Cruise Thoughts

Have you ever been on a cruise? If you have, you will recognize these things about the cruise.

Cruises have Onboard Credit Card for all expenses. Do you accept credit cards and do you have a credit easily available for your customers?

Cruise provide a long list of extras and add-ons:

•   Soft drink cup

•   Shake and Juice glass

•   Art auctions

•   Drawings to encourage seeing all shops

•   Shops

•   Limited time sales

•   Approved excursions

•   Liquor

•   Beer and wine

•   Upgrade dining

•   Room service extras

•   Transfers to and from the ship

•   Photos

•   Videos

•   Naturalist's books and videos

•   Room upgrades

•   Frequent travelers benefits

•   Deposit for future cruises with benefits

•   Spa with dozens of pampering options

•   Aerobic classes

•   Wine tastings

•   In room refrigerator with soft drinks and bottled water

•   Laundry

•   Laundry services

•   Tuxedo rental

•   "Garage sale"

•   "Kid free" zones

•   On board classes

•   On board tours

•   Casinos

•    Extra for Internet services with various packages

One online site states "On a 7 day cruise a couple will average $400-$600 in extras." Another site tells cruisers to expect to spend an additional 40-60% above the cruise fare. The cruise lines are very good about offering add-ons. Do your customers spend 40-60% more than the basic repair or replacement cost?

Cruises have coupon books for on board and at ports. Customers are looking for “deals” to save money. Are you giving them coupons and add-on discounts?

Cruises have constant marketing even on in room television. Do you have a constant on going marketing campaign?

Cruise ships have daily newsletter with schedule, coupons, and marketing. Do you Techs have handouts and literature to give to the customer?

Cruise ships have seminars on the ports and the cruises port activities to sell extras. Does your website or blog have educational material for the customer to learn about new products and services?

Cruise ships recommended places to buy in port (the cruise line gets paid to do this). Do you have add-on products or services that a subcontractor might provide that you receive a referral fee for?

Cruise lines have frequent cruiser cards with perks. Do you have a preventative maintenance plan with extra perks for repeat and ongoing customers?

Cruise companies have monthly magazines, e-magazines, and other mailings and e-mailings. Do you have a newsletter that goes out at least twice a year and monthly e-mailings?

Cruise lines have group discounts. Do you have affinity cards for employees of your commercial accounts with a discount?

Cruise ships have special cruises for those with special interests. Do you have products and services for those with special needs and do you market to them? An example might be backup sump pumps in areas that have a high water table.

Cruise lines cater to special groups such as:

•   Handicap

•   Different Economic Groups

•   Smokers

•   Couples

•   Singles

•   Kids

•   Old

•   Young

•   Sedate

•   Active

•   Women

•   Men

•   Families

Do you actively cater to special groups with your products and services?

Cruise lines are selective in the people they hire. They must cater to customers, be friendly, they are well trained, they are clean cut and neat, they all wear complete uniforms. Do your Techs and in house employees fit this bill?

Cruise lines have systems in place in every operation. Does your company?

Are you offering a list of options for your customers? Are you constantly marketing in a variety of forms? Do you cater to special groups? Is your presentation from the beginning to the end of a transaction with a customer friendly, with clean cut neat professionals who use a proven system to make it a wow experience for the customer?

If you have been on a cruise you can relate to each of these. If you have not been on one, you should try it and see these things for yourself.

Are you this Committed?

Here is a question you need to ask yourself as a business owner. Are you really committed to the success of your company? In other words, what are you willing to do to have success in your business? Now don't take my words the wrong way. I am only talking about legally, ethically, and morally. My experience is most owners are too busy with the day to day stuff, too tired, too uncommitted to challenge themselves and their team. Perhaps this will inspire you to challenge yourself and your team.

 The owners of Thornton & Grooms are committed to rapidly grow their maintenance agreement base to keep the Technicians busy and provide opportunities for future business. A maintenance agreement customer is much more likely to have work done by that company and have replacement work done by that company. They may not get further quotes or at least will get fewer competitive quotes. Thornton & Grooms long term goal is 20,000 agreements by 2021. That is a “big audacious goal” that will change the structure of Thornton & Grooms. It will reduce their marketing to non-customers. It will allow them to have at least a dozen Preventative Maintenance Technicians who can grow into full NATE certified Service Technicians. Since these agreements also include a plumbing maintenance inspection, they will also grow on the plumbing side of the business.

 


Matt, Mike, and Dave getting shaved!

So how did they go about being fully engaged and committed towards this goal? They challenged their Technicians on the HVAC and plumbing side of the business. If the Technicians could sell 240 maintenance agreements in 5 weeks, they would shave the heads of the owners, Matt, Mike, and Dave. With a full commitment by all employees, they sold 262 maintenance agreements in the five week period. So guess what happened last Friday morning. Yes the heads were shaved!

 It’s that time of year to plan ahead for 2013, to set “big audacious goals” that you are totally committed to and engaged in achieving. If you go to our website, www.SayYesToSuccess.com,

and click on “Free Stuff” there are forms there to help you put together your goals for 2013. Be fully committed and engaged in 2013! In fact start today and set goals for the remainder of 2012.

Change or be left behind, you have to 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 at Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com.

Is this Customer Care and Service?

This week my wife, Lynn, was in the hospital for elective surgery to have a hip joint replaced. Although there is a lot of talk about customer service over the air waves from many of the hospitals, our experience did not show the level of customer service that is expected by the public today. The average HVAC/plumbing contractor has much better customer service than we found in our experience. I will not name the hospital but it is a major player in the Metro Detroit area.

Let me give you a few examples of our experience:              

1.      Lynn would hit the call button to ask for additional pain medications and she would often wait more than 40 minutes for someone to respond. It would often be the nurse assistance who would then need to find the nurse to administer the medication. This was not a life threating situation but very disappointing.

2.      After surgery and being transferred to her room, she had three separate people check her oxygen level within 15 minutes and none of these people were aware that she had just had it done. The right not knowing what the left was doing.

3.      I went down to the pharmacy to fill a take home prescription for Lynn. They took it and told me they would call be on my cell in about a half hour when it was ready since we were waiting for it to be discharged. Over an hour later and no call, I went down to the pharmacy to check on the prescription. It was ready but they never called as promised.

4.      A nurse assistant was walking the halls on the floor of Lynn’s room, looking confused. They had changed his room assignments but did not provide him with sufficient information to effectively do his job.

5.      Lynn often heard the staff speaking to each other saying they didn’t know the answer because they were just getting on shift or it was someone else’s responsibility.

6.      We finished all the discharge paperwork but getting a wheelchair and staff member to handle it so Lynn could be wheeled to our waiting car took over 90 minutes with several calls.

7.      During this wait, an orderly came to Lynn’s room to take her to physical therapy. That department was not aware that she was discharged and just awaiting a wheelchair to take her to the waiting car.

The preoperative situation and the surgical waiting area were run effectively. None of the staff were rude or a problem throughout the hospital stay. The level of treatment for the patient and the condition of the facilities were not the issues. The problem seemed to be at the patient floor level. Here the staff tried to meet the patient needs but management had not provided the tools to do it with true customer care and service. The entire floor where Lynn was recovering was orthopedic patients. The care needed for the patients would be similar day in and day out. Some patients would require more care, have special needs, or require additional time from the staff. Not a whole lot different that our businesses. With effective training, proper staffing, correct tools, and regular oversight this floor could provide much better customer service. Records here are all computerized and information should be available to every department and every care giver. Tasks are repeated day in and day out. A routine and detailed operating formula could be established, taught and monitored.

So let me ask you, “Is your customer saying the same thing about your customer service?” There are only a dozen or so hospitals for us to choose from in the Metro Detroit area, but there are literally hundreds of service contractor options for a customer to choose from. If you are not providing excellent customer service, your customer is going to find an alternative contractor who will do that. “Are you asking your customer their thoughts on the service you have provided to them? Are you changing what you do to provide better service to you customer?”

Change or be left behind, you have to 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 at Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com.

Are You a Half-Hearted Kamikaze?

This term “Half-Hearted Kamikaze” comes from Tim Elmore a Christian Pastor and Speaker. I think it is relevant in today’s service business. First let’s look a definition of Kamikaze. As Tim Elmore puts it,” A Kamikaze is someone who (whether for good or evil) puts everything into one purpose.” Wikipedia defines the Kamikaze, literally: "God wind"; common translation: "Divine wind", were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy warships more effectively than was possible with conventional attacks. Numbers quoted vary, but at least 47 Allied vessels, from PT boats to escort carriers, were sunk by kamikaze attacks, and about 300 damaged. About 14% of kamikaze attacks managed to hit a ship.

So what is a Half-Hearted Kamikaze? My definition as relating to business is a service business owner who talks the story of improvement, change, and full commitment but does not consistently strive to achieve the goal of an extremely successful business with time for the owner to enjoy life.

So why are so many service business owners half-hearted? My observations of dozens and dozens of service businesses demonstrate several reasons.

1.   I often see is the owner has little or no experience to run a business. They are great technicians but have little skills to operate a business. They fail to hire the skills needed to operate profitably or to get the skills themselves. It could be as simple as working with an expert consultant to help him.
2.  Another reason is the owner just does not have the drive to take the business to success but is satisfied with a paycheck equal or less than they could make as a technician for a successful company. Perhaps their spouse works and provides the additional income and even benefits for the family.
3. Often an owner becomes distracted by the technical side of the business and shies away from the hard decisions, the “books”, margins, waste, and the changes needed to more the business to the next level. Not necessarily larger but more profitable.
4. Sometimes the distraction is something too big and too close to overcome easily. This could be a sick spouse, parent, child, or his own health. This is understandable and the owner needs to find an individual to operate the business while he gives his attention to the health need.
5. One last one I’m going to mention here is burnout. The business owner is just worn-out from the grind of business. If the business is barely making it, the stress and pressure is great. He needs time away and a regular plan to get some rest and relaxation. If he does not, the business withers away, or he relieves the stress with alcohol, gambling or other diversions to forget the stress and pressure.

The owner probably has little or no retirement fund when he retires. He may take cash under the table thus compromising his integrity. His business may be supported by his vendors who provide credit too easily. He owes more than the business is worth. He may have stress related illnesses such as heart trouble, high blood pressure, diabetes or another health issue. He retires to a life much less than a business owner deserves, if he is able to retire. Perhaps he works at a big box store like Walmart or Home Depot instead of enjoying retirement, hobbies, and the grandkids.

So what’s the answer? Either become fully engaged or work for someone who is and avoid the downside of being half-hearted. Don't be a Half-Hearted Kamikaze, make the decision today!

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.

10 Tips for Health and Happiness for Your Employees

We are all trying to have our employees be loyal and caring with the clients we serve, other employees and the company. One of the tangibles that help employees feel loyalty and care about the two groups of people and the company is a feeling that the company does truly care about them and has a loyalty to them for their health, safety and wellbeing. So often in the hustle of handling the daily issues, we become oblivious of the need for the company to show these to our employees. The telephone is ringing, there is a delivery at the back door, a vendor salesman comes in, or a myriad of other distractions and time consumers.

Having worked with various companies over the past 12 years, I have found health and safety are one of the areas that employees appreciate and add a sense that the company is interested in their wellbeing. It is just one of many issues that contribute to the satisfaction of an employee. Certainly you can do all the right , recommended, best practices listed items for employees and you will still lose some for situations beyond your control and some beyond logic. But that does not equate to not doing them.

You may be thinking “I don’t even know where to start with a health and safety program for my employees.” Here are a couple of easy and inexpensive suggestions you could use:

1.      Order copies of “Clearing the Air”, a pamphlet put out by the National Cancer Institute on ways an employee can quit smoking.

2.      Check to be sure your employees have the personal protective equipment (PPE) they need to do their jobs regularly. Simple things like safety glasses, ear protection, coveralls, gloves, and so on.

3.      Check to be sure the fire extinguishers and first aid kits are up to date and stocked in each truck.

4.      Train your employees of how to find the MSDS information on their smart phones so they can understand what they are working with and protect themselves.

5.      In warm weather such as we have been having, provide them with a small inexpensive cooler filled with ice and cold bottled water. Remind them to drink lots of water during the warm weather, to seek shade, and to take rest breaks.

6.      Download a relevant safety topic from the internet and have 10-15 minutes of your weekly meeting devoted to safety.

7.      If someone is hurt or there is an accident, discuss it at your weekly meeting to increase awareness of safety.

8.      Have a safety bulletin board with relevant articles, tips, and information.

9.      Provide breakfast at your weekly meeting if the previous month was accident and injury free.

10.   Here is a real winner. You can have them download an app for their IPhone or Android phone from the Red Cross. It’s free! It has short lessons on first aid, quizzes, how to prepare for emergencies, and what they should do in a first aid emergency.

Bergstrom-Elder Consulting can implement a comprehensive safety program at your business to protect your employees, add job satisfaction, and help reduce your insurance costs. Contact us for information.

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.

Minor Leaguers

Spending the spring in Florida, there is a lot of talk on television, radio, and in the newspaper about the local spring training teams. They cover the players, are their stats, the schedules, the injuries, and the various teams expectations. Among the players are both “big” leaguers and the “minor” leaguers. The big leaguers are trying to get in shape for the season and keep their jobs. The minor leaguers are also getting into shape for their season and hoping to make it to the big leagues. But when I visit service businesses, I find something a little different.

In baseball, players are drafted just as we “draft” new employees into our businesses. Then the differences begin. In baseball, the new player is evaluated on his strengths and weaknesses and assigned to a farm club to improve his skills so he can play at his maximum capabilities. In many service businesses, we send the new “player” to ride along on a truck with another tech for a few days. We get a little feedback from the tech and then put the new “player” out to take care of customer problems and provide the excellent customer service we expect. Somehow we think the new player will do the job as well as we would ourselves.

We need a new paradigm; one in which we have a career plan for the new employee at least 3 to 5 years out. We do this by setting out expectations from the new employee to meet throughout their career at our company. We set increases in their income on gaining new skills that make them more valuable to the company. We expect them to achieve success in state and national accreditation such as a Master Plumber’s license, NATE certification, a manufacturer’s training program, or a degree from a college or association training program.

This career plan needs to be written and specific. It should be clear what needs to be done by the employee to move to the next level. Each level has a pay range, a list of skills need to be in that level, and what training or skills are needed to get to the next level. There is a pay range since an employee may be at a level for several years but after six months or a year has accomplished many of the skills needed for that level. There can also be automatic increases as a Technician becomes NATE certified or gets his trade licensing.

There are numerous benefits to a career plan for an employee. They know what they must do to gain a raise or move to the next level. There is a sense of a future at your company for the employee. There are some written metrics to evaluate an employee by at review time. When you hire a new employee, your company shows the employee is important and there is a future at your company.  You can direct an employee to the skills your company needs to better serve the customer and be more profitable.

Contact me if you would like a sample of a plan that you can use as a template to write your own career path for your employees.

Dan has been involved in the service business for over 50 years operating a successful plumbing heating and air conditioning business and consulting service businesses. He can be contacted at Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com.

Spring Training

This last week our Grandsons were off for spring break, they live in the Orlando area. In order to give our Daughter a break from the boys, I took them to a Spring Training game. I didn’t want to travel all the way to Lakeland to see “My” Tigers so we went to Kissimmee to see the Houston Astros play the Florida Marlins. They had a special for 2 tickets, two hot dogs and two soft drinks for $28.00. The weather was great and the seats were pretty good. The boys brought their mitts just in case a ball came close. As we watched the game it hit me over the head like a rock! Most HVAC, plumbing, and electrical service companies are perpetually in Spring Training mode.

So you ask what do you mean, Dan? Let me recap a couple of events at the game. To start the game, a young lady sang the National Anthem. She was unaccompanied but should have been. One of the Astro’s star players did not hustle from 1^st and was thrown out at home plate on an extra bases hit to center field. The Astro’s center fielder and left fielder did not coordinate a call for a fly ball and it was dropped for a hit and a run for Miami. A Houston runner was picked off second base because he was not as alert as he should have been. A lot of minor league players were in the game and the regulars did not play up to regular season caliber. I see the same thing in many service businesses but it’s year around! Let me put it into the genre of your service business.

Just as the lady that sang the National Anthem, you have not provided accompaniment for your office staff. They have poor equipment to work on, need more training and practice; they were put into their positions without being evaluated for the quality of their performance. They are there as the lead-in the start of the game of providing world class service to your customers.

Just as the star player did not hustle and score a run for the home team, your star players are not hustling around the bases. They are not completing all six steps of a service call and even worse, they are not providing the customer with options for upgrades and add-ons.

Just as the two outfielders did not call for the ball, your team is not making the calls that will provide the customer with the best possible service. Wrong Tech to the wrong job, poor routing, lack of communication of key information between the office and the field just to name a few of the call for the ball errors in your service company.

Just as the runner was picked off because he was inattentive, you and your team members are letting others pick off your customers because you have been inattentive. In fact you are so inattentive your customers don’t remember the company that serviced them and they don’t have an easy way to find you. You haven’t kept in touch with them, you don’t have regular newsletters for them, no postcards, no stickers on equipment, no outbound calls to them, no referral program. Perhaps you online presence is so weak, they can’t find you on the internet either.

As the team owner, general manager, and coach, it’s your responsibility to get your team into regular season mode each and every day. You need to get out of spring training mode and get your head into regular season play. Time to move forward to prepare for each day as at least a regular big league season game if not a game seven of the World Series.

Dan has been involved in the service business for over 50 years operating a successful plumbing heating and air conditioning business and consulting service businesses. He can be contacted at Dan@SayYesToSuccess.com.