Contractor Selling

Engine Or Anchor?

I love the use of analogies. One of the prime examples I use is a owner of a contracting company as being the captain of a ship. As the leader you may find yourself heading towards “stormy business weather.” This storm is approaching as your sales revenue is lower than your overhead, field labor and material costs can substantiate. When this happens, you start to take on water. (Go into debt) Soon the whole ship is in danger of sinking.

When you finally wind up in the worst part of the storm the telltale signs are all around you as the captain. The rain of phone calls from vendors looking to collect on what you owe or the lightning of your having to consider a loan, line of credit or even take money out of your own pocket, just to make payroll this week are just a few of the signs that your ship is indeed in trouble.

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A Non-Litigious Holiday Party

By Elizabeth R. Ison, Esq.

With another holiday season approaching, companies nationwide are busy planning parties. Holiday socials are longstanding company traditions to thank employees and celebrate annual accomplishments. They can also be a breeding ground for employer liability — especially when alcohol is served.

A 2000 survey conducted by Vault.com found that 44% of employers had to reprimand an employee for behavior at a company holiday party. A 2010 poll by HR firm Adecco corroborate these findings: 40% of people surveyed saw or suffered a major indiscretion at a work-sponsored holiday event and 14% knew someone who was fired for bad behavior at a company holiday party.

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An Important Question

There is an important question that owners and sales manager’s in a successful contracting business ask themselves before engaging in training, coaching or accountability activities.

Here is that question…

“Do I have the right person?”

The difference between mediocre and champion caliber sales managers lies in their willingness to ask this question of every employee, themselves included at any time. The mediocre manager falls in love with the personality of the people they manage and assumes things will turn around eventually.

The winning manager never assumes that the person who they manage hasn’t changed to the point where they might not be a fit with the team any longer. In essence they are asking if the employee is capable of performing the skills and techniques that make up their sales system. Furthermore, if they do have those skills are they willing to take action by using them with a potential buyer?

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Look At the Truth

Have you ever watched a football or baseball team where the coach or manager refused to look at the truth?

Unless your favorite team recently won the championship, it is likely that your team currently has this issue.  Perhaps the coach of your team has fallen in love with some of his favorite players because he personally drafted them in a higher round.  Or maybe the player has performed particularly well in the past for this coach and helped to win a championship in past years. Whatever the reason, he desperately wants them to succeed and now this refusal to look at the truth straight on becomes toxic.

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Shed Light On Dishonesty

I want to start by saying that I am against government interference in the contracting industry as much as anyone.  It is certainly hard enough to profitably operate an hvac, plumbing or electrical service contracting business without another partner who is guaranteed their profit before the contractor owner gets theirs.

However, one of the places where local government and some dishonest people in the trades makes a mockery of the statutes and laws, is in the area of licensing and permits.  All of the honest contractors I know voluntarily follow the requirements to be licensed or registered if the community requires it.  These same contractors comply with permits and inspection requirements as well. Even though it increases the cost of doing business and the prices the consumer pays for this service.

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Detach From the Outcome

Have you ever felt drained after a heated conversation with your buyer, boss or colleague after trying to convince them that your point of view was the correct way of seeing things? That feeling of being drained is an indication that you were too attached to the outcome and that you lost your focus on trying to understand the other persons point of view.

It is easy to become emotionally involved in the outcome of your sales results, but is it really effective? In short, the answer is no. Sales should be emotional for the buyer but not for you the seller. If you try to hard to “sell” people on your way of thinking it comes off as desperate, pathetic and self-centered. As a sales professional you must retain your credibility and give your buyer the impression that you could live without the sale.

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Got Your Attention?

One of the more fun parts of my job is talking to sales and service managers who refuse to admit that the results that their people get on their opportunities do indeed, suck. What do I mean by this statement?

First of all let’s face it, I use that word to get your attention and now that I have it, let me explain. When any frontline service or sales professional in your company does not produce the results needed to pay for all the overhead, benefits, pay, education and everything else needed to cover their fair share of these expenses, then they are “sucking” these valuable resources at the expense of other employees who ARE pulling their own weight.

There is an imbalance at many companies that is created by some of the sales team performing at a high level while others do not. Many perceive this as just a fact of life and refuse to believe that EVERYBODY could achieve profitable numbers and reach their goals.

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What Is a Professional?

The difference between a REAL professional in any occupation and those who aspire to this status is not the talent level or even any of their great achievements.

The main difference in my opinion are the times when they struggle or find themselves in a slump. The true professional does not lose their enthusiasm when faced with a setback or challenge.  On days when the normal person would rather call in sick, the professional shows up and gives the same effort they would give on their best days.  What then do professionals do when they go into a slump or suffer a poor performance? They always go back to the fundamentals and remember the little things that mean a lot when the pressure is on.

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There is a lot of controversy that has been stirred up over the years as to whether a company should allow a service tech to sell larger jobs or if they should be turned over to a sales person. Watch this video as Joe Crisara, Rick Picard and others share their thoughts.

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The Guillotine Or the Rack?

Each week I get several calls from contracting business owners asking for some advice on how to handle a “tough situations” with the employees or customers in their business. Each time I hear about one of these supposedly insurmountable scenarios, I am immediately reminded about a chapter I read awhile ago in a book by author Seth Godin titled, “Small Is the New Big.” In this chapter he simply asks,  “Do you want to face the guillotine? Or do you want to be tortured on the rack?”

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