From Sales Grit to Growth: Lessons from Mid-America Mister Sparky

Home Service Business Success

Kenny Chapman and Chris Chrew welcome Darrell Boyd and Aaron Hagan from Mid-America Mister Sparky!

They take back the curtain on Mister Sparky’s winning strategy for sales success – including the key role of company culture, the power of grit, and intentionality around sales.

You’ll hear more about avoiding the top-line sales intoxication trap, the importance of being disciplined with your focus, and the ongoing blue collar “tsunami.”

• Kenny Chapman and Chris Crew kick things off by introducing their guests, Darrell Boyd and Aaron Hagan, and by sharing how Chris and Aaron actually go way back.
• January 3, 2005 was a career-defining moment for Chris: it’s when he went to work for Mister Sparky in Atlanta.
• Mid-America Mister Sparky is the largest privately-held franchise in the HSB network.
• Aaron and Darrell touch upon them meeting at an electrician on-time class back in 2007.
• Darrell has a message for all those in the home service industry: It’s a tough space to be in, but you should never forget that you do have support as well as access to others.
• Kenny doesn’t believe in number ones and number twos…
• His approach ties into Dan Sullivan’s concept of Unique Ability.
• Darrell and Aaron talk about how, as dominant number ones, they deal with people who have strong personalities.
• Not being on the same page is something that rarely happens to Mid-America Mister Sparky’s Darrell Boyd and Aaron Hagan.
• Aaron opens up about his “this will not fail!” attitude, especially when he started his joint venture with Darrell.
• When he first started, Kenny was one of those “you don’t understand my market” people.
• Kenny is a fan of treating a small market as if it were smaller.
• With Mid-America Mister Sparky, Darrell and Aaron are in over 10 different states.
• Aaron illustrates Mister Sparky’s approach in the region Darrell and Aaron are guests of.
• Years ago, Kenny shared an important lesson with Chris: Always aim at making your future greater than your past.
• A company Christmas gala is something Aaron and Darrell use to build a better company culture – they take back the curtain on what that experience looks like.
• Kenny sees everyone on the balance sheet as the most important asset home service businesses have.
• Kenny really likes Chris’ principle of wanting to keep the main thing the main thing.
• Darrell and Aaron explain how they have been able to avoid the top-line sales intoxication trap and be disciplined with their focus.
• The average ticket among the Mister Sparky locations Aaron and Darrell manage is $1,500.
• Intentionality around sales has been one of the keys to Mid-America Mister Sparky’s success.
• Kenny doesn’t believe in failure but only in results.
• As the saying goes, “Your first million is always the hardest.”
• Aaron and Darrell discuss how they went from watching and learning to becoming those people that watch and learn from.
• Chris warns against growing at the expense of not being profitable.
• Kenny sees the beginning of a shift in the home service industry: the blue collar class will replace the white collar class in this space.
• For Aaron, grit is one of the most important things to have to achieve success.
• “If you’re not failing, you’re not trying,” says Aaron.
• Remember: When you fail… it’s not over.
• Darrell talks about the importance of having urgency match the need.
• At the end of the day, the home service space is a people’s business.

Mentioned in This Episode:

HomeServiceBusinessSuccessShow.com/s2e4

The Blue Collar Success Group

Professional Tech Academy

Mid-America Mister Sparky

Darrell Boyd on LinkedIn

Aaron Hagan on LinkedIn

Cameron Harold

Dan Sullivan

Roger Bannister