The Home Service Expert Podcast

🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Dan Kuschell grew up on welfare in Detroit, built a direct mail company to $1 million in its first year at 22, and now helps home service companies grow through Breakthrough3X. In this episode, Dan and Tommy break down the one message method, why "know, like and trust" is the wrong model, the five pillars Dan found across 5,000 companies, how to ask for introductions instead of referrals, and the family photo mailer Tommy sent to 3,000 neighbors.
Get Dan's free gift package for home service owners
⟶ https://breakthrough3x.com/tommymello
Growth to Freedom Podcast ⟶ https://www.growthtofreedom.com/
-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 --
00:00 - Introduction
03:23 - From Welfare In Detroit To A Million Dollar Mail Business
05:05 - The Coach Who Blackballed Him And The Mailer That Fixed It
10:04 - 34,000 Leads A Month And Why Recruiting Comes First
14:44 - A 1 In 500 Surgery Two Weeks After His Son Was Born
16:19 - The Questions That Rebuilt His Life
18:49 - Tommy's Grandmother And The Good Hours
24:18 - The Question That Took Six Weeks To Answer
27:33 - When Being A Man Of Your Word Holds You Back
31:20 - Could You Take 30 Days Off Your Business
34:17 - The One Message Method
39:06 - Five Pillars Found Across 5,000 Companies
42:36 - Why Know, Like And Trust Is Wrong
45:01 - One Post A Week And $5 A Day
46:00 - Agencies That Own Your Website And Ad Accounts
48:28 - Answer Every Lead In A Minute Or Less
52:39 - Why Hiring Ads Bring In Customers
55:35 - Be The Chairman, Not The Technician
1:00:14 - Is Branding A Waste Under $20 Million
1:02:34 - Partner Gifts That Create Referrals
1:08:44 - The Truck That Does Everything And Stands For Nothing
1:09:27 - Fix Your Pricing First
1:13:22 - Stop Asking For Referrals, Ask For This
1:17:28 - A Family Photo Mailed To 3,000 Neighbors
1:20:55 - Where To Find Dan
1:25:38 - Two Books That Shaped Dan
1:26:57 - Play A Bigger Game
🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
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🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Dr. Robert Cialdini wrote Influence, the book behind almost every sales training a home service tech has ever sat through. In his second visit with Tommy he goes past the seven principles into the smallest changes that move the biggest numbers: the two words a restaurant added to its booking call that cut no-shows 62%, the one question that took Boy Scout popcorn sales from 15% to 52%, why "967 reviewers" beats "967 reviews," the number one rule of sales every trainer teaches backwards, and the $75,000 envelope Charlie Munger mailed him for a single chapter. Then Tommy puts him on the spot with two live persuasion role-plays.
Learn more from Dr. Cialdini and the Cialdini Institute: https://cialdini.com
Influence Unleashed, December 5 and 6 in Tempe, 75 seats, $500 off with code A1GARAGE
-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 --
00:00 - Introduction
00:53 - 75 seats in December
03:16 - Who Robert Cialdini is
04:29 - You already paid for this research
05:44 - What ethical influence actually is
07:17 - The seventh principle: unity
08:01 - The couples study and the word "we"
12:54 - Two words that cut no-shows 62%
14:20 - Chris Voss and getting to "no"
15:00 - The Boy Scout popcorn question
16:35 - Social proof and the McFlurry
18:54 - Say reviewers, not reviews
19:38 - Authority: who vouches for you
21:00 - The number one rule of sales
22:22 - A welcome line that lifts conversions
23:42 - Scarcity done honestly
24:52 - Advice to young Robert
26:40 - Put them in the boat with you
28:19 - Ask for advice, not opinions
29:43 - The $75,000 envelope from Charlie Munger
32:44 - Two mints and a 23% tip
34:16 - Give first, before they decide
37:41 - Why 89% beats 90%
40:06 - Warren Buffett's letters and honesty first
42:37 - "You're worth it"
45:12 - Pre-Suasion: the moment before the message
48:39 - Live role-play: talk me out of your book
50:17 - Building a following the ethical way
51:59 - Rapid fire
54:14 - Charlie Munger on why wealth matters
57:39 - Tommy makes it right with a customer
59:46 - What changed his mind, and what's next
🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
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🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Zac Garside spent eight years training CSRs before he noticed the most profitable channel in home service was the one nobody used: the customer list. Now his agency Send It runs email for some of the biggest contractors in the country, including A1. In this episode Zac and Tommy break down why contractors rebuy customers they already paid for, the one-email-a-week plan any company can run tomorrow, the Will/Won't research framework that tells you what homeowners are really afraid of, and why two CSRs with identical scripts book at completely different rates.
Get Zac's free swipe file of 20 top-performing campaigns: https://withsendit.com/expert
-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 --
00:00 - Introduction
00:46 - From training CSRs to running email
01:58 - Booking jobs the week you need them
02:54 - How to stay out of the spam folder
04:45 - The subject line has one job
06:35 - The 6x in 60 days guarantee
07:40 - Open estimates first, then members
10:36 - Homeowners read email. Owners don't
13:03 - Email, SMS and direct mail
14:09 - It has to come from a friend
15:54 - Tommy's neighbor letter and $225,000
20:44 - What a good open rate looks like
24:49 - The next wave: personalization
29:31 - The two-year spring campaign
34:31 - Broadcasts, campaigns and automations
37:27 - "You're never talking to them again?"
44:20 - Starting from scratch
45:23 - One email a week, four segments
49:26 - The Will/Won't research framework
52:53 - Same script, 90% vs 50%
55:58 - Making customers feel something
1:00:41 - The easiest ROI in home service
1:03:40 - One piece of advice: trust
1:06:00 - Free swipe file and where to find Zac
🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
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🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Revenue is everywhere in home service right now. Profit is not. Tommy sits down with his mentor Al Levi, author of The 7-Power Contractor, and Jim Leslie, president of Home Service Freedom, to break down why: the hiring excuse every contractor uses ("nobody wants to work") and the answer Jim gives back, what a lost tech really costs, the five things of staffing, why you should triple your pricing, why the owner who is the best CSR, dispatcher and tech is the ceiling on his own company, the zero-or-two cranes rule for your org chart, and the listening tour every owner should take this week. Al is retiring at the end of the year. His last small-room session is at Freedom 2026: Monday, October 26, 6 PM, Mandalay Bay. Use code ALFREEDOM at freedomevent.com to unlock a seat in the room with Al and Jim.
Home Service Freedom: https://homeservicefreedom.com | The 7-Power Contractor: https://7powercontractor.com
-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 --
00:00 - Introduction
00:50 - Al, Jim and Freedom 2026
02:03 - Revenue for vanity, profit for sanity
03:49 - Put your pricing online
05:50 - Three kinds of testimonials
06:38 - Lead times and the boom-bust cycle
11:19 - The five things of staffing
11:32 - What a lost tech really costs
12:35 - Al's last room at Freedom
15:00 - The empty truck in your yard
15:44 - Stand on the bridge
16:39 - Triple your pricing
17:51 - Fighting commoditization
22:15 - Would you send me to your mom's house
25:29 - They just don't want to work for you
27:22 - The best CSR, dispatcher and tech
28:15 - Zero cranes or two
30:09 - The five-year org chart trap
32:26 - Burning tokens on technology
35:33 - There is no silver bullet
40:40 - What your accountant should say
42:24 - $2.6 million to the bottom line
46:54 - The listening tour
50:04 - Al's three-month notice
55:57 - One thing to do this week
59:45 - The room at Freedom
🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
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🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
Most home service owners hear virtual assistant and think someone to answer emails. Alyssa Shivers and Mia Juan of Ready Roles think bigger: five callers on $5.75 an hour brought one moving company almost $500,000 in paid estimates in a single month. In this episode they break down what owners get wrong about VAs, why a $3 an hour VA gives you a $3 outcome, the 10-day onboarding that makes a remote hire work, the flat fee model where every dollar after that goes straight to your VA, how many calls a data activator makes a day, and the real reason most VAs fail (it is not the VA). If you are still reading your own email, this one is for you.
Ready Roles: https://readyroles.com | Mia Juan on YouTube: search "Mia Juan"
VA readiness checklist from Ready Roles: [LINK OR ATTACHMENT FROM READY ROLES]
-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 --
00:00 - Introduction
00:55 - What a VA actually does
02:13 - Data activators explained
05:56 - The first-hire mistake
08:01 - The owner is the problem
10:00 - Night shift in the Philippines
13:47 - $3 an hour buys a $3 outcome
15:11 - VAs and AI tools
20:16 - My Home Story Pro
21:19 - $500K from five callers
23:18 - The pitch and the script
26:35 - The Dream 100 list
29:10 - The time study
30:00 - How to start with a VA
33:04 - Ten minutes a day
34:46 - What to pay a great VA
40:25 - The octopus executive assistant
41:38 - Eight steps of delegation
42:34 - The owner who blamed his VA
48:30 - The Big League Movers story
52:58 - What it costs
54:56 - 200 calls a day
58:08 - Go after the big players
1:01:58 - Closing advice
🚀 FREEDOM 2026 Get your Tickets Today! https://freedomevent.com
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