 Everybody time Stuart here. This is smart business moves Liz is taking the day off. I think it actually this is her birthday week her birthdays tomorrow, so make sure everybody reaches out and give Liz a shout out for her birthday tomorrow, and I think she's on a cruise somewhere actually anyway I know that she's not going to be with us all smart business moves today We did have a couple of awesome guests that are going to be joining us today Diana Henley and her daughter Candace Rodriguez are going to be with us We're going to be talking about some pretty interesting stuff unemployment engagement because You know they run a natural care House cleaning service as well as press control and They're done in Houston, Texas and they do some really awesome stuff with Employee engagement, and it's going to be fun getting on here at the moment. They're having some technical difficulties with their Browser or something. I don't know. I'm not sure but they're efforting Here they are Hey, Diane and canvas. How are you guys doing? Sorry, Tom. Give me one second. No worry. There we go. We had it. We had to do an alternate plan Okay, well this works this works. Hey I was just explaining that We're kind of going solo today because Liz's birthday is tomorrow. I think she's on a cruise somewhere. Yes Left us here to do the work, right? Yes Okay Do what And let me let me try to figure that out. It's all the way up Can you not hear me? We can just not very well Okay. Oh wait that was better. You want me to talk louder Can you hear us? Okay? I can't you fine. Oh, well, that's what's important Okay Before we get started, I have a public service announcement to make I want to share some information that We can all benefit as an industry this is a Facebook post that is in the RxC residential cleaning group website if you're not a member of RxC you really need to be it is the industry trade association and Royce Ard who's a Friend of smart business moves a friend of us. I mean, he's he's an awesome contributor to the industry. He's in Washington, DC right now part of ISSA's cleaning or clean advocacy summit and basically they're up there lobbying Congress on the behalf of the cleaning industry and one of the things that they're doing is that they're trying to get Congress to extend the employee intent employee retention tax credit into fourth quarter of Last year and if they're able to do that for a lot of Cleaning companies residential cleaning companies listeners to this show You'll be you'll qualify for another quarter's worth of tax credits under ERTC, which is like free money from the government, right? and Royce is up there working hard for us along a lot of other people from ISSA and there's a link Here that he posts to make it incredibly easy to send email to your People who represent you in Congress your two senators and whoever your local House of Representatives person is and I am going to copy the link and paste it in chat And I did this and you know, I don't have a lot of patience for administrative stuff And if I've got a format of all fill out a whole bunch of stuff. I a lot of times Lose my train of thought forget what it is. I'm supposed to be doing and move on to something else But straight up this took me 30 seconds guarantee So I'd like to share that and I would like encourage everybody who's Involved with running a professional cleaning service if you own a professional cleaning service take 30 seconds out of your day and Click on that link and send something to the people who represent you in Congress and tell them you can use, you know Let you know you need them to help you help, you know, your employees and and community and No, where's time to do their job and and sign this bill Mm-hmm Excellent and and if you really want to be On top of your House of Representatives type people here's a link to another document that Roy shared of all of the congressmen who have Basically endorsed this bill their co-signers of bill so to speak and You can send them an email as well your if your local House of Representatives person isn't on this list send them an email and tell them that they need to be Yeah, so we're political activists But heck are you guys how's everybody done Houston? It's springtime. We're doing wonderful. We love we love this time of year Does that mean there's a lot of pollen to clean so much pollen my face is tearing as we speak, yes It's not just a South Carolina thing. No. Oh my gosh, can you see? Yeah, I know I'm dying here. Yeah, but it's beautiful. I love it our favorite time of year We get good growth Yeah, yeah, it seems like there's something to this whole spring cleaning thing For sure and everyone's looking for a job. It's a good time of year. It's all coming together, isn't it? Right, right Candice, how are you? How have you been doing pretty good keeping definitely keeping busy? Okay, it's better than being bored, right? Very true. Yes Never never a dull day so Diana you and Chad I guess started the business and still actively involved in it, but your daughter can take it over Sorry Tom, I lost you I can't hear you again. Can you hear me now? Let me just fix it real quick How about now for some reason I can't hear you Tom at all, okay I'm Not sure not sure how to fix that. You were hearing me a minute ago, correct? You know see Okay, did that fix anything Okay I'm sure that they're Working to address their technical difficulties. They'll be back with us in a moment. Hopefully it could be working right Again Diana and and her husband Chad started natural care a number of years ago. I'm not sure though They'll be reshare that with us diversified into based on the business they started the pest control business and there's synergy between them and they kind of trade off between the two I say trade off they compliment each other and cross promote and it's really a pretty neat business model Hi, I think you're sure now. Okay. You're good now. Yeah Awesome, though. Sorry. And so you were asking about Chad nice business. Yeah, I was kind of explaining while you guys To put break there that you know Diana you and Chad started the house clean business a number of years ago Decided that pest control would be an interesting way to diversify Their complementary businesses you kind of cross promote them share some resources Your daughter I guess has gotten a lot more active in managing the the day-to-day of the house cleaning business Right. Oh, yeah, she's pretty much taken that over 95% probably we don't really do the day-to-day stuff anymore and Yeah, and the pest control is fabulous. I mean, you know We we do cross promote so when somebody books a clean we go right into and by the way So that's really nice Yeah, we we're pretty we're we've pulled away a bit from the cleaning. Okay. Yeah Thank you. Thankfully if any of you have ever had the opportunity to meet Diana she has a sparking personality very, you know outgoing and exciting and I would be excited to to work for Diana and She's gonna along with can to share with us some of your tricks techniques hacks in terms of how they Create employee engagement with them. I guess both the house cleaning and the pest control business Well, you know, we actually were talking the one thing that I do for cleaning still that I keep as my primary job is is Hiring I do all the hiring. That's the one thing I grew and so Candice and I I was asking her so so You know, we have major employee disgruntled employee issues for a lot of years We just could not figure it out. We thought we were super nice and that that was That was key and that they would just be grateful for a job I guess and that wasn't the case of Candice mentioned. I think he said something about three years ago or so We had a big turnaround. Yeah, I was about three three and a half years ago. I noticed we had some PTSD from Employees no-call no-show It was becoming kind of a thing. We didn't know who would actually start and who actually wouldn't and I was kind of tired of It was kind of putting a cloud over the trainers and I was you know, kind of tired of it always being kind of brought up and Making kind of a joke out of up. They're gone again and never hearing from them. So I decided that I wanted to do something different and Just start to change how I worked with the employees And now I was talking about it with my office manager Yesterday, I don't think it's been well over a year since we've had an employee leave that didn't communicate with us or We don't they don't leave no no calls and no shows are not a thing anymore Mated as it's not a thing anymore. That's just not it doesn't happen like that anymore My attention You know what I think You know what I think a couple of the changes is It starts in the interview and in the interview process I asked them have you ever no call no show and And then sometimes the answer is yes and sometimes it's no and then if it is yes I ask them what were the circumstances around that what made you do that and so then I always Tell them either then or at the end when I'm talking about, you know, how we move forward with our process I tell them hey We over communicate we we are high communicators at natural care cleaning We're high communicators. And so I commit to you and then these are the words I use I commit to you that if I have any concerns or Worries or anything I'm gonna come straight to you and talk to you about it You're gonna know if anybody if we have any if if the trainer felt like they say, you know See a red flag or what we're gonna have a conversation with you about so I commit to you that if I have any concerns I'm gonna come to you about it. Can you commit to me that you'll do the same? Okay, well, I also think it's how you do the we did change the interview process As well and I also think from what I hear on the cleaning tech. It's the way she presents the Interviewing process as well. It's not just reading anymore in the past. You have to read everything. It's not just talking It's a very visual Videos there's do you understand? It's a it's a whole different process of interviewing and it's really You know, we would have employees leave because they didn't understand they'd get their first paycheck and they're upset or They thought she said this or well Diana said this and and we just don't have that anymore. It's very transparent very clear So so tell tell me about that you you have videos that you show Candidates as part of the interview process. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so I send them a video If it's somebody that I like and I want to invite them for an interview. I send them a video and the video is I Am very well, Tom, you know me I talk a lot You know, I'm gonna get the point across one way for the other so but the video is very helpful because I Show them this is exactly how you're getting paid. So we pay percentage and so it's really hard for people to understand Here's how you get paid and there's here's a picture of a house. Here's a picture of a car Here's a picture of a house this clock and a clock out all this time This is how you get paid, but then I also show them a payroll report And so I refresh this video Periodically and I run a payroll report and I say, okay, let's look and see what they did on this week Okay, so it looks like my my full-time employees made this much This is how many tips they made and they can't see the names, but they can see everything else They can see tips who was bonused how much their weekly pay was what their hourly pay was and then When I interview them I say what do you think about that video? Did you understand our pay structure? There is a rare bird that can explain to me at that point how we get paid so then we review it again and Say, okay So this is percentage pay is what it's called and this is what it means And did you know that if you get your bonus, that's another $1.50 an hour and did you know? Look at this. They're making anywhere from 30 to 50 to $60 in tips and can use oh look at these people down here That didn't get their bonus. They didn't get any tips So we go into full Explanation, you know during the process because because Candice is right. We would lose people They didn't understand the pay structure. They were frustrated, you know, and so I just I Find that we need to just say it over and over again So the workflow on that I fill out an application Imagine there's some online process And you take a look at you think I don't know time might be able to clean some homes What what's the what's the process at that point? So we actually I was a hundred percent into it and indeed until recently You know, I used to do big group interviews and so it was all very automated But I never got a good look at their resume. So I didn't like that And it was a waste of my time. I felt like so now it's automated again We recently Automated it again. And so they go, you know, I send them over to our online application They fill it out and then I just click Yes in my and keep infusions off And then it starts sending them their text messages and emails inviting them to watch this video Hey, I you know would love to see I'd love to see you Can you go look at this video and if it sounds good to you then click on my calendar and make an appointment with me So the video it explains percentage pay and how all of that works. You see Before you even have a discussion before I have a discussion I want them to be really clear on what kind of interview and you know what I hear a lot is What I hear is a lot of people saying that Indeed is full of scammers Right or the jobs aren't real clear or they took a customer service job, and it's not a customer service job It's a sales position. You know, so I think people are very distrustful. I heard Candace An employee had questions about her payroll and I saw her messaging Candace about it and she was she was like, you know, I'm not trying to cause trouble by asking about my paycheck That was her attitude and we were like, oh man, you know like bless your heart. No, that's your money Ask all the questions you need to ask, but I think people don't aren't very trustworthy You know, I think there's a lot a lack of trust out there and so We had a company meeting and we were talking about that because I wanted to bring up this person asking about her paycheck And no, you know, we encourage you if you have any questions or what if this is your money You're working hard for this and we want to be 100% transparent and that's key for us open Actually, especially if you're talking percentage pay because that sounds a lot like commission And it's like, you know, if I don't sell anything do I not make any money type stuff? I mean it Yeah, that raises a lot of flags when you start going down that path It does and it's and there's a lot of scary, you know, fake jobs on indeed and we have to compete with that So but you still I presume you still use indeed to recruit candidates. I do I still use indeed, but I think You know, I think just being so open and friendly and Adding that transparency just kind of gives us a leg up Okay, you know, because they're seeing when I'm telling you hey look you're gonna make 18 bucks an hour I can prove this to you So I'm saying it I'm gonna give you the proof and now you're gonna go work with people that are actually doing it They're gonna reiterate that so So, yeah, it's it's it's really it's changed a lot the last couple of years just our relationship and it's so crazy Not that we don't have employee issues But they're not Because we certainly still make mistakes Right. We don't tackle an issue as quickly or we don't really love having those unpleasant conversations So we might procrastinate a little bit on that sometimes But by and large We're just not making those big mistakes Right, okay So it sounds like that this rigorous interviewing process is kind of One of the keys to get employing engagement, which I guess it kind of makes sense if you make a good hire Your odds of getting a good outcome go up a lot Yeah, and so I actually took over onboarding In the beginning of coveted because the person who was doing it was no longer with us And I went ahead and took it over and one thing I do is I go right back to that video And I pull it up again And I say come sit right next to me sit on my side of my desk Let's go over and I go through each page with them And uh, I start in the beginning of the PowerPoint and I just go through and I Re go over everything Um, I take that same PowerPoint that first paycheck and I bring them in again and I pull up their Online summary and I say okay, let's pull it up. Do you want to do it on your phone on my computer? Okay, let's look at the PowerPoint. Let's go over it again And then that following friday. I do it one more time. Okay, you've had two paychecks the first one You know, which kind of you know, you may have started midweek. Here's the full week Let's review it and see what you think questions anything so Because we would have some people get their first paycheck and they felt like they worked really hard And then they saw it may not realize it was only three days And then they would be upset Yeah, because then I guess they worked the full following week At first paycheck. I'm like gee whiz. I've been here, you know, Right. Yes, and I didn't make very much because yeah for two of them Yeah, so I actually keep a calendar On my desktop as the background and I include it says pay dates on there So I show them again very visual. So here's where you started So it looks like it was three days here this week will be five days And so I make sure that within the two weeks of them being there We've had three conversations about the power point and I go over each home making sure You know that they're fully understanding if everything's transparent about where they're getting it What's going on how they're getting it and then going forward It seems like a lot doesn't it like we're talking to them a lot But but because we're both doing it and there's a lot of visuals and there's video and all that It doesn't feel like a lot Well, you know If you just look at the numbers the turnover numbers and look at The number the likelihood of somebody leaving like in the first 30 days is You know is the highest and you can get them through 30 days Then if you can get them to 90 days things are starting to look really good at that point So it makes sense that you want to be talking to to to people on a very regular basis When they first started with you because that's when they're at risk And we kind of the last maybe Two months we've had a high We've had more people leave, but that's that was on purpose. So we raised our expectations You know and started, you know We have a quality manager who is sweet as pie and would go But she really likes these people and she just knows they're trying so hard And it took me a while to convince her that that was that was definitely affecting her bonus Her, you know Work hard scores you see these unhappy customers Right. Hey, it's amazing how her week frees up when she's not chasing bad quality. And so You know the last uh, I want to say maybe two or three months She has you know kind of held people to the standards a little stronger and so Uh, I I tried not to let that you know I can't let that kind of separation somebody separating from our company bother me You know when i'm looking at my employee attrition numbers because that that needs to happen This is a hard job I don't I never lose fact. I never lose that fact. This is a hard job It's kind of funny because you're just looking at the high level. You know, you got to find people who want to clean homes You got to find Homes to clean and you kind of mix them up and schedule and dispatch and you clean You know, I mean you can explain it like 25 words or less. It doesn't sound that hard. I know, but it is Yeah I mean The cleaning part's hard and we acknowledge that and I go through that part in the interview process too Not in a way that I want to Scare them away, but I just let you know, I make sure they understand. This is very physical If you if they've worked in restaurants, I never worry about them I never worry about them because they've been on their feet running around for a full shift So I don't really worry about them too much Other jobs I Go into a bit more detail and we tell them how to take epsom salt baths and your body's gonna hurt and expect some discomfort for a week or two and You know every now and then now we'll have somebody that said Actually, we just had somebody Who had two damages her first week and she was very unhappy about it And she told me you said during the interview process that this job is harder than people think it is Yes, and I didn't believe you but now I believe you But she's still here. She is still here. I mean he's doing better. I know I had to talk her off the ledge So maybe maybe part of that is setting the expectation that it feels really hard right now But if you can hang with us a few weeks You know week it'll be a little bit easier and you look back on it It won't seem hard at all, but you just got to get there from here And you know I tell them that that the first couple of weeks your body That's going to be the biggest thing to you is is is how your body feels But then after that you're never going to think about it again You know once you've been doing it for a while the physical part of it is the least It's not the big problem. Then it's things like Managing your time or communicating fully with the office. And so you know the first couple of weeks Let's look for some body aches and some discomfort and then after that Let's talk about you know Not getting all stressed out and anxious, but just keeping a good click and paying attention and things like that That that seems to that seems to help too They need you know the same with our clients. We we have to be very clear on what to expect You know could you could you argue that a benefit of being a professional house cleaner is it will keep you more fit? I mean part of the whole process is i'm tired. I'm sore, but you know after doing it for 30 days It doesn't feel as hard as it used to I mean Yeah, one of my dad folks is you can cancel your gym membership now. We are your gym. You're getting paid work out Yeah, you don't have to pay us we asked during a company meeting one time We went around the room and asked everybody What is the hardest part of this job and what's the you know? What part is the hardest part and what part do you love the most? And not one person said the hardest part was the physical part on their body You know these people had all been with us for a while and nobody Said a word about my body hurts. They said things like I don't like sitting in traffic or You know, I don't like walking into a household. I don't know what to expect. They said I don't you know, I get stressed out about how much time the home is supposed to be things like that You know, but those are things that we start we start coaching them, you know on week three and four Yeah, that's um That's interesting because there's a lot of in any one of those things that people don't like could In contribute to a lack of employee engagement and could you know lead to to to hire turnover? So What are some of the things You know when you you get that feedback about being stuck in traffic or going into a home that that You don't uh, you're familiar with are there Ways to I mean that's kind of a thing if you could make that better then you're going to have happier employees too, right? So how do you is a what can you offer to to to deal with some of the other? Issues that that make people not like their job. I offer them Candice and uh, so A few years ago. I started trying to identify all the reasons why we were losing people and uh, one thing was, um They would It was not necessarily being heard and if they were being heard nothing would happen So I actually do a monthly survey and I send it out and it's very there's not much to it It's three things. You're really happy with natural care and three things you would change about natural care um, I sent it out and then a little bottom has a little note section and um What I sent them out I get them back it takes me probably about 30 to 45 minutes But I make a point to do something with them. I make sure everybody knows I'm doing stuff with them So I separate them as things I can change right away And things I need to get extra help or support with to change and things I can't change But I know I need to address uh, and every single time I get them back. I make sure they know This is a great idea. We're gonna we're gonna do this I'm working on this right now and I'll make a point to say hey, I'm still working on this by next week We're gonna see some changes and uh, you know, and even if I can't change them I do let them know that I've acknowledged it. Here's why I can't change it. It's a great idea Maybe next time we'll try to see what we could do with it and once I started Sending those out and actually doing something about it It made it a lot easier with my relationship with the employees because they Knew that if they came to me with an issue, I was gonna do something about it And actually when I like I said I took over onboarding When I took that over um, I made sure I was just tired of losing employees because it was super stressful on the office and I Started trading my office staff to think of the employees as their clients We need to keep these clients in our staff because you know to get the houses done We need them to be happy So we need to change the way we're addressing everything because I need the employees to be happy And so uh, we just anytime I hear anybody say anything I'm like, oh, how are we gonna fix it? It's no longer a you issue. This is when I'm talking to the staff members and the employees We're gonna do this together We need to figure this out and I started changing just my what are you gonna do or you got a quality issue or Or you know, you're having time issues Everything is about what we can do to fix it. I made it a personal Thing to make sure I'm helping them go through the process as much as I can We still have policies. We still have procedures to have to be followed But I'm going to do everything I can to get you on the right track That way you can take over and do what you need to do and um, once I started really, um Working one-on-one with their issues and really trying to if they have to communicate about something letting them know I'm going to change it It really opened my door with the employees because you know, if I have an upset employee I'm getting a message. I'm getting a call. They're going to come say how I need to talk to you They're not leaving Storming out because they know I'm going to do as much as I can to fix them as long as they're doing their part too I'm going to do as much as I can on my end And we actually changed the way we were training to to kind of fit that I know that in the uh cleaning world time is a really big thing But it's also a really stressful thing for new people Some people have you know, anywhere from a week training couple of weeks training But that's one of the stressful parts is when you go out into the team or solos You're timed and we would lose a lot of people because they would be getting off training and they're frantic about the time Or their time is not up to somebody that's been here for six months So during our first week, uh, we only follow policies procedures and quality Because realistically we're willing to work with somebody more that's having time issues Versus quality issues, you know, if they're having great quality We can work on the time, but if you know quality is bad, that's that's harder to fix after a couple of weeks So the first week we will have a conversation about time But we're strictly focusing on policies procedures and quality After the first week, they'll be introduced to time and then we slowly start to push the time a little bit more at a time Not half a person not a fool. We just slowly start to working on it Week three is when we really turn on the time They still have to push it but then that's when we start really applying the time talking to them More about the time but policies procedures and quality already passed that so at this point We're just working on uh building your time, uh, which For we say three to four weeks is what we give them for time. Most people are pretty good after that third week So your actual training process Let me back up a second Do you guys do teams or solos? We're solos down solos. So you hire somebody with the understanding that i'm going to be cleaning homes by myself Yes, so Do you match them up with a trainer for some period of time? Yes, so they will work with the trainer for two weeks And then that third and fourth week is um, they're still technically with the trainer, but it's all verbal They're not in the same room or anything like that They get put in a communication platform group together where the head trainer and the field manager are able to communicate with them They send individual texts every morning to you know, just those good morning text messages I'm here for you today. Let me know if you need anything. They do a 12 o'clock text message Hey, check it on you. And so they are still communicating more than they would a regular solo person But it's after that third or fourth week where we kind of let them go on their own Okay, but the quality manager and the training manager on week three They're visiting them in the homes quite regularly. So they're off and they're by themselves, but they're getting a visit Very very regularly if not every home At least one a day, you know, they're getting they're getting a visit So they and we tell them that I tell them that in the hiring process to you know, this is what it looks like This is what's going to happen. We're not going to like Throw you out For the first two weeks the trainee is actually with a trainer in the home They're not working by themselves week three. They start working by themselves, but people are like communicating digitally and They're they're getting a lot of attention And at the end of week four, I guess the thinking is they should be fast enough and Comfortable enough that they don't need that much attention. Exactly. Yeah Yeah, we keep a very close eye on productivity. That's one of their bonus you know, uh, that's one of the things that we look at with with their bonus and so you know That's the that's the beauty of percentage pay though, isn't it? For our home and they take four and a half hours, that's fine Just don't hit your base as long as you're not hitting your minimum base Uh, and you want to take a look and some people have told us I'm fine You know what? I don't want to make 18 19 20 an hour. I I'm fine making 16 dollars an hour. Just leave me alone You know, let me do it this way. Okay fine Yep, that's a win-win And I will say in the last couple of years we were so flexible with um Like their personal needs You know, we have a lot more part time We I I actually we have one employee that has really good quality Uh, predictivities decent, but he was late all the time and I you know, talked to him at one point and said Instead of your eight o'clock arrival time. Why don't you go to a nine o'clock arrival time? And I don't care what time You you get to your I I mean, I don't care whether you're there at eight or whether you're at nine I just want you to do what you say you're gonna do so if you're gonna if you say you're gonna be there at nine be there at nine Uh, clearly eight o'clock is not gonna work for you And so we have a later start time. Uh, we have an earlier uh in time for people You know, some people work nine to two some work eight to five thirty Uh, and we're flexible either way. We have people in college in classes because I thought okay Well, we're gonna be pretty hard and fast though. It's either nine to two or eight to five thirty But then I noticed kandace, uh, let one person She started getting off at one because she had classes and so kind of being a bit more flexible Uh with their schedule man, that's That's a game changer for a company. I think like if you're not flexible in that sense You're missing you're missing some good talent because college students in particular really, you know They'll go they'll be full-time and somebody just approached me recently when I was I go to the office once a week as As everybody else does and came and said, okay. Well, I'm part-time but summers come in I want to be full-time summer, you know, so and we're like, yeah, you're up and down the scale full-time part-time part-time full-time They do well. It's a great tool to use as well because um, I've had, you know A handful of people that once they get off training, uh, you know, high anxiety. They're panicked about this solo position I'm so we go okay. So for let's this week. Let's just do, you know, 745 to 2 Once you're ready, we'll go down to uh, we'll go up to part or full-time And we'll just take you part-time for and I've had quite a few people do that Which helps ease their Stress or their panic. So they're not gonna panic out and leave halfway through. They know. Here's what we're doing Here's a game plan after this week. We'll go back to full. You have time to build up It makes it less uh, less overwhelming and You know, I guess really, you know in 2022 post-covid It seems like the expectation is even higher that we need to be more accommodating more flexible and you know, we We live in a world and we have the technology and the tools to make that easier to do now and everybody's In their own driving, you know solos especially I like what you said to say what you do and do what you say and I'll give you some control over saying what you do But once we agree to that then You know, just you know, don't uh Don't say you're gonna do it and not do it. Right. Well, and why not be flexible, you know, I mean Why not? I started cleaning houses because I was a single mom and wanted to drop the kids off at school Clean two houses and pick the kids up from school I mean, it's a perfect job for For people that want it, you know that want that kind of lifestyle and so why not be flexible? I think it's a perfect opportunity to Uh, you know to show some grace So you just grab this workflow all the way from somebody Applies for a job and you show them a video you set some expectations. You're Really intense interaction with them showing you care sounds like you're statishing a lot of trust You're building a lot of trust with with these new people that you're hiring and you get them through this four-week period at that point I guess they're really kind of done with the Training at that point and their finals What's the trick at that point? I mean I'm assuming you don't let them just fall off a cliff. So how do you maintain the engagement and and and keep them You know where you want them to be after they complete their their four-week training Well, we do the monthly engagement as far as the uh, we send out that survey where they fill it out That does take a lot of communication on my part because I do go through and I check in with them and how's it going Here's what I'm doing about this. That's a great idea. I'm gonna approach this to diana. We're making changes That really opened up a lot of communication for me because they're gonna come to me with a lot more stuff And The feedback that you're giving them a acknowledging that Let me ask you a question two schools have thought on that some people do surveys and they make them anonymous and other people do surveys And they require their cleaning professionals to put their name on and have you guys do it Ours have to have the name on it because if you want me to make action I need to know who I make an action for because sometimes I have more questions And I bring them in and I have a notepad that I keep them in. I bring them in. I grab my notepad I'm making notes. I'm I'm very uh, I make sure they're engaged They have to sit next to me if it's a question. I show them on you know I pull up mates and so I'm showing in the schedule and a full explanation about why we can't or can't do it And so I make them part of it and I want them also Engaging in the conversation if it's something I can't do I want to well if we did this and this happens What's going to happen here? I want them to give me feedback and I want them to Fully think it out and give me the answers with stuff Some of it is you know, some of my training stuff I've changed because the feedback I've gotten from people who recently got off training and filled it out and That's how I figured out the time thing. I was like, oh, that makes sense. You know, we are losing people do time So that's really helped out a lot as far as If they need to vent or need something fixed or they don't like something because it goes over things they You know three things are happy about natural care and three things they would change And they when we we actually have a monthly meeting and we go to a taco shop down the street and so we buy breakfast and Last month and we did it I could call out three things that candice changed and and thanked them, you know in the meeting So the people who had suggestions that didn't come to the table, you know that that we didn't make I wanted them to know, you know what your change we are not going to do that right now or or whatever reason But we wanted them to know That we are taking action and one of our employees who's been with us for a year Celebrate an anniversary and when they celebrate they stand an anniversary They stand at the front and we have a couple of people say something about them And what we all said about him is that he comes to the door all the time he comes to me He comes to canis. Hey, this is what I think you should do. This is what I'm seeing this tool is not working This is how it should change and so we all said how Not only does he come to us with changes, but then he comes back To see where we're at in the process of making the changes and you know, that's something that we really appreciate So we want You know, we want all of the because some people are kind of shy and some people their changes aren't really I think you should redecorate the office was one of them, which I do it You know, it's not as relevant to their job I You know as as some of the you know more productive suggestions It would say we do get a great feedback. Um in the beginning some of it would be kind of You know, we would have sillier feedback But now, you know, I do get great feedback on More than half of them And there's always a lot of work that I can do and change and you know, I start to dress with them and let them know I bring it to diana. Hey, we need to do this or this is what they're saying Especially if you have That comes up too And it sounds like this meeting this monthly meeting where you guys get together Recognizing hey tom that was an awesome idea. You know, we implemented it and Now the office looks a whole lot better Yeah, yeah, and throughout that My field manager will still she still visits homes. We you know, we have a group chat So I do like birthday shout-out to anniversaries. There's still communication in between Whenever our staff comes in on mondays. I'm always, you know, uh, that's our chance to kind of engage I also do one-on-ones and so I go through and uh, cinema calendar need to do one-on-ones A lot of it goes over there. How happy are you form? But then I'll do one-on-ones if I haven't talked to them in a minute Or if they're in and out quickly, I'll do a one-on-one just to see how they're doing whether it be a phone call Or, you know, they come in I make a point to I have a check sheet and I make a point that I'm talking to everybody We actually I have I try to bring something on mondays Simple I just want to talk to everybody. So two weeks ago I brought everybody a Like a tulip. Yeah, like a little bulb flower I brought one for everybody because it was the first day of spring and I love spring And then last week I brought it back in a candy and so I Just to walk to each person and say hey, I have some candy. Would you like some candy? Hi, I have a donut. Would you like a donut? I'm carrying it around Because it gives me the opportunity to you know, face to face. Hello. How are you? How's your son? Oh my gosh, I heard about your mom, you know, or you know, just a really quick connection And then that's it. I mean, we don't see him the rest of the week So kanda's if she has some conversations that she needs to have we try to get it You know as much and it's funny because one of the feed one of the people's feedback was Can we not have meetings on mondays? We're already so rushed. We have to have, you know, those meetings Those one-on-ones so I noticed kanda's scheduling one-on-ones on other days You know not making monday the sacred day because they're already in the office Just having them come in the office on a Tuesday or Wednesday. It's not going to break the bank So you have the meeting where everybody gets together once a month and then you have everybody meet at the office once once a week Well, they come in just to fill their supplies Yeah, that's their day to come and get their keys or whatever they need for the week So chad and I go into just to say hi to everybody and show our faces and so, you know and to give them candy or a tulip They come and get their supplies. Is that all on the same day? Yes. Okay. Yeah, so just on mondays That's the only time we see him unless I schedule a one-on-one or, you know, the next Or it's the monthly taco Right, right and that's not on mondays because uh, we have a lot of people off on mondays We have several people that don't work on mondays. So we have we we pick the day where everybody works But if you want to have one on lunch and you have everybody there once a week and you're trying to grab them I mean, so you're not you're not getting all of them, right? No No, uh, but usually within the month of I've talked to everybody Okay Yeah, I'm assuming they're relatively short discussions Yeah, just how are things going and I let them know it's basically what can I do for you? Is there anything I can do for you right now? Is there any questions you have? How are you feeling about everything? I just want them to know that I noticed that when I changed my feelings towards I need to keep them so I need to do everything I can to keep them It, you know, what could I do for you? Is there anything I could be doing for you right now? That would make things easier for you. Is there anything, you know, how are things going with your schedule? So I just make a point to let them know that I'm available you What you just said there is Kind of obvious when you think about it, but I'm not sure many people think about it that way I really Care about you being part of our team and I'm committed to doing what I can reasonably do to make that happen How can I help you help me? I mean that is strong And it's you know, I hear people, uh, you know make comments and stuff about you know Well, I don't care about their dog or their or their You know what a sick dog or whatever, but I'm like, but I need houses done. So I care, you know If we have I treat them same if you know if there's death in the family Treat them just like I would miss miss, you know, I you know, we had somebody out this week I sent flowers. I sent a card, you know, same as I would a client. I want to make sure they know I'm here um Robin Murphy has a question. She um Wants to know about I guess You know multi-language, you know, English Spanish. Are you managing one or the other both and Does that create any special challenges with this, you know, the heavy communication that you're doing? No, because if I need a translator that's available for me. So I have several people that will translate for me if needed, but Not not it's not nothing that would be an issue We actually we actually That is not that doesn't Can't communicate English on some level. Yeah. Yeah All right, probably one of the few companies in houston, but we have a very diverse community And so we actually Can't can't hear you oh You're back. You're back now I don't know what happened. You went silent there just for a second Yeah, sorry I think every time my phone rings because we had to do this on the phone it Knocks out the audio for people stop calling you until until top of the hour anyway Yeah, I know you're busy Yeah, so interesting enough. I don't I honestly right now at this moment I don't think we have anybody that's Even like I like I will sometimes say they're shy with English and I don't even think we Shy with English right now. No because you know, you know, even no not not rena Okay Denise Just giving a shout out can this loves to change an attitude makes a great difference. So evidently, uh, did he has some history and can Yeah The before and after, huh? Yeah, right. Yeah I mean There's a lot going on here and and the details matter and the execution matters, but Just that type of caring. It's like I really need you to be successful here and it's you know, I'm committed But you know, what what can I do to help you be successful here? I need you That's strong Yeah In the beginning it was difficult because I had to change that tune and it was I had to convince myself But once I realized that I need them to be there because I don't want to stress out the schedule or keep moving clients I believed it. I felt it. I I did not want to call a client a reschedule at all or be short staff or anything. I wanted them there Because you could very easily and I've seen this happen slip into the Well, I guess we got to hire, you know, two more people because we just lost tune. It's almost like Mechanical it's there's no emotion to it. There's no You know lost two more people. Well, it figures it was about time. It you know, it just That's the way it always works and without without any You know carrying our emotion to it at all. So that probably Leaves the door open to to a lot more turnover Well, somebody somebody recently mentioned hiring You know like kind of like settling When you're hiring and my office staff has told me many times in the last couple of years That my hiring has greatly improved because I just put some lines in the sand that I'm just not Gonna settle for You know, you know, this is so silly and it's hard to believe and if I wasn't doing it myself I wouldn't believe it But do you know I ask in the very beginning of the interview are you looking for um A permanent position or a short term position and very often they'll say short term three months You know or whatever and I'm like, okay, we're not the job for you But I actually will send them over to like handy.com or something. I got well, I can't hire you short term But here's this here go to this website apply there. They'll hire you short term I love it. I mean that is Dang sometimes The obvious stuff that makes the most difference In one week I had three people tell me that they were looking for short term positions under six months And so those are three Yeah, yeah, I because I because I I I don't want to hire somebody that is only going to be there six months I'm not really we're not there anymore. You know where we feel like we need to do that It's very easy to settle though It's like I need to hire two people this week and I'm going to pick the two, you know the best bad alternatives I have and that Doesn't necessarily get you out of the hole does We have 34 employees That are that robin. We have 34 employees that are currently off training and solos Well, this is really Really awesome, actually. I think that we've touched upon a lot of important points. I mean This is almost like a Mr. Obvious type show. I haven't heard anything here. No, but I mean It's it's useful and I'm like dang that makes a lot of sense But you know a lot of times we don't do the obvious stuff, do we? System it has to be in a system I have all my questions in job form. I ask the same questions every time I track it. Oh, I'm tracking this That's not working take that out of there. That's not giving me any good information add this to it That's why I've kept it. It's kind of fun You know Tracking all the data the personalities, you know So it's all in this game And you're keeping your you're keeping your score. I guess it's you know, some people play wortl and some people You know hire, you know technicians Yeah, I'm going to stay away from wortl and keep hiring technicians For you good for you Well in the couple of Minutes we have left left here. Are there any Last thoughts that you'd like to leave this with? um You know, I think When we sometimes when we get around other cleaning services, we kind of hear that frustration But I feel like um The investment the time investment that we're making with people is well worth Right, so it just it takes that layer of uncertainty Can you there was a time when we had no call no shows? Regularly that was a regular occurrence. That was how people quit You know, they just wouldn't show up now. We still have people quit Uh, but when I look at the last 10 people that have quit our company Probably seven of them had quality score issues Right and so they're getting write-ups and they were on probation and we were going through the processes So they were leaving because the job wasn't a good fit But we still got thanks for being an awesome job and they wish it. Yeah Well, that matters because they have friends who are looking for jobs too and they might be better cleaners Well and as long as we're you know, uh, kind and respectful just be kind and respectful You know and so if we keep that then Uh, and I remind them too, you know what if your dog's sick it like if Candice's dog got sick I would expect her not to be at work that day I would expect that she would be at the vet with her sick dog And so when our cleaning technicians have a sick cat and they're in a panic because they're cat sick I'm not going to make a big fuss that they aren't coming to work that day because they're going to the vet I want them to go to the vet go to the vet. You're sick. You're cat sick So life happens does enough So we are at the top of the hour Again, this was uh, this was good. This was always fun and You know when Liz, you know told me the other week that she wasn't going to be here this week I was like, okay, I guess I'm gonna, you know, I have to work I'm to the point where I try not to work hard when I don't have to and then it was like, well, you know, Diane and and Candice are gonna be the guests. It's like, oh I'll make popcorn and set back. I won't have to do We're talkers You guys are awesome. I appreciate your help. Thanks for sharing Yeah And tom and we are really looking forward to seeing you in april We're gonna have fun. We uh, we had fun last week and we have a full house. We we sold out we have A few spots left for uh, may we're talking about uh, maize doctoral academy live of vet It's a training event for for for maize central partners, but uh, I think you'll like it. We got a lot of good feedback last week Well, uh, can't we're gonna Candice and I'll be there for the beginning of it and then I'm leaving the ads coming in So you'll see all of us just not all at once we have to tag team those Oh, whatever we're coming in for a sec. I don't know Chad and I will be there at different times Okay I'm sure you have a plan that sounds interesting. I can't wait to see that next and I can't wait to see you guys. Um, Thanks again Thank you We're done for today. We'll be back next wednesday five o'clock Eastern time for another smart business moves again, diana. Candice. Thanks a bunch. See you guys later Bye