Justin Deese (00:02)
Welcome back to another episode of Freedom Blueprint podcast. And I'm hanging out today with James Hatfield of Live Switch. James, appreciate you hanging out with me,
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (00:14)
I love hanging out. Look forward to talking a little bit here too.
Justin Deese (00:16)
Yeah, I'm very interested to find out a lot more about Live Switch and what it does and how it helps businesses. But before we dive into that, tell us a little bit about how you got even involved with Live Switch.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (00:32)
I never meant to. I never meant to. Yeah, well, you know, I really, I've started off, ran painting companies, power washing companies, owned those, operated those, had teams and techs and crews and, you know, we were painting houses head to toe and washing head to toe as well as corporate. And I never thought I would even be in technology at all. You know, my background, my grandfather worked at a tire store. My father was a homemade guy. He wanted me to be a plumber. Grandfather wanted me be a painter, became a painter, you know, started putting.
Justin Deese (00:33)
By accident.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (01:00)
food on table that way. And really, I was born out of, I didn't understand my books. You know, like when I went to the accountant bookkeeper, I'd nod, they'd speak English. I'm like, I don't know what they're saying to me, but I'm like nodding. How much money do I have? Can I make payroll? You know, that kind of thing. And I was like, I probably should educate myself. So, you know, I'm dating myself, but a couple of decades ago, state school was actually affordable. So I put myself back through school while running my businesses, school at night, work during the day type of thing. And
learned accounting and business and marketing and I'm glad I did because it changed my whole course from home services to tech.
Justin Deese (01:37)
Yeah, that's great. my wife, so my wife and I have run businesses together for 20 something years and she is an accountant by trade. So she has a, she's the virtual CFO for the trades now. So she is the accounting expert and I was always so fortunate to have her in my corner so that I didn't have to learn it. I could make it and then she could keep up.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (02:01)
yeah, the first thing I do is like, okay, let me outsource accounting right now. Books. Anything administrative, it's getting outsourced. I'm not doing that, you know? I got an education in it, but doesn't mean I want to do it.
Justin Deese (02:04)
Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Right,
right. Well, and that's the thing about good leadership is find people that are better than you at things you don't like to do or whatever, and then get out of their way. So OK, so went from painting, power washing. Now you're in the tech world. That's got to be a little bit of a shift.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (02:31)
Yeah.
Huge shift. mean, the first jump was 20 years ago. One of my business partners, he had a landscaping company and he was also, you know, good with numbers or getting better with numbers. And he created this like expert system where you could take your income statement balance sheet, your books and put it through the system. And it would just tell you in plain language, you know, explain it to me like I'm five, how am I doing? You know, well, that took off. That was 20 years ago. And we went from nothing.
Justin Deese (02:56)
That was 20 years ago? That's impressive.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (03:01)
to Inc 500, meaning we're one of the fast growing companies in the whole country, and it's a multi-billion dollar company now. So that worked out.
Justin Deese (03:07)
that I would say.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (03:09)
worked out. And so we got out of that and got into philanthropy. So once you kind of, you know, start doing well for yourself, you want to give back. Now, what I would look back and say, man, I should start giving back more earlier. Like, there's no reason to wait until you've quote unquote made it to give back. But we got into inmates to entrepreneurs, which we take incarcerated men and women and put them through our entrepreneurship program, teach them how to run a business like we did. And that has gone very well. Thousands and thousands of
Folks have gone through that and it actually resulted in an ABC television show called Free Enterprise. And my business partner is a star of that show. He's a TV guy. And so that worked out too.
Justin Deese (03:43)
OK.
Okay, so how did that idea come up to create that program? Because I think it's amazing. But where did that idea come from?
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (03:56)
So when we were running the financial company, were always on like the MSNBCs, you know, we were talking finance, always like the shows with the ticker symbols going by, you know, we're up there talking about the state because we had all this private company information, or we could speak intelligently to what's going on the private sector. Well, because we'd been on television so much, you know, you get connected and then we've got a producer that we ended up becoming close with and ended up becoming a TV show for ABC.
Justin Deese (04:26)
have seen that show. That's pretty cool.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (04:28)
Yeah, it's cool. Yeah, I always have to the box of tissues out. So we enjoy it. And we've hired a number of folks from our programs and they work here at our current company that we bought four years ago. So we went from philanthropy like, all right, let's get back into unapologetically for profit. But this time, instead of starting in an incubator, let's buy a company this time. So we bought a 16-year-old company and we started really getting close with them. And I was running product for a while and
We are a live video company. We're only one of four in the whole world that do this. We wanted something unique when we bought the company, kept the founders. We have tons of computer scientists. And then of course you got my business partner and I, which are the blue collar home services guys in the mix with the tech nerds. And I always make fun of my tech nerds and say, guys have soft hands. You've never spent a day on a ladder like I have. But it gives me some advantages. It gives them some advantages too. I can't code. It's not my thing.
But I got a chance to work with the chief of police in Washington DC to reinvent our 911 phone call. And the reason being is when you place an emergency call, you use your cell phone and you are talking on telephony. It's an ancient, you know, the worst part of your phone is your phone, ironically. But you're trying to explain your situation as a compromised citizen. And meanwhile, you're holding something that has four cameras or more in it. So the idea is why don't we just tap into those cameras and the citizen can just
point those cameras at the situation and that live video feed can go to the police car, emergency medical or fire truck. And it's called situational awareness so they can see what they're driving into. But we needed to come out with a way, no stopping for an app. If you're in a bad situation, you don't want to stop and download something, that's not going to work. So we found a way to just send a text message to you. You can tap it, allow the cameras and boom, now you can point it. we said, well, who else could benefit from no app?
see what I see technology. And I started talking to this guy in the NFL. He takes care of the Tennessee Titans NFL football team in Nashville, Tennessee. 20 years in the FBI. I'm showing him all this emergency response stuff and he's like, James, this is all well and good, I got the stupidest question. Like, what is it? He's like, can I just text my guy across the arena when the trash cans fall over and he can just show me that I don't have to hop in my little golf cart? And I was like, yeah. And it totally reminded me of having a CB radio. Now I'm really dating myself.
Justin Deese (06:52)
yeah.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (06:52)
and then the next tell walkie talkie. I
was like, it's just like that. And so one thing led to the other and we end up back in home services.
Justin Deese (07:02)
Where you're supposed to be, man. That's where you're supposed to be.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (07:03)
I know I'm supposed
to be. I actually feel more comfortable here than I ever did in emergency response. I'm not an emergency medical. If I see blood, I'm passing out.
Justin Deese (07:14)
I'm William,
man. Listen, my daughter's a senior in high school and she starts college in the fall and she's going for nursing. And I keep telling her, like, are you sure? There's blood, there's, she's like, absolutely. So it definitely takes a special kind. Yeah.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (07:30)
My wife's a nurse, I don't know how she does it. She's a saint. I'm like, no,
no, no, no. You know, that's not me. know, give me a ladder and some paint and I'm a happy man. Don't put me next to someone who's bleeding out. I'm out.
Justin Deese (07:43)
So yeah, walk us through how people use this in the home service space.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (07:49)
Yeah, so I end up meeting this credible guy in the moving industry of all industries, know moving boxes Which by the way, what a job Well, i'm showing him this stuff and because i was like wonder who else could use this stuff, you know And he looks at he's like james you're sitting on a pot of gold i'm like, what do mean? And I shouldn't have seen this but sometimes you just have to listen to your prospects and customers because they always have the answer to the test right like they know best Even though sometimes I want to feel like oh, I know best, you know, but anyway, let me put myself aside. He says james
You know, the most expensive thing I do as a business owner is I put an hourly wage guy behind one of my vehicles, have them drive out just to sit down with the homeowner in the hopes that we close the business. Now, he's like, you know what I'm going to use this for is I want to see the job first before we drive out. All right. So he's like, I want to see what they see. I'll just send them a text. They'll show me. I'll virtually look at it because he's like, I don't like driving out to every single person who calls me because sometimes I got to do it yourself first.
I got the people who want the free consulting. I got the tire kickers who want to get five bids before they go with me. He's like, you know, I just want to see a that they got a place where I want to send my team. B, they got the money. Right. And then sometimes James is like, I'm going to just bid it right there if it's an easy job. Because like a lot of times I get people that call, they already got the money, they need the job done and they've already looked at my reviews. So they're just they're wanting to know how much and when can you get out here? And he's like, so I'm just going to virtually close it. And he was right.
Justin Deese (08:57)
a good one.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (09:15)
And now we have thousands and thousands of users, hundreds of businesses all over the world, painters, power washers, electricians, HVAC, plumbers, contractors, roofers. And we're under the hood of like Service Titan and Jobber because these companies don't have live video. That's why you don't see it in any of those CRMs that you're using every day. They might have at best your ability to upload photos, but they don't have live video, tons of recorded video.
This is just something they don't have. they're like, not, again, we're only one of four companies doing this. So they don't want to make the big investment. So we're like, well, we'll just bolt us under the hood and let's call it a day. And that's what they've been doing. So it's been pretty cool to watch.
Justin Deese (09:53)
Right.
Yeah, that's pretty incredible. And so, and I think about, obviously during COVID, this could be, this I'm sure was amazing because you're limited how much you're in the house. But even now, I'm thinking, yes, the sales part of it could be good, but then I'm guessing support. So like, what are some things that people are using it for besides the sales part of it? Let's do it.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (10:22)
Yeah, I'll take you from end to end, right? Because it's
getting weaved through the entire customer experience. We try to get people to really think about their customer experience, walk a mile in your customer's Because welcome to Amazon, where we don't even like to wait two days anymore. I want to get my stuff overnight. They feel the same way with home services. As much as they want to wait around for you and meet you at their door and have you at their dinner table, they don't. They really don't. Do you want strangers in your house at your dinner table? No. You know, and plus you're
setting them down to spend cash. And sometimes it's a problem that you wish you could fix yourself. Right? So, it's, we've got to be thinking like the customer. So obviously we've already talked about, the lead comes in, whether it's a referral, they Googled you, know, they want a quote or they call, so now you're sending a text. The cool thing is as well, is it's going through the, it's not a FaceTime call. It's the reverse of a FaceTime call. It's meant for third party review. It's recording everything. So if the customer is walking around the house,
Let's say you get on property you win the job and have you ever been blamed for damage you didn't do well now You can check your instant replay just like the NFL has an instant replay You should have an instant replay and you'll get to see eyes on everything your operations team can review that video To see what the salesperson is promising in case they're promising world peace, which you don't sell. He's a hey salesperson I know you got the deal but still or if the customer said the salesperson said they'd be
Justin Deese (11:26)
yeah.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (11:48)
They're painting the shed as well, or they're reroofing this, they said they were going to do this as well. Let me check my answer. We're happy to do it, but let me make sure we bid that the right way. So you want to have that accountability to your sales team and your customer and to reduce claims and know what the heck we sold. So then now when your folks get on property, now you're going to use your video cameras for before and after documenting safety issues or unknown stuff. Like when you get on a ladder,
As an example of scaffolding, you didn't notice the crack in the window. Well, let's go ahead and record that. Say, hey boss, we didn't put that crack in the window. It was already there. Here's a video of it. You might want to get that checked out. Right? So then customer testimonials after you do the job. Happy customer. Can I take a video of you? I want to put this up on Google. And then finally is recurring revenue. So the thing that everybody's doing now is putting QR codes up on property. They're claiming their properties because
This whole going to Google thing is not that great for recurring revenue. If you're the incumbent, meaning if I'm your plumber, if I'm your HVAC guy, I don't want you to use any other HVAC guy. So what we're doing is we're putting QR codes with my company's name, my company's phone number, in this case, if I was an HVAC owner, my HVAC company, my phone number, and a QR code. Now, any homeowner, if they have something that breaks, what do they do?
Justin Deese (12:59)
Bye.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (13:16)
They go to the problem. We all have to look at it. Just like if there's an accident on the other side of the highway, we have to stop just because we got to look at it. That's just how we're wired up. So we can't help ourselves. So when the water heater's down or the air conditioner's not pumping out cold air, we walk our little tails outside, we look at it like we know what we're going to do. We don't. We're just kind of pissed because it's not working. Well, now I can scan the QR code, take a video and say, hey, this thing ain't pumping out cold air. It's making some funny knocking noises. I don't really know.
Justin Deese (13:22)
Right. Curiosity, man, we can't pass it.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (13:45)
and it'll upload it no matter what time of day it is and will ping you and say you've got money and what this is doing what we're trying to do is be a speed bump to Google I want to be a speed I don't want someone to go the water heater because what they do now or the HVAC unit they go and Google HVAC repair near me I don't want them to do that I want them to take the QR code call me first and give me the first chance at it and let's say it's a new family that just moved in well they walk down I guess this is my HVAC guy yes it is
So the race to claim property, our guys are sending out mailers and on the mailers are the QR codes. anytime you have an issue, you you scan this, we're at your beck and call. They put it the door hangers. They're slapping the stickers up. If you're an electrician, you know, on the breaker box, if you're a plumber, you know, on that water heater, HVAC on that unit as fast as you can because we want to box those out. So now I hope I got your wheels spinning on how video
Justin Deese (14:41)
Man, I'm telling you,
I'm writing down good notes about ways to use this that I initially didn't even think about.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (14:48)
yeah, and that's the whole gig is to like, we've been carrying around these cameras in our pockets for years now. We just didn't have a company that would come in and show us how to use the tool. We didn't even know how to use it. But now once you do, you'll be saving that bottom line money from driving out or even the follow-ups, right? Like have your HVAC unit, you put in the new Nest thermostat and by God, like, you know, and they call and they're like, it's not working. And then what do we do? We hop back in our truck. We go all the way back out there and.
You just hit the on button. I could have done that virtually. Right? And it happens for all industries. I got a guy who lays sod and sometimes sod goes a little gray or brown after you lay it. That's not a problem. But the customers flip out because they've never laid sod before. So it's a way to really give them that great customer experience. You're fast, you're accessible. You're given in quotes, you're following up, you're covering everybody's backside. And this stuff is like if you can send a text.
Justin Deese (15:31)
Bye.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (15:47)
you can use our stuff. Because I've lived my life on a ladder, like, we cannot make, this has to be as easy as an XTEL walkie talkie or as a CB radio, or it will not get used. So we really grind on, is this easier for my customer? I had a guy the other day, he hangs TVs, he's like, James, I got a 90 year old on this the other day. Yes, that's what I'm looking for. That's what we want. Same with your team who's got to learn how to do this.
and I'm just getting warmed up on like how are getting people their wheels like exploding.
Justin Deese (16:19)
Well, I wrote, so for me, think the testimonial side is fantastic because we all know how important that is and we also know how expensive Google is getting and it's getting out of control and it's not gonna change anytime soon until something disrupts that. And then,
What you said disrupts it, right? So they have the QR code, they scan it, and I mean, I can remember, we've acquired businesses before that are 15 years old that we knew did a good job of stickers, because there's some contractors that go, stickers don't work. Yes, they most certainly do. They work fantastic, but...
People's habit is to go to their phone. If you get them to where it's the QR code, because people are now accustomed to the QR code and they hit the QR code. And then here's another note I wrote down that I got a question about. Like, it's not too far from a body cam of a tech.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (17:18)
No, no, it's not and the fact is that all your techs are carrying phones in their pocket So we're gonna start there right before we ask you got to wear a body cam like they're on the police force We're like, let's just start with the phone in your pocket, know, cuz I don't want to issue body cams yet Like I just I'm watching, know, but what's but you could you literally could issue and I've guys they put the they these like trays that they wear and they bring their iPad out and while they're walking around it's video recording and they're taking notes on
Justin Deese (17:28)
night.
Yeah.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (17:46)
their tablet or computer while they're walking around. It's crazy what I'm seeing, you know, but this is what they're thinking. And the other thing that our guys are really thinking about is staffing, right? Now that you've got some virtual tools, you don't have to staff everyone in your local office, especially if you're in the high rent district. And even at that, we have folks that are starting to turn to virtual assistant companies that have, like, I just interviewed one of the largest moving companies in Seattle, 8-
Justin Deese (18:03)
Yeah.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (18:15)
Eight-figure moving company the sales manager is in Poland and the 37 salespeople are in South Africa Right. So if you've been pulling your hair out trying to get good staff and your local town and you can't find it Well, we're gonna help you either go to a lower cost area of the country or go overseas and these folks are hungry They will work any time a day. They'll be live on video. They'll put on your uniform and they can go right into your systems as well
Can close can respond I? Constantly secret shop people when I'm up speaking on stage I will secret shop businesses near me and I secret stop someone with 766 five-star reviews I was on stage The phone rang ten times went right to voicemail Well the next day One of the guys that was sitting my session was in another session and the person speaking was like Did you hear about the guy secret shopping people live and the guys like yeah?
And the guy he was secret shopping is sitting right here who didn't pick up his phone and everybody goes, well that guy walks around the corner after the session, grabs his marketing guy and they were beeline and it writes me on my clock. I this is how I die. I this is how it ends. This is how it ends. And he comes up to me like, what time did you call me? Like one o'clock. Here it is. The marketing guys making all kinds of excuses. it's not local numbers. think we just didn't pick up the phone. So you're spending.
Justin Deese (19:19)
Ha ha ha.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (19:42)
Thousands and thousands on a great website your marketing all to not pick up the phone and Then you have people complaining. Well, I don't want to be on camera. Well, let me hire the person anywhere in the US who will or anywhere in the world that will Because I always ask hey how is your AI robot your top salesperson raise your hand in the room No hands go up. It's always an individual and I say how many times are you guys bidding blind just with the phone to your ear?
How does that work? Well, not very well. It's not very accurate, right? So when you can see it and the customer can see you, which is why we all go out on site, which is still fine. They're not going to not go out sometimes. Sometimes it's a one-two hybrid punch. But when you can, person can see you, you can see the project and you've been a project like this a thousand times in your sleep and the person's ready to buy, you're going to save that trip. Or if it's a huge project, you're like, I'll be out there immediately because I want that big deal.
You're just getting, and you can put your number one salesperson on all the calls.
Justin Deese (20:47)
Yeah, I mean, think of the number of additional calls that you could put your number one salesperson on versus getting in a vehicle, driving to the house, doing a one, two, sometimes three hour sales pitch.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (20:56)
and it's all recorded so you can...
Yes. And now you can share it. Hey, this is our gold standard. You can audit it in case we screwed up. It's all these layers and pieces that you can now do very simply. And my goal is just to get your wheels spinning. That's all I'm trying to do today is get your wheels spinning.
Justin Deese (21:20)
Well, you've done a very good job of that so far. I've got some good ones, some good notes. So now walk me through the process. I'm a customer, how does this work with the end user?
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (21:36)
Yeah, well, let's start with the end user first. All right, so the end user, they're Googling HVAC person near me. They're along with all the stars. So what they do, and we can talk about how to get more stars too. I have some ideas and I know there's people that have the biggest start number of stars and I can give you their tips and tricks. All right, but the person goes to the number of stars. Let's just say it's happen to say it's you. They're going to your website. That's what we all do. Right? We see call here or quote here or a chat bubble.
Justin Deese (21:38)
Okay.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (22:05)
in the corner, well, typical person will make a phone call. That's what we do, right? Every now and then you get the quote online, right? So they make the phone call. Hopefully you pick it up, right? And you say, hey, welcome to James's HVAC. James and Justin HVAC, what's going on? Well, this, that, and the other, the daggone. Okay, can I send you a quick text? Is this your phone that I'm on right? Yep. And you just show me what's going on real quick. yeah. What do I got to do?
Well, when you get that text, Mr. End User, just tap it. Just tap the text with your finger and hit allow the camera and I'm going to see you. And me as a salesperson or the business owner, I'm on my big screen and I'm watching him from my end and I can take remote photos, I can take notes, I can share my screen and walk you through a bid. On the other end, they see themselves big and you small. Again, it's reverse of a FaceTime call because they're going to walk you around.
especially with people who have bad eyes like you and I, Justin. We're looking through our phone and we're pointing, this is my issue, this is what's going on. Now, you're gonna be doing a couple things, some discovery. Like, hey, have you put money aside for this? This is what it might cost, preliminary estimate. And if you can't get all the info that you need from that video call, can say, look, I've got almost everything I need, I can drive out even this afternoon, and let's finalize this thing.
because we call this race to the face because you've had this happen. Somebody calls and you're like, yeah, I'll be there tomorrow. And then you call the morning of and they're like, don't bother. Why not? Well, I got to take care of yesterday because you didn't come out. Customers are not like you have 766 five stars. The one right below it has five hundred.
Justin Deese (23:44)
So mine was already here. Yep.
Yeah.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (23:57)
You're competing against convenience. You're competing against trustworthy. Like when they start to see you, that's a big deal. We're not even talking about following up because my goodness, no one follows up anymore, you know, after the bid, right? But it's all these little pieces that we want to layer in. But all you're doing is literally tapping in their phone number. And if you already have a system we're in the hood of, like a jobber, you just hit go. You don't have to do anything. You just hit go. Live switch is right there. Go.
Justin Deese (24:10)
right.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (24:27)
instantly video connect.
Justin Deese (24:29)
in the software, it's already in there.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (24:31)
Yeah, yeah, so we're already bolted under the hood. We have our own standalone because I some guys that still work off an Excel spreadsheet and they need a way to do this. No problem. There's no app. You can do it from your phone, tablet, computer. That's another big thing. And then, but if you already have like a jobber or something akin to that and we're under the hood, which runner hood of a lot of them, Sempro, Service Titan, Jobber, you know.
Justin Deese (24:55)
I was going to say service Titan, you know, service Titan is one of the bigger ones in our, in our, in our industry. So you're saying you are holding onto that. Okay. So then a technician, so you've got the customer side of it where they're clicking the button and they're showing you what's going on. And then you agree. Yep. Let's do it. Whether it be a face to face sales or going out to do the work. And now you're saying when the technician comes out, they just hit the button.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (25:02)
We're already under the hood there. We're ready to rock. Yeah.
Justin Deese (25:24)
in the software and it records it. Okay.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (25:24)
it. Yep.
It's always recording. So the
technician can watch what the salesperson sold on 2x speed if they want to. Right? As they're driving out, they can just hear what they know what they're getting into. Right? That's that situational awareness. Then when they show up, they're very prepared. They say, I already know what we're going on. Now let's say your technician sucks at sales. Just sucks. We have nobody because we don't ask our sales people, our technicians to do more than just fix stuff. Well, now what you can do is give them a cheap tablet.
Justin Deese (25:49)
No one has that problem though.
Right.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (25:58)
a little Google or Apple tablet and they can just hand it to the customer, especially if your tech, Ingo says a second language, they can just hand a tablet and on the tablet it says go, just a big go button. Hits go, it goes back to your customer success people or sales people. Yep, I've got Jamie on site right now, they're doing what we talked about and while they're there, can I interest you in our protection plan? And while since we're on site, any filters that need to be changed, anything else we need to do? This is called upselling.
So let your salespeople sell and let your technicians fix. So you're starting to put the right seats in the right. And this is all part of our platform. All these pieces I'm telling you about. The QR codes, the tablets, the texting, and all just centralizes so people get real comfortable with it.
Justin Deese (26:27)
Yeah.
Yeah, and so then you've got amazing speed to lead. And even if the customer is like, no, I don't want to do that.
I think that you're still gonna put them at ease enough for them to stop calling, because that's what you wanna avoid is when you finally connect with them, you want them to stop calling other people. And a lot of times if you book an appointment, sometimes that'll simmer them down. But now it's like we can look at it face to face, build a relationship. And I mean, who's gonna beat you to that lead faster than that? I think that's incredible.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (27:15)
Yeah, and once you start closing
cash on that, you're going to watch your salespeople not want to get behind the wheel and spend 30 minutes out and back. Yeah, so what they're going to do is say things like, hey, I'm happy to come out tomorrow, but I can tell you I'm going to jump on this. And if you can really just tap a text for me and let me see it really. And you'll see that all my owners, when they come back to like, James, we used to drive out every time and rarely ever do a virtual to, man, if we have to drive out, it better be good.
Justin Deese (27:21)
Right. Can I just stay here and sell stuff?
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (27:45)
It better be good for my guys to hit the wheel, the truck.
Justin Deese (27:46)
Yeah.
So on the on the on the emergency side in my head, I'm thinking about I'm going to say specifically plumbing. You know, there's times where customers called and they're in panic mode and they're like, oh my gosh, I've got a leak. And you get out to the house and everybody in the whole office is in complete panic mode. And you get out there and there's three drops of water on the ground. And the customer's like, no, it's like flooding. There's seven feet of water. It's everywhere. And there's three drops like that would be such a cool tool because now
If a plumber, because really from a plumbing side, when that happens, all we can do is turn it off. Like at some point we got to get some restoration guys in there to clean and dry this thing up. And now you could be, you know, eliminating a couple of hours of show up time by doing.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (28:34)
Yeah, walking the customer down to the
main and saying, here, just shut it off for a while. You know, we can, we can turn that off. And even if it's, you know, like I'm coming, I'm still coming right out in 30 minutes. I've still saved that 30 minutes by them shutting off the valve or, you know, calming them down. And we have a lot of restoration companies and emergency response. And the other piece you're not thinking about is when a customer is in a state of panic, being able to see a person and then be knowing that they can show the person.
Justin Deese (28:38)
Yeah, yeah, cut it off. on the way.
which for restoration is like every customer.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (29:04)
Like what's going on? Like, cause they can't explain it. mean, try to get a common lay person to explain to you what's going on with the plumbing, the electrical, the heating and air. Well, it's knocking, the van ain't blowing. It's, we've heard it all, you know? So just, it's everywhere, you know? No, no, show it to me. So when they see you, you're building that human connection. So that trust already goes up and then you're, they're showing you.
Justin Deese (29:06)
Right.
Pandalarium is all going everywhere.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (29:29)
There's something about seeing things that raises trust from just talking through it. Yep, he's seen it. I'm not just heard about it, I've seen it now. And that also raises that level of trust, especially in someone in an emergency or a restoration or a loss, and you're recording everything which can be sent to the insurance company. Right? You can just hit the share button to the insurance company, share that project, and then now you're getting paid from claims.
Justin Deese (29:48)
That's a big one.
That's great.
so then another note that I wrote to go back to the plumbing AC electrical side is from a call by call management standpoint, man, that could be a game changer. Like really and truly a game changer.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (30:13)
Yeah, and then you're also having backup staff. As I mentioned, you could start thinking about having some international backup, and these folks come in at a cost of a third or less per month, fully dedicated.
Justin Deese (30:26)
So I'll tell you what my initial thought on that is. Is the language barrier would make me nervous, but maybe that's not an issue. OK.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (30:36)
That's what we call a myth. So I'm
on the stage with a lot of these owners and because most owners would think, it's like I'm calling one of those call centers and they don't, no, no. A call center person is different than a video center person, right? And a video center person, you're hiring someone who takes amazing pride in not only how they look, but how they sound. And they'll be sitting in South Africa or in the Philippines and they'll have better English than folks you hire locally.
Justin Deese (30:44)
Right.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (31:05)
because you know the dollar goes so much further that person is probably the head of their household taking care of their entire family and they've college degree they sound fabulous they've been going to school their whole life to get that american english accent because of what you're saying things the game has changed the game has totally and these
Justin Deese (31:27)
Yeah, listen, I didn't realize,
I never thought, and I've had a virtual assistant. I've never thought about there being people that are video chat salespeople specialists. I didn't think about it. Right, right.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (31:39)
They are. this is, don't go to Fiverr. We're not talking about going to
the Craigslist of people. We're talking about going to a company where that entire staffing, here's the other thing, is you get another manager through this because it's an entire building of people that service other home service companies and they're learning from each other. So they're getting trained. They're getting their benefits. They're getting taken care of. And you can have these folks not only be in your sales team, you can have bookkeepers out of this. You can have administrative assistants out of this.
I'm telling you when I when you hear from like when I had the guy who had the eight figure moving business get up and say I've got 37 salespeople in South Africa and they're killing it.
It's just, I wanna get your wheels spinning, that's all. I'm not saying do that. You can go in lower cost regions of the country and be fine, but don't knock it until you looked into it because your bottom line will be like, thank you, and you're 24 seven and overspill. No more going to that voicemail like when I secret shopped. That is, you spent too much money to have your voicemail service be your lead salesperson.
Justin Deese (32:41)
Yeah.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (32:46)
And if you don't believe me, call 10 of your competitors right now in your area, secret shop them and see who you're up against.
Justin Deese (32:46)
when it's
Yeah. And I think, again, even if somebody doesn't want to go the route of going overseas to hire people or whatever, I still think it's a good, it's kind of good to just expand your, like, think, just think about it a little bit different and think about, other options on how to run your business. Again, not saying you have to do it that way, but, it certainly did. mean, even if you stay here and you're like, I only want to hire people in my local community. Well, now this may give you the opportunity to hire two, maybe three more people.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (33:18)
That's right. Exactly right. And some younger folks that you can train up and build up and you know, the younger folks like sitting on their couch when they work. They don't like it. mean, anyway, I won't get on that soapbox. I won't do it. Although I'm very tempted.
Justin Deese (33:27)
Yeah.
No, that's cool. James, I've gotten a lot of good notes and a lot of good nuggets here. As we kind of wrap up, any last thoughts you want to share with the listeners?
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (33:47)
Yeah, I always like to challenge anyone listening because you're already listening to a podcast. You're already two steps down the chessboard. Right? I want you to go a bit further. Right? I want to challenge you to network. Okay? So I'm to give you homework because a lot of home service folks throw this thing out the window and you can just take thousands of dollars and throw it out the window because that's if you say no to this, I want to challenge you. Go to this little site called LinkedIn. You might have heard of it and I don't see enough home service owners on it. Okay?
Justin Deese (34:15)
That is a fact.
Yep.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (34:17)
So, and they just because I think they don't see money in it. I think it's a waste of time. What I'm saying is go on to LinkedIn, get a nice picture yourself. Okay. You know, and they got AI programs out there now that can help you. I'm telling you, mine is AI generated and you will never be able to tell. All right. Then from there, put your background, your experiences, right? And what you're going to do is start connecting to 20 people a day in your industry.
20 people just hit the connect button don't send him a love note don't send him a hello Just 20 people a day you can't do more. You'll get blacklisted on LinkedIn Okay, and you can do this while you're sitting on the toilet. Okay, that's probably too much information, but I'm telling you how easy this is No, no, no, I don't pick my nose either right so anyway So you go on there and you start connecting to 20 people in the beginning one or two out of 20 We'll say yes to you. Okay, but if you do this every day including the weekends, and you should do this
Justin Deese (34:57)
Nobody ever deals with social media at that time.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (35:15)
I promise it'll pay off. You can thank me later. So after you do this a couple of months, when you connect with someone, you'll have 40, 50, 100 mutuals. And you're either gonna think, why don't I know this person? And they'll connect. There's one other thing I want you to do. Once a week, put up a before and after video, share a podcast like the one you're listening to on there. And I got this, that, and the other out of it. know, share something you learned. You're already a learner, you're listening to a podcast. So I already assuming you're learner. Share that along with videos or photos once a week.
What's going to happen for you? You're going to start now when you go to your LinkedIn feed, seeing all of these folks who share like yourself, and you're going to get ideas you never thought of. You're going to get articles. You're going to get ideas. And eventually people are going to see you as a potential thought leader, and maybe they have a job for you to do. Maybe it's a non-competitive person. You're an HVAC person, and you become best friends with the electrician. Right? And now you guys are top, you're switching jobs, and now you've got a referral partner.
Did mention you're going to make thousands of dollars from this? you will. So there you go. I want to leave that homework and you can thank me later.
Justin Deese (36:23)
I think that's great advice. What's the best way for somebody to connect with you and find out more about Live Switch?
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (36:31)
LinkedIn right James Hatfield on LinkedIn like the happens in McCoy's. Yes, my great-great uncle is devil and Hatfield and then Secondarily, you can just go to live switch live e SWI TCH comm click demo But here's the secret ask for James Right. Otherwise, you'll get one of my wonderful salespeople. But otherwise I take care of anyone listen to podcast. They had listen to James and Justin on the podcast I want to talk to James and you'll get right to me. I always like to
Justin Deese (36:38)
nice.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (36:59)
Talk to people who listen to podcasts because we're going to hit it off just fine. So I'm easy to get a hold of.
Justin Deese (37:06)
That's awesome. Thank you for sharing. And all of that information will be in the show notes in YouTube, as well as all the podcast channels. So James, thank you so much for coming and hanging out and teaching us a little bit about LiveWire and wrecking us a little bit. I think you made us think about things a little bit different. So I appreciate that.
James Hatfield (LiveSwitch) (37:24)
Yeah, thanks for having me, Justin.