March 2015 – Always-profitable.com Newsletter

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Last month at the WWETT show in Indianapolis, I heard many excellent business talks throughout the shows “Business Training Track”.   I am a firm believer in working on our businesses not just in them as I am sure many of you are. The speakers presented some excellent ideas for doing just that. Here’s a little review of some of the high points that I took away.

First off, J. Kelly Newcomb of Newcomb Consulting Group gave a great talk about the reasons why most companies fail to grow and then shared some great tips on how to avoid that path.  He had advocated concentrating on four main points when it comes to your company.

  1. Vision

  2. Leadership

  3. Growth

  4. Implementation.

Of these great points, the one that stood out for me was implementation.  Kelly gave a great example here about the sacred cows of India and how we can deal with the “sacred cows” when it comes to our company.  In the country of India cows are considered sacred and because of this must just walk around or avoid these cows because nothing can be done to them.  If one is in the middle of the road, traffic has to move, not the cow.  Now, how about the sacred cows in our business?  Do we have things in our business that we have been doing forever that we “work around” instead of changing?  Perhaps someone told us to do something a certain way because that’s how it “should be done”, or because that’s “how its always been”, and because of this we just keep doing it that way.  Kelly gives us a wonderful reminder in this example to always look for improvement and streamlining.  Always search for the better way of doing things.

Kelly also talked about the need for us to target our best customers.  We can do this by identifying our best customers using the law of 80/20.  Generally 20% of your customers produce 80% of your revenue or close to it.  This may surprise some of us and it may also not work for some of us as well.  But generally speaking the 80/20 law and the principle behind it holds true.  When we look at our customers according to this law it helps us identify our best customers and then see if we can duplicate them.  By having more of these best customers, we strengthen our company.

In his next presentation, Kelly gave another great talk on branding our business.  According to Kelly, our brand needs to reflect why our best customers buy from us and promote their continued purchasing of our services.  In order to develop such a brand we need to be receiving guidance from our most valued customers.  Are we asking them the types of questions that will help us improve our brands in surveys or in person?  Building on this, Kelly talked about how “dropping prices is never a way to compete”.  We need to be competing on things besides price that matter to our customers.

In the afternoon we heard from Ellen Rohr of barebonesbiz.com who gave a great talk on “Business Basics 101”.   Her key point is that many business owners look at their companies and think “how can I fix my company without changing anything with my company”.  Ellen talked about how we have to look inwardly within ourselves and our companies and see where we need to make changes.  She told us about the small plumbing business that she and her husband were operating and how it was running into debt.  Through examining their financials, Ellen realized that they simply weren’t charging enough and needed to charge more.  But what happened when they began to charge more, did they go out of business?  Just the opposite!  They began to make money!  Ellen said they went from an hourly rate of $50 an hour to $150 an hour and still stayed in business.  However, if they had stayed at their low rate they would not have.   By showing us some basic accounting principles, Ellen reminded us how we should be keeping track of our companies through these financial indicators.  Her final great suggestion of this talk was to keep track of our financials each week so we know exactly where we are at.   This is a great idea that helps us think strategically and keeps us on track to be profitable.  If we aren’t doing this now, why not try it out?  After all like Ellen says, “you can fix the economy, your economy”.  By following her great reminders that “you must charge more than it cost” and improve our companies by implementing the advice to “don’t blow your top, just fix it”, we too can continue in success.

This is just a little sampling of some of the great points that these true leaders in the industry are helping us with. If you were in attendance maybe you could share with all of us some of your ideas that you took away and we could all learn from them.

Till next time keep being always-profitable in your life and business,

Frank Taciak

End of Year Review 2014/15

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Around this time of year many of us spend time looking back at the past year.  We look at what we accomplished and what we didn’t accomplish, what we think worked and didn’t work.  As business owners these topics are always on our minds but especially at years end.  So to get the ball rolling on improving and staying always profitable, I’ll go first with my year end reflection.

Here in Baltimore we had a very prosperous 2014 with the bulk of our work coming from referrals.  As we all know referrals, are the best form of advertising.  Not only are they only possible from satisfied customers, but they also let me know that that customer feels I did a great job.  Sure customers don’t want to know every specific detail about past jobs, they really just want to be sure that your are capable of an exceptional job and that their job is in the best possible hands.  That idea is something that my team and I are going to keep building on and growing in 2015.  Our goal is to make sure that every job is spectacular and leaves the customer with a true “wow” feeling every time.  If we stay on task with this, referrals are guaranteed.

Referral generation is something I definitely have been doing well but there are some things I also need to work on.  Number one on this list, is my customer contract process.  I know we’ve all done it at some point.  You know, not being as specific as possible on our contracts before starting work.  Inevitably we leave some point or change order off because we think we can trust that particular customer and then WHAM, they refuse to pay the agreed upon amount or updated price.  This leaves the customer and us as the contractor with bad tastes in both of our mouths.

So in 2015 I plan to work on going the extra distance in writing every contract for every customer to make sure we are all “on the same page” when it comes to their project.  The few times this past year that I didn’t have every “I” dotted and “T” crossed, my contract process became a long drawn out experience for both the customer and I. Verbal agreements are unfortunately a thing of the past for many people.  If it’s not in writing, it probably doesn’t exist.  Having everything written out and agreed upon before any work starts solves problems before they even begin.

Another area I need to work on is personal relationship skills.  In my various coaching and business areas, I often speak to business owners who are having disagreements with other family members about running their business.  Unfortunately, many times these disagreements are more about family squabbles than real business problems.  Family and life can easily get in the way of effectively running a business and as much as we may try to avoid it, sometimes we have to look at our situation and decide how our business decisions will affect our personal lives.  These are things only we can answer.   No business coach will have as good a grasp on our mental stability or family situation as we will.  We have to make this decisions ourselves based on our own situations.

Being always profitable is a phrase that applies not just to the way we work but also to our personal life.   Our relationship with our family, our neighbors, and our customers truly is the most valuable commodity that we can have.  Let’s all work hard to continue improving our businesses and our lives.

Frankly Speaking November 2014 Newsletter

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Hello Again!

This month I wanted to share some great information I’ve heard from many of the latest Trade Learning Events I’ve been able to attend.  As a whole seminars are an absolute must for anyone who desires to keep on improving in their trade and business.  They help us break free from the negative and unproductive attitude that “we know everything and can’t do a better job”.  One area that many of us sometimes forget to work on is sales.  So in this months always-profitable newsletter lets talk about how we can improve our selling skill-set.

This past October in Baltimore we were fortunate enough to attend the excellent  Remodeling Show.  This show always brings a great display of new tools and products along with (or more importantly if you’re like me) fantastic seminars on business topics and sales.  One of the first seminars I attended was by Bill Millholland of Case Design/ Remodeling Inc.  He gave what I would consider to be one of the best sales talks I’ve heard in a long time.  Bill doesn’t just talk about sales, he works sales on a regular day to day basis personally selling and managing over a dozen sales personnel.  The title of his seminar summed up his process perfectly, “Getting the Sale Step-by-Step”.  We have to have a process where we move from one step to the next step in an organized way to bring our customers along with us.  This process helps our customers feel comfortable both with the product they are buying and also with our company.

A clear sales process you can try could be as simple as the following:

  1. Start with a Warm Up Call

    1. This is a great way to pre-qualify customers by taking time to ask them simple questions like what have they done in the past, why are they doing this now, what are they looking for, what are their priorities for the project, etc.

  2. Be Prepared for the Presentation

    1. Bring along brochures and pictures of previous similar projects to show customers.  Even be prepared with a sample price range ahead of time to again qualify your customer, don’t waste time if their not prepared to spend what you know the job will cost.

  3. Give Options

    1. Also give your customers options.  Customer needs to feel comfortable with a project and the best way to accomplish this is by getting their input through option selection.

  4. Ask for the Go-Ahead

    1. Get the customer involved by getting their go-ahead.  Make sure to ask them when you can start and begin the planning process.

Bill also gave another seminar on the “Science of Sales”.  In this talk he had some great facts that we all need to keep in mind in our own sales process.  For instance, did you realize that many people are already 60% into the sales process by the time they actually meet with you?  With the Internet, people are researching you, your company, what they want their project to look like, best project options, and on and on.  Customers more and more are really doing their homework.  So are we equally as prepared when we talk with them?  We need to be the Expert not just in name but also in actual expertise!  Another great point from Bill, was that first impressions are even more important then we thought we knew. I’ve always thought that first impressions took a few second to develop but Bill cut this time frame way down to just 0.1 second.  People make snap decisions about whether they’re comfortable doing business with us.  What is our first Impression like?  How do we look when we talk to customers?  What does our body language say?  How do we speak to our customers?  If you haven’t before maybe try out your typical sales call on a non-biased party and get their feedback.  You might get some feedback you weren’t expecting!

So as you can see many great points can be gleaned from seminars.  But to get these points we have to be there to hear them!  I’m always trying to learn mroe and more.  How about you?  What have you learned from a seminar that could be helpful?  Anything interesting?  I would love to hear from you!

Your partner in being Always-Profitable,

    Frank Taciak

 

August Newsletter: Let’s Keep Learning to be Profitable

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I recently returned from a seminar focused on building an incredibly successful drain cleaning business, put on by the Service Roundtable and the Service Nation Organizations. It was taught by expert trainer Matt Smith of Rooter-Elite.  Matt has tremendous experience teaching and training large plumbing companies about sales.  His specialty, so to speak, is helping plumbing companies go from just doing good to being great.  It was a truly interesting experience for a small owner/operator like myself to hear how the top performers in our industry are set up and what strategies they use to keep growing.  This experience really made me step back and take a look at a number of things in my own business.  How so?

In today’s business environment, our companies must constantly grow and adapt in order to stay successful and competitive.  Even when I look back over the past 30 years of my business so much has changed.  Yes I still dig ditches, but beyond that my business has completely changed… for the better.  Let me review just Three profitable tips of many that I learned at the seminar. These are the kind of things that Matt keeps in front of our industry’s leaders.

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1. The Importance of Coaching

The plumbing sales stars in our industry always invest in lots of coaching.  Why?  Everyday there is an opportunity to improve in some area of business.  Coaches help spot those opportunities.  But what if you’re like me, and can’t necessarily invest $1,000’s to have a coach come out to you.  My answer is pretty simple.

Coach yourself!   After each call or customer interaction, go over what things you did correctly and also what things you could improve on.  You need to take a moment to analyze what worked and what didn’t work.  Once you start actively thinking about this process, you will improve.

2. Write Things Down for the Customer

When you or your tech begin a sales/service call do you ask the customer to describe their problems?  Every homeowner has major and minor issues with their home after all, all you need to do is listen.  When they open up, write these things down!   Call this the “To-Do-List” or a “Future Improvement List”.  Basically write a list of everything you are going to do for the customer that day and then include other things that need to be addressed at that visit or could be in the future. Let the customer decide.

Lets say you are called out for a drain clean, and in the process notice that the home’s water line is made out of the infamous “Blue-Poly” piping.  Write that down!  Maybe you are called out to fix a dripping T/P valve on a water-heater and notice some other older valves that should be replaced.  Write that down too!

We need to do this on every call, for every customer.  When we leave a copy of this list with the customer it gives them a mental checklist of things to fix and chances are they will call you to fix them or even have some of them done at that visit.  Even if they forget about that list, you won’t.  When your work slows down, that stack of lists could be a gold mine of work.  Call those customers up, surely a few will need something done!  This is an extremely positive step in keeping and retaining customers.

3. F.A.B. (Features – Advantages – Benefits)

A few years ago I was talking to a great friend of mine who has been a very successful car salesman for the last 30 years.  As long as I have known him (and bought cars from him) he has always been a very honest and ethical car salesman. So naturally I was curious as to how he did it in an industry with such a bad reputation.  His answer was simple. F.A.B.  Features, Advantages, and Benefits.

What features are you offering that your competitor may not?  What are the advantages to using you over your competitor for your customer?  What benefits will your product or service bring your customer?  Use F. A. B. on every sale.  Every sale!  It lets the customer decide what is best for them.  And who better to sell a customer something, than the customer?

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So there you have it!  Three tips and Strategies that work for me and Mr Smith coaches successful plumbing companies to keep doing.  Why not give them a try and see how they work for you!  Thank you for reading and staying in touch!

Your partner in your profitability,

 

Frank Taciak

 

June 1, 2014 Always-Profitable Update – Our Market is Headed Towards a Profitable Future

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This month I would like to take a moment and add my thoughts to the interesting ideas brought up in the May 2014 Editors Notebook Column in On-site Installer magazine.

 

The editor, Jim Kneiszal, did a great job summing up the state of blue-collar workers not only in America but especially in our sewer septic industry.  In his article “Getting your hands dirty”, Jim discusses how although there is plenty of work available, many companies are having a hard time finding the next generation of young people to work with.  He builds on this point by hypothesizing that young people do not want this work because it is both very difficult and very dirty to do.  He also states that there is a lack of initiative to really work hard and see a job through to a quality completion.  Jim finishes out the article by mentioning that people like his dad (and also my dad, and probably even yours), who want to build things and fix things with their own hands, just no longer exist.

 

I completely agree.  In this article, Jim has perfectly sized up what has happened in America over the last 50 years.  Our workforce has dramatically changed.  The well-paying jobs of yesterday existed in the trades or on a production line.  Unfortunately that just isn’t always the case in today’s world.  Of course it doesn’t have to be this way.  There is still a need for trades.  People still need to use their toilets after all.

 

So what can we do about this?  How can we persuade the next generation of workers to join us in our very dirty and difficult but still rewarding line of work?  Can we do anything? At first I said, NO!  But after thinking about it, maybe there is something we can do.

 

Our industry is not a glamorous one.  We will never directly compete with the likes of high-tech industry in Silicon Valley.  Nor should we.  Why fight our human nature to go after work that is less stressful, less dirty, and potentially more monetarily rewarding with less physical strain.

 

But this plays to our advantage.  As the old expression goes: “if you have lemons make lemonade”.  We must follow the economics of supply and demand.  We have the good fortune to be in an industry that most everyone needs.  Running water and working sewer systems are the tenants of our 1st world society after all.  There will always be a demand for these services.  But take a minute to think into the future.  What will happen as fewer young people enter our field?  The amount of demand will increase for each of our industry’s suppliers.  This translates to fewer workers allowing us to charge more per worker.  Expertise does not come cheap, especially as it becomes more rare.

 

This market movement will finally legitimize our trade to the professional level that it needs to be viewed.  People need our services just as much as they need those of a lawyer, sometimes even more!  Our market is heading in a profitable direction, and it is up to us to prepare for it.  It’s just a simple case of economics.

So how do we prepare to be successful in this future? We obviously can’t just start dropping huge price tags on projects or services.  We have to start really explaining to the customer what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it. We must act and look professional at all times. Our whole operation needs to show professionalism, expertise, and experience to the customer.

 

We must structure our companies in a way that allows us to make AND justify real profits.  Not just profits to get by, but profits that allow us to buy new equipment,  have a professional operation, and yes even take nice vacations with our family.  And where does all of this start?  It starts at the sale.  The sales process is where we differentiate our expertise and our skills to our customers.  The sales process is where we make our profit and show our customers why we deserve it.  The actual doing of the job is just follow through.  So let’s keep improving our sales techniques and pricing our jobs to make a profit.  Our market is ripe for success, whether the younger generation wants to take advantage of it or not!  Let’s stop complaining and continue becoming more and more successful.