A Clear Results crawl space client's rep was closing about 1 in 10, yet the owner had 2 deposits in hand after a day of selling himself. Owner dependence also shows up in permissions, in who handles the service calls, and in where the estimating lives. This guide covers 4 signs, and the system Clear Results installs for each.
| # | Sign | The system Clear Results installs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Selling most of the jobs yourself | A sales scorecard by seller, a written presentation, and a handoff rule |
| 2 | Managers who wait for your approval | A written decision list that sets what each manager can decide |
| 3 | Being the only person who can handle the service calls | A named lead for the work, and service calls due on the weekly scorecard |
| 4 | Estimating that lives in your head | An estimate checklist, a proposal template, and a pricing sheet |
Sign 1 of 4
His foundation work was only a couple of weeks out, so he went out and did "some of my own inspections," and by the end of the day he had "2 deposits in my hand." Even though he closes well, the schedule now depends on his calendar, and the rep's 1 in 10 shows how little the company sells without him. A buyer reads the same pattern as risk, and Stuart Trier of Clear Results told the owner so on a later call.
If you're selling 50% of the jobs, then I'm pretty worried about buying your business.
Stuart Trier, Clear Results, on how a buyer reads the pattern.
Compare your close rate with each rep's across your last 20 jobs. If yours is far above theirs, the company sells what you sell. Also ask who closed those 20 jobs, because a buyer asks the same question, and the answer "me" reads as a one-person business.
Clear Results helps the owner in 3 steps:
Go deeper: how a same-day presentation rule raised a foundation repair company's close rate
Sign 2 of 4
The owner, working toward a $12M goal, hadn't written down what the scheduler could decide, so every booking went to the owner or sat waiting, and the scheduler filled the calendar with work at a loss. A single conversation with the scheduler was enough to change that. Indeed, the owner told Stuart Trier that "in 20 minutes, literally 20 minutes," the team had the calendar booked "with the opportunity to add more." So the authority was the owner's to hand over all along.
Count the texts and calls managers send you before 10 a.m. If the answer is mostly "yes, do that," write the limit on a page.
Clear Results helps the owner in 3 steps:
Go deeper: how a crew lead's two-week notice pushed one contractor to write down what only he knew
Sign 3 of 4
He wanted his lead foreman to manage both crews while he handled only sales, and then to hire a rep for the busy season. Yet he doubted that any seller could match him: "I realistically don't think there's any sales guy in the country that can sell better than I can with crawl space work." Stuart answered, "You live within the story. So if you believe nobody can do it, [...] it stays your job." The plan is sound, but the 40 service calls due still wait on him until a lead takes them.
Ask who would take the service calls due if you were gone for 2 weeks, since a blank answer shows you're the only one handling them. Then count the service calls due today, because this owner counted 40 and was still selling himself.
Clear Results helps the owner in 3 steps:
Go deeper: how a track record turned a rejected offer into a signed deal
Sign 4 of 4
He wanted to hire a full-time salesperson, but he kept every step of the estimate in his head. In fact, he told Stuart, "I do all the estimating for the contractor [...] and I was also doing all the estimating for the homeowners." Stuart Trier of Clear Results, hearing the business for the first time, put it this way.
Today everything resides in your head. It's working, but it's in your head, which means you have to keep doing it.
Stuart Trier, Clear Results, on that first call.
That works until the company has more jobs than one person can price, because the owner has to do every step of each estimate himself.
Take the last proposal you sent and ask which parts came from a template, a script, or a pricing sheet. Whatever came from none of them lives in your head, and a new seller won't have it on day one.
Clear Results helps the owner in 4 steps:
Go deeper: how building a leadership team freed up 25% of an owner's time
The 4 signs come from 3 breaks, and Clear Results installs one system for each, as the table shows.
| Break | Signs | What the owner sees | The system Clear Results installs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales that follow the owner's calendar | 1 (selling most of the jobs yourself) | The schedule fills when the owner sells and thins when he stops | Close rate by seller on the weekly scorecard, a written presentation, and a handoff rule |
| Decisions and calls that wait for the owner | 2 (managers who wait for your approval) and 3 (being the only person who can handle the service calls) | Managers text for permission, and the service calls pile up | A written decision list with limits, and a named lead for the work |
| Knowledge that lives in the owner's head | 4 (estimating that lives in your head) | A new seller can't build an estimate without the owner | An estimate checklist, a proposal template, and a pricing sheet |
In sign 1 (selling most of the jobs yourself), the company's sales depend on the owner's calendar. A weekly scorecard that lists close rate by seller shows him the difference before a buyer, or a slow month, does. Once he writes down and practices his presentation, the second seller starts from his method.
In signs 2 (managers who wait for your approval) and 3 (being the only person who can handle the service calls), the owner holds all the authority and never wrote any of it down. Without a written limit, the scheduler booked service work at a loss because he didn't feel he had the authority to say no. The other owner planned to have his lead foreman manage both crews. Until then, he is the only one who can take the 40 service calls due.
One owner needed a written limit for his scheduler, and the other needed a named lead for the service calls.
In sign 4 (estimating that lives in your head), the estimate works because the owner builds it. Clear Results rates a function Founder Dependent (Level 1) on its Function Maturity Scale when the knowledge behind that function lives in someone's head. To raise a function above Level 1, Clear Results helps the owner put the steps, the template, and the pricing on one page each in home service coaching, so a new seller starts from the checklist and the owner reviews the result.
Answer each question yes or no, then count your yes answers.
0 to 1 yes means your company can get through a week without you. But a quarterly look at close rate by seller would still show drift early.
2 to 3 yes means questions 1 and 2 point to sign 1 (selling most of the jobs yourself), questions 3 and 4 to sign 2 (managers who wait for your approval), question 5 to sign 3 (being the only person who can handle the service calls), and question 6 to sign 4 (estimating that lives in your head). Start with the signs your yes answers point to and use the system described under each. Then put close rate by seller and service calls due on one weekly page.
4 or more yes means you hold several roles at once. Take the Value Gap Scorecard to see which constraint to address first.
Count the share of jobs you sell, the questions managers ask you each morning, and the service calls only you can handle. If you sell over half of the jobs, that count alone answers the question, since a buyer sees that share as risk.
The owner can keep selling, since selling is what grew the backlog in sign 1 (selling most of the jobs yourself), but the goal is a schedule that stays full when the owner takes a week off.
Start with the decisions managers make every day, such as when a manager can leave the yard, which jobs a scheduler can decline, and how many service calls a lead can book. In sign 2 (managers who wait for your approval), the scheduler continued booking work at a loss until the owner spent 20 minutes with him, so the first written limit is usually a booking rule. Write each limit as a figure, like a spending cap or a minimum margin, so that the manager can check it alone and the owner hears only about exceptions.
Yes, in home service coaching, Clear Results starts from the owner's close rate by seller, the decisions managers ask about, and the estimating steps, and it scores each function on a 5-level scale where Level 1 is Founder Dependent.
Stuart Trier is the Founder and CEO of Clear Results. Over the past 20 years, Stuart has built, bought, and sold 11 companies across the home service, healthcare, and marketing industries. He built his first company from startup to $8M in revenue in 3 years before a successful exit, then built a chain of 28 healthcare clinics and sold the business to a publicly traded company. Following that acquisition, Stuart spent 3 years working alongside the CEO, helping lead the organization through a take-private transaction before participating in a nine-figure exit to a Fortune 10 company. Today, he's the lead investor behind an electrical services platform operating across 3 U.S. states, and has worked directly with owners through 1,800+ strategic advisory sessions.
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