Full System Integration Between SiteOne and Izenda Platforms Provide Real-Time Dashboards and Reports to Identify Trends, Optimize Performance and Reduce Costs

SiteOne Services, a customer service and work order management platform for builders, now delivers advanced business intelligence and actionable reports to customers using their platform. SiteOne will be demonstrating the new reporting features of their platform at the NAHB International Builders Show this week at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Booth #SU1325, January 21-23.

Business Intelligence (BI) tools provide access and insight into an organizations available data through visual dashboards and reports for the purpose of improving decision-making. For Izenda, BI tools should also be easy and intuitive, empowering both simple and power users to derive actionable insights from their data through robust self-service reporting. The integration of Izendas application-based intelligence tool allows critical data points gathered by SiteOne to be extracted and analyzed to create real-time dashboards and reports such as aging, total open work requests, total closed work requests, cost per lot, cost per project, cost per market, cost per region, and cost company-wide. Reports can also identify common, costly occurrences that can be corrected in future construction.

Leader in Warranty Management Leverages Leader in Business Intelligence

The beauty of BI is that with each insight you uncover, a new question is formed eventually leading to a critical insight into your business that will improve operations, guide strategy, and more. For SiteOne, identifying those next-level insights will be much more accessible with Izenda, said Jaimi Panini, vice president of product at Izenda. For example, while reviewing costs per lot, you notice that warranty expenses in some lots are higher than others. Another report shows that the issues are all related to painting. That would then drive you to cross-reference which painter worked on those lots and discover there is an issue with a specific subcontractor you are using.

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According to research by BuildZoom, after falling or remaining flat for three decades, construction costs have increased sharply since the mid-2000s, to a tune of 23.6 percent. The rise was driven by both material and labor costs.

Every opportunity a builder has to reduce expenses contributes greatly to their overall success, said Mike Giosso, president and founder of SiteOne Services. BI helps builders implement effective strategies by intelligently analyzing data that already exists to help make better decisions in the future. Our customer Edenbridge Homes is a great example of data-driven decision making. Most builders reserve one to two percent of their budget to cover future warranty expenses. However, through careful analysis of their weekly reports and methodical time management, Edenbridge Homes warranty costs over the last three years have averaged well below one percent, and they now project up to a 35% annual savings.

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SiteOne is a seamlessly easy, 100% paperless platform for builders and developers that provides a better, more effortless way to facilitate requests, automate processes, resolve concerns, and share critical information with homeowners. The company was founded 20 years ago on a disruptive idea: To provide seamlessly easy tools to facilitate and automate the extremely fragmented service process for home builders and developers. Two decades later, they are delivering on that idea. Large, medium and small real estate developers trust SiteOne as their partner in providing a customer experience second to none.

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SiteOne Services Selects Izenda to Provide Home Builders with Business Intelligence to Help their Organization Thrive - MarTech Series

2930 Salem Oaks Drive, Conway

2,820 square feet of living space

4 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 1 half bath

The Tracy Tidwell Team, ERA TEAM Real Estate, 501-472-4709

Check out this stunner in the Salem Oaks neighborhood of west Conway!

Offered for sale by ERA TEAM Real Estate, this Tom Watson-built home at 2930 Salem Oaks Drive has all the extras, including quartz countertops, a spa-like master bathroom with custom shower, a spacious master closet with built-ins, and a covered patio.

This one-story home has a traditional design with modern touches, such as a light brick exterior with contrasting dark roof and shutter accents. The open floor plan includes 2,820 square feet of living space with four bedrooms and three-and-a-half baths. The design is swathed in light and dark contrasts -- for instance the white wall paint and trim complement the darker wood floors. The custom lighting is particularly appealing in this home, ranging from crystal and bronze chandeliers in the dining spaces, to glass fixtures in the kitchen.

The flow of the floor plan is particularly nice, as the family room, kitchen and dining spaces are all adjacent and easily accessible to one another. The master suite is apart from the other bedrooms and has a modern barn door to separate it from the main living spaces.

The kitchen is white on white, with just a touch of contrasting color in the dark oven hood, the stainless appliances and the modern hardware on the drawers. Some special features include custom glass light fixtures, some glass fronted cabinets, and a unique glass backsplash. Dining options include the separate formal space in the front of the home, a breakfast room adjacent to the kitchen, and a breakfast bar at the end of the kitchen counter.

Other features in this home include:

Green features including Low-E windows, tankless water heater and Rf Rdiant barrier sheath.

Gas log fireplace in the family room.

Two-car, front-entry garage.

Separate laundry room with storage, work space and mudroom.

One-year warranty offered by the builder.

Hot tub and walk-in shower in master bath.

Decked out with special touches throughout, this home is a must-see! Call to schedule your personal showing of the home, which is priced at $397,700. For more information or to arrange for a private viewing, please call The Tracy Tidwell Team of ERA TEAM Real Estate at 501-472-4709.

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Stunning home in west Conway offers special touches throughout - Log Cabin Democrat

There are so many different options out there were it comes to smart plugs that it can be so difficult to make a decision and choose the right model to buy. Well, today theres really only one good choice, so its easier than even for anyone looking to add some smarts to their dumb old devices like lamps, coffee makers, fans, space heaters, and more. The newly upgraded version of the best-selling Gosund Mini Wi-Fi Smart Plugs is on sale right now at one of the best prices weve seen for any smart plugs, let alone popular ones like this. Use the coupon code E22PXEVO at checkout and youll pick up a 4-pack for $20.99. Thats only $5.25 each for these awesome smart plugs that are compatible with both Alexa and Google Assistant. Dont miss out!

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Follow @BGRDeals on Twitter to keep up with the latest and greatest deals we find around the web. Prices subject to change without notice and any coupons mentioned above may be available in limited supply. BGR may receive a commission on orders placed through this article.

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Add smarts to every dumb device in your home with $5 Alexa smart plugs - BGR

Home warranties is an industry that constantly finds itself in controversy. A seemingly good idea has been corrupted by many, and the good intentions of citizens looking to be financially responsible has backfired.

There was never really a time where home warranties had a good reputation. It is arguably getting better, but the industry is frequently let down by unscrupulous companies. Many have proven to be fly-by-night companies that are set up, take in as many premiums as they can and then close down unexpectedly, leaving customers hanging. In 2018, this happened with Secure Home Warranty, Allied Home Warranty, American Home Guard and Endurance.

Whist they loosely functioned for the time of operating, theyve reported to have handed out a lot of unexpected fees, delayed repairs and have been extremely poor in communication. Many turn to the BBB rating the Better Business Bureau which often provide low scores to such companies to give customers an indication of corrupt businesses.

The issue is that even the BBB, a non-profit started over 100 years ago which is considered to be a reliable, impartial customer protection organisation cannot be trusted itself. There have been many accusations that the BBB ask for a membership fee in an attempt to accept bribes for higher ratings. Many renowned businesses have been bizarrely poorly rated, and it has come out that they do not pay a membership fee. So now with even non-profit bodies not being trusted, home warranties can run amok. Again, Yelp has been accused of the same pay-to-play system, in which you cannot trust the very core of their value proposition (reviews).

The only thing left to gain some insight is customer reviews from their own experiences. Whilst some websites such as Trustpilot have been accused of taking down negative reviews and such, there are still many places where you can find the general reception for a company. Even using places such as Reddit and other social media can be useful.

The worrying thing about home warranties is that even the best companies still often have significant negative feedback. Theres no doubt that there are some legit, useful companies out there, but its becoming a real pain to find them.

Another example from what was previously touched on (scams and shutting up shop) is Secure Home Warranty. The Philadelphia-based company has been reported to have scammed over 160 customers through false advertising, charging credit cards unbeknownst to the customer, and wrongfully denying claims. This kind of behavior is exactly what is on the front of peoples minds when thinking about the industry.

There is a lawsuit aimed at Secure Home Warranty, in which they went out of business in 2017. We dont see traditional banks being set up and scamming the customer quite as often, which highlights a key problem in the home warranty industry: its young. Due to it not being around or established for very long, regulations are lacking and are varying widely across different states.

Attorney Josh Shapiro claimed [in a statement regarding Secure Home Warranty] These scammers left consumers out to dry by refusing to provide the services they promised, namely, 24/7 access to a claim center that would assist in the repair or replacement of systems and appliances.

Choice Home Warranty, a giant in the industry, is also being sued. The Arizona Attorney General Office has filed a consumer lawsuit surrounding fraud against the company. This is mostly on the grounds of alleged false promises made to customers, such as wrongful claim denials.

Going back to state-specific regulation, it may be that companies pray on the states that have loose regulations. In this instance, Choice home warranty review says they are unavailable in California, and so this may be a conscious legal choice instead of a business one.

Ultimately, home warranties have been good for some customers and bad for others. Almost any company, no matter how established, has negative reviews. This places an unfair but nevertheless real emphasis on the customers service-picking skills. It may be that if you live in a certain state that commonly sees home warranty scams, you may want to avoid them at all costs. Even the big companies will be enticed into foul practices if they see legislative liberties.

If you do decide to get a home warranty, it can be a successful experience. Youll need to find one with the least negative reviews, good customer service, little history of breaking promises and so on. Even then, there will unfortunately be an element of luck in the decision. Whilst on paper these companies are designed to put our minds at rest and our toolbox back in the garage, you have to be prepared for the worst.

Therefore, it would be wise to only take on a home warranty plan if it is financially sensible for you. If you can barely afford the premiums, then this might be a gamble in and of itself. Being denied a claim when youre $400 down on premiums is a surefire way to end up in an even worse situation. In this scenario, its better to have cheap, second-hand appliances that you fix yourself or replace.

Likewise, if youre extremely vulnerable and rely on the home warranties too much, this can also be stressful. For the elderly, the last thing they want to do or are prepared for is to fight for coverage claims. This isnt the peace of mind that you were promised. It can often be, but once you get to a stage of being very dependent, it may be worth being independent of them. At least a self-employed repairman isnt going to argue with you about the causes of the breakdown. Theyll just take your money, fix it and leave.

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Claritas only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Are Home Warranties Becoming A Nuisance? Hometown Station - KHTS Radio

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. A yellow-tinted surgical mask is wrapped around the face of Lucy Vaughn as she sits on the front stoop of her Winston-Salem home. A jacket and scarf keep her warm on what is a typical cold December day, I like sitting out here, its warmer out here than inside, said Vaughn.

Vaughn is a cancer survivor and is now battling the disease again. Currently undergoing chemotherapy, its important she stays as healthy as she can. Its also why Vaughn reached out to our Call for Action Team a few weeks ago.

Her home has become a bit of an icebox after the heater broke about a week before Christmas. A crew came out and fixed the compressor but a few days later the system failed again, When I woke up this morning it was 63 degrees (in home) I cant afford to get sick, said Vaughn.

RELATED: 'Twas a great year for our Call For Action team helping get back $100K

A heating and air conditioning technician determined Vaughn needed the entire heater replaced. The job is not cheap, but Vaughn has a home warranty that should cover the cost. The problem, however, is getting the job approved so the heater can be replaced, I may have to go stay in a hotel if we cant get this resolved, said Vaughn.

Once Vaughn called us, we contacted the home warranty company along with Aspire Heating, Air Conditioning, and Electrical. The owner at Aspire worked with us to help get the job approved. Once the warranty company signed off Aspire had a crew out the next day to replace the unit, Im calling it my Christmas miracle, said Vaughn.

A technician spent about eight hours installing the new unit and making sure it worked perfectly. One of the owners even stopped by with the crew was working to make sure Vaughn was doing okay, They assured me everything would be fine, and I would not pay any money, said Vaughn.

The unit was up and running by the end of the day and Vaughn was able to stay in the home and not pay for a hotel, All I can say is News 2 rocks, said Vaughn. I also want to thank the fine folks at Aspire.

Vaughn enjoys sitting outside on her porch but prefers to go back inside to get warm, not the other way around.

OTHER 2 WANTS TO KNOW STORIES

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'I can't afford to get sick': Cancer patient gets new home heater after turning to 2 Wants To Know - WFMYNews2.com

There are no silver bullets for getting rich quick in life, but if you own a home, there are a number of effective ways to build more wealth over time.

Compound interest is a force of nature, and a few decisions that collectively help you generate an extra 2% or more in wealth per year can have long-lasting effects on your investment outcomes.

As we move into 2020, you can build more wealth by finding ways to either cut costs associated with your home or generate additional revenue through your home. Here are five suggestions on how to do both:

1. Refinance your mortgage.

The Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates three times in the past year, and all signs point to rates remaining at similar levels for the foreseeable future.

If you have a mortgage, look into refinancing. Yes, there will likely be closing costs, but if you find you can lower your mortgage by 0.5% or more, you could potentially save hundreds of dollars per month, or tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of your mortgage.

2. Write off everything you can on your home.

If youre a home owner whos been doing taxes by yourself, Id strongly encourage you to find professional help to make sure youre writing off everything you can possibly write off. A seasoned accountant and financial advisor can help ensure youre taking all the appropriate deductions, and will likely make recommendations that will help you save more on taxes in the years to come.

3. Invest in preventative maintenance.

This may sound counter-intuitive, but if you spend money doing preventative maintenance on your house instead of waiting for things to break, youll end up saving money in the long run.

Its hard to put a number on this, but for one example, consider your hot water heater. Theyre value-engineered to last about 10 years, which is often when the warranty runs out. Some of us let them run until they die. When that happens, you can end up with several inches of water on your basement floor and staining or damaging walls, rugs and anything else you have in the area. If you live in a condo building and your water tank is on the third floor right next to your bathroom, running it until it breaks down could result in you spending many thousands of dollars on repairs.

So, its a good idea to know when your water tank was installed and replace it at the 10-year mark or just before. Sure, you could roll the dice and it might last 12 or even 15 years. But what would the damage cost if it fails, and how much will this interrupt your life when you wake up one day and theres a small flood in your basement?

4. Airbnb a room when youre in town, and your entire home when youre traveling.

Even in cities like Boston where Airbnb laws are quite restrictive, you can still make money by renting out a room in your primary residence a few nights a month, or even renting out your entire home while youre on vacation.

Although managing guests requires some work, the benefits can be significant. For instance, if you can rent out your place for $200 per night for the three weeks per year youre traveling to see family or going on vacation, you stand to make a profit of around $3,000.

5. When its time to move, convert your home into a rental property.

Your home could very well be your best investment. When youre ready to move, think twice before selling it. The better long-term wealth-building option for you could very well be turning your home into a rental property.

By following these five steps, you can leverage your home and ownership position to generate even more wealth into 2020 and beyond.

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Five Easy Ways Home Owners Can Build More Wealth In The Next Decade - Forbes

New York City, NY, Dec. 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Select Home Warranty is now a proud sponsor of the NY Jets. Led by Joseph Shrem, Select Home Warranty provides comprehensive appliance warranties throughout the United States. The company has several service plans that give customers the freedom of choice in prices, and the services that they receive. A client can choose between the Platinum Care, Gold Care, and Bronze Care and each of them gives value for money.

The company has over the years won awards for its good quality services. This year, it has won the 2019 editors choice awards from Home warranty, a platform that has over 78k authentic reviews. The Home Warranty Annual Awards are usually given to companies that provide exceptional services to their customers. This is not the first time that Select Home is winning an award from Home Warranty. In 2017 and 2018, the company was also selected for the best service award.

Select Home Warranty has a reputation for dealing with all client issues in the shortest time possible. The company has a policy whereby, customers can make a claim at any time of the day and there will be a member of the company that will look into it. The company also works with a network of professionals that are localized all across the country. On top of that, it always ensures that it either repairs or replaces the product that is covered in the warranty. The client only pays a small fee and Select Home Warranty takes care of the rest.

To learn more about the services that Select Home Warranty offers, you can contact them via their website. One can also call them on 1-855-267-3532 or fax at 1-732-490-6612.

At Select Home Warranty, the client always comes first.

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Select Home Warranty is now a proud sponsor of the NY Jets - GlobeNewswire

Stunning Inventory home by Fischer & Frichtel in the Woods at Cottleville Trail, an intimate enclave of 14 exclusive, 1 AC lots that back to trees. This incredibly open, 1.5 story, Executive home has 4 BD, 3.5 BA, a Study, step-up Bonus Rm & 4,275 s/f of living space. Features inc 9-11 clngs, Quartz c-tops, SS Kit Aid appl, 5 brnr gas c-top, large island, chimney hood, cooks bath, W/I pantry, convenient Family Foyer, wide plank wood flrs, wr iron stair balusters, 8 solid core doors, 11 clngs in the Grt Rm w/window wall, Hearth Rm w/gas FP, MAIN FLOOR MASTER, Lux Mstr Bath w/free standing tub, marble shower, large bdrms, one bdr has a Princess suite (priv bath), low E windows, dual HVAC & W/O bsmt. The ext is exquisite w/brick, James Hardie siding, arch shingles, prof landscape, sod & an O/S side entry 3 car gar on a 1 AC lot. Enjoy a pool friendly home sight & perfect setting for an outdoor living area. Easy access to Hwy 364, desirable Ft Zum schools & the Great Rivers Greenway!

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Big Homes Just Listed in the St. Louis Area - Lake Geneva Regional News

The interview was one thing, but now you have to impress everyone else at work during your first few weeks. Buzz60s Sean Dowling has more. Buzz60

Whether youre negotiating a business deal or making a new friend, theres a lot of value in getting someone to open up to you. We asked master interviewer and comedian Jay Leno, along with nine Advisors in The Oracles, for their best tips to do just that. Heres what they said.

1. Give the other person your full attention and be kind.

Approach life like you arent the smartest person in the room. Then youre more likely to shut up, listen, and pay attention. Too many people dont listen. They wait for others to stop talking so they can speak. Be genuinely interested in others, and give them your full attention.

Ill never forget talking to a friend who was a big celebrity at the time. When a fan approached him for an autograph, he gave it to them without even turning around to look at them. I saw the hatred on his fans face. When my friend told me that they were lucky to get an autograph, I responded that he was the lucky one to be asked because someday he wouldnt.

Jay Leno(Photo: The Oracles)

Those days are here, and hes no longer famous. Money and fame dont change people; they enhance whoever you are. So be kind. Kindness always wins. Jay Leno, one of the worlds most successful comedians, star of Jay Lenos Garage on CNBC, and former longtime host of NBCs The Tonight Show; follow Jay on Facebook and Instagram.

2. Be yourself and be curious.

First, you have to be yourself. Be authentic. Then its about being a curious person and a good listener. Remember that stories make people feel at ease, especially if you can show your vulnerabilities.

Kara Goldin, founder and CEO of Hint Inc.(Photo: The Oracles)

And a sense of humor is never a bad thing to help ensure that the conversation flows. Kara Goldin, founder and CEO of Hint Inc.; creator of The Kara Network, a digital resource for entrepreneurs; and host of the Unstoppable podcast; follow Kara on Twitter and Instagram.

3. Listen, watch body language, and dont overshare.

Im a full-time mom who home-schools while running several eight-figure companies and sitting on several boards.

I only have time for meaningful conversations. So I use these steps whenever meeting someone new even the cashier at the grocery store; you never know who will make the greatest impact in your world or who will find your interaction the most impactful.

Listen and then respond. Most people are preoccupied with what to say next, instead of listening theyre uncomfortable with silence. Once you talk less and listen more, your engagements immediately shift.

Reflect back what youve heard the person say, confirming that you are paying attention. Give and gain knowledge, turning the interaction into a teachable moment where both sides feel valued.

Watch their body language and nonverbal cues. Look for signs theyre either uncomfortable or excited and adjust; this helps avoid awkwardness and keeps the flow in a positive direction.

Jessica Mead, founder and CEO at BrandLync(Photo: The Oracles)

Look for commonalities and offer the right amount of self-disclosure to show youre invested in creating a relationship and its safe to share with you because youre reciprocating. However, dont overshare or make it all about you. Jessica Mead, founder and CEO at BrandLync; co-founder of Mead Holdings Group, The Epek Companies, and Grayson Pierce Capital; follow Jessica on Instagram.

4. Let yourself be vulnerable.

This question makes me think about something I learned from the teachings of the late Maya Angelou: People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Chris Winfield, co-founder and CEO of Super Connector Media(Photo: The Oracles)

If you want someone to open up to you, you have to make them feel safe.

Allow yourself to be vulnerable and real with them. Many people have told me, Ive never shared this with anyone before! Lots of them were people I just met. Why? Because Im not afraid to talk about my fears, insecurities, and failures. Chris Winfield, business relationship expert, co-founder and CEO of Super Connector Media, and host of Unfair Advantage Live, a premier publicity event connecting entrepreneurs to the media; follow Chris on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

5. Make eye contact.

Making eye contact is our most powerful physical ability and the most underutilized. As a society, were inherently taught that looking directly into someones eyes is intimidating and even vulnerable. But up to 80% of the messages and experiences we take in are filtered through our eyes. They lead to neural pathways in our brains that can help us form intense bonding connections of intuitive trust, which is also what gets people to open up.

Marina Mara, international media, brand, and reputation advisor(Photo: The Oracles)

In the media, this is how we build influence and shape our clients reputations through visual storytelling. When the person who is being photographed or filmed gazes intentionally into the camera lens, they look directly into the eyes of the viewer, which naturally prompts the viewer to open up, to listen more, read more, and remember more details.

If the intentional gaze delivers this effect through print or digital media, imagine what it can do in real life! You have nothing to hide, so start showing up fully in your raw authenticity.

Use eye contact to tell better stories, communicate more effectively, engage others deeply, and show the world who you really are. Do this and watch your interactions transform and blossom! Marina Mara, international media, brand, and reputation advisor; connect with Marina on LinkedIn and Instagram.

6. Ask questions.

When people ask you what you do, its easy to talk about yourself and give a short answer like, Im a marketer, and I own a call center. But instead, I answer the question with a question about the other persons work and life so I can learn about them and relate my answer to them.

Once they share what they do, I try to find friends in common. When I know the circles they run in, I can usually find a few mutual connections, which helps me gain credibility and trust.

Craig Handley, co-founder of ListenTrust(Photo: The Oracles)

Ask questions and care about the answers, then personally relate to them in some way. Try to avoid talking exclusively about work. Find out about their hobbies, family life, and trips they are planning or have taken.

If you want someone to open up, you must care about making a genuine connection, not a superficial one. Craig Handley, co-founder of ListenTrust and author of Hired to Quit, Inspired to Stay; read more about Handley: Why These Founders Train Their Employees to Quit.

7. Leave your phone in your pocket.

Smile often and make a conscious effort to be comfortable and relaxed. Try to relate to the person in front of you without sounding phony or pretentious. Find common ground or mutual interest, but not in a textbook way. For example, not everyone likes sports, and most people arent interested in seeing your family photos.

Alon Rajic, CEO of Review Home Warranties(Photo: The Oracles)

Leave your phone in your pocket so you can focus entirely on the moment, and dont take calls unless its a personal emergency. Dont overdress to impress either. You can look nice without appearing like you spent hours preparing. While alcohol helps people open up, it has to be under the right circumstances.

If youre meeting in a bar, find a cool spot with unique surroundings not a hotel bar. Finally, dont interrogate the other person. Remember, its OK to have a few moments of silence. Alon Rajic, CEO of Review Home Warranties, the worlds largest home warranty database covering more than 200 home warranty plans.

8. Show that you care.

Theres no substitute for authenticity. The best way to invite someone to open up is to show you really care about them. Everyone is fighting a battle theyre not wearing on their sleeve. If you listen carefully with the intention of deeply understanding them, you can learn a lot about a person.

We can all sense when someone shows genuine care and concern for our thoughts and feelings. When you make someone feel seen and heard, you make them feel safe to open up and share more. Its human nature. Nafis Nina Hodjat, Esq., founder and managing attorney of The SLS Firm.

Nafis Nina Hodjat, Esq., founder and managing attorney of The SLS Firm(Photo: The Oracles)

9. Treat them like theyre an old friend.

Make the other person feel comfortable and seek out common interests. Work them into the conversation, smile, and speak with a friendly demeanor. Watch their body language and mannerisms, and use those cues to adjust your style and tone. Ask open-ended questions so they can respond freely and dont feel like they have to answer a certain way. Encourage them to speak openly and share more details.

The bottom line is, treat others like they are old friends. In turn, they will begin to feel like one and open up to you. Its always easier to talk to a friend than a stranger; so the first step is becoming a friend and then the conversation will be easy. Guy Sheetrit, CEO of Over The Top SEO, which provides customized SEO marketing solutions for e-commerce, local, and Fortune 500 companies.

Guy Sheetrit, CEO of Over The Top SEO(Photo: The Oracles)

10. Smile and be humble.

Most people love a good conversation and often love to share their experiences. I try to always start with a smile. Smiling usually indicates openness and a willingness to engage. Be disarming, humble, and genuinely listen, and you will find people usually will gravitate to a topic of their interest. Ask questions, ones that pique interest, and take the answer and frame it in a context that both of you can relate to.

Body language is key as well. Keep an open posture, and keep eye contact not intense eye contact, but enough to really show your interest level and establish trust with your new friend!

Go into every interaction with the assumption that you and this person have the potential to build a relationship together. Tom Albert, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence expert, and founder and CEO of MeasuredRisk, a leading enterprise risk management company; connect with Tom on LinkedIn.

Tom Albert, founder and CEO of MeasuredRisk(Photo: The Oracles)

Want to share your insights in a future article? JoinTheOracles, a mastermind group oftheworlds leading entrepreneurs who sharetheir success strategies to help others growtheir businesses and build better lives.

For more free business insider advice, follow The Oracles on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/11/17/want-more-people-open-up-you-these-business-leaders-tell-us-how/4177705002/

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Kindness always wins: 10 successful people on how to get anyone to open up to you - USA TODAY

London Nov 23, 2019 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of HomeServe PLC earnings conference call or presentation Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 9:00:00am GMT

* Thomas J. Rusin

UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - EMEA Equity Research Analyst of Support Services

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our half year results presentation. HomeServe had another very good 6 months. I'm looking forward to taking you through the highlights and giving you an update on our key growth initiatives. Joined this morning by David Bower, our CFO, who will take you through the financials. And Tom Rusin, Global CEO of the Membership business, who will talk you through Membership and HVAC. And I'll come back at the end and talk through progress on international development, Leakbot and Home Experts.

So let me just start by giving you the highlights. We've had another strong half, and we're pleased, not only with our financial performance, but also the progress that we're making strategically to deliver those growth initiatives. All of our Membership businesses performed well, and most notably, North America. Profits rose 24% and we added 0.5 million new customers. We saw good growth in the U.K. with significant efficiency gains.

In France, we had our biggest increase in customer numbers for 4 years. We've strengthened our foundations in Spain with a new billing arrangement for the Endesa back book and an agreement to carry out reactivation marketing under the Endesa brand. And we saw some new partnerships in the Claims business. Our HVAC buy and build strategy made good progress with 5 acquisitions in the first half. So we expect HVAC to become a meaningful business line. In Home Experts, revenue grew 31%, and we continue to test and learn and make progress with all 3 of our businesses, Checkatrade, Habitissimo and Home Experts France.

And I'm delighted this morning to announce the acquisition of elocal, which will give us profitable entry into the Home Experts market in our biggest territory, the U.S., and more opportunities to learn and grow. More on that later. Over to David for the finances.

Thank you, Richard, and good morning, everyone. So I'll start with our group financial summary. As Richard just said, reported revenue is up 13% to GBP 458 million, with adjusted operating profit up 2% to GBP 37.7 million. And this reflects a good operational performance across our Membership businesses, where adjusted operating profit is up [19%]. This is offset in part by our planned investments in both Home Experts and New Markets. As you can see on the Slide, these results were aided by sterling's weakness against the dollar and the EUR to the tune of about GBP 1.3 million of the adjusted operating profit level.

Given recent currency movements, however, if today's rates prevail, we wouldn't expect to see any further significant impact from currency movements for the balance of the year. Adjusted profit before tax was down 10%, driven by the increase in interest due to both a higher interest net debt balance of -- higher net debt balance of GBP 451 million, and our weighted-average interest cost.

Of the GBP 160 million increase in net debt since this time last year, GBP 57 million or roughly 1/3 of it is due to the inclusion of lease liabilities under IFRS 16, whilst the rest reflects our continued investment in growth initiatives. The increase in the interest rate is due to the fixed rate borrowings drawn in the second half of last year as we lengthened the maturity profile of our debt.

On a statutory basis, profit before tax was up 2%, reflecting 2 exceptional gains. Firstly, a gain of GBP 3.8 million, arising on our exit from Italy. And then secondly, a further GBP 3.6 million gain arising on the acquisition of the remaining 30% of Habitissimo. So below the adjusted operating profit level, the increase in interest expense and acquisition amortization were more than offset during the period by those exceptional gains. As is usual at this time of the year, I'll remind you that our operations remain highly seasonal with over 80% of our profits historically generated in the second half, though, our investments are more evenly spread throughout the year. The interim dividend is up 12% to 5.8p per share, and we expect our full year dividend to continue to grow in line with earnings.

So moving on to the divisional financial summary. In the U.K., total revenue was down 5% despite an increase of 2% in net policy income. This was as repair network revenue decreased as we carried out fewer jobs across the smaller policy base. And HVAC revenue also reduced slightly, as the U.K. business focused on higher margin work, completing fewer installs in total. By contrast, the U.K. adjusted operating profit grew very well at 38%, reflecting efficiency gains, which Tom will talk through shortly.

In North America, revenue grew 30% at constant currency, as the Membership business delivered 13% growth in customers and 5% growth in net income per customer. Key proof points for our growth path, we described on our Investor Day back in June. U.S. HVAC also grew well, driven by 3 profitable acquisitions in the second half of FY '19 and a further 2 in the first half of this year.

Adjusted operating profit in North America increased 24% at constant currency, reflecting continued growth in Membership and also the profit contributed albeit at a slightly lower margin by the HVAC business. France grew revenue and adjusted operating profit by 9% and 4%, respectively, at constant currency, driven by higher customer numbers as well as increased HVAC activity. And in Spain, revenue was up 5%, reflecting higher claims volumes and our growing HVAC business, but partially offset by the expected runoff of the Endesa policy book.

The adjusted operating profit in Spain was down 12% at constant currency due principally to increased investment in business development and claims and Membership management. The GBP 2.3 million reported loss in New Markets reflects losses in our Italian business prior to its divestment, the ongoing prospecting for further international opportunities and our investment in our Japanese joint venture.

And finally, in Home Experts. The increased net loss of GBP 8 million largely reflects investment in people, marketing and technology at Checkatrade. The net loss run rate reduces in the second half, given the higher revenue growth expected in that period.

So moving on to look at the cash flow. Our free cash flow remained very healthy at GBP 37.5 million, demonstrating that previous investments are paying off. The slide shows you all the movements in net debt since the year-end. The GBP 57.4 million associated with IFRS 16, increased our leverage by 0.1x at the half year. And for keen students of IFRS 16, there's a slide in the appendix which shows you all of the moving parts.

Apart from the IFRS 16 impact, the main drivers of the increase in our net debt were capital expenditure associated with technology transformation, partner payments and policy book M&A, an outflow of GBP 22.5 million, principally from HVAC acquisitions and the remaining 30% of Habitissimo and of course, the payment of our final full year dividend. Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio 1.9x, was at the upper end of our target year-end range, but we do remain very comfortable with this.

Looking in more detail at our capital investments. We invested around GBP 67 million in capital items in the first half across 5 main categories. The capital investment required in relation to technology enhancements across our Membership business was higher at GBP 22.4 million in the period. This does include the unwind of GBP 5 million of year-end capital creditor. As the underlying investment activity in Membership has reduced in the period as expected due to the upgrades we've been working on to our CRM and claims handling systems nearing completion. Partner payments of GBP 7.7 million continue to reduce because we're no longer acquiring customers with Endesa in Spain. But in France, capital payments to partners in return for direct help with marketing remains highly effective and have remained broadly stable period-over-period.

Policy book acquisitions remain a surefire way to grow our business. And therefore, are one of our preferred types of capital investment. The GBP 6.9 million investment in the period, delivered 2 new policy books across our Membership businesses, both of which have been quickly and seamlessly integrated into the local operating businesses. As mentioned at the year-end, we are investing more in infrastructure Checkatrade, amounting to GBP 7 million this period. And while the business is inherently capital-light, we have a 2-year road map in place to transform our technology stack and build a state-of-the-art digital experience, for both trade and consumers.

Finally, M&A spend was GBP 22.5 million in the period, which included GBP 7.7 million to acquire the remaining 30% of Habitissimo and around GBP 12 million in relation to the execution of our HVAC buy-and-build strategy.

So let me finish by summarizing our guidance for the full year. You remember that at our full year results in May, we said that we expected further strong growth this year with increased P&L investment in Home Experts, financed by a strong performance in Membership, particularly in North America. Membership in HVAC are, in fact, performing at the top end of our expectations, which gives us scope to increase our net P&L investment in New Markets and our Home Experts businesses to around GBP 19 million from the initial expectation of GBP 12 million to GBP 15 million.

We expect this increased investment to fund the new commercial plan for Habitissimo being developed by the incoming CEO, Sarah Harmon, as well as the continued development of Home Experts in France and the activities of our international business development team. Taking into account the strong performance in Membership and HVAC and the increased investment in Home Experts and New Markets just mentioned, our overall outlook for the total operating result of those businesses remains unchanged. That said, the agreement to acquire elocal announced today, which Richard will talk about in little more detail shortly, is expected to add around $5 million to this year's adjusted operating profit and then a total of around $16 million to adjusted operating profit in FY '21. After transaction costs and the associated interest charges, this will then equate to an expected increase in adjusted profit before tax of around GBP 2 million in FY '20 and then around GBP 6 million in FY '21. So at a group level and below operating profit, including the interest associated with the elocal transaction, we expect interest to be at around GBP 18 million for the full year. The tax rate is likely to be slightly higher than last year's 22%, given our growth in the international markets, all of which have higher tax rates than in the U.K.

We don't expect any major change in working capital absorption compared to last year, and we continue to expect our technology and operating CapEx to trend down overtime. Cash conversion will continue to exceed 100%, and free cash flow will continue to grow. But given the recent M&A, including elocal, we would expect our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to continue to be towards the upper end of our target range at the year-end. And on that note, I'll hand over to Tom.

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Thomas J. Rusin, HomeServe plc - Co-COO & Global CEO of HomeServe Membership & Executive Director [3]

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Thank you, David, and good morning, everyone. Before I talk through our individual businesses, I'll provide a quick summary of Membership and the HVAC business lines overall. As Richard has already said, we are pleased with the performance of all of our Membership businesses so far this year. Membership is an exciting business, which is proven and scalable. And it is great that our strong delivery is able to fund growth in Home Experts. Across Membership, we are taking a global approach to growth, while each country focuses on its best opportunities. So in North America, we are focused on maximizing the strong organic growth opportunity and is still largely untapped market.

In France and Spain, we are focused on diversifying our partners and our products to sustain our growth. And here in the U.K., we are leading the charge with continuous improvements in customer service and efficiency. Then best practices from all these initiatives are shared and implemented globally. HVAC installations, which is also run globally, is bringing a significant source of new revenue and profit improvement across all our membership territories. We have now acquired around a dozen businesses across our 4 geographies, and this is starting to represent a meaningful global business line.

Running HVAC, adjacent to our Membership business, means that we can focus on selling -- on cross-sell opportunities, like selling HVAC systems to our policyholders and policies to those who get installations and tune ups. We also obtained cost synergies through better utilization of the engineers we acquire with these HVAC businesses. So now let me spend just a little time on each country individually. In the U.K., our success has been in improving the operational efficiency of the business, which has driven a 38% increase in adjusted operating profit to GBP 14 million. We expect to deliver a full year increase, somewhat shy of this level, but impressive nonetheless. This is before profit growth moderates in the years to come. That said, we think we can continue to harness technology to deliver service and efficiency improvements, which will ensure sustainable levels of profit in the future despite a slightly smaller customer base.

There are two main drivers of this half's improvement: people and technology. With the capital investments, David described, really starting to deliver value. As we transform the way we work, we have been making organizational changes to match, in particular, slimming down our U.K. management structure. These changes are never easy, but our U.K. team has adapted very well and the results in terms of improved efficiency and more seamless customer service are really beginning to show through.

Our focus in the U.K. is on serving -- servicing our core customer base who value our services rather than chasing marginal customers through deep discounts. We think this approach chimes well with the recent FCA study on pricing practices. Within the general insurance industry, which calls for above all, transparency and fairness. We look forward to the publication of the final report in Q1 next year, but feel that we are well-aligned for its outcomes.

Overall, our U.K. business continues to do a great job for our core customers, with net income per customer up 18% and retention steady at 78%. Our customer satisfaction scores on Trust Pilot and Reevoo remained around all-time highs of 96% on Reevoo and 4.4 on Trust Pilot. And our 900 engineers completed 0.5 million jobs in the period. But what does the future hold? As far as customer service at HomeServe is concerned, the future is now, HomeServe now. And in -- and the U.K. is leading the way on this important project to revolutionize the way we serve our customers.

HomeServe now uses natural language processing and app-based technologies to connect customers quickly and directly to an available and local engineer who can fix their problem now. Overtime, HomeServe Now will help us provide a different class of service to our customers and enable us to use our engineering and customer service resources, much, much more efficiently. HomeServe Now has been successfully trialed for electrics, plumbing and drainage and gas claims in specific regions in the U.K. and will now be trialed in North America. We already have thousands of jobs done, and all the metrics that we look at to measure success, things like average job cost, speed of technician arrival, customer satisfaction all of these metrics are exceeding our expectations. And in the U.S. and the U.K., we've trialed Smart IVR and intelligent automated call handling. We've now done several hundred thousand calls with this new technology. And again, our expectation on success metrics have been exceeded. So we are working on rolling this out globally.

Next, let's have a look at France. I'm really excited to report the strongest customer growth for 4 years in our French business, up 5% and still with the strongest retention rate in the group at 89%. We are seeing growth in France from partners, old and new. With our oldest partner, Veolia, we are seeing good results from direct sales via Veolia's home friend initiative. We are expanding our direct sales with Saur, we are about to expand our branded marketing with Suez. But we aren't just seeing success in the water channel. France has done a great job expanding in the retail energy space. We're really pleased with the progress that we are making to open up with new partners at switching sites like JeChange and Papernest and with challenger energy companies like Mint and Hellowatt. And we have a solid pipeline of potential new retail energy partners. So let's move on to Spain.

The Spanish business continues to operate well. Our Spanish team has shown great dedication as it looks to forge new partnerships and drive growth across the existing Membership and Claims business and build its own business in HVAC. While still small, we have launched a variety of new partnerships in the retail and municipal channels. And again, still early days, but we are also seeing good results with our 3 new retail energy partners. And we've acquired a small policy book from (inaudible). Retention is up 81%, as the Endesa book matures. While we no longer have any front book marketing with Endesa, the relationship remains productive. And in July, we signed an agreement to secure the billing arrangements for the back book for another 5 years. This will continue to support the retention rate, but also provides us the opportunity for customer reactivation under the Endesa brand, which has always been a very strong channel in terms of response across all of HomeServe. Reactivation marketing with Endesa will begin this month. The profitability of the claims business reduced slightly in the period as we invested in business development and in the service levels we provide to our large bancassurer customers. Earlier this month, we signed a new partnership with Bansabadell Seguros Generales, which will deliver more job volume into the Claims network. Finally, in partnership with Habitissimo, our Spanish Home Experts business, we've seen early success with our on demand to policy offering. This is something we'll be expanding in Spain and working to take to our other membership countries.

Finally, on to North America. Our North American business continues to make excellent progress toward the milestone [2] target of $230 million of operating profit. The key driver of revenue and profit growth is the 13% growth in our customer numbers and crossing the landmark threshold of over 7 million policies. With around 150,000 new customers from tranche 2 of the Dominion policy book, the remainder of the growth over 9% comes from the success of our own organic marketing activity. We continue to sign new partnerships in the U.S. at the rate of 2 to 3 a week. And since the half year, our numbers have been boosted by the expansion of our agreements with CenterPoint and AEP, adding over 800,000 new households. We also have several active policy book acquisition discussions.

HVAC, also made a strong contribution to the revenue growth in the period, growing 83% to $15.6 million. Because the 5 businesses we've acquired so far are in areas of high policy density, we are able to use their engineers for Membership repairs and improve our overall efficiency, which, overtime, will bring down our underwriting costs and benefit our income per customer. We continue to expand our existing membership model in the U.S., but we also have a brand-new opportunity with Total Home Warranty.

Whole Home warranty is a large, fragmented market, whose target market includes younger homeowners who are used to rely upon subscription services. It is a market characterized by a much higher price point per customer than we're used to at HomeServe, but with patchy levels of customer service from the competition. So this is a market where we think our own high standards can make a significant difference, not least of all, by marketing Total Home Warranty via our network of over 750 utility partners, which is a channel that is unique to us.

Our acquisition of American Home Guardian brought 5,000 policies and considerable expertise into our business, particularly in the real estate channel. And I'm happy to announce today that we've made an additional acquisition of Nations Home Warranty that will add an additional 10,000 policies. It is a small strategic home warranty add-on that operates right in AHG's territory. As a result, it is an accretive deal with operational synergies. We are already seeing inbound requests from the real estate space who are looking for a Whole Home product that provides better service.

We've also signed Mike Rowe as a spokesperson to help us tell the story around our exceptional customer service. Mike was the host of a highly rated TV show on Discovery called Dirty Jobs. The show is nominated for 5 Prime Time Emmys, and Mike was called one of America's most trusted celebrities by Forbes Magazine. Now we had planned to do only Whole Home Warranty on TV with Mike, but he was so impressed with our core Membership products that we filmed spots for those too.

Our utility partners are also very excited about having Mike indoors HomeServe as they expect to see an increase in marketing response. So here's a taste of TV marketing U.S. style.

(presentation)

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Thomas J. Rusin, HomeServe plc - Co-COO & Global CEO of HomeServe Membership & Executive Director [4]

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We've also made progress with the HomeServe app which has now been downloaded by around 30,000 users who don't need to be existing HomeServe customers. The app helps homeowners do away with their paper appliance manuals and also shares product recall alerts, self-help guides and technician contacts. We get great user data and insight from downloads, which will help us develop an excellent new direct marketing channel. So all in all, I hope this gives you a picture of our healthy growth in North America and which that -- and with that, over to Richard.

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Richard David Harpin, HomeServe plc - Founder, CEO, Co-COO & Director [5]

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Thanks, Tom. So I'll round off the presentation with update on our international business development plans, next steps for Leakbot, and of course, Home Experts. You'll remember that back in February, we announced our joint venture with Mitsubishi Corporation in Japan, with each of us committed to an initial cash investment of GBP 2 million into the JV. The joint venture has started well, run by a team of Mitsubishi and HomeServe (inaudible), plus some new recruits.

Now one of Mitsubishi's key roles was to introduce the JV to energy utilities. We're targeting a first signing before Christmas to enable marketing to commence before the financial year-end.

We announced in July that we'd exited Italy. We saw limited opportunity for our membership business there, so we decided to sell our 49% shareholding to Edison. And that's very much in keeping with our discipline of focusing time and resources on our biggest opportunities. On Leakbot, after years of testing, we now have our first rollout deal here in the U.K. and that's with Hiscox, the high net-worth insurer, and that commences at the beginning of February. They'll be offering Leakbot but free to their 40,000 high net-worth customers, and they'll pay us a monthly fee for each Leakbot sent to their customer base. The benefit to Hiscox comes from reduced water damage claims because leaks are discovered early. The Leakbot team have also just got an agreement with the insurance broker, iGo4 to launch Leakbot as a black box device for customer acquisition and available on comparison websites where consumers get a reduced premium for fitting and using our Leakbot. And we've started testing Leakbot in the U.S. So we're now looking for a strategic partner, such as a large Internet of things or smart home player in the U.S. to help us quickly scale the Leakbot business over there. Last, but not least, Home Experts. In Home Experts, we've made substantial progress in the period in developing our business in 3 out of our 4 Membership territories.

Checkatrade and Habitissimo are both market leaders, they attract substantial numbers of website hits and are delivering encouraging revenue growth. Our increased net P&L investment of GBP 8 million in the first half was focused on people, technology and marketing at Checkatrade. In the second half, our investment will be across all 3 Home Experts businesses with increased focus on Habitissimo. At Habitissimo, we now have 100% ownership of the business. Sarah Harmon is putting in place a new, more ambitious commercial plan. We're going to continue to develop Habitissimo's lead generation model by looking at generating leads from affiliates and embedding large key accounts into our trade network. And alongside this, we'll launch our preferred Directory Extra model in Madrid next spring.

In our Home Experts trial in France, we are trialing out a different trade acquisition strategy to build the number of trades on the platform much more quickly, adding them to the platform free of charge after a basic set of checks. We then seek to upgrade them to full vetting on a monthly fee, once they've received the first customer contacts. We're attracting customers to the platform via leaflet directories and search engine marketing. And already, we're getting over 70,000 web visits a month in France. So we're pleased with our progress so far at building a Home Experts business from scratch in our French marketplace.

We're building Checkatrade like building a house with the foundations being trust, scalability and people. The 2 floors of our house are the right models for consumers and the right model for trades. The roof is a brand famous for being the best place to find checked and better trades, and we're making good progress on all of these. Not much of our learning has come from what we call our Mega City Trial. We started in the Grenada TV region, covering Liverpool and Manchester, and it's now been rolled out to 4 additional areas covering around half of U.K. households, including Checkatrade's traditional stronghold in the Southeast. And its geographical expansion, that's the key to getting 80% of our target for trade recruitment. So the extension of the trial is very significant. A key part of the Mega City Trial has been testing a new way to recruit trades involving a free trial and a rolling monthly contracts. That allows trades to dial up and down their subscription, depending upon how much work they actually need. And early results have been really good, a 32% uplift in the take-up rates in Granada with this recruitment model.

Now growth in trade numbers is the key driver towards our medium- to long-term target of GBP 45 million to GBP 90 million of operating profit. We saw a 21% increase in trades to 38,000 in the quieter first half, and that rate of acquisition has started to accelerate in the last few months. Average revenue per trade continues to build gradually and now stands at GBP 957 per year per trade.

On the consumer side, we've improved the user experience with the launch of Shortlist and Click to Call, which have had a very positive impact. Next improvement to launch will be matching a consumer to a trade with more availability to do their job and this will be live early in the new year. Checkatrade Now, for emergency jobs, is in the final stages of testing before its rollout. So we're making good progress towards implementing what we call our Directory Extra model.

We've also made a big step-up on brand awareness with the launch of our new TV ad in our Mega City regions and here in London. The ad focuses on Checkatrade's key differentiator, checked and better trades. So here it is.

(presentation)

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Richard David Harpin, HomeServe plc - Founder, CEO, Co-COO & Director [6]

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Moving on to the U.S., I'm really excited to be announcing this morning the acquisition of eLocal, which gives us an excellent foundation for our Home Experts business in our biggest market, the U.S. It's profitable, it's growing fast, and it's got a really interesting business model that we can learn from here in Europe. eLocal is a pay per lead platform, which is smart in the way that it generates the leads. It pays affiliate marketing partners per lead, which eliminates marketing risk. Trades pay for leads and sign up to a free directory model, which forms a really valuable prospect list and will be an excellent starting point for introducing our Directory Extra model in a year's time when we have the perfect model from all of our learning in the U.K., Spain and France.

Now consumers have 3 ways to use eLocal. They can be matched automatically with up to 4 trades, and that's the Habitissimo model or they call a hotline, and they're connected to a trade via IVR, very much like HomeServe now or they call a trade listed in the directory like Checkatrade. Now eLocal is already a substantial business. It's based in Philadelphia, but also has offices in New York and in California, with around 130 staff. It has a network of 11,600 paying trades and 3.2 million home services trades actually listed in their free directory.

Revenue this calendar year is expected to more than double to around $80 million, following an acquisition that they made last year, with organic growth within that of over 40%. And 2019 calendar year profits are expected to be around $14 million. As we integrate eLocal, we expect to add, as David said, $5 million adjusted operating profit in FY '20 and $16 million of adjusted operating profit next year in FY '21. As David said, after integration costs and interest, that's GBP 2 million of PBITA this year and GBP 6 million next year. Our ambition for eLocal is to continue to deliver high single-digit profit growth while also investing to scale and grow our Home Experts model in America. We paid around $140 million for; 79% stake, financed through our existing debt facilities. The other 21% of eLocal is owned by the management team and a private equity group who first invested back in 2017. The founders are going to stay with us to run and grow the business, and they will report directly to me, so that we can continue to share learning across all of our Home Experts businesses and avoid distracting our existing U.S. management team from their exciting Membership and HVAC growth.

So let me summarize. I'm delighted with the way HomeServe has performed in the last 6 months. Under Tom's leadership, all of our Membership and HVAC businesses are seeing constant innovation, be it in improving and transforming customer service, developing our partnerships or opening up new products and channels. We've continued to make good progress at Checkatrade. We've got renewed focus at Habitissimo in Spain. And we're building momentum following the launch of Home Experts, France. And with our acquisition of eLocal, we now have a Home Experts foothold in all of our existing Membership territories.

We're being really disciplined about where we invest our capital and where we choose to divest, as you've seen in Italy. And we're constantly investing in our teams to make sure that we've got the management capability for all of our growth initiatives. So I'd like to finish by thanking everyone at HomeServe and all of our stakeholders for your support and hard work in the last 6 months. The second half has got off to an excellent start, and I'm confident that we'll be able to report strong growth for the full year. So on that note, let me open up the meeting to your questions. Thank you.

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Questions and Answers

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Nicole Manion, UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - EMEA Equity Research Analyst of Support Services [1]

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It's Nicole from UBS. Just one question on Checkatrade and then one on HVAC, if that's okay. In fact, the first question, I suppose is more broadly about Home Experts. Increasingly, it looks like you're internationalizing the model, which is obviously great. But I wonder what that means for the trades target in Checkatrade and how you think about that and if that still makes sense? That's the first one. And the second one is just the profit run rate in HVAC. I think it was, sort of, low single-digit in the U.S. last year as an absolute number. Just where that's sort of moving towards and whether you've got anything sort of outside the U.S. now in terms of a profit number?

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Richard David Harpin, HomeServe plc - Founder, CEO, Co-COO & Director [2]

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Yes. So I'll take the first one, Checkatrade, ask David on the profit run rate for HVAC. So yes, absolutely confident in our medium to long-term target in Checkatrade, which was to get to between 150,000 and 200,000 trades. It will be a hockey stick effect. We're learning and optimizing. The model still on trade recruitment, and we will see continued growth this year and acceleration in future years.

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David Bower, HomeServe plc - Co-COO & Group CFO & Director [3]

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In terms of the HVAC profits in North America, we'd expect to see some good growth -- percentage growth on that U.S. number and then a broadly similar number in the whole of Europe for the full year.

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Joe Brent, Liberum Capital Limited, Research Division - Head of Research and Equity Analyst [4]

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Joe Brent at Liberum. Three questions, if I may. Firstly, eLocal, that's an exciting acquisition. Could you tell us how you expect to sort of invest in that business, grow it and what the road map is for North America Home Experts? Detailed financial question for David. On the revenues for eLocal, you've given us the calendar year '19 number. I think there's an annualization effect from the acquisition. Could you give us some indication of what the FY '21 revenue might be in that business? And thirdly, in Checkatrade U.K., could you tell us how successful you're being at utilizing the tradesmen network, which, I think, in the past, has been a bit of a challenge that 80% of the jobs have gone to 20% of the trades. Are you managing to get an even flow of work to a broader number of tradesmen?

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Richard David Harpin, HomeServe plc - Founder, CEO, Co-COO & Director [5]

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Okay. Yes. So the first one of those was investing and growing eLocal. So the focus is, they've got a great model, lots of stuff that we can learn from. Ping and post, which is their equivalent of HomeServe now that we can learn from. So they're taking leads from around 200 affiliates, go through largely telephone calls into an automated IVR and then passing them out to trades that are pre-registered to buy a number of leads. So the key bit actually is in taking the learning, continuing their attractive growth rate. And then once we've perfected the Directory Extra model over the next 12 months in Europe, we can then -- they can start to put that into their already established free directory model, which will mean doing vetting and checking in the way that we do here. So I think really exciting growth plan and able to do it while continuing to grow single-digit profitability of that eLocal business in our largest territory.

Revenues for eLocal?

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David Bower, HomeServe plc - Co-COO & Group CFO & Director [6]

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In terms of the full year annualized run rate revenue, probably expect to see around about the [100 million mark in dollars], in FY '21.

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Richard David Harpin, HomeServe plc - Founder, CEO, Co-COO & Director [7]

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And there was one further question that Joe had on Checkatrade. About 20% of the trades are getting 50% of the work today. So we're working on continuing to make sure that we've got fair distribution of that work relative to how much the trades are paying and making sure that new trades coming on board, particularly in the newer areas are getting work so that we achieve good levels of retention.

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Edited Transcript of HSV.L earnings conference call or presentation 19-Nov-19 9:00am GMT - Yahoo Finance