Everyone thinks they’re “just” a contractor, or “just” a sales trainer. Let me break it to you — you’re a marketing company, a sales company, a recruiting company, a tech company, and a leadership company. Nail those five, or nothing else matters.

Today I’ve got Gene Slade — an awesome guy who went from top HVAC tech to selling his own company for just under $2 million, and now runs one of the most recognized sales training companies in HVAC and plumbing. We get into how he used a two-hour radio show about AC units to pull in 2,000 leads a year, why most training programs fail, and the one massive leadership lesson that changed how he builds people.

This isn’t a “feel-good” chat. We talk about salespeople who don’t believe in what they sell, owners who have no real training culture, and why chaos ruins scaling. If you want to break past that $2M-$3M ceiling, double your average ticket, and actually build a company worth exiting — this is the blueprint.

We get into:

-Why most companies throw money at marketing but skip sales training — and how that destroys profits

-The #1 skill missing in salespeople (hint: it’s not product knowledge)

-The leadership blind spot that almost cost him his culture — and how he fixed it

-Why brand equity beats every short-term lead gen hack, and how to get it without wasting a decade

-His next big play: partnering with home service companies, doubling their average ticket, and taking a cut of the increase — no upfront fee

This episode is your wake-up call! 

Stop blaming the market. Stop blaming the labor pool. Start mastering the five businesses you’re really in — and watch everything change.

Follow my guest at:

-Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geneslade/ 

-Website: https://geneslade.com/ 

-Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeadNinja/ 

-TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@geneslade 

-Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@geneslade 

Follow me on all Social Media: @LanceBachmann

Exit Rich: Home Service Secrets with Lance Bachmann

Don’t wait! Get your ticket for The 7th Annual Roofing Process Conference so you can learn to grow, scale and sell your business to private equity: 

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December 3-5, 2025

JW Marriott - Marco Island, FL

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Podcast

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-roofing-ceo-playbook-build-it-to-sell-it-with/id1778011846

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