Bonus Episode, with Patrick Lange

Patrick Lange: You know, I think you've got to deliver value at every step of the process. I think, I think the industry itself appears to be to be growing and I think it's getting younger, building the business, um, that it's, that it's not just a high paying job. That that is, it is a business that someday will be able to function without me and, and, and we can help more people generationally foreign.

Narrator: You have found the Business Broker Growth show with your host Jason Cutter. This is the podcast for brokers who are ready to stop hoping for deals and start growing their pipeline. Our goal is to bring you strategies, stories and insights that will be a catalyst to move you quickly from transactional deal makers to trusted advisors. Time for Business Broker growth.

Jason Cutter: Hey everybody, Jason here After show. Patrick Lang, Business Modification Group. Patrick, welcome to the after show.

Patrick Lange: I'm m excited to be here. Thank you.

Jason Cutter: And how was the main episode? You do a lot of content, you do a lot of videos, you do podcast speaking. Another day, another day in the studio for you.

Patrick Lange: I had a great time. I really, I think you asked a lot of thought provoking questions and I think um, I'm hopefully, I'm hoping we delivered value right at the end of the day. I'm hoping that your viewers or listeners got something, some nugget out of it.

Jason Cutter: Anyways, uh, there was definitely a lot. I can always judge this and I say this a lot on the show based on how many notes I take based on things that are like hitting me that I find interesting and I already kind of know what we're going to talk about because I have some of the notes from previous conversation. Um, there was definitely a lot in there. There was a lot of great things. People tuning in. Make sure to check out part one. It was a great conversation. About an hour. Uh, so many nuggets for anyone in brokerage or, or H vac if, if you're a business broker you want to understand what niching down would look like or if you're a business owner and you want to understand how to be successful with exiting and, or buying then it was a great chat. So Patrick, let's, let's dive into the after show questions here. Um, you've been doing this for a while, right? So you started and, and we talked about this. The first episode you started kind basically left it by buying ah, an H vac company, ran that for a few years, sold that, got back into it, figured out you know really the niche that you wanted to be a part of. If you look ahead five years so, 20, 31. What do you think business brokers are going to need to do to survive in five years from now?

Patrick Lange: Wow. Um, well, my crystal ball works half as well as anybody else's, so I don't know.

Jason Cutter: Let's do it.

Patrick Lange: Um, you know, I think, I think you've got to deliver value at every step of the process. I think, I think the industry itself appears to be, to be growing, and I think it's getting younger. Um, when I, when I first got into the industry, it felt like any event I went to, I was the youngest guy there and I wasn't young. Right. So I think that, um, and now I go to events and my son's in it. Jim Parker. Son's in it. Other, uh, other people's children are getting into it. So, um, so I think, I think the business is becoming younger and I think the business is evolving and with that comes instant gratification. You know, I think that, uh, I think the younger generation is now, now, now, now, now. Um, and I think they'll help deliver that now, now, now, now, now. And I, and so, so I think as brokers, we've got to be able to deliver an experience. The number one complaint or compliment I guess I get from people calling me that are looking at other businesses is I can't believe you called me back. I can't believe you answered your phone. I can't believe you emailed me back so quickly. Because I think as an industry, we haven't done a great job in professionalizing that. And I think that's got to happen or you're not going to be in business. Because a buyer is looking at a listing right now, and if you don't reply back, they're looking at another one, looking at another one, looking at another one. Um, and before they didn't. Right? It wasn't as online, it wasn't as promoted, it wasn't as marketed. And so I think now you've got competition from other brokers, from other deals, from everything. And so I think you better have some systems in place to be able to take care of people.

Jason Cutter: Yeah, it, it is fascinating. Again, I, I referenced this in, in the first part where, you know, uh, you and I both remember a time without the Internet and before access to all the information. And so I think not even. I think the younger generation will capitalize on it faster and easier. But I think everybody, and I'll speak for myself and, and others, maybe not in the young generation where we all expect things instant. Like if I order something and it's not here by tomorrow. Tomorrow, like, I'm unhappy. Like, why are we having to wait? Or this afternoon I can, like, as soon as we get done, I could grab my phone and order dinner and not have to leave the house or talk to anybody. It just shows up like some, some magical thing. And so everything is now commoditized, in my opinion. And so, like, to your point, that buyer is looking at a business, they can't buy that one, or that broker's not calling them back, who cares? I will find another one. Right? I don't need you. In their mind, they don't because it's a commodity. What they don't realize is that once they find that person that they want to work with, let's say, like you, okay, now the value is there, but until that value is created, like you said, and delivering the value, until that point, it's all commodity. Everything is interchangeable. Everyone is interchangeable. Doesn't matter.

Patrick Lange: And that's where that, back to the giving away information and being an expert is the first part of that funnel, right? So that you are different than every broker down the street. Um, and then delivering on that, then, then it becomes about the experience. It becomes about speed. I think it, I think of any bad experience, and this is something we're really trying to improve in my business is communication. Communications, um, with buyers and sellers. I think of any bad experience I've had with any business, it's a direct result of not good communication anyway. I don't care what it is. Every bad experience I've had with a business is because it's of the lack of communication. And so I think if you can solve the communication part and once again be a good broker, do a good job, that kind of thing, I think you'll stand out head and shoulders above everybody else.

Jason Cutter: And where, like, I've experienced companies where I'm not happy as a customer, but the communication is there and the support is there. Even if I don't hear the answer I want, I still feel like they tried. Right. I'm just thinking about some recent experiences and it's just like, you know, they, they tried. Maybe it wasn't a good fit or whatever it was, or it's not possible. I don't know. Like, but the communication was there because you're right. And I think in this, in this mode that everyone's in, we just expect instant communication with everybody on our terms at all times. Um, so next question could be related. This could be different, is you've been doing this for A while we talked a little bit about AI but where do you see the number one tech shift or what's the number one tech shift for M and a business? Brokers from their side.

Patrick Lange: I think it's, I think it's the communication part, right? It makes the communication easier. With our CRM is integrated to do automatic follow ups and do other things like that. Um, and so I think that's, that's one doing research um, on the industry, on people. We vet every buyer before we release information to them to make sure it's not a competitor, make sure AI helps tremendously with that, putting reports and things like that together. I'm old and as a result I'm old school. So there's certain things I'm not willing to give up or I don't trust. Um, and then my, you know, is he 25 year old son works with me and, and I'm having him go do something, he's back with it in two seconds. Like man, where'd that come from? You know so, so I think that there's, the merging of the two worlds is going to continue happening. But um, if I'm doing research, looking up leads, looking up sellers, using AI to do certain things like that for me, um, direct mail, you know there's I, I don't fully embrace it because I don't fully understand it. Um, and that's just a reality. Um, but the part that I do get and I do like I'm implementing, right, Even if it's small, little incremental, incremental, uh, increases. My problem at this point in my business is enough hours in the day, right? You only can do so much and there's only so many hours in a day. And technology and AI specifically is allowing me to get some of that time back to do the things that I physically have to be there to do.

Jason Cutter: If you're listening to this and thinking I want this level of authority, I just don't have the time to build it. That's exactly what business broker growth does for you. Most brokers know that they need consistent content, better positioning and real digital visibility. They just don't have the bandwidth to create it or the systems to keep it going. And that's what we build for you. The content engine, the visibility strategy and authority signals, everything you need that we've talked about here. So if you want this impact without adding another full time job to your plate, go to businessbrokergrowth.com to learn more about what it would look like for your business. Now back to the Episode. Yeah, only the stuff that only Patrick Lang can do. Right. And, and doing those things, if we look at last year, so 20, 25, you said you closed 24 deals, so averaging two a month. But of course that's not how life works. I'm sure it wasn't AN Even smooth 24, you know, spread out like that. Um, but what is the, what's the biggest lesson you took from last year as you've been growing and evolving the business?

Patrick Lange: If I'm going to continue to grow, I have to be willing to trust other people and other growth. Um, I've got incredible team of people working with me now that I didn't allow fully to work. Right. Um, I'm sitting there doing the work saying here, I'll do it. Um, as much as it makes me cringe, I have to give people the reps. Right. They have to get their at bats to get better. Um, and I'm a control freak. And so, so that's, that's, that's a challenge for me. But if I'm going to grow the business and be able to help more people, um, I have to do that. And so that's, that's probably the biggest thing for me. And I'm really trying to answer that now. I work a lot, as we talked about in the first thing. I'm self described workaholic. Um, and I, I, my, my hours used to be 8, 8 to 8. I'd accept the call, pre booked call from 8 in the morning till 8 at night and I would book a call every 30 minutes and that was my schedule Monday through Friday and then calls on weekends where now because of my staff controlling my calendar, typically my last call at night, um, I'll do you know, a one off preset call at 7:00'. Clock. I have a listing in California and we can't talk till 8 o'. Clock. You know, the staff will say no and I'll hear them say no and I'll say put it on my calendar, I'll do it, it's okay. Um, and so, um, allowing people to kind of control that, uh, to give me um, a little more free time and allow them to take over some of the work, um, is allowing us to grow. Um, and so that's, that's part of that.

Jason Cutter: Yeah, there's, there's a fundamental limit on how much you can do. Even, even if you make a lot of money per hour, there's still only so many hours in the day. And so there is a, a actual limit on what you can do by yourself. And I can imagine too there's the control freak side. Really like when I hear you talk and how I've gotten to know you is that it's really about the quality of the product, which is the brokerage for these businesses that you care about. And I feel like it's almost this like underdog protecting. Like you want to be there to help them in that million and a half business that nobody really is going to pay attention to. And you want to make sure they get the best deal because it means everything to them. It doesn't mean maybe much to that, uh, P.E. buyer. Right. Like in that dynamic we talked about. And so because of that, you, you, if you let the team do things, they are probably going to make mistakes because they don't have your experience. And so then that causes some things to happen. And that's a tough one to embrace. But it's the only way they're gonna learn.

Patrick Lange: For me, it's a reflection on me. Right. I mean, at the end of the day, and if, and if a seller only gets to do it one time, we want to do it right. Right. There's no do overs. We don't get to say sorry, we'll try it again. It's a done deal. And I think too often brokers don't take that obligation seriously.

Jason Cutter: Yeah. Um, so we're rapidly getting through halfway in the year. It's the question I ask everybody is what are you excited most for 2026? We're already into May now as we're recording this, um, what, what are you excited about? Obviously, letting the team take some more reps, maybe take some more action. But you know what else is exciting for you?

Patrick Lange: Um, building the business. Um, that it's, that it's not just a high paying job. That it is a business that someday will be able to function without me. And we can help more people generationally. Right. My son works with me. Um, we have Courtney and Chelsea that work with us. Um, and they're younger. And so there's something that down the road they could potentially take over and continue spreading our gospel of helping heating and air and plumbing owners get onto the next chapter of their lives. And so that looking at it from that viewpoint, I never viewed it that way. I just viewed it as I was complaining about other people before as a sales job. And, um, and now I view it as something tangible that grow, that can take on a life of its own. And, um, and the amount of people that we can help is exponential. Right. It just can continue to expand. Um, and that, that's really exciting to me that there's something there.

Jason Cutter: Yeah, I love that. And I think it's a great transition. It's a difficult one, you know, means trusting and building the team and the systems and the process, which it sounds like you've, you've, you've done really well at. And, and what's interesting too is if you think about, like, scaling it, uh, not just for your own sake, because like you said, you, you do well, you can take care of everything that you need, but just helping these business owners with their exits. And just think of, like, probably no matter how big you get, it's still, there's, there's still a giant pool of people to help. Right. So it's, you're never going to find that, that limit where it's saturated, but hopefully you get there. Hopefully, hopefully you get to that point and, um, you know, you've grown in such a way that, you know, there's real representation for these H Vac companies.

Patrick Lange: Yeah. Someone told me a long time ago you could be successful in business by having the mind of a capitalist and heart of a social worker. And so I think there's, there's some value to that. Right. I mean, I, I say we tell a lot of people and I'm getting paid to do it, so I mean, I don't want to sugarcoat that. Right. At the end of the day, it's a business. And I don't think profit's a bad word in my clients businesses or in mine. Right. And so, um, I think you should get directly compensated to the value you provide. And if we can continue providing value and helping people and genuinely helping people and doing a good job, then we deserve to be compensated for that. And that should continue to grow as the value we continue to provide grows.

Jason Cutter: That's it. Right. As long as you're delivering on that value. Uh, well, Patrick, I appreciate you being here the after show, giving us some bonus time, especially with your schedule. Again, if people checked out part one, you were on the road all the time. I'm surprised you just don't have your own plane or do your own flying. But if you did that, you probably couldn't work while you're flying. And I'm gonna guess you're that guy like me who's working while flying.

Patrick Lange: Uh, absolutely.

Jason Cutter: Doing stuff all the time. So I appreciate you being here, giving so much to, to the audience today, to us, and then just the community in general. For people tuning in, they want to find out how to get a hold of you. They can go to the website. Let me. I know I had it in the first part, but they can go to business modification group.com. your email will be in the show notes. You're on LinkedIn, you're on YouTube, basically everywhere. Uh, if anyone just search Patrick Lang, uh, H vac, I'm sure they're going to find you. So, Patrick, thanks again for being here.

Patrick Lange: Thank you for letting me be here. I had a fantastic time. I really appreciate all the work you're doing, Jason.

Jason Cutter: All right, thank you for that. And everyone tuning in. Appreciate you being here. Please make sure to share this, get this out there. You know, one of the biggest things we talked about in part one was the awareness and the education out there. Business brokers, business owners, buyers. The more we can just get this out there, which is, you know, Patrick's mission about getting as much information as possible and just sharing everything, the better. So please make sure to share this. And until next time, stop hoping for deals and start growing your pipeline.

Narrator: Thanks for tuning in to the Business Broker Growth show, hosted by Jason Cutter. If today's episode helped you think differently about how to build your pipeline and grow your business, share it with another broker who's ready to make the shift from hoping for listings to engineering them. Join us again for the next episode of the Business Broker Growth show, where brokers become trusted advisors.