Julian Placino: 0:00

Welcome to the Home Services Success Stories podcast powered by Peakzi, the number one AI platform for growing your home services business. I'm Julian Placino, your host, and we have got a great show in store for you today because we have Amanda Perkins, who is the Chief Operating Officer at Endless Energy Home Services. Amanda, welcome to the podcast. How are you?

Speaker 1: 0:22

I'm fantastic. Thank you so much, Julian, for having me today.

Julian Placino: 0:25

Absolutely. Well, Amanda, let's kind of jump right in. Tell us a bit about Endless Energy and also your role with the organization.

Speaker 1: 0:32

Yeah, absolutely. So Endless Energy Home Services is a Massachusetts-based home service company where we do HVAC weatherization, plumbing, electrical, home energy assessments, all under one roof for all of our customers. I came on board about three and a half years ago, first from a CMO standpoint, and then transitioned into the COO and part owner of Endless Energy Home Services about two and a half years ago as a chief operating officer. I worked directly with developing our leadership teams and also with regards to scaling and strategy of our business.

Julian Placino: 1:09

How's that change been from marketing to operations? What's that been like?

Speaker 1: 1:13

Oh, I mean, it's been a whirlwind, right? And but marketing still very much, you know, is a passion of mine, is a passion also of my counterpart CEO, uh Matt Kidd. Uh so we we partner together with regards to marketing, um, and um that still continues to be a part of what I do each day. But I absolutely love the role of COO and the ownership of being a part of this company from you know where it started to where it is now to where it's going.

Julian Placino: 1:40

Awesome. I love that. So um, well, Endless has a great track record. So 40 plus years in existence and and excellence. So, what would you say have been the keys to success and longevity and growth of the business?

Speaker 1: 1:54

Yeah, absolutely. So the company's been around since 1980. Now, our current CEO, Matt Kidd, purchased this uh company about five years ago from the prior owners. Um, prior to that, it was a water first a water quality um uh company out of Pennsylvania, and then it transitioned to a solar company up here in Massachusetts. And then when Matt purchased the company about five years ago, uh he did we did solar for a little while and then decided, you know what, solar is not you know what we believe the core intent of what we want to serve the residents of Massachusetts with. And so we developed it at that point into a full home services industry, um, starting first with heat pumps, and then we expanded that to all HVAC, then now plumbing, electrical, weatherization, like I said, all under one roof for our, you know, for all of our customers.

Julian Placino: 2:43

So, what was that journey like? So you scaled the organization to you have impressive numbers. So 16 million is is what is what what uh what what I've read. And um, how did you discern like which areas, which products and services did you want to bring to the market? What was that like?

Speaker 1: 2:58

Sure. So, like I said, when Matt first purchased the company, it was a solar company. And so the um the prior owner had already started to begin to integrate heat pumps as a kind of an add-on to the solar, right? It makes sense, you know, electrification standpoint. Um, when Matt purchased the company, we determined, you know what, solar isn't really where we think we want to thrive and where we want to, you know, to meet our customers' needs. And so, but we wanted to keep the the HVAC side of things and heat pumps made sense um as part of that product mix, but then we began to expand upon that product mix and offer everything from heat pumps to furnaces, boilers, um, you know, electric resistance, anything that a customer may need, we wanted to be able to meet that. As we, you know, began to go down that road, we're like, okay, boilers, why don't we have in-house plumbing? And so then we began a plumbing division where we now we have not only your HVAC, but if you need to add on a water heater, you know, or a heat pump water heater at the same time, we're able to make that happen. And then we also have in-house electricians. And so if you know, in order to meet the electrical capacity of whatever project that you're planning, you know, we have master electricians right here on site that if you need a subpanel or if you need a panel upgrade, we're able to do that at the same time. So we're reducing, we're increasing the efficiencies for all of our customers that we reach and reducing the amount of them to have, you know, separate subcontractors for one project.

Julian Placino: 4:21

Gotcha. Okay. So so it sounds like certainly uh that the heat pump team was a core to the success of the business and kind of building things upon it. So, so what would you say sets the heat pump team apart as a top contractor in Massachusetts?

Speaker 1: 4:35

You know, when when you know, looking at the difference from traditional heating, you know, systems that were out there and then moving to heat pumps, you know, the the population at its core just has a lot of questions. Sometimes, you know, there's you know fallacies that were in the past that, you know, they can't keep up with these New England climates. Um, and so there's a a huge education standpoint that our team is extremely knowledgeable with regards to how do these systems work, how do you optimize the efficiency of these systems? And not only that, but you know, how do you um optimize you as you know, a resident of Massachusetts, all the available incentives that are out there in the marketplace if you choose to move forward with a heat pump? So I think the education that our team brings is you know, just puts them at the forefront of any customer experience. Additionally, like I said, we have everything all under one roof. And so when you come on board with a project with us, you're assigned an install coordinator that's with you every step of the way from point A from the moment of like agreeing to your contract all the way through to help coordinating with your town to get your permit inspections closed out and get your, you know, your equipment registered for warranties. So really it's a white glove kind of you know, premier customer experience from beginning to end.

Julian Placino: 5:50

Yeah, it sounds like the domain of experience, the the breadth and the depth, and also kind of that end-to-end sort of walking you through the entire service cycle. So I think that's great. Um, you mentioned like the education of the homeowners. And I know something that Endless is really big on is helping homeowners move towards electrification as well as clean energy solutions. So, why is that important for the business and how are you doing it?

Speaker 1: 6:13

Sure. So one of the things that we like to say that we provide is we provide endless comfort, endless solutions, and endless care. And part of that endless solutions is electrification can come in, you know, variable amounts, right? Not everyone wants to go the fullest, you know, amount of like electrification that's you know, you know, possible. Um, however, if we have a customer that does want that, they want their entire home electrified from they want heat pumps, they want a heat pump hot water heater, they want EV chargers. We're able to, you know, offer them all of those services right, you know, right here, just working directly with us. But there's also partial solutions that allow you to participate in the energy efficiency game, um, but still allow you, you know, to have some additional options if you're not ready to go that full electrification route. And so helping homeowners understand that it doesn't have to be one or the other. There are a breadth of options in the middle that allow you to participate, you know, to have you know electrification at a you know a partial rate, not maybe not necessarily a whole home, but maybe you want to do something that is a dual fuel.

Julian Placino: 7:22

So really listening to the customers' needs and meeting them where they are at and then giving them solutions based on what's best for them.

Speaker 1: 7:28

Absolutely. So when we go and we we meet with our homeowners, we're really listening, we're asking a lot of questions, we're doing a 2D um scan of their home so that we can show them kind of how things would look if they were to, you know, to go with the design options that they've chosen. But what we're looking to do is we're looking to meet the customers' needs with regards to how do we meet their comfort needs, what's gonna serve them best. Not, you know, not we're not there to sell them what we want to sell them. We're there to we're there to help them find what products is going to meet the solutions that they need for their home and their family. And so we're gonna provide them, you know, at least four to six options to take a look at. And then they're gonna choose what works best for their family, for their budget, and for the project that they're looking at having done.

Julian Placino: 8:13

To go a bit more into the customer serve, customer experience, because I know values are such a big thing when it comes to how you deliver the service. So uh values of comfort, efficiency, and sustainability, how do those show up in the customer experience?

Speaker 1: 8:28

Sure. Um values of comfort, efficiency, and sustainability. Sustainability, obviously, our product mix provides a lot of you know options of equipment and manufacturers equipment that's available right now, that's at the forefront of technology technology for sustainability. We're also one of the only contractors that's certified in the state of Massachusetts for AeroSeal, which is a state-of-the-art um duct sealing application that allows you to use existing ductwork, um, you know, continue to use existing ductwork versus having to replace with new ductwork. Um, and so that was one of the uh sustainability um innovations of the year. And we're one of the only contractors that provide that to our customers. Um, our core values of just being able to provide these options that reinforce sustainability, efficiency is what we do on a daily basis. And so, again, it's just providing those options to customers and allowing them to pick what's going to work best for them.

Julian Placino: 9:27

Gotcha. So I know something that's also key to Endless is that you're not just a great home services company, but leadership is near and dear to your heart personally, as well as the culture. So, so tell us a bit about you're known for being people first leadership. What does that mean? And how do you coach your team in this regard?

Speaker 1: 9:45

Yeah, thank you. Um, so absolutely. I mean, our core value is that we want to be, you know, our mission statement is that we want to be the largest independently owned um home service company in the state of Massachusetts. And that's a big goal, right? How do we get there? The only way that we're going to get there is by having the right people on our bus that embody our company culture and have the same core values that we do to get this across the finish line. And so being a people first leader for me, that means making sure that one, we're identifying that we're getting the right folks on our team, that they align with our company culture, that we're reinforcing that on a daily basis. But it also means that empowering them to move forward in their roles with autonomy, with responsibility, with accountability, and with a uh, in my opinion, I I prefer a very much a service leadership approach. And so it's asking a lot of questions and helping them get to their own answers because we brought them on because we, you know, had faith in their abilities.

Julian Placino: 10:47

So give us a tip about that because hiring is is very difficult in the home services world, as you know, right? So what were some tips in terms of like attracting the right people?

Speaker 1: 10:57

Sure, absolutely. So, you know, we've gone through a plethora of different options, and in obviously, you know, you have your traditional methods, but lately we've been able to optimize into different areas. Um, Peakzi has actually been pretty optimal in this and allowing us to evaluate our you know our marketplace to see what available talent is out there. Um, there's been other tools such as Talent on Tap that we've been able to use, uh, automations uh to move um talent through a recruiting pipeline that allows us to assess not only their skills with regards to the roles that we're hiring for, but also their personality and how they're going to align with our company culture even prior to their first interview. So putting you know, kind of these industry, you know, top-tier um softwares in place to kind of help us attract and retain um the right people on our team has been key.

Julian Placino: 11:50

Nice. So implementing technology as part of your hiring process and culture building process, that's great. So we're here now. You mentioned Peakzi. This show is powered by Peakzi, right? So tell us a bit about your experience with Peakzi and how it has helped your business.

Speaker 1: 12:04

I mean, it has been extremely exciting to see what Peakzi brings to, you know, brings to the table for us. And one of the things that I aside from the talent acquisition, which has been fantastic with being able to look at what talent's out there in the marketplace, two of the other items that I have just found hugely helpful is one, the data analysis of how we show up compared to our peers in a marketplace and understanding what it allows us to understand what levers we need to push in order to, you know, to make sure that our brand awareness is known to those communities that we're trying to reach, you know, the most and that are in our talk, our target audience. And so that has been extremely helpful. The other thing that's been really great is I love the fact of being able to look to see how many permits have been pulled in a particular zip code, to look to see what the you know the demand-driven um availability is, you know, at with regards to market territories that we were thinking about, hey, you know what, maybe we want to you know extend a little bit more awareness to you know the community of needham. Does this make sense for us? And so it allows us to get data-driven information to make really important business decisions. And so I think, you know, being able to partner with Peakzi has just been, you know, an invaluable resource to us so far.

Julian Placino: 13:20

Love it. So I heard there's a talent benefit, there's kind of a market insights benefit in terms of like where do you rank? What do you need to kind of the levers that you need to pull? Also, it sounded like it gives you data-driven insights so you can sort of focus your marketing or where your efforts are in terms of like generating new business. I think that's great. Um, any other any other insights about using Peakzi that you'd like to share?

Speaker 1: 13:41

I would just say that it's been um a very easy tool to learn how to use and to implement across, you know, our organization. I am excited to see what else it continues to do as we go into this next year.

Julian Placino: 13:53

Awesome. Well, let's close on a few more insights about leadership and kind of where you want to take the business. So um, something that you are personally passionate about is empathetic leadership. What does that mean? And what have been the benefits of leading that way in your business?

Speaker 1: 14:08

Absolutely. So empathetic leadership, and like I kind of mentioned this prior, you know, I really kind of embody more of a servant leadership position in at my core, and that's how I like to lead those that are with me. Um, that really means putting yourself in their shoes with regard to what, you know, what are they experiencing on the daily basis? What are, you know, what's driving any challenges that they might have. And it requires asking a lot of questions and trying not to provide the answer to them and allowing them to come up with the answer on their own. And sometimes it's okay to allow them to fail so that they can fail forward and learn from that, you know, learn from that challenge that they might be going through. Um, it also means that you're really celebrating hard when they win and you're genuinely working to get them, you know, not only on the on the professional side of things, but also in their personal lives, knowing like what are they working towards? How do you help them get there? How do you connect their personal lives to their professional lives so that they feel like every day the things that they're doing on a day in and day out basis are moving not only the company goals, but also their family's goals. And how do we connect those together?

Julian Placino: 15:18

Wow. I heard three very impactful things. The first one was um asking them questions, but allowing them to come up with their own insights. So arriving at their conclusions as a product of their own thinking. So it kind of makes it their own, right? Um, and the second one was um the second one was giving them the freedom to fail and to experiment, to try things out. Um and the third one was um connecting what their work is to their life's purpose, right? Because I mean it can certainly be transactional and in home services, but that's a different way. And that can I can totally see how that's a draw to come work for Endless. So I think those are really great points. So so close us out then, Amanda. So we're we're getting ready to land the plane here. You mentioned the vision is to be the largest privately held home services in Massachusetts. Is that correct?

Speaker 1: 16:04

That's right.

Julian Placino: 16:05

Got it. So, what is the legacy that you think you want to leave behind, the impact for your employees, for your customers, for the community? What does that look like?

Speaker 1: 16:13

Absolutely. So, like I mentioned before, you you know, we're looking to uh we've got some big growth goals coming in in front of us. And so we're really looking to scale um large and and quickly. And so I think the legacy that we want to leave is that when you come and you become part of this team, that you've now landed in a place that's going to develop you and bring you into a company culture that one is we work hard, we play hard, we we have fun while we're doing it, right? And when by the time that you leave here, we're gonna set you up for success for whatever, you know, whatever comes next in your chapter, whether that is in the home services industry or it's not. I've got, you know, I've got customer care advisors right now who are working on, you know, going to school at night, and you know, and when they are ready to transition, we're gonna applaud them. They may not stay in the home service industry, right? And then I have a pair of technicians who are on the younger end from an age perspective, um, but one day I they're gonna own their own company and we're gonna pour into them and help develop them until they get to that place when they're ready to make that transition, right? And so this place, what I want the legacy to be is that we leave people better than when they found us. And so whether they're coming on board as an employee or they're coming on board as a customer, you became part of a family, you're in the family now. And when you, you know, are part of a family, we walk with you every step, whether that is as an employee, as a friend, or as a customer for the rest of your life.

Julian Placino: 17:45

Wow. An inspiring legacy to leave behind. And you certainly do live your message and you have the fruits of your labor to uh to show forward. So I think all that's really wonderful. So, Amanda, thank you so much for sharing your your story today. So, close us out. Tell tell our audience how to connect with you, learn more about the business, reach out to your social, tell us all that.

Speaker 1: 18:03

Yeah, absolutely. Um, if anybody wants to reach us, uh our website is www.goendlessenergy.com. You can also email me directly at Amanda P is and Paul at goendlessenergy.com. Would love to connect, answer any questions, um, whether it's you know from the HVAC perspective or whether you just want to chat over a coffee and you know, learn more about heat pumps. I'm here to connect with you. Have a great day.

Julian Placino: 18:29

Awesome. We'll make sure to have all your contact information in the show notes as well, Amanda. So this has been a true pleasure. Thank you for your time today.

Speaker 1: 18:37

Thank you, Julian. Enjoy your day.

Julian Placino: 18:39

And everyone else, thank you all for tuning in. And that is it for today's show. So we'll see you next time on the Home Services Success Stories podcast powered by Peakzi, the number one AI platform for growing your home services business.