How Alignment Day Redefined Trust and Culture at Southwest Exteriors [Endless Customers Podcast Ep. 114]

This transcript has been generated by AI and not checked for accuracy. 

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;15;13
Ryan
What we thought was happening in our sales process was not what that left me feeling like. It's truly a fraud. Because, you know, here I am, one of the biggest card carrying members of in this customers and preaching and teaching. And our guys weren't doing it. When that came to light. It was really a gut check for me, one as a leader and then two as somebody who's saying, hey, this is who we are.

00;00;15;13 - 00;00;29;25
Ryan
We really weren't that person. And so this alignment for us, we had never sat on the entire organization. I mean, I've never had accounting in the room to talk about them as customers. I had never had our installation team in the room to talk about them as customers. It was truly just a sales and marketing thing, and that was such a colossal mess for me as a leader.

00;00;29;25 - 00;00;40;24
Ryan
And so the alignment day was truly that. It was amazingly transformative for us organizationally to have someone like Allison that could guide us through that and really bring us together. It was a game changer.

00;00;40;27 - 00;00;59;21
Bob
You're listening to the Endless Customers podcast, brought to you by the team at Impact. Ellis customers is the proven system to become the most known and trusted brand in your market. You want to start to learn the principles of endless customers and how you can implement them in your business. Pick up a copy of Endless Customers, a national bestseller wherever books are sold.

00;00;59;24 - 00;01;22;00
Bob
Ready to start implementing endless customers in your business? Talk to impact about how our coaching program can help you implement endless customers to success. And if you want, experience endless customers in person. Do not miss our upcoming conference! Endless Customers live in Chicago March 30th through April 1st, 2026. Registration is now open. And now onto the show. Here's your host, Alex Winter.

00;01;22;02 - 00;01;44;23
Alex
In this episode of the Endless Customers podcast, I'm sitting down with Impact's executive coach Allison Riggs and Southwest Exteriors CEO Ryan Schott to talk about what Alignment Day really looks like, and not just at the leadership table, but across the entire organization. Alignment days are focused three hour training sessions designed to break down barriers, unify teams, and create shared by and around the endless customer system.

00;01;44;24 - 00;02;02;18
Alex
Now, Allison and Ryan discuss how these sessions of help southwest exteriors clarify strategy, strength, and trust and get everyone pulling together for a common vision. They also shared the moments the lessons, and the breakthroughs that have made alignment a lasting force in their business. All right, Ryan, welcome to the show. It's great to have you here, my friend.

00;02;02;20 - 00;02;04;05
Ryan
Yes. Glad to be here. Thanks.

00;02;04;06 - 00;02;07;07
Alex
Yeah. Thanks for taking the time. And, Allison, thank you for being here as well.

00;02;07;09 - 00;02;08;15
Allison
As always here.

00;02;08;17 - 00;02;18;22
Alex
Awesome. So, Ryan, can we kick things off with you? Can you just paint the picture and just tell us a little bit about yourself and also your organization, just so that our listeners and audience get a sense of what you guys are all about?

00;02;18;25 - 00;02;36;25
Ryan
Yeah, absolutely. So I'm the CEO at Southwest Exteriors. Super exciting company. We do windows siding door replacement. So it's exactly what I dreamed of when I was a little kid. It was either, you know, first base for the Royals or this. And so you can see which one won out. I've been in the industry for almost 18 years now, and my story is is one of I'm proud to share it now.

00;02;36;25 - 00;02;53;07
Ryan
But looking back, it you know, it's one of kind of, you know, being ashamed of approaches, you know, in the home and you know, being misleading to customers and, you know, homeowners. And so came across they ask you answer about four years ago. And when I was in the marketing director role and rolled it out to the team and said, hey, you know something I think we should do?

00;02;53;07 - 00;03;07;10
Ryan
We read it collectively as a leadership team, and the buy in was awesome. And so from that point, it was really kind of just a turning point for us organizationally to kind of move towards just a more authentic and transparent approach to selling and marketing in the home. So a lot of years of doing this and a lot of who was there the wrong way.

00;03;07;10 - 00;03;09;20
Ryan
So super blessed, lucky to the right way now.

00;03;09;21 - 00;03;13;04
Alex
That's amazing. That's really amazing. I'm sorry about first base by the way too. Yeah.

00;03;13;04 - 00;03;14;14
Ryan
You know, it's okay.

00;03;14;16 - 00;03;20;03
Alex
I feel like you're a pretty big guy, though. Like in person. I've seen you an impact. I feel like you could hook a baseball pretty, pretty fast.

00;03;20;04 - 00;03;21;26
Ryan
I my own back in the day.

00;03;21;28 - 00;03;40;09
Alex
Nice. Allison, this question is for you. And I want you to maybe kick this off. Right. We see this a lot where problems start to show up in organizations when they're implementing endless customers when it comes to buying. Can you talk about how important buying is from the top down, and why someone like Ryan, who's the CEO, should be leading the charge and how it trickles down through the whole organization?

00;03;40;11 - 00;04;00;06
Allison
A lot of times when people think about enlist customers where they ask you answer as a framework, they think about it as like a marketing framework and like, great, the marketing person, they're going to take this in. They're going to do all the things. We're going to get more leads. It's going to be really great. And when you actually start to live and breathe the endless customers journey, you see that it really is a holistic change within the organization.

00;04;00;13 - 00;04;32;10
Allison
It's a culture shift for a lot of organizations. It can be a change in process. It can be a change in philosophy. There's a lot of transparency that has to happen when you really think about building trust and coming in with that educational voice versus that typical salesy voice. And so the buy in part is so incredibly important because just like with any internal shift that you have, right or new process, you have to have people that are not only bought in, but really believe in whatever that change is or should be or can be, right.

00;04;32;10 - 00;04;53;19
Allison
So especially thinking about how your leadership team is not only going to bring in those customers into the organization, but how are they going to hold people accountable? How are they going to make sure that standards are being met? And if we don't have buy in not only from the leadership team, but the individuals that are actually executing on all of the tactics within this customer journey, it's going to go nowhere.

00;04;53;20 - 00;05;10;06
Allison
Right. So that's the biggest piece of buying is, of course, believing in it, but then able to hold people accountable. Make sure that we're moving on the right path whether you have a coach or not. Right. Your leadership team has to be so incredibly bought in, and has to bring that passion and excitement and momentum into the whole organization.

00;05;10;11 - 00;05;21;15
Alex
Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. And for Ryan, for you, my question is how did you know? Or like when was that moment of like, the light bulb went off like, yes, I'm bought in and I want to implement this in my company.

00;05;21;15 - 00;05;36;27
Ryan
Yeah. So, you know, I need perspective, right? Because I sat in those seats. And so, you know, one of the most common questions I get I can impact live. And as I'm, you know, meeting of the people in the, in this customer's network is, you know, I talk to a lot of marketing people. And so, you know, when we rolled out the approach, I was in the marketing scene.

00;05;36;27 - 00;06;00;18
Ryan
So I was not the one that was actually, you know, leading the charge. And so for me, it's a very unique perspective in that sense. And so for me, the moment was just, you know, I had seen Marcus speak at an event years ago when he was still the sales line. It resonated then, but I was so stubborn in my approach is I grew my career and, you know, and I saw the tactics I heard myself arguing with, you know, team members of how we should approach and how we should script stuff to homeowners.

00;06;00;20 - 00;06;13;20
Ryan
I mean, there's there's a day we're just started feeling gross when your tactic is to, you know, mislead and say, you know, hey, here's all these gates and all of the information that you want. You have to do it on our terms. And the consumer is just not there anymore. I mean, they don't want to buy on your terms.

00;06;13;20 - 00;06;32;09
Ryan
They want to buy on their terms. And so for me, that was really the moment of going, man, this this is where the consumer's going in there. And they're going there very, very quickly. And we've got to either lead, follow them, get out of the way. Right. And so I think that we were, you know, very much on the tip of the spear for our industry and making that shift so that that was what the for me is, is that that feeling of going, man, this is not who I want to be as a leader and as a person anymore.

00;06;32;10 - 00;06;54;09
Alex
Wow. That's really profound. And so I love that you're born in you really see this shift happening where you need to have trust and transparency and that these old tricks aren't really working anymore and that buyers are wised up and don't want to play these games. Basically. How did you get that to implement in your company and trickle down through your company as far as like getting your sales leaders, your marketing leaders, like getting everybody bought into this idea of endless customers and implementing.

00;06;54;09 - 00;06;55;01
Alex
They ask you answer.

00;06;55;01 - 00;07;10;14
Ryan
Initially it was, you know, sitting down with my CEO at the time and saying, hey, you know, I read this book. It's a really, really good book, and I get to read it. And so that was the initial pitch. And so luckily he was open to that. And our leadership team of six at the time, we took a month to read it and you know, we didn't talk about it in between at all.

00;07;10;15 - 00;07;23;12
Ryan
And in 30 days we would come back and sit down together and say, hey, this is the direction we want to go or not. It was a resounding yes. And so I think that was unique in that situation, just from a cultural perspective of who we are, you know, it resonated with who we want to be. And so from that perspective, it was actually, you know, somewhat easy.

00;07;23;12 - 00;07;35;22
Ryan
And then from there it was going, hey, do we do this on our own? Do we try to figure it out on our own or do we bring in a coach to help us do that? And so that that was obviously the bigger decision for us, just, you know, based on our size at the time. And this is an investment we wanted to make.

00;07;35;22 - 00;07;44;04
Ryan
And so the buying and luckily for us was so high that, you know, it just made a lot of sense that we wanted to work with somebody that could actually guide us and actually teach us to fish in that process.

00;07;44;04 - 00;07;55;21
Alex
We hear that a lot. I feel like I've heard that a lot in my time here at impact, where people read the book. I did this myself too. I read the book and I'm like, this seems pretty straightforward and simple and like, I can figure this out. Like, it doesn't seem that difficult until you actually start to do it.

00;07;55;21 - 00;08;12;13
Alex
And the accountability piece is really the hardest part, because producing this level of content on a weekly basis is easier said than done, right? So when you realized you needed a coach, what was your experience like integrating with a coach? Who did you work with and can you just kind of tell us a little bit of that backstory of like, what coaching did for you and for your business?

00;08;12;13 - 00;08;26;26
Ryan
What I knew pretty early on is, you know, with my marketing background, I was a direct response marketing guy, like, you know, Dan Kennedy, all the OG, you know, direct response stuff. So that was my approach. And so for me, it wasn't about messaging. It was truly about, you know, numbers and analytics and getting the phones to ring.

00;08;26;26 - 00;08;44;07
Ryan
And so what I knew really quickly is I had no slip in clue how to coach a writer, yet alone a videographer. The book obviously outline you know very, very well of how to hire one. And so, you know, kind of stumbled through that. We were lucky to, you know, work with Zach Basser at the time. He was our coach for our 18 months journey in implementing them as customers into a methodology.

00;08;44;07 - 00;08;57;24
Ryan
And so just to have that guide in that process for us was it was a game changer because, I mean, it would have taken probably 18 years to implement versus 18 months if I started it on my own, because, again, I can read an article and say, hey, yeah, that's really, really good. It sounds great, and that's a good video.

00;08;57;25 - 00;09;11;16
Ryan
The funny story, and hopefully Chris Wager will forgive me for sharing this. Our first 80% video was like 47 minutes long. Oh wow is I included everything. I was like, well, we're going to include everything without the guide in the coach. We had a 47 minute, 80% video that probably would have gotten two years.

00;09;11;16 - 00;09;16;10
Alex
Right or not. A lot of engagement, maybe some. Exactly. You'd have a lot of fall off pretty early on in that. Exactly. Yeah.

00;09;16;11 - 00;09;39;16
Allison
Alex, let me talk in here because this is an interesting point that Ryan brings up is probably old school salespeople are old school mentalities. Was, hey, we're the experts. Let's date keep this knowledge and have them either sign up for an in-home consultation or a demo. And let's just hold this information close to our hearts, pull them in, and then we can share it with them.

00;09;39;23 - 00;10;01;04
Allison
Yeah. Versus endless customers kind of flips that on its head right of, hey, you have all of this knowledge freely and openly share it with everyone so that people can just educate themselves in general. That's how you become the trusted voice, with the byproduct being faster. Sales process, more loyal customers write better referrals, all of that. And so what Ryan is saying is almost that.

00;10;01;04 - 00;10;22;24
Allison
Okay, great. Well, we've gate kept a lot of our subject matter expertise. How do we actually live this and bring it to the public in the right ways, so that it's not a 47 minute video that might not be as digestible? So it's that process of bringing in a coach really just helps. Okay, great. How do we do this the right way?

00;10;22;24 - 00;10;37;24
Allison
Like how do we bring this expertise to the world to become that trusted voice? Because it does seem pretty easy. But how do you make sure that you're maximizing all of that knowledge into the most important pieces along the journey, whether it's the marketing side or the sale side, and.

00;10;37;24 - 00;10;54;28
Ryan
Even to build on that to, you know, because the concept of truly being unbiased, it would not have happened without a coach, right? Because as business leaders and we want to say something like, okay, you know, here's our other options. But of course, ours is the best option for everybody under every situation. So I mean, that's how every article would have ended up as opposed to truly being unbiased.

00;10;54;28 - 00;11;05;06
Ryan
But it's such a foreign concept to go, hey, you know, we're actually dealing with the doors that they actually are equipped to make the decisions on their own, and we just get help and guide them. Right. And so that just was not, you know, within the DNA of our industry.

00;11;05;06 - 00;11;23;29
Alex
Ram, I love that. It's funny because Marcus says this time and time again, if you go to any of the events that we host, everyone thinks that there's the secret sauce or they're special or they're different. And the truth is, self-service is where it's at these days. People are smart enough and we have AI and all these amazing tools to do our own research, to do our own homework and figure out what's going to be best for us.

00;11;23;29 - 00;11;39;01
Alex
So if you're going to give people that information, they're going to like you a lot more and trust you a lot more than somebody who's trying to gatekeeper like Allison. And you were both saying where they're trying to, like, basically hook the fish and reel you and get you closer to the boat, only to drop a crazy price or some crazy thing that they weren't expecting.

00;11;39;01 - 00;11;47;17
Alex
And that's where the follow up events. Yeah. What other speed bumps did you hit along the way on your journey? Ryan, what else was tough? Because listen, this is it's a great system, but it's not all Skittles and rainbows.

00;11;47;19 - 00;12;05;08
Ryan
One, there's the patience component, right? I mean, this is not an immediate spigot that you turn on and it's like, oh my gosh, I'm all these, you know, that I know what to do with it. So that was a challenge at first too. And going hate it. This takes time. This is a process. Our industry is is very and it's really the podcast last night actually we're very big on make leads right.

00;12;05;08 - 00;12;24;10
Ryan
Which is where they either knocking on doors. You're going out to a to all these events. From our perspective we don't do necessarily. We call make leads. And I mean we don't we don't do that anymore. And so that was that was tough because that's a very instant gratification. Military can go out and generate leads right away. Whereas this you're truly nurturing a leads the process that was, you know, a very big obstacle for us, you know, to go through initially the pricing.

00;12;24;10 - 00;12;39;09
Ryan
Yeah, that was just that was the scariest thing when I was talking to, you know, my counterparts in the industry, all kidding aside, I mean, the most common thing was like, man, you were going to lose your job in a year. Keep the pricing on your website. They couldn't fathom that our industry, you know, for Windows and Doors, we would put pricing on our website because that was the biggest secret.

00;12;39;09 - 00;12;42;27
Ryan
You know, no one can know that market. There's a lot of our competition there to know our pricing.

00;12;42;27 - 00;12;47;10
Alex
So I was going to say everybody already knows, right. Or this has a ballpark of what your pricing is.

00;12;47;11 - 00;13;02;14
Ryan
Some of those fears were obviously, you know, pretty massive to begin with. And some of the stumbling blocks for us is we you know, what's the process now obviously is I was kind of thinking this podcast today, you know, just how much the price cycle truly played a role in our journey. And it still is today. And I'll get to it later.

00;13;02;14 - 00;13;11;11
Ryan
But the pride cycle, it was huge for us. You know, it's just it's it's the the constant going man. Like we just we stopped doing these small things and those small things were ultimately, you know, caught up with us on several occasions.

00;13;11;11 - 00;13;27;02
Alex
Good points, very good points. So I have a question here. This one's interesting. And Allison, I'm going to send this to you first. And then Ryan will come back to you for a follow up. I want to talk about Alignment Day because, Ryan, you've been on this journey for a long time, and it's one of those things where you have to continue to learn and you have to continue to have accountability.

00;13;27;02 - 00;13;39;05
Alex
But I want to talk about Alignment Day specifically. And, Allison, can you just kind of for people out there listening and watching that don't know what Alignment Day is, can you just give them the skinny on what it is and why it's so important? And then, Ryan, I want to hear about what Alignment Day was like for you.

00;13;39;09 - 00;14;03;25
Allison
We started off with buying right. And the only way for endless customers or really any framework to work is to have true alignment within your organization. And as Simon Sinek says, start with Y, right. So an alignment day really dives into, you know, what is endless customers. Why is it important right now out of all of the other times, why is it so important to lean into trust and transparency?

00;14;03;27 - 00;14;25;21
Allison
And then how do I, as an individual within this organization, fit into that framework? So everyone leaves Alignment Monday, understanding what endless customers is, why it is so incredibly important right now. And then how do they actually execute, and how do they assist in making the endless customer journey run as smoothly as possible? Right. So they're going to understand the big five.

00;14;25;21 - 00;14;37;11
Allison
They're gonna understand the selling seven. They're going to really get how all of this comes together from a marketing sales, even an operations side as well, internally, because we know it doesn't just stop with the marketing team.

00;14;37;16 - 00;14;37;25
Alex
Right?

00;14;37;26 - 00;14;41;26
Allison
The whole journey with your customers happens within your organization.

00;14;41;28 - 00;14;53;19
Alex
So true. Very good points. And for Ryan's, for you, how was your alignment day? It's a pretty intense day because it's a full, full day is the whole team everybody in one room I love it I think it's great. But what was it like for you in your experience?

00;14;53;19 - 00;15;13;13
Ryan
I know there's to be somebody that watches this podcast in this in a resonate with those. I wanted to share, you know. But really the driver for the alignment day was, you know, we lost a long term leader in our organization that's been with us for, you know, well over a decade. And, you know what I found out and what I've continued to find out more since then, is what we thought was happening in our sales process was was not what that left me feeling like.

00;15;13;15 - 00;15;30;00
Ryan
It's truly a fraud because, you know, here I am, one of the, you know, biggest card carrying members of in this customers and preaching and teaching. And our guys weren't doing it. And so, you know, when that came to light, man, it was really, a gut check for me, one as a leader. And then, you know, to as somebody who's saying, hey, this is who we are.

00;15;30;00 - 00;15;56;04
Ryan
And we really weren't that person. So, you know, I realized at the core, you know, that we said we were in a lot of things that were in us, you know, customers adjacent. But we weren't really, truly in this cosmic organization. So, you know, we were not, you know, living out who we said we were. And so fast forward to, you know, impact live and just, you know, getting a chance to sit down with Allison a little bit and talk with her and, with know her a little bit, you know, and just understanding that me, I like, you know, this alignment for us was such a we had never really done it

00;15;56;04 - 00;16;16;06
Ryan
before. We had our alignment, you know, through the coaching that we did with Zach. But we had never sat on the entire organization. I mean, I never had accounting in the room to talk about them as customers. I had never had our installation team in the room to talk about those customers. It was truly just a sales and marketing thing, and I was such a colossal mess for me as a leader and so the alignment day was, was it was truly that and it was is we'll talk about more.

00;16;16;13 - 00;16;31;16
Ryan
It was amazingly transformative for us organizationally to have every department in the same room to have someone like Allison, you know, that could guide us through that and really, you know, bring us together. It was a game changer. And so I'll share more. That was that was really kind of, you know, the mindset going into alignment day for us.

00;16;31;21 - 00;16;39;29
Ryan
I mean, we have got to truly be who we say we are. And it started, you know, that day. And I'll share a lot more of how we've continued that since that day.

00;16;40;01 - 00;16;53;01
Alex
Yeah, absolutely. I want to hear more about it. And Allison, for you, what was it like coming into the office and having everybody from accounting to sales and everyone in between, all in the same room? What's that like for you as a coach? Having the time and space to to be able to do that?

00;16;53;01 - 00;17;12;15
Allison
I wish every organization did it. Yeah. It is. I mean, to Ryan's point about it being transformative is everyone has to know and understand and like, let's just say this, right? Endless customers, of course, that's the framework we're talking about, but we're talking about bringing trust and transparency, which is like key words, right? You're telling me same over and over again.

00;17;12;18 - 00;17;31;27
Allison
But even thinking about how does that process then continue in that the accounting department. Right. Hey, they're going to send videos, right? They're going to have transparency. Maybe they have got articles, maybe they have things that are going to help educate their customers, their home homeowners through the whole entire process. And so having everybody in the room I feed on that.

00;17;31;27 - 00;17;55;15
Allison
I absolutely love it because I know that that's when the magic happens. And those are the organizations that are going to go extremely far, just like Southwest Exteriors has. Right? They're the ones that are going to continue this journey, and it's not totally dependent on me or our coaches. It really, truly is the opportunity for these teams to get together and have some of the conversations that they probably never had before, right?

00;17;55;15 - 00;18;13;27
Allison
I know, right. And I keep like giving these little like breadcrumbs of what we're going to talk about, like coming up. Right. But it's such a great experience for people to not only, like, learn together, but to brainstorm together to hear what the other people are doing in their departments, to see where how they did it before and where they've gone off track.

00;18;13;27 - 00;18;29;20
Allison
Like how do they want to change, how do they want to evolve as an organization? Because that was cool to for Ryan is, you know, he's been doing they ask you answer and in those customers for a while. So this wasn't like, hey, we're kicking this off. This is like, we've got to get back into the cycle again of doing this the right way.

00;18;29;27 - 00;18;37;10
Allison
And so for there to be like some humility in that room and excitement and passion was just an incredible experience for a coach.

00;18;37;10 - 00;18;50;27
Alex
Very cool. You got me on the edge of my seat. I want to hear some of these. You guys are like teasing that. So I'm just going to let's rip the Band-Aid off. I want to ask, so, Ryan, I'm coming to you. Let's start with good. First, what was like a key takeaway from Alignment Day or something that was like the biggest impact on you and your team.

00;18;50;27 - 00;19;01;11
Alex
You had talked about, you know, you like your sales team you thought were doing endless customers and they weren't. So you bring everybody together. What came out of that? Like what was something for you that was really like, wow, this was worth it. And here's.

00;19;01;11 - 00;19;23;28
Ryan
Why. The biggest thing this isn't even obviously around in this customer is related. This is just organizational piece of it is do not underestimate the power of removing a bad seed. You know, from the team and the impact you can have literally in a day. I mean, I somebody I could share about, you know, just how some changes simply in a day as far as how things were being viewed and done differently.

00;19;23;28 - 00;19;38;27
Ryan
That for me was just just a big part of just the openness, all the silos walking in that room. I mean, I don't know if Allison picked up on or not, but just for me, the vibe, the willingness, we're always a slow start from a team. We're always like, you know, the thing the team needs are caffeine and their, you know, their kick at the beginning.

00;19;38;29 - 00;19;55;20
Ryan
But, you know, there were there were no barriers. There was no fear of like, man, if I say this, there's going to be this repercussion. And that starts with me as a leader. And again, this is not a hey, Ryan's awesome. It's something I've worked on. But for my team to feel safe to say, hey, yeah, you thought we were doing this.

00;19;55;22 - 00;20;11;15
Ryan
We really weren't doing that. And I know you thought we were, but just the safety in that and the ability as a leader to sit there and receive that and not react, but just, you know, to encourage that honestly, that transparency like, like that for me was just the level. So like we had to start there or nothing else that transpired that day.

00;20;11;15 - 00;20;12;14
Ryan
What would have ever happened.

00;20;12;14 - 00;20;28;06
Alex
Yeah, no, that's a big deal. And when you set the conditions in the way that you did, really amazing outcomes can happen. Because I would assume that some people, if you don't set the conditions right, might go into a meeting like that going like, oh my gosh, we're in trouble. Oh my gosh, the boss is sitting us down and we're going to have to have like a really tough conversation.

00;20;28;06 - 00;20;37;10
Alex
So what were some of the things that you did to set the conditions? So people came into that meeting excited and ready to like have some maybe difficult conversations to really get after it and problem solve.

00;20;37;17 - 00;20;56;05
Ryan
Yeah, I would say, you know, it's probably the least popular thing that I did, but, you know, one was non-negotiable that they had to read the book. I didn't want Allison to be sharing something for the first time, new ideas. And and again, not that would be a waste of time. I realized it's not necessarily ideal in every situation, but if you're able to have the team read the book or listen to the book, it's not a hard read, folks.

00;20;56;05 - 00;21;09;27
Ryan
I mean, just pick up the book and read or listen to on audio. I mean, it's it's not hard to do for me. It can't start the day over the week before. It's really about, you know, leading with transparency and loving your employees in a way that's, you know, doesn't make sense to them, to where they feel safe not to make it about me.

00;21;09;27 - 00;21;31;24
Ryan
But, you know, I think the team feels safe with me in the sense that, you know, I'm not going to lose my cool. I'm not I'm not going to judge. This is true. An opportunity for us to get together and level set and get better organizationally. Just that mindset to have those conversations beforehand of what to expect and the fact that, hey, you know, the non-negotiable for me, or read the book and be an open and honest in the communication, and if we can do that, it'll be successful.

00;21;31;24 - 00;21;44;18
Alex
They're great points, and I totally agree that those conditions have to be set, because if you're going to call out the elephant in the room, you you can't be afraid to do so. You have to be willing to go like, hey, this is this is working great, and this isn't. And here's what we need to focus on to fix these issues.

00;21;44;18 - 00;21;58;29
Alex
And that's how you get better, right? So I have a note here that says that halfway through your alignment day there was a shift. And Alice, I don't know if you want to take this one, but it sounds like you were going one direction and there was a big pivotal moment. And I'm curious as to what happened.

00;21;59;02 - 00;22;02;22
Ryan
It was even close to halfway through Alison's. I'll be honest about it. So.

00;22;02;24 - 00;22;24;06
Allison
Ryan kind of mentioned it around, you know, in every organization, there are silos and there can be clicks, right. And so, especially when you've got a marketing team and sales team and, and install team and an operations team and like internal and client, is it not like facing all of those dynamics. And so as we were going through the day, I mean, Ryan's team was incredibly receptive.

00;22;24;06 - 00;22;41;23
Allison
I mean, it was it was going really well. It wasn't going poorly by any means. Right? It's like, hey, we're understanding. And we started to build. I think we're like building the sales content map. Ryan. We're just going through. And I could just feel it in the way that questions were being asked, or as people were kind of you know, body language.

00;22;41;25 - 00;23;03;15
Allison
Wait, is that what we do? Is wait, is that how we say that? And it was like, okay, wait, hold on guys. We can't we can't go any farther until we address what's happening here. Like, I am by no means a therapist, but there is something that is like happening between these teams and we just started to kind of peel the onion back to what Ryan was saying around.

00;23;03;15 - 00;23;22;17
Allison
They had probably been doing the same things so many times and had shifts in personnel, but didn't put that into consideration or shifts in some of the things. And it was like, all right, we're so many layers deep in this onion and we've got a disconnect. There is a direct disconnect between what sales team is doing and what install team is doing.

00;23;22;23 - 00;23;38;07
Allison
And by no means did it happen intentionally. It just seems like it was one of those things that happened over time. And so we just called it. We were like, hey, we can't do anything else until we figure out exactly what's going on. And so we just kind of dropped everything, right? Ryan and we were like, all right, let's do a role play right now.

00;23;38;07 - 00;24;01;21
Allison
The only way to flush this out is to see exactly what's happening in our sales process, and have the install team see what's happening live. And so we just ran through it a couple of times where sales team install team member, you know, going back and forth because they've got their expertise in each of the areas. And we just uncovered what was probably more of a miscommunication, but probably was a huge game changer for you.

00;24;01;21 - 00;24;02;04
Allison
Right, Ryan?

00;24;02;07 - 00;24;27;00
Ryan
Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And Allison's showing every bit of humility. For me, it was it was a total, like, goat like ballsy moment. I mean, it wasn't halfway through, like we were 90 minutes from the end of the day. There's a coach, someone that, you know, I mean, you know, we paid to come in, Allison. I mean, I'm not sure if we've talked about it even since then, but I gained so much respect for you as a person because, like, we were so close, like you could have literally checked the box and I would be like, hey, that was a really good day.

00;24;27;02 - 00;24;46;09
Ryan
And, you know, to have the guts to with 90 minutes left to say, guys like this is this is not why I'm here today. It was transformative for us. It so simple stuff came out that role play. And literally before the podcast today, I was actually an in a role playing session with the entire installation and, marketing and sales teams.

00;24;46;09 - 00;24;48;05
Ryan
I mean, it's something we're continuing to do. I love.

00;24;48;05 - 00;24;48;16
Alex
It, I mean.

00;24;48;16 - 00;25;04;09
Ryan
Simple stuff like, you know, we use stainless steel screws, we install your windows. Installation was like, no, we don't. And so if it's something so celebrated, maybe from from a homeowner's experience, if we promise that we're using some something on their install and we show up on site and we're not doing it like that's a mess.

00;25;04;09 - 00;25;05;23
Alex
That's a problem. Yeah, it's a little.

00;25;05;23 - 00;25;22;18
Ryan
Stuff like that. And so it was it was so transformative for us. And I think it takes real guts on Allison's part to say, hey, I'm calling it on audible. You guys have this this client journey map on your own. We're almost there. But we need a role. Play it. And so it's from that day forward. I mean, that has really been our focus.

00;25;22;18 - 00;25;41;24
Ryan
And so we're doing weekly role play now through all stages of the client journey. And it's been transformative for us organizationally. So much that has come to the head. And so next week is our first round of role playing. What's changed? So our new call center script some some new stuff we're doing with sales, installation, all that sales are being rolled out over the next few weeks as well.

00;25;41;24 - 00;25;43;07
Ryan
So it's been a game changer for us.

00;25;43;10 - 00;25;59;01
Alex
That's amazing. That's really amazing to hear. And, you know, it's funny because I remember when Marcus was first talking about role playing in introducing it, even here, because we do it to an impact internally. Right. And it was fascinating what you think, you know, versus what happens when you actually play it out in real time. It's two completely different things.

00;25;59;01 - 00;26;15;10
Alex
So if you're not role playing out there, people listening and watching, you should really reconsider it. So I feel like, Ryan, you're doing this now and you're leading the charge with role plays and you're doing this internally. But why was it so important to have Allison at least do the first one and kick it off during alignment Day?

00;26;15;10 - 00;26;18;13
Alex
Like, how did that set the tone of that? Yeah. Expectation for your team? Yeah, I.

00;26;18;13 - 00;26;35;22
Ryan
Think the best analogy that I could use for that one I know Allison has kids. I'm not sure. Alex, if you do or not, you can tell your child the same thing 100,000 times and they will not listen to you like they're cool outcomes. Trotman is like, hey, don't touch the hot stove. They're like, oh, that makes perfect sense, and thank you.

00;26;35;24 - 00;26;55;03
Ryan
And you're like, I've been saying this for ten years not to touch this. Yeah, and you didn't do it. And so I think it's just not it is. We have to be cognizant of leaders to know that it is our job at times to be boring and to be repetitive and to bring the same message consistently, but to bring an outside voice and an expert in the back of what you're saying and saying, hey, here's the power of this.

00;26;55;03 - 00;27;12;19
Ryan
It just it just shifts the dynamic. We have to understand it. Sometimes our employees probably do get sick of hearing us preach the same thing over and over again. So to bring in that third party, you know, expert to say, hey guys, this is what we're seeing very successful organizations do and it it works. I mean that that for me is a huge support tool to use to get your point across.

00;27;12;21 - 00;27;32;24
Alex
Right. So, Allison, for you, I have to ask because it sounds like you really put yourself out there, like you were like, we're stopping the script. We're getting close to the end of the day, but we really have to address the elephant in the room. Where did you find the confidence to do that? And also, how did you create an environment where it like challenged people, but it also like gave people a chance to step up to the plate too.

00;27;32;24 - 00;27;38;13
Alex
So like finding that balance of not like scaring people, but also challenged them to be the best version of themselves.

00;27;38;14 - 00;27;45;29
Allison
Well, there's two fold in here, right? I mean, clearly, like I've known Ryan for a while, he has been, like you mentioned, a champion, and his customers. And they ask, you answer?

00;27;45;29 - 00;27;47;20
Alex
Yeah, Ryan's OG, he's og here.

00;27;47;20 - 00;28;05;07
Allison
OG. Right. But I say this like, because we have, you know, we've known each other and I just have so much appreciation and respect for him and his organization and everything that they've built so far. So that was a component of it. But that's also how I approach every team that I work with is it takes some humility to to come in and want to do a shift like this.

00;28;05;07 - 00;28;22;07
Allison
And so I will always show up with that mentality of, you brought me here for a reason. I'm not doing my job. If I'm just letting you get away with the things that you've always gotten away with, and then maybe you'll get 1 or 2 things out of this, but then you'll keep going back to the things that you were doing before.

00;28;22;07 - 00;28;39;07
Allison
So I would rather put myself on the line. I would rather be the person to say the hard things and call the things out, because one, I got to leave at the end of the day and Ryan had to deal with the rest of it right? But that's why I'm here. That's why any coaches here, you hire coaches to help you be better.

00;28;39;10 - 00;29;01;21
Allison
You hire coaches to come and shine a light in the areas that you need and your teams need work in. And so I will never apologize for going off script calling out the elephant in the room and doing what's right, because Ryan came here for a reason. And that impact, we believe in growing businesses, changing lives. And there's another one that I'm not gonna remember.

00;29;01;21 - 00;29;02;29
Allison
Bob. Our flow. I'm so sorry.

00;29;02;29 - 00;29;04;01
Alex
Creating heroes. Yeah.

00;29;04;06 - 00;29;22;15
Allison
There you go. Creating heroes. Sorry, Bob. But, like, that's what we're here for. If you show up with that mentality as a coach or a leader or a salesperson or a marketer, it really doesn't matter if you can just show up with, I want to do what's right by this team. Then you're going to say and do the things that need to be done.

00;29;22;16 - 00;29;35;08
Alex
Well said. And Ryan, for you after this alignment day, which clearly was a pivotal day for you and your team, how do you keep what happened alive in your organization and continue to reinforce those ideas and like, keep it going after that day happens?

00;29;35;08 - 00;29;52;02
Ryan
That's that. Alice, the minister I mean, she's the she gets a dump the kids off all the sugar. And then I said deal with that afterwards. That one is we flush out what our client journey really looks like. It's been weekly role playing. So we'll continue that for probably about four more weeks. And then from there we'll transition to quarterly role playing where we get everyone back together.

00;29;52;02 - 00;30;07;13
Ryan
We still do that role playing that's that'll be on the calendar. It'll be something that's non-negotiable. I've made it very clear, the organization that we are now a role playing organization, and that's not going to change also to I do weekly video updates. So one thing, since, you know, being part of the in as customers methodology is just the power of video.

00;30;07;13 - 00;30;22;26
Ryan
And so I'll talk about things about, you know, and those customers that you know about our values, about our mission statement and those weekly videos and site examples and talk about the progress that we're making. So just by keeping it top of mind, you know, it's a big thing. And I actually have, I have some signs maybe made up of the pride cycle that we go on around the office as well.

00;30;22;27 - 00;30;37;04
Ryan
I think that for me is it's a huge reminder of the importance of doing the little things day in and day out. And role playing is something that you mentioned. And people, they, they cringe, they don't want to do it. And a lot of times that we found that in our process too is role playing is unexplained in your process.

00;30;37;04 - 00;30;51;21
Ryan
Role playing is truly interacting and saying, hey, this is what an interaction with the homeowner looks like. It's not well, when I get there, I do this and I'll talk about this, and this is like, no, let's have that real conversation. So I think it's important to to define what role playing looks like in this, not just explain what I do.

00;30;51;21 - 00;31;07;17
Alex
That's so true. Very well said. You have to really live and breathe those role plays. You can't do the the haphazard like half and half all. You really gotta go full sun because that's where you unearth those those conversations, those words, the certain things that you're saying you're doing right or wrong and you can adjust accordingly. Yeah. This has been an awesome conversation.

00;31;07;17 - 00;31;20;04
Alex
I really appreciate you sharing this story with us. So for our listeners and our viewers out there, this is my favorite part of the show, Ryan, for you. And then Allison, I'll come to you. What's one thing like out of everything we talked about? What's the one thing you would recommend people should take away from this convo?

00;31;20;05 - 00;31;33;23
Ryan
I would just say, if you're not role playing, start, I mean, the amount of stuff that you will uncover if you're not recording your phone calls, if you're not recording yourselves interactions, it starts there. And we do an invest it in a in AI tool that it will record all of our in home sales presentations. Now we didn't have that before.

00;31;33;23 - 00;31;48;02
Ryan
So you're reliant on this. We call ride alongs. And so obviously when you do a ride along in your boss sitting right next to you, what are you going to get the best version of your presentation? That's so, you know, to have an AI tool that we're now going to homes with, with us and that we can actually, you know, create role playing scenarios from is going to be huge.

00;31;48;02 - 00;31;52;15
Ryan
And so, yeah, so simply that if if you're not role playing, you gotta start doing it plain and simple.

00;31;52;21 - 00;31;57;00
Alex
Absolutely. And Allison, how about for you. What's one thing you think people should take away from this conversation?

00;31;57;02 - 00;32;16;21
Allison
I'm going to blend it into two. I think it's you got to be humble and you got to take chances. And so being humble and having the ability to say, hey, you know what? There's no way that I'm an expert at any and everything on this planet. And so how can I just continue to live in a growth mindset and want to be better, want to learn more?

00;32;16;21 - 00;32;35;22
Allison
I want to be the absolute best at whatever that is marketing, sales, operations, accounting, CEO, leading the podcast. Being a coach who doesn't know your mission statement, right? Like whatever that is, just be humble, do your absolute best and then taking the chances is, if you're a leader and you're thinking about bringing in endless customers, it's going to be a chance, right?

00;32;35;22 - 00;32;49;02
Allison
It's going to feel like it's taking a chance. It's going to feel like you're stepping out of your comfort zone. You're asking your teams to step out of their comfort zones. There's only one thing that's going to take your business beyond where you are now, and that's taking chances. You've taken a lot of them to get here. You got to keep doing that.

00;32;49;04 - 00;33;02;06
Allison
And then if you feel like something needs to be said, just say it. Take that chance, go for it. If you feel like your sales team isn't doing what they need to do, if you feel like your marketing team isn't doing what they need to do, come in with that humble heart and just have some radical candor moments.

00;33;02;06 - 00;33;08;01
Ryan
I love that this adventure is way better than mine. I may want to change mine so that's way better. Well, that.

00;33;08;03 - 00;33;17;22
Alex
You guys both were great. Thank you so much for being on the show and for sharing your experiences with us. Allison, great talking to you and Ryan. First time, but definitely not the last time. We can't wait to have you back on the show again.

00;33;17;22 - 00;33;19;03
Ryan
Absolutely, guys. I appreciate it a lot.

00;33;19;03 - 00;33;25;07
Alex
All right. Well, for everybody out there watching and listening, this is Endless Customers. I'm your host Alex Winter. We'll catch you on the next episode.