#172 - From Dropout to CEO—Kelly Roberts on Building a $15M HVAC Business

02/25/25 • 55 min

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC Business Growth Podcast

In this episode CEO of Moss Heating and Cooling Kelly Roberts, shares her journey from college dropout to C-Suite member in a fast-growing HVAC company.
Kelly talks about the challenges of shifting to high-end residential new construction, navigating financial setbacks, and scaling from $7 million to $15 million in just one year.

This episode is packed with real-world insights on leadership and growth you won’t want to miss.

Special Thanks to Modernize

We’ve been using Modernize them for our water quality leads, and it’s been smooth sailing from day one.

If you’re serious about boosting your leads, definitely check them out: https://modernize.com/pros/leads?utm_campaign=owned-podcast

Shoutout to Quick Staffers LLC
Quick Staffers are the staffing agency bringing global talent to the HVAC and plumbing industries. They specialize in placing trained overseas CSRs, fully equipped with the best SOPs and scripts at a fraction of the cost.
Don't miss out. Get $1000 off your first placement here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc16JbSEqySXdOFuFm8JIzPIEgE7AOvBp9NxlLi4ypeGpZ8gQ/viewform

Episode Hosts: 🎤
John Wilson: @WilsonCompanies on X
Jack Carr: @TheHVACJack on X

Episode Guest:
Kelly Roberts on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-roberts-911a19b0/

Send Us Mail!

Contact Owned and Operated:

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John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies
Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC

This episode is packed with real-world insights on leadership and growth you won’t want to miss.

Special Thanks to Modernize

We’ve been using Modernize them for our water quality leads, and it’s been smooth sailing from day one.

If you’re serious about boosting your leads, definitely check them out: https://modernize.com/pros/leads?utm_campaign=owned-podcast

Episode Hosts: 🎤
John Wilson: @WilsonCompanies on X
Jack Carr: @TheHVACJack on X

Episode Guest:
Kelly Roberts on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-roberts-911a19b0/

Send Us Mail!

Contact Owned and Operated:

More Ways To Connect with O&O

Leave a Review

John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies
Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC

Previous Episode

#171 - Why Your Sales Pipeline Is Failing—Hatch's Chief Revenue Officer 'Tim Geisenheimer' Explains the Mistakes Costing You Millions

In this episode, John sits down with Tim Geisenheimer from Hatch to break down what it takes to build a winning sales process.
With his background in leading software sales teams, Tim shares how to create successful B2B sales functions and draws on the power of data for targeting the right customers and how technology is changing the game for business operations.

SPECIAL THANKS TO HATCH
Book more leads with the power of Hatch.
Hatch has been an incredible partner in our outbound journey. Since starting with them, we’ve ramped up with powerful automations that keep every lead engaged and every invoice followed up. Hatch’s AI Agents, ready to handle follow-ups, reminders, email blasts, have saved us hours.
Learn More Here

SHOUT OUT TO AVOCA

Looking to train your call center and improve technician performance? Avoca AI is here to help your team identify existing issues, improve call quality, and drive results from start to finish. If you want to skyrocket your team this year, you need to check these guys out.
Schedule a Demo Today

Episode Hosts: 🎤
John Wilson: @WilsonCompanies on X
Jack Carr: @TheHVACJack on X

Episode Guest:
Tim Geisenheimer @tgeisenheimer on X

Send Us Mail!

Contact Owned and Operated:

More Ways To Connect with O&O

Leave a Review

John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies
Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC

Next Episode

#173 - "We Booked 400 Calls a Week": How Avoca AI is Shaping Home Services

Tyson Chen from Avoca is back to break down how AI is changing the game for home service call centers.
We dive into Avoca’s AI tools—like Coach for CSR training and Responder for automated call handling—that have helped us book more jobs while cutting costs. We also get into the real challenges of bringing AI into traditional call centers and what’s coming next in the AI space.

If you want to know how AI can boost efficiency and improve customer service, this episode is packed with insights.

Special Thanks to Avoca

Looking to train your call center and improve technician performance? Avoca AI is here to help your team identify existing issues, improve call quality, and drive results from start to finish.
Click here to schedule a demo: https://calendly.com/d/cp54-9jr-nht/avoca-ai-demo?month=2025-01

Special Thanks to Modernize
We’ve been using Modernize them for our water quality leads, and it’s been smooth sailing from day one.
If you’re serious about boosting your leads, definitely check them out: https://modernize.com/pros/leads?utm_campaign=owned-podcast

Episode Hosts: 🎤
John Wilson: @WilsonCompanies on X
Jack Carr: @TheHVACJack on X

Episode Guest:
Tyson Chen on Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tysonchen17/

Send Us Mail!

Contact Owned and Operated:

More Ways To Connect with O&O

Leave a Review

John Wilson, CEO of Wilson Companies
Jack Carr, CEO of Rapid HVAC

Owned and Operated - A Plumbing, Electrical, and HVAC Business Growth Podcast - #172 - From Dropout to CEO—Kelly Roberts on Building a $15M HVAC Business

Transcript

Kelly Roberts: A CFO comes in and he basically says, Hey guys, love y'all, but I'm leaving. And I highly recommend that you file bankruptcy.

We were looking at going from 7 million to 15 million, which is what we did last year. You know, we're trying to do 2000 homes in new construction this year. I will be direct. I will tell you what you're doing wrong. And I will say it to you enough times until you hear me. Recently,

John Wilson: we've been experimenting with lead aggregators.