WEBVTT 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:09.080 Welcome to Did You Know, the ESCO HVAC podcast, 00:00:09.460 --> 00:00:11.740 the show where we explore the cool, the hot, 00:00:11.740 --> 00:00:15.119 and the everything in between of the HVACR industry. 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:18.719 Each week, we dig into the innovations, the insights, 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.640 and the inspiring stories that power our trade, 00:00:21.820 --> 00:00:24.300 from the classroom to the job site and beyond. 00:00:24.519 --> 00:00:26.620 This episode is brought to you by this week's 00:00:26.620 --> 00:00:29.280 amazing sponsors. Daikin Comfort Technology, 00:00:29.719 --> 00:00:33.859 perfecting the air since 1924. ServiceLogic, 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:38.420 people first. Always. Hudson Technologies. One 00:00:38.420 --> 00:00:42.840 pound reclaimed is one pound not made. iConnect 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:46.840 Training. Supporting HVAC and refrigeration instructors. 00:00:47.299 --> 00:00:50.340 As well as the United Association of Journeymen 00:00:50.340 --> 00:00:52.460 and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting 00:00:52.460 --> 00:00:55.119 Industry of the United States and Canada. Built 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:58.759 on excellence since 1889. Whether you're just 00:00:58.759 --> 00:01:00.759 getting started or you've been turning wrenches 00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:03.520 for decades like myself, there's always something 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:06.659 new for us to learn. I'm Clifton Beck, and this 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:11.500 is Did You Know? The ESCO Age Fact Podcast. Let's 00:01:11.500 --> 00:01:13.920 dive in. All right, everyone. Thank you so much 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:15.939 for joining us once again on Did You Know? The 00:01:15.939 --> 00:01:19.260 ESCO Age Fact Podcast. Today, I'm spending some 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:21.739 time with Winston Chee. How are you, sir? I'm 00:01:21.739 --> 00:01:24.159 good. I'm good. Thank you for inviting me. You 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:25.819 know, we had a really good conversation. We've 00:01:25.819 --> 00:01:27.340 been trying to figure out what's going to be 00:01:27.340 --> 00:01:30.019 the best way to approach this. And I think the 00:01:30.019 --> 00:01:31.939 way that we should address this conversation 00:01:31.939 --> 00:01:37.319 is... breaking the status quo. And, you know, 00:01:37.319 --> 00:01:40.340 there's a lot of things changing in our industry. 00:01:40.420 --> 00:01:41.879 And it's not just our industry. I think it's 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:44.620 just society in general. You know, technology 00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:48.060 has been advancing so rapidly. It's changed the 00:01:48.060 --> 00:01:50.599 way people communicate. It's changed the way 00:01:50.599 --> 00:01:53.750 people learn. You know, it was interesting for 00:01:53.750 --> 00:01:56.549 me. I was going through a small town here in 00:01:56.549 --> 00:01:58.769 the Midwest about a month ago. I was coming back 00:01:58.769 --> 00:02:00.829 from our farm. I've got some property out in 00:02:00.829 --> 00:02:03.329 the middle of nowhere. And I was coming back 00:02:03.329 --> 00:02:06.329 through this little bitty town and just looking 00:02:06.329 --> 00:02:08.169 for something quick to eat. So I stopped at the 00:02:08.169 --> 00:02:09.870 local. They do have a Taco Bell. They've got 00:02:09.870 --> 00:02:11.909 a few restaurants in this little town. And so 00:02:11.909 --> 00:02:14.509 I stopped in Taco Bell. And as I was getting 00:02:14.509 --> 00:02:19.909 my order, I looked around and there were 20 year 00:02:19.909 --> 00:02:22.539 olds on their phone. There were 30 -year -olds 00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:24.599 on their phone. There were 40 -year -olds on 00:02:24.599 --> 00:02:26.759 their phone, all the way up into 80s. There was 00:02:26.759 --> 00:02:29.560 a couple, there was three, two older ladies and 00:02:29.560 --> 00:02:31.500 one older gentleman sitting at a table, all of 00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:33.039 them in their 80s, and all of them were on their 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:37.280 phones using technology. And so norms that we 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:41.599 had from even 10 years ago are starting to look 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:46.180 a lot different today. Wouldn't you agree? Yeah, 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:50.509 I think the world is accelerating in a... very 00:02:50.509 --> 00:02:53.990 different way nowadays i would say even compared 00:02:53.990 --> 00:02:58.229 to half a years ago now i barely use google i 00:02:58.229 --> 00:03:02.409 use chat gbt every day so i mean there are times 00:03:02.409 --> 00:03:04.389 when i open the browser and start typing something 00:03:04.389 --> 00:03:06.289 and then i just realize that okay i don't need 00:03:06.289 --> 00:03:08.370 to do here i just close the browser and then 00:03:08.370 --> 00:03:11.169 go to chat gbt i mean on my phone i just go to 00:03:11.169 --> 00:03:13.509 chat gbt directly without really typing search 00:03:13.509 --> 00:03:16.629 for things it's just much faster and easier um 00:03:16.629 --> 00:03:19.590 that almost feels like probably 20 years ago 00:03:19.590 --> 00:03:22.090 when you opened Yahoo, right? Try to do something 00:03:22.090 --> 00:03:24.090 and then you realize you can use Google. It just 00:03:24.090 --> 00:03:27.349 reminds me of that. And that was very much a 00:03:27.349 --> 00:03:29.550 transition that happened in a short period of 00:03:29.550 --> 00:03:31.789 time. It was a learning curve and then things 00:03:31.789 --> 00:03:33.990 were very different afterwards. And I do believe 00:03:33.990 --> 00:03:35.909 that that's where you're right. We are there 00:03:35.909 --> 00:03:40.389 again. Actually, I did an episode last week where 00:03:40.389 --> 00:03:45.009 I had Brigham Dickinson on the live show and 00:03:45.009 --> 00:03:48.879 we were talking about how AI is... is being more 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:51.840 involved with the customer service side, right? 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:53.960 Just the call centers in general. Like when we 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:56.000 look at what's happening at a call center, there 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:57.340 are companies that are going, hey, I think I'm 00:03:57.340 --> 00:03:59.020 going to use AI to take over my call center. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:00.759 And then we have others going, well, it wasn't 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:02.020 a very good experience. Maybe we should have 00:04:02.020 --> 00:04:04.860 a blend of both. And then we even had educators 00:04:04.860 --> 00:04:06.979 that were on the live show. I asked the question, 00:04:07.099 --> 00:04:10.280 how are you using artificial intelligence right 00:04:10.280 --> 00:04:12.960 now? And I was surprised how many of our educators 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:15.300 said, well, I don't really use it. And in the 00:04:15.300 --> 00:04:16.620 background, I'm going, you're probably using 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:19.540 it and you don't even realize it. And it's become 00:04:19.540 --> 00:04:22.079 part of our culture and part of our norm. But 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:26.339 it does change the way we look at training and 00:04:26.339 --> 00:04:28.779 we look at preparing technicians for the field. 00:04:28.899 --> 00:04:32.120 That has definitely been a shift. Yeah. Yeah. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:35.279 I have to say that because I live in San Francisco. 00:04:36.170 --> 00:04:38.629 And whatever is happening in other places of 00:04:38.629 --> 00:04:41.449 the world always happens in San Francisco first. 00:04:41.670 --> 00:04:45.110 Because when you drive through 101 or 280, you 00:04:45.110 --> 00:04:47.170 don't see that many billboards, but 101, you 00:04:47.170 --> 00:04:50.350 see all the AI replaced people, AI for whatever, 00:04:50.529 --> 00:04:52.410 AI for infra, they will be all billboards. All 00:04:52.410 --> 00:04:54.750 over? Really? Yeah, for AI. If you come here, 00:04:54.889 --> 00:04:57.009 you should just check it out. Drive down from 00:04:57.009 --> 00:04:59.509 the city to the South Bay, look at all the billboards. 00:04:59.990 --> 00:05:04.920 You will realize probably all the... hot companies 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:08.439 are on the billboard no kidding yeah yeah so 00:05:08.439 --> 00:05:10.759 it's a very different place but um i would say 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:13.060 like one thing i really hate is that people try 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:15.680 to try to use ai to replace people i think it 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:18.879 should be a tool to augment people i agree to 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:21.860 replace people and plus i don't think the ai 00:05:21.860 --> 00:05:24.420 is truly ready for a lot of call center uh i 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:26.879 hate it every time when i call like there were 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:29.699 time I just try to book something, right? And 00:05:29.699 --> 00:05:31.420 they just keep routing me to AI and then keep 00:05:31.420 --> 00:05:33.600 asking me questions. And it's just, all I want 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:36.500 is one simple thing. I know AI couldn't answer 00:05:36.500 --> 00:05:40.040 and I cannot get it. I have to call other companies. 00:05:40.540 --> 00:05:42.680 So that's something I've seen as big challenge 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:45.420 nowadays for the AI, especially for call center. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:49.639 But I do agree. The cost on human beings to take 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:52.939 the phone call is high and it's not a good job 00:05:52.939 --> 00:05:58.579 for people to actually rely their life. on taking 00:05:58.579 --> 00:06:00.720 phone calls to answer people's questions, some 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:03.019 basic questions. So it's a dilemma for sure. 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:07.399 So how do we approach it? You spend a lot of 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:11.180 time on the software side, particularly in the 00:06:11.180 --> 00:06:16.259 AI sector. So walk me through some challenges 00:06:16.259 --> 00:06:20.120 and some solutions that you are providing and 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:23.720 that you see in our industry. So we are working 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:29.550 in HVAC and plumbing. So in order to really make 00:06:29.550 --> 00:06:31.709 sure we can empower people on the field, we need 00:06:31.709 --> 00:06:34.189 to look at what the demographic looks like nowadays. 00:06:34.850 --> 00:06:37.509 So people are calling it in the industry. First 00:06:37.509 --> 00:06:40.509 of all, it's a donut shape, meaning there is 00:06:40.509 --> 00:06:44.370 a big gap between the workforce in terms of their 00:06:44.370 --> 00:06:47.930 age, usually 150s and then a bunch of 20s and 00:06:47.930 --> 00:06:52.889 30s. I don't know. Where are the 40s? It's like 00:06:52.889 --> 00:06:56.319 a generational gap. It's probably for the last 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:58.199 10 years, right? People are not paying attention 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:01.279 to that at all. As a result, there are very minimal 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:05.620 number of people going to that space. But nowadays 00:07:05.620 --> 00:07:08.240 with all the policy shifting, people are going 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:10.959 back to the trades again. So you see a lot of 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:15.939 20s. So that generation gap is real. Meaning 00:07:15.939 --> 00:07:18.839 if you don't take advantage of the people are 00:07:18.839 --> 00:07:21.430 still there for the next five years. there will 00:07:21.430 --> 00:07:23.829 be a huge disaster of how do we transfer knowledge 00:07:23.829 --> 00:07:27.750 to the younger generation. And that's one part 00:07:27.750 --> 00:07:29.750 of it, right? Another is you have to, in order 00:07:29.750 --> 00:07:32.769 to adapt to these demographic, we have to know 00:07:32.769 --> 00:07:35.470 what the younger people really think. I mean, 00:07:35.490 --> 00:07:37.610 we know the 50 -year -old are already working 00:07:37.610 --> 00:07:39.790 there for a long time, but the real challenge 00:07:39.790 --> 00:07:41.810 is how do we adapt the younger generation people 00:07:41.810 --> 00:07:46.569 to do the good work, to serve the homeowner good 00:07:46.569 --> 00:07:50.379 enough. I would say another thing is also because 00:07:50.379 --> 00:07:53.699 of younger generation people are using TikTok 00:07:53.699 --> 00:07:56.319 or like other short video. People are not patient 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:59.899 at all. People's time spent attention is 15 seconds 00:07:59.899 --> 00:08:04.579 or less. So as a result, when I'm looking at 00:08:04.579 --> 00:08:08.019 those industries, a lot of the time people are 00:08:08.019 --> 00:08:11.060 rushing to do a lot of things, right? Like you 00:08:11.060 --> 00:08:14.100 don't see people taking this apprentice for three, 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:17.500 four years. There are. but much less. People 00:08:17.500 --> 00:08:20.819 want to go to do the real comfort advisor job 00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:26.540 or do the real service job right away without 00:08:26.540 --> 00:08:29.319 much training. And as a result, in a company 00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:32.500 that with more technicians, the work quality 00:08:32.500 --> 00:08:36.000 is not consistent at all. And that creates a 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:38.720 lot of issues. Another big thing is you're seeing 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:43.059 so many PEs coming in this space, right? Private 00:08:43.059 --> 00:08:46.230 equities. Yeah. yeah they're acquiring so many 00:08:46.230 --> 00:08:49.490 companies and pe coming here for a reason first 00:08:49.490 --> 00:08:52.029 of all it means there are a lot of value in this 00:08:52.029 --> 00:08:56.889 space but also we have to know pe usually are 00:08:56.889 --> 00:09:01.029 driven by probability yes and also they have 00:09:01.029 --> 00:09:04.480 pretty good back office supporting them, right? 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:07.360 They always call this operating company and management 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:09.620 company structure. Management company going to 00:09:09.620 --> 00:09:12.159 provide all the resources to the operating company 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:14.879 to do that and train them. So they're they look 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:17.000 at the problem. OK, those are a bunch of 20 year 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:19.460 old. We have program in place to train them. 00:09:20.059 --> 00:09:23.059 And that going to give them a lot of competitive 00:09:23.059 --> 00:09:25.740 advantage compared to a lot of smaller shops. 00:09:26.019 --> 00:09:28.600 So those are phenomenon we're looking at. And 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:31.399 of course, because I know a lot of companies 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:34.230 already pushing AI adoption, of course, even 00:09:34.230 --> 00:09:36.769 like the biggest player server titan is rolling 00:09:36.769 --> 00:09:40.470 out a lot of AI features. So this is the overview 00:09:40.470 --> 00:09:44.169 of what the industry right now is shifting as 00:09:44.169 --> 00:09:48.389 a status quo. Sure. You know, when we look at 00:09:48.389 --> 00:09:51.809 how do you train that technician, like how do 00:09:51.809 --> 00:09:56.230 you keep them up to date, not only with the existing 00:09:56.230 --> 00:09:58.610 technologies, but the new technologies that we're 00:09:58.610 --> 00:10:01.509 introducing very quickly, very regularly. You 00:10:01.509 --> 00:10:04.250 know, that gap that you'd mentioned, that circular 00:10:04.250 --> 00:10:06.669 labor supply. It's really interesting when you 00:10:06.669 --> 00:10:08.909 mention that because I see it very differently 00:10:08.909 --> 00:10:10.769 now because it's exactly right. Like we have 00:10:10.769 --> 00:10:13.549 this whole industry, but there's a big chunk 00:10:13.549 --> 00:10:17.490 of it that is gone. And a lot of the older generation, 00:10:17.629 --> 00:10:22.250 myself and older, are focusing on phasing out 00:10:22.250 --> 00:10:24.990 of the industry, right? Looking towards getting 00:10:24.990 --> 00:10:28.210 out of the field, maybe giving back my knowledge. 00:10:28.570 --> 00:10:30.909 Hopefully that's what's going to happen. But 00:10:30.909 --> 00:10:35.190 in the process, we have an abundance of new talent 00:10:35.190 --> 00:10:39.649 coming into the field that, yes, they're going 00:10:39.649 --> 00:10:41.950 to be learning some of this tribal, hopefully 00:10:41.950 --> 00:10:45.149 the tribal education, things that we learned 00:10:45.149 --> 00:10:47.370 on these pieces of equipment that really hadn't 00:10:47.370 --> 00:10:50.370 changed for decades. But what about everything 00:10:50.370 --> 00:10:53.909 else, right? And communication. And so it's not 00:10:53.909 --> 00:10:55.769 like we're handing it down from one generation 00:10:55.769 --> 00:11:00.059 to the next. typically been how the trade survived 00:11:00.059 --> 00:11:04.399 is an experienced person passed their knowledge 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:07.500 down to the next generation and the next generation 00:11:07.500 --> 00:11:09.840 passed it on down you picked up new things along 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:14.600 the way but when you skip a step you kind of 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:18.299 skip a generation well you got to make up for 00:11:18.299 --> 00:11:22.759 that and technology is really what we're going 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:25.809 to have to utilize to do that Yeah. And I would 00:11:25.809 --> 00:11:28.750 say, if you're looking at it, what matters the 00:11:28.750 --> 00:11:31.789 most, because I'm from the technology perspective, 00:11:32.309 --> 00:11:34.990 if you're looking at any of those companies, 00:11:35.629 --> 00:11:38.950 80 % of the payroll goes to the field, the technicians. 00:11:39.289 --> 00:11:41.750 And there will be 20 % of payroll go into the 00:11:41.750 --> 00:11:46.210 office. And I see a big shift right now. Most 00:11:46.210 --> 00:11:47.990 of the companies, I would say, nowadays are focusing 00:11:47.990 --> 00:11:51.649 on replacing the office staff, which I think 00:11:51.649 --> 00:11:55.350 is good, but it's not a... the real answer to 00:11:55.350 --> 00:11:59.110 the industry. And like what you're saying, we 00:11:59.110 --> 00:12:01.509 need to have a way to properly prepare the people 00:12:01.509 --> 00:12:05.970 on the field to adapt themselves to this world. 00:12:07.250 --> 00:12:10.169 And I think that's how AI can come into play 00:12:10.169 --> 00:12:12.929 to educate them differently. Because even like 00:12:12.929 --> 00:12:16.049 nowadays, we see a lot of discussion. People 00:12:16.049 --> 00:12:18.250 are thinking like, how do we change the K -12 00:12:18.250 --> 00:12:21.330 education because of AI? A lot of knowledge we 00:12:21.330 --> 00:12:24.490 teach are not. applicable anymore. It's probably 00:12:24.490 --> 00:12:27.830 knowledge 300 years ago. Why is it still taught? 00:12:28.169 --> 00:12:30.690 They can get it from Chachi BD in a second, probably 00:12:30.690 --> 00:12:33.990 not something we need to do. And I would say 00:12:33.990 --> 00:12:37.610 like, we see a lot of companies, I can see some 00:12:37.610 --> 00:12:40.169 good practices and some bad practices from big 00:12:40.169 --> 00:12:43.429 companies that are utilizing a lot of technologies. 00:12:43.830 --> 00:12:46.529 We see things could be accelerated much faster 00:12:46.529 --> 00:12:51.700 because they can capture the data. and process 00:12:51.700 --> 00:12:54.779 that and give it in a training to the different 00:12:54.779 --> 00:12:57.879 people. But I still have a lot of doubts on a 00:12:57.879 --> 00:13:00.240 lot of the trainings because my feedback from, 00:13:00.340 --> 00:13:03.700 I heard feedback from the big companies is, okay, 00:13:03.740 --> 00:13:08.399 people give training for every month. One week 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:10.419 found out the close rate drastically improved, 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:14.440 right? Two weeks later, slightly slowed down. 00:13:14.659 --> 00:13:17.379 Four weeks later, everybody forgot about it. 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:20.909 Right. Well, that just means. it's not natural 00:13:20.909 --> 00:13:26.730 right otherwise you would try to bend the wood 00:13:26.730 --> 00:13:29.470 too much and you always go back to what it's 00:13:29.470 --> 00:13:33.330 originally supposed to be exactly so for that 00:13:33.330 --> 00:13:36.070 part i see that the training is important but 00:13:36.070 --> 00:13:39.230 but probably the current training is not the 00:13:39.230 --> 00:13:43.210 best way to utilize it and what i think should 00:13:43.210 --> 00:13:47.929 happen is train them by letting them doing it 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:49.960 is actually more important because because we're 00:13:49.960 --> 00:13:53.500 in the industry of hands -on work right so you 00:13:53.500 --> 00:13:57.080 shouldn't be like okay train them every one month 00:13:57.080 --> 00:13:59.500 every two months you can do that but it's more 00:13:59.500 --> 00:14:04.279 of a reminder versus try to let them sit in the 00:14:04.279 --> 00:14:06.840 office or in the classroom give them the feedback 00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:09.960 on what they've done or i'll pick one or two 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:11.639 people because as a trainer right you're gonna 00:14:11.639 --> 00:14:14.580 be your audience gonna be maybe 50 100 people 00:14:14.580 --> 00:14:18.490 or maybe less 20 even 20. For last month, they 00:14:18.490 --> 00:14:22.129 will be performing hundreds of jobs. As a trainer, 00:14:22.330 --> 00:14:25.549 you have only limited time spent to listen to 00:14:25.549 --> 00:14:28.870 certain calls. And maybe AI can tell you which 00:14:28.870 --> 00:14:30.889 one are good, which one are bad. But people, 00:14:31.009 --> 00:14:34.190 it's not really that personalized. Yeah, I get 00:14:34.190 --> 00:14:37.070 that completely. Yeah, so it's not going to provide 00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:39.889 the best feedback to that. So what we think is, 00:14:39.970 --> 00:14:44.250 okay, technology as a way to help people. what 00:14:44.250 --> 00:14:46.370 we should do is, okay, how do we make sure it's 00:14:46.370 --> 00:14:49.830 almost like companion that can help you to improve 00:14:49.830 --> 00:14:58.070 your work on the field? Okay. Noso Labs is working 00:14:58.070 --> 00:15:01.970 on a mentorship, really a digital mentorship. 00:15:05.250 --> 00:15:08.850 That's a pretty accurate way to describe it. 00:15:11.529 --> 00:15:14.210 We are more of just making things much easier 00:15:14.210 --> 00:15:16.429 to do so many different parts of the work. Yeah. 00:15:16.629 --> 00:15:19.190 But let's look at the fundamental issues, right? 00:15:19.250 --> 00:15:22.309 Like the most fundamental issue for a lot of 00:15:22.309 --> 00:15:25.549 fuel jobs is did you close the job? Right. You 00:15:25.549 --> 00:15:27.049 don't close the job, you lose the money. And 00:15:27.049 --> 00:15:29.750 for most of the companies, you've already spent 00:15:29.750 --> 00:15:34.529 all the resources sending a technician out. And 00:15:34.529 --> 00:15:37.450 technician is going to spend an hour, talk to, 00:15:37.509 --> 00:15:40.590 or 30 minutes, talk to the homeowner. And they 00:15:40.590 --> 00:15:43.330 leave. That's it. Right. And then by the end 00:15:43.330 --> 00:15:45.009 of the month, if you're looking at it, you're 00:15:45.009 --> 00:15:47.610 seeing probably 60 to 70 percent of jobs never 00:15:47.610 --> 00:15:50.929 closed. Yeah. Of course, this is a rough status. 00:15:51.809 --> 00:15:55.149 That's realistic. Yeah. But some companies can 00:15:55.149 --> 00:15:57.629 do really well. For example, we know some pretty 00:15:57.629 --> 00:16:01.049 big company doing 200 million in Vegas is doing 00:16:01.049 --> 00:16:03.570 around 70 percent close rate because the company 00:16:03.570 --> 00:16:05.990 is entirely focused on close rate. Of course, 00:16:06.049 --> 00:16:08.929 they're doing really well. you're seeing around 00:16:08.929 --> 00:16:11.710 40, 30 to 40 % close rate is pretty accurate. 00:16:11.990 --> 00:16:14.649 If you're looking at it, that's a big money losing 00:16:14.649 --> 00:16:18.129 part for any HVAC company, right? So how do we 00:16:18.129 --> 00:16:20.830 make sure that you can improve the close rate 00:16:20.830 --> 00:16:23.169 is actually pretty important. And if you're looking 00:16:23.169 --> 00:16:26.889 at what contribute to the close rate, it's really 00:16:26.889 --> 00:16:31.129 just three things. First is all the communication. 00:16:33.710 --> 00:16:35.789 That communication could be like, did you prepare 00:16:35.789 --> 00:16:38.230 everything in advance? How did you make sure 00:16:38.230 --> 00:16:41.090 you conveyed a message to the homeowner? Did 00:16:41.090 --> 00:16:44.190 you handle the back and forth Q &A properly before 00:16:44.190 --> 00:16:47.009 you do any work? Right? Second is a proposal. 00:16:47.929 --> 00:16:52.049 Did you have a proposal that truly represented 00:16:52.049 --> 00:16:55.690 value that you're trying to create for the homeowner 00:16:55.690 --> 00:16:58.330 based on what they're asking? Because they call 00:16:58.330 --> 00:17:00.269 you for a reason. They don't call you, just call 00:17:00.269 --> 00:17:03.269 you coming in to check it out. And then without, 00:17:03.350 --> 00:17:05.670 they're ready to pay, but you are not closing 00:17:05.670 --> 00:17:08.539 it. That's probably. you're not present something 00:17:08.539 --> 00:17:11.539 they're comfortable with. Sure. And finally is 00:17:11.539 --> 00:17:15.000 the process, meaning we're in the world got so 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.000 distracted. Did you properly follow up with the 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:23.140 homeowner for the proposal you presented? You 00:17:23.140 --> 00:17:25.380 remind the homeowner that they need something, 00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:31.240 right? So, but let's start from the back. The 00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:33.319 follow -up is actually a pretty challenging piece 00:17:33.319 --> 00:17:36.650 nowadays for a lot of technicians because It's 00:17:36.650 --> 00:17:39.690 nobody's job. Technician is going to need to 00:17:39.690 --> 00:17:42.210 do three to four jobs, maybe six jobs. Depends 00:17:42.210 --> 00:17:45.089 on how they divide and conquer their work, right? 00:17:45.130 --> 00:17:47.309 If they do six jobs a day or four jobs a day, 00:17:47.390 --> 00:17:51.009 how do you remember last Wednesday, there was 00:17:51.009 --> 00:17:55.329 a homeowner asked me to call back next Monday, 00:17:55.509 --> 00:17:59.109 4 p .m.? Right. Monday came around and I had 00:17:59.109 --> 00:18:04.690 five emergency calls waiting for me. This homeowner's... 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:06.859 Not on the highest of my priority, unfortunately. 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:10.660 Yeah, you can argue. Yeah, you can argue, okay, 00:18:10.779 --> 00:18:12.859 that everything's in ServerTitan. Everything's 00:18:12.859 --> 00:18:15.700 in Hotspot Pro. You can always go in. But look, 00:18:16.460 --> 00:18:19.079 there is a big difference between a software 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:23.420 and AI nowadays. Yeah. Right? If you go to like 00:18:23.420 --> 00:18:25.359 chat DVD, it has all the polls. It can remind 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:27.480 you everything. You can have all the calendar. 00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:29.519 It's supposed to be something on your calendar 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:32.609 to tell you it's a push, not a pull. The way 00:18:32.609 --> 00:18:35.190 I'm thinking about the older generation of software 00:18:35.190 --> 00:18:38.029 is it's always a pull. We need to go in and then 00:18:38.029 --> 00:18:40.190 dig it out. It's a pull. It's very unnatural. 00:18:40.589 --> 00:18:43.450 Right. The difference between AI and non -AI 00:18:43.450 --> 00:18:46.670 is it can be a push. It can remind you what you 00:18:46.670 --> 00:18:48.549 need based on the right timing and everything. 00:18:48.930 --> 00:18:53.430 Just come in. Okay. Hey, Jack, like you've talked 00:18:53.430 --> 00:18:55.589 about it last week for this. Do you want me to 00:18:55.589 --> 00:18:58.650 do this for you? You can say no, but that's the 00:18:58.650 --> 00:19:02.380 biggest difference. It's more responsive. compared 00:19:02.380 --> 00:19:04.740 to more passive approach of the software because 00:19:04.740 --> 00:19:08.019 previous software is just a UI and we rely on 00:19:08.019 --> 00:19:11.940 our own ability to go in and check on it. Sure. 00:19:12.420 --> 00:19:15.819 It's like that whole mentorship aspect where 00:19:15.819 --> 00:19:21.359 you have an assistant that is helping you see 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:24.140 things that maybe you forgot. Or maybe you didn't 00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:27.099 see. And that's really what I enjoyed about being 00:19:27.099 --> 00:19:31.119 in the field and having a mentor is that as I'm 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:35.400 learning, I'm getting tips. I'm getting recommendations 00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:38.359 along the way that I might not have thought about. 00:19:38.460 --> 00:19:40.680 And AI is getting to that point where it can 00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:42.819 actually do that in this process. And I really 00:19:42.819 --> 00:19:44.480 think that's kind of where you're focusing in 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:49.299 on is being that push for what we're doing on 00:19:49.299 --> 00:19:53.569 a daily basis. Exactly. And it's not just a ride 00:19:53.569 --> 00:19:55.029 -along, right? If you think about it, all the 00:19:55.029 --> 00:19:58.450 previous time, a lot of technicians relies on 00:19:58.450 --> 00:20:01.829 the ride -along person to help things out. But, 00:20:01.869 --> 00:20:06.029 I mean, to be honest, what AI is doing is more 00:20:06.029 --> 00:20:08.849 than that. It helps you with all the trivial 00:20:08.849 --> 00:20:11.990 parts of the work. The ride -along usually means 00:20:11.990 --> 00:20:16.309 it's a mentor. in the truck, try to do the high 00:20:16.309 --> 00:20:18.089 -level thing, you still do all the nitty -gritty 00:20:18.089 --> 00:20:21.569 details. But a true companion is a system that 00:20:21.569 --> 00:20:23.970 has a lot of superpower that know the industry 00:20:23.970 --> 00:20:26.430 pretty well, and that would do all the nitty 00:20:26.430 --> 00:20:29.309 -gritty parts of the work so that it helps you 00:20:29.309 --> 00:20:31.450 alleviate yourself to focus on more fundamental 00:20:31.450 --> 00:20:33.630 thinking, and you can do a lot of back and forth 00:20:33.630 --> 00:20:39.109 Q &A with it. Walk me through what an average 00:20:39.109 --> 00:20:47.420 day for one of your users is. So our long -term 00:20:47.420 --> 00:20:51.640 goal is to help them boost the close rate. So 00:20:51.640 --> 00:20:55.500 for the close rate, we're starting working from, 00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:59.220 in the very beginning, we start focusing a lot 00:20:59.220 --> 00:21:03.400 of time on diagnostics. And we actually gather 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:06.259 a lot of the industry manuals. Most industry 00:21:06.259 --> 00:21:09.819 manuals is trained using our AI in the system. 00:21:10.730 --> 00:21:13.410 But later on, we figured out, okay, what are 00:21:13.410 --> 00:21:16.089 something just super easy for people to immediately 00:21:16.089 --> 00:21:19.849 get value out of it? So we spent some time building 00:21:19.849 --> 00:21:22.990 this follow -up feature that worked really well. 00:21:23.390 --> 00:21:28.549 It is as simple as an easy reminder on your mobile 00:21:28.549 --> 00:21:32.869 app to tell you, hey, Jack, this is the time 00:21:32.869 --> 00:21:35.349 follow -up you need to do today. And you just 00:21:35.349 --> 00:21:37.470 need to click a button. We compiled a text message 00:21:37.470 --> 00:21:40.140 for you already. Because writing a text message 00:21:40.140 --> 00:21:43.500 where you're on the field is still tough. If 00:21:43.500 --> 00:21:45.279 you need to think about it, yeah, what I did 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:47.579 last Tuesday and then write a proper text message 00:21:47.579 --> 00:21:50.420 is just not easy. And doing a phone call works, 00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:54.480 but unfortunately, because a lot of spams nowadays, 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:56.900 no one really take phone calls. That's very true. 00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:00.279 Yeah, so you kind of have to rely on the text 00:22:00.279 --> 00:22:05.809 message to go out. And I'll say the work. um 00:22:05.809 --> 00:22:08.470 we're saying for a lot of technicians they still 00:22:08.470 --> 00:22:11.269 do whatever the work they're doing nothing really 00:22:11.269 --> 00:22:13.349 changed except that they can spend maybe three 00:22:13.349 --> 00:22:15.690 minutes to make sure they do the follow -up for 00:22:15.690 --> 00:22:18.529 the whole week everything done swipe clean it 00:22:18.529 --> 00:22:20.789 up and it will pop out again for the next uh 00:22:20.789 --> 00:22:23.109 we would remind them to do around three follow 00:22:23.109 --> 00:22:25.750 -ups and that's it if it doesn't convert for 00:22:25.750 --> 00:22:29.589 a week probably it's never got converted because 00:22:29.589 --> 00:22:33.630 we run stats over 95 of the job got converted 00:22:33.630 --> 00:22:36.970 in seven days. By somebody. Yeah, by somebody. 00:22:37.470 --> 00:22:42.450 So if it is not converted by you, it's already 00:22:42.450 --> 00:22:44.609 gone. So don't waste your time on it. So that's 00:22:44.609 --> 00:22:46.630 how our system needs to look like. And then the 00:22:46.630 --> 00:22:49.170 technician can also coordinate writing notes 00:22:49.170 --> 00:22:52.769 on it to coordinate with their service manager 00:22:52.769 --> 00:22:54.549 in the office. Service manager can write more 00:22:54.549 --> 00:22:57.269 notes on it. That's how we see this is utilized 00:22:57.269 --> 00:23:01.269 right now. We're expanding more into other pieces. 00:23:01.710 --> 00:23:04.390 Right now, the proposal piece, I mentioned it 00:23:04.390 --> 00:23:06.349 because if you remember what I just mentioned, 00:23:06.430 --> 00:23:08.250 there are three pieces, the communication, the 00:23:08.250 --> 00:23:11.109 proposal, and the procedure. The follow -up fit 00:23:11.109 --> 00:23:13.950 into the procedure piece. The proposal piece 00:23:13.950 --> 00:23:17.910 is actually much, much harder because every businesses 00:23:17.910 --> 00:23:21.990 want to run proposals slightly differently. Sure. 00:23:22.470 --> 00:23:26.339 We are building that piece, but I wouldn't. share 00:23:26.339 --> 00:23:29.720 too much detail until it's really working well. 00:23:30.700 --> 00:23:35.359 It's very challenging, but it's very great problem 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:37.539 to solve because at the end of the day, the proposal 00:23:37.539 --> 00:23:42.240 matters more than anything else. I agree. If 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:44.839 someone wants to learn more about your product 00:23:44.839 --> 00:23:49.559 and get in contact, what's the best way to reach 00:23:49.559 --> 00:23:54.980 out to NoSoLabs? Usually, it just go to our website. 00:23:56.119 --> 00:24:01.119 noso .so, N -O -S -O dot S -O. And then you can 00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:03.319 book a demo with us and then we can chat about 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:06.640 it. That's probably the easiest way. We also 00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:08.579 have LinkedIn page, have a lot of followers. 00:24:08.859 --> 00:24:11.880 If you go there, reach out to us, that also works. 00:24:12.690 --> 00:24:14.710 Fantastic, Winston. I sure appreciate you joining 00:24:14.710 --> 00:24:18.069 us today and I encourage everyone to rethink 00:24:18.069 --> 00:24:22.150 your learning process and look at tools when 00:24:22.150 --> 00:24:25.250 we start moving into these new software. Just 00:24:25.250 --> 00:24:27.630 remember, it's a tool to help us become more 00:24:27.630 --> 00:24:29.309 efficient. We appreciate you joining us today. 00:24:29.670 --> 00:24:30.369 Thank you.