We recently connected with Brandi Biswell and have shared our conversation below.

Brandi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

Fluesbrothers was started around 1999. At that time my husband was running the day to day and I was a nurse. When I came on to help full-time in 2013, I was the office manager and we had 5 technicians. This is where it gets interesting. These technicians were hired on the spot, no questions asked. We joke if you had a pulse you could work at Fluesbrothers. I had learned in graduate school when you are new to a role, you should not make any major changes for the first 90 days. I quickly learned that was not going to work. I had to terminate some of the technician’s immediately and the rest over the next few months. I recall, I went to do a petty cash audit and I watched the blood drain from everyone’s face. One employee came in with a bunch of change, one said he spent it on his rent and the rest had various excuses.

I came from working in large hospitals that HR to do hiring, I.T. for when the computer was down, and housekeeping to clean. I learned this would all be my responsibility and I needed to figure it out fast. Thankfully, my graduated degree was a Master’s in Nursing with a focus on Hospital Administration, so I was not completely in the dark. It did not stop me from googling topics such as “what to ask during an interview” and “how to find a background check company”.

Thankfully, opposite of today, it was a employer’s market. There were plenty of candidates looking for work. So with my googled questions and a downloaded free template of a employment application in hand I got to work. I placed an ad on Indeed and then started doing in-person interviews. This is important because I would later learn there is a better way.

One of the interviews that sticks out in my mind is a gentleman who came into interview, dressed in coverall’s. Coming from the professional world of nursing I was taught you dress up for a interview. He interviewed well but I could not get past the coveralls. I asked him “why did you wear coverall’s to a interview as opposed to dress pants?” He replied, I was taught you dress for the job you are applying for. BINGO! I liked his answer, hired him, and he was a great employee. So, lesson #1 was it is okay to dress for the job you are applying for. It would turn out over the years I would hire technicians dressed very nice and they would inevitably not work out.

I was continuing to listen to every podcast and read every book I could get my hands on about hiring and on-boarding. The phones were getting busier, and we were hiring great technician’s that had been background checked, drug tested, had reliable transportation, and worked hard. It was time for me to hire help in my office. I got very lucky with my first office employee; she was the fiancé of our director of operations. She would be with me for several years to come until she got pregnant with her first child.

With a great team we were continuing to grow, and we were rapidly outgrowing our space. It was time to move. My husband would always drive by a building down the street and comment he should have bought it when it was for sale years ago. I decided to walk down there one day and just ask if they were interested in selling? To my surprise they were. With more space we could hire more technician’s and the demand in Kansas City was there.

I had learned a lot of hard lessons and made all the mistakes by now. I learned what “ghosting” was when you had a interviewee scheduled. I started doing phone interviews as a first step, so I did not waste my time waiting around for the candidate to show up. I utilized the assessments on Indeed. I did not care what they scored on the assessment, I only cared that they could follow directions and were motivated.

One of the take a way’s I had learned in nursing was job shadowing. Now I had a three-step interview process. The first step was the phone interview, step 2 was in-person interview and step 3 was providing job shadowing. The job shadow allows the candidate to ride along on a truck and see for themselves the work they will be performing. This is the number one advice I give to other companies. I have had job shadows return and say, “it was great when I can start” and I have also had a good number return and say, “this is not what I thought it was going to be, I will pass”. Now I have not wasted time and money on-boarding a person only to find out it is not a good fit. Likewise, the technician the applicant was riding along with has come back and said, “they would make a great addition to the team” and they have come back and said, “if you hire them, I quit”.

With my hiring process under my belt, it was time to work on on-boarding. I joined SHRM, the Society for Human Resources and was soaking up everything I could learn. I began to get my job descriptions in place and began making SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures).

So many things have changed in the nine years I have been doing this. The ban the box law was not well known by small businesses yet. I used to not allow tattoos unless they were covered. Now I do not care, they just must be covered if they are or could be offensive. I now allow piercings. I have had to change as the times have changed.

Today we are 18 employees strong, and I have been able to step back from answering the phone and focus on my coaching business. I now coach other companies in office teams, CSR’s, hiring, terminating, on-boarding and much more. I teach them the mistakes I have made so they can hopefully not repeat them.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For many years, I was happy to sit on the sidelines of Fluesbrothers while I focused on my career in nursing. In 2013, shortly after completing my Master of Science in Nursing with an emphasis in hospital administration, I had a difficult decision to make. The office manager of Fluesbrothers was resigning at the same time I was offered a promotion at the hospital. I made the decision to leave the hospital – a profession I had trained diligently for – to join the chimney industry right in the middle of what’s known in the Fluesbrothers’ office as “busy-busy season.” In my mind, I would keep the office afloat for the winter, then return to nursing in the spring. Once I took over the office side of Fluesbrothers, however, I knew I did not want to leave.

I hold multiple certifications in the chimney industry and the coaching industry. At Fluesbrothers, we pride ourselves on providing professional chimney services. We live in a world where anyone can put a ladder on a truck and call themselves a chimney sweep. I have heard so many horror stories over the years about these types of sweeps. To complicate it more, large home service industries are creating web pages listing what appears to be a local company when the reality is the location does not exist and the phone number rings to a call center where your appointment is bid out to the lowest bidder. We pride ourselves on answering the phone, detailing the service we provide, sending appointment and reminder confirmations that include the technicians picture, arriving on-time in a branded truck, and giving our professional opinion without try to sell you something, we have the most google reviews of any chimney company in the metro and I think that speaks to the level of service we provide.

October is the busiest month of the entire year. It is my favorite month. I thrive on the hustle and bustle. We will be doing everything from inspecting chimney, to re-building them, to installing them. We also clean dryer vents. Contrary to belief it is a year-round business. We have a brick-and-mortar building that our customers can visit us at by appointment and see our showroom before deciding on a fireplace insert.

I am most proud of our team. At the end of the day all the credit goes to our employees. The day in and day out customer service they provide is why we are a success. We do provide them on-going paid continuing education so they can stay up to date. We have quarterly team building days where we shut down the office and do a team building event together. If those things make them successful, then I am happy.

How did you build your audience on social media?

We believe in showing our culture on social media. Every Thursday you will see a post of what we have been up to. Sometimes it is celebrating a birthday, a workiversary, a new team member or even pajama day at the office. This has benefited us many times over the years. I hear over and over again from potential employees that they applied because they saw on Facebook how much we care about our employees. Customers will comment on this as well.

The advice I would give to someone just getting started is the same advice I am giving to myself, learn TikTok. This platform that used to be for kids has turned into a great place to market yourself and your business.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

We have all learned over the years that money is not the top motivator. Find out what motivates your team? It will be different for everyone and then reward them in the way they are motivated. Do “Stay interviews”. I have done a podcast on this. We wait for an employee to quit and then do a exit interview to find out why. With a stay interview, you can determine what makes them stay and happy and what would cause them to leave. Do team building outings. It can happy hours, escape rooms, frisbee golf, the list is endless. You will be shocked at what these event do to build not only morale but also the connection between the team.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kcsweep.com/ https://cvcsuccessgroup.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/accounts/login/?next=%2Ffluesbrothers%2F
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=fluesbrothers%20chimney%20service
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandi-biswell-9823824b/
• Twitter: twitter.com/KCSWEEP
• Youtube: twitter.com/KCSWEEP