How AI Actually Solves the Real Call Center Headaches in Home Services
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Release Date: 06/10/2026
How AI Actually Solves the Real Call Center Headaches in Home Services
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most home service companies don't have a lead problem. They have a follow-up problem. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Kevin Wu, founder of Leaping AI, to discuss how AI voice agents and automation are helping home service businesses solve some of their biggest call center challenges. From missed calls and slow follow-up times to after-hours booking and lead nurturing, Kevin shares how AI is being used as a practical tool to support customer service teams, improve speed-to-lead, and create better customer experiences without...
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How Top Trades Businesses Use AI and Systems to End Recruiting Pain
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most contractors don't have a recruiting problem. They have a recruiting system problem. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Paul Sanneman, founder of Contractor Staffing Source, to discuss how top home service companies are using systems, assessments, and AI-powered recruiting tools to consistently find better employees. After helping more than 2,000 contractors and recruiting over 2,500 successful hires, Paul shares the biggest recruiting mistakes contractors make and why most hiring challenges are self-inflicted. The conversation...
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How Service Businesses Can Stop Losing Skilled Workers
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The skilled labor shortage isn’t just a hiring problem. It’s a perception problem. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Ruchir Shah, founder of SkillCat, to discuss why home service companies are struggling to attract and retain skilled workers and what the industry can do about it. Ruchir shares how his background in workforce training led him to build SkillCat, an online trade training platform helping people transition into HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and appliance repair careers. If your company struggles with hiring,...
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AI Search and the Death of Old-School Marketing for Home Service Businesses
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
The way homeowners search for HVAC, plumbing, and home service companies is changing fast. And most contractors are completely unprepared for it. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Phil Risher from Phlash Consulting to discuss the massive shift from traditional Google SEO to AI-powered search and what it means for home service businesses. Phil explains why AI search is changing how customers find contractors, why conversational search matters more than keywords, and how tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews are disrupting traditional...
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Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Ryan Kiscaden, owner of Kiscaden Consulting and creator of the Next Up Trades children’s book series, to discuss how storytelling can reshape the future of recruiting in the trades. Ryan shares how a conversation with his plumber brother-in-law sparked the idea to create books that explain HVAC and plumbing to children in a way they can understand and connect with emotionally. Instead of focusing only on wages, debt, and job security, Ryan believes the industry needs to tell a better...
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Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most home service business owners are excited about automation, AI, and new technology. But here’s the problem… They’re implementing tools before fixing their processes. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Nathan Whittacre, CEO of Stimulus Technologies, to break down what actually works when it comes to optimizing and automating your business. Nathan shares decades of experience helping companies implement technology the right way and explains why most tech investments fail. What You Will Learn in This Episode Why automation without optimization...
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Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most business owners think they only have two options when they want to scale: Pay expensive consultants… or give up equity to investors. But what if there was a third option? In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Mike Michalowicz and Greg Eckler from The Prosper Group to break down a completely different approach to scaling service businesses. Instead of charging fees or taking ownership, their model focuses on partnering with business owners, executing alongside them, and only getting paid when the business becomes more profitable. What...
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Leadership Skills for Home Service Owners Who Want to Scale
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most home service business owners start as technicians. But scaling a business requires a completely different skill set. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Elise Radawitz, President and Owner of Velocity Leader, to break down the leadership skills contractors need if they want to grow their business. They discuss why promoting your best technician into a management role often fails, how leadership is a learned skill, and what it actually takes to lead people effectively. Elise shares practical insights on developing leaders inside your company,...
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Building a Trades Business Brand That Gets Real Results
Service Business Mastery for Skilled Trades: HVAC, Plumbing & Electrical Home Service
Most home service businesses are posting content… but not getting results. Why? Because they’re missing the most important piece: connection. In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett sits down with Jen McKee, founder of Kee Hart Marketing, to break down what actually works when it comes to building a brand in the trades. They dive into why personal branding matters, how social media really drives business growth, and why most contractors are overthinking their content strategy. Jen explains why “boring” everyday work is actually powerful content, how authenticity...
info_outlineMost home service companies don't have a lead problem.
They have a follow-up problem.
In this episode of Service Business Mastery, Tersh Blissett and Joshua Crouch sit down with Kevin Wu, founder of Leaping AI, to discuss how AI voice agents and automation are helping home service businesses solve some of their biggest call center challenges.
From missed calls and slow follow-up times to after-hours booking and lead nurturing, Kevin shares how AI is being used as a practical tool to support customer service teams, improve speed-to-lead, and create better customer experiences without replacing people.
The conversation also explores the future of AI-powered call centers, how contractors can automate repetitive tasks, and why business owners should focus on using AI to eliminate bottlenecks instead of simply cutting payroll.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
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Why speed-to-lead is still one of the biggest challenges in home services
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How AI voice agents help capture missed opportunities
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The difference between replacing employees and supporting employees
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Why call centers struggle with consistency and process adherence
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How AI can improve appointment scheduling and follow-up
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The role of AI in call monitoring and quality control
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Why data quality inside your CRM matters more than ever
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How AI can help clean and organize customer databases
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The future of automated outbound campaigns
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The risks of AI abuse and spam calling
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How responsible AI adoption can improve customer experience
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Why contractors should start experimenting with AI today
If you're looking for ways to improve call handling, increase booked appointments, and build a more efficient service business, this episode is packed with practical insights.
Timestamps
00:00 Challenges with contractor responsiveness
03:11 Kevin introduces himself
08:58 Kids' interest in trade careers
09:45 Issues with Customer Support Responsiveness
14:00 AI improving call center efficiency
18:33 Solving data analysis with AI
20:55 Improving business metrics accuracy
25:37 Implementing EOS for business owners
29:31 Focusing on business priorities
32:00 AI for persistent customer follow-up
35:27 Responsible AI use in marketing
39:33 Data export issues in QuickBooks
40:45 Using AI to clean CRM data
43:35 Trying something new for 30 minutes
Follow the Host and Guest
Tersh Blissett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tershblissett/
Joshua Crouch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-crouch/
Kevin Wu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-wu-452a6393/
Connect with Us
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