Hey everyone, thanks for joining UGC for B2B today. We have a special guest, Greg Crumpton, who is a VP at Service Logic Companies, as well as the self hosted, podcast host of the Straight Out of Crumpton UGC style series that we do through Market Scale Studio. Greg, thanks for joining today. I'm excited to talk about how, Straight Out of Crumpton and UGC style content has really helped you tap into those relationships and thought leaders, as well as, speaking into your new book that just came out, Deep Knowledge. So welcome, and excited for the conversation. Well, Matt, first of all, thanks for having me. I'll I love working with you guys. It's been a great partnership, and market scale has has really been a true partner to me and and ServiceLogic. So I I appreciate not only the business aspect, but but having you as a friend and and Tim and everyone there. It's been truly, it's been fun. You know? And it should be fun when we're working. You know? Yeah. You gotta let them go every day. It needs to be fun. And you guys you guys enable that to really come through. The podcast, you know, I can't believe a hundred and fifty on the straight out of Crumpton, and I don't know how many we've done on conversations from the edge with ServiceLogic, but in the dozens anyway. But both of those, they're first of all, they're cathartic for me because I like to connect with people and figure out what people are thinking. Even if it's, maybe a little bit, superficial or even or, you know, maybe even some deeper critical thinking, because you you always learn. I'll I'll learn anyway. I'll speak for myself when I'm talking to people about what they're thinking about. Because it may be a topic that that's kinda rattling around in my head, but I hadn't just put time to it. And, they bring it to life. You know? I read a quote this morning. It is so true that, transparency just and sunlight brings things into focus. And just putting light on a conversation or a subject can, you know, mean the difference of of what people are going to do tomorrow. Part of my job at ServiceLogic is, you know, we we all know how we're gonna go catch a service call on a HVAC unit in March. We we've got that covered. March twenty twenty five. We don't know what March twenty twenty eight looks like. So part of me and part of my job is is I poke and I prod what what's coming, what's next, what do we need to be thinking about, and what are others in our in our customer base? What are they thinking about so that we'll be ready to serve them? And and and part of that is is, you know, the podcast. You know, the intersection of the podcast and the book, are are interesting, because they both I enjoy both of them, first of all. I never thought I would write a book, but lo and behold, I've got a book. But at sixty years old I turned sixty earlier this year. There were so many things that I I felt like I had been through, both good and bad, that may could help some young people not, you know, skin their knees as badly as I did on my way up. Maybe I can give somebody a different way of thinking about something, or maybe it's a what not to do book for other people, which is cool. You know? I mean Yeah. I just think that, you know, I wrote it in a way the eighty seven chapters and the book's two hundred and twelve pages intentionally, designed it that way so you could pick it up and you could read for five minutes and put it down. It's not one of those with that that's gonna be a draggy thing. Mhmm. Just read it, pop in, pop out. It's non sequential, non compounding. So you can read chapter fifty four and chapter two. But I I I think that the where they come together is action and getting people to take action, whether it's in their personal life or their business life. Figure out what you wanna do and do something. Don't just wait forever because this is it, man. This is not a dress rehearsal. This is our our only chance at living is right now, and you dang well better do something with it. Yeah. No. That's something I've always really appreciated from you, whether it be on the business side or a personal side. You're all you've always been up for trying new things. And some of the some of the biggest wins, in our partnership, have been those things that, you know, hadn't been done before, but we had a a seedling of an idea, and whether it would be, you know, spotlighting these technicians within the industry or, replacing, the some of the visits back in twenty twenty with kind of a a virtual video visit Yep. And whatnot. But, you really just gotta jump in and, you know, throw it over at the wall and see what sticks. I know you I've heard you kinda say that before. Matt, that that's what's impressive, I think, about our relationships as as companies and and personally. You guys are sounding boards. I mean, I know a a lot of stuff about air conditioning and electricity, not so much about marketing. But I have these crazy ideas and as you know. And you you can listen to me and say, yeah. That's got some legs or, you know, let's let's think about something else. Yeah. Yeah. Not wacky. But that's the beauty of the relationship is that we built that rapport. You're you're confident enough in what you guys deliver to tell me, no. That's not a good idea because of x, y, or z. But I'm also wacky enough not to get stuck in the traditional rut of, well, we've always done it this way. Yeah. And just overthinking and and whatnot. You know, in in the realm of, you know, kinda trying new things and whatnot, that's kinda where, a couple years ago, UGC, really started. You know, on it really started on the you know, we see UGC in the b to c side of things, a lot of times and consumers in our everyday world. But, a lot of times, those those same, principles and whatnot that maybe we were interacting with brands on a on a b to c side on the weekends. We kinda left some of that, at the doorstep when we were entering in our our b to b jobs on Monday. But more and more so, we're seeing that authentic, content and really tapping into because like you said, I mean, the amount of knowledge that you have in the the HVAC space and all these people that you bring on as as thought leaders in the industry, man, there that is just an untapped knowledge base. And people, what we've noticed is once they really give it a try, people are are a lot of times looking for ways to get that knowledge and pass it along to the next the next person. Well, that that's so important to me is passing, whatever knowledge I may have acquired over over forty three years of doing what I do. It's important for me to pass that along to the next generation of skilled worker. But it's also, important to me to make sure that I'm taking care to think through the next entrepreneur regardless of what industry they're in. And and that's nothing more than support. You just tell somebody that you want to help them. And think about it. We we all do stuff and sometimes you're at your desk or at home or whatever, you think, man, I could really use somebody that could come in and give me a pointer or two on this topic. And, you know, having this, electronic mentor, so to speak, is one way to do that. You're you're providing content that who knows who we reach, man. Mhmm. You know, this thing could move for, what's the Kevin Bacon thing? Four four degrees of separation. Six degrees of separation, I think. You never know when when you're recording a piece or or writing a piece, you don't know who you're gonna touch Mhmm. In what way. So you you just have to make an assumption. You know? You you wanna put good stuff out there. You hope it gets curated and used properly. But at worst case, you made the right effort. And then just one more thing I was gonna say on the b to c versus b to b, we're all consumers regardless. You know? I buy your services. People buy my services just like we go to the to the grocery store and buy stuff. Mhmm. You know what feels good. You know what authenticity looks like, smells like, sounds like. Why not bring that into our work environment? Because I think people are are kind of over the over polished, super duper, you know, edited. God knows I've got a face for radio. I've been told that more than one time. You know, I'm cool with that. You are what you are. And if we can't be authentic and you can't bring real emotions and and real feelings into your work, then it's it's just kind of fake to me, and I don't like to be fake. Yeah. You know, that's, that's one thing that I've always appreciated about you. And I think, one thing that I'm looking forward to in reading the book about some of these relationships and because it's gotta be really cool, you know, at sixty and looking back at, you know, forty years of a of a career, and I know the way you approach your relationships. You've in your wake, you've left so many people in a better spot. And I know even last week when when whenever we were talking, you were talking with a guy from that you had worked with, I think you said twelve years ago, who sent you a text message. And, like, just it speaks volumes of that historical relationship that you've put in place, and that authenticity. And, man, it seems to have really, really worked, for your career, and I'm excited to be able to tap into some of that, in the book. So first of all, when you said all that, it sounds like I'm really old, so I appreciate that vote of confidence. But, I also get asked a lot, like, okay, Crumpton. When are you going to retire? And I'm like, I'm not. Yeah. I'm gonna ask you this. Hey. That's you'll never hear me asking that. That's true. I did. My retirement date for twenty thirty five. So I've got eleven years. Gotcha. But, you know, I I think, part of bringing people, together and having these conversations is just letting people be themselves because, you know, I've tried a couple of different things with the podcast, both the Service Logic model and the, Straight Out of Crumpton. I did some testing, you know, kind of my little my little scuff works. What works? What works better? What flows? And I've really come to believe, Matt, and and maybe you you either agree with this or you just give me a lot of grace. I don't know which. But the free flow form really works well for for what we do. Mhmm. Because people don't get so nervous when they get a list of questions, that they have to overthink on the front end. Let's just talk. Let's just have a conversation. Tell me about you. How in the world did we wind up here together? Your mom went to school with me or or whatever. Just how did we get there? And then, really, what is your interest? And people that love what they do always seem to come back to their job, you know, because if you like what you do, and I god knows who said this, it's not work, you know, for me. Like, some days I forget it's Sunday or Saturday because I'm working because I'm having fun, and then I realized, I wonder why I'm not hearing from anybody. Oh, it's Saturday afternoon at three thirty. But that's just me. But I I think when you bring people together and let them be their natural in their natural state, it's just much more, depressurized. No. I totally agree. And I've been on a a podcast or two where, you've referenced the amount of knowledge that you've tapped into of, you know, you'll see oh, I think we were together, on-site one time, and you were looking out our window up here on the fifty third floor, and you could pick out a condenser on top of some of these buildings, and you're naming the model number. And, I could feel the passion, you know, from you, from you on that day, and I think that is that's what can really create a spark that just catches fire with with people. So I appreciate you you bringing that passion to to to work and to the approach to to content and education, in the industry. Well, I I think that, user generated content is the future. It's what people enjoy. I just want I mean, I'll I'll speak for myself. It's what I enjoy listening to, if I'm driving or what have you on podcast. Real life interviews like, man on the street kind of stuff, trade shows, just having that real time interaction and really getting a feel for what people believe, whether it's education, you know, whether it's work, it it whatever. Everything but politics. Yeah. We talked about. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Well, you know, anything, any, you know, story from from the book that, maybe resonates as we kinda wrap things up or or a takeaway, you know, as as people are listening and there may be, you know, maybe they're they haven't jumped into the waters quite yet of creating content. What would your advice be to those people? Or you're trying to maybe you are the the sole, you know, flag bearer at the company, and you're trying to get other people involved. Interested to hear what's kinda worked for you. Yeah. So I think that starting with something that you're truly passionate about, maybe maybe it's a motorcycle club, maybe it's a book club. Get some people together. Start having some genuine conversations. Because when you get people, like minded people together that do have some passion about something, it doesn't have to be work. Just get people together, get them talking, and let nature take its own course. It'll it'll find its way. Whatever's supposed to be will will bubble up if you get the right people in the room and you're having conversations. And and, you know, I go back to what I started with. Action. Do something. You know, record a podcast with yourself and practice. Get comfortable looking at a microphone. Get comfortable looking at a camera. You know, I've told you this, Matt. I don't enjoy seeing myself on film or on digital video, and I don't like to hear myself talk. But now I'm like, it is what it is, man. I can't you know, I'm over that worry factor because, I am what I am. I can't I can't suddenly change into Matthew McConaughey and and become this great guy. I'm I'm Greg Crumpton, and I'm comfortable with that. But I'm able to take what I'm passionate about and share it, but you just have to start baby steps. Write a write a article and never send it anywhere. Just write an article And and do that a couple of times. Start a little newsletter with your service team if you're in the service industry, but action oriented is the way to get going. Yeah. You know, starting to create that muscle memory, like that idea of just get started. Even if it doesn't go anywhere to start, like, just get started. Same way with the book, Matt. You know, when I wrote the book, I had some material from from blogs and stuff that I've written before. So I I cleaned up some existing stuff. Repurposed it, I believe, is the proper terminology for that these days. Yeah. But, you know, I cleaned some stuff up. I wrote new stuff. But every day, I committed to writing something. And at the end of the show, there, I had five hundred and twelve pages of stuff. And, I took it to the designer, and they're like, you know, like, first of all, have you gone mad? People, you know, are not gonna buy a five hundred page book because I wouldn't. I'm a one inch book guy. Yeah. Twenty pages, good to go. Yep. So what that allowed us to do was really to to bifurcate the book. So we got two books. And we'll have we got this one out now, and it I I want to make it a book about thinking critically, thinking forward, travel. You ask about it. What what are the nuggets? What's the big nugget? Travel. Get out and go somewhere. You don't have to have a passport. Go somewhere in your city if you're if you can't go anywhere else. Go to somewhere in your state depending on what you can afford to do, but go and meet people. You'll read a story about a guy that I met in Guatemala, spent time with him around the Mayan ruins and the pyramids. And I gave up the hotel and all that stuff, and I went and stayed at his house, and I slept in a hut in the rainforest. So doing stuff like that as opposed to just taking the easy route can sometimes lead you to some really golden nuggets. Yeah. No. That is that's that's great. I mean, that's a great teaser. I'm I'm looking forward to really diving in and, yeah, hearing some more of those those stories. So, appreciate you taking some time here joining us, on UGC for b two b. And, yeah, we'll we'll include the information to your book, here, in the in the on the page. And, yeah, thanks again, Greg. Well, thanks for having me. I really I always love to talk to you, and this is a a special treat because I'm getting to do it twice in one week. So That's right. It's very nice. So, enjoyed it. Appreciate everything, and I hope you have a great week. Yeah. You do the same. Take care, Greg.
