From the Yellow Chair

Send us Fan Mail “We’ve served East Texas for over 30 years.” “We’re the best in town.” Sound familiar? Those lines worked in the early 2000s. Today’s homeowner reads your reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp and the BBB, and asks AI who to trust, because what they fear most is hiring the wrong company. In this solo episode, Crystal Williams walks through a five-part framework for contractor brand me...

Send us Fan Mail Your business has grown from one truck to 15. Has your marketing kept up? In this episode of From the Yellow Chair, Emily cover seven signs that your home service marketing is holding you back. One is trucks with DIY vinyl lettering and three versions of your logo. Another is a website that still shows your COVID policy and last year’s holiday promo. They also explain why “we’ve a...

Send us Fan Mail Still rolling with the logo you threw together at Office Depot when you first opened your doors? You’re not alone, and it might be costing you more than you think. This October, Emily is in the Yellow Chair busting the rebrand myths that keep home service owners stuck with a brand they outgrew years ago. “Our customers already know us.” “We’ll lose all our recognition.” “We can’t...

Send us Fan Mail What if the biggest thing holding your business back isn’t your team, your competition, or the market? What if it’s you? As a business owner, confidence is important. But when confidence turns into ego, it can quietly affect how you lead, make decisions, and build relationships with your team. In this episode of From the Yellow Chair , Crystal sits down with author and corporate k...

Send us Fan Mail Are marketing mistakes quietly draining your home service company’s cash flow? In this episode of From the Yellow Chair , Crystal breaks down six common marketing mistakes that could be costing your business more than you realize. From chasing leads without a strategy and copying competitors to spreading your budget too thin and failing to track the right numbers, these mistakes a...

Send us Fan Mail More leads will not solve the problem if the opportunities you already have are moving through a business that is underpriced, difficult to measure, or inconsistent in execution. If your marketing needs a clearer strategy, book a call with Lemon Seed Marketing: https://www.lemonseedmarketing.com/contact/ In Episode 240, Crystal Williams is joined by Danielle Putnam of The New Flat...

Send us Fan Mail Your marketing strategy can keep working exactly the way it always has right up until your customers stop behaving the way they always have. That is the problem contractors need to be paying attention to. 👉 Wondering whether your current marketing strategy is keeping up? Book a call with Lemon Seed Marketing: https://www.lemonseedmarketing.com/contact/ In Episode 239, Crystal Wil...

Send us Fan Mail A big network does not automatically create great referrals. If networking has become a cycle of collecting business cards, adding LinkedIn connections, and walking into rooms wondering who can send you work, Crystal Williams wants you to change the way you think about it. In Episode 238 of From the Yellow Chair, Crystal talks about shifting from traditional networking to intentio...

Send us Fan Mail Your community should know who you are before they ever need to call. For many home service companies, brand visibility still revolves around advertising, trucks, sponsorship logos, and telling customers why the company is the best. Crystal Williams argues that contractors need something more: real community involvement. Want to build a contractor brand people recognize and trust?...

Send us Fan Mail Your Google rating is only one piece of your reputation. Before a homeowner ever searches your company, they may have already heard about you from a neighbor, interacted with one of your employees, seen your trucks around town, watched you support a local organization, or heard how you handled a problem. That is your reputation too. If your company has grown but your brand, custom...

Send us Fan Mail Before They Call: What Homeowners Look for on Contractor Social Media A homeowner sees your truck, hears your name, or finds you on Google. Then they start investigating. What does your social media tell them? 👉 If your marketing is not showing homeowners why they should trust your company, talk with Lemon Seed: https://www.lemonseedmarketing.com/contact/ In Episode 235 of From t...

Send us Fan Mail How much money are you spending trying to make an unmemorable brand memorable? If your truck could belong to five other HVAC companies, your social content could carry another contractor’s logo, and your brand relies on “everybody already knows us,” you may have a bigger problem than advertising. Want Lemon Seed to take a look at how your brand is showing up in the market? Book a...

Send us Fan Mail You may not need more leads. You may need to stop losing the ones you already have. Want help identifying where your marketing is producing demand but your business is losing the opportunity? Book a call with Lemon Seed Marketing: https://www.lemonseedmarketing.com/contact/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=ftyc_ep233&utm_content=show_notes In Episode...

Send us Fan Mail Does your company look and sound like every other contractor in your market? That sameness is not harmless. When customers cannot tell companies apart, they compare more options, rely more heavily on price, and force every contractor to spend more money earning attention. Ready to build a brand and marketing playbook that is actually yours? Book a call with Lemon Seed Marketing: h...

Send us Fan Mail Private equity may be able to outspend your company, but it cannot manufacture genuine local trust. Book a marketing strategy call with Lemon Seed: https://www.lemonseedmarketing.com/contact/?utm_source=buzzsprout&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=ftyc_ep231&utm_content=show_notes In this episode of From the Yellow Chair, Crystal Williams and Emily Fleniken explain why y...

Send us Fan Mail Your ROAS number can look incredible and still be the reason you’re stuck. We sit down with Bree from Free Agency to get brutally clear on what return on ad spend can and can’t tell a contractor, especially when agencies blend brand traffic, existing customers, and true prospecting into one tidy report. We walk through Bree’s “Moneyball marketing” framework, a practical marketing...

Send us Fan Mail Homeowners are starting to skip the search results and go straight to AI for an answer, and that changes everything for local contractors. When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Alexa, or Siri who to call for HVAC, plumbing, pest control, or roofing, the “winner” may not be the biggest spender or the loudest brand. It’s the company the AI system trusts enough to recommend, and trust i...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of contractors are out here doing marketing — posting, running ads, sending emails — and still wondering why it's not working. The answer usually isn't the plan. It's that there was never a strategy behind it. In this episode, Crystal and Emily break down the difference between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan, why one has to come before the other, an...

Send us Fan Mail Building a Legacy of Purpose | Featuring Trapper Seales What does it mean to build a life that creates lasting impact? In this episode, we sit down with entrepreneur, speaker, coach, and author Trapper Seales for a powerful conversation about purpose, leadership, resilience, and the legacy we leave behind. Through personal stories and hard-earned lessons, Trapper shares how advers...

Send us Fan Mail He Said, She Said: Is It the Tactic or the Team? When a marketing strategy underperforms, what's really to blame? The tactic itself, or the team responsible for executing it? In this solo episode of From the Yellow Chair, Crystal tackles one of the most common frustrations business owners face: investing in marketing efforts that don't deliver the results they expected....

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of From the Yellow Chair, Crystal sits down with Gary Woodruff of Boxed for the Trades to discuss why so many maintenance programs fail before they ever have a chance to become profitable and how contractors can build a membership strategy that actually supports recurring revenue. From CRM setup mistakes and missed billing to overdue maintenance visits, monthly ver...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of From the Yellow Chair, Crystal sits down with Nick Miller of VIIRL Marketing to discuss why slow lead response is costing home service companies valuable revenue and how contractors can build a complete speed-to-lead strategy. From missed calls and after-hours inquiries to AI answering services, call center support, and automated lead response tools, Crystal and...

Send us Fan Mail If your phones aren't converting, your marketing spend is going to waste — and you might not even know it. In this episode, we sit down with Michelle from Pink Callers to tackle one of the most overlooked revenue leaks in home service businesses: call handling. Whether it's missed calls, slow follow-up, or a front office experience that leaves customers unimpressed, your...

Send us Fan Mail Your marketing is generating leads — but are your techs and salespeople closing them? If not, you're basically lighting your marketing budget on fire. This week, Crystal sits down with Sam Wakefield, founder of Close It Now and a 20+ year HVAC veteran who started as an attic rat in the Texas panhandle. Sam built an average ticket triple the industry standard and now trains co...

Send us Fan Mail Why "Maintenance Plan" Is Killing Your Signups (And What to Call It Instead) Are you losing recurring revenue without even knowing it? The problem might not be your offer — it might be the two words you're using to sell it. In this episode, Emily reveals why the phrase "maintenance plan" is one of the most conversion-killing terms in the home service indus...