better, which elevates our entire industry. And please join me for future episodes. This has been The Successful Contractor powered by CertainPath.

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