The Tech Enabled Tradie with Iridium Electrical

The transcription is a radio episode of the Business Huddle featuring Charlene Sexton from Iridium Electrical in Gippsland. They discuss how digital tools are reshaping business management, focusing on smoother processes, smarter technology for tradesmen, and better outcomes overall. Charlene shares their journey from paper-based systems to embracing digital job management software for efficiency and accessibility. They highlight the importance of evolving with technology and collaborating with other trades to find the right solutions. Overall, it emphasizes the shift towards digitalization in trade businesses for improved operations and customer service. Get ready for the insider's guide to local business stories. Welcome to the Business Huddle, your weekly passport into Gippsland's most inspiring businesses. Real conversations, real challenges, real local legends. Let's look at the game plan and get started. And a very good morning to you all. Welcome to the Business Huddle. I'm your host, Melanie Kahane, and this week we are talking tech-enabled trading and how digital tools are rewriting the playbook for business management. We have a special guest with us, Charlene Sexton from Iridium Electrical, and we will be back in just a moment to sit down with our chat with Charlene. Right down the line Right about the door, the time Dreaming all the game Clouds, people, shame Well, they were looking for their promised land People running from the heart of darkness Searching for the heart of life But they were never lucky But they were standing on the solid ground Staying on the sacred ground Believing on tomorrow's dawn The heart is where it's at It's where it's all at night Oh! Well, they were standing on the shore one day Before the white sails and the sun It was lonely, but it felt the same A white man, white for white, just Don't tell me that's just the way It's somewhere, it's somewhere in life Yeah, it's somewhere in life Somewhere in life In the sun Somewhere in life Oh, yeah And they were standing on the solid ground Staying on the sacred ground Believing on tomorrow's dawn The heart is where it's at It's where it's all at It's solid ground Staying on the sacred ground Believing on tomorrow's dawn The heart is where it's at It's solid ground It's solid ground Staying on the sacred ground Believing on tomorrow's dawn The heart is where it's at It's solid ground It's solid ground And, wow, that was Solid Rock with Goanna A nice way to start this week's episode of the Business Huddle Thank you for listening You're 104.7 Gippsland FM And this week on the Business Huddle we are flipping the switch and looking at how one of Gippsland's essential trade businesses is leveraging technology to manage their operations And it's an electrical business And for an electrical business success is no longer just about the spark It's also about the software It's about managing and growing a fleet ensuring quotes are precise guaranteeing customer satisfaction And I guess this requires a sharp focus on systems and efficiency So joining us in the huddle today is Charlene Sexton at Iridium Electrical in Trafalgar Charlene's the business leader behind Iridium's smoother, smarter, better philosophy And today we are going to discuss how they've tackled the challenge of scaling a trade service how digital tools, I guess, are replacing paper in their vans and what other local businesses can learn from their approach to making their operations more profitable and more resilient Charlene, welcome to the Business Huddle Thank you, Melanie Great to be here Thanks for having me No problem at all Look, I've sort of been through all of that and I did want to say is it Iridium Electrical or Iridium EC? Well, Iridium EC is the, I guess, the trading name and the EC stands for Electrical and Communications So when we put together the name we thought that was a bit too long So we just used the Iridium EC but typically we trade under Iridium Electricians or Iridium Electric Okay, noted I'm just going to say Iridium Yeah, Iridium is fine So Iridium, I guess, has been a market leader in Gippsland for years now Can you start us off by giving our audience and our listeners a quick snapshot of the business today and tell us what you mean by the smoother, smarter, better philosophy, I guess For us on the Huddle that sounds like a business strategy built entirely on systems and efficiency Is that the case? It is, basically So the company in a couple of different variations has been around since 2011 So we're long established in the area We've employed a lot of people over that time We've run a lot of apprentices So we've given lots of young people chances to become A-grade electricians and a lot of them have stayed on with us over that time which has been really great We're a good small family business We work well, I think, all of our boys and I have a female electrician as well and she's great That was going to be my next question Any women in there? Yeah, there is some women in there We've had a few work experience girls come through and more lately I see them cropping up even more Myself, obviously, as a business owner being a female and Tamara is an A-grade electrician and she does a great job and gets along with everybody and she actually gives the boys a bit of a run for their money because her quality of work is very good So they're always keeping up And so, look, the smoother, smarter, better I guess that is really based around it's everything that we do So it's all of our systems and processes So what we're trying to do with that is create a smoother process for our customers so that their interactions with us are pretty much pain-free We're not keeping them on hold They're not waiting around for answers The smarter technology that we provide for our tradesmen So getting them onto iPads Making sure they've got everything they need at their fingertips They're not scrounging around the van looking for a biro to write out job notes Everything's online for them And then I think that just provides a better outcome for the business overall So our customer service our systems and processes within the business and how we manage all of that including all of our health and safety stuff It just provides for a better business overall So that's why we tag it with the smoother, smarter, better It's quite a process Maybe back in 2011 there wasn't much mention of digital there So it's a bit of a journey to get from there to where you are now I'm sure they still carry pens Yes they do And texters with them It's probably been a bit of a journey to get to where you are which is amazing I guess for the business And I think some trades are really still stuck in that very manual way of doing business and not using technology It's there to use I guess And it might just be about incorporating that into their business It might seem like a lot of hard work And I think with a lot of trades they're busy working in their business and maybe not on their business and have the time to do this sort of stuff and implement those systems Yeah definitely When we started it was all about paper-based We had copy books with job notes in it that were duplicates I think there was three of them and one went to the customer and one went to me as the admin and one got left in the book just for a record And we would have hundreds of those books all over the place and pages here, there and everywhere And that one being entered into the system and it was crazy I remember we got a piece of technology and we thought we were in a bit and it was what they called an electronic pen and it was this big fat pen that was like holding a big texter and it actually had a small camera in it and what it did was it took a small video of the guys that were actually writing and then they had to upload it and I had to receive it at the other end and it never worked well It sat in the cupboard for years Just thinking back on that sort of technology and how we tried to embrace it even back then Now I think it's about getting away from all that scattered stuff and having systems and processes in place that really contain all of that information and make it really accessible to everyone and it just streamlines all of our workflows And retrieving it as well Having to go through a filing cabinet and everything's listed alphabetically Yeah, I'm sure we can find it in the end but just to be able to do a quick search on a computer to find what you need is probably a little bit more the way that we're working this day So I guess as the person who handles the business systems you're essentially the engine room of the business At what point did the old school way of managing the jobs and the paperwork and the spreadsheets When did it break down and you knew you had to move to a more sort of digital mindset? I think it was very early on in the piece When we started the business we entered into a franchise which is called Platinum Electricians and that franchise actually had a lot of systems and processes already set up and they were using some digital job management systems and we embraced that sort of from the get-go But as I was saying, you know, the bits of paper and things that were all over the place and as the company grew and we had more trades and there was more of that paperwork and I was actually, when we first started I was working in a small office in the guy's garage and we basically ran out of room in there for all the paper and whatever So it was like, okay, well we need to figure out a better way to do this and then that's when we went looking for online stuff and joined into the job management you know, the digital job management software and there's quite a lot of them out there now It's easy to find that sort of stuff and it just made a world of difference How do you know what actually works for you then? I mean, I know in my business I'm constantly trialling new software you know, almost trying to replace a band-aid approach with the next big thing that can incorporate everything together Like, how do you actually know what's right for you? I think just looking at what other trades were using as well and making inquiries in the industry as to what other people were using what was working for them So, you know, good collaboration with other trades other electrical trades and as being part of the franchise we actually had the opportunity to do that and to talk to other people and we had people that had been in the business a lot longer than us that had already trialled some of these things so it was great to just, you know follow their lead, I guess as to what systems and processes were going to work best for us And how do you, I'm thinking I know software, especially sort of new software that's doing great for your business it's an expense, it's a business expense How do you manage to bring that on board in your business without, you know putting your customers' prices through the roof It's obviously the business choice to you know, embrace new software and that comes with that cost How do you not pass that on to the customer? Or do you? Well, in some cases you do, I guess It just becomes part of the overhead of the business and being able to have this software does, you know, give us a better process for our customers as well So, I think they can see the benefits when we are able to react quickly to their enquiries not lose any of their information You know, we're able to invoice quickly we're able to quote quickly And I think that's a, you know customers see that as an advantage that we might have compared to somebody who's a bit smaller that's still having to hand write out quotes or maybe goes back and does it on a spreadsheet and, you know, it may be late at night and, you know, the customers are waiting whereas once we have these sorts of digital things in place we can obviously provide, you know a much faster service to our customers So, look, I guess it is just part of the overhead It's like having to pay rent and things like that really software And I know what you're saying about, you know the shiny objects in Durham I'm terrible for it Like, I'm always looking at new apps and, you know, different ways to do things and swapping between task management software and things like that for me personally But for the business we've sort of got to pick something and really run with it and work it to the best of our ability without swapping and changing too much because it can be really disruptive to try and do that Do you think, like, having these sort of improved systems is a bit of a competitive advantage for you? Like, I guess against maybe some of the smaller guys that are going home and looking at quotes and, you know, writing everything down on paper and then, you know, getting the email drafted and making sure everything's right like that sort of speed to market would you think that that could be a competitive advantage for a trade business? I think it definitely is but I think you've got to bring it in at the right time in your business So if you are, you know, a smaller guy you're a one man band or you might have one or two trucks and, you know, you might have a wife or a girlfriend or something that's helping you out with admin I think that's quite sustainable at that time But I think anyone who's looking to grow their business really needs to look at what systems and processes they have to put in place to ensure that they can maintain that capacity and provide the customer service So the customer service is, you know what their business is built on So we really need to make sure that we're providing the best systems and if that means we have to invest in more software to make our, you know, technology better and, you know, keep up with what's going on then I think that's just becomes part of the business As the business grows I think you can sustain it, you know to a certain extent when you're a smaller business But if you're really looking to grow and like I said, you know at one stage we probably had 25, 30 employees Well, you know, if you didn't have technology and digital processes you would never be able to keep all of that information straight like it would be a nightmare Yeah, I think if you're dealing with say that smaller sort of Katie who might be listening you know, you've got that you know, the wife and the girlfriend at home doing that you've got a couple of guys working for you you're bursting at the seams How do you make that next step to actually grow? Do you just go, sorry I can't take on any more work because I'm, you know, flat sick Like I think that's sort of that next step for a lot of people in many businesses really Like how do they know at what point you actually need to invest more in the business and to make it grow or just keep going in what you're doing because you're making, I guess, a healthy living but I guess if you want to move up in the wealth scale like there's got to be a point where you go, okay now's the time that, you know, I think I can grow What would you say to somebody like that? Jump in and do it? Or, you know, do they need to look at their business first and really identify, like, is this sustainable for you? What do you need to do? What sort of business planning, I guess, would you have been doing to get from where you guys were in 2011 in that garage full of paper to where you are now? I think you need to probably The main thing is to establish what sort of business you want to be Do you want to just be a basic service and maintenance? Are you just, you know, only looking to look after some residentials? Do you want to get into commercials? Do you want to get into major projects? And I think based on that you can formulate what sort of software What do you want your software to be able to do? What do you want those processes to be able to handle for you? Obviously for us getting into, you know, multi-million dollar projects we needed some pretty robust sort of systems behind us So things like, you know, how do we do the tender? How do we do the take-off? How do we make decisions about, you know, what materials we need and things like that? So there's a piece of software for that And then there's another piece of software that manages all of that once we get the project up and running So where are the materials, you know, the invoicing for all the materials and things like that? You know, we get hundreds of invoices a month from our suppliers that, you know, we need to manage And luckily we've got a job management system that actually all of that can be automated into So there's no data entry for any of that anymore It used to be all done manually But now that's... And I think it's really plan what sort of business you want to have And then go look for the systems and processes that fit and enable you to do that So if you're looking at multi-million dollar projects with, you know, lots of bells and whistles and lots of materials and lots of hours to be booked out and lots of shopping supplies You need software that can handle that Now if you just want to do residentials and your day-to-day service then, you know, there's some other software programs out there that are pretty basic and will cover off, you know, everything that you need To lighten that load a little bit in that situation Yeah, exactly Yeah, interesting I haven't thought of that A couple of people keep coming into my head and I'm thinking, oh my god, that's what you need Yeah, exactly Okay, so for the listeners who might still be using paper invoices I say whiteboards, but I don't know Maybe I still use a whiteboard So I don't know if that's antiquated but it's just so I can see things What's a piece of software or a digital system that's been the biggest game changer for reading and maybe one thing you probably couldn't live without right now It would definitely be our job management system Yeah Is that what it's called? Yeah, well it's called Simpro is the name of the piece of software and it's a beast of a thing and lots of people use it I would say we probably use about maybe 25 to 50% of what it's actually capable of doing Yeah, okay So there's lots of room to grow, which is great but that is the main piece of software That's our Bible It's our source of truth That's where every inquiry, every job whether it comes in via the phone or email or whatever all gets entered into Simpro So it all comes in If it's a quote, it goes into the quoting system and if it's a job, it goes into the pending job system and from there we add all of our notes We can add photos, we can add materials and then it actually goes onto the once we're ready to schedule it we've communicated with the customer, the tenant whoever it is we actually put it into a scheduling system so it's just like a calendar you can see on the screen and we have all the boys' names down the left and then we just schedule in the hours like the blocks of time that they need to complete those jobs and then we can do that at the moment we're nearly booked up for the first half of December so if you opened our schedule you would just see coloured blocks everywhere and it's full so it goes into what we call our progress system so that means we know it's booked in it's waiting to be done and then once the job is actually finished the boys can complete the job online and then it goes over into our completed system and then we know that it's ready for pricing and invoicing and we're checking to make sure it's got photos and compliance certificates and all that sort of thing and once all that's done then we can send the invoice off to the customer and it sounds like that takes a long time but we can virtually do we can have same day jobs where the job comes in it gets into pending it gets onto schedule and it gets invoiced all in the same day Some of the bigger projects obviously are sitting in our system and they're scheduled over a number of days but a lot of them are just day to day sort of stuff so we couldn't live without that system that's just where we keep everything that we need and as I was saying before our supplier invoices actually are automatically imported into that system so when the guys create a purchase order and they buy 27 different items for that job from our supplier then that invoice automatically attaches to that job so there's no double handling there so it's pretty cool and as I said we get hundreds of invoices every month so we just I wouldn't be able to employ enough people to do that manually Definitely Is it difficult for someone to set up or does it need to be professionally set up? I guess at your guys' scale it probably needs a bit of help to set that up but just say for your trainee everyday trainee out there if he wanted to implement something like that that he's growing would it be hard for him to set up or is it more of a professional like set it up for you and then teach you how to use it? Yeah initially when we did set it up we did have some training and that was valuable just to sort of run through the basics of it it does have a great help system in it now and a lot of that is AI based so you can pretty much ask a question in the little search box and AI pops up and says oh yeah this is how you do that but I think there's a lot of other smaller programs that I'm aware of out there that would probably be better as a starting point Simpro is a pretty complex piece of equipment and it's really built for full on asset management and multi-level projects and things like that where you've got hundreds of different cost centers in different areas so it is a big base but we have been using it for over 10 years and I talk to other people in the industry every other day and it is one of the most popular ones to move to it is quite expensive in comparison to some of the smaller ones but there's a lot of really great software out there that will just help people help guys to be able to and it connects to Google calendars and things like that so you're not missing jobs and you can generally hook into whatever you're familiar with using there'll be a way to connect that to whatever piece of software you're using whether you're using Apple calendars or Google calendars just to keep track of those appointments with some of those smaller software and full disclosure nobody's getting paid for any of these so there's a couple I know there's one called Fergus I know there's Servicemate which is very popular Simpro of course and there's another one called Tradie Life I think it is something like that just do a bit of a Google search and I'm sure you'll come up with things but if people want to pick my brain they can certainly give me a call and I'll help them out but for us the job management system I think is central to our business there's so much going on there but I think really helpful as well I do know a lot of trades people that are just that smaller outfit so Simpro might not be for you but some of those Fergus, what a name! there's some other ones that you can look at there I think what we'll do Charlene, we will take a break we've got to let the news get on and we will come back with Charlene from Iridium Electrical so stay with us we will be back shortly and we're back on the business huddle thank you for joining us today we are talking with Charlene Sexton from Iridium Electrical in Traralgon and we've been talking all things tech for tradies there's been some really good insights before we went to the news and had a little bit of a break some of the software that tradies are using the sort of business systems we've sort of spoken a little bit about the smoother, I'm trying to think of it now smoother, smarter, better philosophy that they use and having talked to Charlene I know she's a bit of a techie so the perfect person for us to have here and talk about this subject on the business huddle so let's talk about the crew in the van so when you get a new job how does the digital systems walk staff through the entire process I guess from getting that work order to ticking off safety checks I know you said that you're uploading photos and that in that safety zone I guess how has the mobile experience if they're using mobile changed their day-to-day life I think that's one of the great things about Synpro is the mobile they really focus on the mobile side of it and being able to do everything without being sitting in front of a desktop and you can pretty much run your business from the mobile side of the program although obviously my estimator, myself my admin people we all have access to it on our desktops and to be honest mine's never closed it's just open all the time so the process basically is when the jobs are coming into the system they're coming in via emails or via phone calls and they're created so the first data entry at the moment is still manual but I'm looking at some ways of being able to scrape information off a PDF say that's attached from a real estate agent and just getting that straight into Synpro so that's kind of one of the future things I'm working on so the system so we put everything in there and then we make contact and again it can be through technology so we have a text messaging system where we'll contact the tenant and say hey we've got a work order come through from your agent to come and do your electrical safety check when's a great time for us to do that and then we put that on the schedule for whichever guy we've got we're wanting to go and do that and so the guys all run iPads and on their iPads they have full access to Synpro and everything else they need all the Microsoft software all of their emails and everything but basically their bible or their source of truth every day is looking at what's on their schedule and they can do that the night before and they can have a look and say right well I know at 7.30 I need to be here and at 10 o'clock I'm due to be here and etc so they can open the job in there and it does walk them through so once they get to site they can say that they're travelling so we know if they're travelling a distance they say travelling on their job when they get to site they say at site and then they will automatically run them through what they call a JSA which is like a safety system and they cannot move any further forward in that job until they've completed that safety check and that's just around the environment and are there any hazards and things like that so it keeps it top of mind all the time and then they can go off and do the work any of the materials that are required will be listed on the job and they'll have them in their van or whatever and it has all the notes so they know exactly what they need to do you need to install the double GPO in the bedroom or you need to install the ceiling fan or even before they got there it might have been collect parts from supplier at such and such use of purchase order so they'll whizz in and grab a ceiling fan or whatever it is that's booked out we try and have those materials in the workshop but it's not always the case so they run through that system then they'll complete the work and do everything they'll come back to their notes and go read through again have I done everything that's on those notes and they'll run through it with the customer and explain to them what they've done there is an option to get a customer signature as well we don't utilise that as much at the moment but yeah they could get the customer to sign off and say here's the job notes this is what we've done are you happy with that and then they finish off their job notes they can submit what we call an MPC so a prescribed certificate and then that's basically it once they've done their notes they've finished their job and then they can leave that's just a small job yeah that's just a small job so on the multi-day jobs they'll be writing notes at the end of the day and saying well today we did this, this, this, this and this so that allows us back in the office to be able to track what they're actually doing and the beauty of that is that I can see that straight away so as soon as I see so another piece of software we have is trackers on our vans so as soon as I see that Bradley's left that particular job then I can go in and see the notes I can see the photos and if the agents ring and say well how did you go at 3 Musco Street today I can open the job and say yep I've got the photos here everything's been done and completed I'll get that invoice out to you today yeah well we arrived at 10.15 and nobody was home we said it was going to be around that time but couldn't get access to the property but you know where you were at that time yeah exactly and I think the real benefit for our tradespeople with being able to have that system is it gives them real autonomy to actually run their own day so I don't need to micromanage them I know that their schedule is set and I know that that's what they're looking at and if I've got it on their schedule then that's where they're going to be so you know it treats them like a grown up they can manage their day and if they've got issues if they're going to be running late for their next job you know they can call ahead and say look I'm 5 minutes late or I'm 10 minutes late or whatever and I think they appreciate that level of responsibility and that I'm not micromanaging them you know every 5 minutes where are you, what are you doing what have you done today you know that would just drive them nuts and I really like to treat my team as if you know they're running their own small business and you know if they do a great job well you know the reputation of the business is there as well so for me that's the advantage I love seeing guys super organised you know they come in they know where they're going what they're doing I can talk to them any time of day like I said we do have trackers in the vans and it's not a big brother thing it's more of a security so that you know if someone's gone missing or we don't know where they are I can have a look at the tracker and see where they are or if we get an urgent job in I can look at the tracker and say well he's in irrelevant he's in normal well right we might be able to get you know Tamara off that job and send her over to this one so again it's another piece of technology that's open on my desktop all day so I can sort of monitor where people are just for yeah just to make sure their day's going smoothly and then if they are held up somewhere and I can say oh you know it's an hour after they should have finished that job I can give them a ring and say hey how are you going you know if you've been held up do you want me to call the customer do you need help do you need help yeah that sort of thing incredible yeah I think having the iPads and just being able to manage everything and we get the feedback straight away in the office as far as what's happened at that job all in real time even with the trackers yeah exactly so switching I guess to the money side of things cash flow is often the biggest killer for trade businesses how has moving to digital quoting having a team process or well I'm guessing having the software process payments and invoices helped you keep a tighter sort of faster grip on the finances it definitely does I think particularly from the quoting side of things you know we can get an inquiry for a quote and providing we've got the capacity or my estimate is not too overwhelmed we can get a quote out pretty much the same day if we've got all the information that we need so being able to go from quote to approval to getting the job done and then invoicing it literally can happen within two or three days now once we get the approval from the customer so I think that's depending on whether we're sending out seven day invoices or a 30 day customer or whatever it does actually improve the cash flow because the job's in and out within a couple of days which means the money's sort of coming in to the bank account quickly as well providing everyone's paying on time so there was definitely a shift in the cash flow we're not waiting for posting out an invoice in the good old days the amount of stamps we used to go through was ridiculous every invoice was printed, folded in three put in an envelope taken down and then the customers would wait to get it and then they would write a check and then they would post the check back to us so we'd have to get the check back and whilst that can happen pretty quickly definitely having the digital emails and your PDF lovely PDF quote just arriving in your email box and you can open it you can click on a button to approve it we get that notification straight away so we can get the process we can order materials and get it happening quite often now we have a requirement where we need a deposit to be paid as well just to cover materials and things and that can happen instantly as well so as soon as they do the approval the deposit invoice can be sent out can be paid we can get materials and you just move on with the process and then finalisation we can send an invoice the same day they can click a button and pay it the same day as well so it definitely improves the cash flow and how quickly you can have that turnaround of funds going throughout the business yeah and I think accounting software is amazing these days but we spoke a little bit before about automation if you've got an invoice that's due on this date the system will pick up whether it's been paid or not maybe just send a gentle reminder like your invoice is coming up for payment or it's overdue that sort of automation in that software can help but yeah I think accounting software and especially if you can integrate it into the system that you currently have is just worth its weight in gold yeah well Simpro I use Xero as my accounting program I think a lot of people are heading in that direction and that connects directly with Simpro as well so we pretty much only have to click one button and we can move everything all of our invoicing from Xero straight over sorry Simpro straight over to Xero we reconcile all of our payments in Xero from an automatic bank fee so we're not chasing statements we just click say yep reconcile reconcile and then that moves when we click the button again that moves all those payments back to Simpro so we kind of use Simpro as our again our source of truth as far as what invoices are paid and not paid but the payments will actually come through the banking system in Xero and then go back over to Simpro so our automation is set up in Simpro so that when an invoice is sent the customer will get a text message and say hey thanks for your business or your job's completed we've just sent your invoice number X to the email as requested and then there's an automated follow up system as well hey don't forget your invoice is due in two days and I think it's not about being big brother or bullying or whatever I think it's more about just providing those reminders for customers because we all get swamped with things I think even I appreciate getting a little reminder say hey don't forget your invoice is due and it's like oh yeah I've got to pay that and it's a one click system now to click a button and your invoice is paid Yeah I think touching on that customers and customer service it's a big one and it's key but how like with the digital tools like text reminders, automated updates do you think and I think you're sort of touching on that that the client feels looked after by having those things sent to them I'd certainly know like you just said we all get busy but sometimes I'm like oh come on give me a day like I know it was due yesterday like I know I've got to pay it it's you know I've scheduled that in for Friday don't bug me but you know I guess how do you make that a nicer experience for the customer Yeah that's really important for us is not to be too overbearing and I have mindfully sort of spread out the reminders so that we're not bombarding people day after day you know one day after the invoice is due we're pretty flexible around that within reason you know if you're getting out to seven days or whatever then you'll probably get another reminder I actually try and do a lot of that personally myself just as the owner of the business I feel like that's my responsibility to be engaged with people and if there are some issues or if there's some difficulties or whatever I really like the opportunity to be able to discuss that with the customer and you know make some arrangements that sort of work for them as well it doesn't happen a lot but I think that you know having a personal phone call from someone saying hey you know just making sure you've got your invoice is there any issues can we help you with anything when do you think you might pay it look I can pay that Wednesday no problem I'll put a note in the system for you and we won't bug you again until Wednesday so I try and sort of keep that personal but I think the text message reminders are still there yeah I like that personal touch as well I think that's hugely important especially when everything is automated or you know at some stage there might not be that contact with a customer you can submit a quote and get a tradie out there and they haven't talked to a single soul so yeah I think that that sort of little bit of personalisation can actually go a long way and having spoken to you know a couple of retail businesses I was talking to Rob from Benson's timber and hardware the other week and you know customer services is his big thing and I think that's why that business has been so successful over a very long period of time and you know I do wonder a lot you know how much this sort of AI and automation and tech sort of takes away from that I know I can't find a telephone number to speak to somebody at Telstra these days it's highly annoying I've lost the plot with someone like that but just to have that little bit of personal touch like if you can't get that within your job but I guess you've also got your technician out on site as well like they're your personal touch so do you sort of manage that in any way with the techs like you know be nice these are our customers like you know they're not just a purchase order number or a job number on the book is that sort of important to you it is really important to me and it comes into play a lot when I'm hiring so I'm generally looking you know for personalities skills we can build and we can teach and train but if somebody doesn't have that innate you know ability to communicate with people you know I get people that come in for interviews that don't even look me in the eye you know and I'm like yeah I just can't see you working with my customers so that's really important to me and that's probably where I focus on that the most is when I'm hiring and then if I've you know got a good feel for people now look there's skills that you know they've got to be an A grade they've got to be licensed they've got to have experience but I really look for those people that I find you know open up really well in an interview you know are great to chat with and you know Tamara's a perfect example you know she just gets along with everybody you know she's happy to help everybody out but all my people are all my guys are because I've deliberately hired in that direction and looked for those people that I know will provide the customer service that I really want to provide we have our meetings every week on a Tuesday morning and we talk about that a lot you know we're always talking about how are we providing the best service to people what else can we do you know is there anything else that we've noticed around the home while we were there that you know perhaps needs work and you know some people might call it an upsell but I'm like you know for me it's like don't leave the house if you see a power point that's crooked or you know cracked or whatever just mention it you know you don't have to you know we're not providing quite straight away it's not a hard sell just say hey look just so you're aware that's cracked you know I can replace it now if you want me to or you know just call the office and we can get it done at some other time but yeah I think that's good I feel like yourself might be a bit of an extension if you're easy to talk to well I hope they are we do have a lot we do have a lot of really good banter around the workshop and we do have a lot of fun together and I think that's important and I think it's important for them to know that I really back them in as well so when things go wrong you know I always back my guys you know I back over and yeah try and resolve things yeah for sure online reviews reputation obviously in that marketing space like local area marketing is hugely important and I think those sort of online reviews is what people are looking at now when they're choosing a different provider do you have a strategy for getting online reviews yeah so the Google review things only sort of come to my attention in the last you know 12 months or so it's not something that we ever really worried about we get great feedback from our customers but I guess we weren't capturing you know that great feedback so obviously the Google reviews and like you say it's become more important that I actually probably gave it credit for and I think that's really important yeah it's something that we haven't given credit for until recently so we do have a strategy now where again we send out a text message after the job's complete and it just hopefully says you know if you've enjoyed our work if you're happy with everything you know here's a link click the link and give us a Google review yeah it could just be that differentiator and I say this to my partner all the time and you know for me reading that I'm like great you know I want Bradley exactly he's going to come in and be friendly and all of those sorts of things so I think that's quite important you can also put it on your invoices you know you could automate it to some extent like you know leave us a leave us a Google review or let us know what you think and then you obviously leave it I think like a little bit like surveys people tend to get surveys that come at them but I think I know that it's important so I try and leave Google reviews for service businesses that I'm using and how much it helps just even in those search results Google's algorithms absolutely love them so yeah I think it's important and just even that text message like there it is there's the link all you've got to do is click it it'll take you two seconds so yeah exactly I think our Google reviews I don't even know what we're up to I want to say it's around 50 or something so that's not too bad and that's only you know we've only been focusing on it for a little while but to me though I really like the Google reviews to be a reflection of how we've treated our customers and not how much we've badged them to leave us a review and if I enjoyed your business I would have just gone ahead and done that anyway I think the value in those Google reviews for me is that those are the people that have taken the time to leave a review and if they haven't left a review well that's fine I'm not going to send them a text message every five minutes and look I guess the flip side to that is when you get a bad review and you don't know what to do with it so I actually rang the customer and said look I'm really surprised do you want to fill me in and we had a really good discussion about it and it turned out I think she was just a serial bad reviewer person and so I asked her politely if she would remove it and did she understand the impact that that may have on my business overall and I don't think she did understand the impact of it so I had a conversation with her and she removed it. I think that is best practice for anyone who gets a bad review out there I have my friends call me all the time like oh my god I've got this really bad review in restaurant business like it could be make or break whether people are actually going to book your business and a lot of the time if you can't reach out to them and take it offline then you don't really have a chance to get a bad review so it goes down the list but it's already upset you and like you say there are people out there and sometimes I've heard of like competitors leaving bad reviews on your pages. It's one of those things that's so touchy and you don't want a bad review but sometimes you just can't help it but in that instance if it's constantly happening you probably just need to get more reviews to push it down a little bit more. We are running out of time today. This has been a great chat but I did want to just talk to you about looking ahead, next big digital thing, AI automation, what Iridium is actually doing coming up. Where are you guys going in the next couple of years and where do you see tech for your business? I think the first thing that we'll probably be looking at early next year is our phone systems. So I'm really keen and I've tried out a few different technology systems and I've tried out a few AI phone answering systems and they're amazing now. Unless you're really concentrating you wouldn't even know you weren't speaking to a human. So I think that's the next thing for me is looking at that AI stuff and from the point of view that really respecting customers time and understanding that when they make a phone call we might not always have a human there to answer it but we can capture the information by AI. We can get a transcript of the complete call so details aren't missed and the way I'm looking at it is that once we've captured all of that information then we can get a human on the phone and the conversation is then dedicated to that person. They're not distracted. There's not other phone calls coming in. We've been able to return the call at a time that's appropriate and we gather all of that information on the phone. I need to get some ceiling fans put in. The AI can say yep, no worries Joan. What's your address? We'll even get to the point where it's scheduling straight into our calendar is something I'm messing around with at the moment where tenants can actually just book their own jobs into our calendar system. So far it's working quite well with a couple of little hiccups but I'm enjoying it. So I think phone systems next and just capturing that and then when we've gathered all the information that we've needed or we can answer the questions, we've had a look at our schedule, then making that human connection, that relationship back with the person, giving them a call back, hi, yep, we've got all your information here. Just so you know we can get the ceiling fan and we can book your job in tomorrow. I think that's really respectful of the customer's time that we can get back to them and have the answers and we're not bumbling around saying oh yeah, I'm not sure about that. It really speeds up that I think the AI will handle the administration and my humans manage the relationships. Yeah. The AI can put the information forward in some sort of context but it's incredible how we're going to be working closer with AI these days and how intelligent it really is. Like it can do songs and everything and I guess if it makes business life easier then I'm all in for it as long as I can manage the relationships. Yeah. I'm all in for it as long as it doesn't take away from the customer service which I think everybody understands is hugely important then why not give it a go. Yeah. Well we still have to send our trainees out to do the work so I don't think AI is going to replace electricians any time soon. No. No. In fact I think we're going to need more of them because there's more cables to put in so everyone can have their AI systems so I think we're pretty right for a little while. Yeah. Good. How can people get in contact with Iridium? Yeah. So there's a few ways. Obviously we have Facebook and Instagram so you can tag us on there. All of the DMs will come straight through to me. On our website we've got a little chat widget on the front of there as well where you'll see my smiley face and you can send me a message through there and it pops up on my phone directly. What's your website address? Website is www.iridiumec.com.au EC. EC. Don't forget the EC. You can call us. We've got a 1300 number. 1300 416 016. Yeah. Text me however you want. We're out and about. You're out there. Absolutely. Thank you so much. I'm sure our listeners are going to take away a lot from that today. I certainly have. I'm going to be giving people advice left, right and centre thinking that I've done it all but no, I definitely haven't. Thank you so much for joining us Charlene and I hope to see you again soon. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.