Reflecting On A Year Of Growth, Resilience, And Bold Decisions

It's a good time to reflect when things are at their best. As we march further into 2024 I find it important to reflect and look back to not even a full year ago, as Wilson was looking at the end of a "growth year". I can't help but feel beyond grateful for the incredible journey The Wilson Companies was on in 2023. It's was a wild rollercoaster of excitement and challenges.

Let's talk about that rollercoaster and what a year in the life looked like.

The 2023 Year To Date

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What a year! We never planned for 2023 to be a growth year, but is sure did it turn out that way. We made some serious moves in that time, like snagging a new headquarters, bouncing around to different locations, and adding Fair Electric to our portfolio.

And the best part? We expanded our workforce in a big way during that time.

Despite the hurdles and growing pains from 2022, we'd not just survived but thrived in an industry where many were struggling. We kicked off that year with just 105 team members.

By the end of the year we were on track to hit 140.

That's growth mode.

YTD growth per each of our core business units:

• Above Ground Plumbing: +24.5%
• Below Ground Plumbing: -3.4%
• HVAC: +20.6%
• Electric Service: +334%
• Electric Contracts: Shutting Down
• Water Mit: +182%
• Overall business: +12%

We know our results are bucking the trend in our industry. We made some major changes over the past 90 days.

A glimpse of what we did in 2023:

• Doubled the size of our call center to handle the skyrocketing customer demand. In October, we saw a jaw-dropping 70 percent increase in leads compared to the previous month, and November is gearing up for a 30% jump over October. Our marketing game is on fire, while the rest of our industry is struggling.

• Built a marketing team from scratch, now using 7-8 members; up from just one, 90 days prior.
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• We brought in new middle managers to keep the ship sailing smoothly as our teams grew. Payroll increased, but it was definitely the right call as our business units exploded.
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• We amped up our recruitment game, bringing in a second recruiter, allowing us to interview about 25 people a week. Over the past 90 days, we've been bringing in 2-4 new people every single Monday. Our team has grown from 105 at the start of the year to a whopping 135, all thanks to our mission to attract top talent from every corner. I talked specifically about our recruitment funnel in this episode of Owned and Operated.
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• We made the tough call to shut down electrical construction and either gave the boot or reallocated that team to service. It was a bold move, but sometimes you got to make sacrifices for the long-term win.
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• Our new marketing strategies are crushing it! We’ve teamed up with Service Scalers and we couldn’t be happier with our results. Customer contacts are skyrocketing, and we're hustling to align our recruitment efforts with our marketing game.
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• We even launched our weekend team, going all out 7 days a week, and we're pulling in 5-10k every single weekend, with even more awesomeness on the horizon.

Lessons That Shaped the Journey:

Bold Decisions for Healthier Business: We made the tough decision to shut down Electric Contracts, which initially led to a revenue dip. But it was all about securing the long-term health and sustainability of the business. Short-term sacrifices for those sweet, sweet long-term gains!

Resilience and Recovery: Our Electric Service and Water Mitigation units showed off their resilience big time. They not only weathered the storm but also bounced back stronger than ever. Adaptability and resilience in action!

Adaptability is Key: Our ability to adapt and make big moves has been the secret sauce to our success. We grabbed a shiny new headquarters, grew our team, and added Fair Electric to our arsenal. Adaptability is the name of the game, and it's been a game-changer for us.

Our journey over that 90 days was an epic ride, filled with change, growth, and some seriously valuable insights that have catapulted us to new heights.

And now? It's even bigger. Love that.

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