When I took on the task of writing this monthly article, I did it with the intention of challenging myself to put out material that would be helpful and applicable to owners/managers of residential electrical companies. This month, I’m going to give you something you can really sink your teeth into — not a lot of fluff, but a whole lot of meat!
When it comes to the electrical service business, there are two things I believe in, and I am more passionate about them than anything else: training and tracking. If you want to have a successful service company today and for years to come, commit to making these two things a priority.
Training
One of our core values at my franchise locations is our commitment to training. From very early on, I made a strong commitment to training my people at a very high-level. I remind my team on a regular basis that this company was built on training. Here are some action items that I recommend if training is going to be a high priority for you:
Commit to a system — How do you run a service call? Do you have step-by-step directions for performing each service call? There are many good trainers, books, network groups, and franchises out there that can help you get that information and implement a system. I’m a big proponent of building your own network of business owners in your field with whom you can share best practices. You can gain an amazing amount of knowledge and see how others have implemented systems like this by reaching out and building relationships within this field.
We’ve done all of the above and built our own system from what we believe to be the best of these. It’s also important to find a system that fits your values. What’s great for some isn’t necessarily great for others.
Related
Make it a priority — Training has to become a priority. Set a training schedule and never — I mean never — cancel a training meeting. If you don’t show your people it’s extremely important, they won’t treat it that way.
I’ve pulled many team members aside through the years and explained that it’s not okay to be late to these meetings, that it shows a lack of respect for me, and, more importantly, for their teammates who all showed up on time. If training is going to be a priority, then pay your people wages for being there. Put your money where your mouth is.
Repetition — We’ve named our system the “9½ Steps to Success.” It’s based on how to step through a service call “our way,” and we reinforce this every chance we get. My management team and electricians have all bought into our system, but that didn’t come by accident. We drive this system deep in our organization day after day, week after week, and month after month. Repetition is the key. Your people can’t hear your message enough. We plan our training topics months in advance, but they will always be part of our 9½ step system.
Role play — I believe practice is what builds true confidence. Your electricians will not educate your client on anything that they aren’t comfortable explaining. Everyone says they hate role-playing, but what they really hate is talking in front of their peers about something they aren’t prepared to talk about with the chance of looking foolish. Here’s what we did. We took a list of the 10 most common items in our market that our electricians have the opportunity to repair and created a list of bullet points on how to educate our clients on them. We practiced/role played these items every single week. Remember, practice builds confidence, and confidence builds success.
Tracking
“What gets measured gets improved” is one of my all-time favorite quotes. One thing is for sure — if you don’t have a target, then you can never hit it. Tracking is vital to future success.
Here are two easy steps to winning at tracking.
1. Identify your key performance indicators (KPIs). Here are the KPIs we use in our tracking reports.
• Electrician’s call conversion (%)
• Electrician’s average ticket ($)
• Electrician’s monthly/daily revenue ($)
• Electrician’s maintenance plan (% of maintenance plans sold by the technician or electrician)
2. Put a tracking system in place.
• Use a whiteboard on your office wall.
• Keep track of things in a notebook or binder.
• Build an Excel spreadsheet to track this daily like we have.
The bottom line is just start tracking. I have found it paid off in my business, and I think it will help in your business too.
Hagan is a second-generation electrician. He owns and operates the Mister Sparky locations serving Northwest Arkansas, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa, Okla. He oversees a staff of 30, which includes electricians and technicians. He can be reached at [email protected].
