Page 21 - The Compass 2017 | Volume 12 | Issue 8

I knew something was wrong. I told him
that’s my job,” Daniel said plainly. “I know
each of you guys. I’m watching you. I know
when you’re up and when you’re down. I’m
here to help you when you need it.”

a#1 serviCes’ future
“Dan likes to do the dream stuff because
that’s what he does and who he is,” Delana
said with a smile. “He’s been talking about
us becoming this big company with all these
vehicles and this big beautiful office since we
had one employee.”
It appears Daniel’s dreams are com-
ing to fruition. Six months ago, A#1
Services moved into a new, beautiful
5,000-square-foot facility. The com-
pany now owns 12 vehicles, most of
which are wrapped with the company’s
new A#1 Service Heroes branding.
Daniel, Gonz, Delana, and Cara have
come a very long way with the business
in only four short years: from meeting A few members of the
in Burger King playrooms to the guys A#1 Services office
sharing one service truck. “Hey, that team (from top to
Ranger is still making us money!” Dan- bottom): Caren Tankus,
iel was quick to point out with a laugh. Sonia Vargas, and own-
er Delana Castillo.
Larger goals can be seen on the hori-
zon. Recently, they invested in a Plumb-
ers’ Success International membership.
“We were on a waiting list. Once a
membership opened up, we jumped on
it,” Delana shared. “It’s helped with
bundling, offering inspections, and
overcoming objections.”
“We found out we were priced too
low, too,” Gonz was quick to add.
A boost in plumbing revenue and
profitability, combined with the ev-
er-increasing air-conditioning business has A#1 Ser- Marketing: an investMent of tiMe or Money
vices poised to achieve even greater feats. The four
owners can’t quite agree what their next benchmark starting out in business, many tomers and expanded out,” cara
should be. “My goal would be at least six million, if not contractors struggle to find shared. “it was huge for us.”
eight, by 2020,” Cara said. leads. they don’t have much “we would then start target-
“Let’s do $10 million! Fifteen million even!” Daniel
quickly interjected while laughing. money to invest. in those situa- ing [higher-end areas like] coun-
While Daniel may have been having some fun with tions, crafty contractors realize try clubs with our mailers. the
projections, considering A#1 Services’ trajectory, they must sink some sweat eq- mailers would look like birthday
those lofty numbers may be within reach. “Those goals
are constantly changing, to be honest, because we keep uity into their advertising. that’s cards, because of how we pro-
growing so quickly. We have to keep resetting them,” precisely what a#1 services did. duced them. we could tell people
Cara said. delana and cara explained were opening them because the
“In all honestly, there’s plenty of time to dream about how they would personally phone started ringing,” delana
what we’re going to do [in terms of revenue] in the fu-
ture. Right now, we’re focused on getting our guys up stuff, hand address, and stamp added. “then once people saw
and running and helping them reach their dreams. If over 3,000 mailing pieces at a the type of work daniel and gonz
we do that, we know our time will come.” time. “we concentrated on ar- did, word of mouth began to
eas where we knew we had cus- spread.”

THE COMPASS | Issue 8 | 2017 21