Michelle describes how Truly Nolen’s “Yellow Standard” prioritizes proactivity over reactivity. She also emphasizes that great customer outcomes start with taking great care of employees.
Michelle describes how Truly Nolen’s “Yellow Standard” prioritizes proactivity over reactivity and innovating with purpose. She also emphasizes that great customer outcomes start with taking great care of employees.
Welcome to Elevating Brick and Mortar. A podcast about how operations and facilities drive brand performance.
On today’s episode, we talk with Michelle Nolen, owner of Truly Nolen. Founded in 1938, Truly Nolen is one of the largest family-owned pest control companies in the United States.
Guest Bio:
Michelle is an experienced executive in marketing, strategy and enterprise level project management. She’s a strategic consultant and innovative problem solver to Fortune 100 companies, large family owned businesses and entrepreneurs. Community focused and driven, Michelle always strives for immediate and sustained success.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:44 - About Truly Nolen
04:15 - Leadership in a family business
08:14 - The Yellow Standard
12:55 - Evolving customer expectations
22:55 - The skilled trades gap
26:55 - Gauging success
32:19 - Advice for young leaders
34:28 - Where to find Michelle
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[00:00:00] Welcome to Elevating Brick and Mortar, a podcast about how operations and facilities drive brand performance. On today's episode, we'll hear from Michelle Nolen She'll share how the business evolves while staying focused on exceptional service and developing the skill teams that make it possible. Now, here's your host, Sid Shetty.
[00:00:20] Music break
[00:00:21] Sid: Hello everyone. Welcome to season five of Elevating Brick and Mortar. Thank you for joining us. I'm here today with Michelle Nolen of Truly Nolen. Michelle, welcome to the show. Thank you for being here.
[00:00:32] Michelle: Thank you for having me.
[00:00:34] Sid: So Michelle, let's jump right in, right. For, for listeners who may not be familiar with the brand, what does Truly Nolen do and what's the role that you play in the company?
[00:00:44] Michelle: So truly Nolen is a family owned, family run pest control business that has been in business for, we're getting close to 90 years actually. So multi-generational.
[00:00:55] But we work with companies, uh, government agencies, homeowners, uh, property owners from coast to coast across the United States. We also have franchises across the globe. Um, 'cause there are bugs everywhere. So we take care of your regular, regular bugs and roaches and whatnot to pigeon work, to rodent work, termites, bees. Uh, if it's a creepy crawley, we take care of it.
[00:01:21] Sid: Love it. So, you know, truly Nolen's a well-known brand. Right. But I'd love to spend a few moments just talking about the story and the history and how the company was founded and, um, you know, would love to hear like your, your narrative from the inside. Right.
[00:01:39] Michelle: So truly is a family name. My grandfather is truly Wheatfield Nolen. He started the company during the Great Depression, 1938 in my Miami Beach, and it really started off in a very glamorous way where he was helping clean out people's outhouses. Because indoor plumbing was not as common as it is now, of course.
[00:01:58] And that really organically led to if you're cleaning out outhouses, you start seeing other issues. So you see roach issues, you see rodent issues. So he, when he was taking care of one thing, it led to business opportunities of taking care of something else. And so really paved the way of different ways he could help his customers deal with the issues they had. My father got his degree. He moved to Tucson, Arizona and started Truly Nolen Pest Control in 1955 when he read that there were more termites in Arizona than any other place in the country,
[00:02:30] So he came out here, lo and behold, it was true. And so he, you know, hung his shingle and started his business and then bought his, his father's business when his father passed away, merged them together and that became truly Nolen of America.
[00:02:44] So we still serve coast to coast from San Diego, Arizona, Texas, Florida, uh, up the Eastern, uh, board as well.
[00:02:54] Sid: So you are part of a multi-generational like family business with a long legacy. What has your personal journey been like, uh, within the company and how did you start and how did you get to where you are right now?
[00:03:06] Michelle: So, you know, my father brought me to work as parents sometimes do, I genuinely work with people I have literally known my entire life. We have employees who've been here over 50 years and which is a huge privilege. I mean, I talk about my family at work. I was like, well, I have my genetic family and I have my work family and I have, Lynn is my work mom and she's still here.
[00:03:27] But we have people who's been here forever and, you know, had summer jobs as you do. I mean, I, I worked in the office answering phones, scheduling. And then really came back to the company as like a grownup employee. Uh, in 2001. I thought I was gonna be here for just a few years to help replace a computer system.
[00:03:44] if you do the math, that was 2001. You know, I've been here obviously a little bit more than three years. Um, but really fell in love with the company and the people we have. I mean, yes, there was familiarity. I, I was working with people I've literally known my whole life, but met so many great people along the way.
[00:04:00] Work is always gonna be work, but if you love the people you work with and you really connect at a higher level, you can get so much more out of it. So.
[00:04:09] So I, I do whatever needs to be done, but it always comes down to the people.
[00:04:14] Sid: Thank you for sharing that. How has stepping into like a family business and, and taking on a leadership role, you know, shaped the way you think about leadership and the responsibility that comes with it?
[00:04:26] Michelle: That's a great question. I think there's a lot on your shoulders. You know, I look at our employees, I do think of them as family. I do think of it as we have to make sure we're always making payroll. Like they, they might love us, but they are here for, uh, their check at the end of the day.
[00:04:42] So I always feel like we have a huge responsibility to our employees, we have a huge responsibility to our customers, to our vendors, our partners, the communities that we're in. I think one thing that we really see and something we really develop with our leaders in house, as you know, it's one thing to be an advocate, to always be championing your cause in an organization, de defending your department or whatever it is, or making sure you're doing things right.
[00:05:09] I think the level that we see as family members, how, whether we're new in the business or we've been in it for several decades, is that notion of stewardship and what is our stewardship, relative to, Hey, what might be good for you and your department might not be what's great for the company as a whole and our resources where we have to, to move things around and prioritize, but also looking bigger picture.
[00:05:31] It's, you know, are we making a good decision for our future version of us? You know, and, and that can be a hard thing. Our world moves and changes very quickly. So how, how can you be nimble enough? Um, but I really think that's the element I see myself coaching a lot of our, our team members who are coming up of, look bigger than yourself and think about more than just you. I mean, we can't just think about ourselves as individuals. It's, we are responsible for all of our employees. We're responsible for our customers and putting them in a safe place. We're responsible to our community so that our community is there for us and we can continue to, to operate in the communities we're in.
[00:06:09] Sid: Yeah. I love it. E When you think about Truly Nolen, the company and then the family and you that, um, are continuing the legacy. What's your North star?
[00:06:20] Michelle: That's a great question. I really think we have these two pillars with us, and one is that we are and always will be a people company. You know, we take care of people, our customers.
[00:06:31] But we've also always been very innovative in the way we do things, the way we take care of people, the way we do the business in the field. We, we partner with our providers to, to really have the next best thing. We have literally built the world's largest mouse trap as a PR gimmick, but we also look at what's the smartest thing we can be doing for the environment?
[00:06:52] 'Cause what works now, we might be hurt, you know, shooting ourselves in the foot five years from now, because the way insects evolve very rapidly, they will learn how to have resistance to certain materials or the way we do things. So we really look at how we can be innovative in the way we do things.
[00:07:08] 'cause if you stay the same, you're gonna be behind. And part of that is how we train. How we trained 20 years ago with employees and their skillset 20 years ago is very different than what we look at now.
[00:07:20] Now we use a lot more, you know, computer programs. We look at gamifying things because the people who are coming in as employees now really are used to doing things off of their phone and not just out in the field. They're, they're not used to cracking open a book. They're used to going and watching a video, short videos.
[00:07:39] You can't have a 45 minute video. You have to have a bunch of three minute videos, so. Challenging ourselves, never resting on our laurels and understanding that yes, we kill bugs and we prevent bugs from getting in, but we're really taking care of people. And I think that's the thing that if we take care of our people, our people will be there and they'll take care of us.
[00:07:56] And that's the thing that has not changed in nearly 90 years.
[00:08:00] Sid: Yeah, so that's a great segue. You know, if you, if you pivot a little bit and just talk about like the service side of the industry, right? At it's core you know, pest control is a service business. And, and from your, your perspective, what does it mean to be a truly great service provider?
[00:08:19] Michelle: So I love your use of the words there. Um, so we call it our yellow standard. And when we think of yellow standard, it's, this is, you know, we think about people writing case studies about like, what's the Truly Nolen way of doing things. And again, we've always taken a lot of pride. So when my grandfather and my father were starting their businesses, pest control was something you didn't want people to know you were having done.
[00:08:42] You know, this was not something we talked about. This was, it felt like an embarrassment that you were gonna need the exterminator to come to your house, to come to your business. And what they really did that was transformative for the industry and really something I think other service providers can take note of is we became a front door service when we were coming to your business.
[00:09:03] When we were coming to your home, you wanted us not to hide in the back. You wanted, you wanted people to see that we were coming through the front door. We were a sign a good housekeeping. I tell people I only go to restaurants that I know I'm the service provider. 'Cause I know that's a safe place to eat. 'Cause I know that the, the best places that hire us, they operate at a certain standard. They don't want the cheapest version. They want who's gonna do the best job and they understand the value that brings. So I think really taking pride in what we do as a service. You know, it really comes from our culture.
[00:09:37] We're proud. We do a lot of research. There's a lot of trust that goes into that. Trust of who we're bringing into people's companies who we're bringing into people's homes.
[00:09:45] There's a certain ethics that we have coming into all of this, that people can rely on us. If we're coming to you saying, you have a problem, we're not trying to scare you, to sell you something, we're coming in as your partner and your provider to really make sure that we're taking care of you so you can take care of your family, you can take care of your business.
[00:10:06] We can't have restaurants and food, you know, processing and delivery services, having bug issues. We can't have our hospital systems and our medical providers and our care facilities having bug issues. And so for them to stay in business, we have to be doing a good job. And really a lot of that comes down to, as a service provider, really having trust, really understanding that partnership that goes into it, and them being open with us and us being open with them so that we can work and collaborate together to do what they brought us in in the first place and why they keep us.
[00:10:44] Sid: Who is the ideal customer for truly Nolen? I mean, yeah, there's all types of facilities, all types of businesses. What is your focus?
[00:10:51] Michelle: That's a great question. I really think we can be a great provider to everybody. Of course, you know, there's that part of me that wants it all. But I would say the people we have really great long-term relationships are people who want to have long-term relationships. We have people who really share, you know, these companies, our customers.
[00:11:09] They share the same values we do. They really understand the type of people you're bringing in, how much that matters. You know, background checks, investing in background checks matter.
[00:11:20] We put safety as our most important thing. Culture-wise, it is our most important thing, is that everybody gets home back to their families. You know, at the end of the night that we're not rushing around, we'd rather do fewer business and better business.
[00:11:34]
[00:11:34] Sid: In terms of the, the types of facilities too, you know, you do restaurants, retail, commercial, real estate, you know, industrial, like the, the whole gamut.
[00:11:43] Michelle: We do everything. I mean, we have to be licensed, of course, in our states for that. Uh, we take that very serious. We actually do such a good job with our training that we do the ongoing education and, and the states trust us to do that in a lot of places. And we have our competitors come to our properties for their ongoing training as well.
[00:12:01] 'cause we really are, we really are that level in our industry and we've, we've always taken a lot of pride in that. That, that's the level we operate at, is we're not only just taking the class, we're teaching the class. We know, part of that goes into to teaching our customers.
[00:12:14] Our longest term customer here in Tucson, Arizona, where I'm at, where our headquarters is at, it's a sausage deli place.
[00:12:21] I drive by it actually every day from my son's school to here. They've been with us since the fifties, and it's the fact that they've been able to be in business is huge. The fact that it's a food place, you know, that long, staying in business and us being a part of that is huge. Our biggest customer is a childcare facility and they don't go out and they never rebid us because we have such a great relationship with them.
[00:12:44] So we have these, you know, one-stop shops. We have these chains and we have relationships. And the relationships is everything. Again, it always comes back to the people.
[00:12:54] Sid: I love it. Now, Michelle, you know, customer expectations are just constantly evolving, but it feels like at this point it's highest it's ever been. Right. And especially post COVID in the pest control and, and janitorial service space, um, there's like heightened expectations on what is the new standard.
[00:13:15] Can you share a little bit about how you view those, that expectation kind of evolve and especially in the past, you know, five, 10 years?
[00:13:23] Michelle: Absolutely. So one thing I would say that hasn't changed is in our business, what people really want is that our world famous mouse car that we drive, to be a time machine. They want, when we call that it's really a time machine, it goes in history before they ever saw a roach, before they ever saw or heard a rodent.
[00:13:40] Um, so really the one thing that's always been consistent is the prioritization on urgency. When people call, they have a problem. They need us to be out there and solve it, and they would've preferred if we solved it before it happened.
[00:13:52] So we really have to review our schedules to make sure we always have space for an emergency. There's a lot we predict, but there's those emergencies that we make sure that we have our teams, which means our staffing, our vehicles, our, our, chemicals and products we use that we have enough in hand that we can solve any problem within 24 hours.
[00:14:13] And so really knowing how to utilize technology for that. So upgrading software, when that needs to be done looking, and we're leading our industry in how we use AI to look at data so we can anticipate the needs of our customers even better.
[00:14:26] It's what you're using that's different that evolves is the technology to really address the urgency part of our world.
[00:14:34] Sid: There's a wide spectrum of customer, right, the buyer. Um, and many a times, like in our space, like we tend to be a little reactive and, you know, whether it is assets, you know, wait, waiting till it's like a, a break fix, or waiting till something gets bad and then addressing it.
[00:14:51] It's not done intentionally, but it's one of those situations where, you know, that's just how, how it is and everyone's trying to like change that and get into a more proactive state and, when it comes to your business and how you talk to your customers, is there this connection between, "hey, the customer experience is everything, customer safety and just hygiene is it's, it's everything." And, we'd rather be proactive and not ever deal with the what if scenario than, you know, just handling it when and if it's required.
[00:15:29] Michelle: I think a big part of what we do and in our industry and and us as a company, I think we're really one of the best at it, is educating our customers. That this really becomes a lifestyle. This becomes something, whether you're dealing with your home, your retail store, your warehouse, being proactive really is everything.
[00:15:48] 'cause again, we don't wanna have the big reaction problem. it's like going to the dentist. People don't really love going to the dentist that often, like that, that free toothbrush is just not really gonna be enough of a, a carrot for you. But we understand if we go and we're checking on things on a regular basis, if there's a problem, it's a much smaller problem than waiting until it's terrible.
[00:16:08] So when you need things to be right and you need things to be done, and understanding that we are a very heavily regulated industry, both at the federal level and the state level. And then there's different things like, you know, in a restaurant business, you're obviously gonna have, um, health checks as well that are unannounced.
[00:16:25] You know, understanding who are you partnering with makes a big difference. That when the health inspector comes in and they know we're the provider, it shifts a lot of stuff with that audit. They know that it's gonna be done at a certain level.
[00:16:37] So we'll put you in a good position. You know, you look like the professionals that you need to be. If you have any questions, um, you know, again, it really comes down to that partnership. I know I say it a lot, but it really is everything.
[00:16:49] Sid: Yeah, so, so like in, you know, if we don't mind double clicking into that again, a in a competitive world where, sometimes players choose to compete purely on price, right? How do you go and differentiate yourself and, and go from what could be a perceived transactional relationship of, "Hey, we have bugs and we have a someone to take care of them," you know, to a relationship that is more about, "Hey, how do we ensure that you never even have to worry about bugs because, things just happen on a regular cadence and we've got you covered." And we have a proactive program for each of those. Like how do you get from the first to the second type of relationship?
[00:17:32] Michelle: No, it's a good question. So in our business, both on the commercial side and residential, there's a huge referral component to it. I mean, it's whether it's who's referring to you on a Facebook or a LinkedIn or within your industry, but. When we can go in, whether it's a, again, a large arena facility, um, entertainment industry, we can go in and say, here's our other customers who do this.
[00:17:55] We have experience doing this. So if you're gonna go in and say, I just wanna have, you know, the economy version, the cheap version of this, 'cause that's what my budget is set to. It's like, okay, you can do that. What are their resources? We know who the companies are, who have the footprint that we have in terms of resources, access to information, relationships with our vendors when we have to go in.
[00:18:18] 'cause we do a lot of, um, historical, you know, preserved buildings as well, which is always really fun and special. We know who else has that, we know really what differentiates us, is because we are so people focused, do I always say other people might have even a bigger footprint than we do?
[00:18:35] They don't have the soul we do. You know, they might be reporting quarterly earnings up through Wall Street or to their private equity investors who really care about the dollars. Because we're family owned, family run, we care about the people and we, we have to answer to ourselves and our ethics. And again, it really goes into our value system.
[00:18:53] And so when we're talking to people, whether it's a, a property owner, a business owner, a homeowner, you know, we really think something that's become a bigger thing with everybody is that they really wanna align with somebody on the same values.
[00:19:07] We really want people who want that long-term relationship to say, Hey, right now, this is your issue. If you have a B issue two years from now, you already have a relationship with us, we can come in and help you with that. You know, if you have this other issue coming down, you know which might happen.
[00:19:23] We can partner with that.
[00:19:24] And again, it's what we obsess over. Let us be the bug nerds in your life and to know how to solve this. So you don't have to just know, like you don't need to be the expert. You just need to, you know, have a guy, you need to have the right gal, you know, in your corner and just know we're gonna take care of it.
[00:19:38] And. You know, again, integrity is a big deal for us. Our value system and our ethics are, are everything to us. It is our name. It's not a generic name out there. And we stand by it.
[00:19:50] Sid: Yeah, I mean, you know, when you think about the industry as a whole and just taking your, you know, truly Nolen leader hat off and putting the hat off, like just a leader in the space, you know, facilities, teams struggle with trying to like show that having proactive programs and planned maintenance actually has an ROI and you know, it is not good enough to react to things fast. If you don't have a planned program, right, it's just not just, it's not a replacement. How do you go and have those executive conversations to educate the customer and what advice would you, would you give others in other trades that are in our space in terms of how they engage with the customer to say, you know, here's the importance of doing it right, and how do you empower your buyer to go make the business case internally to, you know, fund the right programs to get to the right outcomes?
[00:20:46] Michelle: A big part of it is understanding what happens if you don't hire us or a company of our caliber. What does it look like when that doesn't happen? So if you are in food distribution, you're in retail, you are in the medical space in some way, shape or form.
[00:21:01] If customers see a bug, how long does it take for them to take their phone, their take a picture and share it on Facebook? And can you afford for people to see where they're having dialysis, where they're having a deli sandwich, where they're having, you know, they wanna go buy something. Nobody wants to see a bug.
[00:21:19] Nobody wants to go in and say, well, I really love going to this place, but there's something wrong with their air conditioning. It's too hot. You know, like, you, you really understand what happens if you don't take care of things. How expensive is that? Because reputation can be, it takes a lifetime to build.
[00:21:36] It takes forever to build and you're always nurturing it. And it takes less than a second to destroy one picture, one video. We've seen it, it can go viral. And I feel like there's an accountability that is really at such a heightened level and the way you don't have that be the conversation, is you prevent it from being part of the conversation. You take care of it. It's just like nobody would ever associate having a bug issue at certain places. 'cause it's never happened. That's never been the problem. They might have other problems, but that's never been the problem. We say, look, you're gonna have enough issues as a business.
[00:22:14] Why would you wanna make this another issue you have to deal with? That's why you hire us.
[00:22:18] So in a world with social media driving so much of the conversation, and where videos and images can go viral when you're not planning for it, prevent that from happening again. What, whatever you're in, let's not have that be part of the conversation.
[00:22:34] Show how maybe you, you are the heroes of the day. Yeah, that can be great, but let's not have that be the thing you have to deal with. So that's why you partner with a real professional company.
[00:22:44] Sid: I love it. Now, Michelle, like, like many industries, pest control relies on skilled technicians and, and field expertise. How are you thinking about the, the skilled labor shortage that exists and, it's a massive challenge across the space, across all types of, of trades. What's your thought on like, how do we solve for it as an industry? 'cause we need more, you know, of the next generation of, of skilled technicians. Right,
[00:23:08] Michelle: Yeah, no, I think the training the people is not actually the hardest part. I think getting people in the door who wanna work in our industry or any of these trade industries, you know, I think there's been a bit of elitism and snobbery about people who work in the field, like, oh, that's blue collar, that's this, you know, I look at that and that's a real thing.
[00:23:27] I think people taking pride of saying, you know, AI is not gonna replace the technician's job. The AI might help identify which pest it is. AI might help us know where we're gonna see swarms, you know, based on, based on, you know, information we get from, from weather and and other data. But first of all, I think people are seeing some of these really highly skilled college educated people.
[00:23:49] They're losing their jobs to AI, you know, they don't wanna be working inside all the time. So people who do wanna go out and work, people who don't wanna worry about AI stealing their job. I think that's a way we're having different conversations. We learned that we are very good at getting people from other industries that are much more susceptible to environmental changes and to economic changes.
[00:24:11] So in '08 when there was a lot of issues in the mortgage world, you had a lot of builders who were going outta business and all the people and trades people, you know, carpenters, framers, plumbers, all these people were losing their jobs because that industry was hit so hard. We got a lot of people from that who were used to working, working with others, working in different conditions.
[00:24:31] We were really beneficial. We gained a lot of people outta that. A lot of people we still have because they realized we don't lay people off. We're always growing. We are always building. And they appreciate that.
[00:24:43] I think the harder challenge that we're all going to see everybody, you know, who's listening to this podcast, and I think industry is far and wide. I think the biggest challenge is we have these younger generations growing up and all of their communication is done through email and text messaging and messaging services. They don't have the people skills. Those soft skills, they're very afraid to have, it's not even, conflict or confrontation, but just face-to-face conversation.
[00:25:10] I think it's really gonna be having developed the soft skills that we're seeing people lose because they, they're hiding behind their digital curtains and their cell phones and having people, you know, be able to talk to the customer face to face and eyeball to eyeball. And having managers and our supervisors and our leaders also have those people skills and not just try to manage through email and manage through report.
[00:25:34] But I do see younger people coming up, not having those conversations, not having those skill sets. And I think that's something every industry is going to face and deal with. And as a society we deal with. And so it. You know, instead of having a conversation with the customer, they go write a Yelp review.
[00:25:51] Sid: Yeah.
[00:25:52] Michelle: You know, they put it on Facebook and so, you're scouring for that. And we, we do that of course, but really getting our people, and part of that's expectation setting from the sale of like, Hey, here's how you communicate with us.
[00:26:03] I think we're, we're always working how do we meet customers where they wanna be met? If a customer only wants to text with us, we have to obviously be able to meet them at that way, but we still need to have those people skills too.
[00:26:14] Sid: Yeah. What does success look like internally at Truly Nolen? How do you measure success internally, and how does that translate to just better outcomes for your customers?
[00:26:25] Michelle: So that's a great question. So my two things I obsess over is how long are we keeping our employees.
[00:26:32] So we really look at our, our retention numbers, and we look at are we, you know, onboarding the right people in the right skills?
[00:26:38] What do we need to learn from that? So that's a big metric I look at is, what is our retention?
[00:26:43] Where are we turning people over? Why are they leaving us or why are we terminating them? The other pillar is our other people, our customers, you know, we look at our customer retention, and there was a long, a goal for, for decades of the Holy Grail was can you, you know, have a cancellation rate at 2% or under?
[00:27:02] Well, we're really proud that our cancellation rate is even under that, which means we're retaining like 99% of our customers and that's not an accident. You know, we do a very good job retaining our, our customers. And the reason I answered this with our, our employees first is we don't have good customers without great employees.
[00:27:20] Success for me is when I see people who come in and they're here for a job, they need a paycheck, they need to pay their bills. And then they have a career, and then they have a calling and we see them, you know, sometimes they stay in the same title job, but they go from being a technician to being a field trainer, being a mentor. And that's huge.
[00:27:37] So we have people who come in and we can train them, yes, the technical skills and then we build in the people skills on top of it that they can really grow. We have people who go from being technicians, they have to relocate for family purposes often, and they look around like, oh, I'd love to stay with the company.
[00:27:54] And we say, well, what if you became a franchise? So we have technicians who and service inspectors who go from just that to relocating wherever they need to relocate, and they become franchise partners with us and, for them to be their own boss and to live this, you know, kind of this old school American dream is huge for them.
[00:28:12] And so when we see that, we know we're doing something really well. 'cause we're, we're growing, we're growing.
[00:28:17] So it's like I grow because they grow. You know? I have to grow. Like you have to keep hiring wonderful people. Not 'cause I'm churning through them, but because my customers are doing so well and that's champagne problems my friend.
[00:28:29] Sid: That's right, that's right. We'll take those problems, right. There's a lot of technology and innovation and AI, entering all industries, like every type of industry is being disrupted. How do you see that disrupting the service industry? And then specifically, does it, does it change the way you deliver pest control services?
[00:28:50] Michelle: It can, and we definitely look at stuff and part of it is because there's such, there's the bleeding edge technology, which can be great, but it also might be replaced before you can even roll it out. So you kind of have to hedge your decision making. Where are we gonna go and is it gonna make a difference?
[00:29:06] And what difference does it make? There's been a lot of research and efforts by our vendors looking at remote monitoring stations for rodents, you know, because it, a lot of the cost is having somebody drive out to whatever that location is, to go check on something and monitor it.
[00:29:24] 'cause that's a big thing. Well, can we do that remotely?
[00:29:27] I think the things that we have really helped lead our industry in, and it made a big difference for us is how we route our plan, our services. We don't get paid for driving. Windshield time is is not productive.
[00:29:40] Really making sure we are tight on our scheduling and our routing and our planning. That really is the type of technology. It's not sexy, but it makes a big difference at the end of the day.
[00:29:51] Sid: Right,
[00:29:52] Michelle: So.
[00:29:53] Sid: I have my perspective on this, but do you think that customers will start to ask their providers more and more, how they're leveraging technology and AI to just operationalize their business better and use data better. Use AI to become more efficient. And to basically pass on, you know, those efficiencies and those savings and those, those benefits onto them as a customer, because that's happening in every space, right?
[00:30:21] It's not about getting to, you know, cut costs or do things more, you know, in a cheaper way, but how can I get more value? Because technology's advancing so much, and I presume that's in every part of the business.
[00:30:35] Technology helping you use your technicians better, and route them better, you know. Uh, are you able to go on site with knowing more about what to solve for then, and so you've resolved more things in the first time than having to come back, you know how, what's, what's happening there?
[00:30:51] Michelle: It goes to education. So part of it is, when things get expensive is when you're reacting. So it's how can we use AI or any technology to be more proactive, um, and less reactive. So part of that is gonna be keeping people on a schedule, of course, um, understanding what's going in because AI is still really new within our industry. To really look at how to use that. And again, it's that anticipating needs and being smarter with things. 'cause again, it's, it's small and it's incremental. It's like where are we seeing an uptick in data? And it, and part of what AI is, is helping us go through the data and get critical, you know, take data and make it information you can act on is always what technology should do. And so how can we do that better, faster, and respond to it so that we're staffing our phone centers better? If that's what we need to do.
[00:31:40] It's making sure we say, oh, there's this uptick. We need to be on top of ordering this material. And what do we need to do for scheduling? Do we need to block out more time for our services so that we're not going back?
[00:31:52] So when, when our customers are asking us, like, Hey, how can we be efficient with this? I think it's really understanding that communication from them. They have to share their, their data with us, you know, and what's going on with 'em.
[00:32:04] When we can stay ahead of things, that's when things, you know, stay really, you know, financially responsible and efficient.
[00:32:12] So it's all those small little unsexy things that really build the house.
[00:32:17] Sid: Got it. Let's end with advice. Right. What advice would you give any young leader in the space who's entering the service industry on the principles that he or she should think about as you think about how to differentiate themselves and, and make a mark in the space?
[00:32:32] Michelle: I think really know who you are as a company. Like who's, what's the soul of your company? What's your North Star? I think really understanding that you can have the best systems, but if you don't have the culture, it doesn't matter.
[00:32:43] And I really think culture is gonna come from leadership. You're gonna really see culture and really know what the culture is not 'cause of a beautiful poster on the wall. What happens when things go hard and it's stressful, you know, it's like you wanna see how calm somebody is.
[00:32:59] Looking at things when they're stressful, how do you, how do you respond to that? That's really gonna show the integrity and the culture. You know, really understand that and understand your culture is really gonna be your differentiator.
[00:33:11] I also think the other thing I would say to any business owner is don't be afraid to fail. We don't learn anything by doing it right and perfect the first time. And if you think you're always perfect, you're probably wrong. Um, but go in and be afraid to fail and just say, it's not failure if you're learning. If you're, I'm like, I learned a lot of ways how not to do something on my path to learning how to do it.
[00:33:30] And I think we can be a bit paralyzed by the fear of failure and how that makes us look. And I think, again, that attitude and that culture of, Hey, we're gonna learn this and we're gonna set the expectation, we're gonna work through this and we do this with customers of ours who really want this next level.
[00:33:46] We're gonna run smooth and steady before we run really fast and steady. And I think being honest about that and trusting and that honesty in that conversation is, is gonna be everything.
[00:33:58] People can tell when you're lying. You know, they're, but when they see that you're being honest and you're, you're being truthful, then they know, hey, when things are gonna be bad, their culture, who they are at their core. Is to be honest and transparent, and that's who we wanna partner with. We never want the bad news, but we know they're gonna be honest with the bad news.
[00:34:14] So trust your culture. Know who you are, and, and don't be afraid to, to not be perfect
[00:34:20] Sid: Yeah. Well that's great advice and uh, Michelle, I've really enjoyed our conversation. Thank you so much.
[00:34:26] for being on the
[00:34:27] Michelle: me as well too.
[00:34:28] Sid: For, for listeners who might wanna learn more about you and, and Truly Nolen, where can they find you?
[00:34:33] Michelle: Well, obviously the internet is a great place to start. So Truly Nolen.com, T-R-U-L-Y-N-O-L-E-N dot com is a great place there. Um, my profile's on there, of course. LinkedIn is another great place. Um, you know, we're, I'm across a couple different social, but LinkedIn's a good place to start.
[00:34:51] Sid: Love it. Well, with that, I just wanna see a huge thank you again, Michelle. Really appreciate you being on the show. And to everyone else in our audience, thank you so much for joining us today, and we'll see you on the next episode of Elevating Brick and Mortar.
[00:35:04] break
[00:35:04] Well, that was Michelle Nolen from Truly Nolen. What stood out to me in this conversation is how much great service ultimately comes down to people trust and consistency. Michelle shared how their organization continues to evolve while staying focused on delivering exceptional service and developing the skill teams that make it possible.
[00:35:28] As customer expectations rise, it's clear that the companies who invest in people that operational excellence will be the ones who stand out. With that, I'm your host, Sid Shetty, and I'll see you on the next episode of Elevating Brick and Mortar.