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You’re Fired!

Who do you hold accountable for achieving your goals? Shouldn’t you be holding yourself accountable?

You have probably succeeded in building a network of people, who are held accountable, around you that can support you in reaching your goals.  It is an extremely important asset to have if you are serious about achieving your goals.  However, there is only one person who has the most to gain or lose. This is the person that accepts the ultimate responsibility. It’s YOU! 

You need to take responsibility for your actions, decision-making, and job performance. How well do you do your job? When was the last time you evaluated your own performance?  Consider asking yourself: If I were to interview myself for my position, would I get hired?  Have I been meeting my own goals or have I been depending on others to meet my goals for me? 

In other words, fire yourself and see if you can get rehired.

You might think that being the owner automatically qualifies you as its leader. You need to prove your leadership title through actions that reflect your objectives or goals. Stated plainly, don’t just say it; do it! Put your words into action. 

As an owner, you need to communicate your company goals to your employees—and show them how you are working together with them to achieve these goals. You must hold them accountable for the way they perform, and in the same way, you need to hold yourself accountable for the way that you perform.

Here’s how you get started. Begin by setting yourself a goal. Write it down and be specific. Good examples are, “I shall generate six service calls per working day this month. The average ticket shall be $375. My monthly revenue will be at least $47,250.”  Once you set the goal, set a deadline. Hold yourself accountable. 

Making arrangements to wake up earlier and exercise at the gym before getting to work is an example of a personal goal. A professional goal would be developing a detailed direct-mail-advertisement campaign. You can assign some responsibilities to your CSR and some to yourself. Make sure to monitor your results. Spell it out in detail, and keep things as simple as possible. Then, make it happen! 

The more you “pass on” to others, the more you keep for yourself.  People pay more attention to what you do than what you say.

 

Jul 30, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

Employee Safety Tips!

Be Sure Your Employees Working Outdoors Are Safe in the Hot Summer!

This summer has been a record-setter.  You have team members who are regularly exposed to the sun’s harsh rays and the oppressive heat.  It can present some unique health hazards, and if your people are not careful, they may hurt themselves—something you obviously don’t want to happen.

Here are some tips that you’re encouraged to pass along to your team for when they’re working in the oppressive heat:

Clothing & Sunscreen

Employees who are working outside in the heat should wear light, loose-fitting clothing. To avoid harmful UV rays, stick to long pants (no shorts) and long-sleeved shirts, and apply plenty of sunscreen.

Breaks for Water & Shade

Provide your people with large supplies of water, and give them breaks to drink it and cool down using their service vehicles’ air conditioning.  Drink small amounts frequently, rather than a lot of water at once. If your work is particularly strenuous and takes place in direct sunlight, you should also be given regular work breaks in a “shade tent” or other rest area.

Heat Stroke & Heat Exhaustion: What to Watch Out For

The combination of high temperature, high humidity, and physical exertion that comes with some outdoor jobs raises the risk that workers will suffer heat stroke or heat exhaustion. Some warning signs are headaches, lightheadedness, confusion, irrational behavior, loss of consciousness, abnormally high body temperature, and hot, dry skin.  Tell your team these symptoms, and if they feel them coming on, they should immediately find a cool, shaded area and radio into the office to notify you that they may be in trouble.

Lyme Disease, Poison Ivy, and West Nile Virus.

Working in the great outdoors—especially in the summer–can mean exposure to some of Mother Nature’s less-pleasurable offerings, including ticks that can carry Lyme Disease and other bacteria, mosquitoes that can transmit West Nile Virus, and poisonous plants that can cause skin problems.  If your employees are working outside the home in heavily wooded areas, consider providing them with bug repellent to keep them safe.

 

Jul 24, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

Why do I need a coach?

Likely, you’ve a football game or two over your lifetime.  As you are watching the game and looking at the sidelines, who are the first people you notice?  It’s the coaches!  The cameras always seem to pan to the coaches signaling plays or yelling to players. 

Most of the players have been playing football since they were little boys.  They understand the rules and are paid exceptionally well to do so.  So, why do they need coaches?  Are they really necessary?

Most people understand the role of a coach—most of us have played an organized-team sport at some time in our lives; some of you may even coach your children’s teams.  So, how does this apply to our world?  What can a coach do to help us and our businesses?

Having the role of a business owner, you know that one-third of your time should be spent recruiting, one-third of your time should be spent training, and one-third of your time should be spent managing.  So, what does a coach do?

He/she recruits—or at least has a strong opinion of what the team requires; trains; and manages.  Does this sound familiar?  Maybe we are all coaches.

Merriam-Webster® defines a coach as: “One who instructs or trains.” A coach leads his team, a coach instructs his team, and a coach measures his team against expectations.  He holds the team together.  A well-coached team will always win. 

A good coach understands that every player is different and has to be instructed in different manners.  He will apply different philosophies for different players.  He understands the strengths and weaknesses of his team and will put the correct player in the correct position so that both the player and team will experience success.

On a football team there are many different coaches: head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, special-teams coordinator, and there are coaches for every single position!  Some professional teams have more than two-dozen coaches!

A good coach is balanced and will encourage players to follow his/her lead.  Good coaching teaches and motivates.  A great coach motivates, disciplines, enforces teamwork, challenges, and accepts only 100 percent from his players. 

All of us need coaches to keep our game on.  Where do you go to be coached?  Entrepreneurs arguably need coaches more—mostly because we live in an isolated world.  Many SGI™ Canada members started out excited about being able to chart their own direction.  However, some eventually found that they actually miss having a boss—or at least they miss having a trusted adviser with whom they can brainstorm, set goals, confess their anxieties, and work through the day-to-day challenges. Think about the best boss you ever had (or dreamed of having).  Being an SGI Member and having the coaches on the SGI team is just that!

Here’s what the SGI team does for our members daily:

  • Listens to what you say and for who you are 
  • Asks you strong questions 
  • Offers insights, inklings, perspectives, and suggestions
  • Makes big requests
  • Remembers your goals
  • Expects commitment and honesty
  • Celebrates your successes with you   

 

SGI can be your coach!  Call us when you need some motivating or a little direction.  That’s our responsibility to our members—and one we take seriously!

Jul 14, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

Why do I need a coach?

Likely, you’ve a football game or two over your lifetime.  As you are watching the game and looking at the sidelines, who are the first people you notice?  It’s the coaches!  The cameras always seem to pan to the coaches signaling plays or yelling to players. 

Most of the players have been playing football since they were little boys.  They understand the rules and are paid exceptionally well to do so.  So, why do they need coaches?  Are they really necessary?

Most people understand the role of a coach—most of us have played an organized-team sport at some time in our lives; some of you may even coach your children’s teams.  So, how does this apply to our world?  What can a coach do to help us and our businesses?

Having the role of a business owner, you know that one-third of your time should be spent recruiting, one-third of your time should be spent training, and one-third of your time should be spent managing.  So, what does a coach do?

He/she recruits—or at least has a strong opinion of what the team requires; trains; and manages.  Does this sound familiar?  Maybe we are all coaches.

Merriam-Webster® defines a coach as: “One who instructs or trains.” A coach leads his team, a coach instructs his team, and a coach measures his team against expectations.  He holds the team together.  A well-coached team will always win. 

A good coach understands that every player is different and has to be instructed in different manners.  He will apply different philosophies for different players.  He understands the strengths and weaknesses of his team and will put the correct player in the correct position so that both the player and team will experience success.

On a football team there are many different coaches: head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, special-teams coordinator, and there are coaches for every single position!  Some professional teams have more than two-dozen coaches!

A good coach is balanced and will encourage players to follow his/her lead.  Good coaching teaches and motivates.  A great coach motivates, disciplines, enforces teamwork, challenges, and accepts only 100 percent from his players. 

All of us need coaches to keep our game on.  Where do you go to be coached?  Entrepreneurs arguably need coaches more—mostly because we live in an isolated world.  Many SGI™ Canada members started out excited about being able to chart their own direction.  However, some eventually found that they actually miss having a boss—or at least they miss having a trusted adviser with whom they can brainstorm, set goals, confess their anxieties, and work through the day-to-day challenges. Think about the best boss you ever had (or dreamed of having).  Being an SGI Member and having the coaches on the SGI team is just that!

Here’s what the SGI team does for our members daily:

  • Listens to what you say and for who you are 
  • Asks you strong questions 
  • Offers insights, inklings, perspectives, and suggestions
  • Makes big requests
  • Remembers your goals
  • Expects commitment and honesty
  • Celebrates your successes with you   

 

SGI can be your coach!  Call us when you need some motivating or a little direction.  That’s our responsibility to our members—and one we take seriously!

Jul 05, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

Creating Clients Not Customers

In talking with many Success Group International® members, it sounds like many of you are staying busy in these super hot months.  While that’s an outstanding circumstance to be in, it can also mean it’s much easier to fall into some big traps that can cause long-term damage to your business.  What’s even scarier is you may be making these fatal flaws right now and you don’t realize it. 

What am I talking about?  Well, when your company is slammed and your guys are running call after call, it becomes very easy for everyone to put blinders on to what they’re doing.  Rather than servicing the homeowner, your technicians are servicing the problem.  And you become more focused on supporting them than ensuring your company is positioned to be successful now and in the future. 

What’s the long-term effect?  You’re not creating clients; you’re creating customers.  Customers are people who do business with you once, maybe twice.  Clients are people who feel a connection to your company.  They feel like they know your business and the people on your team.  Clients wouldn’t ever consider hiring someone else to take care of their plumbing, HVAC, electrical, or roofing needs.  Obviously, you want clients instead of customers.  

With that difference in mind, how do you ensure that you are creating clients, instead of customers?  Here are some helpful tips to consider…

Unparalleled Service

First off, you must provide homeowners with the service experience of their lives.  Give them a reason to call you again.  The secret to outstanding service is going above and beyond expectations.  What can you do to exceed expectations?  Do you wear shoe covers to protect your client’s home from wear and tear?  Let your clients know why you’re doing it.  Explain that you’re looking out for their home from the get-go.  What else can you do?  Do you explain to homeowners the many other products and services you provide?  Do you give options on every call, rather than simply giving a diagnosis and a plan-of-action?

Your technicians need to connect with homeowners, give them as much information as possible, and then allow them to make the best decision for their home.  Homeowners must feel in control throughout the service call, and they should feel like your technician is their trusted confidant.  Also, empower your technicians to go above and beyond with homeowners.  Tell them it is okay to offer to change a burnt-out light bulb or give homeowner’s dog a treat (with the homeowner’s permission, of course).  The little things mean so much in the end.

Stay in Touch

Once your technicians have done a great job in the field, it’s time for you to nurture that new client and further develop that relationship you have with him or her.  That means keeping your name and identity on the forefront of their minds.  Too often, contractors forget to stay in touch with their existing clients as the marketing budget gets pushed into the phone book and direct mail for new customers.  But don’t forget about the people that got you where you are today.  Constant communication is a pillar of client retention. 

Make it easy for your clients to call you again.  Use promotional items to keep your name and phone number in front of them.  Communicate with your current clients once a month to stay in touch with them, be it by email, a newsletter, or a mailed letter.  Offer an open house or start a preferred-client-discount club.  The list of ideas for client retention is practically endless.  Stay in touch with people, and they won’t forget you.

All in Agreement

The most powerful element of creating clients is getting your customers to join you—that means getting homeowners involved in club memberships.  Club memberships are the most powerful tool that ties clients to you, and it creates a constant stream of revenue without accounting or renewal headaches.  Once your clients are “part of the club,” chances are good that they’ll stick with you through the years if they renew their agreement.

With club members, it ensures that you’re in front of your clients at least once a year, if not twice.  Assuming your technicians are delivering an exceptional customer-service experience, it gives your clients an opportunity to once again see what an incredible company you have and people you employ.  Your club members will become your raving fans who make it a point to tell their family, friends, and coworkers that your company is the company they need to call when they need help with something in their home.

These are three simple strategies, but often, it becomes easy for technicians to rush through a service call when busy, or for you to forget to forgo a monthly mailing to a past client, or for your technicians to ignore offering a club membership to every single homeowner.  By reminding yourself and your team of the importance of these three things, you will create revenue today, while creating revenue in the future.  You will become the contractor to replace their system, water heater, service panel, or roof. 

So, go to work on creating clients, not customers.  You’ll be happy to spend that extra time now, rather than having too much time with too little to do in the future.

Jul 01, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

Six Strategic Planning Obstacles

 

Every business needs vision—a clear definition of what you would like your business to become in the future.  You need a set strategy for your business, a defined focus, and a plan of how your business is going to reach its vision.

What you sell, to whom, for how much, and what you promise are all key elements to your company’s strategy.  It points your business in the direction you want it to go.  Once you have your vision firmly established and removed all deviations from you core business, it is time for the next step—strategic planning.  Strategic planning is the process of breaking down the specifics, like detailing short-term plans that will help you know what to do on a month-to-month/day-to-day basis.

Can you imagine what happens when you have a short-term plan to get through a busy season, but no long-term strategic plan to tie it all together? You end up in chaos and repetitive wheel-spinning with little to no progress.  That is why I want to share with you the six obstacles you must overcome to build the business of your dreams.

1. Operations Controlling Your Days
This happens when most of your time is spent putting out fires; therefore, you don’t have time to strategically plan.  Those who are successful make the time, take the classes, and have an eye fixed on their business’s future.  Delegating more of the day-to-day operational tasks to your team can free you up to do the strategic thinking, which is usually something that only you, the owner/manager, can do.  A great time to do such planning would be at the Strategic Planning class in Sarasota on August 6 to 9, 2012. This time away from your office could be the positive tipping point that leads your business to greater sustainability.

2. Things Are Good
Don’t get too complacent! A common short fall is getting lazy and happy thinking things will not change.  Don’t become complacent when things are going fine.  Many end up in a reactive mode when things do change instead of staying proactive because they have not properly planned or evaluated their strategy.  Most people do not plan properly under duress.  You need to plan with a clear head—with time to rethink and adjust your plan when the pressure is off.  Don’t be one of those companies that wait until a crisis kicks you in the fanny to kick-start your strategic planning due to necessity.

3. Blurry, Un-shared Vision
Despite the time your team spends with you and each other, it may surprise you how different their vision of what the company should be and will be is, as well as how they see their future within your company.  Everyone sees the company’s future from their own perspective.  It is your job to repeatedly communicate your company’s vision and strategy to your employees so everyone is on the same page and can give you the support needed to achieve the vision.

4. Planning Once A Year & Too Late
New Year’s is typically when many start thinking about the next year.  Strategic planning is not something that should be left to the last minute nor should it be done once a year.  Today’s business environment simply is not predictable enough to allow you to only plan your businesses success annually.  I recommend once you have developed your strategic plan (completed by October 31st) be flexible to making periodic changes throughout the year.  Don’t get me wrong—you need to create a set annual plan.  I’m suggesting you review your progress and adjust your strategy to achieve your plan as needed.

5. Wasting Time on Detailed Long-Term Plans
You need to develop a five-year plan to guide all of your annual planning.  Understand what you want the business to look like after those five years.  Write it down and use it to take advantage of opportunities that arise that will help you get to that end goal.  However, you need to appreciate that circumstances can change greatly year-to-year.  Don’t fall into a trap of trying to fine-tune details of what will happen three, four, and five years from now.

6. Don’t Know How to Properly Plan Strategically
When developing your business strategy, be creative and explore all possibilities.  Unfortunately, your office isn’t the best place for the type of concentration needed due to distractions.  But with the right guidance, a sufficient amount of time, and an interruption-free environment, you can develop the perfect plan for your business.

When you have a strong long-term plan created, you will be able to enjoy the gratification that comes with knowing exactly what you’re striving for and how you are going to get there.  In the end, you will come to work with greater purpose, feel more balanced, be more focused, and have greater control of your future.

Jun 18, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

Use Rejection as Inspiration

 

One of the great things about running your own show is the freedom. The rewards can be sweet, but when things don’t go as planned, you may think of it as failure.

Frankly, if you want to get to the next level, you have to let yourself (not force yourself) out of your comfort zone. You’re going to deal with rejection, and that can leave you feeling exhausted and defeated. It may sound challenging, but what if you changed your perspective?

Keep in mind that every rejection is an opportunity to learn! Whether you’re making cold calls or trying to finalize a long-term contract, you will be faced with reason after reason why you shouldn’t get your way and your business will suffer. You need to craft arguments and solutions for each of those scenarios – often on the spot – and that takes practice. 

It’s like working out. You could swing by the gym a few times a month. A little bit here. A little bit there. And you’d be lucky to see results any time soon. But stick to a plan to look and feel amazing. 

If you can commit to the sting of rejection as a part of your company’s growth, you’ll also be blessed with the most opportunities. 

If someone is more successful than you, they likely fail more often, too. So are they a bigger winner? Or bigger loser? As I mentioned before, it’s just a matter of perspective. They’re willing to put themselves out there, are willing to hear ‘no’, and are reaping the rewards.

Commit yourself to fail. Get ready to get turned down. Learn to love rejection. And imagine your success. These are where your most valuable lessons are learned, and all you’re putting at stake is your ego.  

So why learn slowly when you could excel? The more you deal with rejection, the faster you will learn. Remember how much power you have in almost every situation you’re in, and remember to take something from every experience.  

As John Burroughs said, “Leap and the net will appear.”  Go for it.

Jun 10, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

Planning for the Quiet Times

 

Here is what I promise you: There will be certain times during the year that your business will be quiet. Your phones will stop ringing and your staff will be looking at you asking what they should be doing with themselves. You may tell some of them to go clean the shop or count inventory. Sometimes you may have work to be done at home or at a friend’s house that you have been putting off. This is what typically happens when we are slow.

But how does this affect our profitability? The average North American contractor’s net profit is less than five percent.  When we pay our staff for non-revenue producing work, it eats into our profits further.

So what should we do when it’s quiet? The answer is to plan for it now! You don’t have to spend a lot of money to market. Today with social media and email you really have so many new ways to communicate to clients.

You need to have a marketing plan based on a budget that you also should be planning now! You create a plan for what happened yesterday. All you can do is learn from yesterday to plan tomorrow. Use this little tip to begin your planning process. You require the following.

  •  Sales plan month by month, broken down by each department in your company
  • Marketing plan
  • Training plan
  • Recruiting plan
  • People plan
  • Goals
  • Team reviews & bonus plans
  • Inventory

This is the beginning of a complete plan but to balance out your year you need to plan it. The time to plan is NOW! If you need help give us a call we would be happy to discuss this with you.

May 21, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

Does Your Website Have the Essentials?

With each passing year, the trends become stronger.  Consumers are relying on the Internet more and more to clarify and refine their purchasing decisions.  What does this mean to you?  The better your website, the greater likelihood you have of getting a service call over a competitor.  Here are a few tips you should consider whether you’re analyzing your current site or in the process of building your first:

1. Keep your website current!  Schedule some time—at least once a quarter—to critically review your own site.  Look at it in a way a customer would.  Also, confirm that all important content is correct, like phone numbers, and operating, like links.

2. Promote your website!  First, ensure your website URL is on everything that leaves your office.  Second, search for your company or the services you offer and see if your website shows up.  If you find yourself, make sure the links to your webpage are correct.  If you’re not, get listed pronto!

3. Invite customers to your website!  Consider posting photos of your technicians along with a short bio for each.  When your CCRs call to confirm service appointments, tell them to drive homeowners to your site so they can “meet” their technician before he arrives.  This will increase the comfort level of homeowners, and it will get them to look over what products and services you offer!

4. Collect your customers’ email addresses!  Make an effort to collect every address from every customer and do your best to keep them updated.  Email is a great avenue for customer follow-up, surveys, reminders, announcements, and more!

5. Improve your SEO!  Organic listings generate visitors that you don’t need to pay search engines for, and they have a higher ROI.  Your ranking in organic searches depends on the optimizations you’ve made.  So, first, review your metatags.  If you don’t know what these are, find out. 

Second, pick good page titles, which is the text that appears in the top bar of your browser.  They’re the first things a search engine looks at to determine what the page is about.  So don’t name your pages “page 1, page 2, etc.”  Instead, give them a distinct title, like “electrical safety tips.”  You want to use each page of your website as a different entry into the SEO lottery in order to improve your search results, and a unique page title for every page is one way to do that.

The Internet and SEO are like gigantic onions—there’s always another layer you can peel to go deeper.  These are just a few tips that will help you to develop an effective site.

May 16, 2013 | 0 comments View Post

What Business Are You Really In?

“I’m in the heating/plumbing/electrical/construction business.”   That’s what I’m normally told by contractors when I ask them what kind of work they do.  After chatting with them a bit, all of them soon discover that’s not the right answer.  They find that they’re in something much different.

I found myself in a similar conversation not long ago.  After this particular contractor told me he was in heating, I immediately followed up by asking him how many employees he had.  He proudly said, “I have nine field staff and four in the office.”  “That’s a large payroll you have,” I replied, to which he agreed.  We then discussed what those people were doing right now.  He was quite concerned when he realized he didn’t know!

Would you agree with this statement: You are only as good as your people?  It only makes sense.  You are as smart as your smartest, and as weak as your weakest employee.

What do we do about this dilemma?  Realizing that our real business is the development of our team is the first step.  We have to accomplish our work through them.  If we give them clear direction, they will be successful in their day.  If we are vague and respond only when things go wrong, then we are headed for trouble.

So what do you do?  The first is to consider training on a regular basis.  How often is “a regular basis”?  The answer is at least weekly; in fact, we have members that train daily!  A contractor once told me, “I have trained people, and then, they left me.” I immediately replied, “What if you don’t train and they stay?”

When asked, employees will put training at the top of their list of things they desire from their employers.  Training is an investment—not an expense.  Your training should be aimed at meeting your objectives.  Training can be planned—for example, your weekly training topics could be:

  • Goal setting
  • Customer satisfaction
  • New opportunities
  • Technical topics
  • Completion of paperwork
  • Customer service
  • Warranty
  • Programs you are offering your clients

What is your training budget for this year and next?  Without training you will never reach your goals!  So, as you can see—and the contractor I recently chatted with saw—you’re not in the heating/plumbing/electrical/construction business.  You really are in the PEOPLE business!

Apr 29, 2013 | 0 comments View Post
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