The Home Service Expert Podcast

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Sara Nay is the CEO of Duct Tape Marketing and the author of Unchained. In this episode, Sara and Tommy break down why most contractors rent their marketing instead of owning it, which accounts your agency should never control, why referrals alone stall a home service company around $1 million, how to get found in AI search, and the two fixes to make this week if your marketing feels like chaos.
Get Sara's free marketing audit for home service owners ⟶ https://dtm.world/hsep
Duct Tape Marketing ⟶ https://ducttapemarketing.com
-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 --
00:00 - Introduction
02:59 - Tommy Spends $5 Million A Month On Marketing
04:34 - Do You Need More Leads Or A Better Journey?
05:58 - What's Broken About The Agency Model
07:47 - The Accounts You Should Own, Not Rent
08:32 - When The Agency Keeps Your Website
11:41 - Random Acts Of Marketing
13:00 - One Person Can't Run Six Marketing Roles
15:33 - Direct Response Or Brand?
16:38 - 87% Of Searches Now Touch AI
19:34 - Should Contractors Publish Prices?
20:38 - The $400 Steakhouse Problem
23:23 - Interview Your Best Clients
23:46 - Record Every Sales Call
28:49 - Nextdoor, Angi, Yelp: Pick Two And Own Them
33:19 - The A Team Sells You, The Interns Run You
34:38 - The Five Questions To Ask Your Best Customers
36:59 - A 91% Booking Rate And The Calls You Still Miss
38:11 - The Money Sitting In Your Old Customer List
39:33 - Why Competition Becomes Irrelevant
41:46 - Why Referrals Alone Are Dangerous
43:14 - The Sign: Pay More Per Lead, Always Win
44:53 - Marketing To The Affluent
47:38 - What Marketers Get Wrong With AI
50:40 - Your Home Page Is What AI Reads First
56:29 - The Founder's Brand Beats The Company's
1:00:06 - Use Your Voice To Pull Stories Out
1:06:30 - Buy Back Your Time
1:09:22 - Delegating Versus Dumping
1:10:24 - Two Fixes To Make This Week
1:13:33 - Sara's Final Advice
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David Bach is a ten-time New York Times bestselling author and the man behind The Automatic Millionaire. In this episode, David and Tommy break down why $3,000 a year saved from age 15 to 19 beats saving from 27 to 65, the one hour a day rule for retiring a millionaire, why a tech making $250,000 can still be broke, why owners should buy the building their business is in, and David's idea for a flat tax on IRA accounts.
Get The Automatic Millionaire, 20th Anniversary Edition ⟶ https://davidbach.com
-- 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 🕐 --
00:00 - Introduction
01:37 - The Number One Rule: Pay Yourself First
03:17 - Save One Hour Of Pay A Day
03:57 - How 565,000 People Became 401(k) Millionaires
06:46 - The Myth About Investing Aggressively When You're Young
07:32 - Tommy's Roth IRA At 16
08:56 - What $20 A Day Becomes
10:06 - The $27.40 A Day Leak
13:38 - The Corvette Ride That Started It
16:19 - Born To Spend Or Born To Budget
18:15 - A Lesson At McDonald's At Age Seven
24:10 - Homeowners Are Worth 40 Times More Than Renters
27:31 - Why A Garage Door Is Worth Financing
28:29 - Buy The Building Your Business Is In
30:04 - Wealthy But Not Free
31:49 - Why High Earners Start To Resent Their Jobs
32:49 - Making $250K With Nothing Saved
35:25 - The Chart: Start At 15, 19 Or 27
39:33 - Why David Holds Zero Private Equity
41:07 - The Advice He Wishes He Had At 20
45:01 - Batteries Included People
48:11 - $46 Trillion Sitting In Retirement Accounts
50:42 - The IRA Flat Tax Idea
58:37 - Social Security In 2033
1:00:48 - Why The Trades Aren't Going Away
1:01:40 - The Barber Who Saved 75% Of His Income
1:04:55 - What Money Taught David About Himself
1:08:10 - Discipline And Non-Negotiables
1:18:05 - What People Said At His Father's Funeral
1:25:00 - The 20th Anniversary Edition
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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
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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
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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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