KickStart: “Actively recruit” high-performing (and under-appreciated) employees you encounter working in lower paid service jobs.
Are you desperately advertising for quality production employees to actually do the jobs that keep rolling in? WRONG! This is your first mistake! You won’t find great service workers with “help wanted” ads! Here’s why…
KickStart: “You never get a second chance to make a first IMPRESSion.” Will Rogers
Good old Will was correct! One of the best ways to immediately IMPRESS a homeowner is to…
KickStart: Don’t allow 1) sunglasses, 2) ringing cell phones and/or 3) bad attitudes inside your client’s homes! Read on…
Back in the day, I loved pulling up to a new residential customer. New people, a new job-site, and new challenges. (Say what you will, our home services industry is seldom boring!)
Sure, I always had a few butterflies too.
Did the office give me an accurate work order? The right tools and materials? Will I be able to get to my next job on time? And most urgently- will this homeowner be a total idiot?
KickStart: Stop treating your business phone as a distraction. Instead, obsess over each and every service inquiry!
When your business phone rings do you: A) ecstatically scream with delight?
B) fall into an anxiety attack?
or C) collapse in panicked dread?
For all you “B” and “C” folks, let’s move you into the delighted “A” category with a ringing phone!
First, reflect on the HUGE stakes with this caller. I know, you’re thinking, “Ummmm, Steve, I thought you were going to cheer me up. I’m even more freaked out now!” My reply?
KickStart: Asking permission creates a trusting relationship with your residential clients.
“There is no substitute for hard work.” Thomas A. Edison
Do you love to work? If so, CONGRATULATIONS! And yet, over many years of working with homeowners, I’ve learned this “git ‘er done” attitude can be a trap! Here’s why…
You (or your employees) show up at a home, eager to kick butt and “git ‘er done”! But wait! Never forget you must first recognize and work with the pesky emotions of a nervous residential customer!
KickStart: “A Moment of Truth is any point when your customer (or a prospect) comes into contact with your company AND subliminally forms an opinion.” Steve Toburen
I recently depressed everyone warning about the hidden “customer minefields” just waiting to explode (without warning
) on every residential job. Doubt me?
Think how often you’ve left a home feeling great about the fantastic job you did. (And the nice wad of cash in your pocket too!)
Then that evening you’re shocked to get a complaining phone call, read your customer’s unhappy text or even worse- get bushwhacked with a nasty “surprise” online review!
KickStart: “… it’s not what you say or what you do, but how you make people feel that matters the most.” Tony Hsieh, Zappos founder
“Feelings, Steve? Seriously?” As a rugged, profits-obsessed residential services business owner you likely focus ONLY on your bottom line! (I did too!) After all, who had time for a squishy, hard-to-manage word like, “feelings”?
I mean, everyone knows “emotions are for sissies”? Right? WRONG! For far too many agonizing years I struggled before FINALLY learning that…
In a residential service business success is based on building “trusting relationships” (TR’s)!
In fact, Mr. Logical here even reduced this concept into an “Emotional Equation”: Success= (ETR + HTR) x SE= CMB. Say what, Steve?
KickStart: ‘Clearly defined expectations’ are the basis for all successful relationships.(Including with your homeowner clients.)
This KickStart quote above is a one-size-fits-all principle to guide your business and just maybe… your life! (After all, you have a myriad of ‘ongoing relationships’.) But today, let’s focus on molding your business relationship with each residential customer…
I know. You’re thinking, “Steve, I’m not marrying my homeowner clients! I don’t care about a ‘relationship’. Honestly? All I want is to a) do the job, b) get paid and c) get on to the next job!”
I get it but SORRY! It just doesn’t work that way!
To be truly successful in any Home Services business you MUST focus on each homeowner’s relationship with you AND your workers! Here’s why:
How can you effectively “sell” your company to a new tech? By creating a positive first impression on your employee’s first day. Boost their sense of belonging and commitment with these steps.
Struggling to keep your top talent in today’s competitive market? These 3 simple steps will streamline your new hire retention process, saving you time and energy in the long run.