KickStart: Are your business profits being silently siphoned off by unnoticed problems? Read on…
OK, I’ll admit it. I used to be a chest-pounding Home Services Business (HSB) owner that bragged about how many trucks, employees and/or customers I had. (I especially loved sharing that my company had grown into a powerhouse that grossed seven figures yearly!)
But then, I wised up. (Or maybe just got older!) I realized it is smarter to fix the ‘Profit-sucking Black Holes’ (PBH’s) that all residential services companies struggle with. I call the obvious PBH’s the ‘Tragic Big 3’š„:
1) Pricing too low which in turn attracts…
2) Marginal customers which means you can’t hire (or keep) the Very Best People. Trust me, life is too short to constantly struggle with…
3) Marginal workers! Far too many HSB owners just limp along while being ‘held hostage’ (see point #4) by their loser employees. So very sad.
I know, the ‘Tragic Big 3’ HERE are super obvious. (Hopefully you’ve already fixed them!) So today, let’s work on fixing…
3 Profit-sucking Black Holes that are ‘hiding in plain sight’!Ā
Hidden PBH #1: Poor closing skills. Another ongoing tragedy for too many. You invest marketing money to make your phone ring and then… DON’T CLOSE THE CALL! (Plus, you lose the ‘downstream referral income’ a booked customer would have brought in over the years!) Or even worse…
You invest precious time to face-to-face with a prospect for an on-site ‘pre-inspection’. (I hate the word “estimate”!) You give them your price and… they start slip-sliding away from you with the old “Let me get back to you…” AARGH!
SOLUTION #1: Get OCD about closing the sale on every phone call and pre-inspection! Then implement these free ‘Lead Conversion’ strategies. šš
SOLUTION #2: In our 3-hour, online SFS: Winning over your caller! LIVE seminar you’ll receiveĀ 100’s of ‘Lead Conversion’ ideas and systems. Your company will easily book prospects who use text, email, Facebook, website chat or even… the phone! HERE are our upcoming class dates…
Hidden PBH #2: Your service area is too large. Non-revenue ‘windshield time’ is a killer! In fact, I often recommend to my clients that they reduce their service area. After all, a smaller service radius lets you increase your visibility. The result? Much easier ‘market domination’! (A larger service area inevitably requires a much larger marketing budget.) Of course, no worries if…
a) you are closing these additional leads (see #1 above!) and…
b) have the production capability to do the work plus…
c) are pricing your work to include the additional travel expense.
NOTE: I’m a huge cheerleader for offering Additional Service Options (ASO’s) to be done while you’re onsite anyway. The extra profit with less travel per crew will solve much of your travel time problem!š²
Hidden PBH #3: Offering too many services. I’m not against additional services. (See my NOTE on ASO’s above.) But too often becoming a Yankee Peddler by selling too much can confuse and/or irritate clients, frustrate your front-line workers and seriously ding your profits!
SOLUTION: Think carefully before impulsively adding new, non-synergistic services or products. HINT: Carefully review my 8-point Diversification Checklist before adding a new service!
Even better, re-examine your existing service options.š¤ (Too often I find the profitable work is ‘subsidizing’ the overlooked money-losing areas of a Home Services Business!)Ā OR…
You may need to SUPER dramatically raise your pricing on some services! Sure, you may lose some clients but remember that these are profit-sucking jobs!š OR with some peripheral, non-synergistic services you may decide to eliminate them completely. Or you can refer these less-than-desirable jobs to a Strategic Partnership. (Possibly even for a commission.)
RESOURCE: Transforming your company will be so much easier with a great team of quality employees. Youāll get 100ās of new hiring ideas and systems in our 3-hour, online SFS:Ā Hiring the Very Best!Ā LIVE seminar.Ā To learn more and/or easily register onlineĀ click HERE.
Steve