Saying It Right: Strategies for Effective Customer Communication
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So there's three words that would help you tune in to your audience. And the audience is anybody you're talking to, which could be one person or maybe you have two people on your team. And here are the three words if you would just think about them before you decided what you would say. Needs, fears, victories.

If you could clearly come up in your mind with what do these people or these team members need to know right now that they don't know. Fears. What are they worried about or concerned about or distraught by or keeping them up at night?

Not terrified like going to a horror movie, but what are those negatives that come into their thinking and how could you address or help them? And then the victories. What are the things that are working? What are the good things that are going on now that you could reinforce?

Welcome to the Home Service Expert, where each week, Tommy chats with world-class entrepreneurs and experts in various fields, like marketing, sales, hiring, and leadership, to find out what's really behind their success in business. Now, your host, the home service millionaire, Tommy Mello.

Before we get started, I wanted to share two important things with you. First, I want you to implement what you learned today. To do that, you'll have to take a lot of notes, but I also want you to fully concentrate on the interview. So I asked the team to take notes for you. Just text NOTES, N-O-T-E-S, to 888-526-1299. That's 888-526-1299. And you'll receive a link to download the notes from today's episode.

Also, if you haven't got your copy of my newest book, Elevate, please go check it out. I'll share with you how I attracted and developed a winning team that helped me build a $200 million company in 22 states. Just go to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast to get your copy. Now let's go back into the interview.

All right, guys, welcome back to the Home Service Expert. Today is especially special for me because I had a privilege of not only working with Joel, he's not only mentoring me, but just such an amazing guy. I'm going to read a little bit about him. He's an expert in public speaking, and he's coaching me. And as you guys know, I always invest in amazing people. And Joel is just one of the best people I've ever met.

So, one idea can grow your home service business. One idea can make your life even better and happier. One idea can make you rich. Where do these ideas come from? Do they come from books, webinars, seminars, podcasts? Yes, they do. And whether they are in print, in a video, or in audio, they usually come to you delivered by a person. Today, you're going to hear from a person who can help you do all of these things. Grow your business, improve your life, and help you accumulate greater wealth. His name is Joe Weldon.

He's old. So I asked him, how old are you? And he told me that his social security number is five. Yes, he's a lot older than me and you, but he is so youthful in his thinking and his life.

that people half his age can't keep up with him. Joel doesn't have a college education, and his first two jobs was installing air conditioners. Then he became a construction carpenter, and then he sold encyclopedias door to door. And he was so shy and self-conscious that he could not even lead his Sunday school class in silence. Silent prayer.

As a matter of fact, he never stood up in front of a group to talk until he was 28 years old. And after that first presentation, he was told by the members of the audience that he was the worst speaker they'd ever heard in his entire life. Imagine if that were you being told that. What would you have done?

What Joel did was solve the problem. Fast forward to today and Joel Weldon is one of the most respected professional speakers in the National Speakers Hall of Fame. He has been paid to speak at over 3,000 events around the world and he has personally coached over 10,000 business people to be even better communicators. How is that possible based on where he started?

Joel told me that it's the result of three ideas. So I asked him to share those ideas with you in this podcast. And by the way, I hired Joel as my personal speaking coach after seeing what he does and how well he does it. The reason is I want to up my communication skills so that I can help you become more successful at what you do.

Please welcome Joe Weldon. Well, Tommy, great to be here and especially to have you here. You know, in a home service business, you have a lot to do and investing your time to sit in on this podcast and hear ideas is really important. So I made some notes for you and this is not scripted and Tommy's just going to interrupt and ask the kind of questions you'd ask if you were sitting right here with us. So I'm going to title these ideas for you, Elephants Don't Bite.

So let me ask you a question, but since Tommy's the only one here, you're going to have to answer the questions. So here's your first question. Have you ever been bitten by a gnat or a mosquito? Always. I am like, I'm notorious. I'm the guy that gets bit everywhere. Okay, so you got, have you ever been bitten or stung by a bee? I don't think I've been stung by a bee, no. No, okay, but a lot of mosquitoes, gnats? Lots of mosquitoes and gnats all the time, like everywhere. Okay.

Like all over my ankles, my arms. Well, you probably have too. Almost everybody has. Now, have you ever been bitten by an elephant? No, never. That's the point of what we're going to talk about. It's the little things that get you, not the big. You don't go around getting bitten by elephants, but the gnats and the mosquitoes and the bees are the ones that cause the problem. And in the home service business, it's the same thing.

It's a customer who isn't there when you show up. It's an employee that doesn't come in to work when you need them. It's those little things every day or a piece of equipment isn't on the truck when it's wanted or a part isn't there.

Those are the things that get you. But there's a flip side to that. It's also the little things that you can do right that will get you a huge return. And that's what we're going to talk about in our discussion. So let me give you one quick idea. When you were born, the day you were born, if your mom or dad or one of your family members put a dollar in a savings account, $1 a day, and every day they put another dollar in, and you got 8% compounded interest.

Tommy, if that happened when you were born, you would have had a million dollars before you were 70. Now, if they put two bucks, they were really a wealthy family and they put two bucks for this little baby in an account in your early 40s, you'd have a million bucks at 8% compounded interest. That's the power of little things. A dollar or two is not a lot, but it can accumulate. And the same thing with ideas to help you grow your business.

and to have a better life. And all the things that you've learned from this amazing gentleman off to my right. So think about that. So the three ideas that have made it possible for me to do what I've been able to do is first from my mentor, Earl Nightingale. And I know you know that Earl Nightingale was the creator of the strangest secret in 1955 that became the largest selling spoken word message ever recorded.

And it launched the entire learning by listening, which is what we're doing now, industry back in the 50s on records. And in 1987, he moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, not far from where you're living now. And we became good friends because it was the strangest secret that turned my life around when I was a struggling salesperson going nowhere. And he taught me a great lesson. And that's the first lesson for you.

to think of. And here's what he said. Find out what everybody else is doing and don't do it. Don't compete, create. Now, whatever your home service business is, whether you're a plumber, HVAC, or fixing garage doors, there's somebody else doing it. But if you do what everybody else does, you're going to get what everybody else has got. So he gave me this illustration. Now, I know you can't prove this now, but you can prove it, especially when you go to a meeting or church or synagogue

Watch people in a big room and it's over and they leave. And usually at the back of any big room are double doors. Whoever's the first one to the back door will either go with the right or the left. There's a panic button on it and they usually lock in the open position. And he said, Joel, watch when you finish a meeting. Whoever goes out the right or left door, that's the one that's open and everybody follows. The other door never gets open.

Now, I thought that's ridiculous. If you've got two doors, people are going to open it. And sure enough, if you watch, that's exactly what happens. And that's what's happening right in your marketplace right now. Everybody's going through one half of a double door. If you find out what everybody else is doing and don't do it and go through the other door, there's no one in front of you. Don't compete.

create. That was the first idea. And let me give you an example of that. I have a friend in Australia that I met through Genius Network, John Dwyer, part of the WOW Institute, creator of it. And he helps people come up with creative ideas. And one of his customers was somebody, you might be listening right now, that's a fence contractor, just built fences for people around their houses. Business was terrible.

There were a lot of fence contractors. Prices were going down. Everybody was competing. So J.D. came up with the idea, let's have an ugly fence contest. You send in a photograph and put in 20 words or less why you would like to win the contest and get a new fence.

Well, sure enough, they got thousands of people in Australia sending in pictures of their fences. And of course, they had the name and address and their phone number on the application for the contest. And they picked the first, second and third place winner. And they gave away these fences. And what do you think they had? Thousands of leads with people.

- Without any fences. - And the salespeople making the calls had a picture of the fence before they even got there. That's a creative idea. So don't compete, create. - Before you go, Joel, one of the things I always talk about is what most people do when they enter into a marketplace. They say, "What is everybody else charging?" And they offer a little bit more for a little bit less and they compete on price. What they don't know, the dirty little secret, is the businesses they're copying

are already failing. They're barely scraping by. And unless you could be different, get different, think differently, and learn to sell on value and not be the price sensitive company. You know, we talk a lot about Stake44 on the podcast and we spend, I don't know, three weeks in advance to book a reservation. I was just there, a few people, a thousand bucks.

There's a McDonald's right next door. I could have fed all of us for 30 bucks. But it's the experience and it's thinking differently. And so all I would say is, listen, if you're going to be like everybody else and compete on price, that's not a long-term business solution. You can't invest in growth. You cannot invest in technology. You can't invest in hiring great people. And that's why I wrote that in Elevate is imagine if everybody was winning. Everybody made enough money to get ahead in life.

And it's a great thing to think about is like so many people, they try to figure out what the losers are doing. You keep an eye on the winners and what you'll notice is they all charge a good price, but they show up the same day in brand new trucks. They've got a great CRM. They're investing in themselves all the time. And I think that Joel was trying to elaborate on that is there are great companies out there. And I had to travel the world. I mean, I've literally been to every $100 million HVAC company in the country.

and success leaves clues. But I still had to make it our own and recreate it. So it's pretty interesting stuff. I love Joel. Joel is just getting in here with him. He's just a burst of energy. I met him through Joe Polish. Just, I

on a side note before you go to the second one, who's some of the people you've worked with and really helped them? Because with 10,000, I'm sure there's a handful of names people would know. Well, I've worked with a lot of people, some sports people, and also... Martha McSally? Yeah, well, Martha McSally, who's first woman fighter pilot in the history of the United States.

Vern Harnish, who's a well-known professional speaker. Waldo Waldman, who happens to also be a fighter pilot and uses his wars experience as a metaphor for what you can do in your own business. But most of the people are people like you that are entrepreneurs, that are business owners, that have to get up at a local Rotary meeting or a Kiwanis meeting, or they're part of a networking group, or they're going to do a video for their website, or they get interviewed in an industry event.

or they have to interview somebody, or they have to give a eulogy, or they're in a competitive contest. We've had a lot of people doing that where they have to make a product presentation competing with others. And all of those are presentations. So anytime you open your mouth to speak, you're a speaker. You don't have to be a professional speaker, but you have to be professional at what you do and everything. Well, I've learned a lot already. Joel has me really, really focused when to pause,

How to really get focused on the topic instead of, I kind of do a brain dump when I speak and to get a little bit more thought out and make sure the audience knows what they're going to get before you give it to them. So they know the key points to take away. And just instead of saying me and I, you say, imagine yourself and try to get the listeners thinking from their point of view and creating a story behind it that they can put themselves in those shoes like a good comedian does.

is they make you really think if you were in that situation. And that's what I love about it is I've learned so much in the little time we've worked together, and I'm going to learn a lot more. But Joel's just wonderful. Let's hear that second example.

Well, before let's finish up on what you're saying. So if you listen to this podcast, notice when you're listening to what I'm saying, who am I talking to? I'm not talking to Tommy. I'm talking to you. You're the home service provider. You're the business owner. You're the manager. You're the one that we're talking to. And notice it's singular. I'm not saying all of you, many of you, some of you out there, when you talk to people on your team at a team meeting,

Just use singular, just you. You're part of an amazing team. You've got great opportunities coming up at this new year. You've got some new equipment coming your way. And that really ties into the second idea, which is called TLC. Now, TLC in customer service language is tender, loving care. Well, for today and for you, it means something different.

think like your customer, or if you call them clients, TLC is customer or client. Think like your customer, think like your client. And remember this basic premise, everything you own

Your home, your car, the phone you have, everything in your business was paid for by the boss. And who's the boss? The customer. Everything comes from the customer. So what if you started thinking like the customer instead of thinking like a manager or thinking like the owner or thinking like a salesperson? Sure, you have to do those things. But if you saw everything from their perspective, what would be the difference? And you would come up with a lot of little things.

And that's also one of our premises.

is it's little things that get you results, like that dollar a day. So let me give you another example. Do you like baseball? I love baseball. Okay, we're in right now the playoffs, right? All right, so I'm gonna give you a little baseball test. Verify this for our audience. Okay. Okay, in baseball, the average major league player gets up four times in a nine inning game. Is that right about average? For bat? For bat, yes, for bat. Okay, and the average hitter in the major league

It's around 250. Correct. Okay. The great hitters, 333 or up in the 300s. Is that true? That's what I was going to say. Okay. If you looked at the income level, the salary, the average player is making at least a couple of million bucks a year, even if they're not great in the major leagues. But the great ones are making 20 million a year with their bat. How could they earn 10 times...

what their teammates earn. And the answer is they're better. Would you agree? They got to be better. They're more skilled. They're better athletes. But you know how much better they are? Not a whole lot. Eight and a third percent. Eight and a third. So let me show you how that comes about. You said that you agree that the average player gets four at-bats in a game. Yep. Okay. So in three games, they've gotten 12 at-bats.

Correct. Okay. The average hitter will get three hits. 250, one out of four. Yep. Okay. And they make two million bucks. The great hitters get 333, which is four hits out of every 12. They get one more hit out of every 12 attempts. Which is 8.3. Which is 8.3.

Eight and a third. Eight and a third percent difference by just one more out of 12. So what about in your business? How much better do you have to get at being amazing in your customers' eyes?

just a little bit better. Being right on time or early. Having the parts and not having to do it. Coming in under the estimate. Whatever these little things are, that's the difference. So let me give you a practical thing that you could do. And I'm going to put you on the test again. Have you ever gotten a voicemail, and I know you get lots of people calling you, and they leave you this message. They tell me, listen, I got to talk to you right away. Give me a call back at, and they give you a phone number. Oh,

602-509-1264. And if you're not on your cell phone where you can see that number, have you ever had to rewind a message because you couldn't write it down fast enough? Yes. Okay.

I had one recently. I had to do it four times. It went so fast. Now, the reason is if you were to leave your phone number, you know what your phone number is, but you're not talking to yourself. You're thinking like you. You've got to think like your customer or in this case, the person on the phone. So if you said something like this, Tommy, I need to give you some important information. Can you give me a call back? Let me leave you my phone number. When you get a chance...

Why am I putting in a few extra words? Because we've got to make sure he's got something to write it down with. So why don't you give me a call back at 602-509-1264. If you do that, I will guarantee you when you get a call back, the first thing...

That person said, hey, thanks for slowing down on the number because it happens to you all the time. Now, again, with cell phones where we see the number sometimes, but sometimes people have blocked calls and they don't give you the name or the number. You don't really know. So that's a simple little idea. Let me give you another little idea.

Have you ever been to Disneyland? I've been to Disneyland and recently Disney World. Really? Okay. In Orlando. Okay. But Disneyland started in 1955. It was a struggle. It wasn't doing well in the business.

in the beginning because they'd never done anything like this. So Walt Disney had a meeting of all his members, just like you have team meetings in your home service business. And somebody at the meeting said, Walt, how are we going to sell this place? We're giving opening day tickets away for free. Do you know how much they charged on opening day when they collected money? A dollar. A dollar to go to Disneyland. So this guy asked, Walt, how are we going to do this?

He said, here's our marketing plan. And Walt Disney said these words. And this has been the basis of our business for almost 50 years. Are you ready? I'm ready. Because this can really help you. And here's what Walt said. Do what you do so well that when people see what it is you do, they want to see you do it again.

and will bring others with them to show them what it is you do. And that was the key to our entire business. Not sales, not marketing. Give them the results. Do what you do so well. And let's just say, as a garage door repair service, that when somebody sees what you've done for their garage doors, they want to make sure if they ever have another problem,

They call you back. And they're so excited about what you did with their garage doors that they tell other people about you and your business. And I did look up some numbers just to make sure that I would get this right. And I wanted to just verify what is happening at Disneyland. So I told you it was a dollar a day. I looked online this morning. Today, they average 61,000 people a day in California alone.

And the average ticket price is $119 to $164. It was 68 years ago that Walt gave that one statement.

about how Disneyland is going to grow. And by the way, 757 million people, including Tommy Mello, have been to Disneyland, not counting Disney World even. Yeah. On that one stage. So what if everyone listening adopted that philosophy? Do what you do so well that when the customers you now have see what you do, they are so happy with that.

That if they ever have a need again, you're the only one that they would think of. But in the meantime, they would tell other people about what you do. And we know that's called referral business. Referral raving fans. And it's those little things. I wrote about it in the book Elevate is the team in France. They'd never been. They had a dry season of 100 years where they never won. And they got this coach.

And he started with these little things of, we're not gonna shake hands three days because of the germs, so I don't want you guys sick. He changed the seats. None of these one things could have changed anything, but he added them up to create an amazing experience for the ride and to be able to win the race at your peak performance. They had special massages for each different rider.

And I think that there's something to be said there is how do you create that? Wow. That crazy experience. I was just interviewing my top technician and he said, I just have so much passion.

When people ask him if he makes commission, he says, yeah, I'm the highest paid guy at A1. He goes, I'm actually going on a trip because I do so well, because I do my job so great. I don't get callbacks. I get raving fans. Usually I get tips. I go on a special trip each year. Yeah, this is my car. This is my house I bought. These are my new garage doors. He's not bashful about it. He's so proud. He talks about me and our relationship. He talks about the logo and how we got started and how long he's worked here.

And he said, listen, you don't want any other company. You want us. Like, I believe in this company. We do it right the first time. We're going to back up our work. We come out seven days a week. We'll come out on Christmas if we have to. That's how committed we are. We work on Sundays. We'll do whatever it takes to earn your business and make you a very, very satisfied, excellent,

Actually, we'd love to make you a raving fan to where you tell everybody about us. And when you could connect at that deeper level and you're all smiles and you're energetic and you're passionate, it's crazy what could come out of that experience. And that's what people remember. They don't remember the price. They might say, yeah, I paid more than I thought I should have paid.

But ultimately, they'll just remember that was one of the best experiences. They offered coffee on the way. There was a profile of the technician that said everything about him. He didn't park in the driveway. He parked on the street with a logo that was apparent. He didn't ring the doorbell that gets my dogs going. He knocked because friends knock, neighbors, strangers ring the doorbell.

All these little things that we teach. What did you call them? Little things. These little things that we teach. And that's the key that you need to be thinking. You don't have to have some amazing idea that revolutionizes something. It's the accumulation of those little things done consistently, just like all the things you said, not ringing the doorbell, you know, parking where he parked.

having everything there, being on time, doing what you said you're going to do. There's no secrets here, but most people aren't doing them.

They're looking for an easy way or a shortcut. And there's no easy way. It's not. It's never easy. Everybody's looking for lightning in a bottle. Maybe one good hire. What employees can I still that work for another good company? I found that making technicians, I could take a busboy that's all smiles, that tells a great story, that's filling up my water and very courteous, that looks like he believes in himself or her.

I will take these people and turn them into a garage door badass within two months, within 60 days. And so I don't need to look for people that have all these amazing skills. I look for personality, someone that tells a great story, that's all smiles, that believes in themselves, that shakes my hand, looks me dead in the eyes, that believes in what we're doing and believes that they are the doctor when it comes to the garage.

And as the doctor, they need to be able to prescribe the right solution and be able to convince clients that it's the right thing to do for them in that particular case. Now, somebody might be flipping the house. Somebody might be moving in 10 years. Somebody might be raising 10 kids in this house, using the garage door 30 times a day. So I think we got to do a great job of diagnosing the person by asking a lot of questions.

and writing down those questions, writing down the answers and using those answers that they gave us when we're presenting the different options. I love this stuff. This is absolutely fascinating. Well, it's practical things that you could do immediately, like giving you a number slowly. Or if you talk about backing in your car truck, I mean,

I mean, just that simple thing. Just think about what that does for you. If you back your car or truck in every time you park, you're always heading to your goal. 99% of people start the day off in reverse. They're going backwards. It's a mindset of always going forward, just back in. And it's so much safer when you leave to know what's coming at you rather than backing out, especially if you've got a truck.

So those are little things and everything. You know, I love Tommy's book. I mean, there's so many great things in here on Elevate, and it all begins by doing things right. And maybe I could just tell a little bit about you, because I'm sure if you've been listening, you know this story. But he didn't start out this way. You had a struggle and you had to figure it out because people weren't doing the things that you're doing.

And you weren't a great leader or manager. And as a matter of fact, one of the things that struck me in your book is, matter of fact, things were so bad if you were working for Tommy that people would come to work and steal the toilet paper.

And that phrase is a powerful phrase because I think it epitomizes everything he's done. Tommy's employees today don't steal toilet paper and yours won't either. Because when you respect the people you work for, when you love the job you have, when you're into it, when you have that passion that server had in the restaurant, you can learn the skills.

but to have that kind of attitude, energy, and enthusiasm, and then because you reward them. So don't worry, your toilet paper won't be stolen if you follow the ideas that Tommy's been talking about and elevate everything you're doing. By finding out what everybody else is doing and don't do it, don't compete, create.

Stand apart. You know, one of the things, Joel, real quick to interrupt. I'm sorry. You're not interrupting. We're having a discussion. It's a discussion. So you just said you got to care for your clients. What if every one of your employees was an internal client and

And you had the same commitment to them, to wow them every day, to show them that they're wanted. What if on the first day of work, you didn't say you're going to be following this guy, have fun. You celebrated when they came in, you did a red carpet and a champagne toast. And you said, welcome to your new life. And you brought their families in and you toured them and you showed them how special it is. And it's a whole family that you've decided to put everything on the line, your kids, your adorable wife or husband, and everything.

It's so important. What if they were just as important as your clients? How well do you think they would treat your clients? You know, one of the things I took out of the talk the other day at the Genius Network is right where you're sitting, I had Dan Martell. And he said, you know, Tommy, most business owners don't buy like they want to be bought from.

meaning that they don't want to put out any money. They don't buy the nicest drywall or light fixtures or air conditioning unit. They don't make decisions to invest in a coach like you. And no wonder why people, they get so annoyed. Why aren't people buying? Why aren't they spending the money? Well, you don't even believe in yourself enough to invest in yourself. Why would anybody invest in you? It's a crazy thing to think about, but I'm a really good buyer. I love to buy.

And I love to spend money on self-improvement and getting better. And I just hope the audience is listening. I hope that you're listening and you want to become better and you're willing to invest in yourself. And I really do that. It just dawned on me about all the people I know that don't really have a lot of success right now is they don't invest in themselves. They don't buy like they want to be bought from. And they don't take care of their people like they want to take care of their clients.

And if they just would change their mentality a little bit, they'd see that if you treat people like you want to be treated, especially your coworkers, it changes the whole dynamic of the business. Absolutely. Oh boy, did you set up this next idea? We don't even know what idea number three is. So number one, you know, don't compete, create, find out what everybody else is doing.

Think like your customer or your client. And the last one is learn to speak with clarity and impact. And I'm going to quote an investor. Since you talked about investing in self-improvement, investing in getting better. Do you know the name? I'm going to put you on the spot again of the greatest investor alive today, according to everybody in business. Warren Buffett. Okay. Okay.

That is the answer that any successful business owner will give. Warren Buffett, the most successful investor in history.

And he is the founder of Berkshire Hathaway. And he is a down-to-earth guy. And he also, if you think about this concept, he made a statement to a group of college kids years ago that's really relevant to you and this next idea, which is speaking with clarity and impact. And here's what he said. If you want to increase your value...

50% learn communication skills and public speaking, period. Coming from the greatest investor ever, do you know his track record? I looked it up this morning because I know you love numbers. He started in business in 1962. Geico. Well, no, when he started Berkshire Hathaway. Okay. And he sold his first share of stock.

Do you know what the first share of stock for Berkshire Hathaway sold for? I do not. $7.50 in 1962. Do you know what it's selling for today? No, not exactly. $520,000 a share. Now, you're a businessman. Can you figure what percent return that is? If you bought one share for $7.50 and now it's worth half a million dollars.

That's a pretty good return on investment. And that's why he's considered the greatest investor ever. But what's he saying? The greatest investment that you could make to increase your value by 50% is learning how to communicate even better. You have to run team meetings. You have to make proposals to clients. You have to hire people. You have to talk to your spouse and loved ones and kids.

and neighbors and friends, how good are you at expressing your ideas so they make sense to others? And since you and I come from a tool area, I mean, that's what I grew up with. I was a carpenter. I loved building things and had lots of tools. Well, now in the speaking area, the tools are words. Words are the tools that you use to build an idea.

So let me give you one word that will change your speaking and writing communication instantly, and you can use it immediately. Because the goal is for you to get one idea in our discussion you can use in 24 hours.

So if I said to our wonderful listener here, Tommy can help you make more money. Does that sound like a good idea? Sounds great. Tommy can get you in better shape. That sounds like a good idea. Absolutely. But if we listen carefully to what that infers, you're probably not doing very well financially because Tommy can help you make more money. Tommy can help you get in better shape because you're really not in very good shape now. But if you add one four-letter word,

Every time you use the word more or better, what's the difference? Tommy can help you earn even more money. Tommy can help you get in even better shape. What does that one word do? It elevates you. Yeah, you're already successful. He can help you earn even more money. You're not a loser, but there's another level. He can help you get in better shape. You're already good.

but there's another level that you can get to. So look at your last email to a customer or client. If you said the word more or better, what if you had just dropped in that word even? Now that's an example of the power of words.

Now, it also applies because I know you've got a lot of young people tuning into you and following you. I mean, you just turned 40. You're a I mean, I've got socks older than you. So you're a kid. But these two guys go out on the date first time with these women. And one of the guys at the end of the evening turns to the girl he's with and says to her, when I look at you.

Time stands still. She falls into his arms and kisses him. Well, his buddy over here says, he says, boy, on my next date, I'm going to use that. He's out with another girl on his next date, but he doesn't get the words right. He had the idea, but he says, when I look at you, your face could stop a clock. Now, is that the same? No, it's not the same thing because the words are tools. So when you run a team meeting and you talk about how great the company is doing,

Do they really care about that?

Do they have ownership in that company? Do they get dividends based on the profits of the company? If they don't, they don't care about how profitable it is. What do they want to know? Are you going to have a better insurance program? Are you going to get us better trucks? Are you going to get us more equipment? What are you going to do to help us? The words you need to use are the ones that are going to tune in and make an impact and add clarity to the people that you're trying to reach. So that's just a little example of...

Power words. Adding the word even before more and better. And make sure you say the right words with the right intent. And you've gotten a lot of emails from me and phone calls. And how do I end it? With one simple statement every time. Do you remember how everything ends? Yes.

Your brain fart right now. It's been a long day. Well, you haven't seen me. Make it a great day. Make it a great day. All right. What if you use that idea when you finish a phone call? Hey, listen, great talking to you. We'll get that out for you. We'll be there first thing in the morning. And by the way, make it a great day.

What does the ordinary person say? Have a nice day. Have a good day. Which means it's up to the day. When you say to somebody, have a good day. Sure, I'm going to have a good day. As long as I don't get a traffic ticket, as long as the parts come in, as long as nobody quits, nobody gets sick, then I'll have a good day. But if you switch have to make.

Who's responsible for the day? You are. Tommy, make it a great day. Make it a wonderful weekend. That puts the responsibility where it belongs. And it's amazing. If you put that on your phone call, people will respond to that, just like giving your number slow, because people aren't doing those things. Extraordinary people are.

So hopefully you're going to make it a great day by the ideas you're hearing in this podcast. And it's up to you to use them. They're little things, but little things can earn you huge results. So now that I've kind of dropped those three ideas down, how about any questions, comments, thoughts? What would they be asking if they were sitting here or what could we add to what's been said so far?

Well, Joel, you know, I started thinking a lot this week about really impactful leaders, the people that stand out. And you watch their management style, you watch the way they lead people. And one of the things, I didn't know it was National Boss Day a couple days ago. And one of the gals, Melissa, our lead trainer, who runs the whole training department, got me a really nice gift. And it said, a great leader measures his success on how many leaders he builds. And

And I thought that was really special. And I think it's a great way of teaching people how to public speak, how to be confident in themselves, how to believe in themselves. And, you know, I can't imagine standing up in front of a BNI meeting or your local chamber or

It's just not feeling confident and standing up. And like my ability to stand up in front of my people and be passionate and get them excited and talk about what's in it for them goes a long way. And I still got a lot of work to do, but I don't get very nervous, especially in front of my own people because I'm in it for them. And I do really try to focus on what's in it for them. And it's like you said, no one cares about a record week for the company. What does that do for them? So I think...

One of the biggest things you talked about was making sure you're addressing what's important to them before you go into a meeting. What other things would you think is important when we're in front of our own people and we're leading meetings and trying to build, making sure that the buzzword is culture, growing the culture? Well, that's a great question. And just think of the people that are on your team. If you were going to have a team meeting in a couple of days from now,

What would you talk about? Well, usually the owner of a business talks about what's important to them. So this is where that second idea comes in, TLC.

except we'll think about it, maybe it should be TLT in this case. Think like a team member. Think what are they interested in hearing now? What is of concern to them? Is there a new competitor that's coming in and taking away sales and salespeople's commissions are going down? Is there equipment that's not working as it should and maybe trucks that aren't running as they should and breaking down? Is it parts that aren't showing up? What are the things that are of concern to them?

So there's three words that would help you tune in to your audience. And the audience is anybody you're talking to, which could be one person or maybe you have two people on your team. And here are the three words if you would just think about them before you decided what you would say. Needs, fears, victories.

If you could clearly come up in your mind with what do these people or these team members need to know right now that they don't know? Fears. What are they worried about or concerned about or distraught by or keeping them up at night?

Not terrified like going to a horror movie, but what are those negatives that come into their thinking and how could you address or help them? And then the victories, what are the things that are working? What are the good things that are going on now that you could reinforce? And if you would think of those things, because if you're going to be doing presentations or meetings, you're going to have six words that will never be said to you. And Tommy, you're never going to hear these six words.

As successful as you are is what you do. Are you ready for the six words? I'm ready. Talk as long as you want. Now, if we said that to Tommy right now,

I mean, it's a little after five in the afternoon on a Wednesday. If we said, tell us everything you know about life, business success. I think we'd be here two weeks from now. You'd still be talking. You haven't repeated anything. Nobody's going to have you talk for two weeks. So this is a system that we've developed in our ultimate speaking system. How do you know what to talk about at a team meeting or at a B&I meeting or with a client?

needs, fears, and what do they need to know? What are they concerned about? And what are their successes or positives or victories? And if you do that, you're going to really tune in to what's important to them. And I've

Been involved in a lot of big corporate team meetings at national events. And the CEO goes up and talks about stock prices. And I turned to somebody next to me. I said, do you have stock in the company? Oh, no. Well, then there's no relevancy to that. They think it's important as an officer. But the team doesn't care. They don't have stock.

So what's important to the people on your team? And how do you find that out? You ask people, hey, we're having a meeting on Friday. What are some things that I should be addressing as your leader that the guys and gals are talking about that I can handle? And then opening it up to questions is being open, which is what you are. You're so open to feedback. That's why it's such a pleasure coaching you is because you're open to feedback because you know what you know and you know what you don't know.

And it's a learned skill. Everything we're talking about, whether it's in running a business, whether it's sales, whether it's speaking, these are all learned skills.

You're not born. No, I certainly wasn't. I mean, at 28, literally, I couldn't do anything when it came to speaking. But you can learn it if it's important to you to overcome some of those things that are standing in your way. And it's being yourself. That's what's so good about this guy. He's always Tommy. There's no acting involved. You don't want to be a performer. You don't want to be like some stage performer. Because what is an actor? Somebody who has the ability to pretend there's somebody they're not.

That's the last thing a leader needs is to be somebody they're not.

You need to be somebody that you are. And that's by just being yourself. And if there are some negatives, you just bring it up. Like if you're dull and boring and monotone, bring it up. I don't think I've told you the boring Bob story, have I? No. No. Well, this would be a good example because you mentioned you're not afraid to speak, but you know that's the number one fear, at least in the top 10 of Americans and people around the world standing up. Yeah, they say it's

Worse than they fear that more than death. More than death, right. Jerry Seinfeld has a great line. He said at a funeral, the person giving the eulogy would rather be in the casket than speaking in front of the group. So with that said, well, what if you're not comfortable in front of a group? What if you're not having the energy that Tommy had? I mean, he commands the room with all that enthusiasm, the big body, the big voice.

But what if you're like boring Bob? Dull, boring, and monotone. So Bob was at a, I was at a national sales meeting, Fortune 500 company, three-day meeting. I'm the closing speaker. I'm there on the last day sitting next to the president who's going to introduce me. And he apologizes and he says, this next part of the meeting is really bad. If you want to leave, you can go. I said, what's going on? He said, well, our chief financial officer's got to give the salespeople all the numbers.

And he's terrible. He's boring and everybody falls asleep. It's the worst part of a meeting. But he's the only one that can do this, the numbers. So we got to have him up there. And it's just horrible. So sure enough, the guy comes out and just pictures like 400 people in a room, big stage. And he has a three ring notebook. And he looks like an accountant would look. He's got glasses, a frail kind of guy, puts the book down, doesn't look up and just starts giving numbers.

And the president says, oh, this is awful. He said, can you fix him? I said, what do you mean? He said, he's got to do this every year. We're going to hire you next year. That was, I know you're going to do great. I want to have you back again. Would you work with him this year? I said, sure.

So after the meeting, I talked to Bob and I said, the president hired me to help you. He said, oh, you're going to fix me? I said, no, we're just going to do two things different. Let me write your introduction and I'm just going to give you an opening comment to make and then do exactly what you did this year. Exactly what I did. As boring as it is, everybody falls asleep. I said, that's it, because that's who you are. So next year,

The president gets up, and this is basically the introduction that was given to Bob. All right, this is the next to last part of our national sales meeting. Everybody knows what's coming. We give you the sales numbers by our chief financial officer. And every year we have a problem with this. The reason is that Bob, our CFO, is boring, and he delivers a boring presentation. Everybody falls asleep. But this year we've got a plan.

We're going to fix that. So here's the rules now for Bob's presentation. And when I say boring, if you're new to the company, if you were to look up boring in the dictionary, you will see Bob's picture next to that word. We call him boring Bob at the corporate office because he's the most boring guy I've ever met. So if you're sitting out in the audience and the person next to you starts to nod off, it's your job to wake them up because they got to listen to the numbers.

Now, and then I wrote in the introduction, point to everybody in the front row. And then he said, now, if you're in the front row, and he points to everybody in the front row, your job is...

If Bob falls asleep while he's talking, you have to run up on stage and wake him up. Well, now they're all laughing. He said, so now let's give it up for the most boring speaker you will ever hear, boring Bob, our chief financial officer. And they give him a standing ovation. He comes out with the same book that he had the year before, one.

wanders out, puts it on the lectern, doesn't look up and says what I told him to say. And he says, some of you know that Evelyn and I have been married 27 years. And on our first date, she slapped me. I wasn't fresh. She just thought I was dead. And they slapped. And then he paused, I said, pause. And then Sadie said, well, I wasn't dead, but I know as you're looking at me, I look like I'm dead. I don't have very much energy.

I don't have much expression, but I got to tell you, inside, I am so excited about this company, the year that you've had, and the year that's coming. And if you achieve these numbers, next year is going to be so fantastic.

So please accept my apology for not showing this excitement. It just doesn't come out on the outside. And then he went on with the same talk, got a standing ovation at the end. And then the president wrote me, said, we do a critique after the meeting. Highest rated speaker of the three days was boring Bob. Oh, my God. Fast forward 10 years.

I kept in touch with them. Every year, he was the highest rated speaker. He never changed his delivery, but he worked all year on a boring joke. How boring he was. And because he was, I mean, chief financial officer of Fortune 500 company, he was a really smart guy. So he came up with some elaborate stories every year on how boring he was. But the point of that story for you is,

You don't have to be a Tommy Mello. You don't have to be high energy and excitement. You need to be yourself. There's nobody worse than Boring Bob was. And if he could be rated the top speaker at national sales meetings every year because he was himself and he used that to his advantage. And that's what you can do. Just be yourself.

Do you like that story? I like it. I got to hear one more story that the audience doesn't know. So how old are you? 82 Sunday of last week. Oh, happy birthday. Well, thank you. So 82 years old. You're a clear thinker. You're in great shape. You do a lot of water sports. You've got

a couple of amazing grandchildren that you hang out with all the time. Tell me a little bit about the story because you're obviously healthy. You eat very, very healthy and you were on a plane, I don't know, 50 years ago, maybe longer. 42 years ago. 42 years ago. March 16th. March 16th. 1981. 1981. So you were 40. You were my age. I was 40 years old. You were exactly my age when this happened. And I love this story. And I think it's important because I've been really working on my health journey.

And you've really taken it to the next level. And I love this story, so you got to share it. All right. So Tommy now wants you to hear this story. You don't care. You don't care about me and what happened on March 16th, 1981. What you do care about is yourself. So here's a suggestion when you're talking. Can you put the audience into your story? So I'm going to tell you this is a technique that

that we've created on how to tell stories and involve the audience. So listen first to the story, but listen to also how it involves you. So you're right. And it happened in Florida because I was speaking for IBM at the Fountain Blue Hotel. Seven years in a row, they hired me to be their keynote speaker for these big events. And before I would get on the plane to come back to

for about a half hour to try to get my energy back because I was worn out. So I gather up myself and my semi-sweet chocolate bar, which I would sit in the bathtub with, a big one, every time and eat the chocolate bar to try to get the energy to get home back to Scottsdale, Arizona. So I get to the airport and you're coming with me. You're going to be my invisible seatmate. We didn't have TSA in 1981.

So we get on the plane, first class seat. I'm in 1A and you don't need a seat because you're invisible. So just imagine that you're invisible with us too, Tommy. And sit down in 1A and there's a guy next to me. We don't say anything. I start doing work. Flight attendant comes up and says, it's time to eat. Could you clear off your tray table? I'll give you your food. So I clear off my stuff. And 1981, they smoked on airplanes. And

And sitting at the seat 1A is at the bulkhead in the front of first class, three rows of first class on American Airlines.

And the smoke was coming and billowing off that bulkhead kind of right into my face. And I'm sure you've done this before. Said something to this guy, but not really directly to him, almost like just out of space. I just said, man, that smoke is terrible. And the first words out of this guy's mouth were, just as the food comes down, not as bad as that crap you're about to eat.

Just in that tone of voice now if I looked like you and your size and your strength I don't know if he would have said it in that tone But he said it to me in that tone now what would happen if somebody said a complete stranger the first words between you and he says The crap that you're about to eat is worse than the smoke coming at your face from row three So what would you said? What do you mean? Right?

And he says, do you really want to know? In that kind of tone, not that loud, but in that kind of annoyed, angry tone, do you really want to know? I said, yeah. So he reaches over and he grabs the roll sitting on the tray and he holds, I can still see him, holds it in front of me, squeezes it. He said, this is made with white flour. Rats.

Don't eat white flour. It's crap. He threw it on the floor. Then I'm looking at the roll. He picks up the butter. He said, you put butter on your roll? Well, you don't need it. It's crap. There's chemicals in here. There's not butter. It's chemicals. Threw it on the floor. You like the salad you got there? You put that salad dressing on?

Picks up the little salad dressing. Chemicals. Chemicals is crap. Threw it on the floor. And he said, now that big piece of steak you got, that's your mother's fault. Now he's talking about my mother. I have not said a word to this guy. I said, what are you talking about? He said, you have a mother? I said, yes, I have a mother. He said, you wanted you to be a big, strong boy. You got to eat meat, vegetables.

Red meat? I said, well, yeah. What's the biggest, strongest animal? What's your name? I said, Joel Weldon. He said, I'm Alvin Casuto. And he shakes my hand. He said, so Joel, what's the biggest, strongest animal you can think of? I don't know, an elephant. He said, you ever see an elephant eat a steak? I said, no. He said, you don't have to eat meat to be in great shape. And by

By the way, that big Pepsi that I had sitting next to me said, you drink Pepsi? I said, yeah, I drink it all day long. He said, you might as well drink poison. It's filled with sugar. Now, this is 1981. This is way before this health movement has hit the United States. And then there was a piece of chocolate cake.

next to it. He said, "You can eat that cake." Oh, I said, "I love chocolate. It's my favorite chocolate cake." He says, "Piled with sugar." He said, "You look tired. How old are you?" I said, "Well, I'm just 40." He said, "What do you do?" I said, "Well, I'm a professional speaker." He said, "Did you speak today?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "How long did you speak?" I said, "Two hours."

He said, you spoke for two hours and you're tired? How do you get tired talking for two hours? I talk all day long. I'm older than you. I'm going to play tennis at John Gardner's Tennis Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona for two weeks against teenagers. And you're going to run them off the court. And I'm in my 50s.

I'm in magnificent physical condition. Put your hand on my stomach. I said, he said, don't worry. Just put your hand on my stomach. It was like this table. It was like a steel plate. He said, no, I used to be like you because I was eating crap. I said, so what did you talk about? I said, well, one of the things I talked about was setting goals. He said, I want you to do that. If what I just said makes sense to you, why don't you try this?

Why don't you just drink water? That's all I drink. Just drink water. Get rid of the Pepsi. It's poison. Fruit and vegetables.

chicken and fish, eat healthy, and no sweets. And just see how you feel. I said, well, how long? How long did you tell to set goals? I said, I talk about 30-day goals, not a year goal, 30-day goal. So why don't you set a goal for 30 days? That was on March 16th, 1981. I did exactly what Alvin said that day. Two days after I started that, and I wasn't overweight. I was active. I thought I was in pretty good shape, but I was worn out after talking for two hours. I

I would be worn out by the time it goes to bed. I mean, that was over 40 years ago. I don't get tired at all. I don't get worn out. I mean, it's late in the afternoon. I was up at, well, 4.45 this morning because I take my dog for a bike ride before the golfers get on the golf course. I worked out with my trainer today and my yoga instructor and also did speaking work. And, you know, I'm twice the age I was and I feel twice as much energy because I'm

I only drink water, no sweets. I do now eat steaks and lean meats, but not as much as I used to, and chicken and fish. Now, you might say, well, maybe this guy's got a lot of willpower or self-discipline. It has nothing to do with that.

So here's the big idea for both you with your change and your fitness. And as you're listening to this, if I asked you, how much is two plus two? Tommy's going to have to answer. How much is four? Okay. Are you sure? I'm most definitely sure. Okay.

I know that you have generated a lot of income. Would you be willing to bet that that's true, that two plus two is three? - Yes. - Okay. And I'm sure you'd feel exactly the same way. However, going back to little Tommy, when he was three or four years old, or maybe two, there was some point in your life you did not know

that two plus two was two. And I don't know if you can remember when you learned math, but at some point in your young age, either your parents or a relative or a teacher taught you. Okay. And at some point in that development, two plus two was four. And at some moment in time in the past, you saw it. Is that true? True. And since that moment, you

You have never lost it. Did you get up this morning and say, Joel might ask me if two plus two is four? I bet it. How much is two plus, Allison? Just remind me what's two. You know, you know that two plus two is four. You don't need to practice it. You don't need to reinforce it. You know it in your heart and soul.

And that's why you don't need self-discipline or willpower to change the way you eat or drink or think if you get it. And because of Alvin Kasudo's obnoxious, arrogant, impactful presentation on that American Airlines flight,

from Miami to Phoenix, it made such an impact on me that I thought I would give it a shot and immediately saw the results. And on that day, I got four. And not once, as God is my witness, have I ever thought of having a piece of cake, candy, cookie, ice cream, soft drink, not once even thought about, not even missed it once.

Not because of me, but because of this principle that when you know what you know and have unshakable faith in what you know, you've got it. You don't have to practice two plus two is four anymore. You don't have to practice that if you take care of the people on your team, your business is going to thrive. You know that in your heart and soul. But as you're watching this podcast, you might not know that yet.

You might not know that everything this man has written in this book about Elevate and how to take your home service business to that next level is absolutely true and workable. But when you do, and that's who you've got out there, you've got people that got it.

They read this. They heard you. They saw it. They implemented. Business goes up. Morale is improved. Customer ratings are off the chart. Referrals are pouring in. The money is there. This works and nothing is going to shake you from that. And that's what you can have. And that's what you need to have because elephants don't bite. It's the little things that get you.

But if you hold on to some of these good things that you're learning from this man and these podcasts, it's amazing what you can do. So that's the story. I love that story. What is that can you have right there? Oh, this is my business card. You gave me one. Yes. So this is my business card. And in 1974, when I first started...

speaking, I wanted a business card because remember this is we didn't have emails. We didn't have digital world in 74. You had printed business cards. And I knew I didn't want a two and a half by three and a half because that's what everybody else said. The basis you asked me about the premises is

find out what everybody else is doing and don't do it. So I knew I couldn't have a business card like that. And I was down in Tucson calling on a gym to use some of the things that I was talking about. And he said, oh, I just finished in this book. There's a great line in here. Success comes in cans, not in cannots. And a picture of a can flashed into my mind. And on the way back to Scottsdale from Tucson, I went to my printer. I had him print up a sticky label

I got an eight-ounce can of tomato sauce at the supermarket, wrapped it around, showed it to my wife and friends, and they said, "That's pretty cool." And that's become our business card and our corporate logo since 19... It's a registered trademark. And over half a million people have this can sitting on their desk, most of them, as a reminder

of what they can do, not what they can't do. So what if you had that attitude? When it comes time to implementing an idea, think about what you can do, not what you can't do. That mindset is so important. And you talk about that so much in everything you do and you live it.

being around you, just feeling that. So that's what that can is. Joel, if somebody wanted to get ahold of you, obviously you're a very impactful individual. What would be the best way to reach you? Well, you can just go to our website called the Ultimate Speaking System, or you can go to ultimatespeaker.com, or you can just send me an email, joelweldonspeaker at gmail.com. That

and we can talk. Well, hopefully you picked up one idea. Remember, elephant's stone pipe. It's the little things that get you. And it's the little things, hopefully you heard in this podcast from Tommy and myself, that'll make a difference to grow your business, to make you happier, to provide greater service to your clients and customers, and to give you that opportunity that you have available. I mean, a home service industry is such a powerful field to be in because if you don't compete and create,

It's amazing what you can do. I mean, there was a plumber I worked with. He had put up on the side of his plumbing truck a flush pizza full house. And that was his logo. And he had a deck of cards and he'd give out business cards that were playing cards with his and it built it all around that one step. That's different. What could you think of to get out of that box to not compete?

Japan does that. You know, watermelons, they saw watermelons, they fell in love with watermelons because they love fruit in Japan. But they realize you put them in your refrigerator, takes up so much space, they roll around, they're difficult to handle. So if you go to Japan, they have square watermelons. They grow them in square containers. Same exact fruit, but they just limit the size by the box.

Wow. Square watermelons. That's a creative idea. So what could you do that's different? Thinking differently. Can you make it bigger, smaller? Can you flip it around? Just one idea can make a difference.

Call up the IRS, demand an audit. You know, everybody's afraid. Just do it. Get it out of the way. Then you won't think about it. Joel, I love this. I got a lot of notes. This is amazing. You're a great speaker, great storyteller. Appreciate you being on the podcast today. Well, pleasure. And now for you, make it a great day. Thank you.

Hey there. Thanks for tuning into the podcast today. Before I let you go, I want to let everybody know that Elevate is out and ready to buy. I can share with you how I attracted a winning team of over 700 employees in over 20 states. The insights in this book are powerful and can be applied to any business or organization. It's a real game changer for anyone looking to build and develop a high

performing team like over here at A1 Garage Door Service. So if you want to learn the secrets that helped me transfer my team from stealing the toilet paper to a group of 700 plus employees rowing in the same direction, head over to elevateandwin.com forward slash podcast and grab a copy of the book. Thanks again for listening and we'll catch up with you next time on the podcast.