In this conversation, Tommy and Brian discuss the critical aspects of branding, marketing, and leadership in the home services industry. They explore the importance of clarity in branding, the need for differentiation in a competitive market, and the balance between branding and direct response marketing.
The conversation between Tommy Mello, founder of A1 Garage Door Service, and brand strategist Brian Sooy, the author of Blue Collar Branding: The Field-Proven Framework to Transform Service Companies into Market Leaders, focused on the principles of brand building, marketing strategy, and leadership, primarily within the home services industry.
Brian shares insights on creating memorable customer experiences, the role of storytelling in branding, and the significance of data-driven decision-making. They also touch on building a strong company culture and the ownership mindset that can drive business success.
The topics they covered include:
Branding as a Business Asset: Branding is “the story that people tell themselves about your product or service and why it matters to them.” The core mistake leaders make is a lack of clarity. A strong, differentiated visual brand, exemplified by A1 Garage Door Service’s red trucks and Gorjanc Home Services’ signature white vans, empowers companies to compete on value rather than price, driving higher average ticket sizes.
Marketing Strategy: A successful strategy is built on the “cord of three strands.” Home service companies must have a strong Google Business Profile, a good website, and at least one reliable lead source. Tommy and Brian emphasized the need to continually build awareness and use data and KPIs (like those from platforms such as Searchlight Digital, The Data-Driven Trades) to make informed business decisions.
Leadership & Team: Great leadership starts with the owner’s clear vision, mission, and shared values. They discussed the importance of a candid feedback loop (e.g., “two stars and a wish”) and the need for leaders to focus on their strengths and hire others to complement their weaknesses. The best advice for attracting and retaining top talent is an equity incentive program.
“If you think you can’t afford to build your own brand, that means you’re allowing your clients or customers or the public to build it for you... what does it cost not to do it?”
Here are the top quotes and topics from the conversation. Listen to learn!
“A lot of leaders struggle with clarity for their business, about who they are, what they do, and why it matters.”
“It’s got to start with the owner. What’s his vision for what the business is going to be? The mission is how you’re accomplishing that vision.”
“That’s what a great leader does, is understand what his or her strengths are, and then complement those strengths with other people’s strengths.”
“You’re only as strong as your weakest link, so we need to... You might not fit our company as it sits today, or you might be on the wrong seat.”
“if everybody improves 1% a day, then by the end of the year, by the end of the month, whatever, we can see a market improving movement.”
“It’s best sometimes to have these conversations and you do two stars and a wish, so two little points of praise. But we could tweak this thing. We could do this better. That softens that critique.”
“You should praise more than you criticize, but it needs to be very honest, and we need to be honest with each other. No one should not see something coming. You’re only as strong as your weakest link, so we need to... You might not fit our company as it sits today, or you might be on the wrong seat. I don’t think that’s easily obtained, and it’s something I think every company should be striving for.”
“The people that you start with may not be the people you end with.”
“You must have great capacity planning and a flywheel for hiring and training.”
“...if everybody improves 1% a day, then by the end of the year, by the end of the month, we can see an improvement.”
“The best advice I have about getting the right people is an equity incentive program. When I learned that every public traded company and every private equity company and every VC uses equity as a resource to attract the right talent and keep them, it changed everything for me. A lot of people that put in the effort, they feel like owners, they run like owners.”
“Ownership is a mindset... no matter where you are in an organization, you lead from where you’re at and you own what you’re accountable for.” – Brian Sooy
“Our sweet spot is a brand-first approach where we’re conscious of the visual identity in the marketplace, and the story that we’re inviting customers into.”
“Marketing is like a cord of three strands, where you have a strong Google business profile optimization, website, and at minimum one lead source.”
“We’re leaning into value versus the lowest cost. We’re leaning into letting the homeowner know that we’re a partner for them versus someone just coming in and being as efficient as we can to complete a transaction.”
“It’s not about being like everybody else. It’s about differentiating yourself from everybody else.”
Trucks are a rolling billboard.”
“If you think you can’t afford to build your own brand, that means you’re allowing your clients or customers or the public to build it for you... what does it cost not to do it?”
Even if you’re not the market leader, act like you’re the market leader and do the things that market leaders do. Eventually, you become that leader.”
“Branding is the story that people tell themselves about your product or service and why it matters to them.”
“If you’re not using and looking at the data to drive your business decisions, you don’t know where that money is going, and it could be wasted.”
“Ownership is a mindset... no matter where you are in an organization, you lead from where you’re at and you own what you’re accountable for.”
“We’re building another website for the AI agents to read, and we’re doing Marcus Sheridan‘s whole playbook. We’re comparing ourselves to other companies. We’re comparing parts. We’re winning awards. We’re starting to feed the machine our background checks. We’re given as much information as we possibly can because we know what’s coming. We plan on winning that game in spades.” – Tommy Mello
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