Life’s about balance. When it’s Cold or Hot, we all know the phones never stop. If you’re answering every call, the tech schedules should be adjusted to prevent burnout. So what we need is a way to scale manpower to meet our customers demands. When I started in this business, the workers began as a apprentice moved up through the ranks. As we age, we start training on the business side of it. We took on the roles of CSR/Dispatch, management. This way when things got busy, your current staff could technically run some calls too. Everyone working together to knock the calls out. Now days you have a bloated office staff that majority do not know the industry. While pushing more production out of your current field employees. This is when you lose a few who want balance or you bring on a few to help with the big load. Fast forward, the phones slow down so now your paying OT to keep up with normal demand or you’re faced with Lay offs because you don’t have the demand to keep your staff busy and profitable. 1-8 seasons of this might be ok… but this is a career and by season 40-50 or year 20+. This knowledgeable and dedicated staff could be lost. They will retire from the trade or partially instead of training your new apprentice /techs to replace them. 20+ years ago, the best experience and knowledge I’ve been given was from veteran HVAC service techs that had 20+ years experience to share and teach. So, how do we solve this issue? How do we profit without loosing a generation of knowledge. (Not universal knowledge but your company way of doing things, commitment and of course in field hands on experience)
I get it. I am that tech turned owner who never said no. During busy times the answer to avoiding burnout is to start saying no to certain calls And limiting the number of calls booked each day for each tech. This is terribly hard for us old dogs who worked incredibly late nights during busy season and were sent home with 20 hrs. a week during slow season. I did this very thing in my business the first many years because that’s just “how it is.” I not only burned myself out, I also burnt others out. I learned that saying no or booking out into the future is far better than trying to please every customer by getting to them as fast as possible. This grind during the summer was ingrained in me. I was just mimicking what I saw and was taught. It was definitely the wrong way to go about it. Anyhow, there are a lot of people who believe they need more marketing and it’s not true unless they’ve already leaned to book calls effectively. As far as profiting goes the number one thing is to price high enough to earn a profit. The second thing is to focus on the right calls. And everything you said keep the office staff light. I do recommend 2 CSR/dispatchers so that when one is sick you have one to fill in. I learned that one of anything is none so the pricing has to cover that extra person in the 1-2 million range. I could go on and on and write another book about this to explain everything but that’s why I started the coaching group. To help people get the business set up and running effectively with measuring so that it can be managed. The business can’t be everything to all people. Meaning, there’s work that most shouldn’t be focused on. There’s opportunities that will help the business earn more money so that everyone can take home more and be home at decent times. There are many things that separate super successful people and one of those main things is saying no more often to things that do not serve the business during certain times of the year. Thanks for the comment. We could have a deep conversation here I’m certain!!!!
Good Day to all ! My father has his own HVAC company however he extremely old school and loves using printable invoices. I am trying to get him to get paid by ACH payments or paid thru a website not cash. What would you recommend for him to get electric payments ? Thank you in advance.
I would get him switched over to a dispatching software and then I'd use the CC processor that is integrated with that particular software. I would give him a million different examples where people aren't printing invoices anymore and explain that the very few customers who will want a printed invoice he can mail that to them. We have to embrace the technology and stop fighting against it.
Thx bro! I’m working out 5 times a week and started tracking my macros about a month and a half ago. I’ve gotten in a groove of getting 165-180 grams of protein each day so it’s slow going but I’m started to see some results. Not quite 1 gram per pound of body weight but at least .7 per pound. My goal is set at 210 grams but with my calories set at 2160 that’s tough!!! So I’m just ensuring I get my 170+ per day.
Thank you for being so informative and passionate Kelly
Thank you Mark!! Appreciate your support!
Life’s about balance. When it’s Cold or Hot, we all know the phones never stop. If you’re answering every call, the tech schedules should be adjusted to prevent burnout. So what we need is a way to scale manpower to meet our customers demands.
When I started in this business, the workers began as a apprentice moved up through the ranks. As we age, we start training on the business side of it. We took on the roles of CSR/Dispatch, management. This way when things got busy, your current staff could technically run some calls too. Everyone working together to knock the calls out.
Now days you have a bloated office staff that majority do not know the industry. While pushing more production out of your current field employees. This is when you lose a few who want balance or you bring on a few to help with the big load.
Fast forward, the phones slow down so now your paying OT to keep up with normal demand or you’re faced with Lay offs because you don’t have the demand to keep your staff busy and profitable.
1-8 seasons of this might be ok… but this is a career and by season 40-50 or year 20+. This knowledgeable and dedicated staff could be lost. They will retire from the trade or partially instead of training your new apprentice /techs to replace them.
20+ years ago, the best experience and knowledge I’ve been given was from veteran HVAC service techs that had 20+ years experience to share and teach.
So, how do we solve this issue? How do we profit without loosing a generation of knowledge. (Not universal knowledge but your company way of doing things, commitment and of course in field hands on experience)
I get it. I am that tech turned owner who never said no. During busy times the answer to avoiding burnout is to start saying no to certain calls And limiting the number of calls booked each day for each tech. This is terribly hard for us old dogs who worked incredibly late nights during busy season and were sent home with 20 hrs. a week during slow season. I did this very thing in my business the first many years because that’s just “how it is.” I not only burned myself out, I also burnt others out. I learned that saying no or booking out into the future is far better than trying to please every customer by getting to them as fast as possible.
This grind during the summer was ingrained in me. I was just mimicking what I saw and was taught. It was definitely the wrong way to go about it.
Anyhow, there are a lot of people who believe they need more marketing and it’s not true unless they’ve already leaned to book calls effectively. As far as profiting goes the number one thing is to price high enough to earn a profit. The second thing is to focus on the right calls. And everything you said keep the office staff light. I do recommend 2 CSR/dispatchers so that when one is sick you have one to fill in. I learned that one of anything is none so the pricing has to cover that extra person in the 1-2 million range.
I could go on and on and write another book about this to explain everything but that’s why I started the coaching group. To help people get the business set up and running effectively with measuring so that it can be managed.
The business can’t be everything to all people. Meaning, there’s work that most shouldn’t be focused on. There’s opportunities that will help the business earn more money so that everyone can take home more and be home at decent times. There are many things that separate super successful people and one of those main things is saying no more often to things that do not serve the business during certain times of the year. Thanks for the comment. We could have a deep conversation here I’m certain!!!!
Dude, holy hell I have so many ideas.
Try this one on for size ua-cam.com/video/w_9HWwT4MkA/v-deo.html
We need to do Break-out sessions for ACCA.
Absolutely!!!!!!!
Good Day to all ! My father has his own HVAC company however he extremely old school and loves using printable invoices. I am trying to get him to get paid by ACH payments or paid thru a website not cash. What would you recommend for him to get electric payments ?
Thank you in advance.
I would get him switched over to a dispatching software and then I'd use the CC processor that is integrated with that particular software. I would give him a million different examples where people aren't printing invoices anymore and explain that the very few customers who will want a printed invoice he can mail that to them. We have to embrace the technology and stop fighting against it.
Thanks bro
Lookin' jacked.
Thx bro! I’m working out 5 times a week and started tracking my macros about a month and a half ago. I’ve gotten in a groove of getting 165-180 grams of protein each day so it’s slow going but I’m started to see some results. Not quite 1 gram per pound of body weight but at least .7 per pound. My goal is set at 210 grams but with my calories set at 2160 that’s tough!!! So I’m just ensuring I get my 170+ per day.
Very nice, thank you Kelly.
Hey CJ! I hope you are doing well my friend.
👍 👍
💯💯