This is The Entrepreneur 7, where we spend seven minutes with entrepreneurs and other business leaders in an effort to bring more value to anyone building a business or looking to level up in leadership.

In this episode, Marketing 360®’s Darius Bell talked with Clinton Erlich, Head of Marketing at Energy Service Partners (ESP), which specializes in residential solar installation and project management and employs more than 130 people.

Here is the conversation (edited for clarity):

Darius: With the COVID pandemic and everything we’ve got going on, 2020 is quite the year. From your perspective, what’s the biggest challenge or issue that ESP is facing and how are you guys addressing it?

Clinton: It’s interesting. I think this is a pandemic thing, but I think it’s also just a normal thing that businesses need to pay attention to — reputation management.

I think reputation management is something that does not get the immediate attention it deserves. People are always focusing on SEO and social media and everything else.

Reputation management is something that I’ve tried to spend more time focusing on. It is one of the things that we are specifically targeting as a need for us to really manage and make sure that we’re responding to people’s accolades as well as complaints.

I think that one of the things that people always talk about is being able to respond to people on social. It’s important to respond to people on the multiple platforms that are out there. I think that’s where the challenge comes in.

Every day, a new platform is created where people can go and talk and want to be heard, whether it’s on social or on review sites, like the Better Business Bureau or Yelp.

You really have to take an active role in seeking out feedback wherever people are talking about you, and then figure out a plan to actually find that information [and respond to it].

It isn’t just about responding; it’s about responding in a timely manner and also appropriately.

I can’t just hire somebody to respond to reviews and feedback on social or any of these different platforms.

We install solar, and there are so many multiple facets of what happens to get panels on your roof. There are inspections and permits, and you have to work with utilities. Through that process, there are lots of things that can go wrong. We’re an incredible company, and we’ve got an incredible technology that helps automate that process.

So, we know when things go wrong, but look. We do a lot. We’ve got over 15,000 installations, so things are going to happen, things are going to go wrong. And, people are going to write complaints about that, and they’re going to want to talk to us about those things.

What we’re currently working on is: how do we identify what those problems are as fast as possible and make sure that we’re communicating to that specific person with the information they need to move that project along? How do we let them know we’re paying attention and we want to do this right for them?

The reason I can’t just hire anybody to respond is that we need someone who can actually go in and look to see what needs to be fixed with the specific project. It’s not just like a customer service rep who can say, “Oh, we’re sorry you’re upset.”

I want someone who can say, “We’re sorry that the permit took longer than it should have, but because of COVID, there are municipalities that were shut down. We still have guys that are installing on roofs, but the cities are going, ‘Hey, wait, you need to hold on a second.’”

That’s probably the number one thing for me right now that I’ve identified as something we need to focus on. We aim to be intentional about addressing comments and reviews by creating an actual framework.

Darius: Love it.

Imagine you have a megaphone and you’re speaking to a million entrepreneurs, people who want to start businesses and who are building businesses. What would be the thing you would give them in the next 2 minutes and 45 seconds?

Clinton: I was fortunate to work at a bunch of different startups, and I remember working at a technology company. On the first day, the CEO gave me The Lean Startup (by Eric Ries). He said, “Read it.” So of course, everybody read it. And it was amazing because nobody followed anything that was in the book.

There’s another book called Crossing the Chasm (by Geoffrey Moore) that identifies all these problems, and no one ever follows them.
When you’re getting started, create that framework, create the list, and follow it. Have a Northstar of things you know are important and need to get done.

And more than anything, listen to other people, ask questions, ask for advice. Don’t make this a solo mission, because none of us can get anywhere without the help of other people.

So, the number one thing is, have a framework, use the framework and ask for help when you need it.

Darius: You’re referring to the framework of how they’ll actually begin to build the organization?

Clinton: The organization or department.

It’s funny because this plays into Marketing 360® as well. I think a lot of people want to hire someone to do marketing, but they don’t really understand what they actually need to do for their business.

They end up going and spending $100,000 on a marketing person instead of outsourcing some of that to get multiple roles for less.

Know that first. Ask for help. Ask for money. Don’t make it a solo mission.

When you’re creating the framework for your business, understand who you’re targeting, why you’re targeting them, what the problem is and how you address it. Then figure out how you need to get that out there.

Reputation management plays into this because understanding what people are saying about businesses like yours, before you even launch yours, is also going to play a big role.

You may not solve the problem that you think you’re solving until you start listening to other people. Listening is super important. Build that into your framework.

Make sure that you’ve got people who are identifying what’s out there, as it’s crucial to everything.

Darius: You can build an entire, completely unique business model just by listening.

Clinton: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Darius: OK, last question. What is your favorite book, the book that’s impacted you the most?

Clinton: I’m a huge Martin Lindstrom fan. One of the books written by him is called Buyology.

It’s really incredible, love that book. It really got my brain working on how the mind works and how to emotionally connect with a buyer persona and create personas.

Another one would be Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins — incredible, incredible book.

Darius: I’ve actually read Can’t Hurt Me. I loved it myself. We’re actually from the same town, Buffalo, New York, so I dug that story. I dug his journey a lot. He’s unique.

Clinton: Yeah, He is a unique individual.

I have a really bad back from lots of training and running and surfing and everything. At the end of his book, he talks about stretching. It has literally changed my life.

I was taking Motrin like candy, just to deal with herniated discs and stuff. With the stretching, I stopped taking it. I haven’t taken a Motrin for my back or anything like that in almost three and a half months now.

Darius: Let’s go. Let’s go.

Clinton: Yeah, David Goggins!

Darius: All right, well, Clinton Ehrlich from ESP. This has been The Entrepreneur 7. Our time is up. I just want to thank you personally for coming on and sharing those nuggets and just trying to help improve how people are building businesses and having an impact.

Clinton: 100%, man. I’ll put it out there. If anybody wants to contact me, hit me up on LinkedIn. if you need advice or you want something. I’m open. I like to help. I think that’s what makes this world go round as we continue to do that.