Time Doesn’t Fix Fires…..It Only Fuels Them!

Mrs. Smith just called and is very unhappy with the service your company provided.

She asked for the owner but you told your Customer Service Rep you were “unavailable” but you would get back to Misses Smith tomorrow after you spoke with the Technician.

Several days pass and the note about Mrs. Smith’s problem is now way down in the “to do” pile. Several more days pass and since you have not heard from Mrs. Smith, you decide to pitch the note. Guess what, Mrs. Smith has not forgotten about her problem. In fact she is seething mad! She may not be a computer genius but she can find several review sites to express her dismay! You may be total unaware of the posts but other customers and potential customers are reading her blasts at your company. Do you think they are going to totally dismiss her comments? Probably not!

Unattended Camp Fires Result in Forest Fires

Why isn’t the phone ringing? When homeowners or business owners look for a contractor, they check the review for your company. With many options for them to choose from, why would they choose a company with less than stellar ratings? You don’t have that! Oh, Misses Smith isn’t the first to have and issue with your company and she won’t be the last (if you are still in business). Every company has customer issues from time to time. It’s how quickly and efficiently you handle those complaints that matter to your customers. Most customers can see through an illegitimate complaint posted by an unreasonable customer. But you must take each and every complaint seriously, expeditiously, and effectively. Every customer concern requires action and often a written response by the company.

Ignoring customer Concerns is Contagious

What you do as a business owner is highly contagious!  If you elect to ignore the concerns of your customers, so will your employees. You keep asking why the phone isn’t ringing with service calls. You really know the answer, you are afraid to admit your short coming in responding to the customer. Well, it’s a good time to make a 2017 resolution to without hesitation, take care of the customer!

 Dan has been in the service industry for nearly 50 years. He has operated a large plumbing, heating and air conditioning service company and for the past 12 years has helped small companies in the service business to grow and prosper. 

Contact him @ Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com

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Are you the same person you were as the New Year started a WHOLE year ago, but you WANTED to change?

Let’s talk a little about that issue. Same old, same old, different day! I’ll bet the year flew by and you ran out of time to make the changes to your life to become “who you wanted to become.” Life moves quickly, daily emergencies come up; insignificant tasks are on your lists, others use up your time and on it goes until the day is over. Then the week is over, then the month is over, and finally it’s a new year and you haven’t become “who you wanted to become.”

As a businessman, you have a list of things you need to accomplish each day you arrive at your business. That list could be on paper, on your cell phone, on your computer, in your head, or in a planner. Of course the list is long and daily you have a number of items you just don’t get to start or finish. Those items seem to keep rolling forward to the next day, the next week, or the next month. These often are the things we need to be doing to become “who you want to become.”

You also have a calendar with things scheduled for certain datesand times.These could be meetings, seminars, conventions, vacation, kid’s ball games, a social event or perhaps a golf outing. Most of these are based on outside influences and demands. When you take a close look at your calendar, you find that there is little or no time left for “who you wanted to become.”

"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."

Henry Ford

Schedule less about what to get done than who you want to become!

To become “who you want to become”, requires a commitment of time, energy and perhaps money. Let’s look at a couple of possible examples. We’ll look at a business related scenario and a personal related scenario.

Business

You would like to grow your business but since you came up as a Technician, you really don’t really understanding of the financial side of your business. You have said you need to do something about that but another year has gone by and you’re not making any more that you did when you worked for someone else. Then another year goes by and the same thing all over again! Time for a timeout! Time to put a couple of hours aside (your business won’t fail if you do this). You need to analyze the options. You could go a local junior college and take classes in finance and accounting. You could take some online classes in finance and accounting. This is not the best option since it’s too easy to sluff it off and never get the financial understanding you need to improve your business. You could hire a business coach to work with you in your business and teach you the fundamentals of finance and accounting. These are just a couple of options. Surely there are more.

Now comes the hard part. You must change your life in some way to accomplish this goal no matter which choice you make to move forward. To truly become “who you want to become” you will need to put a much higher priority on understanding the financial side of your business than you might have in the past. If you take classes at a junior college, you will need to attend the classes (time), do the studying and assignments (energy), and pay for the classes (money). The same would apply if you took online classes with the exception that it would require a lot more energy to learn what is needed that a classroom setting. If you hired a business coach, time, energy and a lot more money would be involved to get the understanding that you need. The upside is there would be someone right there with you as problems and concerns arose. Change is required to become “who you want to become.”

There is one more issue to keep in mind and that is balance in your life. You still need time, energy and money for your personal life of family, friends, home, and recreation.

Personal

You enjoy playing golf with some friends and you’re able to play 9 holes 2-3 times a month with

them. Your handicap is 25 and has been for years. In fact a couple of years ago it was 23 so you have slipped a little. Some weekends you’re able to watch an hour or so of the PGA Pros play and deep down you would like to play more like them. You realize you’re a contractor and not a golf pro but a score in the low to mid 80’s would be a dream for you. For this dream to come true, you would need to commit a heck of a lot more time, energy and money to achieve that dream!

This will require ongoing lessons and coaching for as long as several years to change your game on a consistent basis. This is a real money, energy and time commitment. It would also require hours and hours at the driving range to practice what you have been taught, more time energy and money. And it will also require playing much more frequently to maintain the consistency and feel to shoot the lower scores and become “who you want to become.”

Here also there is another issue to keep in mind and that is balance in your life. You still need time, energy and money for your personal life of family, friends, home, recreation and your business. 

It's a New Year

So as we start a new year, are you going to become “who you want to become” or are you going to repeat last year and the year before and the year before that? You decide!

 Dan has been in the service industry for nearly 50 years. He has operated a large plumbing, heating and air conditioning service company and for the past 12 years has helped small companies in the service business to grow and prosper. 

Contact him @ Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com

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Until You.......

Yes You

Until you as a business owner decide to change and improve the performance of your company, profitability won’t change.

Until you decide to improve the look of your business and your Technicians, your company will still look like amateurs rather than pros.

Until you begin to understand the financial side of your business, you will continue to operate like a “Ma & Pa” operation rather than a business.

Until you understand that an employee won’t always do the way you would do it, you will micro-manage every phase of your business and limit it’s potential.

Until you expect and strive for the very best customer experience, you will just be another contractor, not memorable to your customer, not recommended by your customer if they even remain as a customer.

Until you enforce your company standards, you will have none.

Until you look at your employees as customers who deserve the best customer service, you will only attract mediocre employees.

Until you improve your marketing, you can expect that you won’t attract large numbers of new customers.

Until you have menu pricing (flat rate) and keep it current, you can expect customer complaints and low profits.

Until you plan and put aside money for retirement, you will be working until you die.

Until you train you Technicians, you can expect other companies to take you customers with better knowledge and better customer service.

Until you set goals, your future will drift like a ship without a rudder.

Until you check costs in each part of your business, you will loss profit by over paying to that friendly salesman.

Until you have your call takers use a script and check on 

them, you will loss opportunities to other contractors.

Until you work with a consultant or a contractor group, you will not grow in knowledge and learn from other’s experiences.

Until you set financial controls in your business, you open your business to employee thief and dishonesty.

Until you decide to change, your business is falling behind and will eventually fail!

Need help with change? Give me a call or email me, I can help if you are ready for cultural change.

You can get more information at our website www.SayYesToSuccess.com 

Dan has been in the service industry for nearly 50 years. He has operated a large plumbing, heating and air conditioning service company and for the past 12 years has helped small companies in the service business to grow and prosper. Contact him at Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com

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13 Small Simple Actions to Change Your Company Culture

Being an owner or manager in a service business is fast paced, grinding, and can be total consuming

of all your faculties and inter-resources. This also holds true for your inside staff and your field Technicians. So here are 13 tips to improve the culture in your company by small things you as a manager or owner can do on a regular basis.

1.       Morning Greeting

As you walk in and some of your staff is already at the office, greet each one by name and with a positive greeting. I know you often come in with things on your mind, or lack of sleep, but this can give your staff a boost which can carry over to the customers they touch that day.

2.       Feed the Crew

Having a meeting? Stop at Mickey D’s or Dunkin Donuts and bring in something for them to eat. It doesn’t need to be exotic or expensive. They will feel you care about them. Be sure to recognize any food allergies or dietary issues and take care of those individuals also.

3.       Acknowledge

Acknowledge years of service with your company for each employee. You can do this on social media, send them a card, post it on the company bulletin board, have a cake with their name on it,  or even have something like a special hat or jacket for 1 year of service, 5 years of service, 10 years of service and so on.

4.       Celebrate

ALWAYS celebrate wins. When you reach a goal within the company such as meeting the monthly budget for sales and profit, reaching a specific number of Maintenance Agreements, excellent customer reviews, or a successful change within the company celebrate. This can be as simple as an announcement at a meeting or something more like lunch for everyone. Be sure to include everyone and show the benefit of the success to the employee.

5.       Orient

When a new employee comes into a company, they have a great sense of uneasiness. Introduce them to every employee you can. Let them know who to go to for payroll, uniforms, truck issues, in the warehouse and so on. When they agree to come on board, send them a letter welcoming them and their family to your family (company).

6.       Suggestion Box

Have a suggestion box where employees can express their ideas on improving the company. When a suggestion saves the company money or greatly improves customer service and revenue, acknowledge that suggestion and reward the employee. Incidentally, all suggestions must be answered by management within 1-2 weeks with an answer why or why not the suggestion will be implemented. If you don’t, the employees will stop giving suggestions.

7.       Ring the Bell

Have a bell and ring it when a replacement system is sold, a maintenance agreement is sold, or an add-on sale by a Technician. People like wins so celebrate wins. Casinos have bells, sirens, lights, and other devices to acknowledge wins.

8.       Post Results

Post goals and employee results to meet those goals. This could be sales, maintenance agreement sales, CSR sales, number of customer calls vs. closes and so on. This will increase sales just by posting and create some competition among employees. Also post a simple monthly company financial statement for all employees to view.

9.       Play Games

With the daily grind, employees get bored and their job becomes a heavy task each day. Have some games from time to time. Have everyone bring in a baby picture and post it. See if someone can guess whose picture each one is and have a small prize for the most correct guesses.  There are books with ideas for games that companies can play.

10.   Think Family

Each employee has a family outside of your business that is very important to them. Many employees are lost because of issues outside of work that deal with family. Look at your company policies and view them from an employee and family perspective. When you have a company activity, such as a Christmas party or picnic, think about making them family focused to include spouses, important others, and kids.

11.   Safety

Be sure to have a safety manual for the company and be a stickler for safety in the office, warehouse, and on the jobsites. Think of safety as an employee benefit that is reasonable to conduct and tells each employee that you care about them. If you bypass safety issues they feel you don’t care for their wellbeing and will not give their best to the company.

12.   Image

The image of your company is displayed every day by your trucks, employees and building. Employees don’t want to work for a company with dirty bathrooms, messy warehouses, poor uniforms, filthy office carpets, and so on. They want to work for the companies with the best images because it is a direct reflection on them. This is not an overnight or cheap change for some of you but if you make strides in the right direction without back-sliding, they will notice the change.

13.   Career

Most employees are looking for a career not just a job. For each employee, layout a career path they can achieve over a period of time. I would suggest over the next 5 years. There should be title changes as they advance, improved compensation, company provided training, and direction for them. They should have specific goals and skills to reach in order to move to the next level. They should be evaluated at least yearly but I would recommend semi-annually. Your employees are being enticed by other companies with opportunities. What are their opportunities at your company? Show them!

14.   Bonus Idea

A simple “Thank You” to an employee for doing a great job or going beyond the call of duty, goes a very long way!

Change Starts

Change starts at the top. These are “nice ideas” but if you don’t change and implement them or other cultural changes, your company will not change for the better. The culture will not improve and you will continue to struggle with many more employee issues and greater turnover.

Help

Need help with change? Give me a call or email me, I can help if you are ready for cultural change.

You can get more information at our website www.SayYesToSuccess.com 

Dan has been in the service industry for nearly 50 years. He has operated a large plumbing, heating and air conditioning service company and for the past 12 years has helped small companies in the service business to grow and prosper. Contact him at Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com

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Do You Need a Mobile Solution?

The continued march of technology has given us access to information in the palm of our hands. We can find any business, service, or product information on our cellphones. We went from "bricks that could only make calls to cellphones that easily fit into our shirt or pants pocket and allow us to open the internet or so to say everything in the world. It's not just us as business people but your customers and potential customers are becoming more and more dependent on their mobile technology. Although I started out by discussing cellphones, that mobile technology includes tablets and phablets. If you are not up to speed on technology a phablet is an over-size smart cellphone. The demand for desktop computers and laptop computers has dropped substantially with the power and ease of smartphones, phablets, and tablets. Website Magazine had an interesting 5 question quiz so you can understand the magnitude of use of these devices. Here is the quiz which you can take yourself. You will be amazed at the numbers.
 

1. What is the amount of time spent on mobile devices per day by the average U.S. consumer in 2014?

a. 20 hours and 14 minutes

b. 12 hours and 14 minutes

c. 5 hours and 57 minutes

d. 2 hours and 42 minutes

e. 38 minutes

2. What percentage of worldwide Google Play revenue do Freemium apps account for?

a.  98 percent

b. 72 percent

c. 38 percent

d. 17 percent

e. 53 percent

3. In what app category do U.S. smartphone users spend the most time interacting?

a. News/Info

b. Communications

c. Shopping/Commerce

d. Games

e. Social

4. What percentage of consumers are watching videos on their smartphones?

a. 75 percent

b. 93 percent

c. 25 percent

d. 42 percent

e. 12 percent 

5. As of June 2014, how many mobile Internet users are there worldwide?

a. 890 million

b. 1.2 billion

c. 106 million

d. 7.1 billion

e. 3.4 billion

Answers at the end of this post

So what should you do to tap into this market and assure your website is best viewed on every type of device? There are at least three choices. One is to have a responsive site  which means your website display changes when your customer uses their mobile device to access it. If it is a desktop or laptop it displays the way you had it built. If it is viewed on a smartphone, phablet, or tablet it displays differently to make it much more useful for the viewer. Another option is to build a totally separate design when one of these mobile devices opens your website. You could also develop an App but then the customer would need to upload your App to see your content. Probably not the first direction a contractor should select. Each of these solutions are time consuming and costly to develop but as with everything in business "It costs to attract customers". Begin to investigate the options and costs. As you put your 2015 budget together you should put this cost into it to meet this new trend. The numbers are only going to grow as more people have these devices and learn the convenience they provide.  

You can get more information at our website www.SayYesToSuccess.com 

Dan has been in the service industry for nearly 50 years. He has operated a large plumbing, heating and air conditioning service company and for the past 12 years has helped small companies in the service business to grow and prosper. Contact him at Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com

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Answers to the Quiz: d, a, e, a, b

 

Finding the Right Technicians

Finding Technicians

Last time I gave a list of ideas for finding that "right Technician". My definition of "the right Technician" is one who can consistently produce profit for the company with a minimum amount of drama. I mentioned several ways to do this and I would like to expand on one in this article.

The ability to find a profit producing Technician is difficult at best and probably impossible in your service area. The old ways of a newspaper ad for a Technician with 5 years of field experience in the service business are no longer productive. It's finally time you groom your own. This can be a long and arduous task and sometimes the results are poor. Here is a tip you can use to have greater success and cut the time for that new Technician to be a profit producer for the company.

Go to School

The tip is simple. Get involved! Yes, get involved with every college or trade school that has a program for young people to get into the trade. Be sure to include local high school programs. All of these schools are desperate for company owners and managers to advise on improving their programs so their graduates will be successful in find high paying jobs in your trades. This normally is a morning or afternoon each quarter so the time commitment is really minimal. By being involved, you will know the instructors and other staff. What does that do for you? That's simple. You can have access to the best students, those with the best attitude, skills and desire to improve themselves. With a basic instruction and knowledge of the trade, they are more prepared to start fast. They may be willing to intern at your business which will give you an even better picture of their attitude and skills. You may be able to hire them on a part-time basis if necessary to assist during busy seasons. This could be in the field or as support in your office or warehouse.

At Graduation

When they are ready to graduate, you will be able to cherry pick the graduates and as an added bonus train them in your culture and systems. This avoids that baggage problem you can have when you hire a Technician "with experience". Remember companies don't let go of profitable Technician without baggage. Those looking for a job often have issues that will cause trouble or divert your focus of serving the customer.

 

How to Start

Start with one school or college and give it a try. Meet with your management team and explain why you're doing this, the benefits, the challenges, and the overall reward. Put together a plan for this new Technician so you can measure the progress and make a quick decision if it is or isn't working with that individual. If necessary, fire him or her, wish them well, and move on to someone who has all the characteristics to quickly become a profitable Technician.

Stay Tuned

Stand tuned for the next article on some additional ideas to overcome some of the issues listed above.

Dan has been in the service industry for nearly 50 years. He has operated a large plumbing, heating and air conditioning service company and for the past 12 years has helped small companies in the service business to grow and prosper. Contact him at Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com

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