He Grew A Company To $220M | His Warning To Every Home Service Owner

**Tommy Mello** (0:10)
Welcome back to The Home Service Expert. Today, I got Chuck Thokey with me. He's a sales expert, he's a sales trainer, sales leadership, closing strategy, buyer psychology, pricing strategy, team building, sales culture, KPI framework and forecasting. Based out of Dayton, Ohio, co-founder of the Top Rep Sales Training, Chuck also was the author of Complete Field Guide to Successful Sales Leadership. Known for helping companies grow sales from 50% to 80% and moving close rates from 20% to 65%.
Also the contributor of Roofing Contractor Magazine. Today's episode thesis is your sales rep team is either your biggest asset or your most expensive liability. And most owners can't tell the difference. Chuck went from testing jets at LearJet to training 3000 plus sales leaders over 20 years in home services. He breaks down exactly why most sales training doesn't stick and how to read a homeowner within the first two minutes, why 80% of sales leaders are failing and the specific KPIs that separate a team doing 2 million from one doing 6 million.
This is a tactical masterclass in building a sales organization that actually performs. Chuck, it's a pleasure to have you on.

**Chuck Thokey** (1:24)
Yeah. Thank you. Thanks so much, Tommy.

**Tommy Mello** (1:27)
So let's start from the beginning. I mean, you were testing out jets, and then 9-11 happened. You want to just tell us how you got into the sales training?

**Chuck Thokey** (1:40)
Yeah. So I was actually an aerospace engineer for Learjet and Bombardier. I designed a lot of the functional tests as well as a lot of the systems that go into the RJs that everybody flies in, the RJ-200, the 700, and 900 They were actually called the continental before Delta, and American got a hold of them. But then 9-11 happened, and we all got displaced. Nobody's buying jets, and so a lot of the engineers had to leave.
Then I decided, I went to Raytheon, to Cessna, everybody had just kept laying off. And finally, I decided, it's just time to go back home to Ohio, because I was all over the United States and Canada. And came back home, I just decided to get into sales, just as a kind of a time waster. And then, of course, from there, decided, hey, I can make more money in sales than I can as an aerospace engineer.

**Tommy Mello** (2:48)
Yeah. Yeah, that's really interesting. So how did the skill sets translate?

**Chuck Thokey** (2:56)
It was a little difficult. Now, you know, for me, when when when I was at Learjet, I was the one that went and did all the test rides with the sales team because the sales guys couldn't do check rides with buyers unless an engineer is with them and the engineers hated doing it. I loved it. And so I kind of got a love for sales during my time as an engineer. And I used a lot of what I learned from that going into sales.

**Tommy Mello** (3:27)
So how long were you in your career with with the aviation? And how did it feel to have to reinvent yourself?

**Chuck Thokey** (3:37)
So I was an engineer. It was a little over four and a half years. Okay, or because I mean, I was young. I was pretty young.
And then getting into, you know, once 911 happened, you know, we all knew that we our careers were over, at least for a period of time.
But those four and a half years, I was a functional test engineer, which was it's like playing video games with the real thing. Yeah, you know, I was able to taxi a thirty million dollar jet. We could do everything but take off, you know, so we would take it over to the blast pad, turn up the engine. I mean, we could just play with the thing. And it was just probably the funnest and most impactful thing that an engineer can do. And that's I mean, that's what we got the opportunity to do.

**Tommy Mello** (4:32)
And then where did you had to show?
You went from mortgage sales at Bath, into bath fitter and then Able Roofing and then American Weather Techs. Let's just talk about the progression of your career and where you cut your teeth.

**Chuck Thokey** (4:51)
So I, when I came back, I jumped into insurance. That was the ad that I saw, got into insurance.
I was in the top 5-10% of Blue Cross and Blue Shield. I jumped into selling some insurance to sick people that, because when I was that young, I had no idea what insurance was, other than going through getting the certification and starting to sell it and I hated it. It's like one step above selling grave plots. I mean, selling insurance is horrible. But even though I was good at it, I was bored. So then got into mortgage, loved mortgage. Man, if mortgage was still like it was back then, I'd still be a part of it. I mean, it was just that much fun. That was that easy. Tommy, I could finance your doghouse back then. It was so easy.