EP42: The Sales Game Reinvented With Drew Collins

Uh, I do have a vague memory of, uh, feeling caught off guard and pretty freaked out about it. Yeah.

Yep. So I'm kind of third generation in the construction industry. My grandpa, my dad were general contractors, self-employed. new construction and remodeling. So I've always grown up around the tools and the trades and that kind of a profession. I didn't necessarily follow in my dad's footsteps right away. Went to college, was involved in some other career opportunities for a while. And then about 10 years ago, the chips kind of fell into place for me to start working for myself. And so I started doing anything and everything, handyman stuff, remodeling. stuff. I remember this was about 2009. So remember the recession and the crash was hitting right then. I remember sitting in a parking lot with an actual phone book, yellow pages, literally with a pen going down through every construction company and remodeling company line by line in the yellow pages, calling, knocking on doors. beating the bushes, trying to pick up every little odd job I possibly could, just grinding it out to try to support my family. I had a wife and one child at the time. Now we have three. But yeah, that was how it got started.

yeah. I mean, I was working as an independent subcontractor for some other guys. I remember I'm about an hour north of Denver. I remember one job I took for a guy. Antler, well, I shouldn't say the rest of his name. I was going to say it from memory, but nice guy. But he had like two sheets of plywood he needed replaced on the side of a detached garage in Denver. And so I drove like over an hour down to Denver, spent maybe two hours working on this job and then drove an hour home. I think he paid me like 50 bucks or something. I mean, it was. Crazy memories, man.

Well, Brad, would it be okay if I just jump back to your last comment real quick?

You know, you mentioned a lot of, a lot of people still live in, in that kind of a mindset. And I, I wanted to share that. I didn't expect to share it, but I'm glad I did just because it helps me to remember where I've come from. And I think. It's so, so important to talk about because that is why the profit sales system and hammer and grind is so life-changing to me. And so much of a treasure, basically, is because without it, I think I would still be in that same mindset. So I just wanted to mention, it's always good. In fact, I've got a pay stub. here from a construction company that I used to work for. It's on my wall right here. And man, I was working for 15 bucks an hour for those people back at that time. And I just don't, I don't know, aside from, from God somehow miraculously keeping the bills paid. I don't know how I did it. So anyway, I just wanted to kind of mention that, but now I need you to repeat your last question. Cause I forgot what it was.

Oh, yeah. It's right here on my wall. I look at it every day. It is a reminder. It's not something that makes me bitter or angry. It's just a good reminder of where I've come from and why it's important to talk about these things. Now, just like you, I mean, there's so many people out there that we run into on a daily basis that are just living that life. And there's so much more out there that they're missing out on.

Well, my experience or my training was zero. If you're asking what it looked like. for me when I sold at that time? Is that what you're getting at?

Well, the biggest thing that stands out to me was that I lived under the mindset that it was my golden privilege to bow my knee and bend over. to be able to work on someone else's home. And without them, I could never exist or sustain myself. So therefore, I needed to do everything I possibly could to make that person happy and whatever price needed to be told in order to get the job and whatever I could do to bend over backwards to serve this. person of whom I was so privileged to work for. That's the first thing that kind of stands out to me.

Yeah, practically speaking, logistically was, yeah, run around, drive all over the county, leave my wife and kids in the evenings predominantly because I was, having to actually have tools on, be in the field eight, nine,10 hours a day. And then I'd have to jump in the evenings. I was doing sales calls on Saturdays and I would never give a price at the initial visit to a customer's home or prospect's home. I would go there, take some pictures, take some measurements, shake hands, kiss babies, sing, dance. somersaults, whatever it took to try to smile and just make people like me and be impressed with all of my skills. And I would share information, you know, that I thought would be helpful for them regarding their project. Oh, this wall needs to be two by four. This wall should be two by six. And then I would drive home. I would spend hours, depending on the size of the project, typing up. a really nice proposal. And then I remember literally every time I would look at the price and go through an exercise of figuring out how I could shave a little money off of here and a little money off of there to get the price lower to help out the customer to help me get the project. Then I would... Sometimes drive back, second trip, driving back, no idea if I was going to get the job or not, to the prospect's home, deliver the estimate in person, stand there, wait for their response on pins and needles, sweat rolling down my forehead. And if I didn't do that, I would either email it to them and wait for their reply. Thank you so much for the opportunity to put this proposal together for you. I really hope you considering hiring me for your project. And then I would, you know, hit send and pray. And Brad, that was my sales process. And it's hard to talk about it. It really is.

Yeah, all of it. Yeah, always.

Not good.

Yeah, thankfully I got there. I think it was just for me getting a little bit older, thinking more about my future, my family's future, realizing that. doing what I was doing, the only way I was going to be able to make more money was either work more or harder. And I had no idea how I was going to do that because I felt like I was already doing as much as I could handle or start charging more at the point, at that point in my business and my life and my knowledge of sales and all that. So since I couldn't, work any harder or longer than I actually was already at that point, I decided, well, the only other option must be to charge more. Well, then that naturally led me to, you know, having a little bit of a panic attack of like, well, if I charge more, what happens if people don't hire me? And then am I going to have enough work? And how are other people doing it? I mean, I see what seems to be other contractors doing similar stuff to what I'm doing that seem to be making a lot more money than me. And it wasn't just about the money. It's about the quality of life that I can give to my family, right? It's about solving problems. You know, money makes problems go away. And so that's really what was driving me to try to find something different. And I kind of just hit my ground zero level of frustration. to realizing that there must be more out there to this that I don't know. And I just came to recognize that I needed to find some answers. And so I started looking, hunting, reading, watching everything I possibly could to get some help.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, so that's exactly kind of what came to my mind when you first asked me about coming on to the podcast when it comes to sales. Really, I would sum it all up into the biggest difference between now and then, Brad, is just that I feel like I'm in control and not in a manipulative or... you know, dishonest way or anything like that, but I'm not afraid anymore. I'm not afraid because I know my numbers. I know my process. I know what's going to happen most of the time. And if I don't, I know how to figure out what will happen. And so there is no more sweating and chewing on my fingernails and, you know, dancing around wondering what's going to happen. And so just, just being more in control of, My business, my sales process, how I handle prospects, clients, it's just, yeah, it's been life changing.

Oh yeah, by far, by far. I could give an example just of a discovery call that I just had the other day. Would this be a good time to share that?

So, you know what my process was like before? So last week, I talked to some prospects on the phone and did a discovery call with them about a bathroom, master bathroom remodel, and then a second kind of hall main floor bath remodel all at the same time. And found out that I was the third or fourth contractor that they had talked to. And none of the other ones had offered them any kind of a design consultation service, which is what... Basically, we charged to go to a person's home and give an actual proposal. They said the prospect told me that it was the most enjoyable conversation that they've had with any contractor. By far, in a way, they really appreciated how I handled the call. I found out that he had actually been a project manager of a different company, not in the construction realm, but in a different industry. There were some similarities there with the actual discovery call. by far and away the best call he's ever had with a contractor. And I sold a thousand dollar design consultation over the phone and we've got the appointment booked. And so, you know, for me to be able to do that all from the comforts of my home in about a 20 minute phone call and then jump back to being with my wife and kids, it's just I feel like I'm living in a different universe than I was 10 years ago.

Yeah, not only without ever stepping foot on their property, but without ever meeting the prospect and his wife in person, without ever seeing them at all. Just just over that initial phone call. Yeah.

Brad, I don't know if you'd believe me if I told you.

They actually told me they thought it was going to be more.

You know, I hadn't really stopped to think about that. My only thought was, well, dang it. I should have told them a higher price. No, that's just my, that was just, I have a standard consultation charge depending on the size and scope of the project. I think now the only answer I could have to that would be that I must have just impressed them so much with some professionalism and some level of expertise and knowledge in how I asked the questions that I asked them on the call and also how I packaged what we offer in that design consultation. So once I packaged that, they may have already had, and we've talked about this before, it's not about the number. It's about the value that we bring to people. And so they may have thought there was an extreme amount of value that I was going to bring to them. So they were expecting it to be a higher price.

Yeah, definitely. 100%. It just elevates us and separates us from the next guy. And I very specifically said I think it had to do with the questions that I asked them because there's probably a lot of people listening that might say, in response to a question like that. Well, it probably had a lot to do with all the information that I gave them. And I didn't give any information. I simply asked questions like I would if I was sitting with them at a coffee shop, wanting to get to know them as people and what they were excited about with their bathroom project. I mean, I literally shared no expertise, no knowledge, no technical information whatsoever during the call and sold a thousand dollar. consultation. And I really believe that, you know, that's what sets us apart from, from everyone else. And not that it's a competition, but it is. And I don't really care. What I care about is how do I get control of my life and my business so that I can enjoy my family and, and, you know, live, live a life that I want to live and not be controlled by my business. So yeah, I mean, I think you're, you're exactly right.

I would say I feel sorry for you because that's the exact kind of mindset that's going to keep you from reaching any further levels in your business than where you're at right now.

Well, she's a warrior and a champion. I mean, I definitely outkick my coverage, you know, marrying her. So I think I'm probably really blessed in that regard that she just is a very content, simple. wife that I had it pretty easy. She's always been extremely supportive. But we've always, prior to understanding some of these concepts, we've always been under financial stress, under tension. And we look back on it now and remember those times of where she's always been supportive of me and the business, but there were definitely some seasons of struggle.

No, no. Thankfully, I was able to, I think, just with God's blessing and some other skills. I mean, I'm always I've always had a kind of a. a diplomatic kind of professional personality most of the time. So I was able to squeak by and, you know, when you're starting with nothing, it's kind of easy to show improvements every year. So over the last 10 years, obviously I've, I've had a better year than the year prior for probably 10 years in a row now. So, I mean, we, we were gaining some ground and things. And so we never got to the point of where she was really in tune with all that, probably because she was. busy raising three kids and working full-time at home and taking care of everything that I wasn't taking care of. You know what I mean?

Well, now she's as big of a fan of the profit sales system as I am by far. And if somebody tries to mess with that system at all, she goes on the defensive. She gets just as fired up about it as anybody. So that's been kind of funny and awesome to see. But she just continues to be supportive. She's pretty amazed with where we've come in the last... couple of years for sure. And so I've just been blessed, man, to have her encouragement and support. But she definitely is seeing the benefits and the result of it. And she comments on it, you know, about it on a regular basis of just how much better things are now than they used to be.

Yep. She's does a lot. of the consultation side of things when it comes to the design and client selections and all that kind of stuff. Definitely is a huge, huge help with that. And then she basically is an administrative assistant for me. Does a lot of work with me in the office. She's learning more and more about the business side of things. I'm trying to teach her more about numbers and processes and things like that. And so she's really, she's really eating that up. We're at a phase in life right now where the kids are getting a little older now and they're all in school. And so she's got a window during the day where she doesn't have to be a mom as much as she used to. So we're definitely at a phase of life where she's able to jump in and help out some more. And it's been really enjoyable.

Oh, yeah, for sure. I definitely would say it may not be for everybody. I would definitely say that even Liz and I spent a lot of time talking about her involvement and we took it pretty slow, mostly because I was worried about myself and how my lack of organization or leadership skills, I guess, if you will, or just my process up until that point, you know, for 10 years, basically, I'd been running everything myself. So I had to learn how to. be more patient, learn how to hand things off, learn how to let go of some things, you know. And so we kind of decided together when we first started bringing her into more of the business side of things that we were just going to take it slow and kind of take some baby steps for maybe six months, see how we liked it, and then kind of reevaluate from there. So I would probably encourage couples that aren't currently working together that are considering that, you know, do something like that. Put a time window on it of a commitment to reevaluate because then you leave yourself the possibility of backing out with no hard feelings if things aren't working out or finding a different solution to it or whatever because you know there's no business that's more important than your marriage that's for sure

Yep, way less stress, way more free time. Profit sales system has allowed me to hire an operations slash project manager for the business. I'm getting ready to make my second in-house hire here in January. I'm able to take days off whenever I want, Brad. I know that might sound crazy, but I like to hammer and grind, but I like to rest and relax at the same time. So I'm not a 24-7,365 hammer and grind guy. I kind of feel like, well, what's the point of working so hard and owning my own business if... if I can't enjoy and rest a little bit of the time. So, I mean, that's all, all of that is due to the profit sales system. I could go into family vacations. I could go into Christmas presents for the kids. I could go into, you know, financially a lot of, a lot of things also that have changed for us that are all due to, you know, the concepts and techniques and stuff that we talk about all the time in the group.

Oh, yeah. It's that time of year, man. Fall. In the fall, I'm getting ready to take my wife and daughter or kind of a last minute trip to see my wife's mom and her parents, my wife's parents and family. They're heading out. So me and my two boys, they're 10 and 8 right now. And we're loading up the truck kind of as we speak, Brad, recording this podcast ahead. to head out to a, for a, for a weekend and we're going to get them out in the woods, do a little deer hunting. And so I get to spend a whole weekend with my boys and I'm going to be making money and work's going to be getting done while I'm gone. So pretty, pretty cool.

What if it's the best decision that you ever made?

We have a mutual friend, James Miller, that asked me that question last year before I signed up for a $15,000. business coaching program, $15,000, Brad. I never dreamed I'd ever, if, if, if, if my dad, who I learned everything I learned, everything I know of construction from, if he knew, I, he doesn't even know this, but he knew that I was investing $15,000 into a coaching program for my business. He'd think I'd lost my marbles. I'm going to tell you right now, the thing that put me over the edge for that. and it's changed my life, was our buddy James Miller asking me that question, what if it's the best decision that you ever made? And, you know, I've applied that to a lot of other areas of my life, not just in business or coaching or whatever it might be, but it's been a powerful question for me in a lot of other areas too.