My last couple of articles dealt with compiling job costs on the way towards developing a useful profit-loss statement. The so-called “P & L” is the bedrock of financial reports to a business owner. When constructed properly it ought to tell him at a glance how much money he is making (or losing), and why.

In the course of my consulting work I have looked at hundreds of contractor P & L statements, most of which were developed by the firm’s accountant. Unfortunately, many CPAs don’t understand our industry and thus do not properly construct a P & L suitable for a contracting firm.

Recruiting and keeping good employees, especially service techs, is the most difficult thing I know of in the PHC service business. I’m sure that Blau Sudden Services has a better track record than most firms in the industry, simply because we offer one of the best compensation and benefits packages to be found anywhere. Our service technicians have been here an average of seven years, with two at the 23-year mark in tenure. Office personnel average five years of service, with a couple in the 10-year range.

But our track record of employee retention is hardly ideal. Several months ago we lost a service tech that had been with us for close to 20 years. This was an eye-opener to me…

Make the calls – book the calls – and believe.

Nexstar Master Member Trainer, Dave Boduch of A.J. Danboise Son in Farmington Hill, MI says outbound calling can save jobs. “One job can be saved by booking three extra calls a day.”

At Nexstar’s recent Super Meeting in Austin, Texas, Boduch lead a standing room only session for their members within which he highlighted these operational keys to success with outbound calling:

This week’s tip comes straight from ShuBee CEO and former owner of several highly profitable plumbing/HVAC companies Steve Stone. He pointed out that in today’s lackluster economy it’s more important than ever to make the most of all business opportunities. If you’re not able to effectively capture and convert all the calls coming in to your office, that breeze you feel is the wind sucking money out of your bank account.
Certainly it’s every business owner’s dream to answer the phone to a customer who needs a contractor for a million …

Frank J. Blau and Associates came up with the valve tag idea many years ago as a way for service technicians to market their company to the homeowner more effectively. These valve tags are distributed through solely through ShuBee (877.974.8233 | www.shubee.com).

Here’s how it works – at the end of the service tech’s visit, he asks the customer if he or she knows where the main water shutoff is to the home. Most people do not know, and those that do usually cannot tell where the shutoffs are to various appliances around the home. This gives the technician a chance to perform a valuable service for the homeowner by offering to identify and tag each shutoff.

What do we get out of it? Plenty.

As you can see from the sample attached, the flip side of the valve tag is a company business card. They end up hanging at a half dozen or more locations around the home as permanent advertisements for your company. Whenever something goes wrong, guess who will be the first company these people are likely to think of calling! It gets them away from the Yellow Pages and all of your competitors’ ads.

Nothing breaks my heart more than to see old plumbers doing backbreaking work at a time when they should be devoting their days to enjoying the grandkids and favorite pastimes. The physical work of plumbing is a young man’s occupation, and even the business of contracting takes its toll on failing senses and nerves.

More than 90% of the contractors in our industry don’t have the knowledge and/or the will to crunch the numbers in a way that results in adequate compensation for themselves and their faithful, hard-working employees, and healthy bottom line. It will remain true for all eternity, until this industry changes its way of thinking about itself…

People ask me where I get my ideas for this column. That’s easy. I look around. As I travel the country meeting with contractors, I observe solutions they have developed to common problems. I also observe the mistakes that afflict our fellow trade professionals.

I’ve bemoaned for years the sad statistics showing that PHC contractors are woefully underpaid, earning on average around $45,000 a year based on industry statistics. But you know the old adage about averages – one foot in a bucket of ice, the other in boiling water, and on average you feel quite comfortable.