Episode 19 - How To Stand Out From The Pack In Home Service with Podcasts - Jim Klauck

Service MVP Sales Training Podcast with Joe Crisara

Many home service professionals aren't in a position to stand out from the pack! They blend in with all others in their space. This is true of Plumbers, HVAC Professionals, Electricians, Garage Door Companies, and more.

Google, Nextdoor, Angi, and Home Advisor are the lifelines of many home service companies. The ones that can stand apart or stand out will ultimately win in the end.

In this episode of The Service MVP Podcast, Joe Crisara interviews Jim Klauck, The Radio Pitchman and founder of Check A Pro. Joe and Jim discuss the POWER of the Podcast! Learn how a podcast site of your own can make you stand out in a sea of advertising and marketing options.

To reach our guest, Jim Klauck (The Radio Pitchman) simply email him - [e-mail]

Jim's Website The Radio Pitchman.

Contact Joe Crisara Service MVP.

Podcast Episode Transcription:

Let's say you're an HVAC company you're out on that call and you're one of three or four bidding on this job and the homeowner says OK I found you on Google I see you've got good reviews looks like you've got a decent vehicle I see you've been in business for 20 plus years why should I hire you everyone says that they're great they all have 102 hundred 500 reviews on Google and they all seem to be like a 4.8 or higher why hire you welcome welcome to the service MVP podcast this is where you go to learn how to use pure motive service to create higher value to grow your results grow your results and now here is your host America's service sales coach Joe Crisara alright everybody welcome to the service MVP podcast my name is Joe Crisara America's service sales coach and I'm here with a great friend of mine his name is Jim Klauck, Jim say hi hey how you doing Joe it's great to be here my friend now Jim has a business that he has which helps you to differentiate your service matter of fact the name of today's podcast is going to be how to stand out from the pack and Jim tell me about the service you provide and how you got into helping blue collar professionals if you don't mind sure this goes back to 2005 Joe as a homeowner I had an issue I had trouble finding good home service providers good contractors so I help my neighbors out in my neighborhood by putting together something called Check A Pro and at the time it was kind of like angies list when angies list wasn't as big as it is today and I started this in Houston TX well that was close to 20 years ago and now we're nationwide with this but what we do today is we help home service providers stand out from the pack by doing custom podcast sites for them and their business so as a service business of any size yeah communicate through their words on a podcast so that you can use this in your local community or in the area to be able to put put a voice to your company as opposed to just the brand and the and the images and things like that exactly so picture this let's say you're an HVAC company and you're out on that call and you're one of three or four bidding on this job and the homeowner says OK so I found you on Google I see you've got good reviews looks like you've got a decent vehicle I see you've been in business for 20 plus years why should I hire you everyone says that they're great they all have 102 hundred 500 reviews on Google and there all seem to be like a 4.8 or higher why hire you and when you have that podcast that's on audible and Spotify and your own podcast site and you can tell the homeowner you look them right in the eye and you say you know Mr. Jones about three months ago we were talking about this on our podcast talking about this unique type of job because you know that you need a five ton downstairs and a three ton upstairs did you know that no he says well you know what we had a job just like this and we talked about it on the podcast and you can hear all about how we help Mrs. Smith with her job so Joe when you do this you're showing that you're competent and you're credible and you're doing something the other guys haven't done because when Mr. Jones goes back and ask the other three companies to provide a podcast they're like we don't do that you can't learn about us no we don't have it so it allows you as a home service provider to stand out you get credibility you're on Google and you're on apple podcast you're on iheart and audible and Spotify there's backlinks going back to your your site for SEO credibility so there's all kinds of great stuff that just makes you stand out from the pack now it comes down to one word which is research right today's buyer is so sophisticated that they would like to research you know the people I'm inviting you to my home and to learn a little bit more because the problem is that there's nothing in the marketing that tells you anything really about who are the type of feeling people I'm dealing with but the marketing and brand could look great but then you get somebody who walks in the door but doesn't match that brand right so and I remember it would just give you like a little heads up I have one of my back when I had my own service business I put my image my face in my advertising and I said Joe Crisara I will personally see to your this faction which is I guess my form of a podcast back is back in the 90s right sure you know but it worked it was like you know man when I saw you're putting yourself out there and speaking to me in that ad it works in a way we've taken this to the next level where you are literally putting the voice to the company and sharing what's in your heart so Jim by the way the podcast that you Jim produces this podcast so if you like the way this sounds and the way that he does this I'm a product of the product for Jim Klauck and Jim let me just say thank you for the service you provide because you definitely make us sound very professional well thanks for the opportunity and actually what I do for you is it's a little different from what I do for my home service clients because you're more of a B to B and you're you know helping people with their businesses with their home service businesses as a coach and what I do is I help that home service provider get out there in front to the homeowner and be just a little bit different now you know Joe a lot of people say I don't know how to do a podcast I'm uncomfortable with the podcast the good news is I've been doing this since 84 now you're thinking I teen 84 there were no podcasts the Internet was barely alive back then I all started with radio years ago the radio pitchman is my other name it started back in 84 and I pretty much do the same thing I've always put companies out in front used to do it with radio still do some but now we can do it with podcasts on all these great places like audible and Spotify and Google and apple podcasts and iheart you name it your podcast will be out there front and center and I'm telling you your competition isn't doing this well Jim uh let's get started with the content I have I wanted to get three things out of you that we can do to stand out from the pack as a service business So what would you say the first thing that a service provider can do to use a service like this to stand out from the pack so what's great about having your own podcast whether you do it through our services or or you do it on your own it shows credibility it shows that you're an expert and it shows that you're willing to stay on top of the things that are going on today and in home service most home service companies and individuals have traditionally been a little bit behind on the times you'll find other industries that are further ahead so you've got a guy who's been turning wrenches as a plumber for 50 years and guess what he knows how to turn the wrenches but he's really not into the podcast thing and he needs a lot of help with his website and social media so when it comes to podcast site specifically we can really help you so if you want to get that credibility and be out there in front don't worry about it you can figure this out I mean look Joe's all over the freaking Internet right so if he can do it alright Joe didn't use to turn wrenches at this advanced stage if somehow I can yeah tap into something modern like this again I can't believe people just listen to me on their telephone and you know and they get a sense of who I am they get a sense of the kind of person they're gonna deal with it they like tone you know that they're going to be hearing like get a sample of the tone that as I give people advice over the air they get a sample of what the kind of advice and what that tone is going to be like is this guy friendly is this guy suspicious or what what am I what am I dealing with here what kind of a tone am I got there and so I think that's something you're able to do which is express the the tone of whatever the conversation going to be and people are like in a way like when I said before I had my thing where I said I had my photograph and my I will personally senior satisfaction people like Oh my God I can't believe the joke or Sarah is at my house doing a call right now and they like you you're actually here the guy on the on the advertising so in a way I could see this really thinking that wow factor that is holy cow are gonna be like your sales team each person from yourself to do a podcast with them am I on the right track here that you could do your own employees and maybe say something like that and you can say wow you're the guy I heard Ryan the guy I heard on that podcast yeah I was looking I'm happy that I asked for you specifically right you could actually the employee developed their own brand within that brand as well too absolutely and you become kind of a celebrity here's this really critical and i want move on to Everybody here's what's really critical and I wanna move on to that next point if I can which is that second point second point #2 so number one it gets your credibility instant wow right #2 what's number 2 Jim it's education so picture this everybody and I'm going to put up a book some of you may have heard of Marcus Sheridan a book called "They Ask You Answer", our friend Tommy Mello, Joe turned me on to this I will tell you what is so great about this book they ask you answer is the idea of putting up frequently asked questions on your podcast site and these aren't very long these are like three to five minutes and you ask questions like is it better to have a tank or tankless water heater when they're cruising the the web out there they have these questions in mind well they may see a number of your podcasts with these questions posed and answered by you so they get to know you and hear you in this podcast library it's education so when they finally make that appointment and you come out to the home they're like you're the guy just like just said a while ago you're the guy I heard talking and you answered all my questions I went to all these other competitor sites and they didn't even have answers to my questions today people spend a lot of time researching they don't spend a lot of time talking to you ahead of time and wouldn't it be nice if when you went out on that sales call that appointment all the homeowner asked is when can you do it wouldn't that be nice when can you do it instead of asking all these questions that they would have had to ask you but you've already answered the questions in what we call this podcast library and it's a series of podcasts where you ask the question it's a frequently asked question and then you answer it you're the expert they want to hire you Joe so so in step #2 you're saying you're organize the information by the category of what you are saying so for instance if you're a plumber it could be how to handle a slab leak in your home or what to do when you get a slab leak or tank or tankless what's better and then you're creating these these subjects somebody calls you for an estimate on its ankles you sent it out to them and they're kind of in a way you get you so now it's like well what did you think of the information yeah I listened to it man I'm just ready to get this thing done now you mentioned that so I wasn't a good benefit you mentioned there and so I can instant hot water yeah if you want the the what you put in we can get instant hot water at your fixtures wow that's crazy so they're confirming what you've already heard that's brilliant Jim I've never even I'm you're selling me right now I'm selling myself on your service even more Jim I can't believe I can't believe it OK it's already sold but heavy on here but this is a really great information I think even if you are just you could sit a company but I could even see an individual sales person doing something like this you know no absolutely and you know here I am educating we're talking about education this is a book that's written by somebody I know when can you do it I just kind of mentioned that and I actually wrote the four to this book it's a sales book in home sales she's very familiar with that type of thing that's what he does of course the guy who wrote this book his name is Tom Decker years ago we used to do a direct response radio program for him we tripled his little business he went from $900,000 a year within 12 months Joe to $3,000,000 with direct response radio it's the same type of thing we did the answering of the questions we did a one hour long radio show we didn't take calls because what we did is we used that time to ask the frequently asked questions and answer them so when people heard us on the radio they called they knew what it cost they knew how long it would take they knew the owner and all they asked was is when can you do it and that's what we want in home service right Joe we don't wanna go there and have a long sales appointment we want them to be ready to buy because we don't want to sell I think the more you can get that stuff out of away then at least the oxygen in the room for creating a relationship and making a friendship right cause that's really kind of the cherry on the top that's you know the foundation is does this guy know what he's doing do I believe this guy is credible and knows I'm getting one of the best people who understand how to do whatever trade of this garage door or whether it plumbing or electrical or whatever this guy knows what he's doing here right which can be done I think on that podcast kind of a format where you're giving enough information about you know how it benefits the client to do things in a certain process it can also talk about even the process of the way you deliver the information in the home so people kind of prepping themselves I really think that's a great way the educational part of it which does make it sort of prep to make that final choice of getting it done so I think that's kind of pre educating people to a level right and then you know the cherry on top is creating that relationship I think what is 3 Jim we have we have another three other we think something we better because there's a lot here to unpack there's just so much #3 is what I call the SEO factor here's what's really cool when we do podcasts for our clients and I recommend everybody who does their own podcast do this make sure you just don't do a podcast that's just on your own podcast site make sure it's on Apple and Google and audible and Spotify and iheart get it on YouTube we actually put these these podcasts on YouTube as well for our clients and now they're everywhere and then we do something else that's kind of interesting we transcribe everything so make sure everybody you transcribe everything and put those transcriptions on audible on Google on apple and also put back links back to your homepage on your main website so now you've got like Google and audible and Spotify and iheart all back linking back to you and all of that gives you more credibility on the SEO side on these great podcast sites I call them the podcast giants in my book and by the way Joe can I plug my book a little bit more I'd love to give this to your listeners and viewers if they like that may I may do that may I send this out to your people absolutely anything that is free or included is always welcome welcome to I would love to do it actually my e-mail address is on it Jim at the radio pitchman.com Jim at the radio pitchman.com send me an e-mail and I'll send it to you and this is a great way to learn how to do the podcast on your own I'd love to hop on a zoom call and help you out I love doing this for people I've been in the home service business now since 2005 on the marketing side helping home service professionals win more and I would love to help you win more as well so Joe I think we covered the three you know the credibility couple more things Oh yeah I do have something else right here yeah I mean I just want to give a testimony like listen you just start doing now we're on our we have our 5th podcast on so I can see people got hundreds of right I can't I can't imagine what's gonna happen when I have 100 podcasts but right now we've only done five podcasts right I can't believe Jim the sales we've already received but people like I'm just ready to purchase what you said is true I mean I could be a testimonial for that that people are like you know what I just heard you on the podcast giving you the prices so we can get this thing started I'm ready to go and we have I never even mentioned the coaching like I just I just like product placement in there I don't I don't say about the prices of everything like that so people like yeah I looked into it and I just want to get this thing done so that's number one but here's the biggest thing about the SEO I'd like to touch on that if you search Joe Crisara podcast you know it used to be like a plethora of podcast every like Tommy Mello, Christiano these people would interview you you too are you interviewed me too Jim so I have a lot of my but now at the very top of the list comes the service MP podcast with Joe Crisara and if you type in just Joe Crisara and also brings so right so very quickly like I within five weeks you are just my next search my name and the service every broadcast comes to the top of the list Jim I want to say that is a great testimony good I see a lot of people who do websites who can never make that kind of an impact so probably because you've got it under so many different media channels that it has uh makes the SEO really pop I think there's no faster way to get somebody to the top of that searching and then if you were to put that in there and of course you could I told Jim this makes it says sales training podcast we put service MSP sales training podcast with Joe Crisara it's kind of a long time but that is searchable if you type sales training it will come up as well Jim I just wanna say well done on that and it has made a big impact on that part of it do me a favor tell me I'm the home service front what kind of number what kind of people how many people do a contractor talk about his services any kind of numbers for us on or any kind of statistics or data or case studies that you could share with us that might make an impact the impact of the podcast any kind of case study or something like that a little bit more on that it's huge so I have all these like little individual case studies which are pretty much clients that really love doing the podcast with us that check a pro and if I may I'll just tell you quickly how we do this I generally help my clients by interviewing them as a third party endorsement so on the radio call myself czecha pro Joe and it sounds like it's an excerpt from my radio show and it's this podcast site we built for plumbers and HVAC companies and roofers and so forth you know Joe to answer your question it it comes back in so many ways some people say I just love this thing because it gives me great credibility my competition doesn't have it some people say I just love the SEO factor when I type in my name like you know Joe blow or you know Acme windows my company and my name show up right there at the top of Google it just goes on and on there's just so many different aspects to it it's so different than just the regular website and I'll tell you something really interesting that we found it's like a backup website so if anything ever happened to your website you've got a podcast site with your name and your logo all over it with your phone number and links back to your home page my point is if your website ever went down it's it's it's an extra website it's a podcast site Joe I'm sure you'll agree when you go to your podcast site it's basically a website built for podcasts but it has all your information on there it's like a mini website probably one that might be more valuable than your actual website like we've been working with the SEO of our company for years and we still have a hard time getting it to the top it is now comes to the top automatically within about five weeks it has of course you search service MP which before you search service MP we worked it was mixed in with a bunch of other stuff that said MVP and service and everything like that so definitely see that being there Jim is there a place that people can go because one of the things they're going to say is like you know I know they could get ahold of you and talk about it but they probably want to see some research again they want to the research is there a place on your check a pro website that you can go look and see clients that have succeeded maybe check out some of their podcasts to see what this experience clock yeah here's the best way it's really easy go to the radio pitchman.com and you can just Google it just type in you know radio pitchman the radio pitchman and you will see our podcast site and on that podcast site you'll learn more about us but you'll also get a flavor of each one of our clients because they're all listed there and you can listen to their podcast oh that's great so that's a great way to see if this is right for them physically I have listened in on some of those and I can't see how you wouldn't think it's right for you because this is the way you can speak directly to the public and educate the public to whatever degree you want to but let me know what's inside your heart and what's inside the culture of your company so they can feel that warm fuzzy feeling when you get to their house does that make sense to you absolutely and I just want to say something I know a lot of people have trepidation they're like you know I'm just a guy who turns wrenches right I'm not a media guy it's not that difficult I can really help you with it and it's kind of like dancing someone who's never danced before if you have a really good dance partner you don't have to worry about it because that person will lead and I can lead you through this whether you wanna do one on your own or you wanna do it through our platform that's fine but I would love to help you out certainly e-mail me at Jim at the radio pitchman to get my free book by the way Joe if you go to the radio pitchman you can listen to the audio version of the book and the book is short it's 20 minutes long invest 20 minutes and listening to a few chapters you'll love it Jim uh let me just say again thank you so much for the time and and this information education you're giving us today definitely your product the product I can see that and definitely it's gonna help so many contractors communicate to their clients what their company is actually about put that voice literally when your advertising is supposed to speak to the clients you literally can't speak to your clients using your service and definitely I highly recommend it for everybody to look into this to see if it is right for you Joe I really appreciate the opportunity this is fantastic thank you so much for letting us do your podcast it's a great opportunity as a matter of fact it was great about doing those podcasts everybody because we actually you know do the editing and and you know we post it everywhere and so forth we get to learn a whole lot more here at our offices because we actually get to look at it and listen to it so the education on Joe's podcast like what we're doing today is invaluable for all of you home service providers so continue to subscribe watch it and listen to it don't forget to contact Jim at Jim at radio pitchman.com right that's right yes Sir alright guys have a great one everybody we'll talk to you next episode.