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6 Positive Indicators that HVAC Service Business is About to Heat-Up

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NEW MENU PRICING IS HVAC, PLUMBING & ELECTRICAL INDUSTRY GAME-CHANGER.

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Manage It or It will Manage You!

Today, despite technology that is intended to make our lives easier, we tend to work harder and have less flexible time than ever. About 95 percent of the time, the time management challenges we find fall into a set number of common categories.  I want you to become more productive. This is why I am sharing with you the biggest waste of time traps we experience today.

#1: Interruptions and Distractions
Emails and phone calls impact us constantly and represent almost a third of this category’s complaints. Overcoming this trap requires a firm application of self-discipline. If something distracts you, tighten your focus.  Turn off your email alerts or close your browser; forward your calls to voicemail and respond a few times a day, or go somewhere quieter to work.

# 2: People Problems
Many distractions emanate from others.  They’re the result of either the employee or the manager not being properly trained. Management duties represent the biggest time challenges. Employees who are not properly trained hurt profitability and productivity. Most employee challenges can be solved by holding them accountable to perform. It is your job to lay the path so you can get the performance standards to where they should be.

#3: Overwork/Overwhelm
You can only push yourself so much within a 24-hour day. Eliminate unimportant tasks from your schedule.  To the greatest extent possible, find ways to delegate. If you run out of time for something minor, let it go. Stop seeing your task list as a must-do list; instead view it in order of must-do today, can-wait-until-tomorrow, can-wait-a-few-days, can-be-delegated-and-followed-up-on list.

#4: Prioritization
Whether the failure to set priorities is the manager or the employee’s challenge, focusing on the wrong task at the wrong time can lead to feeling overwhelmed.  The solution: Simply prioritize your projects and focus first on the items that truly bring you the greatest returns.

#5: Meetings
Besides not over scheduling meetings yourself, you can overcome the meeting trap by only participating in meetings that absolutely need your attendance and setting time limits you communicate to everyone before it starts. If you can, leave once you’ve made your contributions.

#6. Lack of Self-Discipline
Fire up your willpower, crack the whip on yourself and your employees, and decide to concentrate on a task until it is complete.  About a quarter of those with self-discipline problems see procrastination as a bigger issue than a lack of focus. Most often, they find themselves daunted by huge, complex projects. So in addition to applying tight focus to the problem, break it into smaller chunks you can handle more easily. Set milestones, buckle down, and get to work.

#7: Disorganization
Learn to use your email to its fullest by establishing a logical, simple organizational system, and process every piece of information you receive. Don’t let it pile up, and never hesitate about what to do with an item whether a piece of paper, an email, or voicemail.  And always make time for planning, including making time to review what you’re doing to ensure it’s working. As necessary, take steps to fix what doesn’t work, and be on the lookout for ways to improve efficiency.

#8. Scheduling
Do you have problems getting things done in the time you have? Common complaints include an inability to estimate how long tasks will take and deciding where on the calendar to place each task. The second case requires task prioritization, as well as a willingness to say no to new work.  You can’t accomplish anything important if your calendar is filled with unimportant meetings and events.  Target the high-significance tasks first and address them directly, so as not to waste time.

#9: Crises
You can’t do much when others create a crisis except react, which means you must remain flexible. Establish processes in advance to help you handle the unexpected.  Create guidelines for each type of emergency you can imagine. When a crisis arises, practice SLLR: Stop, Look, Listen, and Respond.

#10: Work/Life Balance
People want a personal life, so they can pursue their hobbies, rest and relax, exercise, go to school, or spend more time with their families. Again, the solution involves a strict adherence to self-discipline and prioritization, so you can make a big enough time in your schedule to enjoy life outside of work.

Focus on being efficient and productive at work, so you can achieve maximum results in minimum time.  Proper training and discipline can help you and your employees achieve greater results.

Hit Your Target Through Perfecting Your Aim!

When it comes to managing a company and growing its success, setting sights on improvement and taking aim on things that detract from your company’s success is critical.  Equally critical is nurturing the successful things happening in your business.  But first you need to find the cracks in the floor and retrieve the gold dust hidden underneath. Below are action steps to get you started:

Laser-in on your daily business routines.              

In order to improve a business process, you should first look at the daily tasks your company performs.  Things like answering the phone, running repair calls, and paying vendors may seem routine, but are they being done properly and efficiently?  Are your employees giving your customers the greatest level of service?  Do they know how? Is your accounts-payable person behind on paying invoices causing your company unnecessary late fees?

You will need to assess each job function in your company to figure out which one to focus on improving first.  Example: Technicians have numerous price objections because they are not providing above-and-beyond customer service.  What do you need to do to get customer-satisfaction levels up so that you receive fewer complaints and create more repeat and referral business?

Create the change.

Once you have identified your business processes for improvement, it is time to provide yourself and your employees with the change solution.  If you are a member of Success Group International®, you have an excellent advantage over thousands of contractors.  You have client success managers to help with your high-level business-improvement needs.  You have Success Academy® at your fingertips to assist you with frontline-employee and management training.  All you have to do is reach out to the resources you have, explain your need, and you will be pointed in the right direction to get started on changing your business for the better.  The key to creating the change is to give your employees the training they need—and for you to reach out to your SGI™ client success manager to get their help.

Implement the change.

Be sure to communicate the reason for change with your employees. It is okay to let your employees know what has been most challenging for the business. Ask them for their input.  Inform them how you plan to correct the challenge.  Make sure you give a good description of why it is important to them, the customer, and the company. Let them know how they will play a key role in creating the success of the business.

Be sure to measure the accuracy and consistency of the established change processes. Attending initial training with your employees shows them that you are equally committed to the change necessary to grow the business.

Create a process.

Written processes on how to perform a job within your company leaves little room for error.  Providing training and developing process-driven operating systems will free up more of your time. Make written processes easy to follow and understand—then tasks may be completed with little to no mistakes. Always give new employees a written copy of processes; this way they know how they are expected to perform from day one.

Test the change.

So many times things are implemented and never perfected.  You should sit with call-takers, accounting team members, ride-along with technicians, and examine the most challenging and/or time-consuming parts of doing their job.  After you have spent time with the employees performing the task, involve them by brainstorming ways to improve the process.  Automating manual processes and investing in contractor-specific technology to give greater customer service and decrease nonproductive time can benefit the company.

Never stop improving the change.

As time passes, encourage your employees to improve the company’s existing systems and procedures. When your employees operate with laser focus, customer service improves, overhead expenses decrease, customer satisfaction increases, your revenue and profits grow, and your business will become a beacon in the communities you service.

Start perfecting your aim now and hit your targets for the year!    

Riding Along with Mike: Top Down, Bottom Up!

Riding Along with Mike: Top Down, Bottom Up!

Success Academy® Trainer Mike Dolan has visited SGI™ companies, both big and small, from coastline to coastline.  During his travels, he hears remarkable stories, encounters unique situations, and talks to inspiring people.  Those happenings spur thoughts and ideas that he has shared for your benefit!  Enjoy and allow them to motivate you!

That may sound like the “to-do” list for a summer road trip, but it’s actually what I’ve seen on my road trips that lead to success for clients, teams, and businesses.  Let’s take a look.

Top Down

“Top Down” means that planning, execution, and management come from the owner and the management team.  The structure has to flow from the top down, so team members have clear direction, clear understanding, and clear motives.  Top Down does not mean, “The peasants are revolting!  Throw the stones and boiling oil from the north tower!”  Do not confuse “Top” with “Ivory Tower” management! Ivory Tower isolates you from your team, leads to disenchantment and revolt, creates churn in your employment practices, and will cost you clients. 

On a recent onsite training trip, I watched the owner of the company LEAD his team through the training, participating in the entire process.  On day two, as we started the role-play, the owner chose to LEAD his team by stepping up and going first, in front of the room.  I’ve done some weekend training this year, and the owners were there in the room, working through the books with the team.  How do you know if you have Top Down in your company?  It’s really simple:   Does your team light up when you enter the room, or when you leave it?

Bottom Up

“Bottom Up” means that the team is engaged, is goal-oriented, and works toward success because they have seen the leadership and direction from the top.  Bottom Up does not mean, “There’s a breach in the wall!  Down with the tyrant!”  Do not confuse “Bottom” with “Palace Coup” workers!  Palace Coup defies authority, disrupts good people, and loses clients. 

On an onsite training a couple years ago, I had a “warehouse guy” sit in on training to sell club memberships.  He left the meeting to deliver some paperwork to a recent customer and returned with a client, as he believed so strongly in the value of the club that he sold it on the spot.  There are many, many stories like this, as team members see leadership flow from the top and they return it.

Top Down, Bottom Up: It’s All About Integration

When you have “Top Down, Bottom Up” as a culture in your company, your company is vertically integrated.  What does it mean?  No matter whom I speak to from your company, I get the same strong message that you are the right company for me.  Horizontal integration, on the other hand, delivers a different message from everyone.  This leads to lost clients, employees leaving and taking clients, Ivory Towers, and Palace Coups.

In my experience, the team leader who trains with the team achieves “Top Down, Bottom Up” integration and the winning culture.  It’s just that simple; train with your team.