EP 119 : Make Networking Fun with Brandon Barnum
Introduction:
In today’s episode, we have a captivating conversation with Brandon Barnum.
We also explore the referral partner blueprint, where we learn how to build trust and add value to our target audience through strategic partnerships.
Let’s get started!
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TRANSCRIPTION:
00:00.00
dybsteve
Hello and welcome to the duyb podcast where doubling your business is easier than most people realize today’s guest who’s often referred to as king of referrals as an award-winning serial entrepreneur and author of raving referrals. He serves as Ceo Of H o a dot com heard that he owns yeah urlhoadotcom and I’m hoping he’ll share with us kind of how he acquired that that’s really cool the number one networking for home services professionals website Brandon Burnham welcome to the show. My friend.
00:35.73
Brandon Barnum
Ah, pleasure to be here. Thanks for the invitation Steve.
00:39.20
dybsteve
Ah, first because I already kind of threw that out there hwe.com how’d you get that that url that’s a big deal.
00:42.79
Brandon Barnum
Know it’s funny. We started this company as thehomeowneralliance.com with a mission of connecting homeowners to professionals. They can trust. So that’s where we started.
00:48.60
dybsteve
Yeah.
00:55.80
Brandon Barnum
And I realized about eighteen months in that that domain the homeowneralliance.com was too long to fit like on the side of a bus so I was sitting there meeting with my partner at one day and I said you know we’ve really got to find a better domain.
01:02.58
dybsteve
Yeah.
01:10.58
Brandon Barnum
And if we could wave our magic wand and have any domain on the planet. What would it be home owner alliance h o a I went let me just see what is H O A Dot Com there’s got to be an H O Eight Dot Com so there was and I reached out to the owner made him an offer. He couldn’t refuse and here we are.
01:21.12
dybsteve
Here.
01:27.95
dybsteve
Wow. Okay, and well congratulations. It’s an awesome piece of ah internet real estate to own well Brandon let’s get right to it shall we what is the number 1 piece of advice you have for someone growing their business.
01:30.50
Brandon Barnum
Thank you? Oh yeah.
01:40.60
Brandon Barnum
Well so much of this conversation excuse me see from my perspective is all about creating referral partnerships. So that’s the key is getting people that are already serving your perfect prospects to refer you like crazy right? So how do we do that.
01:55.73
dybsteve
Yeah.
01:59.44
Brandon Barnum
First of all, you need to identify who are the people that you want to be partnered with who are the people that are out there serving homeowners each and every day in this case and this conversation that’s the world that I live in I came from the mortgage space. So for the last twenty seven years my focus has been serving homeowners and so the way that we do that and help people professionals go to back up. Do it again? Okay yeah.
02:17.89
dybsteve
No.
02:29.31
dybsteve
Ah, yeah, sorry I hit pause and then you you went again I apologize So okay, well okay, sounds good.
02:33.52
Brandon Barnum
You want to do that. Why don’t always do that question again and let’s start there that should be now that my wife is home from getting her coffee that should be our only distraction. No I don’t need to I know the sequence. The things.
02:41.41
dybsteve
Um, you want go check real quick. Okay, okay, all right? So here we go gonna start over. Okay.
02:50.13
Brandon Barnum
Actually let me close my door because she’s coming in and she’s on the phone.
02:58.31
dybsteve
So Brandon let’s get right to the meat of this. What is the number 1 piece of advice you have for someone growing their business.
03:07.64
Brandon Barnum
Well from my perspective. It’s all about referral partnerships that’s been the key to my success. That’s really what we teach we teach the referral partner blueprint and it’s ah all about.
03:15.10
dybsteve
Are.
03:19.28
Brandon Barnum
Partnering and adding value to the people that are already serving your perfect prospects every day. So if you serve homeowners number one you should have a lot of realtors that you’re partnered with that are sending you business Also other home service Professionals contractors ah painters obviously plumbers Hvac. All the folks that are in homes every single day because they’re having conversations with homeowners and when you add value to them and you become the resource that they recommend with their clients and customers need help with your services. Then you win and you’re helping the other professional at the same time. Yeah.
03:59.80
dybsteve
We ah, completely agree. We recommend that they they do this and they join organizations such as B and I Chamber rotary are there any others that you would add to that. Oh yeah.
04:10.68
Brandon Barnum
I’m a fan of latip only because I’ve known the owner for for over ten years we actually recommend that people create their own. Go join them and and for painters joining an organization is probably the way to go.
04:15.80
dybsteve
But.
04:24.18
Brandon Barnum
Work ah with a lot of white collar professionals as well. The Realtors mortgage insurance and financial planners. We actually teach them to create their own business alliance and even if they’re just meeting once a month with their core. Trusted team is what we call it that.
04:25.49
dybsteve
And.
04:32.54
dybsteve
Yeah.
04:38.37
dybsteve
No.
04:41.32
Brandon Barnum
Building those deep relationships with people that are serving homeowners every day is such an important task So B and I is a great organization Chambers of Commerce are fantastic as well. Just create that consistency that deepens relationships over time.
04:54.57
dybsteve
Fantastic now I bought your book raving referrals and I can’t wait to read it I’m having technical difficulty getting it to load on my Kindle app to be honest with you I haven’t been able to start it but something else I’m dying to know is how do you master the art of the ask in order to get what you want life.
05:02.70
Brandon Barnum
Question.
05:10.99
Brandon Barnum
Yeah, the art of the ask has 3 steps so number 1 you want to set the stage number 2 You want to listen for the referral triggers and then number 3 you want to ask to ge so let’s unpack those real quick.
05:23.10
dybsteve
Oh thank you.
05:26.49
Brandon Barnum
Yeah, absolutely so let’s talk about from the perspective of owning a painting company right? when you’re first meeting with that client. They so you sit down with them. They say okay, you know what we’ve decided to hire your firm before you let them out of that first client conversation what you want to do is say oh that’s fantastic. I’m so happy.
05:29.71
dybsteve
Human.
05:46.53
Brandon Barnum
We’re going to be able to help you have a beautiful home right now before I let you go I’d like to ask 1 favor. We get most of our business by referral. It’s why we’re able to keep our cost down because we’re not spending a ton of money on marketing. So what I’d like to ask is.
05:56.34
dybsteve
No.
06:03.78
Brandon Barnum
Once we’ve proven our excellence to you would it be okay to ask for referrals at a later date. Okay, that’s called setting the stage you haven’t put them on the spot. You’re not asking for referrals right now you’re basically saying look.
06:14.44
dybsteve
Man.
06:17.63
Brandon Barnum
We’re going to do an amazing job. You’re going to love the paint job that we do for you and when you do we’d like to ask for permission for referrals would that be okay, everybody’s going to say yes to that because you’re making them totally comfortable right? And you’re basically saying we’re going to do a great job.
06:29.94
dybsteve
No.
06:35.24
Brandon Barnum
That’s step 1 setting the stage now you want to listen for the referral triggers Steve see what do you think those referral triggers might sound like.
06:41.74
dybsteve
Oh compliments on the experience to job the work and positive feedback in general.
06:51.29
Brandon Barnum
Hundred percent wow this looks fantastic. So glad to hear that right? Oh you did such a great jump. You guys were so fast you guys were so conscious right? you you wrapped everything you put. Ah you know. Tarps on the floors or whatever it is that you do to create that wow experience for your customers. That’s what you want to do once you hear essentially an expression of appreciation. Thank you this looks great I’m so happy I’m so proud. That’s what you want to hear.
07:15.17
dybsteve
Me.
07:22.19
Brandon Barnum
And when you do that’s what it’s time to ask to ged and you just say something like I’m so glad to hear that remember when we first started working together when you first hired me I told you we were going to wow you with doing an amazing job on your home. Well now that you feel that way. I’d love to ask you do you know anybody else that is thinking about or should be thinking about painting their home. For example, that’s it 1 2 3.
07:50.80
dybsteve
Okay, now for the younger generation and um I’m not ah so I’m not as tech savvy as as I haven’t been keeping up with with the social media trends and and whatnot you know I’m um I’m handy on Facebook and.
07:57.64
Brandon Barnum
Okay.
08:03.43
dybsteve
And I think I can post a picture on Instagram but but other than that like that’s at this point though for the younger generation who are savvy would it make sense to ask them to to post and to tag them on their social medias as well.
08:16.83
Brandon Barnum
Yeah, and again, especially if you are in the painting industry as an example because you can create the before and after photos a lot of service people can’t really do that somebody that’s in the mortgage business. They can post a photo of hey congratulations just help this.
08:21.70
dybsteve
You. I.
08:36.44
Brandon Barnum
Family move into this new home. But if you’re a painter you can literally take a photo beforehand take a photo afterwards and then capture that testimonial from that client customer after they say Wow I’m so happy this looks amazing. You got it done fat. Whatever that that expression of appreciation is capture it.
08:44.25
dybsteve
All right right.
08:50.91
dybsteve
M.
08:55.57
Brandon Barnum
And then create that social post with the before and after or even create a little video about it not only post on social media. Add it to your website and integrate it into your prospect follow-up so that when you’re quoting out new jobs for a new prospect. They can actually see your work.
08:59.91
dybsteve
And.
09:13.44
dybsteve
No.
09:15.37
Brandon Barnum
And hear the words of your clients if you can get your clients on camera even better instead of just ah, a print quote if it’s a video quote that’s even more powerful and compelling.
09:25.40
dybsteve
Indeed indeed right on. Thank you speaking social media. What does the future of influencer marketing look like.
09:33.50
Brandon Barnum
Well again, this is where partnerships are so powerful like 1 of the things I think is so genius is people like you creating their own podcast because you’ve become an influencer.
09:46.90
dybsteve
Um.
09:48.15
Brandon Barnum
You’ve got influencers coming onto your show and by doing that I think this is the future is partnership and really not only just talking about yourself, but it’s celebrating others I was just having this conversation with my team yesterday I said.
09:55.20
dybsteve
Um.
10:03.94
Brandon Barnum
Our social media content should rarely be about us. We’re not the hero in the story. Our clients are what we call certified pros in the H Eight dot Com professional Network Those are the heroes. It’s not about H O Eight dot Com It’s about.
10:06.68
dybsteve
No.
10:21.24
Brandon Barnum
The great work that all of our pros do and by celebrating their success. They’ll celebrate our success and vice versa and so it all helps everyone together.
10:29.91
dybsteve
Fantastic! Thank you! How can I learn everything I need to effectively communicate with a client in 90 seconds
10:38.88
Brandon Barnum
Oh I Love that you’re asking this question so we teach a personality system called Bank code and bank code is really a system that helps you understand someone’s personality type. And you can have this on your website. We actually have these cards where we’ll hand the cards and we’ll say actually before we even have the cards we’ll say do you want to see a magic trick now in a painting client customer content conversation. This may not work as Well. In other industries.
10:55.14
dybsteve
Um.
11:04.61
dybsteve
Tatter.
11:11.66
Brandon Barnum
Industries that works fantastic, especially like if you are going to a b and I meeting right? You say you want to see a magic trick hand these cards to someone and they say do me a favor sort the cards in order of what’s most like you to lease like you that will help me serve you better and save us both time and what happens is. Look at the four code cards and those are blueprint action nurturing and knowledge and those spell out bank and what happens is in about 60 seconds they’re going to hand you the cards back in the order of what’s right for them.
11:31.39
dybsteve
M.
11:48.66
Brandon Barnum
And then I usually spend the next two minutes describing back who they just told me they are but this is the key and this comes from the book by the way why they buy once you understand the personality of your prospect or your partner. Now. You really understand how they make buying decisions if somebody is high knowledgeled For example, they need all of the details they want to understand exactly what’s involved what kind of paint are you using what kind of primer if you’ve got somebody that’s high blueprint. They need to understand the step-by-step process the sequence the timeline the the structure that you use so every single person has a different personality type if it’s high action.
12:24.43
dybsteve
Mine.
12:35.40
Brandon Barnum
They just want to know that it’s gonna look Awesome. We’re gonna get it done Quick. It’s gonna be in and out and we’re gonna make this so easy for you. You’re gonna love it just net it out. Talk about the benefits and then if it’s nurturing then you want to spend a little more time and just talk about how beautiful it’s gonna look. Your family is going to be so proud of how your home looks when this is done so when you customize your conversations you close more sales in less time because you’re connecting in a deeper level and helping them make buying decisions based on the way their brain is wired.
13:10.90
dybsteve
That is awesome. That came um why they buy who’s the author of that book Cherry tree Okay haven’t seen that? Yeah, that’s fantastic I love that So you’ve been able to peg their personality type and then communicate to them in their personality language.
13:13.44
Brandon Barnum
Author of this book is Sherry tree. Yeah, it’s a fantastic book.
13:27.00
dybsteve
So if I hear you correctly, the action oriented the last thing you want to do with this guy. These are ah they do not want all the details right? You’re probably going to upset them if you spend too much time going over the details bore them. Yeah.
13:38.50
Brandon Barnum
You’re not gonna upset them. You’re gonna bore them. They’re they’re all about excitement and fun and energy right? So if you go through all these details. They’re checked out man. They’re thinking about their tea time or you know whatever they’re doing next going out shopping or doing whatever they’re doing so.
13:44.22
dybsteve
No.
13:49.75
dybsteve
Yeah.
13:55.83
Brandon Barnum
You’ve got to netted out quick for an action personality and it’s all about winning big fast with them.
14:01.72
dybsteve
Okay, fantastic. Thank you now sitting here listening and I have to apologize. It’s it’s hard not to notice the books on your shelf. Ah I love to read be reading about a book a week for the last fifteen years or so if not more.
14:13.20
Brandon Barnum
Nice.
14:15.94
dybsteve
And ah, you know like there’s one there that brings back memories. So the 1 minute millionaire that was by ah Mark man Hanson right? is it Manson Mark Mark Hanson Hanson with a h right? Yes, okay, yeah, ah that brings back some memories.
14:18.95
Brandon Barnum
All yeah oh yeah, Mark Victor Hanson yep yeah this book is broken. It changed my life. What was your take on this. Do you remember reading this one.
14:33.76
dybsteve
I Need to go back about? um you know the setting the vision and and just really being able to open up to what’s possible right? So at the time um I hadn’t really achieved a lot and so.
14:42.35
Brandon Barnum
Yeah, huge.
14:48.52
dybsteve
Ah, we we we have limited Beliefs I had limited Beliefs You know they’re much more limited than so it helped to expand my visual horizon on what’s truly possible or what could go after you know? ah.
14:59.31
Brandon Barnum
Oh that’s a great description I’m actually friends with Mark so I’ll share that with them. But this book is fantastic because it’s 2 books and 1 the left side is the stepby step system of success and the right side pages. So every. Other page is the left side’s all about how to success the right side is a fictional story of a woman who loses her kids and I’m not going to do spoiler alert but she’s got to make a million dollars to get him back so brilliant book I read this book back in like like you probably 2003.
15:25.61
dybsteve
Um, right.
15:35.43
Brandon Barnum
And then I hired Mark Victor Hansen to come speak at a fundraising event that we were doing for a christian charity up in Portland Oregon and it changed my life I mean not only has he been my mentor ever since but you’re absolutely right? Steve what he did is he challenged the audience to write 101 goals
15:38.74
dybsteve
Um, oh.
15:52.74
dybsteve
No.
15:55.21
Brandon Barnum
And this is the key because what he said is most people aren’t clear on what it is that they want to accomplish so for me I went ah after meeting Mark I went to Hawaii the following week and I wrote out 338 goals over those five days that I was over there.
16:11.87
dybsteve
Wow.
16:14.27
Brandon Barnum
And 1 of the goals that I wrote was that I wanted Mark Victor Hansen to be my mentor and when I came back from Hawaii I picked up the phone I asked him he said yes it was one of the scariest calls I’ve ever made for some reason I don’t know why I made up this whole story about what he might think or what he might say but he said yes.
16:18.17
dybsteve
Yeah, yeah.
16:30.83
dybsteve
Yeah, well.
16:33.95
Brandon Barnum
And we’ve been friends ever since and one of the other goals that I wrote was that I wanted Mark Victor Hansen to write about me in a book by May twenty Eighth two thousand and five so this is one year later now for those of you who don’t know Mark Victor Hansen
16:40.59
dybsteve
Here.
16:50.20
Brandon Barnum
Is the number 1 bestselling nonfiction author of all time because he wrote a few of these books that you might recognize called chicken soup for the soul all right? and so you sold over 600000000 books so I wanted this guy to write about me in a book by May Twenty Eight two thousand and five
16:57.69
dybsteve
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
17:08.69
Brandon Barnum
And after about ninety days of being mentored by him and being in relationship. He calls me up one day and he says Robert Allen and I are writing the sequel to the 1 minute millionaire and it’s going to be called cracking the millionaire code would it be okay if we wrote a few pages about you.
17:11.14
dybsteve
Okay.
17:22.17
dybsteve
M.
17:28.45
Brandon Barnum
But so this book came out on may thirty first 2005 and there’s 3 pages about me and my company in this book. So the reason I share that story is a couple things number one. It’s the power of intention. What I realized is that anything.
17:29.29
dybsteve
Here.
17:38.47
dybsteve
That’s fantastic.
17:46.33
Brandon Barnum
That you want in life is attainable and achievable. You got to get crystal clear on what it is that you want to create to achieve to manifest to attract and when you do then anything is possible and that book was proof positive because it came out three days after my intention.
17:50.33
dybsteve
Ah.
18:05.19
Brandon Barnum
And anyway it changed my life I took that book everywhere I wasn’t an author back then but it allowed me to have a book I would put my business card into my profile and I would give it as gifts to boost credibility.
18:07.28
dybsteve
That’s awesome. But.
18:18.49
dybsteve
Wow that is that’s remarkable Brandon very cool. Thank you for for that and that example, now in all ah fairness, it’s it’s important for me to mention now that that um, the millionaire.
18:20.31
Brandon Barnum
That fun.
18:31.88
dybsteve
The first book might have been where I got the idea because in my book I wrote the tactical process and then I wrote a story about samy and his grandpa building their business and so like ah you know this isn’t the first time where we’ve thought you know I’ve had original idea but you go back and you’re like oh you know what? i’ was probably influenced by that. But we forget it. I forget a lot of times where it came from unintentionally so I only give credit or credits to there. That’s probably where I got the idea from so that would be another takeaway from that book. Yeah, um.
18:52.26
Brandon Barnum
Um, yeah.
18:58.78
Brandon Barnum
That’s great like brilliant and your book is probably really fun to read because you’ve got a story and human beings love stories. This is one of the things when it comes to referrals.
19:04.96
dybsteve
E.
19:11.20
Brandon Barnum
Is you need to find stories of impact people that that you’ve changed or impacted their life and when you’ve got a great story like that testimonial. That’s what you want to use to boost boost your business and have people talk about you a few years Four years ago I was in New York city and I was meeting with the senior vice president for audible. Okay, she was the vice president of marketing for audible and I was talking to her and she said you know what we’ve found in all of our testing and they spent hundreds of millions of dollars on testing what we found is. All of the marketing that we do about ourselves isn’t nearly as effective as having a testimonial about a book when somebody reads a quote or a testimony or somebody raving about a book. That’s when people are interested right? So it’s the stories that sell.
20:01.98
dybsteve
E.
20:06.40
Brandon Barnum
Quite frankly, more than anything that you could ever tell.
20:09.89
dybsteve
I Love that and I need to be reminded that on daily basis because I’m a process guy write the card. It’s like I’m the product I think there’ blueprint maybe like know me the process and so why communicating process is but you’re you’re you right? stories are what convince us or what connect ah help us to connect and relate emotionally and then we.
20:12.56
Brandon Barnum
And clean blue rent. Yeah.
20:27.65
dybsteve
Make the decisions logically right? no.
20:29.69
Brandon Barnum
It’s what we remember and what we can pass on. So if you help people tell the story of you like tell a story about a client that you made a huge difference to or whatever the case maybe you are passionate about serving veterans like we are.
20:43.13
dybsteve
No.
20:44.83
Brandon Barnum
Right? And maybe you’ve helped a veteran freshen up their home and you charged them a fraction of what you normally would or you kind of came together and you got other pros to help donate some of the supplies and so you painted the home of a veteran like.
20:54.67
dybsteve
No.
20:59.96
Brandon Barnum
That’s a story that’s going to hit people in the heart and they’re going to hire you because of the impact that you make which is so different than the story that everybody else is telling which is about the fresh coat of paint. They just got.
21:09.50
dybsteve
Yeah, yeah, right on and it’s part of our program. It’s funny. You mentioned there we call it paint it forward and so put out nominations in the community for somebody who needs their home painting. They cannot afford to do so and then they bring it in and and this is what we did with our company before we sold it and you share it with their team and they pick the best story. But I think the key takeaway here is make sure that when it’s all done that you you you wrap up the complete story and share that with the network and with your customers and such worried on. Yeah.
21:37.12
Brandon Barnum
Yeah, and create a video that’s a video if ever there was a video that’s the 1 right? because if you think about and I forget the the Tv the reality Tv shows right? that are out there about fixer-upper or all the different stories out there. Imagine.
21:47.56
dybsteve
Me.
21:54.97
Brandon Barnum
Story that you can create about your business when you take somebody who needs help and you change their life. You transform their home I mean you’re going to have moms crying and you should be capturing all of that. Even if it’s just your iphone or your Android by capturing that and really.
21:56.83
dybsteve
Me.
22:07.11
dybsteve
Yeah, yeah, so. Have.
22:14.76
Brandon Barnum
Creating that story now people will tell the story about your business and that’s where you really tap into success.
22:20.90
dybsteve
Oh right? on right on this has been good. There’s 1 question I have for you and it relates to referrals and paid leads I want to kind of set the stage here and just say that I I have I have. Passionate feelings against paid lead sources I genuinely believe that they are a racket. Essentially what happens is unknowing um entrepreneurs paying contractors business owners will sign up to buy some leads so that they can get some leads when. What they’re ah effectively doing is funding their ah Seo engine pushing their ah url down the serps making it harder for them to list and not only that. But there have been multiple reports of these lead ah paying services providing fraudulent leads. Charging making it very difficult to cancel if not near impossible. They’re lawsuits and so I’ve heard the stories and I’ve talked to many people off the ledge from paying leads and it it breaks my heart because ah I genuinely believe that these services are wreckets. Ah, and in the old you know the the way that we know how mobs ran rackets right? You pay them for protection so that they didn’t hurt you so um, and fortunately we’ve had the opportunity to help many of them but I would um I would like to know your insight on how.
23:35.45
Brandon Barnum
I will.
23:50.55
dybsteve
Ah, you find new clients without paying these rackets.
23:52.35
Brandon Barnum
Yeah, great question. So I totally align with you H O Eight dot Com is a membership site. We’ve created we set out to create the number one referral network for professionals who serve homeowners and so.
23:56.71
dybsteve
None is more.
24:08.24
Brandon Barnum
Ah, people come on to ha.com and they pay an annual membership fee. It’s three hundred and fifty seven dollars for the year so it’s less than a dollar a day far less than a b and I usually less than the chamber of commerce and you know we say we’re creating next door. Meets Angie’s list meets zillow now if you look at that middle component is kind of what you’re talking about in our experience. What happens on some of those platforms and you know I I have to be cautious and not make statements about competitor companies.
24:28.98
dybsteve
Um, yeah here.
24:39.91
dybsteve
M.
24:42.80
Brandon Barnum
However, the stories that we hear from a lot of contractors is that they get this lead flow. But now the homeowners on the other side are getting barraged by people right? because typically they’ll sell that lead to 3 or more individual companies that are now competing for that business. So.
24:54.60
dybsteve
Yeah.
25:01.90
Brandon Barnum
I’m not a huge fan of that model. It’s never worked out for me back in my previous I was in the mortgage business. That’s how I got into the referral game and when I purchased leads I never converted at a high enough rate where it made any sense. So I teach that lead is a 4 letter word.
25:10.28
dybsteve
Um, like help this how this is a new the area and you might get.
25:20.79
Brandon Barnum
And what I mean by that is it’s kind of like an expletive I don’t want to lead I want a referral when somebody’s referred to you. They’re 400% more likely to hire you because the trust factor is so much higher. You’re not competing from anybody the referrals will on average, be 16% more profitable.
25:25.53
dybsteve
Amen.
25:40.56
Brandon Barnum
For you because those clients are willing to pay more right to get a quality job that will refer you more often. They’re more loyal so it’s all about referrals from my perspective Steve did I answer that question is there anything else right.
25:42.82
dybsteve
You.
25:52.64
dybsteve
You nailed it I love that all right? So a take away from me just from that right there leads are four letter word because referrals ah convert was it 400% more and they’re 16% more profitable. Yes, yeah.
26:00.44
Brandon Barnum
Hell well.
26:03.80
Brandon Barnum
It is correct. Yep, that’s right, yeah and 90% of people say that they trust recommendations from people that they know so 9 out of 10 people kind of work naturally by referral one out of 10 is a skeptic right? He’s a cynic.
26:19.56
dybsteve
Yeah, yeah.
26:23.90
Brandon Barnum
He’s not going to believe anything anybody tells him and that’s okay, that’s just that guy right? but find out of 10 of us when somebody says oh you got to check out this movie. It was amazing. You got to go to this restaurant’s fantastic, right.
26:24.83
dybsteve
Yeah, great. Great.
26:36.28
Brandon Barnum
We listen to that we trust that recommendation and that’s why referred business is so much more profitable.
26:39.14
dybsteve
Um.
26:43.73
dybsteve
Amen spot on I Love that could you tell us a little bit more about H Two Eight dot Com The the referral network And. Um, So how does it operate? you know it’s it’s it’s not being I or B and I you going you meet. But here’s it’s just what a website just a listing could you unpack that little bit for us. Please.
26:58.80
Brandon Barnum
Yeah, so we’re actually on a mission to revolutionize the entire homeowner association industry. Yeah.
27:05.53
dybsteve
Okay, so I just it’s interesting I inside I’ve lived in Florida for 20 years and I’ve got a couple boys. Ah, they’re young men I don’t call them teenagers because we’re raising young men not teenagers but they’re in the teen years and I wanted them to.
27:11.20
Brandon Barnum
Yeah.
27:24.70
dybsteve
Fully boys and so we got out of the ha’s because we were tired of the letters. You know it wasn’t fair to them. We’re in Tennessee now we got 29 what at acres. So just quick aside on h o but ah painted in a ton of them love them. It’s good. Great cash flow. Great place to work. Ah, but not raise boys.
27:24.69
Brandon Barnum
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:39.58
Brandon Barnum
You know they’re great communities and that’s the key and when you look at America there’s three hundred and seventy Thousand H Oas and 53% of all homeowners live in an h o a yet.
27:41.30
dybsteve
But great place to work and so more referrals there.
27:52.39
dybsteve
Yeah, yeah.
27:55.30
Brandon Barnum
I introduce myself as a Ceo of hoa.com all the time and I hear all the horror stories people talk about the fees and the fines we envision and we’re working on creating a future of h oas where there’s no fees and no fines what would that be like. We’ve got a champion within that community where if you don’t bring in your get your garbage can at the end of the day instead of sending you a fee notice. We just go put your garbage can away crazy crazy work on stuff right? Anyway. So.
28:14.17
dybsteve
Yeah.
28:20.10
dybsteve
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
28:26.22
Brandon Barnum
This is big picture big vision. That’s where we’re going over the next five years we believe that we’ll be able to transform the industry and people will love their HA now how do we do that? How do we get there at the core. Our business model is a referral network. We’re creating community pages.
28:33.85
dybsteve
And.
28:44.30
Brandon Barnum
For every neighborhood in America think next door on that community page. We integrate all the information about that community but also the top trusted professionals in that community. So we’re going to select 1 preferred painter.
28:46.40
dybsteve
No.
29:01.22
Brandon Barnum
For each individual neighborhood or community. It’s part of your membership 357 a year includes one community where you’re the preferred painter for example or Realtor mortgage or what have you? we then help create that trusted team that automatically co-markets I said next door.
29:08.98
dybsteve
Oh me, hunt right.
29:20.27
Brandon Barnum
Meets Angie’s list meets Zillow well, the zillow component is what we call our homesafe report. This is an automated email that goes out from those that want to send it in our system but it set it and forget it. So basically when you come on to hoa.com
29:22.60
dybsteve
Um.
29:37.18
Brandon Barnum
You’re going to claim a community. That’s my neighborhood that I’m going to work hyper local social farming and if you want more than that more than one that’s available to but then you’re retargeting remarketing to those homeowners and really being part of the community so you claim ah your community.
29:52.34
dybsteve
No.
29:56.27
Brandon Barnum
Set up your profile. You’re gonna invite your trusted team. These are the people that your referral partners right? The people you want to work with and then you send out the homesafe report when you do that every single month The homesafe report sends out. Ah, valuation Update to the homeowners in your database and it lets them know that the house has gone up or down in value but it also has that trusted team So we’re remarketing your your business and your referral partners every single month.
30:23.46
dybsteve
Um.
30:29.93
Brandon Barnum
To those homeowners and what’s beautiful about that most painters after they get done painting a home. They the homeowners never hear from them again. We call it going into ghost mode right? I’m sure this is part of what you teach in your coaching program right.
30:39.67
dybsteve
Yeah, yeah, yeah, step 9 is staying top of mind to your customer list is her.
30:48.37
Brandon Barnum
So we automate the process you so you set up the homesafe report every single month homeowners are getting a mess an email from you with your photo your brand your phone number and then your referral partners. It also has information on comparable sales current listing and.
31:03.36
dybsteve
Oh.
31:07.10
Brandon Barnum
Events that are happening right there in their local community. So it adds a lot of value but it’s totally automated set it and forget it. So the keys with H O A Dot Com is we create that community page and we connect the community together and we do that through live events. We get.
31:12.67
dybsteve
Next.
31:20.10
dybsteve
No.
31:25.47
Brandon Barnum
Mostly the realtors quite frankly to host different live events. We create the blueprint for them whether it’s an ice cream Social Community barbecue. Sometimes we’ll bring a bounce house to a community or do a treasure hunt All these family forward.
31:36.99
dybsteve
Moving.
31:42.66
Brandon Barnum
Fun events that bring the community together so that they can connect and celebrate and I’ll give you an example I was just recently at 1 of our barbecues that happened here in the phoenix market where I live and there were about 50 people there the realtor and the mortgage lender.
31:43.69
dybsteve
Well.
32:00.23
Brandon Barnum
Had gotten together and they said we’re gonna do this community barbecue in our neighborhood and they hired a 13 year old to go door knocking. They gave them ah a will um cu. Little sign with a qr code and then they went around and said hey we’re having a community barbecue and we’d love you to join us. It’s going to be on this day at this time in the green space. So about 50 people showed up. They all brought their own meat to put on the grill.
32:20.61
dybsteve
No.
32:28.12
Brandon Barnum
So the mortgagewinder and the realtor paid about fifty bucks total for some drinks and some chips and that was about it and what was so cool is I was looking around at one point and the kids are playing basketball. The dads are playing cornhole and there was even a kickball game going on.
32:32.27
dybsteve
Yeah.
32:45.95
Brandon Barnum
But the coolest part Steve is as I looked around not 1 person was on their cell phone. Everybody was just hanging out having fun and getting to know their neighbors. So those the types of events that we integrate into these what we call a connected community.
32:50.76
dybsteve
While yeah. Me.
33:05.80
Brandon Barnum
So it starts with a community profile. We do community events. We send out the homesafe report and the other way that we serve is our concierge service. So literally we have a service if somebody is moving. We’ll take care of everything we’ll change their address set up new utilities get them quotes on.
33:12.59
dybsteve
Um.
33:25.49
Brandon Barnum
Ah, well, we’ll set up their water. Their power cable security get them quotes on homeowners insurance solar anything that they need painting and then after they’ve moved in if they need help. We’re there as their community concierge to help them with anything they want and so we refer back.
33:33.37
dybsteve
No.
33:44.80
dybsteve
Yeah.
33:44.81
Brandon Barnum
Our pros our members and we keep all that business together. So a client for 1 is a client for all.
33:52.97
dybsteve
Ah, it’s fantastic. That’s pretty amazing. What an incredible vision and which putting together here. Thank you Brendan is there a question I should have asked or any final points you would like to make.
34:05.15
Brandon Barnum
Yeah, no, you know I think sometimes what occurs to me is sometimes people will say Well, what’s the most important thing you kind of did that on the front end I’d say you know really the key is to have success in your in your company, get clear on what it is that you want to accomplish and achieve.
34:23.50
dybsteve
Me.
34:25.11
Brandon Barnum
Right? If you’re just floating through your days and you don’t have a goal Steve I know you teach goal setting right? having that goal and getting crystal clear on what you want to achieve is a huge part of success I have my goals written out for the next fifty years right
34:28.86
dybsteve
Who.
34:40.63
dybsteve
So for those listening through the audio he’s holding up forms with rows I’m guessing forty fifty rows and he’s he’s going through 5 six seven sheets ah my goodness.
34:52.10
Brandon Barnum
Yeah, and this is a couple hundred this is I just looked at the number 212 goals on there and there are things that I want to accomplish places I want to go people I want to meet and experiences I want to have so get crystal clear.
34:56.73
dybsteve
Okay, yeah, no.
35:04.86
dybsteve
No.
35:08.52
Brandon Barnum
On the life that you want to live live life by design not by default and then also be bold be courageous. We have a ah different organization. We run called the Christian business alliance where we bring Christians together that do business together and.
35:22.13
dybsteve
Right on.
35:26.39
Brandon Barnum
And we have the core values of Christ and the sea is be courageous. So be courageous in sharing what it is that you love that you’re passionate about. And don’t be afraid to ask the biggest thing I learned from Mark Victor Hanson over 19 years of mentorship I just talked to him two days ago is ask for what you want. That’s his book here is ask right? This is his most recent book the bridge from your dreams.
35:45.42
dybsteve
No. Ask? yeah.
35:56.65
Brandon Barnum
To your destiny. So ask for what it is that you want and you’ll get it more often than not.
35:58.26
dybsteve
Um.
36:03.26
dybsteve
Joshua 1 9 right? Be strong and courageous for I’m with you wherever you go I love that? yeah you know.
36:08.90
Brandon Barnum
Amen I love it. You know your scripture better than I do I just stay connected to source. But I love that you know that that’s awesome. But.
36:16.35
dybsteve
If somebody wanted more information where should they go.
36:18.87
Brandon Barnum
Yeah, so check out hwe.com at the top right? You can click on the become a pro button. There is an application process we do background checks to make sure that the people in our network are the type of people that we want to promote to our clients. Um, but as long as you’ve been in business for a couple of years and you’re a highly rated company. We have to rely on ratings and reviews beyond the background check. But that’s the easiest way to get involved with H O A Dot Com
36:41.42
dybsteve
And.
36:48.13
Brandon Barnum
And if you want to check out what I’m up to you can go to brandonbarnum.com there you can book me if you have your own podcast and you’re like hey I like this guy I want to bring him to my audience. You can do that there and then you can also do the bank code quiz. So if you go to brandonbarnum dot com you’ll see a link to know your code you can click that.
37:01.00
dybsteve
No.
37:08.10
Brandon Barnum
And you can also take the referral score quiz. There are 10 referral best practices and at Brandonbarnum.com or you can go to referralscorequiz.com and you can take it. It’ll take you less than 2 minutes and you might be surprised by some of the best practices and how you score on them. So checking out take the quiz that’ll help you see the blind spots in your business and through that you can take your scores from a five to a 10
37:33.97
dybsteve
Um, right on? Fantastic. Thank you again? Brandon what a pleasure.
37:38.86
Brandon Barnum
Oh my pleasure Steve thanks for having me I hope this is informative and most of all I hope people take action right? Wisdom knowledge is not power applied knowledge is power put it into action put it into your practice.
37:45.74
dybsteve
Indeed.
37:55.73
dybsteve
Right? on? Fantastic! Thanks again.
37:55.82
Brandon Barnum
And that’s when you’ll achieve success.