Little things mean a lot … or so the title of the old song goes. But how true is it in our industry? I remember some years ago my brother Phil (who runs the family business) creating a huge fuss about job cards being left lying around on the shop counter (one of them on the floor).
I won’t go into his exact words because they are not printable here but the gist of the matter was that if they had been GB pound 5 notes they would have been nailed to the bench, yet here we were with job cards that had a potential earning power of GB pound 20 to over GB pound 100 (a lot in those days) fluttering about like confetti.
As usual I put it down to Phil having one of his regular paddies about us not doing the paperwork, but later on when I left to set up my own company those words came back to haunt me. I now know that he was right, absolutely bang on right. When it came to having to do my own invoices and collect the debts instead of just holding my hand out for my wage on a Friday, I quickly learned the hard way that it doesn’t matter a jot how hard you work, or how good an installer you are, if your don’t fill in the job sheet correctly and get that customer signature, you have just worked all that time for nothing.
Too busy to make money?
It’s a sad fact of life that many a good and willing worker has driven his boss to bankruptcy because he was too busy to fill in the paperwork after each job. I once had the privilege of installing for an old Yorkshire mill owner and over a cup of tea we got talking about business. I was just starting and he was just retiring, and he gave me a piece of advice – “Allus remember, tha can be too busy to earn money” and when you think about it, he was another one who was bang on right.
Over my ten years with the SSAIB I visited a lot of new companies just starting up and I found a regular crop of money-losing mistakes. Now I am back doing the rounds of visiting new companies promoting the ICON scheme and, would you believe it, I am still finding the same old mistakes.
So let’s have a look at some of the regular ones and see if we are falling into the same old traps.
Quite often during my travels I get my ear bent with a common gripe. Usually it is from a small one-man business explaining that they are justly proud of their standards of work and the quality of their customer service and that they are fair and honest and they don’t rip-off their customers. Their larger rivals on the other hand offer a lower standard of work and service and they have the cheek to charge a lot more for it.
I then have a look at the management systems employed by the one-man business and find holes in it that would trap a rhinoceros. The big difference is that even if the larger company has a lesser standard,they have mastered one thing you have not …how NOT to lose money.
Great way to lose money No1:
Do you have an answering machine that starts with an apology? How often do we hear “I am sorry the office is unattended right now – – ” and bang – the customer has put the phone down. The psychology of this is simple, the customer rings up wanting action and you have just told him he is not going to get any, so he can’t be bothered to wait for any further instructions and goes to your rival. Why not start by saying something like “Please listen carefully – If you want help or advice, or have a problem that cannot wait please ring our 24hr helpline on xxxx. alternatively please leave a message and we promise to return your call”. Once again the psychology is simple: He wants action and you have told him how to get it. You now stand a good chance of getting that new customer who would have gone elsewhere.
Great way to lose money No 2:
Do you give a price to a potential customer at the time of survey or do you walk away and say “I will put a quote in the post”? As a way of losing money the “quote in the post” is brilliant, but think from the customer’s point of view. He has asked you for help and advice, he wants to know three things; What do I need? How much is it going to cost? How soon can you do it?
You have walked away and given him nothing. Whether you realise it or not, you have really burst his bubble. All he knows is that a complete stranger has walked into his home, wondered around making all sorts of notes and gone away leaving him high and dry, one thing he does know – and that is that he has not got what he wanted.
This is fine for the larger commercial job where you are dealing with appointed staff who have to report to someone else with a collection of suitable written quotes, but not when dealing with the owner/boss of the domestic/small business property.
For a start you need a good useable working survey sheet that a complete stranger can understand. Then you need to fill it in (in clear readable writing) so that the customer knows exactly what they are getting. Then you need to tell him a price, (it may not be an exact price but it should be a good indicator) and at that point you ask him if it is the sort of price he was expecting. This gives you your one and only opportunity to discuss prices with the customer and to be able to adapt and justify your pricing structure, if you walk away you have lost this opportunity forever.
Quote in post is too late
Say your price is GB pound 400, but the customer is expecting to pay GB pound 199 – If your price is delivered by post some days later you are out of the running and your quote will be thrown in the bin. Given face to face, you have time to explain that if they want a cheap job they are going to get inferior equipment badly installed- quality installations take time. Is it fair to protect their family/property on the cheap etc … and any other reasonable argument you can think of.
In some respects, trying to argue the other way is harder still. If the customer has in mind the sort of prices quoted by the door-to-door rip-off merchants then trying to justify how you can be so much cheaper – and yet not a cowboy – is difficult. I have in the past been forced to resort to getting out the trade catalogues and showing the customer how much I pay and then explaining about costs and overheads (I don’t have to pay a team of door knockers), there are times when it pays to put your cards on the table.
Closing the sale is arguably the most important part of the survey. The common way is to ask if the customer is happy with:
The specification and coverage offered?
The equipment to be fitted?
The installing company (don’t forget to show references)?
… And last, but not least, the price?
Once they answer ‘yes’ to those questions, you can ask if or when they would like to go ahead.
The technique is called “removing the objections”. It is not at this stage a hard sell situation, it is just good salesmanship.
The secret is to make sure that you don’t answer no. If they are not happy with any of the elements find out why and try to change those to yes answers before even thinking about asking them to go ahead. It is quite likely that there are other companies coming to compete with you and this is where we in our industry back off. But the hard sell merchants refuse to take no for an answer. The exact point where you stand depends on your ethics and point of view but the story does not stop there, if you have to walk away without an instant sale there is always the follow-up call. Surprisingly, few small installers follow up their sent out quotes. Many genuinely don’t want to pester the customer, some think it unethical and some never think about it.
My own method was to ring to check that the customer had received the quote OK (could have been lost in the post etc), and are there any questions or anything they are not sure about? At this point you have to be very sensitive to the customer’s reactions and, if you think you can get away with it, ask how it compares with any other quotes received. If they seem unsure and you feel it would be not to your advantage to push further just say “no problems, I will hold the quote open as long as I can for you”.
I always rang again about a fortnight later with the story “Sorry to pester you, but I am just checking through my outstanding quotes, would you like me to hold yours open for a little longer or have you come to any decision. You have one last chance to get the job and that is to say “Is it the price that is a problem? I am a bit quiet at the moment and if you would like it fitting this week I am prepared to give you a discount”, hinting that next week “I am back to being fully booked”.
If they have chosen another company then you can always ask (politely) “Do you mind me asking why I lost the job because I do not want to lose the next one”. They may or may not tell you but at this stage you have nothing to lose and good information to gain. Try it sometime, it is a good way of finding where you are going wrong.
There are many more ways to lose money all the way through our working lives and the ones I have mentioned are only the start of it. The real question is … are you making these mistakes and how much is it costing you? Take time out and have a good look at the way you do things. You also may find that you are too busy working to make money. If you have any questions or disagreements please write in or e-mail.
Flaming stupid rule
You may recall that some months ago I commented on the folly of the new European ruling that all fire extinguishers had to be painted red. Here’s a true story that proves that dry powder cylinders should have been left blue!
Wakefield has a pub frequented by the gay community and late one night two of the lads decided to indulge themselves whilst the pub manager was busy elsewhere, their latest craze being something called “bleach poppers”.
This is something like a cross between lighter fuel and tape head cleaner and comes in a small bottle or canister. It is also highly inflammable. The big mistake made was to try to indulge at a table with an open candle burning on it and the first thing the manager knew was that there was a big whoosh and a sheet of flame hit the ceiling. The lad holding the canister took the brunt of it. His nylon shirt turned black and glued itself to his chest, his hair was singed and his hand aflame.
He was up and off to the gents like a greyhound, followed fast by the manager who had grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher. The manager found the victim trying to put out the flames so he gave him full blast with the extinguisher … only it turned out to be of the dry powered variety. After the dust had settled, the unfortunate experimenter was sat on the floor, white from head to foot, hair a white afro, with only a pair of red eyes and a mouth spitting out little clouds of white powder.
Now, a couple of years ago this extinguisher would have been painted blue so the manager would have known instantly which one to grab … I rest my case.
