In This Episode, We Discuss:

• The Career Pivot: How 9/11 forced Chuck out of aerospace and into home improvement—and why he never looked back.
• The "COVID Hangover": Why the easy market of the last few years created "soft" sales teams and how to fix it.
• Activity vs. Results: Why you must manage the activity to ensure the results happen.
• The Sales Manager Trap: Why promoting your top sales rep to manager is often a recipe for disaster.
• Building a Training Culture: The secret to getting your team to buy into daily training and discipline.
• Personal Branding: Why your personal social media is the most powerful (and free) recruiting and marketing tool you own.

Podcast Episode Notes: Scale Speed Podcast

Host: Victor Rancour Guest: Bill Rossell, CEO of LB Capital

Episode Overview

In this episode, Victor Rancour sits down with his mentor and industry leader, Bill Rossell. Recorded at a massive new 60,000 sq. ft. HVAC training facility, the two dive deep into the power of vulnerability, the "abundance mindset" in the trades, and the raw reality of overcoming addiction while leading a multi-million dollar enterprise.

Key Discussion Points

• The Future of Training: Victor showcases his new Ohio-based training facility—a transformed Dish Network building designed to take technicians "off the streets" and turn them into pros for HVAC, sales, and call centers.
• The "Abundance Mindset": Bill reflects on how the trades changed his perspective. Unlike the digital marketing space where people hide their "secret sauce," the trades thrive on open-door policies and sharing processes.
• Sobriety & Leadership: Bill shares the emotional story of his "trial separation" from alcohol. He discusses the deception involved in high-functioning addiction and how choosing sobriety over three years ago saved his marriage and his professional purpose.
• The "Wolf of HVAC" Era: Victor opens up about his past struggles with success at a young age, admitting that while he was a "rockstar" in the industry, he lacked the self-awareness to handle the ego and money that came with it.
• Building a Circle of Trust: Both leaders emphasize that success isn't about proving people wrong, but about proving the people who stayed by you right.

Core Business Principles

• Master One Trade: Become dominant in one niche before expanding; adding trades too early creates distractions and loses money.
• Price for the Future: Charge based on the $5M or $10M company you want to be, not the small shop you are now.
• Prioritize Profit over Revenue: High revenue ($8M+) means nothing if your net profit is zero or you cannot make payroll.

Operational Lessons

• Financial Literacy: Owners must master their numbers (P&L, balance sheets) rather than outsourcing them entirely to an accountant.
• Exit Commercial Work: David Hirst shifted from commercial to residential service to ensure faster payment and better cash flow.
• Hire an Operator: Visionary owners need a "no" person or an operations manager to manage the chaos of scaling.

Leadership & Growth

• Personal Branding: Social media is the "new currency" for recruiting top talent and attracting customers.
• Mental Health: Victor and David advocate for therapy and extreme accountability to handle the stress of entrepreneurship.
• Abundance Mindset: Modern contractors should share "secrets" and train others to elevate the entire industry.

Key Topics & Takeaways

• Why Contractors Distrust Marketing
  • “Set it and forget it” agencies, no accountability, no trade knowledge
• The Power of Niching Down
  • Specializing in home services = faster onboarding, better results
• Marketing Isn’t a Black Hole
  • Track real revenue, not just leads or vanity metrics
• SEO That Drives Revenue
  • Google Business Profile, reviews, citations, and long-term planning
• Yelp, Apple Maps & Review Diversity
  • Why Yelp still matters and how AI search pulls local data
• Local SEO Ranking Factors
  • Business name keywords, seasonal categories, 2026 insights
• Omnichannel & Brand Growth
  • OTT/CTV, radio, brand search, and credibility marketing
• CSR & Call Performance
  • Speed-to-lead, call monitoring, and CSRs as sales reps
• Guerrilla & Community Marketing
  • Job-site signage, door knocking, events, and local backlinks
• Lifetime Value Over New Leads
  • Retarget existing customers to keep the call board full

In this high-energy episode, we dive deep into the mindset shift required to move from being a "technician in a truck" to a sophisticated business architect. We explore why the home services industry is often misunderstood as "salesy" when it’s actually about education and trust. From the psychology of pricing to the "The Witcher" method of building rapport, this conversation is a masterclass in modernizing your trade business for the next generation of homeowners.

• The Vet Clinic Analogy: Why nobody feels "sold" at the vet, even when they spend thousands, and how to mirror that trust in HVAC.
• Marketing vs. Process: Why investing in marketing before you have a sales process is like pouring water into a leaky bucket.
• Exchanging Knowledge for Trust: Moving fast "technician babble" to help customers understand the why behind a repair.
• Performance Pay vs. Hourly: How to sell your team on a pay structure that rewards opportunity rather than just time.
• Game Theory in Sales: Shifting from a "Zero-Sum" (I win, you lose) mindset to a "Non-Zero Sum" mindset where both the tech and the customer win.
• The Witcher & Pokemon Cards: A wild story about how obsessive rapport-building turned a "stonewall" customer into a $50,000 job.
• Modern Metrics: Why the "Millennial Homeowner" buys differently than the Boomer, and how to adapt your digital presence.
• Accounting for Growth: The difference between "Bank Account Accounting" and true job costing.