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…

“How much will a new water heater sot me – mine is leaking?” Anyone in the PHC service business hears this question and others like it numerous times a day over the phone. Most attempt to answer it by quoting an hourly labor rate or giving a “ballpark” estimate of what the job will cost based on the caller’s description of the problem.

You may remember seeing Benjamin Franklin Plumbing®, Mister Sparky, America’s On Time Electrician®, and One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning® appear on The Celebrity Apprentice recently. In their episode, the first ever featuring a service company, wily project manager Bret Michaels came up with catchy and creative jingles that won Mr. Trump’s challenge and the hearts of the company’s executives. These catchy jingles are now being used nationwide by the brands.

I adore a man who can work with his hands. I admire a woman who knows how to handle a channelocks. I appreciate a well laid-out mechanical room. I’m a huge fan of trades people.

Trades people are more in touch with the truth than other people. They are a no-nonsense group. They know that the electrical current is there, or it’s not. The burner fires up, or it doesn’t. It’s plumb, or it’s out of plumb. Trades people have remarkable “baloney” detectors. They identify quality by performance. They know that actions, not words, are the true measure of a person. Trades people understand the material universe and the way things work. That understanding is becoming increasingly rare.

Alan Cline started 1-800-PLUMBING® in 2002 in memory of his sister, Beth, who was a plumber herself and worked hard to be successful in her career. 1-800-PLUMBING® was created to provide an easy way to remember branding strategy usually not available to independent plumbers. “It is a way to provide small to medium sized independent plumbing contractors a competitive edge with an exclusive number in their territory,” Cline states. “Once plumbers sign up with 1-800-PLUMBING® they have the exclusive use of the phone number in their territory.”

In addition to access to the premiere vanity phone number, 1-800-PLUMBING® licensees also receive a comprehensive marketing guide, full color logo, promotional materials, vehicle magnets, radio jingle and additional branding materials to help the business get started.

The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) is proud to announce the first NARI video contest, open to any customer who has worked with you as a NARI remodeler.

Your client doesn’t care that you know how to do your job better than the next guy. Your client is not interested in how many years experience you have or how much training you’ve paid for. Your client won’t notice that you can have your job done in two hours less time than your competitor.

What your client does care about and will notice are the extra unexpected steps you take to ensure your work doesn’t cause them any undue headaches. This can be done repeatedly, with ease by following this simple step: